Bargain Booze's reaction to the overwhelming surge of discount supermarkets

I'm not sure if I've ever noticed any adverts for Bargain Booze before, certainly none that have made me chuckle as I left the M4 and drove past one of their outdoor adverts on the side of a phone box. However, I thought these adverts were absolutely great and really made me like the brand, especially as the brand had been so far back in my recall.

Aldi's comparison adverts were widely successful and showed their own brands against competitors for a hugely discounted price. However, Bargain Booze does exactly the opposite! They have ALDI's unheard-of alcohol brands against hugely well-known brands Calsberg and Smirnoff quoting the exact same prices! It's almost like 'Brands Fight Back'! 

I love the ballsy headline 'Aldi Shmaldi', it's so captivating and certainly caught my attention! I only since noticed the Who? and I think it's a great joke and no doubt Carling and Smirnoff are benefiting from these adverts too!

Bargain Booze have insisted they are not trying to knock ALDI nor imitate what they do- after all ALDI are brand less yet as you can see Bargain Booze's slogan 'For People Who Like Bargains and Brands' which suggests they are putting the public's faith back in to branded products and conveying their quality! Which is what all we marketers like to hear!

Bargain Booze have begun a print and outdoor campaign with the social media campaign launching in the next few weeks and I wish the best of luck to them as it's a great idea- one from a totally unexpected brand too! Good luck taking on the Germans!!

Steph

Groupon's EPIC social media usage

This is going to be a ridiculously quick one as I am absolutely drowning in revision for my Marketing Services exam on Wednesday...however after a little lot of procrastination, I came across this absolutely brilliant use of social media from Groupon, and I couldn't not share it!

Have a read through this post on Groupon's Facebook page- and their fantastic responses to comments!

Groupon had posted the product on social networks previously and had received endless comments regarding the products similarity to something else... and Groupon decided to act on these responses in the best way possible- by embracing them!
The comments went viral and in turn gave Groupon fantastic PR and showed a lighter side to the brand. This reminds me slightly of the Penguin's #YourMum campaign I posted last month, however I believe Groupon did a much better job of embracing comments which were designed to 'take the piss' in a tactful, funny and witty manner.
Apparently, Groupon assigned three social media employees out of five to respond to comments on the Banana Bunker thread- real commitment!! The posts brought the spotlight to Groupon's page and they sold all of the Banana Bunkers before the post started being shared online! What a great way to sell inventories without doing a boring sales promotion!

When marketers think outside the box, react to trends (especially online), interact with consumers and deliver humour specific to their own product- it clearly pays off! Whether than be with short-term, fast sales or when building long-term relationships!

More posts once my exams are done!

Wish me luck,

Stephanie

Protein World's Controversy and Positive Body Image Advertising

'Sex sells' and objectified women is nothing new in advertising- and as a young marketer and a self-proclaimed feminist I am constantly viewing how gender stereotypes affect advertising and the way brands place a certain expectation on how people should behave based on their gender. However I have to say this type of advert doesn't just affect women, I've seen numerous protein shake-type companies flogging their products based on false-idealisms of the perfect man i.e. big muscles, abs etc. and it is really something I feel passionate about that marketers should look at ethically.

Protein World's London Underground adverts have been causing controversy and topical debate across the internet this month. If you haven't seen them here's their 'Beach Body' advert:

There was a huge backlash from angry tweeters and the ads were vandalised:

We love London. Fuck patriarchy. pic.twitter.com/bDeET7pzdO
— The Vagenda Team (@VagendaMagazine) April 22, 2015

A petition was started to remove the ads and the ASA received hundreds of complaints. All in all though, the backlash has caused an awesome body positivity message spreaded on the back of putting the Protein World brand in a bad light...

I am SO for the #eachbodysready hashtag!!! <3 http://t.co/RcL72FzAt7 pic.twitter.com/U2HLRjR2zm
— Tara Costello (@Catstello) April 23, 2015

Making people feel bad about their own bodies is not the way to sell products, despite the fact it may have done so 40 years ago, brands have moved on to empowering women, making them feel good about themselves and being accepting. I feel as though the Protein World is so archaic, not adapted to 21st century advertising nor does it consider the affect it may have on the public and the message they are portraying. The media has been shamed for putting unrealistic expectations in the minds of women and men with regard to body image and perceptions, so why hasn't Protein World learnt from other's mistakes? 

If you know me or my tastes in advertising you'll know I often speak about how much I love Dove as an advertiser- their positive body image portraying both women and men gives them such a great brand image and ultimately sell great products! I was so happy to see this piece of newsjacking advertising from Dove:

Nice topical ad RT: @DoveUK Yes, @ProteinWorld. We are #BeachBodyReady. #CampaignForRealBeauty pic.twitter.com/PcXczqnP9v
— Matt Weatherall (@MTWTHRL) April 16, 2015

Hijacking the negative PR which Protein World were receiving was an amazing opportunity for Dove to reinforce their brand values and show themselves completely opposing Protein World's messages. It also helped align Dove with campaigners on social media and showed the brand's support for what they were trying to achieve.

