Art Imitates Life

artandbertel, originally uploaded by iva diva.

My friend, Diana Quintero, created this poster from a photo of a NY art gallery and a photo of my family — when I was about 5. I love the mixing of the mediums — and more importantly, her story of why she choose this photo of mine. When tasked to create a mixed medium piece, she immediately thought of my family. This photo of our family marks the beginning of what would evolve to be a truly multi-racial, multi-ethnic family.

The Power Of A Tweet

Two nights ago, thinking about the devastation in Haiti, I saw a tweet come in from @knako, Kevin Nakao, VP of Mobile and Business Search for Whitepages.com.

I had been tweeting and posting onto Facebook and texting and generally trying to get the word out about how to help.  Because during these times of disaster, money is the most important — and immediate need — of  relief organizations.  So, I tweeted a simple request:

And, that was the beginning of a few tweets and dms that generated a link on WhitePages.com that night to donate to the Red Cross via text messaging.

Now some may poo-poo the link and think “so, what? Who looks at.”  But, you’d be surprised.  Links can generate anyway from .1%-1.5% conversions.  On a site like Whitepages.com that receives 20.8 million site visitors a month, according to Quantcast, even .1% can be significant.  For the Red Cross it could mean another  $208,000.  Imagine if 1.5% respond.

That’s a powerful tweet.

Facebook Memes: Slacktivism or Social Movement?

Chances are, if you are a Facebook user, you probably have seen friends posting a name of a color as a status update.  The latest Facebook meme began on Wednesday this week as female users began receiving messages in their inboxes.

“We are playing a game for Breast Cancer Awareness,” one form of the message read. “Write the color of your bra as your status — just the color, nothing else!! Copy this and pass it on to all girls — NO MEN!! This will be fun to see how it spreads.”

And, spread it has.  While there are no official counts, it appears that thousands of Facebook users have joined in this meme by posting colors on their walls — whether they received the inbox message or not.

But, is the act of posting a color — and nothing else — enough to make a difference?  Or, is this meme just another example of slacktivism — feel-good online activism that has zero political or social impact?

I have to admit, when I first saw the posts on my wall, I rolled my eyes.  After a year of twibbons, twestivals and other social networking slacktivism campaigns, I assumed this was just another “all talk, no action” campaign.  And, then, I learned that the Susan G. Komen Foundation, who is synonymous with Breast Cancer, gained over 135,000 new Facebook fans as a result of this meme.  Though they did not start it, they have definitely benefited from it.  Prior to the start of this meme, the organization’s Facebook Fan Page had only 135 fans — even though they have been trying for two years with two full-time staff members dedicated to “cracking” social networking for good.  Today, as I post this, the organization now has over 136,000 fans — fans that can be tapped into to spread the word about early detection, lobby for research, participate in fundraising activities — and to donate online.

Then, of course, there is Charles Burch, who today posted on YouTube a video explaining why he started the meme.  He set up a Facebook Fan Page as well (it has 1000+ fans) and has raised $60.00 for cancer research.

To truly make a difference though, this meme has to motivate its fans to do more than post their bra color on their Facebook wall; it has to motivate them to get that mammogram, to tell a friend or family member to get that mammogram, to donate money for a cure, to lobby for policies and activities that help bring about a cure.  Otherwise, it’s just another slacktivist campaign — entertaining but empty.

Since I wrote the above post, I read an extremely moving post by Susan Niebur, a breast cancer survivor, on why awareness is not enough and how memes can be anything but entertaining. As cause marketers, its important to remember substance trumps entertainment.

Contests for Good: A Marketer’s Take

Just before the holidays, a debate emerged among the greater cause community on the value and role of contests for good.  The debate was triggered by allegations that Chase Bank’s Community Giving program on FaceBook was flawed, that groups were unfairly eliminated and that Chase was not transparent in its management and communication of the program.  (For an excellent summation of the controversy and attendant commentary, see  writer and consultant Beth Kanter’s blog.)  The controversy prompted the Case Foundation — itself a contest sponsor — to consider hosting a forum to examine how these contests are designed and managed.

