Are Groundswell's Supports Always Right?

The book---Groundswell mainly emphasizes the importance of the close relationship between the company and the groundswell. Even though I couldn't agree more with this viewpoint; however, it also reminds me of a dilemma situation. Is it a worrying situation if the relationship between customers and the company is so strong that customers still willing to choose the company even if they have found out the company was actually on suspicion of copyright infringement? 
Well, in fact, this situation is actually happening on Forever 21.

Forever 21 is an American chain of fashion retailers which sales all kinds of fashion items from clothes to accessories. The brand name---Forever 21, obviously, perfectly illustrates its objectives and seems like attractive enough for female groups. According to Los Angeles Times, Forever 21 is known for its trendy offerings and economical pricing. 

The fashionable design and affordable prices helped Forever 21 achieve remarkable accomplishments all around the world. And just because of this, the rumor and criticism always go hand in hand with the development of Forever 21.

Saint Laurent(left) And Forever 21(right)

Since Forever 21 got popular among female groups, it has faced with various controversies, ranging from labor practice issues and copyright infraction accusations.
In fact, Forever 21 has been sued more than 50 times for allegedly stealing the work of other designers and passing it off as their own. 

Forever 21---$29.9

Mansur Gavriel---$495

The two pictures above are two products from Forever 21 and Mansur Gabriel respectively. Do you find anything interesting? The same design and style but with surprising price differences--- $3490 versus $23. Can you believe it? I have to admit that I have been lured by the remarkable low price at the very start.

However,  faced with infringement accusations, Forever 21 has never responded to the requests directly, pretended like nothing happened.

As for a company, I have to say, what Forever 21 has done is not an appropriate public relations strategy for crisis management. Because you can remain silence once, but you can't keep silent forever. The accusation wouldn't disappear by itself. 
However, the problem is the customer base of Forever 21 even becomes larger than ever before.

As for this situation, what comes to my mind first is females always believe they have one less dress in their wardrobe. However, the fact is, even though the female consumption power has become stronger than ever, not every female can afford a dress which cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars.

Generally, girls who come from mid-class families can't afford to buy a dress at the luxury level. Therefore, the desire for following the trend of fashion drives them to shop at Forever 21. Because from their perspectives, Forever 21 only inferior to the original products but with more attractive prices. 

Nowadays, the fashion trend is transferring at a surprising pace. You would never know which kind of fashion style will go viral in the future. Besides, it seems like women are born to be shopaholics. Because they would never be satisfied with what they already have. Especially when it comes to something related to fashion fields, women can lost their senses immediately.

Ironically, what Forever 21 has done, to some extends, can be regarded as another form of listening to the groundswell. 
Forever 21 understand quite clearly about, for most of women, what is its customer base really wants from the fashion field---most of women want to buy the cloth not only in fashion, but also with economic price. Therefore, in order to cater what customers want, Forever 21 provides perfectly substitutes for famous apparel brands to its customers and thus successfully stands out from other fashion apparel brands. I think that is one of the main reasons why such a large customer group choose Forever 21 regardless of its rumors.
However, whatever the reason is, Forever 21 should be blamed for its infringement. And it is always wrong for a company to listen to the groundswell selectively: listen to what the company wants to hear, and ignore what the company thinks is unfavorable.
Most importantly, sometimes, the demand from the groundswell can be misleading. As for a company, to meet the need from its customers, it should apply reasonable ways, instead of being opportunistic.
Even though it is impressive that Forever 21 has the ability to satisfy customers' craving for fashion, however, it would be better for Forever 21 to choose a more appropriate way to achieve its objectives.

















For girls who come from middle-class families may can't afford for a dress of 

Social Media Monitoring Part 1: How Does Doritos Stand Out From Other Snack Brands?

Introduction

Doritos is a brand of seasoned tortilla chips produced since 1964 by American food company Frito-Lay. Not only are Doriots' chips packed with serious crunch and bold flavors, the Doritos' brand is all about intense experiences in snacking and beyond.

As one of the Doritos' most popular marketing campaigns, the "Crash the Super Bowl" contest was an annual online commercial competition run by Frito-Lay since 2006.

In this contest, amateur film-makers were invited to create and upload their own Doritos ads. Then Doritos would offer bonus prizes ranging from $400,000 to $1,000,000. 

From 2006 to 2016, fans have submitted more than 36,000 entries. In fact, Doritos has never given up on marketing promoting since the company was founded. And this competition has brought Doritos dozens of amazing commercials along with goodwill.

