Progressive Insurance is using Flo, the proprietress of the fictive insurance store, to go social about "The Best Day Ever." The campaign involves a series of posts on the character's Facebook and Twitter accounts that examine -- kind of tongue-in-cheek -- ways to have the best possible day, or at least not the worst. The effort, for which Progressive Insurance partnered with New York-based social-media content publisher and aggregator BuzzFeed, extends an advertisement that Progressive first rolled out last year. The ad has a Progressive store customer -- one Jimmy -- fantasizing about his best day ever: one spent with Flo on an outdoor expedition involving fishing, cooking out, riding ATVs and the like. Jon Steinberg, president of BuzzFeed, explains that the effort involves several posts by Flo, the leading one being an animated version of the ad. That is followed by nostalgic posts showing characters from the ‘80s with the implication that going back, if only in your mind, will bring ... well, perhaps not Nirvana, but at least enough equanimity to produce a "Best Day Ever." Steinberg says that the look-back makes sense because nostalgia is also inherently buzzworthy. The "Iconic '80s Characters That'll Bring You Back" post has characters like My Little Pony, the ALF alien, Smurfs, and of course, big-hair rock bands and big hair in general. Another post offers 20 songs that will give you a best day, and the third has 10 ways to have best day ever, a post that also includes spending a day with someone you like (which also features the animated version of the Jimmy/Flo ad) as well as suggestions like swimming in a pool full of puppies, living in a zombie-proof house, and not reading or looking at anything that has anything to do with Snooki. (Which means if you've read this, your day is ruined, as is mine.) "We created three posts featuring the video to test and optimize the content for sharing," says Steinberg. "The posts are promoted in real-time on the basis of which post is seeing the most social traffic in a given hour." He says the "viral optimization" technology was developed in-house. Steinberg tells Marketing Daily that the campaign is not to drive retail sales, but awareness and brand equity. "Insurance is not something people purchase on impulse, and so this campaign is designed to engage users on the social Web in conversation and engagement around Flo, the video, and the Progressive brand," he says. Says Susan Rouser, social media manager at Progressive Insurance: "We’re hoping the [animated Flo and Jimmy] video gives people the same feeling they had on a great day in their life. It might be an afternoon at the park with their kids, or the day they got their first job." She tells Marketing Daily that the nostalgic references are likely to resonate well with Progressive's target audience. And she says the series of posts on Flo's social sites is part of the company's social media strategy: "To represent the personality of the company while staying true to what we do -- sell insurance. With that said, we understand that not everybody is in the market for insurance right now, so when it comes time for people to shop, we want to be top of mind as the last brand that made them smile." Rouser says Flo has 3.6 million Facebook fans and almost 8,000 followers on Twitter. "She’s been active in the social space for a few years, and her presence is separate from Progressive’s corporate Facebook and Twitter," she says. "For Best Day Ever, we developed a fully integrated paid and organic campaign to support the video, and our partnership with BuzzFeed was a piece of that."
Savvy marketers understand the power of rich mobile media advertising -- with a “call” to action simply a click away -- to the tune of $1.5 billion in projected mobile ad spend this year alone, according to eMarketer. By 2016, over 70% of the world’s mobile data traffic will be video, a remarkable 20% increase since 2011. With analysts touting blockbuster figures like these, it has become crystal clear that mobile video advertising offers marketers one promising way to capitalize on the ever-expanding landscape of the mobile media ad space. According to a recent report from AAAA Media Mind, mobile ads reach “one out of every three consumers.” Therefore, the key for most industry insiders is not if mobile video advertising is the best strategy for their clients, but ratherhow to effectively engage consumers in a way that translates into revenue and sales growth. As with all newly chartered mediums, recommended methodologies and strategies are changing faster than marketers and publishers can react. The result is a wide spectrum of marketing campaign performance in need of industry insight to drive ROI, and most importantly, conversion. As the industry adapts to the introduction of new technology and digital capabilities, there are specific steps that marketers can take to maximize their mobile video advertising initiatives. 1. Introduce form to function. Today’s consumers are known to be media multitaskers. It’s not uncommon for mobile device owners to simultaneously watch television while using their web-enabled phones daily; 49% of consumers reported doing so according to recent data from Yahoo. Industry trends show more marketers are enhancing “traditional” print, broadcast and online media campaigns with mobile video advertising. It is imperative to take account of all consumer touchpoints within the brand experience-- specifically when tailoring content that is appropriate to its given medium, like capping the mobile video ad experience to 15 seconds to increase consumer engagement. 