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R&CPMK INTRODUCES “CULTURE SOUP PODCAST”, EXPANDING AGENCY’S INSIGHT ON ESSENTIAL TRENDS IN FASHION, ENTERTAINMENT, AND MORE
New Podcast to Deliver Unique Trends and Insights, as well as Engaging Interviews with Cultural Creators and Leaders
R&CPMK is excited to introduce the newest extension of its popular monthly digital series, “Culture Soup,” with the addition of the “Culture Soup Podcast.”
The new video-podcast series delivers a fresh audio installment of unique insights from the worlds of fashion, entertainment, music, and more, and is available on YouTube or wherever you find your podcasts.
Hosted by R&CPMK’s Senior Director, Multicultural Marketing and Communications, Marissa Wallace, the “Culture Soup Podcast” also welcomes cultural trailblazers, creative visionaries, and brand leaders into the studio each month for an in-depth conversation into some of the biggest cultural moments and trends in the world today.
This month’s debut edition of the “Culture Soup Podcast” highlights prominent data about the growth in Black buying power within the U.S. economy, and how luxury brands are creating meaningful partnerships to engage multicultural consumers. In addition, the podcast features a dynamic discussion with Grayscale Creative Director, BJ Gray, on his own personal growth story and the influence and importance of the Black consumer within the luxury market.
“The culture doesn’t move without us. We have control of the direction that these [luxury fashion] houses are going to start going. You see that by the creative directors changing,” said Gray. “You’re seeing Jayden Smith as creative director now. You’re seeing Virgil as creative director. Even Kanye dealing with GAP now. What that means is that they [luxury fashion house] want to keep their fingers to the pulse and be close enough and be able to deal with the influencers that we have.”
Check out the first episode of the “Culture Soup Podcast” now: “The Rise of the Black Luxury Market + A Conversation with BJ Gray, Creative Director of Grayscale.”
R&PCMK’s “Culture Soup Podcast” is the latest programming extension from R&CPMK’s Multicultural marketing division, joining the “Culture Soup” digital edition and “Culture Soup Spotify Playlist,” which collectively continue the division’s ongoing efforts to influence the conversation and brand decisions across the marketing, communications, and entertainment industries.
Listen to the Culture Soup Podcast now via Spotify or Anchor FM.
For more insights and analysis on all things entertainment, culture, and more, follow R&CPMK on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
With Younger Audiences Going Ad-Free, Brand Integration Is More Important Than Ever
Meilani Weiss, R&CPMK's EVP of Brand Integrations, shares the importance of strategic placement in her new op-ed piece for Media Post.
To view the article, click here.
Media consumption of the modern viewer looks very different than it did just a few short years ago. The COVID-19 pandemic, along with the preferences of both millennial and Gen Z cohorts, have accelerated a fundamental shift to digital streaming. Most young adults under 29 have never subscribed to a traditional cable package, and they likely never will.
What’s more, many of the new digital TV platforms are completely ad-free, and nearly half of the total streaming market is ad-free, according to Nielsen’s new Gauge streaming study. Among consumers aged 18-29, 6-in-10 consume the majority of their TV content via Netflix, Disney+, Hulu, Prime Video, and other streaming platforms. These stats reveal a sobering reality for advertisers, that up to 40% of total TV consumption for the 18-29 demographic is completely ad-free. This necessitates new ways for brands to reach consumers outside of traditional advertising.
Brand integration, defined as the strategic placement or alignment of brands within entertainment, has emerged as one of the most useful tools for marketers to reach audiences today. Over half of brands planned to increase their spend on creator or brand integrations in the last year.
Brands looking to enter the space need a strategy to take full advantage of the plethora of opportunities available through brand integration. While one-off integrations can deliver massive reach and engagement, a holistic ongoing integration strategy, as part of a brand’s larger marketing mix, yields lasting entertainment relationships, more opportunities, and outsized results. Brand integration is further customized by the several tactical methods brands and agencies alike can use to execute an effective brand integration campaign.
