I recently received an email from Piers Fawkes, asking me to pass along a little information about a conference he is hosting: PSFK Good Ideas Salon coming up January 30th in London.
Typically, I wouldn’t just pass along information just becuase someone sends me an email. I am doing so now for a number of reasons.
I have seen Piers speak at a conference before and he seems to always have some really interesting things to pass along.
The line-up of speakers really looks amazing and I am sad that I won’t be able to attend myself.
Perhaps the most important reason, I have followed PSFK for years. Piers and his team have consistently delivered interesting and relevant content and never asked anything from me in return. Until now, of course.
It is that last point that I find interesting, and it seems like something all brands in the social media world could take a lesson from. You never know when you are going to need a favor, or who you will need/want help from; so treat everyone as best as you can all the time. Of course, the odds are that PSFK doesn’t really need my help to sell tickets, but what if they did? Or, what if they had some sort of crisis where they needed to rally support, I would probably be there to help out. This is becuase we already have an established relationship, and through all the content and inspiration they have given me over the years I feel I owe them a little something in return. I see it a little like Don Corleone from the Godfather, when he says, “Someday – and that day may never come – I’ll call upon you to do a service for me. But until that day, accept this justice as a gift on my daughter’s wedding day.” As a company/brand you may never need a favor from your consumers, but itsn’t it worth treating them with respect and doing nice things for them, knowing that if that day does come they’ll be there.
I recently came across this article, Advertisers Face Hurdles on Social Networking Sites, written by Randall Stross in the New York Times. In the article Mr. Stross focuses on Procter & Gamble’s foray into advertising and brand building in social networks, specifically Facebook. From reading the article, highlighting P&G’s successes or lack thereof, you would have to agree with the conclusion that advertising on social networks is, as the article posits, ‘stillborn.’ Hurdles certainly do exist for brands on social networks and they come in the form of savvy audiences that easily ignore banner advertising and the simple truth that social network users are there to connect with friends, not brands.
I don’t think it is impossible for brands to connect with consumers on Facebook, although banner ads may not be the best way. The question that seems to determine success is, where does the brand exist in the consumer conscious already? P&G’s Facebook page for Crest Whitestrips, presumably the company’s most successful, has less than 10,000 fans. Only 10,000 fans, even after incorporating free movie screenings, sponsored concerts and contests with product giveaways, not exactly a shining example. Another P&G brand, Tide, has even lower popularity with only 640 fans. These are powerhouse brands, with amazing amounts of recognition, so why can’t they get more fans? As I see it, the problem is that these are rational/commodity brands. They exist in the head, not the heart. Being a “fan” or friend with Tide, to me, is a little like being a friend with Exxon or salt. Sure, gas makes my car go and salt adds flavor to my food, but there isn’t a particularly strong emotional reaction to either (at least not a positive one anyway).
On the other hand, there are a few brands that already have a strong emotional connection with consumers and are using Facebook as one channel to engage them. For example, Product(RED) has over 100,000 fans, Skittles has over 330,000 and Victoria’s Secret PINK has a whopping 800,000. These brands aim for the consumer’s heart, through various appeals, but always focus on elevating above a product/rational benefit to an emotional one. Perhaps these emotional brands have permission for a deeper place to play in consumers’ lives, but let’s not kid ourselves. Brands will never be as important in the lives of consumers’ as their friends or family, but it seems that if your brand occupies a tiny place in their heart it can help foster a social connection.
If you are a company trying to compete today you are online. Period. That probably means that you have also heard gobs and gobs of information about social media and online conversations. You may have also heard about the need to be conscious of your own level of importance within the lives of consumers (i.e. no one wants to be friends with your mouthwash). However, if you are like me and have a simple brain, you hear phrases such as “your brand needs to participate in the ongoing online conversation,” and think to yourself “sounds like a nifty thing to say, but what does that mean?” Well, I always find I learn best from examples and I think I have a found a great one. EA has filmed a posted a response to a user video that was on YouTube. Lets take a look:
Original User Video:
EA Response:
Here are a couple points that I take away from this response:
EA didn’t try to create their own social network or video-sharing site, they found an existing community, developed an understanding of the social conventions that were already there and worked within them.
As with any great participant in a conversation, EA listened. Levinator25 posted a “glitch” in the game, and rather than get defensive EA posted a funny video that took its tonal cues from the original.
EA added to the conversation. If EA hadn’t been able to come up with something as funny as this retort I believe they would have just skipped the idea altogether. No one needs EA’s voice here, but if it is interesting then it will be welcomed.
If you are a large company, be a large company. The average YouTube poster can’t film a video with the real Tiger Woods, but EA can.
In today’s world of unrestricted access, everything is a form of communication. In the past no one had ever heard of Procter & Gamble. Now it is not uncommon to find a consumer that knows which brands Procter & Gamble owns and that Jim Stengel is the CMO overseeing them. Need proof of this unrestricted access? Just look at anyoneofthemany “internal” memos that have found their way outside the corporate walls and in front of consumers.
The operational behaviors of your company, now more than ever, tell a compelling story about your business and it’s personality (it’s not what you say it’s what you do). I would say these actions carry a stronger message because they feel like decisions you are making when no one is watching. In many cases they might be. There may not have been an ulterior motive to taking these actions other than managing operations and internal brand building. However, given the public’s unrestricted access remarkable actions, both good and bad, will eventually enter the collective public conscious. The following are a few examples I have spotted over the past couple weeks.
In a mundane territory like call centers, Headline Design along with Virgin Media have found a way to perk things up a bit. I would like to see the results in a year or two, but I suspect that employee satisfaction and retention will likely be up in a field that has historically low levels on both metrics. In addition the redesign should contribute to attracting the employee profile they are looking for, allowing Virgin to better deliver on the type of service they would like to provide. Plus, car park dating sounds like such a happy little idea and says a lot about Virgin since they are willing to put this much effort into their call centers.
After an intense training program, indoctrinating new employees into the job and company culture Zappos offers them $1000 to quit on the spot. I have had jobs in the past that I mainly enjoyed, but had I been offered a grand to quit, you wouldn’t have even heard a response other than the door closing behind me. If you want a strong internal culture and a group of extremely dedicated employees this is the way to go. In addition to those company benefits, this move also says something to me as a consumer. I have never ordered from Zappos before, but after reading this I am 100% confident that it would be a smooth process and any problems I might have would be handled quickly and efficiently. Nice one!
In an attempt to shame employees to fill out their timesheets on time, Avenue A/Razorfish displays photos of employees who haven’t completed theirs in the lobby. Whoa. I don’t exactly see this making people want to jump up and run to work for the interactive agency. Before we toss this idea aside though, what does it tell customers…aka clients? In an industry that has had a shaky past with billing and accountability it must give a warm fuzzy feeling to know that the agency is on top of it. If it turns off potential employees it may not be a long-term strategy, but it could be effective short-term allaying client fears.
Jeff Squires at PSFK points out the new brand extension initiatives from Bravo’s top rated show Top Chef. Here are the three initiatives:
Tour – Basically a truck will stop in 20 cities around the nation giving demonstrations, selling Top Chef gear and will feature appearances from contestants on the show. Sounds a little like the American Idol Tour with food (probably because Top Chef is just American Idol … with food). I am all for it, giving fans a physical experience to connect to, pretty cool.
Cruise – A luxury cruise set to take sail May 2009. Wha?!?! Am I missing something? How does this fit in with the brand or the show? Again this will provide a real world experience, but I think the commitment necessary stretches too far past just showing up an hour or two at a tour stop.
Cooking Classes – Top Chef branded cooking classes at the Culinary Institute of America. Oh no. The CIA is an institute in culinary education, and while Top Chef may be hot right now it is just that, hot for the moment. I can see the thinking, popularity of CSI and similar shows led to a big up-tick in applicants for forensic science, but I didn’t see co-branded classes showing up at University of Mississippi, University of Central Florida, or Loyola University (some of the top schools for forensic science). Every time two brands come together there is a positive association for one and a negative association for the other. I have to think the Culinary Institute is the one taking the hit here.
I am all for creating brand experiences and cooking is certainly ripe for that. I just believe there could be more relevant example to coincide with the Top Chef brand.
Full disclosure: I am a complete Mac Fanboy. It seems to me that in recent years Apple and Steve Jobs have rarely come up with a miss when it comes to introducing new products. This is why I spent most of my day yesterday following live coverage of Apple’s World Wide Developers Conference on sites like Engadget and Mac Rumors and subsequently watching video of the keynote later in the day when it was posted.
While I was watching the keynote I started to think about how Apple seems to pull it all together, and I mean all: product design and performance, store design, distribution plus interesting advertising and communication. The question that entered my mind was “how can you tell?”
Brand Metrics
There are brand metrics that offer a really good status indicator, but don’t always indicate future performance or how others feel about a brand. For instance, one standard measure is brand awareness. I, like many others know the Hummer brand, but don’t count on me buying one in the future or even having positive emotions for the brand.
Stock Price
Stock price could prove to be a good indicator. Apple’s stock price has skyrocketed in recent years. Unfortunately there are many financial maneuvers that typically wouldn’t affect the brand, but could affect the stock price. This also seems to be a much more long term indicator, but not necessarily a short term indicator (yesterday during the keynote from Steve Jobs where he introduced the new iPhone, Apple’s stock price was down at least $6.
Fetishized Products
While certainly not scientific, I have noticed that Apple gets some seriously amorous talk online. There are several blogs devoted to rumors and news about the company. Think Secret (which has been shut down), Apple Insider, Mac Rumors, and even Engadget just to name a few. I understand that online conversations happen about many companies and products, but there seem to be a few products that stand out above the rest and generate much more affectionate conversations. Take for example the “unboxing” that has happened online for virtually every new Apple product, here is one for the MacBook Air.
Apple isn’t the only company getting this kind of treatment. Activate Drinks was a product that I saw getting some “buzz” and popping up on a few blogs hereandthere. Then NOTCOT did an exhaustive post on the vitamin drink and it’s packaging. This seems quite similar to the posts unboxing Apple products. The GM Volt, plug-in hybrid concept, gets its own blog from a customer advocate just like the Apple blogs. These are just a few examples, that represent a more in-depth level than just casual online conversations about brands, or “buzz”.
While, I wouldn’t base my agency compensation on producing these kinds of results it does seem that whether customers are fetishizing your products could be a good anecdotal indicator of how you are doing from a holistic perspective. Customers take everything into account rather than just looking at one element of a brand at a time.
Within the article it details how doctors are beginning to reject the typical “deny and defend” option proffered by hospital lawyers in the event of a mistake. Instead they are opting to full disclosure, immediate reconciliation and a sincere apology. For instance, this apology from Dr. Tapas K. Das Gupta, a 76-year old oncology surgeon, who mistakenly removed a sliver from a patient’s eighth rib instead of the ninth:
After all these years, I cannot give you any excuse whatsoever. It is just one of those things that occurred. I have to some extent harmed you.
How is that for complete honesty? That is not easy news to give and certainly not easy news to hear, but wouldn’t you still prefer that to not having this mistake revealed to you? I believe it is better to appreciate this level of honesty and work through a sensible resolution. Apparently the statistics agree with the honest approach. According to the article hospitals are reporting decreases in their caseloads and saving in legal costs along with a decline in malpractice premiums.
Looking at marketing and communications, it is sad that this level of honesty would really stand out. I can only think of a couple examples. One is JetBlue’s written and video apology after their operational mistakes.
Another is the tagline that rests at Russell’s blog “we’re as disappointed as you are.” I can’t seem to find the article right now, but I believe it was an idea W+K UK pitched to an airline client as a way to bring back customers and work toward a better future. The last is for a shoe manufacturer that ran an apology ad stating that due to an accounting error they had not received new calendars since the eighties, which was why they had not updated their styles. Now that they had the new calendars they would be working on updating their look. That’s taking a humorous spin on honesty, but no one ever said honesty had to be depressing all the time.
