In case you haven’t heard, last night TechCrunch announced that Pinterest hit 11.7 million UMVs, becoming the fastest standalone site ever to surpass 10 million monthly uniques.

The #1 driver of consumer purchases is word of mouth recommendations from friends, and Pinterest holds the power to drive authentic “word of eye” recommendations in a way that is changing the landscape of social commerce.

How? The landing page for Pinterest is an endless visual stream of subtle product recommendations from the very people who influence your purchasing decisions - friends and strangers with good taste. This means that there is an endless opportunity for your brand and its products to be seen by Pinterest’s 11.7 million unique monthly users as endorsements from friends in the form of repins.

Currently availably stats show the average Pinterest user spends 98 minutes per month on the site, compared to 2.5 hours on Tumblr, and 7 hours on Facebook. Pinterest is most popular in North Eastern states, among females (estimates range from 58% to 70% female), and with people ages 25-44 (59% of visitors).

How it Works

In case you haven’t already joined the millions of others pinning products, here’s a quick overview of how Pinterest works: Pinterest enables users to “pin” images found around the Web into categorized collections, or boards. Think of it like an interactive, shareable scrapbook. Or as I like to say, it’s your virtual high school locker. Pinterest can capture the brand essence, personality, inspiration for product design, or company culture through visual boards. It could also be used to organically grow your brand’s reach through an influencer re-pinning strategy, to further engage with fans through themed boards, and to inspire consumers to action, perhaps through a “best board” or a “most pins” contest.

Why People Love It

“It’s lovely from a visual perspective,” says my colleague (and Pinterest addict) Sophia Aladenoye. Apart from Pinterest’s tactile and user-friendly experience, it helps people make visual mental notes of a life they aspire to, like a vision board. “Pinterest is personally helping me with my 2012 vision board exercises… helping me to more easily remember the images that represent my goals, wants or benchmarks for 2012,” say Sophia. Others claim that the site is helping them to “de-stress,” to plan their wedding, or help redecorate their home. And some say they honestly just like the fact that is invite-only and feels exclusive (or perhaps felt exclusive before its recent boost). Men are also jumping on the Pinterest bandwagon - my friend and colleague Maury posts vintage cars, and Grassroots Modern blogger Creede Fitch posts photos of modern furniture designs he finds inspiring.

How Brands Can Leverage Pinterest

1) Create a new social commerce touch point

With 11.7 million UMVs and counting, Pinterest presents an opportunity for brands to expand their audiences by going where the masses are. Consumers are always a step ahead of brands and its important for brands to follow behavior rather than dictate it. Your brand’s presence on Pinterest will create another consumer touch point and a way to be discovered by new people. The visual Pinterest boards would help invite new people into the fabric of your brand by setting a mood or encapsulating a lifestyle, helping users to imagine how your brand’s products, services or culture fit their lives.

2) Grow influencer networks

Brands can leverage Pinterest to find influencers with whom to engage. You can expand your influencer networks by following influential Pinterest users and boards, and repinning items to our own Pinterest boards, giving credit to the influencer. Brands may also choose to engage with influential bloggers and have them curate a board on their Pinterest page. Ask Ogilvy for advice on who to follow and repin, and who might be right to engage offline or on another brand platform.

3) Identify and engage super fans

Pinterest may also be a way to identify natural brand advocates or “super fans.” You can search for your brand’s products and discover who is most frequently pinning about your products and engage with those people. Surprise and delight super fans by rewarding them with products they pin to their boards. Eventually you may create a fan-curated board that allows super fans to add their pins.

4) Increase brand loyalty by sharing your brand’s culture

Pinterest is a fun, inspirational and highly visual atmosphere and your brand has an opportunity to engage fans in new and creative ways. Consider creating boards that align with product or service themes, for example, West Elm categorizes its boards by colors from its design palette, such as “Aquamarine.” Or create a board that reflects your company’s dedication to a CSR initiative. Or, compile pictures of everyday fans and influencers engaging with your brand, such as a board that features pins of people across the globe wearing a retail brand’s clothing.

5) Host contests for further engagement

Perhaps you can host a contest for fans to create the best Pinterest board with your products, and reward the winning fan with items from her board. Or, invite other users to co-create boards on your page around certain themes, and reward the winning team with product or a brand experience. For example, a travel brand can ask Pinners to create mood boards that reflect a destination like the French Riviera, and then reward the winning board with a trip.

7) Inspire repins (and purchases) through bold visuals

As mentioned earlier, the #1 driver of consumer purchases is word of mouth recommendations from friends, and Pinterest holds the power to drive authentic “word of eye” recommendations through a repin endorsement. To accomplish this, you’ll want to make sure that you have high resolution, professional quality, close-up photos to leverage. Photos of products should be taken in a way that enables the viewer to imagine herself wearing the product, engaging with an item, or taking part in the setting. Photos should taken in a way that makes them stand out in the visual stream that is Pinterest. For example, a bold-colored photo or a gray-scale photo might set itself apart from the photo stream.

Promote your culture first, products and services second

The trick with Pinterest is to leverage the “soft sell” and promote your brand culture over the products or services themselves. Pinterest is committed to maintaining a non-promotional atmosphere, and the hard sell could get you kicked off the platform. So to create the right atmosphere, think about what your brand has to offer and what the images say to people and what you want to ask, for example:

• A tech brand: “Do you like innovation? We’re innovative too, and here’s a photo of our developers making our first-ever app for iPhone.”

• A fashion brand: “Do you like bold, basic colors? We love everything bright and bold, and this painting by Matisse captures our upcoming line’s color scheme.”

• A home furnishings brand: “Do you enjoy a clutter-free living space? So do we, and here are three books we love that talk about a clutter-free home.”

• A credit card company or bank: “Do you imagine yourself living a lifestyle of luxury? Here’s a picture from the beach in the Virgin Islands where you could be right now.”

Through play and inspiration, Pinterest might just empower you to become the architect of your brand’s culture.

What do you think about Pinterest for brands? Do you think users will stay engaged once brands join?

Special thanks to Chris Heydt and Sophia Aladenoye of Ogilvy for their contributions.

This blog is post number two in  WomenOlogy’s Marketing to Women Super Bowl Ad-stravaganza Recap. Check out yesterday’s post for more and tune in tomorrow for the next post in our Marketing to Women Ad-Stravaganza recap.

Marketing to Women Done Right …

Click photo to view commercial

The Dannon Oikos yogurt commercial was spot on in terms of targeting women, portraying strength, desire, and a nice flex of ruthlessness. You could pick up the woman’s warning: “enough with the games, I am going to get what I want!” — even before the head-butt. Not to mention, it featured Uncle Jesse. Pretty fantastic.

Who Does it Wrong … Enough Already …

Click photo to view commercial

GoDaddy.com. I am beyond over these super sexist, objectifying commercials with Danica Patrick, that have absolutely nothing to do with selling domain names. Even my husband remarked that their commercials are the worst (and not sarcastically either). It’s time for GoDaddy to do an intensive facelift on their brand and rehaul their image.

Final Thoughts …

Click photo to view commercial

At the risk of being a hypocrite … David Beckham. Wow. Easily the most memorable commercial of the night.

This blog post was co-written by Debra Noll, Account Director, Ogilvy Social Marketing.

Generation Y, also known as the Millennial Generation (or Millennials), Generation Next, “eighties babies,” describes the demographic cohort following Generation X, generation born after the Western post-World War II baby boom ended. Millennials generally describes those born in the 1980s and early 1990s. (Wikipedia).

