Archive for November, 2010

Questioning QR Codes on Billboards

Wednesday, November 17th, 2010

Just in case you just crawled out of a cave, October was Breast Cancer Awareness month. A bevy of brands painted their products pink to draw awareness and raise funds to the issue–including everything from packaged goods to vacuums to the National Football League. My job is to notice companies’ efforts to create meaningful marketing like these tie-ins, and it is also to watch for examples of companies’ clever use of digital technology to bring it to life. So I had to pull over and get out of my car (literally) when I saw this billboard for ConesfortheCure.org a few weeks ago. While certainly clever, this example unfortunately shows how some companies are making basic mistakes with new technology, even when using it for good.

As you can probably tell, this particular billboard features a QR Code in the middle. Also known as a 2-D bar code, the role of it here is to access information via a mobile device. Here’s how it works: First, you must have a smartphone. Second, you download a QR code reader. I personally use this one, but there are many of them and they seem to work similarly.  Then you open the reader app and take a photo of the QR code. When it works correctly, you are taken to some kind of content–usually a mobile-friendly webpage.

Confused and exhausted yet? I thought so. You see, QR codes are smart in theory–they can allow you to quickly and easily go to mobile content without having to type in a website on your phone’s browser.  But as you might start to notice in my description, problems abound.  Here are some of the issues in QR codes overall and in this execution in particular:

  • Most people still don’t know what the heck QR codes are.
  • Most people still don’t have a smartphone or a QR code-reader app.
  • It’s not easy to scan QR codes when you are driving a car. In this case above, I had to literally pull over on the side of the road, activate my hazard lights, and walk up closer to get my reader to work.
  • The result is not that impressive. In the example above, the mobile page below was pulled up, offering me the chance to fill out a form, to receive an email, to click to get a webpage coupon to bring in for a free scoop of ice cream.

I would venture to say that very, very few of these billboards were scanned. People don’t have time to do what I did, and the vast majority simply drive by; possibly some notice a funny symbol and then they go on about their lives. It is unfortunate, because the “Cones for a Cure” idea by my beloved Graeter’s Ice Cream brand is a great example of meaningful marketing. But by rushing to try out this new technology, the brand has hurt the impact of the program.

Instead, why not just use the billboard to do what billboards do best: In big words write something like, “Free Scoop when you say ‘Cones for the Cure’” this month at Graeter’s.”  Crazy-simple, I know; but it just might work.  This is the kind of thing that a commuter in her car might actually notice and remember. No need to go through 10 steps to make a difference and engage with consumers. Or if you want to make people work a little bit to get the free scoop, abandon the QR code process and just ask people to email a photo of the billboard.  This is much easier, safer, and more effective. For example, check out this Cannes Lion-winning example from James Ready beer:

New mobile tools and technology are great and very promising, but I fear that companies such as Graeter’s that jump in without thinking things through will end up frustrating themselves and their customers. To be meaningful, marketing must have more than a great idea in the center–execution is everything.

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Posted in Achievement, Apps, Outdoor, mobile | 4 Comments »

Tales from the Sky Club: Execution Is Everything

Friday, November 12th, 2010

Here’s a quick reminder for all of you would-be meaningful marketers out there: Execution is everything.  This reminder comes thanks to a company called Pure Energy, which makes a line of “charging pads” for mobile phones and other small consumer electronics products.

I’ve been on the road a lot lately, and the one place where I seem to continually end up is the Delta Sky Club of whichever city I happen to be flying into, out of, or through.  The Sky Club is an oasis of relaxation and concentration during the countless hours of waiting for a delayed flight.  In fact, I’ve spent so much time there lately that I’m starting to see them appear in my dreams. Anyway, during the past few months I noticed that my Sky Clubs have sprouted something called a “Wild Charger” scattered on tabletops throughout the facilities. After watching people puzzle over them for weeks, I finally took the opportunity to see what they were about for myself.

With a little examination and a somewhat helpful table tent, I figured out that these are a type of device charger you can use to juice up without fighting for an outlet with the road warriors next to you. At first I just tossed my iPhone onto the charging mat, but nothing happened.  The helpful sign said I needed to ask someone at the front desk for a charging device, so I did.  The Delta folks first warned me that “I hear they don’t work for Blackberry.”  Then they gave me a key chain full of connectors in return for keeping my driver’s license hostage. I returned to my seat, plugged the right adapter into my phone, set it on the charging pad, and saw… nothing. No charge, no magic, no juice. I double-checked to see that the thing was plugged in, tried another nearby pad, and got the same nothing. I even tried charging my iPad. Alas, I gave up and retrieved my license, letting the staff know that “they don’t work on iPhones either.”

Thus, a great idea in meaningful marketing falls flat because of poor execution. I’m sure Pure Energy has grand plans behind its tie-in with Delta Sky Club. After all, can you imagine a better-concentrated target audience? What a great way to engage them with a little free energy during their free time. And I’m sure Delta was more than willing to offer the featured space as a way to give visitors another perk.

But execution is everything, my friends, and Pure Energy is not only losing potential customers, but it is generating negative word-of-mouth every time their system fails. Contrast this to Samsung, whose recharging stations in more than 150 airports and college campuses keep working well and winning fans.

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Posted in Uncategorized | No Comments »

Why You Should Read Your Wife’s Facebook Page

Wednesday, November 10th, 2010

Just so I don’t waste anyone’s time, this is a digital-marketing-related post. I know the title might seem racy–especially coming from a tool such as Twitter, where article titles spread quickly. But it’s a good one, so please read on….