What’s missing from the current debate though are the perspectives of marketers and corporate philanthropic managers who sponsor and manage these programs.  Those of us who have planned, executed and evaluated these types of contests for good on behalf of major brands have done so with the best intentions and not to “cause wash” — i.e., buy good brand karma under the guise of philanthropy.  In addition, we know:

• These programs are difficult and resource intensive.  Programs, like Chase’s Community Giving and Pepsi’s soon to be launched Refresh Project, that reach millions of consumers, require significant support from philanthropy, marketing, advertising, public affairs, legal, and customer service departments within a corporation to develop, manage and promote.  This is not a program that one or two people — who have other corporate responsibilities — can do in their spare time.  Just evaluating all the submissions can take many, many people hours.  Amazon, in 2005, and Google, in 2008, learned the hard way.  Amazon discontinued their program after its inaugural year, opting instead to offer consumers a pre-determined list of charities to support.  Google’s 10¹⁰⁰ Project not only extended the contest timeline significantly — adding an entire year — but also changed the program mid stream after receiving over 100,000 submissions.

• They can be extraordinarily expensive to run. Like most marketing programs, these contests require promotional support to get the word out — not only to prospective project/cause submitters but also to the eligible voting population.  The brilliance behind the Chase Community Giving Program is that the promotion took place largely on Facebook; there appears to have been, at least for Round One, no above the line advertising support nor did the firm invest in the development of a separate program website.

• These contests can bring out the best and the worst in participants — particularly if the stakes are high.  The stories that pour in are astounding:  causes and issues you might not have known existed, intriguing solutions that upturn conventional wisdom, the courage and conviction of the individuals involved in these causes and issues.  But for hundreds and thousands of inspiring stories, there will be participants who will engage in questionable behavior — e.g., utilizing bots or offshore submission “sweatshops” to “stuff the ballot;” submitting ideas or media that they do not own the rights to; accusing fellow participants of foul play; gaming the program.

• Depending on the program design, participants may need time and support to mobilize their supporters. Riffing on American Express’ Members Project (disclosure: I was involved in this program), Pepsi Refresh Project has a downloadable toolkit to help participants develop their ideas for submission.  Online seminars that teach non-profits how to use social networking tools is also very helpful as is assigning mentors to projects, which Pepsi will be doing in their program.

• Leader boards can be deceiving if more than votes are required to advance. Some programs have multiple criteria — e.g., achievability, innovation — in addition to popular support as evidenced in vote tallies.  In those cases, displaying votes can inadvertently mislead participants to believe the outcome relies entirely on the votes.  Communicating frequently and prominently about the other eligibility requirements will help — but some will still be confused.  In the case of Chase, it might have been helpful to have a link to Chase’s Corporate Responsibility sitelet since aligning with their corporate responsibility goals was a key criteria.

• Despite the best plans and intentions, criticism will be levied.  Be prepared but patient. And, remember, there are important causes and inspiring organizations that will gain exposure and support because of these contests.

In the next two weeks, Chase Community Giving will enter its second phase of the competition and Pepsi will launch it’s Refresh Project.  I hope that the Case Foundation includes marketers and corporate philanthropy managers in its forum on contests for good.  Just as there are best practices and benchmarks for marketing online, via email, direct mail etc. so too should a body of knowledge be developed about contests for good.  And sponsors of these contests for good should be included in the conversation.

What Matters Now

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Seth Godin, who describes himself pithily as a “writer, speaker, agent of change,” invited 69 smart folks to contribute observations on What Matters Now and then made the e-book available for free.

As we close out this decade that Time Magazine called the Decade From Hell, it is refreshing to read so many optimistic entries of What Matters Now.  Here are a few of my favorite excerpts:

• Mitch Joel on Compassion: Make compassion a core business value.
• Howard Mann on Connected: More megaphones don’t equal a better dialogue.
• Michael Hyatt on Vision: When times are tough, vision is the first casualty.  Before conditions can iprove, it is the first thing we must recover.
• Tom Peters on Excellence: There are 19 Es of Excellence …. Enthusiasm, be an irresistible force of nature.
• William C. Taylor on Most: Are you the most of anything?
• Guy Kawaski on Evangelism: The future belongs to people who can spread ideas.
• Michael Sifry on Nobody: Nobody has the answers … Nobody, but you, that is.
• And, of course, Seth on Generosity: If you make a difference, people will gravitate toward you.

