Hey, That’s Not Me

Here’s a nice example of a website doing something different to achieve their goals. Mixx is a news/info/photo/link  sharing site. Like most sites they know they will get better results if people SEE THEMSELVES in the site and if their friends and colleagues see them too.People are more likely to use the site, link to and from the site etc.. 

Most websites today that ask one to register and upload a photo are pretty humdrum in their appeal. They have a generic photo if you don’t upload your own, they might have a little bar telling you what percentage of your profile you’ve filled out, etc.

Mixx is mixing it up. Here’s how they’re gently encouraging me to fill out my profile. A smart underdog move.

Now You Have a Friend in the Diamond Business on Facebook (Not)

I’m kind of blown away by something… the number of brands that talk about the concept of friendship in their branding…

… and who don’t play this up (at all!!) in social networks.

photo by swamibu, via creative commons

Some examples…

If you have ever lived in a market where the jewelery retailer Shane Co. operates (some 14 U.S. states) you have likely heard the voice of Tom Shane. Shane & Co. have been ubiquitous radio ad buyers for a long long time and their slogan is likely therefore seared into the memories of a large percentage of the population.

Their slogan, said at the end of each ad in Shane’s down home soothing voice is “Now You Have a Friend in the Diamond Business.”

Can you think of a company with a more natural opportunity to create a presence in social networks as a form of community building, of marketing, of advertising?  And yet It’s not possible to be Tom Shane’s friend on Facebook. It is possible to be a fan of Shane & Co. on Facebook now. But there is no mention of or attempt to play with the fact that they have been offering up his friendship for years while now there is an entire generation smack in their demographic that is “friending” online.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S. the TV show has close to two million fans on their Facebook page. Also… no creative attempt to merge into the cultural lexicon of social media.  Sure the show’s in syndication but still people are making real $ off it and need to promote it.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has, for years, been saying “Friends Don’t Let Friend’s Drive Drunk”… a key audience for them are Facebook users.  A real opportunity here.

Cox Communications: “Now You Have a Friend in the Digital Age”. Again… nothing.

Fly the Friendly Skies. United Airlines. They still use this slogan at times, created by Leo Burnett in 1966 (the year I was born, btw) Nothing.

into the friendly skies.. photo by gradstudent 2007 via creative commons

hmmmmm

The Swimmer and the Water Pipe

The photo ran in News of the World

Michael Phelps is apologizing for appearing in a photo a few months ago with a bong. The apology feels fake… like his mom did his homework for him.

“I engaged in behavior which was regrettable and demonstrated bad judgment. I’m 23 years old, and despite the successes I have had in the pool, I acted in a youthful and inappropriate way, not in a manner that people have come to expect from me. For this, I am sorry. I promise my fans and the public — it will not happen again.”

It feels like this was a hastily thrown together response. Audiences can handle (and want) something more nuanced and interesting and honest than this. It’s “boardroom fear” that causes this sort of thing to be “wordsmithed” and said. I know it’s tough when so much money is at stake in the short term, but long-term brands need to have more soul than this.

This episode reminds me of the scene in the documentary “Shutup and Sing” when the Dixie Chicks return home from the UK after Natalie Maines made her comments about George W. Bush and Texas — and the band sits around a table with a consultant for one of their major endorsers. It was an awkward scene. The band, ultimately, chose to go in an open, honest and VERY soulful direction. And the film itself (which chronicles this very struggle about being famous and human, independent and not) became a great communications piece for the band.  Do check it out if you haven’t.

One really nice thing (and smart move) is that Phelps’ statement was made on his Facebook page (where he has just shy of two million fans).. and the 714 comments (so far) are very human in their response.

Humans give brands a soul. In the case of inanimate brands (like, say, a cereal, for example) the humans are the managers and the creative people they hire — and the customers who respond to the brand. It’s no different with brands that are actually people (like, say, a swimmer, for example). With this apology, it seems, the managers are trying to keep the Phelps brand soulless. His audience is giving it soul — per the Facebook comments.

It will be interesting, and nice, to hear from the swimmer himself at some point.

This isn’t a case of Shutup and Swim. This kid should be seen AND heard.

Of Qassams and Whoppers… Some People Are Really Starting to Understand Facebook

Two uses of Facebook by communicators caught my attention recently. The teams that built the applications — and the causes they built them for — couldn’t be more different. But they share a smart approach to the medium.

One, Whopper Sacrifice, was created for Burger King by the almost-always cutting edge Crispen Porter and Bogusky and sub-contractor Refresh Partners. The application gave people a coupon for a free Whopper if they sacrificed 10 Facebook friends. The idea, of course, was to show in a tongue-in-cheek way that the Whopper trumps friendship (and maybe it does trump certain Facebook friendships, no?). The application got into the heart of the Facebook/social media experience and tweaked it, played with it. Too well, I guess, as Facebook forced the team to remove the viral essence of the application— the part that alerted people that they had been unfriended in the name of one tenth of a free Whopper.

Whopper Sacrifice

Far more serious (and I’m guessing lower-budget.. but I don’t know) are these…

QassamCount allows people to “donate” their Facebook status messages (the little box that says what you’re up to right now… and is spread amongst your friends when you update it). Donated status boxes are automatically filled in with info when a Qassam rocket hits Israel from the Gaza strip. The app was created by Dan Peguine and Arik Fraimovich. Their goal was to counter what they (and many others) believed was distorted news coverage of the conflict in Gaza and neighboring Israeli towns. A competing application was created called STOP Israel’s War Crimes in Gaza by Abdallah Ehab in Egypt to counter what he (and many others) believed was distorted news coverage of the conflict in Gaza and neighboring Israeli towns.

QassamCount

These are smart applications. They also go to the heart of the experience… and they really hone in on where the “media” (the communications real estate) is, and leverage it. Arik believes that every donated status box is seen by about 20 people. He says they have 75,000 donated boxes… that’s a reach of 1.5 million people.

Communicating a Fraud… The Flaws of Perception

As many have written, Ponzi schemes are usually built on trust  … on tight social networks (in the pre-Facebook sense). From the perpetrator’s perspective, there is an inherent communications decision here.. using social networks as communications channels. You don’t market your product via a TV ad or newspaper or web ad.. your ads are people who take your messages into their trusted social networks.  And everything about these people communicates.. their clothes, their language, their jokes, their friends, their hair, their cars.. very subtle social/cultural cues that build trust.

In the massive alleged Madoff scheme, communication was gilt-edged… it took place in glamorous, elegant settings, sheathed in layers of wealth. (The NY Times has a very interesting piece on how Maddoff allegedly communicated and distributed his product in this way).

Potential customers clearly WANTED to believe. If they saw clues that something was seriously amiss, they looked past them. In retrospect there were clues. This image of the offices of Madoff’s outside auditor (how hard would it have been to find this office before dropping a few million dollars or euros into a fund?) gives a VERY DIFFERENT image/message. That naked cinderblock with the oozing cement IS the reality. It’s sheathed in NOTHING.

More photos at Yahoo News