Alyssa's World of Advtertising

Hi! My name's Alyssa. I'm a senior at Boston University and I'm an Ad major. Here's a blog that showcases my process of thought, my creativity, and my perspective on the industry.

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FITZ MARO

 - UNITED STATES 

360i

 - New York

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Caps are poppin’. The party’s never stoppin’!

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#client

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Some seriously cool runnings!

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ME – whenever someone asks what I’m doing on Valentines Day.  

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Just a house decked out with flavored ICE-cicles. #NBD 

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Springpad Experiment: Pantene

So there's this brand new interest graph platform called Springpad.  It's actually wicked awesome and I wouldn't be surprised if it was the next big thing in social media.  With Springpad, you could "spring" any item online that you want, whether it's a video, picture, URL link, a song, you name it.  Once you spring the item, it goes into one of your personal "notebooks,"  and each notebook could be a different themed interest.  Similar to Pinterest's "boards," notebooks cater to one specific interest so you could have one notebook dedicated to recipes you love, one dedicated to your favorite places in Boston to go for a bike ride, one dedicated to your favorite workouts, etc.  What's great about Springpad though, is that you can put notes and descriptions under each item that you spring.  They also have a mobile app developing so that you can spring anything, anytime, anywhere via your smart phone.  So, for instance if you hear a new song on the radio while  waiting in line for something in a store, you can look up that song and spring it to a notebook that's full of songs that you want to later download or have downloaded already.  Not all notebooks have to be open to the public too, so you can have private notebooks as well.

So, Springpad is a totally new and awesome platform.  But what can brands do with it?  And will brands be last in using it as usual?  I decided to try a little experiment to see what I could do with Springpad if I were a brand.  I chose Pantene shampoo because they are a brand that #1, I like, and #2, they haven't really been THAT successful in the social graph, let alone in the interest graph.

What I did was I made a series of notebooks for the Pantene.  All of them have to do with the product in some way.  

So, first I created a notebook dedicated to Pantene's products.  I didn't include all of them, but hypothetically speaking, if this were real, it would include every one of Pantene's products in the notebook, with the link leading to each product so that any consumer can reference it anytime.  

The second notebook I made was celebrity hairstyles where there would be an update daily notebook with all the latest celebrity hairstyles.  I'm sure Springpad will be used in sort of the same way as Pinterest--for inspiration for new looks and styles for women.  Why can't Pantene jump on this train and be known for having a great celebrity hairstyle notebook that people could follow?

The next notebook I made was for bridal hair.  I'm sure, just like Pinterest, bridal things will be springed up the wazoo.  It's just something that requires a lot of dreaming and planning and what better way to do so then with Springpad?  This is a huge opportunity for Pantene to make a notebook that has the latest bridal hairstyles.  Fantasizing women everywhere would follow this notebook for inspiration.

The fourth notebook I made was for How Tos about hair. This notebook would be filled with videos about how to do different hair looks and how to treat your hair in the best way possible.  This would definitely attract the right audience to Pantene, and it's a perfect opportunity for it to market towards them.

The last notebook I made was made after doing a little more research about Pantene.  They do this awesome charity called Beautiful Lengths where people with cancer could get human-hair wigs from people who've donated it to Beautiful Lengths. Here's a video from Pantene's youtube channel:

So, my idea for Springpad is that I create a notebook called Beautiful Lengths Stories, where girls (or boys!) could spring their stories about how and why they donated to beautiful lengths.  There could also be springs dedicated to how to style your hair when it's incredibly shorter, and include pictures about what they could do now with their hair.  There could also be before and after pictures of girls who have just cut their hair and donated it.  The possibilities are endless!  I think it would be a great way for Pantene to show off their charitable side on an interest graph platform, where only the people who are interested will follow the notebook, pay attention to Pantene, and be loyal and advocates for the brand.

Hopefully more and more people start to use Springpad as it progresses.  Although it still has a few kinks that need to be worked out (for instance, the pictures sometimes become distorted in the notebooks), it still has the potential to be the next best interest graph platform.  Brands could finally target the right audience with the right message at the right time.

