Wear Your Drink on Your Sleeve!

With a little help from Starbucks we can help you wear that drink of yours!

Everyone who has ever been to Starbucks knows how much they have to offer. They offer tons of different drinks and that's not including the holiday specials. They have anything from coffee to lattes to macchiatos and much more. Which ever drink you chose you then decide what type of milk you want ( 2%, nonfat, soy, organic), if you want decaf or regular, foam or no foam and the list goes on. These long drink orders can confuse the long line of people behind you and can make new employees heads spin. Never thought ordering a drink would be this hard, huh?

Mychael Knight, a contestant from Project Runway, has designed a new way to display your perfect drink preferences. Here is a chance to make drink ordering a little easier for both the customer and the employee. All you have to do is go to http://www.starbucks.com/default.asp. While your there you can design your own special drink. Here, they will walk you through all the potential extras you can incorporate into your drink from milk types, as mentioned before, to cup size, syrups, and more. After your done deciding if you want caramel or hazelnut syrup you can then order that drink design to be put onto a t-shirt. What a concept!

Sounds a bit strange but I’m sure Starbucks’s enthusiasts are talking about it. Its fun and you can get a free t-shirt out of it. That’s right, FREE! This site also makes it a lot easier to visualize your drink order. You can see if what you are ordering actually makes sense, because let’s face it, when you are ordering a drink at 7 am, you may not always be paying close attention.

I don’t think that people will get the shirt and walk into a Starbucks’s and point at there stomach without saying a word (cause that would be weird) but these shirts can definitely give Starbucks great word-of-mouth advertising compared to their competitors.

Source:
http://www.womma.org/womnibus/009068.php

Careerbuilder, Monkeys and More.

I hope I'm not alone when I say that I really enjoy all the different advertising strategies that Careerbuilder comes up with. Those monkeys in the office were just a hoot! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VEB6OJD94lg (sorry, I don't know how to put the actual video in) Now, the new commercials they have come out with are just as good. Their new slogan, "Do More Than Just Survive the Work Week" goes perfectly with their new commercials of surviving the work place in the wild. They have also come up recently with a new online "game" that brings more attention to the website. It is called the Age-o-Matic which is a funny way to show you what you will look like in 2057 if you stick with that terrible job of yours. It asks you to upload a picture or yourself or use one of the prepared ones. You then answer a few questions about your current job and you can even write something which makes it more personalized.

This idea from Careerbuilder is very witty and relevant to what there company's services are. Careerbuilder, for those of you who don't know is a website to help people on the job hunt. You can post your resume, look for new jobs, and even get job recommendations. It very helpful to people who will really end up looking like the cartoon that they make up on the site. How much more subtle can the company be? Well, probably A LOT more but that's beside the point. The website is gaining more hits through this new advertising idea and it leads a lot more people to take a look at what they have to offer. Of course, Careerbuilder wants people to look for a new job using their website and services.

Before the Age-o-Matic they had the Monk-e-mail which was another good way to bring people to the site and spend some time. Both the Monk-e-mail and the Age-o-matic were both perfect tie-ins with the commercials they had going on at the time. After you're done searching the site and messing around with the fun game on the site, Careerbuilder gives you the option of sending your funny results to your friends, family and most importantly your colleagues. The Monk-e-mail idea spread like wildfire through viral marketing so what a great reason to use the same idea with the age-o-matic.

Remember, a job should involve more that just "surviving the work week."

Take a look!
Monk-e-Mail
http://www.careerbuilder.com/monk-e-mail/?siteid=sep_gps_kw_monkey_email&sc_extcmp=gps_kw_monkey+email

Age-o-Matic
http://www.careerbuilder.com/age-o-matic/

Let It Out!

If a person comes to you and they're upset, I'm sure many of you have said to that sad person, "let it out" and possibly even given that person a tissue. Well, what a perfect new marketing strategy for Kleenex. For those of you that don't know, Kleenex has a new campaign going. Basically, they have a very vibrant couch that they move to different street corners. They then invite random people walking around to come and "let it out". People come sit down and vent their issues and problems to a spokesperson who during it all, hands them a Kleenex.

The results of people spilling their hearts out became the new commericals for Kimberly-Clark Kleenex's. They called these commercials, "drive-by therapy sessions". At the end of these commercials they have a call to action, which urges the viewers to go to their website www.letitout.com. There they can create an account and share sob stories with the website and one another. People can also post comments about their stories. Kleenex has started a small online chat room for people to "let it out", which gives people the idea that Kleenex is a brand that is interested in their customers and very sympathetic. This creates tremendously word of mouth advertising.

