Random Theories

Paths to enlightenment

2012-11-09T14:20:00.001+02:00

There are many paths to enlightenment. One often associates enlightenment with sufferings. One must suffer, and be striped from all materials in order to find true happiness. One Diamond Mountain (a group based their practice on a new branch of Buddhism. Note - some may call them a cult. I'll leave you to be the judge of that.) member died from dehydration during a three year three month and three day long retreat in the Arizona desert.

I'm actually not interested in the group nor the death per se. I'm intrigued by the idea of finding happiness through sufferings. Why can't one find happiness through actually living the lives they already have? Could it be that enlightenment is within all of us already? I have found my path to enlightenment. (I know it's a big claim, but no one can be the judge but me.) And it can not be any further from suffering. I choose to live life. Explore new things, places, emotions, perspectives, opportunities, thoughts, tastes... Yes, I'd rather explore than to retreat. I'd rather consume than to conserve. I'd rather to be than to search. And it feels great to be enlightened.

Related reading-
Diamond Mountain retreat death: Ian Thorson dies after fleeing mysterious yoga retreat with wife | Mail Online:

'via Blog this'

my take on career advice

2012-10-02T19:43:00.002+03:00

Forget about dress for the job you want. Just act the one you want to be.

iPhone 5 preorder sold out in record time. Genius marketing.

2012-09-16T19:04:00.000+03:00

iPhone 5 is a flop. Let's not debate this. It just is.

What would you do if you were the chief marketing officer in light of the less than enthusiastic media and blogger response? Create demand. How? By faking it. I haven't read anywhere the stock number of initial supply. For all I know, it could be 10 units. It's not that hard to sell out in 'record time' with a small amount of supply. It doesn't reflect actual demand. It's simply a numbers game. The trick here is to create shortage which is no new technique in the marketing playbook. People want what they can't have. And in turn, it stimulates real demand.

This is a genius marketing move. But let's not be fooled by the 'sell out' headlines anymore.

Pepsi Refresh a total failure or too early to tell?

2011-03-27T19:18:00.000+03:00

I recently read an article by Bob Hoffman, The Ad Contrarian, summarizing the results of the Pepsi Refresh project. He concluded that it was a total failure.

‘The Refresh Project accomplished everything a social media program is expected to: Over 80 million votes were registered; almost 3.5 million "likes" on the Pepsi Facebook page; almost 60,000 Twitter followers. The only thing it failed to do was sell Pepsi.

It achieved all the false goals and failed to achieve the only legitimate one.’

He made a very convincing point. But the skeptic in me says ‘Hold on. Dig deeper’. Of course the ultimate objective of all marketing activities is to drive sales. However, there are broadly two types of results: immediate and long term. Pepsi Refresh did indeed fail to deliver on short term financial results. However, don’t underestimate the 80 million votes, 3.5 millions likes and 60,000 Twitter followers just yet! They may eventually deliver your long term financial success.

If you don’t believe me, at least read this Adage article (Of course social media works, if you measure it right). The value of the Refresh program was to acquire new consumers into Pepsi’s community. This is important because consumers opted into targeted advertising. This is important because consumers agreed to let Pepsi to mine their data. Pepsi now knows how old you are, where you live, who your friends are...

However, Pepsi hasn’t hit the jackpot yet. I don’t think we can tell the success or failure of the program just yet. The key to success is what Pepsi are doing with these new contacts. How do Pepsi engage them and guide them further along the purchase funnel? Turning acquired fans into advocates and sales is the holy grail.

Success or failure? Only time will tell.

What is Web 3.0?

2011-03-23T13:50:00.001+02:00

I just came back from one of the largest and growing interactive conferences, SXSW. One of the hot topics was - What is Web 3.0. My impression was no one has quite cracked it. Some say mobile will be big, and data analytics is crucial. OK. Please tell us something we don’t already know…

There’s nothing 3.0 about mobile. It’s totally 2.0, and 2.1 at best (one can argue QR codes driving traffic to mobile sites is quite 2.1). Even with social location and augmented reality, they still don’t tip us over 2.x.

