Influential Marketing Blog

How "Location Shifting" Could Reinvent GeoTargeted Online Marketing

There's a pretty simple idea that could transform the landscape of targeted online communications, but no one is doing it ... yet.  If you have ever done any online marketing that has been targeted by geography, you know that there are pretty much only two ways to do it currently online:

1. Based on IP address of where the user is accessing the Internet. Notoriously unreliable because of shared servers and inability to truly pinpoint a user's location.
2. Based on a profile that the user has created indicating where they live. This is much better with two big assumptions ... that people tell you the truth about where they are, and that they are usually there (as opposed to travelling).

For someone like me, this system makes it impossible to target me on a geographic basis. I am always travelling, often using Internet through shared connections in multiple locations, and my Facebook profile says I belong to the San Francisco network (intentionally), even though I live in DC.  My email address has the word Australia in it and I registered it while I was living in Australia and never changed my region. There are a lot of other consumers like me, making it tough for any business to truly target geographically by relying on such uncertain data. The one solution with promise involves using the mobile platform to geotarget based on where a person physically is. This is good, but still incomplete because it doesn't allow you to predict where someone will be.  What if there was a way to geotarget your messages not to where a user currently is, or even where they say they live, but to where they will be?

This is possible today, because more than ever before, people are now broadcasting where they are going to be and what they are currently doing through social media.  Look at a platform such as Twitter, where people routinely update their status to indicate where they are and what they are feeling.  Or a travel site like Dopplr, which I use to update my upcoming trips.  To a degree, this is private information - but many people publish it live for anyone to see.  Location shifting means geotargeting your marketing communications based on information about location that your consumers are giving you or posting online.  As a result, if smart marketers started using this information, a whole range of things could be possible:

1. Banks could verify that you are travelling and not have to cancel your cards because of suspected fraud
2. Marketers could send special offers to people who express a particular sentiment in a certain location (eg - someone Twitters that they are hungry in Manhattan, and gets a Twitter message back with a coupon to a local pizza shop)
3. Car services could automatically update their drivers who are waiting for pickups
4. Your friends could invite you to events through social networks based on where you will be and not just where you live

What else could be possible with location shifting?  Let me know if you think this idea works.

Plse Forgiv Typoes - Jott Fights Terse Reply Syndrome

For anyone who uses a Blackberry religiously, or works with those who do - you also know that there is a new language that has emerged for that mode of communication. Similar to text messages, brevity is a growing necessity with Blackberry communications and it is leading to people doing things like including a disclaimer at the bottom of their emails apologizing for the short replies, and possible grammatical and spelling errors of their message. Apparently having small keys is enough of an excuse to spell poorly and forget about periods or commas.  I wish we had that excuse when were were in school. Still, we have all seen this effect and to a degree have probably learned to accept it because there wasn't an alternative.

Probably, you don't even think about it anymore ... until a campaign like the "Terse Reply Syndrome" from Jott reminds you that those short mistyped replies are no way to communicate. Jott has a beta service that allows you to speak a reply into your Blackberry and it will type it for you. That alone is an interesting and useful service (assuming it actually works), but as a marketer you can learn a lot from their approach to launching it. The Terse Reply Syndrome (TRS) is a situation that most businesspeople will immediately recognize, whether they have been on the receiving or sending end of these types of messages. And we would all love to find a better way. The campaign works because it talks about a real situation of need that many business people will be familiar with, and presents a solution that allows you to use the same tools you are used to using. Their videos (shot in the style of a "when the moment is right" Viagra ad), promise "side effects" of longer more thoughtful replies, less thumb stress, and more free time.

This is where the message really hits home, because you can have better communications without giving up your Blackberry. Their useful blog offers further tips on how to effectively use their service, and it even works with lots of common social media tools. The service is in limited beta and free at the moment, but you should sign up quickly because eventually it will be a paid service. It's easy to imagine this is one of those few services where once you try it for free, you are probably going to pay for it.*  Smart marketing combined with a great and useful service. This is the type of Web2.0 service we could all use more of.

* Note - This post is about the marketing behind Jott. I haven't been able to try it yet as it doesn't appear that you can use it on a Blackberry that is issued from work when your employer doesn't pay for phone access (which my employer doesn't). If anyone knows a way around this, please share!

Inside Lenovo's Olympic Blogging Program

This past week in the string of posts about the book coming out, I've been stockpiling ideas for "real" blog posts and wanting to write about them more and more. Thankfully now that I launched the Personality Matters blog, I will post most of the updates about the book there and refocus on marketing strategy and insights here. I can't promise I won't share the occasional post about the book ... but I know that you're giving me your time to read this blog because you want marketing ideas and you want lots of them. So this post is about one I'm particularly excited about.

The Ogilvy 360 Digital Influence team recently finalized the details to take the lead on what I would have to call my dream project. Those who know me know that I am what you might call a full on Olympic enthusiast. I went to college in Atlanta and was there for the 1996 Olympics. I moved to Sydney in 1998 and lived there during the Sydney Olympics, and my first son was born right in the middle of the Athens Olympics (during the women's marathon, ironically). So I've been there and seen it, and more importantly, I think it is a world stage that nothing else even comes close to.

