Posts tagged consumers

So Close, Yet So Far

March 14, 2011 · Filed under Marketing & Advertising · Tagged , , , , , , , ,

While the old saying, “almost doesn’t count”—could seem rather harsh—sometimes, I would almost rather someone put forth zero effort than 99%.

I am a consumer of many products and services and rarely do I complain to the source if my experience with said products or services do not meet the quality satisfaction guarantee.

It could have been my mood. It could have been the fact that I was really looking forward to some Jack Link’s Teriyaki Beef Jerky. Whatever the reason, this time was different.

After purchasing my $10 bag of beef jerky, I bit into it only to find that it tasted of sweaty socks (no, I have not). Needless to say, I was a bit disappointed. Not fazed, I thought that it was just a fluke—maybe it was just the one piece—so I tried another and another, only to find that somehow the “teriyaki” had been left out of my bag.

Starting first with the e-mail form on the company website, as instructed by my product packaging, I entered my name, contact information and product information. I’ll admit, I didn’t really expect much, but I was determined to get justice for the taste of feet in my mouth.

Standard and expected, the “thank you for submitting your request…” letter came in my e-mail shortly after my submission.  I imagined that my contact regarding the subject would end there.

I was surprised to receive yet more correspondence from the company with a remorseful tone, a follow-up e-mail that seemed to come from a non-automated source—quite refreshing. It foretold some form of compensation for my trouble and disappointment. Sure.

And then it came…corporate communication via United States Postal Service, offering me an apology for my displeasure with their product. A two-page letter expressing their commitment to customer service and their goal to deliver quality products—I can appreciate that.

 

But as I reached the end of the letter, it said “please accept the enclosed coupon…”—wait, what? A coupon? Yes—all this effort—the e-mails, the letters, the promise of compensation to replace my unsatisfactory beef jerky—and there was no coupon to be found. I was baffled.

All of that, only to be for nothing in the end.

I’m not sure if I wouldn’t have rather them just ignored me from the beginning.

Thanks, Angie. 

What do you think? What’s your story of “so far” customer service?

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Social Media on Overdrive

February 11, 2011 · Filed under Social Media · Tagged , , , , ,

If it’s not bad enough that social media has taken over the Internet, and taken over our cell phones—it’s now made its way as a permanent fixture into our automobiles. I only wish I was kidding.

That’s right what started out as an in-car, hands free security communications service has now transformed into your very own on-the-spot Facebook status update. If you didn’t see the ad for the Chevy Cruze, here’s the gist: A guy and girl awkwardly kiss goodnight, he gets in his Chevy and drives away. He touches a button and an automated voice comes over his car intercom, announcing his Facebook news feed. Surprise! His date wrote a status update that reads, “Best first date ever.” He smiles. “The new Chevy Cruze with real-time Facebook status updates … When the good news just can’t wait.”

View it here:

Seriously? I mean, I understand that we have taken this social media, networking, need-for-constant contact thing to a whole other level, but was it completely necessary for Onstar to incorporate live news feed updates in the new Chevy models?

There’s just something incredibly unsettling about this to me. I think the good news can DEFINITELY wait.

What do you think? Have we finally gone over the edge?

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Emotion-Driven Advertising – IMC 612

January 15, 2011 · Filed under Marketing & Advertising · Tagged , , , ,

In Lesson 1, we discuss the concept of affective interpretation (i.e., the emotional response triggered by a stimulus). Find three print ads that interest you and provide a brief description of each one (post the ads if you can). For each ad, answer the following questions: What sorts of feelings do you think the marketer is trying to elicit from consumers? In your opinion, is the ad is successful or unsuccessful in generating those feelings? Explain.

“The analysis of consumers is key in developing a marketing strategy (WVU, 2009).”

One of the fundamental steps in the consumer analysis process, as explained in the lesson, is understanding the consumer decision-making process. Recognizing how and why consumers make purchasing decisions allow marketers to more efficiently and effectively reach members of their target audience.

After making it past the exposure and attention phases of the consumer decision process, the third stage is interpretation. And while interpretation in large part is dependent upon the individual, there are generally speaking two types of interpretation: cognitive and affective. It seems that these two types of interpretation have in common the need for the consumer to feel related to/relevant to the stimuli being presented.

While through cognitive interpretation, consumers look to place things in familiar product categories as to relate better to them—affective interpretation deals with the “emotional response triggered by the stimulus (p. 10)”, which some might argue creates a more significant, deeper bond with the consumer.

