From the interns at CP+B, courtesy of @bogusky.
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My 10 year old blog that I don't update often.
But keep because it's where I've stored so many things I often refer back to.
From the interns at CP+B, courtesy of @bogusky.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kcyZhe2RnQk&w=450&h=340]
[Update: I've changed the title of this post to more accurately reflect the subject matter]
Heresy, I know, to even ask that question in 2009.
I'm not sure where I'm going here, but let's see where I land ...
Before I go on, a question: Do you do your own taxes? More on that later.
Legendarymarketers of yore [both fake and real] – the Don Drapers and Berry Gordys of the world – must be shocked at the power shift in the consumer-brand dynamic.
Draper eschewed market research for his own instinct – that’s what he was paid for. And do you think Gordy – the genius behind Motown – would have considered even for a second consulting Twitter as he was developing The Jackson 5, Smokey Robinson or The Supremes? What Gordy might ask, do everyday people know about picking a single? Next thing you know they'll want to name the album and decide what Diana wears on stage.
But something’s changed on Madison Avenue. A prolonged recession combined with the rise of social media seems to have put the destiny and direction of brands in the hands of a vocal few.
Let me make one thing clear: I have embraced social media – both personally and professionally – as much as anyone . Suffice it to say, I agree with those who see it as one of the biggest sea changes of our time. What’s more, I think it is absolutely incredible how social media has facilitated a dialog between brands/fans, and between fans/fans.
At the same time, I love brands – big, sexy, authoritative brands that command my attention. Nike, Apple, Levi's, U2 to name just a few. And what’s more, I’ve had the pleasure of meeting many talented, smart and dedicated brand gatekeepers (i.e. brand managers) – a good brand manager is a true asset to any organization. And the brand manager of the future - folks like Dave Knox - will drive marketing innovation for years to come.
So we’re all clear … Ian loves social media and brands, and certainly their intersection. This is not an indictment on either. But I am somewhat conflicted about the direction in which things are moving.
Here’s the rub … brands [and actually, not the ones listed above] seem, well, scared of their customers these days. And the resulting action of that fear is not always positive. Some examples that immediately come to mind:
So here’s my conflict: I love the new dialog. I love the new accountability. I love the new consumer empowerment. But what I don’t love:
So what's the solution? Heck, I'm not even sure I've articulated the problem. But I go back to my question: Do you do your own taxes? I don’t. I understand the theory, and I’m sure I could power my way through a 1040. Yet I choose to pay an accountant to do them for me. Why? Because an accountant has developed muscles that make them more adept than the average person at effectively preparing a tax return.
Brands posses a unique skill in bringing a product to market – I would love to see them start flexing that muscle again. Maybe I'm a romantic - maybe the era of great brands is coming to an end. Or maybe, as Noah Brier might say [and I don't want to put words in his mouth] a brand is no longer what it says it is, but rather what we perceive it to be. If that's the case, maybe brands are right to bow to every complaint, every outcry, every Twitter storm ... if that's what it takes to manage perceptions.
Thoughts? Comments?
[I wrote this for the Ogilvy PR travel and tourism blog, and thought it had some relevance here]
I recently read on Springwise about a nice promotion from Omni Hotels called Omni Flips for Summer. From Springwise …
… families staying at any of the chain’s hotels and resorts in North America can borrow a pocket-sized video camcorder for free and use it to record their most memorable moments. The camcorder provided is the new Flip Ultra video camcorder, launched this spring by Pure Digital, and it’s available to guests who purchase any “Omni Flips for Summer” weekend package … When their weekend filming is complete, guests can upload their video memories to their own laptop or use the Omni Hotels Business Center at no charge to transfer the footage to a thumb drive to take home. Guests are also encouraged to upload a three-minute video to Omni’s Local Scoop social networking website as part of the Omni Flips for Summer Video Contest, the winner of which—announced in September—will get a free trip for four to the Omni Bedford Springs Resort in Pennsylvania.
In the last few years hotels have become a very attractive environment for brands to reach their targets. In my experience, here are a few things brands should keep in mind when partnering with hotels:
So what else should go on this list?
I love Yahoo! Just as much as the guys below.
I've had a MyYahoo page for as long as I can remember, and it's still my home page at work and home. I was a big Terry Semel fan. I've had Yahoo! email addresses for years, and have no plans to switch to Gmail. Yahoo! is where I first learned about RSS. I've partnered with Yahoo! at previous jobs. I've bought and sold YHOO a few times over, and while I don't own it now, think it's available at a great price.