Which brings me to this very ambitious project that we are helping Lenovo with. David Churbuck, our main client, posted about the idea behind the project on his blog and it is a brilliant summary of a big vision that Lenovo and David himself has for this project. Here it is in a nutshell:

The Problem: Media coverage of the Olympics has become about melodrama that is broadcasted as "real" stories. But those producers only choose the athletes who have overcome quadruple knee surgery and the lack of a college degree to become a world champion ... in other words, the extreme stories.

The Insight: What about the real athletes who spend every day training and working hard just to get to the Olympics whether they have a shot of winning or not?  Their voices could be the most powerful and this Olympics more than any other promises to offer the chance for them to do that.

The Project: We are seeking 100 potential Olympic athletes from around the world to all start and maintain a blog all about their experience leading up to and during the Games. In return, Lenovo is offering all participants the chance to use a new IdeaPad laptop for their blogging and help from our team to set up and maintain their blogs. 

This is a big project on a scale that is completely global, multi-lingual and very ambitious. Lenovo, to their credit, are not content to sit back with their sponsorship of the Olympic Torch Relay and Olympic Village (already considerable efforts) and call it a job well done.  If this is the year for Olympics 2.0, this program should be one of the best examples of it. Our main goal right now is finding Olympic athletes, so if you know any (or you happen to be one), please get in touch with myself rohit [dot] bhargava [at] ogilvypr.com or David.

PNI: Introduction ... Get Your Exclusive Download!

As part of The Official Reader's Group for Personality Not Included, I just released a first look at the full introduction for the book on my Facebook group. If you're not yet a member, you may want to join now so you can get access to exclusive content like this, and find out first about all the great launch parties and activities happening over the next few weeks. Otherwise, you'll be a few hours behind when I post everything here. Here's the link to get the introduction:

www.personalitynotincluded.com/introduction.pdf

Though I feel a bit like a guy in a dunk tank encouraging people to hit the target ... if you have a blog and haven't had a chance to submit your 5 questions - make sure and send them to me so you can feature a virtual interview on your blog on Friday.  I know I'm getting dunked (so to speak) with another set of questions to respond to (I'm already nearing 35 bloggers I need to get back to!), but its all for a good cause (promoting the book).  And speaking of good causes, if need a great place to order PNI, or any other book - visit the Ultimate Marketing Bookstore. It's a store I set up to benefit DonorsChoose.org, a wonderful charity dedicated to helping teachers do the most for their kids. All the Amazon affiliate fees from your purchase will go straight to Donors Choose. Great books, great cause ... what more do you need?

Notes From the Twitterbowl: The Top 3 Strategic Super Bowl Ads

Last night during the big game, I joined a large group of marketing and social media types to share some live thoughts about the Super Bowl ads through Twitter (sending them to the @superbowlads user account).  The aptly named "Twitterbowl" consisted of lots of folks live rating ads and sharing some feedback about the ads live during the game.  Voting on ads in real time is nothing new ... however doing it and reading the thoughts of my other contacts during the game was an interesting way to experience the ads.  Though I would have expected a more sophisticated commentary from the group as a whole, being marketing people and all.  Many folks seemed to just be rating ads on entertainment value as opposed to whether or not the message actually made sense for the brand, but it was still a fun experience as part of the game.

Aside from realizing that people can really have completely opposite views of what makes a successful Superbowl ad, it was also clear that all of us love to have our opinions.  Everyone decides what is most entertaining for them, but since this is a marketing blog, I'm going to go with my own top 3 Super Bowl ad list based on strategic value for the brand.  So, here is my list of the top three 3 strategic ads that were creative, engaging, messaged properly and could actually have a real impact in terms of sales (and only one of them made the USAToday Top 10 popular ads list):

1. Tide "My Talking Stain":  This spot was easily relatable (everyone has had that stain they couldn't do anything about), funny, and generated awareness for an under appreciated product  In the Twitterbowl, most folks loved it, and it will easily have the recall when anyone is walking the grocery market aisles and sees it.  The only downside?  The word in the Twitterbowl was that their marketing site (www.mytalkingstain.com) went down under all the traffic.
   
2. Under Armour "Under Army":  Any company that is number 3 in a competitive industry has perhaps the most to gain from a Super Bowl ad because it positions them on equal footing with the other two.  For Under Armour, this meant taking the reigns from Nike and Adidas with their "Under Army" spot, which they did brilliantly.  Not to mention it was one of the rare Super Bowl ads that (gasp!) has something to do with football.  Ironically, it wasn't popular in the Twitterbowl - but for the masses and Under Armour's target audience, I think it was spot on.
3. Audi "Godfather": Audi's spot was a big deal in marketing circles before the Super Bowl even aired because it represented a rare entry from Audi into the Super Bowl mix.  The ad itself was a brilliant parody of the Godfather that positioned the new __________ as the ultimate in new luxury.  Anyone want to bet what percentage of the boomer males watching the game were picturing themselves in that car?

Of course, I am tough on these ads because I am putting the often forgotten lens of strategic value over deciding what was a good creative execution.  If we just looked at entertainment value, which I am sure lots of polls are doing today, the winners were probably a few of the Bud ads and the Pepsi Night at the Roxbury spoof.  Worst ads?  They have to be the Gatorade/Vitamin Water/Sobe combos (seriously, can anyone tell them apart?), the CareerBuilder nasty exploding heart ad (they should have stuck with the monkeys), and the singing Comcast ads (which, thankfully, most of the country probably didn't see).  Big props to Dell and Lionel also, for being the only advertiser (that I could tell) to actually be part of the Twitterbowl. 

