In the world of automotive quality, consumer perception may lag reality, sometimes by years, but it also trumps reality when it comes to determining things like resale value. Ford's resale value is up, and the latest Automotive Lease Guide (ALG) study of consumer attitude suggests public opinion is driving the change. Jim Farley, Ford's head of marketing, was on the horn this morning to talk about how Ford now tops the industry in how much it has improved in ALG's Automotive Consumer Attitude Survey. The study measures a brand's Perceived Quality Score (PQS) relative to the industry. Ford and Ford trucks are in first and third place, with Kia in the middle and Hyundai at number four. Chevrolet is the fifth-most-improved brand in perceived quality. Also striking in the Spring 2010 study is how much Toyota's recall issues around unintended acceleration have hurt its PQS; the brand is in last place, with quality having dropped 16.5 points on a 100-point scale per ALG. "Perception of brand is just as important, or even more so, than fact," says Farley. "But what I've learned over 20 years is, the truth comes out. And what we are starting to see this year is [that] about 84% of Ford customers are satisfied with the quality of their vehicles. "The other thing we are seeing ... is that of the people who have bought our products over the past couple of years, the favorable opinion is higher than that of our competitors, so the people buying our current Fords have a different experience or perception of Ford than people on the outside," he says. "But we are starting to see perception catch up to reality." Farley says that proof of Ford's improved stature is in the pudding; the vehicles are worth more when people trade them in. "Resale value is the ultimate proof point. You can win awards like [J.D. Power & Associates'] IQS but until you can prove to customers that their car is worth more than other companies', it's a reputation issue, not a wallet issue. Now it's becoming a wallet issue." He says that for vehicles in service one to five years, Ford vehicles outperformed Toyota by 17% at auction prices, and that vehicles with one year of service like Fusion, Taurus, or F-150 have experienced a 17% improvement in pricing at auction. "Perception of quality, company and product are leading resale values," he says. "It means we can eliminate discount relative to quality and get back to pricing power and parity." Farley tells Marketing Daily that resale value will be "absolutely essential" to explaining to customers in all media that Ford represents the best value in the market. "You can expect us to leverage extensively on the progress made on Fusion in our sales campaigns on TV or digital." Fusion's market share is up 50% and has very low days of dealership supply, he says, adding: "We are continuing to be very disciplined on the incentive side, and what we found is that as we spend more money advertising Fusion, the brand health gets better, so as Fusion goes, so does the company's reputation." Fusion ad campaigns this summer and fall will talk about Ford's resale. "Of course, we will really weave this into our auto show and direct-marketing CRM activities to customers. So it's twofold; it's in public advertising -- digital, TV, sales events -- but also in the dealership. We feel the dealership is one of the best places to tell the story in detail because people are in there -- they are thinking about the trade-in value. That's the second key place we need to bring the story to life."
PetSmart and General Nutrition Centers Inc. (GNC) are launching a line of dietary supplements designed for dogs and cats. This line, made exclusively for PetSmart, will be available at their retail stores and on their Web sites beginning this fall. The co-branding of a major human supplement brand like GNC into the pet market could be a coup for PetSmart, given the current strong consumer demand for health and human-themed products, says David Lummis, senior pet market analyst at Packaged Facts. "It also syncs up human-brand cross-over-wise with PetSmart's upcoming introduction and exclusive distribution of the Martha Stewart pet care line," Lummis tells Marketing Daily. Benefiting from current trends such as this, the pet industry will increase its overall value from $53 billion in 2009 to more than $70 billion in 2014, according to Packaged Facts. Driving this growth is strong consumer demand for products and services that both pamper pets and enhance their health. "I think it's a smart move, albeit not without some risk for both parties since pet supplements still fall into a regulatory gray area," Lummis says. "As a result, unless these supplements are composed entirely of ingredients that are GRAS (generally recognized as safe) and AAFCO-approved, there's a chance some states won't allow their sale." Pittsburgh-based GNC says the impetus to create the supplements came from customers who repeatedly requested quality products for their pets. Both companies say they view the partnership as a strategic, long-term opportunity that sets them apart in the industry. The partnership recognizes that pet owners want balanced nutrition for their pets, just as they do for themselves. Like people, pets have unique dietary needs depending on their stage in life, and vitamins and supplements can support growth for young pets and provide enhanced nutrition for aging ones, according to Phoenix-based PetSmart. "These specially formulated supplements will give our pet parents another unique offering to help them keep their pets healthy and happy and another reason to shop our stores," Matt McAdam, PetSmart vice president of merchandising, said in a release.
With less than a month to go to the kick-off of the 2010 FIFA World Cup games, entries for a new marketing campaign contest for South Africa are pouring in. The Get Wildly Creative About South Africa online ad contest, organized by South Africa Airways, South Africa Tourism and the CMO Council, has attracted more than 400 entries from around the world so far, says Donovan Neale-May, executive director of the CMO Council, and it expects to receive more in the next week; more than 10,000 aspiring ad professionals have already viewed the briefs and entry procedures. "The problem with the South Africa brand is that it hasn't been defined and shaped clearly," he tells Marketing Daily. "There's not a distinction between the continent and the country, and its image has been shaped by events reported in the news -- HIV/AIDS, security problems, corruption, and political instability." But the eight or nine million people who visit the country each year have a very different perception, and Neale-May hopes the contest can leverage those voices, using the Internet and social media. The idea came about, he says, because of the CMO Council's GeoBranding Center, which is researching the best ways to build destinations as brands. The group realized that between its ability to analyze the tone of millions of online conversations and the buzz surrounding the upcoming World Cup games, there was a real opportunity to track how far South Africa's star can rise: "We're exploring how the FIFA World Cup is going to impact perceptions of the brand." The contest, hosted by Zooppa.com, is drawing especially strong interest from the ex-pat community, social media networks and ad people. Entries will be judged by marketing experts, South African luminaries and media specialists, and winners will get cash, computer gear and a VIP trip to South Africa, courtesy of South African Airways and South Africa Tourism. Winning entries will also be showcased in office, Web site, magazine, in-flight video and airport venues. Neale-May hopes the best campaigns will help the GeoBranding effort understand how people perceive South Africa now, "and find out what the most compelling value proposition is for the brand; what's the message that will resonate with people? And it's not just about tourism -- it involves talking about investing in South Africa, commerce, trade, innovation, and sports. There are a lot of aspects to the country that don't get communicated."
Chris Perry has just been named VP marketing at Hyundai Motor America, replacing Joel Ewanick, who departed in March -- first to lead U.S. marketing at Nissan, and then to GM, where he is overseeing marketing for the automaker's four brands. Perry, now reporting to CEO John Krafcik, has helped develop the automaker's award-winning marketing strategy that includes big-exposure media buys and an aspirational position that makes the Hyundai of a decade ago seem like a brand from another era. Q: Does your promotion presage any significant changes to Hyundai's cornerstone media strategy of advertising on big-event broadcasts? A: No, I like it a lot; and I was one of the architects. So we will continue our "Big Voices, Big Places" strategy. Just recently -- three weeks ago -- we signed a deal with NBC to be title sponsor of the pre-game show for "Sunday Night Football." So now Bob Costas will be behind a Hyundai-branded desk. Q: Why is that a strong media position for Hyundai? A: It's big for us because NBC has developed it into a major football property; people show up for that pre-game show because it's both a recap of the day's events with a lot of highlights and scores, and a preview of the evening's game. And we will have a presence during Sunday night games, but not all of them. Q: As director of marketing communications, you did a lot of work developing Hyundai's Web marketing strategy. What's next? A: We are going to invest more online; it's really critical for our brand. People interested in our brand go to our site and to third-party sites. For example, we are building out our Web presence so that Hyundai Motor America's tier-one consumer Web site is aligned with tier-two [dealer regions] and tier-three [individual dealer] sites. We are working with a company called Cobalt, that is building all of our tier-three sites -- they have done around 790 so far -- so the experience for customers is seamless and consistent from tier one to tier three. Q: So no changes are in store in terms of the direction of ad creative? A: I'm very happy with ad creative. When we brought in Goodby, Silverstein & Partners we tried very hard to create a certain tone, an attitude including bringing in [actor and VO] Jeff Bridges. We have carried that over to [new agency] Innocean. When consumers will say they don't see any difference for us, that's great because it shows we maintained a particular voice with consumers. That tonality we don't see changing at all, from where we were before. What I want to do differently -- what I think is, we need to maintain that "Big Voices" strategy, we need to do more at the grassroots level. And we have not done much in multicultural marketing, and that's an area in which we need to expand a lot. Q: What about social media? How are you approaching the brand's presence in places like Facebook? A: We have started a task force around social media. That is particularly important for us because regardless of the success we have had, people are still unfamiliar with the brand. And the more I dig into it, I realize that there are few real experts there, partly because it is continuing to evolve at such a rapid pace. Brands' roles are always being defined. But on an average day 46 million people are on Facebook, and they are making, on average, 2.6 visits. That's huge, and it's just getting bigger. So it's a place where we want to be. Q: But what should Hyundai actually