New business agency blog

Social media sites provide companies a viral entry to the consumer marketplace, as discussed in my previous blog on fandistribution. Although social media sites are a relatively new introduction the concept of brands using mascots has been around for years – the Michelin man dates back to the 1890s. This process really picked up pace in the 1950s and 60s for product based brands; this was the period when classic house hold mascots such as Tony the Tiger, Ronald McDonald and the Pillsbury Doughboy were born/created. Brand mascots tend to be usually very colourful and dynamic, making them easy to recognise, remember and identify with. Once the association is established, brand awareness will increase.

However times have changed since those ‘MadMen’ days of the 1960s when product based brands often had less than a minute window on a television commercial in order to develop their mascot’s character potential. With technological innovations nowadays, virtual services can easily create virtual brand mascots. Through platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube brands have essentially allowed unlimited space and time to develop, integrate and evolve characters. The openness and the shared based nature of these digital platforms gives the character a much LOUDER voice and open the doors for a two way conversation with the consumer. As brands naturally exploit these platforms to develop a more integrated branded communications approach they often couple the viral online campaign with more traditional television and radio slots; this encourages watchers to want to engage and learn more online about their favourite mascots.

So what are the advantages of having a brand mascot? Many online services lack the ‘touchable’ feeling a product based brand enjoys. This digital character approach allows marketeers to provide a personified face and voice for their brands, bringing it much closer to the user’s heart. Ultimately this makes the brand much more accessible by humanising their products. Consumers would much rather interact online with a cute and cuddly character than they would with a faceless corporation.

This process seems to work remarkably well typically in the grey boring faceless industries such as insurance. Across the pond motor insurance company Progressive is currently seeing a significant impact within the social media buzz through their brand mascot Flo. The quirky sales rep debuted in the company’s television commercials in 2008. Recently she has been involved in YouTube videos and social games on Facebook. Her page was initially created by a fan, though when they realised that she was attracting more attention than the company itself they quickly took over the reins. Currently on Facebook, Progressive the company has 43,000 likes – Flo, on the other hand is pushing nearly 4 million. It seems in the case of Flo that clearly people would much rather interact with this endearing woman from the TV instead of a random grey suited exec from Progressive. When it comes to social media marketing techniques, this seems a great way to engage with customers and grow new business opportunities. Over in the UK insurers also seem to be following a similar pattern with variations of similar humorous and memorable mascots. Compare the Market uses a Meerkat to great comedy effect though Go Compare have chosen a slightly different route with the frankly annoying and abrasive operatic Gio Compare – you know who I’m talking about.

What this shows us is that Facebook consumers want to actively bond with the character rather than simply interacting through the more traditional company page pumping out corporate company and product news. The characters offer a softer way to sell a product, which is essential nowadays as the more savvy consumer doesn’t like blatant selling or promotion. Mascots are also the gift that keeps on giving, they never get in trouble with the law, don’t negotiate their fees and allow digital marketing techniques to spin out a potentially endless ‘timeline’ story that was simply not possible in the past.

It instils this process when you look directly at one of the principle forums for this new type of digital communication. Twitter itself uses its famous little blue bird “Larry” to great effect. Their strategy in my opinion goes beyond being simply cute and cuddly. Larry the little blue birdy is a central theme to Twitters overall global brand campaign, with his subtle silhouette on every website link, logo and re-tweet button. A little bird is cleverly much more appealing than a plain simple company logo and it also helps increase brand awareness.

But much like when meeting an influential movie or rock star, do brands run the risk of lessening their mascot’s carefully cultured mystique and disappointing fans by finally opening their mouths in a public forum? Never before has the personality of a character had to match with the much larger overall brand direction and identity.

Here at Alchemis we don’t have any brand mascots; we certainly have a few characters though and this creative approach allows us to do what we do successfully for the last 25 years. We rely upon effective communication and intelligent targeting in order to convey a message and work hard to win our clients new business.

Here at Alchemis we are always keen to hear the views of others within the marketing services industry. So, with this in mind, here’s the first in a series of guest blogs – this one from Daniel McHugh of inbound and outbound call centre Leadline.

When the world economy plummets, it is easy to become self centred and focus on what is best for you, or for your business. We all have mouths to feed and bills to pay.

In all honesty, it seems like a fantastic idea at first, but, in terms of growing your business often it is better to be more generous when it comes to business, than following our natural instincts to think of Number One.

Your customers or potential customers have no reason to engage with you or your business, your products or services unless you have built trust and engaged with them.

Consider this:-

1. A customer’s first instinct is to be selfish and think of themselves

2. Other businesses base instinct is to be selfish and think of themselves

Therefore….

