Logic+Emotion

The Rise of Consumer Activism in an Era of Distrust

Consumer Activism: Just Getting Started
Since the inauguration of president Trump, we've seen protests seemingly organized on a dime whether it be The Women's March, The March for Life or the recent immigration protests at local airports. These actions, however will not be limited to the protests in public but also in protests of the purse or at least the #hashtag. Case in point—when Uber announced that it would be removing surge pricing to pick up the slack caused by NYC cab drivers who joined immigration protests it was seen by some customers as profiting from an issue they vehemently disagreed with.

And from this, the #Deleteuber "movement" was born with people screen grabbing their deletion of the app, swearing allegiance to Uber's competition and encouraging peers to do the same. While consumer activism isn't new by any stretch of the imagination—today's record levels of distrust in once trusted institutions (see Edelman's Trust Barometer) combined with peer connectivity sets the stage for a dramatic increase of the phenomena.


From Brand Awareness to Consumer Activism
For brands to raise their level of readiness in an era where consumer activism becomes more commonplace—marketers must think about four key stages in addition to the traditional funnel. Each stage carries with it a positive or negative impact for a brand. 

Awareness
+ Positive: Consumer has general awareness of a brand and its values and finds them relevant
-  Negative: Consumer has low awareness of brand and its values and brand is not relevant 

Affinity 
+ Positive: Consumer has a high affinity for the brand and preference as a result 
-  Negative: Consumer has low affinity for the brand and does not show loyalty 

Advocacy 
+ Positive: Consumer will recommend brand to others and actively promote it 
-  Negative: Consumer will speak negatively about brand and actively criticize it 

Activism 
+ Positive: Consumer will actively defend or take action which benefits brand
-  Negative: Consumer will actively take action which damages brand (reputation or financial)

Source: Buzzfeed

Earning Trust in an Era of Consumer Activism 
Emerging societal demands and divides combined with peer connectivity provide the perfect storm for consumer activism and brands must find ways to earn not only the loyalty but trust of their consumers. Edelman's 2016 Earned Brand study outlines that most brands engage consumers in a way that interest and involve them but fall short of getting them invested to the point where consumers would advocate on their behalf or act as "activists" in their favor. 


Some brands are taking a proactive stance as this emerging dynamic intensifies. *Starbucks recently committed to hiring 10,000 refugees in in five years while clearly articulating their values. AirBnB announced that stranded refugees could stay for free and Lyft pledged a million dollars to support the ACLU.

Handle With Care: Consumer Activism Will Force Brands to Examine Their Values
If nothing else, consumer activists will force brands to ask themselves "what do we stand for"? The biggest risk for a brand in dealing with a low trust environment is to act inauthentically, contrived or in a way that feels opportunistic. Still, consumers will continue to evaluate brands not only by how relevant they are in their lives—but how responsible they feel they are. Or to put it another way, how much they feel they have in common in terms of their values. If a brand today cannot express or articulate those values—it risks leaving its intent and action open to interpretation.  

*Starbucks is an Edelman client

Six Near-term Trends Influencing The Business of Marketing

If you’ve come here looking for the latest thinking on virtual reality, drones and autonomous driving—you’ve come to the wrong place. Marketers are an interesting bunch—we pride ourselves on “being in the know”, with some good reason… Part of our jobs are to stay one step ahead of the game so we are better prepared for the changes that inevitably effect the business of our industry. But in the pursuit of staying ahead of future trends—we often overlook massive shifts that need to be operationalized over the next five years, if not decade. In the pursuit of keeping our eye on the ball—I’ve identified six near term trends influencing the business of marketing:

From Media Channels To Media Ecosystem 
Blame Digital. Just when we were getting used to shifting efforts and dollars to reflect not only print, television, radio and the internet—the internet itself has fragmented into a million tiny little pieces which blur the lines between paid, owned, earned and even social when it comes to dollar spend—and that’s not even getting into how it all get’s measured. Case in point—in the past year, MTV has seen it’s traditional television viewership of the Video Music Awards decline 34%. However if you look closely at the numbers, digital views including Facebook Live Streaming increased 70%. The problem here? MTV has yet to monetize the ever fragmented and complex digital media ecosystem and still relies on traditional TV advertisers to make money.

This makes the jobs of the media creators, buyers, sellers and strategists, well—complicated. Marketers are reluctant to embrace this complexity in their need to reach the largest and most targeted audiences they can. But in the near term—this complexity must be dealt with by diving deeper into digital and re-defining how, where and when dollars are spent within the complete media ecosystem vs. the easiest parts of it to put spend against.

From Text That Tells To Visuals That Show
The entire Web is being re-built for visual and video content. Before you dismiss this as “obvious”—we must take into account that the previous and dominant version of the Internet became mainstream with the advent of Google’s search engine and search was and to some extent still is a game of text, meta tags, keywords and text based organic content popularity. Now let’s look at demographics: Boomers, and GenX grew up on traditional literacy in the written word. Millennials and GenZ are growing up on what I call “visual literacy” which is accentuated by platforms such as Snapchat, Instagram and YouTube which are video and visual dominated as opposed to text driven.

It is this visual literacy combined with the changing face of how we not only search for but receive content which is changing before our very eyes. marketers have spent years perfecting their Keywords and then finding ways to get text based links to their written content shared on social media but increasingly it’s video that gets shared directly through a multitude of apps that is becoming the dominant social currency. Brands have yet to master modern forms of video and visual storytelling as even the rules are changing in this space. Snapchat for example favors short, compelling vertical video formats which tend to perform well. For marketers—many who built their craft on taglines or standard 30 second television commercials—these forms of video content (not ads) are foreign and still largely untapped. Marketers will need to re-think video, visual storytelling and the production of these things from the ground up in this new world if they are to remain relevant.

From Mobile Last To Mobile First
We take for granted that Facebook is one of the most popular apps in the world and most of us access it from our mobile devices. But in the early days of Facebook—there was a time that they found themselves on the defense when it came to mobile and believe it or not—they actually didn’t get it. In less than a year—they transformed themselves into a “mobile first” company from the top down and had some of the most talented developers in the world at their disposal to see this transformation through. Unfortunately, even the world’s biggest and most resourceful brands and agencies do not have these resources nor the imperative to re-invent their organizations to think, act, and operate within the same context as their mobile consumers, customers and employees.

Thanks to Google, marketers have good reason to prioritize mobile development as their way forward since Google actually dings Websites that they deem are not responsive or functional in the mobile environment. But the shift to mobile is much more than making our Websites mobile friendly. It means we need to intimately understand how our audiences want to consume, create, share and interact with our brands. It’s one of the leading reasons we’ve seen customers shift to expressing their dissatisfaction about a brand experience or service publicly—they have a megaphone in their pocket at all times. We’ve done a disservice to our industry by treating mobile as a “duh”—it requires a complete transformation in many ways due to its impact on our daily behaviors. Facebook had it right—brands and agencies should do the same.

From Reliance On Media Companies To Being Your Own Media Company
“Publishing Is The New Marketing”. Sounds good—easier said than done. But the reality is that thanks to social media—most marketers are already in the business of publishing whether they know it or not. Got a brand presence on Facebook or YouTube? Congratulations, you’re in the content business. The problem however is that most content isn’t very good and so marketers find themselves solving the wrong problem.

It’s not about creating content as much as it is about cultivating targeted and high quality audiences who want to hear from you again and again.

In the pursuit of cultivating quality audiences who not only are willing to consume a brand’s content but want to share and potentially co-create with the brand, marketers must understand how to engage with audiences not only during their “tentpole” campaigns but daily, weekly. monthly and quarterly. This is where the dynamics of marketing and publishing mix and brands are still scrambling to figure out how to do this.

From Ad-Hoc Influencer Engagement To Integrated Influence Marketing 
When CBS 60 Minutes does a feature on Influencer Marketing—you know it’s not fleeting trend anymore. However this space as familiar as it seems is new territory for marketers. Unlike traditional celebrities—most of these cultural influencers such as social media stars and Youtubers are creators who have built their OWN audiences using their OWN channels. So to protect their reputations with their audience—their preference is to collaborate and co-create with brands as opposed to endorse and act as spokespeople the way traditional celebrities have always done.

In addition—most brands are currently treating these kinds of partnerships as one-offs or ad-hoc engagements vs. re-thinking how they interface not only with cultural influencers but ALL influencers who often play off each other when it comes to reaching mass audiences often times through our peers. It will take years for marketers to fully evolve and build the process to support this in a much more integrated and scalable fashion beyond one off campaigns and programs. This entire space is still in its infancy.

From Brand Value Proposition To Brand Values
Lock yourself in a room with the most seasoned and senior marketing executives and they will nod their heads when presented with research that reflects the purchase habits of millennials, especially one key shift—millennials are often influenced not only by the products, services and “value proposition” of the brands they buy from—they are also curious and care about how the brand acts, how it participates and what it “stands for” in a societal context. If they feel like the brand is aligned with some or all of their own personal values—these influence behaviors from purchase through to loyalty. My Employer (Edelman) produced research that most consumers are “involved” with brands but are open to “commitment”. And in many cases, being committed goes beyond traditional value proposition attributes such as quality, convenience and price.

The premise seems deceptively simple. Many brands understand this and in response have gone out of their way to show how they are “going green” or “doing good”—often through corporate channels that are responsible for these kinds of messages. But this shift goes beyond messages and block and tackle corporate communications. Marketers have mastered the art and science of building brands in the hearts and minds of consumers by balancing their emotional and rational needs. Products had to show they would actually work but the most successful brands went further and endeared themselves to consumers through appealing to their emotions (Think Nike—Just Do It)

Thanks largely to millennials—this is no longer enough. Marketers need to re-examine their value proposition and ask themselves if their brand’s “values” are clearly articulated and if their actions, marketing and every touchpoint with a consumer and customer backs this up. It goes beyond satisfying rational and emotional needs but adding the third dimension of “societal” but above all else—all three dimensions need to be true to the brand and supported by proof points. This becomes not only the job of the chief communications officer and CEO but the CEO, CMO and CEO working in tandem. Few brands have been able to successfully “stand for something” because it takes a village to pull this off right and in line with the brand values. But whether it’s #Optoutside or #LikeAGirl—when done authentically, it resonates.

If you’ve gotten this far, than you’re probably thinking that none of the above is new to you. And that’s the point—it isn’t. But the marketing industry has yet to fully make the needed shifts in most or nearly all of the above trends based on my observations and in working directly with clients. These trends each bring with them great opportunities but require companies whether brands or agencies to evolve priorities, re-evaluate staff and agency mix and place bets in areas that are still developing or require extra effort to measure. They may not be as sexy as virtual reality or cars which drive themselves—but in the next five or so years, it is how well we operationalize against these trends that may benefit marketers most in the near future.

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The Death of Content Marketing: Why Brands Must Become Cultural Currency

Before there was social media—before there was mobile and the video revolution, there was blogging. Once heralded as a revolution in communications and to a degree, marketing—self expression and direct publishing of the written word became an influential force to be dealt with.

Blogging, in written word form of has been a commodity for some time.

Even as I write this on the reality is less people are taking in the written word, opting instead for “junk food” media which comes in highly shareable and snackable bits of sticky, mobile optimized content.

Today however, it is content itself that has and will continue to become the commodity. Content in all forms—even mobile optimized and snackable content. There’s simply too much of it. Most of it is not very good and even if it is—the amount of effort it takes to make sure that content will travel far and wide makes for considerable effort. Many will do this well but more will fail.

So what is value in today’s connected marketing and media landscape?

Culture

The ability to create it, influence it, co-create it and integrate a brand so seamlessly in culture and relevant sub cultures. This is the next frontier of marketing and communications and while it has much to do with things like social, mobile and content—it is the cultural aspect that must lead while everything else follows. A very excellent article in Harvard Business Review reflects some of this shift, labeling it within the context of something Douglas Holt calls “Crowdculture”:

“While companies have put their faith in branded content for the past decade, brute empirical evidence is now forcing them to reconsider. In YouTube or Instagram rankings of channels by number of subscribers, corporate brands barely appear. Only three have cracked the YouTube Top 500. Instead you’ll find entertainers you’ve never heard of, appearing as if from nowhere.

