Grounded In Reality

I’m at day 2 of Ad Age’s Digital Marketing Conference. In a room filled with media executives, advertisers and agency reps, the majority of the conversation surprisingly hasn’t been about paid media. It’s been about the rise of conversational marketing and the importance of facilitating and nurturing customer dialogue.

Tom Nicholson of design firm Icon Nicholson made the point that online marketing is moving away from shooting arrows at people and more about providing services and experiences that enable customers to voice opinions, share stories and make informed purchasing decisions. As he put it, “the future of marketing is customer service.”

During a panel titled “Making Social Media and Marketing Work,” Jim Nail of TNS Media/Cymfony polled the audience on which marketing discipline should “own” social media. The results:

• 53% said Marketing
• 5% said PR/Communications
• 9% said Customer Service
• 33% said some new division that hasn’t been created yet

This isn’t surprising considering that the majority of people here come from the marketing/advertising side of the fence. Several conference panelists acknowledged that ownership shouldn’t be narrowed to one discipline. Creative agencies design exceptional content, but they aren’t equipped to monitor, fuel and sustain online conversations with consumers. PR agencies, however, are uniquely suited to build relationships and interact directly with the public online. My personal bias aside, I agree that a blended approach is necessary.

The bottom line is that conversational marketing needs to be a long-term commitment for marketers. It can’t happen in a limited, quick-hit fashion. And it shouldn’t be viewed as just another channel to exploit and wrap an ad campaign around. At last year’s Ad Age Digital Marketing Conference, many attendees were still reacting to social media topics with questions about risk, metrics, conversion and ROI. I’m not seeing that here today. My sense is that the majority of marketers and agencies in attendance “get it” and are moving beyond experimentation to making social media a central component in the mix.

I just returned from day 1 of Ad Age’s Digital Marketing Conference. The morning kicked-off with 2 great panels on the topic of branded entertainment and content creation. The majority of the conversation focused on how brands are increasingly building their own content platforms or aligning with media properties to develop branded experiences.

Key points about content included:

• Ownership: Ogilvy Entertainment’s Doug Scott made the point that “brands should own content rather than rent it.” His reasoning is that the Web gives brands a platform to create long-term engagement with consumers vs. the quick burst model of display ads and 30-second spots. Once display ads are gone, they are gone…whereas branded content lives online forever. I agree with his POV, but would add that marketers must be willing to experiment and fail. Brands turning into media properties overnight is no easy task (a la Bud.tv).

• Quality: Nothing new here, but the point was hammered home: creating exceptional content must remain the top priority. Relying on distribution and promotion will only make a campaign go so far. Frank Cooper, VP of Marketing for Pepsi, commented that “there’s a lot of roadkill out there” when it comes to online video (both professional and user-generated). He talked about the importance of finding the right producers, writers and actors who can create compelling, relevant content that’s built for web consumption and sharing.

  As my colleague Rachelle Spero always says, “comedy can’t be cooked up in a corporate conference room. If you want to be funny, hire a comedian.” Daman Wayans, founder of WayOut TV (“Living Color 2.0” as he calls it) echoed this POV during a panel titled “Talking Talent.” Wayans said the vast majority of UGC is actually LGC – or “loser-generated content.” His message to brands: work with the pros who know how to source, produce or filter content that’s going to resonate and be passed along in an exponential fashion.

• User Experience: several speakers stressed that the internet can’t just be another medium for repurposing TV content bits. The web enables community and dialogue, therefore storylines should involve consumers and be as participatory as possible.

I’m looking forward to Day 2, which has an awesome line up of speakers including NBC Universal CEO Jeff Zucker, David Armano of Critical Mass, and Tom Nicholson, founder of interactive agency Icon Nicolson.

In what could be seen as ‘user generated search results,’ Yahoo is adding a service to its search capabilities called Buzz. Users will be given the option to vote on articles; promoting news they like or demoting news they dislike, that will directly affect what appears on the coveted page 1 of search. An excerpt from an article yesterday on NYTimes.com:

“Yahoo is combining users’ votes with information it gathers from its Internet search service, so that when search traffic spikes for an item or topic, it will get more ‘buzz.’ Yahoo editors, not computer programs, will decide whether an item will be placed on the portal’s front page, which receives more than 90 million visitors in the United States each month.”

BusinessWeek.com also weighed in with a story this morning clarfiying more specifics on how users will interact with Buzz:

“More than 100 major news sites have agreed to place Yahoo “Buzz Up” buttons next to their articles and other content. The partners include Gannett’s (GCI) USA Today, News Corp.’s (NWS) Wall Street Journal, and Time Warner’s (TWX) Entertainment Weekly. A click on the button is tallied as a user endorsement and sent to Yahoo’s Buzz page. Those with the highest scores are considered for placement on Yahoo’s front page. But Yahoo is retaining some editorial control: An internal team will have final say over the stories featured on the main home page. Yahoo says this is to guard against articles deemed lewd, violent, or capable of exposing the company to legal liability…”

Can a service like this really work? What are the implications for businesses that (as a result of Buzz) appear at the top of search results? A demonstration by Yahoo proved to have a surprisingly weighty outcome. An excerpt from the aforementioned NYTimes.com article states:

“In a test of the service this year, Yahoo linked from its front page to content from Esquire magazine for just three hours. In that brief period, traffic to the Esquire.com site, which already allows users of Digg and Reddit to vote on its stories, doubled for the month.”

