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by Tim Mannveille, RAPP London

Amara’s law tells us that “we tend to overestimate the effect of a technology in the short run and underestimate the effect in the long run.” These two human failings generate the characteristic shape of the Gartner hype cycle, from an initial peak of inflated expectations through a trough of disillusionment to an eventual plateau of productivity. So how can we avoid both of these errors and truly apprehend the ramifications of new technology?

Despite the high visibility during the initial peak of inflated expectations, few people actually take up the new idea, mainly through fear of change. But there is another factor so powerful it can overcome this fear, and ultimately drives mainstream adoption: convenience.

What is convenience? Saving time, space, or money, sometimes to such a dramatic extent that it changes not just how we do something but the kind of things we do.

Analogue cameras were swiftly replaced by digital even before equivalent picture quality was reached. This was because all three types of convenience improved dramatically - cheaper because there was no need to pay for film, or to have it developed; quicker because photos could be reviewed right away; space-saving by storing archives digitally and only printing the few photos that warranted a physical manifestation.

With the introduction of Facebook’s news feed in 2006, the process of finding out what your friends were doing became so dramatically more convenient that users immediately demanded privacy controls that hadn’t seemed necessary before, even though the fundamental access to information had not changed. Once these concerns were addressed, the improved convenience proved irresistible even to those that initially found the idea intolerable, and Facebook’s growth accelerated dramatically. Convenience changed behaviour.

The simple concept of convenience can serve as a guiding light to any brand trying to work out whether to invest in a new technology - whether that be Second Life, Facebook apps, Twitter, iPhone apps, or augmented reality.  Spending 15 minutes in Second Life was enough to see that it would struggle to prove a more convenient way to do anything for the vast majority of internet users. Twitter was harder to assess when first signing up, but the clue to its later success was in the recommendations of the enthusiastic early adopters: it provided them a more convenient way to keep in touch with a like-minded group, or to keep up with a breaking news story.

So next time someone proposes that you need to invest in the Next Big Thing, and once you establish that it has at least some relevant reach, ask yourself this: does it save time, space or money? Does it improve the convenience of anything, for anyone? If not, you’d do better to bide your time, and wait and see if the second part of Amara’s law ever comes to fruition.

by Doug Baker, RAPP London

The video game market has come a long way since Donkey Kong and Centipede. In fact the last couple of decades have seen it transform into a multi-billion dollar industry with blockbuster titles like Halo outperforming film and album sales. Meanwhile casual gaming and social games such as Farmville have achieved even more sensational growth.

Why the popularity?

In ‘Everything bad is good for you’ Steven Johnson reveals the biological underpinning to this trend. As we achieve certain goals and earn certain in game rewards, our brain’s natural reward system provides positive feedback with the release of dopamine. As such, earning a trophy or completing a level actually provides us with a very real biological reward. The better designed the task and reward structure the more we enjoy it.

What should be interesting to marketers is the increasing evidence that incorporating ‘game elements’ into everyday tasks can drastically improve engagement. Even the dull world of corporate email can be improved by adding gaming elements, as demonstrated by Prof. Byron Reeves of Stanford and his company Attent.

With the continued development of the Internet and the rise of smart phones, we as marketers have increased access to both real time and location based data. This means that both online and in the real world, we have the tools required to create the feedback loop of a ‘gaming element’ – namely the recognition of performing certain tasks. 

Of the companies doing this most effectively, there are two obvious examples The first is Nike+, still the best current example of a major brand using game elements to immerse customers in their world.

The second example is foursquare, the phone-based application that allows you to ‘check-in’ to various locations you visit during the day. The more check-ins you register the more points you get, and those that check in to a certain location become its ‘mayor’. Even in its brief life, the competitive and gaming element has built excitement and high levels of engagement around the product.

With the average person subjected to thousands of marketing messages a day, it’s increasingly important – but more difficult - to earn engagement. And despite many clients and their agencies talking profusely about its importance, success is a lot less obvious than the rhetoric.

