Category: Drew’s Articles

10 Olympic-Sized Ideas for 2010

Posted on by Drew Neisser

As Second City moved down to fourth in their failed bid to host the 2016 Olympics, President Obama elected to use a sports metaphor to soften the blow. Noted the First Chicagoan upon his return from Copenhagen, “You can play a great game and still not win.”

Looking ahead to 2010, marketers will be facing Olympic hurdles that will require steadfast agility just to stay in the game, much less to hit the finish line ahead of the competition. Here are 10 ideas, wrapped in Olympic glory that should deliver the gold.

1. Social Media: A Marathon, Not a Sprint
Hoping to become fast friends with their targets, a lot of brands rushed into Facebook and Twitter in the last 24 months without investing sufficient time or resources. In 2010, savvy marketers will increase their commitment to social media by first listening and then offering up a steady stream of engaging content that their fans actually want. This will be particularly true for B2B brands, only 38% of whom included social media in their 2008 marketing plans (vs. 71% for B2C brands). With one comScore study indicating that branded social media activities can have a multiplier effect on search results, there is even a quantifiable rationale for brands to up the social media ante in 2010.

2. Mash-Ups: Taking Inspiration from Biathlons
A few innovative marketers took a shot at mash-ups in 2009. E.P. Carrillo, a new cigar manufacturer, created a mesmerizing Twitter and Google Maps mash-up for its “coming soon” site that tracks cigar tweets from around the world. In 2010, these kinds of mash-ups will become smoking hot as marketers look to extend the value of their social media activities. Recognizing that tech-savvy consumers glide seamlessly between personal and business, online and offline, mobile and desktop, farsighted marketers will bring together formerly disparate elements into a cohesive and self-perpetuating social media experience.

3. App Happy: On Your Mark, Get Set, Go Crazy
Given the success a handful of marketers enjoyed with their “apps” in 2009, expect a blaze of new entries in 2010. iPhone apps that provide demonstrable utility like Kraft’s iFood Assistant recipe finder, Benjamin Moore’s color matcher and Zipcar’s GPS-based car finder will continue to gain traction. Expect more app’s that integrate with other social media like the Gap StyleMixer that allows you to mix and match clothes and share them with friends on Facebook. And don’t forget the non-iPhone universe. The steakhouse Maloney and Porcelli cooked up a humorous and somewhat deviant web-based app at Expense A Steak that extrudes faux expense reports with stunning verisimilitude.

4. Measure Up: Track Every Second
With more dollars earmarked for social media, marketers will undoubtedly use new tools to monitor the conversations that are happening with or without them. Radian6 and Scout Labs emerged in 2009 as two of the leading social media monitoring tools. MolsonCoors uses Radian6 to stay on top of all the banter about its major brands, allowing them to respond with remarkable speed to one of my blog posts about a Coors Light Twitter account that turned out to be unofficial. And while these tools are great, each requires a sizeable commitment by the marketer in time of staff, a commitment that can and does pay off. Just ask JetBlue who manages to enhance customer loyalty daily by responding to any and every customer Tweet within minutes, following 117,000 on Twitter, and in the process generating over 1.3 million followers.

5. POV Power: Don’t Just Talk the Talk
While lots of brands raced into social media in 2009, few established true connections with their targets. The reality is that consumers engage with brands that they like on a visceral level and that provide a distinct perspective on the world. Aflac’s Duck quacks up a gaggle of quirky content, including charitable requests that appeal to over 161,000 fans on Facebook and 3,000+ followers on Twitter. Meanwhile, Geico’s Gecko has been left in the social media dust due to its surprisingly dry (twitter.com/geico) and unresponsive (facebook.com/geico) online voice. Ironically, a brand by definition is a point-of-view that once clearly defined should guide all communications, social or otherwise.

6. Expose Yourself: Win the Crowd With Honesty
The emergence of several “tell all” consumer-created sites signals the arrival of a new era of honesty and transparency – especially for brands targeting those under 35. Sites like fmylife.com, textsfromlastnight.com and MyParentsJoinedFacebook.com reflect a generation willing to bare and share all without the least trepidation. Even the emergence of “Untag Mondays” speaks to the socially acceptable norm of posting embarrassing content that one might not want a parent or employer to see. Marketers that share this sense of honesty, that admit mistakes and address shortcomings in real-time will find a youthful army of comrades willing to do their bidding. As Comcast discovered, this kind of honesty can even transform a PR nightmare (comcastmustdie.com) into an industry-leading customer service (http://twitter.com/comcastcares.)

