FRANKthoughts

From Mashable’s article on How Social Media Helps One Small Business Connect with Fans for a Seattle bag business .

“She said the company’s success on social media starts with their bags and that social media tools have given them more powerful ways to connect.” – Darcy Gray, vice president at Tom Bihn bags.

On the weekend I took the kids to see Fantastic Mr Fox. What a wonderful film! It would have to be one of the best ‘kids’ films I’ve seen – quirky, unique, non-stop entertainment underpinned by George Clooney’s brilliance! (Not the point of the story but I thought you should know).

The movie theatre was three quarters full of predominantly Dads with their kids and we all sat through the ads and trailers waiting for the film to begin. Not usually a hotbed of media innovation, the average movie pre-amble is a fairly straight forward affair: first the cheap ads, then the expensive ads, a few movie trailers, a Village or Hoyts plug, lights down and off we go.

On this occasion however we were all shaken out of our comfy daze by a unique and engaging piece of cinema advertising.

One of the expensive ads we saw during the pre-amble was a Federal Govt Spot featuring a melanoma surgeon removing a dangerous mole from a 22 year old girl’s back.

Fairly graphic stuff that had my 8 year old daughter’s hands over her face and my 4 year old boy’s eyes glued to the screen! The message was clear: protect yourself five ways in the sun and you can avoid ending up in his theatre.

A few more ads, a few trailers and just as we thought the movie would begin, the house lights went on, the curtain came down and a male voice began talking about the ad we saw a few minutes ago…. “Hey, that ad to do with skin cancer … was pretty nasty. Did he say 400,000 Australians are diagnosed each year with skin cancer? That’s like 2,000 cinemas like this full of people! They reckon that even short periods of time in the sun unprotected – like the length of the movie we’re about to show – could cause irreversible damage to your skin. So I guess the doctor was right …”

I looked around a saw that most people were listening intently, some nudging each other or simply sitting with puzzled expressions on their face. At the conclusion of this audio-only piece the room went black, the curtain went up and the movie promptly began.

A clever, unexpected piece of cinema advertising and an effective part of the government’s marketing communications mix executed well by the teams at UM and Val Morgan. We certainly took the government’s advice that afternoon at the local pool!

Do you notice the ads in the cinema? How effective do you think they are?

Is it the PR agency? the advertising agency? the marketing department? Whoever it is they need to practice what they preach. They need to be familiar with the tools, to know the language and have guidelines to follow. They need to have something to measure with both short and long term goals. They need to provide value for your customers and business. Can anyone do it?

Here’s something from Seth Godin in his post “Watch the money“: If you’re in the music business but you never buy tickets or downloads, can you really empathize with the people you’re selling to?… if you work for a non-profit and you don’t give money to charity, what exactly are you doing in this job?… Money is more than a transfer of value. It’s a statement of belief. An ad agency that won’t buy ads, a consultant who won’t buy consulting, and a waiter who doesn’t tip big—it’s a sign, and not a good one”.

If there is one rule when it comes to building your brand and business social assets it is to buy it from the people who invest in it themselves. They have probably faced the same problem you’re facing and have the hands on experience to build a sustainable social business solution. Do you think brands should have a community/social officer?

As part of FRANkVizeum’s social strategy for Melbourne’s GPO we’ve just launched our second promotion with the help of our friends from nuffnang and off course GPO’s lovely community manager Sarah Willcocks. As part of the spring racing carnival, Melbourne’s GPO is giving away 3×2 hour personal styling sessions with three of Melbourne’s top fashion bloggers: Fashion Hayley, Lady Melbourne and Sea of Ghosts. The lucky winners will also get their professional shots taken at the GPO and $500 towards their spring racing apparel. For more info visit Melbournesgpo.com, twitter and facebook. Good Luck!

1234 Telstra assist ridiculous ad is made even more ridiculous after you try the service. This Saturday I called the 1234 number in distress. I wanted to get phone numbers of clinics near my area as I was searching for a doctor (I was offline for a few hours so couldn’t do this properly). The pleasant operator told me of several clinics in my area. When I asked for the numbers she said she could only give me one number per call. One number out of 5-6 options. I felt like I was just put in prison with one phone call to make. After picking one clinic randomly and calling the number I realised I got to the Massage clinic. A Massage clinic when I was looking for a doctor. 1234 couldn’t even tell me this number wasn’t what I was looking for. It’s such a shame this important service makes you feel you’re talking to a sock and I wish Telstra will learn from some smart people at the end of this post and a bit from Zappos.

Zappos was sold to amazon a few weeks ago for around $900 million. Why did Amazon paid so much for it? it wasn’t for the distribution channels, for the stock or for the technology. It was for a secret sauce – their culture. Zappos has an amazing customer service department which provides word of mouth in abundance. People hear about Zappos from other people. People also hear and talk to Zappos on their Twitter account – this is a feed from all their employees who tweet (more than 400). Oh and Tony Hsieh, Zappos CEO has more than one million followers on twitter – Maybe there is a relation between number of followers on twitter/employees twittering and business worth?

Who do you think is the most advanced and friendliest customer service company/brand in Australia? Who do you think deserve an “Australian customer service” award?

Andrew Mudgway (no “e”) joins us today, 17 years after he began his career in advertising with George Patterson Bates. Mudge (with an “e”), as the industry knows him, has worked his way through Patts, DDB, OMD, Zenith Optimedia and latterly Austereo. Now at the sagacious age of 37 he has seen the wisdom of joining FRANkVizeum.