The flow chart below outlines the varying tactics a brand can take to execute an integration strategy. Outlining Tactics Brands Can Use to Integrate into Content:
Media Buy Added Value: Leveraging an existing media spend to negotiate integrations in existing content. This is a method that major networks often employ to integrate brands into their premier programming. An integration campaign can be built against an existing media spend in this way, and the integration and advertising can work to amplify each other.
Propping Strategy: This requires on-the-ground relationships with the productions themselves. Prop masters, set designers, transportation coordinators, location managers, costume designers, and other production staff physically integrate your product or service into content. This tactic is prohibitive via one-off campaigns, as it requires ongoing relationship-building with the entertainment community, but it is an effective and low-cost way to integrate brands into content.
Above-the-Line: Relationships with producers or showrunners allow brands to provide production dollars in exchange for integrations in the associated entertainment property. This is a direct value exchange as it allows a production budget to expand in order to feature the brand supporting the production.
Barter Partnerships: Ideal for technical or service brands that can bring resources to content production. This strategy offers high-value services or products opportunities for reduced or no-fee integration which support the production. Complicated sets like the Wall of America on Jimmy Kimmel Live! are brought to life from technical experts from leading technology company, Cisco.
A holistic strategy, employing various tactics above can provide brands big wins and cultural relevancy.
With the release of new video and collaboration tools, Cisco vetted each opportunity to match technological relevance with the narrative from each entertainment property. In television, the brand participated in technology-heavy shows like "Casualty," "Line of Duty," and "Behind Her Eyes." The brand also supported production companies such as Reese Witherspoon’s "Hello Sunshine" when the world went remote, helping them transition to a remote workspace. Each integration features Cisco’s logo on the technology or on viewers’ screen to reinforce the awareness of the brand and product.
Heineken too has employed many of these tactics to become Hollywood’s favorite beer. The brand saw integrations as a critical component to meet ad-free audiences where they were. The strategy included both proactive propping and paid, above-the-line deals to secure integrations across streaming, TV, digital content, and feature films. Main characters like Bobby Axelrod, from Showtime’s hit show "Billions," reach for a Heineken during pivotal moments in an episode, thus building further brand awareness, equity, and association. The campaign pays off, generating multi-million dollars of media value against hard-to-reach audiences who tend to avoid advertising.
Brand integration has become an essential component of every modern brand’s marketing mix. The brands that build holistic campaigns, utilizing every available brand integration strategy, reap the most benefits. Whether the goal is to raise awareness, build consideration, or launch new products, the deft use of brand integration allows marketers to tap pop-culture moments to build brand relevance.
K-Pop Groups: The Next Great Brand Collaboration
R&CPMK'S EVP OF STRATEGIC INSIGHTS & ANALYTICS, MIKE FEIN, SHARES HIS INSIGHT WITH PRWEEK, ON THE REACH OF K-POP, ABILITY OF ARTISTS & THEIR TEAMS TO INFLUENCE CULTURE, AND THE STRENGTH OF K-POP FAN BASES
Here's what he had to say:
It's the fan bases that make all the difference, according to Michael Fein, EVP of R&CPMK's strategy and analytics division, which is working with South Korean rapper CL and represented BTS when the group first broke into the U.S. market.
"These groups are naturally doing the types of things that create culture," he said, which can be as simple as having the right hook, lyric or dance move. "But the machinery behind K-pop has mastered how to do social media, how to go viral and they're very close to their fan bases. Where K-pop goes, their fans join them."
To read the full PRWeek Article, click HERE.
3 WAYS NFTS CAN CREATE CONSUMER VALUE
R&CPMK'S SVP OF BRAND GROWTH SCOT WEINTRAUB, AND THE HARRIS POLL CEO WILL JOHNSON, OFFER BRAND MARKERTERS THREE NEW WAYS BRANDS CAN LEVERAGE NFTS TO CREATE CONSUMER VALUE.
To read the full Ad Age article, click here:
Everyone is trying to figure out what to do about non-fungible tokens (NFTs). These modern tools, born out of the crypto boom, have been viewed as both a passing fad and a future tool for artistic compensation.