7. Hold the Presses: Major Comebacks are Possible
Though a 50% decline in ad pages certifies 2009 as the worst year in its history, don’t write off print as a viable media channel just yet. Over 80% of US consumers still subscribe to at least one magazine and 83% believe newspapers are still relevant. Experimenting with video in print pubs like Entertainment Weekly is but one of the ways certain magazine segments will hold onto their targets and satisfy their advertisers. Fashion magazines and enthusiast pubs continue to offer a visual showcase that is far superior to what most e-pubs can serve up. Models, both human and auto, simply look prettier in print. And while P&G shut down its 72-year-old TV soap opera Guiding Light in 2009, they are cranking up the presses with the custom published glossy, Rouge, which expects to reach a whopping 11 million North American households in 2010.

8. Go to the Video: Separate from the Pack
The emergence of viral video rankings in 2009 reflected the mainstreaming of this approach to audience engagement. While everyone and their branded brother aspired to cut through with a viral hit, surprisingly few found an audience. In 2010, marketers will undoubtedly crank out more of the same while a savvy few will worry less about mass reach and focus more on grass roots appeal, providing content that their core target really wants. B2B marketers in particular will find that using informative videos that transform the complicated into the comprehensible, like Commoncraft’s Plain English videos, will generate quality leads from grateful prospects.

9. Mobile Media: Catching Up at Last
Despite all the hype by this author and others, less than a third of marketers had a budget for mobile in 2009. In 2010, smart phone penetration should rise to at least 25% (from 17% in Q2 ‘09) making it a lot easier to deliver a rich mobile experience worthy of consumer attention. The blending of mobile and social apps like Facebook, Loop’d and Twitter has also created a new openness towards this medium.
Given the desirable demographics (18-34, HH income $75k+) of smartphone owners, at minimum, marketers should give strong consideration to creating a mobile friendly website, thus allowing prospects to engage whenever and wherever they happen to be.

10. Be Positive: Attitude is Everything
While honesty is a worthy friend to marketers, don’t forget that almost no one wants to date a Debbie Downer. A recent poll by Adweek/Harris found “relative little enthusiasm and lots of indifference for ads that refer to the downturn.” Even if the economy is slow to recover in 2010, find the silver lining for your customers and prospects with both words and actions. Like the athletes whose positive outlooks and superior skills propel them to victory, so, too, can marketers find success with an upbeat message and an unimpeachable value proposition.

May 2010 Serve You Well
While 2009 hasn’t been much fun for most marketers, there are many reasons to be optimistic about the approaching year. There are more ways than ever to engage with consumers and a new willingness from consumers to engage with brands. Marketers are showing a renewed desire to listen to their customers and offer “marketing as service” that favors the dissemination of meaningful value over disruptive messaging. So here’s to serving your customers but serving up some great marketing in 2010!

Timely Tips on Experiential Marketing

Posted on by Drew Neisser

BRANDWEEK ran an expansive special section on Experiential Marketing this week that included some pithy quotes from yours truly. Since this is a topic I tend to think a lot about, here are extensive notes from my conversation with BRANDWEEK reporter Michael Applebaum a couple of months ago.

Great experiential marketing programs

Experiential marketing comes in a lot of flavors which makes it tough to generalize what makes a program great. For some clients, it is enough to have created an engaging trial-focused experience during which the consumer consumes the product or service in a reasonably memorable fashion. For others, the ultimate goal is buzz, as measured by PR coverage, word of mouth or on occasion trade reactions. Still others seek to establish a continuing relationship with the target, so online registration becomes the ultimate measure of effectiveness. A truly great program, in my opinion, does all of the above and then some.

A truly great experiential program first and foremost is so appealing the consumer wants to engage with the brand. It is the opposite of disruptive advertising which like an unwanted door-to-door salesman intrudes into the home. Great experiential marketing is not shoving a donut in someone’s face on the street and then saying “try our bank.” To be appealing, marketers need to offer a reasonable exchange of value, during which the consumer gives up his/her time while the brand provides the experience and usually some free stuff!

Done correctly these experiences can have exponential impact which is important since 1:1 experiences can be pricey. If an experience is targeted at the right influencers, then these influencers will undoubtedly share their experiences. If the physical experience has an online component, then there is an opportunity for both WOM and a deeper relationship with that consumer. If an experience is sufficiently newsworthy, millions of other interested parties can be influenced by the event(s).

Renegade’s rules of thumb for a great experience are as follows:

  • the experience is fresh enough that the press wants to write about it;
  • the experience is relevant to the story you want to tell about the brand;
  • the experience has legs well beyond one single event and/or one single communication channel;
  • the experience is entertaining and enlightening;
  • the experience is so engaging that the consumer wants tell his/her friends about it.

