With more than $1 billion in annual sales, Seattle-based Trident Seafoods Corp. bills itself as North America’s largest seafood company. The privately-held, American-owned harvesting, processing and marketing company is a major supplier to the restaurant/foodservice industry and grocery and club-store retailers. While Trident isn’t big on revealing its stats, prepared seafoods accounted for 40% of its revenue -- with sales growing at double-digit percentages -- as of 2009, according to Puget Sound Business Journal. Trident Seafoods brands like Louis Kemp, acquired in 2006, Sea Alaska, SeaLegs and Rubenstein’s are retail staples -- and Trident Salmon Burgers are the #1-selling brand in their category. Still, when it comes to consumer awareness, the Trident Seafoods brand itself has had a relatively low profile. Now, following a retail distribution push, the company is out to change that with an integrated consumer marketing campaign around Trident-branded products, starting with the salmon burgers. Working with Seattle-based agency Cole & Weber United, Trident has launched advertising efforts in Minneapolis and Tampa -- two of the U.S. markets where the salmon burgers, along with the Trident Ultimate Fish Stick, now have “critical retail mass” (70% all-commodity-volume or ACV), according to Trident Seafoods VP, marketing Randy Eronimous. Americans are crazier than ever about burgers and increasingly aware of salmon’s healthful properties, and about two-thirds of U.S. consumers are open to eating seafood on a regular basis, notes Eronimous. But the salmon-burger concept is still a new one to many. The campaign focuses on making busy moms aware of Trident Salmon Burgers (made entirely from wild salmon fillet, with the bare minimum of binders, plus spices) as a healthy, tasty, versatile and convenient meal solution. Radio is one core element. Humorous, 30-second spots feature “the world’s foremost salmon experts” – a bear and an eagle – affirming, in grunts and squawks, that Trident’s gourmet salmon burgers are “the easiest way to prepare salmon in minutes.” (Far easier, they attest, than chasing salmon upstream or plucking fish from a stream.) The spots encourage consumers to look for the product at a nearby grocer, or visit startwithsalmon.com for recipes, pairings and retailers carrying the salmon burgers. The radio buy is targeted to PM drive-time and weekend mornings, when moms are thinking about preparing dinner or making their main weekly grocery-store trips. In addition, Trident is using top female DJ’s in each market to leverage their influence and demonstrate, through recipe contests and giveaways, the variety of ways that the frozen salmon burgers can be prepared to make meals in minutes. The campaign also includes digital ad banners and take-overs on targeted recipe-search destinations like Allrecipes.com, and outreach to bloggers in the BlogHer network, who are being encouraged to try the salmon burgers and write about their experiences. In addition, a series of out-of-home ads are being featured in Gold’s Gym and other franchise and independent gyms in the markets. These ads visually illustrate the various ways to use the salmon burgers to create meals (paired with veggies and bacon on a bun, mixed into salads, or served stir-fry style on a plate, for example), and prominently display the “start with salmon” tagline and the URL for the site of the same name. “The gym ads are designed to reach and connect with moms at a time when they’re particularly health-conscious, and also thinking about what they’re going to make for dinner,” notes Britt Peterson, partner and director of growth strategy for Cole & Weber United. In addition to recipes and a store locator, startwithsalmon.com offers a “foodie gallery” featuring the OOH ad images and a video, also viewable on YouTube, of a salmon burger sizzling in a pan. Rotating messaging under the pan stresses the ease and speed of the cooking process. Also in view: an animated timer reminding site visitors that “it takes six or so minutes to cook a Trident Salmon Burger,” with accompanying suggestions for things to do while you wait, like “update status on Facebook,” “catch up with celebrity gossip,” “make guacamole to go with the salmon” and “write reminder note to buy more salmon.” Is a national campaign on the drawing board? For now, Eronimous says that pre- and post-analysis of the campaign’s performance in the two markets will guide the company’s next moves on the Trident brand-building front.
