A/B Split Testing On Social Media

Summary: Throughout I will be explaining how A/B split testing is implemented on social media, its importance, and its role in increasing conversation.

Social Media Marketers Are Scientists!

It’s true social media marketers are constantly running different experiments to find the best way of converting consumers into customers and one of the most productive ways of doing this is by performing A/B split testing.

A/B Split Testing; What It Is And How It Works

Split testing is an experimental process that trials different variations against each other in order to find out what will make your audience react the way you want them to. In regards to social media, the winning combination will display:

The right image with the best copy, aimed at a specific target audience, at the perfect time.

It’s this combination that will prompt your audience to click, purchase and visit your webpage more than they did before.

In order to find that winning combination the idea is to keep one variable consistent while changing others. For example; to find the image that is most engaging for your consumers you would continually change this aspect of your campaign while keeping the copy and layout the same. Here is one example:

After discovering the image that generates the most conversation, the next step is to test varying copy while consistently using the most successful image throughout.

Once gaining an understanding of the visual combination that best appeals to consumers, it’s important to discover what target audiences are most responsive to the overall campaign. Then with that data you can test which day of the week and at what times your target audience best engage in conversation.

This is something worth experimenting with when posting daily quotes, as there might be a larger response when posting on #MotivationMonday:

As opposed to posting on #WisdomWednesday:

The Importance And Advantages Of Split Testing

• A/B split testing is an important, straightforward process that allows you to validate business ideas before fully deploying them, ultimately saving a company from making expensive, and difficult to change, technical investments.
• It allows you to determine your most profitable market and the best way of engaging them in conversation.
• Defining what elements within you campaign your target markets respond to most positively, providing an insight as to what will work best in the future, saving marketers both time and money.
• It is useful in low-data rate test, if your landing page has only a few conversations per day; it’s an advanced tuning method.
• Ease of test design variations could create new and unexpected vision paths.
• Ease of analysis means you only have to compare the baseline version of each challenger to see if you’ve reached your desired statistical confidence level.

Remember

With new markets occurring all the time A/B testing becomes a never-ending experiment as it is a marketer’s job to continually improve and look for the best way of communicating the brand message and encourage conversation.

Links:
http://www.bluefountainmedia.com/blog/how-to-implement-ab-testing-on-social-media/
http://www.emarketingandcommerce.com/article/advantages-and-disadvantages-ab-split-testing-landing-pages/1
https://www.optimizely.com/resources/multivariate-test-vs-ab-test

The Strategy Behind EE – Kevin Bacon

‘BufferFace’ Campaign

Summary: Throughout this post I will be highlighting the campaigns insight, emotional triggers and EE’s desired consumer response.

Kevin Bacon has yet again stared in the latest multi-million pound advertising campaign from EE. The commercial takes a look at the preventions of ‘BufferFace’.

Insight

Spencer McHugh, director of brand at EE, said: “Whether you’re trying to download a funny video, or are in serious need of a map route, lack of connectivity is a real frustration for smartphone users.

Emotional Trigger

The campaign developed by creative agency; Saatchi & Saatchi London, has finally changed the way technology companies are targeting their audience. The commercial shows actor Kevin Bacon tutting at the ‘BufferFace’ look he observes so many people around him wearing. ‘BufferFace’ is that blank, confused stare we all make the moment our phones stop loading. In short, ‘BufferFace’ is rarely flattering and Bacon is calling all consumers to discard it. ‘BufferFace’ is a comical insight that makes the brand relatable and trusted as EE show they have understand of their audience as really people, a contrast to most mobile networks that overpower their target market with endless amount of information. The campaign is appealing to a wider audience; however early adopter; technological leaders who want to know more about the ‘Super fast coverage’ are unlikely to buy into the very brief explanation about the networks real benefits.

