Lyft's First National TV Commercial

TV may not be the grand monarch of the advertising world that it once was, but it’s still a heavyweight on the chessboard of advertising influence. With that said, Lyft today launched its first national television commercial.

For a mobile-technology, sharing economy startup to look to reach its next consumer on the boob tube is both a comment on the explosive growth of ridesharing and the continued relevance of television marketing.

The 60-second Lyft spot, embedded below, features a young-ish, hip professional woman in casual officewear getting stuck in a traffic jam of comic proportions. There is a mound of cars, junkyard style, a giraffe and a zebra. Oh, and every single car stuck in the traffic jam is occupied by one person -- a point meant to hammer home the notion that driving in a car by yourself is a terribly old fashioned and slightly backwards way of getting to work.

Thoughts?

Taken from: Entrepreneur 

See How the Internet of Things Will Change Your Life

Courtesy of: Visual Capitalist

Why Marketing Executives Don't See Social ROI

Deloitte's CMO research reflects the channel's lack of maturity

When you read a research report featuring survey responses from your peers, the ideal scenario is to see data that helps point towards a new strategy or an action you need to take. When Canadian CMOs look at the recent findings from the 2016 CMO Survey, however, I suspect the most common reaction will be a simple “Phew!”

Conducted in partnership with Deloitte, the American Marketing Association and Duke University’s Fuqua School of Business, the CMO Survey of several hundred marketing leaders indicates spending in the function will go up more than 6.9% over the next year, mostly as you would expect, with a 3.2% decrease in traditional advertising and a 13.2% increase in digital spending. When you break that down further, however, it gets a lot more interesting. 

Social media, for example, currently makes up 10.6% of marketing budgets today, higher than 5.9% for mobile tools and 6.7% for marketing analytics. Yet social media also ranked proportionally lower in terms of how CMOs feel it contributes to the company performance, at 3.1 out of seven, where seven would indicate strong performance.

In presenting the recent findings, Deloitte quoted its own CMO, Diana O’Brien, to put it in context:

The findings show that while social, mobile and analytics spending is on the rise, they’re falling short when it comes to boosting the bottom line. It’s clear that more data doesn’t always equate to more insight, and new technology has no intrinsic value to marketers unless it helps a company better understand its customers and enhances the customer experience.

I can actually think of a couple reasons why social has yet to pay off for a lot of marketing departments. First, social media services in general have yet to perfect the features they offer advertisers. This was reflected in LinkedIn’s recent decision to shut down its ad network, but you also need to take into account that Facebook Canvas and Twitter First View are still in their infancy. Despite years of hype and speculation about the benefits of social media for brands, this is far from a mature space.

The other problem is marketing departments, in many cases, haven’t figured out how to use social media in organic (read: non-paid), authentic ways to tell their stories. Some are optimizing it as a customer service channel, which might be great if it takes some of the workload off call centres, but that’s not the same thing as having meaningful conversations with your customers. In that sense, the relationship between brands and their audience on social media is still the equivalent of a first date — somewhat interested, somewhat awkward, and still a long way from relaxed and trusting.

And finally, of course, there’s the difficulty of attribution and integration of social as a channel within everything else on the marketing department spends on. This is not unique to social media, of course. In fact, only 3.5% of execs told the CMO Survey they felt they were effective at putting together customer information across purchasing, social and other forms of communication. You can’t really get to this in social media, however, unless you’ve already dealt with the first two challenges I’ve described above.

The real focus for CMOs, however, shouldn’t simply be justifying the cost and value of social media to what the marketing department does. The focus should be on what the overall business objectives are and optimizing social media efforts to reach those objectives faster. If you haven’t figured that out yet, this research should at least make you feel a little less alone — sort of like the power of social media.

Author: Shane Schick / source: http://bit.ly/1Wolu5a

Generation Z Wants to Hear from Your Brand

Just when you were starting to figure out how to market to millennials, here comes Generation Z (possibly on a self-balancing scooter with a selfie stick in hand). 

According to recent data from the Cassandra Report, which analyzes emerging trends and youth behavior, 77% of Generation Z want brands to reach out to them with messaging, offers and promotions. This generation includes those who were born in or after 1995.

