Over the past two years Vikki Chowney and her team have consistently delivered the latest news, insights and industry perspectives that those who work in the social media space have often required to help stay abreast of the ever-changing digital landscape.
Not only has it been through their own contributions from all across the New Media Age team, but also with the addition of the ‘open post’ policy where anyone with a point of view (and a reasonable understanding of the basics of grammar) could submit their own story for publication.
And it is in this global-reaching area of marketing & communications [online reputation management], that professional teams across the globe are now learning to specialise in. Reputation Online’s work it seems, now more than ever, will be sorely missed.
We at 1000heads wish Vikki and her team the very best for the future and say thank you, once again, for the opportunity to appear in the Top 100.
Cannes Lions is well and truly over and, with the Young Lions celebrating their latest win (along with many, many others), it’s time to look back over some of the more leading and creative thoughts that fell out of such an important conference.
Back in part one I promised some thoughts on the Diageo session I attended as well as some overall thoughts and links post-event.
First, Andy Fennell, CMO, Diageo -
Key points and quotes -
Andy talks about his ‘FACE’ values. They are; Flair, Agility, Consumer insight and Execution
When discussing new creative, ask ‘What is ‘the centre of gravity’ of an idea?’
“We need to change our ideas inherently to build participation from the start” – a thought 1000heads has advocated for years
“For rich content to arrive in Africa, phones need to get cheaper or Silicon Valley needs to work out where Africa is on a map.” – contentious!
Speaking of Africa, Andy gave an example of how Guinness arrived in the football-loving continent with their very own football-themed quiz show -
The whole idea, initiated by Guinness (one of Diageo’s sub-brands), started and ended with the drink in question and resulted in a significant jump in sales.
I personally hadn’t seen a brand invent its own TV show before, not least of all one that actually delivered on both an entertainment value (average episode views are upwards of 4m) as well as on a brand awareness and sales front too. Very impressive.
Overall, the Diageo session was interesting as it was a brand talking about their creative as opposed to an agency. Hearing the insights and ways of working behind such a huge, worldwide company inspired plenty of food for thought and served as a reminder at just how impactful television can be when harnessed correctly.
This is, apparently, what word of mouth is on in today’s world of global social media acceptance and growth.
The source of such a huge statement?
This latest video from best-selling author, Erik Qualman. Word of mouth commentary aside, if you need the latest social media stats, figures and growth patterns, then look no further.
I spent yesterday afternoon in a 4-hour Developing Social Business workshop, hosted by the excellent folks at LikeMinds and attended by sterling social practitioners such as Lloyd Davis and Benjamin Ellis and a variety of brands from Stardoll to Investec.
What was most interesting to me was the fact that, although we covered a broad range of topics from organisational models to social media guidelines, internal comms platforms to leadership styles, the conversation kept coming back again and again to the frightening tendency of social to collide the personal with the professional.
How careful should you be when posting opinions online? What are you liable for as an employee? Should employers interfere with personal venues, providing positive guidance and encouragement, or simply step back?
When does a personal opinion have professional impact?
This has become a big roadblock of fear that companies get stuck behind when thinking about becoming social, and there are no easy answers. But it’s essential that we make some kind of peace with this uncertainty . This issue exemplifies the fact that people-centred business necessarily brings a host of ethical and cultural challenges, and often trust, common sense and giving permission to act and yes, maybe fail, are our only enablers to move on.
Benjamin Ellis made the excellent point that this is a relatively new dilemma; in the past our work and personal selves were one, as we lived in geographically bound communities where our identity embraced both. Thanks to the transparency of social media, we are in some ways going back to this state where we have to consider our whole selves as visible to colleagues, bosses, potential employers, competitors and family and friends.
I have three main thoughts.
Basically, this is a good thing. People should not be hiding or masquerading their real selves at work, and employers need to start accepting that for most of their customers or colleagues, discovering that Mark guy cross-dresses at weekends or that Jane hates the HR woman is not going to matter one iota. If someone is moaning about you with good reason, focus on tackling the problem and treating them better, not restricting what they say. If they’re just moaning, fine, it happens. We all do it. It won’t collapse the business.
