Connect - Cultivate - Convert | A Model For The New Marketing Paradigm

Connect Cultivate Convert 

This deck reflects an attempt to present a simple to consume and communicate model of how to approach the complex new marketing environment. Of course many experienced marketers will know much of what is contained here, but they may not have a simple way to think about it holistically, or more importantly to communicate to those less sophisticated than themselves. With that in mind we offer up Connect, Cultivate and Convert, a model for the new marketing. 
 

MARS “CELEBRATE” FACEBOOK APPLICATION

Facebook users know that you can give your friends virtual gifts, but for the first time, there are gifts that can be redeemed in real life for real products.  Mars Snackfood UK is the first marketer to use this product through an application called Celebrate. When users buy each other a virtual candy bar using PayPal, the recipient also receives a a voucher ID code on their cell phone which can be scanned in stores to redeem the real thing.

“We are very excited to be involved with this new ground-breaking initiative with Facebook,” said Sara Miles of Mars Snackfood UK.  “It will drive traffic and incremental confectionery sales to our PayPoint retail partners in a way that is at the forefront of the digital revolution, whilst offering our consumers a different way of sending confectionery gifts to friends and family,” she said.

“As the boundaries between the virtual and real worlds are being increasingly blurred, our award-winning technology platform M BAR GO will allow users to buy each other sweets at the touch of a few buttons,” said Marc Lewis, founder and chairman of The Light Agency, the company who created the mobile voucher technology.  I never understood the purpose of paying a dollar to buy your friends a computer graphic of a cupcake or even to send a free icon like a “naughty list” around Christmas, but this gift makes sense."

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THE GOODBUZZ FACEBOOK BUNDLE

Toronto-based Social media agency Goodbuzz is launching a new bundle package for its strategy and campaign services, which focuses on building a branded online presence specifically on Facebook.  

The Goodbuzz Facebook bundle includes a Facebook application, Facebook Connect integration with their client’s site, and a branded Facebook Fan Page for engagement purposes with Facebook users.

  We'll also link to Twitter, You Tube, and any number of others dependent on client objectives.  The bundled package is customized to each individual client, with provisions for design, campaign management and tracking. Other features include quality assurance testing, consulting, campaign launch support and other key analytics for measuring purposes.


What can we do for your brand? Contact Goodbuzz today.  

THE NATIONAL HOCKEY LEAGUE (NHL) GETS MOBILE

The National Hockey League (NHL) and Verizon Wireless are partnering to provide live and exclusive mobile content on the carrier's V Cast service. Live NHL games, local radio broadcasts and play information will be available on V Cast. Consumers can watch live hockey games from their mobile devices on New Year’s Day.

Ice stream
For the second year, Verizon Wireless and the NHL are bringing NBC Sports coverage of the 2010 Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic on New Year’s Day to V Cast for consumers to watch on their Verizon devices. At 1 p.m. EST on Jan. 1 the Boston Bruins will host the Philadelphia Flyers in the NHL’s annual outdoor game. This year it will be played in Boston.  The game will be streamed in its entirety on the NBC Sports channel on V Cast.

Additional NBC Sports games will be streamed live during the remainder of the season.  Also beginning on Jan. 1, the NHL and Verizon Wireless are giving hockey fans across the country the chance to listen to teams’ local radio broadcasts live on V Cast.  The audio will feature hometown announcers and analysts from every game will be available throughout the season and the playoffs.  Broadcasts from select games will also be available in French.

 “Verizon Wireless has featured a lot of NHL content, and we're planning to bring even more innovative mobile content and options to our customers,” said Debra Lewis, spokeswoman for Verizon Wireless, Basking Ridge, NJ. “The NHL is very forward-thinking about its mobile strategy, and we're excited to continue to work together.”  Ms. Lewis said the NHL provides Verizon with content including video, audio and exclusive extra content on players and teams.

The NHL’s Mr. DiLorenzo said partnering with Verizon meets several challenges for the League. The partenship lets the NHL serve fans who are not in front of a television or computer.  Working with Verizon also helps the NHL satisfy the demand from its passionate, tech-savvy audience and it lets the League be more pervasive in marketing the game.

