Thanks Rob and thanks WARC
SEATTLE: Starbucks, the coffee house chain, and Unilever, the consumer goods giant, have teamed up to promote their jointly-produced ice cream brand on Facebook, using an application that encourages consumers to download coupons via the social network.
It has been argued that the current financial crisis has forced Starbucks to reassess its priorities after years of growth, and the company has also come under increasing pressure from rivals such as McDonald's.
By way of a response, it has not only sought to move into the retail space, but also to utilise social media like Facebook and Twitter to connect with consumers.
Unilever signed a licensing agreement to produce an ice cream range based on some of Starbuck's most popular coffee flavours, such as Caramel Macciato, Mocha Frappuccino and Java Chip Frappuccino, last year.
Simon Clift, the FMCG giant's chief marketing officer, has also previously championed the use of social media as a means of engaging a broad audience.
Running for two weeks, the two firms' current Facebook campaign will see 20,000 pints of Starbucks ice cream being given away each day.
Some 280,000 pints will be available overall, with members of the social network being required to download a voucher which they can then send on to a person of their choice.
According to a statement from the companies, "participants can treat others or – if the temptation is too great – indulge themselves by claiming one of just over 800 coupons available at the top of each hour."
Other brands that have recently been active on Facebook include Volkswagen and General Motors, which have used "widgets" – applications that feature on "profile pages" – produced by RockYou.
Gap has similarly employed some of the company's products, which vary from games and quizzes to video and tools that allow users to "decorate" their personal profile.
Microsoft and Experian are also among the major advertisers that are now using Facebook's own "engagement ads", which appear on user pages and contain interactive features.
Marc Andreessen, a board member of the social networking pioneer, has predicted that the company will make "over $500 million (€357m; £309m)" in revenue this year.
Furthermore, he added that "if they pushed the throttle forward on monetization they would be doing more than a billion this year."
"There's every reason to expect in my view that the thing can be doing billions in revenue five years from now," Andreessen concluded.
Data sourced from BrandWeek/Forbes/Reuters; additional content by WARC staff, 08 July 2009
Showing posts with label incentives. Show all posts
Showing posts with label incentives. Show all posts
Friday, July 10, 2009
Friday, November 16, 2007
Mobile Insider: Sponsor The User
by Steve Smith, Tuesday, November 13, 2007
AT THE RISK OF REVEALING too much about my media-addicted ways and permanently embarrassing my family, I will say that I'm the kind of guy who reaches for the remote in movie theaters.
When that bridge in Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" blows to hell and death rays start vaporizing suburbanites, my reflex is to hit rewind, no matter where I am. "What are you doing?" my partner asks as I start to fidget. "Nothing," I answer, as the impulse fades into the cold realization that I am strapped into one of those old fashioned, lean-back entertainment experiences that satisfied generations of passive audiences that preceded me. I am spoiled, and I admit it, but I suspect so are the rest of you. Interactivity is more than a feature of modern life. I think it is bound to become a reflex. Ultimately we start to assume that all media are or should have some back channel.
This a reflex that is tailormade for mobile. I am struck again and again by the response rates marketers like HipCricket and Vibes Media report from their in-venue SMS/MMS programs at concerts and sporting events. For instance, at a KIIS Los Angeles concert last May 15,000 attendees produced 7,672 shout-outs and messages to the texting screens in the venue. And when presented with an offer to upgrade their seats, concert-goers sent 10,550 messages, according to HipCricket, which managed the mobile piece of the event. At another concert several weeks ago, a 10,000-member audience produced more than 13,000 messages and more than 8,000 upgrade requests.
Jeff Hasen, HipCricket's chief marketing officer, says it is all about the offer and the venue. "In live arenas so much of the phone is personalization and people get into throwing a photo up. It makes it more enjoyable." And simply by sponsoring the screen on which the exchanges take place, a brand is doing what the user wants, facilitating one-to-one communication rather than interrupting it. The neatest trick of mobile media is going to be finding ways for marketing to be present at the site of peer-to-peer communication without getting in the way. Facilitating conversations is the best promotional opportunity of all.
This is just the simple rule of marketing -- adding value rather than detracting from an experience. The offer of a seat upgrade in a venue speaks directly to an immediate desire on the part of the user to enhance her experience.
