The ANA (Association of National Advertisers) recently released a study showing the future shifts in different marketing initiatives with reduction in:

• Media budgets (56 percent)
• Production budgets (50 percent)
• Sponsorship/events activities (41 percent)

The activities most likely to be maintained throughout the recession include:

• Research and development (47 percent)
• Public relations (42 percent)
• Innovation/test/learn budgets (33 percent)
• Promotion activities (33 percent)

The activities most likely to be increased in the current economic environment are:

• Pricing deals (47 percent)
• Social networking and word of mouth activities (26 percent)
• Public relations efforts (23 percent)

These increased activities reflect the real need and understanding from marketers that brand equity comes from emphasis on consumer relationship building. Of course the actual product is the main item for brand equity (89 percent) but customer service (86 percent) and employee advocacy (81 percent) are just as critical. Customer service is where consumers turn to get straight away answers and know that there is always a tangible representative available on hand when questions and problems arise. Give them the assurance that they will get a response, coupled with strong employee advocacy, and will have a brand that will last even through the rough times.

With this realization, customer-related metrics is also being deemed more important with increased attention on:

• Customer conversion/repeat rates (78 percent, as compared to 70 percent in February 2007)
• The percentage of customers who rate a brand as "excellent" (77 percent, as compared to 68 percent in February 2007)
• Net Promoter Scores (73 percent as compared to 67 percent in February 2007)

Sure, this recession has got us thinking of happier times but there’s a light at the end of the tunnel and it’s looking good for us word of mouth marketers. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments or tweet me about happy thoughts @Su_Lee.

Enter Quizno’s.

The 28 year-old ‘we toasted subs first’ sandwich shop has created some regrettable online marketing blunders in recent months, from a free-sub word of mouth disaster to a heinous display of literal food-porn, and unfortunately their latest campaign doesn’t fare much better.  Let’s take a closer look:

1 Million Subs: If there is one important lesson to learn about the power of word of mouth online, it’s that if you offer anything that’s worth something for free, people will take it – and then tell all their friends about it and they will also take it.  As my colleague Sarah reported in our previous post, Quizno’s fell victim to the power of WOM with their 1 Million Subs Giveaway campaign in February, which spiraled into a publicity disaster when hungry consumers became outraged as struggling franchisees refused to accommodate the offer after too many people tried to claim free subs.   As you might expect, the Million Sub Giveaway campaign is now “We’re sorry, that page was not found.”  Strike one.

2 Girls 1 Sub: Shortly after the 1 Million Subs campaign, a spoof on the infamous 2 Girls 1 Cup video trailer was released to the internet, prominently featuring the new Quizno’s Torpedo sub sloppily eaten by 2 scantily clad women.  Looking past the utterly horrifying correlation that was made in the Playboy-produced video between Quiznos’ toasty subs and ‘the cup’ from the original pornographic film trailer, the real blunder here is that ‘whomever’ was in on this project (Quizno’s denies any knowledge or involvement in the production of the video, but the majority agrees something doesn’t quite smell right) missed the reason why 2 Girls 1 Cup went viral in the first place.  It wasn’t the actual video people were obsessed with (if you haven’t seen it, I strongly advise you don’t), it is by no means the first of its kind. Rather what made this video so popular was the resulting phenomenon of recording and uploading the hilarious reactions of unsuspecting viewers who were duped into watching it.  Strike 2.

Where Do You Torpedo?:  Quiznos’ latest attempt at viral success is in the form of a user-generated photo and video contest asking customers where they like to eat the ‘$5 foot-long killer’ Torpedo sub.  As of this post, the promotion has 5 entries.  With a grand prize of $10k you’d think the promotion would fare a little better than that, but it clearly fails to resonate with customers.  There is nothing fun or interesting about photo shopping you eating a sandwich in front of a strange place.  It appears to be a thoughtless attempt to get customers to shill their sandwich on the internet.  Strike 3.

