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It’s not easy being green - or is it?
Posted by mc | Filed under CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility)
Increasingly that statement is becoming harder to make. In fact, it’s not only easier to be green these days, it’s getting harder not to be. That can only be a good thing. The stage we are at now is being likened to Green 2.0 - where green 1.0 was all about reusable bags, low hanging fruit such as recycling, and a washing advertising in often shallow environmental promises. While green 1.0 served those first movers with genuine good intention well, it left a trail of joiners and weary consumers sifting through the messaging for truth. Welcome to green 2.0 - where sustainability is being embraced across all dimensions of business including ethics, training, and carbon footprint reduction throughout the marketing mix.
There are some that predicted that green would be a trend and die a death on the clothesline in the recession, becoming last season’s colour, trendy but shallow. In fact what is taking place is exactly the opposite. Companies are now starting to use sustainability as added value. Rather than demand a premium, they are pricing green options competitively, and allowing economies of scale to kick in. They’re moving green products to shelf space next to major national brands. That’s smart marketing. Who’s mainstream and doing it right? Check these out:
Home Depot: Currently they carry 1,600 Eco-options products, an initiative they launched in 2004. http://www6.homedepot.com/ecooptions/index.html?cm_mmc=Thd_marketing-_-Eco_Options_Site_07-_-Vanity-_-Home
Walmart: Admittedly they have a way to go with reducing the plastic toys that they are known for, but they’ve made quantum leaps in demanding package reduction from suppliers. When Walmart makes demands, most suppliers listen. And they’ve married green to cheap with their Greener Good product lines. http://www.walmart.ca/wms/microsite/GreenerGood/en/index.html
If you still need a little convincing that this movement is here to stay, check out these research results from TNS Canadian Facts based on a cross Canada poll of 1,000 Canadians. We hope to be doing another annual comparative soon, but since we started tracking this in 2007 there has been steady movement upwards across the board.
Have you switched brands due to the company’s environmental policy?
Overall: 58%
Males: 51%
Females: 65%
18-14yrs: 60%
25-34yrs: 53%
35-49yrs: 65%
50-64yrs: 60%
65+ yrs: 47%
I consciously choose to do business with companies who are socially and environmentally responsible.
Overall: 50%
Males: 45%
Females: 55%
18-14yrs: 33%
25-34yrs: 45%
35-49yrs: 53%
50-64yrs: 53%
65+ yrs: 59%
Slowing down to have a look
Posted by mc | Filed under CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility), Trends
And now over to the live eye in the sky for a traffic report on consumer response to the recession: “South of the border there has been a freeway crash. Looks like a big pile up with fatalities. Lots of people have thrown on the brakes to avoid crashing themselves. Clean up is going to take some time. Up there in Canada, the traffic has slowed down to take a look, but it’s still moving along. Back to you Mary…”
That’s how I’d sum up the latest research in my work with TNS Canadian Facts on consumer response to the recession. This is important stuff, because the research tells us that we have good reason to be bullish. Yes, you heard that right; media people telling you things are going to be OK.
Let’s take a look. TNS Canadian Facts conducted direct comparative research with US results compiled by Miller Zell/National Research Network recently on a number of issues related to consumer activity. The Canadian study sampled 1,016 people. The US study sampled 801 people. Both studies accurately represent a random sampling of consumers. Here are some of the questions asked. The results are startling:
Are you pre-planning your shopping trips more today than you were 12 months ago? US: 60% Canada: 20%
Are you doing more online research for purchases today than you were 12 months ago? US: 44% Canada: 24%. Although online research is a general growing trend, this is a strong indication that planning is happening much more often than spontaneous consumption.
Have you traded down in your various shopping and entertainment habits compared to 12 months ago?
- Eating at Home - US: 73% Canada: 48%
- Choosing stay-at-home entertainment such as renting a movie instead of outside the home entertainment - US: 68% Canada: 41%
- Shopping at discount grocery stores instead of premium stores - US: 51% Canada: 35%
- Buying house or discount brands instead of premium brands - US: 87% Canada: 31%
It appears the US is much more reactive compared to Canada. The US unemployment rate in April was 8.9%. In Canada, our unemployment rate at the same time was 8%. The state of the US consumer isn’t dramatically different, but they are much more reactive, and the media in the US have put a scare into the consumer.