You'd think after receiving such heavy negative publicity and tweets like these:

No I am fucking well not and I don't think milk powder will help. Poisonous advert from @ProteinWorld pic.twitter.com/WRBIZOU8Su
— Alex Martin (@AlexFGMartin) April 15, 2015

'Protein World' posting massive adverts about being 'beach body ready' whilst promoting skipping meals. Wow.
— Rach Warrenger (@RachWarrenger) April 12, 2015

@ProteinWorld I think your tube advert is really irresponsible. You can see the girls ribs!! Is that what is meant by beach body ready?!!!
— Jo Marshall (@jomarshall2) April 15, 2015

This advert pretty much sums up everything that I despise about how we treat and value women's bodies. pic.twitter.com/PBZNyn8qop
— Hannah Atkinson (@hatkinson_) April 12, 2015

To be #beachbodyready you have to be slim? F*CK OFF! I dont care about your size, you wana wear a bikini then do it pic.twitter.com/vieVVQIKhv
— Tony Mitsinga (@TonyMitsinga) April 16, 2015

You'd think the first thing they'd do would be to employ a fantastic PR firm and do some serious crisis management right?

Wrong. 

They handled their social media reaction terribly.

Protein World deleted negative comments from their Facebook page, send horrible automated responses like these:

@ceciliadom Don't worry! Lose 2-4lbs per week- http://t.co/NKkl81UOsZ
— Protein World (@ProteinWorld) April 16, 2015

@rabbitinahat It's not too late to get your beach body! Lose 2-4lbs per week with our Weight Loss Collection :-)
— Protein World (@ProteinWorld) April 16, 2015

When they finally decided to respond to criticisms, their responses were rude, inappropriate and all in all made the situation much worse!

This one is significantly disgusting and displays a need to have clear brand guidelines and values to stick by in ALL forms of communication.

Jesus @ProteinWorld, do you want that hole to be any deeper? (via @willpscott) pic.twitter.com/hvzYQ9s7gl
— Laurence Hebberd (@LaurenceHebberd) April 24, 2015

This tweet was made by the company CEO who then started blocking all negative tweeters.

@daniellenewnham @JulietteBurton @ProteinWorld it sounds like Juliette had a lot of issues well before she saw the PW ad
— Arjun Seth (@arjun_seth) April 24, 2015

Both @ProteinWorld and their CEO @arjun_seth have blocked me. Bravo! pic.twitter.com/MvWrk4Majx
— Jack Ashman (@Jack_Ashman) April 18, 2015

Fighting fire with fire is never a good idea- and actually makes the company look guilty- despite no signs of any admittance of such, nor an apology. The brand were retweeting any tweets which shunned campaigners...then the CEO posted this tweet:

And I can't even comment on how greedy, selfish, ignorant and lack of customer focus this brand/ spokesperson is displaying.

And that ladies and gentleman is how not to run an advertising campaign.

However, with the continual push from brands and the media to gain their perception of the 'perfect body', it's unfortunate that people will still buy these crappy products!

Let me know your thoughts over on my twitter account @stefclarkx I would absolutely love to hear your opinions!

Stephy 

Penguin books #YourMum twitter backlash!

We all love a good Twitter highjacking story! However, this time the brand highjacked is a little surprising... Penguin Books- the publishing company we all remember from childhood, attempted to get #YourMum trending on twitter based on books their mum would like to receive for Mothers' Day.

In principal, it's a pretty simple campaign with not much potential and is almost a bit dull and samey...however, the campaign took an interesting twist...

We all remember Your Mama jokes from the playground... and it seemed the Twitter community found it hilarious to relive their youth and tweet Penguin with endless jokes, totally hijacking Penguin's lovely intentions with crude jokes.

 

So @PenguinUKBooks is using the hashtag #YourMum for their Mother's Day campaign. It's almost too easy. Much like #YourMum
— Dan Northcote-Smith (@D_NS) March 10, 2015

And then more brands jumped on the bandwagon!

Give #YourMum a break. Get the #pizza in tonight. pic.twitter.com/y0crdfeAwX
— Domino's Pizza UK (@Dominos_UK) March 9, 2015

@PenguinUKBooks You're braver than we are, Penguin.
— Waterstones (@Waterstones) March 9, 2015

 However, despite the totally highjacking of the campaign- I actually believe Penguin did a great job and spread much faster than had the campaign not gone viral- even if the reason behind doing so wasn't their original intention. Everyone was talking about Penguin and it got the Twitter community talking about literature- a great result for Penguin in my opinion!

 

As much as I loved @PenguinUKBooks #YourMum, I think I would have gone with #WordToYourMother...
— Daisy Buchanan (@NotRollergirl) March 10, 2015

 Penguin handled their response to the highjacking excellently, remaining calm, professional and taking it lightheartedly, which actually made some question whether that was their intention all along! I don't believe Penguin could have predicted that reaction, nor could anyone else. However, it is a lesson to brands in the future who need to be extremely careful when selecting hashtags and content which has the potential to go viral for the wrong reasons.

