Let’s face it, social media is a weak play generating artifical bonds that can be easily erased.  As marketers we need to try harder.  Buzz requires relevance.  Not relevance on the brand’s terms, rather a combination of our target’s relevance in a space true to the brand — a space the brand can own.  Passion is key.  If you want to be socialy relevant long term, the brand space must be something the target is passionate about.  Successful social marketing lies at the crosshairs of relevance and passion.

From a consumer perspective the easiest way to get to “me” is by embracing my passion, and Johnsonville Brats is inching their way into America’s weekend passions.  To begin with Johnsonville has the big Taste Grill Semi traveling the country giving our free brats at major events throughout the country.  This lives within a passion (and hits the spot), however, the semi is limited to one passion point per weekend.   So, the brand needed to go deeper.  It needed to go to Spartanville.

Spartanville lives at Michigan State University.  Johnsonville took over a part of Spartan Stadium with it’s brand in context of a passion shared by 75,000 fans during those fall Saturday’s.  Spartanville lives at the crosshairs of the fan passion and the brand.  For years Johnsonville has been running the “-ville” brand suffix campaign to reshape food genres (“Pastaville”), time (“Weekendville”), and consumers (Share your Ville video contest).  Sometimes it seemed like the brand was talking to itself, other times it may hit home for some people in a relevant way.

Relevance is tricky — the broader the relevance the more likely a brand can’t own it (i.e. think Valentine’s Day or ), and the narrower the relevance the more targeted and more costly the effort.  Micro-relevance, like micro-conversations, is at the heart of social marketing, but are rarely done due to the logistics of time, cost and effort (and sometimes expertise).

Some rituals are comfortable daily patterns we perform between dawn and dusk.  Other rituals are infrequent, possible social events that we look forward to.  For many Americans the fall is football time and time for many rituals from the wave, to dumping Gatorade on the winning coach, to tailgating before the game.  Also, football is a ritual one can celebrate alone, with friends, and as a community.   From high school games on Friday, to college Saturday, to pro games on Sunday, we discuss the nuances of the game.  We celebrate the victories.  We commiserate the losses.  Win or lose we look forward to the next game, the next tailgate, the next ritual.

Earlier this week I received an email from Buffalo Wild Wings.  While the email was about a contest, my attention focused on the word “Tablegating”.   I like the concept.  Most fans tailgate at home games, and are left to find ways to socialize for away games.  Why not “Tablegate” at a nearby restaurant like Buffalo Wild Wings.

By hijacking tailgating with Tablegating BWW could build a ritual around the place to go when your team is out of town.  While Tablegating is a nice hook, the current idea or contest doesn’t fully take advantage of the tailgating ritual.  The Tablegating Challenge (by Coke Zero) is okay, but it is still only a contest.  In my perspective, a contest (or sweepstakes) is like frosting on a cake — if the cake does not taste good, the frosting will have little or no effect.

Buffalo Wild Wings should spend more time exploring the “Ultimate Tablegating Experience”.  The concept has potential, but it has to be more than reserving a table to watch the game with your buddies or a contest.  This experience has the potential of hijacking the tailgating ritual for away games.   To highjack a ritual, you need to take the essence of the ritual and make it yours.  For example:

• Team Spirit:  Normally the school or team colors fly everywhere.  Logos abound.  How can people add spirit to their table?  Can they bring in their team flags?  Or are there special flags one could adorn the table (similar to those afixed to car windows only bigger)?
• My Tailgate:  People get to the game early to secure “their spot”.  As with all rituals, many people have a preferred space to tailgate.  Some people tailgate at the same spot for years.  Is there a way to configure the restaurant to create unique areas?  Is there a way to configure the tables to create more socialization for larger groups?
• Tablegate Streaming:  The big game is a reason for friends from out of town to come in, however, I would doubt someone would commute for Tablegating.  So, what about merging the physical and virtual worlds through a screen at the table — allowing people at the restaurant to text back and forth with friends anywhere.
• League Smack:  Fantasy leagues abound, and one of the main activities is to talk trash.  Building on the previous streaming idea, what about combining the streaming fantasy league scoring with Tablegate streaming.
• Pre-Game Games:  Sure there is drinking, but there is also activities like bean bag toss, washer toss, or ladder golf.  Can one of these games be used/adapted or is there another game here.  Of course there is paper football, but thinking a little bigger — a little more special.
• Contest: Okay, now add a contest to bring it all together.

