Connecting with Your Customers

by Vianka McConville

It’s my birthday!

In this day and age you come to expect Facebook friends posting on your wall on your birthday, text messages and phone calls wishing you well.  What you don’t expect is a text from your dentist wishing you a happy birthday, but lo and behold, my dentist let me know they care.

Happy Birthday Vianka! We hope you have many reasons to smile today

I love my dentist and things like this add to the reasons why.

Thinking out of the box in communications can build the “fuzzy” feeling about a brand and keep the customer coming back.

Social Media ROI

by Vianka McConville

Oreo is at it again.  The company’s “Dunk in the Dark” tweet was arguably the greatest advertising success of the Super Bowl.  Its 2,200 followers on Instagram jumped to 87,000 after the clever post.  Now sitting comfortably in numbers on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, Oreo is after YouTube.

This article from Mashable details just how committed Oreo is to social media and its newest quest on the video sharing site.  Its social media command center during the Super Bowl seems to be only the beginning.

My question is, what value has Oreo seen from a huge spike in Instagram followers in terms of ROI?  Does the level of increased sales outweigh the time spent on all of these think tanks?

According to Food Business News, the “Oreo brand is booming worldwide.”   The article quotes Irene Rosenfeld, chairman and CEO of Mondelez International, Oreo’s parent company:

“In the U.S., the brand grew 6% [in 2012] as we used innovation and some of the most creative marketing in the business to keep Oreo fresh and relevant. Those of you who followed us on Twitter during the power blackout during the Super Bowl know what I’m talking about.”

It sounds like Oreo executives drank the Kool-Aid and will keep utilizing social media as a vital component of growing sales.  It works.

As of today, Oreo’s YouTube account has more than 7 million views and more than 10,000 subscribers.  I can’t wait to see what they come up with to make those numbers skyrocket.

Who wants to go on a Carnival cruise?

by Vianka McConville

Will you take a cruise on a Carnival ship in light of what happened on the Carnival Triumph?

I’m going this weekend.

In all fairness, I booked my trip before the incident.  However, according to the Los Angeles Times, demand remains high for cruises despite the incident.

I embark on Saturday for a five-day journey around the Bahamas.  I’m looking forward to a relaxing trip.  I don’t usually second-guess customer service, but I fully expect staff to be on their A-game for sure.  I received an email earlier in the week from the president and CEO of Carnival Cruise Lines confirming my expectations.

Being a communicator, of course I analyzed what was written.  The email communicated:

- The cruise line deeply regrets the incident;

- All parties are working to confirm the issue that led to the incident; and,

- Vowed to work toward avoiding the incident in the future while thanking me for my support.

It seemed apologetic and sincere … I can get on board with that.

… Tune in next week to see if I survive.

MyLowe’s Remembers

by Vianka McConville

Store cards are either a blessing or a curse.  In closing the holiday season, I’m sure everyone feels one way or another.

Recent Lowe’s advertising pushes new benefits for their MyLowe’s card – no receipts needed for returns and tracking your purchase history.  A customer no longer has to remember the paint color they bought six months ago, MyLowe’s will remember instead.  The message points to making life easier.  It’s smart, but I think it could better.

I understand that using a store card automatically creates a purchase history, however, reminding me of that communicates I am actively participating in “Big Brother.”  Making my purchases searchable may help me, but it also makes me feel like I’m being watched … the card remembers everything.  Maybe I’m just a private person, but tweaking the words to empower the customer with the technology instead of empowering MyLowe’s makes a big difference.  I would stress that the customer can remember, not the card.

Current tagline:  “We scan.  MyLowe’s remembers.  Your life gets easier.”

Tweaked tagline:  “We scan.  You remember.  MyLowe’s makes life easier.”

Is it just me?

Be Known for a Cause

by Vianka McConville

I’m not a huge Coca-Cola drinker, but sometimes I crave the sweet carbonation.  On a recent flight, I was handed my beverage of choice accompanied by a napkin advertising Coca-Cola’s cause.  My first thought was “Genius!”

I had forgotten that Coca-Cola and polar bears are supposed to be synonymous in advertising.  I was gently reminded with this napkin. When choosing a corporate cause, the charity should align with the company’s goals.  Coca-Cola does this by promoting to protect the polar bear … right in line with their image.

