In This Age
Tuesday, July 05, 2005
My friend Adam and I have been collaborating on a new TV show concept that’s rooted in exceptional marketing stories. In thinking through some of the storylines, I was struck by how much our industry’s moved forward in the past few years. Gone are the days when a great logo, name and tag line were all that’s required. Now, products depend as much on ‘customer experiences’ as they do on packaging. Google puts instant research at our fingertips. Comparison-shopping sites help us find the right price. Web sites provide new and meaningful ways to experience a product without seeing it in person.
Think about cell phones—when someone recommends a new cell phone to you, isn’t the first thing you do go and see if you can find some good imagery and reviews on the Web? Think about digital cameras. Would you ever buy a new camera just by walking into a store and listening to what the salesperson had to say? Think about movies. Woudl you ever go see an unknown movie just based on who was in it without checking out Rotten Tomatoes or another review site first?
We have a new medium of unregulated and growing information. We have tools that put us directly in contact with people who would never have otherwise crossed our lives. We have validation and testing tools. We have research and analytical tools. We have networked economies, where the vision of the Cluetrain Manifesto now seems apparent—markets have truly become conversations.
And yet, we continue to make the same mistakes we made years ago. We don’t pay our bills on time. We’re constantly late to meetings. We’re forgetting phone numbers and losing contact information. We don’t stay in touch. We pay too much for too little. We trust a guy we meet at a bar instead of someone who has been written up all over different Web sites. We make excuses.
How is is that our culture continues to devolve to accomodate the valuable additions to our lives? How is it that in spite of all of what we progress with, we continue to be less and less efficient as a society? And how the heck is it, that despite our best efforts to create tools and processes to make our lives easier, we as a country are more stressed than ever before? I mean...what were the good old times, really?
TiVo and Television Advertising
I’m back from the Cannes Lions, where in addition to some excellent parties, I was pleasantly surprised at the strong showing of global work in all the categories. The Lions are still very creatively driven, and the 30-second spot is still king of the hill. The closing night and the film awards were attended by a record number of people, compared to other nights during the week.
As a marketer who is channel-agnostic, I can’t help but feel like we’re a bit delusional in thinking that the impact of the television commercial is going to continue to be the same as it was a few years ago. Many of you know this already, but the advertising revenues of Google and Yahoo! now are more than the combined advertising revenues of the three major US networks. Studies show that brand recognition from TV commercials is consistently deteriorating. Clients continue to move marketing spend across multiple channels, including traditional advertisers like P&G and Nestle. The rapid proliferation of DVRs like TiVo are making it harder for companies to even force-feed commercials. Recently, the New York Times reported that the number of DVRs in the US alone will double every three years, and predicts 40% penetration by the end of 2006. These are all relevant, scary facts.
But I’m also tired of people professing their love for other channels and dismissing the commercial. I think there’s a transitory step, and I think its essential. Commercials are one of our better tools to tell stories. They become part of urban culture when done properly, and in some special cases, represent legend-building venues for brands. Done right, they are arguably a better vehicle for emotional brand building than most other mediums. Of course, story-telling can be accomplished best through an integrated approach that involves the right experiences, messaging and context in various touch-points, but most large companies are too fragmented to truly get there in the near future.
So, what’s an ad agency and an advertiser to do?
One potential answer is in the rapidly growing market of DVRs. I’m thinking of TiVo as an example, and I have an idea that I’m going to call TiOns. (TiOn is short for a TiVo Coupon.) Here’s how it would work:
Let’s say you’re watching your TiVo’ed episode of Desperate Housewives that has a story line around weight and fitness issues. As you fast forward through the commercials, you’re suddenly alerted that one of the commercials has a “TiOn” available. It’s an ad for 24-hour fitness, and the TiOn says something like: Here’s a free month’s membership TiOn for the 24-hour Fitness at 220 Maple Street. Press Select to print. It so happens that 220 Maple Street is right down the block from you, and you’ve been thinking of signing up. The TiOn prints with a unique number on it, which is used by 24-hour Fitness to track their offer responses. The TiOn is printed on a tiny slip of paper that comes from a tightly wound roll inside the DVR which can be replaced, and each roll can print close to 500 TiOns.
The beauty of this approach is that the commercials could continue to be heavily “emotional,” and the salesy-pitch from the offer is layered on top, not in the commercial, but directly from the DVR. For locally-driven markets like new cars, the dealer’s advertising costs could go towards TiOns instead of bad local versions of the national commercial.
How could this happen?
First, I want TiVo and other DVR manufacturers to agree on a content tagging system that allows advertisers to purchase “tag time” whenever one of their commercials is on the air.
