Enterprise Holdings’ Alamo Rent A Car is introducing the new Web-based Alamo Deal Retriever on its Web site to help consumers find Alamo’s best possible deal. The Alamo Deal Retriever searches all valid Alamo deals and coupons on the Web to find the best Alamo rates to meet customers’ needs. The Alamo Deal Retriever was introduced with the recent re-launch of the company's website, and is being publicized through the TV ads and social media. It is the car rental company’s first national TV ad campaign since 2009. Fleishman-Hillard handled traditional media outreach, while digital agency 360i is working on the word-of-mouth campaign. This campaign targets the head of household who is in charge of planning the family trip and is often doing so on a budget, said Meghan Maguire, Alamo brand publicity manager. “We want them to know that they can visit our newly relaunched Alamo.com and use the Alamo Deal Retriever to find a great car rental deal to meet the needs of their next vacation,” Maguire tells Marketing Daily. The campaign represents an investment in reaching a broader audience and raising awareness with consumers planning their next vacation, she said. “We want to remind families that Alamo is a great brand with great deals,” Maguire said. For the past several years, the brand has focused marketing efforts primarily in the digital space, “but we felt that we needed to raise the awareness of the Alamo brand and reach a broader audience,” she said. “We have found that the fun, new cartoon family, The Getaways, really speaks to today’s family who really needs to ‘get away’ now and again.” The campaign also includes a word-of-mouth effort aimed at increasing brand conversation, driving traffic to Alamo.com, and reinforcing the message about the Deal Retriever, she says. The brand is also partnering with influencers on Pinterest in a contest called “Pin Your Happy Place.” Influencers will pin a piece of Alamo-branded content and other vacation-themed images to their boards and then encourage their followers to do the same. “Our target audience is definitely active on Pinterest, so by encouraging them to imagine their next vacation we hope to solidify their connection to Alamo as the car rental brand for vacationers,” Maguire said.
Twitter on Wednesday announced the long-awaited opening up of its Ads API, a step expected to expand advertising on the microblogging platform and accelerate the company’s revenue growth. In connection with the move, Twitter has named five launch partners that will initially provide the tools for creating and managing campaigns on the site: Adobe, Salesforce.com (which acquired Buddy Media), HootSuite, SHIFT and TBG Digital. “What this means is that as marketers, you’ll soon have the ability to work with our initial set of Ads API partners to manage Twitter Ad campaigns -- and integrate them into your existing cross-channel advertising strategies,” stated a blog post today by April Underwood, product manager, revenue, at Twitter. Software created by the Ads API partners should enable brands and agencies to develop and optimize campaigns that reach the target audience with the right message at the right time across desktop and mobile devices at scale. Twitter is following the same playbook that helped Facebook build its ad business, when it launched its own Ads API in 2009 and established a set of ad partners that now include the five companies chosen by Twitter. LinkedIn also introduced an Ads API program in November. TechCrunch last month predicted that Twitter would soon take the same step. Until now, marketers either had to use the company’s self-serve option or work with its direct sales force to place advertising. The process of making ad buys and tracking campaigns should now be more efficient. HootSuite, for example, said that in relation to Twitter opening up its Ads API, it would now allow brands to quickly buy, publish and analyze Promoted Tweets and Promoted Accounts from within its dashboard. Similarly, Salesforce.com announced a new Social Ads Platform for Twitter that will let clients run and manage Twitter campaigns in real time within its Marketing Cloud product. In addition, Twitter said its Certified Products Program would be expanded in the coming months to include ad products that integrate with the Ads API and improve marketing efficiency and ROI. The company has begun screening the next group of ad partners, which vendors can apply for here. For comparison, Facebook’s Preferred Marketing Developer program, which encompasses expertise in ads, apps, analytics and brand pages, has grown to more than 300 partner firms.
Maker’s Mark bourbon has become something of a social media case study as a result of not only listening, but actually making -- or rather, reversing -- a business decision based on its fans’ input. The brouhaha began last week, after the spirits brand announced that in order to meet high demand levels and avoid shortages, it would reduce the alcohol level in its bourbon from 45% to 42%, or from 90 proof to 84 proof -- essentially diluting the product to stretch its supplies. (Sales of the brand rose 14% in 2011 and 15% in 2012.) But after its fans went ballistic on social media about the planned change -- even threatening to start boycotts in order to "save" the original formulation -- the Beam Inc. brand employed social media to announce its reversal of the decision, and apologize. On Sunday, Maker’s Mark tweeted the message: "You spoke. We listened," to its followers, creating a hashtag that was quickly picked up by fans -- many expressing relief and thanking the brand for seeing the error of its ways. In a letter to fans that was posted on its Facebook page, as well as on its Web site, Rob Samuels and Bill Samuels, Jr. -- respectively the COO and chairman emeritus of Maker’s Mark -- wrote that they were "humbled" by fans' "overwhelming response and passion" for Maker’s Mark, and apologized for letting them down. Noting the brand’s supply constraints, they wrote that “while we thought we were doing what’s right, this is your brand – and you told us in large numbers to change our decision … so effective immediately, we are reversing our decision … . “The unanticipated dramatic growth rate of Maker’s Mark is a good problem to have, and we appreciate some of you telling us you’d even put up with occasional shortages,” the message continued. “We promise we’ll deal with them as best we can, as we work to expand capacity at the distillery.” The reversal announcement on the brand’s Facebook page generated more than 14,000 “likes” and 2,200 comments within two hours, reported TheBlaze. Many social media pundits praised the brand’s quick turnabout. For example, BusinessInsider observed that “while a tiny flub can be blown up tenfold because someone notices it on Twitter, Maker's Mark's response shows that, if well utilized, the very same tools can be used to help haters regain company faith.” However, others maintained that the brand should have had a handle on consumers’ sentiments and the potential for backlash -- and some even suggested that it might have been wiser to ride out what might have been a relatively short-lived storm (although they obviously weren’t the ones fielding the phone calls and in-person complaints, in addition to the social comments deluge). And as The Washington Post’s Neil Irwin pointed out in some detail, the brand and its parent Beam Inc. now face other -- rather fundamental -- business and marketing dilemmas. Since good whiskey requires time to age, and the company didn’t raise prices once it realized that demand was outpacing supply, shortages began resulting in some markets. And since Maker’s Mark is one of Beam Inc.’s “power brands” – a major sales-driver that needs to be available in bars and retailers around the globe -- such shortages could be a serious problem, perhaps even eventually affecting relationships with distributors and bars/restaurants, Irwin noted. Now, “it’s decision time for Maker’s Mark and Beam Inc.,” he wrote. “Are they really going to allow there to be shortages of Maker’s at times, meaning that they would be essentially charging a below-market price? Are they going to hike price and risk Maker’s status as a go-to mass market bourbon brand? Or are they going to find other, sneakier ways to get more supply of whiskey that is less blatant than diluting it, such as introducing even younger whiskey into the blend?” Meanwhile, Forbescontributor Tim Worstall noted that, even with the reversal, Maker’s Mark may have still turned off some brand fans -- and quoted a business professor who pointed out that basic supply/demand economics could have offered a logical price discrimination/market segmentation strategy: Creating a new brand extension with a lower proof and a lower price, while raising the price of the original, premium product.
For those who are tired of hidden restrictions and charges of wireless contracts, T-Mobile has a new pre-paid wireless brand: GoSmart. “We wanted to create a completely new offering from the ground up for a new segment for customers, which the bigger brand may not be able to serve,” Shailendra Gujarati, marketing director for GoSmart Mobile, tells Marketing Daily. “It’s the fastest-growing space in the wireless market right now. We believe there’s a segment of customers whose needs are not being met because of what’s going on in the wireless industry. We don’t want customers to be left behind because they don’t need or can’t afford 4G plans.” The GoSmart will be targeted toward younger, less affluent and/or multicultural consumers who don’t need or want to be in a contract plan or higher-fee prepaid plan, he says. The brand will be built on three pillars: price, simplicity and network quality. To differentiate itself from the parent brand, GoSmart will shy away from using its T-Mobile’s imagery (including its Carly spokescharacter) and signature magenta coloring. With a smaller marketing budget, much of GoSmart’s marketing communications will be through retail and social media channels, Gujarati says. “We will be much more grassroots and scrappy,” he says. Much of the communications will employ the word “DUM,” which he notes is not an acronym: “It’s simply a playful spin on the word dumb.” “It’s a bit edgy and mischievous,” he says. “There’s a lot of dumb things that happen in the wireless space in terms of nickel-and-diming and [contract] shackles.” Though launching a brand that is owned by, though separate from, another larger company is challenging, it’s not entirely unheard of in the telecommunications (or other industries). Sprint, for instance, has its flagship Sprint brand, as well as prepaid brand Boost, Virgin Mobile and Paylo brands. “The notion of creating multiple brands for multiple segments may be a bit new for wireless in the U.S., but it happens in other industries,” Gujarati says, noting Gap Inc.’s model of having Banana Republic, Gap and Old Navy stores to reach different segments. “In our case, we are doing this organically, and creating it from the ground up.” The GoSmart brand isn’t intended to replace T-Mobile’s contract or pre-paid plans, but instead is to go after an entirely different segment, Gujarati says. He also expects the brand to continue should T-Mobile’s proposed merger with MetroPCS go through. “We truly believe the brands T-Mobile has today and may be having in the future will be complementary,” Gujarati says.
Enterprise Holdings’ Alamo Rent A Car is introducing the new Web-based Alamo Deal Retriever on its Web site to help consumers find Alamo’s best possible deal. The Alamo Deal Retriever searches all valid Alamo deals and coupons on the Web to find the best Alamo rates to meet customers’ needs. The Alamo Deal Retriever was introduced with the recent re-launch of the company's website, and is being publicized through the TV ads and social media. It is the car rental company’s first national TV ad campaign since 2009. Fleishman-Hillard handled traditional media outreach, while digital agency 360i is working on the word-of-mouth campaign. This campaign targets the head of household who is in charge of planning the family trip and is often doing so on a budget, said Meghan Maguire, Alamo brand publicity manager. “We want them to know that they can visit our newly relaunched Alamo.com and use the Alamo Deal Retriever to find a great car rental deal to meet the needs of their next vacation,” Maguire tells Marketing Daily. The campaign represents an investment in reaching a broader audience and raising awareness with consumers planning their next vacation, she said. “We want to remind families that Alamo is a great brand with great deals,” Maguire said. For the past several years, the brand has focused marketing efforts primarily in the digital space, “but we felt that we needed to raise the awareness of the Alamo brand and reach a broader audience,” she said. “We have found that the fun, new cartoon family, The Getaways, really speaks to today’s family who really needs to ‘get away’ now and again.” The campaign also includes a word-of-mouth effort aimed at increasing brand conversation, driving traffic to Alamo.com, and reinforcing the message about the Deal Retriever, she says. The brand is also partnering with influencers on Pinterest in a contest called “Pin Your Happy Place.” Influencers will pin a piece of Alamo-branded content and other vacation-themed images to their boards and then encourage their followers to do the same. “Our target audience is definitely active on Pinterest, so by encouraging them to imagine their next vacation we hope to solidify their connection to Alamo as the car rental brand for vacationers,” Maguire said.
Twitter on Wednesday announced the long-awaited opening up of its Ads API, a step expected to expand advertising on the microblogging platform and accelerate the company’s revenue growth. In connection with the move, Twitter has named five launch partners that will initially provide the tools for creating and managing campaigns on the site: Adobe, Salesforce.com (which acquired Buddy Media), HootSuite, SHIFT and TBG Digital. “What this means is that as marketers, you’ll soon have the ability to work with our initial set of Ads API partners to manage Twitter Ad campaigns -- and integrate them into your existing cross-channel advertising strategies,” stated a blog post today by April Underwood, product manager, revenue, at Twitter. Software created by the Ads API partners should enable brands and agencies to develop and optimize campaigns that reach the target audience with the right message at the right time across desktop and mobile devices at scale. Twitter is following the same playbook that helped Facebook build its ad business, when it launched its own Ads API in 2009 and established a set of ad partners that now include the five companies chosen by Twitter. LinkedIn also introduced an Ads API program in November. TechCrunch last month predicted that Twitter would soon take the same step. Until now, marketers either had to use the company’s self-serve option or work with its direct sales force to place advertising. The process of making ad buys and tracking campaigns should now be more efficient. HootSuite, for example, said that in relation to Twitter opening up its Ads API, it would now allow brands to quickly buy, publish and analyze Promoted Tweets and Promoted Accounts from within its dashboard. Similarly, Salesforce.com announced a new Social Ads Platform for Twitter that will let clients run and manage Twitter campaigns in real time within its Marketing Cloud product. In addition, Twitter said its Certified Products Program would be expanded in the coming months to include ad products that integrate with the Ads API and improve marketing efficiency and ROI. The company has begun screening the next group of ad partners, which vendors can apply for here. For comparison, Facebook’s Preferred Marketing Developer program, which encompasses expertise in ads, apps, analytics and brand pages, has grown to more than 300 partner firms.
Maker’s Mark bourbon has become something of a social media case study as a result of not only listening, but actually making -- or rather, reversing -- a business decision based on its fans’ input. The brouhaha began last week, after the spirits brand announced that in order to meet high demand levels and avoid shortages, it would reduce the alcohol level in its bourbon from 45% to 42%, or from 90 proof to 84 proof -- essentially diluting the product to stretch its supplies. (Sales of the brand rose 14% in 2011 and 15% in 2012.) But after its fans went ballistic on social media about the planned change -- even threatening to start boycotts in order to "save" the original formulation -- the Beam Inc. brand employed social media to announce its reversal of the decision, and apologize. On Sunday, Maker’s Mark tweeted the message: "You spoke. We listened," to its followers, creating a hashtag that was quickly picked up by fans -- many expressing relief and thanking the brand for seeing the error of its ways. In a letter to fans that was posted on its Facebook page, as well as on its Web site, Rob Samuels and Bill Samuels, Jr. -- respectively the COO and chairman emeritus of Maker’s Mark -- wrote that they were "humbled" by fans' "overwhelming response and passion" for Maker’s Mark, and apologized for letting them down. Noting the brand’s supply constraints, they wrote that “while we thought we were doing what’s right, this is your brand – and you told us in large numbers to change our decision … so effective immediately, we are reversing our decision … . “The unanticipated dramatic growth rate of Maker’s Mark is a good problem to have, and we appreciate some of you telling us you’d even put up with occasional shortages,” the message continued. “We promise we’ll deal with them as best we can, as we work to expand capacity at the distillery.” The reversal announcement on the brand’s Facebook page generated more than 14,000 “likes” and 2,200 comments within two hours, reported TheBlaze. Many social media pundits praised the brand’s quick turnabout. For example, BusinessInsider observed that “while a tiny flub can be blown up tenfold because someone notices it on Twitter, Maker's Mark's response shows that, if well utilized, the very same tools can be used to help haters regain company faith.” However, others maintained that the brand should have had a handle on consumers’ sentiments and the potential for backlash -- and some even suggested that it might have been wiser to ride out what might have been a relatively short-lived storm (although they obviously weren’t the ones fielding the phone calls and in-person complaints, in addition to the social comments deluge). And as The Washington Post’s Neil Irwin pointed out in some detail, the brand and its parent Beam Inc. now face other -- rather fundamental -- business and marketing dilemmas. Since good whiskey requires time to age, and the company didn’t raise prices once it realized that demand was outpacing supply, shortages began resulting in some markets. And since Maker’s Mark is one of Beam Inc.’s “power brands” – a major sales-driver that needs to be available in bars and retailers around the globe -- such shortages could be a serious problem, perhaps even eventually affecting relationships with distributors and bars/restaurants, Irwin noted. Now, “it’s decision time for Maker’s Mark and Beam Inc.,” he wrote. “Are they really going to allow there to be shortages of Maker’s at times, meaning that they would be essentially charging a below-market price? Are they going to hike price and risk Maker’s status as a go-to mass market bourbon brand? Or are they going to find other, sneakier ways to get more supply of whiskey that is less blatant than diluting it, such as introducing even younger whiskey into the blend?” Meanwhile, Forbescontributor Tim Worstall noted that, even with the reversal, Maker’s Mark may have still turned off some brand fans -- and quoted a business professor who pointed out that basic supply/demand economics could have offered a logical price discrimination/market segmentation strategy: Creating a new brand extension with a lower proof and a lower price, while raising the price of the original, premium product.
For those who are tired of hidden restrictions and charges of wireless contracts, T-Mobile has a new pre-paid wireless brand: GoSmart. “We wanted to create a completely new offering from the ground up for a new segment for customers, which the bigger brand may not be able to serve,” Shailendra Gujarati, marketing director for GoSmart Mobile, tells Marketing Daily. “It’s the fastest-growing space in the wireless market right now. We believe there’s a segment of customers whose needs are not being met because of what’s going on in the wireless industry. We don’t want customers to be left behind because they don’t need or can’t afford 4G plans.” The GoSmart will be targeted toward younger, less affluent and/or multicultural consumers who don’t need or want to be in a contract plan or higher-fee prepaid plan, he says. The brand will be built on three pillars: price, simplicity and network quality. To differentiate itself from the parent brand, GoSmart will shy away from using its T-Mobile’s imagery (including its Carly spokescharacter) and signature magenta coloring. With a smaller marketing budget, much of GoSmart’s marketing communications will be through retail and social media channels, Gujarati says. “We will be much more grassroots and scrappy,” he says. Much of the communications will employ the word “DUM,” which he notes is not an acronym: “It’s simply a playful spin on the word dumb.” “It’s a bit edgy and mischievous,” he says. “There’s a lot of dumb things that happen in the wireless space in terms of nickel-and-diming and [contract] shackles.” Though launching a brand that is owned by, though separate from, another larger company is challenging, it’s not entirely unheard of in the telecommunications (or other industries). Sprint, for instance, has its flagship Sprint brand, as well as prepaid brand Boost, Virgin Mobile and Paylo brands. “The notion of creating multiple brands for multiple segments may be a bit new for wireless in the U.S., but it happens in other industries,” Gujarati says, noting Gap Inc.’s model of having Banana Republic, Gap and Old Navy stores to reach different segments. “In our case, we are doing this organically, and creating it from the ground up.” The GoSmart brand isn’t intended to replace T-Mobile’s contract or pre-paid plans, but instead is to go after an entirely different segment, Gujarati says. He also expects the brand to continue should T-Mobile’s proposed merger with MetroPCS go through. “We truly believe the brands T-Mobile has today and may be having in the future will be complementary,” Gujarati says.
We often see stats relating to Web use among different ages and genders, but seldom any that compare Moms and Dads as opposed to simply men and women.This USA TouchPoints analysis sought to explore the extent of any differences in the use of various types of Web sites between Moms and Dads in the average week and found there are at least some disparities between the two.Whereas the vast majority of both Moms and Dads can be found on the Web during the average week, social networking, news and to a lesser extent banking and food/cooking sites all show marked differences in average weekly reach.The greatest difference (just) is in the use of social networking sites, which is dominated by Moms: 44% vs. 26% for Dads. While the female skew in itself may not be surprising, its extent may be more so. However when considering the amount of other research that points to the same conclusion, the well-documented “Mommy-Blogger” phenomenon and the amount of time many Mothers – particularly those of young children – spend at home, this becomes much less surprising. When one also considers how many work environments are not conducive to the use of social networks (or in which they are prevented by firewalls), then this also logically contributes to the disparity.News Web sites almost exactly reverse the disparity between Moms and Dads – this time we see 43% Dad vs. 29% Moms. Anyone conducting any qualitative research among Moms will have heard of the time constraints that impacts their daily lives. It is likely that outside of major events, this is a factor here. Preference is given to other activities, like social networking, in the time they do have available.Interestingly, online banking appears to be more the preserve of Moms than Dads (39% vs. 30%), this may again play to time issues and online banking is an easy fix for an essential part of household management.Two other categories that are interesting in relation to each other are full TV episodes (online) and short video clips. While the numbers are not large for either, they are equal between Moms and Dads for full episodes: 7% and 8%, respectively). But there existed a much larger gap between the two for short video clips – 12% for Moms vs. 19% for Dads.
Twitter has inked a deal with Adobe Systems, Salesforce, Shift, TBG Digital, and HootSuite that will up its social game without allowing brand marketers to become annoying and obnoxious. This should make it easier for search marketers to understand the benefits because those working with Twitter’s initial set of Ads API partners can easily integrate their existing ad management software with Twitter accounts to automate ads on the site. The social site announced in a blog post initial tests with partners since January using the ad application programming interfaces (APIs). The feature should provide advertisers a “fuller set of options to manage advertising on Twitter,” wrote April Underwood, product manager of revenue at Twitter. Twitter, the first social site to get mobile correct, earned $138 million in mobile ad revenue worldwide in 2012, according to eMarketer. The data firm estimates that this year the company could earn more than half its global ad revenue -- about $289 million -- from mobile ads. Total global revenue grew 106.7% to $288.3 million last year, according to eMarketer. This year, the company should see revenue reach $545.2 million. By 2014, eMarketer estimates Twitter will earn more than $800 million in ad revenue worldwide. As an early Twitter Ads API partner, Adobe pointed to results from some of its client’s first Twitter Ads API campaigns using Adobe Media Optimizer, which manages $2 billion in annual ad spend, to support, optimize, and forecast performance on social, search, and display campaigns. Adobe said it worked with Levi Strauss, Threadless, and a few other Adobe accounts that use Twitters' Promoted Accounts to grow its Twitter followers through Adobe Marketing Cloud. One of the more important findings: Adobe saw the total cost per follow (CPF) decline by nearly 60% or approximately $2, while supporting an increase of followers by 63% through granular testing of different bids. Prior to the campaign, Adobe saw steady organic growth at around two dozen followers per day, and with Promoted Accounts Adobe, the growth rate rose an average of more than 400 new followers per day.
Remember the old adage? If a tree falls in the forest, and no one is around to hear it, does it make a sound? Consider the adage when you apply it to your Facebook strategy. For most businesses, setting up a Facebook brand page is almost mandatory in this age of social media. The benefits for setting up a brand page have been written up countless times, but at its core, the benefits a Facebook page can bring to brands include: