Posts tagged Emerging Media

Twitter Me This

February 18, 2011 · Filed under Social Media · Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Since my latest quest in life is to become a social media “expert”, I decided that I had better jump on the wagon and join Twitter – @carriebowe - follow me!

I had withheld the desire to do so for quite some time. I figured that Facebook, WordPress and LinkedIn were enough to take up my time – but the best way to become better at anything is to do it, and to do it often.

My goal is to immerse myself into the world of social media – so that I may understand it more fully – in hopes to become a strategic consultant and the “go to gal” for all things social media.

All tips, tricks and advice is welcome and much appreciated!

Here’s to a new journey in life – The Queen of All Social Media - here I come!

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Effective, Attractive & Dynamic Websites – IMC 616

January 15, 2011 · Filed under Emerging Media, Social Media, Word of Mouth (WOM) Strategies · Tagged , , , ,

Choose a company that has, in your opinion, an effective, attractive and dynamic Web site. Provide a very brief description of the company, then discuss how the Internet could be used by that company to provide top-notch customer service. Additionally, how do you think the Internet affects the company in terms of brand image and brand loyalty? Provide a link to the company’s Web site in your post.

Nike is the world’s largest, publicly traded, leader of men and women’s sporting goods and apparel. With its World Headquarters located in Beaverton, Oregon, it is home to more than 7,000 employees— employing more than 33,000 people globally. For the fiscal year ending May 31, 2009, Nike reported record revenues of $19.2 billion, a three percent increase over last year’s earnings (Nike, 2009). Visit the site: www.nike.com.

When faced with the challenge of choosing a company that has an effective, attractive and dynamic Web site, my mind immediately locked on Nike. It seems only natural that a company as dynamic as Nike would utilize a medium as dynamic as the Internet— The Internet has the fastest growth and acceptance rates of all other technological media.

Nike is globally known for its efforts in the many facets of marketing communications—having been previously honored for exceptional integrated marketing campaigns.

Interactivity is what makes marketing on the Internet different from other forms of direct marketing media. And interactivity is what Nike does so well. The multi-faceted site offers product/service information, purchasing abilities, merchandise research, company research, interactive videos, games—and much more.

“Good customer service is the lifeblood of any business…Good customer service is all about bringing customers back. And about sending them away happy – happy enough to pass positive feedback about your business along to others, who may then try the product or service you offer for themselves and in their turn become repeat customers (Ward, n.d.)”—It is about building and maintaining these valuable customer relationships.

Another thing that Nike does so well is utilizing the Internet to provide top-notch customer service.

Through the company Web site, customers and potential customers have an arsenal of assistance available to them—from specific product inquiries, account issues, expert help, FAQ’s, store locator, ordering/shipping questions—all can be resolved as a result of this interactive medium. In fact, “…at present, the Internet…is the only medium that is considered to be truly interactive according to the DMA (Baier and Spiller, 2005).”

Websites offer numerous benefits to their parent company.

More and more consumers relate experiences with company websites to the company itself, and more importantly to its brand image: “Increasingly, the corporate bottom line and customer Internet experiences go hand-in-hand (Jackson, 2006).” Efficiently executed websites build positive brand image.

Beyond that, with effective branding, developing trust, offering valuable services and streamlining interaction, websites like Nike work to build brand loyalty. Effective websites understand the consumer and work to meet their needs—positioning websites as a company resource: a readily available tool that provides quick, convenient and valuable services that enhance user experiences and build customer relationships.

References:

Baier, Martin and Spiller, Lisa (2005). Contemporary Direct Marketing. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

Jackson, Christina (2006). Driving Brand Loyalty on the Web. Retrieved on October 13, 2009 from website: http://www.dmi.org/dmi/html/interests/website/06171JAC62.pdf

Nike Corporate (2009). Company Overview. Retrieved on October 13, 2009 from website: http://www.nikebiz.com/company_overview/facts.html

Ward, Susan (n.d.) 8 Rules for Good Customer Service. Retrieved on October 14, 2009 from website: http://sbinfocanada.about.com/od/customerservice/a/custservrules.htm

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Ta-Da!

October 16, 2010 · Filed under Blogs & Vlogs, Digital Storytelling, Emerging Media, Interactive Advertising · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Week 9: The Final Product

  • Submit your final work for a grade and provide links to all the locations in which you’re releasing your project

 

Carrie’s Blog—Carried Away—http://carriebowe.wordpress.com/2010/10/16/ta-da/

YouTube—MizzBowe—http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2UTaDVfttgo

Facebook—Carrie Bowe—http://www.facebook.com

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Link Up

October 14, 2010 · Filed under Blogs & Vlogs, Digital Storytelling, Emerging Media, Interactive Advertising, Social Media · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Week 8: Channels of Delivery

  • Submit links committed to use for your project
  • Provide an explanation as to how/why each will be useful

While there are certainly many good and effective approaches of delivery for a short film, due to time and budget restrictions, and most appropriate for the scope of the class, the Internet will be the sole distribution channel.