No matter what we call them, we are reaching out to them more and more, especially in social media. Who are they? What are they doing online? What is the best way to reach them?

These questions and more were explored in a recent MobiHealth Meetup event, held in the Washington DC area, last Thursday, February 2nd. Four dynamic speakers shared their experiences using digital channels to target millennials on a variety of health topics and discussed lessons learned.

There was some new information as well as general themes that resonated with us, and are good reminders for our social marketing work:

1. Three out of four millennials are accessing health content online with males just as active as females in seeking health information.
According to a recent study by Comscore, Inc. about millennials’ digital behavior, males also visit health information sites (WebMD, for example) as often as women, debunking the myth that men, when compared to women, take a less prominent role in their own health. The study also found that males spend a lot more time online in general, especially when viewing videos (Hulu is a top preference). In addition, one in three people who use social networking are millennials, with 40% of online time spent on Facebook.

2. Engage your target audience, even your critics.
Digital strategies are being implemented to engage young veterans and change the negative perception that some veterans have of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. One of the VA’s strategies was to approach a known veteran blogger who was making his opinion known about how unhappy he was with the VA. With his help, the VAntage Point blog was created, and over time has helped to position the VA in a more positive light and provides an ongoing dialogue between veterans and the VA. Once again, the importance of involving your target audience was emphasized, which helps to establish you as a trustworthy source, as well as generates authentic content.

3. Imagery and videos attract millennials and can be highly effective when used consistently in campaigns.
The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy uses creative images and engaging videos for its Bedsider campaign, a birth control campaign targeting primarily young single women. The campaign uses evocative imagery and videos to attract its audience, and helps achieve its goal of “rebranding birth control” by conveying that a primary benefit of using birth control is a better lifestyle.

[Side note: a  surprising fact that we learned: what’s the most popular social media platform among veterans? Flickr, apparently!]

4. “Create once, produce everywhere.”
As The National Campaign’s Lawrence Swiader so aptly put it, integration of multiple platforms can be key to the success of a campaign. It’’s important to also consider mobile when targeting millennials as smartphones are fast becoming their preferred communication platform. Bedsider uses a variety of digital channels that women can opt in or out of depending on their preferences. Women can choose to receive a weekly email, watch others share their experiences with different methods of birth control, or opt to receive text message reminders for birth control or medical appointments.

5. Relationship building takes place online but be sure to make it relevant.
The digital space provides an opportunity to build relationships, and it’s important to remember to make your channels and messages relevant to your target audience. While takeaway #4 above may be music to our ears when we think of how we can get the bang for our campaign bucks, we should also be mindful of what communication vehicles our target audience is using. Rescue Social Change’s tobacco efforts engage youth in the planning and implementation of advocacy activities, which requires frequent communication with youth. Rescue SCG has developed its own social media platform to generate excitement and buzz among youth while also providing a forum for real time tracking of youth efforts. This project management system is relevant to youth and the way they are already communicating with each other.

Do you have any case studies, insights, or best practices to share about your work with millennials? Join the discussion here.

Following a HUGE New York Giants victory in Sunday’s Super Bowl, the excited members of our New York office weigh in on our favorite part of the game: the ads!

Check out their opinions on the ads that were hits with female audiences. Then tune in tomorrow for the next post in our Marketing to Women Ad-Stravaganza recap.

Drew Brees and Chase QuickPay
Amy Inzanti, Vice President, Strategy + Planning

Click photo to view Chase commercial

Drew Brees and son, Baylen, are featured in Chase’s Superbowl commercial. As they play in the front yard, Baylen kicks the football through several neighbors homes–breaking through walls and windows, shattering dishes and other keepsakes. Drew quickly responds by sending an apology note and $200 to each of his neighbors via Chase’s QuickPay service.

Why does it work? QuickPay and its qualities are demonstrated in an amusing and memorable way. The service is simple and fast, and allows you to re-focus–to “Chase What Matters.” In this instance, what matters is spending time with your kids, which elicits warm feelings from any parent. Additionally, the juxtaposition of two brands: family man Brees and reliable Chase, are a perfect match.

And if all that didn’t get you, watching young Baylen kick the ball is just adorable and so well-suited for football fans.

Introducing Ms. Brown!
Christin Miller, Account Supervisor, Healthcare

Click photo to view M&M commercial

One of my favorite moments from this year’s Ad-a-Polooza (otherwise known as the Superbowl) was the M&Ms take on the “new” woman with the debut of Ms. Brown.  A sassy, slightly hipster version of the classic brown M&M, Ms. Brown quickly quips to the men in the crowd that although she is brown, she is indeed wearing her candy shell and not showing…her chocolate.  Cue the unusually brazen red M&M from across the bar, stripping and shaking to LMFAO’s “I’m Sexy and I Know It.” What the woman in the bar were thinking crosses human – chocolate lines and remains fairly consistent — men love breaking out of their shell and “wiggling it” to infectious dance music all for the possibility of love.

Bueller…
Jill Sciuto, Senior Account Executive, Healthcare

Click photo to view Honda CR-V commercial

Honda’s CR-V advertisement featuring Matthew Broderick as “Ferris Bueller” was a 2-minute revival of the cult classic “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off“, complete with a car trip to the museum, amusement park and a Chinese parade.  Exterior and Interior features of the Honda CR-V were highlighted throughout the ad, and I thought it resonated well with females (and males).  Today’s memorable car commercials tend to highlight features that appeal to men – speed, hot women drivers, horsepower…and more speed.  Ferris Bueller’s CR-V highlights the practical, realistic features of a car in an entertaining setting – it’s a mid-size SUV that not only gets you from point A to point B, but also C, D, E, etc., and reinforces today’s busy, on-the-go lifestyle.  Whether you’re running errands or playing hooky from work, the gender-neutral CR-V is a work hard, play hard car that’s game-on for all that life can throw at you.

We are throwing a great party next week! Invitations will be going out to those invited shortly.

A great Facebook event next Monday for anyone who will be in Hong Kong. There will be experts in from Facebook’s Palo Alto headquarters who rarely ever visit the region.

Click on the invitation to request a seat! (or go to bit.ly/advancedfacebook)

Several members of the Ogilvy Washington team, including myself, will be heading down to Orlando next week for the Digital Health Communication Extravaganza (DHCX). We are so excited to interact with other digital health practitioners and swap best practices for using digital tools to enact behavior change.

As part of our efforts to exchange ideas and expertise, we’re sponsoring free social media consulting at our booth in the exhibit hall.  We’re calling it “Social Media Doctor is In”.   You can sign up for a free 15 minutes of social media consulting from leading Digital Strategists at Ogilvy Washington.  We’ll be providing the consulting at the Ogilvy booth in the exhibit hall.  Sign up for an appointment at http://bit.ly/socialdr and then simply swing by our booth during your appointed time.  We scheduled all our appointments during networking breaks, lunch and other free sessions at DHCX so you won’t be missing any of the great speakers and will get some one on one time with us.  I sincerely hope to see you there and that we can help you with your digital communication problem or question.

