Jackson Chandler's Blog

I recently read a blog by Rohit Bhargava which listed his views on 5 things companys can learn from the techniques Google has used to soldify its brand positioning. I was very intrigued by his opinions and they have definitely opened my eyes. After reflecting upon these 5 techniques, I saw that they truly have increased my awareness of the brand and I completely agree with all of them and think other companys should learn from these ideas. I will now share, for each one, how these have been effective for me without even realizing it until now.

1. Google has been consistent and kept their logo, but have also utilized the opportunity to play around with it at times. I always felt that it is important to try to stick with a consistent logo (as long as the company doesn’t need to reposition itself) but now that I come to think of it, when I use Google, I am often kind of excited to see if they’ve done anything playful with the logo! It makes me think positively of the brand and its creativity.

(Image credit to Rohit Bhargava)
2. Google has shared a simple, understandable mission – “Don’t be evil”. I really like the idea of a simple mission which is easy for everyone to understand. As long as they remain consistent with this mission, this good-guy brand image will keep on bulding.

3. Keeping the consitent Google logo for all of their products keeps simplicity for consumers and increases recognition. I will always know who brought me Google maps, Google video and many others.

4. Not rebranding acquisitions such as Youtube allows them to keep the brand equity they have already built, meaning that they retain all of the consumer relationships and goodwill that have already been established.

5. Keeping the brand simple. I really think its effective to keep things as easy for the consumer as possible. I remember as kid, I’d draw logos of brands that I liked in school, but only if they were simple enough for me to draw. This only increases brand awareness as you may even walk through elementary schools and see Nike’s swoosh, Apple’s apple, and, of course, the Google logo drawn by students!

I recently read a blog post from Drew\'s Marketing Minute about companies trending in retro marketing. I found it very interesting to see how many company’s are capitalizing on this trend and Drew’s analysis on how this appeals to, of course, the large population of Baby Boomers wanting to relive the good old days, but also the Teens who find retro to be cool.

Drew mentioned this being clear in soft drinks such as Mountain Dew, which inspired the post, but also with movie remakes and shoes. Being the sports fanatic I am I couldn’t help but link this to how many sports teams have been doing this for a long time with retro uniforms. It seems like every professional North American sports team with a reasonably long history has at least one these days. Heck, I swear Baseball teams wear their various different retro uniforms way more often then they ever wear their regular home and away jerseys!

When teams do this, they too are utilizing this Teen trend toward retro as well as getting all fans to relive the old times and of course, try to sell these jerseys (especially for those who want to remind fans of the past as a way to hide how much they suck today). Clearly, this retro marketing knows no bounds and can be extended to many places!

The fact that the Denver Broncos were even permitted by the US Government to wear these two uniforms in a stretch that spanned two out of three games is proof enough that this is a trend in sports.

…and its marketers advertising on Facebook!

Based on the sheer number of users on Facebook, its easy to see that this is desirable media to advertise through. However, this is just the tip of the iceberg for Facebook as an effective way to advertise. The first ads that would show up on the right hand side of my screen were an indication of marketers beginning to see the value of this media. More and more, however, I am seeing ads that actually appeal to me! Thats where the true value of Facebook advertising comes into play; Facebook profiles are so personalized that marketers can easily reach their target market with ease. People talk about friends “creeping” their profiles but companies are taking it to the next level. It seems now that every ad I see directly involves the city of Vancouver, the University of British Columbia, hockey, football, things that people in their late-teens to early twenties enjoy, and so many other things that affect me personally! They’ve even broken it down to my favourite sports teams in the Vancouver Canucks and Dallas Cowboys, and specifically to the Sauder School of Business! Based on everything I put into my profile-my interests, activities, political views, hometown, age, and just about anything you can imagine- marketers advertising on Facebook are getting the right message to the right audience through the right media.

I recently read Lucas Palovic’s blog about Consumer Choice in which he focuses on how companies like Dell that are taking on a winning strategy of focusing on the changing demands of their consumers. I am in complete agreement with his analysis on the subject.

To analyze further I believe that this is going to continue to be the trend in many product categories. The best way to sustain growth and maintain (and perhaps even steal) market share is by finding new ways to meat consumer needs. Particularly in categories as complex as computers, marketers are going to need to keep up with increasing demands and expectations of their consumers who may not even know what the features truly represent. This could become frustrating for them but they need to be able to simplify their products for the consumers to get the most value from them. Consumers want benefits and it is the job of marketers to provide the features that will suffice.

