Prestone would love people to call it a coolant. The company, a division of Honeywell Consumer Products, is running its first summer campaign in at least a decade to explain that the product's main attribute as a heat transfer substance means it has as much relevance for extreme summer as extreme winter weather. The campaign, with a "When it's too hot, it's too late" theme, aims to get the word out that Prestone can help an engine avoid overheating. Via Dallas-based The Richards Group, it takes the message to an extreme, with web videos of guys with blowtorches literally melting things like an engine block and radiator, and out-of-home that includes a mobile billboard that literally belches smoke. The effort, which also includes radio, online banners, and out-of-home elements in nine southern markets, drives traffic to the prestone.com/cool site. The site features more in-depth content on why Prestone isn't just a Q4 product: more videos; content on the dangers of summer heat; a summer heat spoof; and a weather map where consumers can tweet or Facebook "How Hot" phrases that best represent how hot it is where they live. "We looked at the market landscape and saw that, though we are a seasonal product, we have the same distribution as motor oil," says Sam Martin, Prestone's product manager for global coolants. "So much of sales is four months every year, so we wanted to see how we could expand that horizon a little bit." He says that in the U.S., marketers' focus on winter has made them victims of their own success. "We spent time creating awareness that you need Prestone in your engine in the winter to make sure it doesn't freeze up. But if you look around the world they don't use the term 'anti-freeze' at all, they use 'engine coolant.'" He says companies like Prestone should look to the motor oil segment as a model for how to create proactive consumers. "Those guys have done a good job in speaking about needing to change your oil every 3,000 miles or you are in trouble. So we are trying to say this fluid is as important -- year round -- as anything else that's going on in your engine." He says the campaign is comparatively small at this point, with no TV, and a Southern-states focus. "We wanted to make sure it is scalable to a national level, but at the same time we made sure we are reaching out most effectively, and radio was the best way to reach those markets." He says the effort runs through mid-September, with a Hispanic-market element lasting through the end of September. Martin says that in the first week and a half, the engine-melting videos garnered 15,000 hits. "We are seeing a level of popularity similar to Myth-busters and shows like that." "We are a brand you think of when the coolant light goes on, or when fall hits," says Martin. "But we want to a more emotional connection; we want to create conversations."
As focused as marketers are these days on Gen Y's environmental commitment or Gen X's coupon savvy, Nielsen reports that CPG companies have major blind spots in the way they target Baby Boomers. With a continued emphasis on either the 18-to-34 or the 18-to-49 demographic, companies are increasingly losing their connection with the 78 million Baby Boomers, Doug Anderson, SVP/research & development for Nielsen, tells Marketing Daily. "There is practically no segment or category out there where Boomers aren't a significant audience -- even across technology, including cell phones and computers. They may not be the first ones in the door when a new product comes out, but it's close," he says. "They are purchasing at rates just as high as other segments, and because they are often buying for their kids, many are double-dipping." While Boomers spend 38.5% of CPG dollars, Nielsen estimates that only 5% of advertising dollars are currently targeted toward adults 35-64 years old (a slice that includes the latter half of Generation X as well as Boomers). Part of the issue, he says, is that marketers continue to believe that Boomers are either reluctant to experiment with new technology and brands, or that because they've been loyal to a certain brand for a number of years, they'll stay that way. Another issue, he says, is that even marketers who do focus on Boomers tend to make errors. Nuance, he says, really matters. "It is certainly true that Baby Boomers are big, important marketplaces for almost all products, and they need to be talked to and marketed to and advertised to directly," he says. "But it has to be in ways they will accept. They are not 27, and they are not 67." Nielsen's research says Boomers dominate 1,023 out of 1,083 consumer packaged goods categories, and watch 9.34 hours of video per day -- more than any other segment. They also comprise a third of all TV viewers, online users, social media users and Twitter users, and are significantly more likely to have broadband Internet. "Marketers have this tendency to think the Baby Boom -- getting closer to retirement -- will just be calm and peaceful as they move ahead, and that's not true. Everything we see with our behavioral data says these people are going to be active consumers for much longer. They are going to be in better health, and despite the ugliness around the retirement stuff now, they are still going to be more affluent," Anderson says. "They are going to be an important segment for a long time."