Trading down, or changing behaviour in some way to save money, was an area where dramatic differences became evident between the countries. Arguably Americans may eat out more than Canadians do normally, however a 73% drop by US respondents is staggering. So too was 68% who reported choosing stay at home entertainment over going out. Clearly dining out and out of home entertainment are some of the first changes consumers make. And one could argue that 48% of Canadians eating out less and 41% going out less is still a significant results. If you work in those industries, there’s obviously been an impact.
About 1/3 of Canadians have switched to a discount grocery store, versus 1/2 of Americans having done the same. But the switch from premium to discount brands was dramatic with 87% of Americans having done this versus 31% of Canadians.
There are some upsets here to be sure. People change their buying behaviour during recessions. But the new experiences, brands and behaviour can often become a permanent switch, if given good reason to stay. That screams opportunity.
The net overall result in Canada is one of “slowing down to take a look” rather than hitting the brakes and crashing. I think it’s important to hear that. Of course there are industry exceptions such as automotive, experiencing not only a financial squeeze but a fundamental shift in their product design and delivery system. Business may not be quite as usual, but it IS DIFFERENT HERE. Let’s find opportunity in that.
Will it save or sink the brand?
Posted by mc | Filed under Uncategorized
Once the darling of the coffee snob world, Starbucks has taken afew hits of late. But will instant coffee save or sink the brand?
I had the opportunity to try the new Starbucks instant coffee at a conference last week. Initially my early morning colleagues and I were a little confused at the apparent offering of ‘hot water’ at the coffee stand. Low light, a pre-coffee moment and small type size on the package had most of us stumped thinking the little packets of coffee were sugar. Once we realized it was coffee, there was a collective pause as we waited for the first mover. This was Vancouver after all. The land of java jackets and fresh brew. Where we’ve been educated to accept nothing short of a tightly orchestrated chain of events and high standards to brew the perfect cup.
And we’ve educated to expect that experience by Starbucks no less. So this was definitely a departure. Starbucks says they will revolutionize the instant coffee category. Indeed, the stuff tastes sort of like a real cup. That’s if the hot water is actually hot. And it’s that type of lack of control that ultimately cheapens the experience into a commodity. That, and the fact that it’s available at Costco to the masses, a retailer associated with low cost. Plus, let’s face it, playing the field with other instant coffee brands is a long way from the premium ‘third place’ experience they staked their brand position on. Instant has long been associated with poor quality.
Analysts estimate the instant coffee category at $17 billion. Kraft, Sanka, Folgers, and Nescafe are the dominant players. This could be an opportunity for the over expanded retailer to turn their fortunes around. Or will this represent a big gamble for short term monetary gain and ultimately further tarnish the former premium, now commoditized brand?
Check out the promotional video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c1YU5kRmDUo
Costco to sell it as of April 2: http://www.seattlepi.com/business/404556_starbucks2.html
CBC coverage: http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2009/02/18/starbucks-instant.html
Want to comment on this story? Join the conversation!
Will ’sponsored conversations’ work in the blogosphere?
Posted by mc | Filed under New media and e-marketing
For anyone with a traditional editorial or media background the idea of accepting compensation to write about a company or product is a controversial area. And if the arrangement is not disclosed, it’s down right dishonest.
So why is the game now changing? Let’s just say it’s being modified. According the Forrester Research, 50% more people are reading blogs than they were one year ago. Couple this with dwindling newspaper page counts and some marketers and PR firms have taken to approaching influential bloggers, much as they have approached reporters in the past, hoping to persuade them to say nice things. It’s a game that has been played for years. Most traditional journalists maintain a code of ethics for a well researched and unbiased presentation of facts. For this reason, readers believed that the writing was an accurate representation of the writers opinions. In the blogosphere there’s a lot of wacky self serving verbiage mixed in with good editorial. Depending on the individuals training or background, the ethics filter may or may not exist.
