This interview is part of our Expert Advice series, where CEO's, CMO's and best selling authors share their expertise.
NOTE: Rick Mathieson is the Author of: The On-Demand Brand: 10 Rules for Digital Marketing Success in an Anytime, Everywhere World.
Rick, congratulations on your new book, The On-Demand Brand, and thanks for taking a few minutes to speak with me.
1. What motivated you to write The On-Demand Brand?
As someone charged with engaging consumers in branded experiences, I began to realize just how desperate we as marketers are to connect with today’s iPhone-toting, Facebook-hopping, videogame fragging, Twitter-tapping, I-want-what-I-want, right-here-and-now generation. As the pace of change accelerates, many marketers feel themselves falling behind.
The fact is, we have a consumer republic today that is simply and relentlessly tuning out media – and by extension, brand marketers – who fail to appeal to their interests and to their increasingly interconnected, digital lifestyles. As a result, all of us have felt the stress of having to pretend we’re hip to all things digital. And all of us are guilty, at least once, of chasing after “what’s cool” long after consumers have moved on. So I took a look at who seems to be doing it right – and then interviewed literally hundreds of today’s most innovative marketers to see what they’re doing right, what they’ve done wrong, and what can be learned from it all. What I began to realize is that it’s not merely about tracking the latest consumer trends and technologies. And marketers aren’t out of the loop just because they don’t understand everything digital yet. What became crystal clear is that many marketers simply lack the tools – the philosophical framework – to create the kind of experiences consumers want and demand in the digital era. THE ON-DEMAND BRAND is designed to change all that.
2. In Rule #3 (Don't Just Join the Conversation – Spark It) you make an interesting point: "Just because social networking is hot, that doesn't mean it's right for your brand". How can this be evaluated to know what, if any, social media approach should be used for a given brand?
The single most important factor in digital marketing success is finding out who your customers are and how they use digital media in general, and in this instance, social media in particular. You might be surprised at what you find.
Just as an example, I think most people would say that in order to reach teens, it’s essential to have a Twitter presence. Well, not necessarily. Depending on the specific target group, Twitter might be all wrong. According to comScore, only 11 percent of Twitter’s users are between the ages of twelve and seventeen. By contrast, 83 percent of teens use text messaging – making mobile a far more useful channel for reaching this audience. Likewise, some may think Facebook may not be a good way to reach older Americans. But the fastest growing segment of Facebook users is women 55 years and up. And these are just in the aggregate. Depending on your unique consumer base, you may find a channel or mix of channels that is very specific to your needs.
In the book, I point to two examples – one good and one bad – from the same company. You can visit Procter & Gamble’s Facebook page for 2X Extra Tide detergent and “share your favorite places for stain making moments.” You could also poke yourself in the eye with a stick. I’m not sure who it’s aimed at, but it’s more a cautionary example than a laudatory one.
At the same time, P&G has tapped into research on how young girls and women use social media. Nearly 70 percent of American girls ages 15-17 have built and routinely update profile pages on websites like MySpace and Facebook. Some 35 percent of girls have their own blogs, compared to 20 percent of boys. And thirty-two percent of girls have their own websites, compared to 22 percent of their male counterparts. While the breakdown of gender participation in these kinds of activities approaches parity in adulthood, women are more likely to use them as a means of fostering and maintaining nurturing, empowering emotional connections with others. So P&G created BeingGirl.com a social site designed for teen girls and sponsored by the company’s feminine products brands. Unlike the communities built around Tide, there’s no overt selling on the site, which is designed to enable girls to discuss the issues they face at that age – music, cliques, dealing with parents, puberty and so on.
What’s more, girls can ask a professional psychologist questions that are then shared with the community. Answers are provided with subtle branding lines about how BeingGirl.com is brought to you by Always Pads & Panty Liners and Tampax Tampons. They can also order free samples of the company’s products should they desire.
According to P&G, this site four times as effective per dollars spent as advertising. It’s been so successful, in fact, that the company has now replicated the site in 21 different countries. It’s all about finding out who your customers are, how they use digital media, and what kinds of experiences – and communities - they’re looking for.
3. Would you explain what you mean by "products are the new services"?
Well, you might not recognize it by taste alone, but Coors Light isn’t just a beer anymore. It’s a portfolio of Facebook apps that enable you to access maps that direct your “brew crew” to nearby bars – or MySpace pages where you can locate happy hours in your geographic area and upload pictures of your posse for the chance to win prizes. For that matter, Chantix isn’t just a smoking-cessation drug anymore, either. It’s a service that connects you a with a personalized website and easy-to-use tools to track your progress, as well as to access to support groups and on-call coaches who can help you squelch your addiction. Your daughter’s Webkinz isn’t just a stuffed animal. It’s an online virtual world where she can take care of her virtual pet, earn KinzCash and play games. It’s been so successful that even Barbie now has her own virtual world, called BarbieGirls.com, where girls can customize their dolls’ looks, shop at an online mall, and hang out together at a place called "The B Cafe."
