Aflac’s mascot duck continues to put his feathers on the line to demonstrate how the insurance company goes above and beyond for its customers in a TV spot breaking Tuesday night during a Country Music Association special. “Duck Does Yoga,” which launched on YouTube Tuesday morning, breaks during the CMA Music Festival at 8 p.m. EDT on ABC. The commercial continues the insurance company’s campaign of contrasting activities that the Duck doesn't perform well to how quickly the company pays claims -- often in just four days. In the latest installment, the lively Duck finds himself quite out of place in a serene yoga studio. Research has shown that females make the majority of household purchase decisions, including insurance and benefits purchase decisions, said Michael Zuna, executive vice president and chief marketing officer at Aflac. “The Aflac Duck is a very lively, active duck, so we wanted to take him to a scene that active women could relate to and enjoy, which led us to the Yoga studio,” Zuna tells Marketing Daily. “We felt the Yoga studio concept was especially entertaining when you contrast the Duck’s loud personality with such a traditionally calm environment.” The Duck has recently been seen misstepping on the golf course and in the workshop with HGTV celebrity Scott McGillivray. His self-deprecation will continue this fall. “I can tell you that the Aflac Duck will continue his active lifestyle this fall, but you may see him in a more male-centric arena,” Zuna says. “The Aflac Duck isn’t afraid to try new things and loves working with our partners, like the Heisman Trophy, to both entertain and tell consumers about the benefits of having supplemental insurance.” The “Duck Does Yoga” commercial will air on a variety of media networks throughout the fall television season. The integrated campaign also will include digital ads, public relations outreach and social media elements on the Aflac Duck’s Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube pages.
Toys R Us is raiding YouTube talent for its latest ad campaign, tapping Daniel Hashimoto and his toddler son (a.k.a. “Action Movie Kid”) to direct and star in the new spots. By day, Hashimoto toils as a special-effects guy at Dream Works, but has built a solid following on YouTube. In one spot, he adds real-live fire-starting capabilities to a toy light saber, a viral hit with more than 8 million views. Lee Walker, VP of Creative Services for the Wayne, N.J.-based retailer, tells Marketing Daily that the retailer was so impressed by Hashimoto & Son’s all-around awesomeness that it asked Daniel to join its new “C’mon Let’s Play” campaign, created by The Escape Pod. James, now 3, stars in some of the ads as well. TV and radio spots focus on Toys R Us employees playing with customers. And while they don’t have the same explosive pyrotechnics of his YouTube videos, they do emphasize ways that play becomes real to little kids. “Experts say that play is a child’s work, and we think this campaign really gets to the heart of that,” says Walker. “We have really found our place in the world of play.” She tells Marketing Daily the campaign focuses on the chain’s best customers, “the ones who are interested in toys that encourage certain development.” One features merchandise (and a sewer escape) from the latest Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles collection, tied to the release of the upcoming film. But since Gen Y parents grew up with their own relationship to the four famous reptiles, “it works really well since there is generational bridge. Parents immediately understand the joke.” Another features a close call with a train from Imaginarium. The campaign also includes the #LetsPlay hashtag, and a new song, written and performed by indie performers Opus Orange. Walker says that while there are still lingering vestiges of the old Toys R Us jingle in stores, “the brand really needs to be relevant, so new music from a new band gives more of a connection to today’s store, as opposed to Toys R Us of their childhood.” Finally, she adds, the most important thing is that the campaign makes it clear that Toys R Us “is not about selling toys, but the experience.” In addition to major cable networks and cinema ads, digital strategy also includes placement on desktop, mobile and tablet as well as Hulu and Hulu Plus. In its most recent quarterly results, the company reported a 4% gain of comparable-store sales, and a loss of $196 million, compared to a loss of $111 million in the same period of the prior year.