Recent research from The Harris Poll and R&CPMK found that about half of consumers familiar with NFTs (47%) are interested in brands offering them as a commercial product, providing new use cases for brand marketers to capitalize on the hyper-relevant digital tokens that occupy so much consumer mindshare. When leveraged correctly, NFTs offer several applications for driving increased revenue and awareness around brand products:
NFTs as an incentive for a larger purchase
Big-ticket items such as festival tickets, cars or trips can make most consumers hit pause and consider purchases. Unlike impulse buys—such as food, beverage or CPG products—these larger ticket items often require repeated exposures to creative campaigns or an extra incentive to push consumers over the line on a purchase.
Our research indicates that NFTs could offer marketers another tool for pushing customers through the funnel, with 30% of Americans stating they would like to receive an NFT as a gift with a purchase.
Indeed, the possibility of attaching an NFT to a purchase teases several value creation possibilities for brand marketers. For live events or travel, an expiring NFT offer could provide a sense of urgency to the purchase as an added incentive to buy now. NFTs could also offer a seal of authenticity. For example, luxury brands such as Gucci are experimenting with NFTs tied to the purchase of their products. The NFT in this case serves as a luxury indicator, marking the occasion of the purchase and proving the authenticity of the brand to others or third-party buyers.
Whether driving immediacy for an upcoming purchase or as an addendum to prove the authenticity of a luxury item, incentive-based NFTs provide marketers innovative ways to leverage this new technology. By tying a unique token to a physical product or experience, it marks that purchase as special. And the specialized, unique value of NFTs can boost sales, create differentiation and ultimately increase the perceived consumer value of a product.
NFTs as commemorative memorabilia to deepen consumer connections
Much like apparel, figurines or trinkets, an NFT represents a myriad of options for marketers looking to create unique, commemorative items for specific events. Instead of tying an NFT to a purchase, marketers can use NFTs as a subsequent item to deepen consumer connection within a marketable moment in time as a token of appreciation.
In fact, 38% of consumers aware of NFTs in our survey stated that they prefer an NFT over physical memorabilia to commemorate their time at a sports or entertainment event. Memorable entertainment and sports events, which rank especially high on consumer passion indexes, have a unique opportunity to sell or give away NFTs to commemorate the occasion.
Sports leagues, teams and venues could distribute NFTs based on notable moments that took place during a game, such as a home run, game-winning goal or even a championship. Music venues could also craft NFTs representing the location, year and artist performing. Similarly, art festivals or exclusive cultural events could offer NFTs celebrating attendance.
Live Nation CEO Michael Rapino noted that NFTs are a major future-looking strategy for the company’s concerts and events, stating, “We envision Live Nation participating within the [NFT] marketplace by looking at some of our concert moments as magic moments that we could mint and attach to our ongoing ticketed festivals.”
Several sports teams, including Mark Cuban’s Dallas Mavericks, are also experimenting with NFTs to layer onto ticket sales. With so many moments to commemorate during an immersive live fan experience, NFTs present marketers with new ways of deepening consumer relationships by leveraging digital tokens that can capture those same moments and make them endlessly accessible to fans. In a not-too-distant future, fans may hear, “Thank you for coming, here’s an NFT.”
NFTs as additional revenue streams
As opposed to offering an NFT as strictly a purchase incentive or as memorabilia, they are also sellable products themselves—providing brands new ways of generating additional revenue beyond the initial purchase price. The tokens can represent almost anything, allowing brands to apply them liberally across different products.
Of consumers familiar with NFTs, 41% say they are likely to buy one, according to our research. And these potential buyers are most interested in purchasing the following types of NFTs:
34% would consider buying an NFT of a video game asset (e.g., characters, special armor)
33% would consider buying an NFT of artwork
30% would buy an NFT of a social media post
30% would buy an NFT of a video (e.g., event recording, interviews, blooper reels, etc.)
One of the most compelling applications is tying ancillary benefits to the purchase of an NFT. For example, the band Kings of Leon offered fans an NFT in exchange for a digital download and vinyl copy of its newest album, “When You See Yourself.” Taking the practice one step further, a higher value NFT gave the buyer lifetime front-row seats to Kings of Leon shows and special backstage passes. These benefits created new subproducts for the band, independent of album or ticket sales, that generated more than $2 million.