So I was terribly excited to see AdAge's headline, What Would You Do to Fix Yahoo, a story asking industry experts and readers for their suggestions on how to fix Yahoo!
I'm not going to judge their suggestions, but let's just say I wasn't terribly inspired by most of the ideas, which included: owning fun, changing corporate colors from purple to red, changing the name of MyYahoo to YaYou and others.
If you've read this blog for long enough you'll know that I'm not going to sit here and claim to have the answers. Heck, I just read the article about five minutes ago and haven't really thought about it.
But here's what I do know ... the fact that not one branding or marketing expert mentioned Flickr or Delicious in the AdAge article is a huge problem. Even worse, that consumers have no idea that Yahoo! owns two of the most trafficked, important and just plain awesome online communities.
Whatever Yahoo's! fix is, I promise you it involves integrating its core search and email functionality with the best-in-class Flickr and the highly utilitarian Delicious.
Would love to hear your suggestions. And if anyone from Yahoo! reads this, I am happy to serve as a beta tester!
While I find ESPN's Tour De France site lacking [namely, as the opening time trial was taking place there was nowhere on the site to follow finish times!], the ad for FRS Healthy Energy tucked away on the right hand column fits in perfectly with the site ... as if it's an editorial module.
This is a deck I created in September of 2003, back in my entrepreneurial days.
Get past the horrific slides (a .PPT ninja I'm not).
Focus on the basic premise ... pretty close to what specialized branded entertainment agencies are pitching today (6 years later).
Since there's nothing I can do with this deck now, I figured I would share it for the benefit of any brand managers interested in getting into the branded entertainment game ... for one very specific reason:
When your big (and possibly expensive) agency pitches you on their big idea, show them this terrible ugly deck, created by one young guy in his NYC apartment nearly 6 years ago.
Is their big idea significantly more innovative than what's in here, or are they selling you the same pre-packaged programs that have been around forever?
And if their version of innovation is tossing around the term "webisode," tell them about all the awards BMW and Fallon won for that idea in 2002.
I'm not saying I ever had, or currently have the answers. Just sharing ...
Why I shouldn't love them: They sell shoes. And mostly shoes I could find in a million and one other places.
Why I do: They are simple, fast, attentive.
What you can learn from my love: Even if you are a box pusher, you can create brand love around superior customer service.
Why I shouldn't love them: Um, they make creams and lotions.
Why I do: They've recognized that men prefer different packaging than women. I have no problems with my Kiehl's facial Fuel sitting on my bathroom counter.
What you can learn from my love: Not all customers are created equal. Cater to our specific needs, and we'll reward you with purchases and WOM (this post is a good example).
Why I shouldn't love them: They were kicked around by investors and marketing analysts alike in the late 90s and early 00s. It would have been easy to pile on.
Why I do: They've bucked the designer jean trend ... the $50 501 is still a thing of beauty.
What you can learn from my love: Leveraging your status as a "classic" is a good thing, as long as you don't come off as "old".
Why I shouldn't love them: No iTunes distribution.
Why I do: Love Me Do, Let It Be, Help ... just to name a few.
What you can learn from my love: Content is king.
Why I shouldn't love them: 100+ years of misery, and historically owned by a company that seemed to care less about fielding a competitive team than a good TV deal.
Why I do: Wrigley Field is a shrine unlike any other.
What you can learn from my love: It's not always about being the biggest and baddest, but rather about your providing the best all-around experience for your customers.
Right or wrong, as a marketer [and perhaps particularly as someone on the agency side] I feel self-imposed restraint about what I can/can't say in the public eye of social media. Both in the content of what I put out and the tone in which I convey it.
Why?
How does this affect/restrain my social media behavior?
Don't get me wrong ... I have opinions. Strong ones. But I express them in other ways than in the public eye.
Do you think I'm taking the easy way out? Do you have any of the same concerns? Would love to hear your POV.
[This post originally appeared on Ogilvy PR's travel and toursim blog, Being There Doing That]
Bob Marley is a legendary singer/songwriter, unmatched political activist, but also arguably the world’s best known lover of sensimillia and a prolific producer of children (12 in all … three with Rita, two adopted, seven with separate women).