Toyota's "Swagger Wagon" is back. On the heels of the automaker's social media influencer campaign for the new Sienna minivan where a trio of creative parents made videos touting the vehicle, the Torrance, Calif.-based Toyota U.S. sales division has brought back the bland-suburban-white-people-rap social sensation. The first iteration -- a black-and-white music video with a couple of parents rapping around the Sienna -- was a viral hit, having garnered over 12 million views since it launched in 2010. The just-launched redux for the 2015 model includes the kids too, and introduces bona fide rapper Busta' Rhymes. Kibo Kitahama, Toyota Motor Sales' national marketing and communications manager for van and crossover utilities, says the effort -- which went live on Friday -- has garnered over a quarter million views thus far. The song and lyrics were created by Toyota's agency Saatchi & Saatchi L.A., music company Walker, and Rhymes himself. Says John Payne, creative director at Saatchi L.A.: "A copywriter at Saatchi wrote the lyrics with Walker helping out. Busta wrote his own verses and I"m happy to say that we didn't make any changes at all to what he did." Rather than describe the video, it's best to have you watch it. But it's worth mentioning that it gets more into specific product virtues than the last one did. At one meta-moment, the parents come out of rapper persona to talk about the satellite radio functionality. Payne tells Marketing Daily that Rhymes was an obvious choice because he's around the age of the parents Toyota is pitching, and it wasn't terribly hard to get him on board. "It took a couple of phone calls. One key was having a conversation with him and his agent and assuring them that we were not going to ask him to do anything out of character," he says. "It was important that he keep his style and let his personality come through. We didn't want to change him." Kitahama says the audience will connect with the creative because it grew up with MTV and VH1. "We needed to get someone who resonated with our consumer." He says the campaign will be entirely social, with content on YouTube, and links on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook all directing to the video. The 2015 Sienna campaign launched July 17 with a virtual reveal via the social-influencer made videos, which play on the unexpected moments and adventures of parenthood. In the real world, the minivan was unveiled at Artscape2014 in Baltimore, the largest free art festival in the U.S., per Kitahama. "And last weekend we showed it at Lollapalooza [in Chicago]," he says. The concert has a Toyota-sponsored area called Kids of 'Palooza. "We had activation planned with Lollapalooza and we jumped on that opportunity. Lollapalooza has been around for a while, and people who love it are now young parents — Gen X and Gen Y — but we have some Boomers, but we don't feel that we are alienating them." The minivan segment has been flat and stable for some years, even with the post-recession recovery of the overall market with record sales in categories like crossovers. But Kitahama says the pure-digital (and therefore less pricey) media focus for the campaign has less to do with the lackluster fundamentals of a shrinking market with the media behavior of young parents. "The thing we considered is not whether the minivan segment is growing or shrinking, it's where are the consumers? They are very busy, dropping kids off to play soccer, do ice skating, birthday parties, etc. The way they get information is through social. Rarely do you have a chance to watch TV. So we thought we would go straight to where they are."
It's not every day that the Coca-Cola Company has to reverse a formula change, but when it does, you can bet we'll be hearing it about it for many years. Indeed, 29 years after a consumer revolt made the company abandon its infamous "New Coke" reformulation within a mere 79 days and return to the "classic" formula, comparisons to the current brouhaha over its flip-flop on changing Vitaminwater's formula are inevitable. This time around, thanks to social media and its magnification of consumer power, it took Coca-Cola only about two months to decide to reverse course. The reformulated full-calorie Vitaminwater line — in which the original mix of cane sugar and crystalline fructose was replaced with a mix of cane sugar and stevia — began appearing on shelves in May, and the brand officially announced the new formula on June 12. After being immediately deluged with negative and even outraged feedback from fans, on August 4, Vitaminwater announced it had made a mistake and would change back to the old formula as quickly as possible. Its Facebook message: "We tinkered with the taste of Vitaminwater, and our fans haven't had the greatest things to say about it, so we're changing back to the taste you know and love. We'll be sharing regular updates with you as we ramp up production, we tip our bottle caps to you, Vitaminwater drinkers." The Facebook post offers a link where fans can find more information about the move. The additional info (on the brand's Web site), explains that product with the old formula will begin to be produced in August, start appearing on shelves in the fall, and be available nationwide by winter. The post also includes a "shout bar" that lets fans readily send questions and feedback, with the message to "go ahead and pour your heart out...we're listening." The brand has received mostly positive reviews for the public relations handling of the embarrassing reversal. What went wrong? The simple answer — and one that's obvious from fans' comments — is that they didn't like the new formula's taste. As previously reported in Marketing Daily and elsewhere, beverage companies including Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have been working diligently with partners for years now to find variations of stevia (Rebaudioside A) and combinations with other natural sweeteners (including crystalline fructose, erythritol and/or monk fruit) that minimize or overcome stevia's normally bitter aftertaste when used in soft drinks. The reasons for that search are also no secret: Consumers are suspicious of artificial sweeteners in general and aspartame in particular, and enamored of all things "natural." Clearly, however, Coca-Cola