Seth starts the e-book with a challenge — what matters now to you? So, I thought I would the end this post with my own contribution:

Good: When I was growing up, no one wanted to be good.  It wasn’t radical or rebellious.  It wasn’t cool or fun.  It was boring and passé;  average and ordinary.  It was schoolmarmish.  But good is making a comeback — helped perhaps by the endless scandals — financial, political, marital — that shook our institutions, our economy and our beliefs.  And, the Good that is re-surging is the good of being morally admirable: of people leaving Wall Street jobs and bonuses to build schools in Tanzania or businesses doing well by doing good or consumers buying products that do good.  It’s good to be good.

And, you, what matters now?

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Who are the people in your social network neighborhood?

Last month Nielsen’s Claritas division released data profiling the users of various social networks — which has been picked up by bloggers, social media consultants, like my friends at ClickMarkets, and now, today, by NPR.

In the piece, produced by Laura Sydell, teenagers talked about the social differences of social networks.

MySpace vs. Facebook

• Sixteen-year-old Nico Kurt (who attends an elite, private high school) lays out his view of the MySpace users this way: “It seems trashy to me. The only people who use it are trashy people.”
• “No one uses MySpace,” says 17-year-old Halie Pacheco, a student at The Urban School. She likes Facebook. “It’s safer and more high class,” she explains
• “By ‘high class’ I think she means organized,” adds 16-year-old Olivia Block. “With MySpace there’s a lot of clutter.”
• “I have friends who are white,” says 19-year-old Diego Luna. “They are my white people friends and they are mostly on Facebook. That’s why I use Facebook. My brown people are on MySpace.”
• Benito Rodriguez, 16, adds, “Not to be racist or anything, but there’s more white kids on Facebook.”

Virtual Imitates Real Life

The data as well as the students’ insights point to two truisms about social networks — whether online or in real life that marketers should remember:

• Birds of a feather flock together:  Demographers, social scientists and market segmentation experts like Claritas, know that humans gravitate toward people that look, think and act like them.  Look at any physical neighborhood or organization and you will find striking similarities of the neighbors or members based on race, income, education and even political views.
• Know your neighborhoods: Profiling and targeting are just as important online as offline.  Don’t just hop on a social network because it’s the most popular.  Learn who lives in that neighborhood.  Then, think about the profile of your desired target.  Would they live there? If so, that’s the network you want to join.

Mad Men: Boomers Rising

This was originally written for — and published in — MediaPost’s Engage: Boomers on October 12, 2009.

It’s a mad, mad, mad, mad world and everywhere you turn, people are racing to embrace AMC’s Mad Men, a drama about an advertising agency circa early 1960s, on the eve of the political and social upheavals that would define the Boomers.  First, it was the marketing and advertising Twitterati converting their avatars into Mad Men characters this summer in anticipation of the show’s return; then the Emmys who conferred no less than 16 nominations to the show, which ultimately won best drama, and now Sesame Street, always au courant on cultural trends, with their sly nod to Mad Men.  And, in reaching this broad intergenerational audience, creator Matt Weiner may have inadvertently done more to introduce the Boomers to a new generation of Madison Avenue denizens than any generational anthropologist or media planner.

For the record, Weiner was not looking to add to the Boomer nostalgia canon. Instead, he was more intrigued with the America of the mid-1950s and early 60s; a time of peace and prosperity when bucolic suburbia enticed America to its leafy streets, well groomed lawns, and shiny new schools.  When husbands went to work in far away cities, mothers gathered at neighborhood coffee klatches and children — aka the Boomers – hung out unattended, un-play-dated, unscheduled. He wanted to tell the story of America at a time of surface happiness and inner dissatisfaction when the nation as a whole looked around and asked, “is this it? Is this as good as it gets?”

