November 26, 2008

Branding in a recession

At the recent Ad Age Media Mavens Awards, Nick Brien spoke about the current recession and the differences it has on marketing and brands than ever before. He states that the usual pattern of the US market having 4 year booms, and then 1 year busts is not the case we are in right now in that we are in for a longer period of downturn. In result it has changed consumers into a much more promotionally driven mindset...for the longer haul.

He goes on to say that instead of the traditional strategies of branding eyeballs, frequency and impressions, we need to drive home more of the hard sell. Price driven, promotionally driven, value driven...(that rumbling you hear is Bill Bernbach screaming from the heavens).

I agree however I think that branding in a recession has always given way to a more active benefit, and it doesn't mean that we start creating innocuous, boring advertising that reaches the lowest common denominator. The marketing just adjusts the value prop level a notch up in the hierarchy of the message, and like all good advertising, it has to be engaging but extremely relevant.

Now, in the world of recruitment advertising and employer branding....what does this mean? Well here we have a situation in that the recession creates less jobs and unfortunate layoffs. Employer brands are subject to taking hits of negativity and we see more active candidates than passive. The passive candidates become more proactive knowing market conditions are volatile. But the mindset of the candidate is about security and stability. Even though passives are updating their resumes right now, they are less likely to jump ship unless they are forced. So just as consumer advertising is having to adjust, it also applies to talent marketing as well.

Economic slump; Social boom
Now more than ever we feel the power of social networking and social apps. In uncertain times people flock to each other and networks to align themselves up with the right connections. Sort of like creating a virtual safety net. And for the active seekers, they actively pursue channels to employment. Companies are taking advantage of this with more increase in social app marketing. Michael Lazerow of Buddy Media explains.

These apps do wonders by creating a website within a website. And if your content is compelling enough and relevant, it proves to be a nice driver back to your career site. However let's not forget the principles of social. And that is these markets are conversations. Before you appear within a network, ask yourself what exactly makes your content social. Is it providing a social activity or is it just pushing a message. If your company had to unfortunately lay some employees off, I imagine that recruitment message would not be received very well in these networks.

Watch for this strategic idea
Perhaps the best social strategies center around more company sponsored alumni groups and connector groups connecting to each other. These would be company social groups that help these unfortunate employees who have been laid off to connect with other possibilities. This way social becomes a tool to increase not only employer brand awareness, but to contribute a more positive association to employer brands in a down time. Sort of like a virtual social outplacement network.

Posted by russellmiyaki at 08:13 PM | Comments (0)

November 14, 2008

Predictions for Mobile Advertising

A recent study has been released from Berg Insight, a telecoms analyst firm, that reveals 5 predictions in the future of mobile advertising. This is based on the speed at which the market is moving coupled with the downturn of the economy. Some of these predictions is kind of hard to make a determination whether or not it makes sense, and others seem to by pass whether or not it will be effective or not.

First prediction: Ad-funded MVNOs. The thought is that consumers in a down economy will want discounted if not free minutes, text messages in exchange that their phones will be filled with ads. However, consumers realize this is a sacrifice. They accept this very much the same way we accept the pain of commercial interruptions on tv. So what does that do? Since they don't have a channel changer, they develop a way to tune out the noise and ignore the ads. They know where they appear, and they know where the real content is and jump right to it. This is not to say that mobile ads don't work altogether. It is just that the mobile device happens to be one of THE most personal devices that anyone has. Our relevance radar and privacy wall is extremely high when it comes to our cell phones.

Now BLYK has ventured in this model very successfully. However their model offers one thing that is very important. Their model is based off of SIM card marketing which targets a specific demo age bracket from 16- 24yr olds. More important, it enables those consumers to profile themselves to the degree that they will only receive marketing and advertising that is directly relevant to their profile. The SIM card captures and holds all the vital information about the individual so that any advertising is directly relevant to them, and marketers can build better relationships with them.

So imagine this model for recruitment purposes. The products and content that you profile yourself against can be linked to the companies that produce them or play in the same space.

Second prediction: Smartphone popularity
This is basically the fact that mobile web will become standard in all phones. Mobile web means that advertisers will need to develop more bannering for mobile browsers.

Third prediction: Idle-screen advertising
This one seems to have some glitches. The fact is, no one wants to have a phone that can't hold battery power because the darn thing stays on with this idling advertising. So unlike a screen saver would do for your desktop, that seems fine because you are juiced to electricity and you're saving your screen from burning out. A cell phone in your pocket makes it a little difficult to view an idling ad and it doesn't do much for your battery life. Plus most screens shut off until you are ready to use it.

Forth prediction: Innovation
I am not sure innovation can be labeled as a prediction. I gather what they are saying is that mobile media is fast moving and has so many untapped channels for newer opportunities. That I agree.

