Kraft Foods/Nabisco Wheat Thins is employing the upcoming Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival as a high-visibility platform for its ongoing "The Crunch is Calling" marketing message. The cracker brand's presence at this year's festival -- held each June in Manchester, Tenn. -- will include a centrally located "Crunch Den" where attendees can relax, sample Wheat Thins snacks and use a digital kiosk to send friends/family video content, as well as both an advance sweepstakes and on-site opportunities to win brand-sponsored prizes. The sweepstakes, currently being heavily promoted on the brand's Facebook fan page (which has attracted about 70,000 fans since its launch in December), offers consumers who become Wheat Thins Facebook fans and provide their email addresses, etc. the chance to win a grand prize of a trip, with three friends, to attend Bonnaroo -- and to act as the Wheat Thins "Crunch Correspondent" during the June 10-13 event. (The correspondent will video and blog about his/her adventures at the event.) In addition to a mini HD camera, the winner (and guests) will receive on-grounds RV accommodations, VIP meals, gift vouchers and prime viewing spots for the entertainment acts. Twenty-five other sweeps entrants will also win mini HDs. The Crunch Den will feature large screens showcasing the user-generated videos and video postcards (all with Wheat Thins branding) that are being created and shared via Facebook and other social media. Why Bonnaroo? The festival is not only a large event (some 80,000 attendees per year), but draws an extremely diverse crowd as a result of its broad variety of entertainment offerings (artists spanning a wide variety of music genres, comedians, theater performers, an old-fashioned arcade, on-site cinema, a beer festival and more), says Jim Low, director of wheat snack crackers for Kraft Foods. And that artistic/cultural diversity meshes very well with Wheat Thins' emphasis on the "rich" sensory experience of the crackers, he explains. The "richness of experience" platform, summarized in "The Crunch is Calling" campaign tagline, was implemented last summer, and reflects both the brand's core strengths and product changes designed to enhance those strengths, Low tells Marketing Daily. "About 12 months ago, we went back to consumers to get a deeper understanding of their experience with the product, and realized that [the marketing] hadn't been giving sufficient credit or attention to the complexity and richness of that experience -- the crunch, flavor and texture," he says. With that and other consumer insights in hand, the brand moved to strengthen its key elements of appeal, starting last August, by significantly boosting the whole-grain content in key varieties (Original, Reduced Fat, Hint of Salt and Big), eliminating high fructose corn syrup, introducing new packaging with a more contemporary design (highlighting wheat images and conveying the crunch factor via an image showing the cracker being broken apart) -- and, of course, a new advertising campaign. The campaign's two 30-second television spots, also launched last August and being continued this year, are a decided departure from the brand's previous, more mainstream-toned approaches (such as the still-remembered Sandy Duncan campaign of the late '80's). The current "Crunch is Calling" commercials -- one featuring Ann Markley of "America's Top Model" fame (though she's not identified), the other featuring a buff, hip-looking young male -- show the principals moving to a rock guitar beat as they reach out to grab and crunch on one cracker amid a swirling sea of Wheat Thins. "The commercials convey people's passion and enthusiasm for Wheat Thins and the energy and vitality of the brand," says Low. "They convey that Wheat Thins is a snack for today's adults." The Bonnaroo sponsorship activities follow Wheat Thins' significant presence in March at the NCAA tournament, where hundreds of thousands of Wheat Thins and other Kraft product samples were distributed as part of Kraft's new multi-season, multi-brand sponsorship agreement with NCAA and CBS Sports. "All brands need to continue to evolve in order to stay contemporary and relevant to consumers," says Low -- noting, for example, that the whole-grain content levels in the rest of Wheat Thins' product line are also being increased in this year's first half. The line's varieties and flavors have expanded significantly in recent years, the most recent additions (launched last August/September) being Wheat Thins Flatbreads and Artisan Cheese extensions. Wheat Thins' television/general market creative is handled by Draft FCB, and its digital creative is handled by AKQA. Edelman handles public relations.
