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Snapple Fact # 1012, The Mustacheless King

When is the last time you had a Snapple? 

I can’t honestly remember the last time I did, but I do see them all the time. I can’t even remember a flavor. What I do recall is the popping of the cap and flipping it to see the weird ‘real facts’. A fact that would immediately become an enlightenment to my very existence. Like fact #31 ″The average human will eat an average of eight spiders a year while asleep." 

And although facts like this one are amongst the many that have been disproven from Snapple’s ‘Real Facts’, there is still something that brings me to quote it as the truth -- I think I told my GF like a week ago this very thing when we saw a spider at our apartment.

This happens because of authenticity. It is a general trust that Snapple, as a business, is not going to lie to me. A trust so strong, that it even has me lying to my girlfriend.

The latest of facts --

What Snapple has done, is brilliant. They brought their bottle caps to life and have found a way to create content from their endless amount of odd facts. With over 1000 facts, the opportunity to engage and entertainment their community. 

They even created a game for it on their website!

They Wooly Willyed it, which fits this whole idea perfectly.

What is amazing about this is that Snapple has already found ways to create more games and content of their other facts, and bunch them on their site under the Snapple Break Room.

Conclusion

From a bottle cap to an entertaining game on making a mustache for the king of hearts, Snapple has created opportunities to engage with users in a creative way. 

I have always felt that creating a game for your content is a cheesy way to create engagement, and to effectively implement such content is hard. What Snapple has done well is finding a way to create a game that is relatable to their actual branding. By doing so, they created an authenticity to their game, and a reason for users to engage honestly.

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Huffy Bikes Campaign Pt. Deux: An Analytical Retrospect

If you haven’t already read my post on the Huffy Bicycles #Grownupproblems campaign, it’s never too late. This is part 2, the analytical revisit. 

I last left part 1 on the basis that it was too early to call if this campaign was working or not. That was back when the campaign was an infant of a few days, but with the campaign coming to an end on May 31st, it seemed like the best time to do some measurements. 

The latest YT promotion for the campaign --

Audience Engagement

For audience engagement, I measured the first 7 days of the campaign & the last 7 days on Facebook. I decided to measure their Facebook page engagement because it was their main conduit to create awareness for their campaign. Their Facebook page has the most followers from all of their platforms, with about 153,199 likes.

First 7 Days (04-15-16 to 04-22-16):

On the first seven days, engagement for their Facebook page was at .19%. I know that is not a lot, but the Huffy FB page gets little to no engagement from their community.

Last 7 Days (05-12-16 to 05-19-16) :

The last 7 days for engagement has actually lowered since the beginning of the campaign to .07%. 

Conversation Reach

Although their FB page was their main channel for awareness the actual competition was held through Twitter & Instagram. I decided to measure Twitter for the hashtags #grownupproblems & #sweeps because they are both needed to enter the sweepstakes. I measured from 04-15-16 to 05-19-16. 

To my surprise, their conversation reach for this sweepstakes on Twitter has done well, with 38% of the community participating. 

Final Tally

There was some good and some bad, but ultimately I am going to say that this campaign was a winner. 

Here’s why, this campaign was dedicated on crowdsourcing for the competition, which was what they actually succeeded on, and the conversation reach proves that. Engagement was low on FB, but the sweepstakes was not utilizing FB other than a cross-promotion tool for the campaign. I do believe that the content for FB could have been better to generate engagement from their community, as per the sweepstakes, but it was poorly done.

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The Quest For The West: Mo’ Money, Less Problems

This year Kanye West released his 7th album, The Life Of Pablo, and to much panic, he also released this bit of information to the world . . . 

The world stood still as the self-proclaimed, “voice of a generation,” was muted by crippling debt. Even a grammy-award-winning artist and designer can’t keep afloat from the dreaded white whale that is debt, and that’s with two professions. Two days after, the fans began to rally for their fallen comrade and began a GoFundMe page to help crowdsource his way out of the 53 million debt.

What happened next is nothing short of a miracle. 

#Help Kenya Not Kanye

The rap was really bad, but the campaign was spot on. Through the buzz that Kanye’s debt was creating, a copywriter found a way to capitalize for a cause that is bigger than Kanye, the people of Kenya. 

“After deciding he'd heard enough about West's $53 billion debt and requests for aid from billionaires like Mark Zuckerberg, copywriter Gabriel Ferrer launched a site called Help Kenya, Not Kanye. The goal: To help noncelebrities in need.”

The Take Away

There are important concepts that can be learned from this campaign which can be adopted for future endeavors. 

Main Concepts:

1. Starting Dialog

Mr. Ferrer understood that the whole world was watching Kanye, and thought of a way to utilize that buzz for the other causes. Many of these organizations have crowdfunding sites, but they were not getting the attention. Ferrer started conversations with the polarization of the needs of both parties -- Kanye & Kenya. 

2. No Half-Stepping

The reason this worked is because Ferrer knew that by demonizing Kanye’s requests and demeanor, the world would see their folly of funding a tyrant and not the good people of Kenya. Unfortunately, not everybody has someone to throw under the bus. The big thing to take away, its all or nothing. A campaign has to be all the way effort and nothing less.

3. Find The Moment

The biggest thing to take from this campaign, the world is unpredictable and anyone can have their moment in this chaos. This funding effort was not correlated by the actual Kenyan charities, but some guy who found a way to help. He noticed the moment in the chaos, and he struck with full force.

