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What could McDonalds have done instead?

The failure of McDonalds’ hashtag made me wonder about the kinds of campaigns that would have worked for them. As the article points out, opening up a forum for sharing experiences about a brand only work if the brand has a positive association with most people. So how could McDonalds have interacted with customers and still gotten social media attention? 

The following video from Pepsi’s #LiveForNow campaign is a great example of one solution:

The video is interesting to watch and delights both viewers and participants. It also ties in very well with the tagline of “Unbelievable.”

Thus, one option for McDonalds would have been to co-create content directly with customers in a more controlled environment. Maybe they could have created a more interactive in-store experience that can then be used to attract attention on social media with a hashtag. This allows them to show a more fun side, as well as have more say in the kind of content that is being generated.

The clear hurdle with this example, however, is the steep cost associated with putting together such a campaign. Pepsi’s ad required a lot of technology and planning and was definitely not cheap. Social media campaigns are usually preferred because they are low cost; however, for brands like McDonalds that don’t necessarily have the required brand equity, maybe this is a worthy investment.

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Branding in healthcare

Successful branding is extremely important in healthcare and, some may argue, more influential than it can be in other sectors. This is the case for two main reasons: First, consumers here are patients who approach healthcare providers in highly personal and potentially mortal circumstances and thus, are looking for the highest quality service possible. Second, patients can be very loyal if they have a strong positive experience and, on the flipside, can be very harmful if they have a negative experience. Thus, healthcare providers have a lot to gain from maintaining a strong brand. 

Here are some great examples of healthcare companies/providers that have used social media to project a positive brand association:

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Kardashian: Branded House or House of Brands?

The Kardashian brand is interesting to examine for more reasons than one. It has seen a phenomenal success, even in the face of its infamous beginning and a strong negative sentiment against the Kardashian sisters. In this post, I take a stab at answering the question: Where does the Kardashian brand fall on the spectrum from branded house to house of brands? Over the years, the sisters have launched a variety of products and dabbled with endorsing multiple items, but there is a clear overarching Kardashian brand that has persisted through all of these ventures. “Kardashian” seems to stand for luxury, beauty, and a surprising allure to be a part of something viral. But even within this larger Kardashian brand, each of the sisters has developed their own personal subbrand that emphasizes their taste and personality. For example, Kendal Jenner is associated with more high fashion brands because of her modeling career and Kylie Jenner appeals to a more youthful demographic compared to the rest of her sisters. Kim Kardashian, and more recently, Kylie Jenner are the leading subbrands within the Kardashian umbrella as they garner the most social media support. The portfolio of Kardashian brands includes a variety of different product lines that the sisters have either launched individually or working on in collaboration. These include makeup (Kardashian Beauty, Kylie Lip Kit, Kardashian Kolors by Nicole OPI), clothes (Kardashian Kollection, Dash), jewelry (Belle Noel Jewelry), perfumes, and many more items related to fashion. The sisters also have numerous endorsements that they lend their personal brand to including a variety of diet products and services (Fit Tea, Perfect Skin, Laser Hair Removal, Quick Trim). Thus, based on the variety of subbrands, product lines, and endorsements, the Kardashians clearly fall closer to the middle of range between Branded House and House of Brands. 

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Riding out the turbulence

Singapore Airlines made a smart choice early on to focus on differentiating itself from other airlines based on customer service. Since the airline industry has high fixed costs, competition usually devolves to competing on price and the airlines with the lowest costs are the ones that turn profitable. In Singapore Airlines’ case, the company benefited from low labor costs in the early years and, instead of lowering prices due to lower costs and branding itself as a cheap, low-cost carrier, it chose instead to retain this margin and invest it towards building a loyal customer base through its customer service. Emblematic of this is the Singapore Girl ad campaign that symbolizes the adjectives Singapore Airlines is trying the associate with its image: classy, desirable, and helpful. 

In the aftermath of September 11, Singapore Airlines has to deal with a drop off in customer demand and needs to counter this with cost saving measures in order to prevent erosion of its margin. In particular, it has to make a call on whether to proceed with a costly investment of $100 million in installing seats that become horizontal beds for its business class customers. This investment was undertaken in light of competition from British Airways, which has already caused some Singapore Airlines passengers to make a switch. Given the challenging market, I recommend that Singapore Airlines postpone the investment in chair technology and use the cost savings to double down on providing better overall customer service. They have clearly cemented their rankings in customer service and I think this is their opportunity to lean into this competitive advantage and use it to their benefit. Yes, there will be some customers who will choose to switch airlines because of better seat quality, but overall, customers have come to know and expect the level of quality they are used to in Singapore Airlines and will not prefer to move. Once the company has ridden this turbulence in the airline market, it can return to making costly investments in seat technology, allowing it capture customers who value these additions.

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Cheap wine or Fancy wine? How about both?

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Corona’s marketing strategy using the “Fun, Sun, Beach” theme has built a story for the beer brand, making it emblematic of a good, relaxing time. In comparison, Heineken has struggled to create a fleshed out story behind its brand. Its marketing campaigns have been focused on branding itself as “the best beer,” but haven’t evoked any specific emotions from consumers with its ads. This lack of emotion does not breed customer loyalty and creates a gap that Corona can exploit in evaluating a competitive strategy with Heineken.

 Faced with Heineken’s decision to revamp its marketing strategy, I do not agree with the idea that Corona should rethink it’s “Fun, Sun, Beach” campaign. Instead, I think it should lean more heavily into it and use it as a product differentiator to continue to develop a personality for its beer that builds a competitive advantage. This stands in contrast with Heineken’s more mysterious beer personality, which leaves more to be desired from customers.

 One point of concern is Heineken’s new “Heineken Nights” initiative, which combines media coverage with customer interaction. This can potentially be a powerful tool to convert customers and bring them closer to the brand. To counter this, Corona should experiment with sampling, especially in line with its relaxed theme. For example, Modelo can hire employees wearing beach clothing to hand out free samples or leverage social media to create an Instagram contest of the best photo of Corona on a beach.

  Abandoning the personality that Corona has already built will not serve to help sales, in fact, I argue that it will hurt brand loyalty and create inconsistency in the customer’s minds, especially when faced with competition from another beer brand.