Mike de Block
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Not pop up stores, but blog up stores are the new black. An interesting view on how to create the second largest FB community in Sweden for the benefit of Lagerhaus online store. This company is one of the few who is aware that their are millions of online stores out their, which forces them to create a distinctive factor in their proposition. The solution, not a pop up store but a blog up store. So I recommend that you take a minute to watch the movie and use the creative spark of Lagerhaus to stand out and create a pull effect instead of the old fashioned but still much used pushy marketing campagnes.
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It’s not your imagination, marketing really has gotten harder, as the attention span is decreasing among consumers. It has changed our traditional way of buying from: stimulus-shelf-experience to what Google calls Zero Moment Of Truth (ZMOT), which you can see below. The result is that companies have to facilitate reasons to stimulate word-of-mouth in order to influence the second step in the ZMOT buying process.
Forth-flowing, traditional billboards will not work anymore, since people on the road are paying more attention to their mobile phones then on the road, not even mentioning the billboards along the highway. Brands therefore have to outcare their competition to get into the heard of their core group. Enable your customers to help your company get shape, but do not let them decide. Since, you only have to facilitate the carrot on the stick, which makes them talking and engaging. However, at some point you have to spread some carrots, but as you are not the salvation army, you only have a few carrots to give away. For this reason it’s vital that prior to giving out carrots you have to grow the engagement level with your core group of followers through interaction. Many brands go wrong at this point, since they assume they will get the attention anyhow. However, the attention economy is the new battleground, which makes it vital to first create an army (brand advocates) before you go to battle with your (yet) non-believers. The carrots will then please your army and convince the non-believers that they better join your side, since you care. In short, it’s the famous game of reciprocity, where people tend to return a favor. This is extremely vital in the process where brands should have a face or at least behave human. Therefore brands first has to show your customer a favor, before you can expect your customers do something in return. For this reason, the quote from Michael Poter is really hitting the nail on his head in what in essence is most important to gain succes. So for all CEO’s out there who might read this post (you cannot blame me for my ambition), remember that “Whatever is good for the community is good for business”. Fortunately, this is closely linked to my field of interest; social commerce which is essentially the concept of word of mouth in the context of sales. Surprising or not;)
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@InamoRestaurant is a jawdropping digital dining experience in the centre of London. My girlfriend and I visited Inamo last July and definitely want to go back, as soon as we get the opportunity. Inamo embodies digital table projections, a digital sneak peek in the kitchen, cab ordering system while waiting for your tab and a table moodsetter. Moreover, since all orders are placed digitally, inamo’s waiters now got all the time to secure that every need is met.
Unfortunately, your dining experience is limited to 2 hours, since it’s in such a high demand. Nevertheless, Inamo has managed to turn their business into a pull mechanism, since they put their customers into control. In short, times are over that a waiter determines the pace of your evening, now the customer is in charge how the evening develops. A great example, how a niche can drive traffic on an international level. Fortunately, their is also a Dutch branch of Inamo, which you can find in Rotterdam, namely Izkaya. So, Izkaya despite of the fact that you’re closed on my birthday, August 22, you can expect a visit from us very shortly!
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WOOW, the future of TV from @syzygy is truly amazing and even better, it’s not even that far away from us! This TV platform provides brands with the opportunity to shift from their (way old fashioned) push thoughts to a pull strategy via GOAB. As it’s about focussing on what is relevant to the viewer in a certain situation, and about giving the viewer the possibility to decide. Again social value via convenience, relevance or entertainment, even better, all together is the greatest challenge for brands these days. However, this sneak peak to the NEAR future should trigger some marketeers how their brand can blend into the ultimate TV experience.
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I was asked by a marketeer from #Ahold Europe, to present some ideas how an #app could be of added value for one of their brands. The slideshare above is however a brief summary, as several slides has been left out due to confidentiality.
In the end, my message was that a brand has to blend into the daily life’s of their customers, if they want to be of any meaning. Brands who want to be of value should therefore embrace “pulled” actions. As pull is an unsolicited action by a consumer, whereas a “push” is a solicitation by a seller/producer. A branded app should thus earn the attention by being a community hub that facilitates a value-adding experience. In the end, the value of your brand is being determined by the degree of meaning you have for your customers. To conclude, its all about perception, so facilitating events that influence this process could align the consumers perception with your desired brand identity.
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Turning waiting time into shopping time by letting stores blend into the daily lifes of their consumers. Tesco’s subsidiary Home Plus from Korea, did it as it’s a perfect example how a brand can facilitates value by making the lives of their consumer a bit easier. Since instead of spending time on grocery shopping, consumers have now more time to enjoy the food they purchased at Home Plus.
UPDATE: Not 2 x 1, but 1 x 2 offers in the supermarket via QR tags
Using mobile phones, consumers will be able to buy one product for themselves and another for the children in need, sharing their action through social networks to amplify the impact of each transaction. The application which will support the initiative will have a Facebook app where users will be able to visualize and track their donations.Another great example how QR tags can be used in the retail environment.
Update 2: Shoppers collectively reduce supermarket prices via Facebook check-ins.
I’ve already covered @4foodnyc in my slideshare presentation for it’s perfect integration of social & retail, but now ICA (subsidiary of Ahold) supermarkets from Sweden has done something talk worthy as well. ICA enables their customers to individually reduce the price on a selected item by checking in at the store via a link or a QR code. However, my only problem with this campaign is that all shoppers who checked in will try to buy the product a second before it’s about to expire in order to get the best price. Nevertheless, it’s a good example of how handing over control can increase your brand goodwill and lure customers to your store. Hopefully, their mother company, Ahold, has paid attention and implement a spin-off in their current non-social stores of Albert Heijn (NL).