What I like about all of the communications is that they are authentic. If you have a problem with your company don’t just try to stick a smiley face on it and pretend everything is okay (the very definition of insanity, by the way). The first step toward resolution is admitting you have a problem. I suspect that just as the medical patients who suffered an accident, your customers will respect your honesty and enjoy looking forward to a brighter future, perhaps even helping you along the way.
Steve has a real commitment to design that really shows through in the output of products from Apple, don’t you think?
I found this quote along with many other great tidbits on a site meant to inspire user experience designers. Check it out, I think the quotes can inspire us all.
I have enjoyed Vice Magazine for a while. Now VBS.TV carries on the heritage of Vice in the form of online video content. (NOTE: not all the content is for the faint of heart and some is NSFW) Recently PSFK has had several posts about the future of TV, including this one with David Cohn from Vice Media. One of the points he made struck me:
We at VBS need to find those stories and tell them in a way that no one’s doing. That’s the reason to exist, a voice and point of view that no one else is covering.
-David Cohn, Vice Media
When I think of other online sources that get a lot of attention (YouTube, Google, Vimeo, Facebook, Even Current.TV) they are all giant funnels for information that inundate you with massive amounts of content. And by massive amounts I mean, the good and the crap. VBS.TV I value because they not only produce their own content, which gives it a certain level of quality, they also have a point of view to the stories they cover. Regardless whether I agree or disagree with their take on the subject I am always happy to hear it. In a world where everyone is distracted and so busy they can barely make it in the rush from meeting to meeting, it seems the way a media channel can stand out is creating their own voice and providing quality content rather than aggregate the content of others. Really, you could likely do well as a media channel even if you aggregate content from others, but make sure they all maintain the consistency of voice along with the quality and rich content.
This is a follow-up post, to share my thoughts about three similar online campaigns. If you didn’t see the previous posts you can read about the campaigns here:
This video is absolutely spectacular and makes you want to watch and share with friends. This intro video appears on ever major video hosting website, lifelounge, youtube, neatorama, milk and cookies. The most popular posting of this video on youtube has over 60,000 views. Not only does it build great hype for the skate video of Lakai’s team within the skate community:
Best skate vid intro EVER. EPIC! Definitely going to buy this.
fueledbyrock
dudE I seriously when i first saw this cried in amazement
PalEntertainment
this is so f-ing amazing. i can’t stop watching it. i want to implant this in my brain and loop it forever.
bluemobb
Its appeal also extends beyond the world of skating:
I’m not into skateboarding, but i saw this on the Jackass Takeover and it’s AWESOME!
LuchaBoyYT
The video solidifies Lakai’s and even director Spike Jonze’s place in this subculture, but also intros a little known band and helps them get some more exposure
whats the music thats playing called? This video is awsome. I saw on the takeover too, and i havnt been able to stop watching since. The stunts are amazing.
iluvShaneKippel
The music is, m83 – lower your eyelids to die with the sun
KidBuuRulez
Amazing trailer.And M83 are my new band I’am listening too.
DJSouthernTech
The Bad
The video doesn’t appear on the official Lakai website, so there isn’t an opportunity to embed it into a website or blog. You can only use user uploaded videos from sites like youtube. Also, the video was really created as the intro to the longer form of the skate video and because of this has no information about release date or where to purchase.
The Ugly
Several of the youtube links display this warning:
This video is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Lakai, Ltd.
The Southern Planner
First, this video is amazing from an artistic perspective. Spike Jonze does a great job of making it really interesting to watch and provides great pass along value. However, by not putting this clip on their website Lakai is really missing out on a lot of the traffic it could be generating. Perhaps unintentionally, this video does serve as a great promo for the full DVD, regardless of location, so I would say Lakai is actually hurting themselves by pulling the videos. In the end. M83 may be the biggest winner, with the video serving as a great music video and exposing their song to loads of potential new listeners.
I recently came across this article, 
