Month: October 2007

Finding the Gold in Digital Measurement

Digital Strategy, Measurement

Daily Microcosms 1
Originally uploaded by David Bez

Remember when the daily digital microcosm revolved around "hits". There was much talk and bravado about the hits, the "eyeballs" and (in those advanced shops) the "visitors". We puffed out our chests, talked up the "power" of the Internet, and tried to convince businesses to trust our expertise as we surreptitiously added their domain names to our vault of registrations.

Then, as the conversation dulled and we all got used to the basic metrics, we reached for some other measurement. We shifted to "up time", "click throughs", and when pushed "unique visitors". But again, all these measures seemed loose, too interpretive and indistinguishable. They didn’t apply to "brands", just websites … they didn’t work for the business consultants, the CFO or the board … and our own reluctance to commit to concrete measurables saw "digital" initiatives pushed to the side as "non-core" capabilities.

But then a strange thing happened. The web became "accepted". Business models emerged. Amazon blew the covers off the technology and showed that there was money to be made … and Google … well, Google just is.

Yet despite these well-known successes, for the vast majority of digital agencies (and marketing departments) out there, the web is still green fields. Businesses continue to think that they can contract an agency to build a site for $30-$50k while spending multiples of this amount on non-descript, untargeted TV advertising. The old ways die hard.

Some time ago, Katie and I were working on a web project and we needed to find a new way of measuring activity. Not for our clients, mind … but to help us understand what was working and what needed to be improved. We were thinking engagement, brand and conversation. We were thinking aggregation as well as targeting, we were aiming for word of mouth, conversion and funnelling.

When we started doing this about three years ago, it was speculative, but over time it allowed us to map and understand online consumer behaviour. It demonstrated to us that page views were as important as click throughs and that content strategies, multi-format integration and "directed play" all helped to build your brand, excite your audience and encourage loyalty. We called it, loosely, "time with brand".

Herb points to a study that confirms this approach. The report explains that both implicit and explicit memory are important in building brand recognition — and this, in turn, means that it is important to measure impressions as well as the more performative metrics. Sounds obvious now … but it makes you think — what is next for metrics and measurement. And who will seize that ground. There is a goldmine waiting.

This Book’s Reserved for You

Smart Bloggers

Jaffe Cabana
Originally uploaded by CC Chapman

Joseph Jaffe’s new book, Join the Conversation is now available on Amazon. It promises to be a provocative and interesting read.

And for the rest of today, by clicking this link you will be helping to drive the book into Amazon’s best seller list — and Joseph will be donating the royalties to charity.

Right, I am off to buy mine now … and then I just have to wait, oooh, one million weeks for it to arrive.

Fight for Kisses

Digital Strategy

Wilkinson_soc_tatt One of the challenges of digital storytelling is combining consistency and expertise. On the one hand there is a need to construct a simple and compelling message and then you need the expertise to ensure that the message resonates with your audience in a range of formats, is flexible enough to work in a variety of formats … and has a certain "talkability" … that it induces conversation.

Here is a nice example of integrated, digital storytelling. It is not comprehensive, but what it does, it does well (apparently this has been floating around for some time, but I only just saw it over at Scamp’s blog). It is a TVC by JWT France … but it also has a very nice microsite attached to it.

For me, this works for the following reasons:

  • It has a Promiscuous Idea — at the heart of the messaging is a "promiscuous idea" (this was my topic for the Age of Conversation) … this is a concept that finds its way out — it reaches the audience, it taps into our emotions and it drives our creative processes.
  • The tactical execution IS the strategy — I have ranted on about this before, but this is a great example. Watch the ease with which the "consumer" moves from passively watching a TVC to actively exploring the website to participating in some of the digital activites (making a tattoo, playing a game) … to COMPETING against each other for a high score. BTW … Anyone who can find a way to measure time with brand/immersion for these types of projects will be hailed as a god 😉

I would have liked to have seen some more viral enablement … being able to "send to a dad" etc (or perhaps this was there but escaped my school boy French vocabulary), but overall it is a neat execution. And, as Scamp points out, the Freudian undertones are delicious and slightly weird.

Oh, and I thought it would be of particular interest to John Johnston and any other Freaked Out Fathers. Now you know what to expect 😉

It’s All in the Mind

Smart Bloggers

Inside my mind..
Originally uploaded by grassfordinner

Robyn McMaster has a very interesting blog. She focuses on the brain and explains how thinking and doing impacts your life — on a micro level. Robyn has a great way of being able to explain the science underlying a thought process or a bodily function, link it with emotion and tell the story in a fun and engaging way, which is great for me as I just don’t get the pop culture interest in all-things-science (sorry Dr Karl).

