Blues, Barbeque, and Web-Centric Brands

We barnstormed the blues-and-BBQ-center of the world last week to deliver a keynote address to the National Council for Marketing and Public Relations (NCMPR).

Kansas City! One of the great towns for eating – and that means BBQ! For my money, KC has at least five sauce houses that make life worth living, and every time I visit we hit one or more of them:

• Arthur Bryant’s, the original, where KC barbeque earned its reputation
• Jack Stack, in the Freighthouse area, with burnt ends to die for
• Oklahoma Joe’s, an old gas station that pumps a mean sauce
• BB’s Lawnside, live blues + barbeque, it doesn’t get any better
• Danny Edward’s Boulevard, downtown, only 20 seats, but a bomb of a brisket

But we did more than eat in KC…NCMPR always does a fantastic job creating high-interest conferences, and this was no exception. Some 275 marketers from two-year colleges across the country talked broadly and deeply about Web-Centric marketing. Conclusion: It’s no longer optional. Yet few managers have internalized the seismic shifts that are needed to pull it off. Three basic rules emerged in our discussions:

WEB-CENTRIC RULE #1 – Digital First
Communications should be conceived first in digital format and only secondarily for print. Is print dead? No, but it sure is changing: Print is now a support tactic rather than the central platform. Need to reach student prospects? First ask: What digital platforms will best serve – microsite, multi-media, email, blog, social networks, mobile, Web ads? Do you need supporting print, or not? The answer might well be “No!” Cal Poly, Pepperdine and others are getting great recruitment results without print. A digital-first approach fundamentally changes the overall media mix.

WEB-CENTRIC RULE #2 – Web Rules
Your website should be the command-and-control center coordinating tactics across departments. The website prioritizes communications initiatives for the whole institution. News items chosen for the home page spotlight, for example, become automatic priorities for Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, vodcast, email, etc. The same goes for high-impact events, policies, and initiatives. Some contend that most pros are already doing this. But not so fast! We see institutions miss big opportunity every day because they’re using the old methods of tactical coordination. Read Ineke’s post last week on Fordham missing a golden opportunity occasioned by an on-campus U2 concert. The biggest hurdle is often structural: If the Web is your command center, the person in charge of major content has to be a marketing decision-maker!

WEB-CENTRIC RULE #3 – Staffing Changes
In today’s MarComm staffing, silos are out, cross-trained utility players are in! Makes no sense to maintain separate publications, PR, Web, and marketing work groups. Virtual, shape-shifting teams come together for a project, then split apart, only to reform in new configuration for the next effort. A “Director of New Media” position, therefore, is a non sequitur, since new media is everyone’s job. All staff should think of their jobs as generating content, and everyone needs to be trained – or retrained – in creating digital content for new media. MarComm staff needs to include strong multimedia capability and application programmers, while designers and writers who work only in print are modern-day dinosaurs.

The Future According to Microsoft

First a short tidbit about the new EMG training opportunity that rolled out with great enthusiasm – the Online KnowledgeBuilders. Several people emailed in saying the Online KnowledgeBuilders are “a great solution for staff professional development: due to budget cuts, we have a freeze on out-of state travel and I have two new publications editor/writers coming on staff.” And “this sounds interesting…how do we go about signing up?” The Online KnowledgeBuilders are an excellent professional development tools for economy-hurt organizations.

So if you miss out on the training mentioned above, you may be down a long hard road. About a month ago, software and tech giant Microsoft launched a vision into the future during one of its recent conference presentations. Much sleeker and more produced than Conan O’Brian’s “In the Year 2000″ skits, we now go to the year 2019 (imagine one of Conan’s band guys signing in his high pitched voice as you start each of Microsoft’s 5 videos).

Future Vision Montage

Future of Home Concepts

Future of Retail

Future of Health Care

Future of Banking

While Microsoft didn’t do an individual video regarding the future of education or marketing, I am sure you can pick up a few hints and glimpses from the videos above. But what does it mean to marketers out there now?

Marketers nowadays have to be involved in technology, not just standing on the sidelines going “wow, that looks cool.” No more, hearing about the what someone put on YouTube, or hearing about how you can connect to long lost friends in Facebook, or not understanding the tech language like “tweets,” “bliki,” “flog,” “splog” and many others. Get involved and find someway to keep in touch with the new hardware, software, or trends.  Get involved in social networking. Keep and use a page on one of the popular sites. Play around with some of the newest hardware.