There is little doubt that introducing competitive gaming elements can achieve this elusive engagement. The challenge, of course, is to harness the appetite for gaming with a solution relevant to the brand. As Nike+ has proved, it can be done successfully. Surely others can rise to the challenge?

by Jazmin Correa

3D technology is no longer the 3D of the 1980s. While glasses are still needed for the viewing experience, today’s 3D offers crisp, “in the action” immersive quality. The first wave of 3D-enabled devices currently available is in the form of HD TVs - but by next year, the content creation landscape will change dramatically with many more devices like point and shoot cameras and camcorders all being 3D-enabled. The implications of this for consumers are huge – believe it or not, 3D technology will change the way consumers experience and create content.

Once 3D permeates from TV into other devices like the iPad, iPhone, and laptop computers, customers will be able to view and create content in new ways. Viewing family photos on Flickr, for example, will be a much richer experience. Everyday consumers will be able to shoot their family vacations in 3D, as point and click and home-use video cameras will be 3D-enabled. 2D photo albums will be replaced by 3D audio visual albums, and our 2D albums will become as outdated as black and white photos of our grandparents.

3D will also change the way consumers engage with content in everyday situations. Over time, mass media billboards and OOH advertising will be created in 3D, making a daily subway commute feel like a scene straight out of Minority Report. With Skype-enabled 3D cameras and software, a morning commute might not even be relevant, since with improved telecommuting, more and more employers will integrate a telecommuting option, changing the workplace model.

Consumer expectations and demands will slowly drive more content creation. Large studios and production companies will begin replacing their equipment in order to shoot 3D, thereby creating more 3D films to choose from at the movie theatre or on Netflix3D. In fact, YouTube is already in talks about creating a 3D channel for user videos and the upcoming World Cup and NFL season is going to be shot in 3D, allowing for new visual opportunities with on-the-pitch action.

3D truly has the power to upgrade and enhance experiences in consumers’ lives – and given time, it will. 3D will not be just for TV and aesthetics – it will be a critical component to the development of content across all mediums. How will marketers respond to this emerging trend?

By Lauren Warner, Senior Copywriter, RAPP Dallas

Save now. Save more. Save today. Savings you can count on. Savings you can savor. Save for a rainy day. It’s raining savings. (It’s raining men—why not?)

As a marketing copywriter, I have quite likely co-opted the word “saved” more than an evangelical preacher. Can you blame me? In this “economic climate” (psst—it’s what you say instead of “recession”), saving money is Topic No. 1. Bolded, underlined, italicized, punctuated with an exclamation mark (or three!), we boast savings to “budget-minded consumers” who are looking for more ways to “save on the things they love the most.”

Too bad it’s seldom enough to get them to open our e-mails. Or our direct mail, for that matter. No matter—we yell louder. We add more words to “plus up” the sentences and more details to “add value.” We woo them with focus-group clichés. We beg. We plead. And, at times, we even bully. So just imagine our shattered feelings when, after all this, the folks out there still don’t respond. Why aren’t we branding communications experts getting through?

I’ll tell you why. The one thing consumers want most happens to be the thing we’re not giving them: honesty. After years of writing for countless big retailers across a slew of notable ad agencies, I live with the age-old copywriter’s plight: Brands look to me to be captivating and I look to them to give me something relevant to say about what they’re making. And, between the two of us, we’re saying more about less than ever before.

Hence, I’ve been giving a great deal of thought lately about how we marketing professionals ought to be connecting to consumers—you know, those people who spend two seconds glancing at something it took us two months to create. And I’d like to propose some radical ideas here, if you’ll humor me. It’s not a how-to so much as a sort of wish list.

First, consider the merits of observing whitespace—the blank matter that separates your beautiful verbiage. It allows people to breathe, to focus on what’s important. Nervous about failing to grab readers, advertisers are always angling to insert just one more adjective. But the truth is, the more words you put on a page, the less likely the consumer is to read any of them. Even the most elegant writer can’t create a compelling, simple message if the brand doesn’t offer a compelling, simple offer. The recipe goes like this: 1 call to action + 1 message to communicate = 1 effective piece of creative. Like any relationship, courtship is often the most important part of engaging consumers with a brand. If you don’t have them at hello, you’ll never have them at all. So listen up, brands: The more you cut that ad copy, the more you’ll watch consumer engagement grow.

Now for another radical idea: Talk like a normal person. Here’s why: As things stand now, customers don’t believe you. You’re a corporation, remember? And in this age of double-digit unemployment, squandered TARP funds and bloated CEO bonus packages, the average American happens to hold a rather low opinion of corporations. That’s why it’s essential for you to be as frank, straightforward and transparent as possible. If you talk like a marketer, consumers will ignore you.

