Brands that made consumers love them forever

Special thanks to iMediaConnection for publishing this piece first!

Building a brand romance

In Italy, there's a principle called la bella figura. It essentially boils down to the idea that you ensure that your public persona always "looks" good -- that you consciously work to control other people's impressions of you. La bella figura has been the driving principle behind brand marketing for decades. We put gorgeous people in ads using hero packages in gorgeous settings, telling our stories in the most flattering ways.

But today we have nuova figuras -- consumers anxious to be a part of brands but also unwilling to simply accept an impression we package and deliver to them. They want to help, but they want their brands to be real. They want to know about the experiences of other real people, and they want to participate in defining and portraying the brand.

As a boomer, I find all this pretty remarkable. When I was little, brand identification was rarer and more subtle. You were proud to wear Levi's or whatever, but buying a T-shirt emblazoned with a gigantic Levi's logo -- that would have been a bit over the top.

Sometime in my formative years -- I think it began when Brooke Shields started talking seductively about her Calvins -- all that changed. Today, kids will engrave logos in their crew cuts. Brands can sell logo shirts for $20-plus, rather than having to give away the shirts to get people to wear them. And Flickr is chock full of photos of people proudly sharing the limelight with their favorite products -- from Marmite to Tide.

This all poses a remarkable opportunity -- but one that requires careful "strategery."

How do we cultivate relationships with consumers that create lifelong loyalty? I think there are lessons in human relationship building -- in dating and marriage. The way we attract, impress, and partner with consumers have strong parallels to the ways in which we find mates. It's a progression, from dating, to marriage, to having babies, to starting to look, sound, and act alike. People don't marry us just because it's what we want. Relationships are joint decisions, and brand relationships are no different.

With this piece I want to take you through four stages of relationship building:

• How brands get consumers to "date" them
• How they get that marital level of commitment
• How we work with consumers to develop new products (our babies)
• And how ultimately we enable our brands to define us, and, to some extent, vice versa

Around the world brands are tackling this concept of brand marriage in unique and intriguing ways. Remarkable brands are jumping headfirst into the relationship pool, finding themselves at different stages on this four-stage continuum. Just as with human relationships, there's no cookie-cutter formula for making a relationship work. The paths to sharing a life together are as different as the brands themselves. Let's take a look at some of these brand romances and see what we can learn.

Dating: Brand meets user

When we're out to meet someone, we try to look the way that they will find appealing. Some brands manage that on their own, albeit with real consumer insights. The Dove campaign is a powerful example from a brand that used substantive consumer analysis to land on an idea with universal female appeal.

But many brands -- and people -- are presentation challenged. In dating, a new book pointing out the fashion and appearance mistakes of men is selling well. Entitled "Undateable," it also has an important metaphorical lesson for many brands. If you want her to be truly happy with your appearance, it's best to just let her dress you.

Hundreds of brands are using digital to do just that. In its simplest incarnation, car banners that allow viewers to try different colors are built around this concept.

More complex examples can be found across the globe. DHTML banners and ads powered by technologies like Linkstorm enable users to drill down and customize their ad experiences. Still more extensive examples of user-customized marketing experiences come in many forms. An Australian supplement company called Blackmores http://www.blackmores.com.au/ has transformed its website into a peer-to-peer community revolving around users' goals and questions.

Rather than hawking jars of supplements, the brand allows users to discuss needs and benefits on their own. Products arise organically in conversations. Perhaps most remarkable is that this community has more than 300,000 members, in a country with about 22 million inhabitants. To give American readers an idea of what that means, if Australia's population matched that of the U.S., the site would have 4.3 million members.If it were in the UK, we're talking about more than a million members. RE-MARKABLE!

Retailers are getting in on the game with virtual mirrors that allow users to customize brands entirely on their terms. Meanwhile, websites like Ray-Ban's have long made it possible for users to try on eyewear virtually, another incarnation of this same concept.

In another example from Down Under, the Australian Defence Force uses multiplayer games -- as does the U.S. Army -- to enable users to virtually sample military experiences of their own choosing.

Since they began using the games as recruiting tools, more than 1.5 million people have registered and played, and thousands have made inquiries from the games.

In short, different brands can find unique ways of enabling consumer customization -- and a program can be devised for virtually any budget.

Getting hitched: Sharing the stage with the consumer

This stage is about becoming a "we" -- about collaborating with consumers to develop marketing messages. The best U.S. example I can think of is the Pepsi Refresh Everything campaign. As we all know, Pepsi spent decades winning sales by juxtaposing stars of the instant with young messaging and a flavor profile best suited to under 18s.

Pepsi entered the new millennium doing what it had for years -- pairing the white-hot celeb with a youthful message. This 2002 ad, starring Britney, pretty much encapsulates the entire campaign -- a bajillion dollar ad with everything that always worked until we entered the social age: celebs, singin' and dancin', massive casts, beautiful settings, and catchy tunes.