New tools, apps, widgets, and other useful online technology and hardware are being released almost on a daily basis. Microsoft’s vision may a bit grandiose, but remember that a little more than 10 years ago emailing, eBay, Craigslist, Twitter, Facebook, and Blackberries wasn’t/weren’t commonplace or didn’t exist. Think of how your work and personal life would be different if you didn’t know how to use th0se tools in today’s world.

Maybe Micosoft’s vision isn’t too grandiose afterall.

How To Build a Great Brand

Great brands aren’t born, they’re made.

They are based in honesty, a shared vision of excellence, and hard work.

They differentiate. They endure.

Great brands promise something extra that reaches beyond the basic product or service being offered, and provide intrinsic value to constituencies. Volvo, for example, promising “safety first, always” or Disney promising “happiness to people everywhere.” Then they set a goal of not just meeting – but exceeding – expectations for how they deliver on that promise.

So when people ask me for an example of a great brand in higher education, I often point to a surprising gem: Indiana State University.

ISU’s brand promise is “More opportunities for individual hands-on involvement from the very first day on campus.” It’s reflected in the powerful tagline, “More. From Day One.” It is a promise borne of honesty, and reflected in an oft-told anecdote about a freshman who had just arrived on campus and wandered into the student newspaper office, only to emerge as the publication’s editor after his first day on campus. The story is now legend in Terre Haute.

And this same brand is communicated well through print, electronic platforms, and in a TV-led campaign. Have a look at the two most recent :30 TV spots, playing in high-def in four Indiana markets:

The ads are good, and have gained lots of attention, but the really important element is that everyone on campus – from leadership to faculty, staff and students – believe in the promise, they own it, live it, and deliver it on a daily basis.

As the agency that helped ISU build its brand promise and platform, we are delighted that the ISU campaign topped a list of the “best branding ideas” in the country in a recent issue of University Business, a well-regarded higher education monthly. This article compiled a list of the country’s 50 best branding ideas in an effort to get college and university administrators to think about the promises they make to students, parents and other stakeholders and how those promises can be communicated effectively.

The ISU brand works because it’s true, honest, and meaningful. It’s based on broad input from stakeholders and tempered with solid audience testing. The process was not accomplished quickly or in a vacuum, notes ISU’s marketing director, Mark Edwards. “A diverse group of participants deliberated innumerable hours to ultimately forge a brand promise that accurately reflects reality.”

All true. But that sweat equity has translated into sustainability. Since the campaign launch more than four years ago, ISU the brand has grown, matured, and deepened. Today, nearly everyone on campus internalizes the singular idea that ISU delivers better than anyone else.

And it shows in a hefty ROI and rock-solid gains in market share, as more and more students each year choose the school that delivers “More. From Day One.”

How We Fare – Digitally Speaking

27.8% of us are Masters of the UN-e-VERSE according to our recent poll. 33.3% of the group is still making its way into the 21st century. About 27.8% of the poll-takers found they were in the digital novice category.

One of the more surprising results was that only 0.9% of the poll-takers had an iPhone and 1.9% have downloaded a feature film. Many of the respondents have posted a blog or a blog comment, have a edited their digital photos, watched a YouTube video, used Google Earth, spend more than 2 hours a day online, sent a text message. Also, many of us stay connected through LinkedIn or Facebook.

While I admit I already gave a bit of the “punch” away in last week’s blog post about college admission offices staying in tune with social media and the digital world, many college and university’s are already playing catch up. Below is a repost of the graph of the types of social media U.S. Admissions offices are already using.

Here is a new graph from the same study showing how many admission offices that are not currently using social media and are planning to in the future. In 2008, more admissions office said they were planning on using social networking, messaging/bulletin boards, vlogs, and wikis in the future than they said in 2007.

For those of you who are lacking the digital, social media experience, now is the time to get on board. Experience in digital and social media is becoming a must or you and your organization will be left behind.

The good news (here comes a shameless plug for EMG and you are the first ones to know about this new opportunity) you are not alone. EMG has created the Online KnowledgeBuilders. They are a series of in-depth, interactive, skill based, “how-to” online workshops. The first series of three Online KnowledgeBuilders is the “New Media Menage a Trois” is designed for you to gain in-depth skills and knowledge in social media, online advertising, and issues in online marketing.

