citizenbay

We want customer feedback, but only the nice stuff please...

I was intrigued by the speech by Kathryn Hellewell from Vue Entertainment, the cinema chain business.

She rightly pointed out that the trailer (in whatever format) continues to be critical in driving people to the cinema. Having seen the trailer for 300, you can't help but agree with her of the power of the trailer to drive footfall. Personally, knowing that this film comes from the graphic novel of the legendary Frank Miller is only a further enticement.

So imagine my surprise when Kathryn introduced us to deck collector. Having informed us about the power of the trailer, she then showed us a trailer of what deck collector is all about. It is a trading card game based on images and elements of a film, with participants collecting digital cards across the net. Part mystery part rewards, the idea is not new, but could be a great idea. Vue Entertainment have got films such as Cars involved, so clearly there is interest. However, I am not sure what anyone else thought, but in my mind the deck collector trailer was as enticing as a rainy night in georgia. Poorly sold, lots of overpromise and a terrible voice-over. It seems that Vue Entertainment need to pick up some tips from the film companies on how to pull together short communication messages...

Also concerned about Vue Entertainment being reticent about negative customer feedback on a film. Kathryn showed us some negative feedback received for a film online. She shared her concerns about the impact of such criticism on other potential cinema goers if it were to sit on a VUE UGC site. All completely understandable really. A tough call for a business based on encouraging people to go to the cinema and keeping the film distribution companies on their side. Yet the criticism of a poor film will appear somewhere anyway. Film-goers will find out whether a film has got good reviews or not.

The critical piece here is what Vue Entertainment wish to be. They cannot be half-committed to UGC. They are either in or out, no halfway house.

Vue Entertainment is in the business of offering up the cinema experience in all its glory to paying customers. At a time when the competition against the downloadable broadband experience or even the plasma screen TV experience is hotting up, the company surely has to be doing everything they can to build a trustful relationship with the movie loving public. Filtering out honest comment of a film is not the way to do that.

No to Fake Blogs

A couple of mentions at the Understanding Digital Youth conference for the Fake Blog. Poor old Sony, but they got a kicking at the conference (along with everywhere else) for their disastrous alliwantforxmasisapsp.com campaign. As I raised in an earlier post, if you fake it you get found out.

Pete from Mentos stressed that brands should be Authentic in their actions. Fake does not work.

What makes Brave Brands tick?

Now being a new fan of Pete Healy and the Mentos approach to marketing, I got thinking about what connects the businesses I admire, which includes Ben & Jerry's (see earlier post), innocent drinks (ditto) and the Dandelion shop on Northcote Road in South London (more on them another time!).

First of all is FUN. Pete kept saying that Mentos is only candy, so seemed to have used that as the justification to have fun in the marketing. Ben and Jerry's have fun with the names, whilst innocent drinks have fun with their campaigns and packaging. You could say that these products are fun product categories...but I would say that often these categories go for the aspiration route rather than the fun route. These companies are not run by jokers though. These are successful brands, but they are successful brands with fun.

Secondly, these brands all have at their core a defined and admirable spirit, and it is this spirit that is their Big Idea. From this core, all communication, both within and outside the company, is made with this spirit running through everything they do. A brand that has a lovely ad campaign showing how ethical it is, yet pushes their suppliers to the brink of collapse, is not a brand that has a defined and admirable spirit...they just have big budgets.

I am sure there are other elements that link them, so if I think of any I will let you know. Any thoughts?

Brands that DO, not Brands who THINK they do...

At the Understanding Digital Youth conference yesterday, a clear message across the whole day was that young people have more control than ever over their relationship with brands, with the consequent result that brands are having to adapt their marketing strategies. Nothing new there. This has been said many a time.

I am though fascinated at understanding what drives the Brands that DO versus the Brands that TALK a good talk or Brands that THINK they do.

Definitely in the Brands that DO camp sits Mentos. Pete Healy is Vice President, Marketing of Perfetti Van Melle USA. He spoke eloquently and with such fizz (sorry!) about the Mentos and Coke phenomenon.

He laid out how Mentos defined their brand position, then went about creating a bunch of activities to bring life to the brand...with fun at the core.

When they came across the two guys who launched the eepybird site, Mentos got involved. The Brand supported the guys to create Experiment 214, Blue Man Group wanted in, and the guys got onto Letterman and beyond.

By spotting something fun, then helping the fun to spread, Mentos is a Brave Brand in my book, a brand that treats people as equal, a brand that sees others as the source of Big Ideas.

The result of this bravery?

Immense coverage, web impressions through the roof, and significant sales for Mentos. Pete shared with us a host of other activities that Mentos are supporting, all focused on co-creation and enabling people. My favourite is Steve Spangler, who is taking the science behind the mentos geyer to teachers and classrooms...

And Coca Cola's reaction to eepybird? They first distanced themselves from the geyser phenomenon, then reticently got closer. A sense of a Brand missing the point or not spotting the way the wind was blowing perhaps?

Fear and More Fear...