Buffalo Wild Wings has an opportunity to create a go to experience, a go to ritual, on game day.  This is a logical and emotive extension from their current marketing.  There are very few national restaurant chains that can own Tablegating (maybe Hooters).  So the true ultimate challenge is how to take a contest idea and transform it into a ritual.

The Toyota commercial reminds me of a meeting  at Ford about three years ago.  Back then, I was working with Ford Strategic Research on a project, and we were reviewing the decline of Ford (and all domestics) over the past decade.  In 1995, about 63% of new vehicle buyers shopped domestic manufacturers only.  By 2008, the number slipped to 32% with 49% of new vehicle buyers exclusively shopping imports.  In our discussion, the general sentiment was that it would take a decade for Ford to rebound.

Well, fast forward three or so years and Ford is back in the limelight.  Ford has many many rightmoves over the past several years, and as Jim Farley, Head of Ford Marketing, points out in Advertising Age, sometimes fortunate timing helps too.  For example, the day in 2008 when Ford didn’t take money from Congress, the Big Three started to become the Big Two and Ford. 

There are many reasons why Ford rebounded, but I believe there are two major factors.  The first is Ford had the product.  Although they had many mishaps in the 1990s through about 2003, Ford had corrected their quality issues, invested in vehicle technology, and by about 2005 was poised to challenge the imports — but no one was listening.

This brings me to my second factor — Ford’s social relevancy.  The reality is up to the bailout Ford was pretty much  irrelevent except for several vehicles: the F-Series pickups and Mustang.  The remaining vehicles, most notably their cars, became a defensible driveway discussion for many new Ford owners (a.k.a “So, why did you buy a Ford?” “Um, ah, I got a great deal.”). 

The one brand action, not taking the money, gave Ford permission to be different.  And they took advantage of it.  Ford followed up with many initiatives to gain social relevance.  Several initiatives worth noting were Fiesta Movement and Drive One for Your School.

The Fiesta Movement was another well-timed opportunity.  The “new” Fiesta had been available in Europe for years.  So, to introduce the new vehicle, Alan Mulally announced Ford would bring 100 European Fiestas over to U.S. to be driven by 100 drivers who were innovative, interesting, and socially active online.  The PR move became a powerful social undercurrent in Fiesta’s launch.  The program generated significant awareness amongst the youthful target audience even before the vehicle launched —  before the first commercial ever aired.

Drive One for your School is lesser known than Fiesta Movement, but I would argue had just as much to do with Ford’s social resurgence.  Ford and Team Detroit designed a program which combined Ford’s need to get people into their vehicles with a lack of school funding around the country.  The program offered school associations $20 per test drive at the dealership typically on the weekend.  Although a goal was to generate sales, it was just as important to get people to experience a Ford first hand.  Ford was confident a multi-sensory experience would not only change their impression, it would hopefully encourage people to speak favorably of Ford when someone in their social circle was shopping for a new vehicle.

Ford’s advertising also focused on changing social impressions of Ford.  Different campaigns like Swap Your Ride or Town Takeover, placed competitive owners in Ford vehicles for an extended test drive for a week or so.  This testimonial advertising became more and more believable as Ford’s social relevancy increased.

Assessing Ford’s progress today is quite impressive.  A combination of a demonstrative brand action, social emphasis, and savvy advertising returned Ford to prominence in years as oppose to a decade.

The bottom of my french press split sending hot coffee and grounds all over me, the stove, and the kitchen floor.  My wife had enough — stop the morning grind and brew and get another coffee maker.  So, I turned to my social circle to see if they can find me a worthy replacement for my french press.

I posted Monday (see below), and was surprised how quickly people responded.  Of course, some of the responses were snarky, others were clever, and most were very helpful.

