More than halfway done folks which is a bit crazy to think but it’s true. It’s definitely gone by a lot faster than I thought it would but I feel like we’re diving in to social media campaigns in a different way than I have in other courses. This week we’ve been asked to give our thoughts on the course so far, what elements of the social media marketing campaign do you feel are the most important, and if our opinion is the same as it was in our first blog.
I think this course has been eye opening in a different way than other social media courses I have taken thus far. In other courses we look at options for and uses of social media for marketing purposes but in this class we seem to be getting in to the nitty-gritty of them, the actual things that need to be considered. In reading this weeks article for the discussion two things became abundantly clear to me, one that was new to me and one that I had thought for a while but was hammered home even more.
The first thing that I realized was that one of the most important elements of a social media marketing campaign is the planning. It may seem easy to jump into the deep end head first but taking the time to plan everything out can pay dividends. You need to know your market, your message, the ins and outs of the platforms used, the tools to measure success, and the goals you’re trying to reach. Without any of this there really is no point to marketing on social platforms. The second thing, and the one I already knew, is BE GENUINE. People can practically smell when I business is being fake when interacting with them. They also won’t hesitate to call it out like Janis Ian calling out Cady Heron in Mean Girls for being a “plastic.” Customers are people and not dollars signs, and no where is that more present than on social media.
So, what has changed in my thoughts since my blog week 1? To be honest, not much. I went back and read over what I talked about regarding the platforms I mentioned and everything feels pretty much the same. The one thing that is a bit different is I feel like in my day to day life I am a bit more critical of how businesses conduct themselves on socials. I look at more than just the words written and more about the why and how. It’s a fun angle to have actually and it’s invaluable in my opinion. What do y’all think? Are you seeing things similarly in your own life?
Another week, another case study to read and recap! This week we’ve been tasked to not only summarize the case study The Pepsi Refresh Project: A Thirst for Change but also to answer a few questions on whether Pepsi made a good choice with their investments. More on that questions a bit later, first let me go over what this case study is all about!
Summary – Pepsi Refresh? More like Pepsi Re-cap!
The case study begins with a peek into Pepsi at the start of 2010 and their idea for the Pepsi Refresh Project which would divert money usually used for running and ad during the Superbowl to a consumer generated and voted ideas to better their communities. Before it goes any further into the program it jumps back, giving a brief history of the brand. PepsiCo had a humble start in 1898 as Pepsi was first sold as a carbonated health drink in a pharmacy in North Carolina. Moving forward they marketed themselves as a value during the Great Depression (12 ounces of soda for a nickle compared to the 6 of their competition) and come World War II they adopted the patriotic red, white and blue packaging. In the 50’s Pepsi was “positioned as a drink for the young and the young at heart,” while in the 60’s it began is stretch of declaring “The Pepsi Generation.” That morphed into “The Choice of a New Generation” in 1985 with the famous Michael Jackson ads and continued into ’97 with “GeneratioNext” which included amazing cameos from Britney Spears, Shakira, and Beyonce. (Side note: I vividly remember these commercials growing up!)
Speaking of memorable the case study then goes on to talk about the Cola Wars which pit Pepsi against Coke to see who would come out on top. It started in the 70’s and continued through the early aughts. I still remember the blind taste test commercials where America chose Pepsi as their cola of choice. In more currently times Pepsi has face many other issues besides its rivalry with other cola brands. The growing obesity issue and the reduction of soda intake by Americans became abundantly clear in the new decade. To combat this PepsiCo worked to “enhance its product portfolio” and segmenting it in three distinct sections: “fun-for-you” with Pepsi, Doritos, etc; “better-for-you with Baked Lays, Propel, etc; and, “good-for-you” featuring Naked juice, Quaker Oatmeal, and Gatorade. While this may seem like a great this it was actually the opinion of senior management that this was causing PepsiCo to lose its focus on what made it popular – its core soda and snack business.
