New Age Social Media Advertising

As social media becomes a more accepted form of advertising platform, companies are faced with the challenge of utilizing it in a way that will make them stand out from other competitors' while still maintaining and growing their own following. Some companies have used these platforms to create a more human aspect to them. Instead of only posting about campaigns and upcoming events, companies incorporate customer service into their posts and reply to real followers and consumers. By responding a real time and having conversations with consumers online, the company creates a relationship with even the most remote consumer in a  direct manner. Not only do companies respond to their followers but also other companies for a little friendly competition and witty comebacks. The Business Insider complied seven of the best social media comebacks in 2012, which acquired a lot of attention and online impressions. Click here to see how companies used social media to relate to their consumers!

These companies and industries set the trend for others to make their social media more human and interactive. Consumers and potential consumers appreciate and can relate to the company better when they have an interactive platform to talk and sometimes even joke around.

Geico: From Gecko to Caveman to Strange

Geico has become famous over the  years with their slogan, "15 minutes or less could save you 15% or more on car insurance" and this slogan has not changed since the start of their advertisements. What has changed, however, is the content of these advertisements. Back in 1999, Geico aired its first television advertisement which involved the company's mascot, a gecko that has the ability to talk.

After solely using this mascot for a few years, Geico changed the direction of their television advertisements by using cavemen in their commercials in order to promote their new website rather than the gecko. They still kept the same 15 minutes slogan but added another one that also became popular, "So easy a caveman can do it".

For both the gecko and the cavemen, the main purpose was to get a comedic reaction from the audience. They launched a new campaign last year which would start off with a scene that would mention Geico in the first few seconds and then just stay still for the remainder of the commercial. I found this to be very creative, somewhat mocking the fact that the content of a minute long advertisement can be put across in about 2 seconds and the remainder of the advertisement is unskippable.

For the beginning of 2016, Geico began a campaign that was more strange than any of their previous, but it still kept that same, somewhat genius, creativity. In the commercial, two men are working out at a gym but one of them is talking about how much more he gets from Geico than he did from his previous insurance. The body of the man who did not switch stays the same throughout the commercial whereas the body of the man who did switch gradually gets stronger and stronger every time the camera is on him.

They mock the gym lifestyle of being a "bro" throughout the commercial by using the same face of a man during the commercial on top of a body that is clearly not his, but there is one problem I find with this approach. The whole point of the commercial is to compare how the one man is getting more from Geico as well as more from his workout than the other, but if you only see either the first or second half of this commercial you will not be able to make that comparison. Geico's advertisements continue to get stranger with each new one, but I am not against that, and I am looking forward to seeing what they come up with next.

Quite the Buzzzz

With all the advertisements being thrown at consumers everyday, it’s hard for brands to break through the constant clutter. One company in particular recently went through great lengths to create a living billboard.

Honey Nut Cheerios wanted to physically create a message, instead of just broadcasting one. This project included 2 million flowers, and roughly half a million live bees. The company wanted to bring advertising into a three dimensional structure. Once completed, the billboard was three stories high. Three hives were on the third floor and seven more were located nearby on the property. All of the hives were used to produce 25 gallons of honey.

The living billboard attracted bee enthusiasts from all over the country, as well as locals and of course the media. On November 14^th an event was held to celebrate the great taste of honey produced from the billboard bees. Over 1,000 people visited the property for this event. A special edition box of Honey Nut Cheerios was shared with bloggers, members of the media in particular as well as nearby (St. Cloud) residents. Everyone knows that Honey Nut Cheerios uses fresh honey, but using this new method to get the message across to consumers was a perfect reminder to keep people interested in their product. This ad really worked to connect with the audience in a more intimate approach. I mean, what better way to create buzz than with actual, living bees?

If you'd like to learn more about the project follow the link below for a more in depth video from the company!

http://creativity-online.com/work/honey-nut-cheerios-the-living-billboard-film/45043

-LB

Here's a Start, Follow Adweek.

My weekdays typically starts off with a struggle to get out of bed and conceding to the fact that I will have to rush to make it to work on time. Despite the awareness of the situation and the amount of stress this predicament brings, I reluctantly do not change my ways.

While this mad-dash has become early-morning routine, so too has opening my web browser and navigating to the authority on all things marketing, media and advertising: Adweek.com.

Many of us have our go-to sites. For me, Adweek is a daily must to see what's buzzing in the industry. Take for example this fun read:

Want to Produce Craft Beyond the Norm? Hire Confident Oddballs 

Or this more analytical perspective on:

What Branding Experts Think About Coca-Cola's New Product-Centric Campaign 

Or this one... I guess: 

Nursery Rhyme Characters Teach Baby CPR in (Quite a Peculiar) Song

 

My point is, as you too will craft a morning routine, I urge you to begin incorporating Adweek.com into your daily formula. Sometimes it will inspire, sometimes it will be informative, while other times it will leave you scratching your head... the silver lining: you'll never forget how to give a baby CPR. 

- Matt McDermit

When Your Ad Goes Viral - Click to Share!

In this busy world we live in, it is quite hard to grab people’s attention. It gets even harder when there are so many things readily available in the internet world and so many people with different interests. That is until your advertisement succeeds at catching people’s attention so much that the busy world of the internet helps your company get noticed through a viral post across the world.

EDEKA, a German supermarket company created a Christmas advertisement where they told the story of an elderly father whose children – who were actually adults that shared a busy life and/or successful career and lived far away – were never home for Christmas. He is shown sitting at the dinner table on Christmas Eve alone for many years up until he gets tired of it and plans a trick on his children so they would come home. He fakes his own death – yes, I know – and so everybody comes home to the surprise that, whoops, he is still alive and tricked everybody! They then get to sit at the table and enjoy a family Christmas Eve dinner to EDEKA purchased foods and drinks.

The advertisement became viral for many different reasons. Many people were very touched and even cried during the advertisement – not me… maybe me – and many people were quite outraged by a father who lies to his children and grandchildren about his own fake, planned and as a means to an end death. Regardless of how people felt about it, being an international student myself and also being friends with many other internationals on Facebook, I was able to notice how viral the advertisement actually became. Not only many known social media pages were reposting and commenting about the video in the United States, but my friends from all over the world were sharing the video (which all included subtitles in their own native language) as well as known social media pages from all over the world. Even Buzzfeed made a video entirely about the EDEKA commercial.

EDEKA could be considered lucky for the fact that now the world knows about the supermarket and maybe if I ever visit Germany I at least know where I can buy food; but we have to recognize the hard work and effort of the people behind the creative team who developed such an emotional advertisement that had such a statement message to it so much it became viral in the internet. The advertisement barely sells the idea of “Come shop at EDEKA this Christmas season” and that is what is most special about it. Companies have an extremely high cash making and branding potential online and in my point of view companies should focus on unique, non-sales pitch, statement making advertisements that people are going to want to share. Share by share, your advertisement can go a long, long way… and so can your brand!

Here is the AD if you haven’t seen it -- which, I highly doubt you haven’t!

• What are your thoughts on the EDEKA commercial as a means of advertisement?

New Twitter Format Expands Advertising Options

Last week Twitter announced its newest format for company advertising. This ad format is called “conversational ads,” in which Twitter users are encouraged to interact with content in an easier way. Very similar to the poll feature, the format gives users different options to select via custom hashtags or call-to-action buttons. Through this Twitter exclusive format, advertisers can drive more earned media and brand influence. Companies are able to spread a brand’s campaign message quicker and easier because users simply have to click button and a pre-filled tweet with the brand message is generated. In addition, these Tweets invite followers of the engaged users to interact with the Tweet.

Photo source: www.adweek.com

While Promoted Tweets have successfully increased marketers’ brand engagement through retweets and likes in the past, conversational ads take brand images and videos to the next level by introducing a call to action. The purpose of advertising is to cause consumers to take some sort of action; therefore, this new ad format helps brands on Twitter achieve this. Original promoted ads and content simply included images or video, causing users to have to take additional steps to interact with the brand by Tweeting the custom hashtags manually; however, conversational ads shorten this process. In introducing an easier way to engage with favorite brands, customers may feel more motivated to do so. Advertisers believe that this new social media engagement strategy will help consumers get closer to brands and extend their presence across Twitter. The only issue that I may see with this new format is the pre-filled tweet generation. Since much of our media is flooded with advertisements, we have developed a mental filter for content that appears to be an advertisement. If users are scrolling through Twitter and see the generated content, they may not care or notice that one of their friends posted it. Do you think this new format will be effective?

Phone source: www.adweek.com

Opponent of Silence

The most fascinating thing about the current social media craze is the idea of live Tweeting events. For example, during the recent Mad Men finale, I watched the show while also constantly reading how others were reacting to the show on Twitter and joining in the conversation. During the recent #PITvsCIN Wildcard Game last Saturday, Twitter went wild with opinions, GIFs and Memes describing one of the most unusual football games I've ever seen. However, after the Bengals Interception by Vontaze Burfict, which many thought ended the game, the Bengals Twitter account (@Bengals) went silent until after the game was over, not acknowledging the two personal fouls that allowed the Steelers to reach a victory. At the same time, the Steelers Twitter account (@Steelers) was Tweeting almost constantly, updating its followers about the game's events. As I was combing through the real time game posts, I wondered if this was the right decision for the Bengal's PR department to make.

