What really drives reputation? Customers!

In this article for Imediaconnection, Marian Salzman talk about products making their way to replace brands as reputation drivers.
I generally agree with her point of view about the fact that:

1. without product there is no brand
2. in the world of the web 2.0, this is far more crucial than in the past
3. if a brand is truly honest and transparent, this is perceived added value

But there is a missing point.
Reputation does no longer comes from your product or your brand: it's your customer that makes your reputation.
A terrific brand with an outstanding product can crash is perceived as not reliable by customers.
And reliability is not only a matter of how well is crafted the product, but it's made by several factor:

1. is this company honest to me and to my environment?
2. how this product impact on my environment?
3. are there any hidden issue in how the product is made (underpaid workforce? healthy concerns?)
4. am I paying a right price to purchase it?

It's customers that can push a product and a brand to the sky or drive them to hell.

Firefox 3 download day it's today

I can't resist to challenge.
So how can I resist to participate to the Firefox 3 Download day?

Seriously, this is a great viral activity for a software and a lesson for all marketers.

When you believe that the road to success is paved with money, well, think again.
When you believe that the path to be successful goes through complicated strategies and business plan, well, think again.

1. when thinking about a new product, be curious and creative
2. when launching a new product, show that you know your market and your customers
3. when planning a communication campaign, look for a simple strategy with a simple execution
4. when talking to your customers, be sure to listen for them and involve them

So, join the project here: it's fun.

Long live Plurk

I fell in love with Plurk.
I have never been so much found of Twitter.

I tried, really, I tried
But after having heard Twitter boss saying their path was not so clear to themselves (at Le Web3 conference in Paris, last December) I begun to think that maybe Twitter was a good idea with a poor execution.

Yesterday, we experienced several problems with a message saying Twitter had exceed its capacity so it was impossible to log in!!!!!
So we gathered on Plurk.

Maybe we will experience issue over there, too, sooner or later but until now it's pure fun.
If you are there, just become friends (our karma will benefit from this).
If you haven't try it, give a look at it.

What's your opinion about Plurk and Twitter?

Sales are a false goal

Yes, that's my point.
If you get into Web 2.0 pratices to generate sales, you may be on the wrong track.
I do not mean that at the end of the day, you are not generating sales, but this is not the goal you must have in mind when tackling this world.

We do not forget that sales are and will be more and more related to a brand or a company image, to the post sales experience, to several other factors that are influenced by the customers opinion.
An opinion crucial as never before because it travels across the web all over the world in few seconds, crushing space and language barrier.

So, set up your goal in a different way.
This is the thought I tried to deliver in the workshop about WOM and this is something I can see in this interesting post from Mediapost.

Metrics

Don't rely on metrics to claim your community is successfull.
Use metrics to understand your community better.

275 brains for one book

The Age of Conversation 2008 edition.
The number of contributors is more than doubled vs last year.
The topic is: Why Don't people get it?

My two cents is about Keeping secret in the Web 2.0 age.
The incipit is:

You are reading, right here and right now, this page and cannot stop thinking about the process that brought you here.

(1)You heard about the book from one of the fellow bloggers co-authoring it, (2)or from the Facebook group (3)or from the Amazon book suggestion.

