Less Mad Men...more Star Trek?

Recently we have been using this line...to cause a reaction when we do conferences but it's not really the case is it? Despite what the digirati say

It is absolutely true that we live in a marketing era which will be defined by dialogue; the dialogue between marketers and consumers, but surely its always been this way....even the Big Bad Ads from Mad Ave were all about creating conversation?

I think we have to sum up this era by 3 key phenomena:

1. Social media has made social circles much wider

These days that throw-away line, that rant from being let down or those bragging rights claimed over those limited edition sneakers can hit many more people than ever before. So its easy to spread information, particularly low-involvement information far and wide

2. Everything is captured and transparent (especially if you are Facebook)

You really can tell if someone loves Skittles or hates Verizon. You can look at that information and understand its influence. Co-incidently, that influence is usually bigger than you think

3. As a brand you can participate

As a brand you can reward people for their commitment or work to make things better if they trash you, directly. That creates a lot of power. If you use it wisely.

Also its not just reactionary. As a brand you can start the conversation, and provide the platform or venue for these conversations to take place. You just have to learn to do that with a degree of authenticity.

So if you really are a modern day Don Draper you can do two things. Firstly you can tell me who your tailor is but more importantly you can test your big ideas and you can continue to generate conversation around those ideas. Talkability is still the more powerful media, its just now we can size it and we link it to something we can put in the bank.

Mind the Gap

It feels too easy to trash Gap, ok so they may have dropped a serious amount of dough to revamp their logo to something that apparently (as one of their 700,000 facebook fans said) would make their shoppers looked like they are carrying a bag that just stepped out of K-Mart. But we really should give Gap the credit for doing the right thing.

They previewed their new logo last week to their most loyal advocates and set off a customer backlash. Since the logo’s debut on Monday, Gap customers have been jamming Facebook and Twitter to tell the company just how they feel about the new logo.




What i really like about this case is that they were brave enough to tap into their customer relationship in social media. They concept tested on a focus group and then, and this is really great, they listened to them and gave their customers what they wanted. In this case that was the old logo. sure, they had to climb down and maybe they didn't expect this kick from their fans but they did the right thing and kept it authentic

And no one died either, they didn't change their signage on thousands of stores globally, they didn't cut out all their labels and get them stitched back in in China and they apologised for not listening earlier

Surely we have to commend The Gap for that, they were brave enough to give up control and I am sure that this week will be better for their business in the long run

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Zero degrees of separation

I don't know if you noticed yet, but there is a film about how Zuckerberg set up Facebook on release in the US and Europe this Friday. The tagline goes 'you don't get to 500 million friends without making a few enemies' - nice

Isn't everyone just so much more 'connected' these days? I have so many more contacts now than i did when i was 21. In those days i had a small group of friends from where i was born and a continuously morphing group of fellow drunken students. I didnt have email and i probably knew all the phone numbers i needed off by heart.

Now contrast that with today, and how connections can be made, fostered and in many cases revived through Facebook, LinkedIn etc. There is no denying that we are becoming more connected, you add people to your circle indiscriminately (and also feel guilty for de-friending them!)

This trend got me thinking about the 6 degrees of separation concept. This idea was that everyone is connected to everyone through a chain of, at most, 5 people. Given that these social networks are growing at such a rate, what is the degree of separation today? And how long before there are zero degrees of separation between the world's population. hey, I have LinkedIn connections I have never spoken to, let alone met!

Also at that point does Facebook become meaningless? I mean, will we just abandon it as we just don't have the time or the energy to pander to an endless stream of self satisfying status updates?

My guess is that as facebook hits a billion users we will only be 3 degrees of separation from everyone on earth. we will have 700 friends on average and we won't meet in bars, coffee shops or discuss last nights ball game. and the world will be a much poorer place because of it.

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Do these 5 things and turn your company social

All the clients are talking about social...but not many of them know how to go about it. Oh yeas, one caveat before we begin...'doing social' isn't about buying a button on Facebook.



