When it comes to engaging consumers online, the bar has never been higher. A recent study revealed that 82% of Americans completely ignore most online advertising. And it makes sense — faced with endless amounts of media online, we’ve all developed an eye-glaze setting reserved for pre-roll, banner and social media ads. Simply put, they don’t work anymore. Luckily, there’s an antidote to this interruptive, beat-you-over-the-head type of advertising — it just requires a very different approach. In order to cut through the noise, brands must create content — stuff that consumers actually care about and want to engage with — instead of inert, product-centric advertisements. It may seem like an easy shift, until you realize that it’s not the way the advertising industry has been oriented for the past 100 years. So where do brands go to release content that is richer, deeper and more tailored to the customer? I’d like to introduce you to a small video site called YouTube. With a billion unique users flocking to the site every month, YouTube has become the place where great content, regardless of its origin, can find a huge audience. It’s also the place where brands can make their mark as creators. When 8 million people tuned in to watch Felix Baumgartner’s insanely epic space jump, they did so because it was can’t-miss entertainment — the fact that it was a Red Bull ad was secondary. The same goes for First Kiss, a spot for clothing line Wren, which has now been viewed over 77 million times. (For a little perspective, the Game of Thrones premiere received 8.2 million viewers on its opening night.) But not all brands are created equal on YouTube. Depressingly enough, the average brand channels are still a cluttered mess of re-purposed TV spots, corporate “infotainment” and half-baked viral video concepts. Shudder. The following five companies are proof that the “content, not ads” mantra works. If a brand invests the time and energy in creating entertainment that’s focused around the customer, it has the opportunity to gain a massive fan base who will happily do the work of bringing its message out into the world. It may feel like a leap today, but it’s a leap every brand will have to make if they want anyone to pay attention. 1. GoPro Any brand who wants a quick primer on how to act like a creator need look no further than GoPro’s pulsing YouTube channel, a true action sports network told through the lens of their device. Granted, it’s easier to market a DIY camera through video content than just about anything else, but GoPro leverages YouTube best practices to cement their place as a product by and for the people. The channel page draws you in with an unmissable welcome video and then leads towards a wide variety of content – from the painfully adorable to the painfully painful, perfectly categorized and organized for your browsing pleasure. 2. Fiat Fiat’s YouTube channel is a lot like […]
On July 20, 1969, astronaut Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin Jr., lunar module pilot of the first lunar landing mission, poses for a photograph beside the deployed United States flag during Apollo 11 extravehicular activity on the lunar surface.Image: NASA General Electric is taking a “small step” into sneaker design to commemorate the role — or rather, sole — it had in mankind’s first “giant leap” on the moon. Forty-five years to the day, hour and minute after Apollo 11 moonwalkers Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin made the first manned lunar landing at 4:18 p.m. EDT on Sunday, July 20, GE will release for sale its new moon boot-inspired, limited edition sneakers, “The Missions.” The company, which is perhaps publicly better known for its consumer appliances and lighting products, provided in 1969 the silicone rubber that was used to create the now-iconic tread that lined the bottom of the Apollo moon boot. GE also produced the Lexan polycarbonate plastic used in forming the astronauts’ bubble helmets. “To celebrate the 45th anniversary of the original lunar landing and the sci-fi super materials that made it happen, GE and JackThreads decided to partner up to take that moon boot and create an updated, street-ready version so damn impressive, people will think whoever is wearing it might be from outer space,” men’s clothier JackThreads described on its website. The sneakers, which are strictly limited to just 100 pairs, are set to go on sale Sunday exclusively on JackThreads for $196.90 commemorating the year of the moon landing. The shoes will be sold on a first come, first served basis, with delivery expected in September. GE debuted “The Missions” on July 16, on the anniversary of Apollo 11’s launch atop a Saturn V rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, using the social network Snapchat. The company also invited Buzz Aldrin to use the photo messaging service to share stories of his voyage to the moon and showed him wearing a pair of the sneakers. The unisex “Missions,” which were designed with the help of luxury shoemaker Android Homme, feature an off-white and gray color scheme with a translucent, thermoplastic sole. The redesigned moon boots have components made from the same lightweight carbon fiber used for jet engine components, and they sport a hydrophobic coating similar to the materials that are used to prevent ice from forming on wind turbine blades. “We re-imagined our lunar kicks with next-gen materials pulled from the belly of bad ass jet engines … to not only commemorate GE’s contribution to space flight but also our shared excitement for future awesome things,” stated JackThreads. GE intends “The Missions” sneakers to draw attention to the advanced materials being developed in its labs today, Linda Boff, executive director of global brand marketing at GE, told Ad Age magazine. “By highlighting super materials like stabilized carbon fiber and hydrophobic coating in our limited-edition sneakers, it helps people relate to the power of these technologies,” she said. The Mission sneakers. Image: General Electric Aldrin […]
Wait a minute, what’s Samwise Gamgee doing talking to a bunch of NFL rookies? Actually, that’s Rudy Ruettiger — or Sean Astin, the actor who played both the underdog Notre Dame football player immortalized in the 1993 film Rudy, as well as Frodo Baggins’ erstwhile sidekick. Astin is part of a Pepsi Max digital marketing campaign, in which he employs his football expertise (or lack thereof) to engage in some gridiron banter with the NFL’s latest crop of talent. The back-and-forth is good for a few chuckles, so check it out in the video above. Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/09/12/rudy-nfl-rookies/
Microsoft has launched a new ad for Windows Phone 8, and it features none other than Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Narrated by Ballmer, the ad focuses on the platform’s personalization capabilities, and also features Bill Gates — if only as an image — who gives some Surface-related design advice to Ballmer. The phone featured in the ad is the powerful HTC Windows Phone 8X — a bit of a slap in the face of Nokia, who is Microsoft’s biggest Windows Phone partner. As far as Ballmer starring in a Microsoft video ad, the last time that happened was 1986, and the product being advertised was Windows 1.0. Check out the result here. How do you like the new ad? Share your thoughts in the comments. Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/10/30/steve-ballmer-shows-off-his-windows-phone-in-new-ad-video/
Facebook is celebrating hitting the 1 billion monthly user mark with the company’s first ad campaign. The social network hired ad agency Wieden + Kennedy — best known for its Nike work — to create the 90-second film above. The ad compares Facebook to chairs, bridges, basketball and other vehicles that bring people together. “What we’re trying to articulate is that we as humans exist to connect, and we at Facebook to facilitate and enable that process,” Rebecca Van Dyck, Facebook’s head of consumer marketing, told Advertising Age. “We make the tools and services that allow people to feel human, get together, open up. Even if it’s a small gesture, or a grand notion — we wanted to express that huge range of connectivity and how we interact with each other.” In a blog post, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg added, “For the first time in our history, we’ve made a brand video to express what our place is on this earth. We believe that the need to open up and connect is what makes us human. It’s what brings us together. It’s what brings meaning to our lives.” The ad campaign will roll out in 13 countries, including the U.S., Brazil, Mexico, Russia and Spain. There is no mention in the film of Facebook having hit the 1 billion mark. What do you think? Does this make you think of Facebook any differently? Let us know in the comments. Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/10/04/facebook-ad-campaign/
Organic foods and beverage maker Clif Bar is launching what it claims is the first geo-location Twitter campaign. The company wants you to send a geo-tagged tweet to @CLIFMojoGo the next time you’re in a park, at the beach or on a trail. Once the company has verified you are indeed outdoors, it will send you instructions to claim a free trail mix bar. You’ll also be entered to win a Garmin GPS watch and other prizes. Twitter does allow advertisers to target users in 210 U.S. regions, but doesn’t allow them to target users in specific locations — for example, in parks or at the mall. Clif Bar’s strategy, though labor intensive — they’ll have to verify the location of the tweets manually — is a clever workaround. Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/07/30/clif-bar-geo-targeted-twitter-campaign/
These days, it’s not just print and television that secure dedicated campaigns — Instagram and Vine are getting them, too. Earlier this week, Polo Ralph Lauren began rolling out a series of nine 15-second videos on Instagram as part of its “Polo Ralph Lauren Survival Guide.” As of Sunday, seven of the videos have rolled out, demonstrating, for example, how to pitch a tent (see below), how to start a fire and how to chill and uncork a bottle of champagne. The videos aren’t practical guides, of course. Rather, they provide a backdrop to Polo Ralph Lauren’s cable-knit sweaters, down jackets and leather boots. A company spokesperson said they’re designed “to capture the essence of the new Polo collections — the Explorer’s Club and Country Gentleman,” collections that are both “rugged yet wearable.” The entire campaign was shot and edited on an iPhone, according to the company. And judging by the image, below, it had an impressive iPhone rig to work with. Although Ralph Lauren denied any connection, the videos remind us of Lowe’s wildly popular Fix in Six Vine campaign, which offers a series of home-improvement tips in six-second videos. (The campaign recently won Mashable‘s Best in Show award at The Mashies.) Image: Polo Ralph Lauren Read more: http://mashable.com/2013/10/13/polo-ralph-lauren-instagram/
