360DigitalInfluence

Definition: Badge fatigue – noun. c. May 2010

• a reduction in the effectiveness of mobile loyalty programs that use status or icons as incentives
• being so over the idea that you’ll be rewarded with some intangible thingy for identifying yourself as a fan

About a year ago, the discussion around “badge fatigue” began. Fans and followers were starting have trouble seeing through the clutter of countless gaming programs that offered incentives. So, plans were hatched to reinvigorate the model before it became another fad.

In the initial format, a user was given the incentive to go to an establishment because he or she would be rewarded with an intangible prize: a title (e.g. “mayor” Foursquare or royalty titles on Yelp!) or an icon (e.g. “badges” on Foursquare or “pins” on Gowalla). Users competed with their friends and unknown competitors to get the best status and personal gratification. As users achieved higher status and left check-in competitors in the dust, they got an even greater incentive: a discount or something for free.  This discount wasn’t targeted to the individual’s tastes specifically, but more so, whoever got the reward first.

The model grew and companies began to experiment; people gained VIP access to parties (Internet Week 2010) and points for existing rewards programs (Top Guest). And this is where we stand today – with a lot of great experiments, but also a lot of clutter.

So, what will happen next?

There seem to be three (somewhat nebulous) schools of thought:

1. We continue along the same lines with this gamification model that has a broad reach, because, in all honesty, it has worked. These indicators of status in the “game” continue to get people in to the cash register even without targeted (and often intangible) incentive. (Note: Some are questioning the impact on business)
2. We move on. Since the market is becoming saturated with these types of programs, it is worth the effort to focus efforts elsewhere.  “Call me crazy, but I say that Foursquare badges go the way of POGS, Tamagotchis, and Farmville – interesting ideas that captivated our attention for a time, but ultimately lost out,” hypothesizes Colin Slasheimer.
3. We repurpose and rebuild these programs a highly relevant, laser-focused marketing tool. Two examples of how this can happen include finding a way to hyper-locate down to the layout of a store or revaluating how the data is used (see pilot launched by Foursquare).

I fall in the third group. I want to be found where I already need to go and told about specifically what I want with hyper-relevant offers. I want to check into the toothpaste aisle of the drug store, and be told what toothpaste brand sale right now.  (Ok, I know this probably isn’t possible right now, but could be pretty cool.)  If I go to the hairdressers, I want to come across an incentive in 3 months when I need my next haircut, instead of right when I check-in.

So, what do you think?  Have we jumped the shark?

Mashups are nothing new.  In fact on this very blog we recently provided some historical perspective related specifically to music.  OK, now that we’ve gotten that out of the way …

In the last few days I’ve come across three really rad examples of people/organizations continuing to embrace the mashup movement.

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We all know that women are an influential customer, but did you know that American women are currently the decision makers for 80% of U.S. household spending? This makes her a powerful force to reckon with and determining the best ways to reach her is paramount to our work.

Today, I’m delighted to announce the newest addition to the Ogilvy blog network… WomenOlogy. Through WomenOlogy, we hope to foster a dialogue around how to reach the world’s most influential customer – the woman.

Our diverse perspectives reflect our work across multiple locations and practice areas including Healthcare, Consumer, Social Marketing, Digital and Corporate Affairs. However, there is one common denominator among our work – the woman is a key customer and determining the best way to reach her is paramount to our work.

Our hope is that this blog will serve as a forum for discussion and provide a platform for sharing insights and diverse points of view on how to reach different groups of women with compelling communication strategies.

Here are a couple of our first posts:

Trends and Developments that Will Affect Communications in 2011

Looking to Reach Women about Healthcare? Don’t underestimate the Power of Blogs

So stop by and join the conversation, share your insights, feedback and questions and help us explore the anatomy of marketing to women: http://womenology.ogilvypr.com

For PR Week Labs a few weeks ago I recorded a 15 minute presentation on 5 Steps to Conversation Management. Conversation Management is an 360 Digital Influence program for helping our clients establish or manage social network presence with the dual goals of grassroots engagement and business impact. Based on a dual theory of influence, our team uses Conversation Management to promote advocacy on social networks like Facebook and Twitter. The steps are included below and you can watch the video here (for more videos check out our YouTube channel- this one was too long to be included).

360 Digital Influence- PR Week Labs- Conversation Management from Ogilvy 360DI on Vimeo.

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This weekend saw the New York Knicks host what they billed as the first ever fan #tweetup, at their home court, the legendary Madison Square Garden here in New York City. They put together a very impressive panel to chat social media and catch a game, and really pulled out all the stops: three big screens broadcasting tweets, official #tweetup t-shirts and those cute little tweetup nametag stickers.  The event was sponsored by Discount Tire: definitely a little different than your run of the mill ‘few folks in a bar’ #tweetup.

The panel featured Amy Jo Martin, head honcho of @digitalroyalty (the folks who did, among other things Random Acts of Shaqness),  Peter Robert Casey ( the first ever media accredited micro-blogger, he covers St John’s basketball here: @Peter_R_Casey), Jim DeLorenzo (a VP at Octagon, the guys who have developed Twackle, a sports tweet aggregator), and Jack Dorsey* (founder of Twitter and Square).  Three sports/marketing folks, and one guy who hand in inventing (or popularizing, depending on how you look at it) micro-blogging. A serious panel indeed.

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