in this case overestimated the power of the "natural" factor and/or consumers' understanding of stevia. The company bet that replacing crystalline fructose with stevia — touted as natural based on its plant origins -- would ultimately trump any downsides from some fans' unhappiness with the change in taste in the full-calorie Vitaminwater versions. And indeed, the brand's no-cal line, Vitaminwater Zero, has always been sweetened with stevia. But speaking to Beverage Daily, Paddy Spence, CEO of Zevia — which has an 80% share of the naturally sweetened U.S. soda market (with a formula that now includes monk fruit, as well as Reb A and erythritol) – argued that the new formula for regular Vitaminwater made the mistake of changing taste without providing any functional benefits or tradeoffs in return. The reformulated regular Vitaminwater still had the same number of calories (about 120) and amounts of sugar (between 29 and 31 grams). Not all that dissimilarly, Beverage Business Insights editor Gerry Khermouch theorized that consumers were really drinking regular Vitaminwater for its sweet taste, using its added vitamins as a mental rationale, so their real motivator was removed when the taste was taken away. Other marketing and beverage industry experts have noted that, based on social media comments, some consumers ironically assumed that stevia is artificial, or at least felt that it had an artificial taste. Many agree that more education about stevia is needed — and many have questioned whether the Vitaminwater scenario is a bad omen for Coca-Cola Life, the stevia-sweetened, mid-calorie soda that Coca-Cola is selling in Argentina and Chile and is set to hit U.K. stores in the fall. The speculation is that both Coca-Cola and PepsiCo are aiming to launch stevia-sweetened, mid-calorie sodas in the U.S. eventually. Euromonitor beverage analyst Jonas Feliciano told Beverage Daily that he believes that the Vitaminwater episode is a temporary setback for stevia-sweetened beverages that largely reflects taste issues and consumers' confusing stevia with concentrated artificial sweeteners, including aspartame. Another, so far little-noted, factor may also be in play. Last year, an article on Coca-Cola's own Journey site revisited 1985's "New Coke" debacle. The article reported that extensive research prior to the launch showed that consumers preferred New Coke's taste, but failed to reveal "the emotional bond consumers felt with their Coca-Cola." The company's then-president and COO, Don Keough, was quoted as saying that "the passion for original Coke was something that just flat caught us by surprise." The piece also notes that after the company's open admission of its mistake and return to the classic formula, sales of Coke "soared" in the following months – a trend that Coca-Cola no doubt hopes will repeat itself with Vitaminwater. Perhaps most interesting, however, is a Q&A with Michael Bassik, managing director of Burson-Marsteller's U.S. digital PR and communications practice. Asked what would happen if the New Coke situation had occurred today, Bassik predicted that Coca-Cola's response would be even more rapid, due to social media's impact and usefulness as a consumer communications tool. He also said: "The more brands listen, respond to and engage consumers and the more they rely on social media to help them do so -- the stronger their overall reputation will be. Support for Coca-Cola increased dramatically when the company brought back the original formulation. In essence, Coke said, 'We heard you, we listened to you, and we want to thank you for your help. You’ve made us better.' That statement delivered a feeling of empowerment among core fans. Companies only stand to benefit by taking the consumer’s voice into account. Also, it’s important to note that most consumer reactions are born from frustration with their product or service changing. So even if the response comes off as negative, it’s coming from a place of wanting to protect and preserve the brand they know and love." The social media dynamic has been demonstrated by recent instances of other companies that have made product changes that have been subsequently reversed due to consumer pressure. Two examples are PepsiCo's decision to revert to the old packaging design of Tropicana in 2009, after consumers widely panned a new design; and Maker's Mark's decision to drop its intention to reduce the level of alcohol in its formula.
Even without the giant jackpots of the Powerball or Mega Millions, sometimes playing the lottery is just an itch you have to scratch. For a new campaign dedicated to the state’s full line of scratch-off games, the Ohio Lottery Commission introduces a character who gets perverse satisfaction from scratching. In the first of a series of television commercials (from agency Marcus Thomas in Cleveland), the character, while hiking in the woods, strips down to his underwear and jumps in a patch of poison ivy. The effort introduces the tagline, “Get ready to scratch.” Subsequent executions, which will follow throughout the year, will depict the character exposing himself to mosquitos and buying a large amount of wool sweaters and wearing them all at once. “It’s about the joy and happiness of just doing scratch-offs,” Glenda Terrell, account supervisor with Marcus Thomas, tells Marketing Daily. “It’s a way to illustrate how people like scratch-off tickets.” The campaign marks the first time the commission has dedicated advertising for all of its scratch-off (instant-win) games. Previous campaigns have focused on individual games, and have been focused on during the holiday season. “Scratch-offs have become an important part of the lottery’s sales,” Terrell says. “They’ve become nearly 50% of the overall lottery sales.” The campaign will also include radio, and a mobile games in which users scratch the a digital character’s itches before being redirected to the Ohio Lottery site. The television commercials, which will run in heavy-saturation, one week flights per month (except in December), will run on programming such as “America’s Got Talent,” “Revenge,” “The Big Bang Theory,” as well as sports programming. The mobile games will run on sites NFL, MLB, WebMD, MapQuest and Zynga, via Verve network. Total spending on the campaign is just over $4 million.
