How the quickly the media world turns on it's axis

Like many people I saw the 'Facebook film' Social Network the other day; Jesse Eisenberg is completely believable as Mark Zuckerberg and the Aaron Sorkin script is brilliantly balanced across a maze of intriguing characters. The film signs off by reminding us that Facebook is worth $25 Billion today. Really? And exactly what credible logic went into that valuation?
The (probable) argument runs that with 500 million active users worldwide that the user base is too 'locked in' to Facebook to move elsewhere....I mean you wouldn't, would you, all of your friends are already on Facebook so why move to a new or rival offer? Facebook has the momentum and whilst the contextural targeting revenue doesn't currently come close to justifying the $25 Billion valuation (unless you want to apply la-la land multiples) it's only a matter of time.
That sounds awfully like the kind of investment banker flaky nonsense peddled in the first dot.com boom...and where did that go? Cash, not eyeballs or headcount, is king. Meanwhile News Corp has just announced a 3.2% increase in revenues (3 mths to end Sept 2010) with growth from 'old media' and the notable low light of a 25.5% decline in revenues within the Digital Media Group division (including My Space). Within this Rupert Murdoch is trying to change the free content model. All of a sudden digital is looking like a potential balance sheet drag.
It's not, and never will be, given the way it's changed the (profitable) retail landscape and consumer behaviour but within that there are no sacred cows including Facebook. What marks out so many digital business models (including Facebook) are the low barriers to entry and fragility of brand loyalty...you're one mistake away from oblivion. Rather than the 500 million active users being the fortress walls that repel new pretenders and the possible renaissance of the old guard (like My Space), it could be the achilles heel and a reminder of that digital brand fragility. Given any abuse of the customer relationship with Facebook (data confidentiality?) the reaction may not be individuals leaving one by one but entire friendship communities up rooting and moving elsewhere...and of course that binnary, 6 degrees of seperation, benefit that once sent Facebook into the stratosphere suddenly consigns it to the dustbin of yesterday's 'not cool' stuff. $25 Billion...really? I'm not so sure.

Telecoms in 2010 – a sector struggling to be distinctive?

For the second year running, Polestar joined 18 other brand and communication strategists in Berlin for the annual Telco Summit hosted by our friends at Musiol Munzinger Sasserath.

Exchanging knowledge from 15 global markets we were left with a clear picture of the need for telco brands to drive towards greater differentiation, meaning and consumer centricity. And in so doing ensure they retain consumer relevance.

Price competition and commoditisation remain critical issues. Being all things to all people from a positioning and product perspective might have its up sides from an acquisition perspective, but the lack of stickiness for brands inevitably means it’s an expensive strategy.

How many telco brand owners could (hand on heart) say that they have a meaningful and distinct market proposition backed by a strong perspective about what they stand for in the market? Very few one suspects.

Why not focus for effect, excelling in fewer core areas rather than providing a plethora of average offerings?

How about being a champion for causes relevant to consumer’s lives, excelling as a responsible corporate citizen?

Offer a distinct point of view?

Or acknowledge and leverage consumer power instead of restricting it?

Many telco brands have found themselves creating cynicism, distrust and disconnection simply because they fail to recognise consumer demand and seem intent on leading the consumer rather than embracing consumer input.

None too radical you’d have thought but there’s currently a real dearth of brands achieving this with any great consistency.

Somewhat ironically, the sector is crying out for more innovation. But not innovation of the tech led variety necessarily. Just the guts to dare to be different and lead consumers with a more relevant, more distinctive brand proposition that justifies their role in our lives.

Click here for a summary version of the summit output or feel free to get in touch if you'd like us to take you through the trends and observations in full

