I mean according to this YouTube clip, even Hitler didn’t like the idea.
However I was wrong, as in Brazil I woke for breakfast to find a can of Nescau 2.0, a powdered chocolate drink by Nescafe, sitting on the table in front of me.
Now I’m not going to lie, the hot chocolate was pretty good, but come on Nescafe you are a global brand, you know Nescau 2.0 is not a good name for a food product.
And to whoever came up with the Nescau 2.0 brand, please don’t put that on your CV, especially if you want to get a job in Australia.
This week, while waiting in a hotel foyer I was flicking through an old Time magazine and came accross this advertisement for a technology company called CSC.
The headline is probably one of the worst I have ever read: “When the going gets tough, the tough achieve greater savings and flexibility with a world-class technology partner”
My bet is that the agency presented a headline something along the lines of “When the going gets tough, the tough get going”.
The client then changed the scope and made including “greater savings”, “flexibility” and “world-class technology partner” mandatory inclusions in the headline.
So the copywriter compromised, changed the headline, and went to the pub to bitch about it.
Guerrilla Marketing has always been a passion of mine. There is nothing like sticking it to your competition when they are least expecting it.
Travelling through Brazil this week I came across a great example of Guerrilla Marketing in action when I ordered a Primus beer at a local restaurant.
Now to be sure it is hot in Brazil (currently 43 degrees Celsius as I write this), and as a consequence they always serve their beers in big coolers.
The only difference this time was that the cooler I received was for another beer brand, Nova Schin.
Now I don’t have a problem with this, but Primus might, because the cooler totally covers up their branding so it in fact looks like I am drinking a Nova Schin.
My suspicions were confirmed when I asked for another of the same beer.
“Mais um por favor”
What beer do you think the waitress brought out?
Nova Schin of course!
I would have complained, but I saw the beauty in the Guerrilla Marketing and let it slide.
Brand managers always seem to be working on defining what they want their brand to be. Unfortunately this process often misses out a critical definition: what you are not.
I believe the biggest mistake a brand can make is to try to be everything to everyone. This usually results in being nothing to no one.
Or in other words, you should aim to do less, better.
While travelling through Peru recently, I came across this bar in Cusco called Norton Rats Tavern that clearly understands how to define its brand by what it is not.
Just two words on their sign, “No Disco” screams brand louder than anything else they could say.
In those two words they differentiated themselves from all the other combined bar/restaurant/nightclub/hotels in Cusco. They have specialised, which makes their brand so much stronger.
So if you are ever in Cusco, Peru make sure to check out Norton Rats. They have great pub food and a broad range of beers.
Before deciding to travel the world for a while, one of the last things I worked on for the Commonwealth Bank, and one that I am most proud of, was develoing a strategic integrated online partnership with Domain.com.au in order to deliver Radar lifestyle search, a world first in property search.
After discussing the various merits of American Football versus Australian Rules Football (i.e. only girls need pads) the conversation turned to work and they asked if I could write a feature article on my direct marketing philosophy that “the line doesnt exist”.
You just know that anything pitched as the global event for integrated marketing is going to be as huge as American meal portion sizes. And DMA 09 in sunny San Diego sure didn’t disappoint, with 6 days of world class keynotes, thought leadership sessions and best practice case studies, alongside the world’s biggest marketing exhibition.
To put the scale of this event in perspective, it took half an hour just to walk from one end of the exhibition hall to the other.
Being held in the United States, DMA 09 didn’t hold back on the sensationalism. From speakers wearing lab coats and calling themselves “Conversion Scientists”, to putting 3 email marketers in a cage for the Ultimate Email Championship, to Dominos delivering 12,000 free oven baked sandwiches.
But the prize for the biggest idea would have to go to Ford, who gave a lucky attendee a two week test drive in a new Fiesta. What’s cool about that? The test drive happens 8 months before the car is released to the general public.
Attendees were down this year due to the financial bomb that hit many marketing and education budgets, but 8,000 marketers from over 100 countries still managed to turn up to find out what the future of direct marketing might look like. And with Martha Stewart as the keynote, I’m sure everyone was also hoping they may take home some great quiche recipes.
Unfortunately no recipies were divulged, but there were 5 key insights I was able to glean from “the land up over”.
1. Multichannel is the buzzword
As important a subject as it is, it was refreshing to attend a conference where the key topic wasn’t social media. What DMA09 was more concerned about was the concept of “multichannel”, or how we can get all the marketing silos (including social media) to start working together for a more powerful outcome. According to the keynote, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia is all about omnipresence. “We want their eyeballs and we don’t care what channel they are in”.
In the new multichannel world, data and analytics are the currency, and that is “the DNA of the DMA” according to DMA CEO John Greco. Rather than being a new idea, it turns out the old direct marketing mantra is stronger than ever: to reach the right customer, at the right time, in the right channel, with the right offer.
Building on the idea of multichannel, was the inclusion of direct TV and Radio sessions on the conference schedule. Addressable TV advertising is the most cutting edge, with the ability to deliver interactive ads direct to a targeted customer, who can respond without leaving the couch.
This has been tested in local markets in the US, and a joint venture between the big 4 cable networks are working towards rolling the technology out nationally. In Australia we have seen interactive TV for some time with Foxtel’s red button, but we are yet to see addressable advertising. My guess is it can’t be too far away.
2. Video delivers results
Video is easily the most engaging mediums that marketers have at their disposal. However, until now it has been the realm of brand advertisers, rather than direct marketers. But this is changing with according to one speaker, more retail marketers prioritising video over social media in their 2009 digital marketing strategies.
More than just building video into websites, direct marketers such as Turner Sports are now building live streaming videos into emails and achieving a 13% higher click through rates. At present this capability can only be supported by AOL, but when others such as Microsoft enable video within their email platforms, the possibilities for direct marketers are limitless.
Another video technology that direct marketers can start to get excited about is the emergence of variable video. As an example of this technology, the worlds largest adventure travel company called Backroads have developed a family trip advisor that based on the answers to four simple questions pieces together a seamless customised video of recommended holidays.
Customers that use the variable video trip advisor have double the response rate over those who don’t. That is innovation direct marketers can take to the bank.
3. Social media is not an island.
Social media of course received its fair share of coverage, but it was more about how it integrates into everything else in the marketing plan, rather than operating as an island.
Scott Monty, Global Digital and Communications Manager for Ford Motor Company claimed that “90% of social media is just showing up. The other half is hard.” The other half that he mentions is all about “getting paid, owned and earned media all working together”.
How companies are trying to achieve that varies. At Ford, they are aiming for 1% of all employees to be active brand advocates in social media. At Hyundai, they are plugging social media into their Customer Relationship Management system.
4. Personalised URLs (PURLS) and landing pages
If there was anything from DMA09 that I will implement as soon as I get back to Australia it will be Personalised URLs and landing pages. For those who haven’t heard of PURLS try this scenario.
Imagine receiving a personalised direct mail piece featuring a call to action to visit buyourwidget.com.au/yourname. When you type in your personalised URL you get a totally personalised webpage featuring your name, mentions of your previous purchase behaviour, customised offers, and more.
Deadly effective? You bet.
And the best part is that it is entirely scaleable so that you can deliver true one-to-one marketing across channels for hundreds of thousands of customers.
5. Mobile’s time has come
Outside of SMS, and despite all the hype around the iPhone, to date mobile marketing has suffered from scale issues. However, this is not the case anymore, with brands such as ESPN’s mobile traffic for the first time in 2009 exceeding its website traffic.
And guess what the latest polls show people want for Christmas this year? A smart phone.
The most ubiquitous digital device in the world is in too many pockets not to be huge. However the technical issues for marketers are impressive, with a multitude of handsets and an increasing number of applications stores.
The challenges are big, but it appears that so are the opportunities.
Rethink your DNA
In summary, DMA09 really lived up to its name as the global event for integrated marketing.
The power of direct marketing going forward has even converted some of the most traditional brand advertisers. Shelly Lazarus Chairman Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide and DMA Hall of Fame Inductee said it best when she stated that:
all advertisers are now direct marketers, because we have to be.
In 2008, Downstream was named AdNews Specialist Agency of the Year and B&T Emerging Agency of the Year.
I recently sat down with Downstream’s outspoken Chief Operating Officer Justin Hind, to learn about what is going on in Search and more.
Tell us about your current role and responsibilities
My role is really simple, I work with Steve Knowles our founder and CEO to help grow the company. I work with clients to help them navigate how Search, a performance medium fits with their overall marketing strategy in how they can create more value out of a well structured and defined strategy.
We don’t actually think of ourselves as a Search agency, even though that is what we do. We see ourselves as a Digital Performance Agency and we work with clients in a broader context to understand their brand, consumers, economics, site performance etc.
Coming from a creative agency background, the other part of my role is to expand our thinking beyond transactional Search to how we integrate it into an “integrated” marketing strategy both internally at Downstream with our Account Management Teams and with clients.
Oh and of course there is the operational side of my role. That is quite varied from overview of client engagement models, financial performance, team leadership, training and recruitment.
Why is Search so important in today’s marketing strategies?