One would hope a brand would learn from their mistakes, but these initiatives continue to come off as self-centered attempts to position the brand as edgy and relevant.  If only they would take a step back, listen to their customers’ needs and wants, and then respond to those needs they’d earn the relevance they so desperately seek.  Until then Quizno’s will continue to dig itself deeper into that hole of regret that so many young adults find themselves in.

Maybe I’m being too hard on Quizno’s, not everything they’re doing is reprehensible.  They’re active on Twitter,  Facebook and YouTube, and although the talking oven is kitschy I’ve seen worse and their Twitter scavenger hunts for gift certificates are a fun way to mix online and offline and a good use of the Twitter platform.    However, from scat-porn rip-offs to lame UGC contests, I have to say Quizno’s still has a lot of growing up to do.

Share your thoughts in the comments or send me a tweet @patrickcourtney.

Last week you learned a valuable lesson (no, not that Oprah is queen - we already knew that). You learned, hopefully, not to underestimate the power of Word of Mouth.

To recap, for those who haven't been stampeded in one of your locations within the past week...

You as a brand, interested in dipping you toes into the healthier side and challenging the "F" that is the center of your acronym (you are brave!), decided to launch an online coupon for your new "Kentucky Grilled Chicken" line and seed it with the ever so subtle and non-influential (ha!) @Oprah.

The coupon was for two free pieces of grilled chicken, two sides and a biscuit to anyone who downloaded and printed it within a two-day period.  By your brand's own analysis and admission, according to your spokesperson and Ad Age however, it wasn't the Big O who caused the premature canceling of the promotion and in-store riots, it was the WOM-driven sharing of the promotion.

According to this very informative review of Chicken-Gate in Ad Age, KFC/KGC banked on big Oprah numbers. You took O's projections for number of coupons based on other offers from her show and then subsequently doubled them.  You estimated about 10.5 million coupons were downloaded, which you could have handled. But then, the kicker comes in - in what I can only believe to be an obvious twist of fate without unique codes and a system that can detect them, the coupons were photocopied and shared from friend to fast food loving friend.

Adding mega fuel to the grill, you apparently didn't properly brief all your chicken purveyors.  You see, my non-Yum Brand enthusiasts, KFC is not only company-owned - there are franchisees across the country (and it is a recession). And they aren't giving you their chicken without Colonel Sanders reimbursing them. So they do what all people trying to curb costs in a harsh economic climate would do - act completely unaware and utterly unwilling to accept the coupons. At least that is what has allegedly happened several reported scenarios that we have learned about thanks to our friends at Consumerist who are always clucking around the latest promotional scandal.

All of this adds up to a public relations disaster with consumers now pacified with a free Pepsi (really KFC, not even a drumstick or two? or better yet how about a Dr. Pepper?) left angry and annoyed.

Believing that you  hadn't learned the Starbucks lesson in the inevitable WOM of coupons seems unrealistic. I can't help but believe that you WANTED this mega success turned disaster of too much consumer interest to happen. The amount of precedence (see below) makes your unawareness just not seem likely.

And this could have been deemed a total and utter success, if you just would have set better rules of engagement.

Oh, KFC... If only you had handled it better - with unique trackable codes or printing system, some type of CRM integration (which would have given you more measurable results and consumer qualification for a deeper relationship marketing after the fact - building loyalty with your new grilled friends) or when the chicken hit the fan, with a better crisis plan in place.

As I am convinced you know, with downloadable coupons, the ability for it to spiral, especially in a recession and for a FULL MEAL is inevitable. Consumers live and breathe a brand throwing them a free buck.

But have no fear, KFC, a few of your friends have made just as big of a mess of things as you have. If only you had heeded their example.

DR PEPPER

Dr Pepper said it would give everyone in the country a free soda if Guns N' Roses released its much anticipated album "Chinese Democracy" before the end of the year.  This promotion culminated in the band's lawyers getting nasty with the brand stating that G 'n R are "outraged at the treatment of their fans and the American public in general" after Dr. Pepper's site couldn't handle the traffic and repeatedly crashed when they attempted to honor their promise.