Meet my fellow authors:
Adam Crowe, Adrian Ho, Aki Spicer, Alex Henault, Amy Jussel, Andrew Odom, Andy Nulman, Andy Sernovitz, Andy Whitlock, Angela Maiers, Ann Handley, Anna Farmery, Armando Alves, Asi Sharabi, Becky Carroll, Becky McCray, Bernie Scheffler, Bill Gammell, Bob Carlton, Bob LeDrew, Brad Shorr, Bradley Spitzer, 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, Clay Parker Jones, Chris Brown, Colin McKay, Connie Bensen, Connie Reece, Cord Silverstein, Corentin Monot, Craig Wilson, Daniel Honigman, Dan Goldstein, Dan Schawbel, Dana VanDen Heuvel, Dan Sitter, Daria Radota Rasmussen, Darren Herman, Darryl Patterson, Dave Davison, Dave Origano, David Armano, David Bausola, David Berkowitz, David Brazeal, 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, Emily Reed, Eric Peterson, Eric Nehrlich, Ernie Mosteller, Faris Yakob, Fernanda Romano, Francis Anderson, G. Kofi Annan, Gareth Kay, Gary Cohen, Gaurav Mishra, Gavin Heaton, Geert Desager, George Jenkins, G.L. Hoffman, Gianandrea Facchini, Gordon Whitehead, Graham Hill, Greg Verdino, Gretel Going & Kathryn Fleming, Hillel Cooperman, Hugh Weber, J. Erik Potter, J.C. Hutchins, James Gordon-Macintosh, Jamey Shiels, Jasmin Tragas, Jason Oke, Jay Ehret, Jeanne Dininni, Jeff De Cagna, Jeff Gwynne, Jeff Noble, Jeff Wallace, Jennifer Warwick, Jenny Meade, Jeremy Fuksa, Jeremy Heilpern, Jeremy Middleton, Jeroen Verkroost, Jessica Hagy, Joanna Young, Joe Pulizzi, Joe Talbott, John Herrington, John Jantsch, John Moore, John Rosen, John Todor, Jon Burg, Jon Swanson, Jonathan Trenn, Jordan Behan, Julie Fleischer, Justin Flowers, Justin Foster, Karl Turley, Kate Trgovac, Katie Chatfield, Katie Konrath, Kenny Lauer, Keri Willenborg, Kevin Jessop, Kris Hoet, Krishna De, Kristin Gorski, Laura Fitton, Laurence Helene Borei, Lewis Green, Lois Kelly, Lori Magno, Louise Barnes-Johnston, Louise Mangan, Louise Manning, Luc Debaisieux, Marcus Brown, Mario Vellandi, Mark Blair, Mark Earls, Mark Goren, Mark Hancock, Mark Lewis, Mark McGuinness, Mark McSpadden, Matt Dickman, Matt J. McDonald, Matt Moore, Michael Hawkins, Michael Karnjanaprakorn, Michelle Lamar, Mike Arauz, Mike McAllen, Mike Sansone, Mitch Joel, Monica Wright, Nathan Gilliatt, Nathan Snell, Neil Perkin, Nettie Hartsock, Nick Rice, Oleksandr Skorokhod, Ozgur Alaz, Paul Chaney, Paul Hebert, Paul Isakson, Paul Marobella, 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, Beeker Northam, Rob Mortimer, 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 Cribbett, 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, Tiffany Kenyon, Tim Brunelle, Tim Buesing, Tim Connor, Tim Jackson, Tim Longhurst, 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

WOM and its metrics

On April, there was in Milan the first Wom Summit, organized by Reed Business Information.
I gave the workshop about Wom and its metrics.
These are my slides.

| View | Upload your own

The safe way in troubled times

With recession hitting the markets and a quest for accountability of each single dollar spent in communication, there an interesting trend that I wish to understand better.

Communication budegt for online is the less affected by the downspending trend.
But within the allocation, Sem is getting the biggest share.
Now, my question is rather simple:

Is Sem the top choice because it works?
Or it is the choice because of predictable results, while others are still missing reliable metrics?

This is key interpretation to me, because it may design a conservative approach to marketing online while, quoting David Ogilvy, testing is crucial in any communication activity.

Will the companies that have already embraced and tested online activity gain momentum while the others are lagging behind?

New conversation, new meaning to words

There are words that had changed their meaning as time pass by.
And there are words that are changing it or that are just on their way to do so.

One of this may be awareness.
In marketing and advertising, awareness is the indicator of how known is a brand, a product.
Some equation:

a) The higher the adv. budget, the higher the awareness.
b) The higher the awareness, the easier to sell a good.

The quest for awareness has been the engine of the advertising world in the last, say, 30/40 years, maybe more, and the pillar of the marketing activities.

Today, I would like to suggest a new meaning in marketing for the word awareness.


Awareness as understanding, insight, knowledge.

The new awareness related to the Web 2.0 and social media that companies must develop not through massive adv. investment but through a real comprehension of their inner strenghten and weakness, of the inner nature of their brands and products, and more and more crucial the true perception and sentiment of the common people towards you, your company, your brand.

A time consuming scanning process, someone may say.
A wise investment, I would call it.

