Hoping to hop on the early waves of Super Bowl fever, Jockey is planning to use spokesjock Tim Tebow to get fans pumped up, kicking off a “Super” challenge that will spread $1 million in prizes. If quarterback Tebow and the Denver Broncos make it to the Super Bowl and win the big game, scheduled for Feb. 5, Jockey will give away $1 million worth of its products to 40,000 fans. And one fan will get $15,000, in honor of Tebow’s #15. The company is promoting the contest through social media, and fans can follow the quarterback’s weekly performance, as well as receive discounts and special offers on Jockey products, through Facebook and Twitter, at #IfTebowWins. The Kenosha, Wisc.-based company signed Tebow as a spokesperson back in July 2010, and the company has featured him in a variety of marketing vehicles, including special events, television ads, billboards and print advertisements. “We are big fans of Tim Tebow and wanted to leverage his success and create awareness for younger consumers,” Jockey CMO Dustin Cohn tells Marketing Daily, “and provide free products so consumers can try them.” Cohn says the considerable controversy Tebow has created in the NFL -- particularly because of his style of praying on bended knee, which has sparked a “Tebowing” trend among professional athletes -- has not had any effect on the marketing relationship. “With any celebrity endorser, you will get varying perspectives from the public. With Tim, we see incredibly high character, a history of philanthropy, a hard worker, a leader -- someone who puts others first, and delivers on promises.” And of course, there’s a lot of football to play in the weeks ahead, and the Broncos could fold. “Fans will definitely get a consolation prize if that happens,” Cohn says. “While we don’t want to say what it is yet, we will definitely extend an offer to anyone who has signed up for the contest.”
General Motors' OnStar security, communications, and navigation service has been moving away from its roots as an installed product only on new GM vehicles. Last August, the company introduced OnStar FMV ("for my vehicle") in Best Buy and elsewhere. The telematics division also launched OnStar RemoteLink this year, a mobile application that appeared in its first iteration at the 2010 Consumer Electronics Show as an app for Chevy Volt. Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac all introduced OnStar mobile apps this year. Nick Pudar, VP, planning and business development for OnStar, speaks with Marketing Daily about some of OnStar's core virtues, challenges and opportunities. Q: I would imagine that OnStar's main competition, broadly speaking, is smartphones, since most people can use their phones and Bluetooth in-vehicle technology to do some of the things -- navigation, communication -- that OnStar does. Is this a correct assumption? A: There are all kinds of substitute products for just about anything you might want to do in any category of any product, so clearly one thing we hear frequently is that smartphones are substitutes for the kinds of things OnStar does. While there's a spectrum of things you can do and would want to do with a smartphone, OnStar can't be matched when the situation is most urgent, and when safe operation of a vehicle and peace of mind are most critical. The convenience and one-touch live-help aspect of OnStar is something people depend and rely on. Q: Do consumers understand the benefits of OnStar, or do they think they don't need it as long as they have a smartphone? A: I would say there's good spectrum of understanding. The one thing we have is brand recognition, and brand presence and alignment around peace-of-mind services. That's very, very high. In terms of depth of understanding of the product and what it does, that does vary, so we continue to work on educating existing customers and new-vehicle intenders. But again, brand recognition is extremely high, and we continue to build on that. We find that word of mouth helps because more and more it's very likely that someone you know has a compelling personal story to share, so this continues to move the needle in the right direction over time. It's never a job that is finished, though, so we keep at it. Q: It sounds like safety and security will always be the OnStar differentiators, regardless of whatever technologies you add to the product.A: It's a clear differentiator from the standpoint of our very robust execution for those services that matter the most to you when you need them the most. In terms of peoples' use of OnStar, I'd say the vast majority of the daily relevant interactions that customers have with it is our turn-by-turn navigation. It's very easy and intuitive, but everything is about peace of mind: safety capabilities; vehicle diagnostics -- having that peace of mind that your vehicle is in top condition; and the navigation space, and the way in which the customer interacts with a live person instead of having to deal with maps, or navigation screens, or thumbprint maps on smartphones. Even hands-free calling. The whole spectrum falls under the umbrella of peace of mind. We have found over the 15 years we have