Campfire Thinking
As I sat by the fire this weekend in the woods with my family, I had plenty of time to idle well and think about a variety of things. Of course a lot of thinking was about the direction of my life, the company that I help run and the marketplace that I work and play in.
It probably didn’t hurt that I started and finished Grapevine: Why Buzz Was a Fad but Word of Mouth Is Forever by David Balter while sitting in those same woods and thus my brain was swarming around the ideas in the book. (BTW - it is a good read. I’ve been a BzzAgent for a while now so it was interesting to read even if it was a bit too heavy on the non stop stories for my tastes.)
As I sat and watched the fire burn down to a solid bed of coals I realized that more companies, agencies and individuals need to realize that it is harder and harder to measure the effectiveness of some campaigns because of the length of time it might take from a first impression to a sale.
As an example, several weeks ago I got invited by the team at Edelman to attend a Blogger Dinner with Air One. They were launching a new non-stop flight from Boston to Italy and thought it would be good to get together in the North End and tell local Bloggers about it. Of course the hope was that everyone that attended would get excited and run home and blog about it. I didn’t. Somewhere on a spreadsheet I’ve got a blank space next to my name where they would have loved to put a URL.
But, as I sat there by that fire I got wondering about places that Laura and I could perhaps escape to next year for a special anniversary trip. I was cycling through various locations in my mind when I suddenly wondered how affordable it would be to go Italy. I instantly remembered Air One and them being a sort of Jet Blue for the Boston to Italy route. I hadn’t thought about anywhere in Europe because of costs, but because I had been exposed to the brand it came back to me and I looked into it when I got home. (No Laura, I did not buy any tickets yet.)
It is impossible to measure that. Even if I were to buy the tickets and tell all my friends about the great time I had, how would you ever be able to tie that one night in Boston to the over all experience and sale unless I were to tell you about it? Not an easy thing to do.
The fire analogy is one that works. You build it, light it and then hope for the best. If you know what you are doing then the fire will burn long and warm and you’ve got to add wood to it or it will eventually burn out. I sat there for a long time just watching the logs slowly burn. It may have looked to some like nothing was going on, but I knew better.
This is what happens when you let my mind wander in the woods, unplugged from the world for a weekend. *grin*
July 16th, 2008 at 8:14 am |
Your reasoning here is exactly why we should be leery of short-term “ROI” thinking when in comes to marketing campaigns. Sometimes companies just need to commit to getting the word out (including via social media) simply because it WILL work in time…whether measurable or not.
July 16th, 2008 at 9:42 am |
I love this post C.C. I was happy that you took the time to come to our event, meet everyone and seemed to enjoy the night. Exactly as you say, we can’t think about success in terms of traditional metrics like number of posts, etc. That’s an outdated model. We have to understand that if an event like this goes well, you have new relationships within the company and the company has a new relationship with you. Where those relationships ultimately lead is hard to track but I think it has significantly more meaning and value in the long run.
Anyway, thanks again for coming out. I always love having the opportunity to catch up with you… especially over Italian food:)
July 16th, 2008 at 10:01 am |
OK first off all Mr Buzz Agent, it would be in your best interest to disclose what restaurant Air One hosted you at, because as an EU passport carrying member of the Italian American community it will help me to determine how much they “get it” and if I’ll ever consider flying them although regardless of that information I’d never fly Alitalia.
To address Steve’s point and perhaps this is my Bschool side talking, but I put a lot of emphasis on ROI and measurement, however I just don’t place them into some neat and tidy system like most. Each campaign is different and requires a different thought process. For example, I put less emphasis on traffic numbers as a whole in a Second Life campaign, because the numbers aren’t there compared to traditional online strategies, but then I end up putting a lot of weight on time spent with brand which measures out in minutes rather than seconds, since a virtual world like Second Life offers that opportunity. From both sides of the fence everyone needs to be flexible and willing to exploit the strengths of the medium you’re utilizing.
July 16th, 2008 at 10:40 am |
To extend the analogy, some of us lunatics start our campfires with gasoline and magnesium (gas is self-explanatory, and magnesium burns white hot, guaranteeing ignition of even really wet wood).
What’s the gas and mag recipe for marketing?
July 16th, 2008 at 10:44 am |
ROI is very important, but all I’m saying is that sometimes it is impossible to measure it in clicks and posts.
Marc, the funny thing is that I couldn’t remember the name of the restaurant at all. I had to go look it up on my calendar and it was Lucca. We didn’t have a full meal so I didn’t pass any judgment on it. Great location, but what isn’t in the North End?
July 16th, 2008 at 10:56 am |
Ahhh I know Lucca well and they have in fact treated me like a king before so it passes, but barely since their food, and also at their sister restaurant Sasso, is more experimental (but damn good) Italian compared to me reaching back into the old school data storage farm, AKA my brain, and whipping up a meal that Nonna used to make, which is hard to find at any restaurant in the North End although Limoncello has some “almost as good as my Nonna’s” stuffed artichokes, which is saying a lot.
So I’ll put Air One on the “They’re looking suspect at the moment” list until further notice. However thankfully you didn’t say Strega or we may have had to break up…painfully and over IM.
July 17th, 2008 at 11:09 am |
To ad fuel to the flame (urgh) and extend the analogy even further than Mr. Penn did, it’s really not about lighting “a” fire as much as it is about lighting many little fires… Then, over time, seeing how some of them catch and start to blaze, and perhaps even connect together into a raging inferno at some point. ROI might be measured by how much visible smoke those little fires collectively generate during their entire burn cycle…
Now I will dump some water on my head to end the fire analogy…
Happy Camping!