What's Next In Marketing

The Difference Between Buzz And Word Of Mouth

In my never ending quest to help others overcome the possibility that a client will ask them a question THEY CAN NOT ANSWER, a good post about the difference between Buzz and Word-of-Mouth:

http://www.churchofcustomer.com/2009/02/word-of-mouth-vs-buzz.html

You'll thank me later. ; )

Obama And Social Networking: How The Campaign Efforts Informs What's Next

Great report on how the Obama campaign used Social Networking to win the election.

Link is to Guy Kawasaki's terrific "How To Change The World" blog where you can download the pdf:

http://blog.guykawasaki.com/2009/01/report-on-obama.html

What's Next: Facebook, T-Mobile...And Building A Groundswell That Gets Your Message Into The Cultural Conversation

A few weeks ago I posted a piece about the very clever T-Mobile campaign that launched with a fantastic dance off in Liverpool station.

http://whatsnext.typepad.com/whats_next_in_marketing/2009/01/whats-next-tmobile-liverpool-and-a-lot-of-imagination.html

There is now a great example of this kind of work finds it's way into the cultural conversation and leads to a groundswell ("Groundswell" also being the name of a terrific book published by two Forrester analysts...a must read for anyone in marketing (http://blogs.forrester.com/groundswell/)

A Facebook user used the T-Mobile work as inspiration for putting together a massive Flashmob event in another London station.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/02/09/uk.station.flashmob/index.html

So while all of these new technologies and platforms are terrific, in how you use them as a marketer is critically important. Developing content and experience that surprise and delight consumers will not only encourage them to engage with your brand and feel more positively about it, but will also encourage them to want to share that experience...and build a groundswell of good will.

What's Next: New Functionality From LinkedIn

I only use two social networks with any frequency: Facebook and LinkedIn. I've found LinkedIn to be an invaluable networking tool.

Now it seems they are adding some functionality that will make it even more of an effective networking tool. Good read from the Organic blog.

http://threeminds.organic.com/2009/02/meta_beta_from_linkedin.html

What's Next On Super Bowl Ads...Audi, Jason Stratham, and Venables Bell & Partners

I'm writing a longer post on my HUGE disappointment with the Super Bowl ads this year. Will have it out shortly.

In answer to the question I raised before the game about my interest in what brands will do a good job extending their idea out from the TV spot, here's an interesting little data visualization tool Venables Bell & Partners built that's tracking and linking to all the online chatter around the  Audi SB spot they ran with Jason Statham.

http://venablesbell.com/#/visualizer

Pretty cool app, but I'm not sure it shows that there was a lot of chatter about the spot. Some, but not massive.

I didn't like it much, but I didn't like most of the spots. Here it is.

What's Next: Super Bowl Sunday...Who Wins?

First, kinda rooting for the Cardinals, but think the Steelers will win.

What I'm more interested in is who will do a good job of not just running a great :30 sec spot, but tying that spot to a greater experience with the brand that extends beyond TV.

A friend of mine who is a very well known digital creative director just sent a post on Facebook that asked for anyone who is seeing great examples of online content related to the game to send it through.

That this guy, who tracks everything in the online space, hasn't seen news or pre-game chatter about something special a brand is doing, may say a lot about what will actually happen.

I do think we'll actually see some very good creative work during the game, but the consumer is so distracted right now that the "ad" component of the game has gotten a bit forgotten.

I'll post something tomorrow about what I have seen (and what has been sent to me) that was truly unique.