In capturing the cultural zeitgeist of the late 1950s/early 60s, Weiner gives non-Boomers a ringside briefing each week on the forces that ultimately form and fuel the Boomers’ rejection of the status quo.  Consider for example:

• The sexism that relegates smart career women like Joan to the secretarial pool or forces Peggy to make significant personal sacrifices to rise above that station.
• The racist segregation that prompts a restaurant manager to inquire if the black waiter is “bothering” Don in the first season when Don asks the waiter for his opinion on cigarette brands or startles Hollis, the black elevator attendant, in the third season when Pete Campbell asks him about television brands.
• The quintessential paradigm of suburban wife discontent that Betty Draper epitomizes and that Betty Friedan will chronicle in The Feminine Mystique (published, incidentally, in 1963) of college educated wives withering away in suburbia.
• The frequent drinking to numb the mundane-ness of their lives, which Roger Sterling insightfully notes to Don in the first season: you and your generation “drink for the wrong reasons.  My generation, we drink because it feels better than unbuttoning your collar, because we deserve it. We drink because it’s what men do…. Your kind, with your gloomy thoughts and your worries, you’re all busy licking some imaginary wound.”

Photo: Carin Baer for AMCTV

Boomers: Not Evident

And this briefing occurs with hardly a mention of the Boomers. They are present only on the periphery: as Don and Betty’s children, Sally, Bobby and new born, Gene; as advertising targets (“Pepsi for those who think young”) or, more recently, as two hitchhiking, pill popping teenagers willing to do anything to avoid the draft.  But, as Weiner and his writing staff work through season three and four, they will no doubt incorporate some of the upcoming social and political events that will bring these Boomer children into sharper relief – events such as the civil rights march on Washington, DC when Martin Luther King delivered his “I have a dream” speech, the publication of The Feminine Mystique, the succession of assassinations (John and Robert Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X), and the arrival of the Beatles to America.  And, in doing so, they will continue to illuminate the Boomers for the two million plus 18-49 year olds who tune in each week – including the new generation of Madison Avenue denizens.

The Beatles: Rockband

This piece was originally posted on MediaPost’s Engage: Boomers’ Blog.

In the opening credits of “A Hard Day’s Night,” the 1964 mock-u-mentary, the clean-cut, youthful Beatles are seen madly scampering through the streets of London, dodging throngs of frenzied, worshipping teenage Boomer fans. With the release of “The Beatles: Rockband” on Monday, Harmonix Music Systems is hoping that The Beatles will bring that same generation, now 45-64 years old, to video gaming and multi-media music consumption — just as they brought that generation to rock and roll, stadium concerts and music videos.

Video gaming has long been entertainment medium of choice of teenage boys. The introduction of role-playing games such as Sims and Harvest Moon helped convert teenage girls but it wasn’t until the advent of new, easier-to-manipulate platforms — such as the Wii — and social play through Rockband and Wii Sports, that video games began attracting a wider following. It is now a formidable entertainment medium in its own right and generated more than $21 billion in sales in 2008. Throughout this growth, though, Boomers, were largely absent — even as they began embracing other non-traditional media forms such as social networks. Research indicates anywhere from 12%-19% of Boomers have played a video game at least once but monthly video game usage tracked by Nielsen suggests that trial is not enough: Boomers’ represent less than 10% of monthly video game activity.

But, Harmonix believes the release of “The Beatles: Rockband” could change that. “From the beginning, Rockband has attracted a wider demographic audience than we ever anticipated,” Harmonix Creative Director Josh Randall shared with me via phone last week. “We discovered it wasn’t just teens — but also parents and younger children. And, we wanted ‘The Beatles: Rockband’ to invite people into the game that had never played before.”

Design changes Randall oversaw included simplified navigation, an easier “beginner” setting, and inclusion of a three-part vocal harmony feature, which lets non-musically inclined players participate in the game as well. Another important change that Harmonix implemented was a “no fail” option.

