It’s a new month, so it’s time for a new theme here at 1000heads HQ. For March we’re going to be talking about all things FMCG. So where to start?
Having worked with a fair number of larger FMCG brands in the past, today I want to talk about corporations that manage large multi-brand portfolios. Should they be involved in social? What are the options? Who’s doing it already (and who isn’t) and of course, who’s doing it well?
You’ve got 40+ sub-brands (in the UK alone) operating under the Unilever banner, each executing their own marketing campaigns (with varying degrees of social media throughout) should you as a global umbrella brand, be embracing social media to help further your cause and message?
And if so, how do you go about employing that strategy without over-shadowing your sub-brands like Lynx/Axe or Dove.
In a word; yes, you should be embracing social media to further your cause – whether it’s highlighting the fantastic work that your sub-brands are doing across the world, finding new ways to humanise your corporate image or simply engaging with those showing an interest in your company culture – this is an easy win.
Keeping Unilever as the example for a second (and using the highly scientific method of typing ‘brandname on twitter’ into Google), you can see the following —
There they are, top three results all seem to be Unilever branded presences each pushing out their own necessary messages.
Branded and official, the presence hasn’t tweeted since April 21st 2010. Up until that point, the stream is mainly made up of RTs of various Unilever stories and has little to no actual engagement with its 900+ followers. Now admittedly, the Unilever Press team do a good job here, but the global media presence is being severely overlooked.
Verdict?
Must try harder.
How to make it better?
Re-start the feed, get someone from the global media team (and who cares about social) behind it and start engaging with the community. From just a cursory look around their website, Unilever has some amazing stories to tell; both from an umbrella/global perspective and on a local/sub-brand level. Come out and tell us about them!
A brief interlude —
Before we go any further, we have to make one thing clear:
– TWITTER IS NOT THE BE ALL AND END ALL OF SOCIAL MEDIA –
However, it is a good litmus test on where a brand’s social strategy (if it has one) is at. From the Unilever perspective it seems like someone thought it might be a good idea to start a Twitter account and then has either let it die off or has been slapped down by corporate comms (this happens more regularly than we’d like to think).
Either way, something has been started here and it would be a shame to see it go amiss. Moving on.
Looking elsewhere, to Diageo for example, the world’s leading premium drinks company has a top three ranking also –
Number one is @Diageo. Perfect, right? Wrong. But, before we get to that, let’s look at what comes in at number two – @boycottdiageo!
Even though they haven’t tweeted since 2009 AND the fact that their blog presence doesn’t seem to be linking through any more, this is isn’t exactly a great look for the Johnnie Walker brand owners.
Coming back to the top entry for a second, with a paltry 53 followers and zero activity to date, @Diageo is another wasted opportunity for another large umbrella brand. This time ’round mind there’s extra losses with the ‘Boycott Diageo’ name appearing at number two.
How to make it better?
First, kick start the Diageo Twitter feed with a proactive ‘telling our story’ engagement strategy [linking to both corporate comms and any ongoing marketing efforts], as well as a super hot reactive strategy that not only nullifies any untruths being communicated about the company as a whole, but also has a keen eye out for potential long term advocates/new business.
Yes, B2B over Twitter. Amazing, I know.
Second, roll out departmental streams reflective of those that live front and centre at Diageo.com, i.e.: News & Media, Careers, CSR etc… The benefit here will be two fold: not only would it sharpen the messaging but it would also help push down that nasty (and dead) ‘boycott’ stream that currently lives in Google’s search rankings.
Let’s try one more —
@UnitedBiscuits are the manufacturer of biscuits, savoury snacks and crisps including McVitie’s, Penguin, go ahead!, Jacob’s, Twiglets, Hula Hoops, Mini Cheddars, McCoy’s, and KP. I know this because they have it in their bio.
Perfect! That’s a start guys…
In comparison to the other large multi-brand corps I’ve covered so far, United Biscuits actually seems quite active – their stream includes a healthy mix of Corp PR, HR shouts and the occasional customer care fix too.
Verdict?
A great foundation (now it’s time to build)
How to make it better?