Online word of mouth may be more widely and permanently visible, but the same principles should apply as offline WOM. Do not libel, do not betray confidences, and do not stand up and yell something in a crowded pub (or Facebook page, or blog, or Twitter feed) you aren’t willing to defend. Even more so if you’ve invited your boss or clients along to that pub (or platform). Otherwise, go ahead and be yourself. But if you want to criticise other people, you have to give them the right to do the same to you.
As Lloyd Davis pointed out, this heightened transparency and accountability means that businesses are going to become increasingly conscious about who they hire. If you don’t think that a candidate truly reflects your values as a business, then why would you want them in your team? Again, to me this is a positive development.
The legal situation around employee word of mouth continues to develop with all the halting contradictions you might expect, but Andrew Gerrard did highlight one important development I was unaware of: a case last year between American Medical Response, who sacked an employee after she criticised her boss on Facebook, and the US National Labour Relations Board, who in response asserted for the first time that employers break the law if they discipline workers who post criticisms on social networks under the First Amendment for free speech.
Of course, there are exceptions. The NLRB’s Facebook page asserts that Facebook comments can lose protected status depending on where the discussion takes place, the subject matter, the nature of the outburst and whether the comments were provoked by an employer’s unfair labour practice. But in general, people simply have to be allowed to speak their mind, even if it is unpalatable to you.
There is so much more to say on this, but it is clear that businesses simply have to stop being afraid of their people, and vice versa. Micro-monitoring and disciplining of word of mouth is not sustainable, and ineffective. Approaching the issue with honesty, realism and a willingness to try is the only way past the roadblock.
[yes, I know you all hate me and that the weather in London is terrible BUT!] I come bearing gifts of news, insights, words and pictures!
1000heads are over supporting Nokia as part of their lead sponsorship of the Young Lions Competition* kicking off later today. However, before that all gets under way, I want to explore and share some of the findings from some of yesterday’s talks.
Consider the following notes as a monumental brain dump to be consumed, digested and used as talking points for further conversation –
PHD: Beyond the Horizon
PHD, a global media agency, came under fire earlier this year for their ‘We Are The Future‘ video and I was intrigued to see what kinds of thoughts and theories they wanted to put forward around future technologies.
‘Connected TV’ to be a firm fixture (along with 3D) in the homes of the future
Facial recognition will tailor ads to the person watching TV (I’m not sure)
Facebook Connect already structures websites around your social graph (eg: Trip Advisor) expect more of this in the future – personalised experiences based upon what you (and your friends’) behaviour and habits
Wi-Fi areas, already prevalent globally, will be running with wireless power – ‘Wi-Po’ (or Qi) networks – which will provide wireless charging of compatible devices
‘Natural UI’, already widely available via Xbox Kinect, will replaces the traditional remote controls for home devices
“Change will never be this slow again” – Mark Holden, PHD
“People that are good at social will be the tomorrow’s superstars in business” – MH, PHD (one might argue that this is not a trend for 2016, but rather a trend for 201o, ’11 and ’12)
“The race is on for brands to become content creators” – MH, PHD (again, not new but still – these races take time to properly get going)
Like I said; just a brain dump. But some starting points for sure. Tomorrow I’ll be back with notes from the Diageo session (who we’ve written about before) and what efforts they’ve been putting into extending their brands globally.
Any thoughts on the above? Dive into the comments below…
You’re forgiven if you don’t stick around for the whole thing; although compelling, if you’re no boxing fan then I doubt you’ll be that intrigued.
But, what amazes me is that HBO managed to get these two men in the same room for that amount of time. The ‘Face Off’ series is – to my surprise – nothing new. HBO have been pulling this off for some time now, but the best part is they’ve been posting them up on YouTube.
Yes!
At the time of writing the video only has 302 views but, with the world lining up to watch potentially the biggest fight of the year (and in spite of it weighing in at a hefty 12minutes), there is huge huge viral potential here. HBO have, unlike many other US-based media owners, allowed the clip to not only be embedded but also to be seen outside of the United States. With two weeks to go between now and the first ring of that bell, the build up is only just beginning and this video will fly.
