Brand Rants

Damage control 2.0: Dove as a case in point

DOVE'S CAMPAIGN FOR REAL BEAUTY NOT SO REAL AFTER ALL?

I was reading a magazine article and noticed an innocent revelation that could have some negative impact for Dove and their agency Ogilvy.

It's a story in the May 12th edition of The New Yorker on Pascal Dangin a photo retoucher. He talks about extensively retouching the models used in Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty which, at least on the surface, seems to go against the whole idea of the campaign and makes the brand message seem less than genuine.

"I mentioned the Dove ad campaign that proudly featured lumpier-than-usual “real women” in their undergarments. It turned out that it was a Dangin job. “Do you know how much retouching was on that?” he asked."

I don't think this will be a major issue for Dove, but it  is a great example of how using the internet wisely right now could help keep this minor revelation from seriously undermining their campaign and brand.

There are plenty of arguments to be drawn up in Dove's defense. But using conventional media to advance these arguments can only make Dove look overtly defensive and thereby guilty in the eyes of their customers. Ads, press conferences or even press releases would just fan the flames.

The web, however, provides a more neutral and nimble platform to respond. If I were Dove I'd be sure to have my people on the internet 24/7 for the next few days finding posts like this and presenting their side of the story in an honest and balanced manner. I'd forgive them — probably.  Let's see if they ever show up.

All advertising is now direct response

IF YOU WORK IN ADVERTISING — CONGRATULATIONS — YOU'RE NOW A DIRECT RESPONSE SPECIALIST

Too bad direct response advertising has a such a bad reputation among most ad agency types. It usually conjures up images of junk mail and cheesy infomercials selling this week's abdominal exercise machine.  But truth is, anyone working in advertising or marketing today is working in direct response.

Personally, I used to envy guys working in direct response. They would always be quick to point out that with conventional advertising you never really know how effective it is or that it costs a fortune to find out. "But with DR" they would deftly point out, as they tried to wrangle more budget away from us, "you can always measure the effectiveness immediately and cheaply." What could an ad guy say? After all, they were right.

Direct Response: <di-rekt ri-spons> n Advertising through any medium inviting direct response by any measurable means.

But consider the definition of direct response. Now, with Web 2.0 everything you do is DR — and I'm not just talking about banner ads and click-throughs. Your print ad is a DR piece so long as people know how to find you on the internet. In fact, your TV and radio are all DR even if you don't ask people to contact you. Launching a new product at a trade fair is a DR event. Even giving a speech or closing a factory. Because now the public has an easy response mechanism 24/7 and they use it.

Knowing that, what should you do? What any good DR professional would do — QUANTIFY! Monitor, measure and benchmark response via the internet on a regular basis. There are lots of simple ways to accomplish this with online analytic tools today. For years we've been doing it as a matter of routine for our clients, so I'm always surprised when I talk to marketing managers who don't.  It's cheap, easy and fun.

But wait, there's more! If you need help with your analytics, call us before midnight tonight and we'll also include a set of amazing Ginsu knives ABSOLUTELY FREE! (If you can't beat 'em, join 'em)

What is an RSS Feed ?

THE POWER OF PLAIN TALK + ONLINE VIDEO

Does your company have information your customers or others may find useful? If you answered "no" then permit me to respectfully suggest that either a) you're wrong or b) you will soon be out of business. So since you do have something to say why not say it with video? Getting YouTube traffic doesn't always require a sex scandal or celebrity. It can be as simple as explaining how something works.

I was recently inspired by Sachi and Lee LeFever, the couple behind Common Craft. A year ago they decided to make a simple video called "RSS in Plain English". It was their first attempt at video and is as basic as a video gets. Yet In 12 months it was viewed 755,000 times. Think about it, that's 86 views every hour (2,068/day, 14,479/week, 57,916/month). Impressive numbers. "Our SEO secret?" said Lee "Make content people want to see." Doesn't get any simpler than that. You can read the full story behind the video here and check it out below.

What web 2.0 means for marketers

MANY MARKETERS REACT LIKE DEER CAUGHT IN THE HEADLIGHTS OF WEB 2.0

Web 2.0 is the internet coming into its own. It is most easily understood by looking at the contrast to Web 1.0. To do that, consider the first car ever created. It looked very much like a horse carriage. That's because the only frame of reference for the people who designed the first car were horse carriages. Same for the internet. Web 1.0 was designed to look and feel like its predecessor - newspapers, books, and magazines. Like them, Web 1.0 was built on the premise of one-way, non-collaborative communication because that was the only frame of reference available to web publishers, developers and users at the time.

In recent years people have begun to realize that the internet is very different from previous mass-media channels. It allows instant, global, two-way communication and collaboration. It can cater to the Long Tail and draw on The Wisdom of Crowds. It allows anyone to circumvent conventional media (e.g. newspapers, magazines, TV, radio, book publishers, etc..) and speak to the world.

I don't think most marketers have fully grasped the significance of this aspect. Media cost has been such a huge barrier of entry for many small to mid-sized companies that those restrictions are part of their thinking. Today, that whole landscape has changed. The wall between brand and consumer imposed by traditional media is coming down. Access to the masses is opening to anyone — albeit with new rules of engagement. But many marketers seem caught like a deer in the headlights of oncoming traffic.

This hit home today when I was speaking to a client about leveraging social media to develop their brand. They told me that wasn't necessary because they have a great deal on their media (mostly print advertising). It reminded me of when I was trying to convince my mother to try Skype. She said it wasn't necessary because she had a really good phone plan with AT&T. The notion that she could call me in Sweden for free was beyond her thinking.

For true market-focused companies this is all ancient history. Brands like Nike and Pepsi wasted no time in leveraging the new possibilities of Web 2.0. But the rank and file marketers are lagging behind. I think a softening economy will provide the impetus required for many CEOs and marketing managers to start taking Web 2.0 seriously. I look forward to seeing a lot of these second and third tier marketers begin to engage Web 2.0 strategies over the next 12 months.

Web 2.0 for Scientists

THE PERIODIC TABLE OF THE INTERNET

I really enjoyed this clever Web 2.0 graphic. It is the Periodic Table of the Internet from Wellington Grey.  Suitable for framing were it not for the fact that unlike the periodic table we all used in high school, the internet elements are highly unstable and constantly changing. Enjoy it while it lasts.

What is Web 2.0 ?

AFTER FOUR YEARS THE TERM "WEB 2.0" HAS ENTERED THE MAINSTREAM BUT UNDER MANY GUISES.

Since the term was coined at an O'Reily media conference in 2004, “Web 2.0” has been defined and redefined a million times. Rather than add to the list, let me share two of the definitions that I think come closest to defining what it is all about:

"Web 2.0 - A term often applied to a perceived ongoing transition of the World Wide Web from a collection of websites to a full-fledged computing platform serving web applications to end users.  It refers to a supposed second-generation of Internet-based services—such as social networking sites, wikis, communication tools, and folksonomies—that emphasize online collaboration and sharing among users." (Source: 2020 Systems)

" Web 2.0 generally refers to a second generation of services available on the World Wide Web that lets people collaborate, and share information online. In contrast to the first generation, Web 2.0 gives users an experience closer to desktop applications than the traditional static Web pages. The term was popularized by O'Reilly Media and MediaLive International as the name for a series of web development conferences that started in October 2004. Web 2.0 applications often use a combination of techniques devised in the late 1990s, including public web service APIs (dating from 1998), Ajax (1998), and web syndication (1997). They often allow for mass publishing (web-based social software). The term may include blogs and wikis. To some extent Web 2.0 is a buzzword, incorporating whatever is newly popular on the Web (such as tags and podcasts), and its meaning is still in flux." (Source: Design Law)

The Web 2.0 mind map graphic above was constructed by Markus Angermeier in 2005. Although a little dated, it sums up some of the key ingredients of Web 2.0. (Source: Wikipedia).

Blogger beware

BLOG TILL YOU DROP MENTALITY TAKES A TOLL

An article in the New York Times draws attention to the darker side of blogging coining the phrase "death by blogging".

In recent months two prolific tech bloggers, Russell Shaw age 60 and Marc Orchant age 50, both died of massive coronaries while a third, Om Malik, 41, survived a heart attack. 

