Supernova2008 just wrapped up this past week. If you’re not familiar with this conference, you may learn more at conversation hub. Last year, Umair Haque (Bubble Generation), Liz Lawley (Rochester Institute of Technology), and Jerry Michalski (Sociate) engaged the audience in a lively and insightful summary. You may watch the video that closes the interactive loop here.

As I listened to these passionate interpreters extrapolate from the experience, a few points jumped at me:

Access is ubiquitous - access to capital, relationships, resources.

Things get better the more people use them - these are betters, not goods.

All of your metrics are crap (they do not look at measures of devotion) - eyeballs and buckets don’t tell you the details about what matters and what’s going to be successful.

We don’t have a culture of getting good data - we have data filtered through the people who often have the least reason to give us accurate information.

Backchannels matter - at the event and to your business. If you’ve failed to engage, you will know because the backchannel will boycott you and join another conversation.

We need to pay attention to humans - we need to make things available to customers. They are people in their normal lives, not consumers, targets, or impressions.

Silence has value - we talked about how silence has a sound and a place at Conversation Agent last year.

Purpose beats profit - craft a strategy by who and why and bake that in the DNA of your business.

Your company can be a platform for customers to remix - firms are one economic component. The others are networks and community.

Plastic beats specific - today the economy is made up of plastic things. Things that can be duplicated and remixed and tweaked and hacked into in many ways.

If relationships are liquid, flows beat assets. How do you harness the power of these new forces for your business? Ask ourself, is there a DNA build underneath these technologies? How does what you do provide an experience, how does it make your customers feel? That is the component that is game-changing, not the technology.

The other week, I attended KOOZA, an experience in intense storytelling by Cirque du Soleil. It was the shortest two and half hours I ever spent - that’s because I invested them. My return was a full immersion in the passion and joy of the actors and athletes who shared the product of their love for the art of movement and skill. Plus one insight.

The Juggler

Who could not identify with someone handling multiple items at the same time? Let’s do five, then seven, how about nine? The speed and agility were truly impressive, I think I did not hear a blink in the tent. Yet, the most impressive part of the performance was the smile on his lips.

He was not acting as the juggler, he *was* the juggler. An expression of radiance and an act of love. The rapid-fire movements only added charm and elegance to his performance. There were no boring repetitions, just grace and enchantment.

Can you?

Can you look at your products and services in the every day routine with the same kind of attention?

Can you deploy the same kind of concentration while under pressure to deliver?

Can you display the same level of passion about what you do?

Then you are a creator - of product, price, place, promotion; of experience.

There is Love in Creation

In marketing 2.0 experience is key. When you open the door to conversation, what comes through is your stance, the smile on your lips, the belief in your mind, the love in your heart. That is the passion that triggers participation, inspires empowerment and leads to purpose, the four Ps of new marketing.

How do you learn to love the stuff you market? In the same way you learn to embrace the marketplace for the stuff you’ve got: by letting your customers be part of the action. They call it 2.0 for a reason - you are the second, they are the first.

[The Juggler is at about minute 5:30 of this 7:36 minute video]

In the beginning of March, a panel convened at Kent State University, OH, after the primary, to discuss how technology is empowering individuals to participate in the 2008 election. As The Strategist reported, new media experts included Matt Dickman, VP of Digital Marketing at Fleishman-Hillard and author of Techno//Marketer.

The conversation revolved around the implications of Web 2.0 on the political process. While the potential to connect with citizens is much greater than it has ever been, much of it remains still unrealized. The same rings true for marketers. There is still a frank conversation we need to have about getting mixed up in thinking that the platforms and media is as far as it goes.

That is still not far enough.

The capability and capacity for two-way communications have still not gotten us to truly connect with constituents - our customers. Closer, yes, but the availability is not yet there to make it a conversation. For that to happen it needs to be:

Personal - one-to-one

How do you reach your customers at a personal level? Technology can help us see what is important to individuals. How can you talk to your customers about what is important to them? Let’s be honest, if you cannot tell that your customer just dropped $5k in your store - and what they bought - you have a lot of system work to do. Remember that people should drive systems, not the other way around. Put the rules in place to run the right queries. An extension of that in Web 2.0 language is to know what your customers are talking about. Digital is pretty permanent.

