TribalWorks

Anna Maria Virzi wrote a good article today discussing a talk Stephany Cavatoni from The Active Marketing Group gave.  Cavatoni provided six factors which determined if a tribe existed or not.  They were:

• Rituals
• Rites of Passage
• Symbols
• Adornments
• Norms/Values
• Leaders

On the whole I think these are some good indicators.  However, in addition to knowing whether or not a tribe exists, I think it is important to know what state the tribe is in.  The state will enable you to to know what strategies to use and what tactics work best.

Accelteon has loosely defined 3 Major States of Tribes:

1. Well-Defined & Functional
2. Evident But Not Yet Defined
3. Not Evident

Each state poses its unique challenges, which we will get into with future posts.  However, brands that can put their products/services at the core of a Well-Defined & Functional tribe can benefit the most (think Harley-Davidson or the Green Bay Packers).

I read this article and I think one of the key problems with the thinking of marketers today is that they are too focused on media channels rather than on what works best for their consumers.

“Yahoo has a long history with advertisers,” says Russ Fradin, the president of online firm Adify. “They know what works and doesn’t work. For advertisers, there’s a flight to the familiar. If you’re going to cut web spending, you cut the experimental dollars like social media or mobile.”

Rather than responding to the downturn in the economy by cutting spending in ‘experimental dollars’ marketers would be better suited to look at what can they do to support and connect with their tribes. 

Doing so would result in better thought out campaigns that will have a long term benefit for the product/service.  Of course, this in itself embodies the key challenge - how do you get marketers to look beyond the next two quarters.

These are certainly interesting times in the global markets.  Of course, as in any downturn in the economy there will be a plethora of good buying opportunities that will only be revealed 2-4 years from now after a new breed of of stocks will hit record highs.

But I also think that this is a perfect time to look at the performance of organizations that do have strong tribes associated with them. 

• Will Apple and Harley-Davidson beat out their competitor in terms of maintaining sales?
• Will the Green Bay Packers and the Toronto Maple Leafs be able to continue with near sell-outs every game?
• Which non-profit organizations will be able to maintain and even increase their donor base and average donation per person? 

My hypothesis is that those organizations that continue to invest the resources to support the tribes will be outperform those that do not.

It is never too late to develop a Tribal Strategy for your organization.

This is a good question.  Many people associate Tribal Strategies with brands and products that are the underdogs.  An example of this is the battle between PC vs. Mac.

However, it is possible for very large companies with category leading brands to form a very successful following.  Microsoft’s Flight Simulator (currently in its 10th edition) is a good example.  Despite being the number one flight simulation product available for personal computers, it has managed to build and maintain a very successful tribe:

• There are dozens of community websites across the globe
• Members develop airplanes, airports, cities, missions etc. and make them available for other community members to freely download
• Microsoft’s Shared Skies enables members to fly around in a virtual globe as pilots or even direct other members as air traffic control

Check out some of the above links, you will be surprised at the depth of the community.

A few people have asked what it means to have a Tribal Strategy.  In my opinion, a Tribal Strategy is a decision to align various aspects of your brand/organization around tribes.  This includes aspects such as HR, planning, R&D, etc.

On the other hand, many organizations incorporate bits and pieces of a Tribal Strategy, i.e. Tribal Elements.  They may have an on-line community, participate in event marketing or advertise through social media.

I will try to bring some examples of both to this blog.

A few readers of our last newsletter on Tribal Marketing asked how we positioned the various brands in Figure 1. 

Using our process and based on our individual view points, we placed the above brands in their appropriate location. 

A similar process with a different group of people would probably yield different results.  For example, although most people’s interactions with Canada Post are purely utilitarian, there are a few who would have an emotional connection or even self-identify themselves with the brand.  I do not mean people who work for the company, but rather avid stamp collectors who would like to interact with Canada Post and each other regarding their product of interest.