Voyeurism or Science? The Latest Marketing Trend that has Business Buzzing

Voyeurs or scientists? The business buzz is all about the social, anthropological science of ethnography. In short, ethnography is the science of observing consumers in their habitat. The end goal is to help companies better understand their audiences so that they can develop products and services better suited for these lifestyles.

In this newsletter, we’re going to explore the impact of the scientists’ findings on marketing strategies and tactics. Some skeptics think ethnography is hogwash. The devotees praise the scientists’ expertise for business revitalization. At the end of the day, what can it mean to you and your marketing?

If your business is similar to most these days, there is a seesaw of power between companies and consumers. Companies truly want to know how they can improve performance, product and profits; thus their investment in ethnography. In turn, consumers are willing to give up a little privacy in order to gain from the results of these scientific observations.

On the other hand, consumers are controlling companies with their vociferous requests to be released from commitment. We see this in the contrast of individually purchased songs versus complete CD’s; and in the buying of a show’s entire season on DVD versus appointment TV loyalty or TIVO-ing. Video-on-Demand (VOD) keeps generating healthy numbers, iPod programming, microchunking and more– these are the trends that round out what’s now. Folks, it’s a new universe of push and pull marketing.

So, in order to get the pull, what scientific and trend data can you use to better your business? Read on… and then call Click.

So just how does ethnography fit into a brand? It further defines the brand, refreshes it and provides new associations. Take, for instance, Marriott Hotels. Smartly responding to changing times, the company took the initiative to recreate their business model based upon the findings of ethnographers.

The upscale, yet affordable brand needed to rethink its hotel experience for an increasingly important customer: the young, tech-savvy road warrior. The key was to understand their behavior. So ethnographers followed this target audience over six weeks and 12 cities.

Marriott responded to the results by creating an environment where guests could comfortably combine work with pleasure outside of their rooms. The lobbies were recreated with a new social zone, featuring small tables, brighter lights and wireless web access. Another area carved out larger, quieter, semiprivate work spaces for solo travelers, keeping in mind simple, yet important details such as allowing enough space to spread out papers and have coffee without the two combining. These changes were a divergence over their former dark lobbies which were better suited for killing time and for larger groups.

What new opportunities exist for your brand? Explore with Click.

Let’s take design off the page and the screen and place it at the core of consumer environments– the actual surroundings. How does marketing transcend walls? Let’s look at the American icon, McDonald’s.

The company has not had a major overhaul in 30 years and executives claim that now is the time. Their process includes reconfiguring the roofs and interior décor with more muted, rich colors and plasma TVs. Their influences? The iPod and Starbucks.

Like Marriott, they are incorporating the lifestyle habits of their three target audiences to create spaces, Zones, that appeal to their eating and socializing habits. Zone 1 is the “linger” zone, which offers comfortable armchairs, sofas and Wi-Fi connections. This Zone is geared toward young adults who want to socialize, hang out and linger. Reference Starbucks.

Zone 2 is the “grab and go” area, featuring tall counters with bar stools enriched with plasma TVs. Think sports bar. Finally, Zone 3 is the “flexible” zone for families. Booths identify this area with fabric cushions, colorful patterns and flexible seating. Additional Zone details include music targeted to each area.

The price of this rehaul is staggering and some franchisees aren’t happy with the corporate mandate. However, as with all design, it’s the long-term payoff that matters. For instance, when Nissan redesigned its dealerships to correspond with the aesthetics of several new upscale car launches, they saw an average growth of 57% in sales vs. 33% overall.

Which direction do you want your ROI to flow? Call Click for design that trends upward!

The new social network. It emerged in the ‘90s with iVillage.com. Now, MySpace seems to be the distinct voice. What is this phenomenon really about?

Let’s start with its mammoth size. MySpace is the online, global community that has a base of 80 million people and continues to grow by as many as 270,000 people daily. Driven largely by word of mouth, MySpace has grown astronomically since its debut in January 2004 and is now second in the United States, only behind Yahoo Inc., in total page views among all websites.