At the end of 2008 Pepsi conducted a survey of Millennial consumers who, despite the financial crisis knocking everyone down a few pegs, felt hopeful for the future. It was this hope that Pepsi wanted to run with in launching their “Refresh” campaign in 2009. A three fold plan using what they called “wordplay,” “bottle pass” and the “refresh anthem” that shouted the ideas in their campaign tag line: “Every Generate Refreshes The World.” The launch of this campaign started on New Years Eve 2009 in the most hopeful of places, Times Square and continued into that year with the 2009 Super Bowl commercial featuring Bob Dylan and will.i.am (from the Black Eyed Peas) singing their “refresh anthem.” The messaging of “Refresh Everything” and the redesigned logo that this campaign brought showed similarities to the campaign and rhetoric of Barack Obama and while not wanting to put forward a political view they did capitalize on these similarities but having Pepsi represented in the crowd at his inauguration.
Now we FINALLY get into The Refresh Project which was what became of the previous campaign as it rolled into it’s second year. Instead of words, people wanted action which prompted PepsiCo to create the “marketing program geared to solicit and reward consumers’ ideas for refreshing their communities. As I mentioned briefly before $20 million of marketing money, some of which was for their Super Bowl advertising, would be used to fund the best ideas submitted and voted on by consumers. These grants ranged from $5000 to $250000 and had a range of categories from education to the planet. Not only was a website to do the above a huge part of the plan, but they implement to Partner Network to help execute the plan, an Employee Engagement Program which added a special contest for employee groups to inspire them to create ideas, and a Bottler Engagement Program which gave the same to their bottler partner.
When the Pepsi Refresh campaign website launched on January 13th, 2010 a blitz began to build excitement about it that included a celebrity challenge and live stream featuring Demi Moore and Kevin Bacon as well as members of PepsiCo to discuss ideas that would help the world as a whole. There was a HUGE push for this campaign online driving millions of people to the website and Facebook page to vote as well as people sending in text messages and using Twitter to solicit votes. An overwhelming amount of word of mouth was being spread on social media platforms like Twitter and their presence on Facebook grew exponentially. Traditional Media, Sports, and In-Store Programs were also all used to built buzz on every level and platform. One of the places they seemed to be sorely missed was the Super Bowl.
Pepsi didn’t feel the Super Bowl was the right platform to advertise the Refresh Project and went the route of being authentic and credible over being seen. While their absence was felt during this time, their socials continued to grow, but their competitor Coke grew more than them in the same amount of time and used this absence to their advantage during the games commercials. The big question to everyone involved was “Was skipping out on the Superbowl worth it?” This also happens to be the question we’ve been asked to answers as well as why or why not we think the way we do. Let move on to look at some results of the campaign and if the decision was a good one.
Questions and Conclusions
Looking at the results of the Pepsi Refresh Project campaign was interesting to say the least. Here’s a bit of a rundown of some results:
3 Million Facebook Fans Added
53,000 Twitter Followers Added
Direct Positive Impact to 73,000 People
Indirect Positive Impact to 29,000 People
Millennials Made Up the Smallest Portion of Grantees in the First Year
Content Was Having Trouble Keeping People Engaged
Negative Press Regarding Alignment of Product and Campaign Values
Continued Sales Volume Drop (4.8% for Pepsi and 5.2% for Diet.)
Now knowing this we can answer the big questions of this post “Do I feel that the choice to pass on Super Bowl ads and invest the money into social media programs was a good idea? Why or why not?” and my answer would have to be… kinda.
See I think overall the campaign and use of money helped the company grow in numbers on social media, which in the long run can help them increase sales by giving them a larger audience to promote to. Where the flaws come in is when you think about if this was their initial goal. If their goal was upgrading their social media presence, generating most positive buzz, changing lives, and gaining some authenticity and respect I think they nailed it. If their main goal of the campaign was to boost sales for the time period of the campaign they definitely tanked big time. So my answer to the question falls squarely in the middle because I think their goal was both. Short term sales they took a hit but longer term larger audience was definitely a vote in their favor. Well at least until they released that crazy ad campaign were Kendall Jenner fixes police brutality with a can of Pepsi but we won’t go there. At least not today.
