Personalized Spam

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Personal selling has always had the ability and advantage of tailoring a message for a specific customer.  A downside of personal selling is the cost and time required to touch all members of a large market.  On the other hand, mass selling gave us the opportunity to reach a broad audience in a cost-effective manner but we had to do so with a “one-size-fits-all” message.  Marketing technology is increasingly becoming more sophisticated is helping to close the gap between personal selling and mass selling.  Now we can easily personalize mass communications to address customers by name, present specific promotions based on what we know about that customer, automate follow-up, and more.

According to this article by Econsultancy (and the cartoon above provided by the Marketoonist),  37% of brands say their automation is not successful.  Ask your students why that’s the case?  Which companies do they feel do a particularly good or bad job?  Can they come up with a list of best/worst practices?

Burger King’s “Nightmare King”

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Capitalizing on Halloween tradition, Burger King is trying to drum up some business with their new “Nightmare King” burger.  Their latest ad (watch here) highlights the quarter-pound beef, chicken fillet, cheese, bacon, mayo, and onion combination all on a green sesame seed bun.  The ad claims Burger King partnered with the Florida Sleep & Neuro Diagnostic Services to conduct a clinical study designed to measure the burger’s ability to induce nightmares.  Spoiler alert – their research claims nightmares increase by 3.5 times after eating the new burger.

While the legitimacy of the claims is dubious at best, it is a good example of Burger King’s efforts to grab share in the overcrowded Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) market.  This isn’t Burger King’s first seasonal stunt either.  Three years ago they created a Whopper served on a jet black bun and last year they offered free Whoppers to customers who visited the restaurant dressed up as clowns.  Burger King is also partnering with Postmates (a courier service who’s model is similar to Uber or Lyft) to offer free delivery of the new burger between October 22 and Nov. 1 suggesting an effort to push customers to mobile ordering.  Read more about the campaign here.

 

Ever-Increasing Airline Fees

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Jet Blue and United Airlines recently raised their checked baggage fees from $25 to $30 for the first bag checked (see this article to read more).  Just 10 years ago checked baggage fees were unheard of but they are the norm today and airlines are increasingly looking for ways to add charges and fees to improve their bottom line.  Air travel is basically commoditized and, as a result, leisure travelers tend to search for the lowest price when booking travel.  This significantly hurt airline profitability until they started charging additional fees for checked bags, carry-on bags, early check-in, seat reservation, leg room, in-flight snacks, entertainment, and more.  Now airlines can benefit from the high margin they get on these fees yet still advertise low fares.

This topic presents numerous angles for a conversation with students.  Is it ethical for airlines to advertise low prices when the end price a consumer will pay will likely be significantly higher?  Why were the airlines able to enact this trend in adding supplemental charges?  i.e. if one airline started charging for checked bags, why didn’t others push free bags as a differentiator?  How does the airline industry’s status as an oligopoly affect this market dynamic?  How do business travel and loyalty programs make it easier for airlines to push price increases like this?

 

BMW’s Entry into the Self-Driving Market

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I’m a huge proponent of self-driving cars.  While my in-laws find the concept of a computer driving us around terrifying, I find it liberating.  After all, nearly all commercial aircraft are flown by computer (and in some cases they land and take off by computer as well).  The National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration found that an excess of 94% of all traffic accidents are primarily caused by human error.  This topic in itself can lead to a rich class discussion.

Google, Apple, Uber, and other tech companies have led the charge in this space but traditional automobile manufacturers are starting to make progress with their roadmaps as well.  This article talks about BMW’s current design concept for a self-driving electric car.  What I particularly liked was the content talking about how they’re changing the design of the interior of the car since it no longer needs to be centered around a driver forced to look forward.  Ask your students what the ideal self-driving car would look like on the inside.  Does it look like the interior of a private plane or is it more utilitarian?  Is it a portable living room with a large TV that can be watched by all occupants?  As we move from human-driven to hybrid-driven and eventually to computer-only driven cars, what does that do to the product design?  How does the adoption curve affect marketing strategies for this new category of cars?

Cannabis Coca-Cola

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Coca-Cola is looking at getting into the cannabis-infused drink business.  You won’t be able to get high off the drink since it uses a non-psychoactive component (CBD) in marijuana.  Nevertheless, the story is garnering a lot of media attention and Coca-Cola says the industry has significant potential.  You can read more about the story here.

Ask your students to put together a marketing strategy for the new Coke drink.  Who do they define as the target market?  Why?  Students often see themselves as the largest market segment for products that they like and this can be a good opportunity to push them to think more broadly.  Beyond the target market, what would their marketing mix look like?  How would they treat the cannabis component?  Would they downplay it or make it front and center?  Why?  Would they have to implement new logistical processes or distribution channels?  There are many different directions you could take this discussion.