Like a lot of people, I’ve had my doubts about Walmart’s sincerity when they’ve talked about sustainability. No matter their green claims, I can’t get past the fact they sell more cheap stuff from China than anyone.
I spoke at the Recognition Roundtable today here in Bellevue, a group of mostly HR people from major companies located here in the Pacific Northwest that are looking for ways to encourage and support recognition within their respective workplaces.
In the session, I shared—
Why this topic should matter to every marketer
What social media is
How social media can help build a culture of appreciation, with a few examples
I’ve owned dozens of cars, and like a lot of people, most have been Japanese or German. So when I turned in my leased Honda and started the hunt for a new hybrid, I drove the Toyota Prius, Camry and Highlander Hybrids, the new Honda Insight and a Lexus RX 400h.
The Prius felt underpowered
The Camry was nice, but felt too much like the Accord I’d just turned in
The Insight was loud and somewhat disappointing
And the Highlander Hybrid was so close in price to the Lexus, I chose the latter of the two
But the events of the last week have me second-guessing myself, and I have Ford’s social media marketing team (and a great product) to blame for it.
Let me explain.
A few weeks ago, Ford contacted me “looking for fresh perspectives and feedback, something a little more engaging and authentic” from “non-traditional approach for bloggers and other content creators” and asked if I’d be interested in test driving the new Fusion Hybrid for a few days.
I agreed, and last Thursday, they delivered a shiny new one to my office, with the Michigan “Manufacturer” plate and all.
Here are few pictures I snapped with my iPhone:
I drove the car to work, to the beach, to Costco, to a Mariners game. Basically everywhere.
The fit and finish were good and the ride was really quiet. In fact, it put my both my high-energy kids to sleep on the ride back from their grandma’s house. Sounds like a cliche, but it’s true.
I got a lot of comments from neighbors “That’s really a nice car,” co-workers “I’d buy that” and was even given a special parking spot by a parking lot attendant after he said “Is that the new Fusion Hybrid—cool!”
What I liked most was the fact I nearly forgot it was a hybrid. The transfer from electric to gas is less obvious than it is with my Lexus, a fact that the press hasn’t missed, with USA Today calling it the best gas-electric hybrid yet.
Oh, and while I didn’t get the 81.5 miles per gallon achieved in a recent hypermiling stunt, I did get a respectable 39.5 MPG in a mid-size car.
All-in-all, an eye-opening experience.
Ford’s social media team is firing on all cylinders
You might have heard the buzz about the Fiesta Movement, Ford’s social campaign that put 100 “agents” (selected from over 4,000 applicants) behind the wheel of a 2011 Ford Fiesta for six months and how they’re sharing the results of their “missions” on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube.
Ford is winning on the social web due to the aggressive approach that Scott Monty and Ford’s social media team have been taking to engage customers and build authentic conversations around their products and brands.
While Ford’s branding and social media campaigns are good, I’ve become brand loyal to other manufacturers and it will take a lot to break that hold.
Ford’s dealers still publish absurdly noisy ads with prices the average buyer will seldom get (loyalty discounts, military discounts, first-time buyer discounts, etc)— and you’ll always have to haggle with the salesperson and expect them to bring in the manager when they can’t close the sale.
Still, that happens with most dealers and Ford’s product is good and worth a look.
People like me have been saying “Once American manufacturers catch up with Japanese and Germans, I’ll start buying American cars again.”
Well folks, has that time come? Ford’s product quality and the way they’re communicating with customers has me reconsidering their offerings.
Yesterday, I received a lumpy mailer from a company I’d never heard of. Normally I give unsolicited mail about the same amount of consideration you probably do—a few seconds.
But since it was, well, lumpy, and delivered via FedEx I opened it. Here’s what I found:
On one side, it says “Yes, these are real grasshoppers. They’ve even been approved by the FDA of Thailand.”
On the other side:
You’re a risk-taker, a dream-realizer. What’s left to do that you haven’t already done? Eat a grasshopper. They’re farm raised, covered in chocolate and rich in protein. So, not only will you be breaking boundaries, but you’ll be eating healthy, too.
