MKT 625 - Milestone 2 Short Paper

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625

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Marketing

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Feb 20, 2024

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Samantha Burger MKT 625 Joseph Tradii December 16, 2023 Short Paper: The Best and Worst Marketing Initiatives

When it comes to digital marketing initiatives and developing an impactful campaign, it is important that it be well thought out. Even with the best of intentions messaging can sometimes be taken the wrong way by the public, so having a strong understanding of the market and your brands positioning is crucial for tailoring the right message to the right audience. In this essay I will be exploring examples of two different marketing campaigns, one of which executed their goal perfectly and another that missed the mark. Marketing Key Factors: Best One brand known for developing a great campaign is Heineken. This brand did an outstanding job of not only promoting their product in a positive light as intended, but they also went the extra mile creating impactful social change as well. While most brands shy away from political matters as to not ruffle any feathers or risk bad publicity, Heineken embraced it. Rather than distancing themselves from prevalent issues in the world the brand took an opportunity to help mend the divide in our country by showing people that, despite our differences, we can coexist. Heineken did this through “emotional storytelling”. They took a group of ordinary people and interviewed each one of them individually on their opinions of different relevant social matters such as transgenderism, feminism, global warming, etc. Following the interviews, these people were paired up with others of opposing views and asked to complete a series of tasks. After working together to complete these tasks, they were then informed of one another’s opposite viewpoints and offered an opportunity to discuss their positioning with each other over a beer.

I think this was a great campaign strategy because not only did it display a positive outlook on human connection in a time where our country was at its most divided, but Heineken also inserted themselves into this narrative seamlessly by saying “hey, we’re here for you to help make this conversation a little easier”. This ad was released as a video containing footage and interviews from the event and received over 17 million views, 138,000 shares, 22,000 tweets, 324,000 Facebook engagements, and 85% of all of this was positive feedback (Digital Marketing Institute, 2019). The key factors of this campaign that stood out to me and, in my opinion, led to their success was the emotional response it elicited from viewers. By displaying this raw and authentic human interaction in their ad, it triggered a chain reaction in viewers, hence the positive feedback received. People by nature crave connection and most people don’t want to be at odds with one another. What I think this ad did for people was remind them that differences are ok and better yet, discussing them should be too. In marketing, some best practices include, setting realistic goals, knowing how each component works, creating concepts that leverage strengths of component and community, diversifying your approach, frequently evaluate, and using ethical practices. In Heinekens case, I do not think any of these practices were violated. Marketing Key Factors: Worst On the opposite side of the spectrum American Airlines comes to mind with their free first-class travel campaign. At a time when the brand was struggling financially, they devised a strategy for quick financial gain by offering lifetime unlimited first-class flight passes to consumers for a one-time flat rate of $250,000. In some ways this campaign was successful. They did manage to sell enough passes to profit from, fixing their issue short term, but it caused more issues down the line. Due to these passes being unlimited, consumers were using them to

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fly far more frequently than they would have otherwise and far exceeding the original value of the pass, costing the airline millions in lost sales (Crockett, 2023). As a response to the issue, American Airlines eventually decided to launch an investigation into these passholders and revoked certain members passes. This caused outrage and lawsuits tarnishing the brands reputation on top of them already struggling financially. The key factors in this case that lead to American Airlines failure was a lack of planning paired with desperation. In a quick fix attempt to increase income, rather than taking the time to develop a well thought out strategy, the airline thought it easier to target their wealthiest consumers and tempt them with this unique pass. They failed to think out all possible scenarios that could occur by offering such an item. Had they done so, this pass would have had the potential to be a benefit to both the brand and the consumer. Even if they had put yearly cap on flights allowed the pass would have still held incredible value. To make matters worse, they mistreated their customers by going back on their word once they realized the weight of their mistakes. Referring back to best practices in marketing, American Airlines failed to adhere to most of these guidelines. Specifically, the ones that standout the most for their negligence “use of ethical practices” and “setting realistic goals” for both of the reasons stated above. Recommendations While Heineken did a tremendous job in their marketing initiatives with this campaign, one thing they could have done to improve upon it was implement a call-to-action. Many brands utilize this approach to build engagement with their products, in Heinekens case, it would be furthering the conversation that they initiated with this ad. While consumers pairing up with

random strangers is not realistic, they could encourage customers to initiate change or start a needed conversation with relatives or loved ones with their product serving as a safe space to do so. American Airlines went wrong in many ways, but the biggest factor in their failure was overpromising on what they could provide. They created the pass to bring in large amounts of money fast. This could have just as easily been done had they placed some limitations on the frequency of travel rather than making it truly unlimited. What the airline should have done is put a cap on flights allowed per year. Large enough that consumers still get value out or their purchase, but not so large that the airline suffers from it.

Sources: Crockett, Z. (2023, November 15). The men who took 10,000 flights . The Hustle. https://thehustle.co/aairpass-american-airlines-250k-lifetime-ticket/ Digital Marketing Institute. (2019, February 19). 6 of the Best Digital Marketing Campaigns you can learn from . Digital Marketing Institute. https://digitalmarketinginstitute.com/blog/6-of- the-best-digital-marketing-campaigns-you-can-learn-from

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MKT 625 - Milestone 2 Short Paper

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