Brand Autopsy

SEDONA | The Moore Boys (home video)

2009-07-03T14:51:00-05:00

NOTE: OFF-TOPIC blog post Since the Fourth of July weekend is usually when families gather together, I'm sharing a recent gathering of the Moore Family.

Technology makes home movies and old-school slide shows so much better. Super 8 home movies and Kodak Kodachrome slides on the projector screen were great back-in-the-day. However, these days, we have iMovie to make our home movies of vacations more enjoyable and sharable.

Recently I spent a few days in Sedona, AZ with my father (age 74), brother (44), nephew (13), and of course me (39). We called it our “3 Generations” trip and the Moore Boys had fun seeing the natural beauty of Sedona.

I compiled some photos and videos from the trip and whipped up a home movie using iMovie. It’s over 10-minutes long so posting it to YouTube was a no-go. Instead, it’s posted on Vimeo.

Have a look-see, if ya like. (Note: the helicopter video is really cool. It begins at the 11:20 mark.) Enjoy the video and enjoy spending time with your family this weekend.

SEDONA | 2009 ... The Moore Boys from john moore on Vimeo.

Refresher Course: BROKEN WINDOWS

2009-07-01T17:32:19-05:00

Seeing this hideously dirty ceiling tile at my dentist’s office today reminded me of the Broken Windows theory and how it relates to businesses.

The Broken Windows theory hypothesizes higher crime rates occur in cities when broken windows are left unrepaired because people will conclude no one cares enough to fix them. More windows will become broken and attitudes of lawlessness will spread, resulting in higher crime rates. Michael Levine applied this theory to business in his book, BROKEN WINDOWS BROKEN BUSINESS.

According to Levine, broken windows are telltale signs to customers that a business doesn’t care, that it is poorly managed, and or it has become too big and arrogant to adequately deal with little details.

He warns businesses that customers draw wide-ranging conclusions based upon their perceptions of the broken windows they find. These negative perceptions will undermine a business as they can turn once highly-satisfied customers into very-dissatisfied customers who choose take their business elsewhere.

I’m not saying my Dentist poorly manages his business. I am saying his patients could draw wide-ranging conclusions based upon the fact he hasn’t replaced the severely water damaged ceiling tile.

Every business has broken windows. The easiest way to tell if your business has a broken window is when you find yourself saying, “A customer will never notice that.” Because chances are, they will … just as I did with the way too soiled ceiling tile at my Dentist’s office.

Learn more in this vintage Brand Autopsy post (Dec. 2005).

Visiting Devil's Bridge (again)

2009-06-24T21:23:04-05:00

Something funky happened with my last vacation to Sedona, AZ. Canceled flights wrecked havoc on the plans to have the Moore Boys (from Grandfather to Sons to Grandson) spend time trekking the trails in Sedona, AZ. Only I made it to Sedona to experience the unbelievable views. (The others were caught up in a canceled flight after canceled flight nightmare scenario.)

So we are trying it again. Off to Sedona. All of us. (We're hoping weather cooperates this time and our flights aren't canceled.)

I'm sure one of our treks will include Devil's Bridge, a walkable natural sandstone arch. This is a short, edited video of me walking across Devil's Bridge. An amazing experience. Truly amazing. Enjoy.

RSS Readers ... click here to view the video.

WOM at Work

2009-06-22T22:35:52-05:00

In 2005, Seth Godin wrote the FREE PRIZE INSIDE. It's essentially a guidebook for creating remarkable products and services. As marketers we know when remarkable things get remarked about ... word of mouth happens.

This 2-minute video ditty I posted on the All Things WOM blog shares two word-of-mouth worthy free prizes I experienced while staying at the Hotel Burnham in Chicago. (Yes, I mispronounce the hotel’s name in the video. My bad.) Enjoy.

RSS Readers … click here to watch the video.

Letters from Leaders

2009-06-21T16:01:40-05:00

Henry Dormann has compiled an interesting book of LETTERS FROM LEADERS including nobel laureates, CEOs, world leaders, and presidents. Each letter from a present-day leader was written to share advice for tomorrow's leaders. It's a provocative book with lots of money quotes.

(It's also interesting enough of a book to earn my money and earn a blog post as this was a book I purchased and didn't receive free from a publisher or publicity firm.)

