Mobile App take Over

Quiet Brands

As one of my previous blog post has mentioned, the promotional mix has six different areas and digital/media marketing is one of them. With the millennials taking over the work industry as the Baby-boomers are starting to retire, technology and media outlets have become essential to the marketing industry.

When it some to messaging, Snapchat and Facebook-owned WhatsApp and Messenger are the go-to apps of millennials and marketers alike. But increasingly, a new crop of messaging apps in growing in popularity. New players in the social media world are WeChat, Line, Kik and Viber, who are quietly capturing the attention of brand marketers through sponsored stickers and chat bots reaching millions of millennials and teens. With the development of media outlets through applications increasing everyday, it is difficult to keep up with every single app and noticing their difference. Technology has continuously impeded the marketing industry, in order to stay on top of the trends marketers need to act upon the movement.

Four Mobile Message Apps:

Kik:

Kik's data-based ads, which target users using such information as age, location and gender, stand out in a world of blanket advertising on other messaging apps. The Waterloo, Ontario-based app is a favorite among teens, offering video and its Promoted Chat formats that let brands talk to individual users. Since launching last year, 16 million consumers have swapped 500 million messages via sponsored bots.

Line:

After taking over Japan, Line has its eye on the U.S.—and the budgets of U.S. marketers—in 2016. The app sells sponsored stickers users can send to their friends. Brands can also set up their own accounts, similar to a Facebook or Twitter page. Line is also working with Japanese publishers Shogakukan and Kodansha to create mini content hubs akin to Facebook's Instant Articles and Snapchat's Discover platform.

WeChat:

This app is a mobile powerhouse in China, boasting more than 600 million monthly users who shop, play games and order takeout via their smartphones. E-commerce players like Michael Kors, Nike and Burberry are best at nailing WeChat because they produce their own content to drive sales, said Thomas Graziani, co-founder of WalktheChat, a Chinese agency that specializes in WeChat marketing.

Viber

After launching its first major U.S. campaign last month, Viber wants to be known as more than a chat app. Similar to Line, marketers can design custom stickers and build a network of fans by setting up official accounts. For example, Brooklyn's Barclays Center uses Viber to push out information about concerts and sports events. To differentiate itself, games will be a major focus in 2016, with brands able to sponsor.

Public Relations, should not be over sighted

The promotional mix includes: advertising, direct marketing, digital/media marketing, personal selling, sales promotions, AND PR/PUBLICITY. Many marketers look passed the effects of public relations and publicity. Publicity is the act of attracting the media's attention and gaining visibility with the public at large, can sometimes be negative or positive. Public Relations are the strategic process of maintaining the reputation of an individual, organization or brand in the eyes of the public. 

The Top 10 PR Mistakes Journalists Hate Most:

1. Bad timing

With 18 percent of the complaints, bad timing has the unenviable position of number 1 on the list of PR mistakes. A lot of things fall under this category, but the most common ones are sending out press release too late, too early, with too long of an embargo or during a big news event that isn’t related to the story.

2. Irrelevance

Irrelevance came a close second, with 17.8 percent of complaints. It’s a very common mistake, and it can be easily avoided with some research into the publication. A lot of journalists complained that they were receiving pitches for things which were way outside their area of expertise or only tenuously connected to it. 

3. Repetition

This came in third, taking up 13 percent of complaints. Many journalists complained that PRs had phoned them to check if they’d received their press release. But repetition is not the same as a follow-up, because a proper, useful follow-up will offer something extra that could help the journalist.

4. Wrong name

With 12 percent, this mistake is common enough to warrant its own category. Most commonly, PRs spell the name of the journalist wrong, get completely the wrong name or, even worse, leave a name template in place when sending mass emails.

6. Too audacious

Nine percent of complaints were about the audaciousness of PRs. Most of the examples were of people who were trying so hard to be persuasive that it was in bad taste.

7. Tech blunders

Of the 6 percent of complaints taken up by tech blunders, by far the most common involves attachments. Journalists often don’t have time to go through an email and open a lot of multimedia attachments.

8. Overenthusiastic niceties

Five percent of complaints were about overenthusiastic niceties. Being polite and courteous is fine, but don’t overdo it.

9. Inappropriate methods of contact

Four percent of complaints from journalists were about the ways in which PRs chose to contact them. We all know that some journalists hate being phoned, while others hate being sent a press release without a phone pitch first. That’s personal preference, and there’s no consensus on which is better.

10. Too much jargon

Complaints about jargon made up 3.6 percent of examples. This is related to language goofs, but it’s still distinct. While a language error is accidental, jargon is deliberate.

New York to LA

Beyond the Empire State?

A recent advertisement for the "The New Yorker" released early November of this year. The interesting peripheral cue it that the setting was actually not in New York City, or even in New York at all it was in Los Angeles Union Station.

This ad agency took a different approach, they could of used a location in New York but they chose to be creative and stand out! A previous agency SS+K which brought in film director J.C. Chandor to produce a slick video shot at Los Angeles Union Station. While an L.A setting for a 90-year-old New York brand may seem odd, SS+K chief creative officer Bobby Hershfield says that was the point.

The most recent commercial follows a young man making his way through a splintered crowd as stories unfold around him. Suspense and anticipation build as the man arrives at his train, opens his New Yorker and finds the story it turns out he wanted to finish all along.