 Eric Bowe: Okay, second day without morning coffee. My french press cracked and spilled hot coffee and grounds all over the kitchen floor (Ugh).  So, now I am in search of a new coffee maker (my wife banned french presses).
Any thoughts for a coffee maker which makes a robust pot of coffee?
Are there any differences?
What features are worth paying extra for?
Monday at 11:58am

 David Bastedo A reusable bin for the coffee grinds, a timer to set for the morning, a pot that’s big enough for your needs that stays hot – carafe vs. heat pad – go for the heat pad if you want hot coffee – a coffee strength nob – not sure what this does or if it works. It’s HOT coffee that is important
Monday at 12:00pm

 Stephen Stepanek How about making it cowboy style – in an aluminum pot from the fifities – just pour the grounds and water in and heat over a campfire – heat till just short of a boil – then strain the grounds through your teeth? As far as keeping it hot – just keep the campfire going.
Monday at 12:06pm 

 Jamie Frech hi eric the interface for programming is a little wonky but this is the best coffeemaker i’ve had in years: http://www.hamiltonbeach.com/products/brewstation-coffeemakers-brewstation-summit-ultra-12-cup-coffeemaker.html makes a mean dark cup of joe.
Monday at 12:30pm

 Steve Walls simple Krups machine will last and last and just be no fuss http://www.krupsusa.com/NR/rdonlyres/42A6F5CA-5A40-48A7-B3A7-868B23534D20/18731/KT4065351x351.jpg
Monday at 12:34pm

 Michelangelo Cicerone For the wife, get this:http://www.sweetmarias.com/sweetmarias/coffee-brewers/filtercones/clever-dripper-with-lid.html (pour hot water, let it seep , then let it drip)
For yourself get this: http://tinyurl.com/3k4tsl9
Monday at 12:44pm

 Laurent Stanevich Lifehacker actually did a really comprehensive / anal-retentive overview of different coffee-making alternatives to automatic drip: http://lifehacker.com/#!5778831/dropping-the-drip-how-to-get-started-with-better-coffee-making  I would say that the Chemex press that Michelangelo recommended is definitely a good alternative to the French Press, but it may or may not meet spousal approval.
Monday at 12:54pm

 Amy Daneke skip it & just go to commonwealth (across/ diagonal from paladuim). you’ll fall in love with coffee all over again!
Monday at 2:07pm

 Chris D’Alessandro http://www.keurig.com/shop/brewers/all-brewers?crcat=wsp-brewer%7Egeneral&crsource=adwords&crkw=keurig+coffee+maker&crcampaign=7207653306&cm_mmc=google-_-Brewer-_-keyword-_brewer&gclid=CKCOkd3epqgCFUMUKgodFWRiIQ
Monday at 2:54pm

 Jodi Bollaert Saeco and Cafe Beletage…you’ll be hooked for life!
Monday at 7:25pm

Based on this advice I did a few searches and I ended up buying a Hamilton Beach Brewstation based on Jamie’s recommendation (also, it helped that model number 47454 was rated the #1 coffee maker by Consumer Report).

Although I would prefer to do my own research, leaning on the knowledge and experience of my facebook network reveals a wider perspective than my typical researching methods.  Some companies have been playing with social shopping apps, yet none to my knowledge have gained critical mass.  Some could be coming or it is just simpler to request help through a status update.  Either way, FaceShopping is a sleeping giant waiting to be awakened.

Ad 1.o has been around about 100 years, but it has run its course.  Ironically, many ad people are clinging on to 1.0 — going through some sort of denial that the glory years will be back.  Well, they’re gone. 

Before I go on, let me define what Ad 1.0 is, and why it is dead.  Simply put, Advertising 1.0 is the marketing to a single target.  This is why I refer to it as “1.0″.  The target can be a demographic, a psychographic, or an aspirational mindset.  In Ad 1.0 the singular target is the fulcrum point for all advertising within a campaign, and all ads and media are geared to this target. 

How did we get to Ad 1.0?
Without rehashing advertising history, the idea of one target is an efficiency play, a channel play, and a simple play.  Advertising began in a far simpler channel landscape — for the longest time television ruled the roost and everything was good.  Also, this was BPC (Before PCs) and analytic capabilities today put the 1960′s NASA projects in the dust.

