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Cole & Weber makes AICP shortlist

Fri, 10 May 2013 19:29:13 GMT

Who knows how to make a small budget feel epic? We do. Superhero secret lairs, monster trucks, space stations, and robots abound in Cole & Weber’s Washington State’s Lottery spot, Possibilities – which was just shortlisted in AICP's Low Budget category. We’re against some formidable competition…bring it on.

http://awards.zesteronline.com/aicp/shortlist/list.php?catID=17&type=aicp

Cole & Weber wins Best of Show at 2013 Addy's

Thu, 18 Apr 2013 20:41:07 GMT

Cole & Weber cleaned up at the Addy's last night!! Most awarded agency with 19 wins PLUS The Best of Show!

Social Media Works For Luxury Brands Too

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 23:37:48 GMT

Introduction

Social media offers brands a unique opportunity to build communities where followers can engage in a dialogue directly with the brands and each other; luxury brands are no exception. In fact, many luxury brands are finding success in the social media space. We believe that Social media’s value is demonstrated by its ability to reach the right consumers with the appropriate narrative in a timely manner. Furthermore, social media’s ability to supplement or replace parts of your CRM strategy could prove valuable in providing direction to consumers who are looking to engage with your brand and save time by streamlining a process for communication.

The Affluent Social User

Social media has transformed considerably over the last ten years. What was once a social universe of young, tech savvy, early adopters has become a universe not so unlike the real world, with users from every demographic profile creating accounts on a number of different sites. Over the last three years, older and more affluent adults have been the fastest growing segments in these communities. Not only are they using social media, but they are using it to interact with brands and in some cases foregoing other digital experiences. Brands that capitalize on these numbers benefit from using social media to grow their digital footprint. One study, by Abrahms Research in 2011, shows that luxury brands who improved their digital experience with social media were able to improve overall digital traffic by 52% vs. just an 8% growth amongst those who did not. This demonstrates that, in many cases, consumers who choose to follow brands in social media are different from those that may visit a brand’s website or subscribe to weekly email lists. Incorporating a strong social strategy can help luxury brands grow their digital footprint overall.

Looking at the users who like to follow brands also tells a story. Likelihood to follow a brand in social media increases with income; however younger users are also more likely to follow brands. The ability to reach a younger affluent consumer is very valuable, especially for categories with tiered product lines such as the automotive or wine brands. Social media offers an opportunity to build a relationship with younger consumers who can grow with the brand over time, eventually graduating to higher end offerings currently enjoyed by more experienced luxury consumers. These young consumers may be more apt to interact via social media versus joining mailing lists or loyalty programs. Fashion labels, including Gucci, Coach & Jimmy Choo employ this strategy for social media, creating fun, interactive experiences aimed at capturing a younger consumer and educating them about their products, even though they still may just be an aspirational or occasional purchase.

Beyond just understanding the sheer number following brands, it is also important to examine why affluent social media users are doing so. Recent studies show that affluent social media users are more likely to “like” brands due to “a pre-existing affinity and desire to keep informed “about the brand. This makes the affluent audience even more valuable than the general public, who tend to cite “deals and coupons” as the driving factor behind following a brand. They are following because they are hungry for information and see a value in aligning with brands.

Affluent individuals, like many others, are using social media as a form of self-expression, essentially wearing a brand as a badge of honor or a reflection of their own personal “brand”. This immediately makes these users more likely to be advocates in the social space. Encouraging them to interact with your brand in social spaces can result in earned media through their conversations with friends and desire to showcase brands they enjoy.

Social For Telling Stories

The experience of buying luxury goods is unique and consumers looking for and interacting with luxury brands have very unique expectations. Emotions, experiences and engagements all play a vital role in social storytelling and those are also key traits luxury consumers are looking for in the brands they choose to purchase and advocate for. Social media allows luxury brands to tell their stories in new ways at a relatively low cost of entry. It allows new opportunities for engagement in brand experiences via applications and the conversational approach taken in posts to your followers. It can evoke the right emotions by brands reminding fans of what makes them unique or reinforcing where their brand should fit in their overall psyche. Social media, more so than websites allows this story to be constantly updated and broadcasts a brands narrative to followers in short digestible bites that reinforce their message.

It is easy to see how social storytelling can be adjusted based on the category. Take the Wine category for example. Wine is a product steeped in romance and complexity. With each release or varietal comes a story of the harvest, the soil, the smell and the taste. These same narratives that come across in a tour or tasting can be weaved into social media channels. The unique experiences that are part of enjoying wine can be brought to life via interactive tours, virtual tastings or grower interviews. All of this, while spread out across digestible pieces of content, begin to tell the story that luxury buyers can hold on to. It makes them feel as if they have exclusive access to the brands ongoing story and ultimately can help create advocates and higher value customers over time.

Luxury brands across categories have turned to social media to reinforce their brands story and cement its place in their lives. Tiffany & Co uses social media to reinforce its position as a part of elite culture by posting pictures of celebrities wearing their jewelry to parties and events. BMW has created custom video channels and Facebook applications aimed at reinforcing the fun that comes with owning the “ultimate driving machine”. Instead of broadcasting press releases or touting their latest TV and Print ads, they are using social media to add to the narrative of their brand. Social media acts as a relatively inexpensive way to enhance their story and remind luxury consumers why they choose to buy their products.

Sources/ Links

Emarketer Total Access: Why Do Affluent Consumers Connect with Brands on Social Networks? MAY 10, 2011

http://totalaccess.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1008379&dsNav=Ntk:basic|luxury|1|,Ro:15,N:1045&kwredirect=n

Emarketer Total Access: Luxury Marketers Need to Tap Into Social Media December 16, 2011

http://totalaccess.emarketer.com/Interview.aspx?R=6000649&dsNav=Ntk:basic|luxury|1|,Ro:-1,N:1045&kwredirect=n

Emarketer Total Access: Demographic profile of US Facebook users; Sep 2011

http://totalaccess.emarketer.com/Chart.aspx?R=114063&dsNav=Ntk:basic|demographics|1|,Ro:28,N:1045&kwredirect=n%2cn

Emarketer Total Access: Demographic profile of US Social Network users; June 2011

Abrahm’s Research – Social Media Guide for Luxury Brands

www.abramsresearch.com/static/guides.../ARSM_Guide_Lux.pdf

Luxury Daily: Top 10 social media luxury marketers of Q3; October 2011

http://www.luxurydaily.com/top-10-luxury-branded-social-media-marketers-of-q3/

Simmons Summer 2011 6 Month Survey

Is Your Brand A Hyper-Connector Or Truly Sociable?

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 23:37:31 GMT

As consumers have embraced social media, brands have tried to get in on the action … especially if Millennials are an important audience for the brand. Consequently, many marketers are increasing their social media budget to the point that some studies say nearly 18% of marketing budgets will be devoted to social media within the next five years. But why?

A recent study by the Australian think tank Ehrenberg-Bass Institute showed that while brands are racking up “likes,” only about 0.45% are actually engaging in conversation with the brand. To find out why, Project Butterfly, a qualitative study using a diverse range of research methods from ethnographies to social experiments, sought to better understand what makes people truly sociable and how understanding that behavior can provide key lessons for marketers in building and adopting sociable behavior.

It found that people who are truly sociable have distinct characteristics that are very different from what we often think of as highly social behavior. Typically, we think that highly social people have high Klout scores, thousands of Facebook friends, post multiple times per day and are always checking in at cool places. But these people really aren’t truly sociable. They are hyper-connectors. They are all about self-promotion, influencing others, getting attention and seeking validation. They are excellent at initiating contact but they lack the requisite skill to maintain the connection. Their connections are very one-way and, consequently, their friends lose interest even though they are constantly being prodded. When you think about typical brand behavior in the social space, this begins to look all too familiar. A recent quote from the head of the CMO Report described the “like” button as a tool that “packs more acquisition punch than other demand-generating activities.” Imagine if you went to a party with the pure goal of signing up friends: “Do you like me? Friend acquired!” It wouldn’t work.

In contrast, truly sociable people (or sociable butterflies) are people who are very good at initiating, facilitating AND maintaining social behavior. For them every relationship matters and they designate roles for each of the characters in their social network to maximize the desired impact and potential energy of their connections. Most importantly, sociable butterflies are BOTH interested and interesting. Being interesting attracts others to engage and interact. Being interested in what others have to say encourages them to stay involved and make their own contributions. Sociable butterflies are all about feedback. They are outstanding at obtaining and incorporating feedback from their environment. In other words, they contribute with others, not at them.

Thinking about brands again, how often are they interesting? Or more importantly, interested? Too often, we see brands post questions in social media without responding to any of the responses from their “friends.” Expedia recently posted, “What is your favorite souvenir from your travels?” Over 200 people commented. But Expedia didn’t acknowledge any of the answers. Imagine asking the same question in person and then turning away before anyone answered. Imagine the power of a brand really being interested. Millennials seek authentic connections where they personally matter. Asking questions and responding to what people say on your wall posts is just one way to demonstrate that you are both interesting AND interested.

