Retailers Spend Extra on Holiday Ads

With the economy in the dumps, retailers are looking to bring consumers' spirits up with some holiday cheer. That means pumping millions of extra dollars in holiday ads and even advertising early.

Companies like Target, Kmart, Gap and Wal-Mart are prepared to dish out a significant amount of money for advertising compared to last year. Although the consumer spending is predicted to remain flat, retailers are jumping to grab "slices of a pie that has shrunk."

The ads are even coming to consumers much earlier than last year. For example, Kmarts commercial has been popular with it's catchy slogan "There's Smart and There's Kmart Smart" that lets consumers know about its layaway plan and benefits of shopping earlier. The advertising push started 30 to 40 day earlier than last year.

Though big conglomerates are taking advantage of the ad time and space cuts, companies like Best Buy are using social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook to market the holiday season. The company will have the regular TV ads starting Dec. 12, but it is good to see big names jumping on the social networking bandwagon to reach consumers.

Here are some holiday slogans to look out for this season:
-Kmart "There's Smart and There's Kmart Smart"
-Sears "More Value, More Christmas"
-Office Max "Dazzling Deals" and "Elf Yourself"

Source

Edelman becomes TweepFriendly with TweetLevel

Edelman released TweetLevel yesterday. The “tweet” should be an indicator this new program is all about Twitter. TweetLevel is a Twitter tool used to measure an individual’s importance and was created by Jonny Bentwood and Alex Parish from Edelman.

I think we’ve all heard debates on how to evaluate the results of Twitter without a measurable component – and as PR college students, we know having a measurable component and facts is the best support during evaluation (Thanks Mrs. Chapa!). So, how does this TweetLevel work? What has been designated as the measurable components?

TweetLevel scores each individual on a scale from 0 – 100, so the higher your score is, the more Tweetastical you are. The score is based off of four different metrics (measurable components): influence, popularity, engagement and trust.

Influence is measured by if what you say is interesting and how many people read it. To increase your influence, it’s encouraged to follow and interact with more people – after all, influence is the primary component. Popularity is solely based on how many followers you have. Engagement scores are based on conversations between Tweeps. And trust? Well, trust is measured by how often a user is retweeted.

With that being said, I plugged my name into the TweetLevel calculator anxiously only to discover my TweetLevel is 21. Ouch. Out of a hundred that isn’t exactly great… though it is the same number as my age, so it does compliment me. (Ha!)

Some of the top Twitter users by influence include: @PerezHilton, @mashable, @twitter_tips, @garyvee and @chrisbrogan.

TwitterLevel has only been up and running for 24 hours and has already had millions of hits. I think this development was a great accomplishment for Edelman and a wonderful contribution to the new Twittersphere.

Check it out, and if you have any suggestions or concerns let Edelman know. Feedback is the most efficient way for TweetLevel to meet its users wants and needs.

The Wall Street Journal will launch its Japanese site on December 15, 2009

The Wall Street Journal will launch its Japanese site on December 15, 2009, and it will be called "The Japan Wall Street Journal = JWSJ."
Until its debut date, it has already started to send out some news in Japanese at http://japan.wsj.com as a preview or trial version.

In Asia, the Wall Street Journal already has its site for China, which launched in 2002, and Japan is picked as the second country in Asia. At the web site, Japanese translators and reporters will pick up the Japan-related topics/articles that approximately 1800 reporters contribute from all over the world, and translate them, and post them on the web site.

Since the President Obama will officially visit Japan for the first time on November 13th, JWSJ staffs have been updating a couple of its related articles a day so far.

Even though some does not understand the purpose of having Japanese version of Wall Street Journal, I think it will become very useful site for Japanese business people who have business overseas if the articles will be translated correctly. I expect that JWSJ will stimulate other Japanese-English newspapers such as Yomiuri, Asahi and Japan Times to provide us the most current and correct information about the world.

http://japan.wsj.com
Resource:

• http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20091111-00000007-oric-ent
• http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20091111-00000023-fsi-bus_all
• http://headlines.yahoo.co.jp/hl?a=20091111-00000560-san-soci

Clothing tags becoming new communication medium

Goodwill found a way to increase donations without having to spend a lot in the process. The company and its pro bono agency, BBDO West, approached clothing manufacturers with the idea to use their care tags as a communication medium to send its message out to donate unwanted clothing.

Levi Strauss was the first to sign on to the campaign to create “A Care Tag for Our Planet”. Its tag suggests rather than trashing unwanted jeans, to donate them to Goodwill, so someone else can wear them and less material will end up in our landfills. The tag also focuses on conserving household energy by washing them in cold water. It reads, “donate to Goodwill when no longer needed and care for our planet.”

Goodwill and Levi's will be promoting the campaign through viral and in-store communications.

Goodwill is no stranger to helping the environment, “166 community-based Goodwills in the United States and Canada collectively divert more than 1.5 billion pounds of clothing and textiles every year from landfill by recovering the value in people’s unwanted material goods. In addition to funding community-based services, these landfill diversion programs create job-training opportunities for more than 1.5 million people a year.”

Other clothing manufacturers have recently signed on to participate in the campaign and will be creating care tags to promote Goodwill.

This is a creative idea. Goodwill does not have a big budget, so teaming up with companies that can help them increase donations is smart. Not only will it help Goodwill increase donations, but it also helps the environment as well.

I don’t think people look at the care tags that often, but if the message is clear and stands out in the consumers mind, I think it will be successful.

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?fa=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=116645

Tecate Doing Largest Promo Campaign to Date

Mexican cerveza Tecate is doing its largest campaign to date, involving both Mexico and the U.S., with another promoter, Top Rank. The effort supports this weekend's mega-fight between Manny Pacquiao and Miguel Cotto in Los Vegas. It will ncludes ads, promotions, point-of-purchase and grassroots events. The fight will be broadcast on HBO Pay-Per-View.

Tecate will offer a $25 mail-in discount for the HBO PPV event with the purchase of an 18-pack of Tecate or Tecate Light in Arizona, California, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington.

"We decided some years ago to build our association with boxing both in Mexico and the U.S.," says Cuellar, adding that traditionally, the company works with Top Rank for its promotional activities in its home country and with Golden Boy for U.S.-market activity.

Daniel Cuellar, sponsorship and media director for Tecate in Mexico, says the on-packaging offer of a discount on the PPV fee has been a hit. "We have been having great results. And every time we have those promotions in different markets, we found retail sales go up 20% or 30%," he says. Tecate is sponsoring the fight broadcast and even giving fans a chance to come to the fight. "I could say it is the biggest campaign we have done around boxing," he says.

I think this is a great team up for Tecate and Top Rank & Golden Boy. It's a great way to promote the beer and the boxing fight. Any kind of sport can almost always be associated with some sort of alcohol so this was a smart campaign decision on Tecate's end.

Same Goals, Different Priorities.

Prior to the execution of any campaign, communicators must solidify their understanding of management’s expectations and definitions of success.

PR News identified the following as management’s view of the purposes served by PR:
•Getting the organization’s name in the media (traditional, social or both): 23 percent.
• Maintaining or rebuilding the organization’s reputation: 22 percent.
• Conveying the organization’s essential story to the media: 21 percent.
• Generating sales leads, donations, etc.: 16 percent.

Then, when asked how PR practitioners would like management to view PR’s contributions, the following answers were identified:
• Maintaining or rebuilding the organization’s reputation: 22 percent
• Conveying the organization’s essential story to the media: 20 percent
• Offering strategic advice to senior leadership: 20 percent
• Getting the organization’s name in the media (traditional, social or both): 19 percent.

Clearly, the top priorities are similar, but the orders differ slightly. Therefore, it is critical to go into a communications program with a clear understanding of management’s perception of success relative to your own.

“Focus on the business of your organization,” said Johna Burke, VP at BurrellesLuce, “Make sure that your communications goals are explicitly aligned with the objectives of strengthening your organization’s position and influence.”

http://www.prnewsonline.com/news/Mainstream-to-Tweetstream-The-Future-of-Integrated-Measurement_13407.html

Christmas Comes With A Cause

This year, due to the economy, retail stores are not only starting their advertisements early, but also stepping it up by joining with a major cause-related initiative.

Macy’s is continuing last year’s “Believe” campaign, based on the “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” editorial. The letter-writing “Believe Stations” donates $1 per letter to the Make-A-Wish Foundation. The television commercials, starring Queen Latifah, are set to launch Nov. 6.

J.C Penny, partnering online with Salvation Army, and Wal-Mart Stores, partnering with Feeding America and Meals On Wheels, has decided to jump on the bandwagon and pull at retailer’s heartstrings.

Although I disagree with the idea of Christmas before Thanksgiving (like when people decorate their houses at the beginning of November), this is a great strategic PR plan by Macy’s, J.C. Penny and Wal-Mart retail chains. The early PR and sentimental connection starts solidifying the store name and brand when people are starting to purchase gifts, focuses on what these stores are giving back to the community and also what some of the consumer’s money is going to. Around the holiday season, people start thinking about giving more than receiving and everyone wants to be part of something good.

Holiday Cheer: Major Retailers Launch Cause Initiatives