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Archives for 2010

Sara Lee Targets the Mom Audience

Corporations have several purposes, one of which is to solve a problem or to address a need. The Sara Lee Corporation aims to satisfy that concern by creating a new, interesting segment to its corporation, appropriately addressed as a “Saga Solver.”

Problem Solver

This new corporate development in their social media campaign efforts was released last week. The program is designed to help busy moms with household decisions in making and preparing meals and selecting healthy food alternatives for her family. Each segment is presented as a ‘problem’ of sorts and offers a panel of field experts who help moms figure out the answers to their family’s concerns, all sprinkled with humor and entertainment. Here is one of the videos from the corporation that they’re using as a social networking tool to reach busy moms:

Saga Solvers: How Do You Stop Being a Short-order Cook?

Niche Target Audience

The Sara Lee Corporation is aiming and targeting moms in its campaign by showing them how some of their problems can be solved with their products, and lending a friendly, professional ear also seems to help the situation.

They’ve made this social networking campaign to be inclusive of all moms; working moms, stay-at-home moms, student moms, etc. They are also heavily utilizing their Facebook page to promote the new segment and entice feedback and responses from their readers. How successful is it so far? As of today, March 2, they have over 23,000 fans on their page and it’s steadily growing!

When corporations target a specific niche audience, they are usually successful because their resources are targeted towards those demographics and marketing specifically to their needs. And, what does every mom need? She needs for her life to be simplified and as hassle-free as possible. Kudos to the executives at the Sara Lee Corporation for recognizing and addressing a need and for offering solid advice with a bit of humor.

What do you think of their new Saga Solver segments? Do you see the immediate benefit of the advice given and where it would be of help to moms?

The February Wrap-up

Kitchen Counter

Continuing the 2010 tradition, some updates and short takes for last month:

Following up on the meeting detailed in Confused about .jobs Job Boards? . . . reports (sort of) about the event were summarized by John Zappe in this post on ere.net.   It certainly doesn’t clear anything up, but if by chance you’ve followed the saga thus far, it’s a must read.

If you are new to the topic, however, you can just jump directly to the Recently Breaking News.  In the nick of time for this wrap-up, Zappe posted an update that reveals a new turn of events.  To wit:  Direct Employers has taken down all the controversial .jobs sites (which were in beta but scheduled to launch this month) for “enhancements.”

There’s more detail, and more back story.  But that’s the gist of it.

Also out recently is this AP story, which presents a sunnier version of the .jobs story, largely in the context of profiling Bill Warren.   Reading all these items together, it’s tempting to think there has been a collision of good intentions, ambitious goals, poor communications, questionable decisions, and changing times. But of course it’s the outcome that will ultimately define “what happened.”

In the meantime, here’s one more thought about Employment Happiness.  It’s assumed today that there’s a quantifiable value to having happy employees:  lower turnover, better employer brand, higher productivity, etc.  But that’s a relatively recent point of view.  Were the people making Model Ts happy in the workplace?  The gray-flannel-suited men of mid-century Manhattan?  The drug-enabled workaholics of the zoom-zoom 80s?

It’s arguable that corporate America as we know it was built by unhappy people—and since things haven’t been going too well in the economy since the idea of worker happiness became popular . . . maybe there’s food for thought.

This last item is a bit out of order, since posts about the new Fortune 100 Best Places to Work list will be coming up in March.  But I wanted to get in a couple of small discoveries from the list that didn’t fit into the future posts:

  • The law firm of Orrick Herrington & Sutcliffe has instituted a non-partner track, offering long-term opportunities for lawyers who don’t want to work 100+ hours a week on their way to the partner suite.  Now that’s a good idea.
  • Six of the 100 companies on the list were touted as having “no lay-offs, ever.”  But Mercedes Benz was the only one where voluntary pay-cuts for CEO and execs were mentioned among the cost-saving measures.

Don’t forget:  In the U.S., Employee Recognition Day is the first Friday of March.  Check out some good recognition ideas for that day or any other.


(Many thanks to rvacapinta for sharing the kitchen counter still life.  You can see a fabulous Friday Night Dinner unfold on his Flickr page—highlighted by an entrée of seared scallops with a cauliflower purée in a walnut vinaigrette with orange caramelized chicory.)

1 in 3 Fortune 500 Companies Have Branded Twitter Profiles

twitter_what_are_you_doingThey might not know how to use it, but big companies are creating Twitter profiles anyway.

According to new research (via BrandWeek), 35% of Fortune 500 companies had active Twitter accounts in 2009 with at least one post in the last 30 days), and 47% of Fortune 100 companies had active Twitter accounts.

Let’s take a closer look at the 2009 statistics:

  • 35% of Fortune 500 companies had active Twitter accounts
  • 22% of Fortune 500 companies had corporate blogs for the public
  • 19% of Fortune 500 companies used podcasting (up from 16% the prior year).
  • 31% of Fortune 500 companies used video blogging (up from 21% the prior year).

