Spreading word is pretty challenging and not easy task. What would you do to spread word? Run naked on the street and shout, give free TV sets or maybe involve cockroaches? Yikes!
ZOO YORK - the skateboard producer - announced "Spread the Word" contest. Participants have to post the video on YouTube showing how to spread the word. Cockroaches get definitely attention.
I've found very interesting artickle on a research on DVR owners. We already know that DVR owners watch fewer TV ads and the latest research by Information Resources Inc. showed that buying of new packaged products in households owning DVR was 5% lower han in non - DVR households. About 20% of all brands in the study lost statistically significant volume in DVR households.
Reality can't be ignored. Reality strikes back. It can't be your ad isn't seen anymore.
Read more here in Marketing mag.
It was really interesting to read
Sorrell’s call and Ruth Mortimer notes in Marketing
Week:
“All our instincts as
clients, agencies [and] media owners are to encourage people to consume more –
super consumption.” He added that people had become used to: “The aspiration
that you should consume more; the aspiration that you should have a bigger car;
the aspiration that you should have a number of holidays, bigger houses [and]
multiple houses”.
His point was that marketers
and their agencies need to adopt a new way of thinking to stop this trend of
‘super consumption’ becoming a real problem. In an age of worries about global
warming and limited environmental resources, brands need to behave with
responsibility. He suggested that the days of companies creating items that
would quickly become obsolete could – and should – be numbered.
Sorrell cited Apple as an
example of a brand creating products that consumers quickly jettison in favour
of the company’s newer ones. While nobody can deny that Apple produces
desirable, design-led objects, they do tend to become outdated very quickly.
The company cut the price of its 8GB iPhone model and scrapped the original 4GB
model only two months after launch.
But should Apple really be
worrying about issues such as ‘super consumption’? As the economic climate
worsens, don’t marketers need to keep parting people from their hard-earned
cash? This is especially important when the finance director starts asking
difficult questions about how the company can afford to run TV spots when sales
are being squeezed.
Let’s apply some common
sense. Sorrell isn’t saying that marketers should stop doing their job
properly; this is the man heading an organisation that made pre-tax profits of
£817m in 2007, up seven per cent on 2006. He is a clever businessman and he’s
not suggesting that as spending is curtailed, companies should stop trying to
sell.
Rather, he is picking up on
an important point: any problem opens up opportunities. You can be the company
worrying about what ‘super consumption’ means for you or the one rubbing your
hands together with glee at all the potential new business it presents.
If people are less willing
to buy items in large volumes because they have less money, make a virtue in
advertising of how long your products last. Charge slightly more for them.
That’s good for the landfill sites and good for your sales.
Or what about finding ways
of getting people paying to ‘upgrade’ old products? It shows that you’re
thinking about obsolescence while still offering people the sexy new functions
and features they desire.
You don’t have to do these things, of course. You can fight economic
difficulties by cutting prices and laying off staff. But you can bet Sorrell is
already working out how he will address ‘super consumption’. That £817m profit
last year suggests he’s pretty good at turning his ideas into actions.“
That’s great to read that as powerful man as
Sorrell is standing up against consumption. Great initiative. Great idea. There
is no doubt that our society needs to address those issues. I like Sorrell’s
suggestion about getting people to pay for upgrading the old products. This
could be something that could definitely help solving environmental issues. My
concern is however about the companies’ power to fight against super
consumption. The common belief that all consumers are thoughtless puppets in
the hands of devil corporations. Consumption is the culture. Culture is not
nothing new.
Many centuries ago, Aristotle wrote in ‘Politics’:
“The avarice of mankind is insatiable”
Over two thousand years later Leo Tolstoy wrote in “My Religion”
"seek among men, from beggar to millionaire, one who is contented with his lot, and you will not find one such in a thousand....Today we must buy an overcoat and galoshes, tomorrow, a watch and a chain; the next day we must install ourselves in an apartment with a sofa and a bronze lamp; then we must have carpets and velvet gowns; then a house, horses and carriages, paintings and decorations."
The desire to possess seems to be the part of our society across centuries. Mankind has known and enjoyed consumption over centuries. Consumption is not just modern times phenomena, this is something that has always existed and has it is roots in the social structures; this is the part of Weber’s stratification process, where status is based on the economical status and the non economical qualities like honor and prestige. Can Mr. Sorrell figure out how to change culture that thrived for thousands years? I doubt so, but his words open the door for the new and better vision. More responsible vision of doing business that appeals to consumers, who aren’t any longer only passive recipients of communication from corporations advertising. Due to technological empowerment, we have a possibility to change the world. Corporations together with consumers – people. After all we are all responsible for the society and the world we are living in.
Photo by Fanboy30
There is no recipe how to create the effective social campaigns. Measuring of social campaign effectiveness is also difficult and rare. Social advertising is too important to be left out to chance. Measuring recall isn’t enough. Effectiveness of social advertising should be measured on three levels: motivation, engagement and recall. The higher is the motivation and engagement; the better is effectiveness of advertising in terms of generating the change.
Attention is scarce, Sex is wanted
Today, social advertising shares the same problematic as the commercial advertising: dull sensitivity, immunity to advertising messages, scarce attention, increasing clutter and choices. Advertisers are forced to use nontraditional and sometimes controversial means in order to get through with their messages.
There are more social advertising that uses humor and sex in the fight for viewers attention.
Read more on emotions and social advertising in my column on Talentzoo.com
Tags: social advertising, emotions, public service advertising, social ads
Actually nothing as things are getting worse and we aren't becoming wiser with age and experience. Lord Leverhulme was aware already in 19th century that half of his marketing budget was wasted as he expressed it:
“I know that half of my advertising budget is wasted, but I’m not sure which half”
Over 100 years later, things haven't improved at all. According to The Global Marketing Effectiveness Report that surveyed 3,000 marketing professionals across the globe, 65% of marketing spend had no effect on consumers in 2007.
The report's findings should be wake up call for all involved in marketing and advertising:
- 65% of all marketing spend in 2007 had no effect on consumers.
- Estimated wastage rates varied from 45% for business-to-business marketers, through to 65% for business-to-consumer
- Just one in ten of respondents have automated systems in place to track the effectiveness of their spend
- Of the 55% of marketers who do track the results of their spending, 80% do so manually, spending hours capturing, compiling and analyzing data.
- Questioned on strategy, 70% of marketers believe that short-term revenue-boosting and lead-generation campaigns are more important than long-term intangible brand building (15%). A clear indication that marketers are under pressure more than ever before to generate results
- Tracking marketing effectiveness topped the 2008 wish lists of 35% of marketers, and made the top three for 70%.
We have reached the point of very huge wastage of the billions dollars invested in marketing. Those money bring no effect due to old-fashioned methods and stereotypes used. Times has changed, people haven't changed as such but we've gained very valuable knowledge about people and their behavior which we choose to oversee and keep on pouring money down the drain stuck to routines and fearing to challenge the way we think. After all "no one has ever been fired for using TV"
It is time we get it and stop just talking about it but do something to improve the results and reduce wastage. 65% doesn't sound to scary but when you translate it into advertising dollars spend each year across the globe to sell the products people don't need in a way people don't want, you get scared and makes you believe even stronger that
"If advertisers spent the same amount of money on improving their products as they do on advertising,” he said, “then they wouldn't have to advertise them.”
found at WARC
Picture by Joshua Davis
Tags: marketing, advertising, WARC
Advertisers love to test advertising. Just to minimize the risk and ask so called consumers about branding, logo, music, etc. so they can afterwards ad advertising agency to add more packshots and increase logo 25%, so the branding is more clear. It seems like doing so, advertising not only waste money but increase the risk for advertising to ineffective. According to Les Binet and Peter Field data, published in Market Leader, ads that have not been quantitatively pre-tested have a 71% chance of being effective and ads that have been pre-tested have only a 44% chance of success.
It can be the lower chance of success for the pre-tested ads is the result of listening to consumers post-rationalization that has not too much to do with reality - "most of we know, we don't know we know", so we try to sound clever and evaluate advertising which isn't always mirror reality.
via Serendipity Book
Tags: advertising, testing, research, effectiveness
Radiohead has got people and music business talking when they've offered their latest album to download and offer people to pay for it the price they want. No label, no promotions. I've been waiting impatiently for the first results, wondering whether music fans are ready for such shift and how are they going to react. The results have proved Radio head has a strong base of fans - there has been 1.2 million downloads, average price was $8 per album sold and it brought estimated profit of about $10 million - all that in just one week.
