Marketing News

Disney Halts Successful Volunteer Program

For those of you who missed last year's promotion offering a free Disney theme park ticket on your birthday, the recent Disney "Give a Day, Get a Disney Day" promotion provided another opportunity to obtain a one-day gratis ticket to the park not only for yourself, but for friends and family willing to volunteer for a day.

If you never heard about it and want to join in, well, you’re too late. Just ten weeks after it’s unveiling, the Walt Disney Co. ended the promotion on Tuesday after reaching its goal of 1 million volunteers.[more]

It appears the opportunity to visit Disney for free brought out the compassionate side of people. In Rochester, NY, the Susan B. Anthony House had 90 volunteer requests in January because of the program. It normally gets 5. And Heritage Christian Services saw a 90 percent increase in volunteers in the area.

For Disney, giving away free tickets worth approximately $79 each is a winning proposition, at least for now. With a flat first quarter 2010 profit, the company is still relying on the discounting of hotel rooms to lure people to their parks. Attendance was down at Walt Disney World and Disneyland Paris. People are also spending less on food and merchandise, the company said. Per capita guest spending at Disney World was down 6 percent domestically for 2009, even with the birthday promotion.

Yet, the success of the promotion bodes well for Disney's brand, as it continues to remain relevant to consumers, and this level of connection will only translate into greater ROI as the economy rebounds.

Madonna's Star Still Shines With Exclusive Macy's Deal

Sure, Lady Gaga may be the latest groundbreaking and outrageous performer to catch the media's attention, but don't count out the original "material girl" just yet. Madonna has been front-and-center recently, and her aura is anything but dim. She's currently starring on ABC's new TV show, "The Marriage Ref," and she caused her usual buzz at Sunday's Oscars when she appeared with 26-year-old boy toy model Adam Senn.

Now the iconic performer has struck a deal with Macy's to launch the "Material Girl" collection, inspired and designed with Madonna and her daughter Lourdes. The "fast-fashion" collection will target juniors and hit the market in August, just in time for the back-to-school season.[more]

Macy's will be the exclusive retailer of "Material Girl," marketing the collection through 200 stores and online. It's the first deal for Madonna in her joint venture with Iconix Brand Group. According to Neil Cole, CEO of Iconix, the "Material Girl" collection is the just one of a series of new Madonna brands coming from the partnership. Iconix Brand Group owns, licenses, and markets a number of consumer brands including Bongo, Joe Boxer, London Fog, Mossimo, and Ocean Pacific.

Despite her rise to fame in the 1980s, Madonna is one diva who has managed to keep her brand image alive through a fine balance of controversy and commercialism.

See the new Microsoft Bing TV ad set to break tonight

Microsoft launches its multi million pound advertising drive for Bing in the UK with TV kicking off tonight (March 10, 2010).

The three-month drive is part of...

Red Bull's "Art of Can" Exhibit Has Energy

Once upon a time there was just Red Bull. Today, however, the brand finds itself fighting to stay alive in one of the most viscously competitive consumer markets around. Ironically, it's a market the brand practically created.

To stay ahead, the brand employs all manner of brand-building measures, some conventional, some not. The brand runs standard 30-second TV commercials about the drink "giving you wings." It also underwrites F1 racecars and sponsors star athletes like Olympic gold medalists Lindsey Vonn and Shaun "Flying Tomato" White. The brand's less conventional sports sponsorships include airplane races and "soapbox derbies." But one Red Bull promotion is wildly unique. [more]

On March 4, Red Bull's "Art of Can" exhibit opened on Miami's tony South Beach. The show consists of 47 art pieces inspired by, and made from, Red Bull cans. The striking pieces include a Medussa head, a Hermes foot and a "Fab-redbull-ge" egg, among others. The event also incorporates couture, featuring designs by former contestants from the popular reality show Project Runway. The exhibit runs through March 14 and then again in Dallas, TX, in July.

