when the world changes fundamentally, survival depends on fundamental change

Re-reading Bob Garfields 'Chaos Scenario piece clearly demonstrates that more conventional marketing is no longer the answer, what is required is a different type of marketing, a new way of doing things.
Garfield writes

As technology increasingly enables fine targeting and interaction between marketer and consumer, the old measurement and deployment standards are primitive almost to the point of absurdity.
"The industry's key currency is basically reach, frequency, exposure and cost per thousand," says Rishad Tobaccowala, president of Internet media shop Starcom IP. "I'm not saying whether it's right or wrong but that's currently the currency. And where the currency ought to be is about outcomes, engagement and effectiveness. Because right now all I'm doing is I'm measuring how cheaply or how expensively I'm buying the pig. I'm not figuring out whether the hot dog tastes good."

Are we running to standstill? Have we eroded difference by hyper-competition in all areas of business bailing out the sinking ship with ever decreasing effectiveness?
when everything starts to look alike, when you can't differentiate, when you can get it cheaper on the net – what do you do? what do you do when your customers come armed to the teeth with information – when they expect 'service,' 'quality.' People are not hoodwinked by marketing messaging – They know that what is on offer is or is not an attainable reality. Piss them off – don't come up to the mark – "well baby, I'm outta here"
So you have got to interact – understand everything is negotiable – don't pay lipservice to the notion 'we are a customer centric company' Interactivity, two-way flows of information, ease of access to information – a life spent on google and SEARCH – fundamentally change brands hegomony.
More direct marketing sounds like "INCOMING'" to me as we dive into our shelters or sign-up to the "DO NOT CALL ME REGISTER"
If as a brand you are not provider of a valuable experience – go home – hang up your boots and retire.
In this new world the key to commercial success is to make your customers successful – understand your customers needs – involve them – engage them – develop strategies that by holding their attention willingly, you can also have a commercial relationship.
ITS NOT CRM IT'S CMR where the emphasis is on relationship NOT management. And in a new media ecology of always on – always connected – some argue vociferously that stand alone TV advertising seems increasingly circumspect
But of course at the moment TV advertising spend is still increasing – The comfy cardy of the 30 sec spot lives on. It is very cosy. And its not that TV advertising will go away – its just that the notion that we have to get everybody all in front of the box – ALL at the same time, to get the eyeballs etc. Is looking pretty prehistoric – shrinking TV audiences are coveted still – as Bob Garfield writes

they are the last vestige of mass media and marketing

In fact we argue that the term mass media is becoming an oxymoron.
And when Andrew Robertson, the CEO of the BBDO advertising agency (the world's third largest) says in the Financial Times , "Mobile Phones will replace TV as most important medium."
You start to figure, that, perhaps, our familiar analogue media eco-system teeters on the brink.
As a practicioner of cross-platform engagement strategies – I see more and more and more requests for 'big ideas' – cross platform strategies. Terms used are of engagement, creative content strategies, which we have advised on a few
Customers you see, embrace the world holistically – funnily enough where-as we marketers like to chop chop chop, everything down into little tiny pieces – then we bandy words around like "integration."
It just does not work like that anymore. Though some people out there seem hell bent on postponing the future as Steven Rosenbaum testify's
IF ONE THINKS THAT AT THE POINT OF PURCHASE YOU HAVE JUST MADE THE FIRST STEP – WHERE DOES THAT TAKE YOU?
Remove the notion that marketing is 'adversarial' and you start to get into a really interesting place – that can be tailored and enhanced by new digital technologies – one can create and co-create value in so many ways.
Customer-base is replaced with customer community – And all brand interaction should deliver an experience that actively links customers, media and brand in relevant and meaningful ways. Brand experience replaces broadcasting in its broadest sense.
And finally from Garfield

fragmentation, the bane of network TV and mass marketers everywhere, will become the Holy Grail, the opportunity to reach — and have a conversation with — small clusters of consumers who are consuming not what is force-fed them, but exactly what they want. Producers and broadcasters capitalized with billions of dollars will be on approximately equal footing with podcasters and video bloggers capitalized with $399.99 12-months same-as-cash from Best Buy. And just as DailyKos, Instapundit, Wonkette and Wil Wheaton have coalesced large followings in the cacophony of the blogosphere, some of the citizen-video programmers will find not just a voice but an audience.

