How GM leveraged the Blogosphere for Buzz

On May 31, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman lambasted General Motors on the Times' op-ed page. Likening GM to a "crack dealer" feeding Americans' addictions to SUVs, he concluded that GM is "more dangerous to America's future" than any other company. The day after the Friedman column ran, GM communications executive Steven Harris posted a nearly 1,000-word rebuttal on the company's Fastlane blog, refuting the Friedman column.

And that’s not all. The story has been covered in dozens of mainstream news media and is still generating daily coverage worldwide. Hundreds of people have posted comments on GM's corporate blog. BlogPulse and Technorati both count about 100 posts from bloggers on their own sites.

The blogosphere may be buzzing about this for months. By taking its case to the Web instead of the Times' editorial page, GM generated more buzz and awareness for its fuel-economy efforts than it ever would have created in print.

Today, online social networks provide a powerful means to spread information by virtual word-of-mouth. You can't control the process, but if you can get the right people to read what you say, your message can propagate with breathtaking speed!

 

Fast Forward 10 years for a look at Buzz

Red Herring recently did a story (The Future of the Internet) that gave us a glimpse of the year 2016 through the eyes of Vint Cerf, father of the Internet TCP/IP protocol and now Chief Evangelist at Google, along with two-dozen other pundits.

Clearly the line between traditional tech firms and commercial firms is going to blur. Cars that arrange for repairs at dealerships. School buses that instant message the time your kids will be dropped off at home. Managing your heating, cooling, lighting and even your coffee pot thought the Internet. Electronics is embedded in our environment, woven into our clothing and written directly to our glasses or contacts – now that’s Buzzworthy!

My point? Our already crowded tech space is about to get even more crowded (now that’s a Buzz Kill). Every conceivable product manufacturer is joining our ranks, from automakers to coffee pot makers to gas and electric companies to clothing manufacturers. Even Cohen’s Fashion optical??? Buzz marketing will be your ONLY defense.

 

Buzz KILL – A conversation with a company’s ethics officer

The Sarbanes-Oxley Act has been a Buzz Kill for finance and legal people for several years, while we in marketing have watched the action. Lately, though, some of that Buzz Kill is working its way over to us.

It’s the Age of Regulatory Hyperawareness. That means companies are getting stricter about how contracts are evaluated and relationships are cultivated. And it’s a gray area indeed – check out the policy of a major brokerage firm: “You and members of your family may not accept gifts or special favors other than an occasional non-cash gift of “nominal” value from any person or organization with which the firm has a current or potential business relationship.”

IPods, prime rib dinners and Super Bowl tickets would all be over the line under that policy. It’s going to be tough building the relationships you need to execute your Buzz Strategy when all you can offer is drinks at TGI Friday’s!

The good news is that as companies clamp down on this– and you know they will – Buzz Marketers will have plenty of new digital delivery channels (such as the Social Media) to use to market our own unique Buzz!

 

Lenovo goes for a viral Buzz!

The Lenovo Group is trying something that would have been completely out of character for staid IBM: viral marketing.

Lenovo created a spoof Web site, The Lenovo Tapes (www.lenovo-tapes.com), which pretends to let viewers in on some super-advanced technologies being tested by the company. The site's anonymous producer has supposedly received some purloined videotapes revealing the secret research. Once viewers click through to the tapes, the joke is apparent. One clip shows a Lenovo notebook computer being dropped by a test-robot, then defying gravity before gliding to an absurdly soft landing (my favorite). Another shows a lab technician leaving his post and being replaced by a holographic twin.

The videos were shot in Geneva, where their creators apparently had to scramble to find an Asian man to play the lab technician. (A game Chinese investment banker was pressed into service.) Since it appeared a few weeks ago, the site has had more than 3 million visitors.

This is a nice example of a way to change perceptions of your brand. Think about how to tie this concept in with a rich media banner (or bannercast) to get some serious Buzz cheaply!!

 

iPods are more popular than beer!

Despite what mom may think, college life isn't just about drinking beer anymore. In an exceptional Buzz instance, the iconic iPod music player has surpassed beer drinking as the most "in" thing among undergraduate college students, according to the latest biannual market research study by Ridgewood, N.J.-based Student Monitor.

Nearly three quarters (73 percent) of 1,200 students surveyed said iPods were "in" — more than any other item in a list that, along with beer, included text messaging, bar hopping and downloading music.

According to Eric Weil, a managing partner at Student Monitor, in the 18 years of the survey, the only previous time beer was temporarily dethroned was in 1997 — by the Internet. (Special thanks again to Al Gore for inventing the ‘net).

Latest stats in Business Week 6/10 say there are 70 Million ipods which is more than the number PDA and Blackberrys combined! Kids know where to find a Buzz – so don’t overlook podcasting in your integrated marketing strategy!!