Corporate Eye

...compare, compete, excel

Brand

Brands Play April Fools Jokes Too

Even brands are not immune to the fun of April Fool’s Day.  A trip around the Web on April 1st can cause confusion, concern, and laughs, which more companies join each year. This year, I stumbled across several branded April Fool’s jokes that either made me do a double-take or crack a smile. Several are described below:

1. Google changes its name to Topeka
In a hat tip to the mayor of Topeka, Kansas who recently said he was changing the name of his city to Google, visitors to Google’s Web site today were greeted with a new name and logo.  I saw this one first thing this morning when I logged into my computer and while I noticed it, I just kept on going.  Since Google changes its logo frequently to match the current holiday, I’d imagine most Google users didn’t think much of this change.


Google_Topeka



2. Gmail loses its vowels
If you logged into Gmail at one point today, you would have noticed that all of the vowels on the page were missing.  I saw it and paused for a moment before realizing it had to be an April Fool’s joke!


gmail_vowels



3. Starbucks introduces new sizes
Starbucks introduced two new sizes for April Fool’s Day — the micra and the plenta, which could also be called the Dixie Cup size and the Bucket size.


starbucks_new_sizes



4. Kodak announces Aromatography
Scratch ‘n sniff photographs are finally here … April Fool’s!


kodak_aromotography


Did you see any funny, surprising, or even annoying branded April Fool’s jokes this year?  Leave a comment and share your story.

Europe Ahead of U.S. in Social Media Usage

A study released by Nielsen earlier this year shows that the British and Australians use social media more than Americans. As the image below shows, the United States ranked third in October 2009 based on the amount of time people spent on social media sites per day. Both Australia and Britain came out ahead of the United States in terms of social media usage.


Nielsen_Social_Media_Usage_Study


It’s interesting to note from this chart, however, that there are great gaps in social media usage from one European country to the next. Clearly, social media marketing strategies must account for these nuances. Furthermore, according to an article on The Economist earlier this year, two-thirds of the 350 million Facebook users are outside of the United States, so there is no doubt that social media marketing should be a global strategy for marketers.

These social media usage statistics are very important to companies looking to expand globally or within targeted international geographic areas. Blanket social media marketing strategies won’t work. Just as social media usage varies by age, it also differs by location.

Do your research and make sure you understand how your target audience is using social Web tools before you develop and launch social media marketing campaigns. While it’s still very difficult to measure social media marketing results, it’s much easier to learn how people use social Web tools and then tailor programs to match those behaviors.

Brands Really Can Connect With Consumers Through Online Video Ads

hulu Brands Really Can Connect with Consumers Through Online Video AdsWhile the consensus for years has been that consumers won’t accept watching ads (at least not too many ads) in online video like they do while watching television, a report from comScore tells a different story. It turns out that consumers who watch full-length programs on a site like Hulu.com are more willing to watch ads than advertisers originally thought, particularly if watching a few more ads per hour means the online video service will remain free to use.

For example, the study shows that most people who watch programs on Hulu.com are actually avid television viewers who choose Hulu.com not primarily to avoid ads but because they missed a program when it aired on television or to watch several episodes of a program at one time. Only 38% of the 2,000 people surveyed claimed to watch programs on Hulu.com because there are fewer commercials. The study also showed that respondents are willing to watch up to 50% more commercials per hour to keep the site free.

Considering the fact that (by number of viewers) Hulu.com is the second fastest growing online video site and the second largest online video site (but still significantly behind the market leader, Google video sites, which includes YouTube.com), these statistics are important for brand advertisers. It turns out that a medium which was once considered to be anti-ads might not be anti-ads at all, and that’s a big opportunity for brands to connect with consumers!

The trick for brands is to find the types of online videos where consumers are willing to accept watching ads. Clearly, not all online videos (and not all ads) are equal, and different video site are equally different. In other words, blanket online video advertising strategies will cause you to miss opportunities to connect with engaged, and targeted consumer audiences. A better online video advertising strategy is a highly segmented one.

What do you think about online video advertising as a marketer? How about as an online video viewer? Does your opinion change? Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Image: Flickr — Gary Vaynerchuk’s Wine Library TV on Hulu.com

Are You Talking to the Right People about Your Brand Online?

ladderEvery company is trying to jump on the social media marketing bandwagon having finally realized that if your brand isn’t a topic of conversation on the social Web, then you’re missing a big opportunity to build brand awareness, recognition, purchases, and loyalty.  But are you talking to the right people about your brand online?  That’s the truly important question that you need to constantly monitor and re-evaluate to ensure your social media efforts aren’t for naught.

One of the first steps I always tell my social media marketing clients who are just getting started on the social Web is to take some time finding your best customers and prospects online.  Where are they already spending time on the social Web?  Once you find them, join the conversation and start hanging out with them just as you would if you were trying to build relationships and network in person.  Once you get on their radar screens and develop relationships with them, you can start pulling them over to your branded destination for more conversations.  They won’t seek you out or follow you until they know you and know what kind of value you bring to the online conversation.

There is a second part to finding people to talk to and build relationships with on the social Web that is often overlooked.  You also need to consider the roles each person that you connect with online plays in the larger online community.  Their roles should affect how you communicate with them.  I like the breakdown of social media personalities from Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff’s Groundswell to help understand online behaviors and how they can impact your communications strategy.  In their book, they identify the Social Technographics Ladder, which is broken down into six categories of people based on how they participate on the social Web as follows:

  1. Inactives: At the bottom of the ladder are inactives who do not participate on the social Web at all, meaning they don’t create or consume content of any kind.
  2. Spectators: Spectators consume content.  They read blogs, watch shared videos, listen to podcasts, and so on, but they don’t participate in an active way.  In other words, they are passive social Web participants.
  3. Joiners: Joiners have profiles on social networking sites but aren’t particularly active in using those profiles once they create them.
  4. Collectors: Collectors participate on the social Web by consuming content and adding modest additions to content created by other people.  For example, they read blog content by subscribing to RSS feeds and they participate in online polls and voting.
  5. Critics: Critics consume and create, but they do so in a reactionary way.  In other words, they comment on other people’s blogs, contribute to forums, edit wiki articles, and post reviews of services, all of which are fairly reactionary methods of participation.
  6. Creators: Creators are at the top of the social Web participation ladder.  They are the true content creators who write their own blogs, create their own Web sites, publish their own online videos, create podcasts, and so on.

When you look at the six behavioral personalities defined above, you can better understand how the roles people play online makes them more receptive to different types of messaging.  For example, Critics and Creators are the most powerful online influencers.  They are the most vocal online audience and they can help you spread your messages.  The information and conversation that you engage them with should be very different than your interactions with Spectators or Joiners.

People from every group could be customers and can learn about your brand from the social Web (even Inactives could indirectly hear about your brand offline from someone who heard about it via the social Web).  However, just as you modify your messages when you network and build relationships with people in person, you must do the same on the social Web.  In other words, do your research and know who the influencers are.  Only then can you effectively interact with them and other groups on the social Web.

Image: Flickr

Early Adopters Have Significant Influence on Brand Success

Ad_age_yahoo_early_adopters_reportA new white paper from Advertising Age (sponsored by Yahoo!) called Shiny New Thing: What Digital Adopters Want, How to Reach Them, and Why Every Marketer Should Pay Attention reinforces the idea that people who are quick to try new brands, products, and services, are influential both online and offline.

The statistics for early adopters tell us:

  • 62% of early adopters are more likely to upgrade a mobile phone as soon as a new model becomes available.
  • 68% are more likely to have purchased three or more computers in the past two years.
  • 58% are more likely to have purchased three or more flat-screen TV’s in the past two years.

Not only are they quick to try new products and brands in the technology industry, as revealed in the statistics above, but they’re also more likely to talk about those products and brands on the social Web where many early adopters have established followers.  That means the opinions of early adopters can be very influential on a broad scale.

In other words, the opinions of early adopter are no longer confined to the neighborhood or office.  Today, early adopters are vocal about their opinions and they share them freely using the tools of the social Web such as Twitter and Facebook.

As the Advertising Age report reminds us, “early adopters sway the early majority, and those groups can account for half of a new product’s sales.”  Clearly, this is a group that you want to connect with on a positive level, and what better place to find them and build relationships with them than on the social Web?  If early adopters can talk about your brand and products online, thereby influencing a large audience of consumers, then you can use the social Web to influence early adopters.  However, your influence should be indirect.  Strong arming people with sales messages on the social Web is a surefire route to disaster.  Instead, be patient, build relationships, and your efforts should be rewarded with brand advocacy in the future.

The Advertising Age report also reminds us of the three motivating factors that define early adopters, which you can use to help you find early adopters on the social Web and more effectively communicate with them in a language and style they’ll respond to positively:

  • They aren’t afraid to take risks.
  • They enjoy gathering and sharing information.
  • They like to research products and tell other people what to buy.
  • They are status seekers.

While the Advertising Age report focused on technology early adopters, the lessons can apply to most industries.  This is a customer group that bores quickly and is constantly looking for the next great thing.  The worst thing you could do is ignore them.  Instead, you need to deliver great products, earn a solid brand reputation, and build positive relationships with them.

Repackaging Campbell’s from the Top Down

Have you ever stood in the soup aisle at the grocery store and been faced with a sea of red Campbell’s soup cans, but you simply cannot find the flavor you’re looking for?  We’ve all been there, cursing to no one in particular but desperately wanting to find that can of tomato soup so you can get out of there as fast as possible.  Fortunately, Campbell’s heard our cries.

Using neuromarketing research results, Campbell’s has redesigned its soup can packaging from the top down.  No longer is the red Campbell’s logo emblazoned across the top of Campbell’s soup cans.  The neuromarketing research determined that having the red band of color along the top of all Campbell’s soup cans made it more difficult for consumers to find the specific flavors they wanted.  Consumers became frustrated with the too consistent packaging of Campbell’s soups, so the logo has been relegated to the bottom of the can.

Based on the company’s research, the iconic Campbell’s soup can that’s been the subject of everything from Andy Warhol’s artistic eye to comedic skits has been replaced.  Not only has the Campbell’s logo been moved, but the soups in the Campbell’s product line have been categorized and color-coded to save you a few minutes (or more) on your next trip down the grocery store soup aisle.

Check out some of the additional changes to the Campbell’s soup packaging shown in the image below:

campbells_soup_package_redesign

What do you think of the new Campbell’s soup packaging? I don’t think repositioning the logo will affect the brand identity negatively, and I think the new packaging does look more modern. I also think the color-coding is a big improvement and will surely save me some time in the supermarket, but I don’t think I would have ever noticed the additional steam or lack of a spoon in the picture. How about you?

Image: Campbell’s via LogoLounge