Melanie Shreffler, senior editorial director at Cassandra, said that one-to-one relationships with brands are a priority for this younger generation. She told MarketingDive that these consumers want to “feel a personal connection with the brands they buy and support.” In turn, they expect that these brands treat them as people, not just a number.

This is where brands can utilize big data to create a tailored message for consumers. Brands now have more data than ever about their consumers, including recent purchases, age and location. Using that information to better connect with consumers in a personal way could help, but this may mean going beyond what the brand is trying to sell and into what consumers want to consume.

"They should consider not only what the company is getting out of the relationship but also what their young customers are getting out of it to ensure that both parties are benefiting," Shreffler said.

There’s a recent perception that consumer loyalty has gone out the window with younger generations, but the Cassandra report finds quite the opposite. It said 32% of younger consumers across the world say that there are brands to which they will always be loyal.

However, younger consumers may have a shorter attention span, as 23% of millennials said they wouldn’t hesitate to cease loyalty to a brand after a negative customer service experience. In addition, the report found that 34% of these younger consumers might break ties with a brand over issues of quality and 21% over product changes.

Moving forward, Shreffler said it will be essential for brands to understand why these younger consumers favor them. Perhaps even more importantly, brands cannot try too hard to impress or win over Generation Z.

“Young people are hyper aware of brands trying to seem cool, and they don’t like it when their favorite brands jump on trends or change their style too much," she said. 

- Author: Hal Conick
- See more at: https://www.ama.org/publications/eNewsletters/Marketing-News-Weekly/Pages/generation-z-wants-to-hear-from-your-brand.aspx#sthash.erKt5NaH.dpuf

Data Shows Paid Posts Should Be Part of Your Multi-Step Social Media Effort

Those who think social media is an easy way to attract a crowd likely have never attempted to mount a digital PR campaign. As PR pros know, such efforts require several steps, including finding your audience members and deciding the platform or platforms where they live, if indeed they are social media consumers.

Then you need to determine the best time or times to speak to them on their platform of choice. You might also need to find and recruit influencers in your sector whom your audience members are following.

Next you need to craft an editorial plan for your social media effort and find the corporate bandwidth to feed the beast with timely and compelling content. In addition you should monitor what is being said about your brand and, if the circumstances warrant it, respond. Monitoring the social media tendencies of your competitors also is recommended ( PRN, Feb 22).

And after all that, you still need to boost your content, as these graphics ( below) from Michael Brito, head of social marketing, W2O Group, demonstrate.

Source: http://bit.ly/1p2Dp7d

5 Ways Ridesharing is Making the World a Better Place

In 2014, 1.1 Million rides were requested every week.

Ridesharing has exploded in popularity in recent years. In 2014, 1.1 million rides were being requested every week. Ridesharing doesn't just provide a way for people to get from point A to point B. It's changing the world for the better.

This guide is going to show you why you should be signing up to a ridesharing platform from your computer or your phone.

It's Cheap!

One of the reasons why ridesharing managed to rise so quickly is because of how cheap it is. On many routes, it's up to 50% cheaper to travel by rideshare than it is to travel by public transport.

Nowhere did this become more apparent than with Uber. Taxi drivers all over the world have even launched legal action because they claim that Uber is unfairly taking their business away from them.

Ridesharing has made long distance travel more affordable.

Bringing People Closer Together

Ridesharing is about so much more than an impersonal ride to this destination or that. It's about creating real connections between the driver and the passenger. Most rides will usually have enough demand to fill a vehicle. This will lead to up to four people having a relationship as they meet each other and speak about their likes and dislikes.

This happens on both shorter rides and longer rides. It's making the world a better place because it's bringing together people from lots of different backgrounds.

By bringing people closer together, it helps to break down barriers and create open minds.

Reduces Congestion on the Roads

There's nothing more frustrating than trying to get somewhere only to have a huge traffic jam to struggle with. There are many reasons why this happens, but it's largely self-inflicted. When everyone is driving a vehicle, the roads can't handle so many people all trying to get to the same place at the same time.

Congestion on the roads has been eased by people sharing cars together. Before ridesharing really started to hit the mainstream, governments and organizations were promoting the benefits of ridesharing. But there are more benefits that aren't confined to making it easier to get from one place to another without congestion.

The Environmental Benefits

The world has to take a look at itself and consider what it is going to do about the increasing effect of global warming. The world is getting hotter and the environment is starting to change. This is a direct result of the greenhouse gases produced by vehicles like cars.