In order to maximize the exposure for the film, as quickly (and realistically) as possible and considering budget constraints, the following websites have been determined to be used for film distribution:

Carrie’s Blog—Carried Away—carriebowe.wordpress.com

The true beauty of having a blog of this nature—especially with a relatively solid foundation of viewers to the site—is the ability to unlimited access to a highly interactive communication channel. Having primary ownership of the content flow on the site, information made available on the site is strictly under my own jurisdiction—this access offers the possibility for unrestricted information flow.

“Use your own personal website. This is free advertising and the best kind because it is international and sets great name recognition (CinemaRoll, 2009)”, and a wider, more diverse reach.

YouTube—MizzBowe— http://www.youtube.com/user/MizzBowe

“Put your trailer up in high definition on your website and on YouTube.com (CinemaRoll, 2009).”

Like other methods of Internet delivery, YouTube is cost free. YouTube videos can be uploaded and viewed for free. There is no required budget for a campaign and no cost per view or click.

The audience is global and has a “viral effect”—“ Interesting YouTube videos that evoke any kind of positive response from viewers are usually shared by viewers with their friends and family members. As a result, soon your popularity increases with minimum effort on your video. You simply have to upload a good video and your job is done (Hilton, 2009).”
Another very important and interesting advantage of using YouTube is for search engine marketing purposes. “Climbing up the ladder in Google’s SERPs (Search Engine Result Pages) – As the video on YouTube highlights the URL of your main website; many viewers are often prompted to visit the site to know more about the services or products that are on offer. So, the hits on your site increases by leaps and bounds with YouTube marketing which enhances your search engine rankings (Hilton, 2009).”

Facebook—Carrie Bowe—http://www.facebook.com

A very powerful way of message delivery is by way of social media—specifically for this project, incorporating Facebook into the communication process. Utilize “Facebook for your film. Make friends (CinemaRoll, 2009).”

Along with similar advantages as a blog or YouTube, Facebook has grown to possess some advantages of its own. Facebook is assumingly relevant, as the site has an extremely diverse audience. It is highly likely that the audience on the site would have commonality to the audience being sought after for the YMCA film. With millions of active users every day, Facebook has become an incredibly effective method to utilize word-of-mouth marketing—since the basis of the site is socialization, it is a natural progression for information to be passed from one person to the next.

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The Situation – Not the Jersey Shore Kind.

September 7, 2010 · Filed under Digital Storytelling · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Week Three – Script Treatment      

• Write a 2-3 page treatment—the treatment is the story written in text.      

• Should explain the basic story idea and plot, describe major scenes and develop main characters.    

Essentially, the script treatment provides a rough overview of the script and is stylistically similar to a short story—a summary, or synopsis of the script. 

According to one source (Scriptologist, 2006), when outlining your script treatment, you should list and describe the most important elements of your story, which are—     

a. The main conflict.   

b. The person, place, or thing that is the subject of your story.   

c. Each action sequence.   

d. The main characters.   

e. The climax, which is the confrontation between the hero and the villain.   

f. The resolution of the main conflict.   

Working title: Here for You   

Working tagline: Here…For Youth Development. For Healthy Living. For Social Responsibility…for You.   

Working call to action: Won’t you be here with us?      

      

a. The main conflict. Describe the problem faced by the characters.   

There are several initial possibilities for story conflict for the YMCA of Kanawha Valley—funding, volunteers needed, membership, overall involvement, brand loyalty, organizational teamwork and/or community involvement.At this point, the overall focus of the script is to evoke emotion and create a connection between the narrators and the viewers—to motivate participation with the YMCA.   

b. The person, place or thing that is the subject of your story. Define the subject of your story by asking yourself whether the main characters in your story experience conflict as a result of a person, place, or thing.    

The situation that is the subject of the story is the premise that without funding, support and community involvement, the future of the YMCA is unsure. The conflict arises in the need to interact with the public and motivate action toward programs and services without speaking in a desperate or needy voice. Ultimately, the YMCA must effectively communicate the importance of the YMCA in the community and for the community—and form and develop the relationships that will further the YMCA.    

c. Each action sequence. Define each main action sequence by describing the action that takes place, the location of the action, the characters involved, and the conflict.   

