TribalWorks

It is good to read Mary Maddever’s editorial in April’s Strategy Magazine.  The following line I think eloquently summarizes the editorial.

So when the budget for talking louder than the other guy dries up, it’s a good time to find new ways to make those lasting connections, and try something different.

Now of course, as frequent readers of this blog would know, there is more to it than just socializing.  In order to really make the connections, your whole organization must be geared towards it.  Coincidentally, in the editorial, Mary highlights an example within the article on the Nissan Cube.

In the Upfronts (p. 9) we have a fresh example of breaking new ground in the recession-budget-friendly, social-media-only launch of Nissan’s Cube. It involves giving away 50 cars to indie creative types - musicians, artists, skateboarders - via an online audition and voting process, which invites that community to lead the conversation on what the brand represents. And it’s working. Prior to the invite-only auditions, people jumped the gun and started declaring their Cube love online.

Capital C’s Tony Chapman, whose agency suggested the social launch, says, “This is the stuff people should be doing on their watch. So much depends on Canadian clients not phoning it in. When you get a client who can sell it through and stick their neck on the line in the success of it, they’ve got the world’s eyes on Canada. We’re saying ’stop advertising, start socializing.’”

CD Bennett Klein gives credit to Nissan for embracing the extreme creativity route and ponying up 50 cars. “If it means something to the community, it’s going to work.” He also says moving from “understanding to empathy” requires a little more interaction than sitting on the other side of the mirror, but has bigger insight payoffs.

However, in our previous post, we highlighted the key problem with not truly understanding and supporting the tribe.  No amount of social media can change the fact that the real tailgate opens sideways.

I am glad to see more attention is being brought forward on connecting with the tribe, but lets start to take it to the next level.

I’ve decided to join the millions already on Twitter.

You can follow me at http://twitter.com/mjussawalla

 Nissan recently launched its Cube crossover.  A vehicle which seems to be targeted to trendy urbanites.  One of the key selling points of the vehicle is, as the website states:

Break out in roomy, high-style.  Share a loungey interior and smart fuel efficiency with your top four.  Life’s never been so flexible.  Even parking is a breeze. 

 The above caption is placed over the following image.

Sounds good!  Parallel parking is often the only way to park in many urban settings.   Who wouldn’t want a vehicle with a roomy interior that is easy to park.  Right?

The problem is with the design of the rear tailgate.  Which for some reason opens sideways - like an old station wagon.  

Thus, if you were the person with the the grey Nissan Cube on the right of the first picture, you would find it nearly impossible to open the back of the vehicle without banging into the Cube parked behind you.

From my perspective, this is a good example of how a company can try to introduce a product which is supposed to appeal to a tribe, but has been poorly designed to their needs.

EA Sports, is the publisher of the Madden, Tiger Woods and NCAA Football series of video games among others.  This Friday (March 20th), they will have a Community Day at their EA Tiburon studios which will allow some tribe members to try out an early version of NCAA Football 10.

I came to EA Tiburon in the fall of 2006 and was fortunate enough a few months later to organize the first ever community event for NCAA Football.  The big feedback coming out of that event was that our attendees loved the opportunity to check out the game, but that they’d love to visit us earlier in the year when they could give us some feedback while the title was still in development.  Since then it’s been our priority to move community day events earlier in the year.  This product cycle I’m happy to report that all of our community events are at a point in development where our attendees’ feedback can help make sure our games are tuned to the liking of the community.

When meeting clients, I often use the EA Tiburon case as an example of how a Tribal Strategy can impact other areas of the organization besides marketing - in this case product development.  The fact that they have decided to move up the date of the Community Day demonstrates to the tribe that EA is serious about building a better product.

The Community Day is just one part of a larger strategy to continuously improving how they connect with the tribe.

Even though we’re not quite ready to open the floodgates of information and tell you everything about NCAA Football 10, we do want you to know that we’re taking a lot of care in developing the game.  We are taking the quality of our games to new heights by involving the community early on.  You’ve seen some examples of this with our producer involvement on the forums and here on the Inside EA SPORTS Blog and this Friday’s NCAA Football 10 Community Day is another step towards making sure we involve the community every step of the way.  And while you may not learn all of the NCAA 10 features this Friday, you will get an inside look at the community day. 

Lakeport is the latest brand to jump into the foray of user generated ads.

Beer drinkers looking for T-shirts, golf balls or other freebies in cases of Lakeport are going to be sorely disappointed by the brand’s first campaign of 2009. They may even be publicly mocked.

The discount-brand beer is asking its customers to submit their own ads spoofing typical beer promotions such as in-pack giveaways. Starting today, consumers can submit videos, radio or billboard executions to Lakeport’s Facebook group for a chance to win one of five big-screen televisions. The winners will be selected based on user votes in six weeks.

By developing a contest which encourages brand fans to generate humorous ads, Lakeport is Activating The Tribe.  Their Facebook page already has prompted discussions among its 700+ members about the various ads posted by Lakeport.

The key thing to remember when trying to Activate The Tribe is that your brand may not necessarily be front and centre.  Read my previous blog post which talks about brand managers and marketers needing to take a step back and support the tribe rather than try to lead it.  It looks like Tom Rolfe, the brand marketing manager already understands this:

“[Customers] said to us ‘Keep doing what you’re doing and we’ll help you spread the word,’ ” Rolfe said. “We set up the contest as a thank you and venue for them to spread the word.”

