Twitter Campaign – Anything4Jetta

Yet another superb campaign by Volkswagen, this time they have used Social media.

It was like yet another normal office day, I logged in to Twitter and as a routine looked at the trends. It was #anything4Jetta at the top. It was curious to see what’s happening there. People are going crazy with it. I too get little deeper into it to see why Volkswagen decided to go Social.

Why Social campaign by Volkswagen:

Anything4Jetta_MarketingCurry

If we look at the target segment for VolksWagen, we can observe that the demographics are changed a lot in last couple of years. 4-5 years back, to purchase a four wheeler in 12-15 lakhs segment; companies were targeting people in age group of 35-50 years. But now this has been changed to 25-35 years.

It means more youth, which is likely to use internet. Social media is a hot trend today, people want to share every in-n-out with the social community.

#Anything4Jetta Campaign:

Twitter trendz_Anything4jetta

The anything4Jetta campaign is leveraging this youth. The twitter campaign is giving it an avenue to reach to larger youth. More-over getting them participated in contest is creating an engagement. The competition is luring customers by offering some daily prizes for best tweets also giving an opportunity to win the grand Jetta itself.

People are driving crazy for it. You can see 100’s of tweets every minute to gauge the success of the campaign. Not just that Volkswagen has given a support of traditional and print media to give a boost to this online campaign.

My wishes to the team behind this campaign. Lets wish if I too be among the winners.

To know more about the campaign, Visit this link #anything4Jetta

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BUSINESS WITH EMOTIONS ?

Business with Emotions

As the online communication has prevailed widely, the use of icons representing the mood of the writer has been a great step in this area.

Before these symbols (emoticons or smileys) became so popular, I am sure there were much cases of miscommunication than as of now, however their importance is not only limited to chats, emails, instant messaging. They could be of great help in any type of written communication both formal and informal.

The history says, A person by the name of Harvey Ball spent 10 minutes designing the first illustrated smiley faces in 1964 in Worcester, MA. He did this for a client who was attempting to ease that transition of two companies following a merger.

So, even the start was a formal one.

But some business owners are not happy with the use of emoticons. In a traditional sense they consider such use to be infantile and do not exude a professional approach to correspondence in a business-to-business or even business to customer environment.

It is said that emotions have no place in business, They may be right in their approach , but the meaning of business itself has  changed so rapidly in recent years that, this view sounds to be clichéd. Now people are considered as an important asset in business and if there are people, emotions can’t be rooted out.

So why can’t they express themselves in formal mails. I do agree that all types of smiley’s can’t be used in business communication but I am not talking about those.

We can’t ignore the use of facial expression and body language in communication. Thus these smiley’s / emoticons help sender convey the meaning effectively. And if business communication is considered the effectiveness has the largest ratio among other factors.

The use of emoticons is prevailing at a rate that I don’t think this area could be untouched by this. If not today this has to be the scenario after 15-20 years when the major users of this would be running the corporate world.

Their most important application could be in the area of branding or advertising.

Like MilkPEP, a dairy industry promotional group funded by the nation’s milk processors, has begun a campaign to evoke its distinctive milk mustache TV ads through the medium of text messaging by adding a milk mustache to the smiley emoticon. This was a forward-looking step taken by the company and the result is known all-over.

So as the internet becoming a medium for advertising, these smiley’s may play a great role in targeting the customers. And as far as business communication is concerned it has a long way to go.

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The Google Plus Strategy

Google plus has created enough Buzz now. The social media space is changing drastically. All the social media enthusiast must be interested to see the features war between the two companies (Facebook and Google) for their social networking platform

There is a question running around about the success of Google Plus, as it has given two big failures as Google buzz and Google Wave. Hence a big chunk is skeptical about the success of Google Plus.

While everyday new feature additions are coming up for Google, I am monitoring the same to compare it with Facebook, who set the standard in social media industry.

There are two ways to go ahead your competitors.

1. Provide more value

2. Kill your competitor.

Facebook when launched, it offered many more new things to the social community. The concepts of Social media adverts, Facebook Fan Pages for company, Facebook Deals, Notes, wall and much more. The value offerings are huge in terms of targetting, since it caters almost all social networking needs of different target segments.

Facebook was a success as it was much better than existing social networking sites like Friendster, MySpace, Orkut etc.

But what about Google Plus Strategy?

Since Facebook has already invented a lot in social media space. Google seems to have chosen another strategy. Google is a big company, if they wish they can push Google Plus for another 5 years with massive input of money. They are launching a new feature every other day to compete with the Facebook. Lets look few of the following features:

Facebook Wall – Google Stream

Facebook Group – Google Circles

Facebook Video Chat – Google Hangouts

Facbook Fan Page – Google Entity

Facebook Social Games – Not launched yet (But there is a news that Google invested 500 millions with Zynga so somthing will surely come up soon)

(Facebook has recently launched ‘Sponsored Stories’ – I will surely write about it soon.  )

Overall, Google Plus is trying to provide the same features with little better UI/UX, to kill the dominance of Facebook. Not just that, if the Google Plus is able to drive in traffic in first 6 months (already 20 million users have registered in first 3 weeks of beta launch), they will start affecting the larger revenue stream of Facebook i.e. Facebook Adverts. If its been hit, it will be difficult for facebook to sustain their R&D to compete with Google Plus.

The strategy of Google Plus is like ‘if you can’t be better, just kill your competitor’.

Now lets see How Facebook responds to it.

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Out-of-home advertising (or outdoor advertising) is made up of more than 100 different formats.

As ads continue to disseminate, advertisers must adopt strategies that address the target market and stand out among the ad clutter, leading viewers to notice, consider, and recall the ad’s message.

So the question is which kind of OOH advertising to follow?

Print advertising or online advertising?

So print advertising, as per Ajay.J, AVP of SRS group, is a formidable tool and would work very well depend upon one’s objectives.

For example thematic campaigns such campaign aims at reinforcing or modifying brand imagery. This kind of a communication needs impact and has to engage the target audience in a different manner – something beyond a few moments.

They work nicely in stature building also. On account of a mix of functional and psycho graphical reasons, print is very effective in building stature around brands – that imagery we hold for them in our minds. Go back a couple of years and imagine full page Accenture ads with Tiger Woods over there, in nice, strong, white glazed newspaper sheet – things such as these could make them appear larger than life.

Another scenario where print ads work best are when the need is for a mass reach: Sometimes, it is important to have a couple of million people see your communication right on the first day, or even the first few hours of the day. Print is unbeatable over here.

But if you see online advertising, it is best when you need to have action oriented response. Online adverts are more measurable because of the PPC options and click through. It also provided high OTS-c certain messages need repeat exposure to reinforce the message or positioning in the minds of the consumers. And for this, online is the best possible option as it can do so with a high level of frequency, in a pin-pointed manner and at affordable budgets.

Also it provides direct interface with the customers. It also leads a larger multimedia support. The only disadvantage is that it may get annoying for the customer to tolerate online ads like interstitials and pop ads.

But if you see the 2011 statistics, 49% of the ad spends are on the adnetwork, 43% on SEO/SEM and a 30% on blogs.

This shows ROI of the two depend on various factors, namely campaign objective, time frame variable, desired TA response and media consumption habits.

It is the two used together which will give you a holistic ROI.

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If we sit and analyze the advertising world today, we may come across few developments. Wikipedia acknowledges mainly four of these. A decline in the power of traditional media, a greater demand for point-of-sale communications, need for precise audience targeting and increase in versatility.

This led to the development of ambient marketing.

Ambient was first used in relation to advertising in 1996 by Concord Advertising, a UK agency specialising in outdoor campaigns.

As ANZMAC 2000 paper explains, it evolved from a need to apply a single term to what was an increasing request from clients for ‘something a bit different’ in their advertising. Clients, concerned with issues of cut-through, competition, decreased effectiveness and disinterested audiences wanted (and still want) advertising ‘with bite’ from their agencies. This push by clients for something different saw agencies placing ads in unusual places, such on as floors, petrol pump handles and backs of toilet doors – previously not considered as locations for advertising. Such campaigns did not fit neatly into existing categories like out-door, print, radio or television and hence a new term was coined.

Wiki experts say it is the name given to a new breed of out-of-home products and services determined by some as Non-Traditional or Alternative Media. Ambient media advertising can be used in conjunction with mainstream traditional media, or used equally effectively as a stand-alone activity. The key to a successful ambient media campaign is to choose the best media format available and combined with effective message.

Now it has become a standard advertising term.

Ambient marketing is also called guerrilla marketing or place-based marketing by some, ambient marketing is marketing or advertising wherever customers happen to be, part of the immediate surroundings. Guerrilaonline.com says ambient marketing on Internet may be performed in form of placing relevant thing (an image of a stylish shoe in case of shoe retailer) as an avatar published with blog postings, commentaries or on social networks. No other forms of ambient marketing have been recognized by secondary research however an internet activity of businesses already points out that businesses are aware of importance of recognition of the brand with the relevant product images or logically associated subjects.

So what are the effects this sort of marketing can have on customers???

Well for one, ambient marketing confirms better reach to the customers as it is showcased in public places. Secondly it is very cost effective though it needs a lot of effort in terms of newness, surprise, humour, creativity and audience involvement.

The best part is that it offers instant spotlight on the brand and hence it helps not only big brands like Nestle but start-ups also.

The trick is to put the idea in forefront and not the product. But  as they say there is a thin line between annoying and attracting customers. As per Saxion report, mainly smaller and financially weaker companies are using an aggressive Guerrilla attack. But such a campaign can even be a tool to fight the current market leader. Unlike Levinson, Ries, and Trout.

Hence even Kotler believes that the main purpose of Guerrilla Marketing is to destabilize the opponent – or best to destroy the competitors with the help of attrition tactics.

ANZMAC 2000 talks of major differnciation factors like unusualty’ that raises level of interest in consumer and hence their willingness to expend cognitive effort to process message.

The recipient is made to feel empowered and this helps in  better communication .This leads to a good rapport with the target audience.

The marketing expert Kotler also analysed the Guerrilla tactics in the 1990s. He suggests that such a competitive strategy should be adopted by market challengers that try to increase their own profitability by gaining more market share from other companies in the same industry. He warns that a competitive advantage over the challenged company is the foundation for a good strategy, but also involves high risks, especially when the potential gain is high.

Edell &Burke (1987) talks of “Attitude-toward-ad “  in a very appropriate fashion. It says that exposure to ad, judgement about the ad and social value towards the ad need to be extremely positive to have a favourable impact. This correctly implies that the absurdity and broader implications of such ad locations are not so much questioned, as considered clever and effective. Worldwide, major advertisers including Coca-Cola, Kellogg, Virgin, Nestle and numerous car companies have also invested in Ambient advertising campaigns. Yet despite this, Ambient remains relatively unexplored and almost no analysis exists.

Hence the way in which the consumer ‘discovers’ Ambient to its effectiveness is very important.

But then again beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder!

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Companies spend a lot of money on naming their brand , researching about their audience’s needs, positioning it accordingly, targeting and advertising it, hoping their brand identity scores a basket in the image formation. And what do they finally end up doing?

Ad attacking  their competitors.

What do you call this?

Another marketing stratagem?

Some 7Ps jumbled magic?

Or is it some plain tactic ignorance?

Well I’d say the latter. It is not a space where ignorance would be a bliss.

I feel ad attacks are a huge waste of investment. Why?

This all takes a toll on your credibility level. Take the example of ODOMOS and Good Knight Naturals Mosquito Repellent Cream. The confrontation started between Dabar India Ltd. and Colortek Meghalaya Pvt. Ltd., when an advertisement appeared on Zee News Channel in 2009. The advertisement was launched by Colortek for their product Good Night cream, directly comparing the competitors brand to disseminate their supremacy.

Objecting the advertisement of “Good Night cream” Dabar India Ltd approached High Court of Delhi.

It raises doubt on the credibility of the brand.

Also it is a sign of how insecure the company is of its brand. And if that happens.bam! Your brand image falls flat on the ground. Take the Rin vs Tide controversy. That explains it.

It might just take your stocks to higher points for the weekend but it is only momentarily, not to forget the rivalry chain reaction you start. Take the example of Pepsi-Coke battle. It has been going on for years now.

Sometimes though it can get you at par with your competitor, like in the example of Harpic vs Domex war.

