FRANKthoughts

The first post I’ve written on FRANK thoughts was about change. Now everything is changing. The environment, the economy, the technology, the politics. In dramatic times of change there is no point in going “business as usual”. We cant just sit on the fence and see where this is going. In every change situation, especially in a downturn, there’s an opportunity. We just need to find it. A few thoughts on how to start:

1. Obama won because of the web - how can you do it? it’s not about investing more money. It’s about investing what you have in a different way. Twitter costs nothing. Can you spare 10 minutes per day to make your clients feel better? How about getting all your employees to send photos to flickr? video on youtube? it’s all there and all free.

2.  Make your users lives better - How can you help your customers? Instead of another advertising campaign talking about how you re-branded (changed your package and added a green overlay to your logo), why not spend the money on revolutionize the way packaging works (see how Amazon did it!) ? This is also called Marketing as a service. If done right it’s a word of mouth investment that can have enormous ROI.

3.  Use the wisdom of crowds - you don’t need an expansive and expensive survey to get some feedback. A time of change is a great excuse to “clean your closet”. Create a small (5 question) survey and email it to your clients. Ask for real feedback and do something about it! If you want to go the extra mile why not ask your customers to be part of your business. Starbucks did it. Want to do it too? you can use UserVoice.

4. Start reading blogs - blogs are a great source of information. More than that they are great source of inspiration. Start reading some and figure out how to use RSS (If you haven’t already, it’s easy). Another 20 minutes per day reading blogs can lead you to some extremely valuable ideas.

5.  Look for the people who know and ask for advice- there are plenty of us now. People who know how to use online tools and will be happy to answer questions, provide links, recommend colleagues and give away ideas.

What can you add to this? what did you do to find the opportunity in changing times?

Ok so this is it….the thing about the digital gold rush is that you don’t have to be ensconced in the West Coast of the USA to prospect for golden nuggets. As aficionados of Deadwood will understand we’re all fucking, fighting and swearing in the mud at the moment.

We are in a formative era where the barrier to succeeding is nothing about economies of scale rather all about smart thinking coupled with the ‘appetite’ for digital-exploration. 

Admittedly there is more collective digital-energy in places, like San Francisco, in the guise of talent, $$$$$’s and companies who are willing to get stuck in on a large scale compared to Australia, but there is also this larger ‘appetite for risk.’

How often do we bemoan the chance to think beyond 6-12 months? This is an irrelevant digital time frame, in the scheme of things, as the rate of change and return accelerates. Here’s a segment…”An analysis of the history of technology shows that technological change is exponential, contrary to the common-sense “intuitive linear” view. So we won’t experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century — it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at today’s rate).”

Tamir Levin captures the potential so beautifully on his site digital seed …an important read.

Let’s deal with the mud whilst we have to, but i say seize the day.

On Sunday 31.08.08 myself and a million other runners in 25 countries participated in a 10k run organised by NIKE+. NIKE+ started with a product - A small chip in your shoe that talks to your ipod nano, tracking your distance, time, pace and calories burned. The product led itself to a community of runners with NIKE offers support, tools and coaching.

Nike plus is a business/product/marketing solution that proves you can achieve great results with an holistic cross business approach. NIKE is so good at that, building an experience that extends marketing buzz words, leaving you searching for new ones to describe it. All elements work seamlessly together supporting one strong mantra: help the participants kick ass.

This is how I felt and my feelings, memories and experience were brought to me by NIKE. How strong is this bond? Wondering how this whole thing came to life (going back to some behind the scenes boardroom) I find it hard to believe it started from a strategy line like: “we want to sell more shoes”. I believe the single thought that started this project was more in the line of: “how can we make our users happy?”. Nike proves that putting your users in front of the bottom line will pay dividends.

Being part of the human race made me think again about the power of brands.

This time Nike pulled off the world’s biggest race. What will they just do next? Here is one answer:

It’s all well and good to sit at your big desk in the corner office and advise your clients on how to sell their brands, products and ideas BUT, have you ever tried it yourself? Have you ever tried to do it with a $2,000 budget?

The FRANk Crew has decided to conduct a little experiment.  We’ve imported 2500 Vietnamese Table Top BBQs and are trying to sell them using a grassroots strategy that relies on WOM and good old fashioned hawking, backed by a website because, lets face it, everyone has a website these days.  We’ve also taken the initiative to commit 5% of sales to The Vietnamese Victims of Agent Orange Trust, a charity that will use our money to purchase cows for communities that have been affected by Agent Orange.  Remember my post on the Girl Effect?  It’s a bit like that.

