Social Hallucinations

What's the New Customer Worth?

Interesting infographic based on a few studies, which focus on customer acquisition, retention and attrition rates. It gives an insight into how much the acquisition of the new customer costs.

Read more on Flowtown

How we've complicated things - truth on brands

It has all begun with just a toothpaste...45 years later...what's toothpaste? The hell of added value....

Via Gavin Potenza

Stop-Start Commandments

"Advertising isn't a rocket science. I should know. I am a rocket scientist."

Sean Boyle on taking action and doing things

Stop Overthinking Things
Start Doing Something
Stop The Incessant Research
Start Doing Good
Stop Banging On About Digital

Little less conversation, more action please

Color outside the lines

Being creative is what gives advantage today and allows to differentiate from the mass of me-too products and people. Creative meaning novelty and utility. Sometimes to get an attention you deserve you need to color outside the lines and find inspiration other places...Like this packages.

You have something what seems to be a carton of McDonald's chips on the right but is in fact celery and blueberries packaged as medicine. 

   
 

via BabyCreative blog

Virality is not a strategy

"Virality is something that has to be engineered from the beginning…and it’s harder to create virality than it is to create a good product.  That's why we often see good products with poor virality, and poor products with good virality.  The reason that over $150 Billion is spent on US advertising each year is because virality is so hard.  If virality was easy, there would be no advertising industry."

(Josh Kopelman)

Image by aussiegall via Flickr

You can't build your product, communication strategy around viral cause viral isn't something you can plan and decide how it should act. Virality is something that is the result of human interactions which you can't only predict but you can't control either. In stead of focusing on virality, shifting efforts into creating the good products and spreading them / news of them is what matters.

As Noah Brier says "if a tree falls in the forest and there's nobody there to hear ..." . Stuff doesn't become viral per se. It becomes viral cause some people heard about it, tried it, liked it and shared it with others who tried it, liked it and shared it, and so on.

via Noah Brier

Popularity isn't easy - this is also very relevant

Average Consumers: The Product of Single Story

"There are lies, damned lies, and statistics" (Churchill)

Who is the average consumer? Does he / she exist? How do we define it? Or does average consumers exist, isn't just a mathematical construct that was aimed at making easier for us to explain world?

People are different, we are the individuals with different stories that shape us, stories that are driven by our mind, our bodies and social environment we are living in. Every human is the patchwork of different stories that make him/her a person, not an average consumer. The average consumer is a type of urban myth to me. 

Woman, 34 years old, urban, modern, income above average, lives in apartment, career oriented, heavy user of internet, buys organic food, interested in technology, owns mobile phone, heavy consumer of culture, blah blah...Yes, it could be me...but the above description brings more questions. 

Can a human being amount to this?

Average consumer is just a construct that derives from the single story and is intended to make easier for us to work out things like strategy, advertising, etc. But the concept of average consumer doesn't really 'disenchant' the world, it makes it single storied and mass produced.

...listen to Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie inspiring talk about the single story as the source of misunderstanding and stereotypes that keep us away from seeing the whole picture

Yes, I am aware it is difficult to work with the concept of individual when we talk communication, it is difficult to capture the complexity of people's lives but we can try with replacing or at least enhancing demographics with needs, motivations and more focus on the social aspects of human's lives.

Thanks for inspiration: Eskimon

Danish Mother Seeking - Update

Video was removed was YouTube .... well it just proves all my points. However video can be seen here.

______________________________________________________________________________

Danish Mother Seeking is busted! Karen26, Danish mother seeking... was hired by Visit Denmark to promote Denmark abroad. This is rather disappointing that such a good idea that would work really good to promote safe sex, was used to promote Denmark. That's also pretty shocking that such an angle was chosen to tell the story of Denmark. 

After finding out who was behind the campaign, I must say I asked myself about the ethics - not about the ethics of use of social media, but about the ethics of the content, about the way the governmental company chooses to present Denmark for the world. Respect is missing.

Let's look at aftermath first: over 1 million views, over 5.000 comments and lot of commotion on blogs and in mainstream media...primarily in Denmark. It is pretty understandable Danes are shocked over the way their compatriots have chosen to promote their country. It is like a bad reality show. The comments from Visit Denmark and agency behind - Grey Copenhagen heats the situation even more up. I heard Peter Helstrup, strategic director at Grey Copenhagen say:

"I think, this is the most effective campaign, that was ever created for a danish company" 

Well, this is impressive viral campaign that used controversy, fake & real approach and delivered over million views in just 3 days. As I wrote yesterday views, buzz has nothing to do with effectiveness, it has nothing to do with social media. This is just a tactical and short-term solution, deeply rooted in traditional media thinking focusing on creating controversy in order to boost up views numbers on YouTube (views are still shiny objects for so many). They could as well just show bare breasts. (Btw I would like to hear more about the goals that were set up for the campaign apart from views and appearance on TV2)

What about relevancy of the campaign? I keep on asking myself, how this campaign is relevant for Denmark? Isn't Visit Denmark's major goal to attract tourists to Denmark? It seems like the major efforts were put into promoting this video in Denmark. Apparently, Denmark is where the most response came from. I googled this morning to find any comment, any blog post about the campaign outside the boarders of scandalized Denmark. I found one at Mashable titled: Danish Woman’s One Night Stand Video Is a Government Hoax. Not to mention the comments that appeared on YouTube.:

"its amazing to see all the foreigners who have lived in denmark for a long time (decade or more) come out and slam Denmark. I lived there for a decade too, and was disgusted by the petty racism and xenophobia. Not to mention shallow women who will fuck you but not even hold a civil conversation."

