Top Halloween-Embracing Brands
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! No, I’m not talking about the Christmas season, I’m talking about Halloween! Since my birthday is November 1st, I have always held October 31st close to my heart and expressed my enthusiasm for All Hallows Eve with costumes, parties and seasonal treats. This year I am focusing my ghostly efforts on compiling a list of brands that have embraced all things spooky by creating products, hosting contests or running marketing campaigns that were all inspired by Halloween.
So why do brands bother to spend money, time and effort on holiday-themed campaigns and products? The holidays, Halloween included, offers brands a way to infuse their personalities into these joyous times and remind customers why they chose that brand in the first place. Brittany Burdoine-Lewis of leapfroginteractive says, “Embracing the holidays your audience enjoys establishes an understanding of your target customers and presents your fans with something fun to keep them engaged with your brand.” Take a look below and check out how brands like Kraft, Progressive and Honda are showing their love for Halloween this year!
Kraft:
Nothing says Halloween like brains, blood and green goo. Food and beverage giant Kraft has embraced all of these ghoulish traditions and packaged them up for sale. The beloved Kraft Cadbury eggs take a turn for the rotten during the Halloween season- the white cream filling of a traditional Cadbury Creme egg is replaced with green and white creamy goo for the Cadbury Screme Eggs (what a witty play on words!) To engage the more DIY crowd, Kraft gave away brain-shaped gelatin molds, complete with an 8-page recipe book, for only the cost of shipping and handling in 2011. If vampire tendencies are more of your speed during Halloween, be sure to pick up some Kool-Aid Ghoul-Aid. This dark red, “scary blackberry” flavored beverage is sure to provide your kids with enough of a sugar rush to trick-or-treat until the sun comes up!
Progressive:
For the past two years, Progressive has endorsed a “Dress like Flo” campaign, encouraging customers everywhere to don their best red lipstick and perky brunette hair styles. Progressive has even created a microsite that describes Flo’s wardrobe, down to the exact shade of lipstick for her infamous red smile. Of course the microsite doesn’t fail to deliver on ways to engage with the Progressive brand including Facebook “Like” buttons, customer service phone numbers and pop-up ads highlighting promotional insurance rates.
Honda:
Not all Halloween promotions are just about the brand; some companies go the extra mile to shine the candlelight on their fans. In 2010, Honda ran a Jack- o’-Lantern Facebook contest where fans carved Honda-inspired pumpkins. To share these carvings with the world , Honda created a specific Facebook photo album so any Facebook fan could comment on which pumpkin was their favorite and share with own Honda stories.
What are some of your favorite Halloween-embracing brands? Or do you say bah-humbug to the commercialization of Halloween? We want to know your thoughts!
Contributed by Lily Brock
The 3% Conference: a phenomenon part II
As promised here is part II of my 3% Conference recap. I hope you all enjoy these posts as much as I enjoyed the actual conference!
GUYS WHO GET IT
During this session, Kat interviewed Tom Jordan and Courtney Buechert on stage. Suffice to say these men do get it. And here I must mention my early morning hours—you’ll see why. My conference day began next to the elevators on the 5th floor of the conference hotel. A man who later turned out to be Tom, one of this session’s panelists, kept up a commentary on the psychology of elevators that had me laughing. When we saw each other on the auditorium floor about 30 minutes later, we pointed at each other and laughed. He is one delightful fellow.
FUTURE OF THE AGENCY WORKPLACE
At this point the first of two breakout periods began. This breakout’s panel of Sally Thornton of Forshay and Will Burns of Ideasicle was moderated by Shelli Strand of STRAND Strategy Partners and covered trends in recruitment and engagement strategies. Will’s description of the unusual structure at Ideasicle was interesting, and Sally, a recruiter for contract projects in marketing and HR, kept me focused on every word.
PAY IT FORWARD: MENTORSHIP
This was the session I moderated. Panelists Nancy Hannon, Kammie McArthur, and Cheeraz Gorman shared their thoughts on mentorship and fielded questions from how to make time to mentor others in an agency environment to how they choose and use their own mentors. With such an engaged audience, much of the session felt more like a warm conversation between the panelists and the women packed into the space. (Standing room only!) One audience member volunteered to mentor another on the spot.
BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE
Nancy Hill of the 4As moderated this session, with panelists including Sam Jhans of Améredia, Jennifer Pozner of Women in Media & News, and Lauren Connolly of BBDO discussing what agencies with the best track record for female leadership do differently. I admired Jenn’s strategy to support those in the minority: she won’t speak at an event if there aren’t other women or non-Caucasian women speaking. During the Q&A, Cindy Gallop took the stage once more to address an audience member’s distress at seeing members of her generation leaving the agency environment. Cindy and Kat brought the house down for a fitting finale to a truly great conference—one I won’t soon forget.
I can’t wait for next year—if I could register now, I would.
Guest blogger Tiffany Jonas manages the Verbal Branding department at Addison Whitney. She spends her days developing taglines and brand names for companies, products, pharmaceutical drugs, clinical trials, and just about anything else you can think of.
The 3% Conference: a phenomenon
In a word, wow.
The 3% Conference in San Francisco last week was the first of its kind. Based on a premise that still shocks me no matter how often I write it—though women are responsible for 80-85% of buying decisions, only 3% of creative directors are female—Kat Gordon of Maternal Instinct brought together creative directors from across the globe for a one-day powwow.
I’ve since talked with several of the women who attended, and the reaction is the same: a sort of positive bedazzlement. Filled to the brim with amazing moments, the conference went by far too quickly.
For me, the most magic was in the positive dynamics between the women themselves. Powerhouses from big-name agencies, women from the Fortune 500, and entrepreneurs alike supported each other and the idea behind the event.
My role was in moderating “Pay It Forward: Mentorship,” and panelists Nancy Hannon of The Martin Agency, Kammie McArthur of Swirl, and Cheeraz Gorman of Alchemy 7 Creative were fantastic. The room was filled with an audience who brought thoughtfulness and energy to the conversation.
Because there are so many good stories to share this recap will be done in two parts, one today and one tomorrow. So without further ado here’s a recap of the conference with personal highlights, and don't forget to also check out a video montage of the 3% Conference.
HIGH COSTS OF LIVING IN A 3% WORLD
A ball of fire led off the day: Cindy Gallop (of TED conference fame) gave the morning keynote. I came away with three key thoughts:
HAVE WE REALLY COME A LONG WAY, BABY?
Joey Cummings of The Joey Company moderated this panel with Susan Hoffman of Wieden+Kennedy, Margaret Johnson of Goodby Silverstein & Partners, and Cynthia Maller of PayPal. I was struck by how fearlessly candid each panelist was:
MISS REPRESENTATION: INTERVIEW
Author Jess Weiner, Dove’s Global Ambassador for Self Esteem, interviewed Jennifer Siebel Newsom, director of the 2011 Sundance documentary Miss Representation. What sticks with me is Jennifer’s tale of prepping for an interview with Rosie O’Donnell along with other women who had appeared in the film. Surprised when she arrived in the green room at the appearance of her cohorts, who had been heavily made up by the show’s makeup artists, her request to have her hair pulled back in a simple ponytail was met with dismay. Special approval, it seemed, was required for a hairstyle considered less than sexy—an ironic blind spot on the part of the network, given the interview topic was to be the exploitation of women in marketing and the media.
OUR OWN WORST ENEMIES
In this, one of the sessions I enjoyed most, Carol Williams of CHWA moderated a panel with Stanford’s Lori Nishiura Mackenzie, executive coach Barbara Mack, Christie Cordes of Ad Recruiter, and Lauren Tucker of The Martin Agency.
NEEDED: MORE CANNES IN CANNES
EMMY-winning creative director Hélène Coté and panelists including Ale Lariu of SheSays and Karen Mallia of the University of South Carolina discussed awards given by guys for ad campaigns created by guys.
LUNCH
A gluten-free treat (thank you, organizers!) awaited us in a sunny courtyard: a delicious salmon lunch. At my table were the superb Ana Blaj of senior care startup ageModern and the super fun Kari Niles of Razorfish, along with five other wonderful women and a lot of lively conversation: Kristi Faulkner and Susan Sabean of Womenkind, Emily Honigsfeld and Christine Gault of Colle+McVoy, and Ann Lehman of the San Francisco Department on the Status of Women.
I hope you've enjoyed what you've read so far, and check back tomorrow to hear more about this great conference. It only gets better from here!
Contributed by Tiffany Jonas.
Guest blogger Tiffany Jonas manages the Verbal Branding department at Addison Whitney. She spends her days developing taglines and brand names for companies, products, pharmaceutical drugs, clinical trials, and just about anything else you can think of.
Birchbox Delivers Brand Satisfaction
They say good things come in small packages. With products ranging from Luna bars, perfume, earbuds, green tea and mascara, brands are seizing the opportunity to distribute product samples in a little package called, Birchbox.
Birchbox.com, is a subscription-based service that delivers a monthly box of beauty samples to your door for a small fee of $10 a month. This NYC centered business was founded by Katia Beauchamp and fellow Harvard alum Haley Barna in 2010. Birchbox chooses products based on a beauty profile you complete when you sign up. From a brand’s perspective, this is a way to upsell existing customers and to acquire new customers by putting the product in front of them that they may not otherwise have been exposed to. A recent box brought me a fun colored nail polish, Kate Spade perfume and a delicious-smelling hand cream. I was so excited to receive my box of goodies, it felt like Christmas as I opened it! In my opinion, Birchbox satisfied me as a customer as it delivered products that I currently use and a few I hadn’t experienced before. I loved the hand cream and bought it on the Birchbox website once my sample size diminished. Bottom line, both Birchbox and the brands benefitted from my purchase that day!
Birchbox has been on the market for two years and has seen rapid growth, both with new female consumers and new business partners, such as major brands like Kiehl’s and NARS. It offers a way for big brands to get their products into the hands of young, e-happy customers with money to spend. Over 200 brands have joined Birchbox because they see the benefit of pushing their products to female consumers each month. Brands such as Elizabeth Arden are scrambling to give away samples to Birchbox’s more than 100,000 subscribers as they see the value in distributing their products to females who love a new beauty item to brag about.
The startup has been so successful gaining female consumers that Birchbox Man launched in April 2012. Now, guys can sign up and, for $20 a month, get their own “Birchboxes.” Products shipped in the boxes will include shaving cream, cologne, headphones and watches, with more lifestyle and tech items planned for the future.
Birchbox is a place where brands can find new customers and engage with them in a very intimate environment-their homes. This subscription-based system introduces customers to small and large brands, helps smaller companies start to find their consumer base, and larger companies find new audiences.
For a small fee and new products shipped to your door each month, would you sign up for Birchbox?
Brands Take to the Sky for Higher Reach
Airport security checkpoints create lines, pat-downs and frequent headaches for travelers. There are also the dull colored table trays on airplanes that make your snack and beverage look, well dull. Airlines have long wanted to engage travelers through these mediums so it was naturally when they invited companies to place advertisements on security checkpoint bins and on table trays to make it a more positive experience for travelers. Does this form of advertising work? Brands think so and are taking advantage of this advertising avenue.
Security Point Media, the leader in airport passenger security checkpoint advertising and the innovator of the Secure Tray System worked up a plan to provide free bins to airports in exchange for the right to sell advertisements on the bins. During a recent trip from New York to Boston, I noticed the ads at JFK airport. As I placed my shoes and other items in the bin, I saw an ad for Zappos that said “Place shoes here, buy shoes here.” I thought it was clever and made me remember that Zappos is a great store for shoe lovers and it distracted me for a few minutes as I made my way through the line. In my opinion, the ad worked as it was colorful, simple and reminded me how much I liked the brand and the products they offer. Brand recognition and recall are much more likely when advertising serves a practical purpose and is helpful to consumers.
Los Angeles International Airport, one of the program’s first test sites, was able to purchase long tables, seating, floor mats and other equipment from the ad revenue they have generated since the start of the bin advertising program. Airports like the program because it gives them a little bit of extra money and helps improve the checkpoint experience for passengers. Brands like Zappos are also helping absorb the cost that TSA would normally have to spend buying the equipment needed for security checkpoint. Sounds like a win win to me!
Another way to reach frequent travelers is by smacking an ad on a table tray while they’re on the airplane. On a recent flight, I saw an ad for Visitrichmond.com that did a great job of showcasing their cities history by having an ad that said “History. Rated “Gee!” From chilling ghost stories to thrilling roller coaster rides, history is for kids of all ages.” The ad featured a group of people enjoying a roller coaster ride. Whether it’s an ad for a hotel, cell phone or a tourism push for visitors, brands are gaining maximum exposure as the advertising images cannot be avoided.
While media companies believe table tray ads provide up to 3+ hours of guaranteed exposure and attention and a clutter-free environment with zero distractions, I believe frequent travelers would question if the ads make as much of an impact as companies would have liked. In a busy traveling world where people are rushing to get to their gate, do people notice advertisements on check point bins and table trays or are they more concerned with making their flight?
Mud Runs Enable Brands to Broaden Reach
Traditional running races are a thing of the past. The new craze is to throw some obstacles in the way. Like a mud pit, barbed wire, a climbing wall and a tangle of ropes. Then give these new obstacle course races gritty names like Warrior Dash and Tough Mudder to really intimidate people to sign up! Not only are people getting excited to participate in mud runs but brands are seizing the opportunity as well.
Obstacle races combine mud and trail runs with boot-camp obstructions and even mind games, all designed to result in mental and physical collapse. Last year in the U.S. roughly a million people signed up for events in the four most popular series: Warrior Dash, Tough Mudder, Spartan Race and Muddy Buddy. People now travel around the country and shell out money to willingly run these adventure races with mud crawls, fire pits, ice-cold showers and electric shocks. I have to admit when I looked at the Warrior Dash event video on their website, I instantly felt nervous yet fired up seeing people drenched in mud, climbing up wooden walls and jumping over fire. However, brands are embracing this new trend with nerves of steel.
Brands view this as an opportunity to get their product and showcase their company in front of an audience of young, active professionals. For example, the Windham, NY Warrior Dash in 2012 partnered with PERT Plus, the hassle-free shampoo brand and had a “Sudz Zone” shower trailer in the post-race festival area. With shampoo samples being provided to participants, brands have additional exposure for race attendees to use first hand and experience the product for themselves in hopes that participants will recall their experience next time they’re looking to buy shampoo. After all, if it can clean you up after one of these races it’s got to be good.
Brands also can gain exposure by having on site signage and tent space where they can directly connect and build relationships with existing as well as new customers. A few years ago I participated in an obstacle race and was immediately handed free apparel and samples provided by the sponsors that were at the event. They say it’s the little things in life and by getting a free koozie, a t-shirt and beer, not only was I benefitting from my new free stuff but I was also being exposed to a number of new brands that I might not ordinarily come in contact with, and I was one happy girl!
With mud runs and other adventure races gaining popularity, it’s no wonder brands are seizing the opportunity to sponsor races for additional exposure. As I write this, I’m already nervous and excited for the North Carolina Warrior Dash in 2013 I just signed up for! Obstacles, beer and bragging rights, do you have what it takes?
The Social Media Games: How Twitter is Affecting the Olympics
Going into this year’s Summer Olympics in London, most people knew that social media was going to play a larger role in the games than it ever had in previous Olympics. Ever since the winter games in Vancouver two years ago the use of social media has boomed around the world. More and more people are using social media as a way to discuss major events in real time, and clearly the Olympics would be no exception. But just a few days into these summer Olympics, no one could have predicted the turn out we’ve seen so far. One social media site in particular, Twitter, is shaking things up for better and for worse.
If you watched the Opening Ceremonies of the 2012 Summer Olympic Games in London then you certainly weren’t alone. An independent study done by Bluefin Labs reported that during the opening ceremonies alone there were 5 million social media comments made about the event, 4.86 million of which ended up being tweets. In fact, so many people are tweeting while watching the games that according to TwitterUK there have been more tweets during London’s first day than the length of the entire 2008 Beijing games! Fans all over the world are using Twitter to keep up with results, athletes, and other fans in real time. Countries are encouraging the use of Twitter as well, hoping that their residents will tweet positive thoughts and messages to their favorite athletes throughout the games. Jamaica for example, although being ranked 141st in the world as far as population, ranks third only behind the United States and Great Britain in terms of the number of tweets they have sent to athletes from their country.
Although it’s great to hear how Twitter is being used worldwide to encourage sportsmanship towards athletes and fans all over, many could argue that it has been used to do more harm than good. Before the games even started, Greek triple-jumper Voula Papachristou was expelled from her Olympic team for tweeting a racist comment mocking African immigrants in Greece. Just a few days into the games, after the Swiss soccer team was defeated by South Korea, a Swiss player was expelled for tweeting that South Korean athletes were “Mongoloids.” There have also been reports that British police arrested a 17 year old after he posted several malicious tweets to a popular British athlete who came in fourth place in his event, making negative comments about his recently deceased father and possibly threatening his life as well.
The social media site has acted as a hub for athletes in the game to air their unhappiness with the marketing rules set in place by the International Olympic Committee. The IOC’s Social Media, Blogging and Internet Guideline’s Rule #40 states that athletes are not allowed to mention their sponsors during the games unless they are official Olympic sponsors. Athletes with little known sponsors are arguing that this is directly affecting their income. These rules haven’t stopped some athletes from posting controversial tweets on the topic however. United States track athlete Lee Manzano was forced to take down a tweet in which he mentioned a lesser known footwear brand that sponsors him. Many athletes have banded together to started a campaign against the rules by using hash tags “#WeDemandChange” and “#Rule40” to directly express their discontent. Dawn Harper, a U.S. 100 meter hurdler, took it a step further when she posted a picture of herself with a piece of tape over her mouth with “Rule 40” written across it.
The IOC isn’t the only organization involved in the Olympics that is catching grief from Twitter users. NBC and their coverage of the games have been under fire since the first day of the games. Thousands of Twitter users have started using the hash tag “#NBCFail” in their tweets complaining about the coverage. A British journalist based out of Los Angeles had his Twitter account suspended after tweeting harsh criticism of the opening ceremonies and the fact that NBC had decided to tape-delay events in the United States. He also posted the e-mail of an NBC executive, asking his followers to e-mail their complaints to him. Twitter stated that posting the e-mail address was a direct violation of their privacy policy and suspended the account. Many are questioning Twitters motives behind the suspension, since NBC and Twitter are official partners for these Olympic Games. Many argue that NBC prompted Twitter to silence their critic and Twitter complied due to their commercial relationship.
Twitter, which is now used by more than 140 million users, has become much more to the Olympics than anyone had originally anticipated. The exponential jump in the use of Twitter since previous Olympic Games is likely due to the advancement of smart phones which users take with them everywhere. But the unexpected nature of Twitter in these games raises the question of just how far the negativity will span. Regardless, social media has become essential to today’s generation by giving them a way to connect with the athletes and feel more included in the games. The idea of banning the use of social media entirely from large events such as the Olympics is almost unimaginable in today’s day and age. Exclusion of Twitter from the Olympics would be the equivalent of losing a large part of the experience.
Contributed By Nicole Juliano
The Red, White, and Blue is Going Green!
By now everyone who is keeping up with the latest news on the Olympics is sure to know that team USA’s clothing isn’t very American. News broke recently that the clothing was actually manufactured in China. This deeply upset many Americans due to the fact that the textile industry in the United States continues to struggle, and the Olympic clothing line would have been a great boost to the economy and morale. Ralph Lauren, designer of the uniforms, quickly issued a statement late last week saying that the clothing for the opening and closing ceremonies for the next Olympics, the winter games taking place in Sochi, Russia, will indeed be made in the United States. While it might be too little too late to fix the situation in the mind of Americans, Team USA sponsors are looking for every available opportunity to promote the United States in a positive light.
Regardless of the Olympians casual clothing, there is good news when it comes to the athletic uniforms they will be sporting in the 2012 summer games. With recent advances in technology and the growing desire for everything we produce to be environmentally friendly in some way, the athletic gear for Olympians has undergone revolutionary changes since games past. Nike, designer of the athletic uniforms for many countries in the games, is one sponsor that has especially taken this to heart. In order to boost both Team USA and the United States with positive publicity, they have come up with extremely innovative ways to make sure that the uniforms worn during the games are environmentally friendly in order to distinguish us essentially as our own brand.
Among some of the cool new features Nike has planned for the Olympic athletes is a ground-breaking cleat that promises to deliver lightweight performance and high-speed control for soccer players in game situations. The Nike GS (short for Green Speed) is what Nike is calling its lightest, fastest, and greenest cleat ever. Every single element of the shoe was purposefully designed to reduce weight and waste, making it the lightest shoe Nike has ever created; only 160 grams for a size nine. The shoe features mostly recycled and renewable materials. For example, the sock lining is made of 100% recycled castor beans. “When you can deliver a boot that combines high end performance and a low environmental footprint that’s a winning proposition for players and planet” said Andy Caine, global design director for Nike Soccer. You’ll be able to catch a glimpse of these amazing cleats in action during the Olympics when they will be worn by Nike sponsored athletes from around the world.
The soccer pitch isn’t the only place you’ll be able to spot state-of-the-art equipment however. The United States Men’s basketball team will be wearing uniforms that were specially crafted by Nike to be some of the most revolutionary basketball uniforms ever. Each white jersey is made with 96% recycled polyester and an average of 22 recycled bottles, making it 58% lighter than the basketball uniforms worn in the Beijing Olympics and the lightest national team uniform ever. The difference in weight from past uniforms adds up to roughly a full can of soda! According to Nike, the shoes for the basketball players will also be innovative, being equipped with special new features. The shoes will feature sensors that can measure how high the players jump and transmit the results right to the player’s smart phone. Nike also designed FuelBand, a bracelet designed for all Olympians that measures their different daily activities, including how many steps they take to how many calories they burn each day. It will be interesting to see if all of this new and improved gear will help our Olympians perform better.
While the above mentioned efforts by Nike prove to be extremely fascinating and fun to learn about, it’s easy to forget that the Olympics are not just about finding ways to ensure that our athletes perform better than those from other countries. As one of the biggest events in the world, each country essentially becomes a brand of its own and how they promote it is entirely up to them. Our own country’s image in the Olympics comes down to much more than the clothes and uniforms. Supporting Team USA is about national pride and what we as a country believe is important. By incorporating eco-friendly and technologically advanced themes in many aspects of this year’s games we are showing the rest of the world that being sustainable and green is something that is important to us and is a value that we stand behind collectively as a country. It gives viewers around the world a more personal look into what it means to be American and in turn will make it easier for them to relate to our country as a brand. Environmental enthusiasts and Olympic fans everywhere are sure to agree that green looks good, but that the meaning behind it is what's most important.
Contributed by Nicole Juliano
Sponsors Benefit From Olympics, But Do The Athletes?
The 2012 summer Olympics based in London are only a few short weeks away. Anticipation and excitement alike have been mounting with televised trials and previews into what the games will hold this time around. Not only are the Olympics an exciting time for athletes all around the world, but for big brands looking to do some significant marketing as well. The Olympics are of special interest to big brands due to the lack of major sports events and decreased television viewing rates in the summer. The Olympics are a global event that can be enjoyed by the whole family and big brands everywhere are eager to be a part of it.
The money that will be in play from corporate advertisers in the 2012 London games has reached unheard of amounts, an estimated six to seven billion dollars from advertising alone. Brands everywhere are very aware of the impact that advertising during the Olympics can have. Visa and Samsung are two high-profile companies that saw significant improvements in their brands from Olympic sponsorships. For example, in 1986 Visa was ahead of MasterCard in market share by just a few points, but after being an official Olympic sponsor for many years they are now ahead by leaps and bounds. Samsung experienced success as well, surpassing Sony in total brand value in 2005. One brand hoping to become a success story as well is Citibank, who is hoping to utilize these Olympics to revamp their image. They have recently become an Olympic and Paralympics sponsor and plan on heavily promoting their Every Step of the Way social media campaign, in which fans can vote to distribute roughly $500,000 between eleven lesser known athletes and their charities. Fans have already voted to allocate nearly $11,000 dollars between two athletes.
Big brands clearly benefit significantly from advertising and creating sponsorships during the Olympics, but do the athletes benefit financially from the games? The answer might surprise you. Without big brands paying millions of dollars for sponsorships and exclusive rights, the Olympics might cease to exist. In order to protect these sponsors, athletes are not allowed to promote themselves, their brands, or their non-affiliated sponsors in any way during the weeks leading up to and the actual games themselves. Forget tweeting a picture of that energy bar you ate for breakfast if the company who made it isn’t an official sponsor. And don’t even dream of walking around Olympic Village with a Puma shirt on when Nike and Ralph Lauren have paid for the clothing rights. All of these strict rules make it easy for the brands sponsoring the games to overshadow the athletes.
