Jeep has launched a new national campaign to talk up the virtues of its Grand Cherokee SUV. Launching Monday, the print, broadcast and digital effort spotlights the vehicle for is array of media and industry endorsements, fuel economy, capability and the quality of its interior amenities, and appointments. The campaign, via AOR Southland, Mich.-based GlobalHue, sets the stage with a four-page insert in Monday's USA Today spotlighting the list of third-party endorsements and awards the vehicle has won over the year since it launched. Jeep, which says the vehicle is its most-awarded SUV ever, is citing the 30 or more such kudos in the piece. Jeep also has Lexus in the crosshairs in the effort, which puts special attention on the Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland Summit model, the first time that Grand Cherokee variant has appeared in ads. The TV spot is about the Jeep Grand Cherokee Overland Summit model, and how the company's testing of the vehicle's leather interior is better than that of the Lexus RX350. It also talks up the 500-mile-per-tank driving range, and how the vehicle has a better range than Honda Pilot EX. The TV effort comprises four TV ads. One talks about how one can drive from Pebble Beach to Los Angeles on a single tank. This humorous spot teases that even though your Jeep Grand Cherokee can make that long stretch without filling up, we're not sure that can be said about its owner. Another suggests that even if the urban landscape was a giant sandbox, the vehicle would navigate it easily with its Selec-Terrain Vehicle Management and Quadra Lift air-suspension technology, which lets the driver change the vertical distance of the chassis above the wheels for difficult terrain. Kim Adams House, head of Jeep advertising, tells Marketing Daily that while a lot of owners of the vehicle won't take it into the outback, "Off-road capability is a surrogate for real world safety." "When we first launched the 2011 Grand Cherokee almost a year ago to the day, we talked about quality and craftsmanship, that Grand Cherokee was a premiere vehicle not just for Jeep and Chrysler overall but within the industry. Now, the most-awarded [status] brings truth to that." She says the marketing launch cadence focused on different elements, "First and foremost quality and craftsmanship, then four-by-four capability." But she says the company hasn't spent much time enlightening consumers on the interior materials and design story. "Seventy-five percent of the ads speak to the third-party claims and all speak to either fuel economy or luxury." Adams House says the vehicle is appealing to a fairly broad consumer target, both domestics and imports. But she says the company isn't altering its core off-road-capability positioning to conquest the wine-tasting crowd. "Capability is our mainstay; that's who we are," she says. "For people looking for luxury SUVs, what put sets [Grand Cherokee] apart is both luxury, and also the capability story that not every luxury SUV can make claim to." Media placement elements include network and cable television teamed with a full digital and social media strategy and CRM efforts.
Ad agencies, take note: while marketers say they are boosting budgets this year, marketing chiefs are looking for integration, alignment, visibility and (of course) ROI, per the CMO Council's fifth annual State of Marketing Report. The Council, comprising 6,000 chief marketers in 110 countries controlling over $200 billion in annual spend, tapped over 600 of its members for the 2011 Outlook, Intentions and Investments report. Fifty-seven percent of respondents said they plan to increase this year's spending, and 26% say they will boost budgets between 1 and 5%, with social media getting the biggest percentage gain, although digital media will likely be 10% of expenditures. Most of the marketers polled said they will increase social-media investments by over 5%. The report said other areas likely to see the same degree of investment increase are search, online video, online banner and mobile. To fund that increase, marketers said they will cut at least 5% from print magazines, newspapers, television and outdoor/billboard placements. The study also says marketers plan to beef up analytics, strategic planning and business development. One in four said marketing spend is being influenced by a shift to digital media and online marketing effectiveness. The organization says participants come from each major global region, with 64% saying they reported directly to the CEO, president or COO, while another 14% said they were accountable to a regional VP, general manager or division/business group head. Among the respondents, 34% held CMO or head of marketing titles, while 33% are VP or above. Only 5% of respondents give themselves high marks specific to current online marketing performance capabilities, and those surveyed said they plan to boost staff in interactive design, online advertising, search engine marketing, Web analytics, and integrated campaign management. Among the strategies in the crosshairs, 64% said they will improve customer segmentation and targeting; 43% plan to boost digital demand-generation programs; 42% said lead-generation and tracking will be a focus; 41% said they will be "exploring alternative media and new routes to market." But some strategies are getting downsized, including testing and piloting. This year only a quarter of those marketers surveyed said they will do heavy piloting. Only 18% said they will use online performance indicators like eMetrics, and only 15% said they would do statistical analysis and predictive modeling to measure impact. There's a problem in all of this, according to Donovan Neale-May, executive director of the CMO Council. And it looks a lot like a homeowner who eschews a contractor for piecemeal work that lacks coordination, and fills the house with people doing each other's work. "While marketers have been focused on transforming their operations and customer engagements with hosted services and digital solutions, many have actually created a grab bag of siloed point-solutions that just proliferate 'Random Acts of Marketing,'" he said in a release. "Today's successful marketing organization is unifying its extended ecosystem, aligning more effectively with business and sales groups, and integrating campaign components to drive efficiency and more measurable outcomes." Some other findings: CMOs are having to do more work beyond the realm of brand stewardship, with many surveyed saying they are involved in strategic planning and forecasting, business development and collaborating, pricing, distribution/channel management, and product design and specification, as marketers are now expected to drive business growth and revenues. Forty-six percent said their purview includes driving top-line growth; 45% said they are responsible for growing and retaining market share; and 31% said they must handle "further crystallizing and defining brand value."
