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Television Commercials or Ads on YouTube-What do you choose?

Tuesday, August 4th, 2015

Are brands relying more on YouTube for their advertisements than stereotyped television commercials for their branding?

When was the last time you watched a television commercial without cursing the show you are watching for making you go through it? Cannot recall? We guessed so. Now, let’s take YouTube. For short videos on YouTube, it is easier to anticipate when exactly an ad is getting over and whether or not it would pop up again. Things like this influence people’s choice of the platform they want to watch your ads at. The platform of broadcasting your video advertisements is important, but a perfect combination of timing and content is the key here.

Sometimes, the ads are better watched on YouTube first when multiple viewers have already watched it, liked it and shared it. You may even watch an advertisement intentionally, thinking it’s an interesting short video. Deepika Padukone’s Mother’s Day special video for Tanishq was a hit on YouTube before it was telecasted on television. Alia-Siddharth’s Coke advertisement gained enough loyal viewers through YouTube before the ad hit the television.

Can you recall Google’s ‘Help your mother get online’ advertisement that got viral on social media? Given that people have mastered in skipping channels to avoid the television commercials, sharing and circulation of advertisements across social media platforms by them is a revolution in itself.

It all comes down to the timing and content of the advertisements. Once you have uploaded your advertisement on YouTube, you can sit back and relax to see it getting circulated. It’s all about building a beautiful and strong story, and giving people sufficient time, not too much, not too less, to watch and appreciate it. When you force your advertisements on the viewers, you force them to repel it. Online shopping websites, which bank a lot on social media, are also focusing on online ads. The ad titled as ‘The Visit’, by Myntra gained more than 2 Lakh hits within 10 days.

The media industry is now shifting from the television commercials to online advertisements. The platform is interactive and viewers can have fun with various ad formats. It also gives them the liberty to share their thoughts about the videos. The cost is also quite less as compared to television commercials, as Google Adwords relies on Pay Per Click and Pay per View themes. Technology is taking over the traditional media and hence, video ads have an average click-through rate (CTR) of 1.84%, the highest click-through rate of all digital ad formats.

The ‘Skip Ad’ option could be a minor hiccup in this, but the overall demand for online video is too high, and it has increased the number of video advertisements that are being uploaded on YouTube.

Tags:Advertisement, Adwords, Commercials, Digital Ads, Latest TVC, New Ad, Online Ads, Online Advertisements, Skip Ad, Skip Advertisement, Social Media, Television Commercials, TVC Industry, TVS, YouTube, YouTube Ads
Posted in Blog Content, Blog Visibility, Blogs, Brand Promotion, Digital Media, Online Videos, Social Media Marketing, Traditional Media, Windchimes Comm | No Comments »

Are You Doing Social Media Right?

Friday, November 15th, 2013

Where there are people, there needs to be marketing, and not just marketing, but the right kind of marketing, in a right way. This is when brands explored the opportunities lying under the broad umbrella of social media to build strong relationships with their consumers. Brand marketers saw social media as the best medium for showcasing their marketing objectives and deliver a long term promise to their consumers. But, have you ever wondered that where are those promises made by brands now? Well, it’s evident that most of the brand marketers are still not doing social media the right way!

If looked into deeply, social media for brands has been around for long internet years, and it will remain. But have the brands explored its potential enough? Think again! If you as brand managers are still wondering what this means the answer to that is a lot more can happen.

There are a lot of reasons why brand managers are still doing social the wrong way. There is still an air of confusion existing amidst the social media strategies implemented by brands. Let’s see what are those reasons or confusions, what brands are doing wrongly and what brands should actually do.

The meaningful brand message: Most of the brands and their brand managers think that their brand consumers consider and care for their brand as much as they do. But surprisingly this is not the case as they actually spend a large percentage of lesser time thinking about your brand in reality. Maybe they do not want a relationship that you want to build with their mindset and behaviour. Maybe they are just looking at your message and not grasping it with interest. Infact, brands should think about evolving with content that turns out to be meaningful for its consumers even at the time when they are not thinking about it.

Are we talking too much about ourselves? On social media, it undoubtedly becomes impossible for us to talk about anything but ourselves. As brand managers, have you ever wondered what leads to zero or little engagement on social media? Well, talking only about ourselves is one reason. The idea of marketing a brand combines positioning it and promoting its unique selling point across the social platform. Brand specialists are good at this as they know the in and out of a brand; what consumers need etc. But, when you ask a marketer to do something like this and talk about their consumer’s requirements and what they actually want, it is not easy for them. So, ideally brand managers have the power to do it right. Are you doing it right?

Too many cooks spoil the broth! Indeed it’s true in case of social media content that goes out these days too. The amount of approvals a piece of content has to go through, by the time a post actually goes out it looks completely different than how it was designed. There are brand managers who make an effort to post content that relates to the consumers, their behaviour and their mindset; but at the same time there comes someone who takes a decision to keep it on the lines of selling (not forgetting the legal, ethical & leadership standards). This is where the post takes a form of something that does not stand relevant to the consumers but only to few. Therefore, it is very important for brands managers to get everyone & everything related to the brand message associated with the social strategy.

