Video Game Influencers

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Video games, once considered the domain of young kids and self-proclaimed geeks, are growing at an astounding rate.  According to NewZoo’s Global Games Market Report, the industry was expected to reach $138B in 2018.  With that growth and the emergence of esports we’re now seeing gamers stepping into the influencer role alongside traditional athletes.  One of those gamers, Ninja, has teamed up with energy drink producer Red Bull.

Red Bull wants to boost brand awareness in the gamer segment who frequently rely on energy drinks to power through long gaming sessions.  Red Bull’s campaign includes a contest that gives fans a chance to meet Ninja and have a gaming session with the superstar.  You can read more about the campaign in this Marketing Dive article.  The topic could apply to a discussion about segmentation, brand building, influencers and advertising/sales promotion.

American Eagle Hands Creative Control to Gen Zers for Spring Campaign

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In a move to make their brand appear more authentic, American Eagle’s spring campaign will feature photos and videos from customers in their own environments rather than professional studio locations.  The 10 “cast members” selected were discovered through their social media posts.  You can read more about this campaign and the #AExME cast from American Eagle’s press release.  This is the next step in their #AExME campaign that started in Fall 2018 with actual customers and a store associate in musical and creative environments.  Gen Z expects their brands to be more socially conscious, depict more images of diversity, and support their own identities and personal values according to this Marketing Dive article.

Walgreens and CVS to Test Teeth Straightening and Cleaning in Some Stores

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Online shopping continues to challenge traditional retailers.  Less adaptable retailers like Sears lose the battle and go out of business but others, like Best Buy have found ways to adjust and enhance their value proposition to maintain relevance.  The same dynamic is affecting drugstores and Walgreens and CVS are experimenting with added services to keep customers coming in.  This CNBC article talks about some of those efforts.  CVS is running a pilot with SmileDirectClub to fit people for invisible braces in-store.  Walgreens is experimenting with opening a dental office inside a few of their stores.  Walgreens is also experimenting with shifting their segmentation focus to double-down on seniors.

Chicken Wings Always Win the Super Bowl

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We love our Super Bowl commercials, especially in marketing programs, but I thought this USA Today article, “Who’s the real winner of Super Bowl LIII? Hint: It’s not the Patriots or the Rams” was a good example of a few different marketing concepts.  According to the article, roughly 1.38 billion (yes, billion) chicken wings are expected to be consumed during this year’s Super Bowl – poor chickens!  That number appears to be steadily increasing each year.  Interestingly, women eat more wings than men on Super Bowl Sunday though men eat more food overall.  The article talks about why wings are so popular and it’s a good example of a marketing opportunity to capitalize on a cultural tradition.

Gillette’s Controversial Campaign

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Our society continues to become increasingly polarized and we see that polarization spill over into marketing campaigns as well.  One recent example is Gillette’s campaign, We Believe.  The commercial calls out bullying and harassment, challenging men to rise above the stereotype of toxic masculinity.  According to this MarketingDive article, the campaign was met with 1.1 million social media and news mentions within the first 24 hours of the ad’s launch which represented a 215% increase in brand mentions compared to the previous 24 hour period.  As you would expect, not all of the mentions were positive but overall consumer impressions were very positive (79.6% of survey respondents saying they liked the ad) and the majority of respondents thought the ad was very memorable.

This can be used in a discussion about different forms of advertising (this seems to fit the institutional advertising definition best), it could be discussed in context of evaluating the social environment, and possibly even an ethical discussion – could campaigns like this be viewed as disingenuous or backfire on the company?