Understanding the Digital Uniform

Brand Marketing Magic: Examples of Integrating online and offline experience

Do you ever wonder what Facebook would be like if you experienced it offline?  Wonder no longer.

I'm really getting excited about where marketing is heading.  I have started to see some really great marketing experiences recently that are breaking down the barriers imposed by multiple marketing channels by seamlessly integrating online and offline experience for customers.  The two best examples involve integrating Facebook social experiences into real world settings for an effect that can only be described as "Marketing Magic".

The first example was sent to me by a friend and top brand marketer, Rob Sorgini and recently included in a blog post from experiential marketing thought leader Max Lenderman.  It comes from an agency in Isreal called ProMarket.  They setup an experience for Coca-Cola that integrated the Facebook "Like" concept into activities, food choices and other offline activities in Coca Cola Village with a real-time integration through RFID wrist bands to actual facebook accounts online.  See the powerful video embedded below.

The second example is a concept from DDB Paris.  They promoted the launch of Bouygues Telecom's Facebook presence by creating 1,000 physical books made from people's own Facebook pages.  This is a brilliant idea and I could actually see it being a successful independent business.  The marketing value of this integration is huge and it really delivers a powerful cross-channel experience.  See the video below.

When Facebook becomes a book from Siavosh Zabeti on Vimeo.

 

What do these campaigns deliver for the brands involved?

- Strong brand equity

- Tons of "earned" media online

- Customer Loyalty and Affinity

 

Why does it work?

There are unique opportunities now to create multi-channel experiences for consumers.  Because we have been conditioned to believe that marketing and by extention our experience with brands are restricted to individual media channels, the effect of creating an experience that crosses over those channels works similar to an magician's optical illusions.

We sit and watch magicians like David Blaine and rack our brains to understand how he can make cards appear in beer bottles or on the other side of the glass.  Our brains are conditioned to think in a particular way and despite our best efforts, we are not able to understand the illusion as anything other than "magic".  This has a similar effect in marketing.  We are so conditioned to expect a disjointed brand experience that when we move from our online facebook account to an offline interaction we almost don't believe it is possible to merge the experience.  When done successfully, brands can generate excitement and loyalty that would take years to cultivate using traditional strategies and at a fraction of the cost.

 

What is the bottom line?

Be creative, take chances and try to create better experiences for your customers.  It is more cost-effective than ever to test new ideas.  Don't be affraid to try something new, the rules of marketing are changing and you might get left behind.

Congrats to ProMarket and DDB Paris for creating inspiring campaigns that are pushing brands to think differently about marketing.

 

Do you have any other examples of great customer experience in marketing?  Feel free to add a comment or let me know your thoughts.

How do you spot the marketing diamond in the rough?

I recently watched a great TED talk from Rory Sutherland about perceived value.  I would highly recommend that you check it out after reading this posting.  The point of his talk is that most value associated with products and services is intangible value as oppose to intrinsic value.  Meaning that perceived value is actually much more important to us as consumers, than actual value.

Rory sites a few great examples of early marketing being done by Kings and Rulers to create perceived value with their followers, but a more recent example is the ad campaign for Shreddies in Canada. 

A concept was created to change the perception of Shreddies by offering two varieties - the original square shaped Shreddies and a new diamond shaped Shreddies (see campaign web site below).

Now we all know that it is the exact same product, however it is a smart way to add some perceived value to an old product and turn a plain old square into a bright new diamond.  Well done.

As way of another quick example, Rory discusses a research report that suggests that aside from the top 5-10% of wine drinkers that have an exceptional pallet for wine, most wine drinkers are directly influenced by the cost of the wine.  This perceived value effect is so strong that a large number of wine drinkers thought the same cheap wine tasted better when they were told it was more expensive.

So the moral of the story for Rory, is don't overlook simple ways to increase the perceived value of your products/services.  However, I have a slightly different take on these examples.  I think they carry-over very well to the world of relationship marketing.

Consumers have long been interrupted and shouted at by brands through mass media channels such as TV, print and radio.  However, there is an opportunity with digital marketing to re-build those relationships without adding to your budget.  Using new 1:1 marketing platforms, you have the ability to increase the perceived value of the marketing experience and the relationship with the brand.  Ultimately, this will result in much higher return on investment and customer satisfaction and loyalty.  This might just be your diamond in the rough?

