The ASA (Advertising Standards Authority) have been discussing extending the remit of the CAP code (UK Code of Non-Broadcast Advertising, Sales Promotion and Direct Marketing) for several months now, and this week the extent of the new digital coverage was announced.

Intended to prevent misleading marketing, ensure social responsibility and protect children, from next year the code will also apply online to:

• Advertisers’ own marketing communications on their own websites; and
• Marketing communications in other non-paid-for space under their control, such as social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

The new code goes on to clarify what this means for user generated content. UGC will fall under the code as ‘marketing communications’ if it qualifies for the following criteria:

• Did the website owner originally solicit the submission of UGC from private individuals, then adopt and incorporate it within their own marketing communications?
• Did a private individual provide the website owner, on an unsolicited basis, with material which the website owner subsequently adopted and incorporated within their own marketing communications?
• Does the content of the material and the form in which it is re-used by the marketer itself constitute an advertisement or marketing communication by the marketer?

The extension has been welcomed by the likes of the IAB (who have produced a useful set of FAQs on the extension) and DMA, and rightly so. The code is only there to prevent unethical activity and keep the distinction between marketing and consumer content clear, which is a principle at the very heart of word of mouth. As soon as peer to peer opinion gets ‘owned’, dictated or spun by brands, it loses the independent, trusted power that makes WOM such an effective force.

Here at 1000heads we provide people with opportunities to experience brands, which are inherently conversational - but we never dictate what consumers should say or censor that content. And we believe WOM should remain where it had most clout - out there on individuals’ own on and offline spaces, not editorialised on a branded silo. You can see our full ethics commitment here.

But what do you think? Do you believe this is just the start of increased regulatory control over UGC and social spaces? Will we see marketers held accountable soon or will it prove too tricky to enforce?

As President of WOMMA UK, with a close partnership with Reed Smith’s advertising compliance legal team ReACTS, and a member of the DMA Social Media Council, I’ll be keeping a close eye on how things develop, so let us know if you have any questions, suggestions or thoughts.

OK, it’s a rather simplistic soundbite, but I honestly believe that a poorly defined ambition to ‘be social’ is leading many companies to compromise the quality of their consumer experience in favour of a sort of fuzzy online matey-ness. They follow the practice of Comcast and Dell - creating a chatty Twitter feed and a down-to-earth blog - but ignore the spirit of what makes these touchpoints work: usefulness.

They’re not talk for talk’s sake. They’re friendly, and funny, and social, but their aim is not friendship or comedy or socialising, but a better consumer experience.

I coined my smug little soundbite in a conversation with the excellent Richard Gray, a strategy and change consultant for the likes of Nissan, RSA and Yell. We were brought together by Paul Squires of Imperica for his in conversation with… series, to talk about brand anthropomorphism, and it proved to be a really fruitful exploration of the potential and pitfalls of giving human characteristics to brands.

Check out the full transcript of our discussion and add your own thoughts.

Friendliness, sycophancy, usefulness, efficiency, empathy - what are your priorities for a brand and how do they intersect?

According to Mashable the recent Old Spice campaign (yes, we’ve all heard about it - Ed) has “set a standard marketing experts will admire and follow in the years to come”, the site also reports that Old Spice sales have since doubled. Very impressive indeed.

It has to be said, this was one hell of a campaign; well executed and very, very funny. However, I foresee a problem somewhere here…
In my opinion the Old Spice campaign is what I would describe as a sprint; a video that went viral plus a brilliant set of personal follow ups to create more conversation and positive word of mouth. The campaign ends, sales spike and awards roll in.

This has, of course, happened before. Let’s look at some other successful ’sprints’ -

First,  the Evian ‘Babies’ video-

Second, the classic John West ‘Bear Fight’ -

Both great examples and both with millions of views and great short term success.
But what’s the long term impact?

To my mind this is not the standard that marketing professionals should be aspiring to. Yes, we should be creating great content,  innovating and delivering great campaign focussed work like Old Spice, Evian and John West, but we need to look at the other aspects of social and WOM as well.

