Is Facebook becoming the Tesco of the Internet?

If everyone who had a Facebook account voted for The Social Network in the upcoming academy awards, the movie would walk away with every Oscar for which it is nominated. After all, currently more than 600 million of us are active users, including almost half the US population.

But all is not as it may seem in Facebook-world. What began in 2004 as a way for each of us to connect with old and new friends online, share embarrassing photographs we wish we hadn’t posted and let everyone know in real time what we’re doing, where we’re going and how we’re feeling has clearly become more than just that.

Spam has become the latest retro brand to implement a social media strategy to tell the brand's story and widen its appeal. The 70-year-old canned-meat brand will focus on promoting the ‘character of the brand’ through coupon distribution, competitions and special events, centred on social media.

It is against this background that Facebook is fast becoming the Tesco of the Internet; a ubiquitous, benign presence that is infiltrating every aspect of our lives. The sheer number of brands using Facebook is fast changing its character from being a site intended for social-connection towards what is almost a self-contained version of the Internet – a one-stop shop for life.

The beauty of Facebook was always that it was the product of its users; we controlled the content. Somehow we were in charge. By inviting such overt commercialism, is there a risk to its success when we conclude the Facebook is so all pervading? What will be particularly interesting is whether and how Facebook users kick back against this.

Brands are still trying to work out how to concentrate their efforts online. A social media presence is only really useful if it creates a genunie two-way conversation which works for both parties. Greggs do this particularly well, welcoming sandwich ideas and then putting them into practice. And the key – don’t be too slick about it. Social media was always intended as user-generated content and brands need to play by the same rules to be authentic and also need to judge if they are actually attracting new fans or merely engaging with consumers who have already been won over.

Twitter is, to an extent, still in the user-controlled stage from which Facebook appears to be emerging. Twitter saw how users dictated the features it wanted from the platform, which led to the creation of features hashtags and retweets. Individuals and brands seem to cohabit more naturally on Twitter, where brands seem less willing to overtly sell to consumers and more content in watching what they say and observing how they act. Perhaps it is this form of engagement that will lead to the happiest online relationship for brands and consumers alike.

Remember when a Kit Kat was really a Kit Kat?

Remember the days when the only decision you had to make when buying a KitKat was whether to get the two-finger snack or go the whole hog on the four finger option. Now, not only is there chunky, chunky duo and king-sized chunky, Kit Kat has been one of the brands leading the way with alternatives to the traditional recipe.

Latest on the ‘caramel trail’ is Aero, which has topped its famous bubbly chocolate with caramel. This is all part of Nestlé’s plans to make a "huge" investment in Aero this year, kicking off with the re-introduction of Aero Caramel. The company is pouring £5m into a four-month media campaign to celebrate the relaunch of the Caramel variant, which was originally introduced in 2004.

The "irresistibubble" product is getting the full treatment from an integrated advertising campaign including interactive touchscreen quizzes at bus stops to its own Facebook page (we’re still not too sure why you’d befriend a chocolate bar on Facebook). Nestlé, which has also launched an Orange variant of its Aero block, recently reported that sales of Aero blocks soared during 2010, up 70% year on year.

This all follows on the back of perhaps the most bizarre – and to be honest slightly unsettling combination - Marmite’s pre-Christmas launch of a creamy milk chocolate bar with a hint of the famous yeasty spread. Unilever, owner of Marmite marketed the bar as a "devious treat for the in-laws" at Christmas or for those struggling to find a present for a loved one.

We love a bit of chocolate just like the next team, but we also have a nagging concern. If you play around too much with a much-loved institution like the good old Kit Kat or Aero, at what point do you begin to forget why you fell in love with it in the first place? At what point does Kit Kat stop being Kit Kat and start being something else that perhaps you don’t like as much? How far is too far and when do the manufacturers stop staying true to the brand they spent so many years building up?

Now, what would be interesting, perhaps Cadbury’s will really go radical with a re-launched Dairy Milk that has added……chocolate?

Water In A Box – Gimmick or Lifestyle Choice?

A few months ago a BBC documentary – “The Foods That Make Billions; Liquid Gold” – explained how, over the last 40 years the bottled water industry had gone from a business that few took seriously to a global industry worth billions.
One point made by the programme was that, with water natural and sourced at minimal cost, the real value to the industry lay in how the product was marketed and branded. After all, why else would you pay money for something that you can otherwise get for free? In a sense the market now has 20 or 30 varieties of something that actually has no variety.
The latest addition to the market – and with its own branding twist – is Aquapax, from Just Drinking Water, which makes a big play of its packaging in a 500ml carton mostly made of wood, which as they helpfully point out is a natural and renewable resource.
The Engage team road-tested Aquapax and wondered what impact – if any – drinking water from a carton in a sector dominated by bottles there would be. Our findings were split between the practical and the emotional.
The first point to make, of course, is that consumers are already used to getting drinks (albeit not water) from cartons, so there should not be a major educational job to be done in convincing the consumer to embrace a carton.

However, those in the team who drank water particularly when exercising were concerned that shape of the Aquapax was just not as ergonomical to hold as a water bottle, whilst some of the ladies in the team were worried about the durability of the carton versus a bottle if they chose to carry one in their bag.

On the more emotional side, clearly the carton appears more sustainable than a plastic bottle. At present, at least, it is achieving some stand-out for the brand in what is a crowded sector and, for those so-inclined, it enables you, the buyer, the chance (in the short term) to stand out from the crowd.

The bottom line, we guess, is that the brand is asking you, the consumer, to buy into an ethos not just a drink. But, when push comes to shove, and with sales of bottled water falling as more people turn on the tap at home and when eating out, we’re not sure that it’s ever going to be anything more than just another drink on the shelf.

