The Most

On July 7, 2011 By ashleyfausIn Advertising, Branding1 Comment

Marketers always want to be the most innovative, most creative, most quick to change, make the most increase in sales… generally, we want the MOST success, however that is measured. Sometimes, we get so caught up in OUR quest for the most, that we forget what most of our CUSTOMERS want or need! Maybe most of the customers like the old way, the old product, the old campaign, the old measure of success. Sometimes customers want what they’ve known for most of their lives. Sometimes, there’s a reason that most of your competitors’ ads look mostly the same, and maybe your most creative ad isn’t what’s needed for the situation.

It’s a hard truth to hear for most marketers, but sometimes good ‘ole Marketing 101 is the best path to take. After all, as I’ve mentioned before, marketing is about people, and the point of marketing is to grow sales profitably. In a recent survey of ads for one of our key magazines, we learned that our ads had a most adverse effect on our readers. They didn’t like our creativity, but much prefer the old style that is prevalent throughout most of the magazine. While I’m glad we were willing to take a step out, this feedback helped me realize that our customers aren’t quite ready to respond to the new style… and that’s ok! My goal is to reach the most customers, with information in the most clear way possible. In light of these findings, I’m going to go back and make our ads look like most customers prefer. That’s the most rational decision, don’t you think?

The Real Test

On July 5, 2011 By ashleyfausIn Advertising1 Comment

I’ve seen several commercials lately that involve letting real people test a product, without telling them the brand of the product, and seeing their reactions. While there is usually some inherent bias and skepticism, I generally think these tests work well. Most recently, I’ve enjoyed the Dove body wash test and the Suave Professional Hair Care tests.

For Suave, they put the new product in a generic bottle, and let stylists test them on models. The products elicit comments about improved hair texture, silk/shine, flexible hold, and generally “awesome product” reviews. Then, they reveal that the stylists have been using Suave Professionals, and all the stylists are blown away. The comment that stuck with me was, “I will definitely re-think my impression of Suave”. This is HUGE for a marketer, as perception plays a huge role in the selection process. Suave has a reputation for being lower quality and low-priced, not “salon-approved”. By doing these real tests, Suave has effectively found a way to change people’s perception. They’ve changed the name of the product by including “professional” in the title, the packaging is a sleek chrome color, and they’re proudly telling everyone to just give the new formula a try. I applaud Suave’s efforts to change the perception by tweaking key ingredients like packaging, name, and imagery used in commercials.

The Dove body wash commercials show a “before” and “after” shot of close-up photographs of the models’ skin. They give the models a week to use the body wash, and re-take the photos to show that their skin is smoother than before. Again, I like that Dove is changing perceptions about body wash by getting people to use the product, instead of just making the claims in the advertising. They haven’t changed their packaging or naming, but they’ve continued their success with images of “real” women using their products. They done tests with mirrors to show that their soap doesn’t leave a film, tests with sleeved vs. sleeveless shirts to prove that their deodorant leaves your skin smooth, and used curvier models to show that their product is for women of all sizes. Dove has been the champion of “real” for a long time, and I love that they’re continuing down this line of advertising and enforcing the perception that they are a brand for “real” women.

I think these tests have a lot more merit than taste tests, and I like that they can be used to change perceptions, as shown in Suave’s example, or to enhance perceptions, as in Dove’s case. People aren’t fooled by companies’ claims in advertisements, and I think we’ll be seeing more product tests in the future.

Brand Recall Fail

On June 16, 2011 By ashleyfausIn Advertising, Branding, Selling1 Comment

My husband and I were on a tight time schedule to attend a wedding last weekend, so I asked him to bring all of the necessary items that I needed to dress for the event. He was a groomsmen, so we had to be there early enough that it would work best for him to pick me up straight from the office. In true “too busy” fashion, we didn’t discover this until I was already at work, and hadn’t packed the items to change. Part of my list of things for him to pack, was clear deodorant, since I planned on wearing a sleeveless black dress. Unfortunately, I have two types of deodorant sitting in the bathroom, so I thought I’d describe the brand, packaging, and messaging to him to ensure that he grabbed the right stick. This turned out to be an epic fail, as I mixed the messages and imagery between the two brands I own, AND random TV commercials I’ve seen. Sigh… I think marketers everywhere are shaking their heads in shame at this failed attempt at brand recall.

“Little black dress approved” has become a popular tagline for a lot of deodorant makers, so naturally, I assumed that my clear stick had some version of this tagline. It turns out that neither brand in the bathroom featured this tagline, but I assumed it should be there, since the deodorant I wanted to use was designed specifically to address the issue of wearing black garments. The good news is that this tagline stuck with me enough to pull it out of my memory without any help. The bad news is that I can’t for the life of me remember which deodorant maker actually coined that phrase and prints it on their packaging. Marketers should be a little wary of being too generic and clever with their taglines, and make sure that the tagline lives with the brand, not with the item. Just as “Google it”, “Xerox it” and “Kleenex” are now synonymous with their respective functions, becoming ubiquitous can damage a brand’s ability to be recognizable and memorable.

Imagery is a powerful tool to aid in recall of a brand. However, as with the popular tagline, the “little black dress” has become a popular image to associate with clear deodorant. Thus, I told my husband to grab Brand A, and that it would have a picture of the little black dress on the front. Wrong… it was Brand B that had the picture of the little black dress! In theory, I look at these sticks every single morning, and yet all that stuck was that one of them had a little black dress. Brands need to make sure that common images have some distinguishing characteristic that’s unique to their brand, to ensure that customers aren’t just filing the image away. If I go to the aisle and want to use the “same” brand as last time, but I incorrectly associated that brand with a particular image, marketers have failed to obtain the sale. Most clear deodorant commercials feature a woman slipping into a black dress and checking the mirror to make sure there are no deodorant marks on her garment. The brand may only flash for a second, so if you’ve engrained the little black dress in my brain, make sure that you’re packaging re-enforces what you’ve been showing me on TV.

Finally, color played a role in this case of mistaken identity. Both sticks have a greenish-bluish hue to the packaging, so it’s hard to distinguish when you’re already confused the other characteristics like tagline and imagery. Some deodorants seek to change their colors to stand out to customers in-store. Since most sticks have the same size and shape, color is one of the few distinguishing characteristics to play on. Hair care and skin care products do a much better job of differentiating by color, but it seems like a lot of deodorant makers are using the cool, calm colors in their packaging. I understand the sentiment: you won’t sweat as much when you’re cool and calm, and the color gives a customer a sense of “refreshed and relaxed” when using the product. But, if every competitor is giving this same feeling to the customer, you’ve got to find another way to stand out. Take Teen Spirit, with it’s loud colors and bold imagery. They’re using colors to say that your deodorant should aid in your fun, spunky life, and they stand out in a sea of “calm and cool” showcased in most deodorant aisles.

So, can your customers get their husbands to grab the right stick of deodorant? The situation is a little humorous (he just grabbed both), but the dilemma is real: are your distinguishing characteristics really helping you stand out? Can customers readily pinpoint your brand based on your advertising and packaging? It’s literally the million dollar question!

Back in the Good ‘Ole Days…

On May 24, 2011 By ashleyfausIn Advertising, Social Media, Work and OfficeLeave a comment

I thought about posting this one yesterday, but then I switched. So unfortunate, as it would have been the perfect coincidence after some of our topical discussions in my latest class, Organizational Behavior. Let’s take a walk down memory lane, shall we? Back to the days before the internet, when research had to be done with… gasp… actual books!

– I was in 7th grade when I was first exposed to the internet. Our teacher had just set up Netscape Navigator, and she told us that we had to use at least one internet source for our history project. We were told to come up to her computer, type any question into the blank box, and then use the most appropriate answer with a link. I typed in some ridiculously long question, without any boolean logic or key words, and got 0 search results. Yeah, how is this magic box thingie helpful?

– By high school, we were all really proficient with the internet. So proficient, that our teachers starting requiring at least two book sources for our projects! Everything had to be cited using the standard MLA format, including our internet links. We weren’t allowed to use Wikipedia as a source for any of our projects, since that information was CLEARLY unreliable.

– By the end of college, the professors just started asking us for a list of links that were used to our sources. The MLA formatting for a bunch of links was pretty silly, since they could just click directly to the source from the last slide of our PowerPoint presentation. They could also put our papers into a third party content manager to find out exactly which percentage of our paper was plagiarized. I think the third party content system is much more effective than the MLA formatting for a bunch of Marketing majors using the latest data for real-world companies.

