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Impressive Holiday IMC Campaigns

During this time of the year holiday marketing campaigns are in full swing and they are starting earlier and earlier every year. As soon as Halloween is over there is a flood of businesses cashing in on the holiday frenzy. IMC campaigns have to stand out from the overwhelming holiday ads that are coming at consumers from multiple communication channels. Nonetheless brands can bank during the holidays if they execute their plan well; despite the scrooges like me who wish we could just have one holiday at a time.

While the season gives marketers an easy theme to build on, integrated marketing campaigns can still be tricky. We live in a multi-media world, which means that new media and old media have to work together.  A consistent brand message across multiple channels and frequency of communications are important for a campaign. Let’s take a look at some impressive holiday IMC campaigns from past years:

1. Budweiser: #HolidayBuds Campaign

This brand never fails to entertain us no matter what the occasion, but their #HolidayBuds campaign tapping into the Millennial hipster action was spot on.  They created their own vintage style crates that included 18 bottles and two pilsner glasses. They encouraged people to share their photos with them across social channels like Instagram,Twitter and Facebook.

2. Coca-Cola Canada: Peace on Earth…Or at Least the Mall

Coca-Cola’s 2016 campaign used the concept that Coke could create peace during the crazy holiday frenzy.  This was something that was totally relatable to their target audience. They posted the video to their social media feeds.  The idea was clever, charming and brought a positive feeling toward the brand.

3. Walmart: #WellWishes Campaign

Walmart tapped into the season of giving with a partnership with Kraft and a $1 dollar donation with every purchase going to the Children’s Miracle Network.  The hashtag #Wellwishes was used to send personal well wishes to children in need.  People love to help others, especially during the holidays.   Consumers felt like they were doing their part by donating with their purchases.  This was a very heartwarming campaign that was all about spreading the love.

 

4. Starbucks: Red Cup Campaign

Starbucks has been running this campaign for years.  In 2007 they encouraged consumers to pass on the cheer with illustrations on the red cups showing acts of kindness. In 2011 they embraced the digital innovation creating Apps for iPhone and Android users allowing customers to animate their red cup. Then in 2016 Starbucks crowdsourced ideas from customers for the Red Cup designs. This campaign personalized the customer experience brilliantly and that is what influences purchasing decisions.  Starbucks made that red cup much more than a cup.

These brands explore all cornerstones of IMC creatively.  Implementing tactics that enhance the customer experience and their overall brand. One of the major things I appreciate the most is they make it a fun experience. So this holiday season enjoy these great examples and just be merry and have a fun holiday season!

-Shannon Settlemyre

It’s November first, you know what that means…. time to switch out those pumpkin spice lattes for some peppermint bark right? But wait, Halloween was just yesterday, how do all the stores already have out Santa hats and fancy string lights? What happened to the pumpkin pies and turkey hats? Are we just going to pass over Thanksgiving and go straight to Christmas carols?!

According to Bob Phibbs, retailers and mass marketers tend to be so aggressive for the promoting of big set holiday’s such as Halloween and Christmas, because most customers begin planning out and budgeting for the holidays early into the season to better prepare financially. The New York Times even jokes that Christmas Shopping has become somewhat of a competitive sport through the years. Our society of fast paced, immediate satisfaction has put more stress on retailers to get ahead of the market to increase profits as much as possible.

Now, there is somewhat of a saving grace for Thanksgiving, being that the day after is one of the biggest shopping days of the year. Black Friday does dial back the Christmas frenzy, however, much of the shopping done on that day is in preparation for the bigger holidays. Holiday’s such as Christmas and Halloween have much more promotional opportunity and sellable products than Thanksgiving, so naturally retailers tend to capitalize on that. For many companies to stay float and prominent in the buyer/seller market, they must constantly stay ahead of the current market.

So, if you are still wanting to keep your fall decorations up, or were planning on buying more, you might want to hurry to your closest Target or Walmart because soon the flip from fall leaves and pumpkin spice will be replaced with twinkle lights and eggnog. Good news is, there’s a high chance that Halloween costume for next year is about 70 percent off right now, so start thinking ahead and grab it while its still there!

