Verizon won't stand for hate and discrimination.

November 16, 2014

It's funny how I started off my blogs with Verizon and how now I'm finishing my blogs with yet another guerrilla marketing tactic that Verizon brought to the UT Austin campus. I was walking in between classes when I stopped by the McCombs leadership suite and heard from a couple friends of mine that they had just gotten free shirts and a professional picture taken at the Student Activity Center (SAC). My ears and eyes lit up. I was intrigued to learn who had set up this initiative, so when my other friends were interested in going with me to check out the if they could get free shirts too, I didn't hesitate to tag along. There was a 20+ person line from the entrance of the SAC into the Multicultural Engagement Center Room. It seems like Verizon teamed up with NBC Universal and started a college tour spread awareness that people should stand up for what they don't believe in, whether it be bullying, racism, injustice, hate, prejudice, ableism, homophobia, or violence, to name some that were listed.

Walking in to SAC I soon noticed how they had transformed the room into a media lounge where on one side they had Verizon marketing employees stamping peoples shirts with their choice of what they wouldn't stand for. And on the other side of the room they had a professional photographer taking quick head shots of people so that people could get a hard copy of them posing for what they won't stand for. Verizon was in on this movement to help stop hate and discrimination and prevent dating violence on select college campuses. They even encouraged we share our pictures on social media so that we could further spread awareness with a nice professional picture. And even promoted the fact that you'd be entered into a raffle for a galaxy note tablet if you posted your picture and used the hashtag #CUCollegeTour.

I think this is where technology has become such a beneficial part of spreading awareness of different issues that roam in our chaos-driven world. There are definitely many methods out there nowadays in the advertising world, which we can use to effectively rise above these issues. However, I commend Verizon for their efforts and believe that these media tactics can be transferred to many other brands as well. I think that college campus promo events need to be interactive like this. Yeah, it's nice whenever we get "free swag" but that doesn't always leave an impact. I would've never known Verizon was in on these efforts of going global with your cell phone or their involvement in the "Characters Unite" movement had they not come to campus and formed this relationship with me in person. Brands with a purpose encourage me to be a better person, and having this positive connotation associated with a brand is never a bad thing. I think it's strategy that many companies and brands should learn from if they want to be more socially responsible for their customers.

Where has Target Cartwheel been all my life?

November 10, 2014

During the Halloween season I found myself scouring for a costume a day before my organization's annual Halloween costume party. I went out with my two friends with the same goal in mind: to get back home with a costume for the party. We went to Spirit of Halloween first, where I found a Minnie Mouse costume I stuck with because I had a $10 off coupon if I spent more than $50 on my purchase. Not too bad considering that costume was $49.99 and my total came out to around $43 with tax. But, my friends had no luck on their part. So, we went right next door to Target where my friend found a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle Costume. We did some last minute grocery shopping and took off to the cash registers where we were greeted by a really perky young woman cashier who promptly scanned our things and the next thing that came out of her mouth is, "Do y'all have any discounts on Cartwheel today?" My friends and I looked at each other with confused faces and with our facial gestures seemed to ask one another what she was talking about. Finally, she tells us, " The new Target App, we actually have 40% off on costumes today," as she looks at my friend's TMNT costume in his cart. As soon as I hear 40% I rush to my app store on my phone and download the app curious to find what discounts I have on my purchases while my friend spends a mere 15 bucks on his costume purchase. (I chastise myself for not having waited to come to Target to get my costume, but reassure myself I made the right decision considering there weren't many options in my size at Target). Soon after downloading the app I'm taken to a page where I can take pictures of all my bar codes on my purchases and the app quickly lets me know if I have anything in my cart with a discount. I can proudly say I saved $2.37 that day. Not a bad start.

Going back and realizing the impact of this app, I don't think I realized how much of a easy tool this is to save some money during each purchase. It makes shopping fun when you realize you're spending a little bit less on something rather than paying full price--or maybe it's just my bargain hunter side showing. Target has a rep for being known as Walmart for the wealthy so this might just be a genius media tactic for Target to get consumers, like college students for example, and have them feel more comfortable shopping at Target by having them know that their wallets could suffer less.

And don't even get me started, the process is simple enough that a toddler could use it. Target has introduced an extremely easy interface for its consumers to use on the app. First thing you need to do is click on "scan the product" on the main menu and then the camera app takes a quick snapshot in less than a second and scans for any promotions for that product. After, it'll give you an option to save that promotion and whenever you go the counter your cashier is able to quickly scan the bar code themselves and at the end of your purchase you're able to track how much money you saved in total from using the app. It even accumulates how much money you save starting from the first time you used the app. It's an app I've definitely been recommending that my friends download themselves and has been a popular topic every time I have brought it up around my college peers, and even with my mother.

