Alternative marketing thinking

On May 26, the Frankfurter Allgemeine published an interview in which Google CEO Eric Schmidt admitted that social networks may not be a suitable venue for online advertising. While many of us have already come to this conclusion, Schmidt’s acknowledgement is newsworthy because it’s the first time that anyone with such status in the industry has conceded that some popular sites where people spend a lot of time may not necessarily be good places to advertise. So what does this mean for sites like MySpace, Facebook and Bebo? More.

Some companies will go right around a negative customer situation and turn it positive. Kuwait has no residential mail system, so marketing via direct channels poses a challenge. But one company saw this as an opportunity to connect with customers in unique ways. Gulf Bank knows that almost all its banking customers in Kuwait use ATMs, so it created a personalized marketing strategy to communicate via the machines. (Specifics here in the issue of 1to1 Weekly ). Another bank, HSBC Mexico, also does something similar at its ATMs. The important thing here is that Gulf Bank took what looked like a roadblock to customer service and interaction, and created an entirely new marketing channel. And unlike most direct mail, it’s a channel that customers actually pay attention to. A little creative thinking about the customer experience and business objectives goes a long way.

Once upon a time new ads and marketing ideas were closely guarded secrets. Increasing clutter, new media channels, restless customers and a changing world meant that agencies and marketers had to rethink the formula to ensure that people look at their communication in the right way. Side by side, the stakes of making an ordinary, formulaic ad got too expensive so some agencies opted out of the box.

Nowadays marketers do all they can to get consumers involved in the process of adcreation. The Sony Balls commercial that was shot in San Francisco was unique for many reasons. Not only did the agency and the client agree to break all the rules that stood in the way of creating TV commercials, they created an ad which people happily shared and participated in even before it went on air. With the Paint, the play dough bunnies, and foam city commercials the agency and the client allow consumers become willing participants in the making of the ads.

Many marketers now believe that creating communication that’s original and unique is far more important than messages that are relevant and ingrained in the brand. Work that simply entertains without having any connection with the brand seems to be able to do more for branding and sales than work that’s been done using traditional methods.

A few weeks ago advertising took another giant leap with the Honda Skydivers commercial. The ad, difficult is worth doing (the blog was up weeks before the ad went live), was aired live on UK’s Channel 4, where, for three minutes and 20 seconds, a group of stunt drivers formed the word H-O-N-D-A, as they fell through the sky from 14,000 feet.

Channel 4’s sales director, Andy Barnes, who like other broadcast executives is battling a looming advertising downturn, said the advert, which required a special permission from the advertising watchdog, broke “the boundaries of the perceived confines of TV advertising. We wanted to create something unmissable and what better way to produce something ‘must see’ than to stage the first live ad event on TV,” he added. “It’s about creating talkability on a big scale, managing the risk and being seen as pioneers for it.”

In fact the ad did so well as a spectacle that it boosted the viewership of Channel 4. Honda’s stunt aired between 8.10 pm and 8.13 pm, during which time ratings increased from just over 2 million to 2.2 million viewers, according to unofficial TV ratings.

Clients and agencies are upping their ante when it comes to doing the improbable. Honda UK’s marketing manager Ian Armstrong, speaking to media after the event was in philosophical mood when asked about doing an ad with such a high probability for failure. “There will be no time delay and no CGI. If it works, people will know who it’s for. If it doesn’t, they won’t,” he said.

The Hondas, Sonys and Cadburys are pushing the envelope when it comes to creating spectaculars that capture people’s imagination. As more and more marketers jump into an area where the rules are still being written consumers can sit back and enjoy some pretty interesting spectacles done in the name of advertising.

YouTube has added ways to annotate and add interactive commentary to videos. With this feature, people who upload videos can add background information, create branching stories or add links to any YouTube video, channel, or search results page. There future of online video is annotated. See it in action in the amazing interactive card trick.

After bringing the Card Lab, Capital One Financial Corporation has now tied up with Flickr to bring the first ever Capital One Image Card. Customers can either choose pictures from Capital One’s gallery of images or upload one of their own. The company claims that personalization will help customers create cards that are distinctly them. Users have to follow a simple online procedure to get their own cards. Last November, Capital One launched the Capital One Card Lab which provides consumers with a new level of transparency and choice in credit cards. Customers are offered a series of interactive choices related to interest rate, annual fee and reward options, where they can click to select the combination of features that are most important to them. As choices are made, the tool narrows the options in the remaining categories, eliminating options that don’t work together. For example, consumers who are willing to pay an annual fee can earn rewards faster. So while banks are focussing on the many benefits that they think will attract customers, Capital One is probably doing something better by going on the creative track. Read what some bloggers are talking about the latest offering by Capital One here.

