It’s nothing new. Throughout the history of the Olympics, the Olympic brand has been heavily guarded and its use tightly controlled. As have been the Olympic sponsors. But in the age of social media, has it become more difficult for the Olympic brand and the Olympic sponsors to protect their rights and control their message? This year the Olympics are being called the “first social media Olympics” and in an effort to protect the Olympic brand and the sponsors and to add an element of control, officials have set in place stringent restrictions that affect everyone from the Olympic ticket holders to the athletes.
The Olympic brand and its logo, the Olympic rings, are one of the most widely recognized and important brands in the word. According to the Olympic organization media guide, the Olympic brand values are as follows: Excellence, Friendship and Respect. They were established more than a century ago in The Olympic Charter. It is because of these values, its history, unique brand persona and its power of influence that other brands look to align themselves with the Olympic brand.
Being an Olympic sponsor is one of the most prestigious titles that a brand can attain. This year, global brand leaders such as P&G, Visa, McDonald’s, Samsung and Coca Cola lead the way as the top brands with Olympic prowess. As sponsors, they receive exclusive marketing rights and a much-coveted association with the Olympic brand. What does this mean? Well, you probably won’t see a non-sponsor ad running during broadcasts, you won’t hear anyone speak about it and you certainly won’t see an athlete Tweet about it.
* Source: wallblog.co.uk
When it comes to social media, in an effort to protect themselves and the Olympic sponsors, the Olympic committee has put together a very detailed policy that applies to athletes. No one is allowed to speak about a brand that isn’t a sponsor. Period. Even ticket holders are held against regulations – there is a legal ban on spectators uploading their personal photos of the games on social media sites.
Some social media sites such as Twitter are actually working with Olympic sponsors and the Olympic brand in an attempt to ensure exclusivity and brand protection. In an effort to the control the message, Twitter is also said to be working with Olympic officials to stop anyone other than the sponsors from buying and promoting tweets with hashtags such as #London2012. However, that’s not to say that they are banning Olympic-related campaigns by non-sponsors altogether. In fact Nike, who is not an official sponsor, is planning to run a Promoted Tweet campaign during the Olympics in order to capitalize on the Olympic conversation.
It’s safe to say that regulating Twitter use and controlling the message is going to, no doubt, be a challenge for the Olympic brand officials and the sponsors – the beauty of social media is that anyone is free to speak their mind. This discussion begs the question around control and effectiveness. Do you think the Olympic efforts to try and have as much control as possible over social media will be effective? How are their activities different from what other, unrelated, brands are doing?
During this year’s Olympics we’ll be doing a series of blogs that speak to the event, brands and sports. Stay tuned and join the conversation!
It’s all around us. Stars, personalities and with the Olympics around the corner, athletes, persuading us to buy into a brand. This isn’t anything new. In the world of social media and twitter, celebrity influence is becoming stronger,marketers are able to quantify their following and influence. The fact that many brands get celebrities to act as their brand spokesperson, appearing in commercials, using their products in music videos, etc… has always been a true and tried marketing strategy. It’s an easy leap from personality to brand… someone who represents and speaks on behalf of the brand to the public and literally becomes the brand personified.
A celebrity brand spokeperson/ambassador can help a brand relate to their target audience as it’s easier to connect with another human being than an abstract notion of what a brand is. The spokesperson brand strategy really became prevalent and mainstream when Nike used Michael Jordan in 1984. Today you see Jennifer Hudson in ads for Weightwatchers, Jennifer Aniston promoting Smart Water and various music artists signing along to Pepsi.
However, a spokesperson can also be someone from within the brand itself. Many brands chose the founders to act as spokespersons. Presidents’ Choice does it with Galen Weston. Franchise operation Liquid Nutrition combines the two. Liquid Nutrition is backed and enable by owners/spokespersons such as Steve Nash, Suzann Pettersen, Russell Martin, Torah Bright, Matt Ryan, Vincent Lecavalier and Elaine Hastings.
When choosing a spokesperson, it’s important to keep these steps in mind:
Identify the key values of the brand. What is your brands positioning statement? How do you want the public to perceive your brand? How does your brand identify itself in the marketplace?