If you are generous and offer to be generous with your service, your offering and your time and think about others, they are more inclined to engage with you and your business!

‘In the world of business, the gift I give almost always benefits me more than it benefits you’

So does this mean free gifts for all?

A lot of businesses aim to pick up new customers and clients with the offering of a free gift. How many ‘Car Tool Kits’ ‘Free skin cream with the mascara’ ‘Free PAYG sim card’ do you actually need?

The reality is that free gifts cost both money to you as a business and don’t always encourage sales. Giving someone something for free doesn’t earn you trust. It buys you a little bit of short term confidence.

The only true way to gain trust with someone is to engage. The only way you will truly engage with someone as a business is to give them something to think about and the best way to do this is through sharing knowledge and ideas.

Heinz Tomato sauce and HP Tomato Sauce

So I use Heinz Tomato Ketchup and I have all my life. I’m on the way to buy some sauce from the local supermarket. HP Sauce is BOGOF or… Buy one HP Tomato Sauce and get a brown sauce free.

Which one do I buy? Heinz of course…

Why? Because I trust Heinz. No give away is going to take me away from a product I trust. The only way that I will get into HP is if they build trust and trust can’t be bought.

The Gift of Knowledge

It doesn’t matter whether you supply a product or a service, all firms have a gift of knowledge. A story to tell. A tale worth sharing. Some hints or tips that have lead to more business for you or one of your customers.

Most businesses are keen to find out how to engage with their customer and get more business. By sharing knowledge, you are providing your potential customers with much more than a free gift they can use once, like a bottle of ketchup. You are giving them something which they can use time and time again to grow their firm.

‘If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. But if you give him a fishing rod, you feed him for a lifetime’

How about a new perspective on this proverb.

‘If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. But if you teach him how to fish, you can sell him a fishing rod!’

Think back to the last time you were recommended a pub, a restaurant or even a place to visit by a trusted friend. Did you go? What did you think? Would you recommend it to another friend? If no, could you be influenced by a free drink, a free meal or even a free flight? Air New Zealand think that you will be.

As a central theme to their most recent marketing campaign they will be offering discounts on the cost of premium economy seats with the airline. These discounts will only be available to loyal ‘fans’ of the brand who use social media sites such as Facebook to recommend Air New Zealand to their friends. This strategy is known as ‘fandistribution’ and is a relatively new phenomenon within the industry, but it is growing. Through this process ‘fans’ can therefore share brand marketing directly to an audience that trusts them and also crucially values their opinion. A new form of direct and digital peer to peer communication.

The campaign has been launched by a UK based digital marketing company called digitalanimal. Their core product and process ‘fandistribution’ is currently the market leading fan management and recommendation platform. Companies like it because it allows them to engage and interact with their customers through social media, generating brand awareness and ultimately new business. It is also often used by brands to gauge the demand for a new product or service. Consumers like the process because it incentivises them directly, offering discounts simply by allowing companies access to their own personal social network.

Already 71% of people claim reviews or opinions from family members or friends exert a ‘great deal’ of influence over them when looking to purchase a product. Social networks such as Facebook provide a virtual version of this process. For instance on Facebook currently people regularly recommend viral videos and films to each other in a process that is wholly organic, simply due to the fundamental principle that people love to share. Facebook currently has in excess of 350 million active users globally, with over 50% of these users logging into their account at least every 24 hours. As with many forms of digital marketing methods ‘fandistribution’ is easy to integrate (with a couple of simple lines of code), quick to market and will swiftly increase both the awareness of your product and brand. Used by a number of high profile clients, it is the direct-to-consumer solution for modern social media engaged advertisers.

However let’s be honest. As we all know, one-shot deals and blockbuster sales will always cheapen a brand. If done too much you actually condition loyal customers or ‘fans’ to hold off spending money with you until you offer them another ‘deal’. On the other hand it could also be viewed as a useful tool to integrate, involve, and ultimately influence users within an existing network. It is increasingly becoming essential for brands to ensure that they have an interactive presence within social media networks. The pure distribution benefits of the process are obvious when you apply the multiplier effect. On average a single Facebook user has 130 ‘friends’. The process is viral so if the user recommends the brand or service to only 4 of their friends and these 4 friends pass it on to another 4 friends then by the 8th stage of the process you’re looking at a potential audience of 66,536 users – all with exposure to the brand from a trusted ‘friend’.

Here at Alchemis we work with a broad range digital marketing agencies to win them new business clients. We welcome any comments you have about this blog or any others, I doubt we will be flying to New Zealand anytime soon.