Problem and Solution

Recently I received an email from my Dog's veterinary hospital. The email created a need, problem and solution, in order to draw people into their boarding service for the holiday. Coming from a veterinary hospital, they created their own disease (canine guiltitus), with treatment (their boarding service).

I found this an interesting form of advertising draw. The veterinary clinic created a problem that their secondary service could resolve. In presenting the treatment, they created various aspects and features which positions their boarding facility over others, including having them be onsite in a veterinary clinic.

In order to make the process easier for consumers, especially those who are busy, they create a link on the email to put in a request for boarding with the best contact number and time for reachability, dates of stay, and an optional note. By creating the ease of access, consumers will be more inclined to utilize and prebook a reservation.

PSAs... A form of Advertising

With the holiday season coming up, I have noticed that several companies have released Public Service Announcements (PSAs) in an effort to extend their concern, or brand, into the conscious of individuals. I have noticed them in the form of t.v. commercials, radio commercials, and billboards.

Prior and throughout the holiday seasons, you will see various alcoholic beverage companies asking individuals to not drink in drive, tobacco companies promoting not smoking, billboards from the Dept of Public Safety asking individuals if they are ready for the holiday rush driving season, and now I am beginning to see Verizon launching a "Don't text and drive" advertising campaign. As I was searching the internet, I came across a creative PSA that was not in the traditional servicing method. In Romania, a company placed a "road" with a dotted line in the men's urinals to see if they can "drive a straight line," with the intention of creating the message that if you can not relieve yourself in a straight line, you sure cannot drive one (see below).


I have began to notice, even with myself, that as a consumer if you realize that the company is out for your own best interest despite profit interest, you will be more likely to become loyal to that brand and they even may become part of your evoked set. But even more benefit to the company by creating a PSA is the free advertisements that they receive. By creating an advertising campaign based upon the "announcements regarded as serving community interests" and not the promotional aspect of a company, a company is able to gain brand awareness in the form of little to no cost.

Fuel TV: A Social Network...?

First to begin, I will explain what Fuel TV is...

Fuel TV is a extreme lifestyle television network that features sports such as skateboarding, bmx, wakeboarding, snowboarding, and motocross. Their shows, network commercials, and mini shows are highly creative and appeal to an audience that has a short attention span. To aid in the outreach of the television network, they have a website, www.fuel.tv. The website has the same look, feel and environment as portrayed on television. But what I find cool about the website is it satisfies the hedonic and social values even more.

While watching the channel the other night, I watched a commercial that advertised a game for one of the scheduled shows. To check it out further, I went onto the website and discovered that their website, although seperate from Facebook and MySpace, was a social network site of its own for the action sports community. They provide an area to Sign Up where it gives you access to meet other individuals, send them personal messages, share photos, contests, participate in blogs and other discussions.

Along with the social network aspect, Fuel TV offers videos and photos for almost every professional action sport, breaking industry news, forums, downloads, and games. This recent game extends the purpose recently discussed in my Promotions class...extending social and hedonic values to gain the support of current and new customers/followers. Upon visiting the "Built to Shred" Game, I discovered that it was composed of a highly social component where members are able to play against eachother and scores are posted on a weekly scoreboard with a chance to win prizes for the top ten leaders.

All in all, I found it interesting that what started out as a television network, extended itself into a website with its own social network. I think that several individuals might find this more attractive than a Facebook or MySpace since the benefits provided are directly a result of the desired industry. The social, functional, and hedonic values will be more strongly satisfied and successful to the desired follower. It would be a good idea that for other industry lifestyle sites to extend themselves out to the followers as such.

AT&T's Response to Verizon

Even since my last post, which was in regards to Verizon, Verizon has came out with an even larger marketing campaign against AT&T for the holidays. But with the flood of Verizon commercials to gain an even larger customer loyalty base, AT&T was forced to come up with a rebuttal commercial. Although in my opinion I felt it wasn't nearly as attractive and creative as the Verizon campaign series, AT&T was able to find some key attributes that their network offers over Verizon.

In my opinion, of the attributes selected only 2 maybe 3 are measurable (excluding the last "joke" feature) - the number of apps available, access to internet while talking, and possibly a faster 3G network (based upon data transfer speed and connection strength). The other 1-2 features are more perception - again the 3G network speed and the most popular smartphone selection.

Obviously I am biased and am a Verizon customer, but I feel that AT&T could have responded to the Verizon commercial with a stronger, more catchy message. I felt the message being portrayed only served functional purposes and not hedonic or social purposes. Although there is a "bit" (yeah its a stretch) of dry humor appeal, I was not attracted or impressed with their comeback.

