“Girlfriends” deliver for Trop50

In 2010, PepsiCo launched a new campaign for their half-the-calories juice brand Trop50, starring Jane Krakowski of 30 Rock, and her friends, dishing about “life, love and looking good.”  The over the top, highly entertaining commercials apparently struck a chord with their intended audience.  Sales in 3Q 2011, were up 50% versus year ago, on top of 37% growth in the previous year’s 3Q.  (Lukovitz, 2012)

Wow!  No wonder the campaign which was originally scheduled to finish at the end of 2011 has been extended into 2012.  And, three more varieties have been added to the line, with plans for more to come.

But, I have to admit that although I enjoy the commercials, I have not tried the products.  I figure that I can add water to my juice all by myself if that’s what I want instead of paying extra for Tropicana to do it for me.

What about you?  Have you tried Trop50?  Are you eagerly awaiting the arrival of their new flavors?

Lukovitz, K. (2012, April 24) Trop50 Extends Products – And ‘Girlfriends’ Campaign. mediapost.com. Retrieved April 26, 2012, from

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/173159/trop50-extends-products-and-girlfriends-campa.html

Segmenting Gen Y- do you know this Millennial?

One of the first steps in identifying a target is to establish age range.  But there are still many different types of people within each generation.  A recent study by Boston Consulting Group has identified six distinct groups within Gen Y.  They are:

1. Hip-ennials (29%): cautious consumers, hungry for information, students and homemakers, predominately female.

2. Millennial Moms (22%): older, most affluent, online intensive, committed to working out, traveling, and pampering their children.

3. Anti-Millennials (16%): conservative, won’t spend more for green products, and are too busy worrying about themselves to care about anyone else.

4. Gadget Gurus (13%): affluent, single, wired, and mostly male.

5. Clean and Mean Millennials (10%): cause-driven, green, younger, most likely to contribute content, more likely to be male or Hispanic.

6. Old School Millennials (10%): less tech involved, read the most, older, confident, optimistic, would rather meet friends for coffee than on Facebook.

(Mahoney, 2012)

What surprises you most about these findings?  Is it how few Gen Yers are actually green?  Or the fact that any of them like to read?


Mahoney, S. (2121, April 16) Gen Y Dissected: Six Types Of Millennials.  mediapost.com  Retrieved April 19, 2012, from

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/172435/gen-y-dissected-six-types-of-millennials.html

Flo versus Avengers; Place your bets.

Thanks to Geico, insurance industry advertising will never be the same.  But recent research suggests that the most successful ads at the moment are Flo’s appearances for Progressive.  With 3.5 million followers on Facebook, and year-to-year increases in policies since the campaign started in 2008, she certainly appears to have struck a nerve.  (Vranica, 2012)

So what’s a competitor to do?  Partner with super heroes of course!

Farmers Insurance is doing just that, with a new campaign featuring The Avengers, scheduled to begin April 16.  (Irwin, 2012)

Will being associated with this much anticipated movie give the brand super powers?  You tell me.

Vranica, S. (2012, March 26) Knights, Pirates, Trees Flock to Facebook.   Wall Street Journal.  pB1

Irwin, T. (2012, April 11) Farmers Insurance Debuts “Avengers” Creative.   mediapost.com. Retrieved April 12, 2012, from http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/172257/farmers-insurance-debuts-avengers-creative.html

Do you want to drink it like Beckham?

In today’s celebrity obsessed world, it makes sense that companies would try to link their marketing efforts to celebrities.  But will consumers really buy drinks just because a favorite celeb does?  Sofia Vergara doesn’t seem to have done much for Pepsi.  (And yet she is in this campaign as well.)

But hope springs eternal and now Burger King, who dropped to the number three player in the fast food category recently, is using David Beckham to push smoothies.

Alex Macedo, VP North America admits that since Burger King’s products are the same as McDonald’s they needed to find a way to stand out.  (Schultz, 2012)

So what do you think?  Will you be buying a smoothie at BK any time soon?

Here’s the ad if you haven’t seen it yet.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0f8qz2Ssr6c

Schultz, EJ (2012, April 2) Burger King Enlists Celebs To Call Attention To New Menu.  adage.com. Retrieved April 5, 2012, from
http://adage.com/article/news/burger-king-enlists-celebs-call-attention-menu/233882/