Brains on Fire

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  And an assignment

  Posted on September 29th, 2006 by Jennifer and currently 2 commenting.

  It’s been crazy today, and I almost forgot to post this week’s assignment! Goodness! So here it is:

  What are the images, sounds, songs, memories, ideas, stories, people, etc. etc. etc. etc. that come to mind when you think of:

  EXPERTISE

  Email your thoughts to curiosityteam@brainsonfire.com… and, of course, let me know if you want to join the Curiosity Team officially!

  Have a great weekend!

  Tags: Expertise, Ideas, images, memories, people, songs, sounds, stories, The Curiosity Team
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  Cocaine

  Posted on September 29th, 2006 by Jennifer and currently 17 commenting.

  September 24th at Midnight, an apology letter from the Founder of Redux Beverages was posted on www.drinkcocaine.com. In this age of taking ourselves too seriously (healthy cookie monster, anyone?), I would have expected it to be a broad apology, a recall, a name change and something about “our best intentions” and “any harm done.” But instead… it was an apology for outages to their website which had been inundated with more hits than they could possibly have planned for (6.7 million from Sept. 17-23). What is drinkcocaine.com advertising? Well… it’s a road trip’s best friend – an energy drink called Cocaine Energy Drink (yup) that boasts 350% more caffeine (I said 350% more) than Red Bull. If you ever want to blink again, I’d steer clear.

  Of course, what’s really great about this story is their marketing spending so far: $37.50. That was what it cost to pay a courier to deliver a case to the offices of The New York Post. The Post took it from there.

  Learning lessons from the release of Red Bull – which involved a lot of rumors and speculation and concern over ingredients and such to build anticipation – Cocaine took the controversy a step further and let their name spark the conversation. If ever there were a case for building Buzz into an identity… this would certainly be on the list. It isn’t an example of great WOM based on an authentic community relationship (yet), but just try naming your product Cocaine and NOT being talked about. Of course, they’ll also have a lot to live up to. If you step out with that much daring built into your name, you’d better hope that the rest of your identity and consumer inroads can live up to it. Otherwise, all that buzz can turn on you… FAST.

  They’re only available in limited release right now, but you can bet this burst of conversation over the last 2 weeks is going to translate into sales… even if it ends up tasting like shoe polish. But more importantly… will the excitement last?

  Tags: buzz, cnoversation, Cocaine, Energy Drink, Identity, Marketing, Red Bull, Redux Beverages, The New York Post, WOM, www.drinkcocaine.com
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  Bad Profits on American Airlines

  Posted on September 28th, 2006 by Virginia and currently 7 commenting.

  This morning, I boarded a 6am flight headed to a mini-vacation in Austin, TX. Now, I don’t know if Al Gore is right about all of this global warming stuff, but the expected temperatures in Austin this weekend are the high 90s and I am dressed accordingly – kakhis and a t-shirt. I grabbed an extra sweater just in case the plane’s AC was too chilly.

  After takeoff, the temperature in this tin can (I’m writing onboard) sunk to levels that induced shivers despite cocooning myself in my wool sweater. I asked the friendly cabin attendant if there were any blankets available. She sheepishly informed me that there were blankets. For $5.

  Dear American, you will sooner be inconvenienced with the removal of my icy, hypothermic corpse from seat 4C before I pay $5 for a blanket.

  I don’t know if they have just beaten me down, but I am somehow OK with paying $4 for a snack onboard the aircraft. I would have to pay for a meal at home or in the terminal, so it seems fine to pay on a flight. I am not normally, however, held captive in a freezer with a temp in the 50s, so turning around a charging me to stop my teeth chattering screams ‘bad profit’.

  Fred Reicheld writes about bad profits in his book ‘The Ultimate Question’. Making money by spreading badwill creates short term profit, but long term damage. Examples of bad profits include charging $6.50/gallon if you forget to refill the tank of your rental car or outrageous overdraft fees at your bank. Reicheld’s WOMMA presentation mentioned bad profits both alienate customers AND demotivate employees (like the embarassed flight attendant). . Making money off customer anger is not a growth strategy.

  My gold status and zillion frequent flier miles on American has previously motivated me to go to great pains to try to fly with them. A freezing flight and $5 blanket will cause me to think twice in the future. Maybe the drive to Charlotte to fly JetBlue isn’t so long after all? JetBlue makes me want to be their customer because of they earn it every flight with a remarkable experience. So, I ask you, is the experience you provide your customers rewarding and remarkable? Would they go out of their way to do business with you?

  Tags: Al Gore, American Airlines, Austin Texas, Bad Profits, Charlotte, Fred Reicheld, Global Warming, JetBlue, long term damage, Remarkable experience, short term profit, the Ultimate Question, WOMMA
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  Change is a Science

  Posted on September 27th, 2006 by Spike and currently 3 commenting.

  An interesting article this month in CIO Magazine (thanks, Chris!) entitled The New Science of Change talks about how scientists are studying the activity of the brain when a human is presented with a change in their behaviors at work. As a company that helps other companies reinvent themselves ” and therefore completely change the way they look at themselves, their industry and their relationships with their employees and customers – we know that change isn’t always a piece of cake. And now there’s scientific evidence to back that up.

  The best part of the article is the ‘10 Change Management Rules,’ which looks at things that we all already know from a scientific standpoint:

  1. Stay on message. The brain needs repetition to move a concept from the prefrontal cortex, which handles unfamiliar concepts and complex decisions, to the basal ganglia, where habits are stored. For new concepts to become hardwired, those pathways have to be reinforced continually.

