He’s been called “the most famous customer service representative in the U.S. and possibly the world” by BusinessWeek and now he is sharing his Twitter secrets with PMN members. As Director of Digital Care at Comcast, Frank has been credited with reshaping Comcast’s customer service with a brilliant effort on Twitter that focused on listening to customers and then actively participating with them. So what are those secrets to his success? Here are the top 10 points that Frank made on the recent PMN webinar.

1. Don’t be afraid to try new thing – be open to the possibilities of the social web
2. Be everywhere your customers are
3. Be, find or encourage an evangelist in your organization
4. Invest in listening and ultimately participating with customers
5. Be honest, transparent and responsive – adopt a “Make it Right” mentality in the customer service department
6. It takes a village. Be a team player and work with your internal teams. You may even want to consider creating a cross-functional team like Comcast did.
7. Find an executive sponsor/advocate – support is critical, particularly if you need to change the culture
8. Measure success 
9. Communicate success
10. Always be learning and sharing

Some great advice – thank you Frank. To hear a replay of the webinar, visit the membership section of the PMN website. Stay tuned for some more great speakers – up next how Dell made millions on Twitter…just confirming the details!

'Til Next Time

Well it took some time, but Google has finally narrowed down the list. Last November, I blogged about Google’s Project 10 to the 100th – an innovative global participatory marketing effort established to celebrate its 10th anniversary. Touted as “a call for ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible,” Google garnered over 154,000 entries, and is now ready to invite consumers to vote for their favorites – the ones that they think will help the most people the most. While the process took a little longer than expected, Google whittled down the entries to sixteen “big ideas’ and is ready to write a big check as its advisory board looks to choose up to five projects to fund based on the votes.

Google’s Project 10^100 demonstrates the power of participation and takes cause marketing to the next level with a huge prize that has inspired some great thinking that just might change the world.

So where do you think the money should go? Do you want to help provide quality education to African students, drive innovation in public transport, enhance science and engineering education, create a genocide monitoring and alert system, or promote health monitoring and data analysis? Well – it’s all up to you and let the voting begin.

To cast your vote before the October 8, 2009 deadline visit the website.

It’s planning season again and social media is not only top of mind but dominating the conversation. After a series of strategic discussions around social media with some of my top clients I’ve decided to take another look at the PMN case studies with a key question in mind – what can these programs teach us about marketing and the future of marketing? The findings were very enlightening -- so much so that I’ve written a feature in this month’s eM+C Magazine highlighting some of big take aha’s. While the article showcased four big brands, there is a ton more. That’s why I’ll be showcasing some of those additional insights here as well as at future webinars and speaking engagements. In the meantime I invite you to check out eM+C Magazine. Here is a quick summary along with the key learnings:

Ford’s Fiesta Movement shows us the growing importance of creating “pre-launch” buzz and may forever changes the way marketers introduce new products.

Nike’s What Do You Play For campaign teaches us the importance of building marketing programs that are not only inspirational but identifiable – celebrities no longer need apply.

1-800-Flowers’ Happy Mothers Days demonstrates the importance of transparency and tracking and

Starbucks’ I’m In proves cause marketing is not only good for the world but can be very good for your brand and sales.

Let me know what you think and be sure to check out the more than twenty PMN case studies on our website.

‘Til Next Time

After 3 years and 50,000 entries Netflix is ready to announce the winner of its movie recommendation challenge – or are they? While the contest ended on Sunday, two teams are reportedly in a dead heat for the million dollar prize. In fact, Netflix has delayed officially announcing the winner to validate the results – yes it was that close between the top 2 teams (BellKor's Pragmatic Chaos, The Ensemble). So what was the challenge and -- more importantly -- the key lessons learned? The challenge was to improve Netflix’s movie recommendation engine by 10% - a task requiring deep expertise in predictive modeling and statistical scoring, which makes the 50,000 entries all the more impressive. However, one of the more interesting phenomena’s that resulted was the participation and collaboration among team members and eventually across teams in the later stage of the contest. Once the benchmark of 10% was passed, it set off a 30 day race that allowed other teams some time to surpass it. What actually occurred was fascinating – teams and rivals merged, consortiums were built and passions were ignited. So much so that one team, started their own company to develop recommendation systems for e-commerce players.

