Friday, July 31, 2009
ignore everybody
Sam has kindly given me his free 2nd copy of Hugh MacLeod's book 'Ignore Everybody'.
Looking forward to devouring it over the course of a few commutes.
Simple 'viral' idea. Pre-orders (US) got an extra free copy to pass on to a friend.
Thursday, July 30, 2009
psycho-graphics, qu'est-ce que c'est?
Fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa fa.. better.
Interesting piece in this mornings Harvard Business blog by Anthony Tjan on Psychographics.
Anthony says; 'Psychographic information reveals far more [than traditional demographics] about customers' preferences and purchasing habits.'
'If you understand how your customers interact with the world and what they value most, you are far more likely to be able to give them what they want. Ask them questions geared at their personalities and preferences. Use association-based questions, such as "If you were a car, what kind of car would you be?" The answers will help you better profile your customers so you understand which products they want and how to market them.'
Exactly.
This is why You can learn more about a person and their worldview from asking them their 3 favourite bands or movies than anything you can glean from their age, where they live or how much money they make.
Context. Or People, Passions and Situations - as I have mentioned before.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
the marketer's dilemma and morrissey
'In my life, why do I give valuable time, to people who don't care if I live or die...?"
A Morrissey nugget that encapsulates the marketer's dilemma as sagely reported by Doddsy, as follows.
'I heard industry practitioners speaking of clients worried about losing control of their messaging, obsessed with identifying those mythical influencers and, best of all, of the opinion that "the internet was only for people who love us or hate us - when we should surely be focussing on the indifferent masses."
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
digital etc
Found myself agreeing with Nigel Walley in last weeks new media age.
The word 'digital' in marketing has started to lose it's meaning.
He says; 'The minute a word shifts from adjective to noun you know it has had its day'.
Very true.
Digital newspapers, digital tv, digital music, everything online, and of course the mobile device makes everthing potentially interactive.
In fact just about every form of media you can think of is now created, distributed and consumed via digital 'channels'. Like the word 'viral'before it, 'digital' is now irrelevant. It's just media and things.
Worse still, now I think about it my own job title is now largely irrelevant.
Head of Digital is the equivalent of Head of knitted, or Head of pieces of paper or something.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
customer service again
'It's ironic that retailers and restaurants live or die on customer service, yet their employees have some of the lowest pay and worst benefits of any industry. That's one reason so many retail experiences are mediocre for the public.'
Howard Schultz : Starbucks Coffee Chairman
Relax Howard, the Goodge St branch are doing a good job.
hey! social media expert
The best answers are always preceded by intelligent, challenging questions.
Challenge yourself, challenge your brief, challenge the market, challenge conventions, challenge your client.
Understand different businesses have different strategic challenges and priorities.
We live in the real world, and this world is a combination of the analogue, digital, experiential, participatory, direct, indirect, active, passive, interruptive (!), and collaborative.
Any Tom, Dick, Harry or Social media expert can wheel out the latest 'shiny object' technology or platform, but to understand how and why people want to search, engage with brands, make decisions, transact and participate and consume means asking the right questions.
Especially of yourself and your own motivations.
(HT to Scott in our office who started this thought this morning)
Friday, July 24, 2009
Wednesday, July 22, 2009
hey drooper! take out the trash
Awesome piece of silliness from Never Get Out of the Boat's favourite mash up genius Mark Vidler aka Go Home Productions.
Heavily featuring the Dickies '79 punk-pop classic cover of the 'Theme from Banana Splits' it's a virtual 7inch single on Yellow vinyl, cut up and pasted up with numerous other samples (most notably a Rod Stewart cameo. Mark describes it as 'created under the influence of The Jamms / KLF / Coldcut / Steinski.'
Mark also has his new album out on 22nd July, titled "The Future, The Past & The Present Tension" it will be available as a free download form the main Go Home Productions site.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
gurus of new marketing #no number - patrick mcgoohan
'I will not be pushed, filed, stamped, indexed, briefed, debriefed or numbered.
My life is my own, I am not a number, I am a person.'
note: I see the remake of The Prisoner is scheduled for November in the US and early 2010 for the UK. Sir Ian McKellen is number 2 with James Caviezel (strange choice..?) in the McGoohan role as number 6.
Ther's a curious teaser site Seek the Six. I'm not quite sure what it's supposed to do.
Friday, July 17, 2009
noho(pe) square update....
The update is...there is no update.
I reported on the giant hole in the ground back in October last year.
It's still a giant hole in the ground...
Thursday, July 16, 2009
connect with fans #641 Soulja Boy Tell'Em
This iphone app (i can't link to it as it's US only on the itunes store, sorry) created for US rapper Soulja Boy Tell'Em allows fans 'remix' three songs and add extra samples, so they can be saved out as mp3s and then shared amongst other fans.
The interesting thing is - the app sells for $5 USD on itunes. Five times the price of a regular mp3 track. For the added value it's worth it for fans.
The trick is - you need the app to do the thing and the sharing.
Connect with fans + reason to buy = business model....again.
via Wired.
toally wired-uh
I'm getting impatient for the new football season, so had to dig out this clip again.
Classic nugget 'Tottenham Hotspur postponed-uh, West Ham United 1H - uh'
the role for brands in social networks
It's in the nature of social networks, subcultures, communities of purpose or whatever you want to call them, to be both mutually supportive, and commercial at the same time.
Brands looking to be attractive need to know where to play.
This is not just about online either. It's about being purpose-driven not technology-driven.
The simplest and best option is to look for situations and create value.
Through content, utility, helping people get to where they want to be, giving them something to do or a story to tell.
Wednesday, July 15, 2009
the kids are alright
A few questions regarding the report published this week by Morgan Stanley Bank on media habits of teenagers.
The report was written by one of their summer interns, aged 15, and based on the media consumption of him and his friends. Clearly a representative sample of all teenagers.
Top-line nuggets:
They consume more media, but are not keen to pay for it.
They don't like intrusive advertising.
They are happy to chase content and music across platforms
and devices (iPods, mobiles, streaming sites).
Newspapers and printed media are viewed as irrelevant.
Events (cinema, concerts etc.) remain popular and will be paid for.
The convergence of gaming, TV, mobile and Internet is accelerating.
High-end smartphones are desirable but too expensive.
Texting is still key and use of data services limited due to cost.
As a source of insight, it has no real value, however.
Who are these teenagers?
White kids? Black kids? Asian kids?
13, 14, 15, 16, 17?
Middle class? Working class?
Do they live in cities? towns? villages?
Are they hip-hoppers, skaters, football hooligans, ballet dancers?
Are they posh kids who spend their summers working in banks or do they run around smashing windows and sniffing glue?
These kind of reports are interesting to a point but from a marketing perspective it tells you nothing.
Generational segmentation has long been a dead end.
A bunch of kids dressed in black with Converse and eye make up at a My Chemical Romance gig tells you something about fashion, culture, worldview and behaviour of a group.
That's a situation. Situations are something to market to, not demographics.
Pic courtesy of emo fashion
Friday, July 10, 2009
gurus of new marketing #474 malcolm mclaren
It's not necessary to be liked by everyone. In fact, that is a hinderance.
It's not about 'how many' you can 'reach' it's 'who' connects with the idea.
And often the key is not what you are 'for' it's about what you are 'against'.
In 1977 Malcolm and the Pistols were essentially 'against' everything else.
Saturday, July 04, 2009
i'm sending the wolf
To the pr company or social media experts on the #moonfruit twitter trending thing, you are probably all slapping each other on the back right now.
No 1 trending topic on twitter!
Twitter users have been bribed to mention #moonfruit hashtagged in every tweet for a chance to win a laptop every week for 10 weeks.
But i have to tell you - this is empty, useless, devoid of any engagement, pure eyeball harvesting, impression delivering same old same old, just using the tool de jour.
At the end of the ten weeks you will be back to square one.
No-one gives a shit. And you are ten laptops down.
Sad.
The real trending topic on twitter (though less visible than #moonfruit) is what some people are calling 'the corporatisation of twitter' (aka jumping the shark).
The stampede of brands apeing the celebrity-broadcast model - even PAYING for followers FFS - continues onto the platform.
It was good while it lasted, but i'm sending the wolf...
Friday, July 03, 2009
connect with fans revisited #5 man city fc
I like what the guy from Poke says about the new site they have just made for Manchester City Football Club.
'The ‘big ideas’ and principles of the site are tucked away – and they’re things that have been decided, with the client, for the sake of the fans (no display advertising, no paid for video, integrated ticketing / shopping basket). But it works. For real people. In ways that they understand and will actually use.'
The fans love it too.
Take note Aberdeen FC. In fact give me a call and i'll explain.
value creation #125
'All that is valuable in human society depends upon the opportunity for development accorded the individual.' Albert Einstein
Thursday, July 02, 2009
connect with fans revisited #4 josh freese
Ex-Devo (and NiN amonst others) drummer Josh Freese has taken a nod fron Trent with the marketing of his new album 'Since 1972'.
As we reported back in Feb, among the many and varied fan packages available include one (only) for $10,000 which includes:
- Signed CD/DVD and digital download.
- T-shirt
- A spot on on Joe Escalante's Indie 103.1 radio show and talk about the package you just purchased. Maybe even play a few hot tracks.
- Signed DW snare drum from A Perfect Circle tour 2000-2001.
- Drum lesson or his and hers foot/back massage.
- We go to lunch at "Club 33" (super exclusive, private restaurant at Disneyland located above the Pirates Of The Caribean) and hit a couple rides afterwards (preferably the "Tower Of Terror, The TIki Room and The Haunted Mansion")
and...
- At the end of the day at Disneyland drive away in [my] Volvo. It's all yours.....take it. Just drop me off at home on your way out though please.
And if you are still not convinced, here's his ad for the Volvo.
normal service resumed
Following yesterdays blip into hippiedom with the chillis ramble, normal service is resumed with this zenpunksocialist nugget from Joe Strummer.
'It's all of us or none..'
Wednesday, July 01, 2009
Umair Haque on Michael Jackson and the Zombieconomy
Take 5 mins to read this by Umair Haque on 'a zombieconomy, where little net value is created.'
excerpt:
'If the world's biggest pop star only made $25 million a year in total, something's very, very wrong. Where's the rest of the money? Why can't a resource as scarce as the King of Pop capture more value?
