A grasshopper’s marketing leap

Grasshopper, an 800 phone number provider for small businesses in the US, rebranded itself.

To advertise the new name (they were previously known as GotVMail) and brand, they grafted a clever marketing strategy.

They started with compiling a list of the 5,000 most influential people in the US. It included influential bloggers, journalists, celebrities, TV anchors, and CEOs (Pete Cashmore, Adam Ostrow, and Tamar Weinberg).

Then they created a package to be sent by snail mail consisting of real chocolate covered grasshoppers ( a wink to their new name) with a simple message and video URL. The URL linked to an inspirational YouTube video about how entrepreneurs can change the world.

The packages were shipped out by FedEx last May. Some of the recipients (Josh Lohensohn of CNET) posted videos online of themselves eating the grasshopper. The campaign created a lot of buzz, especially on blogs and Twitter.

Some data (source: mashable.com):

• 4,911% traffic increase from April to May 2009
• 144,843 video views with 162 comments
• 1,500 tweets
• 120 blog posts in one month
• Tweets from Guy Kawasaki, Kevin Rose, and Jason Calacanis
• 7 national TV mentions, including FOX

What are the success factors?

A sound concept
This was not just a renaming/rebranding, but a repositioning of the company. Needham-based GotVMail Communications LLC is a maker of communication systems for small businesses. They wanted to relaunch their company targeting entrepreneurship – a shift from being a telecommunications company to a company that helped entrepreneurs.

A theme that makes sense
The company chose the grasshopper to communicate the idea of jumping forward. Since grasshoppers can jump 20 times their own size, they nicely symbolize small businesses (their potential customers) that want to leap forward.

Flawless execution
The grasshoppers were farm-raised insects and dipped in chocolate. They were very professional packaged and clearly stated what was inside.

The front of the envelope said:
“Yes, these are real grasshoppers. Approved by the FDA of Thailand”.

On the back was written:
“You’re a risk-taker, a dream-realizer. What’s left to do that you haven’t already done? Eat a grasshopper. They’re farm raised, covered in chocolate and rich in protein. So, not only will you be breaking boundaries, but you’ll be eating healthy, too.”

The call to action was on the attached tag:
Entrepreneurs can change the world.Join the movement now!http://grasshopper.com/idea
Perfect marketing mix
This campaign combines a snail mail FedEx package with word of mouth (WOM) and social media. The landing page of the video URL made it easy for postings on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and other sites using an AddThis widget.

Attainable goals
The Grasshopper campaign was able to achieve its main goals with a small budget:

• To get attention
• To hold interest
• To get people talking
• To be considered as a supplier

No word if PETA was among the 5,000…..

Corporate website 3.0 – Skittles brave jump into the marketing future

Skittles went where no candy maker has gone before – and launched a corporate 3.0 website.

Skittles are candy products, produced by Mars, Inc., and part of the Wrigley product line.

Mars spokesman Ryan Bowling told the Wall Street Journal, that the site was redesigned to better connect with its core teenage audience, which spends a lot of time using social media.

"The teen audience relies heavily on their peers for advice on products. This is a unique, unexpected way to engage and to be a part of the conversation."

How does this site work? The “homepage” of Skittles is a small banner that fixes itself on the top left of your screen. No matter which tab you click, the URLs remain www.skittles.com/xxx,
The tabs link to customer-generated content (Wikipedia, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter)

1. “Home” and “Products” link to the Wikipedia page with the product description

2. “Media” has two components: “Videos” that links to YouTube and “Pics” that links to Flickr

3. “Chatter” brings you to the Twitter page

4. “Friends” links you to a Facebook page

5. “Contact” is the only tab that connects to a standard corporate website – the contact form on the Wrigley website

6. “Other Gobbledygook” will take you to the copyright notice and legal disclaimer

7. The middle part is a dynamic banner. Once you click for more information, a new window opens with a dedicated website ( e.g., http://www.havemorefunds.com/)

It is the first time that I came across such a website 3.0 of a reigning consumer brand. Instead of Skittles reaching out to its customers, it allows them to communicate directly and in a highly visible way. There are some possible pitfalls and dangers though......

Does the website reach the target demographics?
To enter the site, you must first confirm that you are over 18. (Before able to login, you get the message: “Hold your horses. Before you can check out Skittles.com, you’ve gotta tell us your age. So spill it”. Aren’t most Skittles-consumers younger?

Is Twitter a good choice?
According to Peter Corbett, CEO of iStrategyLabs, there are no children on Twitter - the majority of application-users are between the ages of 18-49 years of age. Is Mars aiming for the parents of their child consumers or for a whole new demographic?

How are negative comments handled?
Is there a staff that monitors content and communications and that can handle damage control?

How does Skittles/Mars protect themselves and their customers from malware and Web 2.0 threats?
It is quite easy for cybercrooks to inject malicious code in any of the pages. (Michael Gray provides some great advise on his SEO blog)

What about SEO?
The site consists of an iframe with almost no independent content. Technically, Facebook, Twitter or Wikipedia are not visited, but the Skittles’ website pulls the content for you into an iframe.

How will it affect the overall Mars brand?
Did the the flood of obscene, racist, and otherwise tasteless tweets have an impact?

The website was launched in March 2009 and designed by agency.com.
According to agency’s executive director Chad Stoller: “It is a very bold campaign in the sense that they are letting consumers speak on behalf of the brand."

My personal take: I love the fact that Skittles embraced Web 3.0 and is brave enough to relinquish control. But it might too much unchartered territory with unpredictable and even uncontrollable results. I hope that Skittles will tell us how they fared – up till now, there have been no announcements or reactions from Mars or the agency. No matter what, I predict that this one will make it many MBA course materials and marketing handbooks.

In the mean time, all I can say is: chapeau!

Chinese Web Marketing – A case study from Money Cat

Money Cat Consulting is and Australian multi-lingual marketing company.
It provides innovative marketing solutions for corporations wishing to reach Chinese communities in Australia and abroad.

They launched a Chinese-language financial & investment website (http://www.moneycat.com.au), to reach Chinese investors.

To reach out and acquire members, they used various marketing & PR tools – with different levels of success.

When reaching for the Chinese market, these are the lessons that we can learn from Money Cat.

• Using newspapers is very expensive with a very low response rate. Especially advertisements have little effect, but some advertorials can generate a good level of interest depending on the specific product.
  
• Web banners can work sometimes, but they usually have a limited exposure period. It can be a good tool for branding, but Chinese web users do not click a lot on web banners anymore.
  
• Google Adword-campaign is not effective for reaching the Chinese market – the favorite search engine is Baidu. Google Adword and Yahoo keywords do work in Taiwan and Hong Kong, where English is is predominant Web language.
  
• Taiwanese websites are effective as a marketing channel, since many Chinese web users also look at Taiwanese websites for information. Especially articles on consumer goods and finance are popular.
  
• Blogs are highly effective, it generates consistent traffic. Chinese web users love to read and write blogs. Money Cat sent an article to 200+ blogs across Asia (and Australia), and saw their traffic grown tenfold in a month. However, it is important to target the right blogs for the right topics.
  
• Videos and Audios can be effective, but bandwidth is still a problem. Broadband infrastructure is not yet fully established across China, and quality is often distorted. Money Cat opted to upload video clips on Taiwanese and Hong Kong websites that can also be accessed by Chinese viewers.