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In News

The Vast Majority of People Don’t Trust Social Media. So Where Should Marketers Put Their Ad Spend?

December 11, 2017 No Comments

If you want to reach people with your advertising message, what can you do?

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

While consumers use social platforms as their principal access point for information, not many people trust the content they find there. 89% of 18-64-year-olds are categorised as social skeptics when it comes to things they read that has reached them via social media. The solution? You’d better use a trusted news/information site, or you are just peeing your ad spend up a wall.

These results are according to a research conducted on behalf of Digital Content Next. The research highlights the fact that brand credibility is EVERYTHING.

“Consumers lack trust in social platform content and that it’s spilling over into their perceptions of brand sites and apps,” said Jason Kint, CEO of Digital Content Next. “While we don’t recommend that publishers walk away from the relationships they have with the platforms, we do recommend they urge the platforms to better utilise and protect trusted news and entertainment brands.”

When it comes to trust, consumers have higher expectations for brand sites and apps and expect them to be trustworthy, credible, accurate and up-to-date. Thus, brands should closely monitor trust and work to maintain it as a key differentiator in the volatile digital media marketplace.

Other findings:

Social automation and algorithms appear to have a negative impact with 62 percent of consumers agreeing that “there’s so much random content on social media, there’s no way to tell if an article is credible or not.”
A younger audience of “Social Skeptics” has emerged. Seven in 10 of these consumers choose quality brand sites for content and prefer brand sites/apps for information. In fact, 41 percent of Social Skeptics have a content subscription, which also signals a preference for premium content.
Brand sites build trust by delivering on key attributes, such as credibility and accuracy, which correlate highly to both trust and importance. However, there are also hidden drivers which are less obvious—but that correlate highly to trust. These include popularity, virality, and personalisation, all of which are important strategies to employ and very much a part of the algorithms of platforms.
“Trust as a Proxy for Brand Value” found that brand sites should incorporate four key building blocks of trust into their strategies:
- Attribution (confirming multiple sources)
- Reputation
- Navigation
- Prediction (past experiences with the brand)
Consumer trust in brand sites also positively impacts advertisers on the site. Higher trust in brand sites results in a trust halo effect for advertisers. Brand sites provide a significant boost in advertiser trust and positive perception compared to social media and YouTube.
Consumer expectations around trust are higher for brand sites and apps and they expect them to be trustworthy, credible, accurate, and up-to-date. Therefore, publishers should closely monitor trust and work to maintain it as a key differentiator in the volatile digital media marketplace.

To view the full research report, click here.

In News

Most Millennials Won’t Book a Holiday That Doesn’t Offer Free Wifi

December 8, 2017 No Comments

Because selfies.

By Mediastreet Staff Writers

A hotel company surveyed Millennials to see what they want from holidays. And it seems, they want to pose on social media and that’s just about it.

Holiday group Hotels.com commissioned a study into Millennial behaviour to best work out how to attract Millennial customers. It was conducted by One Poll in November 2017. The data they crunched was based on 9,000 respondents across 30 countries.

So were there any surprises? Not really. What do Millennials want from their holidays? It’s what we all want. To brag. And they don’t care if they are bragging to real friends or fake online friends. They just wanna brag. And most of us love looking at other people’s holidays, let’s be honest.

Whether it’s the deluxe suite, the hip hotel or the #foodporn, travel bragging has become an essential part of any trip. 30% of Millennials admit they spend over four hours a day on their mobiles whilst travelling, often more glued to the small screen than the beach scene.

When it comes to what social savvy travellers are bragging about on their trips, food snaps (44%) is up there. Travel braggers show off their #foodporn to those stuck at home with their avocado toast, posting weird and wonderful dishes from across the globe.

Being a generation of filter-loving, selfie-stick addicts, two out of three Millennials surveyed (66%) admit they would rather upload a selfie than a picture with their loved ones (62%) on holiday. Not only that, 60% of young travellers admitted to uploading pictures, checking in at cool locations (39%) and tracking the amount of interaction on their posts (32%) whilst on holiday.

The new global research has also proven the long-debated theory that romance really is dead, with 14% admitting they would rather travel with their smartphone than their partner. Travellers even get more anxious when their phone runs out of battery (15%) than if they argue with their partner on a trip (8%).