We all have basic emotional needs—love, safety and security, convenience, health and money— and marketers utilize emotional appeals to activate these emotional needs. Emotions elicit a more reactive response.

All of the articles that I have chosen for this week’s assignment come from local WV publications:

Ad # 1: The first is a double truck, full color advertisement featured in the Spring 2009 issue of the WV Executive. In fact, the ad was produced by one of our competitor agencies in town – which has no bearing on the remainder of my analysis of the ad. Utilizing a blank canvas of mostly white space, the designer has suggestively placed two oranges (stem out) with a headline of “We Leave Nothing to the Imagination”. And body copy that reads “Well, okay, maybe at times we do. Freshly squeezed, award-winning creative, coupled with strategic marketing. We have the Juice. And just imagine what we can do for your company’s bottom line. Call or click. [Phone number] [Web address]The marketers’ intentions were to strike interest by using a sexual innuendo, represented by the oranges in the ad. And while the ad certainly attracted attention—it is possible that it’s not the most appropriate attention. While the theme of the ad was clever, the visual and copy didn’t seem to blend together enough to make sense. On top of that, the designer chose to incorporate the company branding in about a thumbnail’s size of the two-page spread. After looking at the ad, all that you have left in your mind is “My goodness, are those oranges are supposed to be boobs!?”

Ad # 2: The second is a full page, full-color ad featured on the inside cover of Volume II 2009 – MetroValley Magazine. The Ad Council and the American Heart Association produced the ad. The ad is designed in mostly black and shades of gray, with the exception of a petite African American woman in a yellow raincoat holding a bright red umbrella. The darkened visual displays rain, creating a bulls-eye like target around the woman—with a bold red headline of “Stroke Targets By Color”. Contrasting white body copy reads “Know where you stand. The odds of African Americans are twice as likely to suffer a stroke as white Americans. Beating the odds isn’t about winning, it’s about living. You have the power to end stroke. [Phone number] [Web address]”The marketer’s intent was to raise alarm and cause concern, through the use of an ominous color scheme, color contrast and striking image. In fact, heart disease is the number one killer in the United States. Delivering dramatic images and messaging helps to portray this fact. I feel this ad did its job in an empowering, vivid, relatable way.

Ad # 3: A WV-based full service marketing agency placed an ad in the WV Executive’s Summer 2009 edition with a direct response advertising approach. Visually, the ad features a mostly black with a faded orange color scheme, with contrasting orange and white copy. Headline reads “Yeah. There’s an agency for that.”The ad also features an iPhone 3G—which is the prize for the contest the company is promoting. You have the opportunity to take a survey for a chance to win one of the phones. The marketers in this case attempt to elicit excitement toward the agency as well as to draw a following by offering a prize giveaway.While in essence, the ad does a clever job at tying in the headline with the contest; the ad itself seems incredibly distracting and overwhelming. There is an over-abundance of body copy. Typically people skim ads for interesting visuals and pay little attention to those that have an overpowering amount of body copy—it seems too editorial and lengthy. Causing excitement usually happens more effectively with few, stimulating words and intriguing visuals. The amount of information seems to take away from the quality of the information. Perhaps they would do better to find a happy medium between length and depth.

Reference:

P.I. Reed School of Journalism, WVU (2009, August 24). Lesson One: Introduction to Consumer Behavior and Perception. Retrieved from IMC 612 on October 27, 2009 at https://ecampus.wvu.edu/webct/urw/lc5116001.tp0/cobaltMainFrame.dowebct

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Marketing’s Next Step:The Real World

May 24, 2010 · Filed under Emerging Media, Interactive Advertising, Social Media, Word of Mouth (WOM) Strategies · Tagged , , , , , ,

No, not the melodramatic drama-filled “reality” television show on MTV…I’m talking about the REAL world—life, actually.

It is apparent that the media being used to communicate marketing messaging has progressed over the years—however, increasingly the once deemed ‘emerging’ media are becoming more traditional than ever. As digital media becomes more available and utilized, these methods of message delivery are gradually becoming less effective—or viewed more traditionally.

Marketers are realizing that the bombardment that consumers once felt with traditional methods of advertising is now being felt digitally. The solution for some marketers has been to integrate the popular concept of buzz marketing tactics with the innovations of the digital era—in hopes that by incorporating these digital experiences into real life, meaningful brand experiences and interactivity will transpire.

