Video produced by Time To Get Social

The old rules of messaging and traditional media dictate that you want to try to reach as many people as possible.  Today, with the ability to hyper target your message or story, the barrage of so much content, and peoples’ short attention spans, it’s about quality and your own definition of ROI.  We learned about the importance of an authentic message in Episode 6 and this week we find out why your billions and trillions of Twitter followers, Facebook/MySpace friends don’t mean anything…unless you’re just an odd collector of people and that’s so 2009.

Episode 7 features: Jason Feinberg and Zach Jordan

The big scary paradigm shift in technology, entertainment and advertising (don’t worry everything else is converging too) is akin to the implosion of the music industry. We spent years building up obstacles between the music and the fans and trying to ignore the fact that they were always in control. When the dust finally settles this time around, we’ll all be able to see clearly that, in the crowded world of content, we need to provide as clear a path as possible between your music and your fans. Great content is like music; it might be brilliant but without anyone around to hear it, nobody will ever get to experience the greatness. Episode 5 explains the Joe Digital special formula we like to follow:

High Quality Content + Strategic Distribution = Loyal Participants

Next week, in Episode 6, we’ll take a look at why it’s so important to craft an honest story when starting  the conversation with your audience.

Episode 5 features: Zach Jordan

As we saw in Episode 3, there are several ways to track audience data.  You can find out, on a very granular level, who they are, where they like to play, and other important metrics that are required to make great content and distribute it strategically across the web.  In Episode 4 we find out why it’s so important to utilize this data and help you create a loyal bond with your audience.  We’ll also look at why it’s imperative to come from an authentic place when creating interesting and relevant storylines for your content.  Remember: the consumer bullshit meter is very sensitive!

Episode 4 features: Jason Feinberg, Suzanne Diamond, Timothy Golden and Zach Jordan

Technology: A Driving Force Behind Transmedia

In Part I of our series, we took a brief look at the basic elements of how Transmedia is growing in popularity around the world.  Entertainment and branding are evolving and technology is helping to usher us into this new paradigm faster every day.  For the first time in history, technology is allowing us to enjoy a seamless entertainment experience. We can start watching a TV show or video online at work, pause it; come home and finish watching it on our TV, exactly where we left off. This will soon be true of all content whether it’s books, music or games. Online games, and video games in general, have in many ways given birth to Transmedia storytelling.  Video games are finally getting the recognition they deserve when it comes to: (1) delivering a compelling narrative, (2) community building and (3) great educational value.

Gaming, and Internet use in general, is a hugely social experience and is proving to be a very successful way for people to engage with one another in a global and localized environment. Gaming, once perceived as an isolated activity, is really about bonding and community. Now that we know this and can scale this opportunity to Transmedia storytelling, we can use this as the basis for creating brand stories and entertainment properties that invite people to share information,  work more efficiently together on large projects, and ultimately retain more knowledge about a specific topic. Games have also taught us that audiences are not stupid. Left unchallenged or not specifically invited to engage with a compelling narrative on a personal level, they will move on.  Regardless of the challenges presented or the scope of the story within the context of the digital experience, people will gravitate toward live events and a visceral experience to supplement the time we spend online.

Live Events, Music and Transmedia

Live events, whether a component of brand messaging or an entertainment property, will resonate more in the coming years and in very interesting ways. As we continue to spend so much time telecommuting and engaging each other in the virtual world, we will demand engagement in the real world, perhaps more than we ever have. The live event platform of Transmedia storytelling is intrinsic to our nature and, coupled with technology, can make for a powerful universal experience and create deeper levels of audience engagement. Music has been doing this for years through concerts and other cross platform events that invite community and cross-pollination of stories and ideas.

For example, Hip Hop and digital storytelling have always been inextricably linked with one another because both have (1) always thrived on community and participation and (2) Hip Hop culture has always used digital technology to share its story with the world. An excellent example of this can be seen in the documentary “This Is The Life” that chronicles the Good Life emcees in the early 90′s in South Central LA. Mix tapes and live events were major entry points into their narrative and helped spawn some of the major artists of today. Live events can be used in a variety of creative ways and intermingled with a variety of artistic disciplines. Take for instance the Pet Shop Boys Parisian concert in 2008 (how’s that for a reference) featuring a symphony playing their music as the Russian film “Battleship Potemkin” plays on a screen behind them in Trafalgar Square.

Improv everywhere and flashmobs are also part of the live, multi platform storytelling approach that is used to engage people in a live setting. These largely brand neutral events take a simple idea, build a story around it and deliver the narrative in a live, interactive setting where people can become engaged beyond the confines of a screen or hand-held device. They also invite co-creation through video and social networking and can provide brands with additional distribution channels, that wouldn’t exist in the virtual world.

This is all very exciting, but not without its challenges. Despite the power of the born digital crowd and access to cross platform technology, there are a few hurdles that prevent Transmedia storytelling from going mainstream…yet.   In Part III of this series, we’ll take a look at some of the hurdles brands face, as far as implementing Transmedia elements into their campaigns , as well as examine some specific opportunities for brands to increase audience engagement.  We’ll also take a stab at predicting how this new paradigm will affect branding, entertainment , and our global education system in the coming years.

Photo by: sarahshaneelizabeth

The brand police are knocking at the door.  You can run but you can’t hide!

In today’s Ad Age, Jack Neff writes about Good Guide, a consumer brand rating site that has already put their scale of 1-10 on over 75,000 products.  While consumer watchdogs have been around a long, long time, this more recent entry highlights a rising note that we have mentioned in prior posts—in the digital age of massive choice, one of the biggest consumer demands will be authenticity.  GoodGuide highlights the fact that the engaged consumer will not tolerate the brand that mouths claims that are not demonstrably accurate.

Utilizing their academic backgrounds, UC Berkeley professor, Dara O’Rourke,  and his colleagues use the power of various databases, consumer input and the want / need for a reinvigorated policing source, Good Guide seems to have most of the modern marketing maxims in play.   They are delivering objective information on the authenticity of consumer brands—proving their own authenticity (the lack of ads helps).  They are creating a genuine partnership between their site, the brands, and the consumer by both utilizing consumer input and informing brands, very transparently, about how they can improve their scores and, thus, their standing with the public.  They are also delivering all of this in the mandatory personal way.  Within brand conglomerates, divisions can work on their own ratings.  For the consumer, O’Rourke says they will soon allow users to create their own personalized scales based upon how each of them weigh the various indicia of “good”.

It all seems to be working.  Awareness of the site is rising. Brands are actively engaging.  Aileen Zerrudo, the Director of Communications for Clorox notes that they are genuinely listening to what the consumer is saying via GoodGuide.  Moreover, the company claims that click to conversion rates from the site to Amazon.com are 5-10 times higher than most retailers’ traditional returns.   A well-known brand actually wanting to listen, improve and increase market share?  I’m betting that the smart brand begins to actively seek out these kinds of relationships.

So how does a brand fare well with GoodGuide and, presumably, turn the maybe consumer into a loyal participant?  According to GoodGuide: (1) Change Ingredients to meet the desire for natural; (2) Quality Management (avoid recall disasters); (3) Internal Policies matter (fair labor, CSR, etc.); (4) Green and Responsible (a clean record and sustainable production); and (5) Be Transparent (if you hide data, we will find it).

So let’s say a brand follows the rules and carries the day with a “10″.  Now they just need to pat themselves on the back and incorporate how they got there into every aspect of their marketing.  By following the same rules in their marketing (being authentic, delivering personal value, being transparent, and actually caring enough to engage), brands will ride the wave instead of ending up in the trough.  Tout your score (in the right manner of course—sorry nitpickers) and score big with the public.  In the end, quality and authenticity need to become key elements of a brand’s story.  Deliver that story to the audience on their terms and you end up with quality, loyal, and passionate participants.

In today’s WSJ online, Elizabeth Holmes, writes about how teen retailers like Aeropostale are starting to do a deep bow towards those with the purse strings.  They are adding chairs for Mom so she can more comfortably survive the teen shopping frenzy.  They are creating personal shopping programs, available at mom-friendly times.  Wow.  They understand that their consumer needs to (a) get to the store and (b) have money before they can make a purchase.  Hope springs eternal.

Now, all we have to do is broaden this marketing epiphany and start to apply this power-of-the-purse recognition to all aspects of branding and marketing.  Moms and Dads are as much part of the fragmented digital space as anyone.  They too have a ton of choices.  They too don’t want to be “sold”.  They too exist on line and in self-selected pods on the social networks and passion sites.  As I have noted in the past, Moms buy jeans, TVs, skateboards, cars, and the offerings under virtually every vertical.

If Mom is more likely to embrace Aeropostale thanks to a place to sit, imagine what would happen if they installed a Man Cave. A back room, flat screen, BIG chairs, etc.  I can see it now.  Saturday morning, I wake up, have my coffee and excitedly wake up my girls and say “Hey kids!  Let’s go to Abercrombie!”  I’d be loyal to that brand.

In an effort to craft a brand idea or story custom made for the rabid audience, start focusing on the fans.  There are a variety of free platforms to test your ideas, story, and characters and get immediate feedback from the plethora of passion centers that already exist online.   Popular shows like AMC’s Mad Men make Twitter an ancillary component of the show on TV, where rabid fans take a deeper look into the lives of Betty and Don Draper.

You can leverage the use of social networks like Facebook and Twitter to see what related topics people are already talking about and get immediate feedback on your story idea or characters.  Armed with this knowledge, you have a very solid understanding of how to craft an appropriate distribution strategy because you know 1) where your audience is viewing related content and 2) how this content is positioned within these platforms.  As you start mapping out potential distribution channels for your messaging, you can also use these social networks as tools to help maximize audience engagement, while minimizing potential spend on distribution that might not be appropriate for your concept or audience.  Tomorrow we’ll look at the different types of DISTRIBUTION channels available and how to construct the best strategy for your story.

Photo by: Amstel

]]> http://www.joedigitalblog.com/targeted-distribution/the-new-360-storytelling-experience-focus-groups/feed 2 http://www.joedigitalblog.com/targeted-distribution/consumers-care-about-brands-that-care http://www.joedigitalblog.com/targeted-distribution/consumers-care-about-brands-that-care#comments Mon, 01 Jun 2009 20:46:18 +0000 Peter Schankowitz http://www.joedigitalblog.com/?p=378 Keep Reading]]>

One of the key components of our company’s branding mantra is the need for personal engagement through authentic messaging.  Our formula always stresses (1) specific and personal = loyal and (2) keep it real.  In other words, no brand is going to earn consumer attention and loyalty without delivering something of real value (content) that can get past what we like to call the extremely sensitive BS meter that exists in today’s marketplace.  In a recent post, Diane Verde Nieto (CEO of Clownfish, London) takes this point to an even more granular level that we should all take to heart.  It’s not just about “getting past” the BS meter.  It’s about doing so because your brand genuinely lives and breathes your brand message.  Diane points out that corporate social responsibility (“CSR”) efforts, in which brands incorporate their corporate causes into brand messaging, are a key route to building a loyal relationship with the target audience.

So, so true.  A great CSR effort can make a major difference in the eyes of the audience and the returned favor of loyalty.  But like all things, it has to be done correctly, which as the author points out, mean honestly.  In this market where the consumer wants and demand it all on their terms, honesty is paramount.  All brand content has to be authentic.  CSR driven content must be even more.

I was recently discussing with some colleagues the need for brands to do what Diane suggests, walk the walk at the core of their business.  That means, don’t just take on a cause and promote your “stuff” with it via window dressing.  Rather, prove to your audience that you are for real by making your CSR effort internal and sincere and not just for the public’s eyes only.  This means that from the ground up in the company, the CSR must be a 24/7 subtext of the business.  Employees, management, hell, even outside vendors have to live it.  Be this genuine and your content effort will do a lot more than get past the BS meter.  You will be believed, trusted—and remembered.

If good brand storytelling is about hitting emotional touchstones, I can’t think of a more emotional campaign than matching up brand CSR and the things that your target audience genuinely cares about.  Per the post, women do need soap—but they choose Dove because the brand (via their self-esteem, female oriented content efforts) literally cares about all of the other things that women care about in their daily lives.  Dove passes the sniff test because, in fact, they care….inside and out.

The opposite.  Look at some of the failures where brands have disingenously jumped on the healthy or green wagons.  When a brand’s message is no more than profit driven “fashion”, they can smell the rat. We won’t be fooled or green washed.

There are lots of “green” organizations for example.  But which of them deserve and earn our trust?  The ones you can believe because they have proven credibility.  Case in point?  We recently did a video celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Friends of the Earth.  It was a labor of love and we know the content is going to help this Godfather of environmental activism because they are, demonstrably, the unrelenting, uncompromising organization that was there before anyone would listen and is still in the thick of battle now that we know we’re killing the planet.  Our company (hence my vendor argument) lives this way.  It was a creative and passionate marriage that we hope continues for a long time.

It’s tough out there.  In a prior post we talked about the new “Simplifiers” who don’t want to be sold “stuff”, but rather, offered personal, important experiences.  So how does a brand differentiate itself and earn the attention it needs to prosper?  Don’t “sell”.  Present something people need / want  and place it organically in the context of the bigger picture.  Connect with the things in our every day lives that matter.  Do so honestly and with integrity.  It’s human nature.  Common cause, common experience equals community.  I don’t want to emotionally connect with soap, but I might with the soap community that cares.

Pfizer is pulling off a branding master stroke.  They are giving away certain prescription drugs to those who have lost their jobs and health insurance due to the recession.  Put yourself in the consumers’ shoes.  “I’m broke.  I can’t afford the meds that I have relied upon.  I really need them.  Wait, the drug company is going to let me have them for free until I get back on my feet?  Wow.”   These consumers are never going to forget this.  Pfizer delivers a message of caring about their audience, they deliver a tangible, high stakes benefit, and they do so at a time of need.  Nice.

Hyundai pulled off the same move even earlier with their “we’ll buy it back” offer.  In each of these instances, the brands showed up and stepped up for the consumer on the consumers’ terms.  That is the part that makes it memorable and that makes for brand loyalty. From the time the mouse removed the thorn from the lion’s paw to today, a friend, in those times of need, is a friend indeed.  Like the lion, the public won’t forget.  Now all we have to do is get brands to apply these same principles in all of their efforts, at all times.