1. Photo Credit – Brand Photo on Miller Lite Facebook Page
Digital Alcohol Marketing
David Jernigan, PhD and Kalyan Kanakamedala, BA
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health
2. CAMY Activities: Exploratory Brand Scan
BRANDS CHANNELS
• Absolut • Brand websites
• Bacardi (Bacardi Rum • Social media
and Bacardi Silver) (Facebook, MySpace, Y
• Coors Light ouTube, Twitter, Flickr, e
• Heineken tc.)
• Smirnoff (Smirnoff Ice • Mobile platforms (Apple
and Smirnoff Vodka) iOS, Google Android)
FINDINGS PRESENTATION
• Display advertising • Trends in media usage
across the web • Observed brand
• Brands driving traffic to behavior
social media • Youth access and
• Abundance of user- exposure
generated content • Potential for regulation
• Inconsistent age
restrictions
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 2
3. Digital Advertising Holds Great Promise
Photo Credit – Fan Photo on Budweiser Facebook Page
“Digital advertising is capable of delivering
not double, but triple digit growth if everyone
can play their role to the best of their ability.”
Jeff Vandecruys, Global Project Leader, Anheuser-Busch InBev
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 3
4. Dos Equis “Most Interesting Man in the World” Campaign
With the Help of the Most Interesting Man in the
World Dos Equis Becomes the First Beer Brand
Globally to Reach 1 Million „Likes‟ on Facebook
The brand has experienced incredible growth in the
social media space over the past 16
months, particularly on Facebook, where Dos Equis
added over 800,000 fans in 2010 alone. Even
though Dos Equis is sold in a number of other
countries including Mexico, Australia, and
Canada, 95% of the Facebook fans are US
residents.
TV (2009)
Maxim (2008) Providing rewarding content that builds on the brands
iconic and award winning Most Interesting Man in the
World campaign has been a critical component of the
success.
The Dos Equis fans are incredibly active, generating
between 100 and 1000 wall posts per day most of
which are linked directly to the Most Interesting Man in
the World campaign.
Heineken USA. (2011, January 31). With the Help of the Most Interesting Man in
the World Dos Equis Becomes the First Beer Brand Globally to Reach 1 Million
„Likes‟ on Facebook [Press release]. Retrieved from
http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110131006996/en/Interesting-Man-
World-Dos-Equis-Beer-Brand
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 4
5. Alcohol Brands Are Increasing Their Digital Spends
Southern Comfort In 2008, Soco spent $6 million on cable TV and
Pours Entire Media another $1.5 million on magazine ads.
Budget Into Digital
This year, both those numbers will drop to zero in
favor of online properties such as Facebook
Spin, Fader, Pitchfork, Thrillist and Hulu.
According to AdAge, this strategy allows Soco
to advertise on network programs that the
brand would‟ve been forbidden from touching
on TV.
Photo Credit - Brand Photo on Southern Comfort Facebook Page
Lena DerOhannessian, the brand‟s U.S. marketing “As a 20-year-old college student, I
director, said SoCo‟s tight focus on the youngest cannot agree more with their
legal-drinking-age consumers drove the shift. targeting and subsequent media
alignment. I am on the computer
(and those sites which they chose
“As we‟ve focused more on 21 to 29, TV becomes to use) probably 4 or 5 hours a
less and less effective at reaching that audience. day, compared to maybe 30
It was getting harder and harder to hit our target minutes or an hour watching TV.“
without so much waste.”
Mullman, J. (2009, July 29). Southern Comfort Pours Entire Media Budget
Into Digital. Advertising Age. Retrieved from
adage.com/article?article_id=138202
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 5
6. Emerging Trend: Alcohol Brands Shifting to Social Media
Over the next one to two years, it is believed
that Bacardi will shift up to "90%" of its digital
spend to Facebook as it no longer deems
dotcom sites relevant. (Marketing
Magazine, 2011)
Photo Credit – Brand Photo on Bacardi Facebook Page
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 6
7. Teens and Young Adults Are the Heaviest Internet Users
Source: Pew Research Center 2010
93% 95%
87%
78%
42%
Teens 12-17 Young adults 18-29 Adults 30-49 Adults 50-64 Adults 65+
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 7
8. Promotion of More Social Media Content on BACARDI.com
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 8
9. Bacardi Has 7 Facebook Pages With Over 700,000 Fans
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 9
10. Facebook Integration on Other Brand Sites
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11. Social Media is Growing in Popularity
Globally, 313 million unique visitors spent an
average of 6 hours on social networking sites in
March 2010. (Nielsen)
In the U.S.
127 million people spent an average of 6 hours 2 minutes
on Facebook in June 2010. (Nielsen)
98 million people spent an average of 1 hour 12 minutes
on YouTube in June 2010. (Nielsen)
8 million people spent an average of 2 hours 12 minutes
on Twitter in November 2010. (Experian)
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 11
12. Teens and Young Adults Most Likely To Be on a Social Network
Source: Pew Research Center 2009
73% 72%
40%
Teens 12-17 Young adults 18-29 Adults 30 and older
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13. Adolescent Computer Use Linked to Drinking
RESULTS
Lifetime drinking had a significant difference on social
network, F(1, 196) = 5.25, p<.05, (average of 3.87 for
ever users [n = 99] versus 3.46 for never users [n =
96]). Finally, lifetime drinking had a significant
difference on listen to/download music, F(1, 196) =
4.66, p<.05, (average of 4.12 for ever users [n = 99]
versus 3.84 for never users [n = 97]) and drinking in
the past month also had a significant difference on
this variable, F(1, 191) = 5.98, p<.05 (average of 4.23
for past month drinkers [n = 64] versus 3.86 for those
who did not drink in the past month [n = 133]).
DISCUSSION
Lifetime drinkers social networked more frequently
than never drinkers.
Lifetime drinking and past month drinking was related
to greater frequency of listening to/downloading
music.
Epstein, JA. (2011, May) Adolescent computer use and alcohol use: What
are the role of quantity and content of computer use? Addictive
Behaviors, 36(5), 520-522. doi:10.1016/j.addbeh.2011.01.001
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 13
14. Facebook Features and Advertising Guidelines
MAIN ELEMENTS
Newsfeed, Profile
ADDITIONAL FEATURES
Ads, Pages, Groups, Applications, Events
AVAILABLE MEDIA
Photos, Videos, Polls, Games
BRAND GOALS
Engagement, Interaction, Virality, Purchase Intent
ADVERTISING GUIDELINES
“…ads may only be targeted to…[individuals] 21 years
or older in the US.”
“You must ensure that your ads…comply with all
applicable local laws and required or recommended
industry codes…”
“You must ensure that your alcohol ads never…include
content that is intended to appeal to anyone younger
than the permissible targeted age group…”
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 14
15. Industry Codes Dictate 70% of Audience Must Be Above LPA
DISCUS Internet/Digital Buying Guideline
“…applies to all paid and unpaid (including
value-added) placements made by or under
the control of the advertiser, including
advertising on third-party websites, video
advertisements, audio mentions, internet
banners, pop-ups, sponsorships, user-
generated content (including blogs)...”
Beer Institute Internet Buying Guidelines
“The demographic standard in Guidelines
3c of the Code applies to all paid and
bonus placements by brewers on internet
Web sites operated by others.”
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16. Facebook Demographics
35,603,160 (23.9%) of Facebook‟s 148,867,700
users in the United States are between
13 and 20 years old.
Photo Credit – Fan Photo on Jim Beam Facebook Page
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 16
17. Changing Your Age on Facebook (Video)
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 17
18. Facebook Youth Concerns
“Of the 20 million minors who actively used
Facebook in the past year, 7.5 million – or more
than one-third – were younger than 13 and not
supposed to be able to use the site.”
“Among young users, more than 5 million were 10
and under, and their accounts were largely
unsupervised by their parents.”
That Facebook friend might be 10 years old and other troubling news.
(2011, June). Consumer Reports. Retrieved from
http://www.consumerreports.org/cro/magazine-archive/2011/june/electronics-
computers/state-of-the-net/facebook-concerns/index.htm
“ComScore, a firm that measures Internet
traffic, estimates that 3.6 million of Facebook‟s 153
million monthly visitors in this country are under
12.”
“Parents regularly go along with the age
inflation, giving permission and helping children set
up accounts. They often see it as a minor fib that is
necessary to let their children participate in the
digital world.”
Richtel, M. and Helft, M. (2011, March 11). Facebook Users Who Are Under Age
Raise Concerns. The New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com
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19. Youth on Smirnoff US Facebook Page
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20. Youth on Smirnoff US Facebook Page
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21. Youth on Jim Beam Facebook Page
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22. Youth on Captain Morgan USA Facebook Page
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23. Youth on Captain Morgan USA Facebook Page
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24. Youth on Captain Morgan USA Facebook Page
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25. Youth on Captain Morgan USA Facebook Page
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26. Youth on Captain Morgan USA Facebook Page
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27. Youth on Captain Morgan USA Facebook Page
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28. Youth on Captain Morgan USA Facebook Page
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29. Youth on Budweiser Facebook Page
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30. Youth on Budweiser Facebook Page
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31. Youth on Budweiser Facebook Page
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32. Youth on Budweiser Facebook Page
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33. Youth on Budweiser Facebook Page
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34. Youth on Captain Morgan USA Facebook Page
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35. Facebook Alcohol Concerns
“The Facebook ad targeted Lawrence area youths
who might be looking for a fake ID. A total of 5,246
people between the ages of 16 and 20 clicked on
the ad…”
“Coalition members said interest in the Facebook ad
clearly illustrates the demand for fake IDs and the
prevalence of underage drinking in
Lawrence, particularly among Kansas University
students.”