In most games, once a player fails to complete a task, the game ends and the player has to start from the beginning and overcome those challenges to complete the game. In a musical game, “failing” ends a song performance. “People, particularly older people, have to cross multiple barriers to play a video game,” stated Randall matter-of-factly, “so, you don’t want people who just crossed these barriers to play, get ‘boo-ed off the stage’ immediately because they’re just learning.” The “no fail” option allows players to continue enjoying Beatles songs, even if their instrumental playing fails.

This strategy — of modifying design to appeal to a broader audience — is reminiscent of Facebook’s evolving changes that ultimately helped it become the social networking site for Boomers. While Facebook did not intentionally make changes to attract Boomers, this generational group is now the fastest-growing segment on the site. Boomers join Facebook to connect with their families, according Anderson Analytics. This growth from Boomers has helped Facebook reach 250 million users and created a rare opportunity to generate revenue from an audience base that dwarfs any traditional or digital channel.

If “The Beatles: Rockband” succeeds at drawing Boomers to their video gaming, it offers Harmonix and MTV networks an opportunity to grow their market share as well as revenues from gaming software, accessories and future musical downloads. While “The Beatles: Rockband” launches with 45 digitally re-mastered Beatles songs covering the span of their career, Harmonix and MTV plan to offer other Beatles songs for additional downloading. And, unlike teens, Boomers are willing to pay for their music. This is, after all, the generation that launched MTV — a channel on a subscriber-based platform.

WTF?! Is that really your social brand?

Photo credits (left to right): Photobucket.com, Funlok.com

In the early days of my marketing career, I spent a fair amount of time both in front of, and behind, focus group room mirrors, leading or observing consumers play a brand personification game.  The game is simple: the moderator provides the name of a brand.  The consumers create a profile — using words, photos or other prompts to represent the brand as a person — complete with gender, voice, clothing, accessories, hair style, profession, relationships, and cars.   So, for instance, a Citibank cardmember might be a married, mid-level male manager wearing a department store suit, a Timex watch, driving a Ford Taurus, and living in the suburbs.  A Discover cardmember, on the other hand, might be a white construction worker, driving a 1970’s Oldsmobile with crackled leatherette seating.

We used these exercises to help uncover consumer insights about brands — both in terms of what the brand currently stood for and where we could take the brand — as well as the brand’s voice and personality which we then translated into marketing, product development, PR and advertising strategies.

While these exercises gave us an understanding of consumers’ perceptions of a wide range of brands, it also provided snapshots of the effectiveness of brand campaigns across consumer touchpoints.  The more consistent, the greater the consumer internalization of the campaign. For instance, throwing a pack of Marlboros on the table would immediately elicit the Marlboro man; a pack of Camels, Joe Camel. Some brands — insurance companies, manufacturers, airlines, pharmaceuticals, for example — were difficult for consumers to humanize; the brands were either too institutional or too diffuse, making it difficult for them to construct a “real” persona.

I’ve been thinking about those personification exercises lately as I skim updates of brands I have friended, fanned or followed.  Many of these brands’ social network presences are devoid of personality; their persona existing only as a broadcast channel spewing an endless ticker tape feed of news and sales promotions.  Others have developed a social persona painfully out of sync with their brand.  A brand that was most likely developed through diligent research, creative brainstorming and careful nurturing.  A brand that is supported by expensive broadcast advertising, strategic partnerships and product placements.  A brand created by branding and marketing professionals for both consumer acceptance and enduring competitive advantage.  A brand consumers can easily call up in a brand personification exercise, complete with voice, accent and lifestyle.

These out of sync brand personas do more damage to a brand than abstaining entirely from social network participation.  Don’t get me wrong: I do believe brands should participate in social networks; they are incredible branding opportunities.  However, the brand on a social network needs to be as meticulously managed as it is in any other manifestation.  You shouldn’t just “jump in”  — despite what many social media experts advise — without a strategy and voice alignment with the overarching brand.

