Social Hallucinations

Traditional Advertising is The Art of Reduction

Image by basvasilich via Flickr
Traditional advertising is the art of reduction of people and products. It reduces the the complexity of culture and human interaction to one slogan or one word. The potential customers are being reduced to passive recipients of a message and all efforts are focused on depriving them of the desire to analyze the advertisement. The efforts are focused on reducing human beings into subjects of consumption - The more I consume the more I am - turning the product / service into chains of adjectives that don't convey anything meaningful. Products become nothing more than just objects of consumption that bring no value to its consumers life, except the glittering lure of getting happier or prettier - that just never happens, as days move and financial resources shrink, we stay as ugly and as miserable as we were before buying the "saviour" product.
Attracting attention becomes the main goal and all means are allowed to achieve it. Traditional advertising reduces the world to the "paradise of the adjectives" communicated with countable reach points. Communication becomes diminished to sending  fussy messages that are nothing more that  watered-down sentence telling us - buy this potatoes.

Are there any antidote to reduction powers of traditional advertising? Yes, thinking in verbs than adjectives, finding purpose ideas for your business - doing things that enrich people's lives and get them together. This is the story for another post.
_{You can read all about purpose ideas and doing things on Mark Earls' Blog - Herd.}

Leading the Tribe

 ...is the new green. I am about to finish reading (listening) to Seth Godin's new book Tribes (you can downloaded it here for free or buy on iTunes for $ 0,99).

It is really interesting reading, so important for agencies that strive in finding their way of working in the new more connected reality.

The main outtake to me so far is that it takes changing mindset and attitude. The copy and paste into new template isn't the way for the winners. In order to become the part of the game in the connected world, we need to become heretics and lead the tribe, instead of managing and using old logics pimped with new hype words. It is about telling stories that unite the tribe, instead of giving orders.

Can't wait to get home and finish the book.

Green is the New President Bitch

While grass gets greener and more and more people claim being green, I looked around in search for green change and I was inspired to write this rant on green snobs and hypocrites.

What is Green Marketing?

Green marketing is about taking responsibility for environment and society by taking some responsible actions. It's a beautiful idea that should stop climate changes, however it appears that many corporations use the green thinking to earn money in the first place. There is nothing wrong in earning money as such, if the money were the side effect not the center of the green wave.

The green snobs

Marketing people found out that consumers talk about ecology, social and environmental responsibility. Our need for ecology is rooted in our identity creation, not understanding for the problems Earth is facing. We hope to buy the clear conscience and avoid to be accused for destroying Earth by the future generations. That’s why we express “sofa responsibility” and believe that ‘being green’ is the answer for all evil. Excited green consumers become green generation with Al Gore, Leonardo Di Caprio and many other Hollywood stars as role models. Green has magnetic attraction powers as prestige and status symbol that uses very simple rhetoric – if something is green it must be good. It opened door to greenwashing phenomena - more money or time are spent advertising being green rather than spending resources on environmentally sound practices. It is about selling products and services by appealing to our conscience and need to stand for something meaningful.

Green hypocrites

The green generation drives the craze by spending increasingly more money on so-called green products. Clothes made from corn, hybrid cars, etc. Leonardo di Caprio bought two Toyota Prius, made a movie about climate changes and challenges and flies with private jet that on one trip pollutes more than 4-wheel drive car in a year. Meanwhile other green materialists admire his engagement and sins at home: don’t turn off the lights, buys paper bags every time they shop at grocery store, fill trolley with ecological food packed in plastic boxes, eat organic salad made of veggies that traveled thousands kilometers before they landed on their green plate.

Look at me I have green eyes. I am saving the world.

The most important are reciprocal advantages: companies get better image and reason to increase prices, while consumers are convinced that they do good work of saving the world by buying and consuming. Nice and easy. Without any effort. We do what we used to do – consume and at the same time we become better people. Two in one. What could be better for consumers? We shouldn’t be ashamed any longer because we consumer. We can’t be accused of being materialistic and building our existence on consumptions. There is a meaning in our consumers and it has a green color.

