Fries King?

This is one of the those head scratching marketing campaigns. What were they thinking?

Burger King recently launched a new line of fries called Satisfries that boast 40 percent less fat, 30 percent less calories and big taste. I’ll attest to them tasting pretty good for lower calorie fries (they’re still fries, so don’t kid yourselves!)

Then they launched a marketing campaign saying they’d changed their name to “Fries King”.  But it is all fake! And people are confused. And some are a little annoyed. I guess they’re hungry though, as people seem to be heading to their local BURGER Kings’ to grab some Satisfries.

Is this marketing campaign a success? I’m not sure. If foot traffic and sales were the goals, then I guess its successful. But confusing your audience – thats not smart. Lets see what happens…

Boats, Beaches and Business

Here is a nice article written by Barrett Baker for Hampton Roads Magazine. Thanks Barrett for such a nice piece.

(Click here to view a larger version)

HRM article

 

It’s Been a A While – and 13 Trends for 2013

Ok – I know. I don’t play by my own rules… and haven’t posted a blog post in months! I apologize. That whole work thing keeps getting in my way :) I’m sorry…

So here I am again, and its time to share new stuff.  I just participated in 2 days of training with some of my colleagues at Dominion Enterprises (home of the brands Homes.com, ForRent, CycleTrader, and of course the marine businesses that I work for: boats.com, Boat Trader and YachtWorld). We have a heap of marketing talent in our company, so we gather every year to share experiences, ideas and best practices.

Presenting Personas at Dominion Enterprises

Presenting ‘Personas’

I was able to present on Humanizing Data – creating and leveraging personas. This was a fun one for me as I’ve been using personas in marketing for years. I’ll load up my presentation to Slideshare shortly. But the point is to identify your audience segments using a bunch of data, and create personas to help guide design, product development, etc. Fun stuff.

I also happen to be a fan of Ted Leonsis (formerly AOL, current co-CEO of Groupon, owner of the Washington Wizards, and board member at American Express.) Smart guy. Anyway, he just posted a top 13 Trends list that I happen to agree with!

Ted Leonsis

Ted Leonsis

Highlights:

#2     Mobile Fuels Conversion to a Cashless Economy. Over the next two years, the mobile payment market will reach $670 billion.

#3     Consumerization of IT leads to New Security Concerns, with Resulting Business Opportunities. (Good thing the husband is in the IT security sector!)

#6     Convergence Finally Becomes a Reality. Your computer, phone and TV are now all just screens.

#9     Home Automation. We will be able to control energy, security, video, communications, electronics through wireless technologies.

#13 Vertical Sprouts = Consumers and Money. First came the major “horizontal” companies, like Amazon in ecommerce and Facebook in social. Next up: vertical companies in spaces like women, teens, sports, and seniors.

This last one is big… looking forward to reading more on this.

Click here for the full list.

Would love to hear your thoughts – do you agree/disagree , maybe add something else? Please leave comments below!
P.S. Thanks for visiting!

Fantastic Marketing Coordinator Opportunity – Northern Virginia

Posting this for a friend who is hiring. Great opportunity in Northern Virginia for a cool company – the Public Interest Registry (pir.org),  with plenty of fun travel opportunities, and flexibility. Must be in Northern Va .

*Send emails ONLY if you qualify to: sian.pugh@coventree.com or leave questions/comments on this post.

Position Title: Marketing Coordinator
Reports to: Marketing Communications Manager
Department: Marketing
Salary Range: $65,000 – $75,000 FT
Location: Reston, VA

Purpose: Drive the business by coordinating all marketing activities for PIR to build awareness, brand image and profitable sales across domains, .ORG and .NGO. The Marketing Coordinator will performs a variety of tasks, works under general supervision, with certain a degree of creativity and latitude.

Essential Accountabilities:
• Coordinates and implements marketing communication projects with responsibilities that include public relations, special events management, advertising, marketing research coordination, and creating collateral materials, including newsletters and other emails blasts.
• Specific areas of responsibility include:
• social media (Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Linkedin, etc),
• channel programs and communications (esp. registrars),
• sales support including collateral and PowerPoint presentations
• write newsletters (email) and various updates to PIR stakeholders and committees,
• coordinate and manage trade shows, sponsorships, event management, including scheduling staffing for events,
• communicate product positioning and coordinate launch campaigns,
• website (content only) management,
• facilitate/coordinate market research, including competitive analysis,
• coordinate public relations events and meetings
• Manage all activities in support of major PIR customer (registrar) events and sponsorships.
• Liaise with sales channel to continually improve operational support for revenue driving marketing and sales programs
• Provide support for the design, development and implementation of product branding and communications for all products and services.
• Work with the PR agency to integrate positioning and strategy between the two units (marketing and PR).
• Assist in the management of all marketing agencies and other external marketing resources, such as graphic designer and translators.
• Manage/deliver other goals as required by the Management to achieve goals.

