And so the marketing machine that is ‘X Factor’ rumbles towards securing Simon Cowell another Christmas # 1 this year. At the time of writing, 150k copies of Alexandra Burke’s cover of ‘Hallelujah’ have been downloaded thus far, making it the fastest selling download of all time and virtually guaranteeing it to be the soundtrack to many people’s Christmas.

Whilst Ms Burke might be a talented singer, nobody can doubt that her song’s popularity has a lot to do with the amount of time, emotion and money people have invested into her over the course of X Factor.

The final drew a peak audience of 14.3 million, making it the most viewed entertainment show since the Only Fools and Horses Christmas Special, and every week it has attracted thousands of calls from those wanting to participate in the story.

People aren’t just buying a single but the whole experience that goes with it, which is something brands can learn a lot from about the new style of marketing.

Digital provides the technology

Digital is changing the nature of branding. Rather than just focusing on positioning, the USP and the message, marketers now need to find a way to make brands more relevant and meaningful to encourage people to invest time in them.

As shown by ITV’s plight, brands no longer have a captive audience, slumped in their sofas, waiting to be pummelled with one way advertising. People now spend more time online, where they can choose what content to engage with, and what to ignore.

This presents a challenge and an opportunity. Brands need to work out how to reach their customer base in a way that’s accepted and adds value to the online experience.

And digital also offers an opportunity because it provides the technology to engage people with entertainment, information, education and utilities (such as free software) in an interactive format that’s never been possible before.

Don’t just deliver a message, deliver an experience

People rushed to download Alexandra’s song because they’d already invested so much in her story and brand. They’d watched her determination to succeed drive her on to finally winning the series, and it was this experience they were buying into when downloading her single.

Brands can harness the same psychological effect if they can also deliver an experience to go with their product, such as exceptional customer service, the use of storytelling or creating a tribal sense of inclusion people want to be a part of.

Stories are powerful because they swoop under people’s anti-marketing radar, and engage customers’ interest when the story’s values matches their worldview.

So brands need to weave an engaging tale about their humble beginnings, early struggles and final triumph if they’d like to mimic the appeal of an X Factor winner.

The success of Innocent Drinks, Levi Roots’ Reggae Reggae Sauce and Howies clothing has a lot to do with the appealing stories accompanying their products.

Businesses engaging digital in 2009

The marketing value of encouraging people to engage, involve and participate themselves with a brand is so powerful that many businesses are planning to ramp up their digital campaigns in 2009.

In an E-consultancy survey, 42% of businesses said they planned to add user generated content to their sites, whilst 35% planned to start using social media tools (i.e. blogging, podcasting and vidcasting) to encourage people to invest more time in their brand.

They understand that if you’re providing valuable content, whether it’s entertaining or informative, people are going to spend more time engaging with your brand, and in turn feel more inclined to buy your products as part of the experience.

So if you start getting sick of hearing Alexandra’s rendition of ‘Hallelujah’ over the festive period remember that it’s the power of the Burke brand experience that has propelled her to # 1. And it shows that people don’t buy into relentless advertising, but into the experience that goes with the product.

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BDA (Buckingham Design Associates) blog – real people giving real opinions, and a complete lack of agency waffle. BDA deliver an exciting blend of design and creative marketing for the Oxford, Milton Keynes, Northampton and London region.

So was Monday ‘Mega’ for you? Well, apparently it was for 2 million Brits, who preferred the convenience of a few mouse clicks to fighting for a parking space on the high st.

A few Mega Monday facts:

• Online sales were up 14% on 2007
• £320 million was spent at online retailers
• £20 million more than last year
• £13.6 billion is expected to be spent online in total this ‘Clickmas’
• For the first time in 14 years high st sales have fallen for a second successive month

What’s amazing is that ‘Mega Monday’ was only the third busiest day of the year in terms of traffic to online retailers, because the web isn’t just a virtual checkout till, but is also a valuable research tool.

Unlike a shop, people don’t visit an online retailer thinking that they have to buy something to justify the trip. Instead they might just visit to check prices, compare products and find the best deals, before clicking away to check their Facebook account.

