MBucher Consulting

Is Social Media Really Producing ROI?

2012-02-18T21:54:00.000-08:00

This is an important question that many business owners often ask; is there really ROI in my social media activities? Scot Wheeler, Marketing Science Director at Critical Mass, acknowledged last week that instead of focusing on ROI, companies should really analyze whether their corporate brand image is creating value for the company.

ROI is a flashy buzz word that many marketers and analysis’s like to use, but isn’t necessarily a good measure in evaluating social media. Neither is monitoring your following base increase in a short period of time. Rather than measuring such things as ROI, companies should really be focusing on their edge rank score, interaction with their followers, mentions from consumers, awareness of their brand and “get over the hump of trying to look at it in monetary terms,” Wheeler.

But because there are some companies that are able to measure their efforts financially, Wheeler addresses those looking at the bottom line; “clearly define business, marketing and consumer objectives.“

A good marketing objective example would be to increase the lines of communication via social media to help bolster sales inquiries in the pipeline.

The Importance of Social Media Monitoring During Crisis Events

2012-02-18T21:36:00.000-08:00

In a few of my previous blog posts I have touched on the importance of addressing negative comments on your Facebook fan page, as appose to deleting them. This is always a good practice to do as it shows your company is proactive, and shows compassion when responding to consumer complaints.

Unfortunately we have all heard the news stories of the devastating crash of Costa Concordia in Italy last month. Tonight I wanted to touch on some key social media disasters Carnival Cruise Corporation encountered shortly after the ship wreck.

A few of my clients are in the travel industry so I follow many companies like Carnival Cruise Lines and know how active they usually are on their social networking sites, actively promoting upcoming cruise sales and providing information to consumers when requested. But within the days following the accident, it was interesting to see that business was usual for the Carnival Cruise fan page. The company continued to post upcoming cruise specials and travel information on the different cruises available while their fan page began to fill up the page with heartwarming messages of support/questions/fear. It wasn’t until the following week after the ship wreck that the company finally acknowledged their promotional efforts on social media platforms and publically announced that “Out of respect for all those affected by the recent events surrounding our sister line, Costa cruises, we are going to take a bit of a break from posting on our social channels.” The company also publicly announced they planned to pull upcoming print and tv ads out of respect for those families affected.

Fans of the companies Facebook page seemed to react relatively positive to this recent announcement, with over 5,000 likes and nearly 800 comments from fans. As things began to unfold further, and the public learned of Carnivals 30% off offer to passengers for future cruises, the company’s public brand image quickly began to decline. It was interesting to watch their social media support decline over the coming weeks all because of how they handled their PR crisis. Some attribute the declining brand image to the company’s lack of communication after the accident, leaving the general public to speculate over rumors heard from others. It was interesting to observe through all this the amount of unanswered comments/questions on the fan page while the company was still active on their social networking sites, almost as if they were avoiding acknowledging that the accident event existed.

An unfortunate incident like this always becomes an eye opener such companies as Carnival Cruise Lines; safety procedures being reviewed, and I think it is safe to assume the company is currently reviewing their crisis management procedures. Carnival Cruise Lines should take a note from GoDaddy and how they acknowledged the mass amounts of negative feedback from their tacky Super Bowl commercials. Read about the GoDaddy commercial backlash here.

Coke and Pepsi to increase their marketing efforts in 2012

2012-02-13T08:54:00.000-08:00

Coca Cola has recently announced an increase in their marketing budget in anticipation to a similar announcement from Pepsi (correct me if I am wrong but aren’t these two companies owned under the same umbrella corporation?). After announcing it’s fourth quarter results, Coca Cola plans to cut $550-650 million in annual costs by the end of 2015. This cost savings measure is expected to be reinvested into the company’s marketing and brand building.

Interestingly enough, Coca Cola set out 4 years ago to cut $500 million in costs from their company. This past week Coca Cola noted they were able to achieve their goals.

Pepsi is also expected to make an announcement this week pertaining to additional advertising dollars. It is estimated that Pepsi will pump in an extra $400-500 million in marketing and brand building this year alone.

Coca Cola’s CEO Muhtar Kent comments on the new marketing budget, “This program will further enable our efforts to strengthen our brands and reinvest our resources to drive long term profitable growth. We remain relentless in our efforts to become more efficient, leaner and adaptive to changing market conditions, while at the same time building a continuous improvement in cost management culture in keeping with our 2020 vision.”

