TGIF! In terms of widespread conversation about different events, this week was busy. Apple announced two new iPhones and its entry into wearable technology with the Apple Watch, Honey Maid took another stab at highlighting today’s wholesome families, Bud Light’s Whatever USA finally came to life and America remembered the 13th anniversary of 9/11. Here’s what we’re hooked on (and why).
Honey Maid #NotBroken
Honey Maid earned a lot of attention earlier this year when it first launched its “This Is Wholesome” spot, featuring bi-racial and gay families. The ad and brand received backlash and an outpour of hateful messaging, and in response released a new ad, which took the negative comments and turned them into something positive, spelling “love” with all of the messages.
Fast forward to today, and Honey Mad is at wholesome again. This time it’s focusing on broken up families – or rather, #notbroken. We’ve worked with Honey Maid before and are so proud to have this company on our roster as it continues to celebrate today’s families and lifestyles.
iPhone 6, 6 Plus and Apple Watch
The new iPhones are bigger and thinner than ever, and they also come with a new co-part: Apple watch. These all present new opportunities for marketers, as well as challenges to consider when thinking about how consumers will be using the next group of iPhones. Larger screens are a better fit for digital video advertising and social media sites like Instagram and Vine. A watch that can receive notifications does not mean it’s a good strategy to boost the number of notifications sent. Apple Pay means retailers should be ready for consumers to expect to pay with a swipe of their phones.
In addition to new gadgets, Apple also announced the new U2 album is available for free on iTunes and would be automatically located into users’ iTunes accounts. A lot of users are not happy about this, but more than two million copies of the album have reportedly been downloaded.
13 Years Later
It’s been 13 years since terrorism shook America. Surprisingly, a go-to move that seems to become common for brands on social media today is to commemorate 9/11 with promotions or inappropriate real-time marketing. Digiday has a list of some brands that wanted to be a part of the conversation this year.
Despite the untimely social media posts from some brands, there’s an interesting post from Mediabistro about how much media really has changed in 13 years. User-generated media, social media and real-time news have become the fabric of our online lives, and it’s interesting to take a step back and see how quickly that transition happened. (Which may also explain why some brands just haven’t mastered what content to post or not.)
Whatever, USA
Bud Light introduced its Up For Whatever campaign during the Super Bowl this year, and this week the company finally unveiled Whatever, USA…aka Crested Butte, Colorado. The town completely transformed (for $500,000) with Whatever and Bud Light branding, events and about 1,200 contest winners. Vanilla Ice in a vanilla ice cream truck, blue streets, Lil Jon at a parade and more than 100 other events kept winners occupied this week. Even the airport was pulled in, changing monitors, terminals and flight attendants to feature Whatever content.
The airport was seemingly a problem for the winners trying to get back home, however, with flight delays and overcrowded security screenings, which goes to show how important is to think through every piece of execution when it comes to experiential marketing. Bud Light was true to its campaign name though and ordered pizzas and paid for any missed flights, making the best of “Whatever” situation came its way.
PHOTO: Lydia Stern/LStern Media
Tinder for Marketers
Finding the perfect match can be tiresome, expensive and disheartening; the same is true for dating, which is why apps like Tinder exist today. For marketers looking for new agencies, meet Pitcher, the app that touts itself a “Tinder for marketers.” It works almost as you would imagine: brands set up a pitch, then the app searches a database based on the pitch criteria and brands can swipe left or right based on whether they want to work with an agency. So far, it’s only available in Amsterdam, but is an interesting concept for matching the pitch process to today’s digital and social landscape.
Pitcher – Tinder for Marketeers from Woedend! on Vimeo.
