360DigitalInfluence

During one of the best sessions from Ogilvy’s Verge event in London last week, Rory Sutherland shared an intriguing point of view that in order for true innovation to happen within any marketing group, you need to first change the metric.   The example he used was how a GPS system makes the consequences of a wrong turn much less.   Now you can choose to experiment with new routes to get from point A to point B because if you happen to head the wrong direction, you’ve got the GPS to steer you back on course.   In marketing, experiments are often not rewarded, and often they are discouraged.   Marketers stick to what they know how to measure or what has been moderately successful in the past.

In the world of public relations, many professionals have become frustrated with the increasing focus on numbers in a bad way.   What’s the bad way, you wonder?   Focusing on getting higher volumes of coverage or only focusing on top tier media instead of more targeted media is one example.   Another is blogger relations.   If you read our code of ethics or any of the interesting discussion on other blogs about how to pitch bloggers … the one thing that might strike you is that it seems like a lot of work.   It is, if you have to contact a hundred or more “outlets” in order to feel as though you have done your job.   It’s not if you have chosen the 6 bloggers who have the most influence and are most likely to care about what you are talking about.   The change in metric is from quantity to quality.   Imagine if you had half of the blogs that you contacted write about it.   Choosing them correctly, these posts might get picked up by others, and your message ends up on far more blogs.

The point is, if you continue to focus your metrics on quantity of outreach … you’ll never be able to reach out to bloggers in the best way.   If you continue to blast every media outlet who accepts press releases about something, you won’t have any time to do the right kind of outreach to the media that really matters.   Perhaps the real change we need in the metrics is to start to value quality more highly than quantity.

I am not a fan of fear marketing. I have talked before about how I think that it paints marketers in the worst possible light and is a predatory way of convincing a consumer that they need whatever you are selling or else something bad will happen. The thought again crossed my mind as I read Mark Simon’s piece in this past week’s AdAge magazine titled “Beyond the Hype: The 10 Most Asinine Trends Online and Why You Should Ignore Them.” First of all, let me say I am all for going beyond the hype, and there is certainly lots of it these days. Everyone has the latest and greatest solution for just about everything and somehow because I write a marketing blog I’m on the media list to get a press release about at least 50% of them. In the past month, I have had offers to review 5 new video sharing sites. Seriously, does anyone actually need to share that much video in that many places?

But hype aside, I was a bit disturbed by Simon’s article because of a few reasons. Firstly, he is targeting CMOs - the top layer of marketing decision makers. And his counsel to them is that there is too much hype out there so they should avoid doing lots of things that others are jumping into. His points about astroturfing or paying bloggers, the drawbacks of behavioural targeting and the danger of forgetting about search are all spot on. But the reason I started the post by talking about fear is that I believe it is what keeps great marketing from happening. And the problem is that Simon’s article seems designed to instill fear into CMOs. More specifically, it might just lead more marketing pros to stick to what they know online and be afraid to try something new because it might result in some negativity, the lawyers might kill it, or it is different to what has worked in the past.

Innovative marketing requires risk, not dismissing entire channels of marketing as useless things to avoid simply because they are overhyped. Hype is not usually based on nothing … and though I agree that the promise of virtual worlds has been great exaggerated (for example), just ask Starwood whether the early feedback they got on their Aloft hotel concept was worth it. Or whether Pontiac feels their MotoratiLife campaign has helped them connect with their target audience. The point is, doing something strategic always makes sense, hype or not. And virtual worlds are about more than Second Life. Habbo Hotel recently published their own Global Habbo Youth Survey of 42,000 young users of the site on their buying habits, which any CMO who markets to teens or tweens should not miss reading. If you can’t imagine a great marketing opportunity there, you’re definitely missing something.

On the subject of microblogging, I’m no great fan of Twitter, but no one who was at SxSW this year and saw the effect that Twitter had on collaboration and the vibe at the event could say it wasn’t a great marketing channel. I have also posted before about some other “non-boring” ways to use Twitter for marketing that are also worth considering. The point, again, is that dismissing an entire channel of marketing as only hype and therefore worth ignoring seems naive.