Desired Response

EE’s campaign is all about gaining customer loyalty and increasing sales. Spencer McHugh states: “With our superfast 4G coverage reaching more than 75 per cent of the UK population, 4G on EE removes the hassle of wasted loading time, so you can drop your ‘BufferFace’ and get on with your day.” Although it’s very clear from the campaign that the brand want you to drop your ‘BufferFace’ it’s less clear to viewers that EE can help you achieve this. The lack of information personally leaves me hazy, I remember that the commercial is selling 4G however forget why EE is better than other networks, and although I find the commercial memorable, due to the comical emotional trigger making it relatable, I struggle to remember that the brand behind the ‘BufferFace’ is EE at all. I find it hard to believe that from this campaign EE will gain a substantial amount of custom, with most consumers staying loyal to their current network due to ease and the case of most offering similar services, it takes a noticeable technological improvements for consumers to consider moving to a new network as most of the time it’s a lengthy, complicated process. Unfortunately the brands use of an outdated actor that has an extremely annoying persona distracts the consumer from the true proposition; EE understand smartphone consumers don’t like waiting for downloads, EE leads in super fast 4G, buy into the brands network you’ll see results in every aspect of your life, no waiting around and no awkward facial expressions!

Related:
http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/article/1165761/ee-kevin-bacon-fails-champion-ee-4g
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/film/10421556/We-really-need-to-talk-about-Kevins-television-commercials.html
http://creativity-online.com/work/ee-kevin-bacon-battles-bufferface/37502

The Strategy Behind LG

‘Stage Fright – So Real It’s Scary 2’ Campaign

Summary: Within this post I’ll be exploring LG’s campaign proposition, attached emotional triggers and desired consumer response to their product.

With a prankster reputation to up hold after their ‘Falling Elevator – so real it’s scary’ campaign, LG Electronics and ad agency SuperHeroes, Amsterdam, didn’t fail to amuse when launching their sequel video; ‘Stage Fright – so real it’s scary 2’.

Insight

According to Cream Inspiring Innovation: ‘The LG IPS monitor is a product that has been carefully created by experts to ensure the images are clear and the colour changes smooth, this means that watching television or playing games can be enjoyed without any strain on the eyes. The idea behind the IPS monitor is that it offers viewers a colour impression identical to that of the original image for an advanced viewing pleasure. The insight behind the campaign was to find a way that best showed off the new technology and raised awareness about the product.’

Proposition And Emotional Triggers

The campaign directly targeted their desired audience, by using emotional triggers linked to male performance. Although unbeknownst to them at the time LG propositioned its market to discovering just how real images on a LG IPS monitor are; by showcasing its products own exceptional performance qualities by playing a comical, practical joke on the male audience involved.

Rumour has it that a lot of men have issues in the little boys’ room when someone is watching them, so to test this theory LG installed its IPS 21:9 UltraWide monitors above a row of urinals in a public bathroom located in the World Fashion Centre in Amsterdam. As unsuspecting gentlemen attempt to relieve themselves, LG’s monitors displayed faces of beautiful women, causing several men to experience ‘performance issues’ as they genuinely believed they were being observed. By putting the theory of stage fright to the test the brand shows it has an insight and understanding of men, one of its key markets, highlighting they know their audience needs, making them relatable and trusted while demonstrating their innovative lifelike picture quality produced by LG’s IPS display technology.

Understanding

LG has an exceptional understanding when advertising its products, instead of telling its audience what its technology can do; it presents them with first hand experience of it quality. Displaying the product as something to be received both physically and emotionally which helps assure the audience of all the product benefits.

Related:

http://creamglobal.vizioz.net/case-studies/campaign-of-the-week/17798/30881/lg-so-real-it%27s-scary/

http://www.simplyzesty.com/Blog/Article/April-2013/LG-Test-Out-RealistIc-Screens-With-Stage-Fright-Test

The Strategy Behind Nike’s

‘Find Your Greatness’ Campaign

Summary: In this post I will be touching upon the insight behind Nike’s campaign; concentrating on emotional triggers used to change the behaviours of consumers.

It was during the 2012 London Olympics that Nike launched its; ‘Find Your Greatness’ campaign that consisted of minute long videos, featuring ‘everyday athletes’ from all over the world achieving something inspiring. Those that featured in the viral videos were sporty ‘Londoners’ not only in London England but London Ohio, East London in South Africa and Little London in Jamaica; keeping to the London Olympics theme, the international campaign ran in 25 different countries. Critics noted that the campaign was clearly designed to cash in on the Olympic fever while getting one over on rival brand Adidas, who were paid tens of millions to be an official London 2012 sponsor while Nike itself was not. For Nike the Olympics saw a great platform to boost exposure while gaining brand loyalty and driving sales and there’s no question that they made it count.

Aside from the fact Nike aimed to create a campaign that outdid its competitor, how did their strategy engage its audience?

