We spent Monday welcoming in the new year at the office, taking down decorations and gearing up for what we plan to be an excellent year. After being on holiday from Christmas Eve through New Year’s Day, it was great to see everyone and get caught up. Our celebration officially ends on Friday when we have our annual Secret Santa/White Elephant game and ‘re-gift’ the worst gift we received. The winner of the worst gift with the best sad story gets a ham.
We are glad that 2009 is over. The year got off to a fantastic start but seemed to really take a nosedive in the last few months. There were a few brights spots - we were honored to be invited to pitch a number of really big accounts - that turned into dark clouds when we ‘won’ second place on each of them. Those clients didn’t know who we were a year ago so it was a really big honor that they called us and wanted us. But oh so heartbreaking to be ‘this close’ and not get the big prize. So we broke up with 2009 and are very happy to be dating 2010. We think that 2010 gets us and will be good to us.
I don’t really have any interest in looking back but couldn’t resist sharing this agency’s holiday message. Genius. James Theophane and the team at LBi in London upcycled 50 old cell phones to deliver their holiday cheer in the form of this Mobile Mobile. Check it out.
Since 1978, when Tiger, 2, appeared on The Mike Douglas Show and putted against Bob Hope, he has to some degree or another lived in the public spotlight. For most of the past 30 years, he has broken records and grown as both a professional player and a tried and true performer. He actually seemed to be able to walk on water.
I have heard golfers talk about what makes Tiger so great. Usually they are remembering some wild shot that put him way off course and what makes him the-best-that-ever-played is his ability to recover. It’s not his consistency - he’s all over the place - it’s his recovery.
That’s what made this ad for Accenture so strong.
Accenture
So the question for Tiger Woods is, “What will you do next?”. The world is watching and waiting to see how he recovers from his “transgression”. How will his major sponsors respond? How will his loyal fans? What about his wife?
There have been hundreds (if not thousands) of news stories, articles and blog posts on the subject. Talk radio and sports radio have analyzed the story from both an ethical and an economic angle. There are 17,200,000 entries when you google “Tiger Woods Affair”. I would believe that two weeks ago that same search probably would have turned up only a few thousand as it related to his legal affairs (and not extramarital ones).
So how does this damage the brand? What do the sponsors do next? Why didn’t his crises communication team get in front of the story faster and better?
Just as in golf, I would imagine that Tiger will be able to hit a miracle shot to get him out of the rough and back on the green - but should he be able to? For all of the outcry in blog posts about this being his personal life and his sponsorships are based solely on his golf performance, I wonder if that is how it should be.
Don’t we want our role models to be examples? Isn’t that what the sponsor is buying for his borrowed glory?
It’s no surprise that one of the biggest trends in human communications today is social networking and social media. It may also come as no shock that since this medium is growing at an alarming rate, certain industries are reconstructing the way they do business to in order to be a part of it.
Facebook, Twitter and YouTube have become fixtures in the daily lives of most Americans, and now, entire industries have discovered the potential of connecting with their once elusive audience.
But it is no about selling something. Some industries are using social media very well by engaging in a conversation. The Healthcare industry is one of them.
The Healthcare and Pharmaceutical industries are quickly becoming major players in the social media space because of their message, relevance and familiarity. No matter where anyone stands on healthcare reform issues, they can all agree that healthcare is a major part of just about everyone’s lives.
With the evolution of social media, the industry is finding new ways to reach out to more and more people and finally become interactive. The Mayo Clinic (http://sharing.mayoclinic.org/) is a perfect example of a healthcare organization that has increased their brand awareness through social media. Using social networking sites like Facebook and having an extensive blogging system, The Mayo Clinic is an example to any group that wants to better connect with their consumer.
So what does this have to do with you? Well, it’s a lesson on being industry savvy. It’s no longer enough to just know about your industry, and you can never be sure of what opportunities will present themselves. We all have to be life long learners - ready to evolve and explore new directions not just in our industries but others as well.
Brand building will be successful when you are able to change the conversation by developing an emotional connection wtih the consumer. The Mayo Clinic is an example of where the healthcare industry is going to be able to achieve that objective.
