Coke and Anti-Obesity??

First off, just saying these two words in combination (coke and anti-obesity) seems completely incongruent. We know that Coke really doesn't care about reducing the obesity epidemic. If they did, they wouldn't be selling soda, placing it in the schools when schools have no choice but to accept in an effort to find funding for educational programs, and continue to push their product to consumers of all ages. Yes, the ad features skinny arms, but that's about it. If they really wanted to fight the obesity epidemic, they would make an effort to reduce sugar, make bottle sizes smaller, take vending machines out of schools, and encourage smaller consumption. However, that is not in their best interest financially. So what are they to do? The answer isn't banning soda completely or closing down all companies producing soda because a treat every now and then is ok. The answer instead is educating consumers for less consumption, not using soda as a way to fund educational programs, and emphasizing their healthier alternatives more often than their non-healthy bottles of fizzy sugar water.

JC Penny's marketing

We've all heard about JC Penny's marketing tactics over the last year as they decided to end all sales and instead go to a model where cheaper prices are available every day. I was just reading through an interesting Forbes commentary (read it here), and I must agree that JC Penny's success is likely to dwindle in the future. Yes, they did well recently, likely because they did institute sales over Black Friday that encouraged shoppers to visit the store. Had they not had a sale, it is more than likely that this last quarters earnings would have been down like all prior quarters. Consumers are used to sales, they expect sales. If companies drop these sales, consumers will be skeptical that prices could in actuality be lower. If JC Penny wants to maintain competition against it's greatest competitors, bringing back their sales model will be key to their success.

Apple do not disturb ad

Creative ad by Apple came out recently emphasizing the "do not disturb" feature on the phone. Although creative, I do question how relatable this is. Why would you dream of the williams sisters playing Ping Pong? This is attempting at a humor appeal, but it did not come across as extremely humorous. Top this off with the fact that Apple's "do not disturb" feature did not work for many over New Years when the ad was running, and this was not as great of a hit as many had thought.

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.