The social era made the brand head in a decidedly different direction. The Refresh Everything charity overlay lets consumers determine how Pepsi marketing dollars get spent. Pepsi sales are up, and the web traffic to the Refresh Everything website eclipses that garnered by Pepsi.com.

That's only natural seeing as how there's a decidedly real reason to want to visit.

An English meat brand has launched a multimedia campaign starring its users, who demonstrate that special brand of crazy at which Brits excel. The "Proper Food" rebranding effort for Walls began with ads that show people with deep passions -- for hobbies and Walls products.



The next phase of the effort was a social media program pitting Briton against Briton in a contest to win £5,000 and a role in a Walls ad that showcases their eccentricity. And what sorts of response are they getting? Some examples:

• Chess boxers (a simultaneous fight and chess game)
• Extreme ironers (who iron in unusual venues like on the hood of moving cigarette boats)
• OAPoleDancers (OAP is the abbreviation for old age pensioners)
• Snack pimpers (makers of enormous versions of U.K. junk food)

(Check out these and others here. http://bringitonbrits.wordpress.com/)

Unmistakably British flavors of nuts, from a quirky proud British food company.

Bun in the oven: Making products together

The next logical step is co-creation, the co-defining and sometimes the co-designing of new products. Obviously this takes a higher level of commitment from both the brand and the consumer.

Pizza Hut is using social media globally to devise new flavors to meet local tastes. A recent effort in Brazil unearthed 80 different distinct recipes, thousands of votes, and a hot-selling new item.

In Korea, Pizza Hut did the same on the Korean social net Cyworld.

A mindboggling U.K. start-up called Ucodo http://www.ucodo.com/ actually enables consumers to co-design consumer products online, which are then produced. Within broad parameters the consumer can push, pull, stretch, and twist the virtual design and have their co-designed item delivered to them.

I have never said "Will wonders never cease?" with greater sincerity.

Starting to look alike: Becoming the consumer (and vice versa)

There's a centuries-old meme about couples converging on similar appearance over the years. This is perhaps the strongest evidence of a symbiotic relationship, and a number of brave brands are taking the plunge with great results.

Back Down Under for the first example. Tourism Australia created an amazing effort that asked Australians to upload photos and descriptions of their favorite places across the country to give tourists ideas on things to do. More than 29,000 responded, and the happy would-be traveler can explore this user-generated content in a wonderful visual interface.

This is just one of Australia's social tourism efforts -- a participatory strategy that has garnered it more than half a million likes on Facebook. Compare that to the number of likes for the U.S. on Facebook.

Although spouses might grow to look alike, one of the best things about having a partner is that often one person finds it easier to say things that the other can't. One can speak up while the other might simply endure to avoid a scene.

Consider this effort by U.K.'s Labour Party during the last election. While Labour lost, it's easy to see the power of its social effort that asked Labourites to make parody ads for the super-slick "I am a just a bloke too" efforts of conservative David Cameron. Lefties delighted in mocking Cameron's protestations of folksiness. First, everyman David as Ali G.



And a biting attack on the Tory's defense of fox hunting:


Now, the party couldn't officially print things like this. But its consumer spouse? Why not?

Conclusion: Are you ready for a consumer LTR?

You sort of have to be. With the latest figures from Forrester showing tens of millions of consumers anxious to connect and create content for brands, it's incumbent on you to harness this enthusiasm in light of declining marketing effectiveness for traditional media. These five points offer a starting point for brands hoping to tie the knot with consumers:

1. Just like dating, it's important not to get ahead of yourself. Pick a level of commitment that works for both of you now. Not every brand or every consumer is ready for serious commitment yet.

2. Don't say things you don't mean. Don't promise things you won't go through with. Remember that Chevy Tahoe campaign? Think your program through.

3. In a relationship, the idea is to share decisions -- not be a doormat. It's your responsibility to enhance the brand through participation, not abdicate your role.

4. Marriage is work, and not everything turns out as you expect. Some programs will succeed, and some will fail. You need to be ready for that.

5. Dating the young has a special challenge. Young people expect more of a role. If your target is under 25, be prepared to give consumers a pretty big role.

Finally, whatever stage you are ready for, make sure your campaign reflects your brand as vividly as a TV ad might.

Hilarious Blue Angel Vid - Mel Gibson in a Vodka Ad?

The Real Winners In Social? Content Publishers!

Thanks to iMediaConnection For Publishing this First!

I have a pet peeve about the term social media. Social is a marketing style, not a medium. The real value of social is helping people talk about things that matter to them, not informing me that my friend Paul is eating bacon right now.

The power of social becomes evident on sites like consumerist, where shoppers’ problems get solved by both exposure and people power.

It becomes evident on HuffPost when a blog post about an issue creates fiery debate. Debate that extends beyond the pages of HuffPost into communities like FaceBook, into Meebo, and wherever else the message can spread.

