telling brand stories through technology
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1Gravity Thinking, 185 Park Street, London SE1 9DY. T 0207 654 7693 E [email protected] W gravitythinking.com
Telling brand stories using technology
September 2012
The world of technological advancement, especially in the sphere of the internet, is creating seismic shifts in the way we all conduct our lives. But the big question is how do we, as marketers, not only find but also embrace the right approaches? How can we ensure that we don’t end up investing time and money in the wrong media channels?
Technology the art of the possible
The word ‘technology’ stems from the Greek ‘technologia’, meaning the study of art, skill and craft. And in a sense, this is what technology is really all about. As the world’s greatest enabler, technology allows us to be more creative, more inventive and more adventurous.
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Or put another way, how do you
execute strategies to make the most of
these potentially exciting technologies
that are unfolding before our very eyes?
This article will take a look at sound
ways to navigate these fast flowing
waters of technology without taking
undue risks.
They say a week is a long time in politics,
but a minute is a very long time in
cyberspace. To prove the point, Intel
recently published these astonishing
findings:
In as little as one internet minute,
Amazon clocks up $83,000 in sales;
20 million photos are viewed and
uploaded on Flickr; over 204 million
emails are sent worldwide; no fewer
than 6 million pages are viewed on
Facebook; more than 61,000 hours
of music are played on Pandora; and
in excess of 1.3 million video clips
are watched on YouTube. And if that
doesn’t impress, consider this: an
astonishing 640,000 GB of global data
is transferred in this very same minute.
According to IBM, 90% of the world’s
data created since the beginning of
civilization has been created in the last
two years alone.
If history teaches us one thing it’s this:
the onward march of technology never
slows.
The world of business is changing at an astonishing rate. Insurgent companies are taking advantage of thousands of new innovations and millions of new consumers to generate billions in revenue within a matter of years.
David Cameron
2Gravity Thinking, 185 Park Street, London SE1 9DY. T 0207 654 7693 E [email protected] W gravitythinking.com
Any brand worth its salt should certainly sit up and pay attention to the simple and effective approach set out in 2007 by Forrester. This effectively breaks down into four core elements comprising: • People • Objectives • Strategy • Technology
It’s a useful model for any brand to adhere to when developing technological based marketing initiatives. So let’s just take a
closer look at each of the four components.
“”
The late Steve Jobs understood this better than anyone when he
uttered those immortal words on the launch of the original iPad:
It’s technology married with liberal arts, married with the humanities, that yields the results that makes our hearts sing.
People
People use technology in any number of ways that will obviously vary massively. But we can safely categorise their specific usages in the following ways:
• Informing - news, maps, providing information, teaching something new
• Facilitating - booking a restaurant, booking holidays, making a payment
• Providing utility - apps, dropbox, Cloud
• Entertaining - e book readers, ipods
• Enhancing - Facebook, Twitter
• Developing relationships - Facetime, Skype
Objectives
Once you have established the technological profile of your audience, the next step is to consider how to achieve the goals of your brand through the relevant use of technology.
These categorisations allow us to understand people’s digital
behaviour and see where technology can act as an enabler for
the brand. There are a number of free or virtually free resources
well worth taking a look at including www.comscore.com or
www.econsultancy.com
Forrester also offers an aggregated but useful view of different
behaviours in their technographics. (http://empowered.
forrester.com/tool_consumer.html) These categorise people
according to their online and social behaviour.“ ”
As an agency, our approach is based on ‘discipline in digital’.
In other words we place a great deal of emphasis on the
brand objective. Because there is a very real danger when
facing the multiple possibilities presented by digital technology
to lose sight of your original objectives.
So it’s really important to spend some time establishing
exactly what you want to achieve and the technology you
want to utilise to achieve it.
If you don’t have a goal, how can you know when you have arrived?
Old Indian proverb
• People – consider your audience and their technology profile – for adoption, usage and type of interaction
• Objectives – what are the goals? is the tech designed to listen to customers, talk to them, support them, collaborate or to energise towards advocacy
• Strategy – How do you change your relationship with customers? What do you want to get out of these relationships? Which direction do you want to take and what is the underlying proposition?
• Technology – what technology should you use? apps, social networks, blogs, influencer outreach……
A sensible approach• People – consider your audience and their technology
profile – for adoption, usage and type of interaction
• Objectives – what are the goals? is the tech designed to listen to customers, talk to them, support them, collaborate or to energise towards advocacy
• Strategy – How do you change your relationship with customers? What do you want to get out of these relationships? Which direction do you want to take and what is the underlying proposition?
• Technology – what technology should you use? apps, social networks, blogs, influencer outreach……
In short, we need to see technology not as an end in itself
but as the means to the end. As marketers when we harness
technology cleverly and creatively in a wholly relevant fashion,
we can achieve brilliant results. But conversely, when we
do so badly for all the wrong reasons, we can fail dismally.