“We know that 28% of people wouldn’t enjoy their holiday without their smartphone in their hand – how could they possibly capture the best selfie or show off to their friends at home without it? Not only that, we also know that getting the perfect picture plays an even bigger role with 14% of travellers admitting they would pose anywhere for that flawless selfie, often putting selfies ahead of safety,” said Daniel Craig, VP of Mobile at Hotels.com brand. “With a third of travellers refusing to book a hotel that doesn’t offer free Wi-Fi, there is a clear demand for travellers to be connected at all times.”

In News

It’s all in the name: luxury is about signalling status

December 8, 2017 No Comments

By Rob Wilson

Brands are the engines of the luxury market. The red-soled Louboutins, the Mulberry tree, the Ferrari horse… without them, would people still buy the products they are emblazoned on? Maybe, but certainly not as many.

Luxury has always been about signalling status. Therefore, as a concept it is always evolving as people’s ideas about what confers status change. From the opulent luxury of most of the 20th century, recent years seem to have shifted to less conspicuous forms of consumption. This presents a challenge to luxury brands. Now they not only have to emphasise their quality, but also demonstrate their credentials in other ways that will appeal to the less conspicuous luxury consumer.

Marketers have often targeted campaigns at people based on broad demographic factors – their age, their gender – but we have found a much more effective way is to connect with people through their passion points. Whether that’s football, food or fashion, if you can connect to people through one of their passions it will create a much stronger connection between them and the brand. Through connecting with these communities of shared interest, you can also have a more effective influencer strategy. Whether you work with more traditional celebrities or social media stars, by targeting a particular community of interest you can ensure your influencers feel truly relevant to your target consumer. When we worked with Breitling to launch its flagship store, we worked with celebrities that were truly relevant to its target audience, whereas when we launched Garnier Moisture Bomb we worked with everyday women as that is who was relevant for its brand and the community it wanted to talk to.

Luxury brands need to appeal to younger audiences or risk falling sales. Luxury brands can often be seen as outdated to younger generations because of product perceptions or the heritage they celebrate. We are working with Johnnie Walker to help it change perceptions of whisky as a drink that isn’t for everyone and open it up to new audiences. Delivering campaigns globally, we are helping it highlight the different ways and different occasions to drink Johnnie Walker, emphasising that it is a drink for everyone and anyone.

To recruit younger audiences, luxury brands need to respond to our changing spending habits. We are living in the experience economy. The latest figures from Barclaycard, which processes around half of all of the UK’s credit and debit transactions, show a rise of 20% in spending in pubs in April this year compared to last year, with restaurants, theatres and cinemas also seeing rises. More than ever, the experience a brand delivers is key to convincing people to part with their cash and when your product has a luxury price tag, people expect a luxury experience.

Through research we conducted for one of our luxury clients, we found that the retail experience is a particularly important part of the buying journey for luxury consumers. Across the range of different people we spoke to, most expressed a desire for a personal experience, where needs could be openly discussed, as well as a rich experience where they could learn about the brand stories and values underpinning a product. If a brand can achieve both these things they are much more likely to convert.

Every bit of the brand experience, from in-store to brand communications, online to packaging matters, is an opportunity for a luxury brand to damage its luxury reputation. Whether that’s a bad retail environment or a piece of packaging that doesn’t feel as hand crafted and special as the product it contains, it is very easy for brands to lose their luxury status in the minds of potential buyers.

Delivering a total luxury experience wherever a consumer interacts with your brand is a difficult task, but it is a must for luxury brands. Some luxury brands are embracing the experience economy already – this summer Cartier partnered with the London Design Museum to curate an exhibition called Cartier in Motion, telling the story of their unique approach to watchmaking and the evolution of the modern wristwatch. We will see more luxury brands turning to experiential marketing in the future.

Luxury is a highly emotive concept. It is all about the experience, the touch, the taste, how it makes you feel. And it is all too easy to break the luxury feel at some point in the experience a consumer has of your brand.

By Rob Wilson

Rob Wilson is strategy and creative director at RPM.

This article was originally published in The Drum Network luxury special. You can get your hands on a copy here. To be featured in the next special focused on the charity sector, please contact [email protected].

Sourced from THEDRUM

In News

Content Conversations: Top Content Marketing Lessons Learned in 2017

December 7, 2017 No Comments

By Ashley Zeckman

It doesn’t matter if you are a team of one or a team of one hundred, outside insights can be incredibly valuable for improving your approach to content marketing.

