♔ SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDIES [GB_V86]

Dunn and Bradstreet talks about how they use social media to connect with their customers and humanize their BtoB brand - Social Media B2B

Burberry's CEO talks about why she encourages her employees to be completely connected in social -  Bloomberg 

Captial One shares how they experimented with Pinterest for a holiday social media campaign - DMNews

Michael Kors and Nordstrom are using Facebook Collections to allow their fans to add products to their wishlist from their tagged pictures - Luxury Daily

Mercedes-Benz is offering fans the chance to become an ambassador for their new B 250 vehicle when they explain why they deserve to #BTheFace on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Tumblr, and more - Popsop

Pepsi is kicking off a photo contest asking their fans to strike an iconic Beyonce pose and use the hashtag #PepsiHalftime for a chance to appear with her during the Super Bowl XLVII Halftime Show -  Los Angeles Times

Intuit proved the success of a BtoB social media campaign by combining mobile training and a social contest to increase their Facebook audience by 22% -  MarketingSherpa

Scott Monty, Global Head of Social Media at Ford, shares four lessons for storytelling in social media -  SmartBrief

Evian is engaging Facebook fans with a different tip for how to "Live Young" every day this month in conjunction with their adult-sized playgrounds in London -  Ad Age

Taco Bell explain why they aren't afraid to engage out of the ordinary on Facebook and Twitter -- including a most recent response to a fan's request for a custom swimsuit -  CNBC

The U.S. Army is using social media to tell their story and to create awareness around the commitment of their soldiers, veterans, and their families -  Army Live

Louis Vuitton highlighted their social media wins for 2012 in this video showing off their Instagram, Facebook, and other digital campaigns -  Brandchannel

Sierra Mist is promoting a Mixology Facebook app to help fans find and share drink recipes - Social Media Examiner

For their "12 Days of Pinterest" campaign, Petco encouraged followers to repin their images of pets in holiday attire to win gift cards for themselves and the animal shelter of their choice - Pinterest

Jack Daniels, Southern Comfort, Patron, and more made CMO's Top 5 Holiday Social Media Marketing Campaigns in the liquor industry - Business 2 Community

Netflix is planning to add new social features to their users' accounts that would allow for sharing viewed videos and recommendations on Facebook - TechCrunch

Jell-O engaged their Twitter fans around the hype of the Mayan's end-of-the-world prediction by asking them to share what fun things they would do before the supposed apocalypse using hashtag #funpocalypse - Digiday

Pizza Hut gave free pizzas to the first 100 people to tweet photos of the lame Christmas presents they received - The Consumerist

ESPN is rolling out interactive wallpaper ads that can be shared on Facebook and Twitter in lieu of traditional banner ads -  Adweek

Frito-Lay shares five lessons from their Doritos Super Bowl campaign and consumer-generated marketing in general -  Fast Company

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♔ UNCONSCIOUS BEHAVIOR, NEUROSCIENCE AND STRATEGIC PLANNING

Necessity is the mother of invention. After many years of being a market researcher and strategy planner I became frustrated with the tools of my trade.  Not all research is bad, but I believe that the majority of self-reported research can do more damage than good. There is little predictive validity to evaluative quantitative research such as concept and ad testing. And I find some qualitative research illuminating, but it is more so the inspiring people doing the research not the research methodologies being used, and those moderators are far and few between.

I have been studying and applying the behavioral sciences for more than 15 years. And what inspired me to study neuroscience was Primarily working with Martin Lindstrom.  I specialize in unconscious behaviorism and learned techniques to change behavior in a fraction of the time of conventional psychotherapy. I discovered that neuroscience explained and validated the laws of cognition and influence and could be directly applied to branding.

Quantitative Research Systems - There is so much history and money invested in extensive quantitative research systems with vast normative databases that go back years and years. It is difficult to change and risk losing trended information and the comfort of the same old evaluative criteria. And qualitative research remains the quickest and easiest way to cover your backside.  But the real problem is human nature. We decide with our emotions and then we look for rational justification to support our decision. 

David Ogilvy said 'people use research like a drunkard uses a lamppost, for support rather than illumination.' It is simply the way of doing business. And it is not easy being the head of marketing in a hyper dynamic industry, especially in this economy. Having data to back up your decisions helps sell your ideas through the system. In most instances, corporate leaders demand it from their marketing teams.