Also, for those of you who are very comfortable with your digital-life rating and your social media skills, connect with EMG at any of your social networking sites in the top right of the page. We now have a LinkedIn group page too.

The Silhouette Seen Around the World

Keeping Bob’s post on brand evolution going a bit, I am going to bring up a recent example of an evolution that is causing a stir. If you are a parent of a Dora fan, you are sure to have heard about the updating of the popular preschool TV character Dora the Explorer.

Mattel and Nickelodeon recently released they are updating Dora to become more relevant to today’s kids. She is growing up and next fall she becomes a tween. She will still be the lovable little explorer on TV, but she is growing up in the world of dolls and electronic learning.

She is also moving out of the jungle and into the big city, goes to middle school, and has a new fashion style. To gain some buzz and start preparing everyone for the shift, the two companies released a silhouette of her new image (see below).

The original Dora the Explorer on the left, the updated silhouette on the right.

According to an ABC News article, Dora has been around for about 8 years and will now be able to grow older with the audience that fell in love with her. Tweens will still be able to connect with an older Dora. Another reason for evolution, according to the article, is to tap into the multi-billion dollar tween market.

Here is where the brand evolution example ends and the example of a tactical error begins. As you can image the silhouette has created a bit of a stir with parents. I am sure Mattel and Nickelodeon were surprised to see the following words associated with their mystery-solving explorer in news articles (click on the word/phrase to see the full articles from The Globe and Mail, Hispanic Business, and Entertainment Weekly) – “sexy,” “hussy,” “Bratz-style makeover,” and “sends the wrong message to young girls.”

An online petition has also been posted to stop the makeover with the intention of “sending this letter to Mattel and Nickelodeon! Join us for Let’s Go: No Makeover for Dora. Help us tell the execs at Mattel and Nickelodeon to “Let GO” of Dora. Either let her live on as her wonderful self, or create a pre-teen doll that is true to who she was as a child!” It already has over 5,000 signatures.

This silhouette has also provided some interesting ideas of what she might look like and how the two companies got to this new look (click on images to see source).

On Monday March 16, Mattel and Nickelodeon took the shadow off the silhouette and provided a detailed new look to calm parent’s fears and misconceptions.

While the tactics to release the brand evolution may not have been the best, Mattel and Nickelodeon have given a perfect example of a brand evolution and some of the growing pains of evolving.

Brand Evolution

I recently held an energizing day-long workshop at a major research university. Objectives: Reinforce the brand position, reinvigorate the messaging platform, and map out future campaign evolution and expansion.

It was great fun. Your organization ought to schedule these regularly, too.

We had 68 in-house staff communicators from a dozen different units attend the retreat: Marketing, PR, recruitment, development, extension, distance ed, and the communications managers from half-dozen colleges and schools.

At least a third of the staffers were hired after we developed the brand platform in 2004-05, so they had little understanding of the intense research and consensus-building that was involved in the development process.

To new hires, the brand was just an impersonal framework handed to them as a fait accompli when they signed on. They invested nothing in its creation and they didn’t feel ownership of it, at least not at the level of those who had built the brand identity from the ground up.

So our morning sessions dunked the newbies in brand history and the breadth of faculty/staff engagement in its development. We also took the opportunity to remind old-timers of the research and sweat equity that had gone into its creation. It was a celebration of the brand, acknowledging its strength and rightness.

In the afternoon, we did role-playing games that focused on how individuals could pivot off of the brand drivers to create resonant, timely messages for their own audience segments. Building skills and messaging tools as well as brand ownership.

Toward the end of the day, we took a strategic look at brand evolution and expansion. How fast or slow did the brand need to evolve? Who should manage the evolution? We talked color palettes, messaging, tone and style, personality, design, and photography style in the context of new campaign tactics, Web 2.0, and social networking. Great discussion around why and where they needed to expand the brand, but how to keep it focused.

How often should you hold these brand refresher retreats? Well, a general rule is that it’s essential every 2-3 years, but your campus might need them more or less often, depending on size, staff turnover, and brand leadership.

Just remember that all brands erode over time: people forget, staffs change, priorities shift. Your brand needs constant attention. The refresher retreat is a great – and fun – way to keep the brand fresh and your team engaged.

Already Trying to Catch up With Social Media

While we haven’t finished letting everyone take the poll, we are starting to see some not-so-surprising numbers. Before you read any further, take the poll. We will be ending the polling on Monday morning and give you the results later next week.

