The horrors of wheat...

So this past weekend I found out that I am allergic to wheat. Of all things that I could be allergic to, I get wheat. My daily diet consists of bread, pasta, and dessert, usually a cupcake of some sort. When I found out I was allergic to wheat, I literally could not eat one thing in my entire kitchen, except for Craisins, which don't make for a very substantial meal by themselves (trust me, I tried). Although this entire process has been a royal pain in my butt...well stomach actually...it has made me realize two things.

The first: There is a huge market, especially in Austin, that is allergic to wheat. More and more people are finding out that they are gluten or wheat sensitive, as Doctors like to call it. In addition, there are many people out there who would just prefer to not eat wheat, even though they aren't allergic. If this segment is growing and growing, what are they choosing to eat?

The second: There could be such a better selection of wheat-free food. I mean, come on. After one week of going wheat-free, I am already tired of eating quinoa, frozen bread, and other products I can't even begin to pronounce. If there's such a large market of people waiting for a good tasting pasta substitute, why aren't there any better options? Of course, there are a lot more products than I would have originally expected. Whole Foods and Central Market even have entire aisles devoted to gluten free foods. However, many of these products are the exact same and don't taste very good. This is upsetting to a 20 year old who now has to search up and down aisles with fingers crossed for something other than frozen bread.

Okay, so I'm being a tad overdramatic and this doesn't have much of anything to do with advertising...let me try and make this relevant! After seeing just a small portion of an untapped market, I can't imagine how many other portions of the population aren't being fairly served. Advertisers especially know how much clutter there is with products and advertisements flying everywhere, but billions of products don't mean anything if they aren't serving a target market.

Rant over!

Social Media Battles

After hearing so much about social media and the multitude of online venues open to advertisers, it became apparent to me that I often lump all of them together. In my head, I don't really distinguish between Twitter and Facebook. And neither do many companies in my opinion. Almost every company that has an active Facebook account also has a Twitter account. From what I've noticed, this doesn't mean they even do both well! So what are the major differences between Twitter and Facebook and the consumers that use each?

Well for starters, "daily Twitter users who followed a brand were more than twice as likely as daily Facebook users who 'liked' a brand to say they were more likely to purchase from the brand after becoming a social media follower" (eMarketer). Interestingly enough, Twitter only shows small snippets of information at a time. Maybe this plays into the ADD of the average Twitter user. We can only pay attention to something for so long before we tire of it. Also, it's much easier for Twitter users to see all of the people they are following in one swoop. All the status updates are on one page and now, with the new Twitter interface, you don't even have to click on the next page to see more. Facebook users, on the other hand, must dig through thousands of posts, pictures, and statuses in order to see one they actually care about.

In addition, Twitter followers are generally more likely than Facebook fans to recommend a brand that they follow to their friends. This word of mouth action is exactly what marketers strive for. Women, especially, get most of their information from their friends so maybe this means companies that target women should focus on Twitter accounts over Facebook.

One disadvantage to solely working with Twitter, however, is their small customer base. "Just 3% of US internet users follow a brand through the microblogging service" (eMarketer). Generally the users on Twitter who follow brands are the influencers, rather than the average consumer. This could be an advantage or disadvantage. If this influencer really does know a lot of people and their opinion matters to their friends, you could be reaching a much higher audience on a more personal level than previously expected. However, if their friends don't trust or listen to their product advice, you could be putting all of your eggs in one basket so to speak. Although this small consumer base may limit your reach potential, Twitter seems to have a higher ability to "switch" users from their current brand to yours. On Facebook, many people "like" a brand that they already use. Therefore, there isn't much more a company can do to make them increase their spending habits or purchasing power. They already buy the brand. On Twitter, you can reach one person who already buys the brand and through them, reach 30 people who may not even know of its existence.

Social media has its advantages and disadvantages, like any other media venue. But companies need to be aware of each individual social media site and who it is catering to. Up until this point, I didn't differentiate between Twitter and Facebook when it came to advertising. However, after looking into it, the consumers that use each one are extremely different in their personalities and their needs. Brands should make sure they aren't just using social media to jump on the bandwagon, but that they are understanding how it could help their brand in the long run.

They did what???

This past weekend was the Austin City Limits music festival. Yes, of course I went all three days! As an advertising student, embarrassingly enough, it was hard not to notice the vast amount of advertising all around Zilker Park. There were some very creative and seemingly successful products featured, however.

In past years, Heineken has always been the sole sponsor of ACL, even though their brand didn't necessarily fit in with the image. This year was a bit different! Budweiser Lite was EVERYWHERE and multiple beer brands were sold in the "bar stations" located around the park. Though their brand doesn't exactly fit the ACL image either, they did something smart in their promotions. Rather than excluding all others beers to be sold at the park and run the risk of making customers mad, they sold multiple types of beer and gave away free koozies that had the Bud logo all over it. In this way, Bud was able to sell all the different brands but cover up competitors' logos with their own. This strategy mirrors exactly what Sheiner Bock did last year. Since Heineken had taken full sponsorship of ACL, they weren't allowed to sell their beer but that didn't stop them from passing out free koozies shaped like beer cans. This way, it looked as if everyone was drinking Sheiner when really they were all drinking Heineken.

I guess it doesn't pay to sponsor an event if your brand will just be covered up by those smarter than you?

Music Videos as a Means to Communicate

Although their popularity may be declining now, music videos very recently played a huge part in the way young adults entertained themselves. Many products appear in popular songs, such as "Fergilicious" mentioning Seven Jeans and True Religion or R Kelly's lyrics of "sipping on coke and rum." The music videos of these songs also make sure to clearly show the product much like a product-placement spot in a TV show.

Although brand-dropping has been a relatively common practice in the past few years, marketers often haven't taken it further than that. It surprises me that no one has thought of any other way to include products or brands into music on a higher level, especially given what has been done with video games, webisodes, and the like. Here is a music video I found on YouTube that might show the future of music video advertising:

This music video and song are both completely based around one product. They don't just mention the product or flash it on the screen once; the entire purpose of the song and music video are to promote the product, which in this case is the new DC shoe. This artist-product partnership makes perfect sense and it allows two brands to work together in cross-promotion.

There are two sides to this story, however, as many consumers may see this technique as an outright advertising tool and therefore, boycott such brands that take part in it. In order to best target their markets with creative strategies such as these, advertisers need to make sure they don't push the envelope too far and overtake areas of people's lives that people don't want touched. 

Oh the Glories of Email.

Email has continued to surprise me. Yes, you are probably thinking, "Wow this girl is nuts - she's talking about email like it's the new white bread," BUT once you think about how many untaken opportunities email can provide, I think you'll start jumping on my bandwagon.

First, it took the place of letters. Whether or not this helped their social skills, many people began using email in order to keep in contact with old friends. Hand-written letters are often a thing of the past and email has facilitated both short and long distance communication. It's so easy to type out a quick "Happy Birthday" email rather than sitting down to write a thoughtful and charming letter. You can never get away with a three-word letter but you definitely can with an email. 

Second, email became integrated into mobile usage and smart phones. Mobile email = lifesaver. I'll even admit that I can't go 10 minutes without checking my email on my phone. Embarrassingly enough, my phone had to be sent back to Apple for 3 days and I still get the shakes thinking about it. Mobile email has made communication move as fast as the rest of the world already does. Businesses can now reply to one another within seconds, meaning that business decisions can now be made almost instantly. 

Now, email is expanding once again. Many marketers are utilizing email to hit their consumers with stories and videos concerning their product. They are essentially turning this rapid form of communication into a mini-commercial. Statistics from the WebVideo Marketing Council say that "73% of [business survey] respondents thought video would raise clickthrough rates for their email programs and the same number believed video made email recipients more likely to convert." 

Email video integration allows advertisers to connect with their loyal customers on an even deeper level. It makes a relationship that much easier and increases the potential for word-of-mouth. The following graph details businesses' ideas on the best way to integrate video into email marketing:

               

There still are a few things that need to be hammered out however. For one, marketers are finding it hard to integrate this new idea into their strategies. It doesn't sound too hard to merely put a video in an email but companies must make sure the video works with the content, attracts viewers to click on it, and actually increases sales before they give it the go-ahead. Also, it's proving to be extremely costly. This chart shows the results of businesses surveyed on their biggest challenging with video email integration:

              

The next time you see a video on the Internet or see a link to one in an email, think about how you respond to it. Do you want to click on it? Does it upset you that a business is using your personal email to advertise even more? More likely than not, your reaction will mimic many others in society. My only question is what in the world is email going to do next? So far, it's been quite surprising!

