The Bookmarks - a quarterly review

The Bookmarks 2011A brief review by BrandsEye 1

Upfront DeclarationsBrandsEye is a member of the DMMA.BrandsEye was a sponsor of the social media category forthe Bookmarks.Tim Shier (MD of BrandsEye) is on the DMMA Executive ashead of measurement.This report was done on request from the Bookmarks.

14 August – 14 November Putting the timeline in context Awards Ceremony Finalists are announcedBuild-up begins CPT and JHB Workshops

14 August – 1 November 2011 The build-upBrandsEye became the official monitoring partner for theBookmarks 2011 and tracked the conversation around thebrand, the judges and the sponsors.26 phrases were selected to ensure the full conversation wascaptured. the Bookmarks social media team was trained onBrandsEye and key objectives were set.Stacey Rumble (@staceyrumble) assisted the team to ensurethat conversations were relevant and useful to them.

The Build-up [14 August – 1 November 2011] CONVERSATION MEASURES VOLUME OTS AVE 583 1 062 550 R 243 371 MEDIA DISTRIBUTION CONSUMER ENTERPRISE PRESS 65% 34% 1% KEY CONTRIBUTORS (excluding enterprise)@Livingyourbrand @MyCityByNight @Stefanieelliot @IrcMaidon 17 mentions 13 mentions 11 mentions 11 mentions MAIN THEMES

The Build-upStart of Conversation Finalists are announced The build-up 14 August – 1 November

The Build-up - Key Dates23 August – 11 mentions:There are 3 months until the award ceremony. The main conversation is driven by the officialmouthpieces of the DMMA and the Bookmarks. During this time Rob Stokes tweets about onemember of the community offering to sponsor in order to be a judge – this received a strongresponse from other members of the community.

The Build-up - Some Key Dates6 to 8 September – 27 mentions:The Bookmarks website goes live and the category breakdown becomes available. StephPowell (a key member of the Bookmarks team) initiated some strong conversation with the likesof Clicks2Customers (2010 agency of the year), Stefanie Elliott of Mango-OMC and MartinSlabbert of 94.5 KFM showing support. Volumes begin to increase from this date onwards.

The Build-up - Key Dates13 and 14 September – 18 mentions:There are only two weeks left to the early bird special and the Bookmarks team do a great jobto inform the community. The result is some strong community engagement including the likesof OutClosetRugby (an initiative to promote the donation of old rugby gear) with support for theBookmarks team and Louise Marsland (Editor of Advantage Magazine – a media partner).

The Build-up - Key Dates22 September – 15 mentions:The Bookmarks entries finally open to some community excitement (supported by Dj DinoMoran being confirmed for the awards night). Conversation proponents included MyCityByNight(The nightlife guide to Cape Town), Warren Harding (Marketing manager at Bizcommunity amedia partner), This is the largest day to date but volumes decline by 40% the very next day.

The Build-up - Key Dates26 and 27 September – 17 mentions:It’s the last week of the early bird special and the Bookmarks remind the community that entriesare open. Some entrants (such as PlatinumSeed) begin to talk about their excitement over theirfirst Bookmark entry. Other contributors include Karen Dempers (DMMA exco – head ofmarketing and Marketing Manager for MWEB).

The Build-up - Some Key Dates5 to 8 October – 22 mentions:Ten days to the entry deadline and the daily count down begins. Largely driven by DMMA andthe Bookmarks committee members. The count down was supported by William Price of SouthAfrican Tourism, Tim Bishop of Prezence, Marius Greeff of Habari Media as well as Charmaine(@mndr33) and Lieb (@LiebV) a student at AAA.

The Build-up - Key Dates14 October – 39 mentions:The entry deadline is extended to the 21st (resulting in a collective industry sigh of relief). ThePR campaign kicks off in earnest with articles in BizCommunity and on MarkLives. Some ofthose noticing the the extension include Lieze Langford (Digital head of Media24 Woman’sMagazines division), Mel Attree (2011 Winner of Best Social Media Marketer).

The Build-up - Key Dates17 October – 27 mentions:The entry deadline is now 5 days away, the Bookmarks start to promote the workshops andiVeri solve the billing problems on the site – much to the relief of Jarred Cinman (Chief Inventorat Native). This is also the first time that Jack Kruger (head of digital at Old Mutual and theBookmarks Jury Chair) joins the online conversation.