Not every marketer has the allure of a seat upgrade to offer users, but there is an important lesson in this. Perhaps we should be thinking less about sponsoring events or content, and more about sponsoring users. How can a brand enhance and extend an experience that a user is already enjoying? That may be the real question that a personalized interactivity tool like the phone demands. Because mobile phones are totally portable, perhaps marketers have to stop thinking about media placement -- how and where to wrap their messages around content -- and start thinking situationally. Where is my user at a given point in time, and how can my brand enhance the value of that moment? How can I sponsor the user in his or her world? How can I help them activate the interactive reflex at any given moment? In-venue mobile marketing is a wonderful example of the power of mobile, but I think we should be extrapolating its lessons elsewhere.
There is a real opportunity for mobile to change the game of marketing, to move from interruptive promotion to real partnership with customers. If the rest of you are anything like me (God help you), then at any given moment in the day you may find yourself reaching for the remote trying to exercise that newfound interactive reflex. Brands should be there to help me activate that moment.
If users are "in charge," as we like to say, then shouldn't we be sponsoring them?
AT THE RISK OF REVEALING too much about my media-addicted ways and permanently embarrassing my family, I will say that I'm the kind of guy who reaches for the remote in movie theaters.
When that bridge in Spielberg's "War of the Worlds" blows to hell and death rays start vaporizing suburbanites, my reflex is to hit rewind, no matter where I am. "What are you doing?" my partner asks as I start to fidget. "Nothing," I answer, as the impulse fades into the cold realization that I am strapped into one of those old fashioned, lean-back entertainment experiences that satisfied generations of passive audiences that preceded me. I am spoiled, and I admit it, but I suspect so are the rest of you. Interactivity is more than a feature of modern life. I think it is bound to become a reflex. Ultimately we start to assume that all media are or should have some back channel.
This a reflex that is tailormade for mobile. I am struck again and again by the response rates marketers like HipCricket and Vibes Media report from their in-venue SMS/MMS programs at concerts and sporting events. For instance, at a KIIS Los Angeles concert last May 15,000 attendees produced 7,672 shout-outs and messages to the texting screens in the venue. And when presented with an offer to upgrade their seats, concert-goers sent 10,550 messages, according to HipCricket, which managed the mobile piece of the event. At another concert several weeks ago, a 10,000-member audience produced more than 13,000 messages and more than 8,000 upgrade requests.
Jeff Hasen, HipCricket's chief marketing officer, says it is all about the offer and the venue. "In live arenas so much of the phone is personalization and people get into throwing a photo up. It makes it more enjoyable." And simply by sponsoring the screen on which the exchanges take place, a brand is doing what the user wants, facilitating one-to-one communication rather than interrupting it. The neatest trick of mobile media is going to be finding ways for marketing to be present at the site of peer-to-peer communication without getting in the way. Facilitating conversations is the best promotional opportunity of all.
This is just the simple rule of marketing -- adding value rather than detracting from an experience. The offer of a seat upgrade in a venue speaks directly to an immediate desire on the part of the user to enhance her experience.
Not every marketer has the allure of a seat upgrade to offer users, but there is an important lesson in this. Perhaps we should be thinking less about sponsoring events or content, and more about sponsoring users. How can a brand enhance and extend an experience that a user is already enjoying? That may be the real question that a personalized interactivity tool like the phone demands. Because mobile phones are totally portable, perhaps marketers have to stop thinking about media placement -- how and where to wrap their messages around content -- and start thinking situationally. Where is my user at a given point in time, and how can my brand enhance the value of that moment? How can I sponsor the user in his or her world? How can I help them activate the interactive reflex at any given moment? In-venue mobile marketing is a wonderful example of the power of mobile, but I think we should be extrapolating its lessons elsewhere.
There is a real opportunity for mobile to change the game of marketing, to move from interruptive promotion to real partnership with customers. If the rest of you are anything like me (God help you), then at any given moment in the day you may find yourself reaching for the remote trying to exercise that newfound interactive reflex. Brands should be there to help me activate that moment.
If users are "in charge," as we like to say, then shouldn't we be sponsoring them?
Contributing writer Steve Smith is a longtime new-media consultant and columnist, and current editor of Digital Media Report for MinOnline.com and Mobile Media Report for TelecomWeb.com Contact him at popeyesmith@comcast.net.
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