ChaosScenario

Gary Busey on business??

I love it when scrappy companies come up with great campaign ideas, especially when they're not using traditional approaches.

If you haven't seen it already, check out gotvmail's campaign featuring Gary Busey ideas on business:

Add Gary Busey on Business - Featured to your page I think these are hilarious but of course, it's my kind of humor. It also mocks all those business/change/new media experts who can't really point to anything tangible they've done but spout meaningless nonsense anyways.  The campaign wasn't just about producing the video and putting it out on the internet. They also had an aggressive blog outreach campaign that even garnered interest from John Mayer who called the campaign "brilliant and creative". The campaign garnered 100,000 impressions it's first week. Will it be effective in increasing sales? Only time will tell. It's not a direct method so it's hard to measure. You gotta believe, however, it will be a lot more effective relative to the costs than a typical 30-second spot. (Discovered via MarketingVox) - Paul Herring

Give Them Ads You Want Them To See

Many, if not most marketers believe getting people to notice and respond positively to "good" ads is just a matter of numbers.  The numbers may be a devious seductress, though, for if they show a positive return, they discourage investing capital in other forms of communication that may in fact be more efficient. This is one of the great reasons, I think, so many companies have been slow to invest in and adopt new ways to reach their audience.

Companies advertise because they want to sell something. If they can attribute enough revenue to the advertising (however obnoxious it may be), then by a very critical standard, the advertising is working.

Although alternative media still can't knock television off the hill, the new Nielsen rating system and projections of increased DVR use suggest that traditional television commercials are past their peak efficiency.

Trying to adapt to this revelation, many companies have tried to apply the same philosophy that was successful in radio and television for so long to other media, such as the Internet: Get in front of as many people as possible and hit them with as many ads as they'll tolerate.

If they are listening, however, they find that people do not appreciate being interrupted in the same manner that commercials interrupt television programming. In many respects, owing to the task-oriented nature of most of the Internet, they hate it more.

Does it work?

It depends on the price they're paying for the ads and what kind of results they're seeing. This is determined by other factors, not the least of which is the context in which the ad appears. Investors have spent a lot of money trying to figure out the exact right context to display the exact right ad.

What they fail to realize is that the Internet isn't just a new medium, it's an entirely different game with its own rules, and since people have become accustomed to it, they will no longer accept being talked at in the same way advertisers have always talked at them.

Imagine trying to play a game of American football when everyone else is playing rugby.

You'd be lost, and you'd lose.

The same thing applies to the new rules of marketing. And those who adapt more quickly to the changing environment will have a significant advantage over those who do not. - Cam Beck

5 Ways to Reach Your Audience

The primary challenge of marketing is to align the natural hedonistic instinct of an audience with the narcissistic necessity of a company.

There are some notable exceptions -- but modern consumerism is based on the principle that people generally want things that will bring them pleasure or reduce their pain. That's textbook psychological hedonism.

On the other hand, companies generally want the consumer to believe that their product or service is exactly what the consumer needs. The primary way they do that is to talk about how great they are.

I've mapped out a plan to address some of the ways people approach the challenge. Here's what it looks like:

• Give Them Ads You Want Them to See
• Give Them Ads They've Asked to See
• Build Relationships
• Adopt Their Goals as Yours
• Advertising as Content

Over the coming days we'll analyze these methods and some useful ways of thinking about them and what some of the benefits and pitfalls are. - Cam Beck

 

Superior Air Power: How the Airlines Can Win

On Thursday I attended an excellent new media community workshop hosted by Refresh Dallas guest lecturers, Stephen Anderson and Travis Isaacs. The goal of the workshop was to teach the audience some techniques to organize information effectively. I have to hand it to the two Viewzi hotshots. It's apparent from their collections of spinach labels and IRS forms that they have been gathering material for this presentation for a long time. Strangely enough, one of the homework assignments got me thinking about the airlines' principal marketing dilemmas: how to increase customer satisfaction and build brand loyalty.

The assignment was to more effectively organize and prioritize airline confirmation information. We were allowed to invent our own contexts. This is what it looked like:

How should this be resolved? Read more at Marketing Profs: Daily Fix. - Cam Beck

Avoid Doing This When Giving Feedback

Ever feel as if you aren't getting through to a boss or client? At least it (hopefully) didn't look and sound like this.