be doing on Facebook? Is it a matter of talking about products? A: We have had this big debate about it. You know, over the years, advertisement media strategy hasn't changed that much: Newspapers to radio to magazines to TV -- the messaging might be essentially the same. But [social media] isn't just another media channel. So we have a target audience we have identified for our brand and we want to make sure that we understand how they feel about social media, about how brands should interact with them in that space. Consumers understand that we are a marketing country, and that brands will want to play in that space. But it's not the rational aspects about our brand that we can leverage there, but the softer side -- the philanthropic side, lifestyle, ecological initiatives -- to help consumers there become familiar with and feel better about the brand. Unfamiliarity with our brand is something we have to overcome. We do a lot of focus groups, and I love to attend them. At one of them someone said, "You know what, you guys are foreign -- you are not like Toyota and Honda, who are part of America. I understand that they come from Japan, but I feel comfortable with them. I'm not familiar with your brand yet." We have our rationale and product chops down, but there are other areas we need to work on. We have been very successful, but we have to be humble. Q: How about online advertising on third-party sites where auto shoppers browse? A: We will invest in third-party sites like Edmunds.com, and Kelley Blue Book, so our presence will continue to grow there. Just this week we have done three home-page takeovers: On Monday we took over MSN, Tuesday we did the same with Yahoo, and for Friday it's AOL, all of which generate huge loads of traffic for us, actually equal to what we get for our Super Bowl presence.
Reflecting restaurant patrons' increasing interest in pick-me-ups between regular meals, menu items described as "snacks," "snackable" or "snacker" have leaped by 170% since 2007, according to new research from Mintel Menu Insights. Snacking options represent a "huge" opportunity to drive traffic and sales during non-peak hours and throughout the day, for restaurant formats ranging from quick service to fine dining, says Eric Giandelone, director of foodservice research at Mintel. More than a third (37%) of consumer respondents indicated that they are most likely to visit restaurants for snacks in the early and late afternoon hours (3 p.m. to 6 p.m.). However, while only 19% purchase snacks in restaurants between 6 p.m. and 8 p.m., these diners spend more: $4.26 per person, on average, versus $3.79 per person across all other time periods. This points to the need for operators to offer different types of snacks for different dayparts. "Heartier and pricier fare may have more appeal later in the day, while light options may work best in the morning or early afternoon," notes Giandelone. Nearly two-thirds (64%) of consumers say they look for a beverage when snacking at restaurants, and 61% say they choose portable items. While the restaurant industry is striving to tap growing opportunities in offering a wider variety of healthier menu options, as is true with entrées, relatively few consumers say they actually choose healthy options when it comes to snacks (32%). More than half (52%) report that they tend to crave "indulgent" snacks, and half say they gravitate toward something salty to nibble on.
Watch out, Carpal Tunnel, there's a new injury in town: Cellbow. Jabra, the Danish maker of hands-free devices for cell phones, has launched a tongue-in-cheek marketing campaign to draw attention to a medical malady (yes, it really exists) that results from spending too much time holding a cell phone up to one's ear. "What we're trying to do in a fun and provocative way is show the benefits of using a headset, that using a headset will leave you hands-free and will give you the freedom to multitask," Jonas Forsberg, general manager of Jabra's North American business, tells Marketing Daily. The company has created a dedicated site, www.gotcellbow.com, where the videos can be accessed. The first video features a group of men in a doctor's waiting room holding their arms and talking about their injuries. "You know, they say if you do it too much, this will happen, right?" says one. "It's like a compulsion. I do it at home, work, public places," says another. As the repartee continues, a bike messenger enters the office holding a cell phone to his ear, saying: "I only did it five minutes ago." A nurse comes out to admonish him, "If you keep playing with it, it's only going to get worse." The take away: "Stop Cellbow. Use a Jabra Headset." By creating the Web site, Jabra is hoping to create a viral campaign that people will pass along both via e-mail and social media and through multimedia text messaging, with the help of Mogreet, whose technology compresses videos to be played on video-capable phones. With Mogreet, Jabra is launching the mobile marketing campaign in multiple countries and across 35 wireless carriers. "We tried to do it in a fun way to generate attention and get people to pass them along," he says. The company is looking to draw attention to the videos by seeding them via banners and through the company's e-mail database. Otherwise known as "Cubital Tunnel Syndrome," cellbow is caused by a pinched, damaged or irritated ulnar nerve, resulting in numbness in one's ring and little fingers or elbow. The humorous campaign is intended to show that headsets are useful for purposes other than driving, Forsberg says. "If you get a hurting elbow while using a cell phone, that's cellbow," he says. According to Forsberg, only 14% of cell phone users regularly use the hands-free headsets. "This is about creating overall awareness," he says of the campaign. "Our biggest competitor here is non-users."
