Strategy & Brand

Prescient, timeless and oft quipped, Marshall McLuhan’s Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man  and its iconic quote [1] are as relevant today as when it was penned in 1964.  Here are ten examples of McLuhan’s foresight in action:

@YesIamPrecious
The personified tweets of cross-country fundraising cyclist Janeen McCrae’s (@thenoodleator) bike. As the technologically savvy ventriloquist Janeen peddled across the US for LIVESTRONG, she and her bike tweeted their tales, their banter, and their milestones. This high-energy duo kept track of their hard-earned miles, their flat tires, the roadkill they passed, and the all the other tweet-worthy experiences they had along the way. @YesIamPrecious and @TheNoodleator are excellent examples of twitters that are getting it right!  

@RustyRockets
Russell Brand’s tweets make us laugh out loud. Literally. He keeps us updated on his tour dates and details, his care package needs from his mother, and the more colorful elements of his celebrity lifestyle. Russell gets his audience, he really captures his personality, and he doesn’t ever sound like an advertisement- even when he’s blatantly promoting himself.
Our favorite thing about Russell’s tweets: he gets the @. The tweets he’s addressing to specific people are always meant to be read and appreciated by his entire viewership. He might not be talking specifically to us, but we always feel like we’re in on the joke- or at least enough of it to be amused. Your @’s shouldn’t ever exclude followers. If a tweet will only make sense and be interesting to the person you’re replying to, send it as a DM.  

@GOOD
GOOD’s tweets connect people who give a damn to the news and information they care about, the activists they support, and the organizations that are making a difference. GOOD ‘gets’ far more than just twitter, GOOD ‘gets’ community. Our favorite part of GOOD’s twitter, besides all the awesome article links, is the daily GOODasks question. Everyday GOOD asks a question and their followers get to weigh in on the answer by replying to @GOOD and including the hashtag #GOODasks. The following day, they post their favorite responses on their website and tweet us a link to the article. GOOD is actively engaging with its fans and followers instead of just bribing and cajoling their followers to be more engaged with them. Big Difference.   

@Arjunbasu
Author Arjun Basu uses twitter to weave vibrant, compelling, creative stories in 140 characters or less. His short tales make us laugh, question, ponder, smile, doubt and rediscover our faith in humanity, and so much more… His tweets are fresh, original, and inspired.
We wouldn’t have found Arjun without his twitter- and now we want to read his book. His tweets help him connect with his audience in a way that a pr firm or his publishing house just couldn’t. Arjun gets twitter.  

@TheEllenShow
Ellen uses her tweets to share her vibrant thoughts, her revelations on the eco impact of plastic bags, and behind the scenes peeks into the making of her show. She gets her audience, and she gets audience participation. Ellen rocks at starting conversations. She encourages feedback, she rallies support for great causes, and she really knows how to plug that hash tag! What impresses us most about Ellen, is how approachable and accessible she makes herself via twitter.  

@Mental_Floss
Mental Floss calls itself the magazine “where knowledge junkies get their fix.” Via their twitter, they share random daily mind-bending factoids that brighten our day and engage our minds. @mental_floss is the caffeine free, minty-fresh, mind-restoring, creativity inspiring alternative to a coffee break. Our favorite part of their twitter is their content, but the reason they made this list is their focus. They picked a targeted focus that would resonate with their “knowledge junkie” audience and they never lost track of that focus.  

@GladstoneHotel
The Gladstone redefines hotel art… and elevator music… and how destination brands use social media. This Toronto-based hotel is an excellent example of a destination brand that embraces community. We love that The Gladstone thinks of itself as an “incubator of culture on the web, in the community and beyond.” They provide more than just a bed for their out of town guests, they’re creating reasons to come to town in the first place. From their art fairs to their special events, the folks at the Gladstone get community, get culture, and know how to use social media to help connect the two.  

@Dictionarycom
If you thought Dictionary.com was just for definitions, you clearly haven’t seen The Hot Word Blog or @Dictionarycom. Dictionary.com’s blog and tweets help tell the stories behind the words we’re all searching for, help encourage our inner lexicographers, help keep the dictionary relevant in our technological googable world, and gives breaking news an exciting rhetorical lilt. This is an outstanding example of a brand that uses twitter as a contribution, as a means of helping maintain brand relevance, as a way to shift the way people perceive of the brand (because dictionary.com has more than just definitions), and to help increase advertising revenue without relying on those awful floating ads (By driving attention to the blog and increasing site traffic, they make more in advertising revenue).  

@BigGayIceCream
This adult-themed ice cream truck sells ice cream to grown ups in grown up neighborhoods. Lawyers in suits and heels probably wouldn’t go chasing an ice cream truck down the street, so these ice cream guys post their truck’s estimated route on their website, use their twitter to give live updates, and use their foursquare to pinpoint the truck’s exact locale. Plus- the twitter design scheme simultaneously captures their brand AND matches their SpreadShirt site (https://biggayicecreamtruck.spreadshirt.com/)! Three cheers for coordination. @BigGayIceCream does lose a few points with us for their tone- it lacks pizzaz, AND, they reply to other tweeters so frequently that we can’t just take a quick peek at their profile to see where they’re at.  

@WheresLloyd
Lloyd’s taco truck roams the streets of Buffalo, New York, bringing delicious hot tacos to hard-working hungry folk. @WheresLloyd is how the citizens of Buffalo know where and when Lloyd’ll be rolling past their offices, construction sites, and dog parks. Their t-shirt page isn’t as fancy as @BigGayIceCream’s, but these guys have their twitter tone down pat! They do an excellent job of conveying their brand through their tweets and a quick peek at their profile tells us exactly where they are and where they’ll be.  

[1] http://individual.utoronto.ca/markfederman/article_mediumisthemessage.htm 

Images

WhaleFail copyright Yiyinlu www.yiyinglu.com/sc/illustration 

Book cover courtesy Library and Archives Canada http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/innis-mcluhan/030003-2040-e.html

We came across a newsletter this week that actually said: “‘like’ our Facebook page and receive an exclusive offer.” We’re not sure what the offer was, because we’re not interested in being bribed, manhandled, or coerced into social media engagement (…but we’re guessing it’s free shipping or a discount promo code).

Social media revolves around community and conversations. It’s a place for art, expression, and contribution – not advertising. Facebook isn’t just another notch in your touch-point belt, so have some respect.

You don’t need the gimmicks if you’re doing something that’s actually worthy of people’s time, interest, and attention. Real groupies- genuinely impassioned and impressed followers- aren’t bought; they’re earned.

Before you go out and set up a fan page or start a promo campaign to non-organically grow your following, read our social media guide: Social Media- The Prize Inside

We were recently at a sponsored event that was hosted by a world renowned art museum and showcased the talents of several remarkably gifted musicians.

One sponsor, clearly still living in the land of magical thinking, elected to give away an ordinary solid-color t-shirt emblazoned with nothing but their logo and slogan. Instead of positioning the sponsor as an in-tune patron of the arts, the t-shirts commercialized and tarnished the event while awkwardly positioning the sponsor as ‘out of touch’ and ‘out of place.’

Abusing your logo and slinging together a trite tag line do not constitute a sponsorship strategy. It’s unlikely that your name alone inspires much impassioned support. Here’s a simple test… If you wouldn’t tattoo it on your own flesh, don’t waste the money emblazing it on a t-shirt.

Who you allow to sponsor your event and what you sponsor impacts your brand. Your brand’s story is reinforced or diluted by your real-life, day to day, actions, decisions, products, events, partnerships, sponsors…..

Allowing lackluster intrusions negatively impacts your event experience, cheapens your brand image, and devalues the return on investment for sponsors.  When it’s clear that a sponsor can’t wrap their head around the inherent meaning and value of a particular event or organization, they reduce sponsorship to obnoxious noise and unwanted advertising

Event sponsorship demands far more than just banners, logos, and neon lights.
If your sponsors don’t passionately share your philosophy, get your values, relate your purpose, or connect with your target audience, it’s time to re-evaluate your sponsorship criteria.

An exampleof an event with well-paired sponsors is Nathan’s Famous Fourth of July International Hot Dog Eating Contest. This year, Nathan’s was sponsored by Heinz and Pepto-Bismol.
Pepto-Bismol actually went on to host an official Major League Eating follow-up tour with the winner of the Nathan’s Famous contest, which they detailed via their facebook fan page.

Everything that you say says something about you.

Your brand narrative is how you tell your story. It runs deeper than a marketing rollout or an advertising campaign.  Your brand narrative is told in and through newsletters, press releases, promotions, CRM, sales, programming, products, annual reports, and internal communications- day in and day out. Your ongoing narrative should reflect your brand vision and purpose, your strategic direction, your operational tactics, your intent and partnerships. If crafting your brand narrative isn’t a constant, grueling, and tedious ongoing process, then it’s likely you’re producing ineffective noise.

Wrestling your brand narrative into focus requires skill and authenticity. Calling yourself cool doesn’t make you cool and calling your brand relevant doesn’t make it relevant. Drop the ego, the corporate-bologna, and the stuffy verbiage from your self-promotions and figure out how to reflect who you really are and what you really have to offer. Narrativity is not vague or generic.

Meticulously crafted brand narratives connect with people; they gracefully distinguish your unique interests, voice, differentiators, and the powerful benefits that genuinely matter to clients and customers. Brands that make a connection, reinforce their relevance, and speak to people are identified immediately as the must-have solution; the real deal, second to none. Your brand narrative should convey the personality, style, and strengths that enliven your collective organization.

Your communications are a reflection of your brand identity and directly contribute to your brand image, whether you intended them to be or not.

Here are a few questions to help you do a quick audit of your Brand Narrative:

• Do your messages accurately communicate your story?
• Are your messages genuine and authentic or just feel-good self-compliments and well-worded spin?
• Does your brand’s spunk, funk, credibility, attitude, personality, sensitivity, or vibe shine through your messages?
• How do your messages reflect your brand identity, values, and strategy?
• Are your messages clear and concise?
• Do your messages speak to the real issues that concern your audience?
• Do your messages reflect the values of your audience?
• Are you addressing the relevant issues on the minds and the immediate ‘To-Do’ lists of your customers?

If your brand is irreverent, your brochure should be too. Conscious design should be applied to more than just your color schemes and typography. Every billboard you put up and business card you hand out should reflect the essence of your brand.

One of the secrets to attaining true cohesion between all of your messages and mediums is a solid copy strategy. Your copy strategy helps your web content, brochures, letterhead, business cards, signage, speeches by company spokespersons, advertisements, and email signatures to all convey the same brand. Not its third cousin, not its twin, not its look alike- the exact same brand- from its look and feel, to its verbiage and its values.

Your copy strategy outlines whether or not you’ll use oxford commas, put periods at the end of bulleted sentences, use conjugations (like it’s in place of it is), use dots or dashes between breaks in phone numbers… It lays out which terms and phrases you’ll use and which ones you’ll avoid. It’s a clear and simple, explicit guide that outlines how your brand looks and sounds on paper.

A good copy strategy depends on a rock solid brand identity. Your brand identity is who you are, what you do, why you do it, how you do it, and how you want to be experienced. Your Brand Identity is how you conceive of your brand. Without a clearly defined Brand Identity, communications from different departments or for different mediums can seem disjointed and blur the brand narrative.

The secret to brand relevance isn’t a Cracker Jack prize, Twitter account, or Facebook Fan page.  If you don’t have anything to say, you’re not worth listening to. Social Media is a valuable tool when it’s used as a relevant and meaningful contribution; when your company’s web chatter is driven by mere advertising and self-promotion, your response will be as shallow as your efforts. 
A social media strategy predicated on friending, following, commenting, RT-ing, and #TrendingTopics isn’t all that far off from the sex tape track to fame. Sure, it worked for Paris, but if your values and core purpose are deeper than a designer puppy tote, you’re going to need a more authentic strategy.

Just like your website, social media ROI depends on quality, not quantity. The keywords that direct the most traffic to your site aren’t always the keywords that result in the highest number of page views or the longest amount of time on the site. It doesn’t matter how many people view your page every day, it matters how many of the right people view it. Quantity is a by-product of a quality-driven strategy.

Key concepts to maximize your social media investment:

-Relevant Information: Make sure you’re genuinely communicating your relevant brand. Are you sharing information that contributes to the lives of your ideal customer? Does all of the information you’re sharing match your brand? Are you communicating in a tone and style that reflects the brand? Do your updates reflect your values, your niche, and your purpose?

-Authentic Ideas: Make sure you’re relying on your own hard work, creativity, ingenuity, and expertise. Over-utilized @’s and #’s make it pretty clear who has something to say and who’s trying to mooch off the social forces of others. Real people- real, intelligent, sophisticated people will be reading your posts. If you post something shallow and moochy, you’re probably going to be getting some grimaces on the other end. Grimaces are bad for social media ROI.

-No Pitches: Make sure your social media outlets are brand touch points rather than advertisements or sales pitches. Social media is about community, it’s a platform for sharing, and sales pitches are selfish. If you’re pitching, angling, and positioning rather than contributing, you’re not going to be welcome in the sand box for very long.

-Guiding Values: Make sure you have a plan for handling offensive comments and posts. If profanities wouldn’t be tolerated in your boardroom or at your trade show booth, you don’t have to tolerate them in the content generated by viewers, fans, subscribers, or visitors. Use your brand values and guiding philosophies to develop a personal strategy for what to tolerate, what not to tolerate, and what to do about it. Your strategy is up to you, but it’s important for your plan to be consistent and your response to be swift.

-Your Brand Style: Make sure your strategy is tailored specifically for your brand. What works for the office next door won’t necessarily work for you. You can’t out-tweet the New York Times. Keep your tone, your content, and the volume of your activity in perspective.

-Monitor Your Presence: Take the time to brainstorm the most likely problems that your social media strategy may encounter and the steps you can take to prevent these dilemmas. If the situation warrants, develop emergency response plans. What will you do to reduce the risk that the account will be hacked? How closely will you monitor spoof accounts? Is it likely that a problem will arise if the company tweeter has his or her blackberry linked to the company twitter and the phone is stolen?

- Quality Counts: The actual number of people who subscribe to your channel or fan you on Facebook isn’t really an indicator of your effectiveness in a given medium. Remember that having 10,000 fans on Facebook doesn’t mean 10,000 people see your updates every day. Your Weekly Facebook Page Update, your Bit.ly stats, and your video views are a far better judge of your ROI than your fan count.

-Netiquette Matters: Make sure you know the rules. While the topic has been heavily and frequently debated around the BlackDog lab, there are rules of decorum and etiquette to social media interactions- it isn’t a wholly lawless frontier. If you’re not sure of the rules: get a book on the topic, talk with people who are more familiar with community in question, read relevant blogs, and play in the space provided until you’re clear on the accepted rules of conduct.

Here are a few social media resources we recommend:

“YouTube For Business” by Michael Miller 

Mashable, www.mashable.com 

“The Twitter Book” by Tim O’Reilly and Sarah Milstein

Make art- not advertising. Whether it’s a two page spread in a print publication or a vertical banner on a website, at BlackDog, we believe if the ad you’re placing isn’t as interesting, attractive, and useful to readers as the content it’s sandwiched between, you’ve missed the Big Idea. 
Promotions that are irrelevant or out of sync, campaigns that are boring, interstitial ads (the frustrating ads that hijack your attention by forcing you to watch an ad before a page will load), floating ads (the in-your-face ads that float across your screen to block the page and raise your blood pressure), ads that blink, pop-ups, and awareness initiatives that annoy your viewer all impact the way your brand is perceived and experienced.

Allowing these lackluster intrusions degrades the visitor’s experience, cheapens your brand image, devalues your ad space by diminishing your advertisers’ return on investment, and leaves your  viewers feeling as though (by tolerating all of the unwanted messaging they’ve been subjected to in exchange for the content provided) they’ve already paid for their subscription.

Here are a few characteristics of a good advertisement:
-A good ad is art- it is crafted, it utilizes design principles, it has meaning, it has relevance. The ultimate compliment a print ad can receive isn’t a marketing award- it’s when a reader carefully tears the ad out so they can keep it somewhere more visible (on their fridge, in a frame, etc.).

-A good ad is bold- it captures a viewer’s attention. Bland ads rob readers and visitors by taking up space that should have been allotted to more appealing content. Leave your ski mask and slim jim at home and give us ads worth looking at.

-A good ad is a mutually beneficial exchange for advertiser and viewer- it provides information that the reader actually wants, which, in turn, significantly increases the return on investment for the advertiser.