Nike's "Write The Future" Viral Video Writes The Present

The 2010 FIFA World Cup is in full swing, and as the world's most popular and most watched sporting event (approximately 30 billion viewers internationally), it is a sports marketer's dream for reaching vast numbers of consumers, both in the host nation South Africa and in hundreds of nations across the globe.

For these reasons, much has been written recently about the viral and ambush marketing tactics employed by numerous brands, such as Nike, that are not official World Cup sponsors. In fact, according to this story yesterday in Advertising Age, and based on recent findings of a YouGov BrandIndex survey of consumer perception in the U.S., U.K., and Germany, "Nike has benefited from the FIFA World Cup more than any other brand despite not being an official sponsor of the event."

Why? Again, according to another report in Advertising Age, Nike's three-minute "Write the Future" video broke the record for the biggest audience in the first week of a campaign with 7.8 million views. That record, incidentally, was by another Nike ad: the somber and strange "Earl and Tiger" ad, which debuted earlier this year with 6.3 million views in its first week. In mid-May, Trevor Edwards, vice president of brand and category management at Nike, stated that the company's TV creative for the FIFA World Cup, including the "Write the Future" viral video, was "among the best we've ever done." Indeed, this is no small statement from a company renowned as "a master of the form."

Another Advertising Age reporter, in a blog post, commented: "It's a beautifully told story that transcends media formats to deliver a truly emotional and inspirational experience. In 30 seconds, it appears that Nike finally cracked the code by combining compelling narrative with the power of digital distribution. And, Wieden & Kennedy (Nike's ad agency of record) showed us what it means for a brand to truly participate in culture."

The ad, directed by Alejandro González Iñáritu (21 Grams, Amores Perros), features several of the game’s giants: Didier Drogba (Chelsea F.C and Ivory Coast), Cristiano Ronaldo (Real Madrid and Portugal), Wayne Rooney (Manchester United and England), Landon Donovan (Los Angeles Galaxy and the U.S.) and Ronaldinho (F.C. Barcelona and Brazil) — along with cameos from Kobe Bryant, Roger Federer, and The Simpsons.

If you haven't seen "Write the Future," it's worth checking out below. If you have viewed the video live or on YouTube, it's certainly worthwhile to give it another look. By far, this is one of the best viral videos I've ever seen, mostly because of its enormous creativity and beautiful production values.

Another Sign The Cold War Is REALLY Over

Like most of my friends, I grew up during the heart of the Cold War; sat riveted to the TV, and screamed myself hoarse, when the U.S. hockey team felled the Russians in The Miracle On Ice in the 1980 Winter Olympics at Lake Placid; and watched countless James Bond films where 007 went head-to-head (or in some cases, fell in love with) with some KGB agent...and usually won. Of course, all of this ended back in 1989-1990 when the Berlin Wall, the ever-present symbol of Communism and Russia's barrier with the West, was destroyed. The rest, as the saying goes, is history...

And as a Communist country, the USSR was well-known and ridiculed for its state-conrolled media outlets, and the endless propaganda churned out by the government, much of it to the detriment of its citizens. PR in the Soviet Union? Fuhgeddabout it. Back then, it was mostly pay for play. However, today, the media environment is dramatically different...

...And that is why this caught my attention today: Russian President Dmitry Medvedev, in an effort to better communicate with Russians throughout the world, has officially joined Twitter. You can follow him @KremlinRussia.

Even better, Medvedev stopped by Twitter's headquarters in San Francisco to greet senior executives, set up his official account, and send his first Tweet, pictured below:

As of this writing, the president has acquired well over 12,000 followers (including me!). And make sure to check out the blog post from Twitter co-founder Biz Stone about the experience.

BTW, the English translation of the Tweet?: Hello everyone, I'm now on Twitter and this is my first message.

Who Dat?: Do You Know Who Your Customers Are?

My sincere apologies for the lag between posts, but it has been a whirlwind simultaneously managing CMAC’s business, and preparing for the arrival of Daniel Rory Pillow, our first child. Fortunately for me, clients, partners, and followers have been extremely understanding during this obvious adjustment period.

I’ve been talking to a ton of prospects lately, and I am consistently astonished by business owners’ startling lack of knowledge of and insight into the identities of their respective customers. Granted, they have a vague idea about their primary audience (e.g., small ancillary service providers in the oil and gas industry), but more often than not, they are at a loss when asked to describe this audience in more specific terms. This is absolutely mind boggling to me.

How is this possible? How can one expect to be successful when he does not whom he is selling to, how the prospect makes his purchasing decisions, and what ultimately motivates a customer to buy a given offering (as opposed to a competitor’s)? Frankly, it’s an exercise in futility for many of these guys. They are content to just muddle their way through business, hope that a prospect will somehow discover their companies and products, and then pray they decide to purchase their solutions. This is a recipe for disaster.

If you’re going to be in business…any business…and especially if you’re planning to launch a marketing program, it is absolutely critical that you have as much intelligence as possible about your core target audience – that is, the majority of YOUR CUSTOMERS that buy from you most frequently. You need to know demographics, purchasing behaviors, external and internal dynamics, price sensitivities, product and payment preferences, pet peeves, and so forth so you can modify your sales and marketing approach accordingly.

Do your customers make their purchasing decisions based solely on price? Are they a sophisticated group that strongly prefers features and functionality over cost? Do they respond well (or only) to sales promotions? Do your customers consider testimonials and product reviews before buying? This is all information you must know. The more you know about your customers, the better chance you have of connecting with an engaging them on more authentic, meaningful levels.

So how does one acquire this intelligence? The easiest ways are to conduct online and offline research, and to poll existing customers. And in addition, you can commission proprietary surveys and focus groups, but these are very costly avenues that only a handful of companies can realistically afford. With this information, a more detailed picture begins to merge…a roadmap of how best to target and communicate specific prospects. And that is the map which shows you the way to future sales.

The moral of the story: make the time and effort to fully understand your customers and how they behave, and then, and only then, devise a customized sales and marketing program which takes all of these considerations into account. You’ll be glad you did, and so will your bottom line.

Another Sign Of The Times: Just In Time For Valentine's Day

As you, my faithful readers, know very well, I constantly post interesting marketing, PR, and social media news stories and trend items on the official CMAC Twitter stream: @CaddyMarketing. However, I very rarely reiterate those topics here...until today.

According to a story by Bruce Horovitz in USA Today, New England Confectionery, the maker of the ubiquitous and highly-popular Sweethearts candy, has come up with a new and extremely clever message to be included on its hearts just in time for Valentine's Day: Tweet Me.

The new, and very timely, message resulted from an online survey which the company conducted last year, and which generated over 10,000 responses. The runner-up entries. Text Me came in second, and Love Bug, a hit song from the Jonas Brothers, finished third.

A publicity stunt or another social media invention? Check out the following statement from Patricia Martin, cultural guru and author of Renaissance Generation: The Rise of the Cultural Consumer and What it Means to Your Business. "This is an indication of the new media yet to come. It's a new way of advertising when two brands get together to create cultural meaning. That's very different from creating a 30-second TV spot."

Actually, it's neither. In my book, it is simply a brilliant marketing move which captures the essence of a white-hot communications trend (i.e., Twitter) and reverts it back into traditional form. Oh, yeah, and one more thing: this tactic also received the blessing of Biz Stone, co-founder of Twiter, who said, "It's even more proof that people can say anything in short messages. A 140-character message may seem short. Sweethearts are even smaller."

A New Year...A New Marketing Plan Part II: How To Build A Marketing Plan For Small Business

I wanted to offer my readers a timely, relevant follow-up to my post the other day which emphasizes that the beginning of a new year is a perfect time to either refresh a business's existing marketing plan, or build an entirely new one from scratch. In either case, the plan must reflect changing market conditions and company dynamics.

Since that post went live, I have received numerous inquiries from small business owners, all with the same question: how do I actually build a marketing plan for my company?

It's not as hard as it might seem. For good, solid guidance on this exact topic, please check out my recently-posted contributed article entitled, "How To Build A Marketing Plan For Small Business," on UnderstandingMarketing.com. This piece provides step-by-step instructions on how to build a marketing plan from the ground up, and insight into the various issues which small business owners must explore when finalizing the scope and depth of their marketing efforts.

If you're not familiar yet with UnderstandingMarketing.com, you really need to be, as it is an excellent resource for small business marketing and communications strategies, tactics, and techniques. Founded and managed by John Sternal, UnderstandingMarketing.com offers readers a bounty of “do-it-yourself” marketing and PR information and advice so they can remain competitive and also maximize tight budgets. The Web site helps by providing how-to advice on everything from traditional marketing, such as direct mail and loyalty programs, to today’s more complex social marketing opportunities found on Facebook and Twitter. Make sure to check it out when you get a chance; you won't be sorry. And it looks like I will be working with John on a regular basis as a frequent contributor to the site.

And as always, please stay dialed in to the Marketing Mulligans blog for even more great content, counsel, insight, and perspectives on marketing and communications strategies for small and mid-sized businesses.

Best wishes for a great weekend...

A New Year...A New Marketing Plan

If you're anything like me, you're still recovering from a very business holiday season, and slowly but surely getting back into full-time work mode after taking time off to spend with your friends and family over the past few weeks. If this describes you, then welcome back to reality! It's really not so bad once you get back into the flow of your normal business routine. Or so I remind myself...

During the initial week of January, I always like to spend the first few days totally closing out the previous year (e.g., filing, completing year-end accounting, preparing financial statements, etc.), and then devoting significant time to finalizing all business plans (i.e., finance, operations, marketing, etc.) for the next 12-month period. As part of this process, I carefully review the plans I have already written, and then modify them accordingly based on specific goals and objectives I want to achieve, specific trends I have identified, and market conditions that I know will impact my company, positive or negatively. Most importantly, I evaluate what worked, and what didn't, in the previous year...across all business functions, including marketing.

And that brings me to the main point of this post. As I've mentioned before in this forum, many business owners simply ignore the strategic planning process altogether, and that's a HUGE mistake on many levels. An even larger error in judgment is to embark on a marketing effort, regardless of its size, without having a detailed marketing plan in place. I see it way too often in the SMB sector, and this approach (or lack thereof!) almost never works out to the company's advantage.

Now that it's 2010, do yourself two favors: 1.) Please don't ignore the strategic planning process; your business will thank you in the end!; and 2.) If you intend to market your products or services at all this year, then take some time to develop a comprehensive marketing plan so there is a concrete rationale and approach in place to guide your efforts as you move forward.

It's a new year, and that means you should have a new marketing plan in hand to assist you. Times change, people change, businesses change, and industry conditions change. All of your plans should reflect these shifts, but your marketing plan will BEST outline how you continue to reach and interact with your core customers as these dynamics remain fluid.