Do you follow the ‘proper planning prevents poor performance’ strategy? Think again!
If you step into social media without a plan then the above mentioned reasons are most likely to occur. Entering the social media world with no plan is like doing everything in a traditional way; just talk about the brand, let people look at it, put a stamp of proof which later invites low engagement and then let everybody consider social media of no use. Yes, you got it right! Social media does not work without a plan. You need to clearly understand what your consumers need from you and also what identity you want your brand to create on this media. Design a content strategy that defines your vision and supports your consumer’s needs.
(Image courtesy: freedigitalphotos.net/Design: TheWordPro.com)

In a nutshell, the things brands might be doing it all wrong on social can be because of:

· Lack of strategy
· Great expectations without consistency & effort
· Non realistic goals
· Considering social media as a low priority
· Thinking that anyone can do it is completely wrong. Will you ever hand over you car keys to somebody who doesn’t know how to drive? No, right? Then why do you do this with social media?
· Posting stuff in large intervals, maybe in weeks etc. to mention a few.
So when you sit and analyze these above mentioned reasons, do make sure your social media marketing efforts drive traffic to your page; expand your fan base and initiate conversations. So make sure you do not mistaken social media as a sales tool and use it to its full potential in the right way. Do share your thoughts in the comments below.

Tags:Brand Managers, Brand Mangers & Social Media, Brand Promotion, Brand strategy, Brands on Social Media
Posted in Blog Content, Blog Visibility, Blogs, Brand Promotion, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Target Audience, Traditional Media | No Comments »

Social Media Marketing For Newspapers

Wednesday, May 15th, 2013

Social media platforms might seem like the newest way of doing business, but if you look back people have been socially networking since the dawn of civilization, way before social media sites. It was basically printed marketing materials that businesses used to connect to their customers. Well, this practice is still on but with an aggressive inclusion of Social Media Marketing too. Few newspaper brands have taken a step to embrace social media to enhance their newspaper’s content and increase revenue. With a few excellent ideas and strategic steps newspapers can employ social media to create a journey for readers & consumers rather than just a linear reading experience.

Possibilities and opportunities online for newspapers are huge and are surely marking a fundamental shift in the way they approach their audiences. Followed by this, it is clearly evident how some traditional media entities have embraced the social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter & blogs to some extent as important tools to use them to publish and curate news reports.

These social media platforms can evolve as valuable sources for story ideas and means of connecting directly with the communities and consumers across. All this makes perfect sense where social media stands as a medium for reporters to connect with the communities they cover.

An extra care must be taken to ensure that the entry of a newspaper brand does not degenerate into misuse and abuse. Social media is changing the way we conduct communication, business and personal perspectives.

Many journalists are also nowadays reaching out to social networking sites to assess what people are thinking about a particular issue etc. If we look back, few months before there were incidents like the Delhi gang-rape, the anti-corruption movement of Anna Hazare which had raised discussions, views and comments all over social media too. Even during Hurricane Sandy in US, people reached out to journalists through photographs.

Furthermore, there are a few social media strategy tips that would surely aid newspaper brands and organizations to enter, implement and execute their social media presence with ease.

Crafting a strong social media strategy for your newspaper will help you avoid drawbacks such as: posting content that consumers or community members don’t find engaging, posting during times that do not foster engagement and posting too much content.

What you need to consider in your Social Media Strategy Development Planning:

· Establish goals.

· Decide the tools that you will use to implement your strategy.

· Content type has to be well thought of.

· A keyword list has to be established.

· Set milestones and determine how you will measure the presence of your newspaper on social media.

· Ensure the social media strategy is successfully managed.

Followed by these tips you will have to plan the social media strategy for your newspaper.

· Set specific goals.

· Establish the strategies you will implement to attain your set goals.

· Create revenue generating content ideas and list of content sources.

· Design content that positions you and your newspaper as a thought leader.

Well, do keep in mind that videos and photos nowadays are a great content because social media has also become a lot more visually driven. So you might think of using photos and or videos whenever possible.

Newspapers- When Planning a Social Media Campaign need to look into these:

Targeting: one of the most useful ways to reach your target demographic is to pay attention to your consumer’s needs. Keeping a regular track of their search preferences online or what they ‘Like’ on Facebook, what they share is also a great way to target the intended audience as your print campaign might be tailored to meet their online interests.

Feedback – Effective advertising attracts consumers to your site or business, but ultimately the final approval comes from the consumer. In order to fine tune your campaign you need to receive feedback online. Therefore, setting up an online feedback makes it suitable for customers to share their opinions. Print ads that link this online URL for feedback will help direct your clientele and ensure that they are able to point out the pros and cons of your promotional items.

Creativity: Most newspaper brands realize that a perfect balance of online content and physical information is necessary, but most of them aren’t sure how to achieve the balance. Trial and error and the ability to be creative both on and offline helps them achieve the balance. Experimenting with both of these mediums renders a better understanding of which areas are effective and which ones require more effort.

Cross- Promotion: Balancing the online and offline medium is essential. For example: if you send out a leaflet or a brochure, make sure you mention a link to your social media pages etc. and similarly if you are running a promotion use both the elements of your ad campaign. This way you can attain greater attention to your print items as well as your online resources.

QR Codes – A term that has quickly become viral in the business world, QR (quick response) codes are implemented by a variety of brands for their ad campaigns. These codes allow users to download information instantly to their smart phones. These can be incorporated on business cards, brochures, direct mail, or other print pieces.

The creation of online content has led many newspaper brands to also embrace external content curation.

Even editors are striving to provide value to their readers by recommending articles from other sources to follow, as well as by sharing links posted by their community. On Twitter, newspapers can identify that being seen as an authority in their field is more important than just tweeting their own content.

Retweeting external links that they find relevant to their community and using Twitter lists to suggest additional accounts worth following must be done occasionally. Newspaper publications are using social media to harvest ideas based on feedback from their social media communities to efficiently craft future issues.

By asking questions across social profiles, monitoring comments and measuring response rates, brands can measure their readers’ pulse more accurately than ever. Social media is also being used as a direct source of content. The possibility of being featured by a favorite newspaper publication entices fans to contribute online. Newspaper brands can encourage photo submissions via contests or prompt fans to respond to Facebook polls.

