Corporate Eye

...compare, compete, excel

Susan Gunelius

Susan Gunelius

Brand Messages Must Connect with College Students Faster Than Ever

A study conducted by CourseSmart of U.S. college students who own mobile devices reveals some important insights to brands who are trying to market to this fast-moving audience.

According to the study, 93% of the survey respondents own a laptop and 47% own a smartphone. Just 7% own and ereader and another 7% own an iPad. Of course, iPad sales are expected to double in 2012, so these numbers are likely to look completely different a year from now. However, the data in the study will be no less valuable to brands.

The study included 18-25 year olds, and 84% of the audience claimed that they use two or more mobile devices at the same time while simultaneously watching television. For example, a student might be doing homework on a laptop, texting with a friend on her mobile phone, and watching television — all at the same time. Specifically, the breakdown of responses follows (via eMarketer):

  • 36% use a mobile phone and laptop while watching television.
  • 25% use a mobile phone, laptop, and iPad while watching television.
  • 19% use a mobile phone, laptop, iPad, and more while watching television.
  • 17% use a mobile phone while watching television.
  • 3% use no devices while watching television.

Clearly, these students will make excellent multi-taskers when they enter the workforce! All joking aside, there is an important takeaway for brand marketers that can be gleaned from this data. It is extremely difficult to cut through the existing noise and clutter surrounding U.S. college students who own mobile devices. They choose the majority of this noise and clutter, so brands have a challenge in front of them. Stealing a snippet of time from this audience away from the many messages they are bombarded with continually by choice is a monumental task. And it’s very likely that these study results are the same for college students in other countries as well.

Therefore, brands have to create marketing campaigns that capture the attention and cut through the noise instantly. Furthermore, this is an audience that knows brands are trying to sell something to them, and they have no patience for the slow-build up or veiled messages. Get to the point and deliver your best message first! The audience will decide if they like what your best message is, but they won’t stick around to listen to you talk about how great your brand is with the hope that your ultimate message will be worth the wait. By the time you get your message out, they’ve already moved on to a third, fourth, or fifth device, activity, and conversation.

Image: Flickr

New Ivory Soap Logo and Ad Campaign Demonstrates the Power of Brand Focus

Ivory soap debuted in 1879 as an American soap to compete against expensive, luxury soaps from Europe. For nearly a century, Ivory soap has used a tagline (in one variation or another) that identifies Ivory as 99.44% pure — so pure, it floats! A logo refresh, new package design, and ad campaign created by Wieden+Kennedy, was intended to reinforce consumers’ focus on the pure message in a clean and simple way.

First up, the new logo is certainly simple as you can see in the image below. Honestly, it seems too generic, but where this brand refresh shines is in the advertising creative.

According to the description of the brand refresh on the Wieden+Kennedy website:

“The inspiration for this campaign came from the observation of how, over the years, in an effort to make life simpler, we have somehow made life more complicated. Taking a humorous look at what are called “Ivoryisms” – these honest truths include a series of simple and straightforward messages that reintroduce Ivory’s perspective on keeping things clean and simple.”

You can see some of those “Ivoryisms” in the print ad samples below.

 

 

These bold and simple messages are excellent. They capture people’s attention and represent things people can relate directly to in their own lives. There is no doubt that the “loofah” ad above will strike a chord with a specific target market (for example, men). Another hits people where it counts — their wallets, and a third is likely to resonate with audiences who don’t like overly-fragrant soaps that smell like perfumes.

The video element of the advertising campaign is equally simple. Again, the Ivoryisms take center stage with no visual distractions or cluttered messaging. Two samples are included below.

Focused brands are powerful brands, so it makes sense that Ivory would contract its brand focus to its original brand promise of purity. That clean and simple message says it all, and in today’s overflowing soap aisle at the supermarket, a pure, clean, and simple soap is just what many customers are looking for.

What do you think of the Ivory brand refresh?

Images: WK.com

Google and Apple Keep Stealing Market Share from RIM (and All the Rest)

Things aren’t looking good for Research in Motion (RIM) as far as the smartphone market is concerned. Recently, comScore released data related to the U.S. smartphone market that paints a grim picture for the maker of BlackBerry.

According to comScore, Google and Apple continue to steal market share from competitors in the smartphone market, namely RIM, Microsoft, and Symbian in the United States.

Check out the numbers below to see how these competitors fared in the fight for market share between June 2011 to September 2011:

  • Google: 44.8% market share (up 4.6%)
  • Apple: 27.4% market share (up 0.8%)
  • RIM: 18.9% market share (down 4.6%)
  • Microsoft: 5.6% market share (down 0.2%)
  • Symbian: 1.8% market share (down 0.2%)

There is no doubt which brands are dominating the smartphone market, and it seems unlikely that this trend will change anytime soon. For companies and brands looking to pursue mobile marketing initiatives, this data is very important. It tells you which platforms to focus on for exposure to more of the 234 million Americans over the age of 13 who own smartphones.

