Support Media, Branded Entertainment and Social Media Colide

The term support media is used to describe a wide variety of ways that marketers can reach a target audience.  Often, support media is used to supplement broadcast and print media by increasing impressions or reaching target audiences that are hard to reach with more traditional media.  Outdoor advertising - including billboards, and branded entertainment are two of the categories found in support media that I want to talk about today.

Billboards - we all see them.  They are geographic-targeting at its best.  As local newspaper and radio consumption falls, billboards still offer marketers a local audience.  Women's marketing Inc.'s website, billboards.com, not only showcases billboards, but has extensive examples of other out-of-home media encompassing everything from transit advertising to aerials.  They highlight their work on the Yellow Tail wines billboard campaign that utilized color and spectaculars as the means to gain consumer attention.  In 2011 in Canada, Yellow Tail ran a series of interactive projection and digital billboards that encouraged consumer engagement and content creation.  The Blue Blots blog also highlighted some creative billboards.

Branded entertainment includes product placement, branded integration and advertainment.  Product placement occurs when a brand is placed in any entertainment media including tv shows, movies, music videos and video games.  Typically product placement is paid or barter for by the brand company, but sometimes it is a happy shout-out from the creators to a favorite brand.  A recent example of the later was The Bark's mention on NCIS: Los Angeles that the magazine didn't know about until the show aired.

The new James Bond film, Skyfall, has extensive product placement and co-branding.  This isn't new territory for Bond films, as products from watches to cars to liquor have featured prominently in the films through out the decades.  The Business Insider has a great article complete with videos (the page takes a bit to load - so be patient) about the evolution of product placement in the films.  Heineken's deal with 007 is worth $45 million (a good chunk of the production budget and most likely how fans are getting a new Bond film given the financial crisis of several of the firms involved), and includes TV commercials, product placement in the films, in store point-of-purchase displays (see a photograph of one from our local Kroger), YouTube and Facebook experience.

Also included in branded entertainment is advertainment.  Mike Weise at Forbes wrote a good article last year about the evolution of branded entertainment.  He suggested that the revival of this type of promotion started with BMW's The Hire films. They starred Clive Owen as a James Bondish character and highlighted the performance of BMW within the context of a short film plot. Recognizable directors (Ang Lee, Guy Ritchie) and actors (Madonna, Gary Owen, Marilyn Manson) participated in the films. BMW took the films down when they changed ad campaigns and agencies. You can watch them on YouTube - because someone ripped them for us :) - abmwfan.  One of my favorites is Hostage directed by John Woo.  You may remember we've watched one before in another panopto.

Some current examples of advertainment include the websites of Crayola and Doritos. These two brands have integrated their advertainment into their IMC.

Direct Marketing is another part of the promotion mix that extensively utilizes integration. Let's take a look at Empire Today. In their commercials, they integrate tv advertising with a direct marketing component (call -1-800-588-2300).  Once you call the 1-800 number they will connect you with a sales person to learn more about their products in your home. It's easy to measure success of direct marketing by the number of responses you receive from a particular direct marketing effort. 





Super Bowl commercials true impact extends beyond broadcast during the game on TV.  Many people will watch the commercials on-line again after the game.  At over $2 million dollars for a 30-second spot, the true value is in how much are you talked about after the game. Is your commercial mentioned in social media and linked?  The internet provides a way for advertisers to get potentially exponential bang-for-their buck.  GoDaddy does a particularly good job of integrating its commercial creation process into its blogs and website.  For a commentary on how Steve Jobs and Apple changed Super Bowl advertising, read this FoxNews article.

"How the Internet is Changing Advertising" by Epipheo Studios.


There were many importance changes between Web 1.0 and Web 2.0.  In Web 1.0 we were consumers of information that companies put on the web, but by the time Web 2.0 came around, we were no longer passive informations receivers.  Collaboration and creation are the forces behind Web 2.0 and consumers new interactions with brands.  Let's return to the Doritos' website and look at their 'Crash the Super Bowl' campaign.  Here consumers are asked to create ads for Doritos - and this isn't their first time with this concept.  


Doritos has a YouTube site that integrates its Crash the Super Bowl campaign into its YouTube channel.  YouTube offers marketers a place for consumers to see commercial advertisements as well as how-to videos and behind-the-scenes content.  Zyrtec used YouTube as a channel for its Parks Unleashed campaign. The campaign included games and contests.  Kia has also run a consumer created content promotion through YouTube.

Collaboration and consumer creation of content isn't always a bed of roses for a company.  When something goes wrong into today's social media driven world, it can go viral very quickly.  Tamara discussed how Delta's baggage charges of returning soldiers quickly went viral.  Here's the original YouTube video:



11Alive reported on the incident, and AirTran used it as a way to get good publicity by its policy.  The link has several videos connected to the article and how social media effected the spread of the news.

I'll leave you with a video about social media and how it is changing our world - marketing and otherwise:

Starting Up - 4650 takes flight

The semester has finished it's first full week of classes, and believe it or not, I'm still trying to get access to all the websites and services that I need.  My netid/email was changed - and it has been amazing to find the places where I do and do not have access.  Hopefully, everything is turned on now and there will be no more surprises!

My 4650 class is going to get four videos quickly catching us up for the semester.  I thought I would summarize the first two here - and have a bit longer post on Chapters 3 & 4.

Chapter 1 introduces us to the idea of IMC - integrated marketing communications - where we tie together all the aspects of advertising and promotion that help develop a brand in a consumer's mind.  Advertising is one part of this picture - but so is Public Relations & Publicity, Internet/Interactive, Sales Promotion, Direct Marketing, and Personal Selling.  

The driving force behind IMC is the idea of 'one look, one voice' at every touchpoint with the consumer.  Starbucks has a great example of this in their Refreshers campaign that ran during the Summer Olympics.  The colors used in their IMC campaign for Refreshers is the same regardless of the medium that is being used.  McDonald's is another example that we can look at for creating brand identity and one look, one voice.

In Chapter 2, we take a look at how we can segment our markets as well as how we can position our brand/product in the consumer's mind.  Take a look at the prezi to get a better feel for the chapter.

Now, for Chapter 3, where we take a look into the world of Advertising Agencies.  I wanted to look at a few of the big agencies, but also a smaller non-traditional agency and a local B2B agency.

Leo Burnett Worldwide, a 77-year-old agency, is our first stop.  Leo Burnett stresses their culture that started with their founder - Leo Burnett.  You will often see big black pencils on their site which Burnett was known for - the big idea.  By the way, Burnett is the gentleman who brought us The Marlboro Man. 

They developed the ads Kellogg's ran talking about celebrating the start of an athlete's career.  Here's a behind-the-scenes look:



Another exciting thing at Leo Burnett is their idea of the social shopper - we'll take another look at this in Chapter 4, when we talk about Consumer Behavior.  You'll need to scroll up and down on the image to see all the social shopper types.

Social Shopping Archetypes from Leo Burnett Worldwide

Next we look at Ogilvy and Mather ad agency. David Oglivy started this agency about the same time as Leo Burnett.  If you have ever watched the TV show Mad Men, you have seen a dramatization of the time in which Burnett and Ogilvy were blazing trails in advertising.    His book - Ogilvy on Advertising - is one of the main reasons I fell in love of advertising and marketing. Their website is an interesting one and starts off with "Why choose Oglivy and Mather" - this takes you to a video Miles Young the current CEO and President talking about the foundation and culture of the company.  Oglivy believed in research and being creative - but he would have said it wasn't creative if it didn't bring results.

Saatchi and Saatchi is the last full-service worldwide agency we will take a look at.  Here you can see their point of differentiation as being the 'lovemarks company.'  A lovemark is "a product, service or entity that inspires Loyalty Beyond Reason."

These agencies may very well compete against each other for clients if an account goes up 'for review.' This means the brand/product company is looking for a new agency to develop their next campaign.  There is a variety of reasons for a brand deciding it needs a new agency from bad results from its current agency to conflicts with personnel and changes in personnel.  Barkley US, an employee owned agency, explains on their website: 

"When the review is over and you start a relationship with a new agency, what you get is people. Week in, week out. Their ideas. Their experiences. Their ability to listen. Their resolve. In the end, your new agency is not going to solve your problems. Its people are.  We believe we've got the best people in the business."

Barkley is stressing the idea that it is people that work together.  In many agencies it is the account executive who is the go-between the client and the agency.  Communication, patience and organizational skills are important for people who fill this roll.  While you are on the Barkley website, take a chance to click on the "Good" video in their header.  It will tell you a little bit more about them, and how they differentiate themselves - by being an ad agency that wants to do go.  

Lastly, let's take a trip to downtown Atlanta and look at the local ModoModo agency.  KSU graduate, Jennifer Beech, works at ModoModo - matter-of-fact - she did her internship there while she was a senior and has yet to leave.  Jennifer will hopefully be one of our speakers at KMA this semester.  (If you haven't already heard, KMA - the Kennesaw Marketing Association - is the student marketing organization at KSU.  I'm the faculty advisor and you can find out more on our website!)

Culture - it actually changes

I'm teaching Consumer Behavior this summer and yesterday we talked about culture.  The University of Minnesota defines culture in its research of language acquisition as "the shared patterns of behaviors and interactions, cognitive constructs, and affective understanding that are learned through a process of socialization."  I like this definition of culture because if focuses on the fact that we learn it through socialization - culture is a way of understanding our surroundings or society.  It is a reflection of the beliefs, values, knowledge, art, etc... of a society.  Through culture we establish norms (expected behavior) and sanctions (how we are punished when we break the norms).

Advertisements, imho, are a great barometer of a society's culture and how it is changing.  By looking at mass-marketed or main-stream products and media vehicles we can get a sense of what are the norms.  If we study advertisements over a period of time, we can see shifts and changes in culture/norms based on the images/copy, etc... that are used.  Notice that I said main stream products and media.  Every society has sub-cultures as a part of it, and those sub-cultures have different norms - some of which may be in direct conflict with the majority/society Culture.  You can look to publications that target very specific subcultures to see these differences.

Times have changed drastically from when my grandmother who was born in 1902 and divorced by the time the 1940s rolled around was in her youth.  A divorced female was looked upon much differently by society in 1940 than she would be today in 2012.  Today, we most likely don't think differently of a person if they say they are divorced, but in the 1940s it was scandalous.  You can see the same changes with single-mothers and stay-at-home-dads.  The images of both of these in advertising has become acceptable, part of our media and part of our culture.  The sanctions have been removed (in the greater culture, there are still sub-cultures that would have sanctions in place).

I often tell my students that I remember standing in WalMart staring at a pop display for Budweiser.  I would show you a picture from my smartphone - but this was in pre-camera-phone days, so I don't have one, but I can't forget what it depicted - a white man dancing with a black woman.  This was a mainstream retailer that markets to the masses and a display for the 'American" of beers...to me it indicated as sure as anything that mainstream culture had changed, and that acceptance of interracial couples was going to increasingly become more prevalent.  I also knew that more couples in ads and in media would be interracial - reflecting what was already happening in our society.  Culture had finally caught up with reality and many of the norms/sanctions had changed.

Right now, I believe that we are seeing a change in culture depicted in the advertisements that are appearing in mainstream media and for mass marketed products or brands.  Here's an ad for Macy's that illustrates the shift in motion:

Now, I'll be honest with you.  I read about this advertisement before I ever saw it.  The article said Macy's had come out for gay marriage and this was the advertisement that proved it.  I found the ad - and I stared at it.  I thought I had the wrong one, so I found an article about it with the ad depicted - with the blown-up cake, and finally I got it.  It says a lot about how perception works that I didn't 'get' what was 'gay' about the ad - I saw a wedding cake and in my heterosexual girl universe, I just assumed there was a groom and bride on it and paid it no mind.  I also found out that since 2008, Macy's has actively supported gay marriage in their advertisements in certain sections of the country (think sub-cultures that are accepting of what in the mainstream culture is still sanctioned by many).  Has there been backlash from this ad - absolutely, MyNorthwest.com reported about several groups that were upset at the advertisement.

JCPenney's is also taking a very public stand - and for a company that is trying desperately to re-brand it may be seen as risky or attention grabbing.  First, JCP chose Ellen Degeneres, 54, to be their spokesperson for their rebranding as a price conscious retailer - no sales, no coupons, just plain pricing. Several groups objected to the use of Degeneres as a spokesperson because of her sexual orientation.  The objections grew when the following appeared in their May catalog - focused on Mother's Day:

I thought it was a group of women enjoying themselves - boy was I off base.  It seems if you read the copy you discover that grandma, on the left, is being photographed with her daughter, her daughter's lover and their two kids.  One Million Moms called for a boycott of JCP:  
“It’s obvious that JCP would rather take sides than remain neutral in the culture war,” OMM writes. “JCP will hear from the other side, so they need to hear from us as well. Our persistence will pay off! One day we will answer for our actions or lack of them. We must remain diligent and stand up for Biblical values and truth. Scripture says multiple times that homosexuality is wrong, and God will not tolerate this sinful nature.”
JCP answered the boycott in their June catalog with the following ad:

Now, here is the big question for all the marketers out there - does JCP's continued use of gay couples indicate a shift in what is culturally accepted by the majority of Americans (the mass market) or is it a publicity stunt?  My guess, for what it is worth, is JCP is trying to appeal to a younger demographic, of which, the majority does not have issues with gay/lesbian couples.  In an email to ABC News, JC Penney spokesman Joseph Thomas said that "In celebration of Father's Day, we're proud that our June book honors men of diverse backgrounds who share the joy of fatherhood."  American culture is amazingly diverse, and what JCP's comment points to is a shift in culture to accepting another form of diversity.
If we continue to see more and more gay/lesbian couples depicted in advertisements and in entertainment media, I believe what we'll be watching is the change from something being sanctioned by a culture to acceptance being the norm for the majority culture and the groups that disagree with this will be sub-cultures - not the majority of the society - and have norms/sanctions that are against this behavior.

There are more examples out there of this cultural shift both in advertisements, Gap's Be One billboard, and entertainment media, DC and Marvel comics introducing gay superheroes and story lines.  It seems, that back in 1992 Marvel introduced Northstar, a Canadian superhero who was gay.  This June he ties the knot with his boyfriend in The Astonishing X-men #51.  The times and culture are changing - before our very eyes.  If you are a marketer, you better pay attention to where your target market's values fall in regard to these changing norms.

Chapters 1 & 2 and some creative advertising

Hitting some high spots in Chapter 1 & 2 then diving into some marketing and advertising events and articles.

IMC is the foundation of this course 

“One look, one voice” - it’s all about branding across all this platforms with a uniform message, them and feel.  All the contact points with consumer should have the same brand feel.

Technology perspective 1-1

Key stat - average consumer

2000 - 30 minutes on-line

2010 - 4 hours on-line

If you look at this in regard to IMC, interactive/internet was a complimentary, even secondary player.  In 2011, this is not true.  Expenditure on internet/interactive advertising has drastically increased.

Web 2.0 - what it is.

85% of Americans own mobile phones.  Many of us consider them an integral part of our lives - especially smart phones.  

If you are looking for the next trend in technology related to advertising - your book suggest e-Readers, but I’m going to suggest tablets - like the iPad.  

I’m using my iPad to find articles for the class through a free on-line magazine aggregator called “Zite.”  Flipboard, Pulse and Editions are other similar on-line magazine/aggregator services.

Chapter 2

Psychographic segmentation:

VALS - take the survey yourself,

Prizm - you can type your zip code into their database and it will tell you the lifestyle groups that live in your area.  

Perspective 2-1

Woman 5 trillion in spending power in the US

55 billion in tech expenditures 

90 billion in electronics expenditures

85% of household spending under women’s control

Women’s roles have in society have changed.  Dell put together a site for women called Della in 2009.

• It was taken down within 10 days
• Seen as condescending by women
• “Tech tips” - were about cooking, recipes and health - nothing tech there.

The lesson - do your research

Here’s some links about Della:

Tech Crunch article

Kate Craig-Wood's letter

Now, let’s talk some current events

Dunkin Donuts has a new campaign following up on our the 2010 Ultimate Coffee Fan search. 

FaceBook is enabling local integration for national franchisers.

• Think in terms of - “one look, one voice”

162 million unique US visitors to FB - up from June. 

Burger King has ditched the King mascot - a nightmare ender for many of us.

Millennial media SMART report - their 50th about the mobile marketing industry.

Mobile advertising figures, examples, and some idea of trends.

Now, let’s look at some fun and innovative advertisements and promotions that are out there:

• Heineken has an occasionally perfect billboard - featuring bands doing short sets.
• From the “Ads of the World” site we have one from Cashmere - recycling, a good thing.
• The “I can be creative” website offers up 200 creative and innovative ads for enjoyment.
• And just when you thought benches were boring, some brands are using them in a creative way to startle you and get your attention.