YouTube’s greatest success by far is PewDiePie, a Swede who posts barely edited films with snarky voice-over commentary on the video games he plays. By January 2016 he had racked up nearly 11 billion views, and his YouTube channel had more than 41 million subscribers.”

The challenge for brands is that they often times cannot create culture by themselves. Today’s culture creators often thrive in “sub cultures”—niche groups that exist under more mainstream areas whether it be food, sports, fashion—lest you think this only applies to “consumer brands” it does not.Subcultures exist in business as well and continue to diversify as business itself becomes more specialized and niche.

Brands and Organizations Must Become Collaborators and Co-Creators of Culture

Today and tomorrow’s challenge for brands and organizations is to tweak their marketing and communications infrastructure so they can effectively collaborate with influencers of culture across the spectrum. If brands cannot create culture from scratch—they can co-create it with the right partners across the paid, owned, earned and social spectrum. But to do this at scale, they must understand the ecosystem of influence and re-structure internally to connect that ecosystem and approach peer to peer influence from all sides.

The Influencer Ecosystem

Brands and organizations who wish to influence culture and become co-creators of it, must begin to coordinate how they approach working with those who wield influence, coming at it from different directions. For example, TIME magazine featured a cover telling us that we should “eat butter”. While earned in nature, the story and the journalists behind it are playing a key role in the resurgence of butter and how Americans are re-thinking fat. It’s an example of media influencing culture—in this particular example, this kind of influence cannot be bought—it must be earned, however, increasingly cultural influencers such as “YouTubers” require paid means to collaborate with. The influencer ecosystem can be broken down as such:

Cultural Influencers
These can be celebrities but increasingly, it is the influencers of subcultures—those who are building audiences via Instagram, Snapchat, YouTube etc. that are becoming today’s trusted voices. In 2015, Variety reported on a survey which displayed a trend where digital celebrities (YouTubers etc.) began eclipsing traditional celebrities in terms of popularity:

“Sehdev predicts that within five years, YouTube stars will consume the entire top-20 celebrity influencer list, and aging teens will grow into a sizable fanbase for online talent overall. But that will require YouTube stars to remain genuine and relatable as they gain in popularity.”

However despite this trend, there are significant implications for brands. As stated above, the digital stars must remain genuine and relatable which makes working with them a challenge as brands must learn to collaborate vs. dictate heavy handed marketing. Also, brands must develop repeatable ways they can work with all levels of these types of influencers. As it is an emerging space often requiring complex contracts, disclaimers and transparency—it brings new operational dynamics to the table.

Reputational Influencers
These can range from employees to thought leaders to analysts and experts and while they often influence consumers or customers who are highly informed and connected themselves. The challenge here for brands is that much of what they do in this space is often times disconnected from what they do with cultural influencers—but should be more integrated. Not long ago, Edelman (my employer) announced a strategic partnership with a start up called Dynamic Signal. One of the key benefits of their platform Voicestream is the ability to harness the networks of either cultural or reputational influencers acting as amplifiers of content that a brand places in front of them. Integration and accountability in terms of performance is now becoming possible, but brands must first connect efforts here.

Media Influencers 
As the TIME example illustrates—media in all its forms led by journalists and the media companies they work with can often influence culture and sub cultures also appealing to informed audiences who often share their content. But it isn’t just the “professionals”—while blogging itself has become much of a commodity there is still a role for blogger networks with niche audiences who have built audience and work with brands (often requiring a financial transaction) to incorporate their products and services into their content. But here again whether earned or paid—integration opportunity exists as what all three groups have in common is getting through to peer networks who then influence each other.

“Content Marketing” came after social media and mobile and it enjoyed a good run. But it’s not enough to create content in a complex media ecosystem that makes it extremely difficult to break though and earn attention. Brands will have to learn how to influence culture and sub cultures by collaborating with those who create it externally while coordinating their fractured functions internally. And they’ll have to do it in ways that can be repeated and scaled.

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Hero, Hub and Hygiene: Where Marketing Meets Publishing

Q: When should a brand act like a publisher?
A: Ad blocking software

You find yourself watching an entertaining series starring your favorite celebrity and Jerry Seinfeld. Or maybe it's your favorite internet cat celebrities joining forces in a holiday themed music video. Or it's a *satirical article from The Onion showing up in your Facebook feed. What the above have in common is the fact that none of them are the advertising most of us grew up with on our televisions or even desktops for that matter—but they are all working in the service of brands and organizations. 

Welcome to the age of brands as publishers—designed for mobile screens, Google algorithms, social news feeds and driven by essential success metrics: "sharing and subscribing". 

A brand marketing meets publishing model is nothing new, nor is the Hero, Hub, Hygiene approach coined by Google originally as an approach for YouTube. But as many brands are finding out, adding the nimble publishing approach to your existing global behemoth marketing machine is a daunting task. Just like any significant shift organizations must make to any part of their business—marketers both at the brand and agency level must find common ground in how they define major components:

Brand Platform
A common mistake made in the worlds of marketing, branding and advertising is confusing a campaign with a brand platform which is akin to confusing a banana with a banana tree. For the sake of clarity—"Dove Campaign For Real Beauty" is a brand platform, while Dove Sketches was an activation that evolved into campaign like territory. As referenced in Building Modern Brands—a brand platform is foundational in nature and modern brands are evolving to reflect not only rational and emotional benefits, but articulating what they stand for in a societal context. Can campaigns be derived from brand platforms? Yes, but they are more evergreen in nature vs. moment in time and should influence all activations no matter how strategic or tactical.  

Activations
Unlike a brand platform—activations are more time and context sensitive. These are your programs, campaigns, events and other activities that will range from highly strategic and pre-planned to highly responsive and in the moment. Activations should be strategically aligned to the brand platform but also possess the flexibility to expand contextually. These are the ways the brand platform comes to life over time.  

Hero
Hero activations are where brands place their big bets. Typically these are the global integrated marketing campaigns though increasingly they can still be big bets without ever coming to life in traditional channels like television. These can also be big communications and engagement activations involving media and influencers. Regardless of classification, brands often times don't support more than one to two of these annually and sometimes they can extend beyond a single year. 

Hub
Hub activations can be more frequent and are often times less ambitious than a Hero campaign. Partnerships with media companies or digital influencers for example can often fall into Hub territory. Depending on the nature of the brand or organization—Hub activations could be as few as quarterly or as often as monthly. The rise of native advertising and sponsored content is currently fueling the popularity of Hub activations that don't always directly support a specific Hero campaign. 

Hygiene 
Hygiene activations can fall into the "always on" "daily" or "content engine" classifications. Often times, Hygiene activations require multiple publishing touch points such as social channels or Web destinations. Barilla for example aggregates both Hygiene, Hub and Hero content onto its "**Passion For Pasta" Tumblr. Hygiene activations can be as frequent as daily and in some cases even hourly. 

Hero, Hub and Hygiene all have two things in common:
1. Activations across all three must be coordinated.
2. Increasingly, they require a blend of a "marketing meets publishing mindset" in order to scale and operationalize.

And it is here where many organizations will face challenges. Integrated marketing is an apple while publishing is an orange. Increasingly brands will need both in order to remain relevant in the search engines and social news feeds of consumers and customers. To do this—marketers will have to genetically splice that apple and orange together to create an entirely new fruit, designed to work around the ad blockers and entice consumers to pause, take a bite and pass it on. 

*The Udder Truth was created by Dairy Management Inc. in partnership with Edelman 
**Passion For Pasta is a Barilla Group activation executed in partnership with Edelman

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Building A Modern Brand: Strategy, Creativity and Agility

Building brands in the mad men era was a relatively straight forward endeavor...

A brand needed to effectively communicate its value to the consumer, plainly stating its functional benefits and for the more enduring brands—connecting with consumers at the emotional level typically through a story told via television led advertising campaigns. The most iconic of brands over time, mastered the art of really digging into the "soul" of a brand. How it was differentiated from others and how it should be expressed in all parts of the world. 

Building brands became something of a religious pursuit, with high priests and gatekeepers of brands in place to ensure that a brand did not become diluted. These guardians of brands created all kinds of doctrine meant to keep a brand's value proposition pure and true. Brands have always been built and expressed based on how they met consumers needs at the rational and emotional levels. More recently, brand stewards have been grappling with the notion of a brand's "purpose"—industry shorthand for how a brand's "values" take into account societal context. Can a brand stand for something bigger than itself? Does it exist for a higher purpose? Is there a cultural tension point that a brand has a right to participate in (or lead) a conversation around? 

Data from Edelman's Brandshare study concluded that today's consumers look for and evaluate their relationship with a brand beyond traditional rational and emotional benefits into areas that veer into societal. Well over half of 10,000 consumers polled globally indicated that brands having a clear "mission and purpose" influenced how they felt about that brand. 

In short, today's marketers must ask themselves—does our brand stand for something? Does it stand against something else?

It is this tension point that takes us back to the drawing board when it comes to the "soul" of a brand. But we cannot divorce this exercise from how a brand must be brought to life. The re-visiting of a brand's foundation requires taking another look at how it comes to life an today's always on, multi channel world. Modern brands must master the relationship between these three key facets for how brands sustain their relationship with consumers after answering what it stands for and against:

Strategy
It's tempting to think at the program level (campaigns, etc.) that once a foundational brand strategy is set—we can go right to ideas and tactics both big, medium and small. Avoid the temptation. Strategy at the program level should be the nucleus of any program and it should inform and influence all ideas. It should present clearly the balance between meeting business, brand and consumer/customer objectives. 

Creativity
Never has creativity been so important. People are rarely motivated by statistics and logic—but rich stories and experiences can lead to desired action. However, telling stories and designing useful, usable and desirable experiences requires out of the box thinking. Stories don't get shared by people unless they are exceptionally compelling, entertaining or educational. There are thousands of apps to compete with and digital influencers can often times build audiences better than brands can. Creativity is now complicated. 

Agility
Probably the newest and most disruptive dynamic out of the three. Most brands grapple with agility because they are still operating in a construct built for the industrial broadcast era of marketing. As I've outlined in Responsive Marketing, it's adding a layer of smaller more nimble initiatives than can help inform and even optimize the bigger more comprehensive programs that are still linear in nature. What both layers have in common is that they must move away from the launch and walk away model and move toward a model that puts various "things" in a live environment and adapts along the way. Google's Ben Jones recently pointed out the elephant in the room when it comes to agility:

"Advertising has radically shifted to be more agile, useful, and relevant in the always-on age of mobile. Yet the foundation of creative work, the creative brief, remains largely unchanged."

The creative brief shouldn't go away, but if you truly buy into the notion of agility then the doctrine of briefs and briefing must become more dynamic than static while preserving the ability to influence big, medium and even small ideas. 

It's been said that the more things change, the more they remain the same. In the context of building and preserving brands—this holds somewhat true. A brand becomes a brand only the the hearts and minds of consumers. And today's consumers have ever evolving values, demographics and technology/lifestyle habits. We didn't walk around with super computers in our pockets years ago and millennials are a far cry from baby boomers.

Modern brands will be built and re-built on foundations which reflect these evolutions but they must come to life informed by strategy, inspired by creativity and designed for agility. 

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Societal: The Third Dimension Of Modern Day Brand Building

I started writing this blog back in 2006 and the namesake was completely intentional. "Logic+Emotion" symbolizes the way we've been building brands for the past sixty plus years. Marketers have always known that they have to reach people emotionally in order to capture their attention. We're emotional beings by design and often times make decisions based on how we feel. Our emotions serve as clues that explain our behaviors. We buy clothes because we need them—but the styles and brands we choose have more to do with our psycology than the basic need we must fill. 

In the same breath we have brains, not just hearts. There is always a voice telling us that we need to check some boxes before making a decision. Features, benefits, specs—these are all reasons to believe the decisions we are making are right. Together, rational and emotional were the yin and yang of building brands and differentiating from competitors. 

Edelman's 2014 Brandshare study, however begins to validate what many of us have already begun suspecting over the past few years—that brands aren't only built but they are preserved and must evolve along with highly empowered consumers who now make decisions with not only their hearts and brains but also their conscience. We discovered that meeting consumers rational and emotional needs are a good start—but there's a third dimension we need to now consider, and we are calling it "societal". 

In fact, we looked at meeting consumers needs based across five key KPIs (Purchase, Recommend, Defend, Share Personal Info & Share Brand Content) and "Societal" actually corresponded more strongly with "Share Personal Info and Share Brand Content"—two KPIs that we think are becoming increasingly important for brands and the marketers who seek to obtain data from consumers while hoping they become a human distribution network via social, e-mail and other peer to peer channels. 

Last week while discussing Brandshare findings, I could not help but recall how I myself shared a news story about how *Microsoft was sharing its cloud infrastructure as part of the effort to combat the Ebola Virus. I was doing exactly what the data above shows—sharing a brand's story that was meaningfully attaching itself to a societal issue. The same week Microsoft reported stronger than expected earnings as well. A brand that operates in the societal dimension does not equate to a brand that doesn't profit. As we've stated in Brandshare, the value exchange brands and consumers ideally have is based on mutual benefit and gain. 

But our assessment is to not focus on one of the three need states over the other. When consumers needs are met rationally, emotionally and societally—a brand has the most chance of seeing a "lift" in how meeting those needs correlates to the KPIs we outline in the report. We think this is significant and if the trend continues, brands will have to take a second look at their values built meeting on emotional and rational needs and discern if and how societal fits into the core of the brand's DNA.

 

 

*Microsoft is an Edelman client

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Brands Who Used The Force on Star Wars Day #Maythe4thbewithyou

Brands that insert themselves into relevant cultural events is now becoming a norm in marketing. Did you know that May 4th is considered Star Wars Day? These brands did, and they inserted themselves in the conversation by producing content which reflected it. Here's a few that went to the dark side:


Pop Chips went the simple route and used an action figure to do the heavy lifting.

Harrods did some subtle and clever Photoshop to go over to the dark side of marketing.

PayPal traveled to a galaxy far far away and kept their branding intact

...while Red Bull played it safe and stayed closer to the Milky Way. 

Oreo went old school (see original Star Wars for blue drink reference)

...and tide skipped Photoshop school altogether 

If Motorola didn't do this, they would have gotten decimated by a death star. 


USA Today made their audience do the work for them with a contest on Vine that asked people to make Wookie noises in the six second video format. 

Marketing, content and cultural relevancy continue to merge together fueled by digital social and mobile channels. Now it's just part of how brands seek to remain relevant to their consumers, customers and in some cases audience. Have you seen any good Star Wars Day content produced by brands? 

*Slim Jim and PayPal are Edelman Digital clients 

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Five Considerations For Branded Content During Sensitive Times

Like many of you reading this, I am horrified by the events which unfolded at Sandy Hook and as a parent—especially affected by the thought of parents who will be grieving during a season when they should be celebrated. The tragedy is incomprehensible on so many levels and it makes my heart heavy. But I am also more than a parent and as a professional who spends so much of my time working with companies who are grappling with new dynamics in marketing, communications and doing business in a real time connected environment, I can't help but think about how much this creates the need for organizations (and people) to be sensitive (and responsible) especially during times like this. If we are really moving toward a "content economy" as I've recently outlined, and all brands and organizations can now directly manage their own media—then they are going to have to do it responsibly. Here are five suggestions for managing branded content during sensitive times.  

1. Call a Meeting Between Staff & Partners

Most organizations now have staffers such as community/social media managers and agency partners who are running their social and owned properties (Facebook, Twitter, Wordpress etc.). When a sensitive story breaks which dominates the news cycle or at minimum their industry—they must themselves act like a news organization and huddle together the teams responsible for putting out content. Call an "all hands" meeting to discuss impact of story and devise a real time strategy for immediate steps moving forward. 

2. Determine Appropriateness of a Response

Once a sensitive situation is in play, your organization is now faced with a question: do you stay silent or speak out? I recently advised an organization on this telling them that it's always best to "do the right thing" however, if they acknowledge what's going on (in this case with Sandy Hook) they had to be prepared to steward any conversation good or bad that came along with it. When determining if it makes sense to make a statement during a sensitive situation, it's best to do the right thing but be prepared for what may follow. If you're not prepared, then your organization has a bigger issue. 

3. Temporarily Disable Automated Posts

Auto posts (scheduling content and posting later) are now a reality for how brands communicate at scale and the technique isn't going away any time soon. However during a sensitive situation there is no way to better damage your brand's equity and reputation than allowing auto posts to continue as if nothing is happening. There's a simple solution: direct your content team to temporarily disable them until further notice. It's ok to take a break and back to point no. 2, it's the right thing to do. 

4. Review Content Calendar

Many brands and businesses now run content calendars to help them plan in advance for posts, marketing, communications etc. If your organization does this—check your content calendar to see if there are any scheduled communications that could come off as tone deaf or inappropriate due to the situation at hand. Reschedule evergreen content for another time and remove "at risk" content. In short, proactively manage your calendar or it will manage you. 

4. Edit/Remove/Reschedule Sensitive Content

No matter how vigilant you try to be, there will always be situations where a communication is already out in public for whatever reason, maybe the publisher wasn't aware of the news. This is where the public can be your best ally, by alerting you to the issue and as long as you are listening, you'll have the opportunity to correct the mistake. Do it transparently and over-communicate over-communicate. If you end up deleting an offending piece of content which was not intended to offend—be sure to explain the steps you are taking. 

One could question the timing of this post and my intentions. As I've stated, I'm both a parent and a professional, and while I have trouble wrapping my mind around recent events, I feel called to share whatever I can to get us all thinking about how we can manage direct communication channels responsibly. Brands are now built in real time and they can be unbuilt just as quickly. 

Related articles

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Why Brands Struggle With Content Creation

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Branded Content.. Returns

Brand As Facilitator

Your Social Media Followers Are Your Best Customers

The following is a guest post from Joe Chernov. Joe is the Director of Content for Eloqua. Co-chair of WOMMA member ethics panel. You can read more about Joe here: http://www.jchernov.com

If you’ve ever suspected your social media followers are your best customers, your instinct was correct.  The customers who choose to follow you on social channels are considerably more apt to promote your brand to others, at least, that’s what a recent internal study at Eloqua tells us.

Inspired by a conversation with SiriusDecisions VP Jonathan Block, we decided to shift our focus from the number of people following us and instead concentrate on the nature of our followers.  Who exactly are these people who’d gone out of their way to “Like” us, tweet about us and join our online communities?  What are they most apt to talk about?  And, most importantly, are they good for our business?

We looked for patterns in the most recent 500 tweets mentioning Eloqua, the dialogue on our 1,500-member Facebook Fan page, and the chatter in our LinkedIn Groups.  We uncovered some compelling statistics – data that supports the instincts of many social media marketers.

Those who engage with us on social channels have a much higher Net Promoter Score (NPS) – a popular, albeit controversial, measure of brand advocacy – than our “average” customer.  Over all, the NPS for customers who engage with us on social channels is more than 450% higher than our total customer base. We had assumed the NPS for our Facebook Fans would be the highest – after all, the type of content our Fans prefer is more “personal” (staff photos, party updates, employee profiles) than what’s shared on Twitter or LinkedIn.  But although Facebook Fans registered a staggering 700% higher NPS score than our total client base, it was Twitter that stole the show.  A customer who tweets about Eloqua is nearly nine times as likely to be a brand promoter as our average user.

Before completing this post, I chatted with social media A-lister Jeremiah Owyang of the Altimeter Group.  Owyang has blogged in the past about NPS and social media, so I figured he might have some insights to share.  He certainly did.  He told me, “NPS doesn't take into account that customers already are making referrals.  To get a holistic view of customer sentiment, referrals and word-of-mouth, brands must also include measuring the organic opinions of customers happening every second of every day around the globe.” 

In other words, NPS tells us if a person says they would promote a brand; social monitoring tells us if that person actually did promote a brand.

Yet having run communications at word-of-mouth marketing firm BzzAgent, I can tell you that most brand-related conversations still occur face-to-face, and no listening platform can (yet) monitor in-person discussions.  So while I agree social media analysis should incorporate sentiment, I still believe the correlation between NPS and social engagement is valuable in that it speaks to the likelihood of brand endorsements in real world conversations as well online chatter.

Certainly, this study only begins to address the correlation between social media and brand advocacy.  It doesn’t touch on causation.  It’s unclear if our best customers engage with us on social channels because they like us, or if the act of engaging with us induced them to favor us.  That’s a question we plan to tackle soon.

What else did we discover in the process of analyzing our social followers?  Lots.  Here are a few gems.

• The company’s blog is the #1 trigger for customer tweets
• Although social CRM and support are, justifiably, hot topics in the media, calls for support account for only 1% of all tweets
• SMB clients are nearly 2.5 times as likely to create online content than enterprise clients
• The more engaged the company is a particular social network, the higher the NPS of the customers who are active in that community

Does this analysis affect the way you will approach social media?  Have you conducted any studies that advance or contradict these indicators?  We’d love to hear your thoughts.  In the meantime, the next time your CEO, CMO or Board asks if any of this social media stuff truly matters, you no longer have to trust your instinct.  You’ve got data on your side. 

Media Isn't Social

Several weeks ago I delivered a 16 minute TEDx talk titled "reinventing social media". Typically I like to frame topics outside of the social media bubble, but in this instance the topic itself and the purpose of the talk was designed to get us all thinking about things a bit differently. You see, businesses, brands and organizations are truly struggling with the disruptive nature of social technologies. In fact, the term "social technologies" is part of the problem—we are all fixated on the technologies and meanwhile the real action lies in harnessing the change brought about by human behavior enabled by technology. I used the simple story of how a colleague shared a book with me. The book itself (media) is not social—the interactions, communications, stories and conversations that involve the book are.



But to say "it's about people" is too simplistic. Toward the end of the talk, I made my case that in a couple of years it would be unlikely that I would even be talking about "social media". This thesis based on the belief that "social" translates into the conversion of an organization which requires shifts in culture, technology, process and ultimately behavior. If an organization does not empower its people to behave in a productive and beneficial social manner than can we actually use the word "social" to describe it? If the organization has not begun integrating these changes across several functional groups as opposed to leverging just one (such as marketing) then is it really taking advantage of some of the changes I discuss in my talk?



I believe that the answer is no. It means that one part of the business is behaving a certain way while the others behave differently. This would be like your head looking at the person's face who you are having a conversation with while your body is walking away from them in mid conversation. So in order for "social media" to become reinvented, to go with the theme of the TEDx discussion, it has to change (or we need to). And change as we all know always begins with people—so our focus needs to turn here. Hope you like the talk and as always feel free to share your own thoughts.

Brand U.0 on YouTube

I've gotten a lot of requests over the past year to have my talk on personal branding called "Brand U.0" posted on YouTube. The folks at the Chicago Convergence have gone ahead and saved me the trouble of doing this. So if you live outside the US in a country that didn't support Veoh, or you just want to watch the video without the pop up ads, you can bookmark the YouTube version.

Lessons Learned Selling on the iPhone App Store

With Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference coming up on June 8-9, it's time to check in with L+E's favorite iPhone App developer, Roger von Oech. Roger is the author of the creativity classic A Whack on the Side of the Head, and the inventor of the Ball of Whacks and the X-Ball.

Earlier this year, Roger turned his Creative Whack Pack card deck into an iPhone App called the Creative Whack Pack. Roger refers to it as "the App's store's premier creative thinking/innovation tool." I did several posts on it the week it launched in March.

DA: So what's happened with the Creative Whack Pack app since you launched it in mid-March?