I really didn’t have the time, but I couldn’t resist jumping on this to learn what it was all about. The URL takes you to a page with the following video:
As it turns out, Grasshopper offers a nicely-packaged virtual PBX service for businesses. It’s a direct competitor to Grand Central, a similar service recently purchased by Google that’s locked down while Google integrates it into their systems.
Five things I loved about this campaign
The FedEx package made it feel urgent without using deceptive “Urgent - Open Immediately” language. This is message responsible.
Lumpy mail gets opened.
This is textbook example of how to do a word of mouth campaign. Chocolate covered grasshoppers? I had to share this with colleagues and with you.
A little mystery goes a long way. There was no sales copy—just a creative idea and a URL to learn more. Irresistible.
Each tag was numbered, X of 5,000, and I understand after doing some research for this post that Grasshopper sent these packages to the people they deemed the 5,000 most influential people in America. Very flattering. But at first I thought I might need this code when I logged onto the website. Not so. This is not a limited edition keepsake, it’s a marketing piece. And by letting me know there were so many produced, it made me feel less special—at least initially.
The moving-text style video that was so fresh and interesting a year ago is beginning to get tired. I still like it, but it would seem every ‘movement’ has a video like this associated with it.
Which brings me to the whole ‘movement’ thing. I like to be inspired as much as the next entrepreneur, but I’m approaching my ‘movement’ saturation point. How many movements can one person truly join?
Still, Grasshopper has succeeded where most fail. In one fell swoop, they got my attention, held it, and they got me talking. And though I don’t need their service, If I did, I’d consider them.
So, what do you think of Grasshopper’s campaign?
Would you eat a chocolate covered grasshopper? (I won’t)
But if you’d like to try one, contact me and we’ll make it happen. I’ll post a video of you eating one here and you’ll be famous.
One way or the other, you probably heard about KFC last week.
If you didn’t see one of their ads for their new Kentucky Grilled Chicken (the largest ad blitz in KFC history) you probably heard about the Oprah catastrophy. KFC was caught off guard when a promotion for a free two-piece meal featuring its new grilled chicken created such an overwhelming response the company ran out of chicken and customers had to be turned away.
KFC wasn’t execution responsible, but most companies would love to be overwhelmed by new customers. Especially El Pollo Loco, the 418-unit Costa Mesa, California-based chain that challenged KFC to a taste test in late April.
The company wants to pit its citrus-marinated grilled chicken against the KFC offering and has taken specific aim at KFC’s cooking process. While El Pollo Loco grills its chicken over an open flame, KFC’s chicken is cooked on a griddle—a point that the smaller contender hasn’t missed:
In KFC’s defense, if El Pollo Loco wants a taste test, all they have to do is conduct one, and by definition, grilling doesn’t require an open flame.
Amid the Oprah firestorm, KFC issued rain checks for anyone that was turned away. The rain checks were good until May 19, 2009—excluding Mother’s Day, May 10, 2009.
El Pollo Loco’s response: Ask KFC what they have against mothers, and honor KFC’s coupons on Mother’s Day.
In this David v. Goliath story, Goliath has yet to throw a swing.
It’s familiar territory for KFC—the company has failed to effectively respond to PETA’s long-running Kentucky Fried Cruelty campaign.
El Pollo Loco is receiving national attention playing chicken with KFC.
Do you love their tactics or hate them?
Should KFC accept El Pollo Loco’s challenge?
If not, how should they respond?
. . .
UPDATE:QSRWeb, an online publication covering quick-service restaurant ideas and trends, covered this topic in detail, interviewing me for the Responsible Marketing take in El Polo Loco winning this round of chicken war. Check it out.
We all know why the banking industry is under fire. With all the negative news, it’s easy to forget that there are a lot of responsible banks out there that are playing by the rules, contributing to their communities and doing good.
