Hey Scion want to sell more cars? Do what Coca Cola did.
Would you like a drink of Fred? How about a slice of Benny? After reading the September 25 Wall Street Journal article ‘Share a Coke’ Credited With a Pop in Sales, you may find yourself in the not too distant future walking down your grocery aisle looking for your personalized branded grocery items. From the article we learn that after Coke put the names on bottles and cans of the 250 most popular first names, “soft-drink sales in the U.S. have risen more than 2% after the world’s most-famous beverage brand began labeling Coke, Diet Coke and Coke Zero this summer with names of individuals, from Aaron to Sarah to Zach.”
“To see your name on a big brand, it makes it personal,” said Ricardo El Torro, who secured a can with his name on it. The 22-year-old clothing-store employee and his friends in Atlanta also recently played a version of “spin the bottle” with the personalized Coke containers.” Wow, spin the bottle? I am not sure what is more surprising – the increased sales or that 22 year olds are still playing spin the bottle. But I digress.
“Share A Coke” was first launched in 2011 in Australia, after local executives and the ad agency Ogilvy brainstormed on ways to re-engage consumers in stores and online. Coke says consumption of its cola jumped 7% among young Australians during the inaugural campaign. In the U.S., Coke took the 250 most popular first names for teens and millennials and slapped them on the front of 20-ounce bottles. The most-stocked names in stores were Chris, Jess and Alex.”
It turned into a hunt for some but remains a keepsake for many.
“Alyssa Lescalleet says she and her husband Shane hunted for each other’s name on bottles all summer in Lancaster, Ohio. Mr. Lescalleet, a landscaper, finally found a Diet Coke named Alyssa in Dayton and a Coke named Shane in Columbus. Ms. Lescalleet is thinking of keeping them on a living-room shelf next to wedding pictures. “I’ll keep them forever,” said Ms. Lescalleet.”
Did you search out and purchase your named Coke?
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From the eMarketer September 25 report, “Online Discounts vs. Free Shipping: A Battle of the Ages,” it is revealed that from a July 2014 Retention Science poll that the top three most effective customer incentives offered by online retailers are:
1. A percentage discount on an item being purchased (a 10% off coupon)
2. Free or discounted shipping
3. A specific amount discount on an item being purchased ($10 off coupon)
What do you find the most appealing incentive to purchase from a specific online retailer?
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Hashtag Killer Psych USA Network Social Media Strategy
How CNBC, Pepsi, and American Express Harness Mobile Marketing and Commerce
Left to right: Edmund Lee from Bloomberg Businessweek, Suzanne Vranica from The Wall Street Journal, Nat Ives from Ad Age and Jim Cooper from Adweek. Behind the panelists is Scott Berwitz from Mindshare moderator of the panel.
As the old saying goes “you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar” can easily apply when trying to get a reporter to cover you story idea, book, or company. I attended the Public Relations Society New York chapter Meet the Media panel that featured reporters and editors from the Wall Street Journal, Bloomberg Businessweek, Ad Age and Adweek offering tips and information for getting featured in their publications.
Suzanne Vranica, Advertising Editor at the Wall Street Journal feels that the best relationship with PR is when that PR person’s idea or story would be a perfect fit for a specific writer at a specific publication. Suzanne suggests that if you are the PR contact in your organization, it is best to know how your company fits in the ecosystem of the business world and be able to notice trends and solve problems in that sector so you can provide background to the story. One annoyance to Suzanne is receiving a press release with an embargo. She felt that was overused by many and if that information is going out to other publications with web exclusives, print exclusives, etc. it seems redundant once the story is out. Another thing to avoid is when some have sent an email or called stating, “Bloomberg wrote a story about…” Why would she want to be covering what Bloomberg just did? Do not tweet story ideas to Suzanne since she feels Twitter is a public forum and not the right place as other people can see the conversation.
You can follow Suzanne Vranica on Twitter @VranicaWSJ.
As a reporter for Bloomberg Businessweek, Edmund Lee suggests that if you are trying to get your story or news into Bloomberg Businessweek it is best to know what type of news and industries Bloomberg Businessweek covers, and research by reading the articles and become familiar with the reporters that may be covering specific industries. You will have a better chance of that reporter covering your story. Echoing Suzanne, Edmund also wants to know where your company and products fall in the overall business environment. Another tip is providing value to other reporters that we may be working on a story not specific to your company. If you can become a reliable source for others those reporters will keep coming back to you. If there is a technical issue that can only be answered by someone other than you be sure to have that person available since Edmund may not be able to speak again if he is on deadline. Edmund recommends short e-mails no more than three sentences and if he has the time, may provide constructive feedback for to get back your with a reason why the story was not picked up are covered by Bloomberg Businessweek.
You can follow Edmund Lee on Twitter @edmundlee.
