Harmonic Aftershock

The (Domino’s) Pizza Turnaround – Is it working?

We all remember the Domino’s Pizza YouTube incident last April that affected the restaurant chain’s sales according to the company’s Q2 earnings report, “Unfortunately we experienced a short term hit to sales primarily in the weeks following the incident that we estimate cost us between 1% and 2% in domestic same store sales for the quarter.”

There were many who noted that this was a big social media lesson learned for Domino’s and that brands need to ensure they’re actively monitoring and listening on the social web.

And (seemingly) listened they did. Last week Domino’s released a short documentary-style video demonstrating how consumer feedback led to a complete overhaul of their pizza recipe.

Yesterday the brand bought YouTube’s homepage mast head featuring “The Pizza Turnaround” video trailer which linked to the Domino’s YouTube Channel housing the full 4 minute 21 second documentary complete with a Facebook feature and Twitter Channel (using a #newpizza hashtag).

As of December 29th, their video has a little over 31,000 views*.

[So is their campaign working so far?]

Google searches for Dominos are trending higher than the April incident.

Mentions of dominos  as of yesterday’s launch are actually quite a bit lower than normal, could this be because of the holidays? UPDATE: See most recent chart on Hill Holliday's blog.

Source: Radian6

Comments on their YouTube video skew negative with some calling it a marketing/PR stunt while mentions on Twitter are generally positive praising the brand for listening. 

Not surprisingly, on Facebook (and YouTube) there are those who are asking for the old pizza back but that's also balanced with others who really like the new recipe.

According to their Facebook Page, their broadcast just started running yesterday and it doesn’t seem to be available online to watch. I’m hoping that they’ve integrated their social properties into their spots (i.e. send people to YouTube or Facebook for more info) to create a cross-media experience.

[It's too early to tell.]

We don't yet know how this campaign (and Domino’s reengineered product) will ultimately affect sales – and, as the media and awareness begin to take hold, what the true reaction will be from the general public. But they seem to be off to a decent start.

[Kudos to one key ingredient.]

In the end, what’s great about what Domino’s is doing, so far, is the feel of authenticity behind their actions. The video does a great job humanizing the brand and showing what seem like real emotion and passion for their product – and that is one very key “ingredient” to creating brand loyalty.

*UPDATE: As of 9:30pm, the Domino's video on YouTube now has 117,892 views. I'll also be posting an updated Radian6 chart tomorrow once today's stats are aggregated.

UPDATE #2 (12/30 - 2pm): I cross-posted on Hill Holliday's blog with updated charts and a few extras.

Six Pixels of Separation: Mitch Joel’s book…finally

It was October 27th 2007 when I became a Mitch Joel fan after hearing him speak at PodCamp Boston 2. I remember writing the guy’s name down on my event program so that I could appropriately “permission-based stalk” him to learn more about this particular digital marketing thought leader who really struck a chord with me. In addition to subscribing to his blog, I downloaded as many back episodes as I could of his podcast through iTunes – And for a couple of months, Mitch and Six Pixels of Separation were a daily part of my life during gym workouts and office/client commutes until I finally caught up to his weekly production schedule.

I relate to Mitch not only for the fact that he’s a fellow Canuck but because of his passion for digital marketing, contagious work ethic, entrepreneurial mind, and that he’s a constant student of leadership. It’s been a joy over the past two years following and being inspired by Mitch’s career growth as he expanded his business to Toronto, secured a column in the Montreal Gazette, and now (finally) released his first book, appropriately named after his blog and podcast: “Six Pixels of Separation”.

I anxiously picked up my copy last week at Boston’s Barnes & Nobel in the Pru and it was the last one on the shelf (see photo above). And I can understand why as the book is filled with rich (and timely) case studies and is positioned as the “prequel” to Mitch’s blog. The book is ripe for those who are just getting started understanding how social media has fundamentally impacted business, marketing, and personal branding as well as those of us within the industry that are always looking for more fodder for our clients and projects.

A few select sound bites from Six Pixels of Separation that jumped out at me – the book is filled with many more great one-liners as well as contextual and thought provoking anecdotes:

• Embrace your community as the new currency.
• Trust is earned by an overall great experience with a foundation of authenticity.
• Digital marketing is not a one night stand…tangible results take time.
• Instead of asking “what” [the channels/tactics], please ask “Why” [the strategy].
• Ripples grow wider and bigger until they become waves. Waves never stop.
• The new business game is not about control. It’s about the volume of voices.
• Google is like an elephant: it never forgets.
• Branding is not the logo… Branding is the heart and soul of a business.
• You can’t fake passion.
• Great content = great word of mouth.
• Transparency is easy. Credibility is hard…credibility is everything.
• We’re seeing a new era in which everyone has become a citizen journalist.
• Take time to develop your own niche. Be the Cirque du Soleil of your industry.
• Remember, I’m Googling you just like you’re Googling me.
• Your business life just became a high-speed game of virtual paintball.
• Content is media…all content will become more and more portable.
• Mobile goes where other media cannot.
• Think in terms of tribes, not mass.
• A new business model does not have to be complex.

