Monday, August 30th, 2010
We said it once and we’ll say it again…
Brands beware: you can’t be all things to all people. If you stand for everything you really stand for nothing.
Proof to our point? Piperlime’s fall 2010 “Let’s Get Dressed” campaign. The campaign is the brand’s largest to date and was created by Piperlime’s AOR Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners. With catchy/snarky/funny/witty taglines like “Hang up the hoodies” and “Step away from the sneakers” the campaign is getting attention and sparking lots of dialogue among consumers.
When you say things like “Every time you wear sweatpants in public, a single guy leaves New York,” there will obviously be people who take offense. But the others? According to Piperlime, its Facebook “likes” increased 934% in the weeks after the playful posting began and there was a 479% increase to the number of comments on the page.
To be fair, not all of those comments are in support of the campaign. BUT, for better or for worse, the campaign is giving Piperlime a distinct personality, a strong consumer following and lots of engagement. Yes they may have alienated some consumers but they also hit a cord with their target market…something that is difficult to do when there are fewer and fewer true “brand loyals”
So kudos Piperlime. It’s far better (not to mention effective) to pick a lane and than be middle of the road.
Tags: Caitlin Doyle, Charleston, Erica DeGroff, Insights Director, Intern, LaBarge Partners
Posted in Blog | No Comments »
Monday, August 23rd, 2010
In this day and age where advertising can make such an impact through social networking sites, it is ever more important that we refine our message just the way we would any other aspect of a campaign. Sitting at your computer it is easy not think about the consumer you are reaching when you tweet or upload a video on your YouTube station. Who are they? What are they interested in? What is the language that will most effectively capture their attention? These are all questions, as marketing professional we must ask.
There is no question that social media is an effective tool and if businesses want to reach the demographic on these sites they must carve their brand’s niche in cyberspace. With Facebook’s 500 million plus users and Twitters 190 Million, respectively, proves people are interested and participating. That is not even touching the numerous amounts of tools out there for your use. With the success of the newly popular Foursquare and sites like Groupon and Livingsocial, people are engaging online and businesses are seeing the benefit of it.
Even if your not sure your business will benefit from a social media plan, develop one with quality content and engaging language and you could reach a whole new audience. But the key to any social media effort is continuous management. With information being so easily accessible it’s easy for something to be popular one day and not the next. If your brand is not a constant presence in viewers’ daily life, they become uninterested. However, just updating your status is not enough anymore, you must engage. After all that is what the people in this community are looking for. Creating original, interesting content and responding opportunistically to followers, creates buzz and causes others to interact with
you.
Most importantly, we like to have fun with it! Social media is supposed to be an unstuffy outlet, which businesses should take advantage of. Take the opportunity to have a voice and participate directly with the public, possibly try something new utilizing a media at everyone’s fingertips.
Tags: Caitlin Doyle, Charleston, Intern, LaBarge Partners
Posted in Blog | No Comments »
Wednesday, July 14th, 2010
Is it time for the old spice guy to put on his shirt and go home?
Old Spice hit it big when their wildly popular and cheesy commercial hit TV and YouTube last February, featuring the shirtless hunk that proclaims to be “the man your man could smell like.” Since then a few more videos were released; although these commercials are ridiculous, you can’t help but laugh and you definitely remember them as an Old Spice advert. Old Spice seems to have built a strong brand identity and transformed the product from your dad’s deodorant, which it was a couple years back, to a trend targeting 18-34 years old males. Doing all of this while increasing their sales by a full third since 2004.
Now the Old Spice guy is making custom videos for his fans via Twitter videos. Turning the already viral campaign into a “perfect storm of viralty,” creating a personal relationship with bloggers and reaching out to individuals making them newly aware of the Old Spice brand. This seems like an awful lot of work to promote a deodorant, but Procter & Gamble sure are having fun doing it.
Wieden+Kennedy, the agency behind the tongue-in-cheek adverts, is having a blast re-inventing the original spot. In an economy where everyone is stressed and working themselves to death, we’re glad to see work that engages the consumer and wins brand loyalty for their clients.
A lot for a deodorant? Or genius strategy to keep the campaign fresh and ride the newfound popularity all the way to the bank?
Either way we are laughing out loud.
Tags: Caitlin Doyle, Charleston, Intern, LaBarge Partners
Posted in Blog | Comments Off
Wednesday, July 7th, 2010
Kids can’t stop talking about them, parents are scrambling to buy them and schools are banning them. Look’s like the newest fad has been born.
They’re called Silly Bandz and some people are even hoping this fad stimulates our economy enough to pull us out of the recession.
Fad aside, there are a lot of advantages of Silly Bandz; retailers are eager to carry them because the demand drives consumers to their stores. The bands are relatively inexpensive, creating an easy way for parents to satisfy their child and not break the bank. And customers have money left over to spend on other incidentals. Not to mention, elementary and middle school kids have the latest shapes to trade.
Children of all ages and now adults are wearing arms full of Silly Bandz. They are crazy, out of control and the perfect fad for kids today. The most intriguing part to us is that Silly Bandz, became an overnight phenomenon with absolutely no paid marketing. How did they do it? Word of mouth, social media networks, oh and elementary school kids.
Founder, Robert Croak said “ I have the hottest toy, the hottest fashion product on earth. All the right people like Silly Bandz. Everyone asks who my publicist is. I don’t have one. We don’t advertise. All we do is viral marketing. This is happening on its own.” Croak discovered the Japanese’s rubber bands shaped like animals and saw an opportunity to turn them into collectables for kids, much like Pokemon cards. He wants Silly Bandz to outlive this fad; his company is currently developing new products to make Silly Bandz a household name for the next couple of years; working with celebrities, amusement park and the YouTube rapper.
Sorry, everyone we will be hearing about these little rubber bands for some time.
Silly Bandz may not be the fad that beanie babies once were and they probably will not single-handedly turn our economy around. But we are taking notice of a lesson learned–word of mouth is a powerful tool and taking risks, may pay out in a big way.
Tags: Caitlin Doyle, Charleston, Intern, LaBarge Partners
Posted in Blog | Comments Off
When you say things like “Every time you wear sweatpants in public, a single guy leaves New York,” there will obviously be people who take offense. But the others? According to Piperlime, its Facebook “likes” increased 934% in the weeks after the playful posting began and there was a 479% increase to the number of comments on the page.
