Gap’s Made in USA Mistake Offers Lesson to Learn From
December 17, 2010
Retailer Gap offers another example this year that marketers can learn from. Earlier this year, Gap suffered from negative backlash after releasing a lackluster logo and reverting to the old logo a week later. This month, the brand is in the news again related to its holiday social responsibility efforts.
In support of the anti-hunger FEED Projects charity, Gap is selling limited edition bags imprinted with “FEED” along with promotional materials that hype the “Made in the USA” message. For each bag purchased by a consumer, Gap will donate $5 to U.S. school lunch programs.
Sounds like a great way to help a charity, right? Well, there is a problem with Gap’s promotional efforts. Despite the “Made in the USA” promotional materials, the bags were made in China — a fact that is evident on a tag which is sewn into the bags and says two things on it — “Gap” and “Made in China.” You can see larger pictures of the bag with the Made in China tag and promotional materials here.
This is a mistake that was certainly unintentional but unfortunately, puts Gap in the middle of negative conversations across the social web for the second time in the same year. It’s a lesson that all marketers can learn from. Make sure all aspects of your marketing campaigns accurately reflect your brand message, image, and promise.
Gap did issue an apology (read it on BrandChannel where the story broke) and pulled the bags from the campaign, but it demonstrates how quickly information can spread across the Internet (check out the post and survey about it on The Huffington Post) and how careful companies have to be when it comes to every aspect of their marketing campaigns. Well-known brands are held up to high levels of scrutiny, particularly when charities and cause marketing are connected to those brands.
What do you think? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.
JCPenney’s Becomes First Retailer to Open Complete Store on Facebook
December 16, 2010
This week marked the start of what will undoubtedly become a new marketing distribution trend when retailer JCPenney opened a complete store within Facebook. For Facebook users who are accustomed to communicating with friends and publishing and sharing content, they can now browse and buy clothes, shoes, and any other product available through the JCPenney catalog without leaving Facebook. That’s 250,000 products at users’ fingertips.
You can expect this type of store front within Facebook to quickly grow in popularity from retailers’ perspectives. JCPenney isn’t the first retailer to provide a working store front within Facebook, but by offering a quarter million products, JCPenney is the largest by far. The company expects Facebook users to visit the store, which is accessible through a tab on the JCPenney Facebook Page, when they come across product mentions within their friends’ updates. A simple click brings them directly to the page where they can easily make their own purchase.
Fast Company reported the story this week saying:
“J.C. Penney expects that the new channel will give it more information about its customers, which could influence future marketing and product choices. ‘All of the information that Facebook has about people can be aggregated into analytical data,’ Jason Taylor [vice president of global product strategy for Usablenet, which built the Facebook operation for J.C. Penney] said. That includes the ages of their customers, what sorts of products they share with others, and how often they peruse the store’s offerings. ‘The interesting additional information they’re going to get could affect their decision-making,’ Taylor adds.”
On the flip side, the consumer perspective related to shopping via Facebook might present some challenges. Many social network users, particularly Facebook users, are concerned about the security of the private data they share. Facebook has been the subject of scrutiny frequently over the past couple of years for this very issue. There is undoubtedly a portion of Facebook users who will not be comfortable providing credit card or other financial information through the site in order to make a purchase from JCPenney or another retailer. That’s an issue that David Kiefaber of BrandFreak brought up in his own post about the new JCPenney store on Facebook, and it’s a valid point.
What do you think of branded stores on Facebook? Is offering shopping via social networking sites where consumers already spend time the next logical step for retail brands or is it like trying to fit a square peg in a round hole? Leave a comment and share your thoughts on this marketing trend.
10 Brand Stories that Made Headlines in 2010
December 14, 2010
2010 was a year dictated by struggling economies and a proliferation of information via the social Web that brands were forced to recognize and respond to. It was also a year of some brands demise, some brands repositioning, and some brands survival against the odds. Following are reminders of 10 brand stories that got people talking in 2010.
1. BP
A 2010 brands in the news article wouldn’t seem accurate if it didn’t start with the BP oil spill off the Gulf Coast of the United States that damaged a brand but seemingly, not beyond repair. Remember what happened to the BP brand in 2010 in these posts:
- BP – Flooded in Oil Rather than ‘Beyond Petroleum”
- The BP Brand Fallout – Consumers Weigh In
- It’s Not Just BP that Consumers Don’t Trust
- New Study Shows BP Still the Bad Guys in Consumers’ Minds
2. Toyota
The brand that owned the word “reliable” in the automobile market became the target of news as recalls battered the brand’s image and promise early in 2010. Toyota pursued a variety of initiatives to regain consumers’ trust, including turning to Digg to change negative brand perceptions.
3. World Cup
Brands from around the globe tried to catch some of the buzz from the 2010 World Cup. Nielsen even charted World Cup perceptions in seven countries!
4. iPad
Who wasn’t talking about Apple’s iPad in 2010? It was the new product story of the year!
5. Old Spice
Old Spice proved that a brand can be given new life with a new ad campaign, social media marketing, and a bit of creativity!
6. Gap
In a story dubbed “Gap-gate”, the retail clothing store, Gap, released a new logo that caused people to cry foul. One week later, the new Gap logo was gone and the old Gap logo returned.
7. Hummer
The gas-guzzling, eco-unfriendly Hummer brand met its demise in May 2010 when the last new Hummer rolled off the production line after all attempts to sell the brand by General Motors failed.
