Coca Cola:::Mismatch Generator Mar 2008 - Jun 2008

BRAND OWNER :The Coca Cola Company
CATEGORY :Drinks (non-alcoholic)
REGION :Germany

In 2008, Coca-Cola was one of the official sponsors of the UEFA football championships (Euro 2008) and wanted to reignite the World Cup spirit that had taken over the country during 2006.

Coke decided to act as a facilitator, uniting people in their love for football and for the national team.

The idea was to get Coke to bring even opponents together.

The key target audience was 18-29 year olds who were used to communicating via social networks. Usually people in communities search for people with similar interests, but Coke wanted to turn this idea on its head so that people could connect with people who are very different.

Coke partnered with social community StudiVZ – 4 times bigger than Facebook. We integrated a Coke EURO platform with a new and unique fan-profile generator called the “Mismatch Generator”.

The users had to answer 9 questions about their lifestyle. These profiles run into a database and weekly every participant got 3 opposite mismatches allocated, for example a meat-lover would be matched with a vegetarian, but they were unified by their love of football. Then each week one pair of mismatches won a fan partner championship ticket.

The Mismatch-Generator was pushed by standard online advertising as well as personal addressing and viral components in the community.

Some 100.000 fans in the target-group were activated by the campaign and over 530.000 different mismatches were created. In the end, the activation program contributed considerably to Coca-Cola becoming the Euro 2008 advertiser with the highest awareness and likeability for its Euro communication.

SunSilk :::Manuela's wedding

BRAND OWNER :Unilever
CATEGORY :Accessories/ Clothing/ Footwear
REGION :Brazil
DATE :Nov 2008 - Dec 2008

Sunsilk is the top hair care brand in Brazil and was set to launch a new product, Sunsilk S.O.S.

Crescimento Fortificado, whose main benefit is to drive strong hair growth at a rate of up to 1.27 cm a month. Sunsilk had focused its brand position around the expression, "Life can't wait, why should hair " a bid to appeal to the lives of 20-something-girls.

The challenge was to create a communication campaign capable of bringing together the brand's philosophy (life can't wait) and the new variant's powerful functional benefit.
As Unilever research showed that 70% of women have "growth" and "strength" as two of their main hair care needs, Sunsilk needed a platform to reach this huge percentage of Brazilian women.
Due to the huge role that soap operas play in Brazilian cultural life, Sunsilk decided that this would be the most powerful creative direction to take.
An original, 4-episode sitcom was produced following the 4 month's leading up to the most important day in a woman's, Manuela's, life: her wedding day.
The plot linked to the product as Manuela had cut her hair short only to get engaged the following day. The target audience became gripped with Manuela's struggles to have her perfect wedding and, more importantly, her perfect hair.
The episodes were aired on TV, and were then made available on a website created for the project.
Sunsilk also produced exclusive online content, including video tips from Manuela's hair stylist, dermatologist and nutritionist. The FAQ section of the website was transformed into video interviews with these skilled professionals. The mystery of who was trying to sabotage Manuela's wedding could only be solved via Manuela's blog, and the sitcoms character profiles that were created on social networking sites, such as Orkut, Twitter, Facebook and Flickr.
Consumers were encouraged to interact with the content, coming up with their own storylines. The winner of this competition appeared as a guest star on a special episode of the show.

The first episode was viewed 500,000 times on YouTube and the product is now the biggest selling product in SunSilk's portfolio, which has 21 products. Market share was increased by 400%.

Nivea::: Good-Bye Cellulite

BRAND OWNER :Beiersdorf
CATEGORY :Toiletries/ Cosmetics
REGION :USA
DATE :Mar 2008 - Jul 2008


Cellulite is a problem for a large number of women between the ages of 20 and 50, but most are skeptical about the efficacy of topical creams.

Nivea wanted to address this skepticism and relate personally to women’s experiences and feelings about their cellulite.

Nivea’s Good-bye Cellulite product launched in 2007 in partnership with the Tyra Banks Show, using real testimonials of women who had seen dramatic results from using the product.