There is an important message already popping up from the poll numbers and this message has also been repeated recently in the news and in a recent  study. Schools need to be tech ready and have someone on hand that is tech ready. Colleges and universities need someone who can come in and setup or maintain all your social networks from day one in order to start connecting with potential students, current students, and alumni.

As mentioned in one of my last blogs, about half of 18-24 year-olds are checking their social networking sites at least once a day and that this age group is the traditional college-age student. Also, in an article titled “Social Network User Demographics,” by eMarketer “adults still make up the bulk of social networking site users. But younger online adults were much more likely than their older counterparts to use social networks, with three-quarters of those ages 18 to 24 using the sites, compared with just 7% of Internet users ages 65 and older.” Imagine being able to connect with these college-age students to bring them deeper into your brand.

Having someone tech ready and trained on how to use social networks is a big change for many colleges and universities, but it is happening nonetheless. And more colleges and universities are going to have to do some quick catching up in order to keep pace with their competition. In the study, “Social Media and College Admissions: The First Longitudinal Study” by the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, of the 538 college admission officers surveyed, 29% mentioned they were using social networking in 2007 and increased dramatically to 61% in 2008. See the table below.

In the study, all forms social media usage by admission offices increased from 2007 to 2008 and includes blogging, message/bulletin boards, video blogging, podcasting, and wikis. The number of admission offices that do not use social media dropped from 39% in 2007 to 15% in 2008.

SOURCE: Center for Marketing Research at the University of
Massachusetts Dartmouth

So if you, your deparment, and your school are not familiar with social media and social networking it may be hard to catch up to your competition in the future.

What’s Your Digital-Life Rating?

You may think you are on top of things when it comes to the digital world and new media…so did I.   Then I took a fun little quiz a few months ago, and it turned out I was a little further behind some of my colleagues than I thought!

So how tuned in to new media are you?  Really?  Really-really?

OK, here is your chance to prove it!   Rate yourself on how plugged into the new media you really are by taking the quiz below (Thanks to our good friends at Google for this- talk about plugged in, those Googlites are positively electric!)

Click the box next to each question if your answer is “Yes.”   Before you hit ”Vote” at the end of the first question, count the number of “Yes” answers that you checked and give yourself one point for each – then find your Digital-Life Rating! Then tell us your Digital-Life Rating in question 2 (be sure to click the “Vote” at the end of the second question). Be sure to click the “Vote” button after you are finished with each question one and question two.

The poll for this post has been closed, check back soon for the results.

Read ‘em and weep!  Now that you scored yourself on your new-media-ness (1 score per each yes answer) here is your ranking:

21 – 25          = Congrats, you are a Master of the UN-e-VERSE!

16 – 20          = Keep workin’, you’re a Digital Novice

11 – 15          = Hey!  Welcome to the 21st Century!

6 – 10            = Hello?

0 – 5              = Go back to sleep!

While this poll is really just for fun, we’ll publish the results of how your colleagues ranked next week so that you can compare your “digitalness.”   Stay tuned to the Brand Manager’s Notebook.

Oppor-U2-nity Missed

All week Good Morning America has been promoting its biggest concert ever. U2. Live. On Stage. At Fordham University in the Bronx. All week, I’ve been waiting. I tune in this morning.

The energy is palpable, even in the frigid air. The University has cancelled classes. Students have been up all night just about busting at the seams. They even get an early Irish breakfast in honor of the megaband. GMA cameras are flitting around interviewing students for their perspectives. I’m sure the campus has been buzzing all week. Clearly the message got around there.

Finally, just after 8, the band comes on. It’s huge. Just about every person in the massive crowd has cameras up in the air recording the moment. And I think: “Wow, now there’s a marketing gift handed to you wrapped in gold with diamond ribbon.” I can’t wait to get to a browser to see what Fordham has done with it.

Sadly, I report I was underwhelmed and, frankly, disappointed. The only visible evidence that something of this magnitude – and interest! – had occurred at all was the following headline at the top of the news section on the home page: U2 Transforms Fordham into School of Rock. See if you can spot it in the screenshot of the homepage below.

I’m not just singling Fordham out. I’ve seen colleges and universities miss these types of marketing opportunities way too often. In this day of participatory brands, of news immediacy, where people (your future students) love to feel part of what’s happening…words, frankly news releases, are not enough. By a long shot.

