Archive for November, 2007

THE INTERWEB (PART I)

lolcat THE INTERWEB (PART I)

You knew it was coming. A blog entry about Web 1.0, 2.0 and the future of Web 3.0. How could we avoid it? But we’re gonna do it a little differently, and you might actually understand it this time.

So let’s start off a little history of the world wide web:

Web 1.0

Remember 10 years ago when you first started using the Internet. You would connect your 32k modem, visit a website, read a few of the paragraphs and click around a couple of the pages, looking at the swanky animated gifs.

This was Web 1.0. And it was okay for a while. It was an easy way to push information out to consumers without having to do much work. Every company and their mom was jumping on the web bandwagon because it was the cool thing to do.

And then the bubble burst. Consumers were tired of half-assed, design-heavy sites pushing mediocre information. And poorly run dotcoms, with fresh investor cash, were overcharging clients for web destinations. Web 1.0 had lost its groove.

So along came…

Web 2.0

….to save the Internet.

Web users wanted more than just the one-sided information that Web 1.0 offered. They wanted dialog and personal involvement. They wanted relationships and a sense of one-on-one engagement. They wanted Web 2.0.

Insanely popular destinations (MySpace, YouTube and Wikipedia) and technologies (blogs, RSS, wiki) have come to define this second wave of the web. They’ve given users the ability to create and automatically share their own content with the world. And they’re the driving force behind all that is happening with Internet innovation.

People absolutely live and die by Web 2.0. If Facebook suddenly decided to shut its doors, there’s a good possibility that WWIII would break out. The reason behind this is simple - people have invested their lives on Web 2.0, creating and rekindling relationships, building e-reputations, sharing thoughts/feelings, learning, etc.

The stakes have been raised, and the world has opened their eyes to the power and possibilities of the Internet. Whereas 1.0 was a trial run, people believe in the Web now and their dedication to the tools of Web 2.0 have proven their confidence.

So what comes after Web 2.0? We’ll have to wait until next time to find out. Stay tuned.

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Published by mghwom
November 30th, 2007 in MGH Conversation
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HAPPY THANKSGIVING!

Here’s a little video about all of the things the MGH WOM team is most thankful for this Thanksgiving:

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Have a great holiday!

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Published by mghwom
November 21st, 2007 in MGH Random
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BLOGGING IT OUT WITH SISTER HAZEL

This morning’s WOMMA session rocked. Just spent the last hour listening to Ken Block, lead vocalist for the band Sister Hazel who visited the conference to chat about the power of loyal fans, or “friends” as the band deems them.

No joke, here’s me stalking the singer after his panel discussion. I’m the one with hair.

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It’s sort of a simple principle, if people dig you, you should dig them back. As it turns out, Sister Hazel has been womming it up for years as they built an image from their own unique identity. In the world of music, loyal fans mean everything. So, the band, along with manager Andy Levine, built a community for their prized Hazelnuts, one of whom presented on the WOMMA panel. They’ve done everything from engage friends on their message board and fan site to hosting a yearly RockBoat cruise featuring live performances, cocktails with the musicians and personal touches for their top supporters.

The whole concept is rad, but can only be emulated by people like Sister Hazel who are honestly as passionate about their fans as the Hazelnuts are about them. The notion of gratitude is so strongly embraced by the band, fans can’t help but become friends. I always liked the music, but their friend-centric WOM marketing model makes me want to register for my own Hazelnut card…

-C

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Published by mghwom
November 15th, 2007 in MGH Random
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LIVE FROM LAS VEGAS: DAY 3

Well it’s the last day of the Summit. We’re tired. Broke. And blind from neon lights.

Right now, I’m listening to Wommie winners present their award-winning case studies and eating a rock-hard bagel.

Stay tuned for more.

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Published by mghwom
November 15th, 2007 in MGH Random
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LIVE FROM LAS VEGAS: DAY 2

We’re blogging live from the WOMMA Summit in Las Vegas!

Right now we’re having lunch and playing a group game of Cranium with the Grand Poo-Bah of the board game company, Richard Tait.

The trip has been great so far and we’ve been a part of some really interesting and eye-opening discussions. This morning, we opened up the day with a keynote speech by VP of Global Marketing for Microsoft’s Interactive Entertainment Business, Jeff Bell. He spoke about the launch of Halo 3 and the number of WOM and traditional marketing efforts that went into making the game a success…..It makes me miss the sweet glow of my X-Box.

