Finlandia vodka is using social/online media to turn a longtime, strictly trade event into an opportunity to engage consumers as well. For more than a decade, the Brown-Forman brand has been building awareness and goodwill among bartenders worldwide through its Annual International Finlandia Vodka Cup. The basic premise: Bartenders entered their favorite Finlandia cocktail recipes on a local basis, then went through regional and national rounds to vie for being among the finalists who win trips to Finland to compete for world Finlandia mixologist honors and cash prizes. But for the current, 14th year of the competition, Finlandia is bringing consumer fans into the contest, as well as driving greater involvement by bartenders, by having bartenders submit their “long drink” recipes online, posting these in a gallery, and encouraging fans to vote on the recipes through Finlandia.com or the brand’s Facebook page. While 19 of the finalists are still being chosen by an official judging panel, the 20th will be determined by the popular fan vote. Fans who voted were entered into a sweeps in which three of them will win trips to the Cup finals in Finland, to be part of the judging panel at the live event. During the entry submission/voting period from Oct. 21 through Nov. 23, Finlandia promoted the contest through its site, Facebook page and Twitter presence, and participating bartenders were encouraged to use social media to drum up votes for their entries. Results: During that first phase, visits to the brand’s site were up 120% versus the previous month, new Facebook likes were up 74%, and total online/social engagements with consumers (likes, sharing, comments, site visits, etc.) were up 40%, reports Lynette Green, interactive marketing manager for Brown-Forman vodka brands. Moreover, the contest drew drink recipe submissions from 363 bartenders from 34 countries. The bartender finalists (who will compete to win cash prizes that total $25,000 over three categories, including the long-drink category), as well as the three consumer voters who have won the trips to be judges during the finals, will be announced on Dec. 27. In addition, Finlandia hopes to draw considerable additional consumer and bartender engagement by live-streaming the “long drink” portion of the live competition on Feb. 1.
Somewhere among grey Thursday, Black Friday and Cyber Monday, the cat-and-mouse rules of online retailing are shifting this holiday season. Stores pushed harder on the time and intimacy boundaries of consumers (“Go ahead -- skip Thanksgiving dinner -- come to the mall!”) And shoppers pushed right back, armed with enough smartphones and online savvy to enable them to sniff out better deals across multiple channels. (In fact, you can follow that confidence right into Best Buy’s holiday ad campaign, which shows smug and snarky moms who are more than happy to show up a definitely offline kind of Santa.) The results, including a sparkling 33% jump in Cyber Monday sales, are surprising many people. Marketing Daily asked Jeremy Mason, VP/general manager of AudienceScience, the Seattle-based ad targeting company, to explain what’s behind the changes. Q: So what’s really new this year?A: We’re seeing that online sales are already 15% ahead of where they were last year, and what’s important is that this is a general trend, and there isn’t one particular income level or audience level that’s stronger. There’s been this assumption of super-affluent people sipping lattes and shopping on their iPads. But the results this year show those demographic assumptions are just wrong. Q: So who is the typical online shopper?A: Well, attitudinally, they are different. We know they shop earlier. By income, we found that 30.5% of holiday shoppers earn more than $100,000, and 16% earn between $60,000 and $75,000. But what was interesting to us in our study was that the middle group -- those in the $40,000 to $60,000 segment -- outshops the $75,000 segment by 5%. Q: What else is driving sales this year?A: Behavioral targeting, and retargeting. Companies are doing a much better job of matching messages to users. Retailers are definitely getting the idea that getting the right message to the right segment really matters. One size does not fit all. And this year, companies have gotten much more aggressive with retargeting, which means that when a consumer clicks on some element of your advertising, you go back to them repeatedly with a message. It’s a good reminder, and a good reinforcement. Q: Doesn’t that just annoy people?A: It can, when it’s overemployed. Q: What else have retailers done to step up their game?A: Retailers are doing a better job of collecting a broader set of data. It’s fairly easy to put a standard retargeting pixel on a site, which might tell it who looked at furniture. But more sophisticated techniques mean they are better able to see who looked at a high-end leather couch, or a low-end sofabed. Who might be a college student, and who might be redoing a mancave? Taken together, you begin to get an almost psychographic sense of the user. We’re seeing stores like Crate & Barrel and Pottery Barn do a good job with this kind of information. Different products are more relevant to different kinds of shoppers. Q: Anything else that sets this holiday season apart?A: The meteoric rise of the “deal of the day” mentality. Based on the success of sites like Groupon, individual retailers are creating their own deals in limited time frames, to stimulate consumers. It could be the economy, or it could be that this emerging trend has tapped into a kind of consumer confidence, the idea that they are going to find their way to an amazing deal.
