Sunday, July 25, 2010

Old Spice smells like social media success

Old Spice videos go viral on YouTube, schooling companies on using social networks
www.computerworld.com/s/article/9179253/Old_Spice_smells_like_social_media_success

I was looking for an article for my second e-marketingclass assignment and I was planning to talk about YouTube and social media, since I think we covered a lot else in this area from Facebook to Twitter but being a YouTube user myself I thought we were missing something. So I found this article about the success of the Old Spice campaign and had to check the videos. To be honest the video itself did not catch my attention, but as described in the article Procter & Gamble combined the different technologies/media available Facebook, Yahoo, Twitter, YouTube ... to give "life" and rejuvenate the image of Old Spice. The actor in character answers questions and comments engaging the consumers.
As discussed in class the power shifted from companies to individuals, from a centralized push to decentralized pull, so companies have to find more ways to engage customers, specially in an era that DVRs allows us to take control and skip commercials and that the traditional marketing is not as effective, so having people search and talk about a specific one (or ones) is definetely a win for P&G, but what also made this initiative different and a success was the innovation in combining the videos and live responses, the engagement with the audience.

E-Marketing Class: "Power I" Helps Online Advertisers Stay Ahead of Looming Legislation

The issue of privacy may be the most prominent battlefield in the ongoing e-marketing war that pits government legislation against industry self-regulation. As a recent article in Advertising Age magazine explains, some e-marketing strategists have adopted new technologies to not only fend off government regulation of internet data collection, but to give individual internet users more control of how their data are being used by companies that advertise on the internet. Last month, a company called Better Advertising launched a trial of its “Power I” (Eye) system. Used by several Fortune 500 companies like AT&T, American Express, and Microsoft, the “Power I” system places an icon in the corner of every internet ad that, when clicked, brings up a window with more information about the ad, information on the company that placed the ad, and most importantly, a method for the internet user to opt-out of specific interest-based advertising providers. Not only does Better Advertising believe that its new system gives consumers access to clear information and choices, but it also believes that it provides evidence of ongoing compliance with new industry self-regulatory guidelines. Why should e-marketing strategists be interested in self-regulation? Read my e-marketing class blog to find out what Washington may have in store for online advertisers.

UltraViolet: A New Digital Format

I was going to review an article on engagement, then while listening to my regular morning NPR station I heard an interesting story on a new technology UltraViolet. It is so new it’s hard to find much on this new technology. I found three articles, but one is just a press release reprinted in Home Theater Magazine.

At first I wasn’t sure if it related to our e-marketing class, but while reviewing the details it relates in many ways. It is trying to resolve the splinternet issues related to viewing and sharing movies and video. It can create another way to social network and it can even relate to customer profiling.
 
Check Out My Blog for More:
http://machomarketing.blogspot.com/

The Future Has Been Delivered to Your Mailbox

“The Future Has Been Delivered to Your Mailbox” by Jason Meyers, Entrepreneur Magazine, July 2010

Just take a trip to the mailbox and what do we find? Junk mail. My first thought is to toss it into the garbage. How effective is it? Marketers realize approximately 99% of it goes unnoticed and the balance does not generate quality leads. The dollars are staggering; the Direct Marketing Association states that 54% of all advertising dollars spent in the United States go into direct-marketing channels. In 2009, that translates into more than $149 billion with direct mail and catalogs making up $44 billion of that. Furthermore, marketers are finding direct mail frustrating because of their lack in ability to quantify results.

Meanwhile, social media has changed how we make buying decisions. With digital video recorders we are lucky if we watch one commercial, but you can bet your checking connections on Facebook and Twitter. Was it possible to combine a direct-mail campaign with social media and other web technologies? Shawn Burst, founder of Dukky, saw potential in the unredeemed coupon market. He knew that the most effective campaigns have good offers and good mailing lists. Shawn developed Dukky which would be an intelligent lead generation tool using social media. This tool would allow for print advertising to be trackable, real time data for their campaigns, and continue to build a high quality mailing list. Dukky, a software as a solution, monitors companies campaigns in real time and collects detailed information about their customers. How does it do this? Dukky’s tool for bridging the online and offline worlds is called a PURL (personalized URL). An individual would receive an offer in the mail with a targeted URL (for example: gift.com/johndoe) and would be required to visit the internet. This website would have targeted information about the prospect. Dukky is finding people are intermingling their online and offline worlds. The PURL leads responders to a microsite created exclusively for the individual customer. It will mirror the direct mail campaign, but in order for John Doe to get what he wants he is required to share a little more information. This information is collected and tracked on the Dukky platform. At the end, John Doe gets what he wants and is offered a quick (one button click) way to share the offer with his friends through social media. “The end result: a deep connection with the customers before they even step foot in the store. A rich database for future marketing. Aind incredibly a good chance that the customer himself will become a viral marketing agent.”

When John Doe sends off these offers to his “friends” through social media, Dukky tracks not only the initial send, but all forwards his friends send, and so on. These are all tracked back to John Doe and Dukky determines the effectiveness of John Doe for future targeted campaigns. Dukky also tracks the campaign and its successes by person and even the region it is doing well in. All allowing companies using Dukky to further target market future campaigns.

Companies such as BMW, Chick-fil-A, Direct TV, and Dominoes Pizza are seeing real success with this tool. It is becoming very valuable for the companies using Dukky. Their clients have been generating anywhere from 20 to 32% response rates on email campaigns and building very strong marketing/mailing lists. A remarkable number that Dukky believes is being generated by their personalized URL and the viral peer sharing that is created. This is not just for large companies because Dukky has developed a small business version. A company can start using Dukky at just $99 per month. This inexpensive solution pays large dividends in order to capture valuable data, increase conversions, identify your influencers, and gauge the purchase intent of your products.

By Antkeg Remi for e-marketingclass