The world's top hedge fund 'managers' regularly pull in hundreds of millions. That's an order of magnitude difference.
No wonder everyone wants to be a banker, investor, or beancounter. There's no money left in anything else.
That's the big problem...We don't reward people for creating, growing, nurturing, or even remixing assets. We just reward them for allocating the same old assets.'
planting seeds...
In Seth's blog the other day he discussed Malcolm Gladwells challenge to the business model thinking in the new Chris Anderson book 'Free' ie In the digital marketplace, the most effective price is no price at all.
Gladwell asked 'how will this new business model support the world as we know it today?'
Seth says: 'Who cares if it does? It is. It's happening. The world will change around it, because the world has no choice. I'm sorry if that's inconvenient, but it's true.'
True.
If, like me, you spend a lot of time trying to propogate ideas that challenge the way that things have been done for a long time you invariably encounter strong resistance from those with agendas or processes that are inflexible or those for whom it suits to maintain the status quo. Thats they way of things and theres no point getting hung up about it.
Here's a thing.
Beside my desk at G-Towers has the sunny-est aspect, and is in effect a greenhouse of sorts, so is the ideal spot for the office chilli garden. There's 8 plants of different varieties.
Each plant was grown from seed.
One seed has within it the inherent potential, with the correct nuturing (light, feed, water) to turn into a plant that may produce a hundred or more chillis - each containing enough seeds to grow dozens more plants.
Once the plant flowers it's important to give it a shake in order to ensure the flowers pollonate themselves to turn into the spicy treats.
This acts as a constant reminder to me that the most important thing to do when trying to nurture the ideas we want to spread is to plant the seeds.
Then keep an eye on the ones that germinate, feed them and keep giving them a shake from time to time to make sure they grow the fruits. Once you've got a hot one then you know that contained within is the potential for further propogation that will happen all by itself...
The world will change...because the world has no choice.
tweet value adds :: tuesday 30th june
Twitter feed hits the $2 million mark for Dell http://ow.ly/gb2Z
I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream [twitter utility] http://bit.ly/ukVoa via @splendidcomms ta
YouTube - DEADLINE post-it stop motion http://ow.ly/gaho
'The last thing marketers want to be doing is wasting their budgets on loyal consumers' http://bit.ly/IWL8i via @mrnews #analystFAIL
RT @Armano http://twurl.nl/h76gvf most coveted prize at Cannes went to an ad not made for TV + PR campaign broke record for most Grand Prix
Friday, June 26, 2009
fans or influencers?
Flavour de jour, from client enquiries at the moment, is around the question of how to connect with 'influencers'.
But the important point to note is that so called ‘influencers’ are not always brand advocates.
Yes, 'influencers' are often the people who people go to for advice while they are sussing out a purchasing decision and positive opinion from these sources is a benefit, but of course it can go either way.
How do you reach them?
You can’t, really.
It is virtually impossible to know who or how many influencers in any brand consideration or purchasing decision are.
If it's a toss up on budget it's far better to spend that money connecting with fans.
Fans are the top 20% or so of customers who totally love what you do.
Connect with them, connect them with each other.
Listening, rewarding, creating with and cuddling them is a far better bet in generating positive WOM.
David Bausola talks about purefold [vid]
Thursday, June 25, 2009
ritz crackers
Ritz Crackers (or rather the ad agency) spotted in comments on YouTube that viewers were trying to find out the name of the tune in their TV ad, but couldn't find it online or on itunes etc.
This was because it was a 30 second 'song' commisioned for the ad.
Ritz then responded by posting another vid explaining that they would turn the 30 second tune into a 3 minute song if the video achieved 10,000 views.
The song would then be available for sale on iTunes with all proceeds going to the artist.
They also invited the fans to a competition to create the itunes artwork.
Here's how it went...
Watch them in sequence.
thought on Demons and Primeval biting the dust
Earlier this month we heard that ITV was in talks with SkyB about switching its ad-funded digital channels (ITV2/3/4 etc) to subscription, meaning they would no longer be broadcast on Freeview.
Poor ITV are looking into this as a result of of the worst advertising revenue downturn since it launched in 1955.
Add to that the news this week that ITV are cancelling prime time shows Demons and Primeval. Stephen Armstrong in the Guardian calls it 'A budgetary ice-age...sweeping through UK television'
It's a shame that the crash in ad revenues means that less proper programming is going to be produced, and it's the viewers that have to suffer because the networks have been too slow to look at their business model.
But why should advertisers feel obliged to prop up commercial tv channels when it is patently clear that there are now far more efficient and measurable ways to reach with their customers?
Wednesday, June 24, 2009
theory of value
A bit more on Japanese educator and philosopher Tsunesaburo Makiguchi mentioned in the previous post, and whom I’ve been reading up on lately.
Makiguchi reckoned that the ‘lifelong happiness’ of students to be the goal of education, rather than simply churning out ‘knowledgable’ citizens.
His philosophy toward developing the value-creation potential of students can be summed up as being that each individual has the inherent ability to significantly influence the world (should they decide to) based on the notion of interdependence - between humans and the environment and also humans in their ‘social relations’.
