Servant of Chaos

Measuring the Hybrid Car ROI

A car purchase is the second most expensive investment that an individual is likely to make (the first being their home). And in that respect, consumers come close in behaviour to their B2B counterparts -- after all, vehicles are expensive, have ongoing cost requirements and (whether we like it or not) reflect on our own sense of self. Accordingly, when it comes to purchase time, we shop around, do our homework, check blog posts, search engines and customer satisfaction ratings. We ask friends for recommendations, take a keener interest in the cars we pass in the street, and think through the implications of this major purchase.

Recently though, the greater awareness (and concern for) the environment, coupled with ever spiralling oil prices has seen a massive spike in the popularity of hybrid cars. (Some US states have gone so far as to mandate the production of eco-friendly cars.) But, even a cursory glance at the prices of hybrid cars shows that they are significantly more expensive, meaning that you will need a longer timeframe before your hybrid car breaks even with its petrol equivalent.

However, there are other factors at play in the calculation of ROI -- and Todd Andrlik has developed a great online tool that brings carbon emissions into the calculation. Originally developed to assist his employer, Leopardo Constructions, in calculating the ROI impacts for their fleet of company vehicles, the calculator has now been made widely available. Simply enter a few variables about the vehicles you are comparing, press calculate, and you will receive data about fuel savings, unreleased carbon emissions and ROI timeframes. Check it out here.

It is a wonder that companies like Toyota or Honda, makers of leading hybrid vehicles have not produced something similar.

Brands -- Are Bloggers in Your Sights?

From the outside, the "blogosphere" is a weird, anarchic and slightly self-obsessed world. With over 70 million blogs and countless thousands starting up each day, it is little wonder that most brand managers, marketing directors and CEOs have no idea where to start.

But have you thought about it? Who are these people who write blogs? And how would you respond if a "blogger" contacted you? Do you have a strategy? A policy? Any idea?

Here is how one leading brand responded to an inquiry about their latest ad campaign:

“Unfortunately we are unable to respond to your inquiry because [we do not] ... participate with nontraditional media outlets. This practice is in place to allow us to focus on publications that reach our core guest".

Can you guess which brand this is? Have you heard about it already?

To my surprise, this was the response that was sent by Target to Amy Jussel, Executive Director of Shaping Youth. Amy had written to Target protesting about the depiction on their latest billboard -- they are, after all, a family brand and one which should have an affinity with organisations such as Shaping Youth. Indeed, Target's "values" include the following statement:

From national partnerships to local initiatives to our own programs, Target is committed to making our communities better places to live.

This story has now been picked up by the New York Times ... and has spread like wildfire. And while the focus of discussion by NYT has been around whether brands should treat bloggers the same as traditional media outlets, there are other things to consider. Amy is not your average blogger -- she runs a professional and high profile not-for-profit organisation. She is a parent and she is a regular patron of Target. Before this episode, there was clear a affinity between Amy, Shaping Youth and the Target brand. But the actions (or non-actions) of one of Target's employees (or PR team) has had an amplified reaction. What could have been done better. Let's take a look:

• Keep it real: Clearly Target has a digital/social media strategy of some sort. They have done some high profile work with Facebook and have amassed over 20,000 members to their group -- so clearly the response was not completely honest.
• Quick research: In the time it takes to send a form response to an inquiry, you can easily do a search on the domain, the blog or the profile of the person writing in. In Amy's case, Shaping Youth clearly appears at the top of a Google search with the following description -- "Shaping Youth is a consortium of media and marketing professionals concerned about harmful media messages to children". A moment's research can help guide your response.
• Blog it for free: Time and time again, companies ask whether they should blog or not. Clearly a consumer brand could actively use a blog to engage, converse and discuss a range of topics. A blog would have provided a space for this discussion and would have allowed them to enter this conversation in a more natural and harmonious way.

For brands, the question might be "are bloggers in your sights"? The reverse is certainly true -- brands are in the sights of bloggers. And while one blogger acting alone may have limited impact, en-masse, it is a very different ball game. Perhaps Target could benefit from the social media insight and skills of Mack Collier, Drew McLellan or Christina Kerley.

What do you think? Is TargetGate a parallel to Dell Hell?

SAP Communities Support the World Food Program

Support the World Food Program
Originally uploaded by Edu-Tourist

We all continue to debate the merits of Web 2.0 and social media. Various pundits proclaim the end of Web 2.0 and the demise of blogging while others extol the virtues of digital conversation and the opportunities it presents for forms of social activism. But I firmly believe that we are still in the very early stages of understanding what the REAL opportunities are.

One of the companies who are really pushing the limits of exploration in this space is SAP (disclaimer -- this is where I work). Today, in what I think is a world first, the SAP communities announced that the community points recognition system is being transformed. Instead of printing and shipping shirts all around the world to "top contributors", SAP are aggregating the points collected and transforming these into a single, cumulative donation to Feed School Children (part of the UN's World Food Programme).

If the points accumulated next year reach the same proportion as 2007, then SAP will donate 100,000 Euro. If this can be improved by 20% (ie 20% more contributions to the forums, wikis and blogs), then SAP will increase this to 150,000 Euro -- and so on up to a maximum of 200,000 Euro.

This is an exciting innovation that I would love to see adopted by other companies and brands.