Enjoy the money quotes and consider riffling through this book for more inspiration and guidance.

RSS Readers ... click here to read the Money Quotes/

An Ethical Question … Please Comment

2009-06-07T16:06:40-05:00

UPDATED (June 10): Thanks everyone for the thoughtful comments. To avoid any question ... going forward, I will disclose how I receive business books reviewed on the blog.

Lots of great conversation is happening about the ethics of compensating bloggers with cash, in-kind gifts, and special access privileges in exchange for writing a post about the product/service a business provides them.

This conversation has me thinking about how I’ve been compensated for some posts on this blog.

Because I frequently write business book reviews, publishers and publicity firms send me free business books. I’m under no obligation to write anything (be it positive, negative, or nothing at all) in exchange. While not cash, this in-kind gift has a monetary value of about $25 per book.

I’ve probably written over 100 business book reviews on this blog. Some reviews have slammed the book as worthless and others have praised the book as worthwhile. In every case, my authentic opinion has been expressed.

However, I’ve never disclosed when a review is from a business book I received as a gift or from a book I purchased. (By the way, the vast majority of my book reviews are from books I've purchased.)

I’m curious … Do you expect me to disclose whether or not I was gifted the book or paid for the book? Would you trust my review more with this type of disclosure?

Thanks for sharing your feedback.

WOMMA Opens a Can of Worms

2009-06-03T18:25:05-05:00

Long-time readers know I'm a big supporter of Word of Mouth Marketing. More recently, I've put my passion for WOM to good use helping the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) strengthen its marketing muscles.

Right now WOMMA is wrestling with questions of ethics. They've long stood against SHILLING. That is, a brand/agency paying cash to people to talk about, blog about, tweet about a product without disclosing they are being paid to do such.

However, the practice of Sponsored Conversations is gaining more acceptance from brands and agencies. (A "sponsored conversation" happens when a person is compensated with cash, in-kind gifts, and special access privileges in exchange for talking, blogging, tweeting about the product/service a business provided them.)

Some, like Joseph Jaffe, say if a person is transparent and discloses they are being compensated then a "Sponsored Conversation" is ethical and acceptable marketing behavior.

Others, like Andy Sernovitz, abhor the practice of compensating bloggers to post reviews, especially if the reviews are inauthentic.

In 2005, WOMMA established an ETHICS CODE for Word-of-Mouth Marketing. Since then, it has become a standard guide for companies of all sizes to use to help them design and deliver more ethical (and effective) WOM programs.

In the last formal review, WOMMA included this language in its ethics code: “We stand against marketing practices whereby the consumer is paid cash by the manufacturer, supplier or one of their representatives to make recommendations, reviews or endorsements.”

Recently, three WOMMA members have requested this language in the ethics code be revisited ... no doubt to support the practice of sponsored conversations.

Should WOMMA alter its ethics code to support marketing activity where a consumer is paid cash to make recommendations, reviews or endorsements?

WOMMA wants to hear your opinion because your opinion will help WOMMA make a stronger ethics code that is reflective of how honest marketers should behave. Consider adding your voice to this issue on the WOMMA Living Ethics blog.

PURPLE COW | act now!

2009-05-24T07:35:58-05:00

UPDATED: The submission deadline has passed.

Seth Godin is updating one of the most important marketing books ever published, PURPLE COW. It's a simple book about baking "remarkability" inside everything a business does. The book is chock-full of case study examples highlighting businesses that do things to earn opinions from customers.

~~With the updated edition, Seth is sharing new case study examples ... including examples submitted by us. (Yep, by us.) ACT NOW! Submissions are due by midnight, New York time, tonight.~~

~~(I submitted a ditty about Mighty-Fine Burgers.)~~

Video Recap: MySpace or Facebook? Or Both?

2009-05-20T05:43:00-05:00

On May 13 & 14, WOMMA held its Word-of-Mouth Marketing University conference. Below is a video recap of a presentation from the conference.

The world’s two largest social networks, MySpace and Facebook, attract over 130-million users monthly. Thus the question has changed from IF you should use MySpace or Facebook to reach your customers to HOW. How can attention, affinity, and action happen best on each site? How do marketing messages spread differently between the two? How best to monitor and measure a brand’s performance on each site?

