Lindt & Sprungli USA is introducing a second ad for Lindor truffles starring Lindt’s global brand ambassador, world tennis champion Roger Federer. The 30-second spot debuted Aug. 23 on YouTube (the video link is also featured on the brand’s Facebook page), and will begin airing on ABC, CBS, NBC and cable/syndicates on the morning of Sept. 3. The first tongue-in-cheek ad (“Airport,” from 2010) conveyed the irresistibility of Lindor truffles (and Federer) by showing female airport security guards confiscating his bag filled with the chocolates and threatening to strip-search the tennis star just for the fun of it. The new 30-second spot, “Lost” -- also from Gotham Inc. -- picks up the story where “Airport” left off. This time, two female airline customer service reps refuse to admit that a clearly ID-ed, “lost” bag full of the truffles is Federer’s (apparently planning to keep the goodies for themselves). In conjunction with the new creative, Lindt and Federer are hosting a “Perfect Match” sweepstakes on the brand’s Facebook page. Through Sept. 9, fans can enter to win a grand prize trip to the Sony Ericsson Open in March, Federer-autographed items, and a variety of Lindor products. Lindt is also releasing a limited-edition Roger Federer Lindor Tennis Tube, filled with the truffles, available while supplies last at the Lindt Chocolate Shops in New York City’s Rolex Building and the Peninsula Hotel (suggested retail: $22).
For years, marketing at events has been pretty much the same, whether the event was fun (think Lollapalooza), dreary (maybe the annual convention of the Casket & Funeral Supply Association of America) or high profile (perhaps the GOP Convention, opening next week in Tampa:) Sponsor buy banners and booths and hand out bumper stickers and logod totes bags, while attendees rub their aching arches. “If you dissect the pain point for most marketers,” says Uzair Dada, founder and CEO of Iron Horse Interactive, a multichannel marketing company based in San Ramon, Calif., “they go to an event or a trade show and hope to generate more business, more leads, or more awareness. And then many come home and say, 'Well, that didn’t happen.’ And often, event marketing feels very generic.” Dada thinks the fact that since attendees are already glued to their smartphones, there’s a world of mobile-dependent marketing ready to liven up events. He talks about it with Marketing Daily: Q: What role is mobile already playing at events? A: We are just emerging from the experimentation stage, and for large conventions, getting an app for the event is starting to appear on checklists. Q: Who’s doing it well? A: Well, 'well’ is a relative term, I think, since it’s all so new. Tom’s Shoes has done some interesting things. But most are pretty basic. Take the upcoming GOP Convention in Tampa: It has an app, and there are all the usual things, the things you’d expect: A schedule, maps, shuttle bus times, taxi info, that kind of thing. But I think in the future, you’ll see those things as sort of a minimum. Apps will be tied into Facebook and Twitter and social feeds, and connected to information on different candidates. There will be polling features. They can be tied to donation widgets, so people can make a contribution right then, when they are there and excited and ready to shell out cash. Q: What should marketers think about when creating event apps?A: They need to be less focused on what they want, and more focused on why people go to events. Are they there to network, to get leads? Then think about apps that make it easy for them to do that. Q: Is this something you think marketers will do more of? A: Yes, especially for big events. But I think there’s huge potential for small events, too. Something like 80% of events have fewer than 100 attendees. I don’t think it will be long until you see people create apps for things like family weddings or bar mitzvahs. And instead of disposable cameras on the tables, people will be using their smartphones to upload video of Uncle Lou dancing or whatever. I think we’ll see reunion apps. Right now, the problem of creating such specific apps is scale. And it can take up to eight weeks to create an app. But with things like HTML5 and increasing user receptiveness, we’ll start to see it happen faster.