As far as the celebrity endorser of Luke Wilson, I felt like they did not use him to the fullest advantage. I truely believe that AT&T could have utilized Luke Wilson, a comic and movie star, to create a funny play back on Verizon to gain attention.

On the other hand, AT&T's earlier commercial based upon a college campus where a neighboring girl lost her dog was much more effective in portraying functional use, as well as social use. Even though this did not specifically spell out advantages, it was more effective in delivering the message of the qualities offered by the Network.

"iDon't..." Will Do against AT&T

Verizon's new television marketing promotion for their newest smart phone, the Droid, creates a catchy play on AT&T's iPhone. At first play, it clearly looks to be an iPhone commerical, but as it continues on the "iDon't..." phrase it becomes clear that it isn't.

Watch

Droids creative positioning of "DroidDoes" creates a solution to common complaints or downfalls of the iPhone. The "iDont" segments are all features of the Droid that the iPhone does not have. I found this unique in that it shapes the opinions of the viewers by telling them what downfalls the iPhone does not offer, and molds their thinking into "needing this new product."

The addition of the Droid to the Verizon product line will create an even stronger market share in the Smart Phone market. AT&T currently offers the streamline iPhone, along with 13 other Smart Phones (all not being touch phones and including various Blackberry lines). With the addition of the Droid, Verizon will feature their streamline Blackberry Storm and now the Droid, along with 13 other Smart Phones (not all touch phones, including Blackberry lines, and not including non smart phone touch phones). As you can see, this addition will create the edge Verizon needs to gain a competitve advantage in the cellular phone market.

Mulisha Marketing

Metal Mulisha MySpace

Social networking sites have created a Paradise for marketers and companies. But with almost every company participating in each social network, what makes a support site successful? Well there are a few factors which present a successful environment in interacting with customers such as richness, consistency, interactivity, and engagement.

As an individual getting ready to form a social network page for a upcoming clothing company, I began to look at pages of prominent brands in the like industry. In that search, I found one in particular that was constructed with the principles stated above.
Metal Mulisha, an extreme sports brand and "lifestyle" has developed pages within MySpace, Facebook, and Twitter. Since I am not a member of Facebook, I decided to use MySpace as my platform. My first look... a look at the imagery, colors, and design. From this, it was consistent with their primary webpage and any print media they release. The content, although a little explicit from "friends," was consistent with the attitude and imagery the brand portrays. The next look... interactivity. I was extremely surprised at the level of interactivity this brand offered - the usual photos, videos, playlists and blogs. As I explored into those areas, I found each photo, video, and blog offered areas for comments for members. On the main page, there was a section where the publisher could comment on current statuses or happenings, not to mention a Twitter App which posted the most recent comments from their Twitter account.

Although other companies offered other apps such as watch television shows they like and the such, I felt this site was most representative and had the most reach to the following population. I felt like they had a strong outreach of events and any updated news. To make sure followers remained aware of any changes or activity within their "Space" they have a section called "Activity Stream." I found this genius seeing there is so much content on the page with so many comments from followers, it would be extremely easy to miss any updated information.

Finally, the area I found most interesting and beneficial was the extent of "top friends" on their space. Almost every single top friend is a Professional Motocrosser, FMXer, or industry leader company. This reach allows followers to reach every aspect and face of the brand in one easy place, aside from their company website with bios, events, and media.

All in all, I found this company's social network sites extremely helpful to the brand in terms of the reach, interactivity, and consistency. The marketing team behind this company is definately utilizing a strong IMC approach.

A Change of Positioning?

With the gaining popularity of AT&T, especially with the addition of the iPhone to its family, Verizon felt the need to step up their "game" in order to keep a competitive edge in the cellular phone industry. In an attack against AT&T and Apple's iPhone, Verizon changed their positioning to focus first off on their competitors, then on the benefits they offered.

Verizon's first "Can you hear me now?" campaign proved extremely successful in highlighting the benefit provided by holding an account with Verizon. In 2001, Verizon positioned itself not as the low cost leader but higher quality cellular phone service. According to USAToday.com, in the first 2 years of the launch of the positioning Net Customers increased 15% and market share was gained (USAToday.com).

Now that AT&T is gaining popularity once again with the help of the iPhone, Verizon felt the need to change it's positioning once again, but this time the focus was on its competition - AT&T. This new campaign plays on AT&T's recent tag line "We've Got an App for That," with Verizon claiming "There's a Map for That." This new positioning statement suggests to the consumers, yes AT&T may have an App for everything, but how about their coverage? Within the new commercial, Verizon slams the available coverage for its new 3G service that goes along with the iPhone. But to me this makes sense, why buy a phone regardless how many apps you can get if you never get reception?

