Online defamation

The issue of the ‘offensive’ picture of Michelle Obama appearing in Google search results poses an interesting dilemma: who decides what is right and wrong on the internet? Libel laws are notoriously difficult to apply across borders and the source of any defamatory material cannot often be difficult to ascertain. Nevertheless, as the old joke goes ‘where there’s a will…… there’s usually a greedy lawyer trying to get in on the act’!

Having defamatory material posted onto your web presence can lead to very significant liabilities being incurred by your brand. Our websites constitute ‘publishing’ just as much as publications or marketing material – but on a global scale.  So called Web Governance is becoming  a hot topic as unwary brands permit content generators to post all manner of ill-advised, incorrect or just plain illegal content with only manual editorial control to save them.  The automation of content governance is clearly going to be an important compliance issue for all website owners and I think we, as marketing professionals, need to get a grip on the compliance of our web content using tools like Vamosa Check & Fix, before we get our backsides tanned by the lawyers.

 

Posted by Geraint

Through the eyes of a child

The other day I was watching my three year old son playing with some Lego, it was fascinating to watch him play with total creative freedom. Instead of recreating what was displayed on the box, he was using his imagination and making something completely different. It was the way he studied and assembled the pieces in a unique and interesting way that fascinated me – there were no pre-set ideas of what should be created, no thoughts of ‘what if this is not right’ or ‘what will people think?’ Everyday is a new adventure for him, there are new things to learn and
new discoveries to be made.

It is this that we, as creatives try to re-capture in our own work, it is the way in which we look at things differently to gain an alternative perspective and the need to find that ‘something special’ within a product or service to set it apart from the others. It helps us to solve many of the problems that face us when we are presented with that first creative brief and that blank sheet of paper.

This way of thinking can also be applied to the rest of the creative agency, or to any business for that matter. Just by stepping back and ridding ourselves of any preconceived ideas, we can gain a different angle to many of the problems we may face everyday.

Sometimes we could all learn a lot by becoming that small wide-eyed, adventurous child we once were, without fear or prejudice.

Social media costs UK business £1.35billion…. but accounts for 25% of ad impressions

Two fascinating statistic forced their way into the news agenda this week relating to Social Media. Firstly, IT Services business Morse announced that Social Media use in business is costing the economy £1.38 billion. The report suggests more than half of office workers are using sites such as Twitter and Facebook for their own personal use during working hours wasting an average of 40 minutes a week. Whilst no-one advocates wasting their employer’s time on personal business you’ve got ask how much business benefit is also being generated by this time? I certainly believe that in my own business it is positively productive for my team to be actively participating in new social media.

 

The second stat that appeared was that it is now estimated that social networking sites account for 25% of online display ad impressions . Media research consultancy comscore.com estimate that social media sites accounted for 13.8billion impressions in August 2009 in the UK. This amounts to some 25% of all UK online display ad impressions! Telecoms providers were the heaviest users but retailers similarly have woken up to the value of social media sites for targeting customers. As Mike Read, comScores’ MD says “….these data suggest that every demographic segment is reached via social networking sites and that no particular age segment accounts for an overwhelming percentage of ads delivered. Given the overall reach and volume of ads delivered on social networking sites, brand advertisers who ignore this channel may be missing a significant opportunity and enabling their competitors to gain a dominant share of voice in the channel.”

 

Posted by Geraint

27th October 2009

Short plank to nowhere

As the famous Stella Artois ad used to say ‘Reassuringly expensive’. And further evidence, if further evidence were needed, that cutting prices is a short plank to nowhere came last week with the news that Carluccios eschew price cutting . Their MD, Simon Kossoff, explains that they had been successful through this last year of recession because they had remained faithful to their pricing policy. He explained “We want to avoid damaging our brand equity. Rather than pursuing short-term discounts, we prefer to adopt a long-term view of protecting the brand.” The notion that pricing forms a key component of brand equity isn’t new, but maintaining a price position, even in these trying times, can be as important for customers as a round of wanton price cuts.

And, as I always rant to anyone foolish enough to stand still and listen to me, if you cut your prices now there’s only one way for your prices to go in the future……..and it isn’t up.

Courage mes braves, courage.

Posted by Geraint

The idea’s the thing

It had to come.

In what seemed like a Harry Potter déjà vu moment, I read that ‘Entertainment Weekly’ is to include video clips in its printed magazine pages. Apparently wafer-thin video technology has now advanced to the point where mini screens can play around 40 minutes of video to the amazed purchaser. It’s rechargeable too. Fantastic.

Of course, what will really count is what is actually shown on these tiny screens.

