Where Ivar’s thumbed a barnacle at transparency, and it worked

Posted by: on Nov 16, 2009 | No Comments

“He has been called the greatest self-promoter in the history of Seattle.” So said the Seattle Times this past September about Ivar Haglund, the founder of the Ivar’s seafood restaurant chain. The article goes on to describe the “discovery” of a barnacle encrusted billboard in the waters of Puget Sound out in front of downtown Seattle, supposedly put there in the 1950′s by a very forward looking Mr. Haglund.

He apparently foresaw the coming of a future of cross-Sound underwater ferries and a wonderful opportunity to promote his 75 cent cups of chowder. A local historian even chimed in, citing documents discovered in the company’s archives which supported the authenticity and hinted their might be more submerged billboards yet to be found.

A fantastic story, one which perfectly supported the Ivar brand, and garnered reams of local press coverage – and a 5-10% uptick in customer volume in the middle of a major recession.

Of course, it was all a hoax. A masterful joke played on the public, and the local media, by the crew at Ivar’s, the aforementioned local historian, and a local ad agency named Heckler Associates.

In this age of authenticity and transparency, was Ivar’s wrong in running with this oddball marketing campaign? After all, this wasn’t just some creative misdirection, or a hidden sponsor of some viral video. The company flat out lied, and even pulled in a credible historian to lie for them.

Shouldn’t they suffer some blowback or tarnish to their otherwise feel good reputation?

In this case, I’d have to say no. In an odd way, this blatant lie in support of a marketing campaign adds more to the Ivar’s brand – that of blatant, over-the-top, and creative ways to push some tasty clam chowder – than any wholly transparent social media or marketing effort I can think of.

The lie, in effect, makes them more authentic. Genius in its own way.

Photo via the linked Seattle Times article.

On how I slavishly follow Cory Doctorow’s advice

Posted by: on Nov 12, 2009 | No Comments


“They” say that the power of trusted recommendations is the ultimate form of marketing. Well here’s my example of how true that is.

I just bought a novel by Terry Pratchett – The Monstrous Regiment – basically because Cory Doctorow told me to. Not me, directly, of course, but everyone via his post about Terry’s latest book in the Discworld saga, the “Unseen Academicals.”

Thing is, I enjoy Cory’s writing enough that I took a leap of faith a while back on another of his recommendations, John Varley’s Red Thunder series. That turned out to be some of the most fun I’ve ever had reading a science fiction book (and eventually, the series). As a result of that recommendation, when Cory came along again and spoke so glowingly of Terry Pratchett, whom I’d heard of but not read, I ran right over to Amazon and picked up a copy with overnight delivery.

Will I enjoy it? Who knows. The point is I’m willing to give it a shot because I’ve previously had a positive experience based on Cory’s recommendation, which itself was based on a certain level of trust I had in his taste through his blogging and writing.

Trust rules all. I can’t wait for my book to arrive.

Nikon/Your Day: Social media marketing done right

Posted by: on Nov 10, 2009 | No Comments

With all the crap floating around the world of social marketing, some days it’s nice to see a campaign that gets it right. Case in point, Nikon with their “Your Day in 140 Seconds or Less” user-generated video contest.

What Nikon got right:

Tapping into a passionate and creative audience: If you’re going to run contest asking people to create videos, it helps to market it to people who have both the skills and the enthusiasm to bring those videos to life.

A clear and buzzworthy concept: Now where have I heard the number 140 before? Smart move by Nikon creating a link to the Twitter crowd, making the contest that much more novel and worthy of the all-powerful retweet.

Contest entries that can generate buzz forever: The end result of all the entries this contest should generate? A nice library of creative videos that could serve as linkbait and conversation starter indefinitely.

Big splash, PR worthy prize: $100,000 is still real money, no matter what the folks in DC might say. Plus another $25,000 for an audience voted winner (itself, another smart move), and you have the makings of a significant prize worth people talking about

Direct tie in to a major value proposition of the product: The product Nikon is highlighting here – the Nikon D5000 D-SLR – happen to take video, a feature they’ve been pushing. Even smarter however…

They didn’t make using a Nikon mandatory: Any camera is OK, opening up the contest to the widest possible community.