"Lets get to Denmark, and get laid! that its all folks! Nobody is interesting in little right wings shiit Denmark!"

No one can deny it - the campaign has backfired and it seems there is no plan to handle the crisis situation. I've heard around that Visit Denmark is deleting comments from people that criticize the campaign.Is it true?!

This is where public engagement begins and we can talk about social media marketing and Visit Denmark seems to be unprepared to handle it. This is when the real things happen - not while the views counter is going up and people leave comments hoping she will find the father of the child, but when the discussion gets heated and opinions about content appear all over the Internet.

Visit Denmark got blinded by the shiny promise of millions of views and lot of buzz. They got those views along with disgusted, disappointed, shocked people and apparently no plan how to handle the bad response video generated.

Companies and agencies chase the shiny objects like buzz and views, missing the big picture and opportunities that are available for creating the public engagement and relationships. Using social media tools will not make you social. We keep on mistaking traditional media campaigns using social media with social media marketing. Social media marketing is about ideas that are rooted in understanding of human behavior and emotions and that get people together, make their lives more exciting or easier. Social media marketing is about people (not views)

Is the next episode coming: Danish Tourist Agency Seeking the lost trust...

The Marketing Capability: The Future is Digital

"In order for our brand to be relevant in the future, we gotta live digitally... with our communication and the products we sell. And the brands that figure this out are the brands that will succeed in the future."

From the past to the future Best Buy CMO Barry Judge tells the story of how Best Buy's Marketing Capability talks (and listens) to its customers.

The Science of Shopping Revealed

"Despite all the new technology (neuromarketing), simply talking to consumers remains one of the most effective ways to improve the “customer experience”."

Wow! What an enlightenment. It is cheaper to be nice to your clients and improve the overall customer experience than hire the team of neuroscientists with expensive machinery to get into customers subconsciousness. Image by turtlemom4bacon via Flickr

Simplicity is often the best solution. However we humans love the glittering lure of fancy technology and people in white smocks that blur the simple ways leading to problem solving.

"Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.” da Vinci

Read the whole story at The Economist - The Science of Shopping.

Sociology and Marketing

"Sociology and marketing are on a collision course." - says Armano

Sociology and marketing should never be separated. Marketing is about creating the value for people and making it accessibImage by Donna Cymek via Flickrle. It is hard to create and spread it without understanding human relations. This is not about focus groups or media, it is about real life observations and digging into human nature and nature of interactions. Social media and the digital technology are just enhancers of social behavior. We people are just keep talking and express ourselves and our opinions, this time powered by technology that makes it loud wider and allows us to reach more people. The motivations remain the same as BSM (before social media) - belonging and conviviality, to mention two most relevant drivers.

But *beware the common sense thinking* when applying sociology into your marketing efforts.

The Core of Marketing

Image via Wikipedia"Publicity is selling what you have: the film’s stars and sometimes its director. Marketing, very often, is selling what you don’t have; it’s the art of the tease." Tim Palen

It is time to get back to the core of marketing which is not selling but creating the value (in order to sell)

Traditional Advertising is The Art of Reduction

Image by basvasilich via Flickr
Traditional advertising is the art of reduction of people and products. It reduces the the complexity of culture and human interaction to one slogan or one word. The potential customers are being reduced to passive recipients of a message and all efforts are focused on depriving them of the desire to analyze the advertisement. The efforts are focused on reducing human beings into subjects of consumption - The more I consume the more I am - turning the product / service into chains of adjectives that don't convey anything meaningful. Products become nothing more than just objects of consumption that bring no value to its consumers life, except the glittering lure of getting happier or prettier - that just never happens, as days move and financial resources shrink, we stay as ugly and as miserable as we were before buying the "saviour" product.
Attracting attention becomes the main goal and all means are allowed to achieve it. Traditional advertising reduces the world to the "paradise of the adjectives" communicated with countable reach points. Communication becomes diminished to sending  fussy messages that are nothing more that  watered-down sentence telling us - buy this potatoes.

Are there any antidote to reduction powers of traditional advertising? Yes, thinking in verbs than adjectives, finding purpose ideas for your business - doing things that enrich people's lives and get them together. This is the story for another post.
_{You can read all about purpose ideas and doing things on Mark Earls' Blog - Herd.}

Leading the Tribe

 ...is the new green. I am about to finish reading (listening) to Seth Godin's new book Tribes (you can downloaded it here for free or buy on iTunes for $ 0,99).

It is really interesting reading, so important for agencies that strive in finding their way of working in the new more connected reality.