Makiguchi said that the creation of value as the ultimate purpose of human existence, ie a happy and fulfilled life is one in which the ability to discover and create value has been fully realised.
According to traditional Western philosophy, Value is made up of three elements;
Truth, Beauty, and Good.
Makiguchi's theory of value, however challenges the notion of ‘Truth’ as a value.
For Makiguchi, truth is found in the ‘correspondence between an objective reality and the words and concepts applied by humans to that reality.’
In other words, value is ‘relational’.
To illustrate this, think about the a news report of some incident or other. The news report itself is either true or false.
But the truth or otherwise of the said report is independent from the concept of value, ie the value lies in its positive or negative impact on people's lives.
Makiguchi considers truth a matter of ‘qualitative equivalence’.
Value must then be viewed as the 'relational power of the object measured by the quantitative response of the subject'.
So value is derived from the interaction between humans and their environment. It’s relational.
So Makiguchi proposed a different three elements of value.
'Beauty' (or it’s opposite, Ugly?) relating to sensory response.
'Gain' extends and expands the total experience ('loss' is obviously the flipside).
'Good' is the ‘social’ benefit (ie in the same way that gain is to the the individual ('evil' being the b-side of that).
This philosophy of value, therefore, is an invitation to engage with and create beauty, 'gain, and good.
In this way individuals, organisations, networks or brands can create ‘potentially limitless value’.
Yeah?
Tuesday, June 23, 2009
value creation #124
This one is from Tsunesaburo Makiguchi (1871-1944), Japanese philosopher and education theorist, who identified the 'central purpose of education as the creation of Value', formed around a belief in the unlimited potential and creativity of every student.
His emphasis on independent thinking and self-motivation challenged the authoritarian Japanese establishment of the early 20th C. They did not like that.
Among his proposals was one for an educational system combining time spent in school, home and the community, 'each of which had responsibility for a specific part of the educational task.'
This was back in the 1920's but still seems pretty innovative thinking today.
He noted; 'Humans cannot create matter: what we can create, however, is value and value only. When we praise persons for their "strength of character," we are really acknowledging their superior ability to create value.'
This mini-snippet inspired by Neil on Making Money from Social.
Mark McGhee versus the forces for mediocrity
I spent last week having a break back home in God's own country. The day we arrived up in Aberdeen was the same day that my beloved Aberdeen FC appointed Mark McGhee as the new manager. The same McGhee that pulled on the famous red shirt from '78 - '84 or so during the glory years of the mighty Dons domination of both domestic Scottish football and European competition (and referenced many times in this journal).
Much excitement among the faithful, as you can imagine, for those who were around during that golden period and for those for whom it is folk lore passed down through the ages.
Successive Aberdeen managers have found it difficult dealing with that legacy and the supposed 'expectation' of the fans as year on year we have slipped from the top and relinquished power in Scottish football to the great unwashed (C*ltic, R*ngers). So it goes.
But what really irked me was the coverage in the local media of the appointment, principally the comments of the 'director' of football, Willie Miller.
The ink was barely dry on McGhee's contract when we got a stream of 'managing expectations' quotes from Miller - and other directors - basically indicating that the fans should not get too excited, we have no chance of ever winning the league again, the best we can hope for is 3rd spot and maybe some success in cup competitions.
I'm reminded of this nugget from Mahatma Gandhi, which I've quoted previously in this blog.
“Carefully watch your thoughts for they will become your words. Manage and watch your words for they will become your actions. Consider and judge your actions for the will become your habits. Acknowledge and watch your habits for they will become your values. Understand and embrace your values for they will become your destiny.”
To Mr Miller and co. Be certain. If MEDIOCRITY is all you expect to achieve then that is exactly the best you can expect.
What is most disappointing is that you, Mr Miller, were also part of that team that dominated Europe in the '80's. I very much doubt that Sir Alex Ferguson told that team you were part of to settle for 3rd best.
Hopefully Mark Mcghee is made of sterner stuff. He did a couple of seasons at Millwall, after all.
“The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it”
Michelangelo
Now bring on next season.
Monday, June 22, 2009
the future of magazines
An interesting take on how magazines can survive, and thrive, in the digital age by Canadian digital marketing chap Jason Dojc of sociallymediatedlife.
Tuesday, June 09, 2009
The Coltrane Manifesto
Coltrane famously described his jazz as ‘a whole expression of one's being’.
If we agree that content, reputation and behaviour are also definitions of the brand it’s clear that things the brand does are more important than just what they say.
Customers are paying with their time and expect communications to be interesting,important and meaningful. If it’s not they will simply switch off. And move their business.
With purpose comes value and while we are still in the early days of the social web we’re certainly not in the early days of customer service.
The Coltrane Manifesto
A Love Supreme – (Customer service in 3 movements)
# Part 1: Acknowledgement
Value the customers’ time, attention, data, needs and opinion. Cut the up sell and cross sell pitches at every turn.
Let your customer talk and demonstrate that you are listening by thanking them, rewarding them and solving their problems.
# Part 2: Resolution
Answer their email, phone calls, and other messages as quickly as possible. Even if just to say, “we will get back to you within 5 working days’
And using some sort of auto-response robot does not fly. Human talk to Human.
