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SXSW is a Hotbed of Digital Innovation & Food Product Flavor Experiences

  

At this year’s SXSW 2012 event, brand names vied for exposure in a space teeming with messages and activity, with everything of course being shared in existing and new social media platforms. For more about what’s hot in the digital world and being launched and experienced by the 20,000 visitors to SXSW, be sure to watch the following videos with Launch Expert Julie Hall of Schneider Associates and our on-site correspondent, Lynne Viera, president and CEO of Rival Marketing.

 

No SXSW conference is without free food and sampling, and this year was no different. Some of the brands displaying innovation and creativity include Chevrolet, Nikon, Miller Lite, Monster Energy, and Doritos. Doritos JACKED, the newest tortilla chips from Doritos, were being sampled at a Doritos sponsored concert that also featured a chance to win special prizes. Doritos also displayed a nearly six-story tall pop-up vending machine with giant oversized quarters, to help promote the new extra large chips flavored as Smoky Chipotle BBQ or Enchilada Supreme. Doritos also recently launched a Doritos branded taco shell which is being served at Taco Bell. For additional commentary on food brand promotions at SXSW, check out the post from Dom Celentano, The Foodpreneur, on About.com.

 

SXSW also launched its first Tex-Mex Taco Table that featured participating restaurants Taco Deli, Habanero Mexican Café, and Matt's Famous El Rancho. What better place than Austin, Texas to promote foods and restaurants with Hispanic flavor profiles and influences?  This year, FedEx delivered food and free coffee from their food truck, along with providing a power up from their human chargers (see photo). Even world champion eater Kobayashi showed up to scarf what we think was a record number of grilled cheese sandwiches. The Today Show also had a food truck, as many brands find it is easier to get the attention of attendees outside the convention by offering free food or other services.

 

(Fedex Human Chargers)

(Today Show food truck)

Beer company Miller Lite gave its consumers a chance to enter the “SXSW 2012 Instant Win Game” for a $200 gift card or more.  Attendees can also "Tweet a Beer" to someone, buying a Miller via PayPal which is redeemable at some bars. They also sponsored giveaways and downloads on Pandora, Spotify, and other music apps.   Another beverage brand, Monster Energy, offered free breakfast and morning beverages during its events.

On the non-food front, Chevrolet developed an innovative promotion by providing taxi cab rides to Austin, Texas venues. Dubbed “Catch a Chevy,” the shuttle service showed off a full line of cars including Cruze sedans, Volts, Camaros, Corvettes and Mailbu Ecos featuring their updated OnStar service.  People test drove the vehicles from the convention center or hailed a car to take them to their next destination. 

Nikon put its new Nikon D4 and D-800 HD SLR cameras in the hands of fans.  SXSW attendees sampled the devices by snapping pictures of featured musicians.

The annual SXSW event began in 1987 in Austin, Texas, at the Austin Convention Center, and has become one of the best chances brands have to get in front of a core audience of influencers and trendsetters.

 

If you would like help planning your next launch, contact us at launch@schneiderpr.com or on Twitter @SchneiderPR.

 

Axe Introduces New Fragrance for Women

Axe, the body spray and grooming brand by Unilever, famous for its ads that turn average young men into heroic “girl-magnets,” recently launched the newest addition to its line of body sprays: Anarchy, a scent marketed towards men and women.

The campaign, by Bartle Bogle Hegarty, focuses on the idea of chaos and commotion, using dramatic online and print advertisements to stir up attention. The online promotion kicked-off with a teaser commercial, also seen in movie theaters, which featured the "Anarchy" concept without revealing the new product for women.

Social media, specifically the Axe Facebook page, played a key role in unleashing the “anarchist” scent. Up until the launch, Facebook users were greeted with a countdown to the fragrance release using the text “Anarchy is coming.” Free samples were distributed before the product hit stores for Facebook users who answered all of the questions correctly on an Axe quiz.

Axe also launched an original graphic novel in partnership with Aspen Comics, appropriately titled “Anarchy,” via YouTube and Facebook.  The graphic novel, “Anarchy Girl,.” Was created with fan feedback in real time, with Axe consumers voting on the comic’s plotline, characters and other aspects online through Axe’s social media channels. Some lucky fans also had comic versions of themselves featured in the novel after “liking” specific Axe Facebook posts or contributing their ideas.

To elaborate on their “Are you ready for unexpected attraction at every turn?” marketing campaign, Axe produced their usual suggestive commercial: a female police officer chasing a male robber through the city, only to meet with an incredible force of attraction at the end of the ad.

 A limited edition release, the question is will the body spray make women forgo their normal stand-by and make Axe Anarchy body spray their new choice? Barret Roberts, Senior Brand Manager at Axe, told the New York Times, “We’ve been hearing for some time that females have been asking for and looking for their very own scent of Axe.”

 At SA, we believe this is not anarchy, just smart marketing.

 

10 Consumer Behavior Trends from the Most Memorable New Product Launch Survey

Check out our video highlighting 10 Consumer Behavior Trends from the Most Memorable New Product Launch Survey.

A Healthy Shade of Green: The Avocado Trend

Where health-conscious eaters used to steer away from this fruit (yes – avocado is a fruit, not a vegetable), it seems that Americans now can’t get enough of them.  In the past year, domestic avocado sales skyrocketed to 1.3 billion pounds - a 16% increase, according to the Hass Avocado Board. This is partially due to the more than 75 new products made with avocado have been introduced over the past five years. Grocery store products, restaurant menus and chain markets have all jumped on the trend. Whether it’s a side of guacamole, a topping on your sandwich, or the center of a vegetarian entrée – avocados are now a low cost, healthy and tasty indulgence. 

With 85% of its calories coming from fat, it’s no wonder the avocado was nicknamed the “butter-fruit.” In recent years, researchers have put the high-fat myth to rest, uncovering an important difference between the fat content of avocados (monounsaturated fats), and the fat content of, say, a bag of potato chips. Avocados boost your metabolism, offer more than 20 different nutrients, help fight cancer and osteoporosis, and improve heart health, memory, weight-loss and anti-aging.

Using this new evidence, The California Avocado Commission (CAC) organized a marketing campaign that included a combination of radio spots, outdoor and online banner ads, trade commissions, print ads, point-of-sale support and coupon programs, resulting in 33 million consumer impressions.

A follow-up survey revealed that the primary motivation to purchase avocados came as a result of its versatility as an ingredient and use in conjunction with other foods. From here, CAC modified their campaign to include promotions that focused on educating the consumer on how to use and prepare avocados at home. 
Avocado products were co-promoted with related ingredients like chips, lime and salads – for example, CAC teamed up with ReadyPac Salad to co-promote avocados and fresh cut salads, via radio spots and coupons. Adhering to the consumer trend of authenticity, they also began to coordinate promotions with domestic avocado growers around peak harvest periods.  

These awareness campaigns successfully established public interest in avocados and its newly discovered health advantages. Results demonstrated a significant increase in consumers’ understanding of the health benefits of eating avocados.

Subway’s Avocado Sandwich

Earlier this year, Subway jumped on the avocado band wagon, nudging other fast food chains to follow suit and include the vitamin- and mineral-packed fruit on their menus. To promote the launch of its avocado spread, Subway created an ad campaign featuring Olympic athletes Michael Phelps and Apolo Ohno, juggling avocados. Subway also launched a “Grab the Green” campaign, promoting avocados alongside the summer flick, The Green Lantern. 

Their social media campaign included a Subway Avocado and Green Lantern promotion party, hosted on Twitter. For one hour, The Clever Girls Collective discussed the health benefits of avocados, as well as the Green Lantern movie, and Twitter followers’ superpower wish lists.

The avocado option was initially a limited-time offer, but after seeing all-time sales records during its first week, franchises may decide to keep avocados as a permanent topping. 

Around the same time that Subway released its avocado spread, Frito-Lay launched three different flavors of dip seasonings, including “Freshly Made Guacamole,” a seasoning mix added to fresh avocados, catered to those who need a quick and easy recipe to wow their guests. 

It’s rare that a fruit or vegetable ingredient takes the food industry by storm, but the amazing avocado has done just that, supported by a strong awareness campaign and a healthy eating trend.

HGTV Home™ by Sherwin-Williams Takes the Pain Out of Painting

 
What do you get when you combine HGTV’s design expertise and Sherwin-Williams’ high-quality product guarantee? HGTV Home™ by Sherwin-Williams, which hits shelves June 1.

With eight unique color collections, and tools such as paint brushes, rollers, tape, gloves, and drop cloths, Sherwin-Williams has compiled the perfect ingredients for a stress-free, foolproof interior painting experience, complete with the pre-selected complementary color combinations. The Sherwin-Williams website provides access to in-depth descriptions of each collection, with photos and descriptions to help you decide which collection best fits your personal taste. The collections have clever names such as Rustic Refined and Global Spice, and within each is a 20-color array of both soft and bold tones, all of which fluidly coordinate with one another.

"HGTV provides consumers a wealth of resources as they seek design inspiration for their homes," said Ron Feinbaum, senior vice president and general manager of consumer products for HGTV.

 
The stunning rooms featured in the website’s photos, combined with the knowledge of how easily attainable such results will be with the HGTV Home by Sherwin-Williams products, inspires both those who love to paint and even those who don’t. Because who doesn’t want a hassle-free beautiful home?

Sherwin-Williams has been promoting HGTV Home collection through two TV ads and one print ad, featured in magazines including Good Housekeeping and Southern Living. The ads feature scenes made entirely out of the HGTV Home collections’ paint swatches, which emphasizes the variety and versatility of the colors. The print ad features a champagne bottle chilling in a can of HGTV paint. In the TV ads, a stork delivers a HGTV-branded paint can to a Sherwin-Williams store, focusing on the partnership. In the second, and more elaborate ad, full rivers, cliffs, and even a squirrel are erected from paint swatches as a sailboat glides swiftly along – demonstrating the defining message, “See colors flow naturally.”

There is no doubting HGTV Home™ by Sherwin-Williams has made the usually painstaking act of interior decorating seem less intimidating, but will it be enough to get consumers attention during a popular season for DIY projects? We’ll have to wait for the paint to dry on this one.