Apologies for the poor image, but I wanted to share this with you.
I'm a big fan of innocent, both as a brand and their smoothies. In fact I like them so much, I joined their family. Don't worry, it's not some weird organisation or anything. You can join here if you're interested.
Being part of the innocent family means they send me emails with their latest news and what's happening. One of the things I really like about these is the Manager's Specials section. It tells you where you can get innocent smoothies on special offer. And let's be honest, who doesn't like hearing how they can save money.
This is a great way of innocent rewarding the people who are fans of their smoothies, and helps build loyalty. It makes you feel like they actually care about customers and have their best interests in mind.
I also imagine this would help make people more 'sticky' to the brand instead of buying another type of smoothie.
I came across this on David Armano's blog. Granted this is from a US perspective, but I still think there are things in here that could be used by Irish brand's and companies.
I read an article in this months Marketing Age called "Staying the Course". It discusses why it's not such a clever move to cut marketing spend in a recession, and how companies that don't, are in a much better position to build market share. I found the same article here at Business and Leadership.
This reminded me of a presentation I came across on Paul Dervan's blog. It's by The Economist and is on the same theme. I thought I'd share it with you.
I'm a fan of Guinness advertising. Whenever they launch a new tv ad, I'm always eager to get a look. So when I got a mail last week from Charlie Gipson of Splendid Communications asking if I wanted a sneak preview, I jumped at it.
The new ad carries the strap line "Bring it to life" replacing "Good things come to those who wait". It was created by AMV BBDO and was shot in New Zealand, Fiji, Canada and the UK.
I came across The Economist's new 'Plugs' billboard on Campaign recently. It's by BBDO New York. The copy reads, 'Get a world view. Read The Economist'.
The idea is wherever you are, you can stay in touch with what's happening in the world by reading The Economist.
I like this because it ticks the boxes that make good outdoor.
1. Branding Strong branding is very important. People need to know it's you. Red and white are The Economist's colours. The Economist logo is also very visible and not hidden away.
2. Colour contrast Good colour contrast makes your message stand out and easier for people to read. If there's not enough contrast between the copy/image and background, people will struggle to get your message. In The Economist billboard, the red background draws attention to the white sockets making them stand out.
3. Image What you don't want to do is clutter a billboard with too many images. Some people say you should only use one image. My view is as long as you don't clutter, then it's ok to use more than one. I think this goes back to best practice. As long as you know the principles, you can make an informed decision. In the case of The Economist, more than one image works.
4. Simple This is pure simplicity. The sockets represent different parts of world, ie different countries around the world have different sockets.
5. Copy Billoards don't lend themselves well to lots of copy. Generally you only have room for a headline. And the shorter the better. This makes sense if you think about it. The bigger the headline, the smaller the copy has to be. And the smaller the copy, the harder it is for people to read.
Is the copy on this billboard too small? Going on this image, I'd say yes.
6. White space I've posted here before about a billboard The Financial Times ran called 'Beat the downturn'. It was a great example of a good use of white space. The Economist billboard also uses white space well. The images and copy are given plenty of room. White space used well will draw attention to an image or copy.
Initially audiobooks didn't appeal to me that much. The reason being is because when I read, I make notes on pages and underline certain pieces. So I didn't think I would get as much out of an audiobook.
My brother got Virgin founder Richard Branson's latest book, Business Stripped Bare, on iTunes. So I put it on my iPod thinking I might give it a listen sometime. One day while driving from Dublin to Waterford, I put it on and can honestly say, I was captivated from the start.
For me, the thing that made this audiobook so compelling is that Richard reads it himself. He discusses his early life, where Virgin came from, Virgin as a brand and what it means, as well as entrepreneurship and risk taking.
Richard also discusses the setbacks he's had, how he learned from them, and Virgin's future plans, including space travel.
I would highly recommend Business Stripped Bare as either an audiobook or book. Either way it's incredible. You can check it out here on Amazon.
Since listening to it, I've started following Richard on twitter and drop by his blog to see what he's up to. An inspirational man.
One of the things I find social media has done is make us all reporters and journalists. People can now blog and tweet on the spot wherever they are. News has become much more participatory. And it's great to see the likes of Sky, CNN and the Guardian embracing this instead of fighting to keep control. If you think about it though, what they're doing makes sense.
Sky has a lot of reporters, but they can't be everywhere. Sky News' iPhone app means they don't have to be. With the 'Report' function, Sky has added lots of new 'reporters' in many different locations to their team. The app can be downloaded free from the App Store.
In the UK, the Guardian is looking for bloggers for a new service launching early 2010 in Leeds, Cardiff and Edinburgh. Called Guardian Local, the service will cover community news and report on local developments and events.
CNN has also launched an iPhone app. This lets people capture and report on stories using CNN's iReport service. People can record video stories on-the-go, edit them using the iPhone's video software, and upload them to CNN.com.
The app includes a live stream from CNN. And people can also use the app to share information with each other through facebook, twitter, email or text message.
In many cases, what 'traditional' journalists are now doing is starting or contributing to conversations instead of writing finished articles.
I often read about how if a company wants to get involved in social media, it should be embraced by everyone, from the CEO right the way down. I came across an example I thought was similar to this.
A few weeks back, my Dad was travelling to France on a 6.30am Ryanair flight and was checked in by Michael O'Leary. I've told this story to a few people and quite a few were skeptical saying he only did it for PR reasons.
This isn't the first time I've heard a story like this. But in my view, it goes back to Ryanair having a very simple idea, ie low cost.
From where their planes are located at Dublin airport, to having the safety card stuck onto the seat in front of you, to the airports they fly into. Everything Ryanair does seems to relate back to their core idea of low cost.
If they were to fly to the most central airports instead of regional ones, this would cost Ryanair more money and push their fares up. This would go against their core idea. Southwest Airlines are similar.
Simple, as an idea, is about finding your core message and relating what you do back to it. It's also about communicating it in an easy to understand way. Volvo is known for safety, Disney for magic, Virgin for a better experience.
I've just finished reading my latest book, Made to Stick. It's written by brothers Chip and Dan Heath. You can check out their website here and find it on Amazon here.
As you can imagine, this book is about how to create ideas that are memorable and last. There are six key elements that make ideas stick:
These six elements form the main chapters of the book. And it's not just marketers or business people that will find it interesting. Examples of people who made their ideas stick range from teachers to science organisations looking after people's health. The principles of what makes an idea memorable are the same regardless of what you do. It's the application that differs.
I thought this was a great book and would definitely recommend it. I've tried two of the techniques, unexpectedness and stories, and they really helped increase impact.
I posted before how Mars missed an opportunity when they ordered digital agency Poke to shut down a website they created where people could design their own Snickers wrapper.
Instead of doing something like running a competition where the public could design a wrapper and then vote on their favourite, with the winner going into production, Mars ordered the site to be closed. Here's a similar example I came across lately.
Now that the Dublin Bikes Scheme has launched, FUSIO designed an iPhone app. This let people find their nearest bike station as well as the number of bikes and spaces available at it. Released at the end of August, the app had 3,000 downloads by the 23 September. This made it one of the most popular Irish apps available from the App Store.
I think this is a great example of a company developing what I think is a really useful app. But JC Decaux didn't think so.
As reported in the Irish Times, JC Decaux sent a cease and desist letter to FUSIO saying they would take legal action if FUSIO continued to make the app available. Culch.ie contacted both JC Decaux and FUSIO to get their views. Only FUSIO responded.
JC Decaux are part funding the Dublin Bikes Scheme in return for advertising space. According to FUSIO, JC Decaux intend to launch their own app in the future that they plan to charge for.
Personally I can't see why JC Decaux would they do this. FUSIO have done the work for them. Plus they have the app ready for people to use now instead of having to wait for JC Decaux to develop one. Surely some sort of agreement could've been reached. I wonder how much of JC Decaux's action came down to wanting to keep total control.
I don't fill in customer feedback forms anymore. The reason why is because I don't think my feedback is ever listened to. Well, it hasn't been anytime I gave it.
The forms I've filled out were for three restaurants and a gym. The forms asked what I thought of the food, service and facilities. They also asked for my contact details.
So the reasons I don't think my feedback was ever listened to are because:
1. After giving my feedback, nothing changed
2. Nobody ever contacted me to discuss my feedback
I think there's a great opportunity for companies/brands here. Customers are actually taking the time to fill out a feedback form and tell you what they think. Ok, it might be negative feedback, but what they're actually doing is helping you. How can customers telling you ways you could improve be a bad thing? It's also a very cheap form of research.
I came across an example of this here on David Taylor's blog. It's a great example of a company asking for feedback, listening to it, and then contacting the customer who gave it. It's well worth checking out.
I came across Amnesty International's bus stop ad today. It's for domestic violence and carries the headline, "It happens when nobody is watching".
The ad is an eyeball-aware ad. A small camera is used to detect when a person is looking at the ad. When nobody is looking, the ad shows a man abusing his wife. Then when a person looks at the ad, it waits a few seconds for the message to sink in before the couple stop fighting and look normal again.
This is a great example of an ad engaging people. I'm sure it can also help with measurement. But I imagine it's very expensive.
A few of my posts recently have been about ideas and what make an idea memorable. A good idea can help advertising get better cut through, recall or awareness.
Today I came across this video for Thompson Airways. It's their safety feature, but with a difference.
As many of us know, the safety feature is the part before a flight where pretty much everyone on the plane does everything but pay attention to the flight crew. I saw this myself a few weeks ago. I was sitting in my seat wondering how could the flight crew make people listen to them, or at least get their attention. Thompson seem to have found a way.
A person named Claire was on a Thompson flight to Gran Canaria back in July. When the announcement was made that the safety feature was going to be made, the IFE screens came down and this video came on.
According to Claire, everybody on the plane was captivated by the video. She said she never saw as many people pay attention to a safety feature before. It was totally unexpected.
And this is the key. Unexpected.
When we hear 'safety feature' we know what to expect. But when the safety feature is completely different to what we think it's going to be, it breaks what are known as our schemas, ie the way we expect things to happen. And unexpectedness is one way to make an idea stick.
I came across this ad recently. It was created for Gwent Police in South Wales to show the dangers of texting while driving. It's received a lot of coverage in the media, and got widespread coverage in the US.
I think the ad works better than most road safety ads. It's certainly very realistic. But could it have worked better? I think so. The reason why is because from the start, we knew what was going to happen.
It's obvious this is an ad for road safety/safe driving given the way it sets up. This means there's no unexpectedness. It conforms to our schemas, ie the way we expect/predict things to happen.
One way to make an idea or ad more memorable is to break these schemas. So ask yourself:
i. What's the core message you want to communicate ii. What's counterintuitive to this, ie what's the unexpected message/way of getting this across iii. Then communicate the message in a way that breaks people's schemas
For example, imagine if the ad started off with a family pulling out of a drive in their car. The camera shows the sleek lines of the car. You then see the interior: cream leather seats, beautifully designed dashboard and large sunroof. The car moves gracefully along the street, alloys sparkling. The voiceover comes on and speaks about the new Collingway Escada that just launched.
Then all of a sudden bang! The car is rammed from the side by another car driven by a person texting. This wasn't what we expected to happen. We thought we were watching an ad for a new car. Or at least that's what it looked like.
This is an example of an ad breaking our schemas. It's similar to an ad created by The Ad Council in the US for the Department of Transportation.