The reason why I choose Doritos' marketing campaign is because Doritos perfectly illustrates how to utilize the impact of groundswell for building its reputation and brand effect. Besides, I love the way that Doritos let the public participate in their brand content distribution process, and I also have to admit the "Crash the Super Bowl" contest is really a genius strategy! Now, let's take a look at Doritos' brilliant "Crash Super bowl Ads" campaign.

How does Doritos tap into Groundswell

• Facebook:

Doritos achieved a great success on Facebook in promoting its brand, with 15,676,814 likes( as of 2/26/16). Mostly, the Facebook is used for posting daily updates or upcoming events which are related to its brand and campaigns.

As we can see from the comments on Doritos' "Crash the Super Bowl" campaign, the public was actively participating in this campaign through voting for their favorite ads. In other words, this represents Doritos' marketing campaign has achieved its objectives to some extent. A large amount of people was promoting and advertising for Doritos though talking and joining  in Doritos' campaign.

• Twitter

With more than 559 thousand followers on Twitter,  the number is relatively small when compared with Facebook. But Doritos still actively takes advantage of the social media, by updating related information with #Doritos, mainly for advertising.

Besides, Doritos is also fully aware the importance of energizing the groundswell. On the Twitter, during live-show of the Super Bowl game, Doritos  selected tons of its followers to award them a year's worth of Doritos for their honorable mention of #Doritos on Twitter.

• Instagram:

Doritos would never let off the chance of promoting its brand with cool pictures and videos. With more than 69 thousand of followers, Doritos posts creative images or videos at least once a week to attract followers' attention. Each of its post usually can get thousands of likes.

Comparing with the using frequency of the other two social media platforms, it seems like Doritos more inclined to use Facebook and Twitter than Instagram. However, there is nothing wrong with increasing the visibility of your brand and being active in social media platforms. Even with the low exposure rate, Doritos is still working on promoting its brand through attractive pictures and videos on Instagram.

The Trends 

• Google Trends:

Google trends is a public website facility for illustrating how often a particular search term has been searched online. As we can see from the screenshot of Google trends about the "Doritos Superbowl", comparing with the years from 2011 to 2012, Doritos had experienced a relatively low degree of media attention between 2013 and 2015. However, this year, the focused topic about "Doritos Superbowl Commercial" has caused a dramatic growth since the contest started.

One of the reason why Doritos received much attention this year, from my perspective, was the company has devoted greater efforts than ever before, especially its high exposure of propagandas on social media platforms. Another reason would be the impressive results of Super Bowl commercials competition that Doritos has achieved this year.

• Meltwater IceRocket:

Meltwater IceRocket is a tool for researching how frequent a specific topic has been searched over a period of time.
Through the trend tool, it is not hard to find that the heat of "Doritos Super Bowl" spiked especially high from Feb 6 to Feb10. 

It may not so hard to explain the spike of search volumes. Considering the situation that Doritos has achieved a greater success in this year than ever; the commercial and "Ultrasound" and "Doritos Dogs" won the second place and the third place in 2016 Super Bowl Ad Meter, according to USA Today. It is entirely reasonable for the public's attention fell on Doritos.

• Social Mention:

Social Mention is a social media search engine for examining the mention volume for a specific topic on social media.  

Last Week

Last Month

1. Strength is the likelihood that your brand is being discussed in social media.
2. Sentiment is the ratio of the mentions that are generally positive to those that are generally negative.
3. Passion is a measure of the likelihood that individuals talking about your brand will do so repeatedly
4. Reach is a measure of the range of influence.

As we can see from the two images, compared with the results of last month(1/1/16-1/31/16), there is a slight increase in the last week(2/15/16-2/21/16). Because the heat of the "Crash the Super Bowl" contest has a long-term of duration, people's attention on Doritos' campaign continued more than a month. Moreover, especially because of the impressive result of Doritos' Super Bowl advertisements this year, Doritos' hit commercial videos have been spread several weeks. That explains to why Doritos' social mention volume increased.

Conclusion

Doritos did a great job on energizing the groundswell through its marketing campaigns. 
Instead of persuading customers buying their products, Doritos always keeps in mind the importance of participatory marketing. Compared with other snacks brands, Doritos is more willing to trust the ability of their customers. 
Moreover, the company has never expressed the concern about whether the amateur film-makers would ruin its brands. Considering the fact that it is not impossible for the public voting for the lamest advertising out of entertainment, however, Doritos has never intervened the voting process or made rules for voting procedures. Instead, Doritos gave the public 100-percent of confidence in helping the company make the decision. And it turned out what Doritos has done has totally paid off.