The recommendation here would be to more clearly define the objective of this channel and then, once this is in place, amplify and engage accordingly with clear owners defined by industry-wide accepted standards.
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In conclusion –
OK, so I know the methods involved here aren’t the most scientific in the world and I also know that social media engagement is not judged on Twitter alone. We’ve kind of established that already.
However, if you’re asking yourself should multi-brand FMCG companies have their own online strategy? Then the answer has to be a clear YES.
Day in and day out these multi-national businesses face communications battles that have to be fought across many different fronts both online and off. Making sure that your social media channels are both owned and active isshould be par for the course for the brands listed above and more. Be it PR & corp comms, CSR, HR & recruitment (grad schemes etc) or simply highlighting the latest and greatest sub-brand work.
He’s been popping his head up a fair bit recently; first (after many a recommendation) I finally sat down to watch MILK, the true life story of California’s first openly gay elected official, Harvey Milk. Anyone who knows this film will be aware that it is indeed a rather awesome Sean Penn flick but, unless you’ve actually seen it, what you might now know is that James Franco puts in a best-supporting-actor-worthy turn as Harvey’s long time partner and supporter, Scott Smith.
Milk is wonderful.
Dealing with the liberation of homosexuality in 1970’s San Francisco, the film opens with a love scene. Note; a love scene. Not gratuitous sex scene, but love. Two men, loving each other. For a film telling the story of how to overcome the bigotry and phobias associated with that time, the best way to bring your audience on side is to show them the one thing that everyone was fighting for: the freedom to love. Forget how the story unfolds or how well Harvey’s tale is told, for want of a better turn of phrase – this opener nails it. If you haven’t seen it, seek it out. At once.
I guess at this point it might be worth nothing that my hitherto experience of James Franco had only been through his fairly basic turns in Sam Raimi’s Spider-Man films. If you’re reading this in the future, I’m talking about the Toby McGuire ones, not the Andrew Garfield one(s). The trilogy in question is worth a separate post on its own (but if you’re interested in the short version they rate in this order, 2 then 1 and finally, the worst, 3). Franco is… good… but not exactly stand-out. Admittedly with not much to go on, he masters father/son angst quite well. Alas, that’s pretty much all he has to go on. Well, that and murderous revenge, but they’re kinda the same thing anyway.
The point being: I’m only now exploring Franco’s filmography. So forgive me if this is old ground for some of you.
Moving on.
The day before seeing Milk, I turned the TV on to discover James Franco appearing on ‘Inside the Actor’s Studio‘. If you’ve never seen the show, it’s basically kick-ass Hollywood superstars being interviewed in front of a group of theatre/film/acting students.
It’s a bit Parky, but actually – as the subject matter is mainly about the film(s) that said star has been a part of – it’s actually quite watchable.
Franco comes across as warm, funny and intelligent. Not that he wouldn’t be, but still – it’s nice to see. If you have the opportunity to see it all, then do so. Like I said, he’s very funny [his story about how he nearly lost the part in 127 HOURS – which I am yet to see – because director, Danny Boyle, thought he was stoned is a key highlight] and evidence of this can be found in his frankly hilarious ‘Acting with James Franco‘ series on Funny or Die.
I saw the best minds of my generation destroyed by madness, starving hysterical naked, .
dragging themselves through the negro streets at dawn looking for an angry fix, .
angelheaded hipsters burning for the ancient heavenly connection to the starry dynamo in the machinery of night, .
— Excerpt from Howl, Alan Ginsberg
Howl, if you’re unaware, is a poem by Alan Ginsberg and I’ll be honest, before reading about the film of the same name, I had never actually heard of it before. Which, when you think about it, isn’t that great and – even though I was happy to go in cold as it were – I left the cinema wishing that I had actually done my research on the piece beforehand and, if you’re making plans to see it yourself, then I’d recommend you read it too.
Hell, even if you’re not planning on seeing the film, just read the damn poem.
That aside, onwards to the film.
