PepperDigital

Campaigns: An Outdated Way of Thinking?

By: Sam Ford, PepperDigital

George Carlin had his "seven dirty words" routine, but I am beginning to see quite a few "dirty words" circulating when it comes to the social media space as well. For me, the word I focus on is "viral." As those of you who have heard me speak or lead a workshop in the past few months know, I have a bit of a hang-up about how language shapes how we think about issues. In social media, making a video or blog post or podcast "go viral" leads companies to still think they can be broadcasters in a social space and that people turn into impressions because of something in the content that makes them not be able to help but share it. (See more here.)

When I was participating in the Advertising Research Foundation's inaugural launch of its Social Media Council last week, I had the chance to rail on a few of this issue. And one of my panel colleagues, Chris Andrew from Digitas (Twitter feed here), had a dirty word of his own: campaign.

His point about moving clients away from talking about campaigns really resonated with me because of how often it has come up with clients. I liken it to fictional television content: there are shows that are episodic, which come at regular intervals but in which one episode has little or no relationship to those that came before. So, in the most traditional example of all, Lucy tries to find a way to become part of Ricky's show in almost every episode, and it fails. In the next episode, she starts all over again. On the other end of the spectrum are serialized television shows, where "previously on..." becomes crucial, and each episode picks up where the previous one left off. Soap operas have traditionally been that content, and most of the more critically acclaimed dramas today fall into this mold (from Dexter to Friday Night Lights to Ugly Betty).

In short, a brand is a storyteller, and that story has to be larger than any particular one-off campaign. As Joel Rubinson of the ARF says, maintaining a social media presence is not a campaign at all; "it is on-going and self-perpetuating."

The conversation also provided a few aspects of online communication that should NOT be treated as dirty words. Mark Studness from Verizon talked about the importance of customer service in social media spaces and Verizon's experiences with managing an online forum for their customers to share advice with one another and draw on their collective intelligence to solve problems, with Verizon being amongst but not driving the conversation (and then was surprised with customer service questions directly from the crowd during the Q&A, reminding us all that marketers aren't just marketers...they're customers, too.) Meanwhile, General Mills' Heather Maxwell spoke about how online research is not a dirty word and the importance and value in connecting customers in communities and gaining customer insights from facilitating and listening to their conversations.

All in all, it was a fantastic session, and a reminder not only at the many ways advertising, marketing, public relations, customer service, and research are all converging but also how many kindred spirits there are in so-called other industries. And I'm glad I'm not the only one who wants to add "campaign" to the dirty words list...although I still don't know if I can get others on board for doing away with "consumers."

Let Go of My Legos!

By Jackie Kolek, PepperDigital

As anyone who has ever been six years old knows, Legos rock. The simplest of toys, kids are fascinated by them and can spend literally hours and hours building creations only to knock them down and start all over again. My six-year-old recently got several new sets to add to his collection, a collection that includes my old Legos from when I was his age. Not only does he play with them for hours on end, but mom and dad put in considerable time working with him on his creations.

It’s for that very reason that Legos made a fatal mistake in rejecting Spinal Tap’s request to include a YouTube video featuring Lego people decked out as the band playing “Tonight I’m Gonna Rock You Tonight” in their upcoming DVD release. A Lego’s spokesperson was quoted in today’s New York Times as saying that the tone and language of the video was “inappropriate” for their target audience of kids 6 to 12.  

I don’t know too many 6-year-olds whose parents would let them watch a Spinal Tap DVD. But what’s more interesting is that Legos didn’t seem to have a problem with the video when it was up on YouTube and 82,000 people watched it. Or for that matter, when Spinal Tap was showing the clip during their “Unwigged and Unplugged” tour. But whether it was copyright infringement or language, Lego’s missed a critical rule of social media - - don’t ignore surplus audiences. 

A surplus audience is any audience that you might not directly target, but has the potential to either influence others to buy your products and services or potentially buy them themselves. 

The makers of Diet Coke learned that lesson the hard way when they tried to squash the creativity of the famous Mentos and Diet Coke video craze. Back in 2006, Coke was quoted in the Wall Street Journal as saying “We would hope people want to drink [Diet Coke] more than try experiments with it,” adding that the Mentos craziness didn’t fit with the “brand personality” of Coke. Realizing that the more people experimented, the more Diet Coke they bought, Coke later reversed itself and launched its own online video competition using household objects.

A search of “Lego” on YouTube pulls up 215,000 videos. Now, while I haven’t had time to view them all, I am sure at least some of those are wildly inappropriate for 6 to 12-year-olds. Lego can’t control what people do with their product once it’s in their hands, but they can embrace the enthusiasm and creativity of their users and enjoy the halo effect of reaching surplus audiences. Fans of Spinal Tap are moms and dads, aunts and uncles, cousins, grandparents, and more. Legos had a huge opportunity to reach this surplus audience of potential buyers and influencers without any cost to them. But in this case, legal won out over the marketing team and the whole company lost out.

For Your Mad Men Fix, Turn to Twitter

By: Lauren Begley, PepperDigital

Like most people in the media business, I’d imagine, I’m a huge fan of Mad Men. The critically acclaimed and still, somehow, underground hit TV show that impeccably depicts a Madison Avenue ad agency in the early 1960s is a sophisticated soap opera with exceptional social commentary that is—for better or for worse—still very relevant today. For a show like this, I’m always saddened when the season finally comes and goes. What will I do for the next four to six months other than sit and ponder the pervious season’s cliffhanger? Turn to Twitter of course!