You can agree or disagree with this but I believe there is a conversation to be had. Today and tomorrow we have to start helping companies towards 'integrated thinking' , which is very different from a format specific start point.
It is an holistic approach – idea driven – richly creative and richly rewarding – lots of fun – with great opportunities for those that get it right.
So what are you going to take? The Red Pill or the Blue Pill?
Over and out.

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Posted in: Advertising, Broadcast, Convergence, Culture, Darwin, Distribution, Education, Engagement Marketing, Engagement Research, Law, Marketing, Media, Networks, Philosophy, Strategy, Trends

Corporate commitment to the community

Having started thinking about Nike and social reporting I decided to investigate a little further.

What is the role and purpose of CSR? (Corporate Social Responsibility) One can see how malpractice either sustained or even short term will ultimately mean that individuals that will then form some form of resistance etc., will face up to the company responsible.

Richard Welford , professor of corporate environmental governance at the University of Hong Kong has this to say

CSR is about reciprocal obligations. Businesses are given a lot of power in society, and they have this obligation to give things back. They should invest in the community; implement good employment practices, provide a good working environment.

Is there a risk that commitment to the community can compromise a company’s profits? Is there a chance of sacrificing the bottom line?

There is zero conflict between CSR and the bottom line, I just don’t buy the argument that CSR subtracts money from the bottom line. That doesn’t mean it doesn’t cost money. It does. But it also brings benefits, such as enhanced reputation, brand image and trust, which is a big issue.

And we do know that credibility and trust are key issues for any business alive today. A good reputation will create will wealth.

This is what reporter Paul Kenyon in a BBC Panorama programme had to say

If Nike and the Gap were doing what they said, interviewing workers, monitoring factories properly, enforcing their anti-sweatshop rules, why hadn’t they found what we had? This isn’t the only factory we’ve investigated, we’ve looked at several others in Cambodia that produce for both
the Gap and for Nike and they seem to have one thing in common which is persistent and serious breaches of their own code of conduct, it’s almost as if that ethical trading policy which these big labels trumpet in Europe and America just doesn’t exist in any real way here. In fact we found five other factories in Cambodia manufacturing for either Nike or the Gap. We interviewed dozens of workers, codes of conduct were regularly being broken but no one we spoke to had ever been interviewed by a monitor.

It is a long transcript – and the fact it exists demonstrates why organisations like No Sweat exist.

Kenyon sums up at the end of his report

Since we filmed in Cambodia, June Textiles also told us that child labour is not acceptable to them. The Gap says they’re holding an inquiry. Nike has told us it found child labour in the same factory and it may pull out from December. We’ve made daily checks on the children. They’re safe but they’re still working. Sun Thyda continues to lie about her age to keep her job. Nike says it will pay for any children it finds to go to school. The Gap, as you heard, simply wants to let them go. With the benefits of globalisation come the responsibilities. But consumers can never be sure what’s been ethically produced and what’s not. For that we have to rely on the companies. But whose checking on them?

As Nike are finding the road back to a good reputation is going to be a hard one

Even Gap have found themselves on the wrong side of the fence as regards to their ehtical practices.

Related links

Ethical Consumer
Ethical Property
Consumer Activism Project
Survey on Privavcy Activism
Consumer Activism in the UK – Mori
related links to activism

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Posted in: Trends

On the road to social reporting and transparency

The Financial Times, Wednesday April 11 2005, published an article

“Nike makes the step to transparency”

It makes compelling reading. Nike has been silent on social reporting for 3 years.

This relates back to a courtcase in 2002 between Nike and Mark Kasky, a labour rights activist.