Otherwise, you risk confusing consumers with what your brand stands for. Or worse, denigrating your brand.  And, if you are a premium brand, you can’t sustain your premium stature with a social brand that is unpolished, sterile or just generally out of sync.  That’s what many brands did in the early days of the Internet.  Then, like now, companies entered a new medium awkwardly: they knew they should have a presence, but didn’t believe it would really help their business.  So, they put the most junior person or persons on it; they gave them limited resources and they allowed technicians without a brand background to develop and execute the strategy.  The result? Sites that were ugly, dull, and undeserving of representing the brand.

So, is your brand Don Draper in all of its manifestations? Or is a there a “computer slob” counterpart representing Don on your social networks?

Social Media: It’s more than an ATM

Pete Cashmore, Founder, Mashable, Photo credit: RealPortraitImages.com

That’s what almost 400 attendees learned at social media blog Mashable’s first Social Good Conference at the 92^nd Street Y in Manhattan last Friday.  The conference closed out Mashable’s Summer of Social Good initiative to raise $35,000 via social media for the Humane Society of the United States, World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Oxfam, and LIVESTRONG.

Instead, presenters from these four organizations, along with Facebook’s Randi Zuckerberg, non-profit blogger and social media coach, Beth Kanter, MediaSauce Cause Marketing Director Scott Henderson, Case Foundation Kari Saratovsky and many others stressed using social media to build social connections that ultimately lead to social activism.  Beth Kanter, in her dynamic presentation, summarized this notion as social media’s three Rs:

• Relationships:  Use social media to build relationships with supporters as well as other organizations who are passionate about the same cause.
• Rewards:  Make your supporters feel special; thank them for their support, invite them to events, share your success stories with them.
• Reciprocity:  Help others do well.  If someone helps, return the favor and help them.

Non-profits who follow the three Rs are more likely to gain evangelists, supporters willing to undertake actions on behalf of the cause versus just slacktivists, people who “fan” but don’t actively support the cause.  For example:

• Oxfam – uses social media to instantly mobilize supporters, recruit volunteers and engage in peer-to-peer conversations. A single event pushed out on their social networks recruited over 650 volunteers.
• WWF — recruited 17,000 subscribers via social media to post comments and content to the WWF Facebook Fan page;  raised over $70,000 via 19,000 eBay auctions
• Share Our Strength/Tyson/End Hunger – increased awareness for cause, recruited 784 volunteers, 1000 donors and raised $28,000 all from a one week push via social media

With tangible results like this, it’s no wonder 89 percent of non-profits are currently engaged in social media — a much higher percentage than Fortune 500 companies according to research that Case Foundation’s Kari Saratovsky cited at the conference.

For those organizations just starting out, Facebook’s  Randi Zuckerberg offered these practical tips for leveraging one of the world’s largest social networks:

• Use Fan Pages, not Groups to leverage Facebook’s viral capabilities.  Pages operate like profiles for organizations or businesses.  Posts made to Fan Pages are included in Fan’s newsfeeds.  Pages can only be created by official representatives and can add applications, while groups are unofficial and can be created by any user.
• Have a personality on your Fan Page:  Personality is an asset, according to Zuckerberg.  Don’t be too “formal” — you’re trying to create a connection and that requires personality.  Include fun updates and other content that foster conversations and engagement.
• Incorporate videos. Groups that post video on their fan pages are typically able to generate greater engagement and message posting.  Those posted messages then are shared with others adding to the viral effect.
• Tag liberally.  Take pictures at events and post them to your Facebook pages. When you post the images, tag as many people as you can in the photos and/or invite your fans to tag themselves.  Tagging  notifies not only those who have been tagged but also their friends — which can draw even more traffic to your fan page.
• Incorporate Facebook into your events. If you have a special event, make sure you invite your Facebook fans to the party, too. You’ll probably attract more people — and Facebook will tell all of their friends that they are coming to an organization’s event.

And, if these case studies and tips don’t convince you that social media is meaningful for your organization or company, consider Forrester’s latest research that found 80 percent of all adults log in to a social network site every month.