Microsoft’s new anime ad is the latest creative response to one of the biggest marketing challenges in tech: rebranding Internet Explorer. The browser, often the butt of jokes among would-be technorati despite its overwhelming global popularity, is presented as a bulwark against all kinds of Internet bad guys. You don’t need a degree in English Lit to grasp the symbolism here as the young heroine grabs a shield with a monogrammed “I” and is transformed into a warrior. The protagonist is, in fact, Inori Aizawa, the “official mascot of the Internet Explorer,” according to her Facebook Page. Aizawa is the latest attempt to reintroduce IE to the masses, following “Child of the 90s,” one of the top viral ads of this year so far. That ad appears to have helped IE hold on to 57.8% of worldwide market share, according to The Next Web. This isn’t the first time Microsoft has presented itself as a consumer advocate. Once sued by the Department of Justice over monopolistic behavior, the company has in recent years presented itself as a less evil alternative to Google via its “Scroogled” campaign. Image: Microsoft, YouTube Read more: http://mashable.com/2013/11/06/anime-internet-explorer-ad/
What do you do when you’re an up-and-coming brand and you hit 100,000 “Likes” on Facebook? If you’re Bonobos, you evoke The Golden Girls to great comic effect. The people at the online menswear retailer appear to have had a good time mimicking the opening of the classic ’80s show’s tune “Thank You for Being a Friend” (get it?), though they acknowledge that there’s no substitute for Estelle Getty. Bonobos is the latest brand to celebrate a Facebook milestone with a musical tribute, following recent efforts from AT&T and Kraft Macaroni & Cheese. Is this the cheesiest yet though? Let us know in the comments. Read more: http://mashable.com/2012/08/07/bonobos-golden-girl/
Despite nearly 8% unemployment, a tepid economy and millions of dollars in negative advertising, President Obama managed to pull off a sizable Electoral College win on Tuesday. While Obama’s 2008 campaign is now seen as a real-world demonstration of the power of social media, his operation four years later was much more complex. The ’08 campaign is the stuff of textbooks, but the lessons of ’12 are brand new. Marketers of all types studied Obama’s ’08 campaign and they would do well to take a look at his subsequent mobilization effort. Here are some of the obvious lesson of Obama’s triumph this time around: 1. It’s the Big Data, Stupid Big Data may have its flaws, but this election shows that it’s indispensable. New York Times columnist Nate Silver showed how crunching numbers can render most pundits’ gut instincts irrelevant. The Obama campaign proved the same for the marketer’s gut. As Time chronicled, the O campaign relied on a team of dozens of number crunchers who made predictive calls on exactly the right type of pitch to right the right type of voter. After consolidating its database into one megafile, the team relentlessly tested pitches based on the targeting and learned from its testing. As the article states: A large portion of the cash raised online came through an intricate, metric-driven e-mail campaign in which dozens of fundraising appeals went out each day. Here again, data collection and analysis were paramount. Many of the e-mails sent to supporters were just tests, with different subject lines, senders and messages. Inside the campaign, there were office pools on which combination would raise the most money, and often the pools got it wrong. 2. Facebook Advertising Works There are lots of reasons to doubt Facebook’s assertion that ad units like Sponsored Stories are effective. For instance, the recommendation you see may be from a Facebook “friend” you actually barely know. You may find it creepy to see advertising intrude upon friendships as well. But in Obama’s ’12 campaign, Facebook worked. As Time detailed, the O campaign used Facebook to “replicate the door-knocking efforts of field organizers” on a mass scale. During the final weeks of the campaign, Obama’s supporters received pictures of their friends in swing states. They were then urged to click a button asking the swing state voters to register to vote, vote early or get to the polls. The campaign found that the tactic worked 20% of the time “in large part because the message came from someone they knew.” 3. All the Money in the World Can’t Overcome Bad Advertising Super PACs supporting Mitt Romney poured millions into swing states to convince voters that voting for Obama and other Democrats would be against their self interest. However, as Slate points out, many of these ads were crude and insulted the intelligence of targeted voters. For instance, a Super PAC attack ad against Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown “portrayed Brown as a demented cartoon, sitting at a desk with an […]
