Chevy's User-Generated Campaign Flop

This online marketing campaign was fueled by the popularity of a new advertising trend: user generated advertising. Many companies today are using user-generated ads to capture audiences as well as boost credibility and likeablity toward the company brand. We have seen countless brands including Disney, Toyota, and MasterCard employ this tactic successfully, gaining great exposure for their brand. However, not all of these user-generated campaigns go as planned. In 2006, Chevy launched a web-based campaign based off of the popular TV show ,The Apprentice, that allowed users to generate ads for the new Chevy Tahoe using stock footage along with their personal text input. The top rated ads would then be displayed on the website for other viewers to appreciate. Chevy was attempting to create an outlet for consumers to come and create their own Chevy experience while interacting directly with the Chevy brand. Although this campaign was well intentioned, it back fired for Chevy when some of the featured top ads were actually attacking the car for its harmful effects on the environment. Videos featuring footage of the car accompanied by entertaining anti-SUV lingo made for some interesting advertising that Chevy surely didn't anticipate. Some activists found out about the campaign and used it as a way to get their message out, which ended up overshadowing Chevy's advertising effort.

   Essentially, this ad campaign was a complete failure considering anti-Chevy messages were being run on Chevy's own servers. Had the videos been better monitored and gone through an approval process before being posted on the website, maybe Chevy wouldn't have advertised against themselves. Unfortunately for Chevy, their attempt to follow the user-generated trend resulted in viral parody videos circulating the webs on YouTube, that you can still find today. This example helps to give perspective on the amount of damage a failed marketing campaign can do to a brand. While SUVs in general suffer from environmental attack, the there is no doubt that the Tahoe brand lost credibility among audiences with this marketing flub.

Some Drawbacks of E-commerce

While many feel that the proliferation of E-commerce has helped to make shopping more convenient for consumers and more far-reaching and cost efficient for marketers, it has not come without a toll. In fact, there are many negatives stemming from the popularity of E-commerce and this blog entry will serve to outline a few of those as well as comment on their repercussions.

First, e-commerce creates negative consequences for our environment. When people buy online, they usually have the items shipped to their homes. This increases the logistics costs for companies, which many times results in irresponsible use of resources. For example, with the ease of online buying, people are making more purchases online. Companies have to increase transportation to get their customers the items they order. Vehicles like boats, trains, and trucks are used to transport goods, and as we know, these forms of transportation create damaging pollution and use up vast amounts of fuel. The costs of shipping also includes the product packaging, which use huge amounts of material like plastic, cardboard, and styrofoam which also have negative effects on the environment. 

Another consequence of e-commerce has to do with the ease of buying. People are able to access millions of stores, products, and brands instantly from anywhere and have the option to purchase them. This process is a lot more hassle free than physically going to a few different brick and mortar stores to find a particular item and results in more purchases from consumers than ever before.  For instance, on many sites such as Amazon.com, once you have made a purchase, all of your payment information is saved and linked with your login name. When I go visit the amazon website I am usually automatically logged in, so if I find a book that I am interested in, I can basically click the buy button and the transaction is done. It is that easy. People are able to meet all of their product needs right from their own home without exerting much effort at all. In fact, this process is so thought-free, that people don't even have to give thought about how the item was paid for. In addition, the delayed payment of credit cards makes it seem like users can simply click and get things sent to their doorstep, never even thinking about the money involved until their enormous bill arrives at the end of the month. Unfortunately, the ease of online commerce, fosters irresponsible consumerism, allowing many to temporarily ignore financial repercussions of purchase behavior until it is too late. 

Lastly, with many companies switching from brick and mortar stores to online locations, outsourcing is becoming an issue and many American people are losing their jobs to both computers as well as people who will work for less money in other countries. Ever since the inception of the Internet, the issue of outsourcing has been a problem. This is because the Internet can essentially outperform and replace many jobs traditionally held by humans. However, the internet has not just alleviated jobs, it has also shifted them to other countries where people are trained to work with computers and are willing to do it for a lower price than many American workers. For instance, many technical jobs for companies like AT&T, Dell, and the 3M Corporation and others are held by people in countries such as India.
These are just a few of the negatives that can be associated with e-commerce, but there are many other harmful effects that stem from this trend, which will no doubt only increase as the use of e-commerce is continually increasing. 

Privacy Concerns of Ad Tracking

    Every day, millions of users log on to various search engines such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo! to help them connect with the information they are searching for, but what many people don't know is that their every click is being tracked, logged, and even sold to businesses trying to better target their target audiences. There are many ways that people are tracked on the internet, but not all of these methods are forthcoming about the extent to which they are tracking users.

For instance, the popular search engine, Google, employs behavioral advertising using cookie-based tracking systems to monitor a users browsing content. Then Google will attempt to provide that user exposure to advertisements that align with these preferences. These preferences are not set or provided by the user themselves, but are rather taken from the user's page browsing and ad clicking history. While many people can appreciate this more accurate type of targeting to make advertisements more relevant, others are disturbed by the fact that Google doesn't tell its users beforehand that their online actions will be tracked. The merit in computer based tracking system is the accuracy and ability to measure advertisement exposure. Programs like Google AdSense Analytics are able to track and record click data, storing and organizing it into readable and measurable results. This is something that has never been available before in the advertising world and is becoming a key marketing tool for many companies.