This morning, I couldn’t help asking myself:

• Why wasn’t the homepage altered to draw attention to this event or, why wasn’t a place created on the site that had a featured link to a gallery of images, student stories, and embedded video? Why did this huge event merit no more than a basic news release?
• Where are the videos of the event put up by the University? There was what appears to be a student posting on YouTube within hours, GMA was streaming live. Certainly there was a story to tell just about the activity in the days and hours leading up to the event, not to mention Father McShane saying Fordham and U2 in the same breadth in front of a HUGE crowd.
• Where were the live, on the spot, Tweets? There were approximately 240 posts on Twitter about the event as it was occurring and well after. Posts included everything from individuals to news media, but not one appeared to be by the University.
• Where are the pictures taken by students? Hours after the event, the website U2gigs had photos up of the event. Flickr had images posted by attendees. There were no images on the Fordham site.
• Why aren’t there comments/blogs from students, faculty, and staff about how great a place Fordham is to learn because they get opportunities like this?
• …and more importantly, I wondered, did Admissions and Development use this opportunity to engage their stakeholders, not just with an announcement, but by bringing prospects to the performance, hosting GMA-watching breakfasts in key prospect areas….inviting them to a online stream of the event hosted by a Fordham student/staff member? There are a multitude of possibilities.

In times when dollars are scarce, when pictures (especially ones that move) are more interesting to most of us than words, when we thirst to be a part of what’s happening by viewing, commenting, and following along, when the Web is the go-to-source for what’s happening; every time we don’t use those low-cost tools to tell our story and engage our audiences is an opportunity missed.

The Social Sacrifice

Many of you know that last week was Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent for millions of Americans. Most Christians give up something during this period for many religious reasons I won’t go into here. About a decade ago, the top sacrifices during Lent were sweets, chocolate, fast food, TV,  and other slightly guilty pleasures, etc.

With the growth of computers, laptops, and assortment of mobile devices as well as the nation’s addiction to being plugged in, a lot of folks appear to be hanging onto their sweets and giving up Facebook, MySpace, and other social networking sites!

Ironically enough, I did find some interesting things on Facebook itself to help everyone get an idea of how many people are quitting Facebook for Lent. I did a search for “Giving up Facebook for Lent” in Facebook’s groups and 135 results came back.  I randomly peeked in some of these groups to find that there was anywhere from 20 to 225 people following some of these groups. Also, a Google search of “Giving up Facebook for Lent” came up with 113,000 web results and 71 recent news articles. So there may not be a lot of true data, but this should show that the idea is in the minds of many.

This says a lot about how huge social networking has become. It takes up so much of our daily lives that we now have started to give it up. According to a recent Wall Street Journal article, close to half of all 18-to-24 year olds visit social network sites at least once a day.  As many know, that is the traditional age of a current college student. This article goes into brief detail of several people attempting to give up Facebook for Lent. For example, one lady, Ms. Wentland, has attempted to limit her use on Facebook with no luck, so she is using Lent as a way to put some religious context behind her time away from Facebook. The article also mentions she joined an online support group for those who have quit Facebook for Lent in an attempt to make this go around work.

Another article on CNET, “How to Give up Facebook for Lent and Keep Your Friends,” even offers some steps to prepare your Facebook account for your 40 days of absence. Steps like changing your status to read “I will be back after Easter” or “I have given up Facebook for Lent”, change your picture, jot down important dates and emails before signing off so you don’t have to login to read them, and turn off third party status updaters like Twitter so you won’t be tempted to cheat through a loop hole.

The CNN/Fortune article “How Facebook is Taking Over Our Lives” gives some fun facts about how Facebook really is taking over our lives. Between February 2008 and February 2009, total daily minutes of use went from 1.1 billion to over 3 billion and user status updates went from 4 million to 15 million on a daily basis. Ok, so maybe the facts are a little less than fun and a little more humbling. That is a lot of time.

As I am writing this post, I am playing chess on Facebook or at least trying to play chess on Facebook (we will see how well I do). As everyone knows, the dreaded FB sucks you in. With everything else I am multitasking for work, and FB chess, this post has taken about two hours to write.

With Facebook taking so much of our time, it is no wonder people are giving it up for the 40 day period. Now you know why so many of your friends, family, and coworkers have mysteriously disappeared. Also, it could be one possible reason for why your social network advertising isn’t doing so well. Don’t worry, everyone should return after Easter.

And if your curious, I haven’t lost the chess game… yet.