Beaulieu Vineyard is launching a Facebook campaign to encourage wine lovers to donate and volunteer food banks and other hunger relief organizations. The BV Give & Give Back Campaign, at facebook.com/bvwines, has the potential to provide 2,500,000 meals for American hunger relief. The Napa, Calif.-based winery started a program in the fall with donations to help provide more than 1,000,000 meals to 12 national and regional hunger relief agencies. “The fact that so many people are not able to put food on that table is a critical issue of our times," said BV Marketing Brand Manager Noelle Campbell, in a release. More than 50 million people go hungry each day, and 17 million of those are children, she says. “Hunger relief has become a focus of our BV Coastal Estates mission and a way to give back to the community, " Campbell added. Working with hunger relief experts at Feeding America, a hunger releif charity, and other community advisors, Campbell identified 12 food relief agencies with whom to collaborate. BV Coastal Estate Wines has donated funds to agencies nationwide, including: St. Mary's Food Bank Alliance in Arizona, Greater Chicago Food Depository, Food Bank of the Rockies in Colorado, Freestore Food Bank in Ohio, the North Texas Food Bank, The Greater Boston Food Bank in Massachusetts, the Food Lifeline in Washington, the Food Bank of Southern California, the San Francisco and Marin Food Bank in California, the Napa Valley Food Bank in California, the Florida Association of Food Banks and the Food Bank Association of New York State. The company also made a donation to the national efforts of Feeding America. As part of the Give & Give Back online challenge, BV asks Americans to commit at least 1 million volunteer minutes to food banks, soup kitchens and hunger relief agencies nationally. When BV reaches the challenge goal of 1 million volunteer minutes, American wine lovers will have contributed the volunteer time equivalent of $356,000. "The economy is a challenge for everyone right now, we want to remind people that volunteering their time can be as valuable as a donation of money or food," Campbell said. Beaulieu Vineyard is produced by Diageo Chateau & Estate Wines (DC&E), which is part of Diageo.
They may have paid a pretty penny for smartphones, iPhones, tablets and other mobile toys, but Americans are relying on the devices to serve as high-tech divining rods for bargains and year-end deals. According to SapientNitro-GfK’s Holiday Shopping Survey, 67% of consumers plan to use their smartphones and tablets to find product deals, up from 44% last year; 39% will use e-mails from vendors offering deals; 38% agree that their smartphones have empowered them to find the best deals while shopping this holiday season; and 31% of consumers used their GPS/location feature on their phone to help with holiday shopping. In the survey, conducted Dec. 9-11 by GfK Roper Public Affairs & Corporate Communications (part of GfK Custom Research North America) on behalf of Sapient, 39% of the 1,000 or so polled said their use of digital devices has “enriched” their shopping experience so far this holiday season. And nearly half of 18- to-24-year-olds (47%) agree. The firm quotes one respondent: “It was less confusing, so you don’t have to have [all] the papers with you -- the ads are right there on your phone. That was wonderful.” Said another: “Using digital devices makes it easier and makes me feel like I’m in control of the prices. I get better deals and better prices, and it’s enjoyable.” The greatest proportion -- about 56% -- of respondents who said they felt empowered to use their devices to find deals are owners of tablet mobile devices. Almost two-thirds of younger consumers between 18 and 24 also said they were empowered to find deals via mobile devices regardless of the device they use. “As the use of digital devices moves more and more to the forefront of Americans’ shopping behavior, the ease of findings deals with them -- whether through research, social media, deal sites, and the like – has eased the pressures of gift giving,” said Chris