Social media is all about engagement

I have recently encountered a large number of people using social media as a hard sales tool. Yes social media is definitely a great marketing and communications tool – no question. It’s a necessity for all businesses to build their community and can absolutely generate sales. But I do have a problem with people who connect with you and then send a personal message with an immediate sales pitch. Where is the engagement?

Superbowl ads are taking over the internet

It’s the time of the year when arguably the best ads come out to be shown during the NFL Superbowl. It’s a multimillion dollar business in not only the cost of advertising during the football final but also to produce these high quality, creative ads. Why spend the money? Because of the sheer mass exposure as well as positive association with a sporting event that has fanatical fans connected to it. So what are some of the best this year? 

My favourite ads currently released

These are some of my favourite ads that are doing the rounds at the moment. They grab people’s attention, they are creative but they also know their audience so the message is clear. 

Direct Marketing is a way to reach your audience

Direct Marketing is about reaching out to your audience via a range of mediums so that you build relationships and hopefully long term customers or clients. Loyal customers are more profitable to an organisation so marketing wants to keep their customers.

Is it beer o’clock?

Beer is one of those products, you either love it, learn to love it or can’t stand it but beer ads well you just love them! Why? Because beer companies know their target market well and tap into (pardon the pun) what makes them tick. Let’s face it, beer it pretty much the same – if you did a blind taste test with beer from the same category, most people would not be able to distinguish the different beers. But what beer companies do well is:

• establish their niche,
• research their market well,
• build on the consistently and synergy of their campaigns, and
• create creative and engaging ads.

They do this so that their target market become loyal, even evangelists towards their favourite beer, and all brands want to do that! So here are some of my favourite beer commercials…

It’s a boy! And so the marketing begins

Apparently the world is a flutter over the new #royalbaby who is third in line for the British thrown. Media have been camped outside St Mary’s Hospital in what is called ‘royal baby ground zero‘. It is great that a positive news story is making headlines for a change but what I am finding interesting is the agile marketing that is now taking place, especially all over Twitter. Well it’s not really agile as the creative team probably had them prepared when the news first came out that Kate was pregnant, and they’ve been waiting to hit the publish button.

Coke does it again!

Coke or Coca-cola is one of the most known brands in the world and therefore their advertising is not about informing the public of their brand but rather keeping their brand front of mind and engaging with their audience.

Think outside the box to engage your audience

In today’s society, consumers search for information online, use word of mouth (WOM) referrals from friends, peers or networks and as a whole, don’t trust advertisements.  So how do companies and/or brands grab their attention in this cluttered market?

St George inspires people to ‘unleash the dragon in you’

Further from my earlier post ‘Societal Marketing is trendy again’, I wanted to talk about the current St George Bank advertising campaign created by Saatchi & Saatchi, which is using the concept of societal marketing in the launch of it’s latest campaign, of ‘Start Something’.

The first of what I am assuming is a series of ads, is trying to inspire people/society to start something new whether that is riding a bike, or my personal favourite – dancing when you wake up.  It is using an emotional appeal as a way of getting through the advertising clutter and to grab people’s attention with the aim of getting consumers to think positively towards their future and therefore the bank/brand. They are differentiating themselves from other banks by not concentrating on what they offer or their products but rather on ‘you’.

Societal Marketing is trendy again

Recently, there have been a few companies that have used societal marketing campaigns to break through the advertising clutter and keep their brand front of mind. These campaigns have gone viral (and for good reason).