Virgin Mobile is branching out into the retail world. This week, the Sprint-owned brand is opening its first branded retail outlet in Chicago’s upscale Lincoln Park neighborhood, looking to attract a relatively young demographic of consumers who are looking for something a little different. Unlike most wireless retail stores, the Virgin Mobile store presents a relaxed atmosphere, with comfortable chairs for customers to sit in while employees activate their new phones, charging stations, a phonograph where people are encouraged to play records (supplied by a neighborhood record store down the street). The feel, according to Ron Faris, Virgin Mobile’s head of marketing, is to be more akin to that neighbor, than of another big-box retailer a little further down the street. Q: This is a very different feel for a phone company store. What’s the vibe you’re looking for here?A: I think the thing that we’re looking at is that the relationship you have with a phone company is basically, if you buy a phone, you come into the store and you leave basically hoping to never to see them again. What we want this place to be is a place to sit and hang -- and our folks will walk you through the hottest new apps you can put on your phones. I like to think our brand sits at the intersection of pop culture and technology. Q: How does that translate into creating a retail store?A: I think a phone should connect you to more than calls and data. A phone should connect you to the culture and community, to pro-social causes. What we want to contribute to the community is that we might have events in the form of app demos. We’re launching with a poetry reading with the Night Ministry (a homeless youth charity), where Common is going to come and give tips to the kids about how to write. During Lollapalooza this store might be a green room for some of the talent coming in, and our in-house DJ [on Virgin Mobile Live] will ome and interview someone. It’s coming to buy a phone, but we’re not hustling a phone. Buying a phone should be the beginning of your relationship with us. Q: In the prepaid world where you live, the word “relationship” isn’t the first word that comes to mind.A: I think if we do our job right, there’s no need to sign a contract because [customers] will keep coming back anyway. But that’s never been the mindset of prepaid. And prepaid right now is the future. It’s no different than a 24-year-old kid who’s enlightened enough to disconnect their cable company to get Hulu. Now that everyone has smartphones, it’s about [selling] a lifestyle. Even when I hear myself say these things, it’s like, “Dude, you’re a phone company.” But there’s no reason you can’t be a phone company with soul. Q: Why start in Chicago, as opposed to New York or LA, or even Austin, Texas, which strikes me as more of a place where the intersection of pop culture and technology is more prominent?A: Other than the fact that “High Fidelity” was shot here, I think Chicago is a great city for Virgin. It’s actually one of our top two markets. I think the value breaks through for a lot of the segment. Chicago is a great starter town for people just getting out of college. Austin is more aligned with pop culture and tech -- but I think for our demographic of kids just coming out of school, Chicago, DC, and Boston are great starter towns for people just coming out. Q: Are you concerned that you cannibalize sales at other places? This store is literally a block away from a Best Buy. A: Here’s the problem with Best Buy. Best Buy and all of our big-box retailers account for 44,000 doors in the country for us, and that’s fantastic. That’s where we get our scale from. The only problem with those stores is that our signage is no bigger than [a piece of paper]. And in that, you have to understand what we stand for, what our value proposition is -- and hope that the sales rep is representing our brand and our offering and our phones to the best of their ability, while they’re next to three other competitors. Q: Prepaid has long been thought of as the lesser option in the mobile world in the U.S., mostly because of the notion that the phones were not as good. How much are we getting over the notion that prepaid plans don’t offer the best phones and the most up-to-date technology? And how does this store address that?A: It’s a big stigma that we still have to overcome with little money. One way we’ve done that is we’ve wrapped ourselves up in the brand, using [Sir Richard] Branson. The biggest problem in getting a post-paid defector is they say, “I don’t want to feel I’m taking a step back. I want what I have, but I want to get it for less.” To do that, it’s making sure the phones are a lot better, which we’ve done. It’s really getting the word out that prepaid is the new cord-cutting. Having real phones, the best phones here, will help immensely. This is where you realize this is not any step down, that it used to be years ago. It’s a bit of a coming-of-age story, we couldn’t have done this a few years ago. We’ve been around for seven, eight years from the days of plastic, tiny burner phones, and today I’m sitting in a store that looks like a VIP section at our Free Fest [music festival] and there’s a display for an iPhone. This brand has come a long way. This is an arrival moment for the brand, and the store is a big part of that.
