Twitter, fresh from the oven

Don't get me wrong, I am a fan of Twitter, but not a huge fan like some. However, I came across this story on Iain Tait's blog and it's clearly demonstrated the power of this medium. I love that my local baker would send out messages about what's just come out of the oven for me to race down and buy. Hot, fresh and delicious.

From his post:

Some of the excellent geeks at Poke have hacked together / masterfully crafted BakerTweet. It’s a wonderful hardware / software solution for alerting people to the latest oven output from the Albion bakery. It’s a wireless Arduino thing that can be customised via a web interface to allow for various custom messages to be Twittered at the twist of a dial and the push of a water/flour-proof button. What’s brilliant is The Albion actually using it. And it actually works.

who, Kodak? really....

I have recently started paying attention to Kodak.

I have to tell you it’s not my style. I am a passionate Nikon lover having worked on the account when I lived in New York.

Paying attention to Kodak took me by surprise.

I was re-introduced to them via a friend of mine, Mary, who’s sponsored by Kodak. She is a blogger, presenter and designer starting a new business venture by branching out in the world of social media. Kodak took a chance on her. I really like that a huge company like Kodak would do this: LISTEN and RESPOND to their audience.

They have demonstrated, not just talked about, how listen to the people that use their products. Not only that, they recently co-sponsored the Streamy Awards in the US. Mary covered this event. Again, interesting I thought.

Their CMO, Jeffrey Hayzlett, is on twitter (mind you every man and his dog seem to be these days so it’s not so cutting edge but credit where credit’s due). Again, I thought, interesting. He doesn't just tweet about mundane company stuff. He has a personality. Sometimes I don't agree with him, but hell, at least I can have an actual dialogue with the CMO of a huge corporation. Think Zappos. Big, big points in my book.

Today I needed (wanted) to buy a digital camera under $250AUD. Nothing expensive. I use my iPhone for most snaps. Just a little something that I can shoot video on of my dogs, friends and family stuff. To my surprise, guess where I first looked without even thinking about it at Office Works? (Staples for my American cousins).

KODAK. In the end I didn’t get a Kodak camera because they had sold out and when I buy I need to take it away with me. But sold out is good. Has me think that something is working.

So enough of me banging on, but I want to send a message to Jeffrey Hayzlett and his team: now you have created an open line of communication with me and all the people that use your products, you better keep stepping it up. If you don’t , all that good work will crash and burn like so many other companies that haven’t dedicated enough resources in their marketing budgets to this type of dialogue.

Likemind March 2009

Likemind was a huge success this month.  I was so happy to see a lot of new faces.  What a mixture we had at Zekka this Friday morning.  If you are interested in attending, please drop a line to likemindperth@gmail.com.  

Can I get that to go - Twitter the new drive-thru?

This is a fantastic article about the power of Twitter in increasing your customer base.  Well worth a read....  via Pistachio Consulting

When J.R. Cohen, Operations Manager for CoffeeGroundz (@coffeegroundz) Cafe in Houston, Texas first heard about Twitter from one of his customers, he was puzzled but intrigued. Today, he credits Twitter with almost doubling his clientele and with opening his eyes to a whole new way to build Community.

Nothing can build your brand faster than being or doing something remarkable. Seth Godin, author of the recently released Tribes calls this becoming “The Purple Cow”. Cohen didn’t set out to become a Purple Cow - but with one brief 140 character message - that’s exactly what he’s done.On October 31st, 2008 Sean Stoner (@maslowbeer) was hungry. As a regular customer at CoffeeGroundz he sent the following Twitter to Cohen:

Comedy of errors for two of our Likeminded folk

Seems like my very good friends at BLOCK have run into some media problems.  I can assure you that they are both well and happy.  Take a look at the video here via ABC's Media Watch.

Is this more than just semantics?

Thanks to my buddy Hash who helped me out with this.  I am giving a talk in March about the issues below.  Any other ideas would be more than welcome.

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In the business world today, we refer to the world our customers, brands and products live in, as a “market”.  Such clinical terms desensitise us to culture and products and services that really motivate people.

We replace “people” with “targets”, “culture” with “markets”, “communities” with “segmentations” and “desires” with “insights”.

The question I would like to investigate today is “Is this more than just semantics?”

If our goal is to understand what really matters, we should start by realising that as brands, we have to exist in peoples lives authentically and that means as a strategic marketing and brand building business, our own language and posture has to be of the world, not some foreign “speak” that only exists in business school classrooms, corporate cubicles and boardrooms today.

I would argue that our old language and definitions have changed, if not become redundant and we, as a business are slow to adapt, let alone lead and shape brands for our clients into the future.

On being authentic

There is something wonderfully authentic about these online clips from CNBC.  

The music creates a slightly sentimental emotional response, and even more so, the way they have all followed the same format but are given the freedom to design their own narrative about who they are and where they have come from is touching.  It even stirs up slightly warm feelings for Jim Cramer.  This then gives me, the viewer, permission to have a relationship with the reporters/journalists I identify with.

Whilst some people I have spoken with say they come across as a little self serving, I don't believe this to be the intention, though they might want to tone down the emotion a little. You will still get the same result. It's a fine line as we all know.

It's hard building an authentic brand, even more so today in a market that is becoming increasingly over crowded.  No big news I know, but the "authentic human touch" strategy behind these clips are a great idea for a company who's products are a little harder to sell - such as banking, financial services, insurance etc.  Give your greatest brand champions (your employees) a human face, and your company might not seem so impersonal after all.

You can take a look here.