 

I think overall the campaign was great PR for the brand and has shown their personality slightly more than I have ever seen!

 

Steph



Using social media 'fame' in advertising

We have all seen the people who are famous just from being on the internet? Believe it or not there are hundreds of 'celebrities' who have risen to fame just from publishing content on the internet... from Jenna Marbles, Zoella and Tyler Oakley, the Youtube 'vloggers' who have risen to fame, to Brittany Furlan and Dapper Laughs who created entertaining Vines to instagram stars like Amalia Ulman and Kordale and Kaleb Lewis.

Whether they create videos, blogs or images, these content creators have all been able to capitalise on their social media channels and become idols in their followers' eyes.

But what does this mean for brands?

Brands often struggle to create viral content themselves and therefore why not take something (or someone) that is already viral and associate yourself with it. These so-called 'stars' have allowed brands to be represented by people who consumers look up to, associate with, are already engaged in a two-way conversation with and mostly who they consider to be real people. 

Celebrities can be fantastic endorsers of brands however, as in a previous blog post, I spoke about the credibility of using movie stars/ singers with consumer brands... who actually believes said Hollywood actress actually shops at *insert low-cost store here*. However with these online social media content-creators, the idea that they are similar and relatable to by the target audience is a real selling point in the eyes of consumers. I think this article sums it up nicely.

How have brands been doing this already?

Sponsored videos/ blog posts/ tweets

Brands can pay those who they believe to be influencial/ have a viewing demographic which matches your target audience, who then review products or talk about their benefits and share the review with their users.
However, this can come across as inauthentic and consumers/ viewers are very aware of what is paid and what isn't. However, it certainly gets the brand out there and creates awareness. Brands also have to be conscious of how well the sponsoree can communicate their brand values/ product benefits.

Add to the quality of what they already produce

I believe this is an extremely effective tool, as you are no longer asking the endorser to do something they wouldn't usually, you are actually aiding them to achieve what they usually would and for the reason their subscribers/ followers like them so much.

A great example is Nikon, who teamed up with gay couple Kordale and Kaleb Lewis who's Instagram snap below went viral:

Being fathers is getting our daughters up at 5:30 am making breakfast getting them dressed for school and putting them on the bus by 6:30 .This is a typical day in our household . It's not easy but we enjoy every moment and eveny minute of #fatherhood . #proudfathers #blackfathers #prouddads #gaydads

A photo posted by Kordale N Kaleb (@kordalenkaleb) on Jan 14, 2014 at 7:17am PST

This was a great chance for Nikon to associate with great role models and ambassadors, who the spotlight is on at the moment. I also believe the collaboration is a great move, the digital camera industry is dying due to the use of smartphones and it is a great chance for Nikon to move into the 21st century and relate to hot topics.

The concept of gay marriage is highly debated and this will allow strong messages from both the couple and Nikon and in my opinion is a fantastic move for both parties. They created this brilliant ad:

Social media fame is on the rise

I believe all brands should ensure their marketers are active enough on social media to notice and understand who these people are, and what their stories are so that they can understand their value and relevance to the brands they work with!

PR Comedy!

Usually, I blog about huge brands with vast marketing and PR budgets and some of the industry's most talented and experienced talent! However, marketing isn't about who can spend the biggest budget or who can create a viral campaign with no reasonable purpose or intention. Sometimes, marketing can be about thinking on your feet and reacting in real-time with wit and initiative.

Check out this customer complaint from Baluga Bar & Club, local to my hometown of Preston:

Of course, this complaint was sent to the completely wrong Facebook account- the bar in question doesn't even serve food!! 

Now, the managers at Baluga, Preston had two options in this situation, reply to the message apologising for the mistake in the confusion and suggest that Bianca seek the correct restaurant OR, to use this opportunity to create some great PR and to reply to the comment with humour..... which is exactly what they did:

I think Baluga did a great job- they then shared this great response with their social media. As it was a lighthearted joke I'm sure Bianca and Baluga's REAL clientele found it funny! 

The great thing that Baluga managed was crisis aversion, by producing a humorous response to something unexpected, they managed to produce a great piece of PR!