Nationwide Insurance is launching an integrated national marketing campaign July 27 featuring the voice of actress Julia Roberts. TV breaks July 27 during NBC’s broadcast of the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Summer Olympics. The tagline is “Join the Nation.” While past Nationwide Insurance campaigns have leveraged on-screen celebrity talent, this campaign is the brand’s first use of A-list celebrity talent in a voiceover capacity, said Jennifer Hanley, senior vice president of brand marketing for Columbus, Ohio-based Nationwide Insurance. “For this campaign, when we were considering how best to deliver our message, we were looking for a familiar voice that would bring our brand character to life,” Hanley tells Marketing Daily. "Julia’s voice brings an authentic, inspired tone to the campaign that resonates well with our target audience.” The Olympics are predicted to be one of the Top 10 television events of the year, making it an efficient, high-profile buy and a smart advertising investment, Hanley says. “Nationwide believes the summer Olympics provides the perfect blend of strong audience reach and high engagement programming needed to launch the Join the Nation campaign,” she says. Developed in partnership with Durham, North Carolina.-based ad agency McKinney, the effort includes TV, radio, digital and print advertising. The creative highlights Nationwide’s mutual structure -- which has allowed the company to put members first, not shareholders, since it was founded in 1926. “Anthem,” a 30- and 60-second spot, celebrates the lives of Nationwide members and all that being part of this special member community has to offer. The second ad, “Disappear,” focuses on Nationwide’s Vanishing Deductible product, an option for members that rewards them for safe driving. It will begin running in August. “We plan to create additional ads that focus on our brand, as well as our product offerings,” Hanley says. “The launch ads will run in varied rotation throughout summer until new messages are rotated in.” The campaign also includes a dedicated campaign Web site, www.jointhenation.com, which will provide ongoing, protection-oriented content that encourages participation from members and other key audiences. Nationwide employees will help kick off the campaign during the weekend of July 27-29 at the NASCAR Nationwide Series Indy 250 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway and the Web.com Tour’s Nationwide Children’s Hospital Invitational golf tournament in Columbus.
Burt’s Bees, already a powerhouse organic brand for the masses, is rolling out Burt’s Bees Baby, its first foray beyond personal care products. The new line, which includes apparel, accessories, bath linens and gift sets, is already on sale at Target, and will be introduced in other retailers next month. Eventually, the Clorox-owned brand says, it will expand into “multiple categories across baby, home, and lifestyle.” Aiming to make it the #1 organic baby brand in the world, Burt’s Bees is skipping the environmental elite and heading right toward populist price points: A 100% organic three-piece newborn apparel set (bodysuit, bib and hat) sells for $10; a 100% organic baby knit terry coverall: $14; and a 100% organic cotton hooded blanket at $16. Gift sets, which include baby robes, towels, washcloths and bath products, cost $40. That mass approach is possible, Maria Nyline-Asker, president of Burt’s Bees Baby, tells Marketing Daily, “because technology has really changed. People may expect they’d have to pay twice as much for organic baby clothes, that there’s this mass fundamental divide. But in reality, our line is only about 20% more than a brand like Carter’s,” she says. “And the quality is so changed from people’s early perceptions of organic. From the hand touch or look of the product, you would think it’s of equal or greater quality. People used to think organic meant it had to be beige and look terrible on the hanger.” The company says the line, produced in a licensing partnership with Ayablu, Inc., will eventually extend beyond newborns to cover toddlers and children, as well as gifts, linen, gear, an expansion of its bath and grooming products, toys and even furniture. It says it will be available at buybuy Baby and BabiesRUs.com by August 1, and then on a new website,www.burtsbeesbaby.com, in September. While sales of organic clothing and fibers are still quite small compared to organic foods and personal care, they are growing fast. In its latest analysis, the Organic Trade Association says U.S. sales of organic fiber shot up 17.1% percent to $708 million in 2011. Asker says the company will introduce products to moms via social media and public relations: “We’re really focused on the digital space, a celebrity approach, and editorial mentions.”
