After recently reading Adobe Digital Marketing’s blog post ‘Marketing to Millennials This Holiday Season with Social Media’ I found myself rethinking how to properly market over social media.

Joe Martin, the blog’s author, raises a good point in saying that 96% of millennials (who I find myself categorized under) belong to at least one form of social media. The biggest thing to note with this audience is how sensitive they are to advertising – a social network loses its appeal if a user feels as if they’re marketing towards.

As someone who frequents a few social networks myself – reddit, snapchat, facebook, and instagram – I find that I go through a massive amount of content per day, stories and posts numbering in the high hundreds. But even with my only concern being getting to my intended destination (whatever site I mean to reach), passing by all those ads can create a subliminal association effect. Therefore online marketers succeed only when they play the game of averages with advertisements. How many pieces of information can a social media provide a user via posts peripheral to the intended story? Martin elaborates on this with the statistical measurements of social network advertising – the shift from the cost per click to the cost per thousand models. As the traffic increases, the cost per visit to a site goes down.

While the tailoring of advertisements on social media has improved (I myself am impressed with the shift from dating site advertisements to concert listings in my own feed) I think the true value of social network advertising will be in the subtlety of page positioning. A user could quite easily find themselves with an index of information on various sites they didn’t know they’ve been influenced by.

I can dismiss these ads while I read, but I still see them.

If I don’t realize how many billboards I’m seeing as I drive through Time Square, I’m going to keep driving through this part of town. If I drive through Time Square every day, I’ll somehow know of deals I never paid any mind to. Eventually I’ll be in the store. If I don’t realize how many promoted posts there are in my feed as I race through my facebook getting caught up on content, I’ll suddenly find myself with knowledge of, and eventually visiting the site I would never have heard of.

Time Square

Reference:
http://blogs.adobe.com/digitalmarketing/digital-marketing/social-media/marketing-to-millennials-this-holiday-season-with-social-media/

Rogers Wireless was a particularly dynamic company to pick for marketing strategies. Due to the oligopoly nature of the cellular communication industry, the pricing structure was very set in stone. What we were able to work with was what was offered by a subscription-style market. The significant difference in our thinking was then not to think in terms of a consumer who purchase a product several times, but a service that helps dictate lifestyle and finding the best fit for the various types of customers we thought we might have.

The unique part about the cell phone industry is how young it is. The first cell phones came out the same time the members of my group were born, and unlike many of the adults running the wireless companies we have been raised with texting and anywhere-calling as a staple of communication. While smart phones came in a bit later, our generation has been the one to mold the development of the major apps such as Instagram or Snapchat. This gave our group some pretty opinionated, yet informed, views on how the marketing strategies should work.

In my opinion, our strongest suggestions revolved around the diversity of technology. We very quickly came to the agreement that securing new technologies in our marketing mix would be a key play to attract and commit customers to our chosen company. Once we had our market segmented, determining how to leverage those segments was the next step and the PhoneBloks suggestion was perfect way of attracting more customers to the smart phone plans.

Making the video itself was rather straightforward, although I still felt time restricted. I personally pursue cinematography as a hobby, and while most of my work on the subject tends to be more artistic I found it pleasantly challenging to try and make an informative video. I have a new found respect for catchy, easy-to-follow informational videos on products.

Despite the last minute rush, I learned a lot through the collaboration involved with making this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VI6nZ7oxdUU

In 2006, Dos Equis established character of “The Most Interesting Man In The World” in their advertising campaigns. This man, played by Jonathan Goldsmith, depicts a suave elderly gentleman who has accomplished daring feats and finishes the advertisement with ‘I don’t always drink, but when I do, it’s Dos Equis’.

A few years later one can find this phrase reformatted for a plethora of posts across social networks and image sharing sites as it has grown to a running joke across internet, known as a meme. The format of “I don’t always [x], but when I do I [y]” is used to describe tendencies between two activities in a humorous manor. When displayed as an image the phrase is accompanied by The Most Interesting Man.

Is this a sign of successful marketing? The Most Interesting Man campaign has been going on for six years now, and Dos Equis sales went up 22% while the rest of imported beers went down 4%. While the numbers are promising one what must take into consideration how the use of the phrase has transcended the advertising campaign itself. Many people could have no idea the back story behind the jokes they scroll past, or the opposite could occur in that they’re exhausted by the repeating sentence structure.

The true sign of good marketing is getting into the audience’s headspace. By inserting an idea into a customer’s imagination, an advertisement becomes part of their thought processes and eventually their lifestyle. The customer then associates with the product unknowingly and will relate to it without question.

Hands down, The Most Interesting Man in the World has entered the audiences headspace. The fact that hundreds of internet users re-type out the phrase, perhaps unknowing of what it relates to, shows that the idea of The Man has a positive, witty connotation. A consumer who knows the phrase will eventually see the advertisement and associate the beer with all the jests they’ve read in the same format. Every time someone impersonates The Man, they bring themselves closer to Dos Equis.

