Word of Mouth

Most of us have heard someone say, or have even said ourselves that the best form of advertising is word of mouth. Well, I recently joined The Society for Word of Mouth. I joined mostly out of curiosity but believe like most things that start this way I’ll end up learning along the way. The society has a straightforward, two-fold purpose:

1. To be a free social network for the true believers of word of mouth (or the merely curious);
2. To be a premium educational resource for making word of mouth fundamental to the DNA of any organization.

Most every company, organization, etc. still considers word of mouth to be a viable form of advertising. It just so happens that today the technological landscape has expanded our word of mouth options exponentially. No longer do you have to depend on the literal exchange of words from one mouth to another. And no longer are you limited to only a few sets of ears while sharing these words from your mouth. Today’s word of mouth movement is propelled by a nearly limitless variety of communication options. The company who fails to at least consider all of these options in their advertising strategy limits their reach and this the effectiveness of their campaign. Check out the Society

Alarm Clock Marketing

This morning my alarm clock did a lousy job of convincing me that I should get out of bed. Every time it started chirping my bed presented a more compelling argument so I’d hit the snooze button. I just wasn’t perceiving a strong enough value exchange from my alarm clock but my bed on the other hand was quite convincing. Finally reason won out and I got up but I still wish I was in bed.

Had my alarm clock done its job you’d be reading an entirely different post right now. Something that was filled with value and substance. Something worth linking to from your own blog, commenting on and sharing with your friends. But you’ll just need to come back for that one. In the meantime, let me know of any marketing flops that made you hit the snooze button over and over again.

Client Challenges

Phil Johnson has a great post in Ad Age’s Small Agency Diary; The Joys and Sorrows of Dealing With Clients. He has a couple of interesting theories, one being that

large corporate structures breed and allow a level of bad behavior that would be unacceptable in almost any other social environment.

I have seen this play out on multiple occasions and it’s not pretty.

I think many companies would be appalled by the behavior of some of their employees. These bad behavior types are literally misrepresenting the company. From the Account Service side this is not something we can necessarily change because we can’t cure their bad behavior. What we can change is how we respond to someone else’s bad behavior, and that in turn can impact their behavior. Notice I said impact.

I don’t believe it’s our job to cure the behavior of someone else, instead it’s our job to respond appropriately to their bad behavior. Frequently that means being direct, honest and confrontational in a kind and fair way. Occasionally it just means choking down the words you’d like to say in response. And, response is the key word here. Always respond, never react!

Christvertising

I was reading Jaffe Juice yesterday and he mentioned this site. If you’ve been exposed to very much Christian advertising you’ll either find it very humorous or it’ll piss you off. At first I thought it was real, because he spoofs it so well. Then I decided it couldn’t be real. I did a little research and discovered it really is meant to be humorous and not taken seriously. 

People’s comments are all over the map, including those who are irritated that someone would find humor in something they consider to be so sacred. I mean no disrespect but these people need to get over themselves and their idea that God and laughter can’t be tied to one another. Have you taken a look at Christian advertising lately? Unfortunately much of it is very laughable, even when it’s supposed to be serious. The bar needs to be raised significantly if Christian marketers want to be taken seriously, 

If you think the site is funny you need to check out this clip. If the site offended you then you should probably steer clear of Dr. VanPelt, and may God bless your brand.

Morning Song

I noticed something several days ago; every morning when I wake up I’m singing a song. I honestly don’t know if I’ve always done this, if it’s only been in my adult life or just something that has started as I approach fifty (lots of stuff is changing). Some mornings I can explain why I’m singing a certain song. Maybe I heard it the day before while I had Pandora playing at work, or I heard it on my way home. Easier still is when I wake up singing something I heard the night before on American Idol. And, right now at this time in the show’s season that is usually the case for Wednesday and Thursday mornings. 

American Idol has managed to capture the attention of a large segment of the American society. I’m sure there a number of theories out there but I would maintain it’s largely because the brand is so experiential. Sure you can just observe, but even if you’re the coolest of heads watching the show you’ve got your favorite contestant. Go ahead, admit it. You’re engaged! You know right now who you’re hoping goes home the winner, and who you just hope goes home. 

Some of you keep your computer on your lap while you watch the show so you have the the contestants bios at your fingertips. Some go to the website to look at the behind the scenes info and others have purchased your favorite performance on iTunes. Then there are millions of us who have actually cast votes for specific contestants. Regardless of where you are on the American Idol continuum you can’t deny the significance of the experience. Another thing you can’t deny is the intentionality of all things Idol. A brand experience this strong doesn’t happen by accident. 

Perhaps you’re wondering how big of an Idol geek I am, so here are the facts. I try and watch the show every week — I enjoy living vicariously through Simon because I’ve judged several talent shows in my lifetime and was never allowed to speak my mind like he does. I also have my favorite one or two contestants and have cast my votes along the way. I watch the show with my computer nearby, and I’ve watched some of the behind the scenes videos, but I’ve never watched the Ford commercials online. So now you know all of my Idol secrets. What are yours?

 

Now, if I could just figure out why I woke up this morning singing Sunshine On My Shoulder.

