Archive for January, 2009
Being Responsive in 2009
Social network sites like Facebook and MySpace, and social bookmarking sites like Digg, StumbleUpon and Reddit now enable anyone with enough fire in their belly to influence on a mass scale. When ‘everyone’s an influencer’, satisfying consumer trust is absolutely essential, however…
Despite the great efforts many companies go to to preserve their good ‘brand image’, there will always be at least one disgruntled customer/fan looking to share a negative opinion online -’Ipod’s ureplacable battery lasts only 18 months’ video almost destroyed the iPod 3 years ago.
Whilst there is little we can do to keep fans quiet (maybe you can buy their silence?), there are examples of brands that have been able to successfully counter negative opinion, EA Sports did an amazing job with this ‘Tiger Woods 09 – Walk on Water’ response.
One could argue that ‘being responsive’ in 2009 will be a key contributing factor to the success of many businesses. Fortunatly, there are already a bunch of free tools that enable us to monitor buzz and sentiment across blogs, forums and social networks (see a couple of my favourites below), so you needn’t trawl the web looking, nor stay up late at night wondering. For smaller brands this is often all you need. For bigger brands it may be worth checking out agencies like Market Sentinel or Onalytica.
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3 Free tracking tools
“With Google Analytics there’s really no reason why you can’t stay up to date with who’s talking about your brand.Enter your terms, select what you would like to search, and then choose the frequency of reporting. If you’re looking to stay on top of what bloggers are saying, just choose blogs or the comprehensive alert. With an alert set for your brand (or just about anything), you can be certain that you’re getting the latest word from the blogosphere.”
“TweetBeep is a simple tool that will let you monitor the conversation among the digerati. Are they talking about you or your competitor? Is there something important happening in your marketplace that you need to know about?” All you need to do is sign up, choose your targeted key words, and then you’ll be notified if they’re among the “tweets” of the day.
“NewsNow monitors breaking news in 15 languages from thousands of the Internet’s most important online publications and blogs, including international, national and regional titles, newswires, magazines, press releases and exclusively online news sources.”
Comments‘Ruins’ by Koutarou Shibakoen
Fearless photographer of Japanese ruins, Koutarou Shibakoen delivers a collection of haunting images that remind us of the economic crushing that befell Japan in the 1970′s. Buildings, leisure parks and amenities built during the boom years were forced into closure… never demolished, just deserted.
Below are just a few of my favourites, for the full collection click here >>
‘Nominal waste’ recreation area
The Bamboo Grass Business Hotel
Amazing!
CommentsThe Virgin Brand in 2009
I took a bit of time today to consider how Virgin – one of the world’s most recognised brands, could use online video to spice up their website, engage a more youthful audience and drop the ‘Older Uncle’ image…
Arguably the most opportunistic company in the world, Virgin not only operate within core business areas like Travel, Leisure, Media and Health, but they also lead the way in innovative new business ventures like Space Flight Tourism.
With a brand image that is eternally recognisable and an ethos that appeals to the older, more sensible 30+ market, Virgin have dominated over the last 20 years and look likely to survive the current economic downturn. However, despite its success, a red flag has been raised at the tiny office that makes up Virgin HQ – a 2008 review has returned that ‘likability’ and ‘brand admiration’ is up amongst 25+ year olds, but down for those aged 15 -24 ‘the sweet spot’.
For Virgin (and its brand managers), 2009 is no doubt going to be about tapping into the teen and twenties market of today, a demographic that many advertising professionals believe can’t be reached using traditional media – TV spots, press and outdoor – bread and butter for the Virgin brand. Virgin must now question “How”… “When traditional is all we know, and traditional no longer works, do we start to make a difference?”… “And what is that core message that will appeal to our wayward ‘more youthful’ audience?”
For me, small steps can make big changes, and whilst I’m sure there are a wealth of agencies screaming “Social Media Strategies”, “Partnerships and Endorsements”, and “Events”, I’d simply say start with where the heart is – home – and by that I mean virgin.com… something perhaps like an interactive ‘film and game’ experience that can sit alongside the slightly boring, text heavy ‘About Us’ section on the site. Forgive me if this appears hypocritical.
Now prior to Virgins arrival in the Travel, Leisure, Media and Health industries, people forget (and our 15-24 demographic perhaps don’t know) that we (the consumer), were being underserved and overcharged by companies like British Airways, National Express Rail and Sky TV for services that today we take for granted. Before Virgin it cost anyone looking to fly out of the UK, travel “up north”, visit the gym, or have digital TV a fortune, the service was poor and alternatives were few. Virgin’s arrival into the market forced change – and in order to compete, companies like BA had to get better, which they did.
Consider for a moment that Virgin ‘Made the world a better place’ (because of this ‘forced change’), and I think we have the start of a good idea. I would argue that the difference between the -25+ audience is knowledge, and that maybe the 15-24 year old demographic don’t consider that a world without Virgin would be incredibly bleak… a no doubt be a lesser world.
If anyone fancies having a go at working with this as an idea feel free – Virgin ‘Made the world a better place’.
Please post your thoughts and enjoy my slightly erratic ‘account person’s ad’ below!
Lee
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What is it: An interactive ‘film and game’ experience that sits on the ‘About Us’ section of the virgin.com
Title – Virgin World
Start (Film Mode): We see a boy playing on a computer in a bedroom. The camera pans around him and then zooms into the game screen. We see that he is controlling a fantasy world similar to the popular RPG games of the 90′s – Sim City and Roller Coaster Tycoon. The boy is struggling – his Sims are throwing up outside travel terminals, moaning about the price of a coke, upset at the lack of entertainment, angry that their TV service has gone down, getting fatter due to lack of exercise, etc, etc and so on.
Explore (Game Mode): The visitor then takes control of the world (as if through the eyes of the boy playing the game). They interact with the different elements for a while before getting a message from the City Mayor explaining that a celebratory entrepreneur is about to visit the game world.
Cue Richard Branson (Film Mode): The game camera pans to the edge of the map and in to the city walks Richard Branson. The camera zooms in on him greeting Sims who instantly become overjoyed. He gives us a cheeky smile, fluffs his magic beard and starts waving it at various city elements as he navigates the game map, suddenly:
- An angry shopkeeper who previously sold overpriced Soda which no Sim could afford starts selling Virgin Cola… His business is transformed into a thriving enterprise
- The city rail network starts to run more efficiently – its faster, on time, it’s cheaper, Its Virgin Trains
- A forgotten plot of wasteland, is converted into the V festival… music starts to bang out of the city and artists, hipsters and the rich flood in
Experience (Game Mode): After watching Branson transform the fortunes of the city, the visitor is then warped into the body of one of the Sims… From a ‘first person’ perspective the experience continues, the game goes into ‘free roam’ and visitors are able to browse the map, and interact with various Virgin companies, events and experiences in their own time, they may for example choose to:
- Go to the Virgin Brides shop to book an appointment with a Virgin Brides personal assistant. Perhaps they can interact and chat with other ‘brides to be’ in a live virtual chat room
- Visit an in game representation of the V festival, where they can watch clips from last year’s event, buy tickets for V Festival 2009 and enter into live chat with music lovers from around the world
- Go to a Virgin Entrepreneurs area, where they can get inspiration from Branson and other likeminded business people, as well as upload and share any innovative Virgin business ideas they may have themselves (this could form the basis of competition that would secure marketing and promotion across partner sites)
Clicking on some elements of the map may launch new and partner websites, or open up Virgin brand films which can be developed over time and worked into the experience.
Virgin ‘Made the world a better place’.
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