Posters
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Mission Control is a well-produced 76 second video by PepsiCo’s Gatorade ‘splaining how Gatorade marketing monitors the web for comments, chatter and potential product improvements. The “war room” at mission control is filled with AT&T NOC (network operations center) -like people in front of multiple monitors — their fingers on the pulse of Gatorade enthusiasts. Looks like they are a busy bunch.
Interspersed with the mission control pictures are great shots of Kobe, Serena, etc., helping viewers work up a sweat…which is what Gatorade is and should always be about.
Right now this vid is kind of inside baseball for the marketing, advertising and social community – plus I think it’s being used in and around Cannes to round up votes. It’s a great spend, by Gatorade as they “set the stage for digital leadership.” I’ve written before that every large corporation in America will have a social media dept. and I believe it. Smart senior agency people have nodded in agreement yet told me that the truly creative ideas and productions that hit wire/less will still come from agencies. That, too, I believe.
After a while though, after all marketers have jumped on this listening bandwagon and consumers are conditioned to provide product input, message input and marketing input, it will begin to dull the strategic senses. It will turn the world into a place filled with screen-scratching marketing interns, when what we really want to do is listen to the influential “Posters.” (Google whatstheidea+posters.)
Let’s watch out for that monster that we are creating. Peace!
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Tags: at&t, Cannes, digital leadership, gatorade, Gatorade mission control, google, Kobe, marketing, pepsico, Posters, Serena, social media monster, whats the idea, whatstheidea
Yahoo is buying Associated Media and its federation of 380,000 writers (Posters) who according to ComScore generate 16M monthly uniques. Yahoo is paying $100 million for the ability to advertise to Associated’s audience and the deal also includes some technology which allows for the monitoring and prediction of reader content proclivities. This is a big move for Carol Bartz, Yahoo CEO, and shows she is putting money into the content strategy.
I look at content portals like Yahoo and AOL a little bit like big retail malls. A good portal, like a good mall, has lots of tenants but there is always what is called an anchor tenant — a big store that draws in lots of people. In my view, this $100 million play is more about finding an “anchor” tenant (or ten) among Associated Media’s writers who will propel Yahoo’s numbers upward, rather than a crowd sourcing effort to generate mass. It’s like putting a seine net in the ocean to catch krill but finding some big fish. Yahoo needs next generation big fish. Big Posters. It’s a very expensive move, but should work for them. The portal story, IMHO, is about quality not quantity. But that’s just me. Peace!
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Tags: AOL, associated media, Carol Bartz, consumer generated content, Posters, whats the idea, whatstheidea, yahoo
Where do Posters hang out? And once you find them what’s a good way to reach them? Good questions. Certainly Posters (original content creators on the web) hang out online, but the best Posters get out of the building to see and smell the coffee – they need living breathing stimulation. So how to you find and reach them?
On a macro level, you go big. So Vancouver would be a good place to be promoting and spending to reach Posters this week. Davos Switzerland or Park City, UT (home to Sundance Film Festival) would have been good places to promote a couple of weeks ago. Buying radio, outdoor, local web or local TV ads in these cities, well in advance, would have been a smart way to reach Posters in a targeted relatively inexpensive way.
On more of a micro level, if you want to reach technology Posters or music Posters, try buying media in Austin, TX during South By Southwest. How about dialing up your Google campaign in that city for those couple of weeks? If you are trying to reach soccer Posters, look to South Africa for the World Cup soccer finals in a few months.
At McCann-Erickson the media people used to look at targets and do a something called a DILO (Day In the Life Of) to determine appropriate times of day and media choices. While saving money and trying to viral up your message, think about key Poster communities and MILOs (months) or YILOs (year). Target your Posters.
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Tags: mccann erickson, Media plan, Posters, South By Southwest, Sundance Film Festival, Vancouver, whats the idea, whatstheidea, world cup
On the Web everybody has the opportunity to be a spokesperson. It’s how you use this fact that determines a marketing program’s efficacy.
What’s the Idea? readers know that unlike Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, who in their excellent book Groundswell suggest 6 different social computing profiles (creators, critics, collectors, etc.), I focus on only two: Posters and Pasters. Posters are spokespeople. Pasters amplify them. Posters write about products, services and trends. Pasters share those links. Posters have followings, influencing people they don’t know. Pasters have link buddies, most of whom they do know.
Taking advice from someone you know or with credentials you trust is and has long been the key to successful commerce. If that advise is well-crafted and convincing, so much the better. That is why targeting Posters with your social media effort is a business-winning strategy.
Social Media Briefs
Good social media programs target Posters, but are considerate of Pasters. Writing a brief for a social program, my targeting takes account of both. For the Poster the idea has to be salient selling. For the Paster it just has to make them a trusted, fun and/or thoughtful poker (to steal a word from Facebook.) If the brief can not accomplish both, then don’t force the Paster side of the equation, let it be.
On TV, you can pick your spokespeople. On the web you can’t. Simplify your brand claim, make the proof points powerful and memorable, and manage it. Don’t poop out an off-strategy message in the hope that consumers will turn into creative directors. Peace!
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Tags: Charlen Li, Facebook Marketing, groundswell, Josh Bernoff, pasters, Posters, social computing, Social media strategy, tv, web marketing, whats the idea, whatstheieda
So (All the cool people start their sentences with “so” today.) search is a major force in marketing. No doubt. It’s driving Google’s revenue, helping software nerds buy big houses, making Ad Age and Adweek boring to read, and giving ad geezers apoplexy.
