“This is your brain…. This is your brain on drugs,” says the actor as they drop an egg into a frying pan and begin to scramble it. These types of ads are often designed to create a reactionary response to motivate a particular behavior. In this case, it was to motivate behaviors for non-drug use. We’ve written on emotional advertising before but we wanted to do a deeper dive into each type of emotional advertising. This week we focus on fear appeal. A theory was developed by a woman named Kim Witte called Extended Parallel Process Model that explains why and when people follow health recommendations.
Importance of Curiosity
Desire. The desire to know something. This incredible motivator for learning facilitates the pursuit of knowledge and creativity. Children have this inherent trait of curiosity to learn about the new world they are in, childlike wonder if you will. We believe that when you stop being curious about things and become complacent it inhibits learning and thusly, growth will decay, whether it be personal or professional. When we think of the traits of successful people, the first one to come to mind is probably not curiosity. However, research shows that allowing curiosity to be piqued in a way that you don’t know the answer to something can increase the curiosity of a task and primes your brain for learning. All great, successful leaders were deeply curious in their respective fields. As humans, we have this attribute of wanting to seek out new information and experience.
Marketing for Good: Social Marketing
This style of marketing is sometimes called “marketing for good.” This style of marketing promotes a positive societal transformation that tries to influence positive actions instead of selling a product. Social marketing attempts to change behavior for the benefit of consumers or society. Commercial marketing, on the other hand, will attempt to change behavior for the benefit of the brand, such as sales. Typically, social marketing is used by nonprofits, charities, government organizations, emergency services, police, and fire groups. So, what is involved in social marketing and how do you go about creating a campaign? Here are some things to consider.
Difference Between UGC & CGC
There’s a new term out there and it’s called CGC. If you have been with us for a while, you know what UGC is. If not, it can be defined as any piece of organic content created by a user. Hence, the name is user-generated content. So then, what is CGC? It is similar to UGC except that the people creating the content are professionals and it is typically co-produced with the brand. Let’s be clear here. These are not influencers. These are creators and they add value to a brand’s particular niche. Usually, they hire the creators to create content for them but the creators themselves do not post that content on their pages. This allows for more control from the brand.
Fun Friday Feature 7/14
We wanted to do something fun for today and go back to our ad of the week article. Today we want to feature the ad recently done by Maybelline. They pulled a great stunt where they put eyelashes on the tube in London. When the underground got close to the platform they had a mascara brush that combed the lashes back as it came to a stop. To read more about the ad or view it visit the Evening Standard.
Top Brands That Leverage UGC Advertising
“85% of the users are found to be more influenced by the UGC than the content made by the brands directly.” We’ve had the pleasure of working with some of these brands on more than one occasion. Here is a list of brands that have experienced the positives effects of UGC advertisements with great spots!
Current State of Remote Work 2023: The Evolution of the Work from Home Model
“As of 2023, 12.7% of full-time employees work from home, while 28.2% work a hybrid model” …. It’s also estimates that, “by 2025, 32.6 million Americans will work remotely.” (Forbes). I think it’s safe to say that the pandemic changed the workforce as we know it but what do management teams think and where is it headed? Certain CEO’s like Bob Iger are announcing that employees are expected to return into office at least four days a week soon and Drum recently reported that companies who “put up with [remote work] for a long time are finally getting sick of it.” Although some report being more productive at home, the data that companies are getting is proving otherwise. Here are there reasonings:
1. Remote work is hard for new hires: the onboarding experience seems to take hold better in person than virtual they say.
2. People work less: everyone says that they work more but some data sets are showing otherwise. People tend to work 3.5 hours less per week when working from home. However, the remote workers argue that they have a better work-life balance and are more focused when at home. Quality of work is much higher.
3. Productivity is very low on days when everyone works remotely: certain CEO’s believe that when their whole team is remote, they are less productive overall. While we can’t speak for an entire group of people, most are just the same if not more productive.
It seems that higher ups are trying to remove remote work from the equation but we think that their efforts won’t pan out. People say that if they aren’t offered the option of at least hybrid work they’ll find a job that will. If bosses want their employees back in the office full-time they’ll have to make a stronger argument. We just don’t think that the “data” they have is feasible enough to require full-time in office employment with all the remote work benefits. Not only is it mentally better for employees, it is better for our planet. We love our remote business structure at Locomotive and we won’t be changing it any time soon.
Benefits of Working in the Ad Industry
We absolutely love what we do! We would scream it to the rooftops if we could. Not only are we part of the advertising industry, we are a niche brand that focuses on user-generated content and found content campaigns, so we get to work with agencies and content creators. We know there are pitfalls in any industry, including the Advertising game, but since we aren’t your typical ad agency, we don’t have to deal with many of the talked about issues. Here are some of our favorite things about working in the industry!
Plastic Free July 2023
1 million plastic bottles are purchased every minute (Tenstsile) and it’s estimated that 75-200 million tons of this plastic is currently floating around in the ocean (Recycle Track Systems). If you know us as a brand, you know that we’re passionate about the environment and doing our part to lower emissions to reduce climate change. That said, this month is plastic free July. We ask that you please join us the movement to set forward lifestyle changes that we can pass to future generations. You can start with something as simple as buying a reusable water bottle and coffee cup. If you want to get really into it, you can avoid using single use plastic bathroom supplies by making your own mouthwash. The choice is yours but here are some tips for you to get started for plastic free July.
Increasing Brand Advocacy
We all know that word of mouth marketing is the best type of marketing. So, how does a brand increase its brand advocacy among its loyal audience? Well, it all starts with making sure that your audience and employees are happy. People who enjoy working for you will speak highly about your brand. The same goes for your audience. They can do so through reviews, word of mouth, social media, blogs, etc. UGC is a BIG component here and it’s what we specialize in. Organic brand advocacy is unparalleled. It has a farther reach and it is trusted far more. There are a couple of other things that your brand can do to increase its brand advocacy.
Immigrant Heritage Month
America is built on the backs of our forefathers, most of which immigrated from other countries in search of a better way of living. Here at Locomotive, we are no different either. Our grandparents were from Italy and Ireland. This month is a time to celebrate Immigrant Heritage. Here is a quote from the White House this month on the subject.
Earned Media
Who doesn’t love free publicity? That’s exactly what earned media is. Coverage for your brand through organic means. It can be though reviews, media coverage, mentions, social shares, etc. As nice as it is to get that free shout out, it is also the most difficult to achieve. Let’s think about a consumer review. We all use them. What’s the first thing that most people do after they read a review somewhere? The answer is that they visit the website of that business and on average they will read roughly 10 before they go the site, according to Local Consumer Review Survey, 2020. We can’t stress the importance of getting positive earned media, whether it be through a Google review, an Instagram share, or media coverage. Here are a few tips to ensure that you will get a rave recommendation through earned reviews no matter where it comes from.
