HOW EMPOWERING PEOPLE IS THE TOUR DE FORCE IN MARKETING JOAKIM VARS NILSEN, CREATIVE STRATEGIST twitter.com/joakimnilsen

A PART OF MCCANN WORLDGROUP

22.07.2011

First I want to tell you about the day where I experienced one of the main consequences of the information revolution. I was nearby the Oslo bomb. But not in the center.

When people, like me, who came to look at what´s happened was being evacuated. I filmed the broken shopping windows with my Smartphone and posted it on my blog. I talked about it with people and we thought it might be a gas explosion – and I went home.

What I did not now was that my film clip was autoposted onto Youtube. I came home and then suddenly discovered that I had received loads of emails and notifications from Youtube.

I thought it was strange, but on the other hand it was a big explosion. And it was summertime. But then …

CNN asked me to call. Which I did without thinking to much about it. The person asked me what´s happened. And I told them that I thought it was a gas explosion. Then all of a sudden another person told me it was 5 seconds before I went live. I turned on CNN…

…and at the same time as I received the first question and saw my film clip on TV I suddenly realized I was being interviewed by CNN live.

? When the interview was over. I was completely bewildered. But then I checked Twitter and started to realize what was actually happening. This experience gave me an experience in what the biggest change in the marketplace really is all about.

“It seems passé today to speak of the Internet revolution. In some academic circles, it is positively naïve. But it should not be.

The change brought about by the networked information environment is deep. It is structural. It goes to the very foundations of how liberal markets and liberal democracies have coevolved for almost two centuries”

- Yochai Benkler, ‘The Wealth of Networks’

WE ARE IN THE MIDST OF THE BIGGEST MARKETING REVOLUTION IN 50 YEARS.

In decades the purpose of a brand has been to create a new customer.

And mass media was the perfect tool to create brand friendly consumers. Like print.

Radio.

Billboards.

And TV.

ADVERTISING 1.  a public promotion of some product or service 2.  the business of drawing public attention to goods and services

- dictionary

ADVERTISING has been the way we have done it. With success! But what does advertising actually mean?

ADVERTISING is a form of communication used to persuade an audience - viewers, readers, listeners - to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services.

- wikipedia

Advertising = viewers, readers, listeners.

And why has the effect of only using advertising declined?

WTF?

What is happening?

Sharing information is evolutionary hardwired in us. That´s how we survived. It´s in our DNA. And what drives the internet is not serach, its sharing. With new technology tools we have been able to share – en masse! We have discovered that…

3.000.000.000 NEW PARTICIPANTS IN THE MEDIA LANDSCAPE!

There is 3.000.000.000 new participants in the media landscape. Up until a few years ago it was only the state, media and brands who could publish information publicly. Today its every single one of us. Advertising as we know it – must be redefined. This is the biggest marketing revolution since the 60-ties.

This is a TV ad from 2009. This is advertising. It did not, alone, do the job for Norways biggest water brand. Decline in sales 2 years in a row.

WTF?

The marketing department…and us. What is happening?

We then redefined and identified the reason to WHY the brand was in the market. And then dived into culture for sharing this ideal with the market. Not to create loyal consumers, but finding ways of being loyal to them.

With 2.500.000 new participants in the Norwegian market landscape we wanted to become part of the stories from and between people. People could create the movie about their social life on Facebook. And…

...they could also challenge each other to be “ready for everything”.

ADVERTISING IN MASS MEDIA

Yes, we made a TV commercial. And it was brilliant…

…in combination with…

ACTIVATION IN SOCIAL MEDIA

Activation in social media through the digital solutions we created.

It´s nice to be on Facebook. But it´s not what activates the market.

January  2012  

ACTIVATION  SOLUTION.COM/FB  FAN    

BRAND.COM  

PRODUCT/SERVICE  (A)  

Brand  

Idea/Campaign  

PRODUCT/SERVICE  (B)  

PRODUCT/SERVICE  (C)  

PRODUCT/SERVICE  (D)  

PRODUCT/SERVICE  (E)  

Idea/Campaign  

Idea/Campaign  

Idea/Campaign  

Idea/Campaign  

Idea/Campaign  

ACTIVATION  SOLUTION.COM   ADVERTISING  

January  2013  

ACTIVATION  SOLUTION.COM   ADVERTISING  

ACTIVATION  SOLUTION.COM  

TIME  

TRAFFIC  

SALES   SALES   SALES   SALES  

GROWTH  

A 100% holistic approach does.

170.000 50%

The TV commercial was seen by viewers, some of these viewers became one of 170.000 unique participants to the digital solution. 50% of the traffic came from user generated FB posts from activating and creating participants. And most important…

22% 22% growth in sales. Empowering people and becoming part of the stories from and between people through advertising in mass media + activating in social media gave results.    

THE MAIN GOAL FOR A BRAND TODAY IS TO CREATE A NEW CUSTOMER WHO CREATES NEW CUSTOMERS. 

We have also tried to morph mass media with citizen media.

A small and simple solution for Big Brother on TV 2, a national TV channel´s editorial webpage, where people could watch TV and publish posts, likes and comments on TV 2 editorial web site and also to their Facebook walls.

25% 25% of the participants spread their participation on the editorial page to their friends on Facebook (comments not included)

Old school advertisers VS new school social media hipsters?

No. It´s about a strategy that understands how social media has fundamentally changed the marketplace.

ACTIVATE!

So activate people by giving them something to do – and someone to do it with.

People WANT to be part of the new media landscape. People are on a never-ending quest to find something worth saying/publishing.

And if people have nothing to say. They say it anyway. So it´s a fantastic opportunity for brands to become part of the stories from and between people. 3.000.000.000 stories.

ADVERTISE!

Use advertising to tell people what you do - and with whom.

January  2012  

ACTIVATION  SOLUTION.COM/FB  FAN    

BRAND.COM  

PRODUCT/SERVICE  (A)  

Brand  

Idea/Campaign  

PRODUCT/SERVICE  (B)  

PRODUCT/SERVICE  (C)  

PRODUCT/SERVICE  (D)  

PRODUCT/SERVICE  (E)  

Idea/Campaign  

Idea/Campaign  

Idea/Campaign  

Idea/Campaign  

Idea/Campaign  

ACTIVATION  SOLUTION.COM   ADVERTISING  

January  2013  

ACTIVATION  SOLUTION.COM   ADVERTISING  

ACTIVATION  SOLUTION.COM  

TIME  

TRAFFIC  

SALES   SALES   SALES   SALES  

GROWTH  

This  is  important.  But…  

What’s most important is creative passion. The tools for conversations/stories, ACTIVATION, is social media technology and advertising formats. But the criteria for success is what’s being produced. It needs to be strong enough to become a social currency.

I TELL MY FRIENDS ABOUT YOUR BRAND NOT BECAUSE I LIKE YOUR BRAND - BUT BECAUSE I LIKE MY FRIENDS. – Mike Arauz

Marketing needs to empower everyone, not make the brand act like it is everyone.

The CEO of LEGO was interviewed after presenting incredible positive financial results this year. And he got the following question.

“What market share do you aim for worldwide, and where should the growth come from?”

He answered: “I have no specific market share goals for LEGO. We are measuring our success on customer satisfaction and on how many recommends LEGO products to others – so our growth and market share is just a result of this strategy.”

1

BRANDS ARE DRIVEN BY GROWTH

To grow you need to measure positive changes in TRUST, QUALITY and most important of all HOW MANY PEOPLE TALK ABOUT YOUR BRAND off- and online. These are the most important goals for growing. And to grow we need to…

2

CULTURE IS DRIVEN BY CREATIVITY

Become part of culture by adding value to what people are most passionately about. How about stop creating media plans – and instead create interest plans? To create something that becomes a social currency requires creative passion! And this need to be created based on…

3

PEOPLE ARE DRIVEN BY NEEDS

Insights of what people are driven by – something activation solutions will give you over time! Listening and conversation is overrated. What is lacking is leadership. Be bold and create marketing solutions that inspires action by activating the market. Because…

HOW EMPOWERING PEOPLE IS THE TOUR DE FORCE IN MARKETING JOAKIM VARS NILSEN, CREATIVE STRATEGIST twitter.com/joakimnilsen

A PART OF MCCANN WORLDGROUP