Tory Burch does a great job of being interesting by sharing her experiences and influences to build a more personal connection with those that buy – or aspire to buy – her clothes. But being interesting might be the easier part; being interested takes effort. Ikea UK used its YouTube channel to offer a fully interactive experience via Facebook Connect. It used everything that had been displayed on a person’s wall and created a digital room. It even uploaded actual photos from a person’s Facebook page into picture frames on the wall in the digital room it created for you. Target’s Bull’s-eye Gives is another way of demonstrating it’s interested. It put $3 million in the hands of its community – asking members which of 10 charities should receive the greatest proportion of the money and then actually distributed the money according to its share of votes.

To be truly sociable, brands need to think and act more like sociable people. They need to push beyond the ROI of gaining a fan to understand that social media isn’t just a channel, it’s a call to marketers to change their brand behavior. They have the opportunity to be both interesting and interested, to focus on emotion over promotion and to make every relationship count. That doesn’t mean they have to treat everyone the same. People can play different roles within their social circle but brands have an opportunity to incorporate feedback and learn to contribute with their Millennial friends rather than at them.

6 Ways to be a Pinterest Superstar

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 23:36:55 GMT

The launch of another social community can often cause brands to flock around it like pigeons to a breadcrumb. They want to know the next new thing and feel they must "be there" in order to be relevant.

But Pinterest isn't just another social community. It's an inspiration hub.

Pinterest brings the fun of window shopping, watching an episode of "House Hunters," and flipping through a travel magazine all into one experience. So it's no wonder the average time spent there is over an hour per visit.

Pinterest is aspirational. While Facebook is all about me -- where I am and what I'm doing -- Pinterest is the place where we can share who we want to be, what we want to do, or where we want to go. Those are powerful insights that brands can leverage.

We recently completed a study on human sociability -- called Project Butterfly -- to understand what makes people truly sociable and what brands can learn from those behaviors. One of the most notable markers of sociable people is that they're not only interesting people -- they're interested in others. They're listeners almost as much as they are conversationalists. It's this notion of being both interesting and interested, combined with the fact that people are using Pinterest to imagine, that can lead to smarter and more valuable uses for Pinterest.

Consider these opportunities that your brand might be overlooking.
Inspire people

A lot of people have already written about how brands should be posting content about lifestyle, not just using Pinterest as a product catalog. But just posting pictures about things from other categories relevant to your audience's life doesn't really make the most of Pinterest either.

When thinking about all of your content, ask these questions: Could this give people an interesting idea? Does it give them a reason to share?

People are looking for inspiration. They don't just want to look at pictures; they want to think about what they could do with things. Whole Foods and West Elm are constantly used as poster children for brands that are doing this right. Whole Foods gives people ideas on how to play and have fun with food -- not just eat healthier. West Elm gives people a lot of ideas on how to use and apply different design trends.

Think about what you're posting and whether it gives people ideas about what they could do -- and how they could bring content together in new ways. Your ability to inspire people to action makes you more interesting in their eyes.
Share your culture, not just your product

People want to interact with other people. It's why people are increasingly looking to buy local for food and why sites like Etsy have such a tribal following. We want to buy from other people, not just a company.

Pinterest allows brands to show who they are, not just what they offer. It's a chance to give people a look into their culture and meet the people who make it all happen.

The "Today Show" has a board dedicated to Anchor Antics. It's a chance for people to see the anchors as just that -- people. And, it's an opportunity to gain access to a part of that brand most people couldn't experience first-hand.

Obama's campaign has created boards dedicated to his family lifestyle and his interests -- not just politics. I'm surprised a company like Zappos hasn't taken advantage of Pinterest in this way yet. It has talked a lot about how culture is a big part of its secret sauce. This would be a great place for people to see it in action.

Annie's Homegrown has a board that's just about things that make people at the company laugh. It shows personality. It says they're human. And that's a good thing.

Flatter your audience

Show your audience that you're interested in them. It's funny to me how we've established best practices in places like Facebook that tell brands to ask questions to build engagement, but rarely does the brand show it's listening to the response.

Your success in Pinterest also relies on your ability to show you're interested in what others are doing -- not just in what you're posting. And hey, doesn't flattery get you everywhere?

In all seriousness, at the simplest level, re-pin content from people who are following you and tell them why you're re-pinning it. Does it give you an idea? Did you think it was a cool use for something? Does it maybe even inspire you about a new product idea?

You can take that further too. Ask people to build your boards with you. Ask them to pin pictures of themselves using your brand and re-pin those on a special board that acknowledges them. Whether you run it as a contest or just publicize the fact that you want to hear from them, let people know you're listening and that you value them as people and content contributors.
Influence the influencers

This tip builds on the one above. But don't stop at just flattering your users. Flatter those you would love to flatter you -- your influencers. See what the most influential bloggers in your space are pinning and re-pinning. Don't just wait for them to find you. Show them you're interested in what they have to say about other things as well. Show them you're listening. They just might start following you a little more closely.
Embrace Pinterest as a living, breathing ethnography

Sam Gosling wrote a great book, "Snoop," that demonstrates how the things we own and the way we arrange them say so much about us -- even more so than our most intimate conversations. In fact, we've used that methodology in a lot of research projects to better understand -- and empathize with -- audiences. Pinterest allows you to do that in real time, at scale -- constantly.

Go follow the people who follow you. See what else they do. What other brands are they into? What else interests them? What doesn't? What do they wish they were doing?

Your participation in Pinterest is a research project. It's an opportunity to learn things about your customers you've always wanted to know. You'll understand their lifestyles, not just buying styles. You'll understand them as people. And it just might shed some new light on how your brand could be connecting with them in new and different ways.

Use it for some down-and-dirty R&D

Pinterest really is a community all about what people want. People are constantly pinning things they're interested in -- things they wish they had. Brands can benefit from that sense of imagination.

Take some rough product ideas and see what your followers think of them. Or ask them for their input on what they think you should be creating. A design company in Portland, Yala, asks people to upload pictures of designs or items they would like to see produced.

But even the smallest things could give you new product ideas. Maybe your audience is really into dogs. Is there a product extension that could tap into that passion? For a fashion company, maybe that's dog-wear. For an airline, maybe that's a new "product" designed to take care of travelers' pets or help them fly in style.

What if car companies asked about people's favorite features of their car to understand the features that have emotional attachment? Given that a large majority of Pinterest users have household incomes of less than $75,000, what if financial services companies were inspired to create new types of products that could help their customers attain those things on their wish list?

Pinterest is all about inspiration. And that can lead to innovation.

Using Experiences to Bond with Customers

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 23:36:13 GMT

...to encourage mutually rewarding relationships with their customers, bankers need to create experiences that show the institution values them as people.

If you think about the people in your life that you are closest to, chances are they’re the ones that you’ve shared the most experiences with. Those experiences (positive or even occasionally difficult) bond you to those people.

Experiences also bond people and brands; people expect the brands they associate with to engage them in an experience. And because there are few things as personal as money, banking as an industry has a huge opportunity to engage people in experiences that build lasting and mutually rewarding relationships. Yet it’s also a segment that has low satisfaction rates (44% in a recent Harris Poll) and gets more than its share of bad publicity.

To better understand the opportunity facing financial institutions, we recently commissioned a study on people’s attitudes toward their bank and, most importantly, how they felt their bank felt about them. Consumer Insights Inc. conducted the survey of 250 people across a range of incomes and banking needs in January. Then, we overlaid these findings with conversations taking place in social media to get a sense of how banks can build stronger relationships with their customers.

One of the biggest takeaways was the difference between the way people feel about their bank and how they perceive their bank feels about them. About 39% of people we surveyed feel indifferent toward their bank. But when asked how they think their bank feels about them, 54% expressed the belief that their bank is indifferent toward them and another 6% felt their bank actually dislikes them. I doubt there are many human relationships that could survive under that scenario. In fact, 15% of those surveyed said they were very open to switching banks and another 15% were somewhat open, meaning nearly a third of customers are vulnerable on any given day.

If you feel that your bank is at best indifferent to you and may actually loathe you as a customer, imagine how that might affect the conversations you have with others regarding that institution. Using Meltwater Buzz, we took a snapshot of the conversations taking place in social media about banks and banking. An overwhelming 98% of the conversations were negative, mostly related to customer service woes, carelessness or discontent with fees and management.

On their Websites, bankers tend to say things like, “We value what’s right for our customers in everything we do.” Yet, people clearly don’t feel valued by their banks. And even worse, they feel the power in the relationship is very one-sided. When we asked people what they wish their bank understood about them, we received answers such as:

•    “That I’m a human being.”
•    “That I am good at ‘advertising’ for them.”
•    “That I am a person, not just an account.”
•    “That I make a choice every day to keep my money with them; I wish I felt they invested in me as a customer.”
•    “That I am a real person with real needs. I should be treated with greater respect.”
•    “That I’m not just another sponge for them to squeeze money from.”

Clearly, banks have a huge opportunity to find ways to create experiences that enable these feelings rather than undermine them. Ally Bank leans directly into this with its “People Sense” campaign, which is centered on doing right by customers because it makes good business sense. But banks also need to do things that build involvement with customers in ways that deepen relationships by showing that they understand and appreciate that it’s not their money; are focused more on what customers want to do than on what the bank offers; give people credit for knowing things about their money; don’t judge people based on what they have, but what they could be; and value people’s loyalty.

