The
Battle For Coca-Cola
Rages
On.
Ain't
Nothing Like
The Real Thing, Maybe.
I
Don't Mean To Say
I Told You So, But...
Are
Consumers Smarter
Then We Are?.
The
Four Great Myths
Of Global Branding.
Mr
Bevis Butts Heads
At Mitsubishi
The
Best Laid Plans
Of Mice And Men.
Dare
to Be Great:
The Mad Genius of "The Matrix"
Mitsubishi's
New Marketing Boss
Out
Of The Frying Pan.
Concept Is Stronger Than Fact.
Value
Perception In A World
Gone Mad With "Cool"
The
Future of Advertising
The
Brand
The
Future of Advertising
The
Targets
The
Future of Advertising
The
Grid
The
Future of Advertising
The
Swarm
Technology
Making
The Message Meaningful
The Only Business That Matters Is The One You're In.
What
Ever Happened To The
Big Idea?
The Post-Advertising Era Is Here
Confessions Of A" Liar For Hire"
Good, Bad and Ugly At the Moment of Truth
THEFUTURE OF
THE
SECRET
TO OUR SUCCESS.
The
truth is MadisonAveNew.com
has been picking up readers like a house on fire. We actually owe it
to a suite of six web marketing tools.
If you would like to know
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The Post-Advertising Era 1.3. The Voices Of Experience Last week star Design Director Angela Glenn straightened us out about the importance of user experience in the Post-Advertising Era. As if I just got off the boat with cardboard suitcase in hand. Well let's just assume, for the sake of this article, that I did just get off the boat. And that cardboard suitcase was stacked with Yankee dollars from my various underground economy enterprises in the "old country." Once upon a time I'd be called an "Immigrant" ( or Wop, Wog, Wetback, What have you). Well, not anymore. |
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Today you can call me Joe Customer. I know your product offerings because everybody does, thanks to your infernal Global Branding Obsessions. I know your customs because "Friends" is the top-rated TV show in my native Geographic Marketing Area. I speak English because, well, doesn't everybody. And I'm web-savy because I love to shop on eBay and read AdRants. |
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When are you gonna put all this great stuff in a book.- Max G.. -London As soon as some publisher makes it worth my while. -HW |
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The big question is, how am I gonna turn the cash in this here suitcase into a lifestyle in this here country. It's getting dark. Time to focus. Food. Shelter. Clothing. Not to mention, a Bank to drop all this cash in, a car, 'cause "Nobody Walks In L.A." or so the song goes. And a Thomas Guide to keep me from ending up in the Criminal Zone with my throat cut. Although highly simplified, this is how most advertising agencies look at their consumer audience. Like they just got off the boat and have no idea how to spend what's in their suitcase. "Hey look. We got a cool new logo". Or, "Puff Daddy really digs our delivery trucks. That's how hard we rollin'." Their efforts would be silly, if they weren't so pitiful. And so bling-bling expensive. Just one more reason the Age of Advertising just had to go. In the Post-Advertsing Era, our Joe Customer will find themselves in a whole 'nother ballgame. The minute he steps off the boat ( as established by his GPS watch)he will no longer be alone. "Mr. Customer. Good Day to you sir. My name is BobAtYourService. Mr. YouKnowHim from our office in WhereYoureFrom said you would be arriving today. We have already taken the liberty of opening a financial planning account for you at American Express. Here is your Amex Gold Card. Can I have this bonded messenger take your suitcase to our downtown vault for safe keeping. Oh, by the way, I'd like to introduce you to Ms. GladTaMeetcha from Ford Motor Company. You gotta have wheels in L.A." To which Joe Customer will more than likely respond, " Get outta my face, maggot breath." And stiff-arm his way through the crowd. Meanwhile a wide number of subscriber firms will know that our Mr. Customer is not especially responsive to direct sales efforts from perfect strangers. Therefore Plan B will be attached to his ever-growing Data Profile. Plan B is what the Post Advertising Era is all about. Plan B and Plan C. Plan B is all about the importance of the "True Believer." When those high priced marketing wonkers (like me) talk about "Brand Essence" and "Brand DNA," what they are really talking about is the society of loyal customers that are about to become worth their weight in increased sales in the Post-Advertising Era. These are those increasingly valuable Third Party Endorsers that have been so instrumental in building Kinkos, Starbucks, Yahoo, HotMail, Jet Blue and scores of other companies into household words. I'll give anybody out their ten bucks if they can recite Starbuck's tagline off the top of their head. These "True Believers" make up the taglines as they go. They embody the brand experience in their personal style, their point of view and in the choices they make and influence. Those who would embrace the Post-Advertising Era must first become at one with the "True Believers." Cultivate them. Inspire them. Listen to them. Empower them. They are your Evangelists. Not your Agency Creative Directors. Not your overpriced Marketing Gurus ( like me). Not your CRMs or your PhD's. Your "True Believers" are the first line to expanding your brand. Why are they so important to you? Because they are the Voices of Experience. They are the all-important third-party endorsers that initiate trial. They are the carriers of the Word of the Mouth virus. Not some buzz-cut, fad-named, buzz marketing woobies. "True Believers," rule! What have you done for them lately? Drop us a line and we'll tell you exactly what you should be doing. Plan C is also what the Post Advertising Era is all about. Plan C is all about the importance of building and maintaining the Brand Community. Imagine what it would be like if all the people who love to drink Coca-Cola lived in one city. Coke City. Red and white would be the dominant colors. Ryan Seacrest would probably hold some public office. The Coke Bottle Skyscraper would be in evidence across the skyline. But mainly, everybody in town would have at least one thing in common, ( besides obesity and bad teeth). Their love for the bubbly stuff. Now how would The Coca-Cola Company treat the residents of Coke City. Would they sue them for misuses of trademark for their Coke Bottle Skyscrapers ( as Fed-Ex is doing to some poor schmoe who built his furniture out of FedEx boxes and posted it on the Internet) Or would they build a free Gym and Dental clinic for their loyal citizen customers. Truth is, most marketers have no idea how important it is to treat their customers like citizens of their brand. It takes company's like Nike, Starbuck's, or General Motors ( Corvette) to lead the way year after year after year. The world has become flat. I'm a lifelong Coca-Cola drinker. Hell, my commercials announced Diet Coke. I used to be a TCCC stock holder. On these very pages we developed and launched the infamous "Cool American" campaign for Coke Classic which was probably the most widely read non-sanctioned Coke Campaign in the brand's history. When they did what they did recently in India with the water supply, I was done with them. Sold my stock and became an ex-consumer. They no longer shared my values as a company. The Post Advertising Era is all about building and maintaining communities of shared values and belief structures. In Japan they call it "cult advertising" when avid brandfans create and distribute their own advertising campaigns for their favorite products. The New York Times called our "Cool American" campaign a "New Trend." What ever it is. What ever it's called. One thing is for sure. If a Brand Community is growing, cash registers are ringing, phones are ringing and sales are on their way up. The Post-Advertising Era requires a lot more work. To find out what your brand has to do to get started building your Brand Community, drop us a line. The Voices of Experience are trying to tell you something. Are you are smart enough to listen and learn before it's too late? Stay tuned .
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