Leo Burnett - Cultural Fuel

CMS Wire has an excellent article about how mobile marketing is changing, and I found one sentence (actually the first one in the article) especially remarkable:

It used to be about “mobile access” but that’s not it anymore. Our portable devices are now access, participation and creation devices.

Ultimately, this little sentence encapsulates what so many marketers find difficult to accept in how technology has changed how they can engage consumers.  It expresses that the consumer expects more than just hearing about your product or service.  Reach cannot be only measure of your success anymore. The consumer today needs more than just access to your marketing message.

The rise of mobile as a powerful communication and engagement channel has some marketers thinking about fixing access, rather than designing the right experiences.  ”Our site isn’t mobile-accessible!  Quick! Make a mobile version!”  Unfortunately this reaction tends to lead to suboptimal design for the mobile user.

Thoughtful and strategic marketers know that mobile is not just about access, there are 4 other steps to take in order to have mobile as a strategic element in your marketing plan.

1.  The Person - Yes, we always start with the user.  What are their behaviors?  What devices are they depending on, and what are they doing with them?  How are the steps on their journey helped or hindered due to the products, information or services they are using?

2.  The Purpose - What do you exist to offer or do?  Why would a person desire to participate with you? Linked to the first step, you have to know WHY WILL THEY CARE?

3. The End Game - If they participate with you, what can they gain?  And linked to this element is the step of planning how you will be able to measure the participation that you garner from your supporters.

4. The Structure - Where and with what will they participate?  In this step you start to get a good idea of the overall shape of the idea.  This phase also requires knowing if there are already great platforms out there to utilize, like a smart partner or existing application that can help bring easy functionality to whatever you’re creating.

5. The Access - OK, it is a consideration.  Just not the only one! You have to know what the experiences will feel like across the various devices that they may have access to.

And if it looks like the first 3 steps are not unique to mobile campaigns, you win the jackpot - they’re not.  Any use of mobile as a delivery channel should start rooted in the Brand, not the channel alone.

So - looking at mobile elements of campaigns you’ve seen, who do you think has taken a strategic approach?

Via @cmswire

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Recently the strategy group at Leo Burnett sat down with Mintel to talk about the latest trends that are shaping our world.  We discussed many interesting facts, figures and developments, but one in particular caught my attention.  It was about anger.

Over the last several years, the economic collapse had a profound impact on the world psyche.  In America, people were asked to forgive a number of grave mistakes and missteps made by financial institutions (and other institutions) that caused the evaporation of a considerable amount of wealth, savings and economic stability.  The people did this, with the notion and explanation that those in power and control were making decisions the best they could - that they were not making decisions purely out of self-interest without regard for the future or the common man. The people agreed to quite literally pay for those other individual’s mistakes.

As time wore on, and more facts about the situation surfaced, the mood of the people has become darker, and our collective understanding seems to tell us that there were people who were not playing fair.  And most distressingly, that there are still people not playing fair.   Of course this is nothing really new - unfairness has probably persisted since our origins, but what’s important in the mood now is a sense of anger at the lack of accountability. “I have to play by the rules - why doesn’t everybody?”

We can see several examples in recent events that show this trend to be consequential, such as the trend towards angry outbursts in comments on forums, leading several major internet sites to heavily regulate commenting or turn it off altogether on some stories. The rhetoric of the mid-term elections in the US has reached a fevered pitch, with borderline-violent jabs becoming increasingly commonplace.  A recent news article referenced a fire brigade watching a house burn to the ground, when the owner had not paid the local area firefighting service fee.  Lastly, reports of bullying of young adults with tragic consequences continue to horrify millions every week.

Individual examples may be easy to dismiss as outliers, but I believe this trend is far from a footnote or bump in the road.  Citizen anger is real, on the rise, and consumer outrage is trending higher as a result.

The inclination to attack is every Brand’s fear in social media today, and will shape consumer mindsets for years to come.  So what are Brands to do?  The first step is generally risk assessment, where you look to see how exposed you may be to consumer rage.  Do you have ways for consumers to let you know their concerns, and a way to work to address them?  Are your practices in step with consumer beliefs and values?   Since social spaces are often hit hard when consumers are upset, we help our clients plan and organize themselves to be able to react positively.

However this preparation is only half the battle.  The best defense is a strong offense, which most often is begun by doing a social responsibility partnership or ‘widgets for good’ campaign.

But rather than think about attaching campaigns to social good acts, I believe there are more direct acts to be done (more powerful? perhaps) that can show how a Brand ‘Plays Fair’.

Acts of this nature could include:
- Allowing for consumers to participate in product development or line extensions.
- Offering more transparency in terms of pricing
- Embracing maker culture rather than insisting on ‘I’m the manufacturer and you’re the consumer’
- Soliciting input in terms of relationships with partners, distributors and suppliers.
- Celebrating what other people say about you instead of always saying it yourself.

How else would you like to see Brands play fair?

UPDATE: Simon Mainwaring just posted that Brand-bashing can lead to catharsis - which is an interesting alternative point of view, but I don’t think that Manfacturer Brands will benefit from it.

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The last few weeks in German advertising have seen an interesting backlash of people reacting to blatantly fake and dishonest brand communications. Brands that don’t seem to have a purpose, that don’t listen, but keep promising the same old stuff.

First it was the Vodafone campaign using bloggers as Advertising vehicles to gain credibility, only that the exact opposite happened. Now it is the backlash that is generated by Greenpeace commenting on the TV spot of one of Germany’s largest electricity utilities RWE.

The spot is subtitled by Greenpeace debunking the greenwashing ways of the utility with straight facts, such as enlightning people that RWE only creates 0,1% of its electricity with wind, and has no tidal power plants whatsoever, even though that is what they say. Also, the subtitles tell you that some of the power lines are from the pre-war era and that’s why they toppled over some winters ago, and this in fact the company creates 20% of Germany’s CO2 and facetiously asks: “Where are the nuclear power plants in this spot?”

Seriously, didn’t they think this through? Don’t these brands know that people can actually easily check into the facts and converse about their brand? A jolly green giant won’t sway people today. You need to listen, and act instead of wasting your money on an unauthentic TV spot to get people. RWE could have created more positive brand perception more cheaply by using a social media strategy to listening to people and transparently addressing their concerns instead of using their twitter channel to just disseminate press releases.

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Now this is idea a lot of graphics designers probably had before: just reuse logos that got canned after long hours of tough work. Well, know there is a chance your unused logos and brands can be reawakened.

From Springwise:

Launched last month, Texas-based IncSpring is a virtual marketplace linking graphic designers and businesses interested in corporate logos, brands and corporate identities. Designers can upload brand concepts onto the site for the perusal of entrepreneurs, corporations and businesses without middlemen or agency fees; they also retain complete control over their pricing. Potential buyers, on the other hand, can search by industry, colour or name, evaluating and even assessing market reactions to the designs they see via IncSpring’s social network, which lets users rate and provide public feedback on submitted ideas. Potential customers can also request minor changes to shape a particular design to their individual specifications. When a purchase is made, IncSpring charges a commission of 15 percent, the artist receives the rest and the buyer receives the brand in a ready-to-use digital format. As part of its site launch, IncSpring is currently holding a contest—with a deadline of Sept. 19—offering USD 2,000 in cash and other prizes for designers who submit ideas to the site. Membership on IncSpring is free.

Check it out here.

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Have no real time to make this a proper entry, as I have to get packing for 3 weeks of travelling, but I wanted to share this interesting article on the surge of corporations’ use Twitter as a customer service surveillance tool, as well as to boost brand perception in the favor of transparency, as reported by Businessweek.

via http://twitter.com/Armano

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