interactive marketing

Archive for the 'interactive marketing' Category

Aug

ChalkBot remembers Mom

By Kirk 0 Comments

Categories: cause marketing, event marketing, health care, interactive marketing, promotion and social media

Nike’s Chalkbot may be the perfect convergence of technology, social media, and cause marketing.

Essentially a pneumatic chalk-paint sprayer driven by a computer, ChalkBot takes messages from around the world via text messaging, Facebook, Twitter and the LiveSTRONG web site, and sprays them in yellow on the roads of the Tour de France during the event.

According to The Inspiration Room blog, the system includes a text-message interface, web-based queue and approval system for tour officials, onboard machine and nozzle control, spray mechanism, camera and GPS capture system, and Twitter integration. (See how it works below.)

The messages generally support the fight against cancer, encourage survivors, and memorialize loved ones. On the ChalkBot landing page are sample messages submitted by others and a Google map indicating their points of origination.

I gave it a try and submitted a message in memory of my mom who died of cancer in 2000.

On July 19, the Tour entered the Pyrenees during Stage 14. Christophe Riblon, a Fenchman, escaped early on the road between Revel and Ax 3 Domaines and held off the charge of the peloton to win the day. The main contenders, Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador, played cat-and-mouse games with each other during the stage’s two difficult climbs. Schleck retained the yellow jersey.

Meanwhile, a few miles away, the ChalkBot was spraying messages on the Stage 16 route, the roads between Bagnéres-de-Luchon and Pau. One of them was mine.

Recently I received an email message from Nike with a photo of my message painted on the road, along with the date, the time of day, and the GPS coordinates. Great followup. Mom would have been amazed.

Jul

Tour de Tweets II

By Kirk 0 Comments

Categories: cause marketing, event marketing, health care, interactive marketing, promotion, social media and strategy

Note: It’s Tour Time! Here’s a post I wrote last year about the nearly seamless integration of social media into the event. In many ways, the 2009 Tour broke new ground for both participants and fans at major sporting events. And, yes, the ChalkBot is back in 2010!

The 2009 Tour de France, highlighted by Lance Armstrong’s return, may be remembered as much for being the first sporting event in history to fully integrate social media into the competition and the coverage.

Nearly every one of the 20 teams blogged and tweeted (e.g., Garmin-Slipstream and Astana).

Numerous riders and team managers tweeted as well (e.g., Levi Leipheimer, Andy Schleck, and Johan Bruyneel. (For examples of Twitter use by riders, see Dara Kerr’s post at CNET News.)

Active.com combined tweets from all of the participating riders and managers into one stream.

Armstrong, a skilled promoter, was most prolific. In Becky Ebenkamp’s post at Brandweek, Richard Rosenblatt, CEO of Demand Media, which owns the Livestrong.com community, said, “(Armstrong) called up and said, ‘I … want to broadcast through Livestrong.com exclusively and use Twitter to make sure people can not only see the tour, but actually feel it and hear it directly from my mouth — unedited.’”

His Twitter and Facebook posts regularly included behind-the-scenes videos and photos. A skilled promoter, he leveraged his celebrity and his celebrity friends to raise awareness for Livestrong, such as a video of Ben Stiller clowning on Lance’s warm-up bike.

Traditional sports media relied on Twitter for leads. The Daily Mail published Lance’s Twitter diary. And while many of the riders’ posts were banal, some provided real insight into the action, such as this comment by multiple-stage winner Mark Cavendish, “Yesterday with 3km to go, Piet Rooijakkers (skil shimano) kidney punched me.”

The official Tour de France site included a fantasy team competition as well as blogs and Twitter.

Versus.com, the site of the TV network which broadcast the race, incorporated a dazzling array of fan-friendly features, including live coverage, mobile alerts, daily blogs including Armstrong’s, a message board, a widget providing updates, podcasts, an ask-the-expert feature, a serialized graphic novel, a sweepstakes, a virtual library of video and photos, trivia quizzes, and games.

One of Armstong’s sponsors, Nike, donates proceeds from the sale of Livestrong products to the Lance Armstrong Foundation. Its tour site provided visitors the opportunity to post their own stories in words or video of hope in the face of cancer.

It also featured an ingenious innovation — the Chalkbot. Messages of encouragement and remembrance, texted by site visitors, were spray-chalked thousands of miles away on the roads of the tour during the event by the Chalkbot. Who could resist memorializing a loved one in this way?

The 2009 Tour was perhaps the most connected athletes, teams, sponsors, charities, media and fans have ever been. Where do you think it will lead?

Apr

How health-care reform will change hospital marketing

By Kirk 3 Comments

Categories: cause marketing, health care, interactive marketing, promotion and public relations

istock_000008683429xsmall After months of political wrangling, the health-care reform bill is now law.

What does it mean for hospital marketing?

Here are some predictions:

1) It is generally held that prevention and wellness initiatives will reduce health-care costs over time. More and more, hospitals will reach outside of their four walls to address public health issues with new education campaigns on topics such as anti-obesity and hand-washing.

