"Buy the Way…" Insights on Integrated Marketing Communication

Are you part of a brand community? If you are a devout Apple product user and you see someone else using an iPhone or working off their iPad, do you identify with that person and think that you have something in common with them? You may even take it one step further and actively seek out others who covet similar brands, engage in discussion boards, blogs even face to face meetings where you form personal connections with others based on the simple fact that you both own or like the same brand. Strong bonds and actual communal sub-groups can form from brand admirers (Muniz & O’Guinn, 2001).
Since brand communities are not geographically bound and are founded in social relationships that are formed from the affinity for a certain brand (Muniz & O’Guinn, 2001), it’s only natural that these communities should evolve into the social media space (Hollingshead, et al., 2012). Although social media platforms would seem to be a natural place for brand communities to form, Hollingshead, et al. (2008) report neither brand users nor companies have fully utilized social media sites to promote and grow brand communities.
So, I ask you to think about a brand that you like, I mean really, really like. It can be a car, clothing, food or even and organization, like Livestrong. What lengths would you go to show your love for this brand and would you seek out others who also had an affinity for this brand? If, indeed, you do have a brand that influences you, do you wear their message on your body in the form of a t-shirt, hat, wristband? Do you have a sticker on your car that claims your support of a non-profit or a political party? Now, let’s take it one step further. If you do have these things and are proud of the fact that you own or support something, would you or do you engage with others who also support this? If so, you are part of a brand community.

Brand communities act pretty much like other communities, without the taxes. Members of brand communities discuss what the like about products, suggest ways to make products better and some even go so far as to protect and help each other in times of need. Muniz & O’Guinn (2008) tell an interesting story about a member of a Saab brand community. An individual saw a car broken down on a dark highway. He noticed, as he passed, that the car was a Saab and stopped to help the motorist. He reported that if the car had been any other brand, he would’ve kept on driving. That, my friends, is a prime example of a dedicated brand community member. This person put themselves in danger simply because the disabled car was a Saab. Does the helper think Saab drivers can’t be serial killers? Let’s not forget that Saab driver or not, someone needed help, and if it were not for the Saab logo glinting off the brand community member’s headlights, the person in need would have had to wait for someone else to come along – maybe a Ford, Toyota, Nissan or BMW brand community member.

So, if you love a brand or support a cause, I encourage you to seek out others who love it just as much. Start a Facebook page or Twitter account and engage like-mined folk. You might make some friends. You might even be saved from spending a cold, lonely night on a deserted highway.

Muniz, A. M. & O’Guinn, T. C. (2001). Brand community. Journal of Consumer

Research, (27), 412-432.

Hollingshead, A. B., Sanders, W. S., Kim, Y. J., Meng, J., & Pade, C. S. (2012).

Interactivity and social media integration in online brand communities: An

analysis of the top 100 global brands. University of Southern California

Hello Sven, here are the keys to the bus. Now remember, you’ve got nine million people to drive around and we’d really, really appreciate it if you didn’t crash into anything.

Flag courtesy of goscandinavia.about.com

Earlier this year, Sweden (yes, the country) turned over their official Twitter account to ordinary citizens. The program, which is officially known as Curators of Sweden was the brainchild of the government’s Swedish Institute, the official tourism entity, VisitSweden and a Swedish communications firm, Volontaire. To qualify as a curator, Swedes have to be nominated by someone other than themselves, they must know what Twitter is and how to Tweet, and they have to Tweet in English (hmmm, target audience anyone?).

Their goal is to promote the diversity and unique characteristics of their country through the eyes and the mobile devices of its citizens. In a true democratic fashion, each week, a different Swede is selected to represent the country in the Twittersphere with no limits or rules. The only words of warning come from Tommy Sollén, VisitSweden’s social media manager, who imparts these words of wisdom when handing over the keys:

“Please, do this with some dignity — remember that this is an official channel and there are a lot of people reading this, so don’t make a fool of yourself.”

It is a pretty bold move for a country to trust its citizens with unrestrained 140 character stream-of-consciousness Tweets. It must have gone pretty smoothly because it wasn’t until June that the world took notice. One of the Curators Tweeted a few, not exactly offensive, but basically quizzically ignorant comments about Jews (IMHO as a member of the Judean tribe). Her comments weren’t so much anti-Semitic, as from someone who has lived in isolation her entire life. The 27-year-old curator, Sonja Abrahamsson, is from a tiny town in northern Sweden where as she puts it “Where I come from there is (sic) no Jews, everyone is related and owns a tractor.” OK, moving on…

Erik Iseberg, 18, was one of the first curators. Casper Hedberg for The New York Times

But it was this and a few other curator missteps (or mistweets) that caught the media’s attention and one fake pundit in particular, Stephen Colbert.