The Build-up - Key Dates19 - 20 October – 39 mentions:ZANews write and release the top 10 tips for entering the Bookmarks (promoted by Ogilvy’sPierre Cassuto – Geek in Chief for ZANews) receiving some discussion and pass-on. Withthree days to deadline the community are starting to feel the pressure. An interview with RobStokes on The Media Online goes live and receives some broad support.

The Build-up - Key Dates21 October – 61 mentions:It’s D-day and the pressure is on. Some of the community are asking for extensions, some aremaking bold remarks about their luck. On this day Antti Kupila (Creative Technologist atinternationally renound Amsterdam based agency Sid Lee) is announced as the internationaljudge. His involvement condenses the community and greatly raises the industry stress levels.

The Build-up - Key Dates31 October – 23 mentions:Now that entries are in, the community are itching to hear who the finalists will be. On this daythe Bookmarks confirm that finalists will be released on the 2nd November. This results in a slewof conversation which largely comprised of Retweets passing the information around.Sentiment in the market is overwhelmed with excitement.

The Build-up –ObservationsThe digital community was very slow to get behind theBookmarks initially. Once various media partners got involvedthis resulted in far more focused and valuable conversationaround the awards.Consumers engaging early on in the build up almost alwayscontributed a number of times throughout the period.Engaging with these individuals and incentivising them tocontinue to contribute (if only through attention) could havebeen a simple but effective means of consolidating anduniting the community at an early stage around the awards.

The Build-up – ObservationsOffline media is a key driver of messaging around the brand.As with other South African brands traditional media waseffectively used to set the agenda around which the socialcould exist. This performed very well for the Bookmarks andensured the community was always informed about thevarious awards deadlines.The conversation tended not to be full representative of allthe major publisher and agency thought leaders. An effortshould be taken in 2012 to engage these individuals early inthe build-up phase and lever their unique positions to growthe online community around the Bookmarks.

The Build-up – ObservationsNon-traditional PR performed well (as was the case withZANews) and should be considered in the build up for 2012.Throughout the build up 149 individuals engaging with thehashtag and the Bookmarks twitter account – on averageengaging 4.08 times across the reporting period (which is farhigher than what typical SA brands experience).Conversely, the Bookmarks twitter handle contributed 97times but engaged individuals only 31% of the time (engaginga total of 24 individuals). Increasing this ratio has shown togreatly improve overall buzz and online success which couldbe employed in the 2012 build-up.

2 - 4 November 2011 The finalistsAfter almost three months of build up and an agonising waitfor all entrants the finalists are released.These three days are important for the awards as it’s the firstopportunity for the community to disagree and become criticalof the Bookmarks process. How this key stage is handledsets the tone for the remainder of the awards and is a keyindicator on how the market will receive the final decisionsmade by the judges.

The Finalists [2 - 4 November 2011] CONVERSATION MEASURES VOLUME OTS AVE 427 658 905 R151 456 MEDIA DISTRIBUTION CONSUMER ENTERPRISE PRESS 89% 10% 1% KEY CONTRIBUTORS (excluding enterprise)@Thatyoungblood @Mikesharman @SuStokes @Zk 22 mentions 13 mentions 10 mentions 9 mentions MAIN THEMES

The Finalists The finalists 2 - 4 November

The Finalists [2 - 4 November 2011] Pre-release: 10am – 1:30pmVOLUME MENTIONS PER HOUR MARKET SENTIMENT Agony. Entrants are 29 8.2 desperate to know how they have done. MAIN THEMES ANALYSIS Throughout these three hours entrants were on high alerts. Many of them regularly engaging both @thebookmarks and @nikkicockcroft. Negativity was however playful and the community largely understood the need for thoroughness.

The Finalists [2 - 4 November 2011] Finalists are released: 1:30pm – 5pmVOLUME MENTIONS PER HOUR MARKET SENTIMENT 205 58.5 Strong positive sentiment. MAIN THEMES ANALYSIS Immediately after the finalists are releases volumes skyrocket and the community congratulate each other (and themselves). Interestingly, there was no negativity towards the decision – which is a big change from the Bookmarks 2010.

The Finalists [2 - 4 November 2011]Finalists are released (outside of working hours): 5pm – midnight VOLUME MENTIONS PER HOUR MARKET SENTIMENT 38 5.4 Strong positive sentiment. MAIN THEMES ANALYSIS Almost immediately after the business days officially ends volumes plummet dropping down to just over 5 mentions an hour. This is behaviour is expected in African social media and no specific the Bookmarks conclusion should be drawn.