We need green realism.

We bathe in green while the crime against humanity is committed by using biofuel. The latest news from the green catwalk. Arnold Schwarzenegger fills his Hummer with biofuel to justify his love to those CO2 monsters and prove he is pro ecology. Green fuel, it couldn’t be better. Now we can drive a car without bad conscience. Unfortunately we overlook the big picture. Production of biofuel is based on oil that results in high CO2 emission. Nitrogen emission caused by fertilizing fields with chemical fertilizers. Increasing food prices and destroying forests. We want hybrid cars because they were advertising as green. While the industry chooses knowingly not to use the 2nd generation fuel produced from more efficient cellulose, because they need to get money back from the investments in biofuel production technology. Is it green marketing? Yes if green means money.

Green clutter

While you read this article, there will be used around one million plastic bags. They are very enduring and it takes a long time before they decompose. That’s why we choose to go for paper bags. It costs just a couple of trees to produce them. The real problem is not that we buy plastic bags; the problem is that we use for about 15 minutes and then we throw them away instead of storing them in responsible way. We are bombed with the contradictory messages about green products. Should I buy organic juice in bottle or in carton box?

Green is the category everyone wants to be because it gives bonus points from consumers. Green category is synonym with better image and income. But the green message isn’t always true. Consumers are helpless in the jungle of information, facts and lack of transparency. Some may fear of being cheated by buying something that has just green color.

Does green work?

The green wave is fantastic but companies should improve their technique to surf this wave. They shouldn’t spend their money on communicating green but doing green and prove they are responsible by being engaged and introducing innovative products and services that will actually have influence.

Changes come from the big ideas that are shifted into small initiative in ordinary peoples lives. It is about giving good reasons to consumers for becoming responsible for Earth, climate and society. The green wave should be turned into social movement, not fashion.

The last important thing to remember is that we can’t make a difference without effort. There are no easy solutions when we talk about climate changes.

Article can be also read on TalentZoo

Green, Greener, Greenest

I have a feeling we are overused Green concept a little. I mean everything is at some point more or less green. The color is there but the meaning is lost. Someone made a focus group or survey and asked people:

- Would you buy products if they were green (ecological and save for the environment)?

- Yes! replied confidently consumers.

- Let's make our products green - said brand manager A

- Yeah, I think of green cars! - said another

- And you know what than we will advertise all those product on green TV! - shouted excitedly the third one

Btw it takes lot of energy to produce the TV shows and then watch them! It is incredible, how we misunderstand the whole concept of sustainability.

marketing, green, sustainability, green planet, Untitled

The Marketer Dream - Sex & The City

I had a pleasure to work on Sex&The City - every marketer dream. Everyone wants it, everyone wants to be linked with it, everyone talks about it...yeah, the female part of population does. It was great working on the project and see the huge engagement from all the partners both on brand and media side. It was also fascinating how women get crazy about it and couldn't wait to get tickets to see the movie and how involved can men become. I did today the small competition in the office with 5 free tickets as prize, 3 questions about the series. Apart from the fact that it took ca. 1 minute to get right answers, the men were quickest. They claimed it was for their girl-friends :-). It is the fantastic gift, can be even better than flowers.

The results of the campaign, partnerships and WoM are to be seen. I believe it will be a huge success as Sex&The City isn't only just a hype. This is to some point the lifestyle and part of the culture of every urban girl. The film is really great, it didn't disappoint me. There are lots of laughs and tears you can look forward to Girls!

Meanwhile you can take a look into Carrie's Mac. This is pretty awesome feature! Get Carried Away!

 

How to Spread the Word?

Spreading word is pretty challenging and not easy task. What would you do to spread word? Run naked on the street and shout, give free TV sets or maybe involve cockroaches? Yikes!



ZOO YORK - the skateboard producer - announced "Spread the Word" contest. Participants have to post the video on YouTube showing how to spread the word. Cockroaches get definitely attention.

Ad Skipping Have Influence on Sales

I've found very interesting artickle on a research on DVR owners. We already know that DVR owners watch fewer TV ads and the latest research by Information Resources Inc. showed that buying of new packaged products in households owning DVR was 5% lower han in non - DVR households. About 20% of all brands in the study lost statistically significant volume in DVR households.

Reality can't be ignored. Reality strikes back. It can't be your ad isn't seen anymore.

Read more here in Marketing mag.

    Technorati : DVR, advertising, marketing, sales, tivo 

Responsible Marketing by M.Sorrell

It was really interesting to read Sorrell’s call and Ruth Mortimer notes in Marketing Week:

“All our instincts as clients, agencies [and] media owners are to encourage people to consume more – super consumption.” He added that people had become used to: “The aspiration that you should consume more; the aspiration that you should have a bigger car; the aspiration that you should have a number of holidays, bigger houses [and] multiple houses”.

His point was that marketers and their agencies need to adopt a new way of thinking to stop this trend of ‘super consumption’ becoming a real problem. In an age of worries about global warming and limited environmental resources, brands need to behave with responsibility. He suggested that the days of companies creating items that would quickly become obsolete could – and should – be numbered.

Sorrell cited Apple as an example of a brand creating products that consumers quickly jettison in favour of the company’s newer ones. While nobody can deny that Apple produces desirable, design-led objects, they do tend to become outdated very quickly. The company cut the price of its 8GB iPhone model and scrapped the original 4GB model only two months after launch.

But should Apple really be worrying about issues such as ‘super consumption’? As the economic climate worsens, don’t marketers need to keep parting people from their hard-earned cash? This is especially important when the finance director starts asking difficult questions about how the company can afford to run TV spots when sales are being squeezed.

Let’s apply some common sense. Sorrell isn’t saying that marketers should stop doing their job properly; this is the man heading an organisation that made pre-tax profits of £817m in 2007, up seven per cent on 2006. He is a clever businessman and he’s not suggesting that as spending is curtailed, companies should stop trying to sell.

Rather, he is picking up on an important point: any problem opens up opportunities. You can be the company worrying about what ‘super consumption’ means for you or the one rubbing your hands together with glee at all the potential new business it presents.

If people are less willing to buy items in large volumes because they have less money, make a virtue in advertising of how long your products last. Charge slightly more for them. That’s good for the landfill sites and good for your sales.

Or what about finding ways of getting people paying to ‘upgrade’ old products? It shows that you’re thinking about obsolescence while still offering people the sexy new functions and features they desire.
You don’t have to do these things, of course. You can fight economic difficulties by cutting prices and laying off staff. But you can bet Sorrell is already working out how he will address ‘super consumption’. That £817m profit last year suggests he’s pretty good at turning his ideas into actions.“ 

That’s great to read that as powerful man as Sorrell is standing up against consumption. Great initiative. Great idea. There is no doubt that our society needs to address those issues. I like Sorrell’s suggestion about getting people to pay for upgrading the old products. This could be something that could definitely help solving environmental issues. My concern is however about the companies’ power to fight against super consumption. The common belief that all consumers are thoughtless puppets in the hands of devil corporations. Consumption is the culture. Culture is not nothing new.

Many centuries ago, Aristotle wrote in ‘Politics’:

“The avarice of mankind is insatiable”

Over two thousand years later Leo Tolstoy wrote in “My Religion”

"seek among men, from beggar to millionaire, one who is contented with his lot, and you will not find one such in a thousand....Today we must buy an overcoat and galoshes, tomorrow, a watch and a chain; the next day we must install ourselves in an apartment with a sofa and a bronze lamp; then we must have carpets and velvet gowns; then a house, horses and carriages, paintings and decorations."

The desire to possess seems to be the part of our society across centuries. Mankind has known and enjoyed consumption over centuries. Consumption is not just modern times phenomena, this is something that has always existed and has it is roots in the social structures; this is the part of Weber’s stratification process, where status is based on the economical status and the non economical qualities like honor and prestige. Can Mr. Sorrell figure out how to change culture that thrived for thousands years? I doubt so, but his words open the door for the new and better vision. More responsible vision of doing business that appeals to consumers, who aren’t any longer only passive recipients of communication from corporations advertising. Due to technological empowerment, we have a possibility to change the world. Corporations together with consumers – people. After all we are all responsible for the society and the world we are living in.