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Inspiration from Katelyn Stokes

I wanted to interview Katelyn Stokes for a number of reasons.  First of all she just graduated last year from Boston University and was in my exact shoes not less than a year ago. Second, she's honestly a great woman to aspire to be like.  When I first met her, she was the VP of Account Services of AdLab, the Boston University student-run agency where she managed the Client Services department and already had 6 internships under her belt.  About a year later, and she already had an amazing job at Grey New York where she was an Assistant Account Executive for the Pantene account and now she has moved to AMP Agency as a Marketing Coordinator where she is working closely with the Chief Marketing Officer to promote the agency to potential clients.  She really is intelligent and knows what she's doing.

I asked Katelyn a series of questions yesterday on the phone and she naturally prepared some answers for me beforehand.  

I was really interested in Katelyn's first experience in the work force because I'm going to be in that position very soon, so I asked her if working as an Assistant Account Executive was everything she expected it to be or if there were any surprises.  She told me that AdLab definitely prepared her well for the type of work that she did at Grey.  She had plenty of experience working in small agencies at her internships, but she wanted that big agency, big account feel.  The most surprising thing for Katelyn when working on the Pantene account was that it was a global brand.  You don't consider trends or competitors in different countries until you work with one, she said.  But what was lacking for Katelyn was exposure to digital.  As a team, they only work on the strategy to make sure that the brand is consistent across the globe.  She did, however, really enjoy learning about consumer behaviors and about how to translate one big idea within local insights.

Although she loved Grey, she did missed the digital aspect of the industry.  Her previous internships had always been digital. Even at larger agencies, she worked on digital accounts.  She felt like she was getting behind on digital, so when the AMP agency had a position open for New Business Account Coordinator, she seized the opportunity. 

When asked what the biggest challenges were in the industry, Katelyn says that the biggest challenge is that advertising is a face-paced environment.  It's hard to manage that ever-growing "To Do" list; however, the trick is to learn how to manage and prioritize your time correctly.  By working closely with your manager, you can prioritize your tasks.  You have to know that not everything is going to be done all in one day, that some things can wait until the next day.

I was also curious to know what challenges she faced to stay up to date in this day in age.  She talked about how Grey moved from their old space on Madison Avenue to an old toy factory building that was much more open inside.  She says it really reflects their new mantra, "Famously Effective," where they do famous work, but it's also effective.  They still have a full service agency, but they are definitely growing more digital, she said.  The Red Lobster account is a great example of Grey using a more digital approach.  At her new job at AMP, Katelyn says they are also becoming more digital.  She actually came up with the idea to start a video channel for the agency to promote its employee knowledge and agency culture.  Video marketing is definitely growing in advertising and starting a channel for her agency was definitely a boost for her agency's New Business department.

Finally, I asked Katelyn about some advice about entering the "real world" and my job search.  Here's some important take aways that I got from the end of our conversation:

1) It's really important to like your team.  Make sure you like the people you work with.  She said every Friday, her job plays the song "Call Me Maybe" at 4:45pm and everyone just dances.

2) Don't choose your job based off the account you'll be working on.  I told her I was worried about some accounts that I was applying for and she encouraged me that it's the people you work with and the type of work you do that will really be important, not necessarily the client.  And you could always request to move after a certain amount of time.

3) Use your Boston University network.  Our professors have a great network of people that have gone into the industry who work all over the country.  

4) Interview with the whole team. Make sure you like the agency culture before accepting a job with them.  Informational interviews are a great way to get to know an agency and also get to the top of the list when a job does open up there.

5) Do what you love.  Katelyn taught me that although she had a great job in New York with Grey, she still wanted to focus on what she loved.  She loved interning at AMP agency and knew that she wanted to be in a place that was more digital, so she went back to Boston.  She definitely gave me the courage to seek out what I love and go for it.

I really enjoyed speaking to Katelyn about her past ventures and asking her some questions about the industry.  I took away a lot from this interview, but we're definitely aiming to meet up again in the future.  Thank you, Katelyn!

Here's Katelyn's website (including her blog), LinkedIn profile, twitter account!

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Wait...I Forgot I Was A Consumer Too.

If I were to write a letter to the Kashi brand as a consumer, here's what it might sound like.

