Brands who want to get the attention of social network site users need to think beyond the usual banner ads and widgets.

While those types of ads can work if they are creative and carefully targeted, in general we’re finding that interruptive advertising on social sites just isn’t as effective as marketing messages delivered in a format that dovetails with the things that people are doing on social sites — interacting with their friends and colleges.

One of the most interesting and measurably successful new ways for brands to connect with social network users is virtual goods, also known as e-gifts. It’s a business model that’s just starting to hit its stride in the US and Europe and is already a key business model in Asia. According to a recent article in BusinessWeek “Two-thirds of the $523 million in sales by China’s Tencent social sites comes from virtual goods such as pets; only 13% is from advertising.”

The BusinessWeek article Lucrative Alternatives to Online Advertising went on to note that “Virtual goods (also known as ‘e-gifts’) are a better fit than traditional advertising on socially oriented sites… That’s because ads are more distracting than alluring on sites where people are there to interact with one another rather than surf for information or products. By contrast, virtual goods are essentially social artifacts that people use to gain status among online peers.” …Read More…

The annual Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA) Summit has established a blog carnival, and one of the subjects they are asking people to react to is “Where Does Content Start Or Marketing Begin…And Vice Versa?”

At CreativeFeed we believe that successful digital marketing — like all marketing — must focus on connecting with consumers. It’s easy to create a buzz by just making a lot of noise with some oddball content, but buzz always dies down fast. Creating an ongoing, mutually beneficial conversation between consumers and a brand is more of a challenge but infinitely more valuable.

Effective marketing today is all about conversation, and listening to this conversation is where marketing efforts/content creation should start. Companies should obviously pay attention to the blogs belonging to well-known influencers and the consumer review forums that pertain to the particular brand’s industry,plus check the chatter on Twitter and Technorati and subscribe to feeds from the meme aggregators like Reddit and Mixx as well as blog aggregator feeds focused on the brand’s target consumer groups. Listening to this conversation results in the kind of market knowledge that big firms pay dearly to obtain — a constantly evolving and highly accurate insight into why and how people are responding to the brand and its services.

…Read More…

We’ll be there.

WWD Branding Leadership Forum:

Mastering the Multi-Channel World
September 18, 2008
Condé Nast Theater, New York

Digital Marketing and Brand Development for Multi-Channel Innovators

The Bridge between Madison Avenue and Silicon Valley:
Building brands and driving sales in a mutli-channel world.

What kills good innovative marketing campaigns before they even have a chance to go live? Often it’s misguided ideas about control and the place a brand really has in consumers’ lives.

We need to ask ourselves, each and every time we come up with another brilliant concept for social/viral/user-generated content/engagement campaigns — “what’s in it for them?”

“Them” are the consumers, the people who you hope to captivate. And unless your brand is truly an essential part of peoples’ lifestyles (think Apple Computers or Harley Davidson) the hard truth is that consumers really aren’t interested in devoting chunks of their own time to talking about your products, bragging about what they bought from you, playing a flash game centered on your brand, decorating their desktops with your logo, or participating in any other brand-centered activity … unless we provide them with a compelling reason to do so.

Don’t think you can fool consumers with social networking plans that pretend to be meeting places but are really intended to get people talking only about the glories of your product, blogs filled with nothing but company news (and carefully monitored comment systems), or widgets that enable people to interact only with a brand rather than with each other. It’s not going to work and if you build it they will not come.
…Read More…

A friend – and senior executive at a globally recognized department store – contacted me recently for advice.  In the competitive world of retail, how should we organize and manage our people who market and sell across channels, to develop ideas in concert, to be more creatively effective and cost-efficient?

