MicroMachines in a Matchbox World
In 1920, Neils Bohr (who has arguably the best name of any scientist in history, save perhaps Dr. Richard Titball of the Netherlands) formulated the “correspondence principle.”
In a nutshell, which is incidentally where Bohr spent most of his winters, it’s a forced reconciliation between classical and quantum mechanics.
I say “forced” because it was decreed, rather than proven.
And so physicists have spent much of the past 90 years attempting—without success—to fully explain the disparate behavior of microscopic and macroscopic systems. What hope is there, then, for marketers, who’ve spent cumulatively about a day and a half?
Yet this is our ultimate charge as marketing professionals: to reconcile observations of individuals with observations of mass markets in a grand, unified theory.
How are we doing? In a word: Drinkability.
I’m further reminded of our collective failure by the recent success story from the CERN facility in Geneva, where scientists have broken the record for high-energy subatomic particle collisions, and potentially recreated the universe’s initial mechanics following the Big Bang.
Now there was some risk involved. It cost billions of dollars, and there was a slight possibility of miniature black holes devouring the universe (I’d love to see the crisis communications plan CERN’s PR team put together for this contingency). But the point is, they’re making progress.
We marketers, on the other hand, are using EEG scans to determine whether individual consumers prefer penguins or giraffes.
We’re using the same, tired focus groups to test vague product attributes—in search of safe, broad consensus. We’re, quite literally, asking whether it’s important to be able to drink a beverage. And we’re building multi-million dollar campaigns around these “insights.”
In short, we’re still looking for easy answers in a complex world.
Quantum theory isn’t simple. It’s tremendously intricate—a disciplined, patient examination of concealed reality.
The marketing community’s response: crowdsourcing.
Something Smells Fishy
One thing you need to know about me: I have eyes like a hawk.
Nothing gets by my vigilant scrutiny.
Well, except maybe for the current financial crisis, the war in Iraq, global warming, the rise of Hitler, and the Bolshevik Revolution.
But the point is, when it comes to TV commercials, I’m focused like a laser beam.
So you can imagine my disbelief when I saw the exact same mediocre fish stick commercial airing twice, each time for a different brand.
The identical commercial, mind you: one with a Van de Kamps product shot, another with a Mrs. Paul’s.
Look, it’s like if Coke and Pepsi started airing the same TV spots. Actually it’s worse. Because the venomous rancor in the frozen fish stick industry is arguably the world’s most venomous (and rancorous).
(Little-known fact: Mrs. Paul travels to Amsterdam every summer to personally spit on the grave of Ulysses R. Van de Kamp.)
Anyway, I did some digging, and it turns out both companies are owned by the same parent conglomerate, Pinnacle Food Group, LLC.
So they must have thought: hey, we’ve already got one incredible commercial (which is actually pretty insipid), why bother to produce another one?
Why, you ask? Who cares? Capitalism cares.
See, if companies start doing this, the whole illusion of brand differentiation is going to evaporate.
Sure, it’s the same product sold by both companies.
It’s probably made in the same factory from the same ingredients by the same underpaid workers.
But do we really have to emphasize that fact by running the same freaking commercial?
It’s either the boldest move in corporate history, or the most cynical.
10 bucks says it’s haddock.
Cherche La Trust: Even in 2010, Referrals Beat Digital Marketing Strategies
A new study published by RainToday observes that while web-based lead generation and e-business capture mechanisms continue to make gains as BD tools for professional service providers, the average accounting, law, or financial planning firm still finds “golf course networking” to be its most effective expenditure.
Here we are in an era that’s spawned every conceivable communication technology breakthrough, and yet no one has managed to replace the “human referral.”
Is it possible that we’re not droids after all? Is it possible that we make irrational calculations? That we trust a data-driven, sophisticated Web site less than the unsubstantiated opinions of our 7-year-old’s beer-bellied, chain smoking soccer coach?
Sure, you might take your babysitter’s recommendation for a new non-dairy creamer. But complex professional services too?
You betcha.
And so it’s always been our goal to merge technology with the human factor—an effort that’s led to the recent social media revolution.
Balance is the key element. And that’s precisely why the most effective social media vehicles are technologically unobtrusive—mere conduits for distinctly human expressions.
So pay more attention to the man behind the curtain. Particularly if he’s a chain smoker.
Jonathan Waxes Philosophical
One of the things we strive for in the communications industry is simplicity.
Or, to put it another way, reduction.
In an optimal marketing equation, everything is reducible, everything is simple.
Take for example, the brain.