Ad 1.o is not a bad idea and it made all the marketing sense at the time.  When ratings were high, the competitors were limited and the only long tail you would find is on a monkey at the zoo.  But something happened in the 1990′s.  Sure the Internet was a part of it, but marketing became a lot more sophisticated APC (After PCs).   Both marketers and consumers became a lot smarter.  The rapid evolution continues today with the mobile culture about to put Ad 1.0 on its place.

Why is Ad 1.0 dead?
In a cluttered brand and media landscape a single brand message, a single brand experience is not enough.  First of all, creating an ad that will resonate with everyone (and sell your product) is extremely difficult.  Probably the easiest way to appeal to most is through humor (e.g. Super Bowl Ads).  It works.  It’s memorable.  But did it change consumer behavior?

I remember seeing a media presentation a few years back.  The media person was lauding the efficiency of the buy.  They had a graph of 100 people and highlighted 10, just ten, because this was their core target, and it was an efficient use of media.  This media savvant was telling the client, they are hitting a bulls-eye (the ten percent) and receiving a bonus: 90% additional coverage.  The problem with this logic is that the ad was designed for the 10%, not the 90% bonus coverage. 

Logically, it is very difficult to create one ad that will appeal to a product’s entire consumption target.  That is why a marketer should not.  Instead in today’s marketplace it is more about creating effective touchpoints for multiple targets.  This is counter to Ad 1.0 logic, because it is not efficient, not scalable, and not done in a single ad. 

What killed Ad 1.0 is not this blog entry, rather it is the myriad of experiential and messaging opportunities in social, mobile, and the web.  A campaign must shift from a 1.0 world of a series of messages to a more progressive view where the campaign is a brand sandbox containing messaging, experiences and conversations.  To do this we need to move to Ad n.x.

What is Ad n.x?
The next generation of advertising is not 2.0, rather it is n.x.

•  ”n” is the number of targets for your product. 
•  ”x” is the relevant touchpoints for each target. 

“n” is diverse.  It includes a population of consumers who have never heard of your product, shoppers currently buying within your competitive set, and people who own or have used your product.   Each of the three sets of people (product naive, shoppers, and owners) are also motivated differently:

• Breaking through the product naive consumer in their daily life will most likely require more than 30 seconds.
• A consumer’s shopping cloud includes numerous variables from price to expert opinion to risk to routine to brand reputation to social pressure.
• Owners/users seem like the easiest to target to convert, yet many marketers invest in “filling the funnel” not retaining the people passed through the funnel. 

“x” is everywhere.  Sorry to be so nebulous but brand communication is a fluid part of our everyday.  The consumer reality of a person’s day includes:

• Intrusive media trying to pry our attention to our everyday life.
• Information we discover on our own, either through a daily task or researching a product.
• Social input from friends and family — whether we ask for it or not.
• Product trial is an important ingredient in swaying future purchase habits, but how do we induce trial?
• And prior ownership is a positive predictor of future ownership — for better or worse.

Given the dynamics of today’s marketing, you can see  why solving for “x” is not easy. A campaign must address all aspects of persuasion. 

Do I have x.n figured out?  Nope.  However, I believe it is the right path for the future of advertising.  It is not easy, because for a marketer it is very complex.  For an agency it is doubly daunting, because most agencies either live in the 1.0 world or in a channel specialty.  The future agency will figure out how to think x.n.  To generate ideas in x.n. And to deliver ads in x.n.

Check out the list of postings on my wall.  Specifically, look at the comments and likes to see which marketers are getting the love back. 

My favorite is the Qdoba kissing contest (way to generate CGC on V-Day).  I only listed one posting, but there are multiple postings on my wall of people kissing for a free BOGO.

