Church of the Customer: Citizen marketers archives
February 08, 2008
"Citizen Marketers" for educators
As the son of a retired college professor, I'm a softie for teachers.
So, high school and college educators: If you're interested in a review copy of "Citizen Marketers" to consider for inclusion in a course syllabus, email me at ben ****at*** benmcconnell.com and we'll make arrangements.
We've been pleased at the adoption of the book by educators, so perhaps it makes sense to widen that pathway. (For newcomers, "Citizen Marketers" is a trend book that examines the early history of social media and its implications for business marketing.)
February 06, 2008
How to correct an evangelist
Maybe you're lucky enough to have customer evangelists who are passionate and spread the word about you.
But perhaps the way they describe you to others in person, or on their blog, isn't how you would say it personally, or how your company says it. It isn't factually wrong, but it's not exactly how you would say it.
Would you:
a) Correct your customer evangelist publicly, such as leaving a comment on their blog?
b) Thank them in an email for the mention, and then correct them?
c) Thank them on their blog, or in an email, and say nothing about their somewhat flawed description?
d) Do or say nothing?
The correct answer, as I see it, is C.
- No matter what, thank the customer for her referral and/or passion.
- If the customer has old or incorrect information, you could ask if they're interested in an update on what's new. Better yet, invite her to join a special program for evangelists; access to an inner circle can be golden.
- If the customer's information is technically correct but incomplete, or uses her own words and not yours, get over it. A word-smithing scold is old.
January 11, 2008
The good pirates
If you're a football fan, you haven't escaped seeing the YouTube-like Coors Light commercials that employ fake fans holding their cans of Coors (in a most improbable way) and ask dumb questions of actual coaches.
The gimmick is that the spots splice in the coaches' answers from their actual post-game news conferences. Funny premise, but most fell short of actual humor.
The commercials have succeeded, though, in inspiring a bevy of online copycats, precisely because it is an ode to amateur culture--mashing up actual footage with fake footage for humor. One of my faves features Pittsburgh Steelers coach Mike Tomlin. The Pittsburghese is dead-on funny.
Not a bad blueprint for future TV ads: pay homage to amateur culture, and amateur culture will return the favor, spreading word of mouth.
Amateur ad featuring Oklahoma State coach Mike Gundy [RSS readers click here.]
Amateur ad featuring Steelers coach Mike Tomlin [RSS readers click here.]
October 30, 2007
Apple embraces citizen-made ad
Almost everyone knows of Apple's reluctance to embrace third-party applications for the iPhone.
That's why it's surprising the company has embraced this homemade ad from an 18-year-old British student for the iPod Touch. Apple turned it into a broadcast television ad (NY Times has more.)
Yeah, it's an ad. Yadda yadda.
But maybe, just maybe, it's a sign of a notoriously secretive and closed company opening up. There's no monopoly on good ideas.
September 04, 2007
The sale of TiVoCommunity.com
If you've read "Citizen Marketers," then you're familiar with the story of TiVoCommunity, a citizen-created site dedicated to all things TiVo.
David Bott founded the digital community in 1999. Back then, it made sense to him to start a community around the digital video recorder since he'd already been running an online community for audio-video enthusiasts.
With TiVo Community now at 161,000 members, Bott sold the site last week to Capable Networks, a Chicago-based company that specializes in online communities, for an undisclosed amount.
We asked Bott to tell us about the sale and what it could mean for other citizen-created sites dedicated to brands.
Q: Capable Networks purchased the community you founded and have been running for several years. Why sell now?
A: A lot has happened in my life over the past year, one of which is health-related. Not that running TiVo Community was a lot of work, but when you consider the other communities I run plus my involvement in the audio-video industry, it adds up. TiVo Community will be better-served by Capable Networks, which has developed a business model on what was started with TiVo Community Forum. I cannot give it the attention it deserves. They can. It is a great fit, and I feel very well with the choice.
Q: What exactly does Capable get with this purchase?
A: Capable Networks received all the domains for TiVo Community, the community itself, the data, the archives, the interest in TiVo Community Store, and the license agreements from TiVo, Inc. Not to mention my thanks for its interest in working with the community along the same lines that I have set into place.
Q: Will you continue in your virtual mayoral duties and moderate the community?
A: I will be around, can't keep away. But I will act as a consultant to Capable Networks on the site itself and on other sites it operates under the same principles. The moderators that help out on the site will be staying on board.
Q: To some outsiders, it may seem a bit disconcerting that a community has been "purchased;" it's almost like saying the city of Austin was bought by a private-equity group. How have the members of TiVo Community reacted to the news?
A: Well, not quite the same really. But an interesting analogy. You need to think of it as a business regardless. If not, you will get very, very personally involved and that could be a very bad thing. Members of such sites have their own thoughts on how things need to be run. And that is fine, but they're not laying down the dollars to keep it running or putting in the time to run it. Unlike a citizen who needs to pay taxes and have a say via votes. The members can just come and go without regard to the site at any time without issue. But a forum operator can not. Bills need to be paid and thus you need to work on it as a business to fund it. If you mess up, it is all on you. Thus you do what you feel is right for the community. You have to have a passion for doing it for it to work.
As far as the community reaction, they seem fine but are of course wondering what changes may come done the road. But then again, they always wondered that. New owners does not necessarily mean major change. After all, it would not be of interest if it did not work well the way it was.
