learnthe4ps.com - For students of marketing.

The Jennifer Aniston Smartwater viral video — that spoofs other viral videos — rose to the top of the AdAge viral video chart last week. The video spoofs some of the the elements that a good viral video is supposed to have.

Do you agree that for a video to go viral it needs these elements?  What do you think are keys for making a video go viral?

You may have heard the news last week that Diet Coke snuck past Pepsi for #2 on the soft drink sales rankings – the Wall Street Journal‘s coverage of this is here in “Diet Coke Wins Battle in Cola Wars,” (March 17, 2011 – non-subscribers click here). Coke and Pepsi provide us with many good examples — including their battle as a good example of competition.

Pepsi has been criticized for some of its recent marketing moves – see “How Pepsi Blinked, Fell Behind Diet Coke” (Advertising Age, March 21, 2011 — this may require a subscription to access). For more, see “Pepsi Thirsty for a Comeback,” (Wall Street Journal, March 18, 2011 – non-subscribers may have to click here) you can read more about Pepsi’s fall and future plans.  Pepsi appeared to enhance its brand image through the social media efforts — but may not have impacted sales of its soft drinks.  The 3:15 video below also provides a quick overview.

What do you think of Pepsi’s social media strategy?  Was it a mistake?

Zappos is one of our favorite companies here at L4Ps. We also feature them in the retailing chapter in our text book. The online retailer is always innovating. Now they are using their own employees in online videos — they have produced 58,000 short videos of employees (not professional models) showing off its shoes and other apparel. The use of employees can build trust — and seeing someone actually using a product can increase its appeal. Zappos also conducted an experiment – showing the same products with and without a video. They found sales averaged 10% higher when a video accompanied the item. Check out “A New Sales Model: Employees” (Wall Street Journal, March 17, 2011 – non-subscribers may have to click here).

What do you think of this approach?  Would it make you more likely to purchase?  Which product categories would work best?

Sometimes marketing managers are afraid to rule out segments of the market. But that is what targeting and positioning is all about — making decisions about which target market our offering will serve and which it will not. By designing a marketing mix that appeals more to one market segments, you will probably make it less appealing to others. That is almost always a good trade-off. Dr Pepper Ten makes it clear that this soft drink is for men — and a great example of targeting for our students.

What do you think of this ad?  Will the “not for women” ads make Dr Pepper Ten more appealing to men?  Do men avoid drinks labeled “Diet” but really want to take in fewer calories?

All marketing students should read one of Seth Godin’s many short books.  He presents his insights in a very simple, easy to understand manner — something we try to do (but don’t always succeed at) in our text books.  Seth Godin recently had a nice post “On pricing power” (February 17, 2011) at his blog. I have little to add — I just suggest you read it because I think you will like it.

Most readers of Learn the 4 Ps are marketing students and many of you looking (or soon to be looking) for a job.  One of my favorite websites, Lifehacker, has a blog post ”Top 10 Ways to Rock Your Resumé” with some great advice.  You probably know most of these — but as you develop your own personal marketing plan you will probably find a few nuggets.

Which one do you think usually wins, evidence or storytelling? Check out what Seth Godin has to say on this question in his post “The limits of evidence-based marketing” (March 6, 2011).  Do you agree with Seth?

Are you familiar with TED? TED (an acronym for Technology, Entertainment and Design) dedicates itself to promoting and disseminating “Ideas Worth Spreading.” Click the TED logo to the left to connect to its website where you can learn more.

This past fall, TED  invited anyone to nominate “ads worth spreading” — with the idea that these ads deserved to be seen.  After reviewing more than 1000 ads, a panel of 24 judges selected 10 winners (click here to see all). We posted one of the winners, the Chase Film (for Intel’s new Core i5 Processor) about a month ago — and another winner was the Chrysler Eminem Super Bowl commercial.

Perhaps the one I like best promotes an idea from the Nike Foundation “The Girl Effect – Clock is Ticking” I embedded this 3:05 video below. This shows you how advertising can support an idea.  Check out the whole list.  Do you have a favorite?  Why is it your favorite?