the monster in us Celebrating our Everyday

American Heroes

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B. Butler | M. Guarante | N. Kapuscienski | K. Montgomery

ADV 459 – Spring 2014

o  The purpose of this campaign is to take the Monster brand and communicate it to a new audience. This will be done through a social media campaign that authenticates Monster’s U.S. roots and aligns the brand with the heroic actions of the everyday American heroes.

o  The main concept of this campaign is to take Monster out of the extreme sports

market and introduce a new Monster image to the American people. This will be done by creating emotion around a characteristic that this brand and the American people both have in common, our American roots and patriotic spirit. To create this emotion, we will be focusing on emergency response personnel within the United States. We will show support for those laying their lives on the line every day to keep us safe and out of harm’s way.

o  This campaign will run for 3 months across various social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, and Pinterest. The success of this social media campaign will be measured in likes, comments, shares, retweets, followers, hash tag, mentions, views, and website traffic on the various social platforms mentioned above.

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Executive Summary -------------------------------------- 2

Company Overview --------------------------------------- 4

Energy Drink Consumers --------------------------------- 5

Fierce Competition ------------------------------------- 6-9

Room For Improvement ----------------------------------- 10

Problems ----------------------------------------------- 11

Opportunities ------------------------------------------ 12

Campaign Goal ------------------------------------------ 13

Strategic Direction ------------------------------------ 14

Target Profile ----------------------------------------- 15

Key Message -------------------------------------------- 16

Creative Direction ------------------------------------- 17

Media -------------------------------------------------- 18-23

PR Tactics --------------------------------------------- 24

Creative Materials ------------------------------------- 25-31

Timeline ----------------------------------------------- 32-33

Budget Breakdown --------------------------------------- 34

Evaluation Tactics ------------------------------------- 35

Test Drive Results ------------------------------------- 36-38

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o  Monster Energy founded in 2002 •  Launched in Corona, CA, USA

o  Advertised mainly through BMX, X-Games, and other extreme sport ventures

o  Revenues •  2013 Fiscal Year: $338.7 million •  2012 Fiscal Year: $340 million

§ Decreased revenues point to deficiencies in advertising, marketing and promotion tactics

4 Source:  Monster  Energy  

o  General Demographics •  Gender: Male: 68.5% Female: 31.5% •  Age: 18-44 accounts for 82.6% of the market

§  Largest emphasis on men aged 18-24 •  Employment: 63.7%

§  Employed full time: 13.2% §  Employed part time: 23.1%

o  Primary users •  Teenagers, young adults, and athletes engaged in

the extreme sports world

5 Source:  IBIS  World  

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5259

8548

13473

457 1619

1724

171 1179

2842

0

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

16000

2008 2013 2018

Energy Drinks

Energy Shots

Energy Mixers

Source:  Mintel  Oxygen  

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0

500

1000

1500

2000

2500

3000

3500

Red Bull Monster Rockstar NOS Amp Full Throttle

43% 39%

10% 3% 3%

1%

Sales in Millions

Top Selling Energy Drink Brands and Market Share In 2013

Source:  Caffeine  Insider  

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0

50000

100000

150000

200000

250000

300000

Social media mentions

Source:  Mintel  Oxygen  

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o  Red Bull is the direct competition in the market

o  Monster holds a solid chunk of market share •  2nd place •  Trailing Red Bull by 4% •  Leading by a slight margin in social media

interaction categories o  Energy drinks are the preferred choice in the

energy market •  Forecasted to be for years to come (through 2018)

o  Need for Monster’s own image •  Monster needs to establish its own brand image •  Following Red Bull’s branding tactics will not lead to success

o  Energy drink market growth

•  Monster’s strategies should reflect the mainstream consumers’ minds §  Avoid ‘extreme sports’ oriented strategy §  Develop strategies consistent with the target consumers’

needs and lifestyle

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o  Monster’s strategy does not reflect the changed market

o  Fierce competition in the market

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o  Strong second brand with high brand awareness

o  Rapid energy drink market growth

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Authenticate Monster Energy’s

American foundation

o  Take the Monster brand in a mainstream direction

o  Target a large and diverse audience o  Build a supportive and patriotic

relationship with consumers o  Engage with with consumers in real-time

through multiple social media platforms

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o  Our targeted audience includes •  U.S. citizens •  Aged 21-45 •  All genders •  Personal connection to emergency response personnel (i.e., families and

friends) •  Patriotic tendencies

o  According to our research, emergency response personnel alone makes up nearly 2% of the overall U.S. population

o  Total Direct U.S. Targets: 5,661,000 •  U.S. Nurse Population: 3.1 million •  U.S. Firemen Population: 1.1 million •  U.S. Police Population: 861,000 •  U.S. Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT): 600,000

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Support  the  everyday  heroes    

Supports  the  everyday  heroes  who  lay  their  lives  on  the  line  for  U.S.  

