Gaga for you

Awards, music topping the charts, talk of the town and a HUGE fan base.  Lady Gaga has done it all. And, she’s just 23. For those, who do not follow her, here are some quick facts:

Twitter followers: 2.8 mn

Facebook : 5.2 mn fans

This woman gets social media and has managed to revolutionize the music industry. She has brought in a great business sense to it. She’s in constant touch with her fans, continuously updating them of her daily routine and gigs.

“Lady Gaga isn’t the music industry’s new Madonna. She’s the new business model”, says Forbes. Here’ s a question: Is this business model built to last? Is this a fad? Well this, sure has helped her land a job with Polaroid as the Creative Director and inventor of specialty products. She’ s a popular face now. People love her attitude. She gets to endorse fancy products.

And I think this is short-lived. Great business sense. But lack of passion. She’s the big thing now, because she’s different. Not her music. Classic case of how the product which is normal, being packaged great. Awesome communication strategy but where’s my benefit?

A business without any emotion driving it wont last long. Keeping in touch with fans and reaching out to them via social media, is in vain if your core product (music) does not reach out to people.

Its interesting to find out what will be left of Lady Gaga once the storm has calmed down. She’s still a very very rich and famous 23 year old. If paparazzi is what she’s after, well done!

Digital marketing lessons from Avatar

Here is an excellent slide show put together by Abhishek on Avatar and digital marketing. Taking instances from the movie, he has very clearly put forth lessons to be learnt in the digital marketing space. There are 15 lessons in all. Three are my personal favorites, and I swear by them.

Lesson #2:

Game well and success will find you.

Vodafone. Try this. Ask ten people  what they remember about Vodafone. The zoozoos seem to have taken precedence from the pug.  I would attribute 70% of their success to their viral campaigns. They did everything right. Excellent mix of online and offline communication.

Of course, Vodafone budget is not for everybody. So here’s another lesson for small budget social media clients -

Lesson #1:

Brands that are handicapped by small marketing budgets, Welcome to social media!

Ever heard of the small Italian cafe in Limerick. The one that serves great Italian home-food. This little cafe has employed social media to reach out. When your business is small, there’s little or no scope to grab media attention. This is when social media comes into the picture.

What began as an accident has actually turned into a big business move. Some of the outposts that they use include twitter, facebook and blogging. With campaign ideas like “Italian Facebook Cookalong”, its a little wonder that they have more than 2000 friends. To get more people involved, they post happy faces of their customers enjoying the food. Also, a great way to share recipe secrets, possible menu comments and more.

Lesson #13:

When marketing online, choose media vehicles that bond with your customers.

Be fancy only if you are meant to be fancy. There’s no point in trying to be someone you are not. The brand personality cannot change. There’s a lot to learn from Walmart’s failed facebook campaign. When the brand is all about affordability and discounts, their fb page screamed style. Brand truth once formulated cannot be changed.

There are 12 other lessons that are equally inspiring and interesting. Thanks Abhishek for this wonderful presentation. Looking forward to more!

Orkut vs Facebook

Brand Orkut

Imagine a social system with a new kid-on-the-bloc. He has a new style with new things to say. People love the style. This builds his popularity. But, once his secret is out, many people copy his style and in fact do a better job of it. This is the story of Orkut.

True. Orkut brought social media to the masses. It paved way for a whole new world of possibilities. For a very long time it enjoyed the first movers’ advantage. But down the line, the image was lost. It became a platform for random comments.

Orkut had no strong bodies swearing by it.

Brand Facebook

A fun place. Here, you learn, read, share, have fun, begin a conversation, discuss, play games, voice your opinion, and more. It gives you more control. This is your page and you can control it by taking customisation a step higher than orkut.

New Orkut vs Facebook

Where Orkut really missed out was in commercialisation. However great the product may be, if you dont have strong influencers, it just wont work. Individuals can be influencers only to a certain extent. For a product like a social networking site, strong corporations can be influencers. This is where Facebook scored over Orkut. Corporations like Vodafone with their Zoozoo fan page acted as very strong influencers.

On the design aspect, it looks like they have tried hard to copy facebook. A very bad attempt though. There is a complete lack of smoothness and its not user friendly. It looks cluttered and very amateurish.

There is a lot of hype around the new Orkut, but I still see the same crowd hanging around there. Facebook people are staying put. The initial curiosity phase is over.

My vote definitely goes for Facebook. What about you?

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Digital or traditional

Everybody s talking about going digital. There are digital agencies springing up suddenly. Everything is going online and the consumer is spending much more time on the net. Logical solution = catch him on the net. There is an emphasis on use of social media to catch the consumer’s attention.

