Everybody Got a Chevy

This Impala ad is taken from Source magazine. The company, Chevy and the model, Impala were the original lowriders so there is a cultural history in the brand. True, the cars today are different than they were 40 years ago but still history does provide that cultural connection. You can still see the old Impala low riders on the streets today. By employing Hip Hop artists, Chevy reestablishes and reinforces that old connection; this is a ride for the hip.

The artists, Cadillac Don & J-Money did a series of videos on Chevy models. Here’s an example in a Chevy lowrider:

Peanut Butter and Jelly

The "Everybody Got a Chevy" series of videos features a different model in each. It ties in beautifully with print ads commissioned by Chevy employing the Hip Hop artists. The fact that the videos are not traditional video ads only reinforces the leverage in the print ads, since the music videos are now associated with the cars and they appear less mediated. I think we will see more and more non-traditional work federated with traditional.

Best Buy Reward Zone Loyalty Program

Researching the Best Buy Reward Zone program was informative. AllianceData published an article on the one year anniversary of Reward Zone (see Alliance). The Director of Relationship Marketing at Best Buy, Karen Maurice said that the loyalty program originated from recommendations by focus groups of customers four years prior to its launch in July 2002. Best Buy spent four years doing research, modeling how it would work and preparing a business case. Relationship marketing was able to make a case for “a rather large investment and said, ‘let’s pilot it.’”

Their approach was test based. The first release was to 50 stores in California. The results were impressive so they decided to rollout nationally. At that time the program was fee based, costing $9.99 per year. Even after the national rollout and especially during the first year’s renewal, Maurice says they were testing multiple approaches to see which had the most impact.

According to the Associated Press, (see wcco) in September 2006 Best Buy dropped the $9.99 fee and extended the program with an associated credit card. The customer earns more points and Best Buy can better understand their customer buying patterns. The credit card can also be considered part of the loyalty program. The popular Reward Zone was trusted enough to extend into other areas of the customer life style.

References
Associated Press (September 27, 2006). Best Buy Drops 'Reward Zone' Fee. Retrieved on September 3, 2008 at http://wcco.com/local/Best.Buy.Reward.2.361946.html.

Fergeson, R (2004). Happy Birthday, Reward Zone. AllianceData. Retrieved on September 3, 2008 at http://www.alliancedata.com/downloads/FMI%20Happy%20Birthday%20Reward%20Zone.pdf

Hallmark Crown Rewards

Duncan (2004, p 226) says that Hallmark does not rely much on demographics in its marketing analysis but instead “places much more emphasis on psychographics.” An artist with Hallmark explained that the relationship rather than the age is the essential element in their work. A program like Crown Rewards can help build an informative database of customer attributes and behavior patterns and add supersonic energy to their creative work, marketing communications, and strategic planning. It can even keep the company's market share intact, like it did for a Hallmark that was troubled in the early 90s.

They were hurting in the 1990s (see Hallmark History) because the world had changed and caught them unawares. They “had fallen victim to changing buying patterns in particular among women, who still bought 90 percent of all cards sold.”

Since implementing the program in 1994, the company has avoided the dire decline. Hallmark gains twice the revenue from Crown Rewards members than from general customers. Here is an internal study by Phillip Morris on Hallmark and its use of the consumer database and the uplifting effect the Crown Rewards program had on the Hallmark company (see Phillip Morris on Crown Rewards Database).

In addition to helping Hallmark, the Crown Rewards consumer database also supports the marketing efforts by Hallmark retail franchise stores, such as Mark’s Hallmark Stores (see iPass Case Study). Besides access to the Crown Rewards database, Hallmark also sells access to its high-speed data communications network named Hallmark/iPass. It is also useful for Hallmark subsidiaries such as Crayola.