This is not about just getting attention. There is an old adage in our business, “If you want attention, put a gorilla in a jockstrap and stand him on a street corner.” This is about engagement. Mutually beneficial engagement.

Lots of industries are turning to experiential marketing

Food and beverage companies are old hands at this since sampling is essential to growing their businesses. Brands like Pepsi AMP go to extreme lengths to sample their product to the right target–they handed out as many as 5 million samples this summer. Alcohol brands are creating mini-experiences in bars, clubs and restaurants with extraordinary frequency across the US. Entertainment companies like to include experiential programs in the mix often with the hope of creating a “must see” buzz prior to launch. B2B brands are also crafting experiences with greater frequency (examples available if you need them).

Lately, we’ve been noticing a lot of brands pulling from the Experiential 101 Playbook:

  • The World Record—Wise potato chips set the world record for most chips crunched at the same time at a Mets game this summer. Not exactly New York Times material but surely some pub out there besides the Guinness Book was interested.
  • The Pop-Up Store–Southwest Airline is the latest airlines to set up a pop-up in Manhattan theirs being a café-like setting in Bryant Park. Now defunct Song tried a pop-up store in 2004—unfortunately the store experience was better than the airline itself.
  • User Generated Content—a lot of experiential programs start by asking the consumer to create some kind of content. HSBC’s Soap Box and JetBlue’s Story Booth (both by JWT) ask the man on the street to provide their points-of-view. This “content” was then turned into ads and online communications. A smaller scale example comes from a small Canadian Beer Company called Okanagan Beer that challenged consumers to tell them why the brand should sponsor their events/parties. This content was then repurposed into a 360° campaign and sales jumped 30% — this is definitely on my list of “wish we’d done that.”

There are lots of ways to measure experiential marketing

As for research, there are so many different kinds of experiences and a corresponding amount of measurement tools depending on the objectives. We like to use Net Promoter Score on a pre/post basis as a measure of the experience itself. We have seen 30-40 point swings in likeliness to recommend a brand to a friend after exceptional experiences. In theory, every brand can measure the value per customer gained and/or the value of increased loyalty per customer. For example, if a brand experience makes you twice as likely to buy and/or recommend a brand, then one can compute the increase in lifetime value of that customer. That said, the math can get fuzzy pretty quickly. That’s why PR coverage is so important. Great press coverage can extend the reach of a program, making it more comparable to measuring the effectiveness of a media or PR program.

Latest trends in experiential marketing

First, mobile devices are becoming integral parts of brand experiences. An iPhone app can start an experience. An in-bar trivia contest answered via text messages can start an engagement. Mobile is part of a bigger trend to integrate technology into the experience and extend beyond the physical into the virtual world. Event experiences are often extended via Facebook and Twitter programs. Event experiences can be used to introduce on online extension, like Frito/NFL’s hunt for the most “fanatical football family.” And of course, social media is playing an ever increasing role in starting and extending brand experiences. An experiential program Renegade created for Toasted Head wine has evolved into an on-going Facebook program that keeps the faithful engaged.

Second, microevents are starting to get big. Royal Caribbean held 1000+ “Cruisitude” parties at homes of former cruisers. As I mentioned earlier, alcohol brands are hosting small events at bars almost nightly to engage their targets.

Where to start

Marketers are best to start with “the why,” not “the how.” If they know why they want to create experiences then it is much easier to figure out the how. If trial is key, then the experience can be built around that. If they are doing it to stretch marketing dollars, then getting buzz & PR should probably be the top priority. From there, we recommend marketers focus on “the do,” not “the say.” What is it that you can do for your target that will make them want to engage with you? Sometimes “the do” is just free stuff but often “the do” can be more substantial. Sports car owners like to drive fast but rarely get to do it legally. “The do” for BMW was a Performance Driving School for its customers. Road warriors scamper about airports looking for places to charge their gear. “The do” for Samsung was charging stations in airport terminals.

Looking to Rebrand? Learn from Obama.

Posted on by Drew Neisser

Co-authored by Dick Bondy, this article first ran on iMediaConnection.com.

The lessons of the “rags to riches” Obama campaign continue to inspire marketers of all disciplines; even those involved in corporate rebranding and launch events. Having looked at the general lessons that I describe in In-bound from Obama: 10 Ideas for 2009, this article applies the Obama playbook to the launch of a new corporate brand and is based on interviews, conducted by Dick Bondy, with communications leaders at major corporations including Xerox, ArcelorMittal, Grant Thornton and Thomson Reuters among others.

