TribalWorks

In early posts I talked about the strong us vs. them dynamic within tribes.  The one post which demonstrated this was when I talked about Bills fans vs. CFL fans.

Here is why some Canadian Football League fans hate Rogers Communications…

Background:  For those of you who don’t know, Rogers Communications Inc (RCI) is one of Canada’s largest providers of cable, high-speed internet and cellular phones.  In addition, they own other properties such as the Toronto Blue Jays and the Rogers Centre. 

Here are a few reasons why many CFL fans hate RCI:

• For many years Ted Rogers (its late founder) was a strong proponent of bringing and NFL team (possibly relocating the Buffalo Bills) to Toronto.  
• RCI is no longer a CFL sponsor.  RCI was paying the CFL approximately $250,000 per year to sponsor their weekly/monthly/annual awards.  However, in June 2008, the CFL and RCI could not come to an agreement to renew their contract.  According to some reports, the CFL was looking at getting $750,000 per year while Rogers was only willing to pay $350,000.
• Rogers also signed a significant deal to bring the Buffalo Bills to Toronto for their Bills In Toronto series.
• The Toronto Argonauts play in the Rogers Centre - which many CFL fans detest as being a poor facility.
• Rogers also owns the Toronto Blue Jays - some CFL fans also view them as a threat (i.e. people will spend their entertainment dollar on the Jays instead of the Argonauts).

This ‘hate’ has resulted in some potentially real and economically damaging (for RCI) activities.  I stumbled upon some posts at the popular CFL fan site 13thman.com.  Here is a sample of some of the anti-RCI comments from a few people.

In support of the CFL, I’ve switched carriers from Rogers to Telus and have taken a hammer to my old phone.

I no longer pay for any Rogers services. Bell is no great hell either, but at least they’re not trying to harm the CFL. Hit Rogers where it hurts!

I guess it’s at times like this I wish I was with Rogers to I could dump them.

would everyone still be ok with the fact I want to name my son Roger though, as long as its not connected with the company.

too bad though, Rogers was a big supporter of the CFL back when I started watching in 03, what happened???

There you have it!

Cadbury is utilizing real and virtual spaces for its latest campaign for the Cadbury Creme Egg.  The centrepiece of its real space campaign is a mechanical billboard in Dundas Square in Toronto.  (For those who do not know, Dundas Square is Toronto’s attempt to recreate Times Square in NY).

Cadbury North America is promoting its Cadbury Creme Egg with a new billboard that relies on precipitation to work. The Titan Worldwidebillboard, bearing the words “Release the goo,” features a pendulum-like device with an oversized Cadbury’s Creme Egg at one end and a giant box to capture rain, snow and other forms of precipitation at the other. A giant fan sits atop the board.

As the box fills with precipitation it slowly raises the egg, eventually flipping a switch that turns on the fan and thrusts the egg into it, splitting the egg open and causing its faux cream filling to splatter across the billboard.

According to the article, this out of home execution is supported by online and TV advertising.  This is a good example of how a brand is utilizing the many areas where tribes meet and interact.  By looking at our Tribal Map - Cadbury has utilized 3 out of the 4 quadrants.

• Quadrant 1: Dundas Square Execution
• Quadrant 2: TV execution (if you consider the family unit as a sub-tribe)
• Quadrant 3: Online execution

In subsequent years, Cadbury can gain additional benefits by developing a comprehensive Tribal Strategy.

Looking at the three winners from this week’s Idol show, there was one thing that was common among all three - they had a differentiated personal story.

Danny Gokey, Michael Sarver and Alexis Grace each had their own unique story which the audience and voters could connect with.  In my opinion the performances of Anoop Desai, Tatiana Nicole Del Toro and Ricky Braddy were on par if not better than Danny or Michael’s (Alexis was in my mind the clear number one).

Each story connected with people differently and made these contestants feel more human than their counterparts.

Danny Gokey, 28 - Lost his wife just 4 weeks prior to the auditions

Michael Sarver, 27 - Works as a roughneck on a Texas oil rig and wants to provide more to his wife and two children

Alexis Grace, 21 - While her fiance is away overseas she takes care of her young daughter

The lesson for organizations is to try and have a believable and compelling story for your company, product or brand…you will be remembered for it.

