The Social Network II

"I was only saying the same things as my friends who work here, I just hit enter and went for lunch. I deleted it straight away, but my boss didn't see that as proper apology". 

It's only a matter of time before Anderson Cooper announces the sad but true 'sign of the times' faux pas....A sorry tale of the poor Gen Z multitasking intern who inadvertently announced on Linked In (while also auto posting on their blog, and twitter feed) their hatred of their employer, boss and leadership  using sms profanity of the most vulgarity ......

No, not a deleted  Facebook movie scene, but an observation of Linked In.  A once simple, uncluttered and intuitive professional networking platform that is transforming into a business social network.  Now filled with a landscape full of dashboards, ads, and tabs, and peppered with likes, comments, pictures (of babies ..perhaps) and youtube videos. 

Is the brand manoeuvring its way into future convergence with the hyper-stimulated, hyper-sticky, informational super-channel-esque - Facebook behemoth ? Fiction ?  Melodrama ?....Partial truth ?  Irrelevant !  As user numbers continue to increase and embrace the new experience, the business led by Jeff Weiner is an indellible disruptive force heading for an IPO. 

As I write this post, ad agency planners the world over are scheming to uncover killer insights,  brand managers vy to launch their first hybrid campaign, and media mavens are seeding content amongst the most coveted 'sociopro' influencers......

I used to love Linked In as I knew exactly why I was there, what I was going to do and how long I was going to spend there.  Yet the online version look and feel changes, added features, and constant refreshes echo the rhythm of Facebook, and I sense its now too late for them to dial back. My only solace is the Iphone version -  (the  app development team are genius architects for mobile).

Failure to understand their brand equity and user base may lead to the creation of a 'Bring back old Linked In' group.  Start to worry if a cut the rope 'corporate ladder edition' replaces the 'People you may know' section......

PS, while the opening quotation is currently fictitious, I sadly predict to see it reported true pretty soon.

How #OldSpice Rescued 30' ads

Old Spice has set new standards for  viral video making and delivered amazing stats stats yet the current YouTube campaign is under scrutiny due to  poor product sales...Leading to the inimitable question - does advertising work ? and is this campaign truly effective ? Here are 4 reasons why I salute Wieden and Kennedy + the folks at P and G, (also shared on the beancast  in response to topics for their podcast on 7/18).

1. Creativity and Context are powerful

I'm intrigued as to why a sales decline on the brand or product  satisfaction/relevance comments are thrown at Old Spice. As a marketer, I simply watch in wonderment at the magnificence of this phase of the campaign. It is truly immense on an insight, engagement, creative, intelligence, and context level. All this originating from the allegedly dead 30' ad !

2. Paying into the brand Equity

There should be no criticism from a brand or marketing perspective. If the campaign delivers against the brand equity and measures that were set - then bravo to all. I feel that effectiveness should be measured in a way that explicitly seeks to capture all benefits to the brand, irrespective of sales or market share change.

• For example, lets quickly look at this from the Sales department perspective - they can now call their retail partners in the full confidence that their brand has been elevated, eulogised and is front page news. The call or visit will run smoother, the promo plan will be seen more favourably, the orders will be placed more promptly.

• Now Imagine being the Old Spice brand management folks who are now able to show metrics that are transparent to product development, design, finance, customer services....they can now more easily demonstrate the value they can add, they can show engagement growth, viewers, new prospects, influence change, brand image improvement etc etc.

3. Marketing Innovation does NOT require a new product

For me the best part of all this is that it has happened on a low tech commodity product (compressed fragranced air). Clearly highly creative people re-envisioned the way to look at the category and how to communicate WITHOUT needing a new product ......sometimes we just might too quickly seek comfort in new products, when often there is a world of opportunity to simply stop, think and act differently.

4. Raising the Bar
The challenge has been set to every brand mananger and marketing/ad agency out there. What are you doing to get a consumer to care about your brand, that doesn't involve the easy option of maintaining the status quo or doing the same old thing?

That's the kind of challenge that makes me LOVE what I do.

Disclosure - despite being a former P and G employee, yet a competetitor deodorant brand user, the thoughts here are without any predetermined bias for or against Old spice.