Some banks look at the most unconventional ways to satisfy their consumers. Wells Fargo roped in Pentagram to design a new User Interface for all its ATMs. Straying away from the usual screen that aligned task buttons only on the left and the right, this new UI saw the entire screen being used up with new visually simplified buttons. The new ATMs have two main features that got everyone raving about them. First, the fact that customers could deposit a stack of checks without sealing them in envelopes made processing time shorter and lowered costs. Up to 30 checks can be inserted at one time, and all checks will be scanned individually and be updated with status. In case the scanning identifies an error in a certain check, the customer is asked to fill in the missing amount. All steps can be reviewed with the history button that allows for a look at the previous steps. The second outstanding feature is an upgrade of the existing Quick Cash button. This feature has been allowing Wells Fargo customers to withdraw an often used amount in one single step, instead of going through a multi-step procedure. Designer Holger Struppek, part of the design team that worked on this in Pentagram talks more about the new ATMs here.

Seth Godin, marketing expert and author of several bestselling business books has a few tips for people who blow up all their money on credit card. In an interesting perspective that is funny but true, he talks about how borrowing money makes sense only when you are paying for things that will increase in value. He has a plan that people, especially youngsters, can follow to get their credit card bills back in check, and live life the rich way. Read his simple, yet out of the ordinary post here.

Interesting logic on why many graphic designers hate to get themselves tattooed. According to this poll however, there are more designers with tattoos, than there are ones without.

Two views on the future of mobile ads. LA Times reports how teenagers are signing up into services that send them relevant sales pitches, tips, text messages, photos, videos and more. Even while this is a reality many people believe that ideas that will tap the real potential of mobile advertising is years away from reality. Here’s the second view from Reuters.

Since its entrance into popular culture, the internet has always worked to empower consumers, just by the innate nature of the medium. The wealth of data and improved tools to access that data gave consumers access to information more efficiently than they ever had before. Web 2.0 introduced a new culture of passionate empowered consumers. Their desire was not only to extract value from the internet, but to contribute to an ongoing dialogue with other like-minded consumers. More recently, those conversations have extended beyond user to user, and consumers are able to collaborate directly with the brands they are passionate about.

Consumer collaboration is one of the booming social sectors of the year with numerous branded collaboration tools launching daily. Dell’s IdeaStorm and My Starbucks Idea are commonly cited examples of how consumers can help influence product or service improvements. But, the more comprehensive list of brands involved in crowdsourcing and “white label” social networks is immense. In fact, the list is probably far shorter for brands not currently involved or planning to become involved in some form of consumer collaboration.

Brands are not just collaborating with consumers to gain insights for product improvements. Forrester has broken common objectives into 5 specific categories. Brands are using online communities to listen, to talk, to energize advocates, to support customers, and to embrace consumer ideas. Recent brands to “energize advocates” include SeaWorld and Nike. SeaWorld nurtured rollercoaster enthusiasts with rich video content and Nike featured a top community member in a commercial.

With such a huge growth in consumer collaboration tools, it was just a matter of time before the free, “create your own My Starbucks Idea” tool came forward. Enter User Voice:

“UserVoice is a way to harness the innovation and ideas of customers and potential customers. It’s a way to improve the signal-to-noise of user opinion, and to moderate the ideas of one against the opinions of the many. It’s Satisfaction meets Digg. It’s focus groups for companies that can’t afford focus groups.”

Although UserVoice hasn’t been put to the enterprise level traffic challenge, it does offer much in the way of simplicity and integration into other useful tools, such as Google Analytics. The clean design is reminiscent of a 37Signals product, which makes the learning curve pretty manageable. This makes it an attractive solution for many companies with or without a product, who might not have otherwise got into consumer collaboration. One example is Jeremiah Owyang using UserVoice to take suggestions on how to improve his blog.

This is just further proof that it is a great time to be a consumer. Whether it is big brands using robust collaboration tools with large communities or micro-niche brands engaging smaller groups in a more intimate conversation, there seems to be a movement on all fronts to truly give every consumer a voice.

Borrowed verbatim from Marta Strickland, writing in the Three Minds Organic Blog. Thanks Marta