American middle-distance runner Nick Symmonds is speaking up and challenging the highly restricted branding rules in place that seem to benefit everyone but the actual athletes in the games. Earlier this year Symmonds took to eBay to auction off a section of his skin on his deltoid, open to advertisers as an unconventional way for their twitter handle to be seen during the 2012 track and field season including the Olympics, which he did indeed qualify for. He had up to 85 different brands vying for the spot, but outdoor lifestyle agency Hanson Dodge snagged the space for $11,100. He has agreed to wear a temporary tattoo of the agency’s twitter handle on his arm, which is visible at all time except for when he is running in an actual race. Regardless, the company’s Facebook likes and Twitter followers have skyrocketed due to the stunt. Although other athletes haven’t taken such drastic measures, they have taken to Symmonds Facebook wall to support him as well as voice their own unhappiness with the restrictions.
Even though the 2012 Olympics are set to generate billions of dollars, most of the athletes competing in them are struggling to get by financially. More and more athletes are beginning to speak out against the limitations placed on athletes restricting them from wearing advertising or endorsements during the games which directly affects their individual earnings. The cost of training, coaching, and traveling for those hoping to qualify for an Olympic team is estimated to reach into six-figures yet many of these athletes earn well below that. For many, it is hard to secure a sponsorship and make a living off of their athletics alone. To make up for the difference, many athletes are forced to pick up part time jobs in order to sustain their dream. “I got tons of gear, but you can’t take a Nike shirt to the grocery store and buy food with it,” Says Ben Bruce, one of the United States top steeplechasers who was forced to go on food stamps after Nike refused to increase his pay.
All of this considered begs the question: who exactly is allowed to make money off of the Olympics? The games are a tradition centered on athletes and celebrating their amazing talents, but in recent years it seems they have turned into more of an opportunity to advertise. “This country runs on advertising. To rob athletes of the right to sell our advertising space?” asked Symmonds. The Olympics are no doubt a great opportunity for brands, but with more and more athletes rallying to express their unhappiness about the restrictions placed upon their ability to advertise it will be interesting to see if it is enough to inspire change in future Olympic Games.
Contributed by Nicole Juliano
The Future of Shopping: Coming Soon to a Store Near You
What would your ideal features be in a personal shopping assistant? Would smart, mobile, and informative be at the top of your list? Then you’re in luck, because last week IBM Research announced its plans to release a new mobile shopping application. It is currently being developed by research scientists at IBM’s lab in Haifa, Israel and plans on changing the way we shop in stores. The new mobile app will give consumers the same type of information they search for online when researching or comparing products but instead it will be delivered on their mobile devices while they shop inside stores.
Picture yourself standing in the cereal aisle of your local grocery store. You can’t quite decide which box of cereal to buy, but you know that you’re looking for something that is low in sugar, on sale, and has good reviews. This could be overwhelming, right? That is where IBM’s innovative shopping app will come in handy. Shoppers will be able to pull out their smart phone or tablets and use the camera to pan over products on the shelf, and the application will instantly display certain products based on shopper’s specific criteria. Upon downloading the app users will be able to create a profile of preferences that are important to them in potential products, including just about anything from price, quality, sodium content, biodegradable packaging, reviews, discounts, ingredients they wish to avoid, among many others. The app will then sort and recommend products based on the users profile. Consumers who download the app will also be able to opt-in to include information from their social networks, such as reviews or comments written by their friends about potential products.
To develop this new technology, IBM selected a team of research scientists with image processing expertise. The team developed algorithms to combine techniques used in facial recognition, color and shape matching, and associations with surrounding products for use in the app. Researchers are also taking into account the device’s camera angle and distance from a shelf when being used to help distinguish between products successfully. The research scientists even went so far as to create a mock supermarket in order to recognize various approaches and challenges involved when users go to use the app, including overcoming issues such as lighting, shadows, and reflections.
IBM Research also believes that the app will help retailers with their marketing strategy by giving them insight into consumer trends and what consumers are actively searching for on their trips in their stores. This in turn would allow retailers to offer shoppers product information, coupons, and suggested products that would be welcome by customers and keep them returning to their store. The application could also assist in helping retailers keep tabs on what is or isn’t on their shelves, organize their stores more efficiently, and manage what is on sale. The app is win-win for IBM who is hoping to strengthen their relationship with retailers.
"The idea of standing in an aisle in the supermarket and having your mobile device point out the gluten-free cookies you need can be a real time saver. This has the potential to completely change the shopping experience from one of hunting, reading, and searching to simply picking up those products you prefer." said Amnon Ribak, project leader for the application. IBM’s goal is to release the application by the end of this year. Until then you’ll just have to settle for shopping the old-fashioned way.
Contributed by Nicole Juliano