Despite all kinds of mixed economic tea leaves, a new study of consumer perception from Deloitte indicates that most Americans do believe financial recovery has arrived, and that view is especially strong among affluents. "Consumer confidence is really strengthening," Scott Erickson, a partner in the firm's retail practice, tells Marketing Daily. "And people with higher incomes are more likely to believe we are in recovery." About 63% of those in the survey say they are planning to spend the same or more with retailers this year than they did in 2009; 40% say they are more upbeat about the economy. And while 55% of consumers think the economy is in recovery, 65% of those who make more than $100,000 a year believe that is true. The survey also reported a marked improvement in people's perceptions of their household status, with 64% reporting that their financial status is either better or the same compared with a year ago. When asked that question just before the holidays, only 56% thought their household financial situation was the same or better). Still, with conflicting data appearing every day -- for example, Wal-Mart last week reported a sales downturn based on what it sees as a customer base struggling to pay for basic food items, while rival Target Corp. the next day reported a sales bounce, based largely on strong sales of discretionary items, like clothing -- "there's a really interesting dichotomy that retailers are struggling with," he says. And many consumers see that ambiguity, with 27% saying that although they believe the economy is recovering, it is at risk for falling back into recession. Erickson says the data also show that even though consumers may feel confident enough to spend more, they have made significant changes in the way they do so. "While consumer confidence seems to be improving, it doesn't mean they are reverting to their old spending habits. There is much more of a focus on value, and they are looking for places that are going to give them better pricing." As a result, he says, retailers still have to scramble to hang on to them. Perhaps the biggest changes, he says, are in technology, with 56% of those surveyed saying they now rely on social networking sites, and with 43% of those people using the sites for shopping information. Their cross-channel skills are sharpening too, with 33% buying more online than a year ago, and 75% doing online scouting before or during the shopping experience. (Half of them say an online review has influenced a purchase.) And 21% have used a smartphone in the shopping process. They are also well aware of the way the recession has gutted many retailers, with 50% saying they believe retailers are offering more sales and deals, and 53% noticing there is less sales help in stores, and 43% conscious of less inventory.
Burger King is launching a TV and point-of-purchase campaign for a limited-time product, BK Fire-Grilled Ribs, which will be served with a barbecue dipping sauce in three serving sizes. The Miami office of Crispin, Porter + Bogusky handles. The 30-second TV ads make fun of the "when pigs fly" adage, with a pig with wings convincing a Burger King guest that the restaurants now serve bona fide BBQ ribs. John Schaufelberger, SVP of global product marketing and innovation at the company, said the initial reaction to this product was strong, "further validating the Burger King system's investment in our new ... broiler. Because of this proprietary cooking technology, we've been able to up the ante in our product development across the board," he said in a statement, adding that the BK Fire-Grilled Ribs is the first of several new products to come off of the cooking platform. The ribs can be added as a three-piece serving to a BK Value Meal for an additional $1.99. As stand-alones, the company is offering the ribs in three serving sizes for $2.99, $5.69 and $7.19. The company is also hitting the track with a NASCAR promotion around what used to be called the Firecracker 400, the famed July 3 race at Daytona Speedway, now called the Coke Zero 400. The Miami-based QSR chain, which sponsors the No. 14 car driven by Tony Stewart, will allow consumers to have their signatures grace the BK-branded hood of the vehicle for the race, which he won last year. The promotion, "BK Sign & Race" includes a Web site, KBSignandRace. com, where people can submit their signatures. The site enables participants to zoom in on the Burger King logo to see how their signatures will be incorporated, and then lets them disseminate the image on social media sites like Facebook and Twitter as well as email. A second phase post-race dangles the chance to own a BK-branded hood of No. 14 car. The hood will be auctioned online through the Sign & Race Web site. Burger King Corp.'s sponsorship of Stewart will continue in August with a four-week, in-restaurant promotional campaign, playing off of Stewart's nickname, "Smoke," and highlighting the Smoky Cheddar Steakhouse XT burger.
