Fallon Brainfood: Fallon Blog Secrets Revealed! (and the death of Fallon Planning Blog)

Its been 2 years since we launched the Fallon Planning Blog and 2 years since Ed Cotton and I did our "Blogging The Agency" presentation at AAAA Planning Conference which tried to assess the value of account planners' blogging.

At the time, questions were just starting to arise about agency bloggers and the role we should be playing on the burgeoning social web. I distinctly remember some big name planners insisting that all this bloggery and twittering was a waste of our time and we should get back our proper surveys and focus groups like a good puppy. Interestingly, not a day goes by that a client isn't asking the Insight dept for a POV on social media. Then, social media was a hobby, now its become the job.

What prompted the Fallon Planning Blog? Fallon Planners were asking a philosophical question: Are we merely our work, or are we our ideas and thinking, too? And if we're ideas and thinking, where does all that get expressed and workshopped beyond our client decks? Younger planners were asking how might they learn and hear from experienced planners beyond the annual conference? Other questions abounded about what effect social media might play on us, our industry, our work, our clients? We were beginning to see the seismic shifts that social computing was having on retail, media consumption, music, creative production, distribution, etc. A partial answer to this conundrum was to participate. We started a blog.

The blog launched with little fanfare (or even official sanction) we simply started and assumed to sort it out as we went.

So years later, what has it gotten us? What have we learned from blogging and Brainfooding and Tweeting and social networking?

Fallon Brainfood: Agency Blog Secrets Revealed!

View more presentations from akispicer.

Highlights about Fallon Planning Blog
-Over 170,000 pageviews and over 27,406 unique visitors since launch in 2006
-Average 600 RSS subscribers a day
-Ranked #142 on AdAge Power 150 - top media and marketing blogs
-over 12,000 pageviews in Feb 2009, this year may be reaching a tipping point!
-Fallon Worldwide/Fallon Minneapolis receives an average blog mention every 11 days
-Fallon Planning receives an average blog mention every 12 hours

Highlights about Fallon Brainfood:
-over 52,000 total views of Brainfood on Slideshare plus countless live webcam views, blog posts, and Tweets
-over 4600 views of Brainfood in Q109 so far
-28,905 Twitter impressions

AAAABloggingtheAgency.pdf

View more presentations from akispicer.

So you might wonder why all the reflective tone in this post? It probably sounds like something is ending. And well, it is...or rather, something new is soon to begin. But for now, consider the Fallon Planning Blog experiment successfully ended.

6 Ways to Play Twitter - Winning Strategies for Brands On Twitter

Not a week goes by where someone doesn't ask me to quick-brainstorm a Twitter strategy for their brand. Then I roll my eyes and grimace as I believe most brands probably should not Twitter (because they really aren't willing to deliver on-demand responsiveness - just one among many factors unique to the Twitter platform.).

Nonetheless, here is an easy chart of 6 Ways To Play Twitter. Pin it on your wall if you're considering just how your brand may fit into the conversation on Twitter.

(click to enlarge or get.pdf or get.png)

Notes:
*All strategies don't fit all brands - do some soul-searching!
**And, yes, some strategies may be combined (like Mortal Combat button combos - "Finish Him!")

***If I'm missing some angles throw 'em at me in the comments (or @akispicer, as I reserve the right to update this chart with better ideas.

A Short History of Marketing

Shift Happened. Not news to you, but a clever clip nonetheless and client/deck-ready (when you've rehashed those other charts/vids saying the same thing to death).


from german agency Scholz & Friends.

Fallon Brainfood: The Mobile 10 Invitation

Fallon Brainfood: Mobile 10 Invite on 12seconds.tv

Date: Thursday, November 6, 2008
Time: 12pm CST/1pm EST/10am PST
Location: Fallon Stage 24 (for employees) and the Interwebnets (for everybody else)

This will be a live presentation about mobile media, using mobile/social media! RSVP via Facebook.

*Don't worry, specific links and coordinates will be forthcoming on day of the event, you will not have to download or learn any new or complicated technology to participate, I promise.

What is Brainfood?
Brainfood is an all-agency lunch conducted by Fallon Planners. Wide-ranging topics explore trends, business issues, and actionable opportunities for our brands. Moreover, Brainfood offers us a chance to come together, share a beer and some pizza, and engage in a stimulating discussion on a variety of interesting topics that affect our business. Past Brainfood presentations have included trends and hot button issues such as Virtuality, Design For All, China Rising, Latin America in the Age of Web 2.0, Social 10-Trends in Social Media, Blogging the Agency, and more.

Missed previous Brainfoods? Go to + or + for a sampling

A Metaphor for Web 2.0: The Bubble Project

Consider this a living metaphor for Web 2.0 (in fact, he says so at the end):

This artist and his Bubbles are the Web 2.0 enablers sprouting up all over the web and mobile (YouTube, Dopplr, Yelp, Twitter, etc), inviting people to participate. People add value by contributing to the blank space in the Bubbles (without the contributions of the masses, the Bubbles are valueless). And well, the collective canvas and conversation starter is the ads (and TV shows and news).

Agencies and creatives now have the choice to acknowledge that these Bubbles will now increasingly pop up throughout the web (and the real world). We may even embrace these Bubbles and actually leave space for them and let their contribution make our communications ideas better/contextually relevant/innovative/participatory/engaging/personal/collaborative ("people add value"). Or not. We can pretend that our ad ideas are the special ones, and we won't ever be Bubbled over.

But it is likely that the Bubbles are coming whether you intend it or not. Don't fear the Bubbles! They don't have to be malicious threats to our idea, in fact, many are simply co-creative and collaborative additions that actually improve on and expand the communications idea (or they can be). And if the Bubbles are negative, we may need to ask ourselves why and is there some truth to be addressed in the Bubbles' response to our brands?

Either way its a fresh and slippy idea for our times.

Social Web Amplifies AIG Advertising Ironies

AIG's ad message irony: a theme of 'Strength to Be There' sparks a campaign pullout. But the social web never forgets as links and WOM spreads virally.




And this blogger received a direct mailer (and topped Digg ranks yesterday) from AIG asking: "If Disaster Strikes, Will You Have The Protection You Need?".

Perhaps marketers will need to audit their brands' vulnerability in a worst case scenario where the product/company can't deliver on the ad message - in a big public way. This, of course, is the eternal bane of advertiser's existence - the nagging worry that "what if my client can't deliver on our big brand idea?"


via AdAge and IPoopDaily.com

Free Hugs

//POWERFUL (SIMPLE) IDEA
//GENEROUS ADDED VALUE TO PEOPLE'S LIVES
//MASS INTERACTION
//SOCIAL WEB AMPLIFIED THE IDEA

...Imagine if your Brand had done this?

Social Media is the New CRM

Noticed yesterday that Home Depot is now on Twitter and answering questions in the vein of Frank over on ComcastCares...I thought this post was a succinct display of the Generosity, CRM responsiveness, and "added value" derived from HomeDepot's social media efforts.



More models for how brands may upgrade CRM and advance value on the social webs.

Community 2.0: Entourage on Whrrl

New social net Whrrl (think Yelp! meets Facebook meets Brightkite/Dodgeball meets Dopplr) is trying to gain groundswell with a nifty collabo with HBO's Entourage. Befriend the crew and get personal guides/recommendations/reviews of LA from the characters like they were "real" people.

More examples(+/-) of social media blurring the lines for "fictional" characters (stay tuned for a Case Study and vid of our own activity with Sci-Fi Network's Eureka TV show.

The Feast

"The Feast" on October 16th in NYC will gather 150 of the world's leading creative mavericks, entrepreneurs, revolutionaries, radicals, and innovators together to inspire action to change the world.

A series of inspiring, mind-expanding, and innovative talks that will showcase a look at social innovation from all angles. From design to business to science, our speakers will share a deep look at changing the DNA of their respective industries by harnessing the power of creativity to propel social change. Some confirmed speakers include Dale Jones of PlayPumps International and Tom Szaky of TerraCycle.

Whether you're a social entrepreneur or socially conscious at heart, "The Feast" will provide you with an excellent platform for inspiration, connection, and action.

For more information and to purchase tickets, visit http://www.thefeastconference.com

Community 2.0: Hurricane Gustav Information Center

A collective assembly of Gustav Information. Using Ning platform, the site aggregates content from a variety of social media resources, including; Flickr, Twitter, YouTube, Utterz, Technorati, etc.- all you have to do is tag the item gustav.



*Hopefully, this will be a merely academic exercise in pre-caution.

via Social Media Club

Fallon Brainfood: Social 10 *UPDATE: Scrabulous vs Hasbro

In my Social 10 trends in social media presentation a few months ago, I recounted the cautionary tale of Hasbro's Scrabble versus Scrabulous


Well since then, Hasbro finally beta launched their official Scrabble app on Facebook. And Scrabulous unexpectedly closed down their app last week - only to then relaunch as Wordscraper.

The numbers are in from Adonomics, and Wordscraper has almost matched Scrabble Beta's usage numbers - in only a few days since launch.


Some lessons to learn:
-Again, at the Social, you're competing with the crowd as much as you're competing with "competitors"
-Collaboration may be a better option. So, what Hasbro has created is a new enemy, a formidible competitor more nimble and effective than you (I hear word of tech glitches with the Scrabble Beta, Worscraper is further along and has groundswell)

Fallon Brainfood: Communicators Forum @ University of Minnesota Q2

I presented a keynote at last week's Communicators Forum at University of Minnesota and I ran over time before I could answer many of the Question Cards from the audience. Let's keep the dialogue going. Here are more answers to one of the cards (expect a few more posts in coming days):


Q: Many of the examples refer to "selling products" - can you talk about how we might translate this to "selling research"?
Great question. Ironic, too. Because I am, right now, "selling research". Or strategy. Or an odd hybrid, but I digress. My point is, thru all my social media tools, I am working to get insights out of the file cabinet, out of my notepad, out of the presentations for 6 people and never seen again, and into the hands and minds of my living clients/associates/collaborators/students, etc. In this day and age, there is so much data and research that the role of interpreter and guide is more vital than ever. Research matters not if the people who matter don't "get it". Your mission, as researcher, should be to demystify and help them "get it". So be the Virgil of your research. Social media can help you get your research "slippy" and out there and exposed and in the conversations.

How to get your research social? Dramatize your research's effects on people, show us on YouTube what the data means in an engaging way, blog about how it impacts us in ways we never expected, podcast the interviews of those at the frontlines of your research, Delicious your article links to parallel paths of other thinkers in your field. Slideshare your latest thinking, and Flicker the latest charts and graphs. Get it out of the research journals and into the spheres of influence, your peers, your bosses, your financiers, the press, whoevs and wherevs, get the research socialized, man!

The old school approach to research? A mysterious cabal sequesters themselves away and test and think, then come down off the mountain with tablets of new gospel. Well, the new way is

-Open share - you don't own an idea if you insist on hiding it, you own an idea by sharing it. Throughout the research process, tease us with drafts and sketches and updates.
-Open source - in college, collaboration on a test or paper is called "cheating"...but collaboration is the only way to solve problems faster and smarter in this age. Start cheating, and letting others cheat off you which requires
-Open code, make your info stealable, thus it is desirable, thus it is shareable, thus it gets spreadable. Give up a few secrets (charts, graphs, insights, interviews) and let others work on the equation with you and pay you back. Oh, and steal from others, too (just give credit so that person may own their contribution).

Some quickie sites that come to mind for me (while not knowing what form of research you specialize in) of making research engaging and slippy:
http://blog.compete.com/
http://www.wefeelfine.org/index.html
http://twistori.com/
http://www.heynielsen.com/
http://www.trendrr.com/home

Fallon Brainfood: Communicators Forum @ University of Minnesota

I presented a keynote at last week's Communicators Forum and I ran over time before I could answer many of the Question Cards from the audience. Let's keep the dialogue going. Here are some answers to one of the cards (expect a few more posts in coming days):

Q: Give an example of how you control/mitigate negative feedback in social media on behalf of a client.
A: Control is an interesting word. I don't think you can control negative feedback in social media - or rather, you control negative feedback mostly at the service and/or product touchpoint. I.E. Make good products/services, you control most negative feedback. But I am being coy, I guess.

Lemme reframe the question: 'the villagers are angry, they're outside our gates with blog torches, now what the heck do we do?'

Well, negative feedback seeks a response. And the internal audit that should be had in face of any critique is: 'are they right?' If they are right, um, do something about it. If they are wrong, well do something about that. The tension that often sparks a groundswell of negative sentiment across the web is often the fact that absolutely nothing is done (no repair, no acknowledgment) in face of a critique. This lack of any response fuels a revenge mentality.

In my opinion, many negative feedback crises snowball from 2 faults: 1) not responding properly when the problem was small and indeed "controllable" (think Kryptonite Bic Pen Gate), and 2) not making real change or repairs when/if the negative feedback was made (think airlines still haven't changed the system even after years of us complaining).

This quandry always existed (customers complaining and speaking negatively) - the only difference today: customers can make a blog post and expose you to the world and incite a million-man groundswell against you (though really they are only aggregating a million people that already agreed with the negative sentiment). Let's be real, this isn't the complaining customers' fault (control people's sentiment? no.)- it may be the fault of a problem that actually needs to be addressed and/or changed (control your own organization? yes.).

Strategies for managing negative feedback:

-Take It Seriously. Address the negative feedback when it is just one lone caller/blogger/commenter - try to solve his single problem and turn frowns to smiles (a single change just may help you head off millions of the same latent complaint waiting to bubble up). Today, you never know if that lone complainer has a million followers to his blog.

-Use the blogosphere (or any consumer feedback touchpoint) as your early warning system. Track sentiment. Measurement tools abound (see some of my presentations for dozens of examples).

-Talk back. Directly. Blogs have "comments", make yours. Tweet back. YouTube response video back. Email back. yLive back. IM back. Call back. And it won't hurt you to bring some tidy reparation gifts in exchange, but a clear resolve to the problem is probably gift enough for most.

-Consider inviting critics in - stock your advisory panels with haters/lovers who are likely complaining 'cause they actually care deeply about your brand (funny how that works).

-Adopt a process for personal consumer touch that is proactive (think Comcastcares on Twitter). Phone banks wait for complaints to come, can we meet problems earlier up the stream?

-Enable change agents, not just complaint takers. That means the complaint hotline team needs to be reframed. Organize the negative sentiment into monthly reports, DEFINE THE MOB'S PROBLEM, and have MIB agents who can tap the right officer in the company to deal with these problems. And then hold those departments accountable - think Internal Affairs at the Police Department, somebody complains, somebody gets suspended (or at least investigated). If departments are held accountable to complaints, well, they tend to work harder to prevent the problems. Everybody wins.

I won't pretend these are solely "social media" strategies, as they probably make sense in whatever media your customer touches - its simply called listening and responding (or good business, maybe). There may be some efficiencies to doing these via Facebook, or not.

Yeah, I admit that all these suggestions are not easy. But it ain't easy stomping out a raging groundswell of negative sentiment about your brands, either.

BONUS CASE STUDY: Offer your customers the "Marvel No-Prize"! Marvel Comics has the unique problem of juggling multiple comic characters, with multiple writers and complicated story planes. Over the years mistakes happen in the comic character continuum. Fans are avid and engaged keepers of the brand truth and they will write and call Marvel out on any and all story mistakes. In response to every geek writing in to tell Marvel what idiots they are for missing a story mistake, they introduced the Marvel No-Prize. Marvel No-Prize is the award given to the keen fan who not only points out a mistake BUT ALSO SOLVES HOW THIS IS NOT A MISTAKE AFTERALL (thru some mental jujitsu and back issue research).


A couple things are happening in this model: a) hater energy is converted into solver energy, b) only solvers are recognized in the letters pages of the comics and complaints are "controlled", c) the crowd is tapped on behalf of the brands to co-create and look for holes then patch them up. If you buy my assertion that most haters are secretly your lovers who care deeply about your brand, then the Marvel No-Prize metaphor may work for you, give the haters a paddle in the boat and a way to contribute answers for you, put 'em to work! *The actual Marvel No-Prize that you receive is a heavily branded empty envelope, and your feature in the comic book letters page. Which further proves the point: recognition and credit is half their goal.