What Does The Web Say About Your Clients?

A good friend of mine once complained that women - particularly American women - are "schizophrenic" in terms of the many roles they are meant to play in society. Personally, I think that is a load of bunk as I see men playing the same number of roles. But, he does have a point in that who we are in one aspect of our lives (i.e. work) may differ greatly from who we are in another (i.e. with friends).

How does this relate to PR, marketing and social media you ask? Well, our online personas are increasingly impacting our overall images - and that of our clients. Reconciling these different roles in this era of "putting it all out there" can be rather daunting, especially when your gig is image. Do you know what photos your clients have on Facebook? How about on dating sites? What does that Super Poke they just got or that "Which Sex & The City Character Are You" quiz say about them? And, as their professional image-makers, is it any of our business?

The New York Times calls it, "impression management" and it is fast-becoming a hot topic as social media grows more prevalent in our daily lives. We've all heard the stories of college students losing job opportunities and even scholarships because of some illicit images on their MySpace page or an unfortunate video on YouTube. I'm sure many of you remember the kid who told his boss he had a family emergency, only to get busted when a photo of him at a Halloween party appeared on Facebook.

And, really this is nothing new. I remember when I was just a junior exec at Ogilvy, I was tasked with selecting applicants for our internship program. During one call, I got an outgoing answering machine message that was clearly recorded when the kid was very drunk with his friends. I did not ask him to come in for the interview. Now, I know college kids party, and as a junior exec, my own rambunctious college days were not far behind me then. But, considering the job was a PR position, I felt if this kid didn't have enough sense to manage his own image, how could we trust him to manage our clients?

Michael Agger of Slate.com addressed this topic recently in terms of what your online photos say about you. (A fascinating read). As someone who does not want his photo made public, he opted for a manga-tranformation image of himself using the University of St. Andrews' super cool transformer program. Agger asks the question: which version of yourself do you put out there? The "you" your frat brothers know? Or, the version that your boss sees? In other words, which aspect of your schizophrenia, as my pal calls it, should you make available online?

As PR pros, we painstakingly manage our clients' images right down to every detail of a photo shoot. Does a suit-and-tie make him look old-fashioned? Should she sit or stand? What story does each picture tell? Whether that photo is going on the company's web site or in a magazine, it is our duty to help them put forth the best image for themselves and the overall brand. But, how much of that can be undone within one dating site or Facebook survey? And, where is the line in terms of what we can and can't advise our clients to do?

These days, a reporter can easily pull client photos and quotes from every corner of the web. So, with that in mind, it would behoove us to take a careful look at what content they are putting out there and then diplomatically demonstrate how it could be taken in the wrong context. These won't be easy conversations to have. That line between personal life and professional image is an important one to be sure. But, I would rather risk offending my client in a way that demonstrates my thorough concern for their image, than have to play damage control later.

-- my two cents

Sears Gets Aggressive with Social Media

It seems you can teach an old brand new tricks. Sears has launched a clever social media & product placement campaign that could turn things around for the brand just in time for back to school.

Targeting the 8-to-14 year old market, they started out doing the usual: sponsorships with Facebook, MySpace, Seventeen, Cosmogirl, Nickelodeon and Disney.

They've also developed and posted games on various sites like Addicting Games, FunBrain and Neopets.

What I'm most impressed with, however, are the virtual Sears boutiques, fashion shows and design competitions for avatars within online communities like Zwinky, Meez, WeeMee, The N and Poptropica. This is a very clever way to get their target market to personally interact with the brand. Wildly popular with the tween crowd, these sites allow young girls to play dress up with virtual characters. Clearly Sears hopes that girls will have so much fun shopping at the virtual store, they will ask their moms to let them go to the real thing.

Sears also partnered with High School Musical star, Vanessa Hudgens in the creation of "Arrive Lounge" a site that encourages teen girls to go back to school in style (the tag: "Don't just go back. Arrive.") The site also offers behind-the-scenes footage from Hudgens' Sears ads as well as sweepstakes and downloads.

Finally, the brand has the enviable position as the exclusive retail partner for the MTV movie The American Mall, the story of a group of teens working in their local mall. Scenes for the 87-minute film were shot in a real Sears location and characters not only wear Sears clothes throughout, the actors also appear in advertisements and circulars. I imagine they are hoping to do for their brand what Valley Girl did for Orange Julius in the 80s.

All of this comes on the heels (pun intended) of a campaign targeting teens headed for prom and other end-of-school dances called Prom Premiere 2008. It featured an interactive site that allowed girls to share photos of dresses with family and friends, so they could mix and match the dresses, shoes and accessories to get virtual help in making "the most important decision in a young girl's life." The look of the site was very red carpet, which was a great design choice.

Overall, this total campaign is very aggressive and hits all the sweet spots in terms of connecting with the tween crowd through social media. I will let you know if/when Sears releases any ROI.

-- my two cents

New Tricks for Green Marketers to Go Viral

It's no secret that the Green consumer loves to tell everyone how Green his life is. According to a 2007 Newsweek article, Honda customers left the company in droves, opting instead for the Toyota Prius because the Hondas just "didn't look Hybrid enough." (Honda plans to release a new hybrid in 09 -- as well as a 62 MPG diesel in 2010 -- that "will not be wrapped in the sheet metal of Honda's everyday cars. Instead, it will have the larva styling the Prius pioneered — which now embodies the green-car look.")