Ever wonder how you can use YouTube more effectively? Amazed at the traction that BlendTec has received and their ability to increase sales 600% through their use of YouTube?
On this week’s episode of Brand Buzz we will be talking about how to expand your brand through YouTube. Tune in every Monday at 5:20pm to KPEL 105.1 on your radio or online at www.kpel1051.com for another installment of Brand Buzz.
How are companies using YouTube?
Are they able to increase sales?
What about public relations?
Tune in to Brand Buzz on KPEL FM 105.1 at 5:20pm every Monday or if you miss the show you can listen online to the podcast and we will talk about YouTube and how companies can use this social media tool to better engage with consumers.
Feel free to contact us if you have questions for the show. If you haven’t already, subscribe to receive the Razor Branding Blog either via email or reader to receive daily updates and information regarding branding.
Have you ever noticed that you don’t really appreciate something until it is gone or when you realize that what you have is so much better than the alternative.
Well today I have a new-found appreciation for the quality of the Russo Creative Department and more specifically for their photoshop skills. These hands scare me.
Ralph Lauren was so offended to be included in the blog that they demanded Photoshop Disasters remove the photo. Because the request was made, Blogger pulled it off the site.
Instead of squelching the criticism, this PR strategy has backfired and now multiple publications have picked it up and run with it including BoingBoing, Huffington Post, Shine, and BrandFreak.
It is amazing that any company still thinks that they are in control of their brand or that they can dominate the conversation. The only way to change the conversation is by participating in it with an authentic voice.
And by the way, did Ralph Lauren not get the memo from Dove that Real Beauty is In and contorted and altered photos that lead to body image issues is Out.
The following blog might generate a backlash within my office from the NPR-listening, New Yorker-subscribing, Hemingway/Austen/Fitzgerald-reading more literate of my teammates. It’s okay. I can take it.
The days of formal written English are ending. Whether we like it or not, we don’t write, or speak, like Shakespeare any more. As our conversations become more casual, so does our writing. Or at least it should.
When I receive a sales message, via email/print ad/brochure/tv spot, and it is stiff and formal with “Olde English” in full use, I have to wonder why. Will the whole company be dressed in formal attire with velvet smoking jackets and top hats when I walk in? Probably not. So why do they sound that way in their outside communications?
I am not advocating that we forego and abandon all use of protocol. I believe that we should still spell words correctly and use proper punctuation, but we can leave the $5 words in the dictionary where they belong. It doesn’t mean that every sentence has to be filled with mono-syllabic words and a “dumbed” down message. Just that you shouldn’t try so hard to be stiff and formal. Your corporate communications should be written by someone with a background in…wait for it…communications. Not legal. Not research. Not even “marketing speak”. Conversational communications.
You may feel like you have to use “formal stilted business speak” because that’s “how it’s always been” and your industry expects it. Resist the urge to continue this dying tradition. Instead, speak like a human being.
Using industry jargon will be a big turn off.
Making a connection with the reader is always better than talking over their heads.
Using big vocabulary words gives the appearance of hiding behind something.
The people reading what you wrote don’t talk that way.
You don’t want your audience to have to think so hard about what you mean.
Readers want to skim and not have to reread a sentence to figure it out.
Writing conversationally will always be better than writing formally.
Be a trend setter in your industry and see the benefits of changing the conversation:
If you use regular everyday conversational words then you won’t be misunderstood or misquoted.
If it’s understandable then it can form a connection.
If there’s a connection then action will follow.
There are some forms of communication that demand a human conversational voice. In blogs, for example, the tone has to be conversational. As a recent study by Hubspot indicates, companies who blog get a lot more action.
“Business that blog see 55% more visitors (more people to connect with and convert to sales), 97% more inbound links (which signals authority to search engines), and 434% more indexed pages (more chances to be found by search engines).”
But a blog is the last place you would expect to find a formal communications message. Yet, if you write conversationally in your blog and formally in your other communications, it will create quite a disconnect for your readers. If you want people to respond to what you write then you need to write in a way that they can connect with the message.
