Campbell Soup is running a cause-related Pinterest promotion to encourage Thanksgiving cooks to include its classic green bean casserole recipe, made with Campbell’s Cream of Mushroom Soup, on their menus. Through Nov. 30, Campbell will donate $1 (up to $10,000) to Feeding America for each image of the casserole pinned or repinned. In addition to appearing on Pinterest users’ boards, the images are being aggregated to create a “Most Colossal Casserole Pinterest board” on the Campbell’s Kitchen Pinterest page. Campbell is driving awareness of the promotion through its condensed soup Facebook page and Campbell Soup Twitter account, as well as through the Campbell’s Kitchen site and Pinterest page. The green bean casserole recipe (which also calls for French’s French Fried Onions), was created in 1955 in Campbell’s Kitchen by home economist Dorcas Reilly. It took off after being featured in an Associated Press Thanksgiving piece in the same year. According to Campbell, more than 30 million households will include the side dish in their holiday meals this year.
We’ve been through Baby Boomers, Generation X, Generation Y/Millennials. Now it’s time to get ready for “Generation Edge.” The term, as designated by brand consultancy The Sound Research, refers to consumers born after 1995, many of whom are just moving into adulthood this year. Having grown up amid a series of foundation-shattering crises (among them September 11, wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, and the financial collapse of 2008), Generation Edge is less entitled than their predecessors, the Millennials. “What we’ve seen is that they’re very, very different from Millennials,” Ian Pierpoint, global president at The Sound Research, tells Marketing Daily. “Firstly, their parents and the influence their parents had on them. Millennials were raised by Boomer parents. These guys have been brought up by Generation X, who were and remain cynical, rebellious and want to do things their own way.” Having lived through a global recession and no guarantee of higher education, Generation Edge understands that things in life will not come easily, Pierpoint says. Rather, they understand success is not guaranteed and do not take accomplishments for granted. Rather, they are more defined by their ability to roll with the punches, he says. “Because of the way their parents have brought them up, they’ve got a bit of an edge,” Pierpoint says. “Millennials were not rebellious; they’re extremely conformist. Generation Edge want to cut their own path in life.” Moving forward, brands that have cultivated a positioning as somehow rebellious or a non-conformist choice will do well against this new demographic, Pierpoint says. “They’re a little like [their parents] Generation X,” he says. “Where Millennials were idealistic, Gen Edge is realistic. Things are going to have to be more grounded and more realistic. It’s going to be much harder for brands to appear to align with social causes while not really doing that much. Where Millennials were willing to talk the talk, these guys are walking the walk a bit more.” Despite being raised during trying times (those wanting to be shaken by a video of all this generation has experienced should head to generationedge.com), members still have some optimism. “They’re still young people, and that means they have more optimism in general. They’ve still got the sense that life is going to get better,” Pierpoint says. “These guys are resilient.”
Gap is running a new global marketing campaign for the holidays, showcasing all kinds of love in high-energy photos of celebrities, with social components that all shoppers let in on the pictures. Called “Love Comes In Every Shade,” the effort features an offbeat selection of actors and musicians, who pose with their loved ones to illustrate the many different flavors of love. For married love, actor Michael J. Fox poses with wife Tracy Pollan; musician Rufus Wainwright stands with artistic director Jörn Weisbrodt. There’s also fatherly love (rapper Nas and his father, blues musician Olu Dara); modern love, featuring the cast of NBC’s “The New Normal”; puppy love with actor Jack Huston and his dog Orso; and then best friend love with director Gia Coppola and actress Nathalie Love. The print ads are running in December issues of Vogue, Lucky, InStyle, Glamour, and Vanity Fair; as well as outdoor in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago. But the real innovations are in social. The campaign kicked off on Postagram and Pinterest, encouraging users to turn their own photos into real postcards, which the Gap is mailing to loved ones at no charge. And those who pin Gap fashions on Pinterest wish lists are entered in a drawing for Gap gift cards, with five winners each week through Christmas. The brand is also continuing its Styld.by digital catalog collaboration for the holiday, with each of its partners (including Refinery29, WhoWhatWear, Lookbook and Rue) creating gift guides, using pieces from Gap’s holiday collection. Finally, the San Francisco-based company says it has also introduced a new gift card program, which donates a percentage of each gift card purchase to CARE and Communities In Schools.
