Buzz Canuck

Interests by Canadian City (Through the Lense of Facebook)

As much as politicians believe we are wired much differently across Canada,
our most popular social network suggests differently. Sure, perhaps a little more travelling and photography goes on in Vancouver, some more camping in Calgary, more dancing and sports in Winnipeg, more shopping and sports in Toronto, more cooking and art in Montreal and more hanging with friends in Halifax - but we really are quite alike as a people.

In aggregrate order of priority, Canadian interests are:

#1 - Music
#2 - Reading
#3 - Movies
#4 - Photography
#5 - Traveling
#6 - Hockey
#7 - Sports
#8 - Shopping
#9 - Camping
#10 - Cooking
#11 - Dancing
#12 - Art

The Card That Ed Lee Made Famous

I dropped by my blog today and noticed a sizable spike in traffic. Thought it was attributable to some of the new digital friends I made at various conferences last week and to be clear, there was some of that.

I don't know if my content is getting any better.  And I haven't been mentioned by Seth G., Guy K., Joe J. or Michael A. in recent history.

Hmmmmm....turns out Ed from Blogging Me, Blogging You has been praising the virtues of  my business card. What a belovedly aesthetic crowd we have in the blogosphere!

Thanks Ed for the tout...here is the front of card attached, courtesy one of my designers at Rapport (Faith Seekings). Double function: You're even able to pick poppy seeds out of your teeth when required with the fire edge diecuts.

Since we're about to move into new quarters and change cards, it would appear you've singlehandedly caused me to repeat the look and die cut on the next run of cards?

Social Media Adoption - Consumer Learnings

Some quick tidbits from com.motion's 2007 study of social network users. Nothing earth shattering but always a big help when they're the most up-to-date Canadian facts with sufficient statistical base sizes.

- 93% of 18=-34 years olds are active in social media (Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Wikipedia, Flickr)  - drops off to 71% for 35-54 years olds and 49% for 55+

- on  social networks sites, of people who have participated - 17% are constant users, 26% are frequent users, 20% are occasional users, 9% are lapsed users and 18% were rejectors

- women are much more constant/frequent social network users - 48% vs. 38% men

- 18-34s are much more constant/frequent social network users - 64% vs. 32% for their 35-54 year old peers and 22% for the 55+

- women nurture interpersonal relationships more than men in social networks - 57% vs. 46%

- women learn about new products and services more than men in social networks - 62%  vs. 54%

- women share own thoughts about products and services more than men in social networks - 57% vs. 49%

- by and large, younger age demographics are using social networks to connect and broadcast their opinions, older demographics are more inclined to be passive and learn from those opinions in social networks

The Launch of Com.motion - Veritas' Social Media Wing

Veritas has just launched itself into the social media sphere with its publication of a social media study of the Canadian population (1800 plus people) and business professionals (400+ executives and managers) and the coming out party for its social media wing com.motion.

Two things right off the bat: 1) congrats to Veritas for getting into the game - they're doing it the right way by not only specializing in the area but also providing valuable info for their stakeholders and launching/profiling four new blogs at the same time (really, as a detail-oriented practice, unless you're doing it, it's tough to be practicing it, I hope these blogs have staying power). Plus, I didn't realize it but I like the fact they're Bullfrog-powered, nice added touch.

2)  Keith McArthur, Senior Director of Veritas Media Innovation and Principal of com.motion (and once a damn fine Globe & Mail columnist) is launching this in the right manner - no grandiose statements on being an unsubstantiated first, an appreciated overture to seed some of the findings of the study ahead of time with resident bloggers like myself, a double barreled insight approach from polling Canadian professionals,  a nice social media-friendly PR release and consumers  and what appears to be a very smart extension of Veritas' brand into a new media space.

Bravo. Welcome to the chaos Com.motion!

Charting the 9 Word of Mouth Planets

Some word of mouth is not like the others. In fact, the variability on how word of mouth works and what types of outcomes get produced vary even more BETWEEN its 9 constituents types than TV, Radio, Magazine and Outdoor do in a traditional world.

Here's our take on the 9 main types of word of mouth and where they fit into your marketing mix.