Sears and its Kmart subsidiary in the US have just changed the rules of the game. They hired a company called Izea Inc. to get more bloggers talking about them. Izea works with prominent bloggers in the US. The twist is that Sears, Kmart and Izea PAID the bloggers to write about them with a $500 shopping spree. Now before your conflict of interest detector goes off, you must understand two things:
1. The bloggers were required to disclose payment.
2. The bloggers were allowed and encouraged to write whatever they wanted. Several actually did note negative things.
Was the promotion effective? MediaPost, a marketing firm that monitors online conversations, found the the share of shopping buzz about Kmart increased 50% in the month of the shopping spree posts. Izea claimed over 500,000 people viewed the posts. Unlike PR, “sponsored conversations” are guaranteed to generate a blog post. And unlike advertising, the post is the bloggers own voice. In a world where we are conditioned to put an elevated value in what we read through editorial, these conversations are likely to make an impression.
Will this trend catch on? I have mixed feelings about it. But where there’s a willing host (a blogger who wants free stuff) and a paying customer (a marketer looking for a way to get their message out) and traditional vehicles where editorial is less available, it’s likely a timely match.
Another April fools for Lululemon?
Posted by mc | Filed under Branding & competitive advantage, Marketing to Women
Do you remember the April 1, 2008 Lululemon joke ad for the mansy? (a high cut mens yoga one piece of dubious design origin). Will Lululemon be up to their antics again this year? Listen to a 5 minute Marketing podcast commentary on last years ad below and tell us what you think.
Here’s a little visual review to put it in context:
New branded video search links integrate digital and traditional media
Posted by mc | Filed under Marketing to Women, New media and e-marketing
Brands and agencies including Pepsi, Home Depot, Victoria’s Secret and Pedigree have tested new rich media search ads on Yahoo in the US; a UK roll-out is now in the works. No word on Canada, but definitely an approach to watch.
Yahoo has added images and videos to search results advertising with its ‘Rich Ads in Search’ offering.
Along with sponsored results, the Yahoo offering enables brands to put promotional videos in top searches. Victoria’s Secret and Pedigree dog food have added video to their campaigns so far. Click here for the results of sample search for “Victoria’s Secret Pink”, a collegiate collection spring break promotion. It comes out top of the list with a video link icon that’s pretty hard to resist for the Youtube generation.
http://search.yahoo.com/search;_ylt=A0oGkmhYSbRJBRUA92hXNyoA?p=victoria+secret+pink&y=Search&fr=yfp-t-501&fp_ip=CA&rd=r1&meta=vc%3Dca
The approach is also based on ‘opt in’ versus an unobtrusive ad pop up or static banner, so audiences are much more apt to be receptive to the message.
In the US, participating advertisers’ click-through rates rose by as much as 25% during trials, while brand exposure also increased.The program will be expanded beyond the initial pilot this month, and rolled out internationally.
Yahoo will be charging a monthly fee for its Rich Ads in Search, though the company has said it might revert to the auction-based pricing model in the future.
Rival Google has also been trialling video search listings in the US. Although Yahoo has introduced this search feature, it might be the Google version that causes it to take off. Google sites led the market in December with 63 percent of the searches conducted. Yahoo gained some ground with a 21 percent market share, a .5 percent increase at Google’s expense.
Why do I think this is an important trend? Two reasons:
1. With our recession economy, people are doing more online research before making purchase decisions now than a year ago. (Recent research by Miller Zell Inc in the US reveals that 44% of all respondents were doing more online research than they were a year ago.) More online searches means it is becoming increasingly important to rank at the top of search listings with a compelling reason to click on the link.
2. While TV viewing is becoming increasingly fragmented with multiple stations, time shifting of viewing and commercial skipping, the traditional 30 second spot is getting lost in the shuffle. However, the loss of TV viewing seems to be at the expense of time spent online. Watching videos on Youtube has become increasingly popular and this new offering to embed video in the search engine result feeds the shift in use patterns we have observed, particularly with younger audiences.
Of course if it becomes too popular content will fail to stand out on a page filled with these links. Stay tuned.
Beware the mommy blogger
Posted by mc | Filed under Marketing to Women, New media and e-marketing
That’s the message many companies have received after mismanaged communication with young Mom’s online. We know women buy or influence over 80% of all purchases. We also know that women under 40 are one of the largest populations online. And we know that women use the internet heavily to research and share information with their piers. Their powerful word of mouth and word of mouse is exponential. It should then come as no surprise that mom’s are an active force online, both in a positive and negative sense.
