experience matters

Jeana Anderson | Critical Mass Chicago

Trying to increase your Facebook fans, Twitter following or even charitable donation numbers? Give something away.

Brands make a habit of promising that if YOU follow or like they’ll give things away to a varying number of followers. Life as a Community Moderator has by no means made me immune to this. In the past year, I’ve become a fan of Einstein Bagels—even though I don’t eat bread. I’ve voted on my favorite feature of a Ford Explorer and “liked” the page—even though I have no use for a car in the city, and I’ve followed Chicago Food Critic Steve Dolinsky for the chance to go to dinner with him (and won)—even though (I’m sorry, Steve) I had no idea who he was. Why? Because these brands were all giving stuff away and even though I didn’t necessarily need this stuff, I did what these brands and people asked for a chance to win.  Was I bought or was I earned? Short answer: I was bought in all cases except for Steve Dolinksy, he’s great. I don’t fit the other brands’ profiles of a model community member, and I’m a useless fan.

Upon realizing my own affinity to follow the directions of those who will buy or give me things, I started to think through successful contests and giveaways for branded communities. Thus, my proposal for a SXSWi panel, Fans for Freebies, was born.
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Mo Goltz | Critical Mass Chicago

I recently had the opportunity to attend a seminar with the Insight & Planning team to learn about creating authentic personas. The seminar’s focus was around creating personas that are more like real people rather than the flat, somewhat contrived versions that’s aren’t entirely uncommon. Byron Stewart, an actor and co-owner of Dramatic Diversity showed us how we can use techniques from the world of theater to create personas.

This may sound strange, but he had some excellent points that hit a nerve with professionals who have been seeing a troubling trend amidst persona design. Many of us are aware of the theoretical value behind personas, but let me take a minute to illustrate how a robust, well-defined persona can make scenarios come alive.

Let’s take a well-known character from the annals of American Pop culture… Homer Simpson. Imagine him walking from the Quickie Mart to Moe’s Tavern in the town of Springfield. Now imagine him using whatever design you’re working on now. No, seriously, stop reading for a second and imagine it.

— Insert your daydream sequence —

The point of this little exercise is that since Homer’s character has been so well developed we can actually see him in our mind’s eye with a strong sense of his perspective on the world. Complete with imperfections and personality quirks that you’ve likely observed in various situations throughout the years, it isn’t so difficult to imagine what he might do using your design. Dare I say it could even be fun and helpful?
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Andrea Donatucci | Critical Mass Chicago

Last week, I attended the Chicago AMA BrandSmart Event “Staying Relevant in an ever changing world.” The day started with an inspiring keynote presentation from Walgreen’s CMO Kim Feil called “Changing Times at Walgreens- There’s A Way.” She explained how her team is working to change consumer perceptions and emerge as the preferred and trusted health services provider. With their new brand campaign “There’s A Way,” Walgreens is moving beyond the trusted traditional channels of TV and print and expanding into digital (online advertising as well as the largest out of home digital display in Times Square) to deliver integrated messaging and a more consistent customer experience.

What made her presentation especially fitting to the theme of the day was her own personal story… her first day as the new CMO at Walgreens was the same day that Wall Street experienced its biggest one day drop ever. Her “best laid” plans of transforming the brand were immediately revisited with the lens and added pressure of compelling consumers to spend (in especially trying economic times).

Beyond the keynote, I tried a sampling of breakout sessions from the available tracks of Innovation, Engagement and Social Media. My favorite presentation was one entitled “Diving into the Social Media Mosh Pit” given by Melissa Meulenberg, ecommerce Manager for the Hard Rock Hotel Chicago.

My reason for selecting this session was two-fold: the title sounded pretty interesting, plus this particular hotel is located across the street from the CM Chicago office and has been the topic of much conversation… but more about that later.

