Ideas, thoughts and stories from the frontlines of marketing. Dedicated to brand and customer champions worldwide who are making a difference from the client side.
Anyone who knows me knows that my favourite author is Mark Twain. I am a huge fan of his work, his wit and his wisdom. The version of America he created as a humorist is matched only by our own homegrown Canadian icon of the humorist genre, Stephen Leacock, who did the same for Canada.
Here is an excerpt from yesterday's press release: "Canadians like to laugh, and our senses of humour, like our seasons, certainly vary. Luckily, Canada’s writers tickle a variety of funnybones, and their best recent works are represented on the 2008 shortlist for the Leacock Memorial Medal for Humour.
Awarded annually by the Leacock Association, the Stephen Leacock Memorial Medal recognizes the most humorous book published in Canada, by a Canadian, in the previous year. It carries a cash prize of $10,000, sponsored by TD Bank Financial Group."
He is much too humble to ever engage in a Bum Rush The Charts type of deal, but obviously the word has spread to all the right places.
Please help me congratulate Terry on his very prestigious achievement. I know where he works in case you want to have me arrange for your copy of Best Laid Plans to be autographed.
Schweppervescence. Remember that term brought to us from the folks at Schwepps? I had not heard it for a while but this video is a great tie-in, reminding of those teeny-tiny bubbles hitting your face. Vodka tonic, twist of lime anyone?
Here's the thing. I'm not knocking Second Life. I get it, I like it and used to use it. And, I see future potential for the 3D web model. But as I suspected and wrote about quite a while ago, without hardcore results and a translation to bottom-line business objectives, it would fail to carry it's marketing-darling momentum on hype alone. And, marketers would lose interest.
Please read carefully. I said it would fail to carry it's forward momentum. It was not sustainable on that front. And, I seem to be in good company with this viewpoint. This does not mean I am trashing SL, I'm just pointing out how it is like a Cabbage Patch kid. One Christmas people are killing for them, next one they are overflowing in the $2 bin.
Well folks, close to 60% of marketers who were polled at the NYC Advertising Age Digital Conferenced agreed that it was the most over-hyped new media of 2007.
According to Steve Rubel "Second Life has become a quagmire for marketers". I think he is right in more than just a few SL examples (but not necessarily all).
Leo Burnett's London based Futures Editor, Ben Hourahine, created a nifty little video titled the "Trends Predictions Report".
Here is how the YouTube video content is described by the authors:
"The key dynamics in culture, communication, advertising and marketing:
- Mass is back (Say hello to the Swell Society).
At the turn of this year online downloads were included as part of the UK Christmas pop chart for the first time ever. This trend of online popularity being institutionalized shows that mass appeal will once again define marketing attitudes. The goal is the same; reach a mass audience, the difference is how to achieve it. Say hello to the Swell Society.
- Community Commerce.
Community connections will become more central to business practice. Retailers will seek to bring the community further inside the store, with more coffee shops, banking services and pharmacies within supermarkets. On the other side, community connections are being used to create new businesses for established brands.
- Screen Saturation.
Moving forward we will see the explosion of screen-based media, with screens on the side of buses, in petrol stations, supermarkets, the home and the pocket. While the medium may remain the same, the reach, context, audience and role of the media will be tweaked. There will be more broadcast screens than ever in 2010 and things are only going to get bigger: According to Sharp, the electronics manufacturer, the average television screen size will be 60" by 2015.
- Gender Reversal.
More women in work and the increasing role played by men within the family will see marketers change their focus. Men's interest and investment in the family will continue to rise as well, morphing the gender balance and changing the advertising context. Expect to see more and more campaigns aimed at women at work and men in the home.
- Brand Guardians.
The role of brands is evolving and will enter a new phase. With growing concerns over how to be healthy, safe and environmentally friendly, mixed with a real confusion about how to achieve this, we will see brands increasingly attempting to take on a guardian role.
- IP Idols.
Artists are grabbing control of their creative product. Intellectual Property (creative works -- ideas, songs, movies, TV shows) used to be owned and licensed by studios, record labels and other commercial institutions, but we will see artists back in the driving seat.
- The Data Awareness Era.
The public will be more aware of their data exposure than ever before and privacy concerns will be a defining issue in the future. Expect this trend to accelerate with the introduction of GPS location based information, the explosion in online information storage and social networking increasingly reflecting real life...
- Social Networks Get Real.
Social networks like Facebook -- once just virtual playgrounds - will now start to plug directly back into the real world. Increasingly we will see these networks beginning to dictate everyday life, influencing who people do business with, which parties, movies and gigs they go to, where they meet and with whom. Accelerating this shift is the advent and take up of mobile social networking: 14m people did it in 2007, and forecasts suggest it could hit 600m by the time the Olympics hits London in 2012."
Interesting stuff. Lots of things to think about. And, a nice little advert for the folks at Leo Burnett. An "A" for effort and presentation style. That said, these are themes and riffs that many of us have been kicking around for a while in other forms but, it provides a good view of things and where they might be headed.
Some of the points remind me of one of my mentors from back in my early days of marketing, Jerry Reitman who, coincidently, used to head up Leo Burnett's Direct Marketing division. He was a big influence on my career and is a hell of a nice guy. I spent a lot of time in the 1990's working with and getting to know Jerry. One of the smartest direct marketing people I've ever come across.
Back to the video. What I like is the idea of swells, but I'm not so sure "mass is back". In fact, I'm not so sure it ever went that far away. We just look at it through a different marketing lens these days. Call it an enlightenment about what mass represents in today's world and how we choose to categorize and deal with it.
Now for social networks plugging back into the offline world. That is a huge trend worth watching and figuring out how to apply it to your brand and marketing efforts. What is critical is how it can be done with a non zero-sum mentality and approach. Further, the notion that communities and commerce can coincide is the focus of many currenet conversations in my world. Although, I have a much different way of thinking about communities and commerce than outlined above - we'll leave that for another post.
And finally, the idea of Brand Guardians is interesting but fails to go far enough for my liking. I kind of agree with the angle taken, but wholeheartedly believe that the role of brand guardian is being diffused more so than ever before. Increasingly, we are seeing smart CMO's and senior level marketers who are understanding that it comes down to a balanced mix of passionate employees, empowered front-line staff and customer service people that are truly the guardians. They are the tangible part of brand delivery in the consumer's mind and cannot be undervalued. In many cases, unfriendly consumer generated content against a brand is the result of a guardianship slip in a front-line, human-to-human, moment of truth.
Following that line of thinking, the torch of guardianship can be effectively passed onto the consumer through consistent positive encounters. Bad product issues can be rescued by a great person who shows empathy and is genuine in the help and solutions they provide. Let's face it, the product is often a commodity. It's the person-to-person element forges the brand identity with the vast majority of consumers. This is the context for creating a remarkable moment-of-truth where consumers become a defender or guardian of the brand (i.e. the Nordstrom's employee who gift wraps an item that was bought at another store.)
When a customer knows you are worth defending, they become your most credible advocate. I like to call it the 360 Degree brand guardianship model. Makes one rethink where to invest marketing dollars when you ask yourself if your customer service is doing your marketing for you in that regard? Deep thoughts before the Easter long week.
My new definition of Viral is when I see or hear about something from at least three different unconnected sources within 24 hours. This one certainly qualifies.
This has nothing to do with marketing. It is just freaky with a capital F. Thank you Boston Dynamics for the nightmares I am certain to have in the near future.
I'd be surprised if this outdoor ad went through a focus group, then again maybe not. There is something about it that just does not scream ' let's go get me some Mexican food". I can't put my finger on it but really, who'd want to.
And, how the hell do you pronounce Chipotle anyways?
John Battelle, Founder/Chairman/CEO, Federated Media is moderating a panel including Damon Wayans, Founder, WayoutTV.com. (Warning - content may offend viewers, but that is actually the value prop of the entire site). Yes, this is the same Damon Wayans of In Living Color fame ( and Major Payne shame).
Here is the description of Wayans YouTube project:
WayoutTV.com is the brain-child of Damon Wayans and is designed as an incubator to develop innovative television shows for the internet which will include: comedy, drama, action, reality, and animation. A creative haven for up and coming writers, directors, producers, actors and musical talent, WayoutTV.com will seek out and nurture the vision of these young artists. Mr. Wayans will work with these artists to develop original content. By creating a turn-key operation for the Hollywood community of the future, WayoutTV.com will produce weekly programming.
According to funny man Wayans "Internet (today) is cable 25 years ago." via Rubel tweet. From what I could pick up on the Twitter stream of conference attendees, he seems quite savvy with the evolving models around online video. "You Tube is the greatest focus group ever. They say what they want in comments etc. They don't pull any punches" via Armano tweet. Sounds like marketers and advertisers can learn from what he is discovering in the world of online video .
While I have yet to check out the depth of content at WayOut TV, a few things come to mind:
- When successful mainstream entertainment figures show up at digital conferences on a panel, talking about their own projects and can speak the language of digital marketers, we are moving out of the geekdom.
- As a persona like Wayans talks of, and manages to diss, his peers in the same online space (Will Ferrel's Funny or Die), we know we have reached a whole new stage in the game.
- Given my post below on Sure Fire Ways To Moderate A Panel, how cool would it be to moderate Homey D. Clown? Priceless.
