TribalWorks

For the second year in a row, Labatt USA will host a pond hockey tournament in Buffalo.  The demand to participate in the tournament increased to the point where they quadrupled the number of teams from 16 last year to 64 this year.

Labatt USA worked in conjunction with the City of Buffalo and Erie County to expand this event, making it a regional draw. Scheduled to be held on eight rinks, the tournament will span nearly 136,000 square feet on the frozen lake. Competitive, entertaining and nostalgic, the event will also carry the benefit of turning eyes on Buffalo in terms of outdoor winter entertainment.

“We want to create an authentic hockey experience that takes people back to hockey’s roots,” said Peter Bodenham, director of marketing, for Labatt USA. “Our tournament is played on Lake Erie and the choppy, dull surface delivers hockey in its purest form. Players maintain the ice with shovel and buckets of water, much like you would during a pick-up game on a neighborhood pond.”

This tournament has the effect of not only bringing multiple tribes (teams) together, but also solidifying the connections between members of the same tribe (team).

The lesson for other brands:  Build an event that helps bring together people to share their common interest.

The advertising world has a little problem.  It is getting harder to get to grab the attention of people.

Advertisers and media companies need to look at multi-channel strategies to reach multi-tasking Canadians, according to a study by Ipsos Reid.

The study, entitled “Online Media: All Change,” found that nearly half of Canadians (44%) are watching TV or listening to the radio while surfing the net.

On average, online Canadians spend almost equal amounts of time watching TV and surfing the net—approximately 15 hours each week.

Advertisers and media companies must develop multi-channel strategies and standout creative to capture consumer attention, said Mark Laver, study author and associate vice-president of Ipsos Reid.

“When we’ve got people multi-tasking, I have to question if the advertising message is getting through at all,” he said. “From an ad perspective, you’ve really got to come through with some creative, unique advertising to capture people’s attention if they’re doing two things at once.”

Here lies the difference in philosophy between traditional marketing and the Tribal Approach.

While traditional marketing finds new and creative ways to interrupt a person, the Tribal Approach finds creative ways to support the person and the tribe.  Traditional marketing has a diminishing effect on the person.  For example, a TV ad may seem clever at first, but each subsequent time a viewer sees it, the effect is diminished.  

Likewise, the diminishing effect can occur through the life-cycle of a technology.  Internet advertising was very simple in the beginning; just banner ads.  People thought ‘Wow! That’s cool’.  But then people started to ignore them, thus advertisers brought in pop-up ads to grab the attention of the surfer.  However, soon people were annoyed by them.  In fact, an industry was created to find new ways to block these ads.  Shoshkeles (floating ad’s) were cool at first, but they too were a nuisance…and so it goes.

The modus operendi has become one of continually out duelling your competitor by coming out with more creative content while trying to develop innovative technologies.  While there is plenty of benefit to the advertising industry, there is something left to be desired by the consumers.

Advertisers, marketers and brand managers should instead focus on orchestrating the various tools around them to ensure they are doing what is best to support their consumers and the tribe.

Marketers are constantly looking for the magic bullet that gets consumers hooked onto their product or brand.  Every so often a company hits the nail on the head.  EA Sports has launched a promotion that is probably the purest and simplest way to not only connect with the Tribe but to truly support it.

The NCAA Football development team is asking interested fans to submit their last name to be included in the commentary for NCAA Football 2010.  Chosen names will be given to Brad Nessler (play-by-play announcer for ESPN’s College Football as well as the videogame) for him to record.  Thus, enabling members of the tribe to create a player model of themselves and hear their name being called out while they play. 

Fans can now truly be a part of the product they love.

The Mercedes-Benz Club of America (MBCA) has decided to extend its Loyalty Reward Program. 

The 2009 Membership Loyalty Reward Program offers MBCA members a $1,500 reward gift card for purchasing or leasing a new Mercedes-Benz vehicle through Dec. 31, 2009. The $1,500 reward gift applies to all new 2008, 2009, and 2010 models, excluding AMG models. MBCAmembers who purchase a Mercedes-Benz Certified Pre-Owned vehicle in 2009 including AMG models are eligible to receive a $750 reward gift card. There is also a $250 card available for members that purchase a pre-owned Mercedes-Benz from a licensed independent U.S. dealership. The reward gift cards are redeemable toward parts, service, personal accessories and vehicle accessories at any authorized U.S. Mercedes-Benz dealership.

The key question I have is why does MBCA feel the need to have a loyalty program?

In my opinion, the $45 annual fee for MBCA already provides plenty of benefits (not too different than what Harley Owners Group would provide).

