Millennial Marketing

By Lindsay Higgins

It’s pretty obvious that with every year, technology and trends continually change.  This means that new advertisements have to try to keep up with what is hip or cool and try to reach their target audience in different ways.  20 year olds this year are extremely different than 20 year olds 30 years ago. 

There is actually a website on Reddit that is devoted to the mocking of companies’ ads that try to appeal to the younger generation.  At /r/FellowKids, many different advertisements and brands are posted to be criticized for trying too hard to be cool and reach millennials. 

/r/fellowkids

One of the most popular posts is a tweet from Hillary Clinton saying, “How does your student loan debt make you feel? Tell us in three emojis or less.”  This cringe inducing tweet sparked thousands of comments and scorn from the followers for Clinton trying to relate to kids and failing miserably. 

Another popular post is BP Oil’s attempt at relating to kids.  They ran a campaign of a “chatty, interactive gas pump”.  The friendly gas pumps talk to customers while they are being used and have said things like “lit” and “fam”. (Words that I had to Google to even know what they meant.)  Many commenters were outraged that this is what BP chose to spend their money on.  One person even went as far to say, “Ah, yes, the reason millennials aren’t buying gas in general and BP gas in particular is that the pumps aren’t friendly enough.  Not because we have lower rates of car ownership or BP cause one of the greatest ecological disasters ever.”

So the question than needs to be asked, how do we approach the younger generation in a way that they like, without trying to hard?  It’s a very delicate balance and has rarely been executed and received positively.  For example, Netflix is one of the only brands known for their awesome millennial marketing.  They link their accounts with Facebook and offer to let you share what you are currently watching.  They have awesome social media accounts that reach out to young adults and keep millennials interested in their company. 

Another great brand is PBR beer.  It’s well liked by hipsters and young adults because of how trendy it is.  They run a simple advertising campaign and putting it on channels and mediums that they know young adults will see.  They are super interactive on Instagram, and constantly have contests to see who can draw their label the best or create a new one.  It’s things like this that kids love.

Millennials are a huge target audience and incredibly important.  It’s a challenge to reach them, keep them interested and have them continuously coming back to the same brand.  Running advertisement campaigns are risky when they are targeted, but a necessary evil.

Citations:

@BuzzSumo. "7 Brands That Win At Millennial Content Strategy Marketing." BuzzSumo. N.p., 2015. Web. 24 Nov. 2016.

Snapchat Spectacles Stunt

By Lindsay Higgins

2016 has been a year full of public relations stunts, the newest being from Snapchat.  This PR stunt is a slam-dunk for sure.  So what exactly is it?  Well Snap Inc. has released new yellow, glorified vending machines that produce their newest product: Snap Spectacles. 

            The awesome Snapbots, aka giant, yellow one-eyed boxes, are an awesome hook in my opinion.  First off, they are ridiculously cute.  Second, they even plug in the best thing about Snapchat: the filters. The Snapbots use a certain technology that allows the user to see their reflection in real time, and virtually able to try on the new Snap Spectacles aka sunglasses. 

            If that wasn’t intriguing enough, another cool thing about this new Snapchat campaign is the fact that these Snapbots are only in one place for 24 hours.  And they aren’t on a specific schedule, so users have to check every day on the special Snap calendar to see if it’s in their city that day.

            What’s better than making a consumer hunt, interact and having a unique experience?  It keeps the user engaged with trying to discover the next location of the Snapbots, and other social mediums are reporting on it as well.  There is a running Twitter feed with the hash tag #FindSnapBots and the media is eating it up as well. That’s why in my opinion; Snapchat knocked this out of the park.  Color me impressed to say the least. 

Spectacles Map

           

            The first location the Snapbot appeared at was on Venice beach, home of the first Snapchat office.  The second was in Big Sur, a sentimental place for the CEO because of his vacation home with his fiancé.  Now, the locations seem to be more random.  The last location was on Tuesday, in a small town in Oklahoma. 

            As for the glasses, they run about $130 per pair.  They come in three colors, teal, salmon and black, and have a cool technological feature as well.  In the glasses is a camera, that when activated will record what you are seeing.  It then streams the recording straight to your phone and allows you to post it on Snapchat, Instagram or other social media outlets.  However, the glasses also light up in a circle to show that you are recording, which is making the public more at ease to the idea of them. 

            All in all, a pretty awesome publicity stunt.  Their PR team should be proud of the buzz they have created around this new product and how to get them.  Definitely goes to show that there can always be improvements to just a typical buy and sell environment and that there are always new ways to reach customers.