Many cities have come up with solutions to improve air quality. Some cities have even allowed only certain license plates on the roads on alternate days.

One way you can contribute to saving the environment is through ridesharing. If everyone could fill a car of four people, this would mean four times fewer greenhouse gas emissions. This would mean significant change to the amount of greenhouse gas in the atmosphere and would slow down the rate of warming.

Although there is no hard research to demonstrate the precise effect ridesharing has had on reducing emissions, the logic is clear.

Keeping People Mobile

Ridesharing, for many reasons, has liberated people. For example, if someone is unable to easily get to a bus or train station they may decide not to make the trip at all. Ridesharing has the benefit of being able to transport people to and from anywhere.

It keeps people mobile, and that maintains the flow of people from place to place. As people meet with and connect with others, they become more tolerant and less isolated. One could easily describe ridesharing as the great social dispersion agent of the decade.

How Ridesharing Differs

There are many forms of ridesharing. Uber, for example, is just like an alternative taxi services. Blablacar, on the other hand, is closer to hitchhiking, except you pay for it and the ride is arranged in advance. It allows drivers who were going to a destination anyway to take someone with them without the high prices of public transport.

Ridesharing has changed the world in many ways. Many people have become liberated and they have created friendships simply through sharing a ride together.

It's safer than hitchhiking and more affordable than taking a cab. All the signs point towards ridesharing continuing to grow in popularity as it makes further inroads into the mainstream. There's a strong chance that this will become the way to travel going forward.

What are your opinions on ridesharing?

Author: AJ Agrawal / Source: http://bit.ly/1UQOhAW

Another Way to Measure CSR: Organizational Carpooling

Sustainability has become a focal point of many organizations in recent years. Since corporate social responsibility has become so widespread, many companies are now directing more resources to ensure that they are operating in a responsible and sustainable manner. But most importantly, reporting on it.

Many companies now focus on building or improving their green facilities, transitioning to electronic forms of communication instead of paper, switching to video conferencing over air travel, and so on and so forth. Eventually, these organizations need to be publishing this data in quarterly or annual reports for their stakeholders. Transparency is paramount. Companies now consider how their day-to-day operations impact the environment, their community and its employees.

Another form of reducing your employees', and by proxy, your organization, GHG is through carpooling. Carpooling? Yes, carpooling. Ride sharing is another approach organizations need to consider in order to more effectively reduce their environmental footprint. There are many services out there today, such as Ride, Scoop, and BlancRide. These dynamic ridesharing SaaS gives organizations the ability to track and report on their carbon emission savings for every single employee that uses the platform.

Just to provide some insight on how detrimental private transportation is on the environment, the transportation sector in Canada is one of the biggest significant emitters of GHGs. According to Environment Canada, in 2007 transportation was responsible for 27% of the total GHG emissions. Road transportation accounted for 69% of the GHG emissions within the sector. Additionally, GHG emissions in Ontario represented 39% of the total provincial emission levels (source: Stats Canada).

Those percentages are astronomical due to the number of people who drive alone to and from work everyday. Just to throw in a few more statistics, according to the 2011 National Household Survey (NHS), roughly 15.4 million Canadians commuted to work. 74.0% of commuters, or 11.4 million workers, drove a vehicle to work. Only 5.6%, or 867,100 people made the trip as passengers. 

Organizations need to start looking at these trends and consider whether or not they want to be the first to champion carpooling on a large scale model. Once an organization deploys an internal carpooling initiative, whether through a 3rd party provider or doing it in-house, they could justify that they are taking their GHG reduction a step further by tracking and reporting on an individual basis.

For example, you could save 3.5 tons of carbon emissions per employee, on average, if employees carpool to and from work. Every year that a car isn't being driven. it's similar to planting 400+ trees. For those who are environmentally conscious, that is a huge value proposition.

If you want to try carpooling using your smartphone, Google is your best friend. Just remember, these carpooling services are scalable models, which means that they (mostly) work very well when they have a sufficient amount of people active on the platform. In the case of Toronto's BlancRide, they need approximately 30,000+ people for the service to work seamlessly. Keep in mind Toronto's population is 5+ million people. According to BlancRide's last update, they are at approximately 12,000 users. So they are swimming upstream, if you will.