Awesome work! :-)

Mysterious Ape

You may, or may not have seen Southern Electric's new advertising campaign. If not here's a few of their outdoor advertisements:

Consumers are hitting social media to express their confusion and humour at the ads. Some people even thought the adverts were a mistake! You can read some of the tweets here: http://www.buzzfeed.com/patricksmith/everyone-is-confused-by-the-sad-looking-ape-in-these-energy

As SSE responded to questions of the relevance of the ad to their organisation/ consumers taking the piss out of an ape at a music concert/ country side/ over wind turbines, they said the outdoor ads were to continue the story of their TV ad about "looking at energy through fresh eyes"

Here's the ad:

To be fair, I actually like the ad and come to think of it I think I have seen it on TV before, however I think SSE/ adam&eveDDB need to learn from the following mistakes made in this campaign:
1) Consumers don't always have a high recall rate Even if people have seen the ad, it may not be in the forefront of their mind and the character doesn't automatically spring to mind and therefore the link between the TV and outdoor advertising cannot always be made. 2) You cannot 'create' a character's novelty or likeability It is only through consumer word-of-mouth and other earned media sources that characters are known, loved and remembered.... take compare the meerkat, it was the brand who created the character, but the consumers who developed his legacy 3) Don't just PRESUME that the consumer will have seen the TV ad Not only is it slightly arrogant to think that your marketing methods are going to have that kind of reach, but if your whole campaign is resting up on it then you're bound to fall at the first hurdle. 4) Don't create an ad that appears completely out of context on it's own I'm all for integrated marketing communications and with better planning and a more intelligent outdoor advertising message, the whole campaign could have been a success. Yet, the current outdoor ads are as described on twitter "a bit crap", it's almost as though their entire budget went on the TV ad, so they got the work experience boy to create the outdoor ads
All in all, at least SSE got huge PR out of this! And their ads have gone viral..... maybe not for the reasons they had hoped......

Steph

End of placement, beginning of internship

Hello!

My marketing placement year at IBM has finally come to an end! A year of working in marketing full-time has given me a glimpse of the real world and how marketing can function outside of the textbooks, lectures and models that university can bring.

If you're currently studying marketing at university and have the opportunity to take part in a placement year, DO IT. It will open your eyes to the real world, you will learn an awful lot and you may decide what field of marketing you would like to work in, or in my case... NOT work in.

I first ventured into studying/ wanting a career in marketing whilst steering away from Journalism/ Public Relations therefore for me, I want to pursue something creative, which I can really sink my teeth into and experiment with... the great thing about marketing as a career is that there are so many avenues to go down, one area of marketing can be completely different to another!

Working at IBM was an amazing opportunity, a world-wide company which has a huge budget and is therefore able to commit to huge conferences, websites which are designed down to the T by the leading design agency in the world, events which the Senior execs of the biggest organisations in the country will happily attend at short notice... all of these things are obviously, amazing assets and what better position would you want your company to be in? The thing is, they don't actually NEED to do any marketing! The IBM brand is so well established and is a household name, in the business world it's the top dog of technology and therefore where is the competition? Where is the drive to increase awareness from 0% to 100%? It just doesn't exist!

The opportunities at working in such a large organisation, however, are probably unmatched with other types of jobs. I was able to get expenses to travel across the country, try out lots of education courses, meet hundreds of new people and network to my hearts content! I was also able to see what was successful and the struggle that such a large organisation faces when transitioning in to a new way of thinking/ new technologies.

A big company can offer flexible working, a great pension scheme, great pay, great facilities and the support you might need at a readily available service. However, weigh this up against just being 'a number' in 400,000 employees, facing outsourcing to other countries, never actually seeing your team apart from their icon photo in a conference call, having to phone a helpdesk every time you want to send a parcel, having to get every project you complete checked and finalised by hundreds of processes and procedures, it can sometimes feel like your individuality, thoughts and suggestions and even your personality can be a little bit squashed....

However, the experience was of course, priceless and an amazing opportunity, which I (hope) grasped with both hands and got the most out of. Even in a bad situation (not saying that it was a bad situation) you can always learn and grow through the things you experience.

However, I think I have almost made my mind up- I would like to work in a small- medium enterprise, or at least a highly competitive industry! I also think, for me, it's important to market something which I am passionate about and can relate to.

So therefore, this summer I am undertaking an internship at Vet's Kitchen in the marketing department (consisting of 2 people) which is an start-up pet food company based in Swindon, their products are sold in Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda and online. It couldn't be more different to marketing at IBM which is exactly what I wanted, a chance to try something completely different and a chance to show my skills to a small team of people and to actually have some responsibility, and mostly- to make a difference.

As the business is B2C, I am also getting the chance to try types of marketing activity that I would never had been able to within a B2B organisation. Vet's Kitchen literally do every type of marketing campaign I could ever think of- which is an amazing opportunity for me to gain experience in all of them! They are big on social media, and I am basically running all of their social media channels at the moment, advertising- print, radio, online etc, events (I'm going to exhibit at one of their road shows in a few weeks), email marketing, public relations, web design, packaging design, sales promotion, direct mail, merchandise...... I've literally done the lot! I've only been here 2 weeks and already I am learning the ins-and-outs of the organisation, how it operates, and how the company has grown and how the marketing can be used to attract new customers, raise awareness and ultimately gain market share.

I am also able to make my own suggestions and plan my own marketing activity (an amazing opportunity!!) and if I think something would work, I can suggest it AND request budget! There is so much freedom, flexibility and creativity- everything I wanted from working in marketing.

