And who would blame them? Not only are the BRICs growing at an alarming rate, they are rumored to be plotting an overthrow of the dollar as the predominant international currency.

Brands that target HNW (High Net Worth) and Ultra High Net Worth (UHNW) consumers see the rate of growth in these emerging economies, particularly the growing rate of billionaires, and consider investing portions of their marketing budgets in BRIC, which is all well and good. No brand can ignore the future.

That being said, it is more important not to ignore the present. The U.S. and Europe, no matter how much we have struggled or are struggling, are still the leading producers of billionaires on the planet. Of the top 10 cities with the highest numbers of billionaires, London and Western Europe hold 7 of those spots, with London and New York leading the charge.

Source: Forbes.com

So while High Net Worth and Ultra High Net Worth marketing budgets should probably have BRIC countries within their realm of consideration, marketers should not be shifting large amounts of marketing dollars away from the U.S. and Europe (depending on the brand, of course). Moreover, those who are ready to jump into emerging markets should do it carefully. It is important to respect the cultures you sell to without abandoning your brand promise. And that is not always such an easy task.

Has your brand broken into emerging markets yet? Which countries have you had the most success with?

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That’s why all businesses — even ad agencies — need to advertise. One of the first agencies who did it right was Erwin, Wasey & Company. The ad agencies of today could take a lesson from this brilliantly written ad aimed directly at the cigar industry.

You can read about what ultimately happened to Erwin, Wasey here.

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Well what if you represent a brand that wants to advertise with Spotify? How easy is it to get in touch with a sales rep? Or get an estimate?

While looking into options for mobile radio advertising for a client, I decided to reach out to two major companies: Pandora and Spotify. Pandora was quick and easy. Found an email address in no time, and received a response from my sales rep later that day.

When I went to the Spotify website, I was instantly directed to a generic form, asking for my name, number, organization, etc. – and diligently filled it out. Not a big deal, I get it. Like all smart marketers, they want to capture my information for their database. But that’s where the smart moves ended.

One day passed, two days passed, and on the third day I decided it was time to just shoot them a call… I have deadlines to meet. The first time I called I was put on hold for about 6-7 minutes and then sent directly to a voicemail greeting stating that they were so busy that I had to leave a message and wait for a call back at a reasonable time. But in the meantime, they said, go ahead and fill out a form on our website. So I did that. Again.

I didn’t wait three days to call back this time. I called back the next day and was finally able to speak to a living, breathing person (we all know how exciting that can be). But the response I got was not the one I was anticipating. I was put on hold (which, to give them credit, they thoughtfully apologized for) and was told that someone would contact me in 30 days about advertising. Click. Well thank you!

I don’t know about you, but 30 days is a tad too long for me to wait for some numbers, especially when my media plan is due in two weeks. Right now, Spotify is a case study in poor sales cycle management. But if they take a step back and look at the big picture, particularly their “one month to do business” policy, they might be able to turn things around. Unfortunately, it’s not likely they’ll turn it around in time to wind up in my client’s media plan.

You can have the best marketing plan and ad campaign in the world — strong SEO, creative TV spots, great lead generation. But if you don’t have a sound way to follow up on and nurture your leads, you’re losing business every day. Let’s hope Spotify can learn to get their sales cycle as smooth as their listening experience.

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FUN FACT: The story of a little fish swallowed by a big fish, which was swallowed by a bigger fish, and then ultimately spit back out again, Continental was originally in the business of air mail service as Varney Air Lines. Varney was then bought buy Boeing, which merged with Pratt & Whitney in 1929, forming the United Aircraft and Transport Corporation. Five years later, the Air Mail Act was passed, and UATC was separated into three companies: Boeing, United Aircraft (which eventually became United Technologies), and United Air Lines. (Source: Wikipedia)

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“Video Room” in the Federal Advertising Agency, circa 1947
Photo from Library of Congress

History of Advertising 1940s

We often discuss current issues on this blog, but it’s important to remember our roots. Sometimes when you look back at history, it can inspire ideas for the future. At the very least, you’ll learn something. This week, we’ll cover the 1940s.