Blakesley, D. (2011, February 26). No Faking: Lawrence police cracking down on
bogus IDs. Lawrence Journal-World. Retrieved from
http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2011/feb/26/no-faking-lawrence-police-cracking-
down-bogus-ids/
“All the 225 profiles that were examined belonged
to male undergraduate students…More than 68%
of the profiles belonged to students who were
under the legal U.S. drinking age…”
“References to alcohol were present on 85.33% of
the profiles…The average number of alcohol
references per profile was 8.5…”
Egan, KG, & Moreno MA. (2011, March 15). Alcohol References on
Undergraduate Males‟ Facebook Profiles. American Journal of Men’s
Health, 5(2). doi:10.1177/1557988310394341
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 35
36. Facebook Privacy Concerns
“Facebook claims the information they surrender to
these companies is anonymous, but it‟s not.
Companies can combine the „anonymized‟
information from your profile with personal data
gleaned from tracking cookies and other online
traces to create dossiers about you that offer a level
of personal detail the National Security Agency
would envy.”
Krishnamurthy B., & Wills CE. (2010, January). On the leakage of personally
identifiable information via online social networks. ACM SIGCOMM Computer
Communication Review, 40(1). Retrieved from
http://web.cs.wpi.edu/~cew/papers/wosn09.pdf
“Information about an individual‟s place and date of
birth can be exploited to predict his or her Social
Security number (SSN). Using only publicly
available information, we observed a correlation
between individuals‟ SSNs and their birth data and
found that for younger cohorts the correlation
allows statistical inference of private SSNs.”
Acquisti A., Gross R. (July 6, 2009). Predicting Social Security numbers from
public data. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United
States of America, 106(27), 10975-10980. Retrieved from
http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/07/02/0904891106.full.pdf+html
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37. Captain Morgan USA Brand Page on Facebook
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38. Fan Recruitment and Permission Marketing
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39. Number of Fans for Top Alcohol Brands on Facebook
Source: Facebook, April 2011
Fans Growth (Last Month)
Heineken 1,308,995 +11.48%
Jack Daniel‟s Tennessee Whiskey 1,126,286 +7.35%
Bud Light 1,068,945 +4.18%
Dos Equis 1,051,066 +0.63%
Budweiser 735,073 +6.27%
Jim Beam 707,338 +14.90%
Smirnoff Ice 619,736 +0.64%
Captain Morgan USA 602,668 +3.94%
Absolut 595,534 +2.12%
Corona 484,356 +2.79%
TOTAL 8,299,997 +5.72%
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 39
40. Captain Morgan USA Brand Wall
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42. Conversations With Joose (continued)
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43. Conversations With Joose (continued)
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44. Interactions on Alcohol Brand Walls in January 2011
Source: Facebook, February 2011
Brand Posts User “Likes” User Comments
Jack Daniel‟s Tennessee Whiskey 9 9,211 1,544
Bud Light 16 12,611 2,405
Heineken 13 21,070 6,400
Absolut 8 1,845 248
Captain Morgan USA 51 23,677 9,010
Jim Beam 16 8,076 1,465
Corona 3 2,191 438
Miller Lite 4 1,329 334
Hennessy 11 6,812 1,431
Smirnoff US 27 11,483 2,677
TOTAL 158 98,305 25,952
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 44
45. Annual Value of Facebook Fans for Top Alcohol Brands
Fans Annual Value*
Heineken 1,308,995 $4,712,382
Jack Daniel‟s Tennessee Whiskey 1,126,286 $4,054,629
Bud Light 1,068,945 $3,848,202
Dos Equis 1,051,066 $3,783,837
Budweiser 735,073 $2,646,262
Jim Beam 707,338 $2,546,416
Smirnoff Ice 619,736 $2,231,049
Captain Morgan USA 602,668 $2,169,604
Absolut 595,534 $2,143,922
Corona 484,356 $1,743,681
TOTAL 8,299,997 $29,879,989
*Based on $3.60 annual value of Facebook fan (Source: Virtrue)
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46. Brand-Uploaded Photo Albums on Captain Morgan USA Page
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47. User-Uploaded Photos on Captain Morgan USA Page
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48. Brand-Uploaded Videos on Captain Morgan USA Page
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49. User-Uploaded Videos on Captain Morgan USA Page
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50. Photos and Videos on Alcohol Brand Pages
Source: Facebook, February 2011
Brand Photos Fan Photos Brand Videos Fan Videos
Jack Daniel‟s Tennessee Whiskey 784 2,142 40 8
Bud Light 656 1,116 24 25
Heineken 7,400 625 65 0
Absolut 427 101 25 3
Captain Morgan USA 2,108 1,743 44 4
Jim Beam 121 534 33 0
Corona 20 1,204 20 8
Miller Lite 605 412 6 0
Hennessy 1063 516 56 7
Smirnoff US 1576 121 50 0
TOTAL 14,760 8,514 363 55
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51. Fan Photo on Bud Light Lime Facebook Page
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52. Fan Photo on Bud Light Lime Facebook Page
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53. Brand-Uploaded Photo on Miller Lite Facebook Page
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54. Brand-Uploaded Photo on Miller Lite Facebook Page
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55. Fan Photo on Jack Daniel‟s Facebook Page
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56. Brand Evangelism
Photo Credit – Fan Photo on Coors Light Facebook Page
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57. Driving Purchase Intent With Peer Advertising
Source: http://www.slideshare.net/360digitalinfluence/facebook-state-of-the-union
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58. Peer Advertising = Social Proof
Photo Credit – Fan Photo on Jim Beam Facebook Page
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59. Thousands of User-Generated Alcohol Brand-Oriented Pages
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60. Team Bud Light Facebook Page
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61. Team Bud Light Facebook Page (continued)
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62. Thousands of User-Generated Alcohol Brand-Oriented Groups
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63. Thousands of User-Generated Alcohol Brand-Oriented Events
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65. Heineken Targets Youth Viewers on YouTube
Heineken Aims Its Ads at Young Digital Devotees
In December, Heineken began running the initial
commercial in a new campaign on Web sites first rather
than on television. The humorous spot, which carried the
theme “Open your world,” made its way onto TV in about 30
countries three months later, but not before being viewed
frequently online.
“The Date” has a different cast from “The Entrance,” and
the plots diverge. The new spot is about a young man on a
wild date and the previous one is about a young man‟s
show-stopping arrival at a wild party.
The change in how advertisers and agencies approach media
choices is being driven of course by the increasing propensity
of consumers to consume media digitally as well as through –
or in place of – traditional means.
This is particularly true for a beer brand like Heineken. Its
intended target audience is men ages 18 or 21 (depending on
a country‟s legal minimum drinking age) to 34…Making that
even more appropriate for Heineken is a goal to reach a
subset of younger men who are “worldly, cosmopolitan,” Mr.
Nasard said, who “over-index in Internet usage.”
Elliott, S. (2011, May 25). Heineken Aims Its Ads at Young Digital Devotees. The
New York Times. Retrieved from
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/26/business/media/26adco.html
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66. Alcohol Brand Channels on YouTube
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67. How Many People Are Visiting Alcohol Brand Channels?
Source: YouTube, February 2011
# of Videos Channel Views Upload Views
Malibu Rum 43 13,962 153,114
Absolut Vodka 39 1,299,817 3,757,718
Grey Goose Vodka 33 44,118 383,600
Heineken USA 21 119,931 381,953
Bacardi Superior 14 250,493 206,017
Captain Morgan 13 575,040 603,057
Smirnoff 12 279,708 456,692
Bud Light 5 26,665 2,679,065
TOTAL 180 2,609,734 8,621,216
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 67
68. Smirnoff Tea Partay – Forbes #14 Best-Ever Social Media Campaign
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 68
69. Absolut Vodka – Advertising as Content
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 69
70. Bud Light YouTube Videos Advertised as Too Racy for TV
This Porn‟s for You: Budweiser‟s Racy Web Ad
As marketers struggle to find ways to make an
impression on a population saturated in all kinds of
media, the too-hot-for-TV online-only video has
become an increasingly common device. And in
order to get customers to seek out and recommend
the straight-to-YouTube video, marketers often reach
for comedy from the appropriateness hinterlands.
Especially when trying to reel in young men. And
they're being lauded for it.
Bud Light Swear Jar
Last year, Budweiser's advertising agency, DDB in
Chicago, won an Emmy for its Internet-only spot
"Swear Jar," which depicts office workers having to
pay a quarter every time they curse, with the money
being used to buy Bud Light. The commercial turns
into a bleepfest as the cubicle mates indulge their
inner sailors. But is bleeping curse words the same
thing as pixelating graphic sexual toys? "Porn is the
next logical step," says Solomon.
Luscombe, B. (2009, June 4). This Porn‟s for You: Budweiser‟s Racy Web
Ad. Time. Retrieved from
http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1902420,00.html
Best Budlight Commercial Ever – Beer & Porn
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71. Bud Light Videos Shared on Blogs
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72. Bud Light Videos Shared on Facebook
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 72
73. Number of Views for “Unofficial” Bud Light Videos on YouTube
Source: YouTube, April 2011
Title Username Views
Bud Light Super Bowl Commercial Too Racy for TV 1togrowon 3,276,358
Bud Light Super Bowl Commercial Too Controversial for TV 1togrowon 3,108,084
Banned Budlight 2006 superbowl commercial nikkicoco777 2,200,193
Bud Light Swear Jar miketown 2,179,164
Bud Light | “Clothing Drive” commercial lemacedo2010 1,772,448
Funny BANNED Bud Light Superbowl 2010 Commercial ablog4guys 1,246,801
Best Budlight Commercial Ever – Beer & Porn perrycomo92882 1,133,713
Bud Light “Cut The Cheese” secret TV spot not on Super Bowl razzledog 737,928
TOTAL 15,654,689
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 73
74. Alcohol Brands on Twitter
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75. Tweets Driving Purchase Intent
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76. Tweets Driving Traffic to Other Social Media Content
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77. Paid Advertising on Twitter
Jack Daniels Is First Last month, Tennessee-based distillery Jack
Spirits Brand to Buy Daniel‟s became the first alcohol beverage brand to
buy ad space on Twitter. It did so to build hype
Twitter Ads
around the launch of its new Tennessee Honey
whiskey product.
