Qantas Hash Tag Flop

If you aren't into Twitter, you probably haven't heard so i'll quickly sum it up for you. The Qantas PR team launched a 'competition' yesterday where they asked people to tell them about their dream luxury inflight experience and use the #QantasLuxury hash tag. While Qantas encouraged people to be creative I don't think they could have predicted just how creative some people were.
The whole thing has totally backfired on them and created an online rant of sarcastic complaints from well, everybody. For a good read, suss the hash tag on twitter. But in the mean time, check out this video, pretty funny!

Bland Day Out?

This morning I awoke and starting my usual routine of checking Twitter and Facebook. I noticed Big Day Out was trending and thought the 2nd announcement must have been released. It was. But that's not why it was trending. The promoters of Big Day Out released a statement this morning announcing some changes to the Adelaide, Perth and Auckland shows. Firstly, the amount of stages is being reduced from 7 to just 4, secondly they have dropped headliners Kanye West, The Living End and Mariachi El Bronx and lastly, more than half of the 2nd announcement will also not be appearing in our state.
I couldn't help but wonder after studying all day yesterday the importance of consumers relationships with brands, will this news damage the Big Day Out brand? Big Day Out plays a big role in many young (and some old) Australians lives. To many of us it's an annual summer ritual to wear close to no clothes and run around all day in the sun just to soak in the amazing atmosphere that is an Australian music festival. I feel we've been cheated in Adelaide, why do we miss out? Surely the promoters must know the role Big Day Out plays in our lives (maybe a little dramatic there, but you get the point).
Adding insult to injury, Big Day Out are offering everyone who had a ticket $20 off merchandise. Is that all loosing almost half the acts (not to mention, the biggest act) is worth? I'm sorry Big Day Out, but our relationship has been damaged and I'm not too sure if trying to buy me is going to get you out of this one.

Redheads

I'm not ashamed to admit that I kinda have a thing for rangas, gingers, redheads, whatever you prefer. I don't know what it is. But lately I have been noticing a lot of redheads in adds. For instance, that little annoying one talking about the car. Then when I started to think about it and pay attention, you can't go through an add break without seeing a redhead. Why?
Firstly, redheads, representing under 2% of the population, stand out. They are uncommon, just rare enough to be interesting and catch our attention but just normal enough to still be liked. We're more likely to pay attention to someone who stands out rather than someone that just looks like everyone else.
Secondly, they are recognisable. Well, I believe a redhead is more likely to be recognised again rather than a brunette or blonde because they're different and being different is an important brand attribute.
Finally, when you only have 30 seconds to portray your message in an add you need to make every second count. The consumer needs to be able to easily portray the story you're trying to tell without confusion and redheads easily do this. For example, you can show a younger red head and then an older one and the audience can easily tell that it's suppose to be the same person over a period of time.

Zombie Boy

Dermablend recently enlisted the infamous 'Zombie Boy', Rick Genest to sell their concealer. A strategic move by the company considering the product is aimed at woman. The video works in reverse, you see Rick removing the make-up to reveal his fully tattooed body. I dunno, I kinda dig it.

Students and Digital Marketing

I know I haven't posted in a while, i've been lazy and very busy with uni and holidays of course. I've had a post in my drafts for about 2 months now which will hopefully be up sometime soon.
ANYWAY, I came across this video from someone on twitter, i can't remember who, woops! But it's really interesting and directly relates to what I'm doing in my brand management course and what i'm trying to do with this blog. If you're a marketing or PR student i highly recommend taking a look :)

Social Media

Michelle Prak is a social media consultant situated in Adelaide. She works for Hughes Public Relations, South Australia's leading public relations and communications consultancy. After Michelle did a guest lecture for us at Adelaide Uni a few weeks ago, I asked her if she would be interested in doing an interview for my blog and here is the end product. It's quite interesting how social media plays a large part in a lot of peoples life. It has become an essential for most, all for different reasons, organising, communicating or maybe just for a bit of a stalk. Either way, most of us would struggle to now live with out it.

First of all, for everyone that's been living under a rock, we should define social media, what is it? 

You could define social media as a “digital social movement” which has capitalised on free tools like Facebook, Twitter, blogs and online communities and given people the ability to create content, share content and connect with each other around the globe.

What do you love about social media?

 I’m a communicator and I love creating content! So social media is very appealing to me, because it gives me the tools to share my thoughts, learn from others, make friends and win clients. I like attending events and meeting people in real life, and at the same time social media enables me to meet new people quickly and easily from my smartphone or laptop. I can maintain long term connections with them. What’s not to love? 

