Be a smart shopper this season

It wouldn’t be the holidays without family, lights, gifts, and of course, massive sales.  The second that Halloween and Thanksgiving are over, we are bombarded by an unbelievable amount of specials — just look at Black Friday. Retailers know that consumers are on a mission to do most of their shopping during the month of December, so they will flash as many signs and ads as needed to lure you into their store.

Once you’re in, it’s going to be difficult to walk past the “2-for-1” or “75% off” signage without grabbing something — no matter how trivial it may seem. Through this process, are we really saving money? The answer is, most likely, no.

Holiday sales give us the illusion of saving and we end up overspending on items we don’t need. The trick is not to get into the competitive shopping mode; that’s where you would sidekick anyone who is in the way of those boots you already have in black, but since they are on sale, it would only be fair to get them in gray.

The point is to always be a smart shopper. No matter what sale is going on you have to ask yourself  “Do I really need this, or can it wait?” If you really are honest with yourself, you’ll find that you can live another day without the boots, or that fabulous new jacket that just got marked down.

Although you’ll leave that store empty-handed and thinking to yourself “I would look so good if I had that right now,” you’ll soon feel proud of the money you saved. In these tough economic times — though they are looking brighter everyday — saving a few dollars here and there can make a big difference.

The holidays — a time for the timeless

For the company holiday card, I was posed the question, “What is your favorite thing about the season?” That’s like asking me what my favorite song or movie is, and that provokes two tiny problems. There’s either the fact that the list of holiday traditions is seemingly endless or that I really didn’t have a tradition growing up — my family is from Vietnam, it’s a surprise we even celebrate the holidays.

Though my familial traditions are suffering, there are quite a few things that make the holidays unique to me. For one, I will only watch the film “It’s a Wonderful Life” on Christmas Eve — I simply refuse to watch it any other day of the year. Another piece of the season that I absolutely adore is the timeless nature of certain brands. Like we always say at X.Y.Zag, we can make advertising pertinent to almost anything (except for maybe the CIA, or the Patriot Act — you can never talk about that, unless you’re prepared for the consequences).

My favorite example of a brand’s Christmas campaign that holds its own year after year is Coca-Cola. The brand definitely has some things going for them (i.e. nostalgia and its pinpoint execution of, for lack of a better term, holiday goodness).

What I find interesting is that Coca-Cola had three distinct holiday campaigns when I was growing up, each carrying a different time period and overlapping one another. In the end though, whenever someone thinks about a sensory-overload inducing Christmas caravan or fun loving, CGI polar bears, they think Coke.

First there is, “The Holidays are Coming” campaign. Long been a tradition for Coke, the campaign disappeared in 2001. It was later replaced by the cuddly CGI polar bears, and, strangely enough revived in 2007 when Coca-Cola cited numerous phone calls from customers saying the campaign marks the beginning of the season for many.

Next, here are the aforementioned polar bears. Back when the campaign was introduced, it was truly state-of-the-art.

And finally, there are the nostalgic print advertisements that feature Santa. I absolutely love these because I am a fan of advertising in the 50s and 60s, where illustrations ruled.

To me, these advertisements really do epitomize the holiday season. And because of Coke’s perverse awareness throughout the world, it’s easy to assume that these ads really do enforce the brand name.

Guess what? The BCS isn’t good (at marketing)

It’s that time of year again: the leaves have changed, the air is cooler and colorful little lights can be seen on homes nationwide. Yep, it’s the beginning of the bowl season for college football. Today is a special day because it is the day after the BCS (Bowl Championship Series for you non-sports types) picked the 10 teams to be featured in its five bowl games.

What is special about today is that it’s the day that college football fans are the loudest and angriest. I can’t remember a year going by that hasn’t included a day where close to every sportswriter, blogger and fan unite to protest the BCS selections. Today, I join those ranks, having felt the effects of the BCS firsthand.

However, this is not going to be a blog about how TCU got hosed or how Texas v. Alabama is not what people want – there are plenty of other blogs talking about that. No, I want to talk about (surprise!) the BCS’s attempt at marketing through social media.