One troubling instance of behavioral targeting that I have experienced personally are ads pertaining to searches that I have done relating to my health. Many people that are diagnosed with health conditions use the largest source of information available to them to learn more about it, the Internet. A day after doing some searches related to my condition, I started to see ads pertaining to the issue I had been searching. This seriously bothered me because I normally keep my health issues private and it occurred to me that somewhere, someone had a file of information about my health as well as all other searches I have made using that search engine, and I didn't ever explicitly give them permission to access this information.
As privacy concerns grow stronger, new search engines like Startpage and others are beginning to provide services that promise not to track its user's browsing or clicking histories. In the future, we should expect to see more of these sites as well as those that offer opt in cookies, giving users the option of being subject to behavioral targeting rather than automatically infringing on user's privacy. As privacy debates continue, it is also likely that the government will feel pressure to create policy relating to online privacy issues, creating new restrictions for search sites.

The Negative Effects of Online Marketing

While online marketing has created new ways for businesses to reach out to and attract customers, there are some negative consequences for both the marketer and consumer that come with the process. This blog post will concentrate on a few of those negative aspects and comment on their implications for both marketers and consumers.
One negative consequence of online marketing is the immeasurable amount of brand and product information available on the web. This is bad for consumers because this large volume of information may make decisions harder and leave the consumer feeling confused and unsure about which option is best for them.  This also has negative implications for marketers. For example, a consumer looking for gardening equipment may chose to go to a brick and mortar store in their area. In this case the gardening stores in that customers immediate area may be competing for his or her business, but if a customer wants to search online for gardening equipment, there will be thousands of options for that person to chose from all over the world. Obviously this is bad for marketers because the more competition there is, the less likely it is that they will be able to stand out to their audience and capture their business.

The second negative implication I will address involves only the consumer. With the large amount of information and so many product options to chose from on the web, not only is it hard for consumers to pick which brand they want, but it is hard for them to tell which brand is best since they don't get to physically see or touch the product before they purchase it. This is frustrating s because a consumer may order something that appeared to be a certain way on the website, but was completely different in person. Unfortunately, since the internet medium allows for misleading representation of products, many times it can be hard for the consumer to tell between a quality good and a cheaply made one allowing for many unsatisfied customers upon delivery of the product.
Third, is the fact that it is hard for the online marketer or business man to put a face on their customer base when all business is done online. This is why marketing research is so important when it comes to online targeting, because when you use the Internet you may not get as much consumer feedback or understand your customers needs as well as you would running a brick and mortar establishment, making it harder to connect with customers in a relevant way unless research is done.
Essentially, the wide variety of products and impersonal feel of the internet can leave many consumers and marketers feeling overwhelmed and uncertain about many of the choices they are making.

An Advertising Genius: The Subservient Chicken

One of my all time favorite advertising campaigns is one employed by Burger King back in 2004 featuring a mini branch website called "Subservient Chicken". The goal of this campaign was to promote Burger King's new tendercrisp chicken and accompanying slogan "chicken your way". This started out as a popular TV ad featuring a man telling someone dressed up in a chicken costume what to do and after gaining popularity turned into an interactive online sensation.  Essentially, the branded website featured an interactive webcam with a man dressed up in a chicken costume who would perform different acts that the user typed into the command box.
This website went viral pretty quickly after its inception, meaning it gained immense online popularity and traffic in a short amount of time. I can remember this website being extremely popular among people in my generation, but it was also something adults could appreciate and connect with as well.This was a fun and hilarious way to spend time online, and I know that myself and my friends spent our fair share of time on the website. I remember thinking what a great idea the website was and gained respect and preference toward the Burger King brand, so for me, the campaign was effective.
The site attracted over 15 million users in the first 5 days and today counts over 450 million hits to the website. Although we have learned that website traffic or clicks through do not necessarily translate to advertising effectiveness or future purchase action, there is no doubt that a millions of people were actively interacting with Burger King's branded advertising and the buzz created around the video most likely created a positive impact on Burger King's sales. Regardless, the Burger King TenderCrisp campaign was a ground breaking internet phenomenon that helped to set the bar for interactive internet advertising today.

The command box at the bottom gives the option to "Get chicken just the way you like it. Type in your command here."

The Food Industry's use of Advergames to Target Children

In recent years advergames have become another element of the marketing mix that companies use to try to create brand engagement and interactivity with their target audience, while keeping up with their competition. Although advergames are used to target all age groups, children are an age group easily engaged and influenced by advergames. While there are advergames for all types of products, advergames used in the food industry will be the focus of this blog entry. The food industry is particularly interesting because of the large influence that children have on their parents purchases when it comes to food decisions, whether this means certain products at the grocery store or a particular restaurant, parents are always trying to please their children. This trend creates a perfect opportunity for advertisers to target children, who don't usually have much purchase power, but in this case they do.

One example, is the Popsicle website featuring a page directing kids to the "popsicle fun zone" where they are brought to a page featuring the advergame "penguin crossing" and other brand related fun, while the grown ups are directed to a page featuring product information. The popsicle brand lists info about its website on the box, so when the child has a popsicle he or she sees the game information and asks their parent to play on the website. Other popular brands that offer advergames include Capri Sun, Gushers, Rice Krispies, and Nabisco. Once kids play the game and become engaged with the brand they will most likely keep asking their parents to purchase the item. This is a tactic employed by many companies in the food industry because they know the power of the child when it comes to grocery store purchases.

I have seen this particular cycle in action with the kids I babysit and my young boy cousins. They and their friends love to play games and are a generation that is very at ease with computer technology, so they love when their favorite foods offer fun interactive websites and many parents allow their young children to play these games. Obviously, children who are unaware of the business agenda behind the games, are more easily persuaded and don't understand that these games are simply a marketing tactic. Essentially, advergames are typical of many food brands who understand that when they offer advergames they are creating priceless brand exposure to children that will keep them active and interested in the brand causing them to ask their parents to keep purchasing it in the future.