Bad buzz can be good for you (and for Google)

Posted on March 14, 2010 | 5 Comments

It’s been more than a month since Google released its brand new service: Google Buzz.  For those who forgot or aren’t paying particular attention to those kinds of events, Google Buzz is a mix of Facebook and Twitter, enabling people with Gmail account to share latest news, information, etc… about them or the world in general, to their followers (people who are also on Gmail in their contact list).

Sounds familiar ? Yes, it should. After all, it’s another ‘me-too’ in the crowded space of social sharing sites and tools, which almost everyone uses, at least through Facebook. The intriguing element is that the initial release on February 9 generated a lot of bad buzz on the Internet. Google had off course the desire to get all Gmail users on board as quickly as they could. In the process, they automatically turned off lots of privacy settings. Some of them had the unintended effect to share your address book to many people, or even almost share your email address to the outside world.  Not good, since the email is still considered as ‘protected territory’ when it comes to privacy.

A few days after the bad buzz, Google quickly launched a second version, with improved on-boarding process for privacy adjustments. A few days ?  Yes, that was fast.

The usual debate around this was on the typical ‘tension’ between privacy defenders and the Web companies, for whom the more  a service is ‘open and shared’, the better it is for the service, since users will see more content popping up and come back more often. Google pushed this to max, going too far in its first release. It is certainly part of the explanation.

The theory of this post now, is that this bad buzz was all intentional. Google did it on purpose, perfectly knowing about the bad buzz this would generate. Off course, it’s a theory, but let’s explore it for some time. As a note, this is why I did not write about it earlier – didn’t want to be part of that…the other reason is that I was simply slow to get back writing.

First, Google was really, really slow on that opportunity. Social sharing was, as far as I remember, invented not by Facebook but StumbleUpon (apart from few earlier failed attempts), which was built with the idea of letting people share and discover new web sites by sharing and voting for them in the community. It was founded in 2001. In 2010, or a whole 9 years later, which is about 20 years in Internet time, Google Buzz follows Facebook, Twitter, and all other social sharing sites which themselves followed StumbleUpon, in some shape or form.

Further, when Yahoo! Buzz was launched in Feb 2008 (yes, two years ago), it did not create that much noise. You could hear some ‘Ah, one more’ or ‘Eventually’ but it was it.   Well, it’s already not easy to be a ‘me-too’, then if you launch something about ‘Buzz’, it might be smarter to create some by yourself, right ?  Or people will laugh about you. It’s clear that the features by themselves won’t generate much chat, apart within the geek arena. So, you are the Google marketing guy in charge of the launch and you scratch your head: get buzz or get sacked. But buzz is not something you buy, it’s something you hope for. How to improve the odds ? Well, let’s put some stuff that people will really talk about, some dynamite into it.

In addition, isn’t 4 days really short for changing something so big and used by millions (ie many of the gmail accounts)  ? No, this improvement wasn’t ‘ready and put aside’  in case, was it ? Well, maybe, maybe not.

That’s two hints. Now you may argue that creating bad buzz is stupid, because it will negatively affect your reputation. Yes and no. Off course, killing someone is a bit the extreme, silly version of buzz-creating actions and would be unwise, even if you’re desperate marketer.  But some actions, or the overall story, can show you under a nice image, after all.

The famous case is in point is of French politician Ségolène Royal, which revamped her site ‘Désir d’avenir’ under a terrible design – the web site was just awfully ugly.  It created so much buzz on the  Web  that the site went actually down for a few days.  Lots of parodies got created around in a matter of days. Now, the rumour went on at some point that, as she is a prominent politician surrounded with some of the best known figures in the French Web, it couldn’t possibly have been a tragic mistake. This was just too much, ‘trop gros’. For those who know the Ségolène character from the press, the idea that she authorized this to create the buzz on her was tempting.  It did not hurt her, she just looked amused and changed it – and after all, it was just about an ugly background image someone in her team had chosen.  But the site was cross-linked from everywhere (Search Engine optimization for free) and it is still known by many.  She even made a listing of the parodies on her site. (Thanks to Chris for sharing this story)

And for Google Buzz ? The whole story is: “We did not tune well the privacy settings. We heard your feedback and four days after the launch, we’re rolling out big improvements, wiping out all concerns”. Looking at it, the story is not that bad. As our research showed, there is no or few better image improvement actions than showing that you listen to your customers.

