An Adventure with Duracell

            As we all know, Hurricane Sandy was quite a surprise for many people.  Many are still without power in certain areas, which has put a hamper on many people's daily lives.  Duracell decided they wanted to help solve this problem, so they brought charging stations into NYC and its surrounding areas to provide power for cell phones, computers, and even provided Wi-Fi so people could check email and find information on when their power might come back.  Not only did Duracell help local consumers, but they also opened up their offices to employees to shower and charge certain pieces of technology.

            Duracell did not necessarily have a problem themselves, but they were trying to solve their local community's problem of no power.  In return, consumers became more aware of Duracell and were able to associate it as a company that is helpful, reliable, and caring.  Employees gained more respect for the company they work for, which has been shown to increase employees' need to provide for the company.

            The general target audience for the charging stations is anyone that has some sort of technology.  More specifically, it is someone who makes the purchase decisions of the house, and someone that is reliant on technology.

            This was a great PR move by Duracell.  So much kindness came out of the storm, ranging from neighbors to companies, and Duracell made sure that they could provide that same kindness to not only their employees, but the entire community.

An Adventure with Got Milk? and Kelly Fisher (Class Speaker Prep)

            Kelly Fisher will be talking to our class today about her work with the Got Milk? campaign.  I am pretty excited about it, because though I am not a milk drinker, I absolutely love the campaign.  Below is my preparation for her presentation...

            To be honest, I was not able to find a whole lot of information on Kelly Fisher.  I couldn’t even find her on LinkedIn.  Though I do know that she has been with Got Milk? for a few years now.

            As far as Got Milk? Goes, they have been running essentially the same campaign for the past 19 (almost 20) years.  They use celebrities and other famous figures to promote their campaign by placing milk mustaches on each of them in their advertisements.  For the most part, they have all been print advertisements, and though they have not worn off on people, especially when using multiple different celebrities over the years, Got Milk? has kind of fallen by the wayside in my opinion.

            I think the biggest problem that Got Milk? is currently facing is that there have been so many proponents of other sources of calcium, and the organization is no longer advertising as much, leading some people to forget about this monumental campaign.  This is something to be addressed.

            Not until looking on the Got Milk? website did I know that the organization has come out with a different campaign that promotes the idea that “Real milk comes from cows.”  The campaign is trying to inform consumers that there are so many more ingredients in the other milks on the market (soy, almond, etc.) rather than the few in cow’s milk.  After perusing around the site, I think that this is a rather interesting campaign; it just needs to be promoted more.  I was not aware of it until going directly to the site.  This is something that needs to be fixed.

Questions for Ms. Fisher:

            What type of work do you do working for a campaign that doesn’t necessarily promote a brand, but rather a general product category (milk)?

            How did you get into the industry?

            What inspired the creative behind the commercials and the “Imitation Milk Kit”?

An Adventure with Facebook

            While doing my normal social media surfing for the day on Facebook, I noticed something different on my newsfeed.  (No, Facebook did not change its layout, AGAIN.)  I noticed that the status bar was not prompting me to update my status.  It was asking me to tell Facebook about my Halloween costume.  Or what my favorite Halloween candy was.  I was so surprised, I refreshed my newsfeed multiple times to see what all the different prompts were.  (And took screen shots.)

            I'm not sure I could tell you the last time I updated my Facebook status other than a random, "Let's Go Hokies!" every so often during football season.  To be honest, I now use Twitter to see what people are up to.  No one seems to update their status anymore unless they are an organization or a baby boomer (nothing against either, that just seems to be the trend).

            What caused this change in prompt?  In other words, what was the problem Facebook was facing?  Maybe the fact that so many of the generation that helped to make Facebook so big, has moved onto Twitter to update people on their lives.  Facebook is now just seen as a place to upload pictures, and have conversations between people.  Twitter has taken Facebook's place in the social media world of the "What's on your mind?" prompt that Facebook normally sports in the status bar because Twitter is where to go to find other's thoughts.

            What was Facebook's audience with this?  My best guess would be everyone with a Facebook account.  But more specifically, the younger generation (high school, college, and young adults) that have decreased their status updates.  Facebook is trying to spark a trigger in our minds to update our status every once in awhile, and therefore allow us to have conversations about our thoughts on Halloween.  In the long run, we would use Facebook even more, and maybe even neglect Twitter.  (At least that may be Facebook's thought.)

            As intrigued as I was by this, I must admit that I did not update my status because of the change.  And I didn't notice anyone on my newsfeed responding to any of Facebook's prompts in their status updates (if they were updating them at all).  So I would have to say that this attempt by Facebook to increase the number of people updating statuses did not work.  But maybe some other interesting prompts (that don't necessarily have to do with a holiday) would.

