Incito MentisA blog by Syed Abdul Karim

“Because life is not a spectator sport” – a tagline for Reebok in the 1980s is the mantra for brand building in the 21st century. Brands cannot expect consumers to be static spectators to their messages. Participation is becoming second nature in everything we are doing. Even the way we watch sports has changed. For anyone tweeting while watching the FIFA World Cup would have experienced the game in a way they have never experienced before. It was like watching the game with the world. Proof of this phenomena comes from the fact that a new Twitter record was created in the World Cup with 3282 tweets per second after Japan’s win over Canada (for perspective average Twitter usage is about 750 tweets per second). Brands need to engage consumers in the same way. They have to get in the field, play the game with their consumers and continue the relationship off the field. If there is a likability and genuineness in the engagement then hopefully they would be invited for the next game. This is a radical shift in the role of marketers. Like in a relationship the dynamics of media, mobile and the web have changed the way we interact with brands. Any attempt by a brand to fake it’s way into the consumer’s life is impossible. It’s like befriending someone with an ulterior motive. It’s only a matter of time before true intentions become apparent and the impending aftermath would be nothing short of catastrophic. Social media is simply too powerful and things can spread really fast. As we have seen in the case of BP recently social media has been unforgiving and the impact to the brand has been phenomenal (although a lot of what BP has done at any level is their own doing but that’s another matter).

Telecom brands would have to built based on these same principles. Fortunately the telecom sector is at the forefront of this change, experiencing the impact first hand. As people spend more time online operators are seeing a remarkable shift in data usage, for example NTT DoCoMo reports that approx. 90% of their network traffic is data, for Vodafone this number is about 70%. As Susan Wojcicki, VP Public Policy and Communications at Google put it “U.S. users spend 12 hours per week online, which represents about 32 percent of their media time.” People are spending more time online and doing so using their mobile with increasing frequency. In the US a 110% growth in mobile web usage has been noted in 2009. Point being that habits are changing. For a telecom operator besides the obvious business impact there are huge implications on the way a telecom brand is built.

Using the TeleCompass as a guide to determine a brand’s promise is one thing. Taking this brand promise forward is another. And it is here where the rules of brand communication are being rewritten. To illustrate this point I would refer to one brand who has embraced the new role of the consumer and ensured that everything the brand does is something which involves consumer participation, engages them in way that encourages sharing and builds a genuine two way relationship.

The brand is Koodo Mobile – an MVNO by Telus in Canada. Looking at the 8 spaces on the TeleCompass Koodo Mobile has taken the “Heroism” platform for their brand. By using an iconic character “El-Tabador” Koodo Mobile has taken upon itself the fight for phone freedom.

Building on this promise, Koodo Mobile has made creative use of YouTube to develop an interactive video game – something in which the user can participate and fight against Bloatimus Contractimus.

This is the kind of work that defines our era in which more people are using media that allows for greater participation and play. Koodo Mobile as a telecom player has made use of this new media by creating content that keeps the consumer actively engaged with the brand. As a follow-up to their initial work the latest YouTube interactive video game that went viral early this year was “Sugar Streak – Can you catch the Gingerbread man?”

Reposted from the Luciola Blog

For a brand that started out in the year 1937 as a fragrance for woman Old Spice  has certainly come a long way. For Procter and Gamble, a company known for it’s classic (read as formulaic) approach to advertising since the 1950’s that included x times of product mentions/product shots followed by media bombardment to drive a message, it too has come a long way.  Although the relationship between P&G and Old Spice is relatively recent – dates back to 1990 when Old Spice was acquired from the Shulton Company who originally created the brand, the last three days are anything but formulaic, dated or conventional.  In fact, Old Spice has sowed the seeds of something remarkable that defines the new communications paradigm for brands in the 21st century.

I think it is a brilliant case study on “how to build brands using social media”. We have seen a surge of branded activity in social media off late. The ingredients are the same – a large chunk of Facebook mixed add a spoonful of Twitter with a dash of YouTube. But as we say, a great idea is one that combines commonly known elements to create something new and unexpected. This is what has been done with Old Spice. The character from the TV Commercial – Isaiah Mustafa responds to individual comments made in social media through a video and he does so persistently over three days with a total of nearly 200 video responses.

Brands engaging people on social networks is not something entirely new. If you are on Facebook you get engaged on Facebook, your tweets get @ replies on Twitter and so on. The power behind the Old Spice campaign was the video response. This was the creative leap taken by W+K.  The character that personifies the brand talks back to you in the form of a video. He would pick up your tweet, your status update on Facebook, a comment on YouTube or anywhere else on the web and talk back to you!  This was the big idea!

To do justice to the idea, the execution was nothing short of being flawless. Isaiah Mustafa, the Old Spice guy, acted out his role brilliantly. It was a mix of bold performances, combined with wit and humor. The best part of it all was the branding – subtle yet obvious.  Besides what Isaiah did for Old Spice he did a lot for himself – from being an unknown actor to overnight celebrity (he apparently inked a deal with NBC that would land him in one of their upcoming sitcoms).

From the film that kicked off the campaign (it won the Film Grand Prix at the Cannes Lions 2010 last month) to the film that started this 3-day social media frenzy, along with a couple of my favorite video response by the Old Spice guy, all have been linked below for your viewing pleasure! Enjoy.

Old Spice -Questions

Old Spice – Responses – Re: chmown | Old Spice

Old Spice – Responses – Re: @knitmeapony| Old Spice

Old Spice – Responses – Re: rahnyc4 | Old Spice

Old Spice – The Man Your Man Could Smell Like (The one that won the Film Grand Prix)

The entire series can be found here.