Keep It Personal

We are Millennials, hear us … text. And tweet. And snap. While I still look back nostalgically at a time when cell phones were only “for emergencies” and researching involved opening a book, I know I am the typical, technology dependent Millennial girl. Known as the “always connected” generation, Millennials or Generation Y born between 1980 and 1999, make up the largest generation group in history. We’re a challenge to market to due to the size and diversity of our group, along with our identifying attributes that include short attention spans, extreme self-confidence and highly personalized demands. But we also represent strong purchasing power. Successful brands need to take notice and adjust their strategies to reach us.

In a recent Forbes interview, SDL Chief Marketing Officer Paige O’Neill lays out a few recommendations for how marketers can better leverage the size and potential of Milliennials.

1. Focus on experience. As Millennials, we create our own brand experiences instead of waiting for the next marketing campaign. A shift from the traditional “campaign” approach to a focus on the customer experience will help break through the personal junk filter.

2. Show greater transparency. Trust is of huge importance. If brands show how consumer data is collected and use it to offer more customized content or provide a benefit in return, Millennials feel stronger loyalty. It’s all about personalization.

3. Use an omni-channel strategy. We want tailored communication and we want it across all channels. If you engage with your customers on Facebook, we want to see that engagement through the ad you run on Spotify, in your weekly email blast and around the Internet through retargeting.

4. Be relevant to the individual. We’ve always known brands need to understand the behaviors of their target audience. But with Millennials, understanding the journey is key to unlocking a successful marketing strategy. The tools we leave behind – email address, IP address, browsing history, device type and location – will help reach Millennials across channels and personalize the content to individual preferences.

A lot is still left to be seen about the Millennial generation as we enter our forties and beyond. Will we be great money savers? Will our social libertarian outlook fuel significant policy change? As Generation Z enters the mix, how will the workforce change for us? Regardless of the future, to reach us today, marketers need to remember content is king and “keep it personal.”

Co-Branding-Does it Work?

Co Branding Does it Work? Kelloggs recently came out with a new peanut butter cereal but ran into the wall when concluding their name alone was not going to be enough to sell their new cereal.

What do big brands do in a case like this?

Generate a deal with another complimentary brand!

 In Kellogg’s case, saving the peanut butter cereal by combining brand strength with Jiff was a logical choice. The happy-brand-couple receives dual exposure and the kids in the cereal isle become extra bouncy at the sight of the delicious complex.

 Licensing agreements are an old trick in the great book of marketing do’s and don’ts. This year especially, many big-box food production companies have been studying the co-branding marketing strategy page for ways to boost their product and break away from their competitors.

 The drawback when implementing this co-marketing is shared control as one relies equally on the other guy to be part of a brand empowering partnership. Yet, the positive facet to this situation, launching the product is much quicker because marketers aren’t building a brand from scratch.

 Here is where the mixed brands get interesting:

 Jelly Belly + Tabasco Dark Chocolate.

 These recognizable brands decided they would make a great food couple, a perfect pairing. I’m not quite sure all would agree with this combination, but I’m confident someone appreciates this.

Here are a few more examples of the duos I find are interesting.

Dial+Froyo Frozen Yogurt Cooling Body Wash: A hygiene product. Off the bat I’m thinking “delicious shower snack!” To some it might not be appealing, but then again many health forward beauty products use yogurt as a common ingredient. The idea has an appealing basis.

Taco Bell+Kraft Southwest Ranch: this combination sounds enticing. I have never tried it. Another point to consider would be that partnering up on this sauce, the brands equity, positive and negative, comes along with the creation of the duo product.

Smart Advertising or Exploitation?

It seems these days-literally the last few days-that the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has been a frequent flyer aboard Facebook’s News Feeds with it’s great awareness building and fundraising tactics for ALS. This frigid challenge has recently surfaced and many have come forward with different opinions about this viral method of fundraising for ALS. 

A “different” kind of video has been posted in an area some might have seen coming. That’s right, the advertising world. Many large companies brought their executives to the scene to take part and raise money for ALS. But no one called out a branded product…until now. 

Samsung has jumped on board the speeding media train and used the Ice Bucket Challenge in a creative way to promote their new Galaxy 5s smart phone with it’s waterproof shell. In the ad, the Galaxy 5s gets the cubed, cold water dumped right on top of it's (head?) and proceeds to "say" how cold it is. The Galaxy 5s then calls upon it's competitors' top selling smart phone devices to take part in the challenge.