Part of Honda's new campaign for the 2013 Accord is a partnership with NBC unit Hispanics at NBCU, around the 2012 National Council of La Raza (NCLR) ALMA Awards, a televised event honoring Latinos in entertainment. Honda’s first-time broadcast partnership with the awards show includes auto exclusivity with NBC, Telemundo, Telemundo.com, mun2, and mun2.tv. It also involves cross-promotional on-air elements and a big digital presence to help drive tune-in and engagement in both the broadcast and digital spheres. The ALMAs, which kick off Hispanic Heritage month, air on Sept. 21 on NBC, with an encore on mun2 the following evening. The campaign includes Honda-branded tune-in spots and biographical vignettes, or "bio-pods," profiling select ALMA nominees that will air during Telemundo’s “Un Nuevo Dia” morning show as well as its nightly news program, “Al Rojo Vivo.” “Honda serves a vast, diverse audience, and connecting with the Hispanic audience in a more tailored way wherever they are tuning in, and in the language of their choice, is extremely important to us,” said Gina Jorge, manager of multicultural marketing at American Honda. The sponsorship launches online with a Sept. 19 roadblock on Telemundo.com’s home page and the site’s entertainment channel home page. There will also be extended “bio-pods” on Telemundo.com that will include bonus information about the featured ALMA nominee. Honda is also running interactive polls gauging user opinion about ALMAs talent with questions such as “Which Latino performer inspires you to achieve more?” Jorge tells Marketing Daily that the deal involves Spanish-only ads for the Accord via long-time Hispanic market AOR Orci that will run on Telemundo and NBC. "One strategy was to reach out to broadly to include bilingual Hispanic consumers. We have always considered multicultural consumers part of our core strategy. The Spanish-language spot that we have created will, on NBC, have English subtitles," she says, adding that radio spots will also air in top markets. Also, during the ALMA Awards Honda will run a 60-second Spanish-language ad that will air nowhere else. “Honda understands the unique proposition Hispanics at NBCU brought to the table -- to reach Hispanics across all levels of language and acculturation via our Spanish-dominant outlet Telemundo, mun2 which draws young bilingual adults, and a general market channel like NBC which attracts English speakers,” said Dan Lovinger, EVP of Ad Sales for Hispanics at NBCU, in a statement. Jorge says R.L. Polk data from last year shows Honda enjoying top loyalty among Hispanic consumers. "The fact that we are number one in loyalty speaks both to product and the history we have with them, and the relationship we have built over time. They believe in the brand and what it stands for." Honda recently launched Hispanic market advertising against the new CR-V and Civic.
Nintendo is looking to attract more women to its ranks of players, launching a new campaign for its 3DS handheld gaming system, depicting female celebrities playing the titles that best represent them. The campaign, launching on Oct. 1, employs the tagline, “Play As You Are,” and shows TV stars Dianna Agron ("Glee"), Sarah Hyland ("Modern Family") and U.S. Olympic gold medal-winning gymnast Gabrielle Douglas, playing various games on their 3DS systems. In the ads, the celebrities show how specific games reflect their interests and personalities. For instance, Agron (who, in addition to acting, is a blogger and supporter of the visual arts), is featured in ads for "Art Academy: Lessons for Everyone," which enables players to learn painting and drawing techniques that can be used in real life. She also appears in spots promoting the puzzle-solving adventure game, "Professor Layton and the Miracle Mask." Similarly, Hyland, a budding fashionista, is seen in ads for "Style Savvy: Trendsetters." (Douglas, meanwhile, will appear in broadcast advertising touting "New Super Mario Bros. 2.") “These women are all amazing role models with their own unique tastes and talents,” said Scott Moffitt, Nintendo of America’s executive vice president of sales and marketing, in a statement. “They know firsthand how Nintendo 3DS can keep them entertained and engaged wherever they go. We think young girls and women of all ages will enjoy hearing what they have to say about their favorite games and activities on Nintendo 3DS.” This is not the first time Nintendo has used female celebrities to promote its handheld games. Nicole Kidman and Lisa Kudrow appeared in spots for the DS Lite, while Beyonce appeared in television ads in a 2009 television campaign. Despite the broader appeal of females playing games (via their smartphones and social games), there’s still very little marketing around women playing games just because they like them, says Heidi Duran, editor-in-chief of the website and social community Girlgamer.com “I think it’s a great idea. It shows that girls are playing what they enjoy and I think it’s important for girls to see people they admire playing a game just because they enjoy it, and not to impress anyone else,” Duran tells Marketing Daily. “I’ve been in the female gaming community niche for four years, and what I’ve seen is a pressure on girls to only like pretty pink games targeted toward girls, or they feel a need to play more hardcore games to seem like a legitimate gamer.”
