Do Bottled Water Containers Hurt the Environment?; Are Critics Merely "Following the Money?"

Recent Discussion About Bottled Water Mirrors Recycling

Correlations:
Bottle Water and Recycling: .93
Aquafina and "Tap Water" = .88
Dasani and "Tap Water" = .93
Aquafina and recycling = .89
Dasani and recycling = .94

There has been a huge spike in the amount of discussion about bottled water since mid-June 2007. Interestingly, discussion about bottled water correlates highly with discussion about recycling [see above]. Additionally, there is a rise in media coverage relating to this issue. For example, there was an article at CNN on Friday, July 27, 2007. Some key themes mentioned in the article which mirror consumers’ discussion about bottled water include:

1. New Aquafina labels saying that bottled water made with tap water
2. Maker Pepsi says it's reasonable to say where water comes from
3. Critics of bottled water say containers are wasteful
4. Many buyers say bottled water is more convenient

I ran a few correlations which turned out to be extremely high. Interestingly, consumers discussion about bottle water correlates rather high with recycling. This is mostly due to consumers expostulating over that fact that bottled water containers (i.e. plastic bottles) are extremely wasteful. And while I agree that water containers are wasteful, I do not feel critics arguing are looking at all the facts. Soda, milk and beer are also sold in plastic containers among others. Therefore, I ask two questions.

1. Why is all the recent hype about bottled water only?
2. Why are Pepsi (Aquafina) and Coca-Cola (Dasani) brought up most within media coverage and consumers discussion online?

Personally, I feel their are a lot of critics taking aim at Pepsi and Coca-Cola since they feel the companies are making a lot of money selling tap water. A co-worker of mine brought up a similar situation that occurred in the late 80's/early 90's which makes a lot of sense to me. The cardboard/paperboard industry started attacking plastic milk jugs as "health hazards" because they claimed that see-through milk containers (plastic) made vitamins leach out of the milk quicker than if milk came in cartons, which protected milk from sunlight/exposure by not being see-through. The first waves of PR/media coverage were about the "negative health effects of plastic containers for milk," but it wasn't until someone dug deeper that it became apparent the cardboard/paperboard industry was behind the campaign. They were trying to convince milk producers to keep using cardboard when everybody was switching to plastic. My co-worker went on to say, "Who's behind this one attacking plastic containers again? Aluminum can companies? Just a thought ("follow the money" is always a good ideas when these sorts of things hit)." And I couldn't agree more.

Consumers complaining about negative effects of plastic containers on our environment should do more to push things that better our environment such as recycling, alternative fuels and solar power. Consumers like to be motivated. Unfortunately, helping the environment is not important to a lot of people. Many consumers find it expensive and inconvenient. For example, recycling centers are few and far between where I live. I have to drive 20-30 miles out of my way to drop off recyclable goods. Additionally, it costs extra money to sign up for recycling services where I live (which I pay by the way). My point is that critics and consumers looking to improve the environment should lobby for reasons to get people excited about helping the environment (i.e. incentives, tax benefits, etc). I think we are moving in the right direction. Owners of hybrid vehicles are now able to get tax benefits. Likewise, consumers and businesses should be reward for doing other things to help the environment (i.e. installing solar power panels on a home or business instead of using electricity, volunteering in a community clean up project, ride share, etc...). And don't get me wrong, big business has a certain amount of social responsibility to help keep the environment safe and clean. However, going after businesses should not be only recourse. We should all be "thinking green" and "doing our share for cleaner air."

Professional Sports Leagues Face Major Issues

The NFL, NBA and MLB are all in the midst battling issues which have huge implications. Michael Vick has given the NFL a huge bone to chew over allegations that he is involved in a dog fighting ring. MLB is hampered by steroids discussion magnified by Barry Bonds passing Hank Aaron for the most sacred record in all of sports, the home-run record. And finally, the NBA is being bombarded by negativity around organized gambling and game fixing schemes.

The graph above shows a discussion timeline for some of the hot topics currently being talked about in pro sports. The Michael Vick dog fighting issue tops the list. Despite receiving more buzz, sports fans don't feel Michael Vick's dog fighting woes puts NFL commissioner Roger Goodell in the worst situation. A poll on ESPN's Sportsnation reveals most sports enthusiasts feel David Stern is in the worst position among commissioners in charge of pro sports leagues.