Search is important on a number of fronts:
1. Search is important because it is the fastest growing consumer driven media on the planet.
2. Search is the undisputable most effective medium in terms of scale, cost & ROI.
3. Increasingly Search is the easiest point of connection a consumer has to a brand. A Consumer see’s some form of advertising, PR, media, story etc and the next & most immediate reaction is to Search for the company or the category.
4. Search for me is like Direct Marketing on drugs. The data, insights and performance metrics we get every 12 hours allow us to optimize a campaign effectively and ensure a client is actually getting the return’s they require.
5. I have a very strongly held belief that as all media (TV, Display, Print etc) will move to some form of auction mechanic based on rational insights & data. The same processes we use to manage a Search program and how a client understands return from Search will transfer to all other media.
Combine this with the fact that the majority of media is increasingly becoming digitized (think TIVO, IP TV etc) and you can see where the disciplines of Search transfer at a rapid rate. Commissions, group deals, meeting contract spend levels will become illogical and redundant and for most smart clients, this will be their preferred mode of marketing investment.
Google has long been dominant in Australian Search. Recently, Bing has made a splash and Microsoft and Yahoo have announced they will be joining forces. Where do you see the Search industry heading?
Hard question – I need my crystal ball. Overall I think we need a very health & competitive Search industry. We need great choice for consumers, we need greater innovation and more importantly we need increased competitiveness for advertisers. So I think the fact that Yahoo & Microsoft have joined forces to exploit their inherent advantages as a great thing.
We understand it’s Bing’s goal is to just get a minor increase in overall market share, which as far as we’ve seen through our data here at Downstream they are well on their way to doing so. Google still command 90% plus of impression share and hence this roughly approximates to a similar share of Search advertising dollars.
In the future it would be great to see another real Search engine grow and provide a greater level of consumer choice and competition. This probably won’t occur until clients can understand the REAL value Search provides over digital display, until clients get transparent reports on REAL value creation across all mediums and they react accordingly with rational budgets and investments in Search.
This isn’t going to occur until we get to double digit percentage budget allocations. We need average Search investments to go from 5-7% to 15%-20%. When that happens we will see the tech companies, media companies and the investor community respond accordingly.
I also think we are going to see a greater level of interplay between Search and Performance Display. The two will become more closely aligned philosophically, planned together and hopefully executed and reported to clients in a transparent manner.
At the moment in the majority of cases media agencies are using Performance Display to spray cookies, claim conversions on BS post view metrics and support larger CPM based deals where they earn a myriad of commissions, prompt payment discounts, group rebates etc.
Downstream is a high growth company with lofty goals and aspirations. It was great we won two different agency of the year awards in 2008, but it meant nothing more to us than that we were a serious contender, with the right model, the right proposition with the right vision.
In line with our vision of being Australia’s leading digital performance agency, we’ve been busy working on launching a performance display offering that uses the same advanced mathematics & modeling from Efficient Frontier, that runs Search investments today applied to the Performance Display Market.
We’ve been working closely with Efficient Frontier in Sunnyvale, California to build out the Performance Display technology and understand the customization requirements for the Australian media markets and ad exchanges.
We are also working on launching a Performance Creative offering that uses dynamic conversion based data to build and deploy conversion based websites, landing pages and digital display ad inventory.
Very exciting times here – we are focused on shaking the shit out of the status quo and driving real change. The current landscape is just not good enough.
You hold a Bachelors degree in Economics from University of Queensland. What does economics have to do with advertising?
For me it has everything to do with Advertising. Clients only invest ad dollars for a commercial outcome, believing it is anything else is being clearly misguided. Understand investment, impact and return either short term or long term is the goal of advertising.
Clients do it to sell product, short and sweet. You do that through engaging an audience meaningfully, changing your brand metrics and dimensions that give a brand an advantage, through higher levels of reach, recall and consideration.
For me Economics is the science and rational thinking behind it all. It is understanding cause and effect, the wider competitive market, the health of the economy and the disciplines that bring you to an insight and the right answer.
In your previous role as Head of Direct and Digital with BMF, you helped the agency win Australian Direct Agency of the Year two years running. How do you apply your expertise in direct marketing into search marketing?
BMF is a great agency with brilliant people and an unrelenting vision. I count myself as being very lucky to be there during those periods and took a lot out of my experience there. They are head and shoulders above all other agencies I think – sorry, but having the owners run the business each and every day brings a clarity and sense of urgency I’ve never experienced before.
For me, Search is just the most dynamic form of direct marketing that is deployed faster and optimized quicker than any other form of marketing. Simply take all the best disciplines of Direct and apply it to Search and you’ll be an awesome Search Marketer.
For me it is about understanding consumer behaviour, a brand, consumers propensity to respond and using that data to drive insights and campaign improvements.
In Direct the rough rule of success is 70% data, 20% offer and 10% creativity. It is pretty much the same in Search, it just moves 100 times faster and you can uses advanced mathematical models and optimization to improve a clients performance. Simple!
What do you see as the biggest issues facing the marketing industry moving forward?
Skills and professionalism. I find it rare now to find people who are well rounded across all facets of digital, direct, data & CRM. It really is disappointing. The wider industry needs to invest more in people, developing their skills and leadership traits.
I see a whole bunch of people who just don’t get the basics today, about understanding business and their true role in helping clients solve challenging marketing problems.
For Search specifically it is really hard. Most people coming through see it as just words on a page, they don’t see it as a sexy digital discipline that they can craft a meaningful career out of.
At Downstream we find we engage at the highest level’s with clients, get engaged in site development strategies, have deep data insights and a very high level of trust with clients. As an agency you can’t ask for more than that.
My Blog is really just a collection of my thoughts on the industry & possible models for the future. I also believe that Economics & Advertising are highly connected, advertising is a commercial endeavor, nothing more, nothing less.
Agencies take on a huge responsibility when they work for a client. Agencies are playing with their clients brand, revenue, staff’s livelihoods, future product development. And that requires a responsible commercial view of how they invest their clients money to create the maximum value for all parties.
I love it when creativity, numbers & economics collide, so that’s really where the inspiration came from. Some of the stuff I post on upsets people because it is about driving change and making new models. My blog is where I can have a voice on the future and I love that sometimes people get moved by new thoughts and challenging the normality of the industry.
I think the industry as we know & define it today is in major trouble and we need to evolve at a rate faster than anyone is comfortable. It is the only way we can all progress and increase or relevance to clients and ultimate how they engage with their customers.
You are a somewhat profilic Tweeter @Juzout. What do you think Twitter will mean for search looking forward?
I think Twitter is one of the most valuable digital innovations in recent years. It allows brands to monitor conversations both good and bad in real time, it charts influence and association between users and their networks and the fact that it has links and index able data means it is a key driver of consumer action.
I’ve posted on what I think the future of it is, I’d love to see Twitter & Google collide. Check my blog out for more, be really interested in thoughts, debate and comment on this.
You are married to another respected digital marketer, in Dominique Hind, Managing Partner Digital at Leo Burnett. What do you talk about over the dinner table?
Sometimes we talk work, but try not to. Because we are both so passionate it is really hard not to. I find if I share a challenge I’ve got with Dom, she can add a huge amount of perspective and fresh thinking to my ideas. Dom has an awesome way of breaking down a problem and adding extra layers, hopefully I do the same for her.
Outside of work though we have a really full life with our other passions like running and training, we’ve also got a really great group of friends that share our passions so a lot of what we talk about outside work is more about what we are trying to achieve, what event we are going to do together. Stuff like that…
Together you are training for the New York Marathon in November. How is your training going and has your preparation for this translated into your business life?
New York is one of my ultimate goals. I’ve run loads of half marathons and only one full marathon, it was Sydney last year and it was the hardest thing I’ve ever done. I promised myself I’d do NYC and the retire from full marathons, unfortunately I didn’t get in this year AGAIN via the lottery.
Dom & I are looking at a back door entry mechanism at the moment so fingers crossed. We have been training like we are going anyway, so positive thinking will bring a positive result I hope.
Running has taught me a lot about business, setting a goal and being prepared, being focused and unrelenting. You have to be motivated, understand your goals, put the hard yards in and know that there is no easy way to success. Running is very important to me for more than just running now.
Finally, what is your favourite ad of all time?
Wow – there are so many and creativity keeps pushing the boundaries. I don’t know if it is an all time favorite but I really loved the Chase for Bourne. It was a campaign used to engage an audience for the last Bourne Supremacy and it incorporated Google Maps, Video, Search, Social media and an Online Community. It was a great take new standards in integration.
Another favorite campaign was for Batman -The Dark Night.
The campaign was “I believe in Harvey Dent”. It was so ahead of its time using so many different grass root channels from graffitied outdoor, social media, databases etc and culminating in an awesome online experience. I won’t talk about it anymore here – Google it, discover it for yourself.
It was BIG, created a ground swell amongst fans, online communities, had advocacy, great use of data and a serious payoff for consumers that participated.
In general, marketers are not only great at identifying trends, but also at following them.
Look at any marketing seminar coming up and you will see the same topics coming up again and again, basically whatever is in fashion, currently it is ’social media’.
This trend following also happens in the viral marketing space, just check out my recent post on the various iterations of the “Guy catches…” viral campaigns by Ray Ban, Levis and MSI.