For more information on holiday marketing feel free to explore these sites:

https://www.bigcommerce.com/blog/holiday-marketing-campaigns/#prepare-for-the-holidays-early-youre-already-late

https://www.retaildoc.com/why-retailers-should-display-holiday-merchandise-before-halloween

https://www.nytimes.com/010/11/01/business/media/01adco.html?ref=oembed

– Olivia Austin

Tis the season of cool weather, jack o lanterns, costumes and lots of candy!  Halloween is FINALLY here!  A whopping 175 million Americans participate in various Halloween activities every year. Isn’t that crazy? With millions of Americans participating in the spooky holiday this year,businesses looking to cash in this year are in for a big treat. The National Retail Federation (NRF) estimates spending will hit a record breaking number this year. Consumers are predicted to spend……drum roll please… 9 BILLION DOLLARS! Yes you read that correctly 9 BILLION.

Brands love to capitalize on holidays especially on Halloween. Businesses all across America create very specific marketing campaigns for the month of October. Halloween gives big brands the opportunity to do things they normally wouldn’t do, which is exciting for us because we get to see some really cool integrated marketing communication. For example, Snickers has got the Halloween game down. They have released several campaigns throughout the years and they’re all five star. Have you seen the exorcist one? Or maybe the one with the old lady at the super market? Those are just a few of their successful campaigns but their most famous was the Horseless Headman, a silly play on words that turned out to be a hit. Its no wonder candy company’s like Snickers spend tons of money on adverting at Halloween; consumers are predicted

Consumers also drop billions of dollars on Halloween costumes every year. Costumes are by far the most expensive part of Halloween. Americans will spend 3.2 billion dollars on costumes this year……and the craziest part is most people wont wear it but once. The costume industry also relies heavy on integrated marketing communication, with high demand brings high competition. Big brands compete around Halloween so its important for companies to use effective marketing communication strategies to pull in more sales.

 

Who doesn’t love walking into a house with fun decor that brings out the holiday spirit? Another American favorite thing to buy at Halloween is decorations. Stores all across the country load up on Halloween decorations around the month of October and build campaigns that emphasize the emotional appeal decorations brings to your home. Halloween is now the second biggest decorating holiday of the year, right behind Christmas, so its no wonder it brings in billions of dollars in revenue.

Well Seahawks that’s your Halloween billion dollar breakdown! Next time your watching T.V., reading a magazine, or on social media pay close attention to the marketing campaigns big brands like Snickers place around Halloween. Holidays like Halloween shed light on how important having effective communication and marketing tactics is when there is billions of dollars up for grabs!

 

 

–Erin Duncan

 

 

 

 

 

https://nrf.com/resources/consumer-research-and-data/holiday-spending/halloween-headquarters

http://snickersad.blogspot.com/

 

 

 

We all want to live our best life, right? India Blue Severe, or more commonly known as “Indy Blue” is doing just that, and has successfully gained hundreds of thousands of followers, both on Twitter and Instagram. Indy is a 21-year-old social media influencer who gets paid by other companies to travel the world alongside her best friends while she documents her adventures via video and pictures.

Indy markets herself to brands by posing with certain products pertaining to traveling or speaking on behalf of airlines or affordable Airbnbs. She has branded herself to be a stylish, free-spirited traveler who takes aesthetically pleasing videos and pictures. Influencer marketing is a part of IMC and brand strategy that is booming in today’s society. There are thousands of well-known influencers on social media, many of which do something similar to Indy in regards to getting paid to travel. Becoming an influencer is not as easy as it seems, though. Scoping an audience and finding new and innovative ways to stand out from competition can be the hardest part of becoming an influencer in the marketing industry.

In Indy’s road to creating a brand for her name, she first started out by saving money and finding cheap ways to travel often, something that she currently promotes on her social media platforms. According to her self-made blog, Indy stated, “My first blog had a lifespan of about 5 years. A wide audience of about 5 readers (mom, grandma, aunt hil, my young women’s leader, big fat jerk Jessica from the fourth grade) But I didn’t care. I wrote everything a 12 year old could write about. School lunch. Justin Bieber. “ Indy eventually realized she wanted to see the world for herself and grow her blog  analytics through quality content. As her follow on social media grew, more and more brands wanted to collaborate with her.

Indy uses her creativity to brand herself and promote other brands. By age nineteen, Indy was a freelance  wedding videographer, giving her even more reason to travel the world, which in end, would help her visit even more exotic places she knew her audience tuned in for. She even admitted to scheduling weddings around the trips she would book once she gained a following on social media. Due to her quality photography and videography, Indy’s posts get thousands of likes and shares at a time, something someone who has great marketing skills possesses.

Overall, IMC has taken a hold of today’s world with social media branding, including Indy Blue. With that being said, maybe it’s time to research more about brand strategy and jump on the boat to being internet famous. You never know-with the right techniques, you could be paid to travel the world with your friends, too!

Good Luck,

Tally Pavel

 

    Contrary to popular belief, integrated marketing communication can do more than translating a message to an audience. It can make you famous, just take it from the punk rock band Fall Out Boy (FOB). Through the use of social media, strategic planning, and branding FOB was able to become the biggest success in the punk/emo music scene and eventually make the jump to become a rock band. This is an accomplishment many have tried and few have succeeded. Though they obviously have talent, just look at their discography, IMC is what put them on the next level and let their fame grow. The mastermind behind the vision and IMC strategy is the band member, Pete Wentz. Wentz made sure FOB did three things to grow their band following: using social media, marketing to the correct audience, and having one message.

     FOB formed in 2001, which was at the beginning of the internet social media craze where websites like Blogger and MySpace started to thrive. Wentz knew that the internet was the cheapest and most effective way to reach people who would be interested in their music so that they could pack venues and generate buzz for FOB. All the band members would post when they would play gigs and engage with their fans on a personal level; they established their brand as being personal with their fans and it gained positive feedback with their consumers. FOB still has a huge following; band members still try to stay as engaged as possible and have moved on to using their fame to do charity work for causes like the Jed Foundation (aims to lower teen suicide by offering education/counseling programs).

 

 

     In addition to social media starting, emo music was popular and gave Wentz the idea to market themselves to fans as less of a rock band and more as a punk/emo group. FOB knew that their audience would be teens and young adults who listen to punk music. They knew that they needed a label that already was versed in attracting this audience to attend events and purchase CDs. This decision showed when FOB decided to release their first album “Take This to Your Grave” with punk label Fueled By Ramen rather than their actual label, Island Records. Island Records marketed artists like Mariah Carey and U2, not punk groups like FOB. Fueled By Ramen was a small but influential punk label that managed groups like Jimmy Eat World (left below) and Less Than Jake (right below) which had been incredibly successful in the early 2000s.

 

 

      So FOB used the experts at Fueled By Ramen to get traction for their first album and it ended up being a smashing success. “Take This to Your Grave” is listed as one of the most important punk album of all time and gave FOB the ability to get future albums more exposure to potential fans. Once they gained the fan support they needed, FOB released their second album “From Under the Cork Tree” with Islands records and saw it climb all the way to #9 on the US Billboard charts. FOB went from playing in malls to playing Madison Square Garden and it is all because they knew how to market themselves.

         The most important thing we all learned in IMC is to have one clear message. For FOB it was to play music to as many people as possible. FOB created a message that they were the band for any and all people. This translated very well to the group they marketed to because they were individuals who were trying to find themselves and used music as an outlet to express themselves. By having such a relatable message it made FOB very well liked and fans established a deep loyalty to the band. This loyalty is what sells out concert venues and makes FOB a household name. FOB helped people find meaning in their life through their music and was able to benefit from it.

        In conclusion, Pete Wentz was an IMC genius and probably took an IMC course in his studies at DePaul University. Wentz made FOB a success by utilizing social media tools, effectively marketing the band, and having a unified message that was attractive to fans who were searching for something meaningful.

-Ginny Barr

 

For more on Fall Out Boy check out these links:

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-features/how-fall-out-boy-beat-the-odds-and-became-top-40-survivors-241205/

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/14/arts/music/14cara.html