Looking for something salty to get rid of my daughter’s cramps during competition I came upon this “healthy” snack. Yup, Multi Grain Pringles. Baked Doritos and Cheetos have been around for awhile and I sneered at them too, but somehow the Multi Grain Pringles really blew my mind.

I suppose that I should be thinking “Wow, I can have my Pringles AND the added benefit of fiber too.” But instead I’m thinking “Who is Pringles trying to fool?” These are are starch filled, molded, salty beyond belief, “crisps” in a can. Any benefit that fiber they have added is going to give me will be a negligible health benefit compared to the salt and empty calories.

Now I’m an organic shopping, farm share subscribing, sometime vegetarian daughter supporting kind of guy. So from my point of view this is an invalid brand extension, but what do you think? Is this a valid addition to the brand? Does this enhance the product or is it just lame? Let me know in the comments.

Lipstick On A Potato Chip is a post from: Trumblog

I’ve written before about the danger of becoming a helicopter brand. The way to avoid this of course is to constantly deliver on your brand promise and then over deliver when you don’t.

Case in point:
This week I’m in Atlanta chaperoning my daughter and one of her friends at the Us Fencing Summer Nationals. They are performing well, but I cannot say as much for the hotel where we are staying.

Before my trip I was told that the hotel had been overbooked for the first night and that they were moving us to a different hotel for that night at no cost, plus an additional free night at the correct hotel as well as covering the necessary taxi rides and free breakfast for all. Yes, an inconvenience, but they made good. They wanted to put us in a hotel at the airport, but we negotiated for a room in town.

Unfortunately when we arrived at the hotel that we agreed upon we were told that they had no rooms and that we were supposed to be at the airport hotel. When we got there our rooms we were told that our rooms had been canceled. Some negotiations and phone calls and we weren’t sleeping on the streets of Atlanta.

Once we got to our hotel the next day we found out that the refrigerator that we requested was not available and that the rollaway bed that we reserved would not fit in the room, which resulted in needing a second room though they knocked one night off our stay in that second room. They then delivered breakfast vouchers that they promised only they left 1 out meaning another trip to the lobby to ask for what we were promised.

Checking out of that room and into another one I happened to leave stuff behind, which turned up in their lost and found and retrieving it was perhaps the most pleasant experience I’ve had resolving a situation with my stay.

Now here is what could have happened: I could have been inconvenienced on the first night of my stay, but raved about how well they took care of me. I could be writing about how the Omni does a great job of not nickeling and dimming it’s guests for wifi and just asking for some contact information, rather than complaining that their IT support staff couldn’t get my laptop online. I could be telling the story of a hotel that found the stuff that I stupidly left in my room. I could be raving about how clean the hotel is or how close it is to the venue, but instead I’ll pass on that the smell of the cleanser was over powering and that bad layout of the elevators and floor levels confused everyone. I could have had a great experience with the Omni hotel, but they did everything that they could to avoid that.

So, a few lessons from this fiasco.

1. Keep your promises.
2. Screwing up is ok as long as you make good.
3. Make sure that you do not screw up a second time when making good.
4. If you screw up a second time you need to doubly make good.
5. Do not make people ask for you to deliver on a promise to make good on a previous screw up.
6. There are many opportunities to make people happy, don’t blind your customers to those moments because you dropped the ball too many times before.

Update:
This blog post and a tweet about my wifi connection issues got a response from the Omni, first via Twitter and then a call offering additional IT support. By that time I’d worked around things with my BlackBerry and iPad and preferred to watch my daughter compete than be on the phone with the hotel IT department. Then when I returned to my hotel room at 11PM on the last night of my stay there was a table laden with snacks and drinks as well as an apology note. I appreciate the thought from Omni, though we ended up rolling the table to a friend’s room since there was no possible way that we could consume all of the drinks and snacks ourselves nor in the 7 hours we had left in the room. The sentiment was right, but the delivery a little off.