Ethnographers are realizing that online communities are a resource for substantial research. That is why they have tapped MySpace. Additionally, advertisers are getting in step with this built-in mass medium. Bands have launched careers and fashion designers have teamed up with corporate behemoths like HP by utilizing the power of online community forums.

So who are your friends? Be our new BFF. Visit Click’s MySpace site at www.myspace.com/click

Forget the press. Bring on the army of real-life people who can move mountains with the utterance of a few words. Traditional media has met its match with another trend that has been given new life. What is it?

Viral, or “buzz” marketing is coming on strong. It’s accomplished by placing a product in a few consumers’ hands and allowing them to talk to their counterparts about it, which is exactly what the moms of P&G’s Vocalpoint do. This group is actually a so-called word-of-mouth marketing program that has been developed to pitch their products. Three campaigns have been launched which include Dawn Direct Foam dish detergent, Febreze Air Effects air freshener and Millstone coffee. The catalyst? 600,000 women, primarily moms between 28 and 45, with large social networks. These women are not coached on what to say but receive free product samples and bigger yet, a sense of empowerment. The gift of female gab has generated double the number of sales in Vocalpoint markets over non-markets.

Watch out. Word of Mouth Marketing Association, WOMMA, mandates full disclosure of these types of groups, so before you go buzz, go legal.

Bold moves maker, Ford Motor Co., often gives products to people who have a celebrity-like status and are influential in a particular city or market. Ford relied on those such people to influence others about the new Ford Focus. They had “cool” people drive them and talk up the car to anyone who asked in hopes of generating new sales. They also handed out keychains to inquisitive bystanders.

So, how cool do you want your buzz to be? If you’re serious, contact Click.

The C Spot was an invite-only, high-spirited afternoon delight. What is it, where was it and how did this event help its brand embed itself in its target audience’s lifestyle?

C Spot, at first bite, was a powerful emotional grab by Mercedes Benz composed of marketing intrigue, captivating graphics and a truly adventure-filled event. The “C Spot Drive Party” was the Mercedes Benz campaign to introduce its new fleet of C-class cars. To launch the new body models and to rev up sales, Mercedes set up a series of special events in select U.S. cities. A handpicked list of Mercedes owners were invited to a few hours of luxury and adventure at various locations around the country. At the Arizona State Fair Grounds, invitees were lured into a large white big top which was decked out and categorized into vignettes that sampled a “luxury” lifestyle. Mercedes chose to co-brand with companies such as Sharper Image, LG, Saks Fifth Avenue, T.Mobile and Design Within Reach. An articulate model/spokesperson touted the many fine Mercedes C-class engineering and design attributes. Saks Fifth Avenue provided mannequin modeling, featured video of the latest runway fashion show on multiple screens and offered after hand massages with one of their newest product spa lines. Sharper Image entranced visitors with chair massages (a waiting line ensued). The chairs were especially helpful after guests indulged in all-you-can-eat sushi and endless beverage consumption from LG/TV refrigerators.

Once outside the back tent door, guests suited up in safety gear and shuffled into a line for one of two test drive experiences: drive yourself, or ride with a pro. Two different courses were set up, both customized to mimic real road experience with an added bit of fantasy driving.

After the thrill rides, all guests were escorted to an exit area to provide feedback about the overall experience, especially the C-class drive. A few days after the event, they sent postcard and email thank you's.

Now that’s understanding your customers; bringing a concept to their attention and providing an environment that mimics their lifestyle and a slice of their habitat.

Do you want something as memorable as C Spot? Then take Click for a test drive.

If its creative enough, your advertising campaign can spiral into a viral marketing campaign. What recent lessons exist?

Several; let’s start with the originator, Volkswagen. VW has TV spots running where passengers are in a graphic accident. The shock effect of the commercial is to emphasize their new vehicles’ safety. The shocking spots ignited a national buzz about the intense broadside impact. The commercials received so much attention that the "Today Show" aired them as a news subject. Many newspapers have also written about the commercials, and the impact they’ve had on viewers. So, the campaign moved from just TV to PR, executed with a well planned, emotionally connecting theme.