Should marketers of luxury products be doing more print advertising? It couldn't hurt. Affluent consumers like hard copy, despite their over-indexing for digital-media devices. The new Ipsos MediaCT’s 2012 Mendelsohn Affluent Survey shows that 82% of those with annual household income of $100,000 or more are reading more print pubs. In particular, affluent women in households that make $100,000 or more annually, and "ultra affluents" (those with household income $250,000 or more) are heavy print consumers, with the highest reach and number of titles and issues read. Ultra affluents consume approximately 25% more print media than last year, reading an average of 23.5 issues across an average of 10 titles, per the study. And this is happening as affluent consumers have vastly increased their exposure to digital content and platforms. The 2012 Mendelsohn Affluent survey from Ipsos MediaCT found, for example, that 26% of affluent consumers personally own a tablet, and 47% live in a household with a tablet, a threefold increase versus 2011. More than half now own a smartphone, up from 45% in 2011. The firm found that in 2012, 4.7 million Affluents downloaded a magazine app, nearly doubling from 2.4 million in 2011; seven million downloaded a newspaper app, up from 4.6 million in 2011. Affluents reported using the Internet an average of 37.4 hours weekly -- up 14% from 2011, with the largest growth seen in sites related to social media, entertainment and shopping. Steve Kraus, chief research and insights officer for Ipsos MediaCT's Audience Measurement Group, says all of this new digital content isn't making people sick of print content, it's just adding tinder to the fire. "I think that instead of being satiated, consumers are made more hungry for content. We have yet to see the point that people are tired of it. There's real growth in interest. It's a bit like the all-you-can-eat buffet making you hungrier to try something else." He says that among the 24% of Affluents who read at least one of the six national daily newspapers in hard-copy form, the total average issue audience increased by 3.9%, to 11.3 million. He adds that the Affluents and Ultra Affluents also have a particular taste for the kind of content one traditionally finds in national print publications, particularly the major national dailies. "There's this desire for curated content," he says. "Of course you can go on the Internet and get stuff from anywhere, and you don't know the source and quality. So people look to brands for a guide. Affluents have a hunger for content synthesized from multiple sources in a thoughtful way, particularly as there is more and more information out there." That, he says, is driving growth in readership of nationally daily newspapers like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and The Financial Times. Kraus says the data has implications for marketers of luxury goods and services. "I think one of the interesting things we have seen about print is that indexes even higher among Ultra Affluents, so true luxury is more of the market here," he says. "The world of luxury is becoming more contacted, and more focused on really high-end folks and they are the ones who read print. And our ad-receptivity measures show print advertising indexes really well because Affluents are consuming it in the time and place where they are open to it." The study also finds that television still ranks first in advertising reach and receptivity among Affluents, with magazines a close second. Almost all affluent consumers the firm surveyed said they had watched TV the prior week, although there was a 4% drop in viewing to an average of 16.9 hours. Affluents also reported watching slightly fewer cable networks. Kraus says that there was a bigger drop in cable viewing among affluents. "We asked which of the 98 networks they viewed in the prior seven days, and the average number of cable channels dropped a bit, on order of 6%," he says. Almost 60% of Affluents reported listening to radio in the past week, and among those listening, average time spent listening rose 4% to 10.6 hours weekly.
