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Back in 2007 Nora the piano cat received 30 million views on Youtube. In 2009 Susan Boyle (Britain has got talent) received 200 million+ Youtube views.

The latest viral phenomena to rush mexican wave style around the globe is the much talked about charity video ‘Kony make him visible.’

The release was greeted with heady euphoria. The Celebrity endorsements came thick and fast: Enrique Iglesias, Bill Gates, Oprah, Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Rian Seacrest and Katie Couric… Youtube at the Oscar’s.

One respected Brand consultancy here in the UK hailed it as ‘a brilliant social media and viral marketing effort – already 75 million views and counting…’

The same brand consultant went on to say that it is ‘the embodiment of every Challenger Credo and principle we’ve ever written about.’

When the celeb tweets started flying in the viewing figures soared – 85 million and counting.

The charity’s founders must have thought they’d won the lottery. In many ways they had.

Like most lottery winners elevated to heady heights and the glaring media spotlight that goes with it the ending was unlikely to be a happy one.

Last weeks euphoria is now a distant memory. The charity behind the video accused of over simplifying a complex issue, worse still, of manipulating the facts.

Media focus has turned from child soldiers to, disinformation and egotistical celebrities. The conversation from ‘now we can all be empowered to do good’ to ‘have we be been duped again’.  The internet moves fast. But the conversations remain the same.

The director of the video Jason Russell has been admitted to a mental ward. One day after his arrest, caught on video and published on youtube, the viewing figures for this latest viral video have reached 850,000 and counting.

Google the words ‘Kony Video’ and the message you’ll find is very different from the one the charity had intended.

Far from being a brilliant social media and viral marketing effort the Kony video highlights the pitfalls of overnight success.

Building a sticky brand isn’t about getting your message out to the largest possible audience. It isn’t about being famous.

The question that the charity ‘Invisible Children’ would do well to ask themselves is not where is Kony? Or how do we respond to the media backlash – an all but impossible task…

…but where is Nora the cat?

The answer is likely to bring gloom and solace in equal measure.

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In a recent interview with Andrew Marr I was surprised to hear General Sir David Richards refer to the British military as a ‘hugely strong’ ‘brand’. One that ‘despite cutbacks’ would continue to achieve its core objectives.

So is the British military a brand? If so presumably its premium status means that it is more desirable, for those countries who can afford it, than say the Afghan military who would not be able to command the same premium rate?

Our manufacturing base might not look too hot but here at least is something we do well – a world class brand. But what about the cutbacks? If we go along with the general’s notion of the military as a brand – one which is strong but cash strapped – then surely it would make sense to consider some strategic cross branding?

Brand ‘X’ is in need of the halo effect which brand ‘Y’, the British military, has in spades. In return brand ‘Y’ gets a much needed injection of cash. The question is who would make the perfect partner – Proctor and Gamble perhaps?

Unfortunately like most good ideas it looks like this one has already been done by a creative team based at The School of Communication Arts. Well done chaps!

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In an interview following the Conservative Party conference, notable for its cats and bags, I was struck by the PM’s answer when questioned by Jon Snow on the economy. When asked if he, David Cameron, had ever suffered economic hardship himself, the PM referred to his current job and the fact that he was well paid and privileged to do this job.

The question was of course directed at Mr Cameron’s past and his privileged background not his current state of employment. That the PM chose to deftly sidestep the question is telling for two reasons. Firstly it shows us that, like most politicians, the PM is a master of the foxtrot.

Secondly, party politics and dancing aside, it tells us that the conservatives are aware of a potential flaw in the brand Cameron, one that is destined to play an increasingly important role in the party’s ability to deliver a powerful message on the economy.

The conservative’s have chosen to base their economic campaign strategy on austerity, the strap-line ‘We are all in it together’ underscores the message and adds that all important call to action. This key message is in keeping with the conservative brand values which are traditional and lend themselves to a good old fashioned bit of  patriotism; not a bad card to play when times get tough. So far so good.

But is Cameron a believable candidate to deliver this particular strategy? As an old Etonian and member of the Bullingdon Club (ah cruel fate) the answer is probably not. Cameron lacks the provenance to deliver a message that would have him be seen as one of the boys, down in the trenches… ‘austerity let me tell you about austerity my family lived in a… but of course they didn’t and he isn’t. And that’s a problem.

Brands like Johnnie Cupcakes (covered in last months newsletter) go to considerable lengths to ensure that the founder’s story is in keeping with the brands values and the products it delivers. Richard Branson rarely if ever misses the opportunity to show that he, like the brand, (which he is) is youthful adventurous and aspirational. Unlike Branson’s or Johnnie Earle’s past Cameron’s is off limits to the strategists.

When Reebok stepped away from its aerobic heartland to take on Nike’s prowess in the track and field market it failed to win not because it’s products were in anyway inferior to that of its competitor or that it lacked the financial muscle and will power to compete but because it lacked provenance. Ask people what they associate Reebok with and most will say aerobics ask them about Nike and most will say track and field. Who would you buy a pair of running shoes from?

A brand whose strategy and message is not aligned with its history, and the actions that make up that history, is one that will at best lack punch and worst be seen as a fraud.

Why do the polls show Cameron as a lightweight and not really up to the job? Answer: he lacks the provenance to deliver the party’s strategy on austerity. Cameron knows this and so do the strategists which is why he is keen to side step the issue and move the conversation elsewhere.

As is the case with all brands the issue is not what is being said, or even how it is being said, but our (the customers) perception of who is saying it. Consciously or unconsciously voters will always ask the question, do they have the provenance, do we believe them? The famous Monty Python sketch uses this gap between the sayer and what is being said to great comic effect finishing with the punch line, ‘and you try and tell the young people of today that and they won’t believe you.’

Margaret Thatcher could deliver messages about free enterprise and social mobility with power because she was a grocers daughter. When George Bush senior, an east coast wasp, hit the campaign trail he donned a Stetson and a Texan accent. While the rest of us are striving to be upwardly mobile those seeking high office are striving to be downwardly mobile. It’s a funny old world.

For a variety of reasons that go beyond the point of this article many European politicians are increasingly looking out of step with their voters. Thanks to a combination of education and geography, European politicians, will at least for the seeable future, find it much harder to reach for the equivalent of a Stetson and Texan accent.

If Cameron could lay a historical claim to austerity I’m sure he would. But as it stands the current Conservative brand communications strategy is doomed to look more like a sticky wicket than a sticky brand. A grocers daughter he ain’t.

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Herdism or Mumism?

According to Mark Earls individual choice is not the big thing it has been cracked up to be. Evidence has come to light, which seems to suggest that our choices are for the most part driven by the social groups we inhabit. This thinking also has significant repercussions on how, we as customers relate to brands.

Important stuff and it all makes absolute sense especially given the new social interconnectedness afforded by the new digital networks. In other words not only interesting – this new stuff is also very timely.

And yet… I couldn’t help thinking of something my mother said to me when I was 14 or 15 years old. ‘It’s funny,’ she said. ‘Every generation thinks it’s the one that invented sex.’ Listening to Mark Earl’s speak you could be forgiven for thinking that this new thinking is err… new. And that this new way of thinking which gets to the bottom of how we really behave and what drives that behaviour will revolutionise the way market research is done in the future.

And yet…in 1984 a report was carried out which showed that when the suicide of a celebrity was reported there was ‘a significant increase in suicide rates in the months those articles were published.’ It’s not the only report there are countless others – not all of which have suicide as the main topic – they just have the same conclusions. If in doubt, which is where most of us are most of the time, then follow the crowd. When someone comes along with what looks like an answer that fits our inclination, be that inclination hunger or the wish to end it all, we say I’ll have some of that thank you.

The fact that we take our cues from the social networks we live in is hardly news – at least not new news. Behavioural psychologists have long since known the influence groups exert on our behaviour and decision-making. People who go to weight watchers might say they are going there to lose weight – most will probably believe that this is the case. But if we dig a little deeper we soon see that the reason they are going is to hang out with other fat people in order to feel okay about themselves. If I am an alcoholic I’ll hang around alcoholics that way I can have my behaviour confirmed as normal and socially acceptable.  The weight watchers business model is nothing short of sheer genius – certainly the closest thing I’ve come across to a perpetual motion machine.

What Mark Earls is saying is interesting. What’s more he says it in a way that is cogent and well thought through. You don’t get to have several books published on a subject without being able to string a sentence together. Mark Earls has certainly strung a lot of sentences together and strung them well. Herd is well worth reading as indeed was his previous book Welcome to the Creative age.

But really is this stuff new or are we just being strung along? In his opening gambit he sets out his stall by posing the question ‘what do we do in a world in which social learning is the prime means in which people shape their behaviour?  Although not explicit the inference and the argument it sets out is that the world we now inhabit is somehow different. Digital social networking has changed the way we operate and we need to rethink our approach to branding and the way we do market research.

Mark Earls latest book, Herd, provides us with the new methodologies and the new way we need to think about branding and market research. Herd is the new frontier a bright new dawn and  a brand new day in market research land. If all goes well it won’t be long before we see market researchers and marketeers rolling up to become Herdsman or Herdswomen.

Mark Earls is a master ‘brandsman’ – you only have to look at the Mark Earls brand to know this to be true. If he is half as good at delivering other companies brands, and I have no reason to believe otherwise, then to have him shepherding your company’s assets to the promised land would be a very useful thing indeed.

Although not part of the book’s main premise Herd has one other important message, that brand owners and those who work to improve them would do well to heed. And that is the only thing that sells better than sex… is the new sex.

Whilst I’d like to claim this insight, credit where credit is due. My mum – who incidentally and for the record went to weight watchers – was right, there’s nothing new under the sun just the latest generation who think there is – very insightful my mum. Think I’ll call this a Mumism. Perhaps there’s a book in there somewhere?

You can find the video of Mark Earls talking about his new book Herd on the Roy Langmaid website

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Fact Shoveler or Researcher?

Labels can be misleading. Most of us have at one time or another probably met a teacher who isn’t or a doctor or lawyer who ought not to be. The principle of course can be applied in reverse. Take Rory Sutherland someone who would not label himself as a researcher and yet you only have to listen to him speak for few minutes to get that he’s more of a researcher than many who would claim to be. By researcher I am referring to someone who does more than gather and collate facts.

I would like to label those researchers that simply collect facts in the same way as the Inland Revenue collect tax returns, ‘fact shovelers’.  ‘Fact shovelers’ would have us believe they are masters of some technique or other, the mastery of which enables them to find out what makes customers tick. More often than not these techniques follow well-established scientific principles, which require people to be subjects and the researcher the detached and dispassionate observer.

The results are nearly always the same – a regurgitation and reorganisation of existing information. If that’s what you are looking for – and it can certainly be useful – that’s fine – but if you are looking for an insight that changes the way we see things or how we might do things differently, then employing a ‘fact shoveler’ is an utter waste of time and money.

Worse still ‘fact shovelers’ have the unerring ability to kill great ideas stone dead or leave them so badly mauled that there’s not much left worth saving. Imagine how ‘Vorsprung durch technik’ went down in research focus groups? Answer: Like a pork pie at a Jewish wedding. Fortunately the idea belonged to BBH and the findings were ignored; countless other ideas weren’t so fortunate to have a BBH on their side.

So why do companies employ ‘fact shovelers’ to deliver insights? One reason is that most clients are unsure of what is meant by the word ‘insight’ and the processes involved in unearthing them. A situation not helped by the fact that ‘fact shovelers’ are more than happy to continue peddling that big red herring that insights can be found in filing cabinets, in the same way that a Turner might be found in an attic.

Another reason, one most companies won’t admit to, is that even though they say they are looking for insights the truth of the matter is they are not. Insights while the lifeblood of any brand are often uncomfortable things to have around because they require us to do things differently. What’s really on sale and what’s being bought isn’t research that will shed light where it is needed but the illusion of safety. Our second red herring.

So what is it that makes Rory Sutherland an authentic researcher and not a ‘fact shoveler’? I’ve heard Rory speak before, once on Ted.com and on the Langmaid Practice. Engaging stuff. Listen to him speak for a few seconds and you get that Rory is out on an adventure, making connections, having fun – its like going for a spin in a convertible, roof down, hairpin bends, it’s exciting. When you get in the metaphorical car with a ‘fact shoveler’ it’s about as exciting as travelling down the M25 in a Ford Fiesta having just left the in-laws.

No matter how colourful the slides are there is something rather lifeless and colourless about the insights ‘fact shovelers’ serve up. The world as we know it reshuffled like a deck of cards. It looks like it ought to taste of something but it never really delivers on the expectation.

I believe that what makes Rory Sutherland a researcher in the true sense of the word has nothing to do with methodologies but good old-fashioned curiosity. An itch to find out what really lies beneath the surface and he won’t, or more accurately I suspect can’t, stop scratching until he’s found it. Perhaps we should call this new methodology Curious Economics.

You can find the Rory Sutherland video on the rather excellent Roy Langmaid website … well worth watching.

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The economic storm clouds, whilst thinning, don’t look likely to disappear anytime soon. But frown not. Despair, Inc. may have the solution… more despair. What Despair Inc. products lack in wit the site’s attention to detail and Jack Dee humour make up for.

At sometime or other most of us have experienced customer service that isn’t.  By turning this common and widely shared experience on its head, ‘Customer Disservice ‘we’re not satisfied until you’re not satisfied’, Despair Inc. are inviting us to share in  the joke.

Using humour to define who is in and who is out.

The germ at the heart of most viral marketing, humour allows brands to instantly share common experiences, beliefs and unspoken values. Defining who is in and who is out. Done well it leaves customers with a positive experience, one which ultimately translates into increased sales.*

Despite the fact that Despair Inc. run the risk of being a one trick pony they will probably thrive whatever the economic climate thanks to those companies  that are happy to peddle hand me down marketing clichés that have long since reached there sell by date.

While shoddy branding and the marketing this produces hang over customers and companies like a dark cloud for sticky brands like Despair Inc. it’s proof that every cloud really does have a silver lining.

*65% of U.S. consumers report a digital experience changing their perception about a brand (either positively or negatively) and 97% of that group report that the same experience ultimately influenced whether or not they went on to purchase a product from that brand. (Garrick Schmitt, Razorfish)

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Small children with fingers trapped and sometimes amputated. On the branding emotive scale that’s about as close as you can get to a perfect 10. Maclaren’s reaction has been to recall one million pushchairs… or strollers if you are American. And if you are not American they haven’t recalled them at all.

No such thing as bad publicity?

In the time of Michael Fish what happened over there would have gone largely unnoticed over here. In the time of twitter squalls have a habit of turning into full blown tornados in no time at all.

If Maclaren have judged their customers well the bad weather should remain isolated with some scattered showers. And if their customers decide that the decision was based on greed? Getting your fingers caught in the corporate till – Ouch!

But I suspect that there are other bigger brands at play here, namely Brand UK and Brand USA, and the squall will remain just that and all will be fine, at least at this side of the pond.

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