We’ve been tasked this week with a pretty casual blog topic this week as we have been asked to talk about our experience in our class, Social Media Campaign, so far and how we think our campaigns are coming along. I’ll be honest and say that a lot of the information I have reading up on during this course isn’t exactly new to me. Being in the back end of my degree means that I have had classes that have gone over the same or similar topics already. That being said I find myself gaining better insight on these topics as a whole and how they pertain to actual social media campaigns during this class which has been great. I’m curious to read other peoples blog posts this week to see if others feel similarly.
As for how my social media campaign is going, I would have to say it’s going pretty well so far. I’ve chosen to delve into the cosmetics brand Urban Decay and create a social media campaign for them. Urban Decay used to be one of my favorite brands a few years ago but I think they have turned away from what made them popular in the first place which was being subversive and different. In a world of pink and beige, Urban Decay was electric green. I feel like they’ve “muted their colors” figuratively speaking so I’m hoping to help with that during my campaign. I was able to find a lot of great information regarding the history of the brand but found it difficult to find any concrete information regarding their target market. In the end I was able to find some information regarding their current customer and using that pair with articles I found regarding the brand itself allowed me to form the idea of their target market. With the lack of information I even tried reaching out to them on Twitter to get some information straight from the source. Unfortunately I have yet to get a response but there’s still time.
I want to say that I hope that everyone else is having a good time putting together their campaigns and gathering information. I personally enjoy projects like this because you can really choose a brand that you like and are interested in which makes the work almost fun! I’m wishing everyone all the best! Keep working hard, we’re almost halfway through now!
Back again this week with something a little different! We’ve been tasked this time to write a two paragraph summary of the case study called “Two Hearts in Three-Quarter Time: How to Waltz the Social Media/Viral Marketing Dance” supplied to us in our course pack. Quick side note before we begin the actual summery, I find it oddly fitting to be discussing virality during this time and even more fitting that the case study itself compares social media viral hits to actual viruses like H1N1 and the bubonic plague. Now that I’ve gotten that out of the way here’s my two paragraph summary of “Two Hearts in Three-Quarter Time: How to Waltz the Social Media/Viral Marketing Dance.”
Summary:
Simply put the case study “Two Hearts in Three-Quarter Time: How to Waltz the Social Media/Viral Marketing Dance” written by Andreas M. Kaplan and Michael Haenlein discusses the how’s, who’s, and why’s/why not’s of viral marketing in 6 waltz inspired subsections. The first section “One… way” explains virality as a concept and it connection to marketing. Virality when talking about a disease is the spreading of said disease to a vast number of people in a small amount of time. In marketing, it would be getting recognition of your brand to spread similarly. While both are vastly different occurrences, they are both equally important to understand. For us, we’ll be focusing on the latter for the remainder of this blog post. The second section is labelled “Two. . .concepts: Word-of-mouth and viral marketing” and further defines viral marketing and the concepts of social media and word of mouth. The three concepts are defined as the following:
Word of Mouth: “the sharing of information about a product, promotion, etc., between a consumer and a friend, colleague, or other acquaintance” (MarketingPower, 2010).
Viral Marketing: “electronic word-of mouth whereby some form of marketing message related to a company, brand, or product is transmitted in an exponentially growing way, often through the use of social media applications. Viral marketing has two defining elements” (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010).
Social Media: “a group of Internetbased applications that build on the ideological and technological foundations of Web 2.0, and that allow the creation and exchange of User Generated Content’’ (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010).
Knowing these concepts is understanding virality as word of mouth on social media is viral marketing!