Now I know doing something like this might not be possible all the time. But this is just to show a way that might help an ad get cut through from similar ads that have come before.
One important thing to avoid in breaking people's schemas is gimmickry. If you're going to break someone's schema, make sure you help them fix it, ie make sure the pay off at the end is actually realistic and believeable. In my personal opinion, I think this is where the ads from the Road Safety Authority (RSA) are sometimes lacking. There's two that spring to mind:
1. The ad where a guy is driving home from the pub, the car hits the curb, flips over into a back garden of a house and kills a young boy playing football 2. The ad where a girl is sitting on a wall with her boyfriend in front of her. The ad cuts to a young man speeding. The car crashes, flips over and skids along the road up to the wall where the couple are, pinning the boy against the wall
Like I say, this is just my opionion, but I think these are two unrealistic ads and border on gimmickry.
So to make an ad stand out from similar one's that have come before, or to help get cut through, I think unexpectedness and breaking people's schemas, but not in a gimmickry way, will help.
I came across this great video today for a new book called Socialnomics. The book is written by Erik Qualman. It looks at the impact social media has made on businesses and what the future looks like. You can find it here on Amazon. There's also a Socialnomics blog.
I'm reading a very good book at the moment about ideas. I'll post a review when I finish it. But it made of think of this ad.
One of the things that makes a good idea memorable or stick is unexpectedness. We expect brands or companies to behave and talk a certain way. But when they do something different, without being gimmicky, it gets our attention. It doesn't fit with how we have come to expect a particular brand or company to act.
This is why this ad got my attention. I've only seen it on tv once, but I remembered it. Why? Because it's different. And the reason it's different is because it's for an insurance company, Aviva. The ad is called Not Business As Usual.
It features different people saying how they don't want to be treated by their insurance company. Which is actually the opposite to how insurance companies usually treat people.
Almost all the books I read on social media are US based in terms of stats and reports. One of the most common themes I come across is about how tv is dead and young people aren't watching it anymore.
So I got a bit of a surprise the other day. I dropped by Dave Knoxs' blog and found a post on Nielsen's new report. It's called How Teens Use Media. If you read a lot on social media and teen media consumption, some of the findings might not be what you expect. Here's a few:
- Teens watch more tv now than ever, up 6% over the last five years in the US
- Teens love the Internet, but spend less time browsing than adults. Teens spend 11 hours and 32 minutes a month online. Far below the average of 29 hours and 15 minutes
- Teens watch less online video than most adults, but the ads are highly engaging to them. Teens spend 35% less time watching online video than adults 25-34, but recall ads better when watching tv shows online than they do on television
- Teens read newspapers, listen to the radio and even like advertising more than most
I knew it was only a matter of time before it happened. Spotify has created an app for the iPhone. It's been sent to the App Store for approval and should be available in a matter of weeks.
But people have been asking if Apple will actually approve it. So far Apple hasn't made any comment on this. But Spotify certainly expect to get the go ahead.
Clearly Spotify is a big threat to iTunes. Users will be able to access so many tracks on their phone. Fair enough, they can't download them. But why would you need to when you can listen whenever you like.
We shouldn't have too long to wait to see if the app gets approved. My question is will it be available to people in Ireland who have an iPhone.
I thought this was quite interesting. twitter has launched a step-by-step guide for businesses. Called twitter 101, the guide outlines the benefits that twitter can offer businesses.
The guide is split into 6 sections and also features case studies on Dell, JetBlue, Pepsi and others.
One thing I noticed is the address of the site, business.twitter.com. I wonder if this is a move by twitter to start making money from the site by hosting individual business accounts. twitter has said it doesn't plan to charge businesses or customers so we'll have to wait and see.
I came across an interesting report today. ENGAGEMENTdb released a report that takes the world's most valuable brands, and looks at how engaged they are through social media.
The report is by Ben Elowitz, CEO, Wetpaint, and Charlene Li, Partner, Altimeter Group. It discusses how engagement can be measured, and looks at four types of engagement profiles. It also addresses the much asked question of financial performance versus engagement.
There are four case studies too that look at best practice. They feature Starbucks, Toyota, SAP and Dell.
The report can be downloaded here. The website is worth checking out too.
Here I posted how the internet and social media has made brands more vulnerable. Another example I came across recently involves United Airlines.
When songwriter Dave Carroll was travelling with United, one of the baggage handlers broke his $1,200 guitar. When Dave contacted United about getting compensation, they refused and wouldn't accept responsibility.
So Dave decided he would share his experience by recording a song and posting it on YouTube. Last time I checked, this had over 2 million views.
United finally owned up to breaking the guitar, but only after it attracted a lot of public attention. They offered compensation but Dave wants them to give this to charity. He also wants them to share with the public which charity they gave this money to.
United also said they're going to use the whole experience as training to show how not to handle customer complaints in the future.
I wonder when the big companies are going to realise that all it takes is one customer who has a really bad experience to tell so many others about it. When are they going to realise they can't treat people so badly anymore and get away with it.
If only United held their hands up and accepted responsibility at the start, all this could've been avoided. But as they say, hindsight is a wonderful thing.
If you work in advertising, or have an interest in advertising, I recommend reading The Ad Contrarian by Bob Hoffman. It's just 73 pages but speaks a lot of sense. You can download if free here.
I gave this digital marketing presentation to my marketing department last Monday. I divided it into four sections:
1. Social media - how it has made brands more vulnerable and which brands are using social media to listen to customers 2. Online 3. Mobile 4. Other news
Insights give a clear perspective of customer's motivations. When applied to marketing and advertising, they are of real value. Insights inspire great ideas. They're always about people and what they feel, believe or need. Insights come from having a very good understanding of customer attitudes, beliefs and behaviour.
It's important not to confuse an insight with an observation. An observation is a fact about reality - the 'what'. An insight is an understanding of the human need that underlies and explains the observation - the 'why'.
So where does this fit into marketing? Well if you have a strong insight, this can feed a strong idea. A strong idea can work across different media, lend itself to different executions, and stand the test of time. And when it comes to advertising, you buy ideas.
One example of a good insight I've come across is the Boots 'Great British Summer' ad. I imagine the insight was based on the attitude British, and indeed Irish, people have towards sunny summer weather. And they're behaviour when it is sunny.
Here's an example of how Habitat just doesn't get how twitter works. Not only did they just shout about their latest prices and offers, but they hijacked people's conversations about the protests in Iran.
Habitat used hashtags like #MOUSAVI. So people searching for information on the protests got tweets on Habitat's latest offers instead. For example, HabitatUK: #Mousavi Join the database for free to win a £1000 gift card.
As you would imagine, this didn't go down well. People left tweets calling Habitat "scum". Others said they "destroyed their brand" by "spamming".
At least this will show other brands what not to do.
While the interent and social media have given brands many ways to connect with customers, they have also made brands more vulnerable. Unlike newspapers that become tomorrow's 'fish and chip' paper, when something is posted online, it's there forever, and for everyone to see.
Rememebr the Comcast technician that fell asleep on a customer's sofa during a service call? This happened back in 2006. But if you Google Comcast today, this is the 5th search result.
When you're a brand like Dove, others will try and attack the claims you make and what you stand for. Grrenpeace did just this with their take on Dove's Onslaught campaign.
I'm sure Nike didn't see this request coming when they launched Nike iD. Nike iD lets customers design their own trainers. Jonah Peretti asked for the word 'sweatshop' to be put on his but Nike refused. You can read the emails between Jonah and Nike here at shey.net.
Chevy ran an online campaign for their Tahoe model. This let people create their own commercials. The results? People created commercials showing the damage the Tahoe was doing to the environment.
More recently, two Dominos employees posted a video on YouTube. This showed one of them doing disgusting things to food before serving it to customers. Patrick Doyle, President of Domino's USA, responded by posting a video on YouTube apologising for the incident.
These are just a few examples showing no matter how big a brand is, the internet and social media has made them more vulnerable.
I thought this was really good. On cans of Pepsi RAW, Pepsi's new natural cola drink, Pepsi want to know what consumers think of the drink. And they want consumers to tell them on twitter @PepsiRaw. They also created a dedicated RAW facebook page.
This is part of a major sampling campaign Pepsi launched back in May. They printed 1.4 million cans and distributed them across the UK. As well as asking people what they think of the drink, Pepsi also use twitter to let people know where they're going to be giving out free samples of RAW. They do this on facebook too, and are also running the Pepsi RAW Cocktail Competition.
I checked today and so far RAW has 419 followers on twitter and 1,347 fans on facebook.
I always try to learn as much as I can from the more experienced people I work with. And I'm very lucky to be working with brilliant marketing people. I'm constantly asking questions and have a huge hunger for knowledge. One of the things I've learned when it comes to advertising is you buy ideas, not executions.
With the GAA Championship now in full flow, I've seen this Ulster Bank ad quite a bit. The ad shows different Irish GAA supporters abroad. They can't be at the match to support their team, so some watch it in an Irish pub. Others listen to it on a radio in a take away. And others listen to it in a car on a beach.
I think this ad does a great job at capturing the idea of the Irish GAA supporter abroad. No matter what part of the world they're in, they'll find some way of supporting their team. And as a GAA fan, I can certainly identify with it.
I posted a while back about Cadbury's 'Gorilla' and 'Eyebrows' ads. I wasn't a big fan and described them as sponsored entertainment. I wasn't convinced these ads were effective from an advertising point. And this was a debate my manager and myself had one day. So he recommended I read What is Brand Equity, Anyway.
To put into context why I read this book, my early marketing reading days were filled with direct marketing books by the likes of Caples, Bird and Hopkins. I had a very direct view of marketing as a result. For example, if it can't be measured, don't do it. And advertising effectiveness is measured by sales results.
I read that Dairy Milk lost market share to Galaxy and posted less than 2% market growth in the months after launching 'Gorilla'. And this was after increasing advertising spend by 197% between August 2007 and July 2008. In comparison, Galaxy grew market share by 12% on less spend. So you can see the problem I had with Cadbury's ads.
Getting back to the review, What is Brand Equity, Anyway is a collection of academic papers written by the author. The book is divided into two sections.
The first discusses the term brand equity, something Feldwick says is often misused and misunderstood. He argues the term is used in three different senses that can be more closely defined and measured in multiple ways.
Section 2 discusses the measurement of advertising effectiveness. It looks at the techniques available for both pre and post measurement, and discusses how far advertisers can expect to measure campaign effectiveness.
I really enjoyed this book, especially section 2. Feldwick discusses that while the ultimate goal of advertising is to increase sales, he also describes other ways to evaluate advertising effectiveness.
It has certainly opened my eyes when it comes to measuring advertising. But I'll be using these techniques with sales rather than on their own.
I posted here about Spotify, the online music streaming site.
Spotify has just launched its first mobile phone demo at the San Francisco Google I/O developers conference.
Using a Google Android phone (T-Mobile G1), users can listen to music directly from the Spotify site. Check out the video for a demo how it works.
So here’s the thing I’ve been thinking about.
Spotify has millions of tracks available on its website. The most tracks the largest iPod (iPod Classic 120GB) can hold is 30,000. So if users can access millions of tracks through their phone, versus 30,000 on an iPod, could your mobile phone potentially replace your iPod?