American  brand  that  supports  everyday  

American  heroes  

o  Highlight those who serve the U.S. internally •  Focusing on occupations such as:

§  Nurses §  Policemen/Policewomen §  Firemen/Firewomen §  Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT)

o  Emotional appeals •  Our core focus will be tugging at the heart strings

of our intended viewers •  Emphasis on the sense of patriotism one may feel •  Dark, dramatic color scheme to reflect our message

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o  Our media plan will continue Monster’s legacy of being primarily marketed through social media •  In addition, we will only use traditional media

through earned media and media alerts o  The chosen social media vehicles include: •  YouTube •  Facebook •  Twitter •  Pinterest •  Instagram

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o  The media placements on YouTube are the essentials of our campaign

o  On our channel, we will launch a series of four 60-second video portraits through the title “The Monster in US” •  Each portrait will represent a different occupation within the

emergency response personnel category •  The portraits will then be embedded within each of our remaining

social media vehicles in order to ensure stable viewer tracking

o  YouTube Media Buying ($2.5 million) •  In-Stream Advertising

§  CPCs/CPVs (cost per click/view) §  Averaging about $0.04 each (Tompros, 2012) §  Not charged until viewer has watched 30 seconds

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o  Facebook will be our method of reaching the older segment of our targeted audience

o  The on-page creative execution of Facebook will include •  Teasers with graphics •  Discussion posts to encourage interaction with real-time engagement •  Video portrait releases

o  Facebook Media Buying: ($2.5 million) •  A daily limit will be selected and will be allocated to an optimized

cost per million (oCPM) §  Best for showing the ad to the people who are most likely to take action on the

ad (Facebook, 2014) –  For example, liking the page or clicking a link –  Daily limit will allow the campaign to promote more on days relevant to

the campaign, such as July 4th (Refer to timeline)

–  Cost: $1.60 per impression (Facebook, 2014)

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o  Following Facebook, Twitter will be our method of reaching the younger age segment of our intended audience

o  Through our postings on @MonsterinUSofA, our creative execution will include: •  Interaction with the hash tag, “MonsterinUS” •  Video teasers with graphics •  Open-ended discussion questions with guaranteed real-time

engagement •  Sharing of our video portraits via YouTube

o  Twitter Media Buying ($2.5 million) •  Selected daily budget

§  Will go towards Promoted Tweets and Promoted Trends §  Only charged when someone engages with Promoted Tweets or follows

Promoted Account (Twitter, 2014) §  Daily budget will vary based on timeline

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o  Target audience is not gender-specific •  Media plan strives to reach the female audience who may

stray away from the energy drink market o  Pinterest is a vehicle that is mainly used by females in

the entire age range we are seeking for this campaign o  Creative execution on Pinterest will include:

•  Graphic video teasers •  Embedded YouTube video portraits •  Re-pinning of related materials

§  i.e., nursing tips, emergency kit tips, etc.

o  Pinterest Media Buying ($250,000) §  Monthly budget plan §  Will go towards promoted Pins

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o  Instagram allows us to deliver quick, efficient content to those on the run, such as our emergency personnel themselves

o  Instagram creative execution will include: •  Graphic video teasers •  Shortened video portraits •  “Monsters of the Week” spotlights

§  Nominees will be brought to our attention through the hash tag #MonsterinUS

§  Weekly winners will be entered into the drawing for 2015 Monsters of the Year sponsorship prize

o  Instagram Media Buying ($250,000) §  Monthly budget plan §  Will go towards content and promotions

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o  To prove that Monster is an authentic brand, we plan to use the remaining funds from our media budget to support a chosen city’s emergency response personnel to award them for their bravery and heroic actions

o  Due to the recent happenings in the city of Boston in the past year and the swift actions of their heroes, we will select Boston as our pilot awardee. We will donate $1 million to the Boston Police Foundation and another $1 million to the Boston Firefighter’s Credit Union

o  We hope as this campaign direction continues throughout the years, the award will develop into something meaningful within the U.S.

o  This will not only demonstrate corporate responsibility, but allow Monster Energy to gain positive earned media through word-of-mouth interaction, organic social media communication and press ventures

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Our new campaign logo reflects the patriotic feel that we are trying to achieve, as well as including our hashtag.

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Our video portrait teasers help keep our viewers attentive and in the loop via our social media channels.

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Our video portrait teasers help keep our viewers attentive and in the loop via our social media channels.

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Our pilot video portrait features an inspirational monologue from the first-person perspective of a nurse. In this video, the character speaks of the

struggle and strife that nurses face on a daily basis. To make this video, we pulled footage from four online videos. We then re-edited, changed the

composition, added our own script and motivational music track.

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The second video portrait features a first-person perspective of a male police officer. In this video, the character talks about the growing pains

and brotherhood of the police force. To make this video, we pulled footage from two online videos. We then re-edited, changed the composition, added our own script and motivational music track.

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3-Month Plan

Timeline

Social Media

Sponsorships

Video Portrait Mini-Series

August July June     September    

   Campaign Launch

Video Portraits Launch on 07/04

Boston Awards

Campaign Ends 09/01

MOY Award Nominations

Real-Time Engagement across all Social Media Platforms

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Specific Dates: o  June 1st – September 1st •  Video portraits will begin to be launched on

Independence Day (7/4) •  Monster of the Year awards given on Labor Day

(9/1) to conclude campaign period

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Facebook 2.5

Twitter 2.5

YouTube 2.5

Sponsorship 2

Pinterest 0.25

Instagram 0.25

Budget Allocation (per million)  

o  Circulation of our content as well as awareness •  One-month period beginning in late March

o  Metrics •  Likes, followers, hash tag mentions, views,

shares/retweets, comments, website traffic o  Relying heavily on viewer input •  Open forum on all social media platforms for

constructive criticism

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o  Facebook: •  Our top tool for analyzing campaign success •  “The Monster in US: Police” video brought the

most viewership and engagement to our Facebook page within a month-long period

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o  YouTube •  Used to track all views through sharing of YouTube link •  Showed favorable statistics in regards to viewership,

average view and etc. §  Important statistic: average view time of “The Monster in US:

Police” was 1:12, meaning the majority of our viewers watched the entire video

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“Of course I loved it, it hit close to

home.”

“Love the videos! Don’t like the “US” though. I

keep reading it as ‘United States’.”

Great work!”

Got Goosebumps watching this. Pumped me up.