There’s a troubling duality that’s been at work for some time now. While every brand is touting savings savings savings, those same brands are wondering why they can’t differentiate themselves. So if you want to stand out, quit shouting “savings!” and start talking to people in a refreshing way. Surprise them with honesty. Endear yourself to them with candidness. It’s possible to be clever without sinking into schmoozy speak.

Next, I’d like to suggest that brands think outside the brief. As marketers, we have a tendency to get tangled in the layers of our own profession. I’ve lost count of how many times a brand manager has dictated copy that sounds eerily like a strategy plan (perhaps, I suspect, because it is a strategy plan). No matter how many focus groups you pay for, those buzzwords (”Save now!” and all its boring, tedious sisters) are meaningless to consumers. They’re meaningless because people have heard those words too many times, to say nothing of the fact that shoppers are bombarded with more than 3,000 advertisements a day. And even if you don’t have anything different to say—if savings really is all you can talk about—you can still say it differently.

A final bit of advice for brands: Believe in your customers. It sounds sentimental, but think about it: If you want people to believe in your brand, you have to believe in them. This means realizing that they’re smart; they get it. You don’t have to treat them like children.

The biggest challenge facing marketers today is learning to communicate in a compelling but concise way, and then letting go. As in any successful relationship, one must learn a lot of letting go—of old ideals, definitions and habits, including the penchant to yell “savings!” every time you talk to consumers. Yes, savings is indeed a major driving force in retail today. But as marketers, we should also think about saving the public from ourselves—before we have nobody left who’s listening.

This article recently appeared in Brandweek.

In the DigitalNext column on Advertising Age, RAPP’s Eric Swayne shares his expertise on “Friendsourcing.” He discusses why it’s crucial for marketers to focus on the social aspects of search and offers tips on how to do so.

Click here for full story: http://adage.com/digitalnext/post?article_id=141737

by Thomas Funk, Global CEO, Data Solutions, RAPP

There is little doubt that data has now conquered the world of marketing. There is an acceptance in boardrooms that data can empower marketers and when used properly, it drives business success, especially in the context of a move away from acquisition and toward retention.

Companies have spent years focusing on gathering more and more data and trying to feed that into a single customer view. Then it was all about how to use and interpret the enormous amount of data and turn it into actionable insights.

And now it seems, the big thing is technology, which is complicating and enabling in equal parts. The emergence of digital channels is throwing up data in greater amounts than ever before, but technology also is allowing us to filter and react to that data in real time, track how consumers navigate the web, and enable better targeting and personalization.

But technology also is empowering the consumer. Take for example the recently introduced Red Laser iPhone app that allows you to scan barcodes in shops and then, by using a Google or Amazon product search, compare prices from rival outlets. Think of how that impacts the customer journey!

Yet when faced with all the excitement of what technology can do, there is a danger that we can lose sight of our original objective as marketers, which is to initiate a conversation between a brand and an individual based on knowledge and relevancy. We need to keep that context in mind. The greatest challenge now is simplicity.

Despite the complex nature of this new marketing world, what still drives advocacy and loyalty is an emotional engagement between a consumer and a brand. In fact, I’d argue now, more than ever, that consumers respond best to emotional engagement.

Technology gives us the means of engendering that in new and exciting ways. The challenge for us is to ensure that we use that technology intelligently, not just for the sake of it; that our use is underpinned by insight – insight that tells us the use of whatever technology it is will help us create that all-important emotional engagement. Let’s not forget the basics, let’s not forget that technology is merely an enabler, a way of helping us deliver what we must always ultimately deliver – return on investment.

by Eric Swayne

Some marketers have a real problem with social networks. They almost seem offended when an audience takes their commercials, or ideas, and begin to pass them around without permission. They think it’s unfair that their 30-second professionally-produced spot that just aired on America’s most watched morning show was ripped off by some person named DrPepperLvr156 and is now being passed around “unauthorized” channels, remixed and mashed-up with blatent disregard for the pure brand message or intended target audience.