I do believe the NBA is in the worst position among the pro sports leagues since accusations of referee Tim Donaghy fixing games questions the integrity of the sport. However, the NFL and MLB both have issues they must attend to on their own. Also, do not forget that cheating and scandals have been a part of sports in the past. The Chicago White Sox supposedly threw the 1919 World Series which led to a victory for my beloved Cincinnati Reds. And do not forget Pete Rose betting on the game. Baseball overcame similar issues in the past. Likewise, the NBA will recover, but it has to deal with it in the present. Similarly, I feel all three leagues will recover, but not overnight.

Can Online Discussion be used to Predict Interest in Exchange Traded Funds (ETF's)?

A co-worker of mine came to me a few days ago and asked whether exchange traded fund (ETF) discussion has trended down and if so, would that be a leading indicator that ETF popularity will be decreasing. Therefore, I set up a small project to see whether a correlation between online buzz and trading volume existed. The results are very surprising.

First I wanted to see how online discussion about ETF's in general was trending. Discussion rose significantly from October 2006 to April 2007. However, discussion started to level off, then pick up again in early July 2007.



Second, I wanted to see how trading volume for specific ETF's trended over time compared to online discussion. Therefore, I looked at two ETF's, PowerShares Gldn Dragon Halter USX China (PGJ) and iShares MSCI Malaysia Index (EWM). Interestingly, there seems to be some correlation between online discussion and trading volume for ETF's. PGJ's average trading volume has a .79 correlation with online discussion about the fund while EWM's average trading volume has a correlation of .84 with online discussion. Overall, these are rather impressive.

Now I am not a finance guru by any stretch of the imagination. However, I do think this analysis provides some insight. Discussion volume and trading volume for both ETF's peak between January and March. Interestingly, share prices for both began to flatten.

I am not saying that online discussion should be used when evaluating whether to purchase an ETF, but it does warrant some attention. Typically, higher trading volumes indicate that more investors are buying (stock price goes up) or selling (stock price goes down) a particular stock.

I have yet to determine the cause and effect relationship between online buzz and trading volume for ETF's. However, I'm sure it is possible if I am able to review "real time" information about how people are talking. For example, Apple shares plunged $8.00 on Tuesday, July 24, 2007 when the first wave of "activation" numbers came through. I could have speculated increased trading volume would follow if consumers were saying things like "I'm going to be selling my Apple stock since iPhone sales were disappointing." In contrast, increases in trading volume may cause online discussion if investors discuss the transaction after the fact (i.e. "I sold my Apple stock today since iPhone sales were lower than expected").

* Average trading volume information came from Yahoo finance historical information for EWM and PGJ.

On a separate note, I'm sorry for not leaving a post in a while. I have been very busy trying to complete the purchase of my first home. I close on August 21, 2007. Feel free to send an e-mail to www.conceptsmarketingresearch@hotmail.com or leave a comment regarding anything I've posted today or in the past.

Live Earth Gives iPhone a Run For Its Money

I found an some interesting information at Pete Blackshaw's blog, Consumergeneratedmedia.com. He says "The buzz jury is still out, but there's just no question the Live Earth global concert is giving iPhone buzz a run for the money. Whether it's sustainable (pun intended) or not will take time to determine, but the concert does appear to have succeeded in generating a significant, and growing, global conversation on the global warming issue.

Personally, I think it will be interesting to see how long the iPhone maintains high buzz levels. Buzz has lowered considerably since its official release. Also, the iPhone is receiving negative buzz regarding its battery replacement. Negative word-of-mouth concerning battery replacement and distribution (i.e. availability through AT&T / Cingular only) may actually keep the iPhone from becoming as popular as many hope.

Shawn Drops iPhone in Houston

I came across a video titled “Shawn drops iPhone in Houston” on YouTube. It posted on June 29, 2007 and has more than 547,366 views and 970 comments. Consumers commenting feel the video is funny since someone dropped their new iPhone. They make comments such as “omg thats funny” and “wow that guy has butter fingers lol it's probably broken now”. Shawn, the person who drops their iPhone, essentially shakes it off saying the iPhone should be ok since it has a plastic covering.



Interestingly, I came across some other videos [below] at YouTube from consumers critiquing Shawn for dropping his iPhone. One person does not understand why people find the video titled “Shawn drops iPhone in Houston” so funny. Another consumer feels Shawn is an "idiot" for dropping his iPhone.