Photo by Fanboy30

Emotions in social advertising

There is no recipe how to create the effective social campaigns. Measuring of social campaign effectiveness is also difficult and rare. Social advertising is too important to be left out to chance.  Measuring recall isn’t enough. Effectiveness of social advertising should be measured on three levels: motivation, engagement and recall.  The higher is the motivation and engagement; the better is effectiveness of advertising in terms of generating the change.

Attention is scarce, Sex is wanted

Today, social advertising shares the same problematic as the commercial advertising:  dull sensitivity, immunity to advertising messages, scarce attention, increasing clutter and choices. Advertisers are forced to use nontraditional and sometimes controversial means in order to get through with their messages.

There are more social advertising that uses humor and sex in the fight for viewers attention. 

Read more on emotions and social advertising in my column on Talentzoo.com

Tags: social advertising, emotions, public service advertising, social ads

Billion Here, Billion There, Billion Everywhere...And What?

Actually nothing as things are getting worse and we aren't becoming wiser with age and experience. Lord Leverhulme was aware already in 19th century that half of his marketing budget was wasted as he expressed it:

“I know that half of my advertising budget is wasted, but I’m not sure which half”

Over 100 years later, things haven't improved at all. According to The Global Marketing Effectiveness Report that surveyed 3,000 marketing professionals across the globe,  65% of marketing spend had no effect on consumers in 2007.
The report's findings should be wake up call for all involved in marketing and advertising:
- 65% of all marketing spend in 2007 had no effect on consumers.
- Estimated wastage rates varied from 45% for business-to-business marketers, through to 65% for business-to-consumer
- Just one in ten of respondents have automated systems in place to track the effectiveness of their spend
- Of the 55% of marketers who do track the results of their spending, 80% do so manually, spending hours capturing, compiling and analyzing data.

- Questioned on strategy, 70% of marketers believe that short-term revenue-boosting and lead-generation campaigns are more important than long-term intangible brand building (15%). A clear indication that marketers are under pressure more than ever before to generate results
- Tracking marketing effectiveness topped the 2008 wish lists of 35% of marketers, and made the top three for 70%.
We have reached the point of very huge wastage of the billions dollars invested in marketing. Those money bring no effect due to old-fashioned methods and stereotypes used. Times has changed, people haven't changed as such but we've gained very valuable knowledge about people and their behavior which we choose to oversee and keep on pouring money down the drain stuck to routines and fearing to challenge the way we think. After all "no one has ever been fired for using TV"

It is time we get it and stop just talking about it but do something to improve the results and reduce wastage. 65% doesn't sound to scary but when you translate it into advertising dollars spend each year across the globe to sell the products people don't need in a way people don't want, you get scared and makes you believe even stronger that

"If advertisers spent the same amount of money on improving their products as they do on advertising,” he said, “then they wouldn't have to advertise them.”

found at  WARC

Picture by Joshua Davis

Tags: marketing, advertising, WARC

Pre-Testing of Ads and Their Effectviness

Advertisers love to test advertising. Just to minimize the risk and ask so called consumers about branding, logo, music, etc. so they can afterwards ad advertising agency to add more packshots and increase logo 25%, so the branding is more clear. It seems like doing so, advertising not only waste money but increase the risk for advertising to ineffective. According to Les Binet and Peter Field data, published in Market Leader, ads that have not been quantitatively pre-tested have a 71% chance of being effective and ads that have been pre-tested have only a 44% chance of success.