Dear Kashi,

I’m writing you this letter to tell you exactly how to get me to be one of the best advocates for your brand.  I love your slogan “7 whole grains on a mission,” and I think your brand stands for something really great—making healthy foods taste good and wanting people to crave healthy food.  But, you haven’t really been that creative in getting people to be advocates for your brand.

Being a healthy, good-tasting food brand gives you so many opportunities to target those trying to eat right (or at least think they are eating right).  The fact that so many people are overweight in this country is not necessarily a bad thing—as it provides plenty of content for you guys to leverage on, and that’s by having people share their weight loss stories and tips on how to get active and healthy. 

Your brand is perfect for the next best Pinterest profile page.  You could include all kinds of things that people already love to pin on Pinterest including weight loss tips, quotes of fitness inspiration, healthy recipes, pictures of great looking food, etc.

Your brand should definitely sponsor some sort of mobile application to make it easier for people to be healthy.  People will appreciate that a trusted brand name like Kashi knows what they’re doing or talking about.  Either having some sort of calorie-counter that helps you lose weight (something like MyFitnessPal has now), or having a healthy food generator where people can enter in different types of healthy foods they have in the kitchen and the app can give them recipe ideas.  Anything that a person trying to get healthy could utilize during the process would be the perfect opportunity for your brand to be noticed.  I check my MyFitnessPal app everyday, and wouldn’t hate it if another app like that could help me during my health kick.

I think you guys are best known for your granola bars—but your cereal is getting up there.  In order to compete with already prominent “healthy” cereals like Special K, Cheerios, and Raison Bran you need to try to be the prominent “health” brand.  Honestly, I don’t think your television commercials are doing your brand justice.  People need to know that Kashi is actually one of the greatest choices when it comes to healthy, great-tasting cereals.  In order to get to a consumer like me, you’re going to need to let me know that somehow.  When I’m at the grocery store, I wouldn’t hate getting a coupon texted to me for $1 off Kashi cereal (because price is probably one of the only reasons why I wouldn’t choose Kashi).  Create a challenge for me similar to Special K’s two-week challenge.  If you could tell me by eating your cereal everyday (or twice a day or whatever), that I could lose weight—Kashi would definitely stick out in my mind when I’m buying cereal.  Pair that along with a microsite (or even use your Facebook page) to people who have done it and can’t stop raving about it—you’ll definitely be more prominent in my mind.  Better yet, if I could even track and share my progress with friends, then your brand would rock even more.  Then people’s stories would be the crowdsourced content, and you don’t even have to lift a finger.

So think about being that health partner I never knew I had.  You can thank me later.

From Your Soon-To-Be #1 Fan,

Alyssa

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Why Marketers Should Listen to new Guardian spot

Everyone is talking about the Guardian spot that showed up on TV a couple of weeks ago. They’re already calling it the biggest spot of the year.  Here’s a video of the spot done by BBH/London in case you haven’t seen it yet.

What’s amazing about this ad is that there are many lessons that come from it. For one, its saying that marketers have a new whole new way to think about marketing.  It’s not so much that you put out content for people to be attracted to the Internet anymore—it’s about making your audience apart of that content now.  In the Guardian spot, the concept of #opennews was illustrated where the news as far as the Guardian was concerned, was not only about spitting out facts anymore about what has happened, it’s about how people’s opinions turn stories into better stories.  Who cares what’s going on, what do people have to say about what’s going on now?  If marketers somehow used this concept, (maybe call it #openmarketing?), then they could turn the content they are using to boost a brand image into content that the audience is apart of and creates.  It makes so much more sense if you think about it—humans like to be apart of these communities where we feel as if we belong.  Once we’re in those communities, we start to care about what’s going on, and more—what people think about them.  It instantly turns the consumer into a brand loyalist and advocate.  And those advocates are the key to getting more consumers on board.