In a fellow UBC student blog post, Georgia Sakurai elaborates on Virgin America’s new safety video by saying ‘Sass sells’. She draws attention to the versatility Virgin’s video, mentioning how Virgin was able to get the video across multiple platforms like YouTube in addition to their in-flight movie screens. She celebrates Virgin’s ability to take something boring or redundant and turn it into entertainment for their customers.

While the new take on a boring safety video is clever, Georgia’s analysis of it is a bit under developed. She discusses ‘sass’ as if it’s a new technique, and is a hot commodity in the marketing world.

In reality, such against-the-grain methods have been commonplace for quite some time. Advertisements making gags of previous advertisements have been a tool to draw attention to products since the 60s. Recent examples that come to mind are Geico’s bait-and-switch style from the early 2000s, where a normal looking advertisement would come on and the line ‘I have fantastic news though, I just saved a bunch of money by switching to Geico” would suddenly be thrown into the script. Another example is Adidas commercial in which a majestic looking runner is portrayed with ‘this is Nike, and the man following with him wearing the 50-pound camera is wearing Adidas”.

These witty ads reward potential consumers for being able to see through more stereo typical advertisements with humor. In doing so, the company advertising appeals to the viewers intellect, establishing a more intimate connection in being able to condescend the other advertisements. In Virgin’s case, they’re poking fun at how boring a normal instructional safety video might be.

Another thing to note on Sakurai’s analysis is that she underestimates how niche such a video is. While it can be publicized via various forms of media, she fails to note that the advertisement only applies to those about to get on a plane. Maybe for the weathered traveler this is a common experience, but to the everyday man or woman air travel is an uncommon nuisance. Sure, it bodes well that Virgin can poke fun at itself, but the video is five minutes long and holding a customers attention for that long, even prior to lift off, is a challenge.

References:

Sass Sells

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=DtyfiPIHsIg

In 2009, US attorney generals banned the selling of beverages containing both alcohol and caffeine. Namely to target one brand: Four Loko.

Created by a small start up company of three Fraternity brothers, Phusion LLC marketed the Four Loko malt liquor with colorful cans of more-than-one-glass proportions. When the bad press for the drink began it was mostly due to the notion that Phusion was targeting an underaged customer in the attempts of serving them a ‘blackout in a can’. The argument strengthened when a group of teenagers were hospitalized due to alcohol poisoning from the drink.

In hindsight the ban on mixing caffeine and alcohol in one product was a bit of a witch hunt. No one ever stops an adult from buying an Irish coffee at a bar, yet some how it’s morally more viable. Phusion was able to see a niche opportunity for a product and capitalized on it as an entrepreneur is wont to do. The argument that they were targeting minors has legitimacy up until a customer realizes they can buy the Red Bull that is placed next to Four Lokos in a gas station. The colors are no different than those on non-alcoholic mixers like grenadine.

What Four Loko really teaches us is how bad press can escalate and destroy a product. Reporters can quickly echo off of each other and apply a lot of pressure to third party authorities. Especially when it comes to American culture and ‘vice’ products like alcohol. Despite the counter arguments, Phusion quite happily conceded to the ban of their product and bounced back with a non-caffeinated version. According to them, sales are still going fine despite the controversy. In reality I guess it is hard to defend a drink created by fraternity brothers, promoted by cheap hip hop artists, sold in the back of gas stations and binged by sixteen year olds.

Last May, the CEO of popular clothing brand Abercrombie & Fitch, Michael Jeffries, made controversial statements over who their target market is. The author of the book ‘Rules of Retail’ accused Jeffries of being the ‘mean girl’ for not providing plus sizes for their clothing. In response, Jeffries stated “We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely.”

Jeffries has received lots of negative press about the statements since. A&F’s competitors have been producing plus sized teenage clothing for several months now in response to rising plus sized market.

Are such practices really unethical, or is this simply a cultural backlash from Americans? It is not uncommon for many brands to specialize their clothing in order to market themselves. In fact, the reverse of Abercrombie and Fitch is present in Big & Tall stores, in which no small sized clothing are to be found. Many other higher end or European brands such at H&M use the same marketing techniques by using thin models or having tighter-fitting cuts.

Jeffries is only guilty of admitting to a practice that has been existing since marketing theory came around: a target market. The backlash occurs when the American culture of the customer always being right feels offended by a retailer saying ‘we don’t want to sell to you’. This kind of behavior has been mocked by many in recent years. In Southpark’s episode ‘Raising the Bar’, the main character Cartman becomes obese enough to require a motorized chair to get around, then leverages his ‘needs’ to force schools and stores to build ramps to let him in. How is forcing a company like A&F to make plus sized clothes any different?

As of this week, Nintendo released their new console, first of the latest generation, the Wii U. A blogger under the name nerdbusiness made a very extensive post of how the Wii U is a step in the right direction, but cannot compete with the convenience and versatility of the iPad.

Nerdbusiness suggests that Nintendo makes its own, console independent iPad variant that has all the bells and whistles that Nintendo customers are used to.