Q: Another party with great interest in the outcome would obviously be TiVo. What has its reaction been?
A: I, of course, checked with TiVo before the sale went too far into the talks. This is not something that happened overnight as we have been working on this for quite sometime. TiVo checked into Capable Networks and seemed to agree it would be good fit; Capable can bring more to the table for the members of the site than I currently have the time to do. I would not have moved with forward without their OK. We have a great relationship.
Q: How has the community changed since we first talked with you in early 2006?
A: Not that much. The site is very attractive to TiVo owners and continues to see over a million unique visitors a month. A store was added to purchase TiVo products and upgrades right from the community site. Other than that, things are moving right long.
Q: Does this sale mean there's a bright future for other citizen-created brand sites?
A: Yes, for sure. Other dedicated product sites could be of interest to companies like Capable. But I think it would come down to product type, membership size, and the number of unique visitors per month.
August 07, 2007
The customer review effect
Some new numbers on what retailers in the U.S., the U.K. and Europe say happened after putting customer-created reviews on their websites:
- 77% reported site traffic increases
- 56% reported improved conversion rates
- 42% reported higher average order values
Personally, I don't buy anything or visit any new merchant today without first locating a number of customer-generated reviews for it. Making it easy for customers to review your products on your site is now pretty much a no-brainer.
July 11, 2007
Fan-created comics
John tells us about Zuda, a forthcoming project from DC Comics that'll rely on the participation of fans to create a new, web-based comic strip. Fans will also be able to vote on their peer-created favorites.
As the Zuda guys describe it: "The one you guys like the best is the one we'll sign up for a one-year contract."
Products or categories with built-in, existing fanatical bases that probably have the best shots at fostering a participatory community. Comics are a natural fit.
May 25, 2007
Chicken Little pecks again
Citizen-created content is "stressful, costly and time-consuming"... for the brand.
That's the latest fear-mongering about citizen-created content that has wormed its way into the pages of the New York Times. As the paper did with the advent of blogging a few years ago, the NYT is following the journalistic recipe of inciting fear about subjects for which it does not understand. (I worked at a big-city newspaper for eight years and saw this wide-eyed fear writing all the time.)
Don't be too surprised if the pitch for this particular story came from the ad agency owner who's quoted in the piece. Message-creating agencies are threatened most by sharing power and influence with citizen-participants. The loss of control is threatening, but nothing will stop the democratization of participation. There's too much broadband and too many cellphones and laptops and too many people accustomed the idea of sharing their opinions. Better to accept it now than two or three years from now when an upstart gains marketshare because it embraced participation and all of its quirks.
So to the people at Heinz who are in the midst of hosting a citizen-created ad contest, ignore the noobs. Your contest is not about "creating great advertising." It's giving everyday people a voice and a vocation. Those two tactics alone generate word of mouth. Just scrolling through some of the entries I watched 10 different ads for Heinz. Isn't that the idea? Trust me, none of them harmed my impression of your ketchup.
Press on with your experiment and use it as the foundation for building relationships that bypass the black holes of sales channels. Not everything submitted to your contest is going to look polished, like it came from an agency.
Which is precisely the idea.
May 08, 2007
An animated customer experience
Recording your call with a customer service rep and sharing it with the world is one thing; recording it and turning it into an animated video takes the idea to a new level.
That's what Justin Callaway did. He's upset with Cingular Wireless/AT&T because he claims the RF interference from one of its phones blew out a $100 computer speaker on his desk. So with the help of some creative friends, Justin created an animated video that used his call with a Cingular customer support rep as a scene-setter to his four-minute movie that rips apart Cingular's service. Highlights include Cingular's animated icon guy blowing things up around town with his "powers."
There's some debate as to who's at fault with the blown speaker, whether it's Cingular or the speaker manufacturer for not properly shielding its products from interference. But there's little doubt that determined citizen marketers are going to new lengths to create marketing, or anti-marketing, about any brand, product or company.
May 02, 2007
And the winners are ...
Brands have launched a blizzard of citizen-created commercial contests this year, and several have recently wrapped up.
Let's look at the winners:
Intuit's Tax Rap Contest with Vanilla Ice
- Objective: Create a rap video about taxes and Intuit's TurboTax product
- Submissions: 373
- Winner: "It's just a breeze G" by cpulfer
- Comment: Pretty good. Almost too good. Plus, Vanilla Ice needs a speech therapist.
Southwest Airlines' Wanna Get Away Video Contest
- Objective: Create a video portraying a "wanna get away" moment
- Submissions: 136
- Winner: "The Friend of My Dreams" by BrianKristopher
- Comment: Very funny winner. Southwest should have given particpants the "wanna get away" voiceover and image to embed at the end of their videos.
H&R Block's "Me & My Super Sweet Refund Video Contest
- Objective: Demonstrate how you would spend your "super sweet refund" this year and include the phrases "TaxCut Online" and "Super Sweet Refund."
- Submissions: 130
- Winner: Wanda Wannermaker's Super Sweet Tax Refund Fantasy
- Comment: H&R Block gets points docked for not allowing winning video to be embedded
These three contests from well-known brands generated an average of about 200 entrants. It seems the benchmark for these kind of citzen-generated contests still is the Converse Gallery with 1,800 entries.
