Sponsored Tweets and ANOTHER bad example of PR

Saw a very interesting article on the Daily Mail website today which you can read here...
The article tells of an angry British Airways customer who has paid for a sponsored tweet in order to express his frustration of losing a bag on the airline:

The tweet below followed which details the impressions and coverage the original sponsored tweet received:

Final Stats pic.twitter.com/adNW4JMTAL
—  (@HVSVN) September 3, 2013

 Clearly his anger at the airline and his desire to gain some notice, sympathy and for the airline to resolve the issue must have been strong for him to pay $1000 for a sponsored tweet, yet the press coverage and extending twitter discussions lead to more than notice from BA.

As a big virgin fan which you may have noticed from previous posts- this thrills me as British Airways dirty tactics have been evident in the past. But reiterating what I have said a million times bad PR can be avoided with the RIGHT RESPONSE to customer complaints (evident in the bodyform blog post).

British Airways took 24 hours to reply to the tweet- and told @HVSVN to contact them through private messaging. Have they not learnt from Tesco's mistake? Instant responses can avert disaster! Clearly the situation did get out of hand and has erupted to world wide media....

With simple planning in place alongside a dedicated customer service social media team who operate constantly- this could have been avoided. Clearly- with the negative publicity of an organisation, the competition steps in, see this tweet from the CMO of Marketing at JetBlue:

Interesting; a disgruntled customer is buying a promoted tweet slamming a brand where they had a bad experience. That's a new trend itself!
— Marty St. George (@martysg) September 3, 2013

 @HVSVN has clearly caused a world of marketing and social media experts to question their own PR strategy and rethink the use of sponsored tweets!

On the other hand-  a fantastic use of PR from my old favourite Virgin Atlantic- when a similar complaint from an airline customer arised in the form of a letter complaining about the food on board which you can read here, Richard Branson the CEO of Virgin actually rang the customer and offered for the customer to come and help design the new menu onboard!

Take note British Airways!!

Clearly the press/customers are going to make a comparison and in the tough world it is as much about how you deal with the aftermath of bad customer service as much as delivering good customer service in the first place.

Steph

Miley's negative publicity

Andrew Loog Oldham said, "there is no such thing as bad publicity" when he was manager of the Rolling Stones in the 60's. He positioned and promoted a "bad boy" image for The Rolling Stones which opposed the clean cut band from Liverpool; The Beatles. His positioning and brand image generated world wide printed headlines such as, "Would you let your daughter marry a Rolling Stone?" The brand has clearly stood the test of time- which poses the question, is bad publicity one of the most clever tactics a marketer can use?

If you haven't seen/heard/received some form of buzz around Miley Cyrus' antics this week- then where have you been? Literally EVERYONE has been talking about her music video/VMA performance. If not then you can read all the drama HERE....

Jonah Berger posted a very interesting Linkedin post on why this may be Miley Cyrus' best career move yet and I totally agree. You may or may not have read my post on Sankeys Manchester and their rejection of Justin Bieber which lead to an uproar in the press....(if not go ahead and read ;-)) well this carries the same theory.

If Miley had just relaunched herself as an 'adult star' with the same attitudes and personality she carried in her Hannah Montana days- then I guarantee there wouldn't be the hype that there is regarding her music, the video wouldn't have had over 175 million views and I wouldn't be writing this blog post!

What I'm getting at- is that whilst people may be saying she's gone mad or she's ruined her career, the fact is- the vast majority of them will watch her music videos, download her tracks and watch her TV appearances.

 “There is only one thing in life that is worse than being talked about, and that is not being talked about.”

Oscar Wilde

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

Voucher Sites

Hey,

Soo recently I have been sllllightly addicted to Groupon....
If you're not aware Groupon is a site which users can register in order to receive discounts on products and services in their local area. You receive an email every day (I think) with offers and can purchase the vouchers straight from the email. I get three- one each for Portsmouth, Bristol and Manchester!

They have ridiculous discounts off days out, beauty and hair treatments, gifts and holidays. Obviously the site is great for consumers as they can get vouchers for up to 80% of the recommended retail value. In order for the coupon to be “active” a minimum number of people must purchase the coupon, which means that if enough people don't sign up to buy it- no one gets the offer.