One important note to take away from Kent’s comment here is the “We remain relentless in our efforts to become more efficient, leaner and adaptive to changing market conditions,” as we have all heard of the rent announcement of Kodak filing for bankruptcy, Canpages going under, and Sears closing more than 100 stores. It’s important for companies to adapt to changing market trends in order to survive in business.

Cineplex sales increase 150% in Q4

2012-02-12T20:34:00.002-08:00

For any business owner this is great to see, and quite impressive from an outsiders prospective.

Cineplex reported a net income increase of $10.9 million in the 4^th quarter of 2011 – accounting for a sharp increase of $4.4 million in net income in comparison to the same quarter in 2010. Total revenues for the quarter were reported at $241.7 million!

Unilever launches new Axe product targeted towards women

2012-02-12T17:51:00.002-08:00

Unilever has recently announced the launch of their latest product line for women.

The new line of products will come in a white package with "scents of sparkling fruity notes, soft florals and a light finish of sandalwood, amber and vanilla." Interestingly enough Axe`s senior brand manager Kyle Marancos noted the reason for the new product line is because of the increasing demand by the brand`s female fans.

It`s great to see that Unilever is listening to the demand of their female fans, but I wonder how the female public will perceive this new product given Axe`s oversexed male brand image used within their marketing campaigns.

Below is their latest commercial for the new female product line, check it out and let me know what you think. I must say, as a marketer there isn`t much brand awareness for the new female product line until the end of the commercial, and in my personal opinion the commercial isn`t very good. There are many images of car wrecks and more wrecks before the new product is even shown. Let me know what you think.

Key to Viano by Mercedes

2012-02-12T17:19:00.000-08:00

This is a great example of a company thinking outside the box with their latest marketing campaign. Mercedes recently launched an interactive marketing campaign giving consumers a firsthand look at the new Viano.

The idea behind the campaign is brilliant. Mercedes had a very good understanding of their target audience. They understood that many tourists like to drive to Berlins famous FriedrichstraBe station and park their cars there, and use the underground rail system to get around. This of course means one thing; these tourists are guaranteed to have their car keys on them.

Mercedes took things one step further and created 12 digital interactive billboards, encouraging people who passed by to use their car keys to open 1 of the 12 Vianos. People who opened an empty Viano were invited to take an exclusive trip in a new Viano.

Check out the video: I would love to hear what you think of this campaign.

Interested in Social Media Training?

2012-02-07T17:42:00.003-08:00

Over the past month my company, MBucher Consulting, has become quite business with social media training sessions. I am not sure whether it is attributed to the end of a Christmas lull or more people understanding the importance of social media, but either way it is a welcomed blessing.

This coming weekend I will be in Chilliwack conducting some social media training sessions for various clients of mine, and the following weekend back in Vancouver with a few other clients.

I wanted to take this opportunity to reach out to small and medium sized companies who might be looking for some social media help, for better understanding how to utilize your social media efforts to directly impact brand awareness and sales.

Here is my offer to you:Social media training for $25/hour with a minimum of 2 hours: this of course includes Facebook pages (useability/facebook likes/generate content/increase communication), Twitter (mentions/follows/how to tweet/communication and connections), LinkedIn, Google +, and blogging.

or

Social Media Maintenance Package: This basic social media package includes 3 - 5 status updates per week on up to 4 social networks of your choice. We will monitor mentions and RT’s, increase your following base, assist with social content creation & implementation, target marketing & brand building, and basic profile maintenance all for $180/month.

Offer expires on February 29, 2012.
Please contact me at mbucherconsulting@gmail.com for more information.

* Training is conducted on side or via telecommunte. This offer is valid for anyone in the Vancouver, Lower Mainland, Fraser Valley area.

GoDaddy commercials not a hit at the SuperBowl

2012-02-06T11:40:00.001-08:00

Over the course of the past few days I have seen multiple tweets coming across Twitter with unhappy consumers voicing their opinions about the recent GoDaddy commercials viewed during the SuperBowl yesterday.