After mega backlash in the blogosphere for seeming to be unprepared for the consumer response, Dr Pepper extended the offer for a few more days, but continued to receive tons of criticism as a result of the incident. Note to Dr. Pepper: if you would have offered us all a partial refund for the album (what a let down it was) all would have been forgiven

SUBWAY

Your footlong friends Subway did away with their iconic and beloved (by sub fans, not by me) stamp loyalty program that was born way back in the 1980s after (duh) realizing that there might be some fraud going on both with consumers and internally with their franchisees with counterfit stamps and cards.

The breaking point? A roll of the stamps being sold on eBay.

I think they're redeeming themselves with the big Chuck promotion, though. I'm all about the Save Chuck bandwagon. Maybe you could spin yours into saving Lipstick Jungle? Or Kings? I love both of those programs. I'd be happy to help. I bet Brooke Shields and Ian McShane could get behind some grilled chicken.

QUIZNO's

In other sub disasters, earlier this year, your grilled sub friends, Quizno's ran into some trouble when they announced their million sub giveaway (aka free sandwich) (see a pattern here?)  The problem, which seems like it might be a bit of yours also, was many of the company's franchises didn't participate in the "million sub giveaway" leading to mega consumer backlash.

It is unclear if they ever truly hit that magic million number.

And, the ultimate king of coupon PR disaster is of course, your friends from the land of eternal rain, Starbucks.

STARBUCKS

Trumping all of the above, your Seattle friends ran into a class-action suit after they tried a free coffee promotion way back in 2006. Starbucks emailed printable coupons for free iced coffee drinks to employees urging them to pass the coupons on to friends and family. Obviously, their friends & family hit the fabulous "FORWARD" button and the promotion got a bit out of hand.

After 38-days Starbucks announced that they would no longer honor the coupons.

So, in summary, my friends in mashed potatoes & chicken, I am suggesting that you curb this crisis with some innovation. Do a promotion that honors and activates your influencers.  Use them as the spark that fires up the grilled fire, in a positive, trackable, and controlled manner.  Rally around them to introduce your new health-conscious option.

You will spark word of mouth and have a demonstrated ROI that makes your loyalists, your new friends in all things grilled, the blogosphere, AND your franchisees happy and full.

Need an agency to help you out? This is right up our alley. Drop me a line.

Your friend in all things grilled, mashed & gravy covered,

Sarah

Since 2003, interests of the average online user have shifted significantly. Categories that consisted of portal-oriented browsing sites…used to be the top categories for user engagement. However, today the active Internet user tends to prefer sites that contain more specialized content. This change in preferences is seen in the fact that video and social networking sites have moved to the forefront, becoming the two fastest growing categories in 2009.

This trend isn't a surprise to most, but it is cause for some concern for subscription-free online news publishers who have relied heavily on portals to drive the majority of their page views for the past decade.  A story on the homepage of Yahoo! essentially meant a publisher hit their traffic quota for the day.  But as the general online population fragments as the release suggests, these ‘portal hits,’ which had the potential to drive hundreds of thousands of page views to a news publisher, are becoming less reliable as traffic drivers.

It’s unlikely any future online destination will develop the traffic-driving muscle of MSN or Yahoo! (even the front page of Digg won’t get you there) now that internet users have been empowered with the tools and resources to filter content and discover the information they seek on their own terms.  However, as CPMs plummet and traffic metrics begin to gravitate from quantity to "quality" (engagement, depth, etc.), what becomes more important now is for publishers to take a step back, rethink the kind of traffic they seek to garner, and adapt to the changing social media landscape.   A few large scale news organizations are currently experimenting with different approaches to leveraging social networks to drive consistent, incremental traffic.  A few examples:

1.    The Chicago Tribune created “Colonel Tribune,” a sort of brand mascot, in 2008 to serve as the social media mouthpiece of the news organization.  The colonel regularly updates Flickr, Twitter, and Facebook accounts, listening and sharing stories he finds interesting.  The Social Media Strategist behind the Colonel, Daniel Honigman, believes “The Colonel acts as a touch point for the Tribune and serves as our voice on the web…Who is kind of a goofy man about town but is an actual person. He would even answer questions that you might have.”  (via mashable)

2.    The Des Moines Register encourages their staff to tweet and interact with readers, and features their streams on the site to allowing readers to discover them more easily.  Engaging with staff offers a unique access point for readers, puts a human touch on the information served, and can often assist writers with stories via crowdsourcing.  (I chose The Des Moines Register as I am from Iowa, and Iowa rules.)

