Cards Against ______? Trump

Cards Against Humanity by their own definition "is a party game for horrible people."  It seems that they also think the President of the United States, Donald Trump, is the worst of these horrible people.  Cards Against Humanity is on a mission to let everyone know that he is the target of all of their scrutiny.  Statements and videos are being released about Cards' plan to stop Donald Trump.  Or all of this commotion they are causing could be a genius marketing strategy that is currently going viral.

This is a very good marketing move in the fact that both sides of the political spectrum are talking about Cards Against Humanity.  Coincidentally, they alienated themselves from the Republicans in a major way.  One of the biggest thing that made this campaign huge is that they bought a piece of land along the Mexican border.  Cards said that their plan was to "purchase a plot of vacant land on the border and retained a law firm specializing in eminent domain to make it as time-consuming and expensive as possible for the wall to get built."  Selling their cards is going to fund this piece of land, and share it's ownership with the customers that bought this special pack.

In the short term this move is very successful.  A few hours after this campaign, the card set that they were selling was sold out.  In the long term, they potentially dug themselves a big hole in getting any Trump fans and many Republicans to purchase their product.  It will be interesting to see if they even try to get back on the good side of Republicans in the near future.  So far, this is the biggest stance that an American company has taken against President Trump.  Cards Against Humanity is not backing down on it's political statement either.  They are taking on comment's that are saying they shouldn't be politicizing their business.

Overall, this is a big turning point in Cards Against Humanity's life.  It will either be a catalyst that propels them to a new level, or it could be the beginning of the end for them.  If the property they bought on the Mexican border actually becomes a big obstacle for the wall, then this marketing tactic could have big political and legal implications.          

   

  

Black Friday... Today?

In two weeks one of the biggest shopping days in the U.S. will occur, Black Friday.  Many spend weeks and maybe even months preparing to save big on deals at some of their favorite stores.  But this year the game is changing, and many people didn't see it coming.  After Halloween many Black Friday deals started to come out for certain stores.  What does this mean for when Black Friday actually comes?

Stores could have something in store for all the shoppers this year that we've never seen.  Many could be selling all of their products that they would be selling on Black Friday right now.  They are advertising it as "Black Friday sales", but it could really be a better deal for the stores as long as people are buying it.  As long as people are getting excited and the money is coming in, the stores don't care what date they sell their products.  Or some stores could have other tactics up their sleeves.

 

Many stores spend plenty of money advertising and paying people to work during the holidays.  So they could be trying to save money and not open on Black Friday at all.  They could be putting sales online now to get free publicity so they don't have to spend their money on advertisements.  Other possibilities are out there such as giving shoppers a taste of what's to come on the day after Thanksgiving.  

We can't figure out their plans until the dust settles after Black Friday, but these companies have put plenty of research into this and know what they're doing.  Many people are already going crazy and buying the first good deal they see.  These companies are taking advantage of that.  As marketers we have to learn from times like this and figure out the lesson that needs to be learned.  Right now it looks like it is very smart to start these "Black Friday Deals" as soon as possible.  

Disney's Big Gamble

Streaming has been a very competitive field that has taken off in the past decade.  Many companies like Netflix and Hulu have made streaming their main business activity.  While others such as HBO and YouTube are starting to add streaming as another service their company offers.  This is the risk that Disney is taking by starting their own streaming service in 2019.  Offering their own service will have it's advantages and disadvantages.  

Disney's biggest advantage is that they will have a big catalog of movies that many people enjoy.  They can also see what is working and not working with all of the other big streaming services out there to try and make theirs the best.  If Disney can incorporate some of their property's that they own such as ABC and ESPN, then that will give them even more content and potentially live sports.  Right now that would be something that no other single streaming service has at the moment.

All of the various competitors that are already streaming will be the biggest obstacle for Disney to hurdle.  Many people could already be loyal to a a few streaming services and decide that it's not worth it to add Disney to the ones they already have.  Right now, people could be watching all of the Disney content on current services and not have to buy Disney's.  This will of course only be a short term issue as they will add more as time goes on.           

Hopefully Disney has good foresight and tries to address these issues before their streaming service is released.  Competition is supposed to be good for consumers.  This is the biggest reason to be excited for the future of streaming and visual media.  All of the biggest media companies are trying to expand to streaming and beyond.  Overall, there should be better and better content coming in the near future to make everyone happy.   