Research earlier in the year suggested that 67% of shoppers research their purchases online before heading to a store. What this signifies is that consumers are using the web to become better informed about brands, products and services, rather than waiting to be told.

Consequently, brands and businesses need to realise that the web is now an extension to the in-store shopping experience. And if you’re not online than you’re nowhere as far as a sizeable number of people are now concerned.

Getting their information online is also actively preferred by many consumers to what they’re fed on the TV. In a survey of 30,000 people, by G2 Data Dynamics, 37% said they prefer to get information on brands and offers from websites and email than celebrity endorsed TV ads.

This could be a backlash against the fees paid to Donovan, Katona and their celeb chums, or it could reflect how people are weary of TV advertising in general, and value their attention more highly.

Giving away vouchers? Bar, humbug

With the economy continuing to sink into a quagmire, finding a bargain has never been more in vogue. And many shoppers are realising they don’t need to fight over the bargain bins in Woolworths when there’s so many offers to be found online.

Along with trawling eBay and price comparison sites, many people have been hunting down vouchers to help them cut the cost of Christmas. This year UK internet searches for vouchers have increased a staggering 133%, whilst visits to sites have nearly doubled.

Scrooge would have refused to giveaway discounts on principle, despising the thought of cutting revenue for the sake of spreading some Christmas cheer. However, vouchers are an effective marketing strategy for generating interest and holding onto existing customers. In the G2 Data Dynamics survey, for example, free gifts and discounts polled as the best way to stimulate brand loyalty.

One brand who can testify to voucher power is Marks and Spencers. Its recent 20% discount promo attracted one in 33 visits to retail sites this Xmas, and doubled visits to its real world stores.

Smarter Email Marketing in 2009

With competition for credit cards a matter of survival for many businesses, you need to ensure you’re taking advantage of digital technology to build customer relationships, maintain loyalty and taking a bigger slice of the shrinking pie.

69% of business in an E-consultancy survey enjoyed noticeable improvements in engaging with their customers following email activity. This reflects why email marketing is becoming more popular, because it offers a tangible ROI, better targeting means it’s more effective and it can be used to engage customers with valuable content.

So think about how you can reward your loyal customers by emailing them some vouchers and yuletide offers, because otherwise you might receive a visit from Scrooge’s three Ghosts this Christmas Eve.

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BDA (Buckingham Design Associates) blog – real people giving real opinions, and a complete lack of agency waffle. BDA deliver an exciting blend of design and creative marketing for the Oxford, Milton Keynes, Northampton and London region.

Come and dress a Christmas Elf! We’re running a draw that lasts until Midnight on the 22nd of December. All you have to do to be in with the chance of winning a magnum of Champagne is submit an elf.

Good luck, and have fun!

Well, Christmas is upon us, and many people will be hoping Santa leaves them a snazzy new smartphone in their stocking this year. And it won’t be just thoughts of an iPhone keeping people awake on Christmas Eve, because Google’s G1 and Blackberry’s Storm will also be vying for space under the tree.

Sleek touchscreens, 3G+ internet and a plethora of apps have seduced people into putting a smartphone at the top of their Christmas wish list, replacing watches and shoes as this year’s must have accessory.

The demand for smartphones is great news for marketers. It means they can grow out of simple text and banner ads, and take advantage of swifter web speeds and slicker interfaces to deliver richer marketing messages, and let their creativity free from the bottle.

New devices, same rules

Marketers have been salivating over the potential reach of mobile for the last decade: most people own one, they rarely leave people’s pockets and offer a direct channel virtually 24 hours a day.

However, marketers need to tread carefully. Mobiles are more personal than a home PC, posing a risk if users see you as an intruder, whilst offering rich rewards if you’re able to add value to the mobile experience.

Whilst desperate to mine their goldmine of users (and prop up falling SMS and call revenue), if operators damage the mobile experience they risk losing subscribers to their rivals.

So, mobile marketing has to ensure it obeys the rules of being relevant and offering value if it wants to be accepted.

Next year you can expect mobile marketing to get more sophisticated as brands learn how to harness the potential of the handsets being packed onto Santa’s sleigh. The ripples of which have already been felt this year by what has been dubbed the ‘iPhone effect’.