As World War II came strolling along, FM radio was shelved, bringing manufacturing to a halt and radio activity ultimately stopped. And though radio survived after a rough few years during the war, the victory of this story goes to the television. By the mid-40s, TV was still an extremely minor factor in the advertising world, but as the years went on advertisers and businessmen alike began to see the potential in this amazing tool.

Radio Corporation of America, better known as RCA, invested $10 million in TV and had yet to see any return on their investment. When we entered WWII, TV played host to eight stations, which broadcast to around 10,000 television sets on the East Cost. But by the end of WWII, most of those eight channels were outdated. The FCC ruled that black and white TV could proceed on a commercial basis, but color TV had to go through more scrutinizing research.  A VP from Campbell-Ewald urged agencies to get prepared for video as a new ad medium.

In 1944, NBC and Gillette staged the first TV sports program, Calvcade of Sports, which had evolved from radio. It was estimated that 150,000 viewers were watching that night. Below is a later version of the opening theme, but you can see how much time was devoted to sponsorship:

By October 1945, the US government lifted the ban on creation of TV stations and TV sets. Applications for station licenses were through the roof within the next 4 years. By the time the Allies claimed victory in the war, there were only 7,000 working TV sets and 9 stations running successfully — in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, and Philadelphia.

RCA held its first live demonstration of the new TV camera in the same month, showing a sharper imagery than what most viewers were used to.

Near the end of 1945, CBS began the Television Audience Research Institute. Advertisers were able to go and make use of the TV personnel and studios. They could create new techniques of commercial videos, and they would test those techniques to see how effective they would be during actual broadcasting.

Sponsorships were really picking up steam by the end of the 1940s. Getting financial support for an organization brought the advertisers out from the rocks they had been hiding under and into the TV advertising playing field. The New York Ad Club and the Advertising Federation of America created the Advertising Hall of Fame.

TV paved the way for some of the best advertisers of the time. If they only knew what that small 8-12 channel TV set was to become, they would have never put a ban on something so crucial to the development and advancement of both the industry and the economy.

Stay tuned for what will go down in the 1950s.

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Intentional spelling errors in advertising?  Snickers has done just that. The packed-with-peanuts candy brand has gained some press recently by running a paid search campaign that intentionally targeted only spelling errors and misspelled words.

The campaign in question focused on common misspellings of the top 500 search terms on Google and presented searchers with ads directing them to http://yourenotyouwhenyourehungry.com/. This produced over 25,000 keywords and generated in excess of 500,000 clicks. A clever idea and, by all accounts, it has succeeded in generating some solid buzz for Snickers.

Bidding on keyword misspellings is actually a fairly common practice in paid search marketing, though. When executed properly, it can help advertisers grab premium traffic for a reduced cost. (Think: “skiing in Vermont” vs. “skying in Vermont”.) The one thing you need to be mindful of when using intentional spelling errors in advertising is to make sure that you avoid dynamic keyword insertion in the ads. (Dynamic keyword insertion will automatically insert your keyword into the copy of the ad.) Here is a recent example from a major online retailer that is targeting keyword misspellings (“extention cord”), but also using keyword insertion:

While this is a relatively minor example, it helps to illustrate the point that this strategy could undermine a brand’s credibility if it is not rolled out properly. The moral of the story: pay attention to the details when it comes to your search marketing.

Check out some very unintentional spelling and grammar errors in billboards.

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Retargeting, those ads that follow you around once you’ve visited a website (think Zappos), is now an essential part of online advertising. And if you need to market an amusement park, museum, aquarium, or other type of tourist attraction, it is really a no-brainer.

Retargeting gives you the opportunity to keep your brand in front of “window shoppers” and brings them back to your website when they are ready to take action. For some industries, being followed around online might seem creepy. But when it comes to tourist attraction marketing, this approach makes complete sense for three main reasons:

1. People want to go to tourist attractions. Planning a vacation or a day trip is fun and exciting. If prospective visitors come to your website, they are likely to be a highly engaged audience. Retargeting is an opportunity to remind them of how much fun they can have when they come for a visit.
2. Those who are visiting an attraction’s website are likely considering it within their competitive set of things to do in the upcoming days or weeks. Retargeting allows you to be front-of-mind, while your competitors simmer on the back burner.
3. Retargeting isn’t just about awareness. It’s also about conversion. If you add a discount to the mix, perhaps for purchasing tickets in advance, you can use retargeting to directly affect your bottom line.

