It’s not often these days I’m stopped in my tracks (no pun intended) by an ad or related form of marketing communication. Most of them seem to fuse with the background becoming invisible in mere seconds. This week was an exception, however, and it underscores one of the core principles any marketer should keep in mind when crafting effective marketing communications…
My encounter with "The Shuttle"
As I boarded the Shuttle train this morning, half-awake from my morning coffee, I was brought to full attention by a completely transformed subway interior (for those unfamiliar, the shuttle is a train that runs between Time Square & Grand Central Station in NYC). Beyond the expected surprise I felt from entering a subway car that had been bathed in the accoutrement of a solitary theme, there were a few reasons in particular that made the experience so memorable. And, it serves as a great example of how marketers can cut through the clutter – objective number one for any marketing communication. This feat was all the more impressive give
Why the Hyatt Shuttle = effective marketing communication
So what made the experience so compelling?
For starters, the train’s interior broke any existing schema (or expectation) I had for “what the 
In place of slick, high-design ads pressed into the metal picture frames that dot the subway’s interior were color graphs printed on basic white printer paper; graphs that reminded me of the simple bar charts Microsoft Excel spit out circa 1989 . The charts, whose effectiveness was heightened by their simplicity, depicted how much more successful 
At its essence, Hyatt transformed a cold, unfriendly space (the inside of a NYC subway) into a warm, inviting place - the inference being that Hyatt Conference Centers create the type of warm, inviting atmospheres conducive to effective business schmoozing & networking.
Now I’m neither an event planner nor coordinator of large-scale meetings, so I cannot speak to the level of influence "The Hyatt Shuttle” might have on my decision-making for those upcoming conferences.
However, to some degree that’s irrelevant. “The Hyatt Shuttle” compelled me to whip out my blackberry on a crowded train and snap away - much to the annoyance of my fellow commuters. It got me to write this post with blurry crackberry photos attached for the entire world to see (or 0.00022% of the Internet world per my latest Alexa rankings). And perhaps most compelling - Hyatt was able to convert me into an online PR guy who’s apparently willing to work for free. All Hyatt had to do was serve up a unique experience that added a little bit of zest to my otherwise predictable day. Clever, high-ROI strategy… and heck of a marketing communications case study for marketers to sink their teeth into & leverage for their own business.
The Law of the Unexpected
Let’s bubble-up this mini case study and see what useful principles we can derive for you to use in your business… at its core, what made The Hyatt Shuttle so compelling is that it successfully employed the law of the unexpected, which simply states that throw something out there that I don’t expect and you’ll capture my attention... think giraffe in a field of cows, an orange in a bowl of apples, or your waiter at The Four Seasons dressed in a white t-shirt & cut-off jean shorts.
How to apply the law of the unexpected to your marketing communication
Let's get right to what you're no doubt wondering - how to apply the law to your own marcom efforts... (to be continued... coming soon...)
If you’d like to read more about the law of the unexpected and other means for cutting through the clutter, I highly recommend:
Marcom case study: the “Hyatt Shuttle” of New York’s Grand Central Station
Engaging Influentials: Twitter and Beyond
By David Capece, Managing Partner at Sparxoo
With the rapid adoption of social media, we have accelerated into a network economy. In a network economy, connectivity enables value to be created and shared by network members. The larger the network, the greater the potential benefits. In the digital world, network activities take place on an open platform that enables participation and cloud computing (think Wikipedia and widgets).
In networks, some members are more connected and active, and therefore have more influence. These influentials are important members because they add significantly more value to the network. In the digital world, they blog, twitter, upload videos, experiment with new gadgets, and create widgets. As early adopters, they tend to be trendsetters that are followed by their friends and sometimes the masses. The book, the Whuffie Factor, talks about Social Capital, and how our society is increasingly motivated to become more useful and creative. Today, more people want to be influencers, and they want to be enabled.
