Lacoste shirts may be about to celebrate the 80th birthday of that preppy little crocodile, but a futuristic new ad campaign shows why the brand is so appealing to its young fans. An upbeat video shows teens and 20-somethings cavorting in shirts that can change color with the swipe of a crocodile; that respond to the environment; that keep score during a tennis match, or even shorten or lengthen sleeves with a simple shrug. After viewing the video and the print ads that support it, fans are then invited to go to Facebook and invent their own version of the shirt. The most original contributions, the company says, will then be illustrated by an artist and featured on its Facebook page, which has some 10 million fans. So what will make for a winning idea? “We will choose the ones we had not imagined,” Louis Bonichon, creative director of MNSTR, the Paris-based agency that created the campaign, tells Marketing Daily in an email. “We will try to represent ideas from the worldwide community, and esepcially those which follow the spirit of Lacoste -- innovation at the service of comfort and elegance.” He says the illustrations will be based on the style of the ads used to introduce the tennis shirts back in 1933. It’s no accident that Lacoste launched the campaign on 12/12/12: It’s a play on L.12.12, the secret code name tennis great René “The Crocodile” Lacoste gave the shirt when he was perfecting the design back in the 1933. (L is for Lacoste, 1 code for the fabric, 2 code for the sleeve length, and 12 the number or prototypes he created before getting it right.) MNSTR created the campaign, and had Fleur & Manu make the film. Print ads are running in such publications as Tennis, The Times and the Guardian in the UK, as well as a variety of titles in Europe. While the Lacoste shirts don’t have any real digital capabilities (at least not yet), Gen Y clearly has an appetite for wired clothing. Recently, Macy’s debuted a men’s sweater with video embedded in its sleeve, as part of its newest Sean John collection.
The Web people are accessing on their mobile and tablet devices is not the same one they use on their laptops and PCs, and marketers shouldn’t treat it as such. According to a new study published by advertising and publishing platform Tapjoy (and conducted on the company’s behalf by Forrester Consulting), about half of consumers are ignoring automatically crated in-app advertisements, and even more (70%) find them distracting and interruptive. “Mobile is an incredibly personalized experience, much more so than TV or the desktop-based Web,” Patrick Seybold, Tapjoy’s vice president of global communications, tells Marketing Daily. “We all customize our mobile experience, and it’s incredibly jarring to be pulled out of that and served an unexpected advertisement.” Of those that are being noticed, very few are making a good impression. According to the study, only 17% of consumers found current in-app adds interesting, while only 14% found them relevant and 12% found them engaging. If marketers want to engage consumers through in-app advertising, there are several points they need to remember, including the fact that different mobile channels (from QR codes to apps) are used differently, that mobile can be very effective at reaching niche groups, and that quick engagements are more effective than long-term interruptive approaches. “Instead of just moving a TV spot over to mobile and asking users to watch a long-form commercial in the middle of using their app, which they might find disruptive to their mobile experience, try getting them to take a quick and easy action, like subscribing to an email or like a Facebook page, in exchange for a reward,” he says. At the same time, more than one-third of adult smartphone users said they’d prefer an ad-driven avenue for downloading apps, indicating they understand that to make the apps free, they have to have some sort of advertising. Two-fifths (40%) said the model could be better if they were able to pick an ad from several options. When it comes to future in-app advertising, consumers’ top request is that the ads not interrupt their usage of the app (selected by 68% of respondents). Furthermore, 59% said they want to be offered a reward in exchange for interacting with the ad. “Consumers are telling us that standard banner-based advertising on mobile isn’t what they want, but that ad sponsored in-app rewards, or incentivized ads, are a more logical and effective way to connect with them,” Seybold says. “For example, brands can sponsor the premium content the consumer wants in their apps, whether it's minutes in their texting app, virtual currency in their game or paying for them to watch a movie. Consumers have shown they understand the virtual economy, and are willing to engage with their favorite brands in exchange for the content they want, especially when they choose the brand to interact with.”