Stock car race sanctioning body NASCAR, after a nearly four month review, has tapped Ogilvy & Mather as AOR to help execute NASCAR's Five-Year Industry Action Plan to engage fans, and get Gen Y, youth and Hispanic consumers interested in the race circuit. The Daytona Beach, Fla.-based organization has charged the agency with target segmentation, brand vision/storytelling, media strategy, and promotional tasks, and support for NASCAR’s digital team. The organization says it got 110 proposals and 75 sets of credentials from agencies, narrowed it to a list of fewer than 10 firms, and then hit the road with NASCAR brass to visit them. "In June, a trio of finalists – Leo Burnett, Ogilvy & Mather and McCann Erickson North America – presented to a group of senior leaders, including NASCAR Chairman and CEO Brian France," says a NASCAR release. Said Kim Brink, NASCAR managing director of brand, consumer and series marketing said, in a statement, "We were thoroughly impressed with the caliber of all three finalists; but Ogilvy's consistency, creativity and dynamic leadership were the key differentiators. We're delighted to join the agency's roster of big consumer brands." John Seifert, chairman and CEO of Ogilvy & Mather North America, said NASCAR's strengths are in how it "blends marquee stars, jewel events, and some of the fiercest competition on the planet with an intricate ecosystem comprised of historic tracks and compelling personalities." O&M will replace St. Louis-based Jump Company, which early this year launched a campaign arguing that next to NASCAR, "Everything Else is Just a Game." Creative demonstrated how mundane affairs get a jolt with a little NASCAR-style passion. One spot posited a rental car as a NASCAR racer. Another showed how a celebration with Champagne takes on huge meaning at the finish of a NASCAR race, complete with fireworks, geysers of bubbly, winners doing donuts and leaping through smoke and confetti. Jump creative has also offered a backstage look at how the Nationwide Series has evolved with creative showing fans tooling around race team garages in a Hollywood style tour tram. NASCAR, whose race rosters are divvied into three series -- Sprint Cup, Nationwide and Camping World Truck Series -- says it has more of the top 20 highest-attended sporting events in the U.S. than any other sport and is the second highest rated regular-season sport on television. Races are broadcast in more than 150 countries and in 20 languages, per the organization. Early this year NASCAR, which has over 40 official sponsors, signed a yearlong ad-spend deal with USA Today, the first such deal in six years between the sanctioning body and the media company. USA Today isrunning NASCAR sections timed with major races like the Daytona 500.
Despite the tepid economy, U.S. retail sales of non-food pet supplies totaled $11.1 billion in 2011, up 2% over 2010, according to a Packaged Facts report. From a high of 5% in 2007, annual sales gains slowed during the economic recession of 2008-2009 and its aftermath but still continued to make gains. Packaged Facts is predicting a gradually improving showing for pet supplies as pent-up demand finally begins to kick in. The biggest external factor remains the economy, which is expected to continue to gradually strengthen. A number of market factors also point to a return to healthier growth including the industry’s success in playing up the human-animal bond to drive higher-ticket, sales of premium products, the strong market presence of upper-income households who are willing and able to spend heavily on pet supplies, and the growing population of pets with specialized health needs, especially senior and overweight dogs and cats. Another good sign is the ongoing expansion of the pet specialty channel, which indicates increasing interest in all things pet, including at the key super-premium end of the spending spectrum. Close partnerships with retailers are more essential than ever for any product marketer hoping to thrive in the U.S. pet supplies market, said David Sprinkle, publisher of Packaged Facts. Some manufacturer/marketer-retailer relationships are so close that the brands appear to be a few steps away from private label. The best example of this trend is PetSmart’s “exclusive brand” strategy, which includes affinity arrangements with brands and marketers including Martha Stewart, Kong, GNC, Toys “R” Us and Bret Michaels. Walmart also is active in forming strong relationships with vendors, teaming up with pet supplies companies including Worldwise, which fields an extensive line of eco-friendly pet products including bedding and toys. Although the mass-market/pet specialty divide remains, more and more marketers of pet supplies are finding they can’t afford to not be in both channels. Marketers also continue to expand into less traditional channels, including value-oriented retailers like dollar stores and wholesale clubs, and premium channels like home stores and department stores. At the same time, more companies are crossing the border between pet food and non-food pet supplies. The most common avenue of cross-over into food is via treats, with companies including Kong and Nylabone branching out from chew toys and non-edible chews into the pet treats segment and also into supplies. Kong is now offering non-edible products like leashes to the tune of $20-plus. The ultimate blurring, however, is that between humans and pets. Many of the products entering the U.S pet supplies market are directly reminiscent of human fare, appealing to pet owner as much as pet.
U.S. Cellular is out to get people to end their unhappy, unfulfilling relationships with their wireless service providers, via a new marketing campaign that shows they can have something better. “We don’t believe frustration is necessary in the category,” Dave Kimbell, the carrier’s senior vice president and chief marketing officer, tells Marketing Daily. “And people tolerate it, because they don’t think there’s a better option.” The new campaign, “Hello Better,” began this week with television advertisements depicting “Bruce,” a salesman from a wireless carrier asking his former customers to come back to him. In one spot, he offers a customer a free smartphone if they sign a lengthy contract. “What if I want to get out of it?” the customer asks. Bruce’s answer: once a three-toed sloth travels around the world. In another commercial, a woman asks for a rewards program, to which Bruce responds, “There’s no such thing.” The effort will also include print and digital advertising, as well as grassroots efforts intended to raise U.S. Cellular’s profile in the communities it serves, such as enlisting a relationship expert to advise consumers about how to identify when they’re in a dysfunctional relationship. “Phones are supposed to make life easier and simpler, and we want to be a better option for people,” Kimbell says. Starting this month, the carrier will launch a social marketing campaign, called “Call someone who cares,” Kimbell says. For the effort, the company will scour social media for consumers expressing dissatisfaction with their wireless carrier. Then, a U.S. cellular representative will craft a response that addresses the dissatisfied consumer’s specific problem. “When someone tweets their frustration, we’ll be singing a song to that specific individual talking about the quality of our network,” he says.
