"Buy the Way…" Insights on Integrated Marketing Communication

Think about the last show you watched on Netflix. Did you check out the star rating first? Do you check Yelp reviews before visiting a new restaurant? Or, if your organization is implementing a new software, did you search for online references of other companies who leverage it for a similar use case?

In our present-day Amazon reviewed world, your customer’s voice can be a way more powerful tool than anything else in your marketing communication mix. Media and brand expert Anthony Young (2104) reminds us that the increased use of the internet has increased the “word of mouth” role in consumers’ decisions. Users and product fans are your best advocates online.

The big question, however, is how do you tap into these advocates and leverage them to broaden your message and authentically speak to your brand? What is in it for them?

Here are 3 simple things to do – and one important thing NOT to do – to engage customer advocates to speak on your behalf that I have learned from my own experience trying to build advocates:

1. Make them the hero. Or the expert. Or the whiz. Everyone likes to be acknowledged for his or her hard work and successes. Portray your customers as the ones who save the day to not only build your brand but their personal ones, as well. Make sure they understand how they will be featured in your marketing channels, such as your website or your social channels. And if it is required, don’t forget to provide the advocate with clear information he can share with his team on how he and his company will be featured in your materials. Make is easy for him to get the approval he needs to be part of your advocacy channels.
2. Content… and more content. Most professionals connect through LinkedIn. What if you could provide your customer with a well-crafted story to share through his social networking sites that helps him to drive his own social media engagement while advocating for your brand? Organizations like Influitive can help by creating customer success stories with no writing required by you or your customers. These professional looking pieces can be shared through social media, including the advocate’s own LinkedIn page, elevating his status as a hero – who just so happened to fix the problem using your product. Also, pieces like these help to fill in the gaps in your content marketing portfolio to use across integrated campaigns.
3. Act as a community organizer. This is your opportunity to build a community of advocates. If a customer has a place to share his input, he would feel like people are listening and will be inclined to share more information with others. The community is an opportunity for your customers to have a place to demonstrate their knowledge and show-off their expertise. Also, new success stories might arise from this online community.

What not to do? You might ask – what about monetarily incentivizing customers for their advocacy? This might seem like the path to least resistance to getting your customers on board as public advocates, but ultimately it is not good for them, or for your business. You want customer advocates who are passionate about sharing their success stories, not just because you paid them to do so. They share their experience because they are great stories to tell and they are excited about their own results. You should stick to providing the customer advocates value in other ways, such as an online forum or content they can use to promote their own personal brand or company. You want to build genuine, authentic advocates.

According to Laura Ramos VP and Principle Analysis at Forrester (2016), customer advocacy can be a key differentiator for organizations to grow their brands through a lower cost than traditional advertising.  Finding and promoting the right customers in unique and mutually beneficial ways can be a competitive advantage for your firm. So, once you identify those perfect customers who you want to share your message, provide them with something they value in return.

Ramos, L. (n.d.). Laura Ramos’ Blog. Retrieved May 24, 2017, from http://blogs.forrester.com/laura_ramos

Young, A. (2014). Brand media strategy: Integrated communications planning in the digital era. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Deep thought about what to write about for this post, I decided to take a brief snack break. I then poured myself a satisfying bowl of Trader Joe’s Honey Nut O’s, a cereal I have enjoyed for years. While shoveling those sweet and crunchy oat morsels into my mouth, like the refined individual I am, a lightbulb moment occurred. I could not recall any time in my life when I had seen an advertisement for Trader Joe’s. But how, then, have I come to know the brand?  It is here, where the research commenced.

Founded in 1967,  Trader Joe’s, first opened its doors in Pasadena, but did not launch its own private label, for which it is now know, until the 1970s (Timeline, 2017). Since then, the brand has provided customers with majority private label products at an affordable price. In fact, in 2014, Business Insider found that 80% of Trader Joe’s products were produced in-house (Lutz, 2014). This in-house business strategy lends to its marketing success. With the unique labels and products, like cookie butter, in addition to its competitive pricing, Trader Joe’s acquires and maintains customers through positive brand association and its one-of-a-kind brand and store aesthetics (Lutz,2014). It’s also noted, that the grocery store chain researches the demographics of their customers, in order to tailor products and the store locations to suit them (Tobak, 2010).

Although Trader Joe’s does not engage much traditional marketing through commercials, print, or social media, it has maintained the choice of using radio spots for advertising. Also, more recently, the brand created a blog post section on their website called “Dig In,” which posts articles on new or popular products, as well as, information on store contests and events (Dig-In, 2017). This web blog accompanies their long held, monthly, free, mailed and in-store “Fearless Flyer” booklet which provides information on store products in an editorial-like manner.

With their quality of products and distinctive image, Trader Joe’s has successfully created a popular brand, without reliance on traditional marketing avenues. However, with the changing times, it will be interesting to see whether this strategy will hold strong. Chinks in the Trader Joe’s marketing armor are, perhaps, presented with its 2016 drop to third-place, in Marketing Force Information’s ranking of favorite grocery stores in America (Bratskeir, 2016). This third place finish came after making it to the first place spot for the three consecutive years prior (Cheng, 2015). The two chains that beat Trader Joe’s, Wegmans and Publix, are active social media users (Wegmans, 2017; Publix, 2017). Is this rating drop a sign for Trader Joe’s to alter their marketing strategy?

References:

Bratskeir, K. (2016, April 18). Wegmans Is officially America’s favorite grocery store. Huffington Post. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/wegmans-americas-favorite-grocery-store-trader-joes-publix_us_5710dafde4b06f35cb6f3cb6

Cheng, A.(2016, May 13). Trader Joe’s voted America’s favorite grocery store for a third straight year”. MarketWatch. Retrieved from: http://www.marketwatch.com/story/trader-joes-voted-americas-favorite-grocery-store-for-a-third-straight-year-2015-05-13

Dig In (2017). Dig In, Trader Joes. Retrieved from http://www.traderjoes.com/digin

Lutz, A. (2014, Oct 7). How Trader Joe’s sells twice as much as whole foods. Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/trader-joes-sales-strategy-2014-10

Publix (2017, May 6) Publix. Twitter. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/Publix?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Timeline(2017). Timeline. Trader Joes. Retrieved from http://www.traderjoes.com/our-story/timeline

Tobak, S. (2010, August 26). 10 Secrets to Trader Joe’s success. CBS News. Retrieved from http://www.cbsnews.com/news/10-secrets-to-trader-joes-success/

Wegmans (2017, May 6). Wegmans food markets. Twitter. Retrieved from https://twitter.com/Wegmans?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Catching someone’s attention and motivating him to buy your product, or at least searching it online, is already enough difficult in 30 seconds. What if all you had were 6 seconds? That’s what YouTube is challenging advertisers to do. In April 2016, YouTube presented the “bumper ads”, six seconds un-skippable spots played before videos that, according to the company, in 90% of cases are much likely to drive a significant lift in ad recall (Google, 2016).

During the TV era, video advertising spaces were sold by slots of 30, 45 or 60 seconds, and viewers had little control over the choice of advertisements to watch, other than changing channels. Online video ad formats like YouTube TrueView ads have created a paradox for marketers. They remove traditional 30-second time constraints, giving brands more time to tell their stories. But introducing a “skip” button after five short seconds also means that advertisers have to create more engaging stories that not only grab their audience’s attention but hold it, too.

Getting attention within those first 5 seconds is essential, and more agencies are honing their skills creating videos able to engage the audience for a longer time than those 5 seconds, eventually leading them to the final call to action, tagline or product shot. However, when 6 seconds are all the time available to introduce the product or service, benefit, and overall message, things get way more complicated. With video being projected to claim more than 80% of all web traffic by 2019 (Tredgold, 2017), and video advertising’s revenues are skyrocketing over the last 12 months (+53% year on year – Rothenberg, 2017), is time to delve a bit deeper into the elements that makes six seconds ads effective, so in this article I analyze three Bumper Ads that YouTube promote as best examples of the genre, to understand what elements from Heath and Heath’s “SUCCES” framework (2010) and Barry’s Advertising Concept book (2016) can help create sticky stories in less than 6 seconds:

https://youtu.be/FZwYV2O206U?list=PL9Xlh2Jq9l7V0JE-Nu95h9rWRbN69DBjz

1. TIDE Rescue – FIDO

Simple: TIDE Rescue is a washing machine product, whose USP is the ability to restores up to three shades of white. What a better way to explain what it does, then showing a use case?

Unexpected: A dog circling on a bed is cute, and the voiceover saying he might have walked or not on the petunia leave the viewer puzzled.

Concrete: The brief story is based on something all dog owner might relate: changing sheets after one’s dog walk on them with dirty paws.

Credible: a simple USP is credible if the results are easy to understand based on the story, as shown in this case.

Emotional: Harnessing emotions don’t mean being dramatic, and this ad shows it well. Despite its briefness, the relatable situation create provokes an emotional response that facilitates the understanding of the ad.

Story: A story needs a beginning, climax, and conclusion. In this case, two frames encapsulate the whole story: the dog walking on the bed, the voiceover raising the possibility of an issue, and the product shot, that introduces the resolution of the issue.

Strategy adopted: Showing the before, and letting the viewer imply the after-consequences through the product proposition. The consumer will figure out the after stage without having to see it.

Type of idea: exaggeration. The ad remarks that the product is so great that can restore the white even in very dirty conditions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znGQlB_e9KA&list=PL9Xlh2Jq9l7V0JE-Nu95h9rWRbN69DBjz&index=1

2. Old spice – Sweat

Simple: some people sweat a lot, and Old Spice deodorants stop all the sweating. A simple concept is materialized visually with an Old Spice deodorant actually stopping a man’s armpit sweating like a shower.

Unexpected: The impossible combination of elements leaves the viewer puzzled, but the voiceover resolves the puzzlement explaining the product’s benefit.

Concrete: Sometimes concreteness can be avoided if the metaphorical meaning of the story is easier to understand. This video is the case.

Credible:  Credibility is not on the list of priorities of the creatives that made this short video. Despite the value proposition is clear, the video gives a little hint to the ways the product work, and reasons to believe.

Emotional: As for the video above, the emotions that can be provoked by an ad can differ along a wide range of possibilities. In this case, the silly situation and the voice-over talking directly to the viewer create an effect of surprise and interest, that sticks in mind even after time.

Story: On such a short timing, there is not always an opportunity to tell a full story. As in the video above, the story that Old Spice tells is simply one of the oppositions: there is a problem (sweaty armpits) and the product offer a solution (no more sweating).

Strategy adopted: before and after. One of the most used strategies in advertising: showing the life before and after the product is used.

Type of Idea: Exaggeration of a truism. Everyone knows that some people can sweat a lot. The ad exaggerate all elements of the story to make the effects of using Old Spice deodorants even more clear to understand.

3. Mercedes Benz – Reminder

Simple: Mercedes wanted to show how fast is the acceleration of the new AMG: from 0 to 100km/m in less than 3 seconds. How to show it? By making an ad that lasts as long as it takes to the AMG to accelerate from 0 to 100.

Unexpected: the unexpected factor comes from the concrete and credibility factors: the new AMG can go from 0 to 100 in only 3 seconds. Showing the audience how short is such time enable to experience the sensation coming from such unique feature.

Story: in less than 3 seconds there is no space for a story, just the time to communicate a message, and let the audience understand the emotional value of its feeling.

Strategy adopted: demonstration of the product benefit.

Type of idea: Analogy. The length of the video highlights the key feature of the product.

So what’s in this article? 

The trick with bumpers, of course, is to maximize your 6 seconds. It’s natural to want to try and do a little bit of everything, to literally cut a 15- or 30-second spot and capture everything it once had in 6 seconds. But that’s not how to succeed. The message would just drown in a sea of noise. Rather, success comes from creating a series of vignettes and stringing them together. Don’t try to focus on three elements in 6 seconds. Instead, create three distinct ads that each focus on one element. In addition, voiceovers, music and emotion — particularly comedy — play particularly well in bumpers. When these things are combined, the message becomes clear. Short-form messaging has also allowed brands to take more chances and be more creative with longer-form Trueview content because the purpose each ad serve can be definitively divided: one for reach and awareness, the other for deep-level engagement, etc.

In Conclusion

YouTube’s push behind the bumper ads is only one in a series of ad-unit innovations. From new variations on Trueview products to the recent announcement that 30-second unskippable ads will be deprecated from the platform in January 2018, YouTube is indicating their understanding that the advertising experience matters. And whether it is YouTube, Facebook or Snapchat, it is fantastic to see platforms innovating with new solutions. But it’s even better to see the brands fully embrace them.

The flagship brands owned by the company L Brands are Victoria’s Secret along with Bath and Body Works. However, one is apparently having issues connecting to their consumers. Even though L Brands is currently 234 on Forbes top 500 list, Victoria’s Secret is having a problem connecting with the modern consumer. In fact, Victoria’s Secret had a dip in sales this past December despite having over 6.65 million people watch their annual December Fashion Show The logistical reason for the slow in sales is due to the company’s focus on in-store sales as opposed to online or through their own mobile app. Furthermore, their stores have the connotation with being more opulent as opposed to practical with the overarching theme of beauty as opposed to reality. Victoria’s Secret presents a beautiful fantasy, which is not what the average person is drawn to anymore.

Personally, speaking I will say I do not want the presentation of average when shopping for something as intimate and consistently worn as lingerie and undergarments, however with the increased presence of AdoreMe and American Eagle’s Aerie I may begin to become the minority. It is obvious why consumers would want to see themselves in the models of clothing so intimate, however, why are Victoria’s Secret models treated as those they are not real humans? Their moniker may have always been Victoria’s Secret Angels but they are still real women, their bodies may be unrealistic to some but they are in fact, real women. Therefore, my question where does the disconnect between the “real women” of Aerie and the Victoria’s Secret Angels begin? All models involved are human women, no one was drawn or generated by a computer, even with Photoshop there was still a human that had to be present for the picture itself.

It should be noted that the current average sized woman in the US, is a size 16, which one could argue is unhealthy but the downside of an average is that, mathematically, is that it does include both extremes, i.e. those who are very small and those who are large. For context, a size 16 woman is someone who has a 37.5-inch waist, which doctors do not recommend having; to be female and have a waist larger than 35 inches increases the risk of disease. It should also be noted that the Aerie models and AdoreMe models are not size 16 either, so there is still a segment of the population that is being actively ignored. But my ending questions are, when does the average consumer matter, when the average consumer is not being presented by any fashion brand across the board? But furthermore, what role does fashion play in the overall scheme that is “average” when the point of a model is to be a physical hanger for the consumer to imagine said garment on themselves?

References:

Borchardt, D. (2017, January 6). Victoria’s Secret December Sales Drop As Angels Lose Their Wings. Retrieved from Forbes: https://www.forbes.com/sites/debraborchardt/2017/01/06/victorias-secret-december-sales-drop-as-angels-lose-their-wings/#5f6703ea584a
Fortune. (2016, January 31). L Brands. Retrieved from Fortune 500: http://beta.fortune.com/fortune500/l-brands-234
Fratello , J. (2016, September 29). What’s ‘average’? Size 16 is the new normal for US women. Retrieved from Today: http://www.today.com/style/what-s-average-size-16-new-normal-us-women-t103315
Harrington , R. (2017, May 4). We went to a Victoria’s Secret store in NYC and saw why the brand is ‘getting weaker by the day’. Retrieved from Business Insider: http://www.businessinsider.com/victorias-secret-overpriced-l-brands-weak-struggling-2017-5/#security-tags-attached-to-the-bra-clasp-make-it-nearly-impossible-to-try-on-bras-i-get-that-victorias-secret-wants-to-prevent-you-from-stealing-its-bras-but-it-could-probably-find-a-better-place-to-attach-them-17
Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. (2017, May 1). Obesity Prevention Source. Retrieved from Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health: https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-definition/abdominal-obesity/
Schwindt, O. (2016, December 6). TV Ratings: ‘Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show’ Dips Again, NBC Wins Slow Night. Retrieved from Variety: http://variety.com/2016/tv/news/victorias-secret-fashion-show-ratings-1201934728/

That moment of confusion has happened to some of us. A moment where an advertising campaign goes wrong in so many ways when you realize, ‘Wait, you were trying to talk to me. Dear God.’ Whether it was Live for Now (Pepsi) or White Is Purity (Nivea), the big idea of a campaign may seem to have a strong grasp of contemporary issues. But then its narrative has unintentionally placed the campaign’s brand into a negative light among the target audience, let alone into an arena of public outrage and late-night satire.

Nivea via HuffingtonPost

The good news? Well, people are indeed talking about your brand. Now you’re just praying that the creative team will soon receive PR reinforcements to resolve this digital firestorm. But the damage is done, and it will take more than an apologetic tweet to win over the offended. Before a brand can show itself publicly in its former glory, it now requires the agency, or a new agency, to thoroughly listen to the outrage and use it to their advantage for big idea 2.0–an idea that talks directly to your audience and rebuilds the brand to a stable image.

To some extent, this is where advertising and public relations can work together effectively. For example, the damage can be analyzed by the PR team in order to inform the creative team how to sell their brand in a manner that shows the brand being reflexive of their past actions. Indeed, advertising and public relations face different objectives when communicating to an audience. But building a big idea that incorporates PR tactics will strengthen the brand’s image while meeting the campaign’s objective.

In Vaynerchuk’s (2013) book, Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook, his advice in executing social media campaigns expresses a similar rhetoric to Kozinets’ research method of netnography. Both urge their readers to take time in understanding the communicative ‘nuances’ and patterns that foster from their target audience. The only difference is that Kozinets’ method is used during the consumer research phase, whereas Vaynerchuk’s advice is to inform marketers of the basics in creating content that matches the language of their audience.

One cannot really start a movement (i.e., Pepsi) or a still ill-advised notion of purity (i.e., Nivea) without having PR-like support in order to make sure that the campaign’s narrative is both creative and well-suited for its target audience. That way, when a brand reintroduces itself, it will provide some potential for the offended think, ‘Oh, you’re talkin’ to me again? [It’s] nice to see that you’ve made all of the right changes’.

References:

Amatulli, A. (2017, April 5) Nivea Ends ‘White Is Purity’ Campaign After Widespread Backlash. HuffingtonPost. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/nivea-ends-white-is-purity-campaign-after-widespread-backlash_us_58e51876e4b0917d34762692

Kozinets, R. (2016). Netnography. The Blackwell Encyclopedia of Sociology. doi: 10.1002/9781405165518.wbeos0782

Vaynerchuk, G. (2013). Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook: How to Tell Your Story in a Noisy Social World. HarperCollins: New York.

It is no surprise that brands are integrating more social and political themes into their campaign narratives to boost their social responsibility, as millennial audiences lean towards brands associated with causes (Ames, 2015). However, it should not be taken as an isolated social component, rather brands must make sure that their narrative is consistent with what they stand for. Actions speak louder than words. But there are only a selected few who do it right. And although a great amount miss their mark at starting or joining social conversations, their public responses are just as important as their executions.

This week, two campaigns stood out by either integrating the social approach or moving beyond their previously stated conversation. This refers to the most recent campaign “Everybody gets love” by Shea Moisture, combating hair shaming, and “This is your brain on drugs” by PSA (Partnership for a Drug-Free America). Although both are very different in that one serves the commercial sector while the other is a non-profit, they both tap on the topic of race relations but on opposite frameworks. Shea Moisture seeks to equalize both White and Black women for their campaign on hair-shaming, while PSA sets both racial groups apart to raise awareness.

Shea Moisture’s campaign received social media backlash for its equalization of White and Black women struggles with hair. The brand is a hair and skin care company that mainly caters to African American women, serving as one of the very few beauty product company that do so in a market that mainly idolizes the “good hair”. But their latest campaign sought to attract a broader audience and stated that hair struggles are an issue among all women no mater race or ethnicity.

Shea Moisture- “Everybody gets loved”

The main criticism for this campaign is that struggles are in fact not the same for White women as they are for Black women, recalling several studies in the US that find that African American women who wear their natural hair are seen as less competent in the workforce while White women struggles never reach the level of racial stereotyping. The company was quick to respond by posting an apology on their Instagram account stating how much “they f-ed up”, and took the opportunity to talk more about the matter. They remained very open to their audience’s comments by concluding that they appreciate all the feedback, negative and all, and that they will remain open to their audience with which they serve.

Shea Moisture- Instagram Apology

Despite the brand’s willingness to make it right for their audience, many have remained reluctant to accept the company’s apology mainly because they claim that the brand has grown distant from their core values. Particularly, with the company’s approach to reach a wider audience, while claiming that they will still remain loyal to their African American core audience. However, this move does not fit well to their intended audience who claim the brand is being influenced by corporate interest.

In the non-profit sector, the picture is very different. Non-profits are expected to tap on social issues, it is their purpose. But it is interesting to see the different sides of the racial spectrum, when it comes to portraying society. Partnership for a Drug-Free America, the organization behind one of the most famous campaigns advocating for drug prevention, ran a remake of their 1997 campaign: “This is your brain on drugs” featuring the actress Rachel Leigh Cook. In the original ad, the actress is shown slamming an egg, representing the brain, into a frying pan to expose the fragility of an individual’s brain when exposed to drugs.

PSA- “Your brain on drugs” (2017)

The new ad now follows the same cause and effect narrative, but adds the element of racial discrimination where a white egg now resembles a White individual, and a brown egg resembles a Minority. The ad seeks to raise awareness on the judicial mistreatment of Whites and Minorities who get charged with drug crimes, and the consequences that weight more on the latter group.

A main concern in discussing race is that some brands are quick to turn to inclusivity without calling out the imbalance that still subsists over one group. With that, I think that brands should be much more cautious at representing race in society, and overthink their brand strategy to really see if their narrative matches reality, as does the campaign from PSA.

References:

Ames, E. (2015). Millennial demand for corporate social responsibility drives change in brand strategies. Retrieved from https://www.ama.org/publications/MarketingNews/Pages/millennial-demand-for-social-responsibility-changes-brand-strategies.aspx

Reed, S. (2017, April 24). Shea Moisture is the latest company facing backlash for ad. Retrieved from http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/shea-moisture-company-faces-backlash-ad-996902

White, J. (2017, April 24). Rachel Leigh Cook and her frying pan are back to explain the war on drugs. Retrieved from https://pacifictribune.com/2017/04/24/rachael-leigh-cook-psa-war-drugs/

Last week, YouTube announced its plan to expand its Creators for Change program, an initiative that appoints socially-conscious YouTube influencers as program Ambassadors to combat hate speech, xenophobia, and extremism (Weiss 2017). This program started from last September with 11 YouTubers, and last week YouTube announced 27 more. These YouTubers will receive mentorship, equipment and production grants to facilitate their socially-conscious videos.

