Advertising Archives - Page 5 of 5

July 5, 2012

Forget Engagement, Consumers Want Simplicity

In a world where brands are constantly fighting for attention, many marketers are asking themselves a key question: What is the best way to impact purchase decision and brand loyalty?

The IBM Institute for Business Value found that 60-65% of business leaders who believe that consumers follow their brands on social media sites because they want to be a part of a community. Only 25-30% of consumers agree. The top reason consumers follow a brand? To get discounts – not exactly ideal for a company’s bottom line.

On top of trying too hard to engage with consumers via social media, marketers are generally pushing out too much information, causing people to over-think purchase decisions and making them more likely to change their minds about a product, be less confident in their choice and less likely remain loyal to the brand.

So what should marketers do? Here at Corporate Executive Board, we surveyed more than 7,000 consumers and interviewed 200 marketing executives across consumer brands and industries to find out. The answer: Simplify the decision-making process, so much so that consumers actually think less about the decision. Marketers can do that in three easy ways by helping consumers:

Trust the information they receive
Learn effectively without distraction
Weigh options confidently

When used together, this approach is known as Decision Simplicity.

Download the full report

July 3, 2012July 3, 2012

Aston Martin Vanquish Social Campaign a Huge Success

British automaker Aston Martin chose digital to market its new Vanquish model and saw a more than 100 percent increase in visitors to its Web site from social media channels among users in Germany, the United States and its home country.

The digital campaign that spanned Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the Aston Martin Web site began June 20 and centered on a digital car configurator, images and a video. The automaker saw the highest traffic on its Web site ever

recorded during the first three days of the campaign.

“Luxury automotive brands have communities of people that are incredibly passionate about their product,” said Jenn Heinen, associate director of social strategies at Morpheus Media, New York.

“Leveraging any kind of community-driven platform makes perfect sense to distribute content to a group of people who are already engaged with a product and lifestyle,” she said.

“Especially with more niche communities, the excitement and eagerness to interact with this kind of content makes social platforms all the more impactful for content syndication.”

Aston Martin recorded June 20-22 as its three highest traffic days on its global Web site at http://www.astonmartin.com. It saw the average number of daily visitors to the site double in the first seven days of the Vanquish campaign, per the brand.

As compared with the same period seven days earlier, the automaker saw a 216 percent increase in visitors to the site from the German market. There were also 162 percent, 102 percent and 81 percent increases in visits from consumers in Britain, the U.S. and China, respectively.

“Luxury automotive brands have communities of people that are incredibly passionate about their product,” said Jenn Heinen, associate director of social strategies at Morpheus Media, New York.

“Leveraging any kind of community-driven platform makes perfect sense to distribute content to a group of people who are already engaged with a product and lifestyle,” she said.

Especially with more niche communities, the excitement and eagerness to interact with this kind of content makes social platforms all the more impactful for content syndication.”

June 27, 2012September 3, 2021

CMOs challenged to reach connected consumers

A survey released Thursday by IBM found that chief marketing officers (CMO)and chief information officers (CIO)must join forces in order to connect with today’s consumer across new channels including mobile devices and social networks.

More than half (60%) of marketers pointed to their lack of alignment with the company’s IT department as the biggest obstacle to reaching today’s consumers. One key new finding of the survey showed that with mobile marketing working well, marketers are now preparing to go beyond coupons and deliver mobile advertising that reaches customers on their smart phone and tablets.

According to the study, 34% of respondents stated that in less than 12 months, they intend to deliver mobile ads, the highest rate of new marketing tactic adoption in the five-year history of the study. Overall, 46% of respondents are currently using mobile web sites followed by 45% mobile applications, up from 40% and 44% respectively since last year.

While the mobile channel is thriving, marketers lack this same clear consensus on how to best utilize social media which will result in ongoing experimentation with these channels. For example, when looking toward the remainder of the year, 26% intend to launch applications on 3rd party social network sites, 24% plan to incorporate user-generated content into their social media efforts and 23% are looking to launch social media ads or share links in email and web offers.

IBM’s “State of Marketing 2012” surveyed more than 350 marketing professionals. In the study, 51% of respondents who identified their companies as high-performing indicated they have good relationships between marketing and IT, 10% higher than other companies.

May 16, 2012May 16, 2012

Facebook Paid Ads, GM Cuts But Ford Steps on the Gas

On the eve of Facebook’s wildly anticipated initial public stock offering, General Motors said Tuesday that it is “reassessing” its spending on Facebook paid ads — about $10 million — but “remains committed” to the social network as part of “an aggressive content strategy with all our products and brands.”

In other words, GM will not pay Facebook for ads but will continue to maintain content, for which Facebook doesn’t collect revenue. News of the decision was first reported in the Wall Street Journal.

GM’s position is far from universal. Ford Motor said it would “accelerate” Facebook paid ad spending in conjunction with the content it’s producing for the network.

But GM’s pullout points to Facebook’s biggest challenge: Though most consumer brands see the social network as a way to connect with consumers, opinions are mixed on the value of paid ads there. Posting messages is free, but Facebook astonished the market in February when it revealed that only 16% of “fans” see any given piece of content. To reach more “fans” as well as their friends, marketers were urged to buy advertising.

Automotive is a tough category for Facebook, as the purchase cycle is long and many factors influence a decision. A spokesman for the company said it would have no comment on GM’s decision.

Sources told Ad Age that world’s second-largest automaker has been reviewing the effectiveness of Facebook paid ads vs. placing content on the site for a while. (GM named Carat as its new media spending agency in January.). GM spokesman Tom Henderson said that the carmaker would continue to budget for content spending on Facebook “because Facebook continues to be a really effective tool for engaging with our customers.”