Ambushing the 2008 Olympics, too irresistible

July 11, 2008 / Angelo Fernando / 2 Comments

Beijing, 2008

Someone’s going to pull off an ambush next month in Beijing. It may be a brand ambush, but it could also be a story ambush. There’s going to be a PR controversy over a brand defending the tactic, or someone attacking the ambusher.

I say this because of two trends that have collided:

The capacity to blur the lines between mainstream and viral, and
The field of diamonds that awaits the publicity seeker because of so much media attention on China

It could happen in a variety of ways, such as the old methods of sneaking in a T-shirt with a logo, a sign with an caustic slogan, or accidental product placement. But there are more sophisticated ways of beating the logo police. The whole idea of ambush marketing is to get attention not inside the Olympic village, but outside it. To you and me.

And that means defying not the logo police but the publishing police. Portable media such as smart phones and cameras can do that all too easily. Naturally the authorities have been cagy.

Rings around social media. And how about video sharing, live streaming, blogging? It’s so easy to stand up in front of an Olympic landmark -even a competitor’s sign –shoot a video and post it in a few clicks. The Official TV sponsor, NBC, may have the rights to all the venues, but rights means nothing to someone who has audience.

Rush to blog. Blog policy is being debated for obvious reasons. NBC has made sure it won’t be usurped by some media upstart, and is embedding its own journalist-blogger, Alan Abrahamson, at the games. Other blogs have cropped up fast, such as the New York Times‘ Rings, and The China Beat written by a group largely comprised of academics. Not media people, mind you! If I remember correct, athletes are still allowed to blog.

At the time of writing, there are 23,800 YouTube videos that come up for the keywords “2008 Olympics.” This includes a BBC clip using a ‘pollution detector‘ that tells a damaging story. In sixty days you can bet that number will be a lot higher, and quite possibly include a few that document tales of ambush.

Are employees partly-owned brands?

July 9, 2008July 9, 2008 / Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment

Chris Brogan, whom I regard as a lead evangelist of social media, raises a great question: Are employees quietly becoming a “half-owned brands” of the company they work for?

Indeed, he’s referring to people like Robert (Fast Company) Scoble, and Charlene (Forrester) Li etc, who are known not for the company they work for (or leave) but for the ideas they represent.

His point needs to be looked at in the context of how organizations ought to hire, empower and work. They need not be looking for super novas but for those with star potential. Why? Because ultimately an organization’s ‘about us’ pages will be irrelevant. What matters will be not its ‘core competencies,’ ‘heritage’ or strategic business units, but its DNA made up of strands of these partly-owned brands.

I found some interesting examples.

Rahul Sood, is a brand that happens to work for HP. He is the Chief Technology Officer of HP’s gaming business, and his blog is linked from HP but exists outside of the enterprise. He doesn’t write mainly about his employer, but about his passion in the IT world of gaming and business, about Nintendo’s Wii and batteries.
Sun Microsystem’s bloggers may write about the products they represent, but three of them have more hits than the CEO Jonathan Schwatz’s well-known, well written blog.
Rohit Bhargava may ‘belong’ to WPP, being senior VP of Ogilvy 360 Digital Influence, but as a marketer, speaker and author he is a brand in his own right, a satellite that casts a nice glow on the mothership without needing to hype the WPP or Ogilvy brand.

I don’t know about you, but these partly-owned brands come across as a lot more authentic. I would rather do business with a Raul Sood, than some anonymous corporate voice at the other end of a toll free number.

Earth to Live Earth: where are you now?

July 7, 2008July 7, 2008 / Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

Anyone recall what happened on 07.07.07 or SOS? I don’t blame you!

Today is the anniversary of Live Earth the SOS call to everyone that took the form of a seven continent concert. NBC and satellite radio promoted it. So much has happened since then with regard to climate initiatives that the huge global music concert for planet earth seems like a distant dream.

There were ‘Green Guidelines‘ and an album summing up the event. But the event struck me as too much entertainment and less engagement, and I had hoped they would fix that in the months that followed.

Today there seems to be no news. No statements from folks like Leonardo DiCaprio and Al Gore who helped promote the event. Just a pretty (static) web site.

What McDonald’s knows and Milford Plaza doesn’t

July 4, 2008July 4, 2008 / Angelo Fernando / 1 Comment

Do you survey your customers? How many questions in that survey don’t even need to be asked?

I responded to two surveys this week, and some of the questions were so obvious and redundant, I bet the cleaning crew in the office would have been able to answer them. I was a stone’s throw from New York City’s Times Square last week, but when I needed a wi-fi connection to check in with the office, the Milford Plaza was not throwing that in as a value add. Like many hotels, they still make you pay about eleven bucks for it. It’s called “wireless high-speed Internet access available upon request.” Which strikes me as very odd, because (it’s an utility that’s soon going to be free) they’re giving it away for nada a few hundred yards away in McDonald’s.

So when the online ‘customer satisfaction survey’ from Milford promptly arrived a few days later, I knew there would be a wi-fi question. Someone in the org chart rightly paying attention to what customers think about bathroom fittings and the cleanliness of the lobby, had added it in. That someone probably knew what the rating scale would indicate.

So the next time you write a customer survey question keep this in mind.

Gut check: Will it tell me something I already know/ignore?
Org check: Could the answers change the organization’s attitude toward the customer?
Sanity check: Does it make me look pathetic, needing to even ask?
Golden Arches check: How would McDonald’s handle it?

Taking risks with popcorn popping cellphone video

June 15, 2008June 27, 2008 / Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

“Why would the internet lie?” says someone at the end of a failed attempt to ‘test’ if cellphones could produce enough energy to pop corn kernels.

