The mistake occurred as part of a stunt launched in May by which facebook members handed over control of their statuses to Dr Pepper for the chance to win a thousand pounds. The statuses would then be made as embarrassing as possible, capitalising on the company’s strap line, “What’s the worst that could happen?” The kerfuffle arose as a result of an unsuitable update being posted on a 14 year old girl’s page.  While this may well have caused irreparable damage to the brand’s image now, but without the benefit of hindsight the risk may have seemed worth taking.

What Dr Pepper and their agency, Lean Mean Fighting Machine, inadvertently stumbled upon was either a spectacular piece of bad luck or really a catastrophe waiting to happen, depending on which way you look at it. The failure to check the database of potential statuses for the kind of post that looks entirely innocent at first glance – but after a little research turns out to be incredibly explicit – is the ultimate cause of the episode, but perhaps the kind of joke necessary to properly catch the attention of your common or garden facebooker needs to be a little risqué, doesn’t it?

The problem for brands and marketers is that though social media is by far the most effective way of getting the attention of young people, there is a dangerously narrow line between humour and obscenity that has to be respectfully toed. In order to win over interest and grow your brand’s profile, visibility on sites like facebook is a good idea, but not one without its drawbacks. After all, online social networking is a relatively new phenomenon, and marketing on the platform an even newer one. Dr Pepper’s method of approaching the challenge was a clever and innovative one, but hopefully the irony of the tragic consequences that befell a drinks manufacturer whose ad campaigns highlighted the often dire results of risk-taking has not been lost on businesses and agencies looking to social media as a means of expression.

Carol O’Mara
Business Leader
GyroHSR London

The recent election brought home just how much power this network has and, quite rightly, the coalition government has recognised that it isn’t something only useful for the election but in the longer term.   It makes perfect sense to use the heightened engagement in politics from the election to retain involvement from a wider audience.  This view is also directly in line with the greater vision of Facebook – it was created as an entity in its own right, far more than just another site because it enables interaction in a more powerful way than any other.

This is because Facebook isn’t just another website or technology, it is a social utility and should be used as such.  No other channel or media offers this direct, real-time dialogue by which the public can be engaged and understood.  Facebook is more than a network of people, it is a tool to reach out to them, share information and gain understanding which can’t be replicated by other tools available but is invaluable to the political sphere.

Of course, it’s not infallible.  The very nature of Facebook means you can’t censor it and you have to take the rough with the smooth.  But that’s just what makes it such a valuable tool for politicians who need to work more transparently than ever to clean up their profile following the scandals of recent months.  The truth is, a political Facebook campaign isn’t a disingenuous attempt at being cool, it is something that any representative body can’t afford not to engage in in modern times.

By
Richard Perry
Chief Operating Officer
GyroHSR

Twitter: richjperry
Linkedin: uk.linkedin.com/in/richardjohnperry

As an unrepentant early adopter Iʼve had my nose pressed up against the Apple store window in NY for a month, figuratively speaking. I have been waiting for them to open the store so I could get in and buy one. Well thatʼs not strictly true, as I couldnʼt be in NY for the great day I had my brother in laws nose pressed against the window last Saturday, and having bought it he dispatched it to me courtesy of FedEx. Iʼd decided to buy the full fat 64GB version. Friends told me to wait for the 3G launch, but no I wanted to play with one of these at once.

So, Iʼve now spent the last few days playing on the thing, tucking it away in small, very small, bags when I go anywhere. Leaving it lying on the sofa when Iʼm sat there, or by the side of the bed, in the kitchen in fact anywhere and everywhere. You see the thing is truly the ubiquitous tablet weʼve all waited for. Once youʼve got one, you want it with you all the time. E-mail, calendars, address books and music all sync effortlessly and with little need for technical understanding beyond having the ability to tap itʼs touch sensitive screen. It also plays, and sells you of course, movies, TV shows, music and hundreds of thousands of apps.

Then, for me there is the killer app, the reason I actually bought the thing in the first place. iBooks. Iʼve played with Sony Readers, flirted with a Kindle and tried even earlier attempts to make e-books actually work. All of them, so to speak, were not worth the paper they werenʼt printed on. Remarkably last year sales for e-readers were still up around 5 million for gadgets that were still functionally pretty useless. The problem with e-readers up to this point has always been a choice between long battery life or vibrant living colour.

So, back to my dusty books. Well theyʼve been like family members to me each and every one loved, written in, read and re-read. I remember the first book I actually paid my own hard earned cash for (The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – but I was only eight and it was actually pocket money). The first business book I bought (Kotlers Marketing Management). I have first editions of James Bond, a complete set of Churchillʼs A History of the English-Speaking Peoples and over two thousand or so other books in my dusty library.

Which brings me to my dilemma. The iPad is by a long way the best reading experience Iʼve ever come across. The screen is bright, and you can adjust it, and the response time to page turning is, to deploy a much over-used word, phenomenal. I bought my first iBook yesterday, Andrew Marrʼs History of Modern Britain, and can now lie in bed at midnight and read it without having to strap a small flash lamp to my head. So now for the first time I look at my library and see the equivalent of 2,000 VHS video tapes or 2,000 vinyl LPs. Is my beloved library now only filled with 2,000 lumps of dusty pulp? Will I still buy printed books? Thatʼs the question. It seems that finally technology has caught up with the printed book after around five hundred years of dominance. I can carry my ʻbookʼ and indeed entire library around with me where-ever I go and read where and when I want. Thatʼs remarkable.

And when technology shifts in such a dramatic fashion, you can be sure there will be huge impacts and opportunities in a brand and marketing perspective. The ability to target and develop true relationships with consumers has never been more attainable or immediate. Thatʼs the exciting bit.

The iPad is quite simply a game changer. Nothing, at the moment, comes close.

(P.S. the keyboard is also good enough for me to be able to write this blog while traveling on the Stockholm underground!)

Julian Stubbs
Head of Global Branding
GyroHSR Stockholm

I can’t wait to see Wired magazine’s upcoming iPad publication, which might prove to be the future of publishing. Penny-pinchers eagerly await their daily Twitter coupons. A former colleague of mine views shared imagery from his various friends on his Apple TV. Our walled and password-protected worlds of social environments and content are available to us on a myriad of devices but often are unavailable to search engines. One friend of mine told me a few weeks ago he unsubscribed to all his e-newsletter subscriptions and gets fresher content via RSS feeds on his mobile device.

The digital world is experiencing a dramatic change. People are going to digital destinations to share and receive content on a variety of devices. Forrester ably labeled this phenomenon, which has crept into our world over the last few years, “The Splinternet.” And that is just what it is; the fragmentation of online destinations. For me, it is typified by clients asking: “Should I be spending my allotted Web budget on the corporate Web site, or Facebook?”

Do brands still need Web sites? Yep. One foot in the old world and one foot in the new world will serve most brands well. The time is now to embrace all these new platforms, but only if you are clear that your users/customers/prospects are already there or will be soon.

Mike Tittel
Senior Vice President – Global Practice Leader – Digital

Also posted on Mike’s personal blog http://artistinthefield.blogspot.com/

Contrary to popular belief, digital is central to b2b marketing. So much so that in GyroHSR’s B2B Marketing Insight Report, 44% of respondents felt that digital communications were the most effective method in B2B marketing, eclipsing that of more traditional tools, such as direct marketing.

It isn’t hard to see why digital is favoured over other channels. Direct response direct mail has produced a 0% response rate for almost half of the respondents in the research, compared with 27% for email marketing campaigns. Furthermore, the best response rates achieved were higher for email than any other communication channel.

But while the technologies being used in digital are at a similar level of development across business and consumer marketing, it is why they are used and what is deemed as sufficient return on investment which differs massively.  For B2B marketers, digital is treated as a tactical tool to help build a brand rather than a strategic platform for brand engagement and lead generation which consumer marketers have embraced.

So why does this disconnect between the application of digital exist? It can be because different digital tools available to marketers behave in different ways for the two disciplines.  Take Twitter, for example, which has a very different application in the B2B world than it does for consumer marketing. In B2B circles it is a highly targeted communication channel which allows individuals to network and share knowledge directly with each other. For consumer brands, Twitter is a broadcast medium which is effective in communicating to a mass market.

However, the main reason for the disparity between B2B and B2C is because B2B marketers are only measuring a fraction of what digital offers. Too many B2B marketers are still trying to convince themselves that digital works and as a result are failing to see the full potential of digital, which consumer marketers wised up to five years ago. This preoccupation with measurement of activity in place of measurement of return has led them to focus on short-term results, looking at the open and click through rates of email marketing as a barometer for brand engagement, rather than a consideration of the influence exerted after opening.

We know that B2B marketers are using digital channels to help with brand building, and that they are aware of the latest technologies available, with 78% stating in the report that they feel fairly or very well informed on digital developments.  But, crucially, they are failing to measure the impact of these efforts, with only 13% of respondents actively seeking to measure brand building as part of their overall marketing review, but instead focussing on website visits (82%) and e-mail open rates (66%) as benchmarks for success.