# Part 3: Pursuance
‘the continuance of something begun with a view to its completion’
In a campaign or acquisition mindset there are peaks of activity then it all goes dark until the next campaign.
Think about committing to your customers and the lifetime value of these relationships.
'We run our warehouse 24/7, which is actually not the most efficient way to run a warehouse, but it gets the shoes out to the customers as quickly as possible. So a lot of people will order as late as midnight and we do surprise upgrades for our weekly customers and so a lot of them end up getting it eight hours later on their door step and that just creates the whole wow experience and it drives that repeat customer and word-of-mouth behavior.' Tony Hsieh, Zappos.
A Love Supreme -‘a whole expression of one's being’.
Monday, June 08, 2009
why digital matters
This is my current 'roadshow' presentation which we take out trying to plant a few seeds amongst those who are starting to dip their toes into digital marketing/advertising. Hopefully debunking a few myths and showing that the best practice in digital marketing is essentially the same as offline.
Start with permission and purpose, then it all falls into place.
It's a featured pres of the day on slideshare, thanks to all who 'favourited' it.
Friday, June 05, 2009
9 nuggets on email marketing
Things should be a simple as possible but not any simpler, as Uncle Bert used to say.
Following these nine steps makes it as simple as possible to be able to email some people about your stuff.
If you can't be bothered with the ppt the 9 steps are:
# 1 Only send emails to people who have opted in to receive them.
# 2 Only include stuff the person has asked to hear about.
# 3 Be consistent with your mailings. Weekly, monthly – or as agreed with the recipient
# 4 Your messages should come from the name of a person. And keep it consistent.
# 5 Get the timing right. To be safe: know your customer.
# 6 To avoid spam filters ask recipients to add you to their contacts list
# 7 Always include both text and an HTML versions.
# 8 Go easy on caps or exclamation marks. They will trigger spam filters.
# 9 Encourage people to opt-in at every other touch-point.
Thursday, June 04, 2009
And not the words of one who kneels.
An important, yet often forgotten, point for marketers to note when building brand platforms, brand experiences, communications strategies, tactics and whatever, is this:
99% of the time no one really gives a shit about you.
All I care about is me.
MY opinion.
MY data.
MY privacy.
MY preference.
What's in it for ME?
Why should i pay with MY attention?
When are you going to listen to ME?
You want permission to talk to ME?
I'll only share something if it says something about ME.
If it makes ME look good, or there's a something in it for ME.
Does this product or service fit in to MY life somehow?
If I can do it MY way then I might be interested. Humans are pretty much always motivated by self-interest and selfishness, even in what seem to be acts of altruism.
Even when people choose to help others, they do so ultimately because of the personal or reputational benefits that they expect to obtain, directly or indirectly.
[The pic - poor Sid, God rest his soul - is the slide I am starting to use in pressos to illustrate]
Wednesday, June 03, 2009
herd
Mark Earls should just show this video as his next presentation and be done with it.
People like do do what other people are doing. And if it's enjoyable (and authentic - thanks Giles) in some way - and the behaviour is easy to copy - even better.
HT to @sorl for the tweet.
UPDATE: Benjamin Ellis has a more in depth analysis on this over at redcatco blog.
'the very thing that causes the majority to join, will cause the innovators to leave and go to dance with someone else'
boredom
It's a sad truth that in many organisations the marketing is actually controlled by the legal department. As a result decisions are taken (or avoidance of any meaningful decisions) based on compliance with certain internal policies, with scant recognition of what's happening out in the world.
Yet despite having nothing of value to add, a lot of money is still spent saying nothing.
The inevitable upshot of this is total boredom. For customers , employees and everyone else.
I quote this nugget from Doddsy
'...the corollary [of saying nothing, if you have nothing to say] is the redeployment of some of the time and money you would have wasted by making a song and dance about nothing. A redeployment towards examining the pressing question of why your business is so uninspiring to you, let alone your potential customers, that you find yourself having nothing to say.'
The other oracle,Guy Debord says: 'Boredom is always counter-revolutionary. Always.'
Or in a meta sense, you know the scene is very hum drum.
Tuesday, June 02, 2009
a digital media discussion starter in 9 tweets
This is the discussion part (end bit) of a pres I'm taking out to clients, or prospective clients. Whiles away 20-30 mins easily with lots of audience input.
Monday, June 01, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
Thursday, May 28, 2009
5 step structure for your presentation
Structuring presentations for maximum impact - there's plenty of theories out there - the Guy Kawasaki 10,20,30 rule is popular.
I like this one (it seems to work) for short high impact presentations, which I learned recently from an ex-film director who came in to give us a few pointers.
It's a five step plan (satisfies the first rule of blog club too - lists are good!).
It's grounded on this methodology: A.R.M.E.D.
get the party started...
A - Get their attention – big intro can do this (think: Bond movies - big action scene piques your interest before the narrative unveils, Jaws is another good one) or perhaps a controversial statement, whatever it is; make it a big bold one.
next up...
R - Make it relevant – follow up section should describe specifically why the intro piece matters to your audience.
then cut to the chase..
M - Your central message - (should contain IQ rational + EQ emotional triggers)
back it up...
E - Give an example – how have eg: competitors done this? Or how have we done this successfully for another client?
then to round up...
