Month: February 2011

I spent Reading Break in downtown Toronto, where Tim Hortons is a very popular choice for coffee, breakfast and even lunch. There was a Tim Hortons on almost every single street corner or within only a few blocks of each other. Everyday there was always a long line at each location, sometimes even out the door. One morning I decided to wait in line and go try their new breakfast wrap. When I got to the front of the line, I noticed some very blue donuts that I had never seen before in Vancouver. I asked the cashier if they were something new and she explained to me that they were exclusive to Toronto and its 320 Tim Hortons locations. The donut was a tribute to the Toronto Maple Leafs hockey team. It was dipped in vanilla and had blue and white sprinkles, similar to the team’s jersey colours. It was only available on days when the Toronto Maple Leafs had a home game.

What a great way for Tim Hortons to catch the attention of any Maple Leafs fan and attract them to their store. On game days, fans can pick up a blue and white donut to show their support for their favourite hockey team and eat it with a sense of pride and patriotism. This will cause an increase in sales as the city comes together to show their support for the team and more and more people want to buy the donut. David Morelli, Tim Hortons spokesperson said “we’re hoping the doughnuts will help the Leafs. And if that doesn’t work, the Leafs should help us with the doughnuts.” Tim Hortons has done an excellent job of segmenting the market. They have successfully combined geographic, demographic and psychographic segmentation.  The donut is only offered in the Toronto area (geographic) and it attracts Maple Leafs fans (psychographic).  Also, it is easy for the average coffee drinker to pick up with their normal cup of coffee and attracts the attention of children looking for a fun treat (demographic).

Who knew this little bird could have so much power?

It seems like everywhere I go, the word “Twitter” or “tweet” appears. As I sit down to read this month’s issue of Elle magazine, one of the featured articles is about Twitter. Even last week’s episode of Grey’s Anatomy featured Dr. Bailey tweeting about her surgeries for the world to “scrub in on” with minute by minute updates. At first, I wasn’t a huge fan, but now the little bird is growing on me. I have become addicted to reading tweets from friends, companies, and celebrities I follow as well as creating them myself.

Here is the video clip from Grey’s Anatomy:

Twitter has over 200 million users and there are approximately 140 million tweets sent daily. In 2010, 100 million new accounts were registered and there were over 25 billion tweets sent in total. Just last year, in January 2010, there were only 50 million tweets sent daily. The number of daily tweets is constantly growing. This pattern can be seen from the graph below that was created by Twitter last year.

With the recent trend of increasing Twitter users, copmanies are now using Twitter to advertise their products and services. Twitter is an excellent way for a company to advertise their name and products. It is simple to use and doesn’t take much time to tweet 140 characters about upcoming promotions, new products, or product reviews. Plus, it is free to use. #success. Also, Twitter users are able to mention companies and provide feedback to them through the use of the hash tag (#) and the @ symbol.  In a blog post by Willis Wee, he mentions that 80% of  Twitter users use it for business purposes and 20% of tweets contain brand names. He then provides 7 ways a company can increase their followers on Twitter.

1. Your tweets- choose words carefully.

2. Your background- a good background is equivalent to a good impression.

3. Your avatar-have the same avatar across all company profiles to make it easily identifiable.

4. Don’t use auto tweet-show that your company cares.

5. Be personal- communication is key: don’t tweet in a robotic manner or in a corporate top down tone.

6. Say thank you- being polite will bring you far in life and thanking can spark conversation.

7. Overall image- Twitter requires customization, so make it suitable for your company.

From my experience with Twitter, I think these are excellent tips to help increase followers to a certain page. If a company is able to use the right combination of these tips, they will be able to promote brand image and increase awareness. This might even persuade more users to move towards their products or services. Further, these tips can also be used to increase followers on one’s personal page.

Sources: How Twitter Users Changed in 2010

PepsiCo Beverages Canada has launched a new, or should I say, old beverage straight out of the seventies. The same campaign, Throwback, ran across the United States last year and was a huge success. For a limited time in select areas across Canada, consumers will be able to flashback to the seventies and enjoy the great taste of the original Pepsi made with all natural sugar instead of the high-fructose corn syrup that is used today. The beverage will be packaged in a can similar to the one from 1971 and is expected to fly off the shelves. Pepsi Throwback is targeting the “young at heart” and especially Generation Y who spent their youth consuming the beverage. The campaign is going to run with the tag “Pepsi Throwback: A blast from the past” and will be displayed with a retro seventies theme. In addition, there is going to be a large promotional effort through social media.

Not only is Pepsi going to attract Generation Y consumers, but it will also attract consumers from various other generational cohorts who are health conscious and concerned about consuming unnatural beverages with lots of fructose and preservatives. Since Pepsi Throwback contains natural sugar, unlike most of the soft drinks today which use corn syrup to sweeten their drinks, these consumers will likely buy the beverage because of its natural ingredients. In addition, the beverage will also appeal to Generation X consumers and tweens because the word of mouth will spread about the amazing taste of the beverage containing real sugar as well as their reliance on social media.

Overall, I think the campaign will be very successful as many consumers are going to want to get their hands on the beverage to recall the great taste from the seventies and relive a part of their youth or try the all natural sugar soft drink flavour for the first time. Hopefully I can find one and give it a try!

Source: Marketing Magazine