Buzz Canuck

The 20 Most Contagious Things In Life

Humans are herd animals, we never like to experience anything alone and perish the thought of doing something else while others are going in a different direction.

See if you agree with me on the top 20 human things that spread like wildfire below...I know I'm missing a few gems. 

1) Colds/Flus - the average human gets 2-5 colds a year and are frequently affected two-to-four days after others are first exposed 

2) Applause - nothing like a few well-placed plants to get a crowd clapping in synch

3) Opinions - the foundation of viral marketing rests on this assumption

4) Fashion - I'm not too sure why there isn't an Amazon for fashion but they could clean up based on influencer-led movements in style

5) Measles  - one of the most communicable viruses in the world - 90% of household members who are not immune but are exposed to it end up contracting it

6) Fear -one only need to see our global economic meltdown, to see this piece of human psychology play out 

7) Gossip/Scandal - Sarah Palin/Tina Fey, American Idol, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton, Oscar Night, Gawker - I rest my case  

8) Stress - 78% belived Bush's State of the Union in 2007 was going in the right direction; now less than 2 years later,  83% believe the country is heading in the wrong direction

9) Negative Energy & Enthusiasm -misery loves company and everybody loves a party

10) Obesity - there is a 171% increased chance if a good friend increases weight, so will you..be forewarned

11) Yawning - 40-60% of people who hear talk about yawning, do it themsleves

12) Laughter - has more to do with social setting vs. humour, you are 30 times more likely to laugh socially than solitarily, in cross gender conversations, females laugh 126% more than males

13) Smiling - it only takes 14 muscles, is free and is good for you...why not?

14) Trends - the thesis behind the Tipping Point - small things make a big difference- some intriguing examples of air conditioners and faxes

15) Rhythm/Music Beat - who hasn't been toe-tapping and realize the person next to them is doing the same things

16) Goodwill - it's interesting when things go bad, humans capacity for pulling together

17) Referrals - an average person will tell 5 people after a good experience and 8 people after a bad one, the web allows an online savvy person to tell 13 friends and an influencer to tell 40

18) Violence/Litter - it's the Broken Windows theory - allow something to be degraded or debased around you and more of it will happen

19) Depression/Suicide - bridge jumping, subway jumping and other forms of reported suicide have a contagious effect on the socially displaced, the young and people with a close association to the victims

20) Memes/Idioms - Where's the Beef?, Budweiser's Whassssssssup, Dove Evolution, Got Milk, Mastercard's Priceless, Apple's Think Different and Intel's mnemonic  

Godin is Back - and He Has a Tribe With Him

Seth Godin on Tribes

View SlideShare presentation or Upload your own. (tags: book tribes)

Trust me - back in the late 90s and early 2000s, you could find no bigger fan of Seth Godin than me. I was detoxing from a big, bad corporate experience and found salvation in fresh thinking Godin's books - recipes for a marketing world I already believed in but didn't exist yet.

I loved Permission Marketing in 1999, was giddy about Unleashing the Ideavirus in 2001 and thought Godin could do no wrong in 2003 with Purple Cow and Free Prize Inside.

Then came what I would call the derivative works. Like a lot of mid-lifing musicians, Godin's books started to feel familar ...dare I even say it - lazy. All Marketers are Liars, the Big Moo, The Dip and Small is the New Big seemed to be movie sequels - fine bodies of work but never as original as the first works.

Well the Bald Man from New York is back and with one of his freshest ideas. Tribes - We Need You To Lead Us (launched October 16, 2008) - love the concept, appreciate the new take community/collaboration and enjoyed the attached all-visual presentation that speaks to its thesis...and I haven't even read it yet (maybe I'm angling for a signed copy here).  I've so much anticipation I've already ranked it as my #4 book on community and collaboration in the Essential's Marketer's Bookshelf.

Some key summary points from the book:

1) The questions that people ask has changed. they don't worry so much about "what's new" or "what's on sale", they are curious about who else is involved.

2) Once they get a sense for who’s part of this group, they want to know who the leader is. Where are we going and who is going to take us there.

3) It is now clear that (except for the random exceptions) tribes are built, built with leadership and insight and love. We need to start embracing the phenomenon and deciding whether it's worth the effort. It should be.

4)  People express their tribal connections in very public ways when they choose to. It’s a way of keeping outsiders out and insiders in (and in growing your tribe by finding the fellow travelers more easily).