New contests to watch:
- Heinz: Create your own Heinz Ketchup commercial
- NBA: Show the NBA your best moves
- NBC's Today Show: Create a video about why you deserve a vacation [to promote the latest "Where in the World is Matt Lauer?" series]
April 23, 2007
Flip This Lawsuit
Fans of the A&E TV show "Flip This House" were dismayed to discover that the show's stars, Richard Davis and Ginger Alexander of Trademark Properties, were evicted for the show's second and third seasons.
Oddly enough, Davis -- a developer who buys distressed properties in South Carolina and rehabs them for a profit -- was ejected from the show he had created. Good ol' creative differences led to the split, but Davis is suing.
Before social media, this may have been a dispute largely handled by lawyers and PR reps hoping to sway public opinion through traditional media. But law school student and citizen marketer Mark Lyon is demonstrating how the game has changed. A "Flip" fan, Lyon created the Flip This Lawsuit blog as a Filter to chronicle the legal battle between A&E and Davis. Fans have been voicing their support for Davis and venting dismay at A&E. Commentors regularly trash the show's new real estate teams. Some are even digging in to their backgrounds and raising questions.
Some fans say they have blocked A&E from their cable boxes and refuse to watch any of the channel's shows. Lyons has posted the contact information of A&E executives so fans can further vent.
Despite reports of A&E shutting down the show's official message boards, the network seems to be allowing scathing commentary about the latest season of the show. Smart move. Let 'em vent.
Undeterred, Davis created a new show and sold it to Discovery's TLC channel. It debuted last week.
April 12, 2007
Confessions of a B-school citizen marketer
Positioning is a marketing facade that paints a picture idealized by the marketer, not necessarily the customer.
OwenBloggers.com is one of the antidotes to positioning. It has the inside scoop on Vanderbilt University's Owen Graduate School of Management. Isaac Rogers sent us this note about the site's founding; we thought it was so great that it's practically its own case study of why content and media created by the experiences of customers, or in this case students, can easily trump the stories dreamed up a marketing group.
The idea of customer evangelism is one that business schools in general just don’t get. Before my classmates and I were admitted to Owen, we stood on one side of a vast curtain; on the other side was the actual experience of business school. On the side where we stood, we were afforded only peeks at what would transpire once we were actual in the program. The glossy brochures the Admissions department sent out gave many of us the same impression; they were pre-packaged, made-for-public-consumption marketing vehicles that only told a very small fraction of the actual story.
About a week after being at Owen, a group of three first-year students were talking about how different the experience was from what we had imagined. Even though all three of us had done our research on schools, talked to current students, and met with admissions staff, we were still shocked by what we’d eventually be doing in business school. Our experience was that we were shocked in a good way; Owen was so much more than we had anticipated, we were being challenged so much more, we were having altogether unexpected and better experiences.
Owen exceeded all our expectations--- why? Why didn’t we know this?
Why didn’t admissions paint the right picture? Why did they leave so much of “the good stuff” out of the equation?
We realized the answer immediately; it was impossible for the admissions staff to tell that story -- only current students could. Only current students could capture all the emotion, the hardships, the challenges and the achievements you experience in business school.
We knew that if more prospective students saw the whole picture, they would be able to make more informed decisions about their 2-year investment. We knew if more people knew the depth of the Owen experience, more people would put Owen on their list than had done so previously.
Within a week of this revelation, OwenBloggers.com was born. We’re now a group of 17 current students, 3 admitted incoming students, and alumni, all writing constantly about our experiences here at Vanderbilt. We’re not an official club, we’re not in any way officially tied to Owen. We are just die-hard, dedicated Owen evangelists. We work hours and hours each week (on top of our hectic MBA course load) to write, update, and syndicate our pages to thousands of viewers per week.
Our idea is simple: Tell it all. Tell the good. Tell the bad. Tell the unexpected. Let every prospective student know EXACTLY what they’re in for. We feel better information makes better informed consumers.
The response so far has been overwhelming. Very overwhelming. Every prospective student I’ve talked to said OwenBloggers has made a difference in their decision. We receive emails every week from people all over the map: recruiters, students, faculty and alumni telling us how much more they’ve learned about Owen because of our site.
Jackie, you’re right on target. Customer Evangelists are the volunteer sales force every organization has, but few have the guts to mobilize them.
Hey universities and alumni groups, here are your new storytellers.
CM update: Thomas Middleditch
Thomas Middleditch, the big-sunglasses rapper in the funny citizen-created "McNuggets" ad we profiled in "Citizen Marketers," is now an ensemble member of Improv Olympic, the comedy troupe that has been the launching pad for people like Tina Fey, Amy Pohler and Vince Vaughn.
One big benefit of living in Chicago is easy access to the world's aspiring comedians. We ran in to Thomas last weekend before he hit the stage with a small troupe of comedians in a totally ad-libbed Shakesperean-style play at Chicago's Improv Olympic. It was truly an amazingly funny, even poignant, performance.
Thomas told us he'd recently been signed to a development deal with Brillstein-Grey. Expect great things from him in the future.
April 07, 2007
The 7 Minute Sopranos
To honor the last season of HBO's "The Sopranos," which begins Sunday night, comes this fan-created montage of the show's previous seven seasons.
Two 20-something fans of the show distilled 77 prior episodes into a manic and hilarious 7-minute video and uploaded it to YouTube. It's a spectacular example of citizen marketing from everyday people who also have a keen sense of tongue-in-cheek fun.
