And so the marketing machine that is ‘X Factor’ rumbles towards securing Simon Cowell another Christmas # 1 this year. At the time of writing, 150k copies of Alexandra Burke’s cover of ‘Hallelujah’ have been downloaded thus far, making it the fastest selling download of all time and virtually guaranteeing it to be the soundtrack to many people’s Christmas.
Whilst Ms Burke might be a talented singer, nobody can doubt that her song’s popularity has a lot to do with the amount of time, emotion and money people have invested into her over the course of X Factor.
The final drew a peak audience of 14.3 million, making it the most viewed entertainment show since the Only Fools and Horses Christmas Special, and every week it has attracted thousands of calls from those wanting to participate in the story.
People aren’t just buying a single but the whole experience that goes with it, which is something brands can learn a lot from about the new style of marketing.
Digital provides the technology
Digital is changing the nature of branding. Rather than just focusing on positioning, the USP and the message, marketers now need to find a way to make brands more relevant and meaningful to encourage people to invest time in them.
As shown by ITV’s plight, brands no longer have a captive audience, slumped in their sofas, waiting to be pummelled with one way advertising. People now spend more time online, where they can choose what content to engage with, and what to ignore.
This presents a challenge and an opportunity. Brands need to work out how to reach their customer base in a way that’s accepted and adds value to the online experience.
And digital also offers an opportunity because it provides the technology to engage people with entertainment, information, education and utilities (such as free software) in an interactive format that’s never been possible before.
Don’t just deliver a message, deliver an experience
People rushed to download Alexandra’s song because they’d already invested so much in her story and brand. They’d watched her determination to succeed drive her on to finally winning the series, and it was this experience they were buying into when downloading her single.
Brands can harness the same psychological effect if they can also deliver an experience to go with their product, such as exceptional customer service, the use of storytelling or creating a tribal sense of inclusion people want to be a part of.
Stories are powerful because they swoop under people’s anti-marketing radar, and engage customers’ interest when the story’s values matches their worldview.
So brands need to weave an engaging tale about their humble beginnings, early struggles and final triumph if they’d like to mimic the appeal of an X Factor winner.
The success of Innocent Drinks, Levi Roots’ Reggae Reggae Sauce and Howies clothing has a lot to do with the appealing stories accompanying their products.
Businesses engaging digital in 2009
The marketing value of encouraging people to engage, involve and participate themselves with a brand is so powerful that many businesses are planning to ramp up their digital campaigns in 2009.
In an E-consultancy survey, 42% of businesses said they planned to add user generated content to their sites, whilst 35% planned to start using social media tools (i.e. blogging, podcasting and vidcasting) to encourage people to invest more time in their brand.
They understand that if you’re providing valuable content, whether it’s entertaining or informative, people are going to spend more time engaging with your brand, and in turn feel more inclined to buy your products as part of the experience.
So if you start getting sick of hearing Alexandra’s rendition of ‘Hallelujah’ over the festive period remember that it’s the power of the Burke brand experience that has propelled her to # 1. And it shows that people don’t buy into relentless advertising, but into the experience that goes with the product.
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BDA (Buckingham Design Associates) blog – real people giving real opinions, and a complete lack of agency waffle. BDA deliver an exciting blend of design and creative marketing for the Oxford, Milton Keynes, Northampton and London region.
Why Scrooge Would Be A Poor Online Retailer This Christmas
So was Monday ‘Mega’ for you? Well, apparently it was for 2 million Brits, who preferred the convenience of a few mouse clicks to fighting for a parking space on the high st.
£13.6 billion is expected to be spent online in total this ‘Clickmas’
For the first time in 14 years high st sales have fallen for a second successive month
What’s amazing is that ‘Mega Monday’ was only the third busiest day of the year in terms of traffic to online retailers, because the web isn’t just a virtual checkout till, but is also a valuable research tool.
Unlike a shop, people don’t visit an online retailer thinking that they have to buy something to justify the trip. Instead they might just visit to check prices, compare products and find the best deals, before clicking away to check their Facebook account.
Research earlier in the year suggested that 67% of shoppers research their purchases online before heading to a store. What this signifies is that consumers are using the web to become better informed about brands, products and services, rather than waiting to be told.
Consequently, brands and businesses need to realise that the web is now an extension to the in-store shopping experience. And if you’re not online than you’re nowhere as far as a sizeable number of people are now concerned.
Getting their information online is also actively preferred by many consumers to what they’re fed on the TV. In a survey of 30,000 people, by G2 Data Dynamics, 37% said they prefer to get information on brands and offers from websites and email than celebrity endorsed TV ads.
This could be a backlash against the fees paid to Donovan, Katona and their celeb chums, or it could reflect how people are weary of TV advertising in general, and value their attention more highly.
Giving away vouchers? Bar, humbug
With the economy continuing to sink into a quagmire, finding a bargain has never been more in vogue. And many shoppers are realising they don’t need to fight over the bargain bins in Woolworths when there’s so many offers to be found online.