Fair enough, you can’t download tracks on Spotify, you can only stream them. But if you have access to so many tracks whenever you want, why would you need to download them?
This is the final part my three post series on how brands use social media.
Collaboration, or crowd sourcing, is quite a big trend for many brands at the moment. But at the same time, it’s not the most appropriate thing to do for many brands. It needs to be handled with real care. And this is where listening before collaborating comes in.
For example, if Chevy listened to what was being said about them online, they would’ve realised ‘The Apprentice’ campaign wasn’t a good idea. Something similar happened to Nike with their Nike iD campaign.
So I wanted to run through a few examples that seem to be using collaboration well.
Starbucks I think my Starbucks Idea is great. It lets people send in suggestions how they think Starbucks could make their experience better. On the site you can see all the ideas sent in and vote for your favourite. You can also see the ideas Starbucks have actually put in place, as well as the ones they’re considering.
This basically says, “It’s your Starbucks. Tell us how you want it”.
Lynx / Axe
Lynx invited 16 of their target market to help them develop the next variant of the deodorant. They worked with a research agency called Face.
The group of 16 was selected from Face's Headbox which is an online research community. They came up with five potential names for the new deodorant, designs for the can, as well as having an input in the press and digital ads.
The co-created deodorant is due to launch sometime in 2010.
Bord Gais As part of their Big Switch campaign, Bord Gais used twitter to recruit people to take part in their new tv ad. People could register on their twitter page and then go along to the casting day.
Credit Mutuel Credit Mutuel is a French bank. But it doesn’t operate like a bank. Well, not in the way banks traditionally operate. Their tag line is la banque a qui parler. Translated this is “the bank you can talk to”.
Credit Mutuel ran an online campaign called j’etais banquier which means “If I was a banker”. Customers could go to the site and either make a suggestion or view other people’s suggestions.
One of the suggestions was to create a pretend account online that children could use. This would help them get used to managing a bank account.
Another idea was to discount insurance for young drivers whose parents had an insurance policy with the bank.
After a certain amount of time, the top 30 ideas were put online. The public then voted on the ones they wanted to see implemented. Credit Mutuel are currently working on these.
Slicethepie Slicethepie is like a promotion and financing platform that helps artists get financing from music fans and investors. Artists upload their tracks to slicethepie.com. Fans can then earn money from reviewing tracks by becoming ‘Scouts’.
The artists that get the best reviews go on to the ‘Showcase’ where fans and investors can pick the artists they want to invest in.
In return for their investment, fans get a copy of the album, their name on the album sleeve, and a share in the financial returns from album and single sales.
Like I said at the beginning, collaboration is becoming more popular at the moment. But it goes hand in hand with listening, as some brands found out, the hard way.
This is the second part in my three post series on how brands use social media.
There’s quite a few brands having conversations with customers. So like I did with brands that listen, I wanted to run through a few examples of brands that speak with customers.
Google
I thinkGoogle is a great example of a company that fully embraces blogging. Here’s how.
Google’s latest post is called ‘New Look Logo’. It’s all about the appearance of the Google logo. The post was written by Marissa Mayer and Jamie Divine. These names probably won’t mean much to you. But the thing I like is that Marissa is Vice President of Search Products and User Experience, and Jamie is Senior Visual Designer.
This is what I mean about conversations with customers being embraced throughout the company. Whenever there’s a development in a particular area, it’s usually the product manager or somebody else over that area that blogs about it.
facebook
Another example of a company fully embracing conversations with customers is facebook. Like Google, whenever there is update to let customers know about, one of the facebook team blogs about it.
facebook also showed how they listen to customers when they jointly created their ‘terms of use’. Although it must be said, this was done after a backlash from customers. They weren’t happy their information became the property of facebook after they closed their account.
But out of this came a good example of a company who held their hands up, apologised, and jointly created the new terms of use with their users.
Ernst and Young
E&Y use facebook pretty much as a recruitment tool. But they’re also having conversations with future employees. This is where college graduates and the likes are, so it makes sense for them to be there, as long as it’s mutually beneficial. And it is. For example, E&Y let people know about open days and also where employment opportunities are.
People also get to ask E&Y questions. And it’s a good way for people to ask current employees questions about what it’s like to work at E&Y.
Pizza Hut Like many brands, Pizza Hut has a facebook page and also uses twitter. For example, whenever a new pizza launches, they announce this on facebook.
They also run competitions and link their page very well to their sponsorships. At the moment you can see exclusive Terminator Salvation footage, created only for Pizza Hut, on their page.
They even have an ‘order app’ that let’s you order a pizza without leaving their page.
Pizza Hut uses twitter to keep the conversation going. And recently they’ve used it to recruit. At the moment Pizza Hut is looking for a ‘social media intern’ for the summer.
Nike What Nike did when they created their running blog and Nike+, was create a community around their product, Nike+. So they’re not doing the talking here. But they are facilitating the conversation.
At Nike+ you can record all your run results, set training schedules and train with others online, as well as take part in challenges with other Nike+ athletes. And the great thing about challenges is it doesn’t matter what part of the world you’re in, the challenge happens online.
What I wanted to do here was show how brands use social media to have or in some cases facilitate conversations with customers. Even though many brands use the same channels, they use them quite differently. But with the same goal.
One thing I often come across is brands wanting to blog. Some of them want to build better relationships with customers. Others want to do it because it’s “what everybody else is doing”.
Either way, they dive in head first before finding out what’s being said about them online. So Ithought I’d list some brands I think do a good job at listening.
innocent innocent’s blog is one of the best I’ve seen when it comes to listening. A recent example is when they announced they sold a stake to Coca Cola.
This didn’t go down well. People left lots of comments saying they turned their back on their values.
So innocent looked at all the comments, and from them found the things that people were most interested in. One of the founders, Richard Reed, then made 8 mini video clips, each one answering the questions that people had. You can watch them here.
Dell Dell has come full circle from the days of Dell Hell. Their website has a section called Participate that brings you into the Dell community. Here you’ll find forums, blogs and wikis. They’re all support areas where you can go if you’re having problems with your laptop or PC. Or if you just have a question.
And it’s not just Dell employees that answer questions. Dell customers do too so you have a community listening and supporting each other.
Southwest Airlines Southwest Airlines really is great at listening to what their customers have to say. They do this through their Nuts About Southwest blog. But another way they do this is by sending employees on flights so they can speak with customers.
Listening to customers is how they decided to keep their open seating instead of using assigned seating. This is also how they decided to offer WiFi on their planes. And this is why they posted about liquid medication and clarified the items that can be brought on board.
RaboDirect RaboDirect’s tag line is “The straight talking bank”. But I think you could also add “The straight listening bank” to this too.
Going through some of the comments on Rabo’s blog, I find people often use it to ask questions. For example, if they want to clarify something about one of the bank’s products. And this is the great thing about a blog. It can be used for listening to customers as well as talking with them. Here’s an example.
Two customers suggested how Rabo could display interest rates differently. Martin O'Leary, Online Marketing Manager, responded saying, "Thanks for the suggestions about how our interest rate is displayed in the secure account area. We will make this more transparent during our next round of secure site updates which will happen later this year".
Next up, brands that use social media to speak with customers.
I seem to be writing a good bit about twitter lately. Maybe this just shows how big it's becoming, and the increasing role it's starting to play in marketing. Overall brands are starting to make social media a bigger part of their campaigns rather than just an add on at the end. Some brands are even making social media part of how they do business. For example, using twitter for customer service.
Revolution got together with i-level’s Jam to show some of the best examples of brands using twitter:
I got the latest issue of Marketing Magazine yesterday and in it I got two free €50 vouchers to try Google AdWords.
Google are also advertising their Chrome browser on tv in Japan. And they're planning to roll this out in the US too.
Now I don't know about you, but I find this strange. Why? Because it's the first time I've ever seen Google use traditional advertising. So does this contradict what Jeff Jarvis says about the mass market being dead in his book "What Would Google Do". I think so.
twitter has added a search function to its homepage. They have also included the 10 most popular topics people are talking about. They call these trending topics.
The search box lets you search twitter in real time. And this is something Google can't do at the moment. I wonder if this is why Google were rumoured to be preparing a bid for twitter. Speaking of bids for twitter, Apple is the latest company rumoured to be lining up an offer. The fee is said to be $700 million.
One thing I come across a good bit is brands wanting to start a blog. I think the best thing to do first though is listen before you talk. twitter search lets brands see what people are saying about them. Fair enough, depending on your brand, there might not be a lot being said about you. But if you're a large company, like Starbucks, there could be real value here.
Say a customer has a bad experience in Starbucks and decides to tweet about it. Why couldn't someone at Starbucks then contact that customer to find out what happened and offer them a free coffee or something. Just a simple example but you can see the value.
In terms of real time search, this will need mass before it takes off and becomes successful. But again, you can see the potential. Say I'm thinking of eating in a certain restaurant. I could say on twitter, "I'm going to X restaurant, anybody being there?" The idea is that people who have will let me know what it's like. And that's the key thing. People. Because the number of people will determine how successful this will be.
BrandZ recently announced the 100 Most Valuable Global Brands for 2009. Marketing Magazine explains the process Millward Brown Optimor uses to value brands.
First, it establishes a company's intangible earnings and allocates them to individual brands and countries of operation, based on publicly available financial data from Bloomberg, Datamonitor, and Millward Brown Optimor's own research.
Second, it determines the portion of intangible earnings attributable to brand alone, as opposed to other factors such as price. This uses research-based loyalty data from the BrandZ database.
Third, the research projects what the brand value will be in the future, based on market valuations, the brand's risk profile and its growth potential
I reviewed The Online Advertising Playbook back in March and one of the authors, Steve Rappaport, dropped by to say thanks. I asked Steve if he would do an interview for my blog and he kindly agreed. Here's what he had to say.
1. I find with display advertising that ads are often out of context with the site they're on. What's your view on this in terms of best practice and does the type of site matter?
If display is out of context, it may be that the ad is behaviourally targeted. If it is, then it should strike you as relevant. If it doesn't come close to matching your interests, then it's probably a poor buy, which can result from any number of reasons.
Best practice, to me, means that the advertising you see is germane to your interests, tastes, and preferences. We make the point in the playbook that relevance is a more appropriate for digital than targeting.
2. We often come across the term 'banner blindness'. What challenges do marketers face today to get cut through with display advertising?
Digital clutter. I'm often struck by how busy many pages are, and how predictable the advertising placements are. However, advertising may work even though people don't recall ads. One concept is called the "view-through," where ads are seen as having an impact even though people don't click on them.
Additionally, the theory of low-attention processing, voiced by Robert Heath, argues that we don't pay very much conscious attention to advertising, but that it works at a subconscious level.
3. What's your opinion on advertising on social networking sites? So far it seems marketers haven't been able to crack this and customers end up turning against the brand. Do you have advice for marketers that are thinking of advertising on social networks?
This is my personal opinion. Social networks provide brands with opportunities to listen to their customers and prospect, and to engage with them in ways that they and their customers find acceptable. Social nets are about conversation, catching up, hanging out, exploring and meeting people. This is fundamentally different from the mass media experience, because social net origins - like the internet itself - are in communication among people, not to people.
4. In terms of search, what are the common mistakes marketers make when trying to make search part of their campaign? What would be your advice for using search well?
Search works in so many ways - as a navigation tool, as a direct response tactic and as a branding medium. Many people use search to find websites they know. The search results for good seo'd (search engine optimised) websites display like a table of contents, making it really easy to find where you need to go on a site - and get there quickly.
For direct response, ads should use the language consumers use to get best results. Gord Hotchkiss pointed out in an interview that marketers are often so concerned about using differentiating language and keywords that they miss talking to people in words that mean something to them. It's important that the post-click experience deliver on the implicit promise in the ad. Tightly coupled landing pages are very important. Excellent navigation and search on the site contributes to a good experience and results.
Managing keyword bids, understanding their performance and being able to change as conditions warrant helps advertisers get the most from their budgets. This is becoming easier today with the emergence of systems, like clickable, that enable advertisers to manage search campaigns across platforms.
5. Finally, where do you see online advertising going?
It's really a question of where advertising is going. Distinctions between online and traditional and social are no longer that helpful because people are blending them together. I like to think more in terms of communicating with people, where advertising is one important component. The media industry will work through the transition phase it's in; all will become more digital.
I'm fond of a quote by Jeff Cole, head of the Annenberg Centre for the digital future, who says that the words newspaper, magazine, newspaper and television describe their origins, not where they are today. And communication practices will take their cues from the capabilities of the digital media - their ability to engage people, to provide information on demand in every form, and to provide services to people that make their lives easier.
Thanks Steve for taking the time to do this interview for my blog. It's great to get your thoughts and I very much appreciate it.
You're welcome. Thank you for the opportunity to share some ideas with you and your readership, and feel free to visit the ARF website or contact me directly at srappaport@thearf.org.
I read recently that ITV missed out on between £1 and £1.5 million in potential ad revenue. Why? Because they couldn’t reach an agreement with YouTube over which ads to sell against clips of Susan Boyle from Britain’s Got Talent.
Do you know what Ben McOwen Wilson, director of online for ITV, reportedly said? “We don't want to be part of YouTube's standard terms and conditions, because content like Susan Boyle is unique”.
His boss, executive Chairman Michael Grade, went further when he reportedly said, “They're (Google, YouTube, Joost) all parasites. They live off our content is what they do. As long as we can create the content, the content is the keys to the castle for us going forward”.
Personally I think this shows people who don’t understand or see the potential of social media. Even when Susan Boyle has been watched over 100 million times on YouTube, they still don’t see the opportunity.
When Michael Grade talks about going forward, surely this involves finding a way to engage your online audience? Especially when you consider ITV.com has seen a 700% increase in video views compared to the same period last year.
The thing I find confusing about the two comments above is ITV recently used social media to promote their new show Primeval. The show was broadcastlive on their website. They ran a live twitter feed too that let people watching online make comments in real time.
So if ITV is no stranger to using social media, why did they not embrace the opportunity with Susan Boyle on YouTube?
This is kind of similar to this post I wrote about Mars not spotting the opportunity with snckrz.com. The same company created the new Skittles social site.
But interestingly, I read last weekend that a deal has finally been struck between ITV, Freemantle Media, the international rights owner of Britain’s Got Talent, and YouTube. This deal resulted in the show having its own YouTube Channel created. The channel will only be ad supported if you go to it from outside the UK. But ITV will still get a share of the revenue.
It’s just a pity for them they did this over 100 million views later.
I gave this presentation to my marketing department last Friday. It's a snapshot of what's happening in digital marketing. This is something I'm going to do every 6-8 weeks.
I broke it into 4 areas: 1. Social media 2. Online 3. Mobile 4. What else is happening
The thing I've noticed with presentations on Slideshare is sometimes they don't make much sense because there's no explanation behind them. You might find the same with mine. Hopefully you'll be able to work through it and if anything, find it entertaining.
Back in December I posted asking is the future of tv going to be online. My view is people will spend more of their time watching tv on their PC or laptop than they will on traditional tv. Here are three reasons why I think this will happen.
1. You can now experience events with thousands of others online
The first signs of the coming together of traditional tv and online were the CNN/facebook integration of the Obama inauguration. Over 600,000 status updates in total were posted on the CNN.com live facebook feed. Over 8,500 updates were posted during the inaugural speech alone.
On 28 March ITV did something similar with twitter. The first episode of a new show called Primeval was broadcast live on their website. They also ran a live twitter feed of the #primeval hashtag. This let people watching make comments and share their views in real time.
2. Are tv manufacturers already preparing?
I blogged here about being able to watch YouTube on tv. I also chatted about MySpace being available later this year through a tv application. This is begin developed by Intel and is called The Widget Channel. It will let users watch videos, follow their favourite sports, interact with friends and stay up to date with news and information.
Samsung also seem to be getting in on the act. They agreed a partnership with Yahoo to provide an integrated internet service on its tv's called InfoLive. Samsung is also one of the partners involved with Yahoo and the Widget Channel.
3. Online lets you watch your favourite shows when you want
As of last Monday (20 April), there has been 387 million views on BBC’s iPlayer. And you can take out an online subscription for Sky Player. These players let people watch their programmes when they want.
I'm not sure how successful the Slingbox has been so far. But this let's you watch tv on your laptop, PC and even your phone. It's like having your tv with you wherever you go.
I think the next big thing that’s going to hit will be Hulu. It’s only available in the US at the moment. But hopefully they’ll sort out different rights issues soon. If only Apple would do the same.
Also on the cards is Project Canvas. This is being proposed by the BBC, ITV and BT. I haven't come across much other than it will use an open internet connection to deliver on-demand service viewing to tv's. If this is approved, it could be available on tv's in early 2010.
Overall I think social media is a real opportunity for tv companies to spread and distribute their content. Look at Susan Boyle from Britain’s Got Talent. At the moment this video has more than 50 million views on YouTube. This is well on its way to becoming the most watched video ever on YouTube.
So I think tv companies need to ask two questions:
i. What impact will/is social media having on ratings
ii. How can they use/build/capitalise on the relationship with the people watching online
I think it’s time for a new approach. And a new way of thinking.
A friend of mine made what I thought was a really good suggestion when it comes to restaurants and social media. HerePaul Dervan asks why they don’t use twitter. Here’s how they could.
Imagine its 7pm on Wednesday and your restaurant is only half full. How can you get more people to come through the door? One way could be to use twitter.
So you log on and tweet something like, “From 8pm you get 10% off your bill at X restaurant. Just quote X”.
Fair enough, this won’t be successful if you don’t have many followers. But you would imagine word would spread pretty fast. And the great thing about this is it won’t cost you a cent.
I imagine this approach could work well for other business too like pubs, night clubs, coffee shops, hotels, etc.
The Albion Cafe in London already does this thanks to digital agency Poke and BakerTweet. You can follow the Albion on twitter to see when something hot and fresh has been baked.
And Pizza Hut is looking for somebody to join their PR team for the summer in a social media role. This will involve tweeting about new developments at the restaurant chain, as well as looking after their facebook page.
I wanted to rent a movie over the Easter bank holiday weekend. I'm not close to any video store so in the end I decided against it. But this got me thinking. Why do we still have to go to video stores to rent movies? It just seems like such an old way of doing things. I think Xtra-vision and co might've missed an opportunity here.
I wonder why video stores have stood still for so long. They wait for people to come to them for movies. Why don't they bring movies to people? Perhaps there are factors behind the scenes I'm missing that don't allow this. I imagine rights is one. But surely a profit sharing model could be developed. And this could also help the film industry when it comes to piracy and illegal downloads. I'd certainly pay a fee to get a high quality movie online. And when you consider Chartbusters closed saying competition and changes in technology were the causes, could this new approach have helped.
So how could this work?
This is probably a very simplified approach. But video stores could have a download section on their site where they host movies. You could pay using your credit or laser card, or else through your store account.
When it comes to downloading a movie, you could rent or buy. If you rent, you could have the movie for a certain amount of time. Just like if you rented from the store.
Like I said, maybe I'm missing something here. But if there aren't factors behind the scenes that don't allow video stores to offer a download service, I don't know why they don't do it. Sky and Apple can do it. Blockbuster can do it. So why not video stores here?
Afterall, isn't this what Google would do? I read Jeff Jarvis' book recently and posted a review here.
I recently read What Would Google Do by Jeff Jarvis. You could be excused for thinking this book is about Google as a company. I did when I first came across it. But it's not. It's more about how Google operates.
Jarvis discusses many points such as how us, the people, have more power than ever thanks to Google. He uses his own experience with Dell as an example. He puts forward other ideas such as how people are now your ad agency. How the mass market is dead. About being 'free' instead of charging. About becoming a distribution platform. And about being searchable, or getting Googlejuice as he puts it. Basically, what Google does and how they do it.
Jarvis looks at how different companies like restaurants, newspapers, lawyers and PR agencies can use the Google approach. He also uses examples of companies like Amazon and craigslist, as well as others, to show how they have been successful using such an approach.
Overall, What Would Google Do is an interesting read and I enjoyed it.
Every now and then I get a comment on my blog that surprises me. This usually happens when I mention a person in a post and they drop by and leave a comment. So I was surprised this morning when I saw a comment from Michael Donnelly.
Michael is Director of Worldwide Interactive Marketing for Coca Cola. He dropped by to respond to my post about Coca Cola's facebook page. Here's what Michael said:
Thanks for taking the time to cover the story of the Coca-Cola facebook fan page...we are very fortunate to have many creative, passionate and loyal fans...it's an incredible brand to work on and the page creators are incredible guys to be working with...Thanks Again!
The reason I wanted to post about this was to show that no matter what role or position a person has in a company, we're all the same when it comes to blogging. I believe it's the great leveller.
I posted a while ago about Mars shutting down the site snckrz.com. Personally I thought Mars were crazy to do this. I think they missed a real opportunity. Recently I came across another company faced with a similar situation. Coca Cola.
Something I didn't know is the Coke facebook page was actually set up by a guy named Dusty Sorg, not Coca Cola. Dusty is a 29 year old actor from LA. He was helped by his friend, Michael Jedrzejewski, a writer also from LA.
So what happens when your facebook page gets 3.3 million fans, it becomes the second most popular page after Barack Obama, and facebook contacts Coke about it? Well if you're Mars you shut it down. But if you're Coke, you realise the opportunity in front of you and you support it. This is a great story.
When facebook contacted Michael Donnelly, Director of Worldwide Interactive Marketing for Coca Cola, about taking over the site because it was getting so big, he decided this would be a bad move. He felt this would be seen by fans as a typical move by a big corporation. Crush the little guy.
Instead, Michael Donnelly emailed Dusty and Michael to say Coke wanted to support them. Donnelly invited the two to Coke's headquarters in Atlanta to visit the World of Coke. They also toured the Coke archives and were brought to a Thrashers hockey game.
When it came to the Coke facebook page, Donnelly expressed concerns about Coke intruding on fans. It's their page. So they reached a compromise.
Michael Donnelly and a few others at Coke decided to help monitor the page, removing any unsuitable material. By the way, this doesn't include comments saying, "I like Pepsi".
Coke's plan is to use the page to put other fans in touch with each other on the web. The company has also posted some elements on the page such as a behind the scenes video of their new marketing campaign. But Donnelly insists they will not take over the page with their stuff.
Dusty and Michael posted a video of their trip to the World of Coke on the page. You can see it here.
I think this is a brilliant example of a company spotting a great opportunity, realising the potential, and not being afraid to let go of some control. And look what happens. 3.3 million fans gather around your brand. And you know what another great thing about this is. Coke can contact them all for free. Coke gets it.
I heard Golden Pages' current radio ad today and it got me thinking. Could Google hurt them, and directory enquiry services, in the future.
Google have launched GOOG-411 in the US and Canada. This let's users find business contact information. And here's how I think it could hurt Golden Pages and directory enquiries.
First of all, it's completely free to use since users dial a free phone number, ie 1-800-466-4411. Even though Golden Pages offer a free mobile search service, I imagine you'll still pay web browsing charges. Obviously you pay call charges with directory enquiries.
Secondly, you can use GOOG-411 from any phone. This includes pay phones. Again, you'll get charged to call directory enquiries.
Thirdly, GOOG-411 is voice activated. So just say I was looking for a restaurant. First I would dial 1-800-GOOG-411. When asked, I say what I'm looking for, eg Rolys Bistro, Ballsbridge, Dublin. I'm then connected to the number. Again, for free.
Lastly, there are a few options when it comes to the search results. As well as getting connected to the number, you can get an SMS to your phone or you can get a map. This shows the location and direction of the business you're looking for.
So could GOOG-411 be a threat to Golden Pages and directory services. I think so. And I imagine it won't be too long before residential listings become part of GOOG-411 too.
I recently read The Online Advertising Playbook and really enjoyed it. It was written by Joe Plummer, Steve Rappaport, Taddy Hall and Robert Barocci.
The book explains aspects of online advertising such as display, the different types of display ads, targeting, search, and search and website optimisation.
You might say books like this become out dated very quickly. But I didn't find this with this book. Instead it focuses on aspects of online advertising that aren't really affected by time, and looks more at best practise and guidelines.
The book also includes predictions of some industry experts on where they see online advertising going.
This is a good book if you want to get a good understanding of online advertising.
What would you do if 80,000 people formed around your brand and interacted with it. Well if you're Mars, you tell them to get lost.
Digital agency Poke developed a website called snckrz. The site encouraged people to create their own logo for the Snickers chocolate bar. The site also let people share their creations with others through a live twitter feed. According to Poke, the site had more than 80,000 visitors.
Fair enough, Mars didn't have any connection with the snckrz site. But was there not one person in the company who saw the potential here. For example, Mars could've turned this into a competition where the public vote on all the logos and the winner gets their logo put on Snickers bars.
But no. Clearly any loss of control and Mars goes into a major panic. So instead of having people love your brand, they hate it. Instead of people saying great things about your brand online, they say you haven't a clue how to interact with people and embrace social media.
And do you know the thing I find funniest about this. The same company brough us the new Skittles site.
Last month I went to a presentation given by Joe Rospars. Joe is one of the founding partners of bluestatedigital and New Media Director of the Obama campaign. After the presentation I hung around hoping to have a quick chat with Joe. And I did.
He's a very nice guy and made time to speak with anybody who had a question for him. I asked him if he'd do an interview for my blog and he said to mail the questions to him. Joe got back to me on these yesterday and here's what he said.
1. What was the driving force behind the Obama campaign that made it so successful?
The driving force behind the campaign was you (the public). The Obama campaign was a grassroots movement, and we were lucky to have a candidate who trusted the American people with this responsibility.
2. What system did you have in place to keep the public updated on what was happening during the campaign. Who managed updating the different media and who responded to the public?
Our campaign was very good at creating additional channels and finding new ways to talk directly to our supporters. Our new media team put up dozens of posts on our blog every day. We emailed, texted and twittered with our supporters, and we uploaded thousands of videos onto our Barack Obama YouTube channel. YouTube in particular was great for us, because it gave momentary clips and videos life, and allowed supporters to watch the videos at whatever time was most convenient for them.
3. What determines if a company or brand should use social media?
Every company or brand should start to take advantage of the benefits of social media. In a year or two this probably won’t even be a question. Social media worked well to help Obama get elected, but there are multitudes of other reasons even politicians should be using social media on a daily basis.
Any brand that wants to create awareness and make it easy for supporters to directly interact with the brand should develop a well thought out online presence.
4. What can other companies and brands learn from the Obama campaign?
Every company and brand can learn from the authenticity of Barack Obama’s campaign. People felt a genuine connection with Barack—they knew him intimately, as a friend or a neighbor. By allowing this campaign to be more authentic and transparent than ever before, supporters gained a sense of insider access, responsibility and ownership of the campaign. This feeling of ownership led millions of people (many of whom had never been involved in a political campaign before) to make phone calls, knock doors, and organize within their community to help get Obama elected.
5. What is the next step in this campaign and what are the challenges faced now that President Obama is in office?
The election ended on November 4th, but the relationships that were built during the campaign still exist. Our biggest challenge is actually an opportunity—to figure out how to take the passion and excitement from the campaign and use that movement to help build a better America.
Never mind having a website that links to social media. Make social media your website. This is what Skittles has done. If you go to www.skittles.com, you'll land on their Wiki page. You'll also see a little app here. This stays throughout the site and helps guide you through it.
And on this app, if you click on videos or pics in media, you're brought to Skittles YouTube channel or Flickr page. Click on chatter and you go to their twitter page. And click on friends and you go to their facebook page.
Personally I like this approach. It's much more engaging and interactive than a static website. And to be honest it makes sense. Most brands have a website that links to their facebook page, YouTube channel, twitter page, etc. So it makes total sense to just bring people to these places in the first place, instead of making them jump through the extra hoop of going to a website.
It'll be interesting to see if other brands do something like this. I wonder what this will mean for websites. Will we see more brands taking this approach and focusing less on developing a site. I guess part of this depends on the brand. And whether this helps develop the brands relationship with their customers. Brands shouldn't just look at the technology and think, "We have to use it". They should look at the relationship the technology creates and then decide.
I came across Spotify recently. This is an online music streaming service that gives you free access to a huge catalogue of music. Well, there's a slight condition when I say free. As long as you listen to about one minute of advertising, it's free. But if you don't fancy doing this, you can pay £9.99 a month and they'll turn off the ads.
Spotify recently added it's one millionth customer. Brands including Xbox, Philips, HMV, Sainsbury's, Nissan and Sony have already signed up to trial it's beta version.
Spotify is now attracting interest from advertisers wondering if it can deliver a targeted user base for their audio and display ads. And it's no wonder when you look at the information Spotify has. When you sign up, you're asked for your sex, age and location. And Spotify will soon be introducing age and sex, geographical and socio-deomgraphic targeting.
The only concern I have is will Spotify know when enough ads are enough.
I posted a while back about how twitter is fast becoming the first place to get the latest breaking news. Since then, twitter has brought us more stories before other traditional news channels.
Today I read that CNN Breaking News, or cnnbrk, is the most popular twitter feed according to a report by the IAB. At the moment it has 357,209 followers. You would think this is great. But this is where it gets interesting.
cnnbrk is actually not associated with the news network CNN. It's belong to James Cox and he has absolutely no ties or connections to CNN.
James started the cnnbrk feed so he could get a breaking news service for his phone. He goes through different CNN sites such as CNN US and CNN International in Europe and Asia to get his news stories. He's now more popular than Barack Obama on twitter who has 353,337 followers. I'm interested to see what CNN think about this though.
Ultimately this begs the question. Why are reporters still not using twitter? Maybe they already are, but I haven't come across them. I don't know what it will take for them to realise the potential twitter offers.
I came across this image on Dave Knox's blog. You should check him out.
If someone Googled you, would they find you? Would you come up in the first few results? Or on the first page? And I should mention here, would the right things come up.
If I come across somebody in marketing who has a new book out, said something that got coverage, was responsible for a campaign I liked, I often Google them. It's just to read a bit about them and see what else comes up. It's just a thing I do. For example, I was going to a marketing breakfast two weeks ago and I searched for the presenter. And there he was, the first result on the first page.
Imagine you were going for a job. And the person hiring searched for you. Let's say you had a blog and this came up in the first few results. Your blog could show the person hiring that marketing isn't just your 9 to 5. It's something your passionate about and enjoy. They could also see how you think and possibly your creativity. Surely this can only be a good thing.
I saw this when I was shopping in Tesco and liked it. It's by a company called Visualise. I like how the ads capture people in the moment while they're shopping. There cheap to produce, and can be quickly and easily turned around.
I wonder how much different brands are paying for this trolley space. Do you know?
Being a sports nut, this is without doubt the best sports ad I've seen in a very long time. I really like the aggressiveness of it. And the soundtrack just makes it. Pure Nike. It was directed by Michael Mann who also did The Kingdom, Heat and Collateral.
I went to the Blue State Digital presentation last night in the Camden Court Hotel. It didn't take me long to work out what the night was really about. I heard a rumour a few days ago that Blue State Digital were over doing work for Fianna Fail. And this was confirmed last night.
The presentation was about the launch of the new Fianna Fail website. As you would expect, Blue State Digital have taken a similar approach to what they did for the Obama campaign. They're using facebook, twitter, and have a YouTube channel. When I was on the site earlier they were also using flickr but this seems to have vanished.
On the site you can give your email address or mobile number to receive updates. There is also the option to refer the site to a friend.
The section that really got my attention was Ask the Taoiseach. I'm not sure how this is going to work though. It doesn't say how many questions will be put to the Taoiseach or who decides which ones get asked.
I signed up for email updates and a few hours later there was a mail in my inbox from? You guessed it. Brian Cowen. This answered some of my questions above.
But first off, the mail started with "Dear friend". I wasn't impressed. And anybody who knows anything about direct marketing would know this is a big mistake. When they asked for my email address I don't know why they didn't ask for my name. Maybe it's because they're not interested in knowing who I am? Maybe all they're interested in is getting the numbers up?
Anyhow, turns out the Taoiseach is inviting questions on the economy. He's going to answer as many as he can in a video on 12th March. He'll also outline how he proposes to get the country back on the path of growth.
Some might say Fianna Fail are trying to copy what Obama did. Personally, I think it's great to see them doing something like this.
However, they've done the easy part. The big test will be how they keep the public engaged and how they keep the conversation going. It'll be interesting to see how this develops. But considering the government's popularity is at an all time low, it couldn't have come at a better time.
Sorry for the late notice but I just heard this now. Joe Rospars, founding partner of Blue State Digital and New Media Director of the Barack Obama campaign, is giving a presentation tonight. The event is being organised by Strawberry Media.
Rospars will discuss the lessons of the Obama campaign and how they can be applied to other areas. He'll also hold a Q&A session.
The event kicks off at 6pm in the Camden Court Hotel on Camden Street in Dublin city centre. You can register here to attend.
I was at an An Post breakfast seminar last week and I got a little booklet that made me think of this report. It's called The Future is a Conversation. I completely forgot to post about it when I first came across it.
The report was carried out by Amárach Research on behalf of An Post. It looks at trends in direct mail in Ireland and examines the implications for the future.
I find myself a little sceptical when I come across reports like this. I always like to know more about the respondents that took part in the research. I often find reports lacking when it comes to such information. Also, because An Post commissioned this report, I approached it with caution. But I found it to be quite honest.
Back in December I posted about Frank's ad, "The Darker Side of Cocaine". Frank is the UK government's national anti-drug campaign.
