The Force will be with General Mills’ Big G Cereals starting in late January, as store shelves feature boxes of the cereals containing collectible Star Wars premiums, to tie in with Lucasfilm’s Feb. 10 theatrical release of “Star Wars: Episode I-The Phantom Menace 3D.” Each of 10 million specially marked boxes will include a free pen featuring one of eight popular Star Wars characters: Yoda, R2-D2, C-3PO, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Darth Maul, Anakin Skywalker, Queen Amidala and Jar-Jar Binks. Each of the pens has a different color of ink, to enhance collectability. The pens will be in specific-size boxes of five brands: Cheerios, Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms, Reese’s Puffs and Cookie Crisp. In addition, General Mills’s Fruit Roll-Ups Mini Rolls will feature Star Wars temporary tongue tattoos; the backing paper in Fruit by the Foot packages will have a Star Wars theme; and Yoplait Go-Gurt will offer “Slurp Sabers” (glow-in-the-dark yogurt tubes). To drive awareness of the promotions, General Mills will add 10-second tags to its television spots for several of the brands, including Cinnamon Toast Crunch, Lucky Charms and Reese’s Puffs, says Julie Anderla, integrated communications manager at General Mills. Other marketing support will include in-store pallet displays, newspaper FSIs and digital efforts including outreach to Big G’s blogger network (MyBlogSpark), plus inclusion of Big G’s Star Wars offerings in Lucasfilm’s Twitter and StarWars.com promotions. General Mills also partnered with Lucasfilm on tie-ins in 2002, in conjunction with the release of “Star Wars: Episode II-Attack of the Clones.” Some Big G brands offered special, limited-edition cereal versions (such as inclusion of marshmallows in the shape of Star Wars characters) with holographic packaging, while others offered free illuminating lightsaber pens or temporary tattoos, reported DSN Retailing Today. Go-Gurt snacks had glow-in-the-dark packaging, and the company also offered Jedi Fruit Rolls packaged with Star Wars sticker cards. Tie-ins with Star Wars are a “natural fit” for Big G brands and the other products, says Anderla, who adds that such promotions are part of General Mills’s strategy to “add additional value for consumers” to its cereals and snack brands. For instance, through licensing deals with various companies, Big G runs four promotions per year offering some kind of premiums in boxes, Anderla told The New York Times in October. In the most recent previous promotion, in October/November 2011, several Big G brands teamed with DC Entertainment to offer special DC Comics superheroes comic books inside boxes -- an effort that sought to encourage reading by kids, as well as boost sales. Another promotion featured in-box figurines of characters from Nickelodeon’s “SpongeBob Squarepants” show.
Lexus will debut its first-ever Super Bowl commercial for Super Bowl XLVI. The automaker will use its buy to tout its 2013 GS car and talk about its raft of products to come this year. The 30-second ad, via San Francisco-based Attik (whose main task for the automaker is the Scion division), will run during the first half of the game. The launch campaign for the GS, which goes on sale next month, will be handled by AOR El Segundo, Calif.-based Team One. The automaker is also doing a lead-up social media campaign called TweetDrive Engineered by Lexus during NFL playoffs. The game, on NBCSports.com, lets players earn yardage, move a virtual “team” down the field and score a touchdown during the actual playoff games and throughout the week. The idea is to gain enough yards to score a touchdown, with yardage accumulated by tweeting correct answers to trivia and predictive gaming questions using #LexusTweetDrive. The grand prize is a trip for two to an NBC Sports Premium Event. NBC Sports, and Lexus social media outlets and NBCSports.com is promoting the game during the playoffs. Brian Smith, VP marketing at the Torrance, Calif.-based automaker, tells Marketing Daily that the ad, while it will only run on the Super Bowl, sets the tone for a new creative direction for the company, "The GS is the focus of the spot, but it is the beginning of a change for the Lexus brand, with more exciting and dynamic products,” Smith says. “While we are going to continue to be leaders in product quality and ownership experience, we are adding more 'emotional' and performance products. The Super Bowl is the beginning, and a great time to get that message out. The ad will surprise a lot of people that it's Lexus." The 30-second commercial is scheduled to run during the first half of the game, with a 15-second sneak peek of the commercial on Lexus social media channels, including Facebook.com/Lexus and YouTube.com/Lexus. While the GS will be the only vehicle in the spot, the ad will hint at things to come, Smith says. "There is a plan in place for a teaser ad,” he says. “We have already gotten lots of coverage about it; our goal is to build up maximum anticipation and excitement."