It is no secret that companies are looking to cut budgets this year to offset the effect of the slow economy. However, is this sending the right message out? Gregory Will of PricewaterhouseCoopers says,

“One lesson from the survivors of the downturn of the early 1990s is not to slash marketing and advertising or research and development. Customers will always look for confident companies. If regular advertising or marketing stops suddenly, companies lose sales by not being front of mind and they undermine confidence. Advertising signals to the market that all is going well and there will be no issues.”

The best option for marketers going forward is to ensure that each dollar of ad spend is being used to effectively start a conversation with their most valuable consumers. Word-of-mouth could be the best promotional strategy in a time where consumers, wary of new products or services, are tightening purse strings.

A 2009 Reardon Smith Whittaker Agency Report showed that of 246 advertising agency executives, only 20% considered traditional media (TV, Print ads, Banners etc.) to be a good marketing choice going forward. 80% of the executives were interested in web, viral, mobile, SEO and Word-of-mouth for 2009. These are channels most frequented by today’s consumers, yet are highly underestimated for effectiveness in reach. Marketers need to keep up with their consumers in order to maintain their brand image – and the best way to do so is to give some control to their consumers over where the brand should go. However, marketing executives must realize that these advertising avenues are not ones that can be ‘bought’ – most often, they must be user-generated.

A tribal approach can generate buzz with little additional marketing spend in every one of the 5 areas outlined above. In addition, it ensures that a conversation between you and your consumers are taking place, and can help you gain valuable feedback to work with.

 Are you reaching your tribe?

Coca-Cola along with Sogo Active and Accelteon client ParticipACTION have teamed up to run the “Sogo Carry The Flame” tour.

Coca-Cola’s “Sogo Carry the Flame” Tour is bringing the Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch to communities across the country to inspire Canadians to become Olympic Torchbearers and live healthier lifestyles.

Designed and manufactured by Bombardier, the Olympic Torch is traveling on the 32-foot “Sogo Carry the Flame” Tour RV, and will visit approximately 50 venues in 25 cities.

The RV is equipped with computers so that people can nominate themselves for the chance to become an Olympic Torchbearer at iCoke.ca or SogoActive.com.

Sogo Active is a national, youth active living program presented by Coca-Cola in collaboration with ParticipACTION.

“The Vancouver 2010 Olympic Torch Relay will touch the soul of the nation,” said Mickael Vinet, Olympic torch relay manager, Coca-Cola Canada, in a release. “And with our ‘Sogo Carry the Flame’ Tour, we hope to use the unique power of the Olympic Games to inspire the nation to sign up to be torchbearers.”

By building a series of events tied to the Olympic torch, Coca-Cola has aligned itself with one of the world’s most recognized icons.  The activities surrounding the torch relay itself include:

Onsite activities include road hockey in a boarded-in hockey zone, the Sogo Active Interactive Running video game, a “Commitment Wall” where Canadians can share their commitment to “Live Active” or “Live Green,” and a display of Olympic torches from Beijing, Torino, Athens, Salt Lake City, Nagano and Atlanta.

Thus this campaign has the effect of brining multiple tribes together:

• Bringing people across Canada together who are passionate about the Olympics and amateur sport
• Bringing active people within each community together by hosting these events

Amazon is releasing version 2.0 of its Kindle electronic book reading device.

Amazon.com’s new version of the Kindle, an electronic book-reading device, is being released in the weak U.S. economy where it will compete with other mobile devices as well as traditional books.

The wireless device will cost US$359, the same price as the original Kindle.

The new Kindle can store 1,500 books, compared with 200 on the previous version, and users will also have access to newspapers and blogs. The size of a paperback book, the new device is lighter and slimmer than the previous version, and users can read with it for up to two weeks without recharging it, said Amazon.

According to some however, this is not the right time to launch it.

“This is probably the worst time in history to be introducing a device at that cost factor, that for most people they are not convinced that they need it just yet,” said digital commentator Carmi Levy of Toronto-based AR Communications Inc. “They can still go to the library and get their books for free.”

IDC Canada analyst Kevin Restivo said the Kindle 2 is currently a niche product at best.

“This is probably a product that will be adopted or used by a very small portion of the population right now because it’s a device dedicated to one thing right now, and that’s reading books,” said Restivo.

However, one important thing not to underestimate is the power of the tribe.  More specifically in this case, the power of the Oprah tribe.  Oprah has named the Kindle her “new favorite, favorite thing in the world.”  The Oprah Effect as it is known, has lifted brands and products from obscurity to prominence.  The question is, will this effect be enough to lift sales of Kindle 2?