(via The New Marketing)

- Cam Beck

Being Remarkable with Baby Steps

If you're a small- or medium-sized business wanting to become something great (however you define that for your business), it can be discouraging when you look at a company like Apple or Google, with all the fanfare they bring to their product launches, realizing that you don't have the resources to generate that kind of buzz and mania. However, being remarkable isn't only for the big companies with seemingly endless resources. Though it never hurts, it isn't about hyper-publicized product launches, and it isn't about extraordinary advertising. It's about doing the little things that make people happy. It's about going a step beyond the ordinary to delight (or save) a customer.

Take the case of two companies. One big, one small.

The other day a friend's truck broke down when he was about 600 miles past his warranty. It wouldn't even start. Because he had the truck in the shop for repairs 1,000 miles earlier, I suggested he call the dealership to see if they'd fix whatever the problem was as if his car were still under warranty.

Though their cost might be only $150 (or less, as it turns out), they wouldn't even consider it. Consequently, if he took it to the dealership it would cost my friend closer to $250, plus a $60 towing fee.

Through a series of phone calls and inspections, he discovered that the problem was probably his after-market alarm (which was about a year past its warranty). Towing the truck to the small alarm installation company would have cost him $135, so he called the company who installed his alarm.

At first the installer tried to talk my friend through the process of disabling the alarm, but he didn't have the tools to do all that was necessary. Instead, the installer agreed to drive the 30+ miles he needed to in order to get the truck up-and-running again.

Cost: $60. Reward: Lifelong appreciation.

Reflecting on the auto company that posted an $8.7 billion loss, I have to infer that their dealerships aren't exactly having a picnic. They need all sorts of customers. Repeat customers. New customers. Returning customers. One of the ways they will get them is if the people who are customers have great experiences with them and talk about those experiences with others.

Neither company was liable for the problem.

But only the smaller one walked away as a hero.

When the opportunity comes to go just a bit beyond what was expected, knowing that doing so will win you a great fan and ambassador, keep in mind that even though it may cost you a few bucks, the reward makes it well worth it.

In a market where iPhones and search appliances suck up all of the oxygen capture all the ink, as it turns out the underlying cause for all of that publicity is the ability to please people and make their lives easier. You don't need to climb high mountains, fund expensive expeditions, or take giant leaps to do that. Sometimes -- many times -- baby steps will do.  - Cam Beck

Lijit's Value-Added Search Offends Great Blogger, Mack Collier

Mack Collier hates the blogging search tool, Lijit. And when Mack talks, everyone listens. At least the smart ones. Mack is one of the brightest, most generous bloggers I know, and I know a lot of bright, generous bloggers. However, try as I might to understand his objection to Lijit, I hit a stumbling block.

The problem stems from a feature Lijit calls "re-search."

Here's how it works:
If you come to this site through a search engine, that means you were looking for something in particular. The page you land on may or may not satisfy whatever your need was when you searched for your terms. So instead of just giving up on the user and assuming you have nothing of value that may answer his question, by default, when you have Lijit installed, the user in that case would be provided with additional links from your blog -- as well as a tiny (but clearly marked) ad from Google.

His anger with the company that makes the tool is centered around two key points:

• Lijit didn't tell him about the feature and that he could disable it.
• Lijit is monetizing his content.

Says Mack:

"I did a Google search for 'viral garden' just now, clicked on the top Google result (this blog), and was more than a little shocked and embarrassed by what I saw. As the picture to the right shows, the LiJit widget had served up several posts I have left here that you could click on. But as you can see under those posts, it also served up something that I didn't know it would, and certainly didn't give it permission to provide."

Needless to say, I see it a bit differently:

• I didn't read the instruction copy when I installed Lijit anyway, so I'm not sure information about re-search wasn't there. If it was, I missed it, but if it wasn't, it's possible that its absence facilitated greater speed of installation.
• Lijit isn't monetizing my content, but is rather monetizing search, according to the user's search terms, as they come to this site, and even then only if either my content or my presentation of it doesn't suit what the user is looking for (and the ad does).

Relevancy: The Holy Grail of Advertising
When Google introduced AdWords, it was a revolution in Internet advertising. It wasn't just because it was a new way to attract advertising revenue, but rather because, by tying in search terms to paid clicks, it made advertising more useful to users and measurable to advertisers.

Unlike just about all advertising that came before it, users had to first express interest in a particular topic and then see an ad and decide clicking it was worth their while before an advertiser would have to pay a red cent.