Consumer electronics companies (and marketers looking to drive app adoption in general) would be wise to go after a relatively small group of consumers who know their stuff and let the message radiate out from there. According to International Data Corporation’s latest ConsumerScape 360 study, success begins with a market segment the company identifies as “Tech Evangelists.” Although the group isn’t the largest in the United States (that would be the “Pragmatic Purchasers,” who comprise about a third of the U.S. market), they do have an outsize influence over other segments. “They influence the buying and usage of devices about 500% more than any other market segment,” Michael DeHart, director of the global ConsumerScape program at IDC, tells Marketing Daily. “They’re also far and wide much better at using technology than any other segment.” According to IDC, the Tech Evangelists are about 22% of the worldwide market, and about 18% of the U.S. market. They tend to be extremely adept at using the advanced features of their devices, but are among the least impulsive buyers (meaning they’ve done their homework, DeHart says). They’re early adopters, but they don’t buy “flash in the pan” devices, and they’re much more engaged in social media than other segments. And they have a huge amount of influence over other segments (which, in addition to Pragmatic Purchasers, include: Impulse Buyers, Experiential Adopters, Green Buyers and Disengaged Functionalists). According to IDC, 41% of Tech Evangelists agree with the statement that their friends and family turn to them for advice before purchasing electronics. Plus, a small group of them (11%) have sway over another 28% of the market when it comes to these devices, DeHart says. “They really are the group that other people reach out to, but they’re the least likely to reach out to others,” he says. “It’s absolutely mission critical. It’s a waste of marketing and advertising dollars if you don’t reach this group.” But they’re hard to reach, DeHart notes. They don’t respond to gimmicks, and are wary of a company’s advertising and marketing messages. The best way to reach them, he says, is to be upfront about technical specifications of new products, reaching out through social networks and the top industry blogs (like Engadget) with the most information. And to make sure your product is read to be handled by the most experienced users as soon as it hits the market. “They read product reviews and tend to be the reviewers themselves,” he says. “The best way to reach them, honestly, is with a good product. And if you don’t have a good product they’re sure to tell the world about it.”
CMOs believe they are evolving effectively as digital disciplines mature, according to a new study. But 40% of them see that lack of technical skills as their primary weakness. The report, a joint effort between Forrester Research and Heidrick & Struggles, recommends that marketing chiefs don’t waste any time in gaining that know-how. “By thinking strategically about how to use social and digital assets, working closely with peers in IT, and continuing to drive growth initiatives and a renewed focus on the customer across the organization, CMOs will become key members of the C-suite and key enablers of success for the enterprise,” the authors write. Based on responses from about 200 CMOs, the authors also found that increasingly, CMOs need to be the link between business and marketing strategy. “Elevating marketing to be more than a fulfillment function for the organization has become table stakes for organizations that are placing the customer at the center of everything they do,” they write. “As the voice of the customer in the C-suite and an officer of the company, the CMO has the responsibility and increasingly, the credibility to lead a customer-obsessed transformation of the business strategy.” But adding more tech skills is essential, and too many are quick to “foist anything with a plug in it off on IT.” Evolved CMOs are marketers with some degree of tech know-how and are able to recognize which devices and platforms their customers use personally and professionally and how to leverage those technologies for marketing purposes. To that end, “a partnership with the CIO or CTO has never been more important.” Still, 89% believe that vision and strategic thinking are most important for their personal success. Another issue, the study revealed, is the ongoing pursuit of new customers at the expense of retaining the old, with 59% saying acquiring new customers is the top priority in their company, followed by launching new brands and products (42%.) Only 30% say retaining current customers is job No. 1. “Enriching an existing pool of customers is a better long-term strategy than seeking new ones all the time,” the authors suggest.
Chevrolet's humorous ad featuring a yellow Camaro is part of a raft of new advertising the company will feature during the Super Bowl, and one of several social media initiatives. The automaker also has launched a free app for iOS and Android, Chevy Game Time, and is running a social promo with Twitter and the NFL called “Road to the #SuperBowl.” The new TV spot was chosen from entries from 32 countries whose auteurs vied for a chance to have their 30-second ad run during Super Bowl XLVI on NBC Sunday as part of a global promotion, “Chevrolet Route 66." Chevrolet partnered with Microsoft for the Web site, www.ChevroletRoute66.MSN.com, and made UK-based MOFILM the crowdsourcing engine for the program. Chris Perry, head of Chevrolet marketing, said the effort aligns with General Motors division's shift to a global focus. "We did a program like this on mobile media in 2011 and it was pretty successful, so we did it globally.” Chevrolet is distributed in 140 countries, and 60% of sales are outside the U.S, he adds. Perry also said that people around the world share the same idea of what Chevrolet is. "We decided to tap into that and see what we come up with," he says. There are some 30 ads on the Web site from eight continents, per Perry, who said the global positioning around Chevrolet being the vehicle for life's journey, is augmented by a kind of "hometown brand" perception among consumers, wherever they are. "It's about down-to-earth qualities and reliability," he says. The videos have gotten 32 million views from people around the world, most from the U.S. Perry says consumers in Mexico and India spend the most time on the site. Chevrolet didn't tell filmmakers to adhere to a concrete list of brand beatitudes -- but suggested that the films should delineate how the brand is part of life's journey, per Perry, who adds that submissions came entirely from filmmakers rather than, say, ad agencies. The app -- while it's meant to be fun and interactive -- will also give Chevrolet real-time feedback on how focused people are on Super Bowl ads. For example, the app has a "license plate roulette" element, where people who download the app also get a virtual license plate number. If that number shows up on a real Chevy vehicle in either of two (of several) spots the company is airing during the game, that car goes to that lucky person. All told, Chevrolet is giving away 20 vehicles. "Most of this activity takes place during the breaks," says Perry. "Our research shows that most people watch the game with eight or more people, so it's another way for fans to engage in the [football] game. The ways we engage in entertainment have moved beyond the TV set, into the third screen." Chevrolet has been running what might be called a "meta ad" on the championship series that promotes the game. Perry says the company is also touting it via Twitter, Facebook, and email blasts to owners. And co-promoters Papa John's, Bridgestone, Motorola, Sirius XM, and the NFL Shop are promoting it through their channels.
Most adults don’t ask their kids to help them figure out what they do for a living -- unless, of course, they have Alzheimer’s or are named the Public Relations Society of America. The 65-year-old organization recently put out a call to its members with just that burning question through its “public relations defined initiative,” which will culminate in an international summit surrounding the creation of a single definitive sentence. This hand-wringing, flop sweat-inducing, anxiety-ridden search for sublime succinctness promises to explain -- once and for all -- what it is that PR people actually get paid to do. PR evolved from typing copy to following up with phone calls, which spawned a practice that is now attempting to identify itself as a profession. The one glaring roadblock to true professional status, however, is the nonexistent barrier to entry in PR. If you can get online you can conduct public relations. Without a test and certification requirement to practice public relations, the manicurist with a state-issued license is more of a professional than any Zenga-clad Michigan Avenue flack. The proliferation of social networks has enabled everyone to transmit public relations messages. Witness the two self-appointed Domino’s brand emissaries whose nose-picking pizza-making video caused a worldwide marketing nightmare for the company in 2009. Our cornucopia of new communications platforms has stolen the limelight from good old billable media relations. If the “message” can be sent out by anyone, the ability to earn a press clipping by getting a business reporter drunk isn’t such a big deal anymore. Dabbling in the media sandbox has become our new national pastime. Want to contact CNN? Just tweet @andersoncooper -- you'll have the same odds for attention as a six-figure-a-year media specialist. Can you blame the poor old PRSA for wanting to lay down some lion pee and reclaim turf? In the quest for the Holy Definition, the PRSA has turned up over 200 responses, from which they have selected three finalists. These will be put through the idea mill of a second summit, out of which will come yet more modified definitions, which will in turn be put to a vote. It’s pretty clear they turned to the most straightforward and thorough model for this approach: The Iowa Caucuses. The angst concerns rewriting this 1982 definition: Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other. Interpretation: Since we're stuck with each other let's try to get along. Here's one of the carefully selected finalist redefinitions: Public relations is the engagement between organizations and individuals to achieve mutual understanding and realize strategic goals. Interpretation: Why don't we try to tolerate each other and make some money along the way? Clearly, 30 years hasn't diluted the spiritless thinking behind this exercise in stilted prose. How about a definition that gets to the core of the practice: Public relations is a haven for journalists who want to make more money and English majors who couldn't write well enough to be journalists. What the PRSA and its shell-shocked membership have overlooked are the qualities that bring people to the practice in the first place: creativity, imagination, curiosity and an ability to tell stories. How many contracts will be signed because an agency is going to deliver “mutual understanding and strategic goals?” It’s just this kind of thinking that will hinder PR’s evolution from a tadpole to a certified toady. The essence of public relations is dissemination of controlled creativity, because at the end of the day that’s what a client is willing to pay for. The PRSA should be spending more of its time delineating quantifiable skill sets and talents, and less on honing the art of business-babble. Creating some kind of barrier to entry is the only path to formalized licensure. Imagine the pride PR flacks will enjoy when they’ve finally attained equality with manicurists, plumbers, truck drivers and all the other card-carrying members of real professions.