However, there is more to this story than smartphone platform market share. comScore also keeps track of the activities that people engage in with their smartphones. The number of mobile subscribers using their smartphones for more than just making phone calls continues to increase as the data below shows:

  • Sent text message to another phone: 71.1% of mobile subscribers as of September 2011 (up 1.5% from June 2011)
  • Used browser: 42.9% of mobile subscribers (up 2.8%)
  • Used downloaded apps: 42.5% of mobile subscribers (up 3.0%)
  • Accessed social networking site or blog: 31.5% of mobile subscribers (up 2.4%)
  • Played games: 28.8% of mobile subscribers (up 1.9%)
  • Listened to music on mobile phone: 20.9% (up 1.9%)

The fastest growing mobile activities according to this study are using downloaded apps, using a web browser, and accessing social networking sites or blogs. Get out your creative thinking caps, because there are opportunities waiting for you to promote your brand via mobile marketing.

Mobile apps, mobile-friendly websites, Facebook pages, and brand blogs are just a few ways you could be connecting with the active mobile audience. Their mobile engagement is only going to continue to grow, so you need to make sure your brand is mobile before it’s too late!

Image: Flickr

New York Times Sues Huffington Post Over Brand Name

On October 24, 2011, a former New York Times employee and manager of that company’s 3-year old “Motherlode” blog launched a new blog for her new employer, AOL’s The Huffington Post, called “Parentlode.”

That’s the story that a lawsuit filed by the New York Times on November 4, 2011 tells of Lisa Belkin who — 1-month into her new gig with The Huffington Post — launched the new blog with a name that is very similar to the blog she managed for the New York Times.

Belkin acknowledge the similarity in her first blog post published on Parentlode. As Jonathan Stempel of Reuters reports:

“Her first Parentlode blog entry referred to the Motherlode blog and said the name change in part reflected reader concerns that Motherlode does not fit ‘in an era when fathers are every bit the parent.’ She also said the old name does not fit a blog that ‘regularly champions equality, and new paradigms.’“

The New York Times claims in its lawsuit that Parentlode was launched with a name so close to its existing Motherlode blog that it “clearly intended” to confuse people.

Coincidence? It’s highly doubtful. You can follow the links to see the trademark filings from the United States Patent and Trademark Office for Motherlode (filed on October 24, 2011, the day Parentlode launched, but first used in commerce on October 1, 2008) and Parentlode (filed on October 14, 2011).

What do you think? Is the New York Times wasting its time? Should AOL fight the lawsuit or cut their losses (after all, the Parentlode blog has only been live for a couple of weeks)? One thing is for certain, AOL, The Huffington Post, the New York Times, Motherlode, and Parentlode are all getting some publicity from this lawsuit.

Leave a comment and share your thoughts. Who should be the victor in the trademark dispute between Motherlode and Parentlode and which brand should prevail?

Image: stock.xchng

Google+ Pages Open for Brands and Businesses

Just a few months ago, Google kicked brands, businesses, bands, and other non-personal profiles off of Google+ with a message that they’d be welcome back soon with something specifically created for them. That day has come.

Today, Google announced the worldwide launch of Google+ Pages giving brands, businesses, and the like a place on the fast growing social site. In a blog post on the Official Google Blog, Vic Gundotra, Senior Vice President of Engineering, stated that any business or organization, “will soon be able to join the community,” by creating their own Google+ Pages.

A number of bands, entertainers, nonprofit organizations, brands, and businesses have already created Google+ Pages, including Toyota, Pepsi, H&M, Save the Children UK, and more.

Not only can businesses and brands use Google+ to connect with existing and potential consumers around the world, but they can also use Google+ features like circles to segment groups of customers for targeted communications, hangouts to speak directly with their followers, and sparks to monitor conversations.

Google+ Pages will be integrated with other Google products such as AdWords for campaign tracking, and a verification process will be put in place for well-known brands to ensure people find the verified brand or business page rather than an imposter.

To coincide with the launch of Google+ Pages, Google also announced the launch of Direct Connect, which will enable people to search Google for a brand name preceded by a + sign (for example, +Toyota) and get an instant connection to that brand’s Google+ Page where they can instantly add the brand to their own account and go directly to the brand’s Google+ Page. Check out the video below to see how it will work.


Google continually teases both consumers and investors about more features coming for Google+, so we’ll have to wait and see what’s next. Google’s goal is clearly not to have the best stand-alone social networking site with Google+ but to integrate its varied products so closely that people become completely dependent on them — like a one-stop-shopping solution to more things than we can probably imagine.

What do you think of Google+ Pages and Direct Connect?