07/07/2005
Who Owns What
The other day a friend of mine who is an organic farmer sent me this really interesting attachment. A detailed map of who owns what in the realm of organic food. I am posting this not to depress people but rather as a reminder that there is no magic bullet response through consumer sovereignty.
While organic food is obviously a better choice then food injectected with hormones or worse yet genetically modified, the argument of production should not be lost when we look at where the majority of organic food comes, which in my case is large farms in California - largely based on monocultures and is situated thousands of kilometres away.
Making better choices is a continous stuggle. The other day I was telling a good friend of mine that when I was doing my undergraduate degree, choices seemed easier and more black and white, now as I am a bit distanced from that world I realize increasingly that there are many more shades of gray. What annoys me, however, is that these large companies prey precisely on that unknown space.
When it comes to buying organic food, many stores now have their organic food sections. I am naturally drawn to these aisles, yet after seeing the map my friend sent me I realized that I was fooled again! So many times you think you are buying a product from a local company when in fact it is actually just a subsiduary of a much larger company. How is that my precious Sunrise organic tofu acutally belongs to General Mills? Or my Ben and Jerry's Chunky Monkey is owned by Unilever? Or my Miss Vicki's are owned by Pepsi? etc...
It is important to be aware and informed that these large corporations are trying to capitalize on the fact that many people are extremely disturbed by multinationals' on going pursuit to gain control over the global food chain. It is our task to realize that when we see brands like 'Back to Nature' or 'Farm Foods' that they are actually exactly what we are seeking to avoid. Hopefully this attachment will help you with this on going collective struggle!
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06/28/2005
Viral Marketing Needs Tweens
For those of you who have never heard of viral marketing, it is a relatively new technique that marketers have spent the last decade perfecting.
Essentially, it consists of person-to-person ‘grassroots’ campaigns that rely on the consumer to spread the word about a given product to other consumers to create a more legitimate buzz about a particular product. This technique is critical today as many tweens have grown sceptical about the direct techniques and practices commonly used to advertise to them.
According Juliet Schor in her book ‘Born to Buy’ there are five components for a successful buzz marketing campaign which include:
1. Authenticity – Staying true to the brand
2. Advocacy – The consumer plays a direct role in advocating the product to other consumers
3. Experiential Messaging – Where the company often gives the product to the buzz agent or consumer advocate so they are more sincere when they talk about the product to others
4. Fusion of Strategies – Combination of a viral marketing strategy is typically complimented with a public relations campaign
5. Visibility and Virality – Done through a number of overt and covert actions
If the viral marketing campaign sounds elaborate that’s because it is. Perhaps the most important thing to pay attention to is that tweens are being asked to sell products and gain valuable information directly from their friends in covert manners.
For example, Schor talks about the successful “Slumber Party in a Box” put together by Girls Intelligence Agency, a buzz marketing agency. Tween girls who decide to join their “Best Friends Forever” (BFF) network are given products to discuss among their friends during the evening. The GIA agent is given the special task of recording what is said about the product and then reports back to the agency; creating a very intimate focus group and means of disseminating information about any given product at the party. GIA boasts that they can reach up to 20Million girls nation wide and their clients range from Disney to Warner Brothers to Mattel.
Another powerful player in the field of viral marketing is BzzAgent. This company was started by Dave Balter who is also the founding member of WOMMA, the “Word-of-Mouth Marketing Agency”. It involves a very elaborate network of bzz agents that chose various bzz campaigns they are interested in promoting among their friends. In exchange agents get rewarded points that they can use to trade in for any number of items that have been donated to BzzAgent by corporations. In fact, even the very nature of choosing the free items for ones hard work is part of the market research to gauge popularity of products among the agents.
Viral Marketing is only getting perfected. it is important to understand this new practice to see just how cheaply tweens are being sold off to sell out their friends.
18:25 Posted in Tween Marketing | Permalink | Comments (0) | Email this
06/22/2005
Viacom Buys Neopets
I must apologize to anyone who was reading this site with any regularity. It’s still operational and I promise to be much more diligent in the future. Today I’m entering into my 16th week of pregnancy and have sort of taken the last few months off to indulge my morning sickened state, which by the way, when they say ‘morning’ it’s a myth! Really its an all day sickness that festers and makes it impossible to read two sentences let along write any. So there you have it! My excuse, my new excuse for everything – I’m pregnant.
Today I’ve been summoned back to my computer to bring you the ground breaking news that Viacom has just purchased Neopets for $160 Million. Why is this so significant you may ask? Well if you haven’t already visited the Neopets website I highly recommend a peek. This on-line haven for kids has a total number 70 million registered users that generate over 5 billion hits a month….yes you read right a month!
What is so special about this website? Essentially, Neopets are an evolution of the tamagotchi; on-line pets that need to be played with, fed and cared for. Yet instead of having a digital electronic egg that you have to carry around everywhere you go and then deal with the heartache of being a neglectful computer parent when the bloody thing turns into an ugly alien instead of a beautiful duck, Neopets stay in the computer and are much easier to take care of. What’s more you get to create your own little pet by choosing from 49 different species. This way you can make it as unique as you are. Then once you have chosen your Neopet you get to travel around the virtual world of Neopia and play computer games for Neopoints, which is what you use in the Neostores to get the appropriate commodities for your little electronic loved one.
Why is Viacom so interested in Neopets? This answer is straightforward, namely it gives them access to their most coveted and lucrative demographic - kids. While they already hold a significant part of this market with Nickelodeon, the number one children’s website in North America, like any cultural media conglomerate it is always looking for content and new ways to cross promote and extend its brand. Neopets are the perfect match. Not to mention this website is already a huge revenue generator.
It is important to pay attention to these kinds of on-line virtual communities, particularly the “sticky” or frequently visited ones. Since the 1990’s direct marketing, promotions and sponsorships have eclipsed the television as the preferred advertising conduits to reach children. What’s more, central to new marketing techniques is developing different ways to forge strong relationship between the kids and the brand.
While websites like Neopets already has many of its own imbedded relationships with products such as General Mills cereal, where a number of the advergames feature cereal characters like the Trix Rabbit or the Lucky Charms leprechaun, its most important contribution and perhaps the reason it is so valuable is the on-line of marketing research that is built right into the website via surveys. While kids unknowingly play games they are asked for all sorts of information about themselves. This is extremely appealing to a conglomerate like Viacom, particularly as Nickelodeon spends the most revenue compared to any other station on market research in order to reach kids in the most effective manners. If you follow this link you can read about all of the techniques used by marketers to access child markets and build relationships with them.
So there you go Neopets. If anyone out there has come across any other similar communities I’d love if you would send me some links!
21:00 Posted in Tween Marketing | Permalink | Comments (2) | Email this