Category: Smart Bloggers

Ad Guru Taps Into Young Minds

Digital Strategy, Smart Bloggers, Social Media

PaulMcEnany-AdGuru Despite the ongoing questioning about the relevance of "traditional media" in a fragmented Age of Conversation, there is no doubt that a blogger being featured in the mainstream media is still a novelty. For while reports and analysis continue to point towards social media reaching a tipping point, there is clearly a way to go before most of us reach the level of respect and authority that is wielded by the intern writing in the local community newsletter.

However, as the passionate and articulate Gen Y begin storming the cubicles and marching every onwards towards the corner offices, it is clear that brands and the businesses behind them are in for a rough decade of transition. No longer can they rely on a form of skull and cross-bones brand promise — interaction and engagement must go well beyond a simple raising of the flag.

Paul McEnany, the brain behind Hee-Haw Marketing, was interviewed in his local Dallas Morning News. When asked what is the biggest mistake companies make in dealing with Gen Y, he responds:

The biggest mistake is to assume that they give a crap about you. This is true across all demographics, but maybe more pronounced or obvious in the younger segment. This group has grown up with total control of their media environment, advertising included, and too many [companies] think they can just stroll in with screeching guitars while adding "for your generation" to the end of a tagline and expect that to connect.

This is echoed in Paul Den’s commentary on the banking industry:

Where all banking and finance [brands] … FAIL is that they lack the ability to resonate with my generation … I’m with NAB – not because I’ve been saturated with advertising, but because my mates recommended their Student Saver program when I was at uni. More often then not, especially with financed related products, we seek influence from our friends, family, work colleagues etc.

With a fragmentation of both media and influence, those brands wanting to reach, engage, hire and retain those born after 1980 are going to have to deal with the complexities and demands of Gen Y. And, to be honest, with an almost 1:1 ratio of Gen Y entering the workforce as the Baby Boomers retire, there is no choice if you want to thrive and survive. The challenge for brands is now to seek out those advisors, consultants and agencies that can help navigate this complex landscape.

Transmedia vs Social Media

Digital Strategy, Smart Bloggers, Social Media, Storytelling

It is the year 2012. Warragamba Dam, which supplies Sydney with fresh water has now reached critical levels, holding only 15% of its capacity — and the city has been placed on Level 8 water restrictions. Country towns, meanwhile, are struggling to survive.

This is the setting for Channel 9/NineMSN’s new drama series, Scorched. Gordon Whitehead has an excellent post explaining the digital strategy that has been put into place to support the series and to transform it into an immersive online experience. But he also asks, "is this social media?" — provoking some interesting discussion with Craig Wilson. After taking a look at the Scorched.TV site, there seems to be quite some distance between the stated aim of allowing users to contribute content and the activation which requires you to send your ideas for video submission via email/form.

Perhaps it is still early days, and the social media strategy is yet to kick in. However, there is clearly some good thinking around transmedia digital strategy in place, or what Faris Yakob calls "converged communication" (see below). But with an airing date of August 31, Scorched have only a couple of weeks to begin really building and activating their viewing community. And if the plan is to extend the storylines into web-only episodes post-August 31, the success (or otherwise) of this effort will be available for us all to see. The clock is ticking …

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: transmedia faris)

Article 39 Concert in Sydney

Good Works, Smart Bloggers

Over the last couple of months I have been helping a local final year, high school student with a marketing plan for her major work. Now, I don’t know about your final year project, but mine was fairly low key. But Isadore Biffin has other ideas.

a39_one When she was 16, Isadore did work experience volunteering for charity work in Ethiopia. Here she learned about the plight of child soldiers and resolved to do something about it. Now, a year and a half later, Isadore’s challenge is to raise funds to assist in the rehabilitation of child soldiers in the Democratic Republic of Congo — and her plan is to hold a concert in Sydney on November 20, 2008.

Things are now starting to come together … Isadore has confirmed some local bands like The Shipwrecked and Peregrine — but I believe she is hoping to add a headline act to the list. There will be speakers and T-shirts and plenty of activity. One of her friends, Murray Bunton from Streetline Media has created great artwork, including logo and shirt designs; and Deanna Coleman and Stig Richards have given invaluable advice about getting the word out.

