So based on a sample size of one (namely me) I thought I would produce a list of the celeb Tweeters that engage with a normal run of the mill member of the public like little old me. Whilst I won’t vouch for the A-list calibre of the list, I will say they have all been or will be in the public eye.
Criteria for inclusion is simple. A public figure must have Mentioned me (@mrrichclark) in a Tweet, followed me or DMed me – simple. This list isn’t a popularity contest or self-promotion merely a little bit of fun.
Once upon a time, a long time ago – people lived nice comfortable middle class lives. They listened to their lovely music which the whole family enjoyed. However this changed in the late 70s early 80s when a new culture began to impact on lives. Initially this was underground culture in the US. However as it grew bigger in the US and grew from underground to niche it began to migrate to the UK, becoming huge in the 90s.
After reading that opening paragraph you might be wondering what the hell I am talking about. Well let me explain.
At last the youth of this era had something they could relate to that wasn’t ageing long haired rockers, thrashing their guitars and screaming like banshees. This was the emergence of urban culture. The most noted rise at this point was actually in Hop Hop culture with b-boys, breakdancers and of course Hip Hop (Rap) music. At the same time though was another strand including House.
The main impact happenned when Grandmaster Flash released the seminal piece of Whitelines, noted for its mesmoric tune and catchy chorus this track took to the airwaves. Granted some radio DJs and music commentators took their time to link to the obvious link to drugs, and maybe that’s the reason for its success. But this was the start.
The culture wasn’t limited to the music, along with the music came the dance. Along with the dance came the clothing. Along with the clothing came a new attitude. An attitude of change and challenge. This new urban culture was all about bucking the trend. This was something adopted very early by youths in the UK, particularly and perhaps understandably by youths of an Afro-Carribean descent. It gave them a powerful voice, that demanded to be listened to. Of course it touched and impacted people from all different types of backgrounds.
The culture has evolved a lot through the years and has touched many areas, including film, Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing was a chilling tell of life in New York at the time. This sparked a whole genre of films which created new directors and became more challenging Boys In The Hood and New Jack City. It also created a brand of humour through the likes of House Party and White Men Can’t Jump.
It wasn’t just Hollywood that was challenged. Spike Lee appeared in a memorable ad for Nike which transformed the brand from very White Middle Class athletic wear to edgy fashion items. This was carried on by Nike owning the basketball space with launching Nike Air Jordan in 1984. More recently areas such as street tournaments have taken off, which really focusses on bring sport to the real street level.
I caught up with Ortis Deley, presenter on Channel 5s Gadget Show and he summed it up really well for me “I think the two have become synergistic. I can’t imagine one without the other. The eighties have a lot to answer for.” The 80s for me was the real initial link, back to Public Enemy and Troop.
But why did urban culture adopt sportswear? And importantly what does it actually mean?
Why was sportswear adopted in urban culture?
There is no 100% certain answer to this. When the adoption first happenned the figures ‘on the streets’ were generally young men. They played sport both seriously and as a hobby. As sportswear brands such as Nike, Reebok and Adidas took the lead from niche players such as Troop they developed the styles and fashion of their product. Increasingly changing ranges meant youths wanted to gain bragging rights by owning the latest trainer.
Technology was increasing as well. Cushioned platforms in the trainer (that were the preserve of the expensive running shoe) were being put in more trainers, most famously in Nike Air trainers and later with Reebok’s Pump trainers. Purely and simply this made them the most comfortable footwear around. Ideal for kicking about “on the street”.
Perhaps the biggest influence however was when Nike got Spike Lee the symbolic figure in urban culture endorsing their brand. The advert and strong endorsement was seen as a massive step forward, adding the fact that the products appeared by name in the firs t massive hit from Spike Lee “Do the Right Thing” meant that the link was cemented. All Nike had to do was claim the link between culture and its range and the job was done.
Nike (perhaps) more successfully than any of its rivals did more than that. They adopted a massive link to possibly the “greatest athlete on earth” at the time Michael Jordan. The man could do no wrong. He won everything in his sport and due to his text book style to dunking he (and Nike) created a symbol. This symbol and Jordan himself became the must have for any youth.
The film tie-ins continued with Nike again associated in one of the biggest ‘urban’ films of the 90s in White Men Can’t Jump’ the comedy that took the link further and actually made a movie about basketball, street culture and music. Making fun of the apparently ‘clutsy white men’ Woody Harrelson, pumping up his trainers, whilst the uber cool Wesley Snipes starred in is Nikes.
What does it actually mean?
Well sports brands that get the link become part of everyday life within street culture. People often don’t say do you like my trainers, they say do you like my Nikes? Or my Reeboks? The segement are willing to pay top money for the right product as a lot of the focus is on bragging rights and getting the latest and best.
If a brand can capture the audience, they can make them fiercely loyal. I remember in my group of friends growing up, peers that would only buy Nike (even after Jordan had finished) – I myself bought a pair of the second generation Jordans when they were re-released.
