Approaching shopper marketing with a more intuitive, right-brained approach is just like a Triscuit or a tomato you grew in your backyard: fresh, simple, and delicious.
At least that's the case here with Kraft's new oblique campaign for its Triscuit brand of snack crackers that centers around helping people discover the simple joy of growing and eating their own herbs and veggies.
Kraft Foods' Triscuit crackers brand is partnering with nonprofit Urban Farming to create 50 community-based home farms during 2010, and the brand's new home farming initiatives also include offering free basil and dill herb seed cards on four million boxes of its original and reduced-fat varieties, and a website featuring tips on starting home gardens or volunteering at a local Urban Farming garden.
The Web site includes a tool that advises consumers which vegetables and herbs are best to plant (and planting dates) based on their regions/ZIP codes and the amount of sunny space available (ranging from a single pot on a balcony to two 4-foot by 8-foot gardens). Another tool enables users to find nearby community farms, and add their own home farms to a map. Forums and sharing tools are prominently displayed.
The site also features step-by-step advice for creating and maintaining a home garden from HGTV "Gardening by the Yard" host Paul James, who will make appearances at the openings of the sponsored community gardens.
The home farming theme meshes with Triscuit's "Weave Some Wonder" marketing campaign, which launched last year and marked the brand's return to TV advertising after five years. The broadcast component of this campaign emphasizes the crackers' "simple, authentic goodness" and quality ingredients, such as the "soft white winter wheat" from North American farms that gives the product its crunch and "22 grams of delicious whole grain goodness per serving."
What else? The home farming initiatives are being supported by PR, print ads, banner ads on gardening, women's general interest and other sites; messaging on the product boxes (which also drives consumers to the microsite), some outreach to blogs and tweeting through the Kraft Foods Twitter presence; and the community forums and sharing tools on the microsite. Rather than focus on promotion via Triscuit's Facebook page, the brand decided to make it easy for users to share the home farming movement site's existence and usefulness through their own social media pages or channels. Now that's tasty!
If I were to ask you what the latest ad campaign from Wendy’s was, would you be able to name it? I’m guessing not. How about Burger King? I think that would be a different story…
The BK King has become an icon in the US in the last few years and by watching the commercials, it’s easy to see why. The combination of sarcasm and comedy is spot on and the commercials really do leave a mark. Which leaves poor old Wendy’s in the dark, right? Not quite!
A survey done by Vivaldi Lightspeed paints a (possibly) surprising picture; people by far and away trust Wendy’s more than BK and are more likely to recommend them as a result. So the question becomes; what do these ads and social media strategies accomplish? Well the argument could be made that the BK commercials have done more to raise their Ad Agencies image than BK itself!
The reality of the situation is that if people are going to be truly attracted to your brand, your ads need to focus around an undeniable brand truth. For Wendy’s, that was the fact that their products are of a higher quality than others and they had the info to back it up. A quote from the info graphic (linked above and here) says it best. "The BK campaign might be funny but it doesn't motivate me to have a hamburger at BK today."
If you've been keeping your finger on the shopper marketing pulse, then you've been hearing plenty about the great benefits of integrating social media into a retail brand environment (the ability to listen and respond to customers, build long-term relationships, in-store connectivity, etc).
Well here's a look at the downside, a rampaging Twitter flash mob.
A recent study of over 1500 consumers by market research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies found that if a brand has a social media presence, then 60% of its Facebook fans and 79% of its Twitter followers are more likely to recommend that brand since becoming a fan or follower. Considering Facebook’s over 400 million users, the opportunity is great for social media marketers.
While social media is not the shopper marketing silver bullet that some pundits claim it to be, it is an extremely important and relatively low cost touch point that has a direct impact on sales and positive word of mouth. In fact, companies not actively engaging are missing a huge opportunity and are saying something to consumers – intentionally or unintentionally- about how willing they are to engage on consumers’ terms.
The study also uncovered perceptions among consumers that those brands not engaging in social media are out of touch. Below are some answers to the question “What does it say about a brand if they are not involved with sites like Facebook or Twitter?”
“It’s EXPECTED that a company have some digital face – whether it’s on FB or Twitter I don’t know – but they need a strong electronic presence or you doubt their relevance in today’s marketplace.” Female 50-54
“Either they are not interested in the demographic that frequents Facebook and Twitter or they are unaware of the opportunity to get more exposure in a more interactive method.” Male 35-39
“It shows they are not really with it or in tune with the new ways to communicate with customers.” Female 18-24.
