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David Armano had a great post recently on Logic + Emotion asking his readers what, in their opinion, was the most significant event or aspect of 2006 in regards to marketing, advertising or user experience.
Many wonderful comments were left, and as I thought about the question for myself, I came to my own conclusion....
I think that 2006 opened the eyes of many marketers to the fact that their community of customers now have more communication tools at their hands than ever before. Customer evangelists can spread their message to millions of people with a simple blog post, and citizen marketers have a multitude of social media tools at their fingertips to literally create their own marketing campaigns, good or bad, for any company and/or product they choose.
But with the realization that customers can in fact now be considered true marketing partners for companies, came the obvious growing pains as companies struggled to convince themselves that they must cede some control of their marketing messages to their community of customers. Of course, they were simply fooling themselves into thinking that these customers didn't ALREADY control their message, but you have to crawl before you can walk.
Some companies, such as Mentos, embraced the community-empowerment movement with gusto, and are reaping the rewards.
But far too many companies, such as Coke, tried to empower communities on THEIR terms, using the tools that THEY approved for community-use. I think we can imagine what the reaction is when a company tells its fans that it will ALLOW them to market their products, but ONLY using the tools that THEY approve of.
So in my mind, 2007 will be a pivotal time for companies that are dipping their toes in the marketing waters of community-empowerment. I say that, because I think companies are beginning to realize that not only will they have to work WITH their communities to SHARE control of their marketing message, but that doing so is a TON of work. Embracing and empowering a community, and making a real effort to communicate with them on their terms isn't easy.
When I was writing my most recent article for MarketingProfs, entitled "10 Steps to Starting a Company Blog"(subscription required), one of the main points I wanted to stress to the article's readers was that starting and maintaining a company blog requires a serious time commitment. I wanted to drive this point home, because as we all know, starting a blog and dropping it in a week or month because you can't/won't commit to it, is far worse than to never blog at all.
And as I was writing the article, I realized that the level of commitment necessary to communicate with customers on their level, such as by starting and maintaining a company blog, is exactly why many companies stay in their ivory towers, and don't join the masses.
So we will have to see what happens in 2007. The curtain has been pulled back, and companies are beginning to realize that half-hearted community-empowerment initiatives won't cut it, and that only by truly joining their community and sharing control of their marketing message, can these companies reap the benefits of their efforts.
The only question that remains is if those in the ivory towers are willing to roll up their sleeves and join the masses.
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Comments
Thanks Mack for this thoughtful piece. My favorite sentence: "Of course, they were simply fooling themselves into thinking that these customers didn't ALREADY control their message, but you have to crawl before you can walk."
That is true and always has been. It is what word of mouth marketing via the telephone was about when in the '50s my mother used to call the neighbors to tell them about a "new and improved" product or a product that sucks.
In the corporate world, I think several factors drive a lack of corporate communications--
1. Cost to communicate externally and inability to measure ROI
2. Inertia
3. Lack of concern
4. Mistrust of marketing
5. Control
6. Cage-bound cultures
Posted by: Lewis Green | 11.30.06
Right on the money. I also want to point out that smaller companies not bound by the strictures of the corporate marketing machine have embraced blogging. I happen to work wihtn the real estate niche and have found that market to be particularly open to the idea of using the blog to promote their business and engage whole communities in online participation.
Posted by: REBlogGirl | 11.30.06
Perhaps Mentos realizes that they sell *candy* and letting people have fun with it is a sensible (and profitable) reaction, while Coke overestimates their importance in people's lives? In B2B markets I've seen a clear distinction between companies *in* an industry and vendors that serve it. In consumer markets, *every* company is a vendor. All the messages that seek to connect to consumers' lives have to exist in the world where consumers really live and companies are just vendors. Once consumers--which is a vendor word for people--have their own media, companies shouldn't be surprised that they assert control of the message.