Davey, global head of commerce at SapientNitro, in a statement. He noted that the use of mobile devices as shopping tools -- to the extent that they make deal-locating easier --may have a big influence in moving products at retail, as 44% of consumers plan to spend less on holiday shopping this year than they did last year. The firm reported that mobile use is up across the board this year. The firm said 67% of respondents plan to browse for products via mobile device, up from 44% last year; the same percentage said they are going mobile to do research, which is up from 48% in 2010; and 60% this year versus 40% last year said they are using or plan to use mobile devices to compare prices; and 48% said they are looking for deals via mobile, versus 35% last year. SapientNitro used the results to promulgated a short list of mobile trends based on strong survey responses around mobile applications and features shoppers are using: 31% used their GPS/location feature on their phone to help with holiday shopping; 30% used a mobile app to search for or purchase a product this holiday season; 20% looked or posted something on Facebook, Twitter, or other social networks to find or ask for advice on holiday gift buying; 18% used a mobile coupon at point-of-purchase; 19% used a QR code to find more information about a product. Davey said GPS-enabled mobile computing is going to be big, particularly among tablet owners. “Imagine the day when you walk into a store and the retailer already knows something about you based on location-aware services. The implications for retailers -- in terms of targeted promotions or in-store navigation -- are fascinating."
Despite all of the options available to get one’s visual entertainment, television still is one of the most popular devices out there. According to new consumer research from Parks Associates, 20% of all U.S. households with broadband intend to purchase a new flat-panel television by the end of the year. Among those households intending to buy a new TV set, nearly three-quarters plan to buy a TV with advanced features like 3D or built-in Internet connectivity, but they’re going much more for the latter than the former. While the findings don’t necessarily represent the death knell for 3DTV (which has had trouble catching on with consumers), they do show that consumer interests lie elsewhere. “It’s definitely a reflection of consumer sentiment today that is much more highly geared to connectivity and its practical benefit; that is, greater access to content through services such as Netflix and others,” Kurt Scherf, vice president and principal analyst at Parks Associates, tells Marketing Daily. “We’re actually seeing 3D and connected technologies built into a large number of televisions, so consumers are actually getting both capabilities. It’s just that online access to content resonates more strongly with them today.” With prices coming down, more middle-class families are also getting into the game of buying these advanced TVs, Scherf says. According to the report, 20% of middle class households (those with annual incomes of $50,000 - $75,000) intend to purchase smart TVs this holiday season, compared with 12% of households with incomes about $75,000. Another factor: children. Families with children in the house were more likely to buy an advanced television than those without kids (17% vs. 10%). But what’s good news for the television makers could be bad news for the content providers, specifically the ones bringing programming into the house. According to the report, consumers who intend to purchase a smart TV this holiday season are also more likely to cancel or downgrade their pay-TV service packages within the next year. “Through services such as Netflix, Hulu Plus, and ESPN 3, consumers can find a growing number of television content through online outlets,” Scherf says. “As consumers consider their monthly expenditures and think about what content can be found via online channels, smart TVs and other connected consumer electronics present an ever-viable option for consumers to watch programming.”
