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Kleenex Focuses on Packaging

Avi — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 11:45:11 +0000

If you’ve never devoted much thought to tissue boxes, you’re probably not alone. But it might be about time that you start. Kleenex, as one would expect, certainly has been thinking long and hard about how to package its products. Unlike many–most, even–consumer products, the packaging of tissues remains on display as long as there is one tissue left in the box. If you walk into my bathroom or bedroom, you’ll see a box of tissues. I’m not one of those people that covers the box with a plastic shield. As Andrew Adam Newman puts it in the headline of his recent New York Times article about the company’s packaging choices, With Kleenex, the package is part of the product.

All tissue makers are faced with a seasonal conundrum: how sales can be maintained during the summer. According to Newman, tissue sales can drop by as much as 60% in the summer months, compared to a high point in January. Now, without going so far as to encourage the flu and other tissue-heavy illnesses, Kleenex has a plan in place to make consumers feel more at home with its products, even during the summer. Here’s Newman:

Now Kleenex, the brand that invented facial tissues 86 years ago, is hoping to bolster summer sales with packages that resemble wedges of fruit and look more at home on a picnic table than a bedside table. The A-frame packages, featuring fruits like watermelon, orange and lime, were available only at Target last summer, and are being sold at all major retailers this summer.

“This keeps the category relevant during this time of year,” said Craig Smith, brand director of Kleenex, a Kimberly-Clark brand. Mr. Smith said that with the fruit packaging test run last summer, “we saw close to 100 percent incrementality,” meaning sales of the novelty box did not cannibalize sales of standard Kleenex boxes.

Consumers who blow their nose less often–for example, during the summer–most likely won’t run through as many tissues as they do during the winter, no matter how Kleenex packages them. But a 60% seasonal drop off is a problem begging for a solution. If Kleenex can close that gap, even a little, this process must be considered a success. Changing the packaging to something more closely associated with the summer months is an easy way for Kleenex to try to salvage some of this lost revenue. It’s a creative move which has the added benefit of proving low risk, high reward. All from changing the box.

How can simple differences change the way that customers think of your product? What is your packaging really communicating?

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JCPenny, Back-to-School, and Mobile Advertising

Rocky — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 09:03:25 +0000

While many of us feel like we’re only mid way through the summer, the Back-to-School advertising hype has begun. How many emails have you received so far about Back-to-School sales? As the Back-to-School marketing campaigns begin to take off, Mobile Marketer, a great news blog about mobile media, marketing and commerce, reports an increase in mobile advertising during this shopping season.

In this light, JCPenny today announced their “New Look. New Year. Who Knew!” Back-to-School Campaign, which they developed with agencies Saatchi and Saatchi New York and Razorfish to target the teen market. You can read about the many aspects of their new campaign in today’s press release, but I’ll give you a snip of their mobile advertising component:

Along with its iPhone app and mobile coupons, JCPenney continues to be a leader in the mobile space, bringing its signature style and affordable prices directly to teens’ fingertips with a special Back-to-School WAP site (jcpteen.mobi). This mobile hub includes JCPenney’s Back-to-School TV spot and “hauls”; an opportunity to opt-in and receive weekly texts on the latest Back-to-School looks; view Back-to-School styles and even upload their own look, which can be voted on and shared with friends. JCPenney will also be one of a select group of companies to begin marketing to consumers through Apple’s new iAd concept with the launch of an interactive Back-to-School ad that will appear when iPhone and iPod Touch customers use an app on their device.

JCPenny’s use of phones to target the teen market reinforces our recent post about Mindshare’s use of phones for teen market research on Juicy Fruit. The strong connection between teens and phones is only continuing to grow, and companies that want to target this specific market are creating their advertising campaigns according.

Why is mobile advertising so successful with teens? Beyond the fact that teens have become glued to their cell phones, I think that success of mobile advertising also stems from its ability captivate the teen population through interactive social networks, in the same sense as facebook and twitter. If you look at JCPenny’s mobile advertising campaign, or browse through their mobile website, you’ll see that almost each page asks the teens to participate in activities, such as watching YouTube videos, uploading photos or voting on their favorite looks. In addition to drawing in the teens through interactive activities, this advertising effort could really take off through word-of-mouth. Just imagine, that after uploading a photo of one’s favorite look, the teen then texts 5 friends to check out the new pic and vote on it. In effect, the target population of teens can act as JCPenny’s greatest advertising agency, if this campaign really kicks off.

My question for you is this: how sensitive do you think that this market will be to the fact that the activities are really meant as advertisements? Do you believe, in general, that customers who participate in mobile activities alter their behavior based on whether or not an app is created as a marketing campaign?

FedEx’s Twitter Customer Support: A Case Study

Avi — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 13:29:43 +0000

One of the under-reported trends of 2010 is the new conceptual understanding of service failures as markers of importance. Twitter users are greeted with the fail whale seemingly every few hours, and news outlets, instead of blaming Twitter for failing in its most basic functionality, extracted the lesson that the World Cup is a really big deal. Pre-order day for the iPhone 4 crashed the AT&T servers, and it was just another indication of the iPhone’s popularity. Some even posited that this was a marketing ploy, aiming to draw news coverage of the new phone’s pre-order success. iPhone ordering complications didn’t end with pre-orders, though. This trend continued yesterday. June 24 marked the official release of Apple’s latest hit and FedEx, handling the shipping of the gadgets, proved unable to handle the high volume of anxious customers tracking deliveries.

It’s at this point that we pick up Andy Beal’s account of his day as an anxious customer, unable to track the status of his new iPhone. Beal discovered an active FedEx Twitter account, @FedExLina, manned by someone who may have been able to help. Here’s Beal:

It’s probably just an automated account that looks for mentions of FedEx and sends out pre-formatted tweets. I decided to ask for help anyway. Low and behold, FedExLina was not only real but she was willing to help!

And so, I sent her an email. Guess what? She replied within 15 minutes with this:

Mr. Beal

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to help you today. I did researched your tracking # 43*******1840. I apologize for the confusion on the status of your shipment. The package deliveries are as proceeding as normal, however tracking updates are temporarily being delayed. Yes, your packagte is out on the van for delivery today by 4:30. May I suggest if you planned not to be home today that you go to the Apple website and follow the instructions to print and complete the “Shipment Release Authorization” form and leave it on your door for the delivery driver. Please remember the faster way to contact me is via tweeter. I am just a tweet away. I hope this information was helpful.

Warmest regards,

FedEx Lina

Wow! How about that?

A large international company that actually gets how to use Twitter! Not just pre-formatted tweets. Not just pushing marketing messages down our throats. But, actual customer support–during one of their busiest days, I might add!

Of course, if there’s an important soccer match going on, Twitter might not be any more stable than the FedEx website. But all joking aside, this is obviously a great use of Twitter. A real person, providing something of real value to customers. And, as Beal makes clear, the efforts of one employee with a Twitter account transformed the experience of that customer from one of frustration and helplessness to one of pleasant astonishment. Well done, FedEx.

Are you using Twitter as customer service? What methods do you use to allow customers to interact freely with your business?

Google Purchases Global IP Solutions: Where’s Video Conferencing Heading?

Rocky — Tue, 18 May 2010 13:38:16 +0000

Google’s acquisition of Global IP Solutions, a VoIP video conferencing provider, will now expand the voice capabilities of the big Internet search and advertising giant. Following Google’s Gizmo5 acquisition and Google’s Voice Services, the question becomes, “Where is Google headed now?”

For the VoIP industry, Google’s new VoIP acquisition is obviously big news. But what about for marketing and advertising agencies? How will Google’s newest purchase of GIP’s capabilities (shown in the image to the right) change the game for businesses?