The Finalists [2 - 4 November 2011] Finalists are getting comfortable: 3 NovemberVOLUME MENTIONS PER HOUR MARKET SENTIMENT 111 4.6 Strong positive sentiment. MAIN THEMES ANALYSIS On the 3rd volumes drop slightly from the 2nd “off peak” momentum. Conversation on this day is largely unchanged from the previous day although the Bookmarks push around the workshops received good coverage as entrants began to monitor the awards hashtag more regularly.

The Finalists [2 - 4 November 2011]Finalists are getting (really) comfortable and tickets run out: 4 November VOLUME MENTIONS PER HOUR MARKET SENTIMENT 42 1.75 Positive sentiment. MAIN THEMES ANALYSIS Early in the day tickets to the Bookmarks ceremony are sold out. This drives considerable “information sharing” on Twitter. For the first time we are seeing strong engagement between judges as well as fun show of flattery from Tim Bishop of Prezence to the judges #worthatry.

8th and 9th November 2011 The workshopsThe workshops are a key component of the Bookmarksprocess. It’s an opportunity for the community of entrants toengage the judges, gain insight into how the judging criteriawas interpreted and get a gauge on the required standard.As part of the workshops judges share additional insightsabout where the South African digital industry is going, how itis getting there and what it means for a longer-term strategyfor our industry.

The Workshops [8 and 9 November 2011] CONVERSATION MEASURES VOLUME OTS AVE 171 279 660 R64 357 MEDIA DISTRIBUTION SENTIMENT CONSUMER ENTERPRISE Zero negativity was found 77% 23% towards the workshops.Note: There were 546 online mentions about the Bookmarks on the 8/9 November (which are split betweengeneral conversation, the VIP dinner and the workshops). The conversations captured here talk about theworkshop directly, engage at the correct time of day or engage with people at the workshop. There are likely afew which should be added to this number. In any event, all data has been human reviewed to confirmaccuracy.

The WorkshopsBuild-up begins The workshops 8 & 9 November

The Workshops [8 and 9 November 2011] Johannesburg - 57 mentions Cape Town – 114 mentions Cape Town – 114 mentions Total authors 28 Total authors 69 Total RTs 36 Total RTs 69Biggest contributor @cooklet Biggest contributor @stefanieelliottNote: Very prominent tags such as the Twitter handle, “workshop” etc have been removed as they obstruct the detail.

The Workshops – ObservationsDespite the workshops being an overwhelming success,there is room for growth with the social media engagement.The interest around the workshops’ content could be betterchannelled to increase the overall reach and draw otheronline players into the conversation. One such mechanism(however simple) is to include key influencers in theBookmarks tweets to draw them into the conversation anduse their influence to extend the message beyond the currentauthors.There exists an opportunity to write thought leadershiparticles to addressing each of the themes. This would makefor great follow up pieces from the judges or journalists.

10 and 11 November 2011 The AwardsAfter almost a 3 month build-up, the awards ceremony isupon us and a great platform created through the verysuccessful workshops, the awards are off to a flying start withbroad community support.Throughout the previous week, the volume of conversationhas skyrocketed and the community, across the board, iseither excited to be attending the awards ceremony orwishing they had a ticket.

The Awards [10 and 11 November 2011] CONVERSATION MEASURES VOLUME OTS AVE 2323 3 125 700 R720 390 MEDIA DISTRIBUTION SENTIMENT CONSUMER ENTERPRISE PRESS Massive positivity 93% 5.5% 1.5% with a touch of mild negativity. MAIN THEMESNote: Very prominent tags such as the Twitter handle, “workshop” etc have been removed as they obstruct the detail.

The Awards The Awards 10 & 11 November

The Awards [10 and 11 November 2011] THE TOP 6 WINNERS (by volume of awards only) Company Total awards Online Self-gratification % won conversation (i.e. staff/brand congratulations) HelloComputer 14 34 14.7% 24.com 8 47 25.5%Ogilvy Interactive CPT 7 42 33% Quirk 7 80 36.5% DStv Online 5 45 33% Prezence Digital 4 20 20% AVERAGES NA 45 27%

The Winners – ObservationsThere appear to be two trends appearing from the top 6winners: 1. The larger the business the more volume it received – irrespective of the number of awards it received. Quirk is however an outlier due to them winning Best in Show and Best Agency which dramatically boosted the online conversation about the brand.2. The more social media centric the business is the higher the self-gratification index. Not all employees for these businesses attended the awards and only the social media advocates are likely to watch it through the #tag.

