Noise Blog

Social Media Gone Wrong

and how to make it right

January 17th, 2012 / Posted by: Vanessa

Social media breeds a sense of consumer-entitlement and takes “the customer is always right” to a whole new level.  By opening up channels of two-way communication, brands are no longer calling the shots, and therefore have to tread carefully when it comes to public engagement with their consumers online.  There have been several cases of “social media gone wrong” that social media marketers should heed as a warning in being too flippant with their social marketing strategies.

Timothy’s Coffee

Recently, Timothy’s Coffee offered their Facebook Fans free packs of instant coffee in exchange for their personal information.  This exchange of information for freebies is nothing new, but the Canadian company sparked a social media backlash after it underestimated how many people would sign up, and due to a “technical glitch”, accidentally sent an email to all of them saying the coffee was on its way.  When it became clear that Timothy’s wouldn’t be able to deliver on its promise, the company eventually offered their Fans a “great email offer” – a buy one get one free deal…better than nothing, right?  Wrong!  Consumers were furious they had sent out their personal information and would have to purchase a Timothy’s product before receiving their promised freebie.

timothys

ChapStick

where_do_lost_chapsticks_go_social_media

With ChapStick last fall, the brand posts a potentially provocative image on Facebook of a women leaning over a couch, with her bum in the air.  (She is looking for her ChapStick.) The tagline for the image is “Be heard at facebook.com/chapstick” which is kind of ironic as Chapstick deleted negative reactions and objections to their image, including the comments of a vocal, disgusted blogger.

The more comments they deleted, the more Fans wrote back, wondering why comments were obviously being deleted by the brand.  ChapStick got itself stuck in a social media death spiral, a vicious cycle where the more a brand tries to control its Fan’s opinion, the harder the Fans push back to make sure they are heard.

Nestle

Nestle_Killer

Similarly with Nestle in 2010, Greenpeace protesters got a hold of their page and manipulated the Kit Kat logo into “Killer”, referring to the company’s policy of buying palm oil and its apparent support of deforestation and threatening the Orangutan monkeys with extinction.  Greenpeace created a video (half a million views to date) which compared eating a Kit Kat bar to killing an Orangutan. Nestle moved to have the video removed, as well as removed comments where the user had changed their profile photo to one of the altered Nestle logo.

What happened next? You guessed it.  The more Nestle attempted to censor the activists, the more of them flocked to the Nestle Page and changed their profile photos to the offending, altered logo.

From the above examples, here are five lessons we’ve learned from these social media disasters and how to make it right:

  1. Don’t be flippant with your social marketing - take your social media strategy seriously – it’s a business strategy and should hold the same weight, (if not more), as other forms of company marketing.
  2. Plan ahead - before launching any social media promotion, plan carefully for multiple scenarios and do your forecasting research and planning.  What happens if your promotion exceeds expectations (like the Timothy’s giveaway did)?  What if your promotion generates a negative reaction (like Chapstick’s advertisement)?  Think of all what-if scenarios and how to best deal with them – it’s better to plan ahead than to be caught off guard.
  3. Be accountable - if you promise something, you are accountable to delivering on your promises.  And because social media is so public, your Fans are going to hold you accountable.  If Timothy’s had just given all their Fans the promised product (like they eventually ended up doing anyway), the entire ordeal would have been dealt with much more quietly.  Assume that your good intentions can go wrong and be prepared to deal with miscommunications.  It’s better to under promise and over deliver instead of the other way around.
  4. Listen to your Fans – after all, they are your customers (and potential customers), and they are the ones you are trying to win over.  So if your practises and values don’t align with theirs, be prepared to make changes or find a different audience.  After Nestle’s run-in with Greenpeace, eventually, Nestle announced their intention to use only sustainable Palm Oil by 2015.
  5. Take ownership of mistakes – in both online and offline marketing, people make mistakes.  Deleting comments won’t make the issue go away; it’ll only make it worse.  You’ll find more people asking why the comment was deleted and they won’t be satisfied until you give them an answer.  Instead of making excuses, take the blame, your Fans will appreciate the honesty.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) | 1 Comment »

Let’s Get Digital!

January 16th, 2012 / Posted by: Alene

OLIVIA 3It’s January. The holidays are officially over, and though we’ve entered a new year, I find I’m still carrying about five pounds of turkey weight from the old one.