So, well done to Google – but remember this is only a theory.

Bad buzz can be good. Ok, let’s put it that way: bad buzz is better than no buzz. Next time you want to get heard but your creativity is running out and the product is not going to sell by itself, think about it.  What would you have done if you were the Google employee in charge of this?

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Posted in Social Media

10 things marketers should STOP doing

Posted on February 21, 2010 | 2 Comments

Many revolutions took place over the last years, leading to new attitudes by consumers (more proactive, sophisticated, and powerful), the fastest emergence ever of a new media (social media), and resulting to major shifts across all consumer industries. It’s no wonder that so many marketers are still left with the old reflexes. Very few have figured out how to really take advantages of those revolutions, and I won’t pretend I have.

But there is something that looks fairly simple to do, away from the great buzz around ‘social media strategy’ or our framework of ‘end to end engagement’: things that marketers should really STOP doing.  It’s very simple, there is no need to hire a guru or go out in a desert for a Web 2.0 seminar: please marketing people, just stop. Those are behaviors of the past. Remember, it only takes one smart consumer to share it with quite a lot of people, and the abundance of choice in today’s over saturated world will not save you. Simply stop.

I just thought I would compile a list of 10, but I guess the list could be 100. Think about it like a manifesto to the attention of marketers. Hope some of them will read it.

Disguised price increases

It is too easy to reduce the volume of an item and leave the price unchanged. Or worse, have an actually higher price  per kilo/liter for high volume ‘super-saver’ packaging. Yes, we see many of those even today – cereals brands are best at that, but it’s all over the place. Both are wrong. Loyal consumers will notice, and the others…well, they don’t care buying your product anyway so will even care less. The loyal will feel trapped. Indeed, there will be some revenue uplift short term but it won’t last. Stop it.

Advertising for a product not available yet

As we often put, innovations will need to convince pioneers and early adopters, first, which account for 30% of the population. They are critical since everyone else will only adopt a product after they have seen those people use it, and because those groups are more vocal, both face to face and on the web, and more proactive than the others.  Those people are looking out for ads about new products. If they decided, full of excitement, to go and try one of your novelties and don’t find it in the shops, they’ll be disappointed or even upset. And most of them won’t go a second time. Yes, it’s not always easy to get extra shelf space from retailers, and you can’t align them all from the beginning. But then put in your media where to find that great new product. The first retailers to follow you will appreciate it, and the others will notice. And early adopters ? They’ll be happy.

No info on products no longer available

Same story at the other end of the spectrum – retiring products. Every day, products disappear from the shelves. RIP. They did not make their targets or the strategy changed, or the retailers’ buyer  did not like the sales guy’s after shave. Whatever. Most of the times they go unnoticed as they did not make much sales in the first place. However, most of those got some (or many) regular buyers. Next time they won’t find the products, they’ll think first it is an ‘out of shelf’ problem and go back, only to realize long after it has been discontinued. They’ll be pissed off (who wouldnt’ be?). Isn’t it that difficult to put a small information sheet in the shop that says something like ‘Sorry, this product won’t be found here anymore…but look at this great other one.’ ?

Boring ads

As they saying goes: ‘An ad (or ad break) is a piece of event made to interrupt someone doing something else’. By default, consider it as not welcome.  In addition, since 2.5% of consumers are accounting for 80% of a typical product volume (study by Catalina marketing in the US), your mass media ad is simply on the wrong target probably 97.5% of the time, or slightly better if you avoid the truly mass hours. Those are two reasons to do everything you can NOT to make them boring, dull, or plain stupid. If you find it match one of those attributes, drop it. If you are too in love with your products to even notice, ask your mother (or test is with your target group). You’ll save money and everyone else some time and patience.

Overinvasive ads

Well, you see what I mean. You browse through a site, trying to read an article, and something comes on top of it. Or it is flashing so much you can’t really focus on reading.  What’s the point ? Catch the attention, ok. So, you got a very strong attention on the red cross ‘close’ button, what is really that you were trying to sell ?

