The Quisenblog

What does it take to attract a half million fans to a Facebook page in the span of seven days? A celebrity? An event? A monstrous give-a-way? A cause, like donate to Haiti or breast cancer awareness? A Super Brand?

Not necessarily.  What has attracted over 500,000 fans (and growing) is…a pickle.

That’s right, a pickle. On a Facebook page titled “Can This Pickle Get More Fans Than Nickleback?”  fans are signing up at the rate of about 3,000 per hour.

Pickle Facebook page

Silly? Definitely. But it speaks to the power of Social Media, and how a simple premise with a unifying hook can spread like a virus through social communities in a blink of an eye.

What brought people to the page? Was it a deep-seated hatred of Nickleback? A curiosity? A desire to belong to a group of like-minded people? A hunger for controversy? A chance to be silly? Or did they come just because their friends did?

The great thing about a page like this one is that you can come and join for whatever reason. You don’t have to say. You don’t even really need to be aware of the reason why. Just know that it’s possible. Something catches the fancy of America, and boom! The amplifier of Social Media gives you the tools to spread it instantaneously. Past phenomena were inhibited by the lack of  “social viscosity” of the time. Think back to the seventies. How long did it take to sell 500,000 pet rocks?

Because Social Media works quickly, it helps to be prepared to work quickly as well. Opportunities appear then disappear with the frequency of the critters in a game of whack-a-mole. Deep reflection is not something that is rewarded when it comes to Social Media.

That doesn’t mean you have to fall back to a ready-shoot-aim model of dealing with Social Media. It primarily means once you understand your purpose, what your value is to your followers, and discover your voice, the reactions should come naturally. You won’t have to make an executive decision every time you see an opportunity come out of the woodwork, whether in the form of a user comment, a shout-out from a blogger or a quirky social phenomena.

After all, if a pickle can do it, so can you.

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Mickey New Media, Ramblings, Social Media Facebook fans, Nickelback, Pickle Facebook, Social Media

Ah, 2009. Yeah, for the most part it’s been a year you’d like to forget. But though they may have been few and far between, there were some stellar things worth cheering about in the world of marketing. Here is a very short list of some of my favorites, arranged in a bronze-silver-gold kinda way. If you have your own list of kudos you’d like to share, we’d love to hear from you.

Bronze: The Tourist Council of Queensland (Australia). This collection of tropical islands along the Great Barrier Reef is indeed a stunning destination. The “normal” way of promoting such a destination is to produce a stunning TV spot with great footage of all the cool stuff you can do there, then run the crap out of it on TV. The Council didn’t have a “TV budget” to work with, but it wasn’t about to let that get in their way. They created an online promotion inviting web site visitors to apply for the “Best Job in the World”—the position of “caretaker” of the islands.

In the words of their web site, “The Caretaker of the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef is a newly created position. There are a few minor tasks that need to be taken care of, but the most important duty is to report back to Tourism Queensland (and the world) and let us know what’s taking place on the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef.”

This promotion was pretty much restricted to online and Social Media only, and generated more than 1.4 million application videos being uploaded to the Council’s site. Once the Caretaker was “hired,” fans were invited to follow his daily progress on his blog, creating year-round engagement. Most importantly, in a year when most destinations suffered double-digit declines, Queensland enjoyed its best tourist season ever.

Silver: The “smile” campaign from American Express. It’s been quite a while since I’ve seen a TV campaign with such a brilliantly simple concept, impeccable art direction and timeless music. Proof you don’t have to scream at someone to get his full attention.

Gold: All the contributors who made YouTube THE Social Media story of 2009. From Susan Boyle to the Evian Skating Babies to the Microsoft slip-n-slide to the lady who uploaded the home video of her sleep-walking dog (and to the creators of all the mash-ups that followed), the heroes of this emerging platform are many.

With broadband penetration now nearing 70%, and more than 88 million videos being upload just to YouTube every month, the computer and smart phone is becoming the “screen of choice” for many. Look for 2010 to be the “tipping point” in the video revolution, where video will play an important role across all Social Media platforms.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on who deserves to be named a “Marketing Hero of 2009.” Drop us a line.

And may you have a Happy and Prosperous New Year!

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Mickey Ramblings, Social Media American Express, Best Job in the World, Evian, island caretaker, Microsoft slip-n-slide, Rollerskating Babies, smart phone, smile campaign, social media platforms, Susan Boyle, Take Charge, The Tourist Council of Queensland, video revolution, YouTube

If you are a loyal reader of The Quisenblog, you’ll recognize two of the subjects we harp on over and over: 1) the importance of being transparent, and 2) the importance of identifying opportunities to repurpose content.

