Are Droid & Verizon Selling Apple?
Like me, for the last month I am sure you have been seeing the new Droid teaser and Verizon's "We got a map for that" spots. With Droid's launch approaching and Verizon's ongoing attempt to pull consumers from AT&T (basically the iPhone), both companies have been heavily advertising on TV.
Now both spots are obviously showing consumers why they are better than the iphone. Verizon offers greater coverage and the Droid offers superior features (though only time will tell). I think both spots could be very compelling if people actually gave 100 percent of their attention to the TV while viewing commercials. Let's be honest, when commercials come on people either talk with people in the room, change the channel, fast-forward or get up and grab a drink (point being that the DVR is not the only thing advertisers need to consider). Rarely do you see people paying attention to TV ads anymore.
So you have a situation (if you don't fast forward or change the channel) where people are hearing and seeing ads, but are only partially paying attention. Now, when you watch both of these ads, you can't help but notice how much they look and feel like an iPhone ad. Subconsciously, I believe these ads are helping to brand Apple rather than Droid or Verizon. With the amount of messaging people are bombarded with today, it is harder and harder to be memorable. This is why it is so important to differentiate yourself in a crowded market. In both of these ads I can't help but think Apple for 75 percent of the time, when I should be thinking about Droid or Verizon. The sound and imagery in these ads are branding elements of Apple, not Verizon or Droid.
Who knows, I guess I am talking about them, so maybe they worked. I am in advertising though.
Bright Idea: The Power Of Our Senses
Abercrombie & Fitch Flagship Store on 5th Ave in New York City
Last weekend I was in New York City visiting a buddy. While I was waiting for him to finish up work, I decided to walk up and down 5th Ave in Mid Town to get a first hand look at hundreds of flagship stores all trying to get consumers to come in and buy. I spent about two hours walking around, and I can only remember a handful of stores. Granted this most-likely has to do with the fact that I was either a previous or current customer, but the rest I can’t even remember.
Let me preface this by saying, after sitting on my desk for a few months, I finally picked up Buy-ology by Martin Lindstrom and finished it right before my trip. I really enjoyed his chapter on sensory branding where he actually references Abercrombie's store experience. Most people think advertising is all visual, but in actuality, great brands learn how to incorporate numerous senses, specifically sound and smell, into their brand. In Buy-ology, Lindstrom describes how Abercrombie & Fitch uses more than just attractive models to lure consumers into their stores.
So I wanted to experience what Lindstrom was saying for myself. When I was walking up 5th Avenue toward the park I was hit by a wall of a extremely familiar smell: “woods”. Besides from having a flashback back to middle school when I wore Doc Martins, I thought to myself, “Abercrombie.” I look ahead and I don’t see the store’s logo, just oak colored shutters surrounding a corner building with the doors wide open (classic Abercrombie look). As I walked passed the doors I didn’t see any models, but I heard the club like music and smelled their classic fragrance. I realized what was making me think of Abercrombie was not any visuals, but my other senses. There was not another store I walked passed that entire day that stimulated me the same way. Maybe it was because everyone else kept their doors closed. I take my hat off to Abercrombie, by keeping their doors open, they allow for the memorable store experience to truly stimulate consumers as they pass. I guess they are not worried about the heating bill (can they write it off as a marketing expense?)
After I passed club Abecrombie, I decided to go across the street to see if I noticed anything interesting about peoples’ behavior as they approached and passed the store. Sure enough right about the same spot as I noticed it myself, people picked their heads up as they noticed the smell of Woods (or maybe the hot dog vendor down the street). In addition, it seemed that almost everyone slowed down and took a peak inside the store to see what was happening like it was a mystery as to what was in there.
Today more than ever, marketers need to think about how to really be memorable in consumers minds. This requires stimulating consumers senses in more ways than one. Think about bringing a particular smell or sound into your shop or store to build from your current brand position. How can you stimulate the senses to create a stronger impact in a consumer’s mind?
Final note, I think Abercrombie might want to calm down on the club scene inside their stores. The majority of people seem to not really enjoy it.
Embracing Not Selling: Red Bull (FTW)
A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to meet with a relatively new brewery about adjusting their overall brand strategy to not only differentiate their brewery, but also as a way to form a stronger relationship with a particular market segment (homebrewers). My vision was to develop various social media sites targeted towards homebrewers to share tips, recipes and events. Rather than just saying the typical, “we are passionate about brewing craft beer (I’m not a copywriter),” my goal was to SHOW their passion for craft brewing by embracing the homebrewing community. By developing a relationship with this segment, my idea was to have homebrewers grow the brand's reputation virally.