An Adventure with Burt's Bees and Julie Talbot (Class Speaker Prep)

            Julie Talbot has held and currently holds quite a few titles.  In her professional career, she is currently the global brand manager for Burt's Bees lip balm but has held previous titles such as the Associate Brand Manager for Burt's Bees and the Associate Marketing Manager at Godiva Chocolatier.  Being a Virginia Tech alum, she is also a member of the Marketing Advisory Board here.

            Burt's Bees just recently had a failing advertising campaign that Julie will be telling us more about in class tomorrow and what they are doing about it now.  Another thing that I believe Burt's Bees is struggling with is getting consumers to purchase their product.  I am fully aware of Burt's Bees and the variety of products they offer.  But I have never purchased one.  The products of theirs that I have tried have not impressed me anymore than the cheaper lip balms and beauty products that I am already using.    This is definitely a problem that (from what I have gathered from friends and family) that is prominent for Burt's Bees throughout the market.

            My first attempt at a solution for this would be to put Burt's Bees back in the public's eye, and for a good reason.

Questions for Ms. Talbot:

Have you experienced any learning situations from being on the Marketing Advisory Board at Pamplin?

What is a common challenge you face working on a brand?

An Adventure with the Holiday Shopping Season

            Though consumers are mainly focused on Halloween being a few days away, retailers and producers have been focused on the upcoming holiday season for weeks.  Many retailers are already speculating as to what will be on everyone's list this year so they can prepare what to have in stock.  According to some researchers, the belief is that retro toys will be a huge seller. But there is also speculation that some of the new hot tech toys will be at the top of the charts.  Though the economy is not in its best form, many major retailers are offering layaway, which is helping to increase sales.

            My best guess at the retailers' problem is that they have struggled to sell higher priced items during the past holiday seasons.  People are spending so much on parties, meals, decorations, and gifts for others, that some people can not afford the high priced items.

            By adding layaway, many people believe that they can afford the items that they want and need because they are paying for the item over a period of time, rather than all at once.  They can also complete all of their holiday shopping earlier by placing items on layaway.

            The target audience for layaway is more than likely lower-income families and young professionals struggling to afford gifts for everyone.  The idea of completing a shopping list months before the holidays can also be quite appealing to anyone.  So many people stress over getting everything done that this could draw anyone into a major retailer, and maybe even encourage them to purchase more than they initially intended (impulse buys).

            I believe that this addition of layaway could be very successful for retailers as long as it is advertised enough (WalMart appears to be doing a good job now; I have seen a lot of their advertisements for layaway on TV), as well as encouraged to consumers while at their point-of-purchase.

An Adventure with Publicis and Chris Shumaker (Class Speaker Prep)

            During class on Tuesday, Chris Shumaker from Publicis, a Virginia Tech alum, will be speaking to my advertising class.  Again, not being all that familiar with the advertising world, I was not familiar with Publicis.  After doing research, I realized that they are quite a large firm in the advertising world, working with companies such as Aflac, Wendy’s and P&G.

            It is safe to say that Shumaker knows quite a bit about advertising, having been in the field for close to 30 years.  Working his way up from account executive all the way to the CMO, he has also had his share of experiences and positions.  There is no doubt he will share some interesting insights into our young advertising minds.

            Stated earlier, Publicis is a large firm.  This can make it easy for them to gain accounts, but it can also be a challenge because there is no room for mistakes.  They will always be in the public eye, so any decisions they make will be critiqued.

Questions for Mr. Shumaker

I have heard that in order to go far in the marketing field, you will need something higher than a Bachelors degree.  Do you find this to be true in today’s world?

What are some challenges you have faced and how did you resolve them?

What has been something you are most proud of in your 30-year career?

An Adventure with Birchbox

           I was on Twitter again this past week (what's new there?) and of the many helpful articles that my professor tweets throughout the week, one in particular stood out.

           The Beauty of Birchbox is an article analyzing the marketing behind the 30 to 50 different variations of boxes that Birchbox sends out monthly, full of samples of beauty supply products. Though I am fascinated by beauty products, I tend to stick to my normal routine, very overwhelmed by the idea of switching things up. This idea was one of the many things touched on in the article that has been attributed to the success of the Birchbox monthly shipments.

           From the article and knowledge of the product, I would guess that the problem that Birchbox is trying to help solve is the issue that sales of higher end, lesser known beauty products are falling.  This is probably due to the fact that people are overwhelmed by the paradox of choice and also worried about committing to a product in such a large quantity when they have never tried it.

           Obviously, Birchbox is attempting to solve this problem by providing smaller sample sizes of beauty products that are tailored to the wants and needs of each consumer.  In return, the consumer may become a frequent user of the product, therefore purchasing the product in full size.

           This target audience is more than likely women who are interested in beauty products.  A typical consumer might look like...a young woman (maybe 24), just recently out of college, beginning her journey through the working world. She is willing to spend money, but only on things she is confident will work, and she is especially interested in anything that allows her to pamper herself. 

           Having heard of Birchbox before reading this article, but not entirely sure what it was, I was interested almost immediately.  I am now considering trying Birchbox, and the products that come with it.