The Madness of the NCAA tournament is here. Look at your bracket, and tell me what it might describe. Think about the bracket pools that have existed long before Facebook or any other social forum.
Fans built their own social networks around NCAA brackets for years before any of the new forms came along. People used to use the ancient forms of bulletin boards (real ones with pushpins, and later, email). Now, you can just do more of it. I'm in the Citizen Sports $5K pool (on Facebook) and the NY Times bracket, which only gets you an iPad. Either way, it's more action!
And now it's time for the annual reviewing of the Super Bowl ads. Thankfully, the game held its own, because the ads were spotty at best. Let's get right to the top of the list:
For strategic excellence, Google won going away. When you're the market leader, you remind your followers why they love you, and do it in the context of a compelling story. No gimmicks required. People simply say, "of course." It makes Bing and, frankly, all of the Microsoft advertising, look futile, trying too hard to impress people who are just not that impressed with you.
The creative side is strictly an opinion. From my view, I liked the Snickers ad with Betty White and Abe Vigoda. At least the humor was in good taste and everyone kept their pants on.
Of course, for the definitive answers on anything regarding Super Bowl ads, you must tune in to the TV show, 207 tonight on Channel 6 in Portland, where Larry Vine will tell you what is and is not.
Another key point voiced at OMMA Social (which I actually already had in my head if you believe me) related to success in social media, which we have seen played out in promotions and other marketing efforts. It's just a simple thing to remember: To engage your audience, or potential audience, don't ask them to marry you right off the bat. Start slow, and build. In other words
Keep the hurdles low
The 90-9-1 rule is pretty well-known. There are far more lurkers out there than there are posters or creators. People will test you out first, before they commit to any kind of relationship. Social engagement (a C word again!) is no different.
I've just spent the entire day (and two on travel) at OMMA Social, a social media conference in San Francisco (that's the good part). While these conferences are important for networking and to keep abreast of trends, especially in this fast-changing arena, it's quite clear that success here requires commitment above all.
Social media in its various forms is a part of the media fabric as consumers define them. Since media is the consumer experience, the social aspect is that its on their terms. Commitment to letting the consumer direct the experience, and providing the custom experience, leads to success.
Here are some thoughts from the conference that are worth considering:
-Death to silos! - Social media is an integrated marketing element.
-Prove it works - Are you doing this with other marketing elements? And, what is your baseline? You need to have the same standards for all of your marketing elements.
-Commit to your social database - They took the time to interact somehow. Don't make it a one-time thing and try to connect across other marketing elements
-Stop building microsites - This is actually a metaphor for how to think. Change from thinking of a campaign to thinking of a long term commitment. Consumers don't think about campaigns, they think either long term, as a relationship, or short term, as a sale. How do you want to relate to them?
Is it an ad agency’s job to process “spots and dots” or should there be a real push to drive the client’s growth through innovation and creativity?
Digital Media is taking a larger and larger piece of corporate marketing budgets. Emphasis is on optimization, testing, instant
modification of messages with the focus solely on the immediate and direct response from the customer or end user. Perfect efficiency in the marketplace. The sellers say, “We have loads of metrics.”
But are metrics measuring the right things? Measuring digital is easy, but what is the meaning? How does a company keep digital as a tool, and not an end goal? How does it fit with a brand marketer’s objectives?
There are no easy answers to these questions. Marketers must constantly analyze what’s working and why. According to Lucas Watson of P&G, “As we spent all this time worrying about ad frequency and ad formats and where we’re placing, contextual targeting and behavioral targeting – it’s all important -- but we’re finding that it’s creative quality that is driving 70% of the business impact we’re seeing in our return on advertising.”
The consolidation of media takes odd turns. The latest is that Yelp, the internet review site, has turned down $500 million to be acquired by Google. First read about on Tech Crunch here.
The natural question is why? The juicy part that starts now is the speculation that there must be a better offer, since no one turns down $500 million without a better offer, except maybe Arthur Bach.
With consolidation, and emerging technologies that can't seem to find a foothold (Bing), the $500 million options don't appear so farfetched. Other potential partners could be Apple or even Yahoo!
Growing up in the deep,dark state of New Hampshire, where shopping could be described as minimalist, the most exciting part of the impending holiday season was the arrival of the Sears Christmas Wish Book. All swaddled in brown paper, inside laid the things a kid could only dream would arrive under the tree.
With pages and pages of the latest toys, games, (and good, better and best underwear,) by Thanksgiving, that book had been given the once-over (more like the fifty-eth over) with the most wanted items circled, heavily, with red crayon in hopes Santa might be paying attention. TV commercials influenced my wants, as they still do today, and 11 year old me bought hard.
Since my own little one has gone away to University and wants nothing more for the holidays than an American Express Platinum Card to call his own (fat chance, buster…) I got to wondering about what kid’s were craving this holiday season after two toy catalogue inserts arrived in yesterday's paper.
Remembering back to my best Christmas EVER, (that would be 1968) when a MOD Barbie and Instant Insanity topped my holiday hit list, I wondered what, if anything, was common between then and now. So for your edification, I present, Brenda’s top ten holiday hit list for 2009:
1. The practically unavailable “it” toy of the season, the interactive Zhu Zhu Pet. (retail price is $9.99, ebay's price runs over $20.00. Also the related Webkinz, still hot) If Santa runs out of Zhu Zhus (which he probably will) parents can direct their children to The Official ZhuZhuPets BLOG or download the new Zhu Zhu Pet App for IPhone or IPod touch for just $1.99!
2. Elmo’s back in several renditions hottest of which is Tickle Hands Elmo (retail $24.99)
3. The Razor Ripstik, a part skateboard, part snowboard, “casterboard” good for carving street turns. (retail $64.00)
4. GI Joe “Rise of the Cobra” and Barbie “Twilight” (retail $24.99)
Many toys are still as popular as they were 40 years ago. Tonka, Lego, GI Joe, Barbie, Easy Bake Oven. Homemaking, road-building, nurturance and car racing remain current themes.
And some things are new, usually fueled by popular TV and movie characters (Elmo, Dora, Transformers) new fads (Anime’s Bakugan, ) or technology (Leapfrog, Webkinz, WII.) I was struck by the commonality of toy categories, sports, dolls, games, creativity and learning, adult emulation and licensed products.
What seems new? Interactivity, “smart toys” and self-improvement for tots. (fitness, learning readiness,) Prices (when popular products are actually available at retail) seem reasonable, especially with the cutthroat retail pricing in place in store and online. Most popular items retail for under $50.00.
Kids, turns out, still like many of the same things. And while there will probably always be too much violence, too much commercialism and too much stereotyped gender role play advanced on our children, I’m struck by how much kids like to do what kids always have: make stuff, pretend, learn and play.
I recently organized the first-ever Hood® New England Dairy Cook-Off™. Six months ago I knew very little about cook-offs. Of course I’ve heard of Iron Chef and had actually caught bits and pieces of the battle on Food Network but other than that, I was not familiar with their popularity.
Did you know there are barbecue cook-offs, chili cook-offs, cupcake cook-offs, guacamole competitions, pork offs and risotto challenges. There are seafood cook-offs, hummus cook-offs, apple pie cook-offs, cookie swaps and casserole parties. My research on cook-offs exposed some great recipe contests as well. Here are some of my favorites:
Well, over 1,000 recipes were entered in the Hood New England Dairy Cook-off and this year’s winner was Katherine Stanton of Bath, NH with her Æbleskivers (Danish meaning apple slices, traditional Danish pancakes in a distinctive shape of a sphere. Somewhat similar in texture to American pancakes crossed with a popover, Æbleskivers are solid like a pancake but light and fluffy like a popover). The event was a huge success and we are looking forward to next year.
After experiencing the cook-off mania, I still don’t consider myself a foodie; however, I may enter the following competitions next year:
There have been lots of articles in the past year encouraging business to continue to invest in marketing, but few of the cited case studies have been specific to small business. Now a report from Hurwitz & Associates cites published research that shows a direct correlation for small business between marketing spending and business success.
And the place that these small businesses are seeing the most results from their marketing investment is digital direct marketing: e-mail and search. In particular email marketing seems to be the more important of the two in terms generating revenue with 82% of the businesses polled either currently sending out e-newsletters or planning to in the next 12 months.
While it is exciting that there are now marketing channels available to small business that can generate demonstrable results from smaller investments, I have some concerns: Are the websites that will be receiving all of this traffic from newsletters and search marketing efforts ready? Will the prospects attracted have the kind of experience that will convert them into customers? Will the newsletters themselves be valuable enough each time to sustain customer interest and willingness to receive them? Just as in more traditional marketing, investment in the delivery channel is only half the battle.
No matter which side of the fence you were on for gay marriage rights, the "permission" advertising concept is a great one. Executed perfectly in both Ireland and the state of New York, it shows a fresh faced young man asking several people for a woman's hand in marriage.
Here is the Ireland version.
Everything about it hits the targeted undecided voters with a message about love and acceptance wrapped up perfectly with a sincere payoff.
Here is the New York version.
Somewhere, somehow, the Maine Civil Liberties Union screwed it up. Never mind the production values, awful acting and nearly two minute length - the MCLU missed the point of the original ads by casting a woman asking for another woman's hand in marriage.
Here is the horribly botched MCLU version:
The success in the first two ads is based on the difference between what straight couples and gay couples face. No straight person has to ask all of those people, so why should a gay person? Also, any undecided voter will get what's going on right from the get go and not stay tuned for the final message.
MCLU, if you're going to lift a concept, at least add to it.
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