Groupon Fail?

I’ve been meaning to do a post about social media coupon sites such as Groupon and SocialLiving for a while now (and I still will). However, first I want to take a spin on Groupons advertising. This post isn’t about the cool effects of Groupon, rather about the Superbowl ad that it ran this past Sunday – a first time advertising in the main stream for the company. As a loyal Groupon follower (Cleveland, Rochester and Buffalo – excessive??), when I first heard that Groupon was going to advertise at the Superbowl I thought it was a fantastic idea. Most people haven’t heard of Groupon yet, and what better way to raise brand awareness then the most popular commercial time-spot ever? Yes, by the numbers Superbowl advertising has a very low ROI, however for a small startup internet company, this is the place to spread your name and increase brand awareness (remember those “Go Daddy” commercials a few years ago?).

Unfortunately, the fantastic idea of advertising was overshadowed by a poor taste add by their advertising firm, Crispin Porter & Bogusky. I know of this firm, and have admired them for their risky advertising that is highly effective with audiences. They came up with a campaign to show how Groupon works while trying to promote a charity and executed it poorly. It’s just too much for a new company to showcase on one of the biggest advertising days of the year. People want dancing dogs or Ozzy to entertain them while they are drinking their beer and eating nachos. Anything deeper than that goes over their heads and therefore ends up on the “worst ads” lists. What watchers didn’t realize is that this ad went further and was continued online. If you paid close attention, you would realize that this campaign was titled “Save the Money” and encouraged you to go online to http://savethemoney.groupon.com/ and watch celebrities explain how the money you saved can be given to charities around the world. Good idea – but still too much for Superbowl Sunday. The New York Times wrote an article about it and it’s worth a read: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/08/business/media/08adco.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss.

Overall, I still love Groupon and in my opinion the ad was semi-successful. After seeing the ad, I brought up to my friends how great I think the site is… which they had never heard of. We went on to discuss it for 10 minutes or so, and I followed up with a link to join. If getting people to join is what Groupon was trying to do with their advertisement then I’d say they were successful… otherwise, try again.

The Magic... the Memories...

Lately, I’ve been seeing Disney World advertisements everywhere. I’ve seen Disney ad’s on my favorite websites, riding in the subway, on tv and even on Bloomberg. It could be a couple things… first of all I’ve been reading about Disney a lot online and have visited their website quite a few times as I am looking to take a summer internship there. The more I visit the site, the more that the Internet God’s (aka cookies) know that it is one of my interests and therefore target me for their ads. Another reason is that Disney must have launched quite the advertising campaign. In early 2011 they launched their “Let the Memories Begin” campaign which is targeting families and young children through online and tv ads. I'm also quite intrigued about Disney's online efforts in terms of social media. Their view on social media being the new scrapbook is fantastic (and so so true). My guess is that they are ramping up the campaign in January as families start to think of spring break plans. Here’s the newest commercial (watch out, it might bring you back to your childhood and make you cry!)

Wiki What?

Sorry that I haven’t posted in a while…. I’ve been busy…I am making a wiki. What is a wiki? Well unless you have been living under a cyber rock, you have heard of the most famous wiki of them all… Wikipedia. A wiki is at it’s most basic form, a website that anyone can edit. It is a fantastic way for an organization, group or anyone to help contribute to the free speech and information sharing through the web.

Wikipedia is a type of wiki but was created to be a site dedicated to what you would find on an encyclopedia. For instance, Google “football” and one of the first responses is a Wikipedia page outlining everything that you would possibly want to know about football – from it’s history, rules, players, etc. The best thing about this is not only do you get all of the information that you may need, but you can also add your two cents (as long as it is factual) onto the site. Now anyone who researches football can read your input on the topic. You can contribute – which is what makes a wiki so special.

Now, I am not making a Wikipedia site… I’ve been tasked with creating a wiki for admitted and current students within the Simon School of Business (which just so happens to be where I am currently enrolled as an MBA student). This has been a new experience for me, as like you, I have heard of Wikipedia, but never considered making my own wiki site. The goal of our site is to be an informal way for students to communicate with each other in terms of all things Simon. For example, where to live in Rochester is a hot topic among students – do I live on campus, in the city, near campus but not within campus housing? Well the wiki contains testimonials from current students who live in each of the different areas. As an incoming student, I can visit the wiki and have a clear idea of what the pro’s and con’s of each area of residence is. This is an innovative idea, as we are reaching beyond the politically driven knowledge that students are given by the administration and directly into what Simon students do.

