Schupp Company Blog

What does Social Media mean to the consumer shopping experience?

Wednesday, June 16th, 2010

Wikipedia provides a blanket definition, stating that “Social Media uses the Internet and web-based technologies to transform broadcast media monologues (one-to-many) into Social Media dialogues (many-to-many).”

Simply stated, Social Media is the bazillion conversations people are having online … all day, all night.

It’s the industry darling for the moment, an emerging and evolving channel where marketers can tap into a pre-established consumer base. So, everyone wants to get involved, of course, from retailers to brands to businesses to services. But before you dive in and create your new Facebook Fan Page, here are six questions you should ask yourself to make sure you’re maximizing your Social Media efforts:

1. Do you know your consumer?

2. Do you know how they use social media?

3. What’s your brand differentiator?

4. How will you “make it real?”

5. What’s the role for social media?

6. What is success?

If you already have all the answers, you obviously have everything under control. But if there’s anything you still feel unsure about, maybe you should give Schupp Company a call.

Don’t be shy. Our interns are on the edges of their seats, awaiting your call: 314-421-5200.

Ask for Mark.

Tags: music videos, people, schupp company, social media
Posted in Culture, Miscellaneous | No Comments »

All-Time Backfire?

Friday, February 26th, 2010

All Sprite wanted to do was harbor a little goodwill in the African-American community. Award a scholarship. Throw a freaking badass show with cool musical guests that featured some of the top stepping talent from colleges across the country. It was not only the perfect opportunity to appeal to their target consumer; it was the perfect chance to create a ton of viable online content (i.e. The Step Off could be a sweet multi-channel promotion with tons of legs.)

Stop. Rewind. Do you even know what stepping is? I’ve seen it live once in my life, and it’s pretty amazing.  I would never attempt even trying this because: a) I have negative rhythm, and b) I would walk away looking like I got in a slap fight with a ninja.

Most commonly found in the houses of historically African American fraternities and sororities, it draws inspiration from a ton of different places including traditional African foot dances and popular R&B groups like the Temptations and The Four Tops. Wiki defines stepping as a form of percussive dance in which the participant’s entire body is used as an instrument to produce complex rhythms and sounds through a mixture of footsteps, spoken word and handclaps.

Ok. Now that we’re all up to speed on stepping, let’s return to Sprite.

The campaign was called The Sprite Step Off. To be eligible you have to have at least three steppers from the same chapter and school, one team per chapter.  You must be 18 or over. Then there are tons of rules about what you can and can’t do and can and can’t wear. Oh, and you have to qualify in a regional qualifying round. Capiche?

The top three finishers win scholarships. Sprite wins a little piece of the hearts and minds of their consumers. Wonderful. On paper it sounds like the perfect promotion.

That was until the ladies of Zeta Tau Alpha, Epsilon chapter stepped on stage during the finals last week and stepped away with the title.

Notice anything different about this particular sorority? It’s not the sunglasses. If Captain Obvious said, ”They’re white.” You would be correct. These chicks rocked the place. The crowd loved them (can you hear the commentary of the guys who recorded the performance? They were loving it.) Who cares if they’re white?

Apparently, lots of people do.

The Sprite Facebook page has been blowing up over the past week with some colorful remarks regarding the winners. Comments run the gambit – from racial to technical critiques of the ladies’ performance.  It’s a PR NIGHTMARE for Sprite.

In an interesting turn of events, Sprite posted the following statement yesterday on the official The Step Off site. Apparently, they felt they needed to “resolve” something.

“After the competition, we conducted a post-competition review and discovered a scoring discrepancy. There is no conclusive interpretation, nor definitive resolution for the discrepancy.

Sprite is committed to upholding the honesty and integrity of the competition. Because the scoring discrepancy cannot be resolved and due to the extremely narrow margin between the first and second place winning sororities, we believe that the appropriate course of action is to name both Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Tau Chapter and Zeta Tau Alpha, Epsilon Chapter, co-first place winners of the Sprite Step Off. Accordingly, we will increase Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Tau Chapter’s scholarship prize to $100,000, consistent with first prize winnings.

Sprite Step Off was created for the primary purpose of awarding scholarships and supporting talented college students in their quest for higher education.”

Hmmm…if that isn’t a make good, I don’t know what is. Thoughts? Does Sprite think that this band-aid is going to fix this? Is awarding a second “winner” really going to appease anyone? Do I even need to mention that Zeta Tau Alpha was the only white sorority in the competition? I didn’t, did I?

Personally, I agree with The Step Off host Ryan Cameron – If you can step, YOU CAN STEP.  So, step off Zeta Tau. (Yeah … I’m not tough. I just blog like I am.)

Tags: Debacle, facebook, music videos, news, popular, Sorority, Sprite, Stepping, trends
Posted in Miscellaneous | 4 Comments »

Holding vigil for a little Thrill(er)

Tuesday, June 30th, 2009

Many people find this difficult to believe, but I grew up in a house without cable. Cable was available, it was in our area, it was all the rage, but the Ojile girls were free of all MTV, History Channel, VH1, or TBS channels during our formative years.

It was something I never really noticed growing up. We were so busy with so many other activities; TV time was limited as it was. I was none the wiser to what I was seemingly missing out on. This included all the popular videos and songs during the 80s and 90s, and especially including the all-time great ‘Thriller’ video by Michael Jackson.

As with most important evens (pop culture and otherwise) I think today will be filled with stories about how shocked we were with his passing but it will also be filled with memories. And so with his passing yesterday, I started to think about where I was when I first saw the ‘Thriller’ video and how I can remember exactly when that was and how it made me feel.

I went to college in 1999 to a school in a very small town where cable was your only shot of getting anything close to a clear picture on the TV set. I still didn’t sit down to watch TV very much as I was rather preoccupied with my freshman year.

At the end of my first semester, MTV was promoting their ‘Top 100 Videos of the Millennium” countdown that would run at the end of December. So I would turn the TV on while studying for finals but still, didn’t pay much attention to the videos or who was coming out on top. But as the countdown got closer to the bottom and my attention span for studying became shorter, I realized there was a chance I’d be seeing the ‘Thriller’ video for the first time.
This realization may seem trivial to all of you who grew up with cable and had probably already seen the Thriller video a hundred times by the time you were 10. I was 18 and couldn’t wait for my first time.

The countdown continued and days went by while I stood in our little box of a dorm room, holding the remote and adjusting the volume at the end of every video, hanging on to the announcer’s teases about the #1 video coming up. I shushed my roommate. I kicked my hall mates out of the room. The books were officially closed for the semester. The buildup was killing me. The suspense and anticipation were high. I could not wait to see this video.

‘Here it is!!!’ I thought to myself. I will now know what everyone else is talking about. I held my breath…

But wait … What was this? Is this a movie? Why are these people talking and who is that girl?!’

I wanted to see Michael and the zombies and the music. I was slightly ticked because I wasn’t sure how much longer I could wait for the music to begin.
Then, as the familiar tune started in the background, slowly, and the zombies came out, and the music got louder, I knew what was coming. Everything was exactly as I thought it would be and I could feel the excitement swelling inside me.

“This is it! This is what I’ve been waiting for!’

The video did not disappoint. I was hooked. I told everyone about it and they, of course, looked at me as if I had two heads for being the oldest person to ever see the ‘Thriller’ video for the first time.

But I didn’t care. I was in the cable club and knew what all the hype was about. That video was truly remarkable, especially for someone who didn’t grow up watching music videos. I appreciated the art of it, the story, the dancing, the music… and I wondered if I would have taken all that way from a music video at age 7?

Nevertheless, it was a defining moment for me and I’m sure we all have stories about trying to replicate Michael Jackson’s dances in our parents’ living room, of his concerts, of which albums of his we loved the best, and of course, where we were when it all happened. (And I know this is true because it was all over Facebook statuses yesterday.)

I was at work when a news feed popped in my inbox that he had been taken to the hospital and was in coma. I searched around the Internet for news and then saw on Facebook that he had already passed.

So I want to know, where were you when you first saw the Thriller video? Where were you when you heard about Michael Jackson’s death? Leave your comments below.

Tags: facebook, michael Jackson, music videos
Posted in Culture, Music, Television | No Comments »