– Now, in the professional world and graduate school, everyone recommends “Google it”, “Bing it” and “Wiki it”. Yes, Wikipedia is often recognized as a reasonable place to at least start the research process. Statistics are known to be old, since we can’t collect and process the data as fast as we need to, so everything just says, “as of [date]”, and everyone just assumes that it’s actually accelerated well beyond whatever the statistics says on the screen.

Man that was a long walk! It seems like it’s been forever since I first used the internet, and now I’m the “social media expert” at work! My biggest takeaway from my encounters with the somewhat tech un-savvy, is that tech doesn’t fundamentally change how humans think and act. Yes, we can share information faster and broader, and yes, the internet never forgets. But, humans still need connection, interaction, and feedback. Thus, as a marketer, I view technology, specifically social media, as another tool. You don’t have to throw 20 years of business experience out the window, but you do need to take a new perspective to see how this latest tool fits into your overall strategy. How do you utilize this tool to meet the fundamental human needs that still exist? I’m already excited about this Organizational Behavior class, since it will allow me to dive deep into how people think, and why they do what they do. Combine that with all the latest tools, and you’ve got a fun set of issues to contend with. So, where were you when that new-fangled internet first came into your life?

The Scarcity Effect

On May 3, 2011 By ashleyfausIn Advertising, MBA Degree, Selling1 Comment

Wow, it’s been a fast and furious week! As I mentioned, I was on a business trip to one of our sister companies last week. I had a great inspiration for a blog post during a trip to Starbucks, and while contemplating this post, I made a connection to one of the theories we discussed in my Consumer Behavior class. I love making connections between my current academic pursuits and the real world! (Yes, I really am that much of a marketing nerd). We’ve been talking about the “scarcity effect” in my class, which basically states that when consumers feel like there is a limited amount of an item, the item must be more valuable. Think about collector’s items, or “limited edition” cars or toys. Everyone decides to stock up, because when the items run out, surely they’ll be worth more in the aftermarket.

Starbucks utilizes this effect all the time, particularly with their holiday offerings. Lots of customers wait in anticipation for the arrival of the Pumpkin Spice latte for the fall, and the Gingerbread latte for Christmas. This past year, Starbucks introduced the Caramel Brulee latte at Christmas, and it was a HIT. Personally, I LOVED this drink, and I would hit Starbucks a few extra times during the week to grab one, since I knew I wouldn’t be able to get it once the new year rolled around. I justified my additional purchases with the thought that I could only get it for a month, so I needed to stock up. The scarcity effect for these seasonal offerings has been marketing gold for Starbucks, as they’ve increased their sales when customers “stock up” on the limited edition product.

But what happens when you take the products off the market? During our trip last week, a barista mentioned that they STILL had customers asking for the Caramel Brulee latte. Upon hearing that they could not purchase this beverage, some customers abandoned the purchase altogether! Wait, Starbucks might be losing customers because they’ve stopped offering a popular product, that was known to be a limited time offering? Apparently so. This is where my marketing brain kicks in, and makes me ask, “Should Starbucks bring back the Caramel Brulee latte?” It doesn’t seem like customers have the same response to the Pumpkin Spice latte, so it would make sense to keep increasing short-term sales of each store by utilizing the scarcity effect for this beverage. But, if they’re losing customers after pulling a more popular seasonal offering, it might make sense to bring it back “for a limited time”, or add it to the menu as a regular offering. From my observation of one, I would be more likely to increase my purchases if they brought back the Caramel Brulee latte. I normally buy a Peppermint latte, which costs about $3.00. However, if Starbucks offered the Caramel Brulee latte, I would increase my purchase by $.75, at least every so often. I think it would be an interesting study for them to try bringing back the Caramel Brulee latte for a limited time this summer to see if it’s still got the clout that it had at Christmas. If it does, maybe Starbucks should consider the sales potential when the scarcity effect is NOT influencing the sales of this product.

So what do you think? Would you be willing to spend more, and spend often if they brought back a limited edition beverage? Are there seasonal offerings that you wish would be made available year-round?