So, how can you take the ordinary, soup it up for emphasis and drive it to a multiplatform tactic? Easy, call Click.

What newspapers learned 10 years ago is just now becoming a lesson for TV outlets. The first to take an aggressive stance on web editorial and e-commerce, newspapers were able to nab prime internet real estate, commanding a market share of 41% of local online revenue. TV, on the other hand, was late to the game and still only generates a paltry 6% of online revenue for local TV sites.

Following the ever increasing revenue generated by this medium, the demand for online video ads continues to tick up to an estimated $1 billion this year. Apple Computers can take a fair amount of credit for this gain. Once the video iPod was unveiled, networks got on board with the sale of downloadable programs attractively packaged between ads. Some consumers find downloading much easier than figuring out which network their favorite shows are airing on.

Now, the squeeze is on for local TV station online real estate. If only TV stations could enter the 21st century…

Remember that five minute segment that was the highlight of your favorite show? In the past, you’d enjoy the moment and it would be gone. Now, you can get that special moment back.

Producers are tuning in to your desire to just view the highlights. It’s called microchunking and it’s being used to repurpose popular programming for the internet and make it available for downloading. Of course, a fee and some ads might surround those highlights, so remember how much you loved them.

Becoming a highly effective, TiVo-stopping tactic is the creative use of silence. Cingular has finally grasped what every cellular user from day one has complained about– the dropped call. So, an instant and memorable personal connection is the deleted sound right in the middle of their message.

That’s great creative. What do you have to say?

A head-turner; well, yes. But we’re talking about a page turner. What smart and sassy new techniques are advertisers creating and magazines making? Find out here.

Take the page and make it new. The latest trend in print advertising is turning, popping up and stripping off the page. Finally, the page turning books of vertical ads have forced more users to receive the message, and it’s actually working. Advertisers are engaging consumers with slick twists and turns to make print fun again. From bumper decals, to pop up ads that are similar to children’s stories, to metallic ink and other texturized details, print is back.

How creative is your advertising? Test the limit. Call Click.

Stock photography is finally coming into its own with real-world images and earth-bound pricing. Stock photography companies are beginning to respond to what is really happening around us a multicultural people, diverse business groups, age ranges, unconventional gender roles and a price tag that truly makes a canary sing.

Are your images singing? Get out of the Wonder Bread world and live in Technicolor. Call Click.

The latest TV editing trend is about morphing images like a kaleidoscope, and using vertical and horizontal editing for extreme visual veracity. Take Hype Williams’ work with Jamie Foxx and LL Cool J. He’s split the screen every which way but loose and has viewers salivating for more. The visual dynamic of simultaneously placing images in both horizontal and vertical movement is renewing the video world. Single, straight, full framed shots need not apply.

How’s your TV message in the mad ad world? Are you hype or just fizz? Get the hype, call Click.

MySpace launches “24” downloads. MySpace has come under fire lately for not regulating their site enough. A young girl is currently in the process of suing them for $30 million, because a guy she met on MySpace, to whom she had also given her cell number and went on a date with, raped her.

Univision has been acquired for approximately $13.7 billion, to a group of five private equity investment firms.

Riviera Broadcasting, which owns the Edge 103.9, is buying Power 92.3 in August. Power 92 will move up the dial to Power 92.3 FM, and will simulcast on its existing dial 92.3 for at least 4 weeks prior to the big move. Since they are the only hip hop station in town, they are confident that their listeners will make the move as well.

Nielsen Media Research just announced that the total number of television households within the US is now estimated at 111.4 million, an increase of 1.1 percent since last year for the 2006 – 2007 television season. The estimate reflects the continued growth of the baby boomer generation and the increase in the Echo Boomers and Generation Y population.

Phoenix has jumped DMA rank again, for the second time in two years, to become the #13 DMA. In the past 10 years, Phoenix has moved up a total of four DMA places! This is unheard of growth. DMA is an acronym for Designated Market Area which is a geographical area that measures population. Advertising rates and distribution numbers are based upon DMA population. The higher the DMA, the higher the rates. Can you guess where this is going?