I think more and more companies are going take on this micromarketing approach and customize based on the benefits – and not the features – that consumers want. Personally, I have no clue what all these big long words for computer features mean. And I don’t think I’m alone. In my computer, I want it to be fast, have lots of memory and be able to run the applications for me to do my homework -I don’t know the jargon for what does this. Thats the manufacturers job.

Upon checking out tonight’s NHL schedule for tonight I came across some big news thanks to the CBS Sports Blog. The big news is that the NHL is bringing back its award-winning ‘History Will Be Made’ ad campaign in time for the 2011 playoffs! This campaign was really effective on its own as it evoked memories of iconic moments of NHL Playoffs’ past. These ads had the effect of emotionally touching NHL fans everywhere and sent chills down our spines. However, what made this campaign (whether the NHL intended this to be or not) so special was truly the fans. An estimated 2,400 fanmade parodies crowded youtube and created a real buzz about the NHL playoffs. This buzz had been missing for a long, long time south of the border. In fact, last year’s playoffs were the most watched in 36 years and I feel a big part of this can be credited to the marketing campaign but even more so to the fans who made these parodies.

The fans worked to capture some of the memorable (and especially not-so-memorable) moments in the NHL’s past and present to the same tune and format as the actual ads. As a die-hard Canucks fan, here is my personal favourite to laugh at (but at the same time still cry over):

(Credit to ebey11 on youtube).

The NHL has changed the format of the ads a bit (new music and text) and I feel this is a brilliant move that is encouraging more parodies as the old format was pobably tapped out last year. They are even making the music available for download on their facebook page so fans can make their own! Heres the first of this year’s model, so put your thinking caps on for parody ideas! The league actually wants to hear them!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q5RGnlVPpPI
(Credit to NHLVideo on youtube)

After reading Felix Huang\'s blog post about the targeting that is quite apparent in the ads you get forced to watch when viewing your desired content online. With regards to farmed salmon, the NBA fans are definitely a desirable market for them to pursue as Felix so brilliantly highlighted.

Felix really got me thinking about the target marketing you see in the advertising throught different media. I had been aware of this happening in television where the marketers clearly know who is watching different programs and distributed their ads accordingly and yeah, its definitely quite apparent on the websites for the other major sports leagues like the NHL and NFL. I visit these sites a lot and I see ads for products that appeal to me all the time!

This targeting actually goes beyond television and internet, extending into the posters and billboards you see everywhere. For example, I was at the gym this morning and every ad just seemed to make sense after learning about targeting!
-In the change room I saw an ad for axe body wash – hmmm…right where people are showering!
-In the weightroom I saw ads for Powerade -a hydrating drink ideal for workouts!
-At the exit I saw an ad for chocolate milk – often regarded as one of the best things for your body post-workout

Marketers today clearly know exactly what they’re doing when they advertise: They know their market and they know where to find them. Once they know when you’re sleeping or awake they’ll be right up there with Santa (if they don’t know already).

What were you doing one year ago today?

This is one of the few occasions where I can truly answer that question with no hesitation; I was at Canada Hockey Place (now Rogers Arena (formerly-formerly GM Place)) basking in the glory of the Team Canada Men’s hockey team beating down on their rival Team Russia in a statement game at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics.

It is hard to believe that one year ago, Vancouver’s streets were filled with the olympic spirit that most of us absolutely loved and have missed dearly since February 2010. Marketers have clearly clued in that the people of Vancouver, and Canadians in general, are wanting to relive these feelings of joy as, one full year later, they are focusing their advertising efforts to capitalize on this trend of Olympic memories. We are once again seeing some of those athletes who were heroes for those amazing two weeks (i.e. speed skater Clara Hughes endorsing Bell’s effort to battle depression and Cold-FX).

The idea for marketers is that, with all the buzz around the one-year anniversary in the form of many media outlets, such as various televsion shows putting on specials to highlight these memories, these athletes and these moments have once again become relevant in our lives and that we will aspire to relive them in any way possible.
-I know I bought my red mittens the second I saw my idol Wayne Gretzky light the cauldron while wearing them and I also know I have been bringing them back out this week as I also know I’ll be wearing my Team Canada Sidney Crosby jersey on February 28th to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the “Golden Goal”.

