Category: Uncategorized

I normally reserve posts like this for my Friday Folly … but after an email from Andrea Learned asking for my take on this piece from BMW, it became clear that bad branding can happen to anyone on any day. It is just surprising to see this happening to a widely respected brand like BMW, who after all, should know better.

It is well known that any failure (creative or otherwise) is not normally the result of a single person. Along the way, errors and bad decisions are made, then reinforced until the pattern of poor decision making cannot be distinguished from the efforts made to rectify the errors. But surely, this print ad for "used cars" for would have been ringing bells at the agency and in the halls of the BMW marketing department (click the image to see the copy).

The girl modelling in this shoot is clearly young (old?) enough to be the daughter of your average BMW purchaser. To cast this girl in this ad not only shows questionable taste, it needlessly brings a "luxury" brand into the same sphere as Axe/Lynx. Obviously someone, somewhere has reviewed and approved this. As the folks over at Muse Communications said, "Is there anyone home at BMW Marketing?".

Yvonne DiVita is also unimpressed and wondering why there has not been a chorus of voices raised in protest.

To put this down to "lazy" advertising is too easy. While there is no strategic thinking behind this, and a surprisingly limited understanding of the BMW brand, poorly conceived work like this damages not just the brand in question but the entire advertising industry. Isn’t it time we started treating our audiences with a little respect?

And just in … another lazy piece of degrading advertising. This time, however, Wade Millican has taken action — speaking to the company approving the work and referring it to the Advertising Standards Bureau.

When brand marketers are considering social media, the first question they ask is what is the ROI? After all, most marketers have been trained to believe that every piece of spending has to have a short term return to their brand — hence the idea of the campaign. (Perhaps this is why Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) has taken some time to gain traction — though that is the subject for a whole other post.)

But what happens when your return is uncertain? What if the potential returns remain beyond your measurement horizon? Or outside of the normal market boundaries in which you operate? This post, Where the Hell is the Sponsor?, about Matt Harding’s dancing video has received quite a bit of traffic over the last week or so, and has generated some great conversation. And this morning, the great connector, Christina Kerley, referred me to both Mario Sundar’s post on Matt’s video and the New York Times article on the infectious nature of the video which has generated around 4-5 million views.

Think about the value here. There are 4 million people around the world willing to sit through almost 5 minutes of video. These people are receptive to the simple brand message offered by Stride Gum. That is 20 million minutes of brand engagement — opt-in. That is the equivalent of one person spending 38 years watching your brand message — in good faith. And I have a feeling that this may well go a whole lot higher now that the NYT has begun spreading the news. Now, not all videos or brand activations will "go viral", but the niche targeting and the goodwill halo achieved (if you have good strategic planners working for you) with only a moderate number of impressions can generate a significant amount of roll-on coverage, PR, blog reviews such as this — and a whole lot of offline discussion.

Developing the ROI for social media is not an easy measurement, but it can be done:

1. Start with your "time with brand"
2. Expand this with  some sharp guestimates around mainstream broadsheet adoption for a good NYT story
3. Factor in some multipliers for influence networks and the strength of weak ties (blogs, online coverage etc)

… and before you know it you have a fairly powerful model that will make your jaw hit the floor.

And if that is not enough, the shouty, Katie Chatfield raised yet another perspective — that it is not about the return on investment, but about managing the risk of NOT participating in the conversations that are ALL ABOUT your brand.

Where the Hell is Matt? (2008) from Matthew Harding on Vimeo

Special thanks (again) to Ian Lyons for introducing me to Where the Hell is Matt!

Good creative work can make you gush. When you see it, you are hit by simultaneous reactions — you want to speak but your brain has already shifted from literal to figurative language. We call it “amazement” but it is not just an emotional implosion — it is also physical. You stammer, stutter and roll your eyes.

When I began to think through the Future of Your Brand, I started with this “wow” factor. To truly delve into the possible futures of the consumer-brand experience, I felt it was important to try and mine this state of being. I came up with a mnemonic P-L-A-Y that provided some guidance around what is needed to achieve this enhanced state of receptiveness (in the consumer):

P — for power
L — for learning and curiosity
A — for adventure
Y — the yelp of surprise and delight

At the moment I am working with a young woman who wants to change the world. She is working on a massive project for her final year of high school and she needed assistance with her marketing plan — and as we were working through the process, she was asking many questions (as she should), seeking to clarify what it is that we are doing. This forced me to realise that, although I have written many marketing plans before, there is still plenty to learn — both in terms of the way in which I communicate and teach as well as the nuances of marketing, communications and messaging. And bringing the real world experience of HOW this is activated back to a teaching framework brings another series of challenges — after all, while I understand (and often write about the theory), it is all based on my actual PRACTICE of marketing.