Behavioral Observations

On March 31, 2011 By ashleyfausIn Advertising, MBA Degree, SellingLeave a comment

Being in a Consumer Behavior class has heightened my senses when observing people as they make decisions and consume products. That’s part of the point of going back to school, right? Well, I’ve had to analyze a few different behaviors for school projects over the years, and a recent incident at work reminded me of how weird we all are!

It’s not really weird, but weird when you magnify it and realize that people are often very predictable once you have observed and identified a pattern. I was looking to purchase pens as promotional items for the company trade show, so I had the promotional rep send over some samples. I then took the samples around the office to poll for the most popular choice. Upon handing the pen to each person, I noticed the following in almost all members of the office:

1) They held up both pens side-by-side, and turned them each to the side and back to the front

2) They felt the weight of each pen in their writing hand, and then felt the weight in comparison buy loosely holding one pen in each hand

3) They clicked each pen several times

4) They wrote with each pen

5) They repeated all the steps again

This whole process took about 3 minutes, and it was a little funny to watch, as everyone took this process quite seriously. It’s funny to me as a marketer, because I doubt that any of these people stand in a store and run these same tests when buying their own pens. But, suddenly asking them for an opinion turns it into a huge purchase decision, requiring many tests to determine the best possible choice. It’s also interesting because while I’ve asked them to choose among two, there are literally thousands of pens from which to choose. So, if they don’t like either of the samples I’ve given, in theory they would speak up and say that they want something different than what I’ve shown. However, by only showing them two choices, it seems I effectively told them those were the only options. This type of bias has been shown to be much more detrimental in the case of suspect line-ups and suspect photo books. For pens, it’s not problem for my colleagues to feel like they must “settle” on one of the choices I’ve given them. But, what if victims feel that they must “settle” on a suspect, even if the person they really want to pick isn’t offered as a choice? You see this type of decision all the time in the real world, so observing it in a smaller setting can lead to bigger ramifications.

I had a project during my time as an undergrad that required me to interview 3-5 people about their habits when brushing their teeth. How long did they brush? What did they do with the toothbrush after they finished? Then I had to observe 1 or 2 people brushing their teeth, and put that in my report about behaviors when brushing. It’s amazing how differently people perform the same everyday task when you actually start watching them and asking them to tell you about their routine. It’s even more interesting when you ask them WHY they do what they do. Even now, I catch myself considering my nightly routine, and how it differs from that of my husband.

This information can be valuable for design decisions as well as marketing strategies, and most people just don’t think about these things as they go about their everyday lives. Looking at life through a marketing lens reveals the seemingly mundane tasks and small-impact decisions are actually really complex if you take time to look at them. What areas do you find interesting when you apply your expertise to the situation?

Clicks and Conversions

On February 22, 2011 By ashleyfausIn Advertising, SEO/WebsiteLeave a comment

Prior to my arrival in my position, the company set up some ad campaigns for Google AdWords and Yahoo AdCenter. Yahoo AdCenter has since been converted to Microsoft AdCenter, and we’ve been having some issues with our number of clicks. We can’t really determine if the migration caused some issues, or if our clicks are just down this year. I think it’s some combination of both. In addition to attempting to track our actual ad clicks, we’re also having issues tracking the conversion from clicks. Why? Because, sad to say, we don’t have any call to action associated with our ads! I’m working on correcting this problem, but the ads have been running without any type of call to action for about a year already! There’s no “visit our website” or “call us and mention this ad” anywhere. We’ve also been lax in asking people about the referral source when the sales team follows up with customers, so we have little or no information about how effective our ads are. I’m on an information crusade for 2011, complete with surveys of every customer to ask, “How did you hear about us?”, analytics on any emails we send, and updating all the ads we’ve got running.

The lesson that’s been further confirmed? Measure, measure, measure! You can’t forget the measurement piece when you’re creating and implementing Marketing campaigns. It’s more costly to try to add this key information hind-sight, so take time on the front-end to effectively implement measurement tools for your campaigns.

Feature Fail?