One hundred one years to the day after the first explorers -- led by Roald Amundsen -- reached the South Pole (Dec. 14, 1911), Oreo will do the same. Today, the iconic cookie brand is capping off a year’s worth of promotions marking its 100th anniversary on March 6, 2012, with its most elaborate effort by far: It’s delivering 5,000 Oreos to the scientists at Palmer Station in Antarctica -- along with a donated, solar-powered “Penguin Cam.” The camera, being delivered on an expedition ship with the help of the philanthropy arm of adventure-travel company Abercrombie & Kent, will enable scientists and (through live-streaming on the Internet) the world at large to observe penguins in their natural habitat. The gifts will be presented by the “Oreo Man” character (sporting ear muffs) and accepted on behalf of Antarctica’s “residents” by James McClintock, endowed professor of polar and marine biology at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. McClintock, a marine chemical ecologist and invertebrate zoologist who has been a member of 14 research expeditions to Antarctica since 1983, will be conducting interviews with press via Skype. Oreo (with public relations agency Weber Shandwick) is also, of course, publicizing the event through its social media assets and press outreach galore. For Oreo, now part of Mondelez International, the sub-zero extravaganza represents the literal fulfillment of its declared birthday mission to help “everyone, everywhere” -- those on all seven continents -- “celebrate the kid inside” by enjoying Oreos, says Oreo senior associate brand manager Danielle Brown. The scientists are “excited” at the prospect of being able to learn more about penguin behavior, and share that learning with others, through the donated camera, Brown tells Marketing Daily. The plan calls for having the camera up and running in January, she reports. Oreo, not surprisingly, isn’t revealing how much the camera and the event as a whole are costing the brand. “The monetary investment isn’t as important as the legacy that the Penguin Cam will leave, providing students and adults around the world for years to come the chance to experience special moments for years to come as they watch Antarctica’s true residents -- the penguins -- in their natural habitat,” says Brown. McClintock, in a release about the event, noted that “having a chance to enjoy an Oreo cookie and a glass of milk is like having a little piece of home here in the station.” (No details provided as to how accessible milk is on the Antarctic Peninsula.) Oreo’s other anniversary initiatives included its much-covered “Daily Twist” campaign, in which the brand released a different image variation of an Oreo every day for 100 days, each designed to represent a current event or holiday/celebration. The brand continues to encourage its Facebook fans around the world (its Facebook page currently shows nearly 30.8 million “likes”) to share a photo, story or video about their Oreo “inner kid” moments in a gallery dedicated to such moments. So far this year, fans have shared more than 1 million such moments, according to the brand. Oreo, the world’s best-selling cookie ($2 billion-plus in annual global revenues), has culturally specific varieties in countries including China, Indonesia, Argentina and Colombia. Abercrombie & Kent Philanthropy describes itself as “dedicated to preserving the natural habitats, protecting wildlife and promoting the welfare of indigenous communities throughout the world.”
Food-related stories claimed their place amid 2012’s far-reaching domestic and global economic and political developments. In fact, 81% of Americans deemed coverage of food products and the companies that make them to be of equal or greater importance than other news stories this year, according to the tenth annual Food News Study from Hunter Public Relations, which specializes in marketing communications for the food and beverage industry. “Americans clearly understand the relationship between food and health, and are noticing and seeking out information more than ever before,” sums up Samara Mormar, SVP for insights and strategy for Hunter. This year, the expanded survey (statistically representative of U.S. adults 18 and older) was conducted by market research and consulting firm Digital Research, Inc. (DRI). Based on its daily monitoring of food news, Hunter identified the 20 stories that drew the most coverage, then had a panel of food industry experts narrow those down to 10. Consumers were surveyed on their awareness of the stories, and those who were aware of them were asked to rank each as to its importance and also to rank the 10 in order of importance. The Top Food Stories ranking resulting reflects the stories that were ranked within the top three by the largest percentages of consumers. (In many cases, levels of awareness did not equate with perceived levels of importance.) Consumers who were aware of the stories were also asked questions about whether the various news developments had affected their food shopping and consumption behaviors. A summary of the Top Food Stories and their impacts: #1: Midwest drought/food price hikes: Not surprisingly, the severe drought in the Midwest -- which sent the prices of food staples including meat, produce and shelf-stable products soaring, with major domestic and global implications -- was the year’s top food story. Among the 49% who were aware of this story, 82% ranked it within the top three (and 43% ranked it as #1). This development ranked third among the 10 stories in terms of levels of impact on actual behavior (after stories about Omega-3s and “pink slime” -- see below). A range of 35% to 41% of those aware of the drought/higher prices story reported that it had changed their behavior in some way (the way they ate, grocery shopped or their general behavior). And among these, 48% reported using more coupons, 33% said it spurred them to purchase more canned fruits and vegetables, and 32% said they bought less fresh produce. #2: “Pink slime" in beef products: The graphic “pink slime” moniker and accompanying photos of the government-approved beef-products filler known in the meat industry as “lean finely textured beef” struck a nerve with the public -- causing some food retailers to drop products containing the filler, closures of many plants using this process, and