Since we know you’re likely busy working, wrapping up 2017 and planning for 2018, we’re here to help. Recently we had the chance to sit down (or stand up?) for some great content conversations with some of today’s top marketers.

Below you’ll find their top content lessons learned in 2017 as well as how you can apply these insights to your own content marketing approach.

Don’t Be Afraid to Take Risks

In a profession with so many moving parts and fast-paced changes, it can be easy to become risk averse. The problem is, if you don’t take risks to create great, more impactful content, your competition will, and your audience will follow.

Content risks don’t have to mean completely changing your approach. It can be slight tweaks and tests along the way to improve performance and innovate.

Ann Handley
Chief Content Officer, MarketingProfs

“More marketers are getting comfortable taking risks because sometimes our very best work comes out of us taking a risk.” @annhandley tweet this

Ask Yourself:

What are some small risks that you can begin taking today to improve your approach to content marketing?
How can you work testing new content approaches into your routine?
What can you learn from other marketers that are having success with innovation?

Make Owned Content a Cornerstone

It’s no secret that social networks and content on 3rd party websites are a great way to attract your audience. Ultimately though, these approaches should be used as a means to draw people to owned content on your website.

Social algorithms change constantly and you’ll find that if you put the majority of your efforts into building relationships on those platforms, you can lose that audience faster than you gained it.

Joe Pulizzi
Author & Keynote Speaker

“Use social media platforms to get your audience to your own content so you create a direct connection.” @joepulizzi tweet this

Ask Yourself:

Which platforms are currently the biggest drivers of audience members to your owned content?
How can social networks and other credible websites become part of your strategy for driving visitors to your website?

Focus on Quality Content

As more and more brands become publishers, that means that a huge influx of content has been hitting the search results and inboxes of your target customers. Unfortunately, a lot of what is out there is not at the level of quality that it needs to be to provide value.

That means, customers are becoming overwhelmed by crappy content and are in dire need of quality content created for them by marketers who understand their top needs.

Chris Brogan
CEO, Owner Media Group

“There should be a big, wide-open playing field for marketers that are passionate and make real business happen.” @chrisbrogan tweet this

Ask Yourself:

What would it take to create high-quality content on a consistent basis?
Should content quantity be reduced in order to focus on impact?
Can your team truly identify the difference between low and high-quality content?

Pay Attention to Distribution

All too often, content distribution and amplification are either ignored, or treated as an afterthought when creating content. At the end of the day, we are marketers that are responsible for the performance of the content that we creates which means giving distribution the time and attention it deserves.

Alexandra Rynne
Content Marketing Manager – Marketing Solutions, LinkedIn

“Give your content room to breathe and focus on what works and what doesn’t so you can approach it better next time.” @amrynnie tweet this

Ask Yourself:

Are you creating content for content’s sake or is your content tied to business objectives?
How can you give content distribution and amplification the same attention as creation?
Are you documenting which forms of content distribution are effective? And which ones aren’t?

Eliminate Marketing Buzzwords

It doesn’t matter if you create content for a B2C or B2B audience, the key is connecting with people. When marketers focus on creating product, solutions or services based content, they’re ignoring the true needs of their audience.

Buying audiences don’t care about marketing buzzwords, they want to know what problems you can help them solve. This requires creating a true connection and providing honest and helpful content based on what their top needs are.

Tim Washer
Writer & Producer, Cisco

“Instead of trying to change what people say, we need to change how people think.” @timwasher tweet this

Ask Yourself:

Is our content focused on the message we want to send or the true needs of our customers?
How much do we actually know about what our target audience wants and needs?

Invest in Dedicated Content Marketing Staff

You wouldn’t hire a plumber to do your drywall or a professor to act as an electrician. The same can be said for your marketing team. While there are some marketers that can fulfill multiple roles, now more than ever it’s critical to work with a dedicated content marketing staff.

That can mean hiring full-time resources in-house and/or partnering with an agency that has expertise in your industry.

Dayna Rothman
VP of Marketing & Sales Development, BrightFunnel

“One of the most important things your team needs is a dedicated resource to run content.” @dayroth tweet this

Ask Yourself:

Who in my organization is truly responsible for content?
Are we setting content teams up for success?
Do we need outside help to scale our content marketing program?

