Tag Archives: Direct Response Marketing

ASK THE CEO – Pongr For Shopper Marketing & Brand Awareness

Advertising, Ask the CEO, Featured Posts, Shopper Marketing | by

    Pongr Co-Founder and CEO Jamie Thompson believes that shopper marketing is one of the least appreciated aspects of retail advertising.

    (“Ask The CEO” is a series of Q & A interviews with Pongr Co-Founder and CEO Jamie Thompson exploring how brands can best monetize consumer photos and turn any brand advertising or packaging into a direct response promotional campaign.)

    Q: Pongr recently partnered with UNREAL Candy on a photo contest to celebrate its national distribution in Target Stores. What was the strategy?

    JT: UNREAL is an all-natural candy company that aims to “Unjunk the World” by providing healthier candy options without sacrificing taste. To promote carrying the new line of products, Target put UNREAL end cap displays in each of its stores. In an effort to drive brand awareness and engagement with their end caps, UNREAL put together a photo campaign using Pongr as their platform to encourage consumers to share pictures while they are in the store.

    Q: How can a photo contest help a new start-up brand?

    JT: This is the classic challenge of a new product introduction. How do brands create co-branded promotions that bring innovation to their retail partner, but also drive specific interaction with their product and encourage their consumers to share that experience across their social networks?

    With a Pongr-powered campaign, brands can connect consumer photos directly to their CRM database. Shopper marketing is one of the most important facets of brand advertising – and also one of the least appreciated. Brands are always vying for the best placement on shelves, the best placement in retail environments. And in a world where social matters, in a world where mobile matters, in a world where media is getting more integrated then ever before, shopper marketing needs to get pulled into the 21st century.

    UNREAL Candy’s Pongr-powered Sweepstakes deployed image recognition to identify whether customers photographed the UNREAL logo on any of its packaging and on in-store endcap displays to celebrate national distribution at Target Stores. In addition to the Grand Prize winner, 10 runners up won a year’s supply of UNREAL Candy!

    Q: What was the call to action?

    JT: As part of a New Year’s Resolution for healthier eating, UNREAL asked its fans to “Unjunk Your January,” by sharing pics of themselves, family and friends enjoying the product. Pongr provided them with the photo platform for fans to email or picture text them to unreal@pongr.com in return for an automatic entry in their sweepstakes. The top prize was a $10,000 Target gift card, with ten second prize winners getting a year’s supply of UNREAL Candy.

    Every photo entry received an instant direct response message encouraging participants to share their experiences across their social networks – including easy-click sharing on Facebook and Twitter.

    Q: What do you think about UNREAL Candy’s execution of their photo marketing campaign?

    JT: What impressed me about the UNREAL team and their agency was their very smart integration of shopper marketing with digital and traditional activation. So this program tightly integrated their spend on traditional media and their efforts and spend on digital, with shopper marketing. All with the end result of trying to drive sales across their retail partner’s stores.

    UNREAL End caps at Target Stores — When customers get close enough to photograph a product, they are more likely to try the product.

    Q: What do you think of UNREAL’s outreach strategy?

    JT: UNREAL has been really successful with their partnerships with mommy bloggers, who happen to be one of the most energized and influential groups of brand ambassadors you could ever ask for. When these bloggers get organically excited, there’s no one better to spread the message. I think it’s a brilliant way of harnessing the energy of authentic brand ambassadors and combining it with shopper marketing, traditional media, and digital media. It’s all part of the future for every brand, tighter integration across all of these channels.

    Shopper marketing is what makes the difference between whether a consumer buys your product or not. And if you can integrate your shopper marketing activity with social, you can amplify your reach, you can amplify your dollars spent — in a way that actually produces sales results. We’re excited to be a part of the shopper marketing conversations now, and we’re very excited to be building a part of that integration for the future of brands.

    Q: Okay, so that describes how Pongr’s Photo Response Marketing helps emerging brands. What about mass scale campaigns for established national and global brands?

    JT: Pongr’s image recognition and direct response tools are built to automate your campaigns at any scale. Stay tuned to this space for more details on our collaboration with agencies on shopper marketing campaigns for Nestle’s Skinny Cow, Circle K convenience stores, and Pepsi/Major League Baseball.

    (Is there a topic you’d like to see Pongr’s Jamie Thompson tackle in a future Q & A? Please send your questions and suggestions to darren@pongr.com)

    Inc. Magazine: Pongr Photo Marketing is the “Best For Creating Loyalty Campaigns”

    Brand Loyalty, Brand Rewards, Direct Response Campaigns, Pongr for Small Businesses, Pongr in the Media, Shopper Marketing | by

      Monetize Your Customer Photos — Businesses of all sizes use Pongr for direct response marketing campaigns and to maximize the value of user-generated photos by connecting them to their CRM databases.

      Inc. Magazine, best known for its focus on America’s fastest growing privately held companies and its coverage of entrepreneurs, explores the photo marketing landscape for brands and small businesses in its May issue — which is on the newsstands now.

      The magazine examines the business value of four competing photo sharing platforms and their comparative marketing strengths. Highlighting both Pongr’s free photo marketing tools for small businesses and organizations, and its premium services for brands, the Inc. story names Pongr the “Best For Creating Loyalty Campaigns.”

      You can read the full story, “4 Ways to Market With Online Photos,” here.

      We’re honored to be recognized for our shopper marketing loyalty programs, which award points for taking and sharing pics and giving consumers opportunities to redeem their points for prizes.

      For small businesses and organizations, having access to a sleek-looking software platform and a fan leaderboard is priceless — given how tight IT budgets are these days.

      For local, regional and global brands, Pongr’s image recognition and direct response system allows campaigns to be automated at any scale. The natural consumer act of taking a picture is their entry into a contest, promotion or sweepstakes. Our computer vision “sees” when customers have interacted with the desired product, packaging or store display — and filters out incorrect images.

      Pull out your camera phone and check it out for yourself. Snap a pic of your company/brand logo and send it to (brandname)@pongr.com. Check your inbox and see what happens!

      (Pongr shopper marketing campaigns can be used for new or existing brand loyalty programs. Drop us a line here to learn more.)

      Taking User-Generated Content By The Horns

      Advertising, Computer Vision, Direct Response Campaigns, Image Recognition, Mobile Marketing, Photo Sharing | by

        The Pongr site features user-generated images on a day to day basis.

        You walk into a store, see a pair of sneakers you love, try them on, buy them, snap a picture, and share it across many of your favorite social networks. Sound familiar? I’m sure we’ve all done something along the lines of this, whether it is clothing, food, or literally anything else. We are living in a time when pictures speak louder than words, and are pleasing on the eyes too.

        This user-generated content is priceless to us here at Pongr, just as it should be to every brand out there. Brands are finally taking advantage of the authenticity that is coming through social networking channels, and using it as a way to connect with new and existing consumers. When a consumer has the opportunity to participate in a brand’s community and create their own content, it opens up a level of trust and communication that cannot be reached through one way advertising.

        Crowdsourcing campaigns are being launched left and right by big brands, calling on the consumers to get involved, whether it be by sending in pictures, videos, stories, or simply voting on something.

        This is a big trend currently in the food industry, seen in brands like Pepsi, Doritos, and most recently, Taco Bell. “Feed the Beat: SXSW 2013” is Taco Bell’s new campaign, working to leverage user-generated content with Twitter and Vine. Taco Bell is calling upon its fans to share photos and videos of themselves enjoying live music in order to create a “Rockumentary.”

        The ideas for these crowdsourcing campaigns are endless, and are becoming an increasingly normal habit in today’s media driven world.

        Here at Pongr, we work on many user-generated photo campaigns, such as the recent UNREAL Candy “Unjunk Your 2013 Sweepstakes.” All that participants had to do was email or picture text a photo of UNREAL Candy for a chance to win a $10,000 shopping spree at Target. (Check out the UNREAL photo gallery here.)

        Pongr user Ariel M. shows off her favorite UNREAL Candy!

        With Pongr’s image recognition technology, we are able to take this user-generated content to the next level by offering direct response photo marketing built especially for brands. It’s as easy as snapping a pic of your favorite brand, sending it in, and immediately getting a response from that brand with information about a contest or a promotion. This direct response technology allows users to truly feel the love from brands they are using on a daily basis, while allowing brands to receive vital information about their consumers, all at the same time.

        Wouldn’t you like to get a response from one of your favorite brands about a picture you posted on the web? Well, at Pongr, we make that possible.

        **
        (Pongr’s mobile Photo Response Marketing platform and image recognition technology helps brands turn any of their existing logos, CPGs, visual media and advertisements into an always-on direct response program – and integrates brand photo contests to their CRM. Check out Our Story.)