Here are a few ways banks can build mutually rewarding customer relationships:

Change the conversation. Banks have an opportunity to show that they are championing their customer’s needs by focusing on what the customer wants to do. Start every conversation with, “how can we help you do what you want to do?” vs. “here’s what we have for you,” which just furthers the feeling that the customer doesn’t matter when offered things they either already have or clearly don’t need. Irvine, Calif.-based Opus Bank takes this approach with its “Build Your Masterpiece” tag line, which is geared toward supporting people with the vision to drive job growth. Another great example of championing customer needs is how American Express created a program to increase sales for their small business customers called “Small Business Saturday,” which encouraged people to shop small businesses on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, creating double-digit sales increases.

Create a culture of choice. Banks could give people credit for knowing something about their money and what they want to do with it by offering ways to create or customize their accounts and services to fit their needs. While many aspects of financial products are regulated, there’s an opportunity to let people choose other services that they value. Where one person might value free wire transfers, another might prefer something entirely different.

Give people tools. Why not offer financial management tools that make it easy for people to be good with money by helping them set goals and track their progress using their own account data? Then, create rewards for their financial decisions and goal achievement. This could be a great opportunity to tie in other commercial banking partners like retailers and restaurants in each geographic area.

A few banks, such as HSBC and ING, have made tentative moves in this arena. ING launched their “What’s Your Number?” campaign to help people find what they need to save to retire the way they want to. Unfortunately, the program doesn’t appear to have been fully integrated into ING’s “My Financial Life” offerings nor could I find any type of rewards for hitting milestones, etc. HSBC also offered tools for managing electricity use as part of their “Math of Life” program but, again, it seems to have been a promotion rather than an ongoing way of championing their customer’s needs.

Create communities for customers to share financial advice with each other – and with the bank. Banks can show that they embrace customers as people (not just for their money) by adopting the behaviors of sociable people. Banks can build deeper relationships by being accessible, interested in what people have to say and by providing inspiration and ideas to help them achieve what they want to with their money. And be sure to make it a two-way dialogue. Regional banks like Umpqua Bank have done a great job of using technology to create a personal touch outside the bank. In contrast to 98% negative conversation for most banks, theirs is 99% positive and almost to the point of fostering a “my-bank-is-better-than-your-bank” pride.

Empower employees: Banks have the opportunity to give their employees the power to act in the best interest of their customers and reward them based on their personal contributions to the relationships they have. This is particularly important as more customers switch to online banking and each interaction takes on more importance. Empowering employees to be at the service of the customer also gives them the opportunity to change their role from experts selling products to people offering supportive expertise (and products/services) to help people achieve their financial goals.
While creating these kinds of experiences may not directly lead to selling more banking products, they have real business value. They build involvement with your customers and that involvement will lead to deeper relationships that are more mutually rewarding and profitable. And in doing so, you will not only become the brand that everyone is talking about but you will create preference, loyalty and advocacy with your customers.

Five Ways Banks Can Build Mutually Rewarding Customer Relationships

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 23:35:32 GMT

If you think about the people in your life that you are closest to, chances are they’re the ones that you’ve shared the most experiences with. Those experiences build the involvement needed to grow relationships—between people and also between people and brands. Because there are few things as personal as money, banking is an industry that has a huge opportunity to engage people in experiences that build lasting and mutually rewarding relationships. Yet it’s a segment that has low satisfaction rates (44 percent were extremely or very satisfied with their bank in an October 2011 Harris Poll).

To better understand the opportunity, we commissioned a study on people’s attitudes toward their bank and most importantly, how they felt their bank felt about them.

One big discovery is the difference between the way people feel about their bank and how they perceive their bank feels about them. About 39 percent of people surveyed feel indifferent toward their bank—they neither like, love nor loathe it. But when asked how they feel their bank feels about them, 54 percent feel their bank is indifferent toward them and another 6 percent feel their bank loathes them. I doubt there are many human relationships that could survive under that scenario.

When asked how open to switching banks people were, 30 percent said they are very likely or indifferent/open to switching—that means nearly a third of customers are vulnerable on any given day. A Harris Poll looked even worse for the bigger banks: 46 percent of JP Morgan Chase & Co., 40 percent of Bank of America Corp. and 54 percent of Wells Fargo & Co. customers are extremely or very likely to change their bank. When you consider an American Bankers Association study found that it’s seven times more expensive to replace a customer than to keep them, it seems that the opportunity and the need to build stronger relationships is very real.

Here are five ways banks can build mutually rewarding customer relationships and become a champion for them:

Champion customer needs by focusing conversations on “what they want to do” rather than “what we have to sell you” which just furthers the feeling that the customer doesn’t matter. Banks can rewrite the language used by everyone in the bank to reflect the needs and the power of their customers. One example is Opus Bank. The bank was founded on the belief that strong businesses build strong communities and everything they do supports people with the vision to drive job growth, including their tagline, which is a call to “Build Your Masterpiece.”

Give people credit for knowing how they like to use their money by creating a culture of choice that allows people to customize their accounts and services. While many aspects of financial products are regulated, banks could let people choose the other services they value. Where one person might value free wire transfers, another might prefer something entirely different.

Be a valuable resource that champions people’s desire to do something with their money. Think Nike+ for money. Offer financial management tools that help people set goals, track their progress using their account data, and get rewarded for their achievement. This could be a great opportunity to tie in commercial banking partners like retailers and restaurants in each geographic area. We are beginning to see new banks (e.g., Simple) emerge that leverage technology to not just make transactions easier but to actually empower the consumer.

Create communities for customers to share financial advice with each other and with the bank. Banks can show that they embrace customers as people (not just their money) by adopting the behaviors of sociable people, i.e. by being accessible, interested in what people have to say, and providing inspiration to help them achieve what they want to with their money. Regional banks like Umpqua Bank have done a great job of using technology to create a personal touch outside the bank. In contrast to the 98 percent of social media commentary about banks that is negative, theirs is 99 percent positive and almost to the point of fostering a “my bank is better than your bank” pride.

Empower employees to act in the best interest of their customers and reward them based on their personal contributions to the relationships they have. This is particularly important as customers switch to online banking and each interaction takes on more importance.

While creating these kinds of experiences may not directly sell more banking products, they have real business value. They build involvement with your customers and that involvement will lead to deeper relationships that are more mutually rewarding and profitable.

Let's Get Physical

Thu, 04 Apr 2013 23:34:17 GMT

By Mike Doherty Friday, Nov. 30, 2012

Given that Millennials are in their prime athletic years (18-35), it might be expected that they would be in better shape than other generations and at least meeting the Centers for Disease Control’s minimum guidelines of 2.5 hours of moderate exercise per week. Unfortunately, researchers are finding that isn’t necessarily the case. According to Mintel, while 88% of Millennials engage in some form of exercise, they are not as physical as they think. And a study by Life University found that Millennials believe they are healthier than other generations but their actual habits are in fact no different from their parents.

So how can fitness-related brands get this generation moving in the physical direction? Here are a few ideas:

Make it Exciting and Social
One of the main challenges of exercise is that it lacks excitement and sociability. Being a generation of diversity, immediate gratification and sociability, Millennials spark to things that keep their attention, remix the ordinary and tie in with their social worlds.
Some clubs are already catching on and creating new workouts that mix it up. Chi Running and Soul Cycle are two examples. KiwiSweat is a pop up gym in New York that keeps things exciting by offering classes in nontraditional places like Chelsea Market and an art center in Brooklyn.

And the more brands can incorporate social, the better. Brands can build on a Millennial’s social connections by giving users the ability to share their own results and seek support from both the brand and their community. Brands can also use social channels to become the spark needed to keep fitness interesting by offering personal training tips and new workouts digitally. Or gyms and brands like Brooks could partner with social organizations such as It’s Just Lunch to organize lunchtime runs.
Make it Fast and Flexible

Millennials grew up in an on-demand world. They are used to speed, ease and convenience, which could be one reason why activities like running are growing faster than gym memberships.

Gyms do have opportunities. Mintel found that the same percentage of Millennials is interested in online fitness videos as going to a gym but 72% of 18-25 year olds think gyms are too expensive. Gyms need to add flexibility in their programs and pricing. They are competing with the 18K fitness apps currently available in iTunes that give people the ability to try different types of activities. Couldn’t gyms enable people to sample new activities and create flexible fee structures that encourage variety and persistence? Fitness Formula Clubs in Chicago has a unique strategy of encouraging usage by offering new members the chance to earn their enrollment fee back if they work out 36 times in 90 days.

Brands can also help Millennials take their workout with them by offering podcasts of classes to do at home or creating branded podcast memberships. Equinox utilizes a YouTube channel (6.1 million video views) to feature workout videos that are high-quality, well-designed films that feel fresh and interesting. And Westin Hotels (in partnership with New Balance) has made exercise fast and flexible by offering guests the ability to rent whatever gear they need for $5.