The New York Times gave the montage a glowing review and asked Sopranos' creator David Chase to weigh in, too; he gave his blessings. Now that it's been made, if you will, by the series' godfather, HBO is smart to let the clip accumulate views and commentary on YouTube.
Via Lost Remote.
UPDATE: Virgnia Heffernan, who wrote the original review of the video in the New York Times, now says that the video has a tie to HBO. After the review was published, she found out that one of the "fans" is actually a full-time freelance editor who works for HBO. He claims he put the video together in his free time, and HBO claims they weren't behind the video. Who knows the truth, but it certainly taints the work as not that of an independent fan.
March 31, 2007
Last leg of our book tour
It's down to the home stretch for the 40-city Citizen Marketers book tour and we have one question: How do bands do this? Must be a combination of the vitality of youth and beer.
Here's the list of our remaining public events. Click on the link for each one for details. Hope to see you at one of them!
- APR 5 - Akron, OH: Akron Press Club, (Ben McConnell)
- APR 11 - Philadelphia, PA: Public Relations Society of America, Plymouth Meeting Doubletree Hotel. Contact Chris Stewart for sign-ups: (215) 295-0729. (Ben McConnell)
- APR 12 - Toronto, Canada: Canadian Marketing Association's Word of Mouth Marketing Conference (Jackie Huba)
- APR 13 - Pittsburgh, PA: Brandmill (Jackie Huba)
- APR 17 - Albuquerque, NM: New Mexico Ad Federation (Ben McConnell)
- APR 19 - Basking Ridge, NJ: American Marketing Association, New Jersey chapter (Jackie Huba)
- APR 19 - Boise, ID: Kickstart 2007 (Ben McConnell)
- APR 24 - Berkeley, CA: Customer Reference Forum (Ben McConnell)
- APR 26 - Portland, OR: Kitchen '07: Consumer Marketing Summit (Ben McConnell)
- MAY 16 - Phoenix, AZ: American Marketing Association, Phoenix chapter(Jackie Huba)
- MAY 21 - Seattle, WA: Seattle Direct Marketing Association (Ben McConnell)
Photos from the Boston, Rochester NY, Milwaukee, New York City and Seattle events are here. We give another deep, deep bow and a lit cigarette lighter in the dark for everyone who's organized our previous events.
March 26, 2007
Farewell to the fizz
Michael Marx has blogged religiously about Barq's Root Beer for two years and picked up some notoriety along the way. His mission: "keep the brand alive."
Now he's letting the blog go, he says.
March 13, 2007
Link farm
* The magnanimous chiefs at InBubbleWrap are handing out copies of "Citizen Marketers." Get your paws on a free copy before time and supplies run out.
* After corresponding with radio industry consultant Mark Ramsey for the past few years via emails and blog comments, I finally got to meet him. Well, it was via Skype but it counts as a meeting, right? He recorded our chat for one of his podcasts.
* We've surpassed 40 dates for our reader-created book tour. A thousand thanks and kisses to everyone who's worked their butts off to bring us to their company or organizational event. The full schedule is here, including upcoming, public dates in Minnesota, Massachusetts, New York and Wisconsin.
* Our publisher sent us several copies of the Portugese version of Creating Customer Evangelists. If you're in Brazil or a native Portugese reader, I have four copies to give away. Comment below or send me an email to ben ::at:: benmcconnell.com.
Update: All four Portugese copies of CCE have been snapped up.
March 07, 2007
Link farm
* Mack points us to a Rolling Stone account of how Nine Inch Nails has launched what could only be called a peel-the-onion, online and offline marketing effort to introduce a new album. Since it's from the dark and twisted mind of Trent Reznor, it's insane, brilliant and designed to appeal to core fans.
* If you read French, Patrick has this Q&A with us for Montreal's Infopresse.
* A look at outsourced video-based social network vSocial, with Jackie on the assist.
* "Starbucking," the documentary that chronicles the quixotic Winter and his hobby of visiting every Starbucks in the world, is set for an April 24 release on DVD. Speaking of world domination, former Starbucks marketing gunslingers John and Paul each dissect the now-famous "Starbucks has lost its way" memo with a good deal of thought.
March 06, 2007
The kids are alright
This is the best idea I've seen from a big-media company on how to compete with the YouTubes of the world: hand the keys of content over to the community.
MTV says it will create thousands of new niche-oriented sites based on its programming and invite viewers to participate with shows and remix their content. Control is really out of control now.
This announcement is a significant breakthrough. The arbiter of cool cannot possibly run its pop-culture school the same way today as it did 20 years ago. The kids are in charge today, not some executive my age who's trying to fit in with kids half his age.
This is exactly how big media companies should fight the third-party sites; not with lawyers but with vast amounts of free content, tools to play with that content and vast new forms of particpation. To out-do YouTube, big media should be encouraging joint ownership of content. That'll help build loyalty, discover trends and uncover new talent. Besides, there's more important work to do than send hundreds of take-down notices to YouTube and MySpace every week.
The AP calls this a "risky move." Hardly. The risk is really maintaining the status quo of retaining control. MTV has never been able to find momentum online because it has always behaved like a broadcaster online. It controlled the viewing means. Design trumped usability. The community was just another message receptacle.