I was quite amazed to see the amount of people that felt the same way and I did about their commercials. Aside from the sexist problems their commercials portray, they are just overall bad commercials with an inefficient message. To be honest, for a long time I didn’t really understand what GoDaddy was or what their services offered were. Their commercials need a bit of work, and so does their messaging. As a small business owner, the commercials really don’t make me jump all over wanting to host my domain name with their company.

Consumer feedback is one of the most important things for a business, and it’s important for businesses to listen to their consumers and potential consumers to better understand their marketing efforts. I wanted to pass along some of the things people on Twitter are saying about GoDaddy:

@RepresentPledge: Again, @godaddy, please hire a new creative team. We're still #notbuyingit #superbowl.

@ashedge: Dear @godaddy Your commercials so insulting to women. Women are not commodities #notbuyingit

@JasonBWhitman: Hi @GoDaddy , your ads pretty well stunk tonight, and so does your support of #SOPA et al legislation.

@georgecaweiner: Thanks @godaddy superbowl commercials for reminding me how happy I am we moved our @dosomething domains away from you.

@susie_parker: Why does .@GoDaddy think women don't buy domain names or have tech-based businesses? Ignoring/insulting huge market segment. #BrandBowl

@buchandoit: @godaddy and what's with the women participating in that? One giant leap backward for women everywhere. Thanks @jillianmichaels.

@EugeneCho:: Dear @GoDaddy: Your objectification and exploitation of women disgust me. #HopeAnElephantStompsAllOverYourServers

@ABusinessGuru: Got to be kidding! Shameful!! " @MarioAndretti: Props to @GoDaddy Creative Team and @DanicaPatrick for great Super Bowl commercials."

@designseeds: had a "promoted" @GoDaddy tweet to vote for my fav commercial~how about 1 to not alienate female business owners #MoreBrainsLessBooty

@nicoleunice: I am moving 500 domains from @GoDaddy and ALL women with domains need to leave sexist #GoDaddy!!//THAT!!!

@designseeds: & don't overlook how many guys are also bummed out by @GoDaddy commercials ~just saying they are telling me they don't want me as a customer

@mdikhram: @GoDaddy's sexist #SuperBowl commercials may sell domains to men who think with 2 heads. Women think with the head that counts.

Canpages Goes Under

2012-02-05T14:32:00.002-08:00

In September of 2011 it was announced that shares in Yellow Media (whom owns Canpages) tumbled nearly 40% after declaring that their assets were worth less than originally thought. Because of that, share prices began to tumble.

This past week Yellow Media announced plans to cut jobs of Canpages employees as part of a restructuring plan for their company while they focus more of the company efforts on their internet services. Yellow Media plans to keep their Canpages online phone directory business working and streamline their print operations.

“From an online and mobile perspective, the Canpages brand will continue to exist,” Anne Sophie Roy, with Yellow Media’s investor relations department, said in an interview Wednesday.

Roy wouldn’t comment on how many jobs would be affected due to this business decision, or how many Canpage directories would stop being published to save on costs.

Canpages is among many company in 2011-2012 that have begun restructuring their business operations.

Sears announces the closure of more than 100 stores for 2012

Kodak files for bankruptcy

Yellow Media has noted their online revenues represented more than 27% of total online revenues for the 3^rd quarter of 2011, in comparison to 20% in the previous year. Roy noted that Canpages.ca will still function as a local commercial phone directory online but the company plans to relaunch the site with a different user experience in the near future.

Yellow Pages reported purchasing Canpages for $225 million just two years ago as a means of expanding their online phone directory business. Yellow Pages has been struggling over the past few years as it attempts to restructure itself as an internet company.

Financial issues:

The publishers of Yellow Pages phone directory logged a $2.9 billion writedown to its business worth last September, driving down company stock prices. The company has also stopped paying dividends lasty year to help improve their financial position. Last year Yellow Media also sold AutoTrader magazine for $725 million to help reduce their debt.

Social Media Ripoffs

2012-02-05T13:51:00.000-08:00

Over the past week there have been several blogs going around about new “up and coming” programs that have essentially ripped off their design concepts from other programs. I wanted to highlight to two main ones that just completely shocked me.

1. Heello:

If you have ever been on Heello.com you will understand why I bring up this site. It has been said that this site was actually launched by the founder of Twitpics as a means of recouping users after losing them to Twitter’s photo sharing ability. The Heello.com site looks very similar to Twitter with people who are listeners and listening, with pings instead of Tweets, and echo’s instead of retweets. The site also restricts you to text of 140 characters or less.

