This year, Kraft Foods brands are on a mission to get moms and kids to think about more than just candy when they think Halloween. Jell-O, for example, is giving new meaning to the term “brain food.” Through Oct. 31, the brand is offering a free Jell-O Halloween Brain Mold (consumers pay a few dollars for shipping). The mold comes with an eight-page recipe booklet for creating ghoulish gelatin brains -- including a bright-green Frankenstein version -- and other holiday tips. The idea seeks to capitalize on a resurgence of interest in Jell-O/gelatin molds (restaurant usage, mold competitions, etc.) to lift sales during a holiday that’s not necessarily Jell-O’s biggest, says Michael White, the brand's senior associate brand manager. The brain mold was the winner among various Halloween mold possibilities tested with consumers. Jell-O has used its own Facebook page, as well as Kraft's Facebook and Twitter presences, email promotions to opt-in, and outreach to mommy bloggers to drive consumers to jellomoldshop.com (linking into the Kraft branded-merchandise online store) to order the brain molds. In addition, Jell-O created a special mobile microsite for ordering the molds and viewing videos about how to use them. Promotions on packages are driving consumers to scan a QR code or text the word “mold” to connect to the microsite (which is also part of a Halloween area on Kraftrecipes.com). This isn't Jell-O's first seasonal mold, but the expanded “grassroots” outreach is paying off, with consumers ordering about 33,000 thousand brain molds to date, versus about 12,000 of the brand's less-promoted July 4th flag mold, according to White. Moreover, early data indicate an uptick in the brand's gelatin sales during the weeks leading up to Halloween, he reports. Jell-O will build on the Halloween promotion in marketing a new 2011 holidays mold and an increased number of seasonal molds in 2012, White confirms. But Kraft's Halloween blitz goes well beyond Jell-O. Cross-brand efforts include the Halloween Center on Kraftrecipes.com offers party ideas and more than 100 recipes from Kraft's culinary team. Kraft's Facebook page (759,000 likes) is featuring a Halloween scavenger hunt. Fans who find the seven hidden Kraft brands and answer trivia questions are “treated” with Halloween party recipes. Kraft reports seeing strong engagement and time spent metrics. In addition, the company encouraged its social community participants to submit photos of their Halloween cupcakes, and featured these in this week’s Kraft recipes e-newsletter. Meanwhile -- following in the footsteps of Oreo, which is marking the 20th year of its Halloween Oreo (orange cream inside) -- other individual brands are promoting seasonal varieties that grab moms' attention in the aisles and through seasonal displays and offer new occasions for well-known products. Kool-Aid has revived its Ghoul-Aid Scary Blackberry variety (orange powder that turns dark purple when water is added), which hasn't been available for a decade. The packaging features Kool-Aid Man in vampire costume. The revival reflects Kool-Aid's recognition that flavors -- and particularly flavors that are no longer available -- are the #1 topic of discussion on the brand's Facebook page, according to Matt Smith, associate brand manager, powdered beverages for Kraft. In late September, Kool-Aid began building anticipation by challenging Facebook fans to guess which classic flavor it was bringing back, gradually narrowing down the possibilities until Ghoul-Aid was revealed. The flavor's limited availability has caused fans to search local stores for the beverage, Smith reports. Kool-Aid is also sponsoring this year's Haunted Hayride and Block-Party in Sleepy Hollow, N.Y., where Kool-Aid n will be on hand to mingle and dispense samples. Mallows is offering Jumbo Pumpkin and Pumpkin Spice varieties for use in hot chocolate and desserts, as well as snacking.
Looks like Macy’s, which has steadily been expanding its digital offerings in recent months, is in the blogging business, too. The department store chain says its mBLOG will include content from such popular bloggers as Fashionista.com and FoodRepublic.com, as well as Macy’s style experts. Blogging partners will provide how-to videos, trend-spotting, user and expert reviews, and original posts; Macy’s will use the forum to showcase in-store events and sales. The Cincinnati-based chain says each day of the week will be devoted to a different subject, such as Women’s Fashion on Mondays and Home on Wednesdays, and that e-commerce will be embedded in content so readers can click to buy. In addition to content from FoodRepublic, celebrity chefs associated with Macy’s Culinary Council will also contribute recipes and expert tips. Despite the uncertain economy, Macy’s is making consistent inroads with its core audience, especially online. In September, for example, its same-store sales rose 4.9%; online sales (which include both macys’com and blomingdales.com) soared 43.3%. Macy’s is hardly the only retailer beefing up its e-commerce efforts. A study from shop.org, the online arm of the National Retail Federation, reports that online merchants have already invested in new technologies and site and service features for the holiday season, with 51% saying they have significantly invested in mobile-optimized Web sites, 19.6% reporting an investment in tablet device apps, and 35.3% significantly investing in QR codes in offline advertising, such as magazine ads and billboards. (Macy’s is currently running a TV ad campaign promoting the codes, which it has embedded into stars throughout stores, on Facebook, and on its Web site.) Of those online retailers who regularly use social media platforms, nearly three-quarters say they have already invested in their Facebook (72.5%) and Twitter (41.2%) accounts in advance of the holidays. Separately, Macy's is also furthering its fashionista agenda with the latest in its limited-edition, designer capsules: The Giambattista Valli collection is now on sale, offering jet-set glamour in sequin-encrusted jackets and flirty blouses priced on average from $50-$150. And it has tapped Doo-Ri Chung as the next designer to take part in the series, scheduled to go on sale Feb.15.
