Recently we talked about A/B testing and how it is used by every marketer to test certain campaigns and the response rate. Marketers will test out an A scenario vs a B scenario on consumers to measure the engagement prior to launching a full campaign that reaches their entire target market. It is an interesting and simple tool that allows marketers to see which wording, picture, theme, etc. is most liked by consumers between two options and using that information to target a specific market. However, this article in Wired called Your A/B Testing Isn’t Working Nearly As Well As You Think brings up valid flaws associated with the method. How do you know which variables are working and which aren’t? Every campaign encompasses numerous variables because in today’s digital world marketers aren’t solely focusing on one medium to communicate with consumers. A/B testing limits to just how to change one variable, but not necessarily how a campaign could be better without a variable all together.

This article suggests the concept of experimental design where a company launches a campaign that includes all the different possible variables such as promotion, email, format, layout, messages, etc. and then measured the response rates at the end and combined them with all possible combinations. They were able to identify where they were wasting time and money on variables that weren’t working and where they could focus for future campaigns.

I think this is a cool concept and as digital continues to grow and analytics tools continue to be created, experimental design may make A/B testing a thing of the past. Granted this process is still a little complicated, can be expensive, and can take time to implement, the results it provides are invaluable. Who knows where this will go next, someone just needs to create a platform that simplifies the process.

Everywhere I look now, Christmas is popping up. It is nearing the end of November and for some it means that it is becoming a respectable time to shift from fall, Halloween, and Thanksgiving to the next holiday. I love the holidays and everything about it, people may say its too commercialized and product driven, but I think companies bringing a touch of Christmas to their stores, promotions, ads, and products just further creates Christmas spirit. I always find it interesting how different companies can leverage different holidays for their marketing initiatives. Christmas is the biggest holiday of the year, besides new years and the super bowl in the ad world, where companies need to step up their game to be heard through all the Christmas noise.

Starbucks is a clear winner with this holiday because of their signature red cups that come out every year on November 1st. People wait all year for the red cups and it seems that as soon as they are out, people by more coffee just because of the festive cup their coffee is in. Starbucks got it right and now has people counting down to the red cup reveal and has created a tradition for its consumers. This simple form of consistency every year gets people excited for the holidays, and for some, the red cups signify the beginning of the Christmas holidays.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0JEkuQ2vykk

The other company that does it well and has established tradition is Coca-cola. As the years have gone by they have gotten more modern with their ads shifting from the old school Santa Clause to polar bears and other themes. But they still have some how managed to embrace the season and be a brand winner during this overly competitive time.

This year, an unlikely organization has found a way to creatively use the Christmas holiday to promote themselves.

The NBA recently released their NBA Jingle Bells video which shows some of the leagues stars shooting hoops and playing the classic Christmas tune. I saw this and laughed at first because it just seemed so odd seeing jingles bells being played with basketballs. But then I was impressed. It is a pretty cool way for the organization to promote themselves, while embracing the holiday season, and doing something that impresses people all at the same time.

All in all, some people can be cynical and talk about how commercialized the holidays are. But it is pretty smart of certain brands to embrace the season and promote their products. It is a yearly holiday and unless you are Starbucks, you need to think of a new way to break through the holiday noise with your brand. The creativity that comes every year is so cool and I think the NBA nailed it with their Jingle Bells video. For this year…

Click this link to see some Christmas Print Ads

Recently, we discussed the mobile space and the various opportunities there are for digital marketing on this platform. Many companies however are still trying to determine a way to take advantage of the mobile platform on which billions of consumers are active. There are numerous ways mobile can be used from simply making a mobile friendly website to creating a full blow app. A company who has recently found a way to maximize this space with the hopes of increasing revenues is Indigo books. Many consumers were seeking a way to make their online shopping experience mobile and they have done just that by adding value to a consumers in store experience. Consumers are able to check in when they enter a store, this check in provides them deals and suggestions based on their purchase history. Furthermore, it allows them to access their online wish list. The coolest part of it though is the ability to scan products in the store, then the products will appear on their mobile screen and allow them to purchase it and have it shipped to their house.

Indigo Deepens In-Store Experience

This idea is interesting because it attempts to tackle the trend of online shopping that is becoming increasingly common among consumers. They like the simplicity of having products shipped directly to their door, not having to search a product out in store, or have to leave their house to make a purchase. Indigo is trying to encourage consumers to come to their retail stores while simplifying their purchase experience through the mobile app. Hopefully this new perk to shopping will increase their revenues and drive sales over the next year. Then they can look to make improvements to the app to make the purchase experience even better. Imagine being able to search a book or product on your phone, then it will guide you directly to where it is in the store.

There is ample opportunity in this space and Indigo has found a cool way to leverage mobile and try to better the consumer experience.

Creating an online presence for a brand is becoming increasingly important for those trying to reach target consumers. Advertising and marketing is shifting towards digital platforms as opposed to more traditional platforms because of the simplicity of online, in addition to the growing number of consumers using social media and other digital platforms. Furthermore, digital marketing provides an increase in consumer information and analytics because everything done on multiple platforms can be analyzed with one program. The increase in information provided by these programs allows for targeted marketing campaigns that are specifically directed to a the target market of the brand.

Now all this information is awesome, but is it become too complex and overwhelming? This article Is Online Advertising Getting Too Complex? written in AdAge, they talk about how the increased information is causing too specific of campaigns and effectively reducing the success rate of those campaigns. Becoming too targeted because of information creates sylos for each component of a campaign and fails to create a synergy across all of the platforms. Effective campaigns are those that use the benefits of all platforms and uses it to make one impactful message, too much information causes marketers to lose sight of the overall message.

Do you think online strategy is coming to complex?

Editorial: Adapting you way to the top

This is a really cool article that goes on to talk about adaptability and how it is a must have trait for brands. I found it very applicable to what its being learned in 464 because the marketing landscape is completely changing with the rapid advancement and adoption of social media and digital marketing. One of the winners of the Brand of the Year awards (congrats to all the winners by the way!) was McDonalds because of their Ask us Anything campaign that was run online. They embraced the negative publicity they were getting from consumers about their food and directly addressed the rumours by being transparent. The article goes on to talk about other brand winners and how they have adapted to the changing landscape, in addition to other brands who unfortunately weren’t able to change with the trends. With social media and digital being so prominent, in addition to the internet providing so many more ways for consumers to get information on brands and products. This article just goes to show how important it is for companies to embrace the changes and begin to adapt their business for those changes. If they can accept it early, they can become brand winners and avoid losing because of stubbornness of the new norms.

Just some food for thought… any one else have an opinion?