Hub Brand Presentation

BRANDING, SOCIAL MEDIA, (and learning to lose control) hub berkeley talk 9/10/09 - nathaniel whittemore / [email_address] [email_address]

This presentation is about:
...your brand in a new world
...the internet and social media
...losing control
...and getting more of what you need

What is a brand?

“ A “brand” is an emotional aftertaste conjured up by but not necessarily dependent upon a series of experiences.” -Zefrank (key: it’s all about feeling) (key: it’s all about feeling) (key: it’s all about feeling) (key: it’s all about feeling)

Brand is...
the emotions you associate with something
the emotion that is in general associated with something (i.e. for it to be ‘the brand’ more than you has to feel it)
Example: Walmart

In the modern world, brand is more important than ever.

(why?)

Why is brand so important?
increased choice
i.e. --------------->
fractured broadcast platforms
i.e. --------------->

KEY POINT:
Nonprofits and for profits are in the same boat.
There are more product options than ever before, and it’s increasingly easy to find and buy them.
There are more options for donating, volunteering, and getting involved than ever before, and it’s increasingly easy to find and join them

Media + Brand

The four revolutions of media 1. Printed Word (books) 2. Conversational media (Telephone) 3. Recorded Media (records) 4. Broadcast Media (radio/tv)

What they shared?
i.e. ONE to ONE (or) ONE to MANY
“ There is a curious asymmetry. The media that are good at creating conversations are no good at creating groups. The media that are good at creating groups are no good at creating conversations.” -Clay Shirky

The shift
the internet is “many to many”
to quote Shirky again:
“ Media is increasingly less just a source of information and increasingly more a site of coordination.”

What does this mean for brands?
Brands are potentially more viral than ever (every one is potentially a distributor)
Brands are more vulnerable than ever (critics can assemble like never before)
Brands are less in the control of the central entity than ever before (it’s all about what people are saying about you, not what you’re saying about yourself)

Case Studies
Virality: TED
Destruction: Rockstar
Out of control: Fiji
Positively Lost Control: FORGE

Virality: TED
TED is a conference for big brains
Extremely elite
Hyper intellectual
any yet.....
wildly popular (100+ million video views)

uh, what? are we still in america?

Vulnerability: Rockstar
Sued Change.org + threatened others for connecting anti-gay statements of Michael Savage to Rockstar
The response: attack us, we’ll kill your brand
Rockstar drops suit, gets proactive
Rockstar publicly affirms commitment to LGBT rights, and pledges to donate $100,000 to LGBT organizations.

Loss of Control: Fiji
Fiji water sold a picture of “green” that didn’t jive with reality
factory runs on diesel
shipping horrible for environment
no explicit philanthropic commitment
profits complicit with autocratic government
threatens critical reporters
Fiji has become persona non grata in a huge number of the circles it specifically tried to brand to.

Loss of Control: FORGE
Kjerstin Erickson switched models and ran out of money
Decided to blog about her mistakes
Story picked up and used to generate action around her

Brand reality recap
Brands are potentially more viral than ever (every one is potentially a distributor)
Brands are more vulnerable than ever (critics can assemble like never before)
Brands are less in the control of the central entity than ever before (it’s all about what people are saying about you, not what you’re saying about yourself)

Social media

What is “social media”
Social media refers to a new generation of internet communication that is all about sharing horizontally.
Web 1.0 was all about better information
Web 2.0 is all about sharing
Web 3.0 is converting online energy to offline community and action

Web 1.0
DIGITIZING INFORMATION
Small number of people publishing (still hard to publish content)
No interaction

Web 2.0
Easier to publish rich content (blogs, videos, photo)
Easier to connect, communicate, collaborate (social networks, wikis, twitter)
Relationships changing from hierarchical to symmetrical

Implications for nonprofits
Traditional Fundraising and Communication
Peer-to-Peer Fundraising and Communication
(look familiar? remember this graphic from the branding section?)

It’s all about the value you provide?

Give them something to talk about
Give them something to do
Give them something to come back to
How do you provide value?

What’s the role of social media?
Give them something to talk about (the conversation happens on Twitter, Facebook, and blogs)
Give them something to do (the commitment to action happens on Change.org, Causes, GlobalGiving)
Give them something to come back to (your presence across platforms weaves the web of places through which your people engage)

Case Studies
Give em something to talk about: charity:water
Give em something to do: Kiva
Give em something to come back to: Change.org

charity:water
Incredibly compelling media
compelling because you become part of the story
compelling because it looks up not down
compelling because it’s connected to INTERESTING action opportunities

Kiva.org
Micro-loans to developing world entrepreneurs
Opening the right of credit
Fast loan fulfillment
Ability to reloan
Not a charitable gift
KEY LESSON: Platforms for action are not the same as reasons for action.

Change.org
Started as a “social network for social change” and quickly hit a plateau
Switched to a content driven strategy and launched up to a million uniques
Started connecting content with action
Success include: Rockstar, Diners Club International, Tim Hortons, Immigration)

Connecting it back
Each of these three companies is working to establish their brand by:
providing a consistent experience to engender a positive emotional aftertaste
using distribution networks like facebook and twitter to get more people to participate in that emotional response
Connecting the latent energy of that emotional experience to real opportunities for action

Bonus tip: Great Music
A vastly under discussed element of brand is music as a part of media.
See: Girl Effect, Invisible Children, Carrot Mob, charity:water

http://news.change.org	186
http://socialentrepreneurship.change.org	129
http://thehomelessnessconnection.blogspot.com	2
http://nfpreport.org	1
http://www.kintera.org	1
http://www.google.com.au	1

Hub Brand Presentation

by Nathaniel Whittemore on Sep 10, 2009

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