Joel Ewanick, General Motors' new marketing VP who is overseeing Buick, GMC, Chevy and Cadillac, wants to take the latter brand down a different road, and he's asking the division's agency to come along for the ride. Ewanick has already shifted the $600 million Chevrolet account from Publicis to Omnicom's Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, which is based in San Francisco. Bartle Bogle Hegarty (BBH), in which Publicis holds a 49% stake, won the Cadillac account in January, replacing Boston-based Modernista. The agency this month offered its first major work for the brand, "Mark of Leadership." A source tells Marketing Daily that Ewanick isn't thrilled with that theme, and has already let Cadillac and BBH know he wants a new creative platform. "He has told them that the brand idea of 'Mark of Leadership' isn't really the direction he wants to take the brand in terms of the theme line." The insider says that Ewanick has been having "extensive talks" with Cadillac and with BBH, which handles the $270 million account out of its New York office. "I will say he has talked to them about what his expectations are for the brand," says the source. The "Mark of Leadership" campaign focuses on product features, with voiceover-free TV spots shot at a frenetic pace, featuring quick cuts between zooming CTS and SRX vehicles, drivers' faces, and things like the control cluster, shifter, and moon roof set to electro-pop music. But, says the source, Ewanick is definitely working with the agency. And he says the agency is "working hard" to come back with suggestions on how to adapt and move, and that "this will be something that's probably going to be an ongoing conversation that will last for a while, so nothing pressing is going to happen." The source says Ewanick has basically told BBH that the "Mark of Leadership" theme doesn't have legs long-term, and they need to find a much more relevant brand positioning that can be sustained as a long campaign. Ewanick is reportedly giving more work on Chevrolet to hometown agency Campbell-Ewald. Word has it that Goodby will open an office in the Motor City to service Chevy.
While General Mills' Fiber One campaign has by all indications been hitting the mark with its "Cardboard, no. Delicious, yes" campaign, more marketers may need to get on the bandwagon in order to address consumers' inadequate understanding of dietary fiber, indicates new research from Mintel. Insufficient understanding of the importance of ingesting adequate daily levels of fiber and persisting negative perceptions about the taste of high-fiber foods continue to be significant obstacles for marketers of fiber-rich/fiber-enriched foods, according to Mintel's consumer survey findings. Nearly one-third (30%) of survey respondents report that they make it a point to eat naturally fiber-rich foods, and 37% say that they can get enough fiber from regular foods, so supplements and foods with added fiber are unnecessary, reports the market research firm. Yet, studies show that most Americans are failing to meet recommended daily fiber intake levels. "Consumers are more likely to report limiting sugar, fat, sodium and calorie intake than they are to report eating naturally fiber-rich foods," says Mintel senior health and wellness analyst Molly Heyl-Rushmer. Some of the reasons: 27% still think food with added fiber usually has an unpleasant taste, 22% don't fully understand that fiber is important to health (that lack of fiber is associated with cancers, heart disease and diabetes, for instance); and 25% think that fiber is only necessary for those who suffer from irregularity or other digestive problems. Men are more likely to express the last belief, and 30% of men (compared to 23% of women) also believe that supplements are just as effective as fiber-enriched foods. "The way men view fiber is a considerable obstacle for marketers to overcome," sums up Heyl-Rushmer. The answer? She believes that employing "macho" spokesmen in advertising to "gently poke fun" at these false beliefs could help fiber-rich food marketers convince men that they're in error about fiber. Heyl-Rushmer also believes that marketers should implement money-back guarantees (aimed in part at getting consumers to try high-fiber foods despite taste concerns) and educational initiatives to address the various negative perceptions and inform consumers about the importance of dietary fiber to good health.