Vespa USA has created a digital lifestyle and community-focused Web site, www.LaVespaVita.com, that combines style, blogs, products, and user content. The point is to make the brand shareable. The program mirrors, to some extent, sibling brand Moto Guzzi's new lifestyle-centric, consumer content social platform, Moto Guzzi Originals. The site's name references the great Fellini film starring Marcello Mastroianni, who rides one, as does Gregory Peck in "Roman Holiday." Among other things, the site has a "Vespa Mosaic," where owners can post photos via Flickr or Instagram by using the hashtag #VespaVita; a Vespa Style Book, which is meant to be a user-generated review of people's sartorial inclinations -- with or without their scooters via the hashtag #VespaStyle; and a "La Vespa Vita Blog" where community members can submit posts about the Vespa lifestyle around trends, personalities, history, culture and adventures. One can also be a contributor by submitting content for the La Vespa Vita blog at www.lavespavita.com/blog. The site also has the 2012 model lineup and a promotion dangling $1,000 in Vespa gear. Melissa R. MacCaull, VP of marketing at Piaggio Group Americas, tells Marketing Daily that the new site isn't just a loyalty driver for current owners. "It's for riders and aspiring riders, or folks who like the brand," she says. "The site was created because there are so many great photos and content about Vespa on the digital landscape, so we wanted a place to match it. It's a site that conveys to people what Vespa is about with stories and photos." MacCaull says the site will be largely self-promotional via its links with Vespa's U.S. Facebook and Twitter pages, and other complementary social platforms. "Most of it will be viral; we will also reach out to other, like-minded networks whether fashion or entertainment, or music." Vespa, will, for example, have a presence at SXSW next year, around music. Meanwhile, she says, the company has been simplifying its traditional consumer site, www.VespaUSA.com to focus on products. "Our strategy has been to build the consumer Web site as a clear and simple place to go for product information and special offers, and to find dealers and drop personal data." The company has, in recent years, also been executing a marketing campaign with a slightly more pragmatic bent. It promotes Vespa as a way to reduce oil consumption, pollution and traffic congestion. "We will continue to do that," she says, "but Vespa also about travel as fun and freedom."
Corona Extra and Corona Light are teaming with football personality Jon Gruden for a promotion. Gruden, a Super Bowl-winning coach and ESPN commentator, stars in a TV spot highlighting the contest, which will send 30 fans on a “football trip of a lifetime.” The contest is a spinoff of Corona’s ongoing “Find Your Beach” tagline, adding “for the Game” to the end. Through Oct. 31, football fans 21 and older can log on to Corona’s “Find Your Beach for the Game” app on Facebook or text “FOOTBALL” to 75327 for a chance to win an all-inclusive trip to experience one of Gruden’s top 30 college and pro football destinations, including New Orleans, San Diego, Pittsburgh, Ann Arbor and Knoxville. While visiting the app, football fans can explore an interactive map and view webisodes featuring coach Gruden’s top game-day beaches. From tailgate cities like Chicago, Dallas, New York and Green Bay, Wis., each webisode highlights the traits that make each city a Corona game-day beach. The app also allows fans to share images of their favorite game-day beaches, with weekly winners having their image featured on the Corona Facebook page as one of Gruden’s “Beach of the Week” picks. The sweepstakes is supported by radio and digital video spots. The media will run nationally on targeted sports outlets, including live during NFL games and on key Web sites including ESPN, Hulu, CBS Sports and Fox Sports. Through Oct. 13, California residents can find the printed code “GAME” on specially marked Corona displays at participating bars and retailers to submit at www.CoronaFootball.com and receive a 10% Sports Travel and Tours discount on a purchase of a premium experience to a top football destination.
