Spinglobe

Friday, November 2, 2007

The Echo

For the longest time all other generations have lived in the shadow of the baby boomers. Most notably, of course, the gen-xer's: the detached middle children who never quite got the attention or opportunities they deserved. However, the reign of the boomers is over...It ended the moment they began to have children; these children now vastly outnumber their parents generation and will have almost double the economic might. It all comes from a simple forumula: boom, bust and echo. As we all know the "echo" is always larger than the "boom."

Currently, marketers are switching their focus in droves to try and understand and communicate with this new "echo" generation. A generation which will dominate and define the 1st quarter of the 21st century. A great example of this is Toyota's new "Scion" brand: http://www.scion.com/

60 Minutes has also done a great show on the echo-boomers: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/10/01/60minutes/main646890_page2.shtml

Saturday, October 20, 2007

Last-minute halloween costumes, good SEM writing and not pissing off social networks.

A project we completed recently got me thinking about the importance of good content as well as the nature of social media and it's short term vs long term effectiveness.

The project was the creation of a number of Squidoo lenses for a Halloween costume e-tailer.  They wanted to complement their traditional SEO and SEM initiatives with content that was a little more engaging and broader in its appeal.  We created eight Squidoo lenses - a master lens with seven lenses that were focused on themes.  The themes and the subsequent modules in each lens were based on keyword research as well as Costumes Inc's expertise in the area.  The lenses are:

• Master Lens: Amazing Costumes for Halloween
• Halloween Costumes for Girls
• Halloween Costumes for Boys
• Sexy Costumes
• Traditional Costumes
• Humorous Costumes
• Movie-related Costumes
• Costume Accessories

The lenses were all written to tell a story - to fire the imagination of people looking for Halloween costumes.  It was really interesting to listen and learn from our client - they've been in the business a long time and really have a handle on the different types of people who shop for costumes.

We also got to take a little bit of liberty with the content.  It's not the same writing for Halloween costumes as, say, for an oil and gas company.  These lenses were really fun to write and stretched our imaginations.  We had three different copy writers on them (we turned these around in 5 days) but managed to get the same type of tone for the audience (the lenses about kids costumes were a little more tame than those for adult or movie costumes).  Some examples:

Mean Streets Costumes

The Tagliarelli Family are out to get you but Roberta's dragging you to the speakeasy for the third night in a row. It's like the broad doesn't understand your work.  Or maybe she just can't wait to show off the cool threads of your Gangster costume to the other molls. Better tuck a tommy gun under your jacket, just in case you need to mix it up.

Tony's acting all shifty again. Why doesn't he ever want to go to the speakeasy? Maybe it's time to ditch that gangster and hook up with one of those cute Tagliarellis. Better put the finishing touches on my sexy Gangster's Moll costume before hitting the town. Where's my cigarette holder?

Spartan and Persian Costumes from the movie 300

When you're battling an invading army of a million Persians, you don't want restrictive clothing. Same goes for Halloween ... when you're fighting your way through the throng, you don't want a lot of belts and buckles getting in the way. This Deluxe Spartan Costume from the movie 300 is loose, doesn't chafe and puts fear in the heart of your enemies - Batman wouldn't dare to take the last candied apple!

Also worth a read: Old-Time Vampire Chastises the Younger Generation and Darth Vader Costumes, for you and your pet!

So, you can see we had a lot of fun ... and were able to bring some additional fun to the story and to the experience of shopping.  When we were finalizing project details, Costumes Inc. showed us some examples of some "keyword rich" writing that they had been done for them in the past.  The examples were stuffed full of keywords, but were generally uninteresting and practically unreadable by humans. 

This is one the pressures that e-retailers face and why I think every e-retailer needs either a blog or some sort of other mechanism for telling a story - search engine algorithms are quite sophisticated - and stuffing your copy full of keywords isn't the answer.  Burgeoning SEM writers need to understand this too.   While understanding how humans search is important (keyword research), understanding how humans read and subsequently shop is important as well.

Don't Piss off Your Community

An additional component to this project was promotion.  And this is where a marketer has to tread lightly, particularly vis a vis marketing to social networks.  This was the first short-term step in a longer-term online strategy.  And the question I struggled with is how to harness the power of social networks for short-term awareness (and frankly conversion) gains without damaging any long-term credibility of the client.

We started with social networks that were link-based (like del.icio.us and stumbleupon) and where people participated in them to learn about new content.  And we carefully placed a few posts in relevant social networks that we were already part of (for example, a discussion thread in a parenting forum on fun group costumes for kids).  This is a controversial practice, I think, but the benefit was that either myself or other members of the team were already part of these networks.  So we were trusted and not perceived as spammers.  This is important for any marketer who hopes to create WOM - participate in social networks, even before you have something to sell.