RvO: I've learned that visibility is everything at the App Store — there are 30,000+ apps all competing for attention but only a few get noticed; the rest get buried. Selling an app is like having a booth at a huge bazaar. You probably won't get noticed unless you're near one of the entrances or on a corner.

DA: How did you get visibility for the Creative Whack Pack?

RvO: The blogging community was vital in my launch. I've been blogging since 2006, and I was able to turn to a number of fellow bloggers for help in promoting the Whack Pack and get the word out.

You were kind enough to post about it. Chuck Frey of Innovation Tools did an in-depth review. Guy Kawasaki tweeted about on Twitter. Robert Scoble had me on his TV show for forty-five minutes. Mark McGuiness and Paul Williams did interviews with me.

These posts led to about twenty-five other posts about the product and generated a lot of good word of mouth. I worked hard at this, but I felt that this was a better strategy than buying ads or relying on iPhone review sites. I'm really grateful to the bloggers who supported my marketing efforts.

DA: What did that do for product sales?

RvO: It helped enormously. Within several weeks, the Creative Whack Pack rose to the Top Ten of the Business category. This was crucial. Far and away the best exposure you can get for your app is on the App Store itself. There are a limited number of places where apps are high-lighted on the store: "New and Noteworthy," "What's Hot," and "Staff Favorites." Each of these has room for only 32 Apps.

The only other place for visibility is the Top 100 of your category, e.g., Games, Lifestyle, Sports, Utilities, etc. One media firm has said that there's "an order of magnitude" difference between being on the Top 100 and being buried further down. And obviously being higher up, i.e., in the top 20 or top 10, is better.

DA: What happened then?

RvO: At this point I get very, very lucky. I was ranked #6 in Business. This got me enough attention for Apple to place the Creative Whack Pack on the front page of their "What's Hot" listing. Most of their selections are games, but the Creative Whack Pack is different enough that I guess they wanted to add some variety.

Basically, the "What's Hot" section is four pages of 8 App icons each. If you're selected, you spend one week on page one, one week on page two, and so on. The impact was immediate: sales jumped to a thousand units a day for the first days and then slowly declined over the four weeks I was there.

The best part was that the Creative Whack Pack was ranked #1 in the Business category for two weeks.

DA: What happened after your app went off the "What's Hot" list?

RvO: This is when I learned  some important lessons about price sensitivity on the App Store. "How much should I charge for my app?" is one of the biggest questions developers have, and I'm not sure there's any one right answer. I will, though, share my experience.

For the first two months, I charged $4.99. I thought this was a fair price because I had a similar product in the real world — the Creative Whack Pack card deck — that sold for $16. I was able to get away with this price because my early traffic consisted mainly of blog referrals, and these people were positively predisposed to the Whack Pack and thus prepared to pay a premium.

When I was on "What's Hot," I was able to keep my price at $4.99, again because Apple said this was a good product.

But after I went off "What's Hot," sales dropped significantly, and the Whack Pack fell to #10 in Business. I quickly realized that without a lot of blog referrals (these were all a month in the past and we all know how ephemeral the blogosphere is), I could no longer command a premium price.

At this point I cut the price to $2.99 (which is where it is now), and my unit sales immediately went back up. I decided that it was better to have more units sales (although with a smaller margin). I was getting an instant lesson in pricing!

DA: What does this tell you about price sensitivity on the App Store?

RvO: I think the App Store is quite price sensitive. I think that's why so many apps are free or $0.99. A lot of people just want to play with an app for five minutes or so a few times and then move on. You've got to have a pretty compelling reason to get them to spend more money.

I'd be curious to see what your readers think about pricing on the App Store.

DA: What advice would you give to someone who is thinking about creating an App for the iPhone App Store?

RvO: I've had a number of people ask me for my advice to help them turn their "winning ideas" into an iPhone App.

The most important thing (from my point of view) is: Don't do it for the money. I think you need to be clear on what your motives are for creating your app. If getting rich is at the top of your list, then you're setting yourself up for a big disappointment.

A lot of people are jumping in because creating an App Store for the iPhone is the "Gold Rush of 2009." I don't have any Apple inside information, but my gut tells me that over 90% of apps that go on sale in the App Store don't make back the money it cost to produce them. I see a lot of Apps "newly released" each day, but few of them show up in the "Top 100" of their category.

These were my motives for creating my App (in descending order):

1. I wanted to learn something.
2. I wanted to put my creativity ideas in a new medium.
3. I wanted to have fun.
4. I wanted to make some money (if possible).

All of these happened for me, but I'm not so sure this would have been the case if I had these motives in the reverse order initially.

DA: What's next for the Creative Whack Pack?

RvO: I've just released Version 2.0 this past weekend. The big new feature is "Note-Taking Creative Workshops." In my years as a creativity consultant, I've found that when attendees write down their ideas and answers to prompts and questions, their inspiration increases an order of magnitude. The result: note-taking leads to more productive creative sessions!

I hope to keep listening to my customers, and add some of their suggestions to future releases.

DA: Thanks for your time Roger. Good luck with the product.

RvO:  Thank you, David. Let me just add that selling on the App Store has been quite an interesting experience. I recommend it to anyone willing to pursue it!

NBA All Star 09

When we were pitching the adidas business as Riot a part of our vision was the ability to create content that could live anywhere tapping multiple networks as they are designed for the distribution of media. Another part of our strategy was creating spaces where that media could be aggregated. So as the NBA Allstar weekend approaches, it's great to see some of that vision coming to fruition.

If you are a fan of Dwight Howard, you should really check out this site we've designed specifically for the event. We'll be updating it with photos, videos and even Tweets from Dwight himself. Media will be uploaded to destinations such as Flickr and YouTube and the site simply sucks it all into one place and allows you to see it at a glance while giving you the option to go directly to the source on their respective networks. And yes, the page even scrolls. A sight for sore eyes.

There's also a more standard You Tube page with a variety of videos of Dwight if you're just interested in the videos. Also, if you text "allstar" to 234327 you'll get a message from Dwight letting you know what he's up to over the weekend. Though I don't typically watch Basketball, I'll be following along over the weekend as well and tagging tweets with #allstar09 (feel free to do the same if you plan on watching).

And it's nice to see the microsite gradually evolve into something less contained.

Will It Scale?

A while back, I had written about how technology is enabling us to come full circle.  Recent personal events which I, and many of you collectively experienced first hand are making me a bit more confident of the movement. However, we've got some big challenges, and as I think about these challenges—I'd like you to think along with me (this is why I make it so easy to comment here).  Here's a few challenges I see.

Can brands feel more human?
Brands are something we can have some type of feeling toward. Positive, negative or neutral. And while brands and people have a lot of similar traits, they are not the same thing. Steve Jobs isn't Apple, even though it sometimes feels that way. And that's an exception. Henry Ford started his company, but he is not the brand. And yet, brands are fueled by humans, our efforts. They can't exist without them. So the questions is, can brands feel more human?  Should they? Or should we just let them be the brands of old. The way it's always been?

Can People Scale?
We are reaching a point where successful examples of people powered service, and experiences are still not all that common. A few examples stand out, Comcast, Dell, Zappos, Southwest, Cha Cha, Starbucks etc. But they're not perfect and each have their own challenges. The fact is that it's more business friendly to outsource your call center, automate services and systematize process. Human powered efforts can be immensely powerful and effective, but having personal micro-interactions from people to people is not easy to pull off. Last night Frank from Comcast was helping me with an issue. I simply love the personal touch and it does make me feel better about Comcast, but the million dollar question is—can it scale? Or does people powered service need to scale? Is it a niche offering?  You tell me.

Can Companies Provide Value?
While there is a lot of talk about the role of marketing and how it's evolving toward something which can serve a more meaningful purpose, the fact is that we still get our e-mails flooded, our mailboxes crammed, our Websites cluttered, our networks spammed, and our everyday activities infiltrated by marketing initiatives. It's like walking around in Time Square. It's impossible to escape. I'm not a rocket scientist but something tells me that some of these tactics must be working because there seems to be more of it, not less. So, the question is—what's the real incentive for companies to provide less noise and more value? How do we get them to see "the light"?

Can Viral Be Meaningful?
We are living in a very interesting time right now. If many of us are not inclined to be introspective, current economic and world events are forcing many of us to do so. Some of us are re-thinking materialism, and examining our own lifestyles. What's gone viral in the past may not be the viral of the future. Marketing specifically thrives on "gimmicks"—cleverly produced attention grabbers that are designed to get you to stop what you are doing, engage and spread a branded object. What I'm wondering is if the viral phenomenon will move from less frivolous to more meaningful initiatives. Though I see potential, I'm not sure about this. Marketing thrives on quick hits, which lead to some type of spike in sales or purchases. Where does humanity fit into any of that?

Anyway, that's what's on my mind. I'd really like to hear from you on any of these things.

Brand U.0, The Video

Watch Personal Branding, David Armano, Digital Mass in News Online, Webisodes, and Game Videos  |  View More Free Videos Online at Veoh.com

So here's the video from my talk on personal branding at the Chicago New Media Summit (Now called the Chicago Convergence). The video is decent quality and it's not very long (just under 20 mins) and you can download the slides from here.  Hope you like.

Brand As Facilitator

Brand As Broadcaster
In this dynamic world of "social media" that we're all gushing over, it's healthy to remind ourselves that most brands are still acting as "broadcasters"—dishing out content, information, products and services to people.  In some cases we're helping brands continue this model when we produce things like "branded entertainment"—content modules which get pushed out to audiences in perhaps multiple mediums or "channels".  But it's still a top down approach.  The brand manufactures the messages and figures out how to get that message out wherever there are eyeballs to take it in.  It's more realistic that although this model has become less effective as people have become more empowered, it's probably not going away.

Brand As Facilitator
What some brands have chosen to do is to act as "facilitators". This means that like any good facilitator, they get off center stage, move over to the side and let others do the talking.  But just like any good facilitator, the brands who succeed in this direction need to master it as an both and art and science.  Good facilitators know how to actively listen, how to create environments which stimulate productive conversations and interactions and most importantly they add incredible value even though they may come across as the least vocal in the group.  Brands now have the opportunity to empower influential voices who reach others.  They have the opportunity to leverage the "brand ambassadors" who are likely already out there.  And in the possible scenario that there aren't any—a brand can still become visible in the online conversations that are likely happening about it or topics relevant in it.  Some people believe that good facilitators are "invisible"—I believe you always know they are there, you just feel comfortable talking around and with them.

I don't believe brand as "broadcaster" is going away any time soon, but I do think the exciting challenge which lies ahead of us is to figure out what tactics actually work in the "brand as facilitator" category.  It's something I've been chewing on the last few weeks.  If you've got some examples of the latter, I'd love to hear about them.

"Brand U.0": Why Your Personal Brand Matters.

Uploaded on April 22, 2008 by dougmeacham

From my latest contribution on Advertising Age, Digital Next:

"The hallmark of any great brand is authenticity -- just ask Harley-Davidson, Coke or Apple, especially when all of these brands lost their way and learned from it. Same thing applies to Brand You. In every tweak of a template, upload and keystroke, you have an opportunity to be authentic or disingenuous. Know what makes you special and unique, and tap into those qualities as you build your personal brand online. Most people can spot a fake when they see one, so remember that being genuine is more important that presenting yourself in an artificially glossy manner. It used to be important for bloggers to "find their voice" -- now it's relevant to all of us."
Read the full story

Stairway to Brand Heaven & Hell

Inspired by a chat with Jared Spool.

Micro Interactions + Direct Engagement

| View | Upload your own

So here's a presentation I gave recently to a client.  I'm thinking through the concepts of "Micro Interactions" and "Direct Engagement".  The slideshow (download PDF) includes both previous and new thoughts and was inspired by a quote I wrote for Inspire UX:

“We live in a world where the little things really do matter.  Each encounter no matter how brief is a micro interaction which makes a deposit or withdrawal from our rational and emotional subconscious. The sum of these interactions and encounters adds up to how we feel about a particular product, brand or service.  Little things. Feelings.  They influence our everyday behaviors more than we realize.”