In additional to “Social Media Doctor is In”,  Ogilvy is a sponsor of the conference and has a great line up of presenters.  Rohit Bhargava will be presenting “The Past, Present, and Future Of Healthcare In 12 Inspired Tweets” in a plenary session on Friday.  Dana Allen-Greil will be presenting a poster titled ” Using Social Media to Reach and Motivate Women to Address Risk Factors for Heart Disease”.   Alex Hughes will be also be presenting a poster titled “Using Social Media Platforms to Amplify Public Health Messages”.   We hope that you will stop by these sessions and say hello to us.

What are you looking forward to most at DHCX?

I couldn't help but feel sorry this year for anyone who only watches the Super Bowl ads for entertainment. Perhaps the most defining feature of all the ads this year was how uniformly uncreative and dated they were. Marketers turned to old and obvious gags like girls in bikinis and dogs (lots of dogs) to try and carry their ads. The result was a very disappointing collection of ads for anyone who loves marketing and the hype of Super Bowl advertising. Still, there is plenty of marketing to learn from all the efforts this year, so let's get started in breaking down the strategy behind the ads and my picks for the biggest winners and losers this year.

BEST STRATEGY - Samsung

For months now, Samsung has been running a brilliant series of ads poking fun at all the "iSheep" obediently waiting in line overnight for the latest Apple product with their tagline "the next big thing is already here." Boosted by their recent announcement of record profits last quarter from strong sales of mobile devices, they are one of the small few mobile devicemakers who offer a viable alternative to the iPhone. What made this ad so good is how it took the message from previous ads and changed the "us vs. them" dynamic of the guy in the know about Samsung to give everyone in line the Samsung. Filled with celebrity cameos and lots of product shots, the ad got their overall strategic message across ... the next big thing is indeed here, and it is a Samsung.

WORST STRATEGY & WASTE OF MONEY - Budweiser

This year Budweiser had 6 spots and all of them inspired more confusion than anything else. In half they focused on the heritage of Budweiser and how they have been around for a really long time (long enough to be served by bars after prohibition was lifted). In two they introduced a new kind of beer called "Platinum" which I think you might be able to earn airline miles for drinking. Or maybe it was a luxury version that they plan to offer in high end restaurants. No one was really sure. And just in case the lull wasn't complete, they even went for the "dog gets guy a beer" gag. If there was a strategy behind any of these ads, it was surely tough to pick out. That alone isn't unique for Budweiser, but at least in previous years they managed to entertain us and make us laugh. Not this year.

BEST AD - Fiat Seduction

My pick for the best ad of the night comes from Fiat with their ad called "Seduction" for the new unique looking Abarth. Unlike so many other ads this year, Fiat didn't feel the need to put a hot girl in a bikini and have her play the part of dream girl. Instead, they create a sense of mystery by having her speak in Italian, make her clearly in control of her interaction with the guy in the ad, and use the familiar experience of the first time you see an unforgettably beautiful woman to explain the feeling of seeing the new Fiat Abarth for the first time. The connection was easy to understand, memorable and fit perfectly with what looks to be a great car.

WORST AD - TaxAct

Um, a kid runs around trying to find a bathroom and ends up going pee in a swimming pool ... and this relates to taxes how? This was easily the dumbest ad of the night, not remotely strategic and completely unfunny. When drunk guys at home watching the SuperBowl tell their buddies they could create a better ad for $2 million, this is the ad they probably point to.

BEST TREND: CORPORATE REALISM

Throughout the night, there were a few examples of what is becoming a great trend in business which I have written about before - the rise of humanity. The way it came out through the Super Bowl was in more focus on real people and the things they are doing. I agree that on a day like today, the ads that took this approach were probably a bit drier and not likely to show up on a USAToday poll as favourite ads. But in terms of marketing strategy and demonstrating a real and human side to the brands, they were big wins. Best Buy, for example, featured real entrepreneurs who created mobile apps and tools (earning them great social media cred and buzz). GE featured real people in their two inspiring ads that continue to position GE as a brand that puts their employees front and center. The last great example was the NFL running their ad featuring players going to fan's homes and offices to sing their own rendition of "wind beneath my wings" to thank fans for all their support. Whether humanizing employees, NFL stars, or visionary entrepreneurs ... the ads that chose to do this universally worked on a strategic level.

WORST TREND: DOGS EVERYWHERE

Let's just count the things that dogs did this year in Super Bowl spots:

1. Dog wins race wearing Skechers running shoes.
2. Dog buries cat and buys owner's silence with Doritos.
3. Dog gets Bud Light beer.
4. Dog loses weight then chases car.

Add them to the clydesdale horses and cheetahs and it makes for a slate of Superbowl ads that would make the Humane Society proud. Unfortunately, none of them stood out as anything more than ordinary.

BEST ORIGINALITY - Bridgestone

In case you forgot that the Superbowl is actually a football game, Bridgestone was one of the few advertisers to remember that - using the idea of optimizing the balls for all sports as the background for the great creative concept in this ad.  Using their high traction material to make footballs and basketballs was a great example of how they made their technology relevant to football fans and watchers in a new way.

WORST ORIGINALITY - Pepsi Max

Seriously Pepsi, haven't we seen the "guy with the Coke shirt/hat/truck drinks Pepsi" gag before? This ad has marketing executive unwilling to pay for a new creative idea written all over it. 

BIGGEST WINNERS - Adriana Lima and NBC

After the big game, one of the biggest winners are likely to be Victoria's Secret model Adriana Lima who was featured in both the Teleflora ad and the Kia Dream Car ad. To be the leading girl in two Super bowl spots in a single year is unheard of and I am sure she is already seeing a big awareness bumb in her personal profile and career.  The other big winner will likely be NBC, who filled the broadcast with ads for their own new and upcoming shows. Everything from Celebrity Apprentice to The Voice to 30Rock was promo'd for the world to see.

BIGGEST LOSERS - GoDaddy & Budweiser

After a few years of sticking with the same gag of almost naked girls and the promise to "see more online" it is starting to get old. The live commentary recorded the same kind of sentiment. These were both traditional Super Bowl advertisers that seemed to be advertising again more out of tradition than any real strategy.

BEST NOSTALGIA - Acura

There were a few ads that pointed backwards in time, from Honda's Ferriss Bueller remake to Budweiser talking about their long history, or the NFL showing an ad called timeline that looks at the evolution of the NFL. The best of the lot was Acura's use of Seinfeld, where the ad took moments from the show that fans would recognize and incorporated them into an entertaining spot.

BEST CASTING - Dannon Oikos Yogurt

The Dannon Oikos ad with a woman head butting John Stamos for a yogurt was funny on its own, but to choose a dreamy actor who people haven't seen in a while (and one with a Greek heritage!) was a perfect choice for promoting greek yogurt to women. Not over the top like the David Beckham underwear ads from H&M, but just right. Oikos itself may have been an unexpected brand to advertise, but one who likely did a lot to reach their target audience by remembering (unlike all the bikini-featuring brands) that plenty of women watch the Super Bowl too.

BEST USE OF HUMOR - M&Ms

Picking the funniest ad of the night is not a hard choice. Only one ad all night actually made me and several friends laugh out loud while watching ... the brown M&M spot. Maybe it was funnier because I'm brown myself, but this was perfectly scripted and executed.  The animated dancing of the creepy "naked" red M&M who strips off his red was perfectly done - and a great usage of the M&M candy personalities.

BEST RISK TO PAY OFF - NFL

Calling attention to the controversy of player head injuries and the dangers of football was a bold move for the NFL. In Evolution they offer up the timeline of everything that has happehend to help protect players through time and point the spotlight at the fact that they aren't done yet. It was a risky move, but one that I think will pay off as a powerful reminder of how seriously the NFL is taking player safety as an issue.