Stores are increasingly optimistic that consumers will spread plenty of holiday cheer in the fourth quarter. BDO has released its annual survey of chief financial officers of leading U.S. retailers, and they are predicting a strong gain of 4.5% in total 2012 sales. (CFOs tend to be conservative in their forecasts: Last year, they anticipated a sales bump of 3%, when actual spending came in at 7.3% higher, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.) The forecast comes on the heels of a back-to-school season that was healthier than many stores expected. Some 32% of these CFOs expect the economic turnaround to continue, roughly triple the number who expressed that sentiment in the survey last year. And while 57% expect stagnation in their stockings, 48% of the group believe comparable-store sales will continue to edge higher through the remainder of the year. (On average, they expect a gain of 3.6%, comparable to last year’s forecast.) “Consumers proved resilient through back-to-school season, and that is fueling greater optimism for holiday sales results,” Doug Hart, partner in the Retail and Consumer Product Practice at BDO USA, LLP, says in the survey report. “But retailers aren’t counting their dollars just yet. Forecasts are cautious as retailers closely watch unemployment, election results and inventory levels - any of which could throw a wrench in holiday results.” And it looks like retailers intend to work every channel they can, starting earlier than ever. In July, for example, Responsys reports that email volume from the nation’s biggest stores was up 18% from July, 2011, many with Christmas and holiday deals in the message. And the email marketing company predicts that stores will push the other end of the holiday calendar as well, hyping express shipping on “Last Sleigh Day,” or December 21st. (Last year, it says 74% of retailers sent at least one promotional email on Last Sleigh Day.) It also forecasts another increase in number of companies offering free shipping throughout the holiday season. Last year, 55% of the larger retailers did so.
The film industry used to have an unwritten rule about not working with children or animals for a successful outcome. Nowadays with the likes of Pixar and Dreamworks inventing wonderful human, animal or alien beings, and giving them character through Hollywood’s finest voice actors, the game has changed. But what has all this to do with packaging design? A quick look around your local supermarket shows these self-same 3D, computer-generated movie stars adorning dozens of packs aimed at kids. So when we started working on packaging design projects for children’s products, we had a few questions: why do nearly all kids' packs feature characters? How do brands get the balance right between child appeal and parental approval? And why do kids grow out of certain characters? The findings helped us to see past the seemingly undifferentiated mass of smiling faces on nearly all packaging for kids. We identified three basic strategies: "draw a face on it" "back story for hire," and "best of both worlds." "Draw a face on it" is the entry-level strategy for many products, but few of these invest enough effort to deserve being called a brand. Kids can anthropomorphize practically anything -- from animals to apples, strawberries and every other recognizable ingredient known to man. This might get you to first base, but you’ll still need some serious Mom-credibility. It’s the "back story for hire" strategy that we see most often in the supermarket, where manufacturers license well-known TV or film characters to give products or brands instant kid appeal. You can also see the appeal for the brand manager, which is big impact for very little effort: Simply follow the communication guideline provided by the licensor, and in particular note their number one rule: thou shalt not show our character doing anything that is "out of character." such as actually consuming your brand. Despite this limitation, the arrangement works pretty well as long as you realize that it's not your brand being built here. There can be technical issues to consider too. Packaging is not a movie. The character is static, and we have to use a very small, still image on a substrate that might not have a great print technique, like a plastic tube. Now all those lovely shadows that gave us depth and character in the movie suddenly just look dark and dirty. There is an area of the supermarket where manufacturers don’t need to hire characters because they’ve got plenty of their own, each with decades of advertising dollars behind them -- breakfast cereals. Back in the day when all brands were made on TV and the biggest ones were seen daily, it was possible to invest in some well-drawn characters and give them a bit of a story. A simple story admittedly, in which their only activity was demonstrating the play value of the product to kids, and its nutritional value to moms. Nowadays they have been redrawn several times, but they stick steadfastly to their task of being the face of the brand. And for kids up to about the age of 7, this strategy can still work well. But around age 8 kids' behaviors start to change significantly. They test out "‘rebellion" to find their boundaries, and they develop a keen interest in fantasy worlds. They are highly influenced by TV, video games and what their peers think is cool. They realize that the world is complex and they start to enjoy nuance -- or as Shrek would say, "layers." This means that simple, one-dimensional characters become redundant overnight. Characters that appeal to 7- to-10-year-olds have more complex personalities, they behave "on the edge," yet ultimately still play out the familiar story lines of challenge/obstacle/struggle/resolution. A great example of well-crafted homegrown characters belongs to French soft drinks brand Oasis. These slightly weird fruit characters have bags more personality than a hundred "Sally Strawberries," and star in some witty commercials that easily pass the nuance test. In another example from France, Yoplait Kids brand P’tit Yop has created its own "bottle" character, who introduces any new licensed offer with a short TV spot. This "Best of both worlds" strategy allies the brand’s own character with licensed ones. The brand stays top of mind, and gets credibility by association, while the packaging manages to combine branding, a free gift, nutrition claims and both characters. Just like the kids' world that parents know and love, it's a perfect example of organized chaos!