Stand for Something
Obama combined a simple, rational message – Change, with an emotional and empowering call to action – Yes we can. Competing candidates quickly adopted the change mantra but Obama’s status as an outsider and the fact that he was there first, rendered his positioning unassailable. Allen Adamson, Managing Director of Landor Associates, NY, writes, “The most successful brands today are based on ideas that are not just different and relevant, but simple.” Johnson Controls, in their 2007 rebranding, adopted a simple tagline, “Ingenuity Welcome” – a signal to customers, prospects, current and future employees. And they followed this up with an annual “Ingenuity Day” devoted to new product brainstorming by all employees. Smith & Nephew, the British medical products conglomerate, restructured and identified their mission as “helping people regain their lives by repairing and healing the human body.” When AkzoNobel rebranded after the ’08 acquisition of ICI, they identified the simple and clear goal of becoming “one company in one year.”

Capture and Empower Your Fan Base
Obama broke new ground for a political candidate by his use of the web to build a database of supporters and to engage them in a conversation, ultimately using his disciples to spread his message. Deloitte Touche recently encouraged employees worldwide to create short videos on what Deloitte means to them. The Deloitte Film Festival, resulted in 370 videos, created by employees at all levels of the firm, engaging more than 1,200 participants. This initiative substantially strengthened the firm’s global community. Released to YouTube, the films introduce the firm to potential young employees in a uniquely relevant way.

Turn on the Videos
YouTube was a vital medium for Obama’s campaign, and continues after inauguration – the weekly Presidential address, traditionally on radio, is now a video released to YouTube and also available on the White House website. Not many corporations have used the internet to support a rebranding, but when the 2007 ArcelorMittal merger created the world’s largest steel company it was necessary to quickly create a dialogue with 330,000 employees in 60 countries, to allay concerns and maintain focus on the business, during the five months required to build and launch the new brand. The web played a key role, hosting ArcelorMittalTV.com – a series of 12 films featuring employees raising questions/concerns about the merger, the new company’s mission, and business strategies going forward. Management addressed questions in a blog accompanying each video episode. The video series is available on YouTube for the public as well, and has been downloaded at the rate of 15,000 per day.

Lighten Things Up
Obama’s campaign was notable for its sense of humor, in many cases, forcing his opponents on to the late night talk circuit, to their comparative disadvantage. Levity hasn’t played much of a role in recent rebrandings but two companies have staged launch events in a decentralized way that encourages employee creativity and cements their relationship to the new brand. Both Grant Thornton and Johnson Controls faced the need to foster greater collaboration between offices across the world and encourage consistent use of the new corporate identity. Rather than a single, corporate-staged brand launch, these firms had each office create their own event, with HQ providing only identity guidelines and materials. From office to office, there were cakes baked featuring the new logo; people arrived at work dressed in the corporate colors; offices were painted in the corporate palette; flag raisings and tent meetings were held. In both cases, the ceremonies were videoed and edited into a corporate film distributed back to all employees on the websites. No doubt the freedom of each office to incorporate levity, local customs and cultures, helped to build relevance for the corporate brand.

Touch Your Target
Inclusive events and personal conversations were also hallmarks of the Obama campaign. Corporate communicators ignore the power of one-on-one communication at their peril, when projecting a new brand and mission. Several of the companies in my study went to extraordinary lengths to connect to the broad employee base. There’s no better example than CEC Bank – the former Romanian state banking monopoly, rebranded in 2008 to compete with global banks for the first time. In order to introduce employees to the general concept of a brand, let alone CEC’s own brand, there were engagement sessions averaging 15 hours with all 6,700 of the bank’s employees, as well as their union’s officials. After the Thomson Reuters rebranding was broadcast around the world by satellite, CEO, Tom Glocer embarked on a 30-day world tour. The primary objective – speak with employees about the goal of “One Company in one Year”. Likewise, after Rockwell Collins introduced its new brand, Dave Yeoman, Director of Corporate Communications, held informal, brown bag lunches with employees in his travels to company facilities around the world.

Measure Green, Make Green
Clearly the Obama campaign benefited from the support of environmentalists. Every organization is being judged by its sustainability. Outside of companies whose business is the environment (BP, GE, etc.) this is an area that has been largely ignored in corporate rebranding events. A few bright spots: Smith & Nephew, in its rebranding, shipped flat corrugated boxes, printed with the new brand identity elements, to all offices, to be assembled and displayed on site – a cost and energy saving tactic. Of course, Grant Thornton and Johnson Controls’ locally staged events saved the energy that would have been required to send large groups of employees to central locations. The same with CSC, which used a “follow the sun” strategy to launch their brand, country by country, at noon in each time zone. But by in large, environmental concerns have not been at the forefront when launching new corporate brands. No doubt this will change.