Along with trawling eBay and price comparison sites, many people have been hunting down vouchers to help them cut the cost of Christmas. This year UK internet searches for vouchers have increased a staggering 133%, whilst visits to sites have nearly doubled.
Scrooge would have refused to giveaway discounts on principle, despising the thought of cutting revenue for the sake of spreading some Christmas cheer. However, vouchers are an effective marketing strategy for generating interest and holding onto existing customers. In the G2 Data Dynamics survey, for example, free gifts and discounts polled as the best way to stimulate brand loyalty.
One brand who can testify to voucher power is Marks and Spencers. Its recent 20% discount promo attracted one in 33 visits to retail sites this Xmas, and doubled visits to its real world stores.
Smarter Email Marketing in 2009
With competition for credit cards a matter of survival for many businesses, you need to ensure you’re taking advantage of digital technology to build customer relationships, maintain loyalty and taking a bigger slice of the shrinking pie.
69% of business in an E-consultancy survey enjoyed noticeable improvements in engaging with their customers following email activity. This reflects why email marketing is becoming more popular, because it offers a tangible ROI, better targeting means it’s more effective and it can be used to engage customers with valuable content.
So think about how you can reward your loyal customers by emailing them some vouchers and yuletide offers, because otherwise you might receive a visit from Scrooge’s three Ghosts this Christmas Eve.
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BDA (Buckingham Design Associates) blog – real people giving real opinions, and a complete lack of agency waffle. BDA deliver an exciting blend of design and creative marketing for the Oxford, Milton Keynes, Northampton and London region.
Come and dress a Christmas Elf! We’re running a draw that lasts until Midnight on the 22nd of December. All you have to do to be in with the chance of winning a magnum of Champagne is submit an elf.
Good luck, and have fun!
The iPhone Effect: Santa’s Gift to Mobile Marketers This Christmas
Well, Christmas is upon us, and many people will be hoping Santa leaves them a snazzy new smartphone in their stocking this year. And it won’t be just thoughts of an iPhone keeping people awake on Christmas Eve, because Google’s G1 and Blackberry’s Storm will also be vying for space under the tree.
Sleek touchscreens, 3G+ internet and a plethora of apps have seduced people into putting a smartphone at the top of their Christmas wish list, replacing watches and shoes as this year’s must have accessory.
The demand for smartphones is great news for marketers. It means they can grow out of simple text and banner ads, and take advantage of swifter web speeds and slicker interfaces to deliver richer marketing messages, and let their creativity free from the bottle.
New devices, same rules
Marketers have been salivating over the potential reach of mobile for the last decade: most people own one, they rarely leave people’s pockets and offer a direct channel virtually 24 hours a day.
However, marketers need to tread carefully. Mobiles are more personal than a home PC, posing a risk if users see you as an intruder, whilst offering rich rewards if you’re able to add value to the mobile experience.
Whilst desperate to mine their goldmine of users (and prop up falling SMS and call revenue), if operators damage the mobile experience they risk losing subscribers to their rivals.
So, mobile marketing has to ensure it obeys the rules of being relevant and offering value if it wants to be accepted.
Next year you can expect mobile marketing to get more sophisticated as brands learn how to harness the potential of the handsets being packed onto Santa’s sleigh. The ripples of which have already been felt this year by what has been dubbed the ‘iPhone effect’.
The iPhone Effect on mobile marketing
There are plenty of stats on the potential of mobile you can reel off to persuade brands where to bet next year’s budget; however, the one which has really put fire into mobile’s engine is that nearly half of the responses to a mobile display ad were made on an iPhone.
From even a cynical view, this figure indicates that when handsets with touchscreens and faster internet access proliferate people will be more inclined to respond to marketing.
But before advertisers start flooding messages onto iPhones, G phones and Blackberrys, they need to work out how to deliver them in a way that adds to the mobile experience and is accepted by users.
There’s still a lot of experimentation to be done.
Application Wars
Earlier this year, Apple opened up the iPhone platform in a bid to steal Google’s thunder as the developer’s platform of choice.
Along with fishing games, finger print scanners and internet radio players, brands have been releasing applications which they hope will enable them to engage with the iPhone user base.
US clothes retailer Target, for example, has released a ‘Gift Globe’ in time for Christmas. Give your iPhone a shake and the screen mimics the effect of a snow globe, with the flakes revealing gift ideas and links to your local store.
Next year you can expect to see a flood of mobile apps competing for attention as brands follow the new rules of marketing in which you offer relevancy and value in exchange for engagement.
Although judging from this review, Target has more experimenting to do before it releases the next one:
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BDA (Buckingham Design Associates) blog – real people giving real opinions, and a complete lack of agency waffle. BDA deliver an exciting blend of design and creative marketing for the Oxford, Milton Keynes, Northampton and London region.
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