Mobile marketing is yet another area with great promise where Simon takes the simple view that because the obvious way of using mobile marketing is to send uninvited text messages, the medium should be avoided because you might get in the way of a user’s “critical tasks.” What if those critical tasks involve finding a destination? Or seeing restaurant reviews. Or finding a place to drop off your dry cleaning? All are critical tasks where relevant advertising could actually help a user’s experience instead of hindering it.

On his point about pre-roll video ads - I agree that they can be annoying, but the suggestion that users will mute their audio before watching a video doesn’t make sense. If you are watching a video, you either have headphones or are in a place where the noise factor is ok. The point with the pre-roll again is relevance. If you run an ad before that users feel is misplaced and must be watched as “payment” for the video the really want, their attention will be low. If, on the other hand, a user accesses a video about automotive reviews for new 2008 models of convertibles, and your preroll ad is for your model of convertible … they would probably pay attention.

I understand where Simon is coming from, but his point of view seems to be that any innovative thinking beyond search marketing is not worth it because other channels are overly hyped. What we really need to do is focus on making advertising more relevant and caution marketers against media buys and ads that are stupid or just non-strategic reactions to the latest hype. As thought leaders, our counsel should be to help our clients find smart ways to avoid hype but still embrace innovation and do something unexpected and engaging … not offer them a quick hitlist of ten things they should ignore whenever anyone mentions them. We need to get away from the fear and think differently.

Yesterday I was given the opportunity to see Seth Godin speak at the  University of Maryland Marketing Forum 2007.   The Forum was geared towards grad students, but alumni and outside companies were invited as well.   Seth Godin is a well known name in the marketing industry and especially well known in the “new age” social media market. If you think that his books have interesting titles (e.g. The Purple Cow or All Marketers are Liars), you should hear him speak.  

Before the presentation, I was able to meet a few Maryland MBA students and learn a little about what they were doing at the University of Maryland and where they wanted to go from here.   One student, Chirag, president of the MBA Consulting Association (and the one who spearheaded the Marketing Forum), comes from the West Coast and hopes to become a venture capitalist when he graduates in May. But how many of those students planned on marketing their future product or service to just one person - how could that be profitable? After Seth’s presentation on Friday, I think a few more students are thinking outside of the box.  

If I had to take one thing, and one thing only, away from Seth’s presentation, it would be to “make it remarkable”. The premise being that if it is not remarkable, no one is going to have anything to remark about.  To pull the idea from Godin’s Purple Cow, a cow is just a cow unless its purple. Then it is remarkable, because who has seen a purple cow? It is not “new” or “improved”, it’s just remarkable - something to talk about.  

Here are a few other insights from the presentation, all VERY relevant to Digital Influence strategy:  

- There has be be  a problem that needs to be  solved if we want people to “see” what we are marketing, if the consumer does not recognize a problem, he/she will not realize the need for a solution and therefore you will be invisible.

-Don’t be a hunter, don’t try to catch the consumer like he or she is your prey. Harvest and grow your customer. Each consumer needs a certain  amount of nourishment  in order to  become a loyal customer.  Identify what your customer needs and market to that, don’t try and fit the customer’s needs to what you are marketing.
(FYI: Seth says we need to find another word for “target”, since that is a hunting term. Any ideas?)

-You are only a commodity if you want to be.  You have to feel the same way about your product or service  that you want  your customer to feel. If you want your customer to feel like they cannot go  another day without your new multi-vitamin, then you have to feel the same way.    

-Remove yourself from the age of “TV Thinking”, where power and money are used to interrupt the consumer life and force attention on the product or service. With today’s shift in power, the consumer has the choice whether or not they want to allow you to interrupt their lives - and unless you have something that is remarkable to them, you are more than likely going to get the door slammed in your face. So,  

-Instead of trying to sell to the masses, focus on one person, identify their problem and then aim to solve it. Once that individual’s problem is solved, they will want to share with their community (e.g. DI’s Circle of Influence) and a natural marketing phenomenon will occur.  

