Monthly Archives: November 2013

November 19, 2013 · 7:58 pm

Coca Cola knows how to communicate consumers with their brand value

Coca cola let you design your very own ugly Xmas sweater this year! Coke Zero is hoping that you won’t just keep your hideous creations to yourself but will also share them over social media, trotting out your ugly sweater to get some votes. For the next two weeks, consumers have the opportunity to create the ultimate in tacky winter wear on the site. They have an array of colours, patterns and graphics to choose from — everything from musical notes to reindeer to abominable snowmen.

Participants are strongly encouraged to get the word out because the 100 sweaters with the most votes, come Dec. 1, will be handcrafted and sent to their creators in time for the holiday. You will have to connect with your email account or Facebook/Twitter account to be ale to submit a design or vote on a design.

Coca cola is by all means the leading company when it comes to marketing and I think this time this new campaign follows on from Coke’s previous brand marketing efforts. Coca cola always trying very hard to connect the brand with consumer and communicate the core value of the brand through marketing projects. It remind me of another marketing project they had earlier this year call the Wearable Movie.

Both times consumer gets the joy of customizing the garment themselves, sitting well with the brand’s ideas of fun, enjoyment and participation – all of which have been a keen focus of all  marketing campaigns such as “share a can”.  These exciting projects really get the customers engaged with the brand and spread the words by actively participating the activities by linking their social media accounts. Meanwhile, people are really enjoy the process therefore their feedbacks are mostly positive and helping Coca Cola building a positive brand image.

Sources:

https://www.sweatergenerator.com/#/main/landing

https://www.sweatergenerator.com/#/about

https://www.sweatergenerator.com/#/gallery

 

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Filed under #UGC

November 16, 2013 · 7:59 pm

How would Facebook’s new 5 star rating system affect your brand?

Several days ago, I asked my friend to suggest us a restaurant where we never been before, and after a short discussion we started to search places online. I happened to be on Facebook so I just typed spaghetti in the searching area in Facebook. Surprisingly I found this great spaghetti place and what really let my friend and I made the final decision to have a try at this new place was because I saw this place has scored 4 out of a 5 star rating. Then I realized that I’ve never notice that Facebook at this 5 star rating system on business page from laptops before, so I decided to do some research about it.

It turned out that Facebook has recently rolls out this 5 star rating, however it’s still at a testing stage.

 

The stars are hard to miss, located right beneath your cover photo and business name. Their visibility could easily cause people to quickly judge your brand or business before scrolling through your timeline to see all of your great fan engagement. Also, it allows consumers to quickly review your brand by just give a simple rating. Rater’s review can also be share with the public or certain network social based on raters options which makes this rating more influential by taking the advantage of every reviewer’s social circles.

 

 

For businesses, a prominent rating system means that it’s not enough to just be present on Facebook — much more emphasis will be placed on customer service and brand interaction. If your brand is favoured  and you have incredible reviews from happy fans – this will make you stand out from your competition. Businesses could start competing for star reviews instead of Likes – which means you should start rethinking your social media & reputation management strategy. After all, people love to hit the reviews sites and share their experience. If you have happy fans leaving good reviews, this could help you increase leads.

This change on Facebook once again indicates the importance of energizing consumer to let them  evangelize your brand by giving good reviews.

 

Sources:

https://www.facebook.com/spaghetei

A Like Is Not Enough: Facebook Tests Star Ratings Displayed On Pages

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/facebook/10435114/Facebook-tests-star-rating-system-for-Pages.html

 

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Filed under #UGC, Facebook

November 15, 2013 · 12:45 pm

Mobile web design case study: Aritzia vs Forever 21

The world is getting more and more mobile with the prevalence of mobile devices such as smartphones and tablets. As more and more people are engaging with the on-the-go type of life, mobile web design also becomes crucial for marketers in order to catch up with this trend.

The mobile web refers to access to the world wide web, i.e. the use of browser-based Internet services, from a handheld mobile device, such as a smartphone or a feature phone, connected to a mobile network or other wireless network. Unlike the traditional website which displayed on laptops, mobile web brings better mobility but also more limitations.

  • Small screen size – This makes it difficult or impossible to see text and graphics dependent on the standard size of a desktop computer screen.
  • Lack of windows – Only one page could be displayed at a time, and pages could only be viewed in the sequence they were originally accessed.
  • Navigation – Navigation can be challenging since it will be largely depend on scroll with figure or keyboard with less flexibility.
  • Speed – On most mobile devices, the speed of service is slow.

Here I am comparing the mobile website layout for two of the clothing brands, Forever 21 and Aritzia:

 picture 1   picture 2

The mobile web page of Forever 21 looks no difference with its website when opening on a laptop. This is good in a way that it seems to create a seamless browsing experience across all platform and creating the sense of familiarity for consumers. However, due to the limitation of most mobile devices’ small screen, the entire website page looks very crowded and the fonts are too small to see with out zoom in.(picture 1) Yet, when I did zoomed in, the fonts became big but unclear and it’s not so convenient to move the page around to get to the place I want to click at. Also, when I zoomed in the page, the pop up adds also stays on the page and enlarged as I zoomed in the whole page, which making the navigation even more difficult.

