The Power of Influence

Speaking about WoM and Social Media Marketing in KL ...

 

Click the image below to download the full brochure and booking form.

I am speaking at the 6th Malaysian Media Conference about WoM and Social Media Marketing.

 

It will be interesting to hear what the world's first non-Japanese Geisha will be speaking about

 

The 6th Malaysian Media Conference (MMC) is an annual alumni of about

250 media pundits, industry specialists and key media decision-makers in

the fields of media, marketing, branding and advertising across Malaysia.

Amongst the speakers featured are thought leaders in their space from

Malaysia, Singapore, India, Australia and Japan.

 

Now is the time to lead. And the Malaysian Media Conference returns with

the theme: LISTEN, LEARN, LEAD.

 

In an age where a monologue is as hip as the fax machine, communications

has become all about interaction, conversations and engagement. This year

a stellar line-up of speakers have been gathered to give you an unforgettable

experience for one true knowledge-enrichment day……

Why does this happen SOOO often?

This cartoonist nails it 9/10 times - certainly worth signing up to get a free email with one every week @ http://www.tomfishburne.com/tomfishburne/ 

The Glass is Half Full, and getting Fuller, For Social Marketers

It’s no surprise that marketing budgets will continue to shift towards better ways to engage and reach consumers as the recession begins to subside.

This is also why marketers are planning on increasing their social networking/word-of-mouth and innovation and testing/learning budgets once the recession ends and the recovery begins.

The ANA (Association of National Advertisers) recently released a study showing the way brands are shifting their budgeted spend 

Marketing activities getting MORE budget

• Pricing Deals (47%)
• Social networking and word of mouth activities (26 percent)
• Public relations (23%)

Marketing Activities getting CUT

• Media budgets (56 percent)
• Production budgets (50 percent)
• Sponsorship/events activities (41 percent)

 

These increased activities reflect the real need and understanding from marketers that brand equity comes from emphasis on consumer to consumer conversation, driven by the relationship a brand has with its consumers.

Of course the actual product is the main item for brand equity (89 percent) but customer service (86 percent) and employee advocacy (81 percent) are just as critical.   Customer WoM accounts for a huge impct on the markets perception, and so is somehting that you need to track and manage.

 

What does a big box retailer think of Word of Mouth?

Pfizer is counting on word-of-mouth

In a PR masterstroke for the world's largest drug maker, Pfizer today said it will provide free select prescription drugs to Americans and their families who lose their jobs and -- as a result -- their health insurance.

The first-of-its-kind program for Big Pharma brings to mind Hyundai's groundbreaking "Assurance" program earlier this year, when it became the first automaker to offer to pick up the consumer's car payments if they lose their job. In Pfizer's case, the idea came as a suggestion made by an employee at a Pfizer meeting four and a half weeks ago.

Pfizer's program, called Maintain (an acronym for Medicines Assistance for Those who Are in Need), will provide newly unemployed Americans and their families more than 70 primary-care drugs manufactured by Pfizer, including cholesterol-lowering agent Lipitor, at no charge. To become eligible, patients must prove financial hardship and lack of insurance coverage, as well as demonstrate that they have been taking the Pfizer medication for at least three months prior to losing their jobs. The program only applies to those who lose their jobs in 2009.

The program "shows great courage and heart to step forward and provide people with the health care they need in times of national distress," said Peter Pitts, partner and director of global health care at PR firm Porter Novelli. Not to mention it has a pleasant side effect: "It's probably worth more than $100 million in free advertising," said Dorothy Wetzel, the former VP-consumer marketing at Pfizer who now runs her own health-care ad agency, Extrovertic. "Think of the goodwill, think of the brand advocates they're creating by providing these medicines. You have somebody who's going to say 'I lost my job but I can still get my Lipitor for free? I'm going to tell everybody.' And all the studies show that some of the biggest influencers in health care are friends and family. People are going to be talking about this."

Not its first assistance program
While this particular promise is unique to the industry, this is not the first financial-assistance program in the U.S. that Pfizer has developed. For more than 20 years the company has offered support through a number of programs that cater to individuals with low incomes or who are uninsured or underinsured, among other things. And the company will continue to do so, said spokesman Ray Kerins. "[This program] is, in many ways, the next step in evolution of decades of work," he said. "If you don't have medicine, you shouldn't lose access to it because you've lost your job."

Clearly, there's a need, given evidence that Americans are cutting back on their prescribed medicines during the recession. According to an April 2009 Kaiser Family Foundation tracking poll, within the last 12 months, six out of 10 Americans said they or their families put off medical care due to cost. Some 29% of said they did not fill a prescription for medicine and 18% cut their pills in half or skipped doses of medicine.

Mr. Kerins declined to comment on how much the new program will cost Pfizer or how many patients will be eligible. But from 2004 through 2008, Pfizer's existing patient-assistance programs helped more than 1.5 million people get 51 million prescriptions for free or at a reduced cost -- an estimated $4.8 billion cost to the company.

A former high-ranking pharmaceutical company executive said the cost to Pfizer for this new push may not be as high as people think. "Most of the money [drug companies spend] is in [research and development]," said the former executive, who asked not to be identified. "It doesn't cost a lot to manufacture the pills or package them."

