T-Mobile's "Dance", the flashmob hit engineered as part of the "Life is for Sharing" campaign running in the U.K. was produced in January and has had over 11 million hits on YouTube. (You can also see it in my post in January). In fact, "Dance" has been so popular that fans, using Facebook, tried to stage a re-enactment as a silent disco using music piped in through headphones. But when over 12,000 people showed up at Liverpool Station, police shut them down for safety reasons.
How does T-mobile top this viral hit?
Well, they staged "Sing", a mass karaoke held in London's Trafalgar Square. Over 13,000 responded to the flyers inviting people to gather. Instead of dancing they sang a number of songs including the Beattle classic "Hey Jude". The event was captured on a huge screen and was recorded by 24 cameras. There were many mobile phone moments including a surprise appearance by Pink.
My good friend, the talented marketing maven Maria Ross at Red Slice is partnering with Heather Nelson of Champion Assistant to put on a complementary teleseminar. The topic is "The Truth About Branding: What it is, What it does and How a Clear Brand Strategy Can Save you Time, Money and Headache". It's geared towards small business and solo-preneurs, and knowing Maria, you're in for a treat. I'm sure she'll share lots of great ideas and hand out practical advice.
Check it out!
Details: Thursday, May 21st at 12 noon Pacific. Everyone who registers will receive an mp3 of the recording! Visit her site here!
It’s exciting to see how companies are leveraging new channels and new technology to build their brands. Facebook is a platform where marketers are eagerly trying to crack the code on how to leverage the high number of users that visit every day. Currently there are over 200 million active users and Facebook will only increase in importance as a community connection point as their user base grows.
One brand that has been doing a great job leveraging Facebook is Target. They had a great promo interacting with college kids in the Fall called “Dorm Survival Guide” and now they are back on Facebook, this time with a two week giving campaign called “Bullseye Gives”. The premise is that you can vote for your favorite charity amongst a choice of ten groups that Target supports: Breast Cancer Research Foundation, Feeding America, HandsOn Network/Points of Light Institute, Kids In Need, Parent Teacher Association, National Park Foundation, Operation Gratitude, Red Cross, The Salvation Army, and St. Jude Children's Research Hospital®. The “prize” is $3 million which will be split amongst the charities based on the percentage of votes they receive.
This wonderful brand and goodwill building campaign is a brilliant use of crowdsourcing with viral marketing upside for both Target and the charities. Because it’s on Facebook, it will drive huge cachet for the brand as a hip way to get involved. You can post your vote on your profile and encourage others to participate getting more people to join Target's fan base. Savvy charities are also posting links on their website homepages and are reaching out to their followers to join Facebook and vote. The competition is starting to heat up - two days into the campaign, there are 34,000 votes and twelve more days of activity to go until it wraps up on May 25.
So Target isn’t just doing good, but through an innovative use of using social media, they are growing and strengthening their online community whilst building their brand.
note: thanks to Mashable and MyTechOnline for research/info
Starbucks is fighting all sides to maintain its market share and position as most beloved coffee shop and what does it do?It runs some print ads telling us to “Beware of a cheaper cup of coffee” in one ad . (Now you’re telling me what to think?) In another it reinforces it’s money-back guarantee – "If your coffee isn't perfect, we'll make it over”. (Isn’t that what all good companies should do?Stand behind their product?)
Given all the passion and creativity that built this iconic brand, I’m disappointed that this is all they’ve come up with. Is this meant to reinvigorate the brand?
I’ve always believed in the fundamental principles of branding and marketing - leverage your strengths and points of differentiation.Think about it.Starbucks has built a business by building communities (Howard calls it The Third Place) – just walk into any well run store and you’ll see people engaged in conversation, mom’s meeting other mom’s and chatting about baby health issues, hopeful singles meeting for the first time, girlfriends breaking up with their boyfriends, business conducted over lattes.
Life happens over coffee –
When all the right elements are working, what makes Starbucks special is the unique spark and energy generated by the people who inhabit the café – the baristas and the customers.Now more than ever, people need community.People need affirmation, they need a place for renewal, a place to gather and discuss. Think of all the online communities that are springing up.Starbucks is missing a wonderful opportunity to cultivate these emotions and become the heartbeat of the community once again.
So who is doing a good job creating an emotional connection with their advertising?I can’t believe it’s a car company – but it’s a car company.Honda has done a wonderful job of warming the cockles of my heart.I want to join this group of people and converse with them, I want to drive this car and share the values that make up the Honda community.
Starbucks could learn a lot about creative and innovative advertising from Honda. In their ads, they’ve shown how a shared experience can create a community. Take a look and tell me what you think.
This is a great case study that was presented at Ad Age's 2009 digital conference. It shows howScotts Miracle-Gro looked to digital to architect a web-led strategic shift, transforming the brand's focus from product-centric to consumer-centric. The transformation provides a wonderful platform for dynamic, communal and targeted content. This is a place where experts and gardening enthusiasts can rub shoulders, help each other out, learn and share their passion.
