insight | Brands&Culture

CREATIVITY IN SOCIAL MEDIA: INSTAGRAM AUCTIONS

Posted on November 28, 2012 by brandsandculture

Social media as a channel for communication and collaboration is constantly evolving. In particular, savvy digital consumers are always quick to explore new ways to use various social media platforms to meet their individual needs, ultimately creating unique experiences within their online communities. These inventive uses of social media can sometimes inspire ideas for new features and even entirely new platforms.

An example of a creative use of social media I’ve recently come across is by Edmonton-based fine artist Glen Ronald on instagram. In recognition of his relatively strong following on the free photo-sharing program/social network, Ronald has taken advantage of the opportunity to sell his original drawings and paintings to instagram users by intermittently holding auctions right on his profile.

While eBay still exists as the leading online auction website, I would argue that in this particular circumstance instagram provides a much more personal space for Ronald to interact with prospective buyers and fine art enthusiasts alike. In addition, instagram offers an equally (if not more) instant response, since consumer engagement happens in real-time.

Although I doubt that instagram will introduce an auctions feature in the near future, Ronald’s distinctive use of the photo-sharing program certainly raises an important question about the core needs social media users hope to fulfill through their digital experiences. Ultimately, social media platforms (and brands operating in the digital space) that are aware of, and more importantly, remain responsive to these needs will succeed at delivering better digital experiences for consumers.

DEFINING INSIGHT IN ONE WORD

Posted on October 4, 2012 by brandsandculture

Along with innovation and social engagement, one of the current buzzwords in marketing is “insights”. These powerful pieces of information are the driving force behind the development of integrated marketing communications strategies. As such, entire teams, divisions and agencies have been formed for the sole purpose of uncovering consumer, cultural and market insights.

A recent discussion on the consumer insights interest group on LinkedIn asked members to define insight in one word. While, of course, there’s no right or wrong answer, this discussion certainly made me take some time to reflect carefully on how I would define an insight.

An insight is more than just pure knowledge about consumer behavior or market trends. It represents vital information that can be leveraged to create value for consumers. Consequently, an insight is not valuable in itself. It’s valuable because it can be used to create meaningful opportunities and solve business problems. But how exactly can this be described in one word?

The best word I can use to describe an insight would have to be seed. A seed is the propagative source of a plant. Simply put, it brings the plant to life. A well nurtured seed will grow and flourish, while a neglected seed will degenerate or essentially becomes functionally useless. Similarly, insights bring marketing and communications strategies to life, but they only become useful when applied strategically and used in meaningful ways.

The recent “Bring Happiness Home” campaign by PepsiCo Greater China Region (GCR) exemplifies the nature and definition of insights I have provided. PepsiCo discovered that a disconcerting trend for youth is that they no longer want to go home to celebrate Chinese New Year. In particular, a survey showed that around 70 percent of Chinese youth expressed hesitation toward going home.

This insight became the inspiration for their “Bring Happiness Home” campaign which combined viral marketing with TV advertising. PepsiCo developed and distributed a microfilm online, which tells the story of an estranged family spread out across the country that ends up reuniting to celebrate Chinese New Year.

The microfilm also cleverly integrates PepsiCo’s leading brands; Pepsi-Cola, Lay’s and Tropicana. Meanwhile, PepsiCo refreshed the role of the traditional 30-second TV commercial to act as a movie teaser, highlighting strong synergies among the three brands and still celebrating individual brand truth.

While a valuable piece of information, the insight about Chinese youth expressing hesitation towards going home for Chinese New Year only truly became useful when it was used to create value for PepsiCo’s consumers in a meaningful way.