It becomes clear when people share their POV on what MP3 player to buy, whether to buy an iPad or wait for the Android, and whether to rush out and see that new Jen Aniston movie. Those discussion can occur on brand pages, or in forums on CNET. Or in both. Or in neither. It occurs where it occurs organically.

In my view, the real winners of social are going to be content sites that use social as a way of driving stickiness, community and passion. THESE are the places where important conversations are most likely to take place. And that’s a good thing because content sites will be able to monetize their socialized environments better.

Every time we say social media, I think we enable a misperception that there is a special class of places and sites for social marketing. When the reality is that we need to think about empowering social everywhere, but especially in places that re most likely to attract passionate thought leaders. And THAT means content sites.

Eight Marketing Blunders to Avoid

History lessons

While the world economy has been bouncing back of late, we are all more than aware that the recovery is fragile -- and so are many of digital's companies, small and large. Thus, it's more important than ever for us to be smarter and learn from our own mistakes, as well as the mistakes of those around us.

The beauty of digital is that there have been so many initiatives in this fragmented arena that history's lessons come fast and furious. And yet, it's human nature to assume that our individual situations are somehow unique. We are, of course, wrong.

I say "we" because I have made such mistakes many times over the years, dashing down the seductive path of feeling my challenges are unique, only to realize some months or years later that, nope, my situation was not at all special -- and that I am at square one just like those who came before me.

There's an adage that says the essence of stupidity is doing the same thing over and over while expecting different results. Here's my take on eight things we all need to avoid doing again.

1. Trying to Outcool Apple

Can't be done. There are ways to compete with Apple. But "outcooling" isn't one of them.



2. Shiny Object Syndrome

Oh, where to begin on this one? Remember when every brand and its mother were launching widgets?

Remember when most brands sites were trying to be destinations? When chatrooms were popping up on toilet paper sites? None were bad ideas per se; the problem was that we ran into these shiny spaces willy nilly, without a reason or a strategy.

Are brands still doing this? Sure. But fewer. Let's keep that trend going.

3. Fostering consumer control without guidance

Usually it's not what people want. I once worked at a startup that boasted that its database was so big, consumers could search for something and get 1,200 options in results. Wouldn't they looooove that?

Of course, people don't want 1,200 options. They want the best outcome for them. Most of the time, they want three options or so to choose from, with a big blinking arrow over one of the choices that says, "Best value!"

OK, that was comment bait. But I assure you I don't think consumers are stupid. They are smart. Smart enough to realize that three choices are about all most decisions are worth when you have to decide and run and buy the Dragon Tattoo book for book club and pick up your daughter from Scouts. All in 30 minutes. Most things just don't matter more than three choices' worth. And the human mind can only process so many choices anyway. Heck, ask a realtor about the advisability of showing someone 30houses.

There's more to this point, though. Consumers want control of outcomes, not process. Witness MySpace. MySpace gave people total control of their pages. Here's the result:



And here:



What people wanted were profiles that allowed them to express themselves. Without guidance, they got profiles no one wanted to visit out of fear of visual and audio assault.

The new MySpace profiles address this issue rather well. We'll see if it reverses the slide.

4. Trying to make up for it in volume

Lots of yummy morsels here. Let's start with Kozmo.com, the company that would deliver virtually anything to your house for nothing. What's wrong with this picture?



Or Webvan, the company that -- oh, I'll let Wikipedia tell you:

While Webvan was popular, the money spent on infrastructure far exceeded sales growth, and the company eventually ran out of money. For example: Webvan placed a $1 billion (USD) order with engineering company Bechtel to build its warehouses, bought a fleet of delivery trucks, purchased 30 Sun Microsystems Enterprise 4500 servers, dozens of Compaq ProLiant computers and several Cisco Systems model 7513 and 7507 routers, as well as more than 80 21-inch ViewSonic color monitors, and at least 115 Herman Miller Aeron chairs (at over $800 each).

You've got to sell a lot of Cookie Crisp to make up for those costs.



Or, my personal favorite, Pets.com, which thought it would be good business to ship 40 pound sacks of dog chow by UPS and beat retail prices. During one period, according to Wikipedia, they spent $12.8MM in advertising and sold $600K in pet supplies. And the pet supplies went out the door at 1/3 of the price they went in for.

But on the other hand, consider Amazon. Now the world's largest bookseller, I have the personal satisfaction to tell you that during 2000, I don't think I ever paid more than a nickel for a hardback. I became expert at getting $25 off $25-plus purchases and ringing up totals of $25.05 with shipping.

Now, Amazon survived this largesse -- God knows how -- and in the end I became addicted to receiving daily deliveries of boxes with smiles on them. Since that time, I've spent more than $20,000 with Amazon over the years -- so perhaps that strategy wasn't so dumb after all. Though I'd never say giving me "Nothing Like It in the World" for a nickel was a smart thing. But it was a mistake the company survived, to flourish in the end.