D - What we want them to do? (Always leave them with an action step – ie follow up with the cheque(!), or: let's all go for a beer next tuesday sorta thing)
What do you reckon?
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
any excuse
A popular parlour game amongst my fellow countrymen (Scots) - when England are involved in the World Cup - is to try and predict how many seconds into the TV commentary go by before someone mentions 1966 (usually less than a minute).
I'll have to eat my own dogfood and confess that every time Manchester United (and Sir Alex) are involved in a European final it is only a matter of a few nano-seconds before my mind wanders back to that night of May 11th 1983 in Gothenburg, and the scene of Fergie's greatest European triumph as Aberdeen destroyed Real Madrid to lift the European Cup-Winners Cup.
Good luck tonight United.
note: is it tempting fate to display this pic of Fergie with Mark McGhee, bearing in mind the managers office at AFC is currently vacant?...
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
influence vs popularity part 2
In 1967 the biggest selling (ie most popular) album of the year was More of the Monkees.
Extremely popular, but ultimately throwaway tat.
Also released in 1967 was The Velvet Underground's first album 'The Velvet Underground and Nico'.
The mighty Velvets never troubled the top 100 album chart with this, or any of their subsequent albums, but nigh on every one of the brave 10,000 or so souls who made that step and purchased went on to form their own bands or become painters, gimp gear clad whip dancers or artists of some description.
The 'influence' of the Velvets can be felt as it permeated right through much of the important non-mainstream white music from 1967 to this day. I don't need to list them here.
But the point is that the true measure of 'influence' is what happens next. How the idea propagates through networks. How people adopt an idea to go and do something with it.
But we can only identify this with hindsight.
In 1967 nobody knew that the Velvets were going to be influential. They were one of many New York groups that emerged as an antithesis to West Coast hippiedom. Their influence was only apparent later on.
...note: As a young art student in 1984 my Velvets album was a permanent 'under arm' fixture - as signal and, of course, as a 'social object'...
Influence can only measured by what people do as a result of exposure to said influence.
And it's usually only visible after-the-fact.
Case closed
influence vs popularity part 1
Without wishing to add to the never-ending noise about social network 'influence' ranking - as calculated by how many 'friends', connections one has and how many other users read and republish material - there needs to be a distinction between true influence and simply popularity.
Many self-annointed 'influencers' main point of influence seems to be the endless postings of tactics for gaining more followers on twitter. Whether the is any real value in amassing huge networks is moot. If this empire building does not propagate the spread of any purposeful idea then it's pretty meaningless.
The stamped of brands on to Twitter hoping to get celebrities to re-tweet (in the interests of 'influence') is really no different from any other bullshit celebrity endorsement in any other broadcast media (except it is 'free media' of course).
Having said that, here's a good, simple twitter influence idea from @Penguinbooks.
Penguin followers were encoraged to tweet 140char book summaries using the #shortpenguin tag and direct their tweets @penguinbooks.
Penguin then retweet the reviews to the whole network.
Why this is good...
Penguin facilitates discovery - the rest of the network see the short versions and maybe decide to investigate further - and connectivity through sharing - the potential for members of Penguin's network, ie accidental influencers, to connect with each other based on interest.
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
hungry like the wolf
Google are playing ball with Wolfram 'semantic' search thingy anyway...
Good spy by Scott in the office.
Monday, May 18, 2009
usability
I heard somewhere that here's only two questions about usability.
1. Did you get what you wanted?
2. If 'no' why not?
This weekend we went shopping down to Gunwharf Quay in Portsmouth.
This usually fills me with dread as any potential enjoyment is tempered by the two hours spent driving at 5mph round the multi story car park before we even get to the shops.
No more...
Some bright spark has made the car parking experience much more satisfying with the adittion of two simple usability measures.
fig. 1
On entering the facility a green or red light (X means full) at the side of each lane indicates how many (if any) spaces are available in said lane.
Thus heading off at the pass any pointless manouvering up and down lanes and the inevitable rage resulting from lurkers who fill up the lane waiting for spaces to become available.
fig. 2
Red (filled) or green (vacant) lights above each space indicate which spaces are free in the particular lane.
See a green light at the end? fill yer boots.
Simple bit of user friendly service positive.
Happy parkers = tills ringing in Baby gap et al.
Friday, May 15, 2009
VW YouTube mosaic
Google describes YouTube Mosaic as 'a visually impressive eye-catcher which improves the session length and exposure time of the brand channel's visitors. Therefore it makes Youtube a more attractive social media platform for brand advertisers.'
This new format has premiered on the VW branded channel to present the videos which were sent in by users for the German 'Volkswagen Movie Star Contest'.
The mosaic picture shows a red VW Golf which is build out of 400 videos (interpretations of classic moves - I've spotted Braveheart, When Harry met Sally and Terminator) that were uploaded by fans, and in which a VW car plays a leading or supporting part.
Nice bit of tech and ,of course, the now obligatory #connect with fans.
Special thanks to Michael Gross, for finder services and translating the German.
view from the trenches...
Splendid new in-office vista behind my desk courtesy of our Head of Art @trainhitsboy.
Shirt by Duffer, hair - model's own.