Quadrant 1 - Targeted Excitement (User Generated Content, Consumer Generated Media, Affiliate Marketing)
- places a premium on finding passionate and motivated group/tribe of supporters
- key measure - participation, content, traffic

Quadrant 2 - Broader Audience Excitement  (Viral, Social and Buzz)
- places a premium on scaling up exposure and passalong quickly
- key measure - traffic, impressions/PR, excitement

Quadrant 3 - Broader Audience Intimacy (Community, Cause Marketing)
- places a premium on incubating a large group of people who care about a brand or idea
- key measure - brand evangelism, insight/collaboration, brand affinity/relevance

Quadrant 4 - Targeted Intimacy (Influencer, Experiential)
- places a premium on identifying and inviting the right people to participate   
- key measure - brand advocacy/net promoter score, participation, excitement

How Do You Dine? User-Generated (Zagat) vs. Expert-Driven (Michelin)

Food is a sweetspot for word of mouth.  It appeals to our senses on so many levels and fulfills the five basic categories of industries that are driven by word of mouth (new-driven, story-driven, everyday-driven, complex/expensive-driven and taste-driven).

So who is more qualified to write about their recommendations for one of our favourite pursuits? The battleground heats up in cities around the U.S.

In one corner, is the esteemed Michelin Guide with a history stepped in french food culture, now taking on U.S. cities with a team of expert inspectors (they expect to sell 150,000 New York copies in 2007). The ratings for which have caused at least one restauranteur to commit suicide upon anticipating the loss of a "star".

In the other user-generated corner, the North American based and more democratic Zagat who produces 650,000 copies of the New York edition through the ratings from 34,000+ frequent diners to complete its guide of 2,069 city establishments.

Which is more credible? Which is more reliable?  Each have their benefits and their faults - which would you buy?

Mr. Whipple, A Pleasant Memory

Trivia question - who was the 3rd best known American behind Richard Nixon and Billy Graham in 1979?
Wrong...it was Mr. Whipple.

I was saddened to hear of Mr. Whipple's death (in real life Dick Wilson), he was 91. He had the distinct title of being part of the longest running campaign appearing in 504 ads spanning between 1964 and 1999. So immersive was his connection to Charmin tissue that P&G even sent him free rolls of Charmin every month. Candidly, in our media-ADD economy, we will never see that  type of mass media relationship again.

Here's what's also interesting - Mr. Whipple had a decent acting career in movies like Dial M for Murder and appearances like Bewitched, Rockford Files, the Bob Newhart show and Hogan's Heroes. Bet you also didn't know he was Canadian. He was a radio DJ, vaudeville performer and OCAD grad in sculpture during his formative years in Toronto.

Congrats on a great life Mr. Whipple...but just "Please, Don't Squeeze the Charmin".

The Hectic and Gratifying Week That Was...

I feel like I should be doling out apologies all round for people that have been  trying to get in touch with me this week, including some very eager Scrabulous partners on Facebook. 

3 speaking gigs, 2 conference committee things, 8 client meetings, a number of amazingly interesting new friends and colleagues and the crazy holiday party season about to break. I like the frenzy but even I'm feeling a bit over-extended and ... wiped.

The one feeling I registered about meeting 1,300 new marketers, media and digiterati this week is hope. Hope that there are a number of enthusiastic, stimulating and very creative minds that are waiting to be tapped and put some of the great new tactics and strategies from the new media and marketing worlds to task.  Hope that marketing can be found to be competent enough to champion the effort for their companies. Hope that whether its Quebec or Ontario or BC (my last three conference  stops), a feeling of curiosity and commitment to a brave new world  that most of us can't even pretend to understand but know will be a great part of our future. Hope that someone in a small garage or dank office in Canada will be capable of producing the next version of Facebook, Techcrunch or Nokia. 