Sometimes connections can be tricky between a company and a charity.  I’m definitely not saying a company should choose a charity simply to promote their business.  Employees and management should have a passion for their service.  People notice when partnerships work out well … or just the girl sitting on a plane.

Don’t Be a Pain

By Vianka McConville

I cannot get the 1-800-411-PAIN jingle out of my head.  A recent ad in the form of a song written to a hip-hop tune has been playing nonstop on some Central Florida radio stations.  The repetitive words are so catchy I sing along by the end of the ad.  I can’t stand that.

I have never used 1-800-411-PAIN and I don’t plan to.  The ads are annoying.  I dislike the repetitive words, loud, blunt statements and the feeling that the point of the ad is to talk down to the listener. (Help me! I’m helpless!)  The big question is whether they are effective.

Ads like this might hook my attention, but they don’t leave a positive lasting impression.  I might remember the jingle, but if I’m not willing to buy the product it’s wasted advertising dollars on their part.  My hope would be that we can come up with something even more effective … or maybe I’m just not the target audience and I have to live with that.

Statistics Take Over Election Night

by Vianka McConville

Depending on who you talked to, both parties had a fighting chance on election night.  While many missed the mark, Nate Silver called it like he saw it … and was completely right.

If you don’t know, Silver is a statistician and blogger for The New York Times’ FiveThirtyEight blog.  Through mathematical magic, he correctly predicted the winner of each state (plus the District of Columbia) for the 2012 presidential election.  In 2008, he was wrong by one state.

Silver took heat in the days leading up to the election for reporting the opposite of what people felt would occur.  Now, there is talk of election coverage making a change due to Silver’s accuracy.  What does this mean for communicators?  It’s time to brush up on math.

I expect a shift in political coverage from pundits with a wild opinion to those who let the numbers speak for themselves.  Media will be looking for statistical data in upcoming years to back up predictions.  A campaign manager will no longer be able to avoid the elephant in the room.  The numbers won’t lie.

Is your work on Twitter done in vain?

by Vianka McConville

An NBC News article shines a light on a business issue that did not exist in the 90s.  After building a Twitter following or friends on Facebook as a public relations practitioner for a company, who gets those contacts when you split from the company?

I know of practitioners who consider engaging on Twitter a large part of their job.  Is their work done in vain if they can’t keep those contacts after leaving a firm?  Or is this a ridiculous notion?  No one is stopping people from creating personal accounts that can reach the same audience.  What do you think?

Tylenol Legend Passes Away at 87

by Vianka McConville

James Burke was Johnson & Johnson’s CEO from 1976 to 1989.  He was the man behind the handling of the “Tylenol comeback.”  The crisis management case study that stemmed from his actions during a scare of cyanide in Tylenol pills is still shared in classrooms today.  It was one of the first lessons I learned in college studying PR.

Burke had a character that is highly revered around these parts.  He saved the Johnson & Johnson brand by accepting total responsibility and was accountable for everything his company did.  His memory will live on.

What if a Gaddafi Asks You to Repair His Country’s Image?

by Vianka McConville

I read an interesting article in Ad Age with the same headline.  The writer shares the dilemma between a country in desperate need of positive PR and potentially gaining a negative reputation from the job.  In the end, the article states Fleishman-Hillard did not accept Libya as a client due to an uncertain commitment by those in leadership … which got me thinking.

In a separate matter, Ogilvy did accept Mexico as a client at the beginning of 2012 after consistent U.S. national news coverage of serious drug violence in the country.  Mexico realized negative national coverage was hindering tourism and needed help to disseminate their message.

“We’re reaching out to leader media outlets like Bloomberg, Newsweek and CNN to help us tell our side of the story and get the facts straight,” Gerardo Llanes, CMO, Mexico Tourism Board said.  “We’re not denying that there are some areas of the country that have problems, but we’re saying if you hear about something bad in Chicago, it wouldn’t stop you from going to Los Angeles.”

Good analogy, but is it enough?  I personally declined an offer to go to Mexico at the beginning of the year due to negative media coverage. However, my opinion may not be widely shared.  By July 24, 2012, tourism to Mexico continued to increase.  One area even thrived as a vacation hot spot for fashion insiders in January.  Still, the country fights isolated events of violence and a recent U.S. warning to avoid a popular tourist spot.  Phenomenal PR does not make the core issue disappear.  How then, does the PR firm get ahead?