If you want to keep up-to-date with Isadore’s efforts, you can subscribe to her blog and join her Facebook cause (then you will be sure and hear when the tickets are available). Now, we just need to get some TV interviews scheduled and we will be set 😉

Oh, and THIS was my 1000th post! Wow.

Tiptoe Through Your Digital Tulips

Digital Strategy, Smart Bloggers, Social Media, Storytelling

In a digitally-connected world, our past may no longer be "ours". With sites like the WayBackMachine and Google’s great caching engine, our own words and the words of others ABOUT us will live long into the future. Add to this the "handles", user IDs, profiles and so on that we create in the various courses of our lives — from Facebook to Twitter, Flickr and even dating sites — and we can amass a digital footprint that extends well past the bounds of public/private and into the deeply personal.

But how might this play out for a baby? Or for, say, my nephew who is 10 years old? What is out there and how will all this data affect the relationships that he has in the future? What about his first job? His first date? Or his twentieth? What about the photos taken by his family and friends? Who sees what and who "owns" what is shown?

This video produced by Kanupriya Tewari for the Berkman Centre for Internet and Society’s Digital Natives Project shows how all this may play out for a newborn (hat tip to Katie Chatfield). But watch the video, then read this account of a first date gone wrong.

There are lessons here for brands as well. Clearly, with 78% of consumers trusting the purchase advice of friends or even networked acquaintances over advertising, it pays to at least monitor the conversations that are ALREADY taking place about your products/services. And while, yes, consumers have always spoken about and discussed the brands that they love and hate, in this Age of Conversation, these sentiments are captured, stored and immediately available well into the future.

Social media may look like a tulip field, but it is, in fact, a whole new way of playing and participating. Tiptoe with care!

Time for a Little Style

Australian Blogs, Community, Smart Bloggers

When Sara Goldstein, aka the Bargain Queen, bundled up her house, her laptop and Mr BQ to take on one of the fashion capitals of the world, the Australian blogging community became a lot quieter. After all, Sara had been instrumental in bringing a wide range of disparate groups together for drinks and discussion. With her mascot pink pig in tow, we made the Arthouse Hotel in Sydney a regular home away from the keyboard — at least for a while.

But since moving to New York, Sara has been anything but idle. She has been busily laying plans for global domination. Here is the pilot for Sara’s Style Spice show for the Wardrobe Channel — I am looking forward to seeing more of this style of web based programming in the future. In the meantime, Sara is sure to be learning plenty out there on the frontier.

Social Media = Consumer Terrorism?

Old Media, Smart Bloggers, Social Media

With the emergence of self-organising groups such as the Social Media Club, Planning for Good and even Interesting South, is it any wonder that the peak bodies that represent the media, advertising and digital services are feeling under pressure? Often these bodies only provide services and membership to corporations, not individuals — which does not take into account the sweeping changes in the nature of work in these areas. After all, with the vast array of easy-to-use tools, we can all now publish, broadcast and market to a worldwide audience. It seems anachronistic for these industry bodies to not recognise and adapt to the changes that characterise the industries they represent.

The Job can be dangerous!And while bloggers such as Laurel Papworth have taken a swipe at Australia’s AIMIA and Gordon Whitehead has questioned the value of the Australian Marketing Institute, it is clear that there is a disconnect between those who represent the industry, and those who make it up (see also the debate hosted by MarketingMag). But the situation here in Australia compares favourably with the state of play in Belgium.

Kris Hoet’s popular blog, ‘crossthebreeze, builds on the conversation surrounding the Belgian Direct Marketing group’s upcoming conference — Revenge of the I. Roughly translated (by Kris), the email announcing the conference states:

“During the congress we’ll deepdive into the current era of ‘consumer terrorism’ that is coming up with the rise of digital and social technologies such as blogs, social networks and email.”

As Kris points out, not only does this remind brands and companies to treat consumers with suspicion, it sets up an artificial divide between the "traditional" and "new media" camps. Branding and marketing is no longer something that is forced upon consumers (if it ever was). After all, it is easy enough to simply click away, delete the email or fast forward through the advertising. The POWER disparity between brands and consumers has been eroding for years — and it is time that all parties — brands, industry bodies, practitioners and even consumers (yes, yes invite them in) began to collaborate to find suitable solutions that deliver value all round.

Yes, it is time to join the conversation. It is already happening. You start by listening.