The BCS is a perfect example of what not to do in a lot of things, and marketing is no exception. Around mid-November, the BCS (like me) decided to get a Twitter account and a Facebook page. This was done at the behest of their PR firm who is owned and operated by former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer. What immediately followed was both equal parts catastrophic and hilarious – Twitter users from all around took the BCS to town; one user even compared them to the Ku Klux Klan.

Of course they responded by repeatedly stating how their system does really work and is the only system that works; this is the main problem with their campaign. The BCS has a great opportunity to engage in constructive, one-on-one conversations with the public, but instead are using social media as another medium to NOT encourage conversation. Also, when they did respond it just comes off as vindictive, here’s how they replied to one fan:

“You all agree on a “playoff” but don’t agree on who, what, where, when and how- that’s why the +1 and MWC [Mountain West] playoff plans were dismissed.”

This is textbook, the last thing you should do when you are already unpopular and trying to get the public on your side is to attack them. History has shown this doesn’t work too well (i.e. every revolution the world has ever seen). Also, as a sidenote putting quotation marks around “playoffs” just comes off as dismissive and arrogant.

Their Facebook page is no better. The wall features over 30 updates posted by the BCS. After first looking at that, I saw a tab labeled “Just Fans,” I assumed this is for the fans to say their perspective. After clicking on it, I was met with nothing but a blank screen– there was not one post on the wall. This means either no one on Facebook had anything to say or they were all deleted, my hunch is the latter.

Marketing is all about people and how can you take your message/product and make it connect with them. Social media has given us as marketers the ability to communicate with our target markets better than ever. That’s what makes it work, it’s a two-way communication, somehow the BCS and Ari Fleischer missed that.

For those interested you can find the BCS on Twitter at @insidetheBCS or at facebook.com/INSIDEtheBCS.

The countdown to June

I may be in the minority at the moment — I’m a huge football (soccer) fan. Today was a big deal for my kind. In South Africa, celebrities and representatives gathered to present the tournament draw for next year’s World Cup — a football fan’s paradise and a glimpse of the beautiful game to a mass audience.

Honestly, I don’t understand why the draw is done nearly seven months before the tournament; I guess it’s intended to build up the hype machine for the games, and in my profession, the marketing.

The rights to broadcast the World Cup span hundreds of networks across the globe, so it’s safe to say that the month-long tournament next June will be a cash cow.

I really hope Heineken does not snag major sponsorship rights to the big dance, because their treatment of Europe’s Champion’s League drives me off the wall. Imagine this advertisement being played 15 times before and after every match — and that’s not an exaggeration.

Being a worldwide event, I’m sure there will be a diverse bunch of World Cup-themed advertisements saturating the market soon.

Here is the final draw for the 2010 World Cup. I’m definitely going to be fighting over favoritism and patriotism as England, my favorite football squad, is going to take on the United States in the first round.

Group A
South Africa
Mexico
Uruguay
France

Group B
Argentina
Nigeria
South Korea
Greece

Group C
England
United States
Algeria
Slovenia

Group D
Germany
Australia
Serbia
Ghana

Group E
Netherlands
Denmark
Japan
Cameroon

Group F
Italy
Paraguay
New Zealand
Slovakia

Group G
Brazil
North Korea
Ivory Coast
Portugal

Group H
Spain
Switzerland
Honduras
Chile

World Cup Fever will be spreading quickly next year. For my sake, I hope the tournament will serve as a breakthrough for soccer in America. Even if that means the United States has to take down England, again.

What an early morning…

It’s 4 a.m. and I’m in a 4-mile line wrapped outside Target waiting for the doors to open. I’ve never experienced a Black Friday quite like this. Before we could even get into the store, people were already walking out with carts full of flat-screen TV’s, toys and various electronics.

I came for one thing – a Christmas tree. It’s hard to believe a silly $25 Christmas tree could get me out of bed this early in the morning. Here’s the thing – the consistent marketing efforts of stores like Target have made it almost impossible for me to pass up a good deal.

I’m not sure if you remember the commercials put out by Target in the days leading up to Black Friday, but they were hilarious…

Needless to say, I finally got my $25 Christmas tree, with a few other things of course. Now it’s time to finish up my holiday shopping; hopefully there won’t be any more 4-mile lines.