Reward Them and Their Interests
Along with immediate gratification comes a Millennial’s love for prizes and other symbols of accomplishment. Millennials appreciate brands that utilize technology to track and reward progress. Nike+ was a pioneer and there are now others like Striiv – a pedometer that offers rewards, challenges and punishments to motivate users and keep them active. The trophies and points earned for accomplishments can be used to play MyLand, a FarmVille-like game to help motivate people, or to make a donation to one of three charities.
But the opportunity extends beyond fitness gadgets. Millennials will continue to look for gaming and other technologies to sync with their life and their bodies. Healthcare in general needs to add a social gaming layer to reward Millennials for engaging in their health in a deeper way while keeping it fun. There’s even an opportunity to incorporate technologies into everyday clothing and gear that measure health and provide instant feedback. And it could be worth paying more for… according to Mintel’s “Fitness Clothing—U.S., September 2011”report, 38% of exercising 18-24 year olds said that it’s worth it to pay more for better quality products and technologies.

Make it Personal
Millennial’s value personalization and customization in the experiences they participate in. One way brands can add opportunities for personalization is through partnerships. Could you enable your users to choose their rewards from the brands they value rather than from a predetermined set? Or what if you could personalize your company healthcare plan by adding gym memberships, massages, and things like fresh fruit deliveries into the monthly cost of your plan?
Gyms can also enable Millennials to make their experience more personal and customized. They could offer members the ability to create custom fitness platforms using different fitness gear like accelerometers that marry music tracks to different workouts. They could even customize their refreshments. There is an Australian vending machine that tailors a protein drink to your body fat and fitness goals.
According to Mintel’s “Exercise Trends” (October 2012), 80% of Americans who have gym memberships don’t use them. Who knows … maybe adding excitement, flexibility, personalization and rewards might just benefit more than the Millennial.

The Best Creative Product Packaging

Tue, 13 Nov 2012 18:24:41 GMT

It is said that packaging is a combination of science, technology and art, and the latter ingredient has been gaining more and more importance over the recent years. Originally designed as a tool to help preserve and transport a product, packaging design has now become a new niche for artists.

How much would these influence your decision while shopping?

Here's the best:

Here's the rest:

Pinterest Offers Unique Millennial Opportunities

Mon, 24 Sep 2012 20:09:48 GMT

For Millennials, Pinterest isn’t just another social community; it’s quickly become an inspiration hub. It brings the fun of window shopping, watching your favorite HGTV show and flipping through a travel magazine all into one experience. It’s no wonder the average time spent on Pinterest is over an hour per visit.
While Facebook is all about where I am and what I’m doing, Pinterest is where people share who they want to be, what they want to do or where they want to go. Because Pinterest is aspirational and Millennials use it to imagine, it presents brands with unique and interesting ways to use it. Here are just a few:

Inspire people.

Simply posting pictures about things from other categories that are relevant to your audience’s life doesn’t inspire. The opportunity is to think about your content through the lenses of “could this give people an interesting idea? Or does it give them a reason to share?” Millennials are looking for inspiration. West Elm and Whole Foods do this right. West Elm gives people a lot of ideas on how to use and apply different design trends. Whole Foods gives people ideas on how to play and have fun with food – not just eat healthier. Your ability to give Millennials things to think about and do will not only inspire them but also make you more interesting in their eyes.

Share your culture, not just your product.

Millennials desire authenticity and realness. It’s why they are increasingly looking to buy local for food, and why sites like Etsy have such a tribal following.

Pinterest allows brands to show who they are, not just what they offer. It’s a chance to give people a look into your culture, and to meet the people who make it all happen. “The Today Show” has a board dedicated to “Anchor Antics” that allows people to see the anchors as just that – people. And, it’s an opportunity to gain access to a part of the brand that most people can’t experience first hand. Likewise, Annie’s Homegrown has a board that’s just about things that make them laugh. It shows personality, and it says they’re human which adds the realness Millennials desire. It’s surprising that a company like Zappos, which views its culture as a secret weapon, hasn’t taken advantage of Pinterest in this way. It would be a great place for people to see it in action.

Flatter your audience. Show that you’re interested in them.

Your success with Millennials in Pinterest also relies on your ability to show you’re interested in what they are doing, not just in what you’re posting. After all, doesn’t flattery get you everywhere?

At the simplest level, re-pin content from people who are following you and tell them why you’re repining it. Does it give you an idea? Did you think it was a cool use for something? Does it inspire a new product idea?

And flatter those you would love to flatter you: your influencers. See what the most influential bloggers in your space are pinning and re-pinning. Don’t just wait for them to find you. Show them you’re interested in what they have to say about other things as well. Show them you’re listening, and they might start following you a little closer.

You can also ask people to build your boards with you. Ask them to pin pictures of themselves using your brand and re-pin those on a special board that acknowledges them. Whether you run it as a contest or just publicize that you want to hear from them, it will let them know you’re listening and that you value them as people and contributors.

Use Pinterest as a living, breathing ethnography.

Sam Gosling’s book, Snoop, demonstrates what the things in people’s lives say about them. In fact, we’ve used that methodology in a lot of research projects to better understand – and empathize – with different audiences. Pinterest can be an ongoing research project that allows you to do that in real time, at scale – constantly.

Brands can follow the people who follow them. See what else they do, and what other brands they’re into? Learn what interests them and what doesn’t. What do they wish they were doing? You’ll understand their lifestyles, not just buying styles. You’ll understand them as people and it just might shed some new light on how your brand could connect with them in new and different ways.

Use it for some down-and-dirty R&D.

Because Pinterest is a community all about what people want, they are constantly pinning things they’re interested in – things they wish they had. Brands can benefit from that sense of imagination.

Take some rough product ideas and see what your followers think of them. Or ask them for their input on what they think you should be creating. ModCloth does this with their “be the buyer” feature. Even the smallest things can give you new product ideas. Maybe your audience is really into dogs. Is there a product extension that could tap into that passion? For a fashion company, maybe that’s dog-wear. For an airline, maybe that’s a new “product” designed to take care of their travelers’ pets or help them fly in style. Given that a large majority of Pinterest users have household incomes of less than $75K, financial services companies could create new types of products that could help their customers attain the things on their wish list.

Brands have the opportunity to demonstrate that they can be listeners almost as much as they are conversationalists. It’s that notion of being both interesting and interested, combined with the fact that people are using Pinterest to imagine - that can lead to interesting and more valuable uses for Pinterest. And that innovation can deepen your connection with Millennials.

http://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/181898/pinterest-offers-unique-millennial-opportunities.html

Generation Prototype

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 23:22:31 GMT

If you are in the "consumer durables" market, you already know that it's a label that doesn't make much sense to Gen Y. For Gen Yers, the consumer durables equation seems to look like this:

Product Lifespan = Adopted + Adapted + Left Behind for the Next Version

Hard goods with soft lifespans: To a Gen Yer, durability is often acknowledged as being relevant, but its importance is relative to different products. It's not too much of an exaggeration to say that there are really three recycling bins in Gen Y homes: Paper 'n' Plastic, Compost, and eBay/Craigslist.

If Gen Yers are fortunate enough to get their hands on a v1.0 iPad, they will love being one of the first to have one, but they also know that there are more versions to come in a few months, making their hot item quickly feel outdated.

Likewise, when it comes to fashion, H&M and Forever 21 have made it easy for Gen Yers to have the most up-to-date look with little investment -- the clothes become as dispensable as the trend. In the end, short shelf-lives are no big deal. When something is important and adds value to a Gen Yer's life, it's seen as a worthwhile expenditure regardless of how long its lifespan is.

So from a business point of view, what does this mean? For starters, the concept of innovations as long-term investments may be an even greater disconnect with this audience.

The conventional methods of realizing ROI by devoting time, testing, conducting countless focus groups and sinking costs into a plan starts to add way too much effort and overhead. In fact, all that rigorous business planning may only guarantee that your new product is irrelevant by the time it's green-lit.

Take advantage of a focus group of millions: One way to capture the attention of Gen Y is to meaningfully engage it in a brands' product development plan. Because Gen Yers personalize everything, they are very comfortable pulling apart (both literally and figuratively) what isn't working for them, refashioning a different version and presenting it to their comrades in experimentation to see if it flies. This makes Gen Yers great partners for innovation.

One way to engage them is through tools like Passenger (thinkpassenger.com) that provide Market Research Online Communities (MROCs). These communities enable consumers to stick their toes into the primordial soup of new products by trying out the latest and greatest and then providing feedback on what works and what doesn't.

Thinking of Gen Y as "Gen Prototype" allows any brand the opportunity to experiment with product development in ways never before imagined or possible. This might be the moment to toss out old ROI models and get creative by trying out ways to make products faster, cheaper and even more relevant.

In terms of mobile, we've also found surprising success by throwing down the gauntlet of time. Rather than focusing on time, money and whether the idea is worthwhile, consider developing mobile phone applications using a simple "App in a Day" rule. A time constraint can often push teams to develop quickly and cleverly. Risky methodology? Perhaps. Surprising rewards? Absolutely. And at worst you've invested two or three days in a great learning experience.

Consider innovation as the new mother of invention: Could anyone have predicted that Paul Gardner's famous quote, "A painting is never finished -- it simply stops in interesting places," could be the philosophy for product innovation in the 21st century? In the context of reaching Gen Y, it's worth taking very seriously. By pausing their "art" in interesting places, marketers can gauge Gen Y's interest, which can generate excitement about new product launches and spark the imagination of what's to come.