Now, I love that it's trendy to boast about small carbon footprints. Given the state of our planet, it's a great thing for the environment. But, let's not forget, it's a great thing for Green marketers too. The more consumers talk about new ways to stay Green, the more likely they'll be talking about our clients.

Recognizing this trend, a few eco-friendly brands, including Origins, North Face and Honest Foods have launched online platforms that reward consumers for engaging in various Green initiatives. These online communities allow people to submit their own content demonstrating their Greenness. Consumers can share their latest uploads through IM and email as well as by reviewing and rating each other's activities. Behaviors are rewarded with prizes for “most popular” or “most viral” entries.

Green marketers should consider employing a platform like this. Not only is it a great way to engage consumers, but the nature of these platforms is to drive viral reach. The company behind this technology is Brickfish, a social media platform that "taps into the power of consumer driven marketing ... providing brands and agencies with a single source solution to leverage the power of social media sites and user-generated content for truly effective online marketing efforts that drive awareness, analytics and action."

What gives Brickfish a leg up on other social media platforms (for the moment) is the reporting. The company provides a visualization of each viral campaign enabling marketers to understand how content is shared between users. And, they claim their "approach has proven to be 5 to 10 times more effective than traditional online marketing methods such as display ads or search optimization.”

Now, as is true with anything Internet - early adopters like Origins, North Face and Honest Foods will have a greater chance of capturing market share. As more and more brands develop their own viral/user-gen-content platforms, the idea will lose impact and, let's face it, there are only so many same-sites people want to visit. Either way, Green products lend themselves perfectly to viral marketing and kudos to Origins, North Face and Honest Foods for embarking on a solid approach.

-- my two cents

Required Reading in Social Media (from Regular Geek)

Hey folks, I wanted to direct your attention to a blog called Regular Geek.

A few days ago, they published a list of Required Reading in Social Media. They identify some great sites and blogs that cover Social Media strategy and the latest news in online communities, blogs and new media in general. Check it out!

Thanks to Regular Geek for putting together this great resource.

Enjoy!


-- my two cents

Converse Goes Viral with Wacky, Goofy, Funny Vids

Converse has launched a new viral campaign featuring more than a dozen rabbit holes and videos, some of which have absolutely nothing to do with the iconic shoes, or really, with anything at all. Some of them are clever and some are downright bizarre. Yet, each one does grab your attention. Rather than spoiling your fun by detailing all of them, I will just outline the ones that I think have the most potential.

Converse Spelling Bee, in which a shoe string leads the viewer on a search engine spelling bee. When you spell the word correctly in the search engine (i.e. Google), the ad on the right-hand side takes you to the next round. It's clever because it keeps you actively engaged in the game and subsequently, with the brand.

On A Shoe String Films, a compilation of hilarious videos in which some Converse shoe strings attend their first college class; go to a dance party; arrive early at the movies, play music; and list their grievances, among other things. Needless to say hilarity ensues. Plus, it's just goofy enough to get passed around. Truly, the voices behind these shoe strings are some of the funniest people online.

I'm still not sure what At Least You're Not Lost At Sea For 13 Days has to do with the brand, but the video did get a chuckle from me - particularly the bit about the golf club membership. And, there are different videos for different days covering this man's adventures lost at sea - again - to keep you watching and anticipating the next round.

As odd as some of the sites/vids are, this campaign is brilliant in my book because "odd" gets people talking just as much as funny or controversial. The mere fact that I have no idea why someone would put their Chucks in Soda makes me want to send the link to everyone I know...and tune in for more.

It's a great example of good viral that is silly, wacky and is not overtly selling the shoes -- or in some cases -- selling anything at all. The only thing missing is audience participation. You get a little of that with the spelling bee, but I hope there is a second stage that brings the viewer into the campaign a bit more. That said, check them out and let me know what you think.

And, remember when things aren't going your way, Converse understands you just wanna know Is Everything Going to be Okay?

-- my two cents

It's the Internet - Do You Know Where Your Brand Is?

The other day, I was talking with David Allison, editor of the Atlanta Business Chronicle, about consumers discussing brands online. At one point David said, "I bet most Atlanta companies are blissfully unaware of what's being said about them on Technoratti." Now, we've talked about social media creating brand evangelists here, but David got me wondering how many PR pros are looking at what's being said about their clients online? How many are seizing opportunities to turn around dissastisfied customers? And, how many are making hay of their fans' positive comments within social media.

The Stats

According to Nuance Care Solutions, 72% of survey respondents use social media to research a company's reputation for customer care before making a purchase; and 74% choose to do business with companies based on the experiences shared by others online. Meanwhile, 59% said they regularly use social media to "vent" about their customer service frustrations. Only 33% of respondents said they believe companies take online complaints seriously.

Turn The Tide

While it's always risky to engage negative posters, (I would advise you not feed the trolls), monitoring and responding to genuine customer complaints online can be a great way to catch a problem early and turn it around. Demonstrating a desire to solve the problem can ultimately result in positive posts. In fact, most of the time angry customers really just want to vent and a savvy PR pro can turn the tide of negativity by simply showing a genuine interest in solving a customer's dissatisfaction.