Research possible candidates who might embody those values. A spokesperson can’t be just anybody. They have to fit in with the brand. Any associations with scandal-ridden individuals can have negative results for a brand. Remember what happened with Kate Moss and Tiger Woods?
Develop key messages. What specifically do you want the public to know about your brand? It will be the job of the spokesperson to deliver those messages.
Don’t make the spokesperson the brand.The spokesperson must embody the brand, represent the brand and build brand momentum. But the brand must be able to stand, grow and develop a persona on its own. The spokesperson is just another channel through which the brand spreads its message. Nike did this well…
Make sure the spokesperson is media trained. It is essential that the spokesperson knows the key messages and is comfortable engaging with the various channels through which consumers get their information, whether it be print, television, social media or radio. A spokesperson has to be able to speak and correctly deliver the message based on the medium. If not, the message gets lost.
What has your experience working with a brand spokesperson been like? What steps did you take to find an appropriate spokesperson?
Social Media is a wonderful thing… or it can be! It allows for a brand to engage directly with their customers, one on one… in real-time. It has an incredible and indefinable reach potential. With so much going for it, why is it so hard for Corporations to jump on board? Despite all its accolades, measuring the success of social media remains problematic. Determining ROI is difficult to assess simply because the cost of social media is difficult to assess.
The Creative Group recently did a survey, interviewing more than 250 marketing and advertising executives, and determined that 27% of them found measuring results the biggest road block with social media.
There are multiple factors that contribute to the problem:
Results aren’t always instantaneous. Social media is used to raise brand awareness and develop customer relationship over long periods of time.
The value of a “Like” on Facebook can mean different things depending whether or not the customer continues to be engaged after liking a product or page.
Engagement can be positive or negative.
There are ways, however, to determine the success of your social media campaign based on your goals:
Awareness: if you want to measure your brands awareness reach and virality are indicators you want to look for. How many people have seen it and how many have shared it?
Establishing a relationship with customers: if a relationship with customers is your goal you need look at engagement. How many likes and followers do you have? How many people comment and share? Is the discussion positive? Are people retweeting?
Traffic: Are you trying to drive traffic to a website that sells goods through Facebook? If so, you need to look at actions, number of clicks, cost per clicks and link sharing.
Determining your vision of success enables you to know what to look for once you have the data… then you need to turn all that data into information.
Many social networks provide their on analytic services, for example Facebook insights. Facebook insights allows for a brand to track growth in terms of likes, reach and who is talking about the brand. It provides metrics to let you know where each like came from, to allowing you to evaluate media channels and their success. It provides all kinds of different demographic and geographic profiles… which status posts did well, which didn’t. This allows you to assess the type of future posts to add.
If you looking for the success of a social media campaign outside of the platform used, Google Analytics offers conversion services that helps determine the monetary value gained due to visits directed from social media sites. There are also some very comprehensive dashboard platforms that enables for social media integration.
When determining a brand impression, Sysomos has a service that monitors social media conversation and determines how much of it is positive, negative or neutral.
Knowing how to create and define a successful social media campaign can go a long way in building a brand and achieving a high return on investment. To learn more about ROI, read out blog “Brand Building: How to maximize ROI”
These are just a few of the options available to help make sense of social media. How do you measure your social media campaigns?
Web 2.0 takes the concept of Web one step further and makes the platform a network. Instead of just passively absorbing information, users actively create the information and engage with one another. Chances are you are already into Web 2.0…but just don’t know it. Sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and personal blogs are all examples of Web 2.0.
When using Web 2.0 on Facebook, Twitter or any other social engagement platform there is one golden rule everyone should abide by: Think Before You Tweet(or post). Just because you can say something doesn’t mean you should. Remember, once you put something out on web 2.0, it’s there forever for anyone to see.