Define the business you are in from the consumer mind-set. Scott's went from defining their business as "products & services for the lawn and garden" to creating an emotional connection with the consumer "enabling dreams and creation of a homescape".
Create a pull vs push strategy. Scott's moved their messaging strategy from unilaterally pushing out information to creating opportunities for consumers to engage with the content through blogs, uploading of photos, and posing questions to experts. This enabled both a personal experience while building a vibrant community.
Build engagement vs awareness. In designing the site, Scotts invited the consumer to co-create the desired on-line experience. As a result, they created a site that is easy to navigate, is a trusted guide and resource. The site is also very interactive. For example, based on your specific geography, you can find the right products for growing a great lawn, learn about birds in your area and how to attract them or discover what pests are common to your region and how to combat them.
Make it inspirational vs aspirational. By providing tools and discussion forums, novice gardeners learn from others. A supportive community helps overcome fears or barriers and celebrates successes. Several groups have been formed, for example, first time home owners, pet owners, green gardeners, etc.
The investment Scott's is putting behind their brand seems to paying off. Scotts 2Q profit climbed 33% . In a press release today, Chairman and Chielf Executive Jim Hagedorn stated, "In the face of a deteriorating economy, the lawn and garden category continues to show its resiliency, and we continue to see the power of our brands."
For Earth Day I thought I'd share the very inspiring story of Stonyfield farms - the organic yoghurt people from New Hampshire. This video was shot last year while Gary Hirschberg, Stonyfield’s CE-YO was on tour with his book "Stirring it up". His mission is to raise awareness of how both companies and individuals can save the planet by reducing their carbon footprint.
In 2008 Stonyfield enjoyed sales of over $300 million and compounded annual growth of 26.3% over 14 years – in a category that only grows between 3-5% annually. Gary Hirschberg believes that this growth is due to Stonyfield’s commitment to sustainability and giving back to the community. He uses the success stories and best practices of Stoneyfield and other companies to demonstrate that through enlightened self interest, companies can both reduce their carbon footprint and become more profitable.
Gary believes that any company that wants to be serious about addressing climate change needs to embrace four steps. While each step is important, addressing the supply chain is where the lion’s share of a company’s carbon footprint lays and is thus the most impactful. Here are the four steps:
1) Measure your carbon Footptint • What you’re burning (vehicles, furnaces, etc) • Electricity • Supply Chain - inflow of what’s coming into the business.
2) Reduce emissions, energy efficiency, incorporating renewable energy – both direct production and supply chain
3) Offset emissions (i.e. carbon credits)
4) Educate and advocate – all stakeholders, consumers, supply chain, policy makers, etc
Gary gives some great examples of Stonyfield successes, from reduced packaging to waste management. He also shares some marketing best practices and how they get employees engaged to support their goal of achieving a neutral footprint.
My favourite quote – "anyone who thinks they are too small to make a difference has never slept with a mosquito in their bedroom". There is now a scorecard that rates leading companies' efforts towards tackling the climate crisis. It's published annually by Climate Counts, a non-profit organization. We can bring about change by using our wallets to vote and our actions to make a difference, individually and collectively.
Think about it – if we don’t take steps to save the planet, who will?
I meet a lot of people who are just becoming familiar with Twitter - whether it's for personal or for business use. Like many social media tools, Twitter is about building and engaging in a community, talking, listening and sharing in conversations. It takes some getting used to, and like everything in "real life", the effort you put into it will be indicative of what you will get out of it.
I've come across two presentation that I like very much that I thought I'd share. The first is from Commoncraft - they create explanations for technology tools in "plain english" - a great primer if you're just starting on Twitter.
The second presentation is from a digital consulting group out of the U.K. This deck takes you through basic "Twittequette" plus some apps you can use in conjunction with Twitter to make it even more powerful. Enjoy!
The Essential Orange is a blog about brands and marketing. My goal is to examine how companies connect their brand to consumers and differentiate themselves in the crowded marketplace; how they build brand affinity and brand loyalty in new and different ways.
I have 20 years experience building brands and marketing strategy for both Fortune 500 and start-up companies including Unilever, Labatt/Interbrew and Starbucks. I joined Starbucks in 1996 where we pioneered new ways to build brands, breaking new ground as a responsible company, committed to environmental and social change. Instead of relying on huge advertising budgets, we developed innovative advertising and marketing programs that sparked conversations and built social networks. I held progressive marketing positions in the U.S. and Canada, joining the international team as VP marketing in 2004.
In 2008 I branched out on my own with a desire to work with companies who wanted to make a difference. I’ve had the privilege to contribute to their success by developing strategies and plans to build a following and effectively communicate their story leveraging both traditional and social media marketing tools.
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