Search is very important and needs to be in every marketing plan.
That said, social media is an even newer marketing darling. (I can’t imagine any of the Wendy’s pitches not having 20 minutes of silly social media ideas, can you?) But here’s an interesting distinction between search and social: A search is not a tweet. Search is an inbound information gathering exercise, while a tweet is an outbound broadcasting exercise. And though one can certainly search Twitter, that search is taking place in a smaller pond filled with influencers.
Twitter is filled with Posters (original content creators) and Pasters (referrers of content). Every marketing plan needs to target Posters for maximum thrust. If you reach the Posters, you will reach the Pasters. If you reach the Pasters, you will reach the searchers.
This is how we do-oo ii-it.
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Tags: ad age. adweek, pasters, poster and pasters, Posters, social media, twitter, wendy’s, whats the idea, whatstheidea
Gawker Media sales are up 27% compared to the same quarter last year. Those are some pretty serious numbers in a normal economy, but today? Nick Denton, CEO, has been dinged by bloggers who used to write for him for tying pay to traffic. If a Gawker writer posts a story that gets lots of readership, s/he get lots of money. Turns out this American way fee enterprise stuff works. This dude is make some “right” calls.
I’ve always loved Gawker and the way it has helped transform media – just read a mainstream newspaper columnist five years ago and compare the story to that columnist’s style today – but today Mr. Denton’s approach is hitting pay dirt. Advertisers are following. This blogger-portal journalism space is not only viable, there are signs it’s thriving.
Denton is hiring big time writers, ad agency media chiefs are making qualitative recommendations (without reams of syndicated research) and the stuff is pulling. There area couple of reasons why, but the most obvious is that Gawker readers are Posters. 33% of its readers have their own blogs and media that indexes high for Posters is valuable media. A couple of days ago I wrote about the “influence factor,” a concept of Charles Buchwalter, svp at Nielsen. This is a perfect example of influence factor at work and why good Posters should command higher CPMs and rates. Nick Denton is a seer. (Are you listening Newsday?) Peace!
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Tags: blogging, charles buchwalter, gawker media, influence factor, newsday, Nick denton, online cpm, online media, Posters, whats the idea, whatstheidea
Charles Buchwalter, svp at Nielsen, believes that over the next 12 months a social media advertising model will emerge acknowledging and presumably charging for reaching online influencers. Social media that reaches influencers, so the logic goes, should beable to charge higher rates. The “influence factor” he calls it. Readers of this blog know that “Posters” tend to be the thought leaders and taste makers, while Pasters, though important, are less so. Reach one queen bee in the fashion world and you may convert thousands.
In traditional media, Posters and Pasters co-mingle, but only in online can the algorithm truly identify a sale and track it back to a Poster’s site. Using the print model, think of this as paying a premium for positioning. I’m not sure this is a good thing because Posters who earn more will get tainted and start to post differently — like the angry punk rock band that makes it big and moves to the suburbs. Anyway, that said, I believe Mr. Buckwalter is correct. Peace!
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Tags: charles buchwalter, influence factor, Nielsen, pasters, Posters, social media, whats the idea, whatstheidea
David Pogue, a pretty tuned-in writer, mentioned in his New York Times article yesterday that while at South By Southwest (heretofore referred to as South By) he noticed lots of newspapers and magazines at attendees hotel room doors each morning. No doubt, most contained stickers and wraps touting sponsor messages. What was odd, according to Mr. Poque, was that most people left the papers on the floor. And though this doesn’t say much for the housekeeping at his hotel, the many daily papers started to pile up over time in a subtle form of protest. Last year while at South By, I noticed an anti-paper phenomenon which took place at the convention center. Check out the “paper protest alcove” picture and post.
South By-Interactive is filled with Posters (opposite of Pasters) who are content generating opinion leaders. South By-Music, held the following week, is filled with Music Posters. Both are taste makers and both groups are opting out of paper. This is a trend which was very evident at South By and is coming to a neighborhood near you. Peace!
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Tags: david poque, new york times, pasters, Posters, South By Southwest, whats the idea, whatstheidea
The new paradigm driving a great deal of marketing dollars today is well summarized in a Sundance Channel print ad appearing in today’s New York Times. It says: “…the only currency that matters is trust; marketing can’t change consumer behavior, but must be a two-way conversation built around engaging content..”
Let’s parse this little tidbit.
1. Trust is indeed important. Too many marketers and ad agencies have reduced consumer trust by inflating claims and implying things that are just not accurate. (Can you say food stylist?) We have conditioned consumers to question our claims and have therefore made our beds. If you can’t tell the truth, change the product.
2. Marketing can’t change consumer behavior. OMFG. It may make for good copy and even sound thoughtful, but it couldn’t be farther from the truth. Marketing has, does and ever shall change consumer behavior. Take a dollar off a bag of lettuce and you alter consumer behavior.
3. Marketing must be a two-way conversation built around engaging content. This is the pop marketing tactic of the week and, frankly, it’s dangerous. Allowing consumers to drive the claims, features and benefits conversation is just bad business. Having spent lots of client money modulating messages in the hope of increasing share points, I know how scientific it can be. Ceding that modulation to a bunch of Posters and Paster on the web can be problematic. Moreover, it’s lazy. I’m not saying don’t allow the conversation; good marketing comes from listening to consumers, but my point is that a two-way conversation can quickly recede to a one-way conversation if not managed. Peace!
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Tags: new york times, pasters, Posters, sundance channel, whats the idea, whatstheidea
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