A few days ago I got a mail from Joanna from Rubber Republic. Joanna sent me a link to Frank's latest ad highlighting the dangers of using cannabis.
Do you think these ads are effective at getting the government's message across about the dangers of using drugs?
Personaly I think they're good from the view they give people who use drugs, or who know somebody that does, a place to turn for help.
But are the ads effective in preventing people from trying drugs? I'm not so sure. I think there'll always be that "personal blinkers" thing where people think, "It won't happen me". It seems to be the same for drink driving and speeding ads.
Changing behaviour is a difficult thing to do. But the good thing about these ads is that kids are now growing up seeing them. They're more aware of the dangers of drugs than I would've been when I was growing up.
On the point of ads for drink driving, I saw Think's new ad and thought it was very good at getting the message across on the consequences of drink driving.
I don't know how I didn't hear about cloud computing before now. Incase you don't know what this is, think Google docs or Gmail. Cloud computing lets you upload information to a web network that you can access anywhere in the world.
This certainly fits nicely with Google's mission to organise the world's information and make it universally accessible and useful.
I read yesterday that the Guardian News and Media Group is in the process of transferring it's office software to Google Apps. The reason? To have a "more collaborative and modern way of working". They have already started using Google docs, calendar, sites and video applications. They'll be moving to Google mail later this year. Google message security is used to filter emails.
On one hand I think the idea of cloud computing is great and I can certainly see the benefits for companies. I already use Google reader, Gmail, Alerts and Search, and it certainly makes my online life a lot easier. On the other hand, I wonder if it's a good thing if more companies follow the Guardian's approach. This would give Google access to so much of the world's information. It sounds very Terminator 2 and Skynet to me.
Blyk is ultimately a free European mobile phone operator funded by advertising. Their target market is 16-24 year olds. The way Blyk works is quite simple.
Brands pay Blyk to help them reach customers, ie Blyk mobile phone users. In return, Blyk customers get free texts and minutes each month. How many? 217 texts and 43 minutes. And when you use these all up, you can top up with £5, £10, £20 or £50. Texts then cost 10p and calls 15p.
So I'm sure you're thinking these messages are just spam. But they're not. When you sign up to Blyk, you create a personal profile. Blyk then sends you messages from brands they think you'll like based on your profile. So if you're into sports, music and fashion, you'll get messages based on this type of content. And you won't get bombarded with messages either. You'll never get more than 6 a day.
These messages aren't just all ads and no play. You also get news, special offers and vouchers. So how do you join Blyk?
You need to be aged 16-24 and live in mainland Britain. But here's the tricky part. You need to be invited by a current Blyk member. Once you are, you complete the sign up process online at blyk.co.uk. Blyk will then send you a free sim card. And you can keep your own number if you're moving from another mobile operator.
After reading Direct and Database Marketing by Graeme McCorkell, I was thinking how my VW dealer could've used a database. The reason why is because my Golf was due a service last week. But I didn't go back to my dealer. I wonder could this have been different if they used a database? Here's four ways I think it could.
1. The sale is not the end of the relationship. It's the start When I bought my car, the dealer would've known I'd need a service in 10,000 miles. Fair enough, some drivers will cover 10,000 miles quicker than others. But I wonder could they estimate this in some way. Maybe not. But say they could. They could've contacted me when I was close to this with a reminder my service was due.
2. Get to know me Let's say they couldn't estimate when my 10,000 miles was up. I wonder could they build something into their sales service to give them a better idea. For example, my dealer could've asked me to fill out a short questionnaire and explained why they wanted me to do this. This would give them a lot of useful information, and ultimately helped to build a better relationship with me. A few things that might be useful to know could be the typical mileage I cover in a year, what I use my car for, how often I plan to change my car, etc.
3. I could get my car serviced anywhere. Why should I pick you? I have so much choice when it comes to deciding where to get my car serviced. There was no incentive to go back to my dealer. But since this was my first service, I wonder could my dealer have offered me a discount. This could've be done easily. They could've sent me a service voucher a few weeks after I bought the car.
Also, my car was due the NCT 8 months after I bought it. My dealer would've known this. They could've offered to give my car a check beforehand to make sure everything was in order.
4. Keep me up to date - but keep it relevant The dealer knows I bought a Golf. A new model came out about 9 months after I bought mine. But I didn't hear this from my dealer. They could've easily sent me a brochure in the post about the new model. Or an email if they took my address. Or they could've invited me to a launch night of the new model.
These are just a few things I thought of quickly. I suppose my overall point is that from what I can see, car dealers have been very poor at building customer relationships. Maybe this is because up until recently they didn't have to. Business was flowing through their doors. But this has changed. And many dealers are struggling.
So at a time when car sales are in free fall, I think it's vital dealers look at every opportunity to build relationships with customers. Because some don't know where the next sale is coming from.
I recently finished reading Direct and Database Marketing by Graeme McCorkell. It was a book a friend always referred to and recommended since I started working in marketing. This person knows more about marketing than anyone I know so I usually read the books he recommends. And as usual, I finish the book and think, "That book will make me a better marketer". This is certainly the case with this book.
I'll be honest, Direct and Database Marketing is not an easy read. It's full of detailed examples, formulae and figures. This is mainly in the first half of the book. But don't let this put you off because you'll learn a lot about the importance of databases in marketing and the key role they play.
The second half of the book is what I got the most out of. Particularly because it focused on direct response and measurement. I see DR as the science of marketing. The book gives some very good rules around DR in terms of the four key principles, the differences between traditional media planning and DR planning, the differences between traditional advertising and DR advertising, and the six success factors that are crucial to DR.
One of the best things I took from the book is this. What gets measured, gets done.
The first time I saw Superquinn's "You're the business" ads I found myself thinking, "Where did they come from". The reason I thought this was because the ads feature four different customers and their shopping scenarios. So I assumed the customers in the ads were real Superquinn customers. But from what I can see, this isn't the case.
The ads seem to be hypothetical shopping scenarios and the customers appear to be made up. Personally, I think this is a pity. I think Superquinn had a chance to do something really nice with this campaign.
For example, real Superquinn customers could've been invited to appear in the ads. They could've told Superquinn what their typical trip to the supermarket is like. The ads could've then featured some of these customers and their real life scenarios that people can identify with.
I just think when the ads feature people by name along with different scenarios, and finish with the line, "You're the business", there's possibly a step missing that could've added something more to the ads.
I saw this ad the other night and like 'Gorilla' and 'Cars', I really don't like it. Why? Because I don't see what Cadbury's are trying to do. From what I can make out, they're trying to create ads that stand out and get talked about. So they succeeded with 'Gorilla'. But as you'll read below, in an effort to do this, Cadbury's don't seem to be benefiting in terms of sales.
What bugs me about the 'Eyebrows' ad, and the other two, is when people say, "Oh they're a great example of viral marketing". To be honest, I think people who say this don't really understand what viral marketing is.
In my opinion, viral marketing is when an idea spreads and while doing so, helps market your product. But here's the key thing about viral marketing. Unless what's been spread contains a benefit for your brand, yes your ad will be a hit, but no it won't help your business. So based on this, a good example would be Gmail. And a bad example would be Cadbury's Gorilla ad.
So let's apply this further to Cadbury's. According to the 2008 Biggest Brands survey, compiled by TNS, Dairy Milk lost market share to rival Galaxy, and posted less than 2% market growth. And this was after launching the 'Gorilla' ad and increasing ad spend by 197% between August 2007 and July 2008. In comparison, Galaxy grew share by 12%.
Viral marketing works best when it's built in and planned for. If people won't benefit from spreading an idea, then they won't. But if businesses don't benefit from spreading an idea, even though the idea might spread and 3 million people might look at the video on YouTube, it won't help the business. It's a very fine balance.
My brother gave blood not too long ago and it got me thinking. Could the Irish Blood Transfusion Service and other donor foundations use social media to widen the number of donors. I posted a while ago about a mother in the UK who used facebook to find a suitable donor for her daughter Bethany.
In my opinion, I think the various foundations could take a similar approach to find suitable donors. For example, if the Blood Transfusion Service has their own facebook page, people who have previously donated blood could join. Before long, the pool of people willing to donate could become quite large because people who have donated before, can encourage their friends to join and donate.
Similarly, other donor foundations could possibly use social media to help widen the pool of donors and maybe increase the chances of a match being found.
If foundations had a blog it could help donors connect with each other and share their experiences. This might influence other people who aren't donors too and encourage them to become one.
twitter could also be helpful. For example, if the Blood Transfusion mobile unit was in a specific part of the country, they could use twitter to let people know where they'll be and where you can give blood.
Like I said at the beginning of this post, these are just a few things I was thinking of. Maybe they're not suitable, but I wanted to share them with you and see what you think.
Many people know the role YouTube played in Barack Obama's presidential campaign, and continues to play. Now YouTube looks like it will play a part in the election of the new Prime Minister of Israel.
Through the election campaign's YouTube channel, the public have the chance to ask questions to the three candidates; Tsipi Livni, Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak. All questions are shown on the election campaign's channel where the public can vote on those they think are best.
The winning questions will be broadcast on Israel's most popular news channel, Channel 2 News. They’ll also be put directly to the candidates who will appear on the news show. The people who have their question picked to be asked will also be invited to attend the show.
When I heard about this, I wondered what a similar approach would be like if applied to Ireland. Here's what I was thinking.
Imagine a similar YouTube channel to the above was created, eg youtube.com/irishgov. On the channel, the Irish public can put their questions to the government on a topical issue. I suppose there’s none more topical right now than the economy.
The public are encouraged to submit their questions through the channel over a two week period. All questions can be watched on the channel and the public can vote for the one’s they would like to see put to the government. Here’s the main part.
Key members of government appear on Questions and Answers on RTE. During the show, the winning questions are put to the government. And the people who asked them are invited to be in the audience to hear the responses in person.
Is there a chance of something like this happening? I doubt it. But I’d really like to see what the public's response would be if it did. What do you reckon?
I thought this was really good. Neoformix has created an image of Barack Obama out of the words of his inauguration speech. Sorry the image isn't better. But if you click on the link you'll be able to see it much clearer. You'll also be able to download it as a poster if you like.
I posted recently about the convergence of tv and online, and how the likes of Sky Player, BBC iPlayer and MySpace have moved this a step closer. I asked the questions; how long will it be before we see fully functional web browsing on tv, and if broadcasters will look at possibily launching tv shows online the same time they're released on tv.
Well I just read today on YouTube's blog that YouTube is now available on your tv. This will initially be available through the Sony PS3 and Nintendo Wii at youtube.com/tv.
YouTube tv offers a 10 foot television viewing experience. And as you'd expect, you can search, watch and share YouTube videos on any tv screen using your remote control.
Over the last while, YouTube has gotten together with tv and set top box manufacturers to bring YouTube tv to life. At the moment there aren't many tv's and set top boxes available that have a built in web browser or give access to YouTube. But their hope is that their tv site will help bring forward open television access to web video.
Has anybody tried watching YouTube using their PS3 or Wii? I'd really like to know what it's like if you have.
I only came across gigjunkie the other day. This is only available in the UK at the moment. But hopefully this will change. If you're a music fan, here's why.
gigjunkie is a social network online ticket store dedicated to fans, gigs and the promotion of live music. Just like ticketmaster, you can find tickets to all the major gigs. But it's what gigjunkie does next that's really impressive.
gigjunkie is all about the fans and music community. The site lets fans, bands, venues and promoters add their own gigs to the site to help create the ultimate listing, for free. You can also register on the site to get text or email alerts. These will let you know when your favourite band is playing. Or you can get alerts to let you know what's happening in your favourite music venues.
Hopefully it won't be too long before we see something like this in Ireland.
Seth Godin had a post the other day called, "When newspapers are gone, what will you miss"? He puts across the point that when we have a free source such as the web, and when delivery time for news is zero, this shouldn't be such a surprise.
After reading Seth's post, I found myself thinking, "That's crazy. Newspapers will never go". But then today I saw the photo of the Hudson River US Airways plane crash. Where did this originally come from? twitter.
This photo has been flashed around the world. It was taken by a tourist on his iPhone. He was on a ferry that picked up some of the passengers.
Another example where twitter was used was the attacks in Mumbai. People captured what was happening in real time on twitter and gave first hand accounts of what was going on.
So today I realised the power of twitter. Could this be the place to get the latest breaking news as it happens? You're probably more likely to read it here before you do in the papers anyway. And if you think about it, with so many "journalists" around the world, it makes sense.
I read a lot about marketing. Especially copy, advertising, online and social media. It's something I enjoy doing for two reasons. The first is because I hate not knowing stuff and just want to learn. For example if I come across an area of marketing that's new to me, or that I don't know too much about, I'll look for books or articles to help me learn more about it.
The second reason is a belief I have that if you work in marketing and you're not reading and keeping up with what's happening, you're going to get left behind.
So a new piece I'm going to add to my blog is a book review. I promise to keep it short. Instead of boring you to tears and reviewing all the books I've read so far, I'm going to list the one's I liked and got the most out of.
Social networking and online Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff
This is something I found myself thinking the other day. Here's a few reasons why on-demand is certainly in more demand.
BBC iPlayer was launched in December 2007. The target audience for this is 16 - 34 year olds. In it's first 12 months since launch, the BBC got a total of 271 million requests to view programmes through iPlayer. They got 41 million alone last December. And there's no reason to think the iPlayer won't grow even more. The BBC just introduced downloading for Mac and Linux users, as well as a special version for CBBC. And iPlayer was the number one fastest rising search term in the UK according to Google.
Next is Sky Player. Sky Player lets users watch all Sky tv programmes on their laptop or PC. Sky recently signed a deal with the BBC and Channel 4 so that it can shows some of their programmes. And it doesn't matter if you're a current Sky customer or not. Because you can take out a subscription package just for Sky Player. So you can get all the benefits of Sky tv on your laptop or PC. And if you are a current customer and sign up to Sky Player, you can get the very same package you have on your tv.
Social networks are also getting in on the act and MySpace has been the first to get involved. Later this year MySpace will be available through tv sets on the new tv application framework called the Widget Channel. This channel is co-developed by Intel and Yahoo. The Widget Channel will be available on internet-enabled tvs. Samsung is launching it's own range of these tvs in spring. This is part of the partnership they launched with Yahoo earlier this month.
MySpace users will be able to receive friend updates, read and reply to messages, receive friend requests, publish status and mood updates, see updates from friends and browse profiles and photosall all through their tv.
I think this is true convergence. A one stop shop that merges tv and online worlds. I wonder how far behind fully functional web browsing on tv is? Will broadcasters look at the possibility of launching tv shows online at the same time they're being released on tv? I heard rumours FOX was looking at launching tv shows on their YouTube channel.
Overall, , I can't these developments ever replacing traditional tv. But it certainly opens up a whole new world of choice and possibilities. And it's certainly exciting.
I often find it funny to hear companies say they want to better understand their customers yet they don't use any aspect of social networking. Personally, I think all businesses, large and small, can benefit from social networking. Provided of course they have a clear idea what they want to get out of it. So I thought I'd have a go at coming up with a list of relatively simple and quite straightforward ways companies can use social networking in 2009.
1. Start blogging I don't think it will be long before blogs become the new websites. By this I mean it being a case of, "Oh we have to have a website". I don't think the day is too far off where companies will "Have to have a blog". But here's the big difference. A blog isn't one way communication.
A blog is a conversation. A two way dialogue between you and your customers. Blogs provide great opportunities to really get to know your customers simply by speaking with them. They can tell you what they like, don't like, what they think of you as a company, what they think of your products, etc.
2. Stop shouting and start listening Your customers are talking about you. They're telling you what they want. But are you listening? Do you know how you can listen? There are social networking tools out there to help with this such as twitter or Google Alerts.
3. Engage with your customers It's important to engage with customers when they decide to take the time to talk to you. This could be through a forum or blog. Regardless of what customers use, you owe it to them to respond to their comment.
4. Get others in the company involved Social networking isn't just for the marketing department. It can be companywide. For example, if your company has a forum or blog, and a customer asks a technology related question, chances are the marketing department won't know the answer. But if the technology department are involved in your social network strategy, they can get back to the question. Wouldn't this be better for the customer instead of contacting a call centre and waiting on the line.
These are just a few ways I think companies who aren't already using social networking, could get involved and get to know and understand their customers better. For example, whoever thought a bank would have a blog? RaboDirect changed this. Check out my post on Rabo's blog to see how they added more humanity to banking.
Philip Bruxton, the former editor of digital marketing magazine Revolution and now a freelance digital consultant, has come up with a checklist brands should use when choosing a social media agency:
1. A new approach Since everyone claims to ‘do’ social, look for those seeking to develop new models for approaching it, not those seeking to map on their existing models
2. Technology Everyone claims to have unique talent, to be ‘leading’, to have great clients, and real expertise. Technology, fortunately, can’t be faked, demonstrates genuine investment and expertise, and really can be proprietary and unique. So, which agency has developed/is developing their own technology to support their new approach?
3. Measurement The true value of real engagement by brands in social media is really hard to measure. I’ll be dropping my bank as soon as I don’t need them anymore because of the way it treated me when I was a student - good social media strategy will have a similarly long-lasting effect. Nonetheless, some agencies are having a very credible stab at it. Just steer clear of the ones who claim it’s that simple.
4.Existing credentials Being good at something, in my view, is a transferable skill. Muhammad Ali liked to say that if he’d been a dustman (I’m translating of course), he’d have been the best dustman in the world. I believe him. So, is the agency now claiming to be brilliant at social media brilliant at what it already does?
5.Case studies Trade journalists will tell you that finding people to talk about social media is not a problem. Finding people that have real projects to talk about is a good deal more difficult. What has the agency really done in this area?
Philip's shortlist would only contain agencies that tick all of these five boxes.
This is Bethany. She is 15 months old and is waiting for a liver and bowel transplant. To help find a donor, Bethany's mother has started a facebook page called Help Save My Daughter Bethany. At the moment there are 156, 064 members. Bethany's mother is encouraging people to give blood and join the NHS organ donor register.
By joining the register, facebook users are helping to widen the pool of donors and increase the chances of Bethany finding a suitable donor.
Another example of a campaign launched on facebook to help save a child's life can be found in this article on Brand Republic.
This is the power of social networks. And this is how they can help change lives by connecting people.
I read on Brand Republic today that search engine Kosmix has raised a total of $55 million so far in its bid to take on Google. Kosmix is backed by a few big players such as facebook, Amazon and Time Warner. You can read the full article here.
When you search for something using Kosmix you don't just get links for websites. for example I searched for Tiger Woods. As well as getting the link to his official site, I got a mini profile of Tiger, video content, links to news stories, blogs and forums featuring Tiger, as well as related search results. Kosmix is still a beta version at the moment which means its still in testing.
So should Google be worried, or will Kosmix be another Cuil? I suppose what's in Kosmix's favour is that it's not taking on Google directly, trying to be another Google. The comprehensive search results makes it different. But we'll have to wait and see.
Google recently launched Friend Connect. Once you copy and paste some code into yor site, Friend Connect lets you add social network features to your site. So what are the benefits of this?
First of all, Friend Connect lets you sign into a site using your Google, Yahoo, OpenID or AIM account. So if you're on a blog and want to leave a comment, but you have a Yahoo account and not a Google one, this doesn't matter. You can still sign in.
Secondly, you can spread the word of your site to others by inviting your friends to join your site. The flip side of this is that your friends can then invite their friends to join your site.
Thirdly you can add social network elements to your site. These include a (comment) wall, profiles and a rate/review gadget. The video above will give you a good idea what Friend Connect has to offer.
Instead of me just blogging about it, I'm going to use Fried Connect for a few weeks. I'll then blog again about Friend Connect and give my owns thoughts on what it has to offer.
I found these the other day and thought they were really good. AMV BBDO developed these idents for Guinness. They'll run before films aimed at men on Film On 4. The reason I like them is because they're properly linked to movies, and they're made by people who work in film.
Hi, I've decided to slightly change the content of my blog. Originally I said I'd blog about things I come across every day from a marketing point of view. Now though I'm going to include social media. There's no doubt social media has had a huge impact on marketing. I'm not going to say this is where the future of marketing lies because it's already here. You just have to keep up.
This charity caught my attention lately. I'm a big fan of innocent so naturally enough I was going to be interested in what they're doing. innocent’s big knit campaign was set up to help raise money for Age Action Ireland. For every hat-wearing smoothie sold through Topaz fuel stations, innocent and Topaz will donate €1 to Age Action. They hope to raise €20,000. So whenever you buy a behatted smoothie, there’ll be an older person in Ireland who is looked after that bit better this winter.
I thought this charity campaign was different and really good at getting the public involved. It wasn't just a case of making a donation and leaving it at that. innocent asked the public to make a difference by knitting their own little hats and sending them to Fruit Towers in Dublin.
innocent provided knitting patterns for people to work from. And if you wanted to organise a ‘Big knit group’, innocent provided forms you could print and send to friends inviting them along. You can see many of the entries on innocent's own Flickr page as well as the ‘Hat of the week’ section.
From 1st December 08 until 28th January 09, musicians around the world can submit their audition videos to the YouTube Symphony for a chance to play in the YouTube Symphony Orchestra. This is the world's first collaborative online orchestra and will change the way musicians connect over the Internet.
In February, the YouTube community can vote for their favourite semi-finalists. The winners will then go on to take part in a 3 day classical music learning summit, rounded off with a performance in Carnegie Hall, New York.
Google is trying its Adwords model on YouTube with YouTube sponsored videos. You can upload videos to the sponsored videos section to promote them. Then, just like with Adwords, you can bid on keywords and pay on a cost-per-click (CPC) basis.
When people search YouTube using one of your keywords, your sponsored video will appear in the search results. People then simply click on your video to watch it.
There's no minimum spending requirement. The amount you pay for sponsored videos is up to you. You can set a daily budget of $5 and a maximum cost of 10c for each click on your ad. Like Adwords, you’re only charged if someone clicks on your video, not when the video is shown.
I came across this today. It's quite hard hitting. FRANK, the Government-funded drugs information service in the UK, has launched a new advertising campaign. In the ad, a dead dog named Pablo wakes up to find he's been used as a drugs mule.
The campaign is aimed at raising awareness of the risks of cocaine use among 15-18 year olds.
I knew it was only a matter of time before a company in Ireland did it. But I didn't think it would be a bank. RaboBank have launched their own blog. And it looks like everyone in the bank is in on it. The first post is from Killian Nolan, Rabo's Investment Manager. But the second post comes right from the top. Rabo's General Manager, Roel van Veggel.
I'm a customer of Rabo and really like them. Not just because I think they're a good bank to be with. I really like their marketing too. They're different. Their tone of voice is fresh, simple and clear. Not how a typical bank speaks. And I only hear from them when they have something interesting to say so I like getting their emails. Their emails are also personal and start with 'Hi Kevin'. What other bank even says 'Hi'
Again, like I discussed in my last post about Barack Obama, Rabo changed the game when it comes to how banks communicate with people. Banks tend to speak at and confuse. Rabo talks with and is clear. There’s a very big difference.
So now that Rabo has entered the blogosphere, the real challenge begins. Blogging takes work, time and dedication. So I hope they didn’t decide to do this on the back of reading a book. I’m sure they didn’t.
Its important Rabo entered into this after getting the right information. For example, do they know their customers in the sense that are they bloggers or people who are likely to leave comments, ie creators or critics. Or are they people that have no real interest in doing this, ie spectators or even inactives.
Did Rabo look at what they want to get out of blogging. For example, why are they doing it? How do they hope to change their relationship with customers? If Rabo still feel blogging is the right approach, what will they use it for. Will they listen to customers to understand them better? Will they use customers to spread the word about their products and services? Or will the blog be more of a support tool where customers can ask questions? Knowing this information would’ve helped Rabo decide that yes, we should start a blog.
Overall I think it’s great to see Rabo entering the blogosphere. It’s the first for any bank in Ireland. I had a quick look at the blog today and already they're getting quite a few comments. And both the Investment Manager and General Manager are getting stuck in and responding.
Over the last while I’ve been looking at Barack Obama’s presidential campaign. I wanted to look particularly at how he used social media. When you think about it, Obama had very little in terms of brand to start with. And he was up against Senator Hillary Clinton, who had all the traditional sources of power, as well as Senator John McCain. But he had the right people and the right idea to take them on. Barack Obama changed the game. Here’s how.
Firstly, it’s important to remember that Obama didn’t invent anything new. Instead, he used what’s already there. He created personal pages on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube and Flickr, as well as his own website and blog. He also used in-game advertising on the Xbox 360 game Burnout Paradise. He used all these channels to reach hard parts of the US electorate such as young voters, African-American and Latino voters, and first time voters. Obama spoke with these people at their level. He engaged them.
So what did Barack Obama get back by embracing social networking? A database full of millions of names of supporters who can be engaged almost instantly. And all the Obama supporters who traded their personal information can now be mass e-mailed at a cost of close to zero. And instead of the constant polling, an Obama White House can use the Internet to measure voter attitudes.
There’s also every reason to believe that Barack Obama will continue to use the Internet to govern. For example, in his e-mail message to supporters on Tuesday, 4th November, he said, “We’ve got a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I’ll be in touch soon about what comes next”. And he did.
What followed was the first of many of Obama’s weekly addresses to the US nation through YouTube. He’ll continue to do this until he takes office. You can watch his latest Thanksgiving address here.
On the 20th January 2009, Barack Obama’s conversation with the electorate will enter a new phase. The people who voted him in as the 44th president will continue to expect a conversation, a two-way relationship that is give and take. And there's absolutely no reason to think they'll get anything less.
I came across an article today on Brand Republic and thought it was interesting. Procter and Gamble's head of marketing, Ted McConnell, says companies shouldn't advertise on Facebook. He says social networks have no right to monetise customer's conversations. He's even said Procter and Gamble shouldn't continue to buy banner ads on Facebook.
This caught my eye because I was thinking the same thing after reading Tom Chapman's report, "Social network marketing, engagement marketing and brands". This was conducted with 67 Facebook users aged 18-50, and 120 MySpace users aged 18-50. I posted about this earlier and included a link to the report.
My own views on brands and social networks is along the lines of Ted McConnell. I think if a brand's only purpose on a social network site is to have a banner ad on it trying to interrupt users, then forget about it. You're wasting your time. Social networks are much more than just the next place to stick your logo. Tom Chapman's report supports this view. His research found only 17% of Facebook users and 17% of MySpace users noticed brand ads on their profile pages. One respondent said "consumers are so used to seeing banners on websites that we're able to tune out and ignore them".
The reason a brand should consider having a presence on a social network site is if they are going to talk with their customers and engage them. Not because, "We have to do it, everybody else is". Believe me, doing this properly takes a lot of work. If you mess up and customers find you out, you'll be sorry. It's a two way thing. It's important to remember that customers will say good things about you, and also things that are not so good. When the things are not so good, this isn't a time to ignore customers and what they're saying. If a customer was standing in front of you and had a problem, would you turn and run away?
Other findings in the report say that of Facebook respondents, 58% said they wouldn't remain a fan of a brand if they regularly got promotional information or advertisements from the brand. Similarly, 68% of MySpace users gave the same answer. Also, respondents said they wouldn't buy a product or service from a brand through their profile page. Another finding is that 67% of Facebook users and 65% of MySpace users said they would feel much more loyal to a brand if the brand listened to their views and got back to their questions.
Brands must give customers content they find engaging. The type of stuff they'll want to talk about and share with friends. It's only through doing this, and by listening to and talking with customers, that brands will start to develop relationships with their customers through social networks.
This is just a very brief overview of social networking and some of the things brands need to do if they're to do it right. There are some great books out there well worth reading on the area.
I read about this in The Irish Times last Saturday, 15th November, and just thought it was fantastic. To give you a summary of the story, the Minister for Health, Mary Harney, has scrapped the introduction of the cervical cancer vaccine programme for 12 year old girls. One woman though has made it her mission to make sure this doesn't happen.
Shauneen Armstrong set up a facebook page to appeal against the vaccine programme cuts. Shauneen used facebook to organise a rally over the scrapping of the vaccine. The protest was due to take place at 2pm last Saturday, 15th November, on O'Connell Street in Dublin. As of lunchtime last Wednesday, 12th November, Shauneen's facebook page had 2,000 members. You can check out some of the comments on Shauneen's wall here. If you want to read the article in the Times it's here.
This is the first example I've seen in Ireland just how powerful social networking sites can be and the potential and power they have. Here, facebook united people from all over Ireland. I'm sure the vast majority were strangers who never spoke or met each other. However through a common purpose, they became one voice. And united they took on Mary Harney and the government.
Was anybody at the rally last Saturday? I'd really like to know how it went if you were.
A friend of mine said something to me today and I thought of this. Apparently this is what the iPod would look like if Microsoft packaged it. I'm sure you've been in the situation where, for example, you're working on a brief that involves many people. Each person wants to add their own 10 cents worth.
What if the packaging was blue. How about making the price bigger. Make sure you include the website address. Sound familiar?
If it does, then it might be a good idea to show this video to these people. I think it describes very well the battle marketers often face when trying to manage many stakeholders. You've probably seen this before but if not, enjoy.
I came across this today. It looks like Tesco are looking at taking customer feedback more seriously. They are experimenting with a customer feedback scheme called Every Comment Helps in 100 of their UK stores. This will run until the end of November. Customers can give feedback in store, by SMS, by email or phone. Messages posted by customers are sent to a customer service team or to store managers.
Have you noticed these channels are all one-to-one communication channels? I wonder why Tesco are not offering an online forum for customers to give feedback. Could this be because they don't want to display all comments? Are they afraid they'll lose control?
The Financial Times recently launched a new ad campaign called Beat the Downturn. The billboards ask the question: "Global downturn. What's the first mistake businesses make?". The aim of the campaign is to question why companies often respond to an economic slump by slashing marketing and advertising budgets. There is also a campaign website, ft.com/budgets. This will contain case studies showing the benefits of continuing to advertise in a slump.
I like this, mainly because of the creative use of space. What do I mean by this? This is a great example of how space is used to attract attention. Since there is only a small poster on the billboard, this draws all the attention to it. Alex W. White has written a lot about this. His books are a great read if you're interested in advertising.
I was in my local Spar today and saw Deep RiverRock's 2 for 1 offer. I then found myself thinking how one man's crisis can be another man's opportunity. What do I mean? With the recent water crisis in Galway, did Irish water brands miss an opportunity?
I wonder what the reaction of the locals in Galway would've been if one of the Irish water brands came to the rescue. One of these brands could've donated X amount of bottles of water. Or they could've reduced the price of their water in Galway. I'm sure they would've still made a profit.
I imagine such an approach would've gotten the brand that did it a lot of media coverage. I'd say it would've gained the brand many new customers too. And they might have remained customers for a long time after crisis. What's the significance of this?
Well I often wonder where the competitive advantage is in water. It's not product differentiation because they're all the same (althought I'm sure the brands will argue differently if they saw this). How do people decide to buy one brand of water over another. Personally I buy RiverRock for the simple reason I know a guy who works with them. I would imagine price plays a big part in people's choice. How do you decide which one to go for?
BMW recently launched the new 7 series in Ireland. As part of this launch, they took over the Alto Vetro apartment block at Grand Canal Dock. Sorry for the poor quality photo. As you can see they put a banner along the front of the building. They also put signage along the bottom. One thing you can't see is the actual car itself. But if you look at the image, at the very top of the building there is a glass room. This is where the car is.
At night, different messages are projected onto the old Bolands Mill building facing the Alto Vetro apartments. And this is where the confusion is for me.
The first message has the number 35. This is followed by a statement saying athlete Sergey Bubka broke the pole vault world record 35 times. The next message has the number 80. This is followed by the statement that tenor Placido Domingo got an 80 minute applause after one of his performaces. To round this off is the tag line for the new 7 series - Never stand still.
Personally I'm baffled by these numbers. Do you know what the relevance of them is or how they're connected? I would be guessing the Bubka connection is he never stopped trying to get better, even when he was world record holder. This is the fifth generation 7 series so BMW is continuously trying to improve on previous models. But I'm struggling with the 80 and Placido Domingo connection.
I came across a study recently called “Social network marketing, engagement marketing and brands”. This study was done by Tom Chapman and looks at the marketing power of online social networks such as Facebook and MySpace.
Amongst other things, the report found that companies can form deeper relationships with customers by listening to friends or fans points of view and concerns, and also accepting criticism while giving honest information. You can get a free copy of the study here.
Tom has also set up his own blog. This will feature brands' use of social media with a focus on marketing. You should check it out.
I'm not overly fond of the GAA when it comes to sponsorship and money. Why? Because I think there's a rule for them and a rule for everybody else. I read an article recently in the Irish Independent about the association's latest action against alcohol.
Basically the GAA and the HSE feel the tradition of drinking from the cup a team wins encourages binge drinking. GAA officials in Kerry have come up with their own solution. They're looking at drilling holes in various cups.
Is now a good point to bring up the matter of the €1.5 million sponsorship deal the GAA has with Guinness for the All Ireland Hurling Championship? Also, why is it alright for this "amateur" association to gain financially from TV sponsorship rights but players can't get any financial support?
It's for reasons like this I think the GAA tend to be hypocritical. Do you think I'm being harsh?
Hi, thanks for dropping by. I'm a Senior Brand and Marcomms Executive with O2 Ireland. Although this blog doesn't represent the views of the company I work for. This blog is about my views on all things marketing that I come across every day. I'd really like to hear your thoughts and what you think so please feel free to leave comments.
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