Suggestions
Through the social media monitoring, I found that Doritos' marketing campaigns like the annual "Crash the Super Bowl" contest and offering activists one year's worth of Doritos snacks are amazing strategies for tapping into the groundswell. 
However, beyond these marketing campaigns, Doritos barely interacts with the public on social media platforms. 
This got me thinking about Doritos' real purpose of its marketing strategies. Are these campaigns just out of attracting public's attention and utilizing the impact of "word of mouth" or they really want the public get involved in?
From my perspective, it is essential for a company building close connection between company and customers. Doritos should take actions to interact with and actively listen to customers more often in normal times.

Should Groundswell be Blamed for Cyberbullying?

The groundswell has changed the balance of power. Anybody can put up a site that connects people with people.                                                                                                      (P. 27. Groundswell)

The book Groundswell mainly talks about the impact of the groundswell in the business world and how to appropriately utilize the power of the groundswell to create benefits for business. Well, of course, whether a company's social media outreach is successful or not is largely determined by the groundswell. However, for most teenagers, their happiness or frustration, as well as their mental health also depend on the impact of the groundswell.

When I think about the groundswell, I think about how it affects our society whether it is in the business world or our daily lives. The connection between social media platforms and teenagers reminds me of a worrying phenomenon among teenagers--Cyberbullying.
Wikipedia defines cyberbullying as ," the use of information technology to repeatedly harm or harass other people in a deliberate manner." To some extent, I have this feeling that the groundswell has a large responsibility for the cyberbullying that occurs among teenagers. 

Firstly, social media has brought people in unprecedentedly close relationships with each other, even though for teenagers,  there is no privacy online for them at all. Technology has brought everyone together, no matter if they like it or not. Even if you don't post any contents about yourself on social media platforms, you can't stop others talking about you online. Secondly, under the circumstances of peer pressure and the attractiveness of the virtual world, teens become reluctant to feel they are insulated from social media and other "cool" teens.

According to the results of a new survey by Piper Jaffray, more than 9 out of 10 American teenagers are using social media. Can you believe that? But the fact is teens have been exposed to technology since they were born, which has shaped every aspect of their lives. Most of them are even addicted to social media. Because the power of the groundswell brought them great temptations, it makes teens want to use their own words to influence others.

It is becoming more and more obvious that the pressure of social media affects teens' mental health. You may have heard of the tragedy of Amanda Todd. On September 7, 2012, Amanda posted a video on YouTube by using flash cards to tell about her cyberbullying experiences of being black mailed and bullied. Some of you folks may wonder if there was someone who stood by her and stopped the cyberbullying after that. However, unfortunately,  she hanged herself in her home on October 10, 2012.

Can you image that this pretty young girl took her own life because of cyberbullying? You may think it is no big deal and this girl just overreacted. However, it turns out that cyberbullying is a big deal. For example, among overweight adolescents, 61% have received mean or embarrassing posts online and 59% have received mean texts, e-mails or instant messages (Anderson, Bresnahan, & Musatics, 2014).

However, this is not the worst thing. The worst thing is very few teenagers are willing to tell their families or friends about their miserable and suffering experiences.

"I was getting bullied verbally face-to-face at school but I was also getting bullied online after school," says Rebecca, now 17. "There were people who would call me up and say mean things to me, and then they would go onto Facebook and write statuses that weren't very pleasant about me."

We are now living in a fast-paced world, which makes us overwhelmed by various stresses. In order to relieve stress, people should be encouraged to express their feelings or vent their frustrations in proper ways. But none of these ways should be used as excuses for bullying others online or attacking others verbally out of resentment.

What impressed me most of the book is it makes me realize that the groundswell connected everyone seamlessly. You can't choose to ignore the groundswell. Considering the negative impact of the groundswell, we really should be aware of the huge impact of social media on teenagers' mental health. And we should try to build a harmonious network environment for both teenagers and adults. What are your thoughts on cyberbullying?

Will K-pop's Globalization Keep on Going or Turn into Stagnation?

Have you realized the South Korean Wave has already entered into Western markets, including the United States?  Can you believe some South Korean idol groups hold concerts in Europe and the United States, tickets sell out within minutes? Well, the fact is, the K-pop(an abbreviation of Korean pop) has spread infectiously throughout the world over the past decade. And social media plays a viral role in helping K-pop spread all around the world.

