Nike Runs In A Different Messaging Direction – What Other Brands Can Learn

Sometimes even the most well known brands change their messaging. This is usually done during a re-branding process, implementing a makeover to redefine key messages to consumers, but sometimes a brand makes changes when they are missing a portion of their target market.

Every week, I go to my parents’ house to watch American Idol. One night a few weeks ago they were tuned in with my sister, and being the outcast of the family who doesn’t watch Idol, I sat on my laptop in the kitchen playing music through my headphones in an attempt to drown out the nauseating voices of the judges (it’s appalling to me that a certain female judge can be considered a reputable gauge of musical talent). Commercial breaks were used for their own judging sessions, while playing on their phones or in my mom’s case, reading a book. During one break, a catchy tune from the TV prompted a lengthy, uncommon silence from the peanut gallery.

The spot was a Nike ad unlike any I had seen before.

Instead of an intense pump up song, the tune sounded like it was straight out of an Apple ad. The short musical strays from Nike’s typical messaging, telling a non-sports related story that evokes love and humor, certainly not the emotions we are used to feeling from a Nike TV spot. The “RUN STRONGER” slogan is new. Even the action of closing the curtain is scandalous for a Nike ad, as its implications could ruffle some conservative feathers. Despite these differences, the ad has been well received. It’s received over 1.6 million views on YouTube in 4 weeks, and can also be found on the bottom of On-Demand for certain cable users.

For the most part, Nike devotes different campaigns and budgets to their various product lines, which they seem to have for every sport imaginable. Most of the TV spots for these various product lines are consistently creative and inspiring – yet all monotonous. Someone must have realized that the serious tonality in each of these campaigns was missing the target audience for Nike Running. The new, lighter campaign is an example of how a brand can stray from the norm and alter their messaging depending on what product line they are selling. A brand like Nike has the ability to do this because of their extensive product differentiation. A smaller brand that offers only a few products would likely encounter great difficulty if they tried sending various messages without confusing the consumer.

When we perform thorough brand evaluations with our clients, we recognize it’s important to pore through the brand’s equities, their target consumer, the environment in which they operate, and their vision for the future. Not every company can come close to the breadth of a Nike, but they can take a strategic look at their own messaging, and decide if a new angle is needed.

Roman Catholic Religion in Luxembourg

In Luxembourg, people often have large families. It is normal for them to raise in a city and to remain there for the rest of their lives. Therefore ties and obligations to other members of their families are very close. Parents play an important role in their children’s lives, often choosing the career and education their heirs will follow. Thus, one can say that there is a form of social hierarchy, which is quite obvious. Most of those living in Luxembourg are of Roman Catholic religion and most Catholic holidays are national holidays.

Luxembourg residents tend not to expose their lives in public. They are close to friends and family, but not to strangers. Very rarely you can see someone displaying emotions or other sides of behavior outside the house. They don’t usually ask personal questions because they respect others privacy. The line between business and personal life is extremely obvious. People are friends at work, but the business relations are separated from the social sphere.

As for the greetings, Luxembourgers tend to be formal and conservative, until the moment they develop a strong personal connection between them and their interlocutors. The common gesture of greeting is represented by a quick handshake. In the moment people start to know each other better, they start to kiss on the cheek (which only happens between women or between women and men but never between men). You must address people by their last name adding “Monsieur” for Mr. and “Madame” for the ladies.

If you’re invited to someone’s home in Luxembourg, it’s a nice gesture to bring some chocolates and flowers as a gift. Even if you’re invited only to tea, it’s still a good idea to bring a present. The flowers must be given by the husband, but avoid the number 13 and the chrysanthemums.

Facebook And Google + Up The Engagement Factor For Marketers

In the latest, and certainly not the last round of updates in the ever-growing battle for social supremacy among brand managers, both Facebook and Google+ announced updates – each designed to help brands and brand marketers to engage more with their fans and customers.

