Ford integrates Marketing online with American Idol Part I

Ford Motor Company instantly received my attention during American Idol with their commercial featuring Top 12 contestants and the new Ford Fiesta. I usually cringe during the opening segments on American Idol when the contestants perform together in a musical interpretation of different songs that were once cool then cut to a commercial that is like a scene out of a truly corny family movie with the actors vying to see who can do the biggest fake smile. But, this time was different.

I am truly excited about automotive industry and what innovations are on the horizon.

Quick history refresher: the Automotive industry became complacent governed by "the good ole boys mentality" with an outdated business and marketing model. Ford has been leading the charge with the newly minted Automotive gates by having Scott Monty on Twitter and becoming more transparent as a corporation.

Back to the Ford commercial. So, the American Idol commercials are like running your nails on a chalk board with a 1960’s Mickey Mouse ClubHouse theme. Don’t get me wrong, this commercial had that vibe but the content was different. It first garnered my attention but announcing the new Ford Fiesta,which I wanted to seem then took a step further by showing the contestants supposedly painting on the cars. The commercial promoted the Ford Fiesta give away contest and the different designs by the contestants (some where really cool).

A recent article in Market Daily talked with Connie Fontaine, manager, Ford brand content and alliances, who shared that Ford's goal is not to get as much TV screen time as possible, but rather to drive consideration with Web-based elements so that the brand isn't too obtrusive during the actual show. She further explained that, “we thought it was important to seed the idea with a very strong online integration as well, we want everything we do on air to feel relevant, credible and organic.”

See, I told you, they are listening to the seismic-shift in Marketing, from interruption marketing to inclusion marketing.

Part II of this piece will further the discussion of Ford’s inclusion marketing program by moving online.

Mobile Event program that serves a Community

The Long Beach Breathmobile is the newest in the Breathmobile fleet; 10 others are on the road in Southern California. The organization’s mobile clinics diagnose and treat children regardless of insurance status. Medication may also come free.

The California chapter of the Allergy and Asthma Foundation launched the project at USC in 1995 in an attempt to better control asthma in underserved areas. If patients couldn't always get care, the thinking went, then specialists would take the care to them. Since then, the program has expanded within California as well as into Alabama, Arizona and Maryland.

The Breathmobiles park at public schools and public health clinics, but the service is open to any child, regardless of where he or she attends school or the family's insurance status. The Breathmobiles, really RV Winnebagos, are staffed by physicians, nurses and patient care workers. They offer physical exams, allergy skin testing and lung-capacity testing.

At WCN Group, we offer vehicles of all types and custom shapes. Our team will assist with discovering the right vehicle for your mobile experiential marketing program. Call today to discuss your needs.

Microsoft launches Experiential Marketing as CES to introduce new Bing App

Experiential Marketing can utilize a variety of environments and time frames. At CES 2010, Microsoft activated an experiential marketing program to help launch its Bing mobile app. The challenge was how to stand out from the other 2500 exhibitors on the show floor of CES.

If you have been to CES you know how over whelming the experience can be. Not only is it one of the largest per square footage but also most attended trade show with attendance at 110,000! With these types of numbers companies (even Microsoft) struggle to stand out from the crowd. Microsoft commissioned one of their agencies to the daunting marketing task to create an experiential marketing strategy that would over come this challenge.

The agency created a program that solved a couple challenges, capture one-on-one attention and attendee transportation logistics. Getting a cab in Las Vegas takes up to an hour during large trade shows. The experiential program included graphic wrapping 21 passenger shuttle buses and minivans, brand ambassadors on each bus to demonstrate the app and a one acre branded station across from the Convention.

The results from the marketing program included over 8,000 riders, 8,000 Bing app downloads and 15,000 one on one encounters over the three day CES Trade Show.