I had recommended Six Pixels of Separation to clients when it was on pre-order and will continue to help evangelize Mitch Joel’s debut into book publishing – I not only believe in him and his credibility but have personally benefitted by Mitch openly sharing his experiences and thought leadership over the years. I already can’t wait for his next book. 
 

Live from Gravity Summit (Part 2)

I posted a summary (Part 1) of my thoughts and experiences at Today’s Gravity Summit on Hill Holliday’s blog. Here, I wanted to share somemore photos/videos and “sound bites” from many of the speakers -- each of whom leverage social media through a different vantage point but harmonically speak similar themes.

Troy Kelly (Arnold Worldwide)

• Advertising  1.0 – all about “The Big Idea” (Don Draper)
• Advertising 2.0 – Technology and the internet  enabled us to move beyond a mass audience into a much more targeted base  and with measurement
• Advertising 3.0 – Evolve a brand message to a “brand experience” and talk about it in real-time where brands are speaking to customers, customers are speaking to other customers, customers are speaking to the brands
• “While the .com boom had Silicon Valley -- Social Media revolution has its Boston”

Wendy Harman (American Red Cross)

• “Help people prevent, prepare for, and respond to emergencies with social media”
• “Find your business purpose and unique value within the social web”
• “Always know what the conversation is and always ready to respond”
• “If you are providing value, people will come”

Todd Defren (SHIFT Communications)

•  “PR, today, is about frequently distributing relevant content via the right channels, to boost credibility and findability”
• “It doesn’t have to be about creating something new but leveraging old content and putting it a format that can be distributable”
• “Social Media is a lot like fishing -- swim with them not against them and don’t over feed the fish”

Josh Levine (Rebel Industries)

•  “Being on Twitter doesn’t make you Zappos”
• “If you’re looking for social media to fix your brand, that’s not going to happen”
• “The companies that are doing it right, their employees are empowered.”

Eric Forst (Visible Technlogies)

• “Facebook is now the #1 photosharing site”
• “Not user generated content but more like user generated programming”
• “Social media is a fundamental shift in the way we communicate”
• 25% of the search results that show up for brands are consumer generated

MC Hammer

• “If you’re worried about how social networks will monetize, I’d like to have Facebook’s problem: 250,000,000 people. I guarantee I can sell them something!”
•  “If you’re allowing someone else to control the perception of what your brand is, you’re in trouble”
• “As an artist, I want to get in front of the conversation and make adjustments based upon the feedback that I’m hearing and how I market to you”
• “In my house they are screens everywhere and they aren’t there for decoration…I am totally wired”
• “I need to be at the center of the flow of the information”
• “Artists today will make a living when they not only embrace social media but embrace all of the ways that people consume music.”
• “I need to hear the voice of the people. I like analytics but I don’t need the data analyzed for me.”
•  “Human interaction is actually increased through social media – our DNA is built for us to communicate”
• “the old term citizen journalism is more of a reality today than ever before”
• “ It’s not a question of whether or not social media works – it’s about how you implement, how you execute, and how you apply  -- there’s no question of whether or not it works”

Scott Gulbransen (Quicken Online)

•  “When you look at social media it’s not just about siloed approaches…we knocked down those walls and completely integrated across channels”
• “It’s not a matter of whether PR or Marketing should drive but that everyone should have a part”
• “We weren’t going to make it about territory, we were going to all move it along”

Christi Day (SouthWest Airlines)

• “At southwest our flight crew is given the freedom to express themselves as employees.”
•  “Our employees are our best spokespeople…the more we can enable them to be themselves the better we are as a company.”
• “Our leaders don’t make us go through a chain of redtape to give out answers to customers”

Dave Puner (Dunkin’ Donuts)

• “We knew there are a lot of conversations happening about Dunkin’ Donuts out there and we simply wanted to be a part of the conversation”
•  “[our tweets] are not going to go through layers [of approval]. You need to trust the person who tweets”
• “Dunkin’ is a fun brand and when I look at the commercials I see an irreverence and that’s how I try and write my tweets.”
•  “A billboard doesn’t talk to you.”

