Modern Marketing - Blog by Collaborate PR & Marketing

Marketing Is No Longer A Game

The $500bn global marketing industry is driven by metrics.  TVRs, GRs, OTS, TGI, ABC, BARB, CPC, CPA, PI, CPM, frequency, benchmarking, response, reach, hits – the range of measurement systems has exploded as the complexity of marketing continues to increase.  Which has led to a gaming mentality among some parts of the industry, where almost any activity can be shown to be successful.  If it looks like a campaign isn’t working it doesn’t mean it’s ineffective.  It means you're standing in the wrong spot.  However, in the share-and-compare world of personal media, social networks and communities, it’s simply not possible to game the system.  If you’ve created a Facebook page, or an online forum, or an all singing-and-dancing app fest with mobile bells and whistles simply begging to be API’d and distributed around the widget world, no level of metric analysis will demonstrate success if no one joins in the fun.  Any figures you try and flaunt to justify the activity will be drowned out by the sound of silence as the wind whistles through your Twitter feed, swinging the doors on the hinges of your silent social experience.  No level of metrics will disguise the fact that No One Is In There.  And should you try and lay a little Astroturf or sock up a few puppets, you are likely to discover that your conversational marketing takes on all the allure of a bowl of plastic fruit.  Now whether this is of any significance depends upon your viewpoint of where the marketing world is headed.  I chaired a little social gathering down at the IPA a couple of weeks ago where Mark Earls put the case for a connected, networked world being a sea change for every part of the communications industry.  While others declared social to be a welcome new ingredient to the already murky marketing soup – but no more than that.  Just DM and WOM for a new era.  So if you’re with the Herdmeister then the fact that the game is up...

Learn To Earn

Freddie Laker (no not that one) gets to the nub of the matter: "Sometimes I like to talk about the "paradox of marketing.” As marketers we feel obligated to get our clients/brands where the eyeballs are. We then descend on that thing like vultures and in most cases we destroy that thing we originally loved and saw as an opportunity to reach consumers. (Think George from “Of Mice and Men” with the rabbit.) We’re currently in the process of killing Twitter as well.  The next great mobile revolution will be focused on the culmination of social networks, geo-location services, content creation/sharing, augmented reality and the functions that come with rapidly increased bandwidth, such as live streaming video. My fear is that marketers will be irresponsible and will use these technologies to pound consumers with horrible interruptive ads that make consumers revolt against mobile marketing. We’ve already had epic failures with some marketers’ mass SMS broadcasting and then the totally idiotic idea of connecting to discoverable Bluetooth phones when they’re in proximity of a broadcast point.  There’s so much new technology that has the potential to redefine interaction between brands and consumers, but unfortunately too many of us are still using advertising techniques that we’ve used for the last century — and they are primarily disruptive in nature.  The “techies” have done a great job of continuing to innovate and evolve the medium. Now it’s time for marketers to show the same passion for innovation and evolve with the medium, rethink our approaches and be respectful of the most intimate of digital touch points. We’re marching into holy ground with mobile marketing and if we’re not careful a select few of us will ruin it for the rest of us and this time, I don’t think consumers will be as forgiving."  (Via Heavyset).

Web TV - Game On

This weekend England play a World Cup qualifying game in the Ukraine.  One notable aspect of the match will be that people in the UK will only be able to watch it via the web, on a pay-per-play basis.  It’s yet another example of the trends that are morphing TV as we know it into a new modern web-based format.  The most significant force behind this change is economic.  The match was originally planned to be shown on satellite TV by Setanta.  However, after the Irish company was credit crunched by super-high gearing and a collapse in the advertising market, the rights were picked up by Kentaro which will stream the game to one million football fans this weekend for a modest one-off fee.  It’s snack TV as opposed to the mega-banquet offered by Sky.  Just like Apple’s iTunes is for people who wish to consume their music tapas-style.  The most notable point about this new commercial offering is that it’s not new.  Football fans who can’t afford premium TV packages or Premier League tickets have long been following their beloved teams via illegal web streams.  Often putting up with terrible quality, inconsistent transmissions, tiny pop-up screens and Chinese commentary.  I'm sure many of these fans will be happy to pay a little this weekend.  As Arseblog, the popular Arsenal FC blogger puts it: 'If I could pay a couple of quid and watch the game via a stream that wasn't up and down and freezing and jumping and refreshing I'd happily do it. The same goes for league games.'  Expect plenty more such innovation in TV.  Just don’t expect the TV industry to be involved.  Incredibly, the traditional business is mirroring the plight of its musical cousin by ignoring clear signals from customers about what they want.  Just like the Big Record Labels, the Big TV Networks are falling on the wrong side of the Innovator’s Dilemma.  The plight whereby companies desperately attempt to prop up their existing revenues and fail to engage with exciting new technologies that people love.  Despite the fact that if they did embrace new kit and behaviour their tired old businesses would get a shot in the arm, instilling some faith among jaded shareholders.  But they aren't.  So a gap appears in the market and and new innovators pile in, building products in line with public demand.  And the new Web TV ecosystem begins to take shape.  All built on the fast-growing popularity of watching TV on a laptop or PC.  A distinction that will soon be redundant as devices merge.  But don't make the mistake of thinking that it will then be back to business as usual.  That's just where the fun begins as TV content becomes another web application upon which other tools can be built.  And then it's game on.

Will It Be Facebook Wot Won It?

The Sun’s decision to support the UK Conservative party instead of Gordon Brown’s New Labour is creating plenty of interesting discussion.  Spinmeister Alastair Campbell says The Sun isn’t as important as it once was.  Well, he would say that wouldn’t he?  However, whatever his motivation, he’s right.  Now, there’s nothing I like more than putting my feet up with a bacon sandwich, cup of char and The Currant Bun, but it surely isn’t the massive social and cultural force it was in the eighties.  In 1992, the paper had huge sway and cruelly lampooned Neil Kinnock with this classic front page.  Then followed it up with the famous headline – ‘It Was The Sun Wot Won It!’.  Powered by the vast yet always entertaining ego of Kelvin McKenzie, The Nation’s Favourite reached its highest average sale in the week ending 16 July, 1994, when the daily figure was 4,305,957.  Today, along with all other nationals, The Sun's circulation is greatly diminished.  Although at more than 3 million is still very substantial.  However, in the nineties we weren't all connected up to each other.  There weren't 10-20m Brits active on Facebook (depending on who you believe).  The share-and-compare economy was still restricted to chats over the garden fence.  I’ve long given up on the idea that one media will usurp another.  But I really believe the soup is getting thicker and more interesting.  In 1990, newspapers were opinion and opinion were newspapers.  Today, the mainstream media shrieks out its sensational opinion often highlighting the darkest most gruesome aspects of our generally splendid country.  However, that is then filleted, dissected and reduced down to a more reflective – frequently more positive view – by individuals who comment, link, curate, challenge and question the views of Murdoch & Co.  Far from being the echo chamber that mainstream media often characterizes social and other networked media as, the web is now the way the majority of people filter what’s good and bad.  They listen to their friends and see what they are paying attention to.  So will it be The Sun wot win it for Cameron?  Or will it be up to Facebook to give him the thumbs-up?