AutoTrader.comWhile we always love cars, we love them a little bit more today in honor of Valentine’s Day. Read all our car-love content right here today! http://www.autotrader.com/car- love.jsp
Comments: 3   Likes: 3

Zehnder’s of Frankenmuth™  Happy Valentine’s Day! On the menu tonight at Zehnder’s Restaurant: Lump Crab Cakes to start off with, 18 oz. Porterhouse or Char-Grilled Filet with Demi Glace and of course, a sweet treat for the Valentine and special Valentine drink specials…
Comments: 1  Likes: 14

Pep Boys – Manny, Moe & Jack  Happy Valentine’s Day! Picking up some flowers? Or something for the mechanic at heart? Tell us—what’s the best or worst Valentine’s gift you ever received? – The Boys
Comments: 0  Likes: 2

Chili’s Grill & Bar Win a night out from our friends at ClickItToGiftIt! In 100 words tell them your funniest, craziest or most embarrassing Valentine’s story, then vote on the best tale starting Thursday, Feb. 17 at 12 p.m. EST. The story with the most votes win a $100 eGift Card valid at Chili’s, Maggiano’s, Macaroni Grill or On the Border along with a $50 eGift Card to Regal theatres. Submit your story now! http://on.fb.me/dVdcD8
Comments: 22  Likes:  97

Starbucks  Happy Valentine’s Day! This couple met each other at Starbucks, but they were Starbucks across the street. They might have met faster if they sent a Starbucks Card eGift? http://sbux.co/StarbucksCardeG

Comments:  414    Likes: 5,173

Advance Auto Parts You love your car. See our latest Poll for creative ways to show it on Valentine’s Day.

Don’t forget a Valentine’s gift for the love of your life – your car. Which gift would you choose?

1: A lush bouquet of spark plugs and ignition wires

2: An embossed car bra (for those romantic, weekend road trips)

3: A flask of exquisitely aged antifreeze

… See More
Comments:  7  Likes: 9

  

 Chili’s Grill & Bar  Happy Valentine’s Day! We hope you spend the day with family and loved ones, and if you don’t have plans, stop by Chili’s to try our 2 for $20 with your sweetheart.

Comments: 29  Likes:  236

 

 Weber Grills   Happy Valentine’s Day from Weber! We truly love all of our fans.

 

Comments:  29  Likes:  191

 

   Qdoba    Happy Valentine’s Day ♥ Don’t forget, today all at participating Qdoba locations we’re doing a special BOGO for a Kiss. Kiss your special someone, your mom, friend or even the random person behind you in line to get a BUY ONE, GET ONE FREE entree! No coupon necessary – just your lips and someone to kiss and someone to kiss! (Valid only at participating locations, available here: http://bit.ly/fTWwQP)

  Comments: 21   Likes: 49

   Denny’s    Do you love Valentine’s Day or hate it? Either way, Denny’s will be open to singles looking to mingle and couples looking to canoodle!

 Comments: 25    Likes: 76

   Chick-fil-A    Like this if you love Chick-fil-A as much as we love our raving fans!

 

Comments:  374   Likes: 17,073

 

  Sonic Drive-In  Happy Valentine’s Day!

Comments:  26   Likes:  340

  

  Volvo Cars US    Happy Valentine’s Day from Volvo. May your day be filled with love and joy—and ideally a Volvo. http://cot.ag/f6JtSE

Comments: 13  Likes: 64

  

  BMW USA  Will you be my Valentine?  Yours,  BMW

Comments: 351  Likes: 2,064

 Coca-Cola  Every day can be Valentine’s Day.

Comments: 802 Likes: 19,212

  

  Denny’s  Happy Valentine’s Day from all of us at Denny’s! Make sure you get a free Pancake Puppies Sundae for yourself and send one to someone special using our Valentine’s Day cardmaker!

Comments: 7    Likes: 71

  

  Ben & Jerry’s  Today is all about Love…Love of ice cream!! It’s the 4th anniversary of when we all fell in love with AmeriCone Dream, which we’re happy to report is now available in Scoop Shops! For one day only – Feb 15th – you can buy one scoop of AmeriCone Dream and get a second scoop free! Here’s the really cool thing: Stephen Colbert is donating all of his proceeds from the sale of this flavor. What a guy!

Comments: 25  Likes:316

  

  Ruby Tuesday   Happy Valentine’s Day! 

Comments: 54   Likes: 511

 

   Audi USA  Still looking for that perfect Valentines Day gift? To help get your wheels spinning, our friends at Kelley Blue Book’s kbb.com put together a list of the Top 10 Turn-On Cars for Valentines Day. Can you guess which car they selected as number one? – http://audi.us/f2ppck

 Comments: 156   Likes: 3,888  

 

   Best Buy  Valentine’s Day is only one day away and if you still aren’t sure what to get that “special someone” we have the perfect 2-Day sale for you!

Comments: 15   Likes: 135

 

 Little Debbie  This Valentine’s Day, we wanted to share a rare behind-the-scenes look at how Little Debbie became America’s sweetheart. Watch this news clip and let us know if you learned anything surprising!

 Little Debbie: the sweetheart of Valentine’s Day   A Knoxville TV news crew recently got the inside scoop on how Little Debbie became an American icon.

Comments: 57  Likes:  344

 

 Chicken of the Sea Love is in the air. Impress your Valentine with Easy Salmon Italiano. This dish pairs Chicken of the Sea Pink Salmon with spaghetti squash to create a truly delightful meal. Your sweetie will thank you. http://bit.ly/dtRyNL

Comments: 1  Likes: 3

 

  Jack Link’s Beef Jerky Happy Valentine’s Day! You get the sweet, you get the hot, you get the picture!

Comments: 11  Likes: 46

 

  

 

 

For many purchases consumers lean on their Circle of Trust to assist them in making the right decisions.  The Circle is not limited to friends and family members.  It can also include people who are perceived as experts or have experience with the product category.  By and large these people are grouped into three categories: owners, experts, and brand governors.

• Owners: People the shopper trusts because they have some experience with product or service.  This may be current ownership, past ownership, or they may own a competitive product.
• Experts:  Sources the consumer acknowledges as a trustworthy source within the product industry.  This could be a knowledgeable person they know who has a passion for the product category, or a source that reviews the product category (e.g. Consumer Reports, cNet).
• Brand Governors: People who don’t have any experience with the brand or product at all, but express an opinion.   Brand governors define a brand’s social relevancy, and they are difficult to affect because they address brands emotionally not logically. 

So how can a marketer get in the circle of trust? 

Well, first you need to begin with an understanding of how much a person’s social circle influences their purchase.   You need to look at this on two levels: brand and product.  In most low consideration categories, social has little to do with the purchase  (think about most groceries, many household products, and frequent retail experiences).  In these cases, social is more about aligning the brand with the consumer.  Creating social equity by becoming relevant within their lives, their passions.

Many marketers address social with this strategy.  Think about Kingsford Charcoal’s desire to own Tailgating or Mountain Dew’s desire to own gaming (even so far as to refer to their product as gaming juice) or Dove’s desire to be aligned with Real Beauty.  The goal of of these social initiatives would become an accepted brand within the social group for a given activity.

With many high-consideration products the social circle influences the purchase in several ways.  Some people within a person’s social circle may influence intrusively by lauding or complaining about their product experience, or the shopper may request or seek out information as a part of their purchase process.  Either way, social influence could play an important role in their final purchase.

Generating social influence is difficult for many marketers because it is not a channel they control.  Actually, social is more like a cloud than a channel.  We all are surrounded by opinions, advice, and recommendations.  Some of the social conversation is a result of an experience.  Some is from product news or an expert’s review.  And some buzzworthy stories are relayed through the cloud like lightning quickly passing from person to person. 

For a marketer to be successful in the social cloud, they need to be worth talking about, and not in catchy “ad speak”.  Rather, true authentic buzz is relayed through memorable stories.  Stories worth hearing.  Stories worth sharing.  Stories that are easy to remember. 

Given the diversity of a a targets’ attitudes and motivations, there needs to be a variety of stories, coming from everyone in contact with the product — with the brand.  Think about your story sources:

• Customers:  What are the product stories worth telling?  Is there a way you can fuel the conversation?  Are there interesting ways to recognize advocates or create advocates?  How are you converting dissatisfied customers into advocates?
• Experts:  Do you know the experts within your category (people who influence product purchase either directly or indirectly)?  How are you engaging them on a regular basis?
• Employees: How are your employees embracing their role in the company?  How can you genuinely fuel their passion?  A passion for the products they create?  A passion for the post-purchase or service experience?
• Shoppers:  How are you impressing shoppers within your category (even if they don’t purchase)?  How do you get shoppers to talk about their shopping experience?  How do you invite the shopper’s social circle into the process?