To combat this, marketers operating in the digital sphere need to adopt more sophisticated digital metrics for success and evolve from proving how it works to actually using it for lead and income generation.  B2C marketers have already shown this can work and B2B counterparts need to recognise this or risk falling behind the curve by not fully embracing the potential of digital.

By
Danny Turnbull
General Manager
GyroHSR in Manchester

Mike Tittel
Senior Vice President-
Global Practice Leader-Digital

This has also been posted to Mike’s personal blog: http://artistinthefield.blogspot.com/

And it’s simple and cheap right?  Just film a movie, stick it on YouTube and watch it spread all over the world, easy. Well not exactly…
YouTube has become so popular it’s often assumed that video = viral, but this is far from the case. These days ‘viral’ can be pretty much anything, form videos to twitter competitions to augmented reality to “20% of booze vouchers”.

…and because it can be anything that’s why an integrated approach is best.

These days the easiest way to pass any content on from one person to another, or preferably to many, is through digital channels, most notably by email. But that doesn’t mean that digital folk are necessarily the best people to come up with the original idea. In fact you’re probably going to get a more jaded response to an average idea because we tend to have more exposure to these channels and therefore see more viral work than the rest of you. It’s just the way we are.

Take the T-Mobile dancing in the station . Your average Digital person would probably have said they’d seen flash mobs a hundred times before. Been there, done that. I think it originated in New York and the first was in a carpet shop much to the displeasure of bemused sales assistants. It was nothing to do with a brand or product, just a bunch of pranksters having a laugh. Then there were the singers in the airport advertising the theatre. And and and….). However, with the backing of a TV campaign the Liverpool Street dance has achieved nearly 14m views on YouTube. Now that’s impressive!

But it’s not a digital idea  and indeed so often is the case that the best “virals” tend not to be. In fact nearly every successful video viral is a good piece of film-making rather than a great piece of digital. The power of viral is usually in the digital method by which it’s passed on.

As with any campaign a mix of channels works best. While I’m no fan of the advertising Oasis, it did push the boat out with the Cactus Kid. There was a website to vote on your preferred ending to the advertising series. It also had Facebook and MySpace pages for the characters, behind the scenes making of content, even a fake find the kid campaign site. It wasn’t my cup of tea, but then again I’m not the target audience. But I’m not sure they got it either.

It’s not always about video. Websites can be viral too.
Swedish Armed Forces is a spin off the traditional game route, presenting intriguing tests in such a creative and cool way that you want to send it on, well I did anyway.

And SAS Globe of Fortune is a clever hook up with your friends on social networks to win a free flight.

When you start to mix video content with creative Digital technologies that’s when things can really hot up.

Amongst the first to start customising video content online and sending it on were Audi (with their DNA campaign) and Mini with this viral classic produced by Glue.

Now this has spread to include video content and even voice overs. Have a look at this from the Know the Signs Campaign from Heineken

or this from ICO

So what makes a successful viral? It really comes down to two key things, content and exposure.

CONTENT
The general rules are your viral needs to be;

• interactive (challenge your friend game)
• shocking (VW Polo suicide bomber or Diesel safe for work porn)
• sexy (Kylie for Agent Provocateur)
• funny (Old Spice)
• cool (Quicksilver)
• inquisitive (TFL)
• or the latest trend, to have a feel good factor (Evian)
Sounds easy but it’s harder than it seems. It’s difficult getting one of these that works hard in a way that your client’s brand will be happy with. And it’s always easier with B2C. It’s got to have “standout”. So if you’re going for comedy then make sure it’s funny.

EXPOSURE
If you are Nike then you’re likely to have a database of customers and the traffic to your website to get your viral passed on. Nike didn’t even need to release their Kobe LeBron adverts online, their fans did it for them, and then they parodied the ads so even more exposure. Then again a good script, two megastars and a few Henson creations go a long way.

If you’re a lesser known brand an are looking for impact then you have to seed your content. And it’s definitely worth working with seeding specialists rather than trying to join in the conversation cold. Your target blog will see right through any impostors and the damage you inflict could go more viral than your intended content.

Remember you can’t control viral. it might spread around the world to audiences you never expected. With both positive and negative effects!

To sum up, always ask yourself, would you forward it to a friend or colleague? Would your target audience?
If the answer’s no then it’s not going to go viral. Easy :-)

This last example ticks a number of boxes. It’s a topical, clever, shocking, interactive video from the Metropolitan Police. Brilliant. If you’re only going to click on one link in this post make it this one.

Barnaby Ellis
GyroHSR
UK Head of Digital

So in these days of an open digital world will other big brands follow the Tesco example and start releasing their own APIs?

It’s generally the innovation of in-house individual rather than brands which drive invention and innovation. Nick Lansley is a brilliant example of this. In him Tesco has a forward-thinking developer who has recognised the commercial opportunities for the Tesco brand online.

But this is definitely not something for everyone. When you consider the technical and security implications alone, Tesco is brave to open up its API. Not every brand will have the appetite to take on this type of project, particularly in the current economic environment.

Forward thinking brands that realise their online potential will generate a new level of success, and the benefits are huge – for Tesco it’s another channel to sell their products. For developers it’s an opportunity to realise creative ideas to enhance the value of their product/service. And for consumers it’s another case of technology making their every day life just that little easier.

Imagine your fridge knowing you’re running low on milk and ordering it automatically. What if it could also tie in with your diary to know when you are going to be at home to receive your delivery? That’s just scratching the surface, the possibilities are endless.

More and more brands are releasing their code to allow their data and services to be used by developers. But this doesn’t mean that developing an API is going to be worth the time, money and maintenance you put in.

Ultimately you need the reputation, user base and content that will add value for the people taking advantage of your API. Or identify the potential of others adopting your API that you would never achieve on your own.

Barnaby Ellis
Head of Digital

So how would you feel if you had to start paying for access to online newspapers? You probably wouldn’t care; I certainly wouldn’t, but it seems as if, in these ever increasing hard economic times, it is certainly the route that most newspaper companies are heading, as a way to recoup their falling revenues from advertisers who are abandoning them in their droves, along with the purchasers of their newspapers.

I can understand why people would pay for financial information etc., but why would we bother to pay for general news stories, which form the bulk of the copy, when we’ve got used to having instant access to information via mobiles as well as our computers? With the onslaught of Twitter and other social networking sites, the world can know about events from people who are there, long before the news networks get their people on location. For example, news of Michael Jackson’s death appeared on both, hours before the story was covered by official news sources.

In my opinion, the newspapers need to think ‘outside the box’ in the same way that glossy magazines did a few years ago. The relatively ‘cheap treat’ for a woman of buying a magazine that she can pick up and read wherever she wants (which now also come in different sizes, so you can even choose one that even fits in your handbag!) will always exist; but when a monthly magazine has long lead times, the website offers the perfect channel for covering all sorts of stories that would otherwise be ignored as old news by the time the next issue was going to the printers.

The successful launch of the UK Vogue site some years ago allowed different editorial content to be created, so that fashionistas could have a daily fix of fashion news which complemented their monthly magazine read. It ensured that the catwalk shows could be covered instantly, with image and video coverage of not just the clothes, but interviews with the designers and coverage of who was attending which shows and with whom – all compulsive information for people in and lovers of the fashion industry!

But the secret to their success was providing something new and different that readers couldn’t easily get from other sources. With a dedicated team with their fingers on the pulse, they could provide all the inside track on their site, but free of charge. Although online newspapers can potentially do the same thing, why on earth would we ever be persuaded to pay for news that we can get from lots of other sources? Beats me…

Jill Thater
Client Services Director
Bluhalo Ltd

And so there is a lot of talk about agencies re-engineering themselves, a multitude of challenges for the traditional major players to overcome as they re-invent themselves, and a lot of inertia that has been built up over decades to overcome.

At GyroHSR we don’t really have that issue. We have come of age in the current era, and have been in a position to build our company to meet the needs of our clients and to reflect the realities of the interesting and dynamic market in which we are all operating. That means that we’re in a position to embrace and enjoy change, not be threatened by it.

But in seeking to understand how to operate in a world of change, we could do a lot worse than look at the examples of the emerging markets. In Africa most countries will bypass a fixed line world altogether, and mobile and satellite will rule. In China the internet is exploding, challenging the tight state control that has existed over the main media channels since the time of Mao. At the same time huge brands that we’ve never heard of in the West are starting to flex their muscles as they look at new markets to conquer. In India, the rural communities are starting to become affluent and have spending power in a way they never have before and – with a mass of different languages and dialects, and a very limited communications infrastructure in place – getting brand messages to the new middle classes is a major challenge.

So all around the emerging world agencies are working with far more pervasive change than us, and in my travels to a lot of these markets in the last few months, it is clear that there is a great sense of creativity and innovation being brought to bear to cope with the upheaval. It’s worth keeping an eye on the changes in the emerging markets, because my sense is that in many ways the agencies there are showing us the future, because they have less past to deal with.

Richard Glasson
Chief Executive