The Village Square International

Most people speculate about stuff – it is the human condition. Why hasn’t ‘X’ called back? Why is so and so quiet? The longer you leave it the more the brain invents all sorts of scenarios of possibility. It is for this reason (ironically) that “The Power of Now” by Tolle is a big hit – a blockbuster sell in the United States. Being ‘present’ in the now reduces the fretting that happens in people’s heads. The individual is a microcosm of what happens in corporates. Most people haven’t read “The Power of Now” so ‘fretting’ is in especially at a time of economic uncertainty.

So why do companies like SONY, L’Oreal and Wal-Mart feel the need to fake it? Fake blogs were all the rage at the end of 2009. Now we aren’t going to get on a “beat up the big company” hobby horse let’s get to the heart of the matter.
The simple answer is control – as after all that’s what interruption marketing was founded on – but we’re not going on a hyperbole fuelled ‘thing’ about this, it has been done to death.

How do we give companies the sense of control required for management and shareholders –after all that is the behavioural driver.
We do the same as we normally do. If you haven’t heard from someone after a certain amount of time you pick up the phone don’t you. Communication stops speculation.

So there is a simple answer. If there was an easy way for people in a company to keep in touch with their consumers, a way they could feel reassured that their product was appreciated, had high awareness and was doing well that would help deal with internal forces. “Common sense isn’t common.” It took 100 years for geologists to accept that a) the fact that Africa and South America looked like they could have fitted together like a jigsaw was not a coincidence. The geologists then refused to believe the evidence that rocks on either side of the ocean divide that were the same could have anything to do with the ‘challenging’ theory of the movement of the plates. We are funny – we can take ages to believe something that is in plain sight.

If you talk to your Advocates regularly it gives the whole organisation a sense of confidence, a sense of appreciation – in short it makes people feel more relaxed. This should be common sense right? Yet most companies claim they don’t have that resource, time or can’t see the ROI on doing this. This is changing fast (faster than plate techtonics ) but common sense isn’t common.

Staying in touch does a lot more than just sell stuff it gives the organisation a sense of control. If L’Oreal, SONY and Wal-mart had done it they wouldn’t have needed fake blogs or the fall out that came afterwards, they would have felt good about themselves.
And feeling good is what humans and organisations need to feel to work.

TV took 30 years to catch on while people talked to each other about ads since the 1700’s. The truth will out. Word of Mouth ‘advertising’ is as old as the hills and yet strangely new.

Bare with us, did you know it took nearly 30 years for TV to take off even though the technology was there?

American newspapers carried ads since 1700. Jumping to the 1920’s US billboard ads were all about making you paranoid to buy. “Will your hair stand close inspection?. “Did Nature Fail to put Roses in your Cheeks?”. This problem led anxiety sale is still used today by US corporates like P&G.

The first ‘commercial’ on radio lasted for 12 to 15 minutes depending on who you source. Commercial radio at first was a disaster but by the 1920’s people were flocking to buy air time. Radio had arrived. Companies clamoured to get shows names and in fact they often wrote the radio shows and scripts gloriiying the product and the radio stations let them do it, it was called ‘sponsorship’.

A little known fact was that television had arrived too – in fact television was available as a medium from 1925 but no-one cared for 30 years.

The first working television was showcased by Charles Jenkins in 1925. Baird demonstrated a model with sound four months later. Bell demonstrated a telephone system in New York followed by entertainment on a ‘television’ – the broadcast showed comic who told darkie jokes and then blackface jokes. In 1928 Baird showed the world’s first colour transmission – a man repeatedly sticking out his tongue.

TV did not take off in the United States until the 1950’s – from 1928 until the 1950’s it was regarded as a novelty – rather like we might treat a restaurant where you order your meal with a touch-screen projected on your table. (A South African has done this in a London restaurant.)

The first ad showed a Bulova watch ticking for 60 seconds. That was an honest ad. It was on TV and ticked. It is amazing what the US ad industry got away with overtime, whether this is the 5% misbehaving and the 95% being good or the other way around only you can tell. But here we go.

Heinz 57 varieties – there were never that many varieties it was just a number that sounded good. In the 70’s Chevrolet ran ads for the ‘Chevelle’ which boasted that the car had ‘109 advantages to keep it from becoming old before its time’. It was made up. The 109 included a rear view mirror, reversing lights and stuff every other car had. In 1986 John Hancock Insurance launched a campaign where ‘real people in real situations’ discussed their predicaments with candour. When challenged they confessed they were real people, actors. It was all totally made up. Republicans in the States ran a campaign saying what a great bloke Ronald Reagan was for supporting the cost of living increases for federal workers…

It was all made up, he opposed them. When the Republican official was challenged he responded “Since when is a commercial supposed to be accurate.”
But this is America, not Australia, NZ the UK, Holland or Denmark, not Europe – we are different. Aren’t we?

Is it any wonder consumers rely on Word of Mouth? Marketing has a history of bullshitting and lieing it is a conspiracy we love to be part of. Word of Mouth is the most trusted medium there is and it can be harnessed.

Here’s a really radical idea – how about getting those who love you to tell the truth?

Our warning is simple – if your organisation isn’t used to telling the truth don’t bother. If your organisation isn’t ready to act on what people tell you don’t bother.

But if your organisation has people who believe in the product, your staff talk about it and you have a natural following – you are ready to talk the truth.

We will amplify the truth by channelling your Advocates into an Army, Honest.

Source: Made in America by Bill Bryson

Seth Godin argues the Internet has ended mass marketing and revived a human social unit from the distant past: tribes. Founded on shared ideas and values, tribes give ordinary people the power to lead and make big change. He urges us to do so.