Universal Mccanns When Did We Start Trusting Strangers

September 2008 29 countries 17,000 internet users When did we start trusting strangers? UM EMEA September 2008

Influence Revolution Volume of Recommendation PRE MEDIA AGE MASS MEDIA AGE SOCIAL MEDIA AGE Church, state, monarchy dictate the agenda Professional media dictate Consumers dictate When did we start trusting strangers

The ways to share influence have exploded PRE MEDIA AGE MASS MEDIA AGE SOCIAL MEDIA AGE Consult a professional Readers letters Phone in; TV / Radio Talk to shop worker Personal blog Social network page Widgets Photo sharing site Chat rooms Message boards Video sharing site Comments on blogs Comments on websites Viral emails Wish lists Ratings on retail sites Reviews on retail sites Auction websites Social Bookmarking Chat room Price comparison sites Social shopping sites Talk face to face Consult a professional Readers Letters Phone in; TV / Radio Talk to shop worker Phone call Talk face to face Phone call SMS Email Instant Messenger Talk face to face Talk to shop worker Consumer influence channels When did we start trusting strangers

We now influence to the world without thinking When did we start trusting strangers

This is why your brand is already part of their conversation When did we start trusting strangers

Online self completion surveys

Scripted and hosted on Intuition, Universal McCann’s proprietary research system, powered by Confirmit

Representative to the 16-54 active internet universe (use every day / every other day)

Key audience to understand adoption

Make up the vast majority of social media users

Panellists recruited by global panel partners

Completed in Q1 2008

When did we start trusting strangers We measured the impact

Creating unique global insight 29 markets 17,000 respondents Australia China Singapore Philippines Taiwan South Korea USA Mexico Brazil Japan India Pakistan Hong Kong Canada Turkey UK Denmark Greece Russia Romania France Spain Italy Germany Poland Czech Republic Hungary Netherlands Switzerland Austria When did we start trusting strangers

Result: a new landscape of influence

Rise of social media

Digital friends

Proliferation of influence channels

When did we start trusting strangers

Continual rise of social media: Content creation is mainstream Social Media adoption over time (waves 1 – 3) Global Average. Source: Universal McCann Social Media Tracker Power to the People New influence landscape: the rise of social media

Driving the growth of the web 1999 2008 Volume of content published online each year New influence landscape: the rise of social media 1 EXABYTES 876,000% Increase! 8760 EXABYTES Source: Internet Innovation Alliance

Publishing billions of thoughts YOUTUBE FLICKR 14 HOURS OF VIDEO UPLOADED EVERY MINUTE 6.6M PHOTOS UPLOADED EVERY DAY WIKIPEDIA 11.2M ARTICLES TRIP ADVISOR 15M REVIEWS New influence landscape: the rise of social media

Much of this content is opinion “ What do you do with your social network profile?” Social Network Users, Global Average. “ When writing a blog, which of the following do you post?” Blog writers only, Global Average. New influence landscape: the rise of social media

Social media: creating digital connections Agree with the statement “Blogging is important to socialise with friends ” Agree with the statement “I use social networks to meet new people” New influence landscape: digital friends

Digitising our friend networks “ Approximately how many people do you stay in contact with in your personal life through the follow means?”, New influence landscape: digital friends

Across the world New influence landscape: digital friends “ Approximately how many people do you stay in contact with in your personal life through the follow means?”, Key Internet markets

Our fundamental interactions are becoming virtual “ How do you keep in contact with the following people” New influence landscape: digital friends

We now share massive volume of opinion in a digital format “ Thinking about how you can share an opinion on a product, brand or service via the Internet. On average how often do you do the following? Global Monthly Average New influence landscape: influence channels

We are motivated to share by experience “ The following are a list of reasons and motivations for you to talk about a product, brand or service. Please can you consider how important they are in motivating you to talk to others? Where 5 = very motivating and 1 = Not at all motivating.” GlobalAverage New influence landscape: influence channels

We look for other consumers to form our opinions “ Thinking about the process of looking for opinions on a product, brand or services online. On average how often do you do the following when looking for information on products, brands and services?” Global Average New influence landscape: influence channels

Now we trust strangers….. “ Thinking about where you find information for products, brands and services that you buy. Please can you rate them in terms of how trust worthy the information provided typically is? Where 10 = Very trustworthy and 1 = Not at all trustworthy” Global Average New influence landscape: influence channels

Education increases trust in strangers Trust by age, Global average Trust by gender, Global average Trust by final education level, Global average New influence landscape: influence channels

But culture the biggest factor Trust by country, Global average New influence landscape: influence channels

The new influence landscape - summary

THE RISE OF SOCIAL MEDIA

Has turned hundreds of millions of us into content creators and placed billions of opinions online

The world’s collective thinking is now online and published, a first in history

A total revolution in the way consumers share influence and opinion

DIGITAL FRIENDS

Digital channels have moved more of our social interactions into the virtual space and into text and the written word

The web has expanded our networks to include people we don’t know and people we used to know and in a pre web age we would have lost contact with

Digital channels encourage more frequent interaction and make it easier to share influence e.g through sending links, videos or pictures.

PROLIFERATION OF INFLUENCE CHANNELS

The continual rise of social media and the growth of mechanisms for user input have created an incredible wealth of outlets to share opinions and thoughts

There is a new form of casual influence – It is now incredibly easy to share opinion, from voting buttons, to wish lists to comments.

