Why the #nomakeup selfie craze has worked...

In the past 24 hours social media has been flooded with hundreds posting no make-up selfies, including the young, the old and the male!

So grab a make-up wipe, join the craze and nominate your friends because the #Breastcancerawareness campaign is working and here is why...

The purpose of any campaign is to achieve a goal and raise brand awareness. Without awareness on a topic how can we react to the cause?

If the selfies had not gone viral would you have thought about breast cancer today? The answer is probably not. 

So the debate that the #nomakeupselfie has caused from being 'pointless' is beyond me, when just a couple of months ago the nation was participating in Dry-anuary. Another campaign that generates awareness on the organization 'Alcohol concern', which encourages us to stay off the booze throughout January in aid of the #Dryathon. We could debate that this campaign is also 'pointless' as it is not necessarily a fundraising exercise, it can just be for health whilst promoting 'Alcohol concern'.

Lets look at another campaign, #Movember. How many guys participate in this trend and grow a moustache? Do all of them donate to Prostate Cancer?

In an ideal world every brand, charity or organization that raised awareness would like a sale, a donation or end result but promoting the name comes first in any instance. Without awareness on who they are, how are they going to benefit?

It's easy for us to think a campaign targeted to women, to check their breasts would be more compelling, but the question is would it be trending and would it make BBC news? Now that #BreastCancer has our attention, it will be easier for them to get any message out. Especially as their social media following has increased since the selfie craze.

I think the campaign is a great idea and it's nice to see so many women participating (even if some have utilised Instagram for a 'natural' tint!).

Although, Cancer Research UK states they have no idea where the campaign from, few charities have jumped on board and you can text 'Beat it' to 70099 to donate.

One charity claims they have received unprecedented levels of donations since the trend, helping them raise over £15,000! Read more here 

5 reasons why brand awareness is crucial:

- Brand awareness is the process of building the brand and informs customers about the business
- Allows customers to recognize and remember the brand & logo
- Ad strategies result in increased sales and repeat business
- People like to give money to brands they trust
- Creates a long term position in the marketplace

MK College Guerilla Marketing

Busy at work I didn't have much time to read behind it, but I wondered why I kept seeing this one particular person around Milton Keynes. I went to get my lunch in Xscape and he would be there, shopping in The Centre MK and he would be there.

Friends on Facebook started to post about this mysterious person and within a week or so he went viral!

 

He was handing out cards with a date on and a link to a microsite. When you logged on it was a countdown timer.

The people of MK were so captivated by this Guerilla marketing tactic, that news quickly spread. 

All was revealed that the countdown was for MK College and this character was REKO TAO ZION, also known as the time Traveller.  The Time Traveller’s mission was put together by a team lead by the College’s Head of Marketing & Communications, Kate Raclawski.  “The Time Traveller is part of our wider campaign to reach people aged 16-19 and to encourage them to really think about their future,” she says.

MK Citizen reported the microsite had received 200,000 hits three days before his true identity was revealed. 

At a low budget, I'm surprised more companies are not turning to unexpected and unconventional marketing strategies like this one. We will see if any other local businesses take an unusual approach like this one...

Nintendo's ineffective campaign

I was surprised to see Nintendo’s latest campaign; endorsing celebrity Samantha from TV series Sex and The City. Surely her character and reputation should represent a more feminine product or brand?

Nintendo is interpreted as a male dominated brand with gaming products aimed at the geeky and technically savvy audience- not middle aged women who love city life, alcohol and shopping?!

Samantha, who goes by the real name Kim Cattrall, is the star of Nintendo’s new game ‘Super Mario 3D land advert’. She is featured in her bedroom and refers to Mario in a sexual manner creating a sexual illusion towards the well known character. Personally, I find that disturbing. How can an animated character’s raccoon suit turn on Sex and the city’s sultry Samantha? 

The new campaign seems like Nintendo want to market to a more diverse audience and not just kids, which is good, however if the purpose of this advert is to target women I think the communication is wrong. As a woman I associate Samantha with ‘sex’. Her character in Sex and The City is a ‘try-sex’- someone who will try anything once, and I don’t think I could ever be influenced into thinking she would use a Nintendo, or fancy Mario for that matter!

This ineffective advert does nothing for the brand especially as Nintendo has portrayed the family-friendly image for so long. Samantha is definitely the wrong demographic for this product, and I think Nintendo should start monitoring and analysing their competitors before they launch a new campaign with a different celebrity. Take a look at this classic (and much better) Nintendo ad: