Costco end of world marketing

Is it concerning to anyone that Costco is marketing for the end of the world? Every little event now is turned into a reason to market - whether it's holidays (yes, think of what Christmas has turned into) or even the end of the world supposedly coming today. Now Shelf Reliance is offering a year supply of food through Costco, which is a great way to live after the end of the world comes and you are still here. Yes, it has other purposes too, but the bigger picture is scary that every little event today is turned into a marketing opportunity. Take Black Friday which is now becoming Black Thursday as another example. I am all for marketing, but marketers need to learn their boundaries, but companies would be much better off in the consumer's eyes if they acknowledged the importance of holidays and events again and stopped making them into one big selling event.

Point of purchase displays in the holiday season

We all are ending up in the store these days picking up groceries or continuing our holiday shopping. It is interesting to look around at the point of purchase (POP) displays throughout the store. How do you notice these changing for the holidays? Why are displays placed where they are? Take time to really look at the difference between items that are on displays and on the shelves. Which do you see consumers grabbing for more? In a recent trip to Fred Meyer (grocery store mainly based in the northwest US), there were over eight POP displays in the middle of the main aisle leading to the checkout stands. I didn't see them flying off the displays and into carts today, but I am sure they will be as it nears closer to Christmas. Yes, it may cost more to create the POP displays or, in some cases, pay the stores an allowance of some sort to put up the display, but having your product right in front of the consumer's eyes is of great benefit to your product.

New Expedia Ad

A recent Expedia ad is gaining traction and popularity in the media (see ad here). It builds off of Expedia's Find Your Strength Campaign. The ad is quite emotional yet empowering in talking a cancer survivor's journey as well as the journey of another cancer patient who did not survive. Expedia is using this to liken the journeys that we travel on to the travel that Expedia can take you on.

It has a powerful emotional pull, though does anyone else see the similarity between this and the recent Facebook commercial relating Facebook to chairs? Facebook's commercial got trashed in media outlets around the world for being abstract and not a true celebration of now having 1 billion users. Of course, the Facebook ad did not have the benefit of this recent Expedia ad with reference to the emotional appeal, but both are abstract. In any case, it may show that Expedia cares for the journey of others, but I still wonder if this is going to contribute to increased brand awareness or sales.

Health Halos

My main area of research now looks at health halos, which is the idea that one piece of information on a product package or advertisement can cause a consumer to think that the entire product is healthier than it actually is. Prior research shows that adding a "low fat" label to the front of a package makes a consumer think the product is much healthier than without the label, even if calorie, sugar, sodium, and other nutrition facts still show the product as being extremely unhealthy.

Recently, I have looked at how cause-related marketing efforts (i.e., a brand donating a portion of proceeds to a brand) influences health halo formation. Initial findings show that consumers perceive a cause on a package as endorsing a package making the product appear healthier than it actually is. This includes well known healthy causes such as the American Heart Association, American Red Cross, World Health Organization, and also the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation. Interestingly, I was listening to Pandora when the ad above appeared for a 5-hour Energy bottle that is donating a portion of the proceeds to the Avon Foundation. Likelihood is great that adding this makes the product appear healthier than it actually is - having less sugar, fewer calories, etc. than the normal 5-hour Energy. Scary? It's true.