Check this site out for yourself. Please leave a comment and let me know what you think

2. Yammer.com

Some say Yammer.com is a great way for corporations to connect internally with other employees on a private platform. But I still can’t help but notice the similarity between Yammer and Facebook. The program currently only allows you to connect with a work email (similar to when Facebook first came out with school emails), you have the ability to create your own page, private message others, and your profile feed looks very similar to that of Facebook.

I would love to hear from you if you have used either of these sites. Do you like either sites? What do you think of the similarities between Facebook/Yammer and Heello/Twitter?

Please do leave a comment

The $100 Hot Dog

2012-01-25T10:54:00.000-08:00

This article was actually featured in the Globe and Mail yesterday. Known as the $100 hot dog, a small business located on Granville Street is getting lots of media coverage this week after announcing their $100 hot dog. Dougie Dog is becoming well known for some of their exotic menu options, one in particular perked my interested.

So what is in the $100 hot dog? Bratwurst, Kobe beef, truffle oil, a drabble of $2,000 cognac and some Atlantic lobster.

As delicious as this sounds, I don’t see myself shelling out $100 for a hot dog.

What about you?

Kraft Dinner's new marketing campaign

2012-01-22T16:44:00.001-08:00

Kraft Dinner has recently launched their latest marketing campaign, encouraging consumers to enter their Facebook battle zone by participating in a series of challenges.

The new campaign launched January 9^th with a tv commercial driving consumers to their Facebook fan page where consumers can upload and share photos of them including Kraft Dinner in an unexpected way.

The challenge is a playful take on the infamous photo sharing contents implemented by many many businesses.

“It ties into what our consumers are playing with online,” said Jordan Fietje, senior brand manager at Kraft Dinner, referring to the number of pictures that consumers share online. This is of course a great concept that is well used on many social media platforms. Many campaigns similar to this are often under executed and not well utilized. Kraft Dinner of course has that coolness factor where consumers want to share their photos with other fans just for fun.

There are still 4 more challenges to come after this one has finished. The results thus far, Kraft Dinner’s Facebook fan page has increased by 24,000 members since the campaign begun.

Kodak files for bankruptcy

2012-01-22T16:17:00.000-08:00

It’s a sad day in the world of photography as Eastman Kodak Co files for bankruptcy. The photographic icon that invented the first hand-held camera, has filed for bankruptcy protection and plans to shrink significantly.

After failing to embrace changes within their market place and create more modern technologies, the company has chosen to file for bankruptcy. This will give the company the ability to find buyers for some of their 1,100 digital patents, which works out to be a major portion of the company’s value. Kodak, which traces its roots back to 1880, currently employs 17,000 people worldwide, down from 65,000 just under 10 years ago. The company notes that if they do come back from this bankruptcy, they will be a much smaller entity.

“This is a necessary step and the right thing to do for the future of Kodak,” Chairman and Chief Executive Antonio Perez said in a statement last Thursday.

Kodak at one point dominated their industry, and in recent years Perez attempted to steer Kodak towards consumers and commercial printers. Unfortunately, the company struggled to restore annual profitability, and meet its pension and other obligations to their employees.

McCorvey, their Chief Financial Officer, said Kodak ultimately suffered from a “liquidity shortfall” as numerous vendors stopped shipping and providing services to Kodak, while others demanded shorter payment terms from the company. Due to such shortfalls, Kodak withdrew $160 million from a credit line last September, raising suspicions from many investors about cash shortages.

Perez notes that the bankruptcy would actually help the company maximize the value of their patents related to digital imaging. “I’ve talked to companies who … said they were waiting for Kodak to go bankrupt to pay a better price,” said Baruah, the Brean Murray analyst.

Turquoise Cottage QR Code Campaign

2012-01-22T12:10:00.001-08:00

This is a great commercial.

Turquoise Cottage, a popular bar in the city of New Delhi, recently featured a creative QR code campaign in their bar in an effort to make their customers bar experience more fun, engaging and responsible. Turquoise Cottage chose to reinvent the usual admittance bar stamp into something much cooler, a QR code, or as the bar called it “The buddy stamp.”