This is, to me, the awareness that companies should look for because it’s via this awareness that they can enter in markets more and more fragmented with a discerning approach.

The myth of working less or die trying

While there is someone out there cashing on the myth of working far less, no more than 4 hours a week, most of marketers, communicators, advertisers, agencies all over the world do work far more.
Why?

I have some thoughts I want to share with you:

- fragmentation is urging to get not only the big pictures but all the pixels, too

(pic by julianbleecker from Flickr)

- matching new forms of communication with old business and reporting models does seem a try to break a Guinness world record of people squeezed in a phone boot
- conversation with customers does call for a far deeper knowledge of your business and your company: you never know what kind of question or issue may arise and must be quick in answering

Some answers?

- To spread the company culture
- To create internal metrics to measure the success of marketing activity
- To implement online marketing suites to manage complexity of data
- To shift and delegate brand image activity to internal evangelists
- To support external evangelists

There is a common ground in all these answers: knowledge.
Today and tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, knowledge is and will be the most valuable asset to work better, if not less.

Knowing before and anticipating issues and catching opportunity is the way to stay ahead.
You should no longer surf the waves but, as extreme skiers do, run ahead the avalanche.

(pic by Your new friend Pete from Flickr)

Why Italy is a small country

Lately, an Italian blogger an journalist, Marco Montemagno, sent out invitation for the launch of Current, Al Gore's tv channel.
Invitation was limited in numbers.
This created a huge discussion in the blogosphere: why he invited him and not me, why I'm not mentioned, etc.
The situation was really embarassing to me, as I watch the blogsphere from my specific point of view of being italian but living the international blogosphere and blogging in english (at least, I'm trying to do so).
My feeling was of a small world of jealousy, poor or not at all sens of community, no willing to share.

On the other side of the Ocean, a very good friend and blogging star (quoted in the The New York Times), Tim Jackson aka Masiguy had an horrible crush in cycling race.
The unofficial community of bloggers, lead by Blue squirrel, start to support him with thoughts, prays and money (the US medical system is rather expensive, to say the least).
A Paypal account was established in 24 hours, comments flocked to the blogger keeping the community updated on Tim's health condition.

The Web and the new form of communication are all about sharing, sharing knowledge, sharing friendship, sharing experience.

And I begun to think if this model could never been established in this small italian blogosphere.
And I have no answer.

DIY Social Networks? Cool!

Yesterday I joined the IAB Forum in Rome, where I heard triumphant voices about the future of advertising on line, though in a rather old manner.
Today I came through this post at Social Media Insider, from Catharine P.Taylor,titled

Is It Time For DIY Social Networks?

Why I connect the two facts?

Because I agree on the fact that the future is in small but focused Social Networks, connecting people with attitude, while the Social hubs, as Facebook, MySpace and Bebo, will be crowded by marginal audiences.
And advertising is today running behind the Social hubs, trying to figure out a way to make money and it may catch them when the crucial targets will already be on the leave.

One million dollar question

While we are focused on get customers and prospects engaged, there is one single and straight preliminary question:

are you ready to get your brand engaged?

If you do not ask this question in complete transparency and honesty, beware of the consequence of asking clients to be once more time creditors to your company

The ivory tower and a non sense car

Some companies seem to live in their own ivory tower. Worst is that their press office do the same.
In the last months, the much rumored ethanol was debated about being a eco fuel or a solution worst than the original problem.

Tons of articles about the impact of producing ethanol on the food prices.
The boss of Nestlè, Peter Brabeck, claimed that food price could double in a very short time because of this issue.
Some riots for the food prices are expected in the most poor countries.

On the other side, the Suv are under strong criticism because of pollution and high emission of CO2.
The London Mayor put high tax on the Suv circulating in the city limit.


In this perfect situation, GM came out with this amazing news in a car blog:

The Hummer is going green!
Within 2010, the entire line of Hummer will be ethanol powered.
And this because of GM green attitude.

The post got 34 comments in one day and guess if they were positive or negative.
Now my question is rather easy to be asked:
do they read newspapers? do they see tv news? hear the radio? got an internet connection?
how thay can imagine to spread this news in such a way and get positive comment?

The best quote: imagine Count Dracula president of the blood donors association.

