cgm

Speed of Twitter: Motrin Moms Raise the Stakes for CGM Spread

(Republished from Tell 3000 blog). A fascinating case study is unfolding online regarding a Motrin video and TV commercial triggered a viral backlash among the segment I refer to in Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3000, as "Power Moms."  Recall:

"Power Moms, who often balance their careers with parenting, have little free time and therefore have no choice but to connect and communication in the most efficient way possible. Bound by a sense of community and responsibility, Power Moms will go out of their way to tell fellow parents and other consumers about their opinions on or experiences with products or companies -- particularly those, like cold medicines or diapers or minivans, that have to do with the health and safety of their families."

In this case, the platform of choice for the Power Moms is Twitter, and this puts the controversy on hyper-drive.  Like it or not, Twitter has dramatically accelerated the delivery time of "feedback moments." This particular issue moved so fast that a nine-minute Twitter-montage has already been posted to the YouTube documenting negative reactions to the ad campaign. According to the Crunchy Domestic Goddess blog, the brand has formally responded and retracted the ad. Marketing bloggers are having a field day with the topic -- in fact, they are driving a good percentage of the overall conversation --  and David Armano's thoughtful analysis is one of the best so far.  (My response to his post here.)  Kevin Dugan also weighs in, while Steve Hall at Ad-Rants thinks we're all going a bit overboard on the issue.  Oh, and there's even a counter-video to that effect (thanks, Kevin Dugan, for heads-up).  My wife and I are huge fans of the baby-slings and carriers so I'll conduct perhaps the most important "focus group" on the spot tomorrow morning. 

 

What's Said in Vegas at WOMMA Confab Will Definitely Leave Vegas!

Off to the Word-of-Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) Summit in Las Vegas starting tomorrow.  If you are there, look for me and we'll catch up. I'm delivering a keynote on Friday.    The agenda looks fabulous, and I'm proud to be associated with this group!  More information on the conference here.

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Taking a Competitive Bite Out of the Customer Satisfaction Apple

I really like this ad that just showed up on the front page of the New York Times this morning.  An excellent play on customer satisfacton, and a nice tie-in with a long-standing Apple Ad campaign. I also like to refer to this as CFM, or Consumer-Fortified Media, as its paid media that's typically reinforced by consumer comments, reviews, blog entries, and the like. 

Ad-Tech "Master Class" Panel: If You Had $5 to Spend Online?

Earlier this week at Ad-Tech NY I moderated a "master class" session on "Building Brands Online" which included the NY Times, Kraft, Intuit, Zappos.com, and 1800Flowers.com, My core question for the panel was very simple, and quite pertinent to this market environment.  If your goal is to sell management on the value of investing online, and you only had $5 to spend, where would you start!  The answers were telling, and provide critical context to how we think about framing our value proposition – across all Nielsen Online products.  Richard Cacciato, who blogged for Ad-Tech, offers an excellent summary of the panel, and here are a few of my topline notes. 

• Andy Markowitz, leader of digital efforts at Kraft, suggested he’s take a step back before tossing money at marketing tactics (e.g. online advertising, social media), and would invest the money in nailing key consumer insights around online behavior.  What’s the core unmet need; is there something about Kraft’s target consumer online that might ultimately push a higher level of investment. 
•  Zappos.com, recently ranked by Ad Age as one of 2008’s top marketers (after the Barack Obama campaign), took a different tack, suggesting the $5 would best be invested in customer service, call support, or even employee training.  Great experiences, user-experience director Brian Kalma explained, ultimately grow the brand on the strength of favorable word-of-mouth – evident across an expanding spectrum of CGM venues, from blogs to twitter.
• Scott Wilder, GM of Intuit’s Product Development/Online Communities, insisted the money would best be invested in product, although his definition of “product” encompassed Intuits half-a-million user strong online communities.  The big payout of getting that right, he explained, is that the users not online drive favorable word of mouth, but act as a de-facto customer support labor force.  Nine of ten questions posed by consumers about Intuit products and services are answered by other consumers, often the most connected and influential.  Scott also underscored the invaluable insights that emerge from such “user contribution systems”
•  Jeffrey Graham, head of customer insights for the NY Times talked more about some of the efficiencies of spending the $5 on online advertising on increasingly participatory platforms like the New York Times.  Importantly, Graham nicely articulated how advertising in areas rich with influencers can potentially increase odds of success.  Increasingly, consumers are looking to their peers for buying behavior guidance,  he noted, and online advertising models need to wrap around that reality.
• Lastly, Kevin Randford of 1800Flowers.com underscored that he’s use the $5 to feed his already aggressive “test and measure” learning plan, even in new areas such as mobile, where ecommerce players are increasingly breaking new ground.  1800Flowers, he explained, is learning in real-time based on user-interaction, feedback, and even spending patterns, and the key for them is to invest any incremental dollars into accelerating that learning curve in an increasingly competitive environment.