Beyond adding depth to upcoming issues and digital content, these newspaper dailies have opened a regular dialogue and established a lasting relationship with their readers.

Newspapers are invaluable sources of content that builds influential connections and collective knowledge.

Social media is powerful enough to organize revolutions, so why not integrate them in your advertising and marketing campaigns. Social Media platforms are incredibly effective when used properly and one of the most powerful ways to integrate in the campaigns. You can simply link your print campaigns by including links to your social media pages to also provide latest news and information to your customers regarding your company.

In a nutshell, researching on the target audience, presenting a strong brand identity across all platforms, bridging the gap between generations, cultivating testimonials from social media sites, promoting the social media profiles with a call to action, creating print marketing worth sharing and tracking the effectiveness of the media are a few things that would mark the success of your brand.

Lets throw some light upon how a leading newspaper is actively progressing on Social Media through campaigns, engaging content, fruitful strategies etc.

Its Economic Times, India’s Leading Business Newspaper which offers Business News, Financial news, Stock/Share Market News, Economy News, Loans & Banking.

Economic Times

This leading newspaper aims to be the most trusted business & financial news and information provider irrespective of medium (Print, TV, Online, Mobile) & language (English, Hindi, Gujarati) of delivery. The Economic Times is India’s No.1 Print English Business Daily with www.economictimes.com as the No. 1 Business News website in the country.
The Economic Times also has Vernacular Editions, Mobile Site and Portfolio Management Tool.

The Economic Times Facebook page gives its readers a great insight into the latest news, updates and content that consumers/readers relate to and look for.

The Economic Times Twitter operates with the handle of @EconomicTimes and the newspaper ensures that tweets on regular basis appear on the handle and keep its readers and consumers updated.

Economic Times’ YouTube channel basically links to the ET NOW channel.

ET NOW is the 24-hour business news channel in English by Bennett, Coleman and Co. Ltd.; it brings to television the unmatched resources & expertise of The Economic Times, Indias no. 1 business daily and the top business media brand in the country. The strategic alliance with Reuters enables the highest quality of global perspective to news on ET NOW. Breaking stories that matter &with cutting-edge analysis, insider perspectives & skilled advice. Click this to check their YouTube channel.

Economic Times – The Power of Ideas

It aimed to encourage anyone and everyone with a business idea to realize their entrepreneurial dream.

It is a platform where ideas were polished and nurtured with personalized guidance from mentors before being taken forward to investors for funding. This ET initiative was taken in partnership with the Department of Science & Technology, Government of India and IIM-Ahmedabad’s Centre for Innovation Incubation and Entrepreneurship.

And incase they didn’t have any idea they were motivated to try the app. This app motivated and triggered ideas into those with no ideas at that time!

Check out their Facebook page to explore the campaign!

They also came up with contests for this Power of Ideas campaign initiative.

A very creative display of their ad campaign on their website was also linked to social media. Click here to check out their creatives.

ET Against Half Knowledge

Economic Times took a firm stand with its latest campaign, against half knowledge. The initiative positions ET as one that provides incisive and analytical coverage of developments, and therefore, a source of complete knowledge.
The campaign contextualizes ‘Half Knowledge’ situations in people’s daily lives. It has broken out with print and digital media, which will be followed by outdoor, radio and television.

The facebook page is ET Against Half Knowledge that highlights the pitfalls of Half Knowledge, followed by enticing content shared on page. The page has acquired more than 42K fans and shows a good engagement in terms of fan responses.

Undercover Confessions

This tab basically urges the readers and consumers to share their instances or acts of Half Knowledge kind. Readers are supposed to post their confessions anonymously wherein the best post gets featured on the ET Against Half knowledge Page.

Close Encounters

This tab on Facebook asks its users to share anecdotes of Half Knowledge moments, the close encounters one has had with the Half Knowledge. The post with highest ‘Likes’ won prizes everyday.

ET Against Half Knowledge campaign had also come up with a few TVCs to better explain the cause. Check out this television commercial on YouTube.

Doodles

An amazing thing that was a part of the content strategy of this campaign was Doodles. These doodles were brilliantly designed and which normally had content that spoke about myth busters, brand failures due to Half Knowledge etc. Visit Facebook page to have a wonderful tour of these doodles.

A Website has also been designed for the cause which is divided into three categories:

· Curse of Half Knowledge

· Bursting Half Knowledge

· Rise Against Half Knowledge

One can join the movement by taking a pledge against Half Knowledge. People can also take the quiz, share stories and quotes on Half Knowledge exciting prizes everyday. All these user submissions have also been integrated with social media.

The Economic Times Young Leaders

This initiative by The Economic Times is India Inc’s first ever initiative to recognize and acknowledge the leadership potential among young executives. This initiative was taken to foster a culture of managerial excellence across India Inc. by identifying and nurturing promising leadership talent at the youngest levels. The initiative aimed at providing a forum for young managers to test themselves against their peers at a level that is unprecedented.

The Economic Times Young Leaders encouraged:

· Networking with the country’s best young managerial talent;

· Self-discovery of one’s own leadership strengths and limitations on globally-validated and industry-endorsed standards;

· Meeting with some of India’s blue-chip CEOs;

· The ultimate high of featuring in the coveted The Economic Times Young Leaders ranking, thus gaining recognition as one of India’s top talent.

Click the image to check their Facebook page

The content that was shared included success stories of leaders across the world and case studies. The complete initiative of this campaign was to bring out the leadership quality in young entrepreneurs and motivate them to succeed. It was largely appreciated by readers and gained a great engagement level throughout.