been in business that this resonates with people. Q: How is the OnStar FMV product doing?A: We aren't sharing performance numbers at this stage, but I can say it has been very steady and growing. I think we are in around 2,200 different retail locations right now, and about half are Best Buy at this stage, but that is growing and we are looking to expand the distribution points. Q: What is OnStar looking at next in terms of expanding services?A: There are a couple of companies with peer-to-peer car sharing that allows you to rent your personal vehicle to someone else. There's a company called RelayRides that offers an inventory and account management rental tool that does matchmaking. You become a member, and put your vehicle up for rent, defining when it's available. To participate, RelayRides will send you a kit that has to be installed in the vehicle so its location can be accessed for the renter. And later on, when the renter comes (once the background and license checks have been done), the keys are actually inside the car, which is locked. But through the company's service, she can send a remote signal to unlock the door and access the keys for the window of time you've agreed upon. The peer-to-peer business model is very intriguing, it's really interesting, and it's growing. RelayRides has a pretty broad base of customers already in San Francisco where they are piloting. They will go much more national launch, and the intriguing thing -- and some of the friction -- is having to put this hardware in your vehicle. Well, it turns out that existing OnStar in vehicles makes that process potentially very easy. We have a relationship with RelayRides so a customer who owns a vehicle with OnStar and an active account can give the company access to OnStar. And RelayRides will be integrating into their mobile app some of the OnStar functionality. Q: So the car owner doesn't have to get extra gear…A: You don't have to put expensive equipment in your car; as a matter of fact, your vehicle is ready to participate in the program immediately. We are looking at new, innovative ways in which customer service and other companies can leverage capabilities that OnStar-equipped vehicles have now. It will launch late first quarter in a more national launch, and GM Ventures, our venture capital arm, has made an investment in RelayRides and is looking at this as an early entry into urban mobility solutions. So OnStar is beginning to look at these kinds of opportunities. Q: Where might OnStar go next in terms of more intelligent and intuitive in-car technology?A: What I would tell you is that we are exploring what are the appropriate and relevant applications for this kind of intuitive inference of the driver's intention. One of the great examples -- just imagine getting in your car, getting a very, very pinpointed piece of traffic information, highly relevant to you -- and so that's something that's very important to me if I could have that. It would be like having my own personal concierge who is scouring the Internet, the radio, traffic reports, everything in real-time, and that person knows my schedule, my plans, what I'm thinking, and then tells me that one thing I need to know. I believe the technology that we have today makes things like that become more practical. It's easy, but we are experimenting.
GEICO is partnering with Major League Fishing (MLF), a newly formed competition featuring 24 of the world's top professional bass anglers. The Chevy Chase, Md.-based insurer is hoping to expand its presence in powersports marketing with the alliance. Outdoor Channel is the exclusive MLF media partner. GEICO already sponsors pros Christiana Bradley, Teddy Carr, and Robert Pearson, who routinely take on the best bass anglers in the country on both the Bassmasters and FLW tours. Major League Fishing offers made-for-television events that aim to be more exciting and dramatic than conventional bass fishing tournaments. By using real-time leaderboards in each boat and unlimited fish counts, the format forces competitors to keep up with their rivals or face elimination. To add to the drama, there is no practice time or advance scouting, as venues are revealed at the last moment. The inaugural event includes multi-world champion Kevin VanDam, Denny Brauer, Shaw Grigsby, Skeet Reese, Mike Iaconelli, Gary Klein and Alton Jones. The field features seven Bassmaster Classic champions and eight Bassmaster Anglers of the Year. GEICO believes Major League Fishing is bringing “fresh ideas and renewed energy” to the traditional sport of competitive bass fishing, said Ted Ward, GEICO's vice president of marketing. MLF was devised in 2009 when a group of 14 anglers, led by Klein and Boyd Duckett, met to discuss the future of their sport. Together, they agreed the sport of bass fishing needed to be enhanced and that the behind-the-scenes drama and the diverse personalities of the anglers needed to be exposed. The anglers also wanted fans to be more involved in the tournaments, as well as their lives, by bringing them "on board" during fishing times for an up-close look at how a pro angler competes during an event.