The Future of Business?

Cryptocurrency is the hottest thing on the market at the moment.  Cryptocurrency is thought to be a new disruptive technology that will eventually be adopted and used by everyone.  This is why it is causing such a stir among individuals and businesses.  Many people have differing opinions on cryptocurrency, some think that it is great and will be a normal part of society in the near future.  Others believe that it is just a fad, and that it isn't a secure or real way to use currency. 

Predicting the future is impossible.  So if you think that cryptocurrency will be used then you can get out ahead of it and be ready for it.  But if your'e wrong, then you could waste a lot of time and resources anticipating something that doesn't happen.  Or you could get left behind if you do nothing and cryptocurrency becomes a legitimate form of currency online.  This is the risk that individuals and more importantly businesses have to deal with at this moment when it is so popular.

Cryptocurrency and more specifically Bitcoin could be used as a marketing tool that attracts younger more tech-savvy consumers.  Companies that don't adapt to the new trends are no longer around.  PayPal is one of the largest online money transfer companies.  This is part of the marketing strategy of Bitcoin.  They think they are going to be the next PayPal, and if you don't use them on your website then you'll be left behind.

Data breaches are the next marketing tool that Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are going to use.  In a world where there are more and more data breaches happening everyday, this could be their a comparative advantage that other companies can't promise.  A data breach gives the hacker all of a company or customer's information, including credit cards.  With cryptocurrency, people don't have to enter their credit card information.  This means customers don't have to worry about their information being stolen, and companies don't have to worry about their customer's most sensitive information being breached.

It is a risky decision that companies are being faced with at this very moment.  Whether they should adopt a cryptocurrency before it's mainstream, or potentially fall behind and lose business because you didn't prepare for it.  Overall, it's interesting to see what is going to happen and see how companies adapt their business to the new trends. 
       

Marketing After Disasters

Marketing can be hard to do when things are changing at such a fast pace.  It gets even trickier when a company has to deal with sensitive subjects.  In today's world, everything can be a sensitive topic for different people.  Especially right now at this moment there are tough things going on. People are losing their lives, homes, friends, and even families.  So this can be a complicated time for companies to market themselves when people are going through horrific things.   

Businesses can't just stop what they're doing, wait for these disasters to be cleaned up and then start back up.  They are responsible to their shareholders and so much more to continue and try to profit as much as they possibly can.  For example, businesses and even the government are currently trying to market the state of Florida.  Tourism is a big economic driver in Florida.  So to get tourist to come back after Irma hit is the current challenge that they are facing.  This is something that they have to do very carefully to not upset people that still haven't recovered from the hurricane.

Visit Florida is a company working with the government to get tourist heading back into Florida.  Their slogan is "sunshine, blue skies and good times."  This is a perfect way to market Florida at this particular point in time.  Florida is the Sunshine State, so this slogan plays off of that.  They also want people to know that the storm is over and there are blue skies.  Most likely when people are picturing Florida in their head at this moment, their thinking of the hurricane and the damage that it caused.  This slogan says, all of that is gone and over with and now there are blue skies instead of gray.  And finally, they highlight that you can have a good time if you come to Florida.  Everything with the hurricane is over and you can enjoy yourself when you come to visit Florida.

This is a great example of how to market a place or business after a horrible event.  Timing is one thing that has to be perfect when running a campaign like this.  Visit Florida wouldn't want to run this campaign if there was another hurricane on the way.  Or if the clean up effort was going on and people weren't ready for tourist to come visit the state.  Marketers in Las Vegas are going to have to figure out what they can do to help the victims and the companies they work for.  Also, you don't want to do something dumb and offend a lot of people.  So marketers have to be extremely careful about what they do pertaining to the awful events that occurred and when they do it.

 

    
             

The Trump Effect

Donald Trump is a former big businessman turned President of The United States.  As president he recently put some big businesses in a tough situation.  As a result of his comments on the recent NFL National Anthem protests, many businesses are having to make statements about their opinions on the protests.  Some companies are keeping their heads down and waiting for the storm to blow over.  While others are getting their statements out there as soon as possible.  