While preparing for my presentation, I wanted to show an example of a company that attempts to form relationships with consumers, rather than just continually attempting to push their product onto consumers. I took them to Red Bull’s Web site. If you visit the site you will notice it’s not a site that highlights their product. Far from it, for Red Bull has chosen to use their main site as a platform to embrace extreme sports. Their site has videos, blog posts, photos and events all centered around extreme sports throughout the world.
Taking this concept one step further, they have done an amazing job in incorporating this into their overall brand strategy. Look at their twitter stream, facebook fan page, event sponsorships and even athlete sponsorships (MTV’s Travis Pastrana).
By embracing a culture centered around extreme sports, Red Bull is forming a relationship with a particular consumer segment rather then trying to sell to them.
I think marketer's minds are trained to only talk about a company or product(s). Instead, we should be conversing with our segments about a culture our company or product can embrace. For those doubters, if it makes you feel better, your logo is on every page and you can still promote your 20 percent off special on your fan page!
The Napkin Series – Listening
I have decided to launch a series of posts revolving around my favorite concept: "Great Ideas Fit On A Napkin!" Here is my first one.
When I was right out of college and working in advertising, I thought I knew it all (I mean what college kid, or any kid for that matter, doesn't?). I soon realized that the one skill I lacked the most was listening. Being a good listener is one of the most important qualities to have as a marketer or any working professional. I remember looking at various solutions for clients and thinking I was right on, but the fact was, my solutions were solving what I thought to be the problem, not what the problem actually was. Understanding your situation or problem in business is key and requires amazing listening skills.
Now let's apply this to today. Social media has given companies an amazing tool to be exceptional listeners. Now, more than ever, companies have the opportunity to listen to what consumers are saying about them. This consumer insight would have cost thousands in the past. However, marketers and product developers can now listen first and react second.
The Question is, Where is Your Audience? Not, Where Do You Want Them To Go?
I am sure you may have heard this recently, but it is still a fantastic issue to discuss. More and more we are starting to see companies use traditional media to drive people to their social networks. I think this is genius. Our job as marketers is to examine the way consumers live and discover how products and brands can fit into their lives. This means adapting the way we communicate with them. It is no secret that people don’t trust advertising. Companies need to think about how social media can be used as a trust-building tool - not a sales tool.
The other day I was in a meeting with a prospective client (a multi-disciplinary arts center) and we were discussing their ticket sales for the 2010 season. After talking for a few minutes about how they advertised in the past, I asked, “Where do you want to drive people?” She responded, “Well, we have to drive them to our Web site. I mean, that is where they can buy tickets.” I replied very politely, “Really? I mean, do you think people will go to your Web site if they saw your print ad? Why not drive them to where they already are?” At that point I saw the light bulb turn on.
Our minds have been trained to follow the status quo. In this case, using traditional advertising to drive people to your Web site. Why not drive people to a place where they already are (facebook, twitter, youtube, etc…)? Oh that’s right, because you’re not selling anything on those sites (even though you can). People don’t want to be sold to. That is why an important first step is to build trust. First, let people see what you’re all about.
Using traditional advertising as a way to drive people to social media sites is a trend we will begin to see more and more frequently. Though, more light bulbs need to turn on first.
What’s Your Business Like Online?
I was inspired to write this post after recently discussing launching social media campaigns for a few small businesses. It is really funny, but everyone seems to ask, “so, do I only tweet about my business?” My answer is always, “NO.”
Social media was developed for people to socialize and communicate, not to bombard people with promotions and marketing messages. What has been interesting to watch is how corporations have come into the mix. How does a company socialize?
Sure companies have values and philosophies, but do they have personalities? Again, social media is about communicating and sharing with people, and people care about more than just their business.
I told someone yesterday, “think of your business as a person. What would that person talk about? What would they care about? What would they want to share?”
From answering those questions, you can determine what your online personality will look like. It is important to remember that your personality needs to coincide with your overall brand image. In addition, think about how your customers will relate to your personality and if there is a cultural niche you can fit into.
Evolution of Ideas
This is from 2005, but still a great video that discusses technologies role in evolution. Kevin Kelly believes that technology can never die, and is actually accelerating evolution.
Enjoy!
The Economy Created the Social Media Star
So there is no surprise that over the past year marketing budgets have been dwindling. Advertising spending dropped 14 percent in the first quarter of this year after already falling nine percent in the final quarter of 2008 (according to TNS Media Intelligence). Marketers today are faced with the great challenge of producing results with less. That is just the world we live in.
What has been interesting is watching social media steal the show in popularity compared to any other medium in the last year. Social media and online marketing have almost been blessings for marketers given the current economic situation. While there is much dispute regarding ROI with social media, there is a great deal of positive feedback for social media. There are little to no production costs, solid metrics and analytics.
Social media’s value is difficult to measure, but it can produce the results of growth in followers, popularity in online discussions, and converting online “friends” into loyal customers. The networking tools are useful in building interactive relationships with consumers that allow them to communicate with the brand and with each other.
There is no doubt there is value in social media, but would social media have became so popular so quickly if we were not in this economic situation?
Now over the past year, television and print media have taken the largest hit. This is mainly due to the transition of audiences to online for entertainment, news and shopping. In addition, these can be seen as two of the most expensive mediums. Just think about the costs to produce a :30 second spot. Depending on your budget, you could probably take that money and allocate it to having a twitter expert tweet about your business all day and every day with money to spare. Social media marketing does not have to be expensive; 75 percent of marketers budgets are less than $100,000 on social media even for large companies, and more than half of them expect to increase their social media spending in the coming months (Forrester Research). The growth in online advertising and social media for marketing use comes at the expense of traditional advertising. The current economy has created a perfect scenario for the growth of online and social media marketing.
For the majority of small businesses today, traditional advertising is just too expensive. And for the large ones, their traditional media budgets are not large enough to generate the same response.
More than 70 percent of marketers believe social media and online advertising will become more effective over the next three years while traditional advertising outlets will stay the same or decrease in effectiveness (Ad Age).
Bright Idea: HR + Marketing = Brand Service
I don’t think this a new idea, but it’s a good one. The idea that a customer's experience outweighs any ad or commercial they see.
I believe a lot of businesses are now focusing on how to bring in new business rather than focusing on the happiness of their current clientele. One thing that gets overlooked in marketing and advertising for small to medium-sized businesses is the power of a client/customer experience and how that transcends into word-of-mouth marketing. A brand's reputation is not controlled by the brand; the people control it. And people’s experiences with brands are what creates a brands reputation.
I believe companies should be putting greater effort towards strengthening their customer’s experience, and in return, their brand's reputation will grow organically. Customer care is a great opportunity for marketers to team-up with HR to determine the individuals they should be hiring that will help create a cohesive brand experience, in addition to an enjoyable one.
Let me give you an example. A few months back I listened to a brand executive from the Mayo Clinic speak at a local luncheon. He discussed how he worked with the companies HR department to develop very selective criteria for determining what type of employees would be a good fit for the Mayo brand. They went as far as requiring personality tests to ensure the employees personalities were one that fits with their brand's image.
Another example, have you ever been to Abercrombie and Fitch? Need I say more?
The A&F experience is definitely cohesive with the brand's image, but I think it is more important to ensure the customer experience is enjoyable as well. For instance, A&F puts more of an emphasis on the look of the employees and of the space rather than the quality and comfort of the employee’s service. I mean, what would you rather have someone telling themselves when they leave, “the employees were hot/that was a cool space.” Or, “That was great. Got what I needed. People there were awesome.”
Apple on the other hand does a great job in truly creating a brand experience. Their image is very sleek, modern and trendy. The employees are young, hip and more importantly tech lovers. But where they score the most points is with their service. Ever noticed the ratio of customers to employees? One time I counted one employee to every five customers in an Apple store. That’s amazing! Apple has really created a customer experience that focuses on quality service while maintaining a cohesive brand image. That is brand service: Quality customer service that maintains a cohesive brand image.
So maybe you should look at your 2010 marketing strategy and see how you can create/strengthen your companies brand service.
-John Evans
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Recent Posts
- Are Droid & Verizon Selling Apple?
- Bright Idea: The Power Of Our Senses
- Embracing Not Selling: Red Bull (FTW)
- The Napkin Series – Listening
- The Question is, Where is Your Audience? Not, Where Do You Want Them To Go?
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