More and more products from mass and specialty brands are looking to tap into the rapidly growing market of consumers who are gluten-intolerant or simply believe that skipping gluten is healthier. But given the reality that formulating truly tasty gluten-free versions of many foods isn’t so easy, how many products have the confidence to trumpet -- rather than play down -- the gluten-free angle in their marketing? Garlic Jim’s -- a new, gluten-free retail frozen pizza line from the restaurant chain of the same name -- is doing just that, with unique, humorous packaging that straightforwardly takes on consumers’ largely low expectations for the taste of gluten-free offerings. Garlic Jim’s Famous Gourmet Pizza is a predominantly franchised, home-delivery-driven chain based in Everett, Wash., with locations in Washington, Oregon, California, Idaho and Colorado. The restaurants began offering patrons gluten-free pizzas in 2008, and the pizzas’ popularity inspired the launch of frozen versions at retail, starting last year. To date, the products have been available in Western Washington, with distribution in about 160 regional grocery and health food stores, using the same delivery system Garlic Jim’s uses to truck pizza crusts, ingredients and other food supplies from its Everett facility to its restaurants, according to Chief Marketing Officer Max Clough. But that won’t be true for long. Based on the pizzas’ success, Garlic Jim’s is negotiating with traditional grocery distributors to service “healthy” national retail chains, Clough reports. Distribution (targeted to regions identified as gluten-free-receptive) will expand into Oregon in early 2012, and thereafter into California and beyond, he says. In their initial debut at retail, the frozen pizzas -- so far available in veggie, pepperoni and three-cheese varieties -- had very basic packaging largely based on the look of the chain’s pizza boxes. But convinced that packaging would be key in conveying its unique selling propositions to consumers and retailers, Garlic Jim’s hired Seattle-based brand design/experience agency Hornall Anderson to create packaging that could initiate a “conversation” with consumers, says Clough. “We didn’t want to look like all the other pizza boxes, with their ‘beauty shots’ of perfect pizzas,” or go the typical route of trying to minimize or come off as almost “apologetic” about being gluten-free, he says. “We wanted to convey to consumers who’ve gotten used to wondering what kind of cardboard-like product they’re actually going to have to endure that our pizzas are first and foremost great-tasting -- that gluten-free pizzas can actually be tasty and fun, worthy of celebrating and embracing.” Hornall Anderson’s solution: Shrink-wrapping the products to let shoppers view most of the real pizza and its ingredients, and using large, rectangular front labels consisting entirely of provocative, large-type copy. (No logo in sight, although a design tweak in the works will include more prominent branding.) For example, the pepperoni variety’s label announces (in all caps, with some words, including gluten-free, in bolder, heavier fonts): “The King of Pizza Toppings…Bow before the throne of gluten-free deliciousness and conquer your hunger with Garlic Jim’s Pepperoni Pizza.” Another variety declares: “Meet the Big Cheese…Or, as he prefers, the gluten-free, hunger-crushing, world-renowned, delicious Garlic Jim’s Three-Cheese Pizza.” This genuinely disruptive copy approach is a tongue-in-cheek adaptation of the outrageous but indisputably attention-getting headlines of checkout tabloids, explains Hornall Anderson Creative Director David Bates. “To their great credit, Garlic Jim’s was willing to experiment with this very different approach that uses words to engage with consumers on a human level,” he says. As for using shrink-wrap instead of the ubiquitous cardboard box, “people are tired of seeing too-good-to-be-true pizza ‘porn’ shots, then being disappointed when they get inside and eat the product,” Bates says. “This minimalist packaging lets them see what they’re actually buying.” Clough estimates that this packaging -- which debuted about seven months into the launch and was decidedly noticed by consumers and retailers alike -- probably produced an incremental sales lift of 25% to 30%, beyond the new products’ natural growth curve. “After we introduced the new packaging, some retailers were so excited that they decided to give us special promotional exposure, like featuring the pizzas in their own end-caps,” he says. “As we’d hoped, it’s not just gluten-intolerant people who are buying them. Some grocery retailers have told us that our pizzas are among the top-selling items in their entire frozen-food sections, and some health-food stores report that they’re among the top-selling items in their stores, period.”
