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Archives for 2010

Brands Try Stickybits for Creative Promotions through Mobile Apps

stickybitsMobile marketing is so hot right now that every brand should be looking at how to integrate mobile into its marketing plan, particularly using mobile apps to drive consumer engagement with brands.  Stickybits is gaining traction among leading brands as a mobile app that can do exactly that.

When people download the newest version of the Stickybits app (version 2) to their iPhones (a new version for Android devices is in the works), they can scan barcodes and QR codes using the built-in iPhone camera.  Branded promotions kick in when certain barcodes or QR codes are scanned.  Stickybits includes social web sharing features and varied check-in and leaderboard features that consumers are accustomed to from mobile apps like foursquare.

Brands and advertisers can use Stickybits for free with access to a content management system and analytics.  In simplest terms, you can claim your brand’s barcodes and append media to them then track scans, response rates, location data, and demographic data from Stickybits user profiles.  For an undisclosed fee, advertisers can also access promotion management features.

Currently, 10 well-known brands are running promotions through the Stickybits app, including Ben & Jerry’s, Pepsi, Fiji Water, Elmer’s Glue, the Chicago Tribune, NakedPizza, Polydor Records, Wonderful Pistachios, the NHL’s Washington Capitols, Don Q Rum, and Harper Collins publishing.  You can get the details about these varied promotions from this article on Clickz.

Right now, there is no recipe for success in mobile app marketing, so brands are testing sweepstakes, discounts, giveaways, and more in an attempt to learn what works.  Branded promotions through Stickybits require their own promotion at this point with traditional advertising currently driving consumers to the Stickybits app rather than the other way around — something brands would certainly like to see happen in the future.  Stickybits only had 50,000 active users in October 2010, but if the current branded promotions are successful, you can bet that number will grow quickly.

What do you think of branded mobile promotions like those available through Stickybits?  Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

It Ain’t Whatcha Do, It’s The Way That You Do It…

The Injection trim.. and that’s what gets results!

This may seem a little trite for a business sustainability and CSR blog.  After all, thinking about your business’ effects beyond the simple commercial supply of product or services is the very definition of sustainability.  However, a particularly pertinent example surfaced last week.

Archimedes Pharma is (according to their website) an international specialty pharmaceutical company focused on the oncology, pain, neurology, and critical care sectors.  One of their products is sodium thiopental, whose Wikipedia entry states:

Sodium thiopental, better known as Sodium Pentothal (a trademark of Abbott Laboratories), thiopental, thiopentone sodium, or Trapanal (also a trademark), is a rapid-onset short-acting barbiturate general anaesthetic. … Thiopental is a core medicine in the World Health Organization’s “Essential Drugs List”, which is a list of minimum medical needs for a basic healthcare system. [Read more…] about It Ain’t Whatcha Do, It’s The Way That You Do It…

Should Your Branded Content Have a Fee?

the_times_ukThe publishing industry has been struggling to figure out how to stay afloat since print advertisers have migrated en masse over the past several years to the online space.  Online advertising dollars are the source of the money needed to keep online publications running and throughout the past decade, most online publishers (including media giants) have moved from paid subscription models where content is only offered behind a paywall to a freely available model in an attempt to boost page views and advertisers’ investments.

Interestingly, a couple of publications have been experimenting with a return to the paywall model they abandoned years ago.  The Times of London and the Sunday Times are examples of such a publication.

According to a report from Nielsen, The Times websites attracted over 3.09 million U.K. visitors each month during the second quarter of 2010 when all content was available for free.  A paywall was put in place at the beginning of the third quarter of 2010.  During that period, paywall visitors (which includes people who are using a free trial, print subscribers who automatically get free online access, and people who paid specifically to access the online content behind the paywall) amounted to just 362,000 visitors per month, but overall traffic to The Times websites dropped to just 1.78 million (which includes the paywall visitors).

That means the number of visitors to The Times websites nearly dropped in half after the paywall was put in place.  Furthermore, after the paywall was put in place, just 20% of visitors accessed the information behind that paywall.

The Times actually views these results positively saying that the paywall customers are statistically more affluent, more targeted, and more engaged (3rd quarter results showed a 42% increase in page views per person –17– compared to 2nd quarter results — 12).  For The Times the paywall audience can drive a premium rate from advertisers who want to connect with those consumers.  Top it off with a subscription fee that many of those paywall customers are paying, and The Times is optimistic about how charging consumers a fee to access some or all of a site’s content will affect their business in the long-term.

Where do you stand on the free content vs. paid subscription content debate?  Branded content is a bit different since it’s usually a marketing tool, but what about premium branded content?  Where do you think that fits in?  Leave a comment and share your thoughts.

Oh No, Not MORE Ethical Business!

Gunslinger art trim

Earlier this week, I forget why, I was wandering around the internet looking for something (as you do) when my eye lighted upon an editorial in The Progress Report.

I’d never come across the Progress Report before so I had a good look round.  “Interesting”, as Sir Humphrey Appleby might say.

The editorial focussed upon ethical businesses and on one proposal in particular: “On being Ethically Certified”.  I have to say, I read it, groaned, held my head in my hands, and (as techno-gunslingers might say) prepared to blog.

[Read more…] about Oh No, Not MORE Ethical Business!

Corporate Eye Summary November 13, 2010

  • Facebook Dominates Display Advertising Impressions
    In a new report from comScore, data for the third quarter of 2010 shows that Facebook serves twice as many display ad impressions to the U.S. Internet audience as the next closest display ad publisher, Yahoo! sites.
    These statistics are quite different from first quarter 2010 data, which showed Facebook with just a 16.1% share of […]


  • The Importance of Internal Brand Advocates
    One of the concepts I teach in my books and at speaking engagements when I’m asked to talk about branding is the importance of creating internal brand advocates and giving them the freedom to talk about the brand they love and believe in.  Your employees are your most powerful brand advocates.  If they don’t believe […]


  • Mandatory sustainability measures: a digest
    Like spring follows autumn or cats pounce on mice (even under the snow!), now seems to be the season for people to discuss mandatory supra-national reporting standards.  Without going into too much detail, here is a selection of last week’s activity for you to peruse at your leisure.
    EU may legislate on corporate, social and environmental […]


  • Economies of Scale: Small Business Resources for Big Business Ideas
    I usually make time to watch MSNBC’s early morning weekend show Your Business.  And just about every week, I see something interesting and think “I should blog about that”—but then I think . . . small biz/SOHO/entrepreneurial ideas aren’t very relevant for a corporate audience.
    Now that I’ve turned it over in my mind several times, […]


  • Corporate Eye Summary November 6, 2010
    Keeping Yahoo! Brand Value Alive
    I read an interesting article about Yahoo! last week on BrandWeek that asked various business experts to weigh in on whether or not new leadership is the band-aid needed to bring the company back to its former position of strength.  The responses were all fairly similar and match my own feelings […]


Consumers Want Incentives from Brands to Become and Stay Fans

In a September 2010 survey conducted by Cone, U.S. consumers identified what they look for when they engage with brands and companies online and what makes them stop following brands and companies online. 

The results aren’t very surprising, but it’s good to see hard numbers that prove that companies and brands can find great success through social media marketing if they listen to consumers and actually give them what they want and need.

When asked what types of interactions new media users look for when they engage with brands and companies online, the response breakdown was as follows with a single tactic far exceeding the rest:

  • 77% = Offer incentives such as free products, coupons, and discounts
  • 46% = Solve problems and provide product or service information such as customer service
  • 39% = Solicit feedback on products and services
  • 28% = Entertain me or provide access to premium content
  • 26% = Develop new ways for me to interact with their brands, such as widgets, mobile apps, online games, and contests.
  • 21% = Market to me through banner ads, targeted ads, and so on.

Is your brand offering incentives through social media in order to attract fans and followers and to keep those fans and followers engaged?  Three out of four new media users are looking for those incentives!

When asked what the reasons are that new media users stop following companies and brands online, the results were primarily spread fairly evenly among three annoying activities:

  • 58% = The company or brand acted irresponsibly toward me or other consumers and I’m no longer a fan of it.
  • 58% = The company or brand over-communicates with me by sending spam, sending too many messages, or offering too much content to sift through.
  • 53% = The company or brand provides irrelevant content.
  • 36% = The company or brand doesn’t communicate enough, meaning it doesn’t respond to comments, publish fresh content, offer incentives, or offer interesting content.
  • 28% = The company or brand censors the content consumers post on its new media channels such as deleting negative blog post comments or wall posts.

The above results follow the tips I always give related to social media and content marketing.  You have to offer relevant content and conversations that are meaningful to your target audience and add value to their lives.  However, people are very busy and don’t have time to weed through clutter or extraneous information to find the content that is relevant to them.  You need to be clear, concise, personable, honest, and real to succeed in attracting and keeping social media fans and followers to your brand.

How many of the things listed above are you doing the right way?  How many are you doing the wrong way?  Consumers are very clear about what they want from brands and companies on the social web.  The trick for companies is to forget about marketing and focus on listening and building relationships that lead to long-term sustainable growth.