Online reviews are the new word of mouth. According to the eMarketer August 6 article, “Consumers Read More Local Online Reviews” reveals that local businesses need to get at least four to six reviews prior to anyone paying your local business a visit. Do fake reviews on Yelp even stop potential customers? “Despite the buzz surrounding phony online business ratings and reviews, consumers haven’t stopped reading other people’s posts about their experiences with companies as 88% of internet users said they trusted online reviews about local businesses as much as suggestions from people they knew.”
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You have to hand it to the marketing staff for the Chicago Cubs. After reading the Wall Street Journal August 20 article, “Why Wrigley Field Is Suddenly So Empty” even though the Cubs have no chance of making the playoffs again this year the team in past has managed to still sell tickets and attract fans but the tide may be turning as ticket sales are down.
First some history: In 1981 The Tribune Company bought the Chicago Cubs for $20.5 million. Even though the team has not made it to the world series it did make it to the playoffs during some of those years with attendance going “from an average of 15,423 a game in 1982 to a high of 40,743 in 2008, the year before it sold the team.”
How did they do it? “The success of Tribune reflected a series of smart marketing moves. Among them: The company turned Cubs games into programming fodder for superstation WGN, which introduced the team to a vast national audience. Tribune hired as announcer Harry Caray, a graceless blowhard who nonetheless aroused an enormous fan following. Under savvy marketing chief John McDonough, the club celebrated the glories of lovely but age-worn Wrigley and cycled through a variety of promotions designed to put people in the seats (Beanie Baby days!). To declare yourself a Cubs fan was to place yourself in a vibrant community—people with the heart to embrace a loser. In the current language of marketing, the Chicago Cubs became a brand with soul, an entity that represented a portfolio of sympathetic qualities, including loyalty, perseverance, humility and tradition.”
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An interesting graphic can be found in the August 5 eMarketer article, “Smartphone Users Really Don’t Want Stores Stalking Them. ” The top six leading activities conducted on mobile shopping apps while shopping in store are:
1. Check other retailer prices
2. Coupons or discount offers
3. Product reviews
4. Research product info
5. Manage coupons
6. Locate item at another store
What mobile shopping activity do you do while at the store?
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The original ad skipper now stored in closets, basements and attics across the country.
Television commercials. Those two words make your eyes roll. So is it any wonder after reading the August 4 Wall Street Journal article, Ad-Skipping Skews Upscale after all these years and new technology enabling viewers the ability to not only time shift their viewing for a later day and time but to view to view a show that would have ran sixty minutes if watched in real time to actually view it in forty minutes. According to the article TiVo surveyed 350,000 viewers of the show “Mad Men” and discovered that viewers skipped 73% of the commercials while 66% “The Walking Dead” viewers skipped commercials.
So if I am an AMC sales rep trying to sell ad spots how do I figure this out? “The figures are calculated from the shows’ total audiences, including those watching “live” as well as those using a DVR as many as seven days later. Not surprisingly, those shows with high rates of ad-skipping had low rates of “live” viewership. TiVo estimated that only 11% of TiVo viewers watched “Mad Men” live, for instance. Advertisers and TV networks take ad-skipping into account in their negotiations: TV ad time is priced based on the cost of reaching 1,000 people watching commercials, not the programs. That means marketers aren’t paying for all those people who are skipping over the ads.”
So if I want to advertise on television does that mean I can only hope for live events? According to the Tivo survey here are the top four shows where viewers skipped the least ads:
1. “House Hunters International” on HGTV
2. “Bam’s Bad Ass Game Show” on TBS
3. “Carribean Life” on HGTV
4. “Love It or List It” on HGTV
Wow – HGTV holds three of those spots.
Have you skipped through ads when watching a show you recorded?
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Sometimes I think every marketers dream is to have their brand become the most trending hashtag on Twitter, so what happens when a hashtag used for one company or product ends up causing confusion with other hashtags? According to the Wall Street Journal article, “Blinded by the Blizzard of Hashtags” Neutrogena and LG USA choice of hashtags had two Twitter users thinking twice about the real meaning of their hashtags.
A hashtag is a word or phrase preceded by a hash symbol # which hyperlinks to reference on social media platforms. Hashtags can “extend the conversation” online, says Alex Jacobs of DigitasLBi, furthering advertising’s reach to younger consumers who are heavily engaged with social media. Once a hashtag has launched, companies monitor posts and engage with positive responses, Mr. Jacobs says. One best practice is to interact with users who have lots of followers, known as influencers, he says.”
When Neutrogena decided to use #unseenacne “Josh Thorp, a 33-year-old math teacher saw the hashtag in a commercial for Neutrogena’s Oil-Free Acne Wash and tweeted: “Neutrogena wants me to use the hashtag #unseenacne, how about #FreakingGross?” Thorp continues, the hashtag “caught my eye because I thought it was so awkward to tweet about acne, typically you’re trying to cover it (the acne) up.”
Another challenge for companies and brands is the authenticity of the hashtag since those including the hashtag in tweets usually end up coming from the company or brand staff and may include promoters and celebrities endorsing the product for a fee.
Looking to launch their ad campaign targeted at moms, LG Electronics USA used #momconfessions, and Leah Humphrey was unaware LG was also using #momconfessions and Ms. Humphrey tweeted: “I meant to spend naptime cleaning but instead I’m rewatching the first season of #glee #MomConfessions #Netflix.” Ms. Humphrey states, “When TV ads include a hashtag, I pretty much ignore it.” David VanderWaal, head of marketing for LG USA stated, “You have to engage in a way that already works organically so it doesn’t feel like you’re trying to sell something.”
But isn’t that the point for LG? You have some #greatrefrigerators and to sell and if I happen to be on the lookout for a new refrigerator, why not create hashtags such as #myfridgebroke, #newfridgeneeded, #myfridgestinks?. In the end hashtags are another way to extend your brand but be sure to do your homework to see if the hashtag is already taken and used for something other than what you intended.
What is your strategy for selecting a hashtag?
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