Determining how to create the wiki was challenging. Simon already has a Wikipedia site (check it out), as well as both internal and external websites, so we needed to create something within a new space. I also wanted the wiki to be easy to use for the less technical student body, password protected for administrators vs. members, not available for general observation and lastly, free. In order to find my perfect software option I had to do some research. First I went to Wikihow which helped me to understand my impending task and provide some guidance on how to do it. I then went to WikiMatrix to determine which wiki software would meet all of my specifications. WikiMatrix asks 5-7 simple questions to find out what your requirements are and then spit out approximately 12 options for me to use. I then went to each of the websites to find which software option I liked best and ultimately choose to use Wikispaces. So far I have been very happy with my software selection… it is very easy to use, free, web-hosted, provides update history (very important in case something derogatory is posted) and metric on views and updates. The only downside that I have seen so far is that there are few wiki templates, however there is an option for users to create their own template from scratch, and also a few ways to be creative.

Our Simon Student Wiki is yet to go live (target is the beginning of December), however so far it has been receiving great feedback. I’ll be sure to update you all on the success and challenges of the wiki as the project progresses!

Internet at its Best

After have been removed from Cleveland for 5 months I’m realizing that there are a few things that I really miss about the city. Of course my friends, the sports (yes, I’m still a Cav’s fan without LeBron) and my runs in the metro parks during the fall all top the list... however there is something else, less normal to miss about Cleveland – my favorite radio station. I’ll admit, I love country music. Every morning, on my way to a client, I’d drink my Starbucks and listen to WGAR Cleveland, listen to the songs and the commentary. Now, this is strange for me, before I finish that Starbucks, I am usually quite grumpy, and therefore do not want to hear anyone talk about anything. However, the morning DJ’s on WGAR weren’t annoying or perky, I didn’t want to throw my beloved coffee at the radio to shut them up… instead I found myself cracking up at their random stories, or better yet the relevant, political commentary that although was probably uncalled for, was very informative.

So, what does the entertainment that WGAR gave me have anything to do with marketing? Well this morning, after grabbing my one pump, pumpkin spice coffee (highly recommended), on my way to campus I started thinking about how I missed my morning companion. I then realized one very important aspect about the morning show… they always were pointing towards the website. In fact, they promoted the live streaming radio very heavily. So, once settled into my study room, I logged onto WGAR and I am now listening to WGAR Cleveland! Pretty amazing right? Due to the power of the internet, I am now listening to an FM radio station from a city which is more than 300 miles from me.

To me, this is the internet at its best and is great for marketing! WGAR has pulled me in through the normal channels (radio), brought me to their website and has engaged me from 200 miles away. Once at the site, I am not only able to listen live to what is playing in Cleveland, but I am also brought into the advertisements for upcoming country concerts, new CD’s as well as local Cleveland events. Since I have visited the page, they have targeted me as someone who enjoys Cleveland and country music and therefore market directly to that. It’s a very precise way of conducting internet marketing and a way to market which is both effective for the marketer as well as enjoyable for the consumer.

Mad Marketing

I have to admit, I don't watch "Mad Men." It's on my list of 'someday catch up on' shows, but I'm just not there yet. However, I was extremely intrigued when I read a NYTimes article outlining the success of an Unilever campaign that airs during the show (read the article here). Unilever's basic idea is to style the TV ads to mirror the style of the popular 1960's show. Obviously, this intrigues people and makes them think that they are watching the show until... surprise! It's an ad for Dove! (I have to say too that the ads themselves are very fun to watch).

Take a look at the article and go to youtube to watch a few of the commericals. Personally the Breyer's ad is my favorite:

Career Fair Marketing Mania

Today was the semi-annual RIT Career Fair and being the unemployed grad student that I am, I couldn’t resist the temptation of 200 companies all ready and waiting to meet me. As a side note to the blog – I forgot how much I love RIT and what an amazing school it is! Just being on campus brought me back to my undergrad years.. I was just waiting to see one of my friends walking by in their suit… making fun of me wearing my flip flops with my suit (don’t worry, I changed… it was a long walk from the parking lot in heals!). It was nostalgia at its best and I will never regret my decision to go there.

So you are probably wondering, what does going to a career fair have anything to do with marketing? My answer? It has everything to do with marketing. The companies are trying to market themselves to students, students are marketing themselves to potential employers and the school is marketing itself as a premier college for companies to recruit at.

