When the flood of 2008 hit Cedar Rapids (and poured nearly 10 feet of water into our Cedar Rapids office), many who had been through similar floods told us of how things would never return to normal, and to expect a “new normal” to arise.
That is what seems to be happening with the flood of bad economic times. It is changing our business world in ways we will not understand for years to come. But there are some clear signs of our “new normal.”
One big change is in the way consumers perceive ‘value.’ What is surprising in this recession is that ‘value’ has become not about price, but about other metrics consumers use to rank a product or service. It is less about value=price and more about value=benefits (and then compared to cost).
Several brand-tracking services are finding that consumers are becoming more ‘brand conscious’ and looking for brands that offer real ‘value.’ Commoditization does allow for price-only-driven decisions. Yet some brands that have clear benefit advantage are not the low-cost alternative. Apple, J.Crew, Nikon and Nike all rate very high on brand rankings because they break from the value=price cliche. They offer a high value for the dollar spent.
The “new normal” of value:
Does it make things easier for me?
Is it innovative?
Is it clearly differentiated from the other products or services?
Does it heighten my experience?
It seems to me that people today are looking for a Return on Purchase. What is the perceived value we get in terms of product’s or service’s functional or psychological benefits? People may be less likely to spend money today, unless you can clearly demonstrate a return on purchase. Does your product or service really make me happy? And, that means you may need to communicate with that customer more after the sale or service transaction to make sure they understand your value.
The value statement floating around today should be, “Are we really worth what we charge, and why?” Consumers are impatiently waiting for the answers.
During this super week, there’s a lot of talk and anticipation about Super Bowl ad “likeability.” Many organizations research the ads and score them on ‘likeability’ scales, usually doing the research the day after the Super Bowl.
To me, it is somewhat flawed research. Even though there is some correlation between well-liked Super Bowl ads and increased stock prices, the effectiveness (actual sales) cannot be measured the day after the big game.
I’m just not a big fan of ad ‘likeability.’ I hear people say, “I like that ad.” But that does not tell you if they have been influenced or not. The goal of Super Bowl ads is not necessarily to be liked, the goal is to sell. Companies invest $2.5 million for Super Bowl commercials, not to just entertain us or get a laugh, but to work.
I do agree that liking an ad can have some impact, but what the person should really like after watching the ad is the product or service, not just the ad itself. One new way to measure Super Bowl ad effectiveness is how many people go to the web after a commercial airs in the Super Bowl. It also shows you must have a strong call to action and a drive-to-web strategy. Last year, Denny’s Grand Slam breakfast giveaway scored big with a 1,678% increase in website traffic. It was the highest of any of the advertisers. Did Denny’s have the “most-liked” ad? Was it widely creative? Will it win awards? Nope. Nope. And, nope. But the ad did its work.
Research about Super Bowl advertising by Nielsen also showed that an old concept, a marketing mix of media, works better than one medium. Recall of Super Bowl ads increased an average 31 percent for ads that air both on TV and the web.
So watch the Super Bowl ads. See which ones you like the best. See which moved you beyond to liking the ad to liking the product. Then watch who really wins after all the liking is over.
In the cola wars big game, one team will be missing next week. After 23 straight years of advertising in the Super Bowl(R), Pepsi is heading to the sidelines.
Not only does sitting out the big game leave the door wide open for Coke, but it also has people scratching their collective head wondering how the “official soft drink of the NFL” does not compete in the official, NFL big game.
I’m also surprised that if you order a soft drink at a Minnesota Vikings’ game, you will get a Coke, not a Pepsi. In other words, Pepsi’s strategy of being the “official soft drink of the NFL” just doesn’t fit the integrated marketing smell test.
There are millions of opportunities for you to sponsor. Your sponsorships must make sense to your brand positioning. For example, when the University of Phoenix wanted to make a statement about it’s legitimacy as a university, it decided to buy the rights to the Phoenix stadium (where the Cardinals play) the year that the stadium happened to be hosting the BCS championship game.
It not just the number of impressions you are buying, but the what you do with the impression. Make your sponsorships meaningful and follow-through on the opportunity. Don’ t just put your logo on it, put your brand into it.
So what should you watch for during this year’s Super Bowl? 51% of people who watch the Super Bowl, according to The Nielsen Company, said they like the commercials better than the game.
The most anticipated ad for this year’s Super Bowl is one that probably wouldn’t have cleared in past years. Watch for Focus on the Family/Tim Tebow ad.
Watch how the times change who advertises. Last year a Gold4Less bought a $2+ million ad.
Watch who runs in the first quarter. According to research by The Nielsen Company, recall of ads is at its highest in the first quarter at 69%, and drops each quarter to 58% in the fourth quarter.