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The Writer’s Craft: Pixar’s Teachings

If you aren’t writing for an audience, then why write. It’s easy to create some Tumblr blog, but there has to be a passion for writing, a passion to reach the target audience and relate to their values, & a passion to coexist with the community. This is not an easy task for many, but the ones that continue to push and learn from their target audience can reach a higher domain of trust and authenticity. Through focusing on these relationships with their target personas, content creation becomes easier, and the reactions and praise from the community becomes self-evident.

Pixar has found such a way to foster a relationship between their stories and target audience. They even have 22 rules to go about it. 

This video describes one of the most important rules, #14: Why Must You Tell This Story. 

What Pixar does well is tell stories that showcase the, “core truths of the human condition.” They are, “stories for everyone,” and because of so, they are relatable to a wide spectrum of audience personas. This is a feat that Pixar, arguably, has over all other brands, and while the exact same feat won’t be as easily adoptable, there are core lessons here that can be applied to any content creating process.

The 3 Major Focuses Of Pixar

1. Target Audience

Not everyone can be like Pixar and cast a huge net over an audience, but an audience can be optimized. By listening to the needs of the community and their reactions to the content, a target audience will become apparent. 

2. Content

By knowing the needs of the audience, content can be easier created that is relatable to the community. Pixar creates stories that are relatable to all, which is why they reach a wide mass audience. Content helps test the waters to what works for your audience and what doesn’t.

3. Be True

Being real takes you far in this day and age, and creating anything that is not authentic hurts brand perception. The writer has to be true to themselves and to their community, because nothing less is expected. 

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Hyundai: Draft Day 2031 Campaign

I hate car ads, they’re always the worst. There is never any creativity, just a huge waste of an effort and money. Every other car ad is the same thing, shot of the car driving in an empty street, voice over actor points out specs, and its always filmed in Downtown LA -- which infuriates me the most because DTLA traffic is not a glamour shot.

Why do car companies opt for the same old commercial? Does it ever make you desire the car? I know it never works on me -- I’ve actually lost interest in purchasing any of those types of vehicles, its all electric from here on out; Tesla all the way!

Although some car companies are pitiful in their attempts, Hyundai is actually trying something different.

This campaign initiated alongside the 2016 NFL draft as a way to reach their target audience, the NFL diehard-fan with children playing football. I find this to be an adorable effort from Hyundai, but for it to work, the audience needs to reciprocate and the crowdsourcing tactic will be successful. 

Since the campaign started this weekend, there has not been any consumer submitted videos of their children yet, but there has been negative reception to the Hyundai campaign on Facebook.

The comments from Hyundai’s posts on Draft Day 2031:

That Dottie was so pissed that she went to another Hyundai post to give another consumer advice and vent more frustration about Hyundai.

As we can tell, there is going to be push back to Hyundai’s campaign.

Final Thoughts

Hyundai has a negative perception to their brand currently for reasons that Dottie mentioned in the comments. Hyundai should have waited to do this campaign, and focused more on a strategy for customer loyalty and brand perception, because clearly people are not happy. I can’t say yet that this effort is a complete failure, but to ask the people for rewards of crowdsourcing, when the people are in revolt, is not a recipe for success. 

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Advancement Of Market Research: DataSift

In recent news on Adweek.com, there has been a huge development in software that allows marketers to delve deeper into consumer social media posts. With this tool, marketers can now analyze posts to contrive topic data & insights that relates to brands, competitors, audience engagement, and anything that can be useful to a marketer from the whole Facebook network. Of course, the consumers identity will be private, but the content, geolocation, # of shares and likes from the post will be open to analytical purposes. 

With the enlightenment of these tool, I decided to go to the DataSift website, to learn more about the software. 

Amongst the info and the explanations, the first thing I noticed was their encourage trial tactic to get my information for a free ebook, Busting Brand Myths With Facebook Topic Data, and I decided to opt in.

The book consists of 10 real life examples how the topic data helped steer their social media campaign to reach higher engagement, increase video completions, discover audience personas, and much more. 

Here is one of the case studies done by DataSift to showcase the capabilities of the software -- 

I decided to speak about DataSift because of the analytical power that comes from the software, and the change it will bring to marketers around the world. I believe software like DataSift will become the norm, and be an expected skill of up and coming marketers. When this happens, we will also see a rise of engagement in content and a more accurate targeted audience in campaigns, which begins a new depth to social media marketing. 

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Huffy Bicycles: #grownupproblems Campaign

Last week on April 15, 2016, Huffy began their #grownupproblems sweepstakes. The campaign revolves around the problems a “grown up” has. Huffy bicycles has strategized to reach this persona with a contest. Consumers are asked to post about their #grownupproblem for a chance to win daily giveaways or the grand prize, which of course are all bikes. The sweepstakes comes to an end on May 31st, 2016.

Here’s the intro video to the campaign --

I like the spokes-child and her witty remarks. 

It’s an entertaining sweepstake, with a lot to win for little effort, and for this target persona its perfect. These people are the overworked, time deprived, and stressed adults who need a break for fun. 

How Well Is It Doing?

The sweepstake hangs on users posting on Twitter, Instagram, or through the Huffy website while using the hashtag. The contest has been going for longer than a week, and 7 winners should have been notified of their prizes, but none have made their wins public yet.

The bulk of entries are coming from twitter, and I believe that is because it is the quickest form to enter the sweepstakes for this target market.

