Word of Mouth (okay, it's not really about marketing but it beats a stock photo of someone whispering into somebody's ear)

Even before social media and the Internet were glimmers in Al Gore's eye, "word-of-mouth marketing" was important to brands. That's because people have had conversations about brands since the dawn of time. I still remember, when I worked at a sporting-goods store in high school, my manager telling me that a customer will tell two people about a positive shopping experience but will tell seven people about a bad one. I can't say how valid those numbers are, but the gist rings true: Conversations between consumers about brands are far more influential than any advertisement has been or ever will be.

If you don't believe me, just ask Nielsen. Its 2012 survey of global trust in advertising, which asked consumers what influenced their purchase decisions, found that 92 percent of respondents trust (completely or somewhat) recommendations from people they know. Even if they don't know someone, they still trust that person's opinions more than any other kind of advertising (70 percent trust consumers' opinions posted online). A distant third was editorial content (owned media). So there's no question that while paid, owned and earned media are partly responsible for growing awareness and loyalty, they are no match for the influence of people. 

This influence works both ways, remember. While brands like the Human Rights Campaign, which motivated 2.7 million people to use its red "equality" logo as their Facebook profile photos, are benefiting from positive word of mouth, United Airlines and Victoria's Secret felt (or are still feeling) the wrath of the consumer—in the form of a voice that social media can amplify exponentially. 

So how do you get people talking positively about your brand? That's where storytelling comes in. 

Creating a Brand Narrative
In the post-advertising age, the brands that are succeeding are the ones that in effect turn themselves into stories—creating original, authentic media that their customers actively choose to engage with, explore and then recommend to others. The old model was 2 percent conversion. Now it's 100 percent engagement. 

But engagement is an industry buzzword and nothing you haven't already heard. So how can digital storytelling help you create positive word-of-mouth about your brand? 

First, brands have make an effort to map their digital touch points and create a strategy that will encourage the right customers to voluntarily associate with a brand, thereby building a much deeper knowledge of and connection to it. That allows the brand to tell its customers a new chapter of its story every time the customers touch it. So the first chapter of a story might describe the brand's approach to sandwich making. The next might describe the types of people the brand employs, how the brand goes out of its way to appreciate customers, and so on. The channels and stories vary from brand to brand, but what remains the same is the commitment to creating great content that is audience-serving, not just self-serving. 

Next, the content may be branded but must also be useful and entertaining or both. This type of content, such as Subway's original 4 to 9ers web series and The Walking Dead's immersive after-show, get people talking about the brand in the context of interesting content that doesn't feel like advertising. 

Finally, after unearthing a brand's story, mapping the touch points and creating engaging content, brands have one last step to take to align audiences with their story—it's what I call the leap. Brands have to get out of their comfort zone and embrace their audiences in good times and, probably most important, in bad. Gary Vaynerchuck, a brand in and of himself, constantly does this. At the most recent SXSW conference, he purchased a vendor booth and simply stood behind it for hours while attendees lined up to ask him question after question. I've never seen anything like it, and I've told countless people about Gary's "leap." He opened his brand up to all his fans and provided not only an authentic human connection but also valuable answers to their questions. 

Brands that exist outside of a single human body also have opportunities like this, especially when they are in crisis mode. Domino's practically wrote the book on reactive customer service when, on several occasions, its brand was shown in an unsavory light. From customers' unflattering reviews to customers' damning photos to deplorable behavior on the part of employees, Domino's listened, owned up to its mistakes and responded honestly and in a way that made a difference. In fact, Domino's was able to use the experience it gained through responding to the crises and turn it into content marketing. 

The Power of Customer Conversations
The greatest change in the post-advertising age is that conversations have become media. A brand must not only create great content but also help foster positive conversations. That's exactly what Domino's did and what United Airlines should have done. Social-media tools amplify these conversations, and then it is just arithmetic: billions of social-media users, each with hundreds of friends and followers. The conversations themselves are assembling large audiences in the way that mass (paid) media used to, and it is up to brands to craft the right narratives. 

Jon Thomas is the Communications Director at Story Worldwide and editor-in-chief of Post-Advertising.

"Yeah, everyone's not me."
Carrie Matthison, Homeland

Premium is becoming an overused word like amazing (is that sandwich really amazing?), or a misused word like literally (most people are "literally" using it wrong). Just because a company uses the word premium to describe its product – it doesn't make it original, high quality, distinctive or even valuable to the consumer. As any fan of Homeland, Shameless or even,Gigolos will tell you, Showtime is definitely a premium cable channel, worth every extra dollar you spend for entertainment. Any car owner who spends more at the pump for premium gasoline understands higher-grade fuel means better engine performance.

But for every real premium experience, there are plenty that aren't. An entrepreneur in Malaysia has launched a premium coffee served at luxury hotels in Asia and the Middle East, that sells java to connoisseurs for $50 a cup. The "premium" refining process? The coffee beans are fed to Thai elephants, plucked from the pachyderms' dung and, then, prepared for roasting. Makes you reconsider any grumbling over paying more at Starbucks.

The same holds for premium content. Almost every publisher believes their content is premium. And yet, too often a premium content experience for readers means articles about a topic you care about surrounded by stories of moisturizing jeans and cross-dressing virgins.

The definition of premium should be overhauled before this awesome term literally becomes irrelevant. At a basic level, premium content must have a point of view, tell a compelling story and be visually engaging. Depending on the intended audience, premium content can be a recipe for whole-wheat blackberry scones on 101 Cookbooks, a list of the top 10 epic tech gadget failures on ReadWrite or a DYI for a sequin bracelet from Honestly...WTF. The quality of the content is determined by something that's too often taken for granted: reader engagement. Not pageviews or clicks, but real engagement. Did the reader leave a comment? Were they moved enough to "like" it? Tweet it? Pin or share it? If they did, that engaging content deserves the title of "premium."  

Provocateur Jane Pratt of xoJane has mastered the art of reader engagement. The loyal audiences at Sassy and Jane magazines are as responsible for establishing Jane's no-holds-barred editorial style as she is. It’s not unusual for a story on xoJane to elicit hundreds of enthusiastic reactions. Jane created a viral tsunami when she asked readers to submit pictures of themselves when they first wake up, resulting in hundreds of entries, participation by Courtney Love and major media coverage. By making her readers part of the story, Jane ruled social media before it was even called that.

Every publisher and brand online looking to be considered premium needs to determine the value of the relationship between content and reader. That is the only way the true essence of premium can remain pure and doesn't become a matter of quantity over quality. As digital media becomes more fragmented and increasingly personalized, premium content is signified by its intrinsic value to the reader and its ability to motivate someone to take action. It means rethinking the idea that bigger is better for brands, and embracing the power of environments where people are talking. It’s the  choice between screaming one’s brand message at half-million bustling pedestrians in Times Square or addressing a captivated audience 5 percent the size in Madison Square Garden. 

The highest rated show currently on network TV has an average of five times the viewers of the season two finale of Homeland. And no disrespect to those wacky nerds Leonard and Sheldon, they entertain millions of people each week. But, do they elicit any morning-after, water cooler talk about their latest hi-jinks at a Star Trek convention?  Not likely. Now try bringing up Carrie, Brody and Abu Nazir in conversation, and like that coffee from Malaysia, that's some premium ... stuff.

Thom Allcock is the publisher of Style for Say Media.

Red Bull has been awarded the number one spot as the best global brand in social video strategy in Goviral’s new report: ‘The Global Social Video Equity Top 100’. The report measures brands on their effectiveness in branded content within the social media space.

The Red Bull Stratos campaign won huge media coverage and became a viral phenomenon with its video of the highest ever skydive by daredevil Felix Baumgartner who broke the speed of sound with the stunt. Clearly, Baumgartner had the world’s eyes on him, and with it, helped Red Bull pull off one of the biggest global marketing stunts ever.

The top ten social video brands, according to Goviral’s report are: 

Click on each brand name to see the case study and creative on Cream. To unlock up to four other case studies on Cream, register for a free trial.

The Italian Fashion brand Benetton has always made waves around the world for its provocative and shocking advertising campaigns. Its most well known campaigns include ‘Food for Life’, ‘La Pieta’ and the UNHATE campaign. However, Benetton claims to be changing tact and wants the brand to become more socially engaging, rather than shocking.

Benetton’s new campaign, called ‘Unemployee of the Year’, raises the issue of youth unemployment. It consists of a short film, a printed ad and a contest for young people to present a project in support of local communities, and the winning entries will receive funding from Benetton.

By Crispin Reed

The challenge of 'eastern' brands going west is not a new one. It wasn't that long ago – well only a couple of decades ago, that Japanese products, be they electronic goods or cars, were seen as cheaper, poorer quality imitations of western brands. And it was even more recently that Daewoo cars and Samsung electronics (both from Korea) suffered the same issues. But look at those brands now. Samsung, in particular, is doing exceptionally well having recently launched gesture-controlled plasma screen TVs.

Outdoor experts (and friends of Cream), Posterscope have shared a presentation about convergent out of home. Weighing in at 93 slides, this requires more than a casual browse, but there is some fascinating stuff about the re-definition of what constitutes a screen, with examples drawn from a variety of brands from all over the world.

Anybody working on any presentation would do well to check out the data slides (page 20 onwards), which are full of decent snacksized data, handy for anyone who needs to make a point.

by Danny Turnbull

Over the last few years we have seen ad campaigns focus largely on the financial benefits of purchasing a specific product, rather than building loyalty and brand values to incentivise purchases. BOGOF deals, half price sales and aspirational products became the order of the day for advertisers. But there has been something of a sea change over the past year or so, where ads are becoming more emotive. Take John Lewis and its runaway success with its ‘The Long Wait’ advert over Christmas, which had viewers reaching for the tissues. Google’s ‘Dear Sophie’ ad also pulled on the heartstrings of the British public, culminating in Google’s VP stating that “If we don’t make you cry, we fail.” So what do advertisers want to achieve with this tactic of emotive advertising?

"The Long Wait" for John Lewis, by Adam & Eve

This emotive trend aims to develop brand loyalty and moral values. Companies are cautious of being viewed solely as money-grabbing and unsympathetic of people’s situations in a credit-crunch economy, with political leaders extolling the benefits of ‘responsible capitalism’. What better way to portray a million – or in Google’s case a billion – dollar business than as a friend with the same morals, values and drives that the public have. The ‘Dear Sophie’ ad oozes ‘family’, ‘love’ and ‘security’, and merely by association it suggests that this is what Google will provide – exactly what many yearn for in hard times.

These emotive themes also trigger audiences to interact with brands far easier because they are not presented as faceless corporations. Brands want to drive customer loyalty, and create genuine relationships between customers, companies and products that hasn’t been seen in the past. A brand that acts and supports a lifestyle – be it green, socially conscious or family-driven is more likely to be granted with a consumer’s custom. Don’t be surprised if John Lewis’ competitors start building a brand image that conveys a specific set of values in attempt to overshadow the department store of choice.

Another intriguing correlation with this emotive branding exercise is the rise of the happiness index. Various countries and governing bodies have conducted wide scale investigations into the wellbeing of their populations. However tenuous and flimsy you think this metric is, it is a revealing coincidence that the rising public profile of the nation’s happiness (or lack of it) has been matched by an increase in emotive advertising. The economic outlook over the past few years has turned from bad to worse, and this has caused a change in the outlook of the population. No longer is there such a focus on financial benefits (maybe because there simply isn’t enough money lying around anymore) and so the general consumer now aspires to other things – namely emotional happiness and their overall wellbeing. It is clear that advertisers have sensed this and realised that a change in tactics must be locked in.

The switch of aspirations by the general public from wealth to emotional wellbeing naturally has caused a shift in tactics by marketers. Such a major cultural shift means that marketing must now appeal to more than just the customer’s wallet, and must provide benefits that go beyond financial gain. The age of big business, advertisers and corporations making unchecked profit has been consigned to the gutter, and now society wants companies that will give back not just in taxes and jobs, but in social wellbeing and long-term morality.

Brands must align themselves with this new way of thinking, or risk losing customers. This brings us back to the theory of ‘responsible capitalism’. Many consumers are re-assessing how they live their lives and it’s down to brands to help them live more sustainably. Business and advertising must also follow their path to cement loyalty in the long-term.

Danny Turnbull is Managing Director at gyro

News

Market localization for Starbucks means foie gras sandwiches in France and ‘bacon butties’ in the UK.