Whitevector: Measuring Internet Brand Discussions
Whitevector’s latest research focus report looks at the ability to analyse internet discussions and see what effects these have on the brands.
People talk a lot online about all sorts of topics that have caught their eye in online and offline media. New products and brand marketing campaigns are no exception. Successful campaigns make consumers aware of the brand, which often leads them to discuss it.
Lately, different kinds of campaign sites, online videos, and applications in communal web services have been popular in trying to get people talk about the product and sharing information about it with others. In the best cases, successful viral campaigns increase brand awareness and strengthen brand image with minimal effort or expense from the brand owner.
One has to remember that more traditional media campaigns can also produce online discussions. By analysing discussions, the advertiser and his agency can find out how much the visibility of a brand has increased due to the campaign, which demographics it has attracted and, for example, which topics and themes that featured in the campaign have generated discussion and interest.
The viral effect can be analysed by the distribution of the discussions: the more sites containing discussions about the campaign, the more powerful the viral effect is. A campaign analysis based on social media makes the impact of the campaign more concrete and the data received from the study helps to improve future campaigns.
Whitevector’s Chat Reports service has been used to analyse campaigns from several different companies, such as Lumene (a Nordic cosmetics producer) and Felix Abba (a Nordic grocery producer). Analyses of activity from both these companies indicated a clear difference in the level and nature of online discussions before and after the launch of the campaigns. By analyzing these discussions further, the impact of the campaigns was measurable, and both companies got valuable insights about the strength of their brands, and the target groups activated by the campaigns. Brief extracts from both the Lumene and Felix Abba are shown below.
Launch of Lumene Natural Code Cosmetics line
As Lumene launched a new cosmetics line, Lumene Natural Code, to replace the company’s old Anytime brand, media agency Vizeum analysed the attention that the campaign received in social media with the help of Chat Reports. The analysis revealed that online discussions were strongest among the desired target group right after the launch.
The number of the discussions about the new line increased quickly to reach the same level as competing brands; during the research period Natural Code received 19% of online discussions regarding young women’s cosmetics brands.
Chart 1 shows the growth in the number of Natural Code related discussions.
The analysis also revealed the perceived strengths of competing products, and the new products that interested consumers in particular were identified in the discussions. According to Lumene’s marketing department, the analysis was a key indicator of the success of the launch and in particular of the impact that the marketing activity had amongst the key target group.
Grandiosa “Pizza Friday” campaign
In a study for Felix Abba’s frozen pizza brand Grandiosa, and its “Pizza Friday” campaign, it was noticed that the number of discussions about Grandiosa grew notably as the campaign was launched and reached its peak during the first months of the campaign.
At this time, online visibility of Grandiosa increased remarkably compared to the main competitor, even though the situation was almost the opposite before the campaign was launched.
During the campaign, there were discussions about Grandiosa on 42 different web sites, whereas the competitor was present at 16; see Chart 2 below:
Analysis of the most influential sites revealed where relevant active consumers spend time online. People gave feedback about the campaign itself and these opinions spread strongly. This guaranteed a high level of passionate discussions about Grandiosa pizzas. Mervi Nieminen, marketing manager of Felix Abba says: “The campaign was noticed and this was reflected both in the online discussions and in sales.”