Now let’s look at Aritzia’s mobile page:

 

  picture 3     picture 4       picture 5

The mobile web page is very different from the normal website page. The mobile page is very concise and neat. It fully considered the fact that with most mobile devices such as smartphones, users are most likely be convenient only with figures to scowl down and up not from left to right. Therefore, with this page, users just need to scowl vertically to browse the info they are looking for. (picture 3) Also, all tap can be clearly seen without zooming. When you scowl down to the very bottom, Aritzia has all the social media tap attach. I try the Facebook one and it leads me directly to the brand Facebook page. I think it’s a very smart way to do so since when consumers are direct into Facebook interface, they are more familiar with Facebook under this context. Also, consumers will be able to get more detailed information about the brand  such as events, pictures through Facebook. (picture 5)

 

 

Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mobile_Web

http://www.socialnomics.net/2013/08/06/mobile-marketing-trends-ig/

http://canada.forever21.com/Product/Main.aspx?BR=F21

http://aritzia.com/on/demandware.store/Sites-Aritzia_CA-Site/default/Home-Show?gclid=CKH52Lml87oCFVFgfgodzVMAsA

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Filed under Facebook, Mobile marketing

November 12, 2013 · 8:04 pm

Digital marketing is no longer just online: O2O

We’ve  all heard of B2B, B2C even C2C as the basic business model.  Recently, when I was browsing my ” Chinese twitter” account Sina Weibo I saw my friend’s post about her Starbucks Xmas Wish, I starting to know the this new term O2O. O2O, Online To Offline, is a new business mode combining the online shopping and the front line transactions.

Starbucks integrates online with offline to drive store traffic

This year,  Starbucks China prepares the Christmas season with a strong marketing push that often integrates an O2O (online to offline) dimension. The brand was amongst the first to use JiePang (the Chinese Foursquare) and then WeChat to drive store traffic.

Starbucks has created a promotional mini site around the idea of sharing wishes ahead of the Christmas season. Visitors must first log-in through Sina Weibo. They are then brought to a map tool showing the Starbucks shops closest to them as the map shown above. After choosing their shop, visitors must send out a virtual wish, choose the gift that they want and share it with their friends on Sina Weibo. The first persons to send out a wish for each location become the “Mayor” of that particular store and must then try to get as many of their friends to virtually join them in that store as possible. Most successful mayors will win Starbucks branded goodies and coffee coupons.

Starbuck’s example shows how indispensable O2O has become in modern online campaigns and how important it is to give “virtual face” to campaign participants.

Sources:

http://president-starbucks.com.cn/xmas.html

http://www.damndigital.com/zh-tw/archives/106390

http://blog.reallifeconnect.com/best-practice-concept-for-an-o2o-marketing-strategy-by-providing-an-infinite-brand-experience/

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Filed under O2O

November 11, 2013 · 7:02 pm

Online communication is getting comic

 

Has your Facebook page recently turned very crowded with all the comic figures? Oh wait, they are not just ordinary cartoon! Look closer, isn’t these cartoons looks so familiar and just like your friends or even yourself? Yes, thanks to Bitstrips, a mobile app, which claims to be “the most customizable avatar-creation tool on the Web,” allows users to create and share comics of themselves and others with personalized messages. With more than 1,000 customizable templates and new ones added daily, users have endless opportunities to create comics about their day, their friends, pop culture or whatever is on their minds.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

How does it work?

Basically after downloading the app or sign in with Facebook, you will have to create an avatar of yourself based on your appearance with customizable hair, clothes, facial features, body type and more. Then, you can sift through and choose from countless pre-made scenes and scenarios to set your avatar in. You can also create avatars for friends who haven’t already signed up for Bitstrips, or include those who already play along in your cartoon.After you’ve chosen the setting and characters, you can add the script by typing in your own dialogue and captions. From there, you can share your Bitstrip with friends on social media.

Bitstrip now has more than 10 million users downloaded the app since its release seven months ago the International Business Times notes. However, the company is bootstrapped, without any capital or external help, and uses virtually no advertising. This crazy fact makes me wondering what makes this app so successful.

In my opinion, Bitstrip really took the full advantage of the viral feature of Facebook. The game is completely social as  it allows people to design avatar not only for oneself but also for friends. Facebook users generally love to tag or share with people when they see things that are interesting or relevant to people around then, thus by tagging friends, Facebook users helped Bitstrips to expand the brand reach. Also, since users are able to create their own scenario using Bitstrip, the contend of sharing can be view as a user generated content. Therefore, when people viewing at these pictures, they would think of the commercial side of the game but purely being joyful and doing the “free advertising” work for Bitstrip.

 

Just like the picture shows above, after posting onto facebook, your friends will be able to like and comment under your post just like they can like and comment with ordinary posts. From the upper left side, they would be able to see where you create this post which serves the purpose as a WOM marketing strategy.

Aside from being a good example of UGC practice, the concept of this game itself is also a good contributor to its success. Just like Bitstrip’s CEO said, “It’s a new way to express yourself and interact with your friends. Instead of posting the same things as everyone else, you can create something that relates to your life.”

Bitstrips also took one step further into the business work by developing into a educational tool for schools. Thinking and planing sustainably for it’s future development is another way that Bitstrip is working on to ensure its long growing business.

 

Sources:

http://investorplace.com/2013/10/bitstrips-app-goes-viral-facebook/#.Uoxl5GS8Cyc

http://www.ibtimes.com/bitstrips-explodes-after-mobile-launch-where-did-comics-app-dominating-your-facebook-feed-come

http://www.bitstripsforschools.com/

 

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Filed under #UGC, APP, Facebook, WOM