Promotion– Visual,Verbal or Electronic

Fill (2006)states that all organizations ,large and small,commercial,government,charities,educational and other not for profit organizations,need to communicate with a range of stakeholders. There are consumers,you and me,people who are free  to choose among many hundreds & thousands of product and service offerings.

What will you use?

Visual – signs

The short film below shows how signs play in our life. Even without spoken words,we understand. It is still possible to decode the messages and respond. Imagine how the people react on signage and how it creates an amazing thing called “recall”.

Verbal or Testimonial Ads

A testimony from celebrity is not always effective rather it can create awareness and is dependent on the image  or the  reputation. Michael Jordan is associated with nike’s “just do it” and the video below is again testing the magic if this time “may be” would work again to the public.

Electronic - Viral Video

When the King of Pop died, tributes are uploaded on youtube however the most interesting one is from home : The thriller dance tribute for MJ. A certain Byron Garcia created the concept of dancing inmates. 3 million views in 3 days and has  33 Million views to date. I am still not sure if this is the government’s way of promoting the country or the penitentiary system.

On typhoon aftermath: Viral to the rescue!

On Saturday, September 26,2009, The Philippines was struck by a strong tropical depression called ‘Ondoy’. It literally poured worth one month of rain in just six hours. Everyone underestimated the wrath of a huge storm. People are trapped in their houses, shopping centers and their cars. Beyond the dangerous ground, some still have the time to take pictures,tweet and facebooking.

Hail to the social networking sites! It pave way for people to know who needs rescuing or updates about the flood.

People are responding and kept reposting feeds and videos from ordinary Filipinos, local celebrities and Hollywood personalities.

Demi Moore Josh Groban

Demi Lovato and Paulo Coelho who actually pointed out(how Jurassic )the need to set up online links to transfer funds. He sent money via bank draft.

Who would ever thought that a viral phenomena commonly used as  marketing strategy aim to gain rapid product awareness was a historic tool, a saving grace to mankind?

For those who are not a big fan of social media,news and updates spread like wild fire through email. Others made a website to gather relief goods and donation.

Overall, the government’s aid    was not enough to save all those who are in need. It was the message that was sent along through texting,tweets and facebook that made instant alerts and updates. Sad to say, bodies are pilling up and some are still missing.

But the help is overwhelming most specially from other countries.

Update: The  New York times ( The LEDE blog)  cited Filipinos Document Their ‘Katrina’ Onine

To sell or not to sell – Food marketing to kids

With the advert of games and online marketing , children may very well be susceptible to binge eating    and obesity. Viral Marketing is now a practice adopted by various food companies to market their  products to children.

But the real question is, what is the    OUTPUT of these  campaign to our    younger audience?

Because children  nowadays are confronted with weight problems.

A study was conducted by Kaiser Family Foundation on theusage of advert for food marketing to children. 77 websites was used in the study and 64% of the sites encourage children below 12 yrs old to send emails about their product to their friends. Below are some of the popular websites ;

Mcdonald\’s

Skittles

Is the digital age creating a new breed of ‘netizens’ from the impacts of  promotion or brand saturated environments?

When these young visitors check and use the interactive site in return they email friends turning them into brand advocates.

Evian babies invasion

In 1998,it ran a campaign of babies doing a synchronized swimming routine.

Today over 14 million views  generated hits by the latest evian video.

This really made me think about what Evian is all about. Does it want to position (or stay)  itself as the next “IT” water? Initially I see the brand in the category of high end products. Back at home, Evian is seen as the brand that local celebrities, fashion industry and basically the ‘IT’ crowd use. It was not even the bottled water that is popular rather the facial mist and so the logic goes ;

EVIAN = VAINE

Thus the status quo symbol on evian as a vanity and not everyday essentials. Meanwhile this article about another association of the product as Imeldific or  luxurious — World record charity

So ‘living young’ is the catch phrase but does it ever goes deeper than that? that when you use evian, you look younger  or even having a skin as smooth as a baby? I guess it’s just all about numbers.

Clow and Baack (2002) suggest that statistics indicate that about 80% of recipients who receive viral marketing messages pass them along others.

It’s a simple formula. Take babies. Put ‘em on skates. Add music. Watch the internet hits take off.

Another way of defining viral marketing..

How do you sell a soap?

The clip was made by Vm-people based in Berlin, Germany. I think this is one of the best video to define viral marketing. I call it the “art of talking”.

Let me know your thoughts.

Hear yea, hear Ye!

The buzz on Viral Marketing

Last week, the university bus driver asked me something interesting.It is about viral marketing. He is impressed that a virus can make anything nowadays much popular.

However I could not give him a straight answer since I have no absolute idea about it. hence my curiosity is greatly awaken by this spreading-the-brand type of marketing.

Dobele et al.(2005) suggested that viral marketing uses electronic communications to trigger brand messages throughout a network of buyers. Significantly, viral marketing creates a positive or negative impact about the product,brand or service.

Ironically, all of us have used viral marketing at one point of our lives. The attitude of the consumers usually relies on recommendation from friends or relatives. How many times did you fall for the line “ You have got to try this.this is so amazing and it really works too”.

Like the common flu, this can widespread easily and at the convenience of the send button in your e-mail. The question is, how can the organization control the” infection” to achieve the desired results?

So join me as I explore the complex yet fascinating world of technology and communication. Discover the higher level of commercial expression of the  new age.