Michael Arrington, the founder and co-editor of one of the internets most popular blogs TechCrunch must be a little nervous about the fate of his three compatriots. To quote the article "Mr. Arrington says he has gained 30 pounds in the last three years, developed a severe sleeping disorder and turned his home into an office for him and four employees. “At some point, I’ll have a nervous breakdown and be admitted to the hospital, or something else will happen. This is not sustainable,” he said."

The pressure on high profile tech bloggers can be immense. Long nights, little sleep and hours in front of a computer screen is the price they pay to be first with a post on the latest technology or scuttlebutt. So if you’re choosing a topic to blog about perhaps you should bear this in mind and choose something more static like Stonehenge or your favorite tropical beach (I understand "Sand Rants" is still available :)

Its official: Social Applications Dominate Internet

DOING WHAT COMES NATURALLY - THE INTERNET GETS A SOCIAL LIFE

To those of you who follow such things it may be no surprise that Morgan Stanley's Internet Trends report from March firmly establishes social media in the internet firmament. Thanks to TechCrunch for the slides. A few highlights:

Consumers are king
Consumer IP traffic surpassed business traffic in 2008 for the first time in history and is expected to widen its dominance in the years to come. The two most important sources of information for people today are the internet and personal sources. These two are each greater than television, radio or newspapers. A combination which may explain (or be caused by) the swift rise of social media.

The rise of social media
16% of all online time is spent in social applications. That's twice as much as shopping and travel sites which account for 8% of online time. Entertainment and leisure came in at 14% while work, business and education registered 6%. The only segment larger was communications at 22% (35% were other). Six out of the top 10 internet sites are now social: youtube, myspace, facebook, hi5, wikipedia and orkut. With the exception of myspace, none of these sites were in the top 10 in 2005.

Youtube reaches new highs
You tube has 258 million users with Y/Y growth of 94%. Half of them visit at least once a week. As of 2008, Youtube has more daily page views than either Yahoo or Google.

Facebook grows up
Facebook has 101 million users with 305% Y/Y growth. More than half of all Facebook users log in once a day. The fastest growing demographic in facebook are adults aged 25+. Today the majority of networks are outside of college.  As of 2008, Facebook has more daily page views than either Yahoo or Google. 

Email going the way of the fax
It seems old timers (age 44+) still rely on email to communicate but younger users (15-24) prefer communicating through their social networks.

Phones evolving into hand-held mini-computers.
As of 2006, almost half of the handsets shipped were internet ready. As of 2007 311 million 3G subscribers have broadband-like service in their handsets. US is the clear follower here. 88% of mobile subscribers and 87% of mobile data subscribers are non-US (China is #1 in both).

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The real reason marketers should fear social media

LOSING CONTROL OF THE MESSAGE? — YOU CAN'T LOSE WHAT YOU DON'T HAVE

When I speak to marketing executives or read posts about traditional marketers embracing social media I notice a common theme: the fear of "losing control". I don't get it.

True, there was a time when the advertiser controlled the message and maybe even perceptions. Those were the days when communication was one-way. The only way to speak to millions at once was by spending millions in mass media like TV, radio and newspapers. The average consumer could disagree with the message but without an industrial-sized media budget their views remained localized and rarely gained critical mass. So I guess you could call that "control" (in hindsight, "tyranny" seems a more apt descriptor).   

But get over it! Throughout most of North America and Europe that control was lost at least a decade ago when the internet became as mainstream as Britney Spears. And the rest of the world is catching up fast.

Since the mid to late 90's there has been a way for the average person to talk back. Moreover, there have been blogs, forums and communities where they could share and amplify their views. If they seemed reasonable they could even achieve enough volume to be heard and to persuade millions. This power of the people has grown considerably over the past 10 years with the advent of many more social media platforms.

The US lock company Kryptonite received a poignant lesson in the power of the people  back in September of 2004. That's when Chris Brennan took issue with their claim of having the toughest lock. Chris made a brief, anonymous post to an internet forum for bike enthusiasts describing how tubular-pin tumbler locks  like the famed Kryptonite bike lock could be opened with a Bic Pen. The story was picked up by the popular blog Engadget and spread like wildfire. Soon there was a viral video demonstrating the claim. In the end, Kryptonite had to replace over 350,000 locks globally at a cost of over US$10 million.  But what I've always found to be most interesting is that the story was actually first published in several prestigious UK biking magazines and was even featured on a BBC TV program without the news ever leaking across to the US. Twelve years later, one anonymous forum post had more impact than a series of stories in the UK mass media by respected journalists.   

