+ 007 - 03.14.10 - INDUSTRY

IN RESPONSE TO: FOUR SQUARE & STARBUCKS TEAM UP TO OFFER CUSTOMER REWARDS

There are a few things that I'm susceptible to. Getting some sort of achievement is one of them. Whether it's a diploma or other kind of physical certificate, a ribbon in Farmville, or just a gold star, I'm into it. If it involves large coffeehouse chains where I go to get my obscenely large teas in the late afternoon and the social media application that I'm currently obsessing over on my Blackberry? I'm totally willing to admit I'm game.

Back on topic. Starbucks and Foursquare. Jennifer van Grove from Mashable reports that Starbucks, (not so stealthily) in light of their public butt-whooping by McCafe, that they'll be teaming up with the innovative, mobile, social media client.

For those of you that don't know, this is foursquare. Foursquare is a GPS-based system that uses your phone to gauge your current location- publishing it to the Internet along with different messages or 'shouts' that you can add to your message. This alert can be published to your Facebook or Twitter, where you can tell your friends to come meet up with you or to try the new Dark Cherry Mocha. (I haven't tried it yet, but it's just an example.) For every check-in you have, you earn points on Foursquare. Starbucks is getting in on the check-in craze.

Starbucks visitors who check in at retail locations using Foursquare will earn customer rewards. Although there’s no financial incentive or free coffee to begin with, customers can unlock the “Barista badge” after five checkins.

Of course that’s just the beginning; the coffee behemoth plans to use Foursquare as a testing ground for alternative reward strategies and to unlock “the pulse of the experience” for each store.

If you think this is a straight-up play to offer location-based mobile coupons, think again. The New York Times Bits Blog writes that the company is “hoping to use Foursquare to provide even more meaningful prizes, like invitations to special events, photo-sharing or online reputation scores.

Starbucks is one of Foursquare's most popular check-in locations, so to take advantage of social media for advertising is smart at this point- not necessarily new, because Tasti-D-Lite has already gotten in on the trend, but definitely smart. McCafe, monetarily, has been overtaking Starbucks by a mile. Starbucks is using social media to try and make up that gap and according to sources, it may work. It has changed the question from "Are we willing to pay 3 dollars for coffee?" to "Is it really worth the three dollars?" and that alone is huge. Marketshare has changed drastically, but I do think that by playing on peoples' needs to participate in social media, Starbucks may start to close that gap.

+ 006 - 03.06-10 - NEWS

IN RESPONSE TO: PLENTY OF ADS TO GO AROUND ON OSCAR NIGHT

The Academy Awards are changing things up a bit this year. Sort of. It's their advertisers that are doing the real moving and shaking. Stuart Elliott talks about how advertisers had been wary to invest because of the economy and low viewership of the awards program (36.9 million viewers is considered low) last year. Big names such as McDonalds and Bertolli foods/Unilever even skipped out on advertising during the Oscars last year. This year, things are considerably different.



Michael J. Boylson, chief marketing officer for J.C. Penney, who'll be running an advertisement featuring Cindy Crawford tomorrow night, claims that it's the public interest that's up this year, which makes this year that much more viable. With films as huge as Avatar, Up!, Inglourious Basterds and The Blind Side all up for big awards, the public will definitely be tuning in and be interested, making the public all the more available and willing to watch.



As a faithful Oscars viewer, what do I think?



Well, I think the uniform answer is, "it depends." As an Oscars viewer, I'm excited that it will be the most watched ceremony in a few years. I'm also excited to see the new things that happen; a good example being the Hyundai commercials. Hyundai's normal spokesperson, Jeff Bridges, won't be appearing in the ads during the Oscars because of a policy that prohibits nominees (he's up for an award with Crazy Heart,) from appearing in commercials during "their" segment of the show. Hyundai is scheduled to advertise seven times during the Academy Awards. Rumor has it, and this is one thing I'm excited for, Bridges will be replaced with several different celebrities. From an advertising student's standpoint? After sticking with the same spokesperson/narrator for so long, it'll be refreshing to hear the voices of such names as Kim Basinger, Martin Sheen, Richard Dreyfuss and Catherine Keener. Also, for the first time, movies are being advertised during the ceremony (due in part to sponsorships from CBS Films and Summit Entertainment,) which is also exciting from a marketing standpoint.



There are a few changes being made this year, which are suitable and very much anticipated. Some things are a little nerve-wracking (see spokesperson switching,) and others are exciting, such as movie previews and big awards. There isn't much that I'm not excited for tomorrow night, but I will confess, I'm definitely interested to see where the advertisements go.