In 2009, Twitter has emerged as one of the most talked about platforms in the network economy. Indeed, there is a simple network exchange on Twitter: influencer creates bite-size content, and follower discovers new information. Here are a few examples of the exchange:
- Gavin Newsom, mayor of San Francisco and California Governor Candidate, has over 500,000 followers. He keeps his followers informed about upcoming events and fundraising, and enables them to interact with him directly.
- Mike Massimino, a NASA astronaut, has over 400,000 followers. He combines his human life story with a behind the scenes look at being an astronaut.
- And of course there is Oprah, approaching 1.4 million followers.
While we are all familiar with Twitter, there are many more communities that engage and enable an influential audience with network principles. One of the key elements of a network is the idea of reciprocity. The idea of “I win, you lose” doesn’t work in a network, or it will fall apart. Instead, there must be mutual win-win exchanges. One such example is at Triggerstreet, was founded in 2002 by Academy Award Winner Kevin Spacey, which is a community for emerging artists. The promise of the network is to democratize exposure and offer a career boost through a network of peers who review your work, rate it, and provide feedback. Further, the network has engaged influentials in the form of participating judges, including Michael Myers, Sean Penn, Snoop Dog, Sheryl Crow, and Liv Tyler.
It is this very concept of participation by influentials that is becoming increasingly important with each passing day. In our world of choice and overcapacity, influentials are an important element of the decision making process. As we de-emphasize paid media such as television commercials and print ads, the power of earned media and word of mouth is amplified. As you consider new ways to share your story and build your reputation, learn from entrepreneurial initiatives that listen to and engage the influentials.
Our first example is Jodangle which helps you listen to and monitor the online chatter by influentials. In an environment where influential content originates from an exploding number of information sources, Jodange provides intelligence on who and what is influencing customers, competitors, and the overall marketplace. In April 2009, Jodangle received $1.2 million of investments.
Our second and third examples are currently in development at DreamIt Ventures, which helps entrepreneurs launch their ventures and build great companies. Trendsta is a new way for trendsetting teens to test and review the latest hot products. Like BuzzAgent, the principal is that word-of-mouth marketing is powerful. Trendsta has even more of a laser focus on the influentials by engaging trendy teens in the digital world. Our final example is Scribnia, which is a rating and discovery engine for bloggers and columnists. Much like Triggerstreet, the promise is to build an influential community that is engaged in sharing creative work and providing feedback.
Consider your role in the network economy. How you are going to add value to and expand your network? As you build your presence and your reputation, listen to the conversation around you, pursue authentic participation, and engage influentials who can amplify your message.
Original post: http://sparxoo.com/2009/07/01/engaging-influentials-twitter-and-beyond/
Grow or die! Product fertilizer to grow your top line
Apologies on the overly dramatic, “please-read-me!” title. I figured I’d jump into the pool with the rest of the bloggers attempting to get the attention of the 1.6 billion of you bouncing around the virtual world.
Anyhow, you’re probably familiar with the phrase, “whatever stops growing eventually dies”. And, while I don’t subscribe to this black & white, morbid declaration, we all know that when it comes to your business, growth is essential.
So in the spirit of doing my little part to help get our economy back on its feet, I’ve decided to write a series of brief articles about different growth drivers (tools, frameworks) you can use to grow your products & your business, and perhaps even add a few inches to your height. So let’s get started…
Growth driver #1: develop different versions of your product to suit different usage scenarios
Take mustard. Yes, mustard.
You’re at a baseball game with some friends. Perhaps you’ve enjoyed a few beers. You head out to one of the fine stadium restrooms to reduce your inner-bladder pressure, and you decide to pick up a hotdog on your way back to your seat. Guldens, right? The perfect neon-yellow goo to spread on your ‘dog. No questions asked. Right place, right time. Guldens all the way.