Music industry is changing in rely to the generation FREE, people who want and expect certain things to cost nothing. Anti-pirate groups chasing them will not change anything, the new sales, promotion model can make a difference, which Radiohead is a good example of.
Tags: music, radiohead, album sales
FirebrandTV has introduced today the multimedia platform with "commercials as content". The best ads will be chosen by a panel of Gen Y. You can not only watch the cool commercials but also within a click you get an access to promotions and you can buy the products. FirebrandTV will also have CJ (commercials jockeys - someone like VJ) "to contextualize commercials as art and guide viewers through the spots, contests and promotions.". It launches 22nd October on three platforms: TV (ION Television Network), web and mobile (through iTunes and MSN)
Investors behind the project are: Microsoft, NBC Universal and GE’s Peacock Equity Fund, ION Television, as well as Adweek, Brandweek and Mediaweek, among others, joined Firebrand at its announcement during Advertising Week at the Paley Center for Media.
This is a great idea of distributing advertising using "pull" methods and combining it with merchandise option. It will be interesting to watch as it sets the new standard for traditional TV advertising. The fact is that people don't hate commercials, people hate being forced to watch the bad and boring commercials. I am looking forward to hear people's reaction to it and see how is it working in real life. I think the sales aspect is very interesting, transferring ad liking into sales.
Crayon is handling the social media aspect of Firebrand - check out what they have already done: YouTube, Myspace, Facebook, Flickr and Delicious Links.
Tags: firebrandtv, advertising, content, sales
Marketing presentations' jargon can be fascinating. Many, many worlds, and almost none meaning. I've tried it myself a couple of times, but sometimes you just simply can't resist as it adds the illusory feeling of sounding professional. In fact the marketing jargon sounds like newspeak and draws attention away from the real problems.
It reminds me of newspeak from communistic times in Poland. It was about saying a lot things sounding professional, serious and lofty but the words carried no meanings. There are lots of fantastic examples from back then. It is almost impossible to translate, but I will give a try: "every day practice proofs that fixed information - propaganda protection of our operating secures access of broad group to shaping the relevant conditions for activation", and so on, over and over again.
The effect was achieved - to blur the reality and cover the lack of knowledge or understanding. In the world of communication, newspeak is tempting.
Now you don't even have to work hard to find yourself to compose newspeak power point symphonies, you can use Marketing Bullshit Generator. Enjoy and "recontextualize efficient communities"
Tags: newspeak, orwell, marketing jargon, marketing bullshit
Seth Godin said once:
"It's not to sell something to person A. Instead, at least right now, it's to get person A to encourage person B to buy/do something. That's often viewed as a nice after effect, a bonus or an extra. I think, though, that it might be the entire point of the exercise."
Marketing is just about a simple question: is your product / service so cool, so exciting, so remarkable, and so fantastic that people will want to tell everyone they know about it?
Seth's view on the key point of marketing takes us from audiences to communities, moves focus from reach to the tipping point. It makes marketing a conversation with consumers, that is based on trust and respect. The conversational marketing should be the natural reaction on the increasing ad avoidance, increasing number of consumers who find traditional advertising annoying and the technology developments that empower consumers. Especially when we know that for 68% the most credible source of information about companies is "a person like me" (only 20% in 2003), according to Edelman's 2006 Global Trust Barometer.
It is about changing focus from selling to creating cascades of conversations among influential people who will influence other influential people who will influence other influential people, and so on.
Tags: Seth Godin, Marketing, Advertising, WOM
UPDATE #2
Second life is back in media. This time the attention they get is focused on negative aspects.
Time classified Second Life as on of the 5 worst websites.
Interesting article from Wired about Madison Avenue wasting millions on a deserted Second Life.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPDATE
For the last couple of weeks you couldn't hear too much about Second Life in media. Apparently, SL hasn't live up to its hype. I was skeptical from the beginning about companies investing money and opening their virtual offices in SL to earn money. And today I read in Danish newspaper (Politiken) that companies begin to leave SL.
I guess there are too major problems with SL
1) The lack of users - the numbers Second Life gives as the number of SL users are the number of profiles. The truth is most people never come back again.
2) Companies have no idea how to act and interact in virtual reality of SL. For most companies SL is just another advertising window.