For example, Google is trying to promote their new social network, Google +.  Google + is no doubt a lot better functioning than Facbeook.  It’s a lot more advanced, and people can interact a lot better with their friends and family.  It’s also perfect for sharing and learning.  The way that Google + presents things to our friends on our news feeds is so much more efficient and aesthetically-pleasing than Facebok.  So why haven’t people flocked to it yet?   In order to be successful, Google + needs to learn from the Guardian spot and use this concept of #openmarketing where the consumer is the one behind the driver’s seat of your marketing.  Let it be the consumer’s job to market your product for you.  Seems easy—but it’s not.  What I would suggest Google does to promote itself is to have the already Google advocates tell their stories about why Google + is so much better than Facebook.  The ones who already have their whole friends network on Google’s social platform.  Have users submit their entries via YouTube video, and feature the most interesting ones with the most +1s.  This way the consumer is the one driving the story, they are the ones to choose which links are worthy enough to be shared on every other platform and thus create more avid Google + users.

The other important aspect about this spot was that it showcased how easily accessible every brand should be from every platform available.  The Guardian can be accessed online, via mobile, and via a tablet or e-Reader.  They make it so it’s easy to give your opinions about different stories, and then they write about it.  If marketers learned from this and thus made it easy for their consumers to access their marketing from every platform easily, then their campaigns could be so much more successful. We are always on the go now, and in order for brands to keep up with the conversation they need to give people easy access to those conversing.  For example, let’s take the brands who have a cause behind them (which creates a community of those who feel the same way about the cause through buying and representing that brand), like Toms for instance who gives a pair of shoes to a child who needs them for every pair you buy.  If users were apart of the journey of the pair of shoes that gives to a child in need, they might feel more inclined to share and buy more shoes.  What if we could follow every pair of shoes that we bough from Toms and were led through it’s journey (like a tracking system from the US to Africa)?  Better yet, what if the audience could help determine where those shoes go?  The more comments and sharing they do, the better off the chance that the shoes will end up to where the consumers see the most fit.  That’s making your consumer apart of your marketing.

#Openmarketing just might become a new way of marketing.

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Andes Beer: "The Great Escape" from awkward social commitments.

You may remember Andes Beer, the most popular in Argentina, from their Teletransporter campaign.  They built a sound-proof machine in bars around Argentina and helped men get out of that sticky situation where girlfriends get mad at their boyfriends for going out with their friends.  Here's the video in case you missed it, it really is a great idea:

Well, Andes beer is back at it again releasing another social media campaign called "The Great Escape."  For this not only social, but low budget campaign, Andes wanted to save men and women from going to those awkward social commitments that everyone has to go through--weddings, anniversary parties, recitals, and the list goes on.  Imagine if you could just go on Facebook and have a professional actor come and "rescue" you so that you can actually do what you want to do over the weekend--go to the bars and hang out with your friends. Well, that's exactly what Andes decided to do.  When people logged onto Facbeook and went to the Andes page, they could sign up to be rescued from their everyday social commitments and have professional actors come in and make up an emergency scenario to pull you out of the party.  Of course, it would get taped and shipped all over the Internet as well because it's hilarious to watch.  The best one I think was when a girl was called up to a stage by an actor playing a magician and she got taken away because was stuck in a clear tank during a magic trick.  The youtube video for the campaign was released only a week ago, and they already have over 13,000 views.

To promote their idea, they had a series of television spots featuring different guys at different lame parties that needed to be saved and then directed them to the Andes Facebook fan page.

This to me was a brilliant idea.  Andes target audience was people in their 20s who just want to go out on the weekends and party with their buddies at bars.  The commonality between them is that everyone always has those unavoidable social commitments to go to because either their family makes them or it's purely an obligation.  It creates a certain community of people that just want to have fun and not have to deal with these boring situations.

Creatively, this is a great idea that is funny and relatable to their target audience.  It easily can be spread around and the idea of being saved from these boring gatherings is so great that everybody wants to do it and try it.  I think it's worth the attention of consumers because it's something that hasn't been done before and it's entertaining.  It also creates a loyalty connection from the consumer to Andes beer because like the teletransporter idea, it shows that Andes has your back.  They will do everything in their power to help you do what you want to do the most--go out and party (and hopefully drink their beer).

I would love to see more beers in the US doing ideas like Andes'.  I feel like beers here are still stuck in the traditional media era.  Some, like Samuel Adams, has taken on a role in social media, with their crowdsourcing-a-new-beer idea on Facebook.  But if Budweiser or Heineken spent more time thinking up creative executions like this one that could bring together a community using one commonality and help enhance their consumers' lives, I think it would benefit them greatly. 