Today, we spent quite some time on messaging. I forwarded her my method for building out messaging and key themes and we worked our way through it via email and IM. What I was trying to get across to her was the importance of “surprising and delighting” your audience — but had forgotten about the P-L-A-Y approach that may have yielded faster results (I will mention it to her tomorrow).

| View | Upload your own

But then an email popped into my inbox from Tim Brunelle who reminded me that what we are hoping for in our messaging is a revelation of sorts — “I hadn’t thought of it that way before”. Tim explains it more fully in this way:

“An instructor at the U of M told our class that we couldn’t get a good grade by writing a lot of facts and stuff about the subject. He said he knew just about everything there was to know about the subject because he’d been teaching the class for a long time. He said the only way to get a good grade was if he said to himself after reading our paper, ‘I hadn’t thought of it that way before.’ That, to me, is what ads are (or should) be all about.” 
– Pat Burnham

Good messaging, which is at the heart of good advertising, has to be about surprising and delighting. You need the emotional and the rational connection. You need a message that reminds you that you are alive — a living, breathing and caring being — and a kick that drives you to action.

Tomorrow Isadore and I will be revisting Tim and Pat’s story and trying to apply it to the task at hand. And I dare say, that any project you are working on could benefit from the same creative review (no matter how far down the track you are). Remember, you have only one chance to make a first impression. Don’t waste yours.

I have scheduled two posts over at Todd Andrlik’s site as part of his guest blogging week.

Make sure you check out all the guest bloggers:
Last Thursday — Leo Bottary of Client Service Insights
Last Friday — Kami Huyse of Communication Overtones
Today — Gavin Heaton of Servant of Chaos
Tue — Drew McLellan of Drew’s Marketing Minute
Wed — Darryl Ohrt of Brand Flakes for Breakfast

It should have happened ages ago, but I have been delaying it and waiting for it to go away. But now I am making a more concerted effort.

That’s right, I am playing URL hockey with Technorati.

If you have been reading my blog for any length of time, then no doubt you use my Typepad URL — servantofchaos.typepad.com. And while this will always work, over the last six months or so I have been changing the way that I reference my blog … using www.servantofchaos.com.

Now while I don’t plan on moving away from Typepad at anytime soon, I would appreciate it if you could update your bookmarks. Thank you kindly!

Today is the deadline for Age of Conversation submissions.

Over the last couple of weeks Drew McLellan and I have received drips and drops — a submission here, a submission there. But the floodgates have finally opened.

This afternoon my email box is overflowing with submissions ready for editing, review and publication. It is exciting AND daunting.

I have seen the storm coming, have even smelt the change in the air. But now it seems to be almost on top of me. And while some would batten down the hatches, I — along with Captain Drew — am hoisting another sail.

Things are a little quiet around here at the moment … but all for a couple of good reasons!

ONE — We are busily putting together the program for Interesting South which hits Belvoir Street Theatre next week — May 12! The program is shaping up to be very … well, interesting.

TWO — Drew McLellan and I are already receiving submissions and questions for the next round of the Age of Conversation. And this time around there are almost THREE times as many authors.

And finally, I am still working sporadically on the Future of Your Brand series. There are some great ideas ready to share … I just need about 10 more hours each day to write them up!

In the meantime, do drop by and leave me a comment or a link (for some reason all I am getting at the moment is spam!).

When I think of Tim (Masiguy) Jackson, I think of him as is here in this picture … smiling, happy to be out riding. But this morning I heard that he has been badly injured during a cycling race.

The accident occurred when he tried to avoid another rider just before the last lap sprint. He was doing about 38 mph and ended up with concussion, a broken rib, partly severed thumb and some cracked vertebrae. However, after surgery he is doing well.

You can find updates at Unbreakable Bonds and pictures (be prepared) at A Surfeit of Passion.

Get well soon, Tim!

This week I am taking in the views.

I am sure there will be the occasional update … but without wireless (what kind of hotel is this?), I am bound to the hotel room and not the poolside.

Ordering cocktails as I type.

A couple of days ago, Drew McLellan and I announced the the title of the successor to Age of Conversation. But before we all start thinking about the next edition — about what is in it and why — there is some unfinished work still to be done on the first edition.

Chris Wilson has spearheaded and orchestrated a bum rush on the Amazon charts for the book, and it starts tomorrow (Friday). If you have not yet purchased your copy, SATURDAY is the day to do it. If you want to purchase MORE than one copy, Saturday is the day to do it … one at a time.

All this is designed to push the book up the Amazon charts, one sale at a time.

Remember, by purchasing the book, you not only get access to some sharp insight and commentary about the world of business and social media — you also support Variety, the Children’s Charity. If you want to know how you can help, Chris lays out the immediate steps neatly here — and the plan of action for Saturday here.