What does next year promise for brand loyalty? If the recent past is any indication, it will be more of a challenge to keep consumers with brands. The loyalty marketer’s association Loyalty 360 says loyalty, not acquisition, will be the keel that keeps business right side up. The organization, in a report, says that identifying loyalty solely with its adornments (points, discounts, miles, rewards) is a mistake. The group says processes, technologies, ideas, and interactions are what it's about. "The only way to achieve loyalty is through deeper engagement." But Loyalty 360 says businesses are faced with challenges fueled by digital coupon sites like Groupon. "Customer loyalty has been identified as the top non-financial business challenge facing companies in 2012. While daily deals like Groupon, LivingSocial are generating lots of buzz, marketers are realizing that these price-based technologies have taken their focus away from the real prize: customer loyalty," said the organization. Far from the bling of points and rewards, the real loyalty driver is customer service and positive experience at all touchpoints -- but especially at the call center. Loyalty 360 reports that a recent poll it conducted found that 78% of respondents believe that having a great customer experience makes them loyal. "Creating this type of customer experience involves delivering quality customer service across all touchpoints, and marketers are realizing that this means integrating the call center into the overall customer experience," said the organization. But, warns the organization, engagement can't end with purchase, but must continue over the life cycle of the product or service. Going forward, marketers will use location-based behavioral data and attitudinal and preference data to figure out when and where to offer daily deals, Loyalty 360 predicts. Brands should control the message, "Rather than offering such huge discounts to anonymous individuals," it said. And brands will use data on customer buying patterns generated through loyalty programs to create more targeted marketing/messaging, meaning more personalized marketing. The firm also said marketers will look to recommendations and referrals to persuade customers and prospects to follow their friends' leads. Thus, companies will be more active in doing things like encouraging reviews, and implementing refer-a-friend programs. Finally, cause marketing is going to have more influence on customer loyalty to brands. Loyalty 360 cites a study that said consumers are more likely to pick a brand based on charities or causes it supports, and that 94% of responding consumers said they would abandon their typical brand for one of approximately equal quality and price if it backed a social issue.
Every time a bell rings, an advertiser gets his wings… Okay, so that’s not exactly how the line goes but I’m sure it’s something like that. Audience targeting and the tracking technologies behind it have been getting a lot of ink lately, and a fair amount of it has been negative. Concerns come from both ends of the spectrum – consumers and governments worried about privacy and marketers who aren’t always seeing the results they expect from their current tracking efforts. To make sense of all of this – and in the spirit of the holidays – I’ve decided to take the “It’s a Wonderful Life” approach and imagine: what would the Internet be like if there was no tracking at all? In my mind, the Internet without tracking is much like the film’s hypothetical town that would have existed if Jimmy Stewart’s character had never been born, Pottersville – crass, sleazy and utterly unappealing. Not a pretty picture for anyone involved: publishers, advertisers or consumers. To begin with, the Web would be cluttered with many more ads. Why? Because without the ability to target ads to specific audiences, brands will have to compensate by running more ads in the hopes of reaching customers, effectively substituting quantity for quality. On the flip side, consumers will experience a wild decline in relevance. The ads they see will have nothing to do with who they are, what they are interested in or what matters to them. The next impact to consider is that removing tracking capabilities will mean significantly reducing a publisher’s revenue. Without the ability to assure advertisers that they can reach the specific audiences they want, the value of inventory will drastically decrease. And while the cost of advertising inventory units may go down – potentially a boon for advertisers – the ROI on these units will plummet even faster if advertisers can’t be confident that they are reaching their target consumers. So far things aren’t looking too pleasant in “Tracklessville” – everywhere they go, consumers are bombarded with ads that have nothing to do with them, advertisers are forced to resort to broad plastering techniques instead of precision targeting and publishers’ inventory loses its value – which is derived from the audiences that inventory can reach. And the problems don’t stop there. With less advertising revenue coming in, publishers will need to find new sources of revenue which would likely mean more and taller pay walls, subscription models, etc. – more paid content. Consumers have come to expect a wealth of free content, but without the support of advertising revenues, publishers simply won’t be able to sustain the current model. “Strange isn’t it? Each man’s life touches so many other lives. When he isn’t around, he leaves an awful hole, doesn’t he?” The bottom line is that without the ability to track and target audiences, the digital experience will be radically different. But that doesn’t mean that we have to be satisfied with the status quo, because there are plenty of reasons why tracking isn’t on everyone’s wish list. Performance, privacy and technical limits all make effective targeting quite a challenge – especially with the current cookie-based system. It’s time to leave the cookies for Santa. They raise concerns for multiple audiences – for consumers and government regulators, cookies are problematic from a privacy perspective; and for marketers, cookies just don’t function well enough for audience targeting, due to a short shelf-life, “deletability,” lack of mobile reach, and increasing regulatory pressure. So if cookies go – or get left behind – is it back to Pottersville? Of course not. Recently, the industry has begun to develop novel cookie-free approaches. One of these is device identification – technology that provides intelligence to marketers without collecting any personally identifiable information (PII) of any kind whatsoever. And perhaps more importantly, players within the industry – marketers, advertisers, and tracking technology companies alike – need to adopt a pro-privacy stance. To keep the grim future described above from becoming the marketing industry’s shared reality, we need a smart, viable and sensible approach, that preserves the value of marketing dollars – and that’s something we’d all like to see under the tree. Geoff Gieron is the Business Development Strategist at AdTruth.
