Ford Explorer Boasts 140,000 Facebook Fans and Skyrocketing Sales

The new Ford Explorer has been out for a little over a year, but it hasn’t been until now that Ford has pulled out all of the stops to engage its very spirited base. With 140,000 Facebook fans, Explorer is already ahead of its SUV competitors in engaging consumers (and future consumers) through social media [...]

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Netflix Edges Away from Its Iconic Red Envelope DVDs, Toward Streaming Video

The announcement recently that Netflix has changed the functionality of its Website to, in essence, encourage users to select streaming video options for their movie viewing rather than receive DVDs through the mail did not come without its detractors. In fact, judging from this article, the move (even if it came on MLK day) was [...]

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Yes, Your Logo is That Important

Strong corporate design can never be understated. It represents consumers’ visual associate with the company, gets seated in their memory and translates into value every time they make a brand association. And for companies that can succeed in creating a direct and strong connection between their corporate identity and their name, their brand experience or [...]

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Who You “Like” on Facebook Matters

So the results are in – and just in time for the New Year. MSNBC gives us a guide of the top brand names on Facebook. So who are the winners? Well, the #1 makes sense, but the rest of the field may surprise you. The top brands in terms of annual advertising spending don’t [...]

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You Could Learn a Lot From a Pizza Chain

Just read a fascinating article that answered a question I brought up during a cocktail party not a month ago: whatever happened to Little Caesars? While the article brings up a number of noteworthy points, its main thrust is that in marketing, less is more. Little Caesars sat second behind only Pizza Hut in ’94. [...]

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We “Like” Facebook, But…

Posted by BPMangus on September 26th, 2011

If you’re a regular reader, you know Forge “likes” Facebook. And how could we not? It’s only the largest, most user-friendly and versatile social network on the planet.

However, we’ve been seeing a trend at Facebook to treat simple PR and Communications best practices with little regard. It’s as if FB thinks that because of its size and social media space dominance it’s immune to the adverse affects of poor consumer PR. Going back several years its PR gaffs have become notoriously sloppy and poorly planned (most involving privacy issues) and its relentless rollout of new features, layouts and tools come without want or warning continuously upset loyal users.

But at some point, these communications misjudgements are going to begin to matter. Simply put, Facebook needs some strong senior PR counsel.

Facebook  is a young organization, run by a young staff and catering (in part) to a young audience. These are great strengths. But a well rounded organization needs more than tech, sales and management talent. It needs smart, savvy professionals minding brand image and ensuring that a consumer-facing company like FB is kept informed of significant changes to its platform.

The drastic – and irreversible – changes that Facebook makes to the brand experience is like Coke changing it’s secret recipe with no warning and halting sales of its Classic product. If Coke were to follow Facebook’s lead it would certainly be bad business. Frankly, it could well be brand suicide.

We’ve seen signs of weak communications at Facebook for some time, but the most recent changes take the cake for changes that seem to have been made with no concern for what customers think.

Facebook, we love you. But PLEASE get some PR!

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Ford Hearts Social Media

Posted by BPMangus on September 12th, 2011
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Ford has been using social media as an integral part of its product launch strategy for some time. And it’s been working.

But don’t take it from me. Take it from Ford’s Global CMO, Jim Farley. Following are some exerts from his recent Q&A in Automotive News:

Q: What have you learned about social media, and what’s next?

A: We have some very interesting launches coming up, like the global Ranger pickup launch. For these vehicles and a few others that I can’t talk about, we have learned that starting early using social media is OK. You don’t have to start a month before you wholesale a vehicle. You can allocate budget as long as you’re smart and you activate the people that are interested in the newest products.

Also, it should be done regionally. A global approach to social media doesn’t really have as much traction as those programs like the Fiesta Movement in the United States executed locally.

We are investing more and more of our resources not only in digital, but in social within digital. Now social media and our investments are right up there with search and other digital banner advertising.

Does social media spending match your digital spending?

No, but depending on the phase of launch and pre-launch, it can.

In addition, we are more and more integrating mobile advertising into this pre-launch period of time, integrating mobile advertising into our print ads and using mobile advertising in point-of-sale. If you come into a Ford dealership and you want to learn about a feature, you click on a tag and it downloads a video online for you to play in the dealership.

We found that marketing on a smartphone is very different than marketing on a computer. A smartphone is a personal device. You have to add value to people’s life if you’re going to market on there.

A simple digital banner ad is just annoying. People want something that’s very practical such as, “I’m in your showroom. I have a smartphone. I don’t want to go home and watch a video on how the inflatable seat belt airbag on the Explorer works. I want to find out right now. I have a smart device, so make it easy for me.”

Same goes for a print ad. “Hey, I saw the new Focus and active park assist in one of your print ads. Why would you make it so difficult for me to remember the name and wait until I go home tonight to download the video from Ford.com?”