"Mums" the word

After a very interesting conversation with a friend of mine, when she referred to a friend of hers primarily as a “mum”, I got thinking about the way in which these young women were beginning to see themselves in today’s society. There appeared to be a sense of pride and status when they described themselves as a “mum”. It seemed to me that gone were the days of feeling “mumsy”, completely isolated from one’s peers as a result of having children or feeling inferior to those career girls left behind at the office and resigning oneself to an existence of solitude, speaking in baby-talk for the majority of the day. The 2010 Mum seemed different to me– she seemed more “connected”.
Here at Polestar, we thought this trend was so interesting that we commissioned our own research into the subject and decided to ask these women directly about their thoughts and opinions on a whole array of topics; from self-identity to advertisers marketing to them. The 2010 Mum emerges intelligent, well-connected, collectively very influential and the ultimate source of advocacy. What’s really interesting is the way in which these women have professionalised the role of being a mum and are actually tackling it in the same way they would a high-powered job in a corporate environment. This has clearly had an effect on the way in which they see themselves, individually and as a group. For more information about some other fascinating new insights into this vital, high-spending Mum Mafia within the traditional housewives with kids’ audience, take a look at our article on Mediatel and for the full report, drop me a line on 0207 089 6588 or email me on kirank@polestarcommunications.com.

What's Trendy?

The other day I was making my usual commute into Waterloo, surrounded by South West Trains’ finest customers; some reading papers or engrossed in a book on their Kindle and others contorting their posture in all sorts of weird ways to try and get a signal on their new iPhone 4. As I scanned the carriage with my blurry eyes, taking in this very familiar scene, my eyes locked on not one but two young women, knitting. Yes, knitting. You know, with proper needles and a ball of wool and everything. On a train. In London. In rush hour. In 2010. My gaze fell on the ball of wool bobbing around one of the ladies’ Mulberry handbags. I was mesmerised by how relaxed they looked, completely oblivious to my stupefied expression and carried on clicking their needles rapidly until it was time to mind the gap between the train and the platform. As I got off the train I started thinking about how various friends of mine had re-joined a library, a bake club or a book club recently, which led me to consider that this was a definite trend emerging here amongst a very valuable target market for advertisers. So once back in the office I decided to explore a little deeper into this phenomenon and found that it wasn’t just the two knitting ladies on my train or my strange friends who were reclaiming traditional pursuits but brands and advertisers seemed to be doing so too. But what’s the reason behind this? To find out, take a peek at our new Brand Trends Report, showcasing the most important trends of 2010 from Polestar’s point of view. So if you want to learn more about how people are using online to enhance their offline experiences in the real world or want to find out more about how everyone (yes everyone) seems to be crowd-sourcing or indeed knitting, then take a look or get in touch for a more comprehensive version.

Last World Cup post - the office sweepstake results are announced

You'll have noticed that the football cropped up in a couple of our Polestar blog posts. Meanwhile, behind the scenes here at Polestar there was an office sweepstake, organised by the blokes. As it was organised by blokes it had a proper spreadsheet, a points-based system, and a tie-breaker.

None of your girly names out of a hat nonsense.

It was all terribly exciting, if you like that sort of thing. Which roughly half the office do, it seems.
And the winners have just been announced, in league-table fashion. In the bottom half of the table are all the boys. Brilliantly, joint second place went to Kiran and Tambo and the winner is 'lil ole me.

All of us ladies are very excited about our big cash prize. Almost this excited, in fact.

The even bigger Apple

Last week in New York every single Apple store was completely besieged by consumers so desperate to get their hands on the iPhone4 that they were queueing all night and throughout some uncomfortably, sweltering, hot days. Of course this was all deja vu as much the same scenes greeted the launch of the iPad. It's not exactly a secret that Apple advocates are a particularly evangelical bunch yet the world of on line blogs and user reviews have noted that the latest iPhone is not necessarily without fault, yet when you see scenes like this (at about 22.00 at night) it's tempting to think that we may have to create some kind of superlative that goes beyond super or hyper brand. Many brands get past being a 'nice to have' and become some kind of personal characteristic or attribute; maybe the latest handbag from Prada or limited edition Porsche...but seldom do people put themselves through quite so much personal inconvenience to be ahead of the wave. In a very challenging economic environment Apple products seem to defy the laws of price elasticity and the benefit that brings to the balance sheet were very evident in the recent results. Thousands have offered opinions on what makes Apple so special and it seems pointless to add to that queue, instead I'll just make a single observation that it's a timely reminder that product integrity is everything. So those cutting corners in R&D and NPD may reflect on that before they have to explain away some insipid looking financials in about 2 years time

Start in a different place

When solving marketing and communication problems, are we starting in the right place? Are we asking the right questions?

