Screw You Recession: Using Social Media With Brands -- Virgin Mobile
Labels: blogging, brand building, Connection, Consumers, Content, Marketing, Mood Meter, social media, Twitter
Traditional brands have had a hard time figuring out social media. They are used to old marketing models where they keep firm control of the message.
Create a brand phrase or concept and then repeat it millions of time on whatever media platforms, getting as much exposure as possible. The adage "If they say it often enough, it must be true" has been the prevailing wisdom for decades. The hoped-for by-product? "Gosh, if they are willing to spend so much money to tell me something about their product, it must be true...so I'll buy it."
All the traditional ad markets have softened: TV, newspapers, radio, magazines. And the projections for the next few years look tough.
For decades, consumers have been sold, pitched, cajoled, and almost guilted in buying products through the magic of marketing and advertising.
Why are the ad markets hurting? Psychologically, making a purchase satisfies many possible things: taking care of a need; a want; a desire; or for preventing something they fear. That is no different today than from previous generations. Traditional media still "sells" needs, wants, desire and fear-fixers.
It's just that today's consumers want more than simply being told to buy something before they make a purchase.
They want to engage.
They want to hear from other consumers to validate their own thinking about the brand choice.
They want their own voice heard.
So far, traditional brand marketing has been slow and inconsistent in its success using social (or user-generated) media for marketing.
Remember the user-generated Dorito's Super Bowl TV ads?
What about the GM's Chevy Tahoe SUV ad contest?
Just in the last few weeks, Skittles set the Twitterverse afire by changing their main brand homepage to their Twitter profile, then to their Facebook profile. To help their customers "Interweb the rainbow", users create custom "garageband-like" audio themes using various Skittles audio clips. What did it get them? Lots of social media hype, more than 630,000 Facebook friends (M&M's Facebook site only has 25,000 fans)...and an increase of their web traffic by more than 1,325% the first day it launched the campaign.
So can a brand do well by saying "Screw You, Recession"? One is trying...and using social media to do it.
Here's a site blending social media merged with an established brand. Go to ScrewTheRecession.ca/ and it comes from the new thinkers over at Virgin. Virgin tends to embrace marketing experiments; I think it's worthwhile to check it out. Tying in recession concerns with younger people, it's a blog with a heavy user comment section, simple Virgin Mobile advertising and various topics sections on money, living, fashion, going out, tech and more. Plus they Twitter and Facebook it tying it together.
The impact: How can you (the consumer) screw the recession? You need your cellphone. Screw the recession by using a Virgin Mobile cellphone.
They've done some cool research through the site on their users.
As reported this week in Virgin Mobile press release of their JD Power study:
The only thing they miss is not tying it into their Virgin Radio sites. It's a natural partner.
"Virgin Mobile Canada has created a mood meter that ranges from "Everything Sucks Huge" (red) to "The Recession Ain't Getting Me Down" (green). The five-stage colourcoded system shows that – this week – young Canadians are on Yellow Alert ("Sorta' Freaking Out Right Now"), which means:
* Biting nails - 72% are anxious about their future
* Brand disloyalty - 41% have given up a brand they love
* Show me the value! - 52% are open to trying value brands
* Chic-onomics - 88% have changed their shopping habits
* Recessionistas - 42% are making "noticeable sacrifices"
* Unemployment - 42% fear being unemployed
* Politics - 57% say they don't believe a change in government would change anything
* The Simple Life - 75% want a simpler life.
The Mood Meter looks exclusively at the impact the recession is having on young people's (17-35s) lives, how they're feeling about the state of the economy and what the recession means to them. It's also a barometer of their thoughts and shopping habits, as well as their feelings on how brands are behaving. See Virgin Mobile’s www.screwyourecession.ca."
Cross-platform connection on contemporary consumer demands, needs, desires or fears...with the consumer front-and-centre contributing and sharing the content.
The audience (listeners/customers) are the drivers...all we in media have to do is provide the proper vehicles for them to get where they want to go and what they want right now.
That's how brand marketing can use social media to its advantage.
posted by Unknown @ Friday, March 20, 2009,
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Radiohead To Give Away New Album; Major Labels Freak Out
Labels: Being digital, Connection, Content, Control, Convenience, Corporate, Digital media, downloads, mainstream media, New Media, New music, Radiohead
The digital age causes headaches for all traditional media companies trying to hold onto their business models. They like the control of their content which they distribute through their owned connections to their consumers at the prices they decide, all at the media company's convenience.
Control, Content, Connection, Convenience -- the consumer battle over the four C's which the Jointblog and Joint Communications has referred to for years.
The digital age reverses these rules.
In the digital age, it is the consumer making the decisions.
The consumer decides the content they want -- how, when, were and even if it is consumed.
The consumer decides the price they want -- if they don't like the price, they find it for less (or for free) somewhere online.
The consumer decides -- at their own convenience -- what matters and what doesn't.
It is the consumer that is in control.
Now, there's news a major recording act -- considered by many fans and music critics to be among the best bands in the world over the last decade -- is offering their brand new album for free download. And the consumer can choose how much they want to pay for it, if they want to even pay anything at all.