We also heard from Lionel Menchaca, Digital Media Manager for Dell. He discussed Dell’s unique efforts to engage their customers and to truly listen to/hear their thoughts about the company’s products and services.  Check out Ideastorm for an idea of how they’re doing it right.

We’ll check back in throughout the day and all of tomorrow with more updates about our trip and the conference.

UPDATE: The speech by Richard Tait was fantastic. His main take-aways included creating a corporate culture, not a company; learning to empower your customer base; and encouraging creativity with distribution channels. Go here to check out his site for tons of advice and inspirational stories.

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Published by mghwom
November 14th, 2007 in MGH Random
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LIVE FROM LAS VEGAS: DAY 1

While it’s not the most exciting or glamorous aspect of the WOMiverse, research plays a key role in determining best practices and in molding the future of our industry.

Today was Day 1 of the WOM Summit, and primarily focused on the word of mouth studies that had been collected over the past year by a number of agencies and independent researchers. Topics included everything from boosting search traffic through user reviews to the social and traditional media effects of controversial ads in the Super Bowl.

However, a large number of today’s discussions naturally seemed to point back to two of the hottest topics currently facing our industry:

1) Identifying influencers and measuring their levels of control among their networks

2) Examining best practices for WOM campaign tracking and measurements

Both topics spurred a good amount of conversation among attendees, and opened the doors for further research and case studies to be shared. MGH has a good amount to say about both topics and we’ve enjoyed listening to the thoughts of our fellow WOM’ers.

It’s amazing to see so many people from different sides of the fence (marketers, media planners, PR specialists, major brands) openly sharing what has and has not worked for them, and collaborating on what we all can do to better shape the future of our industry.

We’re looking forward to what tomorrow and Thursday have to bring….

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Published by mghwom
November 13th, 2007 in MGH Random
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WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS…

….gets blogged from Vegas.

That’s right. We’ve arrived Las Vegas for the 2007 Word of Mouth Marketing Summit.

We’ll be posting over the next couple of days about our trip, so stay tuned!

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Published by mghwom
November 12th, 2007 in MGH Random
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VIRAL CONTESTS - OUR THOUGHTS

Faithful readers, I’m proud to announce that you’re reading the insight of a 1st place Halloween costume contest winner. Yeah, that’s right…I’m a pretty big deal. And as I stood triumphant on a stage in a sweaty, overcrowded bar in NYC a few days ago, I thought of the theme for this week’s blog entry - Contests.

Marketers love them and clients eat them up. They’re relatively easy to produce and have the potential to attract some serious media attention. But take a moment to step back and ask yourself why you’re having a contest in the first place. What do you expect to get from it, and how long after the contest is over will you see results? All too often, these questions are overlooked and a contest is used as an easy way to get some quick attention.

So, my friends, it’s time for a little WOM wake up call - It’s not hard to come up with a catchy idea for a contest (or to recycle the same old ideas). And it certainly isn’t difficult to get the media attention and a solid number of entries when you’ve invested hundreds of thousands of dollars into the program.

But coming up with a contest that involves strategy, a long-term vision and an eye on the word of mouth potential requires some real thought and creativity.

So here are some of MGH’s core thoughts to consider before building out any sort of contest or sweeps:

1) Motivation - Why in the world would someone enter your contest? Because they care about you and your company or is it that they want to win some stuff? It’s cool if it’s both, but if they’re entering because they want a new Nintendo Wii, then you might as well hand your prizes to people on the street. Make sure that your contest rewards those who show the most interest and passion for your brand.

2) Longevity - No matter what some may tell you, length is important (at least in contests). The problem with most of these promotions is that once they’re over, they’re over, and the day prizes are awarded is the same day that everyone moves onto something else. But it doesn’t have to be like that. Ideally, people should buzz about both your contest and your company for months after it’s over. Put the time and effort into building your initiative so that it’s strong enough to withstand the test of time.

3) Buzz - Think about it: how many times in a day or week do you see an ad to enter some sort of contest or sweeps? And how many times do you completely ignore it? Well, guess what? That’s what everyone else is doing too. Your promotion should stand tall above the rest and give people something to WOM about. And it should be built so that details and info can easily be passed on from one person to another.

We love contests here at MGH, but recognize that having a contest just to have a contest does nothing for our clients or the majority of consumers. So our best piece of advice is to take a good look at your overall strategy, and then (and only then) determine if a contest is something that’s right for you.

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Published by mghwom
November 9th, 2007 in Viral Marketing
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