The culture is very demading though. Not only do the brands need to keep up its innovation to make the product better than its competitors it also needs to invest in its brands. This investment needs to be in design and notably also in its endorsements.
Again, Nike is particularly good at this. The influence of culture from the states has diminished slightly and the super-icons of the football world are now more prominent again. Nike has the majority of key names in this field including the entire Brazil National Team and did a great job with the likes of Edgar Davids, Ronaldinho and currently Cristiano Ronaldo. However, Adidas reacted in this space and have their own stable of stars including Lampard and Messi.
The connections have become so interlinked that in some people’s minds this the two have fused together. I think this is best illustrated by the street tournaments that various brands have organised. A great example is Usain Bolt racing through the streets courtesy of Puma.
The biggest positive to the whole relationship is that the brands have created genuine role models for people to aspire to. The likes of Michael Jordan was a great positive example during a time when music was creating role models that parents didn’t want their children to aspire to. Nike has had a great reputation of this using the likes of Tiger Woods (although he managed to harm this), Kobe Bryant and now Puma with Usain Bolt
Whilst this is a lucrative market, because of its demanding nature it is as much about fashion as it is endorsement.
In short, if a brand can crack this area and maintain both its credibility and relevance it is on to a winner. If it doesn’t it will have no place to play (where are Troop and Fila now?)
With high-profile celebrity status, endorsements, sponsorship and advertising deals generally follow. However sometimes the celebrity face becomes stronger than the brand itself. If a brand is to select a celebrity to front their brand then they need to be 100% certain it they will resonate with the target audience and act as a suitable ambassador.
Sadly with some celebrities comes a fair share of controversy. The likes of Tiger Woods and John Terry have brought shame upon themselves recently and haven’t reflected well on their brands. The likes of Kerry Katona and David Beckham have also caused their brand associations to become strained over the years. Some of these celebrities have done minor things which in the grand scheme of things aren’t huge, some of created furore bordering on national disgraces.
So why do brands continue to use celebrities? What are the risks? What are the benefits? And are there alternatives?
Why use celebrities?
Brands that produce or sell luxury goods often use celebrities. They choose celebrities that they perceive share the same values as their products. Celebrities that offer the glamour, to portray their products as aspirational to the general public. The perfume and cosmetic industries generally use glamorous or beautiful people to show how effective their products are. These celebrities have generally been huge celebs from supermodels to hollywood stars.
Another key trick is to pick up on somebody that’s popular or hot at the moment. Whilst I mentioned in the above post of perfume and cosmetics companies picking über glamour, brands like L’Oreal are experts at hand-picking people “of the moment”, classic examples include Cheryl Cole and at one point footballer David Ginola. Garnier also pulled off the coup of grabbing a popular celebrity by enrolling Davina McCall. There are other cases when companies get it wrong, remember Jason McAteer advertising shampoo? More bad decisions later in this post.
The potential
Get the celebrity right and your brand could be off to a flyer. The endorsement is believable and customers want to be associated with the brand as much as the celebrity. Get it wrong and the endorsement looks at best paid for and at worse ridiculous. Of course it isn’t always down to the celebrity, sometimes it is as much the cheesy production of an ad that breaks down the credibility – Jamie Redknapp and Louise Redknapp holiday commercial anybody? It can also be the innocent and bizzarrely naive actions that undermine the endorsement (David Beckham shaven his head whilst advertising Brylcreem). Whatever the case brands need to have a plan in place to mitigate poor choices by either their agency or celebrity figurehead.
The potential is also great. If you can get an up and coming act at the start of their rise you could benefit in two ways. Ride the crest of their rise to fame and receive some quedos in terms of helping them achieve their goals. If the tie-up works as it should in your strategy meetings then there is no reason why you can’t succeed. Nike seem great at this. They consistently select sports stars that embody sporting excellence and in the main shy away from bad news stories. They also execute their merchandising, promotion and Marketing strategies with clinical expertise. Michael Jordan was perhaps the best example of this. Jordan was an NBA superstar, Nike created an image for Jordan and in terms helped him reach World status, perhaps unrivalled by any NBA star either then or now. They have also successfully used the Brazilian national football team to great effect. Their ads show the squad performing awe-inspiring tricks whilst maintaining a genuine feel to what is being played out on TV. However this particular tie has also caused controversy, with concerns over the depth of influence Nike has on the Brazilian national association.
Good tie-ins
So as mentioned previously good tie-ins are ones that match celebrities with the brand. Maybe they share similar values or appeal to the same audience. They match has to be believable and resonate with the audience. Below are my suggestions of good tie-ins.
Nike and Micheal Jordan
For all the reasons highighted previousy, Jordan became bigger than an NBA star, bigger than the man himself. Jordan became a ridiculously huge commercial engine. The relationship was part of Nike’s desire to corner sporting excellence with their brand. Jordan also gave Nike the urban edge, with Nike Air Jordan shoes the choice footwear for Hip Hop stars and fans.
L’Oreal and Cheryl Cole
Cheryl Cole has had her issues in her past, including allegations of racial assault. However the Girls Aloud star has turned things around since becoming one of the key faces in the band and a judge on X-Factor. Her showbiz marriage to controversial footballer Ashley Cole also made her a media darling. With Ashleys alleged extra-marital activities she came from being and aggressor to a strong independent woman. This mix of defined character and huge success was an instant pull for L’Oreal and despite Cole’s strong North East accent, she fitted the role perfectly.
Sainsburys and Jamie Oliver
Sainsburys have long battled the likes of Tesco to become a force in the highly competitive supermarket sector. This has been helped in no small means by TV chef Jamie Oliver. Jamie was always well liked as a TV personality, however he took a few risks that could have back fired. Taking on the government and schools to improve school dinners propelled Jamie into the big time. This good feeling towards Jamie has rubbed off on to Sainsburys. The tie-in also works due to Jamie being famous for food, which is the staple component of Sainsburys.
Walkers and Gary Lineker
Walkers crisps have gone from another snack food company to the dominant player in UK crisps and snacks. This incredible journey has gone almost hand-in-hand with taking local star and national hero Gary Lineker. The ads and concepts have adapted over the years, but Lineker is a constant. Even off the back of the ex-England stars marriage breakdown, Lineker has remained a popular figure.
Bad tie-ins
The tie-ins here are about as popular as a fart in a lift. Some due to poor judgement in terms of celebrity, others due to actions after becoming associated to the brand. Either way, just take a look and squirm or tell me how wrong I am.
Iceland and Kerry Katona
So when Iceland first pulled off the coup of landing Jungle queen Kerry their ad execs must have been rubbing their hands together. They had one of the nations favourite and a normal down to earth girl made good. Unfortunately, the public very quickly saw Kerry as a figure to loathe rather than love, not helped by her own misdemeanours. Since then Katona has come out as having problems with various addictions, debt and failed relationships. Iceland have since dropped Katona
Accenture and Tiger Woods
Accenture one of the world’s premier consulting firms paid a massive sum to use the image of undoubtedly the world’s best golfer, the Jordan of PGA and all round admired sports star, Tiger Woods. Tiger has since been found to have a number of extra-marital affairs and has been treated for alleged sex addiction. Tiger was all over the front pages for all the wrong reasons. Tiger was promptly dropped by Accenture.
What is the alternative?
So as discussed the potential for a star to gain bad press through either misguided naivity or more worryingly through poor actions that damage their public equity as well as a brands. So despite all the benefits should you do something else?
Well brands such as Halifax and B&Q have used their own staff to varying degrees of success. This isnt always the best route as you aren’t guaranteed to find a personality big enough to make an impact or if you do, they could become primadonnas. This provides equal issue of reliance on a face to lead your brand.
So how about using a character? Advertising seems to go through cyclical phases where characters become the force and celebrities go into the background. At the moment some of the most successful ad campaigns feature characters. Immediate campaigns that spring to mind include Meerkat, Compare the Market, Opera singer, Go Compare and Churchill the nodding dog, Churchill Insurance. Bizarrely, all of these are finance related. These factors can be as problematic as celebrities. With characters you are generally expected to tell a story and improve on one campaign to another. The non-finance ad that springs to mind is Cillit Bang. The ad campaign also pushed Barry Scott in to becoming a cult figure, especially within student communities. However an outburst by the character on social media and the uncovering that Barry was indeed made up has meant to concept has backfired.
Another alternative, which may sound groundbreaking is concentrate on your company, your business and promote what is good or different about it. Or pick a theme that can create a platform as opposed to a one-off.
Potential future tie-ins
So to sign off, I thought I would suggest a few light hearted tie-ins.
Dolmio and Joe Calzaghe – Dolmio’s animated Italians would be no match for World Champion boxer Calzaghe. Would his Welsh accent generate credibility issues?
Red Bull and Robbie Williams – Robbie made a particularly highly charged performance on X Factor. This could easily be the result of a Red Bull marathon.
Specsavers and Arsene Wenger – The Arsenal manager is well known for saying, “I didn’t see anything” – maybe Specsavers could set the Frenchman’s sight back to 20:20.
Kalms and Naomi Campbell – World renowned laid back super model Campbell would be the perfect ambassador for Kalms. She could even undertake roadshows highlighting to the public how to avoid conflict.
Disney Channel and Amy Winehouse – A match made in heaven. The world’s cleanest and happiest TV channel with, um, err, Amy Winehouse.
I have been in the online Marketing game now for a number of years. I have seen successful and unsuccessful viral campaigns. I have probably been involved with a few (I won’t say which end of the spectrum mine were). But how does it work? