Grown Up Thinking

We swoon at Mr. Peanut’s wisdom.  We dance along with Cheesasaurus Rex.  We jump for joy at news that Ms. Brown—the brown M&M kept under wraps for far too long—has finally come out of her shell (pun intended).

But the practice of assigning our food a persona is a funny thing—a bit odd, even.  How can cuteness whet our appetites?  How civilized is it to adore both a creature’s big, goofy eyes and find comfort in its taste?  Is this not a bit hypocritical…or, dare we say, crude?  Does this love-yet-devour behavior go against all that modern society stands for?

Food Personas Bring People Together

Of course the answer to the latter is a rash no.  We aren’t morphing into loutish monsters as we roll crescent dough with the Pillsbury Doughboy’s laugh on mind.  Nor are we breaking ethics codes by relishing in the latest Mini-Wheats character’s cuteness as we shovel that very cereal into our mouths.  Indeed, it is safe to say our food mascots are not the downfall of humanity.

The reality is quite the contrary; putting a friendly face to our food makes us more human.  These positive characters make way for positive shared experiences, of which harvest relationships that shape societal identities.  Suddenly, a lighthearted personification becomes an icon of a time.  So often we talk about people and brands growing closer together, but we neglect to mention how brands can bring people themselves together.

Facebook Evolving Food Personas

Facebook brand pages are enabling these food personas to expand even further, making their cultural impact even clearer.  No longer are food icons a mere television spot every few months.  Nope, now many enjoy robust character development, vibrantly growing through constant on-voice posts and the power to engage in ongoing conversation that continues well beyond the brand voice exclusively.  Facebook users spread the joy—igniting conversations with the community and sharing the content over further networks.

Food Voices via Facebook

But not all food brands are created equal.  As one would predict, brands are approaching the issue of a Facebook persona in varying ways.  Some have indeed deemed it best to align their Facebook personas with their overall brand personas.  Some have not.  Still others have found a way to mix these two approaches.

The following Facebook brand pages offer a glimpse into this range of social food voice selection:

Frosted Mini-Wheats

The Frosted Mini-Wheats Facebook page is strictly hosted by Mini, the animated Mini-Wheat used across the cereal’s print and television ad platforms.  The youthfulness of Mini in offline promotions continues online.  He wins over Facebook community members with lighthearted questions and comments revolving around the Mini-Wheats product.  Endearing photos of Mini in various settings also create extremely smile-inducing, sharable content.

Cheetos

Like Frosted Mini-Wheats, Cheetos sticks with its offline brand persona to solely fuel its Facebook brand page.  But unlike Mini, Chester Cheetah’s page contributions channel his bold attitude.  Chester’s edge is reflected through quirky links, clever references and snappy comments.  Much of this is pulled from the character’s dynamic microsite—“Chester’s Feed.”  Also noteworthy?  Chester is not the actual food; that is, Chester is a cheetah rather than a Cheeto.

Rice Krispies

Rice Krispies’ Snap!, Crackle! and Pop! mascots may be extremely well-known, but the Rice Krispies Facebook page does not use these characters as narrators.  Quite the contrary, the brand’s Facebook persona is a nondescript voice that appears to seek resonance with moms.  Content is wholesome, kid-centric and resourceful—mainly providing kid-friendly recipes, activities, questions and advice.

M&M’s

M&M’s uses multiple pieces of the voice pie.  The Facebook page maintains a level of conventionality with some posts simply coming from “brand,” but all six M&M characters make appearances, too.  Respective character names at the end of posts and/or photos signal these voice control changes.  Content generally includes carefree displays of character interaction and development, simultaneously promoting new M&M products, events and campaigns.

Determining Your Brand’s Social Voice

The sample above sheds light on an important point: While longtime food personas are often a hit, they may not always be the clear-cut solution when choosing an appropriate social voice.  By honing in on these examples, we can deduce crucial checkpoints for determining who exactly should be “speaking” to a brand’s Facebook community:

1. Know thy product

What is the product at hand?  Is it a serious, life-dependent asset, or is it a more trivial, simple pleasure?  Chances are the latter would be more likely to set the stage for a happy-go-lucky, fictional character.  A more complex product is likely to require a more complex social voice.

2. Know thy audience

Who is seeking online content from the brand? Is it the same core audience of your brand at offline purchase point?  It is important to recognize that the people engaging online with a brand can be starkly different from the brand’s traditional target, opening up avenues to build brand equity with otherwise overlooked groups.  Whatever the audience, the social voice must cater to this demographic’s particular online content habits, preferences and priorities.

3.  Know thy purpose (taking into account #1 & #2)

This is where social voice selection drastically differs from general brand voice selection.  What is the core equity of the brand?  This equity sets expectations for social and, ultimately, the Facebook brand page.   Are people looking to the page for mere entertainment, or are people seeking a resource?  If the page is expected to be a resource, what kind?  The social voice selected must be appropriate to carry out the desired function.  Of course putting a finger on the former two points—product and audience—greatly aids in defining this said purpose.

For the People

And through it all, these food brands cannot lose sight of thinking in terms of culture.  They must consider: How can they leave a footprint in time?  Eating is already a social activity; how can the brand build off of this to create a significant experience for people to enjoy together, relevant to the brand?  Good times yield good memories.  Good memories undoubtedly yield positive associations.  Driving people-to-people will drive people-to-brand.

Long live playing with our food!

Earmuffs, FBI: I haven’t paid for music for as long as I can remember, until this year.

Perhaps it’s my millennial DNA, having grown up riding the wack-o-mole roller coaster of Napster, Kazaa, and Limewire. The truth is, I don’t feel bad about it. I realize that may sound insensitive, because artists need to pay for the upkeep of their Delano-inspired infinity pools, but if I had a choice to download the entire Bob Marley discography by clicking three buttons or pay $99 on iTunes, well, it isn’t even a choice. I feel similarly about watching TV shows and movies online through free streaming sites, though homeland security is making that more and more difficult. I believe that business needs to adapt and evolve with new technology. It’s not the consumer’s responsibility to support an out-of-date business model, it’s the responsibility of forward-thinking and nimble organizations to develop the tools and platforms of the future or get left behind with horse and buggies, home phones, and cable subscriptions.

This isn’t a post about my POV on the music industry, it’s about a simple yet powerful concept that I discovered two months ago after buying my first song in 10 years: A well designed user experience completely shifted my user behavior. Here’s how it went down.

I’ve been listening to music on Pandora for years. When I found out about Turntable.fm, I figured I’d give it a shot. I had my qualms with Pandora so I was open to trying something new, and by the end of day one I was hooked. Not only could I share my favorite music with my friends but I earned points that unlocked cool avatars if people liked what I was playing. Lame? Maybe. Awesome? YES!

I spent the first few days in the Mr Youth room playing ambient songs that probably put my colleagues to sleep. That’s when I found my dream avatar, the huge blinged out guerrilla. The only problem was that I needed 1,000 points to unlock said guerrilla, and I was only earning about 10 points a day in the Mr Youth room. Three months was far too long to wait, so I set off in search of bigger rooms with larger audiences where I could earn more points. That’s when I found the “Ambient” room, a community of complete strangers from around the country who shared my love for the genre. Rather than its Pandora channel counterpart that looped the same 20 songs over and over, the ambient music being played was curated by people, not algorithms. Better yet, the community created its own set of rules that outlawed “overplayed” songs or playing a song that’s recently been played. This ensured a constant stream of fresh, new music playing day and night. I began to virtually live in this room. I’d turn it on when I got to work, play it at home, even fell asleep to listening to the ambient jams in the background. And then it happened.

I was sitting at work one afternoon strategizing some #EdgeRank action with @KyleDardashti and @OneTribe42 when a really catchy song came on that I hadn’t heard before. I liked it, a lot. I liked it so much that I wanted to carry it around in my pocket, all day every day. Without even thinking, I hovered over the song title, clicked the iTunes logo, clicked “download” and BOOM. Within a minute, my new favorite song was now a permanent part of my life. After all, it sounded really great… and it was only 99 cents – heck, that’s 1/15th a shot of Patron.

Wait, what? I don’t buy music. I never buy music. I just bought a song from iTunes!?

It wasn’t the last. It became habit: Hear a great song, click, pay, done. It wasn’t about supporting the artists, I could still open up an application and download the artists entire discography within minutes, but buying it through Turntable’s DJ dashboard was just too easy. Soon enough my phone was full of songs, all paid for, because the Turntable platform and user experience made it intuitive and seamless.

About two months later, I learned about Spotify’s “Listening With” integration with Timeline and Facebook chat, allowing you to casually broadcast the music you listen to in real-time. I love Facebook and I love sharing music, but I’m conscious to not “overshare” so I rarely update my status with songs, videos, etc. This new feature made sharing and listening to my favorite music with friends easy. Like everyone else, I tried Spotify when it came out, but I didn’t love it. Adding the seamless sharing with my friends to Spotify’s value prop hit a nerve. It added enough value for me to make the switch, completely changing how I listened to music. Once again, technology and the user experience changed my behavior.

I bring this with the hope of sparking a conversation, or at least a thought process. How has technology shifted your consumer behavior? What unmet needs still remain to be harnessed as the foundation of new tools and technologies? How can “social by design” extend to even the most mundane areas of consumption?

I look forward to ongoing dialogue around this and would love to continue the conversation. Shoot me a tweet @DavidYarus or if you ever adventure into the world of Turntable, I’ll be in the Ambient room. Just look for the huge blinged out guerrilla named d.Flo.Yar!

American Express Launches #SyncWithTwitter, Brands Regale in Social ROI

American Express cracked all kinds of codes this week with the launch of #SyncWithTwitter – a program that allows consumers to obtain coupon-less discounts from big brands such as Whole Foods, Best Buy, Zappos and more, just for tweeting with specific hashtags.

It’s so simple, and they even pay you to do it. Really. Just go to American Express’ Sync with Twitter page, sync your eligible American Express Card, and start tweeting with the specific hashtag of your choice from @AmericanExpress. Once you tweet, start shopping, and within a few business days you’ll see your statement credit appear on your account.

American Express’ latest stroke of genius is one answer to a question major brands have been asking for a while: How can we translate social media into clear ROI? #SyncWithTwitter does just that, taking online conversations and translating them into actual sales, with the ability to extract key consumer shopping insights at the same time. All while driving American Express Card spend, encouraging viral conversations and literally putting money in consumers’ virtual pockets. It’s a marketing win/win/win.

This latest development comes off a string of social success stories for American Express. Cardmembers can also reap rewards by syncing their Card and checking into designated establishments on Foursqaure, or through the Link, Like, Love application on Facebook. Through these and other efforts American Express has proven that wherever their consumers are, they want to be. Here’s to hoping they figure out a way to monetize via Pinterest next!

By lowering the barriers to sharing, brands are discovering that they can harness the power of earned reach. At the pinnacle of that earned reach is advocacy. To-date, the definition of advocacy has been synonymous with positive sentiment, but advocacy deserves more credit as it is much harder to achieve than positive sentiment alone. Defined by Mr Youth, advocacy is a piece of content that must contain both positive sentiment and a clear call-to-action.

With this definition in mind, we set out to understand what consumers were organically advocating for across social media. Were they advocating for a brand? A celebrity? A cat video? We had our hypothesis, but we wanted data to back up our experience and intuition. As a result, we cast a wide net across Twitter and Facebook and manually sifted through conversations that contained both positive sentiment plus a call-to-action. For example, a consumer saying: “This music video is awesome, you have to watch it” would have been considered advocacy.

We then analyzed the conversations that met our definition of advocacy and discovered the top five things consumers advocate for are:

• Videos
• Music
• Websites
• People
• Causes

These five specific categories can be distilled into two main motivators: entertainment and emotion. These elements are inherently social as consumers like to entertain and inspire each other.

In looking more closely at the leading category of videos, the content posted most often related to music– specifically both artists and bands. This finding surprised us as we had initially hypothesized that humorous videos would drive advocacy.

In diving deeper into the category of causes, we observed that consumers were tapping into their emotional side by advocating for causes and subsequently linking to the respective cause’s videos or website. Consumers also created status updates supporting close friends’ business ventures while other updates focused on a non-personal connection like a soldier on active duty abroad.

Products and brands in particular trail these top five categories. So how can brands increase their own earned advocacy? The first step is to increase opportunities for sharing positive brand experiences.

While not all brands have an entertaining edge or an emotional tie, they do have the opportunity to activate their brand advocates by allowing for frictionless sharing of their assets.  If marketers are striving to create brand advocacy, they need to strategically lower the barriers to sharing which will in turn generate earned reach.  While lowering the barrier to sharing is essential, it is also important not to force consumers to share – for doing so can completely backfire. Take Spotify for example: consumers were annoyed when they first realized the application broadcasted their embarrassing playlists to their Facebook friends, and as a result many fled right back to Pandora.  Don’t make that same mistake.

Given this differentiated definition of advocacy (positive sentiment + a call-to-action), take a second look at your own brand’s health across social media – do you have as many advocates as you originally thought you did? Do you know where they prefer to hang out online and how to activate them?

To make your social properties advocate for your brand, reach out to the architects of advocacy at MRY for a comprehensive audit of your ecosystem.

¹ MR Youth examined a randomized sample from the last year, manually sifted through conversations to get 200 that fit our definition of advocacy and then grouped the conversations into categories that were not mutually exclusive.  For example, a post advocating for a music video would be categorized in both music and video.

Yesterday marked the first ever Facebook Marketing Conference (fMC), a gathering of some of the top brand marketers and the agencies that service them. The focus of the conference was primarily on introducing a suite of new advertising products and tools that Facebook is now serving up to brand marketers as a means to harness the power of paid, earned and owned media as fueled by consumers. The following is a 360 degree breakdown of these announced Facebook changes and the impact they’ll have on marketers, through the collective lens of Mr Youth Strategy, Account, Creative, and Marketing departments.

Mr Youth’s POV on #fMC

The 84^th Annual Academy Awards aired on Sunday night, and upon tuning in, it was instantly noticeable about what the theme of the night would be:  Hollywood’s (in)glorious past.

Stuck In The Past

It’s not hard to understand why.  Quick, name all the nominations for Best Picture without looking them up.  Now do the same for Best Actor/Actress and Best Director.  Go ahead, we’ll wait.   There’s no shame if you only knew maybe one or two off the top of your head.  And you would actually be considered normal if you didn’t know any of them.  Therein lies the inherent weakness of the Academy Awards.  Year in and year out, the Oscars, which is supposed to represent the highest honor bestowed upon filmmakers by their peers, comes off as the one night of the year when an industry that makes billions off of fantasy and illusion takes itself too seriously.  It consistently puts forward titles that are increasingly obscure, some of which have only had limited releases, all done in the name of artistic merit and to give a sense of legitimacy to filmmaking as a whole. The problem with this is that the Oscars have been bleeding viewers as a result.

Another recurring theme of Sunday night’s ceremony was age.  Just ask Justin Bieber who showed up for about 10 seconds to help “bring in the 18-24 demographic.”  Or host Billy Crystal himself, who quipped “Next year this’ll be called the Flomax Center”, when referring to the average age of the nominees. These are nods to the ironic fact that an institution obsessed with youth is sorely lacking it.

Taking Action In The Present

Having realized this dilemma, the producers of the Oscars have tried different ways to draw in a younger audience and attract new viewers.  Which is how we got the awkwardness of James Franco and Anne Hathaway hosting last year’s show.   That experiment didn’t work.  But what does work and what will most likely continue to work in the future is the online experience through social media and mobile apps.   This is where the strengths of the Oscar broadcast could really be seen. ABC Digital worked with Sprint and BlackBerry Bold to develop two apps that put fans and viewers in the middle of all the action:  the Oscars mobile app and the Red Carpet mobile app.  Both designed to give the Oscars more of a virtual presence than ever before.

Both apps featured several different camera angles both on the red carpet and back-stage, providing users with unprecedented access to what has traditionally been an exclusive event. The app took user engagement a step further, by allowing users to vote on the “best dressed” celebrities on the red carpet, as well as vote for and share their Oscar picks. The decision to utilize technology and social media greatly enhanced the overall experience – something the show has been trying to achieve for years.

A Bright Social, Digital Future

In an age where people, particularly young people, are increasingly getting their entertainment from their mobile devices, it is imperative that the studios and television networks continue to utilize social media to spread the word and to expand the reach of their content in an ever-shrinking digital world.  This is why it’s no coincidence that every studio has an Online Initiative designed to push digital content, and that alternative media is the fastest growing consumer segment of the entertainment industry.

There was actually a time, not too long ago, when Hollywood frowned upon the internet and fought against it, guarding against the leak of information.  But just like it had to adapt to the advent of sound, color, television and digital filmmaking, it has had to adapt to social media trends and online marketing and learn to ultimately embrace them.  In this way, a movie about the silent film era on a night laced with references to Hollywood’s past, couldn’t have been a more fitting big winner as the industry looks towards the future.

To get more ideas on how to more effectively engage your fans and to stay on top of social media trends and strategies, follow @mryouth on Twitter.

Social media has redefined New York Fashion Week. The magazine editors and celebrities that once filled the front rows of Fashion shows have been joined by fashion bloggers. The looks and styles that were once only seen by an elite group are now being broadcast via live video streams on Facebook. The industry that once thrived on exclusivity is now publicizing look after look on Twitter. Even the notorious Bryant Park venue has changed to Lincoln Center to allow for improved cell phone reception and wi-fi for fashion tweeters to provide updates and photos to their fans. We have entered into the new world of fashion—and it’s one where everyone is invited.

The Brand that Revolutionized Fashion Week

Burberry was the first luxury brand to socialize the Fashion Week experience back in 2010 when they live-streamed their Spring show to the public. Later that year, Burberry broke new digital ground by live streaming their Fall show in 3D in five locations throughout the world. During their September 2011 show, Burberry created the “Tweetwalk”, a revolutionary idea in which the brand posted looks from the show on Twitter moments before they hit the runway. The initiative was a huge success and generated so much Twitter conversation about the brand that both “#Burberry” and “#Christopher Bailey” (CCO of Burberry) trended worldwide on the platform.

At the Burberry Fall 2011 show, Bailey was quoted saying “A brand is not just about product, it’s about experience as well, and experiences need to come from the center of a community”. Bailey, who has helped forge the way for luxury brands in the digital space, is a strong believer in engaging fans through social communities. He understands that digital communication is a part of our culture and that brands utilizing it can help to create true engagement among fans.

