The launch is monumental for all stakeholders. Since its rise in popularity nearly two years ago, Pinterest has avoided offering advertising, leaving many brands to ask for more and start-ups to develop work around marketing opportunities. The release of Rich Pins is a welcome addition for many.

Rich Pins for the Consumer

So, what exactly are Rich Pins?

Rich Pins help provide additional content around a pin. Details such as ingredients, prices, availability, and reviews are displayed with the pin to easily provide information to the viewer. A great example of a Rich Pin is for a recipe. A Rich Pin for a recipe would include the necessary ingredients, cooking time, and serving size all below the pinned image of the food.

The end goal of Rich Pins for the consumer is to make content easier to view and make decisions against, such as “should I make this recipe?”.

Rich Pins for the Business

Similar to what Facebook has done with their “Sponsored Stories”, Pinterest has avoiding calling their Rich Pins ads and instead calls them”more useful pins”. In fact, they avoid using any mention of “ad” or “paid” in their announcement and product info page. However, this is exactly what they are.

Pinterest partnered with various brands who were interested in reaching additional consumers on the social platform. They wanted something tied to the content already on Pinterest and something social, not the typical advertising other websites offer.

Rich Pins were the answer. Blending in with existing content, these pins provide additional information that makes them more eye-catching and useful for consumers. The result is an expectation of higher engagement with these ads. Rich Pins also include the brand’s logo underneath the pin, increasing brand recognition of the content pinned. Additionally, Pinterest launched boards specific to brands taking part in Rich Pins, including product pins, recipe pins, and movie pins. This means a further increase in exposure for the brand.

Brands Taking Part in Rich Pins

The brands launching Rich Pins thus far includes:

Products-

Anthropologie, Asos, BHLDN, eBay, Etsy, Free People, Home Depot, Modcloth, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, Overstock, REI, Sephora, Shopify shops, Shop Terrain, Sony, Target, Urban Outfitters, Walmart, Wayfair, Zulily

Recipes-

101 Cookbooks, Better Homes and Gardens, Bon Appetit, Chobani, Country Living, Delish, Epicurious, Good Housekeeping, Leite’s Culinaria, Martha Stewart Living, MyRecipes, Naturally Ella, Nestlé Very Best Baking, Real Simple, Simply Recipes, Skinny Taste, The Girl Who Ate Everything, The Kitchn,What’s Gaby Cooking, Whole Foods Market, Woman’s Day

Movie-

Flixster, Netflix, Rotten Tomatoes

How to Take Part in Rich Pins

For businesses to take part in Rich Pins, they must get approval from Pinterest and work with their website developers to ensure desired meta tags around the image can properly pull the desired information into the Rich Pin.

For further information click  here.

- Bryan Nagy

The Nissan iPad advertisement is below:

Why I Love the Ad

The Nissan self-healing paint ad is a prime example of what advertisers can do (and should do) on tablets. With so many ways of engaging with consumers from its touch screen, tablets are the wave of the future for companies. Their increased means of user engagement will help drive brand awareness, favorability, and (eventually) sales. What was a cool product (self-healing paint) becomes all that much cooler when users interact with it on their tablet screens.

-Bryan Nagy

Target has launched a new social coupon strategy with a beta website called Cartwheel. Tying into Facebook, Cartwheel provides social-oriented discounts and savings at Target stores. The move makes it a sort-of e-commerce partnership between Target and Facebook. The partnership is something Facebook has been vying to make successful with other brands.

How Target’s Cartwheel Works

1. Visit cartwheel.target.com for the Cartwheel homepage
2. To actually use the Cartwheel product, connect Cartwheel with your Facebook account. The purpose of this is to connect with friends to share your favorite products and deals.
3. Once connected, you can select up to ten different deals to add to your Target Cartwheel
4. Depending on your privacy settings, these deals are then shared with your friends on Facebook (such as “Jane selected a Target Cartwheel offer on Target bath towels.” This is where the social aspect of the tool comes into play.
5. You then pick up the products at a Target store
6. At the checkout, present a printout of your Cartwheel or barcode on your mobile device to get the savings.