Nivea decided to extend the partnership for 2008 and leverage the implied endorsement. The 2008 partnership spanned a series of Time Warner properties, including The Tyra Banks Show, People Magazine and Extra. The Tyra Banks element saw two full segments on the show – the first introduced the “Goodbye Cellulite Hello Bikini Challenge” participants and the panel of Nivea experts.
The second revealed the women’s fantastic results, with Tyra Banks herself discussing the product. People magazine followed the journey of the women taking the challenge. Readers were given a behind-the-scenes look to a Nivea sponsored fashion show, with the models attesting the effectiveness of GBC.

As a result of the campaign, Goodbye Cellulite increased sales by 50%. After the airing of the second integration on Tyra and the People advertorial, GBC Gel and GBC Body Beauty were the #1 and #2 ranked products in the category.

The GBC integration on Extra! helped Nivea become the #1 brand in the category for the first time in history

Veritas Spiriti::: Be bold and check them

BRAND OWNER:Veritas Spiriti
CATEGORY:Charities
REGION:Macedonia
DATE:Sep 2008 - Dec 2007

Amongst men between 15 and 40, awareness of testicular cancer and its symptoms are very low.

The cancer can be easily detected with a simple self examination and if detected early it can be successfully treated in 99% of the cases. NGO Veritas Spiriti wanted to educate men how to self-examine and motivate them to do it regularly.

The target group doesn’t worry about things like cancer, so the charity wanted to deliver multiple repetitions of the core message in a funny way.

Veritas Spiriti decided to literally give men “a hand” in checking themselves. The charity created cut outs of hands complete with information about the checks in football stadiums, in the gym, in barber shops and in changing rooms as well as at the car wash and snooker rooms.

In Macedonian slang, testicles are also known as eggs, so Veritas Spiriti stamped the message on eggs sold at local markets. This was supported by a website (www.proverigi.com.mk) containing more details and facts about testicular cancer. There were banners resembling women’s breasts with a zip over them. Once the banner is “unzipped” two eggs were revealed underneath with the message.
Prior to the campaign around 1% of men were aware of testicular cancer, but afterwards there was a 74% awareness. Ministry of Health data revealed that the number of doctor visits for checking testicular cancer were 11% higher after the campaign. Finally the internet banners were clicked 1100% more then the regular banners.

Gillette: India votes

BRAND OWNER :Procter & Gamble
CATEGORY :Toiletries/ Cosmetics
REGION :India
DATE :Aug 2008 - Sep 2008

The challenge facing Gillette was that despite the positive perception of Gillette Mach3 as a product, Indian men found shaving to be a chore.

As Indian men placed very little importance on shaving, they couldn't justify using the Gillette Mach3 - which is around 10 times more expensive than traditional Indian razors.

Gillette sparked a national debate on shaving that would infiltrate the conversations of millions.

The campaign platform of "India Votes....to shave or not" could have gone horribly wrong.

First, Gillette piqued the nation's interest by commissioning a Nielsen survey on the country's attitude to shaving. The research highlighted a series of controversial points that were sure to get the nation talking. Were clean-shaven men more successful? Did the nation prefer clean-shaven celebreties? And the big one: did women prefer clean-shaven men?

The provocative results generated buzz across the key news services. TV-news-anchors, and radio-DJs keenly picked it up and started a debate on their own perspective channels.

Even the Times of India ran a daily poll online on the subject.

Gillette had sparked a national conversation among celebrities, Bollywood-stars, noted business-icons and socialites.

An online poll and live polls conducted malls and cineplexes kept the debate raging, and also offered men a chance to trial the product. What was the critical insight that broke the brand challenge?

Quite simply, the survey proved conclusively and publicly that women preferred clean-shaven men. Sharing this observation with the men of India created dramatic change in the brand's fortunes.