When we are creating an account for the Crown Rewards Program, Hallmark asks if its affiliated companies can e-mail about special offers (see Hallmark Registration). This extends the psychographic profiling capabilities of Hallmark to companies such as Crayola, which probably could not afford to maintain such sophisticated data analytics functionality on their own. (see Crayola History)

Hallmark is a great study because it shows a hidden motive – the data motive- in loyalty programs.


References
Duncan, Tom (2005). Principles of Advertising and IMC. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.

CVS ExtraCare Loyalty Program

The CVS ExtraCare® program was introduced in 2001 to obtain advantage over competition (see Highbeam). Many praise the program (for example, Stocks blog), but I’m afraid someone let an 800 pound gorilla into the room that had been occupied by the more genteel Walgreens, the struggling Rite-Aid and CVS.

Walmart is now the third largest pharmacy chain behind CVS and Walgreens (see Rubins) and it is methodically attacking the revenue base of its competitors. The Associated press reports (see TulsaWorld) that Walmart is showing strong results. Bill Simon, CEO at Walmart reports that results at the end of each “phase” on the onslaught have been "exceeding our expectations."

One of its first attacks was on the cross-subsidizing actions of its competitors (reported by Larry Abrams), where these competitors charged more for certain generics to cover price competitions with other, popular drugs. Walmart offers $4 prescriptions on generic (see Retail Wire).

CVS alone was comfortable enough to stand pat. This may unwind. Walmart also offers three percent below cost on prescriptions (see Google) and over time this is pressuring already thin margins. Facing this kind of well orchestrated brutality will put CVS and its loyalty program to the test.

On a happier note, CVS gives a commitment to protect privacy of data collected - see CVS FAQ - showing the other important aspect of loyalty programs, information.

American Airlines AAdvantage

The grandpappy of all frequent flier programs, AAdvantage was designed to keep American Airlines most frequent customers on the right airplanes, American’s. According to Lalas (TCS_White_Papers) the first frequent flier programs in the 1980s had the intended benefit of better understanding the popular airline routes.

Of course, AAdvantage increases customer retention with the promotional currency of a free airline ticket. Furthermore, Thomaselli (2005, p 2) reports that

“There's not a lot of expense to the airlines. It might sound like it's a big thing, giving away a free ticket to someone who has accumulated enough points. The reality is, very few seats are given away at the expense of a revenue passenger."

More than a defensive mechanism to keep customers, it was a reconnaissance to better understand its routes and customers. This enables more effective yield management on routes to predict sales patterns and ticket pricing strategies to fill up planes while optimizing revenue. Of course, there is also personalized marketing. Jackson (2007, p 31) reveals that American used its AAdvantage database to more effectively personalize its web site.

During these desperate financial times, Financial Week (on AA) reports on another advantage of the AAdvantage loyalty program. The informative database has tremendous value and American is considering selling it to raise cash to stay alive, reflecting its legless frailty and incapacity.

American has already been using the loyalty program database for its retail web site (see Retailing for Miles ). It incents members to buy products from it with the inducement of earning frequent flier miles.

Solheim (2008, p 1) says that American also profits by selling miles to other marketing organizations.

“Airlines discovered that they could make more money by selling miles to ‘partners’ than by selling seats.”

AAdvantage has almost 1,200 partners who buy miles at 1¢ to 2¢ per mile.

Reference

Jackson, Tyrone (2007). Personalisation and CRM. Database Marketing and Customer Strategy Management. Retrieved from EBSCOHOST on August 31, 2008.

Solheim, Mark (January 2008). What You Need to Know About Travel Reward Programs. Kiplinger Personal Finance. Retrieved from EBSCOHOST on August 31, 2008.

Thomaselli, Rich (June 20, 2005). Who really reaps mileage rewards? Advertising Age. Retrieved from EBSCOHOST on August 31, 2008.

Ethos, Themes and Values

Understanding our target audiences and targeting content to them is a fundamental aspect of web design. Scott (2007, p 33) advises us to identify and articulate each target audience and develop content specific to each. He recommends creating a persona for each target audience.

