Denny’s – The bridge from traditional to new media

Today’s clear Superbowl Ad winner was Denny’s. Not because their commercial made me laugh. Not because their commercial was so commercial. Not because I admire Denny’s and love everything they do. No, they won because they will make the country talk. Talk about their free breakfast on Tuesday. Tapping into the mood of the country and understanding that brands have to add value. Lend a helping hand. 

Last year this wouldn’t have worked. Too many people walked by Denny’s just thinking they’ve outgrown this rather unhealthy food. But today? A free meal goes a long way. For everybody. But, they better execute this well. The staff better be prepared for major lines and they need to execute flawlessly. Looking at Denny’s SEM strategy (none), their IT strategy (Site crashed, as we speak, Denny’s is looking for a new IT vendor), their Facebook strategy (none, they market the AllNighter) and their Twitter strategy (Still promoting that AllNighter) I’m concerned that a good advertising campaign leads to ultimate disappointment. 

Everybody can have a great idea. Only a few can turn great ideas into great executions.

Marketing is about delivering value

We’ve said it many times: Businesses would be better off not spending a dime on marketing for year and re-investing all these funds in their product/service/brand experience. And a new study by Nielsen CGM/Homescan Buzzfacts makes exactly that point:

“Advertising and promotions, whether in traditional media or online, play only relatively small roles in driving consumers to post content about products and services.

This is the somewhat humbling reality, according to survey data from Nielsen CGM/Homescan Buzzfacts. Asked what motivates them to post such content on a Web site, blog or message board, just 18% cited seeing a promotion for the product, 12% cited seeing an ad on TV or in print, and 7% cited seeing an ad or video clip on the Internet.

So what is driving product/service consumer-generated media/CGM? In two words, “product experience.”

Over half (55%) of consumers said they posted because they had used and liked a product; 28% because they’d used a product and didn’t like it, or wanted a refund; and 27% said they’d read a comment about a product on a site, blog or message board and responded to it.”

Pete Blackshaw, EVP of Nielsen Online’s Digital Strategic Services (DSS) group continues:

“It’s vital that agencies and marketers understand that when you put all the data in a blender, the root causes behind why consumers talk are product quality and process issues,” Blackshaw said in an interview with Marketing Daily. “Advertising and marketing generate a certain amount of word of mouth, but by and large, brand reputation rises and falls based on the quality of the product and the service wrapped around it.”

Marketers, he says, tend to “over-romanticize” the power of tactics like “sensational viral campaigns.”

At heart, marketing is about delivering values. Now, everybody defines values differently. It could be money, time, the little things in life, a racing heart – whatever you define as value is valuable to you. Marketing’s job is to deliver what’s missing in the value chain and fill that gap.

If your product is mediocre, has design flaws, offers people not a lot of value and doesn’t fill an immediate need – do you think a mass marketing campaign will convince people to buy it? You have so many gaps to fill, your marketing dollar is better spend exploring the real needs of people, how they define value, redesigning your product/service and offering something that kills the competition. Or starts a new market.

If your product is amazing, offers flawless design, has immediate value and fills a desperate need in people’s lives – Go ahead and mass market your product. The only gap to fill is to make the world aware of your awesome product. That’s the point where marketing/advertising delivers value. Because people will appreciate to find out about your product.

Marketing/Advertising is a gap filler. Just like R&D, Product Planning, etc. Use it wisely. Or, rather save your money.

Why customer service is part of your marketing strategy

Businesses have become obsessed with the blogosphere: They task companies with buzz/trend/blog conversation reports. They read them daily, trying to gain a better understanding of people. And then they’re struggling with the question: “How do we join the conversation?” And: “What conversations are we joining?”

Let’s focus on the second question: Most businesses are immediately drawn to the blogosphere because it’s so easy to lurk and find out what the public thinks about their brand. But they often oversee the most important opportunity right in front of their eyes: Their customer service department.

People try to initiate conversations with businesses all day long: They have problems with the product, they have questions about the product, they want to connect with someone that speaks for the brand. Changing the paradigm of customer service from processing as many people as possible to solving as many problems as possible is the first step to join the conversation. Empowered people will put increasing demands on consumer affairs. Divorcing consumer affairs from marketing divisions doesn’t make any sense in the new marketing reality. Increasingly empowered people want to speak with the brand itself and consumer affairs will have to become part of your marketing strategy.

It should have been this way all along.

and the demands on consumer affairs will