Iggy Pop was the dynamic front man for The Stooges (and later a solo artist), but also was know for his on-stage antics including self-mutilation, audience abuse and stage diving (not to mention his legendary drug habit).
On paper neither Marley nor Pop are the celebrities who immediately come to mind as corporate pitch men. Yet Marley – 28 years after his death – is still very much the voice of Jamaica tourism; and Pop’s “Lust for Life” has been the soundtrack of Royal Caribbean commercials for the better part of the decade.
In a world where brands go to great lengths to protect and promote a reputation, what gives?
Bob Marley put Jamaica on the tourism map (some would argue Chris Blackwell, the legendary founder of Island Records, put Marley, and therefore Jamaica, on the map). Marley and Jamaica are – and always will be – inextricably linked. Don't you agree that most travelers to Jamaica come to experience the Marley lifestyle (whatever that entails)? As the island’s most famous son (Legend alone has sold upwards of 20 million worldwide), it would be a huge miss if Jamaica didn’t feature him in their outreach.
The Royal Caribbean case is a bit trickier. There's some online chatter questioning the choice of Pop’s song for a family-friendly brand. But I’m of the mind that (1) Iggy Pop was never a household name and (2) “Lust for Life,” at least in the US, was never a “hit” song (according to Wikipedia “Lust for Life” reached #28 in the UK Albums Chart and peaked at #120 on the Billboard charts in US). I doubt that beyond a small percentage of the population, Pop has a lot of relevance. And while the bulk of the lyrics are PG-13, the refrain, I’ve got a lust for life, works for Royal Caribbean (both lyrically and energetically).
Many brands use music from well-known artists to market their product/service (it makes particular sense for travel services and destinations as music can immediately convey a lifestyle or feeling) . And with the music industry in a rough state, bands will continue to aggressively license their work for compensation. Some fans consider this selling out. I think most bands consider this lunch money. Four immediate lessons come to mind for brands considering this route (it should be noted that I spent a few years in the music business, at a label, several small agencies and as a consultant for brands looking to connect with bands):
For no reason other than curiosity I decided to look up the Twitter feeds for the corporate names of the top 20 brands on Interbrand's Best Global Brands list.
As you can see, a combination of squatters, locked accounts, actual people who happen to share a name with a brand, and the occasional brand actually using their Twitter name (Intel and Google).
Clearly not scientific. I'm sure many of these brands have accounts under different names (e.g. a brand name within their portfolio) or use a shortened version of their corporate name (e.g. Coke v Coca Cola). But it is uncanny to look at them all in one place.
Not sure what to make of this, but I am struck by the lack of activity.
Thoughts? Opportunities? Observations? Warnings? Anyone from these brands care to comment - I'm sure readers would be interested to hear (1) if you own your own name and (2) if you have any plans for it.
My previous posts on digital holograms proved pretty popular [here, here, here]. So when I stumbled on this from Verizon Wireless + Nokia + Star Trek I figured it was worth a shout out. I can't claim to understand what Verizon or Nokia have to do with the new Star Trek film, but that's another post for another blogger.
Go to the Star Trek promotional site - the instructions are very simple.
TIP: Rather than print the .PDF take a picture of it on your cell phone. I used the rather substandard iPhone camera, which worked fine.
There's a good read at the New York Times about the impact looks have on perceptions.
Of course the story is pegged to Susan Boyle, who's got NOTHING on Joe Cocker and Janice Joplin in the Oh my god I can't believe that voice belongs to that person category.
This quote caught my eye ...
Indeed, attractiveness is one thing that can make stereotypes self-fulfilling and reinforcing. Attractive people are “credited with being socially skilled,” Professor Fiske said, and maybe they are, because “if you’re beautiful or handsome, people laugh at your jokes and interact with you in such a way that it’s easy to be socially skilled.”
I see this play out in social media all the time ... people manipulate their "about me" or bio pics to make themselves attractive, provocative and interesting - perhaps more so than they really are.
I don't blame them [see quote above for a good reason why]. But I try not to join them. If I meet someone in real life who only knows me from Twitter or Facebook, I want them to recognize me right away. Would I recognize you?
I've been to quite a few events where I look at a name-tag ... face ... name-tag ... face ... name-tag ... face and it just doesn't match up. It leaves a bad taste in my mouth. And to be clear, I am not just talking about women - I expect the same honesty from men and women.
While I don't doubt the validity of the New York Times quote above, at the end of the day sincerity, honesty and self-confidence are much more attractive than a pretty picture.
As I finished this post, my wife reminded me that my Facebook profile pic is a bit on the abstract side. I'll go change that now ... must practice what I preach.
Found this chart on eMarketer today and it jumped out at me that marketing professionals don't see driving the top-line as one objective of social media marketing [Dell anyone?]. Then I looked at the fine print - survey was issued in 2007 and published in February 2008.
Given all that's changed in the last year don't you think this chart is an anachronism? Seems odd to include the chart in an article in March 2009.
You'll recall a couple of weeks ago the folks at P&G conducted a social media experiment, while raising money for charity. My recap here.
My shirt arrived the other day, and David Armano asked people to submit photos in exchange for some link love. P&G digital brand manager, Dave Knox, promised me the T-shirt would be of good quality - and it is. Pretty cool design, and not the typical stiff/ill-fitting corporate apparel.
Using the Photo Lolz Polaroid emulator ...
Thinking this afternoon about the Twitter echo chamber, and personally, what I'm getting out of it.
For one, it's entertaining. Very entertaining. It's also quite useful for connecting with people in my industry. And without a doubt, I have stumbled on some great content [related to previous points]. Finally, it's allowed me to keep in touch with some people from my past who might have otherwise fallen off my radar.
But as a simple exercise I thought about this question: What would I think of the world if Twitter were my only source of information. Here are few off-the-top-of-my-head thoughts - presented as "Myth" and "Reality."
Of course my views are totally informed by who I follow. So I'm wondering what YOU would think of the world if Twitter were YOUR only source of information? Leave a comment. Or Tweet me @iansohn.
Myth 1: Austin, TX is where all important global decisions are made. [Reality: For some it is, but for my money I'll take New York]
Myth 2: Brands, like Skittles, that don't get their first foray into social media right are failures [Reality: I was always more of an M&Ms guy, but applaud Skittles for their exploration into the unknown. Furthermore, I dare anyone to claim they've never taken a step backward to take two forward]
Myth 3: FaceBook is horribly designed and the evil empire looking to steal all our intellectual capital [Reality: FaceBook remains a massive force in social media, and is quite useful for what it is. Furthermore, their TOCs are really no different than anyone else - are they? Finally, it's not THAT horrible of a design.]
Myth 4: President Obama enjoys a 100% approval rating [Reality: I do love the man, but don't forget there are a whole bunch of people out there who voted McCain-Palin. This NASCAR blindness (I can't use that term enough, thank you @awolk for coining it) will get the Dems in trouble come 2012.]
Myth 5: Shaquille O'Neal is a poet [Reality: Shaquille O'Neal is a poet; and is having an epic comeback season]
Realize this presentation, The Future of Advertising In One Afternoon [John Wilshire], has been around for a while, but I just got around to it. Worth watching ...
[UPDATE: Read David Armano's inside account; AdAge's report]
A funny thing happened last night. P&G - as part of a private digital night in Cincinnati - turned to some of the most well-known names in social media to accomplish a few things [all but #1 are speculation only]:
Raise money for their charity, Tide Loads of Hope [clean clothes to families in need of support after natural disasters]
What did they do?
For a few hours, several teams - led by different cewebrities hunkered down at P&G headquarters - bombarded Digg, blogs, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube,
Facebook and more with links to Tide's web site where you could buy vintage looking Tide t-shirts. Twitter was particularly insane, with #pgdigital appearing non-stop.
How did they do?
According to one participant, $50K in four hours, with P&G matching $50K. I don't care how deep P&G's coffers are, they should be commended for the match. Bravo!
Questions
Did you participate [disclosure: I purchased a shirt]? Either way, what do you think of the excercise?
Did you think the external agency participants at P&G last night went far enough to disclose their relationship with the company? I saw a video from Ian Schafer of Deep Focus (@ischafer) who was very clear to state his agency did not work for P&G. But I didn't see that same transparency from others. Maybe I missed it in the frenzy?
Do you think, as Brian Morrissey, Digital Editor at Adweek seems to based on his tweets below, that we were all played?
Alex Bogusky may be the last last name in the advertising agency, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, but he's certainly very well-known within [and increasingly beyond] the advertising world.
For those who don't know, CP+B is the celebrated [and occasionally maligned, and more often than not, polarizing] agency behind the Whopper Freakout, the Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld's Microsoft Ads [which I happen to love] and so many more creative [and at times, controversial] efforts. Read Creativity's 2008 Agency of the Year article for a good overview.
So it's no surprise that the Twitter universe [I just can't bring myself to using words like "Twitterverse"] was abuzz when Bogusky, aka @Bogusky, first appeared in mid-December and quickly amassed a large and active following.
It was perhaps with the same amount of buzz that he abruptly announced a few days ago:
Why would he walk away from Twitter? Was he just being provocative?
Rather than speculate I asked Bogusky [we've never met, but did exchange a few tweets] if he would answer five email questions about his Twitter experience. He graciously obliged.
In the true spirit of online community, I quasi-crowdsourced two of the five questions [as noted below] from folks I respect in the social media space. Here we go ...
Question 1: When you first joined Twitter there was an amusing amount of chatter questioning the identity of @Bogusky. In fact, there is a @BogusBogusky. Why would someone want to pretend to be you, and more importantly what does the community's initial suspicion about your identity say about the state of things in social media?
Alex Bogusky: Yeah, I’m pretty sure @BogusBogusky works here too. I don’t know who it is but you can tell they’re on the inside. The suspicion comes from the fact that there is no requirement to be who you are online. I think this is something that might change going forward. There will be communities that are more diligent about ID and it will be a good thing. People are much more positive and responsible when they have to represent themselves and are unable to hide behind anonymity.
There’s a place for both kinds of community but I look forward to people representing themselves. Twitter actually has more of this than many communities. And I liked that. I had decided I would only follow people who had posted a picture or even an illustration of themselves. You don’t really know if it’s them I guess but it seemed a good indicator of sincerity.
Question 2: What's the significance, if any, that you are doing this interview with me - rather than say, AdWeek? Does it say anything about the future of journalism and the role of "traditional" media? If so, what?
AB: The significance is you asked me. And you didn’t seem to be looking to stir up controversy. I saw a headline somewhere that I had “…broken up with Twitter.” I don’t think that’s an accurate way to put it. Breakup is a very emotionally charged word and it’s a lot more exciting than the truth. I was getting to know it. Enjoyed the hell out of it. Brought some clients into it and was learning a ton. But in the end it wasn’t something I was going to weave into my everyday so rather than just not posting I thought my last posts should instruct anybody that came to the page that I wasn’t there. I don’t want people replying and sending questions or thoughts into a black hole. The web and social media is like ice cream. It’s all so fucking good. But we all find our favorite flavors. So it’s not that I don’t love butter pecan, it’s that I love mint chocolate chip even more so when it comes time to get ice cream I get that.
Question 3: My guess is that CP+B has plenty of social-media savvy folks amongst the ranks who have been advising clients on how to explore communities like Twitter. But as CP+B's head honcho, what is it about your own Twitter experience that you will you bring back to your teams, and your clients?
AB: That’s exactly right. The goal is to use and understand a lot of what is out there. I hope what I bring back is ideas. The ideas come from the medium meeting the marketing problem. So we’re just beginning to put those together.
Question 4: Len Kendall (@LenKendall) of Critical Mass wants to know: Did Twitter not inspire any creative thinking for you? Thoughts layered on other intelligent thoughts? If Twitter did inspire creative thinking, can you give an example?
AB: I couldn’t say it inspired creative thinking for me. In general it was difficult not to get overloaded with links and articles. I’ve always been more of a blank page, white walls sort of person. For me twitter would probably hamper my creativity. I prefer the learning that comes from doing. It’s more dynamic and usually pushes you beyond the discussion.
Question 5: Ian Schafer (@ischafer), CEO of Deep Focus asks: Was there a singular moment that caused you to say 'this isn't for me'?
AB: No. And I will drop in from time to time. I of course reserve the right to reverse course. Wishy washy is how I like to roll. I do think there needs to be some way to lock a retweet. I would see my tweets retweeted but changed slightly. I think that should be fixed. If it has RT in it, it should lock somehow.
Bonus Question: @TheMime would like you to comment on the following: . . .
AB: : 0
That's all for now. If you have additional questions, leave them as a comment. Maybe Alex [or a fake version of him] will answer them.
My dear readers, I present to you a guest post from Lefty Wahl ...
Note: This is a guest post by Lefty Wahl. It represents Lefty’s POV alone and not those of mine, Ian Sohn. You can find my [Ian] counter argument at Lefty’s blog.