Why market to teens? Tracey Stratton, our Director of Public Relations, has four of these little terrors. She explains why building a relationship with the teens running rampant across the U.S. is so important for businesses in this short video.
Are YOU marketing to teens?
I’m an opinionated person, and I usually know immediately how I feel about certain issues. But this week I came across a headline that left me utterly conflicted: “Feds propose graphic cigarette warning labels.” The article talks about a new campaign, announced by the FDA and the Department of Health and Human Services, to add large, graphic images to the warning labels on tobacco product packaging. Check out one of their suggested new labels below (as shown on The U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s Flickr account).
Typically this is one of those issues that doesn’t have much grey area – you’re either for or against, right? True, but I wear two hats in this discussion – that of a prevention advocate and that of an advertising professional. Here’s my internal conflict …
Prevention Advocate:
I began my career in advertising while I was still in high school. How so? I joined the state board of TASK, Kansas’ youth-led tobacco prevention organization. Our mission was this: TASK promotes tobacco-free teens by uniting communities to create one strong voice standing against the tobacco industry.
At 16, my role in this organization was to help expose Big Tobacco’s manipulative advertising and marketing tactics to teens throughout Kansas. I have long felt it’s clear tobacco industries have no feeling for social responsibility, and care only about following the rules just enough so they can continue to sell a product that frequently kills their customers. I guess that’s why they need as much landscape on their tobacco packaging as possible – especially with recent regulations that prevent the use of many advertising mediums for their industry.
So, naturally, reading about the inclusion of graphic images on tobacco-product warning labels to tell you about the harmful effects of tobacco AND show it, caused me, Brie “Prevention Advocate” Engelken, to break into a happy dance! Nothing of this magnitude, in regard to tobacco-product packaging, has happened since the Surgeon General’s 1964 report linking tobacco use to cancer and other disease. That report led to requiring the surgeon general’s warning label on all tobacco product packaging.
Maybe these graphic images will finally make potential first-time smokers think twice before starting and cause borderline users to quit. It’s just one more opportunity to make a difference.
Advertiser:
As an advertiser, my industry is largely unregulated, with a few exceptions like food, pharmaceuticals and tobacco – and we as advertisers like it that way! I appreciate and see great value in the limited regulations we do have – most dealing with truth-in-advertising policies. While I’m lucky enough to work for a company that puts high-level emphasis on social responsibility, not everyone does. So minimal, common sense regulations, like truth-in-advertising, level our competitive playing field and make it fairer for all.
That said, as an advertiser, if my client’s legal product is already giving full disclosure of its side effects, is the inclusion of a large graphic image of those effects really necessary? Tobacco products aren’t the only ones with detrimental side effects. Pharmaceutical print ads already have to be jam-packed with side-effect disclosures – should they start including graphic photos of miscarriages, asthma and death as well? Should every Big Mac container feature a picture of clogged arteries? And should power saw ads boast shots of severed limbs? I’m thinking not.
The government is already limiting where and to whom tobacco companies can promote their products. They already have a clear warning that fully, and truthfully, discloses the effects of their product on their consumers. Is that not enough already? People know cigarettes kill. So why is it necessary to take over half of their packaging to graphically showcase their product’s side effects – and the top half at that? Shouldn’t the first step be to regulate a legal PRODUCT rather than regulate the way the product is PROMOTED? This industry is already prevented from advertising on television, radio, billboards, to children or sponsorship of sporting events. We’re slowly killing the industry with snow-balling regulations on marketing instead of building a safer industry with regulations on the product. Isn’t product regulation really what the FDA is for?
So there’s a glimpse inside my internal struggle – what do you think? What’s your conclusion? Is this new regulation on product packaging a life-saving benefit from kindly Uncle Sam or another example of an over-reaching Nanny State?
My Life Without Facebook: IS OVER!!In case you missed it – I gave up Facebook for Lent.
It’s official – Lent’s over and so is this experiment. Which is good because I’m TOTALLY OVER this whole no Facebook thing! I’ve enjoyed the increase in face-to-face and phone conversations that I’ve had with my friends and family, but those conversations could have been even more fun with a little help from Facebook on current events.
I was an early adopter of Facebook and other social media outlets, so it’s been nice being able to take a step back to remind myself, and others, how this tool can really be utilized. By doing so I was able to be reminded of how Social Media can affect us, not just personally but professionally. So I hope through my step back we have all began to think of social media as a compliment to your traditional marketing plan. Here are a few other things I hope you’ve began to think more about in regards to your business:
• Social Media is a way to engage with your customers – but should not replace in-person or personal communication.
• You can’t communication with your audience if you’re not using the same communication tools that your audience is using.
• You might be trying to communicate, but if you’re not where your audience is then business can get pretty lonely pretty fast!
• Social networks aren’t the ONLY place your audience is at so it should not be the ONLY place your business advertises. It should compliment your other advertising efforts.
So what did I do first on Facebook?
• Looked at pictures of all my friend’s newborn babies
• Became a fan of my bank’s Fan Page
• Went through all my friend requests (15), messages (56) and event invites (I stopped counting!)
• Followed up on the happenings in my friends, family, co-workers and client’s lives – we’ve got LOTS to cover this week!!!