Throughout the campaign Nike strived to say that it’s not just the championship athlete or record breakers that aspire to push their limits. It is also the everyday athlete who strives to excel on their own terms, to set and realize personal goals and achieve their own defining moment of greatness. One of the most popular videos within the campaign was ‘The Jogger’ showcasing 12 year old boy called Nathan from London Ohio, the clip highlights that greatness in not beyond his reach, nor is it for any of us! That is Nike’s insight; we all have the ability to do and be great in our own way.

Making people believe they have the ability to be great is Nike’s emotional trigger and they made that concept relatable by using real people throughout their campaign. Proving greatness is within all of us; Nike’s power to the people exterior wins consumer acceptance and loyalty as they feel Nike has their best interest at heart. However in reality Nike has put fort a proposition that makes people subconsciously believe the answer to greatness is down to the brand, therefore they will look to the brand in the future for further help and reassurance, investing in their products and tools to help them achieve their goals. On The brands own website is states; ‘”Find Your Greatness” seeks to inspire everyone in their own personal achievements, Nike+ Running, Nike+ Basketball, Nike+ Training and the Nike+ Fuelband are the tools that enable everyday athletes everywhere to measure their performance and motivate themselves to do more.’ In other words Nike does genuinely want you to find your greatness, just as long as you’re using their products to do so.

Related:

http://news.nike.com/news/nike-launches-find-your-greatness-campaign-celebrating-inspiration-for-the-everyday-athlete

http://mashable.com/2012/08/01/young-boy-in-new-nike-ad-is-big-time-inspiration-video/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JnYcuRW_qo

The Strategy Behind Always

‘Like A Girl’ Campaign

Summary: Throughout this post I will be depicting the strategies and propositions behind Always ‘Like A Girls’ campaign; strategies that aim to engage and change the behaviours of their consumers.

Creative insight behind the campaign was resourced from a study carried out by Research Now, highlighting that more then half of the girls surveyed claimed to experience a plummet in confidence at puberty, with the lowest self-esteem moments coinciding with the arrival of a girls first period, Always wants to change that!

In a social experiment led by film documentarian Lauren Greenfield, Proctor & Gamble’s feminine product brand Always sets out to transform the negative stigma attached to the phrase ‘Like A Girl’ and turn it into an expression of strength. In the film, multiple female adolescents, a young boy and one grown man were asked to show what it looked like to run, throw and fight like a girl, unsurprisingly all participants’ portrayed feeble stereotyped efforts. However once the embarrassing, discriminating performances had come to an end, Always invited pre-pubescent girls to act out the same requests, and refreshingly confident, serious efforts were made for each action, showing just how detrimental puberty can be on a young woman’s self-belief while highlighting that at one point being ‘Like A Girl’ just meant being ourselves.

The film is full of emotional triggers; seeing the young girls giving their best attempts to run, throw and fight like a girl, as a female fills you with a sense of pride, reminding you that being a girl is a pretty awesome thing. Director Lauren Greenfield also prompts you to question yourself, asking ‘What does it mean to do something like a girl? And when did doing something like a girl become an insult?’ By asking rhetorical questions it starts a process of reflection that makes you feel part of the campaign and its wider purpose. When one participant is asked; ‘What advice do you have for young girls who are told they run like a girl, kick like a girl, hit like a girl, swim like a girl?’ The woman replies keep doing it, because if you’re still scoring and getting to the ball first you’re doing something right. Talking to the younger girls reflects what we should all be reminding ourselves. Why cant ‘Like A Girl’ also mean ‘Win The Race’? Always campaign is propositioning young women everywhere to change their frame of mind, turning ‘Like A Girl’ from an insult into a compliment.

Along the way, of course, Always goal is to build brand loyalty, targeting young women who may not have even started their periods yet, which will make a particularly big difference as females often pledge loyalty to the first brand they start using as a young girl. By emotionally connecting with their audience Always are suggesting that by buying into the brand you are also buying into the confidence of women by rekindling or harnessing your own strength.

Related:

http://www.always.com/en-us/likeagirl.aspx

Reputation And Personal Brand

Amy Govan

Me, Myself And The Bigger Picture

Summary: Who really am I as a professional? What do I stand for? What are my key values? What makes me different? And how do I demonstrate the above?