Some say that the recession has changed how we all do business. Yet underlying the economic impact is a shift change because of the Internet. The recession, if anything, is moving up the timetable on many of the changes.
The National Retail Federation says that retail sales will rise 2.5% in 2010. To take advantage of the increase, we are all getting our houses in order to compete for the new money coming to the market. There are some key trends that are leading the charge.
According to a recent USAToday article (January 26, 2010), there are a number of trends to watch. But two trends that I think we all need to pay attention to are:
Sameness is Out: The Internet can offer all the sameness you want. People want to find ”retail only” items that you can’t find on the Internet (special private label offerings, etc) or things they don’t want to wait a few days to get. Or, they want a level of service they can’t find on the Internet (The Geek Squad at Best Buy is a great example).
The Experience is In: It is more than just the product. People want an “experience” when shopping or dealing with your organization. Rude service, uneducated sales people or indifference are easily replaced on the Internet. Some stores now offer live music, wine tasting, food tasting, educational sessions, celebrity appearances, one-time specials from distributors and sport-star autograph sessions.
According to the article, the recession is causing us all to focus on “exactly what the customer wants.” Too bad it takes a recession and a new, innovative medium to make us focus on what has been the key to marketing all along — focus on the customer.
Music is the great mood maker and a critical part of successful marketing.
At your next event, speech or presentation, crank up the music at the beginning and watch how it impacts and influences your audience. When I attended NBC promotional meetings, the organizers understood how to put you in the mood for an exciting meeting. As you walked into the meeting room, the lights were turned down and the music was turned up loud. You couldn’t talk to people unless they were sitting next to you. What it did do was give the meeting a party atmosphere and enfranchised the signature music for the year’s promotional effort. The excitement was infectious. Walk into any Abercrombie & Fitch store and you get the same feeling.
I was recently in a mall store that wanted to raise its hipness level during its grand opening. Instead of just cranking up some loud music as some stores do, the store hired a DJ ’scratcher.’ It gave the store a fresh, exciting feel, but also allowed the music DJ to personalize the sound based on the people in the store. You can see him in the photo working on his Apple computer system.
Music can have such an influence that some use it to calm the savage beast — as in teenagers. In New Zealand, a mall was having difficulty with unruly teenagers. So they changed the mall’s music from contemporary pop songs to Barry Manilow ballads such as “Mandy” and “Can’t Smile Without You.” Music does change how people feel and interact with you and your organization.
One way to get people in the mood for your message is to crank the music. Don’t let dead air impact your brand. Pump up the sound of your brand.
PS: This is my 50th blog post. Thank you for reading.
When you hear the phrase ”nontraditional media,” most might think of Facebook, e-mail marketing or Web video. True nontraditional advertising catches you by surprise. It makes you stop your busy life and take notice. Nontraditional media — from sandwich boards to street-corner sign twirlers — can be one of the best ways to break through the marketing clutter and sell products and services.
I have three favorites:
Pizza Schmizza: Pizza Schmizza paid homeless people not to panhandle for a day. The homeless people held signs saying, “Pizza Schmizza paid me to hold this sign instead of asking for money.” The promotion delighted onlookers. Even better, the Portland. Ore., paper displayed a photo of two homeless people holding one of the signs on the front page. Promotion value and PR is a powerful combination.
Air New Zealand: They call them ‘cranial billboards.’ Air New Zealand paid 30 people to shave their heads and then applied temporary henna tattoos. The walking billboards were a hit, mostly because they selected people who were enthusiastic brand ambassadors (people who love New Zealand). The New York Times, bloggers and other press covered the story of the people shaving their heads. The PR value alone was worth it all. Some of the hair was donated to “Locks of Love,” creating another PR moment for Air New Zealand.
Sidewalk Chalk: Kids have used this technique for years to play hopscotch. But recently businesses and cities have commissioned artists to make lifelike artwork on city sidewalks. If you’ve ever seen sidewalk art in action, it is impressive. However, imagine using this medium for communicating messages:Iit makes a great directional tool or the last thank-you as people walk to their car. The only problem is rain.
Nontraditional media is a bit risky. The benefits usually far outweigh the risks. While it may cost less than other media, nontraditional media can be time intensive and the cost-per-impression may be rather high. On the other hand, the impact may never be forgotten. It’s advertising that’s more than skin deep.
How much time will you give me? Research shows only 60 seconds for this blog or for an e-newsletter. That’s why this blog is always fewer than 300 words — it will only take you 1 minute to read. If this blog were a Web site, studies show that you will give me even less time.
We had a 3-second rule at home: If you dropped food on the floor and picked it up within 3 seconds, it remained germ-free and you could eat it. It is not true for food, but you only have 3 seconds to seize and engage viewers’ eyes on your Web site. Recent research by NextStage shows that the first 3 seconds attract viewers. According to Marketing Experiments LLC studies, you have just 3 to 7 seconds to tell the entire story.