Apple and the Italian mobile market

As anticipated in this blog few months ago, Apple was forced to change its strategy so to enter the Italian mobile market, which is one of the biggest and most profitable in the world.

The change of strategy reflects the way this market is moving:

- lot of attention on the newest and trendiest device
- an attitude to shift from one operator to another
- a market where operators play a really big role (two big operators, Tim and Vodafone, a medium one, H3G)
- poor wifi availability

The answer is an agreement based on exclusive distribution via Tim for 6 months, no revenue sharing, UMTS based device (44% UMTS share in Italy vs 20% France and 18% UK).

The other key fact is a consideration about device and software.
Motorola is going bankruptcy even if its Razr is the best sold device ever. Why? Because Motorola was not able to deliver contents (software, platform, etc) and get eventually caught in the price trap of the mobile market.
Apple has one chance to avoid this trap: its browser, Safari.
In US 70% of the internet access via mobile comes through Safari.

Selling more devices is the way to remain on top for more advanced market, as Italy.

Integrated marketing and the brave new world

Apparently, advertising agencies are revamping the integrated marketing approach trying to incorporate the web 2.0 brave new world function in it.

This may prove to be a rather poor way to squeeze some money out of a field they do not own nor fully understand.
But it is a sign of weakness. Strategically, if the web 2.0 activities must go along with the advertising activities it does not mean that advertising should lead the pack.
The strategy should turn from advertising to communication and communication is led by the vehicle most suitable to deliver it. And this is not necessarily advertising.

This consideration lead to a crucial question to clients and consultants: who should retain the leadership of the project?
Once it was the adv agency account. Now he is revenue driven by his own boss bottom line and this may not coincide with client's best interest.

More than in the past, the web 2.0 and the communication tools of the next years call for a bigger involvement of the client structure. But is clients ready to play this role? Do they have the resources to get into the game?

The Waterloo of strategy

You may have heard of the hilarious accident of one of the top executives , Luca Luciani, of Telecom the biggest Italian phone company.
In this video(with english subtitle), you may hear the guy talking about Waterloo as one of the best success of Napoleon. Well, maybe he got confused.
But what is really weird is the tone of his speach, pretending to motivate but with a very low profile indeed.
This should have been a motivational speach, something to make your people feeling proud of their company and of their job.

But this is not all. The worst is that Telecom try to pull out the video from You Tube: bad move.
It was uploaded under other tags and someone opened a blog to save all the comments and the video from the tentative censorship.
Now this was a very stupid move by Telecom and they should know how to handle the web.

People felt even more upset abd begun to post about the salary of the executive, the fact that he should resign.

As usual, admitting a mistake is the best way to face this issue and the only way to turn a Waterloo into an Austerlitz.

Free Tibet

This post has a rather strong political message inside.
But not only political, but economical, too, and marketing.

These Olympic Games show a rather high chance to be a fiasco from a marketing point of view.
Even if China has a lot of power, manufacturing a significant percentage of all the goods on the market, still if I was a sponsor of the Games I would be very upset.
My brand will be associated with a retrieve country, a country where censorship is a daily practice, where you can get sentenced two years of prison because of an article on a blog.

Yesterday in London and, most, today in Paris for the first time in centuries, the Olimpyc torch was turned off and a Tibet flag is on the Mayor house.

Look who's talking

A new venture originated by my company, Buzzdetector, has been launched this morning:

www.buzzpolitico.net

Everything you would love to know about Italian election as seen by the net.

The crew behind the project is here.

The cleanest line to retain a customer

There is only one company where I really would love to work (other than Buzzdetector, indeed): Patagonia.
The ability to deliver great product, good vibe, clean and discerning approach to the world where we live. And the ability to make a customer feeling confident about the money he spend when purchasing stuff from Patagonia.

I bought few months ago a jacket to ride my Vespa around in winter. Few weeks ago, I ripped a sleeve: my fault. I brought the jacket to a Patagonia store, they took it, send it in Portugal where they have a plant, repaired and send it me back. Cost for this: 15 usd.
This is what I expect from a company and this is what they have delivered.

And, by the way, check their blog, The cleanest line.
It's a great example of selling company value and it is open to employees, customers and friends.