Now that you’ve seen the statistics, are you satisfied?  If you’re like me, then you’re probably not.  The reason is simple.  Very few big companies understand how to use social media to effectively market their businesses.  They’ve joined Twitter as a reactionary strategy under the assumption that everyone else is doing it, so I better do it, too.  However, they don’t have realistic goals in mind for their social media efforts.  Instead, many big companies can’t give up control of the online conversation and let consumers run the show.

Let’s face it.  Social media marketing isn’t as simple as applying traditional marketing strategies to new media.  If that’s the direction you take with your social media marketing efforts, you’re destined for failure.  It’s a new mindset, and I’m not sure if big companies can get out of their own way enough to reap the potential rewards that the global online conversation can deliver.

That’s not to say there aren’t some large companies that are experimenting, thinking out of the box, and having success in their social Web efforts.  The problem is that it’s hard for the marketing teams at publicly owned companies to justify spending on social media marketing when hard metrics are beyond their grasp.  But that’s not going to change anytime soon.  Social media marketing is, after all, inherently about brand building, which is another intangible yet essential thing that marketers have to fight for budget dollars over.

Will 2010 be the year that big companies jump on board the Twitter and social media bandwagon in even bigger numbers than ever?  Most likely.  Does that mean they’re doing it right?  Most likely not.  But at least they’re trying, which is better than continuing to say social media marketing is a fad or unimportant.  Right?

Image: Flickr

The Personal Touch In CSR | CSR Around The World

Ida HornerYou never know how blinkered you’ve been until those blinkers are removed.

A few days ago I spotted Michael Portillo on TV using the medieval term for Europe: “Christendom”.  It was a programme about Christianity and in context, so there was nothing wrong with it.

But it makes the point, very well and very powerfully, how grounded our cultures are in a particular way of approaching life and its concomitant issues, even after centuries of change.

Hence one of the big stumbling blocks to Turkey’s accession to the EU: there are some who still say that the EU is and should remain Christian at heart.  Turkey, being a Muslim country, can therefore not join.

A similar set of blinkers surrounds CSR.  We in the west tend to think of it as a business strategy .. what if it was more personal than that? [Read more…] about The Personal Touch In CSR | CSR Around The World

The Death of the Hummer Brand

hummerUnless a buyer steps up to the plate very soon, General Motors plans to retire the Hummer brand.  Given the fact that the Hummer brand has been ranked as the brand with the least value by consumers, is anyone really surprised?  The bigger surprise would be seeing this brand rise again.  Instead, sales dropped to just 325 units in December 2009 — down by 85% from December 2008.

The death of the Hummer brand can be partially attributed to poor strategic planning and a lack of basic foresight into consumer behavior and the cyclical nature of not just marketing, but of world history.  Symbols of excess typically lead fleeting lives.  Society embraces them and eventually turns their backs on them.  It’s not a new phenomenon.  Add in the negative perceptions of the Hummer brand related to the environment (those things use A LOT of gas) and struggling economies, and the brand was positioned for failure.  But again, foresight and an acceptance of the fact that the good times could not last forever at the executive level could have made the difference between death and life for the Hummer brand in the long term.

The most interesting question right now is not just what company might be capable of saving the Hummer brand but what company would actually want to save it.  This is a brand whose reputation has been tarnished on many levels.  Could that negative perception be turned around? Is there a white knight out there for Hummer?

What do you think?  Is there still value in the Hummer brand?  Take the poll below and share your opinion. If you can’t view the poll below, you can follow this link to do so.

 

Image: Flickr

Top 10 Branded Sounds

An important part of marketing and branding is appealing to consumers’ senses, and sound is just as important as smell, touch, taste and sight.  I was particularly interested in an article I read on the Fast Company Web site today that revealed the most well-known sounds, including the top 10 branded sounds.  Believe it or not, the Intel sound that’s become so recognized that it’s now part of the company’s advertising campaign (check out the ad below), is second in terms of popularity only behind the sound of a baby crying.

The list is based on a small study done by Buyology Inc. and Elias Arts with 50 people and used neuroscience research methods to evaluate participants’ reactions to a wide variety of sounds.

According to the Fast Company article, the top 10 non-branded and branded sounds are:

1. Baby giggle
2. Intel
3. Vibrating phone
4. ATM / cash register
5. National Geographic
6. MTV
7. T-Mobile Ringtone
8. McDonald’s
9. ‘Star Spangled Banner’
10. State Farm

And the top 10 branded sounds are:

1. Intel
2. National Geographic
3. MTV
4. T-Mobile
5. McDonald’s
7. State Farm
8. AT&T Ringtone
9. Home Depot
10 Palm Treo Ringtone

You can listen to all of the sounds by following this link to the Fast Company Web site.

Have you considered the importance of sound in building your brand?  Sounds like now is the time to do so.