I do not know about you, but I think the guy in the above video may have some issues. Additionally, I hint a bit of jealousy. Perhaps he was waiting in line for 12+ hours for an iPhone only to find out his local vendor was out-of-stock. I guess that would drive me insane enough to complain about someone else's misfortune (i.e. Shawn dropping his iPhone).

I wish I could meet the guy in this video because I would seriously tell him to Lighten Up, figuratively and metaphorically. This video is so dark it would scare Darth Vader!



The girl in this video needs to "chill out." And who is she calling an "idiot?" She is over-reacting more than Shawn. Shawn is the one who dropped the iPhone, not her.

Unfortunately, Shawn is not getting a lot of love from consumers online. However, that should not be of any concern to him. He has an iPhone and they do not. Go Shawn!

Videos like the two above lead me to have more sympathy for the consumers critiquing Shawn rather than Shawn himself. And Shawn is the one who dropped the iPhone. Some of these consumers just need to get a life, or a job. Afterwards, they can afford to buy their own iPhone and drop it so others can post videos about them on YouTube. Seriously, I have yet to meet someone who has never dropped something. I do not feel dropping something is worth being overly-criticized for, even if it is an iPhone.

I have heard that Shawn was able to replace his dropped iPhone for a new one. However, I cannot confirm this. Therefore, I am asking all of my readers to give me the "inside scoop" as to whether Shawn was able to replace it. Please provide a link to a source confirming that Shawn's iPhone was indeed replaced if possible. Also, is Apple doing anything to capitalize on good Public Relations (PR) if the iPhone was replaced? Any information on these two questions would be greatly appreciated.

The video titled "Shawn drops iPhone in Houston" on YouTube is becoming fairly viral. I have a few tips for Apple if they want to capitalize this incident.

1). Hold a press conference or post a formal video on YouTube letting consumers know what they are doing to help Shawn (i.e. replacing the iPhone). I understand there may be some legal issues since Apple will not want to let people know that they will replace every iPhone simply because it is dropped. Apple's legal department will be able to tackle this issue though.

2). Shawn could be the spokesperson for the new iPhone. I feel this may be beneficial for both Apple and the general public. Shawn is the subject of much ridicule online, but he did respond positively in the video by talking about the positive attributes of the product such as the plastic covering. Personally, I do not feel it is a bad thing when a lemon can be made into lemonade.

3). Apple should use this incident to encourage consumers to purchase products (i.e. plastic coverings, holders) and services (i.e. insurance plans) to protect their new iPhones. The iPhone is not cheap and I'm sure more consumers are sure to drop theirs.

I Love Obama Video

Here is a Consumer Generated Media (CGM) video about presidential candidate Barack Obama. This is another great example how social media will impact the 2008 presidential election. It was posted on June 15, 2007 and already has 10,000 views and 49 comments.

Geico's Big Spending Pays Off

Ad Age reports Geico getting ahead with big advertisement spending. The auto insurer with the multiple spokescharacters has increased its ad spending a whopping 75% since 2004. Geico, with its cavemen and gecko, has been the main driver of this skyrocketing spending. The category's next-biggest spender is Progressive, which spent $265 million in 2006, up from $201 million in 2004, according to TNS Media Intelligence.

As for brand image, the study says, "Geico occupies unique terrain in the auto-insurance space as a relatively inexpensive carrier that is fun. State Farm and Allstate, on the other hand, occupy more traditional territory (expensive and serious)." I find this strategy similar to WAMU (Washington Mutual). It is trying the shed the image of being a stodgy bank.

The trend graph below shows buzz levels for Geico, State Farm and Progressive in the blogosphere. Overall, Geico receives the most buzz followed by state farm. Geico receives the most discussion due to consumers frequently mentioning its commercials featuring the gecko and caveman.


Personally, I have experience with State Farm, Progressive and Geico. I was with State Farm during my teens and early twenties. I was involved in one accident (not my fault) but found myself covering the deductible since the person who rear-ended me was uninsured. I had to contact a local news station to report on the issue before I getting my deductible back from State Farm. Afterwards, I switched to Progressive. I feel their rates are very competitive. Additionally, I am able to contact them 24-7. My wife and I thought about switching car insurance companies recently. And of course, Geico to was "top of mind." Unfortunately, we did not go with them since they could not save us any money. I am still with Progressive.

I feel Geico's advertising is effective. As I mentioned, they were "top of mind" when I first decided to switch car insurance companies. I would have went with them had their rates been more competitive.

I would really advise Geico to make sure it really can save each consumer hundreds of dollars before getting them to inquire. Otherwise, Geico may end up with more people complaining about them online rather than blogging and posting messages about its commercials.

Doritos X-13D

Doritos introduced its "Crash the Super Bowl" contest in Fall 2006. Consumers were encouraged to submit their own commercial to be aired during the Super Bowl. That promotion was deemed a huge success. Interestingly, Doritos has done it again! They have found a way to create yet another intriguing marketing promotion involving consumers. Doritos has recently introduced X-13D NAME THE FLAVOR contest.

Doritos X-13D chips have a bold, new, mysterious flavor. Doritos encourages everyone to taste them and let their mouth decide. 100 lucky people who submit a name will become Doritos Flavor Masters.

I came across the chips while going back and forth between the aisles at a local Wal-Mart. I came to the chips aisle and immediately noticed an interesting black and white Doritos bag titled "X-13D." I decided to check them out.

At first, I thought the chips tasted like a Burger King Whopper. I like Whoppers, so that was a good thing. I continued eating away. Meanwhile, I was reading the information on the bag. I found out that I could text the name of the flavor I wanted to submit to 24477. Therefore I did.

I feel this promotion will be very successful. Doritos has a lot of experience implementing marketing initiatives deriving from consumers input. I only wish more companies would look to involving consumers.

I've compiled a list of several companies using social media in 2007.

1. Doritos X-13D
2. Heinz TopThisTV
3. Kodak's Thinklikeryan

Feel free to let me know if I've missed any. I'll do some analysis to see which company's social marketing initiatives are receiving the most buzz. I'll report my findings later this summer.

Kodak's Thinklikeryan.com Car Contest

Kodak's newest marketing effort is a contest to paint NASCAR driver Ryan Newman's car. You can find out more information about this contest at Thinklikeryan.com. Participants will be able to create and submit a design. The winning design will be painted on Ryan Newman's car and featured in an upcoming NASCAR race.

Personally, I think this is a great ideal. A lot of companies have had incorporating Consumer Generated Media (CGM) into their marketing efforts. Doritos and General Motors (GM) both incorporated social media aspects in their Super Bowl promotions. Those were deemed a success. Additionally, Kodak has some prior experiences launching interactive contests. For example, KODAK Easyshare Gallery launched a photo contest in support of Olympics in November 2005. Overall, I feel Kodak's contest to paint Ryan Newman's car will go over well, especially with NASCAR fans.



The trend graph above compares online discussion from bloggers about Dale Earnhardt Jr., Jeff Gordon and Ryan Newman. Discussion about Ryan Newman primarily took place prior to the Daytona 500, Kobalt Tools 500 and Food City 500 races. Discussion about Ryan Newman in the blogosphere is currently trending downward. In contrast, discussion about Dale Jr. has been rising. It peaked on June 13, 2007 when Dale Earnhardt Jr. announced his decision to race for Hendrick Motorsports.

Unfortunately, I can't provide a lot of information about this contest just yet. I haven't found much on Kodak's website since the contest has not officially launched. Additionally, the only link that comes up when I Google "thinklikeryan" is Kodak's contest website, Thinklikeryan.com. I encourage everyone to check the site themselves or visit my blog again. I am interested to see if there will be an interactive element such as internet voting incorporated with this contest. I will post more information about the contest as it becomes available.

The graph below shows search results for "thinklikeryan." Amazingly, Google only returned one result which was a link to Thinklikeryan.com. That is a first!

Do Marketers Know Who Blogs? How Can They Find Out?

I came across an interesting article a Adage which asks Who Blogs? Additionally, it states that most marketers do not have a clue. The author,Beth Snyder Bulik, says there are over 15 million blogs which are read by 57 million people. I do question Adage's methodology for calculating the number of blogs. The number is probably much higher...unless the criteria they use is a strict "one post a day criteria." The latest estimate from the MySpace is that there are nearly 100 million MySpace page, and it's probably safe to assume that about a fifth are active. There are 48,569,755 blogs according to Blogpulse.com. New blogs are being created every day. Regardless of the actual size of the blogosphere, we can all rest assured that it is growing and becoming a credible source of information for consumers.

"This is simply not a passing fad that can be ignored," said Michael Gartenberg, analyst with Jupiter Research. The author says bloggers have great credibility. They use a recent event as evidence. Engadget reported that Apple's iPhone and Leopard operating system would be seriously delayed. Apple's stock price took an immediate dive, dropping some $4 billion in market capitalization before it was discovered that the information came from a fake leaked memo.

The article goes on to say "Consumers are also taking bloggers' word before they buy. A late 2006 Ipsos MORI survey found that blogs were a more trusted source of information than advertising or e-mail marketing. One-third of respondents said they had decided not to buy a product after reading a negative blog post, while 52% were persuaded to buy after reading a positive review." There is no denying that blogs influence consumers purchase behavior.

Unfortunately, most marketers do not know who is blogging about them. However, I have a few tips which may help them.

1. Type in the name of your company or product in Blogpulse, Technorati, Google Blog Search or any other blog search engine.
2. Collect a list of bloggers talking about your company or product.
3. Read bloggers post to see what they are saying about you. (This may be more important than knowing who they are since some bloggers like to remain anonymous)!
4. Click on a bloggers profile. Many bloggers provide demographic information (i.e. Who they are, Age, Sex, Location, E-mail etc...). This will give you a really good feel about who they are.
5. Determine how much influence a blogger has over other people. Do they post Consumer Generated Media (CGM) in other places (i.e. Discussion boards, Usenet groups, video content on YouTube)?
6. Find out who is in their 'Sphere of Influence'. Do any other bloggers link to them?





I hope these tips can help out some of my fellow marketers. Feel free to leave comments regarding this post.

2008 Presidential Election Preliminary Buzz Report

I had my wisdom teeth removed last week. Therefore, I found myself at home surfing the web a lot searching for new campaign information to blog about. I came across an interesting site covering democrats and republicans website traffic. Also, I thought I'd do some research on my own to see who is getting the most buzz among the presidential candidates. I looked candidate discussion online between January 1 , 2007 and April 6, 2007. The results are below.

I wanted to see which party is getting the most buzz. Additionally, I wanted to see which candidates and issues were being talked about the most. The graph below shows a breakout of each parties' candidates. Democratic candidates are receiving the majority of buzz so far.




This next graph shows the percent of discussion that each candidate is receiving. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are receiving the most buzz. Surprisingly, Rudy Giuliani is receiving less than ten percent of candidate discussion online. This came as a shocker to me since I have heard so much about him.



Lastly, I wanted to see which issues were most important to people talking about presidential candidates online. Iraq is by far the most talked about topic among people mentioning candidates. It is followed by taxes and healthcare.



Please feel free to comment on the results or reference other sites which may be useful in my quest to measure the impact on social media in the 2008 presidential elections. I'll make sure to update these charts periodically and note changes.

Blogs Affect Your Brand; Finding Social Media is Easier Than Ever Before

Have you ever went to Google and typed in the name of a company or product? Sure you have. However, you may have not noticed the amount of Consumer Generated Media (CGM) that appears. CGM can show up in the form of blogs, discussion boards, Usenet groups, podcasts and video content among others. Marketers frequently sift through consumer discussion to find out what is being talked about.





A company may want some discussion about them and/or their products to be easily found by other consumers, especially if its positive. In contrast, a company may want to mitigate damage from negative buzz (i.e. vehicle recall). A company's ability to optimize search engine results is becoming more important everyday. The things that consumers write can affect a brands image. Furthermore, consumers can find social media very easily. All they need to do is go to Google, Yahoo or a blog search tools such as BlogPulse and type in the name of a company or product.

Some companies do a great job of optimizing search engine results. For example, rarely does CGM show up on the first two pages of search results when you type in "Sony". However, several CGM sources appear on the first page of Google search results for the phrases "Ford Focus" and "World MasterCard".

I was able to find CGM very easily typing in the phrase "Ford Focus". In fact, I came across a Ford Focus enthusiast site, Focusfanatics.com on the first page on Google. I am a member of Focusfanatics.com for the record. In fact, you can find me posting messages under the alias of MisterDork. Please don't ask me how I got that name. My wife gave it to me :o).


I had to dig a little deeper when looking at "World MasterCard". I had to go to the second page of Google search results. However, I am fairly certain I can find CGM about any company by simply going a few pages deeper on any search.



The fact that social media sites can be found easily shows the growing importance for marketers to follow what is said about the company they work for. In fact, every company should have someone whose job is to go to Google or Yahoo and type the name of their company followed by the word "sucks".