So, if you're looking for a last-minute Halloween costume, check out Costume Inc's lenses.  Or, if you want to share thoughts on using social networks for short-term marketing gains, I'm quite interested in discussing it/sharing ideas.  I struggle with balancing the needs of my client with the ecosystems of communities they would like to talk to.  And I'm always looking for good ideas on how to bring the two together.

Cross-posted at MyNameIsKate 

Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Play Dates for Adults

See, play time is not just for kids anymore!  Springwise (an excellent trendspotting publication . . if you're not subscribed, you should be!) reports on an alternative to the club scene for both adults and singles - Play Date Atlanta.  Activities range from Scrabble and Yahtzee to Hungry Hungry Hippos (Homer Simpson would approve!).  This is a fun and fresh idea and their success shows that adults crave play dates too.

Monday, October 15, 2007

The role of “Good Enough”

It's not everyday we hear the term "good enough" in branding, marketing or communications work let alone in business strategy discussions.  I propose this is a problem of a hefty order.  "Good enough" signifies we have taken the time to identify the measurement criteria for our campaign.  It means we have a clear goal and are focusing on a return on investment versus winning awards or making something that looks good in our portfolio.

Campaigns and Effectiveness

There are a lot of "beautiful" campaigns out there.  But effectiveness is an entirely different, and hotly debated, thing altogether.

Thanks to the amazing Sean Moffitt of Agent Wildfire for this lead:  A story about Bernard Lachance.

A man had a vision of playing in one of the pre-eminent locations in Canada.  A hall that seats a ridiculous number of people.  He didn't have a big budget.  In fact, he couldn't even afford the downpayment on the hall.  What he had was gumption and a campaign that was "good enough."

He could have spent tens of thousands of dollars on flyers, ads and other vehicles.  Others would have done so with the hope of recouping this money from seat sales.  Instead, Bernard identified the resources available, the task at hand and developed a marketing program to drive the seat sales required.  And involved word of mouth by having 150 local artist sing in his backup choir.

Brand and Quality

"Good enough" is a threshold.  It is a threshold we are committed to crossing from a campaign perspective.  And it is a threshold we have to uphold if we are going to build equity in a brand.  I expect a higher quality of service from a luxury brand.  Understanding these expectations is critical to determining what promises to make to a marketplace as well as the features, quality and support required to sustain these expectations.

Apple, for example, has shifted its stance significantly in the market. The days of being a niche, highest quality at all cost provider of goods are over.  I don't have anything to go on here except personal experience, but there was a time where you couldn't buy a Mac for anywhere near the same price as a PC.  Today that is no longer the case.  

I would suggest that Apple has redefined "good enough" based on affordability and reach within the marketplace.  As a result, they now offer a number of lower cost options and have significantly increased their reach as a result.

I'm certainly not arguing that Apple has dropped below the threshold.  Though there are those who would argue just that.  I would suggest they have done a great job at looking at what was required to expand their market share. 

In Summary

All firms (one man shops all the way to international conglomerates) should be holding all marketing tasks accountable.  If you can't find at least one significant Key Performance Indicator to tie to an inititiave, then I would suggest it is worth reviewing whether any money should be spent.  In fact, I generally counsel against spending money in these circumstances.

Enough from me. How do you view "good enough?"

Image Source: Megan *  rachelandrew

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Forays into e-commerce

Many of our customers are interested in some element of e-commerce.  It could be tickets to a gala or selling products and services online.  For some, it's an extension of their core business and for others it's just a way to cover the costs of promotional items.

In all cases, we recommend a careful evaluation of fulfillment issues prior to embarking down this path.

Know Thy Fullfillment 

Fulfillment; is that a Marketing Communications concern?  Actually, yes it is.  One that is all too often overlooked and the cause of much heartache later on.

Setting expectations is one of the most important things we do and our ability to successfully manage those expectations is critical to the success of any campaign.  In the case of selling products and services online, there are a number of key fulfillment questions that should be asked.

How much stock must you carry?  In what sizes and colors?
How are returns to be handled?
How will products be shipped or picked up by the customer?
Will shipping be a lost leader or a profit centre?
Who will communicate order status to customers?
How much product will never be sold?
What happens when product goes "out of stock"?

Review the Alternatives

There are a number of ways that organizations can experiment with e-commerce tasks without having to take on any fulfillment issues directly.  I outline a few of these below.  Each allows rather unique methods to create products on-demand (when they are ordered) and manage the sale through to delivery on your behalf.

Now, one concern with these services (for us) is their commitment to using sustainably sourced materials.  We recommend you initiate discussions with each vendor of interest to determine their sourcing practices before proceeding.