Why is it different to other forms of online advertising? 

I don’t think social media is online advertising. But as to the differences: advertising is usually one-way, it’s often about a short term message and a quick sale, not a long term connection and an equal partnership. However when you place ‘an ad’ in social media, there’s an opportunity for people to ask questions, to criticise, to praise, to share and so on.

Chatrooms and Myspace were very popular social networking sites and they have pretty much died, so to say. With these sites coming and going how do we know what will remain? and why so companies justify putting resources into social media when next week, people may like something else? 

The most popular social media platforms have quite good longevity, for the communications space. Facebook has been around since 2004, Twitter since 2006. In that time, TV shows have come and gone, publications have died, advertising standards have changed and so on. The communications realm is always changing, but there are usually some ‘winners’ that you can invest in.

I’d suggest companies don’t jump onto bandwagons, like GooglePlus for instance. It’s wise to claim your URL in new platforms and to take a look and assess potential. But good social media platforms take time to evolve.

I’d also suggest companies maintain a good official website – this is their home online over the long term, their anchor in a changing world. Their official site can incorporate social media principles (like a forum, blog, live chat, video) and in this way they’re not 100% reliant on a specific platform.

Do you think it's important for brands to converse with their consumers on social media? I say this because I see a lot of brands tweeting and updating their status yet not actually talking and responding to their consumers, isn't that the point of social media? 

You’re right, and they’re missing the point if they’re not conversing. Brands can learn most when they ask questions of their consumers, or seek input.

Has social media replaced online marketing or is it just a part of it? 

It’s part of it, not a replacement.

Hypothetically, i'm launching an alcoholic beverage aimed at boys aged between 18 and 24, where do i start? 

YouTube seems to be a winning space for that demographic, but be very careful with an alcoholic beverage. There are strict rules on advertising within social media platforms, and alcohol is one industry that has some of the most restrictions. Do the wrong thing, and your Facebook Page could be shut down, for instance. I’d start with looking at what other beverage companies are doing on Facebook.

What do you see happening in the future of social media as a marketing tool? 

That’s a big question! I’m not a marketer, so not in the best position to answer. From a PR consultant’s point of view, social media will continue to be important and more organisations will take part rather than being afraid or cynical. Organisations have less of a choice now – many platforms automatically generate a presence for them, and their consumers are talking about them now. Brands need to have a social media presence to steer, protect and grow their brands. In the PR field, it’s important they have a readily-available community so that in case of issues or crises, they’re not starting from scratch and they can defend their brand, debunk myths and so on. In a future PR firm, social media could be the first and central tool that is implemented and planned out – rather than the ‘add on’ that it is now.

You can follow Michelle on twitter here. If you're into Public Relations or Marketing she provides some great insight into how you can use social media to its best ability.

Apple

Apple has got to be the greatest example of the Lovemark. It has almost become a religion to both the young and old. My mum is turning 50 next week and guess what she wants for her birthday, an iPad. Why? To me they kind of seem like the most useless objects ever yet people are spending up to $1000 on one. A laptop does the same thing, plus more and only costs a little bit extra. Russel Howcroft (you may know him from the Gruen Transfer) said "Apple understood that success has as much to do with the clothes you wear as the body you are covering". In other words, Apple understood the importance and power of design and positioned the brand in an industry which was full of mp3 players which all looked the same and did exactly the same thing. People want to be seen holding an Apple product just as much as they want to use it. It's all about the image.

It seems to me like not so long ago Microsoft was ahead in this technical battle. I remember getting my first iPod, 6 years ago and my dad making fun of me because I wanted an Apple iPod Nano. "What's an Apple?" he said, "you hate healthy food" (good dad joke). So i did some research, Apple vs. Microsoft. It's not something thats talked about very much but even the name sounds better. Microsoft is confusing and sounds hard or technical. Apple on the other hand, sounds fresh and simple.

Like I said in my previous post, Apple maintains its status amongst its competitors even with the hefty price tag. My brother often says to me "why would you want a stupid MacBook when my computer has heaps more memory and cost half the price?" Well, I don't know, I suppose the 'cool' factor is worth more to me than a bit of extra storage. The status of having a MacBook grabs me, that appeals to me just as much, if not more than any other product attributes.

When I write it out like this, it all sounds a bit ridiculous. But it's the same as say, car brands, some people are Holden, some are Ford. Some are Mac, some are PC. It just shows how brands play a massive part in letting us express ourselves and how we want people to perceive us.