Leo Burnett - Cultural Fuel

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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Saw a great video from the folks at IDEO about the future of the book:

… and it got me thinking - why wouldn’t I want this kind of expansion of capability with TV shows, films, and online videos?  I’d like to be able to explore character motivations, background, and products and services the characters use. I’d like to be able to ask questions to the actors, hosts, directors and other participants or other viewers.

I posted this question to my network, and Stephen Riley sent me this link from ABC, showing how they are already starting down this path with an app that uses the iPad mic to sync up content with the program playing on your TV set.

Why not for commercials?  Why not for websites and search engines?  Why not the restaurant or bar that I’m sitting in?

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Cultural Fuel Trend Report April 2010

In This Article on GigaOM,  Liz Gannes reported on some statements made at the OMMA Global conference by Mark Kvamme, an industry insider, where he basically stated that if marketers harness the power of Social Media, they shouldn’t have to pay for advertising anymore.

It’s a bold statement (which goes over well at industry conferences I hear).  And if you’re interested in the finer points of his argument, feel free to read through Gannes piece which seemed to cover the supporting arguments pretty well (shrewedly highlighting the vested interest the speaker had for at least some of his remarks).  But for the real fun – as happens so often in the online world – DON’T forget to read the comments.

I mean, sure – the idea that some new platforms like Twitter or Facebook or others have low or no cost of entry is wonderful, and when we are convincing stakeholders of opportunities for testing and learning we advise Clients to avoid sinking crazy amounts of money in developing ‘owned’ platforms.  But to take this fact and leap to say that user generated media equates to free marketing is missing some crucial considerations, and it can be misleading for Clients who are entering the space.

1.  Just because you have a message, doesn’t mean anyone wants to hear it. If we start from examining Human Behavior, then - don’t take it personally – no one wants to be ‘friends’ with your Brand’s Mission Statement. Brands should take time and care to determining their place, actions, and voice in social media, and ‘tune’ them in order to participate fluidly and gracefully.  This is not child’s play.  Look at marketers do it consistently well – do they seem to be careless in terms of  their approach?  Are they repeating their :30 tagline on their Facebook page?

2. And just because users can spread your message doesn’t mean that they will. Figuring out why people may want to pass on a message or ask their friends to do something has to be considered in the actual development of what that message or experience is.  This takes time, effort and yes, investment.  In fact you may need to be monitoring the space, because if they are already talking about you, they are quite likely not using your talking points.  And trust me, there are lots of companies out to make money on the fact that these tools need power and utility, as well as smart people to use them. Even Coke’s Facebook success in supporting a pair of fans who started their page is a tribute to targeted investing.  Coke recognized their fans’ serious skills –  then rewarded and supported them.  If passion in the community is there then you’ve got a good shot, but the work doesn’t stop there.

3.  There’s more to it than just ‘do it’. I find comments like ‘Brands just need to harness the power of social media’ or ‘you just need to figure out how to work in this new world’ are pretty glib statements.  Brands can test and learn here, sure, but perhaps an approach might be nice?  Maybe something that starts with questions like, ‘Are my customers using these tools?  Or are the influencers of my customers using these tools?’  Maybe I need to consider producing some content for users to interact with?  Be on the lookout for an article by Michelle Davidson, a colleague of mine, talking about the hidden high cost of User Generated Content.  She and others are talking about behavioral economics and user expectations in social media spaces – and yes, you may have to ‘give to get’. Placing any old content into any old free platform does not constitute a strategic use of social media, nor does it guarantee you an overnight success story in terms of viral buzz.

4. Speaking of viral buzz – just because a video ‘went viral’ does not mean that no money was spent on it. There are actually processes and procedures that marketers and agencies can put in place to help successful videos to spread faster and get into featured lists. And even if the production is done on a dime, the idea needs to be developed in the first place.  But don’t assume the inverse of this thinking proves the rule: your :30 spot may not have viral potential. Too often it is tempting to think that ‘We spent all this money on this commercial – of COURSE it has viral potential.’  Sadly, this may not necessarily be true, and all the preparation in the world can’t make up for the fact that there really are ‘different horses for different courses’.

I could go on and on, like how calling online marketing ‘Advertising’ gets my blood boiling, but in the end I think that a successful marketer will strive to understand the social space and how to use it, which takes investigation, thinking, planning, creativity and yes – investing.  I would agree with the speaker that social media has changed things for marketers hugely, and how they spend their money is one of the most important considerations they have to make right now.  But I don’t think that soundbites about marketing being free are helpful or accurate.  Free doesn’t come cheap.

Disclaimer: I was working in my office during the convention:  I wasn’t there.  Maybe he added some caveats?

As more pressure is put on marketers and their agencies to do more with less, some of the most interesting opportunities for connecting with people come not from creating marketing campaigns, but finding new ways of creating value for consumers outside of the delivery of marketing messages.  This situation is an exciting new charge we feel today in our agency, as we look to find creative ways to have Brands participate in society with our consumers.  It’s not just reinventing ourselves as an advertising agency, but actually reinventing this reinvention into our begin a whole new kind of partner for our clients and their business.

Razorfish recently grabbed such an opportunity in their participation of a venture with Citigroup and Microsoft - linking content (in Citi’s case consumer data), with computing power (in Microsoft’s case) to create Bundle.

Interesting and inspiring - and I can’t wait to see where they go with this!  It also raises some fascinating questions in terms of what an agency model should be when the output is not a creative asset, but a business strategy, or even a new company.  I have had the chance to work on some projects like this with our clients, and I can honestly say it is as challenging and eye-opening as it is rewarding.  Check out the Bundle beta here.

Read about the venture here.

Source: AdWeek

I had just read this article about marketers not sure how to take advantage of Location-Based Services, specifically ones that are Social-Network based, and one of our Account people popped their head in my office to ask “What’s up with FourSquare? Is it worthwhile? And is it significant for Marketers?”

Good questions all. Foursquare allows you to “check in” to locations and awards badges for different user activities. The Article correctly states that some restaurants and bars are already embracing it, but the activities and offers are still in early days. Note the offer from Wow Bao in my building below:

Yeah – it’s a freebie offer, but I find it interesting that there is such a conversation about “is this interesting for marketers” and “how will marketers use it” – since it should make sense to pay attention to if you’ve got at least some of your audience that uses these kinds of things, and you’re worth having a relationship with in the first place (which, granted, is a big question for some marketers).

Here’s why: think about why restaurants and bars already jumped on the bandwagon. They have to develop relationships with their customers – they don’t have a choice. They don’t have a retailer that will put up POS material, or vast amounts of online ad spend (generally), and most of the places I’ve seen don’t do TV. For them, the relationship with the person in that establishment is everything, and finding new ways to prolong and enrich that relationship is the key to their success. For them the only question would be “why would I not get involved?”

Now I’m looking back over the last 12 months and thinking about the times I’ve mentioned doing something like this for a marketer, and thinking “You know what? My Client needs to break out from the shelf, their target is pretty well-connected digitally, they are not always getting the POS attention they want, or always deserve, they want more engagement, and since their relationship with the consumer is everything for them as well … so Why not?”

Bonus topic for further conversation: How different would the strategy for the marketer be from what they use for Facebook and Twitter?