“If they’re not on Facebook or Twitter, then they aren’t in touch with the “electronic” people.” Female 55-59
Who doesn't love tracking Social Media? Ad Age has recently started tracking the 10 most popular brands on twitter and it makes for a good read (check it out here). This in itself isn't what concerns me, it's more the content that is being tweeted. If Justin Bieber, whose fans are so young I'm surprised they can even use twitter, can make on the list who knows what will be next on that list? A terrible remake of another Nicholas Sparks book? Oh wait...
Our Designer Extraordinaire Leslie sent this to me the other day. It’s a chart that (based on known stats) shows the growth of social media all across the web. It’s amazing to see how fast things change and it’s just another illustration of how powerful and ever present Social Media has become.
From this week's Advertising Age: In an effort to build buzz in select urban markets this holiday season, Target plans to unveil three pop-up stores modeled after a fast-food joint.
Target to Go stores will be open in New York, Washington and San Francisco (hmmm no Charlotte, NC?) from Dec. 11-13 and will stock 50 popular gift items that shoppers will order by number.
"The design is reflective of where guests are at now," said Shawn Gensch, VP-marketing at Target. "They're time starved, so this is a quick experience that gives them great products at great, wallet-friendly prices."
The shops are meant to attract attention in urban markets where Target doesn't have a significant presence, said Mr. Gensch, adding that the success of the stores will be measured based on traffic levels, sales and buzz.
Stay abreast of the latest trends in advertising and marketing by subscribing to our blog. And to learn more about how birdsong gregory can help you with social media, branding, advertising and marketing, visit our web site.
Interesting article from the New York Times about how increased advertising spending on blogs, Facebook and Twitter has caused the FTC to require that endorsers disclose payments in cash or in kind from companies whose products they endorse. This demonstrates how important these "testing grounds" for advertising are becoming. In 2007 spending on consumer-generated and social media sites reached $1.01 billion. Stay informed on the latest news by keeping in touch with birdsong gregory advertising, Charlotte, NC
Terry Tate: Office Linebacker was a series of short comedy TV commercials created by Reebok featuring Lester Speight as "Terrible" Terry Tate, a fictitious American Football linebacker who "gives out the pain" to those in the office failling to follow the rules.
Originally Reebok produced 6 episodes between August to December 2002, and this advertising campaign was one of the most successful of those in the history of the Super Bowl halftime shows.
Memorable catch phrases include:
"The pain train's comin!"
"You kill the joe, you make some mo!'"
"You can't cut the cheese wherever you please!"
"Cu'z when its game time, it's pain time!"
"Don't bring that weak ass stuff up in this humpty-bumpty!"
Though successful in attracting viewers and attention, the ads ability to increase recognition of the Reebok brand has been questioned, with only 55% of respondents on an on-line poll indicating they realized the ad was affiliated with the company. However, despite being aired only once on national television, the short was downloaded more than seven million times from Reebok's website.
The branding power of indirect social media, anyone?
For a Charlotte, NC branding agency, we like think we're wide open when it comes to using viral craziness to promote a product, service, or good cause.
Remember the guy who said he’d get a tattoo if 25,000 people joined his Facebook group? Or the lady Well at least that was entertaining (and novel) for the time. Now, however, people are starting to plumb the depths of bad taste and internet-fueled excess. Yes, a man is offering to name his son Batman if he can get 500,000 people make him their Facebook friend.
There are currently about 486,000 fans, so chances are he’ll have reached his goal by now. This questionable parent is also encouraging fans to give him their e-mail addresses so that he can e-mail him the birth certificate once his son is born.
Sounds to me like the “media” company behind the whole thing just wants 500,000 e-mail addresses.
A flash mob is a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual action for a brief time, then quickly disperse. The term flash mob is generally applied only to gatherings organized via telecommunications, social media, or viral emails.
It's a new form of spontaneous group performance art, but it’s easy to see how this type of viral event could be used to promote a brand or marketing event (the famous T-Mobile Liverpool Street Station flash mob in London)
If you don't get it, please call our Charlotte ad agency and ask to speak to Jim.
I had the opportunity to attend Charlotte’s first Social Fresh conference. birdsong gregory was one of several Charlotte advertising agencies who gathered with corporations large and small to hear practitioners in the field of social media share success stories and offer advice for companies who want to utilize social media to contribute to their bottom lines. The biggest takeaway? Having a thoughtful and calculated strategy is the most important indicator of success. What’s your plan for social media? How does it fit into your larger marketing and advertising strategy? Want to tackle it together? Give me a call at 704-332-2299 and let’s talk.