Distinct impressions made from this week:
- Geoffrey Roche,  fellow presenter at two of the conferences I spoke at and head of Lowe Roche, passionately tackling the fact that large agencies can get this stuff right, personifying it by launching a Dog and Catbook web applications now 1.4 million members deep and being somewhat contrarian and rallying around the  role of the media director as the underappreciated and creative visionary of the future
- Jimmy Haymann from GoViral - having one of the better commands on where this evolution of media/marketing is going which he has entitled the "Media Youcracy" and backing it up with amazing creatively viral exploitation - if you want to see "big" viral that works and gets talked about , you have to download Nissan Qashcai Games
- Janet Kestin from Ogilvy who self admittedly suggests that a lot of their Dove Evolution success was jumping into the abyss of the unknown with eyes wide open, how many of us take that approach than just skate up and down our wing everyday, particularly people who have been in the  roles for many years - Mike Kasprow from Trapeze who has a complete command on how to do movie online marketing and is a frenzied, funny and Nyquil-induced flagbearer for the expertise residing and oftentimes hidden in a pureplay digital agency
- Paula Gignac and her team from the IAB who have cobbled together a very impressive and ragtag network of suppliers, agencies, publishers and clients and built a forum as a true learning experience
- The team at Infopresse - their professionalism and uncanny ability to bring marketing, media, design and culture under one roof and spot talent from around the world to broadcast it
- Francois Poulin from Ogilvy - an instant friendly  persona and a command of historical and current viral creative   that works

...and of course, the literally hundreds of other conversations I had this week with old colleagues, fresh new faces and prospective visionary clients. Thanks for the hope and inspiration.

Sean Moffitt - President, Agent Wildfire to Speak at Infopresse

It will be a thrill to be in Montreal next Wednesday to speak on "Viral Marketing" in all its particular shapes and sizes.   

Journee Inforpresse has invited me to speak about our specialty - word of mouth. Maybe it's just me but I find the level of Blackberry tapping during people's presentations is always less in Quebec. It's usually a passionate, respectful and engaged audience.

Infopresse is a great organization that hosts a regular cycle of events and I simply love their tagline "Des evenements uniques pour rafraisher les idees".

So I'll be speaking alongside Jimmy Maymann from GoViral, Geoffrey Roche from Lowe Roche and Francois Poulin from Oglivy in Montreal on winning strategies for a web 2.0 world.  With such a distinguished roster, I'll be sure to be freshening up my presentation to create the best and most contemporary winning insights.

If you're in Montreal or just passing through, hopefully I can meet you and we can start the conversation and spread the word.

Today's Buzz: Word of Mouth Six Times Faster Than the Rest

Some days our job becomes easier based on others' efforts. Take today for example.

PQ Media just released a report on the future of word of mouth marketing....and you thought oil and gas was a hot investment area!

The headline: "Word of Mouth marketing is the fastest growing segment of the entire media industry".

That's an extremely strong validation of the bet our company Agent Wildfire made 3 years ago in specializing in this space. Reasons given for the movement were the need for companies to create better brand engagement, link efforts to ROI and the word of mouth's industry's effectiveness in integrating strategy, technology and measurement.

Some of the more interesting facts and insights form the press releases:

a) WoM marketing grew almost five times faster than the overall marketing services sector in 2006 and more than six times faster than the overall media industry and nominal GDP.

b) Spending on word-of-mouth (WoM) marketing jumped 35.9% in 2006 to $981.0 million and is expected to grow to $1.35 billion in 2007 (Base: US industry media base - $254 billion).  

c) Total WoM marketing expenditures are projected to climb at a compound annual rate of 30.4% in the 2006-2011 period to $3.70 billion as brand marketers take advantage of dedicated WoM marketing strategies.

d) PQ Media defined Word-of-Mouth (WoM) marketing as an alternative marketing strategy supported by research and technology that encourages consumers to dialogue about products and services.

e) Brand marketers are responding, and have begun to increase their WoM media budgets, moving from test phase to implementations that support their integrated marketing campaigns.

f) The new media industry axiom, 'only what gets measured gets bought,' has led to a discernible shift in media spending from traditional to alternative advertising and marketing strategies," said PQ Media CEO Patrick Quinn. "The word-of-mouth marketing industry is capitalizing on this trend though its ability to provide ROI to brand marketers in a highly cost-effective platform."

g) "Major brand marketers are moving from just testing word-of-mouth marketing to including it as a growing component of fully-integrated marketing campaigns," Quinn added. "The continued advancement of new word-of-mouth technologies is creating crosscurrents among alternative media strategies, as evidenced by Facebook's recent attempt to bridge the gap between social
networking and WoM marketing."

h) Although no formal split was given, the study mentions that food and beverage, media and entertainment, and sports and recreation are among the heaviest users of WoM strategies.

Wonderfully timely news to have in our quiver as brands put their final touches on their 2008 plans.  Can I let out a Howard Dean "Woo Hoo" yet?