Watch Competitor Talk Too

It can be very useful to monitor what customers are saying about the competition (good and bad comments). This way you can ensure your messaging counters competitive claims and/or demonstrates how your product succeeds where their's fails.

Find Good Stories To Tell

There is such a great opportunity for PR professionals to identify brand evangelists and develop campaigns around them. A fan of Lego’s, Mike Stimpson, recently re-created some of the most famous photos in pop culture history using nothing but the colorful building bricks and characters. While the images appeared on blogs and news aggregate sites like Digg.com, I couldn’t help but wonder if The Lego Group’s PR team would promote his work. There is a great story there. (I could see a spot on Ellen, Today or Letterman). What inspired him to do this? How long did it take? Why did he choose certain photos? Why did he choose Lego’s? (The most important question of all).

But, like so many brands, The Lego Group seems to be missing a great opportunity to promote their customer telling the brand’s story. Fact is, those photos depict the fun of Lego’s. That is the message this guy is getting out there and The Lego Group should jump in and grow the story. By identifying and promoting brand evangelists within social media PR Pros can generate new story ideas for press.

How To Monitor

Okay, so, how do you find what people are saying in every corner of the web? There are a lot of great tools to seek these conversations online.

Google and Yahoo Alerts for keywords in search engines.

Google Blog Search to search blogs that don't index on the main or news page.

Yahoo Pipes give you an aggregate and mashup of multiple feeds.

BlogPulse is a great way to identify trends across blogs.

Google Trends measures the level of interest in particular topics.

Compete is a great way to track rivals.

Serph is an all-in-one social media search engine.

Keotag is similar to Serph.

Tweetscan lets you search keywords within Twitter.

Commentful lets you track comments and trackbacks within blogs and some boards.

BoardReader and BoardTracker are great for following board/forum conversations.
Radian6 is a rather newer tracker. They focus more on videos and multimedia.

As I've said many times here before: social media has changed the game. We have more opportunities for story-telling than we’ve ever had before. We just need the opportunistic thinking to go along with it. We need to get out there and to turn negatives to positives while giving a bigger microphone to those who endorse us (or our clients).

-- my two cents

Great Viral Video from LastMinute.com

Any fans of the 80s TV show Fame? Man o man did I love that show when I was a kid. Just the idea that you could miss class because the whole school was immersed in a song-and-dance routine thoughout the halls was enough for me to want to attend. "Sorry, teacher, I couldn't make it on time; Danny just dumped Julie and she wasn't sure she could get through her audition this afternoon, so we had to sing and dance her confidence back."

Well, lastminute.com has created a hilarious viral video called "Unexpected Performance" that harks back to the "spontaneous" song-and-dance (much like ImrovEverywhere's Food Court Musical).



The vid was filmed at a London airport where seven hidden cameras brilliantly capture the unsuspecting crowd's reactions when a member of the cleaning crew breaks into song about her desire for crisps (US translation: potato chips). One by one, she is joined by other pitch-perfect singers and dancers and suddenly, folks have their own Broadway-style show smack in the middle of the terminal. It's sort of like a well-organized flash mob (remember those), but with talented participants. The vid finishes with a sign asking: "When is the last time you went to the theatre?" And, another explaining: "Get 50% off theatre tickets at lastminute.com."

Now, this really is more advertising than a full-on viral campaign, but I can't resist talking about it here because it fits all the key necessities of a good viral video.

Transparency. Right from the start, it sets things up by announcing the hidden cameras, the "undercover" actors and an "unexpected performance." And, of course, by the time you see the closing, you get the whole point of the ad. Nobody is trying to pretend it's real.

Compelling Content. The performances are good and the crowd's confused reactions are priceless.

It's relevant to the brand. The whole video is completely relevant. The song sounds like something you'd hear on Broadway; the crowd is fun to watch; the performance makes sense once you see the marketing message; and if I were heading to NYC and saw this in the airport with that 50% off tag, I'd definitely check out lastminute.com to see what's showing.

It's generating buzz. As of this writing 170,662 people have watched it and are discussing it on YouTube. And, bloggers like me sure are talking about it.

So, this is a great example of a good viral video. Simple. Compelling. Transparent. Relevant.

If there is more to follow (i.e. sites, rabbit holes, easter eggs, and additional vids), then I'd officially call it a viral marketing campaign. But, even as a stand-alone ad-vid, it works. So, well done lastminute.com. You won my business.

-- my two cents

Using Twitter for PR & Marketing Strategy

Ever since BusinessWeek's Twitter test in early May, I've gotten a lot of emails asking how I use Twitter and what I think of it as a PR tool.

I have to admit when I first got on Twitter, I thought it was silly. Like so many people, I just didn't get it. Who cares if I am doing laundry? Do I really need to know that someone I never met before just picked up his kids from school? Then, I started snooping around and reading tweets and following links and I finally got it. Soon, I was tweeting and now, I'm just as addicted as everyone else in the twittersphere.

Some people have asked me about tweeting news releases. I have done this, yes. But, I'd advise you to really consider the news and who is following you. Make sure it is relevant, otherwise, you really won't see any results. You may want to look into Digg, StumbleUpon, Squidoo, Newsvine, Tumblr and many other pure news distribution sites if that is your only goal.