YouTube has become one of the most diverse communities promoting social good and raising awareness. In 2016, there was boycott and criticism to Oscar as #OscarSoWhite, while at the same year, Streamy Award was celebrated as #SteamySoDiverse. For instance, Asian Americans, which received little exposure and few opportunities in Hollywood, have become a vibrant community on YouTube, including Comedians such as Fung Brothers, Ryan Higa, Musicians as Sam Tsui, David Choi, Beauty Vlogger Michele Phan, and creators like Freddie Wong.

Another group is LGBT content creators, who have received huge visibility on YouTube. For instance, Gigi Gorgeous recently has her first documentary streaming on YouTube Red, which recorded her transition from male to female, and her coming-out stories as a gay, transgender and lesbian. Another icon is Tyler Oakley, with almost 8 million subscribers and an estimated net worth of 8 million. They have succeeded in monetization, and they’re also instrumental in speaking out on behalf of pro-LGBT policies and advocating for LGBT rights (Jenkins, 2016).

YouTube has increasingly focused on doing social good, and it can become powerful in speaking to an audience with huge concerns in this turbulent and vulnerable political environment. For brands aiming to raise social awareness and address social responsibility, it is time to put more efforts on the digital YouTube space instead of traditional media outlets.

Reference:

Weiss, G. (April 20, 2017). YouTube reveals first fleet of 27 “Creators for Change” fellows. Tubefilter. Retrieved from

http://www.tubefilter.com/2017/04/20/youtube-27-creators-for-change-fellows/

Jenkins, H. (April 21, 2016). Multichannel Networks and the New Screen Ecology: An Interview with Stuart Cunningham and David Craig. Retrieved from http://henryjenkins.org/2016/04/multichannel-networks-and-the-new-screen-ecology-an-interview-with-stuart-cunningham-and-david-craig-part-one.html

The development of social networking platforms not only provides connections and information sharing among users but also redefined the concept of privacy. The concept of privacy is increasingly less associated with the quantity of information released, but more intently related to what kind of information and how much information the audience can access to. In this context, privacy issues related to using social net became a controversial topic during these days.

On one hand, social networking sites are so popular nowadays. Previous research showed that about 20% of total time spent online is on social media platforms in U.S. (Emily, 2016). Regarding specific platforms, Facebook’s monthly active users in the second quarter of 2016 were up to 1.71 billion while Twitter’s were 313 million during the same period. Research by Beheshti and Makki (2013) supported that the motivation of using social media various from platform to platform. For example, LinkedIn is one of the world’s largest professional network. It attracts users to spend time on the website for the purpose of business networking. For Facebook and Twitter, the purpose of using those platforms is more for leisure (Eagleman, 2013).

Although the motivations of using social media are different, there are several similarities and potential privacy issue among these platforms. Most social platforms, such as Twitter and Facebook, acquire users to upload their personal information when they sign up. The personal information includes name, gender, date of birth, nationality, previous schools, working experience, and even the address. Users volunteer to fill in personal information to make a quick connection with former friends or someone who share the same interests. Kryder represented that about 40% Facebook users do not realize that their personal information has high risk be leaked to public through simple mouse action done on social networking site. For instance, when a Facebook user posts a selfie picture taken at home with the feature location default, they may not realize how serious the consequence could be. Some people who have ulterior motives can easily locate their home address by the post (Loeffler, 2012). Even worse, many users especially those are young do not recognize the risks.

Have you ever worried about the privacy issue when you were using the social platform? Why you feel worried about it? Is there any bad thing happened to you or your friends related to privacy issue?

Reference:

Emily, A. (2016). Social media engagement: the surprising facts about how much time people spend on the major social networks. Business Insider. Retrieved from http://www.businessinsider.com/social-media-engagement-statistics-2013-12

Beheshti, K.S., & Makki, B. (2013). Social media news: motivation, purpose and usage. International Journal of Computer Science & Information Technology, 5(2), 97-105. doi:10.5121/ijcsit.2013.5209

Eagleman, A. N. (2013). Acceptance, motivations, and usage of social media as a marketing communications tool amongst employees of sport national governing bodies. Sport Management Review, 16(4), 488.