Forget loyalty in the body care market. Most consumers seem less interested in the name on the label than on price and attributes, per a new study on the segment by Chicago-based Mintel. The deal maker for about a quarter of those who use body-care products at least once per week seems to be sale price. Mintel says this price-conscious trend has led to a 10% decline in sales of such products between 2007 and the present. Molly Maier, a senior analyst at the firm, says it's the economy: consumers are simply readjusting their tastes for nonessentials like hand and body lotion, which dominate the category. “Product affordability is the most important attribute right now; therefore, keeping products within a medium or low price point will be key in maintaining consumer participation,” she said. Consumers are also multitasking products that are explicitly only for one part of the body. Mintel reports that 94% of respondents say they use hand lotion on their hands, another 28% say they use it on their feet, 43% on their arms and 23% on their legs. The firm says about 81% of consumers use body lotion and 89% say they use hand lotion. That is up from 76% and 84% since 2011. The products are more popular with women than with men. Ninety-seven percent of women say they use hand lotion and 96% use body lotion. For men, those proportions are 80% and 66%, respectively. But 73% of people use more lotion in the colder months and 67% say they buy different products depending on their need at the time: dry skin in the winter or gradual tan in the summer. Also, 67% of lotion users prefer pump dispensers to jars and tubes, and 59% would consider buying hand or body lotion in refillable packaging. And over a quarter of body care consumers say they have not found a lotion that works well for them. Although in terms of attributes, most consumers are interested in products that offer extra moisture, the opportunity seems to be toward anti-aging properties -- as some 30% of weekly users seek anti-aging products compared to only 23% last year. Products that claim to be all-natural are also growing in popularity, with nearly one-third of product users (31%) seeking this. Image by Shutterstock
People tend to complain about being bombarded with nasty advertising during presidential elections, and fighting dirty has been a staple of the cycle since way before Nixon was the one. But this year’s crop of political ads seems to be the grimmest yet. Talk about Mourning Again in America: yes, I’m mourning TV spots that actually contain the spark of an idea (never mind soaring rhetoric and visuals!) and some decent art direction. Almost $500 million has been spent so far, mainly on TV buys in battleground states. What a waste. Considering the brilliant use of social media that President Obama made four years ago, and the elevated look of his Shepard Fairy posters, it’s especially disappointing that his campaign seems to be going so old-school lately. For many reasons, including the lousy economy and the rise of the Super Pacs, ads from both parties have been almost entirely negative. In this way, they seem almost interchangeable, packaged with the same crude Powerpoint visuals (black-and-white newspaper headlines intercut with stock color photos of average Americans worrying about their bills) with announcers making semi-false claims over the same maudlin musical cues. After a while, it’s gets numbing, and it’s less like watching politics in action and more like viewing a game of Rock ’em Sock ’em Robots. If you recall, they were those Mattel-manufactured plastic boxer dudes who were red and blue, conveniently enough, and lived to jab each other endlessly in a plastic ring. Analog precursors to Battlebots, they whaled on each other until one knocked the other’s block off. (Literally. Each had a spring-loaded head that popped off to a “gotcha” sound.) Except this year, it’s our heads that are exploding. The escalating negativity becomes an arms race, and neither side can blink, especially if one more nasty ad might make a difference in the margins in the swing states. This year, “the persuadables” like Bob in Ohio or Shirley in Florida could actually change the outcome. And so the candidates spend their time looking for donors to contribute millions more for local TV ads, and the bleak cycle continues. Historically, negative ads have been used to depress turnout. Faced with enough of them, voters become weary, cynical, and just plain disgusted with politics. On the other hand, negative advertising has its defenders, including Tom Messner, copywriter and founder/partner at Messner Vetere Berger McNamee Schmetterer/Euro RSCG, who actually worked on Reagan’s 1984 reelection campaign, (aka “Morning in America”) and many others. By contrast, he says that it can actually drive turnout, and that “negative advertising is more believable than positive advertising.” We are naturally attracted to car wrecks, and wired to pay attention to disturbing information, after all. Messner, whose references tend to be a great deal more highbrow than your typical negative ad would allow, explains that “in the end, political advertising is a benign form of taking power, compared to regicide, Borgia poisonings, Lady Macbethian machinations, or the removal of the Archduke Ferdinand, who would rather have had Karl Rove attack him in a TV spot than Gavrilo Princip.” Princip was the guy who assassinated the archduke, and inadvertently started the first world war. Within that context, Messner has a point: Karl Rove doesn’t seem so bad. But back to 21st century advertising. I was talking about the negative phenomenon with Andrew Ault, executive creative director of integrated marketing at NBCUniversal. He mentioned that at many of the ad agencies where he worked in the past, (like Crispin, Porter+Bogusky, and Wieden+ Kennedy,) “the question always was, ‘How can we spend media money in a more effective way?’” “Why doesn't someone like, say, Obama, take some of that money and immediately do some extraordinary charitable thing with it? Say, pay the salaries of teachers about to get laid off? Save homes in Detroit from foreclosure, or save 100 farm families? Surely, there are many other ways to spend the money that would do some major social good and, therefore, get lots of positive PR for said candidate,” he said. He then offered the painful example of Meg Whitman spending north of $140 million of her own money to lose the race for governor of California. At the time, I remember thinking that that kind of capital could have put the entire state university system of California back on track and paved the way for thousands of students to get scholarships. “What is amazing is that neither side sees their abundance of campaign money as a means to do any good at all,” Ault says. “It just seems crazy that candidates will spend millions talking about reducing taxes by millions.” There are no doubt complex legal issues involved in giving away campaign dough. But why can’t politicians start thinking about a way to make their advertising modern and interactive, to reflect what some of the great brands are doing in terms of building awareness? They could make their forward-looking philanthropic and public service activity be their advertising, and at the same time actually pay back. Wouldn’t politicians want to be remembered for the social good they did while running, rather than the barrage of negative ads they left behind?. It also might leave some money and time for the old-fashioned pressing of the flesh, shaking hands with voters. Imagine getting to meet the candidate eye-to-eye, without being a donor. It would be a perfect time to thank him or her for not inundating us with depressing negative ads.