The latest viral marketing trend however, seems to be destroying your own website.
Case 1: Quicksilver’s The Spot
The first site to be destroyed is Quicksilver’s The Spot. In this case it is the Quicksilver skate team who turn the site into their own virtual skate park.
A great part of this viral video idea is that it is within the brand website, rather than on YouTube, which means that the viewer can link through to more information on the brand/products directly.
Another winning strategy is the shareability at the end of the video, via email or social networking sites.
Case 2: Spays not Strays
The latest site to be destroyed is Spays not Strays. This time it is stray cats that tear apart the frames, much like they would a couch, or a human leg.
The viral supports the message that in 9 years 2 breeding cats and their offspring can produce 11,606,077 kittens. Before long they will be taking over the internet evidently.
Again the site is made easily shareable via email and social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter.
We did it! Well technically I didn’t, but my colleagues have managed to incorporate Augmented Reality into their latest youth campaign.
Pi is a club for Commonwealth Bank customers aged 14 – 17. It gives customers heaps of info to put them ahead with their finances, along with easy control of their money. Plus there are competitions and special offers available only to them, just for being a Commonwealth Bank customer.
If they’re one of the grand prize winners, they’ll actually have their customised pair of Volleys made courtesy of Dunlop, and $500 deposited in their account.
But by far my favourite part of the campaign is that after they have designed their Volleys, customers can view their shoes in 3D with an Augmented Reality tool.
I think the Daily Show segment where Jason Jones visits the New York Times features a quote that says it best:
“What is black and white and red all over?
Your paper’s balance sheet”
But the latest in nano-technology may just buck this trend, with the first video-in-print advertisement launching in the US magazine Entertainment Weekly in September 2009.
The battery powered video is about the size of a mobile phone screen and can handle up to 40 minutes of video. It is also rechargeable via a mini USB cord!
A step up from E-Ink
This time last year, Esquire published the first magazine to use e-ink technology for their 75th edition.
The magazine featured a cover that animated “The 21st Century begins now”, and an inside cover ad that flashed the 2009 Ford Flex Crossover.
While this technology is pretty cool, what is more exciting is where the Editor of Esquire magazine wants to take the technology.
Namely, equipping the magazine with cellular technology so the pages can be continually updated over the course of the month the magazine is on sale.
As someone who is only weeks away from leaving the country for a few years, I have to say that seeing the refreshed Qantas epic TVC stirred some patriotic emotions.
Seriously, if the Peter Allen tune doesn’t bring tears to your eyes, you are not Australian.
My favourite part is how the choir execution came about in 1997. Then Marketing Manager Geoff Dixon saw the National Boys Choir perform, called iconic adman John Singleton suggesting they flying them all around the world to sing “I Still Call Australia Home”, and then put $3 million behind making it.
This is great proof that ideas can come from anywhere, even the client!
The latest launch was preceded by a one hour long Seven documentary covering how the ad was made. As per my review of the Barclaycard Waterslide epic, this is a great way to build engagement.
But for all intents and purposes, the ad is pretty much the same as it always has been. The only major difference is the spot kicks off with an Indigenous boy singing “I still call Australia Home” in his native tongue before reverting to the English version.
Now I wouldn’t be surprised if this idea came off the back of a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), which most large Australian corporates are now adopting.
Having done some work on one of these recently myself, I believe that when done properly, appropriate marketing and communications can be a great step in bridging the gap with Indigenous Australia.
Now to satisfy those patriotic emotions….Southern Cross tattoo anyone?
Surfing around for a new digital camera and I have to say Samsung’s latest viral teaser campaign for ‘Tap and Take’ technology is awesome.
Really simply they are asking people to guess what ‘Tap and Take’ is, then using social media to spread the resulting curiosity.
Make sure you check out the site before August 13 when all will be revealed!
I think there are 5 strategies that the teaser campaign demonstrates particularly well.
1. Plenty of engaging video content with hints throughout.
I can imagine the time on site is very high. From the microsite you can share the videos with your networks through Facebook and Twitter
2. Uses social proof to encourage interaction
When you click to submit what you think Tap & Take is, the screen becomes a montage of what others have thought, bringing to life social proof. So far 6,795 guesses have been submitted.
3. Has a Facebook Fan Page with additional content
Additional content such as ‘Surprising Guesses’ make sure that this page adds value and isnt just a portal to the microsite
4. Further engagement on Twitter
What would a social media campaign be without a Twitter component? They even mentioned my name!
5. A competition to keep the interest going after the announcement
Tap and Take technology is launching on 13 August 2009, but as Samsung dont want to lose the followers they have built up they are already seeding a competition commencing on 14 August.
After all this lead up I’m expecting something big Samsung…dont just give away a camera!
When you work for a large organisation, you often find that the left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing, or has already done.
In other words, you don’t know what you don’t know.
Recently I developed a simple research method that dramatically increased my knowledge going into the strategy planning phase of the year.
The Big 5 Learnings Method
The Big 5 method is really simple. Just ask everyone you work with:
What have been your big 5 learnings about our business over the last year?
Ask people as many different disciplines as you can, for example:
• Sales
• Product
• Finance
• Marketing
• Brand
• Strategy
• Research
• Analytics
• Agencies (Creative/Media/Digital)
• etc
There are only two rules in this process:
1. Each respondent must get each learning down to one sentence.
2. If it takes longer than 30 minutes to come up with 5 learnings, move on. If it is not top of mind it is not a learning, no analysis paralysis is allowed.
The outcome
When everyone has submitted their learnings, take out any duplicates, then give the document a name such as:
125 facts we learnt about widgets in 2008
Distribute this document to everyone who contributed their learnings. This closes the loop and ensures that everyone benefits from the information.
Senior management will love you
I have found that senior management particularly love this document as it provides them with a wide range of sound bites to add to their arsenal.
I think Sir Isaac Newton said it best:
“If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants”
An Alternative Approach
An alternative would be to use a Wiki so that everyone could see everyone’s learnings and modify or build on them throughout the information gathering process.
The only downside of this approach is that it may frame the conversation so your learnings become homogenous, but it will help eliminate duplicates for you.
I have no doubt that many creative types will shudder at the development of crowd sourcing concept feedback.
Well too late, it is here now, and it goes against everything we have been taught.
Concept Feedback
The commonly held theory is that the less people there is reviewing a concept, the more likely it will stay pure to the original idea, and therefore the more likely you will achieve a better outcome.
I agree that this theory usually holds true, especially where you have creatives and marketers who really know what they are doing.
But what about the little guys?
You know, the smaller designers and small to medium business owners who don’t have the level of experience we take for granted?
Why shouldn’t they be able to crowd source concept feedback from people who know better, so they can be sure they are getting the best possible result?
As the old Japanese proverb goes, “none of us is as smart as all of us”.
As a former small business owner, I love this new platform. And here is why:
• Its free, and free is good
• You are required to review 5 concepts before you can post one of your own, to ensure that you are contributing to the community. This also works to increase the quality of participants.
• Each reviewer has a reputation score, to help identify the best feedback
• Creatives can respond to each piece of feedback individually, either to agree or to justify why they have done it a certain way.
The service currently has 500 users but I think this will grow exponentially as they refine the site.
I truly hope they meet their objective of becoming so big they “take over Iceland and only serve waffles at restaurants.”
I love waffles.
Well done guys, what a great service!
Do I hear anyone else wanting crowd sourced brief feedback?
Toxin Labs have taken this example to the next level and productionised it with Augmented Business Card
Augmented Business Card
According to their website, with these AR Business cards “your potential clients can easily get in touch with you via phone, SMS, E-mail or various social networks directly in the application. No additional effort needed. You can also let your potential clients know what you are up to, using various social networks (e.g. Twitter).”
As cool as these are, one of the current irritants of Augmented Reality is the use of ugly black and white markers to trigger them.
With the AR business cards below, Daniel Wagoner uses a marker that looks more like it belongs on a business card.
In summary, I WANT ONE!
I never thought I would find examples that could trump the previous holder of best business card ever.
In most product categories there are two ways to increase sales
1. Get more people to buy your products
2. Get your current customers to buy your products more often
Napisan, aka The Great Unstainer, prefers the later.
Over the last decade, Napisan have educated customers to use their product more often, through the brilliant use of a variety of marketing methods.
Step 1: Establish your niche
Napisan started out by establishing itself as a soaking alternative to bleach, with the Klu Klux Klan tagline “brings them back to white”.
Here Napisan have used the classic advertising method of product demonstration.
This was later popularised in their ads featuring the “Napisan Challenge”, where John Harker barged into random victim’s homes smearing stains all over their whites, then asked them to use Napisan to see it work for themselves.
Thankfully for John Harker, Napisan always got the stain out.
Thankfully for us, the Chaser boys and Anthony Salame didn’t miss a beat in taking the piss out of these ads (warning strong language).
Step 2: Break out of your niche
Napisan had established itself as an effective soaker for whites. But that is a bit limiting isn’t it, so how can we expand sales of Napisan?
Well, how about all those coloured clothes that people seem to be wearing?