Questions that I have:

• Integrating Marketing - how was this integrated with other Microsoft marketing programs.
• Social Media - was there a hashtag created for the event so that event attendees could have shared during the Trade Show
• Marketing pre & post event - email, landing page, ect.
• Marketing Promotions - I would have give each of 8,000 that downloaded the app a promotional item (shirt, bag, ect) to further brand the experiential event beyond the bus ride.

Google Super Bowl Ad "Parisian Love" wins

For the first time in Google's history they entered the Super Bowl ad world in a big way by securing a commercial ad spot during the 2010 Super bowl. A bold move for the search giant, so failing was not an option. Google choose to secure their ad after half time during the third quarter of the game. Google CEO Eric Schmidt announced on his Twitter account, "Can't wait to watch the Superbowl tomorrow. Be sure to watch the ads in the 3rd quarter (someone said "Hell has indeed frozen over") ."

The 52 second ad was a view of their search engine doing what it does best, searching. The Search story followed a person trying to find information for courting a french girl. The Search story included mainly organic search and local search results. Interesting that they did not included paid search results, their bread and butter for revenue. The search results included using the web for definitions, translation and travel information.

"We didn't set out to do a Super Bowl ad, or even a TV ad for search," wrote a bashful-seeming Schmidt in a company blog post. "Our goal was simply to create a series of short online videos about our products and our users, and how they interact ... But we liked this video so much, and it's had such a positive reaction on YouTube, that we decided to share it with a wider audience."

Why this 52 second Google ad won:

• Branded advertising, "Google" was the name appearing throughout. You knew exactly who the advertiser was as compared to others who you did not.
• A story was told, you followed the progress and at the end wanted to know how it plays out.
• Educated on the use of its products, clearly demonstrated why it is easy to use and the many variations that it can be used.
• Soft sell, no talking or must buy now.
• Non-bashing, did not say bad things about competitors or why we are the best.

What Google could have done better:

• Slow it down. For thus that are digital savvy we could follow but still was difficult. I had to watch several times to see all the nuances. For the older demographic that is coming online in droves, there as No way they could have followed.
• Make this viral by at the end instead of saying "search on" say the story continues here with a link to their Youtube site with the continued story.
• Include showing the browser arrow scanning the paid search areas both top navigation and side.

Overall, I loved the spot which caught my attention from the other over-produced and played out scripts of the most of the other advertisers.

Share your thoughts here?

Business Quote - Henry Ford

"Anyone who stops marketing to save money is like a person who stops the clock to save time." - Henry Ford

Marriott Launches Social and Multimedia Hub

A few post ago I wrote about Marriott launching "Spirit of Aloha" experiential marketing tour and commented about what marketing and experiential marketing strategies Marriott should implement with this program. It seems that Marriott corporate has launched a new feature on the corporate website called "Marriott News Center".

With this new social and multimedia hub on Marriott.com, which welcomes 12 million unique visitors a month, there's just one single place to connect for all Marriott online news, photos, videos, blogs, Twitter feeds, and more. Users can share breaking news with their friends and followers.

"The Marriott News Center is a compelling and engaging place for consumers, including hotel guests, journalists and investors, to gather the latest news about Marriott, as well as a global forum to converse and share ideas," says Kathleen Matthews, Executive Vice President of Global Communications and Public Affairs, Marriott International. "The site is intended to transcend generations and communications platforms to reach and engage all audiences."

Did she say "engaging?" After reviewing the post since the official launch, there have been 12 post made with a total of 13 comments. Engaging? I then went to find info on the Marriott Hawaii road show and still could not find any information regarding this experiential marketing campaign. Engaging? Still committed to finding something engaging I clicked on the link Go Courtyard What's the latest buzz on Courtyard by Marriott. This launched into a new window and was in a blog style but the colors were dull and not like the corporate colors, the site had very little if any interactivity. Engaging?

"Success in social media, just like anything in business, takes a lot of work and time. Don't fool yourself" Scott Stratten (Twitter: unmarketing)