June 2006 Archives

Mindshare hosted, and I moderated,  a discussion about blogging on Tuesday night in DC.   Our focus was on how corporations, trade associations, nonprofits, and others can take advantage of this medium — looking beyond the fad of blogging and into the real opportunities for communicating.

Our panel included Lori Harrison from the American Bus Association (disclosure - the American Bus Association is a client and we helped to create their blog, Overdrive), Pat Cleary from the National Association of Manufacturers (who blogs at  ShopFloor.org  as well as several other places), and Lindsay Czarniak, a sports reporter for the NBC affiliate in Washington, DC (who blogged the Winter Olympics in Torino and the Final Four in Indianapolis)

I thought it was a really interesting discussion — and I am not just saying that because I moderated the panel.   The audience (who braved thunderstorms, flooding, and complete city-wide gridlock to join us) asked good questions and the panelists provided good answers.   Pat and Lori, who both represent trade associations, shared very different blogging experiences — Pat, who has  been  blogging for more than  a year, has a growing audience around the world, while Lori  has just started blogging  recently and is focused almost entirely on building an audience of her organization's members.   Lindsay isn't blogging actively right now, but her brief foray into the blogosphere continues to garner attention on and offline (the full-force promotion her TV station provided probably  doesn't  hurt either), and brought a very personal perspective to what it is like to blog and the impact it can have on people.

I won't bore you with all my perspectives on blogging now.   You can download the White Paper we wrote on the topic to get some sense of my thinking.      If you were able to join us for the event, thank you.   If not, we missed you.

Will Smith once opined "summer, summer, summertime...
time to sit back and unwind."   But an article in Media Daily News today suggests that "a large majority of Americans stay wired during their vacations," making unwinding a bit of a challenge.

In a survey of adults over 18, with at least one child under the age of 18, and all of whom planned to take a family vacation this summer... "...85 percent are  bringing cell phones, 75 percent bringing digital cameras, 35 percent bringing portable CD players, and 33 percent bringing portable gaming devices along for the ride. Meanwhile, 87 percent said they plan to check personal e-mail, and 36 percent will keep up on work-related e-mail."

From a marketing standpoint, this is good news.   Usually the summer is a dead period — its a challenge to reach people using the online advertising, blogging, and other techniques we traditionally employ.   But with word that people are staying connected, particularly because of their cell phone, the opportunities abound.

[Via PoliticalWire]

"When Nobel Peace Prize laureate Jose Ramos-Horta resigned from his East Timor government posts, he did so via a mobile-phone text message," Reuters reports. Ramos-Horta sent an SMS message to the prime minister "announcing his intention to quit on Sunday, and received a reply in the same format from the premier."

"The country has been embroiled for months in a political crisis, and text messaging has emerged as the fastest and most reliable means of communication."

Every political cycle some new innovation catches fire.   In 2004 it was the blogosphere.   In 2006, it looks like web video will be the 'next big thing.'   Candidates are putting video on their sites, sending them out via email, even posting them on YouTube and MySpace.

Online advertising venues/providers are starting to realize the power of video as well.   PointRoll announced today that it had created a special suite of ad formats to appeal to political campaigns and organizations looking to use video on the web.   Klipmart, Unicast and others have also provided political campaigns with their video ad offerings recently.

I was quoted in an article on ClickZ today about this.   My quote is below:

Speaking generally about online video advertising, Brian Reich, director of Boston operations and senior strategic consultant for Mindshare Interactive Campaigns, said that he recommends the format to his clients. Still, he's skeptical that those clients will achieve a significant return on video ads until all technology providers recognize the differences between political and commercial ad objectives. "Selling consumer goods is very different than selling issues," he asserted.

Now go read the whole article.   The other consultants they talked with, most notably Michael Bassik from MHSC Partners (disclosure: he is a friend of mine)  make some excellent points.  

A couple of weeks back (yes, I am that far behind on posting thoughts), I attended the Cause Marketing Forum in New York.   Carol Cone, one the leading branding experts in the nation, presented the results of a new survey about the expectations of the Millennials when it comes to cause and cause marketing.   Here is the quick outline from my notes:

Who are the Millennials?
Born between 78 and 1994
30% of US population (70 million)
- 21 million €˜Tweens'
- 33 million Teens
- 16.5 young adults
1 in 3 non-Caucasian
Common Characteristics
78% web access from home
92% cell phones, (35% teens have mobile phones)
See 400-600 ads per day
Demand customization, immediate benefits/response

What are they looking for?
86% agree companies a responsibility to support social/environmental causes
61% agrees they are personally responsible to make a difference
17% volunteer weekly
20% volunteer ½ hour a month
44% volunteer a few times a year

Habits
79% recommend company involved in a cause to other people
68% consider switching to another company based on cause

45% refuse to buy products if company is not socially responsible
Top Issues
47% education
39% environment
38% poverty
33% health & disease
Reaching Millennials
Television -  64%
Internet - 62%
Word of Mouth -  34%

Business Practices to Build Trust
95% quality/fair priced products or service
94% following the laws
93% communication openly and honestly
93% guaranteeing fair wages
87% donating money to support charity
8%7 protecting the environment
Companies Supporting Causes
75% agree that when a company has a deep commitment to a cause, they are more likely to pay attention to its messages, but  73% believe that most companies are NOT doing enough to support the cause they care about
How do you reach them?
Pay attention and understand generation
Cause is a "have to do"
Provide spectrum of engagement
Customization
Fast, quick and multiple elements
Celebrity involvement
Online and local events

The Mr. TV  Column in the May 8, 2006 issue of Media Week  featured a listing of the top ten great TV shows that should never have been cancelled.   I felt at least one great show was left off the list, so I wrote a letter.   It was published in the June 12, 2006 issue, and is posted below:

Don't Forget My So Called Life

Mr. Television, you left a show out of your top ten ["Sad Finales," May 8]: My So Called Life. It was the ABC teen-angst drama that launched Claire Danes into the public consciousness. It was critically acclaimed and yet still underperformed, only to be cancelled well before its time. It deserved better and we deserved more.

Brian Reich
Senior Strategic Consultant
MindShare Interactive Campaigns, L.L.C.
Boston

My wife, Karen, and I are at RFK Stadium watching the New York Yankees take on Washington Nationals. A couple of t-shirts that caught our eye:
Front: No hair No beard No soul
Back: No loyalty (No. 18)
And the other...
Front: Looks like Jesus Throws like Mary Acts like Judas
Back: Johnny Sellout (No. 18)
From the road...

Today's Advertising column in The New York Times  calls attention to  a new self-promotion strategy from JWT (formerly J. Walter Thompson), the nation's oldest advertising agency.   They write:

Old school, meet new.

JWT, the oldest advertising agency in the United States, has purchased all the ad space on The Huffington Post home page for one week, starting tomorrow. The Web site will showcase nine of JWT's best television commercials with links, so that visitors can send the spots via e-mail or instant message.

JWT is hoping that the year-old Huffington Post can deliver that elusive phenomenon: a viral marketing sensation, in which consumers spread marketing messages to each other over the Internet.

Let me stop right there.   JWT doesn't get it.  

First, they have purchased all the ad space on a left-leaning political blog to promote their own capabilities.   Does JWT do political work?   No.   Are any of the advertisements they have posted related to the issues being discussed on the blog this week?   Probably not.   Advertising on blogs works because it is related to the topics being discussed.   Heck I could argue that was true for all online advertising.   There may be a lot of hollywood and other media types reading Huffington Post, but they are doing so for the content, not the exposure to the advertising.   JWT has missed the boat on context.  

Second, JWT is re-purposing old television advertising online.   That is a fundamental mis-use of the medium.   They should have created something new, and web-specific, to highlight their capabilities and creativity.   Where is the interactivity?   Where is the two way conversation?   Instead, they have reminded us all that their expertise is in an old medium, and that they don't have the insight or creativity to leverage the online space the way it deserves to be leveraged.

Third, it shouldn't be about about you JWT.   If you goal was to get written up in the advertising column of the New York Times, then mission accomplished.   But you could have done that without the big spend online.   If your goal was to demonstrate your  capabilities and creativity in the online space,  you should have put a campaign together that really caught people's attention, not just promoted yourself.  Pick an issue or topic.   Use online as a tool to get that message across.   Don't just put something up online for the sake of doing it.  Its the content that gets people talking online, not the placement.  

Meanwhile, Huffington Post is brilliant.    Why?   Because they got paid $120-$140k for a week's worth of ads that they know will fail from the start.

ESPN is doing it right.

The Boston Globe writes today: "In a strategy inspired by cable television , the Walt Disney Company's ESPN sports network offers online broadcasts of the World Cup and other sporting events as premium Internet programming."

Why is this the right way?   Because ESPN has the best content and the providers have the best vehicle for distribution.   Its a natural marriage.    ESPN is making it possible for users of all the different services, all over the country, to access their terrific  content.   This puts the consumer is  in control, which is how it should be.

The article makes a connection to Net Neutrality (disclosure: the coalition of nonprofit groups and Internet content companies promoting Net Neutrality are a client of mine) — the legislation that would ban Internet providers from charging extra fees to companies that want to distribute their contnt over new premium-quality data networks.    Where's the connection?   ESPN should have the right to charge for their content, and the providers should have  the opportunity to profit from their distribution of it — but only by charging the users who want to access it.   The providers cross the line when they try to charge people who aren't  accessing  the ESPN content for their efforts to provide it.   The article goes into a a bit more detail.   You can also go visit www.itsournet.org for more information.