When used incorrectly there could be some very negative consequences to Web 2.0 so be careful. The best way to protect yourself is to think before you Tweet (or post) and consider the following before making anything live:
1) does my message have a purpose
2) is this something I would want to read
3) is my statement accurate
4) will this come back to haunt me
Once you know how to avoid the pitfalls of Web 2.0 you can start enjoying its benefits. Here are just a few from a branding perspective:
1. Audience reach: Web 2.0 doesn’t discriminate and anyone, anywhere, with an Internet connection can become engaged with a brand. Terms such a “viral video” or “trending” are often used to signal high engagement. There is unlimited potential when it comes to reach. When a brand tweets, posts or blogs something that resonates with the audience, people will want to share it.
2. Personalized communication: through Web 2.0, brands develop a voice and a personality that speaks with consumers, not just to them. Brands and customers can have an ongoing dialogue that allows for praises, concerns and questions to be addressed directly and instantaneously. Responding to comments directly can establish a positive relationship and a positive relationship can then translate into brand loyalty.
A great example of Web 2.0 would be “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” campaign Old Spice did in 2010. It was a Youtube campaign that lasted three days and became the quickest growing online campaign in history. After just 24 hours there were 6.7 million views on Youtube and grew to 23 million views after 36 hours. [1] That kind of reach and growth wouldn’t have been possible if the campaign started with traditional television commercials. Once the video was posted, Old Spice went one step further to engage with their consumers by posting 187 video responses featuring the star of their campaign.[2]
Now that you know how to use Web 2.0 and have seen what it can do for a brand, how do you plan on integrating it into your next campaign?
In clear terms, it defines your company’s direction… and actually acts as a compass through growth opportunities and changing market conditions. It is the critical platform for all communications. Without direction or focus, the brand goes…. absolutely everywhere… and not in a good way!
It seems very easy to create… A few words that speak volumes. How difficult can it be? More to the matter, how significant is a positioning statement? Positioning Statements, or in the case of Consumer Packaged Brands, slogans, have been at the heart of advertising sell copy since the inception of mass selling.
It is an important component of your marketing initiative… if not the most important. Positioning is not just a fluffy marketing word… it defines and identifies your Brand/Business. A brand positioning statement eloquently states your brand’s “stake in the sand”. Moreover, it expresses “This is who I am, this is what I do, this is what and how I deliver”. In basic marketing practice, the easiest way to describe a positioning statement is that it announces to the world what makes your brand stand out above the rest and how you do that in a very succinct message.
Keep your brand/business on track with a powerful positioning statement. So how do you go about developing one?
A good marketing exercise to do prior to attempting to create your own positioning statement is to look at the brands that have successful taglines and try to identify the key messages that the tagline promotes. Ask yourself if the statement is relevant to what the brand promises, or the product delivers….or if it speaks to the service the business provides. View the positioning statement in rewind. You’ll find that the good positioning statements easily reflect the market, the target and the benefit of each brand or business. Here are some to get you started: McCain “It’s all good TM”campaign, “i’m lovin’ it”, an international branding campaign by McDonald’s Corporation (they incorporated it with their logo), and Scotiabank “You’re richer than you think”.
In this new world of do-it-yourself marketing and branding, many start-up companies go at developing a brand positioning statement on their own. Often those positioning statements end up being descriptors of the brand. Like the warning copy on an Evil Knievel daredevil act, I urge you not try this at home… and alone!
Here are the must haves of a positioning statement, in no particular order:
1) The Promise: Must state what we offer.
2) The Benefit: Must clearly identify what’s in it for them.
3) Personality: Must reflect the culture and brand voice.
4) Originality/Uniqueness: Must be a thing of beauty and joy.
5) Simplicity: Must be so succinct as to inspire a “wow”.
6) Longevity…. it must be there for the long haul.
What better way to demonstrate the importance of clearly stating the benefit simply within a positioning statement than with the Muppets! Watch this video clip from the Muppets Take Manhattan movie, for Ocean Breeze Soap. The message is bang on!
Once you achieve the Positioning Statement…. you must, and this is so very important: Use it consistently and frequently on all communication pieces. On business cards, web sites, apps, trade booths, ppt presentations, print ads, radio ads, digital ads, TV ads, leave behinds, etc, etc, etc.
This positioning statement will drive your message home to consumers, just like a GPS and will definitely build the foundation for brand recognition. Check out our ebook “Branding Understood” to get your gears turning!