In fact, according to an article in today’s AdAge, some of the best companies have already harnessed the digital mindset and taken the ongoing and interactive nature of digital and created brand experiences that matter to people where they ought to—in their real, everyday lives. Take Nike Plus and Fiat Eco Drive—arguably some of the most compelling brand ideas of the last decade. They may have had a digital heart but they manifested themselves in meaningful ways.

And a glance at some of the big award winners so far this season seems to reflect the shift to real-world experiences. The Grand Prize winner at the One Show Interactive was a digital idea that literally played out on the streets—Nike Chalkbot from Wieden & Kennedy, a robot that imprinted messages of hope straight onto the course of the Tour de France—as part of the ongoing Nike Livestrong campaign.

 

Pepsi and TBWA/Chiat/Day’s Refresh Project funds ideas that would make the real world a better place.  Rob Schwartz, chief creative officer,TBWA/Chiat/Day, L.A., said that with Refresh, the agency “didn’t set out to create a ‘digital idea.’ We set out to make our brand idea—Refresh—an action. It’s a brand idea that lets you take action to do some good in your world, your neighborhood, your street. “

 

An insight from Johannes Leonardo’s Executive Creative Director Leo Premutico: “Most of our campaigns utilize digital media as an enabler medium, having both on and offline components, because the truth is most of our lives and emotions we share take place in the real world,”he says.”Digital media has created a new potential for brands because it presents the ability for its consumers to share information like never before. But a lot of the effect of that takes place where it always has, offline. The most powerful ideas for us are the ones that turn the people we’re talking to into the medium for the message, rather than just the destination for it. So determining the sort of work that will do that is always more important to us than whether we should do a digital, outdoor or TV campaign.”

Digital is officially legitimate—and growing in its size, power and reach as marketers incorporate the real lives of consumers to be a living, breathing participant in their campaigns.

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Who Do You Trust? You Might Be Surprised…

May 5, 2010 · Filed under E-mail Marketing, Emerging Media, Interactive Advertising, Mobile Marketing, Word of Mouth (WOM) Strategies · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

My last post on privacy made me realize, that although I and others have concerns about the security of our information, at the same time we are so willing to trust the same media that we attempt to protect ourselves from.

We as consumers sign up for mailing lists, memberships, submit our credit card information over the Internet for purchases and give out our contact information for many different reasons…

…and while emerging media are certainly “emerging” in regard to consumer trust, overwhelmingly, more traditional media and methods still reign supreme –surprising to me, even with the younger “Internet” generation.

According to the results of a Nielsen Online survey, published by eMarketer, word-of-mouth still proves to be the most powerful and trusted method to reach 20-and-under Internet-using consumers, with ninety-two percent (92%) indicating “completely” or “somewhat”.

Not surprising is the impact that the Internet is playing in establishing trust for these young users—consumer opinions posted online (72%), brand Web sites (69%) and e-mails signed up for (67%).

What is surprising to me is the part that traditional media still plays for these younger consumers—newspaper article, ads in newspapers, brand sponsorships, ads in magazines, on TV and on the radio all had a significant response.

The platforms that really need to work on establishing credibility and earning consumer trust are the media we’ve been discussing throughout this course—emerging media. Online video ads, banner ads and mobile text advertising were among the lowest trusted forms of advertising tactics.

It could be that these methods are simply newer, so it will take more time to gain trust and establish a trustworthy reputation.

So the next time you entertain advertising, on whatever medium it rears its head, ask yourself…who do you trust? You might be surprised.

 ***

 The marketing moral of this story—regardless the force of the “new media” movement, do not completely abandon traditional media for advertising your product or brand, instead integrate newer, emerging methods with those proven traditional media to create a well-balanced mix for a comprehensive integrated marketing campaign.

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From the Showroom to Your Room – IKEA PS

April 20, 2010 · Filed under Emerging Media, Interactive Advertising, Mobile Marketing, Social Media · Tagged , , , , , , , , , ,

Early in 2009, IKEA launched a new furniture line called IKEA PS. The objective was “to stretch the idea of design, to think about empowering people, and to minimize the impact on the world.” MobiAd News, n.d.

With such unusual designs, IKEA felt they had to do something special to help customers imagine how this furniture would fit into their houses, so they turned to a mobile “augmented reality” solution.

German agency, CLANMO won the 2010 award for the worldwide Best Mobile Marketing and Advertising Campaign by helping IKEA customers who were interested in the IKEA PS design collection to overcome the purchase barrier by showing them how to use their mobile phone, essentially as a portable interior planning tool.

