Cobranding with McDonalds

Is cobranding with McDonalds necessarily a good thing? I ran in a race this weekend to support breast cancer awareness. One of the sponsors for the race and on the back of the race shirt is McDonalds. It seems strange given that foods at McDonalds have been linked to cancer along with numerous other diseases. As marketers we face ethical issues every day - who do you market with? What does that portray about your company? Are you just seeking a partnership for the money or for true value being added to your brand? All of these are important questions to consider.

Geico

It's interesting when you start to take notice of changes in marketing communications for companies over the long run. Take Geico as an example. They used to be placing a large portion of their marketing communications budget on TV ads. Now you rarely see a Geico ad. Though take a look in just about any magazine, and you're pretty much guaranteed to see a Geico ad. So why the change? It may be slightly cheaper to run a print ad than a TV spot during a prime time show, but print ads can still be expensive. Take a look at any company's media kit, and you can see that print ad rates can easily run $40,000 for a half to full page ad for just one magazine issue. Though when you get into magazines with more prestige and more readership, rates go up. For example, Forbes magazine is going to cost you $135,730 for a full page color ad in one issue. That's expensive! And that's just one ad. So cost is still high. Back to Geico again... perhaps they're changing they're finding new ways to reach their target market, find it easier to convey their message in a print ad (remember print ads have the benefit of being a self-paced medium so users can easily read them at their leisure and come back to them too), or a host of other things.

As you are seeing ads, take notice of the medium they are using and how that changes over time. Can be quite interesting and telling about the company too.

Non-traditional marketing communications

This is a short post as I type this from my iPhone (note how me just saying this is an endorsement for the phone). Anyhoo, isn't it interesting how marketing communications are all around us? Found this one today with Fred meyers. Sponsoring a tide book - breaks through the clutter of traditional advertising and definitely a clear brand statement for the company. As you meander through everyday life, stop and think about all the non-traditional marketing communications around you.

Marketing Alaska

Do certain marketers have it easier than others? I am from Alaska, and as soon as I tell anyone this, they seem instantly interested. Yet, I see my husband, friends, and colleagues introduce themselves from other states and no one seems to raise an eyebrow. Is Alaska a well marketed place that everyone knows about or rather is it a marketer's dream of a place that sells itself? I'd say a little of both. The Travel Alaska website (see it here) is an example of online marketing that uses visuals to easily draw a consumer in. Who doesn't love beautiful snow-capped mountains and calm seas like the picture above (ok, maybe I'm biased).

The point I'm trying to get at here is that every product, service, idea, etc. comes with its own advantages and challenges. Alaska has amazing visuals and experiences to captivate just about any consumer, but consumers may have high fears of costs and the unknown. We have to remember that ease in marketing does not correlate with ease in advertising. Advertising is only a part of marketing. As the American Marketing Association defines it, marketing is "the performance of business activities that direct(s) the flow of goods and services from producer to consumer or user". Remembering back to any intro to marketing course, this marketing includes product, place, price, and promotion. Although Alaska has the advantage of great visuals to use in promotion, marketing can still be challenging with price and demystifying rumors about the product (e.g., you will get mauled by a bear if you move to Alaska). See it as a fun marketing challenge.

Gatorade Non-Marketing Ad

I am not quick to say an ad is great because so many ads have many flaws. In marketing, and specifically ad development, it is important for all elements of your ad to contribute to the message you are trying to convey. So many ads have random backdrops, misplaced people, music that doesn't fit, and I could go on and on with other failures.

I must say though, I am impressed with this latest spot that Gatorade put out. Watch it here. This ad spot featuring Usaih Bolt (Olympics winner of the 100 and 200 meter men's sprints) talks about how Gatorade did not sponsor the Olympics, did not have ads around the Olympics, did not hand out swag at the event, or anything of the like. Rather Gatorade was used by real athletes to fuel their bodies. That's a powerful message that breaks through the clutter of traditional advertising. Nice job Gatorade.

Progressive tweet

Companies far too often ignore a critical element of the marketing communications mix - public relations (or more commonly just known as PR). Or if not ignored, this area is not given enough attention. This is the case with the latest Progressive social media fiasco (read more about it here). As a quick summary, a customer of Progressive died due to a car crash where the customer was not at fault. The brother of the lady who died filed a lawsuit against the person who killed his sister. When in court, Progressive was actually defending the killer rather than the customer's sibling. Progressive didn't want to have to pay out on the claim. Then, to top it off, Progressive posted on Twitter that they felt they sufficiently responded to the claim within their required contractual obligations.

What companies don't realize is that good PR truly manages the image of your company and ultimately the number of customers you have. Bad PR, customers and sales decrease. Good PR, customers and sales increase. Progressive should have responded with a sympathetic response and say that they were actively going to do something to help out the brother of the crash victim. But rather, they give a response that directly references only their level of obligation and nothing beyond that. What does that tell the customer? It tells the customer that in the event that you are in an accident or need anything from Progressive that you won't get anything more than what they are required to give you. And that, my friends, is enough to cause you to find another insurance agency.

Healthy? Vending Machine

Most of us would never think of a vending machine as an advertisement, but they really are an advertisement for the products they contain (think about Pepsi or Coke vending machines with branding covering the machine). I found this one in a public high school over the weekend and found it particularly interesting. Note the "healthy" label on the vending machine, yet it contains gummy words, chocolate cookies, and rice krispie treats. Another example of contextual priming (where the context around an item influences evaluation of the item). Isn't this bad that vending machines in public schools are advertising highly sugared sweets as healthy???

Olympic Athletes as an Advertisement

Often we think of marketing as purely done by marketers in big agencies in the form of print ads and television ads. We really need to expand our view of marketing. First, marketing incorporates both strategy and advertising, among many other things. Second, when we think of advertising in particular, there is both company paid advertising (e.g., those prints ads and annoying video commercials before the Olympics come on) as well as free publicity.