Spreadable - one-to-one-to-many

Most ideas spread not because of what you said, but because of what others, peers and members of the population, said in response to each other. Today, there’s a global transparency, an ability to see different perspectives from remote geographies, that we never thought possible in the past. With the abundance of information, no one person can hold in their brains all the facts, so your customers build off each other, through stories. Stories are inspired by great experiences, by affinity. What’s your story?

Spontaneous

Just like the flash mobs. They can gather in minutes to support an issue, and be strongly organized around that, to then disband and reform around another issue at the drop of a hat. What holds these spontaneous demonstrations together, the glue, is passion for a cause - the opportunity - and inspiration from peers - authorities who have “social” capital. Anything can happen, anything goes, and unless you are prepared to move fluidly with the crowd, you may be run over. Are you developing a sense of your core? Many organizations (and politicians) have been caught short with their messages and desire to control them. How fluid are you? How good you are on your feet depends on having your feet on, and ears to, the ground.
____________

With all this at play, why would political candidates spend time rebuffing each other, when they could invest that time talking with you? Can you think of a good reason why marketers would want to do the same? The best wins are those of heart and mind.

The best way to win both is involvement, engagement. Make it personal, spreadable, and spontaneous. More and more, people do choose to vote with their wallets.

I am waiting for the moment when the light bulb goes off: this blogger is my customer. That is PR 2.0, ladies and gentlemen. The sooner you realize that, the better your conversation gets. Instead of asking yourself: how can I send this pitch in a way that all these bloggers will publish it? Ask: how can I talk about my service and product to a potential customer?

Remember when we were talking about advertising that way not a year or so ago? Well, we may still be talking about it that way. You’ve got to stop treating your customers like they are morons - they are your (increasingly) daughter, too. If you think of it that way, wouldn’t your whole attitude towards the medium change?

So, now that you know that bloggers are your customers, what are the thoughtful steps you will take to open a dialogue with them?

1. First off, lose the attitude. They owe you nothing. Just because you are showing up announced in their email box, it does not mean they should even read your message. There are many messages just like yours piling in their in box.
2. Then figure out if who you are trying to reach is a match for what you’d want to say. It begins with listening, in this case reading. What is the author writing about? What if you find out that that blogger does not write about what you’ve got? Go out of your way to connect them with content they want, as a kind gesture. You may know where it is.
3. You do that and add a third step, depth. See, bloggers are proud about what they write, and they like to have a special angle for their readers. Have you got one to offer? It will probably not take you long to ascertain what the core interests of both readers and author. Look at the list of topics and see which ones have the most entries.
4. Do you want to score points? Continue a conversation they started at their blog. I know, I know, that would mean you’d actually want to pay attention to what they write about. This is not exactly the same as pitching main stream media. This means reading more closely, contributing to the conversation in a meaningful way to the blogger. He selects his content, not his editor.
5. Talk with them (not at them) as if they were your customer, chance are they may very well be. When you do that, keep it real. Be yourself, answer additional questions honestly, go out of your way to be helpful. Bloggers don’t mean to be difficult, they are generally busier than main stream media - in many cases, the blog is not their day job.

Has the light bulb gone off, yet?

I was looking over the posts on this blog and realized that we are asking a lot of questions. We’ve covered a great deal of ground in a short span. Some would say it wasn’t fast enough. After all The Cluetrain Manifesto was published in 1999 - well, it’s still very much news today.

Others tend to take the new ways for granted. Chances are that some of those others are your customers. Thanks in large part to the downsizing, right sizing and readjustments that are still going on in corporate America:

“Networked markets are beginning to self-organize faster than the companies that have traditionally served them. Thanks to the web, markets are becoming better informed, smarter, and more demanding of qualities missing from most business organizations.”

Thank you, Web. As marketers, many of us are starting to ask a series of good questions:

• Is the mobile Web dead?
• What is the role of corporate marketing in multi-brand environments?
• Can a community be successful with low brand awareness?

Does the answer to those questions matter to us as customers? I started challenging myself to answer this last question every day at work. What do you think?

“New media has created a new marketing environment where the old rules of marketing no longer apply.”

- Cindy Gordon, VP New Media and Marketing Partnerships, Universal Orlando Resorts

How are you different? How are you relevant? Who loves your brand? Answer these questions with confidence and you can harness the speed and efficiency of online tools to allow your fans to spread news of your product. The key idea is that other individuals, not you, are spreading the word.