At a recent media week conference Les Binet, who knows more about effective advertising than pretty much anyone else in the UK, proffered a check list on how to make sure things work.

This is a really useful list so it's worth repeating some of the key pillars ....

• Set clear and detailed objectives
  If you start by spelling out the hard business objectives, payback is increased four times
• Focus on profit
  Most people think the job of advertising is to sell more stuff, so they focus on increasing sales volume, but the most profitable campaigns are the ones that make people pay more
• Engage the whole market
  Increasing brand loyalty has become the main goal for many campaigns - but advertising has hardly any effect on brand loyalty
• Touch the heart
  Rational messaging campaigns are the least effective. The best campaigns make people feel things about a brand - emotions are more profitable than messages
• Create ripples of influence
  The most effective campaigns take emotional bonding to the next level. Be newsworthy, go viral, or do things that people talk about in the pub - go beyond the private sphere
• Harness the power of integration
  Convert fame and buzz into sales. Integration doubles effectiveness, so communications must make brands desirable while also pacifying the rational brain with reasons
• Beware of using only one metric
  The campaigns that perform the best move all the measurement dials, whereas the campaigns that only shift one measure under perform

Now, I'm sure we can all find examples where these aren't true. But broadly most campaigns would be improved by adopting these principles.

But what about the questions that need to come before communication?

1. Should I be using communication at all? Too often we rush for the crutch of ad spend when product, distribution or service issues lie at the heart of sluggish growth. Knowing when it does and doesn't have a role is fundamental to effectiveness

2. What role does communication play within the client organisation? Will it motivate teams, can it act as a unifying force? Initiatives that span silo's are what really accelerates growth

3. How is 'talkability' hard wired into the product or service? Too often advertising is tasked with spin. The combination of inbuilt word of mouth features and strong advocacy friendly brand stories, amplified through communication, is what super charges brands.
OK .... so this sounds like hard work. Maybe it's beyond the remit of marketing. But then again look at this example .......

http://www.longlivealex.com/ . The clear role for comms is to bring the (very long term) brand benefit to life. The idea generated can act as a unifying rallying call as to why the business exists and in a non cheesy corporate type of way. Finally it generates ingrained talkability and on-going content which many FMCG brands feel is beyond them. Inspired.



It doesn't contradict the 'rules' of effectiveness. But by starting in a slightly different place it takes it to another level.

By the way, I am the 2,391,052,000 oldest man in the world.

Targeting the Properly Posh

This week a few of us here have been doing some work for Berry Brothers & Rudd, looking at the luxury consumer market. As an established and premium business, BB&R still carries the royal crest today. Indeed one of BB&R’s quirkier spirits brands, The King’s Ginger , was created specifically to satisfy the ‘needs’ of King Edward VII after his physician prescribed a ginger liqueur to keep him warm on country drives(..!).

Beyond the royal consumer base, BB&R’s consumers are still a pretty elite bunch and tend to be what we would scientifically refer to as ‘Properly Posh’. Our analysis of research such as Conde Nast’s trend report and TGI Premier has shown that these wealthy individuals are, as you would expect, motivated by quality and desirability over price. Although they have been affected by the recession, this extends to deliberating over purchases whereas previously they were happily buying on impulse. Note that they are still buying. For now, at least. They also still agree, despite the apparent contradiction, that there are several ‘luxuries’ that they ‘just can’t live without’. Those people who were stretching themselves to buy luxuries and designer brands are now having to make do without, but those who comfortably inhabited the world of luxury are still enjoying shopping – as long as it can be justified as ‘investment’ buys.

If you're interested in insights into the Properly Posh, take a look at our Luxury presentation, or get in touch.

While on the subject of class, a rare insight into the psyche of the British middle classes can be garnered via the Twitter hashtag, #middleclassnightmares. it’s now long gone in terms of trending but was great fun while it lasted. Favourite tweets included ‘Ocado delivery came early, interrupted French lesson. ’ and ‘the kids want to put England flags on the Volvo for the World Cup’. Genius.