Loeffler, C. (2012). Privacy issues in Social Media. The IP Litigator : Devoted to Intellectual Property Litigation and Enforcement, 18(5), 12.

Social media has become a major marketing tool over the last decade. However, one strange phenomenon has been noticed that there seems to be more efforts being put on social networks than social networking (Rohampton, 2017). This issue has been brought up due to the millennials’ preferred communication form on over-the-top (OTT) messaging apps.

Thanks to the $200 billion in annual buying power and tremendous peer influence, the Millennials are considered as the ultimate consumers in today’s market (Bragg, 2017). Studies show that social messaging apps (Whatsapp, Wechat, Snapchat, Viber, Facebook Messenger, etc.) in general have more active users than social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram) (Rohampton, 2017). And the OTT messaging is millennials’ most preferred communication tool since it allows one-on-one personal touch, transparency and collaboration that are highly valued by the millennials (Bragg, 2017). There is an estimated 2 billion users of OTT apps by 2018 (Read, 2016).

Realizing this social media trend, more and more brands have jumped into the pool of social messaging marketing. Study indicates that 62% of Millennials are more loyal to brands that actively engage audience through OTT messaging (Read, 2016). Such marketing method provides audience the personal connection experience and increases the brands’ authenticity. In return, consumers may become more committed to the brands.

To engage with millennial consumers, brands have to learn how the millennials want to be engaged. It is not too late for brands to realize that social messaging marketing is leading the way.

Reference:

Rohampton, J. (January 3, 2017). 5 social media trends that will dominate 2017. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/jimmyrohampton/2017/01/03/5-social-media-trends-that-will-dominate-2017/#15433a2f6ffe

Bragg, G. (February 14, 2017). Messaging: The key to cracking millennial customers. Retrieved from http://www.webio.com/messaging-the-key-to-cracking-millennial-customers.html

Read, A. (April 12, 2016). The biggest Internet phenomenon since the app store. Retrieved from https://blog.bufferapp.com/messaging-apps

McDonalds broke one of the golden rules of marketing when it launched its newest ad last week… They never mentioned their brand.

The new campaign features actress Mindy Kaling talking about, “That place where coke tastes so good,” yet it never identifies McDonalds as that place. Instead, it asks viewers to google the phrase in order to discover the mysterious location.

https://twitter.com/mindykaling/status/852718116400279552

I googled the phase as the commercial requests, and discovered McDonalds has a page on their website to explain why coke taste better at McDonalds.  They say chilling the coca-cola syrup before it enters the soda fountain, requesting the syrup is delivered in stainless steal containers, and a wider straw, produce a better tasting coke (McDonalds.com, 2017).

This information seems believable but will people actually be compelled to google the phrase?

The theory behind the approach is that young audiences are consuming media on multiple screens at once (nytimes.com, 2017). Watching TV and simultaneously browsing the web on phones and tablets. Therefore, asking viewers to google a phase is not a big request, and helps with search engine optimization.

The ad seems to have created some buzz for both Coca-Cola and McDonalds. Do you think this a wise strategy? Could it work with other brands? Do you think McDonalds will start a new trend of unbranded ads with this campaign?

References

Maheshwari, S. (2017). A McDonald’s Ad That Never Mentions the Name McDonald’s. The New York Times. Retrieved from: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/17/business/media/mcdonalds-ads-mindy-kaling.html?ref=business

McDonalds (2017). The Burgers Companion, Coca-Cola. Retrieved from: http://mcdonalds-prod-sites-us.adobecqms.net/us/en/your_questions/our_food/why-does-the-coca-cola-taste-so-good-at-mcdonalds.html