A whitepaper my company put out last year states that CPG (Consumer Product Goods) product launches can increase buzz by leveraging media spend. That buzz is significantly multiplied by a variety of factors surrounding a product launch. And major public announcements can be amongst the biggest drivers. The above chart shows how Led Zeppelin’s announcement of a charity performance gig sparked major ancillary insights. These secondary branches off of original announcements provide valuable insights, via CGM (Consumer-Generated Media), into your current brand.
What can you mine about your brand from the chatter around the internet?
Is it possible to understand the collective feelings of the world? Maybe not the entire world but a interesting gauge of the internet’s mood is Blogpulse. I usually pull data on Monday to show some trends that are on my mind and see how they compare to the rest of the blogosphere.
Last week the standoff in South America involving Ecuador, Colombia and Venezuela was unfolding quickly and the blogosphere reacted just as quickly. Initially over Colombia’s encroachment into Ecuador to assassinate a rebel leader the situation escalated to involve Venezuela. Almost as quickly as it escalated, an accord was met and the situation was placated.
But what does this chart say about the mood of the connected?
Concern online briefly peaked on March 3 but has since been on a steady decline. However it has yet to reach its pre-standoff lows. This may signal that people have stood up and taken notice and the blogosphere is quick to react to sentiment as events unfold. Furthermore at its peak the story trumped Iraq coverage for a brief period and showed the truly global reach of the blogosphere.
The chart above displays differences in buzz between two global stories. The China-Tibet protest and the Sudan-Chad peace accord stories from this past week. The China-Tibet protest has experienced an dramatic surge over the last week as the Beijing Olympics approach and chatter reaches new heights.
The two charts above show that using a few online tools you can quickly get a high level look at global issues as they unfold. The collective voice does in fact mirror the global news voice.
Google Analytics version of Michigan…
And Google Maps Version…
Has anyone noticed the inconsistencies between Google Maps and Google Analytics version of the State of Michigan? I see that Google Maps which parses satellite data is a correct representation of the State whilst Analytics is a poorly outlined version. It looks like they came from different sources. Is Google not leveraging its internal resources to keep the brand consistent across departments? I am not sure what is at play here but it looks like Analytics has some room to improve.
Anyone else agree?
Project Runway had its big season finale last week. The three finalist were Christian Siriano, Jillian Lewis and Rami Kashou. It was great season full of excitement with extraordinary talent this year. Week in and week out, these folks put great clothes down the runway, so congratulations to them for all their hard work.
Now onto the buzz, I pulled two Blogpulse charts today to see if any themes surfaced in the data. The first chart queries the three finalists names. Nothing super exciting here, but we do see that the colorful Christian was the most talked about all season long and he had a huge spike for his winning designs. To quote Christian, he was “fierce” on the runway and also in the blogs.
The next chart shows some recent HBO shows compared with Project Runway. Its interesting to me for a couple reasons. First the season finale’s of each show seem to drive quite a bit of buzz represented in the major spikes on the chart.
The second reason is Project Runway and HBO’s runway hit Flight of the Conchords both shows that have amassed cult type followings in a very short period. One interesting fact, Flight of the Conchords buzz seems to be comparable to both The Wire and Project Runway even though it has not aired a new episode since early September of last year. (FYI - Flight of the Conchord’s season finale aired before this chart’s data)
What leads to the success of Flight of the Conchords and Project Runway in the engagement arena? In a time when strategist are stressing the benefits of social media and diversifying your marketing program, we see that both of these shows have integrated strategies encompassing social media and emerging trends. On the HBO site, you will find a vlog (video blog) and all sorts of social media features. Project Runway similarly has all the bells and whistles of a social media site with mobile fan clubs, widgets and many more interactive features.
Does all this social media drive active engagement in a television show? For now, it definitely seems to be working.
I have been a loyal Wachovia customer for 14 years now but lately I have been contemplating defecting to a new bank. Why? My defection has many reasons but mostly it has to do with my personal feelings toward their treatment of me. Personal banking should fulfill three needs for me at this point: convenience, low-fees and professionalism.
Let me explain how my dilemma evolved, I recently noticed that some online company has gotten my debit card number and fraudulently charged. I have complained to Wachovia numerous times and had the loss department open a case each time. They recommended a few fixes (which have all failed) including: ordering a new debit, contact said company (I could not find a listing to contact) and close my account and open a brand new one. I am currently on fix #4 and I am not hopeful that it will work.
Wachovia has failed me consistently on three of my personal needs over the last few months. Lets look at them separately:
Convenience – I am currently averaging about 16.00 a month in ATM withdrawals from other banks. The fact that Wachovia has not strategically placed their branches in Manhattan is the number one factor. Many of the branches seem to be located on the east side. In fact, on one stretch of Third Ave. you can find three Wachovia’s within a few blocks. But if you are on the West side you have to go for many blocks before you find one. Hence the high monthly fees in ATM withdrawals.
Low Fees – The free banking is nice but I have to compromise my convenience to enjoy it fully. They charge me infrequently for all sorts of things including charges I cannot normally explain. (Wachovia – I would love to know why I am randomly charged. Can you not just give me an itemization of the charges on my monthly balance?) It is deceptive practice to just throw some arbitrary number on my statement (arbitrary because It makes no sense to me).
Professionalism – I cannot complain about the local branch by my work. They do a tremendous job of helping me and trying to fix any errors. But the phone people are absolutely abhorrent. They are usually very unhelpful and place you on hold numerous times before asking you questions about your account that you have answered three times already. I am from Georgia but the accents on some of these phone people are scary and remind me of Deliverance. Can we get them some training on sounding like a bank?
Despite all this I continue to use Wachovia and have expanded my accounts to include the “way-to-save” account. Why? I have yet to find a bank that can satisfy my three personal needs. I guess we have to attempt to get as close to those as possible until some bank comes along and totally rewrites the rules. I am waiting.
I decided to follow-up last week’s sports buzz theme and pull a buzz chart on players about to enter the NFL draft. As my Dolphins mull what to do with their top draft pick, the buzz seems to suggest Darren McFadden is the man to select. He has major buzz surrounding three of his recent events. Furthermore, the only comparable buzz spike belongs to Glenn Dorsey when he won the National Championship with LSU. McFadden’s spikes are for the Heisman run, his team’s Cotton Bowl loss and finally his blazing combine performance.
Matt Ryan, the great Boston College quarterback, does not seem to command much online buzz but he could end up being the steal of the draft with his great skills and command of the football field. He has one small spike due to his three touchdown performance in his bowl game.
I also did a quick search to see who is doing some paid search advertising on these names. I found out that the only advertiser on Google is the NFL. They are doing a paid search ad on the combine performances of Ryan and McFadden. Additionally, Ebay seems to be advertising on the term “glenn dorsey.”
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