American Family Insurance is renewing its multifaceted branded entertainment marketing campaign that includes NBC Universal and MSN and beginning a new relationship with WildTangent. The new deal includes a Latino financial advice microsite and an insurance-focused social simulation game. The program integrates entertainment and education to engage consumers with the brand, its products and its agents. The campaign is "uniquely suited to connect with consumers about issues that matter most to them -- community, family and financial self-reliance," according to the Madison, Wis.-based insurer, which offers auto, homeowners, life, health, commercial and farm/ranch insurance in 19 states. Media agency Mindshare handled the deal, which includes distribution across digital, video-on-demand, and offline media. Telisa Yancy, American Family Insurance ad director of advertising, says the deal is "the largest integrated marketing success in the company's history." "In Gayle We Trust" marks the first time that NBC Universal Digital has renewed a Web series for a second season. BuildingABrighterFuture. com has been relaunched to provide consumers with the latest expert, personal finance advice on MSN.com, and "iAMFAM," a new online social simulation game developed in partnership with WildTangent, is aimed at helping Americans start a family, manage a career, or buy and maintain a house. Mindshare Entertainment co-produced and oversaw all the content for the campaign, including the Web series "In Gayle We Trust" with NBC Universal Digital Studios and BuildingABrighterFuture.com with MSN, which provides consumers with the latest expert personal finance advice. While each American Family Insurance-sponsored program delivers against a separate marketing strategy, all three are aligned by a similar theme emphasizing American Family Insurance agents' role as advisers. This campaign integrates individual media partners with a theme that draws consumers from one to the next. All three campaign elements launch in July 2010. "In Gayle We Trust" is a 10-episode digital series which follows the lives of the fictional residents of Maple Grove. Insurance agent Gayle Evans who serves as an adviser to the town's idiosyncratic clientele. The show in 2009 resulted in a purchase-intent increase of 24% for American Family Insurance, 12 times the normal average for online marketing, and a 30% increase of people identifying the brand as "innovative." "We saw fantastic results from our campaign last year indicating that the series and online resources were well-received by the public," Yancy says. "We anticipate that this year we will continue to see increased traffic and engagement on our campaign Web sites, widespread viewership of our Web series, and increased agent interaction." BuildingaBrighterFuture.msn.com offers families personal finance advice. Featuring MSN's Liz Weston, the site offers video shorts, tip sheets, a blog and interactive tools. This year American Family Insurance will help introduce the first Latino MSN/Branded Entertainment and Experiences microsite, Creando Futuros Brillantes, hosted by Latino finance expert Elianne Gonzalez. Finally, iAMFAM is a social simulation game where players grow and nurture a virtual family by maintaining day-to-day and major financial decisions. Happiness, the overall goal of the game, is maximized by fulfilling players' goals and making sure that their physical, mental, and financial health is at the highest levels. The game is developed for the Facebook platform, enabling players to invite their Facebook friends to become neighbors who can visit and interact with each other's virtual houses. American Family Insurance protects players from financial setbacks. All the individual media partner elements are digitally linked and provide an American Family Insurance agent locator tool. The sites also feature the capacity for consumers to engage with the company through the use of interactive tools without leaving the portal. They also link to an updated www.amfam.com site offering new interactive information and quoting tools.
The total number of U.S. full-service and QSR restaurant units declined by 5,204, or 1%, this spring as compared with spring 2009 -- a decline driven almost entirely by a 2% overall unit loss among independents, according to The NPD Group. The market research firm's foodservice industry ReCount data for the period April 1 through March 31, 2010 show total QSR units declining by 1% (down 2,521, to 306,127) versus the same period last year. Units among full-service restaurants (including casual dining, mid-scale and fine dining) also declined by 1% --down 2,683 to 273,289. But independents are taking by far the hardest hit from the continuing economic downturn. Across all formats, independently owned units were down by 5,093, or 2%, to 311,548 -- while franchised and company-owned units that are part of national or regional restaurant chains were essentially flat, at 267,868. Within the QSR sector, independent units dropped by a substantial 3% (down by 2,685, to 92,819), while chain units were again essentially flat (up by 164, to total 213,308). And, while even chains saw a slight decline in units within full-service formats, presumably because of these formats' somewhat higher prices compared to QSRs, independents again suffered much greater impact. Chain units within full-service segments were down 1% (to 54,560), but with their relatively small starting base, the actual unit loss was just 275. In contrast, independent full-service restaurants' 1% decline represented a significant loss of 2,408 units (down to 218,729 total). "The unit losses seen in our latest census are a reflection of the weakness in the industry, with the greatest impact on independent restaurant operators," summed up NPD director, product development foodservice Greg Starzynski. Visits to U.S. restaurants declined by 3% during the year ending in May, compared to a year ago, according to NPD CREST tracking data on usage of commercial and noncommercial foodservice outlets. Moreover, consumer spending in restaurants declined by 1% -- the first dollar decline recorded since NPD began its foodservice industry tracking in 1976.