The campaign set all time sales records with a dramatic change in the brand's fortunes. The campaign set all time sales records with a dramatic sales increase of 38%. Awareness doubled. Trials increased by 400% and Gillette's market share increased by 35%.

Sears::: Back to school

BRAND OWNER:Sears
CATEGORY:Accessories/ Clothing/ Footwear
REGION:USA
DATE:Jun 2008 - Sep 2008


For Sears, the back-to-school (BTS) season is the only promotional period the retailer directly targets and involves younger shoppers.

Among teens Sears is rarely considered cool, so the challenge was to prove to teens that Sears had the apparel and styles to help them really "arrive" back at school.

This was to be part of a continued dialogue throughout the year, as Sears realised that you can't just talk to teens once a year and expect them to care about your brand.

Sears understood that the BTS season was incredibly important to kids, they would be seeing their friends for the first time in months and needed to make the right impression.

To generate excitement about Sears product offering and build an aspirational relationship, Sears aligned with Vanessa Hudgens, star of teen phenomenon High School Musical.

With Vanessa as brand ambassador, the strategy positioned Sears as the reference provider of the BTS looks and playground currency to impress.

Vanessa, dressed in Sears, starred in a TV commercial; series set as a musical, wearing the winning look for the 'first day' of school in the final act.

Sears' Arrive Lounge microsite was created, featuring Vaness Hudgens behind-the-scenes footage, content, opt-in mobile offer alerts, downloads and tools (video/music mash-up tool, apps to link to social networks).

Visitors registered for VIP Access Card and entered a sweepstakes to win a concert at their school with Vanessa. Card holders received weekly emails/SMS giving clues to hot items only to be found at Sears stores. When items were found, keywords were texted for a sweepstakes to get a Vanessa concert at your school.

A cross-channel sponsorship of MTV movie, “American Mall”, integrated product and aligned Sears’ partnership with Hudgens, the lead actress.

To drive traffic to “Arrive Lounge” Sears teamed up with highly trusted teen social networks and destinations: Facebook, MySpace, Seventeen, CosmoGirl, Addicting Games, FunBrain and Neopets to be part of and add value to their own customizable virtual worlds: Integrated “Arrive Lounge” into custom virtual worlds with exclusive content, videos, freebies and bespoke games for each environment; Sears virtual boutiques offering clothing, backgrounds, and animations to get ready for the new school year; Parties, Fashion events, Catwalk contests where users interact and celebrate the best of BTS fashion and Sears virtual stores offering exclusive apparel for their avatars, with online trading currency. "Intention to shop at Sears for BTS items" was up 5% among tested audience.

Domino's nightmare .. A lessons for marketers

It's a PR nightmare scenario: A national fast-food chain has to respond to a video, spreading rapidly online, that shows one of its employees picking his nose and placing the result in the food he's making.

That's exactly what Domino's , the nation's largest pizza delivery chain, has spent the past several days doing.

Two employees — fired and facing charges — posted a video on YouTube on Monday that shows one of them doing gross things to a Domino's sub sandwich he is making. Among them: sticking cheese pieces up his nose and passing gas on the salami.

The video had been viewed more than 550,000 times by Wednesday.






For Domino's, the PR response hasn't been easy. The video reflects some of the worst fears consumers have about food purchased from restaurants. The video and discussion of it has moved on to Facebook, Twitter and dozens of other social-networking sites.

But Domino's is getting fairly high marks from social-networking and crisis-management gurus about its response.

And marketers are getting an instant lesson in the dangers of an online world where just about anyone with a video camera and a grudge can bring a company to its knees with lightning speed.
"Nothing is local anymore," Domino's spokesman Tim McIntyre says. "That's the challenge of the Web world. Any two idiots with a video camera and a dumb idea can damage the reputation of a 50-year-old brand."

An arrest warrant was issued Wednesday for Michael Anthony Setzer, 32, of Conover, N.C., and Kristy Lynn Hammonds, 31, of Taylorsville, N.C., for food tampering, a felony in North Carolina, police say. McIntyre says Domino's is mulling a lawsuit.

