Photo by: James Cridland

While GM’s IPO is all over the news, it is how GM talked about social media at the LA Auto Show that intrigues me and I think gives the most insight into their future success.  Don’t misunderstand.  The fact that in almost 18 months GM has gone from the brink of bankruptcy, to a government run entity, to a viable company creating one of the largest public offerings in history is amazing.  It is definitely the topic for another post.  But the question for me is – will GM make it in the long run?  Can they truly turn it around?  While I think it is probably too soon to tell for GM, I believe Ford will have a strong future.

So, back to the LA Auto Show.  Listening to a company spokesperson talk about social media at an auto show may not be the Wall Street way to determine a companies future, but there are some things that can be learned.  And there is an interesting contrast between GM and Ford.  

Let’s start with GM.  The LA Times quoted Lisa Gilpin of GM, from the LA Auto show.
Gilpin said GM’s social media campaigns “weaved naturally” through its more traditional press campaigns in a manner that was “consistent with how social media is becoming more integrated into our communications and marketing plans.”  Sounds reasonable.

Now listen to Jim Farley, CMO of Ford, comment on social media in this YouTube video from the Paris Auto show. Ford talks about how social media involves their company in consumers lives.  Ford is creating experiences, thinking about how much the company needs to give back to people’s lives, and that they (Ford) were selfish and didn’t get it when they started using social media.

A big contrast to GM whose goal for social media is for it to become more “integrated into their (GM’s) communications and marketing plans.”  For Ford, social media is a tool to help them involve and engage the public.  For GM, it is about GM and their plans. The contrast continues in what each company did at the show.  (From LA Times)

GM:

• Gilpin live tweeted product launches at @gmblog
• Set up Foursquare and Gowalla check-ins

Ford:

• Virtual online test drive of a rally version of the Focus
• Cross promotion with CBS’s “The Amazing Race” featured on Ford’s Facebook and Twitter pages
• Hosted an open casting call for participants on “The Amazing Race” tied to the auto show

GM took steps at using social media tools, but Ford created experiences, and ways for consumers to interact with their product and be entertained.

Is GM going to make it?  It will be interesting to watch.  They’ve gone from bankruptcy to viability in under two years.  Can they go from talking at consumers to joining in with and engaging them?  That remains to be seen.  So for now, my money’s on Ford and my hope is that GM is able to join the movement.

Want to know more about how Ford is engaging consumers?  Check out The Fiesta Movement:

http://www.fiestamovement2.com/agents/

http://chapter1.fiestamovement.com/agents/

Our first stop was Greenfield, Ohio, where we met Lindsay. An entrepreneur, a leader in her community, and a championship hog farmer – so I took my boots.

My understanding of what 4-H stood for, prior to setting foot in Greensfield, may sound familiar to most – ‘They’ must be some sort of cross between ‘Green Acres’ and ‘Pleasantville.’. a place, frozen in time, where kids happily go to school, do their chores, and don’t do drugs – actually, Shyamalan’s “The Village” was in the running, at one point.

Boy, was I right – and wrong, as it turns out. Yes, these 4’H’ers, kids aged 9-19, were respectful, confident, well-spoken, and even humble, but there was more to it than I had initially thought. Much more. I had put a cynic’s lens over it all; everything I knew previously was from others like me – people who had never experienced 4-H first-hand.

Everyone involved in 4-H shared a couple of unexpected traits in common. They were driven. Talk (or, these days, texting) is cheap. These guys are, unquestionably, the real deal. They genuinely care. 4-H’ers – at least the 50, or so, I met – want to take what they’ve learned and use it to make their communities better and to teach their communities how to sustain themselves.

Shortly after I started working on 4-H, I thought it might be a good thing for my stepson to be involved in and a little later, I realized it might be good for me too. Today, as I watch the Revolution of Responsibility movement launch across the country, I am a 4-H’er. And like all of those amazing people we met, I have stories of my own to prove it.