  2. Keep it simple. The prefrontal cortex can entertain only a handful of concepts at a time. Therefore, complex projects need to be refined to one or two goals that businesspeople can easily understand so that their prefrontal cortexes do not become overwhelmed, causing fatigue and the psychological and physical distress that leads to anger.

  3. Expect fear. When the decision-making part of the brain (the prefrontal cortex) becomes overwhelmed, it sends out signals to the primitive area of the brain (the amygdala) that controls the fight-or-flight response. This generates feelings of fear, anger and sadness. Budget for these emotions in your staff.

  4. Let them own the change. There is one aspect of change that scientists believe generates pleasurable sensations: the epiphany, that moment of personal insight when people feel they personally have come to terms with an issue.

  5. Lead by not leading. The prefrontal cortex is always on high alert, looking for signals that all is not right. Ordering people around, painting pictures of the world that don’t line up with people’s own realities or goals, or even offering friendly, well-meaning advice can produce distracting, fearful sensations.

  6. Show, don’t tell. Learning what to do elicits pleasurable sensations; being told what to do causes the brain to produce fearful, angry messages.

  7. Provide experience. People resist change because they can’t imagine what it will be like to fill a role different from the one they know. Allowing people to experience epiphanies in a new role in a controlled, safe way—such as putting an IT person to work in a retail bank before starting a project there—can help everyone adapt.

  8. Focus on the big picture. Even though our brains all share some basic, high-level wiring, our life experiences make each of us unique; therefore, there is no way to paint a detailed picture of a complex project or change that will look the same to everyone.

  9. Seek compliance before commitment. Neither rewards nor punishments lead to the personal epiphanies that people need to experience in order to change. Clarify what people need to do, then step aside, allowing them to discover the benefits of the new processes for themselves.

  10. Make it a personally relevant story. Well-told stories are powerful. But they need to speak to the personal interests of the people affected by the change in order to appeal to the prefrontal cortex, placate the amygdala and spark the epiphanies that allow people to change.

  The only thing that doesn’t change is change!

  Tags: 10 Change Management Rules, Change is a Science, CIO Magazine, Expect Fear, Focus on the big picture, Keep it Simple, Lead by not Leading, Let them own the Change, Make it a Personally relevant story, Provide experience, Seek Compliance before commitment, Show don't tell, Stay on Message, The New Science of Change
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  Intel Multiplies in Social Media

  Posted on September 26th, 2006 by Virginia and currently 1 commenting.

  Intel just launched their new “Mulptiply” campaign to support their Core2Duo processor technology. The campaign includes a significant traditional media investment for the company, but is complimented by efforts on MySpace and YouTube. I had the pleasure of exchanging emails with the woman behind these extensions and she was kind enough to share some of her thoughts with this blog’s readers. Without further ado…

  5 Questions with Intel’s Viral Marketing Guru Elizabeth Lin

  1. What do you see as the opportunity for big brands in social media?

  We have always believed that word-of-mouth is one of the most powerful tools that a marketer can have. The booming popularity of social media has fundamentally changed the way we approach viral marketing. Now we have more ways to reach consumers that we might not have reached before, but we also need to make sure that we are doing it in an entertaining, non-intrusive way. We are very aware that positive feelings can spread just as fast as negative ones.

  2. What are the major goals of your YouTube and MySpace campaign extensions?

  We wanted to give the audience a fun and interactive way to learn about our products, Intel® Core™2 Duo processor and Intel® Centrino® Duo mobile technology. This was also our first foray into adopting social media in our marketing programs and we are learning a lot.

  3. How are you driving traffic to your YouTube channel and MySpace site? Are you placing the URLs in other marketing (online or offline)?

  For the Intel® Centrino® Duo mobile technology effort on MySpace (www.myspace.com/centrinoduo), we bought banners on the site to help drive traffic. We tried a different approach with the Intel® Core™2 Duo program on YouTube and MySpace (www.youtube.com/IntelVlog). Because our latest TV ads feature cool, new bands such as the Teddy Bears and New Young Pony Club, we were able to reach out to their fan base through their pages on MySpace (www.myspace.com/teddybears, www.myspace.com/newyoungponyclub).

  4. I like the personal tone of the CentrinoDuo processor on MySpace. Allow me to wax philosophical, if a processor can have friends, can it also blog and podcast? Do you plan to extend the ‘voice’ to other modes of conversation on the site?

  There are no current plans to do so but hey, you have just given us some great ideas!

  5. Why did you choose to launch your ads on YouTube prior to launching on broadcast? Were the results what you expected?

  We think our new TV ads are very fun and have great potential to be viral. We thought it would be great to give the consumers a sneak preview to these videos and YouTube had proven to be a great vehicle. We have seen great results to date, and we can’t wait to do more similar programs!

  ***************

  Elizabeth’s answers give me hope that big brands truly are looking at social media as a way of opening dialogue with their customers and not just a cheaper way to distribute 1-way messages. Let us know what you think in the comments.

  Tags: Brands, Campaign, Centrino Duo, Core2Duo, customer dialogue, Elizabeth Lin, Intel, Marketer, Mulptiply, MySpace, New Young Pony Club, processor, Social media, Teddy Bears, viral marketing, Word of Mouth, YouTube