The New Twitter...

Whoa - a new Twitter interface? That's just crazy talk. Except that it's not...

Twitter: Discover What's New In Your World

Twitter has recently announced that it is giving its website a face lift! The updates will center around integration of various multimedia tools, such as YouTube, TwitPic, and Flickr. The new layout is designed to make the entire site easier to use, given the fact that most users add in videos and news stories anyway. Therefore, this upgrade is perfect for my multitasking generation! We can't even sit on the same page of Facebook for longer than 12 seconds, let alone pay attention to an entire lecture or sit through a movie without looking at our phones. Twitter is taking advantage of our desire to intake as much information as we can in the shortest amount of time. They also are capitalizing on the fact that we jump around to multiple websites within a very short period of time. If Twitter combines the most popular sites all into one, they can keep the attention of many more users, rather than losing them in an instant to the competition.

Reasons for the Twitter change?

1. Many people love Twitter, love the idea that they can interact with celebrities, and love that they can keep up with all of their friends in one easy swoop. But to some users, it's nothing more than that. Many users don't even utilize the status area for themselves, but only keep their account to see what others have to say. This seems like the perfect time, then, to step up their game so to speak and attract those "side-line" users to get into the game.
2. The new upgrade also seems to resemble Facebook, which leads me to believe that Twitter wants to make their site an integrated version of both. This would, like mentioned earlier, "steal" users away from Facebook and keep them on Twitter.
3. In addition, it shows pictures and videos in the stream itself. Once you find something that interests you, just click on the tweet, picture, or video and find out more information. Two screens side-by-side allow users to see the full Twitter interface on one side and the specific person's profile on the other. In this way, users can switch back and forth between browsing tweets and focusing on their preferred ones that they would like to delve deeper into.

Obviously the main problem with this change is how users will respond. If Twitter fans don't like the new interface, they may completely terminate their services and Twitter could end up losing more consumers than they gain. With the new Twitter could also come new advertisements and marketing opportunities. Currently banner ads appear on the mobile versions and celebrity endorsements are EVERYWHERE but there are no pop-up ads or banner ads on the website itself. If users respond positively to the new interface, they could be open to advertisements...or...they could hate the fact that Twitter turned to the "dark side" and made users deal with nagging clutter. As long as the advertisements don't get in the way of using the site and quickly accessing information, I don't think that many users will have a problem with it. Twitter just needs to slowly integrate these changes into the site so as not to disrupt any of those crazy followers out there!

Checking Out Those Check-In Apps.

We are all used to checking in at hotels or airports but what about on your phone? What about checking into your favorite TV show or winery 24 hours a day? With new applications offered online and on smart phones, everyone can advertise their location or what they're doing at all times. Four years ago people were so skeptical about privacy issues that they wouldn't even use their real name on Facebook. Now, people are jumping at the chance to notify their friends of their exact location throughout the day.

Programs, such as GetGlue, now allow consumers to indirectly interact with actors, musicians, or authors whenever they want. Take, for example, an 18 year old boy and his favorite TV star. Traditional social networking sites allow for a simple two-way communication between the product (in this case, the star) and the boy. GetGlue, on the other hand, lets this person advertise what he is doing by "tagging" the star he is watching at that moment. After the boy "checks into" his favorite TV actor, he can send in reviews about the show, make comments concerning the actor, or even look up recommendations he might like based on who he has checked into in the past.

Right now, these programs look as if they are still in the beginning stages. They have gone one step further than Twitter or other social networking sites but they need more distinguishing features that will separate them even more. Also, they haven't fully utilized their potential for advertisements.

In my opinion, another social networking site that doesn't offer much more than interaction will quickly fade into the background of new and exciting applications. So many copycat sites are popping up that consumers are facing clutter and repetition - two things that often bore the multitaskers of this day and age. If, however, GetGlue and others like it begin to gain a following, advertisers need to jump on this band wagon while they still can. If consumers are used to being faced with advertisements from the beginning, there won't be such an outcry against it.