Shandys, Selfies & A Mustache: Traveler Beer Does Integrated Marketing Right!

What is more fun than a stick-on mustache?!

…well, taking a selfie with your mustache to share with the world AND enjoying a new European twist on delicious beer at the same time. That combo has helped prove Traveler Beer Company a pro at integrated marketing. Combining a great product and marketing design with social media buzz is one step. But in Traveler’s current campaign, the vital link between the products and the online excitement is good, old-fashioned print and promotional products! It is exciting to see these traditional marketing tools put to their best use in combination with the latest in digital communications.

Traveler is “introducing” to the American market the European tradition of “shandys” – quality craft brews combined with carbonated citrus or fruit flavors. The four Traveler flavors use lemon and lime (“Curious Traveler“), grapefruit (“Illusive Traveler“), strawberry (“Time Traveler“), and pumpkin (“Jack-O Traveler“). With such a unique product, Traveler is wisely shaping their marketing around the adventure of a new experience. By using a turn-of-the-LAST-century flavor to the graphics, they are reinforcing the idea that these flavors have been around a long while in Europe and proven a favorite. With the current public preference for all things hipster, the classic Victorian handlebar mustache works as the perfect representative of the product, and the perfect way to involve consumers in becoming a part of the marketing itself.

Traveler’s mission was to involve the public through social media – Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, primarily. To achieve that, they created a great variety of bar swag and promotional products to put the Traveler brand into consumer’s hands. Online, and in retail outlets, bars and restaurants, you can find branded t-shirts, backpacks, glassware, bar taps, and on and on. The key to actually involving folks in the marketing game is a set of stick-on mustaches attached to printed cards. The card for each style mustache directs the user to stick on the mustache, take a photo, and post it online with the hashtag #TRVLR. The result has been that elusive social media buzz and virality that makes a marketing campaign successful.

The payoff for the consumer? Primarily, the fun of seeing their mustachioed selfies online! The Traveler website has a page called TRVLR GLRY with Mustache and Traveler of the Week photos, and shots from parties and events hosted around the Traveler products. Search for the hashtag #TRVLR on Twitter or Instagram to see all the folks joining in the fun.

The greatest part of this type of marketing? It can be done on a large scale like Traveler has shown us, or on a small scale for a local business with a lot less money and time to invest. Print and promotional products can be designed to encourage the recipient to actually market for the brand – post a photo, wear the logo, visit a webpage, or share the experience on social media of using the product. The reward for doing that can be a coupon or discount, a contest prize, or it can just be the kick of seeing one’s very own selfie on a website. When done right, adding the social media component to a standard print marketing campaign only amplifies the impact of the original idea but with very little, if any, added investment. For the consumer, it enhances your brand image and their enjoyment.

Strive to buy your print locally! A community printer will understand communication and design, with a special emphasis on your local market. They should be able to provide you with the latest information, inspiration, technical advice, and innovative ideas for communicating your message through print, design and typography, signage, apparel, variable data printing and direct mail, integrated marketing and environmentally responsible printing. If they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

Call us at 828.684.4512. ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your print and marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

May 14, 2013

Share a Coke with Your Name on it: Getting Personal with VDP and Integrated Marketing

Update:

After success in Australia, South Africa, the UK and dozens of other countries, Coke is finally releasing personalized Coke in the US this summer of 2014 – and it seems to be a social media hit (at least judging by my Facebook newsfeed.) 250 of the most popular names for millenials and teens will be found on 20 oz. bottles of Coke, Diet Coke and Zero. You can check online to see if your name will be on the bottles, and you can personalize virtual bottles to share via social media as well. But don’t get too creative – to avert potential viral disasters, the website will not generate any name not in their approved database! 😉
So why not get variable?

(The following article was first posted in 2013.)

Variable Data Packaging? — (Source link: www.marketingmagazine.co.uk)

V ariable Data Printing is a proven catalyst in effective marketing – when properly executed, research indicates that response rates can be increased by as much as 30% with VDP. Now corporations are discovering creative new ways to combine personalized content with both online and print communications for a truly integrated marketing outreach. With the dominance of social media, consumers are beginning to expect (or in marketing-speak, “demand”) a personally targeted appeal from their advertisers. And who is more successful at branding and effective marketing than Coca-Cola?

But, VDP packaging? Well, in a way…. In Australia, and now the UK, Coke is putting out millions of bottles bearing, rather than their iconic logo, 150 names as a way to “personalize” their packaging. Coke enjoys such a universally established brand recognition that they can even remove their logo from their products and still count on consumer loyalty. The campaign is called “Share A Coke”, and as a truly integrated concept, it combines the product packaging with an online site where you can create a “virtual personalised Coke can” if you are unable to find the name you are looking for among the 150 choices. Outdoor ads, and social media also drive the campaign. The video below shares how Coke anticipated the buzz generation on Twitter to further build consumer interaction:

After a successful run in Australia, Coke is repeating the project in the UK. Now, a true VDP product packaging would require the Coke bottles to be printed with the customer’s name before rolling out of the vending machine – an expensive proposition – but the success of this semi-VDP approach highlights some important ideas:

the power of variable data personalization in affecting consumer choice,
an increasing consumer expectation that we can share a personal interaction with what was previously an unreachable corporate entity when it comes to our consumer purchasing power. The buzzword is “engagement,” and consumers are realizing their new role involves more than passive consumption, but can also include interaction and influence.
the value of finding ways to initiate the power and outreach of social media outlets like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to your marketing advantage

Share a Coke campaign — Image Source: thisisnotadvertising.wordpress.com

Printers understand communication and design. Your printer should be able to provide you with the latest information, inspiration, technical advice, and innovative ideas for communicating your message through print, design and typography, signage, apparel, variable data printing and direct mail, integrated marketing and environmental responsible printing. If they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

Call us at 828.684.4512. ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your print and marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.

September 28, 2012

Storm-Tweeting, and 5 Other Twitterbombs for Small Business to Avoid

As a marketing tool, Twitter has proven to be a real gift for small business. Through an active Twitter account, you can reach customers locally or globally, establish your expertise and leadership in your field, promote your business and brand, drive traffic to your website or link your marketing efforts on and offline… and best of all, it’s FREE! However, certain pitfalls seem specific to the small business owner who is overworked, overscheduled and struggling to take advantage of all the digital revolution can provide. Avoid dropping the following Twitterbombs, most being related to time management, that can derail your social media success:

1: Twitter is my soapbox.

Twitter is a conversation, not a monologue. Well, it can be a monologue but people both online and in daily relationships do not enjoy being preached at and quickly tune out. You have a forum to announce your information, but also a great opening to learn what your potential customers are thinking. You want to encourage people to read your posts AND to respond to them. As in any conversation, the process demands both the ability to listen and a commitment of time (a precious commodity for a small business owner). Which leads to the next point…

2: I don’t have time to talk to everyone.

Answer all Replys and DMs (Direct Messages). Ignoring someone’s comment, or forgetting to thank them for a Retweet, is a sure way to generate ill will on Twitter. Check for DMs regularly and browse the @Connect feed, which will give you a history of Retweets and followers. You can respond briefly when appropriate and thank them for their interest even if you don’t agree with their comment! Oh, and remember to wear a thick skin and take the high road… social media communications can often be brutal.

3: I am not here to follow.

For myself, the most damaging signal I see for a business account on Twitter is when they have a number of Followers, but are themselves following no one. This clearly says “I want no contact, I only want people to listen to me.” Again, Twitter is a conversation, not a one-way forum. Follow potential customers, local buisnesses, experts in your field, everyone who has contact with you! They have valuable information to provide you as well.

4: Storm-Tweeting

This habit really irritates many on Twitter: you don’t have a lot of time, so when you get online you tweet multiple times in a row – sometimes dozens! – then disappear until the next day. The timeline of your followers fills up with you avatar over and over. Irritated and feeling ambushed, your followers will at best not read all of that flurry of information, and at worst, Unfollow you. Often it is a time management problem, and for many the solution is a free dashboard application such as Tweetdeck that allows you to monitor, schedule and manage your tweets and replies on your own time. If you find yourself Storm-tweeting, this may be worth checking out.

5: My account is dead.

The worst. If you build up a following on Twitter, you should commit to using and contributing to it DAILY (you can slide on weekends if you must). If you leave it inactive, you have essentially made a public announcement that your business is, well, sort of dead! You’ve left a Twitter-corpse lying in the public domain. If you abandon your Twitter account, by all means deactivate it.

6: TMI, or “Did you really just say that?”

Up front, you should take some time to decide what voice you want to speak with on Twitter. You can be a completely business-like entity, unlinked to any individual person. You can be a parody account, the voice of your brand or a brand mascot, or a multi-faceted voice of many employees all tweeting under the same name. But whatever you choose, set some guidelines for your approach in terms of what topics to cover and how to handle various interactions. Revealing some personal details or day to day events in your company will interest followers and humanize your brand. If taken too far, this can also work to alienate followers or create an impression that is unprofessional or unpleasant. In other words, while it is not productive for a small business to have a completely robotic, non-human voice on Twitter, it is probably worse to use your brand’s account to announce pet peeves, physical ailments, or “I just ousted @SoandSo as the Mayor of Lolita’s Bar and Grill.” Be aware of the tone and voice you cultivate publicly. And never, ever engage in spats or arguments, no matter how tempting!

If you have been guilty of a few of these, don’t feel bad. There is real social media learning curve for us all and the “rules” are generally in flux as times and technology change. Remember that your Twitter account is a public representation of your self, your company, your brand… have fun and expand your knowledge and contacts as well as seek to gain a solid ROI. If you enjoy the interaction, your followers will as well. Your online presence will be more fully rounded and attractive to your audience, and you will also discover a great deal that you would never have been privy to otherwise. Following people and businesses in your own town and your own field will keep you better informed than any news outlet or nosey neighbor ever could. Being better informed makes you better equipped to effectively market your business.

Follow us! @maryimagesmith (Print, Design, Technology, Sustainability – Asheville & Western North Carolina)

Rely on your printer for advice and direction in design, print and integrated marketing. They should be able to guide you through the latest changes and introduce new technology to help get your message out… if they can’t, you have the wrong printer! The best advice, always, is to ASK YOUR PRINTER!

ImageSmith is a full-service print and marketing provider located in Arden, North Carolina. Contact us at ImageSmith for quotes on all your marketing projects, and more useful tips on how to create custom, effective, high impact marketing solutions.