Posts Tagged ‘brands’

Coca-Cola Changes Packaging for a Cause

Monday, October 31st, 2011

cokearcticwhite 300x166 Coca Cola Changes Packaging for a Cause

Next month, Coca-Cola will be turning their iconic red packaging to white. Arctic white that is. Coke is teaming up with the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) for a bold new campaign to help protect the Arctic home of polar bears. Coca-Cola will be committing up to $3 million to WWF’s polar bear conservation efforts while also asking fans in the US to join in the campaign by texting donations to the cause. The first-ever white packaging for Coke encourages $1 text donations to WWF.

More than 1.4 billion white Coca-Cola cans will help raise awareness and funds marking the first time ever that Coke has changed the color of their red cans. The all-white cans will feature the image of a mother bear and her two cubs making their way across the Arctic. White packaging will be on store shelves through February 2012. Anyone who wants to help the polar bears can text the package code to 357357 to donate $1 to WWF. They also can donate online at ArcticHome.com, starting November 1. Coca-Cola will match all donations made with a package code by March 15, 2012, up to a total of $1 million.

‘Polar bears inspire the imagination. They’re massive, powerful, beautiful and they live nowhere else except the Arctic. Their lives are intimately bound up with sea ice, which is now melting at an alarming rate,’ said Carter Roberts, President and CEO of World Wildlife Fund. ‘By working with Coca-Cola, we can raise the profile of polar bears and what they’re facing, and most importantly, engage people to work with us, to help protect their home.’

Top 10 Facebook Pages Worldwide

Monday, October 10th, 2011

Like Facebook 300x191 Top 10 Facebook Pages Worldwide

Have you ever wondered which brands are most popular on Facebook? Famecount has a list the shows the most “liked” brands on Facebook worldwide. The keyword is “Like” here. Facebook “Likes” are supposed to have less value in the future as Facebook just launched a new metric called “Talking about”. Pages with a high “Talking about” rating are the ones with the most compelling content because the metric will measure user-initiated activity related to a page. Activities include wall postings, “Likes”, commenting, and sharing a page. Marketers have to focus on coming up with compelling content in order to get users to interact more with their pages to score higher “Talking about” ratings. So while it’s good for a brand to have a lot of “Likes”, it’s better to get consumers “Talking about” them.

Top 10 “Liked” Brands on Facebook:
1. Coca-Cola- 34,563,347
2. Starbucks- 25,490,292
3. Oreo- 23,117,266
4. Red Bull- 22,447,819
5. Converse All-Star- 20,795,216
6. Converse- 20,169,668
7. Skittles- 19,359,111
8. Playstation- 17,448,382
9. Pringles- 15,631,111
10. Victoria’s Secret- 15,365,940

The Social Side of Gaming

Friday, June 17th, 2011

social gaming 2 The Social Side of Gaming

If you haven’t heard of Angry Birds or Farmville, you have been living under a rock. These are just two of the many games that have transformed the trend of social gaming. Social gaming is playing games as a way of social interaction, via social networks like Facebook. Gaming is not only for the stereotyped teens, now moms, business execs, and retirees are reshaping the demographics of who a gamer is. The two top activities people do online is social networking and gaming, so its no wonder social gaming has become so popular.

Social gaming is not only keeping users entertained, it is also helping companies market and advertise their brands. Marketers use social gaming to reach a wide variety of people. It also gives them the opportunity to target specific groups of people by uncovering their preferences, habits, and acquaintances via social networks. This is where targeted advertising comes into play. Companies are leveraging their brands to create experiences that exist within the games to encourage engagement and interaction. For example, you can get a pair of Nike tennis shoes for your Avatar. The idea is to incorporate businesses and brands into the gaming network instead of overloading users with ads. By integrating brands into games, users will have the chance to interact with the brand instead of being attacked by numerous ad campaigns.

Social gaming enables an interaction to take place. This is the first step in attracting users to a brand, product, or service. By integrating brands into a game, it allows users to have fun with the brand and get to know it. If a user’s avatar wears Nike shoes, the user may be more inclined to buy a pair of Nike shoes for themselves.

Top “Loyalty Leader” Brands

Monday, September 27th, 2010

apple1 300x242 Top Loyalty Leader Brands

Consumer Loyalty- the act of showing faith and allegiance to a product or service.

For the second year in a row, the iPhone topped the New York consultancy’s “Loyalty Leaders” list. The list compiles the top brands that consumers show loyalty to. It demonstrates that in a time where products are lacking in differentiation, brands need to establish an emotional connection to consumers to earn their faith and trust. No one does a better job at this than Apple thus, their momentum continues to intensify and their connection with the consumer market grows deeper.

Brand Keys conducted the interviews which provided the data for the list. In August, they polled 35,000 consumers about 501 brands in 71 categories. The age range of the consumers was 18-65 years old. 80% of the surveying was done over the phone while 15% were personal interviews and 5% were done online.

The iPhone was followed by Samsung phones with Apple computers and Blackberry scoring high. Other notable moves on the list included BP going from the leader of gasoline retailers to the bottom of the list for obvious reasons. Toyota dropped a little bit but it’s position remains #2 among autos. Beer brands dropped in the survey as vodka brands climbed. In fact, Three Olives vodka jumped 64 positions on the list landing in the top 25.

New additions to the list includes Bing, which was second among search engines to the respondents. Google is still ranked very high although, it dropped to #11 this year from #3 last year.

Progressive Insurance claimed the highest increase on the year with spokeswoman Flo into her second year of campaigning through advertising channels.

Nearly 75% of the Top 50 brands on the list came from three categories: cosmetics, technology, and retail. The emotional connection derived from cosmetic brands impacts self image, technology changes the way consumers live their lives, and retail improves quality of life.

Here’s a look at the Top 15 Loyalty Leaders:

1. Apple iPhone
2. Samsung phones
3. Walmart
4. Grey Goose
5. Apple
6. Hyundai
7. Amazon
8. J. Crew (catalog)
9. Blackberry
10. Avis
11. Google
12. Mary Kay
13. J. Crew (retail)
14. Dunkin’ Donuts coffee
15. Bing

Facebook vs. Twitter, For Marketing

Friday, September 24th, 2010

As the social media hype continues to grow, we ask the million dollar question for marketing. Which channels are best for business? A recent research report titled “Subscribers, Fans, and Followers” asks Facebook and Twitter users as well as email subscribers whose more prone to purchase products from these marketing venues.

Many marketers adhere to consistency with their marketing messages across social media and email channels. But when looking at the findings in the report we find that the audiences across these three channels have different needs and motivations.

Daily Twitter users who followed a brand were more than twice as likely to purchase a product from that brand than a Facebook user who “liked” a specific brand. Further, Facebook fans were the most likely group to disagree with the question as email subscribers fell in the middle.

chart 11 300x206 Facebook vs. Twitter, For Marketing

The pattern among Twitter, Facebook, and email was similar when individuals were asked whether they’d recommend a brand in their social circles. 33% of Twitter users were likely to recommend brands while 24% of email subscribers and only 21% Facebook users responded in favor.

chart 21 300x216 Facebook vs. Twitter, For Marketing

According to the study, Twitter followers are the most attractive group to marketers though it’s a smaller user base. Only 3% of US internet users follow a brand on Twitter. That 3% however, are the brand influencers compared to Facebook users and email subscribers. Facebook users generally become brand fans more for self-image because a connection has already been established in real life.

More info:
E Marketer

Top 10 Green US Brands

Wednesday, June 30th, 2010

greenbrands060910big 223x300 Top 10 Green US Brands

A recent survey shows the top green brands worldwide. The sample size was 9,022 and it was conducted February 27, 2010 to March 24, 2010. The study found that 60% of consumers around the world want to buy from environmentally responsible companies. In the US, 35% surveyed said they plan to spend more to buy green products, down 4% from 2009. Further, almost 80% of US respondents said they were more concerned about the economy than the environment. So here is the Top Ten US Green Brands in 2010:

10. IKEA- Never ending quest of sustainability

9. Microsoft- Innovating to improve the planet

8. Publix- Get into a green routine

7. SC Johnson- Improving products, reducing resources, strengthening communities

6. Aveeno- Nature + Science

5. Google- Helping to build a clean energy future

4. Trader Joe’s- Natural, hard to find foods

3. Tom’s of Maine- Green care products made responsibly

2. Whole Foods Market- Implementing the Green Mission

1. Burt’s Bees- Best for you, the environment, and the greater good