The main outtake to me so far is that it takes changing mindset and attitude. The copy and paste into new template isn't the way for the winners. In order to become the part of the game in the connected world, we need to become heretics and lead the tribe, instead of managing and using old logics pimped with new hype words. It is about telling stories that unite the tribe, instead of giving orders.

Can't wait to get home and finish the book.

Green is the New President Bitch

While grass gets greener and more and more people claim being green, I looked around in search for green change and I was inspired to write this rant on green snobs and hypocrites.

What is Green Marketing?

Green marketing is about taking responsibility for environment and society by taking some responsible actions. It's a beautiful idea that should stop climate changes, however it appears that many corporations use the green thinking to earn money in the first place. There is nothing wrong in earning money as such, if the money were the side effect not the center of the green wave.

The green snobs

Marketing people found out that consumers talk about ecology, social and environmental responsibility. Our need for ecology is rooted in our identity creation, not understanding for the problems Earth is facing. We hope to buy the clear conscience and avoid to be accused for destroying Earth by the future generations. That’s why we express “sofa responsibility” and believe that ‘being green’ is the answer for all evil. Excited green consumers become green generation with Al Gore, Leonardo Di Caprio and many other Hollywood stars as role models. Green has magnetic attraction powers as prestige and status symbol that uses very simple rhetoric – if something is green it must be good. It opened door to greenwashing phenomena - more money or time are spent advertising being green rather than spending resources on environmentally sound practices. It is about selling products and services by appealing to our conscience and need to stand for something meaningful.

Green hypocrites

The green generation drives the craze by spending increasingly more money on so-called green products. Clothes made from corn, hybrid cars, etc. Leonardo di Caprio bought two Toyota Prius, made a movie about climate changes and challenges and flies with private jet that on one trip pollutes more than 4-wheel drive car in a year. Meanwhile other green materialists admire his engagement and sins at home: don’t turn off the lights, buys paper bags every time they shop at grocery store, fill trolley with ecological food packed in plastic boxes, eat organic salad made of veggies that traveled thousands kilometers before they landed on their green plate.

Look at me I have green eyes. I am saving the world.

The most important are reciprocal advantages: companies get better image and reason to increase prices, while consumers are convinced that they do good work of saving the world by buying and consuming. Nice and easy. Without any effort. We do what we used to do – consume and at the same time we become better people. Two in one. What could be better for consumers? We shouldn’t be ashamed any longer because we consumer. We can’t be accused of being materialistic and building our existence on consumptions. There is a meaning in our consumers and it has a green color.

We need green realism.

We bathe in green while the crime against humanity is committed by using biofuel. The latest news from the green catwalk. Arnold Schwarzenegger fills his Hummer with biofuel to justify his love to those CO2 monsters and prove he is pro ecology. Green fuel, it couldn’t be better. Now we can drive a car without bad conscience. Unfortunately we overlook the big picture. Production of biofuel is based on oil that results in high CO2 emission. Nitrogen emission caused by fertilizing fields with chemical fertilizers. Increasing food prices and destroying forests. We want hybrid cars because they were advertising as green. While the industry chooses knowingly not to use the 2nd generation fuel produced from more efficient cellulose, because they need to get money back from the investments in biofuel production technology. Is it green marketing? Yes if green means money.

Green clutter

While you read this article, there will be used around one million plastic bags. They are very enduring and it takes a long time before they decompose. That’s why we choose to go for paper bags. It costs just a couple of trees to produce them. The real problem is not that we buy plastic bags; the problem is that we use for about 15 minutes and then we throw them away instead of storing them in responsible way. We are bombed with the contradictory messages about green products. Should I buy organic juice in bottle or in carton box?

Green is the category everyone wants to be because it gives bonus points from consumers. Green category is synonym with better image and income. But the green message isn’t always true. Consumers are helpless in the jungle of information, facts and lack of transparency. Some may fear of being cheated by buying something that has just green color.

Does green work?

The green wave is fantastic but companies should improve their technique to surf this wave. They shouldn’t spend their money on communicating green but doing green and prove they are responsible by being engaged and introducing innovative products and services that will actually have influence.

Changes come from the big ideas that are shifted into small initiative in ordinary peoples lives. It is about giving good reasons to consumers for becoming responsible for Earth, climate and society. The green wave should be turned into social movement, not fashion.

The last important thing to remember is that we can’t make a difference without effort. There are no easy solutions when we talk about climate changes.

Article can be also read on TalentZoo

Green, Greener, Greenest

I have a feeling we are overused Green concept a little. I mean everything is at some point more or less green. The color is there but the meaning is lost. Someone made a focus group or survey and asked people:

- Would you buy products if they were green (ecological and save for the environment)?

- Yes! replied confidently consumers.

- Let's make our products green - said brand manager A

- Yeah, I think of green cars! - said another

- And you know what than we will advertise all those product on green TV! - shouted excitedly the third one

Btw it takes lot of energy to produce the TV shows and then watch them! It is incredible, how we misunderstand the whole concept of sustainability.

marketing, green, sustainability, green planet, Untitled