Volkswagen to celebrate transition to e-vehicles, change company name to Voltswagen…

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April Fools!

While Volkswagen plans for at least 60 percent of its sales in Europe to be hybrid or EV by 2030, they are not there yet. Nor are they among the most committed to such a conversion.

Still, the company’s marketing group thought an April Fools’ joke announcement of a name change to Voltswagen might be fun. Unfortunately, it looks like a draft of the joke press release went out a few days early. Then the final “joke” went out two days before April 1. Read more about what happened in “Volkswagen of America said its name was changing. Now it admits it was just a disaster of an April Fool’s stunt.“

Do Micro-Targeted Online Ads Work?

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subprime attention crisis coverA lot of digital advertising is based on the idea that firms like Google and Facebook have data that allows them to microtarget advertising. These two companies now dominate advertising media. But do they really work? On the one hand, you might expect that advertisers can (and should) be tracking the success of their online advertising. Unlike John Wanamaker, a retailing pioneer who is supposed to have said “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half,” today’s marketing managers are supposed to know what works and what doesn’t. They can see which ads bring click-throughs that result in sales. They can track those new customers over time and see if they continue to buy and how profitable they are. In theory.

In a new book, Subprime Attention Crisis, former Google employee Tim Hwang argues that theory is overblown. I have not yet read the book — it is on my Amazon wish list. That said, I did read a pretty good review of the book in Wired, “Ad Tech Could Be the Next Tech Bubble” (October 5, 2020). There I read, that Hwang’s book makes the case that “Microtargeting is far less accurate, and far less persuasive, than it is made out to be…” Most ads are never seen because of ad blockers or poor placement. Many are only clicked on by ad fraud.

I do need to read the book. As noted above, advertisers should be tracking this stuff themselves. But it does give me reason to pause.

Critical Thinking for Students – What businesses are harmed (helped) by the pandemic?

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OK, life gives you lemons (or worse, far worse, a pandemic), how do you make lemonade. Because the pandemic is everywhere these days, we might use this current event to get students to think about the impact on various types of business. You might ask your students questions like…

  • What types of products (or companies) are likely to do particularly well (or poorly) in the pandemic? And more importantly why?

Many of their answers can be tied back to consumer behavior changing. This gives them the opportunity to see how understanding customers influences business. For more interesting examples you might share with your students, consider these articles: “Puzzles, hair dye, yeast: Companies thriving during COVID-19,” and “Early department stores were incredibly innovative. What happened?” to find less obvious examples.

  • How should companies engage in promotion during the pandemic? Why? 

Again, more examples from successful and less successful companies. See these articles about advertising “We have hit peak pandemic advertising, and now they’re just annoying,” and “Brands With Strong Twitter Personalities Stay the Course During Covid-19” (you may need to sign up to access that last one — you can get three free articles a month after signing up).

A Sales Promotion Fail…

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As businesses seek to remain relevant in the midst of our pandemic, some are getting creative and clever. Sometimes, perhaps too clever for their own good. Here are a couple of recent examples:

Actress Reese Witherspoon’s fashion line, Draper James’ marketers thought they had a great idea. The brand wanted to support teachers–who have been challenged with delivering education in a whole new format. So they decided to give teachers a free dress.

“On Thursday, April 2, Draper James announced the offer on its Instagram page, writing: “Dear Teachers: We want to say thank you. During quarantine, we see you working harder than ever to educate our children. To show our gratitude, Draper James would like to give teachers a free dress.” They were instructed to apply by a form, given a deadline, and told when “winners” would be notified — as well as that it was valid “while supplies last.”” [quote from New York Times article.]

At first, of course it got the brand a lot of great publicity (for example, both the “Today Show” and “Good Morning America” promoted it). Unfortunately, they only had 250 dresses and when 10s of thousands of teachers applied, it meant that many ended up disappointed. A promotion that started with the best of intentions came across as an example of “Celebrity #Covidwashing,” making the Draper James and Reese Witherspoon brands look bad. Read the whole story at “Reese Witherspoon’s Fashion Line Offered Free Dresses to Teachers. They Didn’t Mean Every Teacher.”

 

Advertising in a Pandemic…

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A few weeks ago we posted on a couple of articles discussing the question about how to advertise in a pandemic. This week, I thought I would share some favorite advertising that directly addresses the pandemic. It is amazing how quickly some brands (and their agencies) have created powerful ads in a short time.

Check out these ads (links to a YouTube video of the ad you can watch and show your students):

  • McDonald’s: Unskippable Ad is a handwashing reminder that runs pre-roll (before online video). While such ads are usually skippable after 5 seconds, this one cannot be skipped. It was part of a McDonald’s Russia campaign “We are for safety. With both hands.” The ad educates while also letting everyone know that McDonald’s is a safe option.
  • The Ohio Department of Health created “Flatten the Curve” to educate Ohioans (and others) the theory behind social distancing. A great example of how a short video can communicate a great deal. It is also a nice example of Marketing for a Better World (#M4BW). This simple video communicates a lot.
  • Nike: Play for the World, You Can’t Stop Us shows Nike athletes and everyday people who are still playing — though now indoors. Nike has long used its advertising to encourage us to “Just do it” or get out and play. This ad fits the times.
  • Dove has long been a leader (that link shows they have been doing it for more than 15 years!) in re-defining beauty. In a pandemic, they show some “beautiful” front-line healthcare workers in “Courage is Beautiful.” Great fit with its image. Authentic. But maybe uplifting for some of our students who are struggling with the current situation.