Overpromising ads

Branding is about creating and sustaining the product’s promise. To fullfil something. But in today’s saturated world, it is easy to overpromise in order to attract eyeballs. The promise doesn’t have to be explicitly wrong or oversold – most of the time it is implicitely so. We have seen it recently with a very nice campaign asking people to become ‘official chocolate taster’. There was not much else on the ad, so everyone started daydreaming. Well, the implicit promise was off course to get samples of free chocolate. Off course, not. You could fill in an online feedback form about the chocolate you had bought in the shop. Fullstop, at least apparently. People were disappointed.  It’s not that difficult to avoid overpromise, as it is a sure way to create disappointement. Just ask your mother how she interprets your ad (or once more, test it first with your target group).

No reply to customer feedback

And you thought that customer service was about helping customers. Some of them, how dare, use it to give you feedback on you products and services.  Yes, they do. And yes, most customer service departments, puzzled with so weird messages (feedback?), don’t know how to react to it  – at least in Europe. So they don’t reply. Yes, it’s like putting your head in the sand, but those guys are under much pressure to answer calls, not to process ‘interesting thoughts’.  Here is the spin. The customers that take the time to give feedback are probably those lead users (early adopters, pionneers, influencers) that are most critical to you. Will they really welcome your silence ?  It’s a pity, as usually a ‘Thanks for your suggestion’ is sufficient.  Those people are aware that not every feedback can be implemented, they just want to feel listened to, some sort of basic human need. So, yes, customer service is as well about marketing. Ignore it at you own risk.

52 incredible deals per year, or more

So many great deals going on all the time, it is hard to keep up. Some e-commerce specialists (especially photo printing sites) are doing so much to capture eyeballs on their newsletter, their imagination is admirable. Yes, newsletters’ click rate are falling, but is it a reason to keep raising the stakes with the ‘absolutely amazing deal’, ‘Alex, you won’t believe it’, or  ‘fantastic party it’s like we are PAYING YOU to take our stuff’, every single week ?  If there are fantastic deals every week, it means: there are no deals. So, just stop it.

“Personalized” marketing

But some e-commerce sites got more sophisticated. They do ‘personalization’. They will send you a personalized email based on your purchase history (or even better, like Amazon, your browsing history). Fantastic. I feel so special, now. Then, why, just after I bought my laptop from a very famous direct manufacturer, I kept receiving week after week emails around their next great laptop on offer. Isn’t the time straight after I bought my laptop the period when I am the least likely to buy another one ?  What about accessories, printers, scanners, you name it  ? That could have captured my attention. I know the IT department is so proud about this email marketing software they bought, but that does not mean they should control it entirely. Take it back, and make it relevant for me.

Make me feel I am captive

Actually, I am a bit unfair. 6 months after I bought that laptop from Dell (oops, I put the name), I had to buy another one. I was not loyal, sorry Dell, and went for a top brand name in electronic consumer goods. Great Sony laptop (oops one more), I have no regrets. Since it was for professional usage, I thought about buying a second electrical cable: one for home, one for work, so natural.  I went to the Sony shop.  I got a big ‘ouch’ feeling when the sales rep gave me the price: EUR 150. EUR 150 for some electrical cable and a power converter, that probably costs EUR 5 or 10, ok maybe 20 ? No, they must be kidding. Off course, there are no standards in this. I felt really captive. Yes, I know it’s the old recipe, from printer supplies to razor blades: make the main thing ultra price competitive and sell the accessories at a super premium. But there are limits. I will accommodate with one cable, thank you. If you make your customers feel captive, what will they do ? What every prisoner does: look for an exit.  That’s not the direction you want them to look to, right ? Keep it reasonable.

Those were the 10, from my point of view. But I am sure there are many more. So, what would you add?

PS: if you liked that article, please share it (I guess it could reach some more marketers…)

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Posted in Digital Marketing, Marketing

Why iPad is so scary

Posted on January 28, 2010 | 5 Comments

Imagine that you have this crazy idea of a new category of consumer products. It sounds wild and crazy because it’s like creating and meeting a consumer need which does not exist – right ?   Nobody asked for it, really.