Oh, and it was a great game to watch too ... congrats to Giants fans everywhere.  If it can't be the Redskins, it might as well be the Giants doing the NFC East proud.

technorati tags: superbowl superbowlads advertising marketing superbowl2008 admeter twitter twitterbowl
del.icio.us tags: superbowl superbowlads advertising marketing superbowl2008 admeter twitter twitterbowl
icerocket tags: superbowl superbowlads advertising marketing superbowl2008 admeter twitter twitterbowl

Firebrand Helps Bloggers Get Ready For Super Bowl Snarkiness

For at least half of the people who will watch the Super Bowl this coming Sunday, the draw will not be as much about the game as it will be about the ads that show during the game.  As many bloggers and other social media types get set to Twitter the ads live, or react to them on community sites, Firebrand is launching a homage to this annual phenomenon in true over the top Hollywood tribute style.  The site, which I have written about before, will feature the greatest Super Bowl ads throughout the week, leading to what they are calling Firebrand Monday ... the day after the game.  Dubbing it "advertising's holiest day" - they are celebrating the entertainment value of ads in a way that maps well to what the site offers overall. 

Here is a video they released last night to bloggers to promo their activities:

Throughout the week, their schedule will include themes such as "chicks in charge" and "big time celebrities."  For those of you who are ad lovers, it will likely be a marathon event you won't want to miss.  And for those getting ready to snark it up real time on Facebook, Twitter, Pownce or <insert other social media site here> during the game, you may want to study up on the greatest past Super Bowl commercials to get ready.  After all, this kind of attention on advertising only comes once a year.

The Big Three Automakers and the New Science of Selling Cars

Last night I had the chance to attend a preview event sponsored by General Motors for media and bloggers about their announcements and lineup that they will be previewing at the Auto Show here in DC this coming weekend.  For any die-hard automotive enthusiast, the DC auto show probably doesn't seem like a big deal.  Especially since the Detroit Auto Show is happening now.  Yet most automakers are focused on regions and it is no secret that when it comes to the coasts (east and west), the Big 3 American automakers (GM, Ford and Chrysler) have a big challenge ahead of them.  One recent GM TV spot tells the story of this struggle as a young woman proudly shows her Dad her new GM car and answers his questions on why she didn't go for the "safer" choice of a foreign made car.

So the real question is, in a category like cars where many people are liable to make up their mind about the cars that they would even consider driving before considering many newer models ... how do you get them to consider yours?  One way is dropping lots of money into TV spots, but with the writer's strike, football has become the hottest commodity and that only has one big game left.  Even when all the shows start to come back, the issue of attention remains.  For many years now, the Internet has been seen as the way to fill this gap.  After all, people are going online, seeking information, starting their research there and sometimes even purchasing a car online.  Just about every automaker is getting smarter about using the online medium to demo and sell their cars.  The conversation yesterday was a great chance to talk about the new thinking that might be required to sell cars in the future.  In other words, what's next?

The good news for the Big 3 is that each of them has something they can point to, to say they are moving in the right direction.  Here are three core themes that define the new science of selling cars and how to Big 3 are using each one:

1. Conversations - You could liken this to brand or positioning, which have always been important in selling cars, but today these choices are important for what they lead to ... conversations.  As marketers get a better understanding of word of mouth, it's clear that getting people talking about your brand and owners sharing their experiences is the most powerful message you can hope for.  Once, marketers had little understanding of how to direct their marketing spend to this phenomenon.  Now they do, and it's changing how the smart auto makers are interacting with customers.  Case in point, the event GM sponsored last night and their smart efforts in social media.
2. Customization - A theme that came up several times was the importance of letting a car become an extension of a car buyers personality.  This is not just about adding tricked out rims or a wider portfolio of exterior colors to the list of options.  It is about finding ways for people to make their cars their own, and proudly display them.  Mini Cooper is the most often cited example, but there are more recent efforts like the campaign for the Chrysler 300 that demonstrate how important this idea of customization is becoming for automakers.
3. Experiences - There is no longer a need to rely solely on someone coming in for a test drive to have an experience with a car.  Automakers are taking cars to shows, gatherings and events. They are creating campaigns designed to get people to try their cars, like Ford's Swap Your Ride campaign or the "Are We There Yet? Stories From the Road" campaign.  People are creating user generated content of themselves with their new cars.  All of this means that there is much more chance that a consumer can have an experience of a car that goes beyond a marketing site before ever setting foot in a dealership.

With this being auto show season and all the attention on new models, the automotive category will be putting out some interesting advertising and marketing efforts in the coming months.  Whether your marketing touches the auto industry or not, this category should offer some interesting lessons to pay attention to for any marketer.  I know I'll be watching.

DISCLAIMER:  Our team was responsible for the Are we There Yet? campaign for Ford, and Team Detroit (a group of agencies affiliated with Ogilvy and WPP) was behind the Swap Your Ride campaign.

The Dilbert Blog and the Danger of Blog Dissonance

The author of one of the greatest blogs on the Internet announced a few weeks ago that he would be posting far less often.  In a world where it seems that everyone (and their mom) is starting a blog for one reason or another, seeing one prominent and popular blogger decide to do it less often captured my attention, and it should capture yours too.  The blogger I'm talking about, of course, is Scott Adams - creator of Dilbert.  His blog serves up his signature wit in narrative form and offers his reasoned approach to highlighting stupidity in the world, both inside and outside of the workplace. 

Recently, he published a book compendium of his blog posts titled Stick to Drawing Comics, Monkey Brain! and noted on his blog that his original reasons for blogging were fourfold:

1. Advertising dollars
2. Compiling the best posts into a book.
3. Growing the audience for Dilbert
4. Artistic satisfaction.

Ultimately, he realized he was failing on two of these counts, and his experience offers an interesting case study of a situation where blogging may not be the panacea that many marketers today are tempted to see it as.  He notes in his post that though he gets great satisfaction from writing on his blog, he sometimes offers political commentary that some Dilbert readers don't understand or agree with.  His voice, in my opinion is a brilliant and necessary one on the wrong choices that society and politicians are making all around us ... but the problem that he faced was that readers and lovers of Dilbert did not necessarily translate into fans of his blog.  Invariably, he would get comments from people who would swear never to read Dilbert again because of what he said on his blog.  Right or wrong, the blog ended up lowering Scott's audience, not increasing it.  That combined with the fact that people were using RSS feeds to get around the ads meant that reasons 1 and 3 from his list of reasons to start blogging were not coming true. 

You can certainly argue with Scott's desire to make money on his blog or fault him for having the wrong expectations about what his blog could achieve ... but his example offers an important lesson about blogging.  Great content is not enough to keep and sustain a blog if your blog creates a blog dissonance (an inconsistency between your blog and your brand).  The power of blogging is that it can bring your identity forward to help you more authentically connect with your audience.  The problem for Scott is that the voice many Dilbert readers expect from him is the voice of Dilbert ... not the voice of Scott Adams.  For people like me, who think Scott himself is brilliant, we are likely to read the blog.  For other Dilbert readers, however, the blog is a different voice to that of Dilbert.  It is the classic writer/actor versus character problem.  It is why people still walk up to Patrick Stewart and call him Captain Picard, or why Michael Richards will always be Kramer.  It is also the reason why the Dilbert Blog, written in the voice of Scott Adams created a blog dissonance.  Free or not free, if your blog ends up having a different voice than what your audience expects, then you may need to come to a similar realization about your blog. 

Why the Future of Online Advertising is About Identity

[ Cross-posting from Internet Evolution ]

Facebook's recent push for "social advertising" is one of the biggest topics of discussion in the advertising industry this year. It's interesting that such a potentially disruptive idea is coming from somebody other than Google  (Nasdaq: GOOG). The move essentially creates a model for "microadvertising" within Facebook where you can purchase ads by CPM or by Clicks. It has seen mixed reviews from Facebook users, as well as advertisers, but I believe it is a strong step toward the future of online advertising, and here's why...

As we all maintain our digital identities across multiple sites, there is a living portrait online of what we like and dislike, who our friends are, what we're thinking at any particular time, and where we are likely to travel. Identity is the new demographic and offers a deeper level of understanding of individual desires than ever before.

Most smart Internet marketers know that demographics are dead. It used to be the measure by which every advertiser (online or offline) would purchase space just about anywhere. Age, gender, and location were the "holy trinity," and as long as those were on track, you could buy space confidently. The only problem with mapping demographics is that it doesn't guarantee relevance. Just because I am a thirty-year-old male living in New York doesn't mean I'm in the market for an iPhone. Demographics are a very small part of the picture.

Google brought this fact out very visibly through AdWords, when it gave interactive marketers the opportunity to target by topic and keyword rather than demographic. On Google, it didn't matter if a 15-year-old kid was looking for rollerblades, or his 72-year-old grandmother was looking to buy them for him. They would both get the same ad for the same search. Keyword targeting is much better, but still incomplete. Why? It's because you are still limited to showing the same ad creative for a particular keyword, regardless of the identity of the searcher. It is not social.

Facebook's offering, on the other hand, merges demographic information with topical information from consumers' pages to serve their ads. It is still within a closed social network, so it is not ideal, but it is easy to start to see the power of this idea. Your identity online is about more than your demographic.

The future of online advertising will be about enabling an extreme targeting that incorporates identity, topics, and stated interests from consumers to serve ads. Brands will no longer buy millions of impressions; they will buy 100 messages targeted to exactly the right people. Customers, in turn, will stop seeing these ads as a nuisance and appreciate the value they offer because they are tailored correctly and are relevant. Of course, this vision of online advertising and social networks happily co-existing will take time. The good news is, there are signs all around us that we are well on our way.

Guest Post: Is Word of Mouth a Discipline or Just a Channel?

by John Bell

Rohit has invited a handful of folks to post on his blog while he manages his true key influencers - family (including the newest member!). It only seems fitting that each of us post on what we care about most. In my case, that's word of mouth marketing.

My team uses digital marketing, social media and traditional strategy to amplify and activate word of mouth all to support our clients business objectives. While I love social media and it is a part of all of our work and personal digital lives, I must frame it as a set of techniques, methodologies and behavior geared towards motivating people to share, participate and even recommend products and services to their circle of friends, colleagues and family - their affinity groups. Why "must" I? At the end of the day, we have to measure. Social media is not a measurable unit. WOM is. To make WOM a reliable approach to marketing, it must be measured in a way that CMOs, Communications Officers and CEOs, can report its effectiveness to reaching their business goal. WOM can be measured and reported today. We do it. BzzAgent does it. Visible Technologies does it. In the near future, an industry standard for that measurement will arise. Social media drives WOM.   

I am fresh back from the Word of Mouth Marketing Summit 2007 in Vegas. I serve on the board of the organization so take any endorsements for the organization with that in mind. The quality of the experience was up there: good speakers, topics, brands, solid debate, some news. It reminded me of why I joined the organization. Still it wasn't perfect. But that's okay. I enjoy the naive enthusiasm we all have for creating a new discipline based upon the tenants of two-way conversation with people, authentic relationships and the value of advocates (or "promoters" in the Net Promoter Score framework).

Problem is - are we a discipline? An expertise? Or just another channel? Having spent last week with about 500 people from brands, agencies and start-ups who think word of mouth is important enough to travel to Vegas during the final budget-clampdown quarter of the year, here's some points to consider:

Discipline or channel?
Discipline: Word of mouth marketing takes belief (based on understanding and knowledge) and discipline. There are no shortcuts. As Sean Driscoll from Microsoft points out , there is a 'right model' and a 'wrong model' of influencer marketing (which I interpret as a part of word of mouth marketing). The wrong model suggests that I can just tell people about the wonder of my brand and they will yak about it. The right model assumes a truly engaged conversation model where we listen as much as we talk. To do things "right" in Sean's vernacular, it is very hard to just tack on some WOM-stuff to a large traditional marketing campaign and expect significant results. Like any discipline, word of mouth marketing requires certain procedures and conditions to succeed.

Channel: The media buying companies and some advertising agencies want to see WOM as a channel. They deal in channels. They want to fill up on the 360 degrees of our lives reaching us at home, at play, at work. They want a new channel to deliver messages. Preferably one that is as predictable as other channels ("if I spend $1 more on WOM it will deliver X"). That's why BzzAgent's current configuration has been so successful with media agencies. they can just buy 6000 agents in three markets for 12 weeks. Feels like media. While the agents will talk about the product, this is not two-way conversation. And the brand is renting those agents not building a long-term relationship. Still, it is a form of word of mouth.

Discipline: To deliver on the promise of social media, word of mouth marketing, influencer marketing, conversation marketing - whatever part of WOM you want to emphasize - we need a simple, shared approach to measurement that compares well to what brand managers are used to. Yes, that probably means some sort of ad equivalency. That approach - comparing to advertising - may be a trap. Look what happened to public relations. In most cases PR reports media "hits" as equal to ad impressions. Shouldn't they be valued far north of simple paid impressions? And WOM, shouldn't that be like 10X and ad impression (with a true "recommendation" even north of that)? WOMMA and other groups are working on an industry standard for measuring WOM. I think we will have a solid model in 2008 that will be a tipping point for the discipline.

Channel: Many ad-based marketers see viral video as the answer to their WOM aspirations. If they can just get enough views of a video, it starts to feel like traditional media. And if the mechanism for accummulating those views is people sharing and recommending amongst their friends then that, my friend, is social media. Within the Ogilvy family, we have the ultimate accomplishment/curse: the Dove Evolution video. With millions of views under its belt, it really deserves to be the poster child for viral video. Because those views grew from people recommending it to others, it is more valuable than TV impressions (pull vs. push) BUT, it is one dimensional and doesn't fully utilize what is possible in word of mouth marketing. Still, many marketers will use this case as their compass for word of mouth and try to leverage the channel of video-sharing to meet their goals. Viral video leverages something that ad agencies are very good at: storytelling and filmmaking. That's why branded entertainment is ad agencies' social media technique of choice.

It's a discipline

Word of mouth is a broad discipline like advertising or public relations. It requires technique and methodologies that are particularly relevant to do it well. It is possible to treat it like a channel by tacking on some WOM tactic to a larger advertising program, but it may not pay off in comparison to those more traditional marketing tactics.

Most WOM strategy is about engagement and building strong relationships with a core group. If it serves a "reach" purpose, it is through the long-term multiplier effect of one satisfied and engaged customer telling 3 friends who tell 3 friends and so on. If you want to reach millions with a product launch in January and have no existing set of WOM relationships, word of mouth marketing is probably not your first choice. BUT if you had those relationships in place - oh, what a launch it would be.

Now the next interesting question is whether word of mouth will be a stand-alone discipline or be integrated into either PR or ad firms or both. Think of account planning (or connections planning). More often than not, this is a discipline found inside ad agencies. Yet several firms like Naked have cropped up where account planning is the defining discipline of the firm. Will the same thing happen with Word of Mouth? Forward thinking communications/marketing firms will build or acquire the expertise for a true word of mouth discipline (not just channel experience). they will do this in droves once the measurement nut is cracked. Until then, you will have the visionary companies who believe that business objectives for many (not all) clients can be achieved well and efficiently using WOM - setting up a WOM shop. That's where our team - 360 Digital Influence - comes in. I still believe that enlightened PR firms (i.e. more than 'media relations') shops) stand a better chance culturally of making these units work than traditional ad agencies.  Some specialty shops are already cropping up - Brains on Fire and Zocalo Group come to mind. Since WOM can be enhanced by advertising, PR, digital marketing, you name it, I prefer as much integration as possible.

Much has been written on the characteristics of the best word of mouth marketing. Suffice it to say that it is different than the discipline necessary for successful advertising campaigns.