5) No one joins a nascent tribe because it’s average. Ever. These guys don’t do this because they want to fit in. They do it to stand out (together).

6) A crowd is a group of people. A mob is an angry crowd. And a tribe is a self-selected group of people, often with a leader, usually with a purpose, always with a way of connecting and identifying with each other, a set of norms, insiders and outsiders.

7) You don’t DESERVE a tribe and you don’t BUY a tribe. You earn one.

8) The size and quality of tribal connection increases, the value of the brand increases dramatically

9) Movements are what happens when a tribe grows, when the idea spreads, when it engulfs the status quo.

10) Tribes amplify your efforts. The Red Sox can’t increase profits in the stadium, so now they spend their time and money increasing loyalty among the Red Sox nation.

11) The tactics that work for one tribe, the software or the posting speed or the things you talk about--they just don’t work for a different tribe.

12) Steve Jobs leads a tribe. Bill Gates just made software. Making software can make you big, but it doesn’t last--the market is ruthless. Tribes, on the other hand, push you and stick with you and hate you and then forgive you.

13) Etsy has assembled a tribe. The people who buy and sell at Etsy don’t do it because they need another necklace. They do it because they belong to the tribe. Etsy leads, Etsy establishes the platform, Etsy connects, Etsy then smartly gets out of the way. Interesting note: lots of Etsy buyers are also Etsy sellers.

15) 1000 fans, people who will pay money, spread the word, show up when you need them... that’s all you need to be elected mayor, have a hit record or change the future of your synagogue or restaurant.

16) Three ways to build a tribe: Find the lonely, connect the seekers or create a new one where none existed

17) It’s important to understand that most tribes aren’t CREATED by those that lead them, they are merely organized around common threads that were already there. When you lead people who want to be led, and connect people who want to be connected, you win by serving

18) It’s tempting to grow your tribe by making it open and welcoming but in fact, making it difficult to get in (and easy to get thrown out) is often more effective.

19) Tribes never (NEVER) organize around the center of the bell curve. If you go with average, with the masses, with the typical, you don’t earn a tribe.

20) The intersection of heretical thought, deep faith and obstruction from the status quo (which is often called religion) is where tribes are built.

21) 7 Attributes of Leaders – Challenge, Culture, Curiosity, Charisma, Communicate, Connect and Commit

22) 6 Reasons Why People Join Tribes – Connect, Meaning, Difference, Be Noticed, Matter, Be Missed

23) The punchline is that the only way to lead a tribe is to lead it. And that means that marketing is now about leadership, about challenging the status quo and about connecting people who can actually make a difference. If you can't do that, don't launch your site, your product, your non-profit or your career. 

Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food - Making the UK a Better Place to Eat Two Plates at a Time

Good pickup by Andy Sernovitz on Jamie Oliver's quest to healthify the U.K. (they still fry chocolate bars there, don't they?). 

As Andy mentions, some great word of mouth ingredients in a simple cause-related website:

A Noble Purpose - communciated via a manifesto

A Call to Action - get the chain going 2 plates at a tme

A Simple Tool - breaking the activity down in chunks, easy on the eyes website

Feedback - showing how many people have accepted your challenge to meet at your table

I would also mention that the site succeeds by providing well-laid out supoporting information in a blog-style format, use of documentary video in context and mastery of the repeatable idea "Ministry of Food", "Pass it On" and "Get the Country Cooking Again".

Jamie - well done chap, heaven knows this needs to be that good - with trans-fatty crisps, big brewed ales and steak & kdiney pie as staples, you have a big challenge ahead of you.

Agent Wildfire - Creating Fires for Holiday 2008 and 2009

Three weeks since by last post, shame on me...any blogger worth their salt knows that 3 per week is the absolute minimum to maintain the ADD-riddled world of social media attention.

My only excuse...we've been busy starting some fires for the holiday season and next year...for the listing of Wildfire developments and the occasional shameless self-promotion see below.

Beyond a number of new clients that have dropped in our lap the last couple of months and a few word of mouth programs and community launches - we are also looking at a number of new programs that will position us well as Canada's Word of Mouth Expert for 2009.  In no particular order:

- On the social media front, Agent Wildfire will be launching its own blog to deal with the news, announcements, job openings and events that are all about my company, leaving Buzz Canuck to be fancy-free to talk about all the word of mouth subjects under and above the radar

- on buzz media launches, we are planning one micro launch a quarter next year behind Canadian-specific influencer-driven marketing/media initiatives designed to get our clients noticed and talked about:

The Sisterhood of Influence - for connected, savvy Canadian women
Generation GO - for active people who live in the city
TrendCity - for tastemakers and trendspotters well ahead of the mainstream
Alpha Bartender Network - for urban ringleaders who serve up buzz

If you are an enthusiastic outgoing person in any of these areas, please let us know and we would love you to join our efforts in some capacity.