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How do you communicate a message that people don’t want to hear off as most people just walk along when attention is trying to be raised. In response, this guerilla marketing campaign took the “walk along” part literally by telling the story in an engaging manner by underpinning the lack of attention.
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The moment when I first laid eyes on @roamler, the start-up with #Heineken as one of it’s first customers, was.. why the *&(@ didn’t I came up with this. This service has such an enormous potential as you can utilize your customers as scouts, explores or even spies. Roamler users receive a message as soon as they get close to a challenge, which increases the relevance of the service and the likelihood that these users actually accept a challenge. Moreover, participants get paid when they fulfill a task, which increases the fun factor even more.
One of it’s first customers, Heineken, currently pays € 2 to every Roamler user who helps out Heineken to check whether it’s famous brew head (“2 fingers” for the dutchies) is offered in bars who offer Heineken. In short, Heineken checks whether the ultimate Heineken beer is tapped according to Heineken’s standards in order to guarantee the perfect Heineken experience. Not even mentioning the side effect, as users do not select a bar based on the location, people, seating’s or music, but depending on the beer brand that is being tapped.
In short, Roamler enables brands to maintain it’s standards in a cheaper way by empowering it’s customers, instead of sending out expensive employees. For multinationals who rely on standardization, but still pursue a level of customer intimacy, Roamler is an excellent tool.
Think of a supermarket chain who utilizes their shoppers by checking the availability of certain products. Take for example, Albert Heijn (Holland), who developed an app for it’s customer, so they could upload and share their grocery list with all it’s family members to keep the list up-2-date. This app could thus benefit from the services of Roamler, as the person who does all the shopping could be timely warned that product x is being sold out, but immediately receive an alternative Albert Heijn store, with a 100% availability guarantee for their grocery list. Again, the side effect is that 20-30 year olds with a limited amount of time will be more likely to shop by Albert Heijn supermarkets.
In short, Roamler is the answer for every brand that wonders how they could make the life of it’s customers a little bit easier in order to generate attention.
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Is the FIFA corruption beneficial for FIFA sponsors..
Sports administrators are not necessarily to be relied on for good judgment when it comes to bad regimes and the FIFA is thus no exception. However watching football is like a thunderstorm of emotions in which financial benefits should always be inferior to the love of the game. Unfortunately, the lack of any supervision body within the FIFA has resulted in a blurry proces, which lacks all contemporary requirements for a governing body.
However, as the ball is now in the ballpark of the sponsors, Blatter offered these brands the possibility to demonstrate that even if FIFA managers are struggling to find their conscience, their paymasters definitely not. As FIFA’s sponsors are mostly multinationals, it’s the ultimate moment to demonstrate their business skills and help FIFA to function as a modern company anno 2011. Moreover, attention and reputation became scarcity products in the current markets, which is why this is the time for brands to step up. Brands should thus not solely focus on their products, but as a sponsor help out the FIFA with their image by sharing their business knowledge and increase the level of transparency. In return, brands will rank higher in the top of mind awareness (TOMA), ( when people think of you first to fulfill their product or service needs). Secondly, a lot of sympathy is created by such actions among footy fans as brands relate to the overall sentiment that the love of the game is far more important then the financial benefits for the FIFA members. Fort-flowing, footy fans will gather around a brand and discuss this matter and possibly come up with solutions that might be helpful. In short, brand should function as a platform by helping footy fans to establish more transparency in the various bodies of the FIFA. Sponsoring is not enough, it’s how you utilize this sponsorship to fuel the DNA of a brand
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In desperate need of attention for your brand… then follow the example of @McDonalds as they did an excellent job in Stockholm. The king of burgers added some fun to the (rare) shopping breaks of shopaholics. By rewarding these prospects with a free meal, McDonalds created attention, which is well cherished by big brands these days. But I hear you think do I have to give away free product, to create attention? No but as scarcity creates attention and shopping is a group activity, I don’t think that a person who won a coupon visited the most nearby McDonalds on their own. A very good execution on how to create more business by pampering one prospect.
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At first, I was planning to write a post about the new KLM Tile & Inspiration campaign as it’s once again a distinctive campaign. By embedding their brand advocates onto the design of their airplanes, KLM is showing their human face(s) to the world. The fact that numerous amount of people are willing to link their faces to the brand of KLM is more then a compliment for the Royal Dutch Airlines. However, I reconsidered my choice since marketing is in essence all about understanding your crowd and identify the moments in which you can support them in their daily lives. The KLM campaign does connects to KLM’s core values, but doesn’t really offer any support besides temporary recognition.
I therefore would like to devote a post to a well-known brand who regularly organises stunning events/commercials, but in my perspective let a slip right after. In short, I miss the “post campaign connectivity”, which would turn me into a brand ambassador and would extend the WOW factor to stimulate word of mouth. I therefore sincerely hope that the Heineken Star app is the first of many to lift the brand of Heineken. This app allows you to predict how a shot in a live football match turns out while battling with your friends. Football is a game you watch with your mates in which everybody has their own opinion. Creating a platform to challenge the insights of your mates is then just a superb idea. Does this app let me cheer with my mates…Yes!Heineken star certainly does that and maybe even with a bottle of Heineken, but after another promising start I would ask mr Heineken.. What’s next? Since your raised the bar of expectations once again….
Likes
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Tom Marchant, co-founder of travel company Black Tomato about over-delivery and acts, not ads....
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Grappig: de organogrammen van de grootste techbedrijven.
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“you can’t let other people tell you who you are, you have to decide that for yourself”
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ahhh… Carla Gugino
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Duracell: Brings Toys To Life… kinda scary
