Recently, I have been fascinated by the Promotion P of the marketing mix. To me, the price, product, and place Ps are less intriguing as they require a lesser extent of creativity, and it is the creative side of marketing that I am captivated by. Lately, while I was browsing the Digital Buzz Blog, I came across this article on Volkswagen’s take on tackling a large program.

For me, doing these blog posts have led me to discover some modern challenges of advertising. I have since learned the importance of value-added marketing and understand that advertising, to be effective, needs to be a two-way exchange. However, a major issue arises—how does one get the consumer to stop and pay attention to their advertising, especially in commercials? Research shows that 80% of people fast-forward through TV commercials. No matter how amazing the ad is, if the consumer is skipping through it, then it is ineffective.

Volkswagen has taken an innovative approach to this problem and has introduced the “Slowmercial For Fast Forwarders”, where, if you fast-forward through the commercial, it appears as a static print ad. The ad shows nothing more than a Volkswagen Beetle slowly opening its roof, but the idea is that whether you’re watching at normal or fast speed, you can’t escape from it!

Volkswagen Beetle Slowmercial

Although the commercial does very little to call for action from the consumer, it definitely is making an impact in terms of consumer behaviour. Volkswagen’s “slowmercial” will get the Beetle into their target market’s evoked sets through increased exposure, and thus will raise the likelihood of purchasing. I LOVE how innovative marketers are becoming in order to tackle promotional problems—it makes me excited to see what I could come up with in the future!

http://kelowna.myezrock.com/Pics/Mj/video_poster.jpg

Recently, my roommate and I were watching TV (like good students) and realized how many bad commercials were out there. Building on this thought, we realized how easy it is today to ignore traditional marketing platforms. We can easily fast forward through commercials, and are immune to the spamming of online ads. We wondered: how are leading marketers today getting through to their target market?

After some research, I managed to find some pretty cool examples. There’s definitely a shift now from traditional marketing tactics to content marketing—instead of just spamming and trying to “sell you stuff”, companies are now offering great content in their marketing which makes the consumer stop and think.

One great example is Labatt Brewing Co.’s unconventional take on marketing their Kokanee brand. Instead of a 30-second ad, they filmed an entire 90-minute movie, which was released in theatres across western Canada. The film was targeted directly at their target demographic of 19 to 25 year old males, and they took product placement to the extreme. They were also extremely effective in rolling out movie-related promotions which boosted their sales like unprecedented before. For example, fans were able to audition for roles in the film, and regular customers could even get their names included in the credits if they registered on the website with an email. Bars could compete for a chance to be used as a location in the movie by getting their customers to vote for them—but customers could only vote by ordering a beer with the voting code on it. As a result, bars aggressively promoted Kokanee and sales SOARED.

I never really thought about the challenges marketers face now that traditional marketing techniques are becoming less effective. But it’s super cool how innovative marketing can be in bringing brands and slogans to life.

Other amazing examples include Red Bull’s sponsorship of Felix Baumgartner’s jump from space and TNT’s “Dramatic Surprise on a Quiet Square”.

Screenshot from “Started From the Bottom” Video

Drake, a popular Toronto-born rapper, recently released his video for his new hit single “Started From the Bottom”. Although companies usually spend a lot of time and money into being associated with celebrities, Shoppers Drug Mart was not too keen with their appearance in his video—Drake and 2 friends are initially shown in the video as Shoppers employees, with the store as  representation as being the “bottom”.

This incident definitely opened my eyes to the other side of marketing—the unwanted kind. According to Tammy Smitham, VP of Communications and Corporate Affairs, “Drake’s production team requested to film…as they wanted to depict something that was uniquely Canadian. We agreed to allow the filming to show our support of Canadian artists.” Clearly, this plan backfired on the company. Companies such as Canada Goose benefit greatly from unpaid product placement (ie. Kate Upton wore one of the brand’s jackets on the cover of Sports Illustrated’s annual swimsuit edition) For them, the product placement benefits them as it aligns perfectly with the company’s marketing strategy. For Shoppers, it’s a disappointment—product placement, while such a highly valuable marketing tool, can do so much damage.

This incident really allowed me to realize how companies can sometimes lose control of their marketing—you never know what type of outside influences you have to deal with! Even when you think you have done the best research and know the competitive environment like the back of your hand (if companies could have hands), marketers always need to stay on their toes less they are thrown curveballs like this. For now, I am excited to see how Shoppers plans to recover from this giant blow to their image.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/shoppers-drug-mart-makes-cameo-in-rapper-drakes-video/article8724677/

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/industry-news/marketing/for-canada-goose-sports-illustrateds-swimsuit-edition-is-a-golden-egg/article8643134/