Email Marketing Evolved

I've been doing some research on the new challenges of email marketing.  People just don't read anymore. This is nothing new.  But now, people don't even look anymore.  More and more email marketing campaigns are having trouble with click rates.  So, there are some developing trends to help personalize and segment the email marketing experience in order to increase click through.   It's pretty amazing how specific companies are getting just to tailor your email marketing experience. For example:

• Including First Name Personalization. (Hey Trisha, you need to buy shoes)
• Reference Past Activity on that site.  (Like "Hey remember when you looked at these shoes?  Don't you want to buy them?")
• Personalizing by Location (check out what's happening by you)
• Reward Subscribers (Just plain bribery, VERY effective. Once people see that you have deals in you emails, they are more apt to open the next one looking for a new deal)
• Making it social (adding sharing links in emails so that you can be the first of your friends to post on Facebook about some new product or discount)

I'm on a Horse

Tonight as we were all still in the office after hours, Jin brought up the new Old Spice commercials.  I clicked on one of the videos and once people heard it (even though we had ALL seen these ads before) everyone gathered around my desk to go through the entire campaign and re-watch all of the videos.  

As we sat there giggling and replaying our favorite parts, it occurred to me that this campaign had accomplished the impossible.  When was the last time I can remember an ad campaign drawing a crowd?  You are lucky if you can get the modern day person to watch .5 seconds of your ad, let alone re-watching 5 minutes of product based advertising.  I'm sure we were all sitting back wishing we had come up with this concept.  

I adore these videos.  

Will I go out and buy Old Spice soap?  Probably not.   

Did it bring an epic level of brand awareness while simultaneously making all of us want to pee our pants with laughter?  Absolutely!  

Keeping Up with the Ad-Man

I just got back from vacation and I, not unlike many other people in the advertising industry, have a very hard time disconnecting myself from my job.  So, even though I PROMISED myself no work in Hawaii, I picked up "Adland" at the bookstore and told myself that reading a book about advertising for my 10 hours on a plane was a good compromise.    

It's all about how the world of ad and branding is constantly changing and just as soon as you think you've got it down...the game changes again.  This author specifically was at the top of his game right before the digital revolution and social/viral marketing.  It's crazy to read about his experiences trying to swiftly adapt to the 180 degree change of everything he had ever learned about building a brand.    

The bottom line of advertising will always be there.  ("HOW DO I GET HIS GUY TO WANT TO BUY THIS THING") But how to get that message across is the tricky part.  I think that's what a lot of us here actually love about our job. Every day here is an adventure.   We are constantly challenged to reinvent the wheel and push ourselves to capture the every shrinking attention span of the modern consumer.  We live for this stuff.