pricing ramifications for beef products, among other fallout. Sixty-one percent of respondents were aware of this story, 66% of those ranked it in the top three, and 25% ranked it #1. Thirty-eight percent to 43% of those who were aware of the story said it had caused them to change behavior in some way. Of those, 53% said they had purchased/consumed more chicken as a result; half said they had purchased a higher grade of beef; and about a third reported purchasing/consuming more fish (31%) or pork (27%). #3: Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs): While the California ballot proposition (Prop 37) that would have made labeling of products containing GMOs mandatory was ultimately defeated, it generated a lot of media coverage of this polarizing issue. The GMOs story ranked fourth-lowest in awareness level (28%), but it had not previously made Hunter’s top 10 stories lists. Furthermore, 68% of those who were aware of it ranked it in the top three in importance (and 26% ranked it as #1). It also ranked fourth in terms of impacts on behavior, with 35% to 38% of those who were aware of it reporting some type of change in behavior. Of those, 77% reported that it caused them to check labels to determine if food contained GMOs, 54% said it prompted them to do more research about GMOs, and 46% said they stopped buying foods with GMOs. #4: Healthier school lunches: Nearly two-thirds (61%) were aware of Congress’s approval in early 2012 of calorie limits and other new nutritional standards for school lunches, and 65% of those ranked this among the top three stories (23% ranked it #1). This story ranked eighth in terms of impacts on behavior: 24% to 29% who were aware of it reported some type of behavior change. Among these, one-quarter said they began packing school lunches for their children, one-quarter said they advocated for healthier school lunch options at their kids’ schools, 16% said they purchased more school lunches for their kids, and 9% said they purchased fewer such meals. #5: Omega-3s: One-quarter (26%) said they were aware of a study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association that reported that Omega-3 fatty acids might not, after all, actually help prevent heart disease, Alzheimer’s, depression and other conditions. But more than half who were aware of this story ranked it among the top three food stories, while 18% ranked it as #1. Furthermore, this story had the most impact on behaviors: Fully 46% to 49% of those who were aware of it reported some type of behavior changes. Among these, 26% said they had increased their intake of other supplements; 20% said the had purchased fewer products containing Omega-3s; 15% said they had stopped taking Omega-3 supplements; 11% decreased their overall supplements intake; and 5% took some other action. #6: “Let’s Move!”: Half were aware of First Lady Michelle Obama’s initiative, in partnership with corporations, schools and organizations, to help end childhood obesity in the U.S., and 49% ranked it among the top three food stories (14% ranked it #1). This story ranked seventh in terms of impacts on behavior, with 26% to 31% of those who were aware of it reporting some type of behavior change. Among these, 48% said they had encouraged their kids/families to exercise more; 40% said they had included more active play/events in their families’ routines; and 26% said they had altered their kids’ diets to include healthier foods. #7: Chick-fil-A gay marriage controversy: This pulled the highest awareness level, with 70% saying they knew about the controversy generated by a Chick-fil-A executive’s public statement opposing same-sex marriage. Just under half (46%) ranked it in the top three, and 17% ranked it #1. However, it ranked ninth in terms of impacts on behavior, with just 12% to 19% of those who were aware of it reporting some type of behavior change. Among these, 47% said they had discussed the topic with others; 27% said they had shared their opinions about it on social media; 38% said they had stopped eating at Chick-fil-A; 25% said they ate more often at the chain; and 17% said they had researched the positions of other fast-food chains on the issue of gay marriage/rights. #8: McDonald’s calorie posting initiative: Fifty-four percent were aware that McDonald’s moved to posting the calorie counts of food/beverage items on in-store and drive-through menus, and 46% ranked this among the top three stories (11% ranked it #1). This story ranked sixth in terms of impacts on behavior, with 25% to 32% of those who were aware of it reporting some type of behavior change. Among these, half said they had checked calorie counts on McDonald’s’ menus; 38% said they ate less at all fast-food restaurants; 31% said they had reviewed the calorie counts at other fast-food restaurants; 27% said they ate less at McDonald’s; 13% said they ate more at McDonald’s; and 7% said they ate more at other QSRs. #9: New York City’s large-size soda ban: 55% were aware of this story, and 31% ranked it in the top three (7% ranked it #1). This story had the least impact on behavior, with just 12% to 13% of those who were aware of it reporting any behavior change. #10: Food photography and social media: The popularity of new, visually focused sites and apps, like Pinterest and Instagram, created a wave of amateur food photographers eager to post their work online. Just 6% of respondents expressed awareness of this story, and 29% aware of it ranked it in the top three (5% ranked it #1). However, it ranked fifth in terms of behavior impacts, with between 34% and 40% reporting some type of change in behavior. Other Key Study Findings *80% of respondents agreed that people need to take responsibility for what they eat (the highest level of agreement for any question in the survey). *35% said they believe that the U.S. has a serious food safety issue. *More than 30% said they believe that there is too much conflicting information about food and nutrition to make healthy choices. *Among overall priorities, food ranked solidly in the middle, beating out both sleep and work, but falling well below the importance of family and love. More detail on the study -- including the actual numbers of respondents expressing awareness of each of the stories -- can be found on Hunter’s site, along with a contact to request the full study summary report.