Marketers, listen up: if you don't have a mobile marketing plan, it's time to get one. According to ABI Research, consumers are ready and willing to receive marketing messages through their mobile devices. Thanks to the proliferation of smartphones and the more affordable data plans, more people than ever are available through mobile marketing messages. Recent survey data from ABI's Mobile Marketing Strategies practice indicate significant upticks in mobile consumer behavior that are important to marketers. According to a survey from February 2010, 27% of consumers clicked on a mobile ad, up 6% from December 2008. Similarly, people who use a search engine through their mobile devices also increased to 78% among the 2010 respondents from 78% in 2008. "Not all mobile searches, of course, have a commercial intent," reads a white paper released Wednesday from the company. "Some are looking up facts, or seeking news sources. But others are intent on finding a product, a service, or a nearby location where a purchase is likely to happen within a relatively short amount of time." Even the use of more "traditional" advertising is up via mobile devices. According to ABI, 28% of 2010 consumers viewed a commercial while watching video, compared with 20% in 2008. "In the coming months, this will change as more marketers grasp the significance of this changing behavior, and move budgets into mobile -- especially those chasing a branding lift," according to the report. Yet consumers are still a bit wary of location-based marketing promotions. According to the survey, 39% of 2010 consumers are interested in receiving location-based coupons or promotions through their mobile devices -- about the same as 2008. "Smart marketers who can take advantage of knowing the immediate location of potential customers should quickly embrace this tactic," according to the report. "But, and we cannot stress this enough, proceed with appropriate caution and do not abuse the privilege. No one wants to become the BP of LB promotions."
Ford Motors' marketing joint venture with dealers, FordDirect, is launching a new database-marketing service for Ford, Lincoln and Mercury dealers that gives Ford's retail operations a digital platform to do direct marketing and customer relationship marketing and management. "Targeted Marketing" offers dealers call tracking, lead management, dealer Web site development, search optimization and marketing, database marketing, and regional-marketing products. Leo Hillock, EVP of FordDirect, said in a statement that dealers who use FordDirect have garnered 10 more vehicle sales per month versus those who don't, and also earn $47,364 in service revenue per month with an average repair order of $220. The division is offering the Targeted Marketing solution to Ford, Lincoln and Mercury dealers for a significant cut in price -- $599 per month, which FordDirect says is 40% to 60% below what such services usually cost for dealers. Ford says sales from FordDirect Internet referrals represent nearly 20% of Ford Motor retail sales. The new services, for which FordDirect contracted direct-marketing company OneCommand, include things like voice messaging, email, and personal and Web pages for consumers and could be anything from CRM efforts such as automated "happy birthday" messages to customers or service appointment reminders to a national sales event message for a prospect or notifications about specific sales specials. Lindsay Leugers, VP marketing at OneCommand, says the company is able to offer Ford a deal on Targeted Marketing because FordDirect already has things like call capture and call tracking in its toolkit. "The 'Targeted Marketing' solution is a dialed-down version of our full suite, which would include call capture, for instance. We are really fueling their direct-marketing solutions." Competitor Volkswagen of America is also beefing up its dealership-marketing programs. The Herdon, Va. company has tapped marketing-technology company Saepio to handle local marketing for its 600 dealers with the upcoming launches of Jetta, Beetle and a new midsize sedan. VW is making it easier for dealers to create their own advertising from templates. Saepio will support "VW Ad Lab" and streamline the advertising processes for dealers. The automaker says Saepio will build a computer interface for dealers to use the VW Ad Lab for making ad campaigns that are thematically consistent with VW's national ads. The company says dealers will be able to quickly edit and customize corporate print, TV, radio, digital, direct marketing and experiential marketing materials.