Bringing consumers into your virtual development lab can have an added benefit. After having a positive experience during the development process, Gen Yers return to their social media home base with an improved perception of your brand. In social media, this type of research also works as marketing, and can create early advocacy.

What can a brand learn from the fast-paced life and creative ingenuity that makes Gen Y Gen Prototype? The answer may lie in a brand's ability to be light on its feet, take chances whenever possible, and prove itself a true continual innovator in its category.

Millennials Could be Your Next Growth Opportunity

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 23:21:43 GMT

As brands evolve and consumers change, most marketers realize that their most loyal consumers today may not provide the growth they need for tomorrow, and that it's important to continually bring new customers into the fold. Could Millennials be your next growth opportunity?

Considering that the oldest Millennials are already getting married and becoming the heads of households, if you haven't already targeted this generation, now is an important time to introduce them to your brand. In fact, at the CPG Summit in Chicago, SymphonyIRI Group speculated that Millennials represent a $50 billion growth opportunity for package goods brands alone.

Do Millennials even care about brands and, if so, what qualities in a brand do they find attractive? The good news is that Millennials are actually quite brand loyal, but when considering how to position your brand with this generation, there are some key things to consider:

How familiar is your brand?

This generation is always "on" and strapped for time as they move through a life stage distinguished by unprecedented upheaval and personal change. But Millennials also maintain strong kinships with their boomer parents and look to them for direction on which brands to believe in and trust. As a result, Millennial brand loyalty is often driven by familiarity. In fact, GFK Roper found that Gen Y-ers define themselves as "brand shoppers," consumers who stick to the brands they know.

Smart marketers will recognize this behavior as an opportunity to connect with Millennials AND their parents. Attracting one doesn't mean alienating the other. Campaigns like Dove's "Real Beauty" worked across generations and Toyota's new "meet the parents" minivan ads nicely acknowledge the familiarity of growing up with a minivan while also connecting with the Gen Y parents of today.

Connecting with both generations can have an added positive effect. Because Millennials are close with their parents, as they age, they are exerting more influence on their parents' purchasing decisions and moving product adoption from children to parents.

Are your brand's values clear and aligned?

Because Gen Y-ers are at an age where they are still formulating their belief systems, they are attracted to well-defined and authentic brands that help to strengthen their values and reinforce the identity they are building as a generation independent of their family. In essence, brands create a sense of community for Gen Y-ers and can even help bring order to their world.

Brands that want to stand out with this generation should offer a vision for how they see the world and offer opportunities for Gen Y to get involved and help make an impact.

Marketers can also celebrate their values in ways that align with where Gen Y-ers are in their life stage: First job/social network, parenthood/optimism, first home/economics, etc.

Is the value you offer clear?

In general, Millennials believe they will achieve "the good life," but given the recent economic turmoil, they are experiencing a struggle between their entitlement ideals and their financial reality. They still see possessions as essential to a good life and they are willing to pay for higher quality if they will save money in the long run. In fact, they aren't as likely as older adults to trade down even in difficult times.

Brands can help bridge the gap between Gen Y-er's desire to spend and their need to save by building savings opportunities into other products. Credit card companies, for example, have done this with "rounding up" incentives that purchase balances towards savings accounts. And while Millennials value great function, but they also want style, too. Brands that can offer cheap-chic or affordable luxuries will help Gen Y-ers straddle the gap between their material desires and need to be frugal.

Millennials could be your next growth opportunity if you can appeal to the right sensibilities today. Gen Y-ers are looking for brands that offer confidence and familiarity, that solidify and reinforce their values and that provide smart solutions to the either/or obstacles they face.

Nostalgia And Gen Y -- Forget About It (They Already Have)

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 23:21:15 GMT

It seems to this boomer that you can't turn around without seeing something from your youth being re-introduced into popular culture. The Old Spice campaign won big at Cannes this year, Google has a Pac Man game and the Karate Kid is back along with the Smurfs.

While my agency has done its share of brand reinventions, it does make me wonder if marketers are just trying to uncover brand equity that's still alive in these old brands or do they think GenYers are more affected by nostalgia than other demographics?

It's true that in bad times people tend to long for a simpler, easier time and brands that remind us of those times can bring a smile to our face and stir up positive emotions. But it would be wrong to assume that GenYers are more nostalgic than the rest of us or that they will immediately flock to anything from their past. In fact, it might be more accurate to define Gen Y as the "anti-nostalgia" demographic for a couple of reasons:

Because they typically retain close ties to family and friends, GenYers have little reason for wistful memories of yesterday, as everyone from "yesterday" is here today and will likely be here tomorrow.
GenYers are always on the move, and while they shouldn't be considered emotionally shallow, they make their attachments early in life, and have spent their early adulthood spinning through experiences, trying on identities, and generally discovering what has a place in their world.

It's the second reason that best explains why marketers cannot assume that "if we reintroduce it, they will come." For GenY, the emotional weight of personal history is quantified not so much by nostalgia (which has sort of a negative connotation) but rather in their ability to cherry-pick the best parts of their childhood and brings those ideas and products forward into their adult lives in meaningful ways.

For fashion, Etsy, vintage T-shirts, and Urban Outfitters all represent the best parts of Gen Y's early foray into individualism: fashion that allowed them to craft their own identities without leaning too far outside of what their "tribe" was into is still important for GenYers today.

Fast-forward to the present, with Gen Y entering the workforce as young adults and becoming parents. Both present new challenges to their identities but Gen Y doesn't meet these challenges by feeling nostalgic for "easier" times; rather, they are firmly focused on the future, taking full advantage of how technology makes life easier, how social networking through mommy groups helps them cope with the ups and downs of being a parent, and all of the other everyday issues of adulthood.

For example, minivans, the carpool chariot Gen Yers grew up inside, are relevant today not because of nostalgia but because the vehicles have evolved into mobile living rooms. Their relevance is meaningful and incredibly useful to young parents looking for seamless ways to go from a home environment to another place with all the creature comforts and entertainment options of home. The fact that a GenYer grew up inside a minivan doesn't hurt, but nostalgia alone isn't their reason for buying one.

In fact, in many ways, the idea of nostalgia is something Gen Y might thumb their nose at because they are so adept at multi-tasking and staying connected to what's most important and useful to them at the moment. While a reference to yesterday can certainly add an element of familiarity, finding a way to add value to a Gen Yer's life today is far more important to a brand's success than merely reminding them of their childhood.

Gen Y Traits Come Honestly

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 23:20:53 GMT

A lot that's written about the psychology of Gen Y members has a negative connotation. Most centers on seeing them as "entitled" employees and consumers -- a generation that believes it's entitled to involvement in a brand, entitled to a great job, entitled to be impatient, entitled to tell their parents what to buy and so on. I was recently speaking at the Shopper Insights conference in Chicago, and I saw an interesting presentation from Kit Yarrow that shed some positive light on subject.

Kit is a professor and author of the book Gen BuY and through her research found that Millennials do have a unique psychological code but that they come by it "honestly," meaning it isn't deliberate or contrived but rather that it's a natural byproduct of their environment and rearing.

For starters, the prevalence of technology in their lives has altered Millennials' cognitive functions. They were Internet-empowered from their first breath and it's had an impact on the nature of their relationships and the way they work, and it certainly facilitates their sphere of influence through social media.

When it comes to how Gen Yers work, on the surface it can look like they are impatient and entitled but the reality is that they never learned patience. In my day, I learned patience and perseverance through simple rights of passage like researching a term paper using the card catalog at the library. Ugh. Imagine the difference for a Millennial performing the same function. No patience is really required when everything you need is a click or two away. So instead of learning patience, they learned they can get what they want when they want it.

But their technological life has also impacted their relationships. Because Millennials are overloaded with easily accessible options for everything from recipes to music, they seek trust-worthy guidance. As their world becomes more complex with new jobs, families, and expanding interests, there is a great opportunity for brands to help them quickly navigate the world in a way that is visual, intuitive and contextual to the way their mind works.

Gen Yers were also raised in a youth-centric society by Boomer parents with little of the traditional family hierarchy that older generations knew. Millennials were empowered and involved in family decisions about everything from what their parents should wear to what car to buy.

When you consider this, plus the fact that Gen Yers grew up during an educational era where schools awarded trophies for just about everything (including showing up) to increase self-esteem, it's no wonder confidence comes naturally to Millennials. While this generation's confidence can look like self-importance, I think understanding its origin sheds a more positive light on how to work with it.

For example, because Millennials are used to being involved (regardless of their place in the hierarchy), they will respond well to a manager who can explain how even the most mundane projects are valuable to the company. In the end, status isn't about the money they make but rather about the influence they have.

While studies of how Gen Yers came to be the people they are today are plentiful, few are positive. I appreciate that Kit Yarrow has a positive view of where their psychological code originates. And I look forward to reading all of her book.

Designing A Millennial-Run Business

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 23:20:36 GMT

As the president of a company that is nearly 80 years old and full of young people, I feel the need to continually evolve and change. So what will lead companies to success in the future? If you ask a Millennial, it's new ideas, integrated organizations, collaboration, innovation and an increased passion for change.

