eleanor baird

Archive for the ‘strategy’ Category

Blackberry + U2 = A new and better iPod?

In advertising, consumer products, media, strategy on 07/26/2009 at 13:54

While waiting for Public Enemies to start, me and my fellow theatre goers experienced a moment of confusion (complete with loud mumblings of “what?”) when what looked like an ad for an upcoming U2 tour or album or maybe their support of a certain cause turned out to be an ad for…Blackberry. We were informed that “Blackberry Loves U2″ and directed to www.blackberry.com/u2.  Being a fan of both (I steadfastly refuse to get an iPhone), I feared this might be a weak attempt fr Blackberry to seem cool, but checked it out.  And was glad I did.

The campaign behind that confusing ad is actually an interesting idea that raises questions about both the challenges of joint branding and how Smartphones and the media industry could create a truly convergent marketing platform.

Below the fold:
Brand Confusion – a winning tactic?
Why the Blackberry could be a better iPod
So what?  Converging content, spreadability, social networking and location-based services

Read the rest of this entry »

Branding in a direct response medium

In advertising, internet, media, strategy on 06/07/2009 at 16:11

Can you use the web effectively for branding?   I touched on this question in my thesis, but a couple of recent events got me thinking about it again.

Having dinner with some Computer Science PhD students at the Cambridge Brewing Company the other night, our conversation about business models for social media turned to the value of online advertising, specifically, how it is different than TV and why online display advertising still doesn’t bring in big money.

And, a couple of days before that, AdWeek reported results of a Forbes.com study that found that most marketers are still using direct response metrics for online advertising, based on clickthrough and conversion rates.  The article points out that search and email marketing are considered the best performers held up to that yardstick, while display and video ads are at the bottom.

On one hand, this makes complete sense, but in a medium where you can target precisely and leverage social networks and word of mouth, not using the internet for branding seems like a missed opportunity.   How could we use the web effectively as a branding vehicle, in a way that makes sense from a measurement perspective?

Direct marketing is about facilitating transactions, but branding is about facilitating relationships.  Here are some thoughts on how to build a brand relationship – and measure it – on the web.

Read the rest of this entry »

Starbucks and measuring social media

In advertising, consumer products, media, strategy on 05/23/2009 at 17:46

Earlier this month, Starbucks announced a new advertising campaign that, among other things, has a big social media component.  People can submit pictures for a contest via Twitter, while Starbucks is disseminating messages to fans on Facebook, and putting video about the coffee up on YouTube.

Not much new there.  But, a question raised in the NY Times article about the campaign caught my eye:

Still, it is difficult to measure the effects of social media — a follower on Twitter does not necessarily translate to a daily Frappuccino drinker.

A follower is probably a fan, but their act of following doesn’t necessarily signal a change of behavior, increase in reach, or direct impact on sales that marketers need to measure.

I’m not sure how Starbucks is evaluating their social media efforts, but too often this is about looking at number of followers or friends or posts or tweets over the life of the campaign. Instead, I think that a more meaningful assessment for this and other campaigns might be measuring  how brand loyalists’ participation in social media involving the company influences other people in their networks to become customers.

Here’s why I don’t think the other methods make sense and some rough ideas for tactics that I think would get meaningful social media measurements.

Read the rest of this entry »

Engaging backwards

In advertising, media, strategy, television on 05/17/2009 at 12:20

Measuring viewer engagement with television is one of my favorite topics, partly because it’s messy, and partly because it’s a sign that something really needs to change to make the economics behind the television ecosystem sustainable.  So, on Friday, when Optimedia U.S. released their third annual study, Content Power Ratings 2.0, that assesses how engaged people are with television shows, I knew I had to write something about the topic.

Although I think this type of thing is a step in the right direction when it comes to assessing the appeal of a program, I can’t help but wonder if we’re really measuring the right things.  Maybe people are “engaging” with these shows, but are they actually advocating and/or buying the brands that advertise on them more than the non-engaged viewers?

If that’s the real question we need to answer, then we might be measuring media engagement backwards.

Read the rest of this entry »

Zune-less

In advertising, consumer products, strategy on 05/15/2009 at 00:21

In this economy, can the Zune challenge the iPod to a price war and come out the winner?

Microsoft seems to hope so. This week, they announced a web-only campaign to promote the Zune as a more economical alternative to the Apple iPod. The argument used in the ad is that Zune users can get unlimited music downloads with a $15 monthly subscription, but it would cost $30,000 to fill a 120GB iPod with music from the iTunes store. They are using Wes Moss, a CFP and radio show host who spent some time on “The Apprentice” as their pitch man.

It’s no secret that consumers have heavily favored the iPod, even though they are, more or less, the same thing.  Question is, will this marketing campaign help shore up interest or sales for Zune?

My bet is that it might help a little bit, but it won’t change the game.  There are three main reasons why.

Read the rest of this entry »