How the stamp works: between 8 – 10 pm the customers were given bar offers and discounts after scanning their QR code. Between 10 pm – 6 am, when customers scanned the QR code they were given call-a-cab services. Between 6 am and 4 pm customers were offered hangover tips.

Results: the bar reported an overwhelming response. With 85% of smart phone users opting for the buddy stamp in the club, customers even shared their experience online (via social networking sites, which helped promote the local bar to other Facebook users). This one stamp became their responsible drinking buddy for the entire night!

Year in Review: MBucher Consulting

2012-01-06T14:40:00.001-08:00

As we begin to ramp up our marketing efforts for 2012, we look back on the success of MBucher Consulting and analyze our top blog posts for 2011.

In descending order, here are our top blog posts for 2011:
1. Craigslist Scam: Octavius Stotwell

Although this blog has nothing to do with Marketing, I wrote about my Craigslist scam experience that I encountered while trying to sell something on Craigslist. To this date, this is the highest searched blog on our site. With well over 30 comments from other people, this blog continues to warn people of the dangers of being scammed on Craigslist.

2. Creative QR Code Campaign: I like Diesel

This is a great QR Code campaign strategy for those interested in QR Codes

3. Coupon Crackdown

Another blog that really has nothing to do with marketing, but great insight into the world of couponing and what retailers are doing to stop people from stock piling free products

4. 5 Ways to Lost Twitter Followers

This is a great blog with amazing insight into why people stop following others on Twitter. This blog will give you some great insight into consumers way of thinking on Twitter, and how they utilize their accounts (interact with brands on Twitter).

5. Important Scam Alert: Octavius Shotwell

This was my original blog post about the Craigslist scam that I encountered. Similar to my follow up blog, this blog has received over 20 comments from others encountering the same problem as me. A great read for those who frequent Craigslist.

6. 6 Interesting Places To Visit in America

For those of you who don’t know, besides being a business owner and lover of all things marketing, I also have a passion for road tripping and exploring other cities and countries. In this blog I comprised a list of top 6 places to visit in America. These are places that may not be found on other top 10 lists of places to visit.

7. Barbie Causing Problems For New Body Shop Ad

This controversial ad became quite the viral sensation in mid 2011. It seemed everywhere I looked, people were talking about this. Turns out this controversial ad was not new to the market. There has been conflicting reports that this ad was first published in 1998, but became popular again in 2006 and 2008.

8. Facebook Targeting Their Social Media Marketing At Small Business Owners

In September of 2011 Facebook announced the launch of their recent marketing campaign aimed towards small business owners in an effort to increase Facebook advertising dollars.

9. Social Media Marketing Budget

This is a great blog for those who use social media marketing in their business and marketing efforts. In 2011 I began a small business specializing in social media marketing training for small businesses. I run social media marketing accounts for a variety of companies and this blog incorporates my personal experience with regards to social media marketing budgets

10. Drowning Awareness Campaign; What Does It Have To Do With Vancouver Taxi

This was an interesting campaign that came up mid-summer, in an effort to bring awareness to the dangers of the waters. From a marketing perspective there was a great concept for this campaign, but the marketer in me still to this day can not see the tie between drowning and Vancouver Taxi. Jordan Doucette, creative director at Vancouver Taxi, noted this campaign to be a perfect awareness campaign for their target audience. Although I get the concept behind their thinking of this campaign, I think it could have been better executed from the Vancouver Taxi’s perspective. Or a more form fitting partnership would have been better suited for the Lifesavers Society of BC besides the Vancouver Taxi (say St. John Ambulance).

Sears store closures in 2012

2011-12-29T18:08:00.000-08:00

Last month I posted a blog about Sears back-to-school sales being down for 2011. Sears had recently announced their sales decreased by over $20 million during the back-to-school quarter, in comparison to their previous year. In a recent press release, the company noted they were "not pleased with our results this quarter and have significant work ahead of us."

It comes as no surprise that Sears announced this week the closing of 100 - 120 stores for 2012 in hopes of generating anywhere from $140 – 170 million in much-needed cash. A list of over 70 stores was released this past week with more store locations to follow in later weeks.

This strategic move by Sears is thought to help shift the company focus onto more profitably stores, allowing the company to compete with a more clear market approach. Critics are speculating that poor service is a contributing factor to the stores deteriorating performance.

Skittles Unwraps New Gif Rap Campaign

2011-12-16T12:34:00.000-08:00

In celebration of the holiday season, Skittles has recently launched their latest online campaign allowing fans to customize a gif (graphic image) which feature holiday rap songs.

What makes this campaign so unique is not only the Skittles coolness factor, but the ability for fans to customize their festive Skittles-related screen. Fans can than can choose from a variety of rap songs to go along with their customized gif, and even include a personalized message for the recipient.

“What we wanted to do was give people something fun to send to their friends, a little present over the holidays that really brings to life the spirit of what Skittles is all about,” said Peter Ignazi, senior VP and executive creative director at BBDO Toronto.

This campaign builds on the creativity and strong brand image that Skittles has through their social networking sites, and in the general public. The company has noted that there will be no strong marketing messages for this campaign other than what has been posted to their 19 million fans on Facebook. It will be interesting to see how this campaign takes off without any formal marketing for Skittles.

Be sure to keep an eye open for new and upcoming campaigns from Skittles in 2012.

Check out my video here

Top 2011 Social Media Slip-Ups

2011-12-13T19:57:00.002-08:00

I personally love these kind of lists. Originally published in the Advertising Age online publication, Advertising Age has recently put together their list of top social media blunders for 2011: here is their list

Weinergate: The title alone shows this to be a good story. Last year a man by the name of Anthony Weiner allegedly tweeted a picture of his nether regions to a lady in Seattle. (For those of you who don’t know, Weiner was the front-runner in the 2013 New York City mayoral election). Weiner was eventually forced to admit that he had sent the photo and was asked to resign after 12 years in office.
The F-bomb: In March of 2011 a New Media Strategies employee dropped the F-bomb on the official @ChryslerAutos Twitter account, stating “I find it ironic that Detroit is known as the #motorcity and yet no one here knows how to fucking drive.” This of course happened shortly after Chrysler launched their “Imported from Detroit” campaign along with a Super Bowl ad. The staff member was of course fired and Chrysler announced they would not be renewing their contract with New Media Strategies
Kenneth Cole: the retailer recently stirred up a bit of trouble when they tried to piggyback off the Arab Spring social-media phenomenon” “Millions are in uproar in #Cairo. Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online.”
The Aflac Duck: Gilbert Gottfried recently lost his gig as the voice of the Aflac duck after posting jokes about the Japanese tsunami on his Twitter account. I am not too sad by this news; his voice was quite annoying for a duck. Aflac Insurance Co apparently earned 75% of its 2010 revenues from Japan.
Qantas Air: Last November the Australian airline launched a Twitter contest asking followers to describe their “dream luxury in-flight experience” and planned to award top tweets with prizes of pajamas and toiletries. Unfortunately the airline stopped contract talk with their union the day prior to launching their Twitter campaign. Customers were of course still upset from grounded air fleets the month prior, and decided to hijack the campaigns Twitter hashtag, #QantasLuzury, and post thousands of angry tweets to the company.
GoDaddy’s Elephant: CEO, Bob Parsons created quite the backlash for his company last year when he tweeted a video of himself shooting an elephant in Zimbabwe. The people of Ethical Treatment of Animals led a boycott effort encouraging people to boycott GoDaddy, and of course competitors tried to capitalize on this opportunity by discounting transaction rates and even making donations to elephant charities.
Netflix: (This is an important note for businesses to remember.) 2010 didn’t seem to be a good year for Netflix, after announcing their plans to spin their DVD-rental division into a separate segment called Qwikster, the company failed to obtain the Twitter handle @Qwikster. The Twitter handle was quickly scooped up by what is being called a “foul-mouthed stoner who enjoyed his newfound celebrity in a series of tweets.” Netflix took three weeks to silence the tweeter, but lost 800,000 subscribers during that same quarter.
Ashton Kutcher: after tweeting to his 8.5 million followers “How do you fire Jo Pa? #insult #noclass as a hawkeye fan I find it in poor taste.” He later stated he was not up to the alleged Penn State child-abuse scandal and apologized via Twtter. Kutcher later announced on his blog that is Twitter account was being passed onto his PR team.
Micky’s Big Mouth: Owner of Miami Heat and Carnival Cruises founder and chairman, was recently fined $500,000 from the NBA for tweeting about the lockout after being the league specifically banned it. He retweeted lockout tweets from others on Twitter, and in a tweet accused owners of greed, “Honestly u r barking at the wrong owner.” His fine was said to be 5 times larger than those of Michael Jordan and Ted Leonsis for their public comments.
Ragu backlash: This one surprised me. Unilever’s tomato sauce brand Regu came under the wrath of fathers this past fall after creating a video that showcased husbands as being lazy and unhelpful in the kitchen. This of course prompted bad press from dad bloggers on Twitter. You may not remember this campaign because it didn’t go viral in the way that many campaigns receiving bad PR do, but there were many backlinks to blogs denouncing the company for hating on dads.