Facebook, the big dog on the social media block of course with its over 800 million member base and counting, announced the creation of what is essentially a direct message feature, to borrow a Twitter term. The new feature will allow consumers to send a private message to brand via the brand’s Facebook page. Heretofore this was not an option as if a consumer wanted to send their favorite a brand message via Facebook it would have to be posted for all the world to see.

The folks at The Next Web referred to this latest update as “a significant introduction that will allow businesses to interact more closely with customers on the service than ever before.” And they are right for this will indeed provide brands and businesses to engage on a much more personal level than previously able and having the ability to engage at an even greater detail is surely significant. In their article The Next Web also played up the fact that in their opinion, B2C brand marketers having even a greater interest in this new update…

“Consumer facing businesses will find the feature particularly useful as it enables more personal communication with individual customers, opening the possible of a greater level of customer service on Facebook.”

Now, when I read this last line I said to myself, ‘here we go again’ as in here’s another example of another person, in this case the writer of the article, failing to realize the obvious fact which is we are ALL consumers. This change to Facebook affects both B2C and B2B marketers alike. When the writer says Consumer facing businesses will find the feature particularly useful as it enables more personal communication with individual customers…” does he not realize that Even Though It’s Called B2B, There’s Still A “C” On The Other End?

That’s the title of a post written back in May and it’s still painfully clear that people simply lose sight of the fact that there are is a person on the other end of that line, a human being who wants to engage in a personal communication just like any other human being.

Sorry, didn’t mean to go off on a tangent there, let’s get back to the new Facebook feature.

While it’s great that brands can now engage in a personal, private conversation there are some caveats that brand marketers need to be aware of…

All private messages must be initiated by the consumer and eve though once a private conversation is initiated it is open to both parties, it’s not recommended to use the private message feature as another avenue to promote and sell.

One very real and negative effect of the new private messages is that the messages will in fact be private which could mean less organic growth for a brand. As The Next Web puts it “Facebook socializes each fan’s interactions with a page — sharing likes, shares, comments, and other interactions fans make there, with their friends — which can help raise a page’s visibility. So, more private messages may lead to less public comments, which could curtail this growth somewhat.”

As for Google+…
Google+, rights for Google+… Or as Mark Zuckerberg referred to it “Google’s little version of Facebook” they too released some updates one of which directly impacted brands and their business pages on Google+…

Here’s how they announced the changes on their official blog:

Improvements to Google+ Pages
Google+ Pages have already provided brands and businesses a new means of connecting to and deeply engaging with consumers. In the weeks since launching pages, we’ve been listening to your feedback and we’re pleased to make some of the most oft-requested features available.

You can now delegate up to 50 named managers as administrators for a page.
A new notification flow will ensure that these managers stay in the loop on all the activity that takes place on a page, giving managers the ability to stay involved in page conversations.
We’ll now show an aggregated count of users that have engaged with your page, either by +1’ing it or by adding it to a circle. This way, both you and your page’s visitors can get an at-a-glance summary of who is interacting with your page.

It was quite surprising when Google+ Pages was first released there was only one admin allowed per page. That simply made no sense and the criticism and outcry was as expected. But now they’ve made the requisite change along with several others, Google+ is demonstrating that they are in fact listening to the people – the brand marketers and so on who manage a given brand’s Google+ Page.

Not sure why anyone would need 50 managers for a Page but be that is it may the new notification system will allow for all of them to stay up to date in real time just as they can in Facebook and Twitter on their particular brand Page and what they’re fans and customers are talking about.

So what do you think of all the changes and new features to Facebook and Google+?

How do you see the use of private messages helping you engage with your fans?

And for Google+ it is essentially the same question… How do the new changes to Google+ Pages help you interact with your fans?

And as for the B2C and B2B discussion… what type are you?

If you’re a B2B brand marketer do you use Facebook and Google+ and if so, how?

And if not, why?

The Big Opportunity CMOs May Miss Out On

When ICANN, (Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) the organization that oversees the web name space, announced plans to offer new generic top-level domains (gTLDs), which will allow a company to own what are being called .brand domains, it opened the door for tremendous opportunity for marketers and advertisers alike. For the moment however not many CMOs are all that excited.