I don’t think I’m the only one with Vancouver 2010 on my mind one year later (although I’m probably a little extra obssessed) and companies are trying to cash in on this. Gatorade has targeted their latest campaign to those (like myself) who have dreamed of doing exactly what Sid the Kid did on February 28th 2010. Heres Gatorade’s website-click on the G2 bottle and click video to see the commercial.

*WARNING* if you’re like me and still tear up a little when you so much as think of the goal, you may be on the hook for $2.50 for a bottle of Gatorade.
http://www.gatorade.ca/#/products

As you have probably noticed, marketers today are finding easier and less expensive ways to advertise then the traditional 30 second commercials we see on television. The emergence of the internet and everything that comes with it, such as social media, youtube, etc., has brought new opportunities for marketers to communicate their offerings to consumers. Even the huge brands such as Pepsi and Doritos are rarely ever using traditional commercial spots to market their goods like they used to.

This decline in the use television as a communication channel does not affect the Super Bowl as we noticed this past Sunday. For the largest television event in America every year, companies will spare no expense to get their product out there, forking out about $3 million for 30 seconds of air time! This superbowl had an estimated audience of 111 million viewers in the United States alone, making for the yearly spectacle’s largest television audience ever. With this many viewers it makes sense to spend, especially considering the huge number of indiviuduals who are known for watching the event solely for the commercials with rising expectations. For this reason, companies are continually trying to up the ante and produce something memorable for this mass audience.
Heres my personal favourite from the big night.

(Credit to SuperBowlXLVAds on Youtube for the video)

I like this Pepsi spot because of its humourous portrayal of the common situation of a married couple in which the wife is trying to get the husband to eat healthier. Pepsi does a good job capitalizing on this well-known quality in this ad. Good work, Pepsi.

At the beginning of January 2011, certain cartoon superheroes began to emerge over the internet; each representing NHL hockey teams. At first I (and many others I’m sure) brushed these aside and ignored them. But they kept coming. For each day of January, the NHL announced a new superhero with the name of an NHL team and shared with us their background story and their super powers. About midway through the month I finally looked into it and found out that these were designed my famous Marvel comic book creator Stan Lee (creator of Spiderman, the X-Men, the Hulk, and many others) in a new partnership with the NHL leading up to a show put on at one of the intermissions at the NHL All-Star Game which took place on Sunday, January 30th.

At first I thought “What is the NHL thinking?” with these corny characters and I really couldn’t understand what they were trying to accomplish with this. I thought it was just a desperate (and ineffective) gimmick to try to win over some old comic book collectors from the US and, from talking to others and reading what people had to say online, I was clearly not alone.

However, from my Introductory Marketing course, I was recently able to link the concept of “consumer life-time value” to discover what the league’s marketing strategy is. They are trying to market to children, hoping to create the next generation of hockey fans with these superheroes. Consistent with Value-Based Marketing, hey are hoping they can get young fans to become new purchasers of tickets and merchandise, then regular purchasers, then loyal supporters, and hopefully advocates.

We’ll have to wait and see what kind of effect of the “Guardian Project” really has; but for now, I’ll swallow my pride and admit that it may not be as dumb as I thought. That is, now that I have learned the principles of a marketing strategy in the Value-Based Era.

Its become a farily common trend so maybe this post is long overdue but I feel that it is necessary to comment on what is so smart about companies campaigning over known social networks to help boost awareness of their products.

One of my personal favourites is Nike’s creation of arguably their biggest star, Kobe Bryant, jumping over an Aston Martin in an advertisement that sent the youtube world into a frenzy as nobody knew if he actually did it or whether it was fake.

The reason this is so effective is that Nike has managed to reach a huge audience by putting this up on the internet, thereby disguising an advertisement by one of the largest clothing and sportswear companies in the world as a simple home video. Us humans don’t like to be drawn in by advertisements because it makes us feel vulnerable to large corporations and we often ignore them on television but we don’t hesitate to watch clips on youtube over and over. This generated huge buzz around the world with the debate that followed questioning the feat and whether it was set up by Nike. “Did that just happen?” was the question as people began showing their friends, debating its reality online and by other means, as well as looking for more information from Nike. And there you have it; this video got Nike’s brand imprinted in people’s minds. And better yet, they did it at a fraction of the cost of putting a regular commercial on the television.