Dinner Impossible

I love cooking shows. I know, it might seem a little odd but I love food, cooking and eating. So to watch others cooking is a fun past time for me. It’s interesting what you can learn by watching professionals cook. Tonight I watched Dinner Impossible  on the Food Network. This is a show where professional chef, Robert Irvine has a limited amount of time, in challenging surroundings (or extreme circumstances as he calls them) to cook a meal for his guests. During tonight’s episode he talked about how his passion is to make people happy with food and to give them a great experience. 

What Robert does each week is create a brand experience. He knows his audience (or at least as much as he’s been told) and he knows his brand (his unique style of cooking) and he makes sure that when the two interact they have a satisfying and memorable experience. During tonight’s show people said things like, “he can come back and do this any time” and another said, “this is the best I’ve ever had.” He gave them an experience that matched his brand. What more could you ask for. I’m hungry!

 

So what allows Robert to do the impossible? How can Robert walk into an unknown location and challenging situations and make them work? Turning the impossible into possible. It’s one word; EXPERT. Robert knows his craft so well that he can make things happen in the worst of circumstances, and he actually thrives on applying his expertise under pressure. This applies to other areas of creative expertise as well.

 

This past week I was talking about some young creatives that I know and the comments that were shared with me were something along the lines of, “you can’t rush creativity and force it into some kind of timeframe.” My response; experts can. If you’re an expert you can apply your craft on a moment’s notice. You can create on demand. I’ve seen it over and over again. It’s what separates the experts from those who haven’t fully developed their expertise. Expertise is a process, a journey, and it demands a higher level of applying your craft. Beware, it may not be for everyone. Experts can turn the impossible into possible and they do it on a regular basis.

People to People

So, if the internet is the center of the universe what used to be? Well, when we talk about the center of the universe I think what we’re really talking about is the core, and I don’t think the core of the universe has changed. What has changed over time is the delivery system. I think the core of the universe has always been, and always will be community. Since time began people have had relationships and developed communities. When humanity first appeared I don’t think they always stayed in their caves. At some point they came out and began to develop relationships. I can imagine there was some courageous developer who decided to create entire neighborhoods complete with cave cul-de-sacs.

Think about this; as humanity continued to evolve they went from singular caves to cave communities to some other form of shelters. Then there were villages where they had a village green or common area for the community (I guess you could call them the village people — sorry) to gather. Then there were towns with town squares and town halls, pubs or taverns — again, places for community. At some point those towns grew into larger cities and the communal areas continued to expand so people were gathering around points of common interest like churches and schools. It doesn’t take you too long before you go from the roadside diner to Starbucks, and from telephones to internet and from snail mail to email.

The internet has allowed community to expand exponentially. When I think about the changes the internet has brought to community two things (there are way more but these are primary) come to mind; immediacy and global. Humanity used to only have community with the few people around them, and I doubt there were many who wandered too far from their cave of origin. As technology has evolved so have communities, allowing people to develop communities further and further from home. We’re now at a point where many of us communicate with, and share friendships with people all around the globe. Sometimes these are people we’ve never met face to face, yet we call them friends and in some cases speak to them almost daily and keep track of them through things like Linked In, FaceBook or Twitter.

The immediacy factor is so common place that it’s become the expectation. People not only want community but they want it now. The internet gives you that. You can even have a virtual community like Second Life and not know real people if that’s your preference. So, while we may refer to the internet as the center of the universe we can’t forget the human connection that is at the core. The thing that’s really driving all of this isn’t the technology but community. It’s people connecting with other people. From a marketing perspective I can’t imagine a more fertile playground.

The Internet: Center of the Universe

Have you seen the monster.com commercial with the ginormous-legged man pedaling the gyroscope at the center of the earth? That’s one of the first things I thought of when I first heard someone say the internet is the center of the universe. Then in my mind I began seeing someone deep in the earth’s core making all of these connections — kind of antique switchboard style. Then as I allowed my mind to expand and catch up with reality I realized how undeniably true that statement is. 

How many things do you do in your daily life that have nothing to do with the internet?  For me that’s a short list. I practically live online and I’m not all that young anymore. My kids and the young kids I’m surrounded by at work live their lives more immersed in the digital world than I, which is a little hard to believe. And it just keeps expanding and people continue to dream up new ways of being connected. Just a few days ago I read a brief update in Fast Company that told how we’re not that far away from our appliances being connected to the digital space. Can you imagine having your refrigerator sending you a text message that your milk is going bad and you’d better pick up a fresh gallon?

This past weekend I decided to experiment with Twitter so I went online and created my account and began twitting (you can follow me here but it’s not that exciting). Very quickly I discovered my 21 year old son twitting with some of our creative staff at Premier Studios. So being a good dad I signed up to follow him (that could have been very handy when he was younger). I found out he was sitting in a Saturday class wishing he were sleeping instead. I immediately jumped on iChat and before the program could fully open a window opened with the words, “sup Dad,” and Ryan and I began a chat while he was in class in Idaho and I was sitting in a hotel room more than 1500 miles away.

 

And yes, I told him to get offline and pay attention to the lecture — I may be connected but I’m still a dad.