teachthe4ps.com - For instructors of marketing.

We are coming up on Super Bowl Sunday — the biggest day of the year for the NFL ad agencies.  Many advertising agencies will have their success measured by 300 people who watch the Super Bowl with a dial in hand — and turn that dial up and down as they like/dislike the ad as they watch.  Perhaps like many of you, I like to show and discuss Super Bowl ads in class.  I usually spend about 15 minutes my first teaching day following the Super Bowl to show my students 2-3 of the top ads in the USA Today Ad Meter.  I also show one near the bottom of their rankings.  I ask my students if the top ads are better and why.  I use this to try to get them to realize that ads should be tied to specific objectives.  Is being a “top 10″ ad in popularity on the USA Today Ad Meter a valid objective?  An Advertising Age article, “How USA Today’s Ad Meter Broke Super Bowl Advertising” (January 30, 2012) provides me with a bit more meat for my class discussion next week.

Human beings are actually not very rational decision makers — there is a great deal of evidence to that effect. We are subject to predictable biases. Increased computing power and better databases are allowing companies to use analytics and make better (unbiased) decisions. This is sparking the rise of new companies that can analyze data and some new applications. You can read more in “So, What’s Your Algorithm?” (Wall Street Journal, January 4, 2011 – non-subscribers may need to click here).  The article gives one marketing example for Schwan’s – ask your students for their own ideas about how to use big data to make better decisions.  You could also ask them how this might affect their careers moving forward.  I asked those questions at Learn the 4 Ps.

Wow, I guess this is suddenly the hot topic.  Yesterday I posted a couple of stories on retail analytics.  I wasn’t sure I wanted to tell you about a third, but Holly Finn’s story, “Spying on Your Buying” (Wall Street Journal, December 17, 2011, non-subscribers may need to click here and click “view original” in upper right corner if a white screen shows up) and interview in the Wall Street Journal, but she provides a more optimistic view of these analytics with much less fear of the privacy implications.  Plus the video might add some visual effects that might help in the classroom.

A couple of interesting stories about how retailers utilize high-tech analytics to better understand customer shopping behavior.  I heard “The secret life of discounts” (Marketplace radio, December 16, 2011, link to listen or read the transcript) as I drove to the airport last night to pick up my daughter who was coming home from college.  There are some examples about how stores use analytics to try to remain profitable with consumers conditioned to buy only at a steep discount.

In “Big Brother is Watching You Shop” (Bloomberg Businessweek, December 15, 2011), you can read about retailers using in-store video cameras and tracking your cell phone to better understand how you move through a retail store.  Analyzing video from a Miami store allowed Montblanc managers to more strategically locate merchandising, signage, and salespeople.  The result — a 20% bump in sales.  Other retailers follow customers’ cell phone signals to track and map movement through stores.  This of course is raising privacy concerns.

These two stories can be useful examples for marketing research (where we cover dashboards and marketing models), retailing, and in discussions of privacy.  Also posted at Learn the 4 Ps.

McKinsey’s Business Technology Office has been tracking business use of Web2.0 technologies (blogs, podcasts, social networks, wikis, RSS, etc.) for the last few years.  Their most recent survey results are posted with a neat interactive feature in “Business and Web 2.0:  An interactive feature” (McKinsey Quarterly, November 2011).  To see the whole article you will have to register at the site, but let me share some highlights related to marketing (there are lots of non-marketing related findings).

• Top 3 tools companies use in “acquiring customers” in 2011:  1) social networking (69%), blogs (39%), and video sharing (26%)
• Top 3 tools companies use in “developing products” in 2011:  1) social networking (61%), blogs (35%), and microblogging (15%)
• Top 3 tools companies use in “gathering insights” in 2011:  1) social networking (69%), blogs (36%), and microblogging (20%)
• Top 3 benefits from customer use of Web 2.0 technologies:  1) increasing effectiveness of marketing (65% of companies reported benefits), 2) increasing customer satisfaction (44%), and 3) reducing marketing costs (41%).

