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Want a 24/7 employee?

June 23, 2007

Picture_5 One of the more interesting of viral marketing tools is the idea of using avatars in place of live employees.  Let’s face it, an avatar is never going to be sick, have to take their son to the dentist or want vacation time!

According to a study conducted by the Center for the Study of Language and Information, Stanford University, "characters (avatars) can express social roles, emotions, and organized personalities that match learning goals, company brands, and transaction needs. Characters can increase the trust that users place in online experiences, in part because they make online experiences easier."

Avatars are also being used for in-house training and many other applications.  And your avatar doesn’t have to be human.  Remember CareerBuilders.com’s monkeys?  Odds are you received one of their Monk-e-Mails.  This is one of the ones I created.  Picture_6

A new viral campaign they’re running is Age-O-Matic — what will your job do to you.  And before you dismiss these are just fun and games, the Monk-e-Mail campaign increased traffic to CareerBuilders.com by 25%.

Certainly one of the most "famous" avatar driven marketing efforts is Second Life, the 3-D virtual world those boasts participants like Dell, the American Cancer Society and one crazy agency who announced their beginnings there.

Picture_8 Again, in case you think it’s all cute cartoons, according the the economic stats on Second Life’s home page, in the past 24 hours, $1,895,494 (U.S. dollars) was spent in world.

Want to check it out for yourself? You can create an avatar of your own, on SitePal’s free trial.

So, I’m curious.  Is this technology beyond your clients or your business?  Does it feel like this is only the territory of the big, retail businesses?

Is this one of those "cool, but not for me" things or have you used this sort of technology already?

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Is your neighbor a marketing whiz?

June 22, 2007

Neighbor Stop for a minute and picture one of your neighbors. Not the whole neighborhood. Pick an actual neighbor.  Now, suppose a pharmaceutical company wanted to hire someone to create a  product name and tagline for a new over the counter drug.

Who would they hire? You the marketing pro (or at least someone with some marketing background) or that neighbor?

You might just be surprised.  Come over the Marketing Profs Daily Fix and jump into my most recent post, Should the Average Joe Name your Product?

UPDATE: I was contacted by one of the creators of this challenge.  He asked that I clarify a couple points.  The sponsoring company is not a pharmaceutical company and they are not working on an over the counter drug but instead it is technically a life science company developing dietary supplements.  Their official press release was incorrect and he responsibly wanted public information to be accurate.

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Blogs that make you go hmmm…

June 21, 2007

It’s pretty cool when one of the smartest bloggers you know points to your blog as one that makes HIM think.  So I was really tickled when David Reich included Drew’s Marketing Minute in his list of five blogs that make him think.

Feeling good about David’s nod was the easy part.  Then, I kept reading and realized that I now had the difficult task of narrowing down a long list of blogs that make me go hmmm every day down to a measly five.  Cripes.

So…here goes.  I checked as best I could and it looks like these blogs have not already been nominated.  If I’m wrong…enjoy the double dose of love. And check out my blog roll to see how many other blogs could have been on this list.

Servant of Chaos — Gavin Heaton is a marketing poet, pure and simple.  And my partner in publishing with the Age of Conversation.  Wickedly smart.  His posts dig way past strategy to purpose.

Steve Farber — Author of two of my all-time favorite business books (Radical Leap and Radical Edge), Steve Farber is about life’s purpose, joy, leadership to the extreme and changing the world.

Logic + Emotion — David Armano’s blog is probably most associated with his graphics.  But what puts it on this list for me are the questions David asks as he explores connectivity, conversation and consumer communities.

The Copywriting Maven — Roberta Rosenberg has a way with words.  Her posts are never wasteful — every word has a job to do. She teaches, offers tips and asks questions that make me want to be a better writer. Update: And is snort your milk through your nose funny!

Success from the Nest — Tony Clark writes with conviction, experience and cartoons. Tony puts his readers’ through their paces.  By going through them himself first.  He’s a human guinea pig — and he invites us along on his explorations.

What do these blogs have in common? They ask questions and invite me to think. Thanks to all of you for making me go hmm. 

And…here’s the rest of the prize package, according to the originator of this meme:

The participation rules are simple:

1. If, and only if, you get tagged, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think,
2. Link to Drew’s post which says such nice things about you so that people can follow the meme’s trail,
3. Optional: Proudly display the ‘Thinking Blogger Award’ with a link to the post that you wrote (here is an alternative silver version if gold doesn’t fit your blog).

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But will they buy Paul Potts’ CDs?

June 20, 2007

Odds are you have watched at least one YouTube video of Paul Potts, the cell phone sales guy who arrived at the UK’s Britain’s Have Talent as the unknown underdog and took the world and the competition by storm.

If not…here’s a chance to see him in action.  This particular video has been viewed over a million times and it’s one of many variations.

So why are we so fascinated and taken by Paul Potts?

  • He’s the underdog.
  • He’s ordinary.
  • He’s not gorgeous or appearing to have any other "advantage" in life.
  • He’s afraid but doing it anyway.
  • He has a dream that he’s willing to take risks to explore.

We are suckers for this kind of story.  We take heart in them.  We cheer on the underdog and feel like maybe if he can capture his dream…then we can too! (cue the music.)

But.

I know…I’m the jerk who is raining on the parade.  The world has embraced Paul Potts.  But he sings opera.  And the bulk of the world does not like, listen to or understand opera.  And he is ordinary looking in a field (entertainment) that clamors for beauty.  Think I am being mean?  In his first post-winning interviews, Potts also focuses on his looks and the "repair work" that needs to be done.

So now what?  Do you think Paul Potts will change the world’s impression/buying patterns regarding opera?  Will he at least take the opera world by storm?

Will the traits that attracted the world also inspire them to pull out their wallets?  Or will Paul be a great inspirational YouTube video and in a few months, be back at the cell phone counter?

His personal brand served him well to win the competition.  He won our hearts.  Do you think it will serve him well in the marketplace and let him win our wallets?

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Let go

June 17, 2007

Trainingwheels It seems appropriate to share this with you on Father’s Day.  It’s something that’s come to me as I’ve blundered through being a dad.  It’s one of the hardest lessons I’ve ever had to learn.   Fortunately, the difficulty has been commensurate with the value.

When my daughter was a little less than a year old, she, like all babies, was struggling to stand and take those first steps.  I would walk behind her, her hands wrapped tightly around my forefingers to provide some stability, and together we would walk.

Of course, I was handling most of the balancing.  She was just putting one foot in front of the other and sort of lunging.  If I had removed my hands, she would have fallen.  So I didn’t.

My mistake.  Once I let her fall a couple times, she figured it out.  And took her first steps.

Flash forward a few years.  My daughter loved riding her bike and was ready to go sans training wheels.  So we took them off.  We started out slowly.  I’d walk (then run) behind her, holding onto the seat so she wouldn’t fall.   Every time the bike would start to tip to the side, I righted it and we kept going.

My mistake.  Once I let her fall a couple times, she figured it out.  And rode down the street, triumphant and training wheel free.

I’ve observed this pattern in our lives together many times. When I hang on too tight out of fear or protectiveness, she doesn’t grow.  She doesn’t master something new.  She doesn’t get to be all that she can be.

I know, as we approach the dating years, I am going to be painfully reminded of this lesson.  And I know I won’t always heed the little voice in my head that’s whispering, "let go."    But I’m going to try.

Beyond parenting, I believe the "let go" lesson is incredibly relevant in marketing. 

We can craft our marketing messages and our brand promises until we think they’re perfect.  But sooner or later, we have to let go.  We have to recognize that it’s a conversation, not a monologue.

When we hang on too tight out of fear or protectiveness, nothing grows.  We can’t master something new.  And the relationship we’re trying to forge with our community of customers doesn’t get to be all that it can be.

