September 1, 2005
what's true of people is also true of products
Damian Jennings, a U.K. blogger signed up for the Stormhoek Blogger's Wine Freebie.
To make a long story short, we had trouble getting a bottle to him. DHL tried delivering to his home, but he was away. Then Nick, the chap at Stormhoek in charge of shipping out the bottles, was on vacation for a couple of weeks.
Somehow we kept missing each other. Anyway, it's many weeks later and poor Damian still hasn't received his wine. But hopefully after a few recent e-mail exchanges he will be getting his soon.
In a recent e-mail to Nick, Damian wrote:
Funny thing is, I have now bought 4 or 5 bottles of the stuff having never heard of it before. And each bottle has been shared, and I have told the story.Heh. The idea-virus spreads.So even though I don't have my wine, I'm still marketing it for you. Bloody clever idea.
Although we can track the blogger's online conversations easily enough, we have no accurate way of measuring how many offline conversations the freebie thing is generating. Sure, we get anecdotal evidence of it all the time, like Damian's above, but so far it's impossible to measure directly.
Other marketing bloggers keep e-mailing me, asking me for numbers on how the campaign is affecting sales. Basically, they want a case study. They have products and ideas they want to sell to their clients, and they're looking to me to provide them with objective, third-party proof that this whole blogvertising thing actually works.
Well, the wine has been selling very well indeed, ever since the Blogger Freebie thing started. But that's just one part of the equation. Other factors include a damn good product, a good shelf positioning at the supermarkets, a marvellous sales team doing a great job, and also the fact that they now, like Damian, have a story (A) they genuinely like telling to other people and (B) other people don't seem to mind hearing.
So maybe it doesn't really need to be measured. Maybe all that is needed is FAITH that it's a good thing to do, and that it's working.
Maybe it's more important to be interested in the conversation you're actually having, rather than only what's in it for the bottom line.
Have you ever noticed how impossible and tedious it is to have a conversation with somebody who's only thinking of what's in it for them? What's true of people is also true of products.
[IRISH UPDATE:] The Irish leg of the Blogger's Wine Freebie is due to start sending out the wine at the end of next week. If you signed up, please go check out the official list here, to make sure your name's on it.
Please drop me an e-mail if there's a problem, thanks.
Posted by hugh macleod at September 1, 2005 11:09 AM | TrackBackI'm all for having faith that this is a good thing and that it's working. It's definitely not a compelling argument against traditional advertising. People selling 30-second spots have the same faith.
Posted by: Garrick Van Buren at September 1, 2005 3:25 PMI smell a rat. You don't know what you can't measure and you can't talk meaingfully about campaign effectiveness without telling about the numbers. Don't be so coy Hugh - it doesn't suit you!
Posted by: Dennis Howlett at September 1, 2005 3:33 PMI agree with the above in that "un-measurable" media can be hard to sell to the analyst side of the marketing department, but when the cost of execution is SO low...
More importantly, and to Hugh's point, what's to be lost by entering an actual conversation with the consumer? The results of that, well, I'd dare say immeasurable.
Posted by: Stace at September 1, 2005 3:34 PMAgreed, Dennis. Numbers will matter eventually. But it's still early days in the campaign.
Also don't forget, direct blog sales are not the only metric. What also matters is how the interaction with the blogosphere affects the actual company culture. How the external affects the internal etc.
I have a feeling that might actually matter even more, long term.
Posted by: hugh macleod at September 1, 2005 3:55 PMhttp://www.bazaarz.com/archives/2005/09/stormhoek_marke.php
Oh, Also, Dennis, I just read your blog on this post. Thanks for giving it some thought.
Posted by: hugh macleod at September 1, 2005 4:08 PMI do realise you're 'early in the game' and yes, the conversations absolutely have value. They always have though I guess there's not been a ready way to capture those - as is the case now. But many problems remain. For example, the current model is effectively limited to those who happen to know about blogging and its value. I'm sure you'd agree that's a very small percentage of the potential market though hoopefully it will grow. I do agree with the potential impact on the internal - there's nothing better than being slapped with an "Oy...seen this that's being said about us?" but I suspect there is/will be a lot of resistance where it could really matter - among the major brands. Especially given the free-wheeling nature of blog entries, comment and so on. OK - so we have Ford etc doing their thing but it's a toe in the water, an experiment, mostly controlled in some way as I believe it should be at this stage. We'll see - good luck.