Member benefits include select dealer discounts, a magazine subscription to The Star, and events such as organized race track classes, social gatherings and travel opportunities.

What would have been the consequences of of discontinuing this program?  Would people drop off?  Would program profitability decline?

I am not sure if these questions were asked or what type of analysis was done to arrive at their decision.  Regardless of their intent, MBCA is supporting the tribe by providing them an added benefit.  Perhaps a much welcomed benefit in these tougher economic times.

Burger King recently launched its Angry Burger along with a promo website, Angry-Gram.com.  The front page of the site states:

An Angry-Gram is the perfect way to let someone know they annoy the hell outta you.  Tell us who they are and what they do that drives you up the wall.  We’ll send over a screaming Angry WHOPPER® Sandwich that’ll really let them have it.  Angry-Grams are intended to be humorous and should not be used with an intent to harass.

Interestingly, the UK version has a different wording and doesn’t have the last line talking about not intending to harass.

As you move on to send one, you are presented with this template:

Dear ___________.

I’ve had it up to here with you.

Your_____________ does my head in.

And I’m so fed up with your ______________.

How about when you ____________? What a loser.

I wish you’d crawl back under your rock and never come out.

Yours angrily,

___________________

Is it just me, or can anyone else see a 20/20 Special on how one of these Angry-Grams caused someone to go too far.  Or Burger King getting sued for enabling cyber-bullying. 

Don’t get me wrong, I do like clever marketing and have a good sense of humor.  That’s why I think Burger King’s Whopper Sacrifice Facebook app(where users kick off 10 friends from their Facebook Friends list and get a free Whopper) is a great promotion.  However, the Angry-Gram goes too far in my opinion.

Back before the internet was around Dagmar Kanzlerwould have assembled a protest, instead she is encouraging others to join a Facebook group demonstrating anger towards a 10-week old strike at York University in Toronto.

Ms. Kanzler is making a few points on behalf of the 50,000 York students whose classes were interrupted 10 weeks ago with no sign yet of when they will resume. She wants classes to resume as quickly as possible and a way found to complete the academic year without extending it to the summer. And, oh, she has something to say to parents who are contemplating sending their children to York.

“If I was talking to another parent face-to-face, I would say really think long and hard about York before deciding to send your kid there,” she said.

This is just another example of how an anti-tribe can form with the right (or wrong) conditions.  Facebook merely makes it easier for people to connect and share their anger.

 I came across this sign outside the County Line BBQ in Austin (On The Lake), Texas.  This is just another example of how deeply connected some members of the tribe are to Harley-Davidson.  Furthermore, this illustrates the organic nature of this connection (i.e. this is something someone did on their own, rather than the intervention of H-D).

As Canada won its 5th straight Gold Medal at the IIHF World Junior Hockey Championships, Samsung Canada supported the local hockey tribe with its “Hockey Country Experience”.

From Dec. 26 to Jan. 4, hockey fans can participate in interactive games, a Hockey Hall of Fame exhibit, giveaways and live TSN feeds at Samsung’s FanFest at the Aberdeen Pavilion in Lansdowne Park.

“We are thrilled to participate in the IIHF World Junior Championship,” said Benjamin Lee, president of Samsung Electronics Canada, in a release. “Our sponsorship of the SamsungHockey Country Experience is a natural fit with Samsung’s Get Together for the Game campaign, designed to connect hockey fans and communities across the country and further ignite their passion for the game.”

Also at the Aberdeen Pavilion, visitors can test their hockey videogame skills in the Samsung Hockey Challenge, which runs from Dec. 26 to Jan. 3. Contestants who earn the daily top scores will receive a free copy of EA Sports’NHL 09 video game for the Xbox 360. The overall top scorer will receive two tickets to the gold medal game, while the runner-up will receive two tickets to the bronze medal game.

Samsungwill also host a used hockey equipment drive at the Aberdeen Pavilion on Jan. 2, with the equipment being donated to the Ottawa District Hockey Association and its existing equipment donation programs, which raise funds for children throughout the Ottawa Valley.

The Samsung Hockey Country Experience also includes the Hockey Canada House, a food and entertainment tent at Scotiabank Place, the home arena for the NHL’s Ottawa Senators; Samsung New Year’s Eve Celebration on the RideauCanal with a screening of the Canada versus U.S.A. game, fireworks display and a live performance by Finger Eleven; as well events on the Rideau Canal Skateway.

I did not see how these elements were executed, but it is good to see Samsung Canada found creative ways to support die-hard hockey fans through Real Space interaction.