MEDIA MYTHS & REALITIES
Roundtable
Participants:
Bill Agee,
Marketing Director, IKEA U.S., Conshohocken,
Pa.
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Allison Costello,
Vice President and Media Strategist, Ketchum,
Pittsburgh
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Jean Drummond,
President, HCD International, Inc., Lanham, Md.
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David Gallagher,
Senior Partner, EMEA, and CEO, London, Ketchum
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Fernando Neves,
Director, Ketchum Interactive Communications, Ketchum
Estratégia,
São Paulo
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James Peters,
Vice President and Corporate Group Manager, Ketchum, Atlanta
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Perspectives: The results of the U.S. survey point to the fact that the lines separating media channels continue to blur, with many channels providing various kinds of content in one location—from news to social networking to product information. What do you see as the implications of this melding of media, for both professional communicators and consumers?
Bill Agee: While it has always been important that a brand like IKEA meets a potential customer in a consistent way wherever their paths cross, the current blurring of media makes this doubly important today. It is no longer acceptable to make one offer in one medium and a different offer elsewhere because people will catch you! And the idea that we ask consumers to interact with us one way in one medium and another way in different media no longer mirrors consumer behavior. Our job as marketers has evolved. It is no longer about trying to figure out what relevant information to place where, but rather we must figure out how to make all information accessible in all the media we use.
Allison Costello: The blurring of media boundaries bodes well for PR because it gives us an opportunity to truly add dimensions to the stories we tell. Already, it is pushing us to approach reporters with fully conceived story ideas—with corresponding elements, customized for each respective medium. Also, given that journalists are so strapped for resources, the blurring of boundaries puts us in an even better position to be true resources for them. Finally, the influence and pervasiveness of social media will continue to push the industry to visual storytelling in a way that we haven’t yet seen.
Jean Drummond: The biggest implication I see is change. The melding of media is just the continual evolution of media, and that is being driven by changes in technology as well as by our open borders, globalization and a range of other factors. For instance, as consumers in an increasingly smaller world, we want to protect each other; so, we are going to use online media sources to tell the truth—whether it’s on our own blog or in the comments of an online news story.
The major implication for professional communicators is that we have to get in on the act, too. At HCD International, we work with a lot of government agencies, and we’re now seeing them go on sites like Facebook and YouTube to offer services such as assistance with heating bills or information about mortgages. They’re following consumers to the media that they are using, and that means unexpected information is turning up there. We will see more of this over time, and the result will be consumers who are much more informed—by us and by each other.
Perspectives: This year’s survey included consumers in the U.K. for the first time. What was the most surprising finding about media usage in that country? And what implications do you see for communicators trying to reach consumers in the U.K.?
David Gallagher: The findings weren’t surprising so much as they were confirmations of anecdotal observations, particularly on the dominance of big media brands. Traditional “newspaper” brands like The Guardian and The Telegraph are actually quite influential through channels beyond print, and predictions of their imminent demise seem to have been very premature. Likewise, TV giants like BBC are now major sources of influence online, and television news here has long drawn content from “print” outlets. News distribution has become more complicated for the major brands, but richer in content and no less powerful than before.
One obvious implication for those trying to reach U.K. consumers is that they won’t be able to bypass traditional news outlets if they want to reach critical mass with sufficient credibility. I think there was a hope (or fear) among some that professional media gatekeepers–journalists, editors and producers–would somehow be cut out of the information chain, making it easier (for better or worse) to distribute information unfiltered to consumers. I don’t see that happening.
Perspectives: One of the most notable differences among the general population and influencers in the U.S. and the U.K. was the fact that influencers—the 10 to 15 percent of the population who drive change in society and their communities—have much higher media usage across all channels than do general consumers. As a communicator, in what ways have you factored influencers into your plans or campaigns?
Costello: Influencer outreach is a critical component of the PR marketing mix. I often view influencers through a media and nonmedia lens, as there is a definitive group of influencers that sit in the media set for any given industry. So whether the influencers are journalists or other consumers, ensuring that we reach them helps better extend buy-in and, ultimately, consumer awareness. It also enables us to create ambassadors to help carry our messages. And it’s a terrific way to troubleshoot or gain rich insight for future R&D efforts.
Drummond: In many cases, the work that we do at HCD International is customized for special populations. These can range from ethnicity to age to psychographic profile. Sometimes the influencers of these groups are not immediately obvious. So, often the first place that we begin is with focus groups of our target consumers. This allows us to test how messages will resonate with a broader audience, which is a role that often is filled by influencers.