Melissa is a marketing department of one so I was immediately impressed by her simple but efficient methods of staying aware of the brand dialog that is in play on Twitter, Facebook and Trip Advisor. She told many stories about being tuned into what current and past guests were posting and responding quickly. Some of the major themes:
1.   Selecting the sites in which you wish to join the dialog
2.   Setting aside time each day to respond to posts and contribute new, relevant content (not solely promoting or talking about your brand)
3.   Turning fans of your brand into public advocates.
• Hard Rock has an outreach to encourage those with positive hotel experience to share their story on Trip Advisor
• Their ranking on Trip Advisor has moved up 30 spots among Chicago hotels in last 18 months to #46
4.   Proactively searching for comments about your brand as a Customer Service opportunity (before, during or after the experience with your brand).
• When comments are overly negative, taking action privately first and then publicly to remedy the situation
• Also taking action when posts give the opportunity to turn a good experience into an extraordinary one

All of the stories were entertaining, but the following account is my favorite.

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Lauren Ysseldyke | Critical Mass Chicago

Being new to CM and the Experience Distribution team, I was thrilled to have the opportunity to attend Digg’s Social News & Social Marketing Summit and meet the mastermind behind Digg.com, Kevin Rose (@kevinrose). While listening to Kevin talk about Digg’s place in the social space, its upcoming new Digg platform (to be released in a month or so) and marketing concepts in a constantly changing social media world, I realized how extremely important it is today for marketers to know how to find a role in social media. With today’s audience immersed in a “snack culture” (as Kevin put it) of wanting online content in short, interactive form, marketers must learn to cater to these needs when it comes to advertising and building brands. Kevin has learned this concept well through his creation of Digg.com. Falling in a social space between Facebook and Twitter, Digg.com offers its “snack culture” audience a customizable news experience in which content is driven by the audience itself in a concise and interactive format.

“Snack culture” wasn’t the only concept I found interesting and relevant to the CM team and other marketers today. After listening to marketing panelists, Daina Middleton, Sloan Broderick, Rick Wion and Chas Edwards, I took away several necessities to making it as a marketer in an increasingly digital and social media driven world. Here are my top five picks:

1.    Role in Social Media: Before diving into the world of social media, it’s crucial for marketers and clients to talk about what each partner’s role should be for social media…Creative? Curator? Publisher? Sloan Broaderick (Managing Director, MediaCom) went into a great story about how Audi follows this concept and focuses on building brand relationships before people even enter the purchase stage. “If you’re just hearing about Audi when you’re ready to make a car purchase then we’re already too late,” Sloan says.

2.    3 Universal Categories of Digital Marketing: Daina Middleton (CEO, Performics) stressed the importance of dividing the digital marketing space into three categories of owned, earned and paid. Owned includes your own controlled assets (websites, commercials, videos); earned includes social and social monitoring and paid includes distribution. Then each of these channels/categories have a different purpose and a different set of goals/KPIs. This is very similar to how CM views the digital space and how the Experience Distribution team is structured. Whereas the rest of the CM company is dedicated to the owned category, the Experience Distribution team is divided into both an earned and a paid media group.

What else? Transparency, Measurement, iAds…and the future.

Emily Bontje | Critical Mass Calgary

Two weeks ago, I received an awesome opportunity to attend The Art of Marketing Conference in Calgary, compliments of Critical Mass. I was actually so excited that I canceled a trip to B.C. with my mom! I had read about this conference in Marketing Magazine, and I knew that one of the speakers was Mitch Joel, whose social media blog I subscribe to on a daily basis. Nicole Armstrong blogged last week about her takeaways on brand promises and customer engagement (read her post). However, the message that resonated most with me came not from the social media experts or the young technology wizards, but from a man who’s been in the business longer than I’ve been alive.

Sir Ken Robinson is a 60-year-old British man with a dry sense of humour and a passion for passion. He didn’t come on to the stage with props and pizzazz, but with a limp and a story about his flight being delayed. And I instantly liked him. After five wonderful speakers of the day talking about “what’s next” and the future of marketing and Web 2.0 and why you “must be on Twitter”, Sir Ken got back to the core themes of creativity and finding your passion.