Lessons from Obama’s Digital Effort:  Lastly, we couldn’t resist the temptation to ponder whether the Obama campaign’s online/digital effort represented a breakthrough or milestone for online investment.  While there was broad consensus that the Obama campaign rewrote the script of successful online activity, each panelist viewed it slightly differently.   One point I underscored, consistent with earlier commentary on the subject. the Obama campaign created the ultimate participatory “ecosystem” between offline and online activity.  Their CRM system bordered on science (alerts were sent moments before major events or speeches…even before the celebrated Chicago victory speech and the website maximized participation and engagement…at just about every level.  If you wanted to walk the streets at knock on doors, you could download a kit, complete with numbers.  If you wanted to self-organize your own social network you could do that as well.  If you donated money, they’d often play a “victory lap” video to drive an even deeper emotional connection.  More on this later.

Election Day: As the Blogs See It!

Overall Election Buzz Swings: Here's the general breakout of blog conversations as they pertain to today's election.  Note the swings over time between Barack Obama and John McCain. Another good indicator to check out is the number of times bloggers (including media bloggers) have explicitly linked to the candidates' websites since November 2nd.  Here are the links for for Obama and McCain.

"I Voted" - More Persuasive than "Please Vote"?  What's unique so far about this election versus the last one is the degree to which folks have already voted, and are saying so explicitly online -- e.g. "I Voted" -- even with greater velocity than terms like "please vote" or "I'm voting."   Will this build more momentum, or drive a bit of peer-to-peer pressure among those who have yet to hit their voting precinct?  We'll see. Living in Ohio, it's clear just by driving by the downtown registrar office that thousands of people have voted ahead of time.  The line last Saturday lasted hours, many said. 

Who's Talking About the Ads: Here's a breakout of explicit "ad" reference for McCain and Obama.  Not a huge number of references overall, but a deeper dive provides useful texture into the recall drivers or points of controversy (or acrimony) around the ads. 

The "Changing" Vernacular:  "Change" has been one of the biggest buzzwords of the campaign, and both candidates have consistently woven it into their messaging.  Here's the latest breakout on explicit references to the word "change" and the respective candidates.

Ads, Rallies, and Satire:  Ads have played a big roll in driving conversation about today's election, but don't discount the role of political satire in keeping us talking.  (Sorry, just had to end this on a ligher note.)

The Future of Public Relations

The Council of PR Firms recently assembled a video montage of commentary about the future of the PR industry (which includes a short snippet from yours truly) for its Critical Issues Forum.  Jonah Bloom of Ad Age kicks it off.  Collectively, the video sounds a not so subtle alarm about the role of PR in communications future.  Worth a quick view.  If you want a deeper view into the fracture in the PR industry, I also recommend BJ Ochman's post on this issue.

Twitter: PBlackshaw

Conversational Caffeine: MyStarbucksIdea.com Tallies The Votes

Just got an email from Starbuck's directed to the folks (like myself) who submitted over 55,000 ideas to the MyStarbucksIdea.com website. The crux of the message is that Starbucks is being responsive to the ideas generated during the campaign. This is important, as "responsiveness" is one of the six drivers of credibility in my book "Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell Three Thousand."   So which idea got the most votes?  Turns out, the big winner was one for Starbucks to, drumroll please..."create a sense of conversation and community within its locations."

One way of doing this would be to use the power of media and wireless new media in particular to foster a sense of conversation about the arts, current events, etc. In other words to stimulate Starbucks patrons that wish to interact as part of a 21st century "cafe society" such as they have in Europe traditionally - people gathering together to discuss the arts, world events and culture.

This idea generated (so far) over a 1030 comments (quite impressive) and the collective output, validation, constructive criticism and reinforcement makes the idea even more powerful.  The other ideas are also worth checking out!  Alas, the power of feedback. Starbucks is far from out of the woods, but this program sets a powerful new bar for feedback and consumer participation. (Oh, and I like the Oatmeal...but it didn't influence this blog post.) :-)

Is Our Personal Blogging a Road Map for Business/Brand Success?

Thoughtful read in Ad Age by David Armano entitled "Unconventional Times Calls for Unconventional Marketing."  Basically a call for more "sense and response" marketing, to wit:

Speaking from personal experience, I could not have predicted many of the outcomes I have had since launching a blog, but I believe following a much more "unconventional" path is a core reason behind everything that I've learned from it. For a couple of hundred dollars a year and a whole lot of dedication and effort it's priceless to me. So as I think about how times are becoming more unconventional -- with unpredictable financial markets and political change in the air -- I can't help but think that it's more important than ever to get serious about what it takes to do these types of initiatives right. It just doesn't look like conventional marketing -- it's different. And unconventional times call for unconventional tactics.

He's got the cred to the make the point. His blog is well-read, and it's nicely morphed and evolved over time.  He listens, engages, listens again, and so forth.  This is what it's all about.

BlogWorld Notebook: Re-Engaging With My Inner Blogger

I feel like a bit of an imposter here at BlogWorld.  I talk about blogs every day -- interpret them, offer strategy to companies about how to create and manage them - but in many respects I've lost touch a bit with "individual" blogging.  The reality is that I'm only updating my ConsumerGeneratedMedia site one every week or so (sometimes longer), and many of the issues or tips or "deep thoughts" I ordinarily would toss on my blog have been cannibalized by Twitter, Facebook, Yammer (internal twitter), and the bi-weekly "marketing meets service" column I now write for Advertising Age. I'm also increasingly self-conscious that if I don't stay diligent, and ever attentive, I'll continue getting lapped by far wiser and prescient marketing industry bloggers.  There are many, and they keep me on my toes.

Still, few experiences have so motivated me to think differently about consumer-generated media (or conversations, or social media...) as my own personal blogging (whether this one or my own family blogs like DosBebes or HybridBuzz) and I'm eager to rediscover some of the blog-love while here at the BlogWorld Expo in Las Vegas.  So in addition to participating on a panel dedicated to one of my favorite topics, Defensive Branding, which builds on my of the themes in my book, I hope to put on my consumer cap and soak in some fresh ideas and inspiration.  As I look across the hundreds of individuals intently listening to the keynote address here, delivered by TypePads Anil Dash and Chris Alden, there's an unmistakable level of passion, commitment, and personal pride in the development of the blogosphere. At times it borders on romantic "blogs will solve all" naivette, but that's overshadowed by the unmistakable reality that these are the new media creators and content curators of the marketspace. From traditional media companies who increasingly connect with readers using blog publishing tools to corporations seeking to dial up a greater sense of authenticity and transparency with consumers or customers, everyone, it seems, is borrowing lessons and insights from the folks in this room.  So perhaps this is where insight begins -- perhaps!  We'll see.  I'll keep taking notes. #bwe08

Dishing Up the Web 2.0 Mix With Susan Bratton

If you haven't yet met Susan Bratton, you haven't truly lived in the online advertising and Web 2.0 world.  Susan lives right smack in the center of Silicon Valley and has worn a host of high-impact digital "hats," so to speak, in our still-nascent industry:  head of advertising for the former @Home broadband play, long-tme chairwoman of Ad-Tech (arguably the largest online trade show in the world), and so much more.  Way back when we were just getting P&G's first interactive marketing team off the ground, Susan was an invaluable resource and digital "tour guide," so to speak.  Recently, Susan started -- nay, threw her unmistakable energy and passion into -- Personal Life Media, which is essentially a blog and podcasting network covering a host both expected (e.g. online advertising industry developments) and unexpected (religion and spirituality, society and culture, sexuality) topics. Oh, and she's building a great audience.  Her husband Tim, no Spring-chicken as web culture goes (he invented Rhapsody), is her partner in this ambitious endeavor.  Anyway, this is a long preface to the fact that I had the honor of being interviewed by Susan recently for one of her DishyMix podcast shows, and I must say it was the most fun I've had all year.  She's engaging, disarming, and knows her subjects well enough to potentially get them into hot water. (But I say that in a good way!) Credit to Susan, she really got me worked up about the things I love -- in my business, in my personal pursuits related to Web 2.0 (such as building blogs and sites dedicated to my kids), and so much more.  Oh, and we talk lots about my recent book, Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell 3000 (Doubleday Business), especially around "talk drivers" and what I call "the love spot" (sorry you just have to listen first to know what I'm talking about on that one. )  Click here to Listen Now!    Of course, if my pontification bores you (always a possibility), I can assure you that you won't be disappointed with her other interviews, including recent ones of breakthrough advertising thinker Paul Woolmington (founder of Naken Communication), agency pioneer Alex Bogusky, search expert John Batelle, groundsweller Charlene Li, and "Personality Not Included" author Rohit Bhargava.