So, the questions:

• Will one of these digital media companies be the next JWT or Ogilvy?
• Is the world of communication making use of technology to better its service or are we re-looking at communication completely?

Clients say:

They are not sold. Communication online is a fantastic idea but not without the support of traditional advertising. They are more secure letting the old timers handle their brand. Online media is a great support system, but definitely not as a standalone. They believe that the social media and digital people are technologically sound but not so much on the branding front. Developing and strategising for a brand requires experience. They look at the digital media guys as people who provide ideas and take forward the concept devised by strategists. They lack the experience and expertise to become the strategists themselves. This is one reason why digital companies cannot take over advertising companies yet.

Can an Airtel or a Vodafone completely stop their outdoor and broadcast media and focus only on online media?

Is social media the 5th P

Recently, I was involved in a deep discussion about Social Media being the most important tool in marketing. It is a whole new revolution that opens up many locked doors to reach marketing effectiveness. My colleague was convinced that social media is the 5th P as participation in the marketing mix model.

I found this extremely interesting and debated the possibility of a change in one of the most powerful marketing model ever devised.

The 4Ps Marketing Mix

Marketing mix is a depiction of all marketing activities that have to be carried out. Product, place, price and promotions, a.k.a 4Ps, have been marked as the base for designing any marketing strategy. All 4Ps will have to be mapped out which will finally lead to a holistic strategy for the company.

5P Marketing Mix

There’s a new move. A move to include social media as another P – Participation. Here are my thoughts on why social media does not really find place among the 4Ps.

The 4P model forms the basis for developing marketing strategies. This is valid for all products. Including social media as a 5th P will not work for all products. It sure helps while launching a new phone or even FMCG. But, what about a heavy product purchase like a truck?

Yet, social media is getting too big to ignore. It sure is powerful enough to be included in the marketing mix. But not among the 4Ps. Translating social media into a 5thP will limit its power. To tap into entire social media landscape and gain real-time insight, here’s what I think can be done:

• Add social media along with market research in the 4Ps model.
• Social media application must form an important component of Promotions.

Social Media + Market Research

Today, the power of SM extends beyond marketing. Many new product development decisions are based on research conducted via social media. Here is an opportunity to find out exactly what people have got to say. Do they like it or not. What can be done to make the product more useful. Decisions that was once based on the judgment of a marketing head/product developer is now rooted on first-hand information from the users. This is where all social media consultants come into the picture. Social business strategy is in.

Social media application

Under the 4thP – Promotions, social applications play a major role. Mind mapping of the target audience will lead to the applications to be used.

What do you think? Is social media a 5th P or not.

Carrefour – Eco friendly supermarket

Here’s an eco-friendly supermarket.

One of the global giants has decided to go green. Not only are they being environment conscious, they are also encouraging everybody to stop using plastic. Carrefour released a campaign that has a very simple message. Plastic = Shit. What struck me as different about this was the tone of communication. Simple, straight from the gut talk. Films, which was part of the campaign led the viewers to visit their site. Funny, but everything in here is in Spanish. Either the translate link is also in Spanish or there is no info for non-Spanish people.

About Carrefour

A supermarket that provides an awesome experience. Carrefour used to be a weekly routine during my Dubai days. Young couples doing their routine shopping, hassled mother trolleying around her kids, single men aiming at completing their entire list for a month under one roof, older people trying out one-size-fits-all clothes, girls at the cosmetic counters, all sorts of people can be found here.

Consequences

There have been other anti-plastic bag initiatives taken earlier. In fact, the Spanish government released a set of rules to ban use of plastic bags by 2015. Latin America had released a 3D animated spot called Revenge that used an emotional appeal for the same cause. But, a supermarket taking it up is different and will probably be well appreciated.

Carrefour reported a loss of 9% in the first quarter of 2009. This initiative might help to become the no:1 choice for supermarkets. Consumers are becoming increasingly environment conscious. Even if a premium is attached to shopping at Carrefour, consumers wouldnt mind paying up if this initiative kicks off well.

Carrefour could probably begin using social media extensively for this. So many communities are already in existence that stand for anti-plastic and environment protection. Engaging in conversation with the communities can probably generate more ideas that can take the initiative to another level.

What they have begun is powerful. If they take it further carefully, it can create wonders. Global giants are considered inhuman. If they care and can make a difference, way to go Carrefour!

iFood assistant – deliciously simple!

You are a twenty-something. You work and have a lot of things to do, that is so much more fun than cooking. Every morning, evening, it is the same situation. You cant decide what to cook.

“I want to eat healthy. I want to be fit. But, I cant eat tasteless food too. Even if I decide what I want to eat, it takes me a while to figure out the ingredients. Its a pain. I’d rather just eat out.”

A very familiar scene out of everybody’s life.

Kraft’s iFood assistant can be a necessary application for many people. It’s a time-saver. “iFood Assistant” brings out a Recipe of the Day and an idea for Dinner every evening. These are the ideas that have been cooked up and tested by the experts in the Kraft Kitchens, which sure holds a lot of credibility.Also, “iFood Assistant” makes mealtime easy and fun by giving out 1-2-3 steps and shortcuts.

Why is iFood assistant successful?

The iFood assistant has been hugely popular from the time it was introduced. This is an evolution into a service from products provided by Kraft foods. This use of social media is a smart move. Use of smart phones has been increasing at a very fast pace. Being an early bird in this sphere is always good.

At the beginning, it was weird – a food company with an app. But, the success rate speaks for itself. By the time smart phones completely take over, iFood Assistant will have become a necessity.

This tool makes life simple which is a must for any good service. It helps you decide and once the choice of recipe is made, it gives you ingredient quantities, shortcut tips, calorie content and also location of stores from where the ingredients can be bought!

All this has a direct impact on our brains. The mother brand holds a lot of credibility and positioning it as a tool to make life easy is ingenious. Life made easier is always welcome for any consumer. Most important, this application isnt trying to push / sell anything directly. Its always nice when a business giant reaches out to its consumers with no ulterior motives lurking within (atleast directly).

Will charging for iFood assistant work?

Surprisingly, its working great! This might be a well thought out reverse psychology marketing in action. Free = anytime welcome. Expensive = valuable. This concept has been depicted beautifully in Robert Cialdini’s Influence (which I recommend). When the application was free, it would have been one among the yet-another-app. But, now that they are charging for it, the value increases automatically.

This, I think, is the best time to charge for it. The target audience has already absorbed the application. Its become a daily necessity for many. Charging for it has been a huge debating topic that has won it a lot more publicity. Yet, many feel that charging for it is a grave mistake. Couple of weeks more and many reviews later, we will know if reverse psychology and publicity has made an impact or not.

Luxury brands go digital

One flagship store at Madison avenue.

One ad in Vogue featuring a supermodel sporting the latest collection.

Another ad in GQ. The rest will be done by the gliterrati.

This was the scene with Luxury brands  till 2004. Luxury brands once believed that minimal advertising is the key to maintaining their truly luxury status. They were sought after and did not do much to reach out to people. An ad in Vogue or GQ served the purpose. Publicity did the trick. The past few years has witnessed a huge change in their style of communicating with the audience.

Luxury brands go digital!

Its true. They are everywhere now. Trying to employ the available cutting edge technology to reach out to more people. Ralph Lauren began the trend by selling online. This yielded good results. Now, we can see other high-end jewellery, electronics, automobile brands go online!

Ralph Lauren introduced their first iPhone application last year. One kick-ass idea! It showcases the collection, features video highlights of the latest runway shows and also gives a peek into the upcoming collection. They have recently released another application – “Make your own rugby” where users are allowed to personalize the rugby/polo shirts and also virtually try them on. Estee Lauder released a similar application where users can upload their pictures and virtually try out the products.

Why become digi-savvy?

For a long long time, the luxury brands did well with their business model of maintaining the uniqueness  by allowing for users to come to them. They were rich and had to be approached. But with increasing consumer  interaction online, they have realised the importance of going digital. Increase in communities online and burst of social media hit them hard. This is the age where companies are fighting for the consumer’s attention. Competition coupled with recession has forced the luxury marketers to look for other options from the traditional business model.

Pros & Cons

The advantage with going digital is that it helps in easier data-mining and targeting. We know where the potential target audience of these brands hang out. Also, a lot of the fashionistas are becoming increasingly tech-savvy. It always helps to be on the lookout.

But, it can also lead to losing the luxury status if rubbed the wrong way.
I think this is an extremely crucial period for these brands. The transition from the traditional business model to something dynamic is a big step. This has to be done very intelligently. Going digital and participating in social media while maintaining the luxury stamp is not easy. We might see a lot of niche brands lose their sheen and up-market status by taking wrong steps.

In fact, a lot of brands are generally not digi-savvy. They are finding it tough to blend in. They do not consider moving online as a natural extension. I think if they have not yet made efforts to move online, they are far behind in the curve. It will be fun to see how many luxury brands optimize the tech world.