Now it has realized that to win, MTV must open up its garage door and invite everyone in the studio at the same time to play in the control room. Depending on your viewpoint, this is either astoundingly cool or alarmingly dangerous.
March 02, 2007
The game against Sony
Spike points us to a citizen marketer's anti-commercial for Sony's Playstation 3.
Their song: "How to Kill a Brand." It's primarily about how the PS3 doesn't allow for online game playing with others. Of course there's a music video, which features plenty of photos and a rather damning soundbite from Sony executive Phil Harrison.
This firecracker video was unleashed on YouTube, where it has garnered over 375,000 views and 2,000 comments in just one week.
Here's to hoping it's not the secret work of an agency on behalf of a Sony competitor.
Via Brains on Fire
February 28, 2007
New book excerpt
Today, Brad Berens and the folks at iMedia are featuring an excerpt from our book.
The excerpt explains the four types of citizen marketers: filters, fanatics, facilitators and firecrackers. We have written about them on the blog before the book came out but the excerpt has much more about the people in each category.
Read the excerpt here.
February 26, 2007
Tour bits: Boston
Last week on the book tour, I visited Northeastern University and Prof. Walter Carl's class on WOM, buzz & viral marketing. (That's Walter above with Jennifer Oles, his research assistant).
Walter is a prodigious academic who studies and teaches word of mouth. He is also the first professor to make Citizen Marketers required reading for a marketing class. He summarized our class discussion here.
Then it was on to the Boston HQ of Digitas. Jeff Flemings (above) hosted a great event for the digital agency that was recently bought by Publicis for a jaw-dropping $1.3 billion.
One of the more livelier topics we discussed was JetBlue and what it should do next. Most everyone agreed that the airline should use its new YouTube channel to provide regular video updates on their improvements and actions or start a blog since their current effort doesn't fly. More on the event here.
A big thanks to James Biggie and Lori Magno for your hospitality!
February 21, 2007
Our latest book tour info
Our Citizen Marketers book tour is in full swing, including a number of upcoming events that are open to the public. (Many are private; the entire book tour schedule is here... scroll down.)
Here are some public events with links to registration info:
- MAR 13 - Chicago, IL: American Marketing Association (Jackie). The event description is not current as of this posting, but it's definitely me speaking. Note the significant savings on registering by Feb. 28.
- MAR 14 - Hutchinson, MN: Hutchinson Chamber of Commerce Professional Development Network (Ben)
- MAR 15 - Boston, MA: Mass Technology Leadership Council (Jackie)
- MAR 22 - Milwaukee, WI: 800-CEO-READ Leave Smarter series (Ben and Jackie)
- APR 12 - Toronto, Canada: Canadian Marketing Association's Word of Mouth Marketing Conference (Jackie)
Other tidbits:
- Ben chats with TalentZoo about citizen marketers and why you are your Google results.
- I discuss how to connect with citizen marketers via a corporate blog on Debbie Weil's Corporate Blogging Show.
February 15, 2007
Intuit's citizen marketer contest
Intuit's TurboTax unit has teamed up with rapper Vanilla Ice to launch a citizen marketer-esque YouTube video contest. Contestants videotape themselves rapping about the tax software for a chance to win $25,000.
If you are thinking, who would write a rap about taxes? It would be these people.
Are they any good? Let's just say the next Kanye West of forms and schedules has about six more weeks to be discovered.
Word to your mother (at the IRS).
UPDATE (2/15): In the comments, Jonathan mentions another YouTube contest about taxes, this time for H&R Block's TaxCutOnline.com. Here's the contest page and the entries so far.
February 11, 2007
Criminalizing stealth marketing
Tom points us to this story: The UK is set to institute laws by the end of 2007 that penalize stealth marketing at the individual level.
Hotels, restaurants and online shops that post glowing reviews about themselves under false identities could face criminal prosecution under new rules that come into force next year.
Businesses which write fake blog entries or create whole websites purporting to be from customers will fall foul of a European directive banning them from "falsely representing oneself as a consumer."
From December 31, when the change becomes law in the UK, they can be named and shamed by trading standards or taken to court.
A law won't stop the white lies of a marketer trying to increase the ranking of a hotel on TripAdvisor or from adding bogus reviews to Amazon. The onus is on the aggregators to keep their ranking systems largely free of stealth influence.
But how can the typical citizen trust that an aggregated site has the systems or controls in place to help keep out the stealth marketers? An independent accreditation council that reviews and certifies the relative trustworthiness of review sites could be one answer.
February 09, 2007
Marketing in Chicago
If you're in the Chicago area and want to get up to speed with Citizen Marketers (and meet a ton of business-to-business marketers), the Business Marketing Association is hosting the next stop of the book tour. This one is open to everyone.
The scoop: Tuesday, Feb. 13 at 7:30 a.m. (egads) inside Accenture's offices in dah Loop. It's $25 for members, $35 for non-members. The price of admission includes a copy of the book. If you want, I'll even doodle a drawing of Oprah in the front cover for you. Register here.
The "user-generated" shooting star
Thanks to the Super Bowl, "user-generated" has gone supernova.
Whether it's media titan Barry Diller dismissing the trend yet again at a media conference this week (like he did last year) or Adweek dissecting it like Fermi scientists, user-generated marketing is the talk of the town.