I'm really excited to carry out the rest of my internship and hopefully learn lots before deciding what kind of graduate job within marketing I would like to apply for.

Of course- everyone has their own desires and different opinions of work, I think any experience is a good experience, again even if this makes you realise what you DON'T want to do.... I know I don't want to work in a B2B technology organisation and I thank IBM for providing me with such a rewarding experience that helped me realise this! I would highly recommend a placement year there to anyone!

Opinions are entirely my own!

Steph

Opt-in, Opt-out

Digital marketing, arguably, and especially in the B2C world- is one of the most effective methods of reaching your target audience. However, as more and more organisations jump on the digital bandwagon, the quantity of marketing noise from more and more brands which consumers are faced with has rapidly increased.

Take Facebook- personal profiles were hugely successful and once Facebook allowed brands to join the site and create corporate/ brand pages, they started popping up all over the place. From the biggest brands such as Cadburys, Starbucks and Tesco to the local pub, butchers and community centre all creating engaging content through online social media sources, utilising websites and sending out emails- they are all at it and I know my social media pages have started to become much less social and much more brand-focused!

With this ever looming presence that consumers feel they are being sold to, constantly marketed towards and annoyed by persistent messages- is email marketing still useful when reaching a consumer? Or will it go straight into the 'Junk' or 'Deleted' folder?

Usually when signing up to newsletters, entering competitions or buying products online, you usually have the choice of opting-in or opt-out of receiving emails from the brand. This allows the consumer to have full control over the marketing messages they receive.

This infographic from Marketing Week indicates how willing consumers are to sharing their data (such as email address, phone number or postal address) with companies for the purpose of marketing. It's really useful to understand how willing people are to let companies market/sell to them. The impression I have gathered from working in a B2B scenario is that people are far less likely to 'opt in' to receiving marketing messages unless:

a) they are being provided with something of value, whether that be content, information and help or a personalised message
b) there is an incentive to do so- discounts, a competition or another type of reward
c) it is a company they really trust, admire or like- this can make it harder for start-ups or less-established brands trying to reach new markets to utilise database marketing

Think about how much you click the unsubscribe button on the endless email messages you receive from brands, or how many times you 'Unlike' an organisation's Facebook page?

I believe the key to maintaining a consumer's interest in your marketing messages, whether that be email messages, social media posts or even post (who does direct mail any more seriously?!) is down to 3 things:

a) Consistency: you have to absolutely nail this one; don't post too much and don't post to infrequently. This is mainly down to experimentation of how the interaction with your posts differs depending on the frequency of them, for email this is click throughs, for social it could be shares, likes or comments etc.
b) Content: provide something of value or that email is going straight into the delete folder, or that post is getting hidden! Whether that be discount, free delivery for e-commerce, coupons or vouchers for in-store purchases, competitions, product launches or events.
c) Personalisation: this potentially may be the most important point in marketing messages- whether you are targeting a new customer, loyal customer or someone who hasn't made a purchase in a while, the marketing messages must be tailored, even if you offer them the same incentive! Make the customer feel as though they are unique, valued and not just another name on a spreadsheet and I believe you will nail email marketing!

Stephanie

Brands who got it RIGHT: Oreo

A brand who have always done their social media marketing exceptionally well is Oreo! They have been referred to a "social media innovators" and have received exceptional recognition for the social media marketing they have demonstrated.

This post is on why I think they are social media masters:

I mentioned them in the newsjacking post previously, but there are hundreds of more examples of excellent use of social media by Oreo.

Check out these vines that they produced:





The thing that makes these so entertaining is the creativity and the success that Oreo create is SHAREABLE.

There is no point creating a loyal fan base or even posting social media content which has no shareability value- make content which people want to tweet or revine or tell their friends about!

Oreo connect with their audience, they have a strong following amongst their social media platforms and they engage with their target audience CONSTANTLY.

What some brands tend to do is run social media campaigns which publish heavy content and responses around a particular product release or around a particular time of year and then remain fairly quiet until the next one. However, Oreo continually updates with relevant, current and consistent content.

They respond to news stories, important dates, trends and peaks- this means users react in real time and are willing to interact with the Oreo brand. Look above at the phone case tweet- Oreo uses wit and humour to engage their audience and inspire others to share more!

Reasons why Oreo wins best use of social media marketing:
HUMOUR, CREATIVITY, CONSISTENCY, SHAREABILITY

an inspiration and a case study for all brands to learn from- Congrats Oreo!!

Thoughts and opinions all my own.
Stephanie Clark

Social Media Day @ Ogilvy

Hello!

So a couple of weeks ago I got the opportunity, with my team, to visit one of IBM's suppliers. We spent the day at the Ogilvy offices in Canary Wharf discussing the issues around social media and digital marketing. Ogilvy are one of the biggest marketing agencies in the world so you can imagine how excited I was to spend the day with the IBM account team and to visit their UK HQ!