What information do we need for content to appeal to each persona? In his book, Culture and Persoanlity, Wallace (1963, p 101) recommends knowing the themes, values and ethos of a group to prepare appealing content. A theme is how the group sees the world. Wallace suggests a good way of discerning this is a review of the literature or theatre the group patronizes. What books or movies are their favorites?

He catalogs several themes in literature:

• The “western” – hard to find good people must fight tirelessly to bring order to a chaotic world


• The “detective” – idealists disillusioned with the existing order do the right thing for the wrong reason


• The “mystery” – clever and logical heroes politely work to maintain what they believe is a righteous order


• The “action” – well intentioned brutality


• The “drama” – heroes not concerned with social welfare, seek gratification of private desire.
  

Ethos is a style or form of emotional experience. Ruth Benedict, the grand dame of the cultural and social study of groups and a professor to Margaret Mead (see Wallace, 1963, p 103), distinguishes two type of ethos for groups: Dionysian and Apollonian. The desire for the Dionysian is personal experience, while that of the Apollonian is moderation.

Finally values (p 101) are concepts or mental images that motivate a group to action. They are either positive or negative, moving a group towards or repelling them away from some idea. Health, membership in a prestigious group, leisure, and affluence are examples of such motivational food pellets.

This type of information should be stored in our customer database in addition to the raw data on demographics, and so on to help formulate a meaningful appeal after we have segmented target audiences.

References
Scott, D (2007). The New Rules of Marketing and PR. Wiley.

Spiller, L. and M. Baier (2005). Contemporary Direct Marketing. Pearson/Prentice-Hall.

Wallace, AFC (1963). Culture and Personality. Random House.

Bove and Mitzifiris on Openness

In their article, Personality traits and the process of store loyalty in a transactional prone context, Bove and Mitzifiris (2007, p 507) give a quick and informative review of customer loyalty and the value it has to the marketing efforts of an organization. Customer loyalty results in better financial performance, forgiveness of service failures, and less price fighting. They assert that retailers must understand their customer’s loyalty orientation in the challenging business environment of today. The main topic of their article is an empirical study of how customer personality traits affect loyalty.

A well established personality profiling framework, the Five Factor Model (FFM) is used in deriving an answer to the key question, (p 508) “How can a retailer determine which customers have a relational orientation?” Their evaluation is how the FFM personality traits impact trust, commitment and satisfaction and in turn how these three factors affect loyalty with a fast food retailer.

This paper gave a good overview of the Five Factor Model, an important model for any discipline dealing with personality, including marketing. It also gave a quick summary of the literature related to customer loyalty – its benefits and the factors that affect it (p 509), trust, commitment and satisfaction. They also describe the NEO-PI measurement instrument (survey) that can be used for personality classification (p 510).

Bove and Mitzifiris posited fourteen hypotheses (p 509) about the relationship between personality traits and the three antecedents of trust, commitment and satisfaction, as well as between these antecedents and loyalty. The first method used was a literature review to establish the link between trust, commitment and satisfaction with loyalty. Previous empirical work had established these relationships so they built on that foundation.

They next designed a survey to use for measuring customer personality, the NEO-PI measures, and tailored it to their intended investigation. They used a Likert scale for each question’s response 1 to 5, strongly disagree to strongly agree. Rather than use a random sample of fast food retailers, they selected two with intent. They omitted one of the Five Factor Model dimensions, openness from the survey design.

They found (p 512, 514) that the relationship between the antecedents and the behavior aspect of loyalty is not explanatory or predictive. Additionally, of the four Five Factor Model personality traits they tested, only emotional stability had a material relationship to the antecedents, in this case trust (p 512). On the other hand, their model fared better with the attitude aspects of loyalty (p 515). Trust, commitment and satisfaction do have a positive correlation with attitudinal loyalty in fast food retailing.

