Monthly Archives: September 2014

by | Wednesday, September 24, 2014 · 6:45 pm

Viral Videos for September, 2014

Video

Every week Advertising Age, in conjunction with company Visible Measures, publishes a list of the top performing videos. The weekly chart highlights viral video ads that appear on online video sites. Each ad measures viewership of brand-syndicated video clips as well as social video placements that are driven by viewers around the world. True Reach™ quantifies the total audience that has been exposed to a viral video campaign.

There are three key factors for viral video success:

  1. Reaching the tastemakers.
  2. Building a community of participation.
  3. Creating unexpectedness in the video.

Regardless of the type of product or service, the country of origin, or the type of message, what matters most to companies is reaching the audience in a way the both entertains and informs. Check out this week’s top videos and discuss how they address the factors for viral success.

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Bring up Ad Age’s weekly Viral Video chart: http://www.visiblemeasures.com/adage
  2. Have students examine how the ads are measured by Visible Measures.
  3. Divide students into teams. Have each team select an ad on the top video chart and analyze the ad.
  4. Discuss: What is unusual? Who will it interest? What is the key message? How effective is the ad at getting the company’s brand and message across to viewers?
  5. In teams, have students design a viral video for a product of their choosing. What are the elements that are needed to go viral?

Source: Advertising Age, Visible Measures – weekly update

 

Leave a comment

Filed under Classroom Activities

Tagged as , , , , , ,

by | Friday, September 5, 2014 · 6:00 pm

Is Small Better than Big?

Target

For the past decade or so, retailers have been focused on building mega-stores and expanding store footprints into tens of thousands (even hundreds of thousands) of square feet! Think of big box retailers such as Walmart, Target, Home Depot, Lowe’s, Best Buy, and more.

These big box stores are physically large, imposing retail stores. Such structures typically are free-standing units that sit in the midst of a sea of asphalt and can be reached only by driving, making them a poor choice for crowded, urban locations. While the mega-store may carry everything a consumer could ever need, the stores are frequently criticized as being unsustainable and can cause a decline of smaller, local, neighborhood retailers.

Target Corp. has many of these large freestanding structures, but is now making a change to add smaller stores to its chain. The new size store – called Target Express – is 20,000 square feet and is the smallest store the chain has ever opened. The first Target Express is located near the University of Minnesota campus, in the ground floor of an apartment building in the Dinkytown section of Minneapolis. The store will have only about one-fifth of the merchandise carried at a regular Target store, and will carry a product mix of groceries, produce, meat, deli, bakery, pharmacy, school supplies, home décor, and electronics. Additional stores are planned in San Francisco and other locations. Sometimes, smaller is better.

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Review the concept of big box stores and mega-stores. Why have companies used this strategy? What are the advantages and disadvantages?
  2. Discuss the sustainability of a big box strategy. What is happening in the marketplace to push back against the large format stores?
  3. Ask students where they shop, and how they choose the locations/stores.
  1. Take a tour of the Target Express store at http://www.abullseyeview.com/2014/07/video-targetexpress-store-tour/
  2. Discuss the strategy that Target is using with its Target Express stores. Will other stores follow this format?
  3. Where might additional Target Express stores be located? Why?
  4. Divide students into teams. Have each team choose an example of a big box retailer and scale it down to fit into a smaller footprint. How can this size be marketed?

Source:   Minneapolis Star Tribune, Supermarket News, other news sources

Leave a comment

Filed under Classroom Activities

Tagged as , , , ,

by | Friday, September 5, 2014 · 4:52 pm

McDonald’s and Millennials

McDonalds

When was the last time you ate at a McDonald’s? Long the staple of families, teens, and college students, sales at the world’s largest restaurant company have been in a slump. For U.S. locations (about 40% of its restaurants), sales at McDonald’s restaurants have been flat or declining for much of the past year.

According to data compiled for The Wall Street Journal, the problem seems to be one of age – not age of stores, but age of its customers. A large portion of McDonald’s sales have traditionally been to customers age 20 – 30. However, that age group is now in search of healthier, fresher fare and has been switching their loyalties to restaurants such as Chipotle Mexican Grill, Five Guys, and Panera.

Although McDonald’s has introduced new, healthier McWrap sandwiches and is increasing digital marketing to help win back millennial customers, there are more choices than ever for fast-food patrons. A decade ago, there were more than 9,000 fast food restaurants in the U.S., plus another 14,000 McDonald’s; today, there are nearly 21,000 fast food restaurants competing with 35,000 McDonald’s. That’s a lot of competition for the same dollar.

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Poll students about their fast-food eating habits: What restaurants do they frequent? Why?
  2. Next, ask students when was the last time they ate at McDonald’s? Why?
  3. Discuss the factors that millennials use to choose a fast-food restaurant.
  4. Divide students into teams. Have each team develop a list of criteria that they (as millennials) use to determine which fast-food restaurants they frequently eat at.
  5. Next, have each team select five of the criteria and create a plan for McDonald’s to use to attract more millennials.

Source: Wall Street Journal

Leave a comment

Filed under Classroom Activities

Tagged as , , , , , , , , ,