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Archives for November 2010

10 Big Buzz Brands of 2010 for American Consumers

Which brands generated a big buzz online and offline this year and how did they do it?  I compiled a list of 10 of the biggest buzz brands in the United States during 2010 to get an idea of what got people talking and sharing this year. These brands are in no particular order — just as I thought of them.  Check out the list below.

1. Old Spice

Thanks to a clever commercial, Old Spice enjoyed a resurgence in popularity that hasn’t been seen since the return of bell-bottom pants in the early 1990s.

2. Silly Bandz

Is there a store in the country that doesn’t sell Silly Bandz?  Okay, I’m exaggerating the popularity of Silly Bandz with that question, but just a bit.  These little plastic bracelets come in more shapes than you can imagine and have become the “must-have” item for girls and boys.  Whether kids want to wear Silly Bandz, trade them with friends, or use them as weapons to flick at each other in the absence of rubber bands, there is a reason why schools across the country have banned them.

3. Droid

It seemed like no one could compete with Apple’s iPhone.  Then Google’s Android smart phone hit the market and customers noticed.  With a better network and similar features, Droid has been nipping away at Apple’s market share (not to mention the market shares of other mobile device brands).

4. Angry Birds

It’s the hottest game in mobile apps and soon it will become available for gaming devices like the Wii.  Angry Birds 2 is in the works by creator Rovio, and the number of people trying to help a bunch of angry birds destroy pigs continues to grow.

5. iPad

Everyone was interested in the iPad in 2010.  Whether or not consumers dished out the money to get one is another story entirely, but they certainly were talking about it.

6. Kindle

With a drop in price, the buzz about Amazon’s Kindle e-reader device kicked up.  Considering how many other e-reader devices are hitting the market or dropping prices, it’s a good thing for Amazon that the Kindle followed suit.

7. Sarah Palin

Whether or not you agree with her politics, you can’t argue with the marketing machine behind Sarah Palin which turned a reputation that could have gone down in history as a 15-minutes of fame story into a brand that’s bringing in big bucks through multiple ventures.

8. Facebook

2010 could be called the year that Facebook took over the world — 350 million users globally, a movie, access to way too much private information, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

9. Groupon

Who doesn’t like big discounts?  Is it really surprising that Groupon got people talking (and joining) in 2010?

10. RedBox

First came Netflix, then came RedBox.  Blockbuster didn’t stand a chance.  How can you compete with cheap and convenient?

What do you think were the biggest buzz brands of 2010 in the United States or other parts of the world?  Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Google Previews Your Corporate Site

Have you noticed Google’s “instant preview” feature?

If you run a Google search for your company, you should see at least one result; ideally, you’ll see several pages from your site. Each will have a small magnifying glass to the right hand side… if you click that, you’ll see a thumbnail snapshot of the page.

Does your site look attractive at this scale? Is the page complete? Does your logo stand out? Is your branding recognisable?
Cairn Energy

These previews aren’t always flattering to the corporate site. Zipping through some of the FTSE 100 companies, I did spot some issues:

  • some sites are displaying with blank sections, where, presumably, part of the page hasn’t loaded before the snapshot was taken
  • I also saw one with a ‘down for maintenance’ display; I expect that this will be overwritten the next time the site is spidered
  • sites with a Flash-based home page (or elements on the page) don’t display well, showing just the plugin-jigsaw-piece image where the Flash should be.

Search Engine People found that sites with popups, where the page dims to highlight the popup, look bad, though this isn’t usually something that corporates use; something to bear in mind if you’re adding in a site survey popup, perhaps. Do go and read the Search Engine People post if you haven’t seen it yet, as there’s a lot of good examples and discussion there.

The good news is, though, that some sites look great at this scale, clear and attractive, with strong branding messages. The Cairn Energy preview shown above, for example, looks bright and vibrant, helped perhaps by the home page being short and wide rather than long and thin.

And some sites have text highlighted – see the screenshot for the Kingfisher home page, where the highlighted text happens to be a positioning statement. The company should be pleased with that!

Kingfisher

If your site has words displayed, are they useful to the visitor and helpful to you? This snippet is generated based on what the searcher is looking for, and the text on the page, so may be little that can be done to improve this other than ensuring that all content on the page is carefully honed. We can see that this varies, because if, for instance, I search for Aviva Group, and then for Aviva plc, and look at their About page, different text is highlighted in each case.

Aviva plc

Searching for Aviva PLC..
Aviva group

…and for Aviva Group.

