6 January 2015
Archives: 15 December 14 | 6 January 15
Welcome 2015!
It's a New Year along with a new format for our weekly newsletter. The Edge will continue to feature a current and relevant article on marketing, sports marketing and social media marketing.
The link to the current issue will be sent out each Tuesday morning and links to previous issues are found above.
As always, email me with ideas, suggestions, concerns or complaints!
What will be your digital legacy?
Marketing to Women: Trends to Watch in 2015
2014 was a watershed year in marketing to women. We witnessed female-empowerment advertising campaigns from brands like Pantene (Not Sorry), Under Armour (I Will What I Want) and Always (Like a Girl); we saw a sweeping effort to update women’s images in stock photography with the Lean In Getty Images Collection; and we witnessed a GoldieBlox Super Bowl commercial. Not bad, 2014, not bad.
It’s exciting stuff. And yet the conversation, hard work, and opportunity have just begun. I predict 2015 will be the year that marketers move beyond signaling to women, “We know you’re important, empowered and strong,” to a broader, holistic approach to women consumers that impacts every aspect of the business.
We’ve seen a major movement toward this more holistic approach in our work at Female Factor. Holistic means going beyond advertising campaigns and examining the entire business through a female lens. In the coming year, we will see best-in-class organizations embark on the following types of initiatives:
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Optimizing the customer experience for women consumers.
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Creating retail innovations based on women’s cultural preferences.
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Making selfies as natural to shopping as the cart.
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Catering to women consumers as a way to stay one step ahead of Millennials.
Read the entire article here.
A perfect opportunity to discuss real segmentation and the adjustments made to the marketing mix when targeting females.
Beyond the game itself: Colleges sell 'fan experiences'
At most Illinois basketball games, Ben Rapp is watching with friends in some of the worst seats in the house.
"Near the very top," said Rapp, 34, of Princeton, Ill.
But for Saturday's game against Kennesaw State, he was sitting directly behind Illini coach John Groce.
Rapp bid $540 for a rare "behind-the-scenes" experience that included watching the pregame warmup from courtside, a photo with Groce and being within earshot of the instructions Groce yelled during the game. Rapp used the tickets as a special Christmas gift for his dad.
"Just sitting right there behind the bench, seeing all the things they did and what they said during timeouts, seeing how the guys talk and joke around on the bench, it gives you a different look at things," Rapp said.
Read the entire article here.
Discuss the value of offering "experiences" rather than "things" in auctions such as the one described in the article.
Is there a way to use any of these ideas at your high school?
28 Social Media Marketing Predictions for 2015 From the Pros
Are you wondering what 2015 might look like for social media marketing?
If the changes in 2014 are an indicator, there will be a lot more changes in 2015.
To get a grip on what the near future may look like, we tapped the knowledge of 28 social media pros.
Here’s what they had to say.
#1: Video Becomes the Content of Choice
Heidi Cohen
In 2015, video will dominate as the social media content format of choice. Further, regular video segments, like podcasts and blog posts, will come into their own as a form of content that drives social engagement and other marketing goals.
Let’s look closer. In August 2014, Facebook surpassed YouTube in the number of video views via desktop according to comScore. It’s important to note that YouTube still has more views across all devices. As of September 2014, Facebook attracted a billion video views per day, a roughly 30-fold increase since July.
Read the entire article here.
Pick several of the predictions and discuss them in class. Or, assign one to each student in class and have them research it and share their opinion on the potential impact of the prediction. In addition, it might be interesting to review the predictions from 2014 and see how many “came true.”