Not surprisingly, many other fashion labels have implemented social strategies into their shows this year. Brands such as Marc Jacobs and Tommy Hilfiger featured live-streams on their websites and Facebook pages and showcased look after look on Twitter. Diane von Furstenberg took it a step further by partnering with iPhone app, Viddy, to create short videos capturing 15 to 30 second clips of backstage looks that went live as they hit the runway.

Your “Inclusive” Ticket to Fashion Week

Roughly one-third of the brands at this year’s New York Fashion Week live-streamed their Fall 2012 collections on websites, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Even more uploaded backstage footage via Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, and Instagram. Additionally, fashion bloggers were constantly sending out 140-character reviews on Twitter and were frequently posting longer, photo-filled reviews on fashion news sites and blogs.

YouTube, which partnered with Mercedes Benz Fashion Week and Maybelline, live-streamed over 25 different shows throughout the week. Twitter created the hashtags #nyfw and #mbfw so that users could easily follow the Fashion Week conversations happening on the platform. Fashion news websites had access to full coverage of almost every show. And Tumblr sent a group of 6 bloggers to curate posts about each show they attended. Fashion Week is no longer exclusive. It has become a consumer-facing event and fashion labels are beginning to see the benefits of including their fans in the action.

Inspiring Change Across Many Industries

Other industries can learn from the changes that have been implemented throughout the fashion industry over the past year. An industry that was late to adopt social media and digital innovation in fear of sharing too much information has now become a leading pioneer, helping to promote the idea that brand transparency can help to convert fans into loyalists. Many labels have created Twitter handles and Facebook pages run by real-life personalities in order to give viewers an inside look into their brand. These personalities divulge insider information while simultaneously conveying a status of prestige and luxury, helping these brands to retain the “exclusive” status that makes the fashion world so appealing.

DKNY, Oscar de la Renta, Kate Spade, and Tory Burch have all been innovators in the way they use social media and have acquired a large and loyal following since implementing this “transparent” strategy. DKNY’s Twitter page, run by Senior VP of Global Communications at Donna Karen, does a fantastic job of letting fans into the world of DKNY. With a multitude of daily updates about the luxurious life of a fashion PR girl, the brand has acquired over 380,000 Twitter followers, many of which are highly engaged and consistently interacting with the brand.

“I love tweeting about what’s happening in my work life. I think fashion-show prep and awards season take the cake. Seeing what really goes on is interesting from an outside perspective…I love the engagement and speed that Twitter offers. Any time of day, any day of the  week, the light’s always on. And as far as Twitter being the right channel, if it’s right or wrong, trust me I will hear it from the community. I don’t have to guess.”—Aliza Licht, SVP Donna Karen Global Communications

Transparency is Key to Social Success

The fashion industry is beginning to understand just how hungry fans are to get an inside look into the once exclusive world of Fashion Week. The industry’s movement toward transparency and fan engagement has proven to be extremely successful for brands that have implemented this strategy. Want to learn how to engage more of your fans on social media? Follow @MrYouth on Twitter to stay on top of the most effective engagement strategies for your industry.

Millennial values are dramatically different than prior generations, and this impacts their perceptions of brands and advertising. (Read our white paper: “5 Ways To Friend the Class of 2015” for our take on what makes them unique). Their contribution to our economy is undeniable, as they make up the largest generation of consumers since Baby Boomers, with annual spending topping $170 billion per year (ComScore, Jan 2012). With marketers spending millions during the Super Bowl to reach this audience, we took a look at how they faired this year.

After receiving 2,300+ responses from 500 “Millennials” (18-25 year olds) across the country in an online discussion forum we have a pretty clear picture as to what commercials worked, which ones didn’t and why. This is what we found.

Super Bowl Ads: Money Well Spent With Millennials

Thankfully, this generation loves the all-American tradition of Super Bowl Sunday as much any other (79% of them tuned-into the game) indicating that the $3.5 million per-30 second spot is still money well-spent on the big screen (92% watched the game on a big screen TV). They rewarded their favorite ads by opening up their wallets, as 62% either have already or plan to purchase an item they saw featured on game day.

“Our generation puts more emphasis on the commercials than the game. Our parents paid attention to the game and cheered with friends that were in the room. Now we cheer with friends via Facebook or Twitter while half watching the game.” – Female, 25, OK

This year, more brands than ever offered sneak-peeks at their commercials by posting video content online before the big game. Audi’s “Vampires” and Honda’s “Ferris Bueller” were among those that did, and benefited from the 41% of Millennials who reported watching a Super Bowl commercial online before game day.

“I’d seen it online before the Super Bowl, so it wasn’t as exciting as seeing it the first time. That being said, it was still awesome. I love Ferris Bueller… and love Matthew Broderick!” – Female, 25, GA

Millennials Were Social, While Brands Were Not

A Social Media Infused Super Bowl: Armed with smart phones, Millennials used social media to create a shared experience with their friends online and offline while watching the game. An impressive 57% used their smart phones to access Facebook, 62% sent text messages to their friends and 22% used Twitter to stay connected during the game.