Porsche Canada has launched a contest that will enable the winners to spend a day at the track testing out different Porsche vehicles.

From April 13 to April 23, 2009 – for the first time ever in Canada – the legendary Mosport International Raceway will play host to the Porsche World Roadshow.

Participants will experience a full range of 20 Porsche vehicles, including the very exclusive 911 GT2 – on the track – in a number of high-performance exercises. Special driving instructors from Europe and Canada will be on hand to teach handling, braking and on-track driving. An off-road course will give guests an opportunity to test the driving capabilities of the Cayenne.

Out-of-town guests will enjoy a one-night stay in Toronto’s five-star SoHo Metropolitan Hotel, including a reception and dinner at Senses, a landmark Toronto restaurant located right in the hotel. Guests will be transported to the racetrack the following day by luxury coach.

It’s the blind date every guy dreams about.

This contest is an attempt by Porsche Canada to trim and focus its advertising spend and comes on the heels of the announcement in December that Porsche would not participate in the Canadian International Auto Show in Toronto.

“Still, as we seek to find better, more targeted ways to reach out to our potential customer base – particularly in an economy as difficult as the one we face today – we must look beyond traditional consumer auto shows, even ones as prominent as Toronto.”
Rawlinson said that “Toronto is Porsche’s largest market in Canada – and the Toronto auto show is a world-class event.
But to participate with a Porsche-quality display would have required a major financial investment.
Trying to connect more directly with Canadian customers allows us to allocate our limited marketing resources more effectively in a challenging economic environment.”

Though I can appreciate - and even advocate the need to refocus marketing spend, I do not see this campaign generating more targeted prospects.  Essentially, I believe the people entering the contest are unlikely to be any different than those who attend the auto show and visit the Porsche booth; people who dream and believe one day they will be able to buy a Porsche - but often never will.

My suggestion would for Porsche to focus on its existing consumers and determine how to best support them.  Thus, potentially increasing the frequency they buy/lease a new Porsche or bring in qualified prospects to the fold.

Mars Canada is running a “Join the Hunt” campaign for its M&M’s Speck-tacular Eggs candy.

Join the Hunt” campaign is anchored by a virtual hunt for M&M’s Speck-tacular Eggs at JoinTheHunt.ca, where visitors can create an account and search for hidden candy eggs, collecting contest points for each egg they find. Each egg has a corresponding PIN code, which contestants must enter into their online account to receive the points; the more points collected, the better the chances of winning an instant prize or one of three grand prize trips.

Visitors can also conduct their search on four microsites hidden within the main contest site, as well as play games to accrue extra points.

Offline, consumers can find PIN codes on packages of M&M’s Speck-tacular Eggs and enter the codes online to earn points. Online banner ads appearing on websites such as MSN.ca, MySpace.com, YouTube.ca, Yahoo.ca, Canoe.ca and TheWeatherNetwork.com also contain the eggs and PIN codes that can be redeemed for points.

I like the concept of using a real world activity (an egg hunt) and bringing it to online and point of sale.  The reason I like it so much is because it fits well with a traditional family activity and leverages multiple quadrants in the Tribal Map.

I read this interesting article about Marketing to the tribe.  One of the things that caught my attention was the following statement:

TOTO’s popularity continues unabated. Clearly, this has to do with more than just good taste and high prices. TOTO has gotten its brand tribe members to completely buy into its way of shopping.

In my opinion, this is the opposite to how a Tribal Strategy should be viewed.  All too often, people are looking for ways to somehow influence the tribe to change what they do or to buy into something.  Instead, the focus should be on how your brand can support the tribe.

We were only able to make one post on our blog last week since we were in the midst of moving offices.  Our new address is:

171 East Liberty Street, Suite 219
Toronto, ON
M6K 3P6

After 4.5 years in Richmond Hill, the time was right to move downtown.  More specifically, we are in the Liberty Village area which has gone through a huge revitalization initiative this decade.  Interestingly the building we are in, the Liberty Market Building, used to be a munitions factory in WWII and now houses an eclectic mix of tenants.

Ivan Fecan, CEO of CTV got it partly right when discussing the possibility of closing down their A Stations:

“This is not the fault of our hard working and dedicated employees who work at our A stations across the country. It is because the business model for conventional television is now broken.”

I say Ivan got it partly right because, I don’t think the business model for these smaller/speciality channels was ever feasible.  There are just too many hands grabbing the small pie - be it the producers, on-air talent, content providers, cable/satellite operators, licensing bodies, etc.

Broadcasters have a dilemma ahead of them.  On one hand, the viewing public wants speciality channels which speaks to their passions - their tribal channel.  On the other hand, the traditional broadcasting/cable TV business model does not fit the need for smaller niches. 

In other words, the more specialized you are the higher the value you are but to a smaller number of people.  The more general you are, the less value you will be but with a higher audience.

The key to successfully accomplishing this is to shift the from the ‘Specialty Channel’ concept to the ‘Speciality Content’ concept.  There are already some interesting business models in play:

• Many channels allow viewers to watch full episodes of their shows online
  • Is it now feasible to exclusively do this?
• Cable operators now have a wide variety of paid and free content available through their on-demand services - thus viewers only pull what they want