Dunkin’ Donuts’ new, all-Spanish-language Hispanic campaign marks the first use of its long-time tagline in Spanish: “América se Mueve con Dunkin’ (America Moves With Dunkin’).” The theme of the campaign -- Qué estás tomando? (What are you drinkin’?) -- parallels that of Dunkin’s multimillion-dollar general-market campaign, launched early last year. In the general-market ads, “average Joes” are shown answering the question with: “I’m drinkin’ Dunkin.’” The Hispanic campaign, from Accentmarketing, Dunkin’s Hispanic agency of record, uses a documentary style, featuring Hispanic Dunkin’ coffee drinkers in their communities, where they were “discovered” and recruited to do the ads. The coffee fans offer testimonials such as “Me pone de buen humor (It gets me in a good mood)” and “Se siente el sabor rico del café (You can taste the coffee’s delicious flavor).” These are followed by messaging reinforcement of the América se Mueve con Dunkin’ tagline. The campaign’s creative employs insights about the brand’s Hispanic customers to authentically portray “the ways in which they move with Dunkin,’” said Luis Puerta, Accentmarketing’s VP group creative director. The integrated campaign includes Hispanic television, radio, the brand’s site (there is a version with key elements in Spanish), social media, public relations and in-store promotions. The campaign “reflects the importance and the loyalty of our Hispanic consumers” and Dunkin’s’ focus on finding ways to deepen its relationship and brand loyalty among customers in multicultural communities, said John Costello, chief global marketing and innovation officer at Dunkin’ Brands. In recent years, in select markets, Dunkin’ has introduced limited-time and permanent menu items inspired by Latin culture, such as a Cuban Flatbread Sandwich and Café con Leche, Huevos Rancheros Wake-Up Wrap sandwiches and Latin-inspired donuts.
360i has released a search engine optimization tool that assists marketers in Web site audits, but says it also points to shortcomings in social metrics across Facebook, Twitter and Google +1. In development for nearly two years, 360i released a scaled-down version of 360iTIGER that is free to marketers. The tool monitors social media shares supported by Facebook Likes, Twitter tweets and Google +1s. Marketers can grab a bookmarklet from the 360i site, place it in their browser similar to Instagram or Pinterest, and visit the Web site to conduct the audit. The tool will crawl up to 25 pages at a time. It uses a Google spreadsheet doc to place the information, so the tool requires the user to use a Google Gmail address. The tool also requires marketers to use Chrome, Firefox or Safari browsers, because the company says security settings in Internet Explorer are too "locked down." It takes two clicks on the bookmarklet to get the social media counters populated with numbers. One click starts the crawl, and a second from within the spreadsheet to replace the question-marks. 360iTIGER collects public data; any user can go to any Web site and run an audit. Marketers can audit both their own and competitors' sites. The tool provides information on the title of the article, description, headers 1 and header 2, and PageRank, as well as social signals. Despite 360iTIGER's ability to gives marketers free access to SEO audit data, the tool highlights flaws in social media counters, says Mike Levin, director of SEO strategy at 360i/Dentsu; and Adam Whippy, group director of SEO at 360i/Dentsu. One imperfection is in the way social media calculates shares, Tweets, Likes, Google +1s. Take, for example, the way blogging platforms tie the URL too closely to an article's headline. One change to the headline resets social counters. Every URL has a history. By changing the URL, it changes the history, according to Levin. "There's no such thing as a redirect on social media counters, yet," Whippy said. "It's a pain point, but it all has to do with blogging platform tying the URL too close to the headline." In the social space, Facebook, Google and Twitter have not responded to changing URLs similar to Google PageRank, according to Whippy.
While it’s easy to assume that, by now, brick-and-mortar retailers are 100% on board shoppers’ multi-channel preferences, a new study shows they aren’t keeping up with consumers’ online expectations. In fact, the PwC survey finds, people aren’t waiting for stores, but inventing the multichannel experience for themselves as they go along. “Because most retailers haven't yet created efficient multichannel models, consumers are working it out for themselves, using different channels in ways that best suit them,” the report finds. “Consumers may choose to research a product in the store - a shoe perhaps - then use their mobile phone to find a better price online, and then call into the retailer's customer service line to order and have the shoe shipped to their home. In essence, consumers are creating their own multichannel experiences by leveraging multiple retailers across a single category or product.” In fact, in the U.S., 72% of online shoppers consider themselves “very accomplished.” Social media clearly has a large potential for retailers, with 32% of U.S. respondents saying they use some form of social media daily. (Both China and Hong Kong had higher social-media participation.) Yet overall, only 3% of the survey’s respondents have used it to actually make a purchase. The study, based on responses from more than 7,000 consumers around the world, found that while most people like online shopping because of its 24/7 convenience, it is the pricing, free and fast delivery, and a wide range of products that appeals to them most. Yet even though retailers would gain an additional margin opportunity of 8 to 12%, 59% of retailers still charge for shipping. In the U.S., two out of three shoppers say they’ll bail out of a transaction if it turns out they have to pay shipping charges. Online shopping’s appeal is also greater than many acknowledge. While 2010’s online sales penetration of total retail sales was 8%, once grocery sales are excluded, that rises to 11% of all sales. And in such categories as PCs and software, it’s 50%. Online shoppers buy in many more channels than some realize, the survey finds, with more than 90% of global online shoppers buying books, music and films, clothing and footwear online. And more than 60% of online shoppers have made purchases in categories with relatively little online shopping, such as jewelry, watches, sports equipment and outdoor goods. To make the most of these trends, PwC says, retailers need to focus more on what people expect from their physical stores, as well as the online experience. The store of the future, it says, will most likely be “a showroom where customers come for inspiration, to browse and to physically interact with, and to road test the products, as well as a convenient transaction point and customer service center, where customers come to complete a journey started on the web or to seek service for products bought regardless of the purchase channel.” Shoppers will likely enter these stores “knowing what they want and what price they expect to pay. They are using the store simply as a vehicle for completing the transaction and getting personal assistance that they can't find, or isn't available, on the web.” By 2015, PwC says, it expects U.S. e-commerce sales to reach $279 billion.