Impressions mean less these days than proliferation through social channels: It's about the buzz. And that's what NBCUniversal Integrated Media purports to derive with its "Brand Power Index" (BPI) ranking of brands. The NBCU division tracks buzz by gauging online chatter around some 500 brands. In the auto sector Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Chevrolet, GM, and Acura lead the four-wheeled pack because of their efforts around music, food, and gaming. John Shea, EVP and CMO of the NBCU division, said those tactics are also effective because they build awareness without a hard sell. "And this subtlety is paying off in organic buzz,” he said in a statement. He added that 21% of respondents said brands don’t take the right steps to build community. Mercedes-Benz got a 52% lift among women and 36% improvement among men with its in-house designed Style Furniture Collection, as well as its food and music programs. Those include a "Mixed Tape," downloadable, bimonthly compilation of world music, and an epicurean program, "On the Road," involving a picnic menu developed by chef Daniel Humm of Eleven Madison Park and NoMad. That effort promoted 2013 SL Roadster. Humm is a James Beard award winner, which furthers MB’s tie-in with the yearly James Beard Foundation award ceremony. Toyota improved from 23rd to 21st place among all brands with women and from 18th to 16th place with men, per the Q3 study. Helping with the lift was a sponsorship of NBC's "Toyota Concert Series" on Today, which included a partnership with Pandora. Also boosting the brand was a 10-part video series called "Becoming Fearless" with the Huffington Post, based on Arianna Huffington’s book with that theme. The automaker also re-upped for the fourth year its road-trip Web series touting the Venza crossover via a partnership with MSN. The show has foodie voyager Andrew Zimmern touring the south in a Venza, visiting local -- and usually offbeat -- restaurants. Chevrolet went to baseball (it has "official vehicle" status with MLB) with a cause-marketing program called “Diamonds and Dreams,” dangling a refurbished baseball field for communities. A Country Music Awards promotion let people vie for a chance to write a brand fan anthem. Chevy's position in the BPI rose 12% (from 29 to 26) in the third quarter. To spotlight the Acura ILX, Honda’s luxury car brand partnered with indie rock band Metric with five exclusive concerts for Acura owners and Metric fans. The firm said Acura rose 80% among females because of that. GM’s OnStar telematics division tied with digital auto-share firm Relay Rides, allowing GM owners with OnStar to earn money by renting their own cars to other people.
Ugg for Men is launching an integrated campaign for the holidays featuring quarterback Tom Brady. Premiering Nov. 19, the effort -- entitled "Pink Slip" -- will include TV, print, digital display and online videos, out-of-home, mobile, social and PR. The concept for the campaign originated from real life, inspired by one of Tom Brady's personal anecdotes. Even before he decided to partner with Ugg Australia, Brady gave his team members the Ugg for Men "Ascot" slipper, as a way to say thanks. Produced by M&C Saatchi Los Angeles and directed by the Guard Brothers, "Pink Slip" focuses on a dramatic moment when a football rookie is at a crossroads in training camp and walks up to his locker, consumed by anticipation over whether he makes the team or not. When he finds a pair of Ascot slippers in his locker and Brady shows up to congratulate him, the rookie finally knows the answer. Brady’s performance and lines were entirely unscripted, as the scene derives from an authentic moment. "The concept behind the 'Pink Slip' comes from an authentic tradition that Tom had even before working with Ugg," says Connie Rishwain, president, Ugg Australia, in a release. "What better way to highlight this moment through the holidays, tying it into the themes of teamwork and thanksgiving." The spot premiered on ESPN, ESPN2 and NFL Network. On the day of launch, consumers received a dedicated email directing them to view the commercial and behind-the-scenes video on the Ugg Australia Web site and other social media platforms. The digital portion of the campaign will run on CBS.com, Complex.com, Hulu.com, NFL.com, Pandora.com and YouTube.com. Print will include Details and GQ magazines. OOH will run in New York on bus shelters, as well as billboards in Los Angeles. The media was planned and purchased by KSL Media Los Angeles, and PR was overseen by M&C Saatchi PR New York. Brady was also featured in the spring 2012 and fall 2011 campaigns for Ugg.
As retailers roll up their sleeves for the onslaught of Black Friday shoppers, a new study from the National Retail Federation finds that this year, virtual deals will be virtually everywhere: 97.3% of online retailers will offer at least some type of deal or promotion during the Thanksgiving weekend. That’s an increase from 90.2% last year. And with more brick-and-mortar stores announcing that they will open their doors on Thanksgiving Day to woo consumers, the survey finds that online retailers plan to follow suit: 45.7% say they intend to offer those specific online deals on Thanksgiving. The survey, conducted for the NRF’s Shop.org arm by BIGInsight, also reports that 85% -- a record -- intend to create promotions specifically for Cyber Monday. In last year’s survey, 78.4% said they would do so last year. On cue, Walmart.com just announced what it claims are its most aggressive Cyber Monday prices ever: First, it is starting its event Sat., Nov. 24 -- two days before Cyber Monday. Second, in some case, discounts are in the four figures, such as a 55” Samsung TV for $1,500, a full $1,000 cheaper. The retailer says it is also beefing up its online, mobile and social options -- including perks for liking local Walmarts or downloading its shopping app -- with these “connected” customers learning first about daily specials. And it has also created an interactive store map, which enables shoppers to view Black Friday specials including price, product description and location within each store. Meanwhile, stores are also banking on plenty of actual shoppers. Macy’s is breaking a new spot just for Black Friday, starring teen heartthrob Justin Bieber.