The rapidly expanding mash-up of social media and e-commerce has been focusing the key aspects of the social Web -- friends, groups, voting, comments, discussion -- on shopping for some time now. But the ways these connections are leveraged continue to mature. So far in 2012, we’ve seen a strong shift away from simply aggregating useful content for online consumers. The focus is now on creative ways to distill and curate this growing surplus of opinions; consumers are craving a more refined and efficient collective wisdom. Here’s a look at several popular social shopping mediums today, and how they are evolving to provide more useful, engaging, trustworthy content. Ratings and reviews Ratings and reviews sections of Web sites are rapidly enhancing how they tie in with Facebook or other online community profiles, in order to better qualify the comments that are shared. In addition, more sites like Tripadvisor.com are providing snapshot summaries and content histograms to reduce the amount of time and effort it takes to pore over reviews, and thus benefit from a larger sample size (the larger the sample, the smaller the chance of purchase regret). Geolocal Location-based apps like Foursquare allow users to leave behind tips about local business venues. These tips are helpful and concise; they give the shopper a brief glimpse inside the business and sidestep lengthy, in-depth reviews. Retailers are picking up on this more and more; now neighboring stores are creatively utilizing the tips function to offer up incentives for their own products and services that complement the experience of where users just checked in. Live feeds Fab.com has added a new dimension to its selection of curated design by offering a live, dynamic feed for visitors to see what people are buying, sharing, and faving at that very moment. Users can sort the feed by categories or Facebook friends to get a better idea of what is cool for them right now. The feed even displays the price of each product and allows consumers to directly place it to their shopping carts. Since its launch, 15 percent of all visits to the feed have resulted in a purchase. Social sidebar Bing has unveiled a newly redesigned social-search results page that features a 3-column layout. On the left, traditional results are displayed. In the middle is an overview of relevant features such as maps and images. And now on the right, Bing’s social sidebar incorporates data that allow shoppers to see recommendations from their friends across different social spaces like Facebook. Various socially derived results appear on the sidebar, depending on how relevant Bing interprets them to be to the search query. The effect is a surprisingly organized, uncluttered search that conveniently integrates consumers’ trusted social resources. Social causes Creative ways to combine social causes with social shopping are on the rise. Sites like Warby Parker (boutique eyewear) allow shoppers to share their altruistic values, as well as their purchases, easily with their friends. For every pair of glasses bought, Warby Parker gives a pair to someone in need. They also enable shoppers to upload photos of themselves to virtually try the frames on, and share the images through social spaces to get friends to weigh in. It’s a win-win situation -- the shopper is more confident with his or her purchase, has done something good for the community, and has spread the word about both. Self-expression Shopping online has become a form of art and self-expression for many, through sites like Pinterest. Some retailers like Whole Foods have taken a more selective approach in establishing their presence here. Instead of posting about weekly sales, they are carefully pinning items that relate to the lifestyle one can adopt by shopping at their store. The selection embodies the ambitions of the brand, and helps inspire consumers to be creative with food, entertain, and be more environmentally friendly. Sponsored posts More and more retailers are bumping up their sponsored posts. For example, floral delivery company 1-800-Flowers leveraged the colossal social power of Justin Bieber, simply by having him post about the flowers he sent to his mom for Mother’s Day. The story went out to all Justin Bieber fans’ Facebook pages recommending the bouquet he had picked. As a result, the company saw a huge rise in transactions for Mother’s Day this year. What does this all mean for online retailers? The days of simply making online social “noise” are over. Merely aggregating content and being a repository of repeated or trivial information annoys social shoppers at best. More than ever, retailers need to get involved in distilling or curating quality, trustworthy information, and then sharing it with their customers in fast and interactive ways. This will require a high level of planning, scheduling, content creation, and review, but the impact will be well worth it. This level of service will go a long way in earning the respect and trust of their online shoppers and the social networks they’re connected to.