We now trust a strangers recommendation as much as or closest friend

We trust recommendations in social media channels more than paid-for communications

New influence landscape: Summary

Impact

Influence economy – products and services

The democratisation of influence

The new super influencers

When did we start trusting strangers

All categories are impacted “ Thinking about the following types of products, brands or services. Can you please indicate whether you have reviewed them online, either a positive, average or negative opinion” Global Average Impact: Influence economy

But big variation by country Thinking about the following types of products, brands or services. Can you please indicate whether you have reviewed them online, either a positive, average or negative opinion” Films Category. Impact: Influence economy

Searching for information varies from contribution Impact: Influence economy “ Thinking about the following types of products, brands or services. Can you please indicate whether you have researched them online, before purchasing” Global Average

Online turning us into influencers INFLUENCERS RECEIVORS “ Thinking about the following type of products, brands and services, which of the following statements apply? I often inform others on what to buy / I sometimes inform others on what to buy / I sometimes ask others what products to buy /I would always ask others about what products to buy ” Global Average Impact: democratisation of influence

Now we all influence in a huge number of categories Impact: democratisation of influence

Some rise above the mass: Super influencers Impact: Super Influencers

Strongly influence in 15+ product categories

Rise above the mass of influence

Spreading influence regardless of topic

25-34, educated, embrace life Super Influencer demographics indexed against all respondents Lifestyle statements indexed against all respondents Impact: Super Influencers Indexed against all adults Index against all adults

Content creators Super Influencer social media usage indexed against all respondents

Open to commercial messaging Super Influencer motivations to recommend indexed against all respondents Impact: Super Influencers

Emerging markets lead the super influencers Super Influencers by country, share of active users Impact: Super Influencers

Super Influencers are changing the world through social media Politics Corporate Transparency Bloggers credited with getting obama the nomination. Obama embraced them by being massively involved in social media , from twitter to blogger to slide share Super influencers have targeted some big corporations giving them a dose of ultra transparency. Wal-Mart is one of the main targets; there is Wal-Mart watch website, Wal-Mart groups on Flickr , hundreds of local blogs fighting the development of Wal-Marts in their back yard and social networks aimed at organising boycotts . Issue Campaigning Reviews Impact: Super Influencers You would be hard pushed to find a category where consumer reviews have had more of an impact than restaurant reviews. Blogs from food lovers or even waiters now compete with the professionals with making or breaking restaurants. In tandem review services such as London Eating or Yelp are now essential when choosing where to go. Wael Abbas used Youtube and blogs to hi-light human rights issues to the world.

Impact - summary

INFLUENCE ECONOMY – PRODUCTS AND SERVICES

Overall participation rates for contributing opinions, thoughts and content on products and brands is extremely high

This means all brands have to react to the influence economy – becoming more open, more transparent and more active in social and conversational media.

Different product categories have significantly different exposure to the power of the influencer landscape

Even low interest, expert categories such as finance, real estate and insurance have high participation rates.

Music, films and technology are the categories most talked about online

Holidays and travel are the most sought after for information

Asia and emerging internet markets are leading the way in contributing opinion to the influencer economy

THE DEMOCRATISATION OF INFLUENCE

We are more likely to be influencers than receivers in the age of social media

Consumers the world over now claim influence in a huge number of categories

The key categories for broad influence are the same as the key categories for online recommendation with the exception of groceries and food

THE NEW SUPER INFLUENCERS: CREATORS

Are the most the active in social media

They are much more likely to create and share rich content

As the channels they contribute to continue to rise in importance so does their impact in the universe of influence

This is the new creative class; the bloggers, the video up loaders, the photo sharers

Impact: Summary

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR YOUR BRAND?

A new world of transparency

NEW WORLD OF TRANSPARENCY

There are no secrets in the new world of influence

Brands, products and services are under constant scrutiny and the truth cannot be managed in the way it was when a few gatekeepers controlled the distribution of information

The only path is honesty, openness and transparency. If you make a mistake in the new world of influence – you admit it and make good.

All categories of goods and services are now impacted

BE PART OF THE CONVERSATION

The new world of influence needs a more conversational approach; advertising should encourage interaction, input and community

This means having a blog, being in social networks, creating content such as photos, videos etc – generally being part of the conversation.

Advertising has a big role in the future world of influence – it provides the revenue for most of the services that enable and cultivate consumer recommendation

EVERYBODY MATTERS

Today everybody should be considered an influencer to some degree – we all influence and receive to some degree

Every target audience should be encouraged to share opinions and influence

REACHING OUT TO THE CREATORS

The creators are the new super influencers, the ones that make the most of the tools of social media. Bloggers, video creators, podcasters etc should be considered as one the most powerful voices in the future

Impact: Summary

Responding to the new world of influence Microsoft: Allow a a massive number of their staff to blog freely to the external world. Impact: Summary J&J: Have a a staff blog. As they rightfully state: “Everyone else is talking about our company, so why can’t we?” Starbucks: My Starbucks Idea allows customers to tell Starbucks what to do. Southwest Air: “Nuts about South West” has blogs and content from across all the maior social media applications including Youtube, Facebook and Flickr Nike: Created a Youtube channel for Nike Soccer, sharing all their adverts and content. Lenovo: The voice of the summer Olympic games site pulled together many athlete bloggers. Dell: The ideastorm allows consumers to suggest ideas to Dell and their community. Also have blogs, podcasts and Twitter feeds. H&M: Created a page on Facebook to share new collections, content and create community. It has over 250K fans!