Archive for 2008
Be creative and stay true to yourself!
Stock is down today. But that’s such old news that it’s hardly even worth a blog mention.
The economy is in trouble, no doubt about it. And everyone is trying to figure out how to get a share of consumers’ shrinking wallets.
I subscribe to several Smartbrief newsletters (if you don’t, you should.) And one of the top headline is “Kraft Tests Recipe for Selling in a Recession”. (Full article is available with subscription to Advertising Age. Once again, if you’re not currently subscribing, you should.)
The same day, I was emailed an article from New York Times ”Goodbye Seduction, Hello Coupons”.
And of course, last but not least, I’m working on a value proposition campaign at work myself. I’m sure many of you are, one way or another.
So, how do we sell ourselves out of this mess?
Stay true to your brand! If you got it, flaunt it!
If you’re an economy brand – flaunt it! You’re cheap, and there is no better time to be cheap.
If you’re a lux brand – flaunt it! The rich won’t cheapen themselves…
If you’re somewhere in between… well, flaunt what you got.
Consumers bought you for a reason. Take Target for example. Everyone is now worried about them, including Target themselves. However, it’s not like consumers used to shop there BECAUSE it was more expensive than Wal-Mart. They shopped at Target because they enjoyed the shopping experience better, because they enjoyed the selection better. And now is the most important time to remind them. Now is NOT the time for Target to become Wal-Mart. Otherwise, people would just go to Wal-Mart 
So, remind consumers why should choose you. Flaunt what you got.
Look at it another way. If you consider yourself to be a fashionista and you can’t afford to shop at the designer stores at the moment, you get creative! You shop vintage. You won’t all of a sudden ditch your “brand” and start shopping at the Gap. So, be creative, but stay true to yourself!
Right products at the right locations…
History has been made!
But, this is not a political blog, so I’m not writing another political post. However, what I am going to write about again is how important it is to bring your product to your customers.
During yesterday’s voting, Vote and Vax did just that! This non-profit organization brought flu vaccination to people, and during the perfect time of the year. What a great idea!
Commercially, it appears that marketers are trying harder and harder to improve their relevance, as consumers are making harder and more choices with regards to their wallets.
P&G’s Tide Total Care and Downy Total Care recently had a very interesting campaign, in conjunction with other elements of an integrative marketing campaign that launched the products and touts “50 Washes. Still Beautiful”. They partnered with Ann Taylor. This was to capture the opportunity of women dry cleaning clothes that need not be dry cleaned. So, P&G used this campaign to highlight how the products are made to keep clothes at its best for a long time. While they did not exactly sell detergents at Ann Taylor, they did hand out coupons.
There is great synergy in this campaign. Ann Taylor can encourage more clothing purchases because now the clothes are cheaper to maintain. Tide and Downy were still in front of the consumers. They were not in detergent shopping mode at the mall, but that coupon would probably incent them to purchase Tide on their next grocery trip. But the truth is in the numbers, it’d be interesting to see redemption and sales numbers for these products.
Photo credit: New York Times
Do your part and vote!
Tomorrow is November 4th, so it’s only suiting that I write one last election campaign post on one of the most exciting electon campaign in recent history.
Today, I’d like to talk about the “infomercial” that Obama aired last week. Was it an effective ad? Definitely. It was humanized. It was emotional. It was credible. It was understandable. It was even sticky because it was unconventional, and therefore got a lot of press. If you missed the original airing, you can view it on You Tube.
However, was it an effective spend? Well, let’s break it down. Obama reportedly spent $4 million. However, it was viewed by 33.6 million people on its original airing last Wednesday night. Let’s assume that 60% of that 33.6 million ended up voting for Obama. Then, let’s further assume that 20% of that 60% were NEW Obama voters (i.e. they were not going to vote for Obama before viewing this infomercial). This mean that Obama would gain approximately 4 million new Obama voters… that’s about $1 per new voter… That’s a pretty good customer acquisition cost! But of course, the estimates are very generous. However, even with stricter estimate, it still appear to have a fairly good ROI.
In the end, everything rest on November 4th. So, do your part and go vote!
Jeannie Chan is a Brand Manager for a Fortune 500 consumer goods company. She considers herself a marketer, a traveler, and a foodie. Jeanne lives in NYC. 
