Marketing
Kmart's newest target market: 12-year-old boys.
When did Kmart decide to shift its target demo from women—73 percent of whom control household spending (Boston Consulting Group)—to unemployed, middle school-aged boys?
Market estimates about U.S. women’s purchasing prowess varies, ranging anywhere from $5 trillion to $15 trillion annually. My 12-year-old son rarely has enough change in his pockets to cover a fun-sized candy bar. So why has the troubled retailer so wantonly abandoned women in its latest ad campaign?
The campaign kicked off in April with the video “Ship My Pants.” (Go ahead. Say it out loud for full effect.) Featuring assorted shoppers professing that they had “shipped their pants” to promote Kmart’s Shop Your Way rewards program and its shipping feature, the video has garnered more than 17 million views on You Tube. The viral traffic is impressive, but will it drive store traffic? Doubtful.
Kmart followed “Ship My Pants” with the radio commercial “Gas Problem,” a juvenile play on words to market Shop Your Way. The rewards program is a growing loyalty club that offers members benefits, including discounts at participating gas stations.
“If you’re like most people, you suffer from occasional gas problems that prevent you from doing the things you love,” the announcer states delicately, cuing up a series of people who confess to a family history of gas problems, missed dinners out and more. “My gas problem got so bad, I had to cancel a father son camping trip,” says a woeful parent.
Reportedly this is Kmart’s attempt to relate more to shoppers, but to what shoppers? Free shipping isn’t exactly a novel idea, nor are loyalty programs. So once the value proposition has been sifted out of the ads, all that’s left are bathroom jokes to hang the brand on. Not exactly chick magnet material.
Women are poised to control two-thirds of the consumer wealth in the U.S. over the next decade and be the beneficiaries of the largest transfer of wealth in our country’s history, according to Fleishman Hillard Inc. If Kmart wants share of the purse, it’s particularly important that its advertising and marketing resonate with her.
The first step toward creating brand loyalty is grabbing her attention; the second step is retention. The female brain is hard-wired with evolutionary strongholds to create a very specialized customer, according to Nielsen NeuroFocus research. In other words, it takes a lot more than fart jokes and complimentary shipped shorts to make her take notice.
Women remember more and differently than men do, so talk to both her emotional and rational sides and acknowledge her careful attention to detail, suggests Nielsen NeuroFocus research. Appeal to her heart and her mind with a mix of emotional decision-making opportunities and rational information to increase purchase intent and bolster loyalty.
Finally, accentuate the positive. Eliminate the negative. According to Nielsen NeuroFocus, the female brain is programmed to maintain social harmony, so messaging should be positive and not focus on negative comparisons or associations.
Attention women: What’s your favorite ad campaign today and why?
The week in review - May 13, 2013.
Social media is constantly evolving, with vigilant bloggers following every new app, rule and Facebook flicker. We sift through hundreds of blogs weekly to keep on top of developments and seek out new client opportunities. It’s our job. And we like to share. So, don’t fret about what you might be missing. We’ve got your Cliffs Notes.
Vines Get Shared 4x More Than Online Video
Unruly Media found that branded Vines are shared 4x more and 5 Vines are shared every second on Twitter.
A Brand’s Value Proposition
Marketers need to give prospective customers a reason to come to their brand.
Network Through LinkedIn Groups
LinkedIn Groups are great way to build credibility and make new connections that can ultimately help grow your business.
Generating Leads Through Your Blog
You already know you need to create awesome blog content, but there’s more to business blogging than just that.
Examples of Great Advertainment
When advertising and entertainment collide, as it so often does, "advertainment" is born. Brands like Red Bull and Ford have great examples of this technique.
Comment on Facebook Through Bing
Bing will show comments from Facebook relevant to your search in the sidebar. From that search, you can Like a friend’s post, comment, or see the original post in its entirety on Facebook.
The week in review – May 6, 2013.
Social media is constantly evolving, with vigilant bloggers following every new app, rule and Facebook flicker. We sift through hundreds of blogs weekly to keep on top of developments and seek out new client opportunities. It’s our job. And we like to share. So, don’t fret about what you might be missing. We’ve got your Cliffs Notes.
The History of the Second Screen
Using two screens at once has become more common than only using one.
How People Use Their Mobile Device While Shopping
84% of people are browsing and shopping on their mobile device while they are physically in different stores.
Youtube Maps Out Trending Videos Across the Country
Youtube unveiled a new feature on Tuesday that maps out videos trending right now in cities across the U.S. You can filter the results by the gender and age of viewers, as well as by choosing to see videos trending by the number of shares verses the number of views.