Marjorie Dufek, interactive marketing director at
Brown Forman, said Twitter reported “significantly
higher than average” engagement rates for the
campaign, as well as greater use of the brand name
within tweets than its advertisers usually
experience.
Photo Credit – Fan Photo on Jack Daniels Facebook Page
Dufek declined to specify how much her company paid for the
three days of promoted trends, or how much it has invested in
“The advantage for us is that people
digital marketing around the launch of the product. The see Jack Daniel‟s as a friend, it‟s a
company did say, however, that digital spend was roughly very social brand by nature. We
equal to that of TV. have an unprecedented opportunity
to have real conversations with our
Alongside the social aspects of the campaign Jack Daniels will consumers via social media.”
continue to invest heavily in digital media over the coming Marjorie Dufek, Brown Forman
year, including integrations with properties and services
including AOL, ESPN, Pandora, Gawker and AOL. It also
plans to run mobile ad campaigns.
Marshall, J. (2011, May 3). Jack Daniel‟s Is First Spirits Brand to Buy Twitter Ads.
ClickZ. Retrieved from http://www.clickz.com/clickz/news/2046786/jack-daniels-
spirits-brand-twitter-ads
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78. Direct Impressions Generated by Alcohol Brands on Twitter
Source: Twitter, February 2011
# of Tweets Following Followers Estimated Impressions*
Pabst Blue Ribbon 4,543 349 1,754 3,984,211
Smirnoff 2,048 16,631 15,140 15,503,360
Stolichnaya 1,590 1,642 1,857 1,476,315
HPNOTIQ 1,460 1,775 893 651,890
Skyy Vodka 851 387 2,057 875,254
Bacardi 569 17,985 20,451 5,818,310
Bacon Vodka 436 2,044 3,577 779,786
Dolce Touch Vodka 407 1,512 1,655 336,793
Don Q Rum 353 1,617 1,322 233,333
Absolut Vodka 288 327 1,531 220,464
TOTAL 12545 44,179 48,483 29,879,715
*Based on linear follower growth
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79. 50 Bud Light-Related Tweets Reaching Over 12,000 People in 1 Hour
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80. Smirnoff Photo Albums on Flickr
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81. 42,888 Image Results for “Bud Light” on Flickr
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82. 646,000 Results for “Bud Light” in Blogosphere
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84. DonQ Social Media Campaign Across 9 Sites
Photo Credit – Fan Photo on DonQ Facebook Page
DonQ Rum Goes All Social With New Campaign
DonQ Rum is launching a digital contest dangling a trip
to Puerto Rico as grand prize. Running through March,
the campaign involves several social media Web sites,
one for each of the areas in which consumers will
compete. Participants can start the challenge within
each partner site. The company will advertise the
program at each of the sites, thus mining each of the
Web property‟s installed fan base. When they answer
correctly in the first quiz, they will be directed to
DonQ.com/MasterofAllSkills.com. Once there, they have
to create a profile to finish the rest of the challenges.
NotCot.com is the hub for the mixology-quiz part of the
competition; BuzzFeed.com is for the humor
competition; Foodspotting.com is the hub for the foodie
competition; a test on humanitarian activity will be at
Good.com; CoolHunting.com will house a culture battle
Instructables.com will host the do-it-yourself part of the
competition; Pitchfork.com will be the music-competition
venue; technology tests will be hosted by Gizmodo.com;
and a romance-savvy competition will be at
OkCupid.com.
Greenberg, K. (2011, January 25). DonQ Rum Goes All Social With New
Campaign. MediaPost News. Retrieved from
http://www.mediapost.com/publications/?art_aid=143542&fa=Articles.show
Article
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85. 83% of Teens Own a Cell Phone by Age 17
Source: Pew Research Center 2009
82% 83%
79%
76%
73%
58%
12 13 14 15 16 17
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86. Coors Light 1st and Cold iPhone Application
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87. Heineken Know The Signs Breathalyzer iPhone Application
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88. Impact and Youth Exposure
Photo Credit – Fan Photo on Bud Light Facebook Page
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89. Proliferation of Brand Followers and Content on Facebook
35,603,160 (23.9%) of Facebook‟s
148,867,700 users in the
United States are The top 10 beer and distilled spirits brands on
between 13 and Facebook have accumulated 8.3 million fans. This
20 years old. is more than the population of 39 U.S. states.
Fans of the top 10 beer and distilled spirits brands on
Facebook are worth an estimated $30 million
dollars to these brands annually.
This does not account for the effect of thousands of
user-generated, brand-oriented pages, groups, and
events on Facebook which have no age restrictions.
According to Consumer
Reports, of the 20 million minors
In January of 2011, 10 other alcohol brands, selected who actively used Facebook in
on the basis of youth appeal, posted 158 times to the past year, 7.5 million – or
their Facebook walls. These posts generated 98,305 more than one-third – were
“likes” and 25,952 comments. younger than 13 and not
supposed to be able to use the
site.
These 10 alcohol brands have uploaded a total of
14,760 photos and 363 videos to their Facebook
pages.
Fans of these alcohol brands have uploaded 8,514
photos and 55 videos to the brand Facebook pages.
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 89
90. Viral Marketing on YouTube and Direct Impressions on Twitter
8 alcohol brands on YouTube have uploaded a
total of 180 videos to their brand
channels, generating 2.6 million channel views
and 8.6 million upload views.
This is not including “unofficial” brand videos such
as those for Bud Light which have generated 15.6
million views, those for Smirnoff which have
generated 6.2 million views, and those for Absolut
Vodka which have generated 3.8 million views.
Bud Light Clothing Drive
Absolut Vodka Twitter Profile
10 alcohol brands on Twitter have generated
29.9 million direct impressions.
This is not including indirect impressions
generated from re-tweets and user-
generated, brand-oriented tweets.
Twitter has no restrictions based on age.
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 90
91. Best Practices and Recommendations
Photo Credit – Fan Photo on Captain Morgan Facebook Page
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 91
92. Display Advertising Best Practice
BEST PRACTICE
Beam Global Spirits & Wine, Inc. adheres to a 75% LPA standard.
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 92
93. Display Advertising Best Practice
BEST PRACTICE
Pandora collects your year of birth at sign up and does not display alcohol
advertisements to individuals below the age of 21.
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 93
94. Display Advertising Worst Practice
WORST PRACTICE
Pitchfork displays alcohol banner advertisements without verifying visitor age.
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 94
95. Display Advertising Worst Practice
WORST PRACTICE
Hulu displays alcohol video advertisements without verifying visitor age.
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 95
96. Distilled Spirit Brand Website Best Practice
BEST PRACTICE
If a visitor enters an age below the LPA, the Captain Morgan brand website stores
this age and denies entry (re-directing to Century Council) upon subsequent visits.
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 96
97. Distilled Spirit Brand Website Worst Practice
WORST PRACTICE
If a visitor enters an age below the LPA, the Skyy Vodka brand website takes no
action, allowing the visitor to immediately select a different age and enter the site.
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 97
98. Beer Brand Website Best Practice
BEST PRACTICE
If a visitor enters an age below the LPA, the Heineken brand website stores this age
and denies entry upon subsequent visits.
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 98
99. Beer Brand Website Worst Practice
WORST PRACTICE
If a visitor enters an age below the LPA, the Bud Light brand website displays a
warning, allowing the visitor to easily close the warning and enter a different age.
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 99
100. Flavored Alcoholic Beverage Brand Website Worst Practice
WORST PRACTICE
If a visitor enters an age below the LPA, the Mike‟s Hard Lemonade website takes
no action, allowing the visitor to immediately select different age and enter the site.
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 100
101. Flavored Alcoholic Beverage Brand Website Worst Practice
WORST PRACTICE
The Joose website does not ask visitors to enter a date of birth, instead asking if
visitors are over 21, yes or no. Visitors are able to enter multiple ages.
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 101
102. Facebook Best Practices
BEST PRACTICES
Alcohol brand pages are not visible to individuals
that state their age to be below 21.
Alcohol display advertising is not visible to
individuals that state their age to be below 21.
Minors (Individuals below 18 years of age) are
not able to change their age after signing up.
WORST PRACTICES
Individuals between 18 and 20 can easily change
their age, thus allowing access to alcohol brand
content.
Alcohol-oriented and/or brand-oriented user-
generated content is accessible to all users.
Alcohol brand-uploaded content contains repeated
and egregious code violations.
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 102
103. YouTube Best Practices
BEST PRACTICES
Some alcohol brand content, specifically the
brand channels for Bud Light, Coors
Light, Grey Goose, and Heineken, requires
visitors to sign in with an age over 18 in
order to access.
WORST PRACTICES
The age required to view restricted alcohol content is
18 not 21.
Some alcohol brand content, specifically the brand
channels for Malibu, Absolut, Bacardi, Captain
Morgan and Smirnoff, is accessible without signing
in.
“User-uploaded” alcohol brand-oriented videos do not
require visitors to sign in before viewing.
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 103
104. Twitter Best Practices
BEST PRACTICES
Certain alcohol brand Twitter pages, such as
the page for Absolut Vodka, contain
disclaimers stating that this content is only
intended for viewing by those above the LPA.
Jack Daniel‟s promoted tweets each contain
an age disclaimer stating that the messages
are intended for individuals over the LPA.
WORST PRACTICES
Certain alcohol brand Twitter pages, such as the
page for Bacardi, do not contain disclaimers stating
that this content is only intended for viewing by those
above the LPA.