Ramon deLeon (Domino’s Pizza)

•  “AOL Instant Messager (status updates) was kinda my Twitter before Twitter”
• “If you can’t be a part of the conversation, you know what? You start one”
• “If this is a bit of a social media storm…a social media fire, I need to put it out with a little social media water”

Polly Pearson (EMC)

• “A brand is a relationship…like one you have with a friend, trusting…genuine”

Gary Vaynerchuk

• “We get it, [people] don’t want to be sold to”
• “I think [social media] is massively underrated – it blows my mind that we’re having debates if this is real”
• “The concept [of social media] is going nowhere and debating it is silliness”
• “Big businesses are going to go out of business if they don’t adjust”
• “The a la cart concept that we now have doesn’t seem to apply to cable -- We’re all paying for bundled content and that is not something that people are going to tolerate”
• “Every business, every one of us, no matter what you do is in the eyeballs business”
• “What these platforms allow us to do is one thing: Scale our customer service”
• “How are billboards the cost they are now when we all have our eyeballs on our mobile devices?”
• “It’s about rolling up your sleeves and getting dirty – there are no shortcuts”
• “The butcher and your grandma’s shoe store didn’t happen in a week”
• “Love the process more than the results and you’ll always win”
• “There is no excuse, if you care about yourself, to not come home and produce content for the things you love – you can sell eyeballs period.”
• “I think people underestimate other people -- People know when you try”
• “The truth is always undefeated – and the truth is being brought to the forefront because of the internet…bad is going to lose and good is going to win and yay!”

Social Media: The Best Focus Group.

Everyone’s got an opinion. And with the exception of paid blog posts or paid tweets (which you already know my thoughts on), I LOVE the real-time, unaided consumer reactions/intelligence one can get on pretty much anything by just doing a simple Twitter search.

One of the great things about working in Advertising/Marketing these days is having the ability to hear raw, near real-time feedback as to what people think about your execution as they experience it – especially broadcast spots (TV Commercials). People are a lot more uninhibited in the comfort of their own home hidden behind the security of their computer.

Let’s take “Pepsi Throwback” as an example. The company at their very moment has instant access to the very latest consumer sentiment about the product – and without paying a cent for the intelligence. Some of the reactions are very positive and some are negative. But in general there seems to be an overall positive vibe to the new (or, more accurately, old) Pepsi product and some people want it to stick around beyond its limited 8-week lifespan.

The big question, as a colleague pointed out to me, is how much weight should Twitter or the greater social web hold in terms of making business decisions? To what degree should companies/brands rely more on social media intelligence versus the comfort of more traditional consumer research & testing methods?

I think both have their place in the marketing world but if brands/agencies are only employing traditional methods to produce consumer insights, they’re missing out big time on a goldmine of useful data.

The Celebrity Tweet Factor

There’s a lot of talk about celebrities being on Twitter and what that means to the service and the social media thought leaders that once dominated the channel.  Jeremiah Owyang tweeted the question yesterday, “Do you think Twitter has hit a tipping point this last week?” 

I’m not sure about a tipping point yet, but one thing is certain is that Twitter has abruptly burst out of the “social media bubble” and after watching last Friday’s Larry King Live, I think it’s a great thing.

Yes there’s a celebrity ego play (as with most people on Twitter) but what Ashton and Pdiddy are doing is reaffirming the fundamentals of what social media is:

Ashton Kutcher - @aplusk:

• "It’s really a conversation – that’s the difference between it being regular media vs. social media."
• "We now live in an age where a single voice can have as much power and relevance as an entire media network."
• "Twitter is not a platform for Celebrities – it’s really about everyday people having a voice."
• "We’re in a middle of a recession yet social media companies are hiring. A tide is turning."

 Sean “PDiddy” Combs” – @iamdiddy:

• "It cuts out the middle man – the middle man has been the media. It’s given me a chance for people to get to know the real me."
• "You can have  1million followers or 10 followers – it’s the same amount of energy and power to build your own community"
• "It’s the truest definition of viral – everything happens in real time"

But as Jimmy Fallon mentioned (who uses twitter actively on his late night show):  “I still think the majority of people don’t really know what the hell Twitter is – they have no idea what it is and what to do with it.”

But I think we’re all feeling that that’s going to quickly change. Talk about media convergence!

FOR SALE: Social Media

There are no shortcuts to social media marketing, period.

Social media started on a very basic, a very simple, a very human premise: Authenticity. It takes time to build relationships. It takes unrelenting commitment to foster them. It takes courage and humility to expose your vulnerabilities.

Companies that respond to the pressures to get on the "social media bandwagon" by paying bloggers to talk about them or buying ads in facebook are missing the fundamentals and true opportunities within the social web.

We all know by now that it starts with listening and then finding ways to effectively engage and connect with your customers. Social media, in a way, is a “back to basics” of good business practices and damn good customer service. You can’t force or fake those things.

Should you always show you’re listening?

Was walking home from work and noticed a couple people picketing and handing out flyers outside of a popular retail store. In short, they were accusing the store of unfair business practices and created a website around an entire campaign that launched today against the brand.