5. Marketing on attributes versus benefits

Much hardware and software promotion focuses on data points indicating attributes that are expected to serve as sufficient inducement to purchase. There are certainly segments of the audience that already understand the benefit of something and find the data valuable as a way of distinguishing between items.

But history shows over and over that benefits and brands can trump attributes in most B2C businesses, including hardware. Which of these two players do you think will make your music sound better?

Player A:



Player B:



In fairness, some of the sharpest big companies in the Valley have figured out how to make attributes into benefits.



It can be effective, but it often costs a ton of money to do it.

6. Thinking "better" is always better
In digital, lots of time and energy gets spent building that better mousetrap. Which is excellent. But by what person's definition is "better" defined? In our industry in 2010, trash bins are full of the stationery of defunct startups that focused on things that people didn't actually care about.

Henry Ford once said, "If I had asked consumers what they wanted, they would have told me a faster horse." So it's important to innovate in areas that aren't necessarily things people are clamoring for. But at the same time, having a rich understanding of the target's problems and tastes is also important.

7. Confusing your needs with target needs

Recently a publisher tried to sell me a heavily male-skewing site as a great place to connect with women. Now, I get it that technology makes it possible for a site to predict gender reasonably well, but do you honestly expect me to say, "Hmm. I could message on sites that attract 90 percent women and have relevant context. Or! I could choose a venue with 15 percent comp that has nothing to do with my category. Hmm. What to choose? What to choose?"

8. Ignoring privacy concerns

Two years ago, two companies called NebuAd and Phorm launched services in conjunction with ISPs that tracked every activity of customers for the purpose of gathering data for ad targeting.

In the U.K., Phorm was partnered with three ISPs -- BT, Virgin, and TalkTalk -- which make up a large portion of total U.K. connectivity. As part of the process, the company quietly worked with BT to test its platform on thousands of consumers who were not informed of the test. Consumer anger and regulatory ire ensued, and all three ISPs have dropped out of the plan. The company has shifted to a consumer content personalization strategy (eventually including ads) and an opt-in versus opt-out model. According to The Register, it has lost more than $100 million, with little possible revenue for the foreseeable future.

Today, consumer groups and the FTC are voicing concerns about cookie-based targeting, especially behavioral targeting. FTC Chairman Jon Leibowitz has demanded industry action. While our industry has made efforts in the past to address privacy concerns with regard to ad targeting, these measures have been widely viewed as inadequate. Now a cross-industry coalition has proposed a self-regulation program centered on the "Power i," an icon that will appear on ads. Clicking on the icon will offer consumers information about the companies collecting and using data to target, along with choices in how they participate (or don't.)



Our industry would do well to embrace this program and raise its level of vigilance regarding privacy and ad targeting.

Conclusion

People far wiser than me say that if you don't make mistakes in digital, you aren't doing your job right -- because there are no certainties in a medium that changes hourly. And because part of the magic of digital is that innovation requires tons of trial and tons of error.

I once heard a speaker say we should rejoice in our mistakes. I am too much of a boomer to rejoice in anything other than hard work that leads to incremental success. But I do believe that failure should not be a source of shame. The decision to rejoice in errors is entirely yours. But we can all agree that it makes sense to concentrate on making new mistakes rather than repeating old ones.

But should Amazon ever want to repeat its $25 off $25-plus purchases couponing...

Communists Beat It

Social Media: The Next Generation

xxxooo to iMedia for running this piece first

If you said "social media" to a marketer 18 months ago, chances are they'd have thought exclusively of social networks. No more. We're seeing social capabilities incorporated into virtually every digital experience. This has brought opportunities and dilemmas for marketers. I say dilemmas because lots of brands got online by pounding to fit a broadcast-shaped peg into an interactive-shaped hole. They developed one-way websites, banners, and search programs. Social media analytics tools are showing us that this model had many flaws.

But as more and more brands embrace social for the two-way offering it is, it's important that we keep abreast of major news in the segment.

This article is designed to give marketers some highlights of what new initiatives, offerings, and companies appear to have traction. It's not for the social "expert." Rather it's geared to the generalist who wants a survey of some of the more important and interesting developments.

Without further ado, check out this summary of social developments divided into four "buckets":

Facebook Open Graph and the socializing of content sites

Facebook's new Open Graph (OG) initiative is a means of adding value for its members across the web while simultaneously enabling content publishers to offer social features. In OG's launch week, more than 50,000 sites incorporated OG components. Many of those implementations were small, such as adding a "like" button embedded in content. But here are some of the ways it's being used on a grander scale:

Pandora is leveraging Open Graph to facilitate the sharing of music and discoveries between friends. Capabilities include:

•See a list of friends who use Pandora
•See which artists and songs are "liked" by friends
•Import Facebook pic into your Pandora profile
•Listen to friends' stations
•Get music suggestions based upon music you "liked"

The Huffington Post has socialized its content by offering a "Hot on Facebook" module, a "what your friends are reading" module, and a "like" button on most stories.