Twitter does not collect age at sign up, and anyone
can view alcohol brand pages and tweets.
Most tweets do not contain an age disclaimer stating
that they are intended for individuals over the LPA.
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 104
105. Mobile Marketing Best Practices
BEST PRACTICES
Foursquare collects user age at sign up and does not allow
users below the age of 21 to access alcohol brand content
and promotions.
Certain iPhone applications, such as the Order Up! Coors
Light application, specify in their descriptions that they are
only intended for download and use by those above the LPA.
Certain iPhone applications, such as the Heineken Green Alert
application, force the user to quit the application upon entry of
an age below the LPA.
WORST PRACTICES
The iTunes store contains a standard disclaimer for
applications with alcohol content which states that “You must
be at least 17 years old to download this application.”
Certain iPhone applications, such as the Coors Light 1st and
Cold application, do not contain age disclaimers in their
description stating that they are only intended for download
and use by those above the LPA.
Certain iPhone applications, such as the Order Up! Coors
Light application, do not ask users to enter their age in order
to launch and enter the application.
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 105
106. WHO IS MINDING THE STORE?
THE FEDERAL
THE FEDERAL
COMMUNICATIONS
TRADE
COMMISSION?
COMMISSION?
PARENTS? THE INDUSTRY?
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 106
107. Beer Institute Advertising and Marketing Code
Models and actors employed to appear in beer advertising and marketing materials
should be a minimum of 25 years old, substantiated by proper identification, and should
reasonably appear to be over 21 years of age.
Brand Photos from Miller Lite Facebook Page
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 107
108. DISCUS Code of Responsible Practices
Beverage alcohol
advertising and
marketing materials
should not contain
the name of or depict
Santa Claus.
Brand photos on Captain Morgan Facebook Page
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 108
109. DISCUS Code of Responsible Practices
Accordingly, advertising
and marketing materials
should not contain or
depict:
• sexually lewd or
indecent images or
language
Brand photo on Malibu Facebook Page
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 109
110. User-Generated Content
“First, user-generated content of any kind – comments, images, videos and
more – when placed on the websites of regulated industry
companies, immediately become marketing messages of said company.”
Jason Falls, Social Media Overseer, Doe-Anderson
Photo Credit – Fan Photo on Jim Beam Facebook Page
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 110
111. Beer Institute Advertising and Marketing Code
Beer advertising and
marketing materials
should not depict
Santa Claus.
Fan Photo on Bud Light Facebook Page
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 111
112. Beer Institute Advertising and Marketing Code
Advertising or marketing materials should
avoid elements that appeal primarily to persons
under the legal drinking age.
In considering whether beer advertising and
marketing materials appeal primarily to persons
under the legal drinking age, brewers should
take into account the following elements among
others:
• Cartoon characters
Fan photo from Bud Light Facebook Page Fan photo from Bud Light Lime Facebook Page
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 112
113. DISCUS Code of Responsible Practices
Driving while intoxicated is
against the law. Beverage
alcohol advertising and
marketing materials
should not
portray, encourage or
condone driving any motor
vehicle while intoxicated.
Fan Photo on Hennessy Facebook Page
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 113
114. DISCUS Code of Responsible Practices
Beverage alcohol advertising and
marketing materials should not
contain the name of or depict
Santa Claus.
Fan Photo on Hennessy Facebook Page
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 114
115. DISCUS Code of Responsible Practices
Beverage alcohol advertising and
marketing materials should not
depict a child or portray
objects, images or cartoon figures
that primarily appeal to persons
below the legal purchase age.
Fan Photo on Malibu Facebook Page
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 115
116. Recommendations to Brands
BRAND WEBSITES
• Institute consistent and improved age verification
process for all brand websites.
DISPLAY ADVERTISING
• Require brands to report all placements and
expenditures to facilitate third-party review of
compliance with LPA standard.
• Institute guidelines which require brands to advertise
only on websites that collect visitor age and restrict
alcohol content to individuals over the LPA.
SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
• Due to potential dangers of youth engagement with
alcohol brands on social media platforms, institute
guidelines which require alcohol brands to only
market on social media websites that collect visitor
age and restrict alcohol content to individuals over
the LPA.
• Require brands to report all social media accounts
in order to facilitate third-party review of
compliance with industry codes.
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 116
117. Recommendations to Media
FACEBOOK
• In order to address children lying about their age to
join Facebook, institute more stringent age
verification process.
• Do not allow individuals between 18 and 20 years of
age to change their date of birth.
• Address alcohol-related, user-generated content in
the Terms and Conditions and restrict access to this
content by individuals below the LPA.
• Institute repeat offender policy for alcohol brand
content which is accessible to individuals below the
LPA.
YOUTUBE
• Address alcohol-related content in Community
Guidelines.
• Require login with age over LPA in order to access
all alcohol-related content.
TWITTER
• Collect age at sign up and restrict alcohol brand
pages to individuals below the LPA.
• Address alcohol-related content in Terms and
Conditions.
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 117
118. Recommendations to FTC
FTC SHOULD COLLECT DATA ON:
Companies‟ policies on how bloggers or other
third-party posters on internet sites may use
trademarked or copyrighted material, and the
data related to that.
Companies‟ policies on pre-approval of posts on
corporate sponsored social media sites, and the
data related to that.
Companies‟ policies on personal information obtained
about viewers of corporate-sponsored social media
sites, and the data related to that.
Companies‟ policies on actions taken against posts on
corporate-sponsored social media sites that violate
voluntary advertising codes, and the data related to
that.
Companies‟ policies on marketing and promotional
statements made by company employees on
corporate social media sites, and the data related to
that.
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 118
119. Recommendations to Parents and Other Concerned Adults
Let‟s talk about alcohol Educate the policy
marketing! makers.
Let the Federal Trade Use the news media to
Commission know you start a public
are concerned. conversation.
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 119
120. COMING CAMY PRODUCTS
BROCHURE HIGHLIGHTING
FINDINGS OF INTERNET
SCAN, AS WELL AS OTHER
YOUTUBE MOVIES
RECENT CAMY REPORTS.
CDC/CADCA ACTION GUIDES: CAMY MONITORING REPORTS:
• Reducing alcohol outlet density • Radio
• Increasing alcohol excise taxes • African-American Youth
• Strengthening commercial host • Television 2001-2010, including local
liability market data
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 120
121. Together we can make a difference - thank You!
Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health 121
Editor's Notes
This is a brand uploaded photo taken from the Miller Lite Facebook page, and this is also a great example of the social marketing which brands are engaging in online. With the advent of sites like Facebook, Twitter and Youtube, brands are able to connect with internet visitors by using multimedia such as pictures, videos and games, but they also have an unprecedented opportunity to spark a 2-way interaction with fans of the brand such as the girls pictured here. Brands are also able to use fans as brand ambassadors thus providing social proof to draw in more fans, and this is all part of the viral nature of the web which we will see in more detail later.
To begin with, back in the latter half of 2010, CAMY conducted a scan of the activities of a few top alcohol brands on historically popular platforms such as their proprietary websites and MySpace as well as newer channels such as Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr and mobile phones. What we found was that brands were no longer doing much on MySpace and were shifting their attention away from brand websites towards the newer social networking channels such as Facebook and YouTube. In addition, we found a stunning amount of user-generated content where users were both propagating brand-generated content as well as generating their own content in support of various alcohol brands. We also found widely varying age restrictions on alcohol brand-produced content and documented millions of visitors for alcohol brand content without any age restrictions. In this presentation, we will show you what brands are doing online, where youth are exposed, and propose some possible methods of reducing this exposure.
The Dos Equis “Most Interesting Man in the World” campaign is another example of brands using traditional media to drive traffic to brand content on social media. This campaign was tremendously successful as Dos Equis utilized TV spots, magazine ads, and physical advertising in concert to spur interest in the brand and drive traffic online. As a result of this campaign, Dos Equis became the first beer brand to reach 1 million fans “liking” its page on Facebook. We’ll see what this means later. “Our goal was to provide an interactive environment for the brand to engage with our loyal enthusiasts, and provide them an opportunity to share their own passion for the brand with others,” continued Smailes.http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20110131006996/en/Interesting-Man-World-Dos-Equis-Beer-Brand
In addition to brands using traditional media to drive traffic online, brands are increasingly devoting more of their budgets to online advertising. Southern Comfort, for example, has announced that they will be discontinuing television and magazine advertising in favor of online properties such as Facebook and Hulu. According to AdAge, this strategy allows SoCo to advertise on network programs that the brand would’ve been forbidden from touching on TV. According to Lena DerOhannessian, the brand’s U.S. marketing director, this strategy also allows the brand to focus on the youngest legal-drinking-age consumers. A comment on the Advertising Age article reads, “Kudos to SoCo for not only tasting great with lime but for leading the way in what some would call a drastic, albeit necessary, shift. As a 20-year-old college student, I cannot agree more with their targeting and subsequent media alignment. I am on the computer (and those sites which they chose to use) probably 4 or 5 hours a day, compared to maybe 30 minutes or an hour watching TV. It will be interesting to see how their online efforts translate into offline sales and awareness.”But brands are starting to get more aggressive. For instance, Beam Global Spirits & Wine plans to spend up to 35% of its media budget on digital, up from 6% just two years ago, said Andrea Javor, senior manager for digital and media. (http://adage.com/article/news/alcohol-ads-greater-scrutiny-digital-age/149213/)(southern comfort article - http://adage.com/article?article_id=138202)
As could have been guessed from the heavy integration of content pushing visitors to Facebook on its brand website, Sarah Shearman of Marketing Magazine reported that Bacardi plans to shift up to 90% of its digital spend to Facebook as it no longer deems dotcom sites relevant. Later, we will see why Facebook holds such great promise for alcohol brands. In a nutshell, Facebook was designed around interaction between people, and alcohol brands are able to utilize this infrastructure to almost become people themselves and interact with Facebook visitors in an unprecedented and extremely brand-friendly manner.http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/international-business/bacardi-rethinks-drinks-brands-online-strategy/articleshow/7368930.cmshttp://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/News/MostRead/1051058/Bacardi-rethinks-drinks-brands-online-strategy/http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=471699612601&set=a.468576697601.248887.66157977601
Digital advertising holds great promise for alcohol brands as the youngest legal-drinking-age audience is most likely to be online. However, the issue is teens and young adults below the legal-drinking-age also comprise the heaviest internet users.