It can be the lower chance of success for the pre-tested ads is the result of listening to consumers post-rationalization that has not too much to do with reality - "most of we know, we don't know we know", so we try to sound clever and evaluate advertising which isn't always mirror reality.

via Serendipity Book

Tags: advertising, testing, research, effectiveness

Radiohead Kicks Ass

Radiohead has got people and music business talking when they've offered their latest album to download and offer people to pay for it the price they want. No label, no promotions. I've been waiting impatiently for the first results, wondering whether music fans are ready for such shift and how are they going to react. The results have proved Radio head has a strong base of fans - there has been 1.2 million downloads, average price was $8 per album sold and it brought estimated profit of about $10 million - all that in just one week.

Music industry is changing in rely to the generation FREE, people who want and expect certain things to cost nothing. Anti-pirate groups chasing them will not change anything, the new sales, promotion model can make a difference, which Radiohead is a good example of.

Tags: music, radiohead, album sales

Commercial as Content

FirebrandTV has introduced today the multimedia platform with  "commercials as content". The best ads will be chosen by a panel of Gen Y.  You can not only watch the cool commercials but also within a click you get an access to promotions and you can buy the products. FirebrandTV will also have CJ (commercials jockeys - someone like VJ) "to contextualize commercials as art and guide viewers through the spots, contests and promotions.". It launches 22nd October on three platforms: TV (ION Television Network), web and mobile (through iTunes and MSN)

Investors behind the project are: Microsoft, NBC Universal and GE’s Peacock Equity Fund, ION Television, as well as Adweek, Brandweek and Mediaweek, among others, joined Firebrand at its announcement during Advertising Week at the Paley Center for Media.

This is a great idea of distributing advertising using "pull" methods and combining it with merchandise option. It will be interesting to watch as it sets the new standard for traditional TV advertising.  The fact is that people don't hate commercials, people hate being forced to watch the bad and boring commercials. I am looking forward to hear people's reaction to it and see how is it working in real life. I think the sales aspect is very interesting, transferring ad liking into sales.

Crayon is handling the social media aspect of Firebrand - check out what they have already done: YouTube, Myspace, Facebook, Flickr and Delicious Links.

Tags: firebrandtv, advertising, content, sales

Newspeak and Marketing Jargon

Marketing presentations' jargon can be fascinating. Many, many worlds, and almost none meaning.  I've tried it myself a couple of times, but sometimes you just simply can't resist as it adds the illusory feeling of sounding professional. In fact the marketing jargon sounds like newspeak and draws attention away from the real problems.

It reminds me of newspeak from communistic times in Poland. It was about saying a lot things sounding professional, serious and lofty but the words carried no meanings. There are lots of fantastic examples from back then. It is almost impossible to translate, but I will give a try: "every day practice proofs that fixed information - propaganda protection of our operating secures access of broad group to shaping the relevant conditions for activation", and so on, over and over again.

The effect was achieved - to blur the reality and cover the lack of knowledge or understanding. In the world of communication, newspeak is tempting.

Now you don't even have to work hard to find yourself to compose newspeak power point symphonies, you can use Marketing Bullshit Generator. Enjoy and  "recontextualize efficient communities"

Tags: newspeak, orwell, marketing jargon, marketing bullshit

Quote to Remember

Seth Godin said once:

"It's not to sell something to person A. Instead, at least right now, it's to get person A to encourage person B to buy/do something. That's often viewed as a nice after effect, a bonus or an extra. I think, though, that it might be the entire point of the exercise."

Marketing is just about a simple question: is your product / service so cool, so exciting, so remarkable, and so fantastic that people will want to tell everyone they know about it?
Seth's view on the key point of marketing takes us from audiences to communities, moves focus from reach to the tipping point. It makes marketing a conversation with consumers, that is based on trust and respect. The conversational marketing should be the natural reaction on the increasing ad avoidance, increasing number of consumers who find traditional advertising annoying and the technology developments that empower consumers. Especially when we know that  for 68% the most credible source of information about companies is "a person like me" (only 20% in 2003), according to Edelman's 2006 Global Trust Barometer.

It is about changing focus from selling to creating cascades of conversations among  influential people who will influence other influential people who will influence other influential people, and so on.


Tags: Seth Godin, Marketing, Advertising, WOM