Lincoln Ads During Texas vs. OU Game

November 5, 2014

We've all seen the latest Lincoln ads featuring Matthew McConaughey, but were you there when a bull took the spotlight and challenged Matthew during one of his "moments"? Media is all about ad space. And Lincoln was spot on when they decided to throw in this bull into their ad campaign and when they decided to place it during halftime in the Texas vs. OU game. I remember watching the game with some of my friends that day and smiling at how genius the idea was to have it play during that game. It was so brilliant! Lincoln managed to make an irrelevant ad about a car, relevant. (I'm not a car geek). But, I was able to form a connection with the brand since they brought in a piece of why I was sitting there watching the game in the first place, because I'm a longhorn. The OU vs. Texas game is such an iconic game of the football season, it's a time where a majority of UT students set aside time from their schedules to watch the game if they don't actually go see the Red River Rivalry in person in Dallas. Making it a memorable ad due to the creative media placement.

In addition, the media placement does it a huge favor because I would've never come across an ad from this Lincoln campaign during any other commercial break but this one. Ever since I started college, watching TV has been a thing of the past. Therefore, had Lincoln assumed that a consumer like me would see the spot after a "Scandal" or "Modern Family" episode, they would have been greatly mistaken. If I have time to watch these shows, I'll go ahead a Hulu them. Lincoln would amaze me yet again if they were to pop up during one of Hulu's pre-rolls. However, the relevancy of the game is what gives the TV spot more of a genuine feel than it would if it came up during a Hulu or YouTube pre-roll.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoGGDKV88Fg

Source: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FoGGDKV88F...

Snapchat Ads, The New Form of TV Trailers.

November 5, 2014

Vine was short-lived but Snapchat seems to be catching on more than ever, and catching the eyes of many advertisers for that matter. We saw throughout the past couple of years how Vine used 6 second clips to create clever marketing videos, but now the days of Vining are over. The majority of users have opted to just use Snapchat during recent months, thus, marketers have taken on this opportunity and Snapchat finally agreed to allow Sponsored ads on their app.

This isn't the first time Snapchat allows some sort of advertising on their app. At the beginning of the school semester Snapchat added a new feature where people are able to send in their snaps to "Our Story" if their location is close to a music festival, college football game, etc. Our story is able to put the community perspective front and center rather than it just being about an individual's story.

Here's an example from this year's EDC Festival Re-cap on Snapchat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=pZeDPfHiBC8

During ACL Fest 2014 I was able to experience this firsthand and was able submit some of my snaps to see if it would get showcased. Unfortunately, thousands of snaps probably got submitted so mine didn't make it to top. However, like I mentioned in the first paragraph, Sponsored ads are now becoming a thing on the app. Something I would have foreseen but what threw me off was the AdAge article that talked about how the pioneer for this effort was "Ouijii" I just couldn't grasp why they'd be the first to start this snapchat ad movement; however, Universal Pictures and agency, Maxus, knew what there target market was and where they're currently on. AdAge quotes Mr. Niel when he says, "We like to select media platforms that are appropriate for our audience. We've been closely following Snapchat and its adoption. It seems to be right at the core of our target audience for the movie "Ouija." So we were glad there was an opportunity to run an ad within Snapchat." Currently the film company and ad agency plans on launching another Sponsored ad for their upcoming Pitch Perfect 2 that's coming out next may. See, this is a movie I would've expected to see as a pioneering Snapchat due to the app's personality, however, I can also see why they took the risk with a lesser known movie.

Overall, I'm pretty excited to see what other ads come out on snapchat and how creative they'll get. I've actually felt like I'm out of the loop with upcoming movies because I don't get to watch regular TV anymore, so hey, maybe these ads will keep me updated.

The New Way to Taco Bell. #onlyintheapp

November 4, 2014

Your first instinct would not be to think that your company's approach in order to place attention onto their new mobile app would be to wipe out all of their social media. Not only that, but pretty much force customers to use the app, because #onlyintheapp. Deutsch Los Angeles even launched a TV spot that highlights the cheesy, meat-filled tacos by the restaurant, then cuts off near the end as if it were some error message or terrorist take over of the media and then the headline "GET THE APP" fills the screen, one word after the other. The message is then followed by the narrator describing how the "new way to Taco Bell" isn't through TV, it's #onlyintheapp. The ultimate call to action: to download the app.