Searching for answers to these questions, I came across the results of a recent GIPS marketing survey (in February). It revealed the increasing value of video conferencing for businesses, as shown in the whitepaper’s title, “Video Conferencing is Here. Are You Ready or Falling Behind?” One can attribute part of the rise to the need that video conferencing fulfills in enabling businesses more clear and efficient communication. Another contribution comes from the marketing dollars that the big vendors such as IBM, Cisco, Tandberg and Polycom are using to promote video conferencing. And yet another factor, mentioned in the whitepaper, is the effect that Skype, Gmail, and Yahoo have had on the wider population through their consumer apps.

With Google’s new acquisition, we can expect to see them pumping up their advocacy of VoIP video conferencing. If Google succeeds in increasing the availability of options and the quality of VoIP services, then the value of video conferencing for businesses will increase. This added value can lead to an an even greater rise in the use of video conferencing for businesses, and thereby also increase the pressure on businesses to keep up with the new technology.

How does your business use video conferencing? How can your marketing firm increase your use of video conferencing in your marketing campaigns?

Cut Wireless Technologies? Small Businesses Say “No”!

Rocky — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 15:51:25 +0000

While businesses regularly evaluate where they can cut on spending, certain activities remain out of the pail of the considered options. Why? They’re just too important.

AT&T just surveyed small businesses and found that 2/3 of business owners believe that wireless technologies are critical to their continued survival. AT&T’s announcement details the findings, and the icon on the left from emarketer.com charts the responses.

The real question is not “what are the results of the survey?”, but rather “why do the small businesses feel that wirelesss technologies are so important?”

Jeff Kagan, an independent wireless and telecom industry analyst, answers the question “why?” with a point that we’ve been talking about all week: differentiation based competitive advantage. He writes, “Small businesses that understand the value of wireless technologies and are able to maximize the benefits they offer can create competitive advantage in the marketplace.”

Don’t think that if you don’t invest in wireless technologies, you’re bound to fail. What Jeff’s really saying is “While the concept of WiQ may not completely define which businesses succeed and those that don’t, it can serve as a ‘barometer’ of the potential impact on the bottom line.”

What other activities do you consider critical for survival, even during tough economic times?

Convergys Launches Interactive Voice Portal

Rocky — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:56:02 +0000

Convergys Corporation, a leader in relationship management, announced version 6.5 of its IVP (Interactive Voice Portal) and the next generation of its Interactive Composer. Convergys’ full solution, called ISS (Intelligent Self-Service), provides businesses with the tools to leverage their customer relationships through intelligent automation, self-service and outbound notifications.

Whenever I read a press release, one of the first marketing questions that comes to mind is: what market need is this new product, service or announcement addressing?

Convergys’ news announcement makes this point pretty clear:

The growing popularity of smart mobile devices has driven customers to expect anywhere, any channel access to contact centers. As an industry-leading platform for intelligent voice and Visual IVR self-service applications, IVP from Convergys addresses this demand by enabling contact centers to give their customers the information they need in a timely manner via the media most convenient to them – voice, telephony, Web, fax, email, or mobile device. Visual IVR support, new in IVP 6.5, enhances the power of speech through visual presentation of service options, content, and responses on a mobile phone screen during a voice interaction.

People today are constantly on the go, but they still expect the same level of information access as if they were sitting all day at their desk in an office. Consequently, companies that want to take full advantage of their customer relationships need to be able to address this market need by contacting their customers and providing service through a variety of media options.

Read the entire press release to learn more about version 6.5.

Super Bowl, Social Media

Avi — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 13:10:44 +0000

We’ll be back later this week with more on this year’s batch of Super Bowl TV ads, but this is 2010, so those traditional commercials only tell part of the Super Bowl marketing story. There are several different social media components of Super Bowl 44, so we’ll consider them one by one.

First off, the NFL has made a concerted effort to incorporate user-generated content in its own marketing of the game itself. Much like the Grammys’ emphasis on the shared creative partnership that has developed between artists and music lovers, NFL.com has collected and hosted the fans’ reactions and thoughts, aggregating a wealth of Tweets, blog posts, and Flickr photos, all relating to the NFL’s big day. The focus of this campaign differs slightly from that of the Grammys, as the NFL correctly recognized that the disconnect between the players competing on the gridiron and the fans watching at home is vast. Rather, it emphasized the shared American experience of watching the game. The NFL also took the step of introducing the what must be the Super Bowl’s first ever official Twitter hashtag (#SB44).

Beyond the NFL itself, advertisers have expanded their efforts to utilize social media to supplement (or, in the case of Pepsi, replace) their traditional TV ads. Mashable has categorized two distinct ways in which companies used social media:

1) Controversy Generators: These include, according to Mashable, ads that were banned by CBS, which have found a life online. GoDaddy is no stranger to this strategy, as the company is perhaps more well-known for its racy Super Bowl spots than for the affordable web-hosting service it provides. But ManCrunch, a gay dating site, has also taken advantage of CBS’s decision to ban its submitted ad.

2) Buzz Generators: Companies such as Coca-Cola, Budweiser, and Monster have all supplemented ads that aired during the game. Coca-Cola, for instance, has created a Facebook app to allow users to share virtual cokes, gaining in the process access to snippets of the broadcast commercial. Budweiser asked for fan feedback through its Facebook page in order to determine which 30-second spot would be used on TV.

And, lastly, BrandBowl 2010 has set itself up as the go-to source for Twitter reactions to Super Bowl ads, keeping track of the game within that other game. According to the BrandBowl leaderboard, Doritos and Google turned out to be the big winners of Super Bowl advertising.

According to the site, “Brands aren’t just what the ad makers say. Brands are also what the public thinks.” In this age of social media, that sentiment strikes me as true.

How the Grammys Have Redefined Fanship

Avi — Mon, 01 Feb 2010 13:07:11 +0000

Last night’s Grammy Awards ceremony marked a major change in marketing strategy for the venerable sponsor of the awards, the Recording Academy. For the first time, the Grammys focused heavily on social media in its advertising efforts. This included, as was to be expected, an enhanced presence on Twitter and Facebook. But the Grammys incorporated an inclusive message of social media even in its more traditional advertising, adopting the slogan We’re All Fans. And this is more than just a motto: the very substance of the TV and print ads incorporated user-generated content.

I first saw the type of mosaic-photo used by the Grammys (and pictured above) as part of Sports Illustrated‘s 2004 Sportsmen of the Year celebration, honoring the long-suffering Boston Red Sox and–significantly–their fans. This multi-layered visual is striking and attention-grabbing, as the eye is drawn to both the component pieces and the unified whole. In short, it’s an ad that begs to be looked at.

The similarity of focus for both these mosaic-photos is telling, as they both emphasize the connection to fans. In the case of the Red Sox, this connection is limited to a supportive and–some might say–a spiritual role, as people who have waited entire lifetimes to see the team win a World Series finally witnessed this event. It’s a passive form of fanship in play here. The Grammys ad manages to take an additional step, incorporating fan-made versions of popular songs directly in the professional marketing campaign. The Grammys here redefines what it means to be a fan, transforming it from the passive supporter of a baseball team to the type of collaborator and partner that is now possible with the proliferation of user-generated content.

This point is further driven home by the Grammys YouTube-focused TV ads. Notice that the components here are all real user-uploaded videos, and that a viewer can see these diverse tributes by clicking on the mini videos themselves.

As Mashable points out:

Not only is it a cool visualization of the campaign, but for the fans that made those videos themselves, it must be amazing to see something you made and created airing on CBS and on the Internet for the whole world to see. To be clear, these weren’t performances done specifically for an advertising spot, this was a clip composed of stuff that real fans made just because they’re fans and they wanted to share their respective talents on YouTube.

In an environment in which there are dozens of YouTube tributes to, for example, Beyonce’s Single Ladies video, it makes all the sense in the world for The Grammys to emphasize the newly formed creative connection between artists and fans.

Super Bowl, Social Media