Document Your Content Strategy

While we are seeing a 1-2% increase each year in marketers who have a documented content strategy, we are still nowhere near to 50%. Your content strategy should be your guide for all content you create and serve as an anchor point if your team ever starts to get off track.

Without a documented strategy, it is MUCH more difficult to meet business objectives and make a case for content’s place within your organization.

Chris Moody
Content Marketing Leader, GE Digital

“Your content strategy is the single most important document you’ll create. It’ll make you more productive and it’ll be used internally on a regular basis.” @cnmoody tweet this

What Content Lesson Did You Learn in 2017?

If we are going to move forward and improve content in 2018, it’s essential to reflect on what we’ve learned in 2017. Some lessons are easy and others are plagued with difficulty. As you reflect on the past year, think about your biggest content lesson learned. Feel free to share in the comments below!

Disclosure: BrightFunnel is a TopRank Marketing client.

By Ashley Zeckman

Sourced from TopRank Marketing

In News

Five Top Tricks to Marketing Your Services

December 6, 2017 No Comments

Maryann Fasanella is an expert in law firm marketing. Here, she gives us inside marketing tricks of the trade. While she comes from a law perspective, many of these tips can be applied to marketing across several service industries.

Tip 1: Know your audience

Though it seems obvious, this tip is the crucial ingredient that is the most overlooked in any marketing strategy, not just law marketing. The idea that the widest cast captures the most is a deeply held, and equally flawed, belief. Make sure when you are constructing your plan, you are targeting those who most need your services. You cannot let fear of the one that got away drive your strategy. The best plan is one that is tailored to attract the clients that are most likely to sign on with you. Your marketing materials and strategy are the first pieces of information that many potential clients will see. With that in mind, make sure that your first impression will ensure that when they walk through that door, it will be with purpose and intent.

Tip 2: Content Content Content

“Crazy Eddie selling used cars at prices so low he must be insane” may have gotten a laugh back in the early days of television. It may have even garnered a sale or two. However, today everyone has a world of information at their fingertips 24/7. The only way to shout through the noise is through your content and message. It is vital that the content you display is relevant as well as easy to digest. If knowing your audience is the key to getting the right clients, then your content is the key for those clients getting to know you as the right firm.

There cannot be enough emphasis placed on the content of your marketing. The words and visuals that you choose to place before your potential customers should always follow your messaging. The internet has a long memory, and something that sounded good in the moment can and most times will come back to haunt you. Solid ideas and marketing will always hold up to scrutiny, and you would have to be crazy to allow anything less than the best out into the landscape.

Tip 3: Your Stop Doing List

In the Jim Collins book, Good to Great, he outlined his findings from examining companies that went from mediocre to remarkable results over a 40 year period. One of the biggest takeaways from that research was that what the companies had stopped doing was much more important to their success than what they were doing. This idea is at the core of a great marketing plan. Once you have your messaging, stop doing anything that doesn’t measurably contribute. Some things may seem like great ideas, but anything that doesn’t serve the message strips funds and momentum from everything that does.

So spend a few moments thinking about everything that you do to market your firm. Odds are there are a few that have returned questionable results. Don’t simply jettison those ideas out of hand though. Consider the value of each of them carefully. Be tough and fair, but if they don’t fit the message, then they have to go. Your marketing strategy will be all the stronger for your efforts.

Tip 4: Building Your Web

You cannot, and should not expect clients to simply walk through your doors with no effort. The effort that you place in building your web of clients extends beyond just your online presence, but in cultivating the referrals that will walk through your door. Never miss the opportunity to ask a client for a referral. You may not get one every time, but you lose nothing in asking. In today’s day of instant information, it is the collective strength of your web that will set you apart.

Tip 5: Engagement, not Visibility

People see advertising every day. However, we would argue that a good conversation will exert more influence than the flashiest, most expensive advertisement on the most heavily travelled roadway. When you look at your plan for marketing, consider that. If most of your plan revolves around passively presenting information to your potential clients, you may be spending more than you need to get the returns you want. It is the conversation that will provide the most influence, so don’t be shy about pursuing it. Join a trade association, or get involved with charity groups. If you surround yourself with clients, you are bound to raise the level of your engagement, which will translate to a better return.

Finally: Be Accountable

By using these tips, you can create a solid marketing plan that will generate returns. But don’t just pay them lip service. Discuss them, argue over them, and refine them until you are satisfied that they meet the goals of your firm. And most importantly of all, write them down! After all, if it means garnering more business coming through your doors it is well worth that extra effort to solidify it in writing.