My Professional Practice

Currently studying Creative Advertising BA(Hons) at Falmouth University, Cornwall, I am eager to develop my creativity and curiosity within this fast evolving industry.

I have always been intrigued by photography, film, fashion, music, magazines and the internet; when I was much younger I took these creative platforms for granted like so many do, but now I am captivated by how each industry can influence our thoughts and actions through their advertising and marketing executions on a day to day basis, and I am excited at the prospect of being able to delve deeper into their realms.

My Very Own Mantra That Will Be The Key To My Success

My main goals in life are to be happy, healthy and hardworking.

I trust in surrounding myself with knowledgeable, good people who I can enjoy and learn from, while also being supportive of others and the planet. I believe the most productive way in growing as an individual is to explore different surroundings and immerse myself in new and enriching experiences that will ultimately allow my creative skills to flourish so I can produce powerful work that will touch, inspire and improve the lives of others.

What I Value

• Strong work ethics
• Dependability + Responsibility
• Adaptability
• Honesty + Integrity
• Motivation to grow and learn within multiple creative industries and cultures
• Professionalism
• Loyalty
• The ability to help others
• Aspiration to be environmentally friendly

What Makes Me Different

Aside from the fact I can eat a whole pot of Nutella in one sitting….

I’m a lateral thinker and a problem solver who’s intrigued by the ‘Why’.

How I Demonstrate The Above With My Creative Outlets

Take a look for yourself!

https://www.behance.net/amygovan

https://amygovan.wordpress.com/

Related Content:

https://plus.google.com/u/0/102546303347785718919/posts

https://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=382187322&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile

https://twitter.com/AmyNicoleGovan

GoPro – Always On

Social Media Campaign

Summary: Throughout this blog I will be delving into GoPro’s most successful social media campaign. Explaining the original goals and targets, the strategies and tactics employed and the financial and non financial impact the campaign generated all in order to determine the likely ROI.

GoPro – The Original Goal

GoPro has officially become the maker of the world’s most versatile camera, generating some of today’s most engaging viral content.

According to the Shorty Awards, “GoPro’s marketing vision has grown into empowering a generation of consumers and professional producers alike to capture, create and share their unique perspectives with the world”. Prompting individuals to upload their content to the GoPro website, the team are entertained by hours of footage on a daily basis, selecting there favourites and sharing them with the brands online community. A campaign both rewarding for the participants and the brand, with both name attached to hours of entertainment that generates free publicity for all involved.

However this wasn’t always the initial game plan; GoPro launched a campaign by hiring professional stuntmen and extreme athletes to showcase the capability of their small yet high performance cameras. They were unaware at the time that producing footage in this way would become such a phenomenon for so many, a trend that on estimation generates 6,000 videos shot with the camera everyday by consumers. With such a powerful recourse at hand, naturally GoPro created an ongoing campaign powered by its customer’s content.

Targets

The campaign was designed to drive and engage brand awareness, intent and growth of product sales through integrated online platforms, meanwhile developing a social community.

Strategy And Tactics

GoPro’s main aim was to build an ‘always-on’ shareable content distribution network. In effect a social ecosystem that would become the hub for the brands viral content, they achieved this by performing the following strategies:

‘Word of Mouth’ via an integrated marketing platform

Each video shared showcases every existing customers enthusiasm for the product, acting like a product review page, this strategy entices new customers by using social proof as a technique of persuasion, increasing both sales and brand visibility.

Gamification ‘Contest and Promotion’ strategy

In order to keep consumers engaged and participating in sharing their content, GoPro created an incentive; the opportunity for consumer’s footage to win exposure across the brands multiple platforms. Also giving the brand free publicity as it’s their consumers doing all the advertising for them.

To bring this strategy to life, GoPro’s founder & CEO, Nicholas Woodman, designed several simple campaign competition platforms that entice both new and existing customers to share their content. The campaigns are as follows:

• Everything We Make: For people who did not yet own a GoPro but wanted a chance to win one.
• Photo And Video of the Day: For customers, who regularly shared their best photos and videos with GoPro in social media. The brand rewards the top producers by showcasing their work through each of their online marketing channel: Facebook.com/GoPro, Twitter.com/GoPro, Instagram.com/GoPro,com, GoPro App. These entrants also qualify for selection to be featured in other GoPro marketing assets such as general online ‘share programming’, print ads, billboards, and product packaging.
• Video Distribution And TV – for customers who capture mind-blowing moments with their GoPro’s, the brand offers the opportunity to be featured in video distribution through their Youtube channel, TV advertising, & other video distribution channels such as Virgin America and Xbox.

The core aspects of the brands strategy on a whole are; customer content distribution, customer recognition, to be ‘always-on’ and connected, supporting shareable engagement and win opportunities.

What’s The Impact?

“By involving its fans in content creation, GoPro has built a loyal and engaged audience,” YouTube states in its report, as “The authenticity of the channels content helps viewers feel connected to the brand”. With the enthusiasm of their audience and new subscribers growing by the thousands each day, a cycle of content sharing is pushing sales continually. The brand is now seen as one of the most admired consumer brands due to its social media strategy and audience engagement.

Facts and Figurers:

The Shorty Awards stated; as of 2/7/2014:

Everything We Make Entries = 40K+ / day
GoPro.com Visits = 300K+ / day
GoPro.com Customer Photo & Video Submissions = 150+ / day
Facebook Fans =7M+, and growing by 2000 / day
Youtube Subscribers = 1.6M+, and growing by 2000 / day
Youtube Views = 400M+, and growing by 500K+ / day
Instagram Followers = 1.6M+, and growing by 25K / day 

Within GoPro’s recent quarterly report Nicholas Woodman stated, “We are seeing a tremendous volume of quality content generated by our users and a 200% year over year increase in video views on YouTube, which is fuelling our virtuous cycle whereby viewership of GoPro content drives sales. In our 2014 second quarter performance it demonstrates our users’ continued passion for GoPro’s products, content and brand.”

Likely ROI

Looking back at GoPro’s sales and marketing expenses beside their revenue and net income it’s clear to see that GoPro has the ability to get a satisfying return on investment.

The company managed to triple its revenue in 2011 and more than doubled sales in 2012. In 2013 again their revenue almost doubled again, surging 87% higher to $985.7 million and looking at the first quarter of 2014, the brand has already beaten its total revenue for all of 2011.

In 2011 GoPro’s net income reached $24.6 million, up 112% over the $11.6 million that was received in 2010, yet the brand only had to spend $50,515 more in marketing costs to achieve this. Spending $50,515 and getting $13 million more in return. In 2013 GoPro did even better, raising its marketing costs by $41,000 and making $28 million more in bottom line income than it did in 2012.

Looking at GoPro’s quarterly results; revenue in the second quarter of 2014 was $244.6 million, up 38.1% compared to the $177.1 million reported in the second quarter of 2013. Second quarter 2014 revenue increased 3.8% compared to $235.7 million reported in the first quarter of 2014.

Looking Back Trough The Lense  

It’s obvious that GoPro are pioneers when it comes to engaging their target audience. Creating a brand ecosystem that drives a sense of community, brand awareness and most importantly product sales. Relying on their consumers to spread word-of-mouth and then rewarding them with win opportunities. A simplistic campaign idea that has seen to be extremely beneficial both non-financially and financially.

Related  content:

http://investor.gopro.com/releasedetail.cfm?releaseid=863521

http://gopro.com/

https://www.youtube.com/user/GoProCamera

Gamification – A Marketing Strategy

Summary: What is Gamification? What are the pros and cons of using this strategy in marketing? How is it being implemented by brands today?

What Is Gamification?

Gamification is the use of game thinking and game mechanics in non-game context to engage people and to impact their behaviour. It’s a strategy that delivers by engaging consumers in a fun way, allowing them to interact with their desired brand through quizzes, treasure hunts, photo sharing, competitions and more, while giving recognition and rewards to participants in the process. Rewards can be anything from discounts in store, loyalty points, freebees, competition entries and level ups within a game process.

According to Gartner, 70% of Global 2000 organizations will have at least one gamified application by 2014.

 

Why Gamification Works

The pros:

• It can present immediate feedback for brands – game scores can translate to business goals if implemented in the right way.
• It creates in-depth engagement – Game mechanics provide more in-depth engagement over other forms of digital advertising due to its addictive nature for users.
• Inherent motivation to return to the source of interaction – Achieving a certain level of status motivates consumers to frequently engage with the brand.
• Uses fun to embed the brand into a consumer’s life.
• It creates healthy competition and word-of-mouth between consumers – generating brand awareness by normal people acting as influencers.
• Brands can drive desired user behaviour.

