The Revolution is Here CoCreate, Activate and Engage

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The Revolution is HereCo-Create, Activate and
Engage

• Richard Edelman
• June 30, 2005
• Amsterdam

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Global Launch of Halo2 The Challenge

• Create a pop-culture phenomenon. The biggest
  launch of all time. Bigger than Sider-man, bigger
  than Harry Porter. Just one caveat you cant
  talk about actual product or its features
• Launch goes beyond sales of the game itself.
• Critical to driving demand for the next
  generation of game consoles (Xbox Vs. Playstation
  battle of the center of living rooms)
  

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Viral Marketing Effort
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Results

• 125 million in sales in first 24 hrs.
• Exceeded sales expectations by Christmas.
• A global integrated word of mouth campaign that
  resulted in the biggest entertainment launch in
  history
  
• No advertising

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Keys to Success

• Ilovebees.com engaged rabid fan base,
  transforming fans into brand evangelists
  
• Viral campaign focused on engaging individual
• Targeted mainstream media and youth-orientated
  media
  
• Media hook compared games sales to the movie
  box-office opening weekend
  
• Localized the program openings, online, viral
  campaigns.
  

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There is a Communications Revolution Underway
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Communications was the Classic Pyramid of
Authority
Investigators

• Post-World-War-II communications paradigm based
  on mass consumption and unquestioning belief
  
• Select number of national media with recognizable
  personalities as anchors dictated what was
  news.
  
• Concentration of outlets created advertising
  efficiency 97 reached with 3 ads in prime-time
  
  
• Consumers were often a captive audience and
  repetition was more prized than personal
  connection/interaction
  
• Marketing messages were succinct not tailored to
  niche audiences but to wide swaths of the
  population

Regulators/Investors
Doctors/Pharmacists
Mass Audience
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Today, Communication is Based on a Relationship
Imperative

• The end of one-way, paid communications as
  singular method of building brands and enhancing
  corporate reputation
  
• Todays smart companies recognize the need for
  continuous, fact-based dialogue with their
  multiple stakeholders
  
• Information must be conveyed immediately and
  through credible sources
  
• Works two ways Audiences are now credible
  sources for business about brands/reputations

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What Has Changed

• Democratization of mediareach diminished
• Newstainmentquestion credibility. reality
  programming, product placement and beyond- BMW
  Films
  
• No boundaries. No news cycle.
• Drop in Penetration 18-24 year old males watching
  prime time TV--videogames, internet take share
  
• 20 of US homes with TIVO by 2007
• of the Interneteven major newspapers are now
  breaking stories online chat rooms as sources
  
• Rise of Weblogs several million regular
  bloggers 75,000 new blogs a day (Technorati)
  
• Global media is a myth. People turn to local
  media first
  
• TV ads not selling package goods- Deutsche Bank
  study of 23 brands shows only 18 of them had
  positive ROI from short term TV advertising and
  45 from long run campaigns.
• PG cutting cable TV adverts by 25 in 2005
  season
  

Source We the Media, by Dan Gillmor
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Rise of New MediaPower to the People

• A key driver is the rise of credibility of the
  Average Person. Fills a trust void. Plus are not
  content to be talked at They want to be part of
  the show
• Explosive of blogs, message board forums, chat
  rooms and RSS feeds
  
• News Aggregation Yahoo News passes CNN as most
  visited news site
  
• Mobility Media consumers can take news with
  them, and can access news and information from
  handheld devices from wherever they are
  

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Most Credible Spokespersons
Source Edelman Annual Trust Barometer, Jan 05
Sorted by U.S. data
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New Media Blogs

• 48 of bloggers are age 30 or under, but 52 are
  more than 30.
  
• Some blogs have daily traffic rivaling some
  traditional media sites.
  
• 82 of bloggers have been Internet users for six
  or more years
  
• 12 of Internet users have posted comments or
  other material on blogsrepresenting 14 million
  people and a three-fold increase since April
  2004
• 5 of Internet users use RSS aggregators or XML
  readers
  
• Recently, French Bloggers became rallying point
  for Non vote on EU constitution.
  
• Marseille law professor Etienne Chouard became
  known as "Don Quichotte du non by mainstream
  press. His blogs traffic hit 25,000 a day during
  weeks before vote.