Here are key things experts say marketers can do to quickly catch and respond effectively to similar social-networking attacks:
• Monitor social media. Big companies must actively watch Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social sites to track conversations that involve them. That will help uncover potential crises-in-the-making, says Brian Solis, a new-media specialist and blogger at PR2.0.
• Respond quickly. Domino's responded within hours. "They responded as soon as they heard about it, not after the media asked, 'What are you going to do?' " says Lynne Doll, president of The Rogers Group, a crisis-management specialist.


very smart.. using same media

Patrick Doyle, President, Domino's U.S.A., responds to video of (now former) Domino's team members.

Follow us at http://twitter.com/dpzinfo


• Respond at the flashpoint. Domino's first responded on consumer affairs blog The Consumerist, whose activist readers helped track down the store and employees who made the video. Then it responded on the Twitter site where talk was mounting. "Domino's did the right thing by reinstituting the trust where it was lost," Solis says.
• Educate workers. It's important that all employees have some media and social-media training, says Ross Mayfield, co-founder of Socialtext, which advises companies on new media.
• Foster a positive culture. Workers who are content and customers who like your product are far less likely to tear down a company online, PR guru Katie Delahaye Paine says. "This would be a lot less likely to happen at places like Whole Foods."
• Set clear guidelines. Companies must have clear policies about what is allowed during working hours — and what isn't, Doll says. "It won't prevent everyone from breaking the rules, but at least they'll know what the rules are."
As a result of the incident, Domino's is looking at banning video cameras in stores, McIntyre says.

--------------------------

Recap & learnings
----------------------

Corporate Crisis Management: is defined as an unexpected event that creates uncertainty and threatens an organization’s priority goals and public image.

Managers facing crises as such consider the possible consequences of their reaction. On one side - reacting to uncontrolled events may foster further awareness to the problem. On the other side, ignoring such events may result in risking social legitimacy (the firm may be perceived as being irresponsible, dishonest, or acting in a manner that exhibits little concern for the community).

Bradford and Garrett (1995) investigated the effectiveness of five different corporate responses to a crisis event. The possible responses were (a) no response, (b) denial, (c) offer an excuse, (d) agree that the firm caused the event but argue that the severity of the event is less than publicized, and (e) agree that the event is severe and accept responsibility for the event.



The possible conditions were (a) the firm can provide evidence that they committed no unethical action,
(b) the firm can provide evidence that they had no control over the event,
(c) the firm can provide evidence that the event is less severe than suggested in the media,
and (d) the firm accepts responsibility for the event.


Across the different conditions, the “accept responsibility” response was found to be the optimal communication strategy.
Other research in this field indicate that consumer expectations about the firm (consumers with a preexisting favorable opinion of a firm vs those who lacked a preexisting favorable opinion - Dawar & Pillutla, 2000) and their commitment to the brand ( low versus high commitment - Ahluwalia et al. , 2000) moderates the effects of negative publicity.



In this week Domino’s Pizza crisis, the firm decided to react to the event (taking 48 hours respond). They have presented an apology, suggested information (both public and personal) and a promise for taking future steps. Interestingly, it chose unconventional media channels to confront their consumers, the same channels in which the crisis found its way through - social media interactions.


Consumer research will be needed to test consumers’ perceptions and behaviors in few months time. Currently, it seems that although the images were shocking, the company has succeeded in reacting well to the event.


Online trend tools indicate that the buzz around it lost an interes...

twitter trends:






blog citations:

search volume:



Description of the crisis:
On the night of April 13, two Domino’s employees engaged in an act of food violation posted their acts on YouTube (putting cheese in their nose, blowing mucous on a sandwich etc). The videos went viral online, viewed by millions of people until blocked.