Showing products doing its job well is a strategy that’s paying off for KitchenAid. A recent set of ads from the brand touting how the company is focused on “the most important room of the house” is topping Ace Metrix’s ad-ranking list in the appliance category, indexing far above the category norm. KitchenAid’s ads show off the product’s everyday usage, using a jaunty musical soundtrack and a pleasant voiceover to declare that the company’s makes more than “stuff.” “We’re making culinary history,” the female voiceover says in a spot for the company’s 13-cup food processor, which topped the list with an index score of 699. “It’s a lot less process and way more pro.” Other spots that scored well include a 60-second commercial for the company’s signature stand mixer (showing all of the many things it can do in addition to mixing cookie batter), and a shortened version of the food-processor commercial. “Sometimes the obvious [approach] is the best,” Peter Daboll, CEO of Ace Metrix, tells Marketing Daily. “It’s hard to do simple well, and that’s what they’ve been able to pull off.” Continuing the theme of focusing on what the company is all about, all the spots contain the line: “We only make products for one room: the kitchen. Because like you, that’s where we shine.” The spots also include the memorable ending line: “Nobody knows the kitchen like KitchenAid.” The ads are particularly appealing to women over 50, who are presumably the main buyers of the appliances, Daboll notes. Among the ads’ strengths appealing to this demographic is the way it puts the information at the forefront, with glorious and attractive food shots in a straightforward manner. “It’s not demeaning,” he says. “It treats [the audience] with respect.” At the other end of the spectrum, Electrolux’s use of Kelly Ripa as a corporate spokeswoman seems to be missing the mark. Two of the company’s spots featuring the talk show host and actress score well below the category average of 611, according to the Ace Metrix research. The ad struggles partly because it strains credibility among the audience to believe a busy and wealthy celebrity like Ripa actually does a significant amount of her own cooking and laundry, Daboll notes. “In this fragmented world, celebrities are hugely polarizing,” Daboll says. “We’ve studied every single celebrity ad, and, in general, they perform below the norm.”
A recent automotive brand study gave Kia first place in brand loyalty. But another firm, global marketing company GfK Automotive, has its own 10-year examination of brand loyalty, and its results are far different. It's not so much about which auto brand enjoys the most loyal owners as it is about the relevance of brand loyalty generally. GfK says brand loyalty soon won't matter all that much in the auto sector, and it is not just because the faltering economy is driving auto shoppers to eschew brands for deals. It has more to do with the fact that younger consumers are more brand-conscious of their digital devices, and cars are, well, just a way to get around. The firm says that while older consumers are still brand loyal, Generation X (born between 1965 and 1980) and Generation Y (1981-1994) are nowhere near as loyal. "Consequently, their ever-increasing presence in the automotive marketplace will continue to pull overall brand loyalty downward, assuming current allegiance levels remain the same," says the study. GfK Automotive's “Intentions and Purchases Study,” based on an online panel of new U.S. vehicle intenders, finds automobile marketers have to reach these shoppers by talking about connectivity technology that consumers consider most important. Companies like Ford, GM and Hyundai have been talking about connectivity around new and recently introduced products like Fiesta, Sonic and Veloster. Doug Scott, senior vice president at GfK, tells Marketing Daily that the technology must be very simple and intuitive, and not about the gadgetry. "Historically, we have had navigation and infotainment systems that run $2,000 per car. But think about the new iPhone 4S, with voice activation. That replaces everything: the Siri-based iPhone 4S deals with media, search and navigation in one device. You can mount that in your car and, with a buck-ninety-nine app, you could put everything in voice activation mode." He says until automakers figure out how to bring that level of smooth sophistication to cars, it's not going to roll with Gen Y. "Our argument is that, for example, if a younger person is sitting at breakfast doing media, then shuts it all down to go to the car, they will want to continue where they left off at the breakfast table." By way of example, he says he helped his daughter buy a vehicle with a loaded audio system with lots of bells and whistles. "I got in the car a couple of weeks later and saw she had reconfigured it. She had basically taken out the stereo." He says that when he asked her why she had done that, she explained that all she needed was the car's speakers and a way to connect her iPhone or iPad. Scott says Ford might be the automaker that, initially at least, is immune to the bigger trend because while it has had traditionally strong loyalty for pickups, it has also rebalanced its portfolio in cars. "They have gotten a big uplift in loyalty [among Gen X buyers] because of cars like Fusion, Focus, and Fiesta. We are finding that Ford's loyalty among Gen X is as high as Ford's Boomer loyalty was 10 years ago," he says, adding that the automaker got a big head start in loyalty by not going into bankruptcy. "When you look at the data, Ford was trailing everyone else, then two things occurred: Ford brings out nice cars and didn't go through bankruptcy." He says Chevrolet's Cruze will likely help out loyalty, and the much-needed Malibu will give it another boost. The real issue, however, is that automotive telematics and entertainment technology simply isn't as Apple-like as the technology in these consumers' pockets. "When you begin to parse Gen Y to the under-25 people by what products they would rather have in their daily lives, they are saying the home-interconnected TV system, and that's the first break in a generation where other things are more important than cars." Scott says no automaker is there yet, but Ford's Sync-based MyFord Touch system gets an "A" for heading down the right path and an "F" for usability. "We are arguing that younger buyers will ultimately say if the car can't accommodate what I own in my house and put in my pocket, that's not the car for me: it's transparent connectivity and simplicity."
This year, Shell's Pennzoil division is spotlighting its high-end synthetic blend, Pennzoil Ultra. The company, which developed both the product and a way to test it (no small task in an industry with more testing protocols than the Tour de France) has a forked strategy: lend some glow to its whole lineup of motor oils with the premium product, but also tout Ultra as the only motor oil that doesn't just keep the inner workings of an engine clean, but also remediates buildup that's already there. Interventional cardiology is not a bad metaphor here: You can use a proper diet to keep your clogged arteries from getting more clogged, but wouldn't it be great if you could down a pint of magic beet juice and dissolve those sclerotic blockages in, say, a week? Robert Sutherland, principal scientist, Pennzoil engine oil technology, tells Marketing Daily that the Ultra Synthetic SKU of Pennzoil has a "Hyper Cleansing Technology" comprising a mix of detergent factors that do essentially the same thing for engines. He says the synthetic cocktail dissolves sludge that adheres to such notorious powertrain cul-de-sacs as turbocharger chambers and piston kerfs. "[Pennzoil Ultra] differentiates by cleaning up sludge other oils have left behind, basically reversing what's happened already to the engine," he says. "Most brands say that once sludge is on you can't take it off." The company had to develop a protocol for testing the degree to which the product could remediate a sludged engine, since such a test was not required previously. "Factory clean is the mantra; it's pie in the sky, but the goal is that the engine will never accumulate deposits. So for us, Ultra has become a tech think-tank that gives my team an opportunity to let our hair down and see how far we can push the proposition." Pennzoil uses a piston -- albeit a spotless one -- as a brand icon for Ultra, with the tag "Nothing keeps you closer to factory clean." The company has also used racing as a platform to promote Ultra, as well as ultra-premium auto brand Ferrari, which uses Pennzoil Ultra as factory-original equipment. Indy 500 champion Helio Castroneves and master mechanic and motocross enthusiast Feviu Villarreal are brand spokespersons in ads. Chris Hayek, Pennzoil director of global brand marketing, tells Marketing Daily that Ultra, which sits atop a five-tier lineup that includes Conventional, High Mileage, Gold Synthetic, and Platinum Synthetic, is the only oil recommended by Ferrari. "Pennzoil is about technology," he says. "Five years ago we did focus groups and found that protection [as a brand attribute] is now table stakes; consumers expect it." He said a motor oil that cleans the engine is the next technology tier that puts Pennzoil ahead of the curve, at least for now. Hayek says that as the message isn't a simple one, a big part of the marketing of the product involves photographing cross-sections of pistons demonstrating the different degrees of engine cleaning achieved by Pennzoil's different grades. "They can see that this is what 10% looks like; this is what 40% looks like," he says. The company is also talking about how Penske Racing runs off-the-shelf Pennzoil Ultra in its cars. "The other part of the equation is that Pennzoil Ultra is the only one of two [motor oil products] approved for IndyCar," he says. Honda, which provides the official engine of IndyCar, chooses which motor oil goes in race engines. Pennzoil will go to market with a directly competitive campaign set to launch Nov. 7. "Ultra is our flagship, and it's a halo," says Hayek, adding that the forthcoming effort will take on the top synthetic brands, including the category leader Mobil.
With the rise of smartphones, people are more frequently engaging in similar activities across multiple screens. According to a recent report from Microsoft, convergence is occurring more often among people who own multiple devices, including smartphones, televisions, gaming consoles and computers. This audience can engage with multiple screens and devices seamlessly with the help of products such as Apple TV, which allows them to redirect content from their iPhone or iPad to their television screen. Convergence presents a challenge for marketers in the sense that they now have to make three screens -- smartphones, televisions, and computers -- work for their brand and for their consumers. While this may be an adjustment, it also presents marketers with an opportunity: they have a chance to reach affluent people across multiple platforms with their marketing message. The Microsoft report found that the “multi-screen generation,” defined as adults between the ages of 18 and 64 who regularly engage with a smartphone, television, gaming console, and computer, spend an average of 54 hours per week interacting with a media device. They also have more discretionary income, are better educated, are more likely to be employed, and increasingly engage in activities across multiple screens. Reaching such an educated and affluent demographic could easily translate into better sales. But because this audience is so smart and tech-savvy, they are not easily susceptible to marketing messages. So how can marketers effectively reach them and make three screens work for them? For starters, it helps to know the role each screens plays in people’s lives. According to Microsoft, they watch television to relax and be entertained. They use computers for more informative and productive means, such as to work, shop, socialize, and read the news. And people use smartphones much in the same way that they use computers, as well as to communicate through talk and text. Understanding usage will help marketers reach this audience with the right message as they engage with each individual screen. Since computers and smartphones are used more for communication, productivity, and convenience, people use them to research products and services, pass along information, and make purchases. Television, on the other hand, is a medium for leisure. Therefore, it makes sense that television ads are more like branded entertainment, while online and mobile advertising are a hybrid of direct marketing and branding. Considering the above points, it’s no surprise that three-screen consumption has impacted the way that people shop. According to Microsoft, the purchase funnel has evolved from five phases to three: brand awareness, consideration and preference, and encourage purchase. In the new funnel, all screens work together to drive brand awareness, while the computer is the dominant form in the middle of the funnel. In fact, 88% of people research brands and products on computers, 36% research them on smartphones, and 32% research them from watching television. However, computers and smartphones are the key devices used to encourage purchases; 89% of the “multi-screen generation” has made a purchase via computer and 30% has done so via their smartphone. In addition, 65% use smartphones to make purchasing decisions when they’re away from home. The implications of three-screen convergence are huge for marketers. While each screen plays a unique but no less important part in driving sales, they also work together to drive awareness and strengthen brand measures. This means that marketers should not think of digital screens as a means to drive lower-funnel marketing objectives. Instead, if you they embrace a three-screen marketing strategy, they can now produce results from the top of the funnel to the bottom by reaching people as they engage with multiple devices. Gone are the days where people separate their smartphone, television, and online media plans. Now there is one person who is engaging with all those campaigns simultaneously. You.
It may still be October, but one brand is already dreaming of a white Christmas. For the first time, Coca-Cola is turning its iconic red cans white, all in the name of a holiday cause promotion dubbed “Arctic Home” benefiting the World Wildlife Fund (WWF). I predict it will be one of the most buzzed-about holiday cause campaigns of the year, and the brand would likely agree. In a recent USA Today article, Katie Bayne, president of sparkling beverages at Coca-Cola North America, says simply, "It's the most important holiday program we've ever launched.” Each can, along with white bottle caps on other Coke products, will feature a code prompting consumers to text $1 donations to the WWF’s efforts to protect polar bear habitats. Coke will offer a consumer donation match up to $1 million (although, interestingly, it’s not clear whether a minimum donation to the WWF has been guaranteed). It’s a bold move by the beverage brand to depart from its classic red in hopes of driving sales during the holiday season, and no doubt the promotion has enormous awareness-building and fund-raising potential for the WWF (a previous Coke partner). The intent seems genuine. And, yet, the imagery of polar bears on aluminum cans -- tying product purchases directly to protecting habitats -- seems misguided. Aluminum can recycling has reached a high in this country, up to 57.4% in 2010, according to an industry report -- but that still leaves billions tossed in the trash every year, not to mention the toll of water use, production and distribution. And although the polar bear may be Coca-Cola’s holiday emblem, it’s also an unofficial symbol of climate change. It is a contradiction to support an environmental cause without an environmental product benefit or attribute, and it may mislead some consumers about the product’s impact on the environment. Imagery is a powerful driver for consumers who could wrongly conclude that purchasing this product benefits the environment more directly than the consumer-driven donation alone. The promotion’s dedicated microsite, arctichome.com, currently states: “Beginning this holiday season, the more we text, the more we can protect.” The product will not officially launch until Nov. 1 -- at which time, I hope, the site will also share information about Coca-Cola’s environmental stewardship and will aim to inspire consumers to change their own behavior with this issue in mind. Advertising, as well as mobile and on-pack communications, will provide other powerful opportunities to share this important message. I’ll stay tuned to see whether this white promotion will also have consideration for green.