The Magic World of Advertising /// Spot #3

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The hughtain Marketing Manifesto (V2)

For the ones who don't already know the talented and unconventional british blogger Hugh MacLeod
and its now A-list blog Gapingvoid, I invite you to discover below its smart "Marketing Manifesto". Hugh has become one of the most influential blogger worldwide thanks to his smart marketing insights and his illustrated business cards (he design a different one for each of the person he gives one to!)

1. The market for something to believe in is infinite.

We are here to find meaning. We are here to help other people do the same. Everything else is secondary. We humans want to believe in our own species. And we want people, companies and products in our lives that make it easier to do so. That is human nature.

2. The most important word in marketing is “complicity”.

It's not enough for the customer to love your product. They have to love your process as well.

3. Your customers are becoming smarter about your market a lot faster than you are.

Thanks to the internet, your customers are able to talk to each other. They are able to find better information about your product than you are able of willing to give them, much quicker than you are capable of giving them. The conversation will happen with or without you, you’re better off joining in.

4. The primary job of an advertiser is not to communicate benefit, but to communicate conviction.

It’s not about what you have; it’s about why it matters.

5. A company's primary role is to function as an "idea amplifier".

A company's primary role is not to make or do stuff. Making and doing are mere subsets.

6. The future of advertising is internal.

The hardest part of a CEO's job is sharing his enthusiasm with his colleagues, especially when a lot of them are making one-fiftieth of what he is. Selling the company to the general public is a piece of cake compared to selling it to the actual people who work for it.

7. Your job is no longer about selling. Your job is about firing off as many synapses in your customer's brain as possible.

The more synapses that are fired off, the more dopamines are released. Dopamines are seriously addictive. The more dopamines you release, the more the customer will come back for more. Your customer thinks he is coming back to you for sane, rational, value-driven reasons. He is wrong. He is coming back to feed.

8. Good-bye, Messages. Hello, Social Gesture.

A well-executed marketing campaign is an act of love.

9. Control the conversation by improving the conversation.

Choosing to have a “smarter conversation” with the market is not a marketing decision; it’s a moral decision.

10. The more porous the membrane that separates your business from your market, the easier it is for both parties to be in alignment. And the more porous the membrane, the easier it is to fix non-alignment.

You can donwload an illustrated (with Hugh famous drawings) version of the original manifesto at changethis.com

Very Creative Happy New Year Video

The Magic World of Advertising /// Spot #2

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The Magic World of Advertising /// Spot #1

Influential marketing : a brand new challenge...

Cnet France was keen enough to interview me as cofounder of BuzzParadise (an international platform to connect brands and influential consumers : bloggers, experts, buzzers...) regarding the challenging trend of influential marketing.

As mentioned in the article (in french), seeding and marketing to opinion leaders such as influential bloggers requires a very subtle approach. It is never easy and nobody can be sure he never will cross the thin line between offering bloggers to experience a product or a service and taking the risk to appear like bribing them. Microsoft is for example under the spotlights now for having been a bit too? generous with influentials... Maybe offering their latest Operating System (Windows Vista) without a brand new laptop would have been enough for them to make their opinion about it...

I personaly think that disclosure and respect of freedom of opinion (i.e. offering the product before the test and not only because a post is good) are key. Without it, audience won't be fooled and influentials will loose their reputation and therefore their influence. Credibility requires transparency, at the cost of accepting negative comments too (but if you are ready to listen, critics have a high value to improve your service or product). If you are not ready... you should maybe consider sticking with traditional mass advertising...

Click below to access the article :
- La crédibilité des blogueurs à l'épreuve du marketing (Cnet)
- La crédibilité des blogueurs à l'épreuve du marketing (Yahoo)
More info here:
- Costly gift from Microsoft becomes invite to blog

Bic is doing viral marketing again

The famous brand of shavers, Bic is lauching a new viral campaign with a serie of 8 viral videos...





The campaign includes a blog, a viral game,... organized around the following url : http://www.3fineslames.com (access available only to a selection of 200 influentials from BuzzParadise until the 4th of January, 6pm)

Disclaimer : Vanksen Group & BuzzParadise are in charge of the launch...