“Going mobile lets us shorten the distance between league and fans,” Mr. Di Lorenzo said. “And we realize the marketing and business benefit of an increasingly pervasive content and commerce platform.”

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WALT DISNEY’S MULTIFACETED DIGITAL STRATEGY

Disney’s mobile initiatives include SMS alerts and campaigns, games, sweepstakes programs and a video-enabled mobile Web site, both a WAP version as well as one optimized for the iPhone’s Safari browser and touchscreen capabilities.

 “We’re focused on extending Disney.com to mobile platforms, and we work with all Disney-branded business units to mobilize their programs,” said Disney’s director of mobile strategy and marketing.  “We use the same ad filter for both platforms—our mobile site and iPhone app,” he said.

“The mobile site and the app support Disney films, television shows and video games, and are updated weekly with new videos, new sections [and] new games launching and both utilize news feeds from around the company with information and quizzes about popular movies and TV shows.”

According to Disney - Disney.com ranks as the No. 1 entertainment site on the mobile Web.   Consumers can even text the keyword MOBILE to the short code DISNEY to get information about the company.

In addition to the free Disney iPhone application, the company also has an expanding line-up of paid applications currently available in the App Store, including Toy Story Mania, Disney Fairies Fly, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Breakspin.  Disney Interactive Studios also recently launched the latest addition to its slate of applications, The Muppets Animal Drummer for the iPhone and iPod touch.

a multichannel approach

Disney takes a multichannel approach to marketing its many properties and mobile continues to increase in its importance as a marketing channel for Disney. “We use a multitude of methods to get the word out,” Mr. Rhodes said. “Our strategy in regards to communication is to educate the Disney audience—people are already consuming our content on other platforms.“We’re running TV spots on the Disney Channel, radio commercials, mobile calls-to-action in print and outdoor advertising, we’re promoting it on the online version of our site and we’re running mobile advertising and on-device search advertising, both natural organic search and paid search,” he said.

Disney has found that ads promoting a specific TV show or movie are more successful than general Disney-branded ads.  “We’ve learned to be brand-specific—a Hannah Montana ad that is targeted generally does well, while a general Disney ad is not as effective,” Mr. Rhodes said.

Disney sells its own inventory across its various platforms, including television, radio, online and mobile.  Disney offers cobranded sponsorship opportunities and banner ads sold on a CPM basis. It offers both cross-channel buys and mobile-specific. About 40 percent of the campaigns it sells focus exclusively on the mobile channel.

Currently Disney has three advertising sponsorship deals running on its mobile site, that represent the three types of mobile campaigns it typically sells.  Jonas Brothers and Xbox 360 are running a cobranded sponsorship campaign featured across the Disney mobile site.  Banner ads redirect users to a micro-site that is also cobranded by the Jonas Brothers and Xbox. The site broadcasts a call-to-action for consumers to participate in a user-generated-content program letting kids submit video clips then view, share, and rate videos submitted by others.

There is even a text-to-win sweepstakes integrated into the campaign, asking consumers to text the keyword XBOX to a short code to enter for the chance to meet the Jonas Brothers in person and win an Xbox 360 video game system.

“We’ve seen the text-message sweepstakes work very well.  A previous campaign with the Jonas Brothers and Best Western saw almost half of the sweepstakes entries come from mobile.  An SMS call-to-action is a great way to get people participating in a campaign,” he said.

Mass merchandiser Target, for example, launched a straightforward banner ad buy across Disney’s mobile Web site and various applications to drive consumers in store to boost holiday sales.  AT&T ran a Haunted Holidays campaign leveraging Disney’s online and mobile platforms featuring “The Nightmare Before Christmas,” Charles Dickens’ “A Tale of Two Cities” and “A Christmas Carol,” “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” and other Disney properties relevant to the “spooky Christmas” theme.

Mobile gaming
Contrary to conventional wisdom, Disney reports that its core demographic on mobile skews older than its TV and radio properties.  “At the core, the demographics are very similar, although from mobile standpoint it’s slightly older, whereas on the Disney Channel or Radio Disney you get younger kids,” Mr. Rhodes said. “On mobile we get tweens or teens—we perform best in that 11-15 range. We also perform well on mobile with moms and adults—men are more familiar with navigating to content on their phone,” he said. “Parents are sharing mobile content with their kids, making games the No. 1 section of our mobile site.

