Quality Control

Just to get an idea of how powerful Mobile marketing really is, let’s take a look at Google. Revenues from the mega company’s mobile division account for roughly $5.8 billion. According to Cowen and company this number is set to get grow over the coming years as mobile revenue will likely grow to 26% of the company’s earnings by 2016, representing total sales of $20.7 billion.

Marketers who have been keeping an eye on the mobile marketing industry know the significance of small shiny devices all too well. Yet businesses small and large especially in western countries don’t seem to be allocating large portions of their budgets towards exploiting  opportunities. Forrester Research, Inc. analyst Melissa Parrish reveals what sort of questions organizations should be answering in the planning, execution and measurement stages of a mobile campaign so that businesses can realize their mobile marketing maturity. Her research entitled ‘Score Your Mobile Marketing’, is a must read and can be found on the Forester database.

Firms need to quickly asses their standing in the mobile realm and devote considerable resources towards this platform. I share the notion that most companies do not see seem to see any significance in mobile. The lack of attention mobile is receiving from some business might be due to the fact that they see mobile advertising and mobile marketing as the same concept, but this is not the case. I agree with Mobeen Khan, Executive Director of Mobility Solutions Marketing for AT&T, when he says “Mobile advertising and mobile marketing isn’t the same thing. Mobile marketing is an immersive experience.”

I personally want to see retail stores use location based services to generate more sales from their most loyal fan base. Providing mobile coupons with a time lmit- to the Smartphone of an individual, who has just walked into on the largest mall in a particular city, would be a interesting and easy way to make sure they spend their money at your location first before moving onto the other stores on their shopping list. Sandy Shen, research director at Gartner says “Mobile technology is the vehicle of immediacy, putting mobile marketers in the critical position of being masters of timing — knowing when and how to drop the right offer at the right time. As a strategic marketer I agree with Sandy, but as a consumer I’m not seeing companies actively pursue this potent tactic.

Mobile marketing campaigns are not rocket science, firms need to simply assess their current position with respect to mobile marketing. Secondly they create a campaign based around the following three elements:

The 23^rd installment of the Bond Series has been garnering vast media attention over the past few weeks and was expected to rake in $77 million this weekend. Success! would be an understatement as it  ended up passing that mark by $10 million.  Bond Fans and the general public alike were first exposed to the film during the Summer Olympics.  During the Opening ceremony presentation (Daniel Craig) who plays Bond, walked into Buckingham Palace escorting the Queen onto a helicopter. Then, both of them supposedly parachuted out of a plane into the opening ceremonies. This theatrical promotion immediately engaged the worldwide audience who were watching the opening ceremonies.

Heineken Skyfall TV Commercial: The Brand integration that took place in this ad was simply marvelous   Heinekin was able to smoothly integrate its brand within the action packed story line of a typical bond film. The product didn’t look out of place and didn’t make the reader lose focus of the story taking place in the ad. Moreover the company also seems pleased with their choice,as according to chief marketing officer Lesya Lysyj ,”Bond is a perfect fit for us.”Other firms also taking advantage of related promotions for the film include, Omega Watches, Tom Ford, Aston Martin, Visit Britain, Coca Cola, Sony Electronics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=jZsfB0ycfMo

Adele’s theme song: Adele has simply captivated Bond fans with her music and has given the Bond franchise a new voice to rely on. Her Sky fall Bond Theme song is a hit and has over 55 million views on YouTube.

Online Engagement was taken to a whole different level for this film. As users can  actually feel like an undercover agent by logging into a simulated interface of the Royal Intelligence Services. You then become a  British Intelligence Officer and take an exam comprising of 5 sections. Try it out at http://50.112.251.215/

Below are some of the major Marketing Trends and themes which took center stage in the recent election south of the border.

1)     Data driven:  Data helped candidates push out the appropriate content for the different geographic target segments within the US. Real time metrics let the marketing strategists for the two parties modify their output over the course of the campaign.

2)     Social Media was Crucial: The younger generation likes to get their news from Twitter and Facebook before anything else. By targeting these platforms the politicians were meeting the voters on their time and space; this is one factor which resulted in a higher youth voter turnout this election. During this election it is estimated roughly 40% of US adults used Social Media to discuss Politics.  Additionally according to bussiness2community.com , there are roughly 150million Facebook users that  voted in the election. It is clear that the influence these people have through their online networks further compounds the significance of Social Media reach.