I attended the initial launch of the Revolution of Responsibility in Phoenix, AZ.  But Big River wasn’t the star of the launch — neither was the National 4-H Council.  Instead we invited the 4-H kids — the same kids who are featured in the campaign — so people could meet the real 4-H’ers who ARE the start (and the stars) of this Revolution.  The kids spent hours talking to 4-H Extension Agents and state leaders from around the country about their stories and how they made an impact in their own communities.  They shook hands, they listened to other people’s Revolutions, they signed autographs (I think they even had the paparazzi following them around at one point:)).  But most importantly, they made the campaign real for the Extension Agents and other 4-H leaders.  They made the messages relevant.  They started the movement.  And they put 7 faces onto a culture-changing Revolution –consisting of millions of 4-H’ers who are already out there, doing the right thing, overcoming obstacles, and pushing our country to the next level.

When they finally previewed the video for a room full of people, the 4-H community responded.  The room stood tall.  And the smiling, proud, and confident faces of the kids transcended to everyone in the room.

And let’s face it, there aren’t many things better than a standing ovation.

The new NBA season tipped off yesterday and for the first time in a long time I’m genuinely excited about it this early on.  No, really. My annual fantasy draft usually gets me hyped up for the start of the season, yes; but to be honest, even as a hardcore hoops fan, over the past few seasons my enthusiasm quickly faded, returning full force only during the playoffs. This has nothing to do with the fact that my fantasy squad is the perennial underachiever. I digress.

This year is different. Why? Because the stories are fresh and interesting and the expectations are higher than they have been in a long time. Kobe is going for ring number six to match MJ, there’s already MVP buzz around Kevin Durant, and then of course, the biggest one of all, the one that’s got everyone talking, tweeting, statusing, debating, arguing, hating, respecting, supporting and ultimately caring – LeBron James in Miami.

Love it or hate it, and I’ll admit I didn’t like how “the decision” was handled and selfishly I wanted to see him in a Bulls uniform, but LeBron joining Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh had hardcore fans and causal observers alike speaking their minds this summer. But now it’s time to sit back or on the edge of your seat and witness the biggest off-season basketball story in recent memory unfold live and in full HD (3D if you’ve got one of those TVs).

My point, and I do have a point, is that even as a lifelong NBA fan who grew up during the Jordan era, my interest in the league over the past few years has waned during the regular season. I wasn’t watching as many games as I used to and if it weren’t for fantasy, I probably wouldn’t have kept up much at all. I just wasn’t caring as much. Everything felt a little same ol’ same ol’.

So, as it relates to what we do as brand guides, how do we keep loyal fans, customers, consumers, audiences, people, interested if they stop caring as much as they used to?

I think you have to create something that reignites their passion. It has to feel real because it is real. Shouting “new and improved” doesn’t cut it. It has to matter. It has to give those who have become jaded or uninterested a reason to care again.
It has to create an authentic conversation, be relevant and resonate, and get people to actually do something.

When it came to my NBA regular season apathy, it took LeBron James putting his legacy in the grand scheme of things on the line. I already thought of him as one of the greatest current gen players. But if he wins a championship now, will he go down as one of the greatest ever or the superstar who was supposed to win? And what if he doesn’t win it all? Can the Heat beat the Celtics? The Magic? The Lakers? I have no idea. But I’m ready to find out. All season long. For the first time ever there’s a super-team with three big stars who are in their prime and I don’t want to miss a game, regardless of who they’re playing.

When this season is over, all the hype of this off-season will be justified – there’ll be just as many passionate debates if Lebron wins or loses. And that means the games will have mattered, lots of people will have cared. And that’s great for a league and a brand that I’m starting to love again. Go Bulls!

A primary reason companies give for not launching a blog or starting a social media effort is the fear of negative comments. “But what if they say something bad about us?” is a common refrain.

“It’s likely someone will say something negative at some point,” according to Connie Reece, Big River’s go-to source for all things social media and social networking. “But when done right, the positive responses will far outweigh the negative, and there are ways to mitigate the impact of any negative comments you might receive.”

Connie recently returned from BlogWorld Expo, the largest industry trade show for new media, where she spoke during the three-day event’s Social Media Business Summit. Her presentation, How to Survive a Snark Attack, instructed attendees on how to deal with negative comments online.

“There are two kinds of negative commenters,” Connie says. “Snarks are basically verbal snipers, people who may have constructive criticism but who say it in a mean or sarcastic way. Trolls are another animal; their goal is to disrupt productive conversation or to damage a company’s reputation.”