Screwing Up The Brand Experience is a post from: Trumblog

The most interesting trend in the development of the Internet is not how it is changing people’s ways of thinking but how it is adapting to the way that people think.

- Steven Pinker
Johnstone Family Professor, Department of Psychology; Harvard University; Author, The Stuff of Thought

What viewpoint do you have?  Are you changing the way that people think or understanding their expectations and building a message that suits them? They are polarizing ideas. Do you develop strategies that encourage people to act in the way that you want or acknowledge how people act and support them? Force or pander? Proprietary system or open platform? One true vision or constant iteration?

There are lots of knee jerk reactions to these two ideas, but does a single minded subscription to one of these ideologies really achieve your end goal? Apple or Google?  Facebook or Twitter? In each of these examples we can see the benefits and drawbacks of each ideology.  I’m more of an understand the audience and provide them with the tools and media they are hungry for kind of guy, of course what I lose there in terms of consistent experience, maintaining customer touch points and general lack of control.  But that it’s not always the best or even a possible option and changing peoples way of thinking becomes the objective.   Know your prejudices and mindset then challenge them for the benefit of the project at hand.  That’s what leads to the best possible experience.

Changing People Or Adapting To Them is a post from: Trumblog

Last week there was some hubbub over Eiso’s calendar of pinup girl X-rays. Some thought they were very creative in using a common product calendar subject (think Perelli tires) in a unique way that suited their product. Others thought that it was just a new take on a stereotypical image. I guess that I agree with both camps.

Then the other morning I found out that an X-ray of Marilyn Monroe’s chest was auctioned off for $45,000. I don’t know which came first nor if one influenced the other and I don’t really care. I just like the serendipity of the two events.

Marketing Imitates Life (Or Vice Versa) is a post from: Trumblog

Unlike what you were probably taught in school atoms don’t actually look like a miniature solar system with the nucleus surrounded by electrons in perfect little elliptical orbits. The electrons actually form a cloud around the nucleus where the electrons “could” be at any time. In other words those electrons are not in a standard orbit, they do what they like.

In marketing, the core brand message has supporting media and touch points orbiting around it. It’s nice to think of these opportunities for engagement to be orbiting in tidy paths for customers to interact with in exactly the way that we planned, but of course it doesn’t really work that way. Consumers do what they want, how they want, when they want. They want online and offline media. They want it at this very moment and in the future when they’ll have time, they want to lean back with it and make it their own or share it with friends. Clearly then, prescribed interactions on demarcated paths are going to lose large sets of your intended audience.

Lately I’ve used the image of an electron cloud to describe the marketing tactics needed to allow customers and brands to interact most fully. It requires content and opportunities for engagement across multiple channels often duplicated so that customers’ interaction is customized to their unique use case. Allowing customers then to engage on their own terms increases opportunities and relevancy.

Only a subset of your customers will run into a roadshow event or have the time to stop and check it out. But a social media presence can help more customers become aware of it so it becomes a destination. A microsite makes the event findable by the curious, but time strapped. Social media again can be harnessed to spread the event beyond the location and moment so that while it is experienced by fee it is then shared with many. This also provides new opportunities for brand interaction by monitoring these channels and directly engaging the brand advocates via these channels, thanking them, answering questions and generally welcoming them into the experience brand. It’s the Event Social Agent facilitation that I’ve written about before.

So how are you marketing? Are your touch points on specific paths where you hope people will run into them? Or are they a cloud where your customers and brand advocates can find them wherever they are and can use them in the way that best suits their needs?

The Electron Cloud of Marketing is a post from: Trumblog

You don’t need to make a grand gesture to deliver a brand experiences.  As a matter of fact the best brand experiences are found in the details.  Take for example this registration form for the Omni Hotels & Resorts loyalty program and the salutation options.  Beyond the standard Mr, Mrs, Ms, Miss and Dr options included are Prof, Father, Gov, Judge, Lady, Lord (my favorite), Pres, Chef.  It’s a little thing that reinforces what kind of people stay at the Omni. Wouldn’t you want to be one of them?

