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Jan 14 2011

My 2011 Food Trends

January 14, 2011 – 9:59 am

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By Jason Stemm 

We are already two weeks into 2011, so hopefully the window hasn’t closed for me to place my bets on what we will see in the food industry over the next 50 weeks. These are six of my favorites from across the consumer, retail and foodservice perspectives. What do you see coming in 2011?

1. Redefining “Locavore”: I’ve discussed the legal definitions forming, but I see segmentation based on individual rankings of priorities like flavor, sustainability, carbon footprint, community impact and food safety. All are elements of the locavore movement that will be sorted out on each of our plates. If there can be a Flexitarian, would we call them “Flexavores”? I’ll have my banana and coffee for breakfast with a locally slaughtered, ethically raised chicken at dinner served with a side of rice that was grown in the U.S., but 1,000 miles away. Consumer efforts to “go green” in all areas include a personal negotiation of the premium we are willing to pay to be socially conscious, and the sacrifices we are willing to make. Consider all motivations when forming your plan. Reaching customers before reaching the store is important, but marketers must communicate the value at the point of sale, where price is often the most visible message.

2. Healthy Sweets: Fruit may be your first thought here, but I’m talking vegetables for 2011. Sweet potatoes are at the top of many lists, and Nancy Kruse is seeing explosion beyond just fries. Expect more sides prepared as a healthy alternative with sweet potatoes and other creative uses. Wild Flower in Phoenix serves grilled slices in a vegetarian sandwich. Corn will continue to be a favorite, and I always hold out hope for beets, but the carrot industry has a huge push to make carrots the new “junk food.” A tough sell to kids, but by making them more accessible provides choice. 

3. Growth of Private Label: Most experts predict a residual frugality as we emerge from this recession. Jobs are more tenuous and savings are depleted for many, so looking for budget savings is not just a focus of our congressional leaders. Families and individuals everywhere are looking for the least painful sacrifices. At the same time, retailers see private labels as a key to improving profitability and building customer loyalty.

4. Follow that Food: An offshoot of recent social food trends and high-profile food recalls is the interest in our food supply. We don’t get the shock value of Upton Sinclair, and most Americans find comfort in ignorance of how the food arrived on their plates. Online communities and mobile technology have helped consumers and suppliers to connect. Companies are seeing the success of farmer’s markets and CSA’s and trying to appear “smaller” in the consumers’ minds. Frito Lay is marketing its “local” potato chips and Fresh Express is providing information on package for customers to see where that lettuce was grown. Expect more of this in 2011.

5. Quite a Pickle: With the rise of locavores has followed a renewed interest in preservation. If canning was the 2010 trend, I think chefs are leading the way for pickling as they look for new flavors that extend the menuing of local food. The trendy diner in my neighborhood, M. Wells, hit The New York Times new critic’s radar with pickled pork tongue. Expect more picklers to follow the pied piper down this pickling path.

6. C’mon Get Healthy: Maybe it is wishful thinking that this is a trend every year. For years, consumer actions have not followed their survey answers, and we seem to be in a state of denial about our own health. There is new energy from the top, targeting a demographic that almost no one will question. Michelle Obama’s support for improved child nutrition programs and salad bars in every school can help jumpstart our interest in health and renew our efforts to address the national crisis of obesity. A recent report estimated the national cost of obesity at $270 billion for medical care and lost productivity. What a stimulus for our wellness and our economy.

I’ll be on the hunt for more trends at the Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco. Find me on Twitter @NYCubsFan if you’re there, or if you want to share your predictions for 2011.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Jason Stemm | Posted in Wine, Food & Nutrition | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (5)
Jan 13 2011

Gray is the New Black: Marketing to Aging Boomers

January 13, 2011 – 7:00 am

Photo courtesy of Glam.com

By Jenn Riggle

This year, 2.8 million Baby Boomers will turn 65 and become eligible for Medicare. However, the bigger news probably should be that 2011 also marks the year when the average Boomer turns 54.

In their mid-fifties, most Boomers have raised their kids, but are still working and starting to plan for their retirement. And in their shadow are the younger Boomers, also known as Generation Jones, who are just a couple of years older than Gen Xers and have little in common with their older counter parts.

These groups have very different views of the world, but they’re all turning to social media as a way to reconnect with friends and colleagues and create a greater sense of community.

Newsweek wrote an article about the graying of social networks. According to Pew Research, 43 percent of 55 to 64 year olds are using social media, with 73 percent of the online Boomers say Facebook is their network of choice. They haven’t felt the same attachment for other forms of social media, with only 10 percent using Twitter and even less reading or writing blogs.

Boomers have long been the media darlings and seen as a prime target for marketers – and this hasn’t changed. However, while Boomers continue to lead active and healthy lives, they’re at an age when they’ll start to need more healthcare services, whether it’s taking medications to lower their cholesterol or replacing their knees and hips damaged after years of running and weekend sports.

According to Newsweek, the three most common online activities for Boomers are: checking e-mail; searching for information; and researching health issues. It’s interesting to note that the first two are also the most common online activities for those who are 18-33.

Here are some important takeaways for healthcare marketers:

You’re only as old as you feel: Boomers consider themselves mature, but not old, so don’t make the mistake of calling them “seniors.” Research from Pew Research and Del Webb (a builder of active adult communities) reveals that most Boomers believe that old age begins at 72 or 80.

Keep it simple: While Boomers don’t read blogs, they like to read product reviews. That’s why it’s not surprising that 23 percent of Amazon’s audience is over the age of 50. Organizations targeting Boomers should take an Amazon approach to your site. Re-evaluate your website’s usability and cut down on excessive wording, too many graphics and clickthroughs, which can complicate the experience.

You can’t hit a home run unless all of your bases are covered: This is true for social media as well. Hospitals have embraced Facebook and Twitter, but have turned their backs on blogs. With so many people searching the Internet for health information, organizations need to make sure their website is user-friendly and linked to their social media properties.

Skip the mobile app and create a mobile-friendly website: Forrester reported last year that cell phone usage is widespread across every age bracket, and the smart phone usage is picking up momentum with Gen X and Gen Y. That being said, organizations should think about creating a mobile-friendly version of their website, since more and more people are using their phones for Internet research. And while a mobile app may be sexy, they’re expensive and right now and aren’t the best way to reach Boomers.

Don’t forget e-mail: E-mail continues to be an effective communications tool, especially since the majority of Boomers are still working. Think about adding an opt-in e-mail making campaign to promote your next initiative or develop an online community.

Word to the wise: Don’t expect Boomers to ride off into the sunset now that they’re 65. Instead, find ways to reach out to them in ways that appreciates their busy schedules and need for information.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Jenn Riggle | Posted in Healthcare | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (5)
Jan 10 2011

Gentle Reminder: Stop Shooting in the Dark and Start with a Social Media Audit

January 10, 2011 – 1:39 pm

By Priya Ramesh (@newpr)

When was the last time you asked your PR team or agency to do a social media audit? If it’s been more than a year, I highly recommend you start your 2011 marketing efforts with an online reputation audit. Just like any communication audit, before you further invest in social media this year, please take the time to feel the pulse of your online community and your brand sentiment online. If your PR agency is recommending social media strategies without doing an audit, I would treat that as a red flag. The foundation of a successful social media campaign is a well-executed audit that provides valuable feedback on:

-          Key conversation areas pertaining to your brand, product, service, cause.

-          Where the most significant conversations are taking place,
            from blogs, forums to social networks
           (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn).

-          Top influential voices that rise to the forefront.

-          Key themes discussed about your brand by your customers online.

-          Analysis of online sentiments enjoyed by your brand against its key  
           competition.

“Listening” is the first stage of social media engagement and as a standard practice, we at CRT/tanaka recommend conducting a quarterly social media audit to gauge your audience’s online behavior, key interests and future needs. The social media audit also provides an analysis of your competitors, which brand is most “talked-about” on social networks and what is the overall online sentiment for each of the significant players. Please note that social media audits can be of two kinds:

1. Baseline Social Media Audit: This is the initial kickoff audit that a company must conduct prior to launching a social media program. This baseline assessment highlights several critical foundational facts to help you identify future opportunities and challenges in the social media realm.

2. Annual Social Media Audit: This is the year-end audit that companies must conduct to benchmark key influentials and detractors, measure any change in online sentiment and what caused that change. The annual social media audits also serve as a good metrics report to plan for future campaigns and activities. CRT/tanaka recommends doing a quarterly audit for clients but if you have limited resources, please do take the time to do at the least a yearly audit.

If you can afford to hire an independent vendor to do the social media audit, please do so. It makes absolutely no sense to ask your own team or agency to provide an independent third party feedback of your social media efforts, does it? The advantage of hiring an agency that’s adept at doing audits is that you get the combined results of online tools like Radian-6, Alterian and Sysmos AND a manual investigation into a randomly selected sample of online content ranging from blog posts, tweets, Facebook updates to postings on influential forums. If you don’t have the budget to hire external resources to do an extensive online audit, at the least invest in good tools like Radian 6 and Vocus that do a decent job of pulling a social snapshot.

I hope you start your 2011 social media activities with a sound audit that provides a framework for your engagement this year. CRT/tanaka client Network Solutions was recently awarded the Society of New Communication Research (SNCR) Excellence Award in Online Reputation Management and one of the critical elements of their success with social media has been a quarterly audit (that CRT/tanaka conducts) that sets the tone for the next round of community engagement. Shashi Bellamkonda, Social Media Director, Network Solutions and Susan Wade, Director of Corporate Communications, Network Solutions have set a good example of how a social media audit can help a company turn a negative sentiment into a high positive sentiment online. I hope you will do the same with your social efforts this year!

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Priya Ramesh | Posted in Digital Marketing, PR Industry Trends | Tagged , , , , , , | Comments (7)
Jan 7 2011

Pop 2.0: Is Social Media Creating the Next Dot-Com Bubble?

January 7, 2011 – 9:03 am

By Jeff Wilson, APR (@wilson0507)

Last year, I celebrated my 10th anniversary with my agency, CRT/tanaka. I was hired as a member of our then-Tech Practice, right at the height of the dot-com bubble. It was a heady time for PR. In many ways, we were meandering through an unchartered territory – much like the Old West – where the normal rules of engagement, business practices and marketing didn’t necessarily apply.

It was during that period that I was introduced to vaporware – a word that I grew to despise, because for me, vaporware was synonymous with “nothing.” In the late 1990s and early 2000s, many tech companies spent far more time, money and energy promoting and selling products than actually creating them.

Companies were forming and issuing IPOs at lightning speed on little more than a wing and a prayer, certainly not based on solid business plans.  And like a lot of PR firms, we went along for the ride. Fortunately, our agency has always been diversified, so we didn’t lose our collective shirts the way many tech-focused PR firms did when so many dot-com clients went belly up.

When the tech bubble burst, it burst hard, leaving a long line of casualties in its wake.

Fast forward a decade. Today’s dot-com bubble is being fueled, in large part, by the social media giants. Take Facebook. It’s been widely reported this week that the company has been valued at $50 billion, thanks to recent influxes of cash ($500 million to be exact) from Goldman Sachs and Russian investor Digital Sky Technologies.

Almost as astonishing is the recent news that Groupon, a two-year old “social coupon” site, recently rejected a $6 billion takeover bid from Google. Twitter also raised $200 million from investors, giving the company a valuation of nearly $4 billion.

Just yesterday, it was reported that LinkedIn could make an initial stock offering in the first three months of the year. The size of the offering is not known yet, but it is expected to be small relative to the company’s value. LinkedIn’s implied value on the private trading marketplace SharesPost is $2.2 billion.

With so much money flowing to Facebook, Groupon, Twitter, LinkedIn and other social media companies, are we headed for another dot-com bust?

Perhaps.

“If history is any indication, it seems most of the elements that shaped the 2000 dot-com bubble are present and accounted for in the current environment, including but not limited to, rapidly increasing valuation, market over-confidence and speculation, and excess liquidity,” writes Dian L. Chu of Daily Markets.

But there are some marked differences between 2000 and 2011. This year’s tech bubble is different because – for right now at least – all the major players involved are private and don’t seem to be in any hurry to go public with the exception of LinkedIn.

GigaON’s Matthew Ingram writes, “There have been no moon-shot public IPOs that flame out within days or weeks, no Pets.com or similar issues to raise warning flags.”

Ingram continues that that the only ones who would arguably suffer from a tech-bubble popping are the so-called “sophisticated investors” who take part in secondary-market trades – the kind who will be invited to join the special vehicle that Goldman Sachs is setting up to invest in Facebook.

So what does this all mean? And what will happen next? Your guess is as good as mine. I guess we all have to sit back and hang on for the ride.

In the immortal words of Yogi Berra, “This is déjà vu all over again.”

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Jeff Wilson | Posted in Digital Marketing, PR Industry Trends | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (7)
Jan 6 2011

Unwrapping Insurance for my Birthday: Why Marketers Should Care

January 6, 2011 – 1:55 pm

By Darby Brignac

One in 3 people under 30 say they are not covered by health insurance, compared to 19 percent of Gen Xers or 12 percent of Baby Boomers.

I have to admit… I ashamedly fall into that category.

People my age don’t understand nor feel the urgency for health insurance. Why should we? Through school, we follow our parents’ plans and then conveniently sign up for employer plans once hired. We don’t like to go to the hospital unless it’s absolutely necessary. Even then, we wait till the last minute. So no big deal if we let our health insurance lapse for a month or two, right?

Wrong.

Health insurance covers the “what if” factor. We can pump iron and eat our vegetables, but the gym membership isn’t going to help if we need to go to the hospital after a car accident.

Let’s put this into perspective. Without insurance, the average cost for treatment a broken nose is $7,651. Non-surgical realignment alone can range from $1600 to $4500, not including the doctor fee or the x-ray charge. Good luck if you need surgery; the cost could add another $7000 or more.

That’s why this birthday, I’m asking for health insurance.  As I have investigated different plans, I learned a few things that insurance companies should consider:

Insurance Is Worth a Latte

I had no idea how much health insurance costs for people my age. Nationally, the average insurance cost for individuals between 18 and 34 was less than $220 a month. Personally, my individual insurance cost less than $100 a month, which was less than my car insurance. In other words, my health insurance costs less than $3.50 per day, which is less than a Starbucks latte every morning. Health insurance, for most, is affordable. My generation must set priorities – and insurance companies shouldn’t be afraid to talk to us about the cost.

Am I Invisible?

Millennials are the second largest generation after boomers. Yet, younger people get ignored by the insurance industry. A study revealed that Gen Y received 25 percent fewer health insurance marketing direct mail pieces than their parents. As I recall, I did not receive one mailing for health insurance in college. Yet, I received hundreds of credit card applications and a couple spam pieces for life insurance, but not one mailing from a health insurance company. In fact, I still don’t receive health insurance mailings though I’m now independent. Why is no one reaching out to us?

We’re Not Exactly Hiding…

Perhaps health insurance companies don’t reach us because they are using the wrong channels. Overall, Millennials lead the other generations with online use: 95 percent go online, 96 percent use email, and 83 percent use social network sites. We’re online.  Why aren’t you?

One company gets it. State Farm® created State Farm® Nation, a Facebook page incorporating funny commercials, young celebrities and a “whole page full of fail.” If they show they share interests with the younger crowd, the younger crowd will return their interest toward the company.

Unfortunately, not every Millennial is wishing for a low deductible when they blow out their candles.  Insurance companies can help its youngest customers get smart about insurance.  It’s about time someone reached my generation.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Darby Brignac | Posted in Healthcare | Comments (2)
Jan 5 2011

2011 to Ring in Rapid Growth of Mobile Commerce with NFC

January 5, 2011 – 9:37 am

THE BOOZE BIN

By Pia Mara Finkell (@piamara)

iphone-payment If 2010 was the year we learned to dabble in social and mobile commerce and to work with social media, 2011 will mark the year we learn to make these mediums work for us.

While not nearly a new concept, NFC, or Near Field Communications has topped analysts’ lists as the next big thing in mobile commerce…for several years running. 2011 seems to be the year this prediction will come to fruition. As defined by Mashable, “NFC allows a device, usually a mobile phone, to collect data from another device or NFC tag at close range. In many ways, it’s like a contactless payment card that is integrated into a phone.” While not yet established in American mobile phones, rumors of the launch of several mainstream NFC-enabled phones on the US market have begun to fly.

Most notably, Piper Jaffray‘s lead technology and Apple analyst, Gene Munster just forecasted the arrival of NFC technology in the US, namely through Apple’s fifth generation iPhone with Verizon at the end of the 1st quarter of 2011. “We are modeling for Apple to launch a CDMA version of the iPhone at Verizon in the March-11 quarter. The fifth generation iPhone will likely ship this summer with NFC capability,” Munster writes.

iPhone Wine AppsFor consumers, this is major news, but for retailers and marketers, this marks a major opportunity to take advantage of NFC technology at the point of purchase to educate consumers and drive sales. While QR codes provide the consumer with valuable product information, for example tasting notes and reviews on a bottle of Rioja at their local wine shop, NFC enabled phones create a “digital wallet” for contactless payment with products marked with NFC tags. Not only will the consumer be able to learn about wines by tapping their mobile phone near the tagged bottle (or sign, advertisement, etc.), but they will now be able to easily purchase the product in the same tap, through preloaded digital account information securely contained in the device.

Stay tuned for these upcoming developments to learn how to best capitalize on NFC technology in your overall brand strategy as consumers’ seemingly insatiable social and mobile hunger continues to grow in 2011.

Photos courtesy of the San Francisco Chronicle and Mashable.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Pia Mara Finkell | Posted in Wine, Food & Nutrition | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Comments (3)
Jan 3 2011

2011 is Here. Now Let’s Get Serious About Facebook Marketing

January 3, 2011 – 12:25 am

By Priya Ramesh (@newpr)

Happy New Year! I am sure you are tired of the “Top ten trends in 2011” blog posts that most of us forget anyways in less than ten days so let me take you through a different route with this one I am writing from Bangalore, the Silicon Valley capital of India where I have spent the last two weeks on vacation with family and friends. One consistent theme that I noticed during this vacation is that Facebook has redefined our social interactions. From my aunts, nephews and childhood friends to new business contacts in India, no one asked for my email or phone number anymore but definitely asked me, “Are you on Facebook?” No doubt, the Social Network has brought a paradigm shift in how we communicate and maintain relationships but the bigger message to marketers is how Facebook is rewriting the rules of advertising and search and how that affects your brand in 2011. Here’s why you should treat Facebook more seriously in 2011:

Chances of customer engagement higher on Facebook than on any other social network:  The 2010 Facebook usage report shows that over the past year its 500 million users uploaded more than 2.7 million photographs shared one million links and ‘Liked’ 7.6 million pages every 20 minutes. Take a look at what 20 minutes on Facebook looks like:

Shared links: 1,000,000 every 20 minutes
Tagged photos: 1,323,000
Event invites sent out: 1,484,000
Wall Posts: 1,587,000
Status updates: 1,851,000
Friend requests accepted: 1,972,000
Photos uploaded: 2,716,000
Comments: 10,208,000
Messages: 4,632,000
Likes: 7,657,000

Facebook moving from “atrocious” clickthrough rates to higher conversions: Analysts predict that the six-year-old company will report $2 billion in revenue in 2010 and close to twice that in 2011. The bulk of that revenue is predicted to come from selling ads.  Facebook ads are not for everyone and there is a huge gap between brands like Starbucks (17.5 million Likes) and Coca Cola (18 million Likes) that are considered benchmarks in Facebook engagement and millions of other brands that struggle to increase clickthrough rates. Having said that, Craig MacDonald, writing for Search Engine Watch, stated he estimated pay per click marketing providers are planning to spend between 10 and 20 percent of their budgets for the year on Facebook campaigns.

He explained that, while last year clickthrough rates for Facebook promotions were “atrocious” and there were virtually no conversion rates, the site is now onpar with major search engines for returns on investment. MacDonald noted the key factors that make the service appealing to marketers are that it is “huge, it’s global and it’s growing”, adding the sites performance on a dollar-for-dollar basis is the same as Google’s. 

Search and Shop on Facebook to gain momentum in 2011: BusinessWeek (http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/dec2010/tc20101217_877527.htm) recently confirmed senior execs at the Palo Alto based social network have met in the past month with more than 20 companies, to help retailers set up shop on its pages and build tools that let Web users interact while buying. Facebook is adding e-commerce features to attract users, keep them logged-on longer and generate higher advertising sales. Companies like P&G and Delta Airlines are investing heavily on Facebook e-commerce, and this is just the start of what’s to redefine how we search and shop online.

There is a good reason why 500 million chose to join Facebook and more than half of them log-in every single day to update their status. Now as digital marketers we need to think smartly about how to get your brand mentioned in those status updates, Likes, comments and discussion threads to ensure when someone searched for you on this growing social network, you DO have a favorable wall to show off.

Good luck Facebooking (yes that’s officially a verb now) in 2011!

Image courtesy: Time magazine.

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AddThis Social Bookmark Button By Priya Ramesh | Posted in Digital Marketing | Tagged , , , , , | Comments (4)