Those questions and more were answered by Heidi Browning from MySpace and Chris Pan from Facebook during the kick-off keynote to Day 2 of WOMM-U.

For smart recaps, I recommend reading posts from Josh Hallet, John Bell, and Ian Sohn. The moderator of the panel, David Berkowitz, also posted a good summary of the session.

I plopped my rinky-dink camera atop the banquet table in the dimly lit ballroom and captured much of the session on video. Because this session was so informative, written summaries fail to cover all the content. So, you should watch it for yourself and jot down your key takeaways.

VIDEO ONE:
In this segment you’ll learn about audience/demo profiles for MySpace and Facebook (0:00 to 2:45). Plus, you’ll hear Heidi and Chris share best practices from brands including Vitamin Water to Papa Johns Pizza to Starbucks to Cheetos to Aflac (2:46 to 9:35).

VIDEO TWO:
Both Heidi and Chris talk about the importance of creating engagement and community with users when designing marketing activities on MySpace and Facebook. Lots of great information in this segment.

VIDEO THREE:
Measurement matters to marketers. In this segment, you’ll learn how MySpace uses the momentum effect to evaluate success of a marketing activity. Facebook uses measurements of engagement to determine success/failure. Deep stuff. Watch, listen, and learn.

NOTE: crossposted on the ALL THINGS WOM blog

Recap: YouTube presentation

2009-05-19T06:44:00-05:00

NOTE: crossposted on the ALL THINGS WOM blog

On May 13 & 14, WOMMA held its Word-of-Mouth Marketing University conference. Below is a recap of a presentation from the conference.

Presentation:
Maximizing Online Video for Marketing Success

Presenter said:

Jeben Berg, creative director of Cross Platforms Solutions at YouTube & Google, threw out some startling stats about YouTube during his presentation ... it’s 81-million unique monthly visitors makes YouTube one of the most trafficked websites in the world ... each minute, another new 15-minutes of video is uploaded to YouTube.

Obviously, YouTube is a media and marketing channel to be reckoned with and smart companies are finding ways to integrate YouTube into their marketing mix. Jeben explained there is “no single formula" for online video success. There are, however, lots of best practice tips on how to improve the effectiveness of online videos.

First, focus on great ideas rather than production values. Companies like BlendTec and its “Will it Blend” series begin with a singular idea — such as, will an iPhone blend? — to create simple yet interesting videos. According to Jeben, following the BlendTec approach of “high concept with low fidelity” is a recipe for creating compelling online video.

Second, think quantity more than quality. Jeben explained brands that post lots of videos gain the most viewers and receive the most must-see recommendations from friends.

Third, make the most out of your Title, Description, and Tags. Don’t get too cute with your video title names. Use key words and commonly searched terms in the Description of your videos. And, spend extra time making sure you Tag your videos with the most appropriate terms. Something simple as a good title, robust description, and relevant tags will help online videos get better visibility through search engines.

Jeben jokingly talked about how many CEOs of big brands have called YouTube requesting certain videos be taken down. As long as a copyright isn’t infringed upon, YouTube leaves such videos alone.

Audience tweeted:
@VirginiaMiracle was impressed with the short case study on how the rock band, Weezer, analyzed the stats behind their videos, “weezer used their YouTube stats to determine that no one in the state of Oklahoma cares about weezer.” By knowing how few viewers there were from Oklahoma, Weezer decided not to make a tour stop in the state.

In response to Jeben talking about the recent Domino’s video incident, @spikejones tweeted, “CEO of Domino’s called called YouTube and tried to play the ‘pull down the video b/c I pump so much $$ into Google card.’ It didn’t work.”

Jeben continued the Domino’s story about the company’s video response. @TravelPRPro responded, “Money Talks. Advertising does have influence. Domino’s response to employee hoax got prime placement on YouTube bc they advertise.”

WOMMA says:
Viral videos can give a company lots of attention. However, predicting what goes viral is nearly impossible. If you approach making a video with the intent of it going viral, you are setting yourself up for disappointment. Instead, use Jeben’s advice of focusing on a quality idea more than on quality video production. It’s interesting ideas that get people interested and when interest is achieved, online word-of-mouth is primed to spread.