Reactions to the crisis:
April 14:
1. The employees were fired and warrants were issued for their arrest.
2. Domino’s has also posted a statement on its corporate website.
“The opportunities and freedom of the internet is wonderful, but it also comes with the risk of anyone with a camera and an internet link to cause a lot of damage, as in this case, where a couple of individuals suddenly overshadow the hard work performed by the 125,000 men and women working for Domino’s across the nation and in 60 countries around the world.” .
3. On an interview with Domino’s Domino’s spokesman he says: “Nothing is local anymore, that’s the challenge of the Web world. Any two idiots with a video camera and a dumb idea can damage the reputation of a 50-year-old brand.”
4. The company decided not to issue a press release. Dominos spokesman was interviewed on that: “the company can deal with tens of thousands of impressions, but a strong response from Domino’s would alert more consumers to the embarrassment.”
5. The company shared an an apologetic e-mail from the employees: “It was all a prank and me nor Michael expected to have this much attention from the videos that were uploaded! No food was ever sent out to any customer. We would never put something like that on you tube if it were real!! It was fake and I wish that everyone knew that!”
April 15: Domino’s activated social media activities:
6. In a YouTube video, Patrick Doyle, president of Domino’s USA, apologizes for the incident, and describes the steps his company is taking to ensure such an incident doesn’t happen again.
“We sincerely apologize for this incident, we thank members of the online community who quickly alerted us and allowed us to take immediate action.
Although the individuals in question claim it’s a hoax, we are taking this incredibly seriously.” Moreover, he said that the Conover srore has been shut down and is being sanitized from top to bottom and promises to make sure “that people like this don’t make it into our stores.”
6. Dominos started social media activity on twitter (under the username “dpzinfo” - it receives 1425 followers as for today).
With public information and personal twits (for example: “Most of our stores are designed so that anyone in the lobby can fully see the food prep area.”) information on the brand and on preventive acts are presented.
Examples of other corporate crises:
1-Johnson & Johnson’s response to the Tylenol incident - 1982
An unknown terrorist spiked Tylenol capsules with cyanide which resulted in seven deaths. Media coverage made it clear that Johnson & Johnson had no control over this post manufacture product tampering, suppressing any Could counterfactuals.
The actions taken by Johnson & Johnson were considered as highly effective:
The company recalled extra-strength Tylenol from all store shelves across the country, offered a reward for the murderer, and introduced a tamper resistant package. In this case, although the brand’s market share fell sharply (from 35% to 8%), it has recoverd within a year.
2-Jetblue flights cancellation
3-Alleged defects in tires manufactured by Firestone
4-Gene-spliced corn contamination of Taco Bell products
5-Benzene contamination in Perrier bottled water
6-Racial discrimination by Texaco in the promotion of employees
7-Burger King Employee Takes Bath In Sink

Crises Management: Trendsspotting Insights On Dominos Case Study

View more presentations from Taly Weiss.

Coles::: advertising that works /sells (DDB Melbourne)

It will probably never win an award but it’s a great example of using the strengths of the medium -Sydney Daily Telegraph- to deliver on what is a really strong strategy.

The brand is Coles, and the idea is incredibly straightforward, yet very well done. Five cut-out recipes that allow you to feed four people for under ten bucks. it’s also backed by having the receipes on the Coles website.

It’s the kind of unglamorous, but hard-working advertising that more agencies should be aspiring to - particularly in the current environment. I’m not certain, but I think DDB Melbourne is behind it. I bet the product flies off the shelves.

it is all about packaging and presentation

Shopping online for food has never been so cool (and even sexy).

Check out the website of Les Gourmandises de Lolita Lempicka where food photographs, illustrations and animations mix in a sweet and engaging way

it is all about packaging and presentation

Shopping online for food has never been so cool (and even sexy).



Check out the website of Les Gourmandises de Lolita Lempicka where food photographs, illustrations and animations mix in a sweet and engaging way

Saudi Arabia ::: useful pictures references

GalenFrySinger

resourceful with pictures of Saudi culture in the rural areas. With pictures of experiences like Bedu dinner and Bedu farm.

Tour Saudi Arabia
highlighted by an American Woman’s travels to the country.