The Power of

Brand Advocates

The Power of Brand Advocates

LBi Client Afternoon - 21 April 2010

Last updated on 2 May 2010

Agenda1. What’s a Brand Advocate?

2. Customers as Brand Advocates

3. Why are Advocates so interesting?

4. From Brand Loyalist to Advocate…

5. Some Cases

6. Employees as Brand Ambassadors

The Brand Advocate

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fW8amMCVAJQ

True Fans & Brand Advocates

1. What’s Brand Advocate?

A customer… • who has favorable perceptions of a brand

• who will talk favorably about a brand to their acquaintances

• who can help generate brand awareness

• who can influence purchase intentions

Times have changed:

• Many tools available

• Fast & Cheap

• Global reach

• Easy to use

They have always been there … BUT

never had much chance to be heard.

2. Customers as Brand Advocates

They want to convert othersoften as well:- Innovators (2%)- Early Adopters (13%)

They express their love for your brand to others

The interconnected consumers

• Only the rich & famous used to be influential• Today, influence is widespread!• Influential ≠ influencing• Average network = 190 followers

3. Why are Advocates so interesting?

• 14% trust online ads (Forrester)

• 94% trust Word of Mouth (Forrester)

• Advocates will thrive your community

• When advocates talk, brands grow

• Average network = 190 followers

• 1.000 advocates=190K direct reach

• 40% consumers recommend brands (ComScore)

• 60% advocates believe that good brands are worth talking about.

• 67% of US economy impacted by Word of Mouth (Mc Kinsey & Co)

• 70% conversations include recommendation (Keller Fay)

• 85% tried to contact supplier before complaining (Nielsen)

• 90% of advocates write something positive about purchase experience

Passionatepeople

4. From Brand Loyalist to Advocate…

1. Identify and mobilize your advocates

2. Find your brand loyalist

3. Give exclusive access and special privileges

4. Respond quickly to their comments and feedback

5. Monitor and reach out proactively

6. Give brand loyalists a voice (Empowerment)

LovingYour Brand

It no longer matters what YOU say !

In 2010, your brand is determined by: what you do who you are

what THEY say.

Some casesHot & Spicy

1. Network channel CBS cancelled the television series “Jericho”...

2. Fans protested and created a community

3. They worked together and did send 25 ton of peanuts to CBS.

4. CBS decided to continue broadcasting Jericho.

In the season finale, a character replies "Nuts!"

to a demand that the beleaguered town of

Jericho surrender.

Case 1. Jericho - Protest

http://abcnews.go.com/Business/FunMoney/story?id=3214156&page=1

Case 2. Coca-Cola - Happiness Ambassadors

The campaign “Expedition 206” sent three 20-somethings (selected social media influentials!) to 206 countries and territories where Coca-Cola is sold in 2010, stocked with laptops, video cameras, smartphones and plenty of other gadgetry, in order to document for the masses their search for happiness.

http://www.expedition206.com

1. To promote their 2009 summer campaign, Cirque du Soleil fully relied

on social media.

2. They listened to their community and used the learned insights to

build excitement for future shows.

3. Fans and followers were given exclusive content and special

discounts.

Case 3. Cirque du Soleil – Getting insights

www.171starbucks.comCase 4. Starbucks – 171 in Manhattan

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CwYxuV2dVzw

Case 5. Starbucks – My Starbucks Idea

www.mystarbucksidea.com

www.twitter.com/MyStarbucksidea

Case 6. Carlton Draught – The Big Ad

Within two weeks, it had been seen by over one million viewers in 132

countries. This campaign was widely covered in the press. The viral

release of the "Big Ad" was so successful that the company reduced its

television media budget so as not to overexpose the advertisement.

The "Big Ad" is a television

advertisement for Carlton Draught

pale lager. They used viral

marketing techniques to promote

the advertisement before it was

broadcast on television.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH3GH7Pn_eA

Case 7. Toyota Conversations

They turned up the volume of their response level and created a social media war room that’s staffed with 6 to 8 responders during the crisis.

Case 7. Toyota Conversations - Some statements...

http://www.toyotaconversations.com/http://ad-tech.blogs.imediaconnection.com/2010/03/30/370/

ROI is certainly important to us in the long run, however we don’t plan to wait to define it before advancing initiatives we know are important.  Over time we will definitely evaluate our efforts in order to determine how they are impacting key metrics. Those results will become the new benchmarks for future initiatives, and ultimately the foundation for measuring ROI

In the first 5 days, over a million people viewed the Digg Dialogg video interview with president, Jim Lentz.

Some of our models, such as Prius, have entrenched communities of enthusiasts with whom we engage, as they’re authentic brand advocates.

Case 8. Pepsi - Refresh Everything

Pepsi decided to shelve its 23M$ Super Bowl commercials & instead

dedicate that money to Social Media.

Pepsi is now embracing

a bottoms up approach

where grassroots

activism replaces over

the top commercials

seeking to create

positive brand

associations with Pepsi.

Case 8. Pepsi - Refresh Everything

Objectives :

1) Create an ongoing dialog where Pepsi

is communicating with its advocates

2) Associate its brand in a new way with

the rest of the population of soda

drinkers. 

http://www.refresheverything.com/http://www.facebook.com/refresheverything

What the soda giant needs to do is engage its customers and advocates

where they already are: Facebook, Twitter, Blogs and social communities

where the vast majority of interactions take place.  A page view on a

corporate web site, while a good thing, simply can’t compare in terms of

brand building to customer advocates out on the social web.

And what about your employees?

The most overlooked segment of potential brand building

are your employees!

They are out there in the world interacting with people every day

(Ogilvy & Mather)

6. Employees as Brand Ambassadors

Employees paid to work officially as your Evangelists

Extra motivated Employees

http://twitter.com/twelpforce

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25zcavXj97I

http://bbyconnect.appspot.com

Case 9. Best Buy - Twelpforce

We found our Ambassador

... hope you have too!

Identify your own Brand Advocates & Brand Ambassadors

and start a conversation with them first!

Some questions to get you started…

How important are “influencers” in your overall social strategy?

Do you target them?

Try to identify them?

On which platforms are they active?

Have special programs for them?

How will you reward them?

Can you reinforce their loyalty?

Believable Brands

Building

Do you know other great Brand Advocacy Cases?Let us know and we’ll add them to this presentation!

Thanks…

Talk to you soon!www.twitter.com/LBi_Belgiumwww.lbigroup.be

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3zEsN49TBU