I was recently giving an associate some advice on marketing his sons new website. It started off with “make sure you’re targeting your keyword phrases at the audience you want to attract”. It moved on to “chasing the long tail”, which was closely followed by “gaining links”, “consider ad-words” and installing Google Analytics. When I asked if the son had any marketing budget it became apparent the company was a single one-man band that was building up a new business and trying to make a name for itself. Nothing wrong with that, in-fact in my eyes this is to be admired. However one thing is for sure, very few one-man bands have a marketing budget and even fewer have time to spend on marketing even if they do.

Many will therefore decide to use an agency. Which is fine. But when using an agency it’s important you are giving them direction to make sure they are spending their time – which equals your money, on the most productive areas.

Many sole-traders however, will not consider an agency for online activity if they have a bit of knowledge of how things work online. They have used the Internet before, searched on google, have their own facebook page and even dabble with internet banking so how hard can marketing their website be?

Therefore I wasn’t surprised that after I had given some SEO and PPC advice which would keep a marketing team happy for a good few weeks, he asked the inevitable next question…

“OK, that’s good – What else could he do?”

Armed with the fact there was little budget, I took a deep breath and started talking social media marketing. Viral videos, Facebook business pages, Twitter profiles, status updates, Digg it, Like this, Buzz that, Tweet the other… It was all in there. I looked at his face and he didn’t have to say a word, “How the f*** are you suppose to do all that” was written all over it.

That’s when it struck me that an awful lot of companies, not just one man bands, will be trying to cover everything in a blind panic that if they don’t they are missing out. I’m not going to argue that the media multiplier effect works. But is it the best use of the marketing coffers to spread it over all forms of media?

The answer is of course simple. Yes… If it works! No… If it doesn’t.

Social media is just that – media, just the same as the telephone, carrier pigeon, postal service or smoke signals! And in turn needs to be measure and quantified in exactly the same way as any other marketing channel (although, good luck measuring the impact of smoke signals!). It may be new(ish) and exciting but it hasn’t necessarily made the revolutionary changes everyone seems to attribute to it.

It boils down to spending the time you have most productively. Which can only be understood through measurement of your activities.

Many people attribute social media with Barrack Obama being in power today. I don’t.
If the massively impressive PR train that was employed for Obama wasn’t using social media they would have been using other channels. Who knows which would have been most effective?
There are too many variables in this case to truly understand if social media had the impact many say it did.

If we look back to a time before social media there have been figures that have changed the world quite easily without one single tweet or status update.  I’m sure Martin Luther King would have had a Facebook page during the Civil Rights era if it had been around. That wouldn’t have meant Facebook caused social change.  It appears the founders of social networking sites would have us believe they have invented a media channel that is far superior to anything we have experienced before.  And this is the reason it is capable of such great things.  I believe it’s simply these now multi-millionaires are simply shouting louder than inventors of the past.  Just think how many important decisions have been made over the humble telephone.  Yet I don’t hear anyone attributing wars that have been won, disasters that have been averted and lives that have been saved to the humble dog-n-bone, do you?

Social media marketing is a worthwhile channel, but only by measuring its impact when compared to other forms of media can you know if this is the channel you should be investing your valuable time in.

This is why the single most important piece of advice I gave my associate was to install Google Analytics.  Unfortunately I suspect it is the one piece of advice he may act upon but never follow up.  To delve into Google analytics and use it to ensure you are choosing the best suited media to your campaign takes time and a lot of it.  Time that a single person battling to make a new company work just doesn’t have.

A re-brand rarely comes when a company is thriving. If Google, Facebook or Apple re-branded today there would be more than a few raised eyebrows.
A re-brand often occurs when a company needs to revitalise or force a change in direction to once again steal a lead on the competition.

That’s why re-branding comes at more of a cost than just agency fees, consultants and re-tooling for their shiny new look. The real cost is in the customers perception of a re-brand. A brand is more than just a nice looking logo, but it is inevitably the logo that should define the brand.

This is why the aesthetic appeal of a logo is so vital to a companies success. Ask anyone in marketing and they will tell you the best brands in the world are those that a clean, simple, unique and distinctive. The big 3 I mentioned at the start of this blog tick all of those boxes… but then so did GAP and pretty much so did MySpace, yet they have both recently decided to re-brand.

The reasons why we rebrand and what makes a good brand are clear, but should we ask MySpace and GAP if re-branding is the right thing to do? Well, let’s see if we think they’ve done a good job before we start thinking they’re experts in re-branding.

Gap Old	Gap New
MySpace Old	MySpace New

Let’s analyse the two.