The BlogWorld presentation covered how to tell the difference between snarks and trolls, offered strategies for dealing with both, and presented case studies.

We invite you to scroll through the slides above to get the gist of the material, and if you have any questions or comments for Connie, feel free to leave them here and she’ll respond.

Or, as we say in the marketing biz, what is your most advantageous position on the spectrum of the impressive, authoritative, big-guy answer at one end, and the friendly, approachable mom-and-pop solution at the other? Many organizations feel that now is the time to convey a solid (some would read arrogant) position. This all-knowing marketing stance, they reason, will eliminate any uncertainty or fears about their weaknesses.

My advice?  To cast your organization in the greater-than-thou camp these days is deadly. This recent period proved there are not many greater-than-thou or smarter-than-thou companies around, although many organizations were claiming to be.

A very interesting exercise is to go back and see the arrogance of financial ads right before the tremendous economic collapse–highly enlightening. Think Merrill Lynch. Think of its lofty “a breed apart” campaign. Didn’t this self-proclaimed unstoppable bull of an American business have to be bailed out by Bank of America because it misread the market and overextended?

Turns out, Merrill Lynch’s position was way out of line with its reality.  What does this do to the cynical lens through which the public now views claims and “positionings” of financial institutions? That cynical lens is very thick.

No doubt customers took note of this hypocrisy. Professional services firms, led by the financial and investment community, have plummeted in recent customer trust measures. Not by a little, but–since these measures were first taken–by historic levels. On the other hand, who feels secure today dealing with the small, friendly, mom-and-pop organization? From the well-honed and skeptical viewpoint of customers, there surely exists the question: “Does this group have the real foundation and wherewithal to be there for me long term?”

How many ads have the all-too-familiar refrain, “We’re different because relationships are important to us?” Credibility is a huge issue with the ol’ relationship claim these days.
And you can’t put your finger up to the wind and play one of those two cards depending on the current climate.
Yet that’s done all the time. Some organizations cluelessly treat their brand like they do a wardrobe: wear a tuxedo one day and jeans the next–whatever is appropriate for the day. They think they can fool the customer and be whatever they need to be.

What a waste of money. It’s hard work to have strong competence and a customer-serving nature–and to be disciplined enough to maintain it for the long term.
But, for today’s customers, that’s where the gold is.
An organization’s approach can’t be just an ad or website slogan, it has to be real.

Organizations need to take a clear look at what they really are. What are the passions of their leaders and their employees? What are their genuine desires for best serving their customers? Is the organization committed to go the extra mile to do things right–for the customer? And what does that mean? If they have that true, solid, never-changing philosophy, a great brand can be built that will withstand any kind of environment.

It’s one of the reasons that our great client Harris Williams & Co. has enjoyed the success it has. Harris Williams has struck the right balance between high competence and strong commitment to serving its clients and building great relationships. That makes our job as strategic brand communicators so much easier. Our job is to effectively and creatively let people see what is really there.

That’s an authentic brand with a lot of power. It’s the Holy Grail to which professional organizations should aspire.

You hear it all the time: the key to a successful organization lies in its people. At Big River we say, “People believe people” — meaning that your brand is delivered through your people and the experience they create for your consumers. But how you make it happen is so simple, yet so very hard.

Here’s an example of how it’s done. Two New York sanitation workers, Angelo and Eddie, were featured on Story Corps on NPR’s Morning Edition. (If you are not familiar with Story Corps, it is an NPR project that gives ordinary people an opportunity to record their stories. Select stories are aired as part of Friday morning programming.) It is worth the two minutes to hear Angelo and Eddie tell their story.

So how does their story hold the key to delivering on your brand through your people? Let’s break it down …

1.  It starts with hiring the right people. Hiring people who represent your organization’s values, who are passionate about what they do, who have the skills necessary for the job, and who add new dimensions to the team lay the foundation for success.