Other times, influencers are easier to find and we leverage them from the beginning. In fact, in some situations, their involvement is essential for us even to be able to conduct focus groups. For instance, the National Institutes of Health engaged us in a campaign in which we had to customize materials for low-income minority communities. All the communication had to be done within a housing complex. For the most part, we located the primary influencers within the buildings, shared information with them and got them to sanction it and essentially vouch for our presence in the buildings. In those cases, we gathered focus groups with no problem. But in one case, we didn’t identify the right person to influence residents and no one showed up to take part in the focus group because it was not sanctioned by this person. Fliers and other communication we put out had no effect. We found the influencer within that building and we recovered, but the experience showed us that influencers can help a communication program and they can shut it down, too.
Gallagher: I would guess that in most cultures and over most of time, a similarly small percentage of people have had a proportionately far greater hold on information relative to the general population–that’s what makes them influencers in the first place. In the past, we reached them simply because they flocked to information. Now, with their active participation on the Internet, we see opportunities to identify these influencers more quickly and accurately through the social networks they use, and this is factored into program planning.
James Peters: Identifying and focusing on influencers is critical to many of the communication campaigns we have been engaged in. We strongly counsel our clients to identify and engage with key influencers early on in the process. I believe influencers are more than potential vocal supporters; they also can offer insight and feedback during the early stages of a program or campaign that is invaluable to the direction of the campaign going forward.
Perspectives: Word-of-mouth continues to rank fairly high in both usage and credibility, but it can be the most difficult media channel to influence. In what ways have you counseled clients to make the best use of it?
Drummond: This goes hand-in-hand with the question about influencers. Among the special populations that our clients tend to target, we find that for minorities (primarily African-Americans and Hispanics), in particular, word-of-mouth is huge. It is the trusted source. In healthcare, for instance, it’s common to find that a patient will choose to use a particular medicine because it worked for her friend, despite what her own doctor is saying. Also, because we often develop programs for government agencies, such as the Department of Housing and Urban Development or the Environmental Protection Agency, there is an added element of distrust that makes word-of-mouth even more important. It varies based on education levels, but minorities seem more likely to distrust government because of past incidents such as the Tuskegee experiment, in which the U.S. Public Health Service allowed hundreds of black men to die unknowingly from syphilis.
We counsel clients to always be aware of word-of-mouth and to place a priority on identifying its primary sources in any community. Once those sources are identified, we engage them to get our messages out. For many of the programs we’re involved with, if you go into a community and fail to identify the trusted sources, you have failed. It’s as simple as that.
Gallagher: Here’s the advantage of operating in a relatively contained national media market: Success in mainstream media generally generates word-of-mouth buzz, and vice versa. The main message for clients, however, is that families and friends talk about things differently than journalists. What is viewed positively in one environment might be perceived negatively in the other. This has implications for message design, and we work with clients to understand that what they want to say and how it gets filtered by audiences are different things. The desired outcome requires careful architecture.
Fernando Neves: In recent times, word-of-mouth has grown through the new communication tools created with the Internet. Until recently in Brazil, the Internet was considered a high-credibility communication channel directed to a strict circle of influencers who were hard to track and control. Today, it has become a global tool through the usage of blogs, forums and social networks. This new reality represents a threat and also an opportunity for corporations.
Companies that sell products directly to consumers are usually more vulnerable to the word-of-mouth movement, in a positive or negative way, and they have more difficulties managing it. In Brazil, the Ketchum Interactive Communications group has counseled our clients to use the new communication tools, and we are having good experiences with word-of-mouth management and the stimulation of dialogue in the digital atmosphere.
Perspectives: Our survey results show that more influencers use nonjournalist blogs than use journalist blogs, yet influencers find journalist blogs to be more credible. In what ways have you included nonjournalist blogs into your communication programs in a credible way?
Agee: At IKEA, we have actively included nonjournalist bloggers in our media outreach efforts over the past two years, treating them as conveyers of information. We include them in press activities and keep in regular contact with those who cover the home. The size and makeup of their readership is the key measure that we use to determine how much effort we place in them.
The big issue for us right now is that there are just so many and the audience is so fragmented that it can be difficult to find the sweet spot. And this really applies to all of the Web. If it was hard to be heard above the hubbub of non-Web media, it sometimes feels impossible today!
Costello: I work a lot with clients in the food industry, and nonjournalist blog outreach is a critical and essential part of what we do. Knowing that journalists are more strapped for resources than ever before and are now turning to the blogosphere for story ideas or sources puts the onus on us to cultivate real relationships with bloggers—not just “one-off pitches.” When we work with nonjournalist bloggers, our goal is to create a pool of evangelists and give them the tools they need to help tell our story for us . . . in their own relevant way, of course.