In the spirit of each of these, we humbly present you with the following links (the “re-purpose”) to our favorite Quisenblog posts of 2009 (which, in the spirit of transparency, frees us up from having to come up with a new post during this short holiday week).

If you have a particular favorite that we missed, please let us know. Happy Holidays, everyone!

• On Creativity
• Mistakes of Action
• He Just Wanted Toast.
• What’s Your Story?
• Finding Your One Thing.
• A Penny For Your Thoughts.
• United’s Sour Note.
• The Social Media Manifesto
• Social Media turns the Media Funnel upside down.
• Action steps for getting your business started in Social Media.

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Mickey Ramblings 2009, favorite blogs, favorite posts, repurpose content, transparency

It’s not Tiger. Sure, he just put $90 million in endorsements at risk, but he’s doing just fine. He’s no O.J. Simpson. He may have made some miscalculations when it came to handling the aftermath of the “collision,” but the fall-out won’t last long. He’ll hire a crack PR organization to oversee his “social rehabilitation.” You’ll see pics of Tiger and his kids, and hear about the do-good projects he’s doing on behalf of the under-privileged. Even money says he regains most of his mojo before 2010 is out.

It’s not his corporate sponsors. If anything, they’ve gotten an extra boost out of the free media and publicity surrounding the affair. A week ago, I couldn’t tell you who Accenture is. Now they’re everywhere. No one really thinks a sponsor who signed a contract with Woods years ago is tied to his activity now.

It’s not Elin. Yeah it’s ugly now, but trust me, there’s a book deal or movie-of-the-week silver lining in this fiasco somewhere.

Nope. The biggest loser is the PGA.

Tiger isn’t just the brightest star on the Pro Tour. As far as most people are concerned, he’s the only star. By taking an indefinite leave from the sport, he creates a vacuum that’s almost impossible to fill. It’s not like Michael Jordan leaving basketball or Cal Ripkin leaving baseball. There were other stars. There were other storylines. But for most folks who follow golf (especially the casual followers), professional golf begins and ends with Tiger.

As proof, just look back to when Tiger took time off to rehab his knee. Ratings of TV tournaments were down by half. You can expect more of the same with Tiger on the sidelines this year.

As a short-term strategy, PGA officials need to huddle together to figure out how to get Tiger back on the tour in short order. Imagine the hype that would be generated by Woods returning for next year’s U.S. Open.

In the longer term, the PGA needs to devise strategies to create additional storylines with other players to hopefully build interest with casual followers. Utilizing Social Media to make players more “accessible” to fans, and creating real time online tournaments where fans can compete against pros, or vie to be their virtual caddies, would be a great start.

Oh, yeah. There is one other big loser in the Woods incident, of course. His Escalade.

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Mickey Ramblings, Social Media Accenture, book deal, caddies, Cal Ripkin, corporate sponsors, Elin Woods, Escalade, fan access, Michael Jordan, movie deal, online tournaments, PGA Tour, professional golf, Tiger Woods

I recently came across this P.O.V. by Brian Halligan about how the quality of your content is much more important now than it has ever been. I couldn’t agree more. Plus, any post that includes a vintage Irish Spring spot has to be worth the read. –Mickey

Are creative marketing types a dying breed?

By Brian Halligan (from Creativity Unbound)

I have been thinking about my mom and dad sitting on their couch in 1979 watching “Dynasty” and being interrupted five minutes into it by an Irish Spring soap ad. Something remarkable happened after that ad played: My dad actually spoke with my mom about soap, and they decided to switch from Dove to Irish Spring! I think of my parents today sitting on their couch watching “The Office” and being interrupted 5 minutes in by an Irish Spring ad. Something very different happens this time: Dad grabs the clicker and either fast-forwards or turns to ESPN.

In those pre-historic times before the age of cable, DVR’s, and clickers (remotes to us Yanks), I might argue that the key factors in order of marketing importance were time slot, segmentation match with the product to the audience, and then creativity/quality of the advertisement itself. In other words, it was important for the advertisement to be creative/good, but mom and dad were going to hear the message by hook or by crook.

I have heard many people argue that creative marketing types are becoming obsolete. I don’t buy it. In fact, I think the creative marketing type is 10 times more important today than it was 30 years ago when you had mom and dad captive on the couch.