“You don’t make a viral video, you can merely set the conditions and hope that something goes viral.”
HBO have a history of being fairly savvy online, their Twitter presences stretch far and wide and happily interact. One quick glance at the @HBOBoxing stream and you can see not only conversations with the fans, but also RTs of their content as well as that of their other flagship shows such as Game of Thrones.
This kind of social media integration cross-channel and cross-platform is exactly the kind of thing media producers, globally, should be implementing right now. HBO are clearly leading the way and one can only wonder what they might have lined up on Fight Night to help manage the huge global audience tuning in to watch Haye take on Klitschko.
Like X-Factor here in the UK and the Superbowl over in the US, this fight has the potential to create massive impact through social media both from an action/blow-by-blow standpoint but also from the perspective of potential advertisers.
It may seem silly to point it out, if you’re reading this you may even think that it goes without saying but – just in case – if you’re seriously lining up something for that ad space – like Yeo Valley before – do yourself a favour and think about social.
Big hat tip to Luca Massaro for finding the video first.
Before we get onto answering that, first let’s address the dictionary definition of recycling – it is from here that I’ll tell my story.
Recycle [verb]: to treat or process (used or waste materials) so as to make suitable for reuse: recycling paper to save trees
From the over-packaged food in the supermarket to that extra office paper you never seem to use enough or need, there are many items out there that can be re-made and reused over and over again.
So if we recycle objects we don’t use, can the same can be said for unused space in social media?
American ice cream maker, Ben & Jerry’s, launched fairtweets.com last month enable the recycling of all that blank wasted space on Twitter. Thanks to this website, you can tweet as you would normally from any Twitter client but the difference is any extra character space (of the 140 Twitter allows) left over at the end, gets picked up by Ben & Jerry’s and used to create a message about Fair Trade.
A great idea.
Taking this a step further, think about how much other extra space isn’t used throughout social media. Sure, there is extra tweet space, but what about the unused space on Facebook updates, or YouTube videos? Take X amount of the 420 characters you don’t use on Facebook, or X amount of minutes of the 10 minutes you are allowed on YouTube and donate your extra space to formulate a message or video about a charity of your choice.
As a CSR initiative, brand owners could now have an easy way to raise awareness around the charity of their choice and – in fact – there’s no reason why this couldn’t be hosted on their owned social presences – Want to visit Sony on Twitter? Cool, why not donate your social real estate to a good cause while you’re there?
It’s important to remember here that like recycled items made from non-usable materials, the extra space on social media sites that is non-usable certainly can be used by someone or something and for a good cause.
Kind of gives a new spin on ‘social CSR’, don’t you think?
I’m no stranger to Edinburgh in August having a) been born there and b) spent many a summer working during the Fringe and, more recently, writing for shows being performed there. But this year something exciting has happened…
Every entry in the Fringe programme features details about the show: a title, production company, short blurb, times, dates, price and a picture. It’s the picture element that raised an eyebrow. Most of course, feature pertinent shots of the star of the show smiling earnestly or mid-action but two in particular didn’t. They had submitted QR codes. Clever.
Of course I immediately scanned them, intrigued by the placement. Though this was swiftly followed by disappointment when both simply led to the act in question’s website. Which was already printed below. Which was good… (in fact still pretty cool) But it could have gone further…
Think of the possibilities. Through a virtual code you’ve just opened a whole world to talk to your audience. So don’t simply send them to your website homepage. Create a bespoke experience that acknowledges their source: the programme (or edfringe.com website)
And what else could you do?
An AR marker to show a ‘trailer’ for the show at your website?
A show about supermarkets could have a barcode that only be scanned at checkouts encouraging a bit of exploring.
An optical illusion?
We always love to see the seemingly constant elements of life twisted and flipped to do something engaging and conversational so I hope these shows sell a few extra tickets for their ingenuity (I won’t mention them here, you’ll just have to go exploring yourself to find out!)
Oh, and if you see any other particularly conversational ways of selling shows (this guy springs to mind), let us know…
What inspires me now is a figure that was just given on stage that:
“By the end of 2010, the average American will own six connected devices. People in the UK will, on average, own 4.5.”
