Major opportunities for the new innovators?

With some signs that the economic climate is getting better, well least some, there are also early indications that markets for consumer durables, some hit hard by the recession, are on the way back up.  If we take televisions as the example, The Guardian reported last week that John Lewis had seen a 13% increase in electricals last week and this excluded the newly launched iPad.

However, Sony and Panasonic, the traditional kings of TV, are making gargantuan losses from their television divisions despite having TVs that rate highly in media reviews.  The new kings – Samsung and LG – have risen by matching, or even bettering, their features whilst being able to tap into lower manufacturing costs.   And over the last couple of years the supermarkets have moved, very aggressively, into the electricals sector giving the established retailers, witness Currys and Best Buy, more than a run for their money.

Sony itself has noted that brand loyalty is on the wane.  The recession has given time and major incentive for consumers to re-evaluate bigger ticket purchases and question the value and the brand.  This is where the opportunity lies.  No self respecting consumer wants to buy at the bottom of the market where the product may fail before they have received its value (somewhere around two to three years from the informal research we have done).  So with it becoming easier over the last five-ish years to have access to great technology at really aggressive prices, the advent of the value brand has arisen.  With less interest in pricey cutting edge technology the consumer has chosen to buy new again in a couple of years to keep pace.  A new market is borne.

To really stand out you add to the value proposition with, say, great customer service or great additional content then you have the essence of a brand that with time and investment will stand out in the market and could become part of the next wave of long term successes.  Recessions can change markets and bring new opportunities.  Let the new competition begin.

#McDStories – stop the #hype!

I have recently become a vocal defender of McDonald’s which is rather unexpected.  A couple of weeks ago, as you may have heard, they started part of a campaign with the sponsored hash tag #McDStories.  Their idea being a way to share their growers’ stories.  For those who have somehow missed this story: the tag was quickly jumped upon to share negative McDonald’s experiences.

So campaign going wrong, what did McDonald’s do? Within two hours they pulled the campaign, they also quickly rolled out their social media director Rick Wion to explain and comment to interested media.  His quotes are down to earth and reasonable. The campaign refocused on another hash tag they were working on #meetthefarmers.   The result?  McDonalds claims only 2% of the tweets were actually negative and it didn’t even make it into the top ten trending topics.

So what went wrong? 1.0 media met 2.0 social media.  And apparently 1.0 doesn’t understand 2.0. So ensued a coverage storm way bigger than the initial story one could argue.  A central principle of social media is opening up to ALL conversations – you have too – not just the version the brand wishes to broadcast.  Accepting you are not perfect and listening to your detractors is all part and parcel of this new world.  You are not going to like everything they say but at least you can listen and learn.  And your wider audience will respect you for it if you do this well.

Now, don’t get me wrong, no-one plans for a campaign to go wrong but if McDonalds did not instigate a campaign with any potential for negativity (given the size of this brand, not everyone will be a fan), the reality is they would either have to quit social media (to jeers of ‘Dinosaur’ no doubt) or reel out campaigns so orchestrated and non conversational (you know who you are some of you juggernaut brands) that they defy the very game changing opportunity that social media has bought.

The real shame is the #fail bandwagon some of the so called social media experts jumped onto.  Trending topics give rise for opportunities for self promotion.  The McDonalds bashing that ensued underlined the lack of understanding of a central social media principle.  And to add to this most detractors had nothing to offer regarding a fail safe system that would have prevented this – because there isn’t one.

Nobody truly active in social media is invulnerable to a failure like this is the real bottom line to this one. The higher the profile the brand the more likely it is to happen.  McDonalds did pretty much everything right.  It had no lasting effect on its sales, share price or brand – seriously, who’s not heard all these stories before – and if you don’t like the food, you don’t like the brand anyway so no loss there either.  What this example really shows us is to be prepared for the media and social media storm that follows the initial mistake.  Until the world view catches up with 2.0 that is.

It’s all about the money, well digital wallet actually

It is amazing to think that my son will have as hazy memories of cash as I do of ‘old money’, if the latest research from Paypal proves to be true.  In the same way I can only really remember sixpences from the tooth fairy, by 2016 there will be no need for cash, credit cards or cheques on the high street. Paypal estimates that £2.5bn will go through as mobile retail payments in the UK that year and that will be just the beginning.