Upon entering the Gordon Field House it was like a magazine blew up and scattered company ads. Company banners hung everywhere and the most well known and recognized companies drew the longest lines (yes, I spent over 30 minutes in the SONY line in order to get a 60 second conversation). The point is, a brand is more than wanting someone to purchase your product, its’ making people have that happy feeling when they see your company name or logo. Example – I love Apple products, do I know much about the daily life of an Apple employee? No (well, ok, I do… but I’m making a point). However, when I saw the Apple banner I made a bee-line to the table in order to get my 60 seconds with the recruiter. I’d want to work there… they’re products are fantastic. There was also the swag. Now, four years ago there was a ton of swag. I couldn’t walk out of there without arms full of company branded mugs, pens, stress balls or water bottles. Now, companies are being more careful with their limited amount of swag and giving it to the prospective who they feel have potential, however the creativeness and quality of the goods have drastically increased. At SONY they gave away shirts (a college student’s dream) and at Fisher Price I got a Doodler (super cool). These items will not only make me happy when receiving them (who doesn’t like a toy!) but also remind me of my time talking with the company and make me excited to talk with them further in the future. There were also companies that I think hurt their brand. I won’t name names, but there were a few of my highly targeted companies who after speaking with their representative, made me second guess my like for that company (here’s a hint.. even if recruiting a Software Engineer, bring at least 1 Marketing or HR rep to a career fair… Software Engineers tend to not be the most friendly, outgoing and positive people to be recruiting). Another brand downer? A name. Case example, I walked up to a company that I hadn’t heard of or researched, but thought looked interesting enough to speak with, “Brand Solutions”. Me: “Hi, I’m Danielle…. I’m interested in Marketing and Brand Management”… Recruiter: Oh, we don’t do Marketing, we’re a Packaging Science company. Let me ask the obvious question: Why would you name your company “Brand Solutions” if you have NOTHING to do with branding? I am sure that they are a fantastic company and I’m sure that if I was a packaging science major I would love to work for them… but maybe they should consider changing their name?

Then there are the students. 15,000 twenty year olds all looking for their first internship…. It’s interesting. I saw students with blue hair, in t-shirt and jeans, with backpacks and just all around unprofessional. However, I also saw students dressed in suits and ties with shaved beards and big smiles. How each of these individuals presented themselves is how they marketed themselves to recruiters. After a bit of careful thinking (while in my 30 minute line for SONY) I realized something very vital – these students are marketing themselves to recruiters and recruiters may like it! A drawing and painting major may appeal to an employer wearing their blue hair, because that company may want a creative, free spirit in just the same way as the bank would want their prospective employee to approach them in a suit. Huh, maybe these twenty year olds know a thing or two about marketing themselves (or so I’m choosing to believe).

Lastly, the school is marketing themselves to the companies. Being on the student side (and once on the employer side) it seems as though they are doing a great job of it. 200 companies is a MAJOR career fair for a medium sized school. The names of the companies attending are enough to make any MBA student drool. Every recruiter attending had to be impressed at the size of the career fair at a school in upstate NY. And this career fair is organized … students just had to swipe their student id and out would pop a name tag! (They didn’t have that 4 years ago). There was lunch and a break room provided for the recruiters as well as probably anything else that they needed. If I was working at any of those booths I would have been extremely impressed with the caliber of the fair as well as the caliber of students that I spoke to. I’d be back J

RSS Genius!

I’m obsessed. Obsessed. RSS feeds might possibly be my favorite social media tool that I have discovered thus far. Don’t tell my professors… but lately I’ve been spending more time reading my RSS feed than I have doing school work! RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication (Wiki told me that) and it is genius. At its’ basic form, it allows you to pull in all types of blogs and articles which interest you and puts it in one place. For me, it’s been a huge asset as I try to gain as much knowledge about the social media and marketing worlds as possible.

I use the Google Reader. Why? Well basically I love Google … it’s easy , I’m loyal and in the same place as every other Google tool that I use. It links to my Gmail account and brings in all of my gchat friends so that I can share articles with them as well. Even though I prefer Google, there are many forms of RSS feeds that you could use ranging from online versions to putting the software on your hard drive. The most popular RSS readers are My Yahoo, Bloglines and of course Google Reader.

There are a variety of ways to read the blogs. Subscriptions are publications from journalistic resources where as blogs are informal postings. For example, I am currently following subscriptions from Advertising Advantage and the New York Times Media and Advertising section and blogs created by my friends. Following blogs is super simple to do: just click on the orange icon that says RSS feed on any blog or news article (in fact if you want to follow my blog, just go to the bottom right hand side of the screen… you’ll see it). If you were to see my RSS feed, I have 3 articles unread from the NYT. If I want to read just the NYT articles I can click on just that publication. If I would prefer to just see all of my postings I click on “All Items” and it will show me an expanded view of all postings. Super easy right! Then say I find an article interesting, I can click the “share” icon at the bottom and share the article will all that follow my blog (my gchat friends… see how this works)! You can also just go directly to my shared page by going here or you can find it from my Google profile: http://www.google.com/profiles/danielle.gossett. Personally, I think it’s genius and a fantastic way for me to read the daily news on marketing and social media!