But usually you end up with confusing the customer even more like in the case of Complain vs Horlicks.

As per corporate-eye.com, in the news of late has been the Dunkin’ Donuts vs. Starbucks taste test ads where Dunkin’ Donuts tells consumers that more “hard-working” people prefer their coffee than the high-priced Starbucks, “elitist” coffee.  Rumour has it, Time Warner is preparing to launch a comparative advertising campaign against Verizon.

And now, Campbells is attacking Progresso with ads telling consumers that more Progresso soups contain MSG than Campbells soups do.  Progresso is responding with its own attack and its own Progresson Taste Challenge.

So yes it is a never ending war.

So what’s the solution?

The answer is to hold back your brand’s integrity and become a specialist rather than a generalist in your product type segment and narrow down your brand focus. Then this way you can assure the quality of your brand and would not end up in the ad attack muddle.

Another way, as per 22 immutable laws of marketing, is to publicize your brand before you advertise it like Body shop did. It is much cleaner that ways.

7Ps aren’t going to help you in this but 3Us are. User type,  User response to current substitutes and finally user behaviour prediction for your brands.

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google-plus-Facebook

Social networking as a business has been evolved from connecting with friends on Friendster, building groups on MySpace to creating communities on Orkut and then to another world like Facebook which has set many social networking standards.

Strategy: I always say Facebook renovates and Google innovates, meaning Facebook has done vertical integration or growth by building various features into single product, but Google is about acquiring new trends and doing a horizontal growth with multiple product lines.

But now with the launch of Google Plus, it seems they have built a product which can work on Vertical growth strategy like Facebook. Even though Google has started it as an invite only launch but they surely will use the PUSH Strategy soon to divert the users to the Google Plus.

Why Google Plus:

Unlike Facebook or twitter where your content is searchable on internet, Google plus will have more secured networking features. Furthermore the Google already have a large user base on the products like Gmail, Orkut, Picasa or Picnik; the integration of it will create ease for users to easily adopt Google Plus as their friends will be some-how connected to it.

Will Google Plus Lead to Orkut Minus?

Google Plus Orkut Minus

Orkut is not dead yet. It still as popular in countries like Brazil. So, what will be the Google strategy for Orkut now? Will they stop it or will they keep both social networking platforms running simultaneously? It seems awkward to have your two products competing with each othersL. Or will they migrate all the Orkut users to Google Plus?  May be its feasible as Google Plus offers almost all features of Orkut.

Will Google Plus also have ‘Online Gaming’ as Facebook (Mafia Wars, Farm Ville etc)?

Google-plus-with-Zynga

I personally don’t think so. I differentiate Orkut (and hence Google Plus) and Facebook by two simple words. Orkut is about ‘Social Networking’ and Facebook is about ‘Social Browsing’. Orkut had a defined purpose of networking whereas the Facebook has changed it to Social Browsing, where the purpose is not defined. To make it simple, let’s look at it like this I open facebook and then decide what to do now? To see the pictures, play the games or to try different apps.

Like Orkut, Google Plus may also keep the Social networking away from Social browsing. Hence they might keep features which are networking relevant only.

Effect on Advertising:

Google Plus Facebook Adverts

Google PPC is one of the most used online advertising platform. The Facebook entered as a Social Media Marketing Tool and introduced Facebook adverts with more targeted advertising based on user interest, age etc. Since engagement of users on Social networking sites are more, the impact of advertising also increase by manyfolds. With the launch of Google Plus, they will give tough competition to Facebook advertising.

Effect on Positioning:

Google was known for its search and mailing. Will the launch of Google Plus change the positioning of Google in minds of users?

I certainly think, it won’t affect much. As Facebook started as Social Network and have introduced social search with Bing, and still there is no effect on it’s positioning. Google Plus will be an enhancement to Google Image as it is changing with the trends.

After the failure of Buzz and Google Wave, there are uncertainties about the success of the Google Plus, let’s see if they are able to hit the nail on the head.

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In marketing, “green” has become the new buzzword. According to the American Marketing Association, green marketing is the marketing of products that are presumed to be environmentally safe.