• People – consider your audience and their technology profile – for adoption, usage and type of interaction
• Objectives – what are the goals? is the tech designed to listen to customers, talk to them, support them, collaborate or to energise towards advocacy
• Strategy – How do you change your relationship with customers? What do you want to get out of these relationships? Which direction do you want to take and what is the underlying proposition?
• Technology – what technology should you use? apps, social networks, blogs, influencer outreach……
• People – consider your audience and their technology profile – for adoption, usage and type of interaction
• Objectives – what are the goals? is the tech designed to listen to customers, talk to them, support them, collaborate or to energise towards advocacy
• Strategy – How do you change your relationship with customers? What do you want to get out of these relationships? Which direction do you want to take and what is the underlying proposition?
• Technology – what technology should you use? apps, social networks, blogs, influencer outreach……
3Gravity Thinking, 185 Park Street, London SE1 9DY. T 0207 654 7693 E [email protected] W gravitythinking.com
Strategy
In the words of Lexicon: ‘A brand name is more than a word. It is the beginning of a conversation.’
If this is the case, how then do we effectively harness technology and enter into a rewarding dialogue with consumers? One that will ultimately result in a competitive advantage and long term brand loyalty.
Technology
Once you have established the digital behaviour of your audience, set your objectives and developed a strategy, your final consideration is the technology itself.
We firmly believe that you can achieve this by following a
strategy built on four key principles. Follow these and you will
succeed in bringing your brands to life through technology:
• The brand story: Everything hinges on the brand story
or idea behind your offering. At one time this was called
the USP (Unique Selling Proposition) invented by J Walter
Thompson. Technology is an invaluable tool that will
effectively disseminate your brand story. But without
one, the vehicles you have at your disposal to spread it
become pointless and redundant.
• Matching medium to message: Marshall McLuhan
famously said that “the medium is the message”. He was
right then and remains right today. If you want to bring your
brand to life and make it resonate with your audience, don’t
be somewhere for the sake of it, be somewhere that makes
sense and supports your brand story.
• Marry utility and delight: Don’t get hung up on conveying
‘delight’ at the expense of ‘utility’. After all, the best brand
stories are both emotional and behavioural. So by
communicating the emotional and rational benefits of your
brand you’ll be establishing that all-important value
exchange with your consumer..
• Evolve and learn: The beauty of the vast majority of
technology based solutions is that they are always alive
and evolving. So when launching a piece of communication,
don’t abandon it; re-visit it, enhance it and let it evolve.
You have a veritable armoury of options to select from.
Everything from mobile and video, to measurement and
analytics, to blogs and ecommerce – to name just a few.
As we have said, the technology landscape is a moving feast.
So while it would take a brave individual to predict the next
big thing, there are, in our view, five global consumer trends
happening right now:
• Mobile – Near Field Communications, QR, augmented reality
• Entertainment – Pictures, video, gaming, music, TV
• Social Networks – Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest
• Utility – Recommendation, life enhancers, influencers
• Measurement – Social media management software,
‘Big Data’
The following pages present a selection of some of the most
exciting examples that’ll hopefully inspire you to investigate
the opportunities awaiting your brands.
4Gravity Thinking, 185 Park Street, London SE1 9DY. T 0207 654 7693 E [email protected] W gravitythinking.com
Mobile
Smartphone penetration in Europe now stands at over 44% with mobiles now being used for everything from browsing products (42%), reading online reviews (32%) or actually purchasing products (23%).* Mobile marketing is now too big for savvy businesses to ignore. *Source: Comscore. Figures compiled in the last 30 days.
QR codes – Mercedes Benz
QR codes are becoming more and more
prevalent. It’s hardly surprising – they
can enhance brand experiences in
different locations, deliver more
detailed information, and elicit purchase
and adoption. This said, they can
be a two-edged sword, as brand
experiences for consumers can often
be poor, resulting in no repeat usage.
Of the QR codes out there that have
been creatively employed, this one from
Mercedes is a particularly good example
(http://bit.ly/S7ppAa).
While car manufacturers like to keep
their upcoming car models under
wraps, Mercedes decided to use the
launch of a new car to drive consumer
hype before the new model was
launched. We think this does an
excellent job by creating intrigue and
encouraging action in an entertaining
and rewarding fashion.
Augmented Reality - GUINNESS
There are a number of other image
recognition tools out there. Aurasma,
for instance recently announced a
partnership with Heat magazine
http://bit.ly/aurasmaheat And
Blippar created a Xmas game for
Guinness entitled ‘Decorate Your Pint.’
http://bit.ly/blipparguinness
By downloading the Blippar, app users
were encouraged to take a picture of
their pint of Guinness and then add
Christmas decorations like a Santa
hat, baubles and even falling snow.