William raised the issue of pressure on young people. He is finding that they are more worried and at an earlier age too, borne out by some worrying research that found teenage anxiety to have risen dramatically in the last few years. We could debate the role of parents and the media in all of this, but the reality is clear. Most younger kids don't play outside like they used to, with fear amongst many parents, real or false, about the safety of their kids.

So kids are growing up surrounded by such insecurities at a time when the digital age is upon us. So it s not a surprise that young people have found liberation through laptops and mobiles...

Now the fear from government, media and parents alike is that kids are spending too much time in front of the screens. This was touched upon by a question that was put to Frith Hucks, Global Media Director at Adidas. She was asked whether Adidas as an investor in digital communication fits with Adidas the sports brand that wants people outdoors rather than in front of a computer screen. The response from Frith seemed convincing. Adidas wanted to connect with youth in a critical environment that they trust, then from there encouraging them outside. I would ask whether the encouragement from the brand is to go out to the shop rather than to the sports centre, but either way, a little exercise would occur. The question did highlight an interesting dilemma for Adidas it seems, as there are some within the company who find it difficult to accept that digital media are legitimate ones for a sports brand to invest in.

What is on your bedroom wall?

William likened your myspace page to your bedroom wall. I liked this comment a lot.

It got me thinking. What can you tell about youth just by having a look at their bedroom wall? Well, I found something that you all might like.

Came across this photo posted up by an interesting individual.

They reference the work of Sam Gosling, who carried out some research into what your Office and Bedroom space says about you. There is a section on music preferences and on webpages too, but will have a look at those ones later. Let me know what you think.

digital medium the most trusted one?

In the opening presentation, William Higham also mentioned that the digital space is highly trusted, and more trusted than other media. This trust comes through both a sense of security (passwords et al) and through the digital media understanding what youth want - empowerment, connectivity, escapism, freedom of expression and an ability to explore and create.

This was confirmed in the presentation made later in the day by Ed of iLevel and Martin. Analysing youth choice of media when it comes to their interests and passions, the net came out on top almost every time. The only categories where it did not come top was Comedy(TV) and Fashion (Print), though with more and more programming being watched via broadband, it is only a matter of time where this is not longer the case for comedy. I will try to track down the chart. It was a good one. Source was Yahoo/OMD.

Understanding Digital Youth as easy as ABC

Opening up the Understanding Digital Youth conference was William Higham, founder of Next Big Thing.

His task was to share his huge knowledge on youth trends with the conference. As ever, he did so with great aplomb. With so much to cover, he presented it in a simple way for people like me to get their heads round the topic. In fact he made it as easy as ABC – Attitudes, Behaviours and Concerns.

William rightly highlighted the fact that youth are youth whether in the digital space or non-digital space. There are attitudes, behaviours and concerns that cross over the spaces, so we need to be careful not to treat youth that differently when in the digital space. It was a theme I drew upon in my presentation too. (More on that later).

Too often Brands and their planning folk at the agencies focus too heavily on the B-strand (behavioural) – how they shop, when youth use certain media – which drives the development of the communications plan. Yet it is from the moral drivers (Attitudes) and the worries (Concerns) of youth, that brands will gain a more rounded understanding of youth movements and youth culture.

William referenced a recent Forrester report which found that 65% of youth who like a product will tell people. So advocacy is critical. That's pretty important for all of us in the brand/marketing/communications world.

So if advocacy is critical (hasn't it always been?), focussing on the B-Strand of William's ABC will not give Brands and their agencies the fuondation with which to truly engage with young people. To get close to understanding how to connect, we have to consider A+B+C...

iPod it again...

Well, I spoke at the EMAP conference Understanding Digital Youth yesterday. I set myself a goal of not mentioning iPod, bebo, myspace and youtube once during my presentation (see my post ealier).

Wayne Arnold, the chair of the event, and clever bloke from Profero, even referred to my blog post in his introduction to me...so the pressure was on...

True to my prediction, these names were heavily dropped in many a conference speech yesterday...no surprises there, and rightly so, given the importance they play in the life and times of the modern youngster. I think myspace came out as the most mentioned. Does this signify that the marketing and communications world has moved on from the iPod perhaps?

Well, clearly I am behind the trends, as I failed dismally in my speech by mentioning iPod once. Failure on two levels then. Mentioning one of the names on the list, and then picking one that doesn't seem hot anymore...

Oh well off to go and down some mo wi da kids...

A Retailer thinks like a shopper...

Over the Christmas period, I ventured into a supermarket for the first time in about 2 years. Not because I don't eat or too lazy, but because I prefer to support local shops and farmers markets.

After getting over the expected horror of seeing apples from the other side of the world rather than Kent, I ran round the place, picked up the one thing I had to get and headed for the check-out.

On my way around, I did check out what the fuss is all about supermarkets. Lots of bargains clearly, and very convenient, whilst it seems that many of us like to see our faces in fruit - so shiny!

I did find one thing I liked though...

It seems that supermarkets are thinking of the shopper. No really. For decades we have had the isles neatly laid out...washing powder there, biscuits here. Yet, shoppers shop not just by category, but also by task (kids packed lunch, that special dish, family party).

So it was great to see the supermarket put the nutcrackers next to the nuts...genius... and saved people a trolley mile or two to find them.