To kick off 2012, I (like many others) want to commit to exercising regularly. Yet, I’m realizing that with a full time job, it’s hard to find the motivation to workout. When I leave work, all I really want to do is go home, lie on my couch and watch Extreme Couponing. So in looking for ways to get in shape, I recently discovered digital workouts. If you want to exercise but don’t want to leave your house, there’s a whole world of smartphone apps and online programs that can give you a great in-home workout.

Here’s a few that I really like:

FitnessClass for iPad – This program lets you search for and stream over 300 fitness videos ranging from Kickboxing, to Yoga. With such a wide variety of classes, you can keep changing it up, and try a new one every day.

iWorkout Muse for iPhone, iPod touch, iPad – What’s cool about this app is that it lets you create a custom interval training workout guided by your favourite music. You just set your work and rest periods, your desired workout length, and choose the songs you want to jam to – your music will automate the workout, and tell you exactly what to do.

Runmeter GPS for iPhone, iPod touch, iPad – Should you decide to venture out for some fresh air, my favorite part of this app is that it records your workout results (running time, distance, speed) and routes, so you can not only compete against your previous runs, you can also import and race against other people’s workouts while the app announces if you are leading or trailing behind your virtual competitor.

If the ability to exercise in your pj’s isn’t motivation enough to try these digital workouts, you can always resort to what I like to call Social Humiliation Motivation. The above programs all contain social media components that allow you to post your fitness results for all to see. Thus, if you tell yourself that no matter what the outcome, you are going to post your progress on Facebook, you can be sure that you will run a little longer or do a couple more sit ups. To really up the ante, you can even challenge your friends to a digital workout and then post your results to reveal the winner.

Instead of sucking in your holiday gut, suck it up and give these digital workouts a try. As difficult as it may be, we should all try to incorporate physical activity into our everyday lives because (here’s where I get all Deepak Chopra on you) exercise is not just good for your body, it revitalizes your mind, and adds to your overall well-being. Whether you decide to jog, lift weights, do Pilates or Jazzercise, may your 2012 be a year filled with health, happiness, and BUNS OF STEEL!

Tags: , ,
Posted in Sports & Fitness | 1 Comment »

Marketing to Nations

(Not States)

December 14th, 2011 / Posted by: brett

Marketing to Nations (Not States)

Real_Map_of_North_America

A state is a political body.

A nation is an ethno-cultural group of people who share common values/traits. In marketing speak; nations are analogous to segmentation of a population into groups.

Up until now, most brands have overlooked nations and focused too much on states. I’d argue that it’s time to start conducting research and writing strategies for the real nations that make up North America.

State-centric thinking is a problem for two reasons:

  1. Cultures and values cross state borders.
  2. What it means to be ‘Canadian’ or ‘American’ depends on which ethno-cultural group you ask.

We are missing key insights by conducting consumer segmentation studies on a country basis instead of a North American basis. Additionally, we are wasting a lot of money by thinking ‘What’s our strategy for Canada’ instead of ‘What’s our strategy for the libertarian cultures that make up the western interior states and provinces of North America’ or ‘How are we connecting with folks in the Cascadian region’.

Author Colin Woodard tries to describe the nations that make up North America in his book American Nations:  A History of the Eleven Rival Regional Cultures of North America. Although there are limitations to his very thorough analysis of reams of historical and attitudinal data, it is an eye-opening look at North America from a  historical and strategic perspective.

Of course, all this is not to say states don’t matter. Canada and the United States have different laws that must be followed (as do the states and provinces within those countries) and state-based narratives and values are still important considerations.

Key Takeaway:

There is more to regionalizing your marketing communications than replacing baseball with hockey in your T.V. spot then calling it a day. It’s time to deep dive into the nations that make up your consumer base and craft strategies that are built off a true understanding of North America.  You may be surprised at what your flag-waving mind has over-looked for all of these years.

Tags: , , , ,
Posted in General | Add Your Comments! »

Looking Fanstachetic

November 29th, 2011 / Posted by: david

Team Make Mo Noise - Movember

It’s Movember (the month formally known as November), and we the members of team “Make Mo Noise” decided to risk our dignity and grow some stellar moustaches.

Why? To be part of the global Movember movement that aims to raise awareness and funds to find a cure for prostate cancer.

Our team consists of seven amateur mo-growing men, and two very supportive ladies who are giving it all they have. We began the first day of Movember clean-shaven, and dedicated ourselves to growing the best 4-week Mo ever. Now that the end of the month is near, we finally feel our Mo’s are thick enough to show the world. Luckily, most of us have managed to grow much more than just baby fluff. The semi-successful members of our team (left to right) are Mark, Kenny, Dave, Carolyn, David, Vanessa, Maarten, Peter and Kodi.

If you’re interested in contributing to team “Make Mo Noise” and this great cause, donations will still be accepted up until, and even after Movember has come to an end.

Make your donations here: http://mobro.co/makemonoise

*UPDATE*
Thanks to many generous donors, team “Make Mo Noise” has raised over $1,300 to support the number one male cancer, prostate cancer.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in charity, noise | Add Your Comments! »

Mo-Tech 1.0

November 28th, 2011 / Posted by: kenny

Straight from the Noise technical department; this is the first entry of a multi-part series of web development and quality assurance blogs. These blogs will cover applied techniques, best practices and tools from a practical and production standpoint.

What’s this all about?

We want to make mo NOISE (En-dash goes here) tech style. Our aim is to reach out by means of creating informational resources delivered to you through Noise blog. We welcome you to pick our brains and request our opinions on new web tech, best practices and stuff you can or can’t do.

On occasion we will use deployed Noise projects to showcase intuitive, trending and engaging web technologies. Every project showcased is developed by the established developers at Noise Digital.

Who we are

The technical department is an integral cog in the production of digital interfaces. We live and breathe the web, get a kick out of Google’s barrel roll, recycle, wear giant headphones and we got Mo’s.

Anyways, let’s start off with the first entry.

Entry #1 – Quality Assurance: Cross Browser Compatibility

Front end web developers are obligated to ensure the presentation layer of their assignments is structurally coded to meet client requirements. The presentation layer is the first thing the user sees when they visit a website. Not only is it the beginning of their user experience, but the business’ first impression.

According to W3schools web statistics and trends, the most popular browsers are Internet Explorer, Firefox, Chrome, Safari and Opera. This information is vital as the web browser is the interface between businesses and potential consumers.

Clients aware of browser statistics expect final deliverables to render correctly across all web enabled platforms. As companies race to roll out new mobile consumer products and web browser updates, production and cross browser QA workload will continue to increase to meet client expectation. In some cases the QA testing phase will take more time than developing a prototype.

browse_stats_2011

Progressive Cross Browser Compatibility

deskIn an ideal world, every web browser would render code the same way. Gecko (Firefox) and Webkit (Safari & Chrome) browser engines make up 75.2% of the user market share. Webkit and Gecko have similar CSS box models and developing for either platform will usually translate into similar rendering outcomes.

On the other hand, Trident (Internet Explorer) holds 21.7% of the user market share. It renders using a different box model which developers have to compensate for with cross browser techniques to meet client expectations. Since Trident holds a significant percentage of users, developers can’t turn a blind eye on this browser engine.

Fortunately there are many approaches like conditional code to combat box model inconsistencies and Doctype declarations to force trident to render in standards mode.

Here are some techniques and tools we use to QA; all of which will be covered in much further detail in future entries.

  • Standard Compliant Code
  • HTML/CSS Validation
  • CSS Linter
  • Conditional Code
  • CSS Resets
  • Cache Clearing
  • Code a little, test a little
  • Plugins – Firebug, Web Developer, Pixel Perfect.
  • Synergy
  • Parallels
  • Charles
  • Mobile Emulators

Until everyone gets on the same page, innovation will have to be held back because of some stragglers (IE6-8 & IE 9 Mobile) and web developers will continue to cope with browser inconsistencies.

We hope you enjoyed this first entry and look forward to future segments. Until next time “Remember to clear your cache”

Tags: , , , , ,
Posted in technology | Add Your Comments! »

Pecha Kucha vol. 19: Food Culture

November 25th, 2011 / Posted by: carolyn

Screen shot 2011-11-25 at 10.15.15 AM

Last night I attended my first Pecha Kucha event. Having heard great things from friends I was excited to go and within the first few speakers I quickly realized how this show has managed to sell out all 19 events since they first started in Vancouver in 2008.

For those of you unfamiliar with the event, here’s a quick update: Pecha Kucha* began 8 years ago in Japan as a place for young designers to share and exchange ideas in a quick presentation format. The words Pecha Kucha actually mean “chit chat”, a good description for the event  based on the idea of 20×20 talks – 20 slides shown for 20 seconds each.

