There’s a great report out this week about the effectiveness of radio advertising to car sellers.
Radio plays a dominant role, whether people are considering a vehicle purchase or spending time in a vehicle. The closer listeners get to purchasing or leasing a vehicle, the more important a part radio advertising plays. And radio is a top “must-have” for automotive buyers of every age.
These are just some of the key findings stemming from the RADIO ADVERTISING BUREAU’s new service to help radio stations sell locally and highlight the buying power of radio listeners coast to coast.
With a dizzying array of new mobile apps created every day, it can be hard to decide where to invest your digital marketing dollars. But certain platforms have become canonical social media marketing tools. Facebook, Twitter and more recently Instagram and Pinterest are being seen as essential to the digital arm of any campaign.
But being a whiz on one platform doesn’t automatically mean that you’ll be a whiz on the next. A campaign that works on Facebook may not fair as well on Twitter. It’s important to appreciate the nuance to each platform.
With that in mind, here are three beautifully executed social marketing campaigns.
Ford
Ford decided to market its C-Max hybrid with a cutting edge campaign that integrated customer Instagram photos into a C-Max commercial. For those who have been sleeping under a rock for the last year, Instagram is a social photography app that lets users capture, modify and share compelling photos with their friends. The social and visual nature of the app makes its a prime target for marketers.
The core of the idea is to use Instagram to create one of the first collaborative stop motion animations. First, a 30 second animation was created and individual frames were stripped out of it to create 98 billboards that are going up all across the country.
Anyone can stand in front of one of these billboards, take a picture, and hashtag it #CMAX. A backend system was built to scrape Instagram for these pics and sequentially order them using image recognition software.
What you get is a collaborative animation that is constantly changing as new people upload their pictures. If you live in a big city, there might just be a board near you!
Nike has been reinventing consumer choice with NikeiD, a program that lets users design their own Nike sneakers.
Nike PHOTOiD goes one step further and socializes the whole process. Users are invented to submit Instagram photos from which Nike’s software will automatically design a sneaker based on the photo’s dominant colors. Users can than either purchase the sneaker or share their creation with friends.
Every year, South By South West (commonly called SXSW) attracts tens of thousands of music fans to Austin, Texas. Taco Bell targeted this young audience by making them the focal point its Feed the Beat “rockumentary.” Fans were encouraged to tweet with the hashtag #feedthebeat images and video of a show. All the footage and images were compiled by a documentarian. The final project yielded 500,000 views.
As computers, tablets and smartphones proliferate among consumers, marketers are rushing to create new and innovative strategies to take advantage of these new, cutting edge technologies.
Does that mean old “traditional” media is being left in the dust?
Of course not! Matthew Kates recently took to the pages of Econsultancy to argue that digital and traditional media are anything but competitors. He says:
There shouldn’t be a debate between ‘traditional marketing’ and ‘digital marketing’ — this is a false choice. Instead, the conversation needs to shift to focus on how the two channels work together, as well as how marketers can leverage the best both channels have to offer.
A good way to think about traditional marketing is that it presents a highly effective way to reach a broad consumer audience. On the other hand, digital marketing can be used to create a relationship with the consumer that has depth and relevancy. Marketers should use the wider reach traditional marketing channels present to generate broad awareness and drive consumers to the digital experience.
And the numbers support Kates’ story. A recent study found that almost half of TV viewers simultaneously use a tablet device. That means any marketing strategy will need to grab a consumer’s attention on multiple platforms to be truly effective.
Kates points out that the art of cross-platform marketing lies in the ability to exploit the different engagement habits each medium brings. The current line of thought that traditional media is “passive” and digital is “active” is being blurred by new advertising that intersects both kinds of engagement.
Digital calls-to-action, like those described above, and becoming a “must have” in any radio or television campaign. But active engagement can’t be a marketer’s only metric. Far too much emphasis is placed on the so-called “final click” of consumer engagement. But what created that consumer desire in the first place?
The beauty of passive advertising is just that, it’s tailored to a consumer who isn’t interested in doing anything else. Cross-platform marketing offers the benefit of simultaneously appealing to consumers who can’t be bothered and users who are eager to engage with digital platforms.
Cross-platform messaging has already taken over. Commercials and posters are rife with Twitter hashtags, television shows are asking users to chat or tweet along with other viewers, and apps like Shazam connects sonic branding on TV and radio to a digital platform.
But we’re only at the tip of the iceberg. There are millions of opportunities for groundbreaking cross-platform campaigns waiting to happen. Being a good marketer meana providing a compelling, unique and shareable experience for the consumer across a variety of platforms.
The Hollywood Report recently wrote a great piece about the durability and growth of sports radio. Even in the face of economic uncertainty, sports radio has proved to be solid gold for radio and television marketers.
The medium flourishes in every economic climate, and with over 27 million weekly listeners, sports radio isn’t going anywhere. For CBS Sports Radio alone, there are 777 All Sports stations that reach over 7 million consumers.
But it’s not just sports radio’s durability that matters, it serves as a compelling marketing medium because of it’s enticing demographic (25-54 males) and it’s geographic flexibility.
Sports radio is enticing to marketers for a few reasons. First, of course, is the strong male demographic that allows for better, targeted messaging.
Ad buyers, in turn, like sports radio because it delivers the elusive male demographic. “What advertisers are striving for is listener user engagement with the advertising, and the thinking is that sports program content is something the listener or viewer is passionate about,” says Kevin Gallagher, executive vp local activation at the Starcom advertising agency. “They are engaged not only with the program but the commercials as well. That engagement carries through commercial breaks because the listener is not going to turn off the game and switch to something else if they are really into that game.”
But it gets better. Sports radio listeners are also well educated with disposable income. 72% of CBS Radio Sports listeners have professional or managerial positions, and 60% of all listeners make over $75,000 a year.
And don’t forget local!
To paraphrase a saying about politics, “all sports is local.” And when local fans seek information and entertainment about their favorite team, nobody provides it like the trusted personalities of radio.
Sports radio has the amazing potential to connect local via trusted personalities. That hometown feel gives consumers a sense of confidence and drives engagement that make ideal conditions for integrated marketing. The Hollywood Report noted one compelling CBS strategy:
“You can also create value-added features,” says Ron Barr, who is a founder and on-air personality for Sports Byline USA, the oldest continuous sports radio network (on since 1987). “For instance, you will hear CBS award the ‘good hands’ wide receiver, or a brand will sponsor the player of the game. One of our sponsors wants to create the ‘Master’s Moment,’ so we’re creating a series of them.”
It’s not all about radio however. Sports radio is just one lucrative piece in a larger cross-platform marketing strategies. Today’s sports fan are consuming information in a wide variety of formats that work in tandem. Consumers checking scores on their phones, reading sports news on their tablet, playing fantasy football on their desktop and listening to sports talk in the car. These mediums are are hardly competing with each other. Any smart marketer needs to engage across these diverse platforms if they want to have any chance at breaking through to consumers.
The 48th ANNUAL ACADEMY OF COUNTRY MUSIC AWARDS led CBS to a victory as the night’s top program in viewers and demographics with the event’s highest measures in viewers since 1998. View press release.
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And here’s our advertisement running this week on the back cover of billboard magazine. Take a look and let us know what you think, and be sure to catch the coverage of the the awards!
The combined power of CBS Radio, CBS Interactive, CBS Television Network and CBS Television Stations delivered Academy of Country Music Awards its biggest audience since 1998, beating Country Music Association Awards for the first time in 28 years.
Love it or hate it, President Obama’s Affordable Care Act is here to stay.
The good news for marketers is that the law is predicted to be a boon for healthcare providers. And marketers, we are poised to mutually benefit from an influx of new consumers looking for healthcare services.
Of course, healthcare has always been a giant part of the economy and a good business to boot. With an aging American population and a growth in thesandwich generation, the healthcare industry was already positioned to grow exponentially. One study suggests that the healthcare industry will grow by 5.6 million jobs by 2020.
The Affordable Health Care Act promises to shake up this sector of the economy. Of course, any 1,000+ page law is bound to be confusing, and even this great and simple explanation of the law runs over 8 minutes on YouTube. It’s not exactly a copywriter’s dream.
So what does healthcare reform mean for marketers?
#1 More People Will be Consuming More Healthcare Products
Of all the uncertainty about the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, one thing isn’t going away: the individual mandate. After the Supreme Court ruled that the individual mandate is constitutional, by 2014 the uninsured will be required to purchase a policy or face a fine. That provides a great opportunity for marketers to step in. As Lindsay Resnick, CMO of KBM Group told Advertising Age
Mr. Resnick said the next step for insurance companies will involve a lot of hyper-local targeting and attention to data. In many cases, health-care marketing agencies will be working closely with big consulting firms to look at clients’ segmentation and necessary changes to operational functions like call centers. “You better know in your markets who the uninsured people are who will now have access [to care], and who most likely will be taking advantage of the health exchanges.”
Healthcare reform won’t just affect insurance companies who will see increased sales in their policy options because of the individual mandate. Doctors, medical suppliers and pharmaceutical companies are all likely to benefit. More people who are insured means that consumption of medical services will vastly increase, as well as the uninsured who have expanded access to programs like Medicaid.
#2 People Are Confused, Help Them Out
Let’s face it, the Affordable Care Act is confusing. When does the individual mandate start? Do I have to buy insurance? Will this change my existing relation with my healthcare provider? We spoke previously about how in times of crisis the best thing marketers can do is to provide honest, helpful information. The same applies when it comes to people’s health. Radio has an amazing ability to connect people locally, so why not use that opportunity to connect local healthcare providers with those seeking healthcare? Or, confused small business operators who need to purchase insurance for their employees.
#3 Pharmaceutical Marketing is About to Get Confusing
Marketing pharmaceuticals used to be relatively easy. When respected doctors regularly prescribe your product, consumers tend to respond. Now, according to PharmExec.com, things are getting more confusing. As drugs are now marketed directly to consumers and with an influx of new potential customers, successful marketing is going to get harder. Gregg DiPietro argues:
Under the ACA, the target market has become more convoluted. The customer cannot be so clearly defined, and the criteria to satisfy these various stakeholders are disparate at best and conflicting at worst. The physician, patient, and payer audiences remain critical, but a platoon of other stakeholders has been added to the marketing mix. These include administrators, support staff, decision coaches, and purchasing groups, all of whom will be incentivized to achieve better outcomes at a lower cost.
Marketing will need to shift away from its old messaging focused on “safety and efficacy” towards a model that additional focuses on economic concerns like readmission rates and resource utilization.
And, as Dipietro notes, it’s adapt or die. But that’s not just true of parhamaceutical marketing. Any business that doesn’t respond nimbly to all the new consumers and opportunities created by the Affordable Care Act will be pushed out by those businesses that do.
We recently came across this great mobile ad campaign from Qualcomm, a wireless telecommunications company. The video nabbed over 3 million hits on YouTube since being posted a little over a month ago. Watch below.
Here at the Altitude Group we’re always on the lookout for amazing out-of-home advertising. Reaching people locally is one of our greatest strengths and when local out-of-home is done well, you can’t help but marvel at its innovation and creativity.
And you don’t get more local than bringing your message to the streets – or rather UNDER the streets – of New York City.
Here are two examples of marketing in the NYC subway system that really killed it.
Take a look at these two clips and see if you agree!
Asics Run With Ryan
An awesome street campaign from Asics asks everyday subway riders if they can outrun one of America’s top runners.
Born This Way Flash Mob
When Interscope released Lady Gaga’s Born This Way, they launched the single with an underground freakadelic dance party. This wild clip is not to be missed.
March Madness is here, and there’s no better time to be in marketing.
While many employers are worrying about absentee workers, marketers can look forward to connecting with an engaged audience. In 2012, March Madness passed the $1 billion mark for advertising revenue; that’s more than a 30% increase from 2011.
This year, as always, the tournament will be accompanied by a dizzying array of prognosticators, bar nights, brackets, and employee “sick days.” With all the hype and engagement, it’s no surprise that sports radio is the perfect opportunity to engage with the nationwide phenomenon that is March Madness.
CBS Radio has stepped up with its own array of expert picks, as well as a bracket challenge where listeners can play against the pros for a chance to win a $500 Visa Gift Card. CBS Radio also offers stats and recaps for games that listeners might have missed.
No matter how you look at it, March Madness fever is on! Let’s take a look at how some of today’s marketers are becoming part of the action.
Nike
Buzzfeed got it right when it highlighted Nike’s school-specific ad campaigns. The “Passion Ignites, Intensity #Counts” series featured hyper-stylized graphics of NCAA teams paired with some very elegant copy. Nike utilizes the benefits of cross-platform marketing by including the Twitter hashtag #counts in the poster slogans. This ad below for the University of of Nevada, Las Vegas is especially clever.
Toyota Coach T
In 2012, Toyota launched a hugely successful “Coach T” ad campaign during March Madness. The ads feature “Coach T” who employs NCAA coaching tactics to recruit potential car buyers. This year, the campaign was brought back with guest appearances by Mike Ditka and Joe Gibbs.
You can watch all the March Madness ads at the Toyota website.
Axe
In 1998, 13th seed Valparaiso University went up against the favored 4th seed Ole Miss. Valparaiso put up a great fight, but was still down by 2 points with 4 seconds left in the game. Valpraiso point guard Bryce Drew changed history, managing to sink a 3-pointer on the buzzer to beat Ole Miss. You could have bet that the play would have landed in the history books.
Axe does a creative re-imagining of history in this NCAA ad:
Coke Zero
No one knows if the diet soda market will ever fully transition away from its traditional female demographic, but campaigns like Dr. Pepper 10 and Coke Zero are certainly trying their best. Coke’s “It’s Not Your Fault” campaign assuages the guilt of its male consumers as they pick brackets instead of doing work. Featuring the distinct voice of comedian H. Jon Benjamin, the ads are sure to amuse.
So that’s a look at what is on our radar this March Madness season. What do you think? Feel free to sound off in the comments or send us an e-mail.
And a reminder that the NCAA men’s college basketball tournament is being broadcast on radio, television, and online through CBS Radio partner TuneIn. The national championship will be held on Monday, April 8th.
Be sure to tune in to CBS Sports Radio for games and commentary.
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May
13
Selling a Car? Good Luck Without Radio
ALTITUDE | Redefining Radio
Category: CBS, Radio
There’s a great report out this week about the effectiveness of radio advertising to car sellers.
Read the whole article at Allaccess.com