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Technology saving the day is nothing new in sci-fi… on-screen, that is. Off-screen it’s a different matter. But when Sci Fi channel execs saw viewing figures for Eureka plateau they decided to use Twitter to regenerate a buzz around the programme.
Having exhausted a range of scientific anomalies throughout three series, execs realised it was the idiosyncratic residents of genius-town Eureka that kept viewers coming back for more. Twitter proved an ideal opportunity to let fans converse with the show’s characters.
It was decided the most likely ‘twitterer’ would be the show’s talking house, SARAH. SARAH observed all the characters but couldn’t participate directly, which made her the perfect candidate to talk to people about the secrets of the show.
Any Twitter users that had mentioned Eureka in their posts were targeted in order to build up a loyal online group quickly. SARAH interacted with them in character, under the Twitter username _S_A_R_A_H_ . Some of her tweets even served as teasers for upcoming episodes.
The campaign served its purpose. Eureka traded in its plateau for another rating peak, reaching 2.1 in viewing figures – nearly 20% higher than the target increase. SARAH conversed with over 4,100 Twitter users.
In today’s marketplace where everybody’s competing for the same shrinking budget and differentiation is hard to come by, marketers often think of price as their only lever.
That’s just incompetent marketing, plain and simple.
There are lots of ways to differentiate a product. You can even create the perception of differentiation, if you’re creative enough. It’s called product positioning and it’s something of an art.
Here are Five fundamental product positioning principles that will help you destroy the competition:
Here’s a great example that utilized four of the five principals. When Toyotaentered the luxury automotive sector with the Lexus brand, it 1) made “ergonomics” and “quality” the new “performance” and “luxury,” 2) initially undercut the competition to gain entry and early market share, 3) created a low-stress and more respectful showroom experience, and 4) targeted Mercedes andBMW - up the totem pole.
Apple also uses positioning strategy extraordinarily well.
Samsung has done a great job with their product positioning. They focused on their strengths of innovations in technology and design to overtake Sony in consumer electronics.
Subway Sandwiches "EAT FRESH" have done a good job with their positioning. They're leveraging on their 'fresh, natural food' strength to edge out the competition in the fast food market.
on the other side in today’s marketplace, positioning has multiple problems:
1) Positioning is immeasurable: You can’t say “our positioning has improved our sales by 5 % or as a result of our positioning strategy, our brand is 12% better than competitions. Furthermore, it is impossible to measure the ROI or benchmark positioning.
2) Positioning is only suitable for mass markets. Yet branding today is about segmentation and communicating and engaging with those segments via relevant channels and with messages that resonate specifically with those segments or niche markets. Does this mean that a company should develop different positioning for different niches?
3) Positioning is suitable for mass markets with limited competition and limited consumer access to media and information. Today, consumers can get any information they want on anything from anywhere.
4) The wikipedia definition is a top-down, company knows best, hierarchical marketing approach. Yet we live in a C2C environment in which consumers define brands.
5) Positioning is one-way. The company knows best and you must listen to us. We tell you how our products are positioned. Bu today, if you are not entering into 2 way conversations with consumers you are about to join the brand graveyard.
6) Positioning was developed for the US mass market of the 1970’s. But we’re in a globalized world now, with much more competition and more knowledgeable consumers.
7) Positioning is competition, not customer driven. The basic premise of positioning is that you want to be number 1 or number 2 in a category in a prospect’s mind. If you can’t be number 1 or number 2 in an existing category because of competition, you make your own category. In today’s congested marketplace, the investments required to develop a new category are enormous. Furthermore, besides the difficulty and expense of creating your own category, you are also letting your marketing be driven by the competition rather than consumer demands for value.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Positioning_%28marketing%29
Nissan’s 360 Convention came at the end of a successful launch year for the Nissan Qashqai. The month-long event in Portugal, attended by automotive journalists from around the world, provided a great opportunity to gain further exposure for the Qashqai model.