On the actual desk, books - model's own (apart from Chomsky, one day I'll give it back Sam...), Swearbox (au naturellement), daily reminder on why we are doing this courtesy of Gaping Void (I can't afford a print so photocopy will have to do), daily reminder of why I exist (pics of MrsP and my wee boy - blurred to protect the innocent). Emergency packet of Kool-aid also present.
I've shown you mine, now you show me yours...
David, Neil, Katy, Stan, Jamie?
If you can be arsed joining in, tag it 'view from the trenches'.
Thursday, May 14, 2009
10,000 hours to rock and roll
To reach the top of your game spend 10,000 hours honing your skills, according to Malcolm Gladwell.
The Dolls have done that (and some) - that's why they are, despite their bus pass qualifications, the kick-arsest most rock'n'rollest gang in town.
Careerist popsters take note.
Hey Jon Howard - you and me know it!
service positive
Remind me to quote spiritual rationalist, philosopher, musician, thoelogian and all round good egg, Albert Schweitzer, the next time i hear things like:
How do we exploit social media?
How do we leverage that community?
How do we target influencers?
Where is the ROI in utility and service?
"I don't know what your destiny will be, but one thing I do know: the only ones among you who will be really happy are those who have sought and found how to serve."
Wednesday, May 13, 2009
mike arauz's 5 rules for digital agencies
A new business model for digital agencies? We've been loving this article 'A new business model for digital agencies' by Mike Arauz from Undercurrent New York (seems he is a colleague of our other current fave rave, Bud Caddell).
Mike has encapsulated nicely some of the same things we have been talking about round Geronimo towers for a wee while to avoid the pitfalls of what David Armano described as 'The Wheel of Marketing Misfortune' and principally the dangers of 'death by big idea' and stuff like 'flashturbation'.
Here's his 5 point plan summarised:
Rule 1: If it can't be done quickly and cheaply, it's not an option.
...you should be able to launch up to 20 small digital experiences each week.
(me - lofty goal - but keep 'em 'on-point' and it's do-able)
Rule 2: Make a lot of pots.
'A ceramics professor comes in on the first day of class and divides the students into two sections. He tells one half of the class that their final grade will be based exclusively on the volume of their production; the more they make, the better their grade. The professor tells the other half of the class that they will be graded more traditionally, based solely on the quality of their best piece. At the end of the semester, the professor discovered that the students who were focused on making as many pots as possible also ended up creating the best pots, much better than the pots made by the students who spent all semester trying to create that one perfect pot.
(me - yep, i'll have that)
Rule 3: Sell ideas, not things.
When this agency pitches clients, you don't pitch one big idea, you pitch the first 10 small ideas...These ideas will each be designed to spread your message, attract the attention of your desired audience, build relationships, and compel action, if applicable.
(me - wahey! - totally)
Rule 4: Everything launches, the client gets to buy the hits.
No one can predict which idea is going to become and internet sensation. And not every potential hit will get approved by the client's legal or PR department. These concerns don't matter because you're going to launch every good idea you come up with...If they don't want it, the agency can either take it for themselves or kill it.
(me - straight out of 'screw it let's do it' - spot on)
Rule 5: Phase 2 - Everything is iterative.
Work on all of these select projects using an agile process, making small changes as you go. There's no finish line, there's just one improvement after another.
(me - your mantra should be 'test and learn, test and learn, test and learn...')
Tuesday, May 12, 2009
connect with fans revisited #3
When Public Enemy launched on a unsuspecting UK raver generation with 'Fight the Power' at the height of the (3rd?) Summer of Love in 1989, for many white kids outside of the bigger cities (certainly us in the north of Scotland) it was the first 'black' music we felt a direct first hand connection with.
Prior to that moment 'black' music, for me anyway, was kinda a 2nd hand experience.
Reggae via the Clash, Tamla via the Beatles, Ska via the Specials etc.
With PE there was no white equivalent.
A great ironic comedy moment in the Neil Innes Beatles 'spoof' movie 'All You Need is Cash' (featuring the Rutles) happens when the documentary reporter visits the deep south to interview delta blues legend 'Blind' Lemon Pie.
The 'blues' is described as 'black music - played mainly by whites'.
Here's a great sound bite from PE's Chuck D, talking about the fan-driven online music project Sellaband in this morning's Metro.
Sellaband allows fans to invest and connect directly with bands/artists they want to support.
'With as little as $10.00 you can support an artist and help them on their way to the recording studio. By buying a ‘Part’ for $10.00 you become a ‘Believer’ in an artist and if they make it to the studio, this first Part will make sure you receive a Limited Edition of the album you helped create.'
Shit name but great initiative.
As Kevin Kelly says in 1000 fans 'They will buy the super deluxe re-issued hi-res box set of your stuff even though they have the low-res version.'
Chuck calls these fans 'believers'.
That led me to this excerpt from Hugh MacLeod's 'Hughtrain'....
'It's no longer just enough for people to believe that your product does what it says on the label. They want to believe in you and what you do. And they'll go elsewhere if they don't.
It's not enough for the customer to love your product. They have to love your process as well.'
Connecting with fans = believers.
Friday, May 08, 2009
marketing: helping people buy?