Here at birdsong gregory, our boutique Charlotte ad agency, we specialize in the lost art of simplification and clarity. So as the world's obsession with social media deepens, we've taken it upon ourselves to translate this exciting and complex new landscape into a client-friendly version that doesn't raise more questions than it answers. Here you go . . .
Social media is as simple as its component parts – social interaction meets media – the sites, events, communities and resources that enable people to share with each other, collaborate, communicate and reinvent.
Social media marketing is harnessing that media to drive conversation, build awareness, and spark word of mouth around a brand, individual or particular subject matter.
The big take away? If you company is headquartered in Charlotte, social media can deliver a global audience.
Want to find birdsong gregory on the web? Search for Advertising Agency Charlotte, Branding Agency Charlotte, Charlotte Graphic Design or even Charlotte Social Media. These are just a few of the keyword phrases we try to optimize against because we recognize when prospective clients hit Google to research potential agency partners, it's what they'll be searching for. The more competitive or broad the phrase, the more difficult it is to win. For instance North Caroilina Advertising Agencies is one we continue to pursue, but it's a long haul.
Are you on page one for your company's keywords? If not, give Jim Cusson a call at 704-332-2299 or visit our site at www.birdsonggregory.com
Though recent high-profile media coverage suggests that a large percentage of the US population participates in online social networking and microblogging, more than half of Americans (51%) do not use Twitter or participate in either of the two largest social networking sites – MySpace and Facebook – according to a recent Harris Poll from Harris Interactive. This gives a Charlotte marketing agency or a Charlotte ad agency something to consider.
The survey finds that just under half (48%) of US adults have either a MySpace or Facebook account, and that only 16% update their page at least once a day. Usage statistics are much lower for Twitter, with only 5% of Americans saying they currently use it, Harris said. And as expected, Harris reports that there are substantial differences in who is and who isn’t using these selected social networking sites:
Three-fourths of those ages 18-34 (74%) have a Facebook or MySpace account, but this quickly drops off the older people get. Just one-quarter (24%) of those ages 55+ have an account.
Tweeting is also slightly more prevalent among the young, but not by much; only 8% of 18-34-year-olds use Twitter, while 7% of those ages 35-44 use it, 4% of those ages 45-54 and only 1% of those ages 55+ use it.
While men and women use Twitter at the same levels (5% each), women are more likely to have a Facebook or MySpace account (52% vs. 45%).
There is an educational difference in usage of MySpace and Facebook. Two in five people with a high school degree or less (40%) have a Facebook or MySpace account, compared with 55% of those with some college and 52% of those with at least a college degree.
To learn more about how our Charlotte advertising and marketing agency can help you create a measurable, unified online brand, please visit birdsong gregory or contact Jim Cusson at 704-332-2299.
At least that's what the US Marine Corp thinks. They issued an order recently that bans social media sites including Twitter, Facebook and MySpace on its network. The ban, which will last a year, essentially rules out use of all public social networks by Marines, unless a mission-critical need exists.
According to the order, "These internet sites in general are a proven haven for malicious actors and content and are particularly high risk due to information exposure, user generated content and targeting by adversaries. The very nature of [social networks] creates a larger attack and exploitation window, exposes unnecessary information to adversaries and provides an easy conduit for information leakage."
Here at birdsong gregory, our full-service Charlotte marketing agency isn't worried about the danger of social networking or our clients. Whether doing B2B marketing or building a consumer brand, companies of any size and in any industry can turn the power (and affordability) of connecting with the right audience into a true competitive advantage – especially in the battle for market share.
To learn more about the branding, marketing, advertising, and design services our agency offers, please visit birdsong gregory online, contact Jim Cusson at 704-332-2299, or stop by the next time you’re in downtown Charlotte
We had been hearing rumors in the Charlotte social media circles for a while, and now it’s here – an upated Twitter homepage. It’s new, it’s very blue, and it’s all about search.
In fact, from the looks of it Twitter has decided to take the simple and straightforward front page route, all centered around search functionality Gone are any attempts to explain Twitter, or a link to the “Twitter in Plain English” video. Instead, the Twitter homepage features a big search box, along with popular topics right now, over the past day, and from this week.
The fresh new look is big departure from the previous homepage, but we’re kind of digging it here at birdsong gregory And the new focus on search makes it a lot easier to keep up with our colleagues in the NC ad agency world.
Companies such as Zappos, Dell, and JetBlue are all known as successes in harnessing the power of social media for business. However, the aforementioned businesses sell directly to consumers. How about the business that sells products to other businesses? What if you’re a company that builds inventory software or administers group benefit plans? Is Twitter, Facebook, Ning, or a company blog going to be of any use?