Coincidentally thereafter, I bumped into a buddy of mine who works in PR. I mentioned that I thought the company should engage the group and listen to what they have to say (and in the process be able to clear up facts and show they listened). He was emphatic in saying that that would be a huge mistake as it would “create news” within the press and call undue attention to fanatics. One thing he said which I agree with is that it’s important to, first, assess the situation, its severity, and then develop a response plan – that the response plan could be to “do nothing” if it’s deemed to be an “outlier situation”. I was happy to hear "listening" as a key part of his point-of-view.

Call it the social media in me, but it seems that at least acknowledging the situation shows that the company heard the message. Take a lesson from the recent motrin moms campaign or the Chevy Tahoe debacle, or many of the other brands that got punk'd within the social web. My PR buddy was concerned about the mass media but didn’t seem to take serious social media.

Often times the actual effect of situations like these can be different for large corporations versus small businesses (but not always). Two weeks ago another friend of mine went to confirm his dog grooming appointment and Googled the local company to get their phone number. One of the top results was a “sucks blog” about the company that depicted an incident that happened there. He freaked out and cancelled his appointment…and then told his many dog owner friends who go there about the blog and the alleged incident. They all have since found a new groomer. This is a small business and the impact to that business is likely to be felt because of social media and word-of-mouth.

So when should corporations show they’re listening? When is a non-response the right thing to do?

Life Without Brands?

Branding, for me,  evokes emotion – Period. It provides personality and gives products and services three-dimensional identity amidst a flat “sea of sameness”. Why is the Mean Joe Green Coke commercial so memorable (after almost 30 years)? Because it makes us feel good. There’s something so simple about it and watching it again gave me a “smile” (just as the tagline says).

Chris Brogan’s recent post, “Thinking About Branding” and re-reference of the book, “Branding Only Works on Cattle” (which I am going to buy today), got me imagining a world without branding…and my verdict? Life would be incredibly boring as visions of white packaging with black block letters line the isles of sterile stores. All products and services would be, for all intents and purposes, “generic” – and a synonym for generic is “unspecified”.  Take it a step further to personal branding -- Raise your hand if you want to be “unspecified”?!

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge advocate of the fact that social media provides a very powerful “checks and balances” on what a company says their products (via branding) are versus what they actually are. This “fit gap” between enterprise-defined brands and consumer (user) defined brands helps hold companies accountable to the truth. And let’s face it, at the end of the day repeat customers/sales come from great products (or rather “solutions”) not great branding.

Yet brands will always remain an effective communication device because they are a powerful form of expression that leads to “impression” – not the whole story but a visible, tangible part of the story. And responsible marketers will help consumers get the rest of the story by being open, genuine and transparent.

After all, there’s a reason why so many people on Facebook are fans of brands. Is anyone a Facebook fan of generics?

*Photo from answers.com

Citizen Paparazzi, Everyday Celebrities

Working in interactive marketing and social media, how many times and how many ways have we communicated to our clients that they no longer have proprietary control over their brands because of the very open and public discussions that are happening  about them online.

Is this not the same for our personal brands? Absolutely.

A lot is discussed about personal branding – how and what one communicates about themselves through their various footprints. Marry everyone’s cell phone camera with Facebook & Google and one’s personal brand is, in large part, in the hands of others. A few too many drinks at the company holiday party and your actions thereafter can be seen, with a quick upload and tag, by your entire network – many of whom, I’m sure, aren’t just your closest of friends.

Like Hollywood celebrities, the paparazzi, and TMZ – We (average you and me) are becoming the everyday “celebrity” featured in those ever constant (and quite addicting) logins to Facebook -- and those around us, armed with multimedia, are now “citizen paparazzi” – ready, willing, and able to track and broadcast our every move.

And just as we convince our clients that the social web keeps their businesses honest and transparent, so it is for the everyday celebrity who wants to ensure the integrity of their personal brand. Showing one’s human side can go a long way – it can also go too far. But just as I blogged about last August, everyone has to decide their own “FIT”.

Faking Web Democratization

There’s the old adage, “If you can’t beat them, join them.” In a recent conversation, someone brought up the notion of rallying a bunch of random people to view an online video and, thus, artificially increasing its popularity. This isn’t the first time I’ve heard or been around something like this – I can recall a number of mass emails at a previous company to the tone of, “Hi everyone, we just posted ____, would you mind taking a moment to click on it and if you can leave a comment.”  

This goes against every fiber of my passion for social media. Call me an idealist for believing in the transparency and authenticity that halos the social web by giving a platform on which genuine individuals can cast their “vote”, so to speak, by consuming content that’s most important to them. Kudus to sites like digg who track and block IP addresses that try to bastardize and manipulate “the system.”

I don’t want to join them – even if many companies are already doing it. If your content is compelling then it’ll be consumed.  That doesn’t mean you shouldn’t promote it – but be honest about it.

What do you think? Is it okay/ethical to artificially influence content ranking?