Red Bull has been hosting the "Art of Can" exhibits in the US since 2005 (and claims it has done some kind of "Art of Can" event in Europe since 1997). While the brand is unlikely to become a consumer art icon on par with Warhol's Campbell's soup can, the effort is admirable, and effective. By incorporating an art and fashion angle to its otherwise extreme sports personality, Red Bull demonstrates the truly iconoclastic, creative nature of the brand; and in the aspirational youthful energy drink market, that kind of message has wings.

Does social media have value?

Assessing the value of social media platforms.

The First iPad Commercial: Success or Failure?

If you tuned into the 82nd Annual Academy Awards this past weekend, besides seeing Alec and Steve, Sandra and Jeff, and James and Kathryn, you also saw Apple’s first commercial for the iPad. It’s very possible Apple fanboys were more excited for the ad than many award-winners were for their respective Oscars. And now that we've had a few days for the commercial to settle in, it's time to gauge its effectiveness.

At first glance, the commercial appeared flawless. It was a classic Apple ad that perfectly illustrated the exciting and sexy features of their much-hyped, state-of-the-art product. However, beneath the spectacle of the actual device was the curious reality that the iPad was sitting on a person’s lap the entire time. Yes, we all saw how amazing the various functions were – but isn’t the iPad supposed to be a sleek, portable device? If that’s the case, the iPad in the commercial came across as a little, well... big.[more]

Surely, Apple is trying to market the iPad as a device one could take on the subway, the bus, or use while sitting at a crowded bar – so why are they making it look like a laptop? While the iPad is supposedly poised to steal the eReader market, the commercial only fleetingly showcased its eReader function. Regardless of the on-going iPad vs. Kindle debate, Amazon appears to be content with its product and its singular purpose.

"We think we built a nice – very nice purpose book – purpose device,” said Amazon CFO, Tom Szkutak, who further described that purpose as being “built for reading.”

Amazon Kindle and Sony eReader could leverage the laptop versus portable device debate to their advantage. An easy marketing angle for either Amazon or Sony could be, “Buy the iPad if you want a computer – but stick with us if you want a device you can read with one hand, and hold a cup of coffee in the other.”

Headline Roundup: Pump It Up

Disney's 'Rapunzel' will see a tough new makeover for male viewers. [LA Times]

Cutting back on discounts gave J.Crew an unexpected boost in sales. [WSJ]

Bank of America has put an end to overdraft fees on debit card purchases. [NY Times]

Twiggy, known for her modeling past, is designing a collection for HSN. [WWD]

Chile's recent earthquake negatively effected its wine industry. [Businessweek]

Cynthia Rowley has extended her clothing line to include bridesmaid dresses. [Vows][more]

Cisco launched a high-speed web program that shortens download time. [CNN Money]

Amazon pacified comic book fans with gift certificates after a pricing error. [TechCrunch]

South Africa is stocking up on condoms to prepare for the FIFA World Cup. [Guardian]

Viacom may change its decision to pull 'The Daily Show' from Hulu. [Business Insider]

Foot Locker built a new brand strategy to fulfill past business goals. [AP]

Lexus' new ads focus on the automaker's hybrid history and its models. [Brandweek]

Rimmel breaks out of its British box with two new brand ambassadors. [Fashionista]

CBS has already sold out of its online March Madness ad positions. [Adweek]

Dominos Pizza trials worlds first Social Affiliate tool

Domino’s Pizza is claiming a world first by trialing a new ‘Social Affiliate’ tool, a widget that combines social media and affiliate marketing.

The t...

The Ultimate Marketing Alliance -- Per E sberg

The focus of marketing is often to attract new customers but equal focus must be put on past and present customers, in order to win acceptance of a line extension or understanding why a former customer abandoned your brand. Understanding and keeping a loyal customer is worth more money than a one-time purchase by a consumer that wants to try the new flavor of the month. Energy must therefore be put into understanding this consumer group better.

Royal Mail deal ensures future for direct mail

A deal sealed between unions and Royal Mail has ensured the future of the company in the direct mail industry (Posted by Caroline Robertson)

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