BEST TIMING - TELEFLORA

while some have already objected to the underlying message of this ad (that flowers on Valentines will lead to getting action), the timing of this ad stands out only because no other advertiser seemed to realize that Valentine's is less than two weeks away.

WORST OVERHYPING - Century21

For more than a dozen ads during the pregame show, Century21 played ad after ad showing their agent up against some recognizable celebrities in a few different categories. Each ad hyped their upcoming BIG ad that would play during the third quarter and warned viewers to watch out for it. The actual ad itself had been so built up, you were expecting something significant.  The ad it self was little more than something ordinary. We get it, you can pay some celebrities to show up in your ad. Any other time, that would be cool. For the Super Bowl, we kind of expect that.

WORST KNOCKOFF OF A PREVIOUSLY SUCCESSFUL IDEA - VW

The whole connection of the dog losing weight both in the actual VW ad and the "prequel" ad that was released several days ago was stretched. While their Star Wars themed ad with the kid dressed as Darth Vader was a hit last year, this year just seemed like they were trying too hard to be just as cool. At the end of the new ad, the guy at the bar said the "Vader kid was better" ... he was right.

BONUS ADS - 2 Non-nationally Televised Ads Worth Watching (SeaWeb + Kaufmann Foundation)

Often cause related ads don't get the national spotlight because of the high price tag, but do get shown during pregame programming and regionally. Here are two that stood out for me - one for the message (which I truly believe) that entrepreneurs can change the world.  The second from an organization that I have worked with in the past which used the bold strategy of fading to black for 5 seconds in their 30 second spot to illustrate the power of silence when used creatively. 

We’ve been watching social media chatter around the “big game” intensify over the past week – especially if you live in Indianapolis. But since Volkswagen first teased its teaser ad with the barking dogs (and garnered over 11 million views along with way), the ad community has slowly followed suit and rolled out their wares.

Consumers that wanted to gain clout (and Klout) passed it along as quickly as possible. But will two weeks of conversation or two minutes of 1.5 million tweets (like those amassed around Tim Tebow’s heroics this season) sway opinion, increase favorability or drive sales? Or are brands just trying to be “part of the conversation”? The answer to both is yes.

Sometimes we overlook the power of social media to actually drive business. We spend time counting tweets, status update comments and blog posts instead of sales. But with #SuperBowl being a promoted trend on Twitter all day and the social media command center created by the Host Committee in Indianapolis, this Sunday’s investments in more than just television airtime surely sound like a ringing endorsement from CMOs across the country that social media isn’t a nice to have, but a need to have.

That’s because social media makes the viewing party and the water cooler the next day exponentially larger. As we all look down to our phones rather than up to our neighbor to share our instant opinion of that play or that ad or that tweet, social media allows messages and implied endorsements travel much farther than Neilsen ratings on TV. Based on ever-increasing platform usage, consumers have told us that the size of our circles matter. And that’s why every star uses Twitter (and why the NFL has invested in a player’s application so they can own the content instead of Twitter).

Since I don’t really have a favorite in today’s game, I’ll be watching to see if Twitter crashes. And then I’ll see how long it takes for this giant conversation to fade. According to Google Trends, although the search volume peaks the week of the event and then subsides into the ether until the next year, the overall conversation volume continues to climb year over year. The goal of social media is for brands to take advantage of those event peaks to increase their baseline of online conversation. Intuitively, that should work better for those with lower brand recognition, rather than the behemoths that can afford to pay. We look forward to finding out how long the proverbially tail can actually be not just in the social media conversation, but also for sales, awareness and preference.

You might think that after the Super Bowl there’s nothing to look forward to until President’s Day weekend – but you would be wrong!  Washington, DC is one of 12 cities worldwide hosting Social Media Week from February 13-17 and Ogilvy Washington would love to see you at one of our events.

Image via pr2020.com

In social marketing and throughout PR, we know that social media channels allow us to reach nearly every segment of our target audience.  In the realm of health and behavior change, it’s especially crucial to have that one-on-one interaction with individuals.  Huge growth and social media adoption has taken place among health care consumers, providers, and organizations in the past year, but we have only just begun to embrace the possibilities for healthcare on social media.

On February 15 from 10-11:30am, please join thought leaders from across the health care and social media spectrums to discuss what’s next in social media for the industry.

The Impact of Social Media in Healthcare

• Joel Selzer, Founder & CEO, Ozmosis
• Danielle Leach, Director of Partnerships, Inspire
• Amy O’Connor, Director, Digital Governmental Affairs, Eli Lilly
• Dana Allen-Greil, Account Director/Digital Strategist, Ogilvy Washington
• Rebecca Davis, Executive Vice President, Digital Influence, Ogilvy Washington.

To connect with our panelists and RSVP for the event, visit the Social Media Week website here.

If you can’t make this event (or want to come to more), Ogilvy Washington is hosting two other Social Media Week events:

• Reaching US Hispanics in the Digital Space

On February 16 from 10-11am, Ogilvy’s Kety Esquivel and Julio Valeriano will share their expertise on reaching Hispanics in the U.S. (16% of the total population, according to the 2010 Census) through social networks, mobile technology, and content creation.  Email Julio.valeriano@ogilvy.com and visit here to RSVP.

• Ogilvy 360 Digital Influence Digital Trivia Night

Let your knowledge (and random fact knowledge) in social media, design, development, and the Internet shine at Mackey’s on February 15 from 6-8:30pm.  If bragging rights aren’t enough, the $100 bar tab for the winning team should be ample motivation!

Visit the Social Media Week DC website or leave a comment here if you have any questions, and hope to see you at one of our events!

Last year on a trip back to the US from South Africa, I picked up a magazine about a topic I knew very little about. It is of the common tricks I use to learn about different industries outside of the ones I work directly with – and in this case, the magazine I ended up with was called Farmer’s Weekly.

The content was as you would expect, advice for farmers on techniques, information about regulations that will affect their industry and ads for tractors and things like that. In the middle of the issue I picked up was a feature article about what the author called the “Amish Paradox”

This paradox describes the unexpected methods that the Amish use when farming their land that are working so well that they are continuing to run their farms profitably without interruption while many other farmers are struggling to make ends meet and often going under as well.  What makes the Amish technique so special?

They rotate their crops consistently (planting different items at different parts of the yar. They never use chemical fertilizers and use something called “legume-based pastures’ to keep the fertility of their land. They tend to grow smaller fruits and veggies (which some say they are tastier to). Perhaps most importantly, they do what is called “adding value” – by producing additional products such as fresh cheese.

In an industry facing increasing pressure from large industry leaders to plant more genetically modified crops, and focus on volume above all else … the Amish philosophy stands out. What can you learn from their lesson, even if you are not in farming?

1. Stick to your ideals. For the Amish, their farm culture is mixed together with their religion and belief system. Few of our small businesses take such a principled approach, but if you do – it can help serve as a guidepost for what your business will do and how it will evolve, and what you will avoid.
2. Think longer term. One of the biggest challenges in any business is to think of the long term and not of today. Crop rotation, for example, is a principle focused on making sure that land remains good for cultivating crops far into the future. Sometimes what it requires is passing up the opportunity to simply plant the most profitable thing every time.
3. Avoid following the “experts.” The Amish philosophy goes against many experts in the farming industry who push for higher production and instead follows their more traditional path. This tends to draw many critics and also probably causes them to have lower revenues from their crops.  Yet this goes back to point #2 – and how your priorities tend to be different if you focus on taking care of your land for future generations instead of just maximizing profit today.

One of the first rules for those of us in the creative writing business is show, don’t tell. In other words, don’t tell me that the 12-year-old in your story who’s heading off to her first day at a new school is scared or nervous. Show me how she feels by making me feel it too–the rush of heat that comes to her face when she shows up in the wrong homeroom and has to get up, in front of 30 laughing strangers, and make her way back to the door. The feeling of invisibility as she stands next to the beautiful cheerleader at the adjoining locker. The absolute certainty that her lunch tray is going to slip from her shaking hands as she approaches a table in the cafeteria where all of the popular kids are sitting.

While this approach is the essence of great storytelling, it’s also a valuable tool in social marketing–one that enables you to illustrate the behavioral changes you’re striving to create as opposed to simply telling people what they should do. A little over a decade ago I worked on a team that had the opportunity to do just that in the development of a public education campaign to address the problem of bullying, particularly among “tweens” between the ages of nine and 13. The stakes for success were significant. There had been numerous high profile incidents of school violence that stemmed from bullying the year before we developed the campaign, and there was a growing certainty among experts that the problem had reached crisis proportions.

The key challenges in developing the campaign were the complexity of the messaging and the myriad goals of our client–the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). HHS wanted to convince kids not to bully other kids . . . while convincing “bystanders” to step in and use positive peer pressure to get bullies to change their behaviors . . . while ultimately supporting the creation of school-wide cultures where bullying went from being a “rite of passage” to something that would not be condoned.

Obviously a series of Public Service Announcements wasn’t going to accomplish all of this. We had to find a way to directly engage kids on an emotional level to convince them to change their attitudes and the way they behaved toward each other. Our solution was inspired by the use of “novellas” and serial dramas, which have been a key component in social marketing efforts in Spanish-speaking and developing nations for the past four decades and more recently in U.S. efforts as well.

Created in print, radio, television and Web formats, serial dramas utilize suspenseful stories with interesting characters to capture the attention of target audiences and demonstrate the types of behaviors that will solve problems and improve lives. They’ve succeeded in bringing about significant shifts in behavior toward family planning, HIV/AIDS prevention, the education of girls, ending the abuse of women, and even the conservation of natural resources.

As described in this January 28 New York Times story about the use of soap operas to promote behavior change in developing countries, “Successful soaps tend to be smartly written, sexy and replete with plot twists and love triangles. In the best-case scenario, the show becomes popular, and viewers begin to incorporate some of the themes into their lives.” The story goes on to report that “some, though not all, have also been successful commercially and have resulted in documented changes in behavior. The long-running South African television series ‘Soul City’ has 12 million viewers and is as familiar as Coca-Cola to black South Africans. Regular viewers are almost four times as likely to use condoms than others. In Saint Lucia, the radio drama ‘Apwé Plézi’ (‘After the Pleasure’) became so popular that producers had to set up a separate helpline for people requesting information on family planning. Brazilian women with exposure to soap operas, which usually portray small families, have been found to have significantly lower fertility than others.”

While novellas have been used by organizations such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) to encourage people to take short term actions (such as getting vaccinated for the flu) the format is particularly well-suited to communications efforts that are multidimensional and that aim to bring about long term change in a society. As noted by William N. Ryerson, President of the Population Media Center, which has incorporated serial dramas in numerous education efforts, the programs capture the attention of target audiences with compelling storylines and characters and “allow time for the audience to form bonds with the characters and evolve their own thinking at a gradual pace in response to problems that have been well illustrated in a storyline.”

Ryerson  also notes, and supports with ample evidence in this paper that “the emotional context of a melodrama improves retention of lessons learned by the audience, in much the same way that we remember the details of where we were on September 11, 2001 much more clearly than on an ordinary day.”

Our creative team (which included people who wrote fiction in our time out of the office) had a lot of fun developing our serial drama to address bullying. Knowing that our “tweens” spend about 120 percent of their lives online, we chose “webisodes” as the platform.  Based on research, we knew middle schoolers liked animation, so we used personified animals as characters in the story. “KB,” the sweet, shy girl who was bullied in her new school, was a puppy, and “Cassandra,” her chief “mean girl” tormentor, was a cat. Thrown into the mix were a popular science teacher – characterized as a stork – who intervened when he saw the bullies in action, and two cool kids – a bunny and a monkey–who likewise intervened as peer bystanders and helped save the day.

A decade later, HHS still promotes these webisodes as a public engagement tool.  To learn more about the Population Media Center’s success in using serial dramas to change behaviors related to family planning and the treatment of women, literacy and other topics, visit their website.  Get a glimpse of some excellent work being done by HMA Associates, a cultural communications firm and frequent Ogilvy Washington partner on their website.

Do you know of a public education or social marketing effort that could benefit from this novel approach to changing behavior? If so, feel free to join the discussion.

Facebook may be blocked in China, but the world’s most populous nation features throughout Facebook’s IPO prospectus filed last night to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Here are the references (my comments in bold):

Facebook sees China’s social networks as key competitors
We face significant competition in almost every aspect of our business, including from companies such as Google, Microsoft, and Twitter … We compete broadly with Google’s social networking offerings, including Google+, and also with other, largely regional, social networks that have strong positions in particular countries, including Cyworld in Korea, Mixi in Japan, Orkut (owned by Google) in Brazil and India, and vKontakte in Russia. We would also face competition from companies in China such as Renren, Sina, and Tencent in the event that we are able to access the market in China in the future.

China’s blockage is a risk that Facebook may face elsewhere
It is possible that governments of one or more countries may seek to censor content available on Facebook in their country, restrict access to Facebook from their country entirely, or impose other restrictions that may affect the accessibility of Facebook in their country for an extended period of time or indefinitely. For example, access to Facebook has been or is currently restricted in whole or in part in China, Iran, North Korea, and Syria. In addition, governments in other countries may seek to restrict access to Facebook if they consider us to be in violation of their laws.

Facebook is still very hungry to enter China
We plan to continue the international expansion of our business operations and the translation of our products. We currently make Facebook available in more than 70 different languages, and we have offices or data centers in more than 20 different countries. We may enter new international markets where we have limited or no experience in marketing, selling, and deploying our products. For example, we continue to evaluate entering China. However, this market has substantial legal and regulatory complexities that have prevented our entry into China to date. If we fail to deploy or manage our operations in international markets successfully, our business may suffer.

China’s lack of Facebook penetration highlighted as a key hurdle for Facebook’s ambition
There are more than two billion global Internet users, according to an industry source, and we aim to connect all of them. We have achieved varying levels of penetration within the population of Internet users in different countries. For example, in countries such as Chile, Turkey, and Venezuela we estimate that we have penetration rates of greater than 80% of Internet users; in countries such as the United Kingdom and the United States we estimate that we have penetration rates of approximately 60%; in countries such as Brazil, Germany, and India we estimate that we have penetration rates of approximately 20-30%; in countries such as Japan, Russia, and South Korea we estimate that we have penetration rates of less than 15%; and in China, where Facebook access is restricted, we have near 0% penetration. We continue to invest in growing our user base, particularly in markets where we are relatively less penetrated.