Consumers are warming to the idea of using their mobile devices for banking, but concerns about privacy and security are keeping them from completely embracing the idea. According to KPMG’s fifth annual Consumers and Convergence survey, a third of U.S. consumers have used their mobile device for banking, up from only 19% last year and 9% in 2008. However, most respondents to the survey (57%) said they still prefer to use a computer or bank in a branch. Nearly two-fifths of those respondents (39%) said security and privacy concerns were the obstacles blocking them from picking mobile banking wholeheartedly. However, people may just be waiting for the killer app to come along and take away their fears, says Mitch Siegel, a principal in KPMG Financial Services practice. For instance, people using Square, a person-to-person credit card application, are so enchanted by the technology that they don’t think about the security concerns, he says. “I personally don’t think security is as big a roadblock as these surveys say they are,” Siegel tells Marketing Daily. “As soon as the solution is right and the technology is right, those concerns will ease.” He also notes that many of the banks already have security protocols in place from their Internet banking efforts. Their obstacle, Siegel says, is that they need to communicate these safety measures to consumers to help allay their fears. “I think there’s some better communications that banks can do with their clients,” Siegel says. “People are fairly comfortable doing simple mobile banking (checking balances, making account transfers, etc.). More of the security concerns come from tying account numbers and card numbers [to] a wireless link and the fears of that data being captured.” But with the coming era of mobile wallets (using a phone to handle all transactions, in which people expressed interest in this latest survey), the banking industry is likely to see even more competition from a broader array of companies, Siegel says. The biggest danger to banks is they could lose their advantage among consumers. According to the survey, banks are still the most trusted source when it comes to financial data, but secure payment systems, such as PayPal, are gaining ground. Along those lines, banks need to do a better job communicating not only the security of their mobile banking operations, but also of the services they offer. More than half (54%) of consumers said they didn’t believe or didn’t know if their bank offered mobile banking services.
Hyundai Motor has launched what it says is the first racing game on a Times Square billboard that has high-quality graphic resolution, and a realistic driving experience. The interactive racing game called "Hyundai Racing" appears on the Times Square video billboard it has on long-term lease. The game is linked to the WiFi network Hyundai maintains in Times Square, so people in the Square with accelerometer-enabled smartphones can play. The game is part of the ongoing campaign for the latest Hyundai addition, the Veloster. You can play the game by tilting your smartphone as if you were turning the steering wheel, but you must first get the controller app, which is a freebie at the App Store. Once players with the app login to the Hyundai Times Square network they can control a virtual Veloster on the billboard. When players finish the race, their score will appear on the billboard and show their ranking among other players. Hyundai says the game, which runs on the billboard until the end of the year, is the first of a series of big-screen interactive experiences the automaker plans for its Times Square video board. “Having a large video display in Times Square certainly creates awareness among consumers through creative graphic elements. But Hyundai’s racing game takes engagement to a new level,” said Steve Shannon, VP marketing, Hyundai Motor America, in a statement. “The game invites the audience to interact with Hyundai in the middle of one of the world’s busiest venues for commerce and tourism." The automaker has been marketing in Times Square along since Nov. 2009, and says the billboards in the Square bring in some 1.5 million impressions per day. Sales of the Veloster haven't been too shabby either. The automaker, which started selling the 2012 Veloster in September, sold 7,096 of the three-door coupes in the U.S. through November.