Click here to browse through their Website

Surely its a wonderful effort by a newspaper to embrace social media to its full potential and leverage its identity. The Economic Times stands as an example for other newspaper brands to take a step into social media and succeed.

Newspapers need to adapt the latest trends in order to stay ahead of the competition. How do you think can they integrate the online features into a print campaign? Do you think social media can pave way for newspapers to enhance their online presence? Will planning and research help newspapers find a proper balance of print and online techniques to reach the target audiences effectively?

Tags:Newspapers and Social Media, Newspapers Embracing Social Media, Social Media and Newspaper, Social Media Integration into Print, Social Media Marketing for Newspapers
Posted in Blog Content, Blog Visibility, Blogs, Social Media, Traditional Media | No Comments »

Brand Content & Tone: How Social It Gets!

Thursday, May 2nd, 2013

What is spoken about here is the ‘hard to define’ nature of emotional connection of brands. How brand managers can think of ways to strengthen the connection between their brand and the target market. Also a light is thrown upon what some of the reputed brands have done with the emotion of content & tone. Moving further the statistics in this context bring in some awareness to this element too.

Behavioral psychologists have long argued that only 30% of human decisions and behaviors are actually driven by rational considerations. This means that more than 70% of consumer loyalty and spending decisions are based on emotional factors. And it’s these emotional experiences that create connected, passionate, engaged customers.

Therefore, Emotional Connection = Engagement.

Engagement is based on emotional attachment between the customer & brand that develops and endures over time. The more frequently and consistently a brand can connect with a customer on an emotional level, the stronger and deeper the customer becomes engaged with the brand. One of the key factors for forging a meaningful, emotional relationship with customers is the brand‘s ability to integrate into their lifestyles. Brand becomes relevant in the customer’s life when this is achieved. Foundation of the brand-customer relationship becomes one built on loyalty, relevance & dependability.

Every ad generates an emotional response. Emotional responses constructed through a strong content are hard-wired into our brains and essential to our survival. Familiar & pleasurable ads generate more attention and attract us, while painful or threatening ones repel us. Emotional connection is a powerful way to link the heart of your target market with the soul of your brand.

Image Courtesy: http://www.socialmediaexplorer.com/social-media-marketing/finding-your-brand-voice/

We, as activators of our clients’ brands should:

Strategically let them think over two questions:

(a) Which emotion can they own?

(b) How much emotional intensity does their category and brand merit?

Both answers are defined and limited by the target market.

But within those limits, you can tailor almost every business decision you make to maximize the appropriate emotional connection.

We respond emotionally to everything!

Emotion in Advertising is Pervasive, Yet Misunderstood. Advertisers talk about importance of generating an emotional response from people. However, they rarely stop to specify exactly what characterizes such a response or why they believe it is important.

The subject of emotion in advertising tends to bring certain types of commercials to mind! Does any commercial come to your mind?

Lately, you all must have come across popular brands and the ads where emotion in the content was given a great importance.

Coca Cola- Haan Haan Main Crazy Hun

Click here to watch the complete ad

Coca Cola

• The theme of the ad is "Open happiness", which is a very good concept and surely a need of the time.

• It can change the mood of a person and help him/her relax, have a laugh & forget tensions for the moment.

• Ad comes as a beautiful surprise and might even inspire someone to do some crazy but useful act.

• The acts designed are from our day to day life.

• The tone is that of today’s people, they keep talking about dude this is crazy….dude she is crazy, so coca cola took that insight & made the copy.

• The positive associations also work to create a brand that is loved.

Creativity/Freshness:

• Unique in concept.

• Focus on spreading love & happiness.

• Fresh idea to share happiness even with strangers.

Coca Cola always comes out with something unique in its concept; however their campaign always focuses on spreading love and happiness. This advertisement is also creative in its own natural way as every character in this TVC is trying to shower happiness/ kindness through any means. So its kind of something fresh idea to share your happiness even with strangers.

Emotional Connect:

• Acts of kindness by feeding the dog, giving a bottle of coca cola build an emotional connect.

• Emotional connect is high as it shows how one gets peace by helping others or by making them happy.

It is at par in this TVC as one character is feeding stray dogs and other tries to make security guard happy by giving him a bottle of coca cola. Emotional connect is high as it is showing the height of peace you get when you make other person happy.

Brand Association:

Revolve around brand value & keep brand association intact.

Coca Cola beverages always revolve around its so strongly created brand value. It has featured its beverages bottles with highlighting the name Coca cola and thus brand association is kept intact.

Relevance:

• Relevance of this TVC lies in the fact that Coca cola always impart happiness through its campaign.

• This ad also paved on the same path with a new motto of spreading happiness in your own crazy ways.

Relevance of this TVC lies in the fact as Coca cola always try to impart happiness through its campaign, this advertisement is also paving on the same path with a new motto of spreading happiness in your own crazy ways. However, spreading happiness through a bottle of soft drink doesn’t make much sense to me still the picturization was so apt that it forces you to believe it.

Segmentation: This TVC has segmented people of all the categories still youth is the main center of attraction in it as there is nothing wrong if I say that youth are the main consumers of coca cola in India.

Pepsi- Oh! Yes, Abhi

To check what Pepsi is doing on Twitter, click here

Pepsi Facebook Page

Click here for an amazing website view

Pepsi’s new campaign & positioning: ‘Oh yes Abhi’

• Harping on the youth’s impatience & the need to do everything ‘right now’, the campaign reinforced the concept of living in the moment.

• Oh Yes Abhi! Translates into – live for the present as tomorrow is too late.

• Young people, they want things quick. Fast. Now. Hence the copy, Oh yes abhi.

• The campaign is a great combination of impatience of the cola & impatience of youth presented in a grand manner.

• Digital media like facebook, twitter, websites have also been used to promote the campaign.

Do you Recall these positioning of PEPSI?

‘Nothing official about it’ (1996)

‘Yeh dil maange more!’ (2006)

‘Pepsi ye pyaas heh badi’(2000)

‘My Pepsi My Way’(2009)

‘Change the game’ (2011)

‘Oh Yes Abhi’ (2013)

iPhone

"If you don’t have an iPhone, well, you don’t have an iPhone“

• With this tone and content, the commercials then launch into a quick overview of key iPhone features.

• With the voiceover explaining the stuff you’re unable to do unless you’re a proud iPhone owner.

• People who carry apple product perceive themselves as above others.

• Hence the copy, if don’t have an iphone, well you don’t have an iphone.

• It is very important to understand the emotion of the copy. It should tie up with the brand personality audience and emotion.

Kit Kat- Dancing Babies

Click here to view

• Nestle’s new campaign urges people to take a break from their busy & hectic lifestyles & get surprised by some delightful moments in life.

• Their brand message, “Good things happen when you take a break”, the ad demonstrates that taking a few minutes to enjoy a Kit Kat can bring an unexpected & adorable delight to your day.

• Known for its youthful appeal, Kit Kat brought in smiling, giggling, singing & dancing Babies.

• They took babies as watching babies play puts a smile on anyone’s face. Watching them doing something we haven’t seen before is really great.

• Shows how taking a Kit Kat Break helps you notice something good which you might have otherwise missed.

Idea- Honey Bunny

How can we forget this “Honey Bunny”? Click here to view the ad

• Idea Cellular’s advertising has cut a wide arc, going from ‘What an Idea, Sirji!’ to “You’re my pumpkin pumpkin, hello honey bunny”.

• This jingle is on everyone’s lips, having become quite a rage across the country, just as the earlier campaign became a big success.

• Idea’s new ad campaign- ‘Idea Rings All India’ was launched after this teaser jingle.

• “Music is something which is universal, something which blends with every culture. It’s a hummable, likeable song, and that was exactly the thought behind creating the jingle.

• It went viral and was popular across the nation, on all platforms too.

ICICI Bank- Bande Achche Hain

• From concept to brand communication to creative execution, ICICI’s new ad campaign is a hit.

Campaign name: Bande achhe hain (They are good men)!

• Various situations are shown displaying caring nature of a family man, primarily as a husband and a father, who keeps fulfilling his responsibilities towards his family without really making a big deal about it.

• The tone of the TVC is that while men may be a little childish in their carelessness and forgetfulness, they’re a loving, responsible and caring still.

• The catchphrase in the background score is “Par bande achhe hain” (But they are good men).

• The ad ends with the voice-over: “Jo zimmedari nibhaate hain, jataate nahi. Unko suraksha dete hain hum. ICICI Prudential Life Insurance. Zimmedaari ka humsafar”

• In a nutshell,

• The ad is relevant with a feel of family, their care etc. & hence accepted happily.

• A unique representation of an insurance ad.

• The song, the message, concept & the way real life situation and care is depicted is amazing.

Overall: The ad is Best in Class, Good Impressive and Appealing.

7Up – I Feel Up

View ad

• They used rhythm & unexpected choreography to enliven the mood.

• It is an extension of the ‘I feel up’ thought where quirky dance & music combination is shown.

• A Kathakali artist dance.

• Japanese woman in the station performing lavani .

• Highlighted the two most important equity properties as ‘dance’ and the ‘I feel up’ optimism, which the brand stood for.

• It was not much about the dance, but about joy & happiness that drives true ‘uninhibitedness’ through dance.

‘I feel up’ message resonated with one’s mind & communicated that 7Up livens up a break in the middle of a dreary boring day.

Cinthol – Alive is Awesome

• Cinthol in order to reposition itself came up with a fresh campaign.

• The new idea they hit upon with was – “Being Alive is Awesome”!

• Targeted at younger consumers who want to live their life to the fullest.

• Cinthol tried to squeeze itself in the entire scheme of things representing the brand essence of a very active lifestyle.

• They tried to relate to the new generation and successfully related to what the people of today want, think & aspire – to live their life, freely etc.

Just have a look at the Facebook page of Cinthol. Don’t miss the amazing video ad that enticed a lot of viewers who not only enjoyed the ad but could also relate to the tone and content of the brand. They also launched a YouTube app for this campaign.

The After effects of using Emotions in brand content

Real challenge is to focus people’s attention. If an ad is going to evoke a response that will last longer than a few seconds, it must create a memorable feeling. It must create a virtual magnifying glass that highlights something specific in relation to the brand — some fact, idea, or impression — and give it enough emotional charge to become established in memory. The response can be positive or negative, intense or weak. Response may not be intensely positive or intensely negative, it is still “emotional.” Product satisfaction is the biggest driver of emotional response.

Not all brands have the “right” to communicate messages implicitly through emotionally arousing content; that is a privilege that is earned over time. Brands spend decades building a connection. Example: Coke. Newer brands need to focus on establishing their functional credentials even when their ultimate intent is to “ladder up” to an emotional benefit.

We need to also believe that the choices are justified by reason, not just feelings. If all advertising generates an emotional response of some sort, the real question then becomes whether an advertisement will evoke any conscious thought.

What about the use of emotional content, context & tone in Social Media?