So what was THE key lesson learned?

• Participation & collaboration and teamwork leads to innovation and invention: When you engage a community great things can happen. There are countless examples of communities generating great ideas – My Starbucks Idea, Dell’s IdeaStorm and others. However, when you get the community to collaborate and you build teams comprised of different yet complementary skills sets truly amazing things can happen. This is why the Netflix participatory marketing program will be one that will be studied for many years to come. Not only did Netflix receive some great ideas on how to solve the problem, but they got a diverse group of people from around the global to focus on building a solution that they could not otherwise buy or build themselves.

For me the Netflix program reminds me a little bit of what 3M is so famous for – that is their ability to assemble small teams to collaborate and innovate new products. But while 3M pulls its talent from within the company, Netflix tapped into the social web to reach and engage the best minds in the world to solve their problem – amazing. So the next time your company faces what seems like an insurmountable challenge – ask yourself how would the “community” solve this?

‘Till Next Time

It is that time of year again – Back to School and the ads are everywhere. However, the one thing I noticed this year that was very different is that some of the big brands have added a bit more participatory marketing into their existing promotional efforts. One of the more innovative on that front has been Bed Bath & Beyond. In a series of print ads placed across several magazines Bed Bath & Beyond is mixing it up by including its standard 20% off coupons along with a participatory marketing twist. For the ad placed in People Magazine that twist includes a “Student of Invention” participatory marketing promotion that encourages readers to submit a great dorm room product idea. Similar to the My Starbucks idea effort, the ad calls for readers to submit ideas.  Ideas in this case are “to help students conquer the challenges of dorm room living: space, organization, storage, cleaning, lighting, comfort and decorating.” Done in partnership with Edison Nation, the ad goes on to say the winning invention may be sold in the more than 900 Bed, Bath and Beyond stores across the nation. For more information on the program and to enter your idea visit the Bed Bath & Beyond website.

In a related effort, a Bed Bath & Beyond ad found in Real Simple the same week, offers readers the possibility to win $55,000 for college and a $10,000 donation to the college of their choice if they user their MasterCard at Bed Bath & Beyond between July 1 – September 8, 2009. The ad looks and feels very similar to the ad found in People magazine with three fourths of the ad devoted to the promotion and remaing portion to the coupon, but obviously the message is very different. So what is so intriguing about Bed Bath and Beyond’s effort here? Lots.

1. A mix of old & new approaches. The 20% coupon is a Bed Bath & Beyond staple. While Bed Bath & Beyond may not be completely comfortable messing with success the latest effort demonstrates the company is willing to try or at least test something new and embraces customer participation as a key component of the effort. I suspect coupon redemption tracking and impact on sales will yield some great learnings.
2. Media/offer targeting and the social web. It is very interesting to look at the placement and demographics of each ad. As an example, People Magazine’s demographics index very high among 18-24 year olds and those under 44. One look at Forrester’s social technographics and you can see that the audience comprises a segment of the population that is very active on the social internet and includes a high number of joiners (maintain social networking profiles) and creators (publish blogs, upload video, write articles/stories and post them), which is very aligned to the promotion activity required. On the other side we have the ad in Real Simple whose average reader skews older at 44.  In fact, about 52% of Real Simple readers are between 35-54, according to the media kit. Here again, a look at Forrester’s social technographics data provides some interesting insights - this segment is much less active on the social internet. Therefore it seems fitting that the promotional element showcased in the ad in Real Simple requires no participation outside of a purchase at Bed Bath & Beyond in order to be automatically entered into the sweepstakes. Coincidence? I think not. To me it looks like Bed Bath & Beyond took the time to think about its target audience segments and built relevant offers that would best appeal to each.
3. Tracking. This is a company that has, in many respects, has taken a mass marketing approach to the market. Each and every month one thing was certain in our household – that 20% off coupon from Bed Bath & Beyond could be found in the mailbox. This latest effort demonstrates that Bed Bath & Beyond is willing to mix it up a bit and it looks like they are doing it intelligently with a targeted approach that most likely includes sophisticated tracking that can not only measure lift in sales and redemptions but participation as well.