Last week I had an onboarding with a new Marketing Director on one of our long-time businesses at Bridge Worldwide. As agency folks know, these can sometimes be tense affairs. We worry about what the new leader will think about our historic work, and pay close attention to how he or she might shift gears on everything we’ve been doing to date. And for a digital agency like ours, we also closely pay attention to how much the new client is engaged in this new media. Sometimes you find that a new client is ready to leap three steps forward on the digital playing field, but it’s just as likely that the new guy or gal will wonder why we’re not spending more on TV commercials instead.

In this particular meeting, it didn’t take long for our new client leader to start sharing his beliefs–mainly because we cleverly put an agenda item early on in the meeting titled something like: “Mr. Client Shares His Beliefs.”  Like many traditional marketers, this particular client admitted that he is still learning about how the digital space is evolving, but certainly wants to crack the code quickly.  Then he said something that I had never heard before; it went a little something like this:

One of the things I do to learn how our consumers are using digital and social media is to read my wife’s Facebook page. When I do this, I see the kinds of things that she and her friends are talking about–and it’s usually not brands or marketing. My wife and her friends talk about their children, plans for the weekend, hobbies, and reactions to what’s in the news. So if we want her to talk about our brand, then we need to do something that connects our brand in some meaningful way to what really interests her.

There are a few things that made this comment remarkable in my mind. First, it is an example of a marketer who understands that the answers don’t come from expensive research reports and fancy insight graphics–they come from paying attention to what people are doing and saying, even in your own home.

The second lesson here is the admission that many of the brands we work on are usually not chat-worthy on their own. Despite our desire to “join the conversation” and put up Facebook profiles for our brands, the reality is that we are competing for attention against topics that are much more engaging than whether our new product formula is 20% better. We have to admit this reality and talk about it openly.

And, finally, I love his point that we have to “do something” (i.e., not just talk) that connects our brand in some meaningful way (i.e., ties to higher-level needs).  This is exactly what I’ve been preaching here for two and a half years.

There is nothing better than working for a client who is strategically smart, is wise enough to admit he needs to learn, and commits to working with agency partners to crack the code.  This story is an important lesson for any marketer who is struggling to figure out the future of marketing, and shows how in small ways you can inspire agency partners to help you lead the way.

Posted in Clients, Concept | 4 Comments »

Don’t Fear Da Beard T-shirt, MLB

Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010

“It was really great until they shut our little operation down.”

That’s what a friend of mine said on Facebook after he and a buddy were told to pack up the t-shirts they made and were selling outside of AT&T Park where the San Francisco Giants were about to start playing in the World Series last week.  He was one of a few dozen people selling unofficial shirts using the team logo. It was a letdown for their business hopes, as well as for the throngs of people who loved their fun, original shirts. And it really didn’t have to happen that way.

For years there have been unofficial merchandise sales around big sports teams and events. I remember camping out for basketball games at Duke in the early 1990s and having guys carrying big bags duck their heads into our tent to ask if we wanted to buy the latest anti-UNC t-shirt that somebody pressed in their dorm room. But today it’s getting much easier to brew your own, thanks to online design and printing businesses such as CafePress and Zazzle.  Come up with an idea and within minutes you can bring it to life, buy it, and create a virtual store where other people can discover and buy it–with a percentage of the sale going to you.

But the times are a changin’ for trademark enforcement, too.  At the Giants game, plainclothes Major League Baseball officials walked around town with federal agents and inspected hawkers’ merchandise. Anyone using the name “San Francisco Giants,” the interlocking “SF,” and even the words “World Series” was told to pack up.  My buddy’s stash of shirts was confiscated and his name was taken down. He was warned that, despite it being a felony to use the team’s logo without permission, “it won’t go on your criminal record this time.”  The MLB warns that it must police its trademarks to maintain them, and protect the official sponsors and vendors who have spent millions of dollars for the right to be the real thing.

I fear that the San Francisco Giants and scores of other professional and college teams are missing an opportunity to build their brands and fan bases by automatically cracking down on such efforts. Fans love shirts like this because they are the product of creative thinking and fast timing. The “official” merchandise is designed months in advance and takes a slow boat from China.  The shirts are boring and generic in order to appeal to the widest fan base and limit unsold inventory.  But clever designers and rapid printing tools allow for much more timely, relevant, and fun shirts than what the official process allows for. Fans love the chance to buy “game day” shirts like this, and it gives them a pleasant memory that a simple “Official World Series” shirt doesn’t always allow for.

I think there may be a solution that keeps everyone happy: Why not create an “official” partnership with an online t-shirt store such as Cafe Press to encourage these shirts, ensure that some taste level is retained, and share the profits? Teams could allow people to create their own shirts, even providing people with team graphics and colors.  There could be a “license fee” of something like $5 per shirt, and there are quick and simple ways to make sure the shirts are not offensive. Designers and entrepreneurs get the chance to see if their idea will take off, and the teams get a flood of original equipment with none of the inventory costs.

A store such as Cafe Press could even encourage the success of such an effort by shipping in bulk directly to stadium parking lots, and even putting a truck-sized printing press on location for last-minute surges.  Teams could even take this idea to the next level by, say, holding a contest for the best fan-created shirt.  The best sellers could be made into shirts that are sold in stadium stores, essentially letting the marketplace decide which shirt designs are best.

Overall, I believe that sports teams continue to lag behind their fans in terms of adapting to new technology and social media.  They fine players for using Twitter and black out home games on local television when a sell-out isn’t reached. While sports often have a special place in our hearts, the competition for fans’ attention is only increasing–and many sports are experiencing falling TV ratings (including this year’s World Series). Sports teams should not leap to fearing new technology and its use by fans to adapt the game to their liking. Instead, sports brands–and all brands for that matter–should leap to cherish any time fans make the brand their own, and find ways to create new win-wins in the marketplace.

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Posted in Events, Sports | 1 Comment »