Just an interesting little tidbit, for those of you who are interested. Kleenex now has another campaign going where you can actually customize your Kleenex tissue box. Whether you want to give them out as a party favor or just to remember a funny moments, its another perfect way for Kleenex to gain publicity. I think that Kleenex is trying to give themselves a new look with these ideas and what a better way than the words of the customers.

Make your own Kleenex box!
http://www.mykleenextissue.com/

All Thanks to WOM!

Coca-Cola, Pepsi, 7up, Sprite are all big competitors because of the advertising they can afford. There are also many other soda companies that are just as well known but for different reasons. Jones Soda Co. is a company that created their own world by "doing things completely different". Peter van Stolk, CEO of Jones Soda Co., wants his company to stay true to this standard of business. They are known for their unusual yet interesting new ideas.

Jones Soda Co. has lived up to their reputation and kept things original which keeps their customers interesting in the brand and what is next to come. During the holidays that come out with flavors that taste like the foods that are served. For the Thanksgiving holiday they introduced a package which included five flavors including turkey and gravy, brussel sprouts, fruitcake, mashed potatoes & butter, and green bean casserole. Yea, sounds really gross but many people went out to buy it jus to see if they really did taste like they were suppose to. They did! Not only did they have those weird flavors but they also have a bunch more such as berry lemonade, blue bubblegum, fufu berry and twisted lime. Those are just a few of the fun flavors.

Not only do they create unique flavors but they also encourage their customers to interact with the company by sending them pictures that could eventually end up as a Jones Soda label. This neverending photo competition leads to customer satisfaction and a lot of brand loyalty. People love being involved with their brands of choice and this is the perfect way to gain market share as well.

Besides coming out with strange but inviting flavors and an ongoing photo contest they also do a lot of community service to get involved. Jones Soda currently involves themselves in a school construction project called "Change for Children". They have participated in this cause since the summer of 2004 and are currently building their second school with other groups including Project HOPE. Don't forget the holiday package they put out for Thanksgiving. All the proceeds from those sales went to Covenant House which is a service and shelter for homeless and runaway youth.

To keep the word of mouth going, Jones Soda sponsors local athlete's. According to the WOMMA editor, "the company sponsors local, homegrown skateboarders, snowboarders and other alternative athletes...They have strong word of mouth sway withing their peer groups." These sponsored athletes are edgy, fun and youthful which is what the company strives for.

All the whacky ideas Jones Soda comes out with, keeps them in the race with other brands that mainly compete on the basis of advertising. Jones Soda receives feedback from their customers in ways that no other company can. They involve them in fun activities whether its sending photos in or requesting a new flavor. They take it all into consideration. Sponsoring young athletes and doing great community service also brings great success to their brand. All this success is made possible by a few simples ideas and a little word of mouth.

To see all the photos and flavors:

http://www.jonessoda.com/index.html

article:

http://www.womma.org/womnibus/008984.php

Following In The Wrong Footsteps

For the Superbowl, General Motors came out with ad with a robot dreaming about throwing himself off a bridge because he gets fired from his job at GM. All in all the ad was very depressing with little spurts of humor. People were not happy about this ad and felt it was making fun of the idea of suicide. The advertisement was immediately pulled. Word got out about this ad being pulled and many people felt as if it was the right thing to do. Suicide is no laughing matter but it is an extreme way to get across the idea that their company, GM, is the best car company out there that people and/or robots, can't seem to live without.

It was just a matter of days when Volkswagen comes out with an advertisement about an actual person standing on the ledge of a tall building threatening to jump. A man in a VW drives by and yells up to the jumper (also the name of the advertisement) and tells him he bought his car and you can also buy two other models for under $17,000. After the comment the man decides to come down. According to Holly Saunders from the New York Post, five different mental health groups joined together to criticize this ad and demand it be pulled. They were respected and the ad was removed.

Two car companies coming out with similar commercials about suicide, in a matter of days, just seems bizarre. If one spot is being pulled, why did a different company try to see if theirs would work. All this talk about GM's commercial being pulled, you would think they would leave well enough alone. The commercial must have been worked on for a while and was probably is the midst of making it when the GM commercial was put on the air. VW definitely got wind of what happened to GM, so why try? It was probably to get the publicity through word of mouth and hopefully enough people saw the ad run once and were able to start spreading the news.

The more and more you think about it, buzz marketing is such a powerful concept. The decision made by Volkswagen to air a commercial that makes fun of the idea of mental health, knowing it will be pulled but still knowing you will get the publicity...is unreal. Whether they ran the commercial once or twenty times, it doesn't matter because we, the prospective consumers, are helping them get the advertising they wanted which was to inform us that we can buy three different VW models for under $17,000. Volkswagen may have made some people unhappy but in their eyes, this ad may still be a success.

VW "Jumper" Ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NpUGukfZnzw

GM "Robot" Ad
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B3NGN4t4hm4

NFL and Erectile Disfunction?!?!

You would think advertising male sex drugs during NFL football games would be perfect product placement...and it is. So, why is the NFL deciding to pull all the commercials for these drugs and refusing to run them again? After three years of providing ad placement, the main reason for this change is because they are not going to tolerate the racy and sexy advertisements for drugs that are suppose to help someone with erectile disfunction.

Drugs such as Viagara, Levitra and Cialis are ones that are advertised for men with ED. The NFL decided to cut them due to the dramatic change in the ads. They believe that it is not acceptable to change the position of these drugs from a serious health issue to a drug to spice up people's sex lives. These advertisements have become quite controversial and the NFL doesn't want to be involved. Many people have thought that the NFL has succombed to the pressure and religious rights of many conservatives. According to Rich Tomaselli, AdAge's resident expert of the pharmaceutical industry and the sports industry, that is not the case. The NFL truly does not agree with where these drugs are going with their campaigns. They are going to stop sponsoring the ED drugs during there games but they will not cut ties with other pharmaceuticals such as allergy and hair loss pills.

To lose an advertising spot during NFL programming is a huge loss for companies that target the male category, but it may not necessarily do much damage to the product's success. Almost all men who use the product will continue to use the product whether it is advertised during the football games or not. There will just be a shift from TV advertisements to more banner and click ads online. People would have to search a little more for the ads but it is not a life and death situation.

I would have to agree with the NFL. They have a right to do what they feel is right and if they think that the advertisements for these drugs have become to racey then that is their opinion. I also agree that the ads for ED drugs have become to racey. I think these companies have lost sight of what their product is for and what they are accomplishing for the consumer. Yes, it will increase their sex lives but it doesn't mean that as soon as they use these drugs they become complete sexaholics. To keep an erection for 4 hours is not a healthy aspect and yet that is what the main point of advertising is. The NFL is also paying closer attention to their other viewers who aren't interested in seeing such commercials, whether those viewers be women, men, or children. They are not advertisements that everyone wants to see. The men that want this drug will still be able to find the advertisements with ease and it will still be out of view for people who aren't interested. Well see if Viagara, Levitra and Cialis change their commercial strategy to get back into the NFL programming.

To watch the podcast:
http://adage.com/shared/includes/spotwin.html?vid=ar-01162006.asf&type=nws

What do Aqua Teen Hunger Force and Boston have in common? Well, apparently the love of Lite-Brites and making sure the entire city knows about it. Cartoon Network hired a firm to do some guerilla marketing for the new Aqua Teen Hunger Force movie. Nine electronic light boards that had pictures of mooninites on them triggered bomb scares around Boston, which made authorities close highways, two bridges and a large stretch of the Charles River before bomb squads determined the devices were harmless, according to CNN. I guess it may be understandable to misconstrue these Lite-Brites for destructive weapons considering they were placed in very weird locations, such as under bridges and highway overpasses.

Aqua Teen Hunger Force is a 15 minute cartoon aired on Cartoon Network as a part of the late night programming called Adult Swim. The mooninites are secondary characters on the show. To use these characters as the focal point of the advertisement seems odd because many people don't even know what the cartoon is about let alone any of the characters. It's definitely strange but maybe they were striving for a different type of publicity and this extravaganza may just have been their dream come true.

Guerilla marketing has not only caused huge controversy around the city of Boston and many other major cities but it has also spurred an overload of buzz marketing for the show. The mooninites flipping off the public may not have had the success that the makers may have wanted but they definitely made out with the publicity they received from the press. What a great news release to start off the new year!

This story was the topic of discussion in a few of my classes. Many laughed and thought it was unbelievable that Boston would go to such lengths before knowing exactly what was going on. I'm sure that we and by we, I mean college students, are just a small part of the population who laughed. Many people, were appalled and very upset about the whole incident. The people of Boston were probably scared out of their minds at the time of city shutdown, but to direct their anger at the advertisers doesn't seem right to me. They decided on an idea and went for it. Yes, it was a little sketchy but I think the people of Boston should be upset with the authorities. They didn't take the time to see what was going on before shutting down one of the biggest cities in New England. I'm sure angry onlooker's will be criticizing the show, the network and the advertising firm for a long time to come but criticize all you want because Aqua Teen Hunger Force will still be getting the buzz advertising they were looking for.

Super Bowl Sunday...probably one of the most anticipated days in sports today. It's bigger than the World Series, NBA finals and the Stanley Cup combined. Whether a person's favorite team is in the super bowl or not they still tune in. So it is the game that most people tune into or the commercials that are talked about weeks in advance?

