When you are 15 and have more shrieking fans than Mick Jagger, you feel you may be able to get away with anything.
Not so much. Recently lil' miss angle Miley Cyrus lost some of her halo thanks to a photo shoot for the cover of Vanity Fair with Annie Leibowitz.
The disconnect - inconsistency in brand image. Miley Cyrus, star of the mega popular Disney show Hannah Montana has built her brand on the platform of "being a normal girl", much in contrast to the Lindsay Lohans and Jamie Lynns of the day. No wonder parents of young teenage girls have so willingly endorsed brand Cyrus – making both her and Disney millions.
But the recent racy images of Miley on the cover of Vanity Fair didn’t quite agree with her “innocent girl” image. Not surprising, this left Disney cringing, and more importantly, Moms all over were up in arms. They claimed to feeling let down, so much so that Miley had to apologize for doing the shoot.
Drama, Yes. But there is also a good lesson in there. Brands need to manage their image with kid gloves – keep it consistent and stay true to it.
Monday, May 5, 2008
Monday, April 28, 2008
Know your story..and stick to it
As marketers, we are always looking for ways to capture our target audiences attention, and in this quest, its not uncommon for brands to choose message or imagery that are edgy and racy...just to attract attention. But this route is not for the weak hearted. If you dare - you need to hang there.
The biggest mistake a brand can make is launch the campaign, and then when the reactions start pouring in - either back track - or even worse feign ignorance.
The MILF (Many Islands Low Fares) campaign run by Spirit Airlines in December hit those very air pockets. The campaign definitely attracted attention. But as expected, what seemed clever to some, seemed crude and tasteless to others.
What did a panicked Spirit Airlines do - blamed the campaign on the ignorance of an employee who according to them didnt know the street usage of acyronym MILF (due to her British roots), never mind that the creative for the campaign was a cluster of islands in the shape of a reclining woman. And never mind that one British lady couldnt up built the campaign in isolation.
The result - a half baked campaign that was pulled and a controversy that left Spirit seeming quite silly.
Sunday, April 27, 2008
So why are millions spent on measurement and research
Still on the topic of measurement - I was recently in a class listening to ( with my "marketing with common sense" hat on) research experts talk about how they track, evaluate and measure advertising with complex models and tools that cost millions of dollars.
Now, the sticker price for this media analysis and measurement has always intrigued me, especially since the results often match the initial hypothesis. Makes me wonder - did you really need to spend all that money to get this answer? This question has come up before but no one ever did a good job responding to it - until this time around. And the answer put things in perspective.
This senior research executive who manages a multi million dollar research budget said - "Yes, in most cases the research may show you what you may have known intuitively. But what you are getting when you spend hundreds of thousands of dollars if not more on research is - the ability to quantify that intuition. And when you are dealing with marketing budgets of hundreds of millions of dollar, saying its working isn’t enough. One needs to be able to quantify it.”
I see it as putting a layer of science on an art :)
Now, the sticker price for this media analysis and measurement has always intrigued me, especially since the results often match the initial hypothesis. Makes me wonder - did you really need to spend all that money to get this answer? This question has come up before but no one ever did a good job responding to it - until this time around. And the answer put things in perspective.
This senior research executive who manages a multi million dollar research budget said - "Yes, in most cases the research may show you what you may have known intuitively. But what you are getting when you spend hundreds of thousands of dollars if not more on research is - the ability to quantify that intuition. And when you are dealing with marketing budgets of hundreds of millions of dollar, saying its working isn’t enough. One needs to be able to quantify it.”
I see it as putting a layer of science on an art :)
Measure your marketing with a next to nothing budget...
Tracking studies, media mix models, concept testing - are all tools to ensure that your advertising and marketing plan is successful and effective.
But what if you are like me, a marketer with a small marketing budget….and a smaller (or should I say non-existing) measurement budget? Are you doomed to have to rely on guess work, intuition and will you always have to battle the sales team or senior management to prove that you contributed to sales? Not really. While you may not be able to quantify impact and efficacy at the level that some of those above mentioned tools can, you can certainly track your efficacy by doing some simple things.
1. Ask your prospects or customers how they heard about you. Most will be happy to tell you.
2. Track - while you may not always know how many people you truly reached with your outreach effort, make sure you map traffic against when you are in the media. If you are doing things right, you should see a spike in traffic – whether its traffic to a store, to a website or calls to a call center.
3. Collect information of your prospects wherever possible... and then map it to your account owner base. Did Mr. Jones from ABC Street, XYZ town who ordered an enrollment kit via the direct mail flyer open an account?
4. Reach out to existing customers via a basic web survey and ask them to tell you what they think about your brand, product or service. If you can convince them that you will take action on their feedback, they will be happy to share their true feeling
5. Don’t hesitate to do a quick focus group - find a group of people in your office who represent your target audience. And ask them what they think of the new creative you are looking to launch. Their feedback may surprise you. Sure, the results are not scientific - but they can be indicative.
6. Set up a special #800 number or vanity URL for your advertising. This will help you track web traffic or interest that can be related to the advertising.
7. Compare data against the historical data that you may have access to and try to analyze why there may be changes – could it be because of a coupon promotion or a radio ad. Be sure to consider some external factors like weather or the economy.
Not all of these may apply to you… But no matter how small you are – whether you a small for profit business, or a not-for- profit business— you will be able to import these ideas to substantiate your efforts or course correct.
But what if you are like me, a marketer with a small marketing budget….and a smaller (or should I say non-existing) measurement budget? Are you doomed to have to rely on guess work, intuition and will you always have to battle the sales team or senior management to prove that you contributed to sales? Not really. While you may not be able to quantify impact and efficacy at the level that some of those above mentioned tools can, you can certainly track your efficacy by doing some simple things.
1. Ask your prospects or customers how they heard about you. Most will be happy to tell you.
2. Track - while you may not always know how many people you truly reached with your outreach effort, make sure you map traffic against when you are in the media. If you are doing things right, you should see a spike in traffic – whether its traffic to a store, to a website or calls to a call center.
3. Collect information of your prospects wherever possible... and then map it to your account owner base. Did Mr. Jones from ABC Street, XYZ town who ordered an enrollment kit via the direct mail flyer open an account?
4. Reach out to existing customers via a basic web survey and ask them to tell you what they think about your brand, product or service. If you can convince them that you will take action on their feedback, they will be happy to share their true feeling
5. Don’t hesitate to do a quick focus group - find a group of people in your office who represent your target audience. And ask them what they think of the new creative you are looking to launch. Their feedback may surprise you. Sure, the results are not scientific - but they can be indicative.
6. Set up a special #800 number or vanity URL for your advertising. This will help you track web traffic or interest that can be related to the advertising.
7. Compare data against the historical data that you may have access to and try to analyze why there may be changes – could it be because of a coupon promotion or a radio ad. Be sure to consider some external factors like weather or the economy.
Not all of these may apply to you… But no matter how small you are – whether you a small for profit business, or a not-for- profit business— you will be able to import these ideas to substantiate your efforts or course correct.
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