Monday, August 23, 2010
In 2009, Internet users bought nearly $2.2 billion worth of virtual goods; experts forecast that number will increase to $6 billion by 2013. – eMarketer
Applications and social games that allow users to spend real-world money to enhance their online experience are the top earners in the virtual numbers game.
“Last year, social games, one of the most popular forms of social application, generated over $500 million in revenue — the majority of which came from social games on Facebook.” – Mashable
This growing trend of virtual shopping presents a huge opportunity for premium food marketers to repurpose their real-world product in an online world.
UK newspaper, The Guardian recently reported that Small Planet Foods, a subsidiary of General Foods, had introduced a new brand of organic blueberries that only exists in the virtual world where it is traded although the money needed to purchase them is quite real. The blueberries represent a “brand extension” of a real-world product which General Foods plans to use to establish a presence in FarmVille.
As consumers continue to spend more time engaging with social gaming tools, how can you integrate your food product into this virtual world? Is there an application or game that currently exists, such as Second Life or FarmVille, where you would like to create a presence? Or, would you create your own virtual world or game to engage customers?
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Labels: Facebook, FarmVille, marketing premium food, Premium Food, social games, social media, Stephan & Brady, virtual goods
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
If you’re a foodie then Foodspotting.com is the site for you. A social networking visual food guide, Foodspotting takes user sharing beyond restaurant reviews and recommendations by requiring that photos speak for the reviewer.
Foodspotting is a collection of user-uploaded photos of various edible treats and where to find them. You can set your location and browse items in your neighborhood, and further specify by food type, by place or by person. You can further sort by dishes that have received the highest ratings or were most recently added. – Mashable
In addition, the program is available as an app for any Apple mobile media device, allowing users to post an entry to the site while on-location.
“We think this platform has a lot of potential, particularly for local advertisers. Business could reward users for completing guides, loyalty cards and “other desired actions,” founder Alexa Andrzejewski suggested.
Are you excited about Foodspotting? Do you think this could be the foodie equivalent to FourSquare?
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Labels: advertising, foodies, Foodspotting.com, marketing premium food, Premium Food, social media, Stephan & Brady
Thursday, July 22, 2010
The premium food marketers that are approaching programming for iPad apps differently than iPhone apps are achieving a ‘Wow!’ factor.
Kraft Foods recently unveiled “Big Fork, Little Fork,” an iPad app that is targeting young parents and kids with information on healthy eating.
The iPad provides a wider canvas, which will include how-to videos, educational games and basic skills for kids in the kitchen, as well as recipes.
Kraft, with Meredith, has created content specifically for this platform.
– Advertising Age
By utilizing the larger screen space and incorporating video, iPad app developers are using the tool to its full potential to engage users.
“IPad lends itself to brand content if content makes sense for that brand,” said Derek Handley co-founder and CEO of Hyperfactory. “It’s different from business as usual. It’s the intersection of new-content development, product development and designing the user interface and how the consumer interacts.”
Have you marketed an app specifically for iPad? If so, what were your top priorities or concerns in using the new platform?
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Labels: advertising, Apple, iPad, iPhone, Kraft, marketing premium food, Mobile Marketing, Premium Food, Smartphone, social media, Stephan & Brady
Friday, July 16, 2010
A good premium food marketer will have a crisis communications plan at hand for any potential emergency. But, how many have a social media crisis communications plan ready?
A social media strategy is not complete without a crisis communications plan. Before a social media strategy is implemented, it is important to review and modify an organization’s existing crisis communications plan; or if needed, draft a comprehensive crisis communications plan.
Social media not only presents new risks or threats that an organization needs to consider, it also introduces new ways to listen to conversations and respond to potential crisis situations.
Mashable recently reported on a new scam hitting Facebook that targeted Coca-Cola.
The scam promises to show you a video revealing the “truth” about Coca-Cola, but all it’s really after is your personal info.
The message reads: “I am part of the 98.0% of people that are NEVER gonna drink Coca Cola again after this HORRIFIC video,” followed by a link.
If you click on the link, you’ll be asked to share the video seven times. However, the counter doesn’t work, so eventually you’ll be tempted to click on a link that says “Cant Be Bothered To Wait? –> Click Here To Skip This.”
The second link takes you to a poll, which — you guessed it — is the central part of the scam. It asks you for personal information you should definitely not reveal to just anyone or any application.
As the interactive and social world continues to evolve, it is imperative that your organization has a plan of action ready for any potential emergencies. Have you implemented a social media crisis communications plan?
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Labels: coca cola, crisis communications, Facebook, marketing premium food, PR, Premium Food, public relations, social media, Stephan & Brady
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Want to add some punch to your lunch? Stephan & Brady is offering a free 30-minute consultation to help you deal with the tricky marketing issues or questions you just can’t seem to solve.
Through December 2010, we’ll bring one session every other month to our blog readers. Topics will vary from social and interactive media to public relations and design. While we’ll provide a topic for each session, we are open to discussing an issue that’s a hot button for you. We’re leaving the lines of communication open because It’s Your Call.
The best part? It really is free – no sales pitches, no gimmicks – just honest-to-goodness advice. The only thing we ask is that you leave a comment in this post letting us know why your company is the best candidate for the phone consultation. We’ll pick one winner at random from the responses. No need to enter more than once. You can provide a name and email and we’ll let you know you’ve won, or we’ll announce the winner based on their comment “handle,” in which case you’ll need to check back and email us with your info.
We’ll probably summarize the consultation into a blog post so everyone can benefit, but you can remain anonymous if you like.
Our first session will take place on Wednesday, August 4 over the lunch hour (or whatever timeframe best suits your needs). We’ll be taking submissions for this session today through July 23 and will select the first participant on July 28. Our first topic is “Does online advertising work for B2B?” But remember, if there is something else you’d really like to discuss, we’re open to that as well.
We’re excited to share our collective wisdom and look forward to stimulating conversation and interaction. Comment away, and good luck!
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Labels: advertising, Advertising Agency, marketing, PR, public relations, S&B, social media, Stephan & Brady, Stephan and Brady
Tuesday, May 25, 2010
Tailoring, customization and personalization. Consumers want it all and they want it just for them. With technology advancing at a staggering rate, it is very possible to market your premium food to an individual efficiently and cost-effectively. Modern customization tools allow you to speak to a mass audience while letting the technology tailor the message on an individual level.
Some specific examples of this include Facebook advertising, Netflix and Amazon. The ads users see on Facebook change every time they supply the networking site with additional information. If a user changes cities, jobs or relationship status, they automatically see ads that speak specifically to those changes. Similarly, with Netflix and Amazon, every time you make a purchase or add a DVD to your queue, suggestions are made based on your site history.
Taking a cue from the customization handbook, Yummly.com, a food-focused site that offers recipes and meal ideas, very recently joined the table.
“This just-launched recipe-search site “learns” what you like to cook and suggests your next kitchen adventure accordingly. As with other recipe sites, you can filter searches by ingredients, allergens, price, time and cuisine. But what makes Yummly stand out is its intuition: The more you use it, the better it understands your taste and quibbles, then employs its algorithms to recommend recipes to match.” – Tasting Table
Yummly brings additional value with its expansive database that includes more than 250,000 recipes pulled from top culinary sites, such as Epicurious, The Food Network and Chow.
How could you use this technology to market your premium food to your customer?
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Labels: customization, food trends, marketing premium food, Premium Food, Stephan & Brady, Tasting Table, Yummly
Friday, April 9, 2010
Facebook has again made page adjustments which could impact how fans interact with premium food brands on the site.
One of the most recent of these changes is the ability to choose a “community page” option or an “official page” option when building a Facebook fan page. While both look very similar, there are distinct differences between the two.
Community pages are for all of the unofficial pages created by fans in support of (or against) certain topics, brands or causes – think “Can this French fry get more fans than Miley Cyrus?” In fact, search for Miley Cyrus in Facebook and you’ll find more than 500 page results. Are any of them the actual Miley Cyrus?
There’s a big difference in functionality too - Facebook says that if a page becomes popular enough, administration will be handed over to the Facebook community. In other words, Community Pages become a whole lot like a wiki once they reach a certain threshold. – Mashable
So how does this change affect premium food marketers? Well, Facebook is hoping that the new distinction will allow companies to maintain a stronger hold on their brand identities. If you are the “official you,” you’ll be able to declare it so and maintain your brand identity while allowing fans to continue to show enthusiasm. Consider it a form of identity theft protection for Facebook Fan Pages.
In my opinion, the only thing missing is some sort of identifier that calls out the official page. For instance, I searched Starbucks and Facebook returned 3,500 results. The only way I could tell which fan page was the official Starbucks was the fan count (more than 6 million in this case). Had Facebook labeled the official page, I wouldn’t have to wonder which of the 3,500 pages I should fan to declare my devotion to the coffee brand.
How do you feel about this split in Fan Pages? Do you think Community Pages are a good thing or will they ultimately harm a brand’s image?
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Labels: Facebook, marketing premium food, Premium Food, social media, Stephan & Brady