Now, there are many great articles on how to use Twitter and I'd definitely advise newbies to check those out. But, you know I can never resist joining the conversation with my two cents. So, here's my advice on how to use Twitter.

Why Do You Want To Use It?
First, ask yourself what your objective is. Do you want to use Twitter for research? To make connections? To stay on top of specific topics? To drive web site or blog traffic? Job recruiting? Job searching? As with anything, you have to start with your objective and build from there.

Building Your Following.
As someone with only 166 followers, I'm not going to win any popularity contests on Twitter. But, I've only been active for a few months, and my objective was blog traffic. So, 166 PR professionals is more important to me than 1,000 random individuals. Again, it goes back to your goal.

That said, here are my tips to building a following.

Ask questions. Social media is about community, conversation, participation. Don't just tweet your links. Ask questions and tweet conversation-starters that will engage your followers.

Make it a conversation. When someone tweets something I find interesting, I comment on it. It starts a discussion; a debate; anything to create that social interaction beyond just posting links. Be sure to give a proper shout out. If ABC@xyz.com tweets, reply to him with Hey ABC@xyz.com, that was hilarious...or I disagree, or whatever you want to say.

Post your twitter page elsewhere. Just as I have my company's site, my Facebook page, etc. in the contact me section of this blog, I have a twitter link. I do the same on my MySpace page, Facebook, Squidoo, Furl, Digg, etc. The more you connect all of your social media sites together, the more you will create consistency and a broader reach.

In fact, Facebook has a Twitter application that will automatically copy your tweets to your Facebook page. I also use the blog app so every blog post I make here instantly appears on Facebook too. Synchronicity, baby.

Follow those who follow you. If someone starts following you, return the favor. Social media is always a two-way street.

Use Twitter tools.
Twitter has added many tools that make using the site much easier.

Tweetscan - This allows you to search for specific things that people are Tweeting about. It's a great way to tailor your audience to a specific topic and avoid having to look through all those, "I'm eating lunch," "I'm watching TV," "I'm running out to get some groceries" tweets.

Snitter is an application you download to your desktop that keeps you from having to constantly go to the Twitter site, you can just tweet from your desktop. You'll get your friends' tweets too.

Twitter Cal is a calendar app I haven't really started using yet. But, it can be a great way to let others know where you are, something I'm personally not that crazy about doing. (You never know who will show up!) But, if you are on a speaker circuit or have a lot of news articles coming out, it can be very useful to keep people apprised of those events. (I'd definitely recommend this if you are tweeting as a company, not a person.)

Also, there are many other micro-blogging sites emerging that are proving to be pretty cool. I'd recommend checking out: Pownce, Jaiku, Friendfeed for example. Just beware of over-use. I've found if I get on too many sites at once, it can be a real drag trying to keep up with them all and as soon as your voice dwindles, you defeat the whole purpose. So, as is true with everything in life, don't over-extend.

In the meantime, send me your tweets and let's get the conversations going!

-- my two cents

Marketers Increase Social Media Spending

According to the results of a recent survey carried out by the Online Marketing and Media Show (OMMS), marketers are still spending their online budgets on search, email and pay-per-click. However, they are no longer opening their wallets for traditional banner advertising, and instead they're making room for social media and viral marketing.

The survey was targeted at exhibitors and delegates who will be attending the OMMS 2008 event which takes place on June 24th and 25th.

Overall, according to the survey, online marketing spends continue to increase, with over a third of all survey respondents revealing that up to 25% of their marketing budget will be dedicated purely to online marketing and media this year. This is a 15% increase over predicted spend in 2007.

Measuring response, SEO and online campaign planning were identified as the top three priority areas for understanding and education. Certainly this seems right on, in terms of client meetings I've had recently. While folks seem keenly interested in viral/social campaigns, there is still a great deal of education needed to demonstrate method and value. Despite the current lack of understanding in these areas, the study indicates that marketers are reluctant to outsource the development of their online strategy. Less than half of respondents indicated that they plan on working with a digital agency in the next 12 months.

Sally Maltby, Event Director for OMMS 2008 comments "Marketers want to invest their marketing budget where they can get tangible, clear results. Historically, SEO and pay-per-click campaigns have been the leaders for this reason. Now marketers want to engage with their audience beyond the first click. As the industry starts seeing improved measurement tools in place for social media, marketers will begin experimenting and investing more online."

The survey also revealed that 75% of respondents generate more accountable return on investment from their online marketing and media activity than their more traditional marketing tools. In line with the majority of respondents recognizing online and social media as an area for growth, 62% said they would be comfortable advertising their brand on a social networking site.

If you read my blog, you know one of the things I love about new/social media is the immediate ROI that can be measured. Clearly, others are coming around to this notion. But, it seems we still need to do more to educate our clients on the value of these tactics.

Michael Nutley, Editor in chief of New Media Age and OMMS conference producer said, "We've seen from the survey results that marketers want to extend their understanding of new marketing tools before trying them out. Marketers want to engage their audiences more fully, but are unclear of how to do it from tactics to measurement."

As I've said before, we need embrace the convergence of viral marketing and PR and do more to educate our clients - and each other - on the best ways to demonstrate the value of these strategies.