What is Web 3.0 then really? Well, if I have the answer, I wouldn’t be writing a blog post, but instead doing heavy coding in my garage. (Not that I have a garage either…) My take on the evolution of web 2.0 lies all in the long tail. Not exactly the long tail coined by Chris Anderson in 2004. Anderson’s theory was that most of the revenue comes from many niche products, and only 20% of revenue is from big hits, mainstream products. In general, one can interprete that our culture and economy is increasingly shifting away from a focus on a relatively small number of "hits" (mainstream products and markets) at the head of the demand curve and toward a huge number of niches in the tail.

To build on the long tail theory, my take is that we are using the long tail to identify and connect with like minded people. Our attention and needs will become more fragmented. We will breakdown our interests to finer levels. And with the vast amount of data the web has on us, it will become much better at understanding our fragmented interests, and connect us with people who share those interests. Case in point -Twitter. Twitter lets us connect to people with very specific interest. If you like baby blue peep toes platform shoes, there’s probably already a hashtag for this on Twitter. The Lists feature on Twitter is a tool to help you segment your contacts. What missing is the ability to post tweets to specific groups.

Having that said, the need to connect to the 20% ‘mainstream’ people will not go away. And this is where Facebook comes in.

But this is no where near Web 3.0 either. So let me know if you have a better idea, I got some savings. Perhaps I’ll be your angel investor ;)

The Relevant Hooks!

2011-01-24T00:20:00.000+02:00

Thanks to the cold Finnish winter, I’d prefer to stay home this Sunday evening. And finally manage to sit down and put these thoughts into words. I’ve been researching examples of consumer engagement programs. And trust me, there’re plenty out there. Some are hits, while others are flops. Question is what makes or breaks engagement programs?

I don’t think I have all the answers to it, but at least I think I have identified a critical factor – the relevant hooks. Brands ask consumers for their participation in exchange for a reward. Rewards are what motivate people to participate. I shall call these rewards – the hooks. But not just any hooks would do it. We need to offer the relevant ones.

Types of hooks:

The prestige – rewards that fuel the participants’ social influencing power within their communities. And it increases their social currency, and propels them to higher level in the social/influencing hierarchy. They are rewards that money cannot buy. They are exclusive and hard to come by. E.g. recognition in forms of awards, visibility and exposure.

The content – rewards that provide exclusive, interesting, useful, and relevant content. Consumers participate, either through consumption or active participation such as retweeting, sharing and commenting, to enhance their experience. E.g. articles and videos of subject of interest

The fun – rewards that provide entertainment. E.g viral videos, games, interactive banners

The prize – a monetary reward or reward with a tangible value. E.g. discount, loyalty program

Note that the same hook can fall under different categories depending upon to whom you are targeting them.

To whom and which type of hooks to offer?

We need to keep in mind the communication target audience when designing rewards. I will use the below engagement model to explain to whom and which type of hooks to offer. And I will use the Nike Write Your Future – The Chance engagement program as an example.

Final words

The point I’m trying to make here is when design engagement program, one needs to understand:

· Who is your communication audience?

· What is your word of mouth model? Whether you would leverage on the influencers to spread the message or go directly to the community or the mass.

For different audience at different level of the engagement hierarchy, you would need to employ a different hook to get them motivated to participate. If you look closer, you can find the same model everywhere. Be it American Idol, Project Runway, Nike’s The Chance or Nokia’s PUSH Burton.

Power of Topical Marketing

2011-01-20T17:25:00.000+02:00

Just wanna quickly point out the power of TOPICAL marketing! Below is the Top 10 Viral chart ranked by publication Campaign (UK). 3 out of the top 10 are topical viral videos. Not to overlook also is the power of using celebs.

#1 Old Spice, 'the man your man could smell like'
#2 Nike, 'write the future'
#3 Yeo Valley, 'rap'
#4 Head, 'Andy Murray street tennis'
#5 Adidas Originals, 'star wars cantina'
#6 Ikea, 'cats'
#7 Tipp-Ex, 'bear'
#8 Lynx Rise, 'Jessica-Jane Clement - her best bits'
#9 Samsung, 'the proof machine'
#10 GHD, 'twisted fairytales'

Top 10 Viral Video 2010 ranked by Campaign (UK)

What is an engagement calendar? Piecing things together.