Considerations such as -

• Building long term relationships
• Successful outreach programmes (that provide a consistent baseline of valuable WOM, feedback and UGC from those who are interested in your brand and industry)
• Social presences that listen, deal with questions and concerns, get involved in the conversation and are human (not just pushing messages)

I mean: the hard yards, the marathons that create both business improvements and real advocates.

To give a good example, we all remember how great this was last year:

And the public reaction was great too:

But when I search for “t-mobile review”,  the first result I hit isn’t that promising -

– hmmm.

The thing is, the two types of efforts I’m talking about here (the marathons and the sprints), are completely intertwined. If you have a strong and well developed community outreach programme, great social presences and an RND team that listen and learn from that community then your “sprints” – the great viral videos – will have a much better chance of success.

What I’m really saying here is by all means LOVE the great campaigns and by all means, keep them coming. But don’t get blinded by trying to be the next Old Spice and in doing so, forget the awesome baseline programmes and activities that create long term social success.

Relationships for the win

Yesterday was the last day of my two week internship at 1000heads. I’ve learned quite a lot in a quick span of time, as they are probably one of the most organized creative studios I’ve ever worked with.

First impressions started off nicely as Michelle from HR let me know that I would be working with directly with the Creative Director, Robbie. On the first day, there was a schedule laid out for me and the earnest intention of ensuring that I would get the most of my time there.

From then on I picked up a client project with real potential for realization and suddenly my schedule was interspersed with meetings from people of various departments and briefings to get an inside look to their process. Having the opportunity to directly discuss with the Insights Analyst, WOM Evangelist, Community Executive, Relationships Manager, and Engagement Strategy Director, meant that not only was I able to gain insight into how word of mouth actually spreads and the logistics of how the research is carried out and collected, but also what to make of it, and how to develop a strategy around the big ideas!

(It was also great to pick up some good recommended reads!)

As I am currently studying my MA in Creative Practice for Narrative Environments at Central St. Martins, often we think big for our projects and assume this would lead to WOM, but how to make that into a reality I was able to get a better feel through working with 1000heads. I sincerely hope to continue working with them in the future!

Born and raised in Los Angeles, Pearl Sun is a graphic designer currently studying a Master of Arts in Creative Practice for Narrative Environments at Central Saint Martins. This course focuses on designing spaces that tell stories (i.e. museum exhibitions, theme parks, etc.). Prior to coming to London, Pearl was the International Art Director for Mattel where she directed the Barbie brand in Latin America and China for print & TV advertising, retail environments, and events. Her previous clients include E! Entertainment, NBC, Warner Bros., Whittmanhart Interactive Studio, and Sega GameWorks. She received her BA in Fine Arts with an emphasis in Design at the University of Southern California.

You can catch more blog posts from Pearl at http://pearlsundesigns.blogspot.com

Thanks Pearl, it was great having you on board.

You might also remember that we also promised posters to anyone who wanted one too…

Well, they’re here.

If you want one (and are yet to sign up) please go right ahead and leave a comment on this post and we’ll add your name to the list

1000heads is built on three core competences; understanding, ideas and relationships. Each one of those areas of expertise has a direct link to the different units within our business and, each one of those supports the other with their own unique work. Montoring to analysis, analysis to insights, insights to activation, etc etc…

You’ll see what we mean shortly

Onto the case study.

Through understanding (we miss our food!) we formulate ideas (let Sainsbury’s give it back to you!) that ultimately build relationships between people and brands (positive word of mouth + recommendation = sales).

If you’ve read this far, why not leave a comment?

Below is the rendering of a certain famous website in their own style. Can you guess what it is? Click through for the answer…

It’s a simple enough concept. The web without words. Just blocks. It makes you look at something you possibly look at every day from a different stand-point.  And that’s generally a good thing.

In this example, it might be more geeky fascination than anything wholly practical, but hey, at least I can easily now identify that this site has five images on the page. Probably not something that would stand out on the final design. And if I was looking for entrants for the world’s best website that specifically features only five images on the front page, I’d certainly be in a better place than I was this morning.