Other trends include rapid growth of social networking — blogs were the leader in many categories just three years ago — now everyone is using social networks.  Marketing is the functional area making the greatest use of Web 2.0 tools.

It sure sounded like a great idea.  The idea, draw attention to global warming and the plight of polar bears.  The bears have been a Coca Cola holiday symbol for almost 100 years — so the actions also fit with the brand’s heritage.  Coke did this by changing the iconic red cans to white for the holidays.  It sure sounded like a good idea.  Unfortunately, the new cans confused consumers — especially Diet Coke drinkers who confused the white can with their familiar silver Diet Coke cans.  This article, “Bad News, Bears:  Coke Pulls Back on White Cans in Holiday Campaign to Save Polar Bears” (brandchannel, December 1, 2011) describes many interesting elements to the story.  For example, by monitoring social media, Coca Cola marketing managers heard complaints early.  This case is also a demonstration of a low involvement product that consumers buy out of habit.   In the end, it probably marks a mis-step by the soft drink giant.  But I would say, if you take chance, you will make mistakes sometimes.  And this whole outcome, like the New Coke introduction 25 years ago, may yet generate positive publicity for the brand.  Also posted at Learn the 4 Ps.

This article has examples that can be used in teaching consumer behavior, market research, brand management, packaging, and advertising & promotion.

I don’t find it easy when a student asks “What does a marketing researcher do?”  In this article, “How researchers explain their profession at a cocktail party,” (Quirks, November 2011), you can read a wide range of answers from those in the research profession.  It might provide some insight (or levity) the next time you cover market research in class.  Also posted at Learn the 4 Ps.

One of the world’s leading market research firms, The Nielsen Company, occasionally shares some of its “Top 10″ lists.  In “Kid Wins in October’s Most Popular New Spot, Kid Loses in the Best-Remembered” (AdAge, November 11, 2011), you can see lists of the 10 most likeable and 10 most remembered TV ads from October 2011.

I suggest you review the research methodology (described in detail below each list), as the indices provide an opportunity to demonstrate both a market research technique and the value of an index to simply report findings.

Interestingly, there was no overlap across these Recall and Likeability Indexes for October 2011.  the Travelocity ad below was the most remembered — recalled more than twice as much as the average ad.  This finding might lead to a discussion about whether either is an appropriate measure of advertising success?  I usually let my students debate that a bit before reminding them that we need to tie the measure to the organization’s promotional objectives.

I love this recent story that David Meerman Scott tells over at his Web Ink Now blog.  The post, “Persona based content marketing at the Nobis Hotel,” describes how this Stockholm hotel uses a deep understanding of its target customers (Scott calls them “buyer personas” — we call them target customers) to create a unique travel experience.  I love how the marketing manager uses customer reviews at TripAdvisor to understand how customers talk about the hotel — and then reflects those same words back in its advertising and search engine optimization.  Scott tells the story well — so jump over to his blog and read more.  For marketing instructors, I think it provides an excellent example of customer behavior, market research, positioning, and social media.

This is a great story of customer needs, marketing research, and new product development.  Those of us eating French fries while driving know that the squeeze packets didn’t work real well.  Actually, the squeeze packages don’t work well in a fast food joint either.  Ketchup-maker Heinz knows that better than any of us.  So they set about to change the packet — and came up with a great solution.  The new packets allow you to squeeze the ketchup onto a sandwich or if you tear off the top, to easily dip your fries.  The packets cost more, but customers use fewer packages and fast food restaurants hope that the new packages heat up slow sales of fries that the drive-thru window.

You can read more — including examples of some of the marketing research Heinz used to develop the new packaging in “Old Ketchup Packet Heads for the Trash,” (Wall Street Journal, September 19, 2011, non-subscribers may have to click here).  The article provides you with useful examples of customer needs, marketing research, new product development, and functional packaging.