Dimensions & Travel:
Marketing spans all of PIR, requiring knowledge of all our major activities.
Travel within the United States and abroad up to 20% of the time

Knowledge and Experience:
Education: BA or equivalent required, preferably in Communications.
Experience: 5 years of experience in technology marketing. Experience in the registry or related business helpful but not required. Social media expertise is critical.
Skills: Must possess the PIR core values: pragmatic, productive, creative, analytical, initiative, thorough, strong oral communications skills, works well with people, persuasive, strategic, integrity, and a sense of humor. Excellent writing, editing and proof reading skills are especially relevant.

I guess I don’t “Cut the Mustard” … thanks Grey Poupon

I guess I’m not good enough to eat certain brands of mustard :(  As an avid eater of Grey Poupon mustard, I was interested to read that they had launched a campaign today on Facebook, that requires one to apply to become a ‘member’ of their Facebook page. Instead of simply ‘liking’ the page, you have to submit an application that screens your Facebook profile, to determine if your up to snuff to be granted access to their Facebook page. (If you ‘like’ their page, they will cancel that like – somehow).

At first it seemed ingenious! I mean, how better to create a loyal and engaged following than by being selective about who you interact with.  But what happens if they’re selection filter isn’t working properly, and once loyal eaters are denied access? Well – they lose customers, and they create negative feelings towards their brand.

Ok – maybe I’m just a sore loser. But if I’m a lifelong eater of your product, and am not living on the streets, enjoy food, travel internationally, and am a reasonably well established business woman, how do I not fit in :/

 

I’ll be keeping an eye on their campaign to see how they’re doing. I like innovative and creative marketing ideas. And love this concept, in theory. Not sure their selection criteria or filters work well enough to test the loyalty of their users. Here is a small sample of the Facebook page posts:

Fake It ‘Til You Make It?

In the same vein as my post about fake Twitter followers – Fake Followers, I just read an expose on @shirls – someone who faked her way in to the lives of the rich and infamous of Silicon Valley. A social climber, who photoshopped her way in to connecting with some movers and shakers in the Valley, @shirls has been exposed for who she really is… a FAKE!
Lesson: Keep it real! Be authentic! Someone will find you out and expose you in one way or another.

Oh – and can you spot the fake picture? One is an original, the other @Shirls Photoshopped

Spot the fake!

Fake Followers?

How many of your Twitter followers are fake? I’ve often wondered about that, as I am a firm believer in authenticity, and creating a community of real followers. So I’m kind of liking a new tool released by StatusPeople that allows you to check to see how many followers you have that are fake, inactive and real. You can also check your friends followers! Check it out here – and share how many fakers you have!

I was happy to see that I have 0% fake followers, 3% inactives, and 97% real followers.

Pinterest and Copyright – I Was Wrong

I was presenting to a group of Yacht Brokers today in Houston. My “Brand Yourself” presentation included a section on Pinterest, with the recommendation that they start participating in that marketing medium. I mean boats = great pics = great Pinterest content / boards.

One of the brokers posed the question about copyright. There has been a lot of press about that topic recently. My response was that the originating site was responsible for checking the copyright, making the ‘pinner’ not responsible. However – I am wrong. It does happen occassionaly ;) My humblest apologies to the broker with whom I’m supposed to debate this topic at lunchtime!

Upon checking, it is more than apparent that the pinner is responsible for obtaining the copyright, or making sure that they are able to share the image. Some sites block their images from being ‘pinned’, by adding ‘nopin’ code to their website.

So what does this mean for individuals? Chances are the worst that will happen is that you will receive a stern letter from the copyright holder demanding the image be removed. My personal opinion is that the risk is low, and it is still worth using Pinterest. In fact, most pinned images include a link back to the original image, improving the original site’s search engine ranking. And could also increase leads and conversions to that site. If I owned the site, I wouldn’t be complaining.

However, as a business using Pinterest, enter with more caution. Copyright owners are less forgiving for businesses using their images for commercial use.

So – my recommendation for business is to tread carefully. Make sure you either own the images, or make sure you get permission from copyright owners before using their content.

One more comment – in my personal opinion, any business that decided to sue a business or individual over copyright infringement on Pinterest is crazy! They should be grateful for the free exposure, and take advantage of the leads it may generate.  Any company that decided to sue a business or individual for copyright infringement on Pinterest would be facing a PR nightmare…(great article on that here).

So – enter at your own risk. I am! :D

Read more here:

http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/250700/what_you_should_know_about_pinterest_and_copyright.html

Oreo and the Mars Landing

What does an Oreo cookie have to do with the Mars landing?  It is part of The Daily Twist marketing campaign – an effort launched by Nabisco-owned Oreo launched in late June to mark the cookie’s 100th birthday. An image of an Oreo will be shared every day for the next 100 days on its Facebook page, a dedicated Tumblr account, and a page on the Nabisco website. This particular image garnered over 20,000 ‘likes’ , 365 comments, and over 3,100 shares on Facebook! Relevant, timely content.  That is how you play the social media game!  What do you think of their efforts?

Oreo Mars Landing

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