In this ad, Napisan introduce “Colour Smart” which helps keep colours true even after 20 washes! After which I guess, you say hello to fading.
Notice how they also have changed from white packaging to pink, to further accentuate that the product is safe on colours.
Step 3: Encourage your customers to use your product every time
In this execution, Napisan introduces “Stain Insure” which provides mothers with insurance against stains if they include Napisan in every wash.
Notice how they have effectively migrated Napisan from just soaking stained whites, to a product that should be added to every wash, for both whites and colours.
Step 4: When you have solved all your customer’s problems, create more problems
In this final ad, Napisan introduces another breakthrough called “Oxy Action Intelligence” which seeks out stains in the wash, even the ones you didn’t notice.
Even the stains you didn’t notice?
Now Napisan are encouraging you to wash your clothes even when they appear clean.
Clearly, a very smart marketer came up with that one.
When I finish it I will summarise my learnings in a future post, but I just had to share this funny excerpt that describes what happens when communication breaks down.
According to Professor Cohen, in case after case, patients, nurses, pharmacists, and other physicians do not question the prescription.
Take, for example, the strange case of the “rectal earache” reported by Cohen and Davis.
A physician ordered ear drops to be administered to the right ear of a patient suffering pain and infection there.
But instead of writing out completely the location “right ear” on the prescription, the doctor abbreviated it so that the instructions read “place in R ear.”
Upon receiving the prescription, the duty nurse promptly put the required number of ear drops into the patient’s anus.
Obviously, rectal treatment of an earache makes no sense. Yet neither the patient nor the nurse questioned it.
The important lesson of this story is that in many situations where a legitimate authority has spoken, what would otherwise make sense is irrelevant
The case of the rectal earache
What does it mean for marketers?
The excerpt above is a hilarious example of one of my favourite quotes from George Bernard Shaw in action:
The problem with communication…is the illusion that it has been accomplished
In research circles this is often referred to as branded message take-out, which I think is one of the most critical metrics for any piece of communication.
So basically, if your communications aren’t scoring high in this metric, your customers end up suffering rectal earache.
I am fortunate enough to live in an inner city apartment in one of the greatest cities in the world, Sydney, Australia. As an unfortunate by-product that means that I am a regular victim of mailbox spam.
Here is an analysis of the contents of my mailbox over June 2009. I’m sure this will look familiar to many.
Analysis of an inner city mailbox
Key insights
• I received 70 items in my mailbox, and over 25% of it was addressed to people who no longer live here. I imagine this is a common factor of mailing inner city apartments, but annoying nonetheless.
• Over 50% of the mail received was “Junk Mail”, or unaddressed, unsolicited mail. Unfortunately with direct mail, unlike email I can’t opt out from just one advertiser. It is either “No Junk Mail” or “All Junk Mail”. There is no spam filter. I even got a leaflet from a leaflet drop company!
• Instead of addressing mail as “Dear Resident”, try “Dear Trash Can” because that is where it is going. Last time I checked “Resident” doesn’t live here.
No Junk Mail
My Direct Mail manifesto
• Response rates of 1% and lower are often Return On Investment positive. This is great for the advertiser at the time, but it causes diminishing returns for all future campaigns as people stop opening direct mail as they learn that most of it is irrelevant. No other industry celebrates a 99% failure rate!
• If you walk into a home uninvited, at least give them the benefit of sh*t hot targeting, offer and creative. Mediocrity doesn’t deserve any place in my mailbox.
So the Barclaycard Waterslide campaign has been out for a few months now, but as it keeps evolving I thought it was worth pointing out some of the digital integration tactics Barclaycard are using to promote their contactless payment technology.
Lesson 1: Develop a hub for all your activity
I’m a big fan of YouTube Brand Channels as they can provide a professional, integrated hub for video content driven campaigns.
The Barclaycard Create Channel makes great use of the waterslide background to continue the theme of the campaign, houses all the campaign related videos in one place, and features the ability to subscribe to the channel.
YouTube Brand Channel - Barclaycard Create
Although, I wonder if they would have expected more than 424 subscribers given the popularity of the ad?
Lesson 2: Give them more ‘exclusive’ content online
Buying television media space can be very expensive, so I can understand why most brands still stick to the typical 30 second spot.
On the other hand, what is great about digital channels such as You Tube is that you don’t have these media cost restrictions, so other than production costs a 30 second spot costs about the same to run as a 2 minute spot.
So it was great to see Barclaycard release an extended ‘online only’ version of their classic Waterslide spot. The real fans will seek out this additional content and it works to deepen engagement levels.
Lesson 3: Show them how it was made
Magicians shouldn’t reveal how they do their tricks. Advertisers should.
When you make an epic ad such as Waterslide that makes viewers ask ‘did they really do that?’ for the curious few you should always release a ‘making of’ piece. Again the goal of this is to deepen engagement levels.
When I first saw Waterslide, I thought that it was a really cool spot but used too much CGI (Computer Generated Imagery). After watching the ‘making of’, I am blown away that they actually installed parts of the slide in Rio!
Lesson 4: Increase engagement through user generated content
In January 2009, Barclaycard launched the Waterslide Challenge encouraging users to generate a version of the ad to win a tour of the world’s top 5 waterslides, or spend £10,000.
The first prize is good integration, but cash is usually king. I would really like to know what the winner chose. I’m betting on the cash.
Lesson 5: Seed your user generated content campaign
Social proof is the currency of viral campaigns, so it was great to see Barclaycard launch the Waterslide Challenge with a user generated campaign of their own.
This worked to show users what they were looking for in the challenge, and how much fun it would be.
Lesson 5: Let them play!
The most recent extension of the campaign is an iPhone Application Game called Waterslide Extreme. It is currently the #1 free app on iTunes in 19 countries, with over 1 million people downloading it in just 4 days.
As an aside, the developer must be laughing their head off that you lose points when you slide over/catch a crab.
Lesson 6: Launch a fan page on Facebook before your fans do
One thing that didn’t work so well in this digital campaign was the official Barclaycard Facebook Fan Page which has only garnered 50 fans.
They really should have linked to it from the YouTube Brand Channel.
Official Barclaycard Facebook Page
To put 50 fans in perspective, a user generated “I want to ride the slide from the Barclaycard advert” group has over 80,000 members.
Unofficial Facebook Group - I want to ride the Barclaycard slide
Lesson 7: Link to your Twitter account from your YouTube Brand Channel
The official BarclaycardNews Twitter account currently has a whopping 86 followers. They really need to do something to promote it. How about linking to it from their Brand Channel?
Barclaycard News Twitter Account
Lesson 8: Always link the campaign back to what you are selling
While this campaign is a great example of cross channel integration and it is clearly popular, the majority of the digital components have lost the link to the actual card benefit the campaign is trying to sell, contactless payment technology.
So it ends up being a viral campaign about cool waterslides.
This may be a sweeping generalization, but most marketers and agency people I meet do not understand Return on Marketing Investment.
It is the biggest reason marketing is not taken seriously by senior management.
When you can’t justify our investment using the same language that they evaluate all other investments, you will not get that additional budget you have been asking for.
In the online advertising world, most tend to evaluate and optimize their campaigns based on Click Through Rate (CTR), Cost Per Click (CPC), or Cost Per Application (CPA).
The best way I have found to improve digital campaign performance is to focus on Return on Marketing Investment (ROMI) instead.
Online Return on Marketing Investment
At its simplest level, Return on Marketing Investment is shown as a percentage and calculated like this:
ROMI = (Revenue – Costs)/Costs
For online advertising, this can be rewritten as:
Online ROMI = (Average Revenue Per Application – Cost Per Application)/Cost Per Application.
Basically if your ROMI is over 0% you are making money for your company, and if it is under 0% your shareholders should be considering your replacement.
The best way to get people on board with this method is to include a ROMI column in your tracking spreadsheet, which shows anything above 0% in green, and everything below in red.
Everyone hates red numbers, and they will do their utmost to find a way to make them go away.
In the recent past I found that simply by including a ROMI column in the digital dashboard and optimizing towards it, a campaign that was unprofitable for 2 years could be turned around to profitability within just 3 months.
It is clear that there is a lack of sites bringing all these case studies into one place, so here are five more examples I have found of what is here now in this space, and what is to come.
1. Providing a seamless link between offline and online communications
Nokia Point and Find technology lets you create experiences that link digital content and services to physical objects and traditional media.
This is a primitive version of Augmented Reality as it involves taking a photo rather than using real time video, but nonetheless it means that just by taking a photo of a movie poster, you can then watch the trailer, read reviews, find a cinema nearby, and book tickets.
From an integrated marketer’s point of view this is pretty damn cool, and unlike some of the other apps I have highlighted, it is available now.
2. Providing your customers an easy way to find your nearest shop front
This iPhone App from Acrossair helps you find the nearest New York Subway station using the phones video function. In the near future I can see this sort of application being used to find a brand’s nearest shop front or ATM.
3. Changing the way people browse a city for things to do
Lastminute.com have launched NRU (Near You) which is an Android application that helps people find great deals and things to do that are close to where they are standing.
Again I think the Augmented Reality technology is slightly less developed as it uses the internal compass instead of streaming video, but nonetheless it would be pretty useful on a night out in Sydney.
