Tag Archives: viral video

by | Friday, May 8, 2015 · 10:23 pm

New Products for Dollar Shave Club

Shave

It’s been a while since we have written about Dollar Shave Club (DSC) and the company has been far from quiet. The online company made its name using viral videos and a cheeky sense of humor to start a low-cost razor subscription service. The young company has impressive numbers – 1.1 million subscribers, $7.2 million/month in sales, $65 million in revenue last year, and an estimated 10% market share in the U.S. razor blade business. Not bad at all.

Although DSC started by selling only razors, it soon added wipes and shave cream to its product line. The newest addition is a line of men’s hair care products called “Boogie’s.” The product line even has a “hairantee” that offers a full replacement with a different styling product if it doesn’t meet the customer’s needs. While DSC made its name selling low-cost razors, the new product line is at or above the prices of comparable hair care products. It remains to be seen if the convenience and subscription model will work for the new product lines as well as they worked for razor blades.

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Show Dollar Shave Club’s Web site: https://www.dollarshaveclub.com/
  2. View the latest videos:

http://youtu.be/Pui78pskx24

http://youtu.be/JbsJPO-ZreM

http://youtu.be/PWPkZH_UicU

  1. Discuss the four primary marketing strategies: market penetration, market development, product development, and diversification.
  2. Which strategy is DSC now using? Why? Is this an effective strategy for DSC?
  3. Divide students into teams. Have each team select one of the four different strategies and explain how that strategy could be used for DSC.

Source: Ad Age Daily, other news sources

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by | Wednesday, September 24, 2014 · 6:48 pm

Social Media at its Best: The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

Challenge

In what is the best viral video of the year, the Ice Bucket Challenge has become a powerful fund-raiser for the U.S. national ALS Association. Combining social consciousness with the power of social media, the viral video sensation shows participants being dumped on with a bucket of icy cold water – who then challenge others to be dumped on or to contribute $100 to the ALS Association.

Most of the challenges result with both the ice water followed by generation donations. From July 29 to August 15, the national ALS has received $6.7 million compared with $34,800 during the same period a year ago! The challenge was created to a former Boston College athlete, Pete Frates, who was diagnosed with ALS in 1012. He started the challenge and it quickly turned into a phenomenon embraced in social media. Check out the “ice bucket challenge” on social media and see some of the unique approaches to the icy bath.

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:

  1. Start by discussing the power of social media. Have students provide examples of positive social media, and even a few negative examples.
  2. Discuss the various elements that made these examples go viral. Can these be replicated?
  3. Show ice bucket challenge videos on YouTube. http://youtu.be/-YOSqYGqW6A
  4. Poll students: how many had heard of ALS prior to the ice bucket challenge? After?
  5. What are the elements of this campaign that made it go viral?
  6. Divide students into teams. Have each team select a social issue, concern, disease, or public service area. Develop a potentially viral campaign for this given the aspects of viral campaigns previously discussed.

Source: New York Times, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, other news sources

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by | Saturday, March 1, 2014 · 2:29 am

Video Case Study: Duracell “Trust Your Power”

图片3

Marketers and advertisers spend a great deal of time designing and evaluating campaigns. We worry about what makes a campaign a breakout star, and how to achieve more of those. In this video case study from Visible Measures, Proctor and Gambles’ Duracell team describes the strategy behind its campaign Trust Your Power, starring 49er football player, Patrick Willis. The team also illuminates how it develops shareable content and approaches paid, earned, and owned media.

The process started with selecting a spokesperson that could establish the value of the brand and reinforce the brand message of the product. In the Duracell case, the attributes desired for the endorser were powerful, dependable, and heroic. The content also needed to be sharable and creative, with a message that viewers would want to pass along.

For Duracell, the spokesperson became NFL Seattle Seahawks player Patrick Willis who discussed how his disability – a hearing loss since age three – only helped to fuel his determination and drive to succeed. Watch the video and determine how this strategy can be replicated for other brands.

Group Activities and Discussion Questions:
1. Show the Duracell commercial: http://youtu.be/u2HD57z4F8E.
2. Make sure to look at the comments posted by viewers. How many were positive comments?
3. Next, show the case study discussion of the video: http://www.visiblemeasures.com/2014/01/31/case-study-inside-duracells-trust-your-power-campaign/
4. Divide students into groups and have each team select another product where this approach could be replicated. Have teams storyboard a video for the product.
5. Debrief by putting together the suggested storyboards on the white board and discuss with the class.

Source: Visible Measures

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