Ad for French TV channel -promoting the art of storytelling.
Great storytelling
Saturday, 10 October 2009
Thursday, 8 October 2009
Customer centric vending
.... don't worry i can get some ... give me two minutes. Headache, what now? Don't go anywhere. I'll be back.
Its Anadin, what do you think it is.
That was a one off, but just in case i got something small, hard, shiny and comes in a canister.
... not a lot of garlic, why?
3 or will 2 be enough ... any brand preference?
The vending machines in the mens (mid market hotel) sell condoms, condoms - coloured, condoms - with Ferraris (why speed?) on the pack, something for erectile disfunction (whatever that is), headache tablets and, of course, mints
Great thinking. Good marketers solve a customer problem, they sell the solution - not the product. I get the nagging feeling they are missing a trick but cant think what that would be or whether it would fit in a vending machine?
Its Anadin, what do you think it is.
That was a one off, but just in case i got something small, hard, shiny and comes in a canister.
... not a lot of garlic, why?
3 or will 2 be enough ... any brand preference?
The vending machines in the mens (mid market hotel) sell condoms, condoms - coloured, condoms - with Ferraris (why speed?) on the pack, something for erectile disfunction (whatever that is), headache tablets and, of course, mints
Great thinking. Good marketers solve a customer problem, they sell the solution - not the product. I get the nagging feeling they are missing a trick but cant think what that would be or whether it would fit in a vending machine?
Sunday, 4 October 2009
The social media conundrum
Most businesses understandably see social media as an attractive opportunity.
Now to bring everyone back down to earth (because that is what i have to do as a job more often than not) we could make a rational argument pointing out the resource, content, relevance demands and complexities. It would be dull and you won't remember it anyway. Lets try another way.
WH Smiths have just launched their facebook page and you can twitter with them when ever you want. How does that make you feel? Excited? Thought not. But point made, that is how customers may see your brand's social media activity. By the way WH Smiths haven't or i hope they haven't.
Everyday millions of people commute into London by train, they sit there for two to three hours a day. A captive audience, waiting to be marketed to. That is why i am launching my commuter marketing agency tomorrow. I suspect your first reaction is, he is an idiot. Second reaction is why not just put an ad in the newspaper at least they will have something useful (content) to read. Third reaction is, if you are still being polite, 'we will include transport in the media schedule if it fits with the strategy, thanks for your contribution'.
So just because the customers are there does not mean there is the opportunity to market to them. Social media is a really confusing term. Most of them are social networking sites not marketing tools waiting to be utilised.
By all means use social media to listen, or resolve, engage and participate if you can add value but don't think of it as a marketing panacea. And of course first work out what your customers want and if you can credibly provide a solution. Many brands have used social media well (Dell, Mini, Amex, BT) but they have invested considerable time and resource, they also know what they wanted to get out of it.
The social media strategy is easy, do things that customers want or find useful. It's the execution which is the tricky time consuming bit.
- 200m blogs on blogger
- 100m Youtube videos watched every day
- 5,000m facebook minutes daily
- 38% of all on line media is on social media platforms
- 2/3 of the global internet population visit social networks and they are the 4th most popular on line activity
- 20% of twitter conversations mention brands
Now to bring everyone back down to earth (because that is what i have to do as a job more often than not) we could make a rational argument pointing out the resource, content, relevance demands and complexities. It would be dull and you won't remember it anyway. Lets try another way.
WH Smiths have just launched their facebook page and you can twitter with them when ever you want. How does that make you feel? Excited? Thought not. But point made, that is how customers may see your brand's social media activity. By the way WH Smiths haven't or i hope they haven't.
Everyday millions of people commute into London by train, they sit there for two to three hours a day. A captive audience, waiting to be marketed to. That is why i am launching my commuter marketing agency tomorrow. I suspect your first reaction is, he is an idiot. Second reaction is why not just put an ad in the newspaper at least they will have something useful (content) to read. Third reaction is, if you are still being polite, 'we will include transport in the media schedule if it fits with the strategy, thanks for your contribution'.
So just because the customers are there does not mean there is the opportunity to market to them. Social media is a really confusing term. Most of them are social networking sites not marketing tools waiting to be utilised.
By all means use social media to listen, or resolve, engage and participate if you can add value but don't think of it as a marketing panacea. And of course first work out what your customers want and if you can credibly provide a solution. Many brands have used social media well (Dell, Mini, Amex, BT) but they have invested considerable time and resource, they also know what they wanted to get out of it.
The social media strategy is easy, do things that customers want or find useful. It's the execution which is the tricky time consuming bit.
Monday, 21 September 2009
Light at the end of the tunnel
I have not written anything in the last month because in the words of a colleague - I have even got bored with myself. Don't be silly, that is not possible! But i know what they meant. I don't know whether this is a common affliction in marketing, I suspect it is.
The problem is similar to the one in the 90s when we all talked about the wonderful world of what CRM technologies would deliver. We could all talk an infinitely better game than any clients internal system would let us deliver. And even today when businesses undergo a CRM audit or CRM capability analysis, the good ones score 40% or even lower. That wouldn't even get you an A* in media studies.
