Viral Video. Selective Tweets. Consumer Reviews. How a Few Corporate Marketers Are Getting a Leg up Online

PATTERNS Design insights emerging and converging

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Suzanne Gibbs Howard Rachel Switzky Jody Turner Meija Jacobs

Viral video. Selective tweets. Consumer reviews. How a few corporate marketers are getting a leg up online.

Social networks can breathe new life into old brands by conversation. Rather than strip a brand of its valuable enabling companies to build collaborative relationships identity, relinquishing control of messaging to the with consumers like never before. But what’s a corporate masses can have a rejuvenating effect. giant to do when no one wants to follow it on Twitter or be its friend on Facebook? Here’s how a few established companies, from Ford to CBS, have used new media to their advantage. Many firms struggle to answer that question. Yet turning even mundane products like toothpaste or tampons into talking points doesn’t have to be difficult. The trick, a few innovators have found, is to let consumers lead the

TAKE ACTION Designing for social media 1. 2. 3. 4. Go where the Let individuals Have a legitimate Be real. people are. take center stage. purpose. Relationships are two-way. You must listen and respond to people— Don’t try to build a community Focus on people over brand or Anchor your brand to your core and acknowledge the good, the bad, out of thin air. Tap in to existing offerings. Empower both your values and character, while allowing and the ugly. Don’t just celebrate communities, compliment, and employees and the public to speak it to be multidimensional and your successes. Embrace failures and contribute. If you are not a customer their minds, without dictating how. dynamic. Connect to causes and resolve them in public. magnet, identify nodes in the phenomena that truly resonate with network where people are—and your organization and its culture. draw them toward you. THE EVIDENCE Stories from around the globe

ideas that “save something, create something, or change something” TV Network’s at Refresheverything.com. Grant seekers leverage their networks on Turnaround Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and MySpace to spread the word and A few years ago, CBS was known as encourage participation. a “silver network”—one with old, boring shows. In the cherished Created by GOOD Projects, Thursday night block, CBS was PepsiCo, and TBWA/Chiat/Day, the losing ratings to NBC. In 2007, CBS project gave $20 million in grants tried to gain ground by introducing in 2010. After six months in service, The Big Bang Theory, a sitcom about 39 million votes had been cast computer geeks directed at younger online. PepsiCo expects to receive viewers. But the network still needed another 70 million by early 2011. Ford ‘Earned to get 20-somethings’ to watch it. Viral Video Genevieve first noticed the show in Cred’ Online 2008 at the pop-culture conference Rejuvenates Detroit automakers didn’t top Comic-Con. “I started following the anyone’s “favorite brand” list during producer Bill Prady and some of the Old Brand the recession. Of the Big Three, actors from the show on Twitter,” With Wieden + Kennedy in 2006, Ford has done the best job at using she says. “Prady’s feed gave us an Procter & Gamble reinvigorated the social media to regain ground with insider’s view … he’d show [things Old Spice brand by putting more consumers. Since 1981, the carmaker like] the inside of the characters’ emphasis on innovation through has garnered respect in Europe with fridge. He’d even crowd-source old marketing strategy than product its Fiesta line and wanted to bring computer props for the show.” Prady development. By tethering the brand the brand’s reputation back to North & Co. pinpointed their target audi- to its “manly man” equity, P&G made America when it reintroduced the ence and built on fans’ passions. Old Spice relevant to a new genera- model there in 2010. In 2010 at Comic-Con, The Big Bang tion. Nothing demonstrates this bet- Ford gave 100 indie “agents” a free Theory cast and crew took over an ter than 2010’s real-time social media Fiesta for publicly “lifecasting” auditorium. The show rose from a Retailer Skips blitz. The Old Spice team posted 186 their experiences with the car. Neilsen rating of 59 in 2008 to 12 in personal video responses to queries Recipients included bloggers, 2010. CBS now aims to win Thursday the Script from fans featuring ex-football player filmmakers, and social networkers night by creating a comedy block Only 8 percent of CEOs are active Isaiah Mustafa in nothing more than who were already documenting and anchored by The Big Bang Theory. on Twitter. Brian Dunn, CEO of a towel holding an Old Spice Body sharing their lives. Their stories Best Buy, is one of them. Dunn, Wash (http://bit.ly/gDkVOq). built an authentic and compelling who’s been tweeting since 2008, sees The live production process made narrative, published online at social media as core to Best Buy’s marketing history. Even more FiestaMovement.com. strategy: “When people buy a device, impressive was the seeding strat- they often ‘crowdsource’ advice… Alexis Morrell drove her Fiesta egy: Days before the blitz, Mustafa [something we’re] best positioned to across the country twice in six recorded messages to influencers, give consumers.” months. “It changed my mind about including a “get well” video for Ford cars,” she says. Meanwhile, Best Buy has long held an “open Digg founder Kevin Rose who was a huge plus for Craig Benzine was social strategy.” The retailer took home sick. Engaging with those that Ford didn’t lead the discussion. it public in 2009 with the launch who influence the technorati set the “They made sure we could do or say of Twelpforce, a Twitter program stage for success when the videos hit what we wanted about the car, even in which employees offer advice to You Tube. By treating social media if we hated it.” people who tweet questions about as a place to have a conversation electronics. With nearly 3,000 active with fans, P&G saw Body Wash For $5 million, Ford achieved with employees tweeting, Best Buy is sales climb 107 percent (versus the social media what has traditionally A Refreshing realizing its vision of becoming prior year), got tens of thousands of cost auto marketers millions. Fiesta more than an electronics chain. people to post questions, and made had 60 percent name recognition Approach The company sees a future where Old Spice the top-viewed branded before it hit US lots. Jim Farley, VP channel on YouTube ever. The Pepsi Refresh Project is less customers rely on Best Buy as a of global marketing, said: “I want about beverages and more about trusted source with a “human search customers to tell our story. That’s ideas. It uses social media to shift engine.” Best Buy is also launching what digital has shown us—how to brand focus from buying sodas an experiment to help people share earn cred among consumers.” to funding causes for social good. knowledge with fellow shoppers at Anyone can post—and vote—for BByfeed.com.

PATTERNS is a collection of shared thoughts, Be a pattern spotter: Now that you’ve been Guest authors: Suzanne Gibbs Howard, Contact: Get in touch with us at patterns insights, and observations gathered from our exposed to a few different examples, don’t Rachel Switzky, Jody Turner, and Meija Jacobs @ideo.com, or visit us at http://patterns work and the world around us. We invite you be surprised if you start seeing Social Media .ideo.com. to join the conversation, so we can raise the bar Bolsters Big Brands patterns all around you. and collectively develop richer design-thinking Keep your eyes open and let us know what you experiences. find, especially if it’s the next new pattern.