Thirteen is a lucky number for today’s advertisers. It’s the number of media channels that radio can effectively mobilize to execute a compelling cross-platform program. Radio today is much more than simply “radio.” Its cross-platform capabilities extend far beyond the traditional airwaves, targeting consumers via social media, online content, mobile, video, and other media channels. Each of the media outlined below can be expertly integrated into customized, strategic and effective cross-platform marketing programs by radio broadcasters for any advertiser. On Air 1. Broadcast Radio: This is the only mass medium that can deliver peerless targeting-in-time and nearness to purchase messaging. Broadcast radio reaches 93% of the U.S. population weekly, and more than 75% of people daily, with the average listener tuning in five days per week for nearly two hours per day. 2. Personal/Professional Recommendation: Every day radio's best salespeople -- on-air personalities -- “whisper” in listeners' ears about the benefits of thousands of products. A recommendation from an on-air radio personality is word-of-mouth advertising at its best. No other medium has the ability to connect with the consumer on such a deep emotional level. 3. Promotion: A creative on-air promotion, combined with flawless execution and radio's massive on-air reach, can effectively enhance any on-air campaign. 4. Sports Sponsorships: These sponsorship opportunities are an effective marketing vehicle on a number of different levels, including numerous grassroots opportunities to maximize the impact of a sponsorship far beyond on-air impressions. Online 5. Streaming: Last month, approximately 103,000,000 people streamed online radio according to the 2012 Arbitron/Edison study. One broadcast app, iHeartRadio, has aggregated the broadcast streams of Clear Channel, Cumulus, Univision, Greater Media, Cox, Emmis, Salem, Federated and others, offering more than 2,000 AM/FM stations in addition to a customizable option. 6. Personal Social Network Integration: Radio stations and personalities have embraced social networking platforms to complement their over-the-air connections, including Facebook and Twitter. According to a 2012 USC/Annenberg School of Communications study, 70% of listeners who mentioned they have a favorite radio personality “follow” them via social media. These relationships number in the millions, and can be accessed to greatly benefit any marketer. 7. Internet Advertising: Many customizable options are available, including webisodes, personality pre-roll endorsements, display and rich media ads, as well as takeover pages. More than 20% of all U.S. radio listeners have visited a station Web site in the past month. 8. Email Blasts: Station databases comprised of loyal, responsive listeners easily numbering in the millions across the country can be mobilized to supplement any on-air campaign. 9. Mobile Ads: Rich media and display opportunities are a valuable feature in broadcaster apps to reach consumers while on the go. On-site 10. Event Sponsorships: Radio expertly executes large national events such as the Las Vegas iHeartRadio concerts, or smaller strategic, neighborhood events in every MSA across the U.S., providing advertisers with seamless integration opportunities. 11. Experiential Brand Events: Radio creates customized events or seamlessly integrates products into existing station events enabling consumers to personally experience, touch or taste a marketer's product. 12. Product Samples: Experienced radio stations' street teams are capable of professionally distributing, executing and--most importantly -- promoting sampling events for maximum impact. On Demand 13. Podcasting: 36 million Americans have downloaded a podcast in the past month per the 2012 ARB/Edison Infinite Dial study. Videos and other locally produced online content are also available for integration/sponsorship. Radio's ability to provide compelling and customized cross-platform solutions is without equal. When evaluating various media alternatives in the channel planning process, it’s important to consider each medium’s ability to activate additional media channels in a seamless, effective manner to achieve a true understanding of each medium’s overall “value.” Whether it’s on-air, online, on demand or on-site, radio can effectively execute strategic marketing solutions that consistently deliver the “goods” and go far beyond 30-second and 60-second ads. Thirteen can be an advertiser's lucky number.