Sir Ken talks about “The Element” as “the point at which natural talent meets personal passion.” When you are in your element, you will feel the most inspired and achieve at your highest levels, unleashing your imagination and creativity to excel in your field. Now sure, we’ve all heard this before, but it’s just not feasible for us to all be rock stars and World Cup soccer players. We grow out of those dreams about the same time we stop shopping in the kid’s department. But this is where Sir Ken has something new to say.

If we’re talking about dreams… Personally, if I could have any job in the world, I would be on Broadway. I’ve been singing and dancing since I could walk, and nothing excites me like being center stage in full costume with bright lights shining and an audience hanging on my every word. So, when I started university four years ago, I had a choice: I could take the practical, safe road with a Business degree, or I could chase my dreams and pursue a music or performance degree. Although I was fortunate enough to have parents who would have supported me in any path, I chose business. Does this make me a sell out? I think not. And Sir Ken agrees.

I purchased a copy of his book The Element, and as Sir Ken was signing it I briefly explained my situation. His simple response, “But music is always going to be part of your life, isn’t it?” This is very true. I still sing in choirs, audition for every community theatre musical I can, and I recently returned from a 2-week trip to New York to study music, where I saw 10 Broadway musicals and visited 5 famous jazz clubs. By finding a career in marketing–which I love–I am allowed the opportunity to pursue music on the side, without the added stress of relying on it for my next paycheck. If I had chosen music as my career, I most likely would not have the opportunity to learn about the world of marketing. Not to mention CM is every bit as creative as any theatre group (minus the costumes and group choreography). Now, I seem to have found the best of both worlds. As Sir Ken would say, I have found my Element!

Now my question for you: Have you found your Element?

Emily is an Account Management intern in the CM Calgary office, working on Nissan and Infiniti accounts.

DJ Francis | Critical Mass Chicago

“Content strategy is brand new and we’ve been doing it for 15 years.”

-Kristina Halvorson

This was the seminal quote from†the Web Content 2010 conference held a few weeks ago here in Chicago. People (read: clients and bosses) are giving our work credence, despite an ever-evolving struggle to plan for, create, monitor, and evaluate online content.

This sentiment gives voice to both a frustration and excitement surrounding content strategy.†And thus practitioners of library sciences, taxonomies, copywriting, sociology, psychology, and content strategy, itself, came together – to learn, commiserate, and plot a way forward for our burgeoning profession.

Smart Folks, Smart Lessons

Learning was central as it should be, with insightful presentations by content strategy notables like Kristina Halvorson, Rachel Lovinger, and Jeff MacIntyre. A few of the lessons that impacted me and the work we do at Critical Mass included:

• A content strategy methodology is beginning to firm up. Whether you call it “Plan, Create, Govern” or “Audit, Plan, Build, Grow” or another variation, the building blocks of content strategy are starting to become almost universal (pointing to the maturation of the practice).
• Content governance is a huge missing piece, especially for agencies. While it’s getting easier to sell the planning and creation elements, content maintenance seems to still be getting short shrift.
• There is a great opportunity to bring in younger content strategists. Spending my 32nd birthday at the first day of the conference, I was one of the youngest attendees and most certainly the youngest full-time content strategist. It will be interesting to watch an influx of Millennials†during the next few years who come naturally to social media channels and distributed content, but perhaps lack the “publishing” experience brought by the Boomers (and the potential sweet-spot offered to Gen Xers).

Despite those learnings and many more (I will be referencing the materials shared at this conference for a long time to come), I was struck by the perfect blend of vexation and opportunity, to get back to Pulizzi’s quote.

A Time of Huge Opportunity (And What To Do With It)

We are at an amazing cross-roads where our audience is receptive to our message. Now is the time to be selling.

