Frontiering Talk

Facebook is set to capitalise on it’s massive growth and the depth of knowledge it has within the millions of profiles by providing an Ad-targetting service that goes beyond the current selections of age, gender and location of the user.

The new service will allow targeting based on the profile’s favourite activities and preferred music. Currently Facebook displays ads in flyers around the border of Facebook pages, but the new ads will appear in other places interspersed with profile content.

This follows on a report commissioned by Newscorp called Never Ending Friending, which discusses two campaigns from Addidas and EA there were run on the Myspace network. The report was compiled by Forrester research and argues that communication should be measured by the spread of a message not just from a business to a consumer, but also the ongoing discussions from consumer to consumer.

Perspective: Social networks can no longer be ignored as a serious communication medium. Determining how to “join” the conversations for marketeers will require innovative value equations. For example, a health business might decide to sponsor a niche health groups, providing free consultations as well as relevant advice to facilitate conversational engagement.

via Wall Street Journal

Tags: Social Network, Social Networks, Word of Mouth

Nearly 1400 members of a facebook group known as “Bring back the Wispa” seem to have convinced Cadbury to relaunch the historical chocolate bar, which will be relaunched on October. There are about 90 facebook groups that were used by Wispa fans to record their appreciation for the brand.

“We have noticed the web interest for some time and the consumer passion has undeniably swayed our opinion to relaunch Wispa.” said Cadbury spokesman Tony Bilsborough. He went on to say “This is the first time that the power of the internet played such an intrinsic role in the return of a Cadbury brand,”.

Perspective: Brands should be monitoring consumer conversations not only for research, but as a communication strategy, allowing fan clubs like these an active say in how the brand grows.

via NYTimes

Tags: Frontiering Websites, Social Networks, Word of Mouth

Proving that you really can let your consumers own and manage your brand .. even if it’s a football (or Soccer) team, My Football Club is attempting to buy an English soccer team.

Anyone can signup to own a share in the team for 35 pounds, and each member gets a vote in how the club is run, what players are selected etc.

From the site ..

For the first time in football history, fans have the opportunity to buy and then take control of a professional football club – both on and off the pitch.
Every MyFootballClub member will have an equal say in team selection, player transfers and the running of the club.
Members will own the club through their MyFootballClub Trust, and together they will attempt to guide their football club to success.

As at the end of July, 2007 MyFootballClub had 53,051 members.

Time will tell whether experiments like this are successful, and no doubt determine whether this type of ownership becomes a real threat to the traditional financial exchanges.

Perspective: My thoughts are that the internet is an enabler that can provide a sensible way for brands (or football teams) to involve their consumers (or fans) to increase their engagement with the brand. I don’t think you need to own a share in the company to share ownership of a brand. Brands that successfully allow their consumers to act like owners will gain the advantage of a passionate and genuine sales team.

Tags: Consumer Generated, Word of Mouth