The office for a start was amazing! Set in Cabot square in Canary Wharf- it was my 1st visit to Canary Wharf but it is definitely somewhere I can see myself working! The office was a really creative, modern and stylish setting (much different from the IBM offices...)

We got to hear from a number of interesting speakers and discuss issues around social media that the team had. As you may or may not know (having read this blog I hope!!) social media is one of my passions and something which I think I can talk about with a level of knowledge and experience- therefore I really found the day beneficial and enriching!

We discussed the importance of content on social media and how it shouldn't just be a selling page, delivering content to your target audience means they will use your owned media sources as an information source and this will therefore enhance their experience- meaning your brand is a) a trusted source b) in the forefront of their mind c) not thrust upon them in a sales perspective and therefore they feel as though they are making an informed decision rather than being sold to.

A problem that arose was that HOW can this content be created by a marketing team alone? Especially in high investment/involvement purchases where a great deal of inside knowledge, expertise and specific information is needed, how can a small, specific marketing team manage a social media presence? We also considered how difficult it is to measure the effectiveness of a social media presence, especially in terms of return.

Aside from these issues and concerns, there was an understanding from the day as to the relevance of social media in a B2B environment. Most people consider social media essential in  B2C marketing but don't often associate marketing with B2B, however we were given the idea that it is not a new concept in this market. Networking has been a key part of a B2B organisation for a long time, this is just a shift in how key decision makers connect with their peers.

When marketing in a B2B context, the focus must be on a peer-to-peer basis, rather than brand-to-consumer.

This was the key concept that I recognised from the day, a quote from one of the presenters, "social is a behavioural reality, not just a channel". This gave me a lot to think about...

For example; key decision makers in an organisation who are invited to attend numerous events are more likely to accept an invitation if they are invited in a person to person invitational context.

This brings about the key rule when using social media in B2B: Make it personal

After discussing these issues and concepts, we had a presentation from someone at IDG, a technology media company- they publish magazines and online media all focused on technology throughout the UK.

They showed us the results from their engagement study found here...this reinforced the messages we had heard from Ogilvy and discusses Twitter and Linkedin as the primary B2B social networks. It was an interesting presentation and gave the team a lot to think about.

We then heard a presentation from Linkedin who showed us some interesting stats about how much reach Linkedin can provide when trying to target other businesses. Social media has provided an interesting platform, you may think that "stalking your ex on Facebook" is purely for entertainment purposes, but in reality- how much better to understand your customer's likes, dislikes, interests and connections than to have it written plainly in front of you on Linkedin?

Linkedin presented us with this idea and explained how the increasing use of Linkedin means B2B marketing teams can tailor their marketing messages based on their individual target recipient's behaviour, connections and experience.

The presentation was interesting and reinforced the idea of personal, direct, individual, relationship marketing which I believe is fundamental in any B2B environment.

I thoroughly enjoyed the day and can honestly say I felt at home in the Ogilvy offices- I would love to work there! It was one of the best days working at IBM that I have had so far!!

Views and opinions are entirely my own- Stephanie Clark

Tesco doing it right!!

I have wrote about the importance of a social media presence a thousand times and seriously if your organisation doesn't know that by now, how are you actually still in operation?! Here is one of my Favourites Tesco Mobile who have a fantastic twitter account:

Tesco Mobile

This buzzfeed post summarises it quite nicel, but here are some of my personal faves!!

 When you're competing with the big dogs, i.e. Orange, Vodafone and O2, I can imagine advertising budget is limited, as is a loyal set of brand advocates- however Tesco Mobile's wit, enthusiasm and understanding of their target audience's 'banter' trend, is enough to CLEARLY get tesco mobile noticed in the social media world and is fingers crossed enough to allow them to relaunch their brand image into a lighthearted, fun and laidback brand, which may differ from that of tesco as a parent company.

Views are my own,


Stephanie

Brands who did it BADLY

I'm often talking about brands who use their social media channels and advertising well, but 'they' say "by seeking and blundering we learn.” and in the marketing world, we can also learn from others mistakes... 

and I guess they are more interesting to read to!

So here we go.... Marketing Flops!

1.

Firstly, a US brand, SpaghettiOs posted this tweet in commemoration of the anniversary of Pearl Harbour:

This was followed by many angry tweets;

This tweet will live in infamy / @SpaghettiOs Take a moment to remember #PearlHarbor with us. http://t.co/C9dTJSDGF5
— David Clinch (@DavidClinchNews) December 7, 2013

Uh, brand. You're doing it wrong RT @SpaghettiOs: Take a moment to remember #PearlHarbor with us. http://t.co/bsfQPgNKkJ
— Shawn Reynolds (@WCL_Shawn) December 7, 2013

The tweet was deleted and replaced with an apology.

 Well followed up considering the consumer response. However- what can we learn from SpaghettiOs mistake?

Never make it about yourself- a quote from Mack Collier "You don't ask others to remember a military tragedy by putting the focus on your brand mascot. NEVER make it about you."