Overall, the conflict in the three scenes is the need for the main character to connect with and relate to the viewer by sharing personal experiences and positive associations with the YMCA. Essentially, the script is written as a PSA—an informative and engaging piece about the YMCA and its need for community support.   

  1.  
    1. For Youth Development—Child introduction, narrative with YMCA facility and programs in background. Foreground shows main character giving a 10-15 second monologue about the impact of the YMCA on their life. Scholarships and youth programs are the focus of this scene.
    2. For Healthy Living— Adult introduction, narrative with YMCA facility and programs in background. Foreground shows main character giving a 10-15 second monologue about the impact of the YMCA on their life. Coaching and sports leagues are the focus of this scene.
    3. For Social Responsibility— Senior citizen introduction, narrative with YMCA facility and programs in background. Foreground shows main character giving a 10-15 second monologue about the impact of the YMCA on their life. Community service and volunteerism are the focus of this scene.

d. The main characters. Define the main characters by describing their physical appearance, the way they interact with other characters, the role they play in the story, and their family history.    

  1.  
    1. For Youth Development—Child Narrator. Female. Age 6-8. Red hair. Freckles. Quirky smile. Missing front tooth. Funny and energetic. Single-parent family.
    2. For Healthy Living— Adult Narrator. Male. Age 22-30. Brown hair, athletic build. Attractive and charismatic. Popular with friends. Oldest of 3 brothers.
    3. For Social Responsibility— Senior citizen Narrator. Female. Age 65-75. Gray or graying hair. Soft spoken and kind hearted. Approachable, experienced and pleasant. A retired widow with 3 children and 5 grandchildren.

e. The climax. Define the climax by describing the action sequence in which your hero and villain have a final confrontation with each other. The confrontation can be a physical and/or verbal battle. (Luttrell, n.d.)    

The style of the script makes it slightly difficult to outline a definite climax.   

In relation to the YMCA PSA-style script, the climax of the script will be the introduction and process of learning the characters lives and involvement with the YMCA.   

The script will play out with each narrator intermittently sharing their stories and personal interactions with the YMCA.   

f. The resolution. Define the resolution by describing what happens to your main characters after the climax.    

Again, the style of the script makes it a bit difficult to outline a “climax” and resolution necessarily. Since the goal of the script is to inform and involve, the resolution will ultimately be in the call to action portion of the film.   

A website and phone number will be featured as methods of communication between the viewer and the YMCA. Ultimately, measurement and effectiveness can be evaluated by rate of response.

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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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When Agencies Play Nice – I’m Lovin’ It

May 12, 2010 · Filed under Emerging Media · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , ,

An expansion on my most recent discussion on the re-released and reinvented “I’m Lovin’ It” campaign by McDonald’s—

An additional article featured on AdAge online brought out some interesting points in regard to the campaign and the collaborative effort that was required to produce such a campaign.

McDonald’s employs a number of different agencies to aid in the global marketing and advertising efforts—and being a part of the industry—I certainly understand the difficulty on getting everyone on board (ego’s included) to collaborate on a project like the new “I’m Lovin’ It”.

As the article humorously points out, “What’s it take to get cut-throat agency competitors to play nice? A $2 billion global budget doesn’t hurt. It’s at least one reason McDonald’s can get its agencies to collaborate on strategy and major messaging before releasing them to develop their own spins.”

Mary Dillion, McDonald’s Global CMO, who orchestrated the reinvention of the iconic “I’m Lovin’ It” campaign extends a great deal of credit to the ability of the companies’ agencies to collaborate— In fact, the company sees that collaboration as crucial to its advertising success.

“I really fundamentally believe that our advertising wouldn’t be where it was today if our agencies didn’t collaborate,” explains CMO Mary Dillon said in an interview. And while it’s not always easy, she said, “They know that’s what the expectation is.”

Even in the midst of some extraordinary original and reinvented campaigns, analysts are hesitant to credit marketing for McDonald’s sales and market-share gains over the past several years.

David Palmer of UBS pointed to the chain’s operational improvements and increasing variety of better-for-you products that have overcome veto votes, particularly from women. He did acknowledge, though, that the chain does some of the industry’s most-effective marketing, and the idea of it getting better is “a little scary.” Stumbles from rivals Burger King and Wendy’s in recent years, he said, demonstrate just how easy it is to make big mistakes.

“McDonald’s is receptive to great creativity,” said Mark Tutssel, global chief creative officer, Leo Burnett. “And when you have a client demanding great creativity, demanding the bar is raised higher, of course it attracts the finest talent.”

McDonald’s marketing success has stemmed from forming clear expectations that motivate creative innovation that encourages collaboration.