Unfortunately this stat wasn’t attributed to any source so I can’t validate it [I'll look for the slides tomorrow], however – I thought I’d throw the question out onto Twitter -
From my own collection, I count seven. But fifteen minutes (and 30-odd responses later), I’ve managed to pull together an average of 8.7 devices per person.
Which – aside from a few random cases – is quite telling and raises a few points and questions:
My followers tend to be a bit more tech-savvy/heavy (and would therefore own more devices). Fair enough.
If pushed, would the average person know that their internet radio or their TV is ‘connected’?
In this constantly changing, yet ever more connected world we live in – what challenges will this present to the marketeers of tomorrow?
My point is – the internet of things promises a lot. It turns out that your average Joe’s data is going to be contributing a lot to this also – where are the opportunities?
Have a think on that and, while you’re at it, how many connected devices do you own?
The purchasing journey, for some, is a long and winding road. Especially when it comes to areas where the category is relatively unknown to the buyer. So indulge me if you will, while I take you on my quest for an iPad.
Rewind a few weeks and I find myself thinking about buying an iPad. This thinking has gone on for a while. I am super cautious when it comes to technology purchases; being a digital immigrant means that I don’t instinctively know when something is right for me, and so I procrastinate. A lot.
I go onto the Apple website. I pick a white one with the lowest memory. I put it into the basket, and hover the mouse over the order button. I stop and worry sets in. What if I need more memory?
I click open a new window. I find reviews written by techies, for techies. Even the ones designed for people like me assume a level of understanding I don’t have and confuses me further with references to 3G and a plethora of contracts. None of them help me with my memory question, because the assumption is I know how much I will need already.
At work the next day I seek out an expert, Patrick. He shows me how his iPad stands up, and allows me to play with it. I ask him how much memory I need, and he responds in a language I only half understand. I nod in agreement, ashamed of my ignorance (I don’t know how much memory a film/a photo/an album requires, and if I did, I can’t picture it cumulatively as one mass).
I ask Mike, our CEO. He is closer in age to me and, as well as having a mild obsession with all things shiny and new, is also an iPad owner. I ask the memory question. He enthusiastically gives me the same answers as Patrick, and gives me a slightly weird look when I stare blankly back at him. It seems men are hard-wired to understand digits and acronyms instantly. Alas, I am not.
I feel frustrated with myself. This seems to be the one area in my life that I can’t seem to educate myself on. I don’t use 80% of my iMac’s features because I’m afraid of messing up the 20% that I do use.
Sitting on the train on the way home, a mum I recognise from the school gate sits down opposite, whips out her (pink!) iPad and begins tapping away. ‘Well,’ I thought, ‘this is serendipitous’. She’s a mum, looks around my age, is wearing clothes I would wear, even likes pink (I know, I know, I can’t help it but I do). So for the third time that day I tentatively pose The Memory question.
She looks at me knowingly, and calmly asks me what I want on it. She asks me how and where I will use it. She tells me what she has and how she uses it. Then we agree on what I need: An iPad 32GB. 3G is unnecessary, and anyway I can always get a Mifi if I feel I need it.
That night I get home and place my order (turquoise cover – will go with the kitchen blinds. I know, I know… this is not going to improve my geek credentials). Later, when I explain all this to my technophobe husband that I realise – the advice I received on the train mirrored Patrick & Mike’s exactly.
So why did I believe it? From a woman I only vaguely knew?
Her life is a bit like mine
She’s looks a bit like me
She speaks a bit like me
She has kids a bit like mine
She understands my ignorance
She could be my friend – and after a ten minute chat, is
So what is the most powerful form of word of mouth?
Is it from product experts who know their topic inside out?
Is it from brand advocates who have an emotional relationship with a brand they love?
Or can it simply occasionally be from someone who is ‘a bit like you’?
Could the power of the latter lie simply and perversely in the fact that it actually lacks the passion of the former?
When it comes to your next purchase, who will you will turn to for advice?
I’m no stranger to Edinburgh in August having a) been born there and b) spent many a summer working during the Fringe and, more recently, writing for shows being performed there. But this year something exciting has happened…