Rules that inspire, not crush, creativity: Make a video, no more than 140 seconds long, about your day. That’s it. It could be an animation, stop motion, your ideal day, your worst day, somebody else’s day, a day that takes a week, black and white, whatever.

Outstanding partners/judges: Instead of just creating a contest and flogging it out there with paid banners and blogger pitches, they lined up three judges who are celebrities in their own, well targeted communities. Rainn Wilson, better known as Dwight from The Office, has the mass market and comic appeal. iJustine made her name in short Web based videos (lifecasting, 300 page iPhone bill, etc.) and is definitely geek-famous. Chase Jarvis brings serious photographer cred. Each brings a ready made, trusting audience to the contest and lends Nikon immense credibility.

They also, of course, have the usual Facebook and Twitter accounts to help spread the word. All in all, a very smart social media marketing effort.

*I’m not in any way affiliated with or compensated by Nikon or any player in this campaign. I just think it’s a great idea.

Is Your Social Media Marketing Evergreen?

Posted by: on Oct 22, 2009 | 2 Comments

In case you skipped biology in high school (or blanked it out deliberately, like me), evergreen refers to trees which keep their leaves year round, while deciduous refers to those that lose them seasonally.

What the hell does that have to do with social media marketing? I’m glad you asked, obviously.

Evergreen vs. deciduous is a handy way to look at two major flavors of social media marketing in practice, flavors which often get lumped together under a generic umbrella. They do however have important differences which both agencies and clients should keep in mind.

Evergreen Social Media

In a sense this is the “old school” definition of social media, the stuff written about in so many books, articles, and case studies. Evergreen social media marketing is never-ending, the foundational efforts you absolutely need to embrace in today’s world. They form the backbone of your core strategic communications, public relations, branding, and customer service efforts.

In practice evergreen social media efforts are:

  • Reputation monitoring and measurement tools and programs.
  • Listening programs, tracking selected hot keywords, influencers, or sources..
  • Brand-level presences on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and so on.
  • Support efforts – think of the oft-referenced @comcastcares, Dell, or Zappos case studies.
  • “Engaging in the conversation” to drive thought leadership, handle crises, or just build relationships with your communities.

It’s the stuff you should be doing all the time – establishing a presence in key channels and conversations, paying attention, responding and engaging. Evergreen social media efforts are absolutely critical come crisis time, and lack of them are the stuff for so many of the social media horror stories you’ll find floating around. As a result you’ll find these efforts heavily pushed by PR and communications agencies, along with speciality monitoring and engagement shops, and often are driven on the client-side by PR, brand, and support groups.

Deciduous Social Media

On the flip side, some social media marketing efforts are tied more directly to outbound, short-lived marketing and advertising campaigns. They extend the campaign creative, messaging, or calls-to-action out through social media channels to drive traffic and buzz. Smart efforts piggyback on the evergreen foundation described above, to leverage monitoring, measurement, and engagement efforts already in place. And, like the campaigns they are funded by, they expire after a while. The leaves eventually fall off these guys, so to speak.

In practice, these efforts include:

  • User generated content campaigns, often tied to a contest (create a video, win a car; submit a photo, win a trip; etc.).
  • Anything and everything the marketer is hoping will go “viral” – YouTube videos tied to a product launch or supporting creative currently airing in :30 second TV spots, for example.
  • Audience participation (fan favorite voting, for example) contests and promotions.
  • Blogger outreach in direct support of a new site or product launch.

Deciduous efforts are by definition short-lived, seasonal, campaign-driven examples of social media marketing. On the agency side they – mostly – live in the land of advertising and digital marketing shops, while on the client side they are driven out of the product marketing teams and ad groups. Deciduous efforts live and die by the metrics of the campaign – conversions, clicks, responses, registrations, sales, and so on.

Why does that all matter?

As you consider who should “own” social media marketing within your company – or what kind of agency you should tap for help – step back and consider what kind of social media marketing you’re really aiming to implement. While they may share much of the same oft-confusing lingo, evergreen and deciduous efforts call upon very distinct skills and competencies and drive for very different results. Know what you’re to accomplish first, in order to select the right flavor of social media marketing.

Photo via Wikipedia.