I was at WPP Stream a couple of weeks ago, I attended a CPG client session talking specifically about this. The guys from Hershey's did a fantastic job of facilitating the debate; Unilever, KC, Reckitt Benckiser and P&G, the heavy hitters were a in attendance

Here are the 5 things I learned when taking your organisation social:

1. Its organisational

Listening to these guys talk the first thing I picked up was how difficult it is to get your organisation to change. Some of they guys create a fund that they ringfence and distribute to brands where they feel they can make a difference. That is a good thing; but how does that budget get protected when the inevitable round of budget cuts come through?

2. Champion and "Live the Space"

The next thing we picked up was the role of champions. These champions live and breathe social, these guys tweet continously and 'don't just read about getting fit'...they go to the gym - ring any bells with your clients?

One thing that I have observed Unilever do really well is how the champion (i'll spare his blushes) really started to teach and lead the organisation and not just trash the prehistoric nature of his business. Needless to say he built his campaign and won over the skeptics

3. Make it competitive

I have also found that you need to give these champions some evidence from peer or 'leader' companies. It's easy to say 'well Apple did this...' but when you say 'Look at this Old Spice campaign' it gets noticed and the competitors stealing a march will be vowed never to happen again

4. Measure measure measure

Just because it's free you still have to prove it. Many senior marketers still think its a risk. they have seen the Domino's pizza YouTube effect so getting the right metrics, tracking positive sentiment and responding is vital. Get your self a good listening tool. Some are cheap and some are good. Few are both.

5. Finally you really have to be in it for the long haul. Hershey certainly are....it typically takes years to change a culture

Listening AND learning

In a shameless plug for my closest and smartest friends in the business @arvindzz and his business @JamiQ I love the way these guys are taking the twitter interactions for the big 3 telcos in Singapore and really telling us a story from it

Exploring the social media with three telcos on Twitter from JamiQ on Vimeo.

Yes, it has bubbles, different sizes, colours and the linkages between them...my sort of visualisation that takes consumer data and makes real sense of it (ie not just stopping at making a pretty picture)

Check out the guys http://jamiq.com they are doing the hottest thing in the hottest media at the moment...does that make them officially HOT? I don't know, you decide

Behind the game?

Remember when Nintendo was the daddy of gaming? It wasn't so long ago after all, it launched the DS Lite and phenomenal Wii and changed gaming forever. It wasn't just technology that Nintendo had the edge on; it was that they opened up gaming to a whole new audience...one that wasn't in a dark boys bedroom surrounded by pizza boxes and coke cans. Didn't Nintendo create social gaming?

So how come they halved their full year income forecast last year? Sure, the Yen is strong and they won't launch the 3DS until after Christmas...but halved?!

It does seem that Nintendo has missed out on the two emerging trends of convergence (iphone and iPad) and online social gaming (FarmVille)

Facebook has half a billion friends and the iPhone looks unstoppable, I saw Microsoft's Kinect Last week that looks like the home entertainment system that the PS3 wanted to be.....where does Mario go from here?

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Location:Strand,London,United Kingdom

Paul Smith Globe

I am just back from a week on the road in Budapest and Athens. The Athens gig was WPP's 'unconference' Stream. This was a fantastic program of informal, open discussions around our industry from a binary perspective with agency colleagues and senior clients. I will blog some ideas that were stoked at Stream shortly

I really get excited to go to London Heathrow T5 as I get to pass through my favourite store at any airport in the world.



Paul Smith Globe has all of my usual staples; tailored jackets with a twist, bold swim shorts and quality shoes with thin hardwearing soles I adore.

Making this a truly special place are the rare artefacts that influence Nottingham's greatest export (yes, even better than Torvill and Dean). There are travel journals, old school cameras and contemporary art to buy off the wall. I truly love the experience! Leave time and room on the credit card if you are passing through

It's just a shame I only ever travel with carry on luggage

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Location:Narbonne Ave,Lambeth,United Kingdom