The section called “Three. . .conditions: How to create an epidemic” discusses finding the correct people to spread a message, making sure your message is memorable and interesting, and the two environmental properties (those being a mass of people not already knowing the message you are trying to spread and old fashioned good luck.) “Four. . .groups: Social media viral marketing campaigns” goes on to explain, you guessed it, four different groups of outcomes: Nightmares, like JetBlue’s issues in 2007 spreading to the internet; Strokes of Luck, like Coke and Mentos which came out of nowhere and took the internet by storm; Homemade Issues, like when Sony tried creating a fake blog to promote the PSP and it truly back fired in the worst way; and, Triumphs, like when a Burger King app urged it customers to delete 10 friends for a coupon for a free Whopper sandwich. The last two sections of this case study “Five. . .pieces of advice: Spreading the virus” and “Six. . .degrees of separation: From epidemics to immunity” give us a few things to remember. The following is a short list of those things I picked up:
Not even the best buzz can sell a substandard product
Viral marketing is only one piece of the campaign puzzle
One started a viral campaign has a life of it’s own, this can be good or bad.
Trying something highly provocative or edgy isn’t always worth the risk
Success in viral marketing requires a bit of luck and trust in your feelings
“infection and immunity might only be a few steps apart. (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2010).
In Conclusion:
This is really just scratching the surface of what this case study has to offer but I went over as many of the things I took away from the article. When it comes to the “groups” mentioned above I highly recommend checking out more information regarding these viral marketing highs and lows as they can be very enlightening. I also recommending reading the case study if you haven’t already. I hope you all have enjoyed my little synopsis of the case study “Two Hearts in Three-Quarter Time: How to Waltz the Social Media/Viral Marketing Dance” and have gotten a taste of what virality has to offer!
A beginning of another term means another chance to discuss social media and our preferences toward it. I mentioned this a bit in our discussion post this week but I have used a plethora of social media platforms over the years. I’m fairly certain my first was LiveJournal back when I was a sophomore in high school, all of my friends were on it and it was actually fairly similar to WordPress as it was a journal-ing site. It had a lot of flexibility in terms of use and the things you could do on it especially if you knew HTML. My best friend was great at that and would use her prowess to make me amazing layouts and icons. There was even a role playing aspect where people would role play their favorite characters and make stories with other people on the site it was super fun. Myspace was always a blast, choosing which music to put on your profile and who your “top 8” were. Those days were pretty precious. A site that I was on and isn’t around anymore was DailyBooth. It was kind of like Instagram where you could post photos with captions and follow friends to see their posts on your feed. The big difference was that I found it had a better discover feature so you could make friends a tad easier and you could only post one photo a day. I actually am still friend with some of the people I met on DailyBooth. These social media platforms I used are mostly gone now and if they are still around I don’t use them but let’s talk a bit about what I do use and my likes and dislikes.
Facebook, and in conjunction Facebook Messenger, are two platforms that I couldn’t really do without. When I say that I really mean it as a few years back I deleted my Facebook and for some reason that made me feel out of the loop. I think it’s because of the multitude of uses Facebook has. Obviously you can keep up with the goings on of your friends but you can also see friends of friends which I find interesting (sometimes two friends know each other and you had no idea) and there’s also the events scheduling which I find super convenient. When I was not on Facebook people would always ask to invite me to this gathering or the next and since I didn’t have Facebook they couldn’t add me. It’s so simple for a party or dinner to set up a quick event and have your RSVP and information all in one place. Facebook also makes it very easy to share content with your friends via Facebook Messenger and I actually have some friends who the easiest way to contact them in Facebook Messenger. The biggest problem I have with Facebook is the level of, for lack of a better word, garbage that comes through my feed. Political ads, random Buzzfeed quizzes, and “no I don’t want to join your group about weird animals you found in the woods KAREN.” There just seems to be a lot of noise to dig through to find the posts I’m actually interested in.
Twitter is definitely one of my most used platforms (I actually have three separate twitter accounts.) I follow a WIDE range of people on Twitter from internet personalities and celebrities, to friends (IRL and Online,) and even the occasional brand. While this may seem like a lot to handle it’s pretty manageable due to Twitter’s micro-blogging style with limited character count. As I mentioned before I have multiple account used for different things and on their mobile app it’s super easy to swap between them. One account is for IRL friends, celebrities, and brands, the second is for online friends or artists I enjoy, the third is simply to post picture from my Nintendo Switch (specifically from Animal Crossing New Horizons because I am addicted and yes I’m a nerd don’t come for me.) Being able to have all three accounts at the tip of my fingers is amazing. The big thing about Twitter I dislike is the amount of bots and spam I find on the site. I get messages every day from random spam bots trying to get me to look at their webcams or whatever. It doesn’t take much to block and move on but it’s still kind of annoying. Additionally I find that it irritating that you cannot edit a tweet once it’s been posted. If a typo ends up in your tweet you have two options, leave it or delete the tweet and rewrite it. Dear Twitter, FIX IT.
