While there are several definitions for what ‘integrated marketing’ means, we’ll use it in this blog post to define when physical activities (television, print, radio, events, etc.) are blended with website and social media offerings. This integration is a powerful way to achieve your marketing goals, whether they are to drive sales, promote brand awareness, increase online traffic, or get a new message out. Traditional offline activities, like their online counterparts, continue to provide a great deal of marketing potential. The two used together create a combined energy that exceeds the sum of the parts.
Consider how Kraft has recently used integrated marketing in their latest product promotions. For their current Wheat Thins campaign, their stated goal was to increase product discussion and the number of followers of their @CrunchIsCalling account on Twitter. It is clear Kraft has concluded that (1) increased online product discussion and (2) increased followership on Twitter will (3) increase brand affinity, (4) establish a perceived consumer connection and ultimately (5) increase sales.
To bolster their followership, Kraft assembled an on-the-ground response team to seek out Twitter users who tweet about the product. They call their responses interventions and have assembled a Wheat Thins “The Crunch Is Calling” YouTube channel where viewers can watch the response team roll in and interact with each Twitter user.
Of the large number of Internet surfers who see the videos and witness the entertaining interventions, many will seek to invoke their own engagement. The content of the videos will certainly appeal to the demographics that use YouTube and Twitter. These users will very likely engage the brand directly online and will almost certainly share what they have seen both online and offline.
At smith&jones we see online as a major tool in the comprehensive toolkit we use to connect companies with their customers. If you are interested in a marketing campaign with integrated activities; if you want ideas that are unique and captivating; if your goals are to increase brand awareness and connect with your consumers, get in touch with smith&jones. We’re looking forward to hearing from you.
Magazines and their web counterparts have existed pretty much as two separate mediums with web winning more of the market share as time goes on. Perhaps, until now… Esquire magazine has just announced “Augmented Reality” which they are revealing in their December issue. This exciting form of new media unites print and web. Simply go tho the URL provided, hold your print page up to the computer’s camera and watch your computer screen come to life. In the upcoming issue, Robert Downey Jr. jumps off the page reflected on your computer screen and starts talking to you. Triggering this interactivity is a little grid on the printed page. It doesn’t end there… throughout the issue there are many other interactive experience that you control, like changing the weather on one onscreen page simply by rotating you magazine. This new technology quite possibly could bring print into the age of new media – it definitely adds excitement. Is augmented reality just a the next big fad, or is it the way or reinventing print? Only time will tell, but it’s definitely worth checking out. The December issue of Esquire is scheduled to hit the stands November 16th. Check it out!