To get mom and dad’s attention today, you need to create remarkable content. I use that word “remarkable” because the content has to be so good that it compels other users, content creators and web site owners to remark about it in the form of links back to it. These links inform Google of how remarkable the content is which drives you up the rankings. If the content is really remarkable, it will spread virally through sites like Twitter. Rather than creating a 30-second “spot” for a captive mom and dad, the great creative types today are creating remarkable content that is essentially voted on by the web community through links which will ultimately get it in front of mom and dad if it is deemed worthy. This is really hard and the content needs to be fantastic to spread through a skeptical, non-captive audience.

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Mickey On Customers, Ramblings Brian Halligan, captive audience, Dynasty, Google, Irish Spring soap ad, marketing factors, mom and dad, remarkable content, The Office, Twitter, web community

Tang was a horrible product. It was an awful-tasting, expensive, nutrient-deficient powdery “drink substance” developed by General Foods as an alternative morning beverage back in the late 1950s that suffered from poor sales for the first several years after its launch.

Then something interesting happened. In 1965, General Foods somehow convinced NASA to include Tang on its manned Gemini space flights. Overnight, Tang was no longer a weird-tasting breakfast drink. It was what the astronauts drank.

And kids couldn’t get enough of it. They literally begged their moms to purchase the stuff. And proudly paraded it out of their lunchboxes.

You see, back in 1965, every kid wanted to be an astronaut. And if she couldn’t be in the Gemini capsule there at Cape Canaveral, at least she could have the ‘astro beverage’ in her Yogi Bear lunchbox!

This is just one example of how a simple story can create a whole mythology for a brand. It is the narrative of the brand that people connect with, that makes the purchase more “personal” and says something about them. This narrative is what helps people define a brand for themselves, and whether or not it belongs as part of their “personal brand.”

What does it take to make a compelling story for a brand? The first rule is to be authentic. If your cookies really aren’t made by elves in trees, then don’t try to convince us that they are. If your product was created by a bunch of guys in white coats in a chemistry lab, don’t try to have us buy a story that the recipe was handed down from some Italian grandma’s kitchen.

Take an inventory of what part of your “story” is different enough to make people notice. Then ask if it can be extrapolated to be associated with some sort of benefit. Even a seemingly irrelevant detail of your brand’s history or early beginnings could be the rough material to build a story from.

The most compelling stories are those that are both simple and timeless. In the early ‘70s, when automakers were falling all over one another claiming to get the best gas mileage, Volvo built a brand story around safety. While many outerwear manufacturers were focused on cutting costs by shipping production overseas, Timberland proudly crafted a story of how their products were built by generations of real craftsmen here in the U.S. The Body Shop used only natural ingredients with no animal testing in its beauty products. Suddenly the product is not just something to wear, or drive, or eat. it is a status symbol of sorts. A way to express your own personal values.

In the end, that’s exactly what brands are: the stories and experiences consumers associate with them.

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Mickey On Clients, Ramblings brand narrative, Gemini space flights, General Foods, NASA, personal brand, Tang, The Body Shop, Timberland, Volvo

In the marketing world, as in most other industries, there are two types of people. There are the complicators. And there are the simplifiers.

The complicators can make even the simplest marketing concept sound like something akin to mapping the genome. They throw around buzz words like “target market archetypes,” “crowdsourcing,” “brand-based consumer insight” and “habituated conversations” the way a sailor spews profanity.

The simplifiers? They’re the ones that usually cut through the crapola, boil the problem down to its simplest terms, then solve it. No muss, no fuss, no references to “cross platform fluency.”

Sadly, most people who know about our business primarily by reading about it think we’re all complicators. “I don’t understand exactly what it is they’re saying,” they might say, “but they sure sound smart. They must know what they’re talking about.”

And they’re right. People in this business are smart. Very smart. Some of the smartest people I’ve ever met. And in this regard, many of us may just be too smart for our own good (or at least our clients’ good).

Take for example the following passage, which was lifted verbatim from an article on a leading industry website: “A multimedia mix framed to spark conversations requires a compelling message concept that can work across
a multimedia platform.” My guess is what the author is trying to say is, “Great content will have people talking about you.”

Of course, say it like that and you can forget about collecting your $3,000 day rate or enticing information-hungry executives to sign up for your webinar.

As an industry, we need to ask ourselves if all this “marketing speak” helps address our clients’ problems. Does it add clarity or confusion? Does it provide new insights? Does it help us solve anything? Or is it merely the complicators taking over the conversation?

Clients aren’t looking for fancy terms, as far as I can tell. They’re looking for real solutions to real marketing problems. And the simpler, the better.

Simple is the antidote for a complex world. Simple has always trumped complex. Simple does things that complex can’t. Our lives are filled with complexity. Simplicity stands out and demands our attention.

Winston Churchill, in the commencement speech he gave to his old preparatory school in 1941 epitomizes the power of simplicity. Here’s his speech in its entirety:

‘Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never–in nothing, great or small, large or petty–never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.’

Of all the great speeches Churchill gave during his lifetime, this one is arguably his most memorable. All because of its simplicity.

So as the title to this column says, I urge you to eschew the paradigm of obfuscation. In other words, keep it simple.

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Mickey On Clients, Ramblings buzz words, complexity, marketing speak, obfuscation, simplicity, smartest people, Winston Churchill

In a word, simplicity.

Simple has always trumped complex. Simple does things that complex can’t. Our lives are filled with complexity. So simplicity stands out and demands our attention.

As an illustration of this, I present the following video, which tongue-in-cheekily shows what may have happened with one of the world’s simplest packaging solutions ended up in the hands of one of the world’s most complex organizations.

Think: how can I make it simpler? Legendary architect and designer Mies van der Rohe became well known for paring his designs down to their barest elements. Instead of adding elements, he took them away, one by one, until his design failed to communicate. It was only then that he knew when he’d gone too far.

Simple is not always, eh,…simple. As a Junior Copywriter at Cole & Weber, I worked for a Creative Director who challenged me to make my copy simpler. His challenge to me was to edit my copy down to its bare essentials, and when I was sure I had no fluff in it, that it was as tight as I could possibly make it, to present it to him. At that point, he would charge me 25 cents for every word he could take out.

About $30 later, I think I learned a few things about writing simpler copy. Hopefully, your foray into simplicity won’t cost you as much.

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Mickey Ramblings bare essentials, Cole & Weber, complex organizations, iPod packaging, Mies van der Rohe, simplicity

When you produce the “7-minute abs” video workout, can the 6-minute abs workout be far behind?

If you are content with making your products incrementally better—making it a little more ergonomic, a little more convenient, offering it in a few more sizes or adding an additional flavor or two—you are leaving yourself wide open for your category’s version of the “6-minute abs.”

Make sure what you are releasing is truly unique. Nothing your competitors can get to just by making incremental changes. Be revolutionary, not just evolutionary.

While an evolutionary product is a step forward from where you currently stand, a revolutionary product forges an entirely new path. It is different, bold, and risky — and also has the potential to be highly rewarding. Find out what it is your customers are trying to get done; then come up with an elegant solution no one has yet thought of to help them do it.

Post-It Notes are revolutionary. Rip Stiks are revolutionary. DVRs are revolutionary. Diet Caffeine-Free Cherry Pepsi? Not so much.

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Mickey Ramblings DVR, Post-It Note, revolutionary, Rip Stik

On the north edge of the South Dakota Badlands, about 55 miles east of Rapid City, lies the town of Wall, South Dakota. Not much to it, really, with a population of just 818 people, according to the latest census.

Yet Wall, South Dakota, is home to a roadside tourist attraction that attracts more than 2 million visitors a year (and no, it’s not Mt. Rushmore).

It’s Wall Drug. Perhaps you’ve visited it. For sure you’ve seen some bumper sticker that promoted it. So how did a humble small-town drug store in literally the middle of nowhere come to attract tens of million of visitors over the years?

The key, it seems, is water.

Back in 1931, when the store was struggling along like many others during the Great Depression, Dorothy Hustead had a bit of inspiration—put up road signs along the nearby highway offering free ice water to weary travelers headed to the Black Hills and Yellowstone.

Sounds deceptively simple, but back in the day, travel wasn’t nearly as easy and convenient as it is now. Highways were iffy. Cars didn’t perform quite so well. And there was no such thing as air conditioning. So people pretty much had to stop.

Wall Drug gave them a reason to linger. And by lingering, travelers fell in love with the place.

That advertising campaign turned Wall Drug into an international icon, elevating it from a forgettable roadside stop to a must-visit tourist attraction that visitors have chatted up with their families and friends for decades. Today, along with the quirky collection of photos, colorful rocks, carvings, leatherworks and jewelry, you’ll still find that free water.

Along with a Wall’s own brand of bottled water for $1.09. (The marketing continues.)

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Mickey Ramblings Dorothy Husted, roadside tourist attraction, Wall Drug, Wall South Dakota