Will you drink Vita Coco because Chrissy Teigen does?

After years of grassroots marketing - handing out samples on the street and at music festivals, Vita Coco is taking their marketing to a new level with television.

Chrissy has touted their brand before.  Last summer she did a series of Snapchat videos for the brand.  You can check them out here...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BaZMDFAMgJQ

I couldn't find any data about the effect that effort had on sales, but given that Kylie Jenner's posts for pomegranates that fall led to a 689% increase in sales in the U.K., one would imagine that the campaign was effective.  (Blake, 2016)

Also, why would they use Chrissy in a television campaign if she wasn't?  Interestingly, it appears that the brand is up for sale, which is another reason why they may be trying to raise their profile at this time. (Kaplan, 2017)

You can check out the commercial here...

http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/chrissy-teigen-plays-a-coconut-plant-manager-in-this-nutty-new-vita-coco-spot/

So, what do you think?  Do celebrities influence your buying patterns?  How much?  Which ones?  And, why?

Blake, I.  (2016, October 18)  The Kylie effect!  dailymail.com.  Retrieved December 1, 2016, from

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/food/article-3847304/The-Kylie-Jenner-effect-t-superfood-pomegranates.html

Kaplan, J. (2017, February 14)  Vita Coco to Near $1 Billion  in Sales as Potential Buyers Circle.  bloomberg.com.  Retrieved March 31, 2017, from

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2017-02-14/vita-coco-to-near-1-billion-in-sales-as-potential-buyers-circle

Klara, R. (2017, March 29)  Chrissy Teigen Plays a Coconut 'Plant Manager' In This Nutty New Vita Coco Spot.  adweek.com.  Retrieved March 31, 2017, from

http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/chrissy-teigen-plays-a-coconut-plant-manager-in-this-nutty-new-vita-coco-spot/

Has a website video ever persuaded you to buy something?

E-commerce is booming.  In fact, eMarketer expects sales will top $27 trillion in 2020. (2016)

Studies show that "explainer" videos increase purchasing by a whopping 180%.  If you keep the length to one minute, 77% will stay engaged.  Increase it to more than two and only 47% will watch them completely. (Yonata, 2017)

Is this consistent with your experience?  Do you watch explainer videos?  All the way through?  Even if they are long?  And do you then buy something?  Is your behavior any different on mobile?

(2016, August 22) Worldwide Retail Ecommerce Sales Will Reach $1.915 Trillion This Year.  emarketer.com.  Retrieved March 24, 2017, from https://www.emarketer.com/Article/Worldwide-Retail-Ecommerce-Sales-Will-Reach-1915-Trillion-This-Year/1014369

Yonata, J. (2017, March 23) Whey E-Commerce Visitors Are 180% More Likely to Buy After Watching an Explainer Video.  business2community.com.  Retrieved march 24, 2017, from

http://www.business2community.com/ecommerce/e-commerce-visitors-180-likely-buy-watching-explainer-video-3-additional-tips-01805714#83P7w7U6CGKhuRxG.97

So after you used Snapchat to wear a pair of 'Kendall II" glasses, did you actually buy something?

Unless you are living under a rock you know that Snapchat's stock closed up 44% on March 2, the day they went public.  Pretty good for a company that lost $515 million last year. (Balakrishnan, 2017)

But given Snapchat's popularity with Millennials and Gen Z, the belief is that the company will eventually make money.  Do you think that's true?  Do you use Snapchat?  Have you ever bought anything based on a Snapchat post?

Research says that Mills follow brands on social media almost as much for entertainment value (38%) as they do for information (42%).  So adding sunglasses to your pics, sending yourself to exotic places, and then sharing with friends seems like it would be right up their ally.  (Loechner, 2017)

But, while Snapchat considers this Michael Kors effort to be a success, I can't help but notice that purchase intent only increased by 6%, and there is no mention of a sales increase at all. (Snapchat, 2017).  Hmm.  I was taught that unless your effort generates a 10% increase in sales it is considered a failure.

I'm not the only one who is skeptical.  According to a study published by RBC Capital Markets and Ad Age - Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and even Yahoo all had a better ROI than Snapchat.  And now that Instagram and Facebook have added similar features is it any wonder that Snapchat's recent user growth has been relatively flat?  (Slefo, 2017)

Which brings me back to my original question.  Have you ever bought anything based on a Snapchat post?  What about other social media?  Which works best for you?  Why?

Balakrishnan, A. (2017, March 2)  Snap closes up 44% after rollicking IPO.  cnbc.com.  Retrieved March 17, 2017, from http://www.cnbc.com/2017/03/02/snapchat-snap-open-trading-price-stock-ipo-first-day.html

Loechner, J. (2017, March 16)  Millennials Follow Brands; GenX, Contests; and Boomers, Promotions.  mediapost.com. Retrieved March 17, 2017, from http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/296926/millennials-follow-brands-genx-contests-and-bo.html

Pomerantz, L. Michael Kors Sponsored National Lens.  Snapchat website. Retrieved March 17, 2017, from https://storage.googleapis.com/snapchat-web/success-stories/pdf/pdf_michael_kors_en.pdf

Slefo, G. (2017, March 14)  Snapchat Receives Poor Grades From Marketers.  adage.com.  Retrieved March 17, 2017, from http://adage.com/article/digital/snapchat-receives-poor-grades-marketers/308270/

Will sponsoring "Invent-athons" help Frito-Lay sell more chips?

Frito-Lay is partnering with Shark Tank on an innovations contest for kids.  Targeted to kids seven and up, families can enter the "Dreamvention" contest by coming up with a fun invention and submitting a drawing and explanation.

The grand prize is $250,000.  And the plan is for the product development firm Mako + Invent to bring the winning idea to life. 

So where does Shark Tank fit in?  Robert Herjavec kicked off the contest during a Frito-Lay "invent-athon" at Google HQ. 

Another partner for the campaign  is Young Minds Inspired (YMI) which provides curriculum tools for more than 2 million educators around the country.  Selected schools will be given a dreamvention-inspired curriculum, and the 10 schools that submit the most ideas will be awarded $5,000 to support more in-class science programs. 

So what do you think?  Will this be an effective way for Frito-Lay to increase sales?  What about Shark Tank?  Will this promotion raise ratings?  And what about YMI and Mako + Invent?  Will this increase their profile and make them more successful?  How do you feel about contests in general?  Do they engage you?

Lukovitz, K. (2017, March 9)  Frito-Lay, 'Shark Tank' Star Team On Inventions Contest For Kids.  mediapost.com.  Retrieved march 10, 2017, from http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/296803/frito-lay-shark-tank-star-team-on-inventions-co.html?edition=101246

Another day, another email to unsubscribe. How about you?

According to satista.com, 61% of marketers identify emails as their most important digital marketing tool, ahead of websites at 59%.  (2016)  One of the keys to getting recipients to open emails is the headline.

Last week I received two emails that used a technique we call "social proof" to entice me.  That means that they offered evidence that other people were interested in something as a means to convince me that I should be too.  It's a time tested method.  When people are having trouble making a decision they will often follow the crowd.  It lowers the risk of making a bad choice.

One read: "Just announced: the #1 beach in the world!"  the other "You voted, we tallied.  Announcing the #BestDVDEver mailers."  Frankly, neither one moved me, and I deleted both emails without opening them.

According to a new study from Marketing Sherpa, 21% of consumers unsubscribe from emails that are not relevant to them.  19% unsubscribe when they receive too many emails from one company.  (Nelson, 2017)

There's a company that sends me at least one email a day, sometimes as many as three.  I've never bought anything from them and never will.  I just throw their emails into a dormant account where they pile up, until I get around to unsubscribing.  Ironically, that same company published an infographic this week about improving email open rates which indicated that only 15% of Americans appreciate receiving daily emails!  It makes me wonder if they read their own research.

They also noted that personalization is effective in increasing open rates (37%) and sales (20% increase). (Forer, 2017)

So, now it's your turn.  Has 'social proof" in a headline ever motivated you to buy something?  Or is personalization more likely to engage you?  How many emails from one company are too many?  Are more ok if you are an actual customer?

(2016, March)  Most effective digital marketing tactics worldwide in March 2016. statista.com .  Retrieved February 28, 2017, from

https://www.statista.com/statistics/534852/effective-digital-marketing-tactics/

Nelson, J. (2017) Customer Brand Satisfaction Drives Email Engagement, Study Shows mediapost.com.  Retrieved February 28, 2017, from

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/296022/customer-brand-satisfaction-drives-email-engagemen.html?utm_sourc

Forer, L. (2017, February 28)  How to Improve Email Open Rates.  marketingprofs.com.  Retrieved February 28, 2017, from

https://www.marketingprofs.com/chirp/2017/31438/how-to-improve-email-open-rates-infographic