8. Mad Men
2010 marked the year that a cable television show called Mad Men delivered $3 million in free exposure to 74 brands, and that number is still growing!
9. Earlybird
It’s not a household brand name yet, but the Earlybird story is one that got people talking in 2010 when with only 3 tweets published in just 5 days the @earlybird Twitter account got over 40,000 followers. Five months later, nearly a quarter million people follow @earlybird.
10. Facebook
Facebook was literally everywhere in 2010, so I’d be remiss not to include the brand in this list. Check out some of the branding stories related to Facebook that drove a buzz in 2010:
- Facebook ‘Like’ Opens Targeting Opportunities for Marketers
- Calculating the Value of Facebook Fans
- Facebook Asks Users to Share Stories of How Facebook Impacted Their Lives
- The Real Reasons People ‘Like’ Brands on Facebook
- 28 Facebook Brand Pages with the Most Likes
- New Brand Marketing – More Facebook Likes Equals More Brand Savings
- Facebook Dominates Display Advertising Impressions
What brand stories got you talking in 2010? Leave a comment and share your thoughts about branding in 2010.
10 Ideal Gifts for Corporate Communicators
December 12, 2010
Suppose you had to buy a present for a corporate communicator; what would you choose?
I know what I’d like, so here are some ideas for your own favourite corporate communicator; but I’d love to hear your suggestions – big or small!
1. For writing
We all have our favourite writing tools, and there is something special about opening a new packet: is their favourite a set of sharp pencils or a decent pen? Red pen or highlighter? Get the tool right, and the words will flow – and even those dedicated to the keyboard need pens or pencils for something. Pair it with a Moleskine, and you’ll have a friend for life.
2. For editing
The latest edition of their favourite style guide, thesaurus or dictionary – one without the coffee rings, broken spine, and turned down corners from when it got ‘borrowed’ by someone else…
I’d like The Global English Style Guide: Writing Clear, Translatable Documentation for a Global Market
3. For optimising
It’s got to be a subscription to ScribeSEO* – I find this tool very useful to finetune text for the web, and it’s not just for bloggers. I’m using it as a WordPress plugin, but you can copy any proposed web text into the online tool, and it will come up with suggestions for improving optimisation.
4. For portable web work
An iPad. Need I say more?
5. For keeping going
Lots of coffee! Really good coffee, or a new coffee maker. Even those chocolate-coated coffee beans help, I find…
6. For keeping up with your peers
There’s so much wonderful stuff out there, it’s difficult to keep up with everyone, and it’s easy to get the feeling that you’re missing some key ideas. How about organising a newfangled mixtape: a feedreader set up with your pick of corporate communications blogs, Twitter feeds etc?
(No-one else remember mix-tapes? Oh well…)
7. For keeping up with new channels
A training course for handling social media crises, rather than handling a crisis for the first time in public. Have a look at The Social Simulator; I’m sure you’ll agree that this seems like a great idea.
8. For keeping up with industry trends
A ticket to a big conference that your favourite corporate communicator would just love to go to; get a pair, and you could go together. I’ve really enjoyed the Communicate Magazine conferences this year, but I didn’t get to the Corporate Social Media Summit. Maybe next year?
9. For keeping up with the best
I’ve got to say it: a subscription to our Corporate package, so that your best beloved corporate communicator can see just what their chosen peers and the best in class are doing with their corporate websites: up to date information available online, with gap analysis, criteria analysis and performance analysis, to measure the effectiveness of their online presence.
10. Because we’re worth it
Some time off! Because we all need to recharge our batteries sometime.
So: what’s on your wish list?
* affiliate link
Corporate Eye Summary December 11, 2010
December 11, 2010
- Honda’s Naughty or Nice Facebook App Tracks Behavior with a Fun Hook
I have to hand it to Honda for coming up with a Facebook app that can be perceived by consumers as fun, entertaining, and humorous, but could be working hard behind the scenes to tell Honda’s marketing team so much more than whether a user has been naughty or nice this year.
To use the Honday [...]
- Green Advertising : Top Five Traps To Avoid 2/2
This is Part 2 of the Green Advertising : Feeling The Pressure post a few weeks ago. Apologies if you’ve been on tenterhooks waiting for it!
The concept of Greenwashing has been around, it seems, for ages. The trouble is, with the public, NGOs and various other bodies keeping a sharp look out, a company can [...]
- Ad Spending Forecasts Highlight China and the Internet
This week, ZenithOptimedia released its “Adspend Forecast Update” for December 2010 and one type of advertising and one region of the world drew attention as the focus of opportunity for the future. In other words, companies are shifting budgets and investing more money into the large-scale opportunity of China and the lost-cost and wide-reach of [...]
- A Rabbit Warren of Brazilian Banking CSR
Management & Excellence is what I can only describe as an intriguing and unique company. Their website describes them as:
a research and rating company in the areas of ethics, sustainability, corporate governance, transparency and corporate social responsibility (CSR) specialized in Latin America, Spain and the oil industry worldwide
The company recently released the results [...]
- Corporate Eye Summary December 4, 2010
What Makes for Effective Investor Relations Sites? Part 31: Annual General Meetings
Companies are of two minds about Annual General Meetings of Shareholders; some view them as a necessary evil to be dispensed with as quickly and with as little fanfare as possible; others see it as an opportunity to reach out to their owners [...]
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