Newspaper sites are incorporating a sort of "your news" box that lists the latest "news" you have received on Facebook.

Yes, Facebook's hit some roadblocks and hurdles over privacy. Assuming it gets past those, Open Graph will make profound changes in how we consume content.

Promoted Tweets debut

The big news on Twitter is Promoted Tweets. These are sponsored tweets that appear in the Twitter Search results.

Twitter announced Sponsored Tweets and its charter sponsor list (Best Buy, Bravo, Red Bull, Sony Pictures, Starbucks, and Virgin America) in April. More recently, Twitter altered its terms of service to ban the Twitter platforms and third parties from embedding sponsored tweets into users' tweet streams. Twitter shared this rationale:

First, third party ad networks are not necessarily looking to preserve the unique user experience Twitter has created. They may optimize for either market share or short-term revenue at the expense of the long-term health of the Twitter platform. For example, a third party ad network may seek to maximize ad impressions and click through rates even if it leads to a net decrease in Twitter use due to user dissatisfaction. Secondly, the basis for building a lasting advertising network that benefits users should be innovation, not near-term monetization.

UnFacebooks and user control

Partly as a response to concerns about Facebook's privacy missteps, a number of alternative social networks are attracting attention. From tech blogs to Elle.com, the UnFacebooks are a popular story. Of course Orkut, MySpace, and Friendster are also trying to capitalize on Facebook's stumbles. But here are some new sites getting play:

Diaspora: Billing itself as "an open source personal web service that will put individuals in control of their data," Diaspora is the brainchild of four NYU students and has raised more than 20 times its initial funding goal. The idea behind Diaspora is essentially opt-in, versus the major social sites' opt-out approach. It is working feverishly to get everything going this summer. A word from the founders:

Pip.io lets users define different "rooms" of people that they want to share information with. Users can also define if they want one- or two-way communications with their rooms.

A self-described "social operating system," Pip.io is clearly trying to be more than a social net. When you visit, make sure you are using Firefox or Chrome, not MSIE.

Story of My Life is a new platform enabling members to tell stories in a variety of media and make them private or public. I love the idea of letting more people tell the stories of their lives. And not just in words.

Does it sound like a blog platform to you? Yes, but the community features make it more than that. And it's really more about defined stories than a stream of consciousness.

Social search

The biggest proportion of online dollars goes to search, so let's take a look at some of the "new" social search offerings:

Mahalo bills itself as a human-powered search engine that combines machine results with expert and consumer recommendations. From its beginnings as a search-focused entity, it has now added a lively Mahalo Answers section and Mahalo How To, where experts help users accomplish tasks.

Wowd (disclosure: a Catalyst:SF client) helps users understand what content is popular now and what content users like best. Users download the application, and conduct searches that reveal:

•The most popular pages related to the search query
•The freshest content available on a topic, whether just created or just viewed by other Wowd users
•Real-time content from most sites, not just a select few
•Pages that other users have rated as most valuable
Wowd is for people who are interested in the latest information on a topic -- in the things that are happening now and the content that has just been created or updated.

By combining a sophisticated search algorithm with consumer behavior and ratings, it provides a unique perspective.

Delver is a social shopping community that helps people find the best products and make the best buying choices with the help of friends, family, and the community at large. The idea behind this offering is to create a community around shopping and help people learn from each other about interesting products and the best places to buy them.

The bigness of this concept is that the site is out to make online shopping fun, rather than a utilitarian experience.

The portals (and Meebo)

The social strategies of the major portals are very different from one another. At one end of the spectrum, Yahoo is leveraging social content from its own sources as well as third parties like Facebook. Apparently, Yahoo has concluded that trying to create a new social media entity won't work. Instead it blends the information available from existing platforms to enrich Yahoo channels.

On the other end of the spectrum, Google is still trying to create a homegrown social platform to help it become a leader in providing social content. One of the more interesting integrations is its flavor of social search. By linking your Google profile to social platforms, you get search results that include comments and content from connections.

Google Buzz is a social sharing service integrated into Gmail that lets you share statuses, text, photos, and videos easily. Public and private sharing are offered.

Google Wave is a collaboration platform that creates a shared space for teams. Participants can add text, photos, and videos in real time. The vision for Wave is to replace a variety of other applications with a single environment.

Microsoft's strategy sits between these two poles, though it's closer to Yahoo's. Bing is leveraging existing third-party communities to socialize search results. Now tweets, blog posts, and shared links are incorporated in results.

But Bing is also striving to create unique social-centered experiences. One example is how it integrated social into Bing Shopping. According to its blog, "With a single click you can ask for advice from your friends on Facebook and followers on Twitter for their take on a product you saw on Bing Shopping."

Meebo's strategy is to focus on its strength in instantaneous sharing to carve out social territory. Its new "Meebo Bar" offers publishers an easy way to socialize content and promote virality. This ad-supported bar appears when a Meebo user visits a bar-enabled site. Users can send pages and content via IM of course, but also through email, Facebook, Twitter, Google Buzz, and Yahoo.

Conclusion

Sharing content and opinions is something consumers seem to want in many of their web experiences, not just on specific social sites. How some of these companies and platforms will work with marketers, or indeed if they will work with marketers, remains to be seen. But consumers show a marked unwillingness to pay for content, so my guess is that many of these companies will be a-knockin' on our doors before long. That doesn't mean that they will work with us using the classic advertising model, though.

I would be remiss not to mention blogs as the "sleeper" of social. It seems that these high-quality, high-passion, high-depth environments often get overlooked by marketers. While social nets and Twitter can offer us enormous reach, so can blogs, many of which offer the added benefit of expert perspective and depth of content. They may not be the shiniest of the social objects, but in my view brands would do well to spend more time and attention on them.

An article like this omits other good companies and developments. If you are working on something that is more real than vapor and want me to talk about it as a follow-up, send me an email through PeopleConnection. If I like it, I will be happy to follow up with a brief piece about you in the blog section of this site.

Baby U Wanna Go Private?

I thought I'd use a come-on headline simulating the start of a steamy private chat session to catch your attention. Sorry, I know it's a dirty deception. No pun intended. But I did it because I'm on a personal mission to get our industry to care about privacy and to embrace the Cross Industry Coalition's Power i program. At ad:tech SF I jumped up and down on a stage saying "You have to care about this." That's how important I think it is.

Yes, privacy. You hate talking and reading about it. Five will get you ten that you've already stopped reading and found some link on this page to click on to get away from the p word. For ten years our industry has been more or less dodging this issue because it's complicated and makes everyone feel a little dirty.

But the FTC is demanding that we care, especially (but not exclusively) as regards BT. They're doing this in part because about 2/3 of consumers say that a perceived lack of online privacy troubles them.

Here's the ultimatum: care or risk BT and other forms of targeting getting heavily regulated. Or maybe shut down.

BTW, a BT shutdown would decimate more than a few pubs that depend on higher CPMS from BT inventory to keep the lights on. It would also kill off one of the biggest growth engines of digital spending. DR would suffer big time. And branding too, because finding in-market eyeballs for brand messages is pretty darned important in some of our biggest categories.

Our industry gets it. The CBBB, IAB, AAAAs, DMA, and ANA have gotten together to develop the Power i program that notifies consumers when BT is used to deliver an ad to them, gives them information about BT, and gives them choice.

You put a small Power i on your BT ads. And the consumer has the option to click on it and find out about the data and companies used to put the ad in front of her. She can read it, and do nothing. Or click again and read more. Or she can opt out of some or all targeting.

You as a BT advertiser use the i to extend the same level of trust to the consumer that she extends to you when she buys your brand.

By using the Power i, you are saying to her, 'I respect you. I know that your data and interests are yours, not mine. I ask that you allow me to use anonymous information to find you and put things in front of you that you'll probably be interested in. I won't force you to let me do this. Because I value our relationship.'

A CSF client makes this discovery and choice process easy and clear and decidedly unscary. Called Better Advertising (AdAge's analysis here,) it makes the post click experience easy, straightforward and clear. Their technology is also vigilant in ensuring that her wishes are respected. BA even makes sure that your brand gets the credit for this transparency and choice.

I'll take bets that the people who click on the i will like you more for being straight up with them. And that very few people will actually opt out.

Now, there's no law that says you have to use Power i-s. You can trust her and demonstrate your concern for her wishes. Or you can do nothing and give her a reason to question your methods and fundamentally your regard for her dignity as a free person.

Personally, I prefer to do business with people and institutions that treat me with dignity. How about you?

5 Fantastic Digital First Campaigns

Muchos besos for running this first, iMediaConnection!

Broadcast vs. digital-first
What is the role of TV in the new media environment? Most brands continue to see TV as a one-way broadcast medium -- a platform by which we can deliver marketing messages that consumers should simply absorb and remember. In this world view, digital is an add-on -- a means of overlaying an interactive element onto what is primarily an old-school sledgehammer-to-consumer-skull effort. Little more than checking a box. You know the drill. Or perhaps I should say mallet. The brand blasts away a nice "strategic ad" over the airwaves, but spends 7 percent of the budget pushing some "viral" or "social" effort that essentially asks consumers to spit back the broadcast message.

Fortunately, a few brands are leading a transition. They understand that TV is no longer a broadcast medium so much as it is a mass distribution channel -- one that establishes awareness for a larger campaign effort that gives consumers a real role in shaping and communicating the brand essence. These are "digital-first" brands. That doesn't mean they necessarily spend a larger proportion of dollars on digital. Not at all. Rather, they use all media -- traditional and digital -- to seek out consumer participation. Participation that is channeled through digital platforms.

