Ads Going Viral? Inevitable!
Brad Pitt is starred in Chanel No.5 commercial as the first male spokesperson. Surprisingly, audience find the commercial clueless and spawn with parodies.
In the commercial, Brad Pitt rambles “It’s not a journey. Every journey ends but we go on. The world turns and we turn with it. Plans disappear. Dreams take over. But wherever I go, there you are. My luck, my fate, my fortune. Inevitable.”
Going viral is probably what companies are aiming when they produce commercials. But after watching this commercial, I start wondering if going viral is always a good thing. This ad has gone viral on YouTube with over four million views. For sure, more views means higher publicity.
This ad also has another implication: Anything offline will be brought online if it is gimmicky.
The Chanel No.5 commercial is originally offline advertising. Looking at its production, it does not seem to intend to make a joke hoping the commercial will go viral. It is directed by Joe Wright who is known for movies such as Pride and Prejudice. It is also starred by the famous celebrity Brad Pitt. In other words, the commercial is of very high production.
Nonetheless, aside from the disastrous theme and monologue, the ad itself has made its point.
The sales of Chanel No.5 might spur as a result of the commercial. Brad Pitt is a very good choice of spokesperson of this ad for his fame and background. More women might want the fragrance now as it is “Pitt’s choice”. Also, it might influence more guys to buy Chanel No.5 as a holiday gift for their important ones because Pitt and Angelina Jolie have a very happily ever after image.
But one thing that I am questioning is that whether the jokey commercial will translate the same message that it intended to. In conclusion, ads going viral is only good if it sends the correct message to audience.
Twitter Backlashes
Social media enables businesses to reach millions of users in just a second. It is definitely a good channel to reach a large audience as marketing efforts can be significantly amplified. However, when the wrong things are said, negative response will also be amplified. Companies should carefully assess all aspects of a message before sending it out. The following are two examples where company neglects the cultural aspect and sparks backlash from Internet users.
#1: On the Monday following the Hurricane Sandy, American Apparel backlashes on Twitter from offering a 20% off sale to customers to relief customers from boredom during the storm. The sale is available to online shoppers from Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, North Carolina, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Virginia and Maryland, who are affected by the hurricane.
This sale lit up many negative response on Twitter.
I just received a “Hurricane Sandy sale” email blast from@americanapparel. I will forever boycott their stores. RT if you’re with me
As if sexualized ads and harassment lawsuits weren’t enough for a boycott, @americanapparel sent out a “hurricane Sandy sale” mail. Ugh.
CEO of American Apparel, Dov Charney, refuses to apologize for the marketing promotion. He feels that the marketing team makes the right move to take advantage of sales-generating opportunities.
This promotion has a negative impact on American Apparel’s brand reputation. The marketing campaign has neglected feelings of those who are suffering from the Hurricane Sandy. American Apparel is positioned as an American brand of which its products are made in USA. Taking advantage of marketing opportunities is a right decision, but its marketing campaign is seemingly disrespectful to those who are suffering from the disaster by attributing their situation as being bored.
#2: Today is Remembrance Day, a day when we grief for Canadian soldiers who sacrificed their lives to protect the country. Traditionally, a two-minute silence is observed at 11am at memorials to honor the armed forces.
BBC’s Top Gear presenter insensitively tweeted during the two-minute silence at 11:01am to feature its “most-watched video of the week”.
Like American Apparel’s ad, it also sparks up many negative response.
BBC apologizes for such insensitivity, explains that it is an automated tweet, and promises it’ll never happen again.
These two companies take a very different approach to address negative response from consumers. As a consumer, I’d be a lot happier to hear the latter response because what everyone seeks is probably an apology.
Why is Everything Connected to Facebook?
I was listening to music at work on Songza. I clicked through many different song lists such as Halloween music and Kids music. During lunch break, I went on Facebook and realized that all songs that I’ve listened to were shared on news feed. It’s not a big deal letting others know what songs I’ve listened to. Rather, I find the fact that not being aware of my activities were transparent to everyone disturbing. Sometimes when I read articles on Yahoo!, they were automatically shared on Facebook. Honestly, I wouldn’t want to share with people of everything that I’ve read. If I found the articles interesting to share with others, I would be more than happy to share. Randomly posting activities on my behalf is quite annoying. Because of these automated sharing features, I always log off Facebook before visiting any of those sites.
It might help businesses to increase online awareness if its activities have more exposure in social media. In fact, I found out about Songza through news feeds on Facebook. It’s not that I mind a lot about sharing my offline activities with others, but it’s the fact that I feel forced to be consent with sharing—If you don’t agree to the terms and conditions before using the app, you can’t use it.