I do think Bove and Mitzifiris (p 509) were hasty in the exclusion of the openness factor in the personality profile. They assert that there is no research evidence “to support an association between openness to experience and relation orientation.” However, Barbanelli, et al (1997) establish the link between openness and individuation and there is literature showing the link between individuation and commitment or even loyalty directly. For example, see Gnaulati and Heine (2001) or Chan and Misra(1990).

It also seems intuitively obvious that the personality factor of openness, which incorporates need for variety, would have an affect on commitment, especially in food retailing. Because of this, I would change the hypotheses model (p 510) constructed by Bove and Mitzifiris as noted by red coloration in the following diagram:

Despite this misgiving about openness, their investigation was able to make two significant conclusions. First, the pathway to loyalty proposed by Garbarino and Johnson for a theatre company may not be readily generalizable. Second, regarding the attitude towards the store (as opposed to buying behavior), trust, commitment and satisfaction do seem to be generalizable.

References
Barbaranelli, C, and G Caprara and C Maslach (1997). Individuation and the Five Factor Model of Personality Traits. Retrieved on August 27, 2008 from EBSCOHOST.

Bove, Liliana and Betty Mitzifiris (2007). Personality traits and the process of store loyalty in a transactional prone context. Journal of Services Marekting. Retrieved on August 26, 2008 from EBSCOHOST.

Chan, K and S Misra (1990). Characteristics of the Opinion Leader: A New Dimension. Journal of Advertising. Retrieved on August 27, 2008 from EBSCOHOST.

Gnaulati, E and B Heine (January 2001) Separation-Individuation in Late Adolescence: An Investigation of Gender and Ethnic Differences. Journal of Psychology. Retrieved on August 27, 2008 from EBSCOHOST.

Podsakoff, P, and S. MacKenzie, J. Lee, and N. Podsakoff (2003). Common Method Biases in Behavioral Research: A Critical Review of the Literature and Recommended Remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology. Retrieved on August 27, 2008 from http://www.usq.edu.au/users/patrick/PAPERS/Common%20Method%20Variance.pdf

Law of Requisite Variety

With Cool Hand Luke (see imdb ), “Rabbit gonna run” results in a “Fay-yah to communicate” lecture and thumping from the warden. With web sites, just the opposite: a failure to communicate results in a rabbit gonna run.

In his book "The Social Psychology of Organizing", Karl Weick offers an intriguing insight about communications generally that I think applies with force in Websites where we can’t see the rabbits come and go, except by their abstruse reflections in our web logs. He defines the Law of Requisite Variety:

“the variety in a system [such as a Website] must be at least as great as the environmental variety against which it is attempting to influence.“

For Web site designers, our site must have appeal to our different publics. Weick gives as an example a photographer, and I give a Website Design corollary:

• A photographer has 5 subjects each at a different distance from the camera.
• A IMC Website designer has 5 different psychographic segments to reach with the site
  --
• The photographers camera must have 5 distinct setting to capture all subjects with uniform density and clarity
• The Website designer must have content for 5 distinct personas and apt navigation for each (as an example see WVU Home Page)
  --
• If the camera has fewer than 5 settings it lacks requisite variety and will not register with sufficient detail to depict with accuracy
• If the Website does not have content of relevant interest to the 5 personas some of the visitors will leave in frustration.
  

Paul Gillin (see Paul's blog) in his excellent book The New Influencers describes an approach for addressing a diverse audience such as a University Website.

My conclusion, the home page is an important traffic cop to direct personas to their appropriate content.

We also need to be a Web boss like at right, because the customer, well he's got rabbit in his blood, and he'll run.

BMW's Guitar Score

If you have been watching Mad Men season two, you have heard the quiet clarity of the guitar picking in BMW’s We Built commercial (Bimmer: We Built). It was composed by Singing Serpent (their blog) a San Diego music house that does elegant and attractive work. According to creative director Rafter Roberts, SingingSerpent provides "as wide an array of Musical/thematic concepts as anyone could ever want out of a spot.”