Is Chick-fil-A scion and COO Dan Cathy too big for his brand for having thumped the Good Book to advocate against gay marriage? To wit, Cathy has said the U.S. is "inviting God's judgment on our nation when we shake our fist at him and say, 'We know better than you as to what constitutes a marriage.'" He later pointed out that the company is a family-owned business, a family-led business, "and we are married to our first wives. We give God thanks for that." Okay, so does the Atlanta-based chain now have a problem? If you grew up in the South, you grew up with Chick-Fil-A and probably aren't scratching your head too much about the brouhaha around Cathy's stance. And if you grew up and live in a place where hybrid is an agricultural term, pit barbecues and pickups with gun racks are ubiquitous and Peet's Coffee and Priuses are about as easy to spot as the Higgs Boson, you won't give any of this a second thought. A potential problem for the 45-year-old company is that while its over 1,600 stores are mostly in the Sun Belt, the franchise is rapidly expanding into Blue States and metro regions, at a reported 75-store-per-year clip. Chick-fil-A has over a dozen stores in the greater Chicago area, and a franchise at New York University (a stone's throw from Stonewall, one might add.) The company is also wrangling to open a spot in Santa Rosa near San Francisco. It has a presence in Washington, D.C., where it has experimented with a Chick-fil-A food truck. And Los Angeles, where the chain has at least nine stores -- more if you count the larger regional footprint -- is one of its biggest growth markets. That could be a problem because Hollywood players have called the company out: actor Ed Helms of “The Office” and the gay rights campaign NOH8, in which “Glee” actress Jane Lynch, Deepak Chopra, Miley Cyrus, Lindsay Lohan and the Kardashian sisters are involved, has called for a boycott. The Los Angeles Times reports that Food Network star and "Iron Chef" Michael Symon tweeted that he would never eat there again. No -- this won't matter to conservative consumers and those in Chick-fil-A's stomping grounds for whom this above list embodies the evils of cultural relativism, moral depravity, and all things Hollywood. But it might muck up the message for everyone else. "This is a killer for them,” argues marketing expert Jack Trout, head of Greenwich, Conn.-based Trout & Partners. “[Cathy] is just opening the door to a lot of problems. Look, he's selling chicken, not his family values. It's a mistake." Still -- and perhaps this is a stretch -- could Cathy's volubility on the gay marriage/traditional values thing work for the company the way bible passages on In-N-Out burger wrappers are part of that company's identity? Heck, Chick-fil-A has long had an obvious religious brand identity: all its stores are closed on Sunday. To extend the idea, could one make a "Shaker Furniture" argument here? At a time when companies are global, a lot of "American" brands are made in China, and QSRs are perceived as Wall Street firms that cook meat between mergers and acquisitions, and where underpaid, angry employees stomp on lettuce, could fundamentalist religious beliefs and "family values" help Chick-fil-A? Does Cathy's evangelical conservatism (and savvy mention about the family basis of the company) humanize the brand in a way that differentiates the chain from -- I don't know -- Yum! Brands, which used to be called Tricon Corporation, which sounds like something out of a Philip K. Dick novel? If you don't think this matters, consider Nationwide's just-launched campaign where one of the major points is that the insurance company does not have a puppet-master on Wall Street. Heck, one of the suits at Yum! is a director at J.P. Morgan. What's he know about chicken -- am I right? Hand me a napkin. Brand strategist Adam Hanft, CEO of marketing firm Hanft Projects, would agree. "Look, I think clearly there's a hunger for brands with a soul, no pun intended,” he says. “There's a frustration with companies that have a complete lack of authenticity." Hanft, who is also a blogger for sites like CNN, AOL, and The Huffington Post, points out that you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to discern this attitude, which is no doubt exacerbated by corporate consolidation that turns brands into holdings, and the faceless suits and quants who brought us the mortgage security disaster and the current Libor scandal (which, as one headline puts it, "exposes Wall Street's rotten core.") "It's a big reason Obama's Bain Capital commercial against Romney is so effective," says Hanft. "It resonates with people; corporate clones aren't appealing." He also argues that Cathy's opinions won't alienate many people and may even buy him slack with people who are in the middle on gay marriage. "I don't think he did this for the sake of expediency, and people will see this." Hanft also makes the cogent point that it's probably more transparent to put your mouth where your money is, rather than anonymously giving to Citizens United-enabled PACs. "People will see him as a guy who has the guts and fortitude to say what he believes; we are so full of corporate, mealy-mouthed PowerPoint language that has been polished to death that someone looks good just by being forward and direct, and doesn't hide behind anonymous giving. I think he