You may not familiar with any of the names of South Korean idols; however, the fact is K-pop has become increasingly popular in U.S., especially among the younger generation.

K-pop embraces "genre fusion" with both singing and rap, it also combines solid performances and visuals at the same time. In most cases, K-pop expressed in the form of idol groups with synchronized dance moves and complex gestures. Besides, in order to stand out from rapidly changing conditions of showbiz all around the world and to elevate its popularity, most of the K-pop female groups are famous for their sexually suggestive dance moves with doe-eyed innocence. And male groups are noted for "dorky cool" style.

Korean pop culture is becoming an increasingly global phenomenon, in large part, because the K-pop industry adepts at taking advantage of social networking services and the video sharing platform like YouTube. Despite the South Korean music industry is comparatively small. With the help of social media platforms, as soon as songs are released onto national television, they can be uploaded onto YouTube simultaneously. This makes it easier for K-pop stars to reach large, more global audiences.
Besides, Korean idols are smart enough to realize the impact of groundswell, so they utilize the Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to reach out broader audiences and expand their market in other countries.
For instance, as one of the representative idols in Korean, G-dragon has more than 7.9 million followers on Instagram. And the band--Big Bang--to which he belongs has been described as "the biggest boy band in the world" by the Hollywood Reporter. 
Another example I have to mention is the "Gangnam Style Trend" which had swept the world few years ago.

Due to strongly additive beats, "Gangnam Style" gone viral on the Internet since it has released, achieved more than 2.5 billion views since it was posted on Youtube. Even President Barack Obama has said that he is confident to pull of some of the dance moves as seen in the video for Psy's hit single 'Gangnam Style'. That's unbelievable!
However, when we take a look at media attention of K-pop heat in U.S. from 2012 to present, it is not hard to find out that the search volume in U.S. started to decline since the middle year of 2012. 

Search Volume for K-pop since 2006 according to Google Trends

Interestingly enough, despite South Korean music industry has struggled to have a foothold in other countries' music industry. We may wonder why K-pop search volume had a declining tendency. From my perspective, the cultural difference is the biggest obstacle for K-pop remaining such a high degree of popularity in countries which have totally different culture backgrounds. Because once the freshness of South Wave fades away, no matter how high the exposure rates of K-pop are, the status of local music will once again be strengthened. This can make K-pop even more difficult for further expanding markets in these countries.
Even though the K-pop music industry desperately adjusts its objectives and utilize social media platforms to meet customers' needs all around the world. It's still worth wondering whether K-pop is going to be globalized further or starting to be stuck in stagnation.  What is your idea?

Groundswell: the Unstoppable Trend in Advertising

I used to think advertising is all about persuasion. However, after I have read about the book of "Groundswell",  I have a better explanation now.
With the development of technology and social media, people are overwhelmed by advertising. In other words, the interaction with the groundswell has become an integral part of advertising industry.
Now, let's talk about groundswell in advertising from three aspects.

• Will The Groundswell Bring a Risk or An Adventure?

British luxury fashion house Burberry roped in Brooklyn for their new campaign as a photographer.
However, commentators furious with Burberry's choice of hiring a sixteen-year-old son of David and Victoria Beckham for shooting photos. The Guardian calling the hiring "sheer nepotism."

"Brooklyn has a really great eye for image and Instagram works brilliantly for him as a platform to showcase his work," Burberry boss Christopher Bailey said.
This may be a risky choice, however.
With more than 6 million followers on Brooklyn's Instagram, obviously, we all know Burberry's choice is more like a perfect adventure than a risky.

• Putting Your Ear to The Ground

Deviations can exist between what customers want and what advertisers think. And the Groundswell can be a double-edged sword sometimes.

2016 is the Year of the Monkey in China. Since the Spring Festival Gala's official Weibo account has published its 3D version of the mascot for 2016, quite a considerable number of the netizens sneered at this version: "Why are they using different colors asymmetrically? " "Reminds me of green and red lights." "Lost all the flair of that ink painting" "What are those balls under its ears?" "What a stiff body!" "It is so ugly that I just want to cry."

According to a vote by Sina Weibo, China's Facebook-like website, 82.7 percent of web users refused to accept the "surprisingly ugly" mascot for Spring Festival Gala. However, the official website ignored the public's suggestions about changing the mascot, without any response.

Netizens' backlash towards Spring Festival Gala was around the "trigger line". For advertising without listening to the public, I have every reason to be worried about the ratings of the Gala.