Jim Cooper, Executive Editor at Adweek spoke about how even though Adweek reporters get a majority of the stories by going out to their sources, the job would not be complete without the help of those PR people calling and emailing leads and story ideas. Jim strongly advised if you have an idea for a story in Adweek to take the time and research which writers cover specific topics at Adweek and then go to that person first with your pitch. Following the Adweek editorial calendar helps for you to pitch based on the theme/topic for an upcoming issue. If that reporter/writer is not rushing back to you he is probably not interested in your story at the moment but keep trying since it may be covered in the future. Jim does not mind being pitched on Twitter but prefers the direct message option.
You can follow Jim Cooper on Twitter via @jcoopernyc.
As the Media Editor for Ad Age, Nat Ives shared that the magazine gets stories coming from a combination of sources that include the Ad Age staff and PR folks. He enjoys exclusives since it is easier to cover and eventually everyone else will be covering that story. But Nat finds getting an exclusive can be difficult if the those in PR keep giving it to the same large publications and eventually Ad Age will have to go elsewhere. Ad Age prefers direct access to a CEO and Nat would like, after having an interview with a company executive, to be able to speak to them directly for any follow up questions rather than just the PR staff. Nat prefers to be reached via e-mail, does not care for press releases, and follow-up e-mails are not useful or helpful to him.
You can follow Nat Ives on Twitter @natives.
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How to Get Your Story or Event On Television and Radio Shows
How to Get Your Guest or Book on Rachel Ray and CBS This Morning Saturday
How to Reach and Foster Relationships with Mommy Bloggers
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Get Your Products and Stories Featured in Mainstream Magazines
From the eMarketer August 27 article, “College Students Say ‘Cheese’ via Snapchat” in a July 2014 Sumptop poll of US college students 18-24, the top four social networks on campus are:
1. Snapchat
2. Twitter
3. Facebook
4. Instagram
Will Facebook be on this list six months from now?
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How to Get Your Guest, Book, or Story on New York One, DNA Info New York, and Metro New York
How to Get Your Client or Book on CNBC, Huffington Post Live, The Chew, and Better TV
How to Get Your Guest or Book on Rachel Ray, Piers Morgan Tonight, CBS This Morning Saturday
How to Get Your Story/Event/Guest on Bloomberg News
How to Get Your Story or Event on New York News Shows
Get Your Product, Book, Movie On Television and Radio Shows – PRSANY Panel
Get Your Products and Stories Featured in Mainstream Magazines – PRSANY Panel
As a multinational banking and financial services corporation, Citigroup, better known as Citi has a large social media presence along with Pfizer. Paul Michaud of Citi and Brenna Robinson from Pfizer shared some of their social media strategy during the New York IABC panel, “The Future of Social Media in Business Communications.”
The questions your company or department should ask:
Who will manage it?
What is the message?
Do you have a budget?
How will you manage negative feedback and any negative comments?
Paul advised that social networks can be used as the content publishing aspect of the marketing funnel and if consumers are interested in your brand they will use your products and services. Ideally you want to get influencers to talk about your products. Other social media channels may have challenges. Paul spoke about another Citibank program Thank You on Pinterest and the challenge is that Citibank cannot use the names products that may be offered in promotions as Citi holds no rights to use them. In dealing with crisis management on social media Citibank may use stall tweets that enable customer service to research an issue and get back to the customer with information or a resolution to the problem.
You can follow Paul Michaud on Twitter @ehandnyc
Brenna Robinson from Pfizer advises your company/organization to start with researching the target customer and what eventually would be the goals for various social media channels.
Is there a certain quantity or quality of followers?
Where does your company/organization want to engage those followers?
If you are going to have a blog you may need at least ten topics to get started and keep it going since that coolness/new thing starts to wears off. You may be a big Pinterest fan but think about what your company/organization will have on there for new content. The main ingredient is great content since you cannot buy eyeballs and interest. You may also want to consider if things take off successfully on a particular social media channel and your budget suddenly grows as you now need a professional photographer to up your game and maintain higher standards. One challenge with Pfizer is that even as they are in a heavily regulated industry that should not be a barrier for a great social experience with customers. Brenna spoke about Pfizer’s Get Old campaign that enables having conversations with everyone. In addressing crisis management and social media Brenna feels that there are no excuses for delays and your organization must address them immediately.
You can follow Brenna Robinson on Twitter @brennarobinson
You may also be interested in these posts:
How to Get Your Guest, Book, or Story on New York One, DNA Info New York, and Metro New York
How to Get Your Client or Book on CNBC, Huffington Post Live, The Chew, and Better TV
How to Get Your Guest or Book on Rachel Ray, Piers Morgan Tonight, CBS This Morning Saturday
How to Get Your Story/Event/Guest on Bloomberg News
How to Get Your Story or Event on New York News Shows
Get Your Product, Book, Movie On Television and Radio Shows – PRSANY Panel
Get Your Products and Stories Featured in Mainstream Magazines – PRSANY Panel
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