Created in documentary style and based upon both courtroom notes and actual recordings with Ginsberg himself, the film flits between interviews with the poet discussing HOWL and the obscenity trial that surrounded it. The film-makers originally set out to make just that: a documentary.
But they didn’t actually want to make just another documentary, hence the dramatisation element. HOWEVER, it’s super important to know [so important in fact, that you’re told before the film even starts] that all of the scenes are based upon actual events. The interplay in the courtroom is based upon the actual courtroom notes, the interviews with Ginsberg are taken from actual recordings and the whole thing comes together with a fantastic sense of authenticity and truth that it’s quite hard not to be captivated by it all.
Something that has divided critics so far however is the use of animation throughout the film. Obviously a whole film dedicated to one particular poem would be a bit weird if it didn’t actually include the poem itself. While some parts of it are recited by Franco channelling Ginsberg in full-blown beatnik, 1955-Californian laid-back angry mode [see image above, right], the main parts are shown through animation.
Not just any animation, admittedly. This work is based upon illustrations by Eric Drooker that appeared in his “Illuminated Poems” collaboration with Ginsberg from the late 90s. So, worthy of the attention, right?
I’ll be honest with you, while watching the film I wasn’t actually that stimulated by them and actually, kind of wished they weren’t there. I’ve already said that this was my first experience of Howl and so, I guess I just wanted to interpret the words for myself – to create my own images and my own visuals, not watch someone else’s.
But, my mind was changed before my feet even left the cinema.
I caught Howl at The Gate Picturehouse in Notting Hill. A lovely little cinema and actually, the perfect venue for a film like this [sidenote: don’t see Howl at the Odeon] and, in their endless awesomeness, they’d organised a Q&A after the film with one of Ginsberg’s contemporaries, Michael Horovitz.
Mad as a bag of badgers and delightful with it, Horovitz spent the 45mins after the credits rolled telling stories about Ginsberg’s birthday parties [only half The Beatles came, not all of them] and how censorship is unevenly spread across different mediums such as radio vs film vs publications etc.
Insightful? Probably.
Hilarious? Definitely.
One thing he also touched upon though was how he felt about the animated parts film and he made a fantastic point when he said:
“The animation is superb. Not because it visualises the work, not at all. But because it shows one thing that films like this often miss out on; and that is the journey of creation. Normally you’ll see the artist, the creator of work, just sat at his desk and then the next thing you know, the words – or the art – is there. The animation in this film really brings that burning inspiration to life — what it’s actually like to have those words flow through you from inception to ink. For that, I think they stand up well.”
Like I said, it completely changed my mind on it. If/when you see HOWL, consider the animated parts in that light and I guarantee you’ll enjoy them much, much more. I know I will.
In closing –
Franco is great. Understated, poignant and gentle.
The film deserves an arthouse cinema [there’s that point about the Odeon]. Read it first.
I spotted the above ad on the tube just over a week ago…
You may have seen one like it yourself.
I knew exactly what it was for, instantly. But that’s me; I read film blogs, subscribe to Total Film magazine, I write about the films I’ve seen – basically, I’m into my film.
The other 2.6m people using the London Underground every day however might not all be self-confessed movie geeks and may not have jumped to the same immediate conclusion, and that’s no bad thing. Allow me to explain:
If you are one of those people then let’s quickly get this out of the way; that there above – believe it or not – is a rather awesome advert for the new Bradley Cooper film, LIMITLESS. The film is about what happens to a guy when he’s given the chance to become more than who he is. To become the best he could ever be. All achieved simply by using the full potential of his brain. A potential that’s unlocked thanks to the swallowing of a daily pill.
A clear pill.
It looks good right?
I thought so too when I first saw the trailer. However, what they’re doing with their marketing campaign is fantastic. This film could’ve easily just slipped out without anyone noticing and before you know it, it would’ve come and gone by Easter. But with this whole ‘NZT‘ drive, they [the studio, the agency behind the campaign, everyone involved etc] are onto a winner.
Reasons why this works:
Bradley Cooper’s most recent ‘hit’ was The A-Team, however he’s probably known to most for his leading turn in the epic post-bachelor party comedy, The Hangover. Those films aside, he’s only ever really played supporting roles which means for a very short time – to the public at least – he has one of those faces.