The image could then be shared with
friends and followers via email,
Facebook or Twitter, with the message
‘What I really want for Christmas.’
All of which is an engaging way to get
your audience to interact with your
brand while encouraging others to
do likewise.
In addition, there are a multitude of
other Mobile opportunities coming to
the fore – from a virtual Tesco store
created at Gatwick airport
http://bit.ly/tescogatwick allowing
travellers to scan images of up to
80 products and have them delivered
to their homes, to the adoption of
M-commerce solutions like Square and
Google Wallet and the exciting potential
of Near Field Communication (NFC).
Watch this space for future developments
in the mobile arena.
5Gravity Thinking, 185 Park Street, London SE1 9DY. T 0207 654 7693 E [email protected] W gravitythinking.com
Entertainment
By entertaining customers, technology can pay dividends, particularly if the entertainment revolves around your brand.
Interactive Video - IKEA
By showcasing their kitchens from the
point of view of different characters,
Ikea was able to create a hugely
enjoyable interactive video
http://bit.ly/ikeainteractivevideo
Here the viewer can see the world from
numerous viewpoints including a dogs’.
And while enjoying the video you can
interact with any of the products by
clicking on them and bringing up
information. In just three months, 540,000
kitchen solutions were looked at.
Online timelines - Storify
Rated by Time Magazine as one of the
50 best websites of 2011, Storify
http://storify.com is a really interesting
example of a site that approaches story
telling differently. Users can search
multiple social networks from one
place, and then drag individual
elements into a collection of related
stories. Elements can be reordered and
text can be added to give context. Not
surprisingly, the media has latched
onto Storify to cover ongoing news
stories. CBC News for instance, used
Storify to cover the 2011 London riots,
and Al Jazeera has a show called ‘The
Stream’ that collects perspectives on
news stories using Storify.
The use of entertainment is a hotbed
for brands, whether it’s Ford’s use of
Hulu http://bit.ly/fordhulu for branded
entertainment, or tech companies such
as Shazam http://www.shazam.com
working with brands to help them
deliver valuable rewards and incentives
for consumers. As we recently
highlighted in our report from SXSW:
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With over 70% of today’s core TV audience going online whilst they are watching, and a large number using 3 screens, the blurring of the internet and real world is encroaching upon us all - making ‘Social viewing’ an increasingly important consideration for every advertiser.
6Gravity Thinking, 185 Park Street, London SE1 9DY. T 0207 654 7693 E [email protected] W gravitythinking.com
Social networks
In the wake of Facebook’s recent multibillion dollar IPO, it’s safe to say that the interest in social networking isn’t going to wane. This month both Facebook and Twitter have announced the roll out of new services and guidelines to boost their appeal to advertisers, which could arguably come at the cost of alienating their users. So brands must consider carefully how they take advantage of these massive audiences.
Facebook Apps – Olmeca Tequilla
The rise in native apps is far outgrowing
web based interactions - and with the
launch of the social app store, this can
only increase.
Night Tag http://bit.ly/Olmeca is an
iPhone App designed for Olmeca tequila
that acts as a ‘digital wingman’ for party
boys and girls, guiding them through
the best music and nightlife their cities
have to offer by contextualising photos
taken on a night out with the location
where they were shot and the music
that was playing at the time.
These condensed stories can then be
shared within Facebook’s timeline
and include the integration of listings,
guides and a radio streaming service:
Selecta.
Interactive advertising – Heineken
Interactive advertising is a big
development at the moment. Great
examples include LG’s recent text
to billboard in Times Square
http://bit.ly/LGtimessq and a recent
British campaign to raise awareness of
the ways in which people can intervene
to help put a stop to domestic violence.
It utilises a series of interactive
billboards installed at Euston Station
http://bit.ly/eustonstation. We
particularly liked this example from
Heineken in Singapore in which a
festive landmark is powered by social
media. http://bit.ly/heinekenxmas
11metres high and featuring 48 LED
screens, the tree broadcasted Xmas
greetings exchanged on Facebook in
a public space. Via the Facebook app,
users could send their friends a festive
message by tagging them on a
customised virtual tree, and once sent
this would come to life as a digital
visual showcase on the actual tree. A
video recording of the broadcast would
subsequently be sent out to the sender
to share on Facebook. Brilliant.
Pinterest – Uniqlo
A picture, as they say, paints a thousand
words. In fact, it can go further and tell
a compelling story. It’s why Pinterest has
grown to become the 3rd most popular
social network site for hits and is now
rapidly catching up the number 2 –
Twitter. With over 20 million users,
what makes the Pinterest referrals so
interesting is the fact that they spend
70% more money than visitors from non
social channels and are 10% more likely
to shop than any other social network.