As always, I'd love to hear your feedback.  Have you seen any great marketing campaigns recently?

Pfizer uses Bloggers as Viral Champions

We are in the middle of a very interesting time in marketing.  There is certainly a digital revolution upon us and brands are struggling to figure out where they fit in this new digital ecosystem.  This has opened up the opportunity for innovative thinkers to re-evaluate the information distribution channels available to them and find new avenues for viral distribution of content.  The only problem is that recently those innovative viral campaigns have not involved a brand, despite many failed attempts to recreate past successful viral campaigns.  However, Pfizer Europe has attracted a lot of recent attention, including two IAC awards, with their innovative "Quitters Arcade" viral marketing campaign.

Quitters Arcade is part of Pfizer's quit smoking initiative that provides consumers with resources to help them quit smoking.  The web experience is very simple and provides consumers with the ability to play 1 of 3 simulated arcade video games around quitting smoking.  However, there is one important element that might go unnoticed to a casual web visitor which makes this web site instantly viral.  It offers bloggers the ability to embed the simulated arcade games within their blogs (see the game at the top of this blog as an example).  The best part of this strategy is the flawless execution.  The web site makes embedding the game a quick and easy 3 step process.

Step One: Enter the name and URL of your blog

Step Two: Copy the custom code generated for your blog

Step 3: Paste it into the HTML editor in your blog interface

 

This campaign took off in the blogosphere and the resulting viral effect turned this simple concept into a huge viral success and an award winning campaign for Pfizer.  In a time where most marketers are spending money trying to create unique and viral content, with limited success, it is refreshing to see a brand try something new that is simple and original.

As a final note, also notice that Pfizer is not the dominant brand in this campaign.  It is branded as "Quitters Arcade" and "brought to you by Pfizer Inc.".  The tides of marketing are changing, marketers need to ride the wave or get swept up in the tide.

What do you think of this campaign?  Is it a cool new viral concept or another over-hyped viral campaign?

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2008 Marketer of the Year goes to ... Barack Obama?

 

Without a doubt, the 2008 Marketer of the Year goes to Barack Obama.  Regardless of your political affiliation or views, Barack Obama clearly showed that his digital strategy was superior to all others in 2008.  He proved that digital marketing focused on building communities, social interaction and 1:1 communications can work and can be used to gain market share and drive people to act.  The numbers from the campaign are not only impressive, they are historic.  Can Barack Obama change the political landscape by using the power of digital marketing?  Yes, he can!

Let's look at some of the statistics (and you too will "believe"):   

 - 3 million donors made a total of 6.5 million donations online adding up to more than $500 million with an average donation size of $80.

- Over 13 million e-mail addresses were collected over the course of the campaign

- Over 1 million people signed up to received text messages from Obama

- Obama had over 5 million supporters in social networks across over 15 online communities including Facebook, MySpace, Blackplanet, Eons, etc.

- Over 660,000 followers on Twitter

- Millions of views of his video addresses on Youtube, AOL, Yahoo! and MSN

Where does Barack Obama go from here?

- Activate his community to champion his issues with their local government officials

- Hold informal referendums on any issue, any time he wants by putting surveys out to his opt-in community

- Continue to drive up donations for important initiatives

- Speak directly to the American people on any important issue without the need for traditional media

- Start fundraising for 2012

What can you learn from Barack Obama?

- Digital Marketing is powerful

- Brand building in a web 2.0 world is different than it was before

- Power lies in connecting with people on a 1:1 basis

- You can drive offline action from online relationships!

- A large group of people taking small actions, can create overwhelming results

- Identify your influencers and word of mouth champions and enable them to advocate your behalf

As always, make sure you are using technology as an enabler of your strategy, don't let it be a barrier.  Look for ways to consolidate your consumer touch points, data points and drive real-time engagement.

So the key questions you should ask yourself are...

How are you using social and 1:1 marketing to drive your business?

How are your competitors using social and 1:1 marketing to drive business away from you?

As always, I hope this post has been helpful and I welcome your comments!