This is where things get tricky. Using a charity’s awareness building campaign to spin off your own profit-making ad could be seen as self-serving. From another angle, it shows the fast creativity and real-time marketing like Oreo’s Super Bowl tweet. But when do you cross the line between creative and crass? Siri, what do you think?

  

Check out Samsung’s spot:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6w4Gqt-ljb4 

Freaked-Out Photos

Remember the old adage, "A picture's worth a thousand words."? I've been a believer in the power of visual brand awareness since the days of Dr. Suess, Tom Terrific and The Captain & Bunny Rabbit entered my life. 

And how many of you are old enough to recall being concerned over Big Brother? No, not the awful guys on one of the most-amazed-it's-still-onTV shows, but the Big Brother concept that was kicked off by the novel, "1984". 

Now it looks like our social media pals are the "real" Big Brother. All those darling selfies and more are being mined for lots of data for advertisers. 

Every Nike swish is being tracked. The ad world will know what brand of beer is in your boyfriend's hand. And that you probably shop at Target since the bullseye is behind you in your profile picture…ever so slightly. Yep, this trend really is freaking out folks just a bit - even those guys who take their iPhones to bed with them. 

Once that data's all mashed up and spit back out, you'll be even more specifically targeted. Makes you think - do you really want to wear that Polo shirt anymore?

Check out this article:

http://mashable.com/2014/08/13/passive-hashtags/

Is Facebook Out Like the Plague?

Researchers at Princeton University have predicted the demise of Facebook by the year 2017 – a short three years from now and 13 years after the February 4, 2004 launch of the social media giant.

This bold statement was concocted by comparing the growth curb of epidemics like the bubonic plague to that of social media networks. In the beginning, ideas spread through communicative contact, similar to the spread of a virus. Soon, those original idea developers end up losing interest, therefore no longer manifesting the idea, ultimately developing an immunity to the idea.

While Facebook has thus far “outlived” several other networks (remember MySpace?) and stockholders aren’t yet running for the door, it can’t be overlooked that Facebook’s CFO admitted to seeing a decrease in daily users, specifically among younger teens.

I have to agree that the number of teenage users dropping is a red flag, however; I don’t see Facebook fading away just yet. Historically, Facebook hasn’t had a problem updating the platform to stay current with the new social media trends of the day, from the early expansion beyond just college students to the adding of hashtag searches. It has also established itself as a viable and user-friendly platform for businesses to keep up with their followers on a more regular basis than the traditional website.

Whatever happens with Facebook’s plague-like tendancies in the next three years, count on us to be keeping track of the epidemic-style growth curve, and more importantly, what new ideas will infect and spread through our population.
For more, check out the full article and study. 

http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/jan/22/facebook-princeton-researchers-infectious-disease

Bye-bye dropshadows, hello hero areas. Web trends, 2014

Enjoyable read on the web design trends to expect in 2014. Many that made the list are design elements we've seen steadily creeping in for a while. If you want the "down & dirty," here's the top 10!

1 - Non boring typography (sweet!)
2 - Flat design (sounds bad, it's not)
3 - Large hero areas ('I need a hero'... <insert that 80s song, here>)
4 - Mobile-centric (dare we say, "duh")
5 - Videos in place of text (yes)
6 - Long scrolling sites (love it!)
7 - Simple color schemes (segueing into Pantone 2014 color of the year...)
8 - Simplified content (sounds smart to us!)
9 - Dropping the sidebar (interesting concept)
10 - Manipulated imagery (thanks for the influence, Instagram!)

For the bonus, 11th trend, you totally have the check out the article!

Can Amazon Save the Postal Service?

Our country's classic Postal carrier system has been losing ground - and lots of money - for years. Not too long ago, they tried to cut out Saturday delivery to trim budgets. Seemed like a pretty sound idea to me based on the extreme uptick in other forms of communications. Met with a myriad of protests (some from the union?), Saturday was back on the ticket.

But Amazon just announced what I think could be a possible savior for the PO - or at least a nice test-crutch for the holiday season. You guessed it - Sunday package delivery of products purchased through Amazon will be delivered by Postal carriers (even in the rain, sleet or snow!)

As someone who's into my AARP-eligible years, I have to admit, I'm encouraged to see this throw-back. Guess we'll wait and see how it goes and if they expand beyond LA and NY in the future.

But now that younger consumers are moving away from stores like Abercrombie & Fitch and doing more shopping on-line where every three-dimensional item they purchase needs a delivery mechanism, we just may see more of those little white trucks on the roads. Be careful out there since the PO is always the winner if there's a crash - or is that just an old rumor?

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/2013/11/11/amazon-sunday-delivery-usps/3479055/