This post is a great example — where Robyn explains why it is important to look after yourself — by taking some "me time" … apparently it is all to do with relieving the impact of Cortisol (aka the stress-inducing chemical). But can you believe that just THINKING about having some "me" time has benefits — releasing seratonin and making you feel happy. Who says "daydreaming" is bad for you?

Oh, and while you are checking Robyn’s blog, check out this post on smell. The moral to this post is make sure that your marketing doesn’t stink by making sure it doesn’t stink.

So, You Think You Can Market? FAQs

Competitions

Bqcomp1

We have had a great response so far to this competition, and I am excited to see what you clever folks will be pulling together! Even Matt Moore chimed in with some consumer insight, despite a hatred of competitions! In the meantime, I have also received some questions which you may all want to know the answers to (with thanks to CK for doing all our homework).

Q1) Does this have to be a strategy leveraging social media?

A1) No, there is no need to use social media

Q2) does it offer gift wrapping service for x-mas? And does that gift wrap say "bargain" on it (you know, like Macy’s does with their logos). I ask becuz girls don’t want their boys to be bargain-hunting so much for once-a-year holiday. But boys like to save money ;-).

A2) The Bargain Queen only points the way to where bargains can be had. It is not a shop, so there is no additional Bargain Queen branding involved. The gift wrapping will come down to the offer available in-store — either in Sydney, Tokyo, Florida or New York (unless it is available online).

Q3) Does this site have a guide whereas the guy can say "my woman likes little black dresses" and then the guide emails them 3 ideas?

A3) Not at present, but this could be a suggested execution. Remember, The Bargain Queen team have some great technical and design skills — so if you have suggestions for the site experience, please do include them. In fact, they’re offering a manual version of this this week as a test.

Q4) must ask why a male demo and not targeting more females? Is it becuz they already have a good sized female audience? Or just becuz it bodes well for males? Just curious cuz I’m a curious marketer ;-).

A4) There is already a very strong female demographic, yes. And the strongest and most consistent audience is amongst US-based women — hence the shift in focus away from Australian-based bargains.

Q5) Does the site have competitive shipping fees for all over the world? Or do some countries pay more than others due to where the goods are based?

A5) Most of The Bargain Queen’s readers and customers are based in the USA, which has astonishingly good domestic delivery service and rates. But for buyers outside the USA, BQ’s expert bargain hunters find items that you can buy online and pay for shipping from the USA – and still pay less than the retail price in your local department store!

The Future Isn’t What You Think

Web 2.0

I am sure you remember Michael Wesch’s brilliant The Web is Us/ing Us — I talked about one of the variants here. Well, he is back and bringing his digital ethnography skills to bear on the subject of the Information R/evolution. As Jon Burg points out, Michael Wesch raises some great points — in fact, the points that are raised in this four minute video could supply me with blogging topics for the next couple of weeks.

But one of the things that resonated with me was that "the future isn’t what you think". As the video shows, some years ago we were all fascinated by hierarchies of knowledge and categorisation. We were building taxonomies and information structures and file servers and places to store documents. But then along came Google and changed the way we played. Remember, Google changed the way that we played FIRST, and the way we worked SECOND. So despite the huge investment that we all made (professionally or personally) in collecting and categorising our web bookmarks, our corporate documents and intranet links, the future turned out to be a very different place.

This is why we use the term "disruptive" technology for those innovations that change the status quo. It is also why it is essential for us, as marketers, to continue to investigate and play with the technologies that become available … because what is clear (to me at least) is that consumers are more rapidly adopting the game-changing technologies that will infect and drive tomorrow’s corporate innovation. So while consumers are unlikely to tell us HOW to change what we do … by watching, understanding and playing where they play, we will at least be aware of the trends and opportunities coming down the track.

Competition: So, You Think You Can Market?

Competitions

Bqcomp1

We all think that we are capable of coming up with a ground-breaking idea. We all think that we could, if given the chance, deliver a brilliant social media campaign that creates buzz, drives sales and makes our clients deliriously happy.

But do your clients bite?

Do your ideas fall on deaf ears?

This competition could be the opportunity you have been waiting for!

So, you think you can market?

The Bargain Queen is a leading fashion blog that has a unique challenge — they have their female readership all stitched up, but how are they going to reach a MALE audience in time for Christmas?

The brief

Get men interested in buying fashion gifts for their other half this Xmas. They hate department stores. They wouldn’t be caught dead in a boutique. They would rather wrestle a crocodile than accompany their lady on a shopping-trip. But somehow, they have to find her something she’ll like. Something she won’t sigh and send back. Something classy. Something that’s good value, but isn’t cheap. Something, in short, that will guarantee some peace and goodwill to all on Christmas morn.

You have a low budget. Around $500.

But you have access to some top notch design and technical resources on The Bargain Queen team to compensate. They can handle online/technical deployment of your astonishing viral marvel, and they can design any necessary creative dinkuses you may require.

All you need to add is "the spark" that will bring the campaign to life!

When?

We need your response to the brief by October 31, 2007. Email it to me at bqcomp [at] servantofchaos.com.

Who is the judge?

This is where it gets interesting. Not only do you have to come up with a knockout idea, your ideas will publicly go head-to-head with the best in the business. We will randomly draw your name from a hat and allow the marketing community to VOTE for their favourites.

This will happen across a number of times in round-robin style. Only the entry with the most votes will pass through to the next round. We will continue until there are only TWO entries left. And then final voting will commence!

What’s in it for you?

First up, this is the chance to showcase your style. With some of the best marketing minds looking on, it is a great chance to demonstrate your worth. You will also get a bucketload of profile and buzz from the blogosphere.

Finally, since The Bargain Queen is a site that’s going places, you get the very bankable cred of being able to say "I knew her before she was famous — in fact, I made her famous"!

And, just ‘cos it’s Christmas, the winner is up for a funky new iPod Touch.

So, what do you do next?

Check out thebargainqueen.com to get the look and feel of the site. That should tell you everything you need to know about who we’re trying to reach and what we have to offer them. Sketch out your idea in no more than the equivalent of one page. Remember this is a competition, so your entry will be up for public consumption. Feel free to put any questions you might have in the comments below.

And get your idea to us no later than October 31. 2007!

Voting starts November 1!

Some Marketers are Liars. Some Just Stupid.

Branding

Sometimes I wonder why marketers have a bad name. There are many that I know who actively strive to do good things, raise awareness, build brands, generate sales, prod, poke and provoke us into doing better work, create job and professional opportunities and to bring people together. These are smart, passionate people who can deliver creative and compelling business value and would have no problem taking a seat at the boardroom table.

But then, you see something that draws your breath. Makes you see the marketing world as others do … as illogical, tactically oriented and slightly foolish. This piece of “brand insight” from Martin Lindstrom surprises me … he is talking about the way that branding bottled water with “PWS” (public water source) can actually drive sales … that by publicly admitting that you are using PWS (ie tap water) that you can create a “first mover” advantage in the North American beverage market — and that people won’t actually mind. By way of example, he cites the tobacco industry. But these are very different products and categories. And unless I am mistaken, there are no addictive elements added to water.

Dennis Howlett points out that telling the truth should not hurt the beverage industry, and says, “If you can’t trust the brand, then what can you trust?”. This is exactly the point that seems lost in Lindstrom’s analysis. Encouraging any brand (let alone leading brands such as Coke) to play fast and loose with the truth is inviting a tidal wave of social media criticism. In an increasingly connected world, brands are only as squeaky clean as their last campaign — and we consumers, audiences, segments and participants are far less forgiving and more determined than ever before. The sooner brands start to rethink their network of advisors and start listening to agencies that get it, the better off we all will be.

Blog Action Day

Good Works

Adoptthesky With Blog Action Day almost upon us, I took a look at the large number of online resources available to those who are keen to support this global initiative. And it just so happened that I found this site — AdoptTheSky.org who are petitioning the US Environmental Protection Agency over air quality. And as a former asthma sufferer, I fully support any initiative that is going to help thousands of people breathe easier.

One of the cool things about this site is that it automatically registers your name against a mile of US air space. I ended up somewhere over Illinois … and found that there are almost a million adults and kids who suffer from asthma in that state. That is almost a million people who daily battle to get enough oxygen into their lungs … who worry about being caught without their inhaler … or who live the constant threat of hospitalisation. As part of Blog Action Day, make sure you drop by and sign up. It will make us all breathe a little easier.

Bloggers Unite - Blog Action Day