 

Making the big kids play nice has resulted in a big impact for McDonald’s marketing.

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I’m Lovin’ It – Version 2.0

May 10, 2010 · Filed under Emerging Media · Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

As has been discussed all semester long, the increased popularity and capabilities that come along with emerging media has brought on some major players to its roster.  This is just one of those instances.

America’s favorite fast food chain, McDonald’s recently re-released its epic “I’m Lovin’ It” campaign.  After more than a year of extensive consumer research, McDonald’s global chief marketing officer unveiled an updated campaign.

“I’m Lovin’ It” is now the company’s most successful and longest-running campaign, surpassing the iconic “You deserve a break today,” and “Food, Folks and Fun,” both in longevity and sales gains. The tagline actually predates CMO Mary Dillon, who took over McDonald’s global marketing in 2005. “If you look at the business success, there would have been no reason” for changing the campaign, she said in a subsequent interview, “except for ego.”

The company uses emerging media, combined with fresh creative in aim to make a significant mark on global business. The campaign seeks to bring out the company and to more effectively utilize a more consistent point-of-view and to celebrate “uniquely McDonald’s moments” all while creating advertising with a purpose—to build the brand and generate sales.

The new advertising is expected to raise the bar on McDonald’s global creative efforts. The work also appears to be using a more humorous and emotional-driven approach on a better grounded storyline— the messages “communicate key points like family bonding and fun with food. It also helps with unenviable task of getting marketing up to speed with the “I’m Lovin’ It” promise.”

A couple of those “McDonald’s moments” can be seen here:

I can say about McDonald’s 2.0—“I’m lovin’ it!”

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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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Privacy, please!?

May 3, 2010 · Filed under Emerging Media, Interactive Advertising, Social Media · Tagged , , , , , , , ,

As with any medium, there are potential disadvantages to utilizing certain platforms for marketing, including: the possibility for inconsistent experience (online vs. offline), damage of brand integrity or reputation, not a “fit” for a particular brand, improper use/underused of medium and of course privacy/security issues.

There is a potential for failure of security in both personal and business context. Businesses and individuals alike have the possibility of being over-exposed and under-protected when utilizing social media sites—stricter guidelines could help to regulate information sharing.

And for those of you (including myself) that are avid users of the social networking site, Facebook—our privacy may be threatened now, more than ever.

Facebook launched its “Open Graph Platform” that extends the social net’s web across third-party sites—Facebook now automatically shares user data with third-party sites, as well displaying user activities on those sites in the Facebook environment.

And this privacy threat is certainly not being taken lightly—by users or by Washington.

In fact, two days after the site announced its changes, Sen. Charles Schumer wrote a letter to the Federal Trade Commission in response to the launch of new features on Facebook. Schumer said new privacy policies limit the ability of users to control how much about themselves gets shared with sites that partner with Facebook. He said the FTC should set guidelines for how social networking sites use and share private information.” Vera-Phillips, 2010

And it’s not just Facebook—a federal regulation would extend to all online advertising. Online advertising is facing the very real possibility that it will be regulated in the form of privacy legislation that would require publishers, networks or marketers to receive specific consent to use consumer data for a variety of purposes on the web.

Some 20% of online ads are targeted based on online behavior, but that’s just the beginning. A new generation of companies, including Facebook and Twitter as well as Foursquare and GroupOn, are on the cusp of a new wave of location-based marketing. It’s not about where you are or where you’ve been on the web — it’s about who you are connected to and where you’ve shopped, dined out or just browsed shelves. Learmonth, 2010

 Also from the article:

The company sits on one of the most valuable troves of user information; not just interests but human connections — thought to be the single most powerful determinant of consumer behavior. Facebook has, in many ways, been circumspect about monetizing that and generally puts the consumer experience first in everything it does. But for a company all about sharing information, it has shown remarkable clumsiness in communicating what it is doing to the public.

In fact, Facebook’s creator Mark Zuckerberg has been quoted saying that the site basically offers little to no privacy. Todd Dagres, partner at Spark Capital noted “The Facebook presumption is that privacy is not important — so if you really want privacy you have to opt-in and turn the dials to get the privacy you want. The issue becomes when people have different expectations of what privacy is.”

One former Schumer staffer told Ad Age the senator has a strong bias toward “opt-in” — that consumers should be asked before their data is used.

That said, the thought is that Mr. Schumer may determine that in the open web, there’s no expectation of privacy, and that “opt-in” presents too big a burden on the emerging online ad industry.

I’m more concerned about my rights then the “burden” it might cause to the online ad and social networking industries—as a service to its participants, privacy should be respected and rights upheld.

What do you think?

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