Case Background

In 1998, California resident Marc Kasky brought suit against Nike Inc. on behalf of consumers in the state of California, claiming that Nike and/or its representatives had made the following untrue statements regarding Nike?s practices in China, Vietnam, and Indonesia:

1) “workers who make Nike products are protected from and not subjected to corporal punishment and/or sexual abuse,”
2) “Nike products are made in accordance with applicable governmental laws and regulations governing wages and hours,”
3) “Nike products are made in accordance with applicable laws and regulations governing health and safety conditions,”
4) “Nike pays average line-workers double the minimum wage in Southeast Asia,”
5) “Workers who produce Nike products receive free meals and health care,”
6) “GoodWorks International report proves that Nike is doing a good job and ‘operating morally’” (GoodWorks International is an organization formed by former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young and commissioned by Nike for the purpose of investigating the company?s operations and Asia),
7) “Nike guarantee(s) a ?living wage? for all workers who make Nike products.”

Nike’s return from this point is best summed up by Hannah Jones, Nike’s VP of Corporate Responsibility

We felt the risks of any future lawsuit were far outweighed by benefits of transparency. Because if we’ve learned anything as as company, its that closing down and not talking about the challenges and opportunities doesn’t get you very far.”

Nike under pressure from a powerful lobby – has responded with what is perhpas the most far reaching response by any company to date. It provides details on supply chain practices, workforce diversity, the environment, community programmes, and socially responsible investment.

The FT reports that it was directly due to the Kasky case that Nike brought much greater rigour and focus to these critical areas of its business to restore credibility. Niike it seems recognises that this process will ultimately result in good business not just an exercise in reputation.

Would Nike have done this without a community action? Probably not, but it has understood the days of ducking the curved ball are over, and that by positively embracing these issues it too can make the community work as much for it as against it.

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U2 – communities – world poverty – texting

Related to our recent post on mobile phones and TV – speed of information – connection to networks – communities forming around issues etc. Rory Treffiletti of mediapost watched Bono embrace the digital age to bring focus to a centuries old problem. 

During the show, Bono dedicated some microphone time to the topic of human rights, and as part of their desire to raise awareness for this timely topic, they asked everyone to take out their cell phones and text message their names to the number 86483 to be added to a petition of people who pledge their support to improving human rights around the globe. Bono stated they were looking for 1 million names and when I looked around the arena I think it's realistic that they'll get it.

Text messaging connects rockers and audience 

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Posted in: 7th Mass Media, Culture, Engagement Mobile, Ethics, Events, Generation C, Mobile, Participation, Trends

U2 – communities – world poverty – texting

Related to our recent post on mobile phones and TV – speed of information – connection to networks – communities forming around issues etc. This post is a case in point. Rory Treffiletti of mediapost watched Bono embrace the digital age to help solve a centuries old problem.

During the show, Bono dedicated some microphone time to the topic of human rights, and as part of their desire to raise awareness for this timely topic, they asked everyone to take out their cell phones and text message their names to the number 86483 to be added to a petition of people who pledge their support to improving human rights around the globe. Bono stated they were looking for 1 million names and when I looked around the arena I think it’s realistic that they’ll get it.

Also worth a read Marketing Mobility

Also worth checking out The end of Poverty

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The end of our familiar analogue world?

Ad skipping losses to hit $27billion over five years:

Ad Age . Consultancy firm Accenture which claims on demand and ad skipping will cost the television industry $27 billion over the next five years. Additionally, the company reports 70 percent of DVR users already skip ads and that DVR penetration will hit 40 percent by 2009.

Is this the end of our linear world?

Also read Bob Garfields Chaos Scenario

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Yours is a very, very, bad hotel

Now then, some people seem to think that John Moore and I are brothers – seperated at birth etc., This is not true – though we are good friends and I happen to think he is a very smart geezer.

Johnnie blogged about Consumers who bite back and You have a very bad hotel was one that caught my eye plus ntlhell which in ironic postmodern fashion, has been bought by NTL and one is now redirected to their customer services site. My gaad, is nothing sacred?

And to quote John Moore

But in the world of the net, consumers can organise their resistance. And hype will be quickly dismissed – often with a spirited counterblast. The critics may be harsh and sometimes unfair. But the fact that they now have a powerful way to voice their views changes how marketing works

Toxic Colours is impressively serious

This is what the website has to say:

Behind the glossy image of Kodak’s film there lies one of the largest emitters of toxins in the United States.

Eastman Kodak, a multinational corporation with headquarters in Rochester, New York is the state’s number one manufacturing polluter.

Kodak has a long history of environmental violations, contamination of the Rochester community, dumping of hazardous wastes in Kodak Park, and advocacy for the weakening of environmental regulations.

These examples of Kodak’s dismal environmental record, however, are only a small snapshot of the problem. On this web site you will find information about Kodak’s Toxic Colors, and what you can do to help reduce Kodak’s pollution

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Electronic Communities defined

Clever guys over at the Faculty of Law, University of Edinburgh

Nicholas J. Gervassis has written a paper on virtual communities

The first community, the intellectual virtual community, can be characterised on the basis of a shared (intellectual) interest, for example, members of a political organisation, or a Lords of the Rings fan club. The second, the functional virtual community, can be defined as a group of users participating on a single application platform, for example, an online game such as Ultima Online.[1] To understand the difference as well as the potential for operational conflict between the two, one might draw upon the contrast between nations and states. Where states constitute regionally limited legal formations, nations are broader in their geographical manifestations and are decided upon shared cultural characteristics that distinguish ethnical groups.[2] Functional communities resemble states: pinpointing their online locus at specific IP addresses, they submit to fundamental operational rules, set in the launching software?s computer code.[3] Similarly, intellectual communities resemble nations. Although group members rely upon a functional community as a means of gaining network access (citizenship), they adhere to collective basic characteristics, tastes and intellectual qualities that define their shared bond beyond the procedural mechanisms of limited online geographies (nationality).

Thanks to Full Circle for the hat tip

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Posted in: Trends

Chaos theory

In an epic 5,500-word front-page article in the April 4 print edition of Advertising Age , columnist Bob Garfield laid out a sweeping vision of an advertising industry caroming toward chaos and disruption wrought by the digital media revolution.
Boiled down, his theory goes something like this: The marketing industry is currently whistling past the graveyard and largely ignoring signs of massive, fundamental changes in how the business of mass marketing will be conducted in the near future.
The broadcast TV model is working less well each year and will eventually cave in on itself as it reaches ever-fewer viewers with a fare of low-quality programming and mind-numbing clutter. Marketers will increasingly abandon it. But despite their glitzy promise, the aggregate of new digital technologies — from Web sites and e-mail to cell phone content and video on demand –
lack the infrastructure or scale to support the minimum amount of mainstream marketing required to smoothly sustain the U.S. economy. The result, as the old systems are abandoned and the insufficient new systems struggle to carry an impossible advertising load, is what Garfield calls "The Chaos Scenario" — a period of serious disruption moving like a tsunami through the marketing business as well as the economy and the broader society itself.

An interesting theory. Not sure myself if the doomsday scenario will manifest itself. Perhaps the reality is that each marketing communications strategy will create its own unique media ecology. Its just a different way of looking at the world.
Also we know the larger communication groups are on the hunt for mobile companies to swallow up into their empire – the big issue here is internal culture and the difficulties that these large organisations have in working in a cross-platform environment. The last comment is not directly related to the main thrust of this piece, however, it is significant.

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Posted in: Advertising, Broadcast, Convergence, Culture, Darwin, Distribution, Economics, iPTV, Law, Marketing, Media, Mobile, Music, Networks, Newspapers, Philosophy, Quotes, Society, Strategy, Trends

Broadcast TV Networks rattled by DVR Inroads: Technology a Serious Threat to Ad Revenue

Although the broadcast networks publicly play down the impact of ad-skipping technologies, it was clear from a panel at last week's National Cable & Telecommunications Association conference that TV moguls see the spread of digital video recorders as a serious threat to their ad base.

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Posted in: Advertising, Convergence, Darwin, Distribution, Economics, iPTV, Media, Trends, Web/Tech