Rapping Hamsters Break Monotony

This weekend I was posed the question, from and advertising perspective, "What do you think of those rapping hamsters?" Well, it's not what I think of those rapping hamsters, it's what the Kia Soul's target market, Gen Y, thinks of them. Let's take a look.



Little do many people know, every advertisement stems from strategic research. Yes, even the ones with rapping hamsters. "A New Way to Roll" was the first Kia hamster commercial that aired in 2009. David & Goliath - Kia's advertising agency - chose a hamster as the spokesperson of choice for this campaign because hamsters are a "metaphor for sameness," the "sameness" of everyday life that Gen Y will do anything to avoid. The hamsters break the mold as they drive by other critters who are stuck in hamster wheels that can't actually roll down the street. The commercial also defied monotony by playing a different music track each night that the ad appeared.



The next hamster commercial "This or That" further broke the mold by turning the hamsters into hip hop artists, rapping in hooded sweatshirts about the Kia Soul. It aired during the NBA Finals and also went viral soon after it launched. How could it not? It's hard to forget those little critters when you see them not only driving a Kia Soul, but also blinged-out and rapping.

And so the strategy worked. In June, Kia Motors America boosted their sales by 45% in comparison to the same period last year according to CNN. Kia's sales increased 1.5% monthly while sales continued to fall for their top competitors. 80% of dealers in the nation sold out of the Kia Soul

Gaming Goes Green

Odds are, you're a gamer whether you want to admit it or not. The gaming world used to have a very narrow demographic: men under 25 who hibernated in their basements or rooms for hours on end playing computer or video games. Times have changed and so has the definition - and therefore the population - of gamers. Now gamers fill the cyber (and mobile) space. According to a Pew Internet & American Life Project study, 97% of teens play some type of digital game whether it be a computer, mobile, or video game. The demographics of the gaming world have broadened; there is a vast amount and wide variety of gamers out there today.

Not only is there and increase in the number of gamers thanks to the new definition of gamer, but there is also an increase in the number of teens and young adults who care about environmental issues. In fact 81% of young people in an ActNow survey rated the environment as the most important national issue. Wait, how does this coorelate with gaming? Social conscious games, just like young gamers, are increasing around the world. Barefoot Explorers iPhone game studio released the adventure game Panda Hero in 2009 which not only taught kids the value of protecting endangered species, but essentially planted trees out in the real world. The company partnered with a non-profit organization which planted three trees each time the game was downloaded. 20,000 trees were planted in just the first three months that the game was released.

So why should brands get in on the action? Not only does gaming reach a variety of demographics these days, but it also has outlets on two very influencial mediums: the personal computer and the mobile phone. Games are not only played at home anymore, they can be played anywhere and everywhere your mobile phone goes. Computer and mobile games are an engaging medium and require a person's undivided attention which we know is not always easy to get from consumers. 

Also, people respond well to friendly competition. Nike found that the most popular features of their website were the challenges which allowed people to turn their training into a game. Thus they introduced more game-like features onto their website. Add a "green" incentive into the picture and you have yourself a master mix just waiting to go viral.

Games allow the consumer to not just simply see the brand visually but to participate in the brand experience as a whole. So make a game out of it! Better yet make a green game, and your brand is likely to get the attention it deserves.

How Powerful is a Little Tweeting Bird?

With all this hype about Lebron James finally joining the twitterverse, I feel obligated to remind you why a little tweeting bird is...or isn't so powerful.

Yes, it's true, on Tuesday Lebron James joined twitter under the verified name @kingjames. Will he tweet his decision before the press conference tonight? No one knows exactly his reasoning for joining twitter at such an anticipated moment in basketball. It's quite possible that James just wanted the added attention, and with almost 300,000 followers in two days (yes, I'm one of them) that is exactly what he got. However, with twitter being such a powerful marketing tool, could he have joined for the sake of his fan base? To market himself? I think both. With twitter, James can not only stay connected with his fans on a more personal level but also filter them through to his website lebronjames.com. Twitter is a community in which users expect to be linked to more information whether it be a website, a picture, a video, etc. 18-24 year olds want everything to be brief, clear, and to the point, which is exactly what a tweet is. Then, if it sparks their interest, they will click the link on the tweet or search the web to find out more.

Accroding to Edison Research, two-thirds of active twitter users have access through their mobile phones. Some say this means that companies who don't have a strong mobile presence won't benefit much by using twitter. However, in reality this means that if you have a strong twitter presence, by default, you have a strong mobile presence. Yes, of course a stong presence in both would reinforce your message, but by no means should you rule out a twitter account just because you don't have much of a mobile campaign.

Edison Research tells us that 51% of twitter users follow companies, brands, or products, 42% learn about products and services via twitter and 41% tweet their opinions about products and services. Yes, people are listening and people are tweeting. But do those who tweet their opinions actually have any influence? In fact, twitter users have an above average income and education level which does give them influencial power. This also means that those reading the tweets are just as influencial and can spread the word even further.

Introduction to the Intern

I'm Holly Prell, the new Global Research Intern at Starcom MediaVest Group. How did I get here? Well, if you're really interested, it all started out when we Millenials were mere youngens...

You see, my dad deemed me the "weasel" of the family at a young age. He told me I always knew how to weasel my way into things. I didn't really know quite what he meant by that at the time, so I never gave it much consideration. It wasn't until High School when I realized that being a weasel had some potential.

I was sitting in my favorite class, Media Studies. It was the day we were learning about advertising appeals and claims. "And next is the weasel word," said my teacher. Well that sparked my attention! I had suddenly realized that my father had branded me with the same name as an advertising strategy. It was then that I realized that Advertising is what I was meant to do.

From there I decided that the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign had the best advertising program for me. By December 2010, in and out of there in three and a half years, I will graduate with a bachelors degree in Advertising, a minor in Sociology, and a background in Statistics.

Normally that would be a thorough description, but everyone always asks me: Why Statistics? The answer is simple. I like to be creative and to to analyze consumer behaviors, but I also like to do math and to solve problems. So there we have it, a combination of all - advertising research.