The Brand Experience Is In The Details is a post from: Trumblog

This weekend I was accused (lightly) of pontificating so instead today I’m asking a bunch of questions in the hope of getting some answers about iAds.

1. How is an iAd different from an app?
2. If I have put all the effort into developing an app, like the Toy Story III one demoed by Steve Jobs, why would I “hide” it as an iAd within other apps rather than release it as a standalone app?
3. Is the interactivity of the Toy Story III app going to be the exception rather than the rule?
4. Could the iAd platform serve as a different channel for discovering branded and marketing apps?
5. If the iAd is particularly useful could I save it as a standalone app?
6. Will iAds be pre-loaded in the “carrier apps” or downloaded when clicked on?
7. Will there be an opportunity for pre-loaded low memory iAds and larger high interactivity, high bandwidth
8. What will be the bandwidth and memory impact for these iAds on the carrier apps?

I’ve barely scratched the surface with questions about what the restrictions of this platform are and how far it can be pushed. I’m also sure that the answers to these questions will generate event more. If you have answers  or more questions of your own, add them in the comments.

iAd Questions is a post from: Trumblog

Sometimes online social media campaigns are just too complicated for their own good.  Case in point, Wrigley’s 5 React gum experience.  Let me quickly run through the 12 steps of this campaign for you.

1. Go to 5React.com
   
2. Select “Are You Ready?” to begin their “personalized sensory experience”
3. Connect with Facebook
4. Watch a Flash-based movie with pictures of you from Facebook and a determination of whether you are “chosen” or not.
   
5. If chosen (I assume everyone is chosen, because I was, but who knows maybe I have the demographics of a gum chewer and others don’t) enter your home address to receive something for the next step of the campaign.At this point a status update is added to your Facebook profile that you were chosen
   
6. Receive a package in the mail, fancy black box, 3D glasses, code, and gum.
   
7. Go back to 5React.com
   
8. Select “Continue Your Sensory Experience”
9. Enter your code
10. Connect with Facebook AGAIN
11. Put on your 3D glasses for a trippy 3D fractal animation of your photos
    
12. You can also share your experience of chewing 5 Reach gum with other people or watch their experiences, though honestly they all look pretty much the same.
    

So if we assume that we loose 10% of the audience for every step (a pretty low estimate i think)

• only 65% of the audience who started will end up letting their friends know about the experience via a Facebook status update and then receive their gum sample,
• only 53% will return to the website after they get their glasses and code,
• less than 35% see the fractal animation, and
• only about 30% will share their experience with anyone else.

Now, I haven’t even factored in whether people like the gum or not (though it’s safe to assume that if you don’t like the gum you are not likely to go play with those 3D glasses), nor have I mentioned that the fractal animation is pretty boring and not that customizable (which is likely to suppress sharing as well), but we can reassure ourselves that the 30% who share are probably the most dedicated fans of the gum (that and the ones who have nothing better to do or need a topic for a blog post).

I just have to wonder if it is all worth it?  Wasn’t there a way to whittle this from 12 steps to a less formidable 6?  Isn’t this just too clever for it’s own good? Did anyone ask themselves what consumer is actually going to do it, and for those that do have we ensured that the payoff is worth it?  Too many steps and too little value tick off the consumer and at that point your ROI is negative.  Keep that in mind for your next complex campaign.

Complex Campaigns: More Steps, Less Return is a post from: Trumblog

In the last month I heard Evan Williams of Twitter speak at South by Southwest and Dennis Crowley of Foursquare speak at the Boston Ad Club.  I couldn’t help but notice that a topic that came up for each of them was that rather than focusing on the features or the interface of their applications they highlighted the importance of the network.

