November 10th, 2005 Out there in this big bad world is stuff that is going on which demonstrates that there are new and more exciting ways for brands and businesses to engage with their customers.
To facilitate a completely different relationship with communities, which is deeper, richer and creates value in new and exciting ways.
The thinking at SMLXL is that brands in the 21st Century have to give up control to gain control. They have to become facilitators, enablers, life-simplifiers, co-creators, they have to inspire greater C2C interaction and in that way they will get the most precious thing from their customers personal advocacy.
As Frederick Reichold says, the one number you need to grow is customer advocacy.
Companies spend lots of time and money on complex tools to assess customer satisfaction. But they’re measuring the wrong thing. The best predictor of top-line growth can usually be captured in a single survey question: Would you recommend this company to a friend? This finding is based on two years of research in which a variety of survey questions were tested by linking the responses with actual customer behavior–purchasing patterns and referrals–and ultimately with company growth. Surprisingly, the most effective question wasn’t about customer satisfaction or even loyalty per se. In most of the industries studied, the percentage of customers enthusiastic enough about a company to refer it to a friend or colleague directly correlated with growth rates among competitors. Willingness to talk up a company or product to friends, family, and colleagues is one of the best indicators of loyalty because of the customer’s sacrifice in making the recommendation. When customers act as references, they do more than indicate they’ve received good economic value from a company; they put their own reputations on the line. The findings point to a new, simpler approach to customer research, one directly linked to a company’s results.
On top of that we as individuals have evolved into something more complex, seeking what is described as ‘psychological self determination’. We discuss this significant trend in our book and our findings are suppported by a 20 year study by Ronald Inglehart And also by Soshana Zuboff in her book the Support Economy
What this means is we shun traditional organisations in favour of unmediated relationship to the things we care about. The new individuals thus demand a high quality of direct participation and influence. They have skills to lead, confer and discuss, and they are not content to be good foot soldiers.
The new individuals seek true voice; direct participation, unmediated influence and identity based community because they are comfortable using their own experience as a basis for making judgments.
Psychological self-determination describes the ability to exert control over the most important aspects of ones life, especially personal identity, which has become the source of meaning and purpose in a life no longer dictated by geography or tradition. The sense of meaningful existence is intimately linked to the possibility of hope and optimism.
Of course the technological advances via the internet and mobile phone over the past few years has enabled us to go much further in our quest for personal identity.
Curiously, however whilst in the process of creating our individual selves, we develop a greater need for connection.
That is why Levi’s grass roots community initiative called Antidote makes so much sense.
This is what the press release says
Levi?s? Europe have launched Antidote, a new cross-media content platform and program – Antidote is built around young people?s interests and the increasing indie publishing phenomenon (zines), driven by the Internet over the past few years. Antidote is an unusual marketing application of grassroots content and events, driven by where young people get together in their passion communities.
Through Antidote, the brand seeks to act as an enabler and facilitator that provides young people with the tools to pursue their passion and share it with others. Antidote is naturally led by what matters to young people and how they choose to express it, and as such almost a pioneering model: A major brand that voluntarily gives the lead to its con-sumers!
Three outlets
Antidote comes to life across three closely integrated media channels that will grow organically over the course of 2005:
1. Antidote Online: An area on the brand website, www.eu.levi.com/antidote, that aggregates content from indie/?amateur? publishers aka zines across Europe. We call them our Content Partners. Examples: Mercy ( Liverpool, UK ), Ladinamo ( Madrid, ES ), Living Company ( Hamburg, DE ), LFTFLD ( Amsterdam, NL ), and Mute ( Oslo, NO ).
2. Antidote Print: A printed zine in A2 folded format, which is a taster of Antidote Online and distributed in July in Levi?s? Stores across Europe, and other select locations.
3. Antidote Live: Events organised by the content partners and other passion communities at a local level and which are documented to feed content back into Antidote Online.
The content is generated and events are conceived by the zines ( content partners ), not the Levi?s? brand. Antidote acts as the platform for aggregation of the special interest content as well as helps fund the production and/or promotion of events with the primary focus on bigger cities in Europe ( like Oslo ) but not necessarily the biggest ( like London ).
Antidote Live started quietly at the end of last year: A Poetry event in Liverpool, a music photography exhibition with a panel discussion about fanzine culture in Brighton, and a collaborative fashion event in Milan. With more coming up all across Europe, through Antidote, Levi’s? Europe aims to support roughly 40 grassroots events throughout 2005.
Anastasia who writes a blog on youth says this about Antidote
or any of you who have worked in the non-profit youth media space or just tried to start your own independent youth media project, raising money and getting publicity is HARD. I can’t tell you how many 10-20 page funding proposals I had to write for grants that ranged from $500 to $5K at Teen Voices. Not to mention the reporting many foundations require after the money is spent. For small organizations without an entire development staff, this sucks – literally and it sucks your time, energy and resources. What it appears Levi’s is doing here is forming mutually beneficial relationships with these organizations/independent media ? and one that feels like it’s more on equal footing.
If Levi’s, Adidas, Urban Decay, Apple, Nike, Scion, etc. all created similar programs in the United States that not only included promotion and publicity, but also funding for these publications, organizations and events in more of a partnership model vs. straight sponsorship or foundation/grantee relationship, I think our youth culture & media would FLOURISH. And the creative people working in this space might end up being less burned out from constant fundraising and more energized by empowering youth to creat some very cool sh$#t.
I think also the Sound Start initiative which is supported by Korg is equally an important pointer to what can be acheived for the good of all vs. Just the good of a company’s profits.
The problem for many marketers is that they have been brainwashed into thinking they are in control, and that they are marketing to extract value from the consumer. This model no longer applies.
As Simon London wrote in the Financial Times, the notion that producers produce and consumers consume is now considered pass? by management theorists.
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