In addition to encouraging people to visit Bacardi content on Facebook, the Bacardi website also drives visitors to Bacardi content on other social media sites, specifically Twitter, YouTube, and Flickr. We will discuss these social networks later, but to briefly summarize, Twitter allows short form communication between brands and individuals and is the 7th most trafficked website in the US according to Alexa. YouTube is a popular video sharing site which is owned by Google and is the 4th most trafficked site in the US. Flickr is a photo sharing site which is owned by Yahoo and is the 23rd most trafficked site in the US.http://www.alexa.com/topsites/countries/US
Bacardi has the most U.S. Facebook pages of any alcohol brand on Facebook with 7 different pages with a sum total of over 700,000 fans. In addition to its main page, Bacardi has Facebook pages for Bacardi Mojito, Bacardi Silver, Bacardi Torched Cherry, Bacardi Dragon Berry, Bacardi Limon, and Bacardi Flavors.
Similar to Bacardi, other alcohol brands are also recognizing the opportunities available on Facebook and are using their websites to push visitors there. As seen on the top left, the Coors Light home page has three links to brand content on Facebook. Pictured in January 2011, the sole purpose of the Bud Light home page was to encourage visitors to “Guess the Plots on Facebook.” Like Bacardi, Heineken also advertises the multiple pages it has on Facebook on its website. Similar to Bud Light’s home page, the majority of the Captain Morgan home page is also devoted to pushing fans to Facebook.
To begin with, alcohol brands do not need to create behavioral changes in order to push people to social media. As can be seen from the number of people using and the amount of time being spent on social media, people across the world, particularly in the United States, are already spending quite a bit of time on sites such as Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter. Globally, 313 million unique visitors spent an average of 6 hours on social networking sites in March 2010. In the United States, 127 million people spent an average of 6 hours on Facebook alone in June 2010. Since many people are already aware of and using social media, it is a simpler job for alcohol brands to connect with these people utilizing these platforms.
In addition to avoiding the need to create behavioral changes, social networking sites are particularly attractive to alcohol brands because, as we saw with Southern Comfort shifting their media budget online to target the 21 to 29 demographic, alcohol brands are once again able to reach their target audience effectively through these channels with teens and young adults being heavily represented in social networks according to Pew Research numbers from 2009.
Facebook is currently the most popular social media site in the US and the world. Of Facebook’s 662 million global users, the United States leads the way with 150.2 million users and Indonesia comes in a distant second with 35.8 million. Facebook was built as a medium for people to communicate with each other and achieved success by taking offline interaction and establishing a similar way for people to connect online. Due to its success, Facebook more recently has emerged as a powerful advertising medium where brands can take advantage of the various tools available on Facebook to communicate directly with fans. The main elements of Facebook are the Newsfeed and Profile. The Facebook News Feed, pictured on the top right, is the first page you see when you log in, and this page notifies you of all the recent activity of your friends as well as brands that you have chosen to like in reverse chronological order. For example, if your friend just updated his/her status, this update would be shown here along with room for people to add comments. If another friend has just uploaded a photo album, this album would also be shown here allowing people to easily browse the pictures. The Facebook Profile contains various sections which display different information about a person. The Wall is often the default section which shows recent activity and provides a forum for you to interact with your friends with recent comments from your friends being shown in reverse chronological order. The Info section contains whatever information you’ve chosen to add to your Profile. Commonly shared information includes name, date of birth, college and/or occupation, favorite movies, favorite books, interests, hobbies, and more. Other sections of your Profile include the Photos section which allows people to browse your photo albums and the Friends section which provides a list of the people you have chosen to be friends with on Facebook. Individuals on Facebook are also able to create Pages, Groups, Applications, and Events. Brand advertisers on Facebook have a different set of capabilities. Instead of having a profile, brand advertisers create a Page for the brand which becomes a hub for brand activity. On this brand page, brands are able to embed applications such as games, advertise promotions and events, upload photos, upload videos, create polls, and more. With these tools, brands are able to engage and interact with users, and through these interactions, brands are able to further spread a brand-friendly message because of the viral nature of social media as well as drive purchase intent, always the ultimate goal. We will soon see how alcohol brands are using these various tools to connect with users. First, it is important to note that Facebook has advertising guidelines which apply to alcohol companies, a few of which are listed here. The guidelines specifically state that alcohol brands must follow all industry codes, make sure to only target individuals 21 years or older in the US, and ensure that content does not appeal to anyone younger than the permissible targeted age group. http://www.facebook.com/ad_guidelines.php
This is where the DISCUS and Beer Institute codes come into play in order to prevent the under-21 population from disproportionately coming across and accessing alcohol brand advertising. As can be seen above, the DISCUS and Beer Institute codes apply to all paid and unpaid placements. The DISCUS code further specifies that this includes advertising on third-party websites, video advertisements, audio mentions, internet banners, pop-ups, sponsorships, and even user-generated content and blogs. So since the codes apply to everything, we went ahead and performed a scan of all online alcohol brand advertising.
Access of alcohol brand content to under 21 individuals is of particular concern on Facebook as 23.9% of Facebook’s 149 million users in the United States are between 13 and 20 years old. Even though Facebook does not allow children under the age of 13 to create Facebook profiles due to the Child Online Protection Act, nearly a quarter of Facebook’s users are below the legal drinking age. As seen from pictures like these uploaded to alcohol brand Facebook pages, it is very possible that this under-age population is accessing alcohol brand content and even becoming brand ambassadors. Source: Advertise on Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/ads/create/)
One issue with ensuring that alcohol ads and alcohol brand content is only targeted at individuals 21 and older is that it is very easy to sign up with a false age or change your age on Facebook. As we saw earlier, alcohol brand display advertising driving visitors to social media is often visible to people of all ages, thus kids are being made aware of alcohol content on social media sites. Although Facebook guidelines prohibit allowing individuals under 21 to access alcohol brand content, this video shows that it takes only a few clicks of the mouse and less than 10 seconds to change your age, thus enabling access to all alcohol brand content. We start at the profile of Ethan Johnson, a fictitious person for whom we created a Facebook account to determine the scope of alcohol brand marketing on Facebook as well as the accessibility of alcohol content to individuals under the legal drinking age. To change our age, we simply have to click Edit Profile, choose a different date of birth, and click Save. All in all, it takes a few clicks of the mouse and less than 10 seconds to change something which ostensibly should not change over the course of a lifetime.
As mentioned previously, Facebook does not allow visitors below the age of 13 to create Facebook profiles. However, according to the New York Times, this is not stopping millions of under 13 individuals from lying about their age to join Facebook. Some are even being encouraged or helped by their parents to fudge their age in order to join online social networking services. If millions of children are able to lie about their age just to join Facebook, how can we be certain millions of kids are not lying about their age to access alcohol brand content?http://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/12/technology/internet/12underage.html?_r=3&pagewanted=2&hphttp://www.facebook.com/policy.php
In an attempt to determine the interest in fake IDs of the 16 to 20 population in Lawrence, Kansas, members of the New Tradition Coalition of Lawrence, which combats alcohol abuse and underage drinking, set up a Facebook ad, shown on the top right, targeting youth who might be looking for a fake ID. Predictably, over five thousand youth between the ages of 16 and 20 clicked on the ad, once again demonstrating youth willingness to obfuscate their age. Another study by researchers at the University of Wisconsin published in the American Journal of Men’s Health found alcohol references on 85.33% of male undergraduate Facebook profiles and measured an average of 8.5 alcohol references per profile. More than 68% of the profiles studied belonged to students who were under the legal drinking age. These results serve as an indicator of youth interest in alcohol content on Facebook. But instead of getting a chance to obtain a fake ID that could be used to try to buy booze at Lawrence liquor stores and bars, people who clicked on the ad were directed to a website: the New Tradition Coalition of Lawrence, which combats alcohol abuse and underage drinking. Coalition members said interest in the Facebook ad clearly illustrates the demand for fake IDs and the prevalence of underage drinking in Lawrence, particularly among Kansas University students.“ That bothered me because that many kids actually clicked on it because they were thinking they were going to get a fake ID,” said Jen Jordan, director of prevention for DCCCA. “We know that underage drinking is an issue in Lawrence and at KU and other colleges. We’re just trying to address it.”http://www2.ljworld.com/news/2011/feb/26/no-faking-lawrence-police-cracking-down-bogus-ids/
In addition to the obvious concerns of under-age youth lying about their age on Facebook and showing an interest in alcohol-related activities, Facebook also presents a serious concern in terms of youth privacy. The internet is exploring uncharted territory in the fields of personalization and ad targeting, and Facebook is one of the companies leading the way in this movement. As we briefly discussed in a prior slide, internet advertising is progressing towards behavioral ad targeting, and the fact is internet marketers have been collecting our personal information for years, but never before have they had access to the kind of information which people make available on their Facebook profiles. In a paper published by the Association for Computing Machinery, researchers Balachander Krishnamurthy of AT&T Labs and Craig E. Wills of the Worcester Polytechnic Institute found that Facebook is consistently leaking personally identifying information to 3rd party companies. In a paper published by the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, researchers at Carnegie Mellon University found that information commonly made available on Facebook profiles can be used to predict your Social Security number, particularly “if you were born after 1988 in a state with a small population.” Another study by Alan Mislove of Northeastern University found that even if make your Facebook profile private, “researchers can infer plenty of personal information about you from any of your Facebook friends who don’t keep their friends lists private.” Facebook profiles and the information transmitted by Facebook are a marketing goldmine. Children who have joined Facebook, without a doubt, are being exposed and will suffer the consequences for years to come in terms of unwanted advances by internet marketers as well as whoever else gains access to the information unwittingly relayed.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United Stateshttp://news.cnet.com/8301-13880_3-20047703-68.html?tag=TOCmoreStories.0http://web.cs.wpi.edu/~cew/papers/wosn09.pdfhttp://www.pnas.org/content/early/2009/07/02/0904891106.full.pdf+htmlhttp://www.mpi-sws.org/~gummadi/papers/inferring_profiles.pdf
Direct response marketers and brand marketers can collect information on people in many ways on Facebook. For example, information is transmitted through the URL when you click on ads and many applications request in-depth access to your profile contents before permitting use. However, one of the best ways for a brand marketer to connect with and gather information on Facebook users is through the “liking” mechanism which is activated when a Facebook user clicks on the Like button on a brand Facebook page. Here we see the opening section of the Captain Morgan Facebook page which encourages users to click the Like button, as seen outlined in red. To quote Facebook’s privacy policy (http://www.facebook.com/privacy/explanation.php), “When you click Like on a company's Facebook Page, ad or products: You create a connection to that company and you'll receive updates from it in your News Feed. The story of your connection will appear on your Wall. Your friends may also see the story of your liking the company in their News Feeds.” We’ll see how exactly this brand-user connection works later. In addition, once you click Like, the brand also gains access to information which is public on your Facebook profile. At a minimum, this includes Name, Profile Picture, Gender, Networks and Username. Depending on your individual privacy settings, it can also include your status, photos, bio and favorite quotes, family and relationship details, photos and videos you are tagged in, religious and political views, birthday, email addresses and IM screen name, and phone numbers and address.