The marketing industry places primacy on hard facts and numbers, on logic over emotions. Emotions are difficult to measure and 'demonstrable ROI' is often the mandate from business leaders these days.  There is also a prevailing sentiment that so-called 'hard working' ads involve strong rational arguments. Cognitive science does not support this belief. This doesn't mean that rational ads don't work. In fact people often need logical permission to give in to their emotional impulses. But you must first stimulate an emotional response responsible for this impetus.

And what damage is this causing?  Only two out of ten products succeed.   The biggest damage is the distraction and investment in a lot research that is expensive and extremely time consuming to implement and report. We are wasting valuable time and resources in the paralysis of our analysis. Not all data is bad data; behavioral data likes sales data and web traffic can be extremely helpful.

Reported data is the most problematic and suspect. Creativity is being shackled because we are spending extensive time and energy developing ideas, concepts and ads that test well within the research system as opposed to motivating real life flesh and blood people in the real world. I am fortunate in that I work with great clients, very talented marketers with great intuitive and creative instincts. But this is the exception, not the norm.

To ensure that deeper emotional and unconscious thoughts are given enough consideration in client campaigns, before I put pen to paper on a strategy, I summarize the business challenge through the lens of these cognitive and behavioral insights. It helps me create a strategy that is firmly focused on the things that drive behavior. These are tools not rules, provocative windows into the problem, not a checklist of items that must be ticked off. I use these same steps as a filter to evaluate and prioritize actionable creative ideas on the back end.  I also challenge planners on my team to think through this process before they write briefs. I encourage planners to read fewer marketing books but more science books. There is a wealth of great books from talented scientists that will provide planners with much more enduring insight into humanity than the myriad of trend reports and tenuous segmentation studies based upon self-reported preferences, attitudes and activities.

The key, macro lessons that people should take away?  Focus less upon the competition and more upon your ideas and products. Human nature inclines us toward a competitive frame of mind not a creative mind-set. We are so busy trying to steal the other guy's slice of the market share pie that we forget imaginative ways to build a bigger pie.

Focus on humans not consumers. The word 'consumer' implies hubris and places corporate interests over human interests. It assumes a behavior yet to be earned by the marketer. Their role is not to consume your product but to satisfy their deep, authentic, real life desires, aspirations and ambitions. In other words, the same things that people have wanted since the dawn of humankind.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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♔ OPTIMIZING VIDEO FOR SEARCH ENGINE OPTIMIZATION (SEO)

Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is still regarded as one of the primary tools in the digital marketing kit. However and wherever a potential customer is conducting a search, brands naturally want their content to surface in the top results. But without a regular flow of good, relevant content, your SEO opportunities run shallow. We know from several studies video is one of the most engaging forms of content, so why not make sure that in addition to being cool, your videos are helping you win the SEO game?

Keywords:
-Decide what search phrases make the most sense for your video. Don’t dare use phrases that have nothing to do with the content. You’ll make people mad.
-Research those keywords to see how competitive they are. Adjust them so there are still lots of people searching for it, but there are not as many links showing up for it.
-Search your potential keywords and phrases to see what comes up. It’s amazing how many people forget to do that.

Video Title:
-Try to start and/or end with your keyword.
-When you search on YouTube, visual action words tend to come up as suggested searches. So try to use action words.

Video Description:
-Lead with a link to your site (include http://).
-Don’t stuff this with your keyword. It leads to bad writing and it won’t work anyway. This is where you convince people to watch, so write for humans. Use some showmanship.
-At the end, do a call to action (subscribe, see the whole playlist, visit our social channels, etc.)

Video Tags:
-Don’t over-tag. 5-10 tags per video is plenty.
-If you’re compelled to have more than 10, that means you should probably make more videos specifically targeting all those keywords.

Find Linking Pals:
-45% of videos are discovered on video sites. But 44% are found through links on blogs and sites.
-Write a blog about your video’s content, then link to the video in it.
-A good site for finding places to guest blog is myblogguest.com
-Once you find good linking partners, they’ll link to your future videos (as long as they’re good and you’re returning the favour).

Tap the Power of Similar Videos:
-Use Video Reply to associate your video with other topic-related videos. That’s when you make a video responding to or referencing a video made by someone else.

Content:
-Again, build up a portfolio of videos, not just one that goes after 30 keywords.
-Create shorter, sequential videos that pull them deeper into the content and closer to a desired final action.
-Organize your video topics separately using Playlists. Playlists show up as a whole in search results like individual videos, so optimize playlists the same as you would for a video.

Meta Data:
-Too much importance is placed on it. It accounts for only 15% of search success.
-YouTube reads Captions or Transcripts to determine what a video is about. If you’re not using them, you’re missing out.
-You get the SEO benefit of captions and transcripts whether the viewers has them toggled on or not.

Promotion:
-This accounts for 25% of search success.
-Promote the daylights out of your videos using your social channels and digital assets. Don’t assume it’s going to magically get discovered.
-You can pay to promote your video. This could surface it on the YouTube home page, YouTube search results, YouTube related videos, and across the Google content network.

Community:
-Accounts for 10% of search success.
-Make sure your YouTube home page is a fun place to spend time. Carefully pick your featured video, and make sure your Playlists are featured.
-Participate in discussions so users will see you’re present. The volume of ratings/comments is as important as the number of views when it comes to where you surface on search.

Video Sitemaps:
-As with a web site, a video sitemap helps Google quickly index your video.
-Google wants to know title, description, play page URL, the URL of the thumbnail image you want, and raw video file location.
-Sitemaps are xml files you host or dynamically generate on your site. Once you’ve made your sitemap, sign in and submit it using Google webmaster tools.

Just as with the broadcast and cable TV channels, putting a video out there is only step one. You also have to make sure everybody knows it’s there so the largest audience possible can see it. Here’s hoping you get great ratings.  Let us know if you have any questions.

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♔ SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDIES [GB_V85]

Nike has created a Facebook app that converts Nike+ and Fuelband data into energy for your character in their new NikeFuel Missions game.  -  PSFK

To promote their new eyewear, TOMS is letting visitors virtually try on their sunglasses and post snapshots of themselves on Facebook.  -  TOMS

T-Mobile is surprising fans by touring the country with their Unlimited Cheer Team. They'll announce their locations via Foursquare and other social media channels, and the first customer to check-in will win prizes.  -  About Foursquare

Contagious finds and filters the most innovative exercises in branding, technology and pop culture. Once a year they wrap up all the highlights and deliver their Annual “Most Contagious” Report (www.mostcontagious.com/2012).

With the help of Jimmy Fallon, Ford is writing a Super Bowl ad for their new Lincoln Motor brand based on fans' tweets.  -  TechCrunch

Pernod Ricard -- parent company to brands like Kahlua, Jameson, and more -- explains why they use a social intranet to crowdsource ideas from all 18,000 of their employees.  -  MarketingWeek

From ‘Social TV’ to ‘Real-time Optimization’ to the ‘Emergence of Mobile Remotes’ - here are the hottest Digital and Media Trends for 2013 (compliments of Millward Brown) - Report

On #GlobalDominosDay, Domino's Facebook pages around the world offered the same pizza deal internationally for one day.  -  Brandchannel

Heineken is celebrating their 140th birthday by showcasing fans' Facebook wall posts on the actual wall of their Amsterdam brewery using a light show made of 5,000 Heineken bottles.  -  Creative Boom

There's been an explosion of collaborative consumption -- web-powered sharing of cars, apartments, skills, and more. Rachel Botsman explores the currency that makes systems like Airbnb and Taskrabbit work: trust, influence, and what she calls "reputation capital."

Petco is playing Santa this season by granting pets' holiday wishes when their owners tweet using the #DearPetco hashtag.  -  The Petco Scoop

In celebration of reaching 100,000 Facebook fans, Pizza Hut gave away 110 bottles of their novelty perfume, Eau de Pizza Hut.  -  Adweek

Puma is asking fans to take pictures of their shoes when they travel to share on Instagram, Facebook, and their website for a chance to win weekly prizes.  -  Puma

  

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♔ THE UNITED NATIONS, CHOLERA, AND EFFECTING GLOBAL CHANGE

Certainly we all understand that if we’re “not part of the solution, that we may be a part of the problem.”  Of course we all do what we can, where we can, to elevate the status of human suffering and dignity.  But do you really think that you can change the world?  Or do you believe the system is just too big, and the entities just too entrenched to be changed?  How much impact can you really have?   A lot more then you probably think.

On Tuesday, 12 January 2010, an earthquake more powerful then an atomic bomb hit Haiti.  (For a look at the state of Haiti post-earthquake click here.) The following months brought charities, NPO’s, and United Nation’s soldiers, staff, and supplies from around the world to assist in rebuilding the country.  

The UN soldiers however also unwittingly brought Cholera; an infection of the small intestine caused by the bacterium Vibrio cholerae. The bacterium releases a toxin that causes increased release of water from cells in the intestines, which produces severe diarrhea and left untreated causes death from dehydration via severe diarrhea.  Cholera occurs and spreads most readily in places with poor sanitation, crowding, war, and famine. Cholera has killed at least 7,759 people to date in Haiti since the outbreak started in October 2010.

Certainly there are many, many entities and interests involved in rebuilding Haiti and also in helping the Haitian people hold the United Nations (UN) responsible for what they had done.  In this specific effort however I want to congratulate two people - Bryn Mooser and David Darg.  They launched www.undeny.org and produced a documentary film called “Baseball In The Time of Cholera,” that told the UN/Cholera story (via Ryot Films) through the eyes of Haitian teenager Joseph Alvyns and his engagement with the Tabare Tigers (Haiti's first little league team started by Bryn Mooser and David Darg in Port-au-Prince.) 

After a significant amount of work, exhaustive Film Festival screenings, interviews, and meetings in Washington (and around the world,) the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon finally announced today that a US$2.27 billion initiative would be established to help eradicate cholera in Haiti.  Note that the UN explicitly refused to do this only a year ago.  

Today (12/12/12) it was announced that bilateral and multilateral donors have additionally committed US $215 million (and the UN has committed another US$23.5 million for the initiative,) which will mostly focus on improving clean water and sanitation infrastructure in Haiti.

Ultimately the resolve and indignant spirit of two people (Bryn Mooser and David Darg) that were committed to justice and dignity for the Haitian people won the day.  

So, for all those of you who think the system is simply too big to be changed.  For all of you who think that you’re only one tiny voice in a vast universe. For those of you naysayers who said it could never be done - today ‘David’ beat ‘Goliath’. My sincere congratulations and respect to both Bryn Mooser and David Darg, you have elevated the human condition.   

I am very, very proud to know you both.  

♔ SOCIAL MEDIA CASE STUDIES [GB_V84]

Durex is creating buzz around their #1Share1Condom World AIDS Day campaign by making a charity donation each time a person shares their message on Facebook and Twitter -  Brandchannel

Dell is kicking off their #Inspire 100 campaign, where they recognize 100 influential people and share interviews with them on Facebook and Twitter -  DailyFinance

T. Rowe Price is launching a Facebook app called "It's Good to Be a Scrooge!" that gives tips for saving money during the holidays -  Facebook

Ralph Lauren is asking fans which vintage look they should bring back from their archives and encouraging them to share images of teddy bears wearing these looks on Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest -  The Daily Beast

The Coca-Cola Company, American Express, Target, and others are engaging fans by using Tumblr as a social content hub -  Digiday

In The Raw's new "Au Natural" Facebook app encourages fans to share photos of their baked goods and other sweets by giving the images a "racy" edge -  PSFK

Starbucks, The History Channel, Domino's, and more share case studies on how they've successfully used Foursquare to their advantage -  Simply Zesty

Adidas' A Christmas Carol-themed campaign is getting customers in the holiday spirit by encouraging their participation across Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter -  Popsop

Nescafe unveiled their new coffee by changing their Facebook cover photo in real time in correlation with new likes -  Trend Hunter

The Campbell Soup Company is raising money on Pinterest for Feeding America by donating $1 for every pinned or repinned image of their classic green bean casserole. The result will be a "Most Colossal Casserole" board on their Kitchen Pinterest page -  MediaPost

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