Angelo & Eddie

• Values: While we don’t know the values of the NY Sanitation Department, it is safe to say that it would value honest, hardworking, compassionate people. After listening to the piece, you can gather that Angelo and Eddie are just that.
• Passionate about what they do:  That is hard to come by when what they do is collect trash. But the passion comes in with Step 2, so we’ll hold off on that for now.
• Skills: clearing 14 tons of garbage a day. Check.
• Adding different dimensions to the team: Listening to their story, you can hear that while they had the same values, they each brought a little something different to the team. Angelo was the talker (public relations) and Eddie quietly got things done.

2.  Inspire people and give them purpose. Everyone wants to make a difference, wants to be a part of something different/special. Great organizations understand how to give their people an inspiring view of what they do and how each person in the organization plays a role in achieving it. What’s more, they give their people the freedom to do things outside of the “job description” in order to achieve the mission.

Angelo & Eddie

• Making a difference/purpose: Angelo tells the story of his first day on the job when his mentor (“old-timer”) asked him to take a look at the sidewalks crowded with garbage. Once they cleared the block, the old-timer asked him to take a look at what they had accomplished.  The answer was, “Nice and clean, right?  People can walk on the sidewalk.  Guys can make deliveries. Be proud of yourself.” Purpose. Angelo now had a reason for what he was doing. This is how he found passion for his work. It wasn’t to be the fastest team that could clear the most cans in the least amount of time, thus saving the sanitation department the most money or allowing Angelo and his partner to knock off early. It was how they impacted someone else, how they made on a difference in the community.
• Freedom to act in ways that are aligned with the overall purpose: Carrying baby carriages off a step or being kissed by nuns was probably not in their job description. And really, how would anyone who wasn’t on a route day in and day out have even thought of such a thing?  But each small act did something for the community, added value to the sanitation department, and made the team feel good about what they did.

3.  Make it happen every day with every employee. This one separates the men from the boys, so to speak. Once you figure out what do and why it is special, it is fun to communicate it to the team and carry it throughout the organization. But over time, new items begin to take priority. You’ve had sessions, and meetings, and newsletters communicating what you do. So by now, everyone must know their purpose and will therefore continue to do it, right? Unfortunately, people don’t work that way. People take their cue from what is being said and reinforced by the people around them (particularly their boss). So if the focus shifts away from the overall purpose, people’s actions will shift as well. Long-term results require long term commitment to and investment in people. (For “extra credit,” check out Olivier Blanchard’s excellent post, Happy employees = Good business.)

Angelo & Eddie

• The tie on this one is not as clear. But note that they both tried to take the same days off for vacation, and each man felt the other was “the best partner he ever had” — probably because they both had the same view of what they did. They knew it was more than just clearing trash and were able to remind each other of that in everything they did.

A quote from American publisher Katherine Graham almost sums it up.  ”To love what you do and feel that it matters — how could anything be more fun?”  Katherine Graham

In February, Forrester Research released a study about the future of advertising. Edward Boches, Chief Creative Officer at Mullen, blogged about the report. According to Forrester, consumers trust consumers more than they trust brands, and 50 percent say that brands don’t live up to their promises. (The future of advertising agencies)

A recent panel discussion on ethics at the University of Richmond, titled The Values-Based Firm, underscored the implications of the Forrester findings. “Companies need to make their values more than just a placard pasted in the break room,” stated panelist Joseph Kunkel, Senior VP of Marketing for CarMax. ”At CarMax, our integrity we bring to selling cars is instrumental. That core value can’t change.”

CarMax is focused on fostering positive customer experiences by communicating and adhering to their core values. At Big River we encourage client companies to do the same.

That’s why the finding that 50 percent of consumers say that brands don’t live up to their promises is interesting, and disturbing–espescially since we find that so many companies we work with, past and present, are filled with people who are passionate about what they are doing and the customers they are serving. They truly want to live the company values and try to service their clients, customers or members.

So, brand managers, what’s a company to do that is bursting at the seams with folks who want to do the right thing in a day when so many brands are not seen as credible?

Start listening to what your employees and customers are telling you. Start being authentic, homest and credible about who your company is. Start encouraging your employees to live the brand they belive in every day. Set up ways for them to do it, and let them go! After all, they are your company.