When the story of Sonja Abrahamsson broke in the middle of June, Stephen Colbert was quick to swoop in. It wasn’t so much what she tweeted, but that, in his characteristically bombastic way, he wanted a turn at the Sweden Twitter account. Since then Colbert has launched a Twitter campaign to become a Swedish curator with the hash tag #artificialswedener and with all the publicity that’s been sparked @Sweden’s followers have grown from 28,000 to nearly 70,000 as of this writing. As is the nature of Twitter, ideas spread fast. The Netherlands, the City of Leeds (UK) and a host of other whereabouts have established their own rotating curating projects.

So is Twitter the future marketing tool for travel and foreign diplomacy? Or will that bus likely be driven off a cliff? I supposed that depends on the attention span of @Sweden’s followers.

Abad-Santos, A. (13 June, 2012). Don’t be surprised if Stephen Colbert takes over Sweden’s Twitter Account. www.theatlanticwire.com/entertainment/2012/06/dont-be-surprised-if-stephen-colbert-takes-over-swedens-twitter-account/53476/
Lyall, S. (10 June, 2012). Swedes’ Twitter voice: Anyone, saying (blush) almost anything. New York Times. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2012/06/11/world/europe/many-voices-of-sweden-via-twitter.html?_r=2
Maltais, M. (12 June, 2012. Guest tweeters on Sweden’s Twitter account stire up controversy. LA Times. Retrived from http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-sonja-tweets-on-jews-sweden-20120612,0,5893563.story
Novacic, I. (12 June, 2012). Sweden project lets citizens tweet for nation. ABCnews.com. Retrieved from http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/06/sweden-project-lets-citizens-tweet-for-nation/

For years, marketers have tried marrying the shopping experience with technology using tools such as QR codes and barcodes. However, this trend has yet to gain traction. But IBM wants to make this fusion of technology and consumer experience a reality, or an augmented reality to be exact.

Augmented reality is the latest in high-tech marketing tactics that aims to enhance consumers’ physical world with computer-generated sensory inputs, such as sound, photos, videos or GPS (Mashable, 2012). IBM is taking this innovation to a new level by allowing shoppers in a grocery store dictate their menu before even stepping foot in an aisle.

The application by IBM, being tested by unnamed retailers in the United States, allows consumers to download the software and input dietary preferences. For example, if a shopper lactose intolerant, they may enter that into the app, thereby narrowing their food choices. Once in the store, the consumer hold up their mobile device, pointing the camera at the shelves, and the device will point out what products fit the shopper’s specific needs.

The software recognizes consumers by their phone number of loyalty program numbers, thereby allowing them to store information for future shopping experiences. The application recognizes products on the shelves by color, shape and other features to determine what products fit the shopper’s needs.

Not just a dietary tool, the device may also be used to address personal pricing, environmental and religious preferences as well. IBM believes the augmented reality application will catch on with consumers faster than QR code or barcode scanners because of the how easy it is to use the application.

What’s more, this new marketing tactic is relatively inexpensive for retailers as consumers supply the technology to support the software.

Whether or not augmented reality will take hold like social media or interactive television is still to be determined. But one thing is certain: what was once an idea only found in moviebuytheway.annenbergcourse.orgrt,” augmented reality is redefining consumer engagement.

References:

Neff, J. (2012). IBM tests ‘augmented reality’ app. AdAge online. Retrieved from http://adage.com/article/digital/ibm-tests-augmented-reality-shopper-app/235724/.

(2012). Augmented reality. Mashable online. Retrieved from http://mashable.com/follow/topics/augmented-reality/.

Have you ever forgotten your dog’s birthday? Of course you have (well maybe you haven’t). But most people don’t remember their dog’s birthday. Today, I was one of those forgetful people until I opened my email. My marketing savvy vet sent a happy birthday eCard to my French Bulldog, Henry.

At first, I smiled and thought “amazing marketing, Woodland Vet Clinic.” And then, remorse set in. I forgot my dog’s birthday. And my vet had to remind me.

As Young (2010) suggests, marketers must use the consumer pathway in order to drive consumers to purchase. And just six months after Henry’s last visit, the vet continued the consumer communication with an email during the “relationship building” phase (Young, 2010, p. 55).

This happy birthday email acted as a “relationship building” tool because it “made me feel special” (Young, 2010, p. 55). But not only did the email build my trust in the vet, it was a platform for alerting me to additional services. I realized, on top of forgetting his birthday,  that he needs a check-up in a couple of months. If I needed to be proactive, I had the information to call the vet right then.

However, I did the second best thing. I advocated my vet’s services and kind gesture in a forward of the email to my family. Young (2010) suggests this is the last step in the consumer pathway. Through my intrapersonal and interpersonal reaction, my vet mastered its marketing efforts.

Overall, this experience teaches three lessons:

1. The consumer pathway works when done right.
2. Small, personal gestures make a big impact with advocacy ripple effects.
3. I need to get my dog a treat for his birthday!

References

Young, A. (2010). Brand media strategy: Integrated communications planning in the digital era. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Chapters 4 & 6.

No one has (as of yet) formally authored a “Basic guide to social network communication”, but there are volumes there that are waiting to be written. Unfortunately, those who need to read that typ of enlightening document the most won’t bother unless it is sent to them in 144 characters or less. Narrative, and by that I mean strong story arc narrative, may still exists in cyberspace, but it is generally so chopped up and fragmented that it becomes little more than impressionistic glimpses into the mundane lives of our “friends”. What is ironic about this shift in communication is that it may have more to do with a type of poor editing that is occurring in a social networking environment and not entirely to do with poor content. I would like to look at 3 narrative examples for discussion.
The Silent Film

When your palette is limited, your narrative has to be stronger. Conversely, if you have a robust arsenal of “flash” you can get by (for a little while) with poor narrative. Consider the story telling and interest generated by both early silent films and contemporary quality cinematic movies. What every one of them needs absolutely is a good narrative in order to have any hope at being successful in the long run. Certainly, there is the influx of interest when there is a new technology employed. Just as there were throngs of people standing in line to see the spectacle of early filmmaking, and record breaking crowds standing to see the midnight showing of films like Avatar, it all fades very quickly if there is not the internal narrative to back up the smoke and mirrors. We are drawn to narratives because they intrinsically lead us somewhere and we gain as travelers on that road. Unfortunately, we can be easily tricked into thinking that we were on a journey of story, when all that we actually were involved in was a short lived technological flash in the pan. And that can be the case whether you film is a century old artifact, or the latest 3D extravaganza.
So, if good narrative is that important, what makes a good narrative?
Folk Art

Folk art is at its core an exercise in narrative. I will refrain from leaning too heavily into a discussion on high art vs. craft, but in this case, folk art illustrates the idea of narrative well. The specific genre remains potent in American culture because of the way that it can infuse the nature of the creators and their story with that of the viewer. It tells us something about the people who made it in a personal way that other art forms do not. That information we interpret as narrative and we are invited to add ourselves into the stream of that narrative. Folk art offers very specific looks into the culture that we may or may not understand fully, but we can appreciate because they are honest reflections of the specifics of the story teller. This helps makes for a strong narrative.
So, if narrative is important, and good narrative is about glimpses into the specifics of a story, then how are Facebook narratives failing?
Not all Facebook narratives are failing. But many more than should be, are. We can all think of one, two, or many of our friends who use their status updates more like journal entries than communication. You probably know that ones that I mean, but they generally leave you with the feeling like they were not really spoken to you (and let’s be honest, you probably didn’t even come to mind when the author hit POST). This type of flawed communication may not be the fault of the content, but rather a fault in editing on the part of the author. If social network posters can get past the flashy medium and ask themselves “What is the story that I am trying to tell” and then ask the second, but equally important question “is it specific or meaningful enough for anyone to connect with?”, then they may be well on their way to posting something that graduates from the realms of diary entry and gets closer to a content driven narrative.
The Haunted Castle

I’m going to tout my own company’s efforts today. I’ve been more in tune to the Olympics this year than I have been in year’s past. Maybe it’s because I was planning on going until a little thing called “pregnancy” put a damper on those plans. Maybe it’s because my company, Samsung, is a worldwide Olympic sponsor and the Games have been on everybody’s minds lately. Maybe it’s a combination of both, but either way, I think Samsung has done a good job of bridging the gap between what’s going on in the external world and ways employees can get involved too.

First, Samsung Headquarters in Korea has been running regular stories on our global intranet all about the Olympics. Today (June 29), two stories are featured on the main page. Headquarters also ran a contest to send people to the Olympics. North American Headquarters has encouraged all employees in North America to amend their email signatures to include the worldwide Olympic partner logo. Posters have also been updated in my building to reflect all previous Olympic sponsorships, and conference rooms at North American Headquarters are the names of previous Olympic host cities.

We are also in the midst of planning Olympic watch parties in our café; at any time during the Olympics, employees will be able to go to our café to watch the events and enjoy drinks for free.

Externally, we are promoting the Olympics on the Samsung.com Web site and through the new Galaxy S III marketing campaign. The GSIII is the official mobile phone of the Olympic Games, and the marketing campaign highlights that.

All in all, the employees at my company are feeling the Olympic spirit, thanks to the integration of PR, marketing and internal comms. We are creating brand synergy and making the employees feel like they are part of something bigger than just Samsung Mobile, and that’s one of the most important things we can do.