Progressive Insurance's cheery spokescharacter, Flo, is resonating strongly with consumers, improving the company's standing in Brand Keys' Customer Loyalty Index. For the 2010 survey, Progressive jumped into the No. 2 spot behind Allstate, up from the fifth position in 2009. According to Brand Keys founder and president Robert Passikoff, that jump is attributable to one thing: Flo. "What folks are looking for is some level of connection that can be established with the brand," Passikoff tells Marketing Daily . "That's the movement that's happened with Progressive. It's not just that they do a lot of advertising; they all do a lot of advertising." Progressive's ability to connect with consumers is particularly impressive -- and necessary -- in a category like insurance, where the products are often mundane and indistinguishable from one company to the next, Passikoff says. "We generally say the decision process for most categories is 70/30 emotional/rational, and this is a great example of that," he says. "The manner in which they've developed the character and the offerings -- it seems to be very organic, emotional and fluid. It's how people get engaged." Progressive's jump on the Customer Loyalty Index comes at the expense of companies such as State Farm, GEICO and Nationwide, which each moved down one spot (to third, fourth and fifth, respectively) in 2010 after Progressive's jump from fifth in 2009. For these companies, it may be time to take a long look at their communications strategies, Passikoff says. "The ones who are not seeing high levels of customer prospect engagement, it's not a matter of looking to re-engineer their offers, but looking at how they're communicating their offers," he says. "From a creative perspective, you've got a lot of companies doing the same kind of thing, and they're not getting the same kind of success."
So much for listening to your customers: A new study from Cone Inc. reveals that 47% of Americans think marketers are doing a lousy job in engaging consumers, even though 84% think their ideas would help make products and services better. Should companies care? You bet, Jonathan Yohannan, senior vice president of Cone, tells Marketing Daily. "Companies not actively engaging their consumers and other stakeholders are missing opportunities for growth and innovation. Our research shows that consumers believe their ideas can help companies and that they want to be engaged. Consumers also indicate they will reward companies that use their ideas by buying products and services, remaining loyal or recommending the company to others." The poll found that consumers want to be involved in four key areas -- how a company conducts its business (85%), products and packaging (83%), support of social and environmental issues (81%) and its marketing and advertising (74%). And they say they're willing to work at it, with 70% willing to take surveys and be part of research, 44% willing to buy or boycott a product, and 32% concerned enough to email or phone. Transparency is also increasingly important to consumers. The poll found that 92% want companies to tell them what they're doing to improve their products, services and operations, although 87% believe the communication is one-sided. (And 67% say they are confused by the messages companies use to talk about their social and environmental policies.) While the poll -- which included 1,045 adults -- was fielded a few weeks before the BP oil catastrophe, some 75% of Americans give companies a "C" or below on how they're engaging consumers around social and environmental issues. "Companies must change the way they approach social and environmental challenges, as it is increasingly difficult to assert where a company's responsibility begins, where it ends and who is ultimately accountable for solving the issues that affect us all," he says. One example of a company getting it right, he says, is Timberland, with its Earthkeepers program. "Its "Voices of Challenge" site brings together thought leaders, issue experts, practitioners and everyday consumers at the heart of an online dialogue designed to present ideas for future innovation," he says. Another is GreenXchange, a partnership between ten corporations and agencies, including Nike, Yahoo and Best Buy.
The meat industry is responding to a new study issued May 17, asserting that processed meats like hot dogs and sausage increase one's chance of developing heart disease by 42%. The study, via researchers at Harvard's School of Public Health, also said processed meats increase by 19% one's likelihood of developing Type 2 diabetes. Both conclusions assume a daily serving of processed meat -- one to two slices of deli meats or one hot dog. The study is published in the medical journal Circulation. Involving some 1.2 million people worldwide, it found no higher risk of heart disease or diabetes among people who ate unprocessed red meat. The big difference between processed and unprocessed meats, per the researchers, was sodium and nitrate, with processed meats having, on average, four times the former and 50% more of the later. The take-away: avoid bacon, salami, sausages, hot dogs and processed deli meats. Janet Riley, SVP and head of public affairs, at American Meat Institute Foundation, an industry group, says the industry has for years been offering low-sodium and -nitrate processed meats. "The industry has been working to reformulate products, and there has been call for reduced sodium for a very long time," she says. The group also has substantive issues with the study. The American Meat Institute Foundation (AMIF) says the study is contrary to the U.S. Dietary Guidelines for Americans. The group says that since the study is epidemiological, "which by itself is not sufficient to establish cause and effect," per James A. Hodges, the group's president, it allows researchers to identify associations that may merit further study. "Too often, epidemiological findings are reported as 'cased closed' findings, as if a researcher has discovered the definitive cause of a disease or illness," he writes. The organization says the problem with the study is that it makes the results look more dramatic than they are because the 42% increase among the processed meat-eating cohort is elaborated from an "odds ratio." The term refers to a ratio of the odds of something happening to one group to the odds of it happening to another. "This study did not achieve the standard threshold that would generate concern," Hodges said. "At best, this hypothesis merits further study. It is certainly no reason for dietary changes." The foundation also argues that if sodium is the issue "there are many foods higher in sodium that are more commonly consumed [than meat]. In fact, in a ham sandwich, bread and condiments contribute more sodium than the ham." Dan Jaffe, EVP of the Association of National Advertisers, says the food industry has been proactive in reformulation efforts, with the members of the Grocery Manufacturers of American reformulating some 10,000 food items to deal with fats, sugars and salts. "This is a multibillion-dollar effort because there is growing consumer demand," he says. "There is no group that is more active in our society today in coming to grips with obesity and other health-associated issues than the food, beverage, restaurant and advertising industry." He says, however, that producers are trying to walk a fine line. "No matter how healthful a product is, if it tastes like sawdust it won't be useful to the public or producers." On May 17, the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, an industry initiative, held a press conference with First Lady Michelle Obama and the Partnership for a Healthier America to announce a pledge to reduce 1.5 trillion calories by the end of 2015 through lower-calorie options.