Flash forward 2 months. You find yourself at a very formal cocktail party. Pinkies out, fancy degrees flying about, drinks you would otherwise never drink, people doing their best to inject British-inflexions. You make your way over to the hors d'oeuvre table and sample a selection of finely smoked meats. Grey Poupon, anyone? Again, no questions asked. Right place, right time. It’s a Grey Poupon moment.
(sorry, I just couldn't help but include the most classic Grey Poupon commercial ever produced. enjoy!)
Let's put aside the mustard and put growth driver #1 to work for you:
1. Make a list of the different situations in which your product or service is used (or needed).
2. For each scenario you’ve identified, jot down those characteristics or dimensions that make it different from the other scenarios on your list. Characteristics could include the physical environment, the people you’re with, your main objective at the time you use the product, your main reason for needing the product, the time of year, the activity you’re engaged in at the time you need the product, etc.
3. For each scenario ask yourself what changes you could make to your service in order to provide greater value to your customers given the unique characteristics of the situation.
Examples could include adding complementary services, increasing or decreasing the performance level of certain features or dimensions, adding or eliminating certain features, making changes to physical dimensions of the product, etc. Whatever you come up with, it should be dictated by the unique needs of your customer under the given scenario.
Real-world examples of growth driver #1. Different versions of the product for different usage occasions.
- Candles: For romantic dinners, for keeping the bugs away when camping, for festive holidays, for scenting the air, for birthdays.
- Travel insurance: For safaris, for ski trips, for family vacations, for cruises, for long-stay trips, for international trips.
- Suits: For hot climates, for formal events, for casual events, for outdoor events, for weddings, for funerals.
Happy growing!
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Additional posts that discuss growth strategies:
- Innoviation via other worlds: a tool for generating powerful ideas for your business
- Enhance your innovation by tapping your product's value-creation web
Great books that discuss scenario-based product innovation:
Show-Don't-Tell Marketing: enhance your marketing communications by using "picture-words"
"Show, don't tell!"Yes, that annoying piece of feedback you received from your your 6th grade English teacher in creative writing class is as important for marketers to practice as it is for writers of fiction.
Let’s illustrate the point by looking at the following tag lines:
- "Use Lowenstein’s fertilizer and ensure the health & vitality of your lawn!"
- "Use Lowenstein’s fertilizer – it’ll make your lawn so green, so thick, and so soft you’ll ditch your bed and sleep outside on your grass!"
Unlike tag line 2, you can’t see tag line 1 in your mind’s eye. T1 uses non-visual, conceptual words like "health" and "vitality". T2 goes the visual route. It paints a picture in your head - you sleeping on a plush bed of the greenest grass.
Tag line 2 brings the benefits of Lowenstein’s fertilizer to life. Tag line 1 requires that YOU bring it to life, which requires mental energy – a non-starter for today’s consumers.
An easy tool for improving your sales & marketing copy
Step 1 - Assess
Take your sales copy, email campaign, landing page or what have you, and ask:
- Do the words paint a picture in my mind? How vivid is that picture?
- Does the picture clearly express the core benefit of my product? (Why paint a beautiful picture that doesn’t help sell your product?)
Identify the conceptual/abstract words in your copy – those words that don't paint clear pictures in your head.
Step 3 - Improve
Take the list of conceptual words you identified in Step 2 and do either of the following:
- Replace these conceptual words with visual counterparts
- Add visual words to your copy that bring your conceptual words to life. For example, if you're using the word "healthy", you can add visual words like "32-inch waistline", "glowing, beautiful skin", "well-sculpted muscles", etc.
How to unleash the power of context and turbo-charge your marketing
There are few more powerful insights you can generate than learning the main contexts in which demand for your product/product category arises. Having such knowledge will allow you to elevate your marketing and develop deeper, more profitable relationships with your customers.
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Step 1: identify the most frequent demand contexts
The first step in unleashing the power of context is to identify the different contexts in which
demand for your product is triggered. Think of yourself as a detective attempting to answer the questions:
- Under what situations do people become interested in my product?