The iPhone Effect on mobile marketing

There are plenty of stats on the potential of mobile you can reel off to persuade brands where to bet next year’s budget; however, the one which has really put fire into mobile’s engine is that nearly half of the responses to a mobile display ad were made on an iPhone.

From even a cynical view, this figure indicates that when handsets with touchscreens and faster internet access proliferate people will be more inclined to respond to marketing.

But before advertisers start flooding messages onto iPhones, G phones and Blackberrys, they need to work out how to deliver them in a way that adds to the mobile experience and is accepted by users.

There’s still a lot of experimentation to be done.

Application Wars

Earlier this year, Apple opened up the iPhone platform in a bid to steal Google’s thunder as the developer’s platform of choice.

Along with fishing games, finger print scanners and internet radio players, brands have been releasing applications which they hope will enable them to engage with the iPhone user base.

US clothes retailer Target, for example, has released a ‘Gift Globe’ in time for Christmas. Give your iPhone a shake and the screen mimics the effect of a snow globe, with the flakes revealing gift ideas and links to your local store.

Next year you can expect to see a flood of mobile apps competing for attention as brands follow the new rules of marketing in which you offer relevancy and value in exchange for engagement.

Although judging from this review, Target has more experimenting to do before it releases the next one:

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BDA (Buckingham Design Associates) blog – real people giving real opinions, and a complete lack of agency waffle. BDA deliver an exciting blend of design and creative marketing for the Oxford, Milton Keynes, Northampton and London region.

It often sounds like a lot of hot air and hype. But when content is spread virally it can boost brand awareness, fill your database and turn people into internet superstars, sometimes overnight.

Viral marketing has the potential to reach more people than multimillion pound branding campaigns. It’s not easy to do though.

Being able to intentionally create content that people happily share with their friends and colleagues is a challenge, particularly if you’re a marketing agency.

Word-of-mouse marketing

Viral is the evolution of word-of-mouth for the digital age, bigger and better than before.

Whereas in simpler times you’d be happy if your customers told their friends and family about how helpful your customer service is, now you want them to share it with their entire online network.

The ability to easily share content on the web, with a lot of people in a short space of time, means messages can spread rapidly and exponentially. Word-of-mouth buzz, however, tends to fizzle out, going in one ear and out the other without leaving a lasting impression.

Creating a virus people want to spread

Viral content can take a range of forms: free eBooks, software, video clips, Flash games, images or text messages.

What they all have in common is that people think the benefit they’ll gain from sharing the content is greater than the effort required to pass it along.

So to create content with a likelihood of going viral, you need to offer humour, entertainment or information that’s so valuable people feel compelled to tell everyone how great it is.

Many software developers create demand for their products by giving away limited versions for free, whilst more authors are starting to give away free chapters and excerpts to generate buzz for their new books.

Unpleasant symptoms you’ll want to avoid

Whatever its format, if you’re intentionally creating content to spread virally then there are a number of unspoken rules to obey:

Don’t advertise – web users resent all attempts of blatantly being sold to. So keep logo shots to a minimum, and don’t even think about pushing your brand message. Viral is about offering valuable content in exchange for engaging people’s time, not trying to ambush their attention.

Be authentic – everyone knows that you can’t be cool if you’re trying to be, so leave the hip hop soundtrack for MTV. Even worse is to pretend a mock user generated video featuring your product is nothing to do with you. People hate to think they’ve been deceived or manipulated into watching a branding exercise. So be authentic, and when in doubt give full disclosure.

Treat it as an experiment – creating a viral message that spreads amongst hundreds, let alone millions, of people is difficult. Very difficult. So treat viral as an experiment, rather than pinning your hopes on it getting you onto the national news. If you hit the jackpot, allow yourselves to bask in your creative genius. But don’t tear your hair out if your cheeky video clip fails to get any votes. Learn from each experiment and adjust your formula for the next attempt.

Virals that infected millions

So let’s be clear: incubating a viral message potent enough to infect millions of monitors is very difficult to do.

However, if you’re able to create content people value so highly that they fall over themselves to email, blog and Facebook about it then it can potentially gain more exposure than any other strategy.

Here are a few exceptionally contagious cases of viral content:

Threshers 40% off voucher – this gift to suppliers ‘leaked’ onto the web just before Xmas two years ago. The offer to stock up on cheap booze spread like wildfire. 800,000 downloads later and Threshers rang in the New Year with a bumper 60% extra in their tills.

Cadburys’ drumming gorilla – part of £6.2 million campaign covering TV, print and billboards, the 90 second commercial found its way onto YouTube, receiving 500,000 views in the first week. The TV ad was only broadcast in the UK, but the clip spread onto other video sharing sites generating 6 million views and national news coverage throughout the globe. The idea of using a drumming gorilla to sell chocolate bars helped turn around the brand’s slide and pushed sales up nearly 10%.

Hotmail –when Hotmail was launched in 1996 the internet was still only crawling its way into people’s homes. Spotting an opportunity to let their users do the legwork, Hotmail’s founders added a small advert to the footer of every message inviting the reader to signup for their free service. Within a year Hotmail had 8.5 million registered users, earning a $400 million cheque from Microsoft in the process.

Nike’s Ronaldinho clip – this ‘shaky’ video of the Brazilian casually hitting the crossbar four times from outside the box provoked a flurry of debate on whether it was real or fake. 26 million views later and we’re still none the wiser. But the clip generated more internet buzz than you’d get from a conventional corporate vanity ad, and costing several million less to create as well.

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BDA (Buckingham Design Associates) blog – real people giving real opinions, and a complete lack of agency waffle. BDA deliver an exciting blend of design and creative marketing for the Oxford, Milton Keynes, Northampton and London region.

A month out from 25 December, and we’re putting the finishing touches on our Christmas communications to clients and contacts, which should hit their letter boxes and inboxes around 10 December. Incorporating a Christmas card personalised to each recipient, an emailer and an online ‘game’, it’s an opportunity for us to connect with – and amuse – the broader ‘tribe bda‘.

But I’m the New Business Person. So it would be somewhat disingenuous for me to deny that Christmas, apart from being fun and Christmasy and smelling of plum pudding, also provides businesses with a fantastic opportunity to touch base with prospects in a way which won’t be perceived as stalking. A bit like in our personal lives, where Christmas cards are a fantastic way to say: “I know I’ve been completely crap at staying in touch, I forgot your birthday and we still haven’t had you over for lunch, but: MERRY CHRISTMAS!”.

Internet marketing used to be simple: you’d dump your brochure online and pray a small percentage of visitors would click buy. Well, this approach is generally flawed, because it’s like having a shop window display to attract customers and then not talking to them when they arrive.

The internet might be a cold, robotic medium, but people still have human needs and behave in a similar way to how they do in the real world, something smart marketers are starting to capitalise on.

Whether it’s teenagers arguing about bands on MySpace, internet marketers sharing advice on E-consultancy or any of the thousands of forums sprouting on every topic under the sun, people are grouping together based on shared passions and interests.

In essence, people are displaying the same behavioural instincts we’re had since cavemen times, and forming digital tribes with those we feel a connection to.

Consequently, smart marketers are realising that if they can build the same sense of kinship around their products and services they can tap into other positive tribal mannerisms, such as dedication, loyalty and the desire to invite friends and family to join the tribe as well.

Rather than just building static websites, marketers are creating web presences, with blogs, video, social media and other tools, to develop a sense of engagement and tribal loyalty to their brand.

Here are two examples of businesses thriving from using their websites to create a tribe, rather than merely as a shop window display:

Pampers.co.uk

Procter & Gamble have always been a leading innovator when it comes to engaging with consumers in deeper ways than conventional advertising. Now they’re applying the same philosophy they used in soap operas to the internet: offering valuable content to foster a closer affinity to their brand.

The Pampers website doesn’t have an obvious sales pitch or shopping cart in sight. Instead what you have is a website packed with information for expectant and young mothers, offering help rather than trying to sell them nappies.

There are many ways in which visitors can engage with the website, such as register for their popular newsletter (customised with relevant information for their child’s age) check a map for family friendly restaurants and start their own blog.

And due to the positive associations they feel from the experience, mothers are more likely to pledge their allegiance to the Pampers tribe and pay tribute the next time they’re in the supermarket.

The Pampers website demonstrates how major brands are leading the way in tribal web marketing and developing a closer affinity with their products through the provision of valuable content, rather than static sales pitches.

Whilst you might not have P & G’s marketing budget, there’s no reason why any business can’t adopt the same tribal tactics due to the relative low cost of using the web to engage with prospects, as demonstrated in this next rubbish case study:

Topskips.co.uk

A husband and wife team launched Topskips.co.uk in 2003 with a mere £5000 budget. As the internet’s first skip hire website they were able to quickly corner the market, growing by nearly 700% within two years.

They attribute their continuing success to their website and marketing strategy. Rather than mere brochureware, their website is a treasure trove of information. They provide a blog, free eBook, newsletter and videos with advice on topics such as hiring the right skip size spliced with refuse related humour.

Since Topskips.co.uk was launched the search listings have become flooded with rival skip hire firms hoping to take away some of their business.

However, the level of engagement Topskips.co.uk offers, compared to the static brochures of their competitors, means visitors will feel a closer connection and sense of loyalty to their brand.

Topskips.co.uk is an example of how to use the web’s tools for closer engagement with customers and how to create a tribe Stig of the Dump would be proud of.

Tribal marketing is also about cooperation

Selling products and services is a complex psychological process, and taping into the nature of human behaviour is certainly the way to go.

Regular readers will know we’re big fans of marketing superbrain Seth Godin, and Seth has recently preached on the power of tapping into the principles of groups and leadership in his new book ‘Tribes’, which is certain to be on most marketers’ reading lists.

Here at BDA we’re in the process of developing tribes of our own, in which we connect together our clients, partners, suppliers and other contacts to share ideas and make business connections. Because we believe cooperation is the business model of the future, and another of the central binding principles of every great tribe.

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BDA (Buckingham Design Associates) blog – real people giving real opinions, and a complete lack of agency waffle. BDA deliver an exciting blend of design and creative marketing for the Oxford, Milton Keynes, Northampton and London region.

A little bit early for Christmas, but a fun game anyway.

Whether it’s a golden arch, a half eaten apple or pink jagged numbers, a logo is the visual embodiment of a brand’s identity. It has the power to inspire trust, admiration or even disdain, so you need to think carefully about how it’s designed.

Creating a logo isn’t simply a case of doodling for a few hours and picking out your favourite sketch. You have to find the magic combination of shapes, images and colours that will reflect your brand’s ethos and appeal to your target market.

Designing a logo which also remains relevant for years to come is far from simple, but here are a few tips to get you started:

Logo design rules

At a basic level, your logo should achieve the following:

• Describable so people can easily interpret what it represents
• Memorable so people will recognise it and associate it with your business
• Effective without colour in case it’s printed in black and white
• Scalable so it’s legible even when small enough to fit on a business card
• It shouldn’t be too complex otherwise it will ‘gum up’ and appear messy when shrunk
• Have fairly equal dimensions. People prefer logos which are square or circular, rather than tall and thin or short and fat

Logo design types

Logos generally fall into three main types:

• An illustrative representation of what a company does e.g. the WWF’s panda
• An abstract iconic image e.g. Apple, any sportswear brand or car manufacturer
• Font based with a unique typeface e.g. Harley Davidson, Google or Coca Cola

The logo type used should reflect the nature of a business’ industry and appeal to its target audience. An obvious example is the WWF’s panda, which is far more effective at conveying animal conservation than if they’d chosen the sort of dynamic, abstract logos favoured by sportswear brands.

Whichever type of logo you choose, it’s sensible to keep graphic and text elements (e.g. your company name or slogan) separate. Designing these elements independently gives you more scope and flexibility in how they’re used in the future.

For example, when your company becomes rich and famous you might want to drop the company slogan altogether, and let your logo spell out your brand message on its own.

2012 Olympics logo – disaster or genius?

Despite a national outbreak of disappointment, a petition to get it replaced and claims it causes epileptic fits, a series of brightly coloured, jagged numbers are what will be used to promote the London 2012 Olympics. The fact that the logo cost taxpayers £400,000 to design probably didn’t soften the blow.

When launched, the Olympics council hailed it as ‘the vision at the very heart of our brand’ and an effort to reach out to the nation’s youth. The nation’s marketers, however, are less enamoured. In a recent survey, three out of five said they thought it was ineffective and didn’t quite give the impression of the UK being a world leader in entertainment, culture and sport as everyone had hoped.

However, 2012 is still four years away, and the logo is designed to be used in a variety of animated guises yet to be unveiled (and possibly still to be invented for that matter). And as people get on with supporting their country, they yet might find themselves warming to it, particularly if it starts being associated with yet another Team GB triumph.

The Nike Swoosh – pure genius

Ordinarily, designing a logo is a complicated process, requiring weeks or even months of research, sketching, conceptualisation and reflection. However, occasionally stokes (or one stroke to be precise) of genius can occur.

Perhaps the greatest example of how a brand’s logo can grow into a globally admired symbol is the Nike ‘Swoosh’, a simple yet effective representation of the wing of Nike, the Greek Goddess of Victory.

Created by a graphic design student in 1971 for a mere $35, the Swoosh was partnered with the ‘Just Do It’ slogan to brilliantly symbolise a lifestyle choice for millions of athletes and casual sports fans worldwide.

People are seduced into buying sportswear and equipment decorated with the Nike Swoosh because of how it makes them feel, the holy grail of brand marketing.

A logo should be for life

It takes time to build awareness of your logo and what it represents. So deciding that it doesn’t promote your brand message adequately and changing it a few years down the line can be expensive and counterproductive, which is why you need to get your logo design right first time.

So, whether you spend £400,000 or $35, designing your logo will require obeying the rules (whilst also daring to be different), hours of perspiration and a few strokes of genius.

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BDA (Buckingham Design Associates) blog – real people giving real opinions, and a complete lack of agency waffle. BDA deliver an exciting blend of design and creative marketing for the Oxford, Milton Keynes, Northampton and London region.

[This is the second half of a two part post. You can read part one here.]

Consumers are never happy unless you give them what they really want

In another recent post, Seth Godin commented on how consumers are never happy, but are constantly demanding freebies, updates and product improvements from businesses.

Seth suggests you can continue feeding the demands of unhappy customers, as though trying to buy a spoilt child’s affection, or you can give them what they really want: a sense of connection, to feel appreciated and loved.

Generic mass marketing cannot make people feel special or loved. Email blasting the same message to every customer is like sending a bulk message to your entire address book at Christmas, when what they really want is a personal message in an individually addressed card.

Luckily, the technology is now available for marketers to satisfy the desire for greater relevancy and connection. The ability to track and record an endless supply of data on customers means you can deliver one-to-one marketing personalised to match the interests and preferences of each individual.

Here are a few more marketing tips for making customers feel special and loved:

• Offer valuable insight or information (e.g. in a blog, newsletter or eBook) on solving a problem which can’t be easily found elsewhere
• Listen to your customers’ interests and preferences using personalised URLs
• Deliver timely messages and offers e.g. a congratulatory message and discount on their birthday
• Follow up sales with an email, even if it’s just to say thanks
• Tell your audience a captivating story about the history of your business which they can invest in emotionally and feel a part of

If you make them feel unhappy, remember to tell them they’re special afterwards

People aren’t interested in businesses or their products. They’re interested in how a product makes them feel and the promise of what it can do to improve their lives. Marketing’s aim isn’t to sell features, but the emotional benefits people will gain from them, or as lipstick maker Charles Revson once put it, “In the factory we make cosmetics. In the store we sell hope.”

So when looking to acquire customers, marketing’s aim isn’t to deliberately make them feel unhappy or inadequate, but to appeal to their inherent aspiration to better themselves, improve their lifestyle and enhance their standing with others.

Just make sure that once you’ve persuaded people to become customers you then switch your focus to making them feel special and appreciated. Because otherwise your customers might look elsewhere for connection and attention, which your competitors will be only too happy to provide.

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BDA (Buckingham Design Associates) blog – real people giving real opinions, and a complete lack of agency waffle. BDA deliver an exciting blend of design and creative marketing for the Oxford, Milton Keynes, Northampton and London region.