If reading this is making that little hamster in your brain hop on its wheel and start spinning then we’d love to hear from you.  If you were in our position what would you do?  Have you got any advice that fits our budget and will sell BBQs?   Let us know and if it sells we’ll send you your very own Table Top BBQ to say thanks!

Often, I see charts or marketing collateral that says things like “Benefits to User”.

Bah!  Stop cramming down the same stuff to me.  A flip solution would be:

“Customer Solutions” and “Making Life Easy”

It is a thin line and subtle difference in words but a flip in approach.

A far better way to approach things is by making it Customer Centric, not trying to shove me rewards and benefits that I would never use!  Fitness First gives international access to their gyms.. whether I like it or not.  Great story but useless to me.  And my guess to a large percentage of their membership.

A customer centric approach really starts from building the right culture within the business.  Finding out what your customers are having problems with within the category and provide a solution to create a better service.

Higher Price becomes justifiable when a greater Value is perceived (time, money, stress, etc).

Alex Bogusky is arguably the Steve Jobs of ad land.  Agency Crispin Porder + Bogusky has won the much coveted $300 million Microsoft account.  The brief:  Make Microsoft Cool

Fast Company June cover story featured Alex Bogusky on it’s front cover with a detail article on the history of the Microsoft brand and challenges it faces.

In recent times, Microsoft has stood by quitely as Apple took a blatant approach to mock it’s largest rival.  Mac vs PC ads are now pop-cult fixtures.  Continual large and innovative ad campaign approaches by Microsoft are often off mark and swiftly dissembled by Mac advocates.  The rapid growth of Google and it’s cult following has also left Microsoft further behind it’s tech competitors.

So how can Microsoft, traditionally viewed as a highly corporate, arrogant, and a bully, be “cool” again?  As Andrew Keller, Crispin’s co-executive creative director says, “To try to be cool is to not be cool”.

Crispin’s award winning and historic work on Burger King, BMW Mini, VW, and Truth, will now stand the toughest test with their new Microsoft account.

The question remains to be seen, can Microsoft beat Apple and Google?

We first posted this back in March on the Future of Advertising.

Uwe Gutschow and Don Longfellow have picked up the “What’s Next In Marketing & Advertising” presentation and evolved it to Moving from Advertising to Marketing. Again, it’s a fantastic presentation on the need to shift focus on marketing than advertising as a solution.

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THE eternal challenge for “us” on behalf of our clients is to break through the surface of consumer indifference by being where they choose to be and manifesting the brand with the most appropriate and relevant face, creating moments of receptivity.

The concept of Nomadic media puts a brand’s message out there, traveling many different pathways, and dressed in many different costumes, all specifically tailored to certain groups of interested consumers. Crossing paths with the consumer now actually starts a relationship in which the consumer plays an active part. The consumer is not coming to the brand at the brand’s beckoning. The brand is not forcing its company on the consumer. The brand’s identity in the eyes of the consumer depends on a consumer’s interaction with it.

An excellent article “Unglued from the Tube” by Liz Tascio in this month’s US ‘Media Magazine’ introduces Nomadic media and breaks down the artificial distinction between online and offline reflecting the step-change from passive to active interaction and consumption. Enjoy.

Here’s the first batch. We are logging who is sending what but are keeping all participants anonymous.

 We are simply posting the entries and will not always comment….

Some passionate discussion about Connex, Melbourne’s rail system, on Marketing magazine’s blog. I couldn’t help but comment on the letter from Julian Cole. I indulgently referred to my post travel community but added a thought about recycling mx newspapers.

Connex tends to be the butt of jokes and ridicule and to be fair they may be victims of their corporate environment. However their site does lack practical empathy. I did find a feedback section which suggests, in preference 1. speaking with their staff on platform 2. calling the customer feedback line ( i rang, spoke with a helpful lady about my mx newspaper recycling idea who in turn said she’d refer my idea to the Customer Relationship team and they’d be back to me within 7 days…i’ll report on their feedback as a comment) 3. writing a letter or 4. an online response.

One of their latest initiatives is to meet their managers at various stations to ask questions. Wouldn’t it just be a lot simpler and practical to engage online? Soon.