GAP – Both old and new tick all the boxes in being simple, clean, unique and distinctive. However I have to question why GAP have re-branded their 20 year old logo at all. This updated brand stands for nothing new. As far as the design is concerned I have no problems and given time, it will no doubt become as recognisable as their old incarnation – but that hasn’t achieved anything.

As far as the brand is concerned GAP will only be at the same point they are now 10 years down the line.

So why have GAP re-branded? Well that’s not too difficult to answer. They seriously need to breath new life into its slumping sales. With their old brand image it would be difficult to imagine any new type of marketing campaign, any new style to their outlets and in turn any new custom. For me it looks like they have therefore decided to re-brand in the hope a new softer logo may present opportunities for a new marketing direction and a new customer perception.

The outcome – in short, GAP fans have been outraged! They have been posting on social sites and forums like mad accusing GAP of creating a logo more suited to a bank than a clothing retailer. I have to agree. The most surprising outcome of this though is how GAP have responded. They have said – “If you think you can do better, go ahead!” (not an exact quote!). They’ve done this by opening the floor to the public to create a new GAP brand. I’m really not sure if this is a desperate or ingenious move?

MySpace – I don’t think we can compare this situation with GAP’s. MySpace have so seriously fallen behind the behemoth that is Facebook that it needs something that is innovative, dynamic and even pioneering to turn around its fortunes. The other aspect that is for certain, is that MySpace will need to do more than just re-brand to make this happen. They need to pull together an experience for the user that in-compasses everything MySpace has to offer into a simplified and uniformed quality online offering.

That’s a big job – but I think this re-brand is a step in the right direction. I know this logo is going to be brutally treated with all sorts of photo-shopped shenanigans posted all over the web. But that is part of its appeal. It will devide opinion and create discussion after discussion on what in the world MySpace were thinking about but again, that’s part of its appeal.

MySpace are saying this is not our website, but yours. Fill in the blank. Make it what you want. With everything that MySpace is trying to offer – this is spot on.

I saw one fantastic comment on the TechCrunch blog about this saying “Only two more characters left and myspace will forever be deleted from the internet”. While this is a fantastic comment, I don’t think it could be further from the truth.
I like what MySpace are trying to represent with this new logo and most of all I like the fact this change is brave.

It hopefully signals a new era for MySpace – and at last competition again for Facebook.

Of course, this is only my opinion – so please take part in the poll below to share yours!

On a recent trip to Vegas I had a connection at Houston airport and after feasting on a fantastic Wendy’s burger (why don’t we have Wendy’s in the UK? Or do we?) I was strolling towards my departure gate when a larger than normal vending machine catches my eye.

At work I visit a vending machine a few times a week when I get a chocolate craving and feel like a double decker; or maybe a sandwich at lunchtime just isn’t enough and the need of a packet of cheese and onion is the only way to go.

The vending machine at Houston airport though had neither of these snacks on offer, if it had I wouldn’t have been bothered, not only had I just had my Wendy’s burger but vending machines that sell crisps and chocolate are two-a-penny; I certainly wouldn’t be blogging about it!

This vending machine was very different. This vending machine sold SkullCandy headphones, mp3 docking stations, Belkin earphone splitters and Apple iPod touch’s, Nano’s and Shuffles. Yep, that’s right. Your reading ability is not failing you – In the vending machine was 3 of Apples best selling products – the iPod Touch, Nano and Shuffle.

In some ways I thought this was impressive.
Easy access to products, no shop worker hassling you and even a few quid off. But thinking about it further – I just couldn’t help wondering what Apple was playing at.

Just like when I saw Thorntons chocolates for the first time in a petrol station shop, I thought – here’s a premium brand devaluing their most important asset.

Apple prides itself in having knowledgeable staff, a quality in-store experience and the most ‘designer’ brand in the IT world. So to throw it’s products in a ‘best-buy’ vending machine just doesn’t sit right for me.

I could maybe forgive Apple slightly if the vending machine was chrome or black, placed thoughtfully in a designer shopping centre with a stylish Apple logo displayed proudly on all four sides.
But this wasn’t even close – it was blue and yellow, stuffed with several other branded products and sitting in a busy airport.

In general, brands such as Apple are fantastic at protecting their image, with extremely stringent guidelines for anyone using their logo’s in print, on the web or on any merchandise. I dare say they have departments dedicated to branding that oversee all uses of the corporate image. Then they allow their products to be sold wherever without a care.

For me that stinks of maximising the selling opportunities and not protecting the brand. The environment where the product is found should compliment the brand, if it doesn’t it cheapens it, simple as that.