-This practice is often most successful when  the conversation is started with the innovators and early adopters. These are the consumers that are a little more open-minded and willing to try new things.   Once they have “tested” the product or service, these are the guys that will get the mass market on the band wagon.  

-Don’t force word of mouth.  Use loyal customers, those truly interested and passionate about the product or service to spread the word. Let your customers talk because they want to talk, let the buzz happen naturally.  

-The last key point is to iterate the importance that not every consumer out there is the one to market to. We need to feel out the market  and  ”date” our prospects. We should only be committing to long term relationships with those consumers who are interested in our products or services and are the “right fit”.  

These are just a few of the powerful ideas that Seth covered in the hour and a half he had at the forum. I know I am not doing him justice. So the best advice I have for you is to read his books, and go see him speak (maybe we can even get him to Ogilvy PR, I would love for the rest of Digital Influence team to experience this first hand).

I know I am  looking forward to reading Seth’s new book, “small is the new big”, I am sure that it will provide insight into the realm of social media. Sooner rather than later, because soon it’s going to get crowded!

You know that saying, “Objects are Closer than they Appear”? Well, what do you call it when they actually aren’t closer, because they don’t exist, they just appear?  Perplexed? Don’t worry, it’s supposed to be that way…

World renown street artist and optical illusion specialist, Julian Beever, better known as the “Pavement Picasso“, is at it again!  This time in the heart of NYC, working with Aveeno in support of the Keep America Beautiful campaign.    

Many long hours were put in to Julian’s first New York piece (mostly you can find his work in Europe and Australia) in preparation for the official unveiling of the Aveeno Fountain of Youth on January 25, 2007.   All preparation was “top secret”, with the Pavement Picasso creating his masterpiece behind the walls of a collapsible tent.   Passers by could only get a hint of the behind-the-scenes action from the banners intriguing them to, “Discover Your Natural Beauty at the Fountain of Youth”.  

Despite the frigid temperatures and long (literally) horizontal  hours, the results were amazing.   The Aveeno Fountain of Youth event received much attention, including mention from Charlie Gibson on ABC’s World News Now.   You can check out Julian’s creation of the Aveeno Fountain of Youth for yourself in the  Pavement Picasso Flickr Gallery and this YouTube video:

…Oh, and don’t forget to make a wish!

Two of the most used words amongst our clients are openness and transparency. Corporate reputations are hurt not only by the criminal behavior of a few but by the private, non-transparent business practices of the many. Once there is an Enron, an Abramoff or other scandal, we, the people, assume it’s going on a lot more than you would think.

If companies want to build strong brand relationships with customers and governments want the trust of their constituents, they will have to learn how to communicate differently. They need to demonstrate openness. Their willingness to invite their customers inside the tent isn’t just a defensive strategy. Asking for feedback from citizens, inviting them into a product manager blog, engaging them to create branded content is a positive step towards building a trusting relationship - one that matters more over time.

Transparency is a little simpler. It usually means letting people see the mechanics of your operation whether that is a business, a non-profit CBO or a government agency. What’s the logic behind an executive pay package? How is influence wielded in Congress? And where does all the money raised actually go? Transparency means the stakeholders have a right to know. More importantly, it means if you don’t tell them they’ll find out about it anyway and put it all on their blogs.

We have collected some of our Ogilvy bloggers all under one roof to help fuel a discussion about post-millennial communications. We are talking about what has changed with the rise of personal media and the shift in trust away from institutions and back to that individual. These voices are part of that change. Smart people sharing insights because they know that’s how you get new and deeper insights. When I asked them what we should focus on over the next couple of weeks, they all said openness and transparency.

So, what are the best practices, the pitfalls and the insights about operating more openly and transparently? Let us know your thoughts. After all, it’s an open dialogue.