OK, I admit it – I’m a fan of “American Idol.” (Yes, I know, here comes the grief!) When I can’t make it home at 8pm, I record the show on my DVR and watch it when I have a free minute. Honestly, I prefer watching it at a later time so I can skip through the commercials to get right to the performances and the results.

During the last show, I stopped fast-forwarding and thought to myself, “What impact does my DVR activity have on an advertiser’s brand?” It seemed to me that fast-forwarding through a commercial would not impact the consumer as much as watching the 30-second spot, but I wondered if it had any effect on consumer behavior at all. And, how did this affect consumers’ brand perception? My first assumption was that all brand awareness was lost, but I wasn’t sure. So, out of curiosity, I did a little research and found some interesting information.

Breaking Through Fast-Forwarding: Brand Information and Visual Attention

A study by two professors from Boston College, S. Adam Brasel and James Gips, provides information on how fast-forwarding can affect a brand, the impact that this act can have on the consumer and their perception of a brand. The study offers key insights to how marketers might increase their overall effectiveness of their advertising.

In their research paper published in the November 2008 issue of the Journal of Marketing titled, “Breaking Through Fast-Forwarding: Brand Information and Visual Attention,” the professors conducted two studies based on eye-tracking that would show how fast-forwarding viewers paid attention during commercials, specifically to the center of the screen, waiting for a cue from the program’s bumper to stop the fast-forwarding action. Ads containing brand information at the center of the screen, even though these ads lost 95% of their frames and had no audio, still created brand recognition and brand memory. The professors later performed a third study that showed that fast-forwarded commercials with extensive central brand information can positively affect consumers’ attitude towards a brand, their behavioral intent and choice behavior.

What does this mean for marketers?

Based on this research, marketers of brands that advertise on TV should reconsider their commercials’ creative and have the brand prominently placed in the center of the screen for a significant amount of time. The research explained how fast-forwarding through commercial pods alters the visual attention of the viewer. As mentioned above, the viewer’s focus becomes the center of the screen waiting for the next bumper cue. Brand information placed at the center of the commercial can lead to increased brand attitude and purchase intent.

The study also revealed that advertisements with peripheral or limited branding had little effect on the viewer when they fast-forwarded through the commercial. Although certain commercials provide interest when watched completely for 30 seconds, marketers should reconsider “hiding” their brand-name or logo until the end of the commercial if they expect that the spot may be fast-forwarded through. Other important calls to action such as a website address or telephone number also needs to be carefully positioned in association with the other brand elements.

To fully understand brand positioning in a commercial takes careful and strong creative and copy writing. It takes a process that is thorough and goal-oriented. For marketers, it means that a television commercial should be held accountable to produce results. A commercial should be more than something that looks cool for 30 seconds because today with a DVR, those 30 seconds may only allow for one or two seconds of brand awareness.

Read the complete research paper

Over the years, we’ve helped several of our clients develop their brands. We methodically step them through the process and work together to build a brand that is differentiated from the competition in a way that is relevant to their customers.  Then we hand them their new brand and say “OK, good luck!”

Not really.

Developing an “own-able” brand is a true accomplishment. It requires diligent research on the target and competition.  It requires an understanding of the long term vision, and the desired perception in the market place.  It often requires making tough decisions while prioritizing the personality, credibility and differentiation factors that make your brand, YOUR brand. So it would be crazy to invest all those resources, and then not follow through to ensure that your employees are delivering on that brand. Yet that is exactly what happens in many cases.

Recently my wife visited a local “fast-casual” restaurant (I’ll refrain from mentioning the name, although it’s very tempting) to pick-up carry-out for the family. This particular business positions itself as having not only better food than the fast-food places, but also providing a better overall experience. When one sees their marketing, one comes away feeling that the experience of buying dinner there will be almost Zen-like, with high quality, healthy food supplemented by a soothing, easy purchase experience. A far cry from the obnoxious, “who cares” service that you would get at one of those OTHER fast-food places.

To make a long story short, my wife’s brand experience did not at all line up with the way the company positions itself. Why? One single employee who clearly didn’t believe in, or deliver on, the brand.  The food was great. But the service was rude. End result? Two potential brand-fans who are now not interested in ever going back for another try. Not because of the marketing. Not because of the product. Because of the experience.

Delivering on the brand at every touch point is crucial to success. As my colleague, Michael Deiner pointed out in his November post, “Great Brands Begin Internally.”

Once you’ve educated your employees on the brand, challenge them to think of how they can integrate the brand into what they do every day. Meet with the various departments and discuss specific action items that will allow them to be true to the brand. If they work in HR, challenge them to develop ways to incorporate the brand into interviewing and employee review processes. If they work in customer service, encourage them to think of ways to effectively represent the brand when they are interacting with customers. Reward positive “brand behavior”, and recognize those individuals publicly to encourage others to follow their lead. Through ongoing workshops and training, we work with our clients to effectively infuse the brand into the daily lives of their employees.

You work very hard to provide great product and services. You invest in your marketing communications to tell the story. But have you given enough thought to how the brand is delivered by your employees every day?  Maybe it’s time.

I recently published an article on our Learning Solutions blog titled “Innovative Ways to Educate Customers.” The blog talks about how leading organizations, including DuPont, Cisco and American Express are using video, on-demand learning and learning communities to educate customers.

Marketing leaders are investing in these efforts to further establish their brands, capture new leads and build deeper relationships with prospects and customers. Check out the blog and consider how you might engage your customers in a more meaningful educational experience.

In 1989 I asked my first boss, Rich, what he thought about the idea of communicating with clients through a technology that was the precursor to email. He told me that he did not think it was a good idea- it would prevent communication with clients from being properly screened. Hmmm? I wonder how many emails he sends to clients today?

Rich’s desire to manage the flow of information reminds me of the argument that some organizations are making for blocking access to social media by their own employees:

• “Information needs to be vetted.”
• “It will let secrets out.”
• “It’s a drain on productivity.”

It is easy to understand why these issues are a concern, but increasingly organizations see social media use by employees as a benefit, not a threat.  The U.S. Air Force is one of these.

“All Airmen are encouraged to use new and social media…”

The first page of New Media and The Air Force, a guide that the Air Force Public Affairs division published to communicate its new media policies, says: “All Airmen are encouraged to use new and social media to communicate about topics within their areas of expertise, or their interests.” The guide goes on to say:  “While communication with media and the public has traditionally been the responsibility of public affairs, today all Airmen are communicators.”

“If the Air Force does not tell its own story, someone else will.”

Why would a huge organization that is built on confidentiality embrace social media so energetically?
Here’s what they say: “Traditional, vertical communication is critical for the Air Force, but new technologies give Airmen the opportunity to horizontally inform the media, the public and each other. If the Air Force does not tell its own story, someone else will.”

Social Media is Encouraged and Taught, But also Managed

It is clear that the Air Force is confident in its ability to train its people to perform at high standards. The written guide that encourages Airmen to use new media, explicitly tells them what is acceptable behavior on a variety of social media sites.

What the Air Force has realized is that information itself is a strategic asset- it’s one of the tools that will help it meet its critical mission. And its actions show that it trusts Airmen to use the same good judgment in their social media activities that they use in their other work activities.

As you are evaluating your social media policy, I suggest that you review the social media policies of other organizations- you can do that here at SocialMediaGovernance.com.  You might also ask yourself whether social media really is the biggest threat to information security within your walls- consider the example of the U.S. Air Force, the organization that safeguards our nuclear missiles.

The biggest sporting event on earth – the World Cup – reveals two distinctly different approaches to soccer: the German style, with its tight structure, strong defense, short passes and low risk; and the Latin style, which is much more individual, free-wheeling and creative, but susceptible to dangerous counter attacks.

Maybe I need to get a life, but it seems that these two soccer styles describe the evolution of marketing communications over the past few decades. Not so long ago, marketers tightly controlled brand image and messaging. We told consumers what our brands represent, explained the product benefits, and dictated how those messages would be delivered. Short, safe passes in a tightly organized structure.

A new game

Marketers today no longer have complete control of brand messaging. Our customers tell us what our brands represent. Through blogs, forums and social media, they communicate our product benefits to others. It’s a wide-open world, full of inventive consumers eager to join the conversation. Our rigid control of marketing messages is a thing of the past. The game has changed.

This new game is more challenging for marketers, but it’s also more fun for consumers and they’re far more engaged. Just as soccer fans prefer the inventive, flashy play of Brazil over the solid, safe play of Germany, the give and take of brand communications is more exciting when more players get involved in the action.

The passionate fan

As marketers, we’ve learned to join the conversation and guide its direction instead of orchestrating every detail from our ivory towers. We’ve learned to embrace the power of consumers and let them show the passion they feel for our brands. They’ve become our evangelists. And they don’t even want a paycheck.

However, there are risks. Allowing consumers to participate in “our” marketing programs exposes our brands to dangerous counterattacks. We’re vulnerable to unfair criticism and misinterpretation. But if the brand is strong and the team is vigilant, we can succeed on a level unimaginable 20 years ago. Our role, as coach, is to field our resources and manage the whole team – including consumers – so we can achieve victory in the marketplace.

Now if we could just do something about those damn horns…

Social media continues to revolutionize the way we interact in our personal and professional lives. When people communicate using social media, they tend to send out short, concise messages to a trusted network of friends, family, or like-minded people with a concrete ask: take action, follow this link, read this story, share this with others, or express their opinion. They may share an event invitation, tweet a memorable quotation or idea expressed by a speaker, or share a clip of a video or podcast.

You can leverage the power of these same social media tactics to effectively promote and drive interest in a business event. Using social media to add a new dimension to successful events is a trend being adopted by strategic, forward-looking businesses and organizations. However, it is important to focus on a comprehensive approach to integrate social media into your events. I recommend breaking it down into three areas of focus:

Before the Event

1. Promotion: Use the days and weeks before the event to help drive awareness and promotion. Social media provides an exciting way to get the word out and allow users to spread it within their networks.  There is a strong chance they are connected to like-minded people who might be interested in the same topics and would consider attending. Make it easy for folks to share information about the conference – including registration – through their social media environments.
2. Buzz: Leverage social media as a way to have attendees opt-in for information to stay up-to-date on the conference to build buzz and excitement. You can accomplish this through Tweets, Facebook posts, and text alerts to make them more attractive than email blasts.
3. Connect: Create communities to allow participants to start building connections and start networking with fellow attendees before they arrive. This can be accomplished through setting up specific groups within channels such as LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.  Determine where your audience is already connecting and join them there.
4. Conversations: Make it easy for participants to connect with speakers through their social media channels. Print their LinkedIn, Twitter handles, and/or blog URLs on everything.  Encourage speakers to connect with attendees beforehand.  
5. Hashtags: Create a hashtag – a word preceded by the “#” that is used to link your post to other posts on the same subject – for the event. This will allow for tweets about your event to be easily searched and organized.
6. Blogging: Create a blog on your site to allow for updates on information about the event.  Encourage speakers to contribute before the event. Solicit feedback from users.

During the Event

1. Live tweeting: Put the power of the event into the participants’ hands. Encourage them to use the event hashtag to tweet about the event while it’s happening. Monitor the tweets and pull in questions to respond dynamically.
2. Reward Participation: Consider a raffle or giveaway during the conference, with attendees receiving one entry for each tweet they post during a particular segment of the event. Keep it fresh and retweet powerful comments, questions or ideas to spur conversation.
3. Live Photos: Encourage participants to share pictures from the event. Have a Flickr page dedicated to it. Pull photos into your event blog.
4. Interactions: Plug comments from the floor, from Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn into your event webpage, allowing attendees to participate in telling the story of your event to those who cannot be there live.
5. Questions: Take live questions from the floor, using Twitter, Facebook, text, or email.
6. Webcasting: Consider streaming the event live on your website to build a larger cadre of virtual attendees who are participating from their office or home.

After the Event

It’s imperative that you don’t let the conversation end. Leverage the groups and blog you have set up to continue the dialogue. Post comments from the event. Feature participants’ thoughts or ideas about the event.

1. Share Comments: Comment on or retweet information from participants.
2. Distribute: Make materials available and encourage dialogue from participants.
3. Plan: Start planning for next year’s event. Seek out participants, speakers, etc.
4. Survey: Facilitate feedback from attendees to help shape future events.

Conclusions

It’s important – as with all social media – to clearly measure what worked and what did not. There are tools that allow you to measure the conversation happening before, during and after the event.  Use these tools to help dynamically shape the event  as it is running, as well as in planning your future events. Also, use opportunities to find connection points with participants to be able to communicate with them after the event. Follow up with surveys to solicit feedback – but make sure to keep the questions short, meaningful and relevant to the attendee’s experience.

You’ll find exciting, first-hand stories to share with your customers. You’ll find fresh, real-time feedback, and you’ll benefit from more engaged participants. And following the event, you will have a vehicle to carry authentic interactions forward to build relationships.

Branded house or house of brands? Should a business focus on a corporate brand or deploy a host of individual product/service brands? There seems to be lot of debate lately within the blogosphere, and I wanted to add a few thoughts.

The most recognizable sample of a house of brands is Proctor and Gamble (P&G). P&G positions their products (Crest®, Tide®, Dawn®, Olay®, Vicks®, etc.) as individual brands, separate from the P&G name.

On the other side, Sony is a good example of a branded house. You hear Sony Walkman®, Sony PlayStation®, Sony Pictures®, etc. All of Sony’s products and services prominently feature the Sony name. They leverage the power of the Sony brand and function under one recognizable name.

It’s safe to say, the branded house philosophy makes more sense financially, since you are investing in one brand and allowing your multiple services or products to leverage that investment and the focus of the corporate brand. This works perfectly as long as your products or service brands align with the overarching position of the corporate brand, and your products or services serve complementary markets.

Conversely, Toyota realized their house of brands worked to their advantage when Toyota experienced a major loss and it was required to recall many of its vehicles. Because of this, the Toyota Division experienced a 12 percent loss in vehicle unit sales from January 2009 to January 2010. However, the Lexus brand, owned by Toyota, enjoyed a nearly 20 percent increase over the same time period. (1)

With no clear connection or visible affiliation between the brands, Lexus weathered the crisis with little if any damage even though they experienced some of the same recalls.

Toyota works hard to keep the brands separate and during the most recent chain of events, it paid off in a big way. It should also be noted that both Toyota and Lexus are powerful brands. Toyota placed number eight on Interbrand’s top 100 global brands in 2009. Lexus holds the 96^th position on the same top 100 list. Very impressive. (2)

Branded house or house of brands? If you can leverage the energy, positioning, brand equity and value of one corporate-focused brand, it is a business decision that can be both strategic and cost-effective.

In the end, it pays to think carefully about your brand portfolio strategy. Developing a winning strategy depends on multiple variables and setting a strategy that aligns directly to your business objectives.

Resources:

1. http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/toyota-reports-january-sales-153392.aspx

2. www.interbrand.com/best_global_brands.aspx

Shanghai China

I recently spent nine days in China, touring Chinese businesses, meeting local professionals, learning their culture and visiting tourist destinations. From the moment I stepped off the plane and entered the Shanghai airport, I was enamored with the Chinese use of technology and marketing opportunities. I was surrounded by LED lights and video billboards. I was receiving text message advertisements from Chinese cell phone companies and directions on how to use Chinese Wi-Fi. Everywhere I turned, I was completely amazed by the Chinese use of technology and the marketers that took full advantage of it.

Here are some of my perspectives of China as a U.S. digital marketer.

Internet opportunities. Everywhere I went in China, from Shanghai to Xi’an to Beijing, people were accessing the Internet. Some accessed it through laptops in new Internet cafés, while others used their cell phones to find information in karaoke bars or on the Metro.

According to Internet World Stats, China has the most Internet users in the world with over 360 million. With only a 27% Internet penetration, the growth opportunities for any Internet company in China are huge. China has one of the fastest-growing middle classes on Earth. Many of these people are accessing the Internet for the first time. According to DoubleClick, three of the top 12 visited sites in the world are Chinese. With an Internet usage growth projected over 1500% in 10 years, investors and global digital marketers are licking their lips at the possibilities.

Chinese on their mobile phones on the Great Wall of China

Mobile is everywhere. Today, China has the world’s largest number of mobile phone users with over 500 million. While I walked along the Great Wall in Beijing and visited the Terracotta Museum in Xi’an, I noticed many Chinese people using their cell phones to take pictures and send them to their friends via email, social networks or mms messages. There were calls to short messages on billboards, buses and taxis. And, as I mentioned earlier, there were text message advertisements sent right to their phones.

Local businesses rule. As in most international markets, businesses that are located locally have achieved success because they know the culture, and they know how to deal with the business entities within the country. China is no exception.

Only a few years ago, Chinese products were seen as cheap knockoffs, but with the Internet revolution, young Chinese “returnees” began producing close imitations of successful U.S. dot-coms and tweaking them with local traits that no American company could get exactly right. These Chinese transplants, many founded by American venture capitalists, have developed uniquely Chinese copies of Google, eBay, MySpace and Amazon that have surpassed their American influences.

Technology is the future. Everything is bigger in China! While in China, I visited the second largest building in the world, drove across the world’s longest bridge to see the world’s largest seaport, toured one of the world’s largest motor factories and two different steel manufacturers that “claimed” to be the world’s largest. Challenges such as income inequality, strict government regulations, air and water pollution, unprofitable state-owned enterprises, social instability, lack of financial transparency, complex requirements for foreign investors, and the lack of enforcement against makers of counterfeit goods have not stopped China’s technological growth or the willingness of international venture capitalists to invest in a Chinese company.

As important as history and culture are to the Chinese, the future may be more important. Technological growth is the key factor in this future. Entrepreneurs, scientists and innovators are extremely important to the Chinese government. This can be seen by the special treatment that some of these businesses and individuals receive, such as the laws that are looked over or the special grants that are handed out. I saw this in some of the businesses that I visited, some of which had their own government-funded museums and the less than steller working and environmental conditions of their factories.

Human rights and limited access. As much as the huge skyscrapers in Shanghai resemble those of the West, their ideals and culture are still uniquely Chinese. I quickly learned that our Western ideas of freedom and censorship are still foreign to many Chinese. The government still has a strong hold on what information their people can and cannot access via “The Great Firewall.” As I also learned, there are certain things you just don’t talk about in China, like the Tiananmen Square Massacre and the banned religion of Falun Gong, for example. Even visitors to China had restricted access to information. While I was there, I couldn’t access sites like Facebook or Twitter; instead, I had to use an RSS feed from my Google Buzz account to post photos and updates to these social networks.

Final thoughts. My visit to China was amazing. During my time there, I learned that the Chinese people are extremely resilient, knowledgeable and tech-savvy. Talking with local businessmen and other Chinese residents, I realized that the Chinese truly believe in their government, and they believe the future of their country is bright. Lastly, the Chinese love the Internet and their mobile devices, and the digital marketing opportunities are nearly endless.

On April 21, Facebook announced a new feature which is big for marketers- it’s the new “like” button. This is a button that website owners can put next to products, articles, or features on their sites. When users click the button, a link to that page, article or product appears in their Facebook newsfeed for all their friends to see. Facebook predicted that one billion of these links would be shared within 24 hours of the feature’s launch.

Who’s Using This?
Levis, among others, is putting this feature to work right away. When you visit the Levis website to shop for jeans you’re greeted by a headline that says “Declare Your Likes” – Levis has devoted the majority of its home page to a promotion for this new feature.  As you browse jeans, there is a blurb below each product with the Facebook logo, the word “like” and the number of people who have “liked” that pair. So customers instantly see the relative popularity of different kinds of jeans, and if one of your Facebook friends has already “liked” a pair of jeans, you’ll see their photo next to that pair! Every time someone ‘likes” a pair, a blurb about that pair appears on their Facebook wall for all their friends to see. CNN.com is another major website using the new “like” feature to spread its news stories.

The new “like” button eliminates the old “become a fan” so now Facebook users can “like” brands on Facebook just as they “like” articles, products or features on other websites.

Who Benefits?
For the 400 million+ current Facebook users, this new feature is a convenient way to share information with friends. For publishers like CNN this is a way to get more eyes on their content. For marketers like Levis, this is a new way of generating buzz and awareness about products. And this feature may become a way to strongly optimize websites for search engines- all those in-coming links through Facebook newsfeeds may increase a website’s visibility on Google, Bing and Yahoo.

Implications
For Facebook, this new feature has a particularly powerful benefit- it provides Facebook with new details about its users’ behavior, information that could be used to target advertising with revolutionary precision. Want to reach men 18-21 who are single, prefer Levis original style jeans, live in Pennsylvania, read about baseball and listen to Brad Paisley? No problem. But Facebook is going to have to proceed cautiously in offering this capability to marketers because of privacy concerns.

Do you “like” what Facebook is doing? How are you planning to use it?

Like a wobbly top teetering toward collapse, the use of “spin” is slowly winding down. We’ve seen too much infomercial hype, too many politicians twisting the truth, and too many tabloid claims to believe everything we’re told. Sixty years ago, we were naïve enough to believe that cigarettes were good for us. Today, we take every claim with a grain of salt.

Most attempts to spin the facts are obvious. It’s one of the reasons we’re so frustrated with politicians. Their vain efforts to paint themselves in a positive light – and point out the opposition’s failures – are easy to spot for what they are: spin.

I don’t mean that copy can’t be carefully crafted, or that messages shouldn’t be artfully packaged. It’s not “art” that turns off the audience; it’s “artifice.” This is the price we pay for living in a world with unlimited access to information. If we varnish the truth to gain support, or leave out facts that harm our position, we get called out – and rightfully so.

Telling the Truth

As marketing, advertising and communications professionals, we must tell the truth. Always. It’s our responsibility to our audiences. Clarity and transparency build credibility and trust. With today’s consumer-generated reviews, the all-pervading blogosphere and 24/7 tweets, the truth will surface. By speaking the truth, we build credibility and protect our reputations.

Marketers no longer have complete control of messaging, anyway. Rather than putting our heads in the sand and continuing to spew empty promises, let’s talk straight. It will do more for our brands than spinning the truth. Credibility leads to trust, which is the quickest road to loyalty.

Even the advertising community has turned toward transparency. Truth has taken a starring role in recent campaigns, including Domino’s “Focus Group” TV spot and Nike’s new Tiger Woods commercial featuring the voice of his father. And Dove has reinvigorated its brand by focusing on truth with the “Real Beauty” campaign.

Building Loyalty

Brand loyalty is the holy grail of marketing. Loyal customers don’t shop around. Loyal customers won’t take flight at the sight of a coupon. Although we still need to engage them and promote the value we bring, loyal customers know our brands and buy our products.

Truth builds loyalty. Spin creates suspicion. Our job as marketers is to tell our stories honestly and remove impediments to brand loyalty. The truth can set us free.

What’s Your Experience?

Are there times when “spin” has backfired? When has telling the truth brought positive results? I’d like to hear your story. Do you think “spin” has played out its string?