Got some great inspiration from this post from a Gary V. keynote from the streets of NY. Check out Keynote Kid on Tumblr for a collection of his keynotes.
Ok, here’s the Quote of the Day that got me thinking:
“Who were the 5 biggest selling beers when radio was in existence? And who were the biggest selling beers in the first 5 years that television hit critical mass? Cause Pabst Blue Ribbon would definately redo some shit!”
Food for thought. And I agree. I just hasn’t happened yet. But Main St. is starting to see the impact especially in this recession. And its not about just opening a Twitter account. In fact, I think one of the mistakes (correct me if I’m wrong) of the way companies marketed themselves on MySpace was by going and friending thousands and thousands of people, and sending down Bulletins, and Event Invites that I didn’t care about. I know, at the end of the day, I don’t have to friend Tide Detergent, but if you’re a company that wants to play in the medium, you need to either interact on a personal level with your user base, or provide great information and content that I WANT.
That being said, I think if you’re a brand or product people are passionate about, use these tools (cause that’s all they are, tools) to create a community and reward the people that follow you on Twitter with content or offers that are exclusive. That ‘normal’ customers wouldn’t hear bout or can’t get anywhere else. I think you’ll get a lot of mileage out of that.
The companies that are able to provide that sense of community or that killer content will succeed. Look at Miller Beer. Traditionally, in the :30 SuperBowl ad world Budweiser has dominated. I look forward to their stuff every year. But this year, Miller is forgoing the long format ads and instead is doing a :01 ad (purchased through local markets as Bud has an exclusive agreement with the SuperBowl this year to be the only national alcohol advertiser). Is the reach potentially a lot less than Bud’s? Yes. But Google search Miller Beer Super Bowl, and you’ll be amazed at how many blogs are talking about it or linking to their site where you can see all 30 1-second ads. Its been to the top page of Digg, and I’d venture to guess that they’ve gotten more than $3 million of value from the online buzz than Bud will get with their traditional spots.