One might think that physical direct-mail drops are to CRM what 35 mm film is to photography: an archaic way -- compared to digital -- to pitch products and services to customers and prospects. Not so -- and you will realize that when you consider all of the useless emails you get, or forget to open, or that don’t make it past the spam filter. “Direct has impact,” says Silvia Villaverde, department head, CRM for Woodcliff Lake, N.J.-based BMW Group, “because it’s something you can touch and feel. If you do something with direct, people have a higher propensity to look at it. What we have also found is that in conquesting, direct does more than online channels.” You can definitely touch and feel BMW’s new direct-mail effort for its performance “M” variants, celebrating the sub-brand’s 40th anniversary, and the new versions of the cars bearing the initial. The effort, for which BMW tapped New York-based Kirshenbaum Bond Senecal + Partners, involves direct-mail inserts of one-off pieces of paper bearing the real tread marks from a 2013 M6 coupe. Villaverde explains that the company hired Chicago-based Classic Color to apply its technology to the car’s tires so that it could streak a continuous tire track over some 150,000 contiguous sheets of paper, each bearing the BMW M logo. The message is that the car can go from 0 to 60 in just over four seconds. “We didn’t want to do just a traditional print drop for the [M5, M6 coupe and M convertible],” Villaverde explains, adding that the inserts are not just visual, since you can feel the raised paint relief on the paper. “We wanted to make it stand out as enthusiasts are very interested in this and want something unique.” She adds that the company sent the pieces to in-market owners and prospects. The campaign includes a making-of video on BMW’s YouTube, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter channels. Villaverde tells Marketing Daily that the mail piece includes a personal URL for all the people who got the direct mail. “We are using this as a social campaign, so it also goes out to the public.” The goal isn’t for these one-off tire-track pieces to end up on eBay, but Villaverde says she would be pleased if that happens. “The goal is to do things that are unique, that spark interesting behavior. That would be cool if we ended up having done something that valuable.”
Maybe we don’t like our families as much as we think we do. Even as activists groups collect hundreds of thousands of signatures to ask Walmart and Target to reconsider plans to open on Thanksgiving, many consumers seem fine with leaving the dishes in the sink and heading straight for the mall. In fact, they’re loading up for a major shopping haul. New data from Deloitte shows that 23% of people plan to shop in stores on Thanksgiving Day, an increase from 17% in last year’s survey. And more than one-quarter will shop online. (The consultancy fielded its survey last week, and included 1,000 adults. Experts say that despite a relatively small group of agitated traditionalists, it just doesn’t make sense for stores to close when competitors will be open, ringing up big sales. “Consumers have become more sophisticated with their Black Friday shopping strategy and the retailers have to follow,” writes Marshal Cohen, NPD’s chief industry expert, in the market research company’s latest blog. “With staggered hours, the type A Black Friday shopper will hit the stores every time they open, which will give the stores an occasion to make a big first holiday impression. Consumers are likely to return even after they stock up on great deals, when they see the products/deals the store has to offer while they shop the first round. The early bird does indeed catch the worm.” Meanwhile, a Target employee has collected more than 350,000 signatures on a petition asking Target to close on Thanksgiving, and a similar petition for Walmart has collected some 30,000 names. Change.org says activists on its sites have started some 130 such petitions. But don’t expect stores to pay much attention. “The retailer will stay closed on Thanksgiving under only one condition -- the consumer stays home to watch football instead,” Coen writes. “This is an experiment that has become contagious, and most retailers want to find out if it works.” Analysts seem confident that customers will shop with gusto, with Deutsche Bank singling Target out as especially well positioned to profit this year, in part because of that 9 p.m. opening on Thanksgiving. “We think the stage is set for an upside surprise,” it writes in a recent analysis of the Minneapolis-based company, in part because of the early opening and “a much improved e-commerce department.”