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#Linsanity is lin-credibly blowing up via social media

Everyone could go on and on with Lin puns--gotta love them. I for one, have been converted a "lin-sane" Jeremy Lin fan.  If you haven't heard of this overnight sensation by now, then you definitely live under a rock.  I first heard about Jeremy Lin via Facebook about a week ago after his big game against the Lakers on February 10th.  My news feed told me numerous people were talking about "Jeremy Lin." At first I thought he was some guy from BU that everyone was talking about, then I clicked his name and found out he was actually an NBA player who was getting serious attention from social media.  Then I did the obvious--Google!

Before Feb 6, no one knew who this guy was.  Now, only 2 weeks later, everyone in the world knows Jeremy Lin's name.  And I think a lot of it has to do with social media.  Last week, Lin was mentioned more than 2.5 million times on social media and Twitter (2,610,684 times to be exact).  His twitter handle @JLin7 had 215,408 mentions, that's 20,000 more than Lebron James' twitter.  Lin now has over 455,000 twitter followers.  Last week, that game against the Lakers had 3 million viewers!  That's the most viewers any NBA game has had this season.  People can't seem to get enough of him, and he really is amazing to watch.  Even I, who never watches any basketball games besides the annual Knicks game on Christmas, and maybe the finals, tuned in to watch the game today to watch Lin in action.  And, let me tell you, he's really a sight to see.  He provides so much more entertainment than any other guy on the court.  

But why is so popular via social media?  Besides him averaging over 26 points per game, there is so much more to add to the equation.  Is it his "Linderella" story (had to do it), going from a college basketball team where he received no scholarship (way to go Harvard), and becoming one of the most talked about and loved basketball players today?  Or maybe it's his Taiwanese roots that are changing all of the stereotypes that Asians can't play basketball?  Maybe it's that he's becoming the Tim Tebow of basketball, also being an Evangelical Christian like the famous football player.  Who knows.  All we know is that Jeremy Lin is blowing up--and he's not stopping any time soon.  He's sold more jerseys than anyone else in the NBA this season.  I've heard him be called the "one-man economic recovery." I wouldn't go that far, however President Obama (who Lin has surpassed in mentions via social media as well), did commend the humble player saying that he is "very impressed and up to speed."

Jeremy Lin is obviously so much bigger than basketball at this point--and I think that he has by far transcended the sport itself via social media with his amazing story.

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Tiffany & Co's "True Love" Campaign

What makes true love? That's what Tiffany & Co's trying to answer with their new "True Love" campaign.  In their campaign, they definitely successfully target the right audience--women with boyfriends or husbands.  Better yet, they also successfully target women who wish she had a boyfriend or a husband as well.  

Their new website called "What Makes True Love" features all sorts of lovey-dovey things to get girls to beg their significant others to buy them something that comes in that iconic little blue box for Valentine's Day, and the others to dream about it. From love stories, to Valentine's Day tips, to art and music about love, Tiffany's definitely illustrates their definition of what it means to have "true love."  They even put out a television spot featuring a gorgeous couple's simulated wedding with the bride wearing a beautiful Tiffany's engagement and wedding ring.

The main part, and probably the best part, of this campaign are Tiffany's "True Love Pictures." Tiffany's utilizes the Instagram craze by having people from all over the world take and upload pictures of what true love means to them--meaning uploading adorable, heart-wrenching pictures of head-over-heels in love couples everywhere.  Scott Schuman, the famous blogger of The Sartorialist (a blog that writes about fashion and its "relationship to life") and the person responsible for shooting the hit social media project "Art of the Trench" for Burberry, teamed up with his style blogger girlfriend Garance Doré to kickoff the Instagram campaign.  They went around taking and uploading pictures of couples doing cute, couple-y things using their iPhones.  

Tiffany's created a new iPhone app to go along with the campaign as well.  It features three Instagram filters, one of which washes your pictures in that famous trademark shade of Tiffany's blue.

  This way, couples everywhere can use the app to take pictures and upload them to Instagram and Twitter using the hashtag #truelovepictures.  I even uploaded my own picture--except with my best friend!

