In this video interview I chat to Scott Kilmartin, founder and ringmaster of Haul, an independent design brand based in Melbourne's northern suburbs.
Haul - 'Makers, Merchants and Madmen Since 1998' - upcycles old advertising billboards, bus shelter posters and stadium boundary line signage into products for companies. Its consumer-facing streetwear brand sells tote bags, satchels and laptop bags as well as iPad sleeves and folios.
Scott shares with us his marketing philosophy, the importance of humanising your brand and the innovative use of social media, including LinkedIn, to generate word-of-mouth buzz for - and media interest in - the Haul range of products.
We also learn the integral role Scott's pet boxer dog Gus plays not only in bringing the Haul story to life but also in piquing the interest of would-be customers of the brand.
In part one of the interview, Scott takes us on a journey of Haul and how the back-story is integral to his overall marketing efforts; he also outlines his approach to Twitter and how Gus the Boxer came to be the focal point for the brand.
"Social media has been a boon for our business"
In part two Scott gets more into the nitty-gritty of his use of social media and why humour and authenticity are important pillars of the Haul brand; he provides several examples of opportunistic PR efforts along the lines of author David Meerman Scott's 'Newsjacking' concept...
... and we get to meet the real driving force behind Haul, Gus the Boxer!
charity: water is a non-profit organisation that brings clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations.
It's a global socially-connected brand that not only does good things but goes about its business in an interesting, cool and respectful way. In short, they 'get it'.
(Read more about charity: water here - note the degree of information and transparency).
charity: water is continuing with its 'donate your birthday' campaign (and why not, it's a ripper concept). But check out the webpage - scroll down and check out the following:
As I said, very cool!
Coming up with interesting fund-raising ideas.
Using technology to involve people and bring the world of charity: water to a global audience.
Bringing people along for the journey via social media - an active blog, an active Twitter account (1.37 million+ followers and counting) and an active Facebook page (221,000 likes).
What can you learn from charity: water?
Be interesting.
Be open.
Tell stories.
Take people on a journey.
Create a culture that treasures social connectivity.
Oh, and be active (on all fronts, especially social media channels)!
Australia's largest home entertainment retailer JB HI-FI appears to be gearing up for a major tilt at incorporating a grassroots 'shop floor' Twitter army across its business.
At first blush it appears JB HI-FI is modeling its approach on US chain Best Buy's @Twelpforce - "A collective force of Best Buy technology pros offering tech advice in Tweet form".
Not that there's anything wrong with that; indeed, it's a smart strategy. Best Buy has long been regarded best practice when it comes to customer care and brand responsiveness on Twitter.
JB HI-FI has assembled its Twitter presence across multiple fronts:
First, there is the @JBHiFi Twitter account, which at this stage is like most corporate accounts - non personal, not following anyone and pushing out one-way sales messages.
Secondly, individual stores are getting into the action, like @JBChadstone and @JBSpringvale. Their activity currently is similar to the corporate account i.e. one-way messaging.
And thirdly, and more impressively, employees from different stores are also becoming involved. Their presence in terms of Twitter handle and avatar appears pretty consistent - i.e. @danh_jbaus (personal, but tying back to the brand) along with a photo that reflects their personality, but each one has a yellow wash through it, once again to reflect JB HI-FI's trademark yellow branding (see some examples below).
Whereas the corporate Twitter accounts need a bit of work (granted, it's early days for the brand), the individuals involved appear to be getting right into the swing of things and obviously have the imprimatur to do so, which is very cool.
So what is JB HI-FI doing right?
It's still very early days by the looks of things but decentralising much of their Twitter activity gives JB HI-FI not only additional 'arms and legs' in the Twitterverse but importantly injects authenticity into the program. People want to hear from the experts who walk the floor, not necessarily someone cloistered in a head office cubicle.
Also, I like the way individuals can tailor their Twitter accounts to their personality. Once again, this provides a sense of genuineness so often lacking from corporate activity, but doesn't detract from the JB HI-FI brand. Getting this balance right is critical.