2. Beware of bandwidth. Mobile video campaigns can increase unaided brand awareness by as much as 4 times when compared to traditional online video campaigns, according to InsightExpress. With that in mind, marketers should be diligent in delivering a consistent, high-quality brand experience by customizing mobile video ads to suit the user’s bandwidth capabilities. Mobile video streaming can be significantly compromised due to bandwidth limitations. Ads served on data networks, like 3G and 4G, should be optimized for lower bandwidth so as not to perform poorly and generate negative consumer engagement. Mobile video ads delivered over higher bandwidth networks, like WiFi, lend themselves to richer features like auto-expanding video overlays. By allowing the option for manual or auto-expanding animation, consumers can experience full-screen content with minimal latency. 3. Be engaging, not intrusive. Although pre-roll has dominated the online video advertising space for some time, there are additional options for marketers and publishers to consider. Studies show that the mobile device has the power to consistently elicit response from consumers because of its personal nature. As marketers seek innovative methods for increasing consumer engagement, the consumer experience must be top-of-mind at all times. For examples, tapless, muted video ads can be delivered within the banner space or as a video overpass. These are much better formats to deliver on mobile than content-invasive ad formats such as prestitials and interstitials that take users away from the content pages they intend to consume. 4. Think local. Relevance must not be lost in the sea of mobile video advertising options. In fact, when executed properly, mobile video advertising should enhance opportunities to localize and share content, and instantly drive conversion. Customized call-to-action overlays allow consumers to locate retailers, share products via social media networks and contact retailers with the click of a button -- all from their mobile device! 5. Be consumer-friendly. Mobile operators are limiting data plans due to the explosion in smartphones and mobile. The wireless data pipe is finite, and growing mobile adoption means worsening connection speeds. Delivering data-intensive video ads can be a user experience challenge, both in terms of latency and quality. Innovative video ad formats such as intelli-video-banners offer a perfect balance for data rich video ads, wherein the starting banner ad unit can expand to a tapless video overlay when the user is on broadband WiFi, and mobile optimized streaming tap-to video while on 3G. Mobile video advertising does not necessarily mean pre-roll or video ads stitched together with video content is some way. Intelligent use of connection, bandwidth, innovative ad formats and call-to-action with video can dramatically reduce the video acquisition cost per user while maximizing engagement and ROI for advertisers.
The single most tone-deaf marketing campaign in recent history commences, in any number of commercials that have wallpapered TV coverage of the 2012 NCAA hoops tournament, with the following cornball flourish: "Is it 'March monotony'? Is it 'March more-of-the-same'? No-ho-ho-ho! It's 'March Madness,' people!" The campaign arrives courtesy of LG and current pundit/former college and pro star Greg Anthony, who attempt with no small measure of corporate gusto to link enjoyment of the games with the quality and character of surrounding appliances. It is overplayed and underthought, and I hate it with the unbridled heat of a thousand off-brand convection ovens. I hate everything about it. I hate its desperate alliteration and the faux-chumminess of its "hey, fella!" approach. Mostly I hate the utter absurdity of its premise: The NCAA tournament is the single sporting event that appeals to aficionado, office-pool casualist and decrepit gambler alike. Nobody has ever suggested that it is monotonous or more-of-the-same, nor that it has downswept vulnerable fans in a maelstrom of monochromatic melancholy. The campaign has already become a running joke among my sports-rageaholic friends: "Is it 'peanut badder'? Is it 'pea-not terrific'? No-ho-ho-ho! It's 'peanut butter,' people!," etc. Which is why it gives me a pathetic, sadistic jolt of pleasure to announce that the campaign's online components are even dumber and more misguided. As opposed to the omnipresent TV spots, which assume some kind of wondrous halo effect owing to LG's NCAA sponsorship, the "Do March Right" online clips attempt to sell viewers on the merits of LG appliances. They note specific features and benefits, and linger on the products just long enough to highlight their shininess and curves. Unfortunately, they also saddle Anthony with a script that engorges itself at the trough of pun. The triple-capacity refrigerator, we're told, is ideal for those occasions "when you need to feed your entire home team!," while the 3D television should be "your number-one recruit!" Elsewhere, Anthony conflates ownership of up-market appliances with domestic tranquility, noting how "LG's innovation in mobile phones, appliances and home-entertainment products bring [sic] families together," not unlike holidays or conjugal visits. "Do March Right" similarly promotes LG's laundry machine and infrared grill as vital cogs in the delicate machine of family harmony: "You can spend less time on your family's laundry and more time watching NCAA basketball with your family"/"You can spend less time cooking for your family and more time watching NCAA basketball with your family." Throw in a spot of sponsor-to-organization sucking up - I'd direct anybody who buys LG's rhapsodic paean to the NCAA to read Joe Nocera's recent New York Times columns chronicling the organization's lawlessness and casual arrogance - and you've got a company that's far worse off than it was before it decided to throw a bunch of money at its bland brand. Think about it for a second. Prior to "Do March Right," did anybody really have any major pro- or con- feelings vis-à-vis LG? Me, I had a positive impression of its products - not because of some carefully cultivated brand aura or an affiliation with the professional blimp racing tour or anything like that, but because they worked and were a good value for the price. Now, I think LG is a bunch of hams. No branding trumps bad branding. (Thanks to ChannelMeter for assistance with research and whatnot)