Tighter Mobile Marketing
National brand campaigns using "geo-precise" techniques such as geo-fencing or targeting based on location-specific consumer behaviors increased to 58% in the first quarter.
Cost Per Facebook Like
Facebook unveiled a new metric for evaluating advertising campaigns on Facebook, called "cost per action" (CPA). Now, advertisers can pay not just for impressions or click-throughs, but for specific actions they want consumers to perform once they've seen the ad - including becoming a fan of the Page.
Abercrombie & Fitch markets to women with mean.
“Demographic.” “Target audience.” These are very useful terms of our trade. We all know that Anthropologie caters to bohemians, Lane Bryant celebrates the plus-sized, and Forever 21 is all about the young and trendy. Targeting helps companies find their niche and it gives shoppers a shortcut through the mall.
But Michael Jeffries, the CEO of Abercrombie & Fitch, has turned targeting into something ugly.
First, he created Abercrombie’s notorious small-size policy. The largest sizes available (to women, anyway) are size ten or Large.
He also instituted rigid requirements for the employees who can work in Abercrombie’s stores. They have to be young, beautiful, and thin. They’re also usually Caucasian.
Jeffries has long been open about his views. Abercrombie is cool, he told Salon in 2006, precisely because it excludes the “uncool.”
“In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids,” he said. “Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely. Those companies that are in trouble are trying to target everybody: young, old, fat, skinny. But then you become totally vanilla. You don’t alienate anybody, but you don’t excite anybody, either.”
I agree with one (and only one) thing that Jeffries says here. Targeting a particular group (as the companies I mentioned above do) is smart.
But targeting them by making them feel like they’re better than their bigger peers? That’s the part I find reprehensible. It’s also bad business.
By being so bald-faced about his prejudice, Jeffries hasn’t just alienated average-sized people. (Let’s remember that, as Meg Cabot says, size 12 is not fat and neither is Size 14.) He’s alienated thin people who are friends with average-sized people. He’s alienated anyone, really, who has any empathy at all.
Wearing Abercrombie clothes is now making a statement. It’s saying that you support the man who said it’s cool to exclude; the man who produced a T-shirt that said, “Do I Make You Look Fat?”
My 13-year-old daughter long ago rejected Abercrombie & Fitch for its showy labels. “Why would I want to walk around with a giant ad on my clothes?” she asked me.
But if she were an Abercrombie fan, I have a feeling this latest controversy would turn her off. The company has revealed its target audience to be queen bees and mean girls (and boys) — people who feel better about themselves by making others feel bad.
I’m happy to say that my daughter does not fall into this demographic, and neither do any of her friends.
The next time I set out to buy my kids some trendy clothes, I’ll be likely to head to a store like H&M, which sells both teeny-tiny teen duds and plus-size ones. H&M has also recognized that 67 percent of the purchasing population is plus-sized and started featuring a plus-sized model in their swimsuit ads.
If more shoppers support companies that celebrate our different shapes instead of shaming them, Abercrombie’s brand of cool is bound to go out of style.
Marketing to women by bashing men is a clueless strategy.
In my last blog I made mention of the “clueless husband” trope in TV ads. Upon closer examination I’ve noticed this cliché has become nearly an epidemic in television advertising to women. Men—or more specifically, husbands—use the blender with no lid, change their kid’s poopy diaper on the kitchen table, and generally behave like morons, while their long-suffering wives clean up after them with disinfectant wipes and paper towels. Check out the hilarious Sarah Haskins’ diatribe on “Doofy Husbands” for more examples. She astutely points out that while single men in TV commercials are still cool—driving hot cars, buying beer for sexy women in bars, working out at the gym—as soon as they get married, it’s all over.
While this portrayal of men can be funny (especially if you’re not a man), it demonstrates a lack of respect for women as well as men. It gives the impression that the only way to make women feel smart and competent is to make men dense and inept. This “if I make you less then I’m more” fallacy is the logic used by bullies everywhere. Most women I know don’t feel the need to bully men in order to feel that they are intelligent or capable. And research shows that the most effective marketing to women also appeals to men. Why do so many advertisers ignore this truth?
It’s not like men don’t notice. In fact, men are mad as hell and they’re not going to take it anymore. As described in this Huffington Post article men protested a 2012 TV campaign by Huggies in which the diaper company implied that allowing dads to be in charge of babies for an extended time would “put diapers to the test.” In other words, dads would let the babies’ diapers go without changing for a lot longer than moms. One man protesting the spots complained: “Get over the gender thing, will ya, Huggies? Because, as best as I can tell from all the comments you're ignoring on Facebook, most of us parents have been over the gender thing for years.”