Calling the results “remarkable,” Nike Inc. says its fiscal second-quarter revenues climbed 18% to $5.7 billion, from $4.8 billion in the same period last year. Net income rose 3% to $469 million, compared with $457 million in the year-ago period. Sales in North America were particularly strong, up 21%, with double-digit gains in stores and online on Thanksgiving weekend. The results beat investor expectations, and Nike executives say the strong performance is a result of steady gains in both its basketball and running divisions, as well as its continued digital transformation. “We’re using digital to change everything about the product creation process,” Mark Parker, president/CEO, says in a conference call that was also webcast. Not only has that sped up its manufacturing, beginning with design and moving into factories, it’s also been a game-changer in its marketing approach. “Social media is helping us unite and expand,” he says. “We have never been closer to our consumers, as they connect more with each other, their heroes and their favorite teams.” Reported futures growth, a key measure of the company’s performance, is up double-digits in all regions except for Western Europe, with an increase of just 5%, and Japan, with a decline of 5%. Overall, future orders for the Nike brand are up 13% to $8.9 billion for the coming quarter. Sales in its basketball division were strong, driven by new launches. “We are all happy to see basketball start up again with five games Christmas day,” Charlie Denson, president, Nike Brand, says in the webcast. He also says that enthusiasm for running is higher than at any time since the 1970s, and that the company is especially bullish about its upcoming NFL contract, with initial products entering stores this spring, and major launches coming up for the fall. “Taking over licensing, there won’t be a big impact until fall, but I am very excited about the launch. This is going to be a new chapter for the NFL and Nike, and the level of performance and innovation are exciting players and retailers.” Parker also affirmed the company’s commitment to its deep bench of star athletes. “We are deeply connected to athletes. They help us create the products and experiences that come to life, and our brands are a source of authentic emotional connection. Athletes will always be our most important partners, especially in a more challenging economy.”
Every agency executive knows that consumer insight is key, but the way most go about getting this information is far from efficient. Costly focus groups and time-consuming surveys are not effective tools for keeping up with the rapid pace of innovation. Technology is increasing the speed of product development, making it ever more important to quickly come up with campaigns that pop. When it comes to learning from customers, and innovating as quickly as possible, lean startup guru Eric Ries is the expert. Ries advocates using customer feedback and rapid prototyping to quickly evolve ideas and products. While agencies are not tasked with evolving products themselves, an understanding of the consumer and the market makes the Ries lean startup methodology directly relevant to the agency executive. Here’s how your agency can apply principles intended for tech startups to be the most creative and nimble you’ve ever been: 1. Use technology to speed up old processes Not only does technology reduce costs -- but more importantly, it creates the shortest path from idea to feedback, and therefore, the fastest learning about what consumers want. This concept is particularly relevant with focus groups, which sometimes take months to complete. By the time a focus group is done, the original idea may not even be relevant anymore! Technology can fix this problem. Take Procter and Gamble’s Connect + Develop strategy, which uses technology to pull in fresh ideas from consumers. Since Procter and Gamble launched Connect + Develop in 2001, the online tool has dramatically increased R&D productivity and decreased the cost of innovation, producing such positive results that the strategy is still in use today. 2. Seek continuous customer input Learning as quickly as possible is the goal of Ries’ methodology, and agencies need to make this a top priority too. How will consumers react to this package design? What’s the best way to engage customers in-store? As an agency executive, it’s your job to deliver ideas that will bring results. Of course, since it’s the consumer who will ultimately determine the success of an idea, agencies should focus on seeking input from their client’s core audiences. There are enough branding flops to prove that consumer input isn’t always sought out. Netflix’s failed attempt to relaunch its mail-in service as “Qwikster” is a perfect example. Consumers’ backlash to the Qwikster brand mades it very apparent that current subscribers were not consulted or even given warning before Netflix made the decision. But talking to consumers should not only take place before a campaign or product is launched. Customer input should be sought out continuously, throughout the entire initiative. 3. Remain agile According to Eric Ries, being flexible enough to respond to customer input is an essential part of the feedback loop. Learning doesn’t stop when ideas are turned into a branding initiative. Instead, agencies need to focus on consumers' reactions, translating the response into a new set of ideas. In order to make the feedback loop as lean as possible, agencies should also be nimble enough to adapt quickly customer feedback, and be comfortable with small-scale experiments to continuously test hypotheses. Many brands have been taking a cue from customer feedback online. For example, the Domino's Pizza commercials and the Times Square billboard initiative that referenced and addressed specific complaints are a good example of how companies can adapt -- and consistently update their message -- in an age of transparency. While each lesson is important in itself, the benefits increase exponentially when all three lessons are applied at the same time. Consider any agency project with a time constraint and limited budget. An agency that uses technology to gain customer insight will spend less time and money to get new, valuable ideas than one that doesn’t. With extra resources to devote to the project, the agency will be able to continuously go back to consumers throughout the entire innovation process -- refining ideas, responding to customer feedback, and increasing the chance of the project’s success. The lean startup movement is spreading beyond entrepreneurs because its principles can easily be applied to a variety of businesses and industries. Agencies are no different! There’s no reason why 20th century practices like the focus group need to hang around just because they always have. Shake it up and go lean!