The Winners – ObservationsIn the most part the community was incredibly supportive ofother businesses winning awards (even when they werefinalists). As a digital industry we have always been a tightunit and this strongly appears in the online conversation too. Interestingly, these sentiments are often generated from theindividuals behind the brand and not the brand itself. It seemsthat digital South Africa, while united on an individual/sociallevel, is still a fiercely competitive environment on thebusiness side. This dynamic mix comes through strongly inthe social data but equally strongly in the press releaseswhich were published the following day.

The Awards [10 and 11 November 2011] Congrats – 216 mentions: As previously noted the strong support for fellow industry players comes through strongly in this data. The two “nice guys” who congratulated the rest of the community the most were Zahira Kharsany (of Cerebra) due to her strong personal network and Sean Hidden (of Distell) who works with just about all the agency winners.Note: Very prominent tags such as the Twitter handle, “workshop” etc have been removed as they obstruct the detail.

The Awards [10 and 11 November 2011] RT – 708 mentions: Sitting at approximately 30% of the total conversation, the RT was used to great effect. The RT’d conversations alone had the opportunity to be seen (OTS) by 1 113 430 individuals at an AVE value of R255 764. RTs were largely focused around general announcement/information tweets (as is normally the case for other brands).Note: Very prominent tags such as the Twitter handle, “workshop” etc have been removed as they obstruct the detail.

The Awards [10 and 11 November 2011] Team – 240 mentions: The use of the word “team” as a major word represents a broader social media trend. Across the board the word “team” was used to engage the broader team who weren’t able to attend. Either it was lead by a senior staff member engaging that team or the community. In any event, social media has clearly blurred the line between personal and professional engagement.Note: Very prominent tags such as the Twitter handle, “workshop” etc have been removed as they obstruct the detail.

The Awards [10 and 11 November 2011] Anele and Simon Dingle – 65 mentions combined: Due to their low volumes Anele, Simon or the “naked men playing drums” didn’t receive considerable online coverage (with only 4 mentions – 100% female). While all parties did an excellent job it raises some questions about what the role of an awards MC should be and how the event should be setup to provide them with the audiences’ attention.Note: Very prominent tags such as the Twitter handle, “workshop” etc have been removed as they obstruct the detail.

The Awards [10 and 11 November 2011] The hangover (11th Nov) 9 mentions: This is rather unexpected. In the past the day following awards ceremonies are filled with comments about hangovers. While this can be seen as a positive there was some negativity around the access to alcohol during the awards themselves and this may be a contributing factor. Alternatively, the digital industry may have been saving itself for the cricket the next day.Note: Very prominent tags such as the Twitter handle, “workshop” etc have been removed as they obstruct the detail.

Author AnalysisOn the day of the awards there were a total of 418 individualauthors contributing to the conversation online. This results inan average engagement rate of 5.5, which is considered veryhigh for any event (even other digital events).Of these contributors the vast majority were within theindustry. Interestingly, there were 461 authors for the entire 3months prior to the awards. Notably, only 129 authorscontributed to the conversation both before and on theawards day.

Author Analysis Cont.On the night the top 10 authors collectively droveapproximately 10% of the total conversation at 244 mentions.These individuals provide a critical role in the communicationof what is happening around the event as the quickly shareinformation and become the knowledge hub.

Author Analysis Cont.What is alarming about this is that many key industry leaderswere noticeably absent from the conversation. While this maybe arbitrary it would be worth enquiring with these individualsto understand what was causing them to disengage. Findingsshould be used as part of the 2012 strategy.

The BrandsEye Quarterly ReviewPutting an event together of any size is a intimidating task.The Bookmarks is no different. The results we have seen sofar are a clear indication that the market deeply appreciatedthe time investment of all the members of the organisingcommittee, the judges and (arguably most importantly) theaward entrants.As a result of the successful Bookmark awards the entireindustry has gained – which is the ultimate intention of theawards and the DMMA.