But, well. You have a basis of 200 000 applications to start from, you have a great set technologies, a fantastic organization at hand, all marching in for you. Even more, you have an easy access to top executives in most industries, eager to sign up partnerships with you…then you have a huge number of vocal fans and lots of FREE press coverage on the day it gets released (even the cover of the Wall Street Journal).

Well, there is one guy who has all of that, and unfortunately it’s not you, it’s not me, it’s Steve Jobs.  The iPad got released (for those who were on Mars yesterday, it’s a new tablet which looks like an iPhone but bigger).

So the question is: why should we be scared ?

As a preamble, let’s assume it will probably successful, albeit it could take time, since a new category is damn harder to impose than a new phone:

  • It looks fantastic and creates desire.
  • There is indeed room for a ’4th screen’, after the TV, mobile and laptop. Good to have a screen you can use as an electronic eframe, casual ebook and game station with a normal screen-size and intimate experience, and all other new stuff (eg. watch a video teaching you a recipe in the kitchen while cooking), and finally watch what you want without social compromise…
  • It’s done by Steve (see all reasons above)

Then, it’s successful…good for us and Apple, no ?

One second, let’s go back to the 80′s and the rise of the PC standard. A few (nerds) remember, but the PC standard was competing in the 80′s against not only against the Macintosh (which survived), but many other similar competitors (from Amiga and Atari mainly). The main difference was that IBM, who invented the PC standard as you use it, had made it completely open to other manufacturers and operating systems. This created enough incentives for other manufacturers, then sufficient supply of PC in the market to incentivize software providers to create software for it. There was, though, one point: software providers did not want to make multiple versions of their programs on multiple OS. So the OS/2 by IBM lost the battle, as Microsoft was quick to secure deals with PC manufacturers and get dominant, leading to fewer software on OS/2 and its defeat. People eventually complained about it, leading to legal suits as we know them, but Microsoft’s de facto standard definitely boosted the market.

Now, what’s happening with the ‘iphone experience – and OS’ moving to more categories ?  Apple as a provider is not only controlling the device (closed), the OS (also closed), but the application market platform (closed, as there is only one market).  So, compared to Windows, it goes one step extra along the value chain, by making the ‘app market’ a part of the platform, and the company itselfs in the middle of every financial transaction. One extra scary step.

Yes, a standard creates efficiency just as it did with Microsoft and boosts overall market penetration…but it does also create huge power. Network effects, when reaching a critical mass of demand and supply, will re-enforce itselfs towards monopolistic situations.   Imagine that Apple would be the controller of the biggest chunk of the info goods market: music, movies, books, games, magazines, TV broadcast, etc… It would take a piece of each sale, and this piece would grow with its power . So, the choice of the iPhone OS vs the Macintosh OS had probably more to do with value capture than technology – here is my bet.

Scary ? Well, it depends on how far they could go with this category…The good thing about the iphone is that by staying in the premium category, it left a void to other phone providers and so OS (such as Android or Windows mobile) to grow too, leaving some competition in the OS market.  The iPad is choosing a different path, with a price point relatively low at $499.  It’s a bit like for the ipod: many versions from lower to higher price points…And the power of Itunes in the music market is already causing a few eyebrows.

Ok, it’s all very speculative, so let’s not worry for now…. That’s what I will tell to myself when I buy my Ipad.

Are you scared? (Steve, feel free to comment too).

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Posted in Consumer products

My car was set on fire…so what? (About Twitter)

Posted on January 12, 2010 | 6 Comments

Early this month, my car was set on fire, just in front of my home, while the whole family was asleep.  I did not mention it on Twitter nor on Facebook nor on whatever, since really I did not how to react about it. Angriness, sadness, anxiety, or fear? Hoping to clarified my doubts, I told the story to a few friends, watching their reactions to pick up the most healthy one. A few examples:

  • “Why your car?” (“Desperate housewives” fans)
  • “How did they do it?” (Engineers, or “Bones” fan)
  • “Who did it?” (well, Sherlock Holmes is out at theatre nearby…)
  • “Gosh, my GOD!” (Car fans, private property lovers)
  • “Hum…ok” (mostly women with no interest whatsoever in cars)
  • “What type of car you had again?” (Financial-types)

That did not help me prepare my Twitter entry, nor this blog, nor any Facebook entry. Reading, in deep reflection, the Twitter question “What’s happening ?” and the Facebook question “What’s on your mind?” didn’t help much neither. So I left it silent for some time. At the age of instant news spreading like wild fire (not that I wished that on my car story – enough fire thank you), I kind of withdrew from the system.

But seriously, that left me with two questions.  First, what is the purpose of Twitter, say again ? In the US  “Tweet” was elected word of the year, (and Google word of the decade) so I guess it’s good time to reflect on the buzz.

For an instant social media like Facebook or Twitter to succeed long-term, you will probably need what every media needs, which are two things: an audience and relevant content. Ok so far no ‘Waw’ in the crowd. Facebook is clear: news on your friends by your friends, things to do with friends + some communities. Yes, I could have put something like ’2010 off to a bad start…no car anymore’

And Twitter?  Do people who follow me care about my car in the first place?  Not that I have a huge list of followers, but still. More fundamentally, what I am supposed to put in there again ? Expert user’s answer usually is: Twitter will be what you make out of it (ie you choose who you follow, updates you find relevant). Fair point. But short point (Twitter-like).

So let’s think about if for a second. Over its short life, Twitter changed its question from ‘What are you doing?’ to ‘What’s happening?’. Yes it helped removed some of the mundane activities people were posting (ie it’s not because you are out in your garden making a barbecue that people can see you on Google Earth, so don’t bother tweeting it).  It did also help to spread relevant news and stories before the official agencies could release them. But it also opened up a big avenue to a slightly more annoying habit, not mentioning the spammers (which would be there no matter what): advertising and push.  But you’ll say ‘I control it – I stop follow if it’s too much advertising’. Yes but what if do you appreciate some of the tweets of that person ?  Actually, as Guy Kawasaki put in an old blog entry, ‘once you start to have many followers, it’s becoming impossible to follow’. What is essentially a two ways micro-blogging channel is becoming a 1-way channel in wich big guys are pushing updates to small guys. As the élite grows its follower crowd, it realizes how great an advertising channels this is for interesting or sponsored links about whatever.  It’s almost like a social bookmarking tool (e.g. Digg.com) except that it’s not about the number of votes on a given link, it’s about who sent it – a kind of ‘elite social bookmarking’.  For the small guys, either they are interested in this concept or they drop out (which many people, unfortunately, end up doing).

My second question now: what can you do with 140 chars? I love that idea of being concise, but since the Web is about hyperlinks, it’s as well a great incentive to put a catchy phrase and a link – see the title of this post for instance. A phrase and a link ? Looks like Google ad words to me. Again, advertising is back with a revenge, or at least the ‘elite social bookmarking’ idea.  The second problem is that while 140 char is the limit, there are no limits to the number of Tweets one can do – which is a paradox, let’s face it. Well, I don’t have a solution for the character limit nor the tweet limit question, but I would not demise the idea of Twitter with double or triple that amount, with no link allowed (or some filtering)…

Net, I hope Twitter is not becoming an “elite social bookmarking”.  Because I like it – for me it’s a way to follow and hope to connect with people I would otherwise not have access to. But I am concerned about its future, especially since other services have ‘Twitterized’ themselves (Facebook, Google, LinkedIn,…). Their thicker value proposition is creating a sort of gravity (ie the fireplace feeling) that Twitter does not have…

Yes, Twitter is what you make out of it. I just hope there would be a little more order to it. Or maybe a purpose? So do you agree with the question and what’s the solution – any thoughts?

By the way I don’t know the answer to most of my friends’ questions neither (e.g. who did it?). But if you do or happen to have a nice car for sale, send me an email…

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Posted in Social Media

From Van Gogh…

Posted on January 4, 2010 | 2 Comments

I recently discovered an excerpt of a letter from Vincent to his brother Theo Van Gogh:

“I tell you, if one wants to be active, one must not be afraid of going wrong, one must not be afraid of making mistakes now and then. Many people think that they will become good just by doing no harm — but that’s a lie, and you yourself used to call it that. That way lies stagnation, mediocrity.
Just slap anything on when you see a blank canvas staring you in the face like some imbecile. You don’t know how paralyzing that is, that stare of a blank canvas is, which says to the painter, You can’t do a thing. The canvas has an idiotic stare and mesmerises some painters so much that they turn into idiots themselves. Many painters are afraid in front of the blank canvas, but the blank canvas is afraid of the real, passionate painter who dares and who has broken the spell of ‘you can’t’ once and for all.
Life itself, too, is forever turning an infinitely vacant, dispiriting blank side towards man on which nothing appears, any more than it does on a blank canvas. But no matter how vacant and vain, how dead life may appear to be, the man of faith, of energy, of warmth, who knows something, will not be put off so easily. He wades in and does something and stays with it, in short, he violates, “defiles” — they say. Let them talk, those cold theologians.”
Vincent Van Gogh, Letter to his brother Theo, October 1884

Well, despite being more than 125 years old, I found this an inspiring thought for the New Year and (wannabe) entrepreneurs or intrapreneurs, or for all us facing the same hesitations as Van Gogh felt facing a blank canvas.

First, on us. Are we incompetent?  Incompetence is first lack of self-awareness. Once you have passed that barrier,  it’s a matter of surrounding people who will compensate for the gaps in your skills, knowledge, network.  Are we afraid of mistakes ? Granted, the cost of an entrepreneurial mistake is maybe higher than screwing up a blank canvas, or is it not ? Over a lifetime, taking risks and losing some time and money in the process is actually a small loss.  Maybe indeed we should take calculated risks since in the long run we are all dead, as the saying goes.

Second, on the canvas facing us. The white canvas are all those people resisting to change and seeing only challenges when you see opportunities. It’s to have this year looking pretty much the same as last year.   Then indeed, the truth is that the white canvas is probably scared by you – if you dare change it to something else.

Third, on what it means. I am not such a pessimistic as Van Gogh seeing life as ‘vacant and vain’. I have abandoned that philosophical question, but I am an optimistic (or at least I try hard). So for me it’s about making meaning by creating, changing and delivering, with people….and enjoying the journey more than the end destination.  What is it for you?

For 2010, I wish all readers some passion and will to ‘wade in, do something’ or in short ‘violate’, ‘.

All the best.


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Posted in Other

Getting real

Posted on December 23, 2009 | Leave a comment

This is now time to get officially launched with my blog…In the midst of a transition journey, I thought it would make sense to rewrite here a few personal insights on career transition, initially posted on Conor Neil’s blog.

Same disclaimer: I am not qualified to talk about this, so those are the reflections of a normal person going through a normal process, once….

- Describe your fundamental drivers/type in 3-5 words, and base it on what you liked most in your past experience (e.g I am a project-through-people person, or I am an intellectual person, or I am marketing lover, I want power/status, etc…)
- Find out your direction and aspiration, and crystalize it into your your dream job/activity. Maybe write the job description or the magazine article about it.
- Mix passion and reason:
* Reasonable steps to get there. Your passion may not be what you are allowed to do, at least not now.
* Find out what is ‘unreasonable’ about your passion. Maybe professional kitesurfing is fun but won’t feed the house, and how can you mix it with more reason if needed?
- Picture yourself in the day-to-day – what is the way looking like (hell?) and by the way the dream job is that a dream really once you are in it every single day ? If doubts, get back to point 1 – maybe you got ‘polluted’ by the culture you sit in.
- Hope for the best and prepare for the worst – great aspiration, but what do I do in case ? What do I put aside? What does a safety net look like ?
- Sort out rational and irrational fears – some are really irrational, once you have prepared yourself. Especially when you have explored the previous point
- Get progress, every day, and put milestones – don’t get into infinite loop because of other stuff
- Get rewards, often. The compensation you get from the change will help you go further. It might be having a good conversation with someone you admire, or that CV which is now looking great, whatever. The behavior and actions are the forcing device to initiate change, the reward is what will make you further progress

In the process:
- Talk to many people, network a lot
- Reflect back off context (ie outside your usual places)
- Have fun
- Write your thoughts if that helps, and share to close people

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Posted in Other