Jon Fine of Businessweek is talking about it, too, going so far as to air his distaste for the common nomenclature:
Instead of the excruciating "consumer-generated advertising" and "consumer-generated marketing," I will use "citizen advertising" and "citizen marketing."
Extra gold stars for Jon on his terminological conversion. But he thinks the hype has turned the principles fueling citizen marketing, like community and authenticity, into ready-made cliches. His point (I think) is that an overheated Madison Avenue has corrupted what was authentic (like authenticity) into a faddish spin on the industry's kamikaze mission to make advertising ubiquity the new exclusivity. Traditional media has been especially treacly this year in its zeal to discuss, rate and vote on meaningless Super Bowl ads, and that's undoubtedly been fueled by the arrival of citizen advertising. If there's anything the traditional media love to talk about, it's media trends.
Brian Finkelstein, who's rather well-versed in the nature of citizen-created fandom, has a savvy viewpoint about this, arguing that the citizen "ads" for the Super Bowl were really the work of advertising and film making opportunists, not fans. He's right, of course -- that's what you get when your contest is designed for the common-denominator masses, not fans.
Madison Avenue is not in the business of creating fans -- it's in the business of widespread message distribution. But Mad Ave's influence and energy are fading not just because technology-assisted creativity is commoditizing their business, but because citizen-created content doesn't care about New York's infatuation with status and positioning debates. The power centers of influence are shifting to Google's server farms and thousands of online communities. The fans have co-opted Madison Avenue's work. Super Bowl ads are a circus freak show, and that's how about much influence they carry because the minutiae of product, brand and company discussions are being shaped in online forums, which Google follows like a studious court reporter. The points made in those forums are often carried forward to offline discussions, where they're added to the mixing bowl discussions of personal experiences of people and ultimately, their purchase decisions. There's your advertising.
Fans don't need Madison Avenue to feel validated, whether they love their washing machines or their soap.
It's not a category thing, it's a people thing.
February 08, 2007
Tour bits: Greenville, SC and Nashville, TN
Plenty of Brains on Fire in Greenville, S.C. on Tuesday for the next stop on the Citizen Marketers book tour.
The brainiacs at Brains on Fire invited me to launch their inaugural F.I.R.E. Sessions, which bring together clients, friends and employees to share and discuss the latest marketing topics and trends.
Geno, Spike and VeeDub are some of the most creative and fun people you will ever meet. A thousand thanks to Robbin and the whole BoF crew for putting on a wonderful event.
Departing Greenville I had a layover in Charlotte, N.C. Never thought I'd say this about an airport, but Charlotte's rocks. Free wi-fi, plus a cozy wine bar, jewelry store, and a Jamba Juice. I can't tell you how much a Banana Berry smoothie hits the spot on the road.
Then it was on to Nashville to meet up with the Nashville chapter of the American Marketing Association. Superstar President Karen Stone and her board did a great job of creating a sold-out book tour stop. Karen's group is on a roll. They recently won an award for the fastest-growing AMA chapter in the country for their market size. Congrats!
More photos from the Citizen Marketers book tour are here.
Tour bits: Chicago at the Shedd
Quick: Which one is the 400-pound sea lion?
Don't answer that.
I had the pleasure of meeting Ty the sea lion backstage at the Shedd Aquarium today after my Citizen Marketers presentation there for friends of the Shedd. Ty and I shook fins and he proceeded to show me some of his many skills, like lying perfectly still as his trainer demonstrated how a veterinarian might examine Ty for a check-up. Considering that I have trouble getting my 8-pound dog to sit still for the same thing, I was impressed with Ty's focus. Then he and I took turns roaring to see who was loudest. Ty won.
When it was time for me to make my way out, Ty gave me a big, wet kiss just moments before this picture was taken. (Sorry that it's rather blurry; my Treo's cellphone camera isn't quite National Geographic material. Here's more photos from our tour.)
The Shedd is one of the best-run living museums in the country with what certainly must be strong word of mouth; 2.1 million visitors in 2006 (a big increase over their 2005 figures), some 40,000+ members, 800 volunteers and a beautifully designed guest experience. The Shedd is a must-see for anyone visiting Chicago.
Thanks, Meghan!
January 23, 2007
The reader-generated tour begins
The reader-generated tour for Citizen Marketers is about to get underway. Naturally, it starts in Vegas.
Many of the events we're doing are private (i.e., inside companies), but a handful are open to anyone (except Chuck Klosterman). For events where you see "TBA," more info is to come. Fear not, our crack team of web gnomes is always updating the list with the latest info, and you can always find it here (scroll down.)
Now, I bring you, by the shimmering light of a Zippo lighter in the 14th row, the Reader-Generated 2007 Tour schedule, (ready for silkscreening onto the back of a t-shirt)!
