Misereor – The Social Swipe

We all know that there are people who desperately need our support to survive and yet not as much contribution is made. Sometimes, we don’t realize how much people suffer from poverty and pain and that even donation of a dollar can support them in good way. What is even more problematic is that we don’t encounter donation opportunities in daily life.

The Social Swipe – Daily Bread For Families in Peru

Misereor, a German based organization, has been committed to fighting poverty and injustice in developing countries since 1958. Along with its effort on raising awareness of people who need help, Misereor launched an interesting digital marketing campaign, “the social swipe”. It developed a digital poster that when a credit card is swiped, small amount of donation is made to support for various causes.

The Social Swipe – Help Imprison Filipino Child Return to Normal Life

As it was mentioned in the video, synchronizing the digital poster with complex card verification system was challenging but such investment and development worth far more than its actual value. Another great feature from this campaign is that Misereor actually follow up with the donors when they receive the credit card statement by asking them to become a monthly donor from single donation.

I would definitely try it out because the content is so creative and I would actually be able to feel happiness by getting involved in donation. What about you?

Insights From Hyundai’s “Real Life Facebook Like” Campaign

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Integrating online and offline marketing leads to success

Thinking about digital marketing and its importance, it is always critical for one to be aware of connecting its online presence to offline. Smooth integration between the physical and virtual is essential for successful marketing campaigns. For example, our current client for online marketing project strives to improve its brand health and maintain positive relationship with its customers via Internet marketing. However, our team noticed the importance of similar effort from offline employees of the business in leading the campaigns to optimal result. Hyundai’s brilliant idea in “Real Life Facebook Like” campaign wouldn’t have been as successful if the physical products and services were not “likable”.

Three basic questions need to be answered for successful campaign

From evaluation and analysis of its success, three basic questions should be cleared;
1. Is it SIMPLE for participants to understand and communicate?
2. Is it EASY for customers to participate through the communication channels?
3. Is it USEFUL for communicators from both side?

Hyundai’s campaign at the Autorai 2011 successfully performed this new digital marketing because it followed the three questions above. Firstly, the participants could easily understand the purpose of campaign and simply have fun while they are getting involved in communication. Also, such clever use of RFID tag allowed customers to easily adopt to new technology encouraging active communication. The results were helpful to both communicators since the visitors could use it as their review and Hyundai motors could use these likes patterns to collect data which enable them to meet customers’ needs.

Real Life Facebook Like by Hyundai

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Real Life Facebook Like With Hyundai At The Autorai 2011

One of the most effective and memorable digital marketing campaign held is the “Real Life Facebook Like” campaign. Hyundai presented cross world experience at the Autorai 2011 in Netherland, connecting online and offline communication.

Facebook RFID Like Tag Provided to Visitors at Hyundai in Autorai 2011

At the entrance, visitors who have Facebook account were provided with small Facebook like thumb tags. By replacing online Facebook like button to actual physical like tag, people could simply “like” the cars that they liked by placing the tags on the machine next to the Hyundai vehicles.

This automatic update technology is based on RFID (Radio-frequency identification) algorithm. RFID was invented to demand needs for replacing barcodes and magnetic identification that are used in various commercial market because of several limits that they have – such as physically spacing and efficiency issues. It even helped tracking goods and checking inventories more efficiently.

Visitors Scan Tag on Readers Placed Aside Cars

In the Autorai 2011, Hyundai adjusted this algorithm to link Facebook account with the small tags. When visitors scan them on the readers aside the cars. Their account automatically likes the cars on Facebook that they scanned. Using this cutting edge technology, more than 10,000 likes were posted on Facebook, exclusively during the campaign period, and the Dutch Division of Hyundai made more than 1,000 new friends on each freshly made Facebook page. As a result, this campaign contributed to Hyundai the most liked brand and Hyundai’s Veloster the most liked car in 2011.

Isn’t it scary how fast the virtual world is growing and replacing our 3-D world?

Rubber Duck – Message For Peace & Happiness?

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The rubber duck project was first started 7 years ago in France with purpose of delivering message of peace and happiness. Dutch artist, Florentijn Hofman, tried to entertain the world by a tour named “spreading joy around the world”. Until now, it has been displayed in 14 different cities all over the world and is presented in Seoul, the capital city of South Korea.

Rubber Duck Project Seoul

The Lotte group of Korea asked for the giant rubber duck to celebrate their opening of the largest shopping mall in country. There were a number of political and social issues with regard to its construction, partially due to its safety issues, and by presenting the giant symbolic figure, the corporation has successfully attracted more people. I thought intention of delivering peaceful message to the public was great, but only at the beginning. Many companies and corporations started abusing it as a marketing tool.