It’s a trend that more and more businesses employ automatic sharing features. These features enhance communication and connectivity of the online community. However, from a users’ perspective, I would appreciate it a lot if I have the option to choose when to share.
Facebook Giveaways
Have you notice that many giveaways hosting on Facebook condition entry upon “liking” a post, “checking in” to a place, or other Facebook features? Many organizations host this kind of giveaways to increase brand awareness by boosting up the number of likes to reach more consumers.In the summer, I shared a photo on Facebook to enter into a contest for a chance to win $30 gift certificate from a restaurant. I have also liked pictures to enter many giveaways. I believe that many of you probably also entered these kind of contests as it’s easy to enter and does no harm.
But, have you wondered if these kind of contests are LEGAL on Facebook?
If you read the guidelines for Facebook features, these kind of automatic entry contests are illegal. Facebook prohibit users to administer promotions that condition entry or registration upon taking any action using any Facebook features other than liking a page, checking in to a place, or connecting to your app. It is also illegal to announce winners through Facebook such as wall posts or chat.
For those of you who is considering of administrating Facebook contests, it’s a good idea to check out the guideline. The consequence of not following the rules could be termination of the Facebook Page.
E-Mail Marketing
A few days ago, I took the time to look through all of my e-mail inbox and junk mails. Most of the emails are random newsletters, spam, or social network notifications, and they were never read. E-mail Marketing campaigns claim to help connect with customers and increase customer base through sharing. There are two e-mail marketing organizations that is worth mention–
MailChimp provides free e-mail marketing service for organizations that have less than 2000 subscribers. It provides over a hundred design templates, integration with social networks, and tracking. Users are also allowed to segment its consumers according to its preferences. It is very attractive to organizations that don’t have a professional IT department.
Its promise to offer free basic service forever allows users to upgrade its e-mail marketing plan to use more features as their businesses grow. It supports an email list up to 50,000.
I highly recommend MailChimp for those who considers sending newsletters and don’t have much knowledge about technology. It’s very user-friendly. It only requires a few quick steps to send bulk email out.
Constant Contact targets small organizations and non-profits. It offers a 60 days free trial that can reach up to one hundred emails. It provides the same features as MailChimp and, in addition, real-life coaching support. Constant Contacts also offer other services such as event organizing manager, social campaigns, and referral system. In my opinion, Constant Contact is a good one-stop service for small organizations.
Jill Stuart: Dress Classy, Dance Cheesy
Ever since the original video Gangnam style releases a few months ago, people create different versions or parodies of the original video. Gangnam style reaches over 462 million views and is one of the most viewed videos on Youtube. Not only does the video bring Psy a lot of fame, it also creates marketing opportunities for businesses.
Celebrity Endorsement: Jill Stuart, a high end fashion brand based in New York City, collaborates with Psy to promote its brand. They produced a Youtube video “Dress Classy, Dance Cheesy” where Psy dresses in Jill Stuart’s clothes and does his horse dance. The video reaches 2 million views in two weeks. That’s a relatively huge number of views comparing with other fashion videos online. In addition to the Youtube views, the promotional video aroused discussion on social network.
Jill Stuart is famous for its lady fashion and cosmetics. Through this Youtube video, Jill Stuart increases brand awareness of the men fashion line. I believe that not many people (including myself) knows about its men fashion line before the video as Jill Stuart’s marketing campaign is usually pink and feminine.
Jill Stuart also creates a new B2C communication channel with consumers. To date, Jill Stuart does not have its own Youtube Channel. It communicates with consumers through Facebook and Twitter. I think Youtube Channel is a good way to communicate with consumers for fashion brand because images are more vivid and can often inspire consumers with fashion.
Facebook: Paying for More People to See Your Posts?
Facebook introduced a new feature in the states that allows users to pay to make their posts more prominent in the news feed. As users’ activity on Facebook grow, more and more posts are bombarding the news feed. That means your friends are less likely to notice your posts. For hose who want to make their posts more prominent, this feature is perfect for them.
To use this feature, you need to pay $7 as monthly fees. This feature is open to a selected group of people in the states and several other countries to test users’ reaction–popularity, criticism, etc.
It seems to me that pushing your news feed could be useful for promotion purposes. For example, you can announce to people that there is an ice breaker event for your school club tomorrow night. I am somewhat concern about future new feeds. Will it become all promotional posts or posts from the same few people? If so, Facebook will defeat its mission to “give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected” as the feature limits non-paying users’ ability to share. Honestly, I would be quite discouraged if news feed shows up promotional posts every time I check out Facebook. If all paid posts are pumped to the top while non-paid ones are pushed to the bottom, friends might miss personal updates, give less responses, and therefore discourages frequent updates.
H&M: Website Interactivity & Customization
H&M, an international-wide retail company– Its website is one of the most interactive and encourages customization in the retail industry that I’ve ever visited.