Day to day we look for different ways to approach projects, and it always helps to look at things from a different angle. In the same way it helps highlight the elements that didn’t seem obvious before. And that can lead to new things, interesting things, and even great things. And all you’ve got to do is wonder what would happen if, instead of waiting at bus-stops, people descended onto buses from the first floors of office buildings. Or why we don’t just go chew caramels instead of ‘grabbing a coffee’. Or how things would pan out, if politicians were just straight forward and honest.

Look at things differently, you never know where it will get you.

We also love puns (heck, I do anyway). Which is why I smiled a little when reading about WiTHiNTENT today.

They’re a new company who take the trampled wreckage of tents from festival sites nationwide and turn them into bags and jackets of a distinctly waterproof nature.

This is good for several reasons, and not least because it keeps the landfills just a little emptier. What perks my muffin (as they almost certainly say nowhere) however, is that the end product - your waterproof cape for example - becomes much more than a cape. It’s another chapter of a story.

It isn’t often that I have cause to reminisce about the history of my coat, but were I to find myself in just that situation this week I’d merely be able to weave a simple tale of grinning shop girls, plastic bags and wardrobes. I might have caught it in the doors of a Northern Line train once, but I couldn’t say for sure.

I want my coat to have history. I want to tell people it saw Hendrix when I never had the chance to. I want to surmise that it was used to store dundee cake in a snap storm, rather than keep someone’s socks dry. I’d even settle for it sheltering the conception of twins by a UK/Argentinian couple who would later name them Falkland and Malvinas because they were fun like that.

But this isn’t about tents. Or coats. It’s about giving products that little extra.

It might be a cute history, sure, but it doesn’t have to be.

Maybe there’s a personal touch to the steak you receive from your local butcher; ’selected by Dave’ you notice, branded on the fat.

Or maybe you find yourself at the start of a story, the cardboard packaging for your latest electronic gadget actively encourages you to turn it into compost and grow yourself a carbon-offsetting tree (and gives you the seeds to get cracking).

Or maybe you’ve simply bought a book with a really good story. It doesn’t have to be complex.

Go on, give it a story. It might just have a happy ending.

We really love them.

Sometimes, we just want to make you smile.  Have an awesome weekend folks -

.

PS. If you love Fridays too, tell your friends…

These are the guys responsible for the mass popularity of memes such as lolcats and Rickrolling; for gaming Google so that swastikas topped the Trends in July 2008; for spreading the erroneous news that Steve Jobs had suffered a heart attack in October 2008 and causing Apple stock prices to crash.

To many in business and beyond, 4chan exemplifies the terrifying side of word of mouth: a mob of socially savvy digital natives who are unrestrained, unedited and out to cause (sometimes very serious and expensive) mischief. As Gawker’s Nick Douglas”said of the community’s ‘random’ board, “/b/ has no rules… reading /b/ will melt your brain.” The Guardian called 4chan “lunatic, juvenile… at once brilliant, ridiculous and alarming”.

Christopher Poole aka moot, founder of 4chan, at TED (via redmaxwell @ flickr)

But it’s also, in some ways, the holy grail. As 4chan’s founder Christopher Poole says, it’s “pretty spectacular to see what they’ll do…companies would pay people for that ability.They would love to be able to have their new product show up in Google Trends.”

4chan’s breed of chaotic mass action, or hive mind, encourages participants to feel both independent, original and outspoken and part of a wider movement.

Their anonymity goes against everything that is supposed to be good in social media: openness, transparency, accountability, genuine relationships. Yet 4chan users have driven some of the strongest examples of successful on and offline spread.

They’re an extreme end of the spectrum, but the things that make them tick are worth examining.

Self-organisation rather than dictatorship. An ability to identify cultural memes before anyone else. Use of the latest platforms and tools. Humour. Daily immersion in dialogue and content sharing with like-minded others. Instant reactivity to news and events.  Wicked creativity.

I’m not saying that brands should look to 4chan to help boost their word of mouth; that’s asking for trouble. But this brilliant, unruly and disturbing subculture demonstrates some bare truths about how and why humans get behind a cause - truths which are worth thinking about for anyone interested in WOM.