Marketing has changed dramatically over the last few years. With the advent of social media tools like Facebook, Myspace and Twitter, plus the millions of blogs in the digital universe, it can be pretty challenging to monitor the face of a brand online. Even big companies like Walmart and Johnson & Johnson have stumbled publicly.
Consider the damage that can be done to a brand over the weekend. Executives at Johnson & Johnson, responsible for the Motrin brand posted an ad to their website and Youtube intended to appeal to young mothers who carry their baby in a sling to keep their baby close to their body. However, the attempt to bond with their customers backfired when a number of online Mom’s were offended by the suggestion that carrying their babies this way was “fashionable” and they were outraged at the suggestion that they look “crazy.” And they didn’t race out the door for Motrin to ease the pain, as was suggested in the ad. By Saturday evening Motrin was the most tweeted subject on Twitter. By Sunday there were parody videos posted on Youtube. Bloggers posted comments. (Try Googling “Mom 2.0″ or “Mommy blogger” if you want a sense of how many bloggers exist in the Mom-sphere). Bloggers began calling for boycotts. They asked readers to alert the mainstream press. By Sunday afternoon a few persistent Moms had located the executives from Motrin’s ad agency at home on the phone. They didn’t seem to have a clue about the anger piling up online, much less much about Twitter. That in itself is scary! By the following week the VP Marketing for Motrin removed the ad and responded to concerns - essentially saying they had intended to generate genuine sympathy, but had missed the mark. They took the feedback seriously and had now removed the ad. However print versions in magazines had already gone to print. Negative print media stories persisted for weeks. Check out the offending ad here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmykFKjNpdY
View the official apology here: http://jnjbtw.com/?p=362
How can you avoid a mess like this?
1. Position your brand so that women become natural advocates. Some people suggest hiring an advocate, but this can be touchy territory. Better to earn the trust and endorsement of a ’social media mom’ who actively blogs, is connected on Facebook, or has a following on Twitter. Harder to do, but more authentic in the end. And this approach will pretty much guarantee you avoid costly missteps.
2. Join the conversation. But, remember you need to be authentic. Conversations are two way. Product pitches are one way. The biggest blunder is to jump in and push a message before a relationship exists. Don’t just pitch your brand. Give information that would be of interest to your audience. There’s a big difference.
3. Monitor the conversation.
Having joined groups on Facebook, identified leading bloggers in a subject area, and following them on Twitter, while participating in dialogue you then need to monitor what is being said. Big companies assign someone to this. If you’re small start by setting Google alerts for your subject area, company or product. You’ll be amazed at how quickly you become tapped in. Link here to create Google alerts: http://www.google.com/alerts
The bottom line? Social media has changed the way brands communicated with their audiences. You now need to monitor this to be able to connect and learn from your customers.
Let the marketing games begin!
Posted by mc | Filed under Branding & competitive advantage, New media and e-marketing
With officially less than 365 days to go, people in Vancouver and the rest of Canada are starting to feel a little pre-Olympic buzz. And with the buzz, the MARKETING games have begun.
Petro-Canada’s recent Olympic glassware promotion is a great example of how integrating online and traditional media can reap huge success. With a nod to the past, the 30 second TV commercial states, “It was 1988, the Calgary Winter Games, when the country came together to support Olympic athletes, with glasses,” says the voice over. “Isn’t it time to do it again? It continues. “Buy the glass and support Canadian athletes, only at Petro-Canada.” The voice over and music audio is reminiscent of a homey Hotel 6 spot, as it pans the cupboards and garage shelves where some of those 1988 glasses now reside. The use of TV is obviously aimed at mass reach, likely best to connect with Canadians over 35. But they also utilized social networking through Facebook for an online campaign. The company offered free ‘virtual’ versions of the glasses that Facebook users could send their friends as gifts. Petro-Canada donated 50 cents for every virtual glass passed along to support Canada’s Olympic athletes. Their goal was to donate $50,000. Their gift giving number spiked to 70,000 in the first day and they had achieved their goal of 100,000 virtual gifts within three days. Most of the Facebook givers were women drivers aged 18-34. The online campaign was aimed at creating buzz for the actual glassware which retail for $3.99 half of which is donated to support Canadian athletes. The Facebook application allowed them to connect with individual Canadians, and then use their personal network of friends to share the content to a mass number of people. The donation angle, a unique initiative, appealed to their online target audience. This campaign shows a great use of traditional mass media TV combined with online digital ‘word of mouse’. Brilliant.