will get reluctant credit versus a company that says nothing but gives tons of money to anti-gay PACs." Hanft doesn't see the boycott working. "They are very rarely successful. They start with lots of momentum, but at the end of day they produce little economic impact." Jeff Bander, president of marketing firm EyeTrackShop, concurs. "Really, he's not as concerned as others are about how it will affect his business. What's right is not always popular and what's popular is not always right; most people [in his position] put their finger in the air and poll what the majority wants to hear. Also, publicity is sometimes good even if it's bad; he will get a lot of it. Finally, most people will say it's what he believes and he's willing to stand up for it even though he knows he'll get flack for it." And, hey, it has worked for JCPenney, which might be perceived as having taken a position at "the other church" (through its use of Ellen DeGeneres as spokesperson, and ads featuring same-sex couples are arguably about inclusion, not gay rights.) And one commenter below a story about Oreos' Gay Pride Rainbow cookie said, "It's all about attention." Well, the department store chain has garnered a lot of that, plus general kudos both for its advertising, and for not backing down to threats from the American Family Association front "One Million Moms," whose boycott raised as big a chorus as a 9 a.m. Monday sermon. Is anyone really not going to buy an Oreo any more? Please. But Trout argues that it's just bad business for an executive to use his position as a bully pulpit, especially now that the Web's immediate perfusion of content turns personal opinion into brand identity. "Sure, if you are in that world where people will agree with you, it could be a plus, but as soon as you leave that neighborhood and are into areas where people won't agree, and where that position is controversial, and what you're saying gets magnified online, you've got real problems," he says. "Frankly, that's where an agency should step in and say 'you have to be careful here. You have to leave your own likes and dislikes out of the situation.' Chick-fil-A's enemy is beef, not same-sex marriage. This is a God versus Caesar issue."
Throw out the media handbook. Throw out everything you know about media. Stop whatever you're doing right now and do this. Because you shouldn’t really be buying media at all. You should be buying buyers: The customers who are most likely to buy the branded product or service you represent. Instead of using surrogates for your customers -- pushing messages at a demographics segment -- and other reach-based models, why not sit back and let your brand's best prospective customers -- no matter what their age, ethnicity or income -- take you on their journey through the media properties that they are most engaged in? Let them be your guide and then prioritize the media you elect to invest in based on a process that reaches the most high-value customers of your brand or service. The world has vastly changed -- it's all about pull. What are the customers pulling to them in terms of content and media properties? Which media properties are pound-for-pound more effective at driving revenues for the brand in question? This process is doable now, and some marketers are using it already to gain share because it’s a practical approach and a philosophical way to create branded media networks. Marketers are identifying customers who are most attached to their products or services, identifying the media and content that those customers engage with the most, and then making sure that messages about the products or services in question are deployed across those media and content. In the “old” days before 2005, linking customers' brand attachment to media attachment wasn't much of a science so planners and buyers used surrogate customer profiles to try to create an effective media plan. Surrogate customers’ profiles were demographics-based -- something like age 25-54 with annual household income of $100K, owns a luxury car and bought a TV within the past 12 months. But these methods are all grossly insufficient compared to actually following the buyer. Today we can actually create and buy “branded” channels, and it's the first important step in reaching the highest percentage of revenue generators for the brand. Using this approach, marketers can break down the walls between different types of media platforms and properties and let the customers be their guides to the most relevant contextual placements that will generate the highest return on their investments. Here's how to create a “branded media channel:" ·Identify customers who are highly or moderately attached to the brand; they drive up to 60 percent and up to 30 percent, respectively, of potential revenues ·Find media with the highest saturation of those high-potential buyers ·Prioritize and create a network of cross-platform media -- TV, content, apps, print, tablets, mobile -- and “wire together” the optimal network for the brand. The plan may or may not include all of these media. ·Find the most contextually relevant media by following the brand lovers Smart marketers and their media partners do not buy media or impressions. They create brand networks across all media to buy the buyers. They preach to the converted and convert the receptive to drive growth.