Don't think your company is in the clear just yet, 2011 is not over just yet!To read the full article, click here: http://www.marketingmag.ca/news/marketer-news/needs-second-edit-top-10-social-media-marketing-slip-ups-of-2011-42279?p=42279?utm_source=EmailMarketing&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=marketing_daily_AM

Shoppers Drug Mart launches Facebook Holiday Campaign

2011-11-26T21:43:00.000-08:00

Shoppers Drug Mart has recently developed a social media marketing campaign for the savvy gift hunters during the holiday season. This of course is a great opportunity for Shoppers Drug Mart to reach out to their Facebook community and connect with their customer base.

Shoppers’ social media campaign, “Gifts Made Easy” site has been structured as a hub for their website, allowing customers to view the retailer’s Gift Made Easy and Beauty Book catalogues. This of course is the best way to utilize social media campaigns, structure your website as a hub for communication.

Along with their “Easy Gift Finder” application, which allows customers to browse gift options, customers can also enter a specific budget along with basic information about the person they are shopping for.

Shoppers has of course structures their campaign around having to “LIKE” their Facebook fan page before using the application. “Over the last year and a half we’ve really been expanding our digital presence, so in conjunction with that initiative, this seems like a great fit,” said Tammy Smitham, director of communications and corporate affairs for Shoppers Drug Mart.

Here is the link to their Facebook fan page for those of you interested: http://www.facebook.com/#!/shoppersdrugmart

As it stands right now, Shoppers Drug Mart is at 149,003 fans

An innovative approach to a marketing campaign ... or is it?

2011-11-21T16:14:00.000-08:00

While working at one of my client’s job sites, we received a package in the mail that contained a pair of hot pink flip flops. Written on the flip flops were a website that read www.getastepahead.com with our owners name on it, no other information.

I wanted to check this out, so I went to the website written on the flip flops and was pointed to a wall of different shoes. The website asks you to hover over a pair of shoes for an inspirational message. To give you a better idea of the website, the hiking shoes talk about climbing to new hights with your business. There were various other shoes on the site, but I didn’t see a point to the site so I left.

A little surprising, I haven’t seen a campaign like this before. The website we were directed to had no soft or hard sell on it, no company information, and really no clear purpose.

When I visited www.getastepahead.com I received no real information, and surprisingly the flip flops came all the way from Florida to Vancouver, Canada. This makes me wonder how much this cost the sender in postage and really how affective their campaign will be?

From a marketing perspective, I didn’t see this as a great campaign idea. It really lacked that “wow” factor.

Unbranded Awareness Campaign

2011-11-18T11:50:00.000-08:00

In an effort to raise awareness for sugar-related breakfast options, the Canadian Diabetes Association (CDA) has taken it upon themselves to educate the general public about health breakfast options.

In a unique twist, the campaign is completely void of any CDA branding. The company has also launched a website NotWhatYouThought.ca which also lacks CDA branding, but provides a wealth of knowledge for visitors such as “Sugar Crash Course” quiz and a pledge visitors can sign to reduce their daily sugar intake. A new 15 second commercial also lacks the CDA branding, which ran on MTV and MuchMusic through November.

The CDA noted their branding efforts as a “big lead of faith for the culture of this organization where brand is everything,” says Mapy Villaudy, executive director or marketing and fund development at CDA. After much discussion internally, the company has learned that their brand wasn’t currently resonating with younger people, so the company opted to leave branding out of their recent campaign as they felt it probably wouldn’t have registered with the youth.

The CDA noted their typical group of diabetic users as being 45 years of age and older. This campaign was aimed to help the company educate the next generation (the youth) about sugar intake.

The online campaign will return in January and February to help spread the word.