2010-11-09T01:13:00.000+02:00

Part 2 is about mapping your engagement ideas against the engagement calendar. Well, at least in theory.

Spike engagement ideas are the big bangs, the buzz-generating-PR-type of stunts. This is where you can gain the most by mapping against your engagement calendar. You can release a piece of cool content, but wouldn’t it be better if you release the right content at the right time. Hello, synergy! These spikes should be planned around events.

Spikes should contribute to your overall engaged consumer base. Eventually you would want to build a community of highly engaged consumers. Not all of those exposed to your big bang will turn into fans, but some will. Make sure you have the mechanism to capture and continue to engage them once you get their attention.

Well, this is where deep engagement platforms come in. They should be based on passion points, not so much based on seasonality or events. For example, if you are a sports drink company, you may want to create some cool viral content or launch a competition around major sport events. These are spikes – one off activities. At the same time, you may also want to set up a platform to educate consumers about nutrition and healthy lifestyle. This, on the other hand, is continuous.

Deep engagement consists of two important platforms:

1. Continuous conversation platforms

These are the usual suspects - your online social media presence. This is where you run your day to day communications, do reactive marketing, help spread cool content generated by fans, etc.e

2. Continuous engagement platforms

As described before, these are more product centric and community based platforms. These should be built around passion points, and enable consumers to build an on going community around the product.

Now you only need to map out all the relevant events, and plan value adding conversations and content around them. One cool thing about having an engagement calendar is that it helps you identify gaps in content. You already know the next Olympics is in 2012. How about planning cool activities around that time for your sports drink brand?

Once you flesh out the calendar, ask yourself how your brand and product can enhance those events/experiences? Then plan your conversations down to the copy! Oh, don’t forget reactive marketing is equally important!

What is an engagement calendar?

2010-10-25T19:56:00.000+03:00

One of my projects is to plan a consumer engagement calendar. I’m a strong advocate of responsive, instantaneous and relevant two way communication with our consumers. Therefore, I was a bit concerned when I was asked to build a structure for our conversations over the course of a calendar year? Is that necessary or are we over thinking?

Plan for the predictable

As much as I’d like to just throw myself into interacting with consumers, I come to realize a smart marketer should indeed have a plan in mind to maximize engagement. Lots of our conversational subjects evolve around current events. Many current events cannot be predicted, but a lot of them can. For example, music and movie awards like the Golden Globe, sports events like World Cup, festivals like Fashion Week, religious holidays like Christmas, cultural events like Chinese New Year, etc. These are all emotional opportunities for companies to start relevant conversations to build and deepen relationships. We can plan this! We can create experiences for consumers!

An engagement calendar is one that maps all events to relevant brand related subjects. And all social media channels should sync with it. Of course, you may want to adapt the message slightly to fit with specific channels. For example you should not have the exact same status update on FB and Twitter. So what are brand related subjects? Think about how your products can enhance the experience for a particular event? If you are a wine maker, you may want to plan for relevant conversations around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and any other festive events. Beer companies are good at this. Recall how many beer ads you’ve seen during SuperBowl? It’s important to remember that all rules of engagement still apply. No conversation should be forced. It’s not about broadcasting. It’s about enhancing and adding value to consumers. Only start a conversation when you can add value, and have it with people who care.

Manage the unpredictable

Having that said, the calendar should not be a rigid one. Companies need to react to current events fast. How about sharing your point of view about the Haiti earthquake? What is your company stance on global warming? No one likes to talk to a boring person. Interesting people always have a point of view. Not everyone agrees with your viewpoints, but hey, that’s who you are. Who likes an eager pleaser?! Therefore, it’s useful to develop a clear personality for your company, and have clear idea what your company represents. Know what subjects you should react to and what not. Develop a clear set of rules of engagement. You may find it uncomfortable to present strong opinions, but that makes you stand out.