        RETURN ON RELATIONSHIP – How to Cultivate Passion Between Consumers and Brands

        Brand Ambassadors, Brand Loyalty | by

          We say we LOVE our Starbucks coffee or LOVE our Converse Kicks.  But are our feelings about brands really like romantic relationships?

          Social media experts Ted Rubin and Kathryn Rose, authors of “Return on Relationship,” believe that how brands and customers relate to one another is exactly like romance.

          Double click to get a copy for yourself.

          You’ve heard of “Return on Investment” or ROI?  Rubin and Rose define “Return on Relationship” or ROR, as “the value, both perceived and real, that is accrued by a person or brand due to nurturing a relationship.”

          The authors say that relationships should be developed in a transparent and honest way in order to get something valuable back from them. They note that as with dating somebody, these bonds take time and cannot be rushed or forced. I’m sure we all know artificial relationships like that usually don’t end very well.

          What I found most compelling about “Return on Relationship” is the discussion on how brands have become all about the consumer.

          “In essence, consumers now own your brand, and if enough consumers say negative things about it, you lose credibility,” Rubin and Rose write. “…When you listen to your consumers as though they are brand owners, you’re showing them respect — and in this social media world, authentic respect is one of the greatest customer experiences we can provide.”

          Social media has created a two-way communication channel between brands and their users. This means that social is not just a way for brands to reach out, but that it is also a place for consumers to give their opinions, feedback, and share their experiences.

          This is exactly where brand advocacy stems from. Brand advocates are the people who admire your company, believe in it, and will back it up without needing to be paid to do so. Brand advocates are crucial to any business, because let’s be honest, there’s no one better to have your back than the people who believe in you the most.

          At Pongr, brand advocates support their favorite brands through the most natural way possible — photo sharing.

          Pongr enthusiast Nancy C. showed her love of Mountain Dew by setting up her cans to say it for her on Valentine’s Day.

          Toning down their romance metaphor, the authors also re-examine what it means to be a “friend” with someone on social media:

          “In today’s digital age, the word friend means (more often than not) that you exchanged a keystroke with someone. When we’re concentrating on developing relationships, however, we need to (in Ted’s words) take back the word friend and add value to it.”

          One person can have a million followers on Twitter or thousands of friends on Facebook, but how strong are those relationships? It’s the conversational and honest engagement with consumers, on a daily basis, across social networks, that will create long lasting connections.

          Facebook itself recognizes this with their “Talking About Us” number on brand pages. It’s no longer about the number of page likes, which is a one-time action that may have been motivated by a discount code or special offer. Talking About Us measures how engaged fans are on an ongoing basis — how often they are liking, sharing and commenting on the daily conversations started by brands.

          Pongr’s direct response technology helps brands and customers feel closer to each other. There are many picture-sharing apps and services out there, but when fans share pictures through Pongr, they receive an instant message back with an exclusive brand offer or call to action.

          We help keep the conversation – or that Return on Relationship – alive and thriving.

          Cups of Opportunity — How Chipotle Restaurants Make Branding Fun

          Brand Packaging, Brand Photo-Sharing Games, Direct Response Campaigns, Featured Posts, Mobile Marketing, Quick Service Restaurants | by

            While eating your burrito or refilling your soda, there’s always plenty to think about at Chipotle.

            When you’re waiting in line at a Quick Service Restaurant for your meal, or dining by yourself because no one in the office can agree on where to grab lunch, there’s always a bit of idle time to fill.

            In the tradition of reading a fun-filled cereal box at the breakfast table, Chipotle copywriters serve up plenty of amusing and interesting tidbits — sharing their brand mission on every soda cup, napkin, bag and wrapper.

            “They say a restaurant could never use mostly naturally raised meat because it’s WAAAAY too expensive & hard to find,” my cup says to me as I’m biting into a steak burrito. “They say that it doesn’t matter how good the ingredients are in quality as long as they can get a big quantity on the cheap… I think they are just trying to keep a good Chipotle down. Keep doing things your way, Chipotle.”

            I love the doodles on the cup. I love the font. I love the messaging. While I’m sipping my drink, I gobble down the entire script much more eagerly than if my server had given me a corporate brochure on sustainable agriculture.

            Captive Audience: Do you always read the entire cup monologue at Chipotle?

            Chipotle napkins brag about recycling with a joke about once being a parking ticket or electric bill and being reincarnated for a greater purpose. The joke reminds me of a classic Sesame Street skit in which game show host Guy Smiley does a “Here is Your Life” bit with an oak tree, introducing him to his furniture offspring.

            Wanting to read more, I ask the cashier if I can please have a clean wrapper without burrito juice seeping through any nouns or adjectives. She’s happy to oblige:

            Mealtime Reading — Double click on the burrito basket wrapper to read the witty Chipotle copy, without any stray sauteed onions obscuring your view.

            Cleverly worded fountain drink cups, place mats and in-store advertising certainly can engage customers when they are a captive audience, but there is always competition. Nearly everyone in line has their mobile phone and thus, no reason to ever look up from their game, Facebook or email.

            Whenever there is engaging brand copy, the Pongr Photo Response Marketing platform can turn any visual media into a direct response campaign. Pongr technology recently was used by Arby’s to power its popular “Snap and Rock” Sweepstakes.

            Arby’s fountain drink cups featured pictures of three rock stars: Trace Adkins, Taio Cruz and The All-American Rejects. Customers chose to photograph their favorite star for a chance to win a VIP concert experience, emailing/texting their pics to Arbys@pongr.com and instantly receiving an entry confirmation as well as a special offer or prize from Arby’s and Pepsi.

            The response to the promotion was overwhelming: Nearly a half million fans submitted more than 660,000 soda cup photos for their shot at glory. Entering the Sweepstakes did not require any special QR codes or pulling sticker labels off the cup — just a snap and send with a cell phone.

            As Chipotle (see our burrito fan photo gallery) continues to demonstrate, you don’t need to put rock stars on cups to grab thirsty people’s attention. But once you have it, Pongr can help bring this engagement to the next level.

            **
            (Pongr’s mobile Photo Response Marketing platform and image recognition technology help Quick Service Restaurants turn any of their existing logos, cups, napkins, place mats and in-store advertisements into an always-on direct response campaign. The Pongr system also integrates brand photo contests with their CRM. Check out Our Story.)

            Cheddar Cheese Manicure? – Check Out the Nails on This Cheez-It Brand Ambassador

            Brand Ambassadors | by

              The most impressive brand ambassadors are the ones who take their love for a product in an unexpected direction. Check out the artistic skills of this Cheez-It fan, who shared her spirited nail tribute on the Cheez-It Facebook Fan page. The cheddary cracker likeness on her thumbs is uncanny:

              A Cheddar Manicure? Double click these nails to check out the latest craze at the Cheez-It Facebook page.

              That’s passion, the same kind of enthusiasm that we’ve been witnessing in our Pongr Cheez-It Fan Photo Gallery.

              Which brands would you proudly wear on your sleeves — or on your nails?
              **
              (Pongr’s mobile Photo Response Marketing platform and image recognition technology helps brands turn any of their existing logos, CPGs, visual media and advertisements into an always-on direct response program — and integrates brand photo contests to their CRM. Check out Our Story.)

              Brand Spoofs of The Week: Lucky Charms, Folgers & Almond Joy

              Advertising, Brand Humor, Brand Packaging | by

                Satire is the best form of marketing flattery, isn’t it? It is the rare rock band that isn’t thrilled by being immortalized in a Weird Al Yankovic song. It confirms that they are a household name. It means that they have arrived.

                Given Pongr’s love for brand logos and packaging and turning them into interactive advertising campaigns, we are fascinated by the enduring appeal of Wacky Packages stickers. Topps trading cards have been parodying consumer brands since 1967. They have been permanently stuck to several generations of lunch boxes and school lockers.(Everything you’d ever want to know about “Wacky Packs” is documented by superfan Greg Grant.)

                Brand loyalty begins in the supermarket aisle at a very young age. Just think about that time eons ago when you were sitting in the front of mom or dad’s shopping cart and begging them for a product that caught your eye.

                Wacky Packages humor is aimed at kids, but it assumes that they are already familiar with the products. Starting this week, we’ll randomly share some whimsical brand spoofs and ask you to decide: “Should this brand be flattered?”

                Also, if you already happen to be a fan of Wacky Packages, send us your favorite to wackypacks@pongr.com and tell us why it rocks. We’ll keep a running Pongr photo gallery for your browsing pleasure!

                Totally Unnecessary Disclaimer: Almond Joy and parent company Hershey’s do NOT use Atlantic salmon, or any fish for that matter, in their yummy candy bars.

                **

                You’d have to be foolish NOT to try Folgers Coffee, the absolutely Best Part of Wakin’ Up!

                **

                Totally Unnecessary Disclaimer: The consumption of Lucky Charms will not determine if you win the lottery or whether any of your secret wishes come true. This is also the case with black cats, broken mirrors and opening an umbrella inside the house.

                **

                (Pongr’s mobile Photo Response Marketing platform and image recognition technology helps brands turn any of their existing logos, CPGs, visual media and advertisements into an always-on direct response program. Check out Our Story.)

                 

                What’s the Deal with QR Codes?

                Advertising, Brand Loyalty, Mobile Marketing, Shopper Marketing | by

                  Fun, interesting direct response content is the key to brand loyalty in this age of fast-paced mobile marketing. One way many brands try to provide this content is with QR codes, but these just aren’t the best option.

                  QR codes have been around since 1994, and while they’ve had success in some East Asian countries, in almost 20 years they haven’t really taken off here in the U.S. They don’t look particularly inviting, for starters. We’ve been conditioned to ignore things like UPCs, so some people may do the same with QR codes. Plus, scanning a code can be an unnecessarily complex and cumbersome process that may scare off many consumers.

                  QR codes are clunky and limiting when compared with the ease and flexibility of image recognition.

                  We're betting this doesn't give you a warm and fuzzy feeling inside.

                  Imagine you’re walking through the mall and see a QR code on an ad. The ever observant and tech-savvy consumer that you are, you stop, knowing the brand has some direct response content to offer you. First, you have to pull out your phone and open your QR scanner app. Don’t have one of those? You open up the app market, search for “QR scanner” and find that there are an obscene number of apps to choose from. After a moment’s hesitation, you pick the top rated app and start downloading. But even then, you might not be home free. After you’ve waited around for it to download, your app might not even be able to read the code at all. There are many different encoding schemes for QR codes, and they’re almost impossible to distinguish at a glance. By this point, you’ve lost interest completely.

                  But even if people are actually scanning a brand’s codes, it’s probably not something they love doing. Sure, the content may be enjoyable, but actually holding your phone up to a little square can be pretty boring. What if the same enjoyable content can be delivered to consumers while they’re doing something fun, like snapping pictures of themselves and their friends with products they love?

                  Using scalable, intelligent photo analysis tools from Pongr, brands can turn something that was once as dull as checking out at the grocery store into a fun, social experience. If the consumer is encouraged to share her own creation and self-expression, she’s got way more incentive to engage with the brand. Plus, brand moments can happen anywhere— not just where there happens to be an ad with a QR code. Uniquely tailored content can be delivered to people whenever they decide to take a cool picture. Doesn’t get much cooler than that.

                  Brands on the Move: Turn your Pringles can into stereo speakers!

                  Brand Loyalty, Mobile Marketing | by

                    This Pringles potato chip display at Wal-Mart made us stop in our tracks!

                    Potato chips and audio definitely go together from the sound of the first crunch.  But who would have ever thought to combine the two passions?

                    We just stumbled across this in-store Pringles display at our local Wal-Mart and were blown away by the coolness factor. Think all of those bagged potato chip brands can turn their packages into stereo equipment?  We think not.

                    Apparently, music and audio geeks have been making cardboard speakers for years.  But if you want the Pringles mustachioed mascot — doesn’t he look like he belongs in the Big Band Era? — all you have to do is buy four cans.

                    Pongr is all about helping brands connect with their most loyal customers, whether it be through our mobile picture-sharing games or direct response campaigns utilizing our image recognition technology.  We’re impressed by how much Pringles has personalized their product, particularly through their Design Your Own Can feature:

                    Click on the image above to make your own personalized Pringles can!

                    We’re also impressed by the creativity of our Pongr players, one of whom recently contributed this snazzy shot to the gamestream with his mobile phone:

                    Pringles fans and other enthusiasts play Pongr to express their passion for favorite brands!

                    Is this some kind of high-tech potato chip holder or perhaps even a snack-munching robot?  If it’s the latter, it looks like he using the can as exercise equipment. Maybe that can be the next cross-over industry for Pringles after they dominate the stereo speaker market!

                    (“Brands on the Move” is an occasional series looking at product packaging and in-store promotional displays that stop our shopping carts in their tracks. Which brands have recently caught your attention at the supermarket, pharmacy, convenience store or department store? Snap and share at tips@pongr.com)