Fifth prediction: Financing - Size matters in the race for market leadership
They report that existing digital and mobile industry players will have an advantage over the small start ups. That many of which will have difficulties finding financing. Well, if you look at all the innovative services and products that have started up on a shoe string, the rule still exists that if you have a great idea, the money will come. So sometimes the more established you are the slower you become in developing those risk taking innovations that only the smaller start ups are nimble enough to do.

Posted by russellmiyaki at 04:40 PM | Comments (0)

October 27, 2008

When ya gotta go, ya gotta go

Diaroogle.com - The Premier Toilet Search Engine

Well every now and then I like to break things up with something that's just...silly. Ok, so you are runnin around trying to get to your destination but you've been in that car for so long.....well, ya just gotta go! But, we all know how some places are just down right nasty. Here's a user-submitted database that is searchable via google maps for public toilets that won't make you puke. Maybe they should have called it Poogle.

Posted by russellmiyaki at 02:18 AM | Comments (1)

October 23, 2008

Changing the Game

Changing the Game » About the Book

There has been an on-going discussion and interest on gaming as a training tool, gaming as a recruiting tool, and gaming as a sales tool. But there has never been a book written so thoroughly about it than this one by David Edery and Ethan Mollick called "Changing the Game".

The book is very well written and entertaining as it educates in context to how games truly enable businesses to become more competitive whether in recruiting, or employee training.

Some of the notable points about developing games for recruitment or training speaks to knowing how exactly games can achieve those goals. Knowing in what context are games best introduced, and what are the main benefits that the game can accomplish. And that speaks to knowing your audience. You not only should take a game development approach, but you need to take a marketing approach to selling your game to your audience as if you were selling the game itself.

Some of those benefits that games can give us in context to recruitment include giving your candidates a deeper experience online of your employer brand. For employees, it engages them into learning without the pain of learning. And of course introduce the power of social and you have a game that gets passed throughout the world as if you had a million dollar media budget. There is a nice section on our role in Second Life too.

So what is it about games that we have so much emotion for? Some argue how it is a waste of time and that it can't be validated for business use. But now there are case studies after case studies on game usage within business objectives.

There is another great book called The Puzzle Instinct by Marcel Danesi that speaks to the instinct in humans to want to solve challenges. Not just to solve the challenge or puzzle but to supplement this "mental catharsis" in each of us. The word "catharsis came from Aristotle to describe an emotional relief that came from watching a tragic drama on stage. Unravelling a mystery or finding the answer to a puzzle seems to give a sense of relief from suspense...or mental catharsis.

So if your boss comes up to you while you have World of Warcraft on your monitor, just tell him that you are having a seizure of mental catharsis. In reality, or shall I say virtual reality, no longer should games be looked at as just games.

Posted by russellmiyaki at 08:06 PM | Comments (1)

October 22, 2008

Recruitment Advertising is NOT ubiquitous

Remember the scene in Men in Black where agent Jay is shown the "locker" only to reveal that we are only part of a smaller spec of a massive universe? Well that's kinda how it is with all of us in recruitment advertising. Sometimes we have to open up that locker and realize that although we know what we're doing, when it gets out into the vast universe, it goes unseen and buried and needs to compete on a grander scale.

People see an average of over 3000 messages per day. Broadcast, print web, and of course lets not forget all the social environments on the web. Most all of it is consumer brand advertising.

Because of this they have preconditioned expectations...their radar goes up and asks, "ok, what are you trying to sell me?"

Consumer advertising and branding spend an astronomical amount on frequency, and media to condition us. And now even that power is starting to be handed off to all those with strong influential social networks and blogs.

Ironically, recruitment advertising doesn't have these types of budgets, so it has low frequency, and has to play in smaller strategic media and networks. This is part reason why there is this natural approach to make the advertising as overt and straight to the call to action as possible.

For big consumer brands a % of their audience is also a % of possible candidates. The audience is usually influenced in one way or another with your company by the consumer brand. Which sometimes leads to a recruitment identity crisis for the company (do I work for that potato chip or what?)

Recruitment advertising doesn't have to be so...recruitment advertising.
Every now and then a recruitment message comes through within the frequency only as a simple call to action, but leveraging the power of what the brand advertising has already established. (Southwest airlines as a good example simply put a "we're now hiring" sign on the airplane's window shade at the end of their tv spots)

Remember...this is still advertising
This doesnt mean that recruitment advertising has to be dumbed down to "come grow with us" or "we're hiring". What made that simple gesture work is that as a whole, the message fit within the "sweet spot". That is the ability to engage your audience right where the emotional attributes of the brand people buy and the brand people work for integrate.

It makes it critical for recruitment advertising to be extremely smart, leverage what power you already have with the brand, and get under the cynical radar. It means that the message is a conversation, a story, and that it should not talk at the audience and tell them what to think and do. Allow them to participate with the message and connect the dots on their own. And with social power, they are creating their own messages about you. (gulp)

Usually the queries that fire off in the candidate's mind about you is, "what does your company do?" Then they search to find a connection to what they do (their skills), and then try to imagine themselves doing that with those skills.

We are story tellers and we compete for attention. And a lot of the times that means grabbing unfair attention. You can't grab their attention if your campaign is innocuous and boring. As an example, if you come to the table to talk about the dangers of fire, don't just talk about all the ingredients that make it a fire hazzard. Just set the table on fire. And that is what makes hitting the sweet spot so thrilling.

When you can engage the audience into thinking about being a part of delivering your company's brand benefits in the same way they would feel about buying your company's brand benefits.

Posted by russellmiyaki at 09:13 PM | Comments (0)

October 20, 2008

Future of virtual

Oh the pain....now I thought before I had no down time....enter browser based console quality mmorpgs. That is, XBox quality online games accessed right through your browser. And that isn't all. The fact that it is browser based now opens up everything social into the world of gaming like never before.

Instantaction games is a browser based gaming experience that doesn't take too long for your environment to download into your cache, but once it loads, you can experience the depth and fluid action of those console games you play on XBox to Playstations. And as I mentioned before, the features of social is embedded into the navigation whereas you can instantly invite your friends, share screens, chat, and of course compete with each other and the world. The only thing left is for the ability to create and build like Second Life.

With the popularity of games as an environment for learning and business marketing, this makes it even more advantageous for corporations to start embedding these types of environments directly into their sites. The web vs game app is now becoming seamless.

Posted by russellmiyaki at 12:25 AM | Comments (0)

October 04, 2008

Video game tests

Allstate testing video games to identify safe, older drivers

Allstate is experimenting with an interesting concept. Video games to test and help older drivers with their awareness on the road. The idea is that as we have an increase in older drivers on the road, the percentage of accidents may also increase. And if you could pass a test with one of these games, it will enable you to qualify for better discounts.

One of these games is a game called InSight. It tests a player's ability to track multiple moving objects at once. Which in theory is the ability to track many vehicles on the road. It's a similar game to the "three shells and a pea" game.

Eye hand coordination is a crucial element to test for a driver, but obviously not the only assessment needed to determine a good driver. I also feel that there are a lot of variables that affect a good driver such as poor eyesight, judgement, common sense which I have seen older drivers more capable of than younger drivers. (One other game comes to mind that I love is Frogger)

So game relevance is crucial in any assessment environment. That holds true in recruitment. Research shows that people looking for jobs are less likely to play video games on your career site much less feel they are of any value. They want employment.

However that does not mean online games are not valuable (Just look at the online gaming industry expected to hit $4.4 billion by 2010). It just means that the game itself should be extremely in context to the experience, and relevant to the user's and company's goals. If your goals are to educate, communicate employer brand in more immersive ways, fit checking, then there may be some relevance to an online game experience for your candidates. But it's got to be engaging and fun, and there needs to be rewards.

We have the traditional psychological and character tests, but those tests are so analytical and cold. It doesn't enable a person to tap into and activate their own emotional cues about their decisions.

Emotional cues are those little messages and gut feelings that come out when you are able to put yourself virtually into the situation being presented to you. That little voice that says, "this is fun. I could do this. I bet I'm better than some of their employees. I gotta send this to my friends and see how they compare."

Someday, we may have an ATS platform that is embedded into video games and online games that transparently assess all the user's cognitive abilities, then constantly build their profile while aligning to careers in the marketplace.

Posted by russellmiyaki at 06:30 PM | Comments (0)

October 03, 2008

Why Microsoft's Gates/Seinfeld Went Viral and 'I'm a PC' Ads Didn't

Why Microsoft's Gates/Seinfeld Went Viral and 'I'm a PC' Ads Didn't - Advertising Age - DigitalNext

We talk about how viral isn't created. It just happens. Ever so true but explained even better in this posting by Abbey Klaassen on Ad Age. The comments are brilliant and speak to the ingredients of what happens when you forget that social media is about conversations and not forced messages. In the case with the Microsoft ads, we are able to compare results between traditional marketing vs. social currency.

As you embark on your next campaign, and it involves a Youtube page, or a Facebook, or any social media, take a hard look at what content you are introducing into the space. Does it have the right ingredients to spark conversations and involve your audience. Does it have social power?

Posted by russellmiyaki at 02:06 PM | Comments (0)