Give us a call, get the details by signing up for our Buzz Report or join our media/PR tour in October/November. Category-exclusive opportunities await.

We are relaunching our Agent Wildfire and Influencer sites to add more functionality and design appeal.

We are also going to be launching the beta of something called Influencers in The Know next month - a hybrid of influencer content and RSS aggregation of only the leading edge content on the web specifically designed for Canadians. We are interested in grassroots celebrities and influencers interested in sharing us their top 10 sites/blogs for the best edgy content - let us know.

We are hiring for a number of key full-time and freelance positions:
- Word of Mouth Program Leaders
- Editorial Interns
- Guest Bloggers
- Graphic Designers
- Web People
If you are to use Sarah Palin's words "mavericky" and Obama's words "say YES WE CAN to client opportunities" and McCain's words "want straight talk in marketing" and Biden's words...what does he say anyway?....send us your best attempt to get noticed and talked about through the stack of resumes - apologize in advance if we don't always get back quickly.

We are also hatching a League of Kickass Network event hopefully for November. I'm quite excited about this as we wrangle a name brand author and CEO to take the gloves off in debate . If you're a senior marketer, media, business executive or digital geek and you are suitably Kickass give us a shout and let's get you on the list.

We will be hosting a road trip across cities Marketing 2.0 for the Executive - a conversation-worthy, safe haven overview for executives willing to embrace this arena but not knowing where to go next.

We are about the finalize our white paper on "Word of Mouth Marketing 2009" - a check in on marketer attitudes and beahviours with WOM, launch our presentation and start our community-based white paper "It Takes a Community to Build a Brand".

I'll also personally be  participating in Marketing Week events and hosting a panel of 6 experts on social media...yikes...look forward to some dust ups, insight and some "keeping them honest" Anderson Cooper like moderating in that one.

And in other predictions - Obama wins by 7 pts, Harper gets in by a slim minority, Green Party breaks past 11% of popular vote, Red Sox win the Series again (yeah!), The TSE bottoms out at 8.500, Leafs win only 24 games this year and retail sales will drop 6% year over year at Christmas (bah humbug!).

So our silence here has not been without productive distraction...apologies to Buzz Canuck Nation - we'll try to let it happen again.

Word of Mouth - Monopoly Edition

"From Mass to Grass" Rolls Out

Looking forward to seeing an enthusiastic crowd at tomorrow's "From Mass to Grass" Word of Mouth conference.  I'm excited about bringing some fresh grassroots stories to light through some amazing, made-in-Canada , word of mouth marketing successes.

From big beer and airlines, to small labelling and 2.0 companies, to altruistic and profit-driven and some of the best B-to-C and B-to-B examples, if you are at all interested in the progressive side of marketing, media and research in Canada - get yourself down to watch and glean the insights.

If you are already going and would like an up close and intimate with some of the speakers the night before drop me an email and I will tell you where we're hiding out over a few beers.

Over the next couple of weeks, I look forward to providing an "7 Questions with" interview format with the majority of speakers and moderators who were at the event. See you there.

Authenticity - What Consumers Really Want

Currently loving and voraciously reading a book written by one of my New Paradigm colleagues Joe Pine called "Authenticity - What Consumers Really Want".

Some of the content is a bit of tough slugging and high-minded philosophy for the uninitiated, but they do make some very credible arguments and smart practical tips on the importance and need for authenticity.

Two of these arguments/marketing models:

1) Authenticity is the Ultimate Way to Avoid Commoditization
If your a premium brand, the new business imperative for you is in rendering authenticity. The evolution is as follows (with a cup of coffee metaphor):
- You can supply commodities (farmers in South America do this for likely 5 cents cup/coffee)
- You can control goods (Nescafe makes product for retailers that may be 20 cents cup/coffee)
- You can improve services (Coffee Time and many donut chains will sell a cup of coffee for $1.50)
- But most winning brands in this economy render authentic experiences (in Starbuck's case, this may  run you above $4 per cup of coffee)

Whether it's Disney, Pike's Place Fish market, Build-a-Bear, ESPN Zone or the chockful of other examples they use, consumers have shown they will pay for well-rendered and staged experiences or even better, brands that help guide transformations.