3.    The NY Times has gone a simpler route providing headline feeds only on both Twitter and Facebook, free of added personal voice or opinion.  The idea is that because Twitter and FB pages are opt-in, a user who signs up to receive updates is assumed to be more valuable than say, a user from Digg, and likely to produce repeat visits and spend more time on your pages.   This is likely the most old media style approach to social network marketing, but an approach nonetheless.

4.    BusinessWeek’s BusinessExchange is perhaps one of the best examples of a publisher bringing social networking to their turf.  Other initiatives include the NY Times’ Times People, CNN’s iReport, and WSJ’s The Journal Community.   These communities encourage readers to connect and share with the goal in mind to increase engagement and build loyalty, as well as facilitate the integration of existing social networks like Facebook through Facebook Connect or an application, as Times People has done, adding multiple access points across a reader’s social sphere.

These are just a few notable examples of how news publishers are trying their hand at social network marketing, and I would love to see more examples in the comments (or hit me up on Twitter @patrickcourtney).  The relative success of these initiatives is largely unknown, although the Chicago Tribune has claimed a 10% uptick in page views as a direct result of their social media strategies.  Whatever is the case, the fact is social networks continue to grow at a blistering pace, and the opportunity to capture and engage your audience is growing with it.

These Vintage Prints feature iconic, greater outdoors inspired scenes and are available to consumers at no cost via their community site Blaze the Trail.

Recently, one of these posters found a new, large home on the Beverly Boulevard between Gardner and North Vista Streets in Los Angeles. The Moose, the first ever Consumers Choice Vintage Print (conceptualized by and voted to victory by consumers), will be hanging out proudly there apologizing to LA'ers for the horrible delays in traffic through the week of May 4th.

While we are happy to see this awesome artwork displayed anywhere loud and proud, the fact the Moose was the consumer-selected winner of a consumer-generated content contest is near and dear to our marketing hearts.  Consumers are open to always submit their creative visions for the next Redwood Creek Vintage Print, and we are always sifting through the ideas narrowing down finalists for the next time that we will nominate a few to face off, with the winner getting printed and distributed to consumers, for free.

Note: The Moose won't be available online to grab for your wall  until the end of May. But we do hope you'll pick one up then.

Quite an interesting question indeed. With Social Media being a super hyped little pair of buzz words, every agency, self-promoting fameball, or major brand who follows trendy little buzz words has jumped on the tweeting, wall-posting, super-poking bandwagon.

While they are most definitely right to be on the wagon, the deployment of a Social Media initiative is not something one embarks upon without any planning or experience. It is one thing to be a celebrity building your own online brand, but even then you have to be wary. The room for interpretation on the context of your tweets, blog posts, or status updates is a pretty big room and the elephant in it is that whether you are a brand or Demi Moore, the online world of snark just wants to see you stumble.  Just like that photograph of you on Page Six in your unflattering sweats or that consumer complaint about an experience with your brand or one of your employees that now has 50,000 views on Consumerist, dipping your toes into Social Media has to be done clearly and with purpose.

Even without the fear or risk of negative backlash, in order to make a lasting impression that positively supports your brand and that has a trajectory for growth and "viral" legs, one must have a firm foundation based on knowledge and experience, on what works and what doesn't.

Which is why, as with every other marketing tactic or medium, having a strategy is important.  Your Social Media initiatives should be integrated with your overall brand strategy, whether you are trying to peddle a product, fameball, celebrity, or brand.  There should be goals, objectives, benchmarks, and a thought out approach that makes sense for what it is that you want to communicate and how you wish to communicate it.