The We Built score is reminiscent of Christa Päffgen’s work in the mid-60s (see Nico) especially her These Days track on the Chelsea Girl album, if you can get through the violins . These Days is emblematic of the pop music of that time (Amazon_30_sec) and it has “lasted for decades as a classic of [blue] introspection made even more remarkable by [Jackson] Browne having been only 16 years old when he wrote it.”

Arrangements similar to We Built would seem effective appeals to baby boomers of higher income and education levels (see Music Audience). The demographics of this style pop music has a bias for higher income and education levels. Likewise for BMW’s demographics (for example see BNet).

Dr. David Allan (2006, p 435, in Effects of Popular Music) says the value of syncing music into advertising campaigns is increased involvement through a heightened arousal. However, his research also shows that

“The individuals in this experiment processed songs and artists they considered high in personal significance differently from those that were low in significance”

BMW has a song cycle of commercials to reach its various publics, including these:

• BWM Reflections
  
• BMW Thank Goodness
  
• BMW Its Only A Car
  
• BMW dhogue

Advertisers seem to pull out the stops for Mad Men and showcase their talent. SleepingSerpent is a persuasive best for BMW.

A Pirelli Short Film

Pirelli has always had attractively pioneering marketing. It is characterized by facility and skill among tire companies, front running many with flamboyant calendars (see Pirelli Calendar ). Adopting short films is not such a leap for them and The Call is certainly more interesting than watching the Michelin Marshmallow Man try to get his Marshmallow Dog.

Pfanner (2006, pp1-2) gives some insight into this campaign. It was the first time Pirelli worked with Leo Burnett and behind it was concerns with the declining effectiveness of traditional media advertising. Traditional advertising seems to be dissolving before our eyes. It is no longer the altruistic industry that gives us free TV, but now has an appearance more like a monolithic parasite draining money from its corporate host.

Pirelli backed its bet on short film marketing with 60% of its marketing budget according to Pfanner (2006, p1). Why?

"Many advertisers are worried that traditional ways of reaching consumers, including the 30-second television spot, are losing their power to persuade."

Their tag-line “Power is nothing without control” is catchy. However, to build long-term relationships, the slogans should be consistent with the customer’s experience with the company. Duncan (2005, p 15) says that “ interactions with customers send some of the most impactful messages that customers receive about a brand.”

Curiously, Pirelli has had some scandal related to its level of concern for safety. Lawsuits allege that it had foreknowledge of safety problems but did not take action. Many complain, see AllAutoWorld .

All in all, though, the campaign was a hit. They even have a short film out now with Uma Thurman (see Pirelli on YouTube ). Same theme.



References
Duncan, Tom (2005). Principles of Advertising & IMC. McGraw-Hill
Pfanner, Eric (January 29, 2006). On Advertising: Film or Ad? Ask Pirelli. International Herald Tribune. Retrived on August 23, 2008 from http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/01/29/business/ad30.php

Good and Bad Brand Names

According to Duncan (2005, p. 80-81) the key characteristics of a good brand name are 1.) It incorporates the benefits in the name; 2.) Has a positive association to some cultural touchstone; 3.) It is distinctive; 4.) And it is easy to spell and say. These will be the criteria used to evaluate the brand names I consider to be appropriate and those that are not.

Two good brand names

Microsoft
Microsoft has the world’s second most valuable brand and its brand name is a part of that value. It ranks only behind Coca Cola, and has a brand valued at nearly $60B, according to InterBrand (August 1, 2005, P 94). Here is a link to the top 100 brands: Top 100 Brands .

Microsoft’s brand name incorporates the benefits or services that are gained: this company’s products are for people who need software to do tasks on a microcomputer device. Additionally, the brand name is easy to say and spell. Finally, I think is has had a positive association with smallness. Kearns describes how Microsoft does not understand big enterprises and its primary customer base is small businesses. A geek's Small is Beautiful

I would also add to small businesses, small departments in large organizations. I have been in both situations in the mid-to-late 1980s and there was a large grass roots movement of small organizations that looked at Microsoft as providing information technology we could afford and use. It turned out to be true. The momentum from its successes in small organizations propelled Microsoft to its position today.