Here are examples of a few more alcohol brands encouraging users to like them on Facebook. To put it lightly, brand advertisers on Facebook are enamored with both the intimate connection that liking opens between the brand and fan as well as the information which it provides, and they are putting forth every effort to gather as many Likes and resulting fans as possible. As seen on the top left, Jim Beam is offering an exclusive first look at the new TV commercial for Red Stag by Jim Beam in exchange for liking the brand. Bacardi says “Like our page to meet the Bacardi Dancers!” Miller Lite is offering a promotion where fans have to like the brand to qualify, and Heineken asks fans to click the “Like” button in order to enter an application on their page.
Many alcohol brands are using similar techniques to amass fans on Facebook, and these techniques are working. As ofApril of this year, 10 top alcohol brands on Facebook had accumulated 8.3 million fans, more than the populations of 39 US states. These brands now have direct access to millions of fan newsfeeds and profiles and have amassed an incredible amount of information. In addition, brands have opened up direct communication channels between brands and fans, and now we will take a look at how brands are using these channels to interact and create value.
As it is for users, the Wall is also the interaction hub for brands on Facebook. Here we see the Facebook Wall for Captain Morgan USA, a brand which has over 600,000 fans. On the right, we have a couple of Facebook Ads, including an ad for Patron Tequila and another ad above for Sweet Bordeaux US. Previously, we saw a couple of Facebook Ads out of context; this is an example of alcohol ads being shown on Facebook while browsing. About 2 hours before this screenshot was taken, Captain Morgan USA released a post saying “Need some new tunes. What’s good?” which was broadcast to the Newsfeeds of the brand’s 600,000 fans. Since then, 119 people have “liked” the post, and 394 people have commented, presumably suggesting a song for the Captain’s listening pleasure. This interaction closely resembles one between a group of friends, and it easy to lose sight of the fact that it was initiated by an alcohol brand, not a person. Through these types of interactions, brand advertisers are able to gain increasing mind share on the part of fans and establish stronger ties. If this were a clothing company, this connection would not be so troubling as the worst possible reasonable outcome would be a lighter wallet at the end of a shopping spree. However, this is not a clothing company, this is an alcohol manufacturer and distributor, and increasing interaction between the brand and fans, some possibly under-age, could have much more dire consequences.
This is an example of one such troubling conversation between the alcopop beverage Joose and its fans which occurred in December of last year, screenshots of which were taken in early April. Joose asks “Yesterday, we asked about your first time.. with JOOSE. Now we want to hear about the morning after..JOOSE. Walk of shame anyone? Tell us a good morning after story with JOOSE” Right off the bat, this question condones promiscuity and irresponsible consumption of alcohol and asks fans to post their related stories. The first fan post from John Ware discusses bringing home two empty cans of Joose and blacking out at some point in the night. Joose responds with “LOL What did you do?!” thus accepting and glorifying such behavior. Adam Rood adds that drinking Joose caused him to wake up naked on the couch, after which he proceeded to drink more Joose.
Joose responds “And… how did half a Joose get you naked on couch?!” with the implication that half a Joose isn’t very much, and more is required to become intoxicated. Predictably, Adam responds with the clarification that “the said ‘half Joose’ wasn’t Joose #1 of the night…” An individual named JentlemanJoose claims that “Neon green pours out of me the next morning.” Joose responds “is that why your tongue is greenish blue in your profile picture?” once again normalizing and glorifying the fact that this individual was vomiting, most likely due to excessive consumption. Tyler Jamison Duncan adds another vomiting and blacking out anecdote which states “midnight vomit all over the wall and not knowing about it till the next day…”
Joose responds describing a previous similar incident, “LOL. I once had someone tell me they threw up underneath their bed and didn’t know about it until months later!” Tyler then proceeds to describe a night where he drank an entire bottle of vodka and the ensuing consequences, and Aaron Shoemaker ends the conversation with an endorsement for drinking Joose for breakfast. Encouragement of responsible drinking habits is nowhere to be found in this conversation, rather it is much the opposite, encouraging and glorifying over-consumption.
The posts from the Captain Morgan USA and Joose Brand Walls are two examples of direct interaction between alcohol brands and Facebook users. This chart shows the number of posts and resulting interactions that occurred for 10 brands, selected on the basis of youth appeal, in January of this year. Corona was the least active with 3 brand posts during the month which generated 2,191 likes and 438 comments. Captain Morgan USA was the most active with 51 posts which generated 23,677 likes and 9,010 comments. These 10 brands posted a total of 158 times in January which generated a total of 98,305 likes and 25,952 comments. These numbers constitute an unprecedented marketing success as Facebook costs nothing to use, however, brands are able to spark thousands of interactions and create significant engagement with users. Impressions?
Virtrue, a leading social media management company, estimates the annual value of a Facebook fan to be $3.60. Based on this, alcohol brands on Facebook are generating the following values from their fan bases, a total of $30 million dollars. With Facebook, except for the Ad component, being a free tool to use, the return on investment in this medium has been tremendous. This ROI is echoed on other social media sites, and is one of the main reasons behind brands shifting their advertising budgets online.
In addition to direct interaction, brands are able to engage fans in many other ways on Facebook such as allowing visitors to browse through brand-uploaded photo albums. Here we see a page with a few photo albums that Captain Morgan USA has uploaded to Facebook.
On the Captain Morgan USA Brand Wall, fans are able to post comments, photos, links and videos. As we saw previously, comments get posted directly onto the brand wall. If a fan uploads a photo, this is shown on the brand wall and it also placed in the Fan Photos section of the Captain Morgan USA Facebook page which we see here. According to the Facebook blog(http://blog.facebook.com/blog.php?post=206178097130), Facebook is the largest photo-sharing site in the world with over 2.5 billion photos uploaded each month. Brands on Facebook leverage the advanced photo-sharing capabilities by allowing fans to upload brand-oriented photos to brand Facebook pages. Not only are these photos displayed to everyone browsing fan photos on the brand Facebook page, but they are also broadcast to the friends of the person uploading the photo, thus simultaneously providing social proof and widening the brand’s reach.
Another form of media which brands are able to share on Facebook is brand-produced video. Here we see the brand-uploaded video section of the Captain Morgan USA Facebook page.
As mentioned previously, fans are also able to upload videos to brand Facebook pages. Here we see the fan video section of the Captain Morgan USA Facebook page where fans have uploaded 4 high definition videos and 5 videos total.
Sharing photos, and to a lesser extent, videos is an important activity on Facebook. Some would even say that photos are the lifeblood of the site with the viral nature of sharing photos and tagging others in photos having played a large part in Facebook’s initial and continuing success. In keeping with this theme, alcohol brands have uploaded a tremendous number of alcohol-oriented photos and videos to their brand pages, a few examples of which we have seen throughout the presentation. Fans have also uploaded a staggering amount of content to brand Facebook pages, and this is indicative of the success alcohol brand advertisers have had in terms of connecting with fans and converting them to brand ambassadors. During our scan of brand Facebook pages, we found many examples of youth-oriented content pervading both brand and fan-uploaded photos, a few of which we will take a look at now.
Beer Institute codes also prohibit the use of youth-oriented content in marketing materials, including user-generated content. Despite these restrictions in the Codes as well as re-iteration of these restrictions in Facebook Advertising Guidelines, youth-oriented content is another motif in brand and fan-uploaded photos. This is a photo uploaded by a fan to the Bud Light Lime Facebook page.
We could spend hours looking at all the sexually charged photos which alcohol brands and fans of alcohol brands have uploaded to brand Facebook pages. This is another photo uploaded by a fan to the Bud Light Lime Facebook page.
Once again, all individuals in marketing materials must be 25 years or older and appear to be 21 or older. This photo was uploaded by Miller Lite to its Facebook page.
This is another photo uploaded by Miller Lite to its Facebook page.