 

It’s Not All Fun And Games

The Cons:

• No long term value for users – Without a competitive ‘me to’ aspect, minimal levels of engagement could result in virtual ghost towns.
• Disruption with traditional loyalty programs – Game based marketing has the potential to discard traditional loyalty programs, disrupting existing customers; they might find starting the process again un-worthwhile.
• Investing a substantial amount of time and money – If a brand doesn’t understand what it is about video games that engage their market is a recipe for disaster and a loss of time and money.
• Invitation for consumers to try and cheat the system.
• Novelty wears off – Brands can overlook the importance of creating meaning and fun behind the program.

 

Who’s Using Gamification Successfully

Nike ‘Angry Winter’ Campaign

In 2011 Nike started their use of gamification in which players had to help athletes stay warm while they trained outside in the cold.

Participants did have an incentive to play; a leader board of the highest scores were created and those at the peak would win a trip to meet one of the athletes featured within the game.

Obviously this wasn’t all for fun. The game also advertised Nike’s new rage of winter clothing worn by each athlete, directing and prompting users to purchase from their website.

Nike produced a typical competition that highlights how a brand can use gamification to drive awareness of its new product range.

Another Example From Nike + And The Running Experience Community Project

Nike + is one of the most famous examples of gamification as it locks a high amount of potential customers into staying connected with each other and the brand.

This platform collects personal data from participants; keeping them updated on their running activities, displaying their latest achievements and overall evolution. Meanwhile this type of gamification allowed users to compare and compete with people from all over the world, including direct friends when connected to social media.

For Nike this viral game boosted exposure along with customer loyalty.

The highly developed gaming system also allowed them to collect information about their consumers over a substantial period of time, after which they could segment and market their products and services to directly benefit those interacting with the brand in the hopes to increase sales.  All the information collected also allowed an increase in productivity of the R&D and Online Marketing departments.

US ARMY – Recruitment

Another great example of gamification is being implemented by the US Army. They have developed a free downloadable game which has become their number one recruitment tool.

The game allows potential recruits to partake in a virtual army experience in order to see if they have what it takes to become a battle fighter. When participants show signs of promise they are rewarded with badges of honor, the same badges you would earn if you were to join the American forces for real.

The game was developed with a clear business goal; increasing recruits numbers in reality. Before playing the game everyone is recommended to create an account to join the ‘online army’ where a hub of information and data can be found about the real job role.

Success Is In The Game

Although there are a few cons when using gamification as a marketing strategy, I believe if your brand can deliver a strong concept it’s an asset worth nurturing.

Gamification works because today’s consumers are looking for a more rewarding and engaging relationship with their favourite brands, and traditional marketing is failing this.

According to Brian Burk, research vice president at Gartner:

“Gamification aims to inspire deeper, more engaged relationships and to change behaviours, but it needs to be implemented thoughtfully, most attempts at gamification currently miss the mark, but successful and sustainable gamification can convert customers into fans, turn work into fun, or make learning a joy. The potential is enormous.”

According to Burk three key ingredients must be implemented and correctly positioned for a gamified application to truly engage its audience: motivation, momentum and meaning!

 

Related Links:

https://econsultancy.com/blog/61912-six-interesting-examples-of-gamification-in-ecommerce

http://www.gartner.com/newsroom/id/1844115

http://www.toprankblog.com/2013/10/gamification/

http://smallbiztrends.com/2014/03/using-gamification-brand-awareness.html

Cornwall PLC

Visit Cornwall – The official tourist board online visitor guide.

Summary: Within this post I will be touching upon the delightful online heaven that is Visit Cornwall and analysing 3 specific market segments that benefit from its services.

 

About Visit Cornwall

Visit Cornwall is the official online tourist board that present its visitors with everything they need to know about embarking on a magical and unique experience to the idyllic county of Cornwall. The online site proposes places to stay, things to do, what’s on, fabulous food, activities to take advantage of and much more.

Below I have analysed 3 market segments that benefit from Visit Cornwall’s expertise.

 

The Fun Families

Demographic

Young working class families under 44 who have a mortgage and children, looking to holiday during school breaks.

Geographic

Families based in the South of England, mainly London and those situated in neighbouring counties to Cornwall.