Quarterly [14 Aug – 14 Nov] CONVERSATION MEASURES VOLUME OTS AVE 4337 6 615 250 R1 521 453 MEDIA DISTRIBUTION CONSUMER ENTERPRISE PRESS 85% 12% 3% KEY CONTRIBUTORS (excluding enterprise) @digitaledge @livingyourbrand @cooklet @chriscaptivate 67 mentions 61 mentions 57 mentions 52 mentions TOP DOMAINSTwitter BizCommunity DMMA TheBookmarks Facebook Google+ 88% 3% 1% < 1% < 1% < 1%

Quarterly [14 Aug – 14 Nov] – Word cloud As has been experienced at every step along the build-up, finalists, workshop and the award ceremony there is a strong competitive streak within the digital industry of South Africa. That said, there is an equally strong camaraderie. The volume of congratulations, “well done” and references to the various agencies is a good indicator that the industry itself is socially very healthy.

Quarterly [14 Aug – 14 Nov] – Earned Media As the momentum towards Bookmarks increased so to did the AVE. Main increase points coincide with the website launch and the entries’ opening. Following each of these increases we don’t see a sustained growth rates – which is normal. From the date of the finalists being announced this changed and value climbs dramatically. Total value was approximately R1 500 000 in earned media.

Quarterly [14 Aug – 14 Nov] – Author Credibility As is to be expected (although traditionally uncommon) is the high number of credibility 5 and 6 contributors. This has directly impacted the reach of the awards and subsequently its value. Higher credibility authors include: • Simon Dingle • TimesLive • DSTV • OgilvyWW • Anele • SABreakingNews • SowetanLive • Ruby Gold

Quarterly [14 Aug – 14 Nov] – Country Breakdown While the vast majority of the conversation originates from South Africa (as is to be expected) the Bookmarks also drove conversation in Switzerland and UK (1%), Brazil, Canada, Italy, Kenya, Netherlands and Norway (all less than 1%). Engaging these individuals and providing them with the recognition that they contributed to the conversation may be a strategy to lock them in for future Bookmark awards.

Quarterly – Some IdeasFragmented community: The Bookmarks community, while large, is fairly fragmented. Identifying which members of the community joined early in the conversation and then slowly lost interest and understanding their reasoning is a powerful insight into planning for 2012. Efforts should be taken upfront to build relations with key thought leaders in an effort to use their existing networks to drive awareness for the Bookmarks.

Quarterly – Some IdeasStronger media profile: While the Bookmarks has an active profile in social media there is an opportunity to massively enhance the experience. At present the handle tends to be a little stiff and a careful review of the brand personality as it translates into digital is key to resolving this.

Quarterly – Some IdeasUse non-traditional mechanisms: While social media and traditional PR were successful there is significant examples where a non-traditional approach to offline PR has been successful (see ZANews). Using key influencers (as was done with Rob Stokes) and using them in the traditional space provides the opportunity to setup the Bookmarks as an aspirational brand while profiling the previous winners and integrating them into the community. Interviews should include all individual winners and key category winners.

Quarterly – Some Ideas Do it next year: The community have spoken and the overwhelming verdict was that the Bookmarks 2011 was a complete success. Best you do it again!Nikki, Steph, Theresa and all the organising committee – We’dlike to be so bold as to thank you on behalf of your communityfor a fantastic awards ceremony. Looking forward to 2012!

For more information or to get accessto the data contact the team on:Twitter: @brandseyeEmail: contact@brandseye.comPhone: (021) 467 5960

Appendix

Definitions• The online space or online community: Refers to the environment in which any relevant branded conversation occurs online. These may come from social media networks, forums, blogging platforms, press coverage, websites belonging to companies, influential consumers and any other open domain content.

Definitions• Opportunities-To-See (OTS): OTS reflect a measure of the number of people who had the opportunity to see a mention. A tweet from a user with 8 000 followers would account for 8 000 in the total OTS of the conversation. This does not account for the possibility that the mention may not have been seen by the user in their Twitter feed or may have been noticed multiple times.

Definitions• Advert Value Equivalent (AVE): AVE offers a monetary value of the earned conversation. The aim behind the AVE measure is to capture what a company would have paid to expose their brand to the number of people reached by the conversation.

The real end.Thanks for reading the report to the real end. Send us a Tweet on@brandseye (#therealend) and let us know.

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The Bookmarks - a quarterly review

by Tim Shier on Nov 16, 2011

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