Example Of Entries --

As of now, it is too close to call if this campaign is a failing effort or not, but by the way Twitter is reacting, there are entries coming in more and more frequent by the day. While this strategy might not facilitate purchase, it is increasing desire and brand awareness for Huffy. 

One quick recommendation:

With so much engagement coming to Huffy’s social media, they should utilize this time to listen, converse, and interact with their community.

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The Struggle: Cat Ladies & Cat Men

Have you ever seen an ad and thought, “wow, that was not made for me,” and although you are an actual consumer of that brand, the target was just not you. That’s because you are not the target and were categorized as another type of persona.

With the use of social media, marketers have found easier and more accurate ways to categorize all the snowflakes in the world. Target markets are not as vague as females ages 18 to 55; markets are defined by folksonomies, tags that are user generated to classify, which allow us to see niche market lifestyles.

You would assume that this would be common practice, to create personas based off of the user generated information, but some companies still go for the low hanging fruit. 

Cat Pride’s Fresh & Light Ultimate Care

The Female Persona

Does something seem typical about these female persona’s? Well, other than they are the same persona dressed as different people, it is the typical cat lady. Do you really believe making them look crazy is something cat ladies would like to be associated with. This is a complete mockery of the persona, and to have the audacity to have a call to action at the end is ridiculous.

The Male Persona

Is this person really a persona that is found often. I understand he is the bad pet owner guy, but that man does not play the part. This persona does not fit that mans clothes, does not fit his demeanor, and he is just a male version of the cat lady persona. And they made him crazy, too, good one Cat Pride.

Final Thoughts 

When creating a persona for your products, think about who they are as human beings. What needs do they have, and how does your product fulfill them. Cat Pride did figure out the problems owners are having, but it delivered the message in a rude way. I own two cats, and I am not seeing a therapist for their problems, I also am not completely useless when it comes to my cats. There are other personas out there if you brainstorm and strategize. Cat Pride came up with an idea, but did not bother to go further about who the target was, and because of so, it was sloppy. 

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The Good & Bad: 8th Annual Shorty Awards 2016

The 8th Annual Shorty Awards, a night honoring the best of social media and all its glory. Like the Oscars, but with none of the glitz and glamour, this years SA’s was a cringing disaster of awkwardness. 

To be fair, I am only speaking about the ceremony, and not the actual winners -- some were pretty kick-ass. The problem is the style they present the awards, it felt a little too close to a Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Award ceremony. I thought at any moment the infamous green slime would start splattering the audience like dressing on a salad.

 I am glad that The Shorty Awards exist, but only because of the valuable knowledge it offers on social media and insights. It honestly showcases the years best in social media, from influencers to companies & organizations. 

TOP 3 WINNERS OF THE SHORTY AWARDS 2016

I chose to speak about the winners of the categories: Periscoper of the year, Best Integrated campaign, & creative use of technology. 

PERISCOPER OF THE YEAR

This year the SA’s presented a new award, The Periscoper Of The Year Award, which was awarded to Season & Snare, a music duo. S&S is known on Periscope for streaming their music live

Like their song, they are actually singing in the woods, and it was all captured live on Periscope. Although I am not a fan of their music, they utilized this platform to their benefit, and because of so, I have some respect for them. They were even welcomed to perform at the Periscope Live Summit.

BEST INTEGRATED CAMPAIGN 

This award is given to the campaign that was most successful in strategically modifying their content for new and traditional media. The campaign, Love Has No Labels, won this category because of their commitment to share the PSA to “put aside labels in the name of love.”

It hits strong in the chest because of how powerful this campaign message is, and it was done flawlessly at Santa Monica Beach, Ca. This message was so strong that it was heard through all forms of media, making it the 2nd most viewed PSA in history in just 3 weeks!

CREATIVE USE OF TECHNOLOGY 

The awards name is self-explanatory, and man, did Netflix just blow it away with these awesome socks.

Netflix executed this seamlessly. They knew that people hated sleeping through their episodes because of the twitter conversations. With that knowledge they created these socks, and it was just eaten up by the media. 

LAST THOUGHTS

I ultimately decided to speak about these winners because they are crucial examples of the development of marketing. 

- Periscope can be utilized to showcase one of a kind live content from all around the globe. Which opens the doors to a live world stage platform.

- Strategizing for both traditional and new media is still crucial for a wide reach. A message that can continuously resonate in different formats is a sure winner.

- Comfort and confidence with emerging technologies is a strong force in the Netflix win. They were capable of thinking out of the box by listening to their consumers. Now they can use those socks to see when you sleep, how long are you on Netflix before you sleep, who watches what during different times of the day, and the list will go on and on. 

I hope the presentation platform changes next year, but keep doing a great job picking the best of the best in social media.

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Vacation Destination: South Of The Border

Being from LA and hispanic, Mexico has always been my parents go to location for Summer and Winter breaks. It was a wonderland to my family and myself. From child to adulthood, I have seen the media portrayals, and how they differ from what I’ve seen. It is fair to say that some areas are dangerous, but that type of fear is not found everywhere.

The country has a magic that can not be compared, but unfortunately plagued by drugs, corruption, and mayhem. The Mexico Tourism Board are working hard to get tourist and perceptions changed.

Does this commercial entice you to explore Mexico?

Here is what I find disturbing about this ad, the doppelgängers. It like they thought “lets showcase look-a-likes in a safe environment so they can believe it is safe for themselves.”

I understand that might not be what The Mexico Tourism Board had in mind, but that is what it created. A long awkward ad which feels extremely insincere.

I know Mexico is not the safest place in the world, but many places currently are not. It is obvious that areas will be worst than others, so discuss such matters. Create awareness and showcase where to go for these magical type of vacations, don’t white wash them down. Mexico is a whole other world in the background of USA, a vacation resort that can be adventurous and have a mix of danger, but always safe.

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Jamba Juice Rides The Chug

There are many ways a company can create buzz around their brand, it is usually an excruciating effort, but when done correctly, the results are greatly felt. Sometimes a great effort is not difficult, and the opportunity just falls on your lap, thats exactly what happened to Jamba Juice.

On February 18, 2016, Ellen Degeneres & Adele paired up to prank a Jamba Juice, which JJ got wind of and started working. 

As the video detailed, this caught fire, fast. Jamba Juice saw an opportunity and it clearly payed off. + 400% increase in engagement, 3.4 billion impressions, and sales soared by 32%. JJ reacted quick enough to catch the wave, and because of so, managed to create their own waves.

POST RESULTS

After watching the video, I was impressed by Jamba Juice, so I decided to research the website traffic to swishychug.com for the last month, and Swishy Chug’s twitter handle.

The chart above, thanks to Semrush.com, details the website traffic for the past month. Although at first, their was an increase to traffic and impressions, now the site has been forgotten. The peaks of the last month, in March, reached 150 organic consumers, but now is averaging to 36 people or less a day. 

The last tweet the Swishy Chug handle retweeted was on February 28, 2016, 10 days after the initial day the prank started. 

Since then, the handle has seen no action.

FINAL THOUGHTS

There are 3 big ideas to take from this marketing effort:

1.In Real Life Time 

Jamba Juice only succeeded in this effort because they acted in real time, which can be difficult if not timed correctly. If JJ found out the day after the prank was showcased on Ellen, the results would not have been the same. So always be alert for any opportunities that can be capitalized right then and there, second guessing will destroy the edge and opportunity.

2. Powerful Influencers

We all know none of this would have been possible if it wasn’t for the culprits, Ellen & Adele. They have such a strong influence and that caused the initial wave that JJ got to utilize. 

3. The Aftermath 

The last thing to take from this is what happens after. Clearly, Jamba Juice did not plan for the lifespan of the handle and website, so now it is rotting away slowly. I know it can be amazing when initial engagement is happening, but it won’t last forever, so plan how to keep up momentum or when to pull the cord. 

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10 Skills To Develop For The Future Of Marketing

Although it may be difficult for some to remember, I recall a time when all marketing was bound by the means of TV, radio, and print -- most recently known as traditional media. With the emergence of the internet, came new media outlets and a huge paradigm shift in the manner of how we consume information. 

Facebook now boasts a hearty 1.59 Billion monthly active users worldwide, as of December 2015. Netflix has reached 74.76 Million subscribers worldwide, as of their final quarter of 2015, and projects to increase another 5 million plus after the first quarter of 2016. The flourishing of online radio providers like Spotify & Pandora are becoming more evident on monthly and weekly usage over the years, as reported by PEW Research Center.

And while we notice this increase of new media usage, the older media outlets are beginning to see less active users. 

Variety covered a study of 2,076 US consumers, executed by Deloitte, which found that, “72% cited streaming video as one of the most valuable services versus 58% who said the same for pay TV,” in consumer ages 14 to 25. The study also found that, “25% of Trailing Millennials [14 - 25] either cancelled their pay-TV services in the last 12 months or haven’t had one for more than a year, compared with 16% of overall respondents.” 

With the surge of technology and new modes of communication beginning to pave the way to a landscape of connectivity, the way we market businesses and ourselves have changed to an intricate endeavor, but also a lucrative one when done correctly. Thanks to Socialmediahq.com, these top 10 skills will help the future marketeer manage this change, and develop the mindset for a successful career in social media marketing. 

THE TRICKS OF THE TRADE

Like previously mentioned, these are Social Media HQ’s top 10 skills to develop to become an effective social media manager.

1. Community Management 

2. SEO

3. Creative design 

4. Polished Writer

5. Comfortable With Emerging Trends & Tech

6. Analytical Mind

7. Strategic Vision

8. Tactical Awareness 

9. Presentation Ability

10. Leadership 

Many of these skills are definitely a given, for example leadership, but within the context of social media management, some of these skills shine brighter than others, and my contemporaries and myself can go far by beginning to develop these skills now. 

Personally, I believe the 3 most important skill in the list are community management, comfort with emerging trends and tech, and strategic vision & tactical awareness -- although the last skill is officially two skills, I believe they are two sides of the same coin, and because of so, I have joined them together.

I chose to speak further about these 3 particular skills because I believe that these are the areas I need to develop the most, and I see it lacking in my contemporaries as well.

Community management is growing and maintaining social media sites by creating an open atmosphere for the users where connectivity and interaction is made possible. This is a skill that should be developed and fined tuned as a young exec. Before you are on the actual job, we need to know how to communicate effectively with people, face to face, but also through new media outlets. Without this skill, you will be hurting the company, but most importantly, your career outcomes. What I suggest, creating fan pages for anything that you might be interested in. By creating a fan page that you moderate, you will see what it takes to manage your own community and practice the skill to grow and maintain it. Start with a Tumblr, thats what I did, and soon I will be cross promoting on Facebook & Twitter.

We live in a time where technology is continuously developing at least every two years, Moore’s Law, and emerging trends and technology are being introduced with no end. With that in mind, there are pros and cons to such a process. On one hand, new tech and trends means more possibilities to reach your consumer, but it also means continued challenges to seek the proper channels to reach your target. What this means to us, we need to be in the known to all new techs and trends, always researching and staying on top of them. Creating personal or dummy accounts to learn functions and community type will always teach you more about a new site or tech than just reading about it. So go out there and get your hands a little dirty. 

Like I mentioned before, I put strategic vision & tactical awareness together as two sides of the same skill which I will name as commanding perception. Commanding perception refers to being able to differentiate between both, strategy and tactics, and having strong focus to the the possibilities of many outcomes. It is crucial knowing the difference between big picture strategy and small tactics to reach the goals, and perceiving it all together as one formula. Creating goals for your fan pages and an editorial calendar to reach those goals will help develop a commanding perception by always keeping your eyes on the prize as you work the tactics to get there. 

As Bob Dylan said, “you better start swimming or you’ll skink like a stone because the times they are a changing,” and it is more apparent now than when he first said it in ‘64. Culture is continuously evolving because of technology and new skills will need to be developed to keep your head above water. These 10 skills by Social Media HQ is just the start, because as time changes, the skills will change as well.

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Presidential Primaries 2016: Campaign Ads Reviewed

If you have not been following the current events of our country, news flash, its election season, and it is getting heated on both spectrums of the political landscape.

In the past months we have seen the emergence of multiple candidates for the nomination process in the republican & democratic spheres. We have seen their debates, their tribulations & triumphs, their true colors, and how it has affected their campaign trails. Now, and looking forward, all eyes are on the top 2 of each party; Republican: Ted Cruz & Donald J. Trump, and Democrat: Hillary R. Clinton & Bernie Sanders, for the nomination to run for their respective parties in the general election.

They all managed to keep their heads above water when many drowned under the pressure. By reaching the heart of their core demographic, they all found their audience, that now rally for them.

At such high stakes, their wills must be tougher than ever, and their social influence should be surging through the people to cast a wider net as the rest of the country casts their votes. 

THE REPUBLICAN GAUNTLET

The republican race has been a spectacle of its own accord, with 20+ candidates running for the nomination, we have seen complete pandemonium in the Grand Old Party -- GOP. From 20+ to 2 candidates has not been an easy endeavor, with many withdrawing before the first primaries & many political attacks on one another, we are now left with the most active in delegates. Although there are 2 other republican candidates -- Marco Rubio & John Kasich -- still running for the nomination, Cruz and Trump are leading the race in delegates with 231 and 329, respectively. For the republican nomination, a candidate must reach 1,237 delegates -- garnered through state primaries -- and it’s shocking that Trump is actually leading, but what else can you expect from the GOP these days.

Ted Cruz

Ted Cruz is the Senator of Texas, and currently trailing Trump by 98 delegates in the race. Cruz has won 4 state primaries out of the 15 that has happened so far, so there still an opportunity for him to win the nomination.

This is their campaign ad that is currently running in Idaho for their upcoming republican caucus on March 8. The voice they chose gives it a western frontier feel, like an older wise gentleman giving you neighborly advice. This ad conveys his political positions like his Pro-life stance on abortion, which should fair well in a historically conservative state like Idaho. 

This ad does muster up some emotion like patriotism, and because of so, it could have a positive affect on his chances to win the primary. This ad is definitely directed to an older audience, and that is why we see no mention of his social media pages. He does operate a facebook page, twitter, instagram, and even a snapchat account for his social media outreach. His social media platforms do garner user engagement, a lot of positive, and some bad. 

I think it is hilarious that someone created the rumor that Cruz is the fabled Zodiac killer, someone even made it into a romance novel -- read the reviews, you’ll be sold instantly.

Idaho has 32 delegates for the taking, but with 1,762 delegates left, Cruz will need to get as many as he can before Trump gets his hands on them.

Donald Trump 

Everyone knows who Donald Trump is, television personality and business sweetheart, and this time he is serious about running for president. Currently leading the republican nomination with 329 delegates, Trump must be feeling confident, so far.

 Wow, this is haunting. 

We can clearly see what he is conveying with this advertisement, such a fonz-esque style with this man.

“He’ll quickly cut the head off ISIS and take their oil,” is my favorite line, and what a confident statement. Trump is known for his brash no-holds-barred style, when he speaks, he demands the floor. And wether he is wrong, it doesn’t matter, because he finds ways to get the crowd back on his side -- it’s just shocking how he can sleaze his way to the top “80′s style” but the man has charisma, a trait that is lacking in the republican ecosystem. 

THE DEMOCRATIC RACE TO PROGRESSIVISM

“Progressive” has been the major buzzword in the democratic race for nomination. Challenging one-another in progressive measures, and making “moderate” a dirty word. The democratic sphere did not have a circus-style race, with only 3 major candidates running at the beginning of the primaries, Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, And Martin O’Malley -- dropped out after Iowa. Now only Clinton & Sanders are running for the nomination, and Clinton has the edge with 1,066 delegates -- thanks to the superdelegates, with Sanders trailing at 432 delegates.

Hillary Clinton

Clinton is a staple of a name since the Bill Clinton incident, and so-far that has not been a problem, nothing has posed a problem for her -- other than the possible inditement for the email scandal, but we will have to stay tuned to see where that goes. She runs very proudly, and ultimately, gives the smug feel that she has already won, but with a lead of 634 delegates, it is understandable.

Although, I do have a disdain for the woman, this campaign ad is a powerful message. It immediately sparks your aspirations and motivations, its all in the line “I am fighting for you.” She creates hope and it creates an emotional response to the audience that gives a welcoming feeling, a feeling like “you belong with us.”

Her methods have been working well, and we see it as a result in the primaries. The race is on to a total of 2,383 delegates, and she is almost half way there.

Bernie Sanders 

Sanders is the wild card currently, and it is unfortunate, but I still have strong faith. Bernie is a democratic-socialist, and the senator of Vermont. He has been putting up an amazing fight, especially without the help of business interests and Super Pac’s, and has raised almost $100 million from his supporters. A fighter of civil rights, and the only nominee who wants healthcare for all, free public university, & economic equality, he is the true progressive here.

This ad is done well, it provokes emotions and it’s done by the connections we feel with the people in the ad. This ad is not the same as in Clinton’s ad where she speaks over the video. By not speaking over the video, the audience is forced to pay attention, and the Simon & Garfunkel background adds to the atmosphere that creates a belonging, especially with the line, “they’ve all come to look for America.” That line creates an ideal to what America should be, and that is exactly what Sanders is trying to achieve with the nomination. 

Sanders has said he won’t quit the race until all states have voted, I strongly implore you all to check him out. 

One of these four will be the leader of our country, and by the look of these campaign ads, some are just shocking. 

Trump has a definite fear factor in his campaign, which rattles the insides of the audience, and fear is a strong emotion to base his campaign off. With the way he talks and walks around, you’d think he’d be running for a second term already. Although he has a strong presence in real life, it is not seen in this ad. The production value is so bad, at first, I wasn’t sure if it was a homemade video that someone made spoofing his campaign, but it was really them! 

Cruz just looks weird, and I don’t trust him, but his ad is a lot stronger than the Trump campaign. He utilizes a more professional approach -- and I can respect that, and the production value was worth the money. He doesn’t base his campaign on fear, his campaign thrives on relations. Cruz uses his love for guns, and pro-life stance as a way for the audience to relate with him, and the conservatives do relate.

Clinton has faired very well, so far, and it’s because she is a household name for constantly being in the public sphere, unlike Sanders. Hillary knows how to work the crowd, even when there is constant noise alluding to her schemeish ways, but it doesn’t matter. America was born with these beer-goggles on that just filters away the wrong anyone has done -- just look at Trump’s campaign! 

Mr. Sanders is in the race of his life, he is trying to do -- as some people say -- the impossible. This is what makes Sanders a viable candidate to many who feel there is no real champion out there. Sanders has inspired hope by his ideals, which has resonated strongly with the Millennials. He has constantly been fighting for social rights, which should be a priority in a country that is “for the people.”

Remember, Obama won the democratic nomination by the people, even though Hillary had the superdelegates on her side.

[adrebel-blog]

In The Heart of Perseverance

Are you parched? dehydrated? Or just plain thirsty? Because Gatorade has been known to quench those and more. Are you tired? Gatorade can fix that. Are you losing the stride? Gatorade will pick that right up. Gatorade has managed to build a brand that is constantly revitalizing the meaning of how their product goes above and beyond for the consumer.

Gatorade’s latest commercial, featuring Lionel Messi, stays true to the brand and adds more to the Gatorade fire --

The commercial revolves around the center slogan of “Don’t Go Down,” a simple saying, but powerful in the message that it is wrapped in. Through Messi, this ad is brought to real life because he embodies the mantra. Messi is seen pursuing his goals, like anyone else, and never giving up until he reaches that point. He shows an internal and external struggle that can be related to the consumer, which complies with Gatorade’s 4-year ongoing campaign, Win From Within. This new slogan and ad goes hand-in-hand with the Gatorade philosophy that has been nurtured for over the last 50 years!

Perseverance is what Gatorade fosters in the hearts of the consumer, and this will become more apparent as we look into Gatorade’s heritage. 

Gatorade has a fairytale inception, with its creation in the University of Florida, and helping their Gator’s to win at the Orange Bowl in ‘66. This would create a major surge for the magical elixir, and help grow Gatorade as a trusted brand.

Today, Gatorade can be found on the sidelines of more than 70 Division I colleges as the official sports drink of their men's and women's intercollegiate sports.

Gatorade is now fully grown, and has become a leader in their industry. Gatorade has created trust through the values they portray on their ads, values that are shared by their audience. Since ‘83, Gatorade has proudly been the official sports drink of the NFL, creating a logos type of persuasion for trust through their accolades. The creation of trust amongst their audience has been nurtured, which helped propel their Win From Within Campaign into a instant success.

Through the Win From Within Campaign, Gatorade found a way to showcase perseverance to an audience that spans larger than the athletic department. Creating content that would be relatable through adversity and triumph, whether on or off the field.

Stories about overcoming personal, environmental, and economic struggles — stories that weren’t even about winning, but about having to dig deep just to compete.

The commencement of this campaign began in 2012, in preparation for the Summer Olympics in London. Because of a dreaded rule that did not allow advertisement of any products by the athletes competing during the games, Gatorade would have to get creative. This would mean that none of the -- Gatorade sponsored -- athletes would be capable of advertising Gatorade in any form, whether by drinking, holding, or talking, for two months. So Gatorade created their Win From Within campaign, sharing stories of highlighted athletes that would be seen at the Olympics and spark a trigger to their brand. Athletes like Kevin Durant, Abby Wambach, and Usain Bolt, and 9 others would share stories that relate to the theme of winning from within and would ask viewers to share their Win From Within moments. 

Here’s one of the first Win From Within ads, Usain Bolt’s I Will Not Stop.

That last line always raises the adrenaline, “until theres no competition left  . . . on the planet.” Commercials like these, and social media posts by the Athletes created a ripple effect as the Olympics came closer and closer. This would cause a major surge in social media impressions and user generated content showcasing their adversities and triumphs alongside #WinfromWIthin.

11 million social impressions, 1,400 photo submissions, 15,000 uses of #WinFromWithin, were incurred in the first two weeks of the campaign. 

Gatorade has come a long way from its inception, starting as an experiment to now being used all around the world by all ranges of athletes. Through Gatorade’s trust that has been garnered over the last 50 years, it allowed them to create a campaign that would be powered by the people. They learned a valuable lesson in 2012 before the Olympics, the power of giving their audience an opportunity to share their stories. By utilizing their athletes to pose the triggers that were emotional based, it allowed the audience to immediately reflect and relate with their athletic superstar counterpart. 

Now, they are featuring the newest batch of athletes as we come closer to the 2016 Rio Olympics, and Messi is starting the waves for this one. I wonder how they will keep utilizing this campaign for the upcoming months, and if it will be a big winner as it was the first time. 

[adrebel-blog]

One Way Ticket to Your Mouth

Mars Incorporated has a long and inspirational history starting around the turn of the century in the early 1900′s and going incredibly strong in the new millennium. As most do not know or are just ignorant to the fact, Mars Inc manufactures the majority of personal favorites around the world, from Mars Bars to the delicious Twix, and also manufactures many food and pet care products -- which we won’t dive into much, it’s all about their chocolate rain. Started by a lonely chocolate maker and transformed into a company with brands that are widely known around the world, and now is #1 in their industry. Through their constant focus on the audience and current trends, Mars Inc cultivated brands that will be forever stamped on the pages of humankind.

How is Mars Inc accomplishing this?

 It begins long ago, in 1923, with the creation of the Milky Way chocolate bar.

With this billboard, we see the beginning of Mars Inc advertisement efforts, which will continuously evolve with their brands over the years. The Milky Way bar would capitalize on a popular drink of the time -- hence the copy on the billboard. By creating a chocolate bar that was instantly recognizable to the audience, it became an instant hit. 

Although the Milky Way came after the famed Mars Bar, success for Mars Inc came through Milky Way’s success in the market.  This help propel Mars Inc to become a leader in their industry, and begin the inception of their other iconic chocolate snacks, like Snickers in 1930 & M&M’s in 1940. 

M&M’s

The marketing for M&M’s would be completely different, and because of so, created a new atmosphere for these small chocolates. With the creation of their memorable characters in 1954, Mars Inc would transform these characters and make them larger than life.

From these older models:

To Now:

The M&M characters will become so alive, that their own world was created. Introducing new characters, and creating so much content that stores devoted to the characters were opened: Orlando, New York, Nevada, London, and most recently, in Shanghai. That is CRAZY! From being sold at stores to a having their own store, M&M’s has become syndicated in society.

M&M’s reached a level of such high influence and demand, that people will not only purchase the chocolate, but will find a way to purchase mugs and sweaters from these M&M shrines. Mars Inc fostered a love for the characters in the eyes of the audience, and a haunting rush of nostalgia from childhood to that very moment every time they see the signature yellow M&M’s bag. 

And although it would seem that this is Mars Inc biggest triumph, it is not, just another trophy from their chocolate dynasty. Their real champion has no characters to create content, only the chocolate, Snickers. 

Snickers

According to theRichest.com, “Snickers has annual global sales of $2 billion,” making Snickers the top seller of all chocolate bars in the world. This was not only the work of the chocolate itself, but also the way Snickers has been positioned in the public eye by Mars Inc. 

From a case study done by Mediacom on the You’re Not You When You’re Hungry campaign:

“We all have moments when we are not feeling ourselves - irritable, whiney, bad tempered. We would firmly place the blame for these moments at hunger's door, positioning Snickers as the hunger-busting solution to make sure you stay on top of your game.” 

This campaign would bring a myriad of possibilities for an old chocolate bar from the ‘30s, creating a new life for Snickers. By utilizing famous celebrities and the slogan You’re Not You When You’re Hungry, Snickers became a behavioral reaction to the natural occurrence of hunger.

A product from their campaign:

Hunger strikes hard and fast, and so does Snickers. This has been a 5 year campaign going on its 6th year, and it has made tons of buzz for Snickers. But it is not only the commercials that make this campaign a winner, it’s the publicity that has been garnered by their efforts.

An example of their innovative marketing techniques:

From an article by AdWeek, “The trend toward more personalized packaging continues, with a twist, as Snickers is replacing its brand name on packaging with 21 hunger symptoms.”

Which help lead to Snickers most recent advertisement in the back cover of Sports Illustrated’s infamous Swimsuit Issue.

This ad created great social currency for Snickers, due to the controversy revolving the usage of photoshop on these type of magazines. The funny part, it overshadowed the cover page with Ashley Graham, a plus-size model, who was proud to say no photoshop was used for her shots. 

This is exactly what marketing should do, shake the foundation of our norms like an earthquake so no one can resist the urge to talk about it.

One big point to take from Mars Inc is that a portfolio of chocolates might seem like competing with yourself, but if differentiated properly, the cultivation of their own customers can thrive and the brand become its own identity with its own voice. By looking at your market atmosphere and the positioning of your company, differentiation happens from public opinion, so research needs to be done. It took about three years of research for Mars Inc before the release of the Milky Way, and that became a success. 

Another point to learn from Mars Inc is the power that content can evolve to. The lovable characters that were originally created to advertise M&M’s became a popular product of its own with stores dedicated to them. Creating a whole new channel that Mars Inc has complete control over and a great way for the brand to live on for generations.

The last thought that should be saved into the mind is the importance of keeping focus on your audience and their stories. By staying audience-focused, the content created should always be relatable, and because of so, compelling & valuable. Mars Inc hit it strong with the Snickers campaign because they chose to focus on something that affects everyone -- hunger. A natural drive in all of humankind, and Mars Inc is capitalizing on it big-time!

[adrebel-blog]

What Creeps In The Night In Plain View

Seek Thermal is a company that caters to the wilderness and outdoors community with their thermal vision devices. For example, the usage of their Reveal device to be able to locate any prey or predator in the blackness of dusk. 

But their devices have also been know to be utilized in the workplace for firefighters, plumbers, electricians, HVAC professionals, and many others. Creating a larger market for Seek Thermal, and creating more opportunity for their marketing efforts.

Here are Seek Thermal’s newest ads, marketing their usage for daily life:

These ads are creating awareness of the company and their newest product, the Compact XR, which connects to smartphones, bringing Seek Thermal’s products to a larger market.

Although this is a revolutionary device, Seek Thermal’s advertisements for the Compact XR are extremely loose, which creates a novelty appearance for the device. No one will purchase this device for the mere fact that,”hey, I can see how cold my beer is.” The only real usage for daily life was displayed in the third ad, were you can see the critters that live within the walls. The second ad is not bad, but it relates more to a Do-It-Yourself type of person or a professional who will and can make a difference to the inefficient window. 

Overall, the content needs to reflect to the wants and needs of their target market and personas, and not just persuade to the idea of the devices other usages.

These are user generated content that was posted on Seek Thermal’s FaceBook page, and it gives a great view of who their market actually is. Both of the posts are related to the outdoors and hunting aspects that Seek Thermal devices cater to.

Although, it is ambitious for Seek Thermal to try widen their audience, their advertisements are weak and unvaluable to the common consumer. I would suggest begin creating content that revolves around the professional usage of the device, as it will widen the professional audience of Seek Thermal’s market. 

Create more ads like these previous ones:

There is a lot of content that can be created through this idea, not only showcasing how the device is applied, but the difference it creates in their profession.

For a better roadmap of what potentially Seek Thermal’s ads can be, here is how Duracell batteries advertised to both the professional and commoner market.

[adrebel-blog]

Your Helpful Neighborhood Honda Dealer

While the noise of football grunts, silly ads, the drinking of beer,and cheers drained out the game itself, one ad cut through the interference and changed the atmosphere of the room to focus, and created a bigger splash than any other Super Bowl Ad. 

This is not a first for the SoCal Honda Dealership, since 2007 SoCal Honda has been coming to the aid of their community with a variety of gifts. As part of their campaign to be helpful, the SoCal Honda Dealers have surpass themselves with this Random Act of Helpfulness.

“We Southern California Honda Dealers have made it our mission to help the community with everything from free gas and parking for Honda drivers, to hosting pet adoptions, and feeding the homeless.”

Here’s an example of how SoCal Honda has been staying true to their word.

As far as the other Super Bowl Ads, some did make a splash of their own accord. For example, Mtn Dew Kick Start’s puppy-monkey-baby takes the cake for most cringe worthy moment of the Super Bowl. Others, like Budweiser’s #GiveADamn actually made a positive impact, affecting viewers emotions through the fear of drunk driving, and the shaming of driving under the influence by Helen Mirren. It felt like a condemnation from a mother, shooting right through the screen and into the heart, and once it was over, the guilt set in. 

Reported by Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD),“according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 43 percent of all traffic fatalities on Super Bowl Sunday (and the early hours of the following morning) in 2012 were caused by drunk driving, compared to an average of 31 percent for the year as a whole.” 

As far as in Los Angeles, the LA Times claims,”the number of alcohol-related crashes runs 57% higher on Super Bowl Sunday.”

Unwittingly, Budweiser amplified SoCal Honda’s message, after the parenting was done, in came the solution to all the lost drunken souls -- at least in the greater Los Angeles area. Budweiser gave the awareness, but SoCal Honda gave an action, and because of so, were praised on social media and created great publicity. 

$83.60, just like that, was taken care of by a Random Act of Helpfulness from SoCal Honda. That is superb beyond any measure, and because of so, SoCal Honda succeeds in this battle of Super Bowl ads. Never had there been a Super Bowl ad that was not only compelling, but created actual value that can be monetized. This ad was not only caring and thoughtful, but actually made a tangible difference to the audience. The funny part, any of the other companies could have done it, It could have easily been a Budweiser effort, but SoCal Honda takes all the glory.

In case you were wondering . . .

. . . 8,816 free rides were enjoyed in the greater Los Angeles area!

Were you one of the lucky souls?