According to Greg Verdino's blog (from a few weeks back but I'm playing catch up in google reader...) an unconfirmed source claims '..in an early usage of the word, 'marketing' referred to a service that one person performed for another person'
So an offer to 'market for you' would mean exactly that. Go to the market and get your stuff for you. Or in todays terms 'I'm nipping out to the shops. Do you want anything?'
So marketing wasn't about helping a company sell. It was about helping people buy.
Greg explains:
'If you were particularly enterprising lad or lady you might have even found a way to earn your livelihood by marketing for others. Run out to the marketplace, pick up a few things for a few people, earn a pocketful of pence and -- voila -- you, my good sir, were a marketer.'
The way the web allows people to create and share content, thoughts, feelings and product/service reviews with friends and peers has resulted in a growing importance of word of mouth/mouse in the buying process, and its only going to get more important, as we all become 'marketers'.
To quote Seth:
'The future belongs to brands who can establish a foundation and process where fans can market to each other and ignite consumer networks.'
Figuring out how to reward this attention - from the customers who 'market' for you - then becomes a nice problem to have.
Footnote:
Bloke in the comments had a nice buddhist proverb to drop
'it is what we pay attention to that grows.'
- ie we should pay attention to customers first, because if they grow, we grow, our brand grows.
Thursday, May 07, 2009
gurus of new marketing #411 John Cage
Innovation nugget from 'avant-garde' composer, and pioneer of electronic music, John Cage.
Cage is probably most famous for his prepared piano pieces (ie its sound altered by placing objects inside the piano).
everybody smash up your seats...
This is the original shot taken by Pennie Smith of Paul Simenon, smashing his bass into the stage of New York's Palladium ballroom, that became the cover of The Clash 'London Calling' album (and certainly one of the most iconic images of the era)
Ray Lowry (Clash resident 'war artist' on tour) added the pink and green lettering in homage to the first Elvis RCA album and the linage was complete.
From Elvis via The Who (smashing instruments on stage) the dots were joined.
Marketing science bit:
By 1979 punk had become defined by the convention of angry 3 min songs played fast released on 7inch singles.
The Clash responded with a double LP (for the price of a single) mixing up jazz, reggae, rockabilly and soul. Not to mention a tasty line in Fedoras and 40's gangster chic.
An easier thing to do would have been to pander to the expectations of the audience and the record label and conform to the perceived idea of what punk was about.
By not doing that they defined the punk spirit even more.
And Sandinista was still to come...
Footnote: For some stupid reason I had it in my head that the shot came from one of the shows from legendary Bonds Casino residency, but that was '81, of course.
On a recent trip to NYC I made a pilgrimage to Bonds, just off of Times Square. It's still there but is now a pizza joint.
Thanks to Bud for the spy.
UPDATE: Just found The Clash YouTube channel.
Wednesday, May 06, 2009
vid: real life twitter
Another twitter related post. Ups my twitternoise to signal ratio a bit so I promise this will be the last for a while.
Again found by Sam.
via collegehumor.com
It don’t mean a thing if it don’t mean a thing. Part 1
Couple of things about advertising/marketing via digital ‘channels’.
This will be a series of posts, possibly 10 as it’s a good number (maybe less, maybe more, we’ll see how it goes).
For those of us immersed in digital based communications (apologies for catch-all term but I can’t think of anything better) it’s second nature to strategise for digital around terms like interaction, relevance, advocacy, permission and engagement.
For others digital simply means things like display advertising, microsites, SEM and pre/post roll ads (or if you are feeling a bit more adventurous chuck in ‘viral’ video).
Many digital agencies simply turn above the line creative into banners.
They are missing the big opportunity.
We are supposed to be the ones who live and breathe this stuff.
The truth is that their clients (advertisers) are looking for leadership from their agencies. Particularly in understanding how people are using digital media. Because it’s the users themselves who are responsible for much of the innovation we see online.
Lets be clear on one point.
Online advertising was invented to serve the needs of media owners and sellers in order to monetise their spaces.
We have a duty to our paying clients to do the right things for them to solve their business problems not to solve media owners business problems.
Friday, May 01, 2009
tweet tweet biiitch
Total genius by Andy Milonakis and Koool Kojak.
Trainspotter props to Sam.
http://twitter.com/andymilonakis
http://twitter.com/kooolkojak
no fun for swiftcover
Interested to read that the ASA have given the Metallic K.O. to Swiftcover's 'Get a life' car insurance ads featuring godfather of punk, Iggy Pop.
Whoever The Idiot was that said Blah Blah Blah to the clause in the insurers policies that stated driver cover was NOT available to drivers in the entertainment business was certainly a Naughty Little Doggie.
Swift cover have now been forced to Search and Destroy all the ad material. The creative director responsible has been told 'Your Pretty Face Is Going to Hell'.
On the upside, Swiftcover have subsequently implemented some New Values which now allow the insuring of musicians. The Stooges in the product development department can now Soldier on and no-one is going to Beat 'Em Up.
You see what I did there? <= that's plenty - Editor's voice
too cool for school
Thanks to the IDM for their kind invitation to partake of their diploma in interactive marketing. The envelope arrived today.
I wonder what they think they are going to teach me about?
It certainly won't be much about the importance of:
- Value of data
- Knowledge of customer,
- Relevance of message
or Permission.
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