If you’re looking at your Web site like other media, then you are sadly making a big “time” mistake. It takes a new eye and a new attitude about how to communicate quickly and efficiently.
So when is the last time you focused on the first few seconds of your Web site? Here’s an idea:
Print out your Web site homepage
Cover the printout with a piece of paper
Find someone who has not seen your Web site before
Reveal the Web site for just 3 seconds then cover it back up
Ask the person to tell you the message they received
Don’t like the 3-second rule? Get used to it. Our attention spans are getting shorter and shorter. Even most football plays are only 6 seconds long. ”Time is but the stream I go a-fishing in,” is one of my favorite quotes from Henry David Thoreau. Just make sure when you’re ready to go a-fishing, you use bait that will catch fish in 3 seconds.
How powerful is your logo? How powerful is your color branding? According to research and the British government, a logo is powerful enough to make you buy cigarettes. Is your logo powerful enough to move your brand?
According to Britain’s Department of Health and a research project, logo and color have a lot to do with how we perceive product “benefits.” So much so that in December, the British parliament considered a proposal to ban all logos on cigarette boxes and force manufactures to sell black-and-white boxes with nothing on them but health warnings. (The proposal was put on hold due to the economy.)
Research from the University of Nottingham (September 2009) showed that tobacco branding and packaging greatly influenced youth and adult perceptions about the product. The color of cigarette packs also influenced the perceptions of risk and brand appeal. Gold logos were rated as a lower health risk than red logos by more than 50 % of the people.
How powerful are logos? The Wall Street Journal reported that if the logos and branding were removed from cigarette packaging there would be a ”serious risk to the future profitability” of cigarette companies.
This is not a blog about smoking. It is about the power of branding. Just look at the impact a logo and color have on the psyche of consumers. Do your logo and colors enhance your brand to point where people are powerfully influenced — even to the point of buying something they know is harmful? If not, it may be time to redesign your logo and enfranchise color into your brand. And that’s not blowing smoke.
Did you watch the Dallas Cowboys game Saturday night? Did you see the super-sized HD screens? Even the players and coaches could be caught watching the big screen TVs from the sidelines. Today, video is more compelling and video is viral.
In the new stadium there are 71-foot-high and 160-foot-wide mammoth HD monitors stretching from one 25-yard line to the other. Surprisingly, there are another 3,000 video screens in the stadium (1 for every 30 fans).
That is so, according to Cowboys owner Jerry Jones, you can tell the “whole story” of the game. Video cameras are everywhere in the stadium so they can show people in the stands or a player going to the locker room for an X-ray during the game. You see the game and the ‘back stories.’
“They can’t turn away, so you can hammer them with your message,” said Mr. Jones.
It is TV’s on-screen movement that keeps you from turning away. White space leads the eye in print media, but movement directs the eye on a video screen. And video (or video-like) movement on a Web site makes for a more compelling brand/selling experience.
Video is also the best way to go viral: A Canadian singer couldn’t get United Airlines to pay for his guitar damaged by baggage handlers. Finally, United paid $3,000 to the singer’s favorite charity. Why? He made a music video about the experience, “United Breaks Guitars,” and generated 7 million hits on YouTube. Now that will get things moving in any company. In fact, United now uses the music video to train service reps, but alas, not baggage handlers.
Blog Brand Promise: This blog will energize your marketing in less than 1 minute — unless you are a very slow reader.
Note: The idea for today’s blog came from one of my ‘pickets.’ A ‘picket’ is a lookout, a soldier watching for a surprise attack. Thanks for the photo Dee.
According to Ace Metrix’s ‘Top Scoring TV Advertisements for 2009,’ the Rubbermaid Easy Find Lids television commercial titled “NEAT. NOT.” was the most “creatively effective” TV ad in 2009. Surprised? I know I was. The ad does not have a big star. It doesn’t have hip or popular music. It doesn’t feature flashy Avatar-like special effects.
Watchability and persuasiveness were the reasons the ad captured the top spot.
Persuasion is the forgotten word in marketing. I find that in all the discussions I’ve had with people about marketing materials and techniques, the word persuasion is rarely used. We seem to get caught up in the ‘look’ of the materials, forgetting the real reason for the marketing efforts — which is to sell. Selling takes a high level of persuasion.
Robert Cialdini (author of ‘The Psychology of Persuasion’), says that persuasion is a “science, not an art.” I find that making compelling video is an art, and not a science. So creating persuasive videos requires art and science. And, it doesn’t have to be flashy, knee-slapping funny or creatively wierd to be incredibly effective.
Watch the Rubbermaid commercial and see what you think. It won’t win any video awards, but it will win on the balance sheet. A strong bottom line is very persuasive.