Sounds like good advice for advertisers everywhere. What do you think? Is the portrayal of men in ads targeted at women unfair? Or is it justifiable payback for decades of vapid women on TV?
Today we launched a social media movement to shed pounds.
The battle of the bulge has a new weapon. Social media. Today our agency has launched a new integrated campaign for the Michigan Department of Community Health which includes an online pledge, mobile messages, emails, a facebook community, tv, radio, interactive and grassroots support. It’s called MI Healthier Tomorrow.
The campaign is focused on getting those of us with a muffin top to take a pledge to lose 10% of our body weight, share it with friends and engage in ongoing support. Losing just 10% of body weight can reduce the risk of chronic disease like heart disease, diabetes, stroke and cancer. In focus groups we learned that putting that message front and center was the most powerful way to inspire people to make long term change. I am really proud of our creative, account and media team and our wonderful clients at MDCH for the amazing collaboration on this effort. It has been a privilege for me to work on this campaign, as I have been fighting my own battle of the bagels for years. I have lost almost 60 pounds making small lifestyle changes over the last two years. And I am taking the MI Healthier Tomorrow pledge as a commitment to continue to reach my goal. Will you join me and take the pledge to lose 10%? Bathing suit season is around the corner…
Marketing to women that connects, example 10: Nike.
When it comes to award-winning marketing to women creative, Nike has just been doing it right for decades. When I was a young copywriter I would study my award books like textbooks. I took notes on the inspirational copy from the Nike women’s campaigns in the 80’s. I put the ads on my bulletin board in homage of just how culturally powerful marketing could be. I wished I had written that Super Bowl spot that set a new generation of girls on fire to what they could achieve. From the female phenoms to the girls next store, Nike always understood the female audience and how their brand could inspire, empower and move generations of women to kick ass. It was never so much about the products themselves, but for what they stood for. Culturally, the Nike women’s marketing challenged gender roles and society’s rules. I have always admired the concepts, the copy and the sheer commitment to the audience over the years. Nike’s marketing to women advertising continues to inspire me as a creative and as a woman. I wanted to share some of my favorites with you.
Want to see more, check out my first post in my series 20 examples of marketing to women that connects.
Falling for Target's new flick.
Okay, I admit it. We here at Brogan & Partners are a little obsessed with Target and their marketing. But Target’s latest marketing maneuver is so cute, so clever, so social media-rific, I can’t help but write about it, too.
How has Target raised the bar this time? They made a romantic comedy. On its own, this would delight about 98 percent of all women, but Target didn’t stop there. Because Falling For You is a romantic comedy you can shop.
The first segment of the film launched yesterday and will be followed by three more episodes on October 4th, 9th, and 10th. The film stars A-listers Kristen Bell, and Nia Long, as well as a cute new player named Zachary Abel. Here’s how it works. You watch the adorable Bell and Abel go through the classic rom-com paces: He gets doused in purple paint, she has deep conversations with her cat. They meet awkward in the elevator, then they’re pitted against each other by their cutthroat boss.
While you’re watching, all the Target items that they’re wearing and living in scroll along the right side of the screen. If you love Bell’s plaid pants or leafy shower curtain, Long’s hot pink lipstick, or Abel’s prepster-hip tie, you can click on them as they scroll by and add them to your favorites.
When the three-minute film is over, you can buy just about everything you saw, even the styling products that made Abel’s hair look so perfectly tousled or Bell’s Moroccan-style hand towel. Can you think of a more fun way to shop?
The film’s first segment was also fun to watch, both for all the sleek Target stuff and the cute performances. (The only aspect that didn’t work for me was the occasional appearance of very prominent Target symbols. With all the chic clothes and housewares populating the sets, that felt like overkill.)
Target is further upping the savvy of their film production by releasing it gradually. The first segment ended with a tantalizing cliffhanger. It worked on me. I’m dying to know what will become of these two characters. (I mean, other than the obvious fact that they will end up together in the finale, probably after running toward each other through the city streets, in the rain.) I’ll be tuning back in throughout the week and hope to catch the final live broadcast on October 10th.
And then we’ll be left to wonder what entertaining bar-raiser Target’s going to come up with next. I can’t promise I won’t blog about that one, too.
What do you think of this experiment in X-treme product placement?
Two viral videos that do way more than entertain.
Viral videos are an amazing phenomenon. Often, they’re purely about simple entertainment/procrastination. (How many times have my kids exclaimed, “Charlie, you bit my finger?” A lot.)
But videos with real messages have legs, too. You’ll find no better example, in my opinion, than the Pink Glove Dance.