Do Well by Doing Good
Obama raised unprecedented sums by convincing millions to “give a little money for the cause of change” making people feel they were part of a “movement.” With this as a backdrop, it has never been clearer that social responsibility will increasingly drive consumer loyalty. The launch of a new identity is an excellent opportunity to communicate the corporate mission and vision by incorporating strategic social responsibility. I haven’t seen this done yet. Perhaps Smith & Nephew, (“Helping people regain their lives by repairing and healing the human body.”) could initiate a program to donate artificial joints to people in need, and involve employees as well. Or Johnson Controls could donate thermostats to Habitat for Humanity. No matter what the corporate mission, there is an opportunity to use charity as a strategic reinforcement of the brand position. This should be baked into every brand launch.

Define your Value
Corporations, just like political candidates, increasingly need to define their value in simple, unambiguous terms. This is job number one for every corporate rebranding. Of the recent examples, Thomson Reuters illustrates this best. Their value proposition is the transformation of an increasing amount of raw information into “intelligent information” for professionals and businesses. As their advertising tagline describes it, “Information to Act”. The nexus of their brand launch was Times Square, arguably the most chaotic place on earth. The identity reveal, on six Jumbotron screens, created the new logo out of a random array of swirling shapes, metaphorically creating order out of chaos – transforming information to “intelligent information.

Spend it if You’ve Got It
The current economy, while producing fear in most marketers, provides ample opportunity to those with relevant, differentiated positions, willing to take advantage of retreating competition. When a company rebrands, it’s a mistake to downplay the launch event in an effort to conserve budget. The launch event is key to the success of a corporate rebranding. It serves as a platform for management to inspire and lead. It can signal the promise of a merger or acquisition. It can help capitalize on a strategic shift, and set the tone to guide relationships between a corporation, its employees and customers. But, no matter how skillfully crafted the strategy and design of the new identity, without a well thought-out and executed launch, the message sent can be quite the opposite of what is intended.

About the Authors…
Dick Bondy and Drew Neisser met “100” years ago when they both worked at Lord, Geller, Federico & Einstein. Since then, Dick has focused on B2B marketing and become a leading expert in corporate rebranding and their accompanying launch events. Drew has focused on more non-traditional marketing approaches, founding Renegade in 1996, the company he now owns and continues to helm. You can reach them at dickbondy@gmail.com and dneisser@rengade.com.

Drinking in Social Media

Posted on by Drew Neisser

This article first appeared in Chief Marketer on January 12, 2009:

The word “liaise” is about as common in the U.S. as are reports of successful marketing efforts on Facebook and MySpace. To succeed in social media, brands would be wise to LIAISE, a word first coined by our genteel and cultivated cousins across the pond in the 1920’s. By definition, liaise means “to communicate and maintain contact with,” the fundamental goal of marketing on social networks. Modern synonyms like “link up” and “hook up” bring the word even closer to home. To tighten the connection, LIAISE becomes an acronym for a six-step process to connect with consumers via social media: Listen, Identify, Activate, Integrate, Socialize, Evaluate.

1. Listen

Listening to your customers is a marketing “no brainer” that seems to fall on deaf ears when it comes to social networks. Heavy-handed product messages are simply ignored on Facebook to the point that IDC labeled social advertising “stillborn” and Seth Goldstein of SocialMedia Networks wrote that banner ads are “universally disregarded.”

Bacardi found success on Facebook after customer research revealed its Mojito campaign had become wildly popular. Extending this campaign effectively meant engaging Facebookers via the Bacardi Mojito Party widget. This useful and entertaining application included a Mojito Cocktail Calculator and a game that allowed users to become bartenders. According to its creators, Buddy Media, over 100,000 adult Facebook members installed the “app-vertisment” in the first week.

2. Identify
Most of us come to realize at an early age that not everyone wants to be our friend. Painful as this may sound for mass brands, the same is true for marketers on social networks. Rather than fight this reality, savvy marketers will look at social networks as a unique opportunity to connect with well-defined micro-targets.

Absolut focused on aspiring bartenders with an application that connected Facebookers to a reality TV show called “On The Rocks: The Search for America’s Top Bartender.” To support the search, Absolute created a “Top Bartender” application that first served as a casting /bartender registration tool, and then enabled users to become an absolute bartender ‘fan,’ vote for their favorite bartender featured in the series, share photos, videos and post on the bartender wall.

3. Activate
A whole lot of marketers have fallen down and not gotten up again when they dropped into social networks ads first. Disappointed, they walk away not knowing in this case “A” is for Activate and not Advertise. To effectively leverage social platforms, marketers need to activate community by creating something of value that is either highly entertaining or extremely useful.

