Building innovative marketing programs requires chutzpah!  You’ve got to take chances, be willing to shake things up and try new things.  At some organizations this can be difficult.  But you don’t have to change the world all at once – in fact it is always best to take a crawl, walk, run approach. Start with one program, test the waters and communicate success.  Look to other innovative programs for inspiration and then build something and make it your own.  Part of what we want to do with this blog is showcase some examples and be a source of inspiration for our members.  Well, here’s another example of an innovative participatory marketing program in action – Amazon’s Customers Vote program. 

Amazon’s Customers Vote is an innovative shopping program where customers vote for, and receive a chance to compete for their most “ridiculous deals” during the holiday season.  It reminds me a lot of American Express’ “My Wish List” effort and it is a shining example of participatory marketing in action.  Here’s how it works.

Step 1: Visitors browse six rounds of deals and vote for the ones they’d like to buy at an amazing price.

Step 2: Participants check their email the day before each buying round to see if they’ve been randomly selected to participate in the ability to purchase the product.

Step 3: If selected, participants are invited to come back for a chance to purchase.

Here is a sampling of some of the deals:

- Samsung 46 inch 1080p HDTV: List Price: $1,599, Winning Price: $699 with 250 Units available.

- TomTom Go 730T: List Price $449, Winning Price: $245 with 1,000 units available.

The result? Thousands of consumers talking about the great deal they got at Amazon, thousands more wishing they got selected and over 500 message board posts.  And what was the glue that helped keep this participatory marketing program going? Relevant, timely email communications that engaged a willing audience.

‘Til Next Time.

I just returned from the West Coast.  While I was there I had a great opportunity to meet up with a former colleague from my ZDNet days, Jim Louderback.  For those of you who don’t know Jim, Jim was one of Ziff Davis’ biggest personalities.  He held many roles while at Ziff Davis, most notably editor-in-chief of PC Magazine and helped lead Ziff’s foray into TV with ZDTV/TechTV.  While at Tech TV, Jim hosted the popular program Fresh Gear, which showcased the latest in personal technology.  Long story short, Jim is a forward thinker and maverick.  His latest venture is as CEO of Revision3, an online TV network for the web that creates and produces its own original, broadcast quality programming.  Yes folks, Intenet Television for Generation Y is here and Revision3 is attracting a passionate following that is participating big time.

Jim gave me the tour of their studios and office in San Francisco. Wow.  As I said to Jim, Paul Allen, yes – the Paul Allen of Microsoft fame and an investor in ZDTV would be beside himself.  So much has changed in so short a time.  What was a multi-million dollar investment with lavish studios and big sets during ZDTV is now done in a small studio packed with the latest state of the art equipment.  While the physical difference is striking, so is the approach and results.  First off, Revision3’s audience views its programming when it wants (remember that consumer control thing), where it wants (all devices).  The audience is actively participating with the brand and fueling its rapid growth through forums and chats and that’s just the beginning.  What’s also very cool about Revision3 is they continue to look at pushing the envelop.  New innovative, participatory focused programming is hitting the internet and it could not be a more exciting atmosphere there. 

The latest venture is the first ever “live” online shopping program or should I say experience.  An email alert (there is that email communication encouraging participation again) gave me a heads-up to watch for “Deals, For The Win” (link goes live at 7PM) set to kick off on Monday, December 8, 2008 at 8PM EST.  The show’s experts will review products live and viewers are invited to ask questions and chat with the hosts.  Prizes, including video games and other cool stuff, will be given away by the hosts.  This is a start, and I’m sure given the continued build-out of the company’s forums and e-communications strategy, just a piece of more great things to come.  What we are seeing here is the formation of a future powerhouse in social shopping for technology products.  We are also seeing how participatory marketing, combined with a passionate audience, is reinventing traditional media and thinking. Congrats to the Revision3 team for once again pushing boundaries.  My hope is that I’ll be able to share some of the stats with you in a future post.

‘Til next time

Michael

I recently was preparing for a speech at Pace University around participatory marketing and came across an interesting posting on Nick Burcher’s blog highlighting the top 50 facebook fan pages.  Not surprisingly it looked something like this:

1. Barack Obama
2. Michael Phelps
3. Batman: The Dark Knight
4. facebook
5. Coldplay
6. Windows Live Messenger
7. Adam Sandler
8. YouTube
9. Apple Students
10. Linkin Park

25. Victoria’s Secret Pink

30. Addidas Originals

32. OREO Cookies

45. Red Flavour Pringles

46. Ferrero Rocher

Interesting collection, no?  During my presentation at Pace University in a room filled with hundreds of local undergraduate students, I asked a few questions to kick off the discussion.

How many of you subscribe to emails from the brands you have relationships with? 33% of the hands went up.

How many receive text messages from the brands you have relationships with?

10% of the hands go up.

How many of you became a fan of Barack Obama’s on facebook?

40% raise their hands.

How many of you became a fan or visit the facebook page of a brand you have a relationship with?

0% raise their hands.

So what’s going on here? A reasonable person might assume facebook is basically a bunch of young guys who love sports and junk food and who go online using their Apple computers to look at hot girls – and that is just about it.  Quite a social commentary, no?  But what if you are one of the thousands of brands trying to figure out social media and advertising? What does this mean for you?  Can you be successful on facebook?  Well if you’re not selling music, sports, the latest cool gadget or “entertainment”, then you just might be SOL? Or maybe not – facebook's Connect is interesting? 

My Take? Traditional advertising on existing peer-to-peer social networks will be like TV – ignored.  As my partner says - it is like going to a bar with your friends and someone comes up and tries to sell you a new car.  Not going to happen.  I believe it won’t take too much longer before we see a host of new networks appearing dedicated to helping consumers better manage their brand interactions.  Media including the staples (email, TV, print, etc.) will also be more participatory, encouraging users to engage with brands in ways that create value and benefit both the customer and brand.  Commercial networks will not only bring a sense of organization to the crazy amount of relationships we all must manage, but they will finally align the purchase process with the consumer mindset to create a commercial environment that is controlled by the consumer.  My biggest hope is that my partner and I can be part of that explosion -- and we are working on it.  Let me know what you think.