Psychographic 

Cosmopolitans and high street followers who are in search of a stress free family get away that’s got something for everyone to enjoy. Their idyllic holiday would be relaxing, educational, and full of exploration, offering up a chance to immerse the family in a range of spontaneous outdoor activities.

 

The Weekend Romantics

Demographic

Young couples; between 25-30, pre family, professionals.

In contrast, the more mature segment aged 45+, married, post family and considering retirement if they haven’t already hung up the apron.

Geographic

Couples based in the South West and Wales; those who live in similar surroundings but want a brief escape from their local area.

Psychographic

Style Hounds who are young, free spirited and act on impulse, looking for a relaxing and romantic get away to not only discover Cornwall but each other.

Traditionals who are slow to adapt, valuing home comforts, good food, sea breeze walks and captivating British culture and history.

 

The Dog Loves  

Demographic

Working class males, females, families, couples, the young and old all of whom have a four legged family member they feel needs Cornwall as much as they do.

Geographic

Specifically the Cornish born and bread along with holiday makers travelling from close by neighbouring counties in the South of England.

Psychographic

Functionals and discoverers aiming to explore Cornwall, mainly investing in what’s most functional and valuable to them, they wouldn’t pay or want someone else looking after they furry friend and besides their pet is part of the family and it’s important that they are involved in family life. This market segment value new options and educational experiences but take comfort in tradition.

Do you fall under one of the segments above? 

Want to know more about what Cornwall has on offer for you?

Follow the links below …

http://www.visitcornwall.com/

http://www.visitcornwall.com/about-cornwall

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/england/cornwall/

 

Tweet-a-Coffee

A social media campaign created by Starbucks

Summary: After recently looking at Starbucks social media campaign I wanted to explore their strategy further. Throughout this blog I will be analysing how they responded to challenges, identifying all the CARAT elements, what research they carried out in the process and questioning whether or not the campaign brought the brand success.

How It All Started

There’s no denying that Starbucks understands technology, and more importantly, their customers. On the 28^th October 2013 Starbucks partnered with twitter to launch their ‘Tweet-a-Coffee’ campaign across the US. The initial idea was all about buying anyone, anywhere (well within the US) a coffee as a small gesture of kindness, and according to Adam Brotman, the chief digital officer at Starbucks, Twitter had the strength to help them achieve this.

In order for the campaign to work users had to link their Starbucks and credit card account to their twitter profile, then by tweeting @tweetacoffee with a friends twitter handle attached, an eGift worth $5 was sent to their desired recipient.

The Ultimate Challenge

Enticing the public to participate in a social media campaign is harder than one may think, so Starbucks needed to find a bigger incentive than just the element of gifting to another to get us stubborn lot involved. Not many of us like to do something for nothing these days so Starbucks stated that from the launch date until November 6^th if you were one of the first 100,000 customers to ‘Tweet-a-Coffee’ using a visa card, you also got a $5 gift voucher as well as your friend. According to Keyhole this resulted in 32% of purchases occurring within the first day of launch, but how did Starbucks find the answer to this once impossible challenge?

The CARAT Process Was The Key

 A process that makes the impossible challenges possible.

It’s All About The Research!

 

Who’s Involved In The Starbucks Community?

 

Target Market

Almost half of Starbucks’ total business comes from its primary target market of men and women aged 25 to 40, it’s this group alone that account for almost half (49 percent) of the brands total business. I believe for this campaign especially this target market were Starbucks most desired as people of this age are more likely to be cardholders and active on social media. These customers tend to be professional urbanites with relatively high incomes, who are interested in socially responsible and environmentally friendly policies. They consider the Starbucks logo as a status symbol and want to be associated with it.

Influencer

This campaign is reliant on influencers; friends, family and followers on Twitter. The influencers are the individuals who initially get the ball rolling, driving the campaign by sharing and gifting friends, ultimately encouraging them to do the same with others or to return the favour.

Partner

Twitter and Starbucks have worked together to help bridge the gap between our online and offline worlds, this is something beneficial for both brands. It’s a great opportunity for Twitter to become a direct response marketing channel while Starbucks now has information for all their gifters and recipients in their system, which could have massive longer-term impact on the ROI of this campaign.

What Are Starbucks Aiming For?

• An engaging campaign that customers wanted to interact with.
• Enticing new and existing customers to be more active or to set up an online account with their brand.
• Bridging the gap between our online and offline lifestyles meanwhile connecting multiple people across the US.

