Red in the face: Share a Coke

If I was to ask you what you thought the most iconic brand is, what would you say?

I bet you said Coke, Coca-Cola

Its a common understanding in the Advertising industry, that consumers are becoming more and more demanding to that of brands. They are wanting a more engaged experience when interacting with various brands, this is seen through the various social media sites and multi-platform technology that is making its way into advertising campaigns. Brands are interacting with consumers on a regular basis, but is it personalised? What is a personalised experience? Digitally a personalised experience is generated through targeting and tracking a consumers behaviour across various websites. Developing a customer profile based upon actions the customer has taken.

In real life a personalised experience is generally in the form a loyalty card, Tescos for example have a great one. Providing coupons specific to what you purchase, based upon your shopping cart when you scan your club card. I imagine you haven't been living under a rock the past week, and have been into a connivence store or even a grocery store and seen Coca-Cola's take on a personalised experience.

The UK campaign is taking the top 150 most popular names and replacing the iconic logo with a name. I spotted them on Saturday on my way into London, so of course since I have never had trouble finding my name in 'named' goods I started looking, after a few minutes I discovered my name!! Only it was on a Diet Coke.. and I don't like Diet, naturally I bought it anyway!

Being me, I posted it on Instagram. I had to have a good look at the bottle, knowing it was a new campaign I was curious, was there a # ? I was very surprised that a campaign this big didn't have one, what I did discover about the campaign while looking for said hashtag was the assumed title 'share a coke'. I then got on my iPhone and searched, was this the hashtag? For being such a huge brand, and this being a brand new campaign in the supposide digital world, I am not impressed. It's cool and a novilty, but to be honest the bottle made it back home but the next day it was tossed in the bin. I didn't feel more connected to Coke because my name is on of the top 100 most popular UK names for girls. 

                                         

It was exciting to look for it, disappointing if you can't find your name, and fun for about 10 minutes while you are sharing it on various social platforms. But it stops there, and I won't be looking for my name again, in fact it wont make me chose Coke over another branded drink. I have been into Tesco's since, in fact wanting to purchase a Coke, however not being able to find one with my name I opted for a juice.. I wonder how many others are opting for an alternative drink because of the same reason, why would you want to buy a bottle without your name on it? Saying that a few friends have posted pictures of their friends names or their middle names when their own is not there. 

                                            

What do you think of Coke's new 'share a coke' campaign, have you found your name?

Heres the list of names if you are wondering if yours is included! Share a Coke.

Babylon: Dissertation update

It's the Easter holidays, so naturally as a third year at University that means one of two things. 1) I am enjoying far to much chocolate (I have), 2) I am scramming to collect all my primary research for my dissertation (which I am).

This isn't an academic post, it's meant to be a bench mark to remember and to look back to where I was and what I was doing in the process of writing my dissertation.

I had originally planned to develop a media diary as primary research from various consumers from different technology usage groups. I got the idea from a Google, "The New Multi-Screen World". I love that the data shows everyone, and what they were doing on which device. I thought this would be very relevant and useful if I could recreate my own for primary research. 

I quickly realised that this would be a huge undertaking and began thinking who I have access to in each group, needless to say there were areas missing. I didn't have the capability to undertake such a large piece of research on my own in such a short time frame.

The idea then spread to doing a focus group with each of the three groups I had identified, light users, medium and heavy. Again, the planning of when these would take place and finding willing participants was beginning to stress me out. 

However, after conducting a few face to face interviews at an agency I was excited again. I designed a new method to gather primary research from consumers to learn how they interact with their various devices. That leads to the whole point of this post, my consumer behaviour survey!! I had fun creating it, making sure the questions I was asking matched back at my objectives and made sense to the less techy of my audience. I think, and hope I did an ok job! I am busy collecting results and hoping to make it to 100 before its to late!!

With a month left of Uni, I am busy writing and applying for jobs! Fingers crossed all goes well :)

Ps. if you haven't please take a minute and fill out the survey.

5G: Enhanced Campaigns

For as long as I can remember, Google has been a 'thing'. I didn't appreciate the phrase 'google it' until more recently, specifically since studying advertising. Google is a service, and brand that has become like an object not only to consumers but to advertisers. Google is changing face and adapting to the frequent changes in technology available to advertisers.

Because my dissertation is focused on multi-platform campaigns and how consumer behaviour is affecting advertising campaigns, I am naturally intrigued to see the latest report or article on the subject. I follow  The Wall blog and appreciated the article by Emily Pope 'The Pros and Con's of Google's Enhanced Campaigns'. She brings to light the most recent advancement from Google for advertisers, and that is the ability to track, and monitor user behaviour on various devices as well as optimise campaigns (Pope, 2013). Pope goes on to mention that over the course of the coming year advertisers will be reworking their budget away from desktop, to support the various tablet and mobile devices available. This is something that had it been mentioned even 5 years ago some advertisers may have laughed and walked away!

Having spent part of my internship at Mindshare working on keywords in Search as well as optimising campaigns across digital platforms, I was able to under some of the changes that would occur within the agencies. It is obvious that there is a small margin of difference between devices, and their similarity is ever increasing with detachable keyboards, and the varying size and capability of tablets and smart phones. But does this line have to be crossed to ensure the best campaign is delivered? I of course think it does, as a consumer I want to be targeted appropriately to the device I am using.

Like most new techniques there are negative attributes to introducing a new way of doing things, many PPC campaigns will have to be reworked. Pope (2013) mentions in her list of 'cons' that there will be little distinction for advertisers between devices, where tablet and desktop will either be completely separate or together, as a pair. Meaning that a campaign can specifically run on tablet, or desktop or on both. There will be no such thing a 'mobile only' campaign, something I do not understand fully but hope to find out more about in the coming months. The 'pros' listed that because the majority will be within one campaign advertisers will have less to manage over the campaign and able to collect data quicker. 

Overall it is going to take advertisers thinking more about where the campaign will be running. Google is striving to make the move across devices a seamless transition for consumers by allowing brands to be present in the search no matter the device. Michael Boland of Street Fight Mag discusses Enhanced Campaigns and highlights more of the issues that may be seen by advertisers, something I don't feel I know enough about to discuss but I do look forward to seeing if this is as efficient and effective as Google anticipates once I am in the industry. I know that technology is leading the way in which we as consumers behave and how advertisers and brands speak to us individually. It is any ones guess what will be the next addition.

The video below is from Google, giving more information on Enhanced Campaigns and how it will benefit not only advertisers, but the consumer.

New Amsterdam: An internship at Mindshare

This is a slightly over due post, but I feel like I needed time to gather my thoughts and really take in what I learned and where I feel I was, and were I am now.

I kept rather quiet about doing the internship as I didn't want to over think what I was going to be doing or not doing for the time I would be at Mindshare UK. I tend to over think things, much more then necessary and it messes with me emotionally. This has happened probably all my life, I want things to be perfect and I want to be perfect. But hey, I am not perfect and not everything will be. 

So I got on with it, the Sunday before I felt physically sick talking to my work colleagues about my new role. Monday morning came and I don't even know how I managed to put make up on my face! I was that nervous! I got to the office in London just fine, met with my friend Alicia who was the mastermind behind me being there! Met with the team who were all so friendly and smiley, even a familiar face from Uni. I was excited, and gaining back my confidence, I would be spending my christmas vacation here. I could do this!

The team was AMEX Digital, I would be working on Display along side Alicia. The first day what everyone was saying the best first day ever. It was, I really can't complain because I wont ever have a first day like that again. The team had a lunch with a media owner at The Delaunay, I was a bit unsure about going along but was welcomed by all. It was a great experience to meet media owners and witness how the interactions between the two occur. After lunch back to the office for a bit to close up for the day before we headed over to the O2 to climb the bridge! I told you it was the best first day ever!!

The team at Up! at the O2

It wasn't all fun and games, there was a lot of work to be done before the office closes for the holidays. While closed there was a few ad placements that were due to go live so I assisted in ensuring all the tags were correct and linked to the right campaign. As well as ensuring the right people for each media owner is receiving daily reports on the progress of the campaign.

This was an eye opening experience, I learned so much more about Advertising then I expected in just three short weeks. There is so much more beyond University, what we learn in the class room is expanded and so much more real in the agency. I am so grateful for the opportunity that was presented and I was able to experience at Mindshare,   we get told how valuable an internship is that it is almost to daunting to take on. I am proud to say that is not true, you can do it and you should. Anyone doubting an internship really needs to think twice about what they think they will be doing after University. I never in a million years thought I would get an internship at a top agency in London, but I went out of my comfort zone and simply asked the question and look where I ended up.

Being able to put all the theory I have learned over the past three years into use was really rewarding. I learned a lot of new skills during my internship as well. Mainly that Advertising goes beyond what the consumer sees, Advertising is the entire process from conception to development to delivery. Even once the campaign has gone live there is daily maintenance that needs to be taken care of in order to deliver the best results to the client. This may seem simple and obvious, but this was not something I was prepared for. I knew about google analytics and how it tracks viewers, I knew that you need to target. I didn't realise the extent the role the agency plays in this monitoring and tracking.

I went in to this internship as a third year Advertising and Digital Media Management student, fearing the whole idea of it to be honest. I was scared I wouldn’t know what was going on and what was being talked about and then asked of me. This worry was quickly put to rest, the entire team was so amazing and helpful they all made me feel very welcome.

I feel that now I am back at University I know where to focus my time, what to look for in lectures and just how these last few months really will kick start me in my future career. After all no one will die ;)

Marriage of Figaro: Pioneers of Digital book launch at JWT London

Last night I had the opportunity to attend the London launch of 'Pioneers of Digital' written by Paul Springer and Mel Carson, hosted at the gorgeous JWT offices. This was the second book launch for Pioneers of Digital that I was able to attend, thanks to AdSoc!

From the October launch at Bucks New Uni with Paul Springer.

The first launch held at Bucks New Uni, back in October 2012. It was a great introduction to the book, Paul Springer did a presentation with some special highlights from the interviews featured. I found this evening to be really inspiring and really made me excited about diving into the book. That weekend I started the book and immediately didn't want to put it down! Some of the journeys that the 'Pioneers' went on are simple, yet achieve such immense feats through various ways within the digital world. 

Paul Springer and Carolyn Everson of Facebook.

Last night was a chance to meet co-author Mel Carson, which was a great experience. It was a much more intimate gathering with a chance to network with various connections of both Paul and Mel. There was some special people in the audience who have a direct role within the Pioneers of Digital book, which made everything so much more real. It's amazing to think just how quickly the digital world is evolving and how people are evolving to cope with such drastic changes. 

Jess and I very excited to be at JWT.

This is a must read for anyone in any field of media, even if you aren't its written in a way that has you clinging to the stories wanting to know what success is around the corner. 

I feel very honoured to have been able to attend the launch last night and am looking forward to future ventures from Paul Springer and Mel Carson.

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Pioneers of Digital can be found on FaceBook and Twitter sharing insightful journeys from the book.