What’s something that you held onto for too long?  Or, tell us a success story of what happened when you let go.

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Got a brain cramp?

June 17, 2007

Braincramp Robyn McMaster over at Brain Based Biz asked the question – what would you suggest to overcome a brain cramp?

Let me answer that by way of a short story.

When I was a kid, I used to wake up in the middle of the night, yelling for my mom and grabbing the calf of my leg, which was knotted in a spasm.

My mom called them growing pains. (Turns out that’s not quite accurate…but it sounded good at the time.) The pain was incredible and the more I moved…the more my leg knotted up.  My mom would have to calm me down and have me hold very still.  She’d tell me a story so I’d focus on that and then, she’d slowly rub the knot out enough that I could walk around on it.

I can remember the first time she suggested walking on it.  I thought she was insane.  But she was right…I needed to work out the knot by getting back up on the leg.

Sometimes as adults we get brain cramps.  Same knotted feeling.  We usually cramp up when we’re faced with a new truth.  Or maybe a truth we don’t really want to see or isn’t playing out the way we want it to.

That happens at MMG all the time. Many times, what we recommend or what we uncover during our branding process isn’t what the client expected – and they cramp up.

So just like my mom helped me, it’s my job to help undo the knots.  And just like my mom, I use stories to quiet the clients and help them understand.  I love analogies – I find them to be incredibly effective in taking the abstract and making it tangible.  After I’ve told our client a story or two and have them slowly nodding, I know I need to get them to try out the new ideas.  They need to walk around on the fresh thoughts and see how they hold up.

They don’t want to do it.  It seems counter-intuitive.  They want to protect the status quo.  But my role is to encourage them to slowly stand up and test the new ideas by walking on them for a bit.

Many times, after they take the risk — they are surprised by their reaction.  They see new possibilities.  They get fresh perspective.  They were ready to take the next step all along.

So what’s my prescription for overcoming a brain cramp? 

First, don’t panic.  Breathe deeply.  Focus on something else.  Then, go ahead and look at what has you cramped up.  Is it possible that it might not be all bad?  Try to understand it from a different point of view.  Maybe use analogies to help grasp the key points.

Then…test drive the new ideas.  Slowly at first.  Sure, it’s going to be uncomfortable.  It’s new territory.  But walk around on them a  little.  See if maybe they take you to a different and new place. 

Maybe even a place you didn’t think you could reach.

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What if Seth Godin was full of crap?

June 15, 2007

Picture_4 He’s become the JFK of the blogosphere.  Revered.  Quoted.  Beloved.

But what if ones of these days he said something that just didn’t ring true to you. Or that you vehemently disagreed with? Would you publicly say so?   Would you call him out or disagree? 

As I watch us all invent this medium and how it is used to create thought leadership surrounding marketing and branding, I’m struck by how genteel we are.  We rarely argue with one another.  We point to each other and "atta boy" a good post.  And there’s nothing wrong with that. 

As long as our readers know there’s a balance.  As long as they can trust that we’ll tell them when the Emperor’s naked.

And it’s not just Seth.  I think we do it with each other all the time. Haven’t you read another marketer’s post and thought "he/she’s way off base there?"  Did you comment or post your counter-viewpoint?  Or did you just shrug and let it hang?

Seth’s just a great example because he’s become the marketing icon.  He’s down to first name status.  He’s the Bono or Cher of our industry.  But, as smart and insightful as he is, that doesn’t make him infallible. 

And if you say…"well, Seth is never wrong…" does that mean he stays in the safe zone?  No one is always right unless they don’t push beyond the accepted truths, right?

What do you think?  If Seth (or Guy or Kathy Sierra or any respected marketing/branding blogger) posted something today that was based on a faulty assumption or flew in the face of a marketing truth as you know/believe it to be – would you write about it?   

Maybe the better question is — have you ever?

UPDATE:  Mack Collier asks a very interesting and smart question.  If Seth were to launch a generic blog with no tie to him/his name –would it survive?  Thrive?

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