What’s next for food marketers? More Migration Marketing.
Foodpreneur Dom Celentano interviews product launch expert Julie Hall about a continuing trend of migration marketing, where food brands and manufacturers create products for new consumer audiences and retail channels. Recent examples highlighted include QSR chains like IHOP and Olive Garden creating supermarket grocery products. The article discusses how for food marketers, brand and product positioning is essential.
The Holmes Report featured an op-ed by Schneider Associates’ EVP and Launch Expert Julie Hall about how social media is changing the way we launch new products.
Hall and Schneider Associates introduced the Most Memorable New Product Launch (MMNPL) Survey in 2002, and since then, the poll has surveyed thousands of consumers about the most memorable product launches each year, analyzed media consumption and purchasing habits, and predicted trends based on the results.
Hall highlighted one significant change in this year’s MMNPL findings: “Facebook was nowhere near the top 10 sources of information about new products – and in the span of one year, it became the third most used source of information on new product launches, jumping from 17% to 40%. And this is just Facebook.”
Based on this and other findings, Hall coined the fifth P in the product marketer’s arsenal – Participation (the original four: product, price, promotion and place). Hall insists that consumers can be engaged by “Relationship Marketing,” which allows them to interact more closely with brands and products they love. Going forward, campaigns must consist of a blend of participatory marketing through various sources of old and new, traditional and social media marketing techniques in order to succeed.
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.comor on Twitter @SchneiderPR.
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 andwomen.
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.
Need a great deal on a hotel room tonight? There’s an app for that. HotelTonight helps consumers search hotels with immediately available rooms while saving up to 70 percent on their bill. Available for iOS (iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad) and Android, this free app allows users to browse quality hotel profiles and book a same-day hotel stay until 2 a.m.
In a market saturated with companies offering travel deals, HotelTonight managed the almost impossible – it became the most downloaded app in its category in just one month. HotelTonight founder and CEO Sam Shank told Marketing Sherpa his secret: "The strategy is to make sure everybody has an incredible experience using the application."
As a start-up with a limited budget for an advertising and marketing blitz, HotelTonight focused on creating word-of-mouth buzz by offering great deals and stellar customer service. This old-fashioned approach to marketing helped HotelTonight skyrocket to the top of the app download charts.
Improvements to the app are coming fast: HotelTonight recently launched their newly-included Las Vegas hotel deals at Caesar’s Palace, Trump International Hotel, The Palms, and the Hard Rock Hotel.
“No city in the world is more spontaneous than Vegas, and our hotel partners are working in creative ways to remind people of this,” said Shank. “We look forward to inspiring many Friday night Vegas road trips with deals this great."
Will HotelTonight’s success allow them to ramp up marketing efforts with new introductions and leverage partnerships to grow awareness? Only time will tell.
Downy is giving consumers a boost to the senses with its new Downy Unstopables that deliver a fresh-out-of-the-laundry smell all day. When these scented beads are added to the wash, they dissolve and leave clothes with a long-lasting fresh scent, which Downy claims can last up to twelve weeks (perfect for students). Although Downy Unstopables make your clothes smell fresh, they still must be used with detergent and fabric softener, and so the product represents a new addition to one’s laundry care regimen.
Downy launched the new Unstopables with a commercial targeted toward moms. Comedian and actress Amy Sedaris is featured and provides a quick, quirky tutorial on how to use the new scented beads. The character played by Sedaris is a retro chic housewife claiming to be a “laundry expert.” Downy also posted the new commercial on their YouTube channel, Facebook page and official website.
Supporting the ad campaign, Downy has been conducting a sampling promotion where consumers can sign up for on the Facebook page and receive one of 2 million free samples.. After signup, consumers are entered into a drawing for a $1,000 gift card toward all Downy products.
It’s undeniable that everyone loves the fresh-out-of-the laundry smell, but at a time when lots of consumers are cutting chemicals and scents out of their lives, it will be interesting to see how the product fares with its intended audience. Will the new Downy entrant be an Unstopable success?
After years of success in the UK, Kellogg’s rolled out their Crunchy Nut Cereal in the U.S. in late January. Kellogg’s is targeting a young male adult audience by sending the message that cereal isn’t just for breakfast. The campaign slogan, “It’s morning somewhere,” a play off it’s 5:00 somewhere, is an unusual approach for a product category traditionally aimed at either kids or health-conscious adults.
The official launch was hosted at a 24-hour event, centered on a six-story tall cuckoo clock, which aimed to make the Guinness Book of World Records. Every hour of the day-long launch, the gigantic clock would chime, and actor Brad Norman would emerge, offering comedic performances dressed as a character from a location where it was currently morning. Celebrity entertainer Nick Cannon kicked off the event at Hollywood and Highlander Center in Los Angeles, energizing the crowd with a countdown to the first chime.
Live video streams of the performances were available on the Crunchy Nut Facebook page, keeping fans in the loop. Additionally, there were opportunities to sample the cereal and interact with Brad Norman.
Keeping in mind the rising trend of brand engagement via mobile, Kellogg’s partnered with Augme Technologies, one of the leading services in the interactive media market. Augme launched a program that offered QR codes and SMS keywords printed on the backs of the cereal boxes. The codes recognize the user’s location and local time, and use this information to direct them to a mobile page offering one of 13 different videos of morning in a foreign location. By scanning at different times of the day, consumers experience different videos, all reinforcing the message, “It’s morning somewhere.”
The QR campaign was targeted specifically to single males between the ages of 18 and 35, who were mostly college students. The goal was to use the QR code to intrigue this market, who are computer literate and enjoy electronic games.
The mobile campaign drove more than 40,000 QR scans and 60,000 texts during its promotional period, resulting in 38,000 videos played and 50,000 page views. It seems surprising that QR scans would outnumber keyword texts, but the effectiveness of QR scans makes sense in realm of cereal promotions – where consumers used to spend time reading the backs of cereal boxes, now they can now use a simple barcode as they leisurely eat their breakfast.
If you would like help planning your next launch, contact us at launch@schneiderpr.comor on Twitter @SchneiderPR.
With Summer upon us, it’s time for men to chop those shaggy locks for a short-cropped style that will keep them cool, like a military crew-cut, which has been making a pop culture comeback. The problem with a short buzz cut, as identified by Axe, is it exposes the scalp to the sun’s powerful UV rays. Earlier this month, Axe offered a solution for this summertime hair woe with the launch of its new Buzzed-Look Cream with SPF +15. The product is effective for crew cut styles - protecting the scalp from the sun, while keeping hair soft and touchable.
Axe targeted their product launch to those who best represent the classic military-style cut, by partnering with Wounded Warriors – a nonprofit organization whose mission is to honor and empower wounded soldiers. Axe donated $50,000 to the organization in conjunction with the launch.
"Over 44,000 of our nation's armed forces have been physically wounded during the current military conflicts and hundreds of thousands more are estimated to be recovering from the invisible wounds of war," said Adam Silva, chief development officer of Wounded Warrior Project. "Axe Hair's contribution will fund programs that nurture the mind, body and spirit and help returning warriors take on their next challenges here at home."
The Launch event, hosted on June 11th at the Axe Lounge in Southampton, New York, was attended by Reality TV star Lo Bosworth, who helped shave the heads of bushy-haired guys.
One of those guys was NFL quarterback Sam Bradford, 2008 Heisman Trophy winner and number one draft pick of the 2011 season. As a spokesperson for Axe hair products, particularly the Buzzed Look Cream, Bradford had his trademark long, curly hair shaved off by an Axe stylist.
“I’m always changing up my style – my ritual is to grow my hair and to cut it off at the end of each season. This time I’m doing it the right way by working with Axe Hair who’s giving me a new buzz look,” he said.
Axe used Facebook as the central platform for their social media push. A landing page is dedicated to the product, presenting the slogan “Protected scalp for you, feels good for her.” The page includes a video of an Axe street team promoting the product in New York City, offering free buzz cuts and product samples. A Q&A forum features celebrity hairstylist Amy Komorowski answering questions about buzzed hairstyles.
The Buzzed Look Cream is Axe’s first and only product with SPF, but without any print or television ad support to date, it will be interesting to see how well the product fares in the competitive market of summer hair product introductions.
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.
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