In this Marketing Sherpa study, they concluded that " Two-thirds of marketers who work for organizations that have not used any form of social media marketing or PR consider themselves “very knowledgeable” or “somewhat knowledgeable” about this emerging strategy. Their overconfidence in unproven ability can doom social media initiatives to failure."

It is a mistake to believe that if you build it, they will come.

To believe that you can set up a YouTube channel, upload a few videos, and boom, there you have viral video is about as logical as believing that people with a video camera can create a Super Bowl commercial. Although in some cases, the former does happen, more often than not  it doesn't and won't.

In the same manner, it is foolish to believe that just because you create a Facebook or iPhone application and put it out in the universe, people will use it. The application directory on Facebook is flooded with applications, most of which (the most recent stat I heard was 99%) are basically inactive. Even the top Facebook applications that were previously deemed "successful" have seen a decrease in usage that averages between 15-24% with the new Facebook redesign.

While I do believe that it is possible for some brands to embark upon a Social Media plan "in house", it is increasingly important to do so with someone taking the reigns who has Social Media experience and expertise. If you want to cut through the clutter, ward off any potential viral embarrassment, and most importantly, have a successful initiative having someone on board who knows the space - not as a user, but as a marketer, is key.

As an employee of an agency that dipped its own toes into Social Media before it was so totally trendy and part of a majority of Fortune 1000 marketing budgets, I can say that the overzealous nature of marketers to believe they fully understand Social Media is partially exciting. It is nice to have these mediums & tactics that we believe (and have for quite some time) to be viable be recognized and appreciated by the more traditional marketers.

I just urge you to remember that just like other traditional and existing non-traditional tactics, strategy is key. While a rogue effort by someone with no experience could prove to be successful, lightning rarely strikes in the same place twice.

It is best to consult with, hire, or bring to the team, someone(s) with a true passion for and expertise and experience in Social Media.

These two buzz words are best buzzed about by someone who knows how to properly buzz them.

Marketing channels, such as Word of Mouth Marketing and Online Marketing, are expected to grow to an astounding 27% of overall marketing expenditures by 2012, up from 7% in 2002, according to a new research study recently released by IBM Institute for Business Value titled "Beyond Advertising: Choosing a Strategic Path to the Digital Consumer".

The findings prove the changed landscape of the advertising marketplace and the necessity for companies to adapt in order to compete. The report reveals that companies are shifting spending away from traditional advertising in favor of more interactive and measurable ways of reaching consumers.

The study cites the four major trends that are emerging:

• Influence of the Digital Savvy Consumer – Today’s consumer is more more digitally savvy and wants to be engaged online. This year, 76 percent indicated they had already watched video on their computers (up 27 percent). Thirty-two percent indicated they had viewed video on a portable device or mobile phone (up 45 percent). And interest in mobile video content has more than doubled in a year, to 55 percent.
• A shift in advertiser spending – Advertisers are responding to this new breed of digital savvy consumer. Results show that Sixty-three percent of global CMO's expect to increase online/interactive marketing spends while 65 percent expect to decrease traditional advertising.
• Digital migration of platforms – The emergence of digital forums such as social media and online video are blurring the lines between advertising and marketing in a move to what the study calls "brands-actional" advertising.
• Emergence of new capabilities –“Moves, by both new entrants and existing players, are driving new types of industry innovation, and accelerating the pace of change."

"To succeed - especially in the current economic environment - media companies will need to develop a new set of capabilities to support the industry's evolving demands, which include micro targeting, real-time ROI measurement and cross-platform integration," says Saul Berman, IBM Global Leader for Strategy and Change Consulting Services and co-author of the study.

In what will certainly become a smashing viral success, P Diddy, a relatively newcomer to Twitter (@iamdiddy), educates Ellen DeGeneres (now on Twitter - @theellenshow-  although at Press Time has yet to "tweet").