Once there was a strict line of demarcation between luxury and mass-market cars. Now mass-market brands are like the Vandals at the gates of Rome, winning owners and intenders from near entry-luxury nameplates like Chrysler 300, Acura TL, Audi A4, and BMW 328i. While the larger and more premium luxury cars still retain their share because of prestige and perceived quality, the edge of luxury is losing cache as mass-market vehicles get more and more premium features, while retaining a value image. All of which is turning the mass and luxury dichotomy into a continuum; the walls are down. Marketing firm GfK took a look at this issue and found the near entry-luxury grey space wanting in its Automotive Intentions and Purchases study. The firm finds that both consideration and loyalty are working against entry luxury vehicles as consumers, including affluent ones, are happy to buy vehicles with better gas mileage and better value than premium cars. For example, loyalty among people looking to replace their near entry-luxury vehicles has dropped by nearly five percentage points in the past five years, while the number of people who have moved up to the middle of the prestige market -- where vehicles like the BMW-5 and Mercedes-Benz E-class, Lexus GS and Audi A6 compete -- has remained constant. Also, fewer people who consider or even intend to buy a near-luxury sedan end up buying one (5% versus 4.1%), while a much larger percentage of people who intend to buy a smaller mid-sized car (7.1%) end up buying one (17.5%). Additionally, among people who are considering a near-entry luxury sedan, 78% also consider a range of non-luxury sedans. Thus, far fewer are thinking of moving up to mid-luxury than moving down to the mass market for the principal reason that consumers see the non-luxury world as the practical and responsible choice, per GfK. Near-luxury vehicles do, however, score well on qualities associated with adventure and passion. Consumers view both near-entry luxury and non-luxury as "trusted." The study also finds that mid-size (particularly larger mid-size) sedans are approaching near-luxury in qualities that had been the sole domain of the high-end market: quick acceleration, fit and finish, advanced features and attractive styling, and fun to drive. While non-luxury sedans win hands down for fuel efficiency and value parameters, it is non-rational values that attract consumers to near-luxury cars -- but those values are losing sway with consumers of all income levels now. The firm argues that what near-entry luxury cars have to do to win equivocating owners and intenders by focusing on luxury values instead of trying to "out mass" mass: quality, trust, prestige qualities that luxury owns as key reasons to purchase, per the study.
The American Red Cross is launching a new “storytellers” campaign featuring unscripted stories created and filmed by people actually helped by the charity. The first ads are part of the organization's holiday giving campaign and feature people impacted by home fires and flooding. Additional TV and print ads, which feature personal accounts of how those featured have been touched by the Red Cross, are being released as public service advertisements (PSAs). The ads, which tell the stories of people across the country, show the scope of the organization's work including blood collection and supply, support to America's military families, help to vulnerable communities around the world, disaster relief, and health and safety training and education. "We wanted to tell the story of the Red Cross through the people we serve, while at the same time demonstrating the breadth of our mission," said Peggy Dyer, chief marketing officer of the Red Cross, in a release. "Many people know the organization for our work in major disaster relief or blood collection, and the goal for this storytelling campaign was to bring our everyday mission to life in a personally relevant way." The Red Cross enlisted 300 storytellers -- people helped by the organization's five lines of service -- and gave them cameras, film and told them to tell their Red Cross stories. The first ads feature two New York families whose homes were destroyed by fire and a Washington family devastated by a flood. Future ads will include stories of a Virginia resident whose newborn twins were saved by a single blood donation, a Michigan teenager whose Red Cross CPR training helped him save a life, and an Oklahoma family who lost their home in a tornado. The Red Cross worked with BBDO New York on the concept and opted to have the storytellers speak from the heart and not from scripts, and create the entire pieces themselves from filming their story to hand-writing the end card. This is the first time many people will hear firsthand the real voices of those who have been helped by the Red Cross, said Linda Honan, senior creative director at BBDO New York. "From the beginning, we made a conscious decision to step aside from our usual role as creative brand storytellers,” Honan said in a release. “Instead, our role was to equip the people who have been touched so deeply by the brand with the tools that would enable them to tell their stories themselves." The Red Cross reviewed more than 1,200 stories that were submitted online and then sent out cameras and booklets to 300 individuals last May. Eliot Rausch, a short-film director and documentarian, produced the series. During this holiday season, a limited number of airings will include footage from Hurricane Sandy as well as the storytellers campaign. The Red Cross will release additional PSA spots in January that include stories of blood recipients, people who were saved by CPR and First Aid and others who lost their homes in tornadoes.