WATCH

"I've Got It All." Even for a Trash Can?

In an effort to re boost the popularity of California's Scratchers Lottery, an new advertising promotion and campaign was launched.

WATCH
(only 32 seconds)

When I first saw this commerical on TV I thought how weird a Trash Can living it up to some catchy, annoying music. But as I saw it again, I thought that this ad is actually whitty, displaying that anyone who plays has a chance, at least a second chance.

By the man throwing the scratcher away in the trash can, he is basically giving away a winning ticket from a second chance. The message behind this promotion is clear, do not throw away your non-winning scratchers because that ticket has the chance to be a winner in the near future. For this case, when the man got rid of his ticket, the trash can "won" since he held the ticket that was picked from the drawing. As result, the Trash Can was able to live up the "winning life-style."

Out of curiosity I went to the CA Lottery Scratchers page to read up more on this "Replay" Promotion. I found it interesting that all the images displayed in the commerical -- partying on the town with beautiful women, getting plastic surgery, attending top seating sporting events, fancy restaurants & jewelry -- are way to costly than the actual prize amount. With only 8 pooled drawings at $1000 each, I thought the commercial is an exaggeration on the actual winnings amounts. I also discovered that you must enter the ticket into the drawing pools with the identification numbers, in order to participate in the promotion, therefore you must have internet access and most of all, remember to insert your ticket in the game.

Overall, this promotion, along with the invention of new games, is revitalizing a dieing market for the CA Lottery. I believe this will encourage more to play the game, seeing that you have a second chance at winning, plus the second chance winnings are greater than most games offer.

What's Next for Plastic Bottles?

After last weeks post on clothing companies' effort to expand their business through social responsibility, I recalled an ad that I came across in a magazine over the summer. In this post, I would like to expand upon Billabong's efforts that I mentioned briefly in the prior posting.

When Billabong began to participate in Project Blue's campaign, they sought to impact the global environmental community through reducing the number of plastic water bottles in landfills. In order to do so, they devised a method to create board shorts out of recycled textiles and plastic. The end result... 10 plastic bottles are used to create every one pair of shorts, thus creating 100% recycled polyester boardshorts.

After the release of these shorts, along with a vivid ad campaign to match, Surfd (an online surfing magazine ) felt the need to create a review of the shorts knowing the fact that they were created from plastic. Their first thought... stiff with much rash to come (softly put). Their first impression... "really soft... If angels wear feather boardies in wave heaven then I reckon they’d feel something like this." In the end, they passed the comfort and style test demanded by the editors.


As far as the effectiveness of the print ads go, they have been creative and portrayed in the right context. The first picture portrays the message of plastic bottles floating in water, but a solution... the shorts the model has on. The second picture, shorts as one in nature with a wooden fence and much greenery. As far as publicity goes on Billabong's part, I felt that when I searched and looked over their website there was very few about their co-op with Project Blue, along with any effort on their new innovative eco collection. I feel I found more information by searching the internet and from secondary sources, than their own webpage.

All in all, I think this innovative concept of helping the environment through production is brilliant.

"It's not a Charity. It's a Plan of Action."

In the past decade, global warming and environmental awareness has gained much momentum in the media and spanning global communities. But when I think of a sports community that does their part to sustain environmental awareness, one particular group comes to mind.

With a mission statement claiming, "a non-profit environmental organization dedicated to the protection and enjoyment of the world's oceans, waves and beaches for all people, through conservation, activism, research and education," the Surfrider Foundation has been pushing policies and principles since 1984. Over the years, this Non-Profit has created several successful initiatives and programs, such as beach protection, water cleanup, polution, and land preservation. Its most recent campaign which has caught my eye is its Project Blue Initiative - a partnership with the top 6 global surf retail brands. This partnership established a "Blue" line within each of these companies, where consumers can purchase items where proceeds will go to the Surfrider Foundation for preserving the coastal eco-system.

In order to create an outreach and access to the community, Project Blue extends itself with downloads, a site blog, and a MySpace Page (http://www.myspace.com/betruetoblue).

The following is a list of participating brands, which offer items that are produced from recycled materials or environmentally friendly materials in one way or another:

• Billabong: Clothing
  
• Dakine: Bags
  
• Electric: Sunglasses
• Nixon: Watches
  
• Oneill: Clothing
  
• Reef: Shoes
  
• Famous Surf Wax: Accessories

Although I am glad to see organizations and companies team up to participate in a socially responsible cause, I think that these should be marketed much stronger.