The same is happening with digital. We can can create a wonderful vision of tags, cookies, virtual databases, personalised web environments and collaborative filtering (what amazon do) but delivering is a bit tricky. The frustration is the deliverable gets diluted and can be miles away from what we can do or are allowed to - unless of course you are a pure play e-commerce or your business is doing badly enough to force you to re-engineer yourself.
That i am afraid is the silver lining upbeat swing at the end of the downbeat article, some organisations have no choice but to do things differently. Lack of budget focuses the mind. However i am an optimist - eventually.
And no I am not thinking about my clients.
Only positive cheery comments please.
The problem is similar to the one in the 90s when we all talked about the wonderful world of what CRM technologies would deliver. We could all talk an infinitely better game than any clients internal system would let us deliver. And even today when businesses undergo a CRM audit or CRM capability analysis, the good ones score 40% or even lower. That wouldn't even get you an A* in media studies.
The same is happening with digital. We can can create a wonderful vision of tags, cookies, virtual databases, personalised web environments and collaborative filtering (what amazon do) but delivering is a bit tricky. The frustration is the deliverable gets diluted and can be miles away from what we can do or are allowed to - unless of course you are a pure play e-commerce or your business is doing badly enough to force you to re-engineer yourself.
That i am afraid is the silver lining upbeat swing at the end of the downbeat article, some organisations have no choice but to do things differently. Lack of budget focuses the mind. However i am an optimist - eventually.
And no I am not thinking about my clients.
Only positive cheery comments please.
Friday, 7 August 2009
Tech marketing = drug dealing
Just get it in the hands of your customers and they wont be able to give up the habit suppose that's why all the games retailers have the demo consoles in store.
But here is a great digital example. A chumby is a wi-fi device on which you can run apps, facebook, ebay, radio, transport information, news feeds, webcams. Keep it in the kitchen. They cost about £100.
But the really neat thing is that you can run a virtual chumby on your pc before you buy. Technology isn't real until you experience it.
This illustrates another point about digital making relationship marketing before the sale simpler and more cost effective.
Thanks to Rory Sutherland for showing me his virtual Chumby. If you want to set yours up go to www.chumby.com .
But here is a great digital example. A chumby is a wi-fi device on which you can run apps, facebook, ebay, radio, transport information, news feeds, webcams. Keep it in the kitchen. They cost about £100.
But the really neat thing is that you can run a virtual chumby on your pc before you buy. Technology isn't real until you experience it.
This illustrates another point about digital making relationship marketing before the sale simpler and more cost effective.
Thanks to Rory Sutherland for showing me his virtual Chumby. If you want to set yours up go to www.chumby.com .
Wednesday, 5 August 2009
It's not how much but how much more
Fascinating example of relative pricing.
Do we sell a mobile phone tariff for £10 pcm with 50 free minutes or 150 free minutes? They both undercut the competition but clearly the 150 minute free minutes tariff creates less margin but will be more attractive to consumers. So what do we do?
The answer. Do both. And put the price up.
So you have two potential communications
A) £10 pcm with 150 minutes
B) Choose between £10pcm and 50 minutes or £12pcm and 150 minutes.
Which sells more?
It's B) and they buy the more expensive option. This is counter intuitive but the consumer rationale is 100 free minutes extra for £2. No brainer.
It's all relative!
Tariffs and offer changed to protect any potential client confidentiality.
Do we sell a mobile phone tariff for £10 pcm with 50 free minutes or 150 free minutes? They both undercut the competition but clearly the 150 minute free minutes tariff creates less margin but will be more attractive to consumers. So what do we do?
The answer. Do both. And put the price up.
So you have two potential communications
A) £10 pcm with 150 minutes
B) Choose between £10pcm and 50 minutes or £12pcm and 150 minutes.
Which sells more?
It's B) and they buy the more expensive option. This is counter intuitive but the consumer rationale is 100 free minutes extra for £2. No brainer.
It's all relative!
Tariffs and offer changed to protect any potential client confidentiality.
Friday, 19 June 2009
Top tips on how to get the worst out of your agency
- Don't brief them just ask them to do an ad or a letter or something.
- Never write anything down for them.
- Definitely don't give feedback, why should they have any clues.
- Make sure they understand that anyone who has money is in the target market.
- Under no circumstances provide information that suggests your product or service is different in any way shape or form.
- If they question this remind your agency of the power of your brand.
- BUT Provide attachments, as many as you can find. Too much knowledge can't be a bad thing.
- Talk about samples of one and your neighbours experience as much as you can.
- Never tell them the results of the campaigns or impact on sales
- Only allow a couple of days for them to produce the work, afterall writing can't be that difficult.
- Ensure that they work at cost, profits just go on long lunches anyway.
- Draw a concept for them in the briefing meeting, and tell them what your boss likes to see.
- Ask them to communicate as much as feasibly possible in anything they do.
- On no account ever present to them.
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About Me
- thinking marketing
- United Kingdom
- Just curious about marketing, psychology, economics, business, irrational behaviour, people, models, communications, advertising, market imperfections, b2b marketing. I work in the marketing communications industry for OgilvyOne.