So, I would argue that marketers are fretting over losing something that was taken from them years ago. And that being the case, they should be afraid. Because their misplaced fear of losing control is blinding them to threats that are much more worthy of their anxiety. Five come to mind right away:

1. Genuine Control. The conversation will happen with or without your participation and it can have greater reach and impact that you might imagine. If you are not part of it, then you really have no control of communication around your brand. Engage the conversation honestly and you stand a good chance at creating some good will.  And in cases where your participation can't win over fans for your brand - at least you'll know what the problem is.

2. Learning curve. The longer you wait to join the conversation the harder it will be to catch up when you do decide. Get in early (yes, its still early days) and start honing your social media skills now. This is particularly true for brands who are positioned as leaders and/or innovators in their category.

3. Competition. You're non-engagement strategy provides a huge opportunity to your competitors. As you stand by the sidelines of social media you had better hope all your competitors do the same. Because if they join the conversation in your absence, they will be the ones that help shape the world's perception of your brand. Talk about losing control.

4. Fading opportunity. There are many product categories where the main players are absent from the social media scene. If this is the case in your category, then imagine the impact you can make now. By default you will have demonstrated deeper engagement and transparency than your competitors and appear more in-step with changing times. 

5. Tomorrow's customer. Some marketing executives say they market to adults and they maintain that social media is really a youth phenomenon. "And your point is?" I ask. Because it has been a youth phenomenon for a decade. That means many of those youths are now adults and there are millions more young people crossing the line into adulthood every day — and their bringing their online habits with them. 

Stop obsessing over your web site and start focusing on your web presence

HOW TO BREAK OUT FROM THE COZY CONFINES OF YOUR WEB SITE AND START MINGLING WITH THE CROWD

"Location, location, location" has been long standing advice to business newbies. This is just as true on the web as it is on Main Street. The only difference is that  on the web there is no terra firma. New geographies are created every time someone hits "enter" on a search engine. And when that happens the best location for your business is on the first page of your customer's search results.  This process puts the best business real estate on the planet within reach of anyone, including you - if your site is optimized.  So I'm all for SEO.  But now its time for CEOs and marketing managers to go beyond simply optimizing their web site and start thinking in terms of optimizing their web presence.

When you look at things in the context of web presence you begin to see lots of opportunity to not only to "talk at" people but to actually engage and even endear people to your brand. It's all about breaking out from the cozy confines of your corporate web site and getting out into the world where the action is. Situate yourself in multiple places around the web so you can find and be found by communities of people who share an interest in your business category.  And once you find them don't just sit there, engage them: Talk, debate, praise, disagree, educate, demonstrate, show, tell, ask, listen and learn.  There was a time not so long ago when this type of exposure and interaction would cost millions in traditional media. Today it is simply there for the taking.

Not convinced? Like to wait for the other guy to go first? He already has. About a month ago GM (the 3d largest advertiser in the U.S.) announced plans to shift half of its $3 billion dollar ad budget to digital and one-to-one marketing. If that's not a sign of the times I don't know what is.

I was in a meeting in Paris yesterday discussing these possibilities with a pretty conservative company that deals mostly with industrial engineering. They felt social media could work for Nike and Nintendo - but not for them, not for their industry. As we were talking my colleague made a quick search of Facebook and interjected with his search results: 136 groups of industrial engineers, 147 groups of building engineers and 235 groups of electrical engineers located in less than 30 seconds and accessible to anyone who wishes to join the conversation.

The truth is Facebook is just one among hundreds of internet media channels that can provide any business the opportunity to dramatically expand its presence on the web and engage customers. By far the best example of this I've seen was done by Modernista in Boston. They provided a dramatic example of how a well orchestrated web presence can makes the whole notion of a web site redundant.  In future posts I'll try to provide a snapshot of the types of social media channels out there today and how they might be used.