Statistics show that 95% of users leave a site without making a transaction; those who are retargeted are 70% more likely to complete a purchase. In fact, retargeting outperforms traditional media buying by up to 10 times. While the cost of retargeting may only be 2-3 times the cost of traditional behavioral inventory, the cost is well worth it. (Source: AdGorithms)

Hotels and destinations across the globe are already using this approach heavily, with much success. It’s only a matter of time before the Tourist Attraction industry catches on as well. Which is why your attraction should get in on the action (and do it well) before your competitors even make it to the table.

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After over a year of ad-campaign-personality-disorder and recent turmoil in upper management, it looks like JCPenney is ready to take a step back in order to correct itself. And, it just might work.

First off, they have identified and acknowledged their biggest problem: they have made changes that they shouldn’t have, because they weren’t listening to their customers. Next, they express regret for their mistake. Finally, a plan of action is discussed to make sure the problem is not repeated. All in all, they’ve got the ingredients of a real, sincere apology. They’ve got customers (and possibly stakeholders) on the hook, but what happens next is what’s truly important.

JCP has done a great job of engaging and responding to people on their Facebook page and their #JCPListens hashtag also has some healthy use and interaction. But is it too little, too late? I sincerely hope not.

If JCPenney can turn themselves around, it would be a case study in the power of marketing. But unfortunately, there is a history of this company serially committing knee jerk ad campaigns with no follow-through. If that continues after such a bold move, so long JCPenney. If they back up this campaign with well-planned, serious action, it will make a wonderful comeback story.

Either way, this is JCPenney’s last chance.

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LUXURY CAR MARKETING FACT:  From 1999 to 2008, Jaguar was part of Ford Motor Company’s ill-fated Premier Automotive Group.  Despite being part of an impressive roster of luxury car manufacturers that included Aston Martin, Land Rover, Lincoln, and Volvo, the company failed to turn a profit for Ford and was eventually sold off to Tata Motors of India in 2008.

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While the Augmented Reality apps mentioned in the article definitely have a place in the marketing tool belt, I believe that QR code usage will continue to grow, or at least stay steady.

Admittedly, when they first came on the scene, QR codes were often overused (and incorrectly so) by advertisers, who slapped them on packaging and ads without much thought on the payoff for the consumer. Also, since they were relatively new technology, many consumers didn’t know how to use them, and many marketers didn’t explain how. Not to mention the lack of uniformity and compatibility among QR code scanners.

But, now that they have become a little more ubiquitous and the consumer understands them, how can anyone claim that they are dead? Advertisers just need to make sure they are doing them right. Because folks, until better and more uniform technology comes around, these are the closest thing we have to links in print and other static advertising.

Marketers, lets try to be a little more creative and relevant in our QR code usage so they don’t go the way of the dinosaur. Don’t use a QR Code unless you can say yes to all of the following questions:

1. Is there a useful payoff to the consumer? The QR code should serve a purpose to the consumer, whether it’s a promotion, discount, instructional video, or a unique experience. Don’t be anticlimactic.
2. Are the benefits and the “how to” clearly explained to the customer? It’s simple .”Scan this code to…” receive a free sample, be entered to win tickets, etc. And, it doesn’t hurt to add where the user can get the scanner.
3. Is the landing page mobile friendly? Minimize effort and confusion by making custom landing pages that are simple and to the point.
4. Are you tracking performance? What’s the point of getting the user online if you’re not continually collecting and analyzing data to refine your ad campaign?

The more marketers work at using QR codes correctly, the farther QR will be from the grave.

So far, the award for most creative QR code usage goes to Guinness, one of the brands that keeps QR codes alive. You can read about it here.

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