Coca-Cola launched its largest digital effort ever this year with its “Move to the Beat” campaign for the Summer Olympics across 100 countries. Mobile played a key part in the award-winning effort, with SMS activations, integrated apps and promotional QR codes. MediaPost talked to Kim Siler, mobile brand strategist, global connections at Coca-Cola, about the Olympics campaign and the company’s broader mobile strategy. MP: Can you give a brief description of your job? Siler: I sit in the global connections group, within corporate, of the Coca-Cola Company. We set the strategy and the direction of mobile. So it’s about making sure we’re looking at how things can scale and getting the best partnerships from that perspective with vendors and agencies. I’m currently working a little bit more closely with our brands, helping them with their mobile strategies, and we have a few mobile platforms that we focus on -- SMS, mobile Web and apps -- and right now, I’m going to be focusing on our location platform. That doesn’t mean we’re going to have a platform that manages location, but building out what the strategy is for location -- what vendors and partners make the most sense for Coca-Cola and our consumers. MP: The "Move to the Beat" campaign tied to the Summer Olympics was a major focus of the company’s marketing efforts in 2012. Did the mobile results meet expectations? Siler: The “Move to the Beat” campaign was sort of a benchmark for Coca-Cola. It was the first time mobile was an integral part of an integrated marketing campaign. It far exceeded expectations in that we were able to successfully show mobile could part of the overarching story. We rolled out the campaign to over 100 markets, with mobile portions in all of them. We launched the SMS portion of the campaign in nine markets. That may sound small, but these were really key markets -- we’re talking about China, Russia, South Africa, U.S., Canada, Mexico. That was our biggest success. MP: What about response rates across markets? Siler: I will say there were some markets that did it very well. One in particular was Canada, which took the SMS program and ran with it. The engagement rates averaged about 45%. We set the global, overarching story line of “Move to the Beat,” and say [to local Coca-Cola teams] here’s the focus, here’s the recommendations, now take it and localize it. They insert local calls to action or a local story line to it. MP: Is SMS, because of its universality, still the core of Coca-Cola’s approach to mobile marketing? Siler: It is one that our team pushes throughout Coca-Cola. It’s a ubiquitous format you can use to reach 98% of consumers and…it’s much more personal and much more integrated into what a consumer is already doing in their daily lives. So it is a very big part of the mobile marketing mix. We look at a wide range of platforms and outlets in mobile, so it’s not just SMS. MP: A lot of brands are in the process of optimizing their sites for mobile devices. Where is Coca-Cola on that front? Siler: We’re getting there. I wouldn’t say they’re all mobile-optimized yet. It takes time when you have over 208 countries, the number of brands we have, the number of languages. MP: What does Coca-Cola’s location platform entail? Siler: Right now, we’re just looking at what really is Coca-Cola’s role in location. Ultimately, we believe that when coupled with mobile payments, the location capabilities of a mobile device/network can enable our vision of a world where people can walk in holding their phone and walk out with their phone and a Coca-Cola. MP: Without Olympics or World Cup in 2013 is it going to be a quieter year for Coca-Cola in terms of mobile projects? Siler: I wish it was quieter, but for the 2012 Olympics I was working on that mobile strategy in 2011. So it will be a busy year, especially considering we have the Sochi [Winter Olympics] in 2014 and the World Cup in Rio (in 2014).
An Instagram user has filed a potential class-action lawsuit against the company for announcing new terms of service. California resident Lucy Funes alleges in a complaint filed in federal court in San Francisco that the Facebook-owned company is "taking its customers' property rights" with the new terms. Among other changes, the new terms limit users' ability to bring future lawsuits against Instagram. Funes says the only way for users to reject Instagram's new conditions is by canceling their accounts -- which means they allegedly "forfeit all right to retrieve the property" they had uploaded. "In short," she alleges, "Instagram declares that 'possession is nine-tenths of the law and if you don't like it, you can't stop us.'" Funes argues that Instagram's new terms amount to a breach of its contract with users. She is seeking an injunction banning it from following through with its proposed changes. A Facebook spokesperson said the company believes the lawsuit is without merit, and that it intends to fight it vigorously. Last week, Instagram sparked a user revolt by posting new terms of service that appeared to give the company the right to license users' photos to advertisers. But several days later, company co-founder Kevin Systrom backtracked. He said in a Dec. 20 blog post that the company has no plans to roll out any new ad products that would require it to license users' photos. On that date, the company also posted new terms of service -- for the second time that week. Those terms will take effect on Jan. 19. While the updated terms no longer include the controversial language about licensing photos to advertisers, they still differ in some ways from the original user agreement. For instance, users must now agree that most types of disputes will be resolved in arbitration, and they waive their right to bring class-action complaints. Those types of arbitration clauses have become more common since last year, when the Supreme Court upheld AT&T's mandatory arbitration provision. In recent months, Microsoft, Netflix, eBay and Paypal have revised their terms of service to provide that consumers have no right to bring class-actions. The new terms also cap certain kinds of damages at $100. That shift could be significant because a California law that gives people the right to control the commercial use of their names and images provides for damages of $750. Parent company Facebook recently agreed to settle a class-action lawsuit accusing it of violating that law with the Sponsored Stories program, which told users which of their friends liked particular advertisers. Should Instagram draw on users' names or photos of themselves in Sponsored Stories ads in the future, the new terms could limit its potential liability. The high-profile case is drawing headlines this week, but legal experts say the lawsuit doesn't appear likely to succeed. "This is a crazy lawsuit," Santa Clara University law professor Eric Goldman says in an email to Online Media Daily. Goldman points out two significant hurdles. First, the case is premature because the terms haven't gone into effect yet. Second, Funes could have a hard time showing that she's been injured by the new conditions. But without some sort of harm, Funes lacks "standing" to proceed in federal court. Lawyer Venkat Balasubramani adds in a blog post that users can always "exercise self-help and leave the network before the new terms apply." He calls the case "a classic example of lawsuits against social networks gone completely amok."
Actress Cindy Lee Garcia is asking a federal appellate court to order YouTube to take down a 14-minute trailer for the film "Innocence of Muslims." Garcia -- who says she was duped into appearing in the film -- argues that she owns a copyright interest in her performance and that YouTube infringes her copyright by displaying the clip over her objection. Last month, she asked a federal judge to issue an injunction requiring the video-sharing service to take down the clip. U.S. District Court Judge Michael Fitzgerald in the Central District of California rejected Garcia's arguments, ruling that she doesn't appear to actually own a copyright interest in the clip. He said that even if Garcia at one time had a copyright in her performance, she had assigned it to the film's author. Garcia late last week appealed that decision to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. That court ordered her to file papers fleshing out her argument by Jan. 18. Garcia says she was cast in "Innocence of Muslims" after answering a Backstage ad for a film called "Desert Warrior," which she thought was an adventure movie set in ancient Egypt. She says she has received death threats since the film was posted to YouTube, and that she lost her job due to security concerns sparked by her appearance in the movie. Online clips from the film triggered protests in the Mideast in September. She previously asked a state court judge to order the clip removed on the grounds that it violates her right to control the commercial use of her image. That request was denied in September.
Ending the year on a sour note, Netflix left millions of U.S. users without service on Christmas Eve. By Christmas Day, the streaming service was back to normal, according to a company tweet. “Special thanks to our awesome members for being patient. We're back to normal streaming levels. We hope everyone has a great holiday.” Yet, the outage couldn’t have come at a worse time for Netflix, as subscribers were no doubt relying on the service to entertain visiting in-laws and children restlessly waiting for Santa’s arrival. “Terrible timing!” Netflix admitted in a separate tweet. The company has about 30 million streaming subscribers worldwide, 27 million are in the Americas region, which was subject to the outage. Netflix is also currently engaged in a fierce battle with Hulu Plus, Amazon Prime, and a host of other streaming media services. Service failures don’t help companies gain market share. The company is still repairing its image among many consumers following a botched service change in 2011. Netflix CEO Reed Hastings notoriously introduced a new subscription plan that would have made it more expensive for users to receive movies via the mail and online, which was reportedly enough to scare away some 800,000 subscribers. Working in Netflix’s favor, consumers continue to embrace over-the-top -- or OTT -- video services. In fact, half of U.S. consumers now view OTT video through broadband connections on their TVs, in addition to the content they traditionally watch via cable or satellite, according to recent findings from Accenture. The Netflix outage was attributed to the Amazon Web Services’ Elastic Compute Cloud, which has a history of taking down Internet service when its servers give out.
As the competition in the online streaming space (Amazon, Hulu, etc.) gains steam, Netflix is looking to differentiate itself through exclusive content, according to a Wall Street report. A signal: a new deal with Disney giving it sole rights to a slew of films in a pay-TV window. As Netflix tries to build a moat around its content, a potential long-term implication is the service becoming “somewhat more likely to eventually gain carriage from a traditional cable or satellite distributor,” according to Barclays analyst Anthony DiClemente. The emerging Netflix strategy would have it relying more on a less-extensive portfolio, but one with “scarcity value,” DiClemente writes in a report. A notable example has been a deal with AMC, giving it exclusive rights to prior seasons of “Walking Dead” and “Mad Men.” The approach could pose somewhat of a challenge to large content providers (Disney, News Corp., etc.), which have relished the opportunity to sign nonexclusive deals with Netflix, allowing them to also collect subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) dollars from Amazon and others. SVOD options have brought cash windfalls and a chance to monetize library content. Programmers could now charge Netflix more for exclusivity, making up for any lost revenues from double- or triple-dipping. DiClemente suggests in negotiations between Netflix and digital SVOD providers, programmers will continue to “maintain leverage” as they offer up more recent content Netflix could want. Plus, Amazon has money to spend; it has not shown the same emphasis on exclusivity, while new entrants, such as the Verizon/Redbox venture, could play a role in raising bidding prices. (The Barclays analyst notes that while the largest programming distributors have warmed to Netflix and Amazon, one holdout has been Scripps Networks, which has sought to gain TV Everywhere revenues from distributors. (It has been suggested that digital distribution might offer “cannibalistic threats” to its linear programming in the ratings area.) The overarching conclusion from DiClemente is that content providers have enough to satisfy the multiple digital distributors by artfully dividing content, which as consumer demand increases, “will ultimately translate into more digital dollars, not less.”
Customers want more merchandise appeal and variety from most retailers, according to the annual Holiday E-Retail Satisfaction Index released today by customer experience analytics firm ForeSee. Internet-retail giant Amazon remains at the head of the class, according to the 8th annual report, which is based on more than 24,000 customer surveys collected during the prime holiday shopping season between Thanksgiving and Christmas. This year, the study expands from measuring satisfaction with 40 top retailers to 100. Aggregate customer satisfaction has stagnated, scoring 78 on a 100-point scale. Although satisfaction with top retailers remains the same, a few big-name retailers suffered declines. Apple’s online retail store slides 4% to 80, slipping from a tie for second place and out of the top five entirely, registering its lowest score in four years. PC competitor Dell.com also falls 4% to 77 and below the Index average. But the biggest year-over-year decline goes to jcpenney.com, with a 6% decline to 78. “This year, we’re seeing that even some of the largest companies in the country are at risk if they lose sight of customer satisfaction,” said Larry Freed, ForeSee president and CEO, in a release. “Satisfaction with the customer experience, when measured correctly, is the most important predictor of future success, and while Amazon clearly gets it, Apple stumbles from their usual focus on the customer experience. Dell and J.C. Penney seem to be struggling to find their way, which could make them extremely vulnerable to competitors.” Meanwhile, Amazon.com continues to set the standard for customer satisfaction, matching the record high of 88 it set last year in the holiday edition of the Index. Amazon has had the highest scores in the Index for eight years in a row, consistently setting a pace that other retailers don’t seem to be able to touch. Their high score is partially the result of the appeal and variety of merchandise they offer, a priority area for some other retailers. “At this point, Amazon has been dominant for so long and has such a history of focusing on the customer, it’s hard to imagine anyone else coming close,” added Freed. “Companies should emulate Amazon’s focus on the customer, which is clearly linked to superior revenues over the years.” The range of scores among the top 100 retailers spans from Amazon’s high of 88 to a score of 72 shared by Gilt.com and Fingerhut.com. Merchandise is a top priority for two-thirds of retailers. Customer experience analytics can provide retailers with a clear direction on prioritizing improvements that will have the greatest return on investment. While many retailers are focused on price, only seven of the top 100 companies registered price as a high priority for improvement. However, 65 of the measured sites should improve merchandise (the appeal, variety, and availability of products) in order to increase overall satisfaction, and by extension, sales, loyalty and customer recommendations. Customer satisfaction matters. Compared to shoppers who report being dissatisfied with a Web site, highly satisfied shoppers say they are 67% more likely to consider the company the next time they purchase a similar product. Satisfied shoppers also report being far more likely to return to the site, recommend it and remain loyal to the brand. Furthermore, analysis of top e-retailers in the United States has shown that, on average, a one-point change in Web site satisfaction was found to predict a 14% change in the log of revenues generated on the Web.
In 1990, cable TV was growing and media agency executives were incorporating cable channels such as CNN, A&E, ESPN, MTV and Discovery into their national television buys. Buyers moved dollars into cable to keep CPMs low and to follow the audience that was embracing the new content. Less than 10 percent of a television budget would go to cable at the time. Fast-forward 20 years later and ad spending on cable TV networks has grown to more than $21.1 billion -- and cable accounts for almost 60 percent of all television viewing. The not-so-long tail of television grew significantly over the past two decades as new cable channels launched with everything from sitcom reruns, movies, cooking shows, reality TV franchises and more variations on news reporting. Today, advertisers have hundreds of cable channels to place their messages. “Niche” networks like AMC can have the biggest telecast for any drama series in basic cable history among total viewers with the “Walking Dead,” while Fox News Channel can set new viewership records with a presidential debate. Television’s long tail of content has been embraced by media buyers because it was embraced by consumers who saw value in the growing and diversified choices of programming. TV buyers had to make extensive changes to their media management systems to accept the thousands of 30-second commercial units that were necessary to advertise across cable networks. They had to reconfigure audience measurements to acknowledge the niche -- yet valuable -- cable viewers. They had to expand their stewardship and bill/pay processes to handle the magnitude of invoices created by advertising across many more networks and programs. The industry made these changes because it was necessary to capture the value of the growing mid-tail of television. After top-tier large audience cable networks such as TBS and USA, there are a growing number of channels in the middle that represent loyal audiences due to appealing niche content. Networks such as Bravo, AMC, Food Network and TLC all fit within the mid-tail of cable television. It’s actually pretty simple: Consumers follow the best media content choices. Advertisers follow consumers. Agencies deliver for their clients. Today we are looking at the same scenario being played out in the digital media marketplace but on a much greater scale. After a buyer negotiates with the top five to six sites such as Google, Yahoo, AOL, MSN and Facebook, there are thousands of mid-tail sites to consider for a brand. Automating buying platforms can cover some of that ground, but not all of it. Ad networks lack the customization that is necessary to truly fit a brand brief in today’s intense audience data marketplace, where there are thousands of mid-tail sites to consider for a brand. Buyers are looking for ways to aggregate up mid-tail sites that are appropriate for their brands and can enhance the brand message. They need customized solutions for site selection, speed to market and a smooth back-end process that won’t collapse under the weight of millions of placements and sites. Effectively harnessing the digital landscape’s mid-tail delivers significant value for agency buyers and their clients because it: 1. Keeps pricing under control with the top sites: By moving budgets to mid-tail sites, buyers are keeping the large players in check. Just as cable channels helped to keep pricing under control with the Big Four networks, mid-tail sites will help temper growing CPMs on the largest internet sites. 2. Follows your consumers: People naturally gravitate toward content about their favorite topics and entertainment. There is only so much the top sites can do to hold on to their audiences forever. Eventually that audience declines as people find other sites that better display their passions and points of interest. 3. Finds more opportunity for your brand: By strategically aggregating more mid-tail opportunities, advertisers will find unique opportunities to work with publishers for the first time. Just as cable channels broke the barriers to on-air sponsorships, mid-tail sites will be able to deliver innovative value-added programs for brands. We are on the edge of an industry renaissance where all media is digital and consumers don’t distinguish between what was television, radio, print or what happened first live on YouTube. Instead it will be video, audio and text with an endless selection of publisher choices. Being able to harness the value of that mid-tail section will be one of the keys to successfully marketing in the next 20 years. The industry did this once before with cable TV, and now we need to be ready to do it again except on a much, much greater scale of complexity. That greater scale of complexity may seem daunting, but it comes with much greater opportunity.