American Airlines will debut two TV spots over the Memorial Day weekend that pay tribute to military service members, veterans and their families. Created by Dallas-based TM Advertising, American's advertising agency of record, the new 30-second commercials were filmed on location at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, one of Dallas-based American's hubs. "Thank You" tells the story of a traveling solider who begins his journey with American Airlines. He thanks everyone he meets -- including the American employees who help him with self-service check-in -- at the Admirals Club, and at the gate. As he boards the plane, a passenger offers him his window seat, and the soldier quietly replies, "I'm fine. But thank you, sir." As the young solider exits the aircraft upon arrival, he begins to say thank you to the pilot, who stops him and says "No ... thank you." "Putting Them First" follows a young Marine, seated in a busy gate area prior to boarding a flight. As she is reviewing her documents, an American Airlines gate agent approaches the Marine to tell her the airline is pre-boarding military passengers. As the Marine makes her way to the gate, fellow passengers step aside, smiling and acknowledging her. She makes eye contact with an elderly veteran who rises, saluting her in perfect military form. She pauses, holds his gaze for a moment, and then nods. As she boards the aircraft, viewers hear: "To those who put our country first, we're honored to do the same for you." The commercials close with an invitation to join American in its support of military/veterans as well as other key causes. Earlier this month, American launched its new "Join Us" Web site -- www.aa.com/JoinUs -- which includes information about several of American's important causes, including military/veterans, Susan G. Komen for the Cure, children's charities and other community efforts. The spots will air on selected national cable channels, including ESPN, ESPN 2, the History Channel and the Food Network. The spots will continue to air throughout the year to coincide with special observances, including the Fourth of July, Veterans Day and Thanksgiving. Both commercials can be viewed online at AA.com/JoinUs. Veterans/military programs are a strong priority at American, with more than 60% of American's pilots and 10% of all American and American Eagle employees active military service members or veterans. "Support for U.S. troops and veterans runs deep at American Airlines," said Roger Frizzell, American's vice president -- corporate communications and advertising, in a release. "These TV spots are a way for all of us within the American Airlines family to say thank you -- for your commitment, your dedication, your sacrifice and your service to the United States." Advertising critic Lewis Lazare of the Chicago Sun-Times called the spots "emotionally gripping" and lauded the airline for launching them "after a long string of fairly ho-hum TV ads." He gave the spots an "A" grade in his column. "They unabashedly tug at our heartstrings," Lazare says. "It's hard to say which of the two American spots is the more compelling."
Still milking the media buzz created when Fox and ABC initially refused to run one of its lingerie ads last month, Lane Bryant is having a new kind of fun: It's got an ad spoofing underwear powerhouse Victoria's Secret up on its blog and is asking its customers to weigh in. The spoof shows a blonde skeleton clad in black bra and panties, smooching herself in the mirror as she admires her "perfect bra made for perfect women, like me. ("Not for chubbies," says the final voiceover.) "Millions of supporters have expressed their views in a variety of ways and following is a poignant, albeit humorous work, that speaks to the cause of accepting beauty in all sizes," it says on Inside Curve, its company blog. "Share your thoughts and ideas for support!" Holly Baird, a spokeperson for Lane Bryant, tells Marketing Daily the company is delighted with the ongoing huzzahs from curvy gals around the country. "Women of all shapes and sizes are glad that someone finally stepped forward and addressed the issue of size discrimination in advertising. It opened up a dialogue that for some time has been hush-hush. And many women felt insecure and ashamed of their full figures. It created a launch pad for this topic to be exposed and gave many the chance to speak up and be proud." The controversy started last month, when Lane Bryant, owned by Charming Shoppes, was shot down by both Fox and ABC. "After numerous requests for edits, Fox allowed the spot to run during the last half hour of "American Idol," she says. "ABC flat out refused to run it during "Dancing with the Stars," and only after Lane Bryant replied, 'But you'll allow the VS 'nakeds' campaign,' did they concede. Lane Bryant has never experienced this level of discrimination." As a follow-up to the buzz -- the controversy got widespread coverage in newspapers, TV, in blogs and on Twitter -- the company last week threw a chainwide 40% off sale to thanks to its fans. "Women were thrilled to see the new Lane Bryant activewear and Cacique lingerie line and receive free panties," says Baird, adding that the whole process has boosted consumer awareness of what the brand stands for. "Women are more aware of the product and meaning behind Lane Bryant's clothing lines -- fashionable clothing for full-figured everyday women." Lane Bryant, which claims to be the most recognized name in specialty plus-size clothing, says the average American woman today is a size 14.
Corona Extra and Corona Light beers have launched their largest summer promotion to date, tied to a "Beach Getaway" sweepstakes. The off- and on-premises promotion, which will run through July 31, kicked off on May 20 with a 24-hour "pop-up" beach party in New York's Times Square. The event featured 30 tons of sand, ocean sounds, palm trees, volley ball and other games, beach-item giveaways and brand ambassadors (including "Real Housewives of New York City" star Kelly Bensimon and Olympic volleyball champion Karch Kiraly). Media covering the event included ESPN2's "SportsNation," local New York TV stations and Web and other outlets based in the U.S. and countries including Mexico and Japan, according to parent company Crown Imports LLC. To enter the sweeps, offering 100 grand prizes of trips for two to Cancun, Mexico (plus 900 Corona Beach Getaway prize pack prizes), consumers look inside specially marked 12-, 18- and 24-packs of the beer brand to find a promotional bottle. Two thousand Extra and Light 12-ounce bottles will feature a special graphic wrap and a unique entry code, redeemable (at coronabeachgetaway.com) for chances to win prizes.