A recent study titled "Millennial Inc" (www.millennialinc.com), took a look at what a company would look like if Millennials were in charge. Two groups of Millennials built virtual companies to reveal Millennials' main approaches for creating a successful business. While some of what the study found wasn't necessarily surprising, it did take an interesting approach to understanding this generation better.

According to the study, if Millennials ruled your organization, it would be collaboratively led. Management would be about shared responsibility. There would be no CEO but rather a team with each member focused on an area of responsibility. And while expertise is valued within areas of responsibility, they would also want to weigh in on other areas of the company.

They value diverse thinkers to the point that 70% would prefer to make decisions by consensus (when amongst their peers). This almost sounds like the matrix organizations popularized in the '90s where information was shared across task boundaries without sacrificing specialization and nobody had just one boss.

In terms of environment, keeping up the pace of change is really important. Because they crave stimulation, the average 26 year old has changed jobs seven times since he was 18. If a Millennial ruled your company, she would create a place that is challenging and innovative. The study found that keeping Millennials intellectually stimulated and challenged were keys to their job satisfaction. They also value innovation and ranked Google and Microsoft at the top for companies they would most like to work for. They look for innovation in product and approach.

And finally, a company run by Millennials would have an idea-driven culture. It's a culture where authority is earned and not assigned based on title or experience. As we saw in the last election, Millennials aren't impressed with the experience of "been there, done that" but are rather attracted to ideas that they see as moving forward.

This isn't surprising given that they live in a world where the Internet has enabled anyone and everyone to put ideas forward. Individuals with great ideas are successful and gain respect. The same would apply to a business run by Millennials.

Millennials would also require each employee of the company to start on the ground level and work his way up. Those that excelled would move up quickly and be paid accordingly. This would ensure upper-level executives would understand the front line of the business. Interestingly, this is a very old model on which many companies today are built. For example, for many years Nordstrom only promoted people from within into management and most people started on the retail floor in some capacity.

So what can you do with all this?

If you aren't already doing so, you can look for ways to enable collaboration across your organization. Let go of the corporate politics behind long-established structures and create venues for collaboration and surfacing new ideas from within the organization.
Continually find ways to challenge your team with new opportunities for growth. And reward those who rise to the occasion. Not doing so will only create apathy and the Millennials with the best ideas will go elsewhere.
Value ideas over experience. A company that rewards new ideas over keeping the status quo will be a place that continues to elicit the best from this generation.

Is Your Website Gen Y Ready?

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 23:20:13 GMT

Or maybe the better question to ask is: Does your site have a version optimized for mobile? Opera Software recently released a report on Gen Y web facts. Its research found that, globally, more of Gen Y is using the mobile web than broadband for computers and laptops. Considering the source of the research, one could question that finding but I believe it is directionally correct.

Consider that most Millennials got their first mobile phone as young as 11 and before they were 20. In addition, in terms of pure numbers, Gartner's forecast for 2010 and beyond (along with many others) has Smartphones surpassing PC's by 2012. And finally, when you look at Cyber Monday, Shop.org found that 7 million people said they would be shopping via their mobile which is nearly double that of last year. According to reports, that was true for eBay, which said its m-commerce purchases more than tripled year-over-year for the week of 11/22-11/29 and it expects its mobile sales to top $1.5 billion this year.

For Gen Y, mobile shopping is a natural fit with their busy lifestyle. They crave convenience and like being entertained while on the go. The vast majority reports they browse the mobile web when using public transportation. They've also become "recessionistas," who still keep up with the latest trends but who also seek deals to stay within their budgets. Mobile helps them read reviews, and comparison shop to find good deals. Interestingly, mobile bar code scans increased over 30% Thanksgiving weekend from the year before.

While a recent study found that 61% of Fortune 500 companies plan to offer mobile commerce capabilities, the majority of retailers don't have a mobile-optimized site. In fact, only 4.8% of U.S. retailers have mobile-specific sites, which seems to be a missed opportunity. According to a study by Luth Research, 51% of consumers are more likely to purchase from retailers that have mobile specific websites and web retailers could increase consumer engagement by 85% by having a mobile-specific site.

So why haven't more companies created mobile sites? Probably because the cost/benefit didn't seem to make financial sense in years past. Based on what I see, it makes more sense now than ever. Comfort with online shopping and using your mobile phone to make payments and bank are at all-time highs. Consider the recent Chase commercials featuring a newly married Gen Y couple using their mobile phone to deposit gift checks on their wedding night.

It seems that the old adage, "if you build it, they will come," could finally be true. Consumers and Millennials, in particular, seem ready for a good mobile web experience ... but the emphasis is on "good." As a word of caution, its not enough to have a mobile accessible site, it has to be a great experience. In fact, a Gomez survey found 58% of people expect mobile sites to be as good as or better than websites viewed on their computer. And over half of users say they are unlikely to return to a site they had trouble accessing on their phone.

One way to ensure it's a good experience for all consumers is to avoid the iPhone trap. While the majority of respondents in a recent survey list the iPhone as their biggest device priority for mobile support, according to Gartner, the iPhone is only 3% of the mobile market so it's important to ensure your mobile site is optimized for other operating systems as well.

Designing In A Gen Y World

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 23:19:55 GMT

I love great design, and judging from the proliferation of design focused blogs like Design Milk and Apartment Therapy, I am not alone. Seems Millennials also like design. They over-index in Simmons for lifestyle statements like Creative, Inventive, Imaginative and Artistic, and for activities like remodeling. It would also seem that based on the number of design-oriented TV shows like Design Star where many of the contestants and contributors are of Gen Y age, networks get this, too.

Design movements are started by all kinds of things from historical events to typefaces. So, is there a Millennial design movement beginning? Not in the Modernist, Bauhaus or Biobject sense. But there is a Gen Y ethos around design that brands should consider when designing new products or experiences. Whether a product, service or experience, successful design today embrace some of these philosophies:

First, self-expression. Design that enables us to make things unique, real and custom as individuals is highly valued. Millennials like to tell stories and customization enables them to tell a story about themselves through design. Yves Behar is great at this. He designs products that tell stories and that enable you to have a new experience with a familiar product. The Leaf Lamp and Jaw Bone are great examples. Self-expression can also be seen in automotive category: according to TrueCar, the Scion had 21.9% of Gen Y buyers in 2010. It offers a high level of customization.
Second, it's the economy stupid. Not the economic one, the social one. Millennials live in a social economy. Cotton isn't the fabric of their lives. Facebook and Google are. Great design should be shared and/or enable sharing.

While Dropbox, Yousendit and image-sharing sites continue to grow, crowdsourcing is an interesting place where the social economy meets design. Just as Clive Thompson suggested in a recent Wired article that programming should be a populist craft, design is becoming one as well. Check out designcrowd.com, which boasts over 36,000 designers and 106 as the average number of designs submitted per project. Millennials love this type of co-creation and participation with a brand.

Sharing has even come to your home. What started with Couchsurfing.com has now moved to full-on swapping of homes and apartments with services like airbnb.com.
Third, designing for a Millennial world doesn't mean everything has to be fast and frenetic. As with physics, with every cultural shift there is often an opposite and equal reaction. Despite Gen Y icons like Lady Gaga who change their persona's daily and their outfits more than that, not all things need to be about speed and surprise. Millennials want to be remembered for the quality of their human relationships (not just the quantity). Apps like Face Time and Words with Friends enable more of the kind of real interactions we'd have if we were together in person. And Burger King's Whopper Friend trade in showed just how willing Millennials are to get rid of extraneous friends.
And finally, not surprisingly, the Millennial design ethos also includes a bit of social consciousness. Architect William McDonough brings his cradle-to-cradle thinking to bear on his work. And brands like Method have embraced the philosophy for their brand with products like Method Replenish that not only save money but have added value to a Millennial. Another example from Amsterdam is Platform21's repair manifesto http://www.platform21.nl/download/4375. It was quickly downloaded over a million times and strives to make redesign and repairing a creative and contemporary activity.

While designing something that incorporates customization, sharing, social consciousness and better quality connections will certainly help connect with the Gen Y design ethos, design still has to be cool to be successful.

In the book How Cool Brands Stay Hot, the authors identify six characteristics of cool from a Gen Y perspective. While cool usually relates to pop culture, they found coolness had to do with Originality, Popularity, Appeal, Edgy, Buzz and Effort. While there were differences between the perceptions of what makes an experience, brand or product cool, Originality was near the top in every case. For a Millennial, above all, it's very important that what you design becomes cool in an original way. In every example (iPhone, Scion, Jaw Bone, and Method), each had some elements of the Millennial design ethos but above all, they are original.

4 Things Brands Can Learn From Social Millennials

Mon, 17 Sep 2012 23:16:19 GMT

It’s widely known that Millennials are early adopters and high utilizers of social media. And many brands have tried to build social experiences to engage them…some more successfully than others. To find out what drives success, we conducted a qualitative study to understand what brands could learn from people who are truly sociable versus just active in social media. Rather than select the participants, we had people describe the traits of people they considered to be very sociable and then each brought people that fit that description. As seen by their friends, sociable people have four characteristics that brands could learn from.

First, they are accessible. They are incredibly good at giving the impression that they are available to their friends at all times. They eliminate barriers of contact and they are seen as extremely warm and inviting. They invite people into their personal space, and the people they interact with feel as though they are given personal insight into their character.

Zappos set the standard of accessibility with 24/7 phone, chat, and email access. And it wasn’t just your basic support but there was often something personal to surprise and delight. In my case, I was upgraded to next-day shipping for a purchase when I happened to mention it was a late gift. In another example, if you ever tweet to @XboxSupport, there is a good chance you will get a quick response. The Elite Tweet Fleet (as it is called) not only set a Guinness record but it has been known to answer a question roughly every 2 minutes and 42 seconds.

Next, sociable people are seen as actively caring for the needs of their friends. We all know these people-- they are happiest when they know that everyone else is having a good time. If there is a problem, they want to fix it. As such, they serve as a defacto social ombudsman for their friends and they take pride in their satisfaction.

While not the most iconic hotel group, Kimpton Hotels displays this behavior on a regular basis -- especially if you are signed up for the In Touch loyalty program. It seems very caring (maybe even gushing at times) by offering gifts (free drink from minibar, beer in ice bucket in room) and “thought you might like” suggestions in emails and notes. And it makes email requests feel like nothing's too much trouble. After a recent trip, a colleague had to get a copy of a lost receipt for the restaurant in one of the Kimpton Hotels he had stayed in. He emailed the concierge and within two hours, he had a copy of the receipt with a “no problem, need anything else” message.

Sociable people are also a resource for those around them. They always have a good inclination of what’s going on in the world. They know what events and activities are happening at any given point in time, and they are quickly able to prioritize their interest in one activity over another. This makes them the person whom their friends turn to for advice on what to do and as a resource for connecting them with relevant others.

Sites for parents like www.Pampers.com have traditionally been great resources but another great example of a brand playing this role is www.mrporter.com. It’s a resource for all things related to men’s style that’s going on at the moment. Currently, it’s offering style Q&A’s inspired by the fashion on the USA Network show “Suits.” It also has a what-to-wear section to inspire you for different occasions and one of my favorites is the Style Icons tab where it features stylish people from Ryan Gosling to Picasso. It discusses their style and connects it to current products to help you create a personal style in a similar way. Nike also has nine apps that are there as a resource to help you “just do it” and don’t sell anything.

And finally, sociable people are the spark for their friends.They are very aware of gaps in social rhythm and they use those as opportunities to interject the instant burst of energy needed to spice up a situation. They have a great sense of timing so it’s not about being disruptive, it’s that they have a genuine interestin affecting the lives of others.

Pepsi seems to be attempting this by inviting people to live their lives to the fullest and take advantage of the moment. It has created a “Live for Now Music” program on Twitter. Besides providing fans with an instant overview of the artists, music and music news trending on Twitter, for added spark, it will offer free music downloads to @pepsi followers, stage a series of pop-up concerts streamed live on the platform through Pepsi’s enhanced profile page, and the opportunity for followers to influence the concert program by tweeting out the songs they want included.

Just as with people, for brands to be recognized by their Millennial “friends” as truly sociable, they will have to continue to learn to fulfill these roles in the experiences they create.

www.mediapost.com/publications/search/?q=mike+doherty

Race report: Ironman Canada 2009

Fri, 02 Mar 2012 01:07:19 GMT

This is fairly long, and there are a lot of things I'm not getting in here. There are so many things and feelings you experience during an Ironman that a race report is really too short to capture it all. Things that happen during the week also make the race special - the people of Penticton, the beauty of the area, the expo, etc. My race report is very high level to keep it short, otherwise I could write a post a day for a month and still miss something.

4:00 AM – Awake and ready to get going.

4:30 AM – Everyone is loaded up and we’re off to the race start.

5:10 AM – I head to body marking, meet some great folks including a gal who just turned 50 and was doing her first IM. Very inspiring.

5:20 AM – Put 2 bottles of Gatorade and salt tabs on the bike, check air, double check air, triple check air, decide 110 PSI is good.

5:35 AM – Run into a friend, hang out in long port-o line.

6:10 AM – Put on the wetsuit. Chat with some more folks, cram warm clothes into the “dry clothes” bag, stretch a bit and wait.

6:30 AM – go across the swim mat to activate the chip and “sign in” for the race start. Head onto the beach!

6:40 AM or so – Singing of Oh Canada! I was surprised how emotional it was, many spectators and athletes joined it, truly an amazing thing to be part of.

6:45 AM – Pro Start. It was very cool to watch the Pro’s from the water. I could pick out Rapp and Granger from where I was standing.

7:00 am – Spectators and athletes countdown from 5 and off we went! Boat horns, cheers, and music send us off.

The Swim

I was surprisingly calm and relaxed just before the swim started. Usually, the swim freaks me out a bit and I figured the mass swim start (2600 +) would have me on edge. I spent a fair amount of time over the last year visualizing a calm and relaxed approach to the swim and that strategy worked for me.

The start of the swim is shallow, so you have to wade out a good 25 meters or so to find deep enough water to swim in. Once out in the deeper water, I found a bit of space and followed a couple swimmers in front of me for 50 meters or so before we converged on a group of 20 other swimmers. We all bounced off each other a bit, tried not to kick each other in the face, and managed to spread out. The sound of all the swimmers in the water at once was wild, a constant churning of water. At 600 meters, I finally found enough room to get into a rhythm and motored on through the first series of buoys to the sailboat that marked the first turn at 1618 meters. I managed to get there with very little contact or disruption, although I found myself on the inside of the first turn and swimming with the sailboat/buoy a few feet to my right and 50 swimmers on my left. I found a gap and pushed through, then noticed the divers in water below me. It was a bit of a shock, but fun to see. They were waving at us, so I took a second to give thumbs up and continued on to the houseboat that marked the second turn.

The second leg was 450 meters and went very quickly. I kept my pace and took a wider path on the second turn to avoid getting jammed up. The last leg of the swim is 1800 meters, and you can see downtown Penticton from the turn. It’s a great sight that makes the last leg seem shorter than it really is. About 1000 meters into the last leg, I started to search out the last few buoys to get an idea of where the finish was. I passed buoy 16, could see 17 and 18 and figured I was getting close. Big mistake. Buoy 17 suddenly had 18 and 19 after it. At 19, it looked like 20 was it. Nope! A few more to go, but I could see the flags on the beach so that was my new mark. At this point I was 3.3K into the swim, and was having a relatively easy go at it. I felt great, I was calm, the water was amazing, and I had generally survived the Ironman washing machine unscathed.

I’m motoring along at 3.4K, when both of my calf muscles suddenly and painfully cramp. At this point in the swim a lot of swimmers started to tire and were no longer swimming straight. In fact, the last 300 – 400 meters of the swim was worse that the start. Swimmers were now crossing in front of me, or hitting my feet and pushing on my back. It was a bit chaotic, and I had to deal with 2 cramps. I flipped onto my back and punched my calves a few times, then tried to rub them out a bit all while being swam over. It was pretty wild, and after what seemed like an eternity my muscles relaxed and I promptly flipped over and made it to T1, with a smile on my face. I had survived the 3.8K (2.4M) swim!

After exiting the water I made my way to the wet suit strippers. In seconds, my wetsuit was off (way faster than I ever could myself) and I was running to grab my bag. In a moment of brain fade, I grabbed the wrong bag which I didn’t notice until I was in the changing tent. After running the bag back and grabbing mine, I quickly changed, was slathered in sunscreen by volunteers, and was on my bike.

The Bike

I started the bike with two goals – stick to my nutrition plan and save energy for the marathon. The first 40k were smooth, fun and uneventful. Exactly what I hoped for. My calf muscles had settled down, and I was doing well through Okanagan Falls, Oliver and Osoyoos. At the base of Richter Pass I sat up and went to a lower gear to keep my heart rate down. I love hills, and easily rode the 11k up Richter at 75 percent effort enjoying the view and the people cheering along the way. On the way down Richter Pass I somehow lost a bar end plug and had a water bottle cage come loose. I stopped twice to deal with the issues and both times the bike support folks seemed to appear out of thin air, eager to assist and get me on my way. Even with their help, I ended up adding a chunk of time to my overall bike.

After Richter Pass, the course heads up to Keremeos where an out back with seemingly endless rollers awaits. This was the most challenging part of the course for me. The road was rough, the air was stagnant and hot and there wasn’t much to look at. At the turnaround of the out and back at 120k I realized I underutilized my special needs bag by only stuffing a bike tube in it. Folks had stuffed ham sandwiches, chips, fruit and other tasty treats in theirs. This is something to note if you ever do IM Canada, I know I will if I do it again.

By the time I finished the out and back and was heading toward Yellow Lake, my legs were beginning to fade. I was also having issues drinking Gatorade so I had to shift my plan to water, gel and bananas. I had driven the route to Yellow Lake and was familiar with the climb, so I knew what was coming. To my surprise, I found my legs as soon as I started up the hill toward Twin Lakes. I was stoked to see the lakes, and even happier to see the 100 mile marker that was followed by a blistering decent back down to Hwy 97.

