Frontiering Talk

Adding to George Master’s home generated IPOD commercial, Daphne Kalfon has created her own “I love my Mac” song, complete with website.

When was the last time your consumers did something like this in honour of your brand?

There is certainly a trend towards personalisation, as discussed at length by Trendwatching in their May 2005 article.

Here’s an interesting spin on personalisation with a design your own coffin! Aired on Dragon’s Den tv show last week in Australia, Life Art has created a business that makes coffins from recycled and biodegradable products.

The artwork, is printed on stickers and then applied to the outside to produce a very personalised coffin. The cost is around the same as existing wooden coffins. You certainly have a captive audience, and I am sure this product will spread through word of mouth. I think this is a great idea and I wish the business well. Now .. I wonder how much I could get for selling some ad space on the sides?

Tags: WOM

Having just come back from my 8th China trip, I was again impressed by the continued growth and dynamic changes that were noticeable from when I was last there in Jan 2005.

Presenting at the Ad-Tech Conference in Shanghai, I made some really excellent contacts which I will refer to in more detail over the next few weeks.

Today, I want to touch on the incredible volume of Chinese online voices that resonate via bulletin boards, and blogs. In part due to the limited and controlled media, China has always had a strong tradition in tapping “word of mouth” as a way to get the “real story”. Now due to the massive internet growth going on in China .. many of these conversations are taking place in explicit and therefore measurable forms.

Here are some numbers from Sam Flemming the co-founder of CICDATA, a company that specialises in measuring and tracking what the chinese consumer is saying. Here are some stats that Sam presented

103 million Internet Users
40 million Bulletin board (message boards users); (doubled in 6 months)
35.2 million go to Bulletin Board at least once a day
30 million go to Bulletin Board at least twice a day
5 million blogs

China is talking, and these numbers are expected to double by 2008. Lots of the discussion are questions about product or services or recommendations and if you have products or services in China, then you better have a strategy for tapping into these channels.

Here’s a couple of examples Sam presented.

G-fly .. I was born in 7th November of 1988. I am not a kid. I came here to share my photos with skaters, also hope to communicate with everyone about skateboarding. Also I am the leader of the skate-girl BBS in the SKATEHERE forum.

Anti-Japan sentiment runs high China and plays a factor in purchase decisions, but there is an incredible passion for cars such as the VW golf. The “Our-golf” club organised this photo by parking their cars into the word OURGOLF.com

What is the Chinese consumer saying about your brand? If you don’t know, talk to Sam Flemming and find out? Then you are in a position to create specific Word of Mouth marketing strategies?

Tags: WOM

What images do the words 9/11, Middle East, Oasis, or even “Word of Mouth” mean to you?

Grant Robinson has created a tool called Montage-a-google, which searches Google images and creates a mosaic of the results, which retain their links to the original source. This makes for an interesting viewing experience. Here’s what i got when i entered “Word of Mouth”

For more examples, here are the Flickr images tagged with Montageagoogle.

What I find interesting is the results you get when you type in some well known consumer brands such as Snickers. What does your brand look like?

Tags: WOM

Young people carry their phones with them everywhere, and whilst 3G may make the web browsing experience more acceptable, using the 12 phone keys to interact with the web can be challenging.

A company called MOBOT has addressed this challenge with a unique visual recognition technology that allows consumers with a camera phone to take pictures to respond or express interest in relevant products.

The technology can be applied to various marketing mechanics. Here’s a few examples from Mobot.

Mobot can deliver information, discounts or special offers
Where can you buy the shoes in that ad? Just take a picture and Mobot the ad. Want a ringtone from your favorite band? Mobot the CD case. Want the score from today’s game? Mobot the team logo.

…or multiply impressions through scavenger hunts and games
Consumers can Mobot your existing media or you can send them off to Mobot something else – a smile, a car, their favorite silly face. Create a scavenger hunt where pictures are clues. Morph pictures into coded messages. Launch trivia games. Send Magic 8 ball style responses. Bring on the interactivity, turn on the fun.

…or kindle word-of-mouth viral campaigns
Mobot can start a cascading effect triggering special emails that can be forwarded to friends. Mobot can be the key to accessing exclusive offers that can only come by referral. Mobot photo contests don’t just create great online content for marketers, but they also get consumers to text and email their friends to vote for their entries. Nothing brings on word of mouth like pictures.

I like the idea and when the technology is packaged with some clever calls to action, it could really enhance existing print and billboard media. To often, by the time you get back to a computer the “call to action” is forgotten, but enabling a phone camera shot will tap the impulse and cool factor providing the ability to respond at the time of interest. SMS’ing a brand name or special code to a number can deliver a similar benefit and may actually be quicker, although doesn’t quite have the same cool factor.

Tags: WOM

I am currently sitting on a Singapore airlines flight from Singapore to Australia, logged into the Internet via wireless broadband.

I received a free 30 min login card just before I boarded which directed me to http://cbb.by.boeing

The login card provided a user name and a password that you scratch off. 30 minutes is plenty of time to replicate your mail as the connection speed was fast. If you want to stay online longer, you can purchase time with your credit care, or if you have an account with one of these companies your access can be billed to your account.