The band: Radiohead.
It's an unusual -- but brilliant -- step to tell fans that they can pay as much or as little as they like for the band's new album "In Rainbows". In essence, they are telling their fans "it's up to you" what they pay to digitally download the album.
And they make it easy, without ripping anyone off or wasting anyone's time forcing them to watch an embedded commercial the consumer doesn't want to see.
As The Telegraph reports:Radiohead is free to sell its album directly from its official website because it is no longer tied to a record label. So far the album is only available to pre-order from the website, where it can be downloaded on release on October 10.
What exactly does this get Radiohead, since it doesn't guarantee revenue or profits?
While loyal fans are likely to want to pay the band something, customers could opt to pay as little (as) the credit card handling fee.
Credibility.
And it strikes a blow against corporate dominance.
It makes Radiohead fans love the band more.
And, my bet is plenty of fans will pay comparable fair value for a new CD anyway...because they know what is fair and what isn't.
Mainstream Media, are you listening?
Do you hear the rules changing?
posted by Unknown @ Monday, October 01, 2007,
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Fairness in a Viral Video World
One media trend needing repair is the trend of instantaneous public shaming. The YouTube viral video media machine is constantly hungry, demanding more and more servings of content. Labels: Content, enough, Meltdown, public shaming, Viral Video, YouTube
When is enough enough?
Celebrities melt down, insult innocent people in a stereotypical way and show off their private indiscretions in viral video that spreads around the world: the public eats it up. Or elected politicians make boneheaded and hypocritical decisions, spurring bloggers and other amateur "journalists" to mock them endlessly while attracting a mob mentality that happily add their own comments. Jackass thrill seekers record on digital video their idiot stunts so we can laugh at them.
These are all legit candidates for public shaming.
Some people get dragged in through no fault of their own. And mainstream media often joins in the flogging practice favored by viral video sites and blogs. Sometimes someone has to step in to say "enough is enough", as this football coach did this past weekend. We need more of this action from the public and less misplaced shaming.
posted by Unknown @ Tuesday, September 25, 2007,
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Content Matters...But Distribution Rules In Media
Labels: Big Media, Content, Distribution, Google, Jointblog, Media Trend Watching, New Media, Time, Traditional Media, Viacom, What's Next, YouTube
Distributors are the ultimate media gatekeeper.
When Time magazine named "You" as its 2006 Person of the Year, it attracted mixed critical response. Some thought it was brilliant, others thought it was a cop out. Whatever. That editorial decision did announce something fresh: one of traditional media's pillars of print media acknowledged the cultural significance of today's digital new media reality.
2007 has delivered major changes within Time, including mass job cuts, retirements and restructuring as well as a new delivery date (Fridays instead of Mondays). It's also brought about many design updates and content adjustments, intended to tighten up the partnership between the weekly magazine and the daily updates of Time.com.
Among the subjects Time features more is a regular look at "what's next" in consumer tech and media, which grabs this media trend watcher's attention.
This week's "Curious Capitalist" writes that "Google Gooses Big Media" (wha?...what exactly does that mean?...has Big Media's butt been pinched?). For a traditional (mainstream, or MSM) print media publication to say "The search giant rewrote the rules of distribution and selling ads...The big movie, TV and print outfits may never catch up" is startling.
Why?
Well, first of all, they're admitting Google is now the leader steering media's growth -- not the TV, Print or Movie industries (and, by its absence, certainly not radio).
Secondly, while it's good news one of the biggest mainstream media publications in the world acknowledges new media's (and specifically Google's) importance in the total media mix...this "news" arrives several years late.
Lastly, Time Inc's viewpoint seems completely opposite of Viacom's effort to turn YouTube into SueTube.
The article does drive home excellent points, especially how it puncture's the tired adage that "content is king"."Content is king." It's a phrase uttered repeatedly by media executives making the case that the movies, music, TV shows, books and journalism their companies produce are the core of their business.
Yes, content matters...but that's a bit of a smoke screen. Distribution of content is what's always mattered. The owners of printing presses since the 17th century. The owners of radio towers and transmitters throughout the 20th century. The same has been true for the record/music industry, the TV industry, the cable industry...and now the top domains online.
It happens to be a dubious claim. Sure, movies, music and TV shows have value...But they alone have never generated the huge, reliable profits that keep investors happy and pay for midtown-Manhattan skyscrapers. No, the big money in media has always been in distribution.
Sometimes the media companies do this distributing themselves -- big media have long been defined by their ability to make sure their products are displayed prominently there. "The historical media play," says consultant John Hagel, "is having privileged access to limited shelf space."
Extending content value through syndication rights and efficient distribution "pipelines" (or "networks" or high-speed wireless linkages, etc.) is really where it's at. Always has been...and it continues to be that way.
The trend: Mainstream media is still slowly figuring out new, better ways to marry its traditional media distribution system with its online distribution opportunities. As archaic copyright rules over content control evolve (such as DRM), will regulations tighten or relax? The battle over the next 5 years will be fierce and worth watching.
What do you think?
posted by Unknown @ Sunday, March 18, 2007,
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