The fact is- in order to bring brand value, make the tweets personal  and empathise  with people, make your tweets seem human!!

2.

In the US, the supermarket Kmart tweeted to reveal they would be open on this Thanksgiving and would stay open on Black Friday. Customers complained about the ethics of the decision by the masses: 

What can we learn from Kmart's mistake?

a) Marketing isn't just about the communications you portray and publish i.e. advertising, direct marketing etc. it is also about Corporate Social Responsibility and how you treat your staff is a big part of this- as is fair competition. By opening on Thanksgiving- Kmart were demonstrating their lack of ethical standards for both, this was clearly pointed out by their customers. By publicising this fact, Kmart allowed themselves to be exposed to a storm of dismay.
b) Don't post the same response to every tweet!!! Re my above comment on SpaghettiOs make your tweets personal! If customers have an issue or complaint they want to feel valued and understood, not dumped in the pile with everyone else and given a phony excuse!

3.

So far we have seen American brands failing on social media, but here's a British brand who make it in to the ranks! This one comes from Facebook on Luton Airport's page:

The message behind it could have been enforced in so many better ways! The pictured they posted was from a plane crash in 2005 in which there were fatalities which included a 6-year-old boy.

Way to show your insensitive side?? I don't think this example needs much explanation as 'what not to do'...

4.

This little gem from Red Robin....



As a vegetarian I can't say I am highly offended by this advert, however I can imagine how, especially in the US Culture, some people would be. The fact that Red Robin suggests that "vegetarians are just going through a phase" is poking fun at peoples' beliefs and I believe as a brand anything which ANYONE could find offensive should be avoided!

What can we learn from Red Robin's mistakes?
a) Understand the culture of your target audience and make sure you respect, inhabit and encompass it into your consistent branding themes. Make their culture, your culture....
b) I feel like Red Robin could have completely turned this around with a good recovery strategy and clever PR. When you make a muck-up- recover, recover, recover. They could have offered vegetarians a free burger, introduced new vegetarian options or even created a new ad campaign to turn this one on it's head! However, the disaster recovery wasn't effective and the video and it's angry responses went viral....

Check out these video responses on YouTube:

5.

Just read this article on Food Beast: 14 Ways To Ruin Your Restaurant Business and Lose Friends

Uh oh..... major fail! Be careful about your own publicity!! Pretty sure thats the No1 Rule of Marketing....



Let me know if you enjoyed this post! I may do more like it!!
All opinions are my own!

Stephanie

Prankvertising

NEW FAVE MARKETING STRATEGY GUYS!!!

Prankvertising is absolute genius!

Have a watch of this:

This was a stunt performed by the team behind a new release film 'Carrie' in order to promote their movie. The video has over a million hits on youtube- not bad at all!

LG also used prankvertising-  this is the best example I've seen so far!

It's also been used in social marketing too- which personally I think it can make a BIG impact!
Check out this prankvertising video by THINK- a drink driving campaign charity.



Companies are always looking for ways to make their brand go viral- this is a perfect way to do it, so easy for these clips to be shared and reshared!

If companies want to join on the prankvertising bandwagon and stand out they best had do fast!!!

Vine

 If you haven't heard of/used/had a look at Vine then you need to get on it! It's a new social media site which I think is going to take off very fast! I would say the site is a cross between twitter, instagram and youtube and it allows users to post a six-second video clip and share with other users.

Many celebs, dance groups and wanna-be singers have taken to Vine to provide entertaining and informative content. I did have a go myself but I don't think I'm funny enough!

So clearly with the huge level of entertaining content on social media platforms at the moment- organisations are finding different ways to slide their marketing content in amongst the others.

As vine only provides content creators with a six-second limit, it separates the best, most creative and unique marketing teams from the weak. Companies have to get their thinking caps on in order for their content to be liked, revined and shared.

A suprising company that I saw on the list was Natwest bank....
They used the application to answer customer's frequently asked questions on twitter- a creative way to engage with customers! This meant that customers could find the answers without having to go on the natwest website or google the questions for themselves!

Will definitely make natwest stand out and the vines can be reshared on facebook and twitter for a higher coverage!

 Another interesting vine from Puma which captures attention...


 Bacardi UK showing how brands can be creative with the Vine app.


And finally doritos showing how vine can be used to engage consumers and INVOLVE them in campaigns.

Vine is a fabulous tool used by marketers and I hope you agree!


Steph

Dispatches: social media fooling and celebrity endorsements

Hello,

So last night i watched dispatches on channel 4 which often highlights unlawful/unethical treatment whether that be of consumers, staff, general public or animals. The programme is always worth a watch but last night was particularly interesting, especially if you have an interest in marketing/advertising or celebrities. The show was titled 'celebs, brands and fake fans' and explained how companies can sometimes hype their own products by paying for Facebook likes, twitter followers or YouTube hits. This false popularity can often lead consumers to purchase products they believe are popular when as a matter of fact this following has been created by an IT hacker in Bangladesh.

