Digital Connections

IPA Social: 10 Principles (#IPASocial)

If you're a member of the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) then this will probably need no introduction, but if you're from the sports marketing industry or a non-IPA member agency then it might need a touch of background explanation.

In January 2009, the IPA hosted a 44 Club event at the London College of Fashion, entitled "Social Media Futures - The future of advertising and agencies in a networked society."

The event had the potential to be great, and should have been great - unfortunately it wasn't. I blogged about the event and wrote a post which in hindsight I now view as overly harsh, and one that I certainly wouldn't write today.

However, I wasn't the only person who expressed disappointment, with Amelia, John, Robin and Anjali all expressing their views.

To give the IPA massive credit, within 7 days of the event Nigel Gwilliam (Head of Digital at the IPA) was analysing exactly where the IPA went wrong and how the IPA could ultimately deliver what their members wanted.

(I should point out that I wasn't and still am not a member of an IPA member agency, which goes someway to why I feel uncomfortable about my original post.)

Nine months later, Nigel has chaired and facilitated a very passionate & talented group of digital communications experts. This "IPA social" group have collaborated to write 10 principles that clients and agencies should bear in mind when developing Social Media campaigns. However, the group are also keen to point out that these principles are starting points for further discussion and are not cast in stone.

Each of the 10 principles are hosted on individual blogs (listed below), with the IPA acting as hub for the IPA Social Project, and everybody is encouraged to read and discuss the principles... after all social media is basically lots of people having conversations online.

Tuesday 6th October sees the IPA host a follow up event - which will see Mark Earls, Neil Perkin and Amelia Torode presenting their views, with Amelia, Katy Lindemann, Asi Sharabi and John Willshire joining in with a panel discussion.

If you're going along then drop me a tweet and say hello - if you cant make it then have a read of the 10 principles and join in the conversation online.

I was full of expectation nine months ago, and once again I'm full of expectation - but I know that these guys will absolutely nail it and add traction to a great debate.

The 10 Principles

1. People not consumers – Mark Earls
2. Social agenda not business agenda – Le’Nise Brothers
3. Continuous conversation not campaigning – John V Willshire
4. Long term impacts not quick fixes – Faris Yakob
5. Marketing with people not to people – Katy Lindemann
6. Being authentic not persuasive – Neil Perkin
7. Perpetual beta – Jamie Coomber
8. Technology changes, people don’t – Amelia Torode
9. Change will never be this slow again – Graeme Wood
10. Measurement – Asi Sharabi

Google Wave Preview: Waving At Myself!

"The first fax machine -- the person who bought the first fax machine was an idiot, because there was nobody to fax to.

But he or she became an evangelist, recruiting others to get the fax machines because it made their purchase more valuable.

Those are the effects that we're going to see.

Attention is the currency."

Kevin Kelly [TED: The Next 5,000 days of the web (Dec '97)]

This morning I was lucky enough to receive an invite from Google to preview Google Wave.

Which is absolutely fantastic news and the geek in me is pretty darn excited.

Although I must admit to feeling rather like that man with the first fax machine...

I've sent out my 8 invites to some friends and some fellow tweeters and bloggers (James, Neil, Amelia & John), but they are all currently awaiting delivery by Google.

"Invitations will not be sent immediately. We have a lot of stamps to lick."

In the meantime I'm sat Waving at my desk and sending out faxes to myself.

James Martin (Celebrity Chef) v Brad Wiggins & The Twittersphere

Twitter still has the power to amaze me,

It is without question one of the internet's most powerful tools  - its ability to facilitate online group collaboration and self organisation is absolutely phenomenal.

But there is a dark side, it can be vicious, unforgiving and even assist in bullying, herd like behaviour....

And as of 9.03pm GMT, Monday 14th September there is a "live" example of this taking place.

Yesterday, James Martin the "celebrity chef" wrote the following in his Daily Mail column;

"The Tesla Roadster is the all-electric supercar that's as fast as a Ferrari ...but as quiet as a bicycle".

"God, I hate those cyclists. Every last herbal tea-drinking, Harriet Harman-voting one of them. That's one of the reasons I live in the countryside, where birds tweet, horses roam, pigs grunt and Lycra-clad buttocks are miles away. But recently, there's been a disturbing development.

Each Saturday, a big black truck appears at the bottom of my road, with bikes stuck to the roof and rear. Out of it step a bunch of City-boy ponces in fluorescent Spider-Man outfits, shades, bum bags and stupid cleated shoes, who then pedal around our narrow lanes four abreast with their private parts alarmingly apparent. Do they enjoy it? They never smile. I'm sure they just come here to wind me up."

"Twenty minutes into my test drive I pulled round a leafy bend, enjoying the birdsong - and spotted those damned Spider-Man cyclists. Knowing they wouldn't hear me coming, I stepped on the gas, waited until the split second before I overtook them, then gave them an almighty blast on the horn at the exact same time I passed them at speed.

The look of sheer terror as they tottered into the hedge was the best thing I've ever seen in my rear-view mirror. I think this could be the car for me."

A simply staggering piece of "Journalism".... And amazing that the Editor actually authorised this? and of all newspapers ....The Daily Mail!

Brad Wiggins, Pro-cyclist was one of the first to pick this up on Twitter ...

"James Martin TV chef, The word cock springs to mind, stick to Ready Steady Twat mate"

"Meal suggestion for this Saturday Kitchen for James Martin, Spotted DICK!"

"Everyone check out on the web what JAMES MARTIN, TV chef thinks about the thousands of cyclists that enjoy riding bikes around the lanes"

"Hey James Martin, How about COCK au vin this Saturday"

as did his wife Cath

"am sipping a peppermint tea,then off to hug a tree before going on my bike with a cheeky wiggle of my lycra clad arse"

Even Taylor Phinney, Colorado based 3 time World Champion cyclist was on the case

"Speaking of douche bags... I present to you, chef James Martin!"

And within 6 hours Australian, Robbie McEwan also commented

           "@lancearmstrong maybe you can tweet out for a group ride around where this idiot lives."

If Lance responds with a tweet then I really think that things might go from bad to worse for James.

James Martin's wiki has been altered (see below as now changed back) and an "I hate James Martin" Facebook page has been set up - so far with 880 members. And The Daily Mail have removed and disabled comments on the original article.

Cycling Blog BikeRadar.com have also reported the story.

And Lia Hervey at SkyNews (@skynewsolympic), is getting ready to follow up. Earlier today Lia used Twitter to organise interviews with @CTC_cyclists @bradwiggins @cathwiggins and @cyclingweek.

James Martin is obviously a total fool for a) mowing down cyclists and b) bragging about it in a national newspaper. And for that he should make a full apology.

If Twitter is the catalyst for an apology then great - but as the story develops, a clear element of playground bullying / herd mentality can be seen at work....

This story is going to roll ..........

follow it here....http://search.twitter.com/search?q=james+martin

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Subsequent Podcast Interview with Rachel Konrad, Tesla’s Senior Communications Manager for the Tesla Roadster: http://www.thefredcast.com/?p=904

Hashtag spam #WillCarling #HabitatUK

In an era where society is failing to maintain decent social etiquette in many areas, it’s good to see the online community effectively self-regulate and uphold standards.

Two weeks ago, Habitat UK made the mistake of spamming on Twitter, adding hashtags to their tweets, in order to ensure that their messages appeared on the list of Twitter trending topics. Most infamously using the Iran election to help publicise price discounts at its stores, and tagging with #Mousavi and #Iranelection .

The twittersphere and blogosphere were quick on the case, pointing out the error of Habitat's ways. The story made the National news;  Habitat subsequently apologised and firmly blamed the student on a work experience (rather than the brand marketer who was managing him/her).