Feedback welcome!

Brand Interactions Are the Future: But Are Interaction Designers Part of Your Agency?

"Call them information architects, experience designers or Jack or Jane -- they are the design geeks who love to sweat the details. They care about "micro-interactions" and toil away at the building blocks of what actually results in a "lovemark" in the end. We love to use applications that help us do things like plan vacations, find old friends and share our passions with the world. The ad industry has made a big mistake in the past by thinking technology was for geeks. Technology, in fact, is a love affair."

Read The Full Article at Advertising Age (Digital Next)

Marketing Spirals + Fuzzy Funnels

When I originally wrote about the Marketing Spiral, I said this:

"Often times our first interaction with a brand is through a digital touch point like a site.  Maybe we heard about it from a friend or somewhere else.  We interact with it—we give it a try.  If we like it—that leads to deeper levels of engagement.  Maybe this repeats itself adding more "cycles" to the spiral.  We continue to engage. Some of us even begin to participate.  We transition from downloading to uploading our media.  We talk about how great the experience is.  To our peers, to each other.  We become evangelists—the spiral actually expands as we engage with multiple touchpoints—not only the digital ones."

And now I'm wondering if the disappearance in of the funnel in traditional marketing will lead to the emergence of another kind of funnel—"fuzzy funnels" that blur together vastly difference disciplines, backgrounds and services that come together to result in how we think and feel about brands, products and services.

It hit me at MIX 08.  Like a brick actually.  Sure there were different tracks.  A "UX" track, a "Business" track and everything else seemed like it was for developers, both software and Web.  But aside from the tracks—it was clear that MIX was primarily about technology.  That was the gig.  Now some gatherings may be focused on marketing.  Others on the intersection of technology and marketing and yet others on design, or business or both.

But the reality is that we're still taking different languages.  At MIX 08 the vernacular was about "platforms", code and the latest break through in technology .  When the word "brand" was mentioned, it seemed almost unnaturally out of place.  On Madison Ave. it's the opposite—brand leads the way while technology is often an afterthought.

But what the "fuzzy funnel" shows us is that we're all going to get mixed up in a blender whether we like it or not.  Because it's the convergence of all these things which lead to how we think and feel about brands, products and services that really matters.  It's why media companies want to act like technology companies and vice-versa.

And that giant blender is where it's going to get really interesting.  So, will we see more people "talking in brand" at MIX 09?  Possibly.  Will we see more geeks and developers at Cannes?  That's possible too.  And when it happens—when you're at an event where you feel like your surrounded by people who look like the multiple ingredients of the fuzzy funnel and then some—then you know on to something really interesting.  We're all heading toward the same destination, even though we're speaking different languages and living in complimentary cultures.

My Vegas is Showing: Brand Utility + Event Based Social Networking

See demo | Create a Profile | Send Me An Invite

One of the best things about working for a “Web shop” like Critical Mass, is that we actually get to conceive, design and build the kinds of online applications that the big brand agencies are still mostly talking about.  “Branded Utility” has become an elusive phrase within the industry where few case studies actually exist.  Nike + and The Dominoes Pizza configurator offer glimpses of the promise of brand utility which loosely translates to the opposite of advertising, as it has very little to do with messaging or articulating a brand’s promise.  Instead, branded utility offers some kind of functionality to an individual, group or community that serves some type of purpose whether it be rational, emotional or ideally both.

So instead of doing traditional digital marketing like banners or a microsite—we’ve recently launched the first iteration of the evolution of “My Vegas”, a combination of a “private social application” and utility that allows you to creative profiles, upload photos, manage trip details, compare attractions, schedule events coordinate activities with friends and more.  The platform is in it’s first iteration, so we have quite a bit of work to do on UI and integration with mobile—but it’s a start.  (It's also worth noting that Critical Mass is working with R&R Partners on this initiative.)

My Vegas is designed off two very simple insights:

People go to Vegas to have fun and “be someone else”
People travel to Vegas in groups and often “converge” at a common destination

This begs the question—what if we could get Vegas visitors excited about their upcoming trip and allow them to build anticipation with friends before actually going?  And what if they had a place to share “war stories” after?  The experience at this point offers two core features. My Vegas is sort of a “Facebook light” for you and your “entourage”, while the RSVP tool (Really Simple Vegas Planner) allows you to throw some events on a calendar and coordinate activities with friends.

RSVP Tool
One of the first things you’ll notice when using the RSVP tool is that we’ve broken the traditional “loading page” approach and went with a more “liquid” interface dynamically slides in steps from right to left while displaying a brief “burst” of motion.  Why?  Uh, because it’s Vegas baby—that’s why.  One of the challenges of designing a Web application like this is to get lots of functionality in it it without losing sight of the “fun” part.  The RSVP tool allows users to plan a trip, and let friends know where they will be staying and what they’ll be doing.  After you are done planning your “Vegas getaway”, you can invite as many friends who will be able to see what your up to.  Likewise you can do the same with them.  For folks who want to connect with friends around a specific event (like an annual trip to Las Vegas) but don’t want the hassle of joining Facebook or Myspace, this might be for them.

My Vegas
The My Vegas portion of the application is where you can play around and really ham up your “Vegas persona”.  Here you can see that I’m “Rusty Armano”.  But I can change this to be pretty much any over-the-top character I want to be (over 100 to choose from). 

There are no advertisements on My Vegas, instead I can show my “entourage” what I like by choosing venues, events and restaurants in the area that I like and plan on checking out (I want to see Cirque’s new Beatles show).  In the age of influence, we pretty much know that this is the best kind of advertising there is.  It’s called word of mouth. 

There are also a few nice touches like customizable layouts and themes which can be quickly configured to meet your personal tastes.  It’s pretty quick to get a profile set up and like most social applications, you can invite people who you know to be a part of it.

My Vegas 2.0?
So here’s where I need your help.  As I mentioned earlier, the Web application recently launched and we’ve got lots of refining to do as well as enhancements.  If you are a regular reader here—I’d like to ask the favor of checking it out and putting your recommendations in the comments area here.  Where do you see UI improvements?  Whet’s not working?  What are ideal enhancements (mobile integration, integration with desktop applications like excel etc?).  I really want to know as I’m doing a bit of an experience audit.

Lastly, I will be using my profile on my Vegas to post all of my pictures and some updates for Microsoft’s upcoming Mix 08 which is taking place in Vegas.  If you want to be part of my “entourage”—set up a profile and then send me an invitation to this e-mail address.  I’ll add you back and we’ll be be up to no good in no time.  See you in Vegas! (or at least on My Vegas). 

Distance Making The Heart Grow Fonder (or not)

I got married young—age 24 to be precise.  In a couple of weeks, we'll raise a glass to toast year 12 of our time spent as husband and wife.  But it might have never been if we didn't spend a little time apart.  Not that we broke up—but we did spend a summer in different states.  By the end of that summer, after substituting e-mail for touch—we realized that distance had indeed made out hearts grow fonder.

And sometimes I feel the same way with blogs I read regularly.  Those who leave blogging for a while only to come back to it with a passion make me realize how much I missed it while it was gone.  Some choose to get others to fill in for them while they are gone (it's not the same thing).  Nothing wrong with this—but there's something about a favorite blog that goes away—only to come back bigger and better that makes me realize how much I appreciated it in the first place. 

No one can replace the personal brand of you.  If it's valuable—we'll come back with stronger feelings than ever.  If it was a relationship of convenience, chances are we'll forget about each other and find something else to fill the void.  Distance can make the heart grow fonder—or it can end the relationship.  Either way, it's a road-test on a street named loyalty.  And that's a two-way road to everywhere.

Flashy Micro-sites Are So 2007. Look for Distributed Content Experiences in 2008.

Update:
I'm having a real-time Twitter conversation with Adweek's Brian Morrissey who, as an avid runner is not a fan of the site and offers this opinion:

"the content is one-size-fits-all lame, the redirect to forums sucks out loud and it's still nike talking at me."

It's a really interesting observation as this is what Nike is probably trying to avoid.  I still believe the strategy is sound, but Brands will need help when trying to establish "credibility".  Morrissey goes on to say:

"it's hard b/c authenticity doesn't come naturally"

Given Brian's background which is more informed than mine (as a non-runner), I'd say the missed opportunity may be the "one size fits all" approach.  As I mention below, it's the Niche perspective that presents the real opportunity.  Maybe Nike can help facilitate by aggregating content from sources more credible than themselves?   I still see serious opportunity here if brands can figure out the delicate balance.  See Fiskateers for similar concept, different execution.

In 2007 Nike + took the marketing world by storm and made the advertising world re-think the industry, as the online meat of Nike + is basically a Rich Internet Application with community features built into it.  Now I come across Inside Nike Running, which as far as I can tell offers a content rich experience equipped with RSS feeds and multiple message boards.  I haven't had a chance to really dig deeply into it—but I can't help admire the strategy.

For one, Nike and running naturally spells community.  Runners are like bikers.  It's a sub-culture that only runners totally get and there are all kinds of levels and types of runners.  Secondly, content site are extremely search engine-friendly.  Many of the keywords are provided by the users themselves in the form of comments or participation in message boards.  And lastly, content is sitcky—your typical product-based micro site at best provides a one time experience.  Sure you can build in "pass it along" functionality—but the bottom line is that if there isn't a steady supply of new, quality content—then users really don't have a reason to come back and engage.  Plus, consumers are becoming increasingly wary of "marketing speak"—IE content written by copywriters who may not know much about the lifestyle they are speaking to and come across as contrived or inauthentic.

I'll be spending some more time at Inside Nike Running as I've been recommending similar solutions to clients myself.  I'm willing to bet my money on the idea behind tactic as I don't think it's a trend.  Brands really need to figure out if investing in content is worth it for them.  It might not be right for all brands—but for some, it could be a no-brainer.  There is risk involved, if there's no real commitment to providing good content that is worth a user's time—then maybe it's better to pass on something like this all together.  The last thing you want to do is have people come to your site only to dismiss it as a joke.

Still, I think there's something here to really think about.  So, in 2008—if you think this is a direction you want to invest in, here are a handful of skills/people you may want to look for.  Keep in mind, these are not actual titles, they are more skill sets.

Digital Information Designers
Not all designers know how to design lots of content in the online space.  One you get into scrolling pages with lots of content, multimedia and features—you need people who know understand the art and science of information design.  More specifically, you need good digital information designers—there's a difference.

Content Analysts/Architects
Content-rich sites require content analysts who can organize and categorize large amounts of content in their sleep. While flashy micro-sites relied heavily on talented flash designers—content sites rely on content analysts putting some deep thought into the best ways to display, distribute and serve up content (think multiple devices, feeds etc.).  These individuals will also understand how to integrate and aggregate content that may be coming from the "outside" also known as "user generated content".

Community Facilitators/Curators
People who understand the nuances, cultures and social etiquettes of online communities will be in high demand.  Those who can moderate, facilitate, create and maintain conversations will be critical to adding life to site experiences like this.  In addition, people with skills in this area understand how to reach out to existing communities and can help extend brands into this space without being too heavy handed or contrived. 

Niche Editors
Going up against content-rich providers on the internet such as Web MD is probably a waste of time, however the internet thrives on highly specialized niche content.  People who understand how to edit and serve up this specialized content—making it both valuable and convenient will be in demand.

This is an incomplete list—there are probably more.  And in reality, the micro-site isn't going away.  But micro sites that don't give us a compelling reason to return may find themselves struggling in a world where people will only reward you with their time if you provide them something of value.  The idea that someone will visit a site after seeing a URL on a television commercial doesn't reflect the reality of online behavior where Google acts as the ultimate remote control.  As online residents become more sophisticated and demanding, they'll demand that you make it worth their time.  If you can't do that—you may succeed in getting a visit to your site, but that's no guaranteed that they will ever come back, or worse yet—tell a friend about it.

Peace on Earth from P&G

Several years ago, I created a holiday slideshow of our family utilizing some basic skills in Flash and multimedia.  when CM's Chicago team showed me the holiday greeting they did for P&G, it not only took me back, but made me realize that we're all prosumers now.

