Well, it’s finally here. Google is now integrating real-time results from Twitter, Facebook and Myspace into it’s search, giving users the most update information on any given subject. This is sure to give social media a real awareness boost amongst those yet to embrace them, especially Twitter.
Watch this short video about Google real-time search:
What does this mean for brands and marketers?
Although in constant use by the technorati and celebrities galore, Twitter has yet to fully enter the mainstream. As marketers we know the potential of Twitter to reach out and engage, but for most people, its still an unknown. At MTD, we look to create innovative ways of integrating Twitter into our campaigns. Our recent Christmas campaign for Jarlsberg allows anyone to post a message about their best bit of Christmas on the Jarlsberg Sweet and Nutty Season website via Twitter. This encourages a deeper interaction with the brand and keeps the website fresh and interesting.
Real-time search will also encourage brands to start using Twitter more as a channel in its own right to promote products and services. Twitter, of course, knows this. It’s soon to launch a set of paid for business services which should hopefully make it a more professional tool for marketers.
Yesterday saw the very successful press launch of re-plenish, the food bank charity set up in Oxford. I was proud to be part of it and witness the brand and website, created by MTD, unveiled. Last night and today we have already seen extensive TV and press coverage.
The re-plenish charity is operating an Oxford food bank, which takes unsold food from local supermarkets and suppliers and redistributes it to existing community food projects. Following a pilot phase the project is now up and running in and around Oxford taking surplus and ‘at sell by date’ food from local Sainsbury’s and Co-Operative supermarkets. This simple system provides healthy, wholesome food to people who need it and reduces the amount of unsold food that ends up in landfill. Currently approximately 20 million tonnes of food waste goes into landfill every year!
MTD got involved with this project about 18 months ago when we met Steve Moralee, the Chair of Trustees. We shared his belief, vision and infectious passion for this cause and quickly realised that our marketing expertise could help. You can read more about it in our latest news.
We have been overwhelmed by the dedication and effort that those involved have shown to get to this point, all volunteers, often holding down full time jobs. They are all to be congratulated for making this real and I hope that everyone that can, finds a way to get involved. After all, it affects every one of us.
One of the writers that we work with has some great regular tips at The Oxford Word Barber. His observations are sublime, his content is funny as well as educational and he makes complete sense… sometimes!
Things work best for me when they are simplified. Marketing and media in today’s world are a complex but essential component of any business and agencies have a duty to distill and simplify things for the client. When like minded professionals on both the client and agency side collaborate successfully the results can be very powerful and effective but things feel easy. However, a large percentage of SMEs, with limited resources and often limited expertise and knowledge, often struggle to understand and implement marketing strategies to lead their sales and business growth.
Thanks to the launch of a new Go To Market packaged marketing service, SMEs now have access to tried and tested, affordable marketing. Ideal for single or multiple campaigns, it could even act as an annual marketing strategy. It eliminates the need for the some of the traditional marketing campaign planning that determines the marketing strategy and deliverables, saving SME’s time and money.
If you were running a seasonal marketing campaign in summer for example, the package can be easily re-skinned for an autumn winter and spring offer to give you one campaign per quarter, all for
Similarly, it is ideal for event driven marketing campaigns such as promotional periods (Christmas, New year, Easter, Mothers Day etc.) or product promotions.
On this day that has been gripped by the passing of two stars, namely Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett, we are surrounded by a media explosion, mass public reaction – not to mention of course the loss that two families have to cope with.
But what we have to do is put all of this in perspective. Get a grip and learn from this – as so eloquently put in an e-newsletter today from the leading catering and hospitality publication, and I quote:-
“I’m starting with the man in the mirror; I’m asking him to change his ways; And no message could have been any clearer; If you wanna make the world a better place; Take a look at yourself and then make a change. As the world digests the passing of Michael Jackson, the restaurant industry is also being asked to look inwardly and make a change on the controversial issue of service charge…….” News Editor, 26 June 2009.
Phew..er, a joke, surely? Afraid not.
So, after the devastating Italian earthquake, did they make comparisons to the downfall in popularity of Italian restaurants and the need to up their game?
