Here’s a twist on the user-generated ad craze: instead of asking consumers to create an ad for their company, Frederick’s of Hollywood is asking people to design their own corsets! The winning design will be shown alongside designs from celebrities such as Nicole Kidman and featured on the runway during its annual “Clothes Off Our Backs” charity auction.
Lots of companies are jumping on the consumer-generated craze. Dorito’s asked users to create their Super Bowl commercial. Last week, we blogged about Heinz’s contest asking users to create a t.v. spot for them. PayPal is getting in the act with a contest for developers. They’re paying a whopping $10,000 to the developer who can come up with the best Facebook application using PayPal.
But none of the contests has my hubby’s attention as much as the Frederick’s one.
It was bound to happen eventually: online video recruitment. Sean Combs (a/k/a “Diddy”) is looking for a helper to fill the shoes of his former assistant. But instead of résumés, Mr. Combs is accepting only video applications uploaded to YouTube. Qualifications? You’ve got to be able “to read,” according to Diddy . . . oh, and you need a college degree. YouTube viewers will be able to vote on the finalists before Diddy makes his pick.
Every time a new medium arrives, older media players think, “What an opportunity to extend our franchise.” So magazines and newspapers and radio and TV outlets are jumping all over themselves to digitize their brands. Al Ries says it doesn’t work and it won’t work. Remember Al Ries? He and Jack Trout coined the term “positioning” decades ago. . . their book was required reading at my university. He makes an interesting and compelling case in this article.
Have a little ketchup with your Dorito’s . . . Dorito’s was the first big brand to ask users to create a commercial for them (the winning spot ran in the SuperBowl earlier this year); now Heinz is trying the same tactic. Look for special ads promoting the contest ON THE KETCHUP bottles themselves and on ketchup packets. The contest is being cross-promoted all over the place . . . from print ads in the NYT and USA Today to a custom YouTube site. (Photo is of my nephew cuddling up to his ketchup bottle.)
It worked for “Jericho.” Can fans keep a magazine alive? Rumor has it that Time is shutting down Business 2.0 after its Sept. issue due to declining ad revenues (based on a bone-headed business decision to consolidate ad departments) even though circulation figures are strong. There’s now a Facebook group dedicated to saving the magazine: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2420762508&ref=share.
Everybody knows (well most women know) that the women in ads and magazine spreads are seriously Photoshopped. Arms are made skinnier, moles are removed, wrinkles erased, etc. But we don’t often get to see the “before” and “after” pics. Well, the folks at Jezebel thought we should see what the folks at Redbook were up to with a recent cover of Faith Hill. Once you get past the annoying animated “before” and “after,” there is a link to a still photo of the before with notes on exactly what “improvements” were made. Ahem . . .
The Googling of newspaper ads. The newspaper industry has seen its ad revenues spiral downward for sometime now. Google came along to help by setting up an auction of sorts to sell newspaper’s excess ad inventory. It worked well enough that they’ve now made it official and are offering ads in most major U.S. markets. Even the New York Times is for sale through Google Print. For those of you who thought Google was a search engine, think again. They are an advertising machine.
Now you can finally have a Homer ringtone. For the first time ever, The Simpsons are making mobile content available. Just in time for their big movie release. D’oh! Mmm, mobile: ‘Simpsons’ go cellular
When good companies go bad: The chief executive of Whole Foods Market posted messages on a Yahoo chat forum under an alias for years, talking up his own company while predicting a bleak future for Wild Oats Markets, the rival it has since sought to acquire. Company CEO John Mackey posted messages on a Yahoo financial forum under the user name “rahodeb,” which is an alteration of his wife’s name, “Deborah.” The postings come across as mean-spirited which is at total odds with Mackey’s reputation as a spiritual businessman who has created one of the fastest-growing companies and a perennial “top place to work.” Not sure what he was thinking. Remember: every chance to interact with a customer is an opportunity to reinforce your brand. He blew it with this. (All the more so given how tech-savvy his customers likely are!)
You’ve heard about media convergence and you see more and more examples every day. Today’s marketers are blending advertising, product placement, and plain old fun promotions all into one big marketing melting pot.
Take the promotion for the new “Bourne Identity” film, for example. Google and Volkswagen have product placement in the film. Google is featuring an online game (www.google.com/bourne) for which Volkswagen is providing the prizes. Mastercard and a few other companies are in on the prize deal, too.
All this and a cool way to promote what my hubby and I hope will be a cool movie.
We're the brains behind New Thought Marketing, a consulting firm based in Atlanta. When it comes to marketing, we know how to push the envelope and we know when to keep it simple. If you need assistance in strategic thinking, contact us. Otherwise, sit back and enjoy our blog.
