Propagation Planning

Involver Audience Management dashboard for brands

I was really encouraged to read about Involver Audience Management System (AMP) in Mashable today. The system looks like an excellent dashboard that can monitor and manage multiple channels and platforms around a clients brand. 

I also liked how Mashable included some other companies who are playing in this space. See below:

Over the last eight or nine months, we’ve seen a lot of uptake in more enterprise level tools at social media management. This is because social media is becoming a more legitimate and, in many cases, important part of brand awareness campaigns.

Seeing higher level tools like AMP, as well as systems from companies like SocialTALK, Vitrue and Objective Marketer can help push the entire industry forward.

Tools like this help Propagation Planning become a stronger discipline in agencies. This also helps drive the transformation from brand management to community management around brands.

Promoted Tweets Explained in 140 Seconds [Video]

Audi's Commitment to Sonic Branding [Video]

This is a great video via SilentDog

Google TV and Television Measurement

Yesterday I had a great conversation with some people over at Google TV. They were able to show me a chart with a BBH produced commercial running on the Google TV platform and exactly what second they changed the station, leaving the narrative of the commercial. This line was compared to norms for all Google TV commercials and all Google TV commercials that ran on the same networks that my client had purchased.

It was pretty cool!

I'm really looking forward to Google TV and how it will give us the data that we have always wanted when measuring television performance. I can't wait to see when people watch commercials and then from their television sets quickly share their thoughts about an ad with their social network making propagation (good or bad) faster. Here is a video explaining the basics of Google TV:

Google Chrome Speed Test Video Results

About a week ago I asked if launching a 'behind the scenes' video before the actual creative assets would be a successful technique in a propagation planning campaign?

Here are the results after 9 days in field (note some of 'this week' awards may have been from the previous week):

#7 Most viewed YouTube video this week
#69 Most viewed YouTube video this month 
#7 Most favorited YouTube video this week
#45 Most favorited YouTube video this month
#94 Most discussed YouTube video this month 

As of now 1,692,370 views! Good work from Google and BBH New York:

Can you use a 'Behind the Scene' video to start the Campaign?

BBH and Google decided to use the 'behind the scenes' video at the beginning of the campaign instead of posting the video at the end of the campaign. Media companies like HBO have used this technique for years with segments like 'HBO Buzz,' which share 'behind the scenes' footage of the new season but this timeline is rarely used by non-media brands.

'Behind the scene' videos have been used by many agencies to extend the story of the advertisement for those that might want to know what it took to pull something like that off. These videos are typically posted online well after the paid media has run its course, but rarely are they posted to earn media prior to the start of paid media.

This week a variety of videos will be released that demonstrate the speed of Google Chrome. The Google Chrome Blog has shared the data which validates the speed claims. The Blog has been a useful tool for sharing new information with the Google Chrome advocates, who get an exclusive first look at the videos to come through a 'behind the scenes' narrative. 

Revised Propagation Planning Brief

 I want to thank everyone that submitted feedback to the Draft Propagation Planning brief. 

In particular I want to thank Mark Lewis, Amadeo Plaza, Anjali Ramachandran, Kenji Summers and Jessica Brookes for providing their feedback because it reshaped the brief. I recommend that people take what they want or need from this brief but these are some questions that might help to inspire your Social Media efforts.

What are the campaign goals and/or communication tasks?

This is a very clear outline of communication tasks. This could include CRM, conversions, sales goals, awareness or good will for the brand/product.

 

What is remarkable about the Brand, Product or Service?

This area helps us ground the propagation campaign back in the product. Think about the Johnnie Walker, the Man who Walked around the World video when answering this question.

 

Who is the target audience?

Is there an audience that the client needs to reach to meet their business objectives? What is the action that this audience needs to act on to reach these objectives? Think of this audience as your aspirational audience.

 

Is there another group of people that has more persuasion over the target audience?

This group of people might be more likely to engage with the creative assets or act on the creative to influence the real target audience. Think about Great Schlep, Coraline or Oasis campaigns when answering this. Think of this audience as your inspirational audience.

 

How does the creative foster a social experience?