By sheer coincidence, Drew McClellan will be speaking at the same time as me—twice. Drew is the purveyor of Drew’s Marketing Minute blog and someone I’ve gotten to know via social media. While I’m talking Responsible Marketing, he’ll be talking social media in another breakout session. Seen a bank doing a good job using social media? Let Drew know about it.
I’m encouraging attendees of my session to attend Drew’s session in the second breakout, and vice-versa.
Anywho, back to the matter at hand.
I’ve got some great stuff to share in my session, but I’d like to hear about Responsible Marketing in the banking industry. Environmentally and/or socially responsible campaigns are great, but anything you deem responsible is good, too.
The best example will get Outsource Marketing’s box seats to the Seattle Mariners vs. Oakland Athletics game tomorrow night.
That’s right, tomorrow night, Friday, May 1st at 7:05 P.M.
Trust me, they’re sweet seats.
Don’t wait. I’ll pick the winner by tomorrow around noon.
On the way to Little League practice yesterday, my six-year-old son heard a radio ad that made him ask “why?”
A radio ad for two nights stay at a regional hotel for “only $950!” is what set him off.
His response:
Only $950?!! Why do they always say ‘Only $950?!’… that’s a lot of money!
By “they” he was talking about marketers, especially on the radio.
I was surprised by his passion and proud he was asking the question. But without thinking, I told him it was because that made it seem more affordable—that it would make it seem like it cost less.
His response: “But it’s $950! Saying ‘only’ doesn’t make it less.”
He was right of course, and I’ve been thinking about what he said ever since.
As marketers, we’ve ‘perfected’ copy. We know that certain words and phrases will improve lift.
But are using words like “only” before a price really respecting the intelligence of your audience?
No, I haven’t quit the Responsible Marketing blog to ump League League games.
Well, not completely.
I wrote five posts a week in 2008, but due to a number of factors, this is my fifth post this month.
Here’s why you’ve been hearing less from me lately:
My workload at Outsource Marketing
While I like to write, I really love doing Responsible Marketing. I’ve been busy with some cool social media, Web planning and naming projects lately. It’s been fun, and I’ve thrown myself into it.
Family stuff
After some soul searching at the end of last year, I’ve been working to regain some balance in my life. I’m not quite there yet, but my head is clearer and I know I’m on the right path.
Yes, helping out with my son’s Little League team is part of that balance.
Social media is eating some of my blog posts
Although my social media activity has lightened up a bit, the prediction by some social media gurus that social media would cannibalize blog content has been true for me.
I’ve found myself sharing shorter, easily digestible things I might have shared here last year via social media.
I’m beginning to appreciate the challenges reporters, editors and full-time bloggers face. I’m receiving more news releases, free books and invitations to interview people than I can shake a stick at.
I have a huge backlog of interesting content, and I’ll do my best to share the best of it with you.
But I value your time, Responsible Marketer, and I’ll only post on topics I’m confident you’ll derive real value.
So that’s it. Now you know where I’ve been.
Keep an eye out for some new stuff in the coming days. I’m looking forward to getting the conversation going again!
On Sunday, the L.A. Times ran a four-page ad for the movie “The Soloist,” laid out like a news section.
Passing off advertising as content has been done before. We discussed a far more clever execution last year when AMC bought several pages and the cover of Ad Age to promote its Mad Men series last summer.
Is it smart?
The fact is passing off advertising as content is seldom this brazen, but it is common. There’s good reason to do it: nobody watches TV, listens to the radio or reads a newspaper for the ads. They are there for the content.
This is one way to slip advertising past the consumer before they change the channel, turn the page or boop it forward on the TiVO.
Or deceptive?
Geneva Overholser, director of the school of journalism at the USC, called the ad “deeply offensive,” and went on to say—
Readers don’t want to be fooled, they don’t like the notion that someone is attempting to deceive them. This breaks perhaps the most important bond that newspapers have with their readers, which, to me, is a bond of trust.
So what do you think?
Is passing off advertising as content deceptive and to be avoided or smart and to be applauded?