In a word, yes. There are plenty of companies utilizing the social web for B2B marketing purposes. To help you make sense of it all, here are a couple of tips that our Charlotte ad agency shares with our B2B clients to help them find customers, build up a reputation, and gain the upper hand on landing the big deal. Although the Charlotte social media scene is still catching up to other regions of the country, there is a lot of opportunity for area companies.
Step 1. Build a reputation of expertise
What use is a company blog if you only have 10,000 customers, rather than 10 million? While it may be true that a B2B’s blog or Twitter is not going to be followed by as many people, it doesn’t change the fact that it will affect the decisions of your customers. Say a potential customer becomes aware of your software solution, and goes to your website to find out more about you. How can you stand out from the crowd? By building a blog with your expertise in focus.
If a potential customer comes to your company’s website and sees an active blog with insightful posts on how your company’s product helps customers, reads detailed posts demonstrating your company’s knowledge, and comes across a few case studies, they’re going to be far more inclined to come to you for their needs. North Carolina Ad Agencies need to take note.
Social media provides an outlet for displaying who you and your company are. Talking about your industry in an intelligent way via Twitter and a regularly-updated blog can raise your company’s profile and brand it as a thought leader and expert in its specific business area.
37Signals, the maker of Software-as-a-service business collaboration products, is a prime example of this philosophy in action. Their blog is regularly read by thousands of people, shared among businesses, and has even opened up another revenue stream in the form of a popular job board. Social media builds reputations.
2. Research your customers
Everyone thinks of social media as a communication tool, but not enough people think of it as a research tool. With the ridiculous amount of data produced every day on social networks, blogs, and in conversations, it should be apparent that you can learn tidbits or spot major trends by tracking the social universe.
Know what your customers are saying: If you’re trying to secure a contract from a big business, then they are probably talking to their customers via Twitter, Facebook, and more. Learn what they’re saying to their customers and read the blogs of decision makers to learn what they value and how they think.
Know what your customers’ customers are saying: Your customers don’t care about you – they care about their customers and their bottom line. If you can find behavior patterns in their customers that your product can address, your pitch will resonate more. Driving the point that their current solution doesn’t work, and then proving that with social chatter is even better.
Step 3. Ramp up your networking If you are competing with another company to land a big deal, it always helps to have connections and friendships within the company you’re trying to woo. You should always be networking, because you never know when a contact can become your advocate or even the decision-maker. And that’s where social media can help.
There are a lot of things you can do to get started on the networking front. They key, though, is that you have to reach out. Otherwise, how will people know to listen? While there are literally hundreds of ways to network with potential partners, vendors, clients, businesses, customers, and decision-makers, the truth is it doesn’t matter which tool you use as long as it is one that the other person values. LinkedIn, Twitter, Plaxo, etc. are always great places to start, but if you can network with them on niche social sites, you’ll stand out just a bit more.
Step 4. Learn from others In the end, you want to come out sharper, more knowledgeable, and better prepared than your competitors. It doesn’t matter if you have 60 or 600,000 customers, and it does not matter whether or not you sell to general consumers or Fortune 500 companies. Almost everyone is using or tracking social media and it provides you a prime opportunity to make you and your business a leader rather than a follower.
- Seek out blogs and publications in your industry and subscribe via RSS
- Network with relevant experts, including those who may only be partially related
- Follow the insights of business leaders on Twitter
- Connect with commenters on your own blog
- Make yourself very easy to find on the web – if people search for your name or your business, you should be at the top of Google’s results. Building a blog, using a Twitter, and creating a decent corporate website always helps
- Keep an open mind
In closing, don’t underestimate how much information is on the web. It’s stunning what you can learn just by reaching out. If you and your business have a strong social presence, it’s simply easier for potential partners, customers, employers, and businesses to find you. So when it comes to B2B marketing, Charlotte needs to get ready!
If you read websites about food, NYC or general wackiness, there's a good chance you've recently run into Scanwiches—a Tumblr with nothing but flatbed scans of bisected deliciousness. It's a fun, creative concept and I can envision how a site like this could anchor the social media marketing strategy for a Charlotte, NC sandwich shop.
At the same time, since most Charlotte graphic design studios have a scanner on the premise, you have to wonder if our sandwich landscape is fertile enough to support a project like this. Probably not.
From this week's Advertising Age: In an effort to build buzz in select urban markets this holiday season, Target plans to unveil three pop-up stores modeled after a fast-food joint. 
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