- Our adoption and use of video online is not even close to it's potential yet. We are only beginning to scratch the surface of the opportunity. The barriers are down and there are no limits on this frontier. We need to look for examples outside of the usual "marketing" suspects and see what others are doing. Where they are succeeding, and where they are struggling,
There are implications for those on the sidelines waiting to see how this new world unfolds. We can learn a lesson from Mr. Wayans and begin to unfold it for ourselves, figure it out on the fly and lead the way.
I was not there, but have been witness to it before. The host (or hostess), moderator or interviewer who, for one reason or another, just didn't deliver.
In case you missed it, there was a lot of commentary and buzz around Sarah Lacy's interview of Mark Zuckerberg at SXWS last week. I'm not going to wade into who was right or if the comments were justified. Watch the video and judge for yourself. Then, see her response to the situation. When I watched it, I was looking for why and when the audience turned on her. It was interesting as I thought parts of the interview were really good while I also found myself cringing as some parts were hard to watch.
So, instead of studying this example any further, I thought I would do something constructive instead. Having been bestowed the honor of moderating/interviewing in front of a crowd a few times myself, I thought I would offer some simple tips in terms of how to effectively lead a session. They are:
- Be gracious and welcoming.
- As the moderator, remember you are not who people came to see or hear. The audience is there to hear the panelists or interviewee. At all times, keep the audience focused on the person/people being interviewed.
- Your job is to make the panelists look brilliant. You are a facilitator.
- Leave any personal or professional bias at the door.
- Don't try to be controversial or overly provocative. You are the voice of... wait for it, ... moderation.
- Manage the time of the session wisely. Change topics and direction to keep the discussion lively.
- Prepare yourself to be spontaneous.
- Get to know the participants, their backgrounds and points of view on the subject matter. Ensure participants know the flow of the session but are not over prepared to come off as rehearsed.
- Make sure all panelists have a chance to speak. Ask a particular panelist to answer a question if you sense the conversation is not evenly distributed.
- Ask a question and get out of the way.
- Don't interrupt. And, make sure everyone has a chance to chime in with an answer before you move on.
- Rapport with the audience and panelists is a good thing, but there are limits. Don't let your personality take over.
- Inside jokes fall flat. Leave them at home. No one benefits.
- Start with a statement then quickly follow with a question. Questions without context setting are just as bad as rambling statements not followed by a question.
- Leave lots of time for questions and work the room. In a 45 minute session, leave 15-20 for questions. (Hint: takes some of the pressure off the moderator.)
- Read the audience, feel the vibe of the room. If things go wrong, be humble and keep things moving forward. Don't use the stage as a platform to defend yourself or the panelists. Take the high road.
For more on this, Guy Kawasaki has a great post on moderating a panel (although I disagree with a couple of his points). And, if you have any other tips or advice, I’d love to hear. Please leave a comment.
I was asked a question recently related to search results and it made me think about (big surprise) reputation. The question was "what if you are Brand X and have decent organic search results for your name and keywords/phrases but, directly below you are results that say 'Brand X sucks'. What can Brand X do to get rid of the result below?"
My response: "Don't Suck"
It was not meant to be flippant, I was being honest about the difference in today's digital age that brands face. Awareness and credibility are now totally separate items. It used to be that you could buy enough awareness to become credible. That time is gone. It is more about being credible that will increase your awareness.
What shows up in search is your reputation. Google (or other search engines - there are others out there ya know!) could care less about whether you suck or not. Google only cares about serving up what is relevant to what people are searching for. If "sucks" is relevant to you, you have a suck problem, not a search problem.
Sometimes, one crank with a lot of Google juice is all it takes (please know the restraint I just exercised in not linking to someone on that phrase!). You may not be too bad off as one person's rants are often just that - one person's rants. However, if they have enough influence to affect search, they likely have some influence outside of the online space as well and that is what is more important to remember. That is where it gets tricky.
In Meatball Sundae, Seth Godin has a couple of brilliant quotes around this:
"No one visits a Web site's home page anymore -- they walk in the back door, to the page Google sent them to." And, "New Marketing treats every interaction, product, service and side effect as a form of media"
Understanding that and acting accordingly are important to keep in mind. Which brings us back to the question of how can a brand eradicate the result below theirs that says they suck? Well, there is really only one way: Don't suck.
After signing up for Twitter well over a year ago, I recently became more active on the platform. I must admit to liking it a whole lot more now than when I signed up. It has now become a part of my routine now I understand the power of the twit.. er tweet.
I was explaining Twitter to the CMA class I teach a couple of nights ago and showing them what it was all about. In fact, as part of explaining Twitter, I "tweeted" that I was explaining Twitter to the class. It kind of fell flat. So, moving right along, I came across this video by Common Craft that explains things just fine.
