Colle McVoy is a masterful designer of holiday cards. Every year the Minneapolis agency sends me something new and every year I marvel at the idea and the elegant execution of the idea. This year a small package arrived. Inside the package, I found four beautiful holiday-themed coasters that also act as ornaments for the […]
Airstream sends me their email newsletter once per week. It’s called “Rivet.” As a way to keep me interested in Airstream products and the RVing lifestyle, Rivet points me to a batch of recommended articles on the Airstream blog. The Airstream blog is a great way to showcase customer testimonials. One RV enthusiast featured on […]
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When Anna Kendrick travels, she expects better. Because she is a Hollywood star, I believe she receives better without too much effort. For the rest of us, we need help and Hilton wants to provide it. Hilton’s new promise to consumers to “Expect Better” includes a Price Match Guarantee for guests who book at Hilton.com, […]
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When Jen Stack, Director of Communications at Colle McVoy, sends me something, I pay attention. I pay attention because Colle McVoy in Minneapolis sends the best branded merchandise, a.k.a. gifts, of anyone in the business. Whether it’s a packet of notecards, chocolates, or a new planner for 2018, it’s always well-made, thoughtful and useful. Because […]
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OFF MADISON—Blogging is the new busking. Talented writers are presently posted up outside the official news edifice where they’re busy bringing their readers a sharper, more personal point of view on a particular topic of interest. In a recent survey, bloggers said it now takes three hours and twenty minutes, on average, to create a […]
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Minnesota is different. For once, many of the people have Canadian-like accents and they ALL love hockey. When your state is endowed with 10,000 lakes and eight months of winter, it makes sense. Like this new commercial from ICF Olson makes sense. The Minneapolis agency partnered with NHL team, the Minnesota Wild, to create a […]
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Retail is the point of decision in consumer marketing. When a person stands before a product in the store, it’s decision time. The same holds true for people placing products in an online Shopping Cart. Will the shopper abandon or will she purchase? These are fundamental questions for the country’s greatest retailers to address on […]
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After a 14-year ad-sponsored run, AdPulp.com stopped running ads this year. You’re welcome. Now, please sign up for Inkl—the micropayments platform that has the potential to change the score for thousands of indie journalists and publishers like AdPulp.com.
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Email marketing is more science than art. For many small- to medium-sized businesses, email marketing is also a mystery. The person in charge of managing campaigns has to work to segment lists, design templates, create A-B tests, track click-throughs and KPIs, plus plan and execute the content delivery. When this is your task list, you […]
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Cheese is good. Tillamook’s cheese is better. Oregonians know the score. Now, thanks to increased spending from the client and a new ad agency with hot new creative, more people from coast to coast can come to this conclusion on their own. John Russell, senior director of marketing at Tillamook, told Adweek, “We have an […]
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When it comes to content marketing, Wunderman UK is all in. According to Campaign, the agency that invented the 1-800 toll-free number for businesses is now organizing its storytelling talent for better visibility, and profitability. Wunderman’s new content studio will consist of 25 content strategists, editors, writers, creatives and analysts. The move is part of […]
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Once upon a time, I lived in Chicago and I spent some time freelancing for Frankel. Bud Frankel was a pioneer in sales promotion, and I thought it was pretty cool to see him walking the halls as Chairman of the firm he founded, led and eventually sold. The sales price in 2000 was estimated […]
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Influencer marketing. Follower counts. Sponsored content.
These are just a few of the phrases we can use to describe a promotional offer from 1888, a boutique hotel in Sydney. Instagram users with more than 10,000 followers can stay one night for free.
Someone with 10K followers on Instagram has a ton of social influence. If they choose to stay at your hotel and say nice things about it (in words and pictures), the hotel just made a highly efficient and targeted ad buy for a one night comp. It’s a smooth move on the hotel’s part.
However, there are a few things I do not like about this offer. One is how exclusive it is. There are not that many people with five-digit follower counts on Instagram. Also, I don’t like follower counts as a metric. Follower counts can be gamed.
If I was advising the client here, I’d suggest a more inclusive approach that uncovers the best storytellers and then surprises them with an offer of a free night.
Hat tip: Adland
In related news: Levi’s is currently using Instagram as a centerpiece in its experiential marketing campaign, Station to Station, which is a “nomadic happening” by train that connects artists, musicians, and creative pioneers making their mark from New York to California.
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In a world where relationship marketing is the be all and end all, email wins again.
A new study conducted by Lyris and recapped by Marketing Profs, lays out the argument for email (click for infographic).
I’m surprised to see email rank higher than personal referrals. What does that say about the state of our friendships today? Maybe nothing.
Another interesting data point in the graph is how far down mobile devices rank. Mobile is reportedly the new frontier for marketers, although consumers may not see it that way.
This bit from the report is also worth considering:
When consumers research purchases online, 77% say they often spend their time comparing product prices and features. They prefer company channels over independent channels to do this research, by a wide margin.
On the other hand, they rate independent channels as more important for subjective information, such as expert and peer reviews.
People are saying give us “Product pricing and features, please, and save the ‘ad speak’ for another day.” What are we saying back? “Hey look, here’s a shiny new App — it orders pizza for you!”
For me, the takeaway here is people look to email as a trusted channel for receiving pertinent information from trusted friends, family and companies they buy from and are interested in. There’s room for advertising, and content marketing in the overall mix, but there may or may not be room for these things in an email to subscribers.
“Product pricing and features, please.”
To a creative person working in advertising, this sounds impossibly boring. But to a busy person who isn’t interested in what the brand has to say, per se, product pricing and a break down of features and benefits solves their needs, and guides them to a purchase decision.
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Direct marketers get little respect from brand marketers, which is a shame. Everyone has something to give!
Now, I see that social media marketers get little respect from direct marketers, which is also a shame. Where’s the love?
Direct marketing pro, Debra Ellis, writing in Target Marketing opens her can of whoop ass with a wicked snap (emphasis added).
Every good direct marketer knows the top company asset is the customer database. Almost anyone with marketing experience can turn that data into revenue. I say “almost” because there is still a social media movement trying to prove that direct mail and email marketing is dying. It’s doubtful that anyone in that group could create and execute an effective plan that delivers sales and profitability. But, for the rest of us, the people who understand that customer relationships are about the quality of service, a solid list is money in the bank.
Ellis goes on to wax direct poetic about the many charming aspects of email newsletters. For instance, she claims that “email marketing can do so much more than generate revenue and profits. In the right hands, it increases customer loyalty and reduces operating costs.”
Damn, I badly want some of this email marketing magic and its attendent profitability. Who wouldn’t?
Sadly, too many marketers and their agents see an email signup as a wide open invite to slam you with the shit they want you to know. However, email newsletters, like all communications, work best when filled with info that readers desire, not navel gazing brand lint.
Editor’s Note: Would you like to receive an email newsletter from AdPulp? If so, would you prefer daily, weekly or monthly mailings?
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“Fail harder” is a Wieden+Kennedy maxim. But if failure isn’t your thing, you can take the following advise from Martin Weigel’s, “How to (not) Fail” deck. Weigel is Head of Planning at Wieden+Kennedy Amsterdam, and his deck neatly illustrates “the gulf that exists between marketing’s bouts of hubris and the consumer’s reality.”
I particularly enjoy slide 100. “Our task is not nurturing enthusiasm but overcoming indifference.”
Words mean something; yet we too often treat words and their meaning as inventions that can be bent to our will. Weigel argues that “the rhetoric and metaphor of modern marketing – community, relationships, fans, loyalty, love, etc. – fundamentally misunderstands how people really feel and behave towards brands.”
Speaking of misunderstanding behavior, see Slide 24, a quote from Paul Adams, Global Head of Brand Design at Facebook:
Almost every App built for a brand on Facebook has practically no usage…Heavy “immersive experiences are not how people engage and interact with brands. Heavyweight experiences will fail because they don’t map to real life.”
Yet, here we are tasked with deepening customer engagement. There is no running away from the language and paradigms of our day. So what can you do? You can’t call bullshit all day, day after day and remain employed for long. A better plan is to honestly assess the tasks before you, and politely poke holes in them where needed, replacing false metaphors and flimsy thinking as you go. Then, whatever real ideas that remain can breathe.
The post Do You Care Enough To Overcome Consumer Indifference? appeared first on AdPulp.
This is site is run by Sascha Endlicher, M.A., during ungodly late night hours. Wanna know more about him? Connect via Social Media by jumping to about.me/sascha.endlicher.