Earlier, I mentioned the topic of brand ambassadors. Here is a perfect example of social media allowing fans to be brand ambassadors and advertise the brand. These girls, who may or may not be over 21, dressed up as Coors Light bottles, had a picture taken of themselves, and uploaded this picture to the Coors Light Facebook page. The friends of each girl tagged will see this picture in their Newsfeed as well as anyone browsing pictures on the Coors Light Facebook page. For many, this will serve as powerful reinforcement of the brand’s message that consuming alcohol is a favorable activity.
In a recent presentation on the effectiveness of marketing on Facebook, it was demonstrated that seeing your friends supporting a brand, specifically Budweiser in this example, led to an increase in several brand advertising metrics such as brand recall, message awareness, and purchase intent. As we’ve seen on the Captain Morgan and Joose Facebook Pages, alcohol brands are able to use social media to showcase thousands, and in some cases millions, of people who have adopted a brand preference and use this knowledge to connect with visitors who have not yet made such a conscious or unconscious decision.Source: http://www.slideshare.net/360digitalinfluence/facebook-state-of-the-union
In other words, alcohol brands are utilizing the capabilities of social media sites such as Facebook to demonstrate social proof for their brands, thus leading to success in the form of increased followings and ultimately product sales. Visible interaction between followers and brands, fan-uploaded videos, and fan-uploaded photos such as the one shown here can all serve as peer advertising and social proof.http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=157781374251012&set=o.6708101101User-recommended brand-produced contentBranded imagery
Alcohol brands are able to create Ads, Pages, Applications, and Events to market their products on Facebook. Per Facebook Guidelines, alcohol brand content, whether it is in the form of a Ad, Page, Application or Event, is restricted to individuals over 21 years of age in the US. Users, on the other hand, are also able to create Pages, Applications, and Events and they are able to create groups as well. User-generated content, in the form of pages, applications, groups, and events, does not have any age restrictions and is visible to all users, above and below 21. Here we see a few Bud Light-related Facebook pages, presumably created by users, and thus accessible to our under-21 profile of Ethan Johnson. These include groups like “I guarantee more kisses begin with Bud Light, not Kay,” “Team Bud Light,” and “bud light commercials.”
Here we see the Facebook Page itself for Team Bud Light which contains some information about the brand as well as a link to the Budweiser website. Once again, this is completely accessible to all users of Facebook.
Here we see the Facebook Wall on the Team Bud Light Page where the creators of the page are interacting with fans. Based on the comments, it appears as though this page was created by Bud Light resellers hoping to generate additional sales through this marketing method.
Here we see user-generated Groups centered around Bud Light, all accessible to under 21 individuals. Although much has changed since then, researchers at the Marin Institute published a paper in The Journal of Global Drug Policy and Practice in 2009 which stated “When we entered the term ‘alcohol’ into the Facebook search engine, more than 58,000 Groups were displayed. More than 5,000 total Groups were associated with the top-selling beer brands, with more than 5,000 total Groups associated with the top-selling spirits brands. Many other Groups were associated with more general alcohol activities, such as the 342 Groups listed with the name ‘Binge Drinkers.’”
And here we see user-generated Events centered around Bud Light, once again, all accessible to under 21 individuals. With regard to Events, researchers at the Marin Institute stated “Alcohol-related Facebook Events were commonplace, with a total of more than 2,200 Events associated with the five best-selling beer brands…and an additional total of more than 2,200 events associated with the five best-selling spirits brands...” many of which are accessible to the under 21 user. Since the Marin Institute study, alcohol brand-related content and fans of alcohol brands have proliferated on Facebook and have become a far greater danger.
Having seen how alcohol brands are reaching millions of people and generating millions of dollars by marketing on Facebook, now is a good opportunity to take a look at how alcohol brands are reaching millions of people on another social media site, YouTube. YouTube is a video sharing site which allows users and brands to upload video clips, up to 15 minutes each, free of charge. Visitors to YouTube are able to access videos in two ways, they can either go directly to videos by searching or they can see the videos which a specific user has uploaded by visiting that user’s channel, which is essentially the equivalent of a user profile. Here are a few examples of alcohol brand channels on YouTube, specifically the channels for Captain Morgan, Smirnoff, Malibu, and Bud Light. According to the YouTube Community Guidelines, “YouTube staff review flagged videos 24 hours a day, seven days a week to determine whether they violate our Community Guidelines. When they do, we remove them. Sometimes a video doesn't violate our Community Guidelines, but may not be appropriate for everyone. These videos are age-restricted. When a video has been age-restricted, a warning screen is displayed and only users who are 18 or older can watch it.” Interestingly, a few alcohol brand channels are age-restricted so that only users 18 and older can access these channels, however many are not age-restricted. http://www.youtube.com/t/community_guidelines
Here are the number of videos a few alcohol brands have uploaded to YouTube as well as the accompanying channel views and upload views. Since users can watch videos in one of two ways, through the uploader’s channel or on the video page itself, YouTube tracks both channel views and upload views in order to allow uploaders to see where their views are coming from. For example, Bacardi Superior has more channel views than upload views, meaning that it has done a good job of marketing it’s YouTube channel and this has been more successful than allowing YouTube visitors to find its videos through search results. Bud Light, on the other hand, has significantly more upload views than channel views, indicating that much of the traffic to Bud Light videos occurs through visitors searching for the videos, and Bud Light presumably is not marketing its YouTube channel at all.
However, uploading videos to brand channels is not the only way alcohol brands can gain exposure on YouTube. Rather, another powerful method to take advantage of the inherent viral capabilities of YouTube is demonstrated by the Smirnoff Tea Partay video shown above. This campaign is best introduced by a quote from Kevin Roddy, the creative director behind the campaign which was released by BBH New York. In an interview with Yahoo! Advertising Blog, Kevin states, “If you want it to go viral, it can’t look, feel or act like an ad. People will pass it along if they feel it’s more entertaining than selling. People aren’t going to forward advertising for you, so it can’t play by the same rules.” This video was uploaded to YouTube by a user called “iamigor” and has so far accumulated 5.8 million views. There is no age restrictions for watching this video despite it being produced and released by an ad agency commissioned by Smirnoff, and there is no telling how many of the 5.8 million views have come from individuals under 21 years old. Later in the interview, Yahoo! Advertising Blog asks “Has it become the industry standard for companies to place their TV ads on YouTube, Yahoo! Video and other video sites?” to which Kevin responds “Yes, almost everyone does. Why? Because it’s free. And if you get 5,000 people to see it, they saw it, and they chose to see it, as opposed to my forcing it upon you in a commercial break. There’s no reason not to.” Kevin also says another benefit of online video is that “…you’re paying for production, but you’re not necessarily spending media dollars.” In a 2010, Forbes named Smirnoff Tea Partay the 14th Best-Ever Social Media Campaign. As seen outlined in red to the right, due to the popularity of the campaign, Smirnoff commissioned another ad agency, JWT, to create a sequel to Tea Partay called Green Tea Partay, but this sequel was not nearly as successful as the original, generating around 350,000 views for the 2 highlighted clips. Forbes #14 Best-Ever Social Media Campaign14. Smirnoff: "Tea Par-tay” The Diageo-owned vodka brand launched this viral rap parody music video featuring preppy white guys promoting Smirnoff's Raw Tea drink in 2006. The Web video, which directed viewers to the drink's Web site, was supplemented with billboard and radio ads.http://www.forbes.com/2010/08/17/facebook-old-spice-farmville-pepsi-forbes-viral-marketing-cmo-network-social-media_slide_14.htmlhttp://www.yadvertisingblog.com/blog/2010/09/09/smirnoff%E2%80%99s-tea-partay-and-the-birth-of-viral-marketing-video/
Another example of alcohol brands taking advantage of the viral marketing capabilities of YouTube is “A Vodka Movie” which is a three part series advertising Absolut Vodka. Although uploading videos to YouTube is free, brands are rewarded for releasing quality content as this is more likely to go viral and generate large numbers of views. The description for Part 1 of a Vodka Movie states “Zach Galifianakis, Tim Heidecker and Eric Wareheim were commissioned by Absolut Vodka to make a film for their website. They were told they could do anything they wanted as long as they mentioned the product. Edited by Ben Berman.” This video was uploaded to YouTube by username “ericwareheim,” who is also one of the actors in the clip. Once again, all three videos are accessible to all visitors, regardless of age. These videos have accumulated a total of 3.8 million views on YouTube alone. They have also been uploaded to other video sites across the web with no telling of how many total views and views from under-age individuals have been accumulated. Absolut Lemon Drop – unsuccessful viral marketing campaign
Despite having generated a minimum of 6 million and 4 million views with their respective campaigns, neither Smirnoff Raw Tea nor Absolut Vodka can come close to matching the success of another alcohol brand, Bud Light, in the online video space. Bud Light has taken the light to non-existent restrictions placed on alcohol content by YouTube and run with the possibilities, producing a series of clips which it has advertised as too racy for TV. These videos have become immensely popular, and they have drawn attention from advertising industry award committees as well as media outlets such as Time Magazine. On the top left, we see the video for Bud Light’s Swear which depicts office works having to pay a quarter every time they curse. The Academy of Television Arts and Sciences awarded “Swear Jar,” produced by advertising agency DDB Chicago, the Emmy for Outstanding Commercial. According to an Anheuser-Busch press release, the commercial “has been viewed more than 12 million times on the Internet and has never aired on television…’Swear Jar’ has already received several industry accolades, among them a National Gold Award at the 2008 ADDY® Awards, a Silver Lion at the 55th Cannes International Advertising Festival and a Silver Clio at the 2008 Clio Awards.” Not satisfied with profanity and nudity, Bud Light has continued to push the envelope as can be seen from the video on the bottom left. Once again, this is another video which takes advantage of YouTube’s light content restrictions and according to the article in Time magazine, reaches for comedy from the appropriateness hinterlands in order to reel in young men. http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1902420,00.html#ixzz1J9GUJa97http://www.anheuser-busch.com/press/SwearJar091508.html
Once Bud Light releases content such as theSwear Jar commercial, based on the quality, it quickly gets shared around the web. Here is an example of the commercial being shared on Funny Commercials Blog where the description reads “Found on www.bud.tv…” If the content sharers decide to embed the video from YouTube, and the original video has no age restrictions, then the ensuing embed on the blog will also have no age restrictions. In the case of Bud Light, none of the commercials we took a look at had any age restrictions, and thus when shared around the web, no age restrictions were found.
Here are some more examples of these videos being shared, specifically by users on Facebook. Social media sites such as YouTube and Facebook facilitate content sharing, thus making it easier for well-produced videos to generate millions of views.
These are the respective view counts for 8 commercials which Bud Light has advertised as too racy for TV on YouTube alone. For example, the Bud Light Swear Jar video has been viewed 2.1 million times specifically on the YouTube website, and as mentioned earlier, it has been viewed more than 12 million times overall across the web, according to Anheuser Busch’s press release. 15.6 million views is a minimum estimate for the number of views which these 8 videos have gathered while pushing the boundaries for appropriateness. None of these videos have any restrictions based on age, and they are accessible to all viewers so once again there is no telling how many of these views came from under-21 individuals, particularly given the youthful orientation of much of the content involved. In addition, another point to note is that, despite being produced by advertising agencies affiliated with the brand, Bud Light in this case, these videos have been uploaded to YouTube by the usernames shown. There is no way of telling if these usernames are brand-affiliated or not, but one would guess that in many cases they are.
In addition to Facebook and YouTube, another online marketing medium alcohol brands are using to generate millions of free impressions is Twitter. Twitter is an mass communication medium which allows users to release tweets, messages of 140 characters or less which are then broadcast to each person who has chosen to follow the tweet creator. For example, sixteen thousand people are followers of Smirnoff on Twitter, thus each time Smirnoff releases a Tweet, this is immediately broadcast to its sixteen thousand followers. Each person on Twitter has the ability to both follow others and create tweets, thus creating an interconnected web of users. In addition, users are able to view recent tweets from people they are following in many ways, including on their mobile phones, which in some cases allows for an instant connection between tweet creators and followers. Unlike Facebook which requires users to enter an age of 21 or older to view alcohol brand-generated content and even YouTube which asks users to log in and be over 18 years of age to view a small percentage of alcohol brand-generated content, Twitter does not ask for users age at any point and has no age restrictions on viewing alcohol brand profiles. All users have access to alcohol brand tweets.
These are examples of tweets from Bacardi and Skyy Vodka encouraging viewers to purchase brand products. One thing to note here is the Retweet link below the tweet itself. If a viewer decides to Retweet a particular Tweet, then this Tweet becomes disseminated to all of the viewer’s followers, thus leading to an amplification effect where the Tweet is able to travel beyond the group of followers for the initial creator. This is similar to the amplification effect on Facebook where interactions with a brand are displayed on user profiles thus advertising the brand to the friends of that user.
These are examples of tweets from HPNOTIQ and Absolut Vodka driving viewers to interact with the brand on other social media sites, specifically Facebook and Flickr. The HPNOTIQ tweet actually happens to be a retweet of another user’s tweet as indicated by the RT. As mentioned earlier, Twitter is a 2-way communication medium where alcohol brands have followers and also follower others. In this case, a person HPNOTIQ is presumably following released this tweet, which HPNOTIQ subsequently re-tweeted thus increasing the tweets reach.
These are the number of tweets, number of people the brand is following, number of brand followers, and estimated direct impressions for a few alcohol brands on Twitter. Direct impressions is specified because this does not take into account viewers re-tweeting brand communications. Rather, this number assumes linear follower growth from 0 to the current following and equal distribution of tweets to followers across the lifespan of the account. Most of these accounts are less than 2 years old in which time these brands have generated nearly 30 million direct impressions, once again, not accounting for amplification.
Twitter is also a great way to get a real-time view of the conversation occurring around a topic or specific term. A search for Bud Light on May 3rd revealed 50 tweets mentioning Bud Light being released in a 40 minute time span which reached over 12,000 people. These are a few examples of Bud Light-related tweets taken at a earlier time point, showing people reacting to Bud Light advertisements and promotions. The two tweets on top display user reactions to Bud Light commercials. Another tweet links to one of the banned Bud Light commercials we discussed earlier. The tweet from Brother Chad interprets one particular Bud Light promotion as being in favor of drunk driving. The two tweets on the bottom appear to be from bars promoting Bud Light specials.
While Facebook is the largest photo-sharing site on the planet, with over 15 billion photos uploaded as of April 2009, Flickr, another popular social media site, has more than 5 billion photos of its own according to CNN. The online blog Social Photo Talk comments, “Flickr is more of a single-purpose social network than Facebook, but that single purpose is photo sharing, and it does it very well.” Flickr is a very popular photo-sharing site which several alcohol brands have used to upload photo albums to share with the general public as Flickr has no restrictions based on age. Here we see a few pictures from a photo album shared by Smirnoff in December of last year. Smirnoff directs visitors to its Flickr albums through links on its website, Facebook Page, YouTube channel, and Twitter profile.http://articles.cnn.com/2010-09-20/tech/flickr.5.billion_1_photo-sharing-site-flickr-facebook?_s=PM:TECHhttp://www.socialphototalk.com/facebook-vs-flickr-sharing/
As we saw on Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, the inter-connected nature of the web allows content to quickly spread beyond the initial point of contact between a brand and an individual. On Facebook, interactions between a person and a brand are disseminated to all of that person’s friends. YouTube videos are taken and quickly shared across the web. Twitter allows individuals to re-tweet messages, also allowing for rapid expansion of brand-generated messages. Here we see a similar effect on Flickr where a search for Bud Light yields 42,888 image results. As can be seen, many of these images are examples of branded advertising such as Bud Light neon signs, Bud Light billboards, and Bud Light trucks, and social media sites such as Flickr allow individuals to take these branded images and share them with all of their friends. In addition, these images have also now become publicly available, further spreading the brand-oriented message.
Earlier we saw Bud Light videos on YouTube being shared on blogs. The fact is, any kind of content can be shared on blogs, including brand-oriented pictures, videos, stories and more. A search for Bud Light on Google Blog Search yields 646,000 results indicating that Bud Light has been mentioned in the blogosphere 646,000 times. Multiply this by number of viewers for each of these references, and you get a tremendous impact.
This is an example of a blog calledDrinkBudLight.com which, from a brief inspection, appears to have been created by a fan. On top, this fan has embedded the search results for Bud Light Girls on Flickr which allows viewers to quickly flip through pictures of Bud Light Girls from Flickr. On the right, we have links to further Bud Light-related content, and down below, which we cannot see, the blog also includes a link to the Bud Light website. Should they so choose, brands are also able to create blogs supporting their products on sites such as WordPress, Blogger, and Tumblr, and a few brands like DonQ Rum, which hosts a blog called LadyDate on Tumblr, have done just this.http://blog.donq.com/
Although Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, and blogs form an important part of the social media world, there remain hundreds of sites which we have not addressed. This slide describes a DonQ Rum social media campaign which occurs across the nine different social media sites listed above. The web is a big place with over 200 million websites, and, as we mentioned earlier, advertising is an important revenue source for many of these sites. In fact, according to its financial statements, the world’s biggest web company, Google, drew 97% of its revenue from advertising in 2010 for a total of 28.2 billion dollars. Alcohol brands have their choice of these 200 million websites with regard to which ones they want to advertise on, and it’s simply a matter of assembling a portfolio of websites which best meets their needs. http://royal.pingdom.com/2010/01/22/internet-2009-in-numbers/http://investor.google.com/financial/tables.html
Mobile marketing is an area of concern with respect to alcohol brand advertising as Pew Research Center reported that 83% of teens own a cell phone by age 17. In another Pew Research Center study, 69% of teens agreed with the statement “When I am bored, I use my cell phone to entertain myself” as opposed to 38% of adults. (http://www.frankwbaker.com/mediause.htm)http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Mobile-Access-2010/Part-2/Internet-use-and-data-applications-using-mobile-phones.aspxhttp://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Cell-Phones-and-American-Adults.asp
Here is an example of a game created by Coors Light specifically for iPhones called Coors Light 1st and Cold which is available through the iTunes store. As seen outlined in red on the left, the iTunes store specifies that “You must be at least 17 years old to download this app” due to “Frequent/Intense Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References.” This disclaimer is put in place by the iTunes store, not the brand, and strangely specifies that users must be at least 17 years old to download this application. The description for the Coors Light application, which is created by the brand, contains no age disclaimer indicating that interested parties must be of a certain age to download. Once this game is downloaded to the iPhone, the application does require users to enter their age before entering the game. However, users may enter as many different ages as they like in order to access the game. The game itself involves playing a modified version of football.
The final application we will review is the Heineken Know The Signs Breathalyzer iPhone app. As we saw with the Coors Light applications, the iTunes store specifies that “You must be at least 17 years old to download this application” due to “Frequent/Intense Alcohol, Tobacco, or Drug Use or References” among other reasons. The description for the breathalyzer application contains no age disclaimer. The description reads “we all know someone who sometimes has one too many to drink on a night out. Whether they transform into a Fighter, an Exhibitionist, a Groper, a Flirt, a Sleeper, a Crier or a Stumbler, you can be sure they’re going to cause you problems. Now if your friend starts to show the signs of turning into one of these characters, you can use the Heineken Breathalyzer before things get out of hand. All you need to do is pre-set it to one of the seven characters before handing the breathalyzer over to your friend. Ask them to blow into the phone’s microphone and watch their face as they fail dramatically.” The picture below of the application itself shows a male of questionable age as The Fighter. The target demographic and intended use cases of this application speak for themselves.