Congratulations to Bed Bath & Beyond for demonstrating the importance of understanding your audience and building a corresponding offer and media strategy that encourage participation.

‘Til Next Time.

In June I detailed an innovative participatory marketing program at the Westin Boston Waterfront Hotel. The “running concierge” program demonstrated how leading brands can build a differentiated customer experience through participation and even operationalize it. It also showcased the importance of moving beyond data and using public-facing employees to engage customers in ways that provide a benefit while also reinforcing your core positioning and marketing messages. While I’ve detailed several examples of participatory marketing in this blog over the last 10 months, I think the Westin example and ones like it are among the most powerful. Why? Because they use real people and, like social media, demonstrate the power of getting as many people as you can involved in your brand, particularly those that work for you. 

The Westin program also reminded me of the countless opportunities nearly every brand has to engage customers to participate with their brand on a daily basis - be it your help desk, store personnel, web site or online customer service consultants like Saturn’s -- which was highlighted in my recent eM+C email marketing column. In the Saturn example the online consultant effectively moved me through the purchase process and offered me a special incentive to take a test drive. Where the program unfortunately fell a bit short was its inability to continue the conversation by asking me to subscribe to future emails from Saturn. However, the lessons are clear – every touch point is an opportunity to engage, encourage participation and continue the conversation. For marketers the next steps are clear. 

• Audit all customer touch points
  • Web site
  • Communications
  • Customer service/help desk
  • In store o Etc.
• Build a strategy that:
  • Engages the customer by offering value
  • Encourages a desired action and engages the customer to participate with your brand further
  • Attempts to continue the conversation
• Commit to innovation and open communication
  • Involve employees in the process by sharing winning programs and case studies that encourage brainstorming and idea exchanges among critical consistencies.
• Train
  • The Saturn program and other successful and notable programs like Comcast Cares, Zappos and others all demonstrate the importance of training employees and making the commitment to the customer front and center.
• Execute and evaluate
  • Like any great program, success is in the details and your ability to not only execute but evaluate learnings so the program can evolve and get better.

Last but not least, as the Westin example demonstrated – the ability to operationalize a program can be the ultimate differentiator when it comes to building a truly unique and valued customer experience.

Til Next Time

Impressed with the eloquence and creativity seen from its customers’ product reviews (example one, example two, example three), Amazon is now turning to its customer base to help produce its next commercial. Specifically, Amazon.com is asking aspiring filmmakers and the rest of us to help create a short film or video advertising Amazon.com. The program entitled “Your Amazon Ad Contest” asks users to submit a 30 second TV commercial video for Amazon.com between 6/8 – 7/17. A panel of judges will then select five finalists and pick one of them as the Jury Prize winner. Then between 8/24 and 9/6, millions of Amazon customers will be invited to watch and rate the five finalists’ videos. The filmmaker who receives the highest average rating from eligible votes will receive the Audience prize. Finally on 9/21, the Jury and Audience Prize winners will each receive a $10,000 gift card and a screening of their ad at the 15th Annual Gen Art Film Festival in New York City. If you win both…you get both prizes.

The contest page goes on to ask participants to be creative – “show us anything, from how fast you can place an order to how excited your dog gets when he sees the delivery guy.” The program includes a partnership with Withoutabox which offers various tools, including film production and promotion services.

It was only a few short years ago that Ad Age (echoing Time Magazine) declared the Agency of the Year to be you. I guess you’ve now been hired by Amazon.com to produce a new commercial– Congratulations and welcome to the new world of participatory marketing!

It is definitely a new world and the Amazon program is another example of how participatory marketing is challenging traditional approaches. Amazon is one company that has fully embraced participatory marketing and is putting the customer in control of everything…from posting reviews, to selecting what products go on sale (remember Amazon’s Ready, Set, Go campaign last year), to how to best communicate what the Amazon.com brand means. For that, my hat goes off to the brave folks at Amazon.com – keep up the good work. Let this be a lesson to the rest of us that relinquishing control and putting your customers in charge can be a very, very good thing.

For more information about the contest or to enter – click here.

You’ve just got to take your hat off to the mavericks. They’re independent, fearless, innovative and always a step ahead of the rest of us. One of the first in media was Martha Stewart. This domestic diva turned a passion for entertaining into Martha Stewart Omnimedia which includes books, magazines, radio and TV shows, merchandise and a robust web presence that includes a thriving online community.

Therefore it should come as no surprise that MSO is actually an early adopter of Participatory Marketing programs. One specific example is Martha Stewart’s Dreamers into Doers contest. Now in its third year, the participatory marketing contest honors extraordinary women who have transformed their passion into a business or philanthropic venture. Last year’s contest attracted more than 2,225 dreamers who entered the competition, 10,000 community members and 15,000 email subscribers. Not bad – but what I like most about this participatory marketing program is how it has evolved over the years and how aligned it is with the overall MSO brand. There are several lessons to be learned about building a great participatory marketing program from MSO. Mainly, great participatory marketing should:

• Reinforce The Brand – This particular effort honors extraordinary women who have transformed their passion into a business or philanthropic venture. Well as the press release says, that’s exactly what Martha Stewart did 25 years ago. So as you brainstorm new ideas to get your users engaged with your brand, remember what caught their attention in the first place and ask yourself the all important question - what does our brand really stand for at its core?
• Be Inspirational—Last years Dreamers and doers effort included a profile of 11 finalists all with impressive accomplishments that were showcased on MSO’s website. The grand prize winner was Amy Jaffe Barzach, who rose from personal tragedy to start Boundless Playgrounds. Boundless Playgrounds is now know as the first national nonprofit dedicated to helping communities create playgrounds where children, with and without disabilities, can play and learn together. The winner of last year’s People’s Choice award, Patricia Fragen, also had a moving story to share. After losing her daughter to cancer, Patricia started Normal Moments, Inc. A 501 (c) (3), not-for-profit that provides support services like housecleaning, lawn care, meal allowances, etc. to parents with critically ill children.
• Leverage Existing Assets To Build Community – While many of us don’t have the assets of a MSO behind us, Martha uses what she has including announcing the contest via her blog, email alerts, as well as website and TV mentions. Use and coordinate all corporate assets to help spread the word and increase participation for your program.
• Involve Partners. The whole is greater than the sum of its parts. When thinking about building your next participatory marketing program think about looking to and involving partners who can be instrumental in spreading the word. In MSO’s case, partnerships and tie-ins included, among others, the prize provider Wyndam Worldwide and their women on their way site.
• Support Activity. The site and supporting communications should be easy to use and include tools, content and mechanisms that encourage visitors/members to engage and share. Fresh user content and contributors should be front and center and all topics and issues should be organized and searchable.
• Grow and Evolve. The Dreamer into Doers contest continues to build momentum. With continued growth and support, the Dreamers into Doers can eventually evolve into a true participatory marketing franchise for MSO.

MSO sets a good example - now stop dreaming and start building your own participatory marketing program.