This may not be something that you need to worry about. I expect that the images will get updated regularly, so if your site had a bad hair day, it may not be visible for long. I imagine that not many people will use this feature when looking for a corporate site; after all, if you know which company you’re looking for, you’re probably not going to be tempted into visiting a different organisation. However, if people are likely to search for your products and services, this may matter a great deal.

It is possible that people will use this feature when looking for information usually found on a lower level page, to cut out navigation within the corporate site. The extent to which people will use it is, as yet, unknown, but it will be interesting.

What do you think: will this matter? Is it a feature you’re likely to use much yourself when searching?

Brand Buzz Influences Perception as Holiday Shopping Begins

holiday_sale_1The biggest shopping days of the holiday season are coming, and retail brands are fighting for attention, wallets, and buzz.  YouGov has been tracking brand perceptions among an audience of 1.5 million consumers of which the organization surveys 5,000 people daily. A recent study was designed to learn how women with children under the age of 18 feel about brands as the holidays are approaching.

So which brands are on top in terms of positive consumer brand value perceptions based on the brand buzz around them?  According to YouGov (as reported by BrandWeek), the following brands are earning the most positive buzz:

  1. Target
  2. Old Navy
  3. Amazon
  4. J.C. Penney
  5. Kohl’s
  6. Toys ‘r Us
  7. eBay
  8. Walmart
  9. Sears
  10. Best Buy

Brands with the biggest jump in positive value perception versus 30 days earlier are Sears, Toys ‘r Us, Macy’s, eBay, and Bloomingdale’s.

Many of these brands are getting positive responses from consumers due to their big discounts and extended sales that have been rolled out earlier than ever to ensure retailers get the sales they need to wrap up a successful year.  New mobile promotions and social media marketing campaigns are launched every day as brands try to connect with the elusive digital consumer audience.

From a marketing perspective, the results analysis from these campaigns and tactics will be very interesting!  There will be a lot for retail brands to learn during this holiday season.  Returning to the “old” ways of marketing simply won’t get the job done anymore.  It makes you wonder what we’ll see during the 2011 holiday season!

What do you think?  Leave a comment and share your thoughts about brand value and promotions this holiday season.

Image: stock.xchng

Sustainability, Brittany and Corporate Greed

Three_little_pigs_-_third_pig_builds_a_house_-_Project_Gutenberg_eText_15661Once upon a time there were three little piggies, and their names were Flopsy, Mopsy, Cottontail and Peter.  And they lived with their crotchety old grandmother underneath the mushroom at the bottom of your neighbour’s garden.

Well, as the start to a fairy tale it has some merit, even if it lacks a certain originality.  Still, it’s more believable than “once upon a time, all companies traded fairly and equally with one another in a society based upon values rather than status.”

And then, so this fairy tale goes, the Big Bad Wolf came along and-he-huffed-and-he-puffed and he destroyed this value based society by pointing out that if you were mean, mendacious and plain greedy you could make more money than your competitors.

This is the fairy tale that those who advocate compulsory sustainability and CSR measures would have us believe.  But are they right?

[Read more…] about Sustainability, Brittany and Corporate Greed

Corporate Eye Summary November 20, 2010

  • The Effects of Corporate Blog Marketing
    In today’s current business climate, many companies are opting to find smarter and more frugal methods of marketing, and forgoing the mistaken idea that corporations have to spend a lot of money on their marketing ideas. Although frugal does not equate to “cheap” or “poor quality”, it does require that the company be creative and […]


  • The Board’s Role In Strategic Planning Redux
    The NYSE published recommendations on directors’ role in business strategy. Some companies are ahead of the curve.


  • Brands Try Stickybits for Creative Promotions through Mobile Apps
    Mobile marketing is so hot right now that every brand should be looking at how to integrate mobile into its marketing plan, particularly using mobile apps to drive consumer engagement with brands.  Stickybits is gaining traction among leading brands as a mobile app that can do exactly that.
    When people download the newest version of the […]


  • It Ain’t Whatcha Do, It’s The Way That You Do It…
    .. and that’s what gets results!
    This may seem a little trite for a business sustainability and CSR blog.  After all, thinking about your business’ effects beyond the simple commercial supply of product or services is the very definition of sustainability.  However, a particularly pertinent example surfaced last week.
    Archimedes Pharma is (according to their website) an […]


  • Li and Fung — Corporate Governance On One Page
    During my online journeys I’ve visited some interesting Corporate Governance sites. I found that too often I make quick judgments and that I need to take more time to assess the attributes of a visited site.
    This was put in play when I observed the Corporate Governance page of Li & Fung Ltd an export […]