The Medium was the message. Your company is the message, now.

A discussion about Corporate reputation in Maurizio Goetz's blog, generated the idea for this post.

I do monitor the web for my clients, trying to learn something about their market, their brands and their products that they do not know.
The customers' sentiment, the perception and the reputation of their company.
How people does live them.

And today I read a Maurizio's post and a comment saying: "Il messaggio è sempre responsabilità di chi lo emette" (You are always responsible for the message you send).
This is the naked truth.
And this is mostly true for companies today and, more, in the days to come.

In a case history I have in FMCG food market, we discovered that a product from an Italian company is always seen better that a similar one from a multinational corporation.
The multinational corporation is represented mostly as not trasparent, not honest.
This means that the same product may have different life under different labels.

Oh, I forgot to mention that the Italian company is a multinational, too, but this is not perceived at all and this keeps its products in a safer position.

24 years later...

Do you remember the ad 1984 from Apple and the messages that it delivered?
If not, give a look here.



Than, 24 years later, give a look at the rate plan to purchase an IPhone and think for a moment: where all those messages have gone? where the think different approach has gone?

To purchase an IPhone , you are forced to subscribe a plan with selected companies that are overcharging the cost of the navigation in internet and most of the services that are the main reason to want an IPhone. You may say: right, this is the market.
But pricing is the same across different companies, there is no competition, no free market.
Users are bundled in a cost trap.

This time the apple is poisoned.

Buzzdetector latest features

In the everyday effort to improve the service to our clients and prospects, Buzzdetector staff is proud to announce the latest feature.
Within the Buzzdetector website, clients subscribing for the monitoring service, will have access to a dedicated page, with username and password, where read posts, watch video and pictures , listen for podcasts selected by the editorial team, compare charts with quantitative trend data and a tag cloud. And when time is shorter than usual, a further selection of the most important posts, divided in positive and negative and the comments of the editorial staff. Posts can be emailed directly from the page. Not bad, isn't it? And that's not all. We are working to deliver always new features. Stay tuned: September is close.

WOM offline prevalence vs online

Keller Fay, along with OMD, produced this challenging study showing that offline WOM is still more powerful than the online one.

This should not come as a surprise (and it is not to me, as I mentioned in my WOM and its metrics workshop) because, even if our lives are more and more entangled in the Web 2.0 context, a vis-a-vis chat with a friend or a relative is far more credible and positive.
And positive is the crucial word in this research.
Because when we talk vis-a-vis with someone we care about, most of the time is in a positive way and our advice are directed towards positive experience with a brand or a product.
Online conversation are far more a wall of shame. We get online to cry to the world our disappoint for a bad experience.

That's why the two worlds, online and offline, should be tackled with a global view.
And that's why this research should not be read as a good reason to postpone any online activity.

Better to know before

This piece of research from BigResearch points where online searchers is expected to put big money in the next months.

With all the cries about recession and slow economy, better to know before and, if you are in any of the segments of the list, think carefully about the perception of your brand and products, how's your customer care staff is performing and all these small details that can make your day.

Reviewing your score now, can save share of market if not increase them.

Age of conversation #2 - the complete list of contributors

Ladies and Gents, this is the latest version of the list of contributors to Age of conversation #2.

Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Arun Rajagopal, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Brandon Murphy, Branislav Peric, Brent Dixon, Brett Macfarlane, Brian Reich, C.C. Chapman, Cam Beck, Casper Willer, Cathleen Rittereiser, Cathryn Hrudicka, Cedric Giorgi, Charles Sipe, Chris Kieff, Chris Cree, Chris Wilson, Christina Kerley (CK), C.B. Whittemore, Chris Brown, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Schawbel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Dave Davison, David Armano, David Berkowitz, David Koopmans, David Meerman Scott, David Petherick, David Reich, David Weinfeld, David Zinger, Deanna Gernert, Deborah Brown, Dennis Price, Derrick Kwa, Dino Demopoulos, Doug Haslam, Doug Meacham, Doug Mitchell, Douglas Hanna, Douglas Karr, Drew McLellan, Duane Brown, Dustin Jacobsen, Dylan Viner, Ed Brenegar, Ed Cotton, Efrain Mendicuti, Ellen Weber, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne & Todd Cabral, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, John Herrington, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kristin Gorski, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul McEnany, Paul Tedesco, Paul Williams, Pet Campbell, Pete Deutschman, Peter Corbett, Phil Gerbyshak, Phil Lewis, Phil Soden, Piet Wulleman, Rachel Steiner, Sreeraj Menon, Reginald Adkins, Richard Huntington, Rishi Desai, Robert Hruzek, Roberta Rosenberg, Robyn McMaster, Roger von Oech, Rohit Bhargava, Ron Shevlin, Ryan Barrett, Ryan Karpeles, Ryan Rasmussen, Sam Huleatt, Sandy Renshaw, Scott Goodson, Scott Monty, Scott Townsend, Scott White, Sean Howard, Sean Scott, Seni Thomas, Seth Gaffney, Shama Hyder, Sheila Scarborough, Sheryl Steadman, Simon Payn, Sonia Simone, Spike Jones, Stanley Johnson, Stephen Collins, Stephen Landau, Stephen Smith, Steve Bannister, Steve Hardy, Steve Portigal, Steve Roesler, Steven Verbruggen, Steve Woodruff, Sue Edworthy, Susan Bird, Susan Gunelius, Susan Heywood, Tammy Lenski, Terrell Meek, Thomas Clifford, Thomas Knoll, Tim Brunelle, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Mannveille, Tim Tyler, Timothy Johnson, Tinu Abayomi-Paul, Toby Bloomberg, Todd Andrlik, Troy Rutter, Troy Worman, Uwe Hook, Valeria Maltoni, Vandana Ahuja, Vanessa DiMauro, Veronique Rabuteau, Wayne Buckhanan, William Azaroff, Yves Van Landeghem