Marketers like to talk about social media as a marketing platform. How can we get the message out? How can we control the message? How can we leverage this? Well, here’s the thing. The thing about social media is that it is in fact a media venue. (I heard about the health care reform on social media channels before I caught it on traditional news channels.)

Recently, I learned an equation from Michael Levine’s book, A Branded World: Adventures in Public Relations and the Creation of Superbrands. Branding = marketing + advertising + public relations.

Branding is the all encompassing effort of building a brand. It starts with marketing. Marketing defines the strategy. Marketing defines the 4Ps. Marketing defines the positioning.

Marketing’s plan gets translated into words and visuals through advertising.

Public relations builds on the advertising campaign and turns marketing’s plan into actions. Such actions include gathering media attention.

In that case, social media really falls into the realm of public relations. You build a relationship with bloggers the same way you build a relationship with traditional journalists. You “control” the message the same way – truthfully, honestly, and organically. It’s the same idea as controlling the press. Today, in addition to asking the question “What would the press say?”, we need to also ask “What would the world say?”

The world may be changing, but the basics still hold.

Photo credit: Scott Beale / Laughing Squid

This week I learned that the more money you have, the less time you have to spend on any particular tasks. You could hire someone to do it for you.

However, if you don’t have the money, you’d have to spend more time.

This is the equation that any marketer must understand. You don’t need to have a lot of money to have a successful campaign. However, the smaller your budget, the harder each dollar must work, the more creative you’d have to be, the more work you’d have to do yourself. The larger the budget, the more crazy stuffs you could try, the more you could have someone else do the work for you.

However, a small budget shouldn’t limit the success of your marketing campaign.

What’s sad is that this formula, that’s so obvious with small businesses, is sometimes forgotten by big companies.

This is the new economy. This is the new reality. This is a new year. This is the new budget. Everyone of us needs to learn to do more with less.

Photo Credit: funny money, originally uploaded by Material Boy.

Related articles online

• Marketing outside the box (thestar.com)

Today I took the Starbucks Via challenge… and I was disappointed.

First of all, I could tell the difference. I didn’t know which was which, but I could tell the difference… and I did not like Via. The regular brew had a cleaner taste. So, the challenge did not sway me to buy Via.

However, I learned something about Via… it could be instantly dissolved in cold water, or cold milk! Imagine the possibility in the summer! But, wait… it’s only 50 degrees out… I don’t need a cold coffee… So, that’s an irrelevant message to me. However, I believe that Starbucks would launch a cold Via campaign in the summer. But of course, the problem would be how to differentiate this against the Starbucks’ bottled Frappacino.

Toward the end of the demonstration, I learned something even more exciting about Via. I learned that Starbucks designed the most nifty travel mug for Via. It is a regular travel mug, with a twist off cap that allows easy storage of the Via packages. Now, why isn’t this the focus of the campaign?

I understand that Starbucks is about taste, but Via is about the on-the-go lifestyle Americans have. In addition, a quick survey online would reveal that many could taste the difference between Via and the fresh brew. I am not alone in this. So, by solely focusing on taste, Via’s campaign is missing the opportunity to truly address what the product brings to the consumers’ life. Via’s branding should not be built on taste, something people already expect from a Starbucks product. Of course, people would wonder if Via could deliver on taste, but it isn’t a problem, unless Via really couldn’t deliver… People would not buy Via because of taste. They buy Via because it’s convenient! They buy Via because they wouldn’t have to make a coffee stop. They buy Via because they wouldn’t have to wait in line for a coffee. They buy Via because they could save two minutes in the morning!

Now, let me also give you the context of how this demonstration went. The barista was very diligent in focusing on the taste message. However, being a coffee addict and a marketer, I was particularly interested about this product launch. So, I stuck around and chatted with the Barista a little. It was after I was given the coupon, and the other couple that was also at that particular demonstration had left, that I learned about the cold brewing and the travel mug. Now, imagine how many people never knew about those two really cool facts about Via. How much potential sale lost…

Photo credit: Starbucks Via travel mug, originally uploaded by mhaithaca.

Related articles online

• Starbucks Goes Instant (online.wsj.com)
• Starbucks Debuts Its Via Instant Coffee Product (shoppingblog.com)
• Starbucks’ VIA Instant Coffee: A Potential Hit? (businesspundit.com)
• Starbucks’s new Via instant coffee: Don’t believe the hype (dailyfinance.com)

This weekend is Comic Con. While I did not venture inside convention grounds, I was in downtown San Diego amidst all the chaos.

It is interesting to see the crowd that appears for Comic Con. It is a diverse group of fans of arts of all kinds. I have met some interesting people who were more “pure” artist, and while they still sell their products, they feel that some comic artists have sold out by pushing their products at Comic Con. I have met some people who were just loyal fans of long lasting comics. I have met people who are in the industry and wanted to take this opportunity to network with others in the industry. I have met people who are fans of recent Hollywood films.

This made me think the value of these events. At what point is it a specialized event, and at what point is it simply a big crowd? How do you build buzz amongst all the noise?

Hollywood is a marketing powerhouse, and they seem to know the answer. They have celebrities hosting special events outside Comic Con at various downtown San Diego venues after the convention wraps every night. I wonder if this is the trick.

Comic Con at this point has so much noise that it’s becoming hard to differentiate yourself among the masses. People going around are simply overwhelmed by all that is offered. To make a real connection with your fans, you have to make them feel special. You have to take them out of the noisy convention and give them some real one-on-one time. Or, if it’s not one-on-one, at least something a little bit more intimate.

This applies not only to something as big as Comic Con, but to any events of this sort. Host a happy hour, an after party, or at least a hospitality room could really maximize your exposure at these events. If such initiatives are budget prohibiting to smaller operations, at least try to connect with those you have met at these events electronically. Invite your loyal fans to the event. Host a chat with them after the event. Tweet to your fans about where they may find you during / after the event (and have an impromptu unofficial unhosted party). Take that extra effort to make a connection, and you would get that much more out of your attendance to these events!

Photo Credit: Top – San Diego Comic Con 2009, originally uploaded by ToFuGuns. Bottom – 2009 san diego comic-con, originally uploaded by koadmunkee.

Tonight’s episode was filled with various charity events, and I thought it was brilliant that these non-profits are getting some free publicity. But one example I wanted to point out specifically: Children of the World.

One of the characters previously (off the show) bid on a couture dress for the charity. The show showed the fitting of this couture dress. Off the show, the character wore the dress to an opera opening and was photographed doing so. That photograph had since been used in the tabloids for stories associated with that particular character.

Now, I am not sure that the non-profit did so on purpose. After all, they may not had any direct control over what the character would bid on. However, it shows that sometimes making such a connection could be so helpful to a brand. If you could identify a potential brand advocate, you should do what you could to persuade him/her to actually become one. One thing may lead to another, and that could very well take your brand to a new level.

The interesting thing is that potential brand advocates are everywhere, and yet marketers ignore them everyday. How well do you know your end consumer? Who are they? Any of them an influencer, such as an on-screen personality? Do you even know? Have you thought about how to growth this influence base and how to leverage this influence base? This could be the best marketing spend ever!

Photo Credit: Gawker.com

Obama’s latest marketing campaign is recovery.gov. In itself, the website is similar to any other corporate website: A mean of communication. A mean to show where you could find their products, in this case results of the government’s stimulus plan.

But, this administration took this one step further and well into the realm of branding. The stimulus package has its own logo, and it may appear on a school bus near you (if that school bus benefited from the stimulus package).

This is smart in that it makes the intangible tangible.

However, would this logo be a reminder of progress or a reminder of tough times?

This is the test of the President’s marketing abilities. The logo and the website are only elements of a full-blown campaign. If executed correctly, it would be powerful. If the plan lacks legs, making the intangible tangible may backfire.

I’m reminded of a line from one of my favorite TV show “Burn Notice.” It was something about in a desperate situation, a novice spy would abandon their cover ID, an experienced one just works it harder.

I think that applies to marketing as well. A brand that’s uncertain of itself may abandon its identity and go for a strong value message. For brands that are certain of what they stand for, and why they’re worth it, they push their brand identity harder.

Look at Allstate. In this time, when insurance can both be viewed as completely necessary to maybe I can risk cutting it, Allstate pushes the emotion button. Evoking recession fears. Evoking the idea of a simpler life. Evoking the need to make choices, and the more important need of making good choices.

All it takes is a strong brand, and a strong sense of what that brand stands for. Something every brand should have… but don’t.

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For 2009, the first branding stories probably surround the coke industry. The story emerged a few weeks ago, when Coca-Cola revealed its plan to install a green billboard at Times Square to be revealed on New Years Eve. Pepsi, at the same time would be launching the new logo (with a roll out that started early in December).

The two accompanying marketing campaigns would be much different. Coca-Cola would focus on being green and its strong recycling efforts, while Pepsi would focus on being joyful and young.

Pepsi’s campaign seems to be more of the same. Moreover, without a strong message, in times where marketing clutter is just getting worse, I wonder if Pepsi would be able to break through and reach its audience. While there are a lot of eyeball, and probably the right eyeballs, but I wonder if that eyeball would find the message.

Pepsi had always been young, which I found interesting that it considers such branding effort to be a repositioning. While this is the most significant logo change since 1962, I have yet to find the underlying difference between the new and the old brand identity.

I think in contrast, Coca-Cola’s campaign will in the long run push the brand forward. Coca-Cola has increasing become the world’s coke. Its Olympics effort was excellent, and the greening effort now would only further push Coca-Cola’s imagine to be an excellent world citizen. This, along with its already established product excellence, would probably put Coca-Cola ahead of the game.

It’d be interesting to see the sales of the two coke giants in 2009 and evaluate the ROI in the two campaigns.

Here is an interesting link to an interview with Pepsi’s North America VP discussing the relaunch: link.

Here is the ad launching Pepsi’s new logo on New Years Eve:

1. Britney For the Record. I know, it’s a re-run.
2. Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show

These programs intrigue me. These are not reality shows. We won’t be watching people being stupid. These are more or less straight advertisements… So, how strong a brand has to be before networks would jump at a chance to leverage your brand?

But for marketers, a more important question is when would it make sense for us to even try? After all, television is a very indirect way to interact with your consumers…

I think it make most sense if you already find yourself doing a lot of show and tell. Television is a show and tell. So, if you currently are showing and telling your product, there may be a television show in the making.

To think of this differently, there is a category that has had consistent success with using “show and tells” to sell products – books.

Book readings are simply show and tells. Television simply brings this show and tell to life.

Twilight opened big last weekend. The extensive online marketing was credit for such results. However, if you break it down, it’s really no surprise why online marketing worked for Twilight.

In case you live under a rock, Twilight is a Romeo & Juliet type love story between a teen girl and a vampire. The movie wants a wide audience, but primary target is the books’ teen girl fan base. What do they do with their free time? They play online! So, of course online marketing is one of the best ways to reach them. It is that simple.

Twilight trailer premiered on dedicated MySpace page