Tourisme Montreal is hiring five ambassadors to promote tourism in Montreal by writing blog posts, posting videos and connecting with people on social media sites.

Together with agency of record Sid Lee, Tourisme Montréal will be hiring five “brand ambassadors” who will blog, post videos online and use social networks to promote the city as a must-see destination.

From March to December 2009, they will be the “Montreal connectors” on topics like food, arts and culture, nightlife, shopping and the gay scene.

Each ambassador will have a dedicated page on Tourisme Montréal’s website to blog and videocast. They will also use social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Flickr, Yahoo Answers and other blogs to connect with possible tourists. They will report on what’s hot in the city each week.

“Our connectors will also have a dedicated cellphone which people can call anytime,” said Emmanuelle Legault, director of communications at Tourisme Montréal. “They will answer people’s questions and, if they can’t pick up, they will always have a message to let people know what’s happening in the city.”

The key thing to remember for any organization looking at going down this route is to be authentic.  This means:

• Get real people with real experiences with the product/service.  In this case, the ambassadors should each have a unique and real perspective of the city. 
• Tell it like it is - Don’t make things sound better than they are.  Most people appreciate honesty above all else.  Like any city, there are places in Montreal where you wouldn’t want tourists to go.
• Don’t try and sell.  This sounds counter to the purpose of the campaign; but in actuality, it will aid in convincing people to visit.  Social media is all about getting recommendations from those who you trust.  People can see right through a hard sell.  The goal of this campaign is to build connections with like-minded travellers and the ambassadors - then engaging in a real conversation.

I came across an interview with Seth Godin on Wired.  One of the key points in the article he makes is:

Wired: How do you put your tribe ahead of others in a land of too many choices and too many other things vying for attention?

SG: The leadership today is about 10 people bringing you 100 and 100 bringing you 1,000. When you have 1,000 true fans, as Kevin Kelly talks about, then they’re the people who are going to turn it into a movement. Not you. Your job is to take care of and feed and nurture those 1,000 people, and those people need to go to their network of people who know them and trust them, who eat dinner with them, and bring them in. It’s not for you to somehow beam your message to strangers and convert them, because you can’t convert strangers anymore. Not one major new consumer brand built in the last five years was built on the back of advertising. Google and Facebook, etc. are built because one person brought another one by the hand, not because someone bought ads on the Super Bowl.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Seth has the right idea that tribes form with or without us.  The key is to support the tribe and enable them to work for you.

One company that I think has done a great job of this is Campbell’s with their MVC program.  David Allard and his team has done a great job bringing the tools to the tribe to make this campaign successful.

Chapters Indigo recently launched the Indigo MBA - a 12-month self directed program.

The free, 12-month, self-directed program features a 21-book reading list that includes new and bestselling business titles and online “discussion modules.”

“It’s sort of a natural extension for us because our brand has always been about enriching people’s lives and providing inspiration and continuous learning,” said Deirdre Horgan, chief marketing officer, Indigo Books & Music Inc. “Those are the cornerstones of our brand.”

“During a time of economic uncertainty, we thought it would be an innovative way to provide valuable and meaningful support for our customers to sharpen their skills in the business arena,” she added.

To join, consumers simply need an e-mail address and password to engage in the monthly scheduled discussions.

On the surface, the campaign design itself is quite innovative.  Many people during tough economic times leave the workforce and head back to school to sharpen their skills.  Indigo understand this and assembled a self-directed course.  The payoff for Indigo is that they should see an uptick in sales of the recommended titles.

However, if we examine this issue more deeply, we can see that Indigo has the potential to radically change what an MBA is and its value proposition. 

Looking back at my MBA experience (almost 5 years ago), I would say the biggest value I got for the over $50K spent was not the knowledge I received, but the network I am a part of.  I still keep in touch with the people I met during the program, whether it be classmates, people in senior/junior classes, professors or alumni.  Undoubtedly this network has led us to build Accelteon.  Thus, the money I spent on the MBA wasn’t so much for the knowledge, but to have access to some of the best business people in Canada. 

It seems now that Indigo has made the knowledge piece of the program very affordable (I recognize many of the recommended books as those that I either read or should have read).  The question is, can Indigo build a true community around its MBA program?  They currently have a forum where students can have discussions online, but perhaps adding frequent ‘class’ get togethers and events with the authors of these books would be a starting point to build that valuable network.