The Aloft unit of Starwood Hotels asks PR agencies to respond to an RFP via Twitter. Marketer seeks creative solutions from agencies who can quickly get to the point. –News item To: Marketing team, North America From: Your CMO Subject: Leveraging “social” “media” Since I took over mid-Q2, you have heard me ask more than once how we as a company and as a corporate brand can leverage the dominant platforms in the social space. As I’ve mentioned, it’s all about the “conversation.” We must organically grow authentic connections, and in some ways we have made strides. The Facebook page is looking very good, IMHO, thanks to the incremental growth in Likes during our successful “’Like’ Us and we’ll send you $100 in cash” promotion. The entire team was very responsive to my June 3 group-wide email “Tell me about Pinterest” and my June 4 follow-up, “No, seriously, what the hell is Pinterest?” And I am flattered to see so many LinkedIn endorsements from folks throughout the organization! If I didn’t know any better, I’d think you were trying to find me another job! The reason for this memo, however, is to ask the team to take it to the next level, such as the gang over at Aloft hotels (see attached news clipping). An RFP via Twitter! That’s what I call taking it up a notch. Bam! I am reaching out today to remind you that we must constantly push the envelope in these ways. It is critical that as an organization we are aligned on this going forward. Why should it take another brand in another category to leverage Twitter so ingeniously? Anyone can seek PR help by sending out an RFP through the usual channels and reviewing detailed proposals in an environment of deliberation and non-disclosure. It takes vision to reduce the process to 140 characters or less -- including spaces displayed in public for competitors, and the entire world, to see. I have no doubt that the skills associated with creating an eye-catching tweet are fully aligned with the job of building out a PR apparatus, including publicity, crisis communications, marketing communications, etc. My kids “tweet out” their whole lives, so…. Some internal voices have stubbornly insisted that social is a matter of painstakingly forging and cultivating genuine relationships based on shared values and interests, just like in actual “life.” But frankly, that doesn’t sound too buzzworthy to me. We have some hot new technologies here, and we should have some sizzling hot leveraging going on 24-7. It’s a team effort, but the purpose of this communication is to “prime the pump.” So here are some “conversation starters” from the 31st floor: * RFP for new PR agency via Instagram * SlideShare bomb! We send out our 2013 strategic-plan deck till it trends * Q1 “Follow us and we’ll send you $100 in cash” SlideShare promotion * Tweet Q4 SEC filings * “Viral” lobby security-cam feed * Start a Tumblr tracking and documenting our social media * Recall email: “What the hell is a Tumblr?”
November 24 marks the third annual Small Business Saturday, a day in which the nation is encouraged to "shop small" -- and in fact, does just that. Nestled between Black Friday and Cyber Monday, SBS is a powerful example of “Marketing as Service” from American Express, a company that has been taking this approach successfully for the past 25 years. But look carefully at Small Business Saturday, and you will also see a work week full of marketing myths busted, one day at a time, before you can tweet “#MarketerMonday.” Monday's Child: Big Ideas Take Time Most marketers are nothing if not deliberate -- taking months to conceive, strategize and ultimately execute their ideas, big or small. And given the audacity and complexity of establishing SBS as a new holiday, it is reasonable to assume a lengthy planning cycle, right? Wrong. According to Scott Krugman, director of communications at American Express, SBS went from idea to execution “in a matter of a few weeks." Tuesday's Child: It’s About My Brand Naturally, marketers want to put their brand at the center of their communications, expecting it will be the shortest route to an effective program. With SBS, American Express asserted the counterintuitive brand position: “It’s more than just about us.” By putting their customers at the center of an entire program, AmEx “created a solution to help spur more business for small businesses, and small business owners really took to it,” Krugman reported. Wednesday's Child: Social Media Just Happens In some naïve marketing circles, there is a wishful notion that social media success (like its cousin “viral success”) just happens organically. A careful look at SBS, which became huge on social media by any measure, including reach and engagement, reveals that AmEx kickstarted every social channel with paid media, along with a carefully orchestrated PR effort that generated a surge of earned media. Facebook even threw in free ads for small businesses on their network to encourage even more social promotion. Thursday's Child: Partnerships Must Be Controlled Some marketers spend as much time trying to control partnerships as they do setting them up. AmEx took the opposite approach, allowing anyone and everyone to participate in SBS. Explained Krugman, “For small businesses to participate, they don’t have to accept the American Express card. Seventy-five other companies -- including FedEx, Facebook and Delta -- ended up joining the “shop small” movement in its second year and many more will be doing so in 2012. Friday's Child: Doing Good Doesn’t Pay Out Mention a “do good” program and most marketers will discourage discussing its ROI, as if ROI is a bad thing that could somehow diminish their altruistic intentions. Even AmEx’s Krugman tried to convince me that as long as small businesses felt good about SBS, that was good enough for AmEx. He let slip, however, that “card transactions were up 23 percent for merchants that accepted the [American Express] card” on SBS 2011. Sounds like ROI to me. It isn't news that the U.S. Congress is more divided politically now than at any other time since the Civil War, which makes their unanimous resolution to support Small Business Saturday all the more remarkable. In fact, officials in all 50 states embraced SBS, and President Obama's personal effort to "shop small" on SBS in 2011 also made the evening news. Final Note In addition to talking to American Express’ Krugman, I also caught up with Denise Yunkun, FedEx’s director of alliance marketing, who helped me get a sense of the program’s scale. Yunkun reported that in 2011, “More than 500,000 small business owners leveraged an online tool or promotional materials for SBS.” For my enlightening interviews with Krugman and Yunkun, please visit The Drew Blog.