Companies' decisions to make a certain stance or statement can have a big impact on customers' opinions about the company.  Marketing and Public Relations departments of these companies are going to be very busy trying to decide what to do.  While others are immediately just putting out statements to get their opinion out there so people don't wonder what they think.

Under Armour, Nike, and Ford were part of the group of companies that crafted a statement immediately.  Nike was the only company that chose to support one side of the debate.  Nike basically stated that they were supportive of the players and whatever decisions they make.  This statement could anger consumers that support players standing for the National Anthem and the President.  Under Armour and Ford chose to remain on the fence when making their statements on this situation.

The smart decision could be, sit and wait to see what the consumers agree with.  This could be a good time for Marketing departments to set up focus groups and surveys to see what the consumers will do.  It lets the companies make a decision with as much information as possible.  President Trump is making things difficult for the NFL, their sponsors, and any other businesses related to sports.  Overall, it should be interesting to see what these huge companies do in response to the comments made by the President of the United States.                     

YouTube Adpocalypse

YouTube is the top place on the internet to watch all kinds of videos.  I'm sure you know what YouTube is so I won't embarrass myself by trying to explain it to you.  What you probably don't know is how YouTube makes a large portion of its money.  YouTube has advertisements on a lot of their most watched videos.  This has paved the way for YouTube to partner with some of the big content creators on their platform.  This includes businesses, sports organizations, and independent content creators.

YouTube has recently had many of their advertisers contact them and complain about seeing their ads on very inappropriate content.  This inappropriate were things like Nazi related videos or ISIS videos, with ads like Coke or Disney shown before them.    This has created a big event known as the "YouTube Adpocalypse".  Complaints about adpocalypse came when creators were seeing that their videos were making little to no ad revenue.  Many of these videos lost anywhere from 30%-99% of ad revenue.  Creators were mad because some videos they thought were appropriate were being demonetized.  For example, "Military Arms Channel" complained that they lost almost all their revenue because they made videos of gun reviews.  

Many of YouTube's largest creators such as Pewdiepie, Phillip DeFranco, and h3h3productions have all strongly criticizing YouTube for doing this, and the way they did it.  YouTube has responded but their reasoning didn't please too many people.  YouTube really has no reason to worry about losing their creators or audience because there is no good competitors out there.  This is a big deal that tells YouTube and everyone else that there could be a potential problem here.  This raises big questions about what YouTube and their users have to look forward to in the future.    

Creators are scrambling to try and find out what to do, because they were making enough money from ad revenue to make YouTube their full time job.  Many creators are being forced to change their styles to be more kid-friendly content and a lot more reserved.  This has ultimately brought people to complain about YouTube censoring their creators by not making videos with explicit language monetized.  Since YouTube is the biggest video sharing platform, they are paving the way for all other websites and social media sites like them.  Ultimately, people fear that the whole internet will be censored because advertisements are the main source of revenue for many sites out there.                

Apple Heads

Apple is doing something that few other companies or brands have ever done before.  In fact, they may be the only company to get people to go crazy for their new products almost every single year.  It is completely different in the way they get people so excited for a new product that is marginally different than the previous version.  Apple enthusiast's literally line up for days to give Apple their money for a phone or watch.  None of their competitors or peers in the tech industry are able to even get close to the amount of hype that they produce around their brand.

So what exactly do they do to get everyone so excited about Apple and their products?  Well to start off, they have big events planned to tell their customers what they've developed for them.  This could be the most important part of their process.  After each event, people can't help but talk about what Apple just revealed to them.  Customers and people in the industry share their thoughts and start their own conversations about what is going to be released in the near future.  This step is very important, because when people are talking about the product the most is when the product is released for sale.

These early adopters are the most important people in Apple's strategy.  If the early adopters are not as enthusiastic as they are about Apple's products, then the laggards will most likely not be interested in purchasing the product.  They show everyone all the tips and tricks to use the phone to its optimal ability.  Also, they test it against drops, bends, and water efficiency which is something that Apple doesn't show themselves.  Apple knows this happens on the internet and I'm sure they enjoy every bit of it.

