Some spoof about viral marketing

While checking out some of the most famous viral campaigns, I found one of the most interesting snippet. Though FutureLab has covered the topic taking insights of Todd's campaign on "We didn't start the viral", but for me I have a bit different take on it.

First of all, one question that came into my mind is that does a company or an individual have to try to make it viral? Or it is vested in the hands of the target customers who somehow engage themselves to the viral message. Now for me I think that the latter one is more true than the former.

Sometimes it may happen that the viral message may get lost in between because of target customers may not be the key influencers. So what do we do about it? Three things should always be kept in mind while spreading the message.

1. Make your campaign more engagement oriented to increase (if not manifold) the "customer engagement dimension" (CED).
2. The good old "Delight & Excite Strategy" in the viral campaign.
3. "Easing the spread of word" medium for better viral.
   

The love for color "Red" in Brand Logos

Have a look at the picture in the inset. What do you see? Now I know one thing for sure that what do you see the most. Its the Color "Red". Now the adoration for the color red is expressed in many ways to your loved ones or to not so loved ones :-(

Now some of the silly observations. Today in the afternoon while going through this logos, suddenly I realized that out of nearly 250+ famous brand logos here, approximately 110+ brands have the color red in some form or the other i.e. about 45%.

Now what does it convey about the companies which make this logos or for that matter the customers that in some way consume, use or receive the service (lemme know if I have covered all aspects of the product usage attribute).

Now some freebie takeaways from the brand logos above.

• Red, Blue or White are often used in logos (especially in US) to project patriotic feelings.
• Green is often used for products in the health segment foods.
• Silver or Light Blue to reflect the diet food aspect.
• More or less, all other brands showcases lower saturation and subdued tones primarily to communicate reliability,quality etc.

Now all said and done, why whopping 45% of top brands showcase the color "Red" then? This took me to the depths of this so-called mystery (If I may say so). I tried my luck from human psychology to physics. So now this is what I got.

• Color is one of the important aspect of brand recognition in this cluttered mass media frenzied world.
• My high school physics says that color red has the highest wavelength. So what's the fuss all about.
  

Now staying away from my physics, it's much more simple than that. Humans are very much attached to colors in some form. For example, try attaching colors to some emotions of yours. See how colors form a very distinct image in your mind. Now I spoke the word - "Mind"...I guess marketers have come to the picture...So color red with all the attributes will keep a distinct image in the mind of the customers. Though it should be always remembered that color should not be an integral constituent for logo design which may conflict with its functionality.

So case closed and mystery solved :-).

"Boys will be Boys"...So are marketers like *boys*??

I read an interesting article in CBSNews today.

"Consider, though, what 'boys will be boys' thinking implies about the true nature of boys. The answers typically are astonishingly negative: Boys are messy, immature and selfish; hormone-driven and insensitive; irresponsible and trouble-making; rebellious, rude, aggressive and disrespectful -- even violent, predatory and animal-like."

Now you must be thinking what the hell is the article's piece doing in this blog. Now think about the last marketing snippet or an overt ad campaign you have seen. Do you find a fit in the words above (Bold words). More often than not, the campaigns are idiotically crafted to prove their points as if customers are going to buy their products after seeing those ads. I have only two words for them- "Come'on Dude". It's not working anymore. Customers know that you are marketing.

So get out of that whole aura of "bossy marketing" thing. Feel the pulse of your customers. They don't need your flashy & jazzy campaigns. They want something which will make them feel more than satisfied. Though I know loyalty won't come by this means. But nowadays more and more companies are looking for that short terms gains in sales rather than long term truth. But marketers instead of being boyish can become a trusted friend and give customers a story to carry forward. Now I don't think companies will lose much on this.

Now how about this little Nike Story (link). See how loyalty can be earned.

"Brand Building" through the power of people

Now here's caution for some of the readers. If you are a staunch believer of democracy, then you may not like the conversation following next. Why I am being so sarcastic, you may ask? Actually time and again, we have seen one fact about brands travelling across those hallowed boardrooms to the hands of the customers i.e. they were built by the customers. Some name it brand, some "My own brand" or some call it their "lovemarks"(Term coined by Kevin Roberts-CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi Worldwide).

Now explaining my hysteria about democracy for the readers is a simple yet very trivial fact. Actually marketers should keep the philosophy of democracy in the back of their minds while encountering customers more in a country like India. Oh, did I forget to tell you the principles- it's "By the people", "For the people", "Of the people". Now put customers in place of people (though they are the same kind). Now that's why I was cautioning because some democracy fanatic may think that yet another marketer is trying to play some kind of games. Yes that is true. But here it's more of a win-win situation for both companies & the customers.

Now think of any brand, and put it in the democracy framework of "By the customers", "For the customers" & "Of the customers". Now see how your brand shapes up. Now there may be resistance (more in a form of criticism for my above statement) of course. But there are innumerable examples of brands like Lijjat papad (conventional popadum) in India, Grameen Bank of Bangladesh, Hindustan Unilver's project Shakti in India etc.

So brand building should start from the periphery of your marketing strategy where you have to engage your customers in a way that value deliverance is the embedded keyword behind your core strategy whereas leveraging customers' value acceptance is given more priority.

Advertisement 2.0 - Creating user friendly online ads

Sometime back Google's CEO Eric Schmidt told Adage that Google Adsense may hit Facebook. He said -

"How will those developers get paid for those services? We would like to have our ads in those applications"

Now how about this one. Nielsen's report are pointing downward slide of online ads in august to september 2007. Now is this just a slight hint towards another tech recession. Now some suggest that it may just be a cyclical downturn.

Now I just can't help thinking (beacuse of Eric's statement) that one fine morning I will see some crappy ads on my facebook a/c, or for that matter my iGoogle or RSS feeds (though some is A-ok because I do understand the dynamics of business). Actually that's where open platform get on my nerves sometimes.

But where's the catch here. Firstly, all of us has seen many online ads (if you browse a bit) and its irrelevance to us most of the times. Though Google's Adsense has done some amount of work on that i.e. the relevance part. But still in social networking space, it won't suit my palate if I have been shown some crappy ads.

But I guess there is a way out of all these where the online advertisers and users (like me of course) can share a healthy cyberspace experience. Now 5 strategies for online advertisers can be like these-

1. Engage your users - Now how about this piece. If you see some ads reminding you to take bouquet of flowers from flowers.com (hypothetical) on your anniversary or your sweetheart's birthday (considering you forget trifle things like me). That would be kool (remember its social networking). Then I guess you can definitely score one point on that. So online advertisers should try to engage their target customers.

2. Relevancy - Segmenting users on their information likeness, online advertisers can give snippets of new information based on their likeness, though not forgetting their ad message through those information.

3. Compelling story telling through ads - Now everyone likes a compelling story. Isn't it? So if online advertisers can co-create a story (through ads of course), then users will definitely like to browse through it. CLICK CLICK!!!

4. Consistency - Now we have heard that word enough times I guess. Now more importantly, online advertisers have to be cautious about the consistency part of delivering their message.

5. Interactivity - Now what better way to communicate than making the ads more interactive. Online interactive ads make users are more prone to click. Isn't this what we are vying for?

ooVoo- The *Aha* moment on conversational marketing

What's up with the internet going gung-ho on the letter "O". We have Yahoo,Google all with O's in their syllable. Now another one joining the "O" race is ooVoo. It's a revolutionary new way to communicate online using the power of internet and community building features. We have seen things like these, haven't we? Now what makes it so special.

Email 2.0 versus Social Networking

There is a huge difference between network and networking with respect to social networking space. Network can be primarily defined as connecting with people-known or unknown whereas networking is within the boundaries of known people (be it in form of friends etc). Now the promise is very well delivered by all those social networking sites like myspace, facebook etc.

Now there is something which is left behind between all these. Or is it? Remember Web email services of the likes of Yahoo Inc, Microsoft Inc, or Google. Now we used to use these email services primarily for sending and receiving those boring and mundane messages. But nowadays it seems that these email providers are trying to run away with some of the thunders of social networking sites. They are adding features that allow users to perform certain sociable functions as connecting with friends and creating personal-profile pages for others to see.

So this is surely going to increase the competition between those old daddies of Web email services and new Gen Y social networking maestro's for loyalty of users and revenues from online advertisements.

But the question is who's going to win this. Now my take on this would be from my personal experience. Since I still use both these services to an equal amount, so I would take a fair and balance perspective on it.

1. Most of the social networking sites provide us with IM service . So most of the users use it as an effective alternative email service. So email service providers don't have an edge.
2. Social networking sites have given enough importance to the word "I" which email service providers haven't yet i.e. "I" is the new word in the Web 2.0 model.
3. Since most of the email social services work effectively only when most of my friends are hooked onto same service provider, so tracking all my friends on a common platform becomes difficult (still there are reports that email service providers are trying to extend this service across all networks- but the bottleneck would be sharing users' personal info).
   
4. Slowly and steadily, social networking sites are allowing its users to send messages to those stereotyped email addresses.

So after looking at these artifacts (pun intended), I guess by now most of you have made up your mind who's going to survive. Actually that's why most of the Web email service providers are vying for big social networking websites likes Yahoo & Microsoft trying to buy Facebook etc. It's more like insulating themselves from Web 2.0 (i.e. user generated content) wave which is taking the whole world into it's grip.

*Handvertising*- Yet another brick in the advertisment wall

Advertising has gone beyond television,print, internet or even those crazy ways how companies promote their products or service. Now how about this new innovative way. Do you remember the last time you entered a club and someone stamped your hands. So how about companies stamping their logos or promotional message on your hand. (As if I have been Apple'd or Microsoft'ied.)

Actually this new practice is being done. It's the brainchild of Handvertising, USA. Though it's patent is still pending, still ingenuity is overwhelming.

RSS Simplified- How *RSS* can make your life easier

RSS (Really Simple Syndication)- For some it's internet simplified and for some its just some crappy internet geeky term. Now trust me it's not big a deal.Is it? Now some of those who are still unaware of the potential of RSS and its various apps, I have tried to simplify RSS. Now 10 questions about RSS for those inquisitive minds are-

1. What is RSS?
2. How does RSS work
3. Who benefits from RSS?
4. How do I use RSS?
5. What can RSS help me do?
6. Can I access RSS only through computer?
7. What is RSS feed?
8. Who publishes content in RSS?
9. How do i "Subscribe" to a RSS?
10. Is RSS substitute for an email?

Check out this link to clarify your doubts.

Now for a marketer (though I am not being biased towards marketers only), its really necessary to get updated about new information every second. So I guess this small little tool will definitely come in handy.

Boost your "Ego" - Courtesy *Vanity Ring*

I know the name of the post sounds a bit crazy. But believe me the video down below is much more crazier. Now since I have been watching the tech space for quite some time, I personally have seen some weird to weirder gadgets. Now I got bowled over by this one at least.

Now the gadget pertains to more or less about "Ego Surfing" which is more of a thing of the past (Oh for those blissful ones, it is typing your name in search engine and seeing what appears).

Now the product in question is Vanity Ring. Basically its more of an electronic ring which shows the number of hits (in the search engine) for the person who wears it.Amazing..isn't it??