I'm A Celebrity...Give Me A Product To Endorse

Celebrity chef Aldo Zilli is the latest to put his name to a range of products, in his case a new range of organic baby foods. But just how important is the attachment of a celebrity name and how much does it impress or influence the consumer?

The key always is the synergy between the brand and the personality, particularly if the celebrity name is going to become as intrinsic to the product as Zilli for his baby food, Loyd Grossman for his sauces and, of course, George Foreman and his lean, mean grilling machine. The question is whether the celebrity brings more to the table than the product itself. If the celebrity is a trusted name and is perceived to be involved with the product beyond just lending a name and a face, then this can be a powerful marketing tool. In this sense, people like George Foreman actually become the brand.

Of course, the use of celebrity endorsement is endemic in brand communications. You only need take two minutes to come up with names like Jamie Oliver (Sainsbury’s), Delia Smith and Heston Blumenthal (Waitrose) and the loved-up Louise and Jamie Rednapp doing the business for Thomas Cook. Even John Prescott is doing a turn for moneysupermarket.com whilst rock god, Iggy Pop (and his latex double) are fronting a car insurance campaign.

But there’s also a risk. It’s easier to drop your celebrity if they are perceived to have behaved ‘badly’ or not in keeping with the brand values. It is far less easy to drop them if they are in fact, the brand itself.

Welcome the age of Social Shopping

Research, just published in the US by ATG, suggests the UK like the US could be set to enter an age of ‘social shopping’.

In the US, 29% of respondents aged 18-34 said they had found a product or service through a social network and 37% said it was important or very important that merchants provide them an opportunity to interact through social networks.

The implications of this are that brands who research how their products interact with consumers in a retail environment now need to consider how best to incorporate social networking as a central part of their marketing strategy.

It is important to combine offline and online strategies with consistent messaging but taking advantage of the ability that social media permits to create communities around your products. Use the community to ask for input on product development – and reward consumer participation and interaction by taking on board customer ideas and creating social media-specific promotions.

We all know that social media is perfect for high value or aspirational brands and products, like the iPad, where consumers can meet together and discuss their feelings towards the brand but it can work equally well for lower value products, provided the context of the social media marketing fits with the brand.

One brand that does this particularly well is Lucozade Football, whose Facebook page now has in excess of 55,000 followers. Lucozade had recognized the importance of using social media to fit their brand in as part of their customers’ lifestyles and interests. It’s the perfect example of a brand engaging its consumers for the long term and creating an environment in which to share their mutual pleasure and interest in a subject pertinent to the brand. In this case it’s football, but it could just as easily be technology, music, books, coffee, chocolate or whatever.

Without overt selling, Lucozade has implanted itself in the psyche of its followers and will, almost certainly, be the brand of choice when those followers come to buy. And, crucially, it has all been done by conversation and engagement, not shouting and selling.

Collecting customer feedback still requires objectivity

We read this week that the electronics retail giant Best Buy has started using store staff to collect feedback from customers while they shop. The firm’s Voices of Consumers through Employees system has employees logging real-time customer feedback products, services, policies, store layouts and displays onto an intranet system.

The report we read said that Best Buy’s customer insights team will then analyse the information and generate “actionable consumer insight” from the data.

Using staff to monitor customer reaction has its attractions and could certainly be cost effective – but we worry how accurate and independent the data garnered can actually be if it is front line sales staff that are providing the information. After all, isn’t it in the interests of customer-facing staff to be overwhelmingly positive?

For us if negative comments are noted down and input by the staff, the potential for 'bias' would be a worry. Better perhaps if it is via some kind of electronic device which allows customers to privately score their views rather than declare that they give service 2 out of 10.

Companies looking for instant feedback in order to improve their service are, of course, to be applauded. The issue is method. Superdrug is one of the companies that puts a code on its receipts, which the customer can use to log on to an online survey, whilst Co-op collects feedback direct from customers in store using Chip & Pin machines at the tills. One wonders how many actually do. Then there is always the more traditional shopper route with interviewers in-store to collect views on the spot….though this does add cost. Perhaps this is the time for mobile – a simple mobile survey suitably incentivised on future purchases.

Moreover, the data accumulated then has to be interpreted and used to inform business planning. One of the biggest advantages of using an agency is its objectivity. Not only does the agency manage the data collection in a manner which keeps it free from even well-intended tampering, it can use its inherent objectivity to interpret the data is a manner that is free from existing ‘brand baggage’.

Look Abroad for New Markets...But Do Your Homework First

The Irish crisis and the downturn across the Eurozone has potentially far-reaching consequences for home grown British brands – and with a challenging year ahead now is the time for brands to take steps towards spreading risk and finding new markets in the months and years ahead.



The current crisis has highlighted the UK’s failure to redirect its own economy towards emerging markets. Not only do we export more to Ireland than to the BRIC countries combined, but our trade with Holland is worth more than most of our trade with Asia. We are, to an extent, at the mercy of the Eurozone even if we are not party to it.



So, is now the time for brands to begin exploring emerging markets in Eastern Europe and in Asia? Tesco clearly thinks so. It has just announced plans to nearly double its selling space in central Europe and Turkey over the next five years, whilst also aiming to quadruple sales in China to £4bn by the 2014 financial year.

Put simply, to grow the UK economy and for brands to achieve sustainability let alone profitability, they must start to find new markets outside Western Europe.



This needs to be a research-led process. Initial research can deliver insights that will help assess the viability of a particular market or markets for your products. Carefully structured research can provide extensive information on purchasing habits, particular taste buds and food choices, variations in brand meanings across different languages and even behavioural and cultural issues that would need to be considered. Start that process now and you will be ahead of the game if 2011 remains a little rocky.



There’s only one thing worse than not taking steps to explore new markets and that’s doing it without being armed with the research and customer insights you need to make informed decisions.