Zappos Employees as Brand Champions
September 5, 2008
Zappos.com is an online shopping site that sells clothes, shoes, gift items and more. It’s a site and company that has quickly gained a reputation for being a great place to shop online. According to an article in Advertising Age this week, Zappos.com executives attribute the vast majority of that success to word-of-mouth marketing and leveraging employees as brand champions.
The company even publishes a 300-page Zappos Culture Book each year that is jam-packed with stories from employees about how much they enjoy working at Zappos and what the Zappos culture means to them. And these aren’t just the canned responses you usually read in annual reports. These stories are heartfelt. Read more
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The Training Overview
September 1, 2008
Career Expectations
Training is one factor that many graduates actively consider when they are looking for favorable career opportunities. This is why companies and organization should focus on making their “training program” more appealing to the graduate sector.
Your Way, Your Strategy
Simply stating that the company offers extensive training is not enough to attract the quality graduates that your company needs. One thing that graduates usually want is information and making sure that they have this would encourage them to apply. This does not mean that all information should be disclosed, it just means that information which is relevant should be highlighted and included in this list.
BT Training
Based on my research, I discovered two innovative and very informative company websites which provide details on the training that graduates would be receiving once they join the company.
Telecoms company BT provides details of the training schedule for different career paths; and retail giant Macy’s also shows the benefits of training through highlighting the 17 core courses which would be given to graduates assigned to different fields.
In terms of highlighting training for graduates, companies should use different strategies but as I mentioned, one important thing here is information. Training is given for graduates to enhance their skills and at the same time to help the company. Having a detailed and informative training overview could help in attracting and selecting good candidates for the position.
Brands and Social Media Marketing - Samsung
August 29, 2008
Samsung Electronics America is tapping the social web in its promotions leading up to the Super Bowl on February 1, 2009. The Super Bowl is one of the most watched sporting events in the United States and, it is broadcast globally. Brands pay big bucks (over $2 million is not unusual) for a 30-second advertising spot during the Big Game that is likely to be seen by well over 100 million people around the world. Samsung is counting on it with its new marketing campaign.
Samsung has created an entire campaign around its 30-second ad buy during the 2009 Super Bowl Pregame. The campaign is called “That’s How I See It” and is intended to hype Samsung as the Official HDTV of the NFL - a sponsorship title I’m sure they paid heavily for. Read more
Corporate Brand Mind Survey from Harvard University
August 27, 2008
Harvard University’s Department of Psychology is conducting some interesting research related to corporate brand reputations, and you can participate by taking a 10-minute survey on the Mind Survey website.
The tests are broken down into 19 categories related to emotional triggers, and each test references the same collection of corporate brands .
The 19 surveys included in the Mind Survey project focus on: Read more
Procter & Gamble Seeks Creative Input from Consumers
August 18, 2008
In a growing trend, Procter & Gamble is turning to consumers to help create a tagline for its new Crest Whitening Expressions toothpaste flavor through a contest on YouTube and supported by a print and television campaign filmed in American Idol-style with Emeril Lagassi as one of the judges. The campaign was created in part by Saatchi & Saatchi New York (TV) and Digitas New York (online).
In an article in Brandweek, Blake Cahill, senior vice president of sales and marketing at Visible Technologies Seattle was quoted as saying that the campaign is an example of how brands are relying more and more on consumers to provide creative content as ideas from consumers prove to be, “many times more creative than what their own agencies deliver.” Read more