Rubber Duck Drinking Local Hard Liquor, Soju – Lotte Liquor, World’s Second Leading Producer of Soju.

Rubber Duck Made Of Steamed Bun – Samlip General Foods Co., Large Manufacture of Instant Food

Rubber Duck Wearing A Outdoor Jacket – Kolon Sports., Large Manufacture of Outdoor Products

There are pictures of rubber duck drinking a Starbuck’s coffee, redbull, and even ones putting makeups on. Many of them certainly went viral through online communities and entertained people in many different forms.

In my opinion, many business have taken advantage of its presence by commercializing the symbolic figure for their profit. For example, the picture of rubber duck drinking hard liquor feels rather immoral and fades away from its original message. What are your thoughts?

Great Use of SNS by Dunkin’ Donuts: Part 2

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One great point from last post was that a good digital marketing campaign usually result in great return on investment(ROI). In most cases, base cost required to launch interesting marketing campaigns online is near nothing compared to the amount of potential exposure in online communities. In addition, digital marketing campaigns naturally invite its customers to represent the company in advertising their products. Here are some of equally brilliant use of online communities by Dunkin’ Donuts.

Dunkin’ Donuts in Other SNS Platforms

The Offical Twitter of Dunkin’ Donuts

Dunkin’ Donuts has around 810,000 followers on their official Twitter account. The social marketers response flexibly to tweets about them communicating in friendly tone. It also promotes seasonal marketing campaigns during holidays. For example, During Mother’s day, Dunkin’ Donuts launched a social campaign called, “Mom’s Heart Donut”, and collected reasons for loving mother awarding contest winners with gift cards.

The Offical Printerest of Dunkin’ Donuts

Furthermore, Dunkin’ Donuts also manages its official pages on Google+, Youtube, Printerest, and Instagram targeting customers in diverse platforms. It seems to know very well about characteristics and main segment of users of each social network platform. One usual mistake many companies make in their social marketing is that they try to fill their online space up with pictures of their products. However, Dunkin’ Donuts balance its focus between advertising its products and broader contents to courage customer participation and communication online.

The Offical Instagram of Dunkin’ Donuts

In the end, the success of Dunkin’ Donuts in digital marketing mainly comes from standing on consumers’ view when launching a campaign as well as consistently monitoring and analyzing its online activities.

Great Use of SNS by Dunkin’ Donuts: Part 1

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One way to learn about digital marketing is to look at success stories from other companies analyzing their strategies. A well founded company website and optimal use of social network platforms, including blogs, are most vital elements of successful digital marketing. Dunkin’ Donuts, an American global doughnut company and coffeehouse chain, has strengthen its bond with customers through active involvement in online communities. It has attracted more “fans” by providing various contents and holding interesting online campaigns that went viral.

Dunkin’ Donuts Official Website

Dunkin’ Donuts in Facebook
Over 12.6million people around the world like its Facebook page. The Facebook page is not only used to upload pictures of its products but also to build close relationship with customers. For example, it launched a Facebook application that allows users to share their experience of when, where, why, and what they are having using the font of its logo. During the “What Are You Drinkin'” campaign, one customer, among the applicants who shared their images through the application, was given a gift card worth of $100 everyday. This campaign was especially brilliant because 1)it allowed more people to be exposed to their products via their online social networking platforms and 2)increased consumption by giving out gift cards to the winners of the campaign.

The Official Facebook Page of Dunkin’ Donuts

This campaign was successful because Dunkin’ Donuts made this campaign dead simple – just uploading a picture with a sentence via a mobile application – and yet, provided incentive for customers to be engaged with prize. Wouldn’t you upload a picture of your drink with a sentence long description for a chance to win a $100 worth gift card?

From Complainers Back To Customers

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What customers say and read about the business has large influence on their purchasing decision. According to a marketing study by Dimensional Research in 2013, “90% of customers say buying decisions are influenced by online reviews”. Therefore, it is crucial for any businesses to take good care of the communication panel. Social media is fantastic tool to engage customer interaction and promote businesses in timely manner. There are unlimited reach for contents on social media once they go viral online. However, this can also drastically harm businesses when it comes to complaints from unsatisfied customers. The key here is that it is more than important for businesses to learn how to effectively and properly communicate with customers.