Admission that China may, in fact, be impossible for Facebook
China is a large potential market for Facebook, but users are generally restricted from accessing Facebook from China. We do not know if we will be able to find an approach to managing content and information that will be acceptable to us and to the Chinese government.

One board member’s China fund garners a mention
James W. Breyer has served as a member of our board of directors since April 2005. Mr. Breyer has been a Partner of Accel Partners, a venture capital firm, since 1987. Mr. Breyer is also the founder and has been the Chief Executive Officer of Breyer Capital, an investment firm, since July 2006. Mr. Breyer is also a co-founder and has been co-lead on the strategic investment committee since inception of the IDG-Accel China Funds.

Harris Interactive reported that 55% of women are now watching football (Oct 2011 poll). We’re watching fewer hours than men are, but the trend is clear: Move over, men…the ladies are taking over your mancaves!

A couple of weeks ago (actually, I specifically remember it was Week 14, Giants/Cowboys), a friend asked me why and how I could commit so much time to watching football every weekend. I responded that it wasn’t much different from his passion for movies. At first, I was referring to the time commitment. After giving it a little more thought, there are 2 major motivations for my love for football: Story and Strategy. Of course, there are also 2 minor motivations for my football passion: hot wings and being able to scream at TVs in bars without being judged.

Football is an ongoing story that unfolds differently every year: new stars emerge and the mighty fall; seemingly impossible plays are made; underdogs become top dogs. Siblings battle both on the field and on the sidelines: the Manning brothers played against each other (pre-Peyton neck injury), while the Ryans and Harbaughs coach against each other. Quirks (have a look at Drew Brees’ eyes as he’s scanning the field) and touchdown dances amuse, while painful injuries and benched players break my heart.

In the same way that movies elicit a range of emotions from their viewers, watching my NY Giants every week, season after season drives me to experience those same ups, downs, laughs and cries. The memories and games pile up, helping to develop the story, making it more profound and complex.

Secondly, each team’s play strategies are phenomenally thought out. They are devised with consideration for dozens, if not, hundreds of variables, including who the opposing team is, which stadium they’re playing in and the weather, who’s injured and out, who’s injured and in, how much time is left on the clock, where they stand in the playoff picture, and frankly, whose girlfriends have dumped them this week.

Upon first look, a series of x’s and o’s are completely incomprehensible. But after years of watching, they become directions for a complex matrix of players. Some are fast, some strong, some ridiculously nimble for their size. Each with his own job: block, receive, run, protect, throw, punt, kick. Each player does their part in movements that are both orchestrated and improvised—much like choreographed action scenes and intricate plotlines in films.

Watching these plays unfold is the most intriguing aspect of football to me. Which x’s and o’s will be on the field? If and how will teams combat even the most clever opposing strategies?

Like the movies, some endings might be predictable—Tom Cruise will inevitably save the day in Mission Impossible and it’s incredibly likely that Tom Brady will throw a phenomenal number of touchdowns each game; but others are less predictable—who would have thought the Colts would go 2-14 this season? Or that the Giants would once again meet the Patriots in the Super Bowl?!

As the Super Bowl approaches, Go Giants!

(Part 2? Yeah, check out Part 1.)

In case you missed it, Ron Paul supporters, ASU students, and VFX artists were among those that joined the fray since my last post. The variations continue to proliferate further down the tail, satirizing - and entertaining - more niche audiences. What does this add up to? Segmentation.

While I easily enjoy Sh*t ASU Students Say even though I’m not a Sun Devil - and haven’t even been to the campus - the video resonates better with those who were. Beyond that, the video’s arc is more relatable to students who enrolled in the past 5-10 years and drink socially - perhaps even deeper for students who were in the Greek system and enjoy campus takeout.

The point is, there’s a clear difference in the type of viewer who’s going to watch the video halfway through for a chuckle and a viewer who’s going to share across social networks. Those pearls of info are demographic, psychographic, and behavioristic qualities - in some ways digital has obscured their importance.

As segmented as some brands' social media programs get these days.

On-platform segmentation

On Facebook you can get granular with ads - age, gender, interest, etc. - but what’s the deepest a brand can go with a non-paid Wall post? Zip code - better than nothing, but hardly ideal. What’s the most specific you can get with a non-promoted tweet? Well, there isn’t any targeting at all. A brand can use hashtags, but hardly a guarantee it reaches the right followers and non-followers. The list goes on.

When considering the lack of earned and owned targeting, should we have been so shocked by the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute’s recent study showing 1.3% of users who Like a Page also engage with it? There are a host of reasons - and it’s not panic time - but a lack of targeted relevance is likely a large factor.

Is there hope? You probably saw the Pinterest infographic shared far and wide yesterday. The standout points are a 429% traffic increase since September and a higher referral rate than Google+. The larger question is how we account for the platform’s explosion - my takeaway is self-segmentation. Users can very specifically choose what content they consume from brands. For example, a user may be more interested in HGTV’s Design Happens Blog board than its Party Planner board - and the user can choose.

Of course, we can’t always expect audiences to do all the work - that’s kind of our job - but content segmentation is likely a contributor to the platform’s growing popularity. This is also why diligent brands should use Google+ to group users and serve-up relevance by the Circle-full.

What are the lessons?

Segment your influencers - While mega-buckets like green and lifestyle are easy defaults, your influencers should be as refined as your audiences - and pitched with the same specificity. This involves additional research, but is worthwhile in the long-run. This principle is emphasized in our and freshly-updated Ogilvy Social Media Engagement Code. We will always work hard to have good reason to connect our brand or program with a particular influencer or fan.

Diligent application of paid - Sometimes paid feels like a dirty word in our idyllic world of social media and word-of-mouth comms, but it’s a huge value-add when used properly. If a brand has a strong, relevant message it feels will resonate with ASU students or VFX artists, paid could be invaluable in getting the value exchange to a receptive audience.

Be targeted in your research - Broad statistics about social media won’t get you far. You may see large trends, but it doesn’t say much about your audiences. Believe it or not, MySpace is still relevant to stand-up comedians and forums are strong in industries like health care. Research + expertise for insight. As quickly as the digital world changes, intelligence must also be refreshed regularly - and with rigor.

As we continue to hear what sh*t all kinds of people say, more lessons about marketing in a digital world will come to the surface. Including when a campaign has run its course. Exhibit A @ 1:29. (It’s still hilarious.)

Are there other lessons you took away from this meme? What niche do you think is underserved in social media?

What is your social strategy? Are you trying to increase the amount of positive consumer generated media (CGM) for your brand or are you trying to inspire and manage brand advocacy? The media mindset thinks in terms of CGM. How can they make more of that and put it in all the places where customers will find it. How they “make” that media happen is a means to a simple end. 

The social mindset thinks in terms of genuine brand advocacy. How can we give customers, employees, stakeholders a reason and a means to share a sincerely positive point of view about a brand with their friends, family and people ‘like them?’ How they make that advocacy happen is more than a means to an end, it is indivisible from the end. 

The VIP Deals Deal

It’s not just semantics. Look at the recently reported case of VIP Deals offering free iPad covers (their product) to customers who submitted a favorable review on Amazon. The NYTimes covered this recently and even posted the deal memo sent to customers here. Their goal was to generate overwhelmingly positive reviews. They offered the value of the product price ($30-$35 retail?), told the customer the action they wanted to take and insinuated the tone of that review. Can you split hairs and say that they did not require a favorable review? Perhaps. But there is no mistaking their intention. They wanted to “buy” favorable reviews, consumer generated media, to dominate a channel, Amazon reviews. 