Japanese clothing brand Uniqlo was the
first to use Pinterest to promote a
brand and its products this way, through
their ‘Uniqlo Dry Mesh Project,’
http://bit.ly/uniqlopin The aim here
was to cut through ‘scrolling slumber’
with a simultaneous pinning event using
over 100 account that animated the
images in real time to catch users’
attention with giant blocks of images
that coalesce into a larger, branded
mosaic across multiple categories
including Men’s and Woman’s Apparel,
Geek, Fitness and Sports.
With new entrants like Instagram
growing at a breath-taking pace and
aggregation services like Twylah
http://www.twylah.com being borne
from Twitter, as well as the omnipresent
Google+ and the pretenders to the
throne like Tumblr – the potential for
technological innovation is boundless.
7Gravity Thinking, 185 Park Street, London SE1 9DY. T 0207 654 7693 E [email protected] W gravitythinking.com
Utility
The majority of technological developments of the last decade have been driven primarily by the desire to make people’s lives easier. Some have also been devised to make a brand manager’s job easier. Two in particular are worth looking at:
Influence - Hunch
You will no doubt be familiar with tools
on the likes of ebay and Amazon that
state: “if you like that then you will also
like this.”Hunch http://hunch.com
takes this a whole step further by
taking users’ likes and interests to
make informed suggestions about
what a given user will like. As users
give Hunch more feedback, it becomes
smarter about those users’ preferences.
Besides being useful for consumers,
brands can use it too, especially as it
enables integration of Facebook and
Twitter groups. So you can get an idea
of what your followers and fans like via
a ‘Taste Graph’.
Online influence – Klout, Kred
We are increasingly relying on online
recommendations to make our choices.
And this, in turn, has led to the rise to
fame of the Influencer. This is not only
helpful for consumers but also presents
opportunities for brands to convey their
message vicariously. There are several
Influence measurement tools (including
Klout, PI, Kred, PROSKore, Identified
and Twitalyzer). All of which are
becoming increasingly sophisticated as
they respond to various challenges and
requirements. Essentially, there are two
invaluable benefits to be had here:
a) To reach influencers – find out who
they are and engage with them to
tell brand stories.
b) To identify influencers among
current consumers, followers and
likers. And to find out who to talk
to and what to talk about. In
essence, you’ll be discovering your
unpaid sales army.
Many brands are developing ideas
focused on making their customers’
lives easier. A good example of this
is provided here by British Gas
http://bit.ly/gasmeter
With their new app, it’s now possible
for customers to submit meter readings,
view their balance, keep an eye on
energy usage, book an engineer visit
and track the status of an appointment.
It even comes with a handy torch to
help them read the meter.
8Gravity Thinking, 185 Park Street, London SE1 9DY. T 0207 654 7693 E [email protected] W gravitythinking.com
Measurement
Although not strictly a technological development, one area that has been enhanced by technology is measurement. From aggregation of current data feeds into accessible outputs to integration of the multitude of new measurement services, technology is helping make measurement easier, faster, richer and most importantly ‘real time’.
Dashboarding
What gets measured gets managed and
with the importance of social media to
a brand’s reputation and the associated
marketing spend, investing in
technology to enhance measurement
is a prerequisite for any brand. In most
organizations there aren’t standardized
ways to report social media, so reporting
often focuses on whichever metrics look
best in a particular campaign. Getting
metrics on one page not only makes it
easier to look at best practice and
campaign success, but also where to
invest. We have been working with
a partner agency based in the US to
develop dashboards that show changes
from one reporting period to the next.
The example here is based on native
Facebook insights showing aggregate
likes, comments, shares, views and
clicks. This can, however, be developed
with any inputs.
9Gravity Thinking, 185 Park Street, London SE1 9DY. T 0207 654 7693 E [email protected] W gravitythinking.com
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Developing a roadmap
An understanding of the full potential of technology and its application is now essential for any marketer. This said, the constant evolution means it is an impossible task to keep up with every development. We have only shared a small selection of the exciting opportunities out there.
As we have already indicated, there
are basic principles that you can follow
to embrace these developments. By
doing so you will be able to turn them
to your advantage and achieve your
goals. The key here is to adopt a
systematic approach to planning the
use of technology. This means not
starting with the technology but rather
the digital behaviour of consumers
and considering how best to incorporate
it into campaign planning. Only then
can the right technology be assessed
and chosen.
Archibald Putt once said:
Technology is dominated by two types of people: those who understand what they do not manage, and those who manage what they do not understand.
You don’t have to be an expert but if
you can make sure you are not the
latter, the opportunities are boundless.
If you would like to discuss any of the elements in this article or how you can take advantage of the opportunities the advancement of technology presents for your company or brand then please contact;
Andrew Roberts Managing Partner E [email protected] T 020 7654 7693 M 07775 612 853
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