Other marketers have become totally enamored by the power of network effects, and have become obsessed with becoming YouTube stars. Many have tried (and many have failed) to be cool enough as a company to be accepted on their own merits by the very audience they market to. These marketers build and blast microsites on what seems like a weekly basis, constantly pursuing the next bright, shiny object to attract the masses. And for their trouble, they receive vague metrics like hits, clickthroughs, or a “brand impression index.”

Yet others try to cheat at the “game” of consumer conversation by inserting seemingly “natural” or “amateur” ideas into this ecosystem. Their goal is to trick unwitting consumers into passing on an idea that has a hidden trap door: a dotted-line connection back to a brand or a purchase. After all, if a low-budget viral idea gets millions of views, the ROI is motivation enough – even if the purchase-to-conversion rate is microscopic. They task their agencies for great ideas that will be passed on almost involuntarily, with the same uncontrollable network effects, but these gifts from the Community come fewer and further between.

Marketers today must realize that we need to take a crucial step back to understand how these new communities of consumers share and select ideas. We need to unpack what we once thought was an easily tapped phenomenon with a scientific approach to get past the symptoms and define the core of the Idea Virus – its true DNA.

Viruses (of any sort) are built with one goal in mind: to reproduce. Every marketing campaign designed to “go viral” has to do the same things as your favorite illness AND turn an ROI – connecting those people reached to a purchase. It’s not impossible, but it’s not near as accidental anymore. In fact, great work in this space isn’t just Viral Marketing. It’s Meme Marketing.

Memes are the ideas, symbols or practices that naturally spread throughout a culture. These thoughts are the things that just seem to “catch on” – whether it’s coffee houses, doing “The Wave” at a sports event, or tightrolling your jeans back in the ’80s. And in fact, the concept of measuring these “units of thought” is nothing new, as the term “meme” was created in 1976 by Richard Dawkins in his book The Selfish Gene. The new opportunity marketers have now is to apply this study of memes (or, memetics) to how they create messages for their clients, and how they introduce these to consumers.

Great memes connect with an audience, and connect them with each other. If the new currency of social media is recognition, your concept – metaphorically – needs to be money. Something that members of this Community you’re targeting will want to pass around, because it elevates their own status within that Community. When one member can unearth or create something that others within the Community want to copy, they’ve expanded their influence. If that idea belongs to your Client, then you’ve successfully meshed their brand with that Community.

Great memes are absorbed by a community. It’s not just about being the loudest car commercial on TV, or the most offensive idea imagined. These things can grab attention, but they’re ignored just as quickly. Great memes are noticeable, memorable, AND actionable. A great meme invites customers to do something that solves their problems, connects them to others, or lets them express themselves.

The LIVESTRONG campaign has grown to be much more than just a yellow wristband, and it’s because this idea became an entire paradigm adopted by a community. More than just fighting cancer, this meme has become a rallying point for communities to dare to take any action to get healthy or improve their lives.

Great memes are easy to reproduce. YouTube isn’t the #1 source of streaming media because they’re technologically advanced. In fact, many other sites use a more advanced codec or provide more features. Their fulcrum is in that little box of code labeled “embed.” I can take a video clip and replicate the entire viewing experience on my blog or Facebook or MySpace. And in doing so, I’ve validated that meme, because the people watching it on my blog know ME. If they want to pass on the meme in the same way, all they have to do is copy-paste.

When “The Simpsons Movie” needed a web site, it would have been easy to do the usual things you see for a movie: trailers, wallpaper downloads, games. But through the Simpsons Avatar creator, fans were able to connect with the movie and spread their excitement through a personal, custom-built version of themselves. Fans could use these avatars in social networks, online profiles or on their desktop – and every time they did, more fans were drawn to this experience.

by Annicka Campbell

In early September, Facebook announced that it would be rolling out its own tagging system, which allows users to tag friends in their status updates using the “@” symbol. The new feature is another clear indication that Facebook is doing everything it can to position itself as the default “home base” for users of the social Web. Some have decried the new feature, citing its obvious similarity to Twitter’s @replies. The reality, however, is that it was Twitter’s users who came up with the @replies system, not the company itself. Facebook’s new tagging system trumps Twitter’s reply system on multiple levels. Facebook tags are more robust and interactive than Twitter’s, allowing users to tag groups, events and Pages in their status updates (on Twitter, only usernames can be @replied). The new feature isn’t a “Twitterfication” of Facebook, as some would say. By replicating the most social element of Twitter, the new tagging system takes Facebook a few steps beyond its microblogging competitor.