-A prime example can be taken from Twitter also, as Barack Obama’s appearance at the Democratic National Convention led to 52,000 tweets per minute, leading to 4 million tweets during his 39 minute speech.

-New Record set by the American President as he made Twitter history yesterday. He tweeted “Four more years” along with a photo of him and Michelle Obama hugging. This broke the previous retweet record of 320,000 held by Justin Bieber.

3)     Buying Search Results: Mitt Romney’s marketing strategists even made an attempt to influence Facebook users who were supporting Obama. Users saw the Governor Popup when typing Obama in the search bar. I’m still trying to figure out if this was smart, desperate, or perhaps inefficient use of capital that could have been directed elsewhere- like YouTube advertisements.

Below are further Social media stats which highlight trends we are witnessing.

Want more marketing insights about the election, checkout this news column by Lori Wilson.

The Halo series is arguably among the most successful gaming franchises of all time, Microsoft aims to  make Halo 4 its most successful game ever as it is being rumored to have one of the largest budgets approved by Microsoft, approx $100million.  Microsoft is not using its traditional developers to make the game, as Bungie is no longer making this game but 343 industries is stepping up to take the role. I agree with the notion that when game developers such as Microsoft switch the studio developers for a game, subsequent games usually don’t do well. In this instance I think I will have to make an exception, this is why:

Game Review

In the gaming industry Microsoft has released roughly 800 copies of the game to media outlets in the US alone, so they can rate the game and provide reviews online. Metacritic is an important review website as it aggregates videogame reviews from various game publications such as Gamestop, Game Informer magazine, and AOL. It gave the game an impressive score of 91 based on 37 current reviews.

Promotional Strategies

Forward unto Dawn and WOM: Microsoft decided to create a live web series based on the Halo universe. Real life actors play cadets who are training to fight the newly advanced alien race. The online series is free on YouTube and is generating a lot of buzz leading up to the game’s actual release on Nov 6. The Budget for this series was about $10million. Take a look at one of the episodes installments below, it already has over  7 million views!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BfJVgXBfSH8

Partners: Pepsi Co in North America and Pizza Hut in the UK are some of the bigger Partners for Microsoft’s marketing campaign.

Limited Edition Version: The version of the game adds serious dollar value not only to the halo buffs but also to the average gamer.  This special version of the game comes in a steel case and includes things such as War game map packs, early access to multiplayer specializations and more. One user on a gameranx review site sees the value:

Why has a random song from a previously unknown South Korean singer become a viral hit you ask?  Let’s start by looking at some of the primary reasons why this song is now stuck in your head….

1)      Uniqueness: Seeing a South Korean guy sing something foreign, with a title like Gangnam is very intriguing.

2)      The Artist: Psy is a South Korean singer who is very outgoing and loves the spotlight and entertainment business. Just this past week he was teaching UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon how to dance to his song.

3)      New dance Moves: The invisible horse will forever live on in dance studios and clubs around the world.

4)      Catchy Beat: The beat in the video is something original and extremely catchy.

5)      User approval: There was a large consensus around the globe to spread this video with an outpouring of support, laughter and likes on YouTube.

Costs and YouTube Revenues

According to recent Forbes article discussing streaming costs associated with Gangnam style:

Estimated cost for running the servers $296,360
Estimated revenue from the ads $348,285

Projected Growth

The video is on track to pass Justin Bieber’s video Baby and become the most watched Youtube Video in history according to Channelmeter. Channel meter says the video will hit 1 billion views on or before December 12^th assuming linear growth will remain constant. I have provided the figure from Channelmeter below. Additionally the video broke the record of reaching 220 million  views in its first six weeks, breaking the previous record held by the song ‘Call me Maybe’ by Carly Rae Jepsen.

