Integrated Marketing Communications

New Heights

Throughout our marketing classes, we always discuss our "target segments" or "demographics". It seems so simple and the common age groups of 18-24 females with disposable incomes come to mind first. But don't you ever wonder how to reach a different group. What about a group who doesn't want to speak??

Well on AdWeek a recent and fascinating article about a new campaign was posted. The ANAR Foundation stands for Aid to Children and Adolescents at Risk. They are a nonprofit organization that is dedicated to helping youth through their two different programs including: ANAR Home and ANAR Telephone. The purpose of the ANAR Home is to give housing to children without families, while the second program helps children through free confidential consultation in their national call center. There mission is different then some of the other ones I have learned about in my study of nonprofits and really spoke to me because of their new campaign.

More information on their foundation can be found at: ANAR Foundation Website

How Do You Advertise Nonprofits to Kids?

 "Sometimes child abuse is only visible to the child suffering it"

And the children under 4' 3'' see something entirely different. They look up at this child of a sad child with a bruised face. They see the message:

"If somebody hurts you phone us and we'll help you"

Both of these messages are extremely clear and short. They are specific to who can physically see to each one. For a nonprofit who is trying to reach out to children to call and get help this is a perfect way for them to see that there is a way to get help. Instead of making it something that they would immediately be pulled away from this is a clear way to make an unspoken message spoken.

I would love to see how this campaign continues and the new and other innovative ways they could reach out to children in such situations. I think this way of advertising does not seem fake or useless either. I think people will appreciate the effort this organization is making to reach out to such a difficult niche of children. According to the National Child Abuse Statistics,

"Every year 3.3 million reports of child abuse are made in the United States involving nearly 6 million children (a report can include multiple children)"

Along with this quote, this fact sheet shows more of the devastation and destruction of child abuse. This new marketing campaign may be small, but the difference it could be in someone's life is miraculous.

Statistics from National Child Abuse

By even learning a little more today about something that is happening every 10 seconds in the world, it is amazing that something like this video is going viral and that maybe more impact and help will come out of this. I am looking forward to seeing if the number of calls to the call center increases from children because of these ads and that they feel that someone out there is looking after them.

How can one ad contain two completely different messages?  I’m not talking puns- I’m talking actual wording and meaning.

ANAR, the Aid to Children and Adolescents at Risk Foundation in Spain, has found a way.  Their recent ad campaign launched this past week and utilizes lenticular “top layer” technology that allows viewers of different heights to see different messages.  If you are below 4 feet 5 inches (the average height of a child), the ad you will see is a picture of a young boy with bruises and a message that reads “If somebody hurts you, phone us and we will help you” along with the foundation’s phone number.  Any taller than this and you will see a message that says “sometimes child abuse is only visible to the child suffering it.”  This is taking social responsibility and directness to a whole new level.

The goal here is to provide a communication channel where the foundation can offer their help to abused children even if their aggressor is walking with them on the street.  Adults won’t be able to see the message, but any child walking past it will.

I think this is a brillant initiative that not only brings awareness to the foundation and child abuse, but also provides a direct message in what was originally conceived a safe channel.  That being said, I agree with most when saying that launching YouTube videos and announcing the campaign online takes away from it’s effectiveness. Now all adults, including aggressors, know what the true message of the ad says.

Sources:

http://gizmodo.com/this-ad-has-a-secret-anti-abuse-message-that-only-kids-493108460

How J.Crew became a fashion powerhouse by reinventing preppy chic and integrating all of their marketing initiatives

Recently I have been obsessed with J. Crew.  Yes, I have jumped on this bandwagon late, considering the countless fashion blogs obsessed and dedicated to J. Crew.

My obsession goes beyond the variety of chambrays, bold stripes, and playful lobster and sail boat prints. I idolize their runway preppy chic, but my current obsession stems from their CEO Mickey Drexler and President Jenna Lyons.  Within the past ten years they have created a fashion power house- a fashion following if you will- that has stepped up and reinvented “preppy,” so drastically different than the way it was when I was growing up.

Not only have the clothes taken a full 360, but so has their entire aesthetic and image.

For the past two weeks I have been researching Mickey Drexler for a leadership paper for my management class at Elon, and one thing that the President Jenna Lyons told Fast Company struck me:

“There were a lot of really talented people, but they were all doing their own thing, and it looked like it. [J. Crew] was bifurcated and fractured. It didn’t come together.”

And she was so spot on.  Researching for our ABAN marketing strategies project this semester made me realize how vital it was for a brand-especially in the fashion industry- to have a cohesive, strong, image on every platform they present themselves.  Everything needs to look in unison and on the same page.  If even one outlet is slightly different, it deters from the power of their image.

Mickey Drexler and Jenna Lyons revolutionized J. Crew’s clothing lines and overall fashion identity, but they also took the initiative to unite all of J. Crew’s communication channels. According to Fast Company, “Lyons believed that to create a coherent brand and drive the business forward, every piece of the creative organization–from retail to catalog to web–had to be unified”; and that is exactly what Lyons did.

Everything got a facelift- the retail stores, website, and monthly catalog.  Similar to Mickey Drexler’s  ”everything is in the details” philosophy  Lyon’s pours over every detail of every cashmere and every website link.

One of the most important focuses Lyons had was uniting the website and catalog into one cohesive force.  She told Fast Company that originally their were different teams of merchandisers working on the catalog from the website- and it annoyed her that you could tell.  They didn’t have the same feel or style whatsoever.

Going on J. Crew’s website or receiving one of their catalog’s in the mail, you can tell that has changed.  Whether you are clicking through online or flipping through the pages at home, you instantly feel like you are looking through a glamourous fashion magazine.  They have their own identity  they own styling.  They use clever headings like “pops of polka dots” and professional editorial photo shoots in exotic locations.  You don’t feel like you are being sold products, but instead like they are presenting you with a new look and all of the means of achieving it.

As much as I love shopping online, I ADORE their catalog.  Despite the demise of mail promotions, J. Crew has found a brillant way to keep their monthly catalogs fresh and at the forefront of their marketing campaign with over 40 million copies distributed every year.  Renamed “J. CrewThe Style Guide,” their new catalog takes their website a step further by showing new and improved ways to pair and wear your favorite J. Crew items.  The Style Guide has even been praised by fashion bloggers including A piece of Toast.

So, why do print catalog’s still work? Because the J. Crew customer wants the availability of fashion at every outlet:

“Our twenty-something customer makes little delineation between channels.  She or he enjoys viewing our catalogue online, in her mailbox or on his phone, so we make sure our fashion is always available no matter where our customers want to view it,” Express CMO Lisa Gavales said. “That said, we haven’t seen any virtual viewing work as well as a good, old fashioned paper catalog.”

Clearly something is working- since Drexler became CEO in 2003, annual revenue has more than tripled to $2.2 billion.  

 

 

This post is a part of a series of posts for Integrated Marketing Communications class that explores strategies of integrated marketing communications and recognizes strong and weak branding strategies today.

We still have books?

Pick me!

Pay to Keep the Ads Away

According to this recent FastCompany article, Facebook only makes about $11 a year per individual user, and is looking to stray from their motto of "its free and always will be." While Facebook is not planning on adding a usage fee, they are exploring the ad space currently being delivered via news feed pages both online and on mobile apps. There are two main motivators behind this idea- first, users are beginning to get overwhelmed and annoyed with the amount of advertising appearing on their pages. Second, Facebook is beginning to learn that there needs to be an additional revenue source in order to keep the relatively recent public company growing.

Will This Be Successful?

While there is definitely a need for this option to be created by Facebook, the question is more about the  actual size of the need. If only a small percentage of users would actually pay to remove ads from their page, this may not be a feasible or worthwhile implementation. Personally, I don't think I would be willing to pay an annual fee to remove a relatively small distraction from my page. Other options, though, including updated security features? Definitely. I hope something similar is next for Facebook.

Other Ideas And Effects

Aside from being a potential revenue success for Facebook, I do believe the company needs to evaluate the branding effects this could have. The FastCompany article mentions this "could steer Facebook's business, a service that has remained free since its inception in 2004, toward a freemium-based model." A "freemium-based model" is one that attracts users with its free sign-up fee, but then offers several levels of paid features. In my opinion, I believe this may take away from the simplicity of the original Facebook model (which paid games and "gift" options have already done). However, in the end, customers may not care about the change in business-model so long as the benefits outweigh any other effects. This is an interesting topic to discuss, and like the article says, no one will know for sure how Facebook users will react until the option is actually made available. One more thing...how will companies react if/when Facebook decides to allow users to literally block these ads? Hm...



Sources: 
http://www.ninjamarketing.it/ 
http://www.fastcompany.com/3009159/where-are-they-now/what-if-you-could-pay-facebook-to-keep-ads-out-of-your-newsfeed-and-prote

Source: saferoutespartnership.org

The Fun Theory by Volkswagen

The Award Winner

Sources:
Purple Cow image: http://www.sethgodin.com/purple/
A Loja Vazia image: http://g1.globo.com/sao-paulo/noticia/2013/04/shopping-em-sp-cria-loja-para-receber-roupas-da-campanha-do-agasalho.html
A Loja Vazia article: http://www.fastcocreate.com/1682882/a-fashionable-store-where-the-clothes-are-your-own
Seth Godin's Purple Cow Concept (Summary): http://www.fastcompany.com/46049/praise-purple-cow