Retailers, restaurants and beauty salons set up the offer with groupon, whilst they provide the marketing, client base and sales. Clearly this provides them with exposure, awareness from their target audience and new customers.

But how beneficial is the use of groupon for businesses??

Groupon splits each voucher sale 50/50 with the provider of the service, so for a haircut which might have a retail value of £40, sold on groupon for £15- the retailer receives £7.50. I doubt this covers their costs, so it is a risk to take in order to market yourself.

I would be interested to discover how many of the groupon voucher buyers actually return to the retailers and pay full price at a later date for the same service they received at an 80% discount....
To be honest I doubt that the kind of consumer that Groupon attracts is the type to want to pay full price.Often, the vouchers offered are similar week-in week-out from highlights and a hair cut to super car experiences, therefore when I'm using Groupon I would rather wait a few weeks for the voucher I want to be posted rather than pay full price at a salon I may have visited previously.

I suspect many consumers or 'bargain hunters' may use the same tactic, therefore I question whether groupon can provide a positive return on investment for companies. However, it could suit companies that have low variable costs of goods sold e.g. events, museums, spas, etc – where adding one additional customer does not add a high cost for the business.

I would be interested to see the ROI from companies which have used Groupon and other similar voucher sites in order to promote their services. I might be pleasantly surprised......

Just my thoughts,
Steph

Fashion retailers

Ok just had a bit of a brainstorm moment which as a marketer I automatically want to turn in to a concept haha. So, I was in ibiza this week and was borrowing my friends skirt for a night out, whilst we were out I got loads of compliments and I really liked it. So I asked my friends where it was from and then when I got home I went to h&m and bought it in 3 colours as well as a bag and a top which caught my eye whilst I was in there. 

Now we all know that friend's recommendation is a huge influence on a purchase decision, yet what I did wasn't just a recommendation, it was a try before you buy which was then complimented by others which then led to my own purchase... 

What I am trying to say is that whilst usually compliments from others and feeling good about a purchase usually comes POST-purchase- the effects of which are a confidence boost/ reinforce purchase intentions/ positive attitudes to the product/brand... But my opinion is that marketers, more specifically in the fashion retail industry should try and create these attitudes and positive self image boosters PRE-purchase in order to convince consumers that their purchase intentions are just.

Obviously try before you buy on fashion items, especially fast paced high street stores is not only impractical but not cost-effective: but what about an app where customers can tweet outfits which their friends can rate or compliment or even give suggestions on the clothing. Only an idea! 

Personal shoppers are a great way of enforcing this, yet I rarely see them advertised other than wedding facilities, may be not for girls who are very sure of their own style but for girls like me who might need a bit of help, when friends aren't there to help I would love the help of a professional stylist! How special would that make a girl feel! Great confidence boost!! And not that difficulty to implement in retail stores either. I know for a fact more personal shoppers would lead to more and bigger sales!

Fashion retailers need to boost our confidence!!

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

Tokyo, royal baby newsjacking, digital media infographic

Helloooo,

Tokyo is often named the 'advertising capital of the world' and when referring to clutter in advertising- the
bombardment of messages delivered in the city is often used as a prime example.
In marketing- overcoming noise is one of the hardest things to do. Consumers see over 1000 marketing messages every single day in the UK. In major cities such as Tokyo we are exposed to almost 4 times as many! So in an ad saturated city- marketers have to be innovative to break through the clutter.

A new method that one PR agency have adopted is advertising on women's thighs.....

Women are being paid to apply temporary tattoos to their thighs and in effect become a walking billboard, they are encouraged to wear mini skirts and stockings in order to draw attention to the adverts. Personally, I think it's a fantastic idea which has attracted lots of media attention worldwide already! The women are happy, the agency is happy and the men have a reason to look at women's thighs!! Win-win situation! 

Anyone who thinks this is over sexualisation of women should stop complaining as I am going to suggest they should do the same thing on hunky men's chests..... just saying.

Next, as you may know if you have read my previous posts- I am a huge fan of newsjacking.
The big news this week was of course the royal baby and here are a few of my favourites!

most valuable brand in the world....marketing geniuses

one of my favourite companys for marketing!! Oreo...

My personal fave!!!

Finally- this is a great read reinforcing everything I blog about in terms of ROI... worth a read
Infographic


Steph