These sources are just a start of your social cloud.  To figure out your social cloud listen to the conversations, understand the motivations and attitudes of advocates and customers, and then fuel the conversation through persistent engagement.

For me it is not a surprise, and a little of apples and oranges comparison.  For example, comparing fans to visits is incorrect.  Facebook fans are not all active on the page, in fact I would argue the majority of fans are not active on a marketer’s page in a given month.

If we want to truly make it an apple to apple comparison, Facebook fans are more analogous to an marketer’s email list — people who opted in to stay in touch with the brand.  For comparison purposes let’s assume Kraft had an email list equivalent to their facebook fan volume.  The exposure rates would be similar if a message was sent out in email and facebook.  While we know the exposure volume, we don’t know how many people acknowledged the message.  We only know the response rate (e.g. likes, comments, postings).  Comparing facebook to email, in a given email blast a marketer would expect a 25% to 35% response rate or about 2.6 million responding.  I doubt that 2.6 million people are active on Kraft facebook communications.

“Digital Direct Math” aside, there is several data nuggets in the article.  One is the extreme drop in web site traffic for Kraft.  The article points out this may be a function of marketers shifting email lists to facebook fans.  Logically, it makes sense.  If my email list declines (or becomes more passive) the number of people going to the site would drop with each blast.  

While we could micro-analyze each digital experience we need to take a macro view the online experience.  We need to stop assessing a brand/consumer presence by one destination or domain (e.g. facebook, website, YouTube Channel). This is so 2003.   The online brand presence should be measured as an aggregate of all content, all experiences, all conversations.   Kraft is probably looking at their online presences in totality, understand the purpose of each channel within the brand / marketing strategy.

From a consumer perspective this makes sense too.  Marketers are smarter to integrate their brand experince into the consumer’s online experience, instead of brand-centric view expecting consumer’s to come to the brand destination.  A marketer’s online investment strategy should not be restricted to one destination, rather it should assess opportunities holistically, and determine the best places to intercept the desired target, at the right time, right relevance, and right mindset.  This may be facebook, search, email — or all the above.

I received an email today inviting me to try a new crispy chicken taco via facebook.  However, getting the coupon seems to be a little loco (their words, not mine). 

In reviewing Del Taco’s facebook presence, you can see they are trying hard to build their fanbase (currently at 96,300 fans) and engage them too.   Del Taco has created many facebook elements including a webisode (The Del Taco Special Show with Wes & Barry).

Unfortunately for Del Taco the facebook banter the past several days is more about the missing coupon then anything else.  To their credit the facebook admin is highly apologetic about the SNAFU.

As I reviewed in a past entry (Can I bribe you to be my brand fan?), coupons can be an immediate draw, but are brands truly attracting brand fans or the coupon fringe?

Dentyne ICE has been trying to own the kiss for years.  Previous attempts included Get Fresh, Nothing’s Colder than ICE, Fresh Breath Changes Everything, Make Face Time,  and Cools Your Breath Twice. 

This campaign breaks through because it is simple, humorous, and relatable.  The ad uses several vignettes of men using Dentyne ICE to practice safe breath. The vignettes different stages of preparedness in a date: at the moment, before the date, and when you forget.  A nice subtext of “don’t be caught with bad breath” persists throughout.

The commercial also uses an accepted social norm.   Cognitively the “dating public” has been preached to practice safe sex since they were teens (or maybe even sooner). 

The dating public can relate to the mass benefit of fresh breath, or conversely the mass fear of bad breath.  While the condum may be representative icon for safe sex, Dentyne ICE is trying to insert itself as a marketing icon for Safe Breath. ]]> http://www.ericbowe.com/2010/04/safe-sex-social-norms-and-bad-breath/feed/ 1