It was interesting to see this article and picture relating Kinesio tape to Olympic athletes. Athletes and athletic experts claim it helps improve performance and decrease possible over-extensions. Though think of this from the side of marketers involved with Kinesio tape - this is free communication about their product - or as we call it in the marketing world, publicity. Celebrity athletes are in a sense endorsing the use of Kinesio tape, thereby potentially causing desire for Kinesio tape to soar. What more could a company ask for than free publicity, top athletes as free celebrity endorsers, and also being features on one of the most watched programs around the world? Nice going makers of Kinesio tape. Get ready for the sales to role in.

Oldie but goodie: Pepsi max viral ad

Yes, this was really popular back in May, but I think it's a great viral ad to watch again (watch it here) or see for the first time if you haven't seen it yet. The ad went viral because of Kyrie Irving, but the question is... can you remember the brand that the commercial is for? So often we find awesome commercials or viral adverts but can't remember the brand. I'm sure this commercial cost tens of thousands of dollars just to shoot and to have a celebrity endorser. However, Pepsi Max is only featured in the hands of a few audience members and then again in Kyrie's hands at the end of the video when showing the 4 hours prior shot. Yes, the brand is at the end (which is referred to as a recency effect in marketing), but is that enough to leave the viewer talking about Pepsi Max instead of Kyrie Irving?

I want to bring notice to an interesting tagline near the end of the video: "a zero-calorie cola in disguise". Finally connects the disguise of Kyrie Irving to Pepsi Max. However, this point could have been brought out more in the video. In any case, a very effective viral ad in the sense of drawing viewers but not so effective in drawing attention to Pepsi Max. Thoughts? Disagreements?

Songs in commercials

Has anyone seen the recent Liberty Mutual commercial? Watch it here. The music sounds like you should be in an elevator, but the commercial is all about people getting in accidents or otherwise damaging their vehicle or surrounding property. They could have thought of many types of music much more appropriate for the commercial. Granted, the song used in the commercial is titled "humans" which is slightly comedic, but their song choice is still poor.

This reminds me of a comedy I saw a few months back talking about popular brands and new song choices that would be good. Quite funny. Here's the link to the comedy video. There is a vast amount of research showing how song choice, tempo, pitch, etc. influences evaluation of advertisements. In this case, Liberty Mutual would have benefited from either no music, suspenseful music, or very slight background music that is almost not perceivable. Also, they could have benefited greatly from some market research beforehand.

Virginia for lovers ad

 

I ran across this ad when reading through Backpacker magazine over the weekend. I love Backpacker magazine and usually find their ads very relevant and well crafted. However, this ad makes me stop and think... why is Virginia for lovers???

I realize they are attempting a rebranding effort here. Trying to encourage more tourism to Virginia. However, besides a couple hiking together, there is no indication about why Virginia is for lovers and other states are not. What specifically would attract you to Virginia rather than say, Alaska where hiking is very well known? I'd be very curious to learn about any concept or copy testing the Virginia department of tourism did on these ads before running them.

For all those marketing nerds wanting to learn a tidbit today - this ad falls under a type of advertising known as transformational advertising. The ad is trying to transform commonly held perceptions of Virginia. Though, obviously, this is not a great example of transformational advertising. Have your thoughts been changed?

Monkey olympic commercial

 I thought it was interesting to read the recent news on the Olympics to find big disputes regarding a recent commercial showing a monkey doing gymnastics (see the article here). The commercial aired right after an interview with Gabby Douglas, America's African American gold medalist in gymnastics. The raises a great question for TV networks and many others in the ad industry... is it anyone's responsibility to be pulling commercials in the case that contextual effects (in this case, the interview) cause the commercial to potentially be offensive?

In marketing there is a large body of literature on contextual effects. In simplest form, the information around you or around an advertisement influences your perceptions of what you are evaluating. Take the example of a popcorn package. If the popcorn package is surrounded by unhealthy bags of fried chips, this will cause you to feel the popcorn is more unhealthy too (yes, there is research on this). Also, more research in this health arena shows that consumers develop perceptions of restaurants and use that to guide for consumption. For example, what do you think of when I say "subway"? You're most likely thinking of a sandwich shop, maybe a healthy sandwich shop, or maybe even Jared's pants. Interestingly, these perceptions actually cause consumers to eat more calories at Subway than they would if they went to a McDonald's restaurant. At Subway, you may opt for a cookie and a drink thinking the sandwich is healthier, whereas you may limit your consumption at McDonald's. Quite interesting, right?

In the case of the Olympics commercial, the contextual effects (in other word, the interview) caused consumers to change their perceptions of the following commercial. In my opinion, industry and consumers shouldn't make that big a deal of it. Yes, during high watched shows like the Olympics, there should be someone concerned with airing of commercials, but should we really be taking NBC down for doing this?

NBC pays $1.18 billion for Olympics

After so much hype with the Olympics, you begin to think... how much money is actually being spent here? I shared with my class today that Olympics sponsors (e.g., Coke, Acer, Samsung, McDonalds) pay $100 million for JUST the rights to use the Olympics symbol. That's not actually an advertising at all, just the rights to be able to use the olympics logo and state that you are an official sponsor of the Olympics. Ouch!

So then the question arises - how much is NBC paying to host the olympics? The olymipcs are essentially a syndicated program - in other words, a program that networks bid to host. In 2012, NBC paid $1.18 billion to host the olympics. NBC has won the bid for the next four olympics for a total cost of....

$4.38 billion! Wow... how many problems with world hunger could we solve with that amount of money? See more on these costs from the article.