Inside Microsoft HQ:

Mich Matthews (VP of marketing) – Ok guys, we have a pretty impressive smartphone that we’ve worked pretty damn hard on and I reckon we should let people know it exists. What-da-ya-reckon?

Steve Ballmer (Microsoft CEO) – Good catch Mich, that’s why I pay you $280k+ let’s get our best guys on this baby right away. We need our ducks in a row on this one, we need an xbox success, no repeat of vista… Ok!

Mich – Well, let’s fly some kites, get some serious blue sky going on in here. What made the xbox such a success and vista such a… Um… a…. Well not such a success?

Steve – We never make bad products, it must have been the marketing budgets. How much did we spend marketing xbox?

Mich – $100m

Steve – and vista?

Mich – $500m

Steve – Ah. Vista must have been bad. I hope windows phone 7’s better.

————-

Although Microsoft are reported to be spending $400m on the launch of windows phone 7, this doesn’t ensure it’s success. However, it does show you Microsoft are serious about its new smartphone and by spending serious marketing budget it’s guaranteed every man and his dog are going to hear about this one.

It’s also interesting how close the budgets are between the vista launch and that of windows phone 7. Although when you consider the desktop market is in such decline and the smartphone market is enjoying such growth, it does make sense. Smartphone sales are expected to outstrip those of the desktop by next year, so for me Microsoft have set their budget about right.

The right amount of spend is so important, let’s take the $100m budget of Verizon and Motorola on the original Droid smartphone compared to the non-existent marketing budget for Google’s Nexus One. The Nexus One was a better handset with better software, but was outsold by the Droid – marketing made the Droid a success, simple.

It shows you can have a slightly inferior product, but through marketing tell people repeatedly that it’s good and they will believe you! Apple have been doing it for years… It works! Of course I jest a little, Apples products are damn good, but in all honesty are they the best out there? Or are we blinded slightly by the Apple razzmatazz of it’s marketing campaigns?

Windows phone 7 now has every chance of success. The marketing $’s behind this device plus the fact it isn’t going to be a poor (vista) product is why this could really shake up the smartphone market. This smartphone will support Office, Windows Live services and have the Zune music store. This smartphone will have an innovative UI not a clunky Windows Mobile platform UI. We’re sure to see a Microsoft app store, multitasking and notifications. We’re also going to experience Microsoft making the most of the Xbox Live brand within the handheld for gaming.
The final aspect will be the community. Developers have jumped at the chance to unleash their talents on both the iPhone and Android platforms. If they do the same with vigour for the Windows phone 7, there may be no stopping this new kid on the smartphone block taking the lead.

Microsoft have been quiet recently and has almost slipped into the underdog style status when compared to Apple and Google. Something a decade ago we would never have imagined. We also would never have imagined feeling slightly sorry for Microsoft, but I think there is a new public perception towards them, after all, we love the underdog.

I’m predicting the Windows Phone 7 will be a huge success and with the troubles Apple have had with the iPhone 4, it’s going to make for a very interesting battle!
Most of all though, I’m looking forward to Microsofts marketing campaign for the new phone, I hope they really do fly those kites and make it one to remember!

Sometimes you happen across a marketing campaign that really makes you sit up and think… now that was genius. This is such a time. Old Spice have launched an online campaign that has taken the Internet by storm in the last few days and will surely be used as a case study in how to create a major buzz online.

As always with this type of campaign, the simplicity is astounding, there must be marketing agencies around the world saying “how the hell have we not thought of that!”.

The campaign

Old spice had their celebrity actor Isaiah Mustafa film several commercials and asked viewers online to tweet questions. The filming of the initial commercials would have took several weeks but the genius was in the follow-up.

When questions were tweeted they filmed responses from Isaiah in a bathroom with just a towel and bottle of old spice shower gel responding to the question. This was posted within an hour of it being asked. Now that’s no mean feat. Especially as they also injected some humour into the responses.

The impact was, as could be expected, huge. They have had over 4m YouTube hits, 70,000 Twitter followers and countless video responses and web bloggers like me responding to this campaign. Proctor and Gamble are laughing all the way to the brand awareness bank!

The fact they responded so quickly was the key to this success. Even Demi Moore asked for a response via her tweets!

It’s an example of how agencies are really pulling out all the stops to create the next best campaign and using online media to do it. Online enables such a quick response and has done for a few years now, so it’s a wonder something like this hasn’t been tried before. You can bet your bottom dollar it will be again now!

Old spice YouTube video