For the 2007 Super bowl, the price of a 30 second commercial was a little over 2.5 million dollars. That's an unbelievable amount of money for time. That's it, just time. Forget about people they have to pay, the animation they have to create or whatever else the company decides to put into their commercials. Anheuser Busch was one of the biggest advertisers with a combined time of five minutes. That's over $25 million not to mention that most of there advertisements involved celebrities including Jay-Z, Dale Earnhardt Jr., Don Shula and Carlos Mencia. I wonder how much they were paid. Some of the other big advertisers were Coke-cola, GM and many more. The money these companies spend is utterly ridiculous but what seems to be even more important is which commercial was the best.

In every one of my classes on Monday morning we spent some time if not the whole time talking about who watched the super bowl and what commercial they liked the best, the worst, which ones were boring, etc. Not only in class but just walking down the halls you heard people talking about their favorites this year and even comparing them to last year's commercials. The commercials were more important than the super bowl itself. Many people, I'm sure if you asked wouldn't even remember which teams were in it.

Anheuser Busch spending $25 million dollars end up paying off in the end due to word of mouth advertising. Imagine every person that watched the super bowl talked about the Bug Light commercials. Monday morning Anheuser Busch received credit for 90 million advertisements that they didn't have to spend a penny on. Now that is the power of advertising! These companies definitely got their money's worth. Whether their commercials were fantastic or complete flops, as long as you remember who made the commercial then the company got what they paid for.

"All Marketer's Are Liars"

Recently, I watched a video called "All Marketer's are Liars". It was a speech given by Seth Godin. Wouldn't you know it, his presentation was all about Word of Mouth marketing. Perfect for my blog. He spoke to Google about what they have done and how they have stayed a successful company. Not only about them but how other brands can become successful with the same process. And the best part is, it's free!

Google has become as popular as it is all because of WOM. When people are interested in finding out more about a specific product or story, etc., many times you will hear someone say "Google it". I know I have said it many times, as well. Just that statement alone is spreading the word that Google is the best way to find just what you are looking for. It may not be the most intricate website or have the most technologically advanced homepage but it is the search engine that makes people feel a certain way when they use it. They make things just a little bit more interesting which keeps people talking about Google.

Seth then brought up socks. Yes, sounds weird but it makes a lot of sense. He talks about a company that is based out of Westchester called Little Mismatch. They target young girls around the age of 11 with the 133 different styles they make. The catch is that they don't sell pairs. They are individually sold and they don't sell even amounts either. So the idea is that the girls wear mismatched socks. They then go to school and show off their socks to their friends. The girl's friends then go home to tell their moms that they want the same socks. Right there is advertising that was completely free. Little Mismatch had a message which is just a little bit different that keeps people intrigued and coming back for more.

Companies like Google become a 'want' in peoples lives because of how they operate. They interact in a way that people really enjoy. Almost all their marketing comes from simple word of mouth which has turned them into a massive conglomerate. Little Mismatch works with the same idea. Unfortunately they are not as big as google is but who says they can't become that big. Making your company become a want in people's eyes will bring you a plethora of options and plenty of marketing. Just make things a little bit more interesting than your competition to keep people coming back to you.

Here it goes...

Hi All! My name is Justine Golloub. I am a junior Integrated Marketing Communications major (aka IMC) I just enrolled in this major in the fall. When I heard about this assignment, it definitely caught me off guard. I have never written my own blog before. I mean sure I've read others but I never thought of myself ever creating my own. This is my first blog which will take place over the whole semester. Here goes nothing!

Many people, from my experience, do not enjoy advertisements. They say advertisements cut into their favorite shows and there are just too many of them on television. Some of these people include my roommates (yea, I don't know why I share a house with them). They may be right, but they also don't understand that advertising encompassing so many different types. Throughout this semester, I will focus on guerilla marketing, word of mouth, buzz marketing and more.

I find these types of advertising very intriguing. All good advertisements are creative but guerilla marketing is where people are allowed to use all creative license and come up with something memorable, something that sticks. Not only that, but it will not interfer with people's shows!

Now, with all of the new technology today like TiVo and OnDemand many people are very easily able to fastforward through the commercial so they aren't bothered. Not only are those an issue for advertisers but YouTube and simple websites make it easier for people to catch up on their favorite television shows without interruption. This is the reason why guerilla marketing can be a big help to many different companies, businesses, etc. Also word of mouth and viral marketing are great ways for an service, product or idea to go from unknown to the hottest topic in a matter of days.

Sound interesting? Yea I think so too! Stay tuned for more! It should be a wild ride!