What Do You See?

You open your mailbox or go to your front door, and there is another print advertisement. You think "I hate junk mail and solicitation, and I just throw these things away. So why do they keep sending them?"

While searching the internet, I came across a new form of print advertising which is gaining popularity and drawing attention. If you looked out your peep hole of your door and saw what appeared to be someone outside, the odds of you opening it are large. But when you open the door, you discover it is a cardboard model taped to your door just below your peephole. This new form of advertising is gaining popularity and sparking interest into what is now being called peephole advertising.

This new form of advertising was first started by the creative expertise of Quorum/Nazca Saatchi & Saatchi for Papa Johns Pizza. Papa Johns discovered the mailing out of coupon flyers was not as effective as desired, therefore they strove for a completely new concept. This sticker has already grabbed the attention of many and has won the Gold Lion for the best use of alternative media in direct marketing at the Cannes Advertising Festival.

Since the introduction of peephole advertising from Papa Johns, the German mail-order company Otto has taken advantage of this new creative technique as well.

With the introduction of this new direct mailing technique, I would be curious to see a comparison of the effectiveness of this new creative form of advertising versus the old direct mailing print ad.

New Face Lift: Would You Stay in One?

Old West Sacramento Billboard

New West Sacramento Billboard

Recently, the billboard off of I-80 in West Sacramento received a new face lift. This billboard is designed in an attempt to attract more tourists to the area, bringing the idea of "1,000 Rooms" available for tourist use or "30 Hotels" to chose from. As an idea and concept, it is effective in sending the message to travelers or tourists there are many places to chose from to stay. But when comparing the two billboards, I wonder why the old one was ever replaced...

The old billboard presents the idea to consumers of what all there is to do while at your stay in West Sacramento -- 1000 Rooms to chose from, Gasoline, Food, and Boating.

The new billboard, in my opinion, raises the question "Why?" -- Candy in the middle of a Dirty White Pillow?

To me, this ad does not make any sense in inviting people to play and stay in West Sacramento. When I saw this a few things came to mind:

• Besides your occasional mint at a higher end hotel, since when did hotels put candy on your pillow?
• Why is the white pillow brown?
• Who revised this article? - Capitol is spelled Capital on the billboard.

This ad campaign presents an interesting approach to an idea, but I do not believe the idea turned out to be as effective as desired. To answer my own question, if I was a tourist passing through I-80 and saw the new billboard, I would definitely continue to the next major town offering a nights rest.

Simple But Sweet: The Wiings Campaign!

Applause for the Marketers at Red Bull Energy Drinks...


The energy drink market in the past 10 years has exploded with competition and demand growing out of control. If you walk into a convenient store and look at the refrigerated section, right next to water and soda you can see Red Bull, Monster, Rockstar, RedLine, Go Girl, and the numerous other brands that have emerged from companies trying to get a piece of the pie. One of the originals, Red Bull, has not only captured the energy drink market, it dominates all other brands. Since its expansion to North America in 1997, marketers have done an excellent job in creating a strong brand identity.

From the simple quirky commercials on TV, to the print ads in magazines, and not to mention the can image, Red Bull has created a consistent image and message across the board of the Promotional Mix. Targeting young adults, Red Bull has paved the way with catchy, yet simple, advertising often with young adult cartoon people. In my opinion, the simplicity of the commercials, print ads, and can has created an image for the company that mostly anyone familiar with the energy drink industry can recognize without text. They have mastered the art of consistency across all levels of the company to web design, product design, promotions, and even vehicle design. Even though the Red Bull product line is expanding into various beverages, you find the same look and feel which displays the pride in true brand equity they hold.

Red Bull not only is promoted through advertising, but they have created direct access to captured and potential markets. Red Bull has also submerged the brand through its Events, Wiiings Team, and Student Brand Managers. Red Bull's events can be some of the most prestigious, such as New Year's Eve Expositions, to the quirkiest ones, such as the Flugtag and the Soap Box Race. The Wiiings Team, which are genius in terms of publicity and public relations, are personnel that attend small local events and hand out free cans of energy drinks, along with a little pamphlet about the product.

All in all, Red Bull is not going anywhere anytime soon. The only thing that will lead to the collapse of the energy drink market is an even larger health conscious movement in the beverage industry. Red Bull is capitalizing on the Brand Equity they hold, and have pushed their image into every nook and cranny of action sports and motorsports industries.

For more information, visit http://www.redbull.com.