You may have heard about the recent ad campaign launched by Channel, it utilizes Brad Pitt in typical Channel fashion.  According to a recent statement released by Hollywoodgossip.com, the French luxury goods producer is paying Pitt somewhere in the neighborhood of seven figures for his part in the serious, grave black and white video. Critics and marketers around the globe are discussing whether Pitt’s portrayal of timelessness is an accurate description. The video which was released earlier this month has gone viral with 4.64 million views on YouTube, and with website Visible measures putting its true reach at just over 7.4 millions views.

The video has also spawned numerous parodies, a popular one  launched by the tv show Saturday night live is below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WcdQNh_P9tE

Implications:

• This product is target towards the women segment of the fragrance market but it may help in raising awareness and appreciation from male consumers also.  For example according to Andrew sacks, founder of a namesake luxury ad agency in New York- “The choice of Pitt can serve to make guys more comfortable going to the fragrance counter……. It makes it both cool and gives confidence to the male gift-giver.”
• Secondly Channel is ranked as the fourth most valuable luxury brand in the world with a value of $6.68 billion. We can expect to see this value go up in the upcoming Christmas season. The Fourth quarter is crucial for luxury goods producers as fragrances products are a major gift item for department stores such as Macy’s.
• I personally can’t wait to compare Channel No 5 sales figures for the quarter to previous fourth quarter sales.

Are you excited? Well you should be considering the fact new Windows operating system is coming to a future shop near you! All kidding aside, let’s look past Microsoft’s marketing tactics and the Window haters out there on social media, to see what the new operating system really has to offer.

Fact1: It will incorporate touch screen technology

I would recommend not upgrading your PC to the new operating system simply because you won’t be able to use the touch screen features and get the full benefits of the system. Buying a new laptop with the system is an entirely different issue though. I wouldn’t immediately do that either considering the fact there will be a bunch of bugs and glitches that need to be addressed as is the case with all the newly released tech products.

Fact 2: Large Media Spend

Microsoft is set to release the new operating system on October 26^th and advertising is pegged at $1.5-1.8billion dollars! This is being seen as the biggest launch in industry history. According to Forbes, “Microsoft, at the heart of personal computing for 30 years, is betting its future on the cloud and tablet computing.” Will this payoff? More importantly will consumers around the world buy into it? Only time will tell if the advertising campaign is a bust or a success.

Fact 3: New Metro style user interface

The good news is that you can switch back to the old windows 7 desktop view if you dread the new billboard looking view. Will Metro be counterproductive? This is something I personally feel will happen since users won’t waste to much time trying to learn how to use it, as they have the option of switching to the old desktop view. I realize that Microsoft wants to leave the desktop option out there so that they don’t irritate traditional users. The fact remains that if users don’t 100% buy into the Metro interface, critics will dub the entire launch as another Microsoft underachievement.

What to do?

My recommendation is to be a laggard in this case and wait about 6 months to a year to upgrade to the new windows 8. Let the Microsoft fans [if they exist] be the guinea pigs for the upgrade as they can be the ones dealing with the bugs. Don’t be fooled by the low price point tagged to the upgrade.

There must have been a time you thought about the actual returns a social media campaign brings about. More importantly, how would one calculate those returns? As a CFO of large company such as Nike, how would you tell if the sales growth of new running shoes was attributable to likes on Facebook? Many people see this is a controversial topic and don’t believe an exact numerical calculation exists that is feasible and applicable across all social media platforms.

A recent analysis put forward by Jaap Favier, attempts to calculate the ROI for social media campaigns. His approach is interesting and definitely worth discussion amongst marketers if not hard nose financial buffs. Let’s take a closer look at what his approach entails.

For example, when 2 or more consumers engaging with social media share a brand experience, we have something described as a ‘touchpoint’. The cumulative value of the various touch points across the entire campaign represent the increase or decrease to the Brand equity of that specific company.

The actual formula for calculating an individual touch point is determined by the following factors described by Jaap.

“Time.
Every tweet, retweet, post, comment, online video, pin, and repin takes a few seconds both to produce and digest by subsequent users.

Trust.
Look at the intensity of the online interactions between consumers to assess how close they are. A good metric for intimacy is the comment-to-like ratios of Facebook fan posts: the higher these ratios, the more close friends shared the brand experience. On Twitter, the retweet-to-tweet ratio is a solid indicator.