2) 5 Types of Authenticity Exist
The best brands root themselves in more than one of these but tend to have a primary form of authenticity.
1) Natural Authenticity - products/services that exist in a natural state in or of the earth, untouched by human hands, not artificial or synthetic i.e. organic goods, whole foods, Burt's Bees

2) Original Authenticity - products/services that possess originality in design, being first of its kind, never before seen by two eyes, not a copy or imitation i.e. iPod, design cars,   

3) Exceptional Authenticity - products/services that are done exceptionally well, executed individually or extraordinarily by someone demonstrating human care, not unfeelingly or disingenuously performed i.e. Nordstrom, Southwest Airlines, great hotels and restaurants

4) Referential Authenticity - products/services that draw on some context, drawing inspiration from human history, and tapping into shared memories or longings, not derivative or trivial i.e. English ales,  Russian vodka, Persian rugs, "From the makers of" movies

5) Influential Authenticity - products/services that exert influence on other entities, call on human beings to a higher goal, provide a foretaste to a better way, not inconsequential or without meaning i.e. Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty, Frank Gehry designs, Cirque du Soleil, Kiva.org, Purpose-Driven Life

The book is pure gold with many evidentiary examples of what they are supporting as an argument. A must for any progressive marketer's bookshelf. My next post will get into some of the specific that ask marketers should look at in auditing and improving their own authenticity.

The Cool of Uncool and "Disassociative Reference Groups"

Dr. Darren Dahl and Kathleen White, marketing professors at UBC and Calgary respectively, have just released a research study in the Journal of Consumer Research about  "Disassociative Reference Groups"

In non-academic terms, their thesis - we oftentimes are driven to consume and buy products less for their own merits and more for being a brand that's not readily consumed  or adopted by the "out crowds" that don't fit our own self perception.

This is right out of marketing high school - we are tribal, even early in life, wearing the uniform and accessories of the "nerds", the "geeks", "the jocks", "the potheads",  "the drama clubbers", "the dropouts" or "the band mates" and going out of our way not to wear the garb of one of the "other people".  Watch "The Breakfast Club" of "High School Musical" for a brushup on high school tribalism.

Taken in a marketplace context, Dahl and White prove the axiom in marketing terms with 
important impacts on how we communicate, affiliate and engage consumers as marketers. Specifically, they concluded through an interesting "steak choice" exercise that men had a higher appetite to use diassociative groups in their purchase decision making, that the force was much more powerful in public vs. private settings and much higher with self conscious groups who might be inclined to agree with the statement  "I'm concerned with what people think about me" than people less sensitive to social consciousness. 

Brands that have effectively used this as a tool for generating affinity and group affiliation have tended to come from the underdog, challenger brand, cause-related, sponsorship or political categories.  Pepsi vs. Coke, Apple vs. PC (see two powerful examples of both sides above), Harley vs. European cycles, and Microbrews vs. Mainstream beers are all potent examples of this force at work. The U.S. political machine over the last few months has also focused on which candidates are the least associated with something (Clinton/old -Obama/inexperienced, Giuliani/big city-Romney/Mormon) . Yesterday, I spotted another example, an outdoor ad from Olympus cameras that takes a shot squarely at its competitor Nikon.

So next time (although overt comparative ads are decidedly un-Canadian) you're about to brag about all your own brand merits, you might want to stop and seed a message among your ambassadors less about what you are and more about the outcasts that purchase your competition.

Every brand fan put your hands together and chant "We're Not Them, We're Not Them".

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".

Jim Beam - Rolling Out The Word of Mouth Barrel

Ok, so this news is a little bit dated, but it's still  important to note that a $3 billion spirits giant that controls the brand fates of Jim Beam, Maker's Mark, Courvoisier and Sauza Tequila has publicly declared that the bulk of the discretionary part of their $100 million marketing budget be dedicated to word of mouth development.

Smart company - they must realize beverages are the second most responsive category to word of mouth. Like book reading or buying cars, there's no way, you're going to purchase a 40 oz. bottle of something untasted and untested, until you've sought the opinion or recommendation of a person in your trusted social circle.

Whether it's Jim Beam building wraps, Maker's Mark award-winning ambassador program, Courvoisier's Future 500 young influencer club or Sauza's couchsurfing lineup experiences, this is a company that got religion about word of mouth. Imbibe on their story here.