I guess there is also the third problem with users itself. Virtual reality is very new concept for us and we have no idea how to behave and how we can use the new space we have available. Plus there are still technological obstacles.
I do still believe Second Life is good and important but we need to explore the virtual reality more in order to understand its nature and become wiser on how to use it. The mix of traditional opt-down models, traditional advertising techniques and Second Life isn't the best in the world and can't bring any spectacular results (Danish Red Cross raised only 10.000 DKK from February 2007 ... I bet they still haven't earned home investments they made to create their HQ in SL)
Stop measuring and calculating, just try to understand in the first place. Understanding delivers better ROI.
***********************************************************************************************************************************************************
Second Life has become the media celebrity lately, everyone is talking about SL, so many companies throw $$$ to opening their virtual stores / offices there. SL become crowded, unfortunately not with people (3,6 million accounts opened but only 250.000 people revisited SL within 30 days since the last login and there are maximum 20.000 people at the same time) but with companies.
Nic Mitham has recently made a brand map of Second Life that gives the overview over the major companies existing in SL. I find it interesting the way companies are places on the outskirts of the SL and form the circle. Is it an attempt to try to separate itself from competitors?
(Click on the picture for bigger view)
While companies are rushing into virtual territory, the recent survey from Komjuniti revealed that 72% Second Life users (“avatars”) are disappointed with the activities of the companies in SL. Moreover "over a third of them were unaware of the branded presence and 42% said they thought it constituted nothing more than a short-term trend, lacking durable commitment from the companies. Just 7% consider that it has a positive influence on brand image and their future buying behavior."
The major problem for SL users is the insufficient customer care and opportunities for interaction with companies - the two most important factors and the basic reason for existence in place like SL.
It seems like companies feel the urge to be present in the SL but have no reason for being there, have no clue or plan how to act in SL. One should believe that the reason for company entering SL is to build a community around brands and interact with the consumers. Apparently it is not the way consumers feel.
I spent a lot of time in SL and I've always been skeptical abut the SL frenzy in business world. There is nothing wrong with SL itself, even though it seems to me as the ghost ship, the world with fantastic building but not too many people. SL is a wonderful world, the virtual scene that opens door to the new experiences and ways of communication. However many companies misunderstand that and see it mostly as the new area for the exposure of their ads and products. I guess we, both consumers and business need to understand first how the virtual worlds are relevant to us, what do they mean and give us, how we can use them before we fling into using them without having any goals or plans how to use it. I do believe in SL as the huge innovation and research space at the moment. This is the exciting place for gathering insights, observing and understanding humans interactions and testing products or ideas.
There is no need to get hasty and make the wrong decisions. It can affect companies negatively, as they don't live up to consumers expectations and needs. They way companies act in SL reminds me about the bad traditional marketing where ads are developed and broadcasted on TV without even spending a minute on understanding consumers, without even thinking about any kind of research.
It is better to take it slow and put resources into decent research. SL is great and important so better use it wisely.
You can read more about companies in SL here and here
Meanwhile get a ...third life :-)
Tags: Second Life, Advertising, Brands
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Fantastic example of guerilla campaign for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles movie in Brazil.. It is some kind of 3D projection. It looks amazing and definitely attracts attention. I like to see the people on the streets taking pictures of the projection with their mobile phones ...they will probably send the photos to their friends, post it on Internet, make the campaign roll out from one place on the earth to thousands of people around the globe...like virus. That's the beauty of today's marketing - influential people influence other influential people over and over again.
"The trouble with marketing theorists, with all their triangles and flow charts, is not that they are wrong. They just make sense of what good marketing does instinctively but after the fact. It is instinctive marketing - marketing which is based on your beliefs and your values - that makes the biggest impact. The impression that the 'after-the-fact marketing science' gives us is that in fact these things are unimportant, but at the end of the day this is what makes a brand distinct and gives it soul"
Tessa Graham
From Mark Earls' "Herd"
The McKinsey Quarterly conducted 'How businesses are using Web 2.0' survey in January 2007 (2,847 executives worldwide, 44 percent of whom hold C-level positions). The respondents expressed satisfaction with their Internet investments so far, they see Web 2.0 technologies as strategic tools.
However, as the survey showed, companies don't follow the best-known Web 2.0 trends, such as blogs. They'd rather focus on and invest in technologies that enable automation and networking.