2. Beyond education, actionable public health initiatives such as vaccination programs will increase and require promotion.

3. Patient self-management of chronic diseases such as asthma and diabetes also saves health-care money, but will require patient awareness campaigns and education.

4. Hospitals will be required to report outcomes and quality care metrics on their websites and in community reports.

5. Media scrutiny of quality and costs will increase. Relationships with journalists will require special handling.

6. Providers are expecting an influx of new patients. Patient communications will grow in importance, as first-time patients will need help navigating the health-care system. As many previously uninsured patients may be younger, poorer, and more ethnically diverse, communicators will explore new channels to reach those audiences.

7. New patients will likely overwhelm the system in the near term, which will heat up competition to fill new positions. Recruitment advertising and branding aimed at prospective physicians and nurses hires will increase.

8. Staff will require education about the impact of health-care reform on their jobs. With more demands on the system, staff motivation efforts will increase.

9. Philanthropic support will be required to help fund increased capability and resources to meet the additional demand for services.

10. Hospitals which haven’t already done so will open internet portals where patients can access their personal medical records and test results, as well as manage their accounts.

11. As more collaborative arrangements develop, managing and promoting relationships with payers, government agencies and social-service organizations will increase in importance.

12. Hospitals will promote their quality-improvement and cost-cutting measures. Branding will be based upon the proven success of these initiatives.

Those are my guesses for what the next few years hold in store for health-care communicators. What are yours?

Feb

P&G brands … itself?

By Kirk 1 Comment

Categories: advertising, event marketing, interactive marketing, promotion, retail and strategy

Procter & Gamble, the inventor and best known practitioner of brand management, is finally getting around to branding itself.

In its first-ever corporate campaign, 17 of P&G’s brands are featured under its singular umbrella. In partnership with the U.S. Olympic Committee, P&G is running two new TV spots and an accompanying multi-channel campaign during the Winter Games.

Well known as the largest advertiser in the world, P&G has previously executed its marketing brand by brand. It is often cited as the premier example of a “house of brands.” Until now, with the exception of tags at the end of TV spots in China and Japan, P&G has never marketed itself as a brand.

“ … we do not intentionally promote our company name unless it’s to build rapport for a new product, ” says Daisuke Hase, P&G External Relations Supervisor, at J@pan Inc. ” … we don’t tag our name on a product unless necessary.”

Things have changed.

The reason? At Marketing Daily, Kirk Perry, P&G Vice President, North America, says the Winter Games are the right time and place for the company to take a unified corporate approach.

“We know the Winter Olympics are the number one sport among women 18 to 34 and the second-most watched among men after the NFL,” says Perry. “And, given the economy, people are taking vacations closer to home. The Olympics are a terrific family event. And this will be a terrific return relative to other options.”

In Brandweek, P&G CMO Marc Pritchard says, “P&G may not be in the sporting goods business, but we are in the business of helping moms. We strive to help improve her life and the life of her family, in small, meaningful ways. The common denominator between P&G and the Olympic Games is the connection with moms.”

As part of the campaign, P&G is running a Tribute to Moms video on its website. Its Thank You, Mom campaign site is complete with mom blogs, videos, photos, and a Twitter feed from the Games, plus (of course) product information and coupons.

Consistent with the mom theme, the company is helping defray the cost of travel to Vancouver for mothers of competing athletes. The athletes will also participate in the campaign, which includes advertising, PR, in-store merchandising, mobile, digital and direct mail.

Perry says, “It’s our most-integrated marketing plan behind a single event ever.”

What do you think of this change in strategy from the originator of brand management?

Feb

And the winner is … Google

By Kirk 1 Comment

Categories: advertising, copywriting, interactive marketing, mass media, search engine marketing, social media and strategy

In its Super Bowl commercial, Google tells an engaging little story of romance with simplicity and elegance. Appropriately, it uses keywords and search results only.

Its logo is onscreen almost the entire time, while it demonstrates several of its features and benefits. It effectively offsets Bing’s recent efforts at malignment.

Not only was the spot inexpensive to produce, but it stood out from the sophomoric humor and over-the top production of the majority of the commercials.

Erik Sherman, in his negative review of the spot at BNET, misses the point that by airing the spot in the Super Bowl, Google reached millions and millions who haven’t already seen it on YouTube.

Smart marketing all the way around.

Which spot do you feel was most effective?

Jul

Tour de Tweets

By Kirk 2 Comments

Categories: cause marketing, event marketing, health care, interactive marketing, promotion, social media and strategy

Nearly every one of the 20 teams blogged and tweeted (e.g., Garmin-Slipstream and Astana).

Numerous riders and team managers tweeted as well (e.g., Levi Leipheimer, Andy Schleck, and Johan Bruyneel. (For examples of Twitter use by riders, see Dara Kerr’s post at CNET News.)

Active.com combined tweets from all of the participating riders and managers into one stream.