It was therefore somewhat surprising to see the promotionally savvy Will Carling make exactly the same mistake on his twitter page this afternoon. Will used #rebootbritain (a digital conference) and #mj (the death of Michael Jackson) to attract readers to his review of The Lions rugby tour.

As with Habitat, his followers were quick to point this out. And to be fair, Will was quick to hold his hands up (are all those tweets really him? - does an ex-England rugby captain not have better things to do?). The posts were quickly deleted from Will Carlings homepage, and now only reside on twitters search facility .

The general public don't like to be tricked, whether its poorly targeted junk mail, email spam, twitter spam or misleading promotional offers - all these techniques receive short thrift from the man on the street.

Whilst many people (usually in government) criticize the lack of regulation online, it’s good to see the internet community effectively self-regulate itself.

In cycling, the peloton nearly always wins - meaning that when the peloton decides to chase down the breakaway rider, the collaborative power of the organised group is victorious.

I believe that the same principle applies online.

Collaborating ProAms Use Google Earth To Analyse North Korea

Interesting article about a bunch of ProAms in today’s Sunday Times, "Amateurs use Google Earth to uncover Kim’s sinister secrets" by Michael Sheridan.

Curtis Melvin, an enthusiastic amateur has used Google Earth to analyse the same site where the North Koreans detonated a nuclear device.

"Melvin’s satellite map of the country, collated from Google Earth, reveals palaces, labour camps, mass graves and the entrance to the subterranean test base in the remote northeast of the country.

He started collecting images of the world’s most isolated country for the drier purpose of analysing the economy.

Soon he realised that the regime could seal its borders but not the skies overhead."

This illustrates not just the frightening power of Google Earth, but that an amateur can use commonly available technology to observe and analyse one of the most secretive nations in the world.

It doesn't stop there, other ProAms collaborated with Melvin to create what must be the mother of all Google Mash Ups.

"Other enthusiasts, including some who had served in the US military in Korea, quickly began adding data, cross-checking facts and labelling locations.

The result is a portrait of a hidden country. It is so rich in raw intelligence that even the collators may not be aware of just how many state secrets are on their website."

This is a fascinating example of how organised collaboration by ProAms can produce results beyond the achievements of an ad hoc corporation/country using widely available & free tools!

T-Mobile: Sing (Life's for Sharing @ Trafalgar Square)

As a cycling fan, I've previously associated T-Mobile (Team Telekom) and Deutsche Telekom with their pink flouro "wind assisted" cycling team.

The hideous pink flouro remains, but instead of the cycling - I'll now think Pink and Life’s for Sharing. The discredited cycling team having been firmly replaced by T-Mobile's collaborative advertising campaign.

Back in January, I blogged about T-Mobile's flash mob at Liverpool street station and this week I felt obliged to follow its second stage at Trafalgar Square.

On Monday 27th April, T-Mobile posted a video on YouTube summoning people to Trafalgar Square at 6pm on Thursday 30th. Twitter, flyers and e-mails harnessing the power of the internet and ensuring that within hours the message was viral, spreading almost as fast as the UK's panic about #swineflu.

Using techniques made famous by Bill Wasik's pioneering flash mobs, T-Mobile took the flash mob concept one stage further, and hosted their own "flash event", a mass karaoke singalong.

Thousands gathered at Trafalgar Square (#Trafalgar) as T-Mobile filmed part two of the 'Life's For Sharing' ad campaign. Created and co-ordinated by Saatchi & Saatchi, participants were armed with toy microphones, energised by Vernon Kaye, assisted by a sound system and enhanced by Pink. T-Mobile hosted an amazing giant karaoke - right in the heart of London.

[Full set of pictures here]

The demands of recruiting and filming a TV ad made it difficult to retain the charm and edginess of an original flash mob; however Saatchi’s & T-Mobile imitated & amplified the original technique and collaborative effect on a grand televised scale.