The National Football League is preparing to throw open the doors to its huge pop-up store on Sixth Avenue and 41st Street. The store, the league's first-ever pop-up venue in New York, is timed with the NFL Draft, to be held April 26 just blocks away at Radio City Music Hall. At the "NFL Shop At Draft" store, which will be open all of April, some 50 licensees will show and sell everything from a line of toasters that emboss slices of bread with the team logo to $500 Anastasia Modo handbags. Tiffany Bishop, manager of consumer products for the NFL, points out that the first such store was two years ago in New Orleans, a boutique that sold only NFL women's apparel. She tells Marketing Daily that the success of that shop was a reflection of the strong demand for branded products. "There were lines around the block and it was during a heat wave," she says. Bishop says the NFL will promote the 10,000-square-foot store via social media and local-media advertising, and that the league is mulling doing another one in New York during kickoff week. The store also spotlights the NFL's new marketing partnerships with Nike and New Era; the brands' products will have the run of a large section of the store that abuts 42nd Street. The store also supports new apparel programs with Nike, New Era, Under Armour, GIII, VF, Outerstuff and '47 Brand. "We will be doing several fan events at the store, through the month," says Bishop who adds that the upstairs "fan cave" area will host equipment maker Wilson, which installed a football manufacturing facility there where it will make real footballs that consumers can purchase. "They will essentially be bringing their factory. Fans will be able to sign the inside of the ball and watch it being made." There will also be player appearances through the month and Bishop says the store will change week after week with new merchandise and displays. The Vince Lombardi Trophy will be on display at the store April 4 -14; the Super Bowl championship rings will be on display there April 8 -14. Rhiannon Madden, the NFL's director of apparel and consumer products, tells Marketing Daily that the league is putting a bigger focus on licensed products because of unmet demand. "We realized a couple of years ago when we did a segmentation study that while we had a big offering there was a lot more we could do." The NFL Draft, she explains, is the right place to show off the array of merchandise because the draft is a major draw. "It's on prime time; it's sold out -- it’s becoming much bigger." Madden also point out that the league is expanding into women's products more aggressively now. The league first advertised women's apparel two years ago and has seen a big take-rate. She says about 20% of sales of NFL products are to women. Braden Dahl, a representative from the Irvine, Calif.-based New Era, says the store is a big deal for the brand since New Era is now the official cap maker of the NFL, and that the store will have caps for all 32 NFL teams. NFL commish Roger Goodell and current and former players will do the ribbon-cutting honors on Monday April 2, where the first 500 customers get a commemorative 2012 NFL Draft coin.
Edge shave gel is enlisting comedian Jason Jones as the new face of the “Edge Men” campaign. Jones, best known as a correspondent on "The Daily Show," will give away thousands of “micro-grants” to men in need of an Edge. The program will introduce a group of everyman heroes who will give men the tools they need to get their edge in life, spearheaded by Jones as Edge “Fund Manager.” In partnership with the brand, Jones will dole out Edge Endowments via social media to arm men with whatever they need to achieve success. Jones will identify people, via social media, who aren't quite as well-endowed as he is, and will distribute cash "micro-grants" to get them ready to do whatever it is they want to do. Men who want a chance at an endowment are required to tweet at Jones via the @EdgeShaveZone Twitter handle and tell him what they're getting ready for using hashtag #WellEndowed. Then, Jones and a panel of Edge readiness experts will make the call on who is most deserving of an endowment. This isn’t the first “edgy” campaign the Shelton, Conn.-based company has undertaken. In 2011, Edge helped Anthony Morton go from an unknown student artist in search of gallery space to having his artwork spotlighted on the biggest canvas he had ever worked on, a huge NYC billboard. Team Edge winner Chad Mendes went from underdog to top contender in the UFC. In 2012, the brand is again looking to give guys an edge -- with a team of Edge Men, including Morton, Mendes and Jones, to help identify guys in need of an endowment. In addition to Endowments distributed via social media, consumers can enter the Edge Men sweepstakes by visiting www.edgeshave.com and uploading a photo and caption explaining how a cash endowment could help them get their edge. One grand prize winner will receive a $10,000 Edge Endowment, 130 First Prize winners will receive $1,000 and 130 Second Prize winners will receive $50 Endowments. The brand is promoting the initiative on Twitter @EdgeShaveZon and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/EdgeShaveGel
Global agency Euro RSCG Worldwide has been publishing research and thought leadership content for years. It is expanding into a new series area, the Consumer Conscience Study. The study's raison d'être is that growing numbers of consumers are "activist consumers," thinking about where products come from and how they themselves can influence policy and corporate behavior with their purchases. Kate Robertson, Euro RSCG UK group chairman talked about the findings from the first in the series “Blueprint for a Sustainable Brand.” It was released at the 4A’s Transformation Conference in Los Angeles. She warned that brands can no longer assume -- and social media obviously is the elephant in the room -- that they aren't the subject of close scrutiny. "The tidal wave of the social media revolution is inexorably rolling over us and exposing all -- everything will come out, if not today, then for sure tomorrow,” she said at a panel. Nearly half of Americans believe the greatest change agent in the future will be “the people, empowered by social media” -- more than twice the number of respondents who chose politics or corporations as the greatest agent of change. The study, which surveyed 4,000 adults in Brazil, China, France, India, the UK, and the U.S. in 2007 and again in the winter of 2011, found that people are more focused than ever on corporate values and reputation. Sixty-nine percent said they are “paying more attention than in the past to the environmental and/or social impact of the products [they] buy,” and 71% said they believe “the most successful and profitable businesses in the future will be those that practice sustainability.” Sixty-seven percent of respondents said they prefer to buy from companies that share their values. Nearly three-quarters said businesses that are most likely to succeed now and henceforth are those that are open and collaborative. But beyond that, they expect companies they deal with to be drivers of social change. Nearly three-quarters said business has as much to do with positive change as governments. And when businesses fail to meet those expectations, people are punishing them: 70% of consumers worldwide said they have a responsibility to “censure unethical companies by avoiding their products.” China (91%) and India (89%) were the markets most likely to believe that consumers have a duty to censure unethical companies by avoiding their products.
While TV programmers and third parties are scrambling around to craft second-screen experiences that capture TV viewers on smartphones and tablets, the viewers themselves may already have found their favorite second screens on existing social networks. “Users are ahead of service providers in this respect,” says Informa Principal Analyst Nick Thomas in a recent report on the future of TV worldwide. “Many [are] already using Facebook and Twitter and other tools to communicate via the handheld devices about the content they are simultaneously viewing on the TV,” he writes. Facebook potentially has an enormous role in the evolution of social TV on a number of levels, Thomas argues. The social network can help broadcasters retain audiences with added value for live content experiences even as over-the-top video and time-shifting behaviors erode old viewing activities. At the same time, TV on-demand entities like Netflix could use Facebook to cultivate communities around on-demand content. But Facebook could itself become a social TV platform, with video and social interactions running in parallel. In an Informa survey of TV, telecom and Internet executives, social networks were considered by 21.8% of respondents to be the types of companies that can persuade users to pay for digital content. Only 16.8% cited network operators like telcos as likely platforms for paid content, while 27.7% pointed to over-the-top services like Netflix and the largest share cited device manufacturers like Apple, Sony and Samsung. The big content winners are likely to be entertainment, cited by almost 40% of executives as representing the greatest opportunity for increasing viewer engagement. Sports and news and weather were seen as the biggest opportunity by 27.5% and 14.8% of respondents, respectively. But movies (9%) generally were not regarded as a strong content type around which to generate social engagement. Tablets emerged as the most important second screen among the executives surveyed, with 41.4% saying that tablets would be the dominant tool viewers would employ to access social TV features. 35% cited smartphones as most important; 15.3% said PCs and laptops. Significantly, only 8.6% of the executives surveyed felt that social TV interaction would occur on the TV screen itself. The results suggest just how far the industry has been moved by mobile and portable devices away from pre-existing “Interactive TV” models. Informa recommends that all of the stakeholders in future TV not rely solely on their own social networks and apps to develop social TV strategies. “[They] need to create a portfolio of external partners, including Facebook, to ensure their social offering is relevant to viewers’ needs. “ Informa also recommends that programmers build viable social TV ad models that work off of the main TV display. The second screen is where advertisers can more precisely target and segment the TV audience. It is “vital to future TV revenues, as old advertising models based on a mass audience become increasingly devalued,” Thomas writes.
Dunkin’ Donuts’ new, all-Spanish-language Hispanic campaign marks the first use of its long-time tagline in Spanish: “América se Mueve con Dunkin’ (America Moves With Dunkin’).” The theme of the campaign -- Qué estás tomando? (What are you drinkin’?) -- parallels that of Dunkin’s multimillion-dollar general-market campaign, launched early last year. In the general-market ads, “average Joes” are shown answering the question with: “I’m drinkin’ Dunkin.’” The Hispanic campaign, from Accentmarketing, Dunkin’s Hispanic agency of record, uses a documentary style, featuring Hispanic Dunkin’ coffee drinkers in their communities, where they were “discovered” and recruited to do the ads. The coffee fans offer testimonials such as “Me pone de buen humor (It gets me in a good mood)” and “Se siente el sabor rico del café (You can taste the coffee’s delicious flavor).” These are followed by messaging reinforcement of the América se Mueve con Dunkin’ tagline. The campaign’s creative employs insights about the brand’s Hispanic customers to authentically portray “the ways in which they move with Dunkin,’” said Luis Puerta, Accentmarketing’s VP group creative director. The integrated campaign includes Hispanic television, radio, the brand’s site (there is a version with key elements in Spanish), social media, public relations and in-store promotions. The campaign “reflects the importance and the loyalty of our Hispanic consumers” and Dunkin’s’ focus on finding ways to deepen its relationship and brand loyalty among customers in multicultural communities, said John Costello, chief global marketing and innovation officer at Dunkin’ Brands. In recent years, in select markets, Dunkin’ has introduced limited-time and permanent menu items inspired by Latin culture, such as a Cuban Flatbread Sandwich and Café con Leche, Huevos Rancheros Wake-Up Wrap sandwiches and Latin-inspired donuts.
360i has released a search engine optimization tool that assists marketers in Web site audits, but says it also points to shortcomings in social metrics across Facebook, Twitter and Google +1. In development for nearly two years, 360i released a scaled-down version of 360iTIGER that is free to marketers. The tool monitors social media shares supported by Facebook Likes, Twitter tweets and Google +1s. Marketers can grab a bookmarklet from the 360i site, place it in their browser similar to Instagram or Pinterest, and visit the Web site to conduct the audit. The tool will crawl up to 25 pages at a time. It uses a Google spreadsheet doc to place the information, so the tool requires the user to use a Google Gmail address. The tool also requires marketers to use Chrome, Firefox or Safari browsers, because the company says security settings in Internet Explorer are too "locked down." It takes two clicks on the bookmarklet to get the social media counters populated with numbers. One click starts the crawl, and a second from within the spreadsheet to replace the question-marks. 360iTIGER collects public data; any user can go to any Web site and run an audit. Marketers can audit both their own and competitors' sites. The tool provides information on the title of the article, description, headers 1 and header 2, and PageRank, as well as social signals. Despite 360iTIGER's ability to gives marketers free access to SEO audit data, the tool highlights flaws in social media counters, says Mike Levin, director of SEO strategy at 360i/Dentsu; and Adam Whippy, group director of SEO at 360i/Dentsu. One imperfection is in the way social media calculates shares, Tweets, Likes, Google +1s. Take, for example, the way blogging platforms tie the URL too closely to an article's headline. One change to the headline resets social counters. Every URL has a history. By changing the URL, it changes the history, according to Levin. "There's no such thing as a redirect on social media counters, yet," Whippy said. "It's a pain point, but it all has to do with blogging platform tying the URL too close to the headline." In the social space, Facebook, Google and Twitter have not responded to changing URLs similar to Google PageRank, according to Whippy.
While it’s easy to assume that, by now, brick-and-mortar retailers are 100% on board shoppers’ multi-channel preferences, a new study shows they aren’t keeping up with consumers’ online expectations. In fact, the PwC survey finds, people aren’t waiting for stores, but inventing the multichannel experience for themselves as they go along. “Because most retailers haven't yet created efficient multichannel models, consumers are working it out for themselves, using different channels in ways that best suit them,” the report finds. “Consumers may choose to research a product in the store - a shoe perhaps - then use their mobile phone to find a better price online, and then call into the retailer's customer service line to order and have the shoe shipped to their home. In essence, consumers are creating their own multichannel experiences by leveraging multiple retailers across a single category or product.” In fact, in the U.S., 72% of online shoppers consider themselves “very accomplished.” Social media clearly has a large potential for retailers, with 32% of U.S. respondents saying they use some form of social media daily. (Both China and Hong Kong had higher social-media participation.) Yet overall, only 3% of the survey’s respondents have used it to actually make a purchase. The study, based on responses from more than 7,000 consumers around the world, found that while most people like online shopping because of its 24/7 convenience, it is the pricing, free and fast delivery, and a wide range of products that appeals to them most. Yet even though retailers would gain an additional margin opportunity of 8 to 12%, 59% of retailers still charge for shipping. In the U.S., two out of three shoppers say they’ll bail out of a transaction if it turns out they have to pay shipping charges. Online shopping’s appeal is also greater than many acknowledge. While 2010’s online sales penetration of total retail sales was 8%, once grocery sales are excluded, that rises to 11% of all sales. And in such categories as PCs and software, it’s 50%. Online shoppers buy in many more channels than some realize, the survey finds, with more than 90% of global online shoppers buying books, music and films, clothing and footwear online. And more than 60% of online shoppers have made purchases in categories with relatively little online shopping, such as jewelry, watches, sports equipment and outdoor goods. To make the most of these trends, PwC says, retailers need to focus more on what people expect from their physical stores, as well as the online experience. The store of the future, it says, will most likely be “a showroom where customers come for inspiration, to browse and to physically interact with, and to road test the products, as well as a convenient transaction point and customer service center, where customers come to complete a journey started on the web or to seek service for products bought regardless of the purchase channel.” Shoppers will likely enter these stores “knowing what they want and what price they expect to pay. They are using the store simply as a vehicle for completing the transaction and getting personal assistance that they can't find, or isn't available, on the web.” By 2015, PwC says, it expects U.S. e-commerce sales to reach $279 billion.
The National Football League is preparing to throw open the doors to its huge pop-up store on Sixth Avenue and 41st Street. The store, the league's first-ever pop-up venue in New York, is timed with the NFL Draft, to be held April 26 just blocks away at Radio City Music Hall. At the "NFL Shop At Draft" store, which will be open all of April, some 50 licensees will show and sell everything from a line of toasters that emboss slices of bread with the team logo to $500 Anastasia Modo handbags. Tiffany Bishop, manager of consumer products for the NFL, points out that the first such store was two years ago in New Orleans, a boutique that sold only NFL women's apparel. She tells Marketing Daily that the success of that shop was a reflection of the strong demand for branded products. "There were lines around the block and it was during a heat wave," she says. Bishop says the NFL will promote the 10,000-square-foot store via social media and local-media advertising, and that the league is mulling doing another one in New York during kickoff week. The store also spotlights the NFL's new marketing partnerships with Nike and New Era; the brands' products will have the run of a large section of the store that abuts 42nd Street. The store also supports new apparel programs with Nike, New Era, Under Armour, GIII, VF, Outerstuff and '47 Brand. "We will be doing several fan events at the store, through the month," says Bishop who adds that the upstairs "fan cave" area will host equipment maker Wilson, which installed a football manufacturing facility there where it will make real footballs that consumers can purchase. "They will essentially be bringing their factory. Fans will be able to sign the inside of the ball and watch it being made." There will also be player appearances through the month and Bishop says the store will change week after week with new merchandise and displays. The Vince Lombardi Trophy will be on display at the store April 4 -14; the Super Bowl championship rings will be on display there April 8 -14. Rhiannon Madden, the NFL's director of apparel and consumer products, tells Marketing Daily that the league is putting a bigger focus on licensed products because of unmet demand. "We realized a couple of years ago when we did a segmentation study that while we had a big offering there was a lot more we could do." The NFL Draft, she explains, is the right place to show off the array of merchandise because the draft is a major draw. "It's on prime time; it's sold out -- it’s becoming much bigger." Madden also point out that the league is expanding into women's products more aggressively now. The league first advertised women's apparel two years ago and has seen a big take-rate. She says about 20% of sales of NFL products are to women. Braden Dahl, a representative from the Irvine, Calif.-based New Era, says the store is a big deal for the brand since New Era is now the official cap maker of the NFL, and that the store will have caps for all 32 NFL teams. NFL commish Roger Goodell and current and former players will do the ribbon-cutting honors on Monday April 2, where the first 500 customers get a commemorative 2012 NFL Draft coin.
Edge shave gel is enlisting comedian Jason Jones as the new face of the “Edge Men” campaign. Jones, best known as a correspondent on "The Daily Show," will give away thousands of “micro-grants” to men in need of an Edge. The program will introduce a group of everyman heroes who will give men the tools they need to get their edge in life, spearheaded by Jones as Edge “Fund Manager.” In partnership with the brand, Jones will dole out Edge Endowments via social media to arm men with whatever they need to achieve success. Jones will identify people, via social media, who aren't quite as well-endowed as he is, and will distribute cash "micro-grants" to get them ready to do whatever it is they want to do. Men who want a chance at an endowment are required to tweet at Jones via the @EdgeShaveZone Twitter handle and tell him what they're getting ready for using hashtag #WellEndowed. Then, Jones and a panel of Edge readiness experts will make the call on who is most deserving of an endowment. This isn’t the first “edgy” campaign the Shelton, Conn.-based company has undertaken. In 2011, Edge helped Anthony Morton go from an unknown student artist in search of gallery space to having his artwork spotlighted on the biggest canvas he had ever worked on, a huge NYC billboard. Team Edge winner Chad Mendes went from underdog to top contender in the UFC. In 2012, the brand is again looking to give guys an edge -- with a team of Edge Men, including Morton, Mendes and Jones, to help identify guys in need of an endowment. In addition to Endowments distributed via social media, consumers can enter the Edge Men sweepstakes by visiting www.edgeshave.com and uploading a photo and caption explaining how a cash endowment could help them get their edge. One grand prize winner will receive a $10,000 Edge Endowment, 130 First Prize winners will receive $1,000 and 130 Second Prize winners will receive $50 Endowments. The brand is promoting the initiative on Twitter @EdgeShaveZon and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/EdgeShaveGel
Global agency Euro RSCG Worldwide has been publishing research and thought leadership content for years. It is expanding into a new series area, the Consumer Conscience Study. The study's raison d'être is that growing numbers of consumers are "activist consumers," thinking about where products come from and how they themselves can influence policy and corporate behavior with their purchases. Kate Robertson, Euro RSCG UK group chairman talked about the findings from the first in the series “Blueprint for a Sustainable Brand.” It was released at the 4A’s Transformation Conference in Los Angeles. She warned that brands can no longer assume -- and social media obviously is the elephant in the room -- that they aren't the subject of close scrutiny. "The tidal wave of the social media revolution is inexorably rolling over us and exposing all -- everything will come out, if not today, then for sure tomorrow,” she said at a panel. Nearly half of Americans believe the greatest change agent in the future will be “the people, empowered by social media” -- more than twice the number of respondents who chose politics or corporations as the greatest agent of change. The study, which surveyed 4,000 adults in Brazil, China, France, India, the UK, and the U.S. in 2007 and again in the winter of 2011, found that people are more focused than ever on corporate values and reputation. Sixty-nine percent said they are “paying more attention than in the past to the environmental and/or social impact of the products [they] buy,” and 71% said they believe “the most successful and profitable businesses in the future will be those that practice sustainability.” Sixty-seven percent of respondents said they prefer to buy from companies that share their values. Nearly three-quarters said businesses that are most likely to succeed now and henceforth are those that are open and collaborative. But beyond that, they expect companies they deal with to be drivers of social change. Nearly three-quarters said business has as much to do with positive change as governments. And when businesses fail to meet those expectations, people are punishing them: 70% of consumers worldwide said they have a responsibility to “censure unethical companies by avoiding their products.” China (91%) and India (89%) were the markets most likely to believe that consumers have a duty to censure unethical companies by avoiding their products.
While TV programmers and third parties are scrambling around to craft second-screen experiences that capture TV viewers on smartphones and tablets, the viewers themselves may already have found their favorite second screens on existing social networks. “Users are ahead of service providers in this respect,” says Informa Principal Analyst Nick Thomas in a recent report on the future of TV worldwide. “Many [are] already using Facebook and Twitter and other tools to communicate via the handheld devices about the content they are simultaneously viewing on the TV,” he writes. Facebook potentially has an enormous role in the evolution of social TV on a number of levels, Thomas argues. The social network can help broadcasters retain audiences with added value for live content experiences even as over-the-top video and time-shifting behaviors erode old viewing activities. At the same time, TV on-demand entities like Netflix could use Facebook to cultivate communities around on-demand content. But Facebook could itself become a social TV platform, with video and social interactions running in parallel. In an Informa survey of TV, telecom and Internet executives, social networks were considered by 21.8% of respondents to be the types of companies that can persuade users to pay for digital content. Only 16.8% cited network operators like telcos as likely platforms for paid content, while 27.7% pointed to over-the-top services like Netflix and the largest share cited device manufacturers like Apple, Sony and Samsung. The big content winners are likely to be entertainment, cited by almost 40% of executives as representing the greatest opportunity for increasing viewer engagement. Sports and news and weather were seen as the biggest opportunity by 27.5% and 14.8% of respondents, respectively. But movies (9%) generally were not regarded as a strong content type around which to generate social engagement. Tablets emerged as the most important second screen among the executives surveyed, with 41.4% saying that tablets would be the dominant tool viewers would employ to access social TV features. 35% cited smartphones as most important; 15.3% said PCs and laptops. Significantly, only 8.6% of the executives surveyed felt that social TV interaction would occur on the TV screen itself. The results suggest just how far the industry has been moved by mobile and portable devices away from pre-existing “Interactive TV” models. Informa recommends that all of the stakeholders in future TV not rely solely on their own social networks and apps to develop social TV strategies. “[They] need to create a portfolio of external partners, including Facebook, to ensure their social offering is relevant to viewers’ needs. “ Informa also recommends that programmers build viable social TV ad models that work off of the main TV display. The second screen is where advertisers can more precisely target and segment the TV audience. It is “vital to future TV revenues, as old advertising models based on a mass audience become increasingly devalued,” Thomas writes.
Forgive me for thinking that maybe April Fool’s Day came a week early, but, hey, when you wake up first thing in the morning and read that there’s a startup called Sh*tter, that will print your tweets on a roll of toilet paper, it’s to be understood. And, wow, what a metaphor! The company actually helps guide you to the deeper meaning, if you didn’t get it immediately. Its tagline is “Social media has never been so disposable.” However, the flaw I see in the business model is that -- well, certainly, this is true in my case -- my tweets are genius. Does a tweet as compelling as this one, from Mar. 14, deserve to die a slow, but biodegradable, death in the Westchester County sewer system? “It took several years, but I've finally gone thru all 5000 sheets of white letter size paper for my printer. Off to #staples we go.” I think not! (However, in case you were wondering, the strategic use of the #staples hashtag did not result in the hoped-for tweet from Staples with a link to a coupon.) No, the much stronger business model for the people at Sh*tter would lie in printing other people’s tweets on toilet paper, like the people you really want to unfollow, but just haven’t gotten around to. There’s also a huge market in toilet paper printed with the status updates of people who are a little too prolific when it comes to detailing their life, but that’s a ponder for another day. All of which leads me to today’s important business question: Is it good that WPP said it will be doubling its spend on Facebook this year? The admission came in remarks that CEO Martin Sorrell made at the 4As “Transformation” conference in Los Angeles this week. In raw numbers, that will mean an increase from about $200 million to $400 million. That’s still a small percentage, also per Sorrell, compared to what WPP spends with Google ($2 billion), and News Corp. ($5 billion). Still, when one considers that Facebook’s revenue last year, according to its S1, was $3.7 billion, the WPP-o-meter would put its projected 2012 revenue at $7.4 billion. In other words, if everyone doubled what they spend on Facebook, that’s where the company would end up by the end of the year. But Sorrell also appears to have made the case for how all of this social media advertising could end up in the -- yes! -- sh*tter. And that’s if Facebook -- and its social advertising competitors -- don’t do a better job of nailing down the pink slime that is social media ROI. “The area is a very sexy area, and clients have gone in almost willy-nilly, because it is fashionable to do so,” Sorrell said. “The investments have reached a scale where procurement departments, finance departments are increasingly looking at those investments.” As I’ve said before, Google has this much easier, at least in its search business. See ad. Click on ad. Procure payment from advertiser. Maybe it’s uncharitable for me to compare social media ROI to search ROI, but, even if it’s not pink, you have to admit it is pretty slippery. For one, it defies easy definition: Is it about wracking up Facebook “Likes” or Twitter followers? Is it about tracking social media advertising down to the point of sale, or lifts in brand awareness or favorability? Is it click-throughs? What the hell is it? The challenge for Facebook then, and its competitors, is to offer a depth and breadth of metrics that can apply to any and all of the above. It also requires a certain amount of discipline from advertisers, who will need to decide -- here’s the extension of the sex metaphor you’ve been waiting for -- why they got in bed with social media in the first place. That’s why, while we can expect Facebook’s growth to double -- or just about -- in the near-term, the long-term presents the bigger challenge. When one combines the many different forms, and potential goals, of social advertising -- from paid ads that lead to commerce to social videos whose main objective is reach -- ROI becomes a difficult thing to get a grip on. In case you were wondering, the "twoilet" paper referenced above goes for $35 for four rolls. Mashable estimates that at 75 sheets per roll, the cost of each individual sheet is 8.5 cents. It’s up to you to decide whether that’s good ROI.
It turns out that Twitter is not much of a predictor of the future, at least when it comes to movie sales. After analyzing tweets during the Oscar season and comparing them to reviews at Rotten Tomatoes and other sites, Princeton researchers determined that although Twitter posters tend to be more positive than users who write reviews, that favorability failed to increase sales at the box office. Perhaps that’s because those positive tweeters were posting during the movie instead of paying attention to things like plot credibility and character development. Or maybe it’s that Twitter is an impulse medium -- careful thought is generally not a key ingredient in most tweets. It’s unlikely, however, that the Princeton study will cause marketers and researchers to abandon the promise that social media data holds. In the last election cycle, Facebook’s political team said that its fans predicted more than 70% of key races based on their "likes." It tracked 98 of the most hotly contested House races; of these, 74% of the candidates with the most Facebook fans won their races. Although I have yet to see any convincing evidence why, a good deal of currency is being placed on racking up lots of "likes" and positive-sounding mentions in various forms of social media. Clearly these mean little for movie ticket sales, and I suspect they mean little in most cases -- mainly because they are not very specific. If you "like" this column, what is it you like? The overall topic? My take? One small line or two that struck a chord, or made you laugh? Does it make me your favorite columnist? Can I take anything to the bank? I don't know about you, but I’m already tired of everybody asking me to "like" this or that. It's gotten nearly as annoying as those constant requests to participate in consumer satisfaction surveys every time you pick up the phone. I have even had offers of discounts if I would provide favorable reviews on things like Angie's List. This is the downside of our new age of easy data collection. Most folks I know are prone to vent their anger online rather than praise something they like. After all, if I have found a really nice new restaurant, the LAST thing I want is to help create a line out the door so that I can't get in anymore. I know parents who guard the identify of their kid's college entrance advisor like it is a state secret. I am happy to reward an institution that has provided something exceptional in the way of services or pricing with a BRIEF review, but what do I say to those whose service is pretty routine when they plead for a "like" or a high score on some satisfaction survey? If I tell the truth, will they put sugar in my gas tank the next time I am in their parking lot? And at the end of the day, isn't it kind of unbecoming to even ask for a high score? Yet it happens all the time. I suppose a higher score in anything (but golf) is better. But I can't really gauge appropriate values. For example, yesterday, privacy guru Alan Chapell rightly asked, "What does a high Klout score do for you? Does it help get business? Does it impress pretty girls when you oh so casually mention it at next week's Adtech parties? Does it get you an audience with the President?" But that doesn't seem to matter in the Great 21st Century Rush to Like: no matter how or why you got the score, just get the highest score -- and market share will follow. Or something "like" that.
As consumers have embraced social media, brands have tried to get in on the action … especially if Millennials are an important audience for the brand. Consequently, many marketers are increasing their social media budget to the point that some studies say nearly 18% of marketing budgets will be devoted to social media within the next five years. But why? A recent study by the Australian think tank Ehrenberg-Bass Institute showed that while brands are racking up “likes,” only about 0.45% are actually engaging in conversation with the brand. To find out why, Project Butterfly, a qualitative study using a diverse range of research methods from ethnographies to social experiments, sought to better understand what makes people truly sociable and how understanding that behavior can provide key lessons for marketers in building and adopting sociable behavior. It found that people who are truly sociable have distinct characteristics that are very different from what we often think of as highly social behavior. Typically, we think that highly social people have high Klout scores, thousands of Facebook friends, post multiple times per day and are always checking in at cool places. But these people really aren’t truly sociable. They are hyper-connectors. They are all about self-promotion, influencing others, getting attention and seeking validation. They are excellent at initiating contact but they lack the requisite skill to maintain the connection. Their connections are very one-way and, consequently, their friends lose interest even though they are constantly being prodded. When you think about typical brand behavior in the social space, this begins to look all too familiar. A recent quote from the head of the CMO Report described the “like” button as a tool that “packs more acquisition punch than other demand-generating activities.” Imagine if you went to a party with the pure goal of signing up friends: “Do you like me? Friend acquired!” It wouldn’t work. In contrast, truly sociable people (or sociable butterflies) are people who are very good at initiating, facilitating AND maintaining social behavior. For them every relationship matters and they designate roles for each of the characters in their social network to maximize the desired impact and potential energy of their connections. Most importantly, sociable butterflies are BOTH interested and interesting. Being interesting attracts others to engage and interact. Being interested in what others have to say encourages them to stay involved and make their own contributions. Sociable butterflies are all about feedback. They are outstanding at obtaining and incorporating feedback from their environment. In other words, they contribute with others, not at them. Thinking about brands again, how often are they interesting? Or more importantly, interested? Too often, we see brands post questions in social media without responding to any of the responses from their “friends.” Expedia recently posted, “What is your favorite souvenir from your travels?” Over 200 people commented. But Expedia didn’t acknowledge any of the answers. Imagine asking the same question in person and then turning away before anyone answered. Imagine the power of a brand really being interested. Millennials seek authentic connections where they personally matter. Asking questions and responding to what people say on your wall posts is just one way to demonstrate that you are both interesting AND interested. Tory Burch does a great job of being interesting by sharing her experiences and influences to build a more personal connection with those that buy – or aspire to buy – her clothes. But being interesting might be the easier part; being interested takes effort. Ikea UK used its YouTube channel to offer a fully interactive experience via Facebook Connect. It used everything that had been displayed on a person’s wall and created a digital room. It even uploaded actual photos from a person’s Facebook page into picture frames on the wall in the digital room it created for you. Target’s Bull’s-eye Gives is another way of demonstrating it’s interested. It put $3 million in the hands of its community – asking members which of 10 charities should receive the greatest proportion of the money and then actually distributed the money according to its share of votes. To be truly sociable, brands need to think and act more like sociable people. They need to push beyond the ROI of gaining a fan to understand that social media isn’t just a channel, it’s a call to marketers to change their brand behavior. They have the opportunity to be both interesting and interested, to focus on emotion over promotion and to make every relationship count. That doesn’t mean they have to treat everyone the same. People can play different roles within their social circle but brands have an opportunity to incorporate feedback and learn to contribute with their Millennial friends rather than at them.
There is no denying that mom’s day is full. Mom’s days were full long before social media entered her world. But come into her world it did! In a recent survey, we found 65% of moms reported that they spend more than an hour a day on Facebook alone. And 28% said that they spend more than three hours a day on Facebook. Moms being active in social media is no surprise. With all of this time spent using social media, added to an already packed day, are moms feeling the crunch? Are they overwhelmed? Surprisingly, the answer is a resounding “No”! Only 8% of moms surveyed said that they felt “over-stimulated” and overwhelmed by social media. How does social media make moms feel? “Delightfully in touch and in tune with the world” is the way that 42% of moms characterized their love for social media. One mom said: “Social media enables me to keep in touch with a lot of people at once, including people who I might not otherwise be able.” In addition to connecting with friends, many moms on Facebook (90%) follow brands, including 31% who seek out brands on social media just because they are brand advocates and are curious what the brand is doing online. As one mom put it: “As a mom, I am constantly making decisions about products to buy for my family. Social media gives me an easy way to ask lots for friends what they recommend and also follow brands that I like to see what’s new and get the inside scoop on special offers.” This being said, brands must be careful about how they communicate on social media to make sure that moms don’t start feeling overwhelmed with excessive posts from the brand that don’t serve moms’ interest. After all, the “unlike” and “unfollow” buttons are not that hard to find! So what does this mean for brands that want get and keep a busy mom’s attention? 1. Keep the content relevant The majority of moms (68%) are positive about being contacted by brands on social media as long as the content they receive is relevant and interesting. What kind of content is most interesting to moms? Testimonials, reviews and content from other moms like them. In a recent program, a brand owned by a multinational packaged goods giant experienced significant increases in its Facebook engagement numbers by leveraging user-generated content such as videos, photos, stories and testimonials. 2. Make it useful Whether it’s a coupon moms can use or share with others, a recipe, or a tip to make life easier, moms want content they can use. 87% of moms reported these types of posts the most engaging. 3. Make it Viral Eighty-six percent of moms like sharing information or news that they think will be helpful to others and 83% like sharing information about discounts and deals. Empowering mom to share with others will make them appreciate brand messages even more.
As a teetotaler I don’t even know how Captain Morgan’s alcohol brew tastes. Worse, as a middle-aged husband and father of a 20-year-old daughter, the rakish young male at the center of its brand image turns me off altogether. But I will give the pirate his due. He makes a damn good branded mobile game. And that is saying something. The Captain’s Conquest game for Android and iPhone is genuinely engaging and fun, while much of advergaming is still a matter of slapping logos on crappy and tired white-label game engines. This is one of the brand’s first journeys into mobile waters, and it bodes well for the brand. Conceived by Anomaly, which partered with London-based Unit 9 on the execution, the app wraps real-time local mapping with your social network around a simple aim-and-shoot mechanic that has role-playing depth. You call up a map that superimposes a period pirate motif onto your real neighborhood. You may run into other ships of real players or bots from the system, but there are always ships to challenge. The app taps into your Facebook and Twitter social networks if you like and even correlates the size of your ship to your influence within the network. That may explain why I was sailing a glorified rowboat. The gameplay is genuinely challenging and fun. You aim and shoot a cannon, but have to calculate against your own bobbing atop the water and your enemy’s maneuvering. You earn points that help you buy upgrades for the boat. The social element kicks in when you elect to join a fleet and vie to become the most powerful member of the team of marauders. In between contests you make port (check in) at actual sites in your area like bars and restaurants. The app also interfaces with your foursquare account. Coming into the mobile market with a game was a no-brainer for the brand apparently. According to Captain Morgan Marketing Director Tom Herbst, “the Captain Morgan target consumer over-indexes in gaming, primarily in mobile gaming, so from a brand perspective Captain’s Conquest just makes sense.” The social piece was important because the brand’s research showed that the target is very active, social and adventurous. “Creating a platform that rewards consumers for being adventurous in real-life via check-ins and interacting with those around them through game play is an ideal way to marry their personal life with their interaction with the brand.” The company says that the beta tests since February show very strong user response and re-use. In the past advergames were awful, but I am not sure even the brand minded. If the curious player picked it up and tried to sled the chocolate bar down the ski slopes or bowl with gum drops, then even those few minutes amounted to more engagement than an advertiser usually gets from a banner or interstitial. The Captain Morgan game is that rare instance where the branded game app actually pulls you in on a number of levels. Just seeing who in your area is using the app or checking in at actual hot spots is interesting. Being part of a fleet adds the competitive angle. But at core it is all about the essential game play. In the end the branded game needs to put the game first. This one is genuinely fun to play, and it is unique. This is not a skinned driving game we have played ten times before. The game is aligned with the brand but also unique. Captain. I haven’t a clue what you liquor tastes like. And if one of your customers gets within a yard arm of my daughter I will run him over with my badass Mini Cooper. But you know how to mix a good game.