Posted by: Nathan Gilliatt | 11.30.06
"In the corporate world, I think several factors drive a lack of corporate communications--
1. Cost to communicate externally and inability to measure ROI
2. Inertia
3. Lack of concern
4. Mistrust of marketing
5. Control
6. Cage-bound cultures"
Great list Lewis. I also think that many of the big corporations simply aren't that media-savvy. I don't think it's a coincidence that many of the big-name corporations are still struggling to figure out what the deal is with blogs, while one of the first things a start-up does, is start blogging. I think the start-ups have much younger and more social media-savvy cultures.
Nathan I think Coke was displaying the typical 'big-brand' mentality with the geyser-videos. When asked about the geyser videos back in the summer, Coke spokeswoman Susan McDermott said "We would hope people want to drink [Diet Coke] more than try experiments with it." She added that "craziness with Mentos ... doesn't fit with the brand personality" of Diet Coke.
Again, this is why companies get in trouble every time they try to re-route or stop the flow of their community. You accept the community's path, and clear it for them to make it as as easy as possible for your community to reach their intended destination as quickly and effectively as possible.
Posted by: Mack Collier | 11.30.06
Mack / Lewis,
Great post and great points pointed out by Lewis.
I think big companies find it hard to blog because of political constraints more than anything else. They will always find it difficult to paint a true picture via their blogs because it will be resisted by someone or the other in the organisation. Afterall you don't want the company blog to be like press releases do you?
Small start ups find it easy because the number of people involved is less, so less troubles and less buy in needed.
Please correct me if you think I am wrong.
Posted by: Balaji M | 12.01.06
Mentos' sales are up as a result of all of this buzz, probably due to their being used by the pallet load as primers for Coke-fueled IED's.
Will Mentos have a new sales baseline when this dies down? Probably not. I wonder if more people are actually eating Mentos as a result of knowing they produce more gas. Hmm. Sounds nice, of course, but...
This doesn't feel like "consumers are in charge of the brand message" -- the message, in this case, would be "Mentos explodes and that's fun". Mentos has accidentally found themselves in the midst of a pop-culture phenomenon. This shouldn't be confused with branding.
Consumers control the message when a real insight is revealed and it spreads -- take Bluetooth headsets. This technology was originally 'marketed' as a wireless protocol that allowed you to have 30 foot range. The reality was that consumers took this and said, "Guess what? Not having a cord dangling off your ear is very nice." And the rest is history (in the making -- they still have a huge growth rate).
I think there's a big difference between these two examples and therein lies the key to 'consumers in charge' and 'consumers just having a bit of fun'. One creates an industry; the other spikes sales and goes away.
Posted by: Stephen Denny | 12.01.06
"This doesn't feel like "consumers are in charge of the brand message" -- the message, in this case, would be "Mentos explodes and that's fun". Mentos has accidentally found themselves in the midst of a pop-culture phenomenon. This shouldn't be confused with branding."
I agree, but I think the bigger point is, Mentos was smart enough to realize that geyser videos were raising awareness of their product. They didn't try to stop their community's actions, and not only accepted the community's flow, but encouraged it.
While Coke was busy first saying basically that 'you people need to stop playing with Diet Coke, and get back to drinking it', and then hosting TWO different 'geyser video' contests on sites THEY created, Mentos said the buzz was great from the start. As early as July, Mentos had already tabbed the buzz over the videos as being worth $10 million to their brand. They openly embraced their community's actions, and then started their own geyser video contest, in their COMMUNITY'S space, on YouTube.
And you're right, this episode will mostly be a short-term sales spike for Mentos. But I think it IS about branding, it's about how Mentos brands themselves. It's the difference between having a closed culture (such as at Coke), where the company still thinks they are sending a one-way marketing message to their customers, as opposed to an 'open' culture, which is what Mentos is moving toward. A culture that's willing to accept the momentum of their customers, and reach them on THEIR terms in THEIR space using THEIR tools.
That's terribly powerful, if a company can allow themselves to reach that point.
Posted by: Mack Collier | 12.02.06