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Kate Upton selling Carlos Jnr burgers.
Gwyneth Paltrow selling N.A.S.A unapproved healing stickers.
Kim Kardashian selling nude lipstick.
Spot the differences in endorsements.

Using celebrity and other high profile influencers to spread the word of a brand is becoming more and more potent in today’s marketing environment. This is largely down to the advent of social media and smart phones. In today’s marketing climate, an iPhone can be the most powerful PR tool a brand can utilise. The capability to reach millions of viewers via one app and one device has truly shifted how the modern marketing landscape operates. However, choosing the right celebrity or high profile influencer for the right brand is a make or break decision.

Matching Your Celebrity to Your Brand

A celebrity or high profile influencer needs to be treated like a distribution channel for the content of the brand. Similar to any other channel, the key to success is making sure the right content, is on the right channel. This being the case, not just any influencer will ‘fit’ when looking for a brand endorser. An example of the optimal situation when it comes to celebrity influencers is that of Kim Kardashian selling lipstick. Putting the brand of Kim Kardashian and a lipstick brand side by side;

The target audience is similar and overlapping;
The theme and message behind both brands, and the content or products each brand produces are similar;
The content, or product in this case is a match; and
How the influencer goes about endorsing the product, in this case via social media posts, is appropriate.

When all of the factors are combined, a successful endorsement is formed and a beneficial relationship begins.

Not Matching Your Celebrity to Your Brand

However, an issue arises when the product doesn’t match the celebrity or high profile influencer. A recent meta-analysis has investigated the effects of using sex to sell. The study found that using sex to sell only aids in building awareness of the product, rather than inspiring any meaningful action. The conclusion reached from this study can be viewed through the angle that using sex to sell implies that the only connection between the product and influencer is the sexual allure used to capture consumers’ attention. This leaves no room for the influencer to have an overlapping or meaningful connection to the brand.

Sex does not sell on its own, or aid in facilitating or influencing action in the audience, because the disconnect and lack of congruency between the two brands is too great. This being the case, the inference can be made much like with Kate Upton selling fast food, the danger of mismatching an endorsement may be an ineffective investment, that may work to build the brand awareness of the influencer rather than the product itself.

Damaging Brands

This is the worst-case scenario for both the brand of the influencer and of the product. The real danger is, if either brand produces negative content or stimulates negativity regarding their own brand, damage to both brands may occur. Therefore, a great degree of care and research needs to be done before entering in such a relationship.

Example 1: Gwyneth Paltrow and her healing stickers. This product was so bad NASA even came out to denounce the stickers.

Example 2: Bentley attempting to distance themselves from Paris Hilton, which had become an unintended celebrity endorsement. In this case Bentley stated that in terms of brand vs brand, Bentley and Paris is not a match, and potentially having Paris Hilton publicly driving around in a pink Bentley is damaging to the brand.

Abercrombie and Fitch

A leaf may have to be taken out of Abercrombie and Fitch’s’ book when it comes to dealing with unintended, potentially negative celebrity endorsements. A&F go as far as to publicly ask celebrities not to use their branded products in ways deemed inappropriate.

In closing

Whatever action is taken by a brand relating to their influencers, or unintended influencers, the decision must not be taken lightly. Care and respect are paramount for two brands to enter into such a powerful relationship.

‘Get off your bloody phone!!’ – said every parent ever.

The argument that resonates around countless Australian households. Parents yelling at their kids to go play outside and get away from their screens. Why? What year are they living in? The 80’s? The fact of the matter is, the way in which human beings interact and engage with the world around them has changed. The world has changed. In five years from now, is it reasonable to think that a native multi-device driven society will be less engaged online? No, so let’s look at Australia’s ‘micro-moments’ and how they interact with the world through their phones.

Time to Value

A lot of people will tell you time is money. This is short sighted, what on earth does ‘time is money’ mean? Instead, replace money with value. The key to the future of capturing customers’ hearts and minds is through the concept that society’s new currency is time to value, rather than time is money. This means, the shorter the customer journey is, with the least number of barriers to content that delivers value, is the future. This was evident in a recent ZeroDesktop Mobile Analytics study, showing users return to Google (app and Chrome), on average, 12 times per day. It also found 81% of Australians say their smart phone searches are more focused on immediate information; 80% of Australian’s say they now access the internet more frequently but for shorter bursts. Australian’s are intrinsically connected to their phones via ‘moments.’ A phone is just an extension of a user’s consciousness, with a smartphone also there when ‘I want to; go, know, do or buy moment’ enters a consumers thoughts.

Go Moments

Go moments are the experiences where a customer is wanting to find out where something is. GPS systems have been displaced with 86% of smart phone users utilising their phone as a navigation tool. Further down the list, choosing where to eat, travel tips and making hotel and rental car bookings are also key smart phone functions.

Know Moments

Know moments are the experiences when a customer has a burning question that needs answering. No longer does a smart phone user require a trip to the local library or to phone a friend. Just “Google it”. Smart phone users employ Google to get answers fast. The moment a thought pops into their head, 68% of them are visiting Google to ask the question. Smart phones also help with trying to complete foreign tasks, stalk their friend’s social lives and supplement their television platform by showing them the programming.

Do Moments

Do moments are the experiences when a customer is trying to get things done. Gone are the days of calling your mother to help you cook dinner, smart phones have the answer. How-to guides are all the rage these days online, and for good reason. 87% of women between the ages of 18 to 24 use their smart phone for ‘how-to’ content for make-up, fashion and beauty.

Buy Moments

Buy moments are the experiences when a customer makes a purchase decision. This moment is potentially the most pivotal watershed moment in a customer’s interaction with a brand. The number of consumers that use a smart phone as part of their path to purchase is as high as you would expect. Studies have found 87% of smart phone users said the information they found via their smart phone helped them make a purchase, with 68% of users looked up items whilst they were in store. Some even saying they trusted the online sources over the sales staff.

So, the next time your mother tells you to get off your smart phone, kindly respond by letting her know that smart phones and being online is here to stay and is an integral part of day-to-day life in our modern era. Embrace it, don’t hate it.

Below is a link to further reading on ‘micro-moments’:

Micro-Moments: The New Battleground for Brands

The landscape of brand advocacy has changed. Gone are the days where providing shoppers with a positive customer experience (in the physical world) is enough to capture their advocacy.

The new challenge for brands is creating and fostering customer relationships, and it is being fought across all platforms, physical and otherwise. Customers now expect valuable brand content to exist online and on social media so they can connect with the brand at will.

The paradigm has shifted and now brands must generate an organic, co-created and symbiotic relationship with their customers. This is the new frontier that will allow brands to protect themselves, grow and improve their bottom line. This has resulted in traditional forms of advertising and the paying for advertising content to be pushed towards customer bases, becoming one of the most dangerous games a brand can continue to play.

The Customer Experience (Cx) Challenge

The challenge – that is ignored by some brands – is to build marketing programs that extend through the three major platforms in which customers interact. These platforms include 1) the physical world around customers; 2) the online world martialed by powerful search engine algorithms; and 3) the social media platform.

Each of these three platforms has their own audiences, preferences of content and ways of optimising how content is distributed to customers. These platforms are inhabited in some ways by almost every Australian, with 94% of us being on social media and 98% having some form of regular internet access. It is clear that not appreciating these platforms is a great financial risk to a business.

The key to success in marketing a brand is to create valuable ideas that work, interact and transverse these three platforms – otherwise known as an integrated marketing approach.

The Symbiotic Relationship Between These Platforms

Understanding how these three platforms interact with each other will lead to an increase in sales, more customer interaction on- and offline and increased revenue, just to name a few. A look towards consumer behaviour and understanding your customers’ journey across these platforms is key.

For instance, 71% of consumers feel more comfortable buying a product after interacting with user-generated content (3dcart, 2017). User-generated content is co-created content developed by consumers for a brand. For example, a customer may have a positive customer experience with a brand in a physical store, and then go online to provide a review for that brand. The customer then may go on Instagram, take a photo of how happy they are with a brand’s product, which equates to the creation of more user-generated content. So, in one interaction, content for a brand has been interacted with and created on three platforms.

An Example for Your Business

A new product launch is a good example of how an integrated marketing approach will lead to greater success.

One option for promotion of a product launch would be to throw money into generic Facebook adverts, with a photo and a logo, to be seen time and time again. This is standard practice for many businesses. However, the creation of a promotion that rewards value input from customers and encourages customers to engage and co-author content on multiple platforms, will help facilitate a successful brand launch.

A simple example would be a new store opening. In-store, the business would prompt, via a discount, for the customers to take a photo with the product and post it to their social media with the brand tagged. After a positive brand interaction, the business would also have a prompt on the product, on their social media or even via team member in-store, asking the customer to leave a Google review about the product. The business would then run a Facebook advertising campaign in conjunction with this simple promotion. The Facebook adverts are more effective with this approach, because the page will already contain co-created content produced by customers, which gives consumers a heightened sense of trust in the brand.

The interaction between the physical customer experience, the online space and online social network space will facilitate a greater sense of brand advocacy as all three platforms provide value to the consumer. An integrated marketing approach is the most efficient and effective approach a brand can take in adding value to their business.