- JAN 25 - Las Vegas, NV: GolinHarris private event (Jackie)
- FEB 6 - Greenville, SC: Brains on Fire private event (Jackie)
- FEB 7 - Nashville, TN: American Marketing Association public event (Jackie)
- FEB 8 - Chicago, IL: Museums in the Park private event (Ben)
- FEB 13 - Chicago, IL: Business Marketing Association public event (Ben)
- FEB 16 - Tampa, FL: Association of College Honor Societies private event (Ben)
- FEB 22 - Dublin, OH: Online Computer Library Center private event (Ben)
- FEB 22 - Boston, MA: Northeastern University private event (Jackie)
- FEB 23 - Boston, MA: Digitas private event (Jackie)
- FEB 26 - Kansas City, MO: H&R Block private event (Jackie)
- FEB 28 - Dover, DE: Hachik Distributors private event (Jackie)
- MAR 5 - Mountain View, CA: Intuit private event (Jackie)
- MAR 6 - San Diego, CA: Intuit private event (Jackie)
- MAR 8 - Toronto, Canada: Canadian Music Week conference public event (Ben)
- MAR 8 - Seattle, WA: Seattle Chamber of Commerce (Chamber members only) (Jackie)
- MAR 8 - Seattle, WA: Starbucks private event (Jackie)
- MAR 12 - Las Vegas, NV: Community 2.0 Conference public event (Ben)
- MAR 14 - Hutchinson, MN: public event, info TBA (Ben)
- MAR 15 - Boston, MA: private event (Jackie)
- MAR 16 - St. Louis, MO: public event info TBA
- MAR 21 - Rochester, NY: American Marketing Association public event, info TBA (Jackie)
- MAR 22 - Milwaukee, WI: 800-CEO-READ public event, (Ben and Jackie)
- MAR 27 - New York, NY: private event (Jackie)
- MAR 29 - Seattle, WA: private event (Ben and Jackie)
- APR 5 - Akron, OH: Akron Press Club, public event, info TBA (Ben)
- APR 5 - Kent, OH: Kent State University private event (Ben)
- APR 12 - Toronto, Canada: public event, info TBA (Jackie)
- APR 26 - Portland, OR: public event, info TBA (Ben)
We have an opening on March 7 for an event on the West Coast. If you are in San Diego, Silicon Valley, Seattle or Portland and are willing to pick up the tab for 200 books and travel for one person, we'll add you to the tour. Contact our tourmaster Launa Post at 724-225-8664 or launa [AT] customerevangelists.com for details.
Now all we need is a van and an entourage.
Other Citizen Marketers news tidbits:
- TypePad has named Citizen Marketers its Book of the Month for January. Here's a pretty cool deal set up with that: Anyone who signs up for Typepad's Pro service gets a 10% discount and a free copy of the book (while supplies last; see dealer for details. Not available to Chuck Klosterman.) Details on the offer are here.
- Listen to this podcast that the supremely talented Anil Dash from Six Apart conducted with us.
- Anita Campbell and I talk about citizen marketers and small businesses on her radio show, Small Business Trends Radio.
January 18, 2007
A few crunchy tidbits
A panel discussion at the National Association of Television Program Executives showed some promise for TV execs and their understanding of amateur culture. The panel was called "Engaging for Insight: Putting the Power of Fan Cultures to Work for You." It featured execs at Virgin Comics and A & E Television Networks. They discussed how they're using social networks to gather insight and engage with fans who love their content. The panel was blogged here. (Thanks, Shelley!)
* * *
Stephen Denny ponders for almost all of us why in the world AT&T kill the Cingular brand name after spending billions the last few years to build. The answer probably is: They have too much money to waste.
* * *
Jeff De Cagna and I discuss on his podcast how citizen marketers can affect non-profits and associations.
January 17, 2007
She got game
If you're a public radio listener, yours truly today will be on the new PRI show "Fair Game," hosted by the lovely and real-life Rhodes Scholar Faith Salie. She's smart and funny, not unlike Jon Stewart.
The show is live Wednesday night on some public radio and NPR stations and broadcast over the weekend on others. Here's where you can listen to the show in your area, or catch it later on the Web.
Update: I may have to start my own fan site for Faith Salie. You can listen to our chat and her radio show here.
When amateur sites turn pro
When Armand Frasco announced last week that his fan site dedicated to the Moleskine notebook had been acquired, it marked one of the first instances in the sale of a citizen marketer site. The amateur had turned pro.
Since Armand is one of the people profiled here, we asked him this weekend about the acquisition and what it means for Moleskinerie.com and its 150,000 monthly visitors.
What does it mean to be "acquired?" What are the terms?
A: Kikkerland Design Inc. now owns the domain name "Moleskinerie.com" and rights to the blog. Essentially it is a transfer of ownership. I will stay on to run the site for at least one more year.
How much did Kikkerland pay for Moleskinerie?
A: Regretfully, I'm not at liberty to discuss this aspect of the acquisition. Suffice it to say it was fair and consistent with the time and effort I have invested on the project.
Are you now an employee of Kikkerland?
A: They're a cool company and I wish I was but no, I'm not.
How did the acquisition come together? Who approached whom and why?
A: As the blog grew, site housekeeping and maintenance required more of my personal time. Just responding to readers' emails and media queries takes almost a whole morning. The rest of the day is spent on site housekeeping and tending to our Flickr and Google groups. As I've been saying, it was still fun but it had also become a full time job. I had to ask for donations from visitors to the site and many came forward. It was very touching and I wish the proceeds would cover a year's maintenance. It came to a point where my personal finances became a factor so I explored the possibility of transferring ownership to Kikkerland Design Inc, the official Moleskine distributor to the U.S. and Canada. We signed the agreement last month.
You're transitioning from a volunteer citizen marketer to something of a paid community manager for Moleskine. Is that a fair assessment?