Percentage of iPhone owners more likely than the average American adult to: 1 Order any product from Zappos.com +282 % 2 Shop at Bloomingdales +255 % 3 Participate in snowboarding +254 % 4 Own an elliptical trainer +193 % 5 Think of their mobile phone as a source of entertainment +180 % 6 Rent videos on news/information/documentary +173 % 7 Make phone calls using the Internet +170 % 8 Listen to or purchase Reggae music +159 % 9 Be willing to pay a monthly subscription fee to receive live TV on their cell phone or PDA + 90 % 10 Say they want others to say "wow" when they see their electronics + 52 % Source: GfK MRI Survey of the American Consumer, Fall 2009
Whether you are a marketing professional in a large or small organization, working in a B2B or B2C company, you are expected to demonstrate the value, impact and financial contribution of the marketing investments you make on behalf of your organization. Your leadership team wants to know how marketing is affecting the creation of new customers and the retention of and new business from existing customers. As a result, marketers have embraced various approaches to measuring marketing program performance and ROI particularly when it comes to demand generation. In the world of B2B, marketers have places a significant emphasis on measuring cost per lead, lead volume and lead quality. A Forrester Research study, "Redefining B2B Marketing Measurement," found that "the metrics that most B2B marketers say they use -- like number of leads generated and cost per lead" -- rank in the lower half of the effectiveness list." In fact, cost per lead may actually work against us if we don't look further into the buying process. At first blush, one program may produce more leads than another at a lower cost and therefore appear more efficient. But what is really important is how many of the leads convert to the next stage in the buying process. If there is a higher conversion rate from the more expensive program, than it is actually more effective. But if we only look at a marketing program in terms of qualified leads generated and cost, we could potentially be eliminating programs that actually help build the pipeline. Therefore, we need to move beyond the lead as the marketing metric and leverage metrics more meaningful to the organization -- metrics that are more closely tied to revenue. Revenue -- that is, sales -- is for most organizations one of the most important business outcomes. Every company establishes a revenue goal. This revenue target is generated by some amount of business or dollars from existing customers and some amount of business or dollars from net new customers. These dollars represent the opportunity dollars the organization needs to generate. So while Marketing may not be directly responsible for closing these deals, Marketing is responsible for generating some or all of the opportunities dollars or opportunity pipeline that will close. By looking at the opportunity pipeline from end-to-end we can see that generating leads provides only a partial view into marketing's contribution. So what marketing metrics are more aligned with the opportunity pipeline? These three categories of pipeline-related metrics enable Marketing to measure its contribution in terms of opportunities: 1. Pipeline contribution How are marketing programs and investment positively affecting the number of leads that convert into sales opportunities and new deals? How has marketing reduced the number of qualified leads that wither and die? 2. Pipeline movement How are the marketing programs and investments accelerated the rate at which opportunities move through the pipeline and convert into the deals? 3. Pipeline value What increase in the revenue in the pipeline have marketing investment generated? By moving beyond the lead and by improving our effectiveness and efficiency in terms of these three metrics, we can actually improve Marketing ROI. Ideally, over time, by monitoring results and analyzing the data, Marketing can begin to create more predictable results in terms of contribution, conversion, and value. Of course, we must remember that in addition to pipeline metrics we must also measure strategic metrics related to customer retention and value, topics for another time.