Top 10 DMAs in which reside adults who live in a household that used maternity care in the past three years: 1 Austin, Texas 2 Salt Lake City 3 Wichita/ Hutchinson, Kan. 4 Bakersfield, Calif. 5 Raleigh/ Durham, N.C. 6 Des Moines/ Ames, Iowa 7 Minneapolis/ St. Paul 8 Grand Rapids/ Kalamazoo/ Battle Creek, Mich. 9 Columbus, Ohio 10 Birmingham, Ala. Source: Scarborough Research, www.weknowthelocals.com
Using social networks like Facebook, YouTube and Twitter for brand promotion is not a new idea. But with traffic to social media sites now more than 307 million unique and Americans spending more time than ever on social sites (over 5.5 hours per month, according to Nielsen), engaging consumers through social networks is no longer an option -- it's essential. Twitter has attracted particular interest as a marketing tool, especially with its latest Promoted Tweets, and saw a 579& increase in users from December 2008 to 2009. Google real-time search and now Twitter Promoted Tweets have also changed the marketing landscape and increased the ability to influence audiences across social channels. With Promoted Tweets, specific tweets from participating companies show up in relevant Twitter search results. For example, if someone searches "Starbucks" on Twitter, Starbucks' latest Promoted Tweet will show up at the top of the results page. Furthermore, Twitter will be monitoring Promoted Tweets for resonance and will stop promoting those that don't strike a chord with users. With the micro-blogging site processing about 600 million search requests each day, odds are good that Promoted Tweets will help brands enter consumer consciousness and win followers -- as long as they put out the right message at the right time. Choosing which Tweets are promoted can help companies target users with the most resonant messages at the best times. This added control over the highest-ranking tweets in search can also help brands manage their online reputations, as Promoted Tweets can be formulated to address the brand's most pressing issues of the moment. This will put positive and useful information at the top of a user's search. Brands using this tool can benefit by monitoring their online brand reputations to see what customers are saying and decide the best message to put out. Twitter's partnership with search engines also makes it easier for brands to monitor their social reputations in real-time; by simply searching on Google, users can see relevant tweets as real-time search results. This means that when consumers search for information on Starbucks, they will see up-to-the-second Starbucks-related tweets -- from both happy and unhappy customers. Consumers are talking about your company, and this is where tools to monitor online brand repu-tation can be beneficial. The range of sophisticated online brand reputation solutions can help you determine the most influential online, what messages resonate and better understand when and how to join the conversation. Before really diving into online brand management, marketers should first agree on the company's social engagement objectives. Do you want to change perceptions? Drive traffic back to the company blog? Build relationships with influencers? There's no right answer -- each company must figure out what is most beneficial to its business plan. Spread these goals across the organization, and make sure you have every employee sold on the idea. Social engagement is an enterprise-wide undertaking that requires buy-in from employees and clear role-assignment. Once you know your goals and who is in charge of your messaging, decide what types of content your spokespeople will respond to. Generally, it's best to respond to questions about the brand, posts containing misinformation, "fence-sitters" and strong positive and negative opinions (as long as they're not by Internet trolls). As always, the sooner you can respond to any relevant cus-tomer query, the better. The best kind of social engagement is relevant to consumers and resonates with them. It's not a mouthpiece. Whether you're using Promoted Tweets, Twitter, Facebook or YouTube, use it to share your thoughts, highlight news and events in your market and have a conversation. Also, monitor social sites for customer service issues and answer them promptly. This fractured, fast-paced media world may seem daunting at first, but your returns in the form of customer engage-ment will be worth every second and every penny you invest. Blake Cahill is CMO of Visible Technologies