Conferences like this offer the opportunity to commiserate, but I thought speakers and participants at Web Content 2010 were wise to acknowledge this sentiment, but quickly get back to the business at hand (namely: growing our businesses).

Use those 15 years to your advantage. Read More

Cindy Nelson | Critical Mass Executive

Last Thursday I attended the WWD Forum on Mastering Mobile Marketing, part three of WWD’s series on digital media http://www.wwd.com/wwd-summits/wwd-series-on-digital-media-2443804/. Over the course of the day, I listened to marketers from across the retail sector share how mobile fits into their marketing strategies, and how they’re integrating mobile into their overall marketing mix. The key takeaways for me were: 1) Mobile is truly changing the way that brands interact with consumers, and this change is largely being driven from the bottom up (consumers are challenging brands to evolve, not the other way around), and 2) The success of any mobile brand initiative can often be boiled down to a single, simple (yet all too frequently overlooked) principle: “know thy customer”.

Consumers are challenging brands to evolve

Consumers are using their phone as a device to gain confirmation from peers prior to purchase. I recently learned that today’s “second opinion” involves taking pictures in the dressing room, sending the photos to a friend, and if the response from that “trusted personal stylist” is positive, then (and only then) the credit card comes out. Smart brands are recognizing this trend towards buddy-shopping and co-browsing, and building parts of the shopping experience (both in-store, and online) around this new set of digitally-enabled social behaviors; they’re using their mobile initiatives to connect prospects and customers with their brands and with each other. But are they doing enough?

Ever heard of GotryIton.com? http://www.gotryiton.com/ An Accelerator Finalist at this year’s SXSW, Gotryiton is an online community that allows users to upload digital photos of themselves wearing outfits they’re thinking about buying. So the next time you buy an expensive pair of jeans, you have someone to blame!

Panelists agreed that as consumer needs evolve, so too must brand experiences. This is especially true of mobile. And especially now.  At Critical Mass, we’ve become adept at recognizing the types of bottom-up changes that force evolution, and turning observations into insights that lead to extraordinary work for our clients.

Know thy customer

Deep knowledge of the customer was a consistent theme throughout the day. These marketers understand their customers! They understand the purchase process their customer segments go through and they’re using this knowledge to find unique opportunities for engagement. They’re monitoring usage of their mobile sites to understand changing behaviors. They’re building apps and developing content, and watching where and when the content is consumed.

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Nicole Armstrong | Critical Mass Calgary

Last week I had the pleasure of attending The Art of Marketing Conference with a few colleagues from Critical Mass. It was a great day for inspiration with an amazing line up of Guest Speakers:

• Chip Heath – author of Made to Stick
• Gary Vaynerchuck – author of Crush It and creator of Wine Library TV (http://tv.winelibrary.com/)
• Sir Ken Robinson – author The Element and internationally recognized leader in the development of creativity, innovation and human resources
• Mitch Joel – digital marketing expert and author of Six Pixels of Separation
• Sally Hogshead – author of Fascinate
• Max Lenderman – Director of OuterActive at Crispin, Porter + Bogusky and author of Brand New World

The key takeaway I took from this conference was how important it is to have a strong, unique & motivating force guiding the organization forward in an open, honest and caring manner, because the digital environment has revolutionized the way consumers & brands interact.

As I’ve written in the past, consumers are more in control of an organization’s brand promise than ever before, since word of mouth (WOM) is on steroids thanks to social media. I think Gary Vaynerchuck described how brands must adapt to this digital environment brilliantly when he said that businesses have to go back to small town business values – where customers are people you interact with directly and shouldn’t be treated like faceless numbers. Under this principle, if you don’t deliver on your promise, consumers won’t give you their business and they will make sure to tell everyone in their community about your shortcomings. However, if you do deliver on your promise and care for your customers, they will be proud to recommend your brand to everyone they come across.