They were responding to the hilarious video on YouTube that has all the hallmarks of being authentic –poor resolution, shaky camera. The unspoken hypothesis: cell phones could have the same effect as a microwave. And you hold it close to your head?

Not just hilarious, but a wicked -un-marketing speak for strategic- way to send a message without actually issuing a press release that cell phones may fry your brain. Not just wicked, but viral.

Some feel cheated. Some suggest it is sneaky “murketing.” Whaddya expect? This was on YouTube, not the Discovery Channel! “We knew they were fake, the only mysteries were the “how?” and the “why?”” said WIRED’s Charlie Sorrell -who later confirmed that the folks behind the fake popcorn were from By Cardo Systems, maker of bluetooth headsets for motorcycle riders.

So what does this tell us about marketing?

1. Viral marketing doesn’t follow the rules. Does the fact that it is a hoax (disproving the preposterous idea that cell phones are lethal microwaves) take away from the need for Cardo’s products? In the old brand world, the answer would have been yes, so please kill the idea. In a few days, by ignoring these rules Cardo will have the kind of word of mouth advertising many brands would die for.

2. Viral marketing takes risks. Cardo probably knew enough about comparisons that have been made between a bluetooth frequency and cell phones frequency -both operate on the same range as microwave ovens. Bluetooth is just a weaker transmitter.

3. Viral marketing energizes others. People were very anxious to debunk it, but had to upload their videos about it! To borrow a point Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff advocate in their book, Groundswell, the new rules mean you need to ‘energize the groundswell.’

Courtesy Chevrolet’s 650 URLs pay off

June 10, 2008June 10, 2008 / Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

It is notorious for the giant arrow pointing to the dealership. Sort of an old world billboard made with its logo to cut through the forest of signs in a busy part of Phoenix.

But Courtesy Chevrolet, the Chevy dealership in Phoenix was featured in last week’s Advertising Age about its other innovative ways of attracting customers.

“Courtesy Chevrolet is an internet pioneer,” says the article. It was one of the first U.S. dealerships to set up an online division 12 years ago, and today owns 650 URLs, and even uses live chats.

Granted, they have awful, old-world radio ads -the screaming DJ format– that makes me reach for the dial, but it seems like they have really tapped into new media to connect with customers.

They website is called “House of Courtesy”

Read article here.

Quotes for the week ending 7 June, 2008

June 7, 2008June 29, 2008 / Angelo Fernando / Leave a comment

“Marketers are horrible at getting close to customers …they say they want it, but they don’t”

**Charlene Li, VP-Principal Analyst, Forrester Research, in Advertising Age which picked here as one of the Women to Watch**

“But neutrality and readability are two vastly different things; neutrality doesn’t make an article inherently understandable. That’s what an editor does.”

Shel Holtz on the value of good editing, and the role of professionally produced encyclopedias.

“Additive or Core Ingredient? Putting Social Media in the Mix”

Topic at “OMMA Social” a one-day event on social media, on June 23rd.

“Copy gets in the way.”

Seth Godin, on why it is important to use the discipline of the classified ad –paying by the word- when crafting ad copy.

“It’s hard to imagine a public confession more extraordinarily frustrating or profoundly unsatisfying.

Leonard Pitts, syndicated columnist, on Scott McClellan’s book What Happened dealing with White House deception.

“We’re getting treated like air freight.”

Robert Mann, aviation consultant, on the possibility that airlines may adjust ticket prices according to a passenger’s weight.

“When a newspaper moves online, the bundle falls apart.”

Hoipolloireport

Angelo Fernando's blog since 2004

Marketing

Are employees partly-owned brands?

Earth to Live Earth: where are you now?

What McDonald’s knows and Milford Plaza doesn’t

Courtesy Chevrolet’s 650 URLs pay off

Quotes for the week ending 7 June, 2008

**Charlene Li, VP-Principal Analyst, Forrester Research, in Advertising Age which picked here as one of the Women to Watch**

Shel Holtz on the value of good editing, and the role of professionally produced encyclopedias.

Topic at “OMMA Social” a one-day event on social media, on June 23rd.

Seth Godin, on why it is important to use the discipline of the classified ad –paying by the word- when crafting ad copy.

Leonard Pitts, syndicated columnist, on Scott McClellan’s book What Happened dealing with White House deception.

Robert Mann, aviation consultant, on the possibility that airlines may adjust ticket prices according to a passenger’s weight.

Nicolas Carr, writer and member of Britannica’s Editorial Board on the economics of culture and media.

Seth Godin, final keynote, at the IABC Conference, New York

Steve Crescenzo on Corporate Blogging, at the IABC Conference, New York

Barbara Gibson, Incoming chair of IABC, at the IABC Conference, New York

Doug Wotherspoon, on the dangers of ‘greenwashing,’ at the IABC Conference, New York

John Deveney, on Building Credibility, at the IABC Conference, New York

Carol Sapriel, on Crisis Management, at the IABC Conference, New York

Charlene Li, VP-Principal Analyst, Forrester Research, in Advertising Age which picked here as one of the Women to Watch

Shel Holtz on the value of good editing, and the role of professionally produced encyclopedias.

Topic at “OMMA Social” a one-day event on social media, on June 23rd.

Seth Godin, on why it is important to use the discipline of the classified ad –paying by the word- when crafting ad copy.

Leonard Pitts, syndicated columnist, on Scott McClellan’s book What Happened dealing with White House deception.

Robert Mann, aviation consultant, on the possibility that airlines may adjust ticket prices according to a passenger’s weight.

Nicolas Carr, writer and member of Britannica’s Editorial Board on the economics of culture and media.

**Charlene Li, VP-Principal Analyst, Forrester Research, in Advertising Age which picked here as one of the Women to Watch**