I seems like the companies are still very afraid of having the conversation with the consumers and opening the door for two-ways dialog. The fear of losing control is huge as top crisis manager Eric Dezehell puts it:
"The CEOs of the largest 50 companies in the world are practically hiding under their desks in terror about Internet rumors"
The companies still pretend they can avoid being the subject of discussion that is happening online between the millions of people who are enabled to say whatever they want, express their positive experiences, thoughts and feelings as well as the dissatisfaction, problems and frustrations. But the history and many bad examples showed that opposite you must fear "the venom of the crowds" as the most crushing power in the market at the moment. Today, in the world of mouse era, companies can be build and destroyed with the mouse click. The solution isn't to hide under your desk, consumers can find you there if they have to. The companies must accept the fact that even though they control their brands, there are others players in the market, who can influence the brands and change the course of the storytelling companies control.
Inspired by article in BusinessWeek "Web Attack" - it is a must read!
Tags: blogs, markets are conversation, mckinsey, controlPowered by Qumana
I've found this chart at Brand Autopsy blog.
The chart shows the disproportion between the media spend and achieved market share amongst Top 10 restaurant chains. Starbucks has definitely exceptional position: the lowest media spend and 6th position on the chart. As John Moore points out, it is a good example that investing in better products and consumer expriences works better than millions spend on mass advertising. It is very enlightening chart, it shows where you should shift your focus and it proves user experience is not just another buzz word. It works. Sturbucks has proven it.
Mass media dollars power is decreasing. You have to be clever and have your eyes and ears wide open in order to understand the markets and get the most for your $$$. SOURCE: Ad Age (Jan. 1, 2007)
A Taoist story tells of an old man who accidentally fell into the river rapids leading to a high and dangerous waterfall. Onlookers feared for his life. Miraculously, he came out alive and unharmed downstream at the bottom of the falls. People asked him how he managed to survive. "I accommodated myself to the water, not the water to me. Without thinking, I allowed myself to be shaped by it. Plunging into the swirl, I came out with the swirl. This is how I survived."
You , as a marketer have to accommodate yourself to life and get used to dealing with your users, consumers, clients. You must learn to cooperate and respect.
It is you, who has to adapt, people cannot change for you, just because you want it. If you try to fight or control the market and people who constitute it, they will backfire. You should become ONE with your market in order to survive. You are not Almighty, the power is constantly shifting towards consumers, it is time to accept it and go with the flow, not to resist it.
Image from Gapingvoid
Tags: Marketing, Zen, Going with the Flow, Consumers, Cooperation, Respect
Olivier Blanchard from The Brand Builder Blog has wrote a great post on losing customers. You can achieve it in 10 easy steps.
1. Ignore them. 
2. Lie to them.
3. Sell them crap.
4. Don't make things right when you should.
5. Treat them badly.
6. Treat your employees badly.
7. Don't listen to your customers.
8. Stop caring about your customers.
9. Copy your competitors.
10. Convince yourself that anyone gives a flip about you or what you have to say.
Everyone of us has an experiences of being treated badly as a customer, at a local grocery store or when buying a car. For me those 10 steps are the crucial in every job that includes dealing with customers, no matter if you are sales person in the supermarket or marketer at the huge car company or planner at media agency. You have to learn to respect the customers and listen to them. So often, some are tempted by "not giving a ****" attitude, and treating people badly. They probably think that people will come back no matter what. But it can be a problem in the modern world of plenty. People has too many choices today and will rather avoid being ignored. People want to be heard and respected, they want to feel special and they choose brands that make them feel unique.
It makes me think about a car company I used work for, they were immune to listening to consumers' needs. They have chosen to look at the world though the distorted glass of their opinions and beliefs. Result - decreasing marketing share, terrible image, less and less people interested in their cars. And guess what they still keep on not listening!
Tags: Customers, Consumer, Marketing, Communication
Mark Earls: The Welcome to the Creative Age - Bananas, Business and the Death of Marketing
Philip Zimbardo: The Lucifer Effect: Understanding How Good People Turn Evil
Duncan J. Watts: Six Degrees: The Science of a Connected Age (Open Market Edition)
Brian Reich: Media Rules!: Mastering Today's Technology to Connect With and Keep Your Audience
Jean-Marie Dru: Beyond Disruption: Changing the Rules in the Marketplace