Disney has a series of mobile games it calls “interactive adventures,” basically digital, mobile versions of the “Choose Your Own Adventure” series of books.  Hannah Montana and the Jonas Brothers for example both have their own mobile games. Other top Disney mobile games include Fairy Friends, Cannons of the Deep (based on the ride and film “The Pirates of the Caribbean”), trivia games based on various Disney film releases and the Princess and the Frog Swamp.  All Disney mobile games have free, WAP-based, ad-supported, and available within the iPhone application store, which also has games with more robust functionality such as the Wizards of Waverly.

Mobile connects all channels
Disney continues to place a greater and greater emphasis on the mobile channel, both as a publisher and an advertiser.  “Mobile fits in really prominently in our overall strategy, and our focus has been on aligning our mobile properties with the online version of the site—the same videos available online are also available on mobile.”

“We’re using mobile to connect and enhance larger campaigns for films and TV shows, and we have pretty extensive mobile programs connected to our upcoming releases, including Tim Burton’s ‘Alice in Wonderland,’ ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’ and ‘Toy Story 3,’” he said.   “Mobile is an important channel because we’re seeing a lot of adoption and traffic, not just our properties, but across the entire industry.”

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Infographics from "SLIGHTWARE: THE NEXT GREAT THREAT TO BRANDS"

This book by Kenneth J. Weiss provides some excellent infographics on:

Forces in the User Experience

Campaigns and Conversations

The User Experience Funnel

The User Experience Lifecycle

Innovations and Artifacts

Above content expert’s from Chapter 1 of Kenneth J. Weiss’s book “Slightware: The Next Great Threat to Brands”

About the author

STELLA ARTOIS LAUNCHES MOBILE AUGMENTED-REALITY BAR GUIDE

The worlds top Belgian beer; Stella Artois has launched an augmented-reality bar guide application called “Le Bar Guide”.   “Le Bar Guide” is a free 3D Augmented-Reality iPhone application that lets consumers search using geo-tracking for bars nearby via ZIP, Postal code, country or user rating. The simple premise of the new application is to enable Stella Artois to promote all bars that serve Stella Artois.

Le Bar Guide fuses the real-world view of the consumer’s immediate surroundings in augmented reality, providing a guide to bar locations.  When the iPhone is held vertically, Le Bar Guide shows profiles of bars in the consumer’s immediate vicinity. The profiles are overlaid on the street view from their location.  Consumers can hold the phone with the camera pointing at the ground and the application will show arrows pointing the consumer in the direction of nearby bars.

This social application also importantly features user-generated content.  Consumers can rate bars according to the menu, atmosphere, other clients and the service.  The application also has a section for comments about locations for other Le Bar Guide users.

The application currently has more than 50,000 bars listed worldwide. Bar data comes from a Stella Artois Web service that provides geo-location information on all the bars that serve Stella in the U.S. and worldwide.

The Le Bar Guide’S handy “Le Taxi” feature even sources numbers for Taxi services from a local country directory.

Using the iPhone is also perfect for Stella’s target of affluent males between the ages of 25-35.    Adding Augmented Reality, the overlay of images on the real world via a device’s camera, adds a heighten experience and a more intuitive user interface.  Moreover, “Stella Artois chose this technology because they believe over the next three-to-four years augmented reality will be the primary delivery mechanism for location-based services. This is where the users are.”  

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UNITEDHEALTHCARE LAUNCHES MOBILE APPLICATION

US Medical insurance provider UnitedHealthcare has launched a mobile application meant to improve consumer access to health care.

The new DocGPS application for Apple’s iPhone enables users to tailor their search to their specific health plan and locate nearby doctors, clinics and hospitals within the UnitedHealthcare network using the GPS functionality of iPhone 3G and 3GS. The application can make searches on 23 types of health care facilities and 58 types of physician specialties.

“IPhone is a popular mobile device for consumers, but we're planning to make DocGPS available for BlackBerry devices as well,” said Matthew Yi, director of corporate communications at UnitedHealthcare, Cypress, CA. “UnitedHealthcare believes in making access to health care easy, convenient and useful for consumers, and we believe this product helps us take another innovative step toward that goal.”

