October 20, 2020
With more people working remotely and more consumers relying on digital platforms, it’s only natural for employers and marketers to seriously consider putting on webinars. Cloud-based programs can help employers with newly hired remote staff when it comes to onboarding, but interactive webinars can bridge the gap in training and educating remote staff.
October 14, 2020
To say that the full-sized pickup market is both flooded and fiercely competitive would be an understatement. Some automakers have even split their truck lines off from the rest of their models, promoting them independently to customers exclusively shopping for full-size pickups.
October 13, 2020
The fast-food market is tough, crowded, and very highly competitive. As younger adults trended more toward fast-casual dining or restaurants touting “healthier” menu options for the past decade, that tight market has gotten even tighter. That leaves even fast food titans looking for creative ways to get people thinking about their brand. And now Burger King is working a strategy some market watcher is calling “genius.”
It’s a simple, brash strategy raising eyebrows and earning good media traction for the fast-food chain. That strategy? When someone posts a negative review on chief rival McDonald’s social media pages, someone running the Burger King apps jumps on, defends the negative comment, and offers the complaining customer a coupon for a free Whopper sandwich.
The idea originated in Denmark, courtesy of ad agency Uncle Grey, but it’s grabbing headlines worldwide. One example that’s hit a lot of different news pages is this exchange:
Customer: “(Hey McDonald’s), why do you call it a Big Mac when it’s not?”
Burger King: “Nobody wants a Small Mac.” (Here’s a voucher for a free Whopper)
Or this one…
Customer: “We only got one bun in our Big Mac!”
Burger King: “Big Mac convertible? How innovative!” (Here’s a voucher for a free Whopper)
Anticipating that many customers would expect this to be some kind of a scam, Burger King posted on their own social media pages: “McDonald’s, it’s not spam. We’re just trying to help…”
The tongue-firmly-in-cheek nature of the campaign is turning heads, and it appears to be right on point for social media using fast-food consumers, but there’s a deeper reason for the campaign. Burger King admits they needed to step up their own social media game, telling advertising watchdog Chicago Business the following, courtesy of Daniel Schroeder, marketing director for Burger King Sweden and Denmark:
“Customer service is a big part of the entire guest experience, and we haven’t been doing a good enough job in taking care of our guests online… When addressing this, we realized there are even more burger fans out there that deserve a reply. We did what we can to help out, hoping some flame-grilled Whopper love can make things better again…”
Once again, on message and point, a reply that is self-aware and pushing the program. Well done, Mr. Schroeder and Burger King.
When a brand recognizes shortcomings in its communication program, they have a few options. They can ignore the issue and hope it goes away on its own (it won’t), they can try some tried-and-true traditional methods that might be slower but will work, or they can get honest, get bold, and have fun. Increasingly, especially on social media, this last option is seeing strong results and getting excellent traction.
October 6, 2020
There are plenty of things that a business can do before a PR crisis occurs, to prepare and avoid situations like that. Thinking ahead and creating scenarios are just two of several ways in which businesses prepare in terms of crisis management and creating strategies that can combat a variety of situations.
October 1, 2020
The customer buying journey is constantly transformed with the way that brands and corporations choose to engage with the target audience and their devices, as well as how marketers think about marketing technology investments. These days, the top industry leaders are the people who are responsible for selecting and evaluating the newest technologies, and marketing technologies have become a core capability for many marketing teams.
September 29, 2020
Businesses are constantly trying to keep up with the brand new trends that are becoming popular with each passing day, and mobile marketing trends evolve at very high speeds. Most expert mobile marketers view mobile marketing as one of the most effective ways to reach customers on their purchasing journey.
They do this by identifying all of the people, technologies, and processes that they need and then build a clear mobile strategy that’s going to cater to them. However, having a successful mobile marketing strategy doesn’t simply mean that marketers have a good understanding of what the consumers’ mobile preferences are.
September 23, 2020
For generations, the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade has been a lynchpin and the unofficial beginning of the holiday season for millions upon millions of American families.
Over the years, there have been changes, things have been added, and others have been lost, but the two main attractions – huge balloons and magnificent floats decorated with seasonal themes – have remained.
Since most places, including New York City, went into COVID-19 lockdown, many wondered what would happen to the signature event that opens the holiday season for so many by culminating in a visit from Santa Claus. As it turns out, the show will go on, but it will look a lot different this year.
September 14, 2020
Josh Gordon may be out of chances, but the Seattle Seahawks are going to give the “embattled” wide receiver one more shot if he’s cleared to play this season by the NFL. The ‘Hawks recently signed Gordon to a one-year deal, even as he’s waiting to see if the league will allow him to play. It’s an interesting move, given that Seattle is in the process of trimming its final roster to the 53-player league maximum. That seems to indicate they believe the NFL will let Gordon play… or at least they think his talent level is worth the risk.
September 10, 2020
Ever since Netflix started producing original content, the streaming service began to transform the small screen marketplace. With massive hits like Stranger Things, Orange Is The New Black, Narcos, Daredevil, and Ozark, the streaming service changed the way people watched – and talked about – television, while transforming the kind of programming people could see on TV. Sure, there have been some “misses” over the years, but for the most part, Netflix has gotten significant to acceptable ROI from its original programming.
September 4, 2020
For years now, ESPN’s stable media channels have obeyed a hard and fast rule: “Stick to sports.” That rule was in play a few years ago when the network denounced an employee, Jemele Hill, for tweeting negative comments about the U.S. President. Recently, though, some people, both viewers and professional media critics, have noticed a shift, at least in the application of that policy.