Bud Light found success by going the entertainment route. Their “Decode Your Dudeness” application on Facebook was a hilarious progression of silly photos requiring one to make a choice each time. At the end of the quiz, Bud Light fans scored a customized ”Dudeness” rating that was equally humorous and highly viral. Bud Light found a way to activate that was true to their brand and worthy of sharing with a friend (hmm, just like a nice cold beer.)

4. Integrate
One of the quickest ways to be anti-social is to think of your social media effort as a stand-alone program. This is the equivalent of planning a big party down to the last detail and then neglecting to send out invitations. Having an integrated effort that extends the engagement both within and beyond your social media partners is a sure fire way to get the party started.

Beck’s relatively fresh “Different By Choice” campaign includes a strong social media component that is surrounded by traditional advertising. “The Daily Different” blog features comedian Darius Davies as the content curator, and so far, the content is indeed different and entertaining. And the Beck’s wiki invites consumers to add and develop the brand’s story in a unique fashion. It remains to be seen whether the promised arrival of Darius on Facebook and YouTube will attract a crowd, but the consistently integrated approach of the overall campaign certainly gives it a fighting chance.

5. Socialize
Social media campaigns should not be confused with “pop-up stores” that come and go in a New York minute. Like good friendships they need to be cultivated over time. And like a great hostess, marketers need to truly socialize, working the room, offering a range of entertainment options to ensure that all of their “friends” continue to have a great time.

For Absolut, the InAnAbsolutWorld.com website, acted as a platform for social interaction, inviting consumers to share, request, vote for, and blog about their vision for a ‘perfect world.’ Tools for engagement were provided for users to create and upload images, films, words and sounds that depict their visions of an ABSOLUT world – you can even download desktop wallpaper for your favorite vision. The website also housed videos of celebs and artists’ visions [Kanye West] of an Absolut world.

6. Evaluate
It is generally ill advised to request a conjugal relationship from someone you’ve never even talked to. Nonetheless, marketer’s eager to close the sale are consistently disappointed that they couldn’t do so via social media. When evaluating the effects of your social media campaign, it is important to have realistic expectations and measure everything from “friends” gained to application downloads to time with brand to website traffic and yes, even sales if the romance period was sufficient.

Bud Light’s “Decode Your Dude” quiz was the most downloaded application on Facebook during the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament. The original ‘Dude’ spot has been viewed more than 2 million times on YouTube alone, and the four ads have been viewed more than 13.5 million times from sites like YouTube, MSN.com, break.com and MySpace.

To sum up, while many brands are keen to make “friends” via social networks, few are willing to take the time to learn this new channel and treat it with the requisite finesse. These brands are like drunken sailors who charge into a bar shouting, “who wants to dance?” When no one responds they get testy and proclaim, “This place is useless.” By adding LIAISE to their repertoire, marketers can drink in the potential of social media.

Renegade on Guerrilla Marketing

Posted on by Drew Neisser

Today’s issue of BRANDWEEK provided a rather scaled back overview of 2008 Guerrilla Marketing which included a short and sweet quote from yours truly. Given the brevity of the article, I thought I’d post my full interview notes.

BW: Can you see the current economic downturn as having a direct effect on guerrilla marketing either how it’s done, its frequency of use, or anything else?

DN: Here’s the good news, our phone is ringing off the hook from clients looking to gain more impact out of limited resources. The bad news is that when they say “limited” they really mean next to nothing so its getting a lot harder to manage expectations! One huge change is the number of clients requesting “social media” and/or viral marketing programs. There is a clear perception in the marketplace that these non-traditional approaches could have exponential impact for the dollars invested. Undoubtedly, when dollars get short, clients will look for innovative ways to cut through.

BW: Aside from the recession, are there any big trends affecting guerrilla marketing that you’re seeing?

DN: Several. Consumers are increasingly savvy and resilient to street team activity. Unless you are offering a clear value proposition (like cool free stuff) or have a truly entertaining “show,” consumers will simply ignore your efforts. Today more than ever, guerrilla marketing needs to deliver a demonstrable exchange of value. The same holds true for online guerrilla efforts. As many wishful thinking viral video producers have discovered, very few videos actually get discovered and most of those are consumer generated versus corporate creations. In the “wild west” of viral, slick messages rarely cut it. Consumers find the genuine, the raw, the crazy, far more appealing than the slick, the packaged or the profound.