According to Peattie (2001), the evolution of green marketing can be divided into three phases; first phase was termed as “Ecological” green marketing, to help solve environment problems through remedies. Second phase was “Environmental” green marketing with focus on clean technology that involved designing of innovative new products, which take care of pollution and waste issues. Third phase was “Sustainable” green marketing came into prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000 where it becomes necessary for companies to produce environment friendly products as the awareness for such products is on the rise as customers are demanding eco-friendly products and technologies.

As per greenmarketing.com any activity to be included as green must satisfy two objectives: improved environmental quality and customer satisfaction. Misjudging either or overemphasizing the former at the expense of the latter can be termed “green marketing myopia.”

Dr.Priyank Azad calls this era as the era of recyclable, non toxic and environment responsive green goods.

So for a business process, is it just a process of being socially responsible?

The answer is NO!

Green marketing is a way which encashes on the unnoticed needs of the customer in the gap which is consistently broadening with the beginning of trends of environmental awareness and consciousness.

This has mutated the behaviour patterns of both individuals and businesses.

This has led to the entry of hybrid cars, organic foods, energy saving appliances etc…

As per greenmarketing.com, to exploit these economic opportunities to steer global commerce onto a more sustainable path, however, green products either succeeded or failed in the marketplace over the past decade, some important lessons emerge for crafting effective green marketing and product strategies. Take the example of Wipro. It has launched a new range of desktops and laptops called Wipro Greenware.

Based on the evidence, successful green products are able to appeal to mainstream consumers or lucrative market niches and frequently command price premiums by offering “non-green” consumer value (such as convenience and performance).

Take the example of ITC which has taken up social forestry for its paper and packaging. Dr. Priyank talks of carbon sequestration via this example.

While TATA has come up with Indica EV (electric car) on one hand and it has invested in LED and CFL lights for the Taj hotels.

ONGC‘s mokshada green cremation plan though an extreme measure has ended up saving 60-70% of wood.

Idea’s campaign of “use paper and save paper” ,it’s green pledge campaign and it keeping bus shelters with potted plants has proved Sanjay Jain’s idea of Green consumerism which according to him has  played a catalytic role in ushering corporate environmentalism and making business firms green marketing oriented.
Nerolac’s impression eco clean talks of short term costs vs. long term customer satisfaction.

Greenmarketing.com talks of the fact that in practice, green appeals are not likely to attract mainstream consumers unless they also offer a desirable benefit, such as cost-savings or improved product performance. The site gives the example of Philips’ experience. Philips called its original entry “EarthLight” to communicate the CFL bulbs’ environmental advantage. While noble, the benefit appealed to only the deepest green niche of consumers.

Hence the main pillars of green marketing are: a green consumer value proposition, engaging consumers with the green and swear on the credibility of the product too.

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EXTENSION OF THE BRANDS: A GAMBLE!

Brand Extension a Gamble

Brand extension. To do it or not!!

That is the question.

Every successful brand which is going strong in the market has one reason behind it. It’s association with the customers and the consumers. And it is this strong association that ultimately leads to profits and sales.

So how to take leverage of this? Is the answer Brand extension?

May be or may be not. It is a gamble any company has to play wisely and cautiously.

Reason?

Let’s explain it with an example. Reebok into sportswear, sports shoes, and sporty college bags…may be later into gyms….yes! Understandable.

Wipro into computers, finance, medical equipments, soaps and baby powder. Erm…not understandable!!!

Here in the former case, brand association remains the same i.e.  of a health, fitness conscious brand.

But with Wipro, nothing can really come to your mind when brand image has to be dissected.

That’s one reason why brand extension needs to be done carefully. If handled lightly it might lead to deviation from the core meaning.

It leads to unstructured core competencies and hence doubt leaks on the reliability factor. Take the example of burger king a given by Fast magazine.

Burger king opened men’s apparel abroad and you can well imagine how it was looked at.

Brand extension was one option NOT opted by few brands. Al Ries and Laura Ries in their book -the 22 immutable laws of branding, explain this with brilliant examples.

Take the example of Mc Donald’s. It today has on an average 60-70 individual items on their menu list. When it began it had just 11.no wonder subway overtook it in position.

Nike ,Microsoft ,coca cola all have been very careful in extensions and have rather approached brand contraction because loosing brand focus could have been very devastating for the brand.

