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Social media and the approachable brand

Posted by Bob Brin on February 25, 2009 at 7:59 AM

Social media goes beyond marketing and networking. It's an opportunity to create or amplify an approachable brand. It's all about opening up and letting people in. Show your personality (even your multiple personalities). Expose yourself and let go a little. That means you're vulnerable. And with vulnerability comes mistakes. Those, in turn, become opportunities. What great personality isn't flawed? The approachable brand has a personality that is human, able to show humility and has a sense of humor (even about its own hubris). Recovering from missteps is easier and faster with those components to your personality.

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T-Mobile Liverpool Station Dance Stunt

Posted by Matt Kucharski on February 18, 2009 at 4:57 PM

Whether you love it or hate it, think it's fake or it's a hoax, you can't deny the effectivness of this "stunt gone viral" from T-Moble. It's worth 2 minutes to watch the video -- and then another two minutes to read the online comments.

The thing that I like about it is that it's a "stunt with relevance" -- people using their phones (and ostensibly their T-Mobile service) to capture the moment and share it with friends. In that sense, it's not just an attention-getting stunt -- it's also reinforcing a purchase.

Enjoy...

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Still not sure about journalists on Twitter?

Posted by Matt Kucharski on February 16, 2009 at 7:38 PM

Pretty interesting site showing what journalists (both traditional and bloggers) are on Twitter these days. Not comprehensive, but pretty impressive nonetheless. Now what they're actually DOING on Twitter...

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The Top Ten Signs You Work In Marketing...

Posted by Matt Kucharski on February 4, 2009 at 1:09 PM

I can't lay claim to this -- it's been floating around the office this week -- but it's way more true than I'd care to admit...

The Top Ten Signs You Work In Marketing...

1. You lecture the neighborhood kids selling lemonade on ways to improve their look-to-buy ratio
2. You get all excited when it's Saturday so you can wear casual clothes to work
3. You refer to the tomatoes grown in your garden as "deliverables"
4. You find you really need a PowerPoint to explain what you do for a living
5. You regularly eat out of vending machines and at the most expensive restaurant in town within the same week
6. You wear gray to work instead of navy blue to make a bold fashion statement
7. You know the people at the airport and hotel better than your next-door neighbors
8. You ask your friends to "think outside the box" when making Friday night plans
9. You think Einstein would have been more effective had he put his ideas into a matrix
10. You think a "half-day" means leaving work at 5 o'clock

Others that didn't make the top ten but get honorable mention (these are my own):

• You conducted your last performance review via Twitter
• Your last team outing centered around a Strategic Selling role-playing scenario
• You read "Market-Led Strategic Change" to your kids as a bedtime story
• You chose to go with the Labradoodle rather than the Labrador because it "differentiated you" from the other neighbors

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It's Not the Size of the Ad That Counts, It's How You Use it

Posted by Jason Swartz on February 2, 2009 at 2:52 PM

I went into this year's Super Bowl confident of two things; the Steelers would win and the ads would engage consumers like we've never seen before. At least I got one right.

Treating this year like social media and the Internet haven't yet been invented, most brands reverted to the traditional (or pre-historic) advertising formula; create a semi-funny commercial, spend big dollars for a ton of viewers, and hope for something to happen.

They succeeded in obtaining a massive viewing audience. But, it's not the size of the ad (one of Super Bowl-sized proportions) that counts, It's how you use it.

In today's media environment, with all the social media tools we have available to us, I don't understand how brands can afford to spend $3 million just for people to see their ad, but fail to create a strong follow-up that engages their audience and can live beyond the ad itself. And no, I'm not suggesting the brand repurposes their commercial to YouTube and call it social media. I'm saying that this year, we didn't see any creative integration of Twitter, Facebook or any social media channel for that matter. Rather, we saw a few ads that sparked a second of laughter, which mostly got lost in the noise of party goers chatting during the commercial break. We often hear that brands need to do a better job of "joining the conversation," and I think this year's Super Bowl ads are a perfect example. These brands had the time, money and social media tools to come up with something very unique, but ended up failing to close the deal like the Arizona Cardinals.

Until next year, Go Vikings! And go big brands that are willing to step outside the realm of traditional advertising to connect with their audience in ways competitors have never considered.

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