Is the creative designed to entertain, act as a branded utility, to challenge, to spawn user generated content, etc. Think about challenges like Nike Grid, experiences like Doritos Hotel 626 or the seed paper in the Haagen-Dazs Help the Honey Bees campaigns when answering this question.

 

Why would someone want to pass something like this to others?

This is an area to talk about social theories (i.e. custom or personalized, gift economy, peer production, random acts of kindness, pay it forward, etc) into why this creative might be shared and passed along among friends. Think about campaigns like Elf Yourself, Radio Head, NIN or Earth Hour when answering this.

 

What are the existing creative assets (if any)?

List the creative assets that already exist. This gives the creative a chance to use these assets in new ways? Ask yourself if new things need to be created to help extend the narrative. Think about the True Blood campaign when the agencies created a pre-story to existing assets when answering this.

 

How long do we have before the paid media begins?

This is a timing question that reminds us how to use Owned, Earned and Paid media appropriately.

 

What are the benchmarks and metrics will we be following?

This helps the creative team know if there are platforms that the client feels are most important to measure success (Acquisitions, Facebook or Twitter followers, video views, etc.). If the client doesn’t have specific metrics list the ones that you will follow including impressions, reach, interaction and most importantly sentiment.

LTD and Propagation Planning

 This week "Hawaii" Mike Salman, founder of LTD Magazine and LTD+ came into the office to talk about creating real world events here in New York that start the propagation process. What I loved about Mike was the fact that he took time to understand propagation planning before coming in and he presented a solution that worked inside the current model. 

I was also impressed with the LTD mission to drive culture instead of just 'riding the wave' of culture, which many people do in the trend forecasting space. Mike came to the meeting with a number of impressive case studies that he has done for other brands.

If your propagation planning requires a real life event I suggest reaching out to Hawaii Mike. 

A Draft Propagation Planning Brief

After reading the comments on a Propagation Planning post found on Made By Many I thought it might be good to sit down and think about a brief that propagation planners can use to begin their thought process. Briefs are helpful in reminding us what questions need to be asked but they must also be flexible to include new questions if it helps the creative process.

Here is the brief that I came up with. I'm hoping that you will challenge these questions or the flow so together we might move beyond the 'draft' stage and into the agreed upon brief.

Propagation Brief (Draft)

Who is the target audience?

The audience that the client needs to reach to meet their business objectives. Is there a certain action that this audience needs to act on to reach these goals.

Is their another group of people that has more persuasion over the target audience?

This group of people might be more likely to engage with the creative assets or act on the creative to influence the real target audience.

 How do these two audiences communicate with each other?

This should focus on communication vehicles. Could include things like in person, phone, email, web chat, Facebook, Twitter, World or Warcraft, etc.

 What are the creative assets?

List the creative assets that exist and ask yourself if new things need to be made to help communicate the role of the assets. For example, a YouTube video that demonstrates how to use the asset. Perhaps you need to think about a pre-story to the real story that you want to tell.

 How does the creative foster a social experience?

Is the creative designed to entertain, act as a branded utility, to challenge, to spawn user generated content, etc.

 How long does the earned media have to build before the paid media begins?

This is a timing question that reminds us to use Owned, Earned and Paid media appropriately.

 What metrics will we be following?

Sometimes it is hard to set goals when using word of mouth campaigns and different platforms have different metrics. The key here is to describe which things you will be following to report on.

 

Brand Mantras for Propagation Planning

Good creative briefs can do a great job of inspiring advertising but recently I have discovered that they don't do a great job of grounding social media actions. I think Brand Mantras do a much better job of this because they describe an emotion, a theme, a writing style that can be used as the guide for the voice of the brand in social media. 

One of my favorite Brand Mantras was a poem that Mother wrote for the 24 Hour News network CNN. The poem was used as marketing in a print ad and it is the best description of what CNN should live up to each day.

The poem reads like this:

There is a moment, a simple moment, before history gets recorded. 

Before it goes in the books. 

Before it appears as a question on a game show.

Or on a midterm exam.

A moment right before the headline is written.

There is a moment when history lives in the present.

When we can watch it unfold in real time, right before our eyes.

And we can all assume our place in it.

Some people live for history.

We live for the moment just before.

(Here is the print ad. Click to enlarge the photo.)