It might sound like a nuanced difference, but it really isn't. A good digital-first campaign has participatory experiences that consumers seek out; TV simply grows the awareness for such efforts and uses its unique experiential qualities to make the larger campaign more vivid and impactful.

We all know a little prime-time can blow the doors off awareness and seed an idea to a broad audience. With such a foundation, literally millions of people seek out interactive experiences that make the campaign and brand a vivid part of their lives.

Here are five brands and their efforts that showcase the power of the digital-first model, along with one brand that really needs to embrace this approach.

Axe

Those who read what I write regularly (Hi Mom!) know that I talk about Axe a lot, and it's because the brand is a leader in so many digital areas. And digital-first marketing is no exception. While TV certainly communicates the "get Axed 'n get laid" message, the best bits of Axe marketing always take place online. In part, no doubt, because broadcast standards wouldn't let them do this stuff during the family hour.

Need an example? Oh good Lord. Everything Axe does is digital-first. Check out the Axe Undie Run, proof positive that even dirty birdies can care about their fellow woman:



In short, the people at Axe are geniuses, and part of their wisdom is in always being digital-first.

Pepsi

While charity is a small overlay for Axe, it's a big deal for the new Pepsi.

We knew to expect significant changes in Pepsi's marketing approach when it broke with BBDO after something like 2,000 years of partnership. The old Pepsi sought to create TV epics that associated the brand with the hottest celebs of the moment. It was a subtle-as-a-nail-gun effort to link the brand to the next generation. And it worked like a dream until people became the new brand marketing engine.

Here's the "before" vid:



The new Pepsi connects with youth by relating to one of their deepest held values -- community and social responsibility. Pepsi fronts a portion of the marketing budget to help charities, and asks Pepsi drinkers to choose the recipients of blue largesse.

Extended across all traditional and digital media, the effort puts the brand in service of user desires instead of treating their brains as sponges for "we're young and hip and cool like Britney" messaging.

Kia

Auto advertising is perhaps the biggest creative ghetto on the planet, but the Kia hamster campaign for the entry-level Soul stands out as a shining example of how being different and digital-first can drive big dividends.

Let's face it: Most Kia advertising is pretty much invisible. It's the usual shiny car doing the usual things in the usual places making the usual claims, with a bit of value thrown in for differentiation. Not so with the Soul ads.



There's message in all that fun. About juxtaposing the attractive Kia with its toaster-like competitors. That the brand went digital-first for a car targeted primarily to younger and more venturesome buyers is a natural. What isn't is how well the brand delivered this idea across popular forms of digital and traditional media -- and did it in so many ways that consciously invite consumer participation.

It starts with the 60-second viral bait commercial, but there's also a lot more. From "making of" videos to Facebook apps to dedicated social sites in support of the hamsters, this brand clearly understands that attracting attention through TV advertising is only part of the opportunity for this campaign. Rather, TV was simply the catalyst for getting people to seek out and take ownership of other brand experiences featuring the furry spokesrodents.

The side scroller Go Hamster Go app is an example. The user fires up his or her webcam to enter the hamster world and drop hamsters into the Kia as it rolls by.



Kleenex

I think it was two years ago that Kleenex began its Let It Out campaign with TV ads and interactivities inviting consumers to share their feelings.



Of course, feeling has both physical and metaphorical meaning, so it's a nice way to tie up tangible and emotional benefits.

But this is by no means Kleenex's first digital-first effort. From promotions like Choose Your Mom to an interactive application that lets you upload photos and design your own Kleenex box, this brand is way ahead in interactive and marketing evolution in general.

Bing and Yahoo

One of the most interesting things to watch is how digital companies approach traditional media campaigns. Portals can be fascinating on this score because their offerings are, by their very nature, participatory.

Let's start with Yahoo. Forgive me, my fair purple sweet, I have used these pages to confess my love for you before. And I am well aware you have replaced this effort recently with something far better. But your old effort was a good example of what not to do.

Here goes.

You and Yahoo was a classic broadcast-style effort. It had some other layers. But ultimately, it was about delivering a message for us to remember and regurgitate. Me: individual. Yahoo: for individuals. Ergo. Me likey Yahoo. C'mon. I don't even know where to begin. Oh, yes I do. How about with what Yahoo called its anthem spot?



The campaign seems to have evolved into something a little less ether-y with new efforts titled "It feels good to feel." A combination of TV, print, and online is seeding the idea, but the centerpiece appears to be a host a ways that consumers can share their own feelings and memories.

Not "new" ways. "You" ways. Get it?

Yahoo -- Je t'adore. Let me say that again. Je t'adore. But good grief! It strikes me that this was an ideal time to let people experience how Yahoo can be the center of their online lives. Or to let people like me tell the world how Yahoo is the center of our lives. Je t'adore, Yahoo, but those jeans did make your butt look big.

Meanwhile, in Redmond...