Coca-Cola's ongoing partnership with Black Entertainment Television (BET) speaks to the brand's emphasis on engaging and growing its share among African-American teens. Of course, Coke is far from alone in making this demographic a priority target audience, for a number of reasons. African-American teens not only spend $96 more per month than the average teen, but exert far-reaching influence on mainstream cultural trends, points out Seth Freeman, senior brand manager, sparkling beverages, African-American marketing for Coca-Cola North America. Furthermore, the Coca-Cola Company estimates that roughly 86% of its growth going forward will come from Hispanics, African-Americans and Asian Americans, he says. BET -- and its "106 & Park" program, in particular (which has been the #1-rated music variety show for 13 consecutive quarters) -- have been "pillars" in Coke's outreach to African-American teens for several years now, confirms Freeman. For instance, in summer 2009, Coke ran a "What's Your Formula" campaign in which BET viewers were encouraged to submit videos (to bet.com/mycokerewards) demonstrating how they express their uniqueness. The winner received a trip to the show's set in New York City. This summer, the brand is building on the BET partnership in a number of ways, including a first: an under-the-cap (UTC) "Twist Txt Win" contest designed both to drive Coke purchases and engage buyers. Consumers text (or submit online) codes found under caps of 20-ounce Coke bottles for chances to win prizes. (Codes can also be obtained without purchase by following mail-in and online code-request procedures.) "Instant win" prizes, such as Best Buy gift certificates, movie passes and airfare savers, are being rewarded every two minutes. The 10 grand prizes are trips for two to New York for a taping of "106 & Park." Live Nation VIP concert trip packages will also be awarded. In addition to continuing to host the studio "Red Room" used for "Wild-Out Wednesday" ("W.O.W.") -- the highly popular weekly talent show aired by "106 & Park" -- this summer (through Aug. 25), Coke is the sole sponsor of "W.O.W." That sponsorship includes multiple promotional opportunities for the "Twist Txt Win" contest, including on-air mentions, having the contestants perform in front of a Coke-branded set, and a Coke-branded "W.O.W." photo gallery and exclusive video footage (plus a branded "vote for your favorite performer" button) in the "W.O.W" area of BET's site. Coke also has dominant banner ads and other ad formats promoting the contest throughout the BET site -- all of which provide a link to enter at mycoke.com/utc. In the few weeks since the "Twist Txt Win" contest launched in late June, more than 100,000 codes have been entered, a Freeman tells Marketing Daily. Coke also sponsored the "Viewer's Choice Award" within BET's annual music and entertainment awards, which this year aired on June 26. Viewers who texted or logged into bet.com to vote for the Coca-Cola Viewer's Choice Award were directed to mycoke.com for chances to win additional prizes -- and an impressive 2.4 million viewers elected to vote via mobile texting or online, according to Freeman. The marketing synergies provided by the award sponsorship did not end after the awards show: One of Coke's ads-with-entry-link for the "Twist Txt Win" contest is prominently displayed in the bet.com page about the Viewer's Choice winner, Chris Brown. All of the BET components are integrated under Coca-Cola's umbrella "Open Happiness" theme -- or more specifically, its "Open Happiness for Teens" marketing programs. The contest and other elements celebrate "the passion that teens have for music, BET and Coca-Cola, and give them a chance to experience one of the coolest shows on television," sums up Freeman. "Open Happiness is all about enjoying Coke and unlocking experiences that teens couldn't unlock without Coke." While the BET partnership is the dominant element in Coke's marketing outreach to African-American teens, its "American Idol" marketing tie-ins are among other important channels for reaching teens, including multicultural segments, according to Freeman.