Does your positioning statement have what it takes to direct your brand’s destiny?
The Brand Follower Relationship is the modern day Love Story.
Social media has enabled the breakdown of walls between brands and consumers, so a true relationship can develop packed with emotion, trust and love. No longer can Brands push out their one-way communications to their consumers. Consumers expect to be seen, heard and listened to… in short, acknowledged. They want to be actively involved in the brand story and the conversations; they want to contribute but they need a good reason to do so. It’s not enough to just start a brand page, your brand must regularly engage its social media followers consistently with its <a< span=””> title=”Brand Voice: How to Create It. Build It. Maintain It.” href=”http://www.3h.ca/blog/branding/brand-voice-the-how-to/”>Brand Voice – always exercising new and creative ways to speak to followers… and engage them.
Since each social media platform is different, the way people engage is going to be different as well. Here are a few ways you can engage successfully with followers and keep your Brand Follower relationship strong on Facebook Pages, Twitter and Pinterest.
Facebook Pages
Build momentum: Run contests. Running a contest won’t only increase the number of followers a brand has but it will keep current followers engaged and excited. Keep the buzz and momentum going by asking questions and generating content that revolves around the brand and the contest. Don’t just let the contest live on its on – make a lot of noise about it! Use Facebook ads to reach your demographic profile… and remember to further focus your efforts with the use of psychographics!
Build a following: Get “Likes”. Followers want quick and easy ways to interact with brands. Asking them to “Like” a post is as quick as it gets but it still generates stories and gets the word out. Similar to commenting, when followers “Like” a post, it will show up on their friends’ news feeds giving your post the opportunity to go viral.
Be Authentic: Keep it real. Followers don’t want to be sold to on Facebook.They follow a brand page because they are already sold on that brand and they are most likely already loyal customers. Speak with them not to them and don’t use traditional marketing speak. Finding a voice for your brand, an authentic voice, is essential to successfully engaging followers on Facebook
Twitter
Keep talking: Talk to followers. Follow them back. Retweet them. Listen to them. It’s a sure way to keep them engaged and interested. The lifespan of a tweet is generally a few seconds, making them a thing of the past almost instantly, but if your brand acknowledges a follower’s tweet it adds value and gives them a reason to keep following and engaging with your brand.
Generate excitement:Run contests. Twitter is great for running impromptu contests. It’s a quick and fun way to keep followers on their toes. Offer a free giveaway by asking them to tweet an answer or retweet a tweet or ask them to help you reach a certain follower milestone for a chance to win a prize.
Just ask:Asking followers to retweet, mention or just help get the word out about a brand generally works very well. Communication is key – ask and you shall receive. Again, it’s a simple way but an effective way to engage with a brand and followers arequick to jump on board.
Pinterest
Visual Momentum:Run Contests. Pinterest is a great place to run visual contests. Asking followers to create boards or repin a pin is an effective way to not only get your content out there , gain new followers and of course, to engage with existing followers.
Give control:By allowing followers to create boards on your Pinterest profile, followers feel like they are contributing, again, to the brand story.It’s also a great way for a brand to diversify its content. A brand can also ask followers to share its content on Twitter and Facebook, creating a cross-platform campaign that generates engagement throughout a brand’s social media presence.
Be exclusive: Pinterest is a great for a visual brand to get their followers engaged by giving them exclusive looks into the brand – a “behind-the-scenes”. Think about using Pinterest and the idea of exclusivity to run focus groups. For example, showing followers a product redesign on Pinterest before they see it anywhere else and asking for their input by commenting or repining can show followers and consumers that their input really matters to your brand.
Starting a social media platform can be a significant milestone for a Brand, but it involves more than just opening a new account or starting a new brand page on Facebook. Be sure to develop a holistic strategy and employ all the channels available in social media. Knowing the tactics and using the platform isn’t enough. Plus, like any other valuable relationship, the Brand Follower relationship needs work, passion and communication to endure and remain strong at heart.
Do you have a complete social media strategy with a strong Brand Follower relationship? Share what has worked and what hasn’t for your Brand and your followers.
* Source: wallblog.co.uk
