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What are you doing differently this holiday season to promote your brand?

The official kick off to the holiday shopping season is just days away as consumers anticipate door-buster Black Friday sales and clicking for deals online during Cyber Monday. The media will be rife with stories of the family that camped out for 12 hours in sub-zero temperatures to try and get that HD television, video game console or other coveted item at a rock-bottom price point.

Unfortunately, by all forecasts, holiday sales growth this year is expected to be relatively flat  as the economy continues to contract and consumers tighten their purses. The current tactic to get folks in the door right now is straight up price-slashing, with massive sales in-stores along with online specials/promotions, leaving some folks to wonder what’s left for retailers to do as holidays approach.  What’s the grand finale?

Today’s retailer is forced to consider a number of multi-channel marketing options available (mobile marketing, loyalty marketing and rewards programs, online coupons and promotions) to get consumers engaged and either in-store or online, ready to spend. The problem is, too many merchants leave the last quarter of the year to make it in to the “black," banking on holiday shopping to make up for nine months of depressed performance. And in today’s economic climate, even the best planned promotion might still find consumers staring at an empty shopping cart as they reconsider every dollar spent.

But what if retail brands made a concerted effort to court consumers with their brand year round in a meaningful way? In a slow economy, you have to work even harder and make every marketing dollar count. Understanding the multiple ways a consumer might choose to interact with your brand is critical not just now as the year end gap widens, but the other 11 months of the year as well. Consumers are quick to seek deals online. Where will they find information about your brand?  Will the universe of social media tout your special pricing programs, discount codes, great customer service and more?  What about reaching the notoriously brand-fickle Generation X (or Y)? Would a well-executed mobile campaign turn interest into action?  Or consider a friends and family discount campaign executed across a major social network like Facebook or MySpace?  Is your brand Twitter-worthy, and if so, how can you become part of the dialogue and attract new customers?

Of course for now, the bottom line IS the bottom line, with a recent survey stating 44% of consumers actively seeking out coupons, promotions and specials for their holiday shopping, and another 64% saying these offers are a top factor in deciding where to spend their hard earned dollars.

For some folks, it might be too late to draw those consumers in the door.   Perhaps it’s not too soon to try to get ahead of the curve for 2009.

By Lauren Shankman and Carrie Crabill

Change You Can Believe In

The world of social media is changing at a rapid fire pace.  This constant evolution and the breakneck speed at which things spread, not to mention the sheer volume of tools and outlets, can be overwhelming.  It can be enough to make marketers wonder – is it even worth it?  Well, you don’t have to look any farther than the recent presidential election to see the dynamic influence and ROI of social media. President-elect Barack Obama has been garnering high praise recently for his technology savvy campaign. Recent press coverage has highlighted the following:

•  During the election Obama posted over 2000 videos on his website barackobama.com
• He has four times as many friends on MySpace than John McCain
• He emailed over 10 million people
• He has over three million friends on Facebook

As president, it is clear Obama plans to utilize his massive technology infrastructure. Change.gov, his transition website, was up and running a mere 24 hours after he was elected.  It’s fairly bare bones right now, but there is more in the works.  Currently, visitors to the site can apply for jobs in the Obama administration and are encouraged to share their experiences from the election. In the past, presidents only utilized presidential addresses and/or press conferences to communicate with the American people. Already, there is talk of Obama posting videos on Youtube similar to Roosevelt’s fire side chats. In addition, he has promised to open non-emergency legislation to a five-day comment period where people can discuss the new legislation.  It will be interesting to see how he harnesses his vast online community over the next four years.

Change we can believe in. That was Barack Obama’s slogan in the final stages of the presidential election. He promised to be a different kind of president, a president who will change the way things are done in Washington. The type of president Mr. Obama will actually turn out to be is unclear – what is clear is that Obama ran a very different presidential campaign that harnessed the power of social media and that, at the very least, should forever change how we relate to our government.

By Robert Clarke and Kate Jay

Should We BCS the Presidential Election?

The debate around who is worthy for this year’s #1 and #2 teams to compete for the BCS national championship lives on after yet another upset over the #1 ranked team, Texas in this case.  The Big 12, in recent history, a one or two team league, has an amazing class of teams who have found their way to the top 10. Of course, when it is all said and done, they’ll have one, two or three losses no different than the teams in the SEC or the Big 10. 

If you are Penn State this year, you’re feeling a little like Senator John McCain … all that experience, good will, yet you are down in the polls.  And no matter what you do, those with lesser experience, fewer accomplishments seem to leap over you.  No doubt Texas Tech deserves to be in the top three.  But how did Alabama get there.  They crushed what is appearing to be an overrated Georgia team and suddenly they are in front, regardless of weak wins against Kentucky and Mississippi. Did Governor Palin show up unannounced and because of a great disposition and a rah, rah attitude, leap to the front of the pack only to be flagged more times than former Vice President Dan Quayle when under pressure by Katie Couric or when blitzed by the Web 2.0 world and SNL.  Where does Senator Obama fall in the rankings.  Is he the guy that keeps beating the one-time favorites like Senator Clinton?  Is he Texas Tech, whose coach quotes Winston Churchill? Or is he Penn State, the team that regardless of where the fall in the polls, always seems to do the right thing even in a time of crisis.  

Right now, the two polls – Harris and USA Today – have Alabama #1, Penn State #2 and Texas Tech #3. However the computer rankings fair better for Texas Tech, thereby placing them #2 in the BCS with Alabama #1.  So can we believe the polls or do we let a computer ranking tell us who should be #1. What if the general election was waited like the Harris and USA Today polls, then we plugged in each candidate’s accomplishments, failures, economic strategies, healthcare plans, foreign policies, points of view and combine polls and computer rankings. Or we can just have a playoff or in the case of a presidential election, a steel cage match.

By Dean Trevelino