Don’t Forget About Second Screen Superbowl

January 31, 2014

As Superbowl XLVIII is approaching this weekend, everyone will gather in clusters of family and friends to watch the big game and advertisers who got commercial slots are ready to display their million dollar ads. However, those who don’t have the financial backup to join in don’t have to worry about missing out.

There are some who sit during the entirely of the game and watch all of the commercials but most are more practical than that. There are bathroom breaks, food breaks and alcohol breaks where people get up and what most people don’t leave behind is their cell phone. In this age, almost everyone has a smartphone; even those who haven’t even reached their teenage years. With the need to constantly socialize, smartphones bring everyone together through social media and texting. Because of this, advertising on social media is the most affective form of advertising.

Commercials may only have a mere 30 seconds for an ad campaign, but there are always links as well as hashtags and handles that are presented at the end to keep their viewer’s interest and stay connected with them after the commercial has passed. You don’t need to have a million dollar commercial to do this. Place your ads straight to social media and you may even be ahead of those who invested millions in commercials. Instagram, Facebook and Twitter now all have integrated ads in users feeds, which makes marketers’ lives easier.

There are commercials that can be missed, but if your ad is placed in a social media feed, it is less likely to be. People are constantly scrolling through their feed, reading all of their friend’s statuses or looking at their pictures and videos. The integration is great, because your ad is camouflaged with all of the other content. People will see your image or video or read your status before even realizing that it’s an ad. From there, they can decide whether or not to follow the link provided but you have already taken that first step. This introduction is more likely to receive feedback because your information is already presented to your viewer and they have already taken it in.

Take advantage of these opportunities as people are always constantly checking their phones. They might even be checking their phone while sitting in front of the television instead of watching the commercials. Some even update their statuses with play-by-plays or complain or cheer during the game. A smartphone is the second screen of the Superbowl and you need to take advantage of these marketing opportunities to reach out to your audience.

Budweiser Warms Our Hearts with “Puppy Love” Superbowl Commercial

January 30, 2014

Budweiser does it again with its extraordinary marketing tactics. From one of their strongest and most-loved ads in awhile, Budweiser reprised the Clydesdale and its beloved trainer, from last year’s “Brotherhood” ad in yet another heartwarming Superbowl commercial. This commercial follows the previous ad’s baby animal theme and features a 10-week old puppy who keeps escaping an adoption center to befriend the Clydesdales at a nearby farm although the trainer continues to return the pup.

From the puppy’s persistent visits to the Clydesdales trapping a car when someone tried to adopt the pup to the reunion of the puppy and Clydesdale in the end, everything about this ad melts your heart. The multi-layered story with parallel signs of love add to the touching story as the woman from the adoption center played by Melissa Keller is also united with Don Jeanes, who plays the trainer, in the end as well. The two constantly meet due to the circumstances and give way to Budweiser’s emotional ties to the feeling of love as well as the strong friendship between the puppy and Clydesdale.

To make these commercial even more sentimental, strong music choices are anchored for both last year’s ad and this sequel. Last year, Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide” touched the audience’s hearts and this year, Passenger’s “Let Her Go” does the same. With the connections of love and deep friendship of “best buds,” Budweiser did a great job of tying their brand to emotional connections that bring their audience closer.

Viral Video Lessons For Superbowl Ads

January 23, 2014

Superbowl ads have been increasing in price drastically each year. With the hefty price each company is paying to grasp a 30 second ad, going viral through your digital campaign to make the decision worthwhile is your highest priority. Looking back on the winning strategies in the past years and analyzing what makes them successful will improve your marketing chances greatly.

Longer commercials are making their way through this generation so you can tell more of your story. The average length of top 10 ads in the past few years have been increasing. In 2013, brands such as ChipotleWestJet, and Dove each ran commercials that were over three minutes and each have generated between 470,000 and 4.24 million online shares. Your audience is willing to sit and watch a longer commercial, giving you more of an advantage. During the Superbowl, you have the ability to tell more in your ads to such a large audience size and it’s important to take advantage of that. Everyone knows Superbowl ads are the most expensive ads of the year and expect to be either entertained or moved with the money you are investing. Give your audience what they want and make sure it’s memorable.

Tease the people and they’ll keep coming back for more. Teasers are so easy to spread through social media as it is quick and grasps your audience’s attention easily. Last year, seven commercial ads were supported by teasers released previously. Dior posted teasers exclusively on Twitter and other social media networks over the course of a day. The hashtag, like and share activity helped generate buzz about their upcoming product line. This year, HBO’s hit series Girls used social media to their advantage as well. With their constant teaser tweets, Instagram posts and even Snapchats, they pumped up their audience base and was able to reach an all-time high viewership at 1.1 million for the season 3 premiere episode.

It’s not just the money that buys the Superbowl ads that makes them successful. Yes, it gives them the first few steps to make it out there for the audience to see, but there is still competition. Use your efforts to expand and grow digitally through social media and make a long, meaningful ad to remain memorable. Whether it is through going viral on the internet or making your audience laugh until they cry, the Superbowl ads are the highlight of commercialism that your audience is willing to take it all in. Give them the best of what you have and put forth efforts to constantly market it and you will gain success.

Beats by Dre Releases Perfectly Timed Ad with Richard Sherman: “Hear What You Want”

January 20, 2014

As a Stanford graduate with a degree in communications, Seattle Seahawk CB Richard Sherman took advantage of the media coverage after the NFC Championship Game with his memorable postgame interview with Erin Andrews. Not only did Sherman stop the potential TD that could’ve lost the Seahawks the NFC Championship, but he continued to bank in on the moment to gain publicity and future endorsements.


Although many would say Sherman acted like a crazy person during his postgame interview, he became a trending topic on every social media platform within seconds. Sherman was clearly media conscious of his actions as he looked directly at the camera and kept his rant non-profane. Minutes later, he sat with reporters at the Fox Sports Postgame Show appearing calm and collected. As someone who makes a mere $555,000 as a top NFL player, Sherman made smart, conscious decisions with his actions to gain the publicity to bring him into the spotlight.

How many CBs do most NFL fans know off the top of their head? Not many. As a DB, Sherman would rarely receive any publicity compared to that of Peyton Manning, a star QB with a $15 million salary. With the biggest game of the NFL season approaching, Superbowl XLVIII and the weeks leading up to it are the biggest media days for any player in the NFL. Sherman purposefully spoke up during his interview to gain the publicity he needed.

On the same night as Sherman’s postgame interview, Beats by Dre released an ad with Richard Sherman that professional media planners dream of. The ad consisted of Sherman being interviewed by several reporters asking about him as a player and “a thug” from Compton. Unlike the interview with Erin Andrews, Sherman was calm and collected as he was wearing Beats by Dre headphones. The ad ends with Sherman placing the headphones on his head and walking away, featuring the words “Hear what you want.” This is a clear example of perfect marketing that correlates to the social media banter following Sherman’s rant.

Macklemore and Ryan Lewis Continue to Conquer Social Media

January 17, 2014

2013 was a great year for Seattle-based hip-hip artist Macklemore and producer Ryan Lewis as they received countless awards including an MTV Music Award, a Teen Choice Award and many more due to their successful social media efforts. Their success came from paving an independent path on YouTube rather than signing with a label, which helped them to connect with fans in a way that was more intimate.

With the power of the internet and with the real personal relationship that you can have via social media with your fans… I mean everyone talks about MTV and the music industry, and how MTV doesn’t play videos any more — YouTube has obviously completely replaced that. It doesn’t matter that MTV doesn’t play videos. It matters that we have YouTube and that has been our greatest resource in terms of connecting, having our identity, creating a brand, showing the world who we are via YouTube. That has been our label. Labels will go in and spend a million dollar or hundreds of thousands of dollars and try to “brand” these artists and they have no idea how to do it. There’s no authenticity. They’re trying to follow a formula that’s dead. And Ryan and I, out of anything, that we’re good at making music, but we’re great at branding. We’re great at figuring out what our target audience is. How we’re going to reach them and how we’re going to do that in a way that’s real and true to who we are as people. Because that’s where the substance is. That’s where the people actually feel the real connection.

— Macklemore (via techdirt.com)

Through social media branding, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis paved their way to success. Their website featured the album, where to purchase merchandise, their show schedule and various pictures through a blog that shows what goes on at shows both from a fan perspective as well as behind the scenes. This section, especially, gives off the feel of intimacy where Macklemore is an artist but is also one of the people to share a connection.

The Facebook page gives a similar intimacy as Macklemore updates it daily; sometimes multiple times a day. He shares EVERYTHING with his fans including free performances, messages thanking for support, pictures with his fans that tag them and information about their other social media channels. On Twitter, he constantly retweets what his fans say, answers questions and announces upcoming shows. YouTube has been the biggest social media outlet for Macklemore. He relinquished a lot of control over his videos so that they can be placed on different Youtube channels, allowing viewers to see them wherever they please and free of charge. As branding gurus, Macklemore really understands his audience and the demographic he is trying to reach out to.

Although Macklemore and Ryan Lewis have it big now, nothing is stopping them from the constant social media branding. With the Grammys coming up Sunday, January 26, Macklemore surprised a Bronx, NY bus with a performance of “Can’t Hold Us.” The performance was recorded by Macklemore himself and several of the bus passengers, bringing several videos to YouTube and spreading their marketing efforts. With over 1.3 million hits on this video in less than 3 days, Macklemore and Ryan Lewis still got it.

New York Experiences “Devil’s Due” Baby

January 16, 2014

With yet another Devil baby movie coming out this this Friday, marketers went on a venture through the streets of NYC to further promote Eli Roth’s upcoming movie, “Devil’s Due”.

An animatronic baby was created with the the head of a “devil baby” and placed in a remote-controlled stroller in New York. Those who passed by the abandoned stroller heard the crying inside and were curious to see what was in store and were in for a scare. As hidden cameras were placed in the streets, all the activity involved with the automated stroller was recorded. Check out the video below to see the marketing prank:


The YouTube video was a hit with its release on Monday with 4.4 million views the first day. It has been 2 days and there are already 9.7 million views, which is more than double the first view count. As this view spreads through social media virally, “Devil’s Due” marketers did an amazing job with this campaign. With a couple scares throughout the streets of NYC, they were able to really grab their audience’s attention for the premiere of the movie.

How to Avoid Content Quality Failures

January 15, 2014

2014’s marketing plan for call-to-action involves quality content as the amount of content being produced is increasing greatly. This is due to the increased number of marketeers that are using content marketing along with social media feeds that allow for the content to be spread at an exponential rate. To create quality content, it’s important to understand what NOT to do and we’re here to help you.

Don’t be a constant stream of promotional messages. If you keep shoving your “buy, buy, buy” message in you audience’s faces, they will eventually get annoyed and stop listening. Consumers know the basics of marketing talk and are used to avoiding advertising on a daily basis. Their advertising detectors  are able to block out phrases that are primarily promotional.

Don’t just use generic information. If you can apply what you’re saying to everything, then it means nothing. A lack of specificity can confuse your audience and make it harder for them to relate to your content. By adding specific details about your company and product, you can tell a better story that shapes what you represent. These intricate stories will leave details that will remain in your audience’s mind when they think about your product.

Don’t make it too difficult to read. Illegible fonts or colors make for bad design and keep your audience at bay. Difficult words do the same. When you are speaking to your audience, you want them to understand what it is you are trying to convey without having them turn to a dictionary. Use simple words that everyone can understand because you don’t know what kind of audience you have and you want to have the largest possible reach.

Don’t forget to be human. You don’t want your content to sound like it was written by a machine or is a reciting. Your audience wants to feel important; not just another number. They want to really be convinced and feel special for it. When you speak like a human, they will respond accordingly and feel a stronger connection to what you have to offer.

Quality content is very important when it comes to marketing as it is the craze of this year’s tactics. Make sure you don’t make any of these mistakes in your marketing efforts. Not only is it important to make sure you are creating great content, but you need to make sure that you aren’t doing anything to hinder the influential things you are trying to say. These mistakes will hold you back and it’s important to understand them firsthand before they hold you back!

3 Ways to Blog Success in 2014

January 10, 2014

Blog success is pretty difficult due to the number of blogs on the web. In perspective, WordPress powers 74.1 million blogs and that number doesn’t even include those on other platforms including Blogger, Tumblr, etc. You need to understand and recognize your audience’s time and focus in order to gain the best feedback possible and here are some marketing tactics to help you.

1. High-Value Content – There is a difference between high-priced content and high-value content. Your audience could care less about how much you spend to provide content as long as you solve their problems. Problems can range from giving product information to answering customer service questions. Extend these offers with how-to’s for your product including photos for visual learning. When you show prospects how to incorporate your product into their lives, they are more likely to engage in what you have to offer. From recipes to styling and accessorizing, there are endless ways to portray your product into one’s everyday life.

2. Entertain – Don’t just give facts on top of more information for a mundane informational blog. Have a few breaks here and there that give your audience a laugh or cheers them up with things like BuzzFeed articles, memes or gifs that can engage your audience. You can also lighten up your content by telling stories including those that involve your product’s history, how your company is doing in the advertising realm or even a background of your company and its employees. Stories are entertaining and easy to remember when trying to consume knowledge about something. Giving a history of your product or company and employees also gives off the human or “real” aspect of your brand that your audience can relate to.

3. Mix Up Your Content – People get bored of reading the same kind of content over and over again. Discuss an array of topics so that you cover all different aspects of things your brand is related to. By having a organized social media calendar, you can decide what type of information to present and when you want to present it. A calendar allows you to see a whole spread period of time so you don’t talk about the same type of content in such a short period of time. You can even add small changes to your blogs to add some zing such as including quotes, third-party links or videos. Providing different content formats allows you to test out different channels and audiences and see what is the most effective.

Blog success isn’t guaranteed but there are ways that can definitely improve your potential. By providing valuable information in different ways including the content itself and the platform it’s spread from, you will see a change in your audience’s view of your brand. It may only increase by a little at a time or it could double or triple your blog viewership.

Actionable Social Media Marketing Tips for 2014

January 9, 2014

It’s 2014 and everyone is involved in social media in one way or another. Whether it’s for personal or professional reasons, almost everyone has a Facebook or a LinkedIn account. It’s important to understand how this generation works to market to them correctly.

Platform engagement. Your business needs to be involved with as many social media platforms as possible. From liking your status or picture to retweeting it, social media is the fastest, most reliable way to gain attention from others. Your target market understands how to navigate and engage social media. By placing your business in their everyday routine, you will also have a place in their lives without seeming like a burden or an advertisement. That is the best way to market your brand.

Visualize your content. They say that a picture is worth a thousand words and photos really do have that much power. They tell a story and actually show people what you want them to see. As humans, people are programmed to look at other people. You need to take advantage of this natural instinct with your marketing. Include lots of imagery in your social media and marketing efforts. Words can get mundane after awhile and it’s important to have things like images and videos to break up your content.

Audience connections. You need to be able to identify and relate with those you are trying to influence. If you make meaningful and authentic connections with your audience by responding to their questions and using their feedback, you will have a better relationship with them. You will then become a creator of value and have a better connection with your audience rather than seeming like an advertiser.

Don’t just make content to have something; give it value. When you use these actionable marketing tactics through your social media platforms, you will better your chances of having a meaningful relationship with your audience.

Content Marketing Forecast Changes for 2014

January 7, 2014

As the weather is freezing over, so is our audience’s ability to invest their time in our marketing content. Here are some ways to ensure better content marketing for 2014.

Diversify your content in type, format and size. You want to create small, medium and large content to give your audience so that they can get both little things and the whole story. People don’t have time to read large amounts of content all the time and small doses are necessary to keep your follower’s interest, especially in this age of social media.

You also need to change the type of content as well. From answering customer’s questions to how-to’s to new information, you will keep your audience guessing what’s next. Don’t be so mundane and place the same kind of content over and over again. Variety makes a difference.

Let go of “corporate-speak.” That died long ago. You need people to create different types of content that is of value and unique. When people see that you are placing the effort to really make a difference in their lives through personal experience and research, they are more inclined to listen to what you have to say.

Not only does your content matter, but your design and language does as well. Make your brand become recognizable through your content without its logo. From layout to colors to font, you want to be recognizable and get people know its your brand.

Lastly, get your content to be tracked with sales. From call-to-actions and offers within your content, you can achieve new prospective leads and sales. Give some information about your product and then link to a place where they can immediately purchase it. Giving your audience the right stepping stones to purchase what you have to offer is key to getting sales.

Don’t let your audience breeze past your marketing content. Make these changes and you will grasp their attention for the long run and achieve sales for your brand.