That conversation came back to me this weekend while I was reading a study from Accenture called “Transformation: Changing Ahead of the Curve.”  In it, I recognized the advice I gave my friend. …Read More…

A campaign for Scarlet leads viewers astray

by Sonia Reyes, July 2008 issue

Hire a high-profile Hollywood film director for your TV creative. Cast a Catherine Zeta-Jones look-alike starlet as a spy-superhero-action-star leading lady. Then bombard the Internet and TV with all manner of viral marketing ploys to stir up anticipation for a new TV series called Scarlet. Invite 500 celebrities to screen the series at a red carpet event in Hollywood on April 28. And what do you get? What you get is a tsunami of headlines from a lot of folks disappointed over being misled. Why?   …Read More…

“Big companies talk the talk when it comes to adapting to the digital age. But do they walk the talk? It’s difficult to reconcile their desire to be nimbler – and more responsive to their customers – with the fact that at big companies budgets are generally scheduled a year in advance.

What’s more, when consumers are increasingly driving the dialogue online about products and services it may be problematic for big companies to be part of the conversation when they deploy a top-down strategy. Arthur Ceria, founder and chief creative officer of CreativeFeed Network, says these sorts of business practices are fast becoming antiquated and may be deterring large enterprises from capitalizing on digital technologies.

Ceria has blogged about the need for big companies to think small if they want success in the digital world. He stresses that, for many large companies, process has started to infringe on creativity.

Big companies grappling with the Internet need to embrace a “sense of discovery,” said Ceria, who has worked with Cisco, Intel and Yahoo, among other major brands. A sense of mission and a sense of awareness are also crucial if big companies want to take advantage of the Web. I recently spoke with Ceria about why bigger is not better in the digital age – and how large enterprises need to change if they want to stay in the game.

I also chatted with Ceria about trends in Web design. Ceria, who has an MFA from Yale University with a focus on graphic design, says far too many companies still treat their Web sites like a “brochure,” rather than a living, breathing “organism” that is part of the company’s DNA.

Enjoy.”

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO ARTHUR’S PODCAST

A few years ago, we helped Dr. Romanelli develop and implement the international marketing program for a co-branded product line he was doing with Jaeger-LeCoultre. The idea was to excite influencers, reach tomorrow’s luxury watch buyers, and get today’s buyers into the shops….around the world. Judging from the amount of global press coverage, traffic to the campaign site, and some spot checks at retailers where the watches sold-out, the project succeeded.

So we were happy to see this week that JLC is continuing with this PR/marketing strategy, making it happen with a fascinating and beautiful production collaboration with Marc Newson. It’s a good roadmap for how an old luxury brand can get the message out that it is fresh and relevant:

• Browsing daily newsletter from CoolHunting.com

• See a blurb on a new Jaeger-LeCoultre/Mark Newson collaboration (via Watchismo)

• Remember that JLC has a history of surprising product collaborations with artists

• Notice that the collaboration seems true to the JLC brand and technology

• Follow a link to the JLC site to see what else they’re doing. …Read More…

Our Top 10 tips for the fashion and luxury brand CEO on interactive marketing.

1. Interactive marketing is a multiplier for your offline PR and advertising investment. Done well, you can expect to see immediate and quantifiable results.

2. Don’t confuse eCommerce or a lush website with interactive marketing. They are the cart, not the horse. Have a strong horse.

3. Online Media is: niche web sites, a forwarded email, online video, interviews, ads, blogs, search, social, cultural and business networks, etc. The right mix can build your brand and grow your sales in ways you can’t imagine. Have people who can, and give them a budget.

4. Embrace and celebrate those who influence your customers online, just as you would a journalist or editor.

5. Think of a short phrase that extols your product without naming your brand. Google that phrase. If your brand doesn’t lead the results, you have a problem opportunity.

6. Wag your Long Tail. Your brand has a rich, fascinating, and personal story. Tell it online and unexpected customers will show up on your doorstep.

7. Loyal customers are certainly invaluable, and they are online. Have a strategy for maintaining and leveraging their enthusiasm in order to grow market share and sales.

8. Asia is key, of course. And consumers there use the Internet differently than those in the West. Have a distinct online marketing strategy — and the resources to execute it – for Asia.

9. Evolve your website. Keep adding rich product information & functionality, brand news, entertaining or artistic content, all with a clear path to sales (online and/or offline). Measure activity on the site. See what works. Change what doesn’t. Repeat.

10. Don’t silo “interactive marketing”. Champion these concepts across your company, and you will see real gains in overall business performance.

-Michael