Well, this is a very important question because as social media is becoming the most integral element of the marketing strategies then its clearly evident that emotion and content of a brand will lay a great impact on the consumers online. And most importantly the response would be quicker than any other medium and results would be surprising. Therefore, brand managers should integrate this concept in social media too.

Maslow’s Hierarchy of needs explains this concept best.

Expectations

Desires

Unrecognized Needs

Finding the tone of voice in SMM

Authenticity = self awareness x courage

To understand one’s self and have the confidence to be true to your human nature takes courage. Amplify both and you get authenticity.

Now the question is are you ready for a deeper dive into your business?

If yes, then there are a few questions that when answered help brands to dive deeper and understand the brand tone & content they can use in their SMM and to connect to a customer in a deeper emotional level.

The three questions for testing authenticity are:

1. What business are we in?

2. What courageous, rebellious decisions have we recently made that could be perceived as brilliant or foolish?

3. What would it mean to the world if we didn’t exist anymore?

Irrespective of the desired response to advertising, don’t you think the first step is to create a link in consumers’ minds between the memories left by the ad and the brand? Shouldn’t an ad focus attention on the brand and the desired impression at the time of viewing? Customer engagement is all about emotional connections which have proven to be powerful and profitable. Lets see what is in store for brands in future and what reactions it generates.

Tags:Brand content and tone, Brand tone, Emotions of content and tone associated with Brands, Power of Brand Content & Tone in social Media
Posted in Blog Content, Blog Visibility, Blogs, Social Media, Traditional Media | No Comments »

Content Marketing: Brands Need to Gear Up!

Friday, March 15th, 2013

If marketing is a pie, then content marketing is definitely the bigger slice of it. Most of the brand managers, marketers, companies and/or sectors would agree with this statement. Content marketing is indeed the most appealing trend of this year. If done right, it can create wonders to leading to traffic and driving sales. The key to this is to have a plan, a plan to target effectively & grab your target audience’s attention. There is no doubt about the fact that social media & mobile marketing have also showcased content to be supreme. Brands therefore, are now creating original content to engage customers. If B2B sector is taken into consideration, here the brands foster content usage by positioning company as a thought leader to the customers, producing demand.

Consumers also want a lot of information now and at the same time they want to make their own decisions. In that case brands need to provide valuable content to build trust.

Following all the changes and strategic developments happening all year around, this year marks some of the fantastic content marketing trends, when implemented correctly are sure to drive the business and brands to a great level.

Last minute web plugs, ad hoc promo driven microsites and integrating a social media strategy as an addition won’t work anymore! For a healthy and successful way forward, strategically planned content and distribution supported by well done research & inputs is the key.

Traditional publicity and content marketing differences are many. Just have a glimpse:

Source: http://blog.kissmetrics.com/guide-to-content-marketing/

Moving on lets talk about the Social media & content marketing trends

Case studies, evolving as the most important part of content marketing are very essential when it comes to products & services. From “how it works” to “this is what I need”, case studies provide all the information related to a particular products.

E-books fill the space of B2C content marketing wherein all the questions on how to get the most out of a service or product will be a part of the content. A content that creates a comfort zone for buyers is another essential part.

Storytelling is become the most liked trend today. With everyday happenings on the social media platforms and content overflowing from all ends, some of the amazing stories are sure to get an edge. Here businesses can add that personal touch & experience with real examples and share it with people, the content they actually want to read.

Blogging by businesses will take the lead in times to came, infact it is already considered as the foundation of all sorts of content marketing actions. Blog encapsulates all types of content, posts, e-books etc. followed by links to the content in the blog.

Creating enough and original content might turn out to be the biggest challenge for content marketing. Marketers would be pressurized to come up with content based on superior quality & originality.

Social media will stand out as the most popular channel with Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin etc. distributing content that is liked and shared by people. The content can also be stored in the blog and shared with the social media platforms when required.

Content marketing goals would be sales & retention wherein B2B content would spawn leads & sales and B2C brands would move ahead with a goal of retention & generating word of mouth.

Content would be used all over. A single piece of content would be distributed & stretched to almost all the platforms where marketers will try to maximize their value. Revamping the existing content will also lighten the creation of content.

Mobile optimized content is creating buzz. Creating a mobile friendly content with a click to call option is sure to give you an edge over your competitors. From blogs, websites, case studies, e-books, videos and all other content should be made mobile friendly.

Content curation might be used as an alternative as marketers who fall short on time to create their own piece of engaging & original content shift to curation. Curation would include churning out the best content and sharing it across the social media platforms. It will lead to the brand losing its value & visitors to the page, at the same time being known as staying updated. A proper balance of original and curated content would be a good strategy.

Video would be the greatest trend with amazing video content. If you are planning to go viral with your content, then video is the answer. Short videos with easy steps to follow are good enough for engaging people who further share the content. Compelling content is the need of the hour for longer videos to make people sit back and watch. It should be shareable and eye catching. That’s it!

Infographics are a rapidly growing content format which have the visual appeal & information that is easy to understand and share.

Targeted content will get more results. Understanding the interests of potential customers and creating content based on that would foster engagement. Exploring on the buying behaviour of people will help generate targeted content.

E-mail, the most used and effective marketing channel can be leveraged by understanding the marketing goals and designing the communication to influence the buyers or consumers.

Budgets. There won’t be any slash down when it comes to content marketing. There would be increased spending on the same.

Gamified content strategy is on the rise. As the customers are getting influenced by online activities etc., they are expecting gratification to interact & engage with brands online, content that renders entertainment, learning & rewards is appreciated in a big way.

Expanding Social Media and its users generate a challenge for marketers when it comes to designing the content marketing strategies. Social media will continue to stand out as the greatest resource of real-time content distribution which is rising amongst the audiences.

Understanding the content & digital link is important. Content strategies need to be designed keeping in mind the digital strategies. Anybody could get the likes on Facebook, but what makes brands stand out is what they do with those likes. Its about the target audience and engaging them with content that brings them back everytime to the brand page. Facebook likes are not the content. Content is now also linked to SEO.

A breakthrough content backed by a strategically thought idea that the businesses or brands can deliver across platforms is the strongest step towards success.

Have a look at this, the anatomy of Content Marketing.

Image courtesy: contentplus.co.uk

Brand managers and marketers are on a constant run to look out for ways to build consumer engagement, acquire and retain them. In order to win the race of attracting the target audience marketers will have firstly capture their minds with the product, offers etc. and secondly create connecting content.

Lets see what Zomato.com, that offers restaurants listings of restaurants, food reviews etc. did. It also has Android & iOS apps that are easy enough to use. It is also active on Facebook & Twitter garnering amazing likes and fan following.

Zomato engages with its customers regularly on these social media platforms. They constantly urge their customers to praise the food etc. and also stay clear of being praised and promoting itself everytime. Recently, they came up with Food Porn Site to get more visible, where people could look at pictures of scrumptious & luscious food. Zomato also regularly maintains its presence on blogs & sites to escalate their reach and visibility.

COKE

Coca-Cola strongly believes in content marketing and therefore it is their core strategy of Content 2020 advertising strategy mission: "All advertisers need a lot more content so that they can keep the engagement with consumers fresh and relevant, because of the 24/7 connectivity. If you’re going to be successful around the world, you have to have fat and fertile ideas at the core."

Click here to watch.

COLGATE

Colgate provides an online Oral and Dental Health Resource center with videos, interactive guides, and over 400 articles. It’s a great example of a brand seeing itself as a publisher and using its depth of knowledge to provide valuable information to people, which is the key to content marketing success. Even a two person company can pull from their experience and expertise to create blogs, e-newsletters and e-books in an organized and effective way that reaches prospects.

GENERAL ELECTRIC

General Electric used content marketing to tell the story of the 132-year-old brand through different content channels. They used the content tactic Ecomagination, which is a forum for fresh thinking and conversation about clean technology and sustainable infrastructure. According to Katrina Craigwell, Digital Marketing Manager at GE’s belief, “At the end of the day, if the content isn’t good enough for the end user to want to share it with a friend or colleague, we haven’t quite succeeded.”

So, it is evident how brands are constantly updating & innovating their content, offerings and approach to connect with their customers. Also the way social media platforms are used, it beautifies the brands’ marketing. Content is surely the king as it is encouragingly served & shared to a large audience in multiple ways.

Recently, there was a brand owner’s summit where it was showcased how "Brand marketing has given way to content marketing". Check this link to read through!

A proper plan, relationship building, long term thinking and consistency helps a brand go long way with its content marketing.

What clicks through is the relationship that a brand builds with its influencers and consumers etc. They help drive in traffic by posting and sharing the content from website to various other networks.

Content is the heart of social media. It is the life savior of branding campaigns. Don’t you agree? Yes, it is. It is a lot more than an SEO, a tweet, blog or Facebook post etc. Need to create an original content is very essential. A content that moves away from brand messages to the one that’s relevant & approachable for consumers.

For a content that is not only significant but exceptional, one should aim to create, curate, plan & collect the same.

In 2012, there was a great rise in the use of images in content marketing with social media platforms like Pinterest & Instagram followed by Facebook, Linkedin & Twitter which focused on imagery. With the beginning of 2013, content marketing has evolved yet in another great way.

Brands and organizations need to plan a framework for their content marketing. They have already started looking out for media platforms to purchase & bloggers to manage the same. In almost every industry there is a great prospect for a appropriately planned content strategy.

Times ahead are now going mobile.

Mobile web browsing is also expected to outdo the web browsing through desktops and laptops. Content marketers will therefore have to create content suited to the mobile lifestyle.

The website should be designed in a way that is compatible with the smartphone. And with smartphone users and consumers increasing every fraction of a second they always expect the content to be readable on their mobile devices which they carry almost everywhere they go.

These trends are a witness to a movement that was prevalent for years and now trying to reach a larger mass. Brand managers and marketers have also come to a conclusion that social media channels are not that effective without an appealing content to engage. How would you analyse the role of content in the World where the complete consumer behaviour has changed? Don’t you think content is the most eminent marketing strategy? Do you think 2013 will be the year of content marketing with innovations & intelligence? It is expected that the applications would be developed to improve the efficiency of content creation. Would it help publishers to polish the performance of their content on web or social media? How would it improve the ROI?

Tags:B2B sector, Content Marketing, Content Marketing in 2013, Content marketing Trends, Content strategy, Infographics, Mobile, Social Media
Posted in Blog Content, Blog Visibility, Blogs, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Target Audience, Traditional Media | 1 Comment »

Media lessons in times of terror

Saturday, November 29th, 2008

Manoj ‘Night’ Shyamlan when asked how does he heightens the frightful experience in his films, replied that it was about evoking the basic human emotion – fear of unknown. It’s this fear of unknown which creates panic in terror situations like the one witnessed in Mumbai. And knowledge (information in this case) is the antidote to it. It is important that while on one hand we have National Security Guards planning a detailed and thorough rescue operation, the communications wing (don’t know if anything like this exists currently) of the government provides correct and timely information to common man.

While watching the brutal and cowardly acts of the terrorists on TV and Internet, I strongly felt that social media could have been put to better use by the official agencies. It is as much important to give out news to people as it is to evict those terrorists especially when people from all over the world have been held hostage. Mind you, by giving out news, I am not even for a second hinting at giving out NSG’s operational details!!

Social media has been blamed for spreading rumours and incorrect information. Also for sensationalizing event coverage. That’s rather unfair. Firstly there are couple of things that everyone must appreciate as a given of changing times.

Firstly, social media is here to stay. Condemning it is not the solution. Using it to your advantage is. Secondly, Internet is as important a medium as others for capturing information. The younger audience especially in Mumbai attacks was glued on to the Internet as much as their TV sets.

So what are some of the things that we could have done differently for news dissemination in times of terror?

1. Appoint a Media Manager:

The person appointed as Media Manager will be sole spokesperson for the entire crisis. For the traditional and social media he should be the one point contact for all information, queries, clarifications, requests etc. This will reduce the chaos considerably as all reporters will not run around interviewing every officer on site.

Create a separate enclosure for TV crews and if possible a section for the media manager to address the press. This will ensure that the TV cameramen don’t have to lift their tripods every time there is an update to be given. This would of course be dependent on the area and kind of terror attack. While viewing telecast of events yesterday I saw the chaos that happened when DG of NSG wanted to give a statement. All the press crew ran towards him and there was so much commotion that his address to the nation got cancelled.

2. Use social media:

I don’t want to devote too much space in this blog post on how much of social media has been used. Reports indicate that there were 80 tweets happening every five seconds on this topic in the last 3 days!! Bloggers played a key role in providing missing links to information got from TV.

The Media manager in this case would have his team who will use social mediums effectively to give out information.

Official Blog:

The official government blog could have had continuous updates on the developments on each of the 3 terrorists sites where commando operations were on.

Being an official blog, even the traditional media will check on it before voicing unconfirmed reports thereby reducing rumours.

There would be sanctity to number of casualties being quoted. Because there was no official source, bloggers updated information that they presumed was correct which in its own way added to more panic.

Several international media agencies will take information from there. By subscribing to blog feeds, whenever that blog is updated, the subscribers get an automatic update informing them on the same.

Photo and Video Sharing Sites:

The blog analogy applies over here too. Distinctly there was a need for footage to be screened out to people. During the entire coverage, each news channel claimed some sort of exclusivity of sorts. That really baffled me coz all of them were lined up together outside all the 3 terror locations. Guess it’s an attempt to gain those extra TRPs. By uploading video snippets and pictures on the official site and community, you satiate that need of the people to see what is happening. The journalist at the site can do quality reporting if the pressure on that person is reduced to show exclusive shots only.

Microblogging:

Or rather plainly put tweets as it’s become insanely famous in the last 3 days. Twitter is just one of the companies providing it. There The official tweets could have been good announcement boards to keep people abreast with the developments. For example, when the rumour of CST firing started again spread, instead of banning cable everywhere these official social media tools could have helped in informing people and press that it is a false story.

Social Networking Sites:

Along with blog, the communities created on the social networking sites could be used to give out valuable information like hospitals which require blood donation, emergency helpline numbers, donation drives, information about important institutions being closed for that period etc

Some might say that there is no time to set up all these platforms. I don’t agree. For one you just have to register only once in all these platforms. And second people who are using these will agree with me that updating information is not a more time consuming process than filming, editing and screening it on channels is!!

Also this is not about social media against traditional media. The role that the reporters performed in coverage of the terror incident is exemplary. They stood there day and night without fearing for their lives and in a lot of ways built pressure on the government for quick act. My post is more about leveraging social media along with traditional media to gain maximum advantage.

Giving out information on social media will create some sort of order and hopefully stop rumours as official version will be available for people to read. Of course one is assuming that the updates will be timely and accurate from the government side. I am sure we all agree that the family members of the hostages are way too worried to be psyched out further with misleading information.

Tags:government blog, media agencies, News Channels, Social Media, terrorism
Posted in Blogs, Social Media, Traditional Media | 12 Comments »

There is no Audience in Social Media Marketing

Monday, November 17th, 2008

This blog post has stemmed from the interesting discussion that my earlier post generated ‘Is advertising on Facebook called Social Media Marketing?” Mostly all agreed that while advertising on Facebook helped the marketer focus to the right target audience, it was still advertising.

Social Media Marketing on the other hand implicitly calls for user participation and building dialogue. Both of which remain absent with Facebook advertising form of communication. To me if there is one thing that segregates social media from others is the use of word ‘Audience’.

There is no audience in Social Media Marketing. Period.

Audience is to whom you announce any activity

Audience is to whom you talk to

Audience is to whom you have a monologue with

Audience is to whom you deliver your message to

Audience is to whom you drive your point across

It is not about semantics. It is about psychology of a marketer. Most traditional media have allowed marketer to control the message that is going out on his brand. The brand manager decides on the communication creative, the medium it will be transmitted it and in a lot of many ways anticipate how it’s audience will react to it.

In social media, he or she will only be able to manage their communication. They will have to evolve it with the consumers of that group. There will be two way communication right from the beginning allowing a sense of co-creation which will ultimately lead to higher sales and profits. There will be no messages to deliver or announce but points to discuss with users.

Social Media Marketing in a lot of ways will redefine some of the conventional marketing wisdom. The consumer insighting process will play a far more critical role in developing brand communication. Just as you need content in your blog, to generate hits to it, there will be lot of substance required to hold conversation with people and attract them towards the brand.

Tags:audience, Facebook, listening, monologue, Social Media, Traditional Media, Windchimes Comm
Posted in Social Media, Target Audience, Traditional Media | 6 Comments »

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