#jbhelp hashtag
A hashtag has been created and promoted - #jbhelp - that makes it easy for members of the public to tweet a question which, in turn, can be responded to by any one of the JB HI-FI Twitter army, not necessarily one designated Twitter account. This is similar to how Best Buy's @Twelpforce operates.
And finally, the company has been smart in how it has asked for volunteers (employees with Twitter experience along with those eager to learn); they've trained them up and, according to Yvonne Adele from Ideas Culture who has been advising JB HI-FI, provided guidelines that give clarity on what is and what's not acceptable behaviour on social media when representing the brand.
All in all a pretty good start on Twitter for a major brand. We will watch with interest!
Hyundai is the latest example of a major brand leveraging the hipster cool of recording artists in a bid to appeal to a young contemporary audience.
Its Re:Generation Music Project has been building up steam for a few months culminating these past couple of weeks with the screening of a 75-minute film in selected movie theatres across the US.
What's the project all about?
Re:Generation is an initiative in which five renowned DJs - DJ Premier, Mark Ronson, Skrillex, Pretty Lights and The Crystal Method - remix, recreate and re-imagine five traditional styles of music.
From the classical perfection of the Berklee Symphony Orchestra to the bayou jams of New Orleans jazz, from rock to country to R&B - the high-profile DJs collaborate with some of today's biggest musicians to "discover how our musical past is influencing the future".
Creative twist
Brands getting into bed with edgy artists is not new, but they need to do it respectfully and without resorting to heavy-handed advertising tactics, otherwise it will backfire big time.
To be successful with a campaign like this, the project needs an authentic collaborative edge, a creative twist, not to mention a solid commitment of dollars and resources from the brand. That said, it also requires the brand to take a back seat i.e. minimal logo identification and no overt advertising messages, otherwise it runs the risk of devolving into a morass of commercial mediocrity.
In the case of Re:Generation, the DJs - all cool brands in their own right (much cooler than Hyundai) - are the stars of the show, not the car brand.
The DJs' stories - i.e. how they each interpret different music styles (and the resultant music they create) - are what makes this project interesting and appealing to the target audience. Hyundai is merely the facilitator along for, ahem, the ride (and I don't mean that in a condescending way). That is the right place for the brand to be in. Hyundai appears to know this and good on 'em for resisting the temptation to overly commercialise the project.
Free download
In addition to a the film being selectively shown in cinemas, a trailer has been released on Hyundai’s YouTube channel and portions of the film will play at a series of live “Remix Lab” events the brand is hosting in New York, L.A., Miami, Las Vegas and Chicago (source).
Oh, and you know the best thing, Hyundai has made available the soundtrack for free download (bless 'em).
Smart marketers today understand the power of creating compelling content that informs, inspires and/or entertains (not to mention is shareable) - content that resonates with the target audience, so much so they feel the need to tweet positively about it!
We talk a lot in the PR game about the need for brands to be genuine, and why authenticity is one of the strongest cards you can play in a marketing sense.
In the case of high profile people, celebrities and the like - personal brands - authenticity takes on even greater importance. Exhibit 'A' your honour - the video below (don't let the title put you off).
It's a ripper! At time of writing, over 40,700 people had shared it on Facebook,seriously bolstering Buble's stocks. (I only saw it for the first time today, must have been living under a rock these past few weeks! Hat-tip Scott Kilmartin from Haul).
Tony Hsieh from Zappos.com reportedly once said "a brand is what people say about you after you've left the room" (or words to that effect). That being the case, Michael Buble's brand is in pretty good shape!
New York lifestyle brand Holstee is all about living a life "full of intention, creativity, passion, and community".
Cleverly, it directs its marketing dollars towards underpinning this philosophy.
The brand, established by brothers Mike and Dave Radparvar, recently released online a video (below) that reinforces the values it espouses in its much-read Holstee Manifesto.
(QUESTION WITHOUT NOTICE: Does your brand have a manifesto?).
In the video below, the Radparvar brothers discuss how they got started and the philosophy that drives them personally as well as their brand (original story here). It's a good yarn.
The concept of 'celebratory marketing' can be quite powerful in the right hands. This is where brands create and distribute multimedia content that celebrates a higher purpose than just flogging products or services.
The other an article featured on the cover of Australia's Professional Marketing magazine titled 'Social Media: Oversold and Overrated'.
Forbes is one of the world's most prestigious business magazines, Professional Marketing is the official magazine of the Australian Marketing Institute.
The juxtaposition of these two publications acutely underscores the differences of where corporate Australia stands in terms of social media adoption/acceptance compared to the rest of the world (well, the US at least).
It's a really solid piece that looks at how social media is upsetting the once cosy world of Corporate America.
EXAMPLE:
"This social might is now moving toward your company. We have entered the age of empowered individuals, who use potent new technologies and harness social media to organize themselves...most are ordinary people with new tools to force you to listen to what they care about and to demand respect. Both your customers and your employees have started marching in this burgeoning social media multitude, and you’d better get out of their way—or learn to embrace them."
Skeptical about the social web
On the other hand, the Professional Marketing article - while not outright condemning social media to the scrapheap and to be fair, it does acknowledge social media has worked on occasions for some brands - proffers up all sorts of reasons why marketers should be skeptical about the social web, including the fact Westpac's following on Twitter is miniscule compared to its customer base, ditto Woolworths and its Facebook page (maybe Woolies should look to a socially savvy brand such as Whole Foods Market for some inspiration?).
Now, I am nothing if not a pragmatic guy. I don't think companies and organisations should rush into social media just because it's there and everyone else is clambering to get onboard. Indeed, I spend a lot of time questioning companies why they need to be on Twitter et al anyway if they're not ready for it in terms of corporate culture and mindset.
I'm also from the school of thought that if whatever you're doing right now in a marketing sense is really, really working for you, then keep doing it.
Reinforcing notions
That said, marketers do need to be acutely aware the sands of consumer land are shifting like crazy beneath their feet and to have articles like the Professional Marketing cover story reinforcing notions that social media is nothing more than a fad is not helping the industry come to grips with what is a tantamount to a communications revolution.
Marketers are fearful enough of social media as it is. Ditto CEOs.
No wonder decent corporate case studies in Australia are hard to come by - brands too often approach social media as they would an advertising campaign and then wonder why they don't get results.
Why haven't we got any major brands such as Ford which, according to Forbes, "...takes cues from young people immersed in social media in how it designs cars and how it communicates".
Ford has over recent years undergone a major cultural transformation internally in an effort to better connect with today's social consumer (SEE VIDEO).
This is the sort of thing Professional Marketing should be sharing with its readers: the broader changes pragmatically smart brands are making in order to get ready for, and more effectively adapt to, the real-time marketplace of today (and importantly, tomorrow).
By all means, challenge the notion social media is overhyped and that corporate brands should not rush in simply at the expense of traditional marketing methods but please consider also taking a thought leadership position befitting a "flagship trade title for the marketing industry".
Corporate Australia is already several years behind a consumer marketplace that is digitally savvy, hyper connected, information overloaded and as cynical as all get-up.
Rather than adopting what could best be described as a cynical stance against the social web and all it represents, the marketing profession would be better served if it embraced the cultural shift that is occurring and openly discussed and debated the challenges they faced as a profession, ignited public conversations around social media opportunities, developed case studies and shared key learnings with their peers.
Brash, in-your-face and passionate to the max, with Vaynerchuk what you see is what you get.
He calls it "embracing your DNA", and he freely admits that a percentage of people turn off him straight away. But he ain't gonna change for them!
"I execute against my DNA. When you are yourself and you garnish results, people respect that," Vaynerchuk he tells Jay Berkowitz in this podcast interview.
Vaynerchuk is a great example of what can be achieved by focusing on building your community of fans and supporters, by creating and delivering value in the form of free content, and acting in a respectful and responsive manner (you don't build your Twitter following to 900K+ without some engagement!).