On the flip side, not only does Pfizer stand to gain from the move, but so does the entire industry, which has taken a beating from critics who charge that its advertising influences consumers to ask physicians for drugs they don't need.

No advertising
Pfizer is counting on word-of-mouth to bring attention to the new program. It will not advertise through traditional media, and it won't need to. Seamus Fernandez, a pharmaceutical analyst at Leerink Swan, called the move "smart PR," not only for Pfizer, but for the industry as a whole. "As we approach health-care reform legislation, I think pharmaceutical companies will continue to announce and implement programs like this in order to keep public perception from sliding, which could result in more onerous legislative decisions," he said.

When it comes to competing pharmaceutical companies, Mr. Pitts said Pfizer's efforts are unparalleled. "Pfizer is taking a leadership position and should be congratulated for it," he said, noting the financial enormity of the commitment. "Not everybody can do the same thing."

Since the economy soured, various pharmacies have implemented cost-savings programs for consumers. Weis Markets launched a 90-day, $9.99 generic prescription plan program in October that it expanded in February to include more than 400 drugs. Last month CVS Pharmacy started offering additional store credit (called Extra Bucks) to customers purchasing prescriptions between May 1 and June 15.

Ms. Wetzel, who was part of the previous patient assistance programs at Pfizer, said she was surprised with how quickly the Pfizer program came together. "I'm impressed," she said. "Those other programs were in development for years. They're showing an increased nimbleness on the part of Big Pharma. But it's great. It shows the commitment to patient care that goes beyond the delivery of drugs and medicine. Doing things like this makes pharma companies more relevant."

Seith Godin .. being Seith

Great piece, he is the master of using the funny image.

I like his peice on passion and leaders - maps very nicely on Vocanic's approach to word of mouth marketing and social media.

Enjoy!

We (Vocanic) call them Influencers, New York Times calls them Global Multipliers

A new study has identified a small segment of the global population that exerts a very significant influence on other consumers in such categories as travel, luxury, finance, electronics and “green” products, and has coined these individuals “Global Multipliers,” according to the The New York Times, Reuters and MediaVest, which co-sponsored the research.

The study, which profiles Global Multipliers in depth, finds that though their numbers are relatively small (1% of all consumers worldwide), they influence and spend more than the average consumer, and in amounts that are greatly disproportionate to their population incidence. For example, in a given week, Global Multipliers make an average of 16 recommendations to nine people, while average consumers make only 10 recommendations to six people:

These numbers mean that Global Multipliers account for $172 billion in global travel spending, influence 16% of the world’s electronics purchases and spend $51 billion in green products in the US alone, the research found.

First Worldwide Study

While the sponsors of the research acknowledge that the concept of marketing opinion leaders or influentials is not new in the US, they assert that this is the first public study focused on Multipliers on a global scale, adding that the study offers insights into reaching these individuals in five key areas: advocacy, finance, luxury, technology and travel.

Behaviors of Global Multipliers

The study estimates that there are 19 million Global Multipliers worldwide, in countries such as Argentina, the UK, China, India and the US. Global Multipliers are not unique to any one market or region and reside in all countries around the world, but to varying degrees. For example, the study estimates that there are 2.6 million Global Multipliers in the US and 242,000 in Argentina.

Additional findings about Global Multipliers:

Each week, recommendations made by Global Multipliers reach 177 million consumers.
Global Multipliers are frequent shoppers, spending between 15% and 35% more than average consumers on categories such as travel, technology, luxury fashion and green products.

In addition to spending more than other consumers, they are also the first to buy new products and pass their opinion on to their friends and family. It is more important to Global Multipliers than other consumers to be the first to try something new (72% vs. 43%) and they are more likely to enjoy trying new products even if they are unfamiliar with the brand (81% vs. 58%).

Global Multipliers are on the cutting edge of new technology and use digital media to influence others well beyond their immediate circle of local contacts. They are more likely to use the internet to share their opinions quickly and on a large scale by forwarding links (68% vs. 49% of average consumers), social networking (64% vs. 54%), posting user reviews (50% vs. 30%) and blogging (46% vs. 34%).
Global Multipliers send and receive approximately 1.6 billion emails and 1.2 billion text messages every day and post 331 million blog entries every week.

They are voracious consumers of news and information across media platforms. They typicallly read 16 newspapers every week and visit four news and information web sites every day, twice as many as average consumers.

Global Multipliers are more likely to spread both positive (89% vs. 74%) and negative (51% vs. 43%) reviews of products.

Traits of Global Multipliers

Though they are just as likely to share certain demographic traits with the general population, Global Multipliers are different from other consumers because they share a common psychographic profile, exhibit heavy engagement with products, and demonstrate prolific media usage.

The study identified the following personality traits of Global Multipliers:

Open-Minded + Altruistic: Global Multipliers are more open-minded and internationally-focused than other consumers. They have a mix of friends from different backgrounds (86% of Global Multipliers, compared to 65% of average consumers) and they like to stay current with cultural and political news in other countries (84% vs. 59%). They also follow consumer trends in other countries as well as their own.

Need for Recognition: Global Multipliers share their opinions and recommendations with others both out of a need to be recognized and from a sense of responsibility. When asked for recommendations, Global Multipliers are more likely than average consumers to feel respected (62% vs. 50%), influential (51% vs. 40%) and flattered (45% vs. 39%). At the same time, Global Multipliers are driven by an altruistic desire to help others. They feel a responsibility to share their knowledge about subjects they know a lot about (89% vs. 67%) and that they like to reward companies they admire by recommending them to friends (88% vs. 68%).

Sociable: Global Multipliers are also more social than average consumers. In a typical day, Global Multipliers communicate with 50% more people both online (36 people vs. 24) and offline (29 vs. 20).
Regional Differences

Although Global Multipliers share common traits across all countries, the study found some significant differences in how local cultures shape the ways they influence others in individual markets:

China: Among Global Multipliers in all markets, those in China are the most likely to use the Internet to share their recommendations but are least likely to use the Internet commercial purposes.
India: Global Multipliers in India are more enthusiastic in their embrace of social media, particularly relative to Multipliers in Western countries.

Japan: Japan Multipliers are less vocal compared to Multipliers in other countries, but show the greatest differences in recommendation behavior compared with average local consumers.

Latin America: Global Multipliers in Latin America are the most social of all Global Multipliers.

UK: UK Multipliers spend the most time engrossed in their categories, including researching, reading about and discussing travel, luxury fashion and green issues. They also are the most committed to green issues.

US: Multipliers in the United States are the most likely to play the role of “connectors” in their social circles. More than 80% of US Multipliers prefer to mingle their various friend groups, a larger share than in any other market.

The study also offers specific recommendations for marketers in terms of reaching the Global Multiplier population. “Reaching these individuals can significantly extend the potential impact of marketing campaigns because they make nearly two and a half times as many recommendations per week as the average consumer,” the study said.

About the study: The research was conducted in two phases which comprised an online survey of 4,342 respondents in seven countries: Argentina, Brazil, China, India, Japan, the UK and the US. Respondents were individuals ages 21 to 64 who reported high monthly discretionary spending. A second, qualitative phase consisted of 18 in-depth interviews with Global Multipliers in four cities: Buenos Aires, Delhi, London and New York. The research was conducted by Research International.

How Big Companies Use Social Media - BlogWell Conference

This sounds interesting .. wish NY was a bit closer to Singapore or I would be going!

BlogWell, 29th April 09, New York

8 Great case studies on the best social media programs at large corporations including

Nokia, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, General Electric, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, Turner Broadcasting System, Tyson Foods, and Johnson & Johnson share social media case studies at BlogWell New York. Discussions include measuring ROI, managing teams, legal issues, BtoB, working with agencies, and creating great content.

This is the best opportunity available for anyone looking to get started or to improve their corporate social media efforts.

Get practical, how-to advice, a lesson on tricky disclosure issues, and loads of ideas and examples for just $250. From GasPedal and Blog Council.

 

5 new rules for marketing by Unilever CMO Simon Clift

Five new rules for marketing

The flat-earth, digitized world described by Unilever CMO Simon Clift is one in which the marketing norms have changed. Here are Ad Age's "New Rules." Feel free to argue or send us additional rules you think you should be added to the list.

1. Listening to consumers is more important than talking at them. As Mr. Clift said, "We may be ahead of our competitors, but we're most definitely behind consumers." The consumer is not a moron, she's the person defining your brand.
   
2. You can't hide the corporation behind the brand anymore -- or even fully separate the two. Even this editor's creaking computer only took 0.13 seconds to show that Philip Morris is owned by Altria Group. Welcome to radical transparency, where bad corporate behavior will damage your brands, and vice versa.
   
3. PR is a primary concern for every CMO and brand manager. If "marketing" and "PR" are not the same department, tear down the wall. Spend time deciding whether PR is underleveraged in your organization.
   
4. Cause marketing isn't about philanthropy, it's about "enlightened self-interest," as Mr. Clift puts it. That doesn't mean it doesn't count. Don't be ashamed of your profit motive, because great branding and doing good are increasingly one and the same.
   
5. Social media is not a strategy. You need to understand it, and you'll need to deploy it as a tactic. But remember that the social graph just makes it even more important that you have a good product. Put another way: The volume and quality of your earned media will be directly proportional to the impact and quality of your product and ideas.

Send your "new rules" to jbloom@adage.com.

Pardon me Jeff, but I am confused ...

First Jeff Zabin emails me, to tell me that two reports are available for free download -they are sponsored by some vendors in the space being covered - so one can assume they did so in order to get some visibility. Hence the eDM blast (which I received) to let me know the reports were available for free download.

I download them and read them. They are excellent. And since they are sponsored, and available for free download I put them up on my blog for download - keeping the full Aberdeen branding etc.

And then I get an email threatening me with legal ation claiming that by reposting this I "undermine Aberdeen's revenu model and ultimately my own livelyhood as a research fellow" 

 

So I took them down - but I am confused as to how reposting reports that are sponsored and offered for free download is a problem - surely the more widely read your excellent work is - the more people will want to buy your other reports?