In addition to having a product or service that is buzz-worthy, what are some of the ingredients you need to reach word-of-mouse status? According to David Meerman Scott in his recent ChangeThis manifesto - The New Rules of Viral Marketing: How Word of Mouse Spreads Your Ideas for Free:

Great Web content in the form of a video, blog entry, interactive tool, or e-book that provides valuable information (or information that is groundbreaking, or amazing, or hilarious, or involves a celebrity)

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a network of people to light the fire and links that make your content very easy to share

“‘Make Your Message Memorable.’ Simply put, you have little chance that something will go viral unless, like a disease, it can be spread easily mouth-to-mouth. For that to happen, your message has to be super tight and easy to transmit in as few words as possible. ‘1,000 songs in your pocket’ is the answer to ‘what is an iPod?’ Before that, the Macintosh was introduced as ‘The computer for the rest of us.’”

- Steve Chazin, author of Marketing Apple

Is word-of-mouse guaranteed? Not by a long shot says Meerman Scott, and I agree. If you think like a venture capitalist or film producer, you will have an easier time taking a lot of bite size content to market and see some of it take off. Some of the ideas shared in the eBook are:

• invite people from outside the organization to brainstorm with you - they will have less bias towards certain aspects of the execution and provide insights on how to make it more fun and different

• develop a host of ideas, instead of working on just one. There is a bell curve in everything, including content-driven marketing initiatives. If two out of ten work out, you will gain a lift from those two so care for them. Don’t persist in backing ideas that are not taking off.

• have no buts, please. Since you don’t know what will work, stop trying to guess or talk yourself out of not pursuing an idea. My favorite example in the manifesto is the IBM mockumentaries on page 20.

• be a storyteller - give yourself license to create a compelling, engaging story that entertains your audience. Try different things. I find that much of the problem with corporate white papers and brochures, aside from not being exciting to read, is that they are cookie cutter.

• try video - we are visual creatures. Three minutes of home made narrative that is light, clear in its simplicity, and playful can do more for your brand than the most expensive message. If it works out, it could become a series.

• tell everyone. For example, although the contributors to this blog are well known, this site is relatively young still. If you’ve found the content her useful, help spread the word.

Word-of-mouse or viral marketing is not about buying access. Meerman Scott concludes:

The best word-of-mouse efforts promote your organization and its products and services by delivering great online content (video, an e-book, a great blog post, an interesting photo or graphic) that is directly tied to your products, services, and ideas. Successful viral marketing campaigns sell your ideas in a creative way that people want to share with their friends, colleagues, and family members.

Chances are you know someone who reads product labels while eating, especially when eating alone. It’s natural to be curious about what you eat. I’ve seen people engrossed in that kind of reading. H.J. Heinz Company knows a thing or two about interacting with its customers through a label.

Although Heinz tomato ketchup has been around since 1875, it’s still a staple on the tables of your favorite diners and fast food places, and chances are in your refrigerator. In fact, the product is so well known, that it might running the risk of being taken for granted - part of the décor. Many of us are passionate consumers of the famed ketchup. You might not be surprised to learn that Heinz receives letters and emails from its customers.

Do you remember a while back the “Talking Label” campaign? How about the “Say something Ketchuppy” contest? I do, they were both fun initiatives that featured catchy phrases and quotes on the product’s most prized real estate - the labels. What better vehicle for a viral campaign than this already visible (and famous) space? If you’re like me, for some items, you pay attention to the label.

Heinz was at it again last year with a “Top This TV” online contest. They allowed customers to enter videos submissions of a TV ad - the winner would take a spot in the 2007 Emmy Awards. Linking the site to YouTube for submission was a good step to popularize the contest. And that it did.

The Winner

Who won the first prize? “Heinz the Kissable Ketchup” by Andrew Dodson of Wheelersburg, Ohio was aired during the Emmies and Andrew got to take home the $57,000 prize. Four runner-ups took each $5,700 each in prize money and got to brag about their spots being aired during The Today’s Show. That is 5 people selected from over 6,000 entries resulting in 10 million online views – about 120,000 hours of people interacting with the brand, according to Smith Brothers Advertising, the agency that worked on the campaign.

Heinz picked a smart time frame to run the contest – the Fourth of July week-end. Ready with your ketchup bottles?

The Results

Base volume growth was about 4% and according to Heinz North America, sales have gone up by 13% year-over-year after the campaign was over. The contest was so successful, that Heinz repeated it with “Take 2″ in December 2007.

Now, could you pass me the ketchup? Or maybe we should say could you pass it on?