On a beautiful Friday night in Richmond, a NASCAR race drew a crowd so paltry, the stands looked like a Detroit suburb. One entire side was completely empty; the other housed just a scattering of fans. Conversely, a mud-tracked crash fest with junkers trying to destroy each other drew probably 10,000 people in Hillsboro, Ohio at the Highland County Fair – on a Wednesday night.

I saw both events, one on TV, the other in person. The crowd in Ohio was connected to the action. The spectators in Richmond seemed like leftovers from Thanksgiving dinner. What can we learn from this?

Authenticity matters.

For decades now NASCAR has homogenized their brand into an over-organized, vanilla non-sport filled with cookie-cutter cars and drivers whose personalities have been ironed out of them by the corporate mantra. For a while, it worked. No more. The fans don’t want it. The drivers don’t want it. Hell, not even the sponsors want it. So who is left holding the uninteresting corporate bag? Management.

Racing left its grass roots and built a plastic toy that no one wants to play with anymore. Besides, it costs a small fortune to watch people drive in circles. Even the NASCAR Hall Of Fame in Charlotte, North Carolina is suffering, either from the economy or a lack of interest. Since pro and college football still connect with fans, I say the latter.

On that Ohio field of mud, regular guys – driving old cars that they hammered together in their yards and painted with house paint – slammed into each other in an exhibition of recklessly joyous entertainment. Sounds like what regular old stock car racing used to be back when people bored out the engine of an everyday car, drove it to a track, strapped on a helmet and went at it.

The people were authentic. The event was authentic. The experience was authentic.

It was viscerally real and unadorned with hype and polish. This reality is what so many brands try to create and often kill by product over-management. NASCAR, unfortunately, seems like a textbook example, but they are not alone. Go to websites, watch TV, listen to radio, flip through a deadly brochure, try to read a billboard with more crap stuck on it than three racecars.

We have confused dissemination of information with making a connection to a real human being.

Advertising and marketing have suffered from the same corporate disease of over-management until the brand has no blood, no guts, no life. We like our heroes flawed, not pristine. Branding wants to please everyone, so we please no one. Into this dull world came the rough-and-tumble, bad boys and girls of branding: social media. And with them came transparency and authenticity, which are more than just buzzwords.

Social media is down on the dirt track with a wrench and a screwdriver, delivering an experience so personal and unpolished, everyone, even old people who can’t do anything but sign on to their Facebook page, are intrigued. Want to do more than just watch the Old Spice dude? With social media you can have a conversation with him.

When Brad Paisley sang, “Let’s get a little mud on the tires,” was he talking about life or business?

Perhaps branding will eventually realize where the people actually are and start racing a car like you can buy down at the local dealer – doing it not in front of customers and fans, but with them. Millions of people want to ride in the car. Most want to drive it themselves. That’s the new paradigm of authenticity.

In the meantime, in Hillsboro, Ohio, a guy is painting crude numbers on the side of a 1979 station wagon and itching to ram it into another guy driving a 1982 Ford salvaged from a junkyard two months ago and chicken-wired into a semi-drivable vehicle built to last four or five minutes. That’s authentic spontaneity.

That’s what social media delivers. And that’s what advertising, PR and marketing need more of.

By the way, you got a little mud right there on the side of your face. Looks pretty cool.

I keep hearing people say “don’t be afraid to fail.”  That sounds like a nice way to live.  I’ve always wanted to take more risks in life.  In fact, I have a list of things I want to do before I die – one of them is to fail loudly.  To really take the plunge and go down screaming in a way that people notice.  Wouldn’t that be great fun?

We all like to laugh at fools, but can we be serious about allowing for failure in business?  Most of us talk a good game about wanting to see people taking risks and learning from mistakes, but how many of us are truly willing to forgive for their failures? Do we allow for some failures (e.g. harmless) and not others (e.g. catastrophic)?

Take the BP oil spill for example… No way it isn’t a tragic story on many levels. But how many of us are willing to forgive them?  They failed.  The CEO failed. Our government failed.  We all failed.  Will BP forever be marked with the brush of failure or be applauded for boldly trying?  Does this failure taint all their other successes in renewable energy and technology ?

Sure, we’d all rather this didn’t happen – but look how much we’ve learned from their failure.

Without failure, we wouldn’t know success.