The overall concept of this commercial, which was an extremely interesting approach, was to communicate that The New Yorker is not just exclusively for residents of New York but for readers everywhere.

Personally, this approach was a genius way to conclude that there is no proximity for the New Yorker, but my question is does everyone sees it this way? As someone who has had four marketing courses, and shares an extreme passion for the industry, I look beyond the addressed message.

I know we discussed in Promotional Strategy and MK 422, which incorporating too many sources factors can mask the message being presented especially when you incorporate source credibility, source attractiveness, and source power. Source Credibility is the extent in which the recipient sees the sources as having relevant knowledge, skill or experience and trusts the source to give unbiased and objective information. There are two dimensions credibility, expertise and trustworthiness. Another source factor is Source Attractiveness, which is a source characteristic frequently used by advertisers to encompass similarity, familiarity, and likability. Similarity is supposed resemblance between the source and the receiver of the message, while familiarity refers to knowledge of the source through exposure. Likability is an affection for the source as a result of physical appearance, behavior, or other person traits. The last source factor is Source Power, this is when a source may be able to induce another person to respond to the request or position her or she is advocating with a reward or punishment. 

Now, there are some examples of companies who try to promote too much messages appeals whether it is fear or humor. With these types of appeals, an ad agency has to find a balance between promoting a company's values in beliefs in a receptive way and adding source factors. I am wondering if consumers will see beyond the initial commercial, unlike marketing majors and those working in the marketing field, a regular consumer may not see the creative approach that appears in this commercial.

GoDaddy or NoDaddy?

GoDaddy Will Not Run a Super Bowl Ad for the First Time in 12 Years

After the controversial spot in last year's Super Bowl, GoDaddy has decided they will not be returning for Super Bowl 50. GoDaddy has decided that they have created a brand for their name, and now they have started to re-position their marketing. 

Last year, the brand pulled its ad featuring a golden retriever puppy that falls off a truck and is sold to a new owner, spoofing Budweiser's popular "Puppy Love" Super Bowl commercials. The spot was removed from YouTube after critics panned it for making light of puppy mills.

After creating a creative brief, and deliberating on each section this article addresses the "Why." When positioning a company, like GoDaddy, they looked at why their brand is remarkable and understanding the reason it is. This was interesting to see GoDaddy re-position themselves, as we went over in one of our meetings, we visualize the positioning map with an X and Y axis. 

When trying to position Litron, depending on the established axis', we could determined what Litron's brand and core values are just by where they are positioned. It was intersting to see that GoDaddy is completely changing their postion on the map, they are also changing their target audience. The brand is moving from the Super Bowl to trget marketing geared toward small-business owners. 

"As you've been tracking us over the past several months, you've seen us shifting away from high-level domestic brand awareness to a more personalized, data-driven marketing approach as we expand globally," GoDaddy said. 

Overall I thought this article was important to share because it is taking what we learned in putting it into a real prospective, even with a company who has already positioned themselves. GoDaddy completely removed themselves from a commercial slot in the Super Bowl, one of the biggest advertising platforms on television, to completely re-position themselves to small businesses now that they have created a name since 2005.

Kristin's Creative Process

After reviewing our discussions and lectures, and going over our creative briefs on Monday I wanted to show my creative process.

As someone who is extremely passionate about marketing, and passionate about the visual concepts of products and services I always have the creative gears turning. When it comes to my creative process I have mapped out the following. When entering my creative thinking mindset I already have many ideas following, but I essentially start with an idea.When I have an idea, I then do some research on the idea, I search different market research and background stories on the ideas. When i generate some research, I then gather the information I collected and try to connect it visually. I develop a series of symbols and pictures that represent the current Idea researched. Once I have developed some knowledge on the idea or concepts, I then question all the pictures and research and try to conclude a thought process. Once the gears turn, I understand whether I need to go through the entire process again. If I don't that is when I usually get my AH-HA MOMENT!

BREAKVERTISING

Making Use of The Pause Bottom:

 

Referring back to one of my previous blog posts, and the portion of our course that focused on empirical generalizations, I read a recent article discussing advertisers innovative way of taking advantage of the pause button on the Television. My previous blog post's refereed to the generalization number 3 Value of TV: "Households with DVRS are similar to non-DVR households in the basic measures of advertising effectiveness. ( Recall and Recognition)." I presented the forms of zipping and zapping and how studies show that some advertisers have changed the position of their messages and logos to adapted to those users who zip through commercials. The most successful ads concentrated the action and the brand’s logo in the middle of the screen, didn’t rely on multiple scene changes, audio or text to tell the story, and often used familiar characters.

Antwerp, Belgium communication agency these days catered to this trend by looking for untapped potential. The result: pause button advertising or  in international terms "breakvertising." As soon as viewers press the pause button on the remote, a still is displayed and for advertisers this is a meaningful area to connect with the viewer. When viewers pause the television, essentially each moment they are away from the program they are using a product or service. Which is why this communication agency though ti would be a good idea to give advertisers the opportunity to use these precise moments to interact with their viewers.

In the short term, the concept can be made available to every TV channels, distributor or telecom provider. As for the overall spectrum of the marketing industry, many empirical generalizations have to be altered with this new type of message channel. My questions is will this effect the overall studies of how advertisers calculate viewership? This also could possibly effect television networks because as we know commercials are priced base off the primary and recency effect, could the new channel of advertising  create a whole new way to study consumer behavior?