This Week in Marketing: November 6, 2010

Food for thought regarding teaching and social media tools--this study found an increase in student engagement through the use of Twitter.

This week's highlights (with applicable teaching topics and links to discussion below):

 

Neuromarketing and Political Ads

  • The article: Neuromarketing the 2010 Elections: Scoring Campaign Ads, from Fast Company.
  • The facts: Many people think of fMRI's when they think of neuromarketing, but as this article discusses studies of campaign ads that measure muscle response, skin temperature, and pupil dilation in order to assess emotional responses.
  • Classroom uses: The article offers six sample campaign ads (five for winning candidates and one for a loser), their scores, and commentary for each. If you want to discuss the role of emotion in advertising, you could show them to the student one at a time, ask for reactions to each, and then discuss the study results.

NBCU Says Old is Young

  • The article: NBCU Says Old is the New Young, from Adweek.
  • The facts: NBC Universal makes some arguments for paying more attention to the 55-64-year-old demographic when purchasing TV advertising, based on this group's TV watching and spending habits.
  • Classroom uses: Could be used in an advertising class to talk about the issue of audience demographics. The results may not be fully objective--NBCU may have programs serving this older demographic--but the question of the value of younger vs. older viewers often arises in conversations about advertising.

The Role of Customer Product Reviews

  • The article: The Role of Customer Product Reviews, from eMarketer.
  • The facts: Ninety-two percent of US Internet users report that they read product reviews before making purchases. Those consumers are almost evenly divided into two groups--those for whom comments influence them to purchase, and those for whom comments deter them from purchasing.
  • Classroom uses: The importance of product reviews isn't surprising, but I found the division of usage--to confirm or to reject possible product choices--interesting. I would have expected a higher percentage of consumers to report that comments dissuaded them from purchasing than actually did. It could fit into a discussion of the Information Search stage of the consumer decision process. It also offers another reason why firms need to monitor what their customers say about them online.

Tips for Online Global Marketing

  • The article: 5 Tips for Marketing Online to an International Audience, from Mashable.com
  • The facts: Offers five things to consider regarding online marketing that crosses national borders.
  • Classroom uses: I do a lot of reading about Internet marketing, but it's rare to see something that addresses global marketing. This might be a useful article in a global marketing class or an online marketing class.

Are You Selling Vitamins or Aspirin?

  • The article: Turning Vitamins Into Aspirin: Consumers and the "Felt Need." from Fast Company.
  • The facts: This article frames consumer problem recognition by contrasting "vitamin" products (products that offer enhancement) to "aspirin" products (products that relieve some sort of pain), explaining that felt need is stronger for "aspirin" products.
  • Classroom uses: An interesting spin on the need/problem recognition step of the consumer decision process, and also on promotion strategy.