The Best Ideas Are Often the Simplest: Chipotle's Call to Action

This post, like this concept, is short but powerful.

I'm a regular at Chipotle, the casual dining Mexican restaurant chain. Got my dinner to-go the other day, and upon finishing, go to throw away the bag and remnants. Some wording on the bottom of the bag caught my eye. It is the simplest drive to web tagline I've ever seen.

Three words, followed by a URL:

"Gripes and Happiness - www.Chipotle.com"

Short and sweet, but it speaks volumes, no? With 3 words, they let you know they are accessible, and they want to know what their customers think, positive or negative.

And they do. If you go out to the site, you find a section marked "Speak" with intro copy that begins "George,Lynn,Ken,and Dawn would like to hear from you. We'll write you back a real response. Speak and be heard." Oh and they have the aforementioned people's faces immortalized on the segments of a "Wheel of Fortune" type spinning wheel. (Hard to be too angry with that greeting you.)

Fanstastic.

Viral Marketing In Action: Mary J. Blige Reflections Commercial

This clip demonstrates the power of Web 2.0 and YouTube. It is the culmination of how viral and word-of-mouth marketing converged to create a spot-on marketing concept. The star is a wonderfully precocious 4 year-old girl named Nia. Nia's mother apparently posted a few clips of her singing along to Mary J. Blige songs (see here.) The clips subsequently got a lot of views(145K on the one linked above) and no doubt, word of mouth via YouTube. (Mary's a multi-platinum, grammy winning R&B superstar for the uninitiated.) Mary's people picked it up,realized the potential for a commercial promoting her Reflections album, and the rest is history.

Wonderful campaign, and quite remarkable considering, with Mary's body of work and fan base, she could have hired any actor or actress in Hollywood to be in her commercial.

PS Even if you've never heard of Mary, watch the clip, the concept is just darling. --K

Joining the Social Media Revolution: Last.fm Pt.2

Recently, I jumped into the pool that is Last.fm and blogged about it here.
I was curious to see what the hype was about, and if they were indeed creating "community around content." I left with a neutral posture on the tool, and vented my frustrations to the "Shade Tree Last.fm Users Guild." Following are some of the responses I got:

"I'll bet you've had your account less than a week."

"Why should we help you? Like we work for the company or something?"

"Just keep listening."

And the "Down the Rabbit Hole" response:

"Don't log in and you can listen to your own station. "

So I've kept on 'scrobbling' (indicating if I love or hate the song I'm listening to, and tagging it.) then let it rest for a few days. To my surprise, I now have some recommendations on my account, and I'm able to listen to some of them. Not bad for 2-3 weeks work. So I'm not unsold but not sold yet either, so I began to search for some more enlightened input than that which I solicited above. Enter Wendy Boswell of the Technophilia series on the Lifehacker blog. Her post "Fifteen Last.fm Power Tweaks" gave me some ideas which I think are practical, and others that only bolster my theory that I'm doing an awful lot of work for free and not getting much free music in return. Here are the "tweaks" I plan on trying:

#1 Exploit Your Neighbors. According to LH, after you play five songs, they will start to show "neighbors" with similar musical tastes at the bottom of your Last.fm page. Exploring their tags and playlists can result in new music for you to try.

#2 The "Not Enough Content" solution. As I lamented in Pt. 1 of this post series, I repeatedly got the "not enough content" message. One way around this potentially, is to click on your neighbors' tags and listen to the associated songs. If the tag has at least 15 songs behind it, it will add to your listened-to song count.

#5 Download Free Music. Evidently there's a ton of DRM-free, hassle free, free-free music to be had on Last.fm. Lifehacker says you can download it directly here
or link to users who have taken the time to create a free music "mega playlist" here.

So I will soldier on and let you know if my opinion of Last.fm improves.
For the complete list of Last.fm Power Tweaks, visit the LifeHacker post here.

Technorati Tags:lastfm, social, music, community, socialmedia, tagging, scrobbling

It;'s Not Just for Print Anymore: PR and the Web

One of my recent adds to the blogroll is the 360 Digital Influence Blog by Ogilvy PR. Last week Laura Halsch posted "Writing for the Web", an instructive piece on re-thinking how to write press releases with the web user in mind. Ms. Halsch noted these key items and then asked for other tips:

1. Consumers are finding press releases through online search.

• Use key words in release titles
• Include links to more information in the releases
• Consider visuals – online readers are used to images
• Tell your story efficiently – online readers scan for headers, bullets, and key phrases

2. Consumers look to company press rooms as sources of information.

• link to third party and social media sources
• use conversational tone
• again, incorporate multimedia
• solicit feedback from your consumers – listen as much as you talk

3. Editors and reporters are reading blogs regularly (more than 57% according to a recent study)

• you should be reading blogs too – keep up with (and ahead of) the curve
• consider a corporate blog to help tell your story

To this list I'd add two more things from personal experience.

1. Trackback,trackback,trackback.

Trackbacks I like because they give visibility to sites you linked to right in the post. For instance, if I link to,say, Perez Hilton and leave a trackback, it's like automatic "link-love" from that site. This is a best-kept blogging secret that can lead to greater visibility for your post. Granted many blog platforms don't make it easy to create a trackback link, so you are forced to go look for an online tool. One I've used that works pretty well is Trackback Wizard.

2. Reach out to bloggers who link to you.

Building on Ms. Halsch's point on engagement, I make it a habit to reach out to bloggers who have added me to their blog roll, linked to me, or added me as a Favorite on Technorati. Technorati has a few widgets that keep count of your "links in" from other sites, such as their Ranking widget and the 'Blogs Who Link Here" section of their profile widget. This is another way to forge a relationship, learn,share, and engage.

Full disclosure: My employer, Lenovo, is a client of Ogilvy Worldwide.

Technorati Tags:pr, public, relations, engagement, conversation, marketing, ogilvy, 360

All the Pieces Matter - Brand Identity and Word of Mouth

"...and all the pieces matter." - Detective Lester Freamon, HBOs The Wire

The mantra above from HBO's The Wire refers to doing thorough investigation of all pieces of evidence, no matter how seemingly insignificant. I think the same theory applies in Spike's post today on brand identity and word of mouth. Convincing the folks in the C-suite that word of mouth experiences are the bricks in the wall of a brand's DNA is still a tough sell in 2008. Many businesses still look at branding and WOM like a Teacup Yorkie "Cute,cuddly, and expensive, but of no real value." In other words , anything that doesn't result in a direct physical product or a direct monetary gain is foo-foo dust." Bellowing about this haughtily sounds good in the boardroom,"Monitor Facebook? Yeah there's a good use of money bwaaahaha!" but it is realistically just plain foolish.

Unfortunately, many companies don't get religion on WOM until something bad happens. They get a negative blog post written about a bad customer experience. A political action committee issues a press release condemning their manufacturing practices. Someone creates a "Spacely Sprockets Sucks" group on Facebook which gets 2000 members in 24 hrs. Then companies want to employ what Spike calls the "add-on" approach,running around with their hair on fire(no pun intended), at the expense of being authentic.:

"And for ANY piece of word of mouth marketing to even have a chance to work – an overall movement, or even tactics - it has to be authentic to the company. Thus the dangers of the “add-on” approach. I’m not talking about slapping the logo on a piece of literature or blog. I’m talking about something that is true to the brand, including the voice. The attitude. The vocabulary. The values. And those things can only be found down deep in the identity of a company."--Spike Jones

For us as IMC practitioners, I think we have to be proactive and not wait for someone to tell us to go cultivate this important area of marketing. We have to go listen, be present, measure, feel, process, reflect, then sell our company on why this matters. Because all the pieces of a brand's identity matter. All the pieces matter.

My Cadillac Story Vlog Ups Cadillac's Street Cred

Cadillac has to be one of the brand reinvention success stories of this decade. They've very adeptly morphed themselves from your grandparents' cushy sedan to a way-cool cutting edge SUV and sports sedan brand which appeals to the coveted 18-35YO demographic. Cadillac took off like a rocket after the hip-hop community enthusiastically embraced the Escalade as it's SUV of choice, and they have not looked back since.

Enter their new viral video blog, My Cadillac Story. Customers can view celebrities and civilians sharing their own personal stoy on why they love these vehicles. Customers are also invited to join the club by "telling us your story" and submitting it for publication. Bingo I'm a star right alongside Travis Barker. I'm part of the club, I'm cool, right? They've established their own channel on YouTube as well as on their corporate site, and are running a drive-to-web teaser campaign in the Wall Street Journal and other publications. The one I saw featured Joan Jett. No vehicle mind you, just "Read Joan Jett's Cadillac story. Tell us yours. at mycadillac.com" or some such thing.

Now, be honest, 10 years ago did you ever think you'd see Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker, hip-hop superstar Fat Joe, or veteran rocker Joan Jett shilling for Cadillac? Barker, in my view, is their most clever and strategic choice as a pitchman, and not only because of his heavily "tatted" and pierced physique. Barker is also well-established among car enthusiasts as an avid car collector and customizer by way of numerous apperances on various "Pimp My Ride"-type car customization shows on cable. This lends even more 'street cred' to the Cadillac brand. (still can't believe I wrote the term 'street cred' and Cadillac in the same sentence, but I digress.)

To see one of 3 of Travis Barker's three Cadillac Stories go here.

Your 24/7 Brand: Fire Extinguisher or Smoke Alarm?

Where is Your Fire Extinguisher?

When is the last time someone asked you the metrics for the "About", "Who We Are" or in a few cases, "Press Materials" area of your website? Have you ever asked a customer their impression of your company after reading that section? If you are like most organizations, the "Who We Are" section of the web is treated like the company's fire extinguishers hanging on the wall:

1. Bought once. (READ: Outdated)
2. Encased in glass. (READ: Not dynamic)
3. Not proactive, but reactive.
   
4. Used in case of emergency only. (Read:Ignored 99% of the time) and...
   
5. Most employees couldn't tell you where it is. (Read: Not wel-integrated into the company's overall strategy)

Smoke Alarms

I would submit this area of an organization's website needs to be treated more like the smoke alarms in your house.

1. Located properly throughout the home. (In this case, the web.)
   
2. Everyone knows where they are. (Read: Strategic area of the site.)
   
3. Tested for functionality throughout the year. (Read: Dynamic and updated continuously.)
4. Proactive. Warn of impending trouble ahead of time. (Read: Mechanism available to warn of danger and react to it.)
   

My manager quotes this mantra often:

"Many businesses and non-profits fail to realize the web is their only marketing entity which is accessible 24-7. "

Let that marinate a second. In the web marketing arena, everyone tends to focus on the metrics tied to revenue - click through, conversion, bounce rate, page views, visits, et al. Revenue is what pays the bills, our shareholders, and us. I give this only so much credence. My personal view is, hey animals can count. What separates humans from the animals is our ability to think and reason.

What am I saying?

All the click-throughs in the world will not protect your company from a boycott, moral scandal, socially irresponsible investment, or a lawsuit. It will,however, for sure impact your brand, your image, your revenue, and your future. Hard and Fast. When something goes down, rest assured the "Who We Are" section of an organization's website is the first place the media, detractors, customers,etc. will head looking for ammunition.

The fact is in today's global economy, consumers are more socially, politically, and environmentally conscious than ever in history. Like it or not, these beliefs now dictate consumer purchasing decisions. Same goes for online. People are evaluating your company or institution based on its environmental policies, commitment to diversity, reputation of its leadership, human rights policies, etc. These things need to be clearly stated on an organization's website, whatever that position is, with a mechanism for discussion or feedback from your customers. Then my smoke alarm analogy comes into play.