It was a stroke of genius -- and a major, much-needed coup in the advertising realm not accustomed to the user being in control of what they saw and how they interacted with it.

It's the same with Lijit.

Use What You Need. Stay as Long as You Like.
I have no idea what search term you used when you came to this site (though Lijit has some nifty reporting features that tell you after-the-fact), but whatever it is you were looking for, I hope I was able to give you an answer that met your needs -- or at least point you in the right direction.

As I told Mack, as was the case with Intense Debate, if Lijit ever got in the way of the completion of my readers' goals, I'd get rid of it.

But as it stands, Lijit's tools only helps people find what they're looking for. If that happens to be on this site, I'm very happy about that. If that happens to be elsewhere, I won't get in their way. And if Lijit happens to make a buck or two off of that, why would I care?

The advertiser, not I, has to bear that cost. And all the users get is content they want -- or at least a clue as to where they might find it.

The choice to click or not to click the ad is entirely theirs. - Cam Beck

When Statistics Tell You Nothing

According to eMarketer, as of 2008, 54% of Internet users read at least one blog one time per month, and they project that number to reach 67% by 2012. In addition, the number of bloggers will grow steadily between now and then (although the number is still very small). At first glance, this development seems to be very promising to the blogging community, but in reality, it doesn't tell us much at all.

The numbers are likely inflated, because the definition is too broad.

You have to read only one blog post once per month to qualify as a blog reader?

You have to update our blog once in the past three months to qualify as a blogger?

When analyzing and comparing statistics, one of the first things you should do is find out how the statisticians defined their terms. Otherwise, you leave yourself open to manipulation by those who, blinded by their own passion, see only that which advances their own beliefs. - Cam Beck

McDonald's jingle

Back in the day part of advertising was coming up with the jingle. I think jingles were a great (or horrific) advertising inventions. Right now your probably thinking of a jingle that will be in your mind for the rest of the day. That's what advertisers like (that's great) and what you'll be cursing me for later (horrific).

McDonald's is celebrating the 40th anniversary of their Big Mac jingle by sponsoring a contest where people can submit their remix of the jingle. Really a great idea to pump life into an old campaign. The contest site is on MySpace, not a bad idea considering the target and it's music reputation. A lot of the jingles are pretty good and would probably have been better than what most advertising agencies would have come up with, even back in the day.

In the "reality is stranger than fiction" dimension, one of the five finalist is an ex-convict who was arrested for robing a McDonald's. He used his time in prison to learn and produce music.

- Paul Herring

BTW - I hate the fact that you can't embed a lot of the tracks on a blog or website. Seems like McDonald's is missing an opportunity to make the contest more viral, as well as helping the brand.

Lessons from WALL-E

As the father of an (absolutely adorable) baby girl, I don't get to go to the theater much. Though I hope my little girl doesn't grow up too fast, I'm looking forward to the time when I can take her to the movie and not have to worry about whether she can sit through the entire thing. As such, I've never seen Pixar's latest movie, WALL-E, but today I read an interesting review that got me thinking about the way today's Web tools allow us to communicate without the closeness that personal contact affords.

"I wasn't trying to make the humans into fat, lazy consumers, but to make humanity appear to be completely consumed by everything that can distract you—to the point where they lost connection with each other, even though they're right next to each other." - Andrew Stanton, Director of WALL-E

The Internet allows us to reach out to a wider audience. However, more people, more companies, more products, more desires are competing for our attention and our time than ever before. It can be difficult to form and sustain meaningful relationships if we don't set eyes upon each other... if we don't talk to each other... if we don't, on occasion (even if you're not as touchy-feely as some) go see a movie together.

While in a way we are more connected than ever and some of the Web's tools, such as ooVoo and iChat, are meant to help provide more familiar and meaningful interactions than MySpace or Facebook currently afford, they can only take things so far.

I've witnessed warm conversations online, and some people are such excellent writers that they can suck you into their worlds and make you feel like you are there, feeling what they feel. But, as an old hand at online political debates, I've more often witnessed people talking toward each other online in ways they'd never even consider talking to each other in person. Online social media can sometimes be our decorum-dampener.

Let's not forget to peek up from our computers from time to time. It's easier to remind ourselves about how we ought to treat people if we are more convinced that they're human, because we've seen it with our own eyes. - Cam Beck