Nissan wanted to make an impact from the moment the journalists’ planes touched down. Identifying the arrivals section of the airport as an area often associated with waiting and boredom, Nissan decided to liven the experience up, not only for the journalists, but the general public too.
A 34 metre-long sidewalk was installed in the arrivals lounge of Lisbon airport. Motion activated, it simulated the black and white paving stone effect of a Portuguese pavement, gradually disappearing to reveal the Qashqai model and logo.
Over 700 000 travelers passed over the interactive walkway, including the 650 journalists originally targeted. A large media buzz surrounded the walkway’s installation and reinforced Nissan’s reputation as a brand with an innovative communication strategy.
Nissan
Renault Nissan
Automotive
Portugal
Apr 2008 - May 2008
OMD
Using direct online sales channels had proved successful at driving up sales for Thomas Cook's flight portal flythomascook.com (FTC), but the approach hadn’t impacted on brand awareness or lead to a more meaningful relationship with consumers.
Users tended to only come into contact with FTC at the point sale. FTC decided to capitalise on what it termed as ‘holiday gloating’ – the phenomenon of building up to a holiday, bragging about when you’re going, where you’re going and what you’ll do when you’re there.
Targeting the social networking-savvy 18-34 age group, FTC created the Holiday Widget. The widget could be downloaded to the user's social networking profile and personalised with all of their essential ‘gloating’ information such as the destination and the weather conditions. What’s more, when the user was actually on holiday, they could upload comments and photos from their phone or PC – perfect for creating ‘holiday envy’.
Released in September, FTC achieved 13,800 widget downloads in its first 6 weeks; it was Facebook’s second most downloaded application in October. It also drove additional traffic to FTC’s website that resulted in an 8% year on year increase. All the costs of the campaign were covered by week 1
Tetris is 25 years old today!
Google have changed their home page logo in honour of the Tetris birthday:
and other sites are running retrospectives - check out the Telegraph's Tetris gallery here.
It's been 25 years since Alexey Pajitnov, then a 29-year-old artificial intelligence researcher, came up with Tetris while working at the Soviet Academy of Sciences in Moscow. "A quarter of a century later," the Guardianreports, "it has a legitimate claim to being the videogame that has truly conquered the world. In all its forms, Tetris has sold more than 70 million copies around the globe; it has spawned architecture, art and music; it has earned multiple Guinness World Records; and is regularly voted one of the top games of all time." It's also enjoyed its share of goofy ads. .
It's also interesting to see such an unusual artistic approach to food marketing. No fancy perfect pictures of the food, but rather a colorful chaotic browsing through illustrations and animations.
Maybe because the only way to make instant yakisoba noodles appealing is to avoid showing the product and rather focus on the aesthetics of the digital experience :-)
1. Nimble. Because we don’t have a lot of people to get in the way of progress, we can turn on a dime for a client. They like that.
2. Loyal. Genuinely and to a fault. We need our precious clients to be successful, or else we’ll we’ll cease to exist. So we tend to act like we’re their partner. And really, we are.
3. Honest. Maybe too much at times. The rest of my team jokes about how “blunt” I can be with a client. Hey, if their hours suck, their staff is surly, the inventory dated, or the prices too high, someone needs to tell them…might as well be a “partner”. I care. (See Number 2.)
4. Efficient. Time is money. We’re small and don’t have the luxury of waxing poetic about a piece of creative for months. We study the issues and then work hard to sell something. Isn’t that what advertising is supposed to do, after all?
5. Hungry. We don’t eat till someone sells something. And we all know it, so we take nothing for granted.
6. Cost-conscious. Small agencies “feel the pain” of our small clients. We have to make money, but we don’t nickle and dime a client for every breath we take on their behalf.
7. Ego-less. Well, somewhat. If you think you’re the smartest one in the group, then you can’t work in a small shop. Arrogance just doesn’t work. Collaboration does.
The impact of Covid-19 has had a significant impact across the board with the marketing and advertising industry in 2020, but there is hope...