Regional fast food chain El Pollo Loco is aiming to be something more than excellent with its new marketing campaign. Beginning this month, the Costa Mesa, Calif. company's "Feel the Mexcellence" campaign showcases the restaurant's passion for flavor, preparation and in-store experience. Television commercials in the campaign show off the chain's signature citrus-marinated grilled chicken and other handmade items. "The big difference [between us and competitors] is we do so much by hand," Mark Hardison, the company's vice president of marketing, tells Marketing Daily. "We're getting in at 7 a.m. and marinating our chicken by hand. We're cooking food by hand. That's the biggest thing we're taking credit for and informing the marketplace of." The marketing campaign is part of a top-to-bottom marketing overhaul that includes new signage and displays following the "Mexcellence" theme, as well as other touches like offering receipts with customized messages referencing a customer's order (e.g., "We hope you enjoy your taquitos. We sure enjoyed making them." A commercial making its debut this month depicts the company's attempt at creating the world's largest hand-started fire. In June, the company brought together more than 50 of its employees from around the chain to operate a 25-foot bow drill (a device that moves a spindle back and forth, generating friction and an ember). Although the attempt didn't manage to set the record (flames were added to the commercial via CGI), the event was more about "bringing the brand together," Hardison says. Along those same lines, the company has also introduced a Facebook game through which users can operate a virtual bow drill (using the left and right arrow keys to move the bow and spindle), and pass the flame on to their friends for the chance to receive food coupons. The company is also engaging in a Twitter experiment trying to get 50 people each to use the hashtags #right and #left to receive coupons. "It puts fire making in the hands of the user," Hardison says. "It's a fun way to engage Facebook users and use Facebook the way it was intended, to interact with your friends."
American Family Insurance is launching a national ad campaign focused on the "often elusive and ever-changing American dream." The effort, from Ogilvy & Mather, includes TV, radio, print, online, digital, out-of-home, branded content, search, events, social and multicultural. TV breaks July 18 on high-profile network and cable shows with print ads breaking in the fall. The ads direct people to longliveourdreams.com, where they can enter their own perspectives, see a real-time measure of the overall results, and learn more about how they can protect their dreams. According to research conducted by AFI, the vast majority of American adults (93%) believe the American dream is alive; however, only half of them (46%) are actively pursuing their dream and only 14% are living their dream. And more than 8 in 10 (84%) agree -- the American dream is changing. The campaign does more than ask Americans to call for a quote or a policy, it aims to inspire Americans to dream again, says Telisa Yancy, advertising director at Madison, Wis.-based American Family Insurance. "We believe the American Dream is the ultimate common denominator for every American," Yancy tells Marketing Daily. "More specifically, American Family Insurance is in the business of protecting what's important in people's lives: their families, their homes, their businesses and their vehicles. And by protecting these things, we protect their dreams." This campaign drives home in an emotional and inspirational way what insurance is all about, Yancy adds. Yancy declined to reveal spending on the campaign. "We are making a significant and appropriate investment, and this campaign will be visible in our 19 states where we do business using a variety of media, including for the first time national cable," she says. "We will not spend as much as the big spenders. But we are utilizing broad exposure measures and have also developed richer messaging in passion point publications where consumers will definitely notice us." The site, longliveourdreams.com, originally was used for an introductory, unbranded digital effort in late June. It received more than 300,000 visits in three weeks. Consumers can continue to enter their own perspectives, see a real-time measure of the results, and learn more about protecting their personal dreams. The unbranded effort to gather information for the campaign also included a 60-second spot that ran in 204 theaters across 19 of AFI's operating states. A similar unbranded newsprint effort ran in 23 local newspapers, 12 Hispanic newspapers and 11 African-American newspapers. American Family was not overtly identified during that phase, but the roofline element of the company's registered trademark logo was visible in those spots.
Look for the next generation of portioned packaging to appear on grocery shelves soon, as well as splashes of whiskey in unexpected places, according to the latest news from Mintel. The market research company, which reported its trend update at the recent Institute of Food Technologists confab, says that portion control continues to be the least-talked-about nutrition guidelines, and that it expects companies to begin exploiting that soon. "As companies respond to the new U.S. nutrition guidelines, it appears that the most important issue is largely ignored by CPG companies -- portion size," the Chicago-based firm writes in its release. "Hundred-calorie packs helped the U.S. consumer think about easy ways to control consumption, but today the packages are less focused on just 100 calories and more focused on providing additional benefits." Show attendees voted on the best-tasting portion-control products, with Sensible Portions Veggie Snacks Variety Pack from Canada taking first place, followed by Emerald Nut and Granola Mix in the U.S., and Krave Chocolate Hazelnut Cereal from Ireland with second and third. The foodies also voted on new products based on taste: First place went to Stonewall Kitchen Roasted Peach Whiskey Sauce. (At the beginning of the year, Mintel had named the dark spirits flavor and ingredient trend as one of its key predictions.) International Delight Almond Joy Creamer, one of many new products using coconut flavoring, came in second. And SunGold Foods Sunflower Seed Spread came in third. Mintel also reported that while the functional food trend still has some legs, with 56% of consumers having bought a functional food or beverage in the last three months, growth has slowed and the market appears to be stagnating. (In that category, attendees voted Special K Protein Shake from the U.S. as the favorite, followed by Nestle Plus Antioxidants Cereal from Belgium, and Special K Savory Herb Crackers from the U.S.)
1 Paris 2 London 3 Sydney 4 New York 5 Los Angeles 6 Rome 7 Washington, D.C. 8 Melbourne 9 Vienna 10 Tokyo Source: 2011 Anholt-GfK Roper City Brands Index
Google+ is the hottest new social network. It has better privacy controls and content filtering than Facebook, a more readable newsfeed and more space to write than Twitter, and ties together some one-off services like photo sharing and group messaging into a single service. But will its user base ever scale past tech junkies and early media adopters? Working Against It Google+ is up against the same acquisition and retention issues every new social platform has -- people are already on the networks they're on, and as of yet, there's no extremely novel reason to post your photos and updates to Google+ instead of Facebook or Twitter. Plus, you can't import your friends or data from other services (yet), meaning you have to rebuild your network from scratch. You could cobble together most of the features from services you already use. Moreover, the user experience has a learning curve: it seems to expect that you've picked up tricks from other services, but also modifies those actions slightly, so you have to "re-learn" some of the basic functions. For someone who's only used Facebook, the follow/following mechanism is harder to grasp. And a few obvious features -- like integration with Google Reader -- are missing, and feel like holes. In Its Favor What Google+ has going for it is transparency and versatility. Not only is it easy to customize sharing settings via Circles for every piece of content users post, Google also makes it clear that users maintain the rights to all their content posted to the service. The other real advantage is how flexible the service is. While you could get access to most of the features through other platforms, Google+ has done the best job of combining status updates and photo sharing, with services that have yet to become truly mainstream: check-ins, group messaging, and group video chatting. Now it's all accessible in one slick interface (the desktop-to-mobile experience is nearly seamless) and one list of contacts -- no more pleading with your friends to download GroupMe or leaving non-iPhone users isolated without Instagram. Brands Can't Wait to Get On -- And That's a Good Thing Google has been transparent that it will offer differentiated brand profiles from those for individuals. It's promising that brands won't have to fight for support on the service, since their investment (creative and financial) will make it cooler for consumer use. Deep integration with other Google services, both content-hosting platforms like YouTube and advertising services, will make it a compelling creative development and data mining opportunity. Hangouts, maps, check-ins and more will enhance the types of information they can share and help merge brand and business resources for fans. From the looks of things, brands will love Google+. So What? Ultimately, Google+ will find success among people who have diversified social networks (professionally, geographically, or interest-based) and who customize what they share with those social circles. It's also going to hinge on what gets shared back from other friends, but also from other content creators like brands, media outlets, musicians, and more. The best part about Google+ isn't that it's an information platform or that it's a content platform -- it's that it's both. Whether Google can sufficiently diversify and differentiate its services and content to scale out beyond their beta testers and early adopters has yet to be seen, but the pieces are in place for success: a varied repertoire of services, simple yet fluid management of contacts and content, and both individuals and brands clamoring to contribute. Your mom may feel that Facebook is sufficient for keeping up with friends, but for those of us who live and work more fully online, Google+ is a compelling offer.