ChatThreads ChatterBox

Let the marketing games begin!

What could possibly come next in the world of story telling and series themes? We already have wizards, vampires, werewolves, and zombies… Enter child gladiators in The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collin’s new twist on the classic dystopian novel with a hint of The Most Dangerous Game. The Hunger Games is a cure for all who are waiting for the next new series and up-and-coming fantasy world.

The fans of Katniss, Gale and the city of Panem will have to wait no longer to see their fantasy world come to life in the movie adaptation set to premiere in theaters tomorrow. Like a wave deep in the ocean, gathering speed and strength as it races to shore; so is the hype of The Hunger Games, that has been building and gathering more speed, fans, and excitement since the spring of 2009, when early promotion for the movie series had begun.

There is nowhere to go to escape the talk and anticipation for tomorrow’s big release but how exactly did this big ball of hype develop? NY Times unraveled the secrets behind the marketing plan from Lionsgate’s Chief Marketing Officer, Tim Palen, in the article “How ‘Hunger Games’ Built Up Must-See Fever”. The interview reveals how Palen combined the old marketing tricks and social media to create a massive tsunami of can’t-miss-Katniss frenzy that is headed for its crash landing tomorrow.

With a relatively small $45 million budget for a marketing campaign, Palen was able to create as much press and promotion for The Hunger Games as a campaign with 100 workers and a budget of $100 million. Palen focused on inexpensive digital media to promote the movie, such as Facebook, Twitter, websites and more. However, this was not just a regular Kony 2012 word of mouth or should I say, posts on Facebook campaign. Palen and his crew developed an innovative multi-channel approach to advertise the soon-to-be blockbuster hit.

One of the cheap and interesting methods Palen’s marketing team implemented was the creation of the website, TheCapitol.pn, about the city the Hunger Games takes place in; “The site allowed visitors to make digital ID cards as if they lived in Panem, the movie’s futuristic society”, according to the NY Times article. Another way they inspired fans and strangers to the movie to get excited for the premiere was a twitter scavenger hunt: “It was a silly little stunt, but it worked—bam,” Palen stated. The marketing team release 100 puzzle pieces on different website’s Twitters. Fans had to search and put the puzzle together of the movie poster—Hunger Games trended throughout the world within minutes. 

(Facebook post on another media promotion)

Other promotions included a Tumblr blog about the fashions in Panem, a Capitol TV channel on YouTube, and a Facebook game. Lionsgate and Palen were able to capture the youth through these techniques and it is this youth generation, along with the old and the curious, that will see the games and all they have to offer. 

 

Posted by Shawn Zubin, Northeastern University

The Problem with Traditional Surveys

I was happy to read Saturday’s New York Times the article, “When Businesses Can’t Stop Asking, 'How Am I Doing?‘“. The story affirms the value ChatThreads brings to our clients that they can’t get through traditional customer satisfaction surveys: genuine, engaged and immediate consumer feedback. 

Traditional consumer surveys are everywhere nowadays thanks to technology. Online tools like SurveyMonkey and Zoomerang allow surveys to be easy and cheap to develop and deploy. Targeting consumers based on their online behavior and requesting their feedback through pop-up surveys is also a relatively efficient effort for marketers. Hundreds of millions of surveys are served-up to consumers each year through these channels.

Enjoy your morning coffee from Dunkin and a free survey!

However, the proliferation of surveys creates several problems for marketers. The first problem is the obvious one: consumers are annoyed with the constant stream of requests for feedback that pop-up in front of their web browsers, interrupting the experience they are having with the content they are really interested in reading.

Second, the surveys can get really, really long. Eager for information, it can be hard for marketers to properly focus and curate the questions.

Third, the very people who customers are supplying feedback on, customer service or sales reps, are the ones pressing customers for positive reviews. The New York Time’s article gave the example of cable installers standing near customers as they submit their review over the phone (a la Cable Guy). No one likes someone breathing down their back or reading over their shoulder. Now imagine that person behind you with big puppy eyes that say “My job depends on it”.

ChatThreads has worked hard to develop a platform that captures consumer feedback better than traditional surveys. We allow our clients to quickly dialogue with consumers, in real-time at the moment of impact via their mobile phones. I am proud of our 92% opt-in rate from first time participants (it certainly didn’t start off that way!) because it means that our experience is as engaging to consumers as the data is valuable to marketers. And that is a win for everyone.

Read more on the subject:  http://servicewitch.com/2012/01/16/infant-who-begins-babies-r-us-customer-satisfaction-survey-dies-of-old-age/

 

 Posted by Laurie Cohn, CEO

Tagging March Madness

A couple of weeks ago, Banksy (mysterious London street artist and creator of infamous Mr. Brainwash, whether he wants to admit it or not) released a statement—more of a rant—about advertisements and their influence in everyday life. Banksy declares of the advertisers: “They have re-arranged the world to put themselves in front of you. They never ask for permission, don’t even start asking for theirs.” What I can surmise from this: Banksy must hate March.

 

NCAA’s March Madness is the Super Bowl of basketball, but with a month’s worth of advertising. Kicking off the advertising mayhem was Colorado State verse Murray State. While eager fans filled out their brackets beforehand, many could already see the brand plugs such as StateFarm and Infiniti on ESPN.com. Like the Super Bowl, March Madness attracts more than basketball enthusiasts, but also people like me who only watch the Super Bowl for the commercials and fill out a bracket for March Madness even though I don’t know anything about the teams. This is an advantage to advertisers; their audience is wide and varied.

What brands should we expect to see amid our teams fight to the top? AT&T, Coca-Cola, Capital One, Buick Infiniti and LG are the starting players in this tournament, on top of brand sponsored jerseys, shoes, sweatbands etc. There are sweepstakes, Facebook campaigns and charities, like Coaches vs. Cancer (read more on brandchannel.com). Maybe Banksy has a point here. 

 

What will I see more this tournament season? Basketball or Capital One? Lucky for us, there are more ways to see our favorite teams (and brands!). Turner Sports, CBS Sports and NCAA announced the release of the March Madness Live App for Andriod and iOS devices. Now, not only can you see if your technique for a winning bracket (dart throwing monkeys or children) worked in more places but you can experience these brands and advertisements from your phone, tv, computer… Oh my! 

 

Posted by Shawn Zubin, Northeastern University Intern

The Power of Facebook: Kony 2012

As a college student, there are three basic forms of media I use to receive my news: Facebook, Twitter and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (so basically I’m not as informed as I should be). However, imagine my surprise when it was through Facebook that I learned of the new movement: Kony 2012. You’d have to be living under a rock (or… gasp not have a Facebook or Twitter account), if you haven’t heard of the Invisible Children and their new Kony 2012 viral video. This video has superseded the fanfare of other viral phenomenon, including “Teabowmania”, “Lin-sanity” and of course, Angelina Jolie’s left leg. I may or may not believe in what the Invisible Children’s team is doing but I do commend them for one thing: their marketing. As I read more and saw my Facebook wall explode with friends sharing the viral video, I knew this gang of three filmmakers knew their audience and how to market to them. So what does their success mean to the marketing world?

(Picture from http://www.facebook.com/invisiblechildren) 

Kenneth C. Wisnefski from the Washington Post states that strictly from a marketing standpoint, their current efforts as an advocacy organization trying to widen awareness of the issues have been tremendously successful. The result of their efforts is a growing contingent of informed individuals around the world whose support can be leveraged for further appropriate action that can achieve results. All this is thanks, in large part, to Invisible Children’s purposeful harnessing of viral marketing (read more of Wisnefski’s article).  The number of Twitter followers and Facebook friends reflect their successful marketing, going from 444,461 fans on Facebook to above 2.5 million and 54,375 followers on Twitter to 380,000. 

With this loyal fan base, it is no wonder that the Invisible Children’s call-to-action was able to spread as quickly as it did. They were successful in harnessing their target audience, mainly college students (who are, of course, avid Facebook users), to do their advertising for them. Who wouldn’t want to help out a meaningful cause and not even having to leave their dorm room? And all it takes is a click on their Facebook page.

The Kony 2012 video went viral so quickly because of the students looking to have an impact on the world, much like the Occupy Wallstreet Movement. As Larry Magid states on Forbes.com, “It’s great to see young people engaging with issues beyond their immediate lives and thinking about the plight of other youth thousands of miles away.” However, it wasn’t just college students spreading the message of Kony 2012 but celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Justin Bieber. Invisible Children, unlike other brands who do not always know their audience and how to appeal to them, knew their audience, understood them (knowing that some of us go on Facebook multiple times a day) and was able to create a campaign that required little to no actual work besides sharing a link.

Invisible Children’s marketing strategy is something everyone can learn from, whether a nonprofit, advocacy group or even a business.  “Viral simply achieves remarkable reach very quickly, presenting a dynamic model of marketing, changing traditional timelines and targeting strategy”, says Wisnefski of the Washington Post. There is a lot of criticism on the Kony 2012 movement but there is something all marketers can take from this: know your audience and create something we would all would like to share by a simple click of the mouse. 

More on Kony 2012:

http://www.forbes.com/sites/larrymagid/2012/03/12/kony-2012-a-lesson-in-critical-thinking-video/

http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/03/09/how-the-kony-video-went-viral/

http://www.forbes.com/sites/simonmainwaring/2012/03/13/what-kony-2012-can-teach-us-about-ourselves/

 

Posted by Shawn Zubin, Northeastern University Intern

 

What can Marketers learn from Super Tuesday?

ChatThreads BrandEncounter tracks real-time voter exposure to presidential candidate touchpoints.

When was the last time you encountered the Coca-Cola brand? Was it on TV? YouTube? Perhaps in the grocery store or at a friend’s house?  There must be 99 ways a consumer can come into contact with a brand. And, as Wendy Clark pointed out last year at the ARF, the brand only controls a finite number of those encounters.    

Understanding how to craft a brand story that can live on in a multitude of formats and channels is critical for brands as they develop their marketing strategy today. It can make or break the brand.  As an example, two of the biggest brands today won’t be around by Labor Day – and may even be washed away by Memorial Day. Between Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich, only one is going to win the Republican nomination for President. For these three brands candidates to be successful in such a short amount of time, they are going to have to learn from Coca-Cola how to optimize their brand encounters.

For the last two weeks, ChatThreads monitored in real-time all the different ways voters in the Super Tuesday states came in to contact with the leading candidates (Romney, Gingrich, Santorum). Here is a partial list of some of the ways by which voters were encountering these candidates and the percent that were reached.

While there are several take-aways from the chart above, there are three that jump out for me:

1. Despite Romney significantly outspending Santorum, Romney and Santorum are virtually equals in terms of total Online Reach.
2. Santorum garners more offline word of mouth conversation than Romney.  

Further, this offline word of mouth is generally more positive towards Santorum than towards either of the other two candidates, and it is generally more negative towards Romney:

3. Similar to many Brands, Romney seems to have an engagement problem. As of March 8, 2012 Mitt Romney has 1.5M people who have “liked” him on Facebook. But how engaged are these fans? Of those 1.5M people, only 90,000 – or 6% - are talking about him. Compare that to Rick Santorum, who has managed to garner just about 10% of Mitt Romney’s “likes”, with about 171,000. However, approximately 41,000 – or 24%- of Santorum’s fans are talking about him on Facebook.

Fortunately, marketing effectiveness is not measured solely by the impact of that particular campaign or event. A channel with low impact but high reach can be as effective is a channel with huge impact but low reach; meaning that over-all marketing effectiveness is a function of Reach x Impact. This is where Romney may have the advantage that puts his brand over the top. Television remains the greatest vehicle for delivering broad reach. And when voters are encountering Romney through television, his brand lives on in a far more positive fashion than Santorum:

For Romney, this may just be the recipe for continuing his candidacy in to the Fall. 

Whatever happens over these next several months, one thing is for sure: The candidate who can identify and optimize their best channels is the one most likely to win the nomination. And marketers everywhere can learn from their efforts.

 

Posted by Tim Wilson, Director of Business Development

WOMMA Summit Presentation Slides Posted!

Just got back from another great WOMMA Summit in Las Vegas. Presentation slides are now posted on our website:

Slides for WOMMA State of WOM Research Address
Slides for Socializing WOM Research throughout the Organization with Bing

ChatThreads is Hiring!

ChatThreads is hiring for a Brand Touchpoint Analyst position. So if you have a research background, love looking for the story in the numbers, and want to be part of a great company in a high growth phase this is for you! Check out the description here: http://linkd.in/qKBPoN

PREVIEW: Integrated Social Media: Business Impact Study 2011 at ARF Audience Measurement 6.0

We're excited to announce a new study on social media in the marketing mix that will be premiering at the ARF Audience Measurement 6.0 conference ( #ARFAM6). ChatThreads and Ogilvy partnered to study what the true business impact is of social media. We used our BrandEncounter™ platform to track how consumers come into contact with five Quick Service Restaurant (QSR) brands and to measure the impact on their consumption frequency, amount spend, and shifts in brand perceptions.

At the conference we'll answer the following:

- Does social media impact "spend trend" (the likelihood that a consumer will increase the amount they spend at quick service restaurants) and how much they actually spent?

- Does social media impact "consumption trend" (the likelihood that a consumer will increase how many times they eat at a QSR) and how many times they actually eat at a QSR?

To be among the first to find out the answers to these questions and more be sure to attend our "Emerging Hot Topics" talk on Monday, June 13 @ 5:20 pm!

ChatThreads Presentation Slides and Paper from ARF re:think 2011

Presentation slides and paper for ChatThreads' presentation at ARF's re:think 2011 conference are now available!

The title of my presentation and paper, admittedly a mouthful, was "Real-Time Capture of Consumer Brand Encounters for 360° Media Optimization and Consumer Insights." In the paper and presentation I discuss our real-time touchpoints tracking platform, BrandEncounter^TM. Here's the executive summary from the paper:

A basic problem for brand marketers is to understand when consumers notice their brands and how these encounters contribute to purchase. Past approaches to solving this problem focus on what marketing spend or impressions are purchased rather than what consumers actually notice (purchased impressions vs. actual impressions), record a limited set of encounters, and rely on data recalled weeks or months after the actual encounter rather than at the moment of encounter.  Additionally, results are rarely available to help marketers actually inform the next budget cycle’s planning or optimization in real-time. A better solution provides validated data captured in real-time for any type of consumer brand encounter, based on what consumers actually experience, within a competitive set of brands, to offer insight, optimization, and data inputs for time-series modeling.

Download ChatThreads' ARF re:think 2011 Presentation

Download ChatThreads' ARF re:think 2011 Paper

Life of the Party

We’re happy to share that leading in-home consumer activation platform House Party has engaged ChatThreads to expand their in-house analytics capabilities. In addition to auditing House Party’s internal measurement methodologies, providing independent third-party validation and enhanced metrics for the highly successful global Windows 7 campaign, we are also providing ongoing measurement of House Party’s 2010 Kraft First Taste campaigns. Party on!