Don’t Do Social Media

Everyone’s doing it so why don’t you? I’m talking about SOCIAL MEDIA.

I’m not here to tell you why you SHOULD do social media – I’m here to tell you why you SHOULD NOT.

1. You don’t have anyone to manage it. Social Media isn’t advertising.  You can’t just assign it to an Associate Brand Manager, have them write a creative brief, hand it over to the agency, get the creative, make some changes to put your stamp on it and have the media buyer send the file off to the publication/station/etc.  Social Media requires DAILY attention because it is a CONVERSATION. No one in your department really wants to have conversations with consumers on a daily basis! Your consumers are nuts!  You prefer pumping out one-sided advertising that barks out meaningless messages but makes people at the company feel good.
2. It creates more work. Yes, you will have to answer product questions and help your consumers find your product.  You might even have to deal with a consumer complaint.  That’s what the Customer Service or Quality Assurance depts are for, right.  You didn’t pay all that money for college to be answering complaints!
3. Speaking of complaints, consumers might say something negative. You like to keep it positive, right?  You have any time for negativity and besides, you don’t want your boss to find out about some flaws or bad press.  That would be DISASTER!
4. You’ll have to train people how to understand social media. Let’s face it, your boss doesn’t understand it, the sales team doesn’t understand it and your peers will think you’re just screwing off if they see Facebook open on your computer.  That spells D-R-A-M-A to me, and you don’t need that.  Just stick to the traditional stuff.  A recession isn’t any time to be a renegade.
5. Isn’t this what agencies are for? Yes, agencies are the ones that are supposed to create and execute.  Your job is to analyze and strategize.  Oh, and write PowerPoint decks. And make your boss look smart.  Your agency is in the midst of getting all this social media stuff figured out – and when they do LOOK OUT!  It will be BIG!

So there, five reasons why you don’t have to worry about social media.  Don’t you feel better about it now?  Now get back to that deck that’s due by 9am tomorrow.

Lennon and McCartney Knew Marketing

I found myself talking about “LOVE” a lot this week.

• I was talking about how a meaningful conversation with a brand makes a consumer feel loved – which breeds loyalty.
• I found myself training a new field marketing person by explaining that winning over customers in the trade was all about “spreading the love.”
• I used some of the consumer network and communities discussion we had at SwomFest as an example of how people who have a common “love” leads to an even stronger loyalty to a brand.
• We want to empower all of our employees so they can brag about our brand and spread the love.

As Kevin Roberts explains in his book, Lovemarks, (I’m a big fan of this book) it really is all about LOVE.  Giving it, spreading it and enabling it.

As you’re planning out your 09 marketing, all you need is love.

On-Premise: A Promotion Wasteland

I was entertaining some out-of-town guests last weekend and they wanted to hit some bars in “LoDo,” which is an entertainment district in Denver that attracts the 21-30 crowd.  LoDo isn’t really my thing, but it was interesting to see the flood of on-premise promotional activity from a variety of beer and spirits brands.

It reminded me of my days trying to create and execute on-premise promotions, which was always a difficult task.  The knee-jerk rection was to create a “canned” promotion that satisfied all of the marketing objectives (build awareness, create a brand experience, sample, etc.)

Canned on-premise promotions don’t work.  There are too many factors at play:

• type of bar (club, tavern, bar & grill, sports bar, music club, etc.
• owner/operator preferences
• consumer demo
• consumer moods and level of intoxication

The trap is that it makes total sense to try and build image and volume at key on-premise accounts where consumers are more susceptible to trying new brands via promotional activity and canned promotions are cheaper on a cost per impression basis.

The challenge is to create a program that is adaptable to different types of venues and marketing occasions while engaging consumers in a REAL way – which means TALKING to people.

Here are my Top 5 Canned On-Premise Adult Beverage Marketing Concepts That Never Work:

1. Hot chicks passing out samples – gets product in the mouths of consumers, but typically fails to make a meaningful connection with consumers.
2. The energetic promo team – brands that want to reach both males and females like the male/female promo cheerleaders.  This works for people who are already drunk, but this concept is almost a sure-fire failure at happy hour, restaurants or low-key taverns.
3. Characters and mascots – brands who have a icon like to create an environment where consumers can interact with their brand mascot and get their picture taken with it.
4. Trash and trinkets – Ahh yes…Consumers love free crap. Give-a-ways can get your foot in the door with the account and get you a little attention from the crowd.  But when you think about it, how often does a t-shirt, keychain or ballcap take a consumer from awareness to loyalist?  Not very.  In fact, I would guess that more harm is done when some consumers walk away empty handed.
5. Generic carnival games – SPIN THE PRIZE WHEEL! Unless your brand is Carnival Cruise Lines or Animal Crackers, I doubt the participants are walking away with a memorable experience.