Posted by: Dennis Howlett at September 1, 2005 4:18 PMAgreed Stace, the costs of this experiment are so low, that if it doesn't work, well at least we tried. And we'll have a much more "engaged" conversation with our customers than the average wine brand.
However if it does work, and work well, then the payoff is huge.
The thing is, the wine business is a really crowded market. If you DON'T rise above the clutter, you are in BIG trouble. The fact that so many wine brands don't even try is beyond me.
Posted by: hugh macleod at September 1, 2005 4:19 PMAha! Dennis, you put your finger on it:
"but I suspect there is/will be a lot of resistance where it could really matter - among the major brands."
You see Dennis, I don't really care what the big brands think. If they want to resist, that's fine by me. In fact, the more they resist, the better. Leaves the territory I occupy less cluttered.
Posted by: hugh macleod at September 1, 2005 4:38 PMIt is a clever and fresh idea... but FAITH marketing? I understand that you are trying to make blogging a religion, but you are going to need proven results to make your case. Reminds me of those ad salesmen who expect you to realize how well their product works....
Best of luck. We will all be anxiously awaiting your case study!
Posted by: Mr. Wreath at September 1, 2005 4:50 PMAgreed, Mr Wreath, Faith is not enough long-term. Eventually the numbers will have to start adding up. And I look forward to releasing them, the sooner, the better.
But in the early stages of ANYTHING worth doing, Faith is all you've got.
Posted by: hugh macleod at September 1, 2005 5:01 PMI have a love hate relationship with numbers. They can be manipulated to show what you want but then there is the old adage you can't lie about the numbers.
The promo from my perspective has lead me to buy 12 bottles (several variants) from my initial sample of 1. I've blogged about it, told the story and may well buy more discuss more in the future.
I can measure the effect of the purchases but not the effect of the publicity, but I bet the publicity is more valuable in the long term. Prove me wrong with numbers why don't you!
Posted by: Paul Goodison at September 1, 2005 5:59 PM'need proven results'
tell the guy to shit in his hat
proven results?
head to head
arbor mist vs stormhoek
Google search results
Web Results 1 - 10 of about 7,690 for Stormhoek.
Results 1 - 10 of about 28,200 for arbor mist wine.
Arbor mist is on about every cable channel and is using all the traditional ad schemes.
stormhoek is on the web using Hugh....
connect the dots........
ya can probably figure out the ad budgets between the two.
If ya get swamped for marketing campaigns Hugh, I will need some consideration. I don't drink so a case of wine is out, I don't wear suits, a bespoke suit would not be thing thing for me to show up in wrecking yards, but I'm sure we can work something out.
Posted by: the head lemur at September 1, 2005 6:06 PMMarketing can aim for attitudinal adjustment; trying to get people to have a deeper relationship with the brand. In this test of blogvertising, I can see measuring the adjustment within Stormhoek, their relationship with their customers, being just as important as measuring the external impact of the brand.
I see that in my company; external (perceived) success either on their own brands or competitors, changes the atittude of internal teams and allows people to suggest different things - makes them more open to change. Resistance is futile - there will be changes..
Posted by: Rachel at September 1, 2005 6:07 PMApart from the heavy, and worthy, marketing dissections going on here I thought I'd just add my tuppenceworth. I've been a fan of the gapingvoid site for a while now and have been following the various stories with interest, being an ex-agency creative myself (now Freelancing) and also with an interest in wines.
Unfortunatley I missed the free samples to the Irish bloggers but yesterday I bought two bottles of Stormoek on the strength of this blog, and if its good wine I'll be a regular customer.
I live (and I use the term loosely!) in Northern Ireland and doubt I would have even heard of Stormhoek if not for this blog.
Cheers...