Think of it as the latest way to get Target coupons- no more clipping Sunday circulars.

How’s Target’s Cartwheel is Being Promoted

Given that Target’s Cartwheel ties directly into Facebook, Target has spent a heft amount of time promoting the site on its Facebook page. In fact, it even has an entire section of their Facebook page dedicated to Cartwheel.

What it Means

Target’s Cartwheel is a peak at how brands may be using e-commerce in the future. For one, Cartwheel offers consumers the deals and coupons they want at the touch of a button, without the hassle of getting a weekend newspaper  or scouring the internet for sales. In one place, members can find sales on the products they love at Target. With its social Facebook connection, users see what their friends are planning on saving on and purchasing at Target. Given the social context, a user is likely more apt to try something new from Target, or be alerted of a sale on a item they already love.

Finally,  Target’s Cartwheel doesn’t just drive online traffic. It drives users back into the Target brick and mortar store, something retailers have been struggling with given the rising popularity of online shopping. As members visit a Target store, the chances they make unexpected purchases will likely increase as well (“I’m already here, so why not also pick up this nice lamp, or some extra groceries for this week?”).

Though it is a small experiment and has received negative press from some, it is an interesting test at a new way of looking at e-commerce.  

-Bryan Nagy

Tablets provide a vast number of ways companies can market their product. Some of the more established ways include running display ads in apps, launching mobile video pre/post-rolls, and taking advantage of a handful of social media mobile ad units. However, a huge opportunity still exists. The crown jewel of advertising is magazine ads. They reach consumers in relevant content and have become a staple for many people (for example, makeup ads for teens in Seventeen). Unfortunately for consumers, many publishers have been very slow at adopting tablets. Their world has always been very traditional, generating resistance to accept this new form of media.

For those that have made their way onto tablets, many have failed to create a slightly different digital experience. Instead, their tablet editions mirror their print edition. The same is true of the advertisements in the tablet editions, many remaining static images. In fact, there are even those that simply scan their current magazine and offer it on tablets. The below example speaks wonders to this. It is an actual screenshot of a Givenchy ad in a tablet edition of an anonymous magazine.

A sloppy example of just how little publishers spend on their tablet editions. In this example, you’ll see the Givenchy advertisement is simply a scan of their print copy.

The problem here is clear. Publishers aren’t taking advantage of tablets. They offer unimaginative digital editions that users simply swipe page after page, much like their printed offerings. Tablets aren’t print though. They aren’t desktops. They have something else going for them: engagement.

Tablets let users twist, shake, tumble, tap, and zoom in  on their screens. Their internal compass know what way is up, down, left, right, north, south. They recognize variants in heat. They allow users to add businesses to their contacts, click to call someone, give access to their camera, and add events to their calendars. All of these are functionalities publishers and their advertisers can benefit from. With these functions, users become one with the content on their screen. They view the brand differently, and the ad is no longer seen as an ad.

What can tablets do for brands? They can allow them to engage with their audiences in ways never thought possible. All they need is the help of publishers. There are some great examples of publishers doing this already, but this needs to improve scale.

- Bryan Nagy

The Ad

This week, I have selected an ad by watchmaker OMEGA. The 70-second television spot promotes OMEGA’s co-axial chronometer, and does so beautifully. You can view the ad below.

“OMEGA’s Co-Axial Chronometers are crafted to a standard unmatched by any other industrialised mechanical watch movement. In OMEGA’s new 70-second television commercial, the viewer is drawn into the world of the Co-Axial Chronometer through spellbinding animated sequences expressing the perfection of nature elegantly interacting with man-made gearwheels and other elements of mechanical watch movements. All of the elements – natural and man-made – appear to be regulated by clockwork gears. Intriguingly, all of the watch mechanisms and gears are perfect 3D renderings of components found in the OMEGA Co-Axial calibre 9300 chronograph movement.” -courtesy OMEGA via YouTube.com

Why I Love It

Television commercials are full of dull, uninspiring ads. How many more weekends must we suffer the Macy’s one day sale commercials with store models standing and smiling next to flashing red text? Why can’t automotive creative teams come up with something better than driving an SUV through a forest or a rocky desert? Why is the Wendy’s girl so annoying?