The programme also had a focus on celebrity endorsements on twitter and that celebs have been promoting products without revealing to fans they have been paid to do so and breaking the asa code. The sad reality is that whilst these marketing agencies or departments have been putting all the best efforts to create a buzz around their products has actually back fired with the revelations on the show. The only way to create a natural, genuine hype or buzz about a product is to sell a product which is of good quality, provide a good service or to create something interesting and then word of mouth will be your best friend! Companies should have learnt by now that consumers DON'T LIKE BEING LIED TO!!

However I do believe that giving products to celebrities free gifts and asking them to review or recommend them is an excellent form of marketing and isn't unethical if the celebs actually give their own opinion of their own free will.

A lot of companies have started to use this method not only with celebrities but with bloggers- a lot of which I read. Recently I was reading a fashion blog which recommended the website sheinside.com and featured some clothing items off there which the blogger loved..... Paid? I don't know...

So I decided to go ahead and buy the top as it did look lovely on the blog. My top arrived about a month later.... And it was faulty! When I tried to contact the website I realised they are based in china and provide terrible customer service and most of the responses to my numerous emails have been worded in terrible English! Not good and now I am let with faulty clothes and no refund! 

My point is, bloggers and other endorsers may recommend products even when they aren't great! Do t trust everything you read.

And you will be happy to know everything in my blog is my own opinion!!

Steph

Public Relations disaster and success

So the big news this week was the Tesco story that horsemeat has been found in their burgers! I'm a vegetarian so this doesn't really affect me THANK GOD but I was really interested to see how Tesco's public relations department handled the crisis. Frankly, it's good news for sainsbury's, asda and morrisons who are now making claims such as 100% British beef and can use their farming as an advantage over the market dominator. Tesco deserves such revelation after cutting corners in order to stay on top.

I noticed how the Tesco twitter and facebook pages hadn't released a statement even 24 hours after the news had been released even though Tesco had been trending on twitter for hours. Eventually they did release a statement which I felt was to a certain degree reassuring however I feel the twitter page could have been used to better effect whilst the scandal was occurring, there was no posts even declaring that a statement was going to be released later on and I think that whilst Tesco's shoppers where questioning their loyalty to the company, Tesco could have been a reassuring force whilst monitoring their social media.

However last night Tesco posted this tweet:
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p>It's sleepy time so we're off to hit the hay! See you at 8am for more <a href="https://twitter.com/search/%23TescoTweets">#TescoTweets</a></p>&mdash; Tesco Customer Care (@UKTesco) <a href="https://twitter.com/UKTesco/status/292043677897994240" data-datetime="2013-01-17T23:00:13+00:00">January 17, 2013</a></blockquote>
<script async src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>
I think the humour works well on a tweet that could have backfired and it's British "laughing at ourselves" humour and gave Tesco a moment on twitter as it has thousands of retweets, rather than entirely negative publicity.

However the daily mail doesn't seem to think so: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2264394/Horse-meat-scandal-hit-Tesco-centre-Twitter-backlash-customer-care-message-told-followers-staff-hit-hay.html#ixzz2IK0VApdY interesting article!!

So in my opinion Tesco did a half hearted job and need to improve their crisis management for the future, but hit back well.

A company that handled social media crisis management extremely well were Bodyform, this happened a while back and I was going to blog about it when I heard about it but now I think is a perfect time to;

In response to the bodyform adverts this was posted on the bodyform facebook page:

 

Richard Neillposted toBodyform

8 October 2012 via Mobile

Hi , as a man I must ask why you have lied to us for all these years . As a child I watched your advertisements with interest as to how at this wonderful time of the month that the female gets to enjoy so many things ,I felt a little jealous. I mean bike riding , rollercoasters, dancing, parachuting, why couldn't I get to enjoy this time of joy and 'blue water' and wings !! Dam my penis!! Then I... got a girlfriend, was so happy and couldn't wait for this joyous adventurous time of the month to happen .....you lied !! There was no joy , no extreme sports , no blue water spilling over wings and no rocking soundtrack oh no no no. Instead I had to fight against every male urge I had to resist screaming wooaaahhhhh bodddyyyyyyfooorrrmmm bodyformed for youuuuuuu as my lady changed from the loving , gentle, normal skin coloured lady to the little girl from the exorcist with added venom and extra 360 degree head spin. Thanks for setting me up for a fall bodyform , you crafty bugger

 

The post recieved over 100,000 likes and despite his humour and attempt at hitting back at the organisation, I believe Bodyform RINSED him with this video:
 

 <iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Bpy75q2DDow" width="480"></iframe>

 

I think it's genius and works because it gets people talking, displays Bodyform as a humourous, light-hearted organisation who don't take themselves to seriously and targets the individual comment which gets consumers reading more and more into the story via their facebook- in turn looking more into Bodyform, a company which usually social media users might avoid. Overall I think the Bodyform PR department handled it perfectly and provided an example to other organisations!

 

-Steph