• Updated my calendar with several of my client’s events as well as local non-profit and chamber events.
• Uploaded all the pictures I’ve taken the last month and a half
• Went through my news feed (no not from the last 6 weeks – just the last day)
I’ve CLEARLY got lots more to catch up on but that’s kept me busy for a little while. I hope you enjoyed relentlessly torturing me with stories about facebook gossip. I also hope you’ve enjoyed following the things I’ve learned from this experiment, but mostly I hope that you’ve taken something away about how communication channels are evolving.
Next year I’m totally giving up cookies or maybe chocolate – but definitely NOT Facebook! Until then, thanks again for following and I’ll see you on Facebook.
My Life Without Facebook:In case you missed it – I gave up Facebook for Lent.
This week, my Facebook Fast has helped me realize a new, unexpected, but clearly obvious point about the importance of traditional media. Friday I did an interview with the Topeka Capital-Journal for an article about my Facebook Fast. It ran on the front page of Saturday’s Paper and I have received an overwhelming amount of support since (THANK YOU!). It’s the support from the newspaper article that’s brought me to my next point. Just because new communication methods and advertising avenues are emerging doesn’t mean we can forget about the more traditional methods.
The way my parents’ generation communicates and engages with others is completely different from the way my generation communicates and engages with one another. My parents talk on the phone, I text on it. My parents email, I Facebook. But I also talk on the phone and email, and slowly my parents are beginning to text and utilize social networks so I’m not sure why this point wasn’t immediately obvious. New media is simply helping communication, but I’ve come to realize that that doesn’t mean more traditional methods are any less important to a relationship, be that personal or professional.
Social networks aren’t the ONLY place your audience is at. They are just one more touch point to get a message out there. When radio came along, it was used to support advertisers’ print campaigns; similarly when television came along. With social networks you are just using one more method to support the other, often times more traditional, advertising methods. Take the newspaper article for example. The newspaper article supported my blog series, which I promoted through Twitter and my colleagues promoted through Facebook.
It really goes to show how they all tie together proving that networks, like Facebook, are allowing businesses to build relationships with their customers and potential customers. Without that you’re probably not top-of-mind to your audience. Your conversations are similar to speaking with an acquaintance – you talk when something sparks your interest but you don’t engage on a regular basis. Those interactions with your acquaintances rarely spark lifelong friendships because you’re not engaging with them regularly. That’s why social media marketing is so important to the success of some business’ overall marketing strategies. You’re not just interacting with acquaintances; you’re building relationships with your customers. Can you feel the brand loyalty?
One more week! Here’s what you missed this week:
• Thank you for another AMAZING concert, John Mayer. This may have been my 3rd but you are still, by far, one of the most talented musicians out there.
• The Flint Hills Discovery Center is going to be such an amazing place for students, families, tourists and more – can’t wait until it opens. Check it out!
• I love small towns and picnics in the park with friends! They all remind me of home.
• The jhP team just met with a client about Hispanic Marketing efforts! I love my job – I’m never bored and am always learning something new.
My Life Without Facebook:In case you missed it – I gave up Facebook for Lent.
Three and a half weeks down; three to go. Giving up Facebook has given me some unexpected extra time on my hands. At first that was refreshing, but after the newness wore off it quickly became lonely. Within just a few days of giving up Facebook I had an epiphany – Facebook’s so much more to me than just a time waster or a gossip/news site. It’s about being a part of something bigger than myself. That’s why people get involved in groups right? For me, it’s about staying connected with friends, and being included in a conversation I would not normally be included in. I may not engage in the conversation but that doesn’t mean I’m not following it – which is similar to standing with a group at a big party and listening to a conversation but not adding anything (come on, we’ve all perfected our head nods!). So needless to say, these past three weeks could have been pretty lonely. By day two it felt a little like I was already out of sight, out of mind.
Last week’s point was that if you can’t communicate with your customers/potential customers then how can you expect them to continue utilizing products or services they don’t even know about? Then, last Monday, my friend Melissa exhibited this point perfectly when she told me that if I give up Facebook again for Lent we can’t be friends anymore. Obviously, she’s kidding, but she showed me another way to look at last week’s message. Much like my lonely feelings from being unable to take part in the Facebook conversation, a business can be pretty lonely if it isn’t communicating with its customers. And if you’re like me – you might be trying to communicate with your audience, but if you’re not using the same communication tools they are, then it can get pretty lonely pretty fast!
So start talking. Find out where your audience gets their news and gossip. Learn where they spend their time and get a presence there. Make yourself top of mind and become part of the conversation. That’s just a little piece of the success puzzle.
A week’s worth of my rambling mind:
• I think I’m falling in love … with the band Safetysuit. Thank you Pandora for yet ANOTHER amazing recommendation!
• I just finished speaking to three VERY bright classes at Washburn University about jhP, marketing, advertising and, of course, Google’s Fiber Network Experiment.
• I’ve got SO many weddings and baby showers in the next three months that I just don’t think I’ll be able to knit everyone afghans … how about anniversary/1-year birthday gifts?
• I love Topeka, but I miss Manhattan. I need to get myself another one of these shirts! www.imissmanhattan.com
