Waistlines, Meerkats & Integration
As the economy continues to slide many brands are turning to digital to provide truly quantifiable campaigns. The growth of the cost per acquisition model across online media is just one example of this and reflects the increasingly competitive market in which online spend seems to be standing up well against more traditional forms of advertising.
We are also seeing brands utilising digital to measure conversion and add a direct response element to traditional campaigns. This approach not only allows brands to measure and optimise their offline activity, it also allows them to extend the life of a campaign, with the potential for providing better value for money. Perhaps most importantly; by driving consumer registration companies can start a dialogue with their consumers and learn more about the people buying their products and services.
One recent example that stands out for me is Kellog's Special K which has once again targetted the new year slimmers with a TV campaign encouraging women to get back in to their jeans. The campaign is supported by their Shape Mate site which provides a personal plan to help towards success. Alongside questions about your lifestyle, the site requests information about your preferred tastes in cereal and home life to personalise a plan and no doubt provide useful information for the brand. Once your plan is created the site offers product information and recipes throughout a two week or longer term plan. There is also a social element with support groups available. Nevertheless, it strikes me that using a service like Facebook Connect (see previous post) or Google Friend Connection could have greatly extended the reach of this campaign. I'll let you know how I get on with my plan!
Another great and more irreverent example is www.comparethemeerkat.com from online insurance comparison site www.comparethemarket.com. Once again driven by a TV campaign a rather posh Meerkat encourages us to understand the difference between the two sites after apparently receiving far too many requests for car insurance on his own site. Whilst I doubt the campaign will win any awards for cutting edge humour, I'm sure that it will prove effective in terms of brand awareness as people share the site online and talk about it offline. Here though a registration mechanic is missing (at least on the Meerkat site) and a send to a friend functionality would seem to be the simplest way to give people the option of opting in for further communication, exclusive content or a competition; whilst also facilitating the potential viral nature of the campaign.
Consumers will always be happier providing information about themselves in return for a useful online tool or slice of entertainment and I see this trend continuing with the growth of niche social networks, their integration with the well established social sites and the ongoing need to quantify campaign results through the downturn.