Each time I watch this sweet and silly video of healthcare workers dancing around in their scrubs and surgical caps, it brings a smile to my face. The video stars staffers at Portland, Oregon’s Providence St. Vincent Medical Center. Everybody featured is wearing pink vinyl gloves and dancing for breast cancer awareness.
Well, the video was such a hit that its sponsor, Medline (the manufacturer of those pink gloves), had to make another one.
“If one video and one hospital could bring this much attention to breast cancer awareness and prevention,” reads a caption on the website, “think about the impact of a video that featured 20 times the people and facilities participating in it.”
The result is this sequel video. The video features 4,000 dancers from 14 different medical facilities and this time, they include healthcare workers and breast cancer survivors.
The sequel is just as fabulous as the first video, if not more. The song, “You Won’t Dance Alone” by the Best Day Ever, is perfect. The choreography is really impressive. (Well, impressive for a bunch of people who spent their twenties in med school.)
But it’s the vast number of participants that makes me cry every time I watch the sequel. There are dancers from hospitals in Newark, NJ to La Jolla, CA to Plano, TX and they are all working it. Their joy is infectious and incredibly moving. These healthcare workers (and janitors and administrators and lab techs etc.) are all helping women with breast cancer. They fight the disease every day. As a breast cancer survivor, I can attest—these videos really do matter.
That’s clearly why Medline is keeping the magic going. Today, July 2nd, they’ll announce the details for another Pink Glove Dance competition. You know I’m going to campaign for my amazing treatment team to submit a video. I’d also love to be part of one of those survivor dances.
Whether or not we Detroiters make the cut, I’ll just be glad to see the Pink Glove Dances continue. Do a little procrastinating and check them out. I promise you won’t regret the eight minutes (ten if you stick around to make a donation to the National Breast Cancer Foundation) you'll spend watching these advocates shake their booties for breast cancer.
Refer a friend to this innovative cause marketing.
I’ve always been a big fan of cause marketing, especially to reach women. Sure, we all love to get a sale price or cash back, but if the extra bang for our buck is a charitable donation, many of us are all over it. A study by Cone Marketing found that 88 percent of consumers find cause marketing acceptable, and 85 percent have a more positive image of a product or company when it supports a cause they care about. (Incidentally, those already super-high numbers go up to 95 percent and 92 percent when the consumers are mothers.)
Well, I recently discovered an example of cause marketing that gives both a discount and a charitable donation. It’s the Refer-a-Friend program offered by the suite of retail sites that includes Soap.com, Diapers.com, Yoyo.com, Wag.com, Casa.com, and Beautybar.com (The sites are operated by the Amazon-owned Quidsi Solutions, LLC.)
Here’s how it works: If you go to, say, Yoyo.com’s Refer-a-Friend program, you’ll get the opportunity (in the form of a referral code) to give a friend 20 percent off his or her first order.
When that friend uses Yoyo, the company donates up to $30 to Save Play/KaBOOM! which builds playgrounds around the country. This, of course, ties neatly into the toy retailer’s brand. On the same note, Wag.com’s chosen charity is the Best Friends Animal Society and Diapers.com’s is the Make-A-Wish Foundation.
Share the promotion via Twitter, Facebook and other social media, and not only do you help a number of friends save some dough, but the charities get more money.
Here’s why I think this promotion is both awesome and innovative:
- It’s a win-win situation. If I refer a friend, I can do good by prompting a charitable donation and help my friend get a discount.
- It’s good for the company. While all those donations and discounts will amount to a large outlay of money, it’s showing their customers they mean business. This will likely earn them some major customer loyalty.
- It uses social media to publicize the promotion. This is savvy. It’s the rare person who’s going to gush on her Facebook timeline about Soap.com. But when Soap.com gives her friend a discount and donates $30 to The FEED Foundation, she’s going to be more willing to shout about it on her social media. Again, this pumps up the brand and shows that Quidzi is serious about its charitable giving.
- It adheres to the concept of a “signature charity.” The causes these websites support relate to the products they sell. With these donations, the sites are both doing good and supporting their own brands.
I particularly like this idea of a signature cause because, in fact, Brogan & Partners has had one for years: breast cancer awareness. As our CEO Maria Marcotte wrote in 2010, “This cause if very near and dear to us. On a professional level, we have a strong passion for healthcare marketing. And on a personal level, our Managing Partner, Ellyn Davidson, is a breast cancer survivor.”
I hope this is something we’ll see more and more of: companies incorporating philanthropy into their business models and marketing, and doing it in a way that serves their mission. If a company chooses a charity that’s relevant to its product or message, it allows for impactful storytelling. It creates an emotional connection. And that’s going to make for more profit and more charitable donations.
It doesn’t get more win-win than that.