World Cup - sponsor visibilty research from Marketing Magazine

The other day I noted that according to Nielsen research Nike, despite not being a World Cup sponsor, had out performed everyone. The obvious lessons are there for all to read, especially the fact that Nike remain consistent in their investment, leverage the living daylights out of it and follow a religiously creative credo...apart from the odd meltdown as also noted. Now Marketing Magazine have teamed up with Lightspeed Research to examine the returns for official sponsors; http://www.marketingmagazine.co.uk/News/1009918

It makes fairly grim reading given the multi million Euro cost of World Cup sponsorship; Coke lead the way with 65% recognition (which of course says nothing about 'liked' or 'engaged') whilst Emirates Airline trail with 23%. Perhaps worse still is that brands, which perhaps don't natural enjoy a place at the front of a consumers conscientiousness, such as Visa, were being regularly confused for key competitors like MasterCard. Quite probably that's because MasterCard have their own football led strategy with the Champions League.

The fact that Nike and Coke are prospering whilst the likes of Emirates and Visa are struggling just goes back to some fundamental principles of communication planning and brand association; invest seriously (or not at all), invest consistently and leverage like crazy (but dont just think advertising, instead think of other integrated brand signals). Vitally the success of your sponsorship will depend as much on what you do in the years before the event as within it. And of course, whatever you do, don't just look at your competitors, panic and copy them...find your own space, build your own content, lead your own conversation.

World Cup communications - the story so far

So far the world cup has been processional as teams play with everyman behind the ball. Thus far the greatest spectacle has been the Ghanaian supporters and England’s arch nemesis the German team in action. The best save was ITV’s coverage of Marcel Desailly’s celebrations (after showing a car ad instead of the England goal to the HD viewers) and the worst foul is the constant drone of the vuvuzella trumpets. But how has the brand communication shaped up so far?

The TV advertising breaks are wall to wall with brands looking to associate with football and the world cup. In keeping with ‘event TV’ there are some efforts worthy of Messi’s trickery, most obviously Nike’s homage to Rooney, Ronaldo et al (including the marvelous fall from grace version: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSr4QnwOePQ) and Carlsberg’s call to arms (now looking somewhat flaccid after that calamitous effort versus the USA)http://www.youtube.com/user/EnglandTeamTalk?v=66OuJZGDCHE&feature=pyv. Nike is not an official sponsor of World Cup 2010, yet according to Nielsen research, has achieved a far stronger association than any other brand. I guess it kind of helps to not only be so dominant beforehand but also to equip 9 of the 32 teams (but then again Adidas have 12). However, it’s not all communication perfection for brands like Nike, some of their localised support media is lamentable. There is a mind boggling example of this on the Cromwell Road with Nike recreating Mount Rushmore with what I assume are the faces of some of our English heroes but they may as well be chimps for all I know. The execution is appalling, in fact i’m not even sure it was Mount Rushmore, it looks more like a failed attempt at a climbing wall with some inexplicable features to clamber over. Man alive it’s dreadful – Nike’s very own Robert Green moment.

As governing body communication goes the FIFA site is slick and up to the moment, if a little starchy. The official sponsor links are somewhat hidden in ‘competition’ sections like the Castrol match predictor although the link to Visa’s Facebook match planner is well positioned in the news section. As often happens with ‘official’ websites it lacks a sense of fun which is somewhat at odds with the Ghana fan club and even ITV’s Desailly moment: http://www.fifa.com/index.html

These days the best campaigns so often cast TV advertising in the role of the invitation with a far richer, more interactive experience on line. That sense of ‘fun’ and integration with the core campaign is threaded through everything that Nike do, so on the website you can ‘write your future’ as the brand is (locally) imploring England to do the same: http://www.nike.com/nikefootball/write-your-future/campaign/tools?locale=en_GB

And if it is the lighter side of football that you’re after you can do no better than sign up for The Guardian’s Fiver; written in the very best traditions of British satire and English football fatalism:http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/series/thefiver.

A final word goes to Hyundai; quite brilliantly they were the only car marque to grow in the USA through the recession by offering to buy back any new Hyundai if you lost your source of income. Simple but deadly smart value creation from marketing. So is their most creative effort on the ITV sponsorship bumpers to replicate the Top Gear car football idea?