You know he’s famous but you can’t quite place him. Just the sort of celebrity face you’d see adorned on a piece of two-bit above the line advertising. A point proven just yesterday when someone in my office held up the equivalent advertisement in her copy of Metro and asked “Hey, wasn’t he in The Hangover? He can’t be doing too well [if he’s doing ads like this].” –
The advert itself is brilliantly written. It is just like one of those shoddy medical ads that you would see on the tube. The call to action, while completely nullified as it asks you to SEND AN SMS WHILE YOU ARE UNDER THE GROUND is AWESOME as it ASKS YOU TO TAKE A PHOTO OF THE AD TO REMEMBER and, that itself is actually quite compelling because the copy and the thought behind it keep you thinking long after you are outside and above ground – your interest is piqued enough to genuinely follow through on it. –
It’s a word of mouth, dare I say it – ‘viral’ marketing campaign, that genuinely inspires conversation. How? By offering up a point of entry to a story that you don’t know exists yet. This is not your average movie poster, oh no. In fact the only clue that this might not actually be what you think it is is the URL ‘showfilmfirst‘ which is a site set up to offer early screening tickets to [from the looks of things] films that don’t have the traditionally large studio backing. However, what you take away is THE CLEAR PILL. –
Google that and what you get?
That URL (or that call to action for that matter) isn’t anywhere on the ad, but still people are sharing it –
In fact, if I was writing the wrap up document for this campaign say in about a month or so from now (after the film has hit and the numbers have come in), I’d include that very screen grab.
Bam! Sale! Job done! Cheque please!
Go spend some time poking around the clear pill website, my favourite part so far is the epic ‘we don’t give a stuff about you’ small print.
I’m off to buy my ticket for Limitless. Like I said, it looks pretty good.
—
Minor addendum; the plot reminds me of the short story Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes. That’s worth a look too.
I’m an ardent supporter of all things Foursquare-related; be that through either [on a consumer level] meaningless badges acquired through a specific number of check ins or [on the brand side] a fairly robust off-the-shelf loyalty card system – I think the possibilities with the platform, should it hit critical mass, are endless. But that’s just me.
Something that is yet to measure Foursquare’s impact in social media [but yet shares a similar ‘is it any good or not’ debate] is KLOUT
The self-proclaimed ‘Standard for Influence’ uses over 35 different variables on Facebook and Twitter to measure ‘True Reach, Amplification Probability, and Network Score’. Influence, according to Klout, is the ability to drive people to action.
Since September last year the Palms Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas has been building out what it refers to as ‘The Klout Club’ – whereupon checking into the hotel in question (actual checking in, not foursquare checking in), you may well be asked ‘What’s your Twitter name?’ so that your Klout score can be measured there and then.
The Palms believe that this will allow high-ranking influencers to experience their ‘impressive set of amenities’ in hopes that these ‘influencers’ will want to communicate their positive experience to their followers.
Earlier than that, in June last year, Virgin America was using Klout to pick and choose which influencers to reward with their free flights to Toronto program. OK it was a tie-up to a new route launch but, as adding a social media element to your PR goes, I’ve certainly seen worse.
Key takeaways?
As we move into a more open world and social media becomes much more widely accepted, these industry early adopters are laying the ground for other, larger influence campaigns in the future and yet, while folk will often try and game the system, it seem that building your online reputation may well be having some long term benefits.
I’m fairly sure that with all the good will aside, KLM definitely picked the more influential of their passengers to bestow their gifts upon [and don’t even get me started on which online voices the Old Spice guy started tweeting to], all of which begs the question:
Which is more important; the amount of people you make happy, or the amount of people that know you did it?
There are times in my life when I love my job, there are times in my life when I hate my job, there are times in my life when my job opens my eyes to something so freakingly awesome but no matter what happens, I can never tell anyone.
Friends ask me often if I enjoy what I do, whether I’ve seen anything cool lately and/or if I can tell them of anything I’ve seen – “Y’know, blogger to blogger?”