If a car had the capacity for emotion, the three words that might terrify it most are "launch and abandon." But it is not unusual for marketers to pull out the stops when introducing a new vehicle and then put the stops right back in three months later. Kia, however, is giving its Soul another shove in the respite between the redesigned Sorento, which launched during the Super Bowl, and the forthcoming Sportage re-do, launching in August. And the campaign brings back the hamsters from the initial Soul "A New Way to Roll" campaign from last year. Kia and its agency, David and Goliath, got kudos and statues for the effort, positing the non-Soul-driving world as a Richard Yates-inspired landscape of rodents hopelessly spinning their lives away on those little metal wheels the hamsters get with their gym memberships. The new effort, "This or That," breaking on Wednesday, makes fun of other cubist compacts (E.G. Nissan Cube and Scion xB) by suggesting that competitors deserve the auto-insider description of boring cars as "appliances." As in last year's launch spot, a trio of 20-something hamsters (or the mammalian equivalent) return to hamster-ville, this time as hip-hop artists driving an acid-green Soul and dancing and grooving to music from Black Sheep. As they cruise around, they notice the hoi polloi are driving appliances, literally: toasters, washing machines and cardboard boxes. The effort comprises a 60-second in-cinema and TV ad, a 30-second TV version, and 15-second online ad, plus a microsite, banner ads and out of home. The ad runs on cable, and online at Pandora, Facebook, Social Vibe's PetVille, Kia.com and as part of a YouTube contest. Cable buys include ABC Family, A&E, Adult Swim, BET, Bravo, CMT, Comedy Central, Discovery, E, Food, History, MTV, Nick@Nite, and many others. And one other thing: a line of T-shirts, hats and hoodies with a hamster theme called Hamstar. Michael Sprague, Kia VP marketing, says the clothing line was a response to consumer demand after last year's campaign. "We got a lot of inquiries from consumers about it, so it was always in the back of our minds," he tells Marketing Daily. [David and Goliath] has a lot of young people there who are into street culture, so they developed these 'Hamstar' shirts, wore them around and people liked them. So we gave them basically free reign to develop this line of commemorative shirts and hats for the campaign." Sprague says there will be a Web site as well -- Hamstarclothing.com -- where people can purchase the items. Dealers will also be able to get them and Kia will give away the apparel at experiential events the automaker sponsors such as the Vans Warped Tour, and NBA's NBA Nation tour. Kia is also sponsoring the MTV Movie Awards on June 6, and will have a presence at the L.A.'s Universal City venue. Sprague says Soul is Kia's halo vehicle, its design portending a raft of vehicles that came after: the Forte last July, and Forte coupe in October; the Sorento in January; the Sportage in July; and Optima after that, all reflecting the work of famed vehicle designer Peter Schreyer. He says Soul is attracting younger, more affluent and educated consumers to the brand. "And expect the approach with current ads will continue to connect with a more youthful buyer." He says the time is right to do more advertising. "We had lots of great success last year with Soul; it has done well in the first half of this year, as well. And as the summer is a big selling period, we felt the time was right." He says he had never expected to reprise the hamster theme. "A year ago we were at the Forte launch and a journalist asked me about the hamsters. I said then that we would not use them again. I've learned now never to say 'never.'"
The Center for Science in the Public Interest has announced the 2010 "winners" of its "Xtreme Eating" awards -- restaurant chain items deemed most unhealthy by the nonprofit consumer watchdog group. CSPI bases the choices on calories, saturated and trans fat, and sodium levels. Dietary guidelines for Americans recommend that most individuals consume approximately 2,000 calories and no more than 20 grams of saturated fat and 2,300 mg of sodium per day. In releasing the list, CSPI noted that only one restaurant company, Darden (parent of Olive Garden, Red Lobster and other chains) is a member of the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, the coalition of packaged foods makers, retailers and other groups implementing efforts to address obesity among American children and adults. (Packaged foods members recently pledged to cut more than a trillion calories from their products by 2012.) "For all the industry's rhetoric about providing consumers with 'choice,' the choices at restaurants mostly range from bad to terrible," asserted CSPI executive director Michael F. Jacobson. "If chain restaurants want to practice corporate responsibility, they should substitute fruits, vegetables, and whole grains for white flour, sugar, salt, and fat." The federal health reform act in March gives the Food and Drug Administration one year to propose a regulation specifying how restaurant chains with 20 or more outlets should disclose calories on menus and menu boards. The law will also require chains to make information about saturated fat, carbohydrates, sodium and other nutrients available to diners on request. This year's 'Xtreme Eating' menu items list includes:
Evidently, Steve Ballmer, Microsoft's chief executive officer, has had enough. Maybe that's why Microsoft in February appointed David Webster chief strategy officer, and Gayle Troberman chief creative officer, -- both new roles -- after somewhat of a reorganization earlier this year. Webster was previously general manager, brand and marketing strategy. Troberman serves as general manager of advertising. Both report to Mich Mathews, senior vice president of corporate marketing. The new appointments and strategy will allow marketing team to work across campaigns to unify the message for the Microsoft brand. With any new appointments high in the organizational structure, typically new blood is brought in -- people who have the same concept and leadership strategy to carry out their vision. Global Equities Research Managing Director Trip Chowdhry says Microsoft should have started the reorganization in 2009 to fix internal problems and improve profitability in 2010. "They are one year late, but better late than never," he says. Chowdhry points to Ballmer's distaste for several "marketing blunders." They begin with late product launches, inadequate online marketing strategies, inflated prices, and incorrect names chosen for Windows Server and SQL Server. Sources tell Chowdhry that Ballmer believes the latest products should have been named Windows Server 2010 and SQL Server 2010, as initially decided, rather than Windows Server 2008 R2 and SQL Server 2008 R2. Some say marketing for the Windows and server division interfere with the Entertainment division, which many expect will get a makeover as well. Perhaps a Microsoft spokesperson did not return inquiries to confirm the shakeup because they had to deal with the resignation of Robbie Bach on Tuesday. The president of Microsoft's entertainment and devices division will step down from the company this fall. The executive launched and drove innovation for products such as Xbox and Windows Phone. Don Mattrick, senior vice president for Microsoft's interactive entertainment business, and Andy Lees, senior vice president for the company's mobile communications business, will report to Microsoft chief executive officer Steve Ballmer, beginning July 1, the company said.
A few weeks ago, Vocus released a survey about the divergent attitudes amongst us marketing and PR professionals and our take on integrated communications. The survey, also featured in MediaPost's Center for Media Research, looked at the differences in our perceptions surrounding the effectiveness, priorities and purpose of integrated communications. One of the most surprising findings centered on the definition of integrated communications itself. And this raises a question: is something as ill-defined as integrated communications preferable or even valuable for companies? Is there a benefit to bringing together communications functions of two distinct practices (marketing and PR) that can barely agree on each other's applicability or raison d'être? The answer is a resounding YES, and for two main reasons;
1) Despite the disconnect between marketing and PR professionals regarding the philosophy and aim of communications, these are viewed and consumed by outside entities (consumers, in the case of B2C companies, businesses for B2B) in the same way. That is to say, various communications are inherently linked, and so they must be developed and disseminated in an integrated way. 2) Integrated communications leverages the power of both PR and marketing to achieve unified aims. Rather than a mash-up of at-odds tactics and strategies (as does exist with separate PR and marketing entities), the sum of techniques used in a robust and integrated communications program becomes so much greater than its individual parts.We All Own It While the Vocus survey stops short of making a pronouncement on the value of integrated communications, integrating our efforts (yes, I'm talking to you, Marketing Department) is the only way to effectively engage and manage the diverse communications channels available today. Just as the survey finds that both PR ad marketing practitioners perceive social media outreach as being part of their scope (43% of PR professionals feel they should "own" social media, while 34% of marketers make the same claim), an integrated approach is really the only way to maximize the benefits of this still-growing medium. It's impossible to be effective in a vacuum. Talking of Social Media Social media is a great example to support the above statements - that both the PR and marketing aspects of corporate communications are linked. Facebook pages or Twitter feeds function equally as awareness drivers and marketing vehicles. The commonality here is brand engagement, and that is neither a strictly marketing nor a strictly PR function. It is a function of integrated communications, period. That said, social media demonstrates that it's often necessary to use different tactics to achieve different results. Even as social media resists easy tagging as a 'PR' or 'marketing' medium, it produces different end results if traditionally marketing-related or traditionally PR-related techniques are used to activate it. And users of social media can usually tell the difference between sales and outreach efforts, and each may be relevant under different circumstances. But to make this resolve, and to reap the most rewards from communication in this channel, everyone has to be on the same page. Integrate Baby, Integrate One aspect not covered by the Vocus survey is the benefit integrated communications delivers to outside marketing and PR firms (it focused on only PR and marketing departments within companies, and assumes that respondents' businesses have both PR and marketing capabilities). But for companies providing these service to other companies on a contractual or outsourced basis, the value of integrated communications increases exponentially. The value of a one-stop-shop has long been recognized by some agencies and firms, and those PR or marketing shops that put an emphasis on integrated communications put themselves in a stronger position to capture more business from their clients than those that specialize too narrowly. Common communications strategies are the new reality for businesses and brands and this trend will continue as they discover that integrated communications are the best avenue toward achieving specific business goals, and as standalone marketing and PR companies realize that integrated communications are the key to developing deeper, longer relationships with clients. Simply, the value of a unified, undisrupted message is invading the prevailing wisdom of businesses everywhere. And because the Vocus survey didn't say it, I will: That's a great thing.