The OMEGA advertisement is different. It’s unique and wonderfully crafted. As the commercial begins, the viewer becomes mesmerized by the story playing out in front of their eyes. The ticking mechanisms developed into man’s handmade world are like a piece of art. It’s a story of man tied to developing great things, of our world reaching new heights and milestones for humans. Who is the ad for, they wonder? As the video pans out onto a golden world, it’s possible it’s for an energy company, hoping to claim they’re helping our world out. But soon the view of a ticking watch is displayed against an endless black space and the OMEGA brand name is shown on the end frame.

The ad works because it’s synonymous with the luxury of OMEGA. It moves the brand past a product and ties it in to the design of the commercial. In essence, an OMEGA watch is not just a watch, it is a work of art. It’s uniquely crafted, timeless, and a piece of craftsmanship  one should aspire to own.

I’m hoping OMEGA will run this ad online as well, as I think when tied to the correct online videos, it will draw the interest of more luxury-oriented consumers. It is currently being tied in with OMEGA’s Facebook page and being promoted on their website. Even better- they name this as a “movie” versus a “commercial” or “video.” Perfect to lure in those luxury buyers!

-Bryan Nagy

Where it Began

JCPenney saw a drop in popularity since the 90s. The stores were becoming older and less in-tune with today’s modern moms. Competitors like Kohls, Macy’s, and  Target were stealing away customers, offering family-friendly prices and style. The result was decreasing revenues for the company and a fear by investors that it would become the next Sears or K Mart.

To make matters even more troubling, most of JCPenney’s sales were generated from products with extremely low profit margins. The company held nearly 600 sales a year, desperately hoping consumers would become customers just because of the sales. This meant potential profit was being lost at the expense of promotions. Consumers were apparently confused about all of the coupons and sales. Many never saw reason to purchase a product at full price, as they knew it would just go on sale soon.

Coming from Apple, Johnson saw this as an opportunity. There was still hope for JCPenny. It just required a big idea. Perhaps it was now Johnson’s moment to shine. Perhaps he could be remembered for turning a company around.

The Plan

Johnson’s plan was a big one. He wanted change to occur quickly, so he acted quickly.

Within weeks of becoming CEO, gone were the 600 yearly sales, replaced by monthly promotions. These monthly promotions centered around specific products, such as shorts during the summer.

To counteract the lower number of sales, Johnson dropped the regular prices on his merchandise. Previously, a shirt might have a price tag of $50. Frequent sales would place the product on racks for 10%  to 40% off, depending on the week. With the new strategy, this shirt was now a flat ticketed price of $35, unless it became a part of the monthly promotion. Johnson wanted this to ease the confusion consumers were having with their pricing and increase his profit margins.

Johnson also began updating his stores, modernizing the design. He took out bulky checkout counters, added more mannequins, created styling to his products, and developed mini-shops for different brands. He also took out unpopular brands from his stores, replacing them with fresh and better-known ones.

The changes were all released with a huge marketing campaign, centering around commercials specific to each monthly promotion. The updated strategy became a media frenzy, with cheers from investors and hope from consumers.

This was short-lived.

What Happened

To make things simple: consumers hated the new strategy. It turned out JCPenney’s consumers loved cutting coupons and keeping track of sales. Though shoppers were paying the exact amount for a product as they were before, they didn’t get the new pricing. Many no longer saw the items as a value, and instead were expecting them to go on sale. They waited. And they never did.

Consumers also got confused in the new store designs. Where were the checkouts? How could they get around all of the mannequins placed everywhere? Where did their favorite brands go?

It was all too confusing for the JCPenney consumer. They felt betrayed and decided to shop at other stores like Kohls, where they could use their coupons and buy items on sale.

