lead/marke | ralf schwartz

Effective W-o-M Disrupts Schemas

"Effective word-of-mouth disrupts schemas that are tied to the core of your category and brand. We call this the foundational truth.

Disruption can never stray too far from the foundational truth or the consumer rejects it."

(from "Why Effective Word-of-Mouth Disrupts Schemas", AdAge)

Agencies: North Kingdom Showreel

Still great: North Kingdom Showreel (2009) by Artdirector Robert Lindström

Making of ...

Apple: Largest Mobile Devices Company - just before Nokia, Samsung, Sony

... see the rest of Steve's iPad introduction here. Enjoy!

The Age of Gaga: Lady Gaga Mash Up

Nachdem nun in den letzten Tagen mein Feed Reader überquoll mit Lady Gaga Links, ist es glaube ich an der Zeit, die Facetten der Lady hier mal ganz kurz zu reflektieren. Ein Streifzug durch meine Feeds der letzten Tage seit der CES:

CES Goes Gaga ... I arrived 45 minutes early for Polaroid’s CES event Thursday, only to find 200 people already crowded into a press pen. The pop star’s music, with lyrics such as “I love your psycho, your vertigo stareschtick,” blared from the speakers (sadly, I know all the words). While ...

13 Reflections from C.E.S. ... Lady GaGa rules. When in doubt, go for the celebrity. Sony turned to Taylor Swift and Monster and Polaroid turned to GaGa. Of course there were plenty more "borrowed interest" celebs designed to draw in delegates (ok, geeks) like a moth to a flame. Don't knock it...it works. I ended up literally right next door to the Diva and got some video foo...

The Rise of Digital Music & The Return of the Record ... Lady GaGa and Susan Boyle came out on top, signaling that pop culture trends (and Internet sensations) really do drive sales. In addition to the burgeoning digital music market, record sales increased this past year as well - 33 percent. That’s 2.5 million records taken home by vinyl enthusiasts. But here’s the cool part: Two out of every thr...

Polaroid announces new OneStep film and instant digital cameras, some branded LCD TVs ... tenacity of Lady Gaga, we expect that any day now she'll be the president of PLR IP Holdings within the week. Until that fateful day when Polaroid becomes the Haus of Gaga, it looks like the company will be keeping busy by continuing to slap its name on consumer electronics. Probably the coolest of the lot is the PIC 1000, the future-retro...

CES 2010: Let The Show Floor Streaming Begin ... Lady Gaga, something about becoming some sort of bigwig at Polaroid. I know! What will she do next? I'm thinking Ponzi scheme. So we're streaming that live right now, and then we're live from the show floor for the rest of the day. Also: if you missed last night's Digital Experience broadcast, check it out here. We saw a ton of pr...

Lady Gaga Named Creative Director at Polaroid ... partnership with Lady Gaga, naming her their Creative Director of specialty products. The multi-year union of the iconic brand with one of today's fastest rising and fashion forward stars seemed like a good move for Polaroid, noting what a close relationship Gaga has with her ...

Polaroid Goes Gaga for Pop's Leading Lady ... muse to Lady Gaga, naming the music superstar creative director for a specialty line of products.

Nicht über Lady Gaga, aber sehr interessant: Digital Drives UK Music Sales To 10-Year High, But Look Deeper ... 2009 Official Charts Company figures from the BPI show unit sales 15 percent up from 2008 to a decade high of 281.6 million, spurred by digital singles…  - Digital resurrected the singles market in 2004. Virtually all of the 152.7 million singles sales were digital last year (98 percent, or 149.7...

Lady GaGa Is Taking Over the World, One Business Venture at a Time ... Lady GaGa already has five #1 singles, two #1 albums, a brand-new comic book deal, and the most talked-about wardrobe (mal)functions this side of the Superbowl XXXVIII halftime show. But what she really wants to do is design.Taking a cue from Nikon's partnership with Ashton Kutcher, Polaroid has named GaGa a "creative director." According to a p...

Lady GaGa Remixed by Latest YouTube Sensations [VIDEO] ... Lady GaGa Medley,” a perfect arrangement of the pop star’s radio hit “Poker Face” that’s already amassed more than 1.2 million views. The YouTube veterans have also covered the Glee version of “Don’t Stop Believing.” That video alone has upwards of 3.5 million views. Then there’s the a cappella rendition of a hodgepodge of Michael Jackson songs,...

Lady Gaga named Polaroid creative director, puts that liberal arts education to good use ... Lady Gaga, the newest creative director of Polaroid Imaging Products (insert your own Paparazzi joke here). Apparently the chanteuse will be working "behind the scenes" to develop "prototypes in the vein of fashion / technology / photography innovation." We just hope the Haus of Gaga has learned a thing or two after that Monster debacle a few mo...

CES: From Lady Gaga to Punky Brewster [Voices] ... Twitterverse is Lady Gaga. The pop star has her own line of headphones, but she’ll be in Las Vegas with Polaroid to talk about a new line of imaging products in what is likely to be a packed press conference. Reality television will be represented, with “Real Housewives of New York” star Jill Zarin at fellow photo company Kodak’s (EK) booth. Sol...

Das Lady Gaga-Prinzip für Marken ... hielt ich Lady Gaga für eine singende Perücke, die vor allem dazu dient, die Knallpresse und Boulevardformate von “Brisant” bis “Explosiv” zu füllen. Dann aber hörte ich erstmals Bad Romance und stellte erstens fest, dass ich - musikalisch gesehen - alt werde, das Produkt, die Musik also, gar nicht mal schlecht produziert ist und das künstleri...

Lady Gaga Barbie Dolls ... of custom Lady Gaga Barbie dolls and they are awesome.

How Social Media is Changing the 2010 Grammys...was for Lady Gaga, who has an extremely active social media following, check it out: After less than three weeks it has gathered more than 1.1 million views and is currently the 19th most viewed video in the music category for the month of January on YouTube. At this point, most major music artists are embracing social media to some ...
Video:

Nirvana + Lady GaGa = Epic Mashup [VIDEO] ... Lady GaGa has been a little… shall we say, overplayed this year (being Last.fm’s official Fame Monster as well as one of Twitter’s most influential topics of 2009). Still, this vid is worth a serious look. It almost makes “Poker Face” seem semi-fresh. And if you’re so inclined, you can click here for even more masterful mashups from 2009:

Und hier seht Ihr die Lady bevor sie Gaga wurde:

Ist dies nun die Madonna des neuen Jahrtausends? Ist sie die ideale Verkörperung einer optimal-obsessiven lebenslangen Personal Life Cycle Vermarktung? Oder nur ein kurzer Hype?

Wenn man ihre Wandlungsfähigkeit sieht, verbunden mit ihrem Marketing-Talent, stellt sie zumindest schon Paris Hilton in den Schatten. Sie scheint zudem weniger angreifbar, weil sie einfach weniger Angriffsfläche bietet. Und scheint dafür mehr Projektionsfläche zu bieten. Vor allem aber das Potential, sich chamäleon-artig weiterzuentwickeln, neu zu erfinden.

Stehen wir mit dem einen Fuße schon im Age of Gaga? Marken und Unternehmen sollten spätestens jetzt beginnen, darüber nachzudenken.

UPDATE

29. Januar

23:35 Uhr > "National Lady Gaga Day Draws 100,000+ on Facebook", mashable.

Comparing The Services of Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Yahoo

Courtesy NYTimes (article).

Via Scott Rafer (just the picture).

5 Social Media Myths still alive

"Social media, particularly its use in business communications, is still in its early days, and like anything new and different, there’s plenty of mythology surrounding it.

The problem posed by certain of these myths is that they mislead those trying to adopt social media, and can lead to bad decisions, poorly implemented initiatives and unrealized expectations.",

writes Joel Postman, and then discusses 5 myths, which he would like to prove wrong:

01 - E-Mail Is Dead
02 - The CEO Needs to Blog
03 - MySpace Is Where the Young People Hang Out
04 - Social Media Communication Is Informal
05 - It’s Going to Go Viral

Read more at "Debunking Five Social Media Myths".

Innovation: Chocolate > 'Flavor' of the Month in Japan?

Courtesy Japan Trends.

On the left no chocolate but a new soda drink: looks like 'chocolate', tastes like chocolate, just chocolate-flavored.

On the right? See for yourself - and more at Chocolate Combination Innovations.

... and God said: "Epic Fail. GTFO!"

Via buzzfeed.

Change the Game: Kann Apple die hochgesteckten Erwartungen erfüllen?

"Well, of course! Apple wouldn’t be Apple without going for a game changer in the marketplace. And there’s nothing like creating a brand new category, is there?", Daily Fix.

Bisher ging es meistens gut. In wenigen Tagen wissen wir mehr.

"All of this got me thinking, why don’t more companies, large and small, generate excitement about their product innovations? Why don’t they build anticipation if they’ve created a new widget? Why shouldn’t we have more ‘Apples’ out there?"

Social Networking or Think Twice - Are You willing to Change and Act?

@jmichele explains in his mashable Post that Social Media "isn't for Everyone". To find out for yourself you should answer 2 questions.

For me those questions aren't as dead-simple as they sound. In the contrary, they provide some deep thinking about the culture, philosophy and vision of the corporation, the brand, the people.

These questions have to be answered from the very top, because they touch everything the corporation believes in, for good or bad. Because they will bring a paradigm shift if answered positive.

Are you willing to act?

"... when an organization makes an investment in social media it is a constructive opportunity to consider not only what could go wrong, but why it could go wrong. In other words, what are the valid criticisms that customers and employees might have and what you are willing to do about it. If you aren’t willing to consider the former and have no power concerning the latter, social media might not be your best bet."

Are you prepared to change?

"So it might not be the best idea to “join the conversation” if you just want to make your quarterly numbers. Don’t create a Facebook Fan Page if your product is a letdown. Don’t use Twitter if your intern will be running the campaign. Above all, don’t engage in social media if you aren’t prepared to change in the bargain."

Everybody asked would immediately say 'Yes. And Yes.', but this would be lip service. If you did not act on customer complaints till today, why should you even consider such a ridiculous idea now, or? Just because the advent of Social Media? Come on!

You understand Social Media as the no-cost alternative to advertising, why shouldn't an intern run the 'campaign', if it is a campaign after all.

And advertising hides the product's flaws, or? You made your share with a generic, even bad product after all, or, by outspending the competition! Why not outsmart them with some Social Media tricks now, or?

Sorry old Rules do not apply any longer

I fear, you will have to think twice. Social Media - or Social Networking, as I prefer to call it - isn't old wine in new skins. Social Networking is not a short cut to success.

Social Networking is labor- and brain-intensive. It is a 365/24/7 job, not a campaign or burst as you know it. It is no advertising monologue, it is an authentic dialog.

Social Networking celebrates human's new independence, individuality and impatience. It impacts your image, product, brand personality directly.

And: You cannot not Social Network! It happens - if you are a part of it or not. If you take care or not.

You will not succeed with just lip servicing in your board, the press, the advertising. Social Networking is not just your next campaign! If you are not ready to Change for good, you are not ready for Social Networking!

So, please think twice and please think about the consequences. Done correctly Social Networking will be your road to success.

Super Mario and the Trend Arcade!

Via Core77. "A group of five students at Politecnico di Milano, Italy have selected and studied 5 of the biggest global trends, communicating them through this video by french team member Octave de Gaulle."

Transcending the average marketing report by far. Changing the Game for reporting!?
I very much like the idea that even marketing reporting can outgrow itself!

Enjoy the information, presented in a novel and fascinating way.

Changing the Game by Reinventing Yourself: The Evolution of Nintendo

Via monotask.

One thing is to continuously reinvent yourself to stay ahead of competition. That is great.

The other thing is to reinvent the market and have no competition any longer!

Creativity in its truest Sense: Rocking horse made from a vintage Vespa

This is my definition of creativity: to combine two (or more) existing and known elements to create(!) something innovative.

This picture perfectly demonstrates what I mean by that:

Picture courtesy Cory Doctorow, boingboing.

Of course, we do see creativity in the iPhone (Game Console + Music + Phone, etc.), in Nike+ (Sneaker + iPod + Social Software), in so many other products - where it is obvious.

What we don't see is the creativity in our own products! They desperately stay in one single market, they remain in a single concept of thought. Our average products are earthed by single-mindedness.

Think about your product, your service, your offering! Let it rise like a phoenix from the ashes, free it with your creativity! Live its diversity! Understand its personality! Unleash its potential, its hidden talents! Explore its values! Create something new!

Be a Spark! Change the Game! Leave a Mark!

Brand Engagement: Simplicity rules!

"The original app downloaded over 870,000 times was a simple take on the classic spin the bottle game" ... "The latest iteration connects users to Facebook to spin with friend's profiles or use the images in their phone's camera roll."

Picture courtesy Coca Cola / More at Contagious.

Werbung: Weder Kunst noch Wissenschaft

Auch wenn Werbung weder Kunst noch Wissenschaft ist, so kann man sich doch ein wenig Mühe geben. Fehler sind schnell gemacht. Die augenscheinlichste Lösung ist nicht immer die beste!

Mehr dazu in meinem neuen Artikel beim werbeblogger:

"Ist es ein Wasser? Ist es ein Bier? Nein, es ist …

Heute also startet eine neue Kampagne für … aber sehet selbst:

Der Spot

Die dunkle Schönheit geht an einem klaren Morgen nur in Decken gehüllt auf einen ebenso klaren Bergsee zu. Die Decken sind sehr weich, schmeicheln ihrer Haut. Wenn das kein neuer Lenor-Duft ist! ..."

Bitte beim werbeblogger weiterlesen ...

Ford: The Next Media Company?

Craig Daitch, Senior Vice President at Converseon and AdAge author writes:

"... Ford CEO Alan Mulally in his red sweater vest, who introduced an updated version of the in-dash, in-car technology game changer, Ford Sync.

The 2010 edition of Sync comes with a number of useful extensions, including the ability to keep up with Twitter, stream internet radio and download turn-by-turn web maps at no cost. It takes a page from companies such as Facebook and Apple by supporting third-party applications. That means you could soon be controlling many of the handy applications you use on your iPhone via the voice recognition on your car's console.

Sync has been so successful that Ford attributes it to the company's turnaround. The Los Angeles Times reported that Sync-enabled vehicles sell twice as fast as non-Sync-enabled ones."

That is good news to hear from a company flying under the radar in Germany - partly due to the high negative noise of Opel/GM and the clutter of the other German car manufacturers about their plans, plans, plans.

Ford's CEO Alan Mulally started as late as April, 2009, to twitter. See the video. And now Craig describes Ford Sync as an in-car technology game changer. It is fantastic that a company of a size like Ford can change that fast. That's almost like 'When Giants learn to dance' by Rosabeth Moss-Kanter from the 1990s.

More about Ford at AdAge.

UPDATE

14:07 > "Das Internet erreicht das Armaturenbrett", handelsblatt.
19:47 > "2012 Ford Focus", The Awesomer.

15. January

09:20 Uhr > "Ford - eine kleine Autorevolution", indiskretion ehrensache. "Ford: “Unser Ziel ist die Führungsrolle bei Social Media", off the record.

13:40 Uhr > "Ford Focus: Das Weltauto", mm.

23:52 Uhr "Ford MyTouch interface", via altnytterfarlig:

Innovation: Samsung Transparent Laptop

Ein Laptop mit halbtransparentem Monitor/Deckel:

Mehr bei engadget.

Wenn das Denken am Social Media Tellerrand endet

Einen sehr interessanten Case einer übertriebenen - und damit kontraproduktiven - Social Media Denke erleben wir soeben live im Rahmen des Slow Media Manifestes.

In 2009 war Social Media in aller Munde. Immer öfter hatte man den Eindruck, daß nichts anderes mehr zählte, galt, Sinn machte*. Entsprechend ist das Manifest formuliert. Es kreist um sich selbst, hadert mit dem Internet, bietet aber keine greifbare Alternative, verlängert Denken und Forderungen nicht in die reale Welt.

In der mediaclinique habe ich das Manifest bereits als "mit heißer Nadel gestrickt" bezeichnet. Das ist schade, denn denkt man die Idee weiter, schaut sich vor allem das Vorbild Slow Food (kompakt bei wikipedia) an, erkennt man das wahre Potential (das momentan leider komplett verschenkt wird).

Hier soll das Manifest allein als aktuelles Beispiel, als pars pro toto einer Philosophie gelten. Soll Analogie sein, Parabel zum besseren Verständnis - nicht Zentrum des Artikels sein.

Das Virtuelle im Realen

Das Manifest kann sich nur über den Brückenschlag zur realen Welt vervollkommnen - so wie eine Social Media Strategie, die den Sprung vom Netz auf den Boden der realen Welt schaffen muß.

Nahtlos müssen in beiden Fällen virtuelle und reale Welt miteinander verwoben sein. Wieviel imposanter wäre zB das Slow Media Manifest, würde es in Kooperation zB mit Leander Wattigs Aktion 'Ich mache was mit Büchern' Buchläden und Antiquariate selektieren, online empfehlen und offline mit einem Slow-Media/Ich-mache-was-mit-Büchern-Aufkleber auf der gläsernen Türe adeln?

Ein Blog ist keine Kampagne

Ein Blog allein oder ein Twitter-Account ist weder eine Social Media Kampagne, geschweige eine Strategie, noch abendfüllend genug, einen Konsumenten hinter dem Ofen hervorzulocken. Denn was ist nun der Nutzen, wenn ich ihn nicht online erleben (Engagement, digitale Nutzen und Werte) bzw. offline (analoge Nutzen, Lösungen und Werte) realisieren kann?

Worte alleine reichen nicht. Actions speak louder than words - womit ich auch nochmal auf die im mediaclinique-Artikel gezeigte Diskrepanz zwischen Oberfläche und immanenter Realität im Manifest hinweisen möchte.

Welche Schlüsse zieht das Manifest aus seinen eigenen Forderungen? ZB in Punkt 9? Bücher kaufen ja - aber bei Amazon?

Eine Kampagne ist keine Lösung

Die Zeiten der Kampagnen sind vorüber. Kampagnen sind (chronologisch) so 2009! Kampagnen sind (qualitativ) so promotion-/rabatt-/ramsch-artig!

Wir brauchen Orte, Themen und Gespräche. Wir brauchen Kontinuität, Nachhaltigkeit im Dialog. Kampagnen lösen nur ein Preisproblem. Gespräche aber können alle Probleme erkennen, verstehen, diskutieren, lösen. Gespräche sind Lösungen - sobald sie Handlungen generieren!

Der Kundenservice muß den Kunden in den Mittelpunkt stellen und nicht den eigenen Dienstschluß. Der Kundenservice muß die Marke leben. Promotions müssen sich um die Marke, nicht um den Preis drehen. Nicht um Rabatte, sondern um Lösungen.

Ein Slow Media Manifest muß Auswirkungen auf die Realität der Menschen haben. So wie jede Social Media 'Kampagne'. Ein Manifest ist keine Lösung.

(*) Social Media allein ist keine Lösung

Um uns nun endgültig vom Manifest zu lösen: Hat das Produkt oder die Marke nichts zu sagen, sollten sie lieber schweigen.
Wenn auch die Werbung in früheren Zeiten es vermochte, uns Lösungen, Benefits und Nutzen vorzugaukeln, so gelingt dies heute weder ihr noch einem Social Media Approach:

Nichts ist wichtiger als das Produkt! Wenn dieses keinen Nutzen hat, keine distinktiven Eigenschaften und keine Persönlichkeit, keinen Charakter hat, dann nutzt auch das ganze Social Media Getue recht wenig, wird sogar kontraproduktiv.

Und ohne eine entsprechende Marke - ohne eine Marke vor allem, die zuallererst das Unternehmen selbst durchdrungen hat - wird der Social Media Einsatz den Anfang vom vorzeitigen Ende der Marke selbst bedeuten können.

Ohne entsprechende Massenkommunikation, die Zeit kauft, um einen organischen Bekanntheits-Aufbau zu beschleunigen, wird Social Media nur in Ausnahmen (bei perfekter Vision, Strategie, Umsetzung, Motivation, Commitment, Kreativität, Mut) wirklich erfolgreich sein können.

Social Media benötigt Inhalt, Relevanz, Aktualität, Lösungen, Nutzen, Werte als Basis. Deshalb ist Social Networking, wie ich es lieber nenne, auch so immens komplex, schwierig und emotional. Leider denken die wenigsten in ihrer Beratungs- oder Marketing- oder Kommunikations-Euphorie darüber nach.

Social Networking hat Konsequenzen, die die wenigsten sehen wollen. Erfolg hat man allein, wenn man sich der Konsequenzen (komplex, schwierig, emotional) und der Voraussetzungen (Rest des Artikels) im Vorhinein bewußt ist und entsprechende Ziele, Strategien und Distinktive Innovationen realisiert.

Be a Spark! Leave a Mark!

Brand Engagement: Service Design

An interview from last year's November, but with lasting impact. Phi-Hong Ha on service design:

"From a design perspective, it’s first useful to define a service and understand how it differs from a product we are more familiar with designing.

Services themselves cannot be designed in the way you expect to design a product, because you can’t control the delivery of a service that invariably involves some degree of human-to-human interaction.

Beyond that, services are intangible, delivered over time and non-storable. They are co-created by provider and consumer with the aim of creating a benefit for the consumer - by changing their position, their physical possessions or their intangible assets.
Services are made up of touch points, the points of interaction between the provider and the consumer.

With all that in mind, I think service design can be summed up in this way: It is a cross-disciplinary practice that looks at the touch points of a service within the context of a customer’s journey.
In designing those touch points, we seek to create the conditions for a positive service experience."

Read the full interview at AIGA.

Star Wars or The Quality of Adaptation

We all know the Star Wars Trilogy. Most of us love it. Most of us prefer the original series. Many do not really like the latest sequels (which pretend to be prequels).

Star Wars is a billion dollar enterprise and a nice example of greed. Star Wars is a great brand (franchise).
Please watch this fantastic (even Michael Moore-ish, as I called it in a Tweet a few days ago) review of 'Star Wars: The Phantom Menace' and translate it into a review of your own brand, its personality, character, core, benefit, usp, and reason why. A great 'exercise' for your 1st week of 2010.

The descriptive comparisons of personalities and characters are a Must-See!

More background on the review. And please remember: it has 7 great parts!