Source: http://www.slideshare.net/jeremiah_owyang/social-strategy-gettingcompanyreadyapr14final

In class, we discussed about the importance of monitoring online and looked at a Social Media Response Model and Social Media Triage. In the article, How to Fire Back at an Angry Customer on Social Media, Peter Gasca suggests three points to consider before response: 1) seek to understand the complaint and its validity, 2) act fast, but not too fast, and 3) take it offline when possible. I strongly agree with the first two points. Businesses should carefully determine whether the complaints are valid (and not from a troll or comedian wannabes) and act upon in timely manner.Nevertheless, I think the last point of taking it offline and dealing with the problem privately seems quite risky. For most of the times, customers put complaints online for reasons such as informing others about their unsatisfied experience. If a business contacts the customer or client after the complaints, it is too late and it may worsen the customer service. They may feel that the business resolve the problems only after making the complaints public and suggest others to publicize their complaints. Let me know what you all think about this!!

Response to Tesco’s Virtual Store?

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A few days ago, I posted an interesting digital marketing campaign from Tesco Homeplus, the “Virtual Subway Store“. The campaign leaded to drastic increase in online sales as well as number of registered members. Although it was successful in temporally increasing awareness and getting attention, it wasn’t enough to change the market trend or boost long term growth.

Because the campaign was so interesting, I decided to surf on the web for another creative marketing campaign in Korea. Surprisingly, I found articles about a marketing campaign that was ran by Korea’s number 1 discount retail store E-mart. Click on this link to view the full version video: Emart Sunny Sale Campaign.

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvIJfUySmY0

From research they found out that their sales severely decrease during the lunch time. Despite the fact that E-mart is Korea’s largest discount chain store, they needed to solve their weakness. They came up with a brilliant idea of installing a QR code that can only be activated from 12pm to 1pm by using the sunlight and shadow. Forecasting weather and placing the 3-dimensional QR codes may have been challenging but it was successful; over 12,000 coupons were issued, 58% increase in membership, and 25% increase in sales during lunch time.

Source: http://biz.chosun.com/site/data/html_dir/2012/04/08/2012040801667.html

Similar to Homeplus’ virtual store campaign, this one also had temporal impact to customers. However, what I found this one better is that it actually makes people to try using the QR code. It turns people’s curiosity into potential purchase of products and increased sale.

Logo of Cheil Marketing Agency

What really interested me more was the fact that both the Virtual Subway Store campaign from Homeplus and the Shadow QR Code campaign from E-mart was designed by the same agency. Some experts criticize both campaigns as focusing more on getting awards from the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. I still think it takes outstanding effort and creativity to come up with these brilliant ideas and I appreciate their trial of new trend in marketing. At the end of the day, both campaigns achieved to engage people and provide them new experience.

Too “Busy and Tired” for Grocery Shopping??

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This particular tweet on #Sauder464 totally grabbed my attention because this advertising campaign looked super interesting and it took place in my home country. Click on this link to view the full version video: Tesco Homeplus Virtual Subway Store in South Korea (2:30)

Homeplus is a second largest discount store retail chain in Korea that is owned by Tesco. In order to increase market share without adding more stores, they came up with the idea of “let the store come to people“. As a result of the campaign number of new registered members rose by 76% with 130% increase in online sales.

Source: http://cheoneui23.egloos.com/2294404

Although I truly appreciate their creativity, I think there are some aspects they need to consider. First of all, I thought the use of QR (Quick Response) code was not the best option to engage customers to make purchase. It is virtually dead due to its bothersome process of downloading the app on mobile phones. I mean who really uses QR code anymore??

Secondly, I don’t think they have researched or thought deep enough about the nature of subway stations in Korea. Subways in Korea usually come every 3 to 5 minutes only and most subway stations during rush hours are way too crowded for anyone to even try shopping – losing their target segment. Would you try shopping in such a crowd(refer to the image below) by scanning each product with your phones? NO WAY.

http://www.fnnews.com/news/201308081318308532

Also, I believe many people would prefer to buy groceries at the actual point of sale, especially for items that quality varies depending on its freshness (meats, vegetables, fruits, etc). It is not easy to convince customers to buy meat from looking at picture displays.

In the end, I think the campaign was successful in increasing awareness and grabbing people’s attention in short term but not much more than that.

Source: http://www.newstomato.com/RealTime/RealTimeDetail.aspx?no=222928

I have done more research about this campaign and realized that it actually took place 3 years ago, in 2011, when the use of QR code was probably more active and popular. I also found out that they expended this concept of ‘virtual store’ to some of bus stations a year later but it was not as successful in expanding awareness or sales. Furthermore, according to blog postings about the campaign, the app did not work on Apple devices – lost sale and credibility.

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Rubber Duck – Message For Peace & Happiness?

Response to Tesco’s Virtual Store?

Too “Busy and Tired” for Grocery Shopping??