So the real question is: Will online customer relations now be a company’s SEO strategy?

Services like this one just further implicate that companies must take an interest in what is being said about their brand online. The example above shows a positive spike for Esquire, but what if there were an article about a brand or service that wasn’t so popular? Could developments like these keep your client forever buried in search results?

Late last week, Paul Walker spoke to the New York office about crowdsourcing and the general open source mentality that is further perpetuating itself in marketing communications, interpersonal communication and technology development. I got a chance earlier in the same week to witness a unique model of the “open source philosophy” in action.

On February 12, I attended a Sports Marketing 2.0 Summit in New York City hosted by Pat Coyle, Executive Director of Business for the Indianapolis Colts. The concept of a sports marketing summit itself is not unique. How it came together, though, is distinctly “2.0.” Nearly 60 communications and technology professionals met in Manhattan, many of them for the first time. Most had come to know Pat through his blog at PatCoyle.net which discusses issues in sports marketing now that “fans are in charge.” Pat also created his own companion social network at Sportsmarketing20.com using a platform from Ning.

Over the course of a half day, there were panel discussions on measurement, engagement, communication and socializing that included representatives from a host of technology, sports and marketing entities from Rick Wolf (Business Development, RotoWorld/NBC) to Takkle.com CEO David Birnbaum to Hooman Radfar, founder of widget giant Clearspring Technologies. Conference attendees included ad agencies, companies developing social networking platforms and technologies, email marketers, as well as representatives from individual teams (New York Jets, Washington Redskins) and leagues (NBA, NFL).

Overall, it was a great learning experience and more (albeit unnecessary) evidence that the environment for marketers has changed. Many discussions centered on how to engage consumers online, how to measure engagement, how corporate sponsors can integrate content and monetize their online efforts and ways we’re interacting with certain technologies. A solid summary is offered by event attendee Brian Litvack from wRECK Sports here.

Below are a few other interesting examples of engagement referenced during the course of the day. I’ve got a complete list of attendees and would be happy to further discuss with anyone interested.

Dunder Mifflin Infinity: virtual home for fans of NBC’s “The Office”

Takkle.com: bringing the challenge concept to life with high school athletes

NBA.com Suns: an NBA franchise offers fans a peek inside the locker room

MyColts.net: Online community for Indianapolis Colts fans

——
Steve Bonsignore
GCI Sports

Over the last year, there’s been an explosion of corporate activity within social networking sites like Facebook and Orkut. Companies such as Sun Microsystems, Ernst & Young, Citigroup, and Ford Motor Company are leveraging social sites for recruitment, employee collaboration, customer relations, and localized promotions.

Many companies are also experimenting with social networking for internal communications. IBM’s “Fringe” network lets its employees connect and share information on a global level. Oracle’s internal social project called “Connect” has been a huge success since its launch last summer. Security and control are the main reasons companies opt for their own private networks. The idea of having proprietary information hosted on Facebook or another third-party community is still a risky proposition for many organizations.

But how can corporations – especially those with limited technical development capabilities – launch an internal social network with the power and simplicity of Facebook? Enter “WorkBook” – a secure, server-based software that combines all the capabilities of Facebook with all the controls of a corporate environment. Workbook let’s employees upload files, post comments, and create discussion groups with no danger of the information leaking outside the organization or access being granted to unauthorized personnel.

While it sounds slightly anti-Web 2.0 to build a locked-down environment, the fact is that security is a very real issue. Workbook just launched in December, so it will be interesting to see its evolution in 2008. My guess is that many organizations will consider moving to this type of service vs. depending on third-party sites for internal collaboration.

This has been an interesting year for blogging. Going from guerilla to grounded and back… Early in 2007, I heard form some colleagues that their client was ready to cut all ties with Gizmodo after they posted a video poking fun at a speaker during a press conference… come on guys, he is a human being, he wasn’t the best speaker (at the time) and you made him look like a robot? Seriously, have a heart… The good news is they actually pulled the video and only weeks later, hired an onslaught of magazine and newspaper freelancers hungry for work as the print press starts to dry up.

One of the hires most notable to me was former Time Magazine tech reporter Wilson Rothman. From this publicist’s humble perspective, Rothman covers great tech stories (with real news value), he honors embargoes, he is fair and honest and has integrity as a journalist. Huge sigh of relief and Gizmodo returns to good graces with most technology manufacturers. In fact, only a few months later, they were offered an exclusive on the Pioneer KURO HDTV announcement, easily one of the biggest consumer electronics launches of 2007 (Yes, Pioneer is my client BUT, in my defense, the KURO won ALMOST as many tech awards in 2007 as the iPhone).

The blogging community has long been at odds with “credible journalists” and we at GCI have been supportive of the blogging world, counseling our clients to give influential bloggers (FYI, they are just reporters with faster publishing) the same pre-briefings we would offer a few select reporters at New York Times, WSJ, BusinessWeek or Financial Times around a big announcement.

CES 2008 was no exception… influential bloggers had unprecedented access, they brought live blogging to a new art form and they played the mother of all pranks… and that was just Gizmodo.

This publicists humble opinion on the prank of all pranks? I am mixed on this one. On one hand, I want to say, “grow up guys” and stop turning off all of the television around CES with the remote that you blasted in a review three or four years ago. On the other, “no harm, no foul.” It is funny, clever and you wouldn’t have one of the most influential blogs in the world if you didn’t turn a few heads now and then. Still, Gizmodo may just be the “bad kid” in class? All I know is that Engadget has yet to pull a prank like this and they are still hanging on to #1…

Bottom line, I can’t help feeling sick to my stomach for the people behind the scenes at Motorola who worked tirelessly to bring something newsworthy to CES, to put on a good show and get credit for the CNET People’s Voice Award winner, the Moto Rokr E8. I also disagree with Brian Lam’s recent article chastising tech reporters taking freebies and becoming the pawns of major corporations. I believe journalists (and bloggers alike) today are NOT the pawns of corporate America. In fact, for the first time in 50 years, journalism has significantly changed (thanks to blogging and community forums) and it is creating an open dialogue with corporate America that never existed before. Bravo blogga mania – if you must, go on and turn off as many TVs as you like, just don’t be surprised if you find yourself nursing a puncture wound courtesy of the business end of a publicists’ high heel…

The Web is largely hands-off. You click, view, and scroll through information – but you don’t actually feel the content. It’s distant, which is why people often comment about the benefits of print media and say things like “nothing beats holding an actual photo or flipping through a glossy magazine.”

Multi-touch technology like Perceptive Pixel and Microsoft Surface provide a glimpse into how digital media is becoming more tactile. Minority Report provided inspiration. Apple’s iPhone made it a mainstream reality. Now imagine multi-touch applied to the Web and real-world environments. Instead of clicking, you interact by flipping through pages, grabbing pictures, and diving into maps. While multi-touch isn’t exactly new, check out these demos to get a sense of the possibilities.

Does touching and maneuvering digital content make it more real, or is the screen still a barrier? Can people adapt to a 100% screen-based media environment? Before answering no, consider how mp3s have changed the way people purchase, consume, and share music. Also take a look at the latest e-book readers, like Amazon’s Kindle. As user interfaces improve, our perceptions about the differences between “tangible media” vs. digital media will change.

I had the opportunity to attend a discussion this week about the effects of social media on the political and cause landscape. Jeff Berman, SVP of Public Affairs for MySpace, led the session and talked about the evolution of social networks as mobilization platforms.

I haven’t kept up with Myspace lately, so I was pleased to see that the site is doing more than being hacked. Myspace Impact, the site’s hub for social and civic engagement, is empowering users to locate volunteer opportunities, contribute to charities, and register to vote. Its coolest offering by far is the “Presidential Dialogue Series” where users can engage with candidates in real-time via live webcast and Myspace IM. They just announced the next series event featuring Senator John McCain. On December 3rd, the event will be streamed live on Myspace.com and simulcast on MTV and Chooseorlose.com.

This live interaction is taking YouTube’s video Q&A format to the next level. It’s also feeding Gen Y’s desire for open access and personalized experiences. Jeff shared some interesting stats that speak to Gen Y’s strong sense of civic duty:

-61% of 25 year olds feel personally responsible for making a difference in the world
-78% believe companies have the responsibility to join them in that effort
-Price being equal, 89% are likely to switch brand allegiance based on commitment to shared causes

Compared to average internet users, Myspace users are:

-Twice as likely to interact with a public official/candidate
-45% more likely to research politics and campaign information
-59% more likely to view online videos
[Cone/AMP Research: Oct 2006]

These stats aren’t surprising. What remains to be seen is how this surge of online rallying will impact voter turnout.

In the fall of 2003, a group of mostly-young Democrats became a part of American political history and legends of web folklore. They proved for the first time that web-based, user-driven media could create a political campaign. Through one of the first social networking websites, meetup.com, they rallied support for a little known governor from Vermont named Howard Dean.

They became known as the Deaniacs, and through the early stages of the 2004 US Presidential election, they proved that the web is not only a legitimate part of running a political campaign – they made it a necessity. They brought grassroots organizing, fundraising and blogging to the process. They used the web for engaging two way communication and creating online communities, and, in turn, made their candidate a contender.

And so when the countdown to the Danish national elections, which will be held November 13, began last month, my colleague Kristian Levring Madsen and I went on the lookout for the new “Danish” Deaniacs. We’ve spent time searching every corner of the .dk domain during this election for some sign of the next big thing in political communication on the web. The fact that political TV ads are prohibited here in Denmark, and that this is the first election since social networking exploded, and that this election is placed as a kind of opening act for the US Elections next year – all really fuelled our hopes.

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I recently met with Matthew Holt to discuss his The Healthcare Blog, Health 2.0 conference and now The Health 2.0 blog. We talked about agencies constantly contacting him to pitch their clients so I thought I’d give him a chance to pitch his upcoming Health 2.0 conference.

Video below.