-- my two cents

MarketingSherpa's 08 Viral Hall of Fame

Marketing Sherpa just released their Hall of Fame Viral Marketing Inductees for 2008. A little early to close the book on this year's viral wins, in my view. But, it's a great list nonetheless. Below is a brief look at their top picks, as well as the "common threads" they noticed running through the campaigns.

Common Threads in Winning Viral

Rise of social media - Most of this year’s candidates sent videos to YouTube, created Facebook pages or organized communities on MySpace -- or all of the above.

Peer-to-peer sharing is critical - There were two distinct groups in this year’s entries: fantastically thought-out campaigns and wacky content. Either way, success hinged on peer-to-peer sharing.

All hail mighty content - You’ve heard the adage -- we’re not even going to say it -- but all it took for some campaigns to go wildly viral was great content.

So, without further introduction, here are MarketingSherpa’s Viral Marketing Hall of Fame inductees for 2008:

VIBE Media Group
Click here to see campaign details
MarketingSherpa Summary: This VIBE contest drove young and hip viewers to an urban music and culture website. Participants in an online rap music contest created and submitted videos to be voted on by the VIBE community. They received MySpace widgets to share their videos with friends and drive voters to http:/ /www.vibe.com where they could interact, view and vote on more entries. VIBE saw an 800% ROI on their efforts and captured 60,000 new registered members.

General Mills’ Pink for the Cure
Click here to see campaign details
MarketingSherpa Summary: Bolstering the battle against breast cancer, General Mills launched this campaign to spread hopeful stories of those touched by the disease. An elaborate MySpace page was created and partnerships were formed with celebrities and a network of breast cancer survivors and activists. Visitors could share their stories, comment and download badges and backgrounds for their own pages. The campaign reached more than 2.7 million people, gained thousands of MySpace friends and received great feedback from participants.

Sporting Portugal
Click here to see campaign details
MarketingSherpa Summary: Sporting Portugal created a website that let users submit their name and telephone number to become part of an interactive ad. A video showing a well-known soccer coach stressing out in a locker room ended with a phone call to the submitted number with the coach encouraging the visitor to come to the stadium because “the team needs you.” The idea attracted plenty of blog coverage and more than 610,000 people to the site in two weeks. The all-time record for season ticket sales was shattered on the first day of the season.

Pazazz’s Printing’s Alive
Click here to see campaign details
MarketingSherpa Summary: Pazazz’s edgy video shows that viral success is possible without breaking the bank. Pazazz wanted to convey its love for printing by making people laugh, and this 3-1/2-minute video does just that on a shoestring budget. Seeding consisted of an email to Pazazz’s house list, a YouTube video, links on Facebook and LinkedIn and press releases to industry publications. The video has received 133,000 views and more than 20 requests for a high-resolution copy to show at conferences and corporate events, plus a speaking gig for the CEO at major conference.

Columbia Sportswear’s Tested Tough
Click here to see campaign details
MarketingSherpa Summary: Columbia Sportswear built its brand in this campaign by asking customers to test just how tough the outdoor-wear firm’s products are. Customers were invited via email, display ads and contest websites to brutalize Columbia’s products, tell the tale and send photos and videos of the action. Visitors to the contest site could view, vote and comment on entries. Columbia received more than 3,000 entries. The projected response rate was surpassed by more than 33%.

VeriSign’s Liberty Fillmore, the Cart Whisperer
Click here to see campaign details
MarketingSherpa Summary: Ask any eretailer: abandoned shopping carts are a challenge. And nobody cares more about that challenge than Liberty Fillmore the Cart Whisperer. Internet infrastructure provider VeriSign created a series of fun videos featuring the fictitious Liberty Fillmore, who teaches that website shopping cart abandonment is preventable. The campaign included submissions to YouTube, a MySpace page, a Facebook page and a website for Fillmore’s poetry, videos and contest. The videos delivered a heap of blog coverage and more than three million views on YouTube.

THQ’s Frontlines: Fuel of War
Click here to see campaign details
MarketingSherpa Summary: Looking to promote a new video game, THQ launched this campaign using a microsite, contest and social media. Participants’ chances to win increased with the number of friends they recruited to enter. PPC promotion mixed with some “shoe leather” work at a gaming conference helped to bring this campaign 70% more registered contestants than hoped for.

StyleFeeder
Click here to see campaign details
MarketingSherpa Summary: Social networks are fertile ground for viral seeds. Facebook users, for instance, love applications and are quick to share them with friends. StyleFeeder had this in mind when it created a product suggestion app for Facebook to expand its user base. Less than a year after launch, the app passed the milestone of 1 million installations.

Northwestern Mutual Insurance’s Letyourworriesgo.com
Click here to see campaign details
MarketingSherpa Summary: This Northwestern Mutual Insurance campaign encouraged microsite visitors to “let it go.” Visitors to the interactive page could select concerns, such as financial troubles or illness, and dispose of them via catapult, rocket, submarine or hot air balloon. The microsite leveraged a tell-a-friend feature and could be shared on social media sites, such as Digg and Del.icio.us. By the third month of the campaign, the site’s traffic was 213% higher than Northwestern Mutual’s total microsite traffic for 2007.

