Tag Archive for: marketing

Too often, marketers spend more time focusing on demographics and statistics of their audience rather than personal attributes of consumers. Marketing should be closely tied to psychology – which translates to the needs, wants, and behaviors of consumers.

Consumer behavior can’t always be grouped according to specific demographic lines of society. If you are guilty of relying on these general groupings in your marketing approach, then pushing those boundaries and appealing to interests, personalities, and hobbies may be the perfect fix. Here are a few tips for more personalized targeting:

  1. Be Versatile.

Use attitudes, interests, opinions, professional experience, and social status to target your audience.

One suggestion: Instead of ads that appeal to women between the ages of 25 and 40, marketers should target ads to character traits: anxious, assertive, impatient, or even drinkers.

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  1. Create a culture.

Know what you’re selling; appeal and connect to an audience; sell a lifestyle, not a product. Figure out what differentiates you from other brands and run with it. Make everyone fall in love with your company by standing out. RedBull, for example, has been recognized for selling a lifestyle and not just a drink.

 

Dominik Hernler steps out of the water after his run at the Red Bull Wake of Steel 2013 in Linz, Austria on June 15th, 2013 // Philip Platzer/Red Bull Content Pool // P-20130615-00257 // Usage for editorial use only // Please go to www.redbullcontentpool.com for further information. //Dominic Roithmair prepares for a skydive jump in St. Wolfgang, Austria on 27th of August 2012 // Samo Vidic/Red Bull Content Pool // P-20121001-00184 // Usage for editorial use only // Please go to www.redbullcontentpool.com for further information. //Martin Soederstroem performs a 360 tail-whip to complete his run at Red Bull Joyride in Whistler, Canada on the 18th of August, 2012. // Dale Tidy/Red Bull Content Pool // P-20120819-00113 // Usage for editorial use only // Please go to www.redbullcontentpool.com for further information. //

 

  1. Be Consistent.

Visual consistency and cohesiveness makes your brand recognizable. This includes graphics, fonts, and other visuals. Apple is a perfect example – they always have clean blank space, subtle coloring, simplistic compositions and identical typography.

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  1. Be Relatable.

Target your consumers’ personality types to catch their eye. But always make sure you promote unique content that is related to you, like Nike does here.

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Keep these tips in mind to successfully reach new heights and develop a deeper understanding of the modern consumer. Otherwise your business will be no more than an advertising wallflower.

It’s the marketer’s responsibility to come up with creative ways to stand out against the competition. And as we all know, the online community is not a particularly forgiving group – so controversial comments intended to be funny rarely fly. These careless and inadvertent mistakes can often cost the company, literally and figuratively.

Below are examples of when the creativity just plain flopped:

Bud Light really is #UpForWhatever

In 2015, these new slogans appeared on our Bud Light bottles: “The perfect beer for removing ‘no’ from your vocabulary for the night. The perfect beer for whatever happens. #UpForWhatever.” As you can imagine, the audience did not react well.

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Total Beauty Twitter Mix-up

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Valiant effort to compliment Oprah, except … well… that’s not Oprah. Awkward!

Oprah and Whoopi Goldberg tried to help lessen the media heat on Total Beauty, but a mistake that obvious certainly does not go unnoticed. Whoopi told ET she “could be compared to a lot worse people.” It was more unfortunate that this particular award ceremony was already being criticized for being “too white” and “not diverse”.

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Bic: Maybe just think like a professional

“Look like a girl, Act like a lady, Think like a man, Work like a boss”. Okay, It doesn’t take a lot of explaining to understand why this advertisement was offensive to just about all women on National Woman’s Day. The company did eventually apologize.

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Dave and Busters’ Taco Tweet Disaster
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This tweet was obviously supposed to be funny and promotional but somewhere went horribly wrong. It took Dave and Busters less than an hour to realize that the public reaction was not what they hoped and the company quickly apologized for the comment.

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Promoting your brand may not always be smooth sailing, but the way you handle these situations determines the overall impact on an organization. Many companies are proactively forming diversity or inclusion committees in order to get ahead of potential PR flubs. However if you find yourself in hot water, get a full assessment of the situation, work quickly, and instill confidence in the company in order to solve the problem.

 

 

 

Despite all of the advances in psychology and medicine, the human mind is still a giant mystery. For some people, certain words, colors, or pictures can evoke very unique responses, while others produce no reaction at all. With the fields of psychology and neuroscience continuing to expand and explore the brain, we as marketing professionals can benefit from even a simple glimpse at how these processes can be advantageous in our branding. An expert in the world of marketing or advertising knows that the smallest detail can make or break a company’s success, from the hue of color in the logo to the word choice in a slogan.

UntitledOne of the fastest growing subjects in psychology is the study of consumer behavior. Psychologists are fascinated by why certain products or services sell so well in comparison to others and how long the period of sale time lasts. Their conclusion? When in the role of a consumer, the person is not a rational being. Instead, they are overcome with both conscious and unconscious thoughts and emotions. A strong marketing professional will use all of these different neurological reactions to their advantage as a way to create the best platform possible on behalf of their client.

If you want to sell a product, you have to know how people will react to the moving parts of it. A good start would be to hone your interpersonal skills for when you build new relationships with existing or prospective clients.

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When speaking to an audience, word choice is critical to capturing their attention. Because our unconscious mind interprets things very literally, metaphors and similes can be amazing marketing tools. When you describe something as sweet, it will activate two primary centers in your brain: the amygdala (which covers basic emotions) and the taste center to quickly create the same excitement you would feel if someone had just presented you with something sweet to eat.

Another aspect of consumer behavior to think about in marketing is color – studies show that different colors elicit different emotions. So choosing the right color palette is necessary to elicit the appropriate reactions and emotions from consumers when they look at your advertisements or logos. For example, red is a powerful color. It can evoke a spectrum of feelings, from excitement to anger. It also has been shown to trigger hunger, which explains why so many food chain logos contain the color.

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Even though the color red elicits hunger, it tends to get over-used. For this reason, some companies decide to use a color that makes them stand out, even though it doesn’t necessarily produce the most instinctual response. A strong example of this is Starbucks, which is the only major global brand to showcase green in its logo. While most people associate the word “coffee” with being alert and energized, Starbucks brings an element tranquility to its café settings.

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It’s important to remember that too many colors will over-stimulate your consumer, resulting in confusion rather than a positive association. It’s better to keep your message clean and simple. This applies to word choice as well. It is to your advantage as a marketing professional to take the principles of psychology and apply them to your business strategy. It’s basically a marketing cheat-sheet, so why wouldn’t you want to use it?

Unless you’ve been hiding under a piece of coral for the last year, then it’s likely you’ve noticed the growing hype surrounding Disney Pixar’s Finding Dory. This movie comes more than a decade after the 2003 hit Finding Nemo, when we were first introduced to the endearingly forgetful character of Dory. But what makes this particular sequel so special? The anticipation for its release stems from the now young adults who grew up with Finding Nemo – childhood memories which were impressively harnessed by Pixar in its marketing strategies.

The movie poster below was released two years ago as the official announcement for the sequel. This ignited an immediate frenzy of nostalgia for those excited to relive a childhood movie favorite. Their approach? Simple, but effective. The four words and that recognizable fish tail were all they needed to remind the now 20-something-year-olds that they had once adored Finding Nemo. So how else has the Finding Dory team kept excitement going for 2 years?

 

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Keep It Simple

Minimalism was a key factor in the Finding Dory campaign since the beginning. The posters for the movie would appear with a single pattern and a hidden blue fish somewhere with a call for people to “find” her. In the middle or at the bottom, there would read either one of two lines: “She just kept swimming” or “Have you seen her?” The first originated as a key Dory quote from the original Finding Nemo movie, while the latter was the new slogan for the sequel. The posters encouraged people to think of the two movies as existing much closer together, despite spanning 13 years in real time.

Cross-Promote

The film made many strategic partnerships to promote the film’s release including Kellogg’s, Band-Aid, Subway, Coppertone, and GoGurt. One of the more prominent of these was the collaboration between the film and the USA Swimming Team with their SwimToday campaign. The campaign supported a Dory-themed website, with downloadable activity sheets, cross-promotion on social media using the hashtag #funnestsport, and influential advertising partnerships.

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And of course, one of the most significant advertisers for the movie is the woman behind voice of Dory: Ellen DeGeneres. Her daily talk show, which garners 3.9 million viewers per episode, was an incredible vehicle to drive conversation for the movie. Among other things, trailers were released during her shows and she became the most resourceful publicity channel for the film.

After a series of dynamite advertisements to spark anticipation, the movie hit the big screens this past weekend. And it did not disappoint. Finding Dory set a new box-office record for animated films, earning $136.2 million during its opening weekend. Just keep marketing, Dory team.

There’s something to be said about a weekend getaway to America’s wine region, Sonoma County. Breathtaking countryside, endless vineyards, the finest farm-to-table cuisine, all tucked into the rolling hills of Northern California. It’s the perfect spot to unwind and unplug – or to simply indulge in amazing food and a chilled glass of Sauvignon Blanc.

For 24 editors spanning a variety of lifestyle publications, this blissful vacation daydream became a reality during CBC’s Cooking Cottage experience from April 29-May 4.

The CBC Cooking Cottage is part of our House Program series and was born from the desire to provide editors and bloggers the opportunity to engage with a variety of brands in a tangible, meaningful way. Representatives from publications like Good Housekeeping, Oprah Magazine, Real Simple, Women’s Health, and more attended the organized oasis and left with a weekend experience they won’t forget.

Each day featured a new set of socially-engaging activities, each hosted by a different brand. The agenda included events like a wine and cheese at Arrowood Vineyard with President Cheese, an exclusive poolside yoga class with Clif Bar, tours of two Jackson Family Wines vineyards, a Pinot and Potatoes Paint Night with Alexia, and many delicious meals in between.

The Cooking Cottage experience gave participants an enchanting taste of the rich Sonoma culture, as well as an insider’s look at highly-coveted brands like Omaha SteaksSambazonStonewall Kitchen, and Simply Organic.

But don’t just take our word for it. Scroll through the amazing photos posted by our guests on the hashtag #CBCcottage on Instagram.

Until next year, Cooking Cottage!

There’s something to be said about a weekend getaway to America’s wine region, Sonoma County. Breathtaking countryside, endless vineyards, the finest farm-to-table cuisine, all tucked into the rolling hills of Northern California. It’s the perfect spot to unwind and unplug – or to simply indulge in amazing food and a chilled glass of Sauvignon Blanc.

For 24 editors spanning a variety of lifestyle publications, this blissful vacation daydream became a reality during CBC’s Cooking Cottage experience from April 29-May 4.

The CBC Cooking Cottage is part of our House Program series and was born from the desire to provide editors and bloggers the opportunity to engage with a variety of brands in a tangible, meaningful way. Representatives from publications like Good Housekeeping, Oprah Magazine, Real Simple, Women’s Health, and more attended the organized oasis and left with a weekend experience they won’t forget.

Each day featured a new set of socially-engaging activities, each hosted by a different brand. The agenda included events like a wine and cheese at Arrowood Vineyard with President Cheese, an exclusive poolside yoga class with Clif Bar, tours of two Jackson Family Wines vineyards, a Pinot and Potatoes Paint Night with Alexia, and many delicious meals in between.

The Cooking Cottage experience gave participants an enchanting taste of the rich Sonoma culture, as well as an insider’s look at highly-coveted brands like Omaha Steaks, Sambazon, Stonewall Kitchen, and Simply Organic.

But don’t just take our word for it. Scroll through the amazing photos posted by our guests on the hashtag #CBCcottage on Instagram.

Until next year, Cooking Cottage!

The average millennial’s attention span is… oh look, a text message! Thanks to technology and their addictive multi-tasking behavior, millennials’ attention span is about eight seconds, which is just one second less than that of your pet goldfish. Needless to say, it’s going to take a lot more than a catchy song and a flashy ad to connect with these consumers.

 

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If you are a marketer who is reading this right now—don’t fret.   Here are some inspiring tips and tactics from the pros to help you rock this target audience.

  • Millennials prefer quality over quantity

 

Due to their constant intake of knowledge and information, this generation is full of skeptics and cynics. They trust their ‘squad fam’ and respectable social media stars more than any prominent brand or company.

 

What does this mean for us as marketers? It means you should spend more money on higher-quality experiences that connect with fewer but more effective influencers.   These experiences will, in turn, create bigger opportunities for online influencer strategies. It’s kind of like the domino effect—start small by connecting with a few, and before you know it you’ll be influencing many.

 

  • Create unique brand experiences by fusing physical sensations with creative technology

 

Think 360-degree videos at events and virtual reality at home. These innovations help consumers become immersed in brands and their marketing strategies. They make the overall experience memorable and impactful by allowing individuals to interact with the brand before, during, and after the main event.

 

  • Keepin’ it real

 

Millennials are stubborn; chances are if you aggressively try to sell something to them, they ain’t buying it. As a marketer, it’s important that you complement, rather than try to change their lifestyles and habits. Let them experience your brand personality firsthand. Hey, if you’re really killin’ it they might even give you a shout out on one of their 9,652,567,234,820 social media handles.

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The 2016 Super Bowl brought along its usual jaw dropping and unforgettable moments for consumer and spectators alike. But what we at CBC care about is how well those big-name Super Bowl advertisers reached their target audience. One way to monitor how well brands did in their advertising initiatives is to measure post-game mentions. For a lucky few brands, talk is still buzzing, and while most of the heavy hitters spent large sums of money to have that precious air time, some were able to grab attention for free. You might be wondering- how did they pull THAT off? It’s simple: product placement.

Product placement has been a notable advertising technique for quite some time. The obvious advantages of product placement are that your brand gets air time with respectable and trustworthy opinion leaders, allowing your brands reputation to become more credible. While most companies will pay to have their products featured in media programs, it’s not always the case. In a couple instances that are mentioned below, brands get credible airtime without spending a dime, allowing for great post-game coverage for their product of service. Here are some brands that are making viral waves post-game.

Red Lobster

One of the biggest benefactors of this advertising technique would be Red Lobster. During Beyoncé’s half time performance, she mentions the chain restaurant in her new song. Red Lobster saw a spike in activity on their social media as well as a rise in sales since the release of the song just a day prior.

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Apple

Apple was another brand that didn’t pay for air time in any facet, but was instead including in advertising by other popular brands. The iPhone 6S, Apple’s CarPlay interface, the Apple Watch, and Beats Audio were able to make cameo appearances which spiked interest in Apple products associated with these brands. The cameo appearances were in a variety of product commercials from car companies like Hyundai, phone companies like T-Mobile, and Machine Zone’s Mobile Strike campaign.

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Budweiser

Budweiser was an unexpected benefactor of product placement after Peyton Manning said he was “going to drink a lot of Budweiser” after his super bowl win. An unfortunate circumstance for Budweiser who already spent millions of dollars in advertising fees, but nonetheless a credible and substantial push for their target media.

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Overall, this kind of advertisement is a luck of the draw approach: it isn’t the most reliable, and of course unlike paid advertisement, it’s never guaranteed. But as a PR professional, always be prepared for the unexpected, and if the instance occurs, make sure you thank those who gave you a shout-out!

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As 2015 is coming to an end and next year’s planning is kicking into full gear, it’s time to take a look at some emerging trends that will rule the digital landscape in 2016.

Different sources have varying perspectives on the top-tier trends, but for the most part everyone can agree that mobile and new gadgets in innovation will top the list. With the endless new devices topping holiday wish lists this season (iPad Pro, anyone?), marketers will definitely be zeroing in on optimizing their mobile platforms, and getting to the forefront of mobile ads.

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In an era where anything and everything is becoming digitalized, it’s important to keep an eye out for technological trends. Virtual Reality and 360 tech has had tons of buzz in 2015; it will be interesting to see where this takes us, and how advertisers will be able to integrate this into their projects.

Similarly, wearable tech like TomTom’s GPS watches will definitely be top of mind for advertisers in 2016. Whether or not the platforms will allow for advertising opportunities is still pending, but given the latest trends of social media brands opening up their platforms for advertisers, it wouldn’t be surprising if we start seeing pop-up advertising on our watches, too.

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Another industry trend that’s particularly interesting is the growing prominence of disruptive competitors, or small niche brands taking on industries dominated by a few key players. Services like Dollar Shave Club and Uber have been extremely successful in staking a claim within industries that have not seen new competitors in quite some time.

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With the emergence of new technologies and companies creating new markets for themselves, marketers will have to work harder than ever to stay ahead of the innovation game. Who knows what platforms will open their doors to advertisers in 2016! As ad-people, we’re staying on our toes, poised to create, to evolve, and to innovate in the name of the ever-changing game.

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As we pointed out a couple weeks ago, year after year, the holly jolly season makes a grand entrance sooner and sooner. With marketers hopping on board to grab the attention of their target consumers, initiatives are consistently being pushed to bring the merry spirit to life earlier in the year. But how early is too early for the Christmas Creep?

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For brands, it makes total sense to hook consumers with deals and steals through early-on initiatives. In a study done in 2014 by the Harvard Business Review, nearly 60 percent of shoppers started buying for the holidays as early as September and October. What’s drawing these people into the pre-pre-pre-holiday madness? The benefits.

Both consumers and brands get huge takeaways from more holiday-focused shopping. More time to buy means higher customer satisfaction: fewer items out-of-stock, less risk of shopping chaos, and a larger period of time to institute sales and POP deal opportunities throughout the span of three months. So at the end of the day, the few who continue to complain about the early arrival of Christmas are trumped by the rise of those who don’t mind the early, themed holiday pushes – and sure as heck take advantage it.

What about those companies who don’t conform to the preemptive holiday craziness? One company that continues to fight the Christmas Creep is Nordstrom, who continuously, year after year, decides to hold off on holiday marketing and decorating until after Thanksgiving, earning the respect of those still willing to enjoy the little bit of fall that lingers in November before Christmas season officially hits in December.

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Will there be any “bah humbug” critics of this year’s Christmas Creep? Or have we all succumbed to the allure of the months-long bargains and early-released holiday shopping campaigns?

Tell us what you think: bring on the bargains or hold off on the holidays?

Virtual reality, a fairly new thing for most, is a 3D reality of an environment that imitates physical presence in places that exist elsewhere in the world or in an imaginary place. Mostly known as a new platform for video games, virtual realities are also becoming very popular in marketing and journalism, with the potential to be the new form of storytelling. You can experience virtual realities with a pair of Oculus glasses or with something as simple as a Google Cardboard. With this technology, you can watch videos to see, connect and experience life elsewhere in the world on a completely different level.

Can you imagine what life is like as a nine-year-old in South Sudan, displaced by warfare? Well, now you can – thanks to the New York Times Virtual Reality app, which shares the stories of three children in eastern Ukraine, Syria and South Sudan.

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Can you imagine what the life of a ballerina is like? Or what about an experiential virtual reality where you walk into a store, try on a winter jacket and take a quick trip to the South Pole? A North Face store in South Korea created a virtual experience for its shoppers to experience what it would be like to wear the jacket on a dog sledding ride.

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With these novel uses of a just-as-novel technology, consumers have the opportunity to be completely transported. If advertising can pull at the heartstrings, virtual realities can impose more literal experiences – be they emotional, tactile, or the like – on people. Point of purchase tactics have immense potential for growth with VR, as do activations and other brand-to-consumer interactions, something we specialize in here at CBC. With North Face exemplifying the trend of brands using technologies to engage on closer, more intimate levels with consumers, we’re eager (and, honestly, a little wary!) to see what’s to come.

Companies such as Instagram and SnapChat have taken their widely successful social media apps and managed to turn them into money-making advertising machines. By launching services that integrate company-generated content into the interfaces, these mobile applications are able to capitalize upon their preexisting user-base through compensation by advertisers.

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The newest company to monopolize on their users is AdBlock Plus, a download that blocks annoying pop-ups and allows users to bypass YouTube’s pre-video advertisements. Because of ad-blocking extensions, ignoring online advertising is easier than fast-forwarding through commercials. Eyeo GmbH, the makers of the popular download, are trying to make money off of their new program, ‘Acceptable Ads’. This would allow companies to pay and have their ads bypass the blocker, as long as they adhere to a set of guidelines.

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This new program allows AdBlock Plus to make the most of its pre-existing user base by charging advertisers to ensure that their messages are reaching their target. The sole reason to download an ad blocker is to eliminate exactly what they are trying to sell: ads. Having paid content on SnapChat and Instagram has so far been well received, as the ads don’t seem to interfere with user experience. However, users who are accustomed to an ad-free experience may find this new program disruptive and counterproductive. Since selling ad space to companies defeats the whole purpose of an ad blocker, it’s unclear how the company will fare in upcoming talks with publishers, considering its now roundabout, slightly oxymoronic chain of operations.

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Summer is winding down, and parents everywhere are preparing their kids and their homes to accommodate the new school year. From stocking up on school supplies to transitioning closets to accommodate the crisp fall months, it can be overwhelming for a parent to sort through all the new products at hand. Luckily, CerconeBrown has the answer to these parenting dilemmas! Since its introduction in 2013, the CBC Parenting Experience works to connect top parenting and children’s brands and products directly to top lifestyle press.