I’ve found that the Mad Men drama doesn’t stop when the credits end. All of my favorite characters are quite active on the micro-blogging site. Just the other day, @_DonDraper scolded novice admen @_PeteCampbell and @Ken_Cosgrove for “gossiping around the water cooler,” happy homemaker @BettyDraper noted that she was breading a meatloaf and fish-out-of-water secretary @PeggyOlsen announced that she was planning a shopping excursion with her far more fashionable friend. Even little @Sally_Draper, @_DonDraper and @BettyDraper’s eight-year-old daughter has a Twitter account where she lets readers know when she is riding her bike, sneaking a Twinkie before dinner or mixing a drink for her father.

Other favorite cast members including Sterling-Cooper head hancho @Roger_Sterling and his wife @Mona_Sterling, the exotic executive with a big secret @Sal_Romano and new-to-the-neighborhood and single mother (gasp!) @Helen_Bishop. These characters and others frequent their Twitter pages to keep us updated on their 1962 lives by discussing their favorite gin, gossiping about the new secretaries and hashing out deeply-rooted scandals that often involve a coworkers’ wife or girlfriend.

So if you can’t wait for the premier of the next season on August 16 (Sunday’s at 10p.m. EST on AMC), check in on the cast via Twitter for updates.

The Man Who Motivated Michael Jordan…and His Sales

by Rob Longert

It isn’t too often that I click on a banner ad, but I couldn’t pass this one up…

The Charlie Murphy character from the Dave Chappelle Show left me speechless at times and I haven’t really seen him since the show went off the air, so clicking on this banner ad was a no brainer.

The ad took me to a microsite for “Leroy Smith, The Man Who Motivated Michael Jordan.”  At first glance I had no idea what the site was for. Was it a new Dave Chappelle show? Was Charlie Murphy coming out with a new movie?

I was wrong on both accounts. The site was built by Nike and is dedicated to “Leveraging Michael Jordan¹s highly anticipated Hall of Fame induction” via a “Air Jordan Hall of Fame (HOF) Collection” coming onto the market this summer, according to a press release from SportsFuzion, Inc.

As of 2006, “SportsFuzion has been the owner of the exclusive worldwide rights to the Hall of Fame’s trade names, logos, trademarks, designs, and photos for use in sportswear.” That said, earlier today they put out a press release, saying that Nike and “His Airness” went “behind their backs to cut them out of the deal” which “has become their worst nightmare.”

In legal land, Nike and MJ might be in the wrong, but from a PR perspective, the Leroy Smith microsite is well done, the brand has been optimized in terms of media outreach to big-time sports bloggers (such as Sports Biz with Darren Rovell, and Page 2) and they chose to use Facebook, Twitter and YouTube as their social media channels, which seems to be working out for them as they have about 161,000 views on their featured video, 8,000 fans on Facebook, and 3,357 followers on Twitter.

It could be that I am a huge fan of MJ, a fan of Charlie Murphy or that I am a sucker for a funny online video, but I think the site works and Nike gets what it takes to launch an engaging campaign.

Do you think Nike and Air Jordan are in the wrong, or should Leroy Smith live on despite the suit from SportzFusion, Inc.?

Do the Same Rules Apply Online and Off?

By Rob Longert, PepperDigital

In browsing some blogs this morning, I came across a thoughtful post by Ford Kanzier, managing partner of Marketing/PR Savvy in El Granada, CA, about the using the skills that PR pros have honed over the years, and applying them to Web 2.0 and social media campaigns.

Kanzier hits on seven major points that are essential to successful traditional and PR 2.0 campaigns:

• Bandwagon Effect – Sam Ford has spoken to us about this time and time again, but being part of a social network just to say that you are part of it in no way enhances a company’s digital presence. Company’s and/or employees have to want to be part of a community for a particular reason, and engage with that community within it’s guidelines and best practices.
• Current Macro-economics – Use the essential talents our industry developed including “Strategy, Conversation, Information, Credibility, and Community” to maximize the value of PR, online and off, during today’s “business crunch.”
• Strategy – The old adage…. Think before you act, and put yourself in the shoes of your audience. Their first question from media and customers is “Why should I care,” and as Kanzier says, “businesses willing to strategically apply and control tactics on or offline will be more successful than those without clear, simple differentiation and a sharp communications focus on creating brand value.”
• Conversation – Face to face contact is not going anywhere, anytime soon. Eye contact, seeing a product and “first hand experiences (conversations)” cannot be replaced by the sole use of online tools. This applies when it comes to interacting with customers, co-workers, clients, and the media.
• Information – Here, Kanzier refers to the work of Edward Bernays and “how research and information (as well as psychology) are applied to PR campaigns.” With our online tools, “content” and information is in abundance, so this is where paying attention to the information we are taking in for our clients become even more important.
• Credibility – For this, I will direct you to Steve Cody’s RepMan blog, but think about all of the email blunders you have heard about in past years. As much as technology is a tool, it can als o be a huge distracter and an easy way to ruin reputations… Pay attention to every click you make with that mouse, because once you click, you can’t take it back.
• Community – Corralling humans around a cause is “hardly a new concept.” The web has given brands access to fans and people who share common interests, but this is no different than getting people together in person. Whether it is a car show or one of the many Comic-Con shows, people with similar interests are getting together based on their interests.

Will the rules of the web continue to mirror (to an extent) that of face to face interaction, or will we reach a point where the rules we have grown to know do not apply any longer?