Next, I want the new DVRs to have coupon-printing capabilities, and the older ones’ firmware to be updated with an application that allows you to have TiVO to email you any tagged coupons.
Next, as part of their commercial spend, I want advertisers to buy tag-time with TiVo for that particular commercial, and every time it is on, a TiOn-enabled box will use its software to trigger the TiOn offer that’s relevant to the demographic data provided by the subscriber. It’s important that TiVo not over-charge for this service...they will make plenty of money on volume.
Finally, I want TiVo to sell two versions of their box. One, with no TiOns, for their normal price, and two, TiOn-enabled, available for free, or a very nominal fee. (You need this choice to satisfy some of the more vocal customers who will object heavily to the advertising-centricness of this approach. Plus, having a specific TiOn-based system will clear up any privacy issues, since people are choosing to get it.)
I really think this would work—and brand storytelling through commercials may just get some help with a new lease on life.
From the Cannes Lions
Friday, June 24, 2005
I’m writing this on the penultimate day of the Cannes Lions, where, after roasting in Indian summer, I am baking in pleasant French-coastal heat.
The grand prix for Direct went to a TV spot that required people swith between two channel to watch a commercial, and then finally sent you to a Web site to see the final product. It just re-inforces my belief that the Lions needs an overhaul in the direct section. These decisions are too creatively driven, and very little credence is given to strategic significance. Don’t get me wrong—creativity is paramount; just not when it doesn’t produce results.
A full report when I return next week.
Heat Wave
Thursday, June 16, 2005
I’m in sweltering 128 degree heat, deep in the heart of Gujarat, India. Yesterday, my three-day Indian wedding came to an end, and as of today, I am, in the eyes of my parents, friends, and a new family of over a hundred amazing people, officially married.
What struck me most about my wedding, to which, as per tradition, I was a groom and spectator (the bride’s side does all the planning and work, and keeps most of the details a surprise) was that culture, no matter where you’re from, plays a significant role in our everyday economic decisions.
My in-laws have lived in the same town for over thirty years, and their social obligation to provide something of significant buzz was evident; culture and tradition dictated our decor and food; our different sub-cultures informed our choice of attire and jewelry; our heritage and mythology required specific expenditures.
All this, as a quick note to say that when I return to the US, I’ll be spending a signficant amount of time on this blog exploring the idea of marketing through sub-cultures. It struck me, as I sat in the midst of a panoply of Indian summer colors, that the answers to brand differentiation in our evolving world may have less to do with understanding the individual customer, and more to do with understanding the subtexts of the cultural ecosystems from which they all come.
Plaxo and LinkedIn Should Merge
Plaxo is contact management software that makes ridiculously good use of the Internet. So, you have this massive address book in Outlook that you’ve grown over several years and several jobs. You never get to clean out the book to figure out if people’s numbers are still the same, where they’re at now, and wouldn’t it be nifty if your address book automatically updated itself everytime someone changed jobs or contact information? Also, its a pain letting everyone know your new information every time its you who’s doing the moving. Plaxo connects you to your network, and keeps your address book fresh, relevant, and up-to-date.
Of course, for this to work, a lot of your contacts need to be Plaxo’ed as well.
Guess what? They are.
Now, LinkedIn is another story. It is literally the best networking tool I have ever used, and I’m on it constantly, looking for new talent, getting references for people who aren’t in my first degree, and expanding my prospect list. Some time ago, I wrote an entry in this blog about the service. Essentially, here’s how it works:
You know Abe and Ben. Abe knows Cassie and David. Cassie knows Ben and You. David knows Ed and Frannie. We’re all on LinkedIn, and identified who we know. Now, let’s say you’re browsing your extended network, and realize that Frannie is VP at a company that you’re trying to do business with. Through LinkedIn, you initiate a contact request through your friend Abe, who forwards it on to his friend David. David forwards this “trusted request” onto Frannie, who is much more likely to take your call than if you cold-called her. It’s structured networking, and it really, really works.
Of course, the larger yours and everyone else’s network is, the more people you can connect to, and network with. This is where I see incredible synergy between Plaxo and LinkedIn. Plaxo allows you to keep in touch with contacts, and LinkedIn lets you network through your contacts. Marrying the two services would give each something they don’t have.
Plaxo would give LinkedIn breadth, and LinkedIn would give Plaxo depth.
Of course, there’s a shark on the horizon. If I were Microsoft, I’d be looking very carefully at Plaxo to figure out how it if it fits with my Microsoft Office and Outlook strategy. Plaxo’s use of the Internet is exactly what the doctor ordered to give Outlook a fresh lease.