I think mobile and video together is becoming a bigger part of how we bring the product story to life in customers’ hands.

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Behold, the Power of Social Media

Posted by BPMangus on September 8th, 2011
kickstarter

Yeah, social media is big. Just how big? Well, this recent story on Mashable about sums it up.

Two singer-songwriters used Kickstarer.com, a social media funding platform for creatives, to raise money for a West Coast tour. Their initial goal was to raise $20,000. However, in just 48 hours they raised $65,000. Not bad.

The Internet is a big, wild place. But when harnessed and used socially, sites like Kickstarter can take the communication and passion that the Internet provides, focus and harness it, and help to take ideas to a whole new level.

If you haven’t heard of Kickstarter, check it out. There may be some ideas out there that appeal to you!

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Increase Marketing for More “Selling”

Posted by BPMangus on September 7th, 2011

Just read a fascinating article about lead generation. The premise is simple: the time that sales people spend chasing leads and cold calling is often equivalent to (or in many cases multiples of) any company’s entire marketing budget. It makes sense. Six digit earners should not be prospecting. They should be networking, building relationships, and CLOSING.

I’ve seen this play out with more than one client over the years. An organization is sales-centric, but wants to spend frugally on marketing. On the surface, it makes some sense. Give your sales people the tools to reel in the clients – but walk the fine line and spend as little on branding and marketing as possible (because your sales people will do some of your marketing for you). The problem, however, is that sales people make for expensive marketers. And time spent prospecting is time not spent doing the hard work of nurturing currents for more repeat business and referrals.

If this sounds familiar, check out the article here for more. It’s a valuable read for any sales-oriented company. The author, a well-known B2B marketing guru and blogger, offers four steps to diagnosing if your sales lead generation process is air tight:

  1. Measure how much money your sales organization really spends on demand generation.
  2. Determine the revenue capacity that would be available if your sales team spent more time working opportunities instead of looking for them.
  3. Share these findings with the executive leadership team and propose an experiment in collaboration with sales, finance and your CEO to improve sales’ financial performance: supply a sales team with a sufficient volume of sales-ready leads so that their time spent prospecting is cut in half.
  4. Compare the revenue performance of the pilot team with that of their peers.

Enjoy!

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Gov’t Officials Respond to Hurricane Crisis to Perfection

Posted by BPMangus on August 29th, 2011
irene

Corporate America could take some lessons from NY and NJ politicians about how to prepare for and to respond to a crisis – because the NYC tri-state area put on a crisis communications clinic this past weekend.

A good crisis plan has many steps and varies by industry and situation, but there are several high level points of emphasis that are universal: have a plan, take preemptive steps, communicate at all turns (and be as transparent as possible) and act with authority.

From the early stages of Hurricane Irene, when its impact was still days away, area officials were out on the airwaves preaching preparedness. As the storm drew closer, they were quick and decisive with their reactions, taking strong steps to ward off potential commuter issues (shutting down public transportation) and calling for evacuations of areas with even the slimmest potential of damage. They prepared for the worst and provided the public with the information they would need to ride out the storm and get assistance if conditions deteriorated. As the storm reached the NYC area, public officials – from NJ Gov. Cristie to NYC Mayor Bloomberg – had gone well above the call of duty to take Irene VERY seriously and had taken every precaution in their power to ensure public safety. Public officials in the path of future hurricanes should take notice.

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Madonna and Facebook Mix Well in New Campaign for Smirnoff

Posted by BPMangus on August 19th, 2011
smirnoff

Big-time Facebook campaigns that incorporate compelling contests and hip brands are always winners. Add Madonna to the mix and make that hip brand a top selling vodka and you’re in store for a blockbuster.

According to Mashable, Smirnoff is teaming with the Pop Queen in a Facebook campaign that will ultimately choose a backup dancer for her next tour. The promotion is aiming to get 10 million people in 50 countries to share their nightlife stories via social media.

Dubbed the Smirnoff Nightlife Exchange, the project will be a global effort that will crescendo with a November 12 super party with 50 simultaneous parties to celebrate the winner (and Smirnoff). Sounds like fun!

It’s a big idea, but it incorporates the star power and the reach that will get people’s attention.

Celebrity marketing gimmicks can seem transparent if not done the right way, but this is the type of campaign that will make womens’ ears perk up. A chance to be a backup dancer and meet Madonna?!?! AND go on tour with her! It’s any 20-40 something women’s dream. Lady Gaga might be the lady of the moment, but Madonna is the icon that started it all.

Oh, and there’s also the added heft of mobilizing Madonna’s 6 million Facebook fans to drive the campaign. If that doesn’t get Smirnoff some attention I don’t know what will! Great idea that will pay big dividends for Smirnoff. Definitely a FB campaign done right.

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