Now, obviously Bing's challenge was different. The company needed to make people try a new search engine, not communicate the site as the center of an online life. But Bing could have done the broadcast thing and promised us the most unbelievably unbelievable search experience. Ever!

And oh my god, can you imagine the 60-second spots packed with vignettes of Sydney Opera House and Tuvan yurts and tea parties in the Sahara and people on Melrose just being in-di-vi-du-als that Bing could have served up? And a sort of whitewashed anthem, "If search is your thing, now try Bing (brand search engine)."

Instead, Bing's campaign really hinged on a variety of placements that made it easy to try Bing and see how the results are different.

I can look up words in in-text ads. I see Bing's stab at search results as a supplement to site search. I get to start the process of using Farecast in an ad unit.

Oh, and there was broadcast as well. But these TV ads made you ache to try Bing and see if it was really different. Cuz you've been there. We all have. Wanna see what it's like to be somewhere else?



Conclusion: Is digital-first best?

It's tough to imagine a brand that wouldn't be well served by inviting its users in -- as a central part of its marketing efforts. But perhaps even more than choosing such a campaign idea is inviting the consumer into all aspects of a brand.

Digital companies have unique opportunities to do this. That they sometimes don't makes me wonder if they understand that so much of their brand power comes from the minds and hearts and mouths and typing fingers of consumers -- not 1-inch tape or however TV ads get distributed these days.

Now, there's nothing like TV and those tapes to get the word out. Nothing. But brands that decide to use their TV to invite consumer to participate are going to fare better. It's time that we drop our sledgehammers and start sending out engraved invitations to join us in our brands.

It Depends Upon What The Meaning of the Word Campaign Is

Thanks to MediaBizBloggers for publishing this on their site first:


The second most misused word in our industry, after strategy, has to be campaign. When I started in the biz, it meant the planned and coordinated totality of a selling idea and an executional approach for a brand. Campaigns rarely lasted less than a year. Some lasted 20 years or more.

Things are sure different now. It can be rather challenging to work in a segment of the business where one banner ad executed in four sizes is considered a campaign. Or where all of the messages and media of a finite period, regardless of their look, feel, or message, are called a campaign.

Google says those 25 results you punch into AdSense are a campaign. Heck, I’ve heard one ad on the front page of Yahoo for one day called a campaign.

That loose usage of the term “campaign” contributes to the creativity ghetto that is digital marketing. Too often, we spend millions delivering messages devoid of creative ideas. That may be what selling can be about, but not marketing.

We’re here to create value by imbuing brands with enduring meaning. That’s an impossible challenge for a handful of SEM results or one banner “concept” executed in four different sizes. And don’t even get me started on what digital people think a concept is.

Campaigns begin with a central idea. Just Do It. The Ultimate Driving Machine. Keep Walking. Not Save 20% today. Or Download a White Paper. Offers are critical, but to actually do marketing you have to begin with a thought that helps consumers file away pleasing brand information.

The definition of “campaign” used to be quite narrow. It often combined a selling idea with a litany of “executional mandatories” like font and colors and ad style. Good campaigns these days are a
lot more freeform.

Digital surely has helped drive the need for this sort of executional freedom. We are barraged with more and more messages everyday; if you want to reinforce an idea, you need to constantly surprise and delight consumers with the ways that you deliver that message. Can’t do that when all the ads look and sound the same.

Digital agencies tend to suck at delivering real campaign ideas. Yes, there are exceptions. But in general. I think there are three reasons for this:

• Most digital people grew up in digital, where campaign ideas were at best secondary considerations.
• Lots of digital people don’t know what campaigns are.
• We ache for constant change in everything. There’s always another shiny object we want to serve up.

As a result, we don’t make brand progress. We’re great at selling stuff. But the reason why so many big brands continue to “short” digital media relative to its share of total consumer media time is that our “campaigns” aren’t campaigns.

Campaign ideas have always been the bread and butter of traditional agencies. But as they help their brands do more in interactive, many struggle with injecting enough executional freedom under the idea. Not all, but many. Everything comes out lockstep. I think there are three reasons for this:

• It’s the way it has been done for ages. And with plenty of success.
• Traditional agencies tend to prefer tightly defined ideas because you make more money on them.Creative development costs a great deal more than making “pool outs” of the same bloody thing.
• Some traditional agencies approach advertising with the view that their way is the best way and therefore no deviation from their approach is appropriate.

The challenge there is that the nature of branding has changed. Consumers now give as much as they get in terms of brand definition. And to the extent that some traditional agencies are closed to consumer participation, they are doing a disservice to the very brands they are purporting to protect.

So which kind of agency is going to change the way it thinks first? One requires a change in reasoning. The other a change in feeling.

Final Solution Fail: I WIll Survive!

For the first few seconds I was horrified. By the end I loved the spirit of this. And besides, who am I to judge the actions of an Auschwitz survivor?