Customers were able to download a mobile application by entering their mobile number into a web form on the IKEA website or send a free text message to receive a download link. Additionally Bluetooth pillars were put up in IKEA stores to download the application right there in the store. The customer now sees which piece of the IKEA PS collection fits his/her room best. GSMA, 2010

The IKEA PS Mobile Interior Planning Tool gave its customers a convenient and useful planning tool for home furnishing. The IKEA PS furniture selection is stored in the mobile application and appears on the cell phone screen when selected by the user. With the help of the phone’s camera, an image of the selected furnishings can then be embedded into a snapshot of the users’ own room to give a better sense of how it would actually look in that location. Rather than to rely on imagination and memory alone to provide some sense of how the new acquisition might look, this application allows customers to see the new objects “live” in their potential new environment.

 

MobiAd News, n.d.

The interior design application, developed for IKEA in 2009, not only was unique, but also for showed an incredible significance for the future for a much broader mobile market. The IKEA PS Mobile Interior Planning Tool was a very innovative approach that can be easily set up to use in other industries—such innovation is also associated with the innovation of the IKEA brand.

The IKEA PS made the mobile application available to consumers in three ways:

1)     In-store posters urged customers to send a free text message to IKEA to receive a link to download the application.

2)     Customers going to the IKEA Web site were able to enter their mobile number and receive a download of the application.

3)     Bluetooth pillars were installed in select IKEA stores. These would periodically send out signals to nearby mobile phones inviting the user to download the application.

The nature of the campaign relinquishes IKEA marketers from an ethical dilemma of major privacy issues. Perhaps the only concern would be with the Bluetooth pillars; however, due to the fact that the consumers receiving the messages were already those inside IKEA stores, the likelihood that these messages would be seen as overly intrusive or unwarranted is expected to be greatly diminished.

This pioneering approach allowed marketers to capitalize on a method that overwhelmingly users opted into for use. The strategy taken with this campaign enabled users to become interactive with a helpful spin on advertising—allowing for users to receive a benefit from the service, thus, encouraging a mutually beneficial relationship between the user and the brand.

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In the midst of a crisis, “Meet the Family”

April 16, 2010 · Filed under Emerging Media, Social Media, Word of Mouth (WOM) Strategies · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Toyota announced the recall of 2.3 million vehicles…the models that Toyota has stopped selling accounted for one of every 10 new-vehicle sales in the United States in December and 57 percent of Toyota’s sales in 2009. But the recalls are hurting Toyota’s entire lineup…Edmunds.com, which publishes car-buying advice, said Friday that it expected sales of the Toyota brand to fall 75 percent while sales of the eight models were suspended. Bunkley & Maynard – NYTimes, 2010

As consumers, when our experiences outperform expectations, we get a pleasant surprise with a release of dopamine, a chemical associated with interest and happiness. But the nature of our brains is such that this boost is relatively short and mild. When our expectations are not met, a downward spiral that is stronger and longer occurs; this is one of the worst scenarios a marketer can face. Our brains unconsciously assign personality traits to organizations and brands, so this downward spiral in the brain can evoke feelings of betrayal in situations where trust has been built. Tangwall, 2010

Atop of the video testimonials of customers and employees who drive the cars that they build, limited-time discounts and complimentary extended maintenance plans— One way Toyota has moved to overcome damage that these negative feelings and emotions that have impacted the company’s reputation—humor.

In the midst of their largest recall ever, Toyota has produced a series of catchy television and viral ads for their 2011 Sienna minivan.

 

This light-hearted, comedic look into the life of a Toyota Sienna family certainly caught my attention. The commercials and videos are for “Mom and Dad”—reaching an atypical demographic with the uses of viral marketing.

Perhaps Toyota is taking notice of the growing number of non-Gen Y users on the Internet, and involved with digital media. If these statistics are any indication of the demographic shift, Toyota seems to be on the right track in reaching its target audience Smith, 2009—

  • Facebook reporting nearly 45.3 million active US users in the last 30 days
  • Facebook growing in every age/gender demographic. Fastest growing segment: Women over 55, up 175.3% in the last 120 days.
  • Facebook growing faster with women than men in almost every age group. Women comprise 56.2% of Facebook’s audience, up from 54.3% late last year.
  • 45% of Facebook’s US audience is now 26 years old or older.

