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It is easy to build a Web site these days. And with a raft of online tools and systems like blogs, YouTube, Facebook, MySpace, etc., it is even easier to kick start a blog or social media experiment. But participating or building these does not necessarily constitute a "web strategy."
What so often passes as a piece of "web fun" actually performs a vital role in the creation of a brand or organization's web strategy. Let me explain.
A couple of days ago, I found a site that allowed you to upload photos of yourself for scanning and comparison against the faces of celebrities (my closest match is William (Capt Kirk) Shatner). The site then constructs an image that showed those celebrities who most look like you (or is it the other way around?). Sounds like fun, right? It is... it makes you want to send it to your friends and colleagues.
As Tom Cruise (a.k.a. Drew McLellan) points out, there is a serious piece of strategy at play in this gimmickry. By creating an online tool that encapsulates its brand, this fun tool from MyHeritage.com simultaneously demonstrates how the site functions as well as providing an immediate emotional linkage between the consumer and the site -- you are, after all, uploading a photograph of yourself.
This same approach worked spectacularly well for the Movember charity campaign in Australia last year (hey ... is anyone following this up for 2007 in North America?). Why does this work? Because there is a strategy in place to drive an increase in trial/sampling ... and the strategy does so by placing the consumer literally at the center of the experience.
And this is something that the web can do like no other channel. So if you think that a "web strategy" is not something applicable to your brand ... think again. And think harder.
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Comments
"And this is something that the web can do like no other channel. So if you think that a "web strategy" is not something applicable to your brand ... think again. And think harder."
Good advice Gavin. Hopefully, companies are beginning to get past the idea that social media tools are 'neat toys to play with', and are beginning to understand how each can add value to their organization. I think we're starting to see that with blogs, as I am noticing more companies monitoring what bloggers are writing about them, and responding.
Posted by: Mack Collier | 07.05.07
Gavin,
Good post! I need to spend more time thinking and less time doing.
Posted by: Lewis Green | 07.05.07
That is pretty darned cool. Not to be the materialistic one of the bunch, but I wonder how much that cost to produce.
Posted by: Cam Beck | 07.05.07
Gavin,
Sometimes I think we get so caught up in the ROI and productivity discussions that we forget how important play can be, as a strategy.
Just because it's fun doesn't mean it can't have a serious value. And it doesn't mean it cannot deliver customers right to your front door.
And Cam...I wondered the same thing!
Tom
Posted by: Drew McLellan | 07.05.07
All ... thanks for the feedback. While I am a great believer in starting small and trialling interactive and online applications, a small dose of upfront thinking can do wonders.
Oh, and Cam and Drew, I have a feeling that it an application like that is cheaper to make than you think. Let me do some digging ;)
Posted by: Gavin Heaton | 07.05.07
hi, Gavin, how are you?
I think the examples are really better stories about 'brand experience' within web strategy, rather than web strategy itself. A teacher might get certain students to *physically* participate in lessons - this experience might aid cognition/retention/make it more fun - but this is just a tactic to support the school's overall strategy rather than the strategy itself, right?
The important bit is the behind that, the strategy that asks: what tactics can we use to achieve our goals, with our goals, our budget, our unique circumstance? (eg. to make sure that our kids get well educated, that they engage in lessons, that they keep coming to school day after day & that they spread the message of the school elsewhere)
The gimmickry of the two examples you give is just about knowing the audience you want & finding a way to excite them. On another site (eg. FT, or marketingprofs itself) you might be better off just concentrating on the top-quality content that feeds your audience's needs/cravings.
Actually - I'd be interested to hear what 'gimmick' tactics you'd use to engage/excite the MP audience more?
Thanks for a thought-provoking post!
daniel
Posted by: daniel | 07.10.07