Polo
Duncan (2005, p 147) says: “Aspiration, status, and luxury are themes frequently used in marketing communications.” The Polo brand expresses that in my thinking. Polo is the sport of aristocrats. So I associate it with class, and since I have airs above my station it appeals to me. It is also simple – easy to say and spell.

In Time magazine, Koepp (September 1986) quotes NY Times fashion critic Bernadine Morris referring to Ralph Lauren and Polo: "He's acquired a certain reputation for clothes that are, you know, with it. But not too with it. Not enough to shock the boys at the bank." That is the sense I get from the brand name also, stylish rather than formal but acceptable anywhere. An appeal to upper-middle class aspirations. Bernadine on Ralph.

Two bad brand names

Old Crow
One brand name that seems inappropriate to me is Old Crow. This is the brand name for a bourbon whiskey originally distilled by Dr. James Crow, the inventor of the sour mash process for manufacturing bourbon. The name is simple, but has depressing connotations. I associate the name with dereliction. It says to me that the benefit of using this product is I end up with a sign around my neck, “Will work for alcohol.”

Breen (2007, p 87) discusses a fortress brand and I think the point can be extended as a fortress brand name also. He says “the successful brands stumble: They fail to evolve. Bangle calls them ‘fortress brands.’ Deeply rooted in their heritage and values, they are inflexible, unmovable, and ultimately stuck in time.” Who do you love.

This happened to the Old Crow while its rival Jim Beam made early and profitable forays into premium and superpremium bourbons. America changed significantly from the 1950s through the 1980s and Old Crow had not kept up. Old Crow had gone into receivership in the 1980s and was acquired by its rival, Jim Beam. The 1980s saw an accelerating change in American drinking habits. Single malts and premium whiskies had captured the attention of affluent drinkers while vodka and rum appealed to the younger generation. Asimov (2007, p 1-2) gives a capsule summary of this trend during that time period. The Rise of Premiums.

In prior times, it had appealed to its colonial origins, which explained its brand name, as in this advertisement typical of its campaigns in the late 1950s and 1960s. Example Crow Ad. The historical appeal of its brand name no longer seemed relevant to the new America. In any case, with its losses from the shift in drinking taste, it could no longer publish effective advertisements to explain the funny name.

Today, some 30 years on, the name alone, without the advertising, projects it as a train-yard favorite. It rather suggests the use of industrial strength chemical extractants in its processing, with kool-aid like substances added afterward to hide the clorox aftertaste. Today, Jim Beam and its holding company, American Brands relegate the Old Crow brand name to its low-end offering.

Beam offers an interesting contrast in its advertising during that tumultuous time. Example Beam ad. Sean Connery was featured in its ads during the 60s and 70s. He seemed to me, at that time, to be considered cool to all age groups. American Brands seemed to have the pulse of its target segment in terms of both product innovation and brand image. Today, very few people understand the Old Crow Brand Name and by its lonesome it sends negative vibes.

Redskins
The Washington Redskins football team has a great history on the gridiron. However, this is another case of America changing and a brand name that is stuck in the past. Today there is a rising level of complaints that the brand name is a racist slur, insensitive and insulting to a significant group of Americans. I think as this movement (to change the name) becomes more prominent, the brand name will be increasingly associated with base and backward prejudice. Time to rethink.

The coalition against the name is not relying merely on moral suasion. It has filed action with the trademark section of the US Patent and Trademark Office. According to AP (August 2006), three trademark judges agreed with the complaint and were ready to revoke trademark status. A successful appeal has stopped this action for now but has not stopped the determination of the groups organizing to oppose the name. Redskins Name Problems

References
Duncan, Tom (2005). Principles of Advertising and IMC. New York: McGraw-Hill Irwin.