Like so many other technological breakthroughs, it offers fabulous opportunities – and it challenges creatives everywhere to fulfil the promise. Because once the novelty has worn off, the content is what matters. From Guttenburg to Goudy, photography to digital imaging, technology has presented us with exciting new ways to present fresh ideas and concepts. But there’s a fine line between conceptual creativity and the crafted delivery. Printing is nothing without the prose, great photography needs genius behind the lens, and image manipulation is not always an end in itself. All these things are channels for the presentation of ideas. Big ideas change things.  Big ideas can alter attitudes and behaviours because they resonate with an audience and stimulate emotional, visceral reactions.

So perhaps we shouldn’t confuse craft with creative. Because in my humble opinion, whether it’s delivered via your mobile or a tiny video chip, the idea’s the thing.

Published by Keith

Customer service is king

Anybody who questions the need for sensitive customer relations would do well to visit blogger Paul McCrudden’s crusading website ‘SIX WEEKS’ (www.paulmccrudden.com/sixweeks.htm). McCrudden is challenging our subservience to ‘brands’ by recording (and trying to recover) the cost of time he has spent waiting for various brands to deliver on their promises. He has had some significant successes and some amusing responses – he is building an intriguing picture of his experiences reflecting how various companies value his time versus his custom.

This is a sobering reminder of growing consumer power for brand owners everywhere. The social networking generation can (and do) flash their consumer experiences across the cloud as easily as their personal ones.

Businesses seem to be picking up on this increasing consumer confidence and pleas for better customer service. We are encouraging our clients to highlight their personal, local and global service expertise to build trust and credibility for their brands. I just received a British Gas mailshot offering to better manage customer expectations – their campaign ‘only at home in your world when you need to be’ features British Gas representatives calling ahead when travelling to customers so that they only need to be at home when they need to be. Hooray – I’ll have some of that.

Customer service is likely to be the tipping point of difference in a world where prices and interest rates simply can’t go any lower. As we emerge from a serious downturn the message is clear: consumer power is growing exponentially and we need to nurture our customer relationships to survive and flourish. And that means ensuring a sympathetic customer experience at every single consumer touchpoint.

Posted by Keith

Brand Authenticity

I came across this interesting tale of retailing leviathan Walmart appearing to put the boot into the dear old Girl Scouts of America by selling a direct competitor to the cookies that the Girls sell every year for fundraising. Whilst the author goes a bit ballistic in her criticism of Walmart it raises the interesting point about brand AUTHENTICITY.

Many of you will know that I bang on about brand authenticity all the time but it’s clear that in these constrained times brands have an ever more important role to play in relationships with customers since one of the principal roles of a brand is to tell customers (and prospects) what to EXPECT from the brand.

It is certainly true that customers are drawn more and more to brands that they can believe in and trust. A recent article in the splendid Fast Company magazine reasserts this notion that the brands that consumers connect with are those that they trust the most. As John Grant in The New Marketing Manifesto says “Authenticity is the benchmark against which all brands are now judged” . There are many examples of brands that failed to earn the trust of their customers or simply flushed it away in a moment of corporate madness or wanton sell-out – think Body Shop maybe? Or Coca Cola ‘Classic’? Or even, closer to home ‘Friends Reunited’? It’s easy to think that chasing the ’next big thing’ might be root to growth or stability but in reality, most brand extension (or over-extension) wither on the vine anyway. I see Starbucks have themselves recently admitted that they have grown too much and the very essence of their brand has been lost in the relentless pursuit of growth.

So why do brands continue to believe that they can thrive by misleading customers or by attempting to construct brands that have not earned the RIGHT to be trusted? Well, here’s the punch-line folks : brand trust is EARNED not bought, AND once earned it is a fragile, gossamer asset that must be cherished and nurtured every moment of every single day.

Let’s remember that whilst we try to retain as many faithful customers as we can in these difficult times: we need to earn their trust, and once we have it, we need to maintain it.

The right language? Or lost in translation?

While on a recent trip to Switzerland, visiting relatives, I was struck by the casual ability of my family’s multi-lingual skills – something we sadly lack in the UK. It was fascinating to hear my young nephews and nieces speaking English, French and German fluently, but it was their ability to switch between all three languages in conversation that got me thinking.

They would simply choose the language that was best suited to communicate the idea or thought.

This casual fluency prompted me to draw parallels with our work in the communications industry; how every original idea must be delivered using the language, media and tonality that will best resonate with the target audience. As with my Swiss relatives, this has become almost second nature to us; a skill that helps us stay ahead of the game.

When we receive a brief, we seek insights into the target audience – what delivery ‘language’ is most appropriate – should it be targeted to specific customers, can we reach them online, or is a broader multi-media approach the answer? We think about tone of voice, should it be more ‘personal’ than broadcast? We are also mindful of sub-cultures and behavioural differences within our own society, and the implications of clichés and ‘sayings’ when translating to another language. These choices that can make the difference between a properly personalized, targeted campaign, versus a less efficient ‘scattergun’ approach.

The dreaded ‘lost in translation’ could easily occur if we if we used the wrong language to the right people.

Right then…. perhaps I should try to find those ‘Learn a Foreign Language in 5 Minutes’ CD’s!

Signs, signs, signs

I was driving to work the other morning, taking my usual route through the countryside, when suddenly I noticed the usual 30mph speed limit sign had been moved a good 100 metres further out of the village I was about to enter. I immediately slowed down (being the conscientious driver that I am), and it suddenly occurred to me how guided we are by signs – traffic signs, directional signs, for sale signs and signs announcing something for FREE. Consciously or sub-consciously we are all affected.

It’s all about the power of signs – words or pictures, or both – these visual graphics are created to serve a purpose – to guide you into action. Our job is to provoke a response from the viewer and to persuade the viewer to act on the feelings generated by the visual we create. Extremely emotive visuals can be the most acted upon, as can subliminal messaging. We can also look beyond the visual, take your sense of smell, most of us are seduced by the smell of freshly baked bread in the supermarket or have heard of making coffee when trying to sell your house – hell, even an advertising campaign for a car used the idea of ‘that new car interior smell’ to encourage sales. All of these signs invite you to make a decision – whether to buy that new car, take up that free offer or slow down to the correct speed limit.

For marketers, concerned with guiding prospects through the customer journey, our responsiveness to signage is a powerful tool. We can harness these natural triggers in steering our customers towards our product or service. Without them, people would simply get lost in the conflicting media noise, and be unable to navigate to our offer.

So thank goodness for signage…on the roads, in the supermarket, on the hoardings, in the press, on the doormat……without it we would all be truly lost.

Zen, marketing and the fine art of fly-fishing

I caught a rather than fine rainbow trout on Bank Holiday Monday in beautiful surroundings in Farnham in Surrey. And it set me to thinking how similar the tactics that led to my piscatorial success are to the tactics we use almost every day in marketing. Now that old Isaac Walton, he knew a thing or two he did — his book “The Compleat (sic) Angler” reads like a fishy version of teach yourself marketing. It’s all there…environments, behaviour patterns, targeting, attracters, lures, presentation… all the stuff we have to think about everyday if we’re going to get our message in front of the right people in the right way.

Think about it. Firstly, I had to choose a venue where I knew my targets would congregate. Secondly, when I arrived, I had to study the environment and the behaviour patterns of my target audience. Then I had to decide which of them I had the best chance of catching – in other words who I was actually targeting. Start to get the idea? And of course, it’s no use just chucking any old logo in front of a random audience — if the brand isn’t relevant to them they will just ignore it – and so it is with the trout. My fishy logo, my lure, has to be presented in just the right way if I’m going to get any interest at all. Ring any bells? And sometimes it isn’t enough just to use a single strategy in a complex and difficult environment. I often take to using a nice big visible attracter ‘online’, with a cute little ‘dropper’ nymph hanging below to multiply my chances of success. A bit like running an online campaign, with door drop mailings for extra impact. Ha – now we’re cooking with gas.

And with angling you try a lot of stuff and keep what works…bet you’ve heard that somewhere before. So, as you might expect, I’ve got a bucket load of flies and lures in my tackle bag and I pretty much know exactly where and when they are gonna work. A bit like the day job really, where we’ve tried and tested just about every tool in the box and kept what worked hardest and most efficiently. Maybe I learned to fish while I was working, or maybe it was the other way around, I really can’t tell.

Fishing is peaceful, occasionally exciting, and gives you lots of time to meditate on the important things in life. And guess what? It’s perfect for ‘subliminal’ studying. I usually have an audiobook on the go when I’m by the water (usually languages, but it could be marketing, oui?) and it just drip feeds my brain while I enjoy the experience. Lovely.

So, if you fancy a little Zen with your marketing while you try your hand at putting a rainbow on the dining table, why not zip over and see Richard at Frensham Trout Fishery – you’ll find all the details at www.fishcountryleisure.com – tell him the beardy creative sent you.

Oh…and actually I find that marketing is a bit like my other passion – yachting. Preparation, planning a route, navigation, reading the signs around you…but that’s another story…or maybe another blog…

Keith