Rebranding Abercrombie & Fitch

There has been a lot of buzz lately about Abercrombie & Fitch CEO Mike Jeffries statements on the type of people he would like to attract to his stores. Jeffries has made statements such as, "In every school there are the cool and popular kids, and then there are the not-so-cool kids,” he says. “Candidly, we go after the cool kids. We go after the attractive all-American kid with a great attitude and a lot of friends. A lot of people don’t belong [in our clothes], and they can’t belong. Are we exclusionary? Absolutely."

In efforts to redefine the brand, Greg Karber is working to rebrand Abercrombie & Fitch. His goal is to make Abercrombie & Fitch "The World's Number One Brand of Homeless People." Karber has asked everyone to donate their Abercrombie & Fitch clothing to a local homeless shelter. He wants everyone to share their stories on Facebook and Twitter using #FitchTheHomeless. 

Greg Karber is trying to turn the negative publicity toward Abercrombie & Fitch and turn it into a positive social good, well at the same time creating a new target audience for the Abercrombie & Fitch clothing line. Karber is making a statement that it is wrong to discriminate and be exclusive toward the "cool kids." 

What do you think about Karber's action to rebrand the clothing line?

Good News for Twitter Advertisers

Within the past couple years, Twitter opened their advertising API to third parties, which has allowed companies to create more sophisticated advertising. When they launched this new program they were partnered with Adobe, Hootsuite, Salesforce, SHIFT and TBG Digital.

On Tuesday Kevin Weil, Twitter's senior director of product for revenue at Twitter, made the announcement that advertising on Twitter will now be open to all U.S. users. The change from invite-only advertising to all U.S. users is due to all the feedback the company has received from businesses. Business owners gave suggestions and areas for improvements, which Twitter took in to consideration and have enhanced their advertising and expanded their targeting and reporting in the U.S.

This change will allow companies to expand their target audience and draw more users to their product or service. Social media has been growing since the big digital push and this will continue to help companies reach consumers. Another big step in the advertising world!

Silly Social Media Mistakes

Making a mistake on social media can be seen by thousands, if not more, in the matter of seconds. Brands and businesses always need to be careful when monitoring and posting on these sites, such as Twitter. 

This infographic (created by MDG Advertising) shows examples of some social media screw-ups. To avoid these issues, always edit your tweets and make sure you know what's going on in the news and the world around you before you speak on it; or in the case of social media, "tweet on it". These types of mistakes are 100% avoidable when paying attention to social media etiquette. For now, check out these social media blunders for a good laugh, and hopefully to learn from others mistakes!

Happy Birthday, Twitter!

Six years ago today, Jack Dorsey tweeted the first ever tweet on Twitter and a communications revolution was born.

Now, 6 years later it has grown exponentially to over 500 million users, making it the largest one-to-many open communication platform on the web today.  After hearing those numbers you would never believe what humble beginnings this social network came from.

Twitter stemmed from an earlier company ran by ex-googler friends called Odeo, which was going to be a podcasting platform. But when Apple launched iTunes podcasting, it made their little startup company irrelevant. After enlisting the help of another buddy and much brainstorming, the team came up with “Twttr”, which would eventually become Twitter.

This social networking phenomenon allows its users to interact with their favorite celebs and follow the latest news s
tories. Many businesses use Twitter as a marketing tool to reach consumers. It has changed media, business and politics – even our President Barack Obama has an account!

With 11 Twitter accounts created every second, the company is projected to earn $259 million in Advertising Revenue this year. Not a bad birthday gift!

GM's Super Bowl commercial helped Ford

Super Bowl Ad Aftermath: Ford Boosted By GM's Fallout?

Playing dirty might be de rigeur in politics, but it seldom helps in selling products—even dusty pickups ravaged by the apocalypse.

That might end up being GM's tough lesson from its Super Bowl XLVI ad which, to some, spoke less about the strengths of GM products than it did attack Ford's reputation for durability and longevity.

GM's Super Bowl commercial helped Ford

Based on traffic and visitor data collected by the shopping and pricing site Kelley Blue Book, more visitors browsed Fordafter the GM commercial—a lot more—even though Ford didn't have a big Super Bowl ad. Whether looking at the controversy in the days surrounding, or specifically at the window of time during and after the ad aired, Fordappeared to benefit most, if an immediate browsing or shopping of new vehicles was the goal.

Full-size pickup truck visitors on Super Bowl Sunday, 2012 - Kelley Blue Book

KBB.com data shows consumer interest in the Silverado lifting during the commercial airing, leveling off after the commercial and declining after the game, as interest in the F-150 surged, curiously. Despite the Silverado's lift during the game, Ford’s F-150 still drew a greater share of week-over-week attention from KBB.com consumers.

In comparing consumer interest on kbb.com among the Full-size truck segment, KBB analyst Akshay Anand noted that the share of visits to the F150 surged over 26-percent week-over-week, while the Chevrolet Silverado 1500 saw a 25-percent drop in traffic during the same period.

“Looking at the data for that whole day, Ford did see some lift, and I don't think that's a coincidence,” said Anand.

That leads to how some might have heard the commercial...something along the lines of this: What kind of truck do you drive to the impending apocalypse? If it's a Ford, oh you sorry sap, you're just not going to make it.

Advertising 101: Don't make the competing product your punchline

And that hits hard at one very important factor: brand loyalty. To many, the commercial was less a declaration of the strengths of GM products than it was the buildup to an attack on Ford's trucks. And it may have sent Ford loyalists to their laptops and tablets to search for reassurance about Ford's reputation, as their GM counterparts gloated and stayed on the sofa.

“Truck owners tend to be more loyal than those in any other segment,” said Anand, and when a product with that level of loyalty is mentioned negatively in an ad, argued Anand, the response is likely to be one that's on the defensive.

Other potential explanations: Ford was mentioned bluntly and clearly right near the end of the ad, so is that somehow the name that stuck with viewers? Or does the lesson to be learned really have more to do with etiquette?

It is, after all, one of the first commercials in some time to blatantly call out a competing product without mention of a number or metric as basis.