Once online, the first thing I did was fire up my MSN messanger client to tell all my friends who happen to be online of this new cool function. I even rang Paul Matthews in the UK using Skype. Paul Matthews runs the Aztec business in the UK. The phone conversation was very clear with only a slight delay. I would take my headset next time. The Singaporian guy next to me is using MSN to chat to his daughter !

Not all of us want to be online all the time, but there are times when your travel plans get changed and it is nice to be able to get a message out about when you will be arriving, confirm accomodation or just keep in touch with loved ones. Here’s a description of how the technology from Connexion works.

The technology is so cool you just want to tell people about it. Linking the technology with Singapore Airlines is also possible. Utilising natural buzz to perform word of mouth marketing could be achieved by providing all the necessary links and information about the tool. And why not give the people who take up the free 30 minute offer some free tokens that they can send to their friends as an incentive to fly with Singapore Airlines. Finally, I would be getting customer feedback in return for say an extra 30 mins online so that Connexion or Singapore airlines can publish some real consumer feedback about this service.

That’s how word of mouth marketing works!

My 30 mins is up .. and it’s time for sleep !

Tags: WOM

I have always been a big fan of Lego. They have usually been ahead of the pack when it comes to innvotion, brand licensing and the like.

So it was no surprise when i discovered that Lego have created this design application that allows you to design your very own custom Lego design. My son who is 8 loves the free application, and has putting his imagination to work over the last week. And Lego get to tap into it !

Here’s a design created by a 13 year old.

The best designs can be seen here. And their designs will become real Lego products !

I think more companies should consider “Open Source Innovation”, as it involves the passionate consumers that exist, increasing their advocacy for brands, as well as ensuring that new innovations are captured before your competitors. And with tools available today, you can even get your consumers to review and select the winning designs.

How can you start some Open Source Innovation with your brand?

I will be speaking at the Ad Tech Shanghai conference on Buzz, Viral, Blog, Marketing.

It should be interesting as I think many trends in New Marketing are often embraced faster in Asia.

Adcandy, a boutique agency in the US has created a clever interactive website that allows consumers to come up with slogans and other ad material. Originally setup for consumers, the site is becoming a tool for small and medium business to let consumers help them with inexpensive creatives for their brands.

“Creativity doesn’t need credentials,” says Per Hoffman, founder of Adcandy. “Anyone who doesn’t believe me can take a look at the New Yorker caption contest.”

I think is just the beginning .. consumers love to be involved in the creative process and lots of consumers are very clever. Open Source Marketing .. it’s just the begining.

Are you in the market for a new computer? Are you checking the internet to find out what people are saying about their computers, and what they are buying?

Well here’s someone who faced a similar dilema and decided not only to post a blog about her decision, but a movie.

This is an excellent example of Consumer Generated Media in action. For the record, I have a 2 year old Dell laptop. Maybe it’s time to upgrade?

Yahoo has created something unique and interactive with a 15 day Thinktank.

The site shows live cameras of the room where 2 creative minds set to work on the daily briefs that are submitted from cyberspace.

The site is setup to accept creative briefs and creative responses are available to browse through. You can also send messages to the tank, or images to the plasma screen to help their creative juices. Judging from their work, I think it’s working well. It goes until Nov 17.

A clever site, and it just shows what you can do with a bit of imagination. I would like to see Brand Managers put themselves in a virtual tank, and invite some lead consumers to help them work on creative briefs !

Promoting breakfast cereal, the Cheerios site allows you to create an animated singer, dress him or her up, and change various colour tones, before recording the actual singing track for a choice of 1 of 3 songs. The program then lip syncs the character to “sing” in time with your voice .. whether you sing when you are suppose to or not.

Cleverly called Cheerioke … you can then send your creation to your friends.

The technology is driven by Oddcast.

It’s very interactive and entertaining. As a product marketer, I would like a slightly stronger link to the product.

Here’s a great story from CMO magazine, about a company “Bike Friday” who has a great fold away bike, which certainly generates a lot of discussion. To capture this discussion and use it to expand it’s business they have set up a refereal program.

Margaret Day who is 70-something and lives in my home country of Australia has referred over $300K of sales .. and in return has earned credits to buy herself a new $2000 bike.

The company also uses a referral awards program. Customers receive a set of 12 prepaid postage cards with their name and that of the Bike Friday expert who sold them their bike. Whenever a customer meets someone whose interest is piqued by his bike, he’ll fill out a card and drop it in the mail. Bike Friday then mails information to the contact. It also captures this interaction in its database so that riders who make a referral receive a bonus if their prospect purchases a bike. Customers can choose either a $50 check or $75 credit toward future products. Day accumulated enough referral credits to purchase a $2,000 bike last year.

The referral program has helped the company acquire more than a third of its 10,000 customers; it also helps drive sales. Over the last three and a half years, the program has generated $1.3 million in sales. In 2004, 29 percent of its sales came from referrals.

“We did a lot more press releases and advertisements early on, but we realized our customers were our best advertisers—if we made them happy,” explains Hanna Scholz, Bike Friday’s marketing manager.

Consumers love to talk about products that they are passionate about. But providing them with the right tools and incentives is what word of mouth marketing is all about.

Tags: WOM