The average holiday shopper is more than halfway through his or her list, according to the latest from the National Retail Federation, with some 56.5% of his or her gifts already purchased. The Washington, D.C.-based trade group says that is a record high, and a big difference from research done at the same time last year, when only 46.5% had already purchased gifts at this time last year --- and the percentage is the highest in the survey’s 10-year history. And 11.3% say they’ve completely finished their list. Clothing is still king, already purchased by 53.1% of shoppers (up from 44.2% last year), while 41.9% have scored toys (up from 36.3%.) More than four in 10 have already bought gift cards as well, another high for this survey, which began 10 years ago. Some 28.3% have picked up a gift in electronics, 21.8% in personal care or beauty, and 20.8% in jewelry. Some 45.5% say they intend to finish the remainder of their Christmas shopping online, with the intention of making shipping deadlines, while 44.5% plan to pick up their final gifts at a department store, and 34.6% at a discount store. Overall, some 30% plan to get the rest of their shopping done by before Dec. 18, while 10.2% are sure they will wait until the very last minute. Meanwhile, Deloitte’s latest Consumer Spending Index predicts that while holiday sales will continue at this healthy pace, all the fiscal cliff chatter is likely to cramp consumer spending as the calendar turns. “Tax increases in the New Year will take a toll on spending in early 2013, while additional economic fundamentals begin to deteriorate,” it says, including “a decline in real wages, rising food and energy prices and a slowdown in rising home prices may further weaken spending.” "Santa Girl making Christmas list photo from Shutterstock"
It seems that in today's “tweet to create Lincoln's next Super Bowl television spot” world, the Wild West of social media marketing continues to reshape its horizons with exceedingly new and vibrant ways to drive consumer engagement. Shifts in what captivates consumers' attention and their social media experience across a rapidly evolving landscape of social networking sites and apps are forcing real-time change in social media strategies across brands. And as social newsfeeds become ever more cluttered, the attention span of the social audience is becoming shorter, prompting brands to enact new strategies to effectively engage their audiences in meaningful ways that will keep attention. An increasing number of smart marketers are doing just that by leveraging a mix of paid, earned and owned media in their social strategies. Gone are the days of siloed marketing strategies with strict definitions of owned, paid and earned media and their supportive roles with social. By mixing all three forms of media the right way, the resulting concoction can be a powerful tool to fuel the growth of a brand's social community while still being true to its audience and the brand. The recent launch of a high-profile video game illustrates this integrated approach quickly expanded its social community, spiking consumer engagement at the critical point of product launch and successfully converting social activity into product sales. How did they do it? The game's official Facebook page was the foundation of a multiplatform strategy. Support from the game’s official Twitter and YouTube channel pages, as well as the game publisher’s owned media channels and display ads on top gaming enthusiast sites, worked to spike traffic to the brand's social media hub. This illustrates an opportunity for marketers to maximize paid, owned and earned media to engage with a growing enthusiast-based audience through cross-promotional initiatives across all platforms and channels. For example, Facebook is an excellent platform to host a robust suite of multimedia content including video, music, thematic graphics and interviews that can actively engage a social media community and encourages feedback and user generated content. Community feedback from the multimedia content can then be amplified by Sponsored Posts and Tweets, which further powers both organic and viral growth. At the same time, a strong presence on influencer websites, through both publicity outreach and display ads, help to extend the social media reach of the brand to its core demographic and beyond. In a social world dictated by what is viewed in the newsfeed, content plays a major role in delighting a socially engaged consumer base -- not just owned content in the way of promotional trailers, music videos and behind-the-scenes videos, but earned content created by the consumer and the people they respect in the space, all supported by paid media. In the end, this strategy not only intrigues the consumer but elevates social engagement, leading to customer conversion and product sales. In many respects, entertainment consumer marketing, including video games -- rich with content, compelling narratives and unique personalities -- continues to push the envelope of social media marketing. Social media campaigns such as this also illustrate that strategies that actively integrate paid, earned and owned media can find success in measureable ways. Brands that are already adopting these cross-media formulas as models find themselves ahead of the curve and position themselves for greater success.