Henderson & Horning – Sexist Advertising

Friday Folly, Smart Bloggers

Sometimes I wonder if Wade Millican secretly wears a cape. Not only is he incredibly smart, he also acts as the social conscience of Twitter, regularly pointing out the imbalances in our world. Or perhaps it’s just mine (thanks, Wade). So this week’s Friday Folly is devoted to Henderson & Horning who are being personally introduced to social media by Wade.

sexistadvertising

A few weeks ago, Wade pointed out the billboard shown here. He wasn’t happy about the depiction and content. He didn’t like walking past it each day on his way to work — so he decided to do something about it. He rang Henderson & Horning to complain. Not gaining satisfaction, he contacted the advertising standards board and lodged an official complaint … which is now being processed.

Yesterday, Wade provided an update, noticing that a Google search for Henderson and Horning brings up his entry "Sexist Advertising" just below the business’ entry. The memory of the long tail is, indeed, forever.

Update: Seth Godin asks us to consider our complicity in bad marketing. Think about the choices we make when we make a purchase decision.

Generate vs Stagnate: John Grant @ Planning Begins at 40

Digital Strategy, Smart Bloggers, Strategy, Videos

Here is John Grant’s excellent speech at JWT’s Planning Begins at 40 conference. He raises a fantastic point — that we either choose to generate or stagnate — and while this applies to planners, it also extends to all of us on an individual level. He argues that we can continue, in an ongoing way, to challenge ourselves, be open to the new and the different … or we can stick with what we know and what has worked for us in the past.

There is even a suggestion that someone’s generative challenge may be the agency of the future. Any takers?


John Grant: Planning’s Midlife Crisis? from JWT on Vimeo.

Rag Linen – When History is Never History

Smart Bloggers

During my entire working life, the publishing and newspaper industry has been under constant evolution and threat. As a 16 year old, I spent a week’s work experience with the Sydney Morning Herald where I made and drank a lot of coffee, listened to the police and emergency services radios and generally wondered what was going on. One of the highlights of the week was an early morning visit downstairs to the print room where the newspapers were typeset and printed.

I met a man must have been in his late 50s. He had been partially deafened by the roaring of the presses. He explained that he had worked on the floor since he was an apprentice and he had seen a lot of change. He was afraid that his working life was coming to an end soon — that his skills were no longer valued. He then asked me for my name, turned to his typesetting machine, flicked a few keys, and seconds later, handed me a metal row of type bearing the words "DAVIN HEATON".

Two years later, the typesetting machines were replaced by computers.

And while the story of newspapers continues to evolve, there is something fascinating that they bring to the study of marketing. Take a look through some old newspapers and you will be amazed at the way that advertising has changed even in the last 50 years. Look at the placement. Think about the editorial and its proximity. Then contrast it to what is done today. Clearly the development of "niche" content has been well underway well before the Internet’s Long Tail piqued our interest.

So it is rather fascinating, for me at least, to see two forms of the long tail overlap. My friend, Todd Andrlik has just launched a new site, RagLinen.com, that sells historic and rare newspapers — giving new, fresh audiences the chance to read and engage with the events that shaped our histories — one story at a time (there is even an affiliate program). Todd says:

Attention marketing and media professionals! Looking for the perfect collectible and investment for your industry. Look no further, it’s rare and historic newspapers. These are the newspapers that first reported about the plague, smallpox, kings and queens, pirates, colonies, revolution, founding fathers, civil war, assassinations, great fires and more. All are 100 percent authentic originals. Framed, they make great wall art at PR and advertising agencies, or unique gifts for your corporate marketing clients.

Be sure to check out Todd’s launch post … and some of the rare items he has available now.

raglinen

7 Questions With … Me

Future of Your Brand, Smart Bloggers, Storytelling

If you are reading this blog, then chances are that you have come across the work of ethos3. They are known for building compelling, story-based presentations for folks like Guy Kawasaki and AMP. You can see, and vote for, some of their latest presentations in the Slideshare “World’s Best Presentation” competition (see below).

Earlier this week I was interviewed by Lori Williams from Ethos3. We looked deeply into the world of storytelling, presentations and the connection between the P-L-A-Y framework for brand engagement and its applicability in presentation storytelling. Hope you like it!

The BIG Idea