On February 8, 2011 By ashleyfausIn Advertising, SellingLeave a comment

I’m working on a media plan for another country, and found the following claims in their media kit to be pretty humorous:

1) “7,000 copies are distributed to retail shops by Junk Mail Distribution”… I’m sorry, did you just use a company named JUNK MAIL DISTRIBUTION as a selling point for choosing your publication? Junk Mail means it’s JUNK, as in, not valuable. I don’t know that I would really go about naming my company “Not Valuable Distribution”, even as a tongue-in-cheek phrase.

2) “Employs the services of an experience proof reader, therefore blatant grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, and the use of slang is correctly managed”… do your competitors forgo services of a proof reader? Are errors standard in publications, so this sets you apart? I would assume you’d have your publication proof-read before sending it out.

Neither of these seem like selling points to me, but I’m still learning about the market. Maybe most other publications do have errors, and maybe that market sees more humor in an ironic company name. Either way, I’m thoroughly enjoying the international media kits I receive!

The Great Debate: Coke vs. All Other Soft Drinks

On January 18, 2011 By ashleyfausIn Advertising, The Great DebateLeave a comment

Did I mention the open bias in these posts? You were warned in the first post of this category! Today’s Great Debate focuses on soft drinks, and as the title indicates, my favorite is Coke. Most people would pit Coke and Pepsi against each other, but being from the South, I feel that Dr. Pepper has a huge following as well. Then there’s the diet drink fans, who often separate themselves into a whole different category than their full-calorie counterparts. Thus, to avoid an extensively long title, I just lumped all the lesser soft drinks into one category 🙂

Coca-Cola Classic

I love Coke, and I’ve always loved Coke… and I assume I always will. There really is something about that first sip that makes you say, “Ahh”. It’s a completely refreshing moment, just like the commercials show! It’s not too sweet, and the flavors blend wonderfully, without overwhelming your palate like some of the competitors’ offerings. What’s their marketing secret? They’ve made themselves a classic, a staple of the all-American way. The taste of Coke classic hasn’t changed, and the brand remains a consistent, tried-and true experience. I know that a Coke in Spain will taste the same as a Coke in China, and that both of these experiences with the product will be just as good as my experience here in the States. (Yes, I have had Coke in all 3 countries mentioned).

Pepsi

Alright, it’s my responsibility as a marketer to perpetuate the Coke vs. Pepsi war, so I’ll include it. One notable marketing endeavor was the taste challenge a few years ago. Pepsi set up taste tests to see which drink consumers preferred. Pepsi won their own taste challenge, and promptly plastered this win all over their marketing campaign. However, I found some interesting information related to this win. Pepsi is much sweeter than Coke, and the first sip of Pepsi triggers the pleasure center in the brain due to the sugar rush, thus producing a “preference” by consumers. The problem is, after the first few sips, the pleasure center of the brain is no longer stimulated, and actually starts to be over-loaded. So, for people who want to drink a whole can of Pepsi, it’s often too sweet for the brain to handle. Thus, if Pepsi really wanted a true representation of preference, they should have had taste testers consume a whole can of each beverage.

Dr. Pepper

This is a favorite here in Texas, as this beverage started out in Waco. It has a very distinct flavor, which I find to be a bit biting and over-powering. I will give them props for their marketing efforts, though. There’s a Dr. Pepper museum in Waco that features the stories, packaging, and serving of the product, and they’ve created a culture among fans that view Dr. Pepper as a Texas loyalty. With Texas’ intense state pride, branding yourself as a “beverage for real Texans” is a surefire way to garner a strong fan base.

Sprite

I’ll also include Sprite in this list, as there’s nothing like a Sprite when you’re stuck at home, sick. My mom always gave me Sprite and Saltine crackers when I wasn’t feeling well, and to this day, I’ll still grab those same remedies for a sick day. Sprite is also the one soft drink allowed backstage in my theater circles, as it’s clear coloring won’t mess up costumes if it spills! Sprite has also done a great job with their marketing, taking a young, fresh approach. They usually come at you with some kind of in-your-face music, animation, and colors to keep their image updated. And, I don’t feel too bad promoting Sprite, as they are owned by Coke 🙂

Care to weigh in on the Great Debate: Soft Drinks? I love Coke, and this topic has spurred many a fight among marketing undergrads, so I have no problem contending that this is a serious topic for debate among marketers!

Consciously Corporate

Category: Advertising