Top 10 DMAs in which reside adults who own a Nintendo Wii: 1 Philadelphia 2 St. Louis 3 Salt Lake City 4 New York 5 Washington, D.C. (Hagerstown, Md.) 6 Las Vegas 7 Denver 8 Seattle/ Tacoma 9 Dallas/ Ft. Worth 10 Detroit Source: GfK MRI's Market-by-Market study, www.gfkmri.com
A brand crisis can take many forms, which can linger differing lengths of time, depending on the survivability of the brand. Every corporate brand crisis is unique; each has a starting point when the CEO becomes responsible for the survival of the company. BP's bumbling management of its Gulf crisis, its seemingly endless decision-making process, not to mention post-crisis effects that will last decades, make this crisis unprecedented. Tyco, Texaco, Dynegy, IBM, Enron, Worldcom and Citigroup are a few of the crises we've studied. Some companies survived not only intact but emerged stronger than ever. Others were destroyed, or forced to merge. A handful limped on, weakened but not ruined. In 2002, Tyco's CEO and CFO were accused of theft of over $600 million. With negative press around the scandal, brand familiarity increased dramatically, while brand favorability plummeted. The speed and magnitude of this brand's collapse indicates a brand catastrophe. Even after management had been changed and the company got back to business, the Tyco brand continued its downward slide for years. Nationwide attention spotlighted Texaco for racial discrimination in 1995. The tremendous media exposure immediately heightened brand familiarity, while perceptions reduced favorability in the eyes of influentials. Texaco's immediate, focused response by senior management helped mitigate an adverse environment. Still, it took Texaco nearly five years to fully regain its previous brand strength, at which time management decided to merge with Chevron. In 2002, Dynegy was the subject of an SEC fraud investigation of its Project Alpha, a multi-year natural gas transaction from which Dynegy took an illegal tax benefit resulting in an earnings restatement for 1999 - 2001. The company was also involved in round-trip energy trades with CMS Energy, which artificially drove up the company's trading volume. Yet, Dynegy handled the crisis in a straightforward manner. CEO Chuck Watson resigned; the company fully cooperated with the investigation, and agreed to pay a $3 million fine. While nearly following Enron into oblivion, Dynegy's brand actually grew both in familiarity and favorability following the scandal. The crisis helped raise familiarity of the company and management's handling of the crisis, which positively affected their favorability rating. By contrast, Enron is the classic case study of a complete brand catastrophe. A systematic and well-planned accounting fraud, coupled with massive media coverage and public outrage doomed the Enron brand. In late 2001, financial transactions that were intended to take unprofitable entities off Enron's books were discovered. The scandal not only destroyed the company, but also accounting giant Arthur Andersen. The negative "goodwill" that was created by Enron as shareholders lost everything through made the angled "E" that stood outside its corporate headquarters a symbol of corporate fraud and corruption that was too much for the brand to endure. In the early 1990s, IBM's inflexibility in the face of industry evolution diminished its' leadership position. Unrelenting focus on core business lines in the midst of dynamic industry changes yielded decreased brand favorability and IBM's brand valuation plummeted in 1993 as concerns about its ability to adapt to a changing market grew. Louis Gerstner, brought in to awaken this sleeping giant, recommitted to the business with a focus not only of survival, but growth. His significant involvement and determined communication support helped IBM to achieve an almost complete recovery of favorability in a very short period of time. Some brand crisis situations are self-imposed. The cause is with the best of intentions, but is generally executed by poor management. Such was the case with Citicorp's merger with Travelers in 1998 to form Citigroup. The merger took place with little communication support from Citigroup. There was virtually no spending to introduce Citigroup as the new corporate entity. As a result, brand familiarity with the new brand plummeted as key audiences became confused. Among customers who were very familiar with the brand, perceptions of the company were unchanged. Citigroup lost many followers who did not deal with them on a day-to-day basis, but were supportive of the company, many being retail investors. This brand loss resulted in a significant decline in brand equity, which could have been avoided with a relatively small investment in corporate communications. I contend that some of the lingering doubts about Citigroup's ability to survive go back to this crisis of confidence that started in 1998 with a poorly communicated merger. BP Makes Preceding Crisis Seem Tame BP's crisis makes these examples appear tame by comparison. Despite the best intentions of BP, mismanagement of their crisis communications team seems to be unavoidable since the media is determined to drill them a new one. Until that well stops gushing oil, any effort to manage the brand crisis is more about damage mitigation rather than proactively trying to restore the company image. BP' s projected loss of brand equity is severe. In 2007, after years of carefully building their brand image through corporate advertising, BP's brand equity amounted to 9.8% of their market cap -- or $20 billion in brand equity value. This compares to the industry average of 6.4% -- or $13 billion in brand equity. In 2009, at the height of the recession, BP reduced their corporate advertising from $75 million (2007) to $33 million (2009), and their brand equity dropped significantly to 8.6% -- or $14 billion, compared to the industry average of 5.6% -- or $7 billion. At this point, the decline of BP's brand equity was in relation to the decline of the industry in a recession. When BP's brand equity drops $6 billion due to the recession, it will no doubt collapse with the dramatic increase in negative media coverage the spill has created. I estimate the brand equity value of BP by the end of 2010 will be approximately $5 billion (down from $20 billion in 2007). BP will not be able to regain any brand equity, as the burden of the crisis will weigh on it for decades. Can BP's brand ever be fully restored? Not in my opinion. The most likely outcome is that once BP gains control over the well, the company will become an acquisition target -- preferably by a competitor with a better safety record.