Importantly, Vaynerchuk has been very effective in using social media to build his personal brand, around which he has grown a considerably-sized business enterprise.
Vaynerchuk's backstory is a ripper.
Having guided his father's retail wine shop on to the internet and into a $50 million business, Vaynerchuk has extended his personal brand into books, consulting and public speaking.
However, he's probably best known from his daily internet webcast Wine Library TV (now replaced by The Daily Grape). Episodes consist of wine tastings plus discussion about other wine related topics. While content is important to Vaynerchuk, his success has largely come from marketing and hustle and proactively extending his personal brand through the social web.
"I spend about 11 to 12 hours a day engaging my community," he says in the Jay Berkowitz podcast interview.
So what is Gary Vee's advice?
Here are some tips, gleaned from the aforementioned podcast interview:
Embrace your DNA - "You are who you are, you have strengths and weaknesses."
Vaynerchuk recommends you know what you're good at and don't pretend to be something or someone you're not.
"Evolve a business plan around your strengths", he says.
Build up street cred - "Hustle. You've got to work your ass off. This is not the minor leagues," he says (in the podcast).
Interact with your community - Vaynerchuk believes it's important to have the right balance between content and interaction ("Probably the 30 best television shows ever made got cancelled in the first season, so marketing is imperative," he says).
Use (social media) tools that help extend your brand and your message - "That's the game," he says. "Build brand equity...word of mouth is what builds business."
Mitch Joel refers to Vaynerchuk as a "personal branding juggernaut"! Check out Joel's podcast interview with the Veemeisterhere - it's excellent!
The video below shows Vaynerchuk in full flight and is recommended.
Oh, and if you're interested in purchasing his book CRUSH IT, I suggest you get it on audio - most authors stick to the exact book manuscript but Vaynerchuk, being Vaynerchuk, tends to wander off the script! Hilarious, plus added value!!
I'd love to hear whether Gary Vee's ideas and advice works for your brand.
For decades marketing has been all about interrupting people’s lives with unremitting one-way broadcasting of brand messages:
BUY THIS PRODUCT!
USE THIS SERVICE!
ATTEND THIS EVENT!
VOTE FOR THIS PERSON!
It’s been based on tightly held notions that you spend lots of money buying airtime and print media space to promote your wares, and if that didn’t work, buy more airtime and print media space!
Yet the world has undergone deep-seated change – technology has fundamentally transformed the way we are communicating with each other, the way we are connecting and collaborating as individuals and society as a whole.
In turn this has paved the way for a new way of doing business – a better and smarter way to market your brand and communicate with customers and stakeholders in today’s highly personalized networked marketplace.
Today's enlightened and progressive companies and organizations are:
at the forefront of the social media revolution;
open to new ideas and collaborative projects;
active in sharing ideas, stories, knowledge and information;
socially-aware and respectful of the community in which they operate.
Importantly, these brands are connected and conversational, humble, passionate, transparent and fun.
EXAMPLES - Southwest Airlines, Whole Foods Market, Hubspot, Johnny Cupcakes, Zappos, Sydney Writers' Centre, 37signals (check out this tour of the company's office), Grasshopper Group, Howies, Love 146, Movember, charity:water, TOMS Shoes, Jay-Z, Lady GaGa.
This is a pretty clever promotional campaign that incorporates a public experiential stunt, a Facebook application and a whole lot of word-of-mouth buzz for a product that, well, let's face it sits firmly in the 'low interest' category.
Ariel washing detergent set up a live gaming experience in Stockholm Central Station.
A glass booth was erected housing an industrial robot and a fast-rotating clothesline to which hundreds of clothing items were attached.
Aim - Stain - Win
Here's the kicker: the public could control the robot by logging on to the campaign's Facebook app - the goal was to shoot food 'gunk' at the garments.
If someone managed to hit an item of clothing, it was washed and then delivered to the 'winner' to prove the stain was removed.
Trevor Young has built PR Warrior into one of the world’s foremost showcases of what can be achieved at the intersection of public relations and social media.” - Brad Howarth, Smart Company, September 2011 More »
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