Le Mall Marketing Campaign - "Shopping Trip to Paris"

Apparently someone has paid more than $11, 000 for a chance to win a trip... worth about... LESS.

There's 555 coupons for a certain Juliane, each worth $20 according to the listings on stopjessica.com, stopjad.com, stopcarol.com, stopzeina.com, stopmaya.com (which by the way, all, just link to the Facebook application). 

 

Only about 3800 likes on Le Mall's Facebook page, a rather average interaction rate, and yet the top 50 "unstoppables" boast numbers that seem way up in the clouds... 

That part obviously reads "fishy" to me. Even more so that the full name of those "unstoppables" is not written. Oh, and their Facebook manager (with great writing skills - honestly -) needs to do something about those long status updates!

 

"Hasn't anyone told them yet that their advertising campaigns suck?" stated a very reputable friend in the advertising industry upon hearing LeMall's latest radio ad. 

I don't quite agree actually.

I was intending to praise this campaign... I should get back on track. I find it ingenious!

For once a campaign that aims to raise sales, engage with clients and above all reward them... and my favorite part? It's an integrated marketing campaign. 

I would calculate the success of this by measuring the amount of new sales generated, versus that of the previous month, minus the campaign costs. Uh, ok, I am making it impossible for it to be a "winner".

...But seriously, I do like it. At least they would have created themselves a Facebook fan base for future campaigns and got new people to interact with them! (Which could have been done with Facebook ads alone, with, at least, 20 times less the cost.)

ok, I give up! 

It's a good campaign, yet, likely to cost more than to generate. Although, the campaign seems so awesome and creative (ok, not creative, ...yet it's spot on the Lebanese female mall consumer). 

Let's call it ambitious.

...But hey! At least they did it all legally:

Did you know that it takes a permit from the ministry of Finance for any draw to take place? Even if they were just to win coupons! Moreover, such draws have to be governed by the Lebanese National Lottery... And Le Mall did it right. Yey for that! 

Change the World... Please?

The Butterfly Effect

 07-07-2007 was the date they announced the New 7 Wonders of the World.

100 Million were those who voted.

Yet, one, was the person who decided that this was news-worthy and assumed its showcasing on Lebanese news.

One person's action lead another, jealous over his country not being listed, to go visit the new7wonders website, frustrated and skeptical over the process that lead to those results... And there it was.

"Be the Change You Want to See in the World"

Lebanon was not voted, true. Yet, it was never nominated to be voted in the first place! Wasn't our dear Lebanon part of the world? Yes. So why didn't it have the chance to compete for the title???

Simple, the process was set as to get "open" nominations from website visitors... That were to ,then, be evaluated and selected for actual listing as a nominee. This opportunity had ended.

Yet a new competition was launched!

"The new 7 wonders of nature" was not as glamorous of a title as the previous... Yet it was revenge time: that person set up to nominate 2 locations in Lebanon, two! Two instead of one. He typed down "the cedars of Lebanon" in a blank field, and " Jeita Grotto". He was channeling his feeling of grudge, his country was to be listed! For once. In reality, it was "her" country.

How many of us have been moved by these nominations? How many have invested their time and money into voting, or making these votes a success? Would that have been possible had the nomination not been cast?

What if that person had been at the time a 23year old "she"? Would that girl ever have  had the chance to make a difference outside of her own room? Probably not. Yet, today, her action has sprung to motivate celebrities and politicians alike!

Lessons for All

It is funny how much we can do, thanks to the Internet these days. I wish for this to be a lesson to the older generations who think that the Internet is a waste of time.

 If you look at the Internet and think of Facebook, then yes. Yet, the Internet is so much more.  Let that be a lesson to the kids.

And digital marketing? It's not about updating a Facebook group and forcing your friends to unwillingly join. The power of online marketing is in going viral and reaching the world. The power of digital marketing is not in the money spent, but in the message. THAT is the future. That's what will make countries rise and fall. That's what will shift opinions (let's face it, who gets his information out of anything other than the Internet these days!) and if you can control information flow, you can change the world.

Make a Difference - Vote

For now, don't forget to vote for Jeita - Send an SMS to 1070 with the message "Jeita", it will only cost you 10 cents, and you won't even pay for the SMS cost.

11-11-2011 will be the date they announce the New 7 Wonders of Nature.   

Make sure your vote is counted.

Why There's More to Marketing than Advertising

Marketing is not all about promotion. If you are an advertising specialist, it does not make you an expert in marketing.

What’s more to marketing than that?

One of my first blog posts was stating that thefirst step in marketing is HR. Your employees are your best spokesmen.

In some odd way everything can come under the big title of marketing. Anything that entails some creative thinking or choice in an organization is subject to the way you decide to present it to your stakeholders, i.e. to market it.

This leaves only a few tasks that do not fall under marketing, and I say “tasks”, as even the most rigid of positions can be subject to “presentation” bias.  Let’s consider accounting for instance: true, there are some very basic entries that you cannot “edit” creatively, but as your role gets more managerial, you handle more responsibility, and you are given more power to influence the company’s overall image.

For instance, in accounting, you may be put in charge to present your company’s profit to the world. You will have to do it right; yet you will also have to do it in the most subtle and attractive way. Whether you look at the income statement and state “we got ourselves in a debt of 2 million dollars this year” or “we have invested in 3 new venues, and expect to generate 10 million dollars in the coming 3 years” makes all the difference in the world! It is all about marketing.  

Needless to say, you may conduct flawless advertising campaigns, yet… if its cost is not set based on the ROI in terms of profits, if your product’s price is not right, if your salespeople are not polite, if your venue is not welcoming, if your operations are not timely in delivery, if your secretary never picks up the phone, if you fall behind your competition in quality control (and the list goes on)… then you have utterly failed in marketing.