Companies use many public relations tactics when faced with reputational “damage control”. Certainly, these ads alone are not what will improve product quality and restore target consumer faith in the brand—but perhaps it’s a step in the right direction.

What do you think?

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- What’s the Big Deal? (cont.)

March 20, 2010 · Filed under Emerging Media · Tagged , , , , , , ,

While I partially understood the power of today’s emerging media, the influence that we have allowed these media to have on us is the staggering realization that I was faced with, in the statistics that were uncovered in researching for the previous post.

As sort of a sequel, I was intrigued to further explore just how deep this influence extends into the dynamics of our everyday lives—more specifically for consumers, companies and in the workplace.

 

Consumers—While a majority of the statistics presented in the previous post were in relation to this community group, even more information was uncovered that highlights the importance of emerging media in today’s society.

According to the Neilsen Company, the majority of time that consumers spent online in 2009 was dedicated to social networks and blogs, with online games and instant messaging close behind.  In fact, the global average for time spent on social networking sites per person has grown to nearly five and a half hours per month—an 82% increase! And while Twitter was the most popular social networking site for company use, Facebook was the most popular choice for consumers.  

This statistic remains true for the online shopper group of consumers as well. according to the “2010 Social Media Report” from ForeSee Results, 69% of online shoppers regularly use social media sites. The overwhelming winner in terms of shopper presence was Facebook, with more than one-half of respondents using it regularly. YouTube took the second spot, with former giant MySpace far behind its rival. Only about one in 10 online shoppers surveyed used Twitter.

Even in consumer decisions like purchasing an automobile has been largely impacted by the role of interactive media. A Yahoo! Search Marketing Proprietary and Confidential study shows that 88% of consumers considering a vehicle purchase used the Internet to research the product online before stepping into the dealership, and 79% said that they used the Internet to research the dealerships themselves. According to the responses, social networking tools was cited as the number one tool that consumers used in “pre-shopping”—compared to their previous purchase (2002 on average).

Companies are no doubt realizing the tremendous benefits that come from involvement in methods of emerging media. And as these media evolve, so does the level of involvement and the tactics that which they employ.

Such can be seen in a global survey conducted by McKinsey of marketing executives from around the world. The study shows that when it comes to marketing, things are changing—companies are moving online across the spectrum of marketing activities, from building awareness to after-sales service, and they recognize online tools as an important and effective component of their overall marketing strategies.

 The emphasis that marketing executives are placing on these emerging media is also made apparent—according to a forecast by Forrester Research, interactive marketing expenditures will reach $55 billion by 2015, accounting for 21% of all marketing budget spending.  

While consumers logged most of their time online last year on the social media platform Facebook, the most popular choice for Fortune 100 companies was Twitter. In fact, Twitter surpassed blogging as the social media platform of choice – at least among the Fortune 100.  A recent analysis compiled by Burson-Marsteller and Proof Digital Media found that the largest 100 companies in terms of revenue as compiled by Fortune Magazine’s annual Fortune 500 were active on three key social media: Twitter, Facebook and Blogs. 

The study found that these companies are transforming their uses of and for social media—54% of the Fortune 100 were using Twitter to reach out directly to stakeholders, while 32% were using a blogs and 29% were actively using a Facebook Fan Page to engage.  Despite the perception that Twitter is the newest kid on the block among the three platforms, 76% of Fortune 100 companies that were using just one social media channel were using Twitter over Facebook and Blogs.

Workplace procedures are even being affected by the increase of use and popularity of emerging media. The competitiveness of U.S. firms is a direct result of the productivity of its workforce.

From a productivity point-of-view, there are obviously many benefits and opportunities that emerging media brings in application to a workplace setting—from internal and external communication, to marketing, purchasing, inventory, sales delivery and service.

From the employee point-of-view, the workplace of today demands that forms of emerging media be used on a daily basis for communication and overall productivity (relating to the list above)—utilizing such things like E-mail, Web sites, mobile communication, digital audio, pod casts, mobile computing and blogs.

In relation to employees, and prospective employees—another interesting way to measure the importance of emerging media is to look at the value placed on the skills required to operate in the emerging media workplace. Ball State University conducted a study of human resource professionals that found that respondents indicated a willingness to pay wage premiums to acquire and keep workers who have these skills.

Embracing and utilizing these media have caused and continues to require our understanding and such media to continue to grow. It has been made apparent to me “What’s the Big Deal”—most all facets of our everyday lives are somehow impacted by the growing media landscape. It is a big deal, and will continue to be.

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