More often than not, I respond with the following – “It’s like the old joke…”
A preacher who liked to play golf every Wednesday at a modest public golf course was standing on the elevated tee at the sixth hole of that course...
He took a few practice swings, and looked across the river to the immaculate private country club nearby.
“Just once I’d like to play at that gorgeous course,” the preacher said to his foursome.
Another player spoke up:
“My company has a reserved tee time at that club for us every Sunday morning, and it’s all paid for, too. But all of a sudden yesterday the boss says we have to travel out of town for a week. It’s a shame to let that tee time go to waste. I could give you a guest pass and you could have it all to yourself. Would do you say?”
Of course this was a dream come true for the preacher, but it put him in a terrible predicament. If he accepted the gift, he would have to miss Sunday worship. He thought to himself,
“I haven’t missed a Sunday service in 17 years of preaching. A sin to be sure, but I am after all just a man trying to do my best like all the rest.”
He succumbed to temptation and accepted the invitation.
On Sunday, the preacher awoke, called his deacon, and said, “I’m terribly sick today, and will not be able to offer service.”
“Well, we surely hope you are feeling better soon,” said the deacon. “What matters most it that your health is blessed, and we shall all pray for you today.”
This made the preacher feel a little guilty, but it was a beautiful clear cool morning, and promised to be a beautiful day. He opened a box from under the bed that had a new folded golf shirt, his cleaned and polished golf shoes, and he put them on instead of his usual clothes.
Later, on the beautiful practice green, the preacher fit right in but couldn’t help feeling conspicuous. At that exact moment up in Heaven, Saint Peter was looking down. He said to God,
“Do you see what is happening down there? I’m very disappointed in this preacher. Surely you are going to do something?”
God replied, “Don’t worry Pete, I’ve got it all figured out.”
St. Pete knew it was best not to question any further, but to just wait patiently and watch for it all to play out. He watched the preacher walk confidently to the first tee, a short par-4. The preacher teed it up, and hit a pretty fair drive, low and straight.
But just then, God waived his hand and created the perfect little wind. The wind carried the ball as if in the hand of God and lifted it down the fairway. The ball took once bounce and landed on the green, kept rolling, swung to the right, barely crept up to the hole, and fell in. It was beautiful.
Up in heaven, St. Pete was very upset.
“An albatross! Are you kidding me? Here is one of our own preachers committing this sin, on a Sunday no less. Just when I’m certain that you are going to offer up the perfect punishment to befit the sin, you instead go and reward him with a once-in-a-lifetime shot?”
God says, “Yes, but calm down Pete. Who is he going to tell?”
I love my job.
I get to see the coolest things in the world before anyone ever will.
My eternal curse is that 99.99 times out of 100?
I’m never going to be able to tell anyone.
Damn.
It’s a great ad. Not because of the product it’s selling, or because of the star that features (although I doubt anyone else could pull it off quite like Dafoe) but ultimately, it’s a wonderful story – extremely well told.
Admittedly it’s arguable what the video is actually selling; it’s obviously Jim Beam, but it could quite easily be Greyhound too – especially given the language structure around choices and decisions etc.
Either way, it’s a stellar piece of film-making.
Good job.
This afternoon, at the IAB’s ‘How to be safe and social‘ event, Malcolm Phillips from the Committee for Advertising Practice (CAP) pointed out that if a brand retweets a message from a user, then that content will fall under the soon-to-be-enforced CAP code.
This tweet, from the awesome Tia Fisher, has been shared multiple times already and nails the reaction of the brands and agencies in the room perfectly –
If you’re tuning in right now, you can follow the conversation by searching twitter for ‘#iabuk’ – failing that, with our employees holding memberships on the both the DMA and IAB social media councils, as well as the President for WOMMA UK under our roof, stay tuned how these interpretations play out over the coming months; both from a social media angle and also from a larger, more holistic, word of mouth perspective.
Finally, if you’re wondering what the hell we’re on about, this advert (from the ASA themselves) should give you a fair idea —
Let’s say you’re 
whatleydude.com 