But it’s not that extensions have always been bothering brands, take Unilever’s example. It is earning profits via extension and has been able to contain the brand theme all this while. And if at all it faces the danger of brand identity dilution, it comes out with individual brands too. But as a master brand it can afford to experiment with such ideas.

But even Unilever faces problems when it comes to retail space as it clutters the retail reliability factor. And publicity is very difficult to do. Hence they depend only on advertising.

So brand extension is a great and expensive gamble a brand has to decide upon and if done well, sales and profits follow but if it goes wrong, it may land up in confusion like Kellogg’s street wear did.

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Conroy James said, “Social media at one point is helping businesses in gaining attention of targeted customers while at the other point; it facilitates quick response from targeted customers. Tracking response of visitors is important at social media websites in order to know whether the investment is right or wrong.”

As per Digital Expressions, “While 78% percent of the respondents said they are using social media, only 41% of them said they have a strategic plan in place for their social media usage, leaving close to 60% without a game plan for their social media activities.”

So what is so good about social media marketing?

And why is it, that despite continuous appreciation, businesses refrain to jump on board with it?

The main reason is that it is hard to measure. This is also the reason why businesses refrain to jump on board.

Though it’s a great way to communicate with the target audience, it is a time taking procedure.

Hence this leads to ,as per LEVEL5 Strategic Brand Advisors (Toronto), marginalization of social media and hence  the marketers believe that social media is simply a marketing tool and marketing expense; that any relationship it may have with profitability and competitive advantage is at best vague and perhaps non-existent; that its connection to earnings per share and EBITDA. Therefore currently it is used via simple, easily collectible metrics like Site Traffic, Followers and Interactions. So is said by ArgyleSocial.

But actually, social media marketing is a great tool at hand.

To gauge if your product could use its nutrients, we need to assess our product a bit.

Brand channel recommends asking questions like:

• For whom is the marketing after all?
• How will it make your product look?
• What do others think?
• What kinds of people have the similar option?

LEVEL5 Strategic Brand Advisors (Toronto) recommends queries like:

• How can social networking affect our competitive advantage?
• What is the role of social networking within our branded business system, both internally and externally?
• What are the associated resource and capability implications?
• How are we applying social networking outside of marketing?

I feel these days consumers appreciate the social skin of the products and service.

It has come down to the synchronization between sharing actively and passively.

Once you derive your objective answer whether social media marketing for your product, the next step is to look at the objective/purpose behind using the social media. As per an article published by brand channel it can be used in eight ways.

Firstly, it can be used as an information source. Here we bring about the broadcasting spirit of social media. Take the example of CNN which clearly resonate the fact that the brand needs to be newsworthy.

Secondly, it can be used to loop in additional customer service. Take the example of KLM which used twitter for customer service during ash cloud crisis because other channel became overloaded.

Social media marketing is also a tool for sharing brand emotions.

Take the great example of coca cola. The Facebook page as initiated by the fans which was later taken over by the company as an official page.

User experiences can be easily shared via social media. Brand Channel gives the example of Levis friend store which affects the buying behavior.

Social media as per brand channel is a developer of insights and ideas. Brand like Starbucks came up with ideas like “my star bucks” by asking people how to improve the brand.

Social media is also an initiator of brand extension. Brand Channel gives the example of tweetpic which is a asocial prop of Kodak.

Social media is also used for promotional activities. Brand Channel explained this concept with the example of dell’s outlets and their daily offers.

Lastly, social media marketing can ease our distribution by acting like a distribution channel itself. Take the example of Disney facebook application that lets users buy movie tickets directly from facebook and invite friends also.

Like DDB suggests, social media has made participation a central part of the idea and as a result gave people some deeper sense of connection and ownership, in turn, making them more likely to become advocates of the brand rather than just consumers.

Hence, DDB says, though Social media has attracted the interest of the marketing profession with its promise of inexpensive reach and widespread customer advocacy, we still see at least three obstacles to effective social media efforts. One is that Marketers continue to think of social in terms of outbound marcom. Secondly, Social media is seen as an add-on. And lastly Social program measurement is difficult to elucidate, let alone achieve

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