Tiffany's chooses and uploads the best ones on their website in the Love Is Everywhere section.  In London, they also had a photo booth in their London store on bond street, where people could stop by the store and upload pictures straight from the "love booth."

When it comes down to it, Tiffany's big idea is that when people think of "true love," they think Tiffany's, and no one else when it comes to jewelry.  Their commercial, "True Love Grows," inspires people to think that the way to start your relationship or marriage off right, is to have Tiffany's be apart of it.  The stories section of the new website showcases how different Tiffany's items contributes to people's "true loves."

Tiffany's is one of the only luxury jewelry brands to take their ideas online.  And although it is a great idea, there are a few kinks in the campaign.  Unlike Burberry's "Art of the Trench" approach where anyone could upload their pictures using the site, and crowd sourcing allows people to choose their favorites to be features, Tiffany's only features certain pictures from fans that fits along with the campaign.  The Instagram app is also hard to figure out how to upload pictures onto Instagram once they take it--you have to go to the My Pictures section first, there's no easy button to instantly Instagram it (ironic?).  Bottom line is, although it is a great campaign, they could have taken it much further and let it go even more viral.

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A Marketing Campaign that's to infinity AND BEYOND.

  Disney’s Toy Story 3 earned over $1 billion—making it the highest grossing animated film worldwide.  What made this film so successful in the box office?  In order to get your movie to blockbuster status, you need to go bigger—as in “to infinity and BEYOND” bigger.

 What: Toy Story 3’s integrated marketing campaign 

Target: Twenty-something year olds who wouldn’t normally spend $10 on a Pixar film.

Losto on YouTube: Disney introduced new characters online without giving away any of the storyline. They shot a high definition commercial to promote the movie’s villain “Lots-O-Huggin Bear,” and then altered it to look like an 80s commercial. This would not only attract much older adults to be curious as to what this video was all about—as obviously they never would have heard of this toy before, but also leave those my age wondering more about the film.  We would be left thinking who is this new character and how fast can I show my friends?

Groovin’ With Ken on YouTube:  In order to promote Ken on YouTube, Disney would make a series of “interviews” with the doll in a lifestyle of the rich and famous kind of way.  Here’s one where Ken’s in his dreamhouse being questioned about the fact that he is, indeed, a girls’ toy.  People everywhere fell in love with this character, and it created great anticipation of the film. 

  Twitter: Being one of the first brands to use “Promoted Tweets” on twitter, @DisneyPixar utilized this outlet well.  They promoted the trend “Toy Story 3” on worldwide trends so the buzz would get started. Thousands saw, were reminded of, and tweeted about the new movie coming out.

iPhone iAd: Disney came out with one of the first iAds for the iPhone 4’s debut.  This amazing new type of interactive advertising breaks through the clutter of other mobile ads before it.  It includes videos, games, trailers, theater locations, free wallpaper, and apps for the iPhone all in one iAd.  Pretty cool.

Facebook's Ticket Together: Disney came up with this ingenious idea to buy tickets straight off Facebook.  On Disney Pixar’s “Ticket Together” app, you can invite and organize with your friends so that you all can go together—and the best part, share it with your friends!  This is a great and firey way that Disney really set itself apart from other apps online.

Facebook Game App: Of course, Disney had to get into the Facebook gaming world as well.  This way people could be playing games and become excited about seeing the movie—all while sharing it with their friends as well. Check it out!

College Campuses: On college campuses everywhere, Disney offered free cliff-hanger screenings that featured the first 65 minutes of the movie—leaving the last half an hour left for them to go buy tickets to see. Although some may think this was cruel, people definitely tweeted, posted statuses, blog posts, and videos about how they saw the first hour on their social media accounts—making others who weren’t so lucky that much more anxious to see the film.

So What: Disney united thousands of fans young and old, to come together and see this nostalgic finale that brought everyone back to their childhood days.  Toy Story 3 was one of the first movies to utilize social media and other media to effectively promote their movie to the right audience.  It has become the new standard to promote your movies and brands online and offline—and to get your audience interacting and engaging.  There’s no other way to break through the clutter!