BW: In the age of the iPod, with people so shut off from normal streetawareness, is guerrilla marketing less effective than it used to be? I mean, not too long ago, a pedestrian might be wearing a Walkman, but in general he or she was pretty plugged in to the street landscape. But these days, thanks to digital devices like cell phones and iPods, you can hermetically seal yourself in a world of your choosing, even as you walk around. Does that theoretically render guerrilla marketing less effective?

DN: First, let me note that we consider guerrilla marketing to be broader than street team stuff. Like the man who first defined the term, Jay Conrad Levinson, we consider guerrilla marketing to be a mindset that overcomes a lack of funds with resourcefulness and innovation. Under that definition, guerrilla marketing is constantly evolving, addressing the realities of changes in consumer behavior. To be effective, guerrilla marketing has to be more than disruptive. It has to be appealing enough that someone in a walking cocoon actually wants to stop and engage. Ironically, guerrilla approaches actually have an advantage these days over traditional TV advertising which are getting zapped before they even get a chance to be seen. Guerrilla marketers are figuring out how to engage consumers with all their devices, such as having billboards that interact with mobile devices, etc. Also, for many “too hip for ad” brands, the guerrilla medium is the message. These brands can’t be seen as selling out by doing mainstream advertising and instead present themselves in ways that are as fresh as the brand and the target themselves. Street art, viral videos, widgets and on-premise stunts all fall into the “we’re cool cats” category.

All that said, consumers are more savvy about all types of marketing these days. The bar is higher for everyone. True engagement requires a fresh idea regardless of the medium. If people are wearing headphones, guerrilla marketers need to offer music to their ears, literally or physically.

In-Bound from Obama: 10 Ideas for 2009

Posted on by Drew Neisser

If you think the marketing challenges of 2009 look daunting, imagine for a moment you were Barack Hussein Obama back in 2007. Being an unknown, untested, awkwardly-named black man with limited resources going against one of the biggest brand names in Democratic politics, you’d hardly anticipate a victory in the playoffs, much less a win in the finals. Yet, that is exactly what happened. Obama’s remarkable success offers a clear and prescient 10-point playbook for marketers who want to beat the odds in 2009.

Stand for Something
Knowing that 70% of the country thought the government was headed in the wrong direction, Obama offered a simple, consistent and rational message: “change.” He coupled that with an empowering and emotional call to action, “yes we can.” By appealing to both the rational desire for change and the emotional need for hope, Obama presented his brand as a movement and embraced the notion that former P&G CMO Jim Stengel calls “purpose-based marketing.” As the game gets rougher in 2009 and resources tighter, clarifying your purpose as a brand will be that much more significant. It will help you keep communications on point, your internal team inspired and your target more inclined to cast their vote for your brand.

Capture Your Fan Base
President-elect Obama’s use of the internet to build his fan base was unprecedented by all measures. As of November 4th, his website database included over 3 million hard-core fans that not only contributed millions in campaign funding but also volunteered to make calls, send emails and knock on doors. Members received a steady stream of emails including video, with specific calls to action keeping the fans motivated and on-point. He even had over 128,000 tweets tracking him via Twitter.

In what may be an historic use of email, he reached out to this group before his acceptance speech noting “I’m about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first.” This legion of supporters was ready for mobilization at a click of a mouse, something that any marketer could find invaluable. While the notion of building a large database of users is not new, the importance of having such a base is compounded in a weak economy since email can be so cost effective at driving sales, word-of-mouth and loyalty. Make it a priority in 2009 to build an army of followers.

Empower Your Fan Base
Some marketing pundits are calling Obama’s campaign the first to truly apply web 2.0 techniques to the presidential race. According to exit polls, Obama won nearly 70% of the under 25 vote, a share percentage that any marketer would covet. If you haven’t looked at My.BarackObama.com, I highly recommend you take a tour (for a short cut watch the introductory video) and imagine this was your customer loyalty program. Then pop over to Facebook and MySpace, where Obama gathered over 4 million combined supporters, and imagine that this was how your brand leveraged social networks.

The key will be to truly engage your target, inviting them to join a conversation versus peddling your wares. If you do it right, at least 1 in 4 social networkers will gladly download branded content and 1 in 5 will post marketer-related content on their home page. One way or another, be sure to cast your marketing vote for social media in 2009.

Turn on the Videos
This campaign inspired unprecedented levels of online video viewing. On YouTube alone there were over 30 million views of Obama-related videos including the Yes We Can music video (14mm), Obama Girl (12.1mm) and his interview on Ellen (4.8mm). And of course millions more watched the highly damaging interview of Sarah Palin by Katie Couric.