Being a prosumer means we're part consumer and part producer.  We don't have to passively watch TV ads, we can make our own.  The original spot that was done for Pampers was hugely popular and now you can customize it and share it with friends and family without ever having to learn Flash or Photoshop.  Happy co-creating.

Brand 2.0: Are social applications brands or expendable commodities?

"Conventional wisdom in the technology space suggests that most start-ups will fade into obscurity and that even the popular platforms will be replaced by the next best bright and shiny object that comes along to distract us all. Since most of us suffer from bright and shiny object syndrome, or “B.S.O.S.” this seems fairly plausible. Only one problem: brand affinity is not a rational animal and people form bonds with brands for reasons that can sometimes only be defined as a “gut feeling” about a product or service..."
Read Full Article at BrandWeek

Get Yer Free Samples Here...

You walk into a Starbucks. Same one you’ve been going to religiously for years now. It’s a familiar scene—Starbucks has come out with a new flavor of Frappucino and one of their Baristas is walking around handing them out. It’s hot and you were going to get a Frappucino anyway—so you reach out for your sample and just before you put the cup to your lips—Blam! The Barista snatches it from your hands and asks you to fill out a slip of paper with your name, e-mail, yadda yadda yadda. What do you do? If you’re me—you walk out the door...
Continued at Experience Matters

Blogs Are Free Samples of Your Brand

The headline of this post is borrowed from my good friend Mike Wagner who I felt captured the significance of the business blogging event also known as SOBCon 07.  Here's the presentation I gave which can be downloaded from Slideshare.  As mentioned in a previous entry—I stressed that blogging is a commodity.  Anyone can do it.  There are over 75 million blogs out there—that's a lot of noise.  But I went farther in my presentation.  I said this:

Stop calling yourself a blogger.

Why did I say this?  Well, here are the notes I wrote for that particular slide:

"Blogging is a commodity.  Anyone can do it.  We are human beings with passions and interests that come out in our blogs—not the other way around.  Stop calling yourself a blogger.  You are a… (designer, businessperson, marketer, artist, baker, mother, grandfather, etc).  Calling ourselves bloggers takes away from what makes us unique."

After I made the statement I clarified my intent to the audience.  I said something along the lines of "we don't need to abolish the word blogger from our vocabulary—especially in meetings like this, but we should be careful how we refer to ourselves to the outside world".  I was calling for a shift in mindset more than anything else—my theory is that focusing on the passion more so than the medium will lead to a better personal brand.

What it all boils down to is this: 
Being a blogger doesn't make us unique.  Our individual talents, passions and personality does.  This is the stuff brands are built from—and blogs, despite all of the baggage that comes along with the word is an extension of our brands, whether it be personal or business.  My presentation was at the core about building a unique brand enabled by personal publishing on the Web, and then delivering a great experience.  As we discusses at the event—many folks who come across our blogs may not even know that it's a blog they are reading—what they are interested is in value.

Here's another set of notes from my deck:

"Our passions should drive what we do—what we write about.  Find your passion and you will find your voice.   ...Make your message an experience.  Curate conversations.  Facilitate relationships.  This will lead to affinity and passionate communities."

You get the point.  Anyway, it was a really great day for me.  I finally met some good folks that I've been in touch with over the past few months.  In addition to Mike Wagner, I got to meet (and spend time with) Drew McLellen as well as Mike Sansone, Director Tom, Liz Strauss and a whole lot more.  It was an energetic mix of business and relationships (and laptops)  ;)


photo credit

Additionally, Jason Alba has pulled off some of the best note taking I have ever seen and posted them over on his site.  You can view the notes as organized by speaker:

• Blog Critiques: What’s a Successful-Blog?  
• Wendy Piersall, eMoms at Home, Blog Coach  
• Tools Panel: Chris Cree (moderator) with MyBlogLog, Evoca, TheGoodBlogs  
• Drew McLellan, Mike Sansone, Mike Wagner - The Iowa Way  
• Andy Sernovitz - Word of Mouth guru 
• Rodney Rumford - VideoSticky 
• David Armano - Conversation by Design 
• Liz Strauss: Successful and Outstanding Blogs 
• Phil Gerbyshak: 10 Ways To Make It Great 
• Non-virtual open mike (mic) night

In summary, SOBCon07 went well past the free sample.  We got to taste the real thing—live and in person.  My favorite part?  Dinner and drinks after the whirlwind of activities.  It was terrific to unwind in good company—and proof that business, brands and community do indeed go hand-in-hand.

We Are The Story

What can brands learn from social experiments?

1. A passionate community is the lifeblood of your brand.  Without it—a brand is hollow.
2. People want to interact with your brand—to be a part of it somehow, to make it their own.
3. Your community can make your brand better, stronger and smarter.
4. Inviting your community to become an active part of your brand stimulates ideas, creativity and potentially innovation.

In my last post I asked "What is the story" behind this simple visual.  What happened?  You told the story—each in your own unique ways.  You became the story.  You took the idea and poked, prodded and narrated.  Some of you translated it in a very logical fashion.  Others created tall tales around what it meant to you.  Some of you created your own visuals like the three-eyed-monster (which I absolutely love)  And I'll be honest with you—these are some of the best comments I've ever had here.

So what can brands learn from social experiments?

Well, for starters—brands can learn to experiment.  I usually narrate my own visuals—and of course feedback is always welcome.  But this time I felt you could tell the story even better than I could.  And you didn't let me down.  Sometimes we mistake these invitations as not having a strong sense of self-identity.  If brands let their communities define them—are they strong brands in the first place?  The answer is yes.  My voice is my voice.  It will not change—I am who I am.  But my thoughts and actions can be influenced by what you say and do.  Are brands willing to do the same?  Does this make them weak or strong?

My original intent was to call out some of the comments which "nailed" the visual.  But the truth is that you've all nailed it in your own ways—so now I'll have to re-think what to do with these thoughts.  I'll probably pull them together in some type format for easy distribution—maybe a PDF.  It's more work for me, but in the end I know it will be worth it because it's worth sharing and proves a point.  The point is that a healthy brand does not live in isolation—just like healthy people.

Thinking In Pictures

I'm sorry, but the people behind the one laptop per child display moments of brilliance.  I recently visited the site and was greeted by this visual.  I think it says a lot with very little.  And the nod to the Sugar OS which runs on the laptop is a no-brainer.  Here's a fun exercise for you.  Take your own brand and see if you can break it down into a simple statement.  Then use images to make it visual.  Print it out and hang it up next to your workspace and when you feel like you've lost your way—take a look at it to refresh your memory.  PS, this works for personal or "micro brands" too.

Brands + Microbrands

Check out this presentation that Kathy Sierra gave at SXSW.  What do you agree with?  What do you disagree with?  Personally, I think there is some good common sense stuff in there, but I really like the notion of microbrands more than anything else.  I actually think these values make for a good brand even more so than a good blog.  Then again, blogs have a lot in common with brands as they are manifestations of our own "personal brands".  I guess this is where the microbrand concept comes into play.

Imagine if big name brands were as accesible as the facilitators of certain blogs?

How to Sell a Book

As you can probably tell, I'm a fan of Marty Neumeier.  Marty's Brand Gap book is a must read in my opinion.  His insights into the brand and design worlds are brilliant and incredibly cohesive.  He's a master communicator.  Next on my to-read list is his latest book titled "Zag".

Check out the simple but effective site used to promote this book.  I'm not usually a fan of the "page turn" technique, but in this format it really works.  And the direct link to Amazon is effective.  Sometimes innovation is plain simple.  There's nothing about this that is over-thought.  I'm looking forward to the read.  Maybe I'll pick it up this weekend.

The Harley Creed

...And folks wonder why Harley-Davidson is arguably one of the most successful brands ever.

Seeing Red

Here's a neat snippet of the Product Red initiative I found over at my Digitas comrade's Digital Hive blog.  From the post:

"Can a tank top change the world?

So asks the October 9^th issue of The New Yorker, or more specifically, the thirty (30!) Gap print ads featured within. These ads are part of Product Red (styled: (PRODUCT) ^RED), an initiative started by Bono and Bobby Shriver in order to raise money for the Global Fund to Fights AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The Product Red brand is licensed by iconic companies such as American Express, Motorola and Giorgio Armani, in order to create a product with the (RED) logo, and ultimately give a percentage of sales profits to the Global Fund.

The Gap ads have the same look and feel as your generic Gap ads and feature Jennifer Gardner, Steven Spielberg, Chris Rock and a bra-less Christy Turlington. Though I wish the ads were a bit more provocative (after all, we ARE talking about AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria), (RED) wants to be clear that they are not a charity. They are a business model. And a simple one at that: “We believe that if consumers are offered this choice, and the products meet their needs, they will choose (RED). And if they choose (RED) over non-(RED), then more brands will choose to become (RED) because it will make good business sense to do so. And more lives will be saved.”

http://www.joinred.com/

www.gap.com/red 

On a personal note, I recently saw an interview with Bono, and the man is simply amazing.  He has such a genuine heart for those suffering in far away lands and he has done great things to raise the awareness of AIDS in these places.  Bono has become a serious role model for me.  So buy red.  That AMEX card looks pretty cool anyway.

"Can a tank top change the world?

So asks the October 9^th issue of The New Yorker, or more specifically, the thirty (30!) Gap print ads featured within. These ads are part of Product Red (styled: (PRODUCT) ^RED), an initiative started by Bono and Bobby Shriver in order to raise money for the Global Fund to Fights AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria. The Product Red brand is licensed by iconic companies such as American Express, Motorola and Giorgio Armani, in order to create a product with the (RED) logo, and ultimately give a percentage of sales profits to the Global Fund.

The Gap ads have the same look and feel as your generic Gap ads and feature Jennifer Gardner, Steven Spielberg, Chris Rock and a bra-less Christy Turlington. Though I wish the ads were a bit more provocative (after all, we ARE talking about AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria), (RED) wants to be clear that they are not a charity. They are a business model. And a simple one at that: “We believe that if consumers are offered this choice, and the products meet their needs, they will choose (RED). And if they choose (RED) over non-(RED), then more brands will choose to become (RED) because it will make good business sense to do so. And more lives will be saved.”

http://www.joinred.com/

www.gap.com/red 

On a personal note, I recently saw an interview with Bono, and the man is simply amazing.  He has such a genuine heart for those suffering in far away lands and he has done great things to raise the awareness of AIDS in these places.  Bono has become a serious role model for me.  So buy red.  That AMEX card looks pretty cool anyway.

Starbucks Only Wants My Bucks

Actually—they want my nickels.  Starbucks has announced a price hike of five cents per cup.  No big deal right?  Personally, I’m annoyed by it because Starbucks has been gradually losing favor in my eyes and this doesn't help.

From USA Today:

"SEATTLE — Starbucks (SBUX) said Thursday that it plans to raise prices of its lattes, cappuccinos, drip coffee and other drinks 5 cents, or an average 1.9%.

The increase, effective Oct. 3 at all company-operated stores in the USA and Canada, marks the first time the company has boosted drink prices in two years.

...Currently, a tall, or 12-ounce, cup of Starbucks coffee costs $1.40 to $1.65. Twelve-ounce lattes cost $2.40 to $3.10, depending on the market, and a tall mocha costs $2.70 to $3.40."

The Starbucks brand has been lauded as the poster child of the experience economy.  Provide a high-end experience that customers cannot get elsewhere—one that they crave, and you can charge a premium for your product and services while your brand enjoys the benefits of unconditional love and adoration from your customers and brand evangelists.  Or at least so the theory goes.

But in my opinion, something has been happening to Starbucks gradually since their early days.  The quality of the “Starbucks Experience” isn’t what it used to be.  It’s the little things.  The Baristas are inconsistent.  Some are great and some are terrible.  Some of the Starbucks that I walk into are really cool—they take advantage of the local feel of the area they are located in.  Others feel like “fast drink”.  No better than McDonalds—but 5x the price.  Some of the Starbucks that I’ve frequented are just trying too damn hard—thumping their Starbuck compilation CD's at high volume.  Hey, is this Starbucks or The Gap?