The review space has long been suspected of abuse. Employees giving their own hotel, restaurant, lawnmower a positive review. We imagine  pay-per-review farms in off shore locations and more incentive programs like VIP Deals than are ever revealed. It is not clear what most consumers think of product reviews. I would guess that there is a large amount of skepticism even while we all still look at them to make quick judgments (who wouldn’t download the 4 star weather app on iTunes over the 1.5 star – presuming similar price?) 

Media or Advocacy?

Brand marketers must decide what their intention is – media or advocacy. That choice will inherently guide their actions. Big, multi-national brands need to make this choice more than any small business. What they do in one market will quickly infect another. It’s not as simple as saying “when in China….” All local activity is now global.  The danger in a pure media mindset is the possibility of losing sight of what makes social media so powerful – its ability to earn people’s advocacy and share that at a large scale. 

Getting the right actions and intentions

• One of the best resources for brand and business leaders on practical social media ethics remains the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (disclosure: we are a governing member and I remain as a non-voting board member). Their ethics code and disclosure guidelines  are a foundation that any brand marketer can apply with confidence. 
• We have just updated our Ogilvy Social Media Engagement Code  which is being reviewed in draft form but I have shared here. We have had a social media-related  ethics code in place since 2005 and find it invaluable to rally our global network around. This is how we roll. 

First of all, this isn’t new. We have had a social media-related ethics code in place since 2005. At that time, it was the Blogger Outreach Code of Ethics. It helped us decide what was ‘best-practice’ and what wasn’t. These are our ethics not something handed down through culture or a governing body. We simply believed that social media’s true power was grounded in trust — trust between bloggers and their readers; between brands and their followers; between marketers and customers.

The updated code covers more contemporary circumstances. Facebook for one. We have learned that there are principles that can guide our behavior in community management as well as influencer management. We have made a choice to embrace the principles of clear disclosure in our work everywhere even while only one consumer protection body that I know of, the FTC, requires it.

I wanted to share with you and certainly ask for input and feedback. This is a living document and can hardly ever be called “done.” Still, it will guide our global teams as we continue to design and execute complex, multi-market programs around the world. Check it out:

Great relationships are built upon trust. From the start, the value for marketers to use social media was to earn the attention, advocacy and action of customers, influencers and stakeholders. While there are ways to improve our odds at “earning” all of this, there are also perils at short term tactics that can undermine the circle of trust and effectively poison the well.

The relationships we grow online between brands and customer or stakeholders are the future of our business. The digital age has changed the marcom world. Our ability to grow healthy relationships, earn brand advocacy, earn a place in someone’s social graph, earn people’s precious time and attention - will define marketing and communications effectiveness.

Trust, transparency, and true value exchange are not clichés nor empty buzzwords. They are the difference between effective use of social media and word of mouth marketing and harming relationships between organizations and their customers and stakeholders.

We, at Ogilvy, have had a social media code of ethics to guide us since 2005. It began as the Blogger Code of Ethics and spoke to our commitment to doing things right. It’s grown but never wavered from what we know from experience is the right way to run our business and provide value to our clients.

So here is the latest generation of our engagement code. This is foundational to how we do things. It has been informed by the Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA) Code of Ethics as well as consumer protection laws such as the United States Federal Trade Commission’s Guidelines on Endorsements and Testimonials. This is a living document and will be refined periodically.

Beyond our commitment to doing things right in social media, never forget how David Ogilvy captured our approach to business, “Only first class business, and that in a first class way.”

Disclosure

• When reaching out to a Influencers & fans (these could be bloggers, journalist-bloggers, Facebook fans, Twitter followers, message board members - all of the influencers we might engage) on behalf of a client, we will always identify ourselves as Ogilvy working on behalf of our client, clearly disclosing who we are and who we work for.

• Within an initial outreach email, tweet or other communication, we will always fully disclose the purpose of the email as it pertains to the program or campaign, our disclosure requirements including a link to Ogilvy’s Social Media Engagement Code.

• In our communication we will convey why we think an influencer or fan, in particular, might be interested in our client’s product, issues, event or message.

• When blogging about Ogilvy, an Ogilvy client, or products and services, an influencer must clearly disclose their relationship with Ogilvy and the Ogilvy client, including any ‘material connection’ between Ogilvy or the client and the influencer (e.g. a product loaner, an event experience, travel expenses to a brand event, etc…). We follow the WOMMA Guide to Disclosure in Social Media Marketing for Disclosure Best Practices. This approach outlines our responsibilities in enforcing clear and prominent disclosure. http://womma.org/ethics/disclosure/

• Ogilvy staff will not publish (blog, tweet, Facebook post, etc…) about a client without the explicit agreement from the client that we can do so and then only with full disclosure of our connection to the brand (e.g. adding (cl) to a tweet about a brand to signify that they are a client) and in compliance with Ogilvy’s Social Media Guidelines for Employees

• In working with employees of brands as ambassadors, we will always enforce their full disclosure of their employee relationship in their external communications.

Transparency

• Whatever the influencer or fan chooses to write or produce should always reflect their honest and truthful opinion and actual experience.

• At the same time, we are responsible for the claims a blogger, whom we engage, makes about a product and when they make incorrect or false claims, we must correct the record

• When we engage with influencers or fans specifically about a client product or service, they are never required to create positive content about that product or service, no matter the type of experience they may have with us or our client. That is their choice and their opinion is their own.

• We won’t pretend to have read an influencer’s blog or other content if we haven’t, and we’ll always get to know an influencer before we reach out to them.

Relevancy

• We will always know who we are trying to engage and respect their position with their audience or community. If they are a professional journalist first and foremost, we will understand that role and treat them accordingly. If they are a busy mom blogger, we will be sensitive to their issues and needs. If they are a customer, we will treat them with care and respect.

• We will always work hard to have good reason to connect our brand or program with a particular influencer or fan. We know that everyone’s time is precious and will not indiscriminately contact influencers.

• We will seek to present influencers with a range of opportunities to work together around a campaign, so that he/she can create the best experience possible for their audience. We acknowledge that, when it comes to knowing their audience, they are the expert.

Value Exchange

• We will always be conscious of the value that an influencer or fan will receive for engaging with us (and how the brand will benefit) and work hard to make it relevant, inspiring and right-sized. And whenever it is something of value from a product loaner, to travel expenses in order to have an experience with the brand or dinner and drinks, we will enforce our disclosure policies.

• If we reach out to an influencer about a product, campaign or issue, we will not provide monetary compensation (e.g. cash, cash cards, similar cash-like offers) for them to produce positive content about the product, service or brand, because we believe it is bad practice to “buy” favorable reviews and do not want to appear as if we are.

• If we ask a influencer to review a product and, therefore, provide the influencer with the product to enable him/her to “experience” it, we will ask that he/she be transparent and reveal that he/she has been given the product temporarily, or permanently.

• If we engage the influencer or fan as an advisor or consultant on a specific project, we will consider providing compensation (agreed upon at the start of the project). This compensation will solely be for time as an advisor or a specific job and will not include an expectation that they will write favorably about the project, product or brand.

• If an influencer has advertising opportunities on his/her blog or media site, we will counsel our client to consider purchasing advertising as a way to reach their readers. We will make it clear, however, that paying for advertising does not mean that the influencer will post about the campaign or that, if the influencer does, he/she will do so in a way that is favorable to the brand.

• If we involve people in a contest that rewards sharing or posting of content, we will avoid any conditions that would promote people spamming others or falsely supporting a brand, topic or issue.

Privacy

• Unless specifically requested or opted in, Ogilvy will not send email newsletters or other material that could be considered as SPAM to any influencer or fan.

• Before we email an influencer, we will check out the site/blog’s About, Contact and Advertising page in an effort to see if he/she has said he/she does not like to be contacted by PR/Marketing companies.

• If an influencer tells us there is a specific way he/she wants to be reached, we’ll adhere to those guidelines.

In accordance with consumer protection laws (we use US law as a global baseline) we will not directly contact children under the age of 13 for any social media or word of mouth marketing program and will comply with all applicable laws dealing with minors and marketing, including the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (”COPPA”).

Normal 0 false false false EN-US JA X-NONE

Consider the famous exchange from Pulp Fiction in which Jules and Vincent debate the rationality of abstaining from pork. Jules just doesn’t dig on swine, that’s all, because they’re basically dirty, like dogs.

VINCENT:     Yeah, but do you consider a dog to be a filthy animal?

JULES:          I wouldn’t go so far as to call a dog filthy, but they’re definitely dirty. But, a dog’s got personality. Personality goes a long way.

VINCENT:     Ah, so by that rationale, if a pig had a better personality, he would cease to be a filthy animal. Is that true?

JULES:          Well, we’d have to be talkin’ about one charming #@$#%& pig.

Indeed, we would have to be talking about one charming #@$#%& pig. Sure, people can “like” a brand. But most people don’t really like brands. Brands need to be more charming. For that, they need personality. Without it … well, we wouldn’t call them dirty. Just invisible. Like a ship passing in the night, to quote our founder.

In fact, I think to feel human might be the greatest feat a company can pull off. But letting your “you” come through is not an easy switch to throw. It takes knowing the central truth about your offering, and identifying the one cultural tension it can speak to. It takes a team of smart, honest people leading the dialogue.

And it takes a social platform that helps these people shine. To be personable is to be in dialogue. The consistency of traditional media is critical, but social media offers opportunities to be carefully inconsistent, like all humans. How? For starters, by not yammering about yourself all day. By listening. By developing a dynamic social cadence that steps away from your textbook tweets, and dabbles in your fans’ interests and even their voice.

Maybe then they will a) always know what to expect and b) be pleasantly surprised at the same time. Charm can run the gamut, from funny to sincere to Arnold on Green Acres. Some varied examples, below.

When it comes to economic theories, there is plenty of fascination in the business world around how to explain what drives business and purchasing activities. Behavioural economics, the field of economics concerned with examining why people behave the way they do when it comes to their purchasing behaviour, is hot right now.  Bestselling books like Freakonomics and Predictably Irrational dig deep into the psyche of people to try and explain seemingly illogical actions.

My own upcoming book called Likeonomics, to some degree, looks at a similar theme of why we do business with people and businesses we like and what impact likeability has on building a trusted business. As part of the research for that book, I have come across a disturbing number of examples of a new type of economic philosophy which is becoming sadly common, and which cannot be explained by modern economic theory.

I have started referring to this philosophy as Delusional Economics – a new economic principle which explains the growing number of businesses who expect some type of unreasonable behaviour change or act of altruism among their consumers in order to help their business succeed.  This is not a strategy for success, even though sadly many businesses fall prey to it. Here are what I believe the four key principles of Delusional Economics are, and how you might avoid applying them to your own small business:

1. Change a customer’s worldview. A worldview is generally how a person sees the world around them, and it is usually the toughest element of perception to change. It is why people vote the way they do, why they sometimes blindly believe something or someone, and why they approach life in the manner that they do.  To attempt to change how they see the world as part of your business strategy is usually a waste of time and effort.
2. Getting people to pay for something that is currently free.  When a customer has become used to getting something for free, you really need to offer a compelling reason about why they should pay for something similar. Is it better, faster, more complete or more premium? Whatever the benefit, you need to make sure it is truly compelling to move people past the hurdle of being free.
3. Basing a business model on revenue from nonexistent advertisers or customers.  More than one tech startup has been launched over the last several years with an extremely naive view of what advertisers will pay for.  They have a revenue model based on advertising, but no pipeline or ability to get those customers.  The end result is that their entire business success hinges on being able to connect with a key audience that doesn’t even really exist.
4. Overestimating a customer’s ability to appreciate value worth paying a premium for.  A common problem with products or services targeted to the higher end of the market is that people in general are not that good at being able to detect what value is worth paying for. If I told you a bottle of wine was $100, you would assume it was great wine. If a wine bottle cost less than $5, it probably wasn’t. This is fine when it comes to wine, but in your business and industry it is probably much harder for a customer to discern the real value that they get and understand that it may be worth paying more for.

“It’s an English basement.”

That might not mean much to you, but it probably made you chuckle if you fall into one of the two groups:

1. Current or former D.C. residents
2. Viewers of Sh*t People In D.C. Say

Of course, this video is one of many variations of the Sh*t Girls Say series - which has a cumulative YouTube viewership of 20+ million and growing. You know the premise: Stereotypical expressions from people of a certain ilk, organized by gender, hobby, lifestyle, or geography. There are takes on skiers, hipsters, suburban moms, and even sh*t nobody says (a personal favorite) and the meme’s ’success’ reminds me of basic marketing program goals: generating word-of-mouth, stimulating co-creation, and targeting segmented audiences.

$1,400 for a converted sunroom? Not bad - better than an English basement.

First: Why do we care about sh*t other people say?

As a meme - both intentionally and by accident - these videos satisfy several of the 7 Drivers of Word of Mouth synthesized from Emmanuel Rosen’s work: there’s a good story, people can show their involvement, there is an implicit invitation to participate through their involvement, ’supporters’ can be creative, and, most crucially, there’s a clear value offering - comedy.

The power of these elements is not only clear in the 20+ million video views of the original - and millions more on the variations - but the number of amateur aueters who created their own. An absurdly unscientific calculation using YouTube shows 200+ videos using a basic search - let’s safely presume 50 are duplicates and 50 are spam. Even at 100 and with absolutely no prize, that’s higher participation than most branded video submission challenges get - save Survivor applications and Doritos’ Crash the Super Bowl.

What’s the lesson?

This concept - again, presumably by accident - encourages marketers to revisit basics about constructing effective programs to generate word-of-mouth and cultivate co-creation. Here are a few quick ones:

• Establish a proper barrier to entry for a desired output - if you’re inviting the masses, you better make it low.
• Make it real - do a participants’ efforts really matter or is this just a marketing program? The former will help cultivate stronger long-term benefits.
• Allow for creativity - while some of the videos are mocking groups, I would confidently presume that most of them were created by skiers and D.C.-ites themselves.
• Let your co-creators own it - while everyone involved knows this is a marketing effort, no one’s interested in making a 6-minute branded video - nor does anyone want to watch one - so ensure the brand is seen through the lens of its fans, advocates, and consumers, not the opposite.

In Part 2, I’ll explore the concepts of segmentation as it applies to long-tailed messages and why - even if you don’t live in The District - Sh*t People in D.C. Say is still funny.

Why do you think this meme has become so popular? What are the other takeaways do you see that apply to marketers?