CMOs Need To Look At New Domains As An Opportunity, Not A Trademark Protection Nuisance

Marketers debate usefulness of ICANN’s new domain names

Those were headlines from two recent articles I came across regarding the apparent apprehension on the part of CMOs and marketers in general. Accordng to Forrester Research principal analyst Jeff Ernst not many CMOs are buying into what Peter Dengate Thrush, chairman of the ICANN board said in regards to the new domain names. “Today’s decision will usher in a new Internet age. We have provided a platform for the next generation of creativity and inspiration.”

Enrst, in an article for Forbes on this topic, wrote “Many of the CMOs I’ve talked to over the past year either weren’t aware that this was coming or didn’t recognize what a company could do with a “.brand” TLD that they couldn’t already do with a .com.” And on his own Forrester blog he wrote “Many marketing leaders I’ve talked with look at this as a nuisance and are skeptical about whether Internet users will embrace [the new domain names].”

Now truth be told, there will be an application fee of $185,000 for any company wanting to register one of these new .brand domains but why wouldn’t a company like say Home Depot not want to pay the $185K for the rights to .homedepot? I agree completely with Ernst when he says “A .brand TLD gives marketers much greater control of their online identities. You can now promote your brand at the root of the Internet with shorter, less technical URLs. You can combine all your Web properties, including product sites, campaign microsites, and country-specific Web sites, under a single brand umbrella.”

Is it me or is this a no-brainer for brands/advertisers/marketers?

Yes, there is the $185,000 fee plus the cost to maintain the infrastructure but there is also the issue of fraud. As Jim Nichols recently pointed out in a column on Forbes.com, “The risk of an unscrupulous person trying to hijack your company’s identity will have a tougher time when official pages end with a .brand extension.”

So, what do you think of all this?

Is it much ado about nothing?

Should brands/advertisers/marketers not even worry about all this?

Or do you agree and think there is tremendous value in owning your own TLD?

The Best Honeymoon Destinations on a Budget

Weddings can cost in the tens of thousands of dollars, and the average honeymoon can cost around a few thousand depending on where the couple decides to vacation. There are so many options for newlyweds when it comes to choosing a honeymoon location, but for those who are trying to honeymoon on a budget, finding the perfect destination can seem impossible. With some creativity and flexibility on timing of the honeymoon, newlyweds can save thousands of dollars and still have a fantastic honeymoon.

Spring Honeymoons

Steer clear of the Caribbean when the prices are at peak in the springtime. Instead, you may want to choose to take a tour of the cherry blossoms blooming in Washington, D.C., and visit the surrounding area. There are many charming boutique hotels and bed and breakfasts to stay in that are perfect for a romantic honeymoon in the Washington and Virginia area. Checkout the Inn at Dupont Circle for a couple nights stay. Visit their website for rotating specials.

The Dupont Collection
Bed and Breakfast Inn
1312 19th Street, NW
Washington, D.C 20036

Summer Honeymoons

Choose a tour of the Sonoma wine country to have both a romantic and affordable honeymoon in the summertime. In addition to the great weather in the Sonoma valley, you can find some great deals on winery tours and other activities popular in the area, like horseback riding or hiking. If you choose to tour Sonoma during the week, you can usually get a better bargain on your hotel stay. The Healdsburg Dry Creek Inn is only minutes away from more than 50 leading wineries and offers great deals on weekday reservations.

Best Western Dry Creek Inn
198 Dry Creek Road
Healdsburg, California 95448
Reservations: (800) 222-5784

Winter and Fall Honeymoons

Search for deals on a Florida honeymoon during the fall and winter months. With a few months’ notice, you can negotiate a better rate for your stay. Peak rates don’t start until mid-December, so try thinking about a budget honeymoon at the chic Cheeca Lodge in Islamorada. They frequently have promotions and specials for honeymooners during off-peak times. They even offer wedding packages if you want to get married on the beach.

Cheeca Lodge & Spa, Islamorada, Florida Keys
81801 Overseas Highway, Mile Marker 82
Islamorada, FL 33036
Reservations: (800) 327-2888