Using one of its most unique approaches to date, 1-800-Flowers is setting its sights on “influencers” - mommy bloggers that is - to encourage participation and spur sales during this Mother’s Day. The outreach program which started this month is targeting approximately 24 “mommy bloggers” who according to a recent Brandweek article will fill eight archetypes of motherhood. Chosen bloggers will receive a bouquet of flowers and a discount code to share with their readers. Additionally, the company will recognize select bloggers through its own blog with “floral lifestyle expert” Julie Mulligan across various categories (Do-It-Yourself Mom, On-The-Go Mom, Pet-Lover Mom, etc.). The lucky few selected will also attend a cocktail party in their honor with 1-800-Flowers CEO John McCann and will be encouraged to write posts about the recognition. To launch the program, 1-800-Flowers will support the effort across other social media and interactive outlets including facebook, their twitter account and a dedicated microsite (www.spotamom.com).  Visitors are also being encouraged to submit their own nominations for mothers that deserve some recognition at www.spotlightamom.com. While the campaign does not include social media advertising the program will lead up to an extensive campaign that will include TV, print and online starting April 20th. Ads will feature CEO Jim McCann giving flowers to moms in various everyday locations.

For those of you looking to close the loop and measure the effectiveness of your social media efforts, 1-800-Flowers has done a lot right here. First, the use of unique discount codes will allow them to track redemptions. Additionally, traffic to their microsites www.spotamom.com, along with submitted entries to www.spotlightamom.com, will be a great barometer of the program’s success.

So the question of the week is…Is 1-800-Flowers crossing the line? The difference may be in the details -- i.e. disclosure. However, is giving gifts and schmoozing with mommy bloggers to influence blog editorial pushing the boundaries? Or just great relationship building? Are bloggers like trusted reporters or not? And should they be held to a similar standard? Are we in danger of damaging “trust” in social media outlets? Clever or careless? We’d love to hear your thoughts. In the meantime, we are happy to see the Blog council has a free Disclosure best practices toolkit – you can download it here. Trust is a terrible thing to waste, so think it through and cover your bases before launching a similar effort.

‘Til next time.

In a new campaign called “What do you play for?” Nike calls on teens to share their sports stories. The effort includes a collaboration among Nike, social network Youth Noise and social media firm Brickfish. Participants are encouraged to upload photos of them playing the sport of their choice and to share their individual stories. Visitors to Youth Noise then vote on their favorite photos. Prizes will be awarded for the Best Photo and Most Viral which will be selected by Youth Noise from among the 250 highest scoring entries. Winners will receive $500 cash or scholarship. In addition, five randomly selected Sign-Up Sweepstakes winners will each receive $100 cash or scholarship.

The campaign is part of Nike’s focused social media strategy to get teens to participate with its brand through online communities that encourage them to share their personal sports stories and the impact sports has had on their lives or the lives of others. According to Youth Noise,

“Whether a young person dances to build his or her self-esteem and stay healthy, runs marathons to benefit local charities or teaches soccer to young boys in Uganda, we want to hear the story.”

Since the launch earlier this month, the site has received over 230,000 page views, 869 entries, 1,560 reviews and 7,366 votes.  Visitors can sort entries by most popular, most viewed, most viral, recently added and highest ranking. A review of the highest ranking stories shows the diversity of real life stories --many of which are not only inspiring, but ones that millions of us can relate to.

“I dance for the empowerment of all women”

“Freestyling for fitness and fun! Swimming helped bring great benefits to my child, who had bilateral-coordination disorder.”

“Heart of a Champion: When I was 10 years old I was injured in an ATV accident that left me paralyzed from the waist down. I was introduced to the world of disabled sports, primarily water-skiing…I have never loved something so much in my life. I plan to fulfill my dream of competing at the World Competition doing what I love the most.”

“I run to stay sane, to escape from all my problems and stresses”

Nike originally built its brand showcasing the talents of unattainable superheroes like Michael Jordan. This latest effort demonstrates the company's evolution by now leveraging the power and participation of their customer base to inspire others. For marketers struggling to figure out how to connect with their customers and prospects, the Nike example demonstrates some of the key questions you need ask yourselves: How does our product or service impact the lives of our customers? How can we get those consumers to be active with our brand in the most powerful and engaging way? The “What do you play for?” sweepstakes ends May 20th.