A: I would agree with that. Very early in this blog's three-year existence, I realized how significant the site and the communities it engendered had become and what loss it would be if I lost interest (or worse) and just left the blog to whither away. They may be a thrilling joyride for a while but in the end, I believe product sites belong with a company not individuals.
It's interesting that a fan site is acquired by a company associated with that fan's object of evangelism, but how much does it change the idea of amateur fandom and its authenticity?
A: Simply put, it was a tradeoff between survival of the blog and the dreaded "selling off". Fortunately we have a happy compromise with Kikkerland CEO Jan van der Lande. With a company that deals with designers and other creatives all the time, Jan is committed to respecting the independence of the blog much like Modo & Modo (Moleskine's previous owner) co-founder Francesco Franceschi. Believe it or not, I don't keep mailing lists and addresses and they have not required me start keeping them either.
As in any other dealings in life, as long as there is honesty (disclosure of ownership and purpose in this instance) mutual trust and authenticity will remain. Our audience is among the most creative people I've met and I don't see anything that would keep them from expressing their art and opinions in our blog and affiliated communities.
What, if anything, can we expect that's different on Moleskinerie in the months ahead?
A: Nothing much, really. Both Modo & Modo/SGS and Kikkerland have maintained cordial relationships with Moleskinerie for the past couple of years and have kept us abreast with latest developments from the company that would interest our audience. Both companies have also been forthcoming with quality control and other recent product-related issues.
What's your plan for a disclaimer on your site about the relationship with Kikkerland?
A: At the moment, I have updated our "About Page" with a note explaining the acquisition. A more detailed disclaimer will be up shortly citing the new ownership and standard decency regulations in submissions and participation. I'm proud to say that "Moleskiners" have always been a civilized bunch.
January 15, 2007
Do corporate-sponsored social networks work?
Do corporate-sponsored social networks work? That's one topic of discussion in the MarketingProfs Book Club.
Scot had asked the question. He adds, "Or is it critical that these efforts are done by citizen marketers who remain independent from the company?"
Donna responds,"I think it totally depends upon how the social network is designed and the strategy behind it and staying completely focused on the goals of the network. If the network is created with the users in mind, I think it will work, especially if those users can become interactive with your product/service."
Adds David: "It may not work in cases where it's only about blatant product pitch, with nothing being given back to the community."
Right on, Donna and David. Online communities and social networking sites can help companies connect
with customers and build loyalty, but only when the
community is designed to help customers connect with other customers. If companies expect their communities to simply become vessels of company messages, forget it.
Yet that seems to be the thinking behind Toyota's new community for hybrid car owners, which launched recently. The company's press release clearly lays out its expectations for the customer community:
"Toyota's more than 600,000 hybrid owners are very passionate about their vehicles and the reasons they drive them. The new community site taps into that excitement by letting users visually represent themselves through graphic art and video. Members will help promote the Hybrid Synergy Drive brand as they evangelize about their own personal experiences."
Yes, members will do as they're told. Must. Create. More. Zombies. One visit around this clunky, all-Flash site shows that Toyota's idea of "community" is simply a one-way transfer of marketing hype from company to customer. To call it a community site is to claim that Burger King is fine dining.
For examples of authentic customer communities, we can point to at least two examples: PriusChat.com and PriusOnline.com. Unaffiliated with Toyota, these sites feature customers having real backfence discussions, like gas mileage, best tires in the rain, or how to get the heater to work faster. Prospective buyers appear regularly, asking existing owners questions as part of their research. Fortunately for Toyota, Prius owners seem to be very evangelistic about the car and are happy to help. They're not taking orders from a Toyota press release.
So our two examples are citizen-created, but there's no reason that big companies shouldn't be able to create freewheeling forums for customers that feature honest conversations and real connections. But that requires a company to be a facilitator, not a tell-us-how-great-we-are narcissist.
Toyota may be a leader with hybrid technology, but it's a Pinto when it comes to building customer communities.
January 14, 2007
Amateur Super Bowl ads
Since it's NFL playoff weekend, it's fitting to point out that a small squad of Super Bowl advertisers have jumped on the citizen-created bandwagon by inviting everyday people to help create their ads.
Lining up are Chevrolet, Doritos, and the NFL. The contests for Chevy and the NFL are to submit ideas for commercials, not actual videos. Winning ideas are made into ads by professional agencies. Pffft. Why bother?
Doritos went a step further down the authenticity road by accepting videos then hosting a playoff whereby Web visitors vote for their favorites. A funny thing happened on the way to that forum: the final five entries came from aspiring or experienced filmmakers who are significantly older than the brand's 18-to-24 year old target audience.
Nonetheless, the Journal reports that a 42-year-old father and wedding photographer whose video is one of five finalists was made for $150. Contrast that with the $1-2 million it can cost to produce a Super Bowl ad, not including the $2.6 million to air it once, and not including the 13 million American households with DVRs that will skip 92% of all TV ads aired after the Super Bowl.
January 12, 2007
Not-so-secret shopper
Paul McEnany discovers a hot mess at a department store, and documents quite a lot of it with his cellphone camera.
Here's the thing: 156 million Americans use high-speed cellphone networks that allow them to take pictures like this and post them immediately to a blog where, naturally, they can spread.
Pew estimates that 41 percent of American cellphone owners use their phones as content creation tools. That translates into about 64 million people in the U.S. alone who have the potential to be not-so-secret shoppers.
<