However, the worst trap you can fall into is believing you are finished with your plan. Marketing of any variety is never complete. If your success is to be properly measured, accountability must be the ruler. The best and most carefully laid plans can and often are, decimated by excluding it. Let’s take a ludicrous example. Say that my goal is to see a sunrise and my plan is to run west until the sun cracks the horizon before me.

Now, we all know that I will never see that sunrise. It doesn’t matter how much time I put into it, nor does it hold that working harder or longer will produce my desired results. Without accountability though, I would never question that ridiculous plan. Make sure to review your plans regularly. Celebrate the successes and learn from the failures. Remember, accountability is just as important to do internally as is it externally. You would not expect to keep a client’s business if you were not accountable to them, so make sure to keep your law firm marketing plan accountable to you.

In News

HP to usher in new design era with its revolutionary software

December 6, 2017 No Comments

By Matthew Chapman

HP is opening its software to help creatives and brands collaborate to achieve greater and more rapid customisation and personalisation of their products.

HP’s SmartStream Designer software, famously used to create the personalised bottles for the ‘Share a Coke’ campaign, has been stripped back to make it more accessible to designers. Until now the software was only accessible to owners of HP digital presses, but the lighter version of the software – HP SmartStream Designer for Designers (D4D) – is set to democratise the digital printing process.

The beta trial was unveiled at a launch party at the Black Swan Studios in London’s Bermondsey on Thursday.

Smirnoff gave its blessing to HP and emerging designers, the Yarza Twins, to show off the capabilities of the technology. The Yarzas created a design concept using 21 characters, 21 hats, 21 bodies and 21 patterns to reflect the brand Smirnoff 21 and showcase the capability of D4D. This resulted in the creation of individualised bottles, posters, table wrappings, wallpaper, based on an ‘Everyone the same, Everyone different’ concept.

“We are living in very tough times where everyone is very individualistic and believes their community is the best, so we wanted to bring it back the idea of everyone is the same, everyone is different,” added Marta Yarza.

Nancy Janes, global head of brand innovation at HP, said: “Share a Coke was the lighthouse campaign that people are very familiar with and helped people understand that HP digital printing is no longer short run.

“Now what the designers are looking for is; how do you take digital printing to the next level to make packaging truly unique, regardless of volumes.”

D4D is free-to-use and allows designers to create 20 variable images from every seed file, which will enable rapid prototyping.

Janes explained: “The designers can fix any design elements that need to remain and then vary or randomise everything else. If the brand client signs off on the concepts it can go into full blown production with a D4D enabled HP print service provider.”

Steve Honour, design manager at Diageo Europe & Africa, said the company would “love to” roll out the bottle designs on a commercial scale and added the HP technology meant this was a “feasible possibility.

“The idea of taking this to a larger scale and people standing and spending 10 minutes looking at the packaging as art is actually really exciting because sometimes art, design and creativity is not accessible, or shareable, let alone purchasable and touchable,” said Honour.

Silas Amos, who coordinated the collaboration between HP, Smirnoff and the Yarzas, believes allowing designers access to the software to prototype designs is “changing the rules”.

“Advertising has become a real-time medium, leaving packaging behind, but the opportunity is now here to move the packaging industry forward,” said Amos. “It is the only interruptive media left. I can screen out a banner ad, look away from a magazine, turn off the television, but if I want to get to the aspirin or the deodorant, I have to go through the packaging.

“You have to be very careful you are building the brand and not diluting the brand. The good stuff will be based on brands that have invested in building strong iconography that can be flexed so it is un-mistakably them even when they are highly abstracted.”

HP has created videos featuring the Yarzas to show off the capabilities of the software and explain how it can be used.

The 500 designers who will trial the software are being accepted on a ‘first come first served’ basis, and there will be 15 ‘super users’ providing detailed feedback during the beta trial.

Janes said the UK was chosen for the trial due to its innovative nature and because the “design community in London is really quite dynamic”.

Other designers and artists who have already trialed the technology and spoke of their efforts at the launch party included Emily Forgot, Supermundane and David Shillinglaw.

“I think this is a really playful technology and it feels like the future,” said Shillinglaw.

The software also allows users to print in a combination of seven colours than the usual four (cyan, magenta, yellow, and black).

“When you print normally, it does not look the same as your screen, but this way it looks exactly the same,” said Marta Yarza.

The software can be used on any type of print, whether that be a corrugated piece, a table covering, the floor, a leaflet, a brochure or a business card.

“Where people are looking for omnichannel executions I think print has a big role to play,” concluded Janes.

The new software will be trialed among 500 UK-based designers. From November 6 for a three-month period, designers will be able to register to be part of the beta programme by visiting here.

By Matthew Chapman

Sourced from THEDRUM

In News

A Successful Social Media Post DOES Drive Consumer Spending

December 5, 2017 No Comments

Whether the post is positive or negative, the more attention it gets, the more you will sell.

For businesses using social media, posts with high engagement have the greatest impact on customer spending. This is according to new research from the University at Buffalo School of Management.

Published in the Journal of Marketing, the study assessed social media posts for sentiment (positive, neutral or negative), popularity (engagement) and customers’ likelihood to use social media, and found the popularity of a social media post had the greatest effect on purchases.

“A neutral or even negative social media post with high engagement will impact sales more than a positive post that draws no likes, comments or shares,” says study co-author Ram Bezawada, PhD, associate professor of marketing in the UB School of Management. “This is true even among customers who say their purchase decisions are not swayed by what they read on social media.”

The researchers studied data from a large specialty retailer with multiple locations in the northeast United States. They combined data about customer participation on the company’s social media page with in-store purchases before and after the retailer’s social media engagement efforts. They also conducted a survey to determine customers’ attitudes toward technology and social media.

The study also found that businesses’ social posts significantly strengthen the effect of traditional television and email marketing efforts. When social media is combined with TV marketing, customer spending increased by 1.03 percent and cross buying by 0.84 percent. When combined with email marketing, customer spending increased by 2.02 percent and cross buying by 1.22 percent. Cross buying refers to when a customer purchases additional products or services from the same firm.

“The clear message here is that social media marketing matters, and managers should embrace it to build relationships with customers,” says Bezawada. “Developing a community with a dedicated fan base can lead to a definitive impact on revenues and profits.”

In News

Will Facebook be the ‘New’ YouTube?

December 4, 2017 No Comments

It seems that Facebook is trying to muscle in on YouTube territory.

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

Facebook is indirectly becoming a solid source of user-generated content, often replacing time otherwise spent viewing similar videos on YouTube.

A new report from the UXS group at Strategy Analytics has been investigating the needs, behaviours and expectations of consumers regarding video consumption. The result? While consumers look to Facebook to see what friends/family are up to and to gain information overall, videos are being increasingly consumed as a part of this experience.

According to the report:

Social platforms are becoming the main source of consumption of ad-hoc short-form video. Sites such as Facebook and Instagram are increasingly sources to communicate new content availability; while sites such as Snapchat, IG stories and Boomerang are leading the drive towards social video creation and sharing.
Socially shared and discovered ‘viral’ content not only serves as entertainment on its own but can impact an unintended direction for users and their video consumption.
Ongoing live video streaming and posting of temporary ‘stories’ across Facebook and Instagram are also driving users to return.

Says Christopher Dodge, report author, “Content is ‘finding’ the user within social media: consumers no longer have to search for videos themselves. Furthermore, new ‘live’ video, along with countless shared video content, is shifting behaviours and resulting in more unintended video consumption.”

Chris Schreiner, Director of Syndicated Research, UXIP, agrees. “Identifying Facebook as a solid source for video – inclusive of professional, user-generated, and ‘viral’-type videos – not only makes Facebook’s experience even more compelling for users, but also drives advertisement revenues for this platform.”

There’s plenty of ways to use facebook video to advertise products.

But will they take YouTube’s thunder? Perhaps this is wishful thinking at this point. But, stranger things have happened. We will stay tuned.

In News

Deceptive Marketing Can Backfire For Companies Caught In The Act

December 1, 2017 No Comments

The truth always comes out and it will make you look stupid.

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

In the era of fake news, less scrupulous businesses are using deceptive tactics to smear their rivals. But companies that spread fake news against their competitors ultimately experience the brunt of negative publicity and reputational damage.