John Bell runs the 360° Digital Influence team at Ogilvy and blogs at the Digital Influence Mapping Project

Lufthansa Proves Sweden Is Full of Gorgeous Blondes

Typical marketing advice says that you should never focus on marketing your category, but instead focus on what makes your service distinct from your competitors.  Marketing an industry or type of service is usually a losing proposition because even if you convince someone they need something, you have not convinced them that they need to get it from you.

In the travel industry, this lesson is somewhat different.  Today American travellers are increasingly choosing destinations outside of Europe for their vacations because of the weak dollar against the Euro.  Europe needs to find a way to get its appeal back and Lufthansa (an airline with many of the most frequented routes from the East coast to Europe) is helping the cause with a smart new campaign called Rumor Travels at www.rumortravels.com.  The site offers a few videos focused on three of the greatest rumors about great European countries:

1. Sweden is full of hot blonde women - Watch Video
2. Germany has beer everywhere for every meal - Watch Video
3. France is full of lovers who cannot stop kissing each other - Watch Video

The videos are meant to visualize silly stereotypes and all end with the compelling tagline, "you'll never know if you don't go."  There is a contest on the site where users can submit their own videos to win 2 business class tickets to Europe and a new Sony digital video camera.  Strategically, the campaign works on on several levels:

1. Demonstrates the necessity of travelling in a world of increasing virtual experiences.
2. Positions Europe as the ideal destination to travel for challenging your preconceptions (something people may usually associate with other more "exotic" destinations)
3. Targets the young, professional and single travellers (who will likely be least deterred by the negative exchange rate between Dollars and Euros)

Of course, it doesn't hurt that each video features attractive people and focuses on the romance of travel.  Europe, romance, professional, single ... you get the picture.  This campaign seems like it would work - if only Lufthansa was doing any perceptible amount of marketing around it.  I read about the campaign on Adrants and most of the less than 20 blogs that are listed on Technorati as linking to the campaign come from people reading about it on Adrants.  Even the Lufthansa US homepage only features a blurb on their promotion with Iron Chef instead of any links to the RumorTravels.com site.  The video views on YouTube are still super low, and the contest ends in just 2 days.

As far as I can tell, it seems like a classic smart, strategic and engaging campaign that will ultimately underperform and fade into obscurity because the team behind it was unable to coordinate enough marketing support from whomever controls the ad budgets for Lufthansa.  If anyone has insight into the campaign, please share.  I would love to be wrong on this one ...

Thinking Outside the Demographic - Why Customer Passion Matters More

If you have been in marketing for any amount of time, you know how omniprescent demographics are.  The first question most marketing teams will focus on is "what's our target demographic?"  Demographics are what media is bought by and what media properties define themselves by.  Ask any online community about their core audience, and they will typically respond with a demographic like "teen girls 12-18" or "young men 18-25."  TV shows and movies do the same.  Brands take this information, match it with their research or intuitive belief in who their audience is, and decide what promotions to run and what ads to buy.  The problem with this system is that it asks the wrong question.  The question we should be asking is "what does our audience care about?"  There are a number of reasons why we need to think outside the demographic:

1. Creates a common interest. The classic problem with demographics is that you usually end up with more than one that is the target.  Usually, this means a brand will use language like their primary and secondary demographic.  But how do you link them together?  If they were already bonded by a common interest, it makes it much easier to determine how to reach them.
2. Focuses on real relevance.  The other issue with demographics is that they assume because someone is of a certain gender or age, that they will care about a message.  I know demographics get much more sophisticated than that, but they are still based on an assumption that may be flawed.  Focusing on what your audience cares about instead allows you to think more strategically about what messages would be relevant for them.
3. Avoids wastage based on assumptions. Perhaps the greatest benefit of this approach is that it helps you to avoid wasting much of your marketing dollars on trying to reach people who are in your demographic but may not necessarily care about your products or be in the market for them.

As a real example of this, imagine you are promoting a campaign where a brand is trying to raise money for breast cancer, the old demographic mold of thinking would be to target women 29-44.  Contrast that approach to one that focuses instead on everyone who has a personal belief in the issue and is vocal about it.  This could include women 29-44, but is just as likely to include a 15 year old boy who's mother is dealing with the disease.  The implication is obvious.  In terms of buying media, the shift required is creating more contextual marketing messages that touch on points and topics that a particular audience is likely to care about.  The whole point is that targeting by customer passion rather than demographics can make your marketing messages more relevant.  And at the end of the day that's what we all want.

Firebrand Shows Ads The Way MTV Used To Show Music Videos

The dirty little secret that most people who make their living marketing on the Internet will never tell you is that they love watching TV spots.  Of course, it is frustrating how much clients spend on questionably effective television advertising ... and there are a lot of crappy TV ads being produced.  But what if you could collect all the good ones in one place and let people watch them?  My guess is it's not only the marketers that would watch.  People love watching good entertaining advertising.  There are entire television programs dedicated to them.  In the case of Geico's Cavemen spots, some ads are even spawning entire TV sitcoms. 

YouTube is full of ads that people have put online themselves (as well as those seeded by ad agencies) and collectively those have generated millions of views from people who watch them over and over and pass them along to their friends.  Earlier this week, I got an invite from Chris Abraham to attend the press unveiling for a new service called Firebrand TV yesterday in NY.  Unfortunately, I could not make the event ... but in reading about the site and what it hopes to offer I think it's worth every marketer's attention.  The reason is because from the limited information out there through videos and demos, Firebrand is trying to become an advertising on demand entertainment platform.  Their promotional video promises to serve up "advertising as content" and only feature the best ads.  Check out the video below:

Here are a few reasons why I love the idea of Firebrand and think it may become successful:

1. Aggregating all great commercials in one place is a long overdue idea.
2. Assuming it will allow embedding and sharing, this will be a great way to share ads virally (something people love to pass along to each other)
3. The international ad section will be huge, as lots of the best, funniest, and raunchiest ads never make it on air in the US
4. The site has a built in revenue model ... what advertiser wouldn't pay to get their ads seen by people who are actively looking to watch them? 
5. Short TV ads and movie trailers are perfect for mobile consumption.  The mobile access element of Firebrand has lots of potential.

These are just a few quick observations on what the site could do based on my very slim understanding of the site through their promotional materials.  The site officially goes live on October 22nd, though Chris has promised I'll be on the private beta so I can share a more detailed review once I have a chance to play around with the site for real.  In the meantime, definitely add it to your list of sites to watch.

Further Reading: Firebrand TV's Social Media Press Release

Influential Marketing Blog Featured in Wall Street Journal

Many of you may have already caught this yesterday, but this blog was cited in the Recommended Reading  section of the Wall Street Journal yesterday in an article by Keith Huang.  As Jay Berkowitz from Ten Golden Rules shares on his team blog, my blog was one of 60 resources that they recommended to the journalist as part of their reading list and was selected from that list as a recommended resource for companies looking to "optimize their online presence."  Here's the writeup:

Influential Marketing Blog, rohitbhargava.typepad.com
Rohit Bhargava's blog is intellectual and educational. In a recent post, he discusses the art of stamp collection and how, even today, many smaller countries use stamps as a key marketing tool. He writes, 'Next time you pass a post office in any country, pay attention to how they are using their philately to promote the country, cater to tourists, or commemorate moments of significance.'

It is a great media hit and to be selected from a list of what I am guessing were 60 stellar resources is flattering.  I'm in awe at being included among the other bloggers and authors mentioned in the article - including Seth Godin, Steve Rubel, Matt Cutts, John Battelle, Chris Anderson, Joseph Jaffe, and Danny Sullivan. Thanks to Jay for including me in this great list, and to Keith for selecting to include my blog!

Why 10 Asinine Trends Might Still Matter

Earlier this week, I posted on our 360 Digital Influence team blog about Mark Simon's piece in AdAge titled "Beyond the Hype: The 10 Most Asinine Trends Online and Why You Should Ignore Them") and about the type of counsel I think we should be offering to our clients.  My main point is that we need to focus more on relevance instead of shutting down innovation and experimentation by dismissing new ideas as just hype and nothing more. 

It's a good read so check it out and let me know if you think I'm on the right track, or if I'm just succumbing to the hype myself. 

Tapping Dayparting For More Than Online Ads

Last week I took the Metro at 7am to get to work for an early meeting.  Looking around at the crowd on the train at a time more than an hour earlier than I usually get on - two things were apparent.  First, the people looked sleepier.  And second, the crowd was clearly older on average than those who took the train at my usual hour of about 8:30.  The experience got me thinking about the role that dayparting could have in the future of targeted marketing.  For those unfamiliar with the term, dayparting essentially refers to a method which I believe was first pioneered by search marketers began with broadcast television and radio to describe their practice of changing the rotation of ads depending on the time of day that they ran.  So in the morning, you might get served a different ad than if you are browsing at lunchtime.

For search marketing, this is easily possible because it's a self service way of placing ads.  Most other online advertising is purchased based on site demographics, however what many fewer online networks and websites seem to be accounting for is how site demographics might change depending on the time of day.  When you think about other forms of advertising like outdoor billboards, you can't realistically change most billboards to suit whomever is driving by.  But you could change them by time of day (for the right price).  Dayparting is possible offline as well as online - for the right publisher to come along and offer it to advertisers. 

What If Consumers Could Generate Ads They Want To See?

Last week I sent myself an email to generate a Google text ad.  As any Gmail user knows, Google serves ads based on the text content of your email.  So corresponding back and forth with a good friend of mine whose wedding I will be attending in Peru next month results in several offers for Peru travel advisors.  Those ads are relevant, so I am likely to click on them.  Of course, the saavier among you is probably reading this thinking it's not so different from text ads on any search engine.  After all, if I typed in "lima, peru" into any search engine, I would get lots of ads.  The problem is intent.  When I am just learning about Lima, all I want is background information.  At the point when I am ready to purchase, I want to see offers.  Keyword advertisers are getting smarter about targeting intent, but it sometimes seems like banner ads are getting left behind. 

Often they are still purchased based on the demographics of a site overall and simply served in random order.  Most would agree this doesn't work.  But think about how a printed copy of the yellow pages works.  These are essentially filled with banner ads and organized by category.  What if there was a site where banner ads were organized the same way?  As a consumer I could enter by region, category or even individual product.  Going to the site would give me a list of banners with the current promotional offer that the vendor has on right now for whatever I am seeking.  The ads, in effect, could be generated by page based on a user's search terms.  This is consumer generated advertising - but where they are calling up the ads that they want to see rather than creating ads themselves.  Thinking even more broadly - what if you could also call up television ads from an archive to watch based on what you were interested in buying?  Would someone in the market for laundry detergent watch three ads back to back from three different companies before making a decision?  Maybe not.  But if I'm looking for a hotel in Lima, or a new car, or a digital camera, or a new kitchen appliance ... you bet I would.

