Good is credited with helping to develop The Pepsi Refresh Project, which awarded more than $20 million to approximately 1,000 projects in 2010. The Pepsi Refresh Project encourages humanitarians to promote their causes on the Pepsi website and on Facebook, and consumers decide who should be awarded money by voting online. Now in its second year, Pepsi Refresh has been recognized by Forbes magazine as one of the five best social-media campaigns.

Mr. Newman writes that Good, based in Los Angeles, CA, met with Pepsi, which had created their new slogan to connect with popular sentiment following the 2008 U.S. presidential election, “Every Pepsi refreshes the world.”

“Over the last three or four years people have been looking at brands and asking, ‘Is this brand part of the solution or is this brand part of the problem?’” said Kirk Souder, executive creative director of Good/Corps. “More brands are coming out wanting to create a new North Star for themselves, and we help them align their business strategy with social impact.”

Or as Sebastian Buck, co-leader of Good/Corps submits: “In an era when consumers actually follow brands in the same manner they follow their friends on Facebook and Twitter, the values revolution is in many ways being amplified by the digital revolution. Customers can advocate both for and against companies, so companies have to be truly authentic. All brands are going to have to cross this threshold in terms of redefining themselves in this new culture.”

Several recent reports studying cause marketing’s impact on consumer behavior and brand perception support Mr. Souder’s claims. A study by Edelman, the public relations firm, found that nearly nine in ten (87%) Americans believe that companies should at least be concerned with societal interests as with business interests.

The 2010 Cause Evolution Study by the cause marketing experts, Cone, reported that 41% of consumers purchased a product in the past year because it was associated with a good cause, more than double the percentage (20%) that was reported in 1993, the first year of the annual study.

Additionally, Cone’s 2010 study claims that 80% of Americans were likely to switch to brands that supported a good cause; and an even higher percentage of 18-24 year-olds were likely to do so at 85%.

http://nyti.ms/kVa2s8

A web-based survey of 13,000 American adults who listen to rock, alternative, classic rock and sports radio stations, reveals that companies targeting mass audiences need to reconsider their long-held views about the value of men in their marketing communications’ and media buying strategies. 

Jacobs Media, a Southfield, MI research and consulting firm, commissioned the “Marketing To Men” study to address the trend among media buyers who are shifting attention away from men and towards women.  “There has been a shortage of solid data to help educate marketers about the changing role of men in the purchasing process,” says Jacobs Media Vice President/General Manager Paul Jacobs.

Mr. Jacobs contends that marketing products and services to consumers is more difficult and challenging than ever before, so the last thing you want to do is base marketing decisions on old stereotypes.  ”In the 21st century, men are emerging as an incredibly valuable component in the marketing mix,” claims Mr. Jacobs. “ They make purchases on their own, and have significant input in the decision-making process in the majority of households. And single men are a bonus. Advertisers ignore men at their own peril, opening up opportunities for competitive products and brands.”

http://bit.ly/khaypP

Source: MediaPost Marketing Daily (April 25, 2011)

A herd of new websites have hit the e-commerce trail targeting the elusive male shopper. As Ray A. Smith and Paul Stone reported in The Wall Street Journal (February 10, 2011), websites like Mr Porter are “aiming to crack the notoriously tough men’s market when it comes to clothes shopping.”

Mr Porter, a cousin of Natalie Massenet’s widely successful Net-a-Porter site for women, plans to appeal to men by featuring profiles of men from real life, including a banker, a painter, a motorbike designer, all of whom are wearing stylish clothes. Marketing efforts will differ from the Net-a-Porter women’s site which features “must-have” items and magazine style spreads. Mr Porter will only offer a select number of brands to men, based on their own internal research which suggests that men prefer a quicker, more selective shopping experience.

Mr Porter prefers to sell about 80 brands on its site. “Men don’t want to see as many brands as women want to see,” says Toby Bateman, Mr Porter’s buying director.  “Net-a-Porter carries, I think, 350 brands. Guys aren’t happy with that.”

Mr Porter will not show images of contemporary celebrities as style models, but will feature a few Hollywood icons. “If you say, ‘here’s how to get Brad Pitt’s look at the Golden Globes’ to guys, they’ll say ‘get out of here.’” contends Mr. Langmead. But “you might look at a picture of Gene Kelly or Cary Grant and say ‘Wow, he looked cool.’”

Instead of Net-a-Porter’s fuller layout, Mr Porter will offer short videos with style tips, and lots of white space. And there will be little use of the word “fashion” on the Mr Porter website.  “I think men feel more comfortable with the word style,” claims Jeremy Langmead, editor-in-chief of Mr Porter. “A stylish wardrobe rather than a fashion wardrobe.” 

And according to The Wall Street Journal’s Mssrs. Smith and Stone, since men tend to be more data-driven when buying merchandise, product pages will include historical facts about specific apparel items, such as when the blazer was first invented.

 ”I think guys sometimes feel ‘It’s too complicated,’ ‘I’m out of here’ or ‘I don’t have time,’” adds Mr. Langmead. “We just want everything to not be shouting at you.  Guys, we want things straight-forward and quickly, and sometimes we’re in the office and don’t want to be caught cruising a shopping site.”

Competition is heating up in the men’s online shopping world. Upscale menswear label Ermenegildo Zegna, as well as Gilt Groupe, Neiman Marcus, and Saks Fifth Avenue have all either recently launched or expanded their men’s offerings online.

Men generally prefer to shop at men’s only-stores, rather than seeing men’s products mixed in with women’s collections on the home page. “You have to take the fashion to the man,” explains Nita Rollins, an online retail expert at Resource Interactive, a digital marketing agency.

The surge of new men’s online shopping sites arrive as the luxury market continues to gain momentum. According to the consulting firm Bain & Co., world-wide sales of luxury goods rose 10% to $237 billion in 2010, marking a major improvement over the (-8%) decline in 2009.

Furthermore, men’s spending is leading the charge. Men’s spending on luxury goods rose 42% over the past year, while women’s rose only 28%, claims Ed Jay, senior vice president at American Express Business Insights. And, the share of dollars that men spend on luxury apparel has grown more rapidly than women’s spending on luxury since 2007, up 81% for men versus 57% for women.

http://on.wsj.com/ffsZav

Illustration by John Cuneo in The Wall Street Journal (April 23-24, 2011)

Most respondents reported seeing QR codes on a product, followed by in a magazine or on a coupon. Primary reasons for using QR codes by smartphone users were to get a coupon, discount, or deal (32%);  followed by accessing additional information (52%), and entering a sweepstakes (35%). Additionally, nearly one in four respondents are using QR codes to access a video (24%), to make a purchase (23%), and to interact with social media (23%).

Finally, 70% of those surveyed said that they planned to use a QR code again or for the first time. Once again, the top usage would be to secure a coupon, discount, or deal (87%). Meanwhile, an impressive six in ten respondents (60%) who are planning to use a QR code again or for the first time said they would use a QR code to make a purchase.

http://bit.ly/glWhyM

Mr. Featherston implores brands to open the aperture and include men in their marketing messaging, citing the missed opportunity as men too frequently are a marketing afterthought. “This is a big miss if you look at the important role that men play in today’s household tasks, decision making and routine shopping,” writes Mr. Featherston. “Changing spending habits due to the recession and the ever-evolving male shopping role, marketers must think beyond conventional wisdom to succeed. Marketers have the opportunity to empathize with these men and their new roles in the household, empowering them to be successful without sacrificing their masculine qualities.”

Men are spending more time on their personal needs. According to Business Week, 84% of men said they purchase their own clothes, up from 65% in 2001. And because today’s younger men (age 20-39) were more likely to be raised by single mothers, many contemporary men do not consider it effete to handle domestic chores like vacuuming, cleaning the tub, or buying diapers.  In fact, a recent Yahoo! study finds that about 6 in 10 fathers consider themselves the primary household decision-maker in packaged goods, health, pet, and clothing purchases.

Important note for retailers and luxury brand marketers. Men are less affected by the recession than women when it comes to spending patterns and shopping behavior. Male shoppers are more likely than women to buy the brands they like regardless of the circumstance, and male shoppers are less likely to trade down to less expensive brands.

Furthermore, according to the JWT/Ogilvy Shopper 2010 study, men are more comfortable than women spending money on big purchases, nearly 6 in 10 women (58%) claim that they are ‘uncomfortable spending money on big purchases right now; only 1 in 2 men (51%) agree with that statement.  And according to that same JWT/Ogilvy study, 47% of women now use store brands or less expensive brands than they used to, while only 39% of men make the same claim.

Another difference between male and female shoppers concerns their definition of what a “good” shopping trip represents. A Wharton study finds that women define a good shopping trip based on the experience itself, whereas for men a good shopping trip is determined by convenience – the product location, display, and how quickly they can complete the transaction.

Mr. Featherston provides marketers with a set of questions that they should be prepared to answer when developing their male-shopper strategy:

1.)    How does your male shopper pre-plan his shopping trip?
2.)    What points of contact (e.g. samples through the mail) are you using to mobilize the male shopper to purchase your product?
3.)    How convenient (e.g. quick trips) are you making the path-to-purchase for the male shopper across your retail channels?

 http://bit.ly/fusdCK

The L2 study was based on an international survey of 535 young adults who expect to be earning more than $80,000 per year in the near future. Of particular importance, the study delved into the implications for luxury marketers aiming to connect with Gen Y consumers who are more focused on premium brands. The study provides several compelling trends and statistics that should be of significant import for marketers who are planning their media strategy over the next 12-18 months.