Now you might reflexively say that the brain is anything but simple. Yet when you look at a single neuron, a single synapse, it’s a rather rudimentary circuit. The complication comes when you multiply these base components by the billions. Suddenly, through nothing more than volume, simplicity gives way to complexity.
IBM knows it.
They’ve been able to replicate simple brain sequences. So they thought, why not put those sequences in a powerful cortical simulator and generate a full, working model of a mammalian brain.
Trouble is, even though the simulation works, they can’t seem to figure out how.
Upon reaching a certain level of complexity, the model becomes just as abstruse as the genuine article. And it doesn’t just happen with cognitive science.
McDonalds tests everything. Every burger, every secret sauce. They test single-blind, double-blind, focus groups, massive regional trials. A sandwich is simple. But a billion sandwiches are inexplicably complex.
Which is why despite all that testing, you still see phenomenal product failures like the Arch Deluxe.
And this is our fate in the modern world. From Adam and Eve to the most chaotic, unpredictable system in the universe.
But enough about D.C. traffic patterns.
Here’s to a safer — and simpler — new year.
Brands on a bigger mission
Companies are always looking to keep things fresh by reinventing themselves, and one company who has done this quite well is Lacoste. They are putting even more meaning behind their famous crocodile logo and donating money to help protect this endangered animal. What a smart business move. They are strengthening their brand, and giving back at the same time. If all companies could find a way to make their brand more meaningful, it can change the way people perceive you, and isn’t that what branding is all about? This is the kind of generosity that pays back two-fold. Knowing that you, as a customer, are even just a small part of something bigger, it is so rewarding. I think we should all ask ourselves “how can I do more?” and never settle with the status quo.
Is Augmented Reality the Future of Advertising?
Reality is boring. Consumers have been living and breathing in reality for far too long. They demand messaging that is interactive, imaginative, and in real-time. A new digital technology called augmented reality (AR) has recently become one of marketing’s hottest trends. AR enables vivid virtual computer generated imagery to appear alongside the real-world environment, creating a mixed reality on a computer or mobile device. Consumers are then able to manipulate and interact with these living objects in the real world through a monitor.
I love keeping up with cutting edge technologies and industry trends because you never know when a fresh idea can enhance a campaign or brand image. Even though a new technology may be all the range and innovative, every business and industry shouldn’t rush out and attempt to quickly insert it into a new media approach just because everyone else is doing it. But if a trend is able to align with given business goals and audiences, experimental technology and strategy can sometimes brilliantly go hand-in-hand. There are a few good marketing examples of experimenting and adopting AR technology that achieves these objectives.
BMW and the USPS have not only used AR to create something viral that helps drive consumer buzz, but it also serves as a strategic application that flaunts products/services. In BMW’s Z4 campaign, a virtual car displays the car’s features and creates an interactive game by allowing the user to mark up his or her desk while controlling though the computer keyboard. USPS’ new AR application allows consumers to simulate priority shipping options when making a decision on packing size differences.
New Android mobile devices have just released an app called Layar, and the iPhone is now developing Twitter 360, which will become some of the first augmented reality browsers on mobile. The apps will create real-world GPS compasses and visualize twitter friends in real-time through a phone’s camera screen.
Even print publications have gotten in the mix. Esquire Magazine just released an experimental AR December issue that features an introduction on the cover by Robert Downy Jr., three dimensional celebrity interviews, and interactive fashion features through your webcam. While development of the issue cost a great deal of time and money, the magazine is still constantly attempting to progress.
Many believe augmented reality is the future of advertising. This new technology already has the ability to create amazing interactions between digital and print. In a quickly evolving mobile world, augmented reality just might give new relevancy to future print usage if tactics continue to evolve. Any Smartphone could have the potential to turn an ad into an interactive 3D masterpiece. As long as it continues to be used strategically and not just as a gimmick, future possibilities for AR marketing are endless.
Get ‘Em While They’re Young
According to the British Psychological Society (what, isn’t that where everyone gets their news?), the “age-of-acquisition” effect has now been proven applicable to corporate brands.
For those unfamiliar, the effect basically observes that individuals have an easier time processing information they encounter at an early age—in other words, while their brains are still maturing.
Now, Andrew Ellis and colleagues have observed the same kind of hard-wiring effect for brands. Which means that the key marketing demographic may not be 18-49 at all, but rather 0-5.
Gives one a whole new appreciation for the Babies ‘R Us marketing strategy, doesn’t it?
Additionally in the experiment, Ellis observed that older participants had an easy time recognizing long-defunct brands from their youth, but a difficult time recognizing current popular brands.