Facebook has traditionally lagged behind the pack when it comes to status update functionality, and it represents another move by the dominant social network to steal Twitter’s market share. After Facebook’s failed acquisition of Twitter in late 2008, Mark Zuckerberg seems to be making a point of introducing features that compete directly with Twitter, including Facebook Lite, acquisition of FriendFeed, and the new Facebook Search. On August 10, Facebook acquired FriendFeed, giving Facebook a foothold into the world of microblogging and feed aggregation. On the same day, Facebook announced the introduction of a real-time search function, which competes directly with Twitter Search. Unlike Twitter Search, which only scans 140 character updates, Facebook Search crawls notes, videos, photos, public profiles and status updates, opening up the notoriously private social network to an unprecedented degree (for users and marketers alike). On the following day, August 11^th, Facebook announced the beginning of beta testing for Facebook Lite, a “faster, simpler version” of Facebook that resembles an Twitter (or FriendFeed) feed.

It’s already clear that the impact of Facebook tags will be big, for users, marketers and Twitter alike. For marketers, it means that Twitter is not the only social network that allows for easy customer service outreach. Tags allow brands to identify complaints and communicate with customers on Facebook, making the social network a much more attractive platform for customer outreach than it ever has been. It will be interesting to see how users adopt the tagging system in the coming months, and to see whether usage of Twitter will decrease (not to mention how Twitter will respond). One thing is for certain – a little healthy competition has never hurt either of these social media behemoths, and the real winners of any competition between Facebook and Twitter will ultimately be the users themselves.

When asked if we call ourselves Direct Marketers, the answer is always “Yes”. Sure, that used to be a badge that nerd marketers who did nothing but direct mail called themselves, but today Direct Marketers have taken on a new badge. The industry is shifting, both as advertising and marketing evolve, but also as we are faced with the challenges of the recession and subsequently tighter budgets. As a result, there are three very good reasons why we are proud to call ourselves Direct Marketers:

• Accountability – Just as numbers drive creativity, they also drive business. In today’s world, brands want to know how much bang they are getting for their buck. As direct marketers, measurability and, thus, accountability are at the core of what we do, so it’s no surprise that the industry as a whole is turning in the direct direction.

• Democratization – Marketers don’t own the relationship between customers and brands any more; people do. They tell us when, where and how they want to be communicated with. Again, direct marketers have the hand-up because they’ve been mastering the art of one-on-one communication since the beginning.

• Proliferation – Let’s talk about that direct mail thing for a second. Sure, that is where our roots are and something we still do, but now we can play in nearly every channel both online and off. In fact, the majority of the work we do these days is digital in nature. Boring? I think not!

Just to recap, we know people and are getting their vote in the new marketing democracy. To top it off, we put our money where our mouths are. So should we be proud to call ourselves Direct Marketers? Of course! It is the marketing of the future after all.

Measurement is far and away the most important issue in the digital sphere at the moment. But it’s wishful thinking to believe that a one size fits all, standardised, static measurement model that covers digital is going to appear. Ever.

Why won’t it happen? Because change is going to be a constant. And formats are forever evolving. And there is no clear definition of online advertising – is it just display, social media, content?

What is needed is for agencies and clients to stop expecting trade bodies to deliver up sugar-coated solutions that will make all our lives easier. Instead, agencies that are really interested in data and measurement should do what many industry leaders are already doing.

And that is to build robust, evolving measurement solutions that adapt with new forms of media, use existing techniques where relevant, exploit the plethora of data and measurement tools that already exist (often for free) in the digital space and innovate rapidly to build new methodologies. If all that can form part of a single customer view that takes countless data feeds and delivers the information into real-time dashboards, then “hey presto” you have an extremely powerful measurement tool.

This isn’t hypothetical stuff. Leading CRM agencies are already doing this and clients are already seeing the benefits. But it’s complicated, it’s technical and many marketers – and indeed agencies – feel uncomfortable when talking about data.

But it’s data that creates insight. Insight that ignites creativity. Creativity that inspires action. And data that measures those actions.

There is no holy grail. We have to build the solutions and then keep refreshing them anew.

Rik Haslam, Executive Creative Director, RAPP UK
rik.haslam@uk.rapp.com