Get today's Financial Times if you like our blog topics

Run don't walk! Today's Financial Times (20 Sept 2006) has a 12 page insert entitled "Digital Business" which focuses very strongly on the topics of our blogsite. This is the cheapest investment you can make - come on, one UK pound? - into gettign a very solid all-around view of what's going on in the digital communities (ie Communities Domnate) world.

It has all the predictable topics, from a very good overview of the digital youth of today, to learning, sharing, online communities, using multiplayer gaming and virtual worlds for personal advancement etc etc etc. A fantastic insert, go buy the FT today!

I am about ot fly to Asia so I won't be able to blog about it immediately, but I will return with selected best bits hopefully late tomorrow or Friday the latest. Alan is also abroad today so he's also unable to immediately do a review...

Comments

[Andrew J]

I recently came across this article which appears to undermine your theory on Engagement Marketing;

There are a number of reasons for resisting the idea of engagement marketing. Firstly, while there are successful examples, they are relatively few. Secondly, the very idea seems to mitigate against its use in low-engagement product categories. Thirdly, and most importantly, engagement marketing by its nature speaks to small groups of active consumers. Even enthusiastic proponents of search have suggested that old-fashioned interruptive media are still needed to do the heavy lifting, to get the big numbers of potential customers into the top of the marketing funnel. But in Chicago, Paul Santello, senior VP, MD, Carat Fusion told delegates that "people who were spending money online as something at the bottom to mid part of the funnel are now starting to spend more online to fill the top of the funnel".

The truth is that, no matter how many new media evangelists proclaim the death of interruptive advertising, the switch isn't going to happen overnight. But it is happening. The US is evidence of that.

http://www.wiredsussex.com/news/0608/nutleyengaged.asp

What do you think?

[alan moore]

Dear Andrew,

I don't quite get your point? Are you agreeing or disagreeing? Or are you somewhere in the middle.

I think that the notion of engagement around a few consumers to be naive - our view is a little more complex and nuanced than that.

But to do that you need to read our book or at least read our blog.

Who said interruptive communcations is going to happen overnight? But why did ITV lose £50m is advertising revenues? Why are 5 major media groups in the UK down on their their share price bewteen -9 to -30% since January 2006.

I am not a new media evangalist - but someone that has looked very hard at the economic, cultural and economic trends that are inevitable rather than trendy.

why is it that CMO Jim Stengel said TV advertising stopped working circa 1987 why is it that Myspace.com has a higherNIelsen rating than MTV?

And remember there are many out there that do not want or welcome change. The church wanted to keep the Feudal system - because it wanted to continue to contro the masses.

Thanks for posting

Kind regards

Alan Moore

[Andrew J]

Alan,

What I find confusing is the example of myspace. On the one hand it is a great example of how communities create engagement. However once you are engaged they then want to interupt with adverts. Are you suggesting that interuptive advetising is ok if utilised with an engaged community, or is this methodolody exploiting engaged communities.

[alan moore]

It is but one example... the future is where the content is the advertising and the advertising is the content.

What about google and contextual ads - does that confuse you too?

What about World of Warcraft 6.4m subs who pay £8 per month or Cyworld.

The advertising with an engaged community will work if it is seen as relevant and contextual to that community.

Alan

[Tomi T Ahonen]

Hi Andrew and Alan

Let me butt into this discussion. We've made it quite clear in our book that all interruptive advertising is rejected by modern consumers. It doesn't help to go into a new media and use interruptive advertising there. They will also be rejected.

What we need, is the evolution of marketing from interruptive advertising to engagement marketing. We have many examples here on this blogsite and in the book. One of my current favourites is Nike inside the videogaming world. You have multiplayer games where gamers need to "earn" improvements in their skills and abilities, by playing the game enough. Good enough. Now toss in engagement marketing. Nike offers a "cheat code". It is only available at the Nike website (building traffic, identifying users). When you enter that cheat code, your character inside the multiplayer game, suddenly has the white Nike shoes. So far so good. But here is the killer idea - your character becomes 5% faster and can jump 5% better. Just like comparing bad shoes and good shoes, of course it matters.

THIS is engagement marketing, involving the customer in the ways the modern consumer behaves, using the media they want, to do what they want. Humour is a good item - lots of viral marketing is relying on humour (often very irreverent to the degree of being offensive beyond the target audience). Music? How about what Sugababes do now with their tour - they invite fans to send in dance moves shot on their cameraphones - and these are shared at the Sugababes fan club and best moves will be incorporated by the band on its tour.

And so forth. Not interruptive ads, but new creative thinking about how to develop engagement marketing methods. Engage with the customer, not push mindless propaganda at them.

Tomi Ahonen :-)

[Michael Mark]

To add to the confusion: The offer of Sugababes is really a coupon of sorts. They are offering something of value (fame for one) for free. Is that engagement - sure if the person wants to show off their dance moves. If not it is interruption - even if they opted in to the conversation another time. Like a friend who wants away from a conversation and comes back and things have moved on. They break in again where they once were welcome. Now if that person has a joke or some information the others want to hear though on a different topic then it is engagement. It has to do with relevance. If the offer is relevant and not asked for it is engagement if it is not it is interruption.
Relevance is arrived out through knowledge that comes from, often, relationships (serendipity happens - though it should not be a large % of your marketing or media budget). Relevance is a boring word but deeply intimate. And of course relevant.
Thanks for letting me interrupt or engage - up to you.
Michael Mark
NYCA

[Nike SB]

You guys should checkout the shoes that came out from Nike with Ipod applications. Nike and Apple coming together is a perfect combination and if this can motivate a healthier lifestyle than more power to them.