McKinney’s Snowglobe Boy
Click here to see campaign details
MarketingSherpa Summary: Sometimes elaborate tactics aren’t required to stimulate a viral response; all it takes is one great idea. Ad agency McKinney’s idea was to take holiday ecards to a new level by putting an employee inside a giant inflatable snow globe for four days and broadcasting it on a microsite 24 hours a day. Visitors could receive “season’s greetings” from Snowglobe Boy and chat with him. In a week, a small seed of a Facebook page, a YouTube video and about 1,000 emails to McKinney’s friends attracted about 50,000 unique visitors, network press coverage and lots of search traffic.

(content courtesy of Marketing Sherpa)

CNN's iReport New Channel For Savvy PR Pros

As you may know CNN purchased, revamped and re-launched a citizen journalist site called iReport.com, which is basically YouTube for news where people can submit their videos, photos and even fully-edited news stories, complete with citizen-anchors, fancy graphics and investigative reports. In BETA-form for the past few months, it seems the site is now locked and beginning to pick up some steam with more than 100,000 news stories submitted.

The submissions are uncensored and unverified, unless they are selected to appear on CNN, in which case some fact-checking is done. When a submission is selected, it is stamped with an "On CNN" label so viewers know that it was picked up.

Some have criticized the site as a contradiction of CNN's reputation as a trusted name in news and have suggested that libel and defamation suits could come from harmful submissions. For instance, says the Wichita Eagle, while you're out of town, someone who means you harm goes to your house, posts one of those "Sex Offender Lives Here" signs and does a feature story about the problems neighborhoods run into in such situations. Your enemy puts it -- unverified by anyone -- on iReport.com, where the entire world has access to it courtesy of CNN. And if it's done properly, every time anybody Googles your name, guess what they discover about you.

A rather paranoid assumption in my view, but I suppose I just don't consider myself as someone who has enemies -- especially anyone who would go so far as to create a fake news story about me. Besides, the scenario suggested by the Wichita Eagle could easily occur via YouTube or Google Video without the help of user-gen news sites.

CNN executives acknowledge that iReport.com's openness is something of a departure for a news organization that prides itself on accuracy and editorial judgment. But citizen-reporting has become increasingly popular and in many cases has even proved beneficial in the reporting of breaking news. (Some of the most compelling footage from last April's shootings on the Virginia Tech campus came from the 420 user-gen video clips CNN received, while last year's California wildfires yielded more than 11,000 submissions.)

It's also important to note that iReport is not entirely new. Sites like Fox News' uReport, MSNBC's FirstPerson, ABC's i-Caught have been operating in largely the same way for quite some time now and there haven't been any defamation lawsuits filed to-date.

For PR pros, these kinds of sites are super cool as we now have a new channel through which to distribute news about our clients, including speaking engagement highlights and new product launches/demos, a practice already seen on YouTube and Google video. Although, I would strongly advise you use caution when creating these reports, as deceptive tactics will most assuredly result in flamed comments and damage to the brand. PR-generated reports should be identified as such, just as we would identify ourselves in a video press release. If you approach citizen-news sites with the same creativity and complete transparency as any good news announcement, you should come out strong - and your product demo might even get picked up by the sponsoring media group.

-- my two cents

Social Media Sites You Should Know

A lot of people ask me about my favorite social media sites. This is a challenging question to answer given that every day new sites emerge and bring with them great possibility. Likewise, the best social sites are the ones that speak directly to your target audience, so in many ways the whole "favorite" or "best" question is really subjective to the content.

That said, I have compiled a list of the social sites that have already proven to drive traffic and some that I believe are going to gain critical mass because of their niche status.

And, listen, when it comes to social media, do not forget about message boards/forums. I have yet to find any other medium in which you can spark conversations faster and generate content that moves online among target groups. Just use caution in message boards; don't try to be clever. Be transparent or you will be flamed, ruthlessly. If you can talk the talk, do so. If you can't just be honest about who you are and your intentions.

I will update this list as new sites are identified. In the meantime, happy socializing!

Agent B (deal/promotions site)
ArmChair (sports)
AutoSpies (cars)
Babblz (parenting)
BallHype (sports)
BuzzFlash (news)
Care2 (social action)
DayTipper (tips on a variety of subjects, gardening, cooking, auto-mechanics, etc.)
Dealigg (deals)
Digg (news)
DesignFloat (design)
Dissect Medicine (Health & Medicine)
DNHour (Domaining)
DZone (Developers)
Game Diggity (Game Videos)
Hacker News (Web Development)
Hugg (Environment)
iliketotallyloveit.com (Shopping)
KillerStartups (Startup Reviews)
LinkedIn (professional networking)
Meme or Lame (Gadgets)
Mixx (Anything)
PhotographyVoter (Photography)
Pixel Groovy (Web Design)
Plant Change (Environment)
PlugIM (Online Marketing)
qoolsqool (Education Resources)
ScoreGuru (Sports)
ShowHype (Entertainment)
Sk-rt (Lifestyle)
Small Business Brief (Business & Entrepreneurship)
Sphinn (Search engines and Online Marketing)
Stylehive (Fashion)
tipstrs (Tips & Tutorials)
TTiqq (Tips & Tutorials)
Tweako (Computers & Technology)
Twitter (News)
Value Investing News (Investing)
VideoSift (Videos)

-- my two cents

Wanna Reach Women? Blog it!

A new social media benchmark study by BlogHer and Compass Partners shows that 36.2 million women actively participate in the blogsophere every week, with 15.1 million publishing and 21.1 million reading and commenting.

68% of this community is concentrated in the 25 to 41 age group (the GenXr's), compared to 42% for the general blogging population. Together, the “Millienials” and the “Matures” account for only about 10% of this community.

Two thirds of the female blogosphere have completed college, and 46% earn over $75,000 compared to only 25% of the general community.

Additional highlights from the study:

Women are so passionate about blogging, says the report, that large percentages said they would give something up to keep the blogs they read and/or write:

55% would give up alcohol
50% would give up their PDAs
42% would give up their i-Pod
43% would give up reading the newspaper or magazines
only 20% would give up chocolate (ummm, yeah, gotta agree with that one!)

Time shift from traditional media is accelerating in the general Internet population:

24% of women surveyed watch less television because of blogging
25% read fewer magazines because they are blogging
22% read fewer newspapers because they're blogging

In addition, more than half of women surveyed consider blogs a reliable source of advice and information and half of women surveyed say blogs influence their purchase decisions.

So, if you want to reach women today, blog about it ... and maybe send us some chocolate too!

-- my two cents

Holy Viral Marketing, Batman!

In January, I pondered the future of The Dark Knight’s viral marketing/PR campaign after the tragic loss of Heath Ledger. As you may recall, a Hollywood pal of mine confided that he hoped it would continue as planned since, as he said, it would knock my socks off.

At that point, all we'd seen were some teaser posters and texts from Ledger’s character, The Joker.

Well, the second phase of The Dark Knight’s campaign has rolled out and I have to hand it to the folks at 42 Entertainment (to whom Warners subcontracted the marketing), this is undeniably the most comprehensive viral marketing campaign I have ever seen. It was precisely crafted for the fanboy/comic book geek crowd and they are eating it up. The media coverage has been staggering and I imagine it will continue to the film’s release this summer.

Here’s a run-down the rabbit-hole that is The Dark Knight's promotional strategy:

Faux Politics
The new issue of The Gotham Times has been posted and the Harvey Dent campaign website has announced that Harvey is running for DA. The campaign site lacks any references to Batman. In fact, as someone not familiar with the depths of Batman lore, when I first saw the graffiti-laden posters in a theater window display a few months ago, I thought Dent was a movie in its own right and went online seeking it out. The faux political site urges "concerned Gotham citizens" to "take back Gotham City" by backing Dent and organizing faux grass-roots rallies, filming videos and coming out to meet the Dentmobile touring target cities.

Rowdy Real-World Rallies
Further blending the lines between fact and fiction, on March 12, a rally for the fictional DA candidate was broken up by very real and very confused police. Fans had come out to meet the Dentmobile and when police arrived to remove the crowds, the cops seemed genuinely bewildered by volunteers handing out Harvey Dent bumper stickers, buttons and T-shirts.

Opponent Sites
Of course, what would a political campaign be without opponents? Roger Garcetti, acting DA of Gotham City, and Dana Worthington, founder of the Gotham Victims Advocate Foundation have joined in the fray. More info for her can be found at DanaWorthington.com.

Faux News Coverage
Other Gotham-related sites include a Drudge Report mimic called Maiden Avenue Report.

New sites for more Gotham City services including GothamCableNews.com, SaintsWithunsChurch.org and GothamCab.com have also launched. And, of course, there is the CitizensForBatman.org site.

Texts and Voicemails
Harvey Dent and The Joker are using text messages and voicemails to communicate with their supporters.

ARGs
Alternate Reality Games (ARGs) including scavenger-hunts and role-playing are also in the mix: a page appeared at whysoserious.com/steprightup with a hammer game and some teddy bear toys. Each toy had an address on it located in a number of cities around the US. The note on the game told people to go to that address and say their name was "Robin Banks” (robin' banks, that’s pretty funny!) and to await further instructions. What they were given was a cake with a phone number written on it. Now here's the best part: inside the cake was an evidence bag (complete with Gotham City Police printing) that contained a cell phone, a charger, a Joker playing card and a note with instructions.

Red Herrings
Various red herring sites have launched to throw people off the trail in the ARGs. I don't know if these are created by the 42 Entertainment or by fans who are playing the game; it's just part of the beauty of the whole thing!

Plot-Point Sites
Another website, www.ibelieveinharveydenttoo.com provides teasers about some connection between the Joker and Two Face that I assume will be explained in the film. (Maybe it’s already known. Again, I’m rusty on my comic book lore.)

ComicCon Tie-Ins
Well aware of their core audience, the marketers put it all out there at San Diego’s Comicon with specially defaced dollar bills with yet another web site’s url. On the site The Joker offered fans the chance to become his henchmen with special prizes for those willing to carry out his demands. These players gathered at a set location (offline) to obtain a phone number that was written in the sky by a plane! From there, they embarked on an elaborate scavenger hunt around the city.

Faux Kidnappings
The Comicon promo ended with a fan being abducted by "thugs" in a Cadillac Escalade and getting symbolically "murdered" by armed men who mistook the player for the Joker.

Whew! So, fellow PR pro/marketer -- what did YOU do today?

Some colleagues have said this is overkill and that by the time the movie hits this summer, people will be sick of it after all this hype. (The campaign began nearly a year ago.) But, the power here is that you have to seek these sites out. You have to be the kind of person who wants to run around town in a text-based scavenger hunt and look up in the sky for clues. For the comic book audience, I cannot imagine a better fantasy come true than to play with the superheroes and villains they love so much. Well done 42 Entertainment! You've set the bar into the stratosphere and made The Blair Witch campaign look like a pageboy hollering, "extra! extra!" on the street corner.

-- my two cents

Traditional Vs New Media: Is It Really Either/Or?

When I was a kid, I saw All the President's Men and Absence of Malice in the same week (thanks to HBO) and decided then and there I wanted to be a reporter. (Of course, a few weeks later, I saw Raiders of the Lost Ark and wanted to be a swash-buckling archeologist. But, that's a different story altogether!)

Watching those movies, I was fascinated by the important role media plays in our daily lives -- the way they could right a wrong -- the responsibility they have in finding the truth and getting it out there. Today, of course, I'm not a reporter, I crossed to the "dark side" and my job is to persuade reporters to tell the truth I want them to tell. Still part of my success, I think, stems from that early and continued respect for the media.

Ad Age and the Bureau of Labor Statitics just reported a steady decline in traditional media jobs since 2000. Given the increase in the 24-hour news cycle since 2000, one might assume the opposite to be true. However, as I continued to read the stats, I wondered how much new media contributed to this drop in the traditional journalist job market.

So, let's do a timeline study, shall we? One of the first blogs came from Jorn Barger in 1997 -- he's the man who coined the phrase weblog. He was soon followed by Peter Merholz who shortened it to blog. The next year, Open Diary launched and the first network of blogs entered the scene. By '99, Brad Fitzpatrick launched Live Journal which had a more user-friendly interface and suddenly blogs were popping up all around us. Pyra Labs launched Blogger.com that same year and the formerly-email subscription Drudge Report went global in an aggregate blog form.

A year later, in 2000, traditional media jobs began falling by the wayside. Now, this is a little like saying, I see the sun when I wake up in the morning, so I must be the cause of its rising. Still, I can't help but to connect the dots a little bit.

Of course, it's not just blogs. Webzines also began to rise around the same time. Suddenly, you didn't need a publishing house and a major investment to start your own magazine. All you needed was an internet connection and compelling content. I recall writing movie reviews for e-zines as early as 1998 and at that time, I began seeking out other reviews of films, music and books from non-traditional channels.

Here's a question: when is the last time you watched your local news, or even the national nightly news? In the 70s and 80s, my folks watched the local news and then NBC Nightly News every single night. I remember the local news interrupting Happy Days and Mork and Mindy to report on the Atlanta Child Murders, basically scaring the bejesus out of me every day! Now, I can't tell you the last time I sat down to watch an entire news program on TV. I get nearly all of my news online and I'm not the only one. As I've mentioned here before, in 2002, the EVP, Marketing for CNN, Scot Safon gave a speech in which he said college students didn't even think about CNN as a broadcast channel, they only viewed it as a web site.

Next, consider newspapers. I remember in 1998 when online versions of newspapers were nearly all subscription-based even I said "I still like the tactile feeling of holding the paper, I'll never read all my news online!" Of course, this was back in the day when you watched the screen for 5 minues as each page downloaded. Today Newspapers are laying off staff left and right because of the efficiency of the web. And, I gotta admit, reading a printed newspaper today is like reading last week's news.

So, back to the original Ad Age report...where are all these traditional media jobs going? According to the statistics, to marketing and PR. Yep, all those laid-off reporters can now get jobs pitching reporters and/or blogging for Corporate America. According to Ad Age, "marketing consultancies over the past year added 14,500 jobs (up 10.8%) nearly matching staff cuts at major newspapers (down 16,900)."

In other words, while the number of target media we pitch declines, the competition for our jobs grows.

Now, I'm a huge advocate of blogs and ezines and the strength of independent voices. But, the part of me that cheered for Woodward & Bernstein in All the President's and whose heart sank for Sally Field and Paul Newman in Absence of Malice wonders are we de-valuing the traditional journalist a bit too much here?

I think Neil Henry of the SF Chronicle said it best last May when he wrote: "[this means] Fewer resources will be available to investigate stories as nationally significant as the BALCO scandal; fewer professionals to doggedly uncover shady financial practices at the University of California, forcing top officials to publicly acknowledge their mistakes and work to fix them; fewer journalists to cover local city halls, courts and schools, reporting community news that the public often takes for granted -- and which other media, including local television and radio outlets, rely upon to set their own news priorities."

Fact is, I love new media. (Those of you who attended a recent dinner party at my house and witnessed the great blog debate of 08 know it!) I love the citizen-journalist. I love the immediate ROI found with digital PR. I love the idea of reporters who aren't tied to a corporation that controls the content.

But, I also love that hard-nosed journalist who digs and digs and uncovers the stories that no one believed in. I also love the tradition of integrity that we all identify with days gone by. It's an interesting time out there folks; let's keep the conversation going and the trust in our traditional watchdogs high.

-- my two cents