That’s a key finding of new research co-authored by the UBC Sauder School of Business. The researchers examined a real-life case from 2012 in South Korea, when a customer reportedly found a dead rat in a loaf of bread made by one of the country’s most popular bakery brands. The company’s business plummeted, until a reporter discovered that a rival bakery had whipped up the fake story. Suddenly, the offending franchise found itself in the hot seat, in the media and online.

“People doubted the credibility of this firm and its management practices,” said study co-author Gene Moo Lee, assistant professor of information systems at UBC Sauder. “What’s more, the offender was a franchisee, which ultimately tarnished the reputation of the larger company. This study showed that deceptive marketing just doesn’t pay.”

The researchers examined three years’ worth of blog posts, news articles and social media exchanges, and counted how many positive and negative words were used in reference to each company.

They found that, while the fake story damaged the victim company at first, it caused far more significant and lasting damage to the firm that originally concocted the story. In fact, damage to the victim company lasted one year, while the effects for the offender lingered for more than two years.

For businesses that practice these smear tactics, the researchers caution that fake news detection technology is becoming increasingly more precise.

“Social media services like Facebook, Google and Twitter are building very sophisticated fake news detection algorithms now, which means it’s increasingly easy to be caught,” said study co-author Sungha Jang, assistant professor of marketing at Kansas State University. “Practically speaking and also ethically speaking, you don’t want to do that. Ultimately the truth prevails.”

According to study co-author Ho Kim, assistant professor of digital and social media marketing at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, the findings serve as a warning to companies to avoid using smear tactics.

“It’s a lesson we all learned in kindergarten: don’t tell a lie,” said Kim. “It’s not surprising, but a lot of people spread fake news. When it’s uncovered as fake news, it brings lasting reputational damage for the offender.”

In News

When Brands Tempt us to Lie, Cheat and Steal

November 30, 2017 No Comments

Get your company reputation in order, or you might find that even your satisfied customers will betray you.

By MediaStreet Staff Writers

While many people consider themselves generally moral and honest, even the most upstanding citizens will likely become willing to lie, cheat and steal under certain circumstances, according to evidence from a new study in the Journal of Consumer Psychology.

If consumers believe that a company is harmful in some way – to the environment or to people – then they feel justified participating in illegal activities, such as shoplifting, piracy or hacking, according to findings in the study.

“People are much more willing to do something that risks their own integrity if they believe a company is unethical,” says Jeffrey Rotman, a professor in the business school at Deakin University in Australia. “And this desire to punish a harmful brand occurs even when the consumer has not personally had a bad experience with the company.”

Rotman’s team discovered this effect in one study in which participants were introduced to a fictitious pharmaceutical company that produced drugs to treat Parkinson’s disease and a bacterial infection called Brucellosis. Some of the participants learned that the company planned to increase the price of the drug by 300 percent to generate considerably more profit, even if it meant that certain customers could no longer afford the medication. Other participants learned that the company would not raise prices despite the profit benefits.

The researchers discovered that the participants who were told that the company was raising prices were significantly more willing to punish the company via unethical means, such as lying, cheating or stealing.

So why do consumers violate their personal code of ethics in these situations? The researchers conducted another experiment in which participants read a report stating that on average, internet speeds are consistently below advertised speeds. The federal report explained that this occurs because many ISPs intentionally cap speeds at 20 percent lower than advertised speeds. One group of participants was told that their internet speeds had in fact underperformed, and they were asked to sign a letter to the ISP asking for a 10 percent discount on monthly fees. The other group was told that their internet speeds were as advertised, but they should still sign the letter based on the findings in the federal report. Even though their internet speeds were good, they were encouraged to lie to justify the discount and capture the company’s attention.

Typically, people feel emotional consequences when they engage in unethical behaviour, but the researchers found that negative feelings, such as guilt, were absent because people felt that the company was cheating customers. “People felt morally justified lying to the ISP because the report claimed that the company was not delivering promised speeds,” Rotman says.

The researchers discovered that this desire to punish companies perceived as harmful is also reflected in the real world. Participants rated how harmful they perceived a variety of different industries, such as pharmacies, supermarkets and home improvement stores. On average, the more harmful the ratings, the greater the rates of theft were in these industries.

“There is growing distrust among the public of certain aspects of business and government, and these findings suggest that if people perceive these entities as harmful, they might feel justified in being unethical,” Rotman says. “My hope is that organisations will make it a priority to build a reputation that allows consumers and businesses to be on the same side.”