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The Parenting Experience is a one-day event showcasing a collection of the best products that top brands have to offer. Guests are invited to sample and taste test these new items, allowing them to get face-to-face and hands-on experience with the experts behind the brands. This year’s event took place this past Wednesday at the London NYC Hotel Penthouse suite, and participants from parenting and lifestyle magazines, top mommy bloggers, and high-influencing mom personalities joined in on the fun. In total, 33 top-tier media were able to get to know brands who ran the gamut from snack solutions to educational tools for children.

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Sabra, Plum Organics, and Pom Wonderful were on-site sampling and sharing their brand flavors, while LEGO and ABC Mouse showcased new toys and tools that are both interactive and educational.

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The Parenting Experience is not only about the children, but also the parents! Nothing ruins a family outing more than cold and wet feet, and BOGS presented cold-weather solutions for parents and children alike.

The Parenting Experience is just one of CBC’s House Programs, facilitating press and brand interactions between editors, authors, and bloggers and the newest, best products in their beats, all in a casual yet high-energy setting. This experience was another success: authentic, intimate, and the preface for long-lasting brand/press relationships.

Can you teach an old dog a new trick? Well sometimes, you just have to.

As marketers, we constantly have to be one step ahead of rapid-paced consumer trends. Here are some helpful hints from Mashable on how to transform old marketing habits into effective, contemporary, and attention-holding approaches.

Use (your phone) or lose (your customer)

With today’s on-the-go society, brands need to utilize their resources to capture people’s attention as effectively and efficiently as possible. Doing so requires modification to email marketing approaches. While people still use a desktop to do most of their work, we use our phones more times than not to access our email. Thinking of ways to use that 5” display could give your company the upper hand. Keeping your emails straight, to the point, easy to read, and optimizing information for the small screen will make it all the more interesting to read, driving your audience toward engagement with your message.

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Make them interested

Along with on-the-go mindsets comes the human attention span dwindling down to that of a goldfish, but brevity doesn’t mean we can’t hook our audience. When using social media and emails, always provide a call to action that drives the audience to learn more about your company and more about what you want them to know. In addition, engaging and rewarding your audience can be a way to get a sure quick response rate. Give a little, get a little.

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Know the numbers

A little quantitative TLC can go a long way. When marketers and their clients are attentive to their audiences – demographics, ethnographics, and the like – their campaigns and initiatives are likely much more effective. We live in a world where personalization is no longer a luxury; it’s simply an expectation. So knowing your customer and exploring their mindset can work wonders when it comes to establishing credibility as a brand, or for your client.

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We’ve all had them before: those emotional moments, good or bad, brought on by some of our favorite sports moments. You may have been watching the Super Bowl with your family on TV, or been on Twitter obsessively to keep updated on who was winning the NHL Stanley Cup playoffs, or maybe you were privileged to witness history when the U.S. Women’s National soccer team won the Women’s World Cup with a final score of 5-2 against Japan, just last Monday.

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Whatever spurred your emotional interest: a personal connection to the sport, the players, the sponsors, or the overall event was somehow cultivated. One can healthily assume that our game – the game of marketing, that is – had something to do with that connectedness. Sports marketing has grown tremendously over the past few years and PWC predicts global sports revenue will grow to $145.3 billion between the years 2010 and 2015.

The opportunity for sporting events’ reach is reflected in the Wall Street Journal’s calling-out of Snapchat’s Women’s World Cup social media shortcoming. The Journal reported on the photo sharing application’s missed opportunity. Unlike it’s done in the past, Snapchat did not garner sponsors (read: advertisers) for its Women’s World Cup “story”, which is a contributory compilation of videos and/or photos from its users, funneled into one channel that creates a visual “story” of what’s happening at that specific event or place. The article critiques the infrastructural capacity of Snapchat, and questions its capabilities’ appeal to advertisers.

And that’s just a missed opportunity. There are clearly advertisers and brands capitalizing on the connection consumers have to their sports. And as media grows more social, more mobile, and more interactive, that connection is not growing any weaker, anytime soon.

Lesson? Brands need to strengthen their marketing game, because ultimately the winners are the ones who not only know the sport, they know how to tap into the emotions behind it.