This unorthodox move has definitely been getting attention during the past few days and has actually ended up pushing the app up to #1 in the Apple Appstore just a day after the launch of the campaign. I'm especially amazed by Taco Bell's interactive tactic because usually it is quite difficult to get customers to go that extra step and download an app to their phone in order to interact with the brand. Most of the time it take too much of customers' times so all these new interactive brand app ideas go to waste, unless cleverly integrated. Which Taco Bell seems to have hit a home run. They were able to figure out how to actually push customers around the nation to take their time to download their app and make purchases at the store and are gradually hoping to transition into just drive-through orders. Taco Bell already receives the majority of its orders through the drive through so the app is an effort to try to make this process more efficient. A great media tactic.

Source: http://www.adweek.com/news/technology/will...

KitKat Goes Real-Time: We don't bend, we #break.

September 28, 2014

KitKat takes a page from Oreo's real-time marketing tactics and jumps on the iPhone 6+ bandwagon concerning Apple consumers/haters backlash. Each year iPhone launches have a some sort of defect but this year social media users have taken it to the next level and bashed on the brand due to the iPhone 6's ability to apparently bend when sat on for long periods of time. KitKat, known for their "give me a break" or "take a break" slogan, knew that they had an opportunity to promote themselves when #bendsgate started trending. It took them only 30 min to hit the Twitter arena and within 24 hrs they surpassed Oreos total number of retweets and favorites. "We don't bend, we #break," is the caption on the image of the 45 degree angle Kit Kat break.

Real-time marketing seems to be the latest advertising trend. Coming up with a campaign consisting of print and TV spots, maybe some guerrilla marketing and OOH here and there, isn't enough anymore. Marketers, social media managers and/or media analysts need to be on their toes and up-to-date with politics, pop culture, etc. in order to form relevant content for customers that tie back into the brand. Also, they must keep in mind that not all trends are appropriate for a brand just because they are trending. The KitKat idea was especially great because it wasn't just a repost of the #bendgate scandal. The post actually brought in the KitKat's slogan "give me a break" and re-established, "We don't bend, we #break". Thus, enhancing KitKat's chance to shine with a simple twist catering to the brand's strengths while playing on the iPhone 6's alleged weakness.

I think many other brands can capitalize from this method, as well. Real-time marketing has become the latest necessity in the marketing world because everything online is so fast paced that we advertisers/marketers need to stay on our toes on what's happening everywhere. Brands like Club Crackers or Brawny, maybe just monotonous brands in general, can try to grab ideas from real-world things and gear them to where they form relevant content in order to form stronger relationships with their consumers.

Source: http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-bra...

Verizon takes me to Europe for a day. #globalreadychallenge

September 28, 2014

So, last wednesday my boyfriend I were walking back to my apartment in a hurry to go make something to eat real quick before both of our org meetings. All of a sudden we're stopped in our tracks when some guy outside of the Co-Op food truck entrance say, "Wanna take a a picture with a Llama? Right here in Austin! Seriously, look at this picture I took with a llama!" He takes his phone out and I see a picture of him riding on a llama like he had said. Then, they hook me and my boyfriend into learning more about the llama picture when they tell us to "take a picture and get a $5 voucher for one of the food trucks." I was sold, I got a cool picture and free food. I'm a hungry college student, what more could I want?

As I approach the back of the food truck area I finally see the set up. There were two huge chalk designs laid out in the food truck parking lot where they were drawn to the point where they look 3D depending from what angle you take a picture. One depicted a llama walking through the mountainous terrain in Peru, while the other had a Vespa zooming past a European landscape. Then at the bottom I saw Verizon's logo followed by a hashtag #globalreadychallenge. I think, this is genius. Verizon found a fun and easy way to promote their latest service and are targeting a diverse pool of students here at the University of Texas. Either you're multi-cultural, international or planning to study abroad, this is a feature students at UT would consider very useful. And it was a fun way to promote the idea. Once you got your picture taken you would submit the picture to their site and were free to put the picture and promote the hashtag to spread awareness of the global service Verizon provides.

This definitely has given Verizon some visibility in my eyes. My cellphone carrier is AT&T, one of the leading cellphone carrier brands; however, I have yet to be approached this intimately by the brand. The most I've ever gotten is snail mail. If it weren't for the fact that I have 2 year contract with AT&T I would consider going with Verizon due to the recent efforts they've implemented to cleverly promote their service.