People are bombarded with 3000 messages a day. The formal stilted writing is going to be the easiest ones to ignore.
Don’t write to be ignored. Write to be understood. Change the conversation and make a connection.
By now, you have probably heard about United Airlines smashing Dave Carroll’s guitar. And then, when United did nothing to rectify the situation, Dave wrote a song and released a video on YouTube chronicling his woes.
With close to 4 million hits and hundreds of blogs and articles relaying the details of this situation, the story has been studied from all angles.
I wondered about the impact.
Does it really matter to a huge global corporation that a Canadian singer songwriter was mad at them and made a music video about it?
Well, when you read the following article by Chris Ayers, you realize just how impactful one man and his guitar can be.
“Meanwhile, within four days of the song going online, the gathering thunderclouds of bad PR caused United Airlines’ stock price to suffer a mid-flight stall, and it plunged by 10 per cent, costing shareholders $180 million. Which, incidentally, would have bought Carroll more than 51,000 replacement guitars.”
We write a lot about the power of a brand and the need to monitor your reputation online. United has 180,000,000 reasons to change how they respond to these situations and develop a better plan for next time.
What do you think? How could United have responded better?
PS - If you read all the way to the bottom of Chris’ article, you will find an interesting tidbit about a local Lafayette, LA story…on the website of a UK newspaper. The Internet unites us all.
There has been quite a bit of discussion around the book and where the business models should be heading.
Malcolm Gladwell’s column in the July 6th issue of The New Yorker is titled “Priced To Sell” and reviews Anderson’s book.
The article is a great read and does a very thorough job of dissecting the book and drawing the line from Anderson’s theories to what is happening today with content providers - be it newspapers (NYTimes does not charge for content, Wall Street Journal has a million paid subscribers) or television (broadcast networks are struggling with only advertisers to pay the bills, yet cable networks offer specialty content at a premium price).
Now, Seth Godin has jumped into the conversation with a blog post entitled, “Malcolm Is Wrong”. Godin’s blog asserts that Free is where we are headed and there is nothing anyone can do about it so jump on board.
Mark Cuban has weighed into the discussion and thinks there is a big difference between “Free vs Freely Distributed”.
You can take a look at the whole “Free Debate” on Squidoo and add your two cents (pun intended) to the discussion.
I am going to have to side with Malcolm Gladwell on this. Free is not where we are headed.
Really, it seems pretty ironic that Free costs $17.81 on Amazon. Wouldn’t it make more sense to support the theory of the book by giving it away as an e-book?
After reading all of the comments, and there have been plenty, I am sticking with my original point which is that a premium product can command a premium price. If you give it away, or discount it too deeply, it will lose brand equity in the hearts and minds of consumers.
But, what say you? Is the future going to be free?
How will you explain what makes you great? You’ve taken a position, so how do you communicate that position to your consumer?
Message training.
We work with our clients to train them on the language of that message. It’s the only way to make sure everyone is looking in the same direction and can stay on message together.
Message training also helps to prepare for what might happen - crises communications. Like insurance we hope you never have to use it, but with good message training you will be ready when it comes up.
When we are coaching clients about staying message, I share my thoughts on how message training evolved. I think that message training goes back all the way to the beginning of time.
Parents are the original message trainers. Think about it. They dictate the message. They take a position and communicate it. Over and over and over again.
There is no room for discussion. Bedtime is 8pm. Period. Parents deliver the message with authority. That’s what makes their message heard and followed.
I am so honored and excited to be a speaker at this great 2 day event in Atlanta. We will work with companies to leverage social media to make their businesses more profitable.
June 15 - 16, 2009 - Atlanta, GA
A two day event for generating new business
Agencies need to know how to leverage social media for new business. There are numerous resources and people talking about how social media can work…
We’re training you on how to do it to drive inbound new business leads.
Join us for an intensive two-day, interactive education and practical workshop on leveraging social media for new business. Topics include blogging, social networks, social media marketing, and how you can bring it all together as a proactive component of your new business strategy. This conference is designed to give you the knowledge and get you set-up and started.
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