To reap the benefits of creating strong brand advocates with extensive reach, brands must change their perspective on interacting with customers in this highly engaging digital world and focus on their purpose to become open, honest & caring. An organization’s purpose stimulates the brand promise. This promise must be captivating & relevant to customers as the market becomes more competitive to give reasons to select/buy your brand over another-especially as brands become more global increasing the competitive set. Sally Hogshead described this as the need to fascinate in order to captivate & win your customer’s attention. This unique point of fascination & intrigue not only attracts customers who appreciate what the brand is all about, but it also attracts talent to the organization who feel they can contribute & help the organization deliver and even overachieve on its brand promise.

Read More about Chip Heath had to say

Scott Shamberg | Critical Mass Executive

Recently I attended an event that was classified as a “marketing forum”  designed to match marketers with vendors for two days of one-on-one networking. We met with 38 marketers representing brands from all over the world.

The biggest take away for me was pretty clear – everyone and their mother want to know how to “do” social media.   Literally everyone we talked to asked us about social–from Visa to Trump, Western Union to Scotts Lawn Care. Here were the top 3 questions we heard at the event and that we are hearing on a recurring basis from marketers.

1.    My executive team doesn’t understand it.  How can I convince them?
2.    How can I do social media on a local level?
3.    Can you tell me how to measure social media?

Clearly brands big and small know they need to participate but are not sure how just yet.  But I’m seeing the irony in these brands wanting to understand a new channel built on authentic conversations in a business environment built almost exclusively on short, relatively shallow conversations. Nevertheless, let’s look at those three questions.

Convincing Executives
This is no easy solve. Many CMOs would still rather shoot a commercial than develop a Facebook page. Try the 3 E’s.
EXPERIMENT: Get your execs to play with Twitter, Facebook and Foursquare.  Let them see for themselves how influential they are.
ENGAGE: Get your agencies involved with your executives when you can and let them do the heavy lifting.
EDUCATE: You know your executives better than anyone.  Find ways to get them educated through articles, conferences, examples and stats.  The more they know they more involved they will get.

Keep Reading for my Recommendations on Local Social and Social Measurement

David Fasullo | Critical Mass Toronto

Flash was only the beginning.

Today, if there’s one thing FITC is known for, it’s inspiration. In less than a decade since its first incarnation as a Toronto-based festival celebrating Flash, FITC has spread around the world and broadened its scope. Now, there’s something for everyone: writers, designers, developers, or creative explorers. It’s that spark of inspiration that unifies the speakers and attendees. I’d like to think it’s that same spark that inspired the entrepreneurs to create Flash (FutureSplash Animator, at the time), and possibly the same spark that inspired the first flock of flashy individuals to come together and create this event.

As if the speakers, networking and parties weren’t enough to bring people together, each year the event is centered on a theme. This year’s “Playground” theme was most evident in the speaker introductions. Each introduction was pre-recorded (and edited) by event creator, Shawn Pucknell’s young daughters. And while it would have been funny, I’m glad they didn’t do this introduction for the “Cool Shit Hour”. Alternatively, they could have just called it the “Cool Stuff Hour”. But that doesn’t seem to have the same impact.

The “Cool Shit” presenters included myself, Chris Allen (blog.ff9900.org), Didier Brun (@didierbyte), Joa Ebert (@joa), & Mikko Haapoja (@MikkoH). And in spite of some technical difficulties, great work was shown. Didier got the whole room singing “Hey Jude” with his great audio analysis prototypes, Joa live-coded a music visualizer with his notorious keyless keyboard. Mikko showed his devotion to creative development with a 3D painting app created using the Voxel Engine/Fancy Engine. And Chris demoed an awesome Star Wars Trench Run game for the iPhone. With each of the 5 presenters getting roughly 10 minutes each, I’m glad there wasn’t enough time for any Apple/iPhone remarks.

Reporting Back More from FITC 2010