You can create your personal account. Within the account, there is a feature called ” Dressing Room”. It works the same way as dolling up a Barbie. You click on the clothes that you like, and it will appear on the model. The feature provides over 10 different models of different races and styles. For each model, it comes with three different hairstyles. You can also personalize the dressing room by changing the background color.
As a shopper, the dressing room feature encourages me to do online shopping at H&M. When you shop online, you often have to rely on your imagination to see if the pieces of clothing match. But with this feature, I would know if the outfit would turn out nice. I also find H&M very thoughtful for letting users to share the looks. It allows me to conveniently get feedback from my friends and exchange ideas.
How do Groundswell Technologies impact on Consumers
There are many channels for people like you and me to share information, obtain information, or exchange ideas. We share information such as shopping experience, product reviews, and restaurant reviews. We now rely less on traditional institutions (e.g. calling the company to inquire product information). As a result, we consumers gain more purchasing power from knowing more information. We call this social trend the Groundswell Technology Trend. Today, I want to give examples on two Groundswell Technology–mobile applications and persuasive videos.
Mobile Applications: Smart phones allow customers to obtain and share information at anyplace, at anytime through applications. For example, “Gas Buddy-Find Cheap Gas Prices” , an iPhone app, helps users to save money by permitting users to share where to find cheap gas. Gas Buddy classifies gas stations into different geographical areas (e.g. Richmond, Vancouver, Surrey) and by gas type (e.g Regular, midgrade, premium). You can search by city, state, or zip. It is widely popular because it actually helps people saving people without any hurdles. Customers are empowered by this kind of applications because they can now easily compare gas prices. They can choose to fill up their gas at the possible cheapest price at no searching cost.
Persuasive Videos: Consumers are also empowered by spreading influence through creating persuasive videos. Online channels such as Youtube enable consumers to cheaply create commentary videos. There are many fashion gurus who frequently post videos about product reviews and shopping hauls to share their opinion. For example, if they had a good shopping experience at Forever 21, they would create videos about their shopping experience and comment on their shopping haul. If consumers hears negative comments about certain brands or companies, these companies will be out of their consideration when they need to buy something.
Persuasive videos also give companies an opportunity to listen to their real customers. For example, if customer A has a dissatisfied shopping experience at Store ABC and shared his/her experience in Youtube channel, companies can improve on their customer service.
Alternatively, companies can create their own videos to provide information to their customers. For example, Bobbi Brown frequently updates its customers of its new products and teaches its customers how to apply these products. This way, customers can have a rough idea about Bobbi Brown’s products before checking them out at physical stores.
Google Search Engine
Like a typical web browser, I click on the first few links that shows up when I use search engines to look for something–From what I learnt, links are displayed according to relevance and more likely to be useful. The links at the bottom of search results and in page 2 and beyond are usually left behind unless I couldn’t find what I am looking for in the first few links.
Therefore, businesses always want their links at the top to be exposed to Internet users. Most people might already heard of SEO. For those who don’t know any concepts about e-marketing, SEO is an acronym for Search Engine Optimization–The purpose of hiring an SEO is to improve websites and move up the links to the top of the search results. Services provided SEO include: reviewing website content or structure, advising website developments, keyword search, etc.
Another alternative to get your websites at the top of search results is by paying Google. However, keep in mind that there are two sections in search results: organic results and paid advertisements. Personally, I ignore the links that are in the paid advertisements area because I always assume these links are just like any other links that are at the bottom of search results..They only appeared at the top because they paid for it. The fact that the tops links are paid to be at the top might have an adverse effect on Internet users’ behavior, ignoring the links.
I’ve came across an interesting article: Organic vs. Paid Results: Organic wins 94% of Time. The article discusses that people have gauged click-through rates to compare paid advertisement results and organic results. Uh huh, research has shown that younger internet users (ages 34 and younger) are less likely to click on paid ads. This statistical result implied something about consumer behavior and that advertising on Google might not be effective to target young consumers. The research also gauged click-through rates of the top 10 results on Google and Bing. It turns out that links that are most viewed are the top three search results. This result reflects the importance of hiring SEO.
This article also points out an interesting change that Google made. Has anyone noticed that Google now only displays 7 results instead of 10 for brand name searches? It is a win-win solution for end users and businesses.Google has found that end users (us) prefer less irrelevant results and have faster loading time. Eliminating irrelevant site links is also beneficial to businesses. For businesses who have complete ownership over a brand name, Google ensures that the brand name can dominate search results.
Getting exposure is critical for e-business. For businesses that have limited budgets, they need to carefully consider what’s best for them. It seems to me that paid advertisements aren’t as effective as hiring SEO to get your website at the top of search results.