Evan Williams of Twitter discussed the ecosystem that has grown up around Twitter and felt that it was a positive thing and a sign of the network’s health, not a missed business opportunity because he is focused on the network not the application.  The Twitter network he stressed is not as a social network, but an information network with as many uses are there are needs and as much value as there is information within it.  It doesn’t matter whether you retweet one way or another, if you are a lurking follower of 3 accounts or have several thousand followers and constantly @ replying.  The network of people and information and the opportunities and possibilities are what matter.

Dennis Crowley talked about the value of the network in how the user experienced the second screen.  He was answering a question about competition from Gowalla, Loopt, etc, not to mention Facebook and Twitter that are adding a location component to their social networks.  He said that checking-in, or geolocation in and of itself was not so important.  What is important is what takes place on the next screen. It’s the value of the network in connecting us with nearby friends, providing us with useful tips about what to do at that venue or giving us a special price.  The check-in is valueless.  The interface is valueless.  It’s what gets delivered as a result of that check-in that is the value and the differentiator for those services.  In other words.  Bring on your check-ins.  Show me what YOU are going to do with them.

Too often I think we focus on getting status updates and check-ins and less on the value that we provide as a result of those actions. I think that we need less focus on the features and functionality for those actions and more on how, as marketers, we add value to those actions and thereby reap the rewards of the network.

It’s The Network Stupid is a post from: Trumblog

I was in a presentation about breakthrough ideas the other day.  We went through ads and campaigns from 2009 that used had energy and excitement behind them, but ultimately I couldn’t see how any of these ideas were truly breakthrough. Letting your fans know about special offers via Facebook and Twitter, not breakthrough.  Those mediums are specifically for communicating with an audience and giving your friends a benefit that you don’t give to others is expected.  Using a music playlist to express the attitude of a car that you are selling is no more breakthrough than using “Pink Moon” to sell VWs, even if you have your audience involved in making that playlist.  An integrated campaign across multiple social networks is not breakthrough; it’s the right thing to do, like maintaining a consistent message and brand across TV, radio and print ads is.  Is a stunt that begins online and is then covered by the mainstream media a breakthrough when compared to Edward Bernays’ legendary marching women smokers that were used to create news and ultimately sell Lucky Strikes to a new audience?

I’m not saying that these non-breakthrough ideas aren’t valuable, that they didn’t achieve results or were not the right thing to do.  You should use communicate with fans via Twitter and Facebook, music and marketing should be linked, involving your audience in defining the brand is a good thing, you better be running an integrated campaign and congratulations for breaking through the clutter and getting your message  spread via mainstream media.  These ideas are good, strong, mainstream marketing ideas, but they are not breakthrough.

Breakthrough ideas are rare.  A breakthrough marketing idea is not as simple as using a channel in it’s intended way and to it’s highest degree (if that can be considered simple).   Breakthrough ideas use a channel or service in a novel or unique way. They turn expectations on their head and make us think abut things differently.  The best are so simple that we feel they were sitting out there all along and so obvious, but also so new.  Using Facebook to build your fan base is an expected use of the channel, but the Burger King Whopper Sacrifice turned that idea on its head by playing with the value of a friend.  The Axion concert banner ads that made you look at the space of a banner ad in a different way is breakthrough.

There are a lot of great videos on YouTube with great stories or told in creative ways or produced in unique and original ways, but ultimately they are videos just like the ones that have been produced for a century.  But the interaction that is allowed through annotation does give you a different type of interaction with video like this piano.

All that is to say that not all great marketing comes from breakthrough ideas and not all breakthrough ads result in great marketing.  Breakthrough by definition is uncommon.  It’s surprising.  Is it always the right thing to do for your client?  So think about your ideas that are considered breakthrough.  Are they really unique and challenging or merely (again this is certainly much more difficult than the word “merely” implies) great marketing.  Should you even deliver breakthrough ideas for every campaign?  Let me know what you think.

Deliverying Breakthrough Ideas Or Just Great Marketing is a post from: Trumblog