Unimpressive Back-to-School Sales For Sears Canada

2011-11-18T11:39:00.000-08:00

Sears Canada Inc experienced an unexpected loss in their third quarter sales period, with a weakening back to school season.

The company recently posted a net loss of $46.6 million in their three months ended October 30, 2011, down from $20.8 million just last year. Calvin McDonald released a statement this past week noting the company is “not pleased with our results this quarter and have significant work ahead of us.”

Sears Canada Inc has been struggling to overcome lagging sales over the past few quarters as more consumers opted to spend their money elsewhere, and retailers ramp up their marketing efforts in anticipation of the entry of Target Corp. into the Canadian marketplace.

No word yet as to how Sears Canada Inc plans to ramp up their marketing efforts, but it will be interesting to see sales figures after the holiday season in comparison to last year's sales.

Playboy Hits Shopping Malls To Promote Perfume

2011-11-18T11:23:00.000-08:00

I never thought I would see this kind of campaign ramping up for Christmas, but in light if the holiday season coming Playboy has set up booths in high-traffic shopping centres to increase awareness of their brand’s three perfumes for women.

I personally did not know that Playboy sold perfume, which lead me to think WTF when I first heard this story.

Consumers who visited the Playboy booth were said to be immersed in Playboy’s branded experience for perfume, while also being exposed to new TV ads from Playboy. Consumers who took part in the perfume campaign were offered a $3 coupon to purchase a bottle of perfume.

Playboy noted their target market for this campaign to be dynamic and curious young women who like fashion, but were pleasantly surprised when women in their 30’s and 40’s approached their booth.

I wonder how local dad’s will feel about Playboy marketing to their young daughters in local malls …

More controversy from a clothing company: Benetton

2011-11-18T11:04:00.002-08:00

My previous blog post was about the Abercrombie & Finch PR Stunt, tame in comparison to the advertising campaign that Benetton comprised this past week.

A few days ago the Benetton, Italy based clothing company, released their latest advertising campaign, calling it the Unhate campaign, launched at fostering tolerance and “global love.”

The advertising campaign has received quite a bit of heat after the company featured fake images of Pope Benedict XVI kissing a top Egyptian imam on the lips, along with many other images of politicians kissing. The images were noted as being unacceptable provocation and were pulled from circulation and the company’s website within hours of the Vatican’s protest.

A spokesperson from the Benetton clothing company confirmed that the images were removed from their site, and that the image of the Pope-imam ad will no longer be part of their campaign. In a statement, the company said they were sorry that the image offended the faithful. (I’m sorry but what did they expect to happen when they release images like that to the public?)

Vatican spokesman the Rev. Federico Lombardi called the ad an “unacceptable” manipulation of the pope’s likeness that offended the religious sentiment of the faithful.

Lombardi notes the images as “showing a lack of respect for the pope.”

Shocking advertisements have long been a part of Benetton’s publicity strategy, and the company notes the images of political and religious leaders kissing were “symbolic images of reconciliation – with a touch of ironic hope and constructive provocation – to stimulate reflection oh how policies, faith and ideas, when they are divergent and mutually opposed, must still lead to dialogue and mediation.”

Is this a good example of any PR is good PR, or did the company take this too far?

Abercrombie & Fitch PR Stunt Backlash

2011-11-18T10:40:00.000-08:00

I personally find this story quite funny. I am not a big fan of the Jersey Shore, and when I heard that Abercrombie & Fitch offered to pay Mike Sorrentino (aka The Situation) an unknown amount of cash to stop wearing their brand I couldn’t help but laugh.

I guess Abercrombie & Fitch find this no laughing matter now that Sorrentino has threatened to take the clothing retailer to court.

TMZ reported that Soorentino is looking for $4 million in what can only be assumed as punitive damages after the clothing retailer made false offerings to pay Sorrentino not to wear their clothes. The lawsuit claims the clothing retailer profited from a grand worldwide advertising campaign making fun of Soorentino by offering t-shirts with text that read “The Fitchuation.”

I personally would love to be in the court room the day the judge makes his/her decision. At that point I wonder if Abercrombie & Fitch will feel their little PR stunt was still worth it.

From a marketers point of view, any PR is good PR, especially when you can play up on a popular TV show like the Jersey Shore.

On a side note: Roberto Luongo from the Vancouver Canucks is a huge fan of the show