Hyundai is exclusive automotive sponsor of TNT’s new spy show “Legends.” the automaker is kicking off the integrated partnership with a preview a week before the show actually airs. Consumers can see the preview show on TNT video on demand, or via WatchTNT app on mobile devices or online at TNTDrama.com, per the network. The show, with which Hyundai Motor America is touting the 2015 Genesis, has a Zelig-esque detective at the FBI who can transform himself into different characters. And, like Woody Allen in the aforementioned film (though without the self-effacing existential humor, no doubt) the detective starts to question his own identity. Hyundai, extending the identity-bending theme, will have a co-produced native content play. The network says the film "The Genesis" also evinces a first-ever branded content partnership between TNT and digital content studio New Form, whose owners include Discovery, Ron Howard and Brian Grazer. Elements of the film, which features the Genesis as the main character’s car of choice, will be on TNT video-on-demand; the TNT broadcast of the show itself, and Hyundai social channels. The entire film will be on the Legends show page at TNTDrama.com, where the Hyundai Genesis will serve as the exclusive sponsor. The partners say Hyundai's sponsorship of the entire first season of the show gives it category-exclusive advertising status. Also, the Genesis is integrated into the initial episodes of the drama in a storyline involving the lead character “becoming” Dante Auerbach, an international arms dealer known as the “Lord of War.” Hyundai is to be sponsor of the social media aggregator on the Legends home page and insider updates distributed across the show’s social media handles, per TNT. Genesis’s coming-out party was held on a much bigger stage. Hyundai was a top-tier sponsor of the FIFA World Cup.
In a conference call to detail its earnings last week, the brass at Whole Foods Market let slip that it was planning a national ad campaign, its first-ever. “With fewer than 400 stores and a marketing spend of less than 1% of sales, it is impressive how widely recognized the Whole Foods Market brand is,” John Mackey and Walter Robb, co-CEOs, told investors. “Our brand and marketing campaign will highlight both our value and values, reinforcing our leadership around quality and transparency in the marketplace.” They say that the effort will focus on the launch of the Austin, Tex.-based retailer’s new “Responsibly Grown” rating system for both produce and flowers. Like its “5 Step Animal Welfare Rating,” the new effort is intended to help customers make better-informed choices about pest management, farmworker welfare, and the protection of pollinators. “Natural and organic products are increasingly available, but no one does what we do,” the execs say, adding that these rankings will “raise the bar another level.” But the announcement comes at a tricky time for the food retailer, which has seen its growth slow in recent quarters, and observers question how it will be able to maintain the niche that has made it such an enduring brand. Other new initiatives announced on the call include home delivery and customer pickup in 12 to 15 major markets, its first online subscription club, a new affinity program, and a new mobile app, which it promises will “dramatically improve” both mobile and digital shopping, “before, during and after visiting our stores.” Are all these good moves? Potentially, writes analyst Chuck Grom, who follows the stock for Sterne Agee. “Favorably, we see some promising traffic-driving initiatives in the pipeline,” he writes, including the new ad campaign and digital initiatives. But for now? Based on the fierce competition Whole Foods faces, “we prefer to stay uninvolved.” Among national natural food chains, Whole Foods is already in first place in Brand Keys’ 2014 loyalty rankings. (Fresh Market is No. 2, followed by Trader Joe’s and Sprouts.) “There are some real logistics as to why that is,” explains Robert Passikoff, Brand Keys founder and president. “The brand has been around since the early 1980s, and expanded in part with acquisitions, and competed primarily with locally owned, hippie-dippy health food stores. And then it was well positioned, as the Internet came to the fore and consumer interest in sustainability and healthier food was growing. It was the right brand at the right time, and word-of-mouth was going to do it.” But ads meant to increase awareness aren’t likely to help Whole Foods boost sales,” he says. “Awareness often isn’t the issue. Everyone has heard of Rolls Royce, for example, and almost nobody owns one.” For Whole Foods, he tells Marketing Daily, it’s instead about winning engagement. “And the Kroger’s, Giants and Wegman’s of the world, which already has this audience, has been able to add value by increasing their organic and natural offerings.”