Unfortunately this plan has many holes in it. First, Nintendo has never made a tablet before. In fact the reason why this Wii U is so innovative is that it is the first of any consoles to integrate a tablet into their gameplay, something that at first seems counterintuitive (why play on the TV when you could play in your hands?). Nintendo obviously did everything they could to answer this question – introducing many features of gameplay that couldn’t be done via conventional tablet or console gaming such as maps in your hand for the story on the TV, or actual buttons on a tablet.

The Wii U is meant to show that Nintendo can pull off a tablet based platform while still holding true to what they’re known for – console games with reputable franchises like Mario, Zelda, and Pokemon.

While the power Nintendo has over the video game market has been in decline for the last two decades, they still remain as a large company and it is safe to say that they will stick around for at least another decade. The Wii U is a step out of the companies comfort zone – and they’re doing a great job trying on the new technology for size.

http://nerdbusiness.com/blog/nintendo-tablet

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4e3qaPg_keg

One thing everyone knows about Facebook is how many people use it – finally breaking the one billion mark. But does high usage equal profit? Not entirely.

Facebook makes the majority of its’ profits from advertisement, something that most website companies profit from. Many users recognize this as well, and find it perfectly easy to ignore the random links on the side of the page. Unfortunately this has limited the amount of money one can make off such a successful site – to the roughly 10% of the screen that just about anyone can look away from.

Zuckerberg is beginning to look into new ways of making profits – floating the idea of promoting different posts people make by paying a fee. The problem with the idea is that Facebook users are almost guaranteed to be somewhat tech savvy – and would quickly see through the money making scheme. It’s almost as easy to leave a social media site as it is to join one – look at the ghost town that is now Myspace and AOL.

If Facebook introduces too many blatant attempts to reach into its’ users wallets, the user base numbers will plummet, causing the site to become less and less useful, and weakening the power of the company as a whole. It’s a slippery slope, and the ever so popular site needs to be careful if they want the spotlight to remain on themselves.

In response to Joey Luo’s blog
https://blogs.ubc.ca/joeyluo28/2012/10/08/facebook-beyond-advertising/

Ten Tree apparel is a company that promises to plant ten trees per article of clothing sold in developing countries.

While at first glance this is a very reasonable and enticing marketing ploy, there is a question that my business fueled mind is bound to ask – what’s the catch?

Nobody feels their strong morale compass when they purchase clothes. In fact, most people can tell that they’re the victim of sophisticated advertisements and engineers of want. Ten Tree Apparel, at it’s core, is attempting to advertise by saying their products will remove this materialistic guilt by planting trees. Almost an oxymoron, there must be a loophole:

-Are the trees helpful? Are they weeds that will get swept away?

-If trees can be planted so easily, why isn’t everyone doing it?

-How much of their costs are actually allotted to the trees? Could they plant more?

If Ten Trees is really going to market themselves as the social entrepreneur they appear to be, they really need to focus on why they can plant the trees and you can’t. Emphasize wholesale powers that be that would enable such an efficient forestry operation, and discuss exactly how much the trees are part of the company’s goal compared to making money off their clothing. Profits are almost always the largest incentive – it’s up to us consumers to make sure we aren’t buying a good conscience.

In response to Logan Parker’s blog post:
https://blogs.ubc.ca/loganparkersblog/2012/11/17/ten-tree-apparel-saving-the-planet-ten-trees-at-a-time/ 

There has been a recent surge in products that are targeting women, whether it’s Honda cars, Bic pens, or European beers.

Honda is producing a pink car with pink lining on the seats, and UV prevention glass (along with skin-healthy air conditioning). Bic recently ran an ad-campaign for their new pink pens that involved a young girl giving the Bic-man a kiss for giving her the pens, and the European beers have been trying to reduce images of men dominating women in their advertising.

The problem it seems with these campaigns is that they are announcing that they are for women. While there have been a great many controversy over products like Barbie and how they perpetuate stereotypes, one must ask; if these companies didn’t so blatantly market towards women and didn’t make so many assumptions on the average female, would they be so in the wrong?

Take a look at a recently soaring industry – laptop and phone covers. Personally I’ve seen hundreds of different covers, all hoping to make their standard iPhone or MacBook a bit more personal. A lot of the women I’ve seen have done so via feminine decorations – pink cases for their lap tops or cute, bunny-covered iPhones. But these products don’t directly advertise to women – they’re just feminine like products. Imagine if Honda didn’t so blatantly market this new car as ‘hers’. If they simply tried to reduce the amount of UV radiation and provide healthier air conditioning, and they just so happened to sell a lot more of these cars in pink, would the debate ever come up?

I think the key to marketing towards women or minorities is not to belligerently target them. The key is to introduce features that anyone could potentially enjoy, but your target demographic might enjoy more. Don’t advertise these products as the target enjoying them, advertise as everyone enjoying them. While I don’t understand marketing incredibly in depth, I think a lot of the fumbles these advertisements are making could be reduced to less controversy.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/surge-in-gender-targeted-products-creates-marketing-headaches-for-companies/article5358521/