Presentations

I was under the weather most of last week (as you may have noticed) and I didn't get a chance to blog, but I wanted to comment tonight as I thought last night's presentations were exceptionally well delivered. Everyone's presentation was interesting, well put together, and informative. I believe that we, as a class, are growing in our presentation skills as well as in our confidence to deliver a quality message to our peers. Great work, everyone!

Now on to the next... and I believe the end is in sight. :)

QR Codes @ Best Buy

Since our social media course, when I discovered what a QR code was, I've been paying more attention to them. The other day, I was in a Best Buy and noticed they had QR codes on the shelf tags for most of their electronics. What a great idea! Not only does this show they are "with the times" but I'm sure it also helps them save on employee costs. By utilizing QR codes, a prospective purchaser does not have to wait to talk to a sales associate, instead, they can simply scan the code. While I believe something like this works well in a store like Best Buy, where many shoppers are rather tech savy, it will be interesting to see how far this technology goes...will it eventually be commonplace in grocery stores?

Know your Audience: Today AND Tomorrow

Although I spent last week's class @ a conference in Miami "wining and dining" prospective clients, I must say I still learned a little :)
I had a great conversation with a real estate developer from the west coast. His company is currently designing neighborhoods for Southern California which will be developed over the next 20 years. He has been stirring up thought that their current target market is wrong. Instead of gaining insight from today's 30 something and designing housing on their wants as they are doing now, they should be looking at today's 10 year old. After all, this will be their target market in 20 years when the neighborhoods will be fully developed. Today's 10 year old, he said, has a whole new way of thinking than what the current 30 somethings cared about at their age. This will effect their buying decisions in the future. He insisted that they need to design from the future "30 somethings" perspective; not today's and they can begin to gain insight from them even at their current age.

I think he brings up a great point. Percy points out that when selecting a target market, you need to understand their lifestyle and psychographic profile. 30 somethings in twenty years certainly will have a different set of norms and social awareness than today's.

Overall: Its important for any company to plan for the future and understand what their target market will look like tomorrow. This is where innovation is born!

merging traditional and new media

I saw this article earlier today and I thought it fit in well with our discussion last weeks about traditional types of advertising and integrating them with new media: Super Bowl Ads

I though that this quote was great: "The public sentiment about sports and entertainment sponsorship has turned back into a positive light," said David Schwab, a VP at Octagon, an Interpublic Group of Cos. sports- and entertainment-marketing company. "The reach you get with the Super Bowl and the additional publicity and social-media play is unparalleled to anything in the market."

Personally, I like that companies are sticking with what they know works and using social media to back up their traditional advertising efforts. It's nice to see that some big names like GM and Pepsi are back to advertising on one of sports biggest platforms-The Super Bowl!

Advertisement that catches attention

Okay, I have to admit, I grew up in Canada, and despite the fact that I may be the first person to make a mocking remark about "my home and native land" there is still something about the land and the people that give me a pang that can be somewhat described as a mix of homesickness and pride that makes me miss and love the place at the same time. (Much like New Jersey natives I often hear myself saying "so-and-so's from Canada") I guess I do have a love of the old neighbourhood J Recently I have been seeing billboards for Molson Canadian with a bottle or can superimposed over an image of a wheat field or mountains with text saying "Made from Canada". I hate these billboards. For the past 12 years living on and off in the states I have heard so many mocking stories of how unintelligent Americans feel Canadians are (primarily because of how pleasant and polite Canadians are compared to Americans, oh, and I guess the accent), to me the first things I thought of when seeing these billboards were those stories, it is not proper English, it does not make much sense, what is a Canada? It is not a tangible entity.

While the billboards make me angry, there is a 1 minute commercial spot that counteracts the feelings from the billboard, Made From Canada, while using the same slogan. Somehow between the outdoor advertisement and a live action commercial there is a disconnect, where one leaves a person feeling disappointed in a "Canadian" brand (ask Canadians, most don't drink Molson) the other give a warm/fuzzy feeling.

Brand Consideration

According to Doug Checkeris, the CEO of MediaCOM North America, today’s consumers are more thoughtful about their purchases than they were prior to the recession—and that’s not going to change anytime soon. Although the economy is looking better, consumers have become more purchase savvy and will no longer settle for a quick decision. They are now trained buyers who want considerable product information before handing over the plastic. In this article, Checkeris goes on to say that consumers are turning to social media for their brand education.

Not only is it interesting that consumers are pursuing social media sites during brand consideration, but it’s worthwhile to note that today’s consumers are taking more time in the brand consideration stage. They are driven to be educated; they want facts; and if a brand doesn’t provide information when the customer wants it and where the customer is looking for it, that brand will likely lose out on the sale.

It's Difficult to Recover From Recalls

With our recent class discussion focusing on PR issues, Johnson and Johnson comes to mind as a company that's been through some large scale recalls, and subsequently PR issues lately. According to an article by the Associated Press, Johnson and Johnson has had eleven recent recalls ranging from medications, to contacts, to hip replacements. Probably their most detrimental recall was on April 30 and it included 136 million children and infants' medications. At this point, the CEO has said the focus is not on implementing a re-building trust media campaign, but rather on getting product back on the shelves. The media plan will follow once product is available again.

Although Johnson and Johnson has long been revered as a trust worthy company, they have a lot of work to do to re-gain the trust of their customers. It will be especially difficult for them because they are trying to capture the trust of an already extremely product sensitive population: parents of infants and children.