What are consumer engagement ideas?

2010-10-25T19:42:00.000+03:00

Consumer engagement is a big buzz phrase in marketing, along with social media, social this, social that. My team isn’t going to miss the boat, and jumps immediately on the bandwagon. But what exactly are consumer engagement ideas? What am I suppose to put down in a brief to the agencies? I’m puzzled since we all seem to assume that everyone has a clear view on consumer engagement ideas. But I suspect, in reality, people only vaguely understand the concept… No wonder we have been getting so-so ideas from the agencies…

Marketers have long been aware of the importance of consumer engagement. Marketing not only needs to raise awareness, but it needs to engage consumers as well. But only in the past decade did technology enable massive deployment of such concept. Before the Internet, it was hard for brands to engage consumers at a massive level. The only tool was TVCs which is ‘one-way’ by nature. They are good for broadcasting, not interaction. Nowadays though, digital marketing lets consumers have real time interaction with brands. Lego invite consumers to design and publish their own Lego worlds. Nike let you design your own shoes. Twitter, Facebook and the likes let consumer ‘opt in’ to marketing communications.

What are consumer engagement ideas?

Consumer engagement ideas are those that encourage ‘repeated interactions (between brand and consumers) that strengthen the emotional, psychological or physical investment a consumer has in a brand’.

Repeat interactions - Engagement ideas must allow consumers to interact with and experience the brand, REPEATEDLY.

Participation - Brands and consumers need to be active co-creators of brand content. Marketing needs to provide opportunities for the audience to not only see but to do something. Consumers not only consume, but also prosume brand content in their own personal ways.

Relevance - They should not be average ideas for average people. Long tail exists! Marketers should create multiple ideas that appeal to various passion points. Target your communications to those influencers, and the rest will pick up on it.

Next steps for a marketer is then to set key measurement objectives. What are you trying to achieve with these engagement ideas?

1. Desired outcome - What actions you would like consumers to take?

Easy. TO BUY THE PRODUCT. Wrong. I’m asking what IMMEDIATE action you would like the consumers to take. Buying the product is the ultimate goal, but it takes many steps before a consumer would decide to buy your products. In between, there’re steps like: awareness, consideration, comparsion, overcoming barrier, etc

Examples of outcomes are: viewership, product trial, traffic to product pages, number of share/tweet/posts, number of content created by consumers, number of participation, consumers building communities around product, etc

Be mindful that you should view your ideas as a portfolio, and never cram too many outcomes into one single idea. Some ideas are best for raising awareness, while others are for trial. Think of the big picture, and map your ideas with other activities.

2. Level of engagement - Deep engagement vs Spike engagement

Spike engagement ideas are short-lived in nature. They create buzz around the brand. Consumers engage with the content by a) consuming (viewing) b) sharing (forwarding) c) co-creating (video responses, remixes, paradies, etc). These ideas are also generally more gimmicky, and based on creatives. They are more likely to be a one off idea. They often times get lost in the digital world in a few weeks, if not less. These ideas require less commitment from company management perspective. A good example is the ‘A hunter shoots a bear’ viral videos http://is.gd/fVpMU. Consumers view, forward and also build on top of the content. But these ideas only create a spike.

Deep engagement ideas are long-lived. They are an integral part of product consumption. They are engagement platforms. They promote brand loyalty and advocacy. They generate repeated interactions with consumers over a long period of time which is extremely important in building deeper relationships. A good example is the Nike Plus. It creates a community around the product that lives on. These ideas tend to be more product centric, and requires continuous management from companies. Another example is the use of 4square to engage and reward consumers. Successful deep engagement ideas should target communities based on passion points.

Either type of engagement ideas are needed. They serve different objectives!

3. Selection criteria

You need to identify suitable selection criteria for your engagement ideas. Cost. ROI (measure against desired outcome, point 1). Technical difficulties. You get the idea. This should be an easy list to compile.

4. Tracking

Come up with tracking metric that measure the outcomes of your ideas. Be it simple viewership or more complex traffic to product pages, number of download, whatever.