Sentiment.
Measure the shared sentiment between consumers by sifting through the comments and retweets. Friends use words like “fun” in their exchanges, while close friends may use words like “moving” and “emotional.”

Income.
Social marketers know the demographics of their fans and followers.”

Jaap applies his analysis to a super bowl ad, and goes on to show that social media campaigns are far more effective. For example:

30-second message from a marketer with a trust factor of 1.

33% of the 100-million odd viewers like the average Super Bowl commercial.

Their average net income is $35,500 per year, so $0.21 per minute

……….ROI of super bowl ad $3.5million

He then uses the Superbowl ad as a benchmark and compares it against social media campaigns by companies such as Estee Lauder. It is clear from his findings that the ROI of social media is up to four times greater than TV commercials.

Is Jaap’s analysis valid?

I think without measuring the actual I, investment part of the ROI equation we can’t really make any decision. Additionally the actual metrics used by Jaap might be refuted by others who decide to use other metrics or modifications of these ones. In responding to Stephen Waddington’s comment on his blog post, I believe Jaap does an exceptional job at addressing any critique:

“…I completely agree with your point that both an “R” and an “I” are included in ROI. Marketers are generally well aware of the “I” part (their budget), but struggle to assess the “R”. This blog post and the ROI model are intended to help them with that part and to let them make educated decisions while planning, running and auditing their programs. The ROI model is indeed a planning tool and not a financial reporting tool…..”

All in all I applaud Jaap for making a legitimate attempt to uncover the returns on social media.

A recent awareness campaign launched by DDB New York has gone viral, and like all viral videos it is receiving a wide range of criticism and praise.

What is it?

The ad campaign was created by DDB New York for the non profit organization Waterislife, which is a company focused on getting clean drinking water to third world nations. The video shows Haitian citizens reading Twitter posts with the hashtag “#FirstWorldProblems.  Towards the end of the video the phrase “#FirstWorldProblems Are Not Problems,” appears on the screen. Throughout the video we see disenfranchised people standing in front of inadequate housing and saying things such as, “I hate it when I tell them no pickles and they still give me pickles”. The video does an extremely effective job at pointing out poverty issues of the third world while highlighting the absurdity of first world citizens and their lifestyles.

Backlash

There are those viewers who feel insulted claiming that that the marketing agency is insulting it’s target group of first world citizens who posted such tweets out of humour. DDB responded in one of their recent statements claiming they want to “eliminate the #FirstWorldProblems hashtag on Twitter,” as it “showcases concerns that seem important to those living in wealthy, industrialized countries, yet are, fact, trivial compared to the issues faced by those struggling to survive in many parts of the world.”

Takeaway

All things considered, this ingenious video is a piece of effective marketing communication. Any and all individuals associated with the marketing realm will most likely appreciate this unique marketing tactic.

After hearing abou the 1 billion users, I decided to do some research into this market for myself. I found some of the stats in Cotton Delo’s recent article to be amazing, as I previously didn’t really know how to quantify Facebook’s success besides the recent IPO-which later turned out be somewhat of a spectacle. Let’s briefly recall what transpired in the past few months. Facebook goes public at an exaggerated listing price of $38 per share and then began to go downhill from there reaching lows of roughly $17 in early September.  The stock hasn’t rebounded quite yet but things are looking up, let me explain.

It is apparent that the social media giant has saturated large portions of North American and European markets. For examples in the US 61% of the 65-and-older population visited Facebook in August, while 87% of the 18-to-24 set did, according to ComScore. It’s really hard to get better than that.

The markets which will be undoubtedly targeted next by Facebook will be Japan and South Korea, as there is still large amounts of growth expected to occur in the social media realm in these nations. Japan for example only has 27.6% penetration and South Korea has about the same.  Additionally the issue of China is always of debate; just imagine the thousands of millions of our Chinese counterparts using Facebook if the Chinese government one day breaks the ‘great firewall of China’. In Russia however, Facebook is not facing the government but stiff competitors such as VKontakte and Odnoklassniki who have 10x the users facebook does. Below is a mini chart which explains the situation in a nutshell!

I personally feel Facebook will not stop in its quest to reach every corner of the plant, as demonstrated in part in their first ad released last week.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7SjvLceXgU