Cafepress is one of the early pioneers in on-demand merchandising.  It's verging on insane the number of products you can throw a virtual logo, slogan or picture on.  A great way to test selling t-shirts, mugs, posters or even ashtrays or dog shirts.  They handle the purchase, merchandise creation, fulfillment, shipping, customer service.  The works.  And you make a percentage of every sale.

Lulu is a wonderful on-demand book publisher that allows anyone to publish their own books in a variety of formats without incurring the up front costs associated with publishing.  They help you create the book, sell the book and handle all the fullfillment and payment issues.  A wonderful way to test e-commerce with printed materials, make money and eliminate the costs and risks associated with publishing an item.  Their new photo books would be a powerful addition to a special event.

Eventbrite is one of my favorite services online.  They allow you to sell blocks of tickets for attendance at an event.  It could be a musical event, a fundraiser, gala or even a backyard barbeque.  It is an amazingly professional and well thought out system.  What I love is its integration points into the lives of the customer.  You can buy your tickets and then add the event to your Outlook Calendar, Google Calendar, iCal Calendar, Upcoming.org or more.  They take a percentage of each ticket sold to cover the costs of their services.

Thursday, September 13, 2007

How to engage with the social web

We've spent the last year developing a roadmap approach to blogging.

It's a process by which we work with our clients to engage with the "blogosphere" or world of blogs and the social web. It's actually less (at the beginning) about launching a blog, facebook profile or the like.  It's about learning to read and interact with the social web.

We've found that the act of engaging with this world is more important than launching the actual site.  And learning what works in this space is lost unless we choose to engage with others that are expressing themselves with these new tools.

If I were to over-simplify the roadmap it would be a system by which we create a safe space for our clients to play and engage with the social web.

• Find and expose some areas of passion
• Experience following and engaging with other people's writings/media
• Begin to experiment with exposing oneself through writing and media
• Launch your own space online

Today I stumbled across this revised post by David Armano and his slideshare (embedded below.)  It totally fits with our views and approach.  I love the last slide.  I'm happy to report that our clients have answers to these questions.

Check out Kate's latest post about the Petro Canada team and their new blog for a case in point.

Friday, August 3, 2007

Maybe I’d Have Done Better on My SAT’s with Manga!

I remember studying for my SAT's.  Growing up American, the SAT's were a rite-of-passage like prom and band camp (or am I the only band camp nerd in the crowd?) and if you wanted to get into a good school you needed to do well.  Especially if you grew up in a very small town in the Panhandle of Texas.  So I dutifully purchased big, thick newsprint books of sample tests to learn how to crack the enigmatic codes behind the SAT's ruthless analogies: "Effervescent is to Metropolis as Loquatious is to ___________ a) Tetrahedron b) Terrarium c) Binary Star d) Grape"

It was painful.

But now, NOW! Kaplan (one of the leading publishers of these sample test books) have partnered with TokyoPop (a manga publisher) to create a manga series designed to improve vocabulary scores on the SATs. Cool.

This to me makes total sense - make learning fun, make learning play.  It doesn't have to be painful.  Kinda like marketing   It doesn't have to be painful for your customers to receive your message.  Why not find out what is fun for them and deliver your message in that media?  Better yet - work with them to create the message.

Hattip to Iconoculture for the trend. 

Tuesday, July 31, 2007

Did You Know? goes 2.0

A high school in Colorado was looking to share some ideas on the future of education with their staff.  And Did You Know? was born.

Today it has become one of the most influential conversations around education I have come across.

Thanks to Paul Tedesco for this find.  Can't wait till you are up and running on a blog, Paul! 

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

Collective Self-realization

I'm not generally one to read multiple books concurrently, but The Age of Conversation recently arrived at the office, and, knowing that Sean was a contributor, I was curious to discover what sort of subversive thinking he had cooked up. I've read a number of these meditations on conversation and the spirit of the thinking is consistently about listening, contributing, connecting and evolving community.

After my first dip into AoC I returned to the novel I'm reading and immediately happened upon this timely paragraph:

You have turned up here at a time when those hanging around publishing houses are no longer aspiring poets or novelists, as in the past, would-be-poetesses or lady writers; this is the moment in the history of Western culture when self-realization on paper is sought not so much by isolated individuals as by collectives: study seminars, working parties, research teams, as if intellectual labor were too dismaying to be faced alone. The figure of the author has become plural and moves always in a group because nobody can be delegated to represent anybody...

- Italo Calvino, "If on a Winter's Night a Traveller"

It's always encouraging to feel the pulse of universal thinking. Calvino and the 100 authors of AoC are in good company.

All the proceeds from the sale of The Age of Conversation go to Variety, the Children's Charity. Purchase it here.

Saturday, July 21, 2007

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