What Brands can Learn

1. Marketing is about human behavior

This is the number one issue here and essentially the definition of marketing. Before undertaking a huge strategy change, get to know your customer. Marketing is about understanding a customer’s behaviors: their needs, desires, quirks, and view on the world.

Looking at their customer base, JCPenney would likely have found that their customers want value. They want to know they are purchasing a $60 product for 40% off, even if the product was always sold at this sale price and was never intended to sell at $60. They like looking at their receipts for savings amounts and  bragging to their friends or husband about everything they bought for $100 at JCPenney. They enjoy spending their Sunday mornings clipping coupons and reading circular ads. They don’t do full price.

2. Consumer adjustment takes time

Johnson was hoping new customers would flock to JCPenney with its more modern look and updated atmosphere. This likely would help , but it takes time. Revamping your image takes longer than a year. Consumers have to change their entire perception of the brand- something that they may have grown up with.

3. Less is more

Don’t go overboard with your changes. It won’t change your consumers’ behaviors for the better; instead, it will surprise them. Changing prices, stopping sales, and updating your store across all of your merchandise is too much too soon. JCPenney needed to slowly roll out the changes. They could have started with select merchandise categories (like jeans) for a specific customer base (like Juniors or Young Men), and gradually made these changes over several quarters. Consumers need to adjust to the changes. It also allows companies to react in the event these changes don’t prove positive.

4. Sometimes being reserved is better than making a splash

Would there have been so much public outcry against JCPenney if they hadn’t been so loud about their changes? Probably not. Some consumers complained and they never even shopped at JCPenney to begin with. As soon as you have a group of people speaking about your brand negatively comes the waterfall effect. Many marketers like to make things splashy, but sometimes it’s not the right situation or time, and this is one such example.

What has come out of this failure? JCPenney’s apologetic campaign, released today, that begs consumers to come back to their stores.

- Bryan Nagy

Despite the huge surge in Pinterest users since early 2012, men have been a particular sore spot for the social network. With pins of weddings, flowers, and doilies abound on Pinterest, male adoption of the site has been low. Those that have adopted the network have found ways of avoiding the typical female content, usually by starting fresh with who they follow (word of advice: don’t connect with the female friends you have on Facebook despite the recommendation by Pinterest. I have found this out personally- way too many pink things). Luckily, these men have begun using Pinterest in other ways, following more “manly”  and gender-neutral topics like sports, technology, news, traveling, and gadgets.

Given the more female skew on Pinterest, many brands have been hesitant to launch Pinterest campaigns more targeted towards men.  However, as more and more guys explore what the site has to offer, brands that do test out this target may see a higher ROI in their Pinterest marketing efforts.

The Campaign

DIY Network is one such example of a brand trying to target men on Pinterest. Its Yard Crashers show, popular with men and women given its more handyman and do-it-yourself nature, launched a Pinterest campaign this April. The campaign, dubbed “Pin Your Turf, We’ll Crash your City”,  partnered with the MLB and selected ten different major league ballparks across the country. These ten ballparks each had their own pin on the campaign’s Pinterest board. Users were asked to repin one of the ballpark’s pins onto their Pinterest boards. Each repin became a vote. The ballpark with the most votes won and will host an upcoming episode of Yard Crashers.

The Results

So far, nearly 42,000 users are following the board, and each ballpark has received hundreds of repins and comments. Unfortunately, despite the campaign’s more male-oriented target, the majority of users engaging with the contest are female, and many have repinned the contest to their “for the home” boards.

To really drive male interaction, DIY Network should categorize the pins as “sports” and run male-targeted media. The overall goal is to increase followers on Pinterest, and driving male followers for do-it-yourself household projects could prove successful. This campaign is proof that Pinterest still has room to grow. With a few redesigns and changed marketing efforts, Pinterest could develop their male audience further. Images on the web aren’t all about women’s interests, and if Pinterest can communicate this, brands with male targets may see their potential on the social network grow.

