Social Media and Brands

February 12, 2013

The New NormalParadigm shift – many to many Power to the peopleIt’s about the conversationPLUS:

Brands relinquishing control of their once fiercely-protected identities

Brands participating in conversations with consumers (dialectic is best way to persuade)

Brands realizing the power of relationships

The “Relationship” Era of MarketingPRODUCT ERA

CONSUMER ERA

RELATIONSHIP ERA

Marketing is:Informing people about products

Marketing is:Persuading people to buy

Marketing is:Creating sustainable relationships

(1900s-1960s)

(1960s-2000s)

(2000s-NOW)

SM is Crucial for BrandsBrands constantly challenged to find new

ways to acquire new customersDeath of :30 second spot + fragmented media

landscape = hard to reach consumersBefore – brands reached consumers through

mediaNow – brands can speak directly to consumers

EVERY brand in existence is asking, “How do I reach and engage new & existing consumers through social media?”

Common ThreadsTransparency – brands disclosing & sharing

more information than ever beforeAuthenticity – company executives getting

“real” with consumersParticipation – inviting consumers to

participate in the marketing campaign itself

FiatUser-submitted

designs Community

votingWinners saw

their design on display at SEMA show

KIA Motors – Who’s Next?Campaign for launch

of KIA SoulInvited consumers to

submit videos explaining why they should be the next YouTube star

Winner got $10,000 to develop their own YouTube channel

SkittlesHigh degree

of user participation

Photo of the week

Highly visual website features user submissions, Twitter stream, etc.

NetflixHeld contest to

improve its “Cinematch” recommendation engine

Prize went to whomever could increase match predictions by 10% (worth $1MM to the company)

More than 30,000 hackers worked on it

Rickshaw Bagworks

Grasshopper.comB2B virtual business phone

solutionRebranding effort to focus on

entrepreneursInspiring video + mailing of

chocolate-covered grasshoppers to journalists

Encouraged photo-sharing through social media

Results: 119 blog posts, 30,000 referrals, 1,500 tweets, 4000% increase in traffic to website from social media

Comcast@ComcastCares – 54K

followersTech support for

Comcast’s 23 million subscribers

Started by Frank Eliason, Senior Director of Customer Service

Opens up a new channel to address customer complaints

Samsung Mobile

GapDecided to update their logo:

Ran into tremendous backlash on Facebook and Twitter

Within one week, decided to switch back to the old logo as a resultTHAT’s the power of social media!

Old Spice Body WashOld Spice Body

Wash launched ad campaign featuring Mustafa (the Old Spice Guy)

Mustafa created personal video responses to celebrities via YouTube

Sales for Body Wash rose by 107%

Domino’s Pizza Brand Promise

“You call us up and invite us to your home; you trust us to make dinner for you; you invite us to your doorstep. That's sacred to us, and that's why our people wear full uniforms. We want you to trust us when your doorbell rings.”

- Tim McIntyre, vice-president of communications

Case Study – Domino’sTwo Domino’s

employees uploaded a video to YouTube showing them putting boogers on pizzas

Video spread rapidly across the Internet and created a huge PR nightmare for the company

How Domino’s Responded Identified the employees and fired

themContacted the Health Department

and local police to file charges against the two culprits

The social media team immediately contacted YouTube to ask that the video be removed (not that simple)

How Domino’s Responded (cont.)Didn’t issue a public statement; instead

responded to direct inquiries via Dominos.com, FB, Twitter, etc.

Domino’s posted its own video to YouTube, featuring company president who calmly and sincerely vented his anger and reiterated how sacred the company holds its customers' trust.Purposely used the word “disgusting” in title

so that when people searched on YT, the new Domino’s video would show up first

The AftermathWithin three hours of posting the company

video response to YouTube, views of the original video surged to over one million.

And for the first time ever, on that day only, search queries for keyword "Domino's" surpassed those for "Paris Hilton.“

The company-posted video also quickly propelled the story into mainstream US news, then global media – 60 million media impressions

The Aftermath (cont.)Sales/franchisees suffered - the company

reported flat to slightly positive sales in the second quarter

Received top honors in the annual American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI) in May.

Domino’s now a great example for how to handle a social media crisis the *right* way