Pudding Apocalypse?

Jell-O changed up their marketing to make chocolate pudding – an offer “that would finally appease the Gods” – and added a little Mayan apocalypse fun.

Timely, creative and funny! I love good marketing.

Tips to Communicate Better with Journalists in 2013

Every day journalists are bombarded by PR professionals sending them the “best” story they’ve ever heard and why their client deserves to be written about… but not everyone gets the reporter’s call back.

PR News had an interesting article about better serving journalists – which is one of our jobs as a PR professional communicator. In  5 Tips for Better Serving Journalists, we are encouraged to better serve reporters (and build the relationships that will get our client in print).

As many lists go these days, some pretty simple ideas:
1. Provide Imagery and Video.
2. Know which other content forms media crave.
3. Post in your Press Center what media would want – i.e. make multimedia accessible and usable by reporters
4. Don’t botch their name in pitches – know who you’re contacting and show them you know them.
5. The best way to get a journalists trust is to serve their needs.

Hope you find these methods useful!

NBC merges logo with Comcast

In an interesting branding update, Comcast has merged logos with NBC, which it now controls.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the media conglomerate revealed the logo yesterday incorporating the trademark bird long associated with the NBC broadcast network.

The article also includes a slideshow of how the NBC brand logo developed from its first logo design in 1943 to today. Fun fact: NBC originally adapted to the peacock logo with the transition to color TV.

While NBC is one of Comcast’s highest-profile businesses, it is relatively small in the scheme of things which makes it an interesting choice for updating its brand logo. The peacock carries an iconic presence and heavy recognition worldwide, how much influence did that have on executives?

Do you think Comcast made the right choice to update its brand logo?

What Millennitals Want from Advertising?

A recent study published to AdAge.com revealed some new trends from the social media and tech savvy Millennial generation, which is gaining major buying power around the globe.

So what surprising new secrets does this study reveal? First, Millennials want brands to entertain – give them meaningful online experiences. Mostly they want to co-create content with brands (40%), while only 31% wanted brands to create the video, photo, games, and blog content. Notably, only 3% cited advertising is boring… way to go!

Second, they want brands to help them. Not just in deciding what to buy  (94% use at least one outside source for guidance to make a brand-purchase decision) but give life help through scholarships (77%) and life experience opportunities (71%). Certainly this is a major change in how brands will interact and engage with their customers to build loyalty and increase sales growth and market share.

Also, an interesting result from the study indicated Millennials most important life goal is to have a job with a purpose that matches their personal passion.

Finally, 70% of Millennials surveyed said it is their responsibility to share feedback with companies after a good or bad brand experience. Social media is having a major impact on consumers today and in the future. Let’s hope we can take advantage of these trends in 2013.

Social Media Improves Customer Service

A recent article from PROMO Chief Marketing discussed ways to use online communities to increase customer service. Major retailers already use social media to influence their customers and connect to their brand, but how can anyone harness this powerful voice?

First, embrace brand experts – those social media influencer’s that already have a positive interest in your brand and influence over your target market. Communicating over a trusted channel of information makes your message more impactful and memorable.

Second, embrace digital tools that give your customers direct contact with a customer service representative for your company. Live chat allows you to talk directly to the customer to answer questions as they are buying on your site. This also limits the need to go outside of the website (email or call) for help or to complain.
Think about it… how many sites have you been holiday shopping on that offer this direct contact? I know I’ve been on several.

Finally, encourage customer feedback and LISTEN to what they say to improve your services and sales/ad message. A recent impact report stated that 86% were willing to pay more for a product or service if it included a better customer service experience. Twitter and Message boards give your customers an easy way to interact with each other, share ideas and promote comments.

How would your customers rate your online service and interaction? What are you going to do to engage your customers?

It’s a Griswold Kind of Christmas…

Well, shout out to Old Navy for their latest holiday shopping campaign using the Griswold family… I LOVE IT!
And I’m sure they will find out that good old feeling of nostalgia will pay off in the sales books… it must since they are keeping on this 90210, 1980s trend of bringing back stars in all their promos the past year.

Check it out!