In fact, participants over 80 professed nearly 100% brand loyalty to the Hudson Motor Company, even though it hasn’t produced a working automobile since 1954.
So what’s the takeaway? Maybe it’s something that I’ve long suspected, but secretly feared: that ubiquity is truly more powerful than logic.
Whatever the reason, it helps explain my persistent hankering for a Charleston Chew.
YouTube Direct: Friend or Foe?
If an organization is savvy, it will make this new tool a friend. Disregard it, it could become a foe.
There has been quite a bit of buzz this week surrounding YouTube Direct, a platform that narrows the gap between news organizations and anyone with video-capture capabilities. Thanks to digital cameras that shoot video, the economically priced Flip video camcorder and the fact that many cell phones can now shoot video, that means A LOT more people just became citizen journalists.
The new tool allows media organizations to request, review and rebroadcast YouTube clips directly from YouTube users.
If you work in or with your communications department or agency, then you may be familiar with the idea of pitching stories to, or having stories broken by bloggers. You may have also heard horror stories of disgruntled customers sounding off on blogs, Twitter or Facebook. You also hear great stories about customers promoting brands themselves through those same outlets. Imagine all of this in video, and figure in that these videos may have just gotten exponentially easier for news organizations that hit your key demographics and stakeholders to upload and share.
There is a lot of exciting opportunity that YouTube’s new tool presents. Only time will tell whether or not this really takes off and how much the media will really put it to use. I imagine it will take off, though, since everyday people like you and me can capture a video faster than a news crew can arrive on a scene, and because having video to accompany a story makes the content much more rich and the story much more authentic.
The Washington Post, ABC-News, NPR and the Huffington Post are among the media outlets that have already used YouTube Direct.
Consider what doors this development opens, as well as what you need to be careful of. If you do not do regular YouTube searches related to your brand, you could be missing out on something that just got a lot easier for a news organization to find… for better or for worse.
Everyone is doing it…Or are they?
With all the hype today about Twitter, everyone who’s anyone is on it and actively using this new social media channel to its full capacity, right? Think again.
According to an AdAge article, 76% of Twitter accounts are infrequent users. I guess that shouldn’t really surprise me since it does take extra effort to make the most of this tool, but I just assumed that these big name companies have the resources and time to invest as well as the know-how to execute. I guessed wrong.
So, my point in all this is that it is not too late to start taking an active role in your company to increase the chance for success. As long as someone is held accountable for keeping up with it, there is a lot to be gained.
Whether you use Twitter as a newsfeed, brand-builder, sales channel, thought-leadership vehicle, or as a customer-service tool, just get started and keep the momentum going.
In closing, I would just like to say to all you slackers out there, get your assets in gear.
Death by Marketing Metrics: How Walmart’s Funeral Caskets Prove Social Media Monitoring Isn’t As Certain As Death.
It was the perfect brand storm. Just in time for Halloween, Walmart entered the lucrative world of online funeral casket sales, following in the footsteps of Costco. The move sent buzz metrics surging: millions of hits, site visits, tweets, and even positive product ratings. In short, everyone was talking about discount funeral caskets and the smiley-faced retail icon. Most importantly, Walmart’s social media monitoring tools showed the greatest spike in customer interest since the Snuggy first hit shelves.
But soon a macabre reality hit home. Most of the positive social media activity had come from the iPhone/generation Y-Not community, hardly the target buyers of caskets. Worse, a large degree of the positive social response was, in fact, vicious sarcasm (including fake product reviews poking fun at Walmart’s virtual funeral parlor), a concept that social media monitoring tools are woefully unable to detect.
What can we learn from this marketing case study?
- Social Media Metrics are only as good as the people who interpret them. All activity should be highly scrutinized in order to ascertain whether the target audience matches the target demographic. Misguided buzz is worthless, unless you believe that college kids are replacing their beds with comfortable padded coffins.
- Even the most advanced software analytics have a difficult time discerning intent. When Walmart declares a spike in positive product reviews without having marketing professionals vet the data, the knowledge gained is as meaningful as a “How to Win the Lottery” book.
- As Albert Einstein once said, “Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.” And he said it before Twitter.
Bottom line: As corporate marketers and their agencies oversee the strategic shift to digital media (with the promise of more accountability and measurability), they must always remember that no computer or offshore $2/hour data monitor will ever replace critical, expert analysis. Forget that, and we just might end up financing our own marketing caskets.
(Kudos to Craig Daitch’s column on www.Adage.com)