I rolled the last few miles into Penticton, saw my family right before transition (sweet!) and handed my bike off to the amazing volunteers into T2.

This time I was much more relaxed in transition. I took a moment to chat with a volunteer who was going to sign up to race in 2010, made sure I had everything and went for another layer of sunscreen.

My legs felt really good, and I was mentally ready for the run.

The Run

I had 2 opportunities to see my family at the start of the run, and it really gave me a boost. I found a comfortable rhythm pretty quickly, and the first 5 miles went really well. Shortly after 5 miles, I started to have some stomach issues, and couldn’t get anything down. I wasn’t throwing up or anything, I felt like I had a brick in my stomach.

I managed to run aid station to aid station, but by 8 miles I was in trouble. I had a hard time walking, and I had a back spasm. After a port-o stop, I shuffled along to the 9 mile aid station and grabbed a couple bags of ice. Using my heart rate monitor strap as a belt, I managed to hold the ice bags on my back as I walked to the halfway point (13.1 miles). While I was walking I continued to sip NUUN and flat cola, and it seemed to do the trick. After the turn around, I ran a mile and walked a mile up through mile 21. The miles I walked I sipped cola, and it continued to provide the energy I needed. I was surprised of all the food that was available, that was all I could really stomach. Fruit, gels, Gatorade, chicken broth and pretzels were not welcome. I’ve never used flat cola in training, so it was a little weird to drink and not feel like I was going to regret it later.

At mile 21 I decided I was simply going to run the rest of the way, no stops for food, no stops for water, no stops for anything but the finish line. I was aware of my overall time, and knew if I pushed a bit I could finish under 15 hours which was my only time goal.

Miles 22 – 24 were on the way into town, and there were a lot of people cheering all the athletes in. It was amazing and very motivational. As I crossed mile 25 I knew I had this thing in the bag and started to look for my family, who I saw near the finish line. The last 400 meters were amazing, folks were cheering, kids were high-fiving and I ran across the finish with more energy than I had all day.

14 hours and 52 minutes after the start of the swim, I became an Ironman.

Here's the breakdown:

Swim 1:26:00
T1 8:04
Bike 7:12:12
T2 6:48
Run 5:58:56

It's been a week since IM, and I'm still a bit fatigued. I still don't know what I'll do next, and I hear that's pretty normal. It's a hard year of training, and it concludes on one epic day that's pretty hard to beat.

Maybe I'll go run a 5k, maybe I'll toy with Ultraman.

Brand engagement: Mobile connection

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 00:13:00 GMT

Brand engagement: Mobile connection

Mobile devices offer more than just a way to drive purchase, they can also build experiences that deepen brand engagement.

As smartphone penetration grows, many brands see mobile as another potential consumer touchpoint. In other words, it's an opportunity for ‘mobile marketing’, which continues to grow exponentially. According to research from mobile SQUARED, mobile advertising in Europe is expanding faster than previously projected, and is expected to reach $1 billion by 2014. US marketers will spend over $1.1 billion on mobile advertising in 2011 (up 48%) and, by 2014, spending is projected to reach $2.5 billion. While these are impressive figures, there is an even larger opportunity to move from simply ‘mobile marketing’ to ‘marketing mobile’ experiences.

Moving beyond mobile marketing, brands are increasingly marketing mobile as a way of transacting business and increasing sales. Juniper Research forecasts worldwide mobile payments will reach $240 billion in 2011, and grow over 2.5 times by 2015. IPads have really improved the mobile shopping experience to the point that a retailer like La Rue now claims that 22% of its sales come from mobile devices. And, the proliferation of ‘flash sales’ and daily deals are driving the immediacy needed for mobile shopping. And geo-targeting, enabled by smartphones, is helping retailers to connect their bricks-and-mortar world with a mobile experience.

But at its best, marketing mobile can be bigger than simply another way to drive transactions or facilitate purchases. Mobile can be used to build experiences that engage people with your brand.

Mobile is a fully integrated part of people's lives today... so much so that, for many, it's a lifeline. As such, marketers need to invest in learning how to create in this space and how people use mobile, so they can better understand how to market mobile in a way that creates relevant experiences to engage consumers and strengthen their relationships with their brand.

To do this, brands need to determine what role mobile can best play in their efforts. While it's easy to become enamoured of mobile as the next new thing, not everyone and everything needs an app. Just because we can be there doesn't mean we should be.

And brands should not have a separate mobile strategy any more than they should have a social media strategy. Instead, marketers need to determine if and how mobile can play a role in supporting their overall marketing strategies - and how it can strengthen their connections with people.

Just because someone over-indexes for mobile usage doesn't mean that they will engage with a brand. You have to understand them as people, and how mobile fits into their lives, to market mobile in a way that adds value.

More than anything, mobile can be used to create extremely targeted experiences by demographic, geography and context. Here are four insights to keep in mind.

1. Make it a valuable exchange

Effectively, marketing mobile isn't about sending extended advertising messages. People don't want them. Much like with social media, people will participate only if you make the content valuable. Things like recipes, coupons and special offers drive people to engage with SMS programmes, but simple ad messages don't deliver the value people want. Effectively, marketing mobile has to have ongoing value to the user. To do so, it is necessary to create mobile experiences that are mutually rewarding for both the brand and the customer.

I recently saw a great example of this in India. When Hippo baked snacks entered the $1.4 billion snack food market, the consumer response was so strong that it overwhelmed the Hippo sales and distribution system. With more than 400,000 retailers, it was a logistical nightmare to match stock to demand. That's where mobile Twitter came in. Using Twitter on their mobile devices, consumers became the inventory trackers. They were asked to tweet whenever they found a store (big or small) that was out of Hippo. The tweets were sent to a call centre that passed the information directly to the distributors in the area and they were able to reduce their out-of-stock time to mere hours.

Hippo: invited consumers to tweet whenever they came across a store that had run out of the snacks

Consumers who tweeted were sent messages back as to when stock would arrive, and the most active tweeters were sent anti-hunger bags full of Hippo product. In addition to incentives and rewards, consumers felt a sense of ownership in the brand and benefited from better product availability. But Hippo also saw real value from the programme. The tweeters created the equivalent of a 50% increase in their distributor network, and the net result was a 76% sales increase in just a few months.

2. The art of sacrifice

To market mobile in a relevant and useful way, not all parts of a brand's main site need to be part of the mobile site experience. Marketers should analyse their content and people's use of that content to determine which pieces will be most valuable in a mobile experience.

For example, spontaneity and impulse are big drivers of participation in American lotteries, and while most states don't allow online gambling, we found a way to leverage mobile to add consumer value and deepen participation with Washington’s Lottery. We created a mobile site that only did the three things people do most when on the go: check their numbers, see what the current jackpots are, and find a nearby retailer.

Following the mobile site launch, we learned through research that a huge barrier to playing still existed. Many people didn’t know how to play and were embarrassed to ask at the point-of-sale. To facilitate spontaneity, we added another element to the mobile experience, which enables people to engage with a quick how-to-play tutorial to give them the confidence to play wherever they are. The net result was a 4% increase in year-over-year sales despite a down economy.

3. Offer-based messaging has broad application

Most marketers know that offers or promotions with clear CTA s work best in getting people to act on mobile advertising. The same is true for the use of TAG codes. Typically, contests or promotional offers drive the highest level of engagement. But with marketing mobile experiences, promotions can be more than just sales techniques. They can also be offers to engage with a brand in a new way.

The International Olympic Committee is creating its second campaign to engage young global consumers with the Olympic values of excellence, friendship and respect. Through the platform called ‘The Best of Us’, it invited global youth to demonstrate these values first-hand by sharing what they are best at.

In the lead-up to the Vancouver Winter Games, Olympic athletes uploaded videos of themselves doing things outside their sport that people didn’t know they were good at. Young people around the world were invited to compete with the Olympic athletes by uploading a video of their own, or they could create an entirely new challenge around something they were good at. The campaign garnered over four million video views from more than 200 countries, and the videos were often in YouTube’s top ten most viewed.

Beginning in November, global youth will again have the opportunity to become part of the Olympic Movement by using the IOC mobile app to upload personal videos of themselves striving to achieve their own personal records. Again the offer is to become part of the Olympic movement and to be recognised for their participation. Prizes for participation will include trips to the 2012 London Games and the opportunity to be featured in an IOC global TV commercial.

4. Prioritise devices and design with touch screens in mind

To create the best mobile experiences, marketers should not assume they’ll be able to please all devices. Experience shows they should set clear priorities about which devices will be the most relevant, and then design with those devices in mind. Trying to create for all devices reduces the opportunity for rich interactions and more relevant experiences. This is particularly true if many of your mobile users are using touch screens. Experiences are more engaging when the touch screen is kept front and centre in design, particularly for navigational elements.

In the end, one thing is for sure: as new devices proliferate in the market, the opportunities within mobile will continue to grow. Whether you are just starting a mobile marketing programme or you are well on your way to marketing mobile experiences, the opportunity exists for a well-managed mobile programme to play an important role in your marketing communications strategy – and to deepen the connection people have with your brand.