Beautiful Day for a Picnic

This past Sunday RGI held its annual Family Picnic at Edgewood Freedom Park. The day was filled with games, food contests, pony rides, water balloons, a pie throwing contest and more! Needless to say, a fun time was had by all! And the proof is in the pictures:






To see the rest of the photos, check out the complete photo album on the RGI Facebook page.

Shopping During a Recession

In this current economic climate many people are changing their shopping habits. Whether that means shopping at several retail stores to get the best price, cutting coupons, or even altering the products that they buy. And some shoppers who almost always just bought on impulse are now making lists and not deterring from those.

Major brands are even getting in on the change in shopping habits, and adjusting their marketing plans to reach their target market.

A recent article in BRANDWEEK titled Kraft Plays Up 'Fun' in New Jell-O Campaign talks about some marketing shifts that Kraft has currently implemented to reach the growing number of consumers who are shopping on a budget and are forgoing a dinner out for a dinner cooked at home.

Kraft had typically focused it’s marketing on refrigerated and pre-packaged gelatin products, but has just launched a new campaign that touts the fun side of a box of Jell-O. They are even branching out in their other product lines, focusing more on iconic and value-based products to help weather the economic climate.

And who hasn’t seen a commercial or print ad about a money-back promise if you lose your job, or aren’t getting the return promised. These offers now range from automakers like Saturn to Hewlett-Packard’s print services.

But does this shift in marketing message affect your product purchases? Are you more inclined to try/buy an item because they make a money-back or option-out promise?

Evian Roller Babies

Evian has brought back the babies from their 1998 “Swimming Babies” commercial and put a new spin on it. This time to get across their "Live Young" marketing message they’ve gone the viral marketing route, with a video depicting Evian-sipping babies, chilling out on roller skates, outdoing each other with their stunts, all to the tune of “Rapper’s Delight”. And at the very least the viral part seems to be working, with more the 6 million views on YouTube in its first week.

But for a viral campaign to be a “true success” it needs to maintain and/or further your brand, not just create lots of views. You want people to get involved and excited about your brand as a result of your campaign. And ultimately don’t you want people to fall in love with your brand so that they associate good thoughts with the brand and eventually will even buy the product/service.

Do you think the video effectively communicates the Evian “Live Young” slogan? Does it alter Evian’s brand character to appeal to a younger, more hip audience?

Share your thoughts in our comments section on this video and viral marketing in general.