Millennials Got Social With Brands: This generation uses technology more than ever to reach out to the brands they love. During the game, 28% visited the brand’s Facebook page of a Super Bowl spot they watched during the game, an equal number sent a text message to a friend about an ad they watched and 21% searched online for the commercial with the specific intention of sharing it across their social media pages. Hashtags, while an important driver of social buzz, were only utilized by 11% of Millennials in response to a Super Bowl spot. Shazaam was used by 8% of Millennials on game day, however 29% had no idea what it is.  Not to knock it, 22% said they love using it … but for music discovery only.

Low Awareness of Social Integration In Ads: Millennials in our online forum had relatively low awareness of any social or online integration of the commercials they watched during the game, with just a few exceptions. GoDaddy had an obvious call to action, yet Millennials were so offended by the sexual imagery (both Millennial men & women) that they shunned the brand all together. Altimeter Group reported 16% of brands as having a social media prompt in their ads this year, however without a persuasive call to action, Millennials failed to engage further.

“Honestly, none of them (did well at social media). And the little bit of prompting there was to use social media was ham-handed. I need a much more compelling reason/value proposition to fire up an extra device.” – Female, 24, NY

Eager To Get Social With Coke’s Polar Bears: Coke’s Polar Bears were considered by the brand to be a success, with more than a half a million people tuning-in to watch the live stream on Facebook of the bears reacting to the game, mesmerizing visitors for an impressive 28 minutes on average. (AdAge, Feb 6) The Millennials in our discussion forum expressed a sincere love for the bears, yet few knew about the Facebook integration.

“I had no idea they were live on Facebook. I wish Coke had done a better job of letting us know, I would have checked it out!” – Female, 25, CA

Millennials’ Top 5 Super Bowl Ads:

Overall, this year’s commercials left Millennials feeling underwhelmed. 60% felt the commercials they watched on Super Bowl Sunday were either just as good, or worse than prior years. There were several bright spots worth mentioning however. Ads with humor, (M&M’s, Doritos) cultural relevance (who doesn’t love Ferris Beuler and Star Wars?) worked exceptionally well at gaining their approval.

#1) M&M “Sexy & I Know It”

65% voted this spot among their Top 5 favorites

“The M&M one for sure! It was just awesomely halarious!! I loved it. The whole house was crackin up at that one! It was just perfect!” -  Male, 19, IA

Why It Worked:  Music To Dance To, Humor & Sophistication

Ms. Brown’s debut was sexy, sophisticated and a big hit with this audience. Vanessa Williams provided the perfect voice for this character, bringing a level of sophistication that contrasted nicely with her rowdy-in-red M&M counterpart. What catapulted this spot way ahead of the rest however, was its crowd-pleasing soundtrack and humor, which inspired many-a-Millennial to breakout of their own candy shells during the commercial and dance along with the ad. With 70% of Millennials watching the game with 5 or more friends, Millennials had M&M to thank for contributing to their party soundtrack.

#2) Doritos:  “Man’s Best Friend”  (38%)

Why It Worked: Funny & Memorable, With A Twist Ending

Captured Millennials’ attention through a humorous storyline with a fun twist at the end. (Spoiler alert: It turns out, the dog actually killed the man’s own cat, which further supports the value of Doritos as a negotiating tool).

#3) Volkswagen:  “Dog Strikes Back”   (27%)

Why It Worked: Inspirational + Cute + Heart Warming = Effective

Dogs on treadmills remind us of our overeating during the holidays (and the bowl of chili and beer we had during the Super Bowl) Millennials shared this sentiment, and identified with the dog’s weight loss pursuit in many of their comments.

#4) Doritos:  “Baby Sling”   (27%)

Why It Worked: Funny, Simple & Granny Humor

Millennials with kids may view a catapulting baby as humorous, and even more so when working in tandem with Granny to overcome another smarty-pants toddler (we all knew one growing up) with a bag of Doritos. This ad works across all generations and was a true crowd-pleaser.

#5) Honda:  “Matthew’s Day Off”   (20%)

Why It Worked: Mass Appeal, Movie References Were Fun For Enthusiasts To Uncover

Honda made a cross-generational bet that Millennials would know both who Matthew Broderick is, and his immortalization as iconic 80’s character, Ferris Bueler. The bet paid off with Millennials who recalled the movie, which was fairly widespread among our respondents. Teasing the content online to refresh the memories of a younger audience may have helped.

Millennials’ Top 5 Least Liked Ads:

#1 & 2) GoDaddy: “The Cloud & Body Paint”

A combined 64% voted these spots among their top 5 least favorites

Why It Failed: Adult Content, Alienating To Female Customers

GoDaddy’s advertising runs the risk of not only warding off customers through offensive content, but also obscuring the brand to the point of confusion about what it is they actually do. It would be easy to write-off these ads as “harmless eye-candy for male computer geeks” were it not for these ads being broadcast during an event when many children are also in the room.

“I watch the Super Bowl every year. And every year, we have small kids who like to watch the game. This commercial, I think, isn’t appropriate for young kids.” – Female, 25, OH

Both Millennial Men and Women ranked GoDaddy’s ads among their Top 5 least favorites in almost identical portions (66% women & 60% men) which proves that neither gender appreciated the content. This reinforces much of what our existing research into Millennials has told us; that overuse of sexual imagery and gender role stereotyping is offensive. Millennials value inclusivity and practicality over dream sequences with fantasy babes.

“The guys at my Super Bowl party thought the commercials for GoDaddy were horrendous. And when 20 something guys find your commercials full of naked women stupid, you’re Marketing Department is clearly doing something wrong.” – Male, 25, IA

Furthermore, by focusing squarely on men as their target (fairly obvious assumption), these ads imply that only straight males buy domain names and build websites, which many female web programmers may take offense to for being ignored as potential customers.

#3) H&M: “David Beckham, Body Wear” (19%)

Negative sentiment among Millennials was not as strong for this commercial as GoDaddy’s. Again, Millennials don’t respond very well to this type of imagery. David Beckham is cool enough without being “sexified” in black and white.

#4) E-Trade “Fatherhood” (13%)

The E-trade babies have been with us for a while now, and they don’t seem to be going anywhere. “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” appears to be the motto. Refreshing this format may make sense, especially among Millennials who weren’t overly for or against the ad.

#5) Audi: “So Long Vampires” (11%)

Audi’s hunch that we are all a little tired of the “vampire craze” was spot-on, however Millennials didn’t quite get in on the joke. We did receive favorable responses from some to this spot, but overall it was not as humorous as the brand might have hoped.

With the holidays and Super Bowl officially behind us, it is time for brands to hit the treadmill and reassess their strategies for a new generation of highly connected consumers. To learn more about what works with Millennials, give us a shout-out on Twitter @MrYouth!

Before beginning any social marketing campaign, there are two fundamental questions everyone must answer: What social platforms does my target audience use, and how do I effectively reach them? With 845 million monthly active users, Facebook is more than likely the answer to your question. Reaching your audience on Facebook in an effective manner though depends entirely on the marketer’s strategic and creative execution.

Let’s imagine that we are about to market a new energy drink. In this case, our market research had shown us that 51% of college students consider themselves energy drink consumers, while the remaining 49% would not consider the product. In order to optimize our marketing spend, we would need to focus our budget on the 51% who would consider purchasing an energy drink. This kind of niche targeting is made possible by Facebook’s ad platform.

Find Your Niche Audiences

In the case of launching a campaign for our energy drink, Facebook’s ad platform allows us to target not only by basic demographics such as age and location, but also by precise interests. We begin by filtering the Facebook community by keywords that are highly relevant to our product. In this case, we want consumers who are also energy drink consumers, so we are filtering our audience by those who have liked: Red Bull, Monster, Rockstar, caffeine, taurine, and guarana. After filtering the Facebook community by these parameters, our total reach within the US is just over 7.7 million.  Our ads will be the most relevant to this audience.

If the objective is to run ads towards influencers on college campuses, then we can creatively identify them by targeting influential campus organizations. In this case, we’ve pinpointed national fraternity and sorority members, in college, between ages 18-22.

Now that our market has been identified and targeted for our campaign, the next step is to match, hone and optimize our creative messaging prior to launch.

Align Unique Creative To Each Audience & Increase Ad Relevancy

Now let’s begin experimenting with appropriate messaging and creative. Our traditional research also uncovered that a significant amount of energy drink consumption is done while our consumer is out partying. We developed sample copy and imagery that resonates with this behavior and speaks directly to this segment. We recommend doing this type of sub-category analysis, targeting and messaging for each segment in order to achieve the highest engagement rates with your Facebook ads. We ran this ad to students in college between ages 18-20 who like to party:

(Aim to spark curiosity with your imagery. This photo performs well because it’s hard to tell what’s going on here)

Target Friends of Fans

One simple and powerful way to increase the relevancy of our Facebook display advertising is to target “Friends of Connections.”  The example above features the caption “Kyle Dardashti likes this.”  This recommendation would appear for all of Kyle’s friends and similarly with all the friends of the rest of the brand’s community members, letting them know a trusted friend of theirs already likes the page. On the ad platform, it’s as simple as the click of a button.