The Complete Gallery Of Simpsons Movie Marketing

In what may go down in history as one of the biggest integrated movie marketing efforts in the history of Hollywood, the pre-promotion for the upcoming Simpsons Movie is in full swing right now.  Unlike many other Hollywood promotions, the marketing for the Simpsons movies is going beyond billboard and print, beyond television, and beyond even interactive or viral.  This campaign has everything from creating your own animated avatar (that's mine on the left!) and having a chance to star in an upcoming episode, to winning the chance to get the premiere of the movie in your hometown provided you live in one of 14 Springfields around the US Vermont (the winning city ).  This post is an attempt to round all these marketing efforts up in a visual way.  Be warned, you might end up wasting an hour or more following all of the links below ... so read at your own risk!

• The Official Simpsons Movie Site
• Official Simpsons Marketing Partner Site
• Xbox Contest
• JetBlue Contest
• JetBlue Downloadable Movie Banners
• Be In An Animated Simpsons Episode 7-11 Promotion
• List of 7-11s Nationwide To Get A Kwik-E-Mart Makeover
• List of Simpsons Inspired Products To Be Sold at 7-11/Kwik-E-Marts
• USAToday Springfield Hometown Movie Premiere Challenge (UPDATE: Vermont Wins!)
• Simpsons MySpace Page
• Kwik-E-Mart in Burbank, CA Flickr Gallery
• Kwik-E-Mart in Dallas, TX Flickr Gallery
• Kwik-E-Mart in Orlando, FL Flickr Gallery
• Kwik-E-Mart in Bladensburg, MD (outside DC) Flickr Gallery
• Kwik-E-Mart in Denver, CO Flickr Gallery
• Kwik-E-Mart in Vancouver, BC (Canada) Flickr Gallery
• LAist Writeup of Burbank, CA Kwik-E-Mart
• DCist Writeup of DC Area Kwik-E-Mart
• Update: Kwik-E-Mart in New York City Flickr Gallery
• Update: Kwik-E-Mart in Las Vegas Flickr Gallery
• Update: Kwik-E-Mart in Mountain View, CA Flickr Gallery
• Update: Simpsons X Vans Custom Skateboard Shoes (via comment from rj at SneakerPlay)
  
  • Simpsons X Vans (Mr. Cartoon Design)
  • Simpsons X Vans (Gary Painter & Geoff McFetridge Designs)
  • Simpsons x Vans (Tony Munoz & Taka Hayashi Designs)
  • Simpsons x Vans (Futura & Todd “Reas” James Designs)
• Update: Simpsons Create 180ft Homer Chalk Drawing in UK Field (Via reader Mark Tong)
• Update: Ben & Jerry's Release Two New Simpsons 1-Day Only Flavours (Need an image if anyone has one)
• Update: Simpsons Mobile site offers phone downloads and first mobile game
• Update: Burger King Simpsonize Me Site to "Simpsonize" a photo you upload
• Update: Full story and fashion spread in Harper's Bazaar magazine
• Update: 4 Different Collectible Simpsons Covers for Entertainment Weekly (Via DeliFaks)

If anyone has any other links of marketing related efforts from partners, or other images from Kwik-E-Marts, please email me or leave a comment to this post and I'll add them.  Also, below are lots of images and screengrabs from these efforts -- enjoy!

The Simpsons Movie Poster (with every character from the show):

Simpsons - Create Your Own Avatar Tool:

Simpsons USA Today Springfield Challenge:

Simpsons Official Partner Page - www.seeyellow.com:

Simpsons MySpace Page and "Simpsonize Your World" Contest:

7-11 "Get Animated Into A Simpsons Episode" Contest:

7-11 Real Store "Kwik-E-Mart" Makeovers:

Images from Kwik-E-Mart Makeovers (images taken from Flickr Galleries referenced above):

Simpsons XBox Promotion (Winner of "Lamest Promotion" of the lot so far):

JetBlue Blog Takeover by Mr. Burns (Winner of "Most Unique"):

JetBlue City Destination Bubbles (brilliantly boils the essence of each city into a single Simpsonesque stereotype - 14 cities in total):

 

And last, but not least ... a real life Squishee! (from DCist post linked above):

Update: Simpsons X Vans Sneaker Designs (images from www.hypebeast.com & www.honeyee.com)

UPDATE (07/11/07): Vermont Wins USA Today Contest for Hometown Premiere

UPDATE (07/13/07): Influential Marketing Blog reader Christopher Trela shares this image of In-Theater Marketing from NY

Update (07/19/07): SimpsonizeMe Site From Burger King (with funny error messages when site doesn't respond):

Update (07/19/07): Simpsons Mobile Website and Mobile Meltdown Marketing Game:

Update (07/19/07): Fashion Spread In Harper's Bazaar (via FYI-Mag)

Update (07/19/07): Simpsons "Homer Erectus" 180ft Chalk Drawing at Cerne Abbas (via Influential Marketing Blog reader Mark Tong):

Update (07/20/07): 4 Different Collectible Covers for Entertainment Weekly Magazine

technorati tags: simpsons simpsonsmovie