Sunday

A Seamless Brand

       
When thinking about seamless brands; Ben & Jerry's is the perfect example. 

The Ben & Jerry's 'hippy' personality is communicated on every product, every bag, and every napkin. From Free Range produce, to Fair Trade alliences; Ben & Jerry's use everything they can to spread their green messages.

"We believe that using business as a tool for social and environmental change is just as important as sourcing the finest ingredients to make our ice cream." (http://www.benjerry.co.uk/ourvalues/)


There are lots of brands using Twitter and Facebook, but there aren't many that actually listen, and even fewer who actually interact. Ben & Jerry's not only makes the effort to interact with people, but takes the time to acknowledge people's needs, and make them happy. 

I found this great example of Ben & Jerry's great social networking, between @Whatsnext, and @CherryGarcia, aka Jay, Ben & Jerry's Tweeter-in-chief.


'Whatsnext' tweets about her oral surgery, and ordering a week's worth of ice cream. 'cherrygarcia' replies on the same day (a Sunday no less!). 'Whatsnext' then received a letter and some vouchers through the post. (Below)


'Whatsnext' then blogged about her extremely positive experience with Ben & Jerry's; resulting in free positive promotion for the company. 

(http://socialmediatoday.com/whatsnextblog/250293/social-crm-thank-you-ben-jerrys-brand-thats-social-real-and-mediatemple-trying)

Adverts for Ben & Jerry's also reflect their green values and personality:

 

Sundae in the common is Ben & Jerry's answer to a summer festival. It comprises ice cream, music, and an experience with fair trade and ethical issues.

http://www.benjerry.co.uk/sundae/

Throughout their brand, Ben & Jerry's keep their personality constant and clear. They are a truly inspirational brand that believes and supports the fair trade movement,  and standing up for the 'little guy'.
By No comments:

Will there be a day when we'll mourn the loss of our phones, like the loss of a loved one?

Augmented reality (AR) is a term for a live direct or a indirect view of a physical, real-world environment whose elements are augmented by computer-generated sensory input, such as sound or graphics.
(Wikipedia - Augmented Reality)

With the immense development of technology, it is now harder than ever to determine whether something is reality, or in fact computer generated. However, Augmented reality is not like virtual reality. It does not create a simulation of reality. Instead, it takes a real object or space as the foundation and incorporates technologies that add contextual data to deepen a person’s understanding of the subject.


Obviously, these augmented reality glasses aren't real, but it is seriously scary how close we are.

Lets use the example to mobile phones.  

About 60 percent of the world's population now use mobile phones, with approximately 4.1 billion mobile-phone subscriptions annually, according to a United Nations survey.

The report also found that internet use had roughly doubled, with use of the internet now at approximately 23 percent of the world's population, up from 11 percent in 2002.

Mobile phones are part of our everyday lives, but not only for communication.
 We also use our phones for:
      • Alarm
      • Camera, Video and Audio Recorder
      • Internet
      • Contact Information
      • Social Networking
      • Multimedia Messaging
      • Gaming and Applications
      • Music Player
      • Wallet (Purchases can be made online through your phone)
      • TV 
      • Bar code Reader
      • and much, much, much, much more...............

We use our mobiles instead of our address books, our laptops, our alarms, our cameras, e.t.c e.t.c. Putting all this value onto one object is crazy. They will become, if they're not already, the most important thing in our lives, then what happens if we lose it! Panic!

If phones continue to control our lives in this manner, they will eventually end up as a form of augmented reality. Our phones will affect our view on reality. I'm not saying this is a bad thing, but it's certainly a scary thought.  
By No comments:

Interactivity - What is it?

This is a simple, but intriguing thought. 


I have to admit that before this weeks lecture, I wasn't completely sure what Interactivity was. 


There are definitions:


 "the set of processes, dialogues, and actions through which a human user employs and interacts with a computer" 
(Baecker & Buxton, 1987, p. 40)


and...
"allowing or relating to continuous two-way transfer of information between a user and the central point of a communication system, such as a computer or television"
(Dictionary.com)


These definitions are OK. But are they too simple? Surely interactivity is more complex than this. Perhaps an example will help. 



Example 1: 






Now YouTube is perhaps the first website you would think of when thinking about interactivity on the web. 




YouTube is a platform on which the public can upload, share, rate and comment on each others videos. It is also an avenue for companies to upload material to reach their audience. It is a two-way process - whoever uploads material receives feedback; whether it be comments or video responses. But it is also more than that - they can also give feedback to the feedback, and so on, and so forth. 


It is ultimate interactivity.  


Example 2:










Coca Cola is one of the world's leading brands; and it puts a lot of effort into being interactive. 




With each of these platforms, there is an opportunity for the consumers to give feedback to Coca Cola. 


These examples have really helped me to get to grips with interactivity. And they have proven to me that interactivity is really an integral part of a successful communications strategy.
By 1 comment:

"One in Five Tweets is Brand-Related"

During our lecture this week by John Stanton; chair of ABBA (Association of Business-to-Business Agencie, not the band!) and managing director of Base One, this statistic was mentioned, and I was amazed by how high it was! 


(http://www.viralblog.com/research/twitter-facts-figures)


With Twitter being such a popular social network medium, it has quickly become a vital platform for brands to promote themselves. This made me think about how easy it is now to reach a mass audience. The company don't need to put in much work to reach a lot of people - and quickly! 


Of course sticking your product/service on Twitter, or any social network for that matter, isn't the magical marketing tool that will guarantee that you'll reach your target market, and become a huge success. But for some, or dare I say most, brands I think it is an essential tool to reinforce the communications plan.  


So what was it like before the internet, and social networking was such a big part of our lives. 


Traditional media (Television, Press, Radio) is a one-way communication process. It sends it's message out to the world and receives little, if any, feedback. A passive audience was in effect, rather than the highly interactive audience that exists today. Not only are audiences talking back to the companies, but they are also talking to each other. There are pros and cons to this interaction from the companies point of view;

          
Pros
Cons
·         Interaction between the audience further promotes the brand without much effort by the company.
·         It is a free, ‘easy’ method of promotion.
·         The company have no control once the message has been put out there. People could be raving about the brand, but they could just as likely be ‘slagging’ it off.
·         There is no guarantee that the target market will see it. (Although it has the potential for lots of people to see it, it is not focused to just who they want to target.)

                                                  
So it could now be said that it is easier and quicker to promote your brand to the mass-market now, but you've got to be prepared to take the risk!    



By No comments:
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)