Link here for more coverage on this initiative: http://www.marketingmag.ca/english/news/marketer/article.jsp?content=20090116_151033_40908
Link here to see the TV spot: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGC_NZRkgyQ
Are your customers feeling the love?
Posted by mc | Filed under Branding & competitive advantage
Are your customers “Feeling the Love” - and not just on Valentines day? Do they get all warm and fuzzy about you? Or are left with little or no real emotion at all? Could be time for a little relationship maintenance. In fact, in times of economic downturn, there is nothing more important than a solid relationship with your existing customers. You don’t want to be loosing the ones you’ve got, because someone else has lured them away. In fact, the cost to acquire a new customer is 5-10 times greater than the cost of retaining an existing one. In recessionary times, people can change their buying behaviour if they are not fiercely loyal. You want to be the one they stick around for.
One of the best things you can do (and hopefully have been doing all along) is to invest your time in asking for and responding to customer feedback - both positive and negative. This is the secret to building a network of product evangelists who keep on giving back to your business. Brand evangelists communicate with customer in their space. And they just keep on spread’in the love!
Customers form an emotional connection with brands they have a deep affinity for. From there, they move on to become brand evangelists. Think Apple, Lululemon, Vancity and Mountain Equipment Coop (MEC). The key is this: When someone tells another person about a product or service they love, they don’t do it because they want that company to succeed, they do it to help their friend. They share information and resources as a way of supporting each other, not the particular brand. This is a conversation you want to ‘be at the heart of.’
Check out these testaments to feel’in the love:
Apple: http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mac/multimedia/2006/04/apple_fans
(Seen anyone running around with YOUR logo tattooed on their back lately?)
Vancity: http://www.changeeverything.ca/about
(Or how about knowing your customers are causing social and environmental change in their community using your brand as a catalyst?)
Blink and you would have missed it
Posted by mc | Filed under New media and e-marketing, Uncategorized
Of course most people watch the Superbowl for the game. But then there are the others who watch it for the commercials. If you blinked, little lone made a dash for the loo, you would have missed what was the shortest Superbowl commercial - ever. Ivors Seafood Restaurant purchased a half second spot during the big game. No confirmed costs, but 30 second national spots were running $2.4 - 3 million. Ivor’s ran as part of a regional buy on NBC, so Canadian readers can check it out here:
View Ivor’s spot: http://www.ivars.net/index.php?page=ivar-s-half-second-ad
Seems there was a run for the shortest spots this year with Miller High Life running a one second commercial. Taping of the one second ad was pulled from a 17 hour shoot, with the final “One second line” being selected after it was all over.
View the commercial here: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=jyJXIBYSrjo
View the outtakes here: http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=K9GwHnU2ESE
Arguably Superbowl commercials have an extended life these days through online replays, unlike years ago when a 30 second spot really was a fleeting 30 seconds, never to be seen again unless it was so memorable it was picked up in the news. Think Apple in 1984.
So why bother with a half second or one second spot? Well, it’s all about the media coverage, viral online sharing of content and customer engagement. These ads were aired on TV, but make no mistake, the plan was to generate online interest and good old fashioned free publicity. So far they’ve made the Tonight Show with Jay Leno, USA Today, Advertising Age, just about every major city daily in the states, radio, tv, online blogs, Twitter, and Youtube.
MS&L Worldwide and Publicis Groupe, New York recently conducted research on how online and old media go hand in hand. They found that 80% of people surveyed go online to learn more about a topic after first seeing something about it on TV, in a newspaper, magazine or hearing about it on the radio. The lesson? Web efforts can’t reach their full potential in a vacuum.
These short Superbowl spots were a great use of combined traditional and digital media. Does anybody remember the commercials that paid the full $3 million for 30 seconds? Brilliant.