This amusing re-imagining of the new Pepsi logo just highlights the positive and negative effects of the digital age on brands. Today, anyone can take a company’s brand, mess around with it and redistribute it in a instant.
When people embrace a brand and make it their own, that can be a good thing. However, not everyone is that loving as the image above brilliantly demonstrates. Pepsi may be getting viral exposure, but not the kind they really want.
That’s why brands need to be aware and seek to influence where they can. If the kids are skate boarding on your car, why not build them a ramp to keep them occupied?
The ASA recently confirmed that the atheist campaign, proclaiming “There is probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life” received complaints that it broke advertising code on the grounds of substantiation and truthfulness. With some of the complaints being that “It is given as a statement of fact and that means it must be capable of substantiation if it is not to break the rules.
So, although the ASA has not yet decided whether a formal investigation to see if the campaign has broken the ad code, we are left with a few morsels of food for thought:-
Firstly, substantiation and truthfulness. In the current economic dirge, we all, hopefully, appreciate the importance of brand and product differentiation to ensure we stand above the competition. With better service and better value being all too familiar claims. The heat of the spotlight is never as warm as it is now on brands to ensure they practice what they preach, if you’ll pardon the biblical reference.
Only last week, we heard Christopher Rodrigues of Visit Britain emphasising this point with the claim that the hotel sector could expect 50,000 job losses this year.
Raising service levels and quality of that service is the bed-rock for winning business in tourism. Not forgetting the current state of the sterling with its appeal to our Euro-hoppers, this is a time of great value that we need to embrace.
The outcome is quite simple – those who go the extra mile and get it right will reap the rewards. Ask and listen to what customer’s needs and motivations are and get a true understanding of the value they want and deliver some substantiation. Hang on, that sounds familiar….
And the second food morsel is whether the ASA take the plunge to cast judgement on the probability of God existing or not. Best of luck with that one.
When Dr Pepper promised to give ‘everyone in America’ a free can of Dr Pepper if Guns N’ Roses released ‘Chinese Democracy’ in 2008, they probably thought (like the rest of us) that it was rather unlikely to occur. Of course, these things have a habit of coming back to haunt you. The album was finally released (after 15 years in production) on 23th November 2008.
To add to the soft drinks company’s woes – their online free drink redemption system failed last weekend, leaving many fans and customers feeling angry and let down. Dr Pepper are trying to make good on their offer, but I can’t help thinking that it’s the band who’ll come out of this better off.
The Dr Pepper brand may be getting lots of exposure, but unless they turn things around and deliver on their promise, the negative press will be damaging to the brand and its sales. Afterall, who’s going to buy a Dr Pepper when they feel entitled to a free one?
It seems that attitudes towards discount brands are changing rapidly here in Britain. Shoppers are swallowing their pride and embracing the likes of Lidl and Aldi in their droves. The other mid-market and luxury brands are fighting back of course, but it’s going to be tough. M&S, one of the worst hit, recently held an out-of-character 20% Discount Day and continue to run the popular ‘Dinner for 2 for £10’, which is great for a weekend dining treat, but less so for your weekly shop.
The discount brand invasion knows no bounds
Tesco have decided to take the discounters on at their own game with Tesco Discount Brands. Tesco knows that middle-income shoppers are turned off by the Tesco Value brand and have made up new brands such as ‘Oak Lane’, ‘Daisy’ and ‘Trattoria Verdi’ to sell cheaper Tesco own brand products. It’s too early to tell whether this will pay off, but one worry is it could damage the Tesco brand. And a return to the old days of stack it high and sell it cheap would be shame for a brand that has transformed itself in recent years. Perhaps just a good old drop in prices would have been easier?
Sainsbury’s, who only a couple of years ago were struggling to keep up with Tesco, has been one of the other surprise winners. Seen by many as a better value Waitrose, it has seen its customer base stay loyal whilst acquiring those who wouldn’t be seen dead in the rest of them. And with Morrison’s new fresher brand look in place just in time, it too is in prime position to benefit from the downturn.
