Is the World Ready for a Men’s Cooking Magazine?

On the heels of our discussion about the emergence of dads as the new moms (Thomas, 2012) comes word that Men’s Health magazine has been increasing their cooking editorial coverage with features such as the “Guy Gourmet” blog and how-to-cook videos created by well-known chefs for the iPad. 

Their newest addition, timed to coincide with the June distribution of the magazine’s Guy Food Guide,  is a local event -- the first Men’s Health Cooking School, scheduled to take place on June 9^th at the New York International Culinary Center. (Sass, 2012)

How interesting.  But given the fact that the traditional cooking magazines have all seen ad pages for food products drop in first quarter 2012, is it a good idea?  What do you think?  Are men ready to take over cooking chores too?

Thomas, S. (2012, May 12).  Are Dads the New Moms?  Wall Street Journal.  p. C3

Sass, E. (2012, May 30).  ‘Men’s Health’ Hosts Cooking School.  mediapost.com.  Retrieved May 31, 2012, from

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/175813/mens-health-hosts-cooking-school.html

MillerCoors takes another shot at Gen Y women, will this approach work?

In March MillerCoors announced that they were rebranding MGD64, their low cal beer for woman.  The renamed product – Miller 64, is now being marketed to both sexes using a lifestyle approach.

http://pjlehrer.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2012-04-05T09:52:00-04:00&max-results=7

Now comes word that in June they will try a different tactic, this time focusing on flavored products.  Specifically they are introducing Coco Breve, a coconut water-infused clear malt beverage that comes in flavors like Kiwi Lime and Mango Citrus.

There’s no doubt that coconut water is the latest beverage fad.  But perhaps more important is the fact that their research shows that Gen Y ladies seek variety in their beverages unlike previous generations who tended to be more loyal. (Schultz, 2012)

So what do you think?  Does Gen Y crave variety?  Will Coco Breve appeal to them?  Does it appeal to you?  Personally I prefer Guinness. 

Schultz, EJ. (2012, May 21)  MillerCoors Aims For Mercurial Millennials With New Fruity Brands.  adage.com. Retrieved May 23, 2012, from

http://adage.com/article/news/millercoors-aims-millennials-fruity-brands/234865/

The Emperor has no clothes on!

When it comes to new media success stories, YouTube can point to Dove’s Evolution spot, which increased visits to its website by 8000% (Fawcett, 2007) and Twitter can point to Sephora’s Sephora Claus campaign which generated $1 million in sales. (Economist Intelligence Unit Limited, 2011)  But what about Facebook?

Last week a Financial Times report touted the results of a December Facebook campaign for Nutella in Germany.  According to the company, the Facebook placement reached 30% of the country’s online users, and was responsible for 15% of sales.  But then the report goes on to say that TV, which was also part of the campaign, accounted for more revenue.  Hmm.  Talk about faint praise. (Goetzl, 2012)

Therefore, I was less than surprised when this Wednesday’s Wall Street Journal featured a front page story about GM’s decision to pull all its advertising ($10 million) from Facebook because the ads “had little impact on consumers.”  The company will still maintain its free brand page, but how much longer will that last, when the content costs $30 million to produce? (Walsh, 2012)

And as more traffic continues to move to mobile devices, it’s important to remember that Facebook does not offer any mobile ad-targeting options. (Sullivan, 2012)

Advertisers need results and models of successful efforts to build on if they are going to invest in media properties.  Right now, I’d rather put my money on YouTube, which is beefing up content to attract new viewers than Facebook, which has yet to deliver.  What about you?

Fawcett, A. (2007). Consumer packaged goods marketer of the year: Unilever’s Dove.  mediapost.com Retrived January 3, 2007, from http://publications.mediapost.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=Articles.san&s=53208&Nid=2616

Economist Intelligence Unit Limited. (2011). The Social Shopper.  The Economist.  Retrieved May 16, 2012, from

http://socialcommercetoday.com/documents/socialshoppereiu_2011.pdf

Goetzl, D. (2012, May 7).  Nutella Says Facebook Ads Brought Sweeter ROI Than TV.  mediapost.com. Retrieved May 16, 2012, from

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/174113/nutella-says-facebook-ads-brought-sweeter-roi-than.html

Walsh, M. (2012, May 15).  GM Slams Brakes On Facebook Advertising.  mediapost.com.  Retrieved May 16, 2012, from

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/174794/gm-slams-brakes-on-facebook-advertising.html?edition=46897

Sullivan, L. (2012, May 15).  Facebook Needs Open Ad-Targeting Formats To Succeed.  mediapost.com.  Retrieved May 16, 2012, from

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/174657/facebook-needs-open-ad-targeting-formats-to-succee.html?edition=46897

“GenVeg” is an idea whose time has come.

If like me you are still reeling from this week’s headline that 42% of Americans will be obese by the year 2030, (Finkelstein, Khavjou, Thompson, Trogdon, Pan, Sherry, Dietz, 2012) then you will be glad to hear that companies are starting to step up to help fight this critical battle. Birds Eye has joined the Partnership for a Healthier America (PHA), and made a $6 million dollar three-year commitment to ‘GenVeg’, a kid-targeted campaign.

Kids are not the easiest target to address, but with ads running on Nickelodeon’s iCarly featuring “one of America’s most well-known young stars” and a plan to use their input to create new vegetable products it does seem like the company has done its homework and may be successful in convincing kids to eat more veggies.

But, perhaps more important is the fact that they estimate that 1/3 of the ads will reach Women 26-54 with children 6-11, and household incomes of $30,000 or less.  And, a massive coupon program is part of the plan.  (Lukovitz, 2012)

In the long run, convincing the moms may be more important than the kids.  But what happens when the coupons run out?

Eric A. Finkelstein, PhD, MHA, Olga A. Khavjou, MA, Hope Thompson, BA, Justin G. Trogdon, PhD, Liping Pan, MD, MPH, Bettylou Sherry, PhD, RD,William Dietz, MD, PhD. (2012, June 12)  Obesity and Severe Obesity Forecasts Through 2030.  American Journal of Preventative Medicine.  Retrieved may 10, 2012, from

http://www.ajpmonline.org/webfiles/images/journals/amepre/AMEPRE_33853-stamped2.pdf

Lukovitz, K. (2012, May 8)  Birds Eye Commits $6M To Kids’ “GenVeg’ Effort.  mediapost.com.  Retrieved May 9, 2012, from

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/174162/birds-eye-commits-6m-to-kids-genveg-effort.html?edition=46608

The Super Heroes of Insurance – Part 2

In my post on April 13th, I discussed the new ad for Farmers Insurance that included a tie-in to the Avengers movie.  Now that I have seen the ad, I thought a follow-up was in order. 

When I saw the commercial, I realized that it was a continuation of their current University of Farmer’s campaign, and used the same central spokesperson from previous ads.  So, it wasn’t as awkward as I had expected it to be. 

But, I was also struck by the fact that although I am familiar with the campaign, and think it’s funny,  I would not be able to recall the company’s name if you asked me to list all the insurance companies that I am aware of.  For reasons I can’t pinpoint the campaign is not resonating with me. 

Here's the link below so you can see if it works for you.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=goz34Fso1Kk