It’s not a surprise that some of the hottest licensed properties encompass sports heroes as well as pop culture and entertainment icons. Little wonder that consumer product companies are flocking in record numbers to ink potentially lucrative, even game changing, licensing deals. Especially for properties that make it big in the movies. What is surprising to some are the sources of today’s entertainment hits. We’ve seen inspiration from books leading to masterful screenplays and expert casting to create blockbuster movies for decades. Romantic literary heroes and even comic book heroes have made it big for their brand owners. But video game icons? Toys and board games? Disney World rides? Fans of video games anxiously await the release of movies that are in the works around the “Halo”, “World of Warcraft” and “Mortal Kombat” properties. Will they be well done? Even if campy, will they be smash hits? How about toys? The stunning success of Hasbro’s Transformers franchise is legendary. Buoyed by fans’ enthusiastic response, Hasbro’s G.I. Joe hit the silver screen, followed recently by “Battleship,” loosely based on the classic game. It seems that the fans of the property are emotionally engaged by movie storylines -- if they are authentically portrayed, they’re successful. Industry insiders know that the Hasbro brand has evolved from a toy company into an entertainment brand. More ways to engage with their brands on new media platforms have led to stronger sales and customer loyalty. Disney has also proven that maintaining the heritage of many of its beloved properties while using multiple media platforms to reach generations of consumers leads to success. Notwithstanding the magic of the Disney brand, when the “Pirates of the Caribbean” theme park ride became a movie sensation, it surprised many critics. Yet there have been four blockbuster films to date with more planned. Lighthearted and nonsensical, the franchise has struck a chord with people around the world. Some critics have eschewed films based on toys, games or theme park rides as a crass, opportunistic means of capitalizing on a well-known brand. Others bemoan the “lack of creativity” in the film industry with these sources of inspiration. Some say that our culture is becoming shallow. There may be some truth to these observations, but hasn’t pop culture long been a source of inspiration for artists from apparel designers to songwriters, TV show and movie studios? Is that necessarily a bad thing? Isn’t there room for all kinds of entertainment inspired by pop culture? Not every entertainment offering based on a popular property is a success. With so many choices vying for attention, they can fall flat unless they connect with their audience. Storylines matter. Delivering the property’s unique brand, its back story and its assets do too. A transmedia approach should be used to deliver a story in a variety of formats. It can drive fans to different threads of a property’s story via multiple platforms. Making it relevant to a modern audience and enriching their experiences is critical. That includes the inevitable move to licensing. There are so many properties’ storylines in the pipeline one after the other, that some of the buzz and excitement they generate fizzles quickly. Others disappoint, failing to live up to expectations of dazzling success. Both scenarios cut short the potential for successfully licensed consumer products. A blockbuster film does not ensure blockbuster licensed products. Licensing program design is as crucial to the success of properties as the design of the movies and other entertainment vehicles that launch them into public consciousness. It’s important to create a visual vocabulary that encompasses the assets of these properties at a glance as well as those that elicit emotional responses. Understanding the cues that resonate on an emotional level helps create compelling visual design. Then, licensed consumer products and packaging will find success. People are visual. Strong visual design assets have a way of jolting people’s memories and sticking with them more than verbal communication. What are the cues that made the property powerful in the first place? Design a licensing program and style guide around that. A well-designed style guide allows licensees flexibility with diverse design assets that are on-trend yet perfectly aligned with each property’s unique visual aesthetic. No matter how many licensed products fill retail stores, a well-designed licensing program will achieve immediate recognition and relevance, eliciting those all-important emotional responses. That’s what creates blockbuster consumer products at retail at a time when most licenses seem to lose their power far too soon.