• Spreading the Word of Mouth

Now, let's take a look at groundswell on the bright side.
Red Bull is the market leader in the worldwide energy drink market, and they continue to grow awareness through "word of mouth" focused activities.

• Red Bull Wings Team – a group of Red Bull employees that drive around in Red Bull branded vehicles distributing samples

• Student Brand Manager Program – A student ambassador program, which mainly reaches new students, excites students, increases sales and manages the Red Bull brand on a collegiate level in the world.

• Red Bull Reporter – A program where Red Bull sponsors journalism and film students to create news stories around the Red Bull brand.

Red Bull rarely miss a chance to utilize compelling events creating a buzz, and amplifies these by expanding influencers. Through "word of mouth" focused activities mentioned above, Red Bull's international marketing campaign targets young men mostly with extreme sports and combines extreme sports closely with their products. "Red Bull gives you wings", as the slogan says, they always keep in mind the importance of connection between them and customers.

The period of advertising persuades us to buy products barely exist anymore. Customer base now depends on what others saying about your products---word of mouth. Because people learning from and interacting with each other frequently. 

According to the chapter 5 of Groundswell, shouting doesn't work. Conversations do. From what I have learned, only through listening to and talking with the groundswell can advertising define the real purpose and target population.
We are now live in a world that we no longer find information, it finds us. In order to propaganda your products or services, interacting with the groundswell is indispensable.

Enough is Enough: Making Your Communities and Companies More Sustainable and More Resilient!

What is the first word that comes to your mind when you think of Leonardo DiCaprio? An Actor? good-looking? Titanic? or Oscar? However indeed, DiCaprio has become increasingly well-known as a leading environment activist and the Chairman of the Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation("LDF").

The Leonardo DiCaprio Foundation was founded in 1998 and is dedicated to the long-term heal and wellbeing of all Earth's inhabitants. 

Due to economic development and industrial pollution, the biophysical environment is being degraded, some even be permanently. Which makes recognition to the importance of protecting environment on behalf of our Mother Earth and our future generations becomes increasingly important.

So now, let's take a look at LDF's impressive works and its groundswell impact.

LDF implements solutions that help restore balance to threatened ecosystems, raising awareness of protecting environment, ensuring the long-term health and well-being of all Earth's inhabitants. 
Because LDF always be aware of groundswell's impact, Twitter, Facebook and Instagram have become the important platforms for LDF to listen and influence the public about the earth's inhabitants.

Through the groundswell's net impact, the attention brought by the foundation has now be extended to a global scale. It has reached more that 40 countries, towards 5 oceans, and has launched more than 70 projects with 65 supported organizations.

Besides, the followers on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram of LDF are around 2.6 million, 14.1 million, and 14.1million, respectively. With the vast audience group and extensive social media coverage of related activities and appeals, LDF has achieved great results. 

The "celebrity effect" has brought extensive awareness towards environmental issues. Growing in reach from just 500,000 followers in 2007 to over 25 million in 2015, Leonardo's fans have engaged on an range of issues protecting key species and calling on world leaders to address climate change.
For the last 15 years, the foundation has gradually built an array of results-driven projects through active collaboration with a broad network of environmental leaders and experts, effective organizations, and committed philanthropists. The focus of projects' core areas are Protecting Wildlife, Saving Our Oceans, Restoring Wildlands, and Empowering Communities.

On the homepage of LDF's website, it contains several links toward its social media platforms, like Facebook, twitter, and Instagram, so you can easily join them. In addition, you can register on the homepage and receive email updates about LDF's latest news, and you can also choose the specific environmental issue you want to know about, whether it is oceans, forests, wildlife, or climate.

In addition, through the website, you can support  LDF with your tangible actions:  taking the pledge to stop wildlife crime, committing to preserving environment, and making a donation to support the operation of LDF's projects, etc.

In recognition of LDF's remarkable work over last 15 years. DiCaprio was recently designated as the United Nations Messenger of Peace for Climate Change and received the 2014 Clinton Global Citizen Award for his contributions to protect the environment and endangered species.

On the forum, he addressed the unthinkable devastation and irreversible damage exist in our fragile climate, and stressed the importance of taking actions for protecting our environment.

Indeed, no one can deny the fact that serious environmental pollution and endangered species are threatening our and future generations' life.

As a big fan of Leonardo, I am proud of his dedication and excellent works toward earth inhabitants!

Joining LDF, you will be very surprised by how much of a difference you can make.