Rebrand the killer whale

Communication 3.0 for human resources

Coffee Cup Sleeve Ad

Traditional advertising channels are slipping as market share gets diluted to the now 40+ channels that marketers have to choose from. The classic three of radio, TV, and print can still have some unique applications.

Take for examples these coffee cup sleeves spotted at Imperio coffee in Columbus, Ohio. Promoting WOW Cable, the real estate that is usually occupied by a brand logo is replaced with a full color promotion for WOW's cable, phone, and internet service.

Is this effective? It's a difficult campaign to measure. This particular ad did not have a QR code, mobile page, or campaign specific URL. Without one of those three pieces, the sleeves are no different than a print ad, billboard, or bus sign. It's more effective if the ads are targeted. The challenge of targeting directly conflicts with the economics of printing.

Is it worth it for the coffee shop? Depends on the coffee shop. Small businesses need to save money and you could expect that the ad pays for all or a portion of the coffee sleeve and the coffee shop gets the discount in exchange for the service.

Who would do this? This marketin channel is for small, neighborhood coffee shops only. Why wouldn't Starbucks do this? 1.) they don't have to. 2.) they would not sacrifice the brand image to save a few pennies 3.) Customers would distain the change from their symbol of affluence that turns them into walking billboards. And 4.) They couldn't afford it.

That may be a slight exaggeration since Starbucks could surely afford to spend more on their sleeves, but they would lose the economies of scale that their operation has and their buying power would be diminished. Big brands buy in bulk and the high volume prints for paper and packaging are static, repeated images.

There is a startup in Columbus working on this exact challenge. How to provide measurable, localized, small runs for independent coffee shops. They also have a mission to donate a cup of water for every coffee sleeve.

Check them out at coveredcoffee.com

Big Data Fail: WalMart

I try to keep things positive here, but this event affected me personally ao I thought I's share my experience. A little while back I had someone fraudulently make a purchase through my account on walmart.com. They bought some RAM and had the order shipped to an address in California.

Identity theft happens and its a huge problem that will only grow. That's not my complaint. Walmart handled the issue OK, but its really my bank that came through to wipe out the charge. Where Walmart failed was in the follow up.

They followed up to find out how
I liked my purchase. Not just once, but twice. The email was sent two
Weeks after the incident was resolved. This big data fail by Walmart

Google "walmart big data" and the first article that pops up is about walmart making Big Data part of its DNA. http://smartdatacollective.com/bigdatastartups/111681/walmart-makes-big-data-part-its-social-media

Walmart has succeeded at making "big data" part of their PR rhetoric. Not a bad thing and alot of companies are doing it. They missed an opportunity to use their big data for damage control. They have the information, but didn't connect data on fraudulent purchases with their email automation systems. One more data field for control would have stopped the email trigger to ask me how I liked the RAM (ie. fraud, if yes, don't email follow up).

USPS Get's Creative With Augmented Reality

Of all the unexpected things fromt he CES show this year, hearing anything related to the USPS is a surprise.  Aurasma introduced a yet-to-be-released app the turns a mailpiece into interactive content.  This Augment Reality application will let mailers connect with the web in ways that QR Codes could not.  The UK based-augemented reality startup has been at it since 2011.

I think an app like this has potential, but has many challenges.  If the USPS is looking for more volume, I am not sure this will get them there (and it won't get them anywhere close to the hemorrhaging volumes).  This is an added expense to a direct mail campaign and mailers will scrub their lists to send this premium piece to a highly targeted audience.



The More You Know Blog where I found this video does not make it clear if the USPS is actually partnered with Aurasma.  I googled a little and found Aurasma's facebook page that posted on January 10th "Great to see our partner USPS getting recognition at CES for their Aurasma powered app that brings your mail to digital life "

Check out more on Aurasma at www.aurasma.com

Next generation of transactional statements?

Is this the next generation of billing statements?

I think two and a half minutes is a little long.  It is an interesting idea and good use of personalizing video.  But it doesn't make it any faster to review a bill.  This is for the laziest of bill readers.

Video probably won't be the thing that makes paper bills obsolete, but it might be just right to move a few customers into eStatements.

Viral Marketing and Red Bull's Mission to Kill Someone

Today I watched a man jump from the highest point ever. Pretty awesome to watch, considering that it was a flawless jump and he landed safely on two feet and walked away. (time passes)

Cool. . . So he landed a little more than a week ago and he has been making the talk show rounds, declared he is retired, and stated that he did not enjoy the fall until his parachute opened.

I remember watch the guy in Vegas on New Years jump a motorcross bike up and down the faux Archtriumph.  It is amazing that guy made it up and down was even crazier.  . . . powered by Red Bull

The Flugtag.  Per google: "Red Bull Flugtag is an event organized by Red Bull in which competitors attempt to fly homemade size and weight limited human-powered flying machines. The flying machines are usually launched off a pier about 30 feet high into the sea."

It is amazing no one has been seriously hurt.  . . . powered by Red Bull.

And there are a bunch of other teams, athletes, and events that are sponsored by Red Bull and they are all high octane, high adrenaline, and high energy.  Red Bull has done a great job of finding the physical manifestation of their product and slapping a logo on it.  The most important part of their marketing strategy is that they are doing more promotional events that have the potential to go viral.  They appeal to short attention spans and are short enough that you want to and will watch them over and over again. . . powered by Red Bull.

I make no judgement about Red Bull's morality or the social effect of their campaigns.  They market their product to adults and adults should be able to know that they can not build their own flying machine and get it flying off the docks of Lake Erie.  They may actually kill someone some day, but they will continue to rack up MILLIONS of youtube views.  When posting this Red Bull had over 27 Million views of the above video.  No Gangnam Style, but pretty effective.

Now what is their cost per impression for advertising?  Well I saw their costs estimated as high as half a billion dollars.  Now that is ridiculous, right?  This message board discussing their marketing budget and estimated it at $900 Million in 2010 on revenue of $4.4 Billion.  So over 5 years, they could have dedicated 20% of their budget to the Stratos program.  Their cost per impression will continue to decline as they get more views, more mentions, and more sharing of their record breaking even.

Bottom line: They know how to get people talking about Red Bull and they know their customer profile.