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Dueling ads: iPhone vs. Verizon

Posted by Denise Yohn on July 6th, 2010 at 9:48 pm

The other night two commercials ran in successive commercial pods and their juxtaposition caught my attention.  The first was a spot for the new iPhone 4 which includes a new video calling feature; the second was a spot from Verizon for their new campaign, Rule the Air.
Both ads were really compelling, each in its own way – together they provide a couple of instructive insights about what makes a great TV ad.
The core of each ad was essentially a product demonstration.  In Apple’s case, the ad showed various situations in which FaceTime, the video calling feature, added a special dimension to the call.  It started with the more expected scenarios -- the newborn connected to the traveling dad and the graduate connected to the doting grandparents.
Then the spot moved into richer territory as it showed an expectant mother sharing a sonogram with her husband who supposedly is thousands of miles away serving in the military – and ends with a couple using sign-language to express their affection for each other.  By using scenarios which could not replicated by audio phone calls alone, Apple clearly demonstrated how great the new phone is.
The Verizon ad also gave a product demonstration, albeit in... Read more

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Posted in Creative Best Practices, Opinions | 3 Comments »

Is Social Currency All It's Cracked Up to Be?

Posted by Denise Yohn on May 24th, 2010 at 12:00 am

The gurus at Vivaldi Partners recently released a revealing report, Social Currency: Why Brands Need To Build And Nurture Social Currency. (Full disclosure: I partnered with Vivaldi Partners on a project years ago.)  The piece sheds important light on social currency, which they define as:  "the extent to which people share the brand or information about the brand as part of their everyday social lives at work or at home."
The report breaks new ground as it quantifies the effect of social currency on key brand performance indicators, including that across categories and brands, 53% of consumers' brand loyalty can be explained by social currency, and users of brands with high social currency show a significantly higher willingness to pay a price premium. 
Hard findings like these, along with the delineation of the specific levers of social currency, such as affiliation (defined as the share of a brand's users which have a sense of community) and advocacy (the percent of users who act as disciples and stand up for your brand), are helpful to the understanding of how social currency works and how it can be increased.
But it got me thinking about the importance of social currency itself.  The report... Read more

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Posted in Social Media | 1 Comment »