Overall, their mastery is the exact process that they hype and release their products with.  Nothing happens without their planning and knowledge of.  People getting leaked photos or phones is all part of the plan.  Almost everyone still falls into their trap and gets excited about it or talks about it every time this happens.  Apple is so connected to the pulse of everything going on in the industry.  This is the reason that their loyal customers will do anything and pay any price to get the new products as soon as possible.

Can't Stop the Cord Cutting

Cord cutting is the term given to people who cancel their cable television subscription.  This is a new phenomenon that has been occurring more often since television became available on the internet.  It seems inevitable that cord cutting going to cut out cable television subscriptions all together.  With companies like YouTube, Netflix, Amazon, and others all having their own television or streaming services online, there is a huge shift to cord cutting.  Many companies that depend on cable television subscriptions for their revenue are hurting right now.  

For advertisers this could be a very bad thing.  Netflix currently doesn't have any ads on its service.  If the other streaming companies want to compete with Netflix then they have to eliminate or reduce the ads on their sites.  This sets up a lose/lose situation for many marketing and advertising firms that rely on television viewers to buy their products.  With fewer ads that means the harder it is for people to see your product.  It could also mean that the ads could get more expensive since there are fewer of them.

One of the biggest reasons for people not to cancel their television subscription is live sports.  Sports are being streamed online more often in recent years, whether it be illegally or legally.  There are illegal streams of sports events all over the internet.  This prevents consumers from having to buy different television packages to watch all the different teams.  One of the biggest sports events of our generation just happened, which was the McGregor vs. Mayweather boxing match.  This event was available in so many different ways that there was no need to have cable television to watch it.

Cable television will inevitably be nonexistent in the near future.  The only big question that remains is, how companies will adapt to it?  Will advertisers be kept off of streaming services like Netflix or will they be allowed on that platform?  If there there are advertisements on these services, how expensive will they become?  These are scary situations that marketers and advertisers need to start preparing for.    

Heroes Are OVERRATED

Our world is constantly changing in all aspects.  There are a few things that tend to change more than others. For example, phones have gone from being wired to being like a computer in your hand.  Trends can be the force that drives such changes.  In 2017, taxis are going out of business for ride sharing apps.  So maybe one question we have to ask ourselves is, what is the next big trend?  One answer could be something that seems to never change, which is good and bad.

People have always liked being the good guy or the hero.  On playgrounds as children, kids always had to fight over who was going to be the cowboy or the police officer when role playing.  It is in all of our dreams to save people that are in need of help.  This has been ingrained in us since we were children.  Through movies, literature, TV shows, and even in advertisements, people are showing the hero as the likable guy or girl who saves everyone from the dumb criminal.  In recent years there has seemed to be a shift in these forms of entertainment that the bad guys are smarter, better looking, and sometimes even the winner in the end.

In the real world there are examples of the "bad guys" winning.  Donald Trump is now the president of the United States.  Even though he was portrayed as a bad guy compared to all the other candidates.  In the biggest TV show of all time, "Game of Thrones", the main character and hero is killed at the end of the first season. *Spoiler Alert*  In "The Dark Knight" many people would say that the Joker is their favorite character in the movie over Batman.  We are seeing a move in the trend towards people liking the bad guy more than the good guy.  More and more people seem to support these "bad guys" or the TV show or movie they belong to.  This is shown in the amount of money that these companies are making.  "The Dark Knight" grossed over a Billion, with a B, dollars at the box office.  According to the New York Times, "Game of Thrones" is bringing in "slightly more than $1 billion annually."  And as stated above, Donald Trump is the president of our country.

So where do we see the "bad guy" trend in marketing and advertising?  The only example I can think of is in the Wendy's Twitter account.  Wendy's has someone or a group of people that are constantly joking, insulting, messing around with, or "bullying" people and other companies on their Twitter account.  This has brought so much attention to their account that there are videos with millions of views, blogs, and even news stories that are reacting to what Wendy's is posting.  Many other companies are mocking or attempting to copy them and failing.

In marketing and advertising, will we see a trend of the "bad guy" winning and selling products to us?  This is something that could possibly work if a company can think of a way to get people to like their villain.  One of the most disappointing things is that we really aren't even seeing companies attempt to do this.  Whether their afraid that they'll fail or that they will end up offending somebody is most likely the only things holding them back.  We shall see where this goes and if more companies will take a chance and try it.