- What triggers their interest in my product? (Events, changing circumstances, etc.)
In sleuthing your way to an answer, you may find that there is a series of events that take place before demand is sparked. You will also likely learn that there are several distinct demand contexts for your product, some of which will occur with far greater frequency than others.
Your key objective in step 1 is to assemble a list of those demand contexts that account for at least 75%-80% of total demand for your product/product category.
Step 2: ask the 6 power-questions to elevate your marketing strategy
For each of the most frequently occurring demand contexts for your product, ask the below six questions:
1) How can I tweak or reconfigure my product to better meet the consumer need in the given context?
2) Are there complementary products or services I should consider offering, whether though my company or a partner?
3) How might I adjust my pricing to better reflect the value provided by my product within the given context?
4) How can I more effectively communicate & position the value provided by my product within the given context? Is there specific imagery, tonality & language I should use in my marketing communication?
5) Are there any changes I should make from a channel perspective, whether it be my channels for building awareness, for selling, or for servicing customers?
6) How can I detect when demand has been triggered for this given context? Can I actually identify these people with some degree of certainty? (Dig deep to answer this crucial question. There is almost always a way)
(Note that some of the questions may not be pertinent for certain product categories and demand contexts)
Let's make this pop! with a brief real-world example
Product du jour: Cars
Step 1: identify the most frequent demand contexts for cars
-The lease is expiring on the existing car
-The price of gasoline jumps and the person owns a gas-guzzler**
-The car is old & worn out (tail pipe tickling the pavement, etc.)
-The car died & resuscitating it would cost a whole lot of money
-The person is moving from the City to the ‘Burbs
Step 2: ask the 6 power-questions for each frequently-occurring demand context for cars
**Below I've answered the questions for the demand context in which the price of gasoline jumps and the person owns a gas-guzzler
1) How might we tweak our cars to better meet the needs of the owners of gas-guzzlers?
We could develop a fuel-efficient car or one that could run on cheaper types of fuel (given the long R&D cycle for new models, auto companies are always best suited to have such a model either always available for sale or one that can easily be ramped up for production)
2) Are there complementary products or services we should consider offering, whether though our company or a partner?
We could develop services or partnerships that would cheapen the price of gas - e.g., partner with credit card companies to develop attractive cash-back rewards on gasoline purchases
3) How might we adjust our pricing to better reflect the value that our cars provide to owners of gas-guzzlers?
Consumers who are feeling increasing pain at the gas pump are likely willing to pay more for a car that will significantly reduce their “gas pains”... Then again attempting consumer-level pricing can be tricky and a risky move from a brand perspective (not to mention the current distribution structure for cars does not readily lend itself to such a pricing strategy).
4) How can we more effectively communicate & position the value provided by our cars to owners of gas-guzzlers? Is there specific imagery, tonality & language we should use in our marketing communication?
We could position our cars as “fuel-smart” alternatives that could save them thousands of dollars, which could be put towards more enjoyable things than gasoline, such as a much-needed vacation in the Caribbean(!)
5) Are there any considerations we should make from a channel perspective, whether it be our channels for building awareness, selling, or servicing?
(Response not included to maintain brevity)
6) How can we detect when this demand trigger has been fired? Can we identify the owners of gas-guzzlers during a spike in gas prices?
Knowledge of rising gas prices is a layup - CNN & our local gas stations would make any major rise in gas prices abundantly clear. And, there are a number of ways to identify owners of “gas-guzzlers” with fairly good precision, starting with identifying the geographic distribution of SUV sales & SUV dealerships.
Your assignment
1) Select one of your products or services – especially one that you believe has the most “improvement potential” & could provide the most upside for your business.
2) With a pad & pen in hand, walk the product through Step #1. Also, ask colleagues and friends & family to complete Step #1. And, hold a brainstorming session if timing & calendars permit. (I’ve always found the collective IQ of a good group to be far greater than any one individual flying solo)
3) Take each of your top demand contexts and run through Step #2. For this step it is particularly valuable to hold a brainstorming session or two, as the collective brainpower of your colleagues in this step can be the difference between a $1mm idea and a $10mm idea.
4) Share your experience with us here on the blog, including any interesting things you learned from the process and, of course, any successes you have to-date.
A note on business strategy & demand context
In a future post I’ll be writing about the role that the demand contexts of your product should play in (re)designing your business strategy. Depending upon a number of factors including the economics of your business and the positioning of your brand, there are likely certain demand contexts that you would want to focus your efforts upon. More to come on this, so stay tuned...
And, as always, please feel free to leave a comment, question or shout-out.
Sources: car demand contexts based upon 2005 study by the American International Automobile Dealers (AIADA).
Injecting some Maslow into your marketing
What would you say if I told you that just a few miles off the coast of Australia was a tiny island
where a man's success was indicated by the colorfulness of his shirt? Think male peacocks or Seinfeld-as-pirate, whichever is easier to visualize.
For fear of defaming the semester I studied anthropology in London, I will leave the "anthro-isms" to the anthropologists. That said, we in the US are as knee-deep in symbols as the aboriginal cultures of Papua New Guinea. Of course, most of our symbols have been manufactured by companies competing for our attention & disposable income - and some of them have done remarkable jobs imbuing seemingly ordinary "objects" with profound meaning.
American Express & Maslow
Case in point - American Express, a company that successfully turned a tiny piece of plastic, into 
a symbol that represents the fulfillment of one of Maslow's core human needs: the need to feel significant. Companies, such as Amex, that successfully transform their products & brands into symbols that represent the fulfillment of a Maslow need are often some of the most successful.
This has no doubt been one of the biggest success factors for American Express since it introduced its charge card fifty years ago. The card quickly became a powerful symbol of one's success (and hence significance); pulling it out from one's wallet generated a profound "buzz", filling one with feelings of pride, accomplishment, and a rush of endorphins. Pretty wild to think that a little piece of plastic (or back then, a piece of paper!) could mimic the feeling one might get from a quadruple espresso or pulling up to one's high school reunion in a shiny red Porsche.
How to inject Maslow into your marketing
While your company or product might not have the tailwind of 150 years of brand-building at its back as Amex does, thinking about how to inject aspects of Maslow's hierarchy of needs into your marketing is an absolute must.
The key to achieving this is to first identify which of Maslow's needs is addressed by your product or service - and yes, it may address more than one. Then, ask yourself the following questions to stimulate your thinking and get the ball rolling:
1) How can my marketing better communicate how the benefits of my service satisfy this Maslow need?
- Example: the old “reach out & touch someone”AT&T ads are a perfect illustration of taking the core Maslow need filled by phones - social connectedness - and bringing it to life in compelling, emotive ways.
Note: if you don't see the video of the old AT&T ad on your browser, the link to the ad can be found here on YouTube.
- Example: Imagine you do marketing for a group of upscale lounges in your town. One of the core Maslow needs you would likely be trying to satisfy is the need to feel important. In thinking about how to add touch points or brand elements to support the fulfillment of this need, you may consider adding to your lounges amenities such as bathroom attendants, coat checkers, well-garbed doormen, and servers who address patrons as Mr/Ms
.
4) Are there other Maslow needs I should try to satisfy in order to provide even greater value to my customers, and perhaps attract new customer segments?
- Example: a simple, yet highly successful move made by many manufacturers of home appliances has been to tap into the Maslow need for beauty by imbuing every-day appliances with style, color and form. In fact, in his excellent book, A Whole New Mind, Daniel Pink devotes an entire chapter to this trend, and retailers such as Design Within Reach have successfully exploited it.
As always, feel free to send me an email or leave your comments & questions. Best of luck in your endeavors and in building some Maslow into your business! It's well worth your time & energy!
Other posts on Maslow: