Ms. Adverthinker

Google has been ranked the most reputable company in the country - a list it wasn’t on at all four years ago. See the entire article at AdAge. Google doesn’t spend any money to advertise its brand or services. According to Robert Fronk, senior VP-senior consultant, reputation strategy, at Harris Interactive:

“The positive perception of how you treat your employees, your corporate-social-responsibility efforts, and your products and services and the amount of media that can generate probably trumps any ad spend they would ever want to make.”

However, HP, a company that has recently re-invigorated its advertising to lean more to the hip and cool:

“…made not only the biggest jump from 2006 to 2007 — 21 spots, from No. 38 to No. 17 — but also the biggest jump in the history of the study.”

Coincidence?

Last week I ordered a “large coffee” from Starbucks. It was an interesting experience for me: usually my order is very complicated. But, just as the new, massive ad campaign promised, I received a venti Pike’s Roast in the brand new Starbucks cup.

The best part about my order however was that my cup came with this little green tab in the sip hole. I actually commented to my co-workers about it: “this is brilliant! I am so tired of spilling coffee on myself and in my car.” As it turns out, this “splash stick” was the result of customer feedback. BusinessWeek this week reports that

“this is corporate democracy in action: At the month-old MyStarbucksIdea.com, customers can make suggestions, other customers can vote on and discuss them and Starbucks can see which ideas gain support. It’s key to Howard Schultz’s plan to reinvigorate his company, to which he returned as chief executive in January.”

Starbucks is not the first company to try this–the company is actually following the lead of Dell.  Both companies are using software that acts “like a live focus group that never closes.”  Customers want to feel like they are being heard, and this is a great way to do that.  Additionally, Starbucks is using “idea partners” to moderate the conversations and tell customers what things have already been tried or why things won’t work.  And the ideas that gain traction on the site, actually get implemented–like the splash stick.  Fantastic example of engaging in conversations with consumers.

I will admit that I am in the market for a new car, so maybe I am especially susceptible to car advertising at the moment. Two car commercials have recently caught my attention and made me pause to watch them: one for the Honda CR-V and one for the Kia Spectra.

First up, the Honda CR-V. Last year Honda launched the CRAVE campaign - cute idea that plays on the CR-V name and is a bit reminiscent of the Toyata Camry’s “My Car” campaign. Clever. There is one “Crave” commercial that is different from the others in the campaign: it transforms cookie dough into the CR-V. All the other spots “fill” the car with the “craved” food or drink. I was watching this commercial without the sound on the television and the cookie dough drew my eye to the screen, away from my conversation. I wonder if they were targeting me? I was watching “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” it was 8 PM and a cookie sounded good to me. All of the sudden, the CR-V looks like a cute car for me. Creative execution combined with strategic media buy, and now I am a potential CR-V driver. Check out the spot.

Second, the Kia Spectra. This spot uses two things to make it stand out: music and a current event. The song is catchy and ties perfectly to the story the spot is telling. The spot shows Kia drivers pulling up to the gas station and always ending up on the wrong side of the gas tank. Obviously, the idea is that you have to fuel up so infrequently in a Kia Spectra, that you forget on which side your gas tank is located. Even my dad got it and it sparked a conversation about the monthly cost of gas. The spot works. Here it is:

I am trying really hard to like the show Mad Men.  Everyone else does, so I should too, right?  I hate it.  I appreciate the research that has gone into recreating that era.  I appreciate the history of specific advertising campaigns told through the stories in the show.  I appreciate the style and costumes.  But, working in advertising makes me feel dirty after watching that show.  I have no appreciation for the business after watching arrogant men push each other around and demean women each week.  While that may have been the culture during that period in history, I worry that it will give modern-day viewers the wrong impression of our business today.

Reported in Brandweek:

What should a company do when negative news is being reported about the company? “One school of thought is that maintaining or increasing advertising during such a time will drown out the bad news. The alternative–pulling advertising–seems pretty risky. Nevertheless, a new study that ran in December’s Journal of Advertising Research suggests that’s exactly what you should do while the bad news runs its course…It found that advertising has an amplifying effect: When the news is good, advertising helps. When it’s bad, advertising makes things worse.”

Consumer Influence in Potential Buyers’ Purchase Decisions: What Does This Mean for Marketers?

A study sited in MediaPost’s Media magazine noted that “75% of shoppers say it is extremely or very important to read customer reviews before making a purchase. And they prefer peer reviews over expert reviews by a 6-to-1 margin.”

I always read consumer reviews of products when the site I am purchasing from provides the reviews next to the product I am considering. And, these reviews almost always help me decide one way or another. Zappos.com is great about providing this kind of feedback, and it is so helpful to have people tell you about the fit, size, color, etc. when you are buying online—where things don’t always show up the size or color you envisioned them, or you can’t be there to try it on. I love iTunes for this reason too—many times I have been influenced to try new music because others who bought something I liked have also purchased xx.

When I buy products online that do not provide these consumer reviews, I typically don’t actively seek out other consumer reviews. And, I am almost always disappointed with my purchase because something wasn’t as I thought it would be. You would think I would have learned my lesson by now: consumer reviews are helpful.

So, if consumers themselves are selling our clients’ products/services for us, then what are advertisers responsible for in the purchase cycle? If the product is good enough, it will sell itself, right? Maybe, but not always. Admittedly, our tactics must shift a bit, but how do consumers find out about products and services? Advertising. How do think about those products and services, and come understand the brand? Advertising.

What changes need occur in our marketing efforts? According to one of my favorite blogs, Influx Insights:
“If we shift over from the media to the marketing world, it appears that most marketing departments aren’t yet designed and organized to manage and cope with Marketing 2.0 [the Marketing 2.0 trend suggests a new open environment of participation between brands and their customers], most are still working and structured for a 1.0 world.

“The Marketing Department is going to need to change radically, but there are some questions.

“How do they make the transition?

“When does the “tipping point” occur?

“Marketing departments need fundamentally new skill sets, new positions/job titles and they are also going to need some smart technology to assist them.

“Given how little bandwidth most departments have these days, it’s safe to assume that there are quite a few brands out there who risk damaging their reputations because they simply aren’t structured to cope with the new era of conversation and participation.”

Clearly, advertising/marketing and public communications must work hand-in-hand in this new Marketing 2.0 era to craft our messages and inform consumers about our clients’ products and services, and then correct any misperceptions. And, we must learn from and leverage the consumer feedback and influence that is out there to constantly improve our communications tactics, and if necessary, make recommendations for improving the products/services we are selling. We should feel lucky that consumers are that interested and we should listen and learn from what they have to say. Let’s get out there and listen to them. In fact, let’s invite them to tell us what they think.