Since 2003, the event has grown widely in popularity now spanning across 454 cities in the world. Last night’s edition in Vancouver saw a packed house at the Vogue theatre and the topic of conversation for the night was food culture. Not knowing what to expect I tired to go in with an open mind but all that I could imagine was people standing behind a TV show setup of a fake kitchen, cooking for us on stage PNE exhibition style. What actually happened was far from it.

The night began with a short performance by up and coming band “We Are the City” and quickly launched into a series of 12 speakers representing a wide range of current talent in the food industry. Common themes among all the presentations were passion, community, people, and most of all, the word “local”. From Terry David Mulligan and Adam Chandler from BETA5 to Sophie Dikeakos from Sophies Cosmic Cafe, all the speakers had something to say about the value of knowing where your food comes from, supporting local farms, and doing what you love.

IMG_3281

Jeannette Ordas creator of "Everybody Loves Sandwiches"

The most inspirational part of the event was hearing individual stories that all seemed to come from a common place – entrepreneurs who wanted to do something they were truly passionate about, excelling in those things, and finding a way to share their talent with others. One of my favorite speakers from the night was Jeannette Ordas owner of the blog Everybody Like Sandwiches (do not be fooled, this blog is not just about sandwiches!). She shared about how food can often capture memories in the form of textures, smells and tastes and put into words how I’ve always felt about the only dessert my mom knew how to make : “In some ways, our taste buds hold on more of the sweetness than our minds do.” I thought it was beautiful way to explain how food is such an integral part of our lives that we cannot ever separate ourselves from.

Last but not least, a matra I found inspiring from David Robertson owner of the Dirty Apron Cooking School: “Find your passion, follow your heart, and fuel passionately”. If I could, I would write about all of the speakers from last night but for the time being, you’ll have to take my word for it – if you get a chance to attend Pecha Kucha, food themed or not, you will not regret it. If you don’t will walk out of there with an inspired energy at the very least, I’m confident you will leave with the comfort of a few stories that make you feel a bit more connected to our world.

Tags: , , ,
Posted in Beverage, Events/Conferences, Restaurant/QSR, Uncategorized | Add Your Comments! »

R U Rdy 4 RDIO?

November 16th, 2011 / Posted by: Vanessa

RDIO (pronounced Ar-Dee-O) is a music subscription service that has been getting a lot of attention in Canada in recent months. Since Canadians are accustomed to not having access to the same services as their neighbours to the south (think Netflix, Pandora, etc.), the fact that Rdio offers anytime, anywhere access to over 10 million tracks may come as a surprise.  With the increased use of mobile technology, consumers are shifting from the traditional music model (CDs, downloading MP3s to one device, etc.) towards anytime, anywhere access to their music.

rdio_screenshot_adele2

Started by the founders of Skype, Rdio is built with the notion of “social” in mind: users can share songs, albums, and playlists with friends via Facebook and Twitter. They can discover new music and old favourites, and follow friends, people with similar musical tastes, recording artists, and other influencers to see what they are listening to and even collaborate on playlists.  In September, Rdio became one of the first on-demand music services to integrate with Facebook’s much anticipated platform expansion into music. With Rdio on Facebook users can instantly share music and display tracks played on Rdio in their News Feed and Live Stream. Rdio also launched an unlimited family plan in the summer – a discounted plan for multiple users in the same household. I had a 30-day trial for Rdio and I was only able to explore a fraction of its offerings.

The interface is fairly clean-cut and user-friendly as well.  Within your own collection, you can sort your songs by Artists, Albums and Songs.  Visual bubbles are sorted in different sized groups according to the percent of your collection that group takes up.  Within each album on Rdio, you can see how many times the album has been played.  You can even dig deeper for additional information on each track – how many times a song has been played and reviewed, how many playlists the track is in, and how many unique listeners have listened to the song.  Users can leave comments and reviews under each album.

rdio_collection_bubbles

Overall, Rdio is like a music buffet. All you can listen for $10/month.   The more music you are interested in consuming, the more open-minded you are towards finding music similar to your taste, the move involved you are with giving your feedback and opinion on artists and albums, the more suitable Rdio is for you.  R u rdy 4 Rdio?

Posted in Music | Add Your Comments! »

The Holiday Checkout

November 3rd, 2011 / Posted by: Katherine

holiday_ecommerce

I would rather stick needles in my eyes than go to a retail location other than a convenience store anytime between November and Dec 27th. I often wish I could gift my near and dear with Pringles and US Weeklies. Unfortunately my near and dear aren’t familiar with ‘it’s the thought that counts’ so I execute Plan B; online shopping. My computer is my best pal. This year it’s my iPad. I’m an online shopper through and through, but during the holidays…I just don’t see the point in doing it any other way. I don’t have to try anything on, match it to my drapes, or measure if it takes up too much space.

As a consumer over the holidays I think (surf gift giving lists for ideas), hunt (cruise my options, read reviews) and buy (who’s got what I need?!). This has been my holiday strategy for years, except I’ve never been able to achieve my ultimate goal of buying EVERYTHING online. Inevitably, some retailers let me down. And while I sit on hold after I’ve placed my call (naturally I would never go as far as to actually take a trip to a store without having some surety said item was in stock) I’m seething thinking… why would they not have a site set up for eCommerce!!! I can tell you this much, if someone else sells something comparable and they sell it online; they’re getting my money.

A new report by digital strategy firm Acquity Group indicates that 37% of retailers now have mobile sites — up from 12% last year and 4% in 2009. So there’s hope. I’ll be smiling smugly while people retell me their mall nightmares this year I just know it.

What I really, really want from Santa myself this year, is to be able to execute my retail dreams lying on my couch while I watch Iron Chef. Please, please make it work on my iPad. Which businesses are in the top 10 when it comes to m-commerce, according to Acquity? Amazon, Armani Exchange, Barnes & Noble, Buy.com, Cabela’s, Gilt Groupe, The Home Depot, Newegg, Walgreens, and Wal-Mart. The ranking is based on various factors including having a mobile site, rendering a home page correctly, offering a checkout/booking capability, and having an app.

Loved ones in my circle; Guess where your prezzies are coming from this year? Sorry Moms, looks like Birks isn’t set up :) .

Tags: , ,
Posted in Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) | Add Your Comments! »

CSR and the Holiday Season

November 3rd, 2011 / Posted by: Kelsey

Quebec Christmas

I love Christmas and the Holidays. It brightens the cold, dull, and grey winter months with beautiful warm lights and colors. Best of all, you can take a break and relax with friends and family and get involved with the festivities of your community.

No matter what you situation is, it is a great time of year to feel good about yourself and the company you work for.  The Holidays are a time of giving whether it’s to your own family or a family in need.

Many companies take this opportunity to increase their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives during the Holidays. Companies feel the need to help out in the communities they do business in. Instead of just writing a cheque many companies incorporate their employees into their CSR initiatives. This is important because it increases employee morale and creates a stronger culture.

To include employees in CSR initiatives companies ask for employee participation in charity work such as food drives and donations of gifts for the less fortunate. Some go as far as forgoing Christmas cards, corporate gifts and Holiday office functions and instead get employees to vote on a cause worthy charity to give donations to.

For example, Nokia Helping Hands is Nokia’s global employee volunteering program that has a holiday campaign called Christmas Tree. Employees bring in presents to donate to disadvantaged children and put them under Nokia’s Christmas tree.

I can’t wait to see the creative ideas that companies have come up with for their own CSR this year. What are you doing to give back to the community you live in this Holiday Season?

Posted in charity | 1 Comment »

Tapping into NFC’s

October 20th, 2011 / Posted by: carolyn

A few weeks ago, the launch of Google Wallet in the US brought focus to a not-so new technology referred to as Near Field Communication (NFC). NFC is a wireless technology similar to Bluetooth or WiFi where you can transmit data wirelessly using short-range wireless connectivity. This enables convenient, short-range communication between electronic devices, like mobile phones.

What’s really great about NFC is the speed at which information can be consumed with just a simple tap. It’s compelling for users because many of those familiar barriers that may discourage following through to the content just don’t exist. No passwords required, no need to line up your phone to the code to make sure it reads, no need to download an application.  Like magic, “things just work”, and they work, fast.

In a world of where instant gratification is expected at almost every touch point what more could we ask?

Here is a list of how some companies that have already incorporated NFC into the development of their products who are currently taking the lead on this exciting technology:

Image TRANSFERS ON THE NOKIA 600 and 700 “tap phones together”

NFC Smart Posters – Integration with traditional offline media

Another interesting function is NFC tags. These tags can be printed onto posters, made into stickers or used as a tag in its true form and then attached to almost any offline property. As long as a piece of technology that has NFC is used with that tag, basic content can be exchanged between the user and the touch point.

And here’s a few more examples:

With the ability to not only mange but create content in a quick and easy way the possibilities are endless…

Tags: , ,
Posted in technology | Add Your Comments! »

« Older Entries