Data Source Edelman/Intelliseek White Paper,
April 4, 2005
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Today

• People are not waiting around for businesses and
  we dont consider them to be the best (much less
  only) source of information about their own
  product and services

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What Are People Talking About?

• Edelman BuzzMetrics Catalyst Study
• Methodology
• Edelman engaged a leading online researcher
  (BuzzMetrics) to identity the 200 most active and
  influential individuals by Healthcare,
  Consumer Brands, Business Brands, Reputation,
  Public Affairs, Technology Brands and General
  Corporate.
• Each message was scored to determine what type of
  individuals were talking

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Catalyst Study Key Findings

• Study found that across most segments message
  forum users are going online to give and get
  advice and share experiences
  
• Using a consumer technology product -- 30 seek
  out advice
  
• Living with an illness 61 look for advice
• Do it yourself home projects - 27 give advice,
  23 seek advice
  
• Credit card debt 70 share experiences, 12
  seek advice
  

Source Edelman Buzz Metrics Catalyst Study, June
2005
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Three Strategies to Communicate Effectively in
this New World
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1. Activate Employees
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Activating Employees

• Microsofts Robert Scoble writes a blog that has
  gained credibility with technology audiences. The
  blogs frank discussion of many issues and
  challenges facing Microsoft helps the company to
  engage skeptical audiences in a discussion.
• Eli Lilly Co set-up online prediction markets
  in which groups of employees buy or sell virtual
  stock in various forecasts in order to gauge
  whether the government will approve a drug. In
  one study, the employees predicted the outcome
  before that data released.

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FutureofMS.com

• Website by Morgan Stanley dissidents allowed
  group to communicate with critical employee
  groups inside company
  
• Created instant economical platform for constant
  communication with key targeted audiences
  

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2. Co-create
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Conversation Model Overtaking Monologue Model

• Peer-to-peer communication, enabled by new
  technologies, becomes part of the new marketing
  and corporate communications mix
  
• Consumers more and more request a role in shaping
  what the brand/product is about and how the brand
  is communicated
  
• Activate and empower employee audiences by
  helping them become brand evangelists
  (Microsofts Scoble) and a source of market
  intelligence (Eli Lillys prediction markets)

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Co-Creation Doves 2004 Campaign Real Beauty

• Campaign engaged German consumers with a focus on
  the beauty of everyday women -- not the
  Supermodels found in most advertisements
  
• After launch campaign became about a dialogue
  between consumers about what beauty looks like
  and transcended the idea of beauty products
  
• Commisoned a study in which 600 women were
  questioned about their personal beauty ideal
  
• Campaign created emotional and psychological bond
  with consumers around a topic central to both
  them and the product
  
• Soon there was a palatable conversation underway
  in the culture about, What is Beauty?
  

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4. Engage New Media to Reach Traditional Media
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Old Media Leveraging New Media

• Virtuous circle-- journalists are turning to
  bloggers and message boards for ideas, comment or
  to follow stories.
  
• RSS feeds now almost standard on all news
  information sites including Le Monde, Der
  Spiegel, CNN and BBC
  
• News.BBC.co.uk now prominently features the Have
  Your Say section of the website, which allows
  readers to post and debate hundreds of opinions
  on scores of timely topics daily.
• Los Angeles Times introduces wikitorials. Based
  on the wiki concept of online editorial
  collaboration the paper will allow certain
  editorials to rewritten online by its readership
• American Idol Blog provided an online platform
  where fans could gather in between shows

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Summary

• There is a revolution in communications. Talking
  at stakeholders is being replaced by
  relationship-based approach
  
• Traditional communications modelspeaking to
  elites and advertising to mass audienceis a
  risky strategy
  
• Build credibility through by co-creating with
  target audience and earned media before
  starting advertising campaign
  
• Identify and activate catalysts early on,
  including employees
  
• Activate third-party advocates physicians,
  associations
  
• Leverage multiple channels of engagement
  Internet, media, direct, advocacy groups, public
  meetings, advertising
  
• New media requires us to be 1. Transparent 2.
  Quick and 3 Engaging, so operate at a policy
  discussion level because companies have to be
  it through earned media - you cant buy it
  through paid media.
• Create the definitive source of credible
  information