In typical Diddy fashion he pronounces himself the most popular man on Twitter [112,820 followers - all #s as of 3/11 @ 5 p.m.] although Shaq: @The_Real_Shaq, [280, 948 followers], Ashton Kutcher @aplusk [290,534 followers], and non-celebrities (although arguably Social Media celebs) such as Pete Cashmore: @mashable [221,189 followers] and Kevin Rose: @kevinrose [263,953 followers - and the guy who got Ashton & Demi to tweet] have more "followers" than he does.

Whether he's the king of Twitter or not, the trend of celebrities using Twitter as a platform to speak directly to their fans is certainly a viable (and smart) usage of the "tweeting" capabilities. In the same way that brands like Comcast: @comcastcares and Jet Blue @jetblue have communicated effective and important information and solutions to their consumers, strengthening their brand image.  Celebrities can utilize Twitter to clear up rumors, make big announcements, seem more accessible to fans, and ultimately strengthen their brand - which is what is also compelling to us as marketers and branders - the tweeter can now be the driver of their own brand message.

In the clip above Diddy butchers the explanation of Twitter calling it a "mass e-mail" which it certainly resembles, but isn't. But the fact that he is on Ellen, explaining Twitter, and going out of his way to disclose the ways he utilizes it is what is important.  His excitement about it as a communication tool is the excitement I hope to instill in all of my clients.

I believe that we can officially say that Twitter has gone mainstream.

Note: Although I jab at Diddy's explanation of Twitter, I find it tough myself to explain it in less than a paragraph. Does anyone have a succinct explanation they use? Do share!

This week another candy giant, Snickers, has decided to do nearly the opposite and shut down a super-cool user-created brand experience.

As you might recall, Snickers first introduced "Snacklish" in 2006 with terms like 'Hungerectomy,' to mixed reviews.  Now they're back, and a bit less medical-sounding, like Master P-Nut and Snackalicious.

And until a few hours ago, you too could have created your own Snacklish Snickers logo.  Located at http://www.snckrz.com,  the simple interface allowed any visitor to type in a term or phrase and magically transform it into the signature Snickers typeface.  At the time of this post, the site currently has an ominous countdown to shutdown and a twitter stream of all the unhappy customers who enjoyed this unique brand interaction.

I played around with the app myself a bit before it shut down, and plan to use my personal "PatrickCourtney" Snacklish logo to send to my snicker-loving friends.  If only my friends could then visit the site and make their own.  A huge missed opportunity by Snickers.

The twist is, both Snickers and Skittles are owned by Mars.

Mars, I thought we were in the social media trust tree, with the nest, are we not?

The primary change is that a majority of the page is now taken up with the "wall", which consists of status updates and comments by fans. This is obviously a direct response to Twitter and the success it has given brands in engaging their followers in direct communication.

The biggest drawback is that pages now have the exact same layout as user profiles. Previously, many brands were able to highly customize the content and look of their pages using the large area available for images and multiple large application boxes. Now, there is only a small image on the upper left corner and a few small application boxes down the left column. As on a profile, the rest of the applications have been relegated to a boxes tab that many fans probably won't take the time to explore. While it is possible to change settings to have new users start on this tab, once someone becomes a fan of a page, they will always start on the main wall.

The consequences are clear. Brands will not be able to rely on rich graphics or flashy widgets to create engagement and reinforce identity; the focus in now on the conversation. Brands that update their status will have it appear just like friends' updates on their fans home pages where they will be able to "like" and comment on it. With the imminent redesign of the home page, this conversation will only gain prominence and become the primary way for brands to engage fans and grow virally through the social graph.

The challenge will be for brands to use these new touch points for communication effectively. People will not accept passively receiving broadcast information like an RSS feed of blog posts; they require real engagement and two-way conversation. Brands will need to find real people to convey their voices and identity. There have already been successful examples of this on Twitter such as Zappos and Comcast.

It will only become more complex maintaining and managing a brand's conversation as it moves away from a brand's own site to the distributed web. As more sites and services open APIs, new tools and meta-services will be created to facilitate this for brands as FriendFeed and TweetDeck have only begun to demonstrate for consumers.