All of which fits in with their customer mission statement:

‘When we are fully engaged, we connect with, laugh with, and uplift the lives of our customers – even if just for a few moments. Of course, it starts with the promise of a perfectly made beverage, but our work goes far beyond that. It’s really about human connection.’

What Were The Resources?

 

The Bucks Budget

In 2013 Starbucks spent $11 million on digital advertising and a whopping $93 million on advertising as a whole.

Time, People, Skills

Starbucks spokesperson Linda Mills mentioned in an interview back in 2013 that ‘For quite some time, Starbucks has offered an eGift program.’ Suggesting that the eGift program is something the brand has invested a substantial amount of time into over a period of years before the launch of Tweet-a-Coffee.

In fact since 2011, Starbucks began accepting mobile payments through an app they developed. The app would allow customers to connect Starbucks cards to the app and reload them via PayPal or credit card. Customers could then easily pay for their in-store purchase by holding their phone up to the cash register.

But now the idea of eGifting and online payments have developed even further, creating the beta programme for Tweet-a- Coffee that linked both the publics Twitter and credit card accounts would have required a team of tech specialists. Once the platform was set and glitches had been tried, tested and fixed, an in-house communication team who are social media savvy would have been enabled to help drive and promote the campaign on Twitter while also responding to customer tweets.

Tools And Technology

This campaign is all about the collaboration of the Twitter and Starbucks online customer accounts.

Business As Usual Activity

Starbucks are all about increasing interaction and engagement between friends, family, strangers and their brand. Tweet-a-Coffee enabled them to achieve the above in a creative and inventive way that has helped set them apart from other popular brands (see sale stats from 2013).

 

The Concept

 

Approach

The approach links back to the brands initial challenge which I touched upon earlier; how they encouraged their target audience participation.

Starbucks gave their audience a simple but strong motive to tweet, the idea of gifting a friend and receiving a little something for themselves in the process, the incentive that if you buy one, you get one free.

Style Of Approach

They built a community that allowed individuals to engage and they achieved this by prompting customer generated content.

Value For Customer

A $5 gift voucher for a friend and themselves for no extra cost!

Visibility For The Brand

Research firm Keyhole tracked all the instances in which someone used “@tweetacoffee” in conjunction with a friend’s Twitter handle and found that more than 27,000 fans used the program. Some 34% of users bought multiple gift cards and 32% of the purchases occurred on the first day.

Brand Credibility

The campaign feel holds a sense of community, making the brand feel warm, inviting and generous. The new technology that they have created also suggests that Starbucks is up and coming, ahead of other coffee brands.

Personality

Being a coffee company, you would expect nothing less than the friendly, warm tone Starbucks delivers.

Responsive

Throughout the campaign Starbucks proved to be responsive and interactive with its audience, something that helped boost credibility and portray its inviting tone of voice.

Implementation

 

Technology And How Starbucks Will Measure Their Success

 As these users continue to be customers, Starbucks now has a tie-in between the Twitter accounts,  credit cards,  mobile devices and their customer list (and they have it for 54,000 people gifters and recipients) which is something to be excited about!Even tech companies have struggled so far with creating a link between these different IDs for their customers, let alone consumer brands. This Starbucks campaign was about a lot more than just $180k in eGift sales. It was about customer understanding, identification and targeting that will help them for a very long time.

 

Few, So In Short, Was This Campaign Successful?

It’s clear to see that the ROI for this campaign alone wasn’t a huge success for Starbucks, with their total of $11million spent on digital media and a return of only $180, 000 from the Tweet-a-Coffee campaign, it seems that a few pockets have been left empty. However it hasn’t all been for nothing; the brand now has strong links with twitter, access to its online customer list plus access to their customer’s card details and mobile devices, a huge achievement that will provide them with knowledge they never had before. The campaign has also given Starbucks exposure online and enabled them to create a community and engagement centre for not only themselves but new and existing customers.

It’s not all ‘bean bitter’ after all!

Related:

http://www.socialmediatoday.com/content/how-starbucks-crushes-it-social-media

https://www.starbucks.com/tweet-a-coffee

http://blog.keyhole.co/post/69080821142/starbucks-twitter-campaign

http://mashable.com/2013/12/05/starbuckss-tweet-a-coffee-180000/