I still haven't answered my own question yet. I think from a crisis communications standpoint, it made sense to stay quiet because posting about the events happening during the game would just spark negative conversation about the Bengals. However, the point of a professional sports team Twitter account is to keep fans updated on what is going on. The Bengals had to be proactive and reactive at the same time, which is almost impossible. Perhaps the Bengals could have avoided Tweeting about the personal fouls by still keeping fans updated on the game events. On the other hand, they could have diverted attention away from Burfict by providing some sort of fun fact about the team or the other players. I think remaining silent, in this case, was the wrong communications move on the part of the Bengals. What is your opinion on the situation?

Old Spice | Make A Smellmitment | Cross-promotion

In recent years, Old Spice has reinvented itself through highly creative marketing campaigns that are quirky, entertaining, and appeal to a younger demographic. The company picked up Terry Crews and Isaiah Mustafa in 2010, but the fiercely different advertising personas hadn’t meet until last summer’s Make A Smellmitment campaign. Featuring both actors in the same campaign was a great way to reinforce brand equity amongst previous fans while minimizing production costs.

The cross-promotional campaign features a rivalry between the explode-in-your-face antics of Terry (for Old Spice Bear Glove) and the cool and suave style of Isaiah (for Old Spice Timer and Swagger). The two are constantly “interrupting” each other’s commercials to sell their respective Old Spice scents, and the result is a highly entertaining experience that ties together previously opposing narratives in a slapstick comical way.

Here’s the first ad:

And So It Begins:

A couple from the middle:

Checkmate:

Windsurfing:

And the last ad in the campaign:

Truce:

"...and you see the differences, [gesturing towards Isaiah] smooth [to himself] a little rough... it's like spicy meets sweet, and it'd make a great barbecue sauce!"
-Terry Crews, Old Spice, Make a Smellmitment: Behind The Scenes

If you’d like to check out the whole campaign, click here!

Thanks for reading,

-JS

Coca-Cola Holiday Ad Backfires

When thinking of companies that create emotions of harmony, happiness, and togetherness among consumers one brand immediately comes to mind, Coca-Cola. As a company that actively promotes acceptance and love in all of its advertising efforts, Coca-Cola has been the most popular soft drink for generations. Due to its reputation, it came as a surprise when Coca-Cola’s holiday advertisement backfired and infuriated the people of Ukraine and Russia.

This New Year’s advertisement displayed a winter map in red and white, with the tagline “Celebrate winter holidays from Moscow to Vladivostok.” The issue was that the original map did not include Crimea. Crimea is a highly disputed territory that was occupied by Moscow rebels in early 2014 in a conflict that resulted in the deaths of 9,000 people. Russians were furious that the map was incomplete and took to social media to express their anger. In order to correct the issue, the ad was quickly removed and replaced with an apology and a new map including Crimea and other areas that had not been in the original version. Unfortunately, this caused a prompt uproar from Ukrainians who were furious with Coca-Cola for including an area “illegally occupied by Russians.” There now has been a call for Ukrainians to boycott the company. In response, Coca-Cola headquarters issued a statement saying, “We, as a company, do not take political positions unrelated to our business, and we apologize for the post, which we have removed," (Wall Street Journal).

Photo source: www.telegraph.uk.co

Rather than “opening happiness,” this advertisement opened up wounds between countries and possibly damaged the brand reputation in two markets. Coca-Cola claims that the ad was created by an independent agency without the company’s knowledge or approval, which brings into question how could this have been prevented? I wonder if Coca-Cola trusted this advertising agency enough to do proper research into the politics of the area and provided the agency with enough freedom to publish a revised ad without approval from the company. Shouldn’t Coca-Cola be aware of the external environment in which they sell its products? This issue could have been avoided if the company had focused more on possible problems of the advertisement or had done concept testing. It will be interesting to see how this marketing backfire will affect sales in both Russia and Ukraine. Whether the fault is in the hands of Coca-Cola for giving the agency too much freedom and trust or the agency for being uninformed and jumping to quick solutions, Coca-Cola must rely on public relations efforts to restore its relationship with consumers and prevent the brand from further damage.

Free Advertising?

Lately, with the advent of sites like Buzzfeed, where posts can be created by users as well as staff, there has been an increase in "free advertising".  Popular items, such as Starbucks or Nutella, get entire articles written about them.  Some are serious, some are funny, but either way the brand get additional exposure.  The problem for most brands is that you generally already have to be popular for this to happen.

However, there is always an issue with this kind of "advertisement", as the brand itself cannot control the message about their products in this format.  There could be articles where the product is insulted or misrepresented.  A recent trend has been brands sponsoring articles on these sites to write positive things about them. This has to be disclosed, so many people stay away from those articles because they read just like an advertisement.  Both of these options, though, are great options for advertising in an ever more digital world.