Always good to see advertising with a sense of humour…
Another type of advertising caught my eye, in the form of these taxi top boards. Produced by agency aka in association with Eyetease Media, they use 3g connectivity to display location and time relevant advertising. The iTaxtops are currently being trialled in London and I imagine they are highly eye catching so it will be interesting to see how they fare.
Our sister media planning and buying agency, Space and Time, has also produced some interesting advertising solutions such as Voucher Ribbons. Produced for Taylor Wimpey, the voucher ribbons are a relatively new yet affordable medium.
Following from last week’s post ‘Consumers on Social Media’ which discussed the way that brands are failing to match consumer expectation, this post looks at a number of brand twitter fails that have emerged in the past few days.
The first comes from the McDonald’s, who used Twitter as a platform to encourage customers to share their McDonald’s experience using the hashtag #McDStories. However, feelings were less than warm and fuzzy towards the global restaurant. Instead twitter users shared negatives views and stories about the chain.
Whilst McDonald’s set about to turn the campaign around to a more positive light, this particular case highlights how brands need to be aware that campaigns may not take the direction that was intended.
Social media has a way of exposing the mistakes and wrongdoings of any company, whether that comes from a campaign or from one particular customer’s negative experience. This was the case for gym chain, LA Fitness. Following a letter sent to The Guardian by a heavily pregnant reader who sought help against the gym, after they insisted she pay the full 24 months membership fees despite being pregnant and moving 12 miles away from their nearest gym. Her husband had also been made redundant leaving the couple relying on state benefits.
After a six week battle, LA Fitness agreed to waive six months of fees, leaving them still owing the remaining £360. Following publication of the letter in The Guardian a twitter storm ensued with some outraged readers cancelling their memberships. In a complete about turn, LA Fitness agreed to waive all remaining charges- announcing the decision with an apology on their Twitter account.
Thanks to social media, the consumer has gained power and influence with businesses under increasing scrutiny. Whenever a crisis occurs, brands need to consider exactly how they should respond and to ensure that the response is timely and demonstrates empathy. Timing is crucial in taking back control of any crisis; therefore brands need to be ready to act at any point.
Finally, Snickers set out confusing the followers of former glamour model Katie Price, when they took over her account on Sunday earlier this week with tweets on the global economy. Most presumed she had been hacked considering the economy wasn’t a likely choice for Price to cover.
It was finally revealed that it was in fact a stunt from Snickers as part of their current campaign, “You aren’t you when you’re hungry”. Views on the stunt vary; with some applauding the stunt and others suggesting that Snickers have put out the message that eating a bar can make you appear unintelligent. Let us know what you think of the stunt by leaving a comment below.
In an aside, Snickers have taken an entertaining approach with their current advertising campaign, supporting the twitter stunt, which features ex-Dynasty stars Joan Collins and Stephanie Beacham.
Social media offers brands a number of opportunities. However, a study from Lithium has revealed that brands are failing to match consumer expectation in social media.
Lithium found that 72% of consumers’ surveyed used social media to stay engaged with brands, yet less than half of the brands surveyed used social media to drive awareness and only a tenth of brands say that social is a top 3 priority. This means that a number of brands are missing a huge opportunity to reach and engage their consumers.
Brands don’t have to be running expensive or large scale campaigns either- simple customer service is one way those brands can reach their consumers. The report found that 50% of consumers expect to find service on Facebook but only 10% of brands actually offer it. Social support is far cheaper than traditional customer support via phone so it begs the question, why are brands not taking advantage of it? However, consumers expect responses to be fast with only 12% willing to wait days for an answer to their enquiry.
Certain brands have experienced a backlash from consumers in providing a delayed response to complaints. For example, Waitrose came under fire on their Facebook page from a customer complaining about an incident that occurred at one of the chain’s stores. Within the hour the comment resulted in a slew of angry comments from other customers with threats of boycott. A lack of response to the issue from Waitrose did not help matters. Had Waitrose been quicker to respond, the issue may not have erupted in the way it did.
Furthermore, social networks provide consumers with a community- in the report 60% of consumers like brands on Facebook in order to interact with other customers and share experiences. Brands are underestimating the value of a like, with marketers believing that consumers like a page above all reasons because they find it agreeable, whereas consumers actually like a page because they are a loyal customer.
Brands need to capitalise on this loyalty and use social networks to build relationships with their customers. Establishing a two-way dialogue between consumer and brand can be incredibly powerful with consumers acting as advocates for the brand.
Some key findings are shown in the infographic below, whilst the report can be found here.
Via We Are Social.