What is not quite so clear is whose digital wallet I will have in my pocket.  Visa is the latest brand to come out punching with V.me – love the name – being launched a fortnight ago.  Also out there fighting are other big financial players like American Express with Serve, MasterCard with its multiple collaborations strategy, the ‘disrupters’ such as Google (‘Google Wallet’), PayPal and Carphone Warehouse (Mobile Money Network) plus others perhaps yet to show their full hand (Amazon or Apple anyone?).  There are also some interesting innovating start ups in the US to keep an eye out for: Square and Dwolla to name just two.

The individual mobile operators are trialling showcase projects with RIM/Telefonica announcing just last week a test project in Spain.  But perhaps the more interesting news is that back in June major UK operators  – Everything Everywhere, O2 and Vodafone – announced a joint venture (JV) to ‘bring together expertise and technology ’.  The JV already needs to fight off an anti-trust complaint from 3.  If this takes off, and means common standards, then this is good news all round.  But if the intention is to deliver another rival system, we have a serious contender to add to the mêlée.

Whichever way this one goes, there is a titanic battle ahead.  One thing you will quite quickly see is more partnerships as the above and more jostle for position.  Who wins the fight for your virtual wallet will partly be based on relationships with retail (retailers simply can’t support them all) and partly on who wins the hearts and minds of the lovely digital generations.  Making the service easy and perhaps more importantly, given the intention is for them all to be easy, delivering excellent digital customer service is going to be vital.  Not something the finance industries are traditionally noted for.

At this stage there is all to play for.  Watch this space.

English Rugby in Trouble?

We are now well into week three of ‘Rugbygate’ as stories of our boys and their antics continue to fill the tabloids and beyond.  Yet I find myself in a bit of a dichotomy.   Do I roll my eyes and think ‘they are Rugby boys: are you seriously surprised that they get drunk, are rude to women and do OTT things whilst out partying? That behaviour is as old as the hills.’  Or do I think ‘about time too’?  Perhaps the sport was relying too much on the former perception to see them through.

So when the media decided that now was the time to have their day with them the sport was unprepared.

On reflection you would think the RFU would have had a better plan.  It should have been forewarned by stories from the previous World Cup, plus the on-going scrutiny the media now puts other sports stars under.

The issues and crisis plans, if they are in place, are ineffective and must have been written from within their own rugby world.  A typical mistake.  We can but hope that this is the low point, that they will smarten up their act rapidly now and be able to bring attention back to the fact that the team has made the quarter finals.  They will have time after the World Cup to consider if and how attitudes and communications must change for the future.

As the old get younger, the young do indeed get older

Part of our market trackers training series looks at different audiences and the ways that the latest social media trends are reflecting their changing profiles.  Every generation thinks that kids grow up younger but the stats do indeed, in the case, back this idea up.

Ofcom’s recent report offers some useful insights.  74% of homes now have internet access. This suggests that beyond those who do not have the means to afford it, pretty much every home with a young family has access to the web.  This offers a whole world of new opportunities: 67% of 5-7s rising to 82% of 8-11s now use the internet at home.  That’s pretty much everyone interested, so it is universal access (or close to it).  Half of these parents think their children know more about the internet than they do.  So who is leading who here?

One direct indicator of getting older younger is tweens eagerness to get onto more teenage sites.  Around a third (34%) of children aged 8-12 who use the internet at home have a social networking profile on sites, like Facebook, which requires users to register as 13 or over.  That number is up 36% in a single year and no doubt will continue to rise whilst these sites continue to be popular with teenagers. One third of 8-11s (37%) rising to two thirds of 12-15s (66%) watch YouTube regularly.  And there is a whole education to be had just on YouTube.

Another insight is offered by research commissioned by Marketing Week.  It looks at brand awareness amongst kids.  Perhaps unsurprisingly more than 90% 6-10 year olds recognise popular kids FMCG brands like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Tropicana and Ribena, alongside other classics like Nike, Adidas and Disney.  Yet as kids grow from six to ten years old, grown up brands like BlackBerry and Apple become more important and child friendly brands fade in value and importance.  This is pretty young.  Before this I would have said perhaps between 8 and 12, not 6 to 10.  It is also fascinating to note that favourite ads for older kids in the age group include GoCompare, Cillit Bang and Webuyanycar – so products aimed at adults but all with catchy jingles.

All of this has important implications for us as marketers and makes for great onechocolate market trackers.