Don’t they realize I want the Coffee to wake me up?  Not the warbling vocals of Jewel.

So five little cents.  For coffee that’s already overpriced.  But again, in this experience economy—it was never about the coffee in the first place right?  It’s about HOW you got that coffee and what you look like when you are walking around with your Starbucks cup vs. a cup from Dunkin’ Doughnuts.

But lookout Starbucks.  I’m really liking both the taste and experience of the coffee I get from places like Intelligensia, Caribou, and the local shops that are thankfully popping up again.  There’s one right by my house that serves Illy coffee, which as far as I am concerned makes Starbucks taste like roasted dirt in comparison.  Personally, I think Starbucks coffee is good, but not amazing.  So if I'm going to pay—the experience better be solid.

Five little cents.  Sometimes that’s all the tipping point you need.

Everyday Impressions

On my first day at the new job, I noticed everything.  I distinctly recall walking into the reception area for the first time, and seeing my name up on a easel with the word "welcome" next to it.  I recall the pleasant smile of our receptionist, Marti and her warm and genuine greeting as if she had extended it to me hundreds of times before.  I can remember how I looked at the lobby area differently as if I were inspecting the entryway of my new home.  I absorbed every detail of the design and each nuance that my senses could detect.  I took it all in, and of course this happened in micro seconds.

Nearly a year later and that initial impression is just as significant to me now as it was on my first day on the job.  How?  Consider this.  Every morning, I return to the office after a previous day’s work ready to begin the new work day.  I may have worked late into the evening the previous night, or not—but in either case, walking into the lobby and being greeted by the receptionist helps set the tone for the day.  And the design of the lobby makes a difference too.  Sometimes I find myself thinking “I’m really lucky to work in such a cool looking office (with great people)”.  I especially feel like this after traveling—and being exposed to a variety of other corporate environments.  These experiences are no longer first impressions. 

They are everyday impressions. 

And they matter.  Walking into a positive office environment offers me reassurance that I’ve made the right career choice.  Now, let’s bring this home.  What kinds of everyday impressions is your brand offering up your customers?  Think about the first time your customer interacted with the homepage of your site.  How did it greet them?  How did it welcome them?  How did it help orient them so that they could move on to the rest of your site with confidence?  Now fast-forward a year later.  Your customers have seen your homepage many times before.  It’s nothing new.  What are you doing to reassure them, that they have made the right choice to business with you?  Are you doing things that make them feel “lucky” to be in a relationship with you?  Do they feel appreciative of you—especially when they have had experiences with other brands?  Has their positive first impression evolved into an equally everyday impression?

T-Mobile does this for me.  A while back, I reviewed their homepage and discussed why I thought it was so successful—especially to the first time visitor.  But as a seven-year customer of T-Mobile, I still enjoy the everyday impression I have with this design.  There isn’t actually a lot for me to do on the homepage (except log-in), but for some reason I feel good about seeing starting here.  I like knowing about their latest phones and plans.  I just like that it’s “there”—even if I don’t use it.  For some reason, I find it reassuring that I’m giving my time and money to a brand that I feel good about.

Back to the lobby example.  When I was working during the the dot-com days, we traded in standard titles for namesakes such as “Director of First Impressions”.  Makes me wonder...  Is it really about being a “Director of Everyday Impressions”?

My Life, My 15 Seconds

Missed this while I was on vacation.  Digitas got some love from Communication Arts off their Site of the Week feature.  Well, it's no "viral video"—but we'll take it.  :)

From Design Interact:

American Express 15-Second Clips Competition

This site brought the American Express “My life. My card.” ad campaign online in the form of a unique competition. Sponsored by American Express and the Tribeca Film Festival, site visitors were given the opportunity to submit a fifteen-second video clip addressing one of the thirteen questions posed by the popular ad campaign. We have to disclose that we’re suckers for all incarnations of American Express advertising. It’s great creative. All of it. And, this site is no exception. And, although we can’t give the creative team credit for the content, we can give them props for creating an interface that makes the submissions shine. The competition has been closed for some time—the winner was announced at this year’s festival in May—but the 100 finalists in the Gallery are still the stars of the site. The visual approach and the interface are refined and understated, and never pretend to be the entertainment element. The spare graphics on a white background exist simply for the purpose of creating a stage for the film-like content. The global navigation is a divided cube with each section (Gallery, Awards, Judging, Submit) represented by a single quadrant. Although it changes position with each click, it never loses its functionality. Supplemented by a tab-based navigation for “less essential” links and a series of thumbnails in the Gallery, it’s a clean, clear architecture that effectively serves content—rather than requiring visitors to retrieve it. The development team successfully targeted their audience and kept the content focused. Ultimately, it’s the lack of superfluous content that makes the site so efficient and engaging—although the high-quality, user-generated clips certainly don’t hurt it any. This site moves quickly and competently between sections and between clips. While that may not sound like a big deal, it is when you’re trying to look at 100 of them. We’d be remiss if we ended our review without mentioning the application for applying for an American Express card. While most online applications are met with a heavy sigh, the one on the other end of this Apply Now button is skillfully done. Game-like in its approach, it’s the coolest application interface that we’ve seen in a long time—possibly ever. During the 3-week-long submission period, the site received 350,000 visitors and 1,800 submissions.

Lincoln Bjorkman, executive creative director Kenan Aktulun, creative director Henry Min/Ooonie Chase, associate creative directors Grace Cham/Radis Jensethawat/Jeff Kurek, art directors Whitney Hess, interaction designer Min Chung/Benny Bianco/James Sol/Teresa Lagerman/Eric Trinidad/Kathy Chou, Flash designers Erin Stitzel/Gail Thupvong/Lane Mitchell, writers Christine Beardsell/Venessa Ramos Velasquez, video Digitas, site design and development Web site: clips.mylifemycard.com Web site: www.digitas.com

A Simple Philosophy

I am creatively agnostic. It’s not about me.  It’s about attracting consumers, engaging customers and meeting user’s needs.  It’s about people.

I believe that logic + emotion are a winning combination.  When useful and useable meet delight—great things happen.  It’s about balance.














I believe in big ideas + big execution.  My philosophies don’t mean a thing if I can’t execute against them.  It’s about the end result.

Brand Affinity Through Stories + Experience

It’s tempting as hell to summarize how people relate to brands in either the way a brand tells it’s story or the the way a customer experiences a brand across a variety of touch points.  Ultimately the stories and the experiences all add up to how an individual perceives your brand. However at the ground level—at the core, you have two types of people working behind the scenes to create these experiences and tell the stories.  Experience People and Storytellers.

I am by no means an expert on this subject matter, but for what it’s worth—here is my perspective based on personal observations in the working world.  In 1996 I knew I wanted to be a part of the Web—not just in my personal life, but as a professional.  I wanted to make a living and learn as much as I could about the new media as possible.  I was currently working as a broadcast designer for Fox News.  If you asked me what I did back then, I would have immediately answered that I was a graphic designer.  Before that I designed catalogs and freelanced identity design.  When I interviewed for my first Web job at the Chicago Tribune (chicagotribune.com), the editor asked me why I wanted to work on the Web. I told him that I used visual design to tell stories—and that I desired to tell those stories in an interactive fashion.

And looking back, my answer to his question was accurate.  I did just that. I worked with journalists and news people while learning HTML and Web design basics to design sites that told “interactive stories”.  Instead of creating an information graphic you would merely look at, I created graphics you could click on! (a big deal back then)  I also came up with headlines and selected photos for the homepage stories on a daily basis.

Then something interesting happened.  Part of my job became to re-design areas of the site that required users to register.  Or to work on other sites doing similar kinds of design.  At first I hated it.  I didn’t feel like I was telling stories at all.  That’s because in a way—I wasn’t.  I was being tasked to improve the experience of certain areas of the site and I didn’t know much about this kind of thing.  But I quickly learned.  And I learned to enjoy it.  I realized that many of the design principals I was taught in school could be applied in this area.  To simplify.  To not overwhelm.  To help guide users through a process providing visual cues.  That's what visual communications was all about,

Fast forward a couple of years.  One of my clients at agency.com was Grainger, a large B2B distributor with a fully functional transactional site that could do pretty much anything you could think of in relation to e-commerce.  My team and I spent years evolving the site experience.  We prototyped, we tested, we personified customers, we built, we re-built, we designed in iterations, and after significant effort—we helped evolve an interactive experience to be both more business and people friendly.  But were we telling stories?  Not at that level.  The site was definitely part of a larger brand story (or experience), but we were helping to make a very specific existing experience better. 

But other projects did include more storytelling aspects.  When HP decided to sell iPods—we had to both create an experience and tell a story within the parameters of a marketing focused Website.  Here I would say that the lines were much more blurred between the experience and the story.  We had to tell the story a certain way.  There was a position.  There was a strategy.  And the story was being told in many other mediums such as TV.  Unlike Grainger, on that project we had Experience People and Storytellers working together. 

And it wasn’t always easy.

That brings me to current times.  From my perspective we can talk about great experiences and compelling stories as much as we want—but I think an emerging reality is that the Experience People and Storytellers are going to have to make significant strides in how we relate to each other. In my opinion, an intimate brand relationship is formed through a collection of experiences and reinforced through stories.  Think about it in these terms.  If you work for an agency and you are focusing on an interactive initiative—how much coordination is there at the brand strategy level?  How much between the teams that devise the messaging and the ones that create the experiences?

Here’s a personal example that I’ve referenced before.  I’ve had positive experiences with Citibank over many years.  From the ATMs to the branches, to their online banking.  They have done right by me.  And there’s something about their brand personality that just works for me (from the design of the branches to the logo etc.)  So when a clever campaign like the “Thank You” one comes up—I’m fine with it because I already have developed an affinity for the brand.  It reinforces what I currently feel.  So the Experience People have done their job.  They’ve provided me with consistently good experiences.  And the Storytellers have done their job—they’ve told me memorable stories that reinforce my feelings.  Together, both add up to loyalty.  But at ground zero are the people creating those communications designing experiences?  Are the people designing the ATMs telling stories? 

So back to my personal experience as it relates to marketing and creativity.  I have a hunch that the brands which do a good job of getting the Experience People to perfectly sync up with the Storytellers are going to be the ones who stand out in the end.  To bring this back to earth, I’ll reference another example.  Nikewomen.com  Unlike my Grainger example, I think the Nikewomen site combines both experience with story—both are dialed up in a big way.  The site uses video, attitude and music to relate to their intended audience.  But it also SELLS product.  You can buy any of the clothing items you see in the video.  Now at surface level this all sounds simple.  But think about the teams who worked on this.  On one hand you have video directors, screen writers, choreographers, art directors etc. responsible for highly produced multimedia that people would be willing to sit back and watch on their PC screen.  And on the other, you have information architects, developers, visual designers etc. working together to deliver a fluid commerce experience that actually works and is easy for people to use.  And it’s all wrapped up in one “Website”. 

Experience People + Storytellers working side by side?  You bet.

Navigators, Explorers, and Engaged Participants

Over the weekend I had three different kinds of interactive experiences.  In each of them, I acted like three different kinds of people (more accurately mindsets). 

A Navigator.  An Explorer.  And an Engaged Participant.  Before I get into how I define these along with examples, allow me to make a few analogies:

Getting to the destination: Have you ever hopped in your car for your weekend getaway and all you cared about was getting there?  You couldn’t care less about the scenery you passed on the way to the destination.  All you want to do is get to that beach house, cabin, or whatever so your weekend can begin.  Once you get behind the wheel—it’s all about navigating the path of least resistance.

Taking in the journey: Now suppose that you are on a different kind of trip where you’ve decided to take the side roads and make a few stops along the way.  You’re curious about the area you are traveling in and want to explore what it has to offer.  You still want to get to your destination, but the direct path doesn’t appeal to you as much as the more interesting nooks and crannies that you take in on the “scenic route”.