While few brands can hope to gain this kind of following for their videos on YouTube, marketers would be remiss not to create them and use the videos for a variety of purposes from sales presentations to PR, online ads to viral. If you can get you fans to create the videos via user generated content programs, all the better. If not, be sure to keep your production costs low so you have some money to drive “seed” traffic.

Lighten Things Up
One of the more remarkable aspects of the Obama campaign is how he never lost his cool and in fact found moments for levity throughout. His appearance on Letterman a week before the election showed his lighter side as they laughed about Sarah Palin’s “lipstick on a pig” line. Not that Obama can take credit for it but I’m sure he is grateful to Tina Fey and the folks at Saturday Night Live who brilliantly lampooned Palin to the point that her only hope was to face the SNL camera directly—which of course was too little too late.

The point of all this is that comedy is still king and, as marketers, we need to keep things light especially in this dark economic period. Even typically serious B2B companies can find a place for humor. Tibco’s hilarious Greg The Architect video series has helped them connect with IT professionals who welcome a break from endless coding and relentlessly boring vendor pitches.

Touch Your Target
Despite all the success of his emails and videos, Obama never forgot the importance of the meet and greet. His campaign went to extraordinary lengths to have personal conversations with millions of Americans. His events were inclusive versus exclusive, holding his nomination acceptance speech at INVESCO Field in Denver and his victory speech at Grant Park in Chicago.

With budgets declining and the “stay at home economy” emerging, marketers might be inclined to rely on advertising and cut back on event/experiential marketing. This would be a mistake. Savvy marketers like Dress Barn have figured out that their customers actually want to get out of their homes and connect with their friends, which explains why Dress Barn’s in-store Very Indulgent Parties are so popular they are struggling to get them all on the calendar in each of their markets.

Measure Green, Make Green
While the economy was clearly the focus of the presidential campaign, during the primaries Obama credited the support of environmentalists who among others helped push him to victory. The Obama-Biden “New Energy for America” plan is an aggressive call for all companies to examine their carbon footprint and do something about it.

Expect to hear more about “supply chain environmentalism” which calls for marketers not only to consider what goes into their products but also to track the environmental impact of their entire supply chains. This in turn will create opportunities for companies like Enviance, whose software helps large companies measure and track emissions, and sites like GoodGuide.com, which rates products by their “greenness.” Green-savvy marketers will make the tracking of their environmental initiatives transparent, which will appeal to shareholders, regulators and potential consumers.

Do Well by Doing Good
The Obama campaign enlisted millions to give a little money for the cause of “change.” People stepped up because they felt part of something bigger than themselves. Now with donations to non-profits declining in lock step with the tanking economy, marketers have a unique opportunity to step up and show consumers they care about more than just sales, and prove that they are concerned with the well being of the community.

A recent PR Week study shows a close relationship between consumer perception and corporate social responsibility—companies that are well known for doing good have stronger word of mouth and more loyal customers. For example, 63% of Americans claim to have purchased a product because of a charitable association with the brand. The key is to pick a non-profit that makes sense for your organization, get employees involved and to make the support meaningful like Home Depot’s commitment to Habitat for Humanity to whom it is donating $30 million for a national green building project called “Partners in Sustainable Building.”

Define your Value
Taxes remained a dirty word in the 2008 presidential race as rising unemployment and falling home prices led to tightened pocketbooks. Marketers are facing a newly chastened non-consuming consumer with 65% of moms eliminating purchases that aren’t “absolutely necessary” and 52% who are just plain “cutting back” according to an Allen & Gerritsen study. It’s gotten so bad that orders for mall Santa Clauses are down 50% from 2007.

Few consumer-dependent companies can hope to thrive is this environment, but those with a clear value proposition will do less poorly. Wal-Mart is still seeing modest year-on-year increases, no doubt because of their clear value position. Starbucks, once an affordable luxury, has suddenly become an expensive afterthought. To compete in this dismal economy, your value proposition will be tested like never before as businesses and consumers ask, “Do I really need that?”

Spend It if You Got It
Ultimately, Obama ended up with the largest war chest in history, outspending McCain in some markets by as much as 4 to 1. In a zero sum game like politics, where the loser goes home, there is no holding back and you spend every last penny you raise (and then some.) Marketers, on the other hand, need to align their budgets with sales goals and make the most of what they’ve got. Ironically, with so many marketers cutting back, there are rare opportunities: from inexpensive sponsorships to remnant ad space both offline and online. Even search prices are expected to soften.

Category leaders will use this downturn to increase their share and upstart innovators will take advantage of retreating competition. Opportunity abounds for those marketers who classify marketing as an investment for their future, who believe that regardless of the short-term economic obstacles, brands will be built and history will be made.