4. Help people turn data into useful information
The night sky is nothing but a series of data points (stars and planets). It is not until you can start mapping it and determining specific planets and constellations that it becomes useful information.
Google have launched SkyMap for Android phones that achieves exactly this objective by overlaying mapping visuals wherever the camera is pointed in the sky.
5. Share your ID with the world
Frankly this last one scares me a little.
TAT have developed an Augmented Reality ID application that using facial recognition allows you to share your various profiles such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Slideshare to interested parties who point their camera phone at you.
Having recently done the speaking circuit for ADMA, this surely would have saved me a slide that gave attendees my contact details. They could have just held their phones up.
Ever since seeing Minority Report, I have become increasingly aware that our current reality is underwhelming.
Recently I have discovered Augmented Reality, which will eventually make Minority Report type technology a reality.
Augmented Reality (AR) basically blurs the line between the real and the virtual world, enriching our reality by assigning meta data to physical objects.
Using Augmented Reality in a marketing campaign has been on my wish list for a while, but like social media, it is not something you should just do because it is the cool thing. It has to deliver on your business objective.
So until I have a business objective where I need to use it, here are the top 10 ways companies are currently using Augmented Reality as part of their marketing strategy.
As a heads up this post contains a lot of videos, because words don’t really do this technology justice.
1. Enrich your in-store/Point of Sale experience
Microsoft Surface is really leading the way for Augmented Reality in this space.
My favourite application will be the simplicity of splitting the bill at the restaurant just by putting your credit cards on the surface.
The video below show some of the capabilities it will bring to in store/point of sale.
In April 2008, AT&T was the first to launch Microsoft Surface in several of its flagship stores in the US in order to transform the way people shop for mobile phones. Just by placing your desired mobile on the screen, the interface gives you access to everything you would ever want to know about the phone.
2. Enable users to try on physical products virtually before purchasing online
In an eBay world, finding the right sized box to send your sold item in is critical. In response to this need, Priority Mail have developed an Augmented Reality Simulator that helps you pick the right box.
The one thing holding back fashion retailers online is the understandable desire to try on their clothes, shoes or accessories.
As the video below shows, Augmented Reality can really bridge this gap. I can see this technology working in-store as well, especially during the sales when you cant get anywhere near the change rooms.
Ok, so Zugara enables trying out clothes online, but how about trying out different hairstyles before heading to the hairdresser?
3. Mash up your search with the real world
Searching for something online then having to go out into the real world to see it for yourself is a hassle, so why can’t we combine to two experiences?
With Layar, the worlds first mobile Augmented Reality, now we can. Just think how this will revolutionise property search!
4. Change the way people travel
By far the most popular mobile Augmented Reality application is Wikitude AR Travel Guide that launched with the G1 Android Phone, with about 50,000 downloads to date.
Its like you have a tour guide in your pants.
5. Make your events easy to navigate
Anyone who has attended a large scale event knows that you can often miss the best parts of the event, and not realise until someone tells you afterwards.
Taking the wall idea mobile, the Sekai Camera iPhone application helps attendees navigate their way around the event and find out more about what they are looking at, including how other attendees have rated it.
6. Put your brochures on steroids
I think brochure-ware is critical in the sales process as it allows customers to take something away with them, that will sit on their coffee table as a reminder.
But on the whole brochures are static and boring, so these examples of using AR to enhance encyclopedias and brochures show how to take your print material to the next level.
7. Throw out your instruction manuals
No self respecting man wants to look at a car’s instruction manual, but with engines starting to look like motherboards, sometimes you need some help.
To solve this problem, these sunglasses under development by BMW could help you look cool while telling you how to fix the car.
8. Integrate your offline and online strategies
This is often the biggest challenge in developing any campaign. Just putting a URL on your press ad doesn’t do it.
These these examples of using press advertising, pizza boxes and baseball cards to launch Augmented Reality campaigns are killer!
9. Bring your online campaigns to life
The problem with monitors is that they are two dimensional, which doesn’t feel real. So here are some examples of how corporates have used Augmented Reality to bring their digital campaigns to life.
10. Give your campaigns the finger
MIT’s Sixth Sense is by far the closest Augmented Reality has come to that promised in the Minority Report.
I can’t wait for marketers to figure out how to use this to their advantage!
Most multi-national companies now engage in some form of Corporate Social Responsibility, with a strategic approach involving a combination of corporate giving, philanthropic sponsorships and cause related marketing.
Corporate Social Responsibility
This free white paper looks at how multi-nationals are integrating Corporate Social Responsibility into their marketing strategy to build and sustain a competitive advantage.
Despite the doom and gloom about the global economy, Baby Boomers are bucking the trend.
This free white paper looks at the underlying factors driving the emerging Baby Boomer consumer trends of Maturialism (mature materialism) and SKI-ing (Spending the Kids Inheritance).
It also looks as how they will impact on the need for financial planning services in order for Baby Boomers to continue the level of consumerism they have become accustomed to into retirement.
But if you couldnt be bothered reading the whole white paper check out some of the key findings below.
Baby Boomer Background
The Baby Boom commenced following World War II, as young soldiers returned home, married, and procreated.
It ended in 1964, potentially as a result of the combination of the Vietnam War, the development of the Pill, and the rise of feminism, which gave women an alternative to marriage and family.
Baby Boomers have been involved in, and have been shaped by, a wealth of significant life experiences, particularly during their formative young adult years.
Some of the most prominent of which were the Vietnam War and the protests against the draft; a ‘sex, drugs and rock ‘n roll’ culture; hippies; feminism; socialism, communism and the Cold War; sporty Mustangs and Volkswagen Beetles; the space race; and the rise of the television as a culture shaping medium, just to name a few.
‘a quest for personal happiness, expectation of material comfort and the ideal of egalitarianism’.
Mackay also notes that their parents, the Lucky Generation:
‘are bemused by their Boomer offspring’s solemn commitment to navel-gazing, to self analysis and to the relentless pursuit of personal gratification.’
It is this ‘relentless pursuit of personal gratification’ that is behind the Baby Boomers also being known as the ‘me’ generation, which is a key underlying factor of the maturialism and SKI-ing consumer trends.
Key Baby Boomer consumer trends: Maturialism and SKI-ing
‘a manifestation of something that has ‘unlocked’ or newly serviced an existing (and hardly ever changing) consumer need, desire, want, or value.’
The term maturialism - short for mature materialism – was first coined by Trendwatching.com in 2004, to describe the consumer trend of
‘Baby Boomers’ determination to treat themselves to high-end goods, services and experiences simply because they can afford them.’
This trend is playing out through the rise in sales of luxury apartments, international travel, designer furniture and appliances, luxury cars and motorbikes.
But it is not just in the larger consumer goods that Baby Boomers are upgrading, according to Heartbeat, they are treating themselves at the FMCG end of the market too with cosmetics, food, wine, and fashion all taking a step up in quality and price range now that the kids have left home.
A precursor and related consumer trend to maturialism is known as SKI-ing - or Spending the Kids’ Inheritance - the term derived from a popular bumper sticker.
The Baby Boomer bumper sticker: Spending the Kids Inheritance
‘Baby Boomers have the unique distinction of pissing off both their parents’ and their childrens’ generations’.
The proposed reasoning for the rise of these consumer trends considering the history of the Baby Boomer generation is that they can be:
Career-driven. Many Baby Boomers’ self images are defined by their careers and this has been compounded by the explosion of entrepreneurs in the 1970’s and 1980’s (MacKay 1997). It is important to note that now many Baby Boomers are nearing retirement they will desire to keep their status and this may be achieved through consumption.
Materialistic. Baby Boomers were raised to expect more than their parents and have been on a spending spree for most of their adulthood. This was the generation that brought about credit cards!
Independent. Baby Boomers have always prized their individuality. If breaking rules leads to good experiences and personal growth they will do it. (Trendwatching.com)
Selfish. If you don’t fly first class – the kids will! (Kelly 2005)
Concerned about the future. MacKay (1997) notes that this generation lived under the possibility of a catastrophic nuclear war – Cold War – and this may explain the ‘live now’ attitude.
In a recent post I looked at “Chuppies“, the group at the forefront of the Chinese consumption revolution and predicted to be the most powerful consumer group in the world within the next 15-20 years.
However, there is one other major consumer trend in China worth being aware of: rural to urban migration.
It is mind blowing to think that every year around 18 million people, equivalent to the population of Australia, migrate from rural to urban areas in China.
To learn about this game changing trend download my free white paper that looks into how it came about, and what it means for business moving forward.
The next big consumer group: Rural Chinese Migrants
I believe that all else being equal, an advertising agency can only be as good as their client enables them to be.
So here are the top 3 things I have learnt over the years that you can do as a client to improve the chances of your agency producing the best work possible.
1. Its called a brief for a reason
The biggest mistake you can make is giving your agency a brief that is pages long, with no clear idea of what you are trying to communicate, basically because you want to be all things to all people.
This results in crap advertising, that people will ignore, as it is not single minded.
Your job as a marketing manager is to take all the information you have at your disposal, and boil it down into one single sentence outlining what you want to communicate. This is called convergent thinking.
Your agency then takes this single sentence and engages in divergent thinking, coming up with the most creative way to get your single sentence across to consumers.
Don’t believe me?
Check out the single sentence Cadbury UK gave to their agency Fallon, to come up with the Cannes winning Cadbury Gorilla campaign
“The Dairy Milk chocolate bar is nothing but a simple piece of joy in people’s lives, so why not let its advertising reflect that?”
The result, a Gorilla passionately drumming to Phil Collins on behalf of “A glass and a half full productions”. On brief? Definitely.
This single sentence approach dramatically increases the quality of work your agency can produce.
If you don’t engage in convergent thinking, you will most likely end up in a concept presentation something like the video below.
2. Great work takes time
There is a theory that time pressure leads to the most creative thinking.
This may be true in some cases, but in most cases it results in underdeveloped campaigns.
I think some of the best campaigns I have been involved in is where we have engaged my agencies up to 6 months prior to campaign launch.
As a client I know it is very rare that you are able to do this, but when you can you will reap the rewards of better work.
But don’t just take my word for it. Take this year’s stand out campaign as an example.
This was mostly because they wanted to wait for the Northern Hemisphere winter to launch the campaign for a job in paradise.
Imagine the guts it would have taken the client and agency to sit on that campaign!
But they were right to wait, on day one the site had more hits than Google UK. Check out the video below for a case study on this incredible campaign.
3. Avoid scope creep
There is a concept in the project management world known as “scope creep”.
This is where you take on more work than the initial agreed scope, often resulting in blown budgets, extended timelines, and poor quality of work.
In advertising, scope creep often comes about following concept presentation, when the client wants to add more and more “mandatory” things to the ad, be it copy or logos or whatever.
But in most cases this just clutters up the ad and reduces effectiveness. Check out the videos below for examples of scope creep in action.
Scope creep usually comes about due to the client having to get the work signed off by multiple stakeholders, many who have not been involved in the briefing, and often because they want to “add value” to justify their sign off.
The classic line that every agency hates to hear is:
“This is approved with the following changes…”
The best way to avoid this is to involve all stakeholders upfront and get them to sign off on the brief, and if possible have them in the room for the concept presentation. That way they get to hear the concept as it was intended straight from the creative’s mouth, and get to discuss their feedback directly.
If all else fails, the line that I often bring out to try to avoid scope creep is as follows:
“Advertising is about subtraction not addition”
(I can’t seem to find who this quote is from – if you know please tell me!)
Disclaimer
I have to put my hand up at this stage and say that I haven’t always been able to follow my own advice.
It is incredibly difficult to follow these rules especially in a large corporation.
But what I do know is that when you are able to follow them, you give yourself the best chance of developing an award-winning campaign.
Up until now China’s dramatic economic growth has primarily been driven by foreign investment and its seemingly endless source of low cost labour.
But many experts are predicting that we will soon see a boom in consumption, with China predicted to become the second largest consumer market by 2015, overtaking Japan, Germany and Britain, to only be behind the United States.
For a long time it has been a fantasy of Western brands that China would become consumption driven, with 1.3 billion people and as the analogy goes, 2.6 billion armpits requiring deodorant.
Chuppies – Chinese Yuppies
Currently, China’s consumer economy is approximately the same size as Italy’s, but within the next two years it is predicted to commence adding an Italy every year.
A recent McKinsey report titled ‘From Made in China to Sold in China’, estimated that over 700 million Chinese will be classified as consumer class by 2020, leading to annual consumer spending of $2.3 trillion a year.
This free white paper looks in detail at the group that is at the forefront of the Chinese consumption revolution and predicted to be the most powerful consumer group in the world within the next 15-20 years, ‘Chinese yuppies’ or as they are affectionately known, ‘Chuppies’.
Diffusion of Innovation was one of my favourite research topics while studying my Masters of Business in International Marketing.
The Diffusion of Innovation theory was originally published by Everett Rogers in 1962, however the world has changed dramatically in the forty years since, with the notable rise of globalisation and the Internet.
There has only been a handful of studies into multi-national diffusion of innovation, so I developed this free white paper to discuss its influence of the current global innovation phenomenon, the Apple iPhone.
The paper develops a working framework titled the ‘Newton Ball Diffusion Acceleration Effect’, which predicts the potential accelerated rate of diffusion for the iPhone in Australia (lag market) versus the United States (lead market), using Rogers Perceived Attributes of Innovations, and Ganesh et al (1997) Factors Influencing the Learning Process framework.
The strengths of the framework are that it provides marketers with a visual representation of the acceleration effect in lag markets, and may assist in decision making as to whether to launch an innovation in many markets at once using a sprinkler strategy, or in a phased approach to capitalise on the learning effect using a waterfall strategy (Ohmae 1985).
The framework does have weaknesses and issues, with factors other than the learning effect, such as price, competition, and government policies, having significant impacts on the rate of diffusion in the lag market. There is also further research required to determine whether the framework is generalisable when using developing markets as the lag market.
But all in all, there is no other paper out there like this!
Other than social media, personal branding seems to be the hot topic in marketing at the moment.
But it seems that anyone with an Internet connection can develop their own personal brand by starting their own blog, building a LinkedIn profile, or gaining followers on Twitter.
So with all this personal branding clutter, how do you make yours stand out?
Stand out so much that people see it wherever you go, and associate it with you forever.
How about making the ultimate brand commitment and getting it tattooed into your skin?
I did. But it was well before we started talking about personal branding.
My personal brand - the Maloney tattoo
A personal brand history
When I was younger I was heavily into the basketball scene, and like most kids growing up in the early 90’s I was addicted to the NBA.
One finals series I was watching Stephon Marbury shoot free throws to win a game for the Minnesota Timberwolves, and I noticed that he had his family name “Marbury” tattooed across his right shoulder.
That stuck with me.
It is strange, but once you see someone who is committed to their heritage enough to get their own name tattooed into their skin, you never forget their name.
Consequently a few years later, shortly after turning 18 on the Macquarie University end of season rugby league trip, I decided it was time to get a tattoo.
And when you are going to get something that is going to stay with you for the rest of your days, you want something that is never going to change.
Like your family name.
So I got “Maloney” tattooed across my right shoulder.
Several years later, a great number of my close friends have done something similar.
Evolving brand meaning
I have no regrets about the tattoo. But without fail everyone who sees the tattoo cracks a joke about it, usually along the lines of:
“Is that so you don’t forget your name?”
Well, yes and no.
Yes. It acts as a constant personal reminder of where and who I have come from.
No. It’s not just for my recall. It is also so you don’t forget.
The personal branding lesson
As much as we like to think that branding has changed over the years, at the end of the day the goal of a brand is still the same as it always was on the ranch:
To make your cow look different to every other cow.
The name tattoo is a pretty literal interpretation of a personal brand, but it serves that objective. Now you know that I have “Maloney” tattooed on my arm, I bet you find it hard to forget.
In summary, yes I probably have taken personal branding too far!
Outliers is the third Malcolm Gladwell book, following best sellers The Tipping Point and Blink. In Outliers, Gladwell investigates the real reasons for success. It challenges everything you thought you knew about the best and brightest.
Outliers by Malcom Gladwell
Gladwell has an amazing knack for finding unique case studies to explain complex phenomenon, and I thoroughly recommend his books to anyone interested in how the world really works. In the CNN interview below, Gladwell highlights some of the key insights from the book.
My personal big 5 learnings from reading Outliers were as follows:
According to the 10,000 hour rule, to be considered a master of any discipline, you need to have a minimum of 10,000 hours of practice under your belt. There is no secret to it, to be the best you just have to work the hardest.
IQ doesn’t really matter, you just have to be ‘smart enough’. The brightest people don’t necessarily make it to the top. The people who work the hardest, think outside the box, and can influence others, are the ones who make it.
When and where you are born matters. To make it to the top you need to have been in the right place, at the right age, at the right time. Basically there is a big element of luck. In other words, if you make it to the top, be humble!
Your heritage matters. If your parents were hard workers, you are more likely to have a great work ethic as well. Thanks Mum and Dad!
Avoid flying with any national airline that has a high Power Distance Index. If the Co-Pilot respects authority too much to speak up when their Captain is doing something wrong, your plane is more likely to fall out of the sky. Same thing goes in business, SPEAK UP!
The second secret to improve your online Return on Marketing Investment is:
Secret 2.0: Reduce the number of blocks you make your customer walk
In your online path to application, every extra click you make your customer do increases the risk of them giving up and approaching you through a more expensive channel, or at worse case going to a competitors site.
I use the analogy that every click you make your potential customer do in the online world, is the same as making them walk that number of blocks to reach your store in the offline world: 3 clicks = 3 blocks.
How many blocks are you making your customer walk?
Reduce the number of blocks your customer has to walk to your store, and you will increase the likelihood of them visiting your store instead of a competitors.
In the offline world, customers prefer convenience. In the online world however, they demand it.
In my experience, halving the number of clicks (or blocks) in your path to application will double the number of applications you receive.
Over the years I have tested countless methods of increasing online Return On Marketing Investment (ROMI). Here is the first of a series that have proved to be the most effective.
Secret 1.0 – Don’t do the hokey pokey
Most marketers have ‘campaign periods’and this has translated into how they manage their online advertising strategy.
I call this the ‘Hokey Pokey’online advertising approach:
Hokey Pokey Online Advertising
The problem with this approach from a Return on Marketing Investment is three-fold:
While your campaign is out of market you lose potential customers and revenue.
You miss out on the cost benefits of negotiating longer term deals with publishers.
You miss out on the effectiveness benefits of ongoing campaign optimisation.
Instead of going into market for 2 months, pulling out for 2 months, then going back in for 2 months, you will achieve a much greater ROMI by taking the same spend and spreading it out over 6 months.
Over this time you can optimise the campaign towards the creative executions and media placements that are the most effective, whatever your metric may be – Click Through Rate, Cost Per Click, Cost Per Application etc. Doing so will increase both your effectiveness and your efficiency.
In my experience, using an ‘Always On’ approach has delivered up to 3 times better Return on Marketing Investment than the ‘Hokey Pokey’ method.
One of the consistent themes of great songwriters is that they keep the actual meaning of their songs to themselves.
Most do not do this because they are self important, but rather because their labels advise them to so more listeners can relate to their songs by transposing their own meaning, rightly or wrongly, onto them.
Jack Johnson is one of those artists. The other day while I was listening to his Sleep through the Static album, I dreamed that the first song All at Once was speaking directly about the marketing challenges we are facing today.
Below I have attempted to transcribe how the lyrics to All at Once relate to the marketing challenges we face.
Is Jack Johnson a marketing prophet?
All at Once by Jack Johnson
All at once,
The world can overwhelm me
There’s almost nothin’ that you could tell me
That could ease my mind
The proliferation of media is overwhelming. No matter how many blogs you read or seminars you attend, more information tends to make this situation even more mind blowing.
Which way will you run
When it’s always all around you
And the feelin’ lost and found you again
A feelin’ that we have no control
We once thought we could control our brands. Now with the rise of social media, consumers own our brands more than ever, and we need to accept that it will never be the same again.
Around the sun
Some say there’s gonna be the new hell
Some say it’s still too early to tell
Some say it really ain’t no myth at all
New media such as Twitter is heralded by some as the media that will change the world, while others want to wait and see if it is just a fad.
Either way, Twitter is not a myth. It is here now and we need to be thinking about what it means for our brands and our consumers.
Keep askin’ ourselves are we really
Strong enough
There’s so many things that we got
Too proud of
Like TV?
We’re too proud of
Like newspapers?
We’re too proud of
Like radio?
I wanna take the preconceived
Out from underneath your feet
Forget everything you have learned, this is a brave new world of marketing.
We could shake it off
Instead we’ll plant some seeds
We’ll watch em’ as they grow
Its time to dip our toes in the water, and test and learn. Plant some seeds in new media and see what grows.
And with each new beat
From your heart the roots grow deeper
The branches will they reach for what
Nobody really knows
As many futurists as there are, no one really knows which way marketing is heading. The reality is that there is more “strategy by the seat of your pants” than we are willing to admit.
Anyone can retrofit a marketing strategy following success. Fewer can define that marketing strategy before the success comes.
But underneath it all
There’s this heart all alone
What about when its gone
It really won’t be so long
Sometimes it feels like a heart is no place to be singin’ from at all
We are awash with consumer and competitive data, which encourages us to think with our heads. But with the world moving so fast, is all this analysis paralysis worth it?
Or should we be listening to our heart and gut sometimes and just going for it?
There’s a world we’ve never seen
There’s still hope between the dreams
The weight of it all
Could blow away with a breeze
Some new media wont take off, it will gain hype then disappear.
Don’t put your whole marketing budget behind one media.
If your waitin on the wind
Don’t forget to breathe
‘Don’t forget to breathe’ is probably the best advice I have ever heard when it comes to dealing with media proliferation.
Cause as the darkness gets deeper
We’ll be sinkin as we reach for love
At least somethin we could hold
But i’ll reach to you from where time just cant go
Over the last few months I have been thinking a lot about what it takes to become a better marketer.
Here are the top 5 things I have been working on, that have made a difference to my own marketing knowledge and ability.
1. Read more, widely
In an often subjective industry like marketing, knowledge is power. So you should be reading as much about marketing as you can to gain that knowledge.
Books are great as they go into depth, but in the current environment many are somewhat out of date by the time they are published, so to stay up to date you should also be reading marketing websites and blogs on a daily basis.
So that you can managing drinking from the firehose, set your favourite blogs up in an RSS feed platform such as iGoogle, Google Reader or Pageflakes.
My iGoogle
But, I think just as important as reading more, is the need to read more widely.
The marketing industry has many specializations. We often get into the habit of only reading about our specialization, which is great for deepening knowledge.
But the downside is that it narrows our vision and means that we are more likely to miss innovations and opportunities in another area.
So recently I have started reading about advances in psychology, art design and copywriting even though I wouldn’t consider these my specialties.
They have allowed me to have more in depth conversations with my research and creative collegues.
2. Know what best practice is
To deliver best practice work yourself, first you need to know what best practice is. The easiest way to do this is to review the award show annuals for work that is recognised as the benchmark.
The best way to grow is to surround yourself with people that will expand and challenge your thinking. If you want to find people like this there are a few ways you can seek them out.
The first is to join industry associations and attend networking events. I have been getting a lot more involved with ADMA over the last few months and have had the opportunity to rub shoulders with such a diverse range of talented marketers.
The second is to attend seminars and hear the captains of industry speak, and not be afraid to go up to the speaker afterwards for a chat.
You will be surprised how accommodating people at the top of their game are for people on their way up, especially if you let them know who much you like their advice!
The best seminar I have attended recently was the mUmBRELLA Social Media Masterclass. I am now following most of the presenters on Twitter.
4. Intimately understand Return On Investment and the financial drivers of your business
This is critical if you are to gain respect outside of marketing, which is important as it is often not marketers that give approval on your campaign. You need to be able to demonstrate and use financial lingo if you are ever going to be able to sell your idea.
Ask your finance or product team for a tutorial on calculating and evaluating Return on Investment and understanding the financial drivers of your business.
They will really appreciate your willingness to learn their jargon. Then you can offer to give them a tutorial on marketing and we all win!
5. Start a blog
Over the last 2 months, I think developing this blog has taught me just as much about digital marketing as the last few years working in the digital marketing industry.
Specifically, I have learnt in detail about information architecture, page design, online copy writing, RSS feeds, Search Engine Optimisation, Social Bookmarking, and Twitter.
And I keep learning more every day as the analytics roll in and I read more blogs.
Another benefit of having a blog, and something that is also a key currency of social media, is the theory of generosity. I think Albert Einstein said it best:
“If I give you a pfennig, you will be one pfennig richer and I’ll be one pfennig poorer. But if I give you an idea, you will have a new idea, but I shall still have it, too.”
The more ideas we share, the more the marketing industry will benefit from the wisdom of crowds.
No doubt one of the biggest impacts new media has had on psychology is the insatiable need for instant gratification.
Indeed, the whole Generation Y has been branded as being addicted to instant gratification.
However there is also another psychological trend that new media has brought about, one that is directly contrary to instant gratification.
I call this trend Delayed Onset Gratification, or the D.O.G.
Rock ‘n’ roll ain’t what it used to be
Lets take rock concerts as an example.
It used to be that when your favourite rock bank played their hit ballad, everyone in the crowd would pull out their lighters and wave them around, causing an impressive and highly emotional effect.
That doesn’t really happen anymore, and not just because of effective anti-smoking advertising.
Now, everyone pulls out their smart phones or digital cameras and records the experience so that they can enjoy it again later, and share it with friends not lucky enough to get a ticket to the concert.
Thankfully to accommodate this trend, Zippo has launched a virtual Zippo iPhone app so you can have all the fun of a lighter at a rock concert without setting the crowd surfers alight.
But in that simple action, of recording the experience, we are taking away from the experience as it is actually happening.
We are delaying the onset of our gratification.
I’m sure many native tribes who believe that taking photos captures a piece of the soul, will not be happy about this trend.
It’s all Facebook’s fault
Facebook is a lot to blame for this trend, and I am convinced that as far as posing for photos is concerned, “Facebook!” is the new “Cheese!”.
Think back to a recent party you have been to and recall the number of times you have heard “that will look great on Facebook” following a photo.
We are not living in the present
I find this trend fascinating especially as it flies in the face of other real world trends we are seeing towards yoga and meditation, which are all about being entirely IN the moment, or being present.
Can we help it?
My digital camera died a few months back, and I have put off replacing it for a while.
I have found that enjoying the moment, instead of getting caught up in delayed onset gratification, has made me a much happier person.
But the pull of delayed onset gratification is so great that I will be getting a digital camera again soon.
It seems that once you have been bitten by the D.O.G, you have been infected forever.
What does it mean for marketers
If you are doing anything experiential, you must be giving something for the user to take away to enjoy later or share with friends, be it a photo or video they can download from an event website, or even a promotional item.
If you are not, you will not satisfy their need for delayed onset gratification, so they will find a way to do it themselves, taking their attention away from what you are trying to communicate.
When you are stuck with a marketing problem, one of the best ways to “think outside the box”, is to put yourself in a different box altogether.
To do this, a method I find useful is to ask yourself “if the best marketers in the world had the same problem, how would they approach it?”
Based on a recent book, I call this method WWGD, or:
What Would Google Do?
Bailing out the motor industry
To show you how this method works, let’s look at the motor industry in the US (and therefore pretty much everywhere else).
In summary, the US motor industry is in trouble.
BIG TROUBLE.
We have already seen Chrysler go bankrupt, and have to merge with Fiat. General Motors’ bankruptcy is inevitable, you can’t keep burning $10B in cash each quarter and remain viable.
General Motors is broken
Ford will survive, because when the others collapse, people need to drive something. (Full disclosure, I previously worked at Ford Motor Company).
As a motor company, it is extremely difficult to trade yourself out of bankruptcy. This is because as soon as consumers sense that if they buy a car from you, and they may not be able to get parts or warranty from you in the future, they WILL NEVER buy a car from you. No matter how good a car salesman Obama may be.
As one of the big US motor companies imploding would have major knock on effects around the world, we as marketers need to find a way to bail out this industry with some game changing ideas.
So what would the best marketing organisations do in this situation?
What would Google do?
They would probably launch a performance based model, say Pay Per Click. And by click, I mean kilometre.
You don’t drive, or you car doesn’t start, and you don’t pay, it’s that simple.
Google Pay Per Kilometre Model
They would also start Google Labs, where consumers could play around with prototype cars and offer feedback directly to the engineers who developed them. This would be a nice change to the magical “Ta Da” product launch approach that is currently widely used.
What would Apple do?
Apple would expand the size of the pie by developing a car that is so intuitive and easy to drive (without instructions), that you wouldn’t even need a driver’s license to operate it.
Apple Car
They would introduce an App store for your car, where you could download an app which would give you the ability to make your McDonalds drive through order before you got to the drive through, so your meal would be ready to go when you got there.
To encourage repeat purchase, they would also introduce planned obsolescence into their cars, such as not being able to replace the battery without a degree in astrophysics. That way, consumers would need to repeat purchase every two years.
What would McDonalds do?
McDonalds would give consumers exactly what they say they want, i.e. a salad menu. And by salad menu, I mean a range of electric or hybrid cars, at a premium of course.
McDonalds Car
The best part is that McDonalds would know that it is not about the salad. It is about giving consumers the option to go healthy, which makes them feel better even when they still buy your fatty/fuel guzzling products because they are cheaper or faster.
What would Virgin do?
Virgin would definately do something crazy to create media buzz. Like dressing up Richard Branson as an Alien, putting him in a car, strapping it to a rocket and launching him into space.
Virgin Cars
Let me tell you, when a car survives a trip into space, EVERYONE will want to buy it.
Because it screams reliability. Having said that though, in space no one can hear you scream reliability.
Could this be the new Ford Galaxy launch campaign?
What would Amazon do?
Like they have done with the Kindle, Amazon would most probably commercialise teleportation and cannibilise their car business before someone else did.
Amazon Kindle Car Charger
As it would be less time and space consuming (with no traffic), people would travel more and Amazon would clip the ticket each time essentially reinventing their business model.
What would Macquarie Bank do?
Macquarie would forget about improving the cars, and instead focus on buying up all the infrastructure, such as toll roads and parking lots. They would then limit access to these to people owning their brand of cars.
Do you want to get to work today? Then you will need to buy one of our cars.
What’s that? You will take the train instead?
That’s ok, we own those too.
Welcome to life outside the box, make yourself at home.
When you use this method on your business’ problem, potentially none of the ideas that come out will be the solution to your problem.
In fact, many will be absolutely the wrong answer to your problem.
But the method guarantees that you will end up thinking “outside the box”.
And once you are there, according to Adidas, impossible is nothing.
P.S. I cant bailout the motor industry by myself, I need your help! Leave a comment with how you think another big brand would approach the problem.
Ask my flatmates and they will tell you that my favourite comedian must be Stephen Colbert, based on the fact that whenever they come home that is what I am watching, doubled over laughing.
Well they are right, Colbert is definitely my favourite at the moment. Primarily because he is much smarter than the average bear, and has a way of getting right to the heart of an issue to find its comedic value.
Like in this recent interview with John Sturm, the President of the Newspaper Association of America.
Colbert comes out with probably the best line I have ever heard in relation to charging for online news:
“Don’t milk a horse that has left the barn”.
As funny as this interview is, it has a core truth in it. As digital becomes more and more ubiquitous, there inevitably will be a decline of the press industry as we know it.
But to get on my soapbox, according to Newton’s third law of motion:
“For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”.
I would like to propose an extension to this theory that for posterity we will call Maloney’s first law of trends:
“For every trend, there is a lesser but opposite re-trend”
What I mean by this is although the majority will shift to getting their news digitally over time, there will be a significant minority that will desire paper based news even more than they ever have.
We have already seen an example of this law of trends with the renaissance of urban, community shopping strips in the face of clinical, mass market shopping malls.
The challenge for the press industry and marketers will be identifying this profitable segment and tailoring content, and advertising to their needs.
The reason this re-trend will come about is the ingrained need to arouse the senses. We are given five senses, one of which is touch.
Digital can never replace the feeling of thumbing through the newspaper, late on a Sunday morning on a sun drenched balcony.
And don’t tell me eBooks where you can virtually flick the pages, or touchscreens where you can pinch, spin or expand, will be a satisfactory alternative to the newspaper touch sensation. Because they wont. At least not for the current generations of news consumers.
But the i-Generation, of course, will learn everything digitally, and will not have the newspaper touch sensation hardwired into their brain.
So the day they grow up, will be the day the paper based press industry dies.
But we have plenty more balcony years ahead of us before then.
For as long as anyone cares to remember, the marketing industry has been divided by lines, namely: above the line; below the line; and more recently online.
Each division has had its own skill set, and unique way of measuring results so that apples could never be compared with apples.
After many attempts by people a lot smarter than myself to find a universal way to measure the value of marketing across media, we have shrugged our shoulders and learnt to accept that we are dealing with fruit salad, and not apples.
But as technology continues to advance, those mediums that we had once accepted as mass, or above the line, are changing, and fast.
Basically, all forms of media are becoming direct.
Why?
Because marketers have always wanted more accountability, and less wastage, and now we have technology that can deliver that capability.
So the question really is:
When all media becomes direct what does it mean for the marketing industry?
It means the line does not exist, and we can fire up the blender on this fruit salad.
It means it is time for direct marketers to stand up, grab the industry by the balls, and drag it into the future.
Let’s take a look at a few traditional above the line mediums are changing
TV
Scared sh!tless by Google’s TV Ads, the major cable companies in the US have bound together to form Canoe Ventures. Canoe promises to be able to deliver marketers with the ability to address TV advertising direct to a defined consumers’ set top box, or in other words the ability to advertise tires only to people who own cars.
Canoe Ventures - Direct TV Advertising
This is a big step in the right direction, but if a direct marketer was in charge of this project what would happen?
Do you remember the 2006 Silver Cannes Lion winning ‘Ave a word‘ campaign by Glue London for the Mini Cooper S?
Refresh your memory before reading on.
What if you could pre-populate the variables of the ad and deliver it direct to a targeted consumers’ television?
“Hello Christopher, have a butchers at this, it’s the new Mini Cooper S”
Mini Cooper S 'Ave a word' Campaign
Hard to ignore? You betcha.
Deadly effective? Right again.
Sure there will be permission and privacy issues we will have to overcome, but you can’t stop progress.
In Australia, we have Foxtel’s red button to deliver more direct TV engagement, which has come a long way now that people have become accustomed to it.
Foxtel Red Button
Following the US lead, it is only a matter of time before Foxtel, Tivo and others start to deliver addressable TV advertising capabilities in Australia
According to the website this will “facilitate additional advertising information on demand…and the new technology can take radio advertisements to a new level using images and text,”
Bring it on!
Putting my direct marketing hat on, this would be really cool if you plugged it into GPS, so I can target an ad from the local McDonalds as you are nearing on the highway.
Outdoor
Direct outdoor is also gaining pace, and the most exciting example I have seen lately is the bus shelter ad from Fitness First in the Netherlands.
Fitness First Bus Shelter Scale
The seat measures the weight of the commuter and displays it on a digital screen, Biggest Loser style! As a personal trainer, I am so proud, but I am also a masochist so go figure.
If this is not PC enough for you, you could always use Pigeons with built in GPS for your direct outdoor.
Mobile
Not only do we have SMS and Bluetooth for direct in the mobile space, Yahoo have recently announced they will be bringing online behavioural targeting to mobile.
Mobile Behavioural Targeting
Behavioural targeting is claimed to double the average ROI of traditional banner ads with click-through rates up to three times higher.
Multi Channel Direct
To try and make sense of this brave new world, we have formed a new ADMA Multi-Channel Acquisition Council, where we will be discussing a lot of the implications of all mediums becoming direct.
Posted by Chris Maloney 