Stopping by for a spell: So let’s say that time isn’t an issue at all, and you really don’t have a pre-determined destination.  Let’s say you buy a train ticket to a location you’ve never visited and you spend the day there,  You visit with the local people, get to know a few of them by the end of the day, and even take some pictures back with you to share with a few friends.

So back to my three distinct interactive experiences that I had over the weekend.  While doing my online banking, I realized I was being a Navigator.  I knew exactly where I wanted to go and what I wanted to do and I quickly plotted my course to arrive at my destination (getting my bills paid).

But then, I turned into an Explorer while going through the RPA site.  The site has this really interesting way of “navigating” through it that allows you to move through 3 dimensional space.  There was also a more straight forward navigation bar at the top—but I choose to use my arrow keys to explore the space.  I didn’t care as much about getting to point B as much as I did they way I got there.

And lastly, I acted like an Engaged Participant while playing Verizon’s Beatbox Mixer which I came across on 3 Minds.  Since it was Saturday night and I had all the free time in the world—I killed some of that time by playing with the very cool mixer.  I was delighted by the sounds and how I could manipulate and mix the vocals from each artist.  And when I was done, I shared what I had done with some people that I knew would appreciate it.

So that’s my story.  Sometimes we are Navigators.  Sometimes we are Explorers.  And other times, Engaged Participants.  And sometimes we’re all three of these and more.  Food for thought as we think about how we incorporate digital and non-digital experiences in our everyday lives.

Got Juice?

Well, it’s live.  My co-hosting of the second most popular marketing Podcast (according to iTunes).  #42 of Joseph Jaffe’s Across The Sound is up.  I hope I did OK.  Chatting it up with Jaffe is harder than you think.  He’s got an incredible presence, is sharp as a knife and to top it all off, there’s that accent.  To put this in context—my wife was listening to the recording and she instantly fell in LOVE with Jaffe’s voice.  I’m not kidding. I was like “Hey honey—what about me?  How did i do??”

:)

So, I hope I did justice to the some areas I care about.  I tried to use the discussion to “promote” four issues:

-The Logic + Emotion story
-The evolution of creativity
-The importance of building brands while creating community + converZAtion (Jaffe picks on my sporadic Lawng Eyesland accent)—But note that I’m not the one who mangled Vincent "FerraZI's" name...  :)
-The need for Advermarketing to create both good experiences + interactive stories

So the morale of the story is this: doing the podcast was fun—but I really need to work on my “radio voice”.  Oh and for the single fellas out there—if you are competing for a ladie's attention with a gentleman who has both smarts and a foreign accent—just hang up your hat and walk away.

Hope you enjoy the podcast.

Oh yeah.  Last point.  Jaffe announced a big time guest that you will want to know about.  I won’t give it away—but here’s a hint.  This person is on everyone’s blogroll. Except mine.

The Viral Community According To Mack

If you claim to be interested in where marketing is heading, then you really ought to take a look at Mack Collier and his Viral Garden—which is turning out to be an interesting case study in how to grow your personal brand in record time.  Mack’s Viral Garden Blog has recently cracked the top 10 in his own Top 25 list of Marketing blogs (debuted at #8) mostly because he is utilizing effective strategies and tactics aligned with all things 2.0 (Marketing, Brand, and Community).  In fact, that’s an interesting way to break it down:

1. Marketing: Did a top 25 marketing list even exist before Mack Collier hit the scene?  If it did, I never heard of it.  Mack came up with a killer idea that has drawn the influencers to him and gets us talking about what he is doing (like I am doing here).  That’s a brilliant strategy that any brand would benefit from.  Mack says that he’s terrible at self promotion, but in reality he’s drumming up the best kind—getting others to speak about him.  The Top 25 list is what initially raises awareness about Mack and his Viral Garden—it’s the equivalent of viral marketing buzz campaign.  And it’s effective.  But once you are drawn in—Mack rewards you with providing readers a quality experience on his blog—which leads to the next step in this 1-2-3 knockout combination... the  brand experience he serves up.

2. Brand Experience: Mack’s brand is consistent and differentiated.  His style of writing is both distinctive and appealing.  Mack doesn’t mince words and shoots from the hip.  Point in case—note how Mack states the need for prominant bloggers to join their communities vs. passively feeding them content:

“Don't lock yourself up in an ivory tower and call down to your crowd that 'you guys just don't get me'. They don't 'get' you because you won't JOIN them.”

You don’t have to read between the lines to get Mack’s point.  And further, Mack offers a consistent EXPERIENCE that his personal brand portrays.  He responds to comments quickly and does so in the same voice that he writes in.  His personal brand experience is consistent across a variety of touch points you could say.  Mack is building his brand in a not so different way than we’ve seen with Google, Firefox, or even Flickr—he provides a service/experience that others will talk about and he invites feedback and participation along the way. 

In other words, Mack Collier is an open source brand.

3. Community: Talk to anyone in the Marketing blogosphere and they’ll tell you that Mack Collier and Community are nearly synonymous.  When Mack isn’t blogging—he’s practicing what he preaches by going out to other people’s blogs and commenting.  He’s planting seeds and engaging people in conversations.  He’s making introductions and he often will post not only about new blogs that he comes across—but how they somehow link back to him.  He’s embraced the Social Network as not just a place to spread ideas but spread and sustain relationships in meaningful ways.  In a short amount of time—Mack has become a master at this.

Now, here’s a little trick.  Go back and read this post and imagine that the name of a brand like “Coke” was swapped out in every place that I’ve written"Mack".  This is where the rubber hits the road.  The reason why marketers should pay close attention to Mack's story is because the big brands can benefit from this type of 1-2-3 combination as well.  Imagine if this post and dozens of others from influential individuals sang the praises of “Coke” and urged people to try a new product.  Or maybe it’s not even about a product.  Maybe it’s just about how Coke is more than just a beverage...

The bottom line is that what Mack is doing goes beyond blogging.

Even beyond community.  It’s really interesting to take a step back and think about it as it unfolds in real time.  The Viral Garden is currently at #8.  Seths Blog is at #1.  One blog is written by a published author several times over who travels the world and speaks to scores of marketers everywhere.  The other by a less known individual who pounds the virtual pavement building his brand one post at a time.  The Viral Garden has been around for three Months while Seth’s Blog has been around for over three years.  Yet they both exist in the Top 10.  It’s an interesting nugget to chew on in a world where marketing, advertising and media are being turned on their collective heads.

Jaffe. L+E. Podcast.

Q. What do you get when you partner the fastest moving Advertising/Marketing 2.0 evangelist with the fastest moving creative blogger?
A. A podcast you won’t want to miss.

I’ll be co-hosting the next ATS Podcast with Joseph Jaffe next week.  We’ll be recording on the eve. Of Sunday June 25th.  I have no idea what we’ll be talking about, but something tells me it should be interesting.  Jaffe’s been thinking a lot about the future of advertising and I’ve been thinking about the future of creativity.  Tune in.

Brand Love

Here’s a visual I’ve used a number of times.  When I reference the customer experience across multiple touch points and channels—this is it.  It’s looking at the entire customer experience holistically.  Brands will continue to tell stories in linear fashion—but they will also be experienced in a variety of ways.  Every time you use a website, interact with customer support, see an Ad, share a story, use their product,—you are in “fellowship” with that brand.

Apple is still one of the heavyweights in this area.  From the products, to the marketing, to the stores, to Apple.com—it’s consistently Apple (and for the most part constantly good).  So I’m really just stating the obvious here, at a very macro level—but here’s another way to look at it.  Think about all of the disciplines that go into making every touch point matter: designers, architects, engineers, marketers, businesspeople, project managers, technologists, administrators, artists, writers... the list goes on. 

Now think about the incredible coordination that occurs between all these distinct groups—both internal and external.  I’m sure that behind the scenes it’s messy business, but it’s pretty amazing to witness when it all comes together.

Brand Happens

One of my co-workers was gracious enough to let me snap this pic of him.  When was the last time you saw someone wear a Microsoft Explorer T-shirt?

Cockney Blocked

Mini's latest viral campaign is another example of the evolution of the 30 second spot.  Customize your "Cockney laced" insult and fire it away at someone you love (or hate).

Wat ar u lookn' at?

T-Shaped Creativity

T-Shaped Creativity is a way of looking at a type of creative process situated at the intersection of Interactive Marketing+Experience Design.  This visualization looks simplistic—but in fact is difficult to pull off.  It entails getting the likes of Storytellers, Brand Strategists, and Experience Designers to coordinate activities.  Take away just one "building block" of the "T"—and the Interactive Experience is incomplete.
Read More @ Marketing Profs

Marketing Profs Daily Fix

I was recently invited to contribute to Marketing Profs Daily Fix blog—and my first piece was positioned as the feature (Delight = Brand + Experience).  I'm looking forward to writing about similar topics to the ones covered on this blog. 

These plugs are getting shameless aren't they?  I promise to track down some good links to atone for my sins.

Experience Map + Businessweek

A few weeks ago, I conducted an experiment.  I posted my  "Experience Map" on this blog. Primarily because I was curious to see what—if anything would happen.  The map illustrates tools and techniques that I am either using (or trying to).

The results have been surprising.  Most recently, the map was referenced on Businessweek's design blog by Bruce Nussbaum.

I have to say, I'm totally shocked (and humbled) that this artifact has been passed around the blogoshpere.  It's taught me a thing or two about the power of blogs and how ideas are shared—and connections made.  I consider Bruce to be one of my heroes.  He embodies design evangelism and is respected by both the business and creative worlds.  Not an easy feat to accomplish.

The main purpose of his post was to call attention to Mark Vanderbeeken's Putting People First.  Mark is another individual who is doing great things for design and business.  If you're into Experience Design, Mark's blog should be on your list of reading material.  And he keeps his blog fresh daily.  I don't know how he does it.

Back to the Experience Map.  I've gotten some really great comments on it, and if I can find some free time in between this blog, the full-time career, and family—I plan to update it.  I'm hoping that the Interactive Marketing community will embrace (or at least consider) what Experience Designers (and planners, architects etc.) have to offer.  When Brand + Experience come together.  Great things happen.

PS.  The Experience Map has been referenced on the following blogs:
Putting People First
Total Experience
Functioning Form
Usernomics

Deconstructing Method

I'm always looking for a decent case study that blends product innovation with marketing, brand, design and customer experience.  Here's a decent one.  Method—"for people against dirty".

The Product

Let's start here.  Eric Ryan, one of Method's co-founders asked this question: "Why do people hide their household products under the sink?"  Apparently, he attempted to answer his own question and Method was born.  Method creates cleaning products that not only look good displayed in your home—the ultra attractive packaging makes them difficult to ignore on the retail shelf.  Just ask my wife.  And the hand wash in particular combines a great scent with a rich texture.  Method could have just chosen to focus on what was inside the container, but instead they chose to give just as much attention to the shapes and materials holding their formulas.

The Brand

People against dirty.  For Method, it's more than just a catchy tag line.  Method products consist of non-toxic materials, and are not tested on animals.  In addition to clean consciences, Method believes in "home-love"—walking in the door after  a long day or "vexing set of errands and breathing the pure fresh vitality of the place that Dorothy wished for" (as in Dorothy from the Wizard of OZ.)  In short, you could say that Method believes in clean body, mind and spirit.  Far from just selling cleaning products.

The Experience

Let's start with the site.  Like the products and brand—it's about clean.  The visually attractive products get center stage treatment—it's effortless to browse through them and view different fragrances etc.  Then, if you decide you want to purchase something on the spot—it's easy to do so.

E-commerce and an attractive Website are not enough.  Last year Method launched a viral campaign at  come clean.com. The campaign was wildly successful—spread across the Internet and won lots of awards.  Why?  Because it invited people to anonymously confess their secrets and "come clean" with a quick squirt of Method hand soap and a nice rinse.  Using video, and simple but delightful interactivity—the experience draws you in by sampling other people's confessions.  And how can anyone resist that?