Comments (0) I love this holiday email from SPG (aka Satrwood Hotels). It’s smart. It’s cute. And, coolest of all, it used all the data that their customers provided them to not only give us our data back in a bigger and better way, but to also give us some insights into hotels and cities that we might want to explore. Kudos SPG! One more reason to love being an SPG Insider 
I wrote about the perils of QR Codes before. More frequently I see QR Codes popping up on magazine ads, direct mail pieces and store windows.
Sadly, few marketers are getting them right. Arik Hanson does a fabulous job sharing his QR experiment in Mall of America during Black Friday. No insights into what’s behind the code, codes that lead to error messages or lame content / non-optimized sites makes me want to smack my head against the wall.
The question is, will marketers shape up before they ruin QR Codes forever?
I love this video by Bacardi. Luck is simply a state of mind. Luck happens when you always say, “yes.” Luck happens when you dance in the rain instead of hiding from it.
If you’re in the retail game, Q4 is a game changing quarter. It’s also when the competition to garner eyeballs is the toughest. This campaign by JCPenny is my far the most brilliant one yet! Check it out.
Every once in awhile, marketers beautifully combine the medium’s location with creative to create brilliant advertising. The below billboard is one that sits outside the Las Vegas airport as you’re leaving the parking garage. It’s one of my favorite.
As I like to say, every time I return to Vegas Steve is always the first to greet me. It’s a good feeling. Amazingly, these two words and one signature pull on my heart strings more than any other billboard in the city.
Kudos Wynn.
While in San Diego, I walked by a very strange looking billboard during the day. An advertisement for Newcastle, the billboard had a tagline and then a ton of what looked like randomly placed bottle caps. For the life of me, I couldn’t figure out what shape or pattern these bottle caps made. After a few moments, we shrugged our shoulders and kept walking.
Luckily, we passed the billboard again at night. This time, the experience was different. This time, the bottle caps helped to create the shadow of a man reaching for the pint of Newcastle. Very cool. This time, we also noticed a small plaque below the billboard. On the plaque were directions to view the billboard at night. In addition, it contained a QR code to learn more about the making of the billboard, etc.
While the campaign was cool, there were two issues. First, both myself and friend never noticed this plaque during the day. It’s also too small to notice unless you were walking directly by the billboard vs. the other side of the street or driving. But, the worst offender? The QR code. While in theory, great. However, it wasn’t scannable!?!?! I’m not sure if it was because it was too far away (the plaque was offset from the sidewalk behind a fence), if my scanner just wasn’t working or if it really didn’t scan. Luckily, the plaque also contained a URL to (what I assume) was the same content behind the QR code.
The other piece? Besides me, in the fifteen minutes we hung out and watched people stop to check out the billboard, not a single person pulled out their phone to scan the QR code. Maybe they didn’t notice it. Maybe it was a hassle. Or maybe they just didn’t care. Either way, the piece was a great execution in Out-of-Home advertising, but fell a tad short in the digital arena.
Thanks to a Facebook ad. Yes, targeted advertising does work! I discovered Speedo’s Unforgettable Swims campaign.
If you know me, then you know I love swimming, even though I don’t jump in the water as often as I should these days :/ Needless to say, I love the video and campaign, even if it is a little hokey.
In the last three years, specifically with the rise of social media and its discussions around measurement, I’ve seen more and more arguments around the measurement of online media as a whole.
Last Click is Dead! It’s all about engagement! No wait, it’s all about brand awareness!
In a recent iMedia article, 10 Reasons to Hate the Click, reason #7 sums up the “whining” of Interactive Marketers:
Reason 7: Clicks are contrary to every other media effort
Expecting advertisers to click on a banner ad is like expecting an magazine reader to turn to a page and suddenly get up and run out to buy a burger. TV ads interrupt the flow of a program, but they don’t expect an immediate response. Why is online held to a different model?
The question, “Why is online held to a different model” is the question that irks me. Online is held to a different model because that’s how we, as marketers, sold it originally. Think back to the very first time you pitched online advertising to your C-level executives. To get them on board, you most likely touted the ability to measure not only sales but down to a granular level of who was clicking and what they were clicking on.
We dug our own hole. We ingrained these concepts into not only ourselves, but our teams and our leaders.
Yes, it was the right sales pitch at the right time. It may still be the right sales pitch for your company, especially if the bulk of your sales are online. However, for the majority, it’s time to change our sales pitch. Instead of whining, marketers need to work harder to “do.” They need to work harder at crafting a new sales pitch for not only display advertising but also for integrated efforts of online media as a whole.
With all our advancements in technology, companies focusing on the bright and shiny objects and mantras that say, “Email is dead. Facebook > Company Websites,” marketers lack of smart, targeted advertising is upsetting.
While companies are in a Gold Rush state to innovate, we often forget the simple things. We forget the data that is right at our fingertips. We forget the 101′s of CRM.
I’ve gotten the same emails from several companies for months, but I’m finally annoyed enough to blog about it
I’m a big fan of Godiva chocolate. I’m an even bigger fan of their loyalty program. It provides real value – a free piece of chocolate every month! But, I’ve never been a fan of their advertising. To me, their “deals” aren’t deals. But, I digress. Back to their loyalty program. They have tons of great data about me. They know what types of chocolate I buy each month and they know whether or not I’ve redeemed my free piece for the month.
I redeemed my free piece of chocolate for the month of June. Yet, weeks later I got the below email. Why?
The same goes for Southwest. It’s one of the airlines I frequent most, despite their new, horrific loyalty program. Because I flew it so much, I also signed up for their credit card. I have their credit card. I use their credit card. My credit card information is saved in their system for easier bookings. So why on earth do I get at least one email AND direct mail piece a month asking me to sign up? For me, the direct mail piece is the icing on the cake. Did you really just spend print and postage costs to make me feel like you don’t know me at all?
Marketers, before putting all your eggs into Google+ or whatever bright, shiny object has your attention, look at the channels that are your current moneymakers and do a better job of utilizing them.
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