cgm

Did Global, Non-English Blogs Set the Tempo for Dove Onslaught?

Soak in this chart for a moment.  It's a very big deal -- great fodder for a marketing team white board session.  What it demonstrates is that global, non-English sites played an unmistakable early role in the viral lift and spread of the Dove Onslaught video that's currently making the rounds across the web. Keep in mind that what we're looking at is not the aggregate number of views on YouTube (that matters too), but rather, a very high-level analysis of hundreds of blogs that explicitly linked to or called out by name the campaign in the first three days.  In effect, these blogs -- most of which "embedded" the YouTube video -- drove a significant percentage of the awareness and trial of the video.  To keep things simple, I created three broad categories of blog authorship: consumers (a generous umbrella which included activists or beauty care enthusiasts), the ad community (folks like me from the industry who love to pontificate about media/marketing events), and Non-English blogs (which, once fully interpreted, draw from both constituencies).  What triggered this exercise was a sudden realization late last night -- after receiving yet another flurry of non-English blog alerts -- that there's something curious, unique, and potentially breakthrough about what's going on here in the context of word-of-mouth.  And this is all independent of the broader debate over whether the Onslaught campaign rocks, sells cases, pushed the needle too much on anti-brand messaging, etc.  (We can cover that later.) No, this exploratory is about where/how buzz begins, and the unique role, if any, of global distribution points in driving early momentum.  So here's a few observations and a few questions that we should be asking along the way.

1.  Global/Non-English blogs dominated the first day of viral spread

• Was this planned or intentional?
• Did earlier "global equity" from Dove Evolution prime-the-pump for early global distribution?
• Was there something in the message that uniquely appealed to Europeans? The French? The Spanish?   Are fashion moments bound to start outside of the US?
• Are anti-brand messages more likely to get early traction outside of the US?
• Did these same bloggers cover Evolution in the first go around?
• Did this have to do with the so-called "illegal advertising" entity that first put the spot on YouTube?  That site includes a bunch of edgy, global ads (many banned).  Was that the perfect starting place for catalyzing immediate global discussion.
• Are there category specific insights in what happened?  Unique to beauty care?

2.  Ad Community blogs played a big role throughout the first three days?

• Do blog content from the ad community spill over into other online constituencies?
• Should ad bloggers be part of the "target outreach" plan for any new product launch?
• Will that make intuitive sense to media planners or researchers who might be more inclined to focus on target end consumers?
• Do ad and marketing bloggers trend positive or negative on campaigns?  Does this matter?

Anyway, I'm working on a much longer note on this topic as part of my buzz monitoring work, but I'll share a few more light nuggets here and there on this blog. This all starts to get REALLY interesting once you peel the onion a bit.  Welcome your thoughts or reactions?

The Blogosphere is Flat!

Is this my imagination or is the blogosphere globalizing a bit faster than any of us expected?  This chart is from today's BlogPulse rankings.

Postcard from the Green Meme: Friedman Pushes the Conversation

Thomas "World is Flat" Friedman declares a new motto for the future in this morning's New York Times magazine cover story: "Green is the new red, white, and blue." But far from suggesting Americans are anywhere near measuring up to oft repeated claim of being "the greenest generation," he suggests, quite persuasively, that "we have not even begun to be serious about the costs, the effort and the scale of change that will be required to shift our country, and eventually the world, to a largely emissions-free energy infrastructure over the next 50 years."  His article ("The Power of Green") proceeds to lay out a persuasive argument -- nay, a manifesto -- that going green is at the heart of America's future competitive advantage and geo-political long-term interests.  The article is a highly provocative read, and I'll bet the (organic) farm that by years end, it will rank in the top ten articles cited in online conversation related to sustainability and other green themes. That's what good memes do, and in this case we have a bonafide green-meme.

The Broader Conversation:  I've always been fascinated with this topic, and my original introduction into the blogosphere was precipitated by the purchase of my hybrid car, which I chronicled with both evangelism and skepticism starting in 2004 via HybridBuzz.com.  But my own personal CGM is but a spec of dust in a broader universe of conversation erupting across the web related to green or environmental themes.  What was once the limited domain of the crunchy-set has pushed the conversational boundaries to new audiences, new recruits, new spokespersons, and of course powerful new green memes.   Even at work, the green topic is near impossible to ignore, as one of our top new initiatives at Nielsen BuzzMetrics revolves around measuring conversation related to "sustainability," which ever-reliable Wikipedia defines as "is an attempt to provide the best outcomes for the human and natural environments both now and into the indefinite future." It's hard to ignore because customers have come a knockin' on the door on the topic.  Is this the next consumer attitudes tipping point?  Is now the time to go organic?  Is there competitive advantage in jumping ahead of the curve...or liability in waiting on the sidelines?  Such are the questions of the new business era.

More Bammage - Eco Friendly Associations: Our sustainability team has been running a host of fascinating analysis on current "green" conversation levels, especially via the same Brand Association Map (BAM) technology I shared last week in the context of American Idol contender (and buzz builder)  Sanjaya.  In this particular case (see large circular graph), we're looking at the "DNA" of tens of thousands of online conversations surrounding the term "eco-friendly."  Eco-Friendly is quickly emerging as an "equity" with which many brands see value in association. You'll note that only a few companies such as Toyota (full disclosure: a client...recall my "Green toilet" post) surround this particular grid, but you can quickly vet out a host of lifestyles and behaviors that surround the term.  In the category labeled "Home Building/Construction," for example, you can assess points on the grid that reflect tangible conservation opportunities (e.g. solar panels, bamboo floors). If you look right smack at the center of the grid, you'll see the name Lesley Nagy.   Turns out,  she's the host of the San Francisco Bay Area's ABC show "The Green Report," and it's obvious that her own TV & online video based green meme is inseparable from the broader discussion about all things eco-friendly related.  Assuming the current conversation on green and sustainability continues, brands will spend a small fortune cultivating relationships (which they'll have to earn) with the likes of Lesley Nagy who bring credentialed authority to the "eco-friendly" discussion.  The growing list of "Green blogs" will also be a major force (perhaps an ally...again if brands earn their respect)  to contend with, across a host of other green meme themes -- global warming, hybrid cars, alternative fuels, fair trade -- as will the every day CGM creators, who publicly chronicle their migration to new habits, new behavior, new products, and new attitudes.

Thomas Friedman just gave this important conversation a big push, but trust me, it's already well underway...and on a global scale.  Let's keep listening! 

Weekend Box Office Results (CGM Special Edition)

Now here's a chart you won't see everyday.  Will movie studios start targeting the UN podium for buzz building?  Certainly worked for Noam Chomsky.  (OK, I'm joking...really!)

Dancing with Global Megaphones

My trip to the 1400-person Emerce conference in Rotterdam was truly memorable, and I return persuaded -- nay, convinced -- that the CGM revolution is alive and well in Europe and well beyond.  I have many more written thoughts to share, but for the "visual learners," I'll skip right ahead to a short videocast of my impressions about the event captured by veteran PR expert and EARLY blogger Neville Hobson (of the Hobson & Holtz report).  We managed to meet at the Hotel American in downtown Amsterdam shortly before I headed back to the states.  David Brain, President & CEO of Edelman Europe, also happened to be meeting with Hobson at the same time. Both Hobson and Brain, worth nothing, truly walk the talk on "capturing conversations" as they both recorded conversations with one another on video/recording enabled mini-phones (see Hobson in photo). David, author of the "60 Second View" blog, even fished out a blurb from me on the relationship between feedback and CGM. It was almost like a game of what I'll call "PodPong."