The Holidays Are Coming and It’s Time to Up the (Digital) Ante

Today is Halloween which, as well as meaning I’m dressed as a skeleton in the office, means that there are only 54 days left to Christmas. And only 25 till Black Friday which, for brands, is the real start of the Holiday season.

Two facts that holiday marketers need to have top of mind at this point in time are that firstly, according to the National Retail Federation (NRF), 40 percent of consumers will have already started their holiday shopping by Halloween, and secondly, according to eMarketer, total retail holiday season sales this year will only increase 1.8 percent. That means this year, brand marketers must up the ante when it comes to their holiday marketing initiatives if they want to maximize share of wallet.

So how, especially this late in the game, can they do that?

Simply put, right now, brand marketers need to put all their efforts into fishing where there are fish. And by that we mean focus on digital. Your digital channels must be at the center of all your holiday marketing initiatives from this point on. Why? Because, almost half of holiday shopping (46 percent) will be done online and 21.4 percent of smartphone owners will use their device to purchase holiday merchandise this year, the highest seen since NRF first asked in 2011.

And when thinking about digital don’t limit your thinking to your website. Over half (55 percent) of respondents in a recent survey said a brand’s social media presence has at least some influence on their decision-making process when deciding where to buy during the holiday season and that Facebook and Pinterest influenced 69 percent of respondents for shopping ideas and inspiration.

Similarly email should be integrated into your communication efforts with eight in 10 consumers who sign up for a brands’ email will make a purchase based on what they receive in their inbox. In fact, brands who sent out two mailings in a day last holiday season saw an 88 percent increase in email revenue.

The best thing about a digital first approach is that you don’t have to blow your budget to make a significant impact. For example, last year RockOrange implemented an ‘on-a-shoestring’ digital campaign that saw online retailer Zappos own back-to-school. The integrated campaign earned a robust 8,189 online mentions, representing a 2.6% share of voice out of the total 2015 Zappos brand mentions of 314,016. You can find out more in this blog post – How to Make the Most of Limited Back-to-School Marketing Budgets.

How are you planning on using digital marketing this holiday season? Let us know in a comment.

Halloween Playlist

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We’ve definitely been there when the scary music scares us more than the actual scene; and the worst part is that pillow over your eyes can’t also kill the music. Most scary scenes have a clever way of using sound to shock us one high-pitched note at a time. So, in the spirit of Halloween, we compiled some scary and suspenseful classics that will surely give you goose bumps!

Just kidding… we also incorporated some less scary ones too!

Hit play and get ready to get some chills!

How Can Brands Prevent Sharing #TMI?

Social media has created a share-society. And, with the rise of real-time social sharing apps like Facebook Live and storytelling features and apps like Snapchat and Instagram Stories, social media users can quite literally share their every single move, all day, every day. And by users we’re not just talking about the everyday consumer snapping photos of every meal they sit down to eat, or celebs posting endless selfies, but also brands, who are leveraging the channels to build deeper relationships with their customers through authentic, behind-the-scenes, how-the-sauce-is-made glimpses into their day-to-day operations.

However, there’s a line of appropriateness that shouldn’t be forgotten. You can share too much on social media and if you cross the line you’re at risk of alienating, and potentially losing, customers and fans. So as we watch DJ Khaled snapchat his wife giving birth, we’re left asking… How can brands prevent sharing #TMI?

Which Artist Today Could Win A Nobel Prize?

Last week, Bob Dylan, an American folk singer who is one of the symbols of the peace movement in the 1960s, won a Nobel Prize in Literature. Dylan’s award is seen as the most radical choice in history and stretches the definition of literature.

It also opened up a discussion of whether musicians are actually artists or simply entertainers. Some, like Elvis Presley and Michael Jackson, have changed the course of history by creating music that resonates with the younger generations. Woodstock started the free love movement and changed the course of a nation.

So we asked our Rockstars – Which modern musician might one day win a Nobel Prize?

Why is Agency Diversity So Important?

This week Verizon joined the growing list of global brands including HP and General Mills that are now demanding diversity from their agencies. With these very public calls to action, some are wondering if we’re at a tipping point in entering the age of inclusion in the agency sector? As our Principal, Miguel Piedra outlined in a recent blog post, diversity is baked into RockOrange’s DNA. We make diversity work for us, and for our clients. So with the issue being one so close to our hearts, this week we asked our RockStars – Why is Agency Diversity So Important?

Bulldog Reporter Awards RockOrange Bronze for Miami Zoological Wildlife Foundation Digital Campaign

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We’re thrilled to announce that RockOrange has been awarded Bronze in the category of ‘Best Use of Digital/Social for Cause/Advocacy/Corporate Social Responsibility’ for the digital work we executed on behalf of Miami’s Zoological Wildlife Foundation (ZWF) in this year’s Bulldog Reporter Digital/Social PR Awards.

RockOrange was hired as the Agency of Record by ZWF in 2015 to help the brand find its voice, increase brand awareness and drive visits to the property. Through a series of content-driven digital strategies, we helped ZWF increase its online presence increased by 343 percent. Website traffic increased by 63 percent and the brand’s social media following shot up 67 percent.

The increased digital presence and media coverage resulted in their ranking on TripAdvisor as the #5 Best Thing to Do in Miami, #9 Best Zoo in the World, and #4 Best Zoo in the U.S. Brand sentiment increased from 92 percent positive to 98 percent positive and brand negativity decreased 67 percent.

RockOrange’s bronze is one of 48 honors awarded to companies who have made amazing strides in the world of digital and social media public relations and communications. Bulldog’s Digital/Social awards were by working and award-winning journalists from a number of different media outlets including The Washington Post, USA Today and The Oregonian. Scoring for agencies is based on the following criteria: creativity and originality, strategic and tactical brilliance, breakthrough communications approaches and of course the results of all efforts.

Who’s Your Favorite Superhero?

Last Friday, Netflix introduced another in its line of superhero shows with Luke Cage, a DC character that brawls his way through bad guys in New York City. Netflix has Luke Cage and Jessica Jones, the other superhero Netflix show, live and date in the same hero world in their respective shows, which follows the comic world. Starting with Daredevil, Netflix has capitalized on the superhero frenzy that has taken over the movie industry.
Last year, these larger-than-life movies grossed about $700 million in the box office with the Avengers: Age of Ultron being the highest grossing film. Films like the Avengers, Batman v. Superman and Suicide Squad were all in the top ten highest grossing films in the last couple years.
And with these movies making you leave the theater hoping you had a superpower, the stream of themed movies doesn’t seem to be ebbing anytime soon. Spider-Man has the ability of a spider, the Flash has incredible speed and Superman is, well, super. Yet with all these, they teach us the values and morals of what it means to be a good Samaritan. That’s why this week we asked our RockStars – Who’s your favorite superhero?

You Can’t Force Diversity. Instead, Look For Places Where It Grows Naturally.

By Miguel Piedra, Principal & Managing Partner, RockOrange

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Last month, Palo Alto-based computer hardware developer HP made news when its CMO issued an ultimatum to its PR and advertising partners, exhorting them to submit plans for those agencies to become more diverse in the next 30 days.

In the letter, Antonio Lucio put HP’s roster of agencies on notice. That includes some of the most prominent names in our industry: FleishmanHillard and Porter Novelli for PR; and BBDO, Fred & Farid, and Gyro for advertising.

Lucio’s goal is laudable. The communications and creative world is overwhelmingly white and male. Hispanics, African-Americans and women are chronically underrepresented—doubly so in leadership roles. This at least partly explains many of the embarrassingly tone deaf and cringe-worthy campaigns that have tried unsuccessfully to court these demographics. To understand a culture, one must have at least some mooring in that culture. To execute a successful campaign, you need at least one person in the room who understands the target demographic. Too often, there are none.

But for diversity to take hold and deliver real, positive outcomes, the organization must truly believe in it. Lucio’s heart is in the right place. But from an internal, agency perspective, I can see the natural progression of what will come from this strategy. Ultimatum delivered, the hiring partners will scramble to keep the business. No one is in business to lose money. So whether or not they believe in the core value of diversity becomes beside the point. They will have their talent acquisition and human resources teams do what is necessary to ensure the business is kept. But in the end, if someone is hired as a show pony, or as a token nod to diversity, that is how he or she will be treated. How does that achieve the desired end of viewing projects through different lenses?

Understand, diversity is two-pronged: you must first hire a collection of individuals from different backgrounds, and then empower them to have an effect on your business. It is hard to imagine an agency compelled to hire or promote to meet a client ultimatum will deign to do the latter. The only thing that gets more diversity is the Meet the Team page on their website.

Instead, brands like HP would do well to hire agencies that already value diversity and show the veracity of that belief through their staffing.

There are many agencies around the country that look and act like ours. At RockOrange we are not only minority owned, but more than two thirds of our agency is comprised of women and at any given moment we are 75-80 percent black or Hispanic. Our RockStars range in age from 22 to 50s. We draw from a rich array of life experiences, employing talent from all walks of life and socioeconomic backgrounds.

It wasn’t difficult to do this, and it wasn’t an accident. Miami is an overwhelmingly diverse city, a tapestry of black, white, brown, and all shades between, serving as a model for the next American generation. If you’re a believer in demographic data and population trends, Miami—and by extension our agency—looks a lot like how the country will look in 2050.

But our adherence to diversity as a value is rooted in more than simple geography. Many of our team members have worked in homogenous environments where everyone is from the same place and brings similar experiences. The effect is a deafening echo chamber where disagreement is viewed as dissention. Lack of diversity fosters groupthink, narrowing the collective view. The narrower the view, the broader the blind spot. It’s a dangerous way to do business. It’s how a campaign winds up comparing Naomi Campbell to a chocolate bar. It’s how every Latino menu item at national chains ends up being “spicy” or “fiery”.

For executives like Lucio who understand the underlying business proposition behind diversity, there are alternatives to shoehorning it into the vast organizations they hire—admirable a goal though it may be. Our agency has diversity baked into its very DNA. And while we work with mostly national or international brands, everyone’s unique point of view is not just respected—it’s required. We make diversity work for us, and for our clients.

Instead, try working with agencies that are already built that way. As someone who has worked on both the client side as a chief communicator and the agency side as an owner, I can attest that the work product is guaranteed to be more authentic and appealing when it comes from a room of different people with diverging opinions.

An agency that needs to be told to make itself more diverse has a long hill to climb before it becomes truly diverse. For those who see the value, there’s no such thing as scrambling to keep the business with token hires.

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