Peters: Blogs are just one of many channels that need to be part of your media landscape. When we identify media outlets for a client’s program, we look at all of the blogs that focus on the topic and pay less attention to whether it is a journalist blog or consumer blog. In some cases, consumer blogs have more influence and reach. Of course, as with all media conversations, including blogs, transparency about who we are and represent is key to formulate the relationship and participate in the dialogue.
Perspectives: The 2008 survey reiterated previous years’ findings in the U.S. and Brazil that podcasts haven’t taken off in a significant way with consumers. They also aren’t widely consumed in the U.K. Similarly, use of mobile media in the U.S. and U.K. is low. What do you see as barriers to people using podcasts and mobile media as sources of information? Are you aware of any notably successful programs using either?
Gallagher: I think these are two different issues. Podcasts, I think, prove the point that just because the technology makes it possible to deliver content in a specific way, it doesn’t make it desirable. So podcasts seem to work best as extensions of content that was already “audio-ready” – like radio programs. Maybe they’re analogous to audio books, which have their niche but don’t seem to be on the verge of replacing old-fashioned readable text.
Mobile media, on the other hand, perhaps are just now reaching a sufficient level of sophistication to become a more appealing form of receiving information. We’ve grown accustomed to fast, high-quality visual and audio content, and we’re just now seeing mass-market mobile devices capable of providing information as we now expect to receive it.
Neves: Every new technology has a unique maturation process. With a great expansion of channel offerings and an increase in the number of communication tools, it is natural that some of them are more quickly absorbed by consumers and others have a late acceptance or are even forgotten. Nowadays, we realize that people want the information fast, no matter what media is used. At least in Brazil, people are not listening to podcasts in their MP3 players; they listen to them directly from their computers. Given that, we try to integrate audio files into electronic newsletters and 2.0 press releases for clients such as Carrefour and Danone. At the same time, actions involving mobile media are still very restricted in Brazil because of privacy issues and lack of governmental regulation.
Both podcasts and mobile media present an enormous growth potential. I believe both will become important parts of a mix of communication tools but may not be used on as large a scale as it was figured they would be a short time ago.
Drummond: Timing is everything. I believe what has happened with podcasts, in particular, reflects the fact that new technology needs time to catch on. Technology is coming out so fast that by the time a consumer is ready to use X, Y is out and might catch on faster. For consumers who have quickly grown accustomed to online video content, audio-only podcasts simply might have missed their time.
Peters: I believe the infancy of the channels is the main barrier and that as more and more people become engaged with mobile media, the more popular they will become. IBM has launched a series of podcasts in conjunction with its Smarter Planet initiative, and these have been great platforms to share with the news media and others information about particular subjects, such as smart utility grids or technology to ease traffic congestion.
I see these channels as one more addition beneath the overall media umbrella to ensure that messages are being communicated across all applicable channels. This gives audiences the opportunity (and the choice) to pick up the content in the manner that they want to digest it.
Perspectives: Consumer use of social networking sites is growing in the U.S. and continues to be strong in Brazil. How can communicators effectively tap into such networks with marketing messages—without appearing too commercial?
Agee: At IKEA we have seen social networking as a real plus because our brand is one that many people have an opinion about because the products we offer so often are linked to major life events, such as moving into a new home or the addition of a new baby to the family. People have strong views about IKEA, and they readily share them online. We also have this terrific group of co-workers and fans who are active participants in many different social networking sites.
Our experience has been that if we are providing a good product, store experience and stories through our marketing, this gets translated into good word-of-mouth on these sites. Our co-workers and fans tell our stories for us. We still have a lot to learn, but there are many possibilities for us in this area.
Costello: Interestingly, a recent New York Times article pointed to the fact that folks want to interact with real people online and not necessarily with brands. If we’re pushing brand agendas in the social networking space, it becomes even more critical that we provide someone whom consumers can interact with in an authentic and natural way. This person could act as a brand advocate and could be either in-house or a third-party. It’s doubly critical that products or services truly speak to a relevant core need or anxiety of the social networking group.
Neves: Social networks are a real phenomenon in Brazil. They are used by people of every age and social class. Consumers of these networks do not want their communities to be invaded by commercial messages, but like every consumer, they are eager for relevant information.
Communities of specific interest on social networks such as Orkut, MySpace, Facebook, and others provide big opportunities for companies to establish direct communication with consumers. Although the Internet and especially social networks are considered mass media, they are composed of individuals who are looking for differentiation. Information should be directed to these individuals with this in mind. Conversation is key. Listening to what this audience says and then developing messages for targeted, direct communication is the main factor in helping our clients succeed on social networks. |