Citation:

Mendoza, R. (2016, November 16). 'Snapchat Spectacles' Location Updates; Possible Places Where 'Snapbot' Will Be Headed Next, HERE! Retrieved November 17, 2016, from http://www.newseveryday.com/articles/53969/20161116/snapchat-spectacles-location-updates-possible-places-where-snapbot-will-be-headed-next-here.htm

(Verbal) Shots Fired at Starbucks

By Lindsay Higgins

In public relations, your organization’s brand and image are of utmost importance.  So when your brand changes its image or tries something that doesn’t align with the typical aspects of the organization, there is bound to be some backlash.  Re-branding is a dangerous game and the culprit of this week is Starbucks. 

            Obviously with everything that has been going on with the election and the bickering between Americans, times have been tough and divided.  So Starbucks, in an attempt to celebrate community and somehow bring the country back together, released a new cup design on November 1^st.  The green cup, with a drawing by artist Shogo Ota, depicts a crowd of people.  What’s impressive though is that she used only one line to draw the entire picture on the cup. 

            “A symbol of unity as a reminder of our shared values, and the need to be good to each other in this divided election season,” CEO Howard Schultz said. 

            

Green Starbucks Cup Story

One would think that this is a very touching sentiment and would go over pretty well with the general public.  Unfortunately, this was not the case.  The first response was of horror, mainly because consumers thought this green cup was replacing the traditional Starbucks’ Christmas cup. (A very controversial subject in its own entity with outrage every year.)   

            However, even after Starbucks corrected this misperception, there was still outrage about consumers.  They found the cup to be offensive because it seemed like “brainwashing” or “liberal bias”.  This added to the fact that Donald Trump suggested a Starbucks boycott earlier this year, left people having extremely negative reactions. 

            So what can we as public relations professionals learn from this debacle?  Probably first and foremost, stay away from politics.  Even if you’re heart is in the right places, chances are somewhere, somehow, someone will be offended.  Second, switching your brand up and trying something new is always risky.  If you are re-branding or trying something new, make sure to be extremely clear to the public in order to do the least amount of harm. 

Citations:

"Starbucks Green 'holiday' Cup Already Drawing Mixed Reactions." Fox News. FOX News Network, 2016. Web. 09 Nov. 2016.

"Starbucks Green Cup Celebrates Community." Starbucks Newsroom. N.p., 2016. Web. 09 Nov. 2016.

Https://www.facebook.com/NBCNews. "Starbucks' Green 'unity' Cup Causing People to See Red." NBC News. N.p., n.d. Web. 09 Nov. 2016.

Ardent Leisure Theme Park and Communications Tragedy

By: Lindsay Higgins

            Crisis communications is a very niche aspect of public relations.  It isn’t for the faint of heart, or for someone who gets easily stressed out.  Crisis communications takes a special skill set and a very fine touch.  Unfortunately, in the newest public relations crisis communication debacle, Ardent Leisure Theme Park demonstrates exactly what not to do.

            It all started on October 24, 2016 at Dreamworld Theme Park, which is owned by Ardent Leisure.  In a terrible tragedy, four people died on what was supposed to be a fun day out.  The accident happened as inflatable rafts collided on one of the most popular rides in the park. 

            As we know, while emergencies cannot be prevented, companies can be proactive and have crisis communication plans thought out ahead of time.  While most news outlets were unsure if Ardent Leisure had/have a crisis plan, it’s pretty evident that it needs evaluating.  CEO of the company, Deborah Thomas, had her mobile phone off for over 48 hours when the emergency happened, and a stiff, formal apology was released to the public without a comment from the CEO.

            Then, three days after the horrific accident (with still no comment from CEO Deborah Thomas), a board meeting was held.  Thomas was awarded an $800,000 performance bonus.  It wasn’t until a media news outrage that she then donated a measly $200,000 to the Red Cross.  It was after all this that the real conflict happened.

            Thomas met with the press and stated that the company had been in contact with the families of all four victims, and Thomas specifically stated that “We’ve reached out to the families, we’ve finally made contact with the Dorsett family and we have been talking with them today about how we may assist”.  The reporter, Melinda Nucifora, then states “The Dorsett family is actually watching this press conference at the moment and are apparently furious at suggestions that support had been offered to them.  They say that they’ve had no direct contact whatsoever; no one’s even reached out to them”. 

            Caught in her own lie, CEO Deborah Thomas tries to back track by saying “We didn’t call the Dorsett family directly because we didn’t know how to contact them so we have been to, um, the police liaison officer”.  Talk about trying to save face and failing miserably.  I think we can all see the two valuable lessons learned from this crisis: 1. Make sure you have your facts straight before meeting with the press. 2. Always, always, always be honest and tell the truth. 

           

Citations:

Berry, P. (2016, October 31). ABC Media Watch. Retrieved from http://www.abc.net.au/mediawatch/transcripts/s4566666.htm