One possible limitation to adding this feature however is that it is reliant on the number of members who have already liked our brand or product.  According to Facebook, the average user has 130 friends, but according to some sources the average Facebook fan has 310 friends[1]. For example let’s say our energy drink brand currently has 20,000 fans in its community. Our total reach to friends of fans would be approximately 6.2 million.  With a community of just 1,000, your reach would be 310,000.

There is no better recommendation than a peer recommendation. Ads with social context have a 65% increase in Ad Recall, 2x Message Awareness, 4x Purchase Intent & 25% increase in Action Rate.[2] It’s even more impactful for students with a college education or higher to see social endorsement. Add more relevance to your ads and watch engagement rates go up.

A-B Test Your Creative

Now that we have determined where our niche audiences live on Facebook and developed a strategy for targeting sub-groups within our target, it is time to optimize our content. Facebook’s Ad Platform makes A-B testing of creative easy, allowing for us to launch both imagery and written copy in a variety of combinations simultaneously, with real-time feedback on which ones are performing the best.

A simple way to quickly isolate variables and identify top-performing combinations of creative and copy is to develop a simple matrix. We recommend continually optimizing your campaigns using this method, to get the most out of your marketing dollars.

Analyze and Optimize

Launching our campaign and identifying top-performing ad combinations is only the beginning. Below is a list of tips to keep in mind throughout your Facebook ad campaign to ensure that you are maximizing your budget and generating the highest performance from your targeted ads:

Ongoing creative analysis and optimization

By utilizing A-B testing you can identify which imagery, copy, and target groups performed well. Complement your best ads with new creative variations that follow the strategy of your top performing ads while discontinuing ads that are not performing well, in real time.

Analyze the Responder Demographics reports for your ads

If your ads lean strongly towards a specific demo, consider narrowing your targeting to them to maximize engagement rates. If this compromises a balance you would like in your community then adjust or add creative that will speak to and bring in the demo you want. An example objective might be to maintain a gender balance.

Run ads to your own community

These are the members who have subscribed to read your messaging. Since only 5-15% of your community members actually see your posts, ads provide a cheap alternative and effective way to reach them.  When more members are brought back to the page to engage, the EdgeRank on the brand posts increases and your reach is higher. Ads targeted towards community members have 7x the click-through rate of external ads.

Practice these tried and proven techniques and you’re half way there! Take a peek at Facebook’s Marketplace Ad Platform and tweet me @kyledardashti with any questions.

Estate planning and social media

As an early adopter of social media (nearly the 1 millionth Twitter user, and avid Friendster contributor ca. 2003), I’ve truly spread my soul over the Internet. I’m everywhere and nowhere at once. So what happens when the “big show” is over?

In real life, I’m a husband and father, and with that comes the all-too-real responsibilities of solidifying my estate with wills – both living and passing – life insurance, disability, you name it.

A fifteen-year-old isn’t thinking about this stuff. But in 2012, when anyone shuffles off this mortal coil, their 17,000 LinkedIn connections, 5,000 Facebook “friends”, and their fifteen Twitter nom-de-plumes all live on – and are sometimes prompted to interact automagically.  Aaaaawkward.

Each platform has its own rules. When your next-of-kin produces proof of your passing, some sites give the option of locking and memorializing your likeness for Internet posterity. Some take your presence down altogether. Some don’t have provisions and you’re seemingly active from beyond the grave.

These are considerations you should take into account just like any other part of your digital life. You should still be in control of the message.

It’s never too early to make provisions as to how you want your digital remains handled. I feel like an insurance salesman, so please don’t shut your door on my foot.

Here are some options.

You could:

1) Note your wishes in a will. It’s easy enough, just a little creepy.  Supply your usernames and passwords in a document. Leave it with your lawyer (AKA friend you trust, safety deposit box, hope chest or Trapper Keeper). The challenge here is keeping it up to date.

2) Employ the services of a company who holds onto social media logins for just this purpose. They’re out there and they’re not expensive. I know that they hold similar problems of updating, but it means that you don’t need someone to sift through your life to your cache of logins. That can be an emotional toll on anyone. For more info here’s a link from ages ago:http://mashable.com/2010/10/11/social-media-after-death/

3) Not care and live on. Consider it a cyber-haunting (see http://ifidie.net/). Depending on who you are, and who your acquaintances are, they’ll either love it, or be horribly scarred by it.

A while ago a “service” called the suicidemachine.org came out. It’s was a method by which you delete your accounts with one quick log in. Quick. Painless. Seems to me that if a password-escrow service partnered with them, the full deletion process could easy, and peaceful for everyone.

As for me?  Well, after my Space Viking funeral (read Space Viking, funeral – not space, Viking funeral), I plan on having someone Foursquare check me in to heaven. Then straight to the bin with the rest.