I lead strategy for my Web design company, and one of my primary roles is to connect with potential clients. This means I am in the middle of 1,000+ conversations per year about marketing -- its past, present and future. Based on these conversations and experience, I will share my predictions for 2012. Mega-Trend #1: Mobile Ecommerce Will Reach a Tipping Point It was a quiet explosion and it’s not over yet. Purchases made on mobile devices will jump significantly in 2012. If you’ve never bought anything on your phone, watch yourself in 2012. You may personally contribute to this trend. In 2010, e-commerce sales from mobile devices on Black Friday were 3.2%; in 2011, this number jumped to 9.8%. This year will be the tipping point for the ecommerce portion of the mobile mega-trend. Retail spaces will still be stores, but more than ever, will become showrooms for their Web sites. Big retailers will make it easier to order online from the store on your phone. For small brick-and-mortar retailers, “buy it where you try it” will be the rallying cry. Either way, in 2012 shoppers will realize they can scan, price shop and order any product in front of them, then have it delivered tomorrow. Mega-Trend #2: The Decline of Apps Well -- not an actual decline, but a decline relative to the growth of mobile sites. 2012 will be the year when people who say “I want to build an app” also say “...unless the same thing is possible with a mobile site.” Potential mobile application builders are starting to figure out that building an app really means building two apps (one for iPhones and one for Android) or else leaving out a big chunk of the audience. Mobile Web sites don’t have that problem. A properly built mobile site will display on any mobile device. When something is purchased through an app, there’s a middleman who usually takes a cut (Apple takes 30% of purchases made through iPhone apps, for example). But when you sell something through a mobile site, you don’t have to worry about this. Sales are handled through the company. App development is expensive and time-consuming and usually has no advantages over mobile sites. They have to be downloaded and installed: This is not my preferred way to access things -- is it yours? Plus, apps can’t be linked to easily, so they’re harder to promote. In 2012, marketers will begin to realize that mobile sites can do virtually everything an app can do, easier, faster and cheaper. Mega-Trend #3: Enter Inbound Marketing This is the year that millions of companies large and small realize that inbound marketing, rather than outbound advertising, is the way to go. By inbound marketing (a/k/a content marketing), we mean writing and promoting content using search marketing, social media, blogging, email marketing and PR. As we begin year four of the recession/recovery, marketers are still cost-conscious. They will find that inbound marketing takes time, but the out-of-pocket expenses are low. Business-to-business companies seem to be leading the charge, but everyone will be on board soon. Year 2012 is the year of content marketing. Inbound isn’t a fad or the next “shiny object,” it’s a long-term commitment of real time and energy. But as word gets out about the clever ways to combine search marketing with blogging, social media with PR, hordes of marketing departments will jump in. And to help all these marketing departments, a new generation of marketing company will rise to prominence: the inbound agency. These companies will combine the disciplines of formerly separate companies. Look for hybrid SEO/PR/social media firms. These will be small strategic firms that write search-optimized press releases and understand social media analytics.