Clearly a smart guy Mudge’s forte is marketing communications and brand strategy. In addition to being responsible for the Carsales Network portfolio of sites including homesales.com.au Mudge will also have a senior role in helping to run the FRANkVizeum business.

We’re very happy to have Mudge onboard and we’d ask you to join us in wishing him every success.

When I was growing up in Tel-Aviv Israel, I remember my mom asking me to go to the store and get “2 bags of milk”. I can imagine your face right now. Yes. We were buying milk in a blob like plastic bags. In order to pour this, you place the milk bag into a plastic jug, cut the top corner of the bag and pour.

Funny ha? well, yes. 20 years ago that was the way it was done. In Australia I believe there were milk bottles. Maybe even a milkman. OK, the point is that it took us 20 years to go from a milk bag/glass bottles to the carton we buy today. TWENTY YEARS to make that simple, logic move.

Here’s another example: We buy juice in cartons too. And we started with the small screw top. Do you remember what it was like pouring from this thing? I had to stop every three seconds because it was splashing everywhere. Finally, a few months ago I saw the new bigger screw top which is so much easier to use. It was a no fuss quiet innovation.  I haven’t seen a “campaign” around it. It’s a shame cause I think it’s worth one. A campaign celebrating the fact it took us around FOUR YEARS TO MAKE THE HOLE BIGGER.

We’re so used to think about ourselves (humans) as technology advanced and so smart we forget that we’re only a hundred years away from the start of the industrial revolution and now embarking on a different revolution. Laws, education and governance made to support an industrial revolution will soon be out of date. We need to rethink our processes. In every field.

Can you improve on the way you do things? how can we quicken the process? If you have a few minutes please watch this amazing talk on TED: William McDonough on cradle to cradle design. It is about what we need to change and how to do it:

“Social media” is all the buzz now and clients want to “get on it”, “use it” or “leverage it”. Many people think social media is just another media. It’s not. (Tip: if it’s not a dialogue between your company and users it’s not social media). Many people also believe that social media is just another part of their “Marketing”. It’s not. Being social starts from the inside. From your organisation. You cant start a conversation only to leave the room a month later. To fully understand what needs to be done to GET IT RIGHT lets take a step back.

David Armano’s latest presentation (from the SXSW2010 panel picker) about “social business strategy” (what we call immersion).
I like the term “social business strategy” – probably the biggest and toughest part of social media because it’s not about paid for/set and forget marketing solution. It’s about asking questions first, research and probing. It’s not about “Lets do it” it’s about “Lets think about it”. It’s about your organisation being ready for it. So, bringing this down to the essential ingredients, it is about 1. strategy 2. tactics 3. measure. I also love Armano mentioning the scale element of this approach.

Seth Godin’s post “when tactics drown out strategy” is highlighting the difference between strategy and tactics. “Building a permission asset so we can grow our influence with our best customers over time” is a strategy. Using email, twitter or RSS along with newsletters, contests and a human voice are all tactics. In my experience, people get obsessed about tactical detail before they embrace a strategy… and as a result, when a tactic fails, they begin to question the strategy that they never really embraced in the first place. Seth is right. Most brands want to go viral/facebook/youtube before they have a clear strategy. It’s like attempting to drive a truck before taking any driving lessons.

Matt Dickman summarize this nicely in his post: Want better digital strategy, ban seven dirty words. If you don’t have a strategy you shouldn’t talk about “what we’ll do with xyz tool”.

To end this up here’s Paul Isakson’s post that started my search (Thanks Paul).
If you don’t want to fail in “social media” don’t treat it as an add-on. Have someone in charge of it, have a plan and create a budget. But first, start with a strategy. Only then you can start talking about “that viral idea on youtube”.

Thought of the day post.

Is it easier to remember him as “Geoffrey Normandy” or “The Guy with the Beard“?

If your customer had to find a way to describe your brand / product / business, what would that be?  And are you addressing them in your consumer touch points?

The garden – your (community) garden needs some dedicated care taking.
You can’t grow any kind of community without caring. Who in your organisation have the skills and passion to take care of your community? I believe every brand will have a community person in the next couple of years.  A garden is also not a short term project (or “campaign”). Your online strategy is not the end of the road but the beginning – your road map.  You should follow the instructions, ask for help and not be scared to fail and learn from it. (Your facebook group doesn’t work for you? Plant something else instead!) For more garden analogy visit Armano’s Debunking The Myths of Social Media.

The doctor – To find out the best treatment, start with some tests!
Social strategy should be dealt with like any other pain. Your stomach hurts? We’ll have to do some tests. Chest pain? Ex-ray. Sometimes you’ll need three or more tests to provide you with a diagnosis. Your treatment might take a few weeks and will require an investment of your time, money & will power. If you’re thinking about taking up social the best thing to do is to your organisation a thorough checkup.

The tool shed  – Use different tools for different purpose.
There are hundreds of social media tools out there and more are added every day. What should you use? Should you use twitter? Well, this is a bit like asking should you use a screwdriver. It depends what you plan to do. Don’t’ just enter the tool shed, pick up some tool and start to play around. We usually have something in mind before we even consider entering the tool shed. We probably have some sort of paper with some drawings and measurements. Create a plan, draw some measurements. then take the right tool for the job.

The funniest (and the most accurate) analogy comes from the slideshare presentation: What the F**K is Social Media: One Year Later: “Social media is like teen sex. Everyone wants to do it. Nobody knows how. When it’s finally done there is surprise it’s not better.” well, we didn’t stop trying right?