UnitedHealthcare provides a full spectrum of consumer-oriented health benefit plans and services to individuals, public sector employers and businesses of all sizes, including more than half of the Fortune 100 companies.  After locating a doctor or hospital, the application can then show the office location on a map, provide detailed directions, and enable the user to call the medical professional or facility with a single tap on the search result.

Doctor specialties

DocGPS is ideal for individuals on the road who are not familiar with health care providers in their area, such as families traveling on vacation or professionals on business trips.  DocGPS also works with first-generation iPhones running 2.0 software or higher, enabling users to search UnitedHealthcare’s health plan networks by ZIP code, or city and state.

The application is available for download free of charge from the App Store on iPhone or athttp://www.itunes.com/appstore.  Recently a lot of healthcare companies have been turning to mobile and the iPhone specifically.  DocGPS is UnitedHealthcare’s latest consumer-friendly innovation to modernize, simplify and make transparent health care information.  

An October 2009 study by CTIA-The Wireless Association showed nearly eight in 10 Americans (78 percent) said they are interested in receiving health care services via their mobile devices.  “With mobile devices such as iPhones becoming a bigger part of consumers' lives, giving them access to health care via their handheld devices only makes sense,” Mr. Yi said. “We hope all smartphone users would utilize this useful tool, which is available free of charge.”

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7-ELEVEN TESTS THE WATERS WITH MOBILE MARKETING CAMPAIGN

7-Eleven is testing a mobile marketing campaign in San Diego, California with approximately 200 of its stores participating in the program.

The test runs through Dec. 31. During this time, local residents can send the keyword FAST (in Spanish, RAPIDO) to short code 72579.  In response, they will receive a message informing them which of 7-Eleven’s best-selling beverages they have won.

“We are experimenting with mobile marketing to see how customers will react to getting coupons from 7-Eleven for free proprietary beverages,” said Margaret Chabris, director of communications at 7-Eleven, San Diego. “Basically we are just testing to try and get a sense of whether customers like it.  “This test is part of our ongoing strategy of targeting the millennial demographic, which is tied to their mobile phones.”

Four of the convenience retailer’s most popular drinks are featured in the test – a free Slurpee frozen carbonated beverage, Big Gulp fountain drink, fresh-brewed hot coffee and the latest proprietary drink, Iced Coffee.  The promotion is limited to one free beverage per day at participating 7-Eleven stores.

Why Mobile?

For millions of people under the age of 34, texting has become a preferred method of mobile communication, in some instances replacing phone calls.  According to a 2008 Nielsen study, the number of SMS text messages sent has surged ahead of voice calls.  The report found that U.S. mobile subscribers sent and received on average 357 text messages per month, compared with making and receiving 204 phone calls a month.

The text message offers recipients two ways to redeem their coupons at participating 7-Eleven stores. Customers with Internet access on their wireless devices will be able to click through to a screen displaying a UPC bar code, which can be scanned at the cash register.  For other wireless users, the 7-Eleven sales associate can enter the selected numeric code on the cash register for redemption.  The codes are only good for the free beverage indicated in the coupon. The message also includes an invitation to receive future text messages with 7-Eleven news and offers. Recipients can opt-in by replying YES.

The mobile marketing test is supported by both general and Hispanic-targeted radio, outdoor, and mobile advertising.  Participating 7-Eleven stores will communicate the promotion with bilingual point-of-purchase signage.

The convenience chain is also testing mobile marketing for database building and customer relationship management.  "Our consumers are mobile; therefore, it’s critical that we communicate with them where they are," said Daniel May, marketing manager at 7-Eleven. "Our customers use their phones up to 18 hours per day and, to a growing population, it’s replacing their computer and home phone."

Campaign Metrics available include English / Spanish preference, media effectiveness, product-offering interest, redemptions verses participation, day-part participation, and phone and wireless carrier types.  "With the powerful metrics we can gather, we’ll be able to better hone our mobile strategy for 2010,"  "The mobile test with the optional opt-in gives us an opportunity to build a database of 7-Eleven customers through their most personal electronic device -- their mobile phone."  "Moreover, with the data captured in the campaign, we can continue to provide them with valuable offers and announcements of specials in the future," he said.

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CONTINENTAL AIRLINES GETS MOBILE

Objective: 
The goal of the mobile campaign was to generate brand awareness and interest regarding the reduced fare promotion and drive traffic to the Continental mobile site.

Target audience: 
The campaign targeted a mobile Internet savvy Smartphone audience between the ages of 25-54, with household income levels $100K+, and had traveled for business within the last three months.

Strategy: 
Continental ran graphical banners targeted to reach their desired demographic audience across several premium network properties (including MSNBC, NBA, NBC Sports and NBC Local Integrated Media which also geo-targeted NYC mobile users) and concurrently hosted an Insight Express brand study for Continental to measure user perception and awareness of the Continental brand in mobile, and measure user purchase intent on the mobile Internet.  Ads promoted Continental’s inexpensive airfare.

Results: 
Continental was successful at driving increases across all brand metrics, for example, ad awareness increased by 60 percent and Web site awareness increased by 15.4 percent.  Purchase Intent also increased by 22.3 percent and mobile airline ticket purchase intent went up by 22.2 percent.

Lessons learned: 
The airline industry spawned sophisticated advertising which was based on yield management – an approach to maximizing revenue when a business has a fixed, perishable resource and can segment customers into groups willing to pay different prices for the same resource.  For airlines, a seat is perishable as the revenue potential disappears once the flight has flown.   

Airlines simply want to sell the right seat to the right passenger at the right time at the right price.  
What better medium then mobile to accomplish this objective. It’s personal, easy to segment and easy to measure.

“Mobile is an ideal channel as frequent travelers are heavy consumers of mobile search, shopping and travel purchases," Mr. Johar said.  "As new mobile applications are launched on user-friendly platforms like the iPhone and BlackBerry, the travel industry has leveraged information distribution, travel alerts, destination guides and mobile booking capabilities.”

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What’s the buzz? Goodbuzz is hiring.

Have you got an interest in the world of digital?  Have you got skills that you think could enhance what we do here at Goodbuzz?  Then come and work with us!

Goodbuzz is an amazing place to be at the moment as we are continuing to grow at an incredible rate and are seeking to recruit the very best people to join our team.  We are open-minded in our approach to building the agency and value passion, flair and enthusiasm above all else. In exchange for your talents, we offer an informal, sociable environment in which we aim to deliver top quality solutions for our clients.

If you are as dynamic and ambitious as we are, we would love to hear from you.  We are looking to hire across a wide range of disciplines, and levels of industry experience—so if you think you’ve got what it takes, send us your CV. 

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Note:  Goodbuzz is committed to equal opportunities for all, irrespective of race, colour, creed, ethnic or national origins, gender, marital status, sexuality, disability or age. We are committed to taking positive action to promote such equality of opportunity and our recruitment, training and promotion procedures are based on the requirements of a job. In this policy Goodbuzz includes all staff whether full time, part time or temporary, and any person who acts as an agent on behalf of Goodbuzz in employment matters. 

SESAME STREET GOES MOBILE

Long-running children’s TV show “Sesame Street” has launched its first mobile application in conjunction with its 40th anniversary.  

The application, Grover’s Number Special, finds the blue and furry Grover, responsible for counting and catching ingredients at a restaurant when Charlie the cook does not show up for work. The application for Apple’s iPhone and iPod touch is $2.99 in the App Store.

"Our objective for iPhone apps is to better serve our audience by expanding on our goal to make educational and fun Sesame Street experiences available when, where and on the devices that people want,” said Jeff Fleishman, assistant vice president for media distribution business development at the Sesame Workshop, New York. “Mobile and handheld devices are particularly good for parents who want to turn five minutes of downtime outside the house into fun and constructive time for their children,” he said.

Over the past couple of years, Sesame Workshop has seen that parents really value mobile content through use of the Sesame Street podcasts and mobile video content.  The iPhone and iPod touch allows Sesame Workshop to deliver high-quality interactive content that kids can use with ease.  Sesame Workshop is the nonprofit educational organization that produces Sesame Street.  Beyond TV, Sesame Workshop produces content for multiple media platforms focusing on a wide range of issues including literacy, health and military deployment.


The Grover’s Number Special application includes original video content and encourages visual discrimination, counting and number recognition.   To catch and count ingredients with Grover—users have to tip the iPhone or iPod touch back and forth to move the virtual tray.  Grover tells users how many ingredients to catch and then counts the items with the user. 

To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Sesame Street’s anniversary, select episodes from Sesame Street’s current season will be available on iTunes.  The season’s 40 episodes will include celebrity guests such as Cameron Diaz, Jimmy Fallon, Ricky Gervais and Maggie Gyllenhall. New episodes of the weekly Sesame Street podcast and new music will also be available on iTunes.


Mr. Fleishman said Sesame Street’s presence on iTunes and in the App Store provides an opportunity to get the brand in front of a wide array of people young and old. “Sesame Street has always been written on two levels in order to keep parents engaged with what their kids are watching, but the parodies and pop culture references are fun for everyone.”

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Building a Participatory Brand that transcends Commerce

The Client Ask

At the beginning of (almost) every client engagement (for the past fifteen years) when we ask clients (high-level) what they’re hoping to accomplish—the response is always akin to wanting something “breakthrough”, “compelling”, and “game-changing”.   We’ve also heard “Cool”, “Apple-esque” and a slew of other descriptors.

We get it.  Everyone wants to be the next big thing.  Brands like Apple have established deep, lasting bonds with their customers and are archetypal emotional brands.  It's not just intimate with its customers; it is loved.  Who doesn’t want this?  It’s important to note that it wasn’t always like this for Apple.  Apple took a financial tailspin during the mid-1990s.   Its products were lackluster, it’s branding a mess, and the company looked in danger of going out of business.

What did Apple do?  They decided to rebrand.  Apple abandoned the old rainbow-hued Apple logo in favor of a minimalist monochrome one, gave its sleek computers a funky, colorful look, and streamlined the messages in its advertising.  They architected a brand that transcends commerce and evokes an emotional response.

Building an iconic brand

How did they do this?  A few ways.  Apple has a simple and unique visual (and verbal) vocabulary, expressed consistently across all product design and advertising.  Apple also projects a humanistic corporate culture (and a strong corporate ethic), characterized by support of good causes (and involvement in the community). Its founding mission was “power to the people through technology”, and has also established an emotional connection with its cult-like customers.

Apple's brand is one big tribe, and purchasing an Apple product makes you a member. Building this tribe takes several forms, from building trust to establishing a community around a product or service. Apple capitalizes upon the fact that people want and cherish a "human touch" and to feel like they're a part of something bigger (as it gives a sense of security and grounding).

BUT, all that aside—the one single thing that has allowed Apple (and some notable others like Nike and Harley-Davidson) to achieve what they have from a brand-equity standpoint is that they are no longer selling products. They are selling brands, which evoke a subtle mix of people's hopes, dreams and aspirations. Benetton used images of racial harmony to sell clothes, while Apple used great leaders -- Cesar Chavez, Gandhi and the Dalai Lama -- to persuade people that a Macintosh might also allow them to "Think Different."  People are drawn to these brands simply because they are selling their own ideas back to them, they are selling the most powerful ideas that we have in our culture such as transcendence and community -- even democracy itself.  Apple today is an ideology, a value set, and a symbol of counterculture -- rebellious, free thinking and creative.

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE brand

What we have learned from all of this is simply that brands are more important than products. Products have limited life cycles, but brands -- if managed well -- last forever.  Ryan Bigge, writing in Adbusters, said: "Our dreams and desires for a better world are no longer articulated by JFK’s, nor generated through personal epiphanies -- they are now the intellectual currency of Pepsi, American Apparel, and Diesel. We used to have movements for change -- now we have products. Brands befriend us, console us and inspire us”.

Apple’s Secret Sauce

So, you want brand equity like Apple has?  Here’s the secret.  Make the purchasing of your product and/or service the equivalent of belonging to an elite club. Hip, righteous “outsiderism” with an ample dose of rebellion against injustice. 

If you’re looking for additional information on building an emotional, transcendent brand like Apple, read http://mygoodbuzz.blogspot.com/2009/10/branding-taking-page-from-organized.html