The mobile app world can be cruel and unfair. It’s loud, distracted, competitive and costly. Time after time, companies spend tens of thousands of dollars developing their app, including months of personnel time and resources, only to launch the app and see usage rates drastically drop (with alarming attrition rates). With more than 1 million apps in the Apple App Store and more than 500,000 in Android’s market, the solution for increasing an app’s visibility is one that many marketers pay loads of money to solve. As of August, Apple iOS phones contained an average of 48 apps per phone, with Android ranking second at 35 apps per store and BlackBerry OS trailing with 15 apps per phone. By 2015, mobile advertising is slated to be a $24 billion industry. While a strong PR plan can support this effort, marketers face the alarming message that they must build the most engaging app with the coolest and most useful features in order to stand out from the dozens of other apps that a user downloads to their phone or tablet – in fact, there are now more than 100,000 apps for the iPad. Otherwise, the costly process will be nothing more than a wasted investment. But, there is a silver lining. Companies can now build engaging apps that can be accessed from anywhere in the world, more than doubling their consumers simply by providing terrific content for every mobile platform. Our clients’ apps have been downloaded in more than 100 countries, with user growth doubling monthly by the tens of thousands. We’re not experts, but we’ve figured out basic steps to follow during development and post download: 1. Package marketing and promotion to launch your app: Regardless of the initial “cool” factor or appeal that drew the user to download, you must implement on ongoing plan to not only continue the number or downloads, but sustain and increase the amount of time consumers spend using the app. Without engagement, your app is a virtual pet rock. 2. Understand your target audience and similar apps they’re already using: Think you’re the first to offer a unique app in your industry? Think again. But, piggy backing off of successful trends and tactics is smart, efficient and appreciated by consumers. The mobile coupon industry, for example, is slated to be worth $46 billion by 2016. Jump on the bandwagon. 3. Assign responsibility and empower app managers: Google’s Eric Schmidt said it best – “Put your best people on mobile.” Mobile today is the fastest-growing giant industry on the planet. Why? Because all major digital technologies are headed to mobile – telecoms, computers, the Internet. And, all major media channels are headed to mobile – music, gaming, news, television, advertising. Heck, even money, from coins to banking to credit cards, is headed to a phone near you. This is definitely the “industry of the decade,” and we have only begun. 4. Continually provide relevant and current content: Just as the three tips to a successful restaurant are “location, location, location,” the three tips to a successful app is “relevance, relevance, relevance” (and great functionality and user interface, of course). Mobile influence is similar to social media influence – the sponsor must continually update its content and always provide fresh incentive and reason to users to engage. 5. Study your analytics and adjust accordingly: It’s okay to fail, but learn how to do so quickly. Monitor which features generate the greatest use. What content do users share, what offers and ads to users ignore, which live radio or video streams receive the most attention, etc. Minding the analytics about user engagement with your app will help determine which features need improvement, investment or even deletion. Diving Into Mobile Without Treading the Waters As the app industry continues to flourish, marketers must dip their feet in the warm and turbulent mobile waters. While the industry is young, do not be afraid to take chances and test the adoption and use of new features. As we preach internally: Aim to open a can of mobile “whoop ass,” gain new revenue and users and incentivize your users to access your information and connect with your brand, from anywhere in the world.