-Bryan Nagy

Lord and Taylor is using Twitter to promote a giveaway of Rihanna tickets at one of their store locations. The brand has tweeted about the contest and asked users to retweet the posts to win. They have done so multiple times over the last week. Unfortunately, there are no working links from their tweets. How are users to find out more about the contest? Where it is being held? Who is eligible?

The questions remain…

Beware!

The tweets in question. Teenage girls everywhere want to win this contest.

Where the teenage girls actually land on after clicking one of the tweets:

And another tweet landing page:

Today, Facebook offers businesses several ways to market themselves. The first option is to create a Facebook page about their business and use it to blast out brand messaging via posts to users who like their page. This is an option that many businesses have chosen and has become the talking point across all professionals. The second option is to run paid advertising via Facebook ads. These ads can drive on-site (to generate likes for the business’ Facebook page or engagement with prior page posts) or off-site (to drive traffic to a webpage off of Facebook). Looking at it this way, the opportunities on Facebook are rather black and white, though each one offers a complex set of opportunities and strategic implications. It is one site online (with a tremendous amount of traffic) brands can use in their marketing plans. Sounds simple enough, right? Wrong. This is where the Facebook Problem comes into play.

Integrated Marketing Communications

The main part of the Facebook Problem is that brands have forgotten about integrated marketing communications. Marketers are guilty here. For years, we tried getting brands to accept Facebook as a marketing tool. Now, brands are adamant to use Facebook as the center of their marketing plans. In fact, some place all of their marketing efforts on Facebook- allocating huge portions of their marketing budgets to the site, spending long nights managing their Facebook pages, and generating a seamlessly endless supply of content for posts. The issue here is Facebook is one marketing channel. In fact, it’s one part of a very large marketing channel: social media, and an even smaller part of another channel: digital media. Brands are beginning to forget this and placing all too much emphasis on one site.

Facebook is a great marketing tool, but it still needs to be supported by other outlets. It isn’t the only place a business’ audience can be found. Consumers are on news sites, reading forums, downloading music, driving to work, reading magazines, and walking by city benches- just to name a few. Beginning to neglect these outlets means missed opportunities. Marketing channels tie into one another and reinforce marketing messages. Consumers need to be touched across multiple marketing channels. They need to see similar brand messaging and campaigns across these outlets. Doing so helps increase brand recognition, favorability, and sales.

Even businesses who do integrate their marketing forget that marketing performance on one outlet can be impacted by another. Did you see a huge increase in Facebook page views? It might have been due to something you are doing on Twitter, or even an event you sponsored. Instead of looking at the entire marketing plan, businesses will often times attribute this to a Facebook post they made that day. Brands need to get over this tunnel-vision view of marketing and once again expand their understanding of the complex interplay between marketing channels. Facebook isn’t the place to be. It is a place to be.

Increasing Noise

Facebook is full of content and becoming increasingly clouded with posts by brands. Many businesses think they can just post away and pray consumers see these posts and engage with them. This isn’t the case. As more and more brands blast out these posts and buy paid advertising, the actual value of the message decreases. Users become blinded to brand posts and simply pass over them. This means it is even more important for brands to integrate their messaging into other outlets to increase the likelihood users will notice the posts. Additionally, some brands over post to the point users unlike their Facebook pages or hide their updates. This is the exact opposite of what the brand was hoping to do.

Addiction to Numbers

Brands have made things complicated for themselves. They have become addicted to numbers. How many page likes do I have? How much engagement did my post have? Why did like percentage drop 10% last week? Why are my page views down 15% from yesterday? Through offerings by Facebook and countless startups, brands suddenly have a million metrics at their fingertips to look at daily, and have become obsessed. Do other forms of marketing offer these types of numbers? No.