The World Cup - it begins

Every four years the whole world witnesses a cavalcade of colours lights and sounds. Reputations are made or broken, there are cheers and there are tears, and in the space of five weeks, people will speak fondly of heroes who they previously didn’t know from a bar of soap...and apparently there’s going to be some games of football played as well.

Yep, it’s World Cup time, and a majority of well known FMCG, fashion and technology brands are gunning for your awareness like a Eric Cantona Karate kick, with global football stars and global budgets. Even more interesting is the role that the internet will play in capturing and keeping the global audience’s attention.

Previously, brands would spend the majority of their WC budget creating awareness campaigns featuring press activity and TV commercials, followed with little or no CTA for the consumer; the latter hoping that the brand logo would be enough to activate a response, or at least stay long enough in the audience’s memory for an extended period of time....like when they need to buy a new pair of trainers. Through the introduction of the internet, brands were able expand on their campaigns with websites that follow on from the commercial and allow users to find out more information on the brand and its products.

On the eve of the 2010 tournament, the activity has evolved into fully integrated TV and digital campaigns that have a very strong focus on capturing and keeping potential customers with Social Media channels. A commercial is now accompanied by a brand dedicated microsite, youtube channel, Facebook page and Twitter feed.

Due to the WC, these channels will be global, as opposed to being localised for a county’s market, and as a result, the opportunity for a brand to engage with an audience is greatly increased.
Nike’s Write history ad has generated 13 million hits and 25,324 comments from users. As the ad has only been live for three weeks, these are amazing statistics. I’d imagine that throughout the tournament, the amount of feedback and data generated through Social Media channels will be valuable enough to keep big Neville Southall in meat pies for a year....well almost.

Polestar in the community

Polestar stepped out into the local community last week spending a day with our nominated charity, The Salmon Youth Centre in Bermondsey

As one of the largest youth centres in the country it provides activity for over 700 young people every week as it strives to “inspire young people to realise their potential, to contribute positively to the communities in which they live and discover meaning and direction for their lives.” A mission we intend to help them deliver over the coming months & years.

A group of 14 year olds from The Charter School were our guests for an action packed day which saw us scale (or at least attempt to scale in some of our cases!) the highest outdoor climbing wall in South London, pictorially represent our future aspirations (lots of desert islands) and seek to share our (clearly limited) knowledge about STDs, nutrition and the alcohol/drink awareness.

All extremely rewarding and we are committed to doing much of the same in the future. And if you’re interested in supporting the Salmon Centre to lend some support of your own, please do contact them as all help is much appreciated.

Thanks for your data, here’s what we’re doing with it.

Last night i attended one of a series of digital seminars hosted by the law firm Olswang. The aim of the seminar, +TECHNOLOGY is to create an environment for technology specialists to listen to key notes delivered from respected digital experts, and discuss ideas and issues that affect the industry. This was the fourth instalment of the seminar programme, entitled You +TECHNOLOGY, with a focus on privacy issues incorporated with location based services.

The keynotes were delivered by Alan Moore of SMLXL and Tony Fish of AMF Ventures, and both speakers stated that as personal data gets more valuable, there is a need for governments to start regulating the way brands collect and utilise data. Very true.

But if a brand is abiding by data usage laws, are they also operating ethically? They may not be breaking the law, but are they taking a pro-active approach in educating users and informing them of what the data is going to be used for. I don’t think so. Let’s take a look at one of the more popular locations based services, Four Square. Four Square is an application that provides users with the ability to create a profile and share location details of where they are with friends on various Social Media channels. Although the app operates within the law, the privacy issues are alarming. All of a sudden, a number of people have found out your exact location when you ‘check in’ somewhere, alerting them that you might not be at home, giving them a clear sign stating please rob me. Currently Four Square is signing up 100,000 new members every 10 days, and i bet that the majority of those new members have NO idea of how their data is being used.

Things need to change. Users need to be given more of an opportunity to find out what their data is used for, and if brands start to adopt a more pro-active and honest approach in informing its customers of data usage, we’ll find a higher level of trust built up between both parties. As a result, this gives more of an opportunity to develop brand advocates, and ultimately create more awareness for the brand.

If you want know more, you can privately contact me at www.twitter.com/polestarcomms