As Ford prepares to launch the Fiesta compact, competitor Kia -- which relaunched the Soul last month -- is preparing a second assault on the young compact-car buyer with a grassroots effort aligned with the Vans Warped Tour and a new social-media program on Facebook. The latter involves a mash-up program using the hamsters from the new "This or That" ad campaign and the online gaming page PetVille, where players can take care of virtual pets. The program lets Facebook users make mash-ups -- self-edited versions using a cut-and-paste program -- of the ad and then share their creations with friends. Michael Sprague, VP marketing at Kia, said in a statement that a tie-in with the game made sense. Kia's ad agency, David & Goliath, introduced the hamsters last year for the Soul launch. The theme returned in a sustaining campaign this spring with an urban theme set to Black Sheep's "This or That" song, with the Hamsters as urban hip-hop artists. "The immense popularity of the latest Kia Soul ad, especially with the Gen Y crowd, made it an obvious fit for the popular PetVille game," said Sprague, adding that the hamsters have "already been well received on Facebook and in social media, and we felt that integrating with Zynga's PetVille was the perfect platform to introduce the vehicle and the brand to new consumers in Soul's target demographic." The program, which runs through July, puts a "This or That" icon at the bottom of PetVille's game page. Clicking on it launches the ad, which users can edit. Participants get PetVille cash in return for their interaction. This will also be Kia's third summer sponsoring the tour, which features 150 bands and visits 40 U.S. cities. Kia will use its status as "Official Vehicle of the 2010 Vans Warped Tour" to tout the Soul, Forte Koup and the 2011 -- completely redesigned -- version of the Sportage. The Irvine, Calif.-based sibling of Hyundai Motor says it will host on-site events and activities, including a "Soul Lounge." Sprague says the tour will include a live DJ, autograph sessions, stage-side access wristbands and opportunities for attendees to meet band members of groups who are part of the tour. Kia will also sponsor a solar-powered stage and "The Warped Word of Steve" blog at fuse.tv/kiawarped. KMA is also dangling a new Kia Soul in as part of its "A New Way to Roll" sweepstakes.
Eight O'Clock Coffee is giving commuters in New York City a chance to win prizes if they phone a friend about the brand. On June 28, commuters passing through Grand Central Terminal will have a unique opportunity to put in a good word about the great taste of Eight O'Clock Coffee -- and a chance to win one of eight iPads and other prizes throughout the day. More than 13,000 cups of the coffee will be made available to travelers passing through the station, and those who phone a friend on the spot and tell them about the coffee's great taste will have the opportunity to appear online for the venerable brand. The event, dubbed "People are Talking," will take place from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. in Vanderbilt Hall, the iconic 42nd Street entrance to Grand Central. The FRESH 102.7 street team will also be on hand broadcasting music and distributing an array of prizes. About 125,000 commuters pass through the terminal every day. The coffee brand sold over 436 million more cups of coffee last year than the year before. Consumers can engage with the brand at www.EightOClock.com, on Twitter by following @8oclockcoffee and by becoming a fan at www.facebook.com/EightOClockCoffee. The brand currently is running a promotion on its home page where consumers can upload a photo and explain why they love Eight O'Clock Coffee. Those selected to appear on the home page are awarded a free bag of coffee. The offer ends Sept. 30.
Many marketers lack the capabilities or budgets to track performance of events and sponsorship activities adequately, according to a new survey conducted by the Association of National Advertisers (ANA) and sponsorship research/consultancy/training services supplier IEG. The online survey was conducted in May among a sample of 102 client-side marketers in companies that are actively involved in sponsorship and/or event marketing activities and actively measure the performance of these at least some of the time. Nearly 8 in 10 respondents said that the need for validated sponsorship/events marketing results has increased in the past two years because of the need to justify expenditures to senior personnel. Yet 65% are not taking all of the steps needed to measure results adequately. Specifically, only 35% "always or almost always" measure returns on these activities -- although nearly half of companies with annual revenues of $5 billion or more do so, compared to just 25% of those with revenues under $5 billion. Fully 59% do not have a dedicated sponsorship/event marketing measurement budget, and 53% do not have a standardized process for measuring sponsorship initiatives. Among marketers that do have a standardized process, 14% are completely/very satisfied with their abilities to measure sponsorship/event marketing ROI, and 18% are completely/very satisfied with their abilities to measure those programs' ROO (return on objective). "This survey should serve as a wake-up call to marketers, urging them to define ROI/ROO metrics for success and hold themselves accountable, as upper management is sure to do," observed ANA president/CEO Bob Liodice. The survey found no universal tool for measuring effectiveness of sponsorship initiatives. The metrics most widely used by respondents include sales activity (61%), TV logo exposure (55%), lower customer acquisition cost (49%) and lead generation (48%). In comparison, the metrics most widely valued by respondents are sales activity (93%), attitudes toward brand (81%), lead generation (78%) and response to sponsorship/event-related promotions and ads (76%). Despite being the second-most-used metric, TV logo exposure ranks among the lowest in terms of value (52%). Other findings:
A three-year-old not-for-profit is looking to inject a little humor into the debate about breastfeeding via an ad in USA Today. With the silhouette of a woman's bust, the ad -- which ran in three markets as part of a special supplement in the newspaper -- says in its headline "The real miracle isn't the bra," and goes on to praise instead mothers' ability to make milk for their children. Copy in the ad encourages women to find support to navigate the "Booby Traps" that act as barriers to keep them from breastfeeding. "We want to shift the pressure off moms and onto the barriers," Bettina Forbes, co-founder of the group Best for Babes, tells Marketing Daily. "The deeper message is you need help and you can't trust everybody. There are things you need to know if you want to succeed at breastfeeding." "Everybody likes to have a laugh," Forbes says. While many ads that promote breastfeeding take a heavy-handed approach that virtually shames a mother into breastfeeding, Forbes hopes the lighthearted approach shows the subject can be handled wryly. The ad is an attempt by the organization to raise awareness of the World Health Organization's International Code for Marketing Breastmilk Substitutes (a/k/a the "WHO-Code"). The ad also gives a shout-out to many of the organization's supporters such as Evenflo, Numom Nutrition, Pumpease, 60 Second Parent, My Baby Experts, Earth Mama Angel Baby, My Milkies and Be Nice, who are WHO-Code compliant. "They're [companies] who appreciate our fresh approach that's not about hitting moms over the heads," Forbes says. "We support moms whether they decide to breastfeed for two weeks, two months or two years, or even those that don't, as long as they make an informed decision." Unlike government and state breastfeeding campaigns that have come under fire for using scare tactics, unappealing visuals, or making moms feel judged or guilty, the Best for Babes ad campaign is eye-catching and designed to cheer on, coach and celebrate moms.
Mac versus PC Guy. FedEx versus UPS. Mini versus Porsche. Hyundai versus Mini. Social media and Web marketing have, in some quarters, come to resemble Fight Night Live at Club Nokia with various corporate teams squaring off against each other for low-budget, four-round, non-title matches. "Let's get ready to Ru-u-u-u-u ..." (wait, I can't say that or Michael Buffer will sue me). In the latest example of one brand punking another, Piaggio's sport-bike division Aprilia has launched the first of three videos on its YouTube channel that make fun of BMW Motorrad USA's series of YouTube films that show BMW motorcycles doing tricks. BMW's film, which launched back in March, shows a BMW S1000RR offering a new take on the tablecloth trick, wherein the performer pulls the tablecloth out from under a dinner setting. In this case the dinner setting is on a long, rectangular table set for maybe 25 -- complete with crystal, wine, china and silverware. Grips grab a couple of lanyards tied to the tablecloth, hook them to the S1000RR and the rider revs up and takes off. Amazingly, not a goblet topples. The bike zooms around the warehouse in which the video was shot, trailing the tablecloth like a banner. In the Aprilia version, which launched last week (via TangentVector Productions), an Aprilia RSV4 motorcycle rolls into a dingy garage where a table for six is set on white linen. The bike gets hooked up, and as in the BMW spot, takes off. But the Aprilia fails, pulling half the dishes off the table. Then a super comes up: "Tricks are not our talent ..." That's followed by footage of Aprilia racing bikes winning Moto GP events. "... winning is our talent." says the super. The video has been seen about 102,000 times, per the site. Melissa MacCaull, director of marketing