Facebook casts a wide net, and the influence it has on Gen Y is considerable and pervasive. More than 8 in 10 (81%) of the affluent Gen Y audience uses Facebook multiple times a day. Additionally, their affinity for brands and eagerness to “like” them is astounding.

Over three-quarters of the respondents surveyed “like” a brand and one-quarter of them have developed a “brand crush” through Facebook. A   take-away from this study is to get your brand “liked” on Facebook and let the social graph take over.

Regarding media consumption, second to social networks (i.e. Facebook) is Gen Y’s devotion to reading blogs. “If Baby Boomers are the TV generation, then Gen Y is the blog generation,” according to L2. Akin to the core principals enabling Facebook, what makes blogs so popular are that they are designed to be social, interactive, and to encourage feedback and comments. Nearly one in two (45%) of Gen Y affluent respondents read blogs every day.  The research confirms Gen Y’s affinity for and profound interest in sharing their viewpoints and disseminating their opinions.

Additionally, online video continues to grow in popularity; 42% of respondents said they watch TV shows online, while 27% watch movies online. Meanwhile, mobile’s popularity is surging; 13% of Gen Y affluents claim that they had watched a video on a mobile device in the past 24 hours.

Nevertheless, Gen Y affluents continue to prefer to consume certain forms of traditional media versus a digital version. Case in point, 71% of respondents said they still read print magazines, compared to just 24% who read magazine content online.

http://www.l2thinktank.com/genyaffluents/GenYAffluents.pdf

“In general, very few consumers will admit that a celebrity endorsement influences their decision to buy a product,” said Anne Marie Kelly, SVP Marketing & Strategic Planning at GfK MRI.  “However, in terms of helping with the first task in filling up the purchase funnel–getting consumers to read your ad–these data show that a celebrity endorsement moves the readership needle in magazines.”

 http://nyti.ms/eUZwkW

The New York Times (February 28, 2011)

“In a time when many retailers are competing on price, customer service becomes an oustanding way to stand out in the eyes of the consumer,” said Kathy Mance, Executive Director of the NRF Foundation. “These retailers have done a great job of distinguishing themselves from their competition.”

“One of the most interesting trends we’ve seen is that the list of retailers continues to evolve as customer service changes with the times,” added Christopher Hollins, Vice President, American Express Global Merchant Services.

Top 10 Retailers in Customer Service

1. Zappos.com
2. Amazon.com
3. LL Bean
4. Overstock.com
5. Lands’ End
6. JC Penney
7. Kohl’s
8. QVC
9. Nordstrom
10. Newegg

Source: NRF/American Express 2010 Customer Service survey, conducted by BIGresearch (September 2010) among 9,291 respondents

The 76 million boomers already account for an estimated half of total U.S. spending. And as Ellen Byron of The Wall Street Journal (February 5, 2011) reports: “with longer life expectancy, boomers are projected to spend an additional $50 billion over the next decade.”

And a multitude of marketers – including ADT Security Services, Ocean Spray, Kimberly Clark Corp.’s Depend brand, Kohler, Kleenex, Sherwin-Williams, Arm & Hammer, Diamond Foods, CVS Caremark Corp., and Walgreen – are modifying their approaches to appeal to this new generation of retirees.

Nuance is critical.  This is not their father’s generation. “There is less difference in aesthetic taste between young people and boomers than there is between boomers and their elders,” says Christine Mau, a design-director for Kleenex.

For example, Depend has introduced gender-specific versions and briefs with fashionable prints to look like regular underwear. And Arm & Hammer began sharpening the color contrast and expanding the text size of its cat-litter packaging to appeal to older consumers with deteriorating eye sight.

“Our research shows that 60% of boomers who are near 65 claim to feel much younger than their actual age,” says David Cohen of Arm & Hammer. “So you provide a solution to issues that they may have, but it’s not an explicit message.”

http://on.wsj.com/hCeRgf

From The February 5, 2011 U.S. edition of The Wall Street Journal

And how exactly does Twitter plan to build its business? For starters, 80 blue-chip brands are already working with the micro-blogging social network via Twitter’s “Promoted Tweets” to reach the 100 million plus base that signed on in 2010 alone. Brands partnering with Twitter include Starbucks, Coca-Cola, and Virgin America. (“Promoted tweets” and “promoted trends” show up at the top of the Twitter feeds or trends.)  Advertisers pay Twitter a fee any time someone interacts with a “promoted tweet” by clicking a link, forwarding it to a friend, or replying to it.

Ms. Guynn reports that on average, 5% of Twitter users who see a “promoted tweet” interact with it, which Twitter’s chief executive, Dick Costolo suggests represents an “order of magnitude greater” than most online and ad campaigns.  Case in point, Virgin America said it had its fifth best sales day ever after they ran a “promoted tweets” campaign to announce the launch of its new destination service to Toronto.

http://lat.ms/hNPQ6Z