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Social marketing and today's brand influencers
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Photo Credit: Media Magnet
Spontaneous conversations sprinkled throughout the web continues to be a viable venue and a brand extension for those who wish to produce an additional market channel(s). Many professional bloggers have been doing quite well in this space by promoting the wares or recommending product and/or services. Companies who want to engage in these conversations with their customers find it a true value in product placement and relevant content.
Jeremiah Ownyang, who represents Forrester Research, and produces his own blog, published his analysis on this growing medium. He believes this is the place where the marriage of brands and bloggers is here to stay. This unique union vows to create sponsorship pages where some can say editorial license and promotion melt together in this informational forum.
If you are new to the game or an experienced industry analyst or an advertising industry expert, you can surmise that there is much clamor. It is a love fest focused on the consumer consumption and behavior. Your premise is simple: “How do you expand reach and have intimate conversation, and pure product place placement with this emerging media market?”
Paul Gunning, CEO of Tribal DDB Worldwide remarked in a recent Digital Edition of Adweek, “Now more than ever, we're seeing brands rush head-on into the social-media space, staking their claim on their Twitter, Flickr and Facebook kingdoms, excited about what can be done versus what should be done. In the case of mircoblogging there are huge differences between brands that do and do not get it.”
In another statement concerning our social media madness, in his published column on June 8, 2009, Jonah Bloom, editor of Advertising Age, commented, “Social media isn't a box to be ticked…It's about realizing that consumers are running the biggest recommendation service in the world and that, as has been tiresomely often repeated, they define the brand (no, this is not new; yes, this is becoming more obvious and important by the day). All thinking about product, customers and communications, needs to take this into account -- it cannot sit in a silo.”
“Silo”…I thought?! I imagine large white towers dotted across the Midwest farmland. Or some “black hole” hidden within cyberspace. I wanted to more. I sought the explore the trends and strategies set by industry leaders by calling on Christian Juhl, General Manager, Razorfish, California. This noted agency includes multi-national companies like Microsoft, Visa, Choice Hotels, Mattel and The National Football League. We met at a popular local coffee shop and within minutes I had a striking impression of this hip and savvy strategist who can be defined as a true brand influencer and market technologist. His demeanor should not be underestimated. He understands intuitively the value of his clients’ relationships and the goal of any agency goal and mission.
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Christain Juhl - General Manager, Razorfish, CA
I started our conversation with what was eminent in my mind. The involvement of a new emerging audience. It is an organic yet specific intent for today’s advertiser(s). Yet we want the means to the end: an effective return of investment.
Marianne Pfeifer: When I started my research and began writing this article, I found that there is much talk about sponsored conversations, brand social network practices, and product placement. There is one element that seems be missing which is emotional trigger points. How much value does nostalgia, let’s say, influence the brand experience?
Christian Juhl: We have found that creating emotional resonance is very important to a successful campaign. A campaign that comes to mind is the non-profit organization who needed our help. We created a dynamic piece where we help LGBTQ individuals to share stories and experiences of being young and questioning their sexual identity to raise money for a good cause [The Hetrick-Martin Institute, givethemhopenow.org campaign].
Marianne Pfeifer: Can this type of creative and strategy development happen with a high tech campaign? A b2b market?
Christian Juhl: Absolutely. We faced this issue with Intel to take an ingredient brand such as itself (“no one says I want a computer with a Corei7 processor in it”) and create emotional resonance. This was done for the launch by targeting the highly sought-after digital and motion creators. It is a large part of the Intel Core i7demographic for a processor release.
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Game On!
The site we created, Digital Drag Race, visually demonstrated the speed of the new processor through rich video content that documented head to head design challenges between motion designers. These opponents were faced with the task of creating an original 15-second video after being given a theme, the required design assets and 70 minutes to complete the task. The site also features a blog with behind the scenes accounts of each race, voting results, and a chance for users to download the assets from each race and submit their own videos via YouTube.
Since its November 17th launch date, Digital Drag Race has successfully engaged digital creators through blog outreach and social network seeding. Users are actively watching and voting on featured races, submitting their own race entries to the Digital Drag Race YouTube channel, and sharing race video content through social channels across the web.
Marianne Pfeifer: There are many ad spend dollars being allocated to this medium? I would think that CMO of a multinational company weigh more towards traditional media and interactive web/mobile production than media buys. Could you explain how the CMO(s) role is changing their decision making and marketing budgets?
Christian Juhl: As we build more evidence of value and can offer greater behavioral measurability, we are seeing more emphasis come to digital. The writers’ strike probably helped accelerate this as did the success of Hulu (more significant than YouTube arguably because it is both coming from an old world media partnership AND a better environment for advertisers). We are seeing a clear move to protect paid search and DR display spending and are also seeing client spending in more brand-centric programs increase year over year – despite overall spending decreases.
The Official Bing Channel YouTube.com
Marianne Pfeifer: There is a lot of “bling” to Bing. It has been reported that Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google that the company is shopping around to acquire a firm. Their “Wave Project” is underway. What will be the competitive landscape for search engines?
Christian Juhl: The presentation/display of information is changing as we have seen in Bing. For instance, if you put in a search for a specific camera, you will see images and where to buy that camera right up front instead of within the links. There is an emphasis on integration of assets into search engines (video, product reviews, images, where to buy locally, social, etc.). There is also the integration of Twitter-like social information into search (i.e. Google Wave). A place where you can find all of the information, beyond just crawling web pages.
Marianne Pfeifer: With the debut and the WWDC announcement of the iPhone, there was another event held across the street. The Nokia N97...looking at the features and capabilities, I find this to be a superior product. (The Nokia N97 has 32GB internal memory, HD 16:9 video recording, Skype VoIP support, assisted GPS and yes, it's unlocked.) For global branding and audience engagement, can this mobile device be a new form of engagement and activity?
Christian Juhl: Apple has created a mobile economy, which is unlikely to be overrun by a competitor. Much of the iPhone’s success can be attributed to the apps – now, most of the iPhone ads focus solely on the app store. Games such as Tap Tap Revenge, tools like Yelp and Facebook…these are what increase engagement times on the iPhone. Anticipation is another key factor here – people have already pre-ordered their iPhone 3GS devices, but the Nokia N97 may not have the same virtual and real-life waiting lines. Nokia was going down the right path with a Skype partnership – the more they can include on the device, the better.
Apple and AT&T launched their pre-launch campaign, the iPhone G3S will be available this Friday for prequalifying process.
Marianne Pfeifer: Nokia has impressive numbers. There are 18 million devices distributed worldwide verses 4 million. How can this affect the decision making in mobile content delivery and advertising practices? Tell our audience what are the strategy and influences that make a deliverable mobile campaign?
Christian Juhl: Mobile campaigns cannot live in a silo. They should be extensions of other brand messages and other touchpoints, especially the Web and any digital signage. Many brands feel that they should jump on the app bandwagon. There should be a clear purpose for creating them AND distributing apps. “Build it and they will come” does not apply here – standard rules of marketing are still in play, meaning that money needs to be spent to promote your tools and products. Success will be unique to every client. One client may want clicks on a mobile banner; others may be looking for pure downloads. These should be clearly communicated upfront and discussed with all parties involved to yield the right results.
Marianne Pfeifer: A study conducted by Comscore and published on eMarketer.com said that by the year 2013, there will be a 43.5% jump on mobile search. How would you advise a Venture Capitalist thinking of investing on an emerging media technology company that his/her investment would be a sure bet?
Christian Juhl: Even the most traditional media companies are embracing digital. Time Magazine’s “mine” magazine is a perfect example of how customization and digital presence are extremely important. Emerging media technology companies should be evaluated carefully, however. They should have a clear roadmap for their business and how they plan to differentiate themselves in the space. In today’s digital age, there is no shortage of social networks, blogs and bloggers, mobile networks and other small start-ups that are trying to break through the clutter.
Mobile search in particular is an excellent example of an area where we should see tremendous growth. As people use their phones more like PCs, they will adopt the same natural behaviors…search being a primary one.
We concluded our conversation with something brewing on the horizon. Recently, Admob announced three additional new ad units for the iPhone 3G. As published on June 4, 2009, Mediabuyerplanner.com, the start up company will release and distribute: Mobile Social Networking, which lets consumers access advertisers’ social content from an ad, including their Twitter feed, Facebook page, Digg, MySpace account, Flickr Photos, and Linkedin. Search, whereby users can run searches within an advertiser’s mobile site straight from an ad unit. Multi-Panel Banner, which delivers multiple calls to action in one rich media ad unit. Scrolling Canvas lets audiences access more information about a product or service without clicking away from the application they’re on.
What we can expect is the next wave of a new entertainment genre. As a professional who is witnessing an intersection of a new and old media in a global marketplace, I am ready to embrace the 3.0 web/mobile practices. Are you? And as we speak, Twitter has just escalated itself as a media outlet and an influential channel for citizen journalism. It is clear that we are writing history in the facet of mobile technology.
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(By invitation Only)
When: Thursday, June 18, 2009 from 8:30 AM - 12:00 PM (PST)
Where: San Francisco, CA
Where: San Francisco, CA
SOLD OUT EVENT
ABOUT THE CONFERENCE
The Facebook Marketing Breakfast is an invite only, half day event in San Francisco focused on the landscape and realities of marketing in Facebook for large brands and advertisers. The event will focus on providing brands and marketers with a deeper understanding of products and opportunities in the Facebook ecosystem, including brand, performance, and application solutions.
Participants will have the opportunity to engage with industry thought leaders from all key segments of the Facebook marketing ecosystem.
For more info: Christian Juhlis responsible for the 180 employees in the San Francisco and Los Angeles offices, overseeing operations, staffing, and office services issues. He also has client responsibilities on a wide range of agency accounts. During his nine-year tenure at Razorfish, Juhl has led business development and digital marketing solutions for major brands and built a strong team of client partners. Active in the digital community, Juhl participates in industry forums, and speaks regularly as an expert on digital marketing.
About Razorfish:
Razorfish is one of the largest interactive marketing and technology companies in the world. With a demonstrated commitment to innovation, Razorfish counsels its clients on how to leverage digital channels such as the Web, mobile devices, in-store technologies and other emerging media to engage people, build brand loyalty and provide excellent customer service. The company is increasingly advising marketers on Social Influence Marketing™, its approach for employing social media and social influencers to achieve the marketing and business needs of an organization. Its award-winning client teams provide solutions through their strategic counsel, digital advertising and content creation, media buying, analytics, technology and user experience. Razorfish has offices in markets across the United States, and in Australia, China, France, Germany, Japan and the United Kingdom. Clients include Carnival Cruise Lines, Miller Coors, Levi’s, McDonald’s and Starwood Hotels.
Contributions: I wish to thank those you have assisted me with this article; Jonah Bloom, editor of Advertising Age, Paul Gunning, CEO and Amy Cheronis, SVP/U.S. Communications Director, DDB & Tribal DDB. And a special credit to Jeanne Becker and Jillian Baczewski, Becker Public Relations, Event Planning and Marketing, and Crystal Higgins-Peterson Marketing Manager, Razorfish, San Francisco Office.
Please help us raise $500K for the Hetrick-Martin Institute supporting LGBTQ youth http://www.givethemhopenow.org
Look for the article to follow where I talk specifically about the cool gadgets that are debuting this summer. It will go live next Friday. If you would like to contribute please contact me for more information.
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