The public's desire to appear on the small screen remains powerful as ever, despite the ease at which anybody can appear on YouTube. Bloggers like Nick have kept the idea going, as have the traditional media whilst Saatchi's production department get down to work to deliver an ad within 48 hours.

Massive hat tip to Saatchi & Saatchi, it’s a great campaign, and the organisation was brilliant.... all with minimal presence from London’s boys in blue.

Watch the ad this Saturday, May 2nd at  9.02pm during ITV’s Britain’s Got Talent!

Playlist:

The Beatles: Hey Jude

Peter Kaye: Is this the way to Amarillo?

Brittany Spears: Baby, hit me one more time

Grease: Summer nights

Bonnie Tyler: Total Eclipse of the heart

The Foundations' "Build Me up Buttercup"

Erma Franklin: Piece of my Heart.

Pink: So What

 

Photo: PA

T-Mobile at Trafalgar Square (Thurs 30th April at 6pm)

Interesting to hear that T-Mobile are filming another flash mob tomorrow night, this time at Trafalgar Square. I blogged about the first T-mobile "life's for sharing" flash mob back in January.

The Trafalgar Square event is currently being Tweeted about here or here (if the #Trafalgar hash tag takes off) 

After their previous success, I'm curious to see how T-Mobile and Saatchi & Saatchi will handle the larger crowd numbers and expectation that the word of mouth (partially aided by all those extra twitter users) will no doubt generate.

Timeless Marketing Classics: Neil Perkin

Neil Perkin: Director of Marketing & Strategy for the commercial functions of IPC Media

Seth Godin's "Purple Cow" & Clay Shirky's "Here Comes Everybody" are a couple of the more recent ones I'd pick, simply because  I think they have each moved the debate on significantly.

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However Mark Earls' Herd is one of those books that I keep going back to again and again.

A connected world dictates new thinking about the way in which ideas spread, but HERD touches on some truths about the way humans behave, and our intrinsic herd-driven nature, that are so fundamental that the ideas at the heart of the book seem almost simplistic. But they challenge some of the most basic assumptions that are common in the business of communications.

I like it because it was, and remains, fresh, different and inspiring.

Timeless Marketing Classics: Chris Anderson

Last week I contacted Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired Magazine, author of The Long Tail blog and Geekdad blog and of course the book, The Long Tail.

My question to Chris was simple, "Chris, which marketing books will survive the test of time - which ones do you consider to be Timeless Marketing Classics?”

Chris’ five classics are:

Kevin Kelly: Out of Control (1995)

This is a book about how our manufactured world has become so complex that the only way to create yet more complex things is by using the principles of biology. This means decentralized, bottom up control, evolutionary advances and error-honoring institutions. I also get into the new laws of wealth in a network-based economy, what the Biosphere 2 project in Arizona has or has not to teach us, and whether large systems can predict or be predicted. And more: restoration biology, encryption, a-life, and the lessons of hypertext. Yes, it's a romp, in 520 pages. But the best part, my friends tell me, is the 28-page annotated bibliography. If you have suspected that technology could be better, more life-like, then this book is for you.

Rick Levine, Christopher Locke, Doc Searls, and David Weinberger: The Cluetrain Manifesto (2000)

"Of Course" - Chris Anderson

" Most marketing campaigns are based on the fear that the market might see what's really going on isnide the company.  Sound familiar? If it does then you've already come across the Cluetrain Manifesto...... If you haven't already then you should make it your business to do so.... Until big brands embrace more of the Cluetrain thinking, the anti-capitalist rioters might just have a point." Campaign, August 2001

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Seth Godin: Unleashing The Ideavirus (2001)

Treat a product or service like a human or computer virus, contends online promotion specialist Seth Godin, and it just might become one. In Unleashing the Ideavirus, Godin describes ways to set any viable commercial concept loose among those who are most likely to catch it--and then stand aside as these recipients become infected and pass it along on to others who might do the same.

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Clay Shirky: Here Comes Everybody (2008)

Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations is a book about what happens when people are given the tools to do things together, without needing traditional organizational structures.

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David Weinberger: Everything is Miscellaneous: The Power of the New Digital Disorder (2007)

Business visionary and bestselling author David Weinberger charts how as business, politics, science, and media move online, the rules of the physical world - in which everything has a place - are upended. In the digital world, everything has its places, with transformative effects: Information is now a social asset and should be made public, for anyone to link, organize, and make more valuable; There's no such thing as "too much" information. More information gives people the hooks to find what they need; Messiness is a digital virtue, leading to new ideas, efficiency, and social knowledge; Authorities are less important than buddies. Rather than relying on businesses or reviews for product information, customers trust people like themselves.With the shift to digital music standing as the model for the future in virtually every industry, "Everything Is Miscellaneous" shows how anyone can reap rewards from the rise of digital knowledge.

A Collaborative Search for Timeless & Essential Marketing Reads

The digital age has changed the way people read.

Some read exclusively from the screen, island hopping from site to site, and extracting key phrases from each page. And I'm sure that most of us read more from the screen than ever before.

We all have unique reading habits; I love the printed page, almost exclusively read non-fiction/business, and each time I start the final chapter of a book, I plan for my next read.

The advertising and communications industry is incredibly fast paced, and digital marketing even more so. Change is rapid, with new theories being presented at an incredible rate. Given the time it takes to write and publish a book, many books have an incredibly short window of opportunity and relevance before a new theory or trend is published. Only a handful of books withstand our changing times and remain as relevant today as they did upon their first day of issue; and occasionally I look at the date of issue and wonder, "Is it still worth a read? Or have we moved on -- leaving the book dated?"

As is the case with most literature, it's the classics that survive the test of time; books that don't age, books that retain their value and are just as relevant today, if not even more so, than when they were first written.

With the help of the digital planning community, I would like to identify these timeless marcomms classics.

Many are obvious, with Dale Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People" leaping immediately to mind. Equally, it's hard to believe that James Webb Young wrote "A Technique for Producing Ideas" almost 50 years ago- its simple and logical process for innovative thinking proving is just as effective and valuable as when it was first published.

On "The Planning Lab," Russell Davies recently said, "You can learn all the(planning) theory you need to know from "Eating the Big Fish" and "Truth, Lies and Advertising," or a couple of other similar books. Truthfully, there are about two books' worth of theories and stories you need to know.Everything else is experience." Wise words indeed.

It is interesting that Adam Morgan's "Eating the Big Fish" and Jon Steel's "Truth, Lies and Advertising" were published ten and 11 years ago, respectively - both classics that will be just as relevant in another ten years. One could even argue that "Truth Lies and Advertising" has become a "how-to" guide to planning.

Maybe it's his style, but I feel that Jon Steel has written another classic with "Perfect Pitch," with its excellent presentations and creative storytelling that will never go out of fashion.

Kevin Kelly wrote "New Rules for the New Economy" 11 years ago, and in his own words states, "I stand behind my analysis and today, ten years later, I don't retract a single word of the book. In fact, I believe "New Rules"could be released today for the first time and still be extremely useful."Kevin is being far too modest; the book goes way beyond being extremely useful.

I've suggested a few timeless classics, but I'm looking at compiling a more definitive and collaborative list of books that have shaped the advertising and marketing communications landscape and remain as relevant today as on the day they were first issued.

Over the next few weeks, I'll be approaching a few planners and digital marketers to get their views and help in unearthing these gems.

Of course I'm interested in hearing from anyone in the digital community, so if you have a classic that you'd like to put forward then drop me an email (graeme at agencysherpa dot com) with the following:

-     What you consider to be a timeless marcomms classic

-     Why was it relevant then?

-     Why is it relevant now?

Hopefully, in a few weeks' time, we'll have a compilation of essential and timeless classics.