Instagram is my most underused platform as I mainly use it to see my friends posts and not actually post anything myself. I hate to be “that guy” but I tend to live in the moment and forget to take pictures when out and about doing things. This means 95% of the pictures on my Instagram are of me at the end of the day before I go to sleep, making the same face, with some caption about my day. I really love the visual nature of Instagram as it makes it really easy to consume content and makes it feel like your with your friends. My main dislike for Instagram is actually something I also like in a way which is the “Stories” feature. I enjoy being able to see my friends do little things over the course of the day but if I follow someone, say KimChi from RuPaul’s Drag Race, they’ll post 15 clips in a row of their night out at Mickey’s and it can be annoying when I just wanted to ogle her gorgeous make up looks. Luckily there is a feature where you can mute a persons stories so that has been helpful.
The last platform and my most used would be YouTube, I use it for everything. If I have a day at home would will be hard pressed to find a time when I am not watching something on YouTube. It’s such a versatile platform giving us everything from skits and acting, to vlogging and personal content, even tutorials and information of products. When looking at the latter category sometimes it’s from the company themselves but most of the time you can find a review from a buyer of the product which is usually more honest and genuine. I do follow a lot of different types of YouTube creators or “influencers” from the different realms on the site. Some play video games, others comment on current events, and some make goofy videos about whatever the heck they want. It’s a great place where everyone can find something. Even my dad has embraced using YouTube and that’s saying something big. My biggest problem with the site would have to be the fact that I find it more and more difficult to find new people to watch because of what YouTube’s algorithm has done to the recommended feed. It can also be difficult to find the content you normally watch because it is being suppressed by said algorithm or glitches in the system (even if you are already subscribed to said creator.) They definitely need to get their act together.
I could continue on and on about some of the other socials I use like Snapchat or Twitch or even Discord in a way but I think the above are the most well known and thus will be the most relevant to the class. I’d love to know if anyone uses these site, or if you used any of the sites I mentioned from my past. What did I miss? Let me know! I look forward to reading your posts too and writing more in the future. (All headers are linked to my socials if you’re interested, excluding YouTube which instead brings you to one of my favorite creators pages. You’re welcome.)
Social media as a whole has many benefits that include allowing people to connect, giving a platform to express feelings, and soaking up loads and loads of information. Each social media platform has it’s different uses and thus can be utilized for different means. Something like Pinterest is used by many creatives that pin projects, ideas, and inspiration while Facebook is used to connect friends and keep them posted about what you might have been doing (among many other things.) Not only does each platform have their personal benefits, they also have benefits when it comes to marketing. This week we’ve been asked to choose between two different social media platforms, Twitter and Pinterest, and discuss the marketing benefits said platform. We’ve also been asked to look at the insights the website gives to businesses and how that information can be useful to businesses. I don’t have much experience using Pinterest so I decided to go with the platform I know, love, and use every day, Twitter!
Why is Twitter a key social media channel for businesses?
Long story short, Twitter is a platform that give a business a “cost effective way to engage with their consumer base.” This is one of the biggest things I personally see on Twitter all the time, businesses reaching out to real people for many different reasons. These reasons include thanking customers for buying their products, encouraging sales, and even offering customer service solutions for issues a consumer might be facing. Sometimes it’s actually easier to tweet out to a business than it is to call the customer service line and get someone on the phone. I had a great experience with Delta Airlines this way when I needed to get a refund for a plane ticket when some plans I made changed, even though my tickets were technically non-refundable they were able to give me a credit for the amount of the ticket which was better than losing out on the money altogether. These seemingly small customer service moments create brand loyalty which in turn helps boost sales via continued purchases and word of mouth.
Not only is the people interaction important but so is the information that can be gather just from being on the platform. Using Twitter business can keep privy to the goings on in news, pop culture, and even with the competitors. This knowledge then helps them react accordingly by offering assistance, tailoring marketing materials or tweets to fit situations, or offering certain deals and promotions. Twitter is also an extremely versatile platform allowing text, video, audio, and pictures as well as click through links in posts. Basically anything you want to do you can do on Twitter and pretty easily.
How are Twitter’s insights for businesses are valuable for users?
Twitter offers businesses a large range of analytics that show companies a huge amount of different information. The following things are tracked by Twitter analytics for businesses:
Tweets: Number of times you Tweeted
Tweet impressions: Number of times people are served your Tweet in their timeline, search results, or from your profile
Profile visits: Number of times people visited your profile
Mentions: Number of times your @handle was mentioned in Tweets
New followers: Number of new followers you gained
Tweets linking to you: Number of times your Twitter Card(s) was Tweeted by you and/or other people
As well as TOP performance information:
Top Tweet: Tweet that received the highest number of impressions
Top media Tweet: Tweet with photo or video that received the highest number of impressions
Top Card Tweet: Tweet with a Twitter Card that received the highest number of impressions; this can include other people’s Tweets
Top mention: Tweet that mentioned your @handle and received the highest number of impressions; this can include other people’s Tweets
Top follower: Account with the highest follower count that followed you in a given month
All this information can be used by businesses to track how their tweets are performing, make changes to their strategies as time goes on, and to better understand who is interacting with the content created. You can even use information like “top follower” to tweet towards that person who has a large amount of followers and use those interaction to grow your own following. This of course is the very basic rundown of what is available to businesses when using Twitter and there’s a lot more a business can use to better their platform usage. Overall, I think Twitter is one of the best platforms for marketing but I could be a tad biased due to my personal usage of the site.
Back again with another blog post about my favorite of things, social media! This week we’ve been asked to choose one social media platform from a list, describe the types of marketing we personally see on that platform, and how the marketing is reflected in our personal lives. The platforms we have been given to choose from were LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, Pinterest, Facebook, and YouTube. While normally I would choose YouTube because is the platform I use the most, I wanted to choose something a bit different as last week I wrote about YouTube. So without further ado let’s take a look at my experience with marketing on THE social network, Facebook.
What kinds of marketing do you see on Facebook?
In my experience the majority of marketing on Facebook is sponsored advertisements that are shown interspersed within posts from my friends. There are a few different versions of these post so they’re not all the same. Most are advertising a product or service, give you a glimpse as to what they’re advertising, a short quip about why you should buy, and have a link to where you can purchase. Other posts actually urge you to “like” a brand to up their engagement and so that their posts in the future will show up on your timeline. Basically these posts are an investment in the future, as while the company may not have anything new they are selling, they are looking to gather people who will purchase items that come out in the future. Facebook also is interesting when it comes to marketing because smaller businesses can create business pages and ask people to like them as well. I have many friends who are crafters or even salon stylists, who during this quarantine period are looking to build their brand or sell their products using Facebook. I think Facebook can be a great marketing tool that allows a company to target people all over the world.
How is this marketing reflected in your personal life?
I have definitely been effected by the marketing efforts of companies and friends on my Facebook timeline. Facebook uses your data from internet searches and purchases to cater their sponsored ads to you personally. This gets me a lot of the time because I continue to get these posts that show “21 Amazing Products for Men Under $20” and I never fail to add something to my Amazon wish list or even my cart right away. In fact I just purchased a belt and a beard wash because they were on a list like this and I was intrigued. So far I like the beard wash but I haven’t tried the belt yet (maybe I’ll let you know in my next blog post.) Being a theater performer I am always getting invited to my friends performances they are either in, directing, or musical direction. These event invites are a way of advertising on their own and they tend to work pretty well as I enjoy supporting my friends when I can. What I’ve learned here is that Facebook is a great place for advertisers to do their thing. I’ve also learned that maybe I should stay off Facebook for the sake of my wallet (or social media in general if you remember the end of my previous post.)
With new technology comes new ways to market goods and services to people. From newspapers to radio, radio to television, and television to the internet the growth of media has brought advertising directly into our homes for years but not all forms are as tailored to the actual viewer as the internet. These targeting tactics are used on tons of websites but are most frequent on social media like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or my favorite platform, YouTube. YouTube marketing is very interesting to me as a whole and when we were asked this week to discuss the marketing implications of a social media platform, YouTube was an easy choice. So… let’s talk about just that!
What are the marketing implications of YouTube and how do they tie into your personal use?
By simply getting on the web and making a search using a platform like Google or buying something on Amazon a wealth of information is gathered. This information is then used to make ads targeted to the things you search for, like, buy, and enjoy. Information gathering is similar on YouTube too as their algorithm will suggest videos based on things you have searched or watched in the past. This goes for their pre-roll, mid-roll, or post-roll ads. That’s right, advertisements can run before, after, or in the middle of a video you’re watching on YouTube. Users may find this irritating and it’s easy enough to either subscribe to YouTube Premium to get rid of ads or, the cheaper option, download and ad blocker. There is one thing BIG difference that may deter users from downloading an ad blocker and that’s the wealth of creators on the platform. Ads on YouTube directly impact the income of the creators that users go to the platform to watch and thus watching ads is a way users to help creators. Creators are actually another huge marketing opportunity for advertisers, sponsored advertisements with creators themselves. Brands do this all the time and these can be targeted as well using the creators analytics based on which demographics are watching their videos.
Do you respond to those marketing implications? If so, provide a personal example. If not, explain why.
I consume a lot of YouTube every day, in fact I’m watching YouTube videos now. This means there’s a lot of opportunity for me to be marketed to on YouTube. When it comes to advertising on social media I tend to be pretty good at ignoring advertisements because I feel so over exposed. YouTube pre, mid, and post-roll ads tend pretty repetitive. If I watch ten videos in a row, I’ll get target ads, but the same targeted ad, maybe 8 out of 10 times. This makes the ads even easier to ignore but sometimes unfortunately memorable. I have to admit that the marketing implications on YouTube I respond to the most is the sponsored content made by creators because there’s a feeling of personal connection. If you watch someone for a long enough time it can create a sense of trust and friendship, which may or may not be false. This means instead of a company pushing a product, it feels like getting a recommendation from a friend who also give you a deal and makes money off the situation. A win, win, win in my opinion.
Do you have a personal connection to any of the marketing implications? Please provide an example.
Oh gosh, do I! As I mentioned previously I watch A LOT of YouTube! In my time watching different creators I have made a few sponsored purchases and subscribes to some services. These include but are not limited to getting the following:
A subscription to Audible, the audio book provider, using a code from Grace Helbig’s Channel
A Quip electronic toothbrush, and a subscription for new brush heads, using a code from the JennaJulian Podcast YouTube Channel
Underwear from MeUndies, also from the JennaJulian Podcast YouTube Channel
A subscription to Scentbird, the fragrance trial system, from Casey Aonso’s Channel
Besides these I have been thinking of trying a few in the future including HelloFresh, Fashion Nova, and, of course, the creme-de-la-creme of YouTube sponsorship partners, Raid: Shadow Legends (a mobile game.) This is all to say, someone take YouTube away from me. Please save my wallet. This is a cry for help!
Throughout the term we have been tasked with creating a marketing research brief for a new product for a large current company. If you remember from my last post on this Blog I chose the brand P&G and decided to make a product called CleanScreen+. This product was meant to be disposable wet/dry cleaning cloths, in the same vein as Clorox wipes, for your phone, keyboard, mouse, and other frequently used electronics. Since we’re nearing the end of the term, this week we’ve been tasked with going over the questions included in the 3rd Critical Elements section of our final that is do next week for a preliminary review. So, here we go:
Describe the internal and external factors that support the organizational objectives. Be sure to think about how marketing research supports organizational objectives.
One of the biggest organization objectives for P&G is what they define as “doing what’s right.” This could be making sure they are taking care of their customers needs by selling a quality product or by keeping our planet healthy and creating products that are eco-friendly. Collecting our research we can see what our consumer really cares about and what they really need to do our best to meet those cares and needs. A huge internal factor that supports the “doing what’s right” objective is P&G’s company values, specifically those of trust, integrity, and ownership.
Determine any possible, plausible future trends that may drastically change present findings in relationship to organizational objectives.
There is currently a large need for cleaning and sanitizing products and while I don’t think this will go away after the Covid-19 pandemic has ceased, I think the need may be less. I do also think that this pandemic has made people aware of the lackadaisical attitude towards cleanliness and sanitation that we have as a nation. I feel like a lasting impression has been made but any research findings gathered now regarding the need/want of cleaning products might need to be taken with a grain of salt as the interest could be largely exaggerated.
Summarize how the marketing research might be supported by industry trends. Be sure to also think about how the marketing research supports industry direction.
Marketing research is supported directly by industry trends because taking surveys and looking a current customer purchases shows what is currently popular or trending. However, it works both ways because if the marketing research shows a need isn’t being met and a company creates a product to meet it the industry direction could shift dramatically.
Compare how your proposed marketing strategy aligns with legal, ethical, and industry standards.
The marketing strategy I have chosen aligns with legal, ethical, and industry standards at the most basic level. I have made an effort to mention along the way the we will continue to provide transparency through the product, marketing, and sales process for consumers and stakeholders. We also plan on following the letter of the law when it comes to gathering data on consumer purchases and with the surveys we conduct.
It’s week 1 of the term of Marketing Research and already we have cast our gaze forward to our final weeks in it. As you can probably guess by the above title this week we have been tasked with discussing the Final Project, more specifically why we chose the Fortune 500 company we did and what the new product we will be launching from said company, and how we would complete market research for the new product. I’d like to start off with a brief history of Procter & Gamble which will help explain why I chose them in the first place.
The History
Procter & Gamble was formed in 1837 when British candle maker William Procter and Irish soap maker James Gamble met fatefully and decided to combine their businesses. The did this in Cincinnati which was know for it’s hog-butchering at the time which was specifically fruitful as the main ingredient in both of their products was animal fat. In the years that followed they came to sell products to the Union Army during the Civil War and later invent some staples that we still use today. These include Ivory soap, Crisco, the first synthetic laundry detergent (Tide,) and the first synthetic dish washing liquid (Joy.) Something I found especially fascinating is that Procter & Gamble is also know for introducing us to the radio drama “The Puddle Family” which is also know as the first “soap opera” so names due to P&G advertisements played during them. Now-a-days P&G makes everything from cologne to food which is the main reason I wanted to choose them. P&G is a long running company, with an outstanding reputation for providing products that meet the needs of consumers worldwide. I mostly wanted to give myself the opportunity to be really thoughtful when it comes to the product I want to launch and so I thought P&G would be the best choice. Before we move on to the product I came up with I want to mention that if you’re interested in learning even more about P&G all resources will be linked below the post! Now on to the product!
The Product
P&G has decided to launch a new product that blends the worlds of home care and health care driven by current events regarding the rapid spread of germs. This new product is an all in one phone screen, computer monitor, keyboard, mouse, and landline phone cleaner called CleanScreen+. CleanScreen+ is the easier, more convenient, and more effective way to clean your screen, keyboard, or mouse. Just pop open the tub and grab one of P&Gs patented damp/dry cleaning cloths. First you use the damp side to sanitize your item of choice then flip over and use the dry side to remove any excess cleaner and buff any smudges away. CleanScreen+ cloths remove 99.9% of virus spreading bacteria while having a formula that is environmentally friendly. The clothes are 100% biodegradable as well! P&G expects this new product to be a hot commodity in offices, businesses, schools, and family homes. We’re expecting a launch of this new product in the coming month after a brief research period. Stay Tuned
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