at Aprilia USA, tells Marketing Daily that last year's launch of the Aprilia RSV4 started with efforts that included a "Ride Like a Champion" tour for dealers. "We started that in late April and are in major markets from coast to coast this summer," she says, adding that dealers host customer events like open houses and RSV4 demo rides. But she says the company also wanted to make an emotional connection. "As you might imagine, traditional brand advertising is a very high-cost proposition, especially for a niche consumer product like an Italian sport bike. So, we decided to really drill down to the attributes that define the Aprilia brand and also tie in our recent racing successes in the World Superbike Series, where our factory team is getting familiar with the winner's podium. Social media was the natural choice for our message ... and was a great addition to our new YouTube channel." The video was a collaboration between Aprilia USA, Wes Siler from Hell for Leather and J.F. Musial from TangentVector. "We're looking forward to debuting two additional videos over the next few weeks and any additional brand campaigns will definitely be focused on social marketing versus digital or traditional advertising," says MacCaull. Aprilia's market share through May 2010 was 0.3%, per MacCaull. "We have plenty of opportunity to grow and educate more riders about the brand and the product. We're very pragmatic, though. Aprilia will always be a connoisseur brand. We're not a mass marketer." In related and weirder news, it seems that the producers of the Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz vehicle "Knight and Day" have messed with another Italian bike brand, Ducati. Ducati got product placement in the film, and indeed, the bike that Cruise and Diaz ride appears to be -- or is supposed to be -- a Ducati Hypermotard. And the Ducati logo on the gas tank and exterior frame details suggests as much. Except it's not a Ducati, according to Autoblog.com, but an Aprilia SXV.
Top 10 DMAs in which reside adults who went bowling in the last 12 months: 1 Detroit 2 Salt Lake City 3 Chicago 4 Las Vegas 5 Grand Rapids/ Kalamazoo/ Battle Creek, Mich. 6 Minneapolis/ St. Paul 7 Madison, Wis. 8 Denver 9 Seattle/ Tacoma 10 Milwaukee, Wis. Source: GfK MRI's Market-by-Market study, www.gfkmri.com
How do you value market research? How do you justify the investment in it or calculate an ROI for it? For a function that places such an emphasis on understanding and measurement, it's ironic the market research industry largely has failed to answer the question of how to understand and measure its own value. The truth is, in most companies market research is valued far from the boardroom. This isn't a case of management's disinterest in consumer insight. Rather, it's a failure of both market researchers and management to establish a connection between consumer understanding and business performance. Without this relationship, market research has become marginalized as a practice of the business rather than valued as a driver of it. But this wasn't always the case. Consider Charles Coolidge Parlin. Parlin pioneered the practice of "Commercial Research" in 1911 when he established the first formal market research department within the Curtis Publishing Company -- publisher of The Saturday Evening Post and Ladies Home Journal, among other magazines. Parlin sought "information that would break down barriers to consumption." In his book, A New Brand of Business, author Douglas Ward wrote of Parlin, "He sought not to understand business, society, or the human condition as a means of intellectual exercise and a higher order of learning, but rather to help businesses to improve their profit margins." While Parlin made the connection between his early practice of market research and business fundamentals, more of his legacy lives on in the methodologies and techniques he used (which are still in practice today) than it does in his "confident promise of steady profits through understanding consumer thinking." Over time, the practice of market research moved away from the "promise of steady profits" and focused instead on the practice of validating, testing, quantifying and qualifying. As the focus changed, so did the value proposition of market research -- from one of economic and "boardroom level" importance to one of statistical significance, analytical precision and other industry-insider research metrics and methodologies. Market researchers began talking to themselves. At its core, market research should have an infinitely valuable proposition -- i.e., the better a company understands consumers; the better the company can serve them; the better the company will perform. This proposition establishes and brings to life the relationship between consumer understanding and company performance. It gets back to the roots of how market research was originally envisioned by elevating the conversation from the methodology used to the impact it has. It forces research to be more accountable for ROI and researchers to become stewards of the business. Some market research purists may challenge such a proposition, claiming if the company doesn't act on the insight market research produces, the proposition falls apart. However, if the insight market research produces isn't being used, it's inherently not valuable to the organization. Therefore, it is incumbent upon market research to understand why and ensure its output is actionable for the business -- that the insight creates an impact. Ultimately, the value of market research is in how it's positioned, executed and, most importantly, in the impact it creates. Parlin's work showed how consumer wants translated into corporate profits. Similarly, today's market researchers need to better connect the insight they produce with the impact they create for the business. Until they do, market research will fail in its attempt to breakthrough into the boardroom and be appropriately valued throughout the organization.