Entertainment, sports, the arts and cultural events are the industry categories where consumers are most likely to buy NFTs. For those consumers considering an NFT purchase, they were most likely to buy from a streaming platform (28%), an artist (27%), a blockchain trading platform (27%), a sports organization (19%) or at an in-person/virtual event (18%). For those innovative brands willing to experiment with ancillary NFT products, digital tokens offer fantastic ways for companies to increase their bottom lines.
As digital representations of the modern world with nearly zero creation costs, non-fungible tokens provide brand marketers limitless upside potential. They provide incentives for larger purchases by creating immediacy, additional value and marks of authenticity. And they can serve as unique memorabilia to deepen consumers’ connection to memorable moments, concerts or sporting events. Lastly, NFTs offer brands innovative ways to package digital products alongside physical ones to drive additional value. The only question that remains is, “What can you digitally dream up next?”
Read full article Ad Age article HERE
Will Kids Listen to the Government’s “Influencer Army” and Get Vaccinated?
ITB Worldwide SVP Michael Jacobson shares his insight with PR Week, on avenues government officials should use when trying to spread health messages.
Here's what he had to say:
But the use of a handful of influencers is only one avenue that government officials should use when trying to spread health messages, says Michael Jacobson, SVP at talent and influencer marketing agency ITB Worldwide.
"Whether it's a public health campaign, a nonprofit or a commercial campaign trying to sell a product, the tactical use of influencer marketing by itself does not in and of itself make a successful campaign," Jacobson said. "It needs to ladder up its goals and fit into an integrated campaign."
To read the full article click here
RENOWNED HEALTH TECHNOLOGY COMPANY MEDIBIO NAMES R&CPMK AS COMMUNICATIONS AGENCY OF RECORD IN THE U.S.
R&CPMK to Drive Brand Development and Strategic Communications for Launch of Medibio’s Pioneering Consumer Mental Health App
Melbourne, Australia and Minneapolis, MN – July 29, 2021 – Leading health technology company Medibio Limited (ASX: MEB) (OTCPINK: MDBIF), today announced that it has selected R&CPMK, the preeminent integrated marketing and communications agency in global entertainment, media, and technology, to drive brand development and strategic communications for the upcoming launch of Medibio’s pioneering consumer mental health app in the United States.
Led by Managing Director Claude Solitario, and Chief Medical Officer Archie Defillo - alongside a Board of Directors which includes many of the world’s leading experts in healthcare and mental health advocacy - Medibio offers healthcare and mental well-being solutions for businesses and consumers through a suite of advanced technology programs.
“Medibio’s pioneering work in the use of biometric data to aid in the early detection and screening of mental health conditions underpins the vision of our new consumer app,” said Solitario. “We look forward to working with R&CPMK to help us bring our revolutionary consumer mental health app to market, and to advance the positive and necessary global conversation surrounding mental health and wellness.”
“Mental health is one of the most important issues facing society today, and millions of people around the world continue to suffer in silence due to the lack of awareness and unfortunate stigma surrounding mental illness,” said Cary Kwok, Executive Vice President, R&CPMK. “We are pleased to be working with Medibio to introduce their new app, and further educate consumers on this science-driven technology that will help countless people improve their mental well-being.”
In the United States, increased stress and anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic has adversely impacted the mental health of an estimated 53% percent of adults, and 71% reported that they could have used more emotional support. Medibio aims to address the increased demand for online mental health services, through the development of its consumer app, which will be launched and available on Android and iOS platforms in October of 2021.
Designed to identify the link between biological markers and mental health conditions, Medibio’s technology empowers individuals to self-screen and better understand their own mental wellness. Medibio’s app and algorithms identify how stress is affecting individuals, and in turn produces stress assessment data to offer cognitive behavioral exercises, educational tools, and goal setting features to help users develop solutions that improve their mental health. To learn more about Medibio, click here.
To the read the full article from PRWEEK, click here.