Marketing always needs to be tied to end numbers- why spend on marketing if you aren’t really seeing an increase in sales or brand recognition from it? However, these numbers have given brands marketing amnesia. Take them with a grain of salt and focus on the bigger picture. They are wonderful to look at and learn from, but in the end, look at overall results. Did a three-week holiday push on Facebook grow engagement 25%? Great. Try not to worry that on 12/22 at 1opm your engagement dropped 10%. There are too many factors that may have impacted this; Facebook is just one small piece of the pie. There will be ups and downs for any type of messaging. This advice is especially important for smaller businesses who are not spending millions of dollars within a week on Facebook.

Neglecting the Message or Creative

Closely related to addiction with numbers, brands have forgotten that marketing results on a marketing channel are only as good as the marketing message. You could be on the marketing channel where your entire audience is and completely miss the mark all because of promoting the wrong message. Many businesses launch a marketing effort (such as a promotion, sale, or campaign) and blame “performance” on Facebook. They will ask “why is nobody taking up our offer?” or “why is our engagement down for this campaign?” They expect to hear that they are doing something wrong on Facebook- posting at the wrong time, posting the wrong number of times, or not getting enough exposure on Facebook.

Perhaps, however, it is something else. It is the offer. It is the promotion. It is the campaign. All too often businesses get so focused on the small details in performance that they fail to see the bigger picture. Test your campaign. Will there be a high response to it? Are you running on other channels? Are these channels seeing low responses as well? Are these channels targeting the same audience? These are questions brands need to be asking. They cannot neglect the impact of an incorrect message.

What the Facebook Problem Means

So, what does all of this mean? Should businesses forget Facebook? Is Facebook dead? No.

To put it simply, businesses and marketers need to re-evaluate Facebook’s place in their marketing plans. It is a tremendously effective tool. Brands have seen huge success from it. However, Facebook should not be the gold in all marketing plans for no reason. Smart marketing strategies still need to be developed. Businesses need to see the bigger picture in their marketing efforts. Facebook is one website, one small part of one marketing channel. Forgetting this can be detrimental. Reaching consumers across multiple marketing channels is extremely important. Repetition and consistent communication is essential. Once businesses remember this and overcome the Facebook problem, the payoff will be worth it.

- Bryan Nagy

The views in this article are my own and not representative of any company or agencies representing a company.

Travel is one of the most popular categories on Pinterest, with the site full of photographs of sunny beaches, romantic city ruins, historical buildings we all read about in textbooks, and inspirational mountaintops. It almost seems like a no-brainer that travel sites, hotels, and agencies would flock to Pinterest to capture users looking at photographs of far away places they have always dreamed about.

Yet, there are no businesses behind these photographs. Other sectors have quickly hopped on the inspirational bandwagon. Take apparel brands. Many pin their apparel to Pinterest, allowing users to click on a photo of a sweater, be taken to the designer’s website, and add the item to their shopping cart.

Think of the user who is looking at a photograph of Italy villages. Since there are no businesses behind the pin, when they click on the photo, they’re simply taken to a blog or a Tumblr site. Quite disappointing for a user who would love to actually make the trip out to Italy.

What if the user knew a trip to the location of this beautiful photograph was within their price range? What if they could simply click on the photo to browse airfare and hotels nearby? What if they could view photographs of hotels with deep discounts? Missed opportunity for the travel industry? I think so.

Pinterest is all about inspiration, desire, and -for many- fulfilling these desires. Studies show the huge amount of traffic driven to e-commerce sites because of Pinterest. Through it all, travel businesses are missing out.  A search of the major hotel chains and travel booking sites is quite disappointing. All have a small number of pins, lack social engagement, and (most importantly) lack the ability for users to fulfill their travel fantasies.

What users need from the travel industry is content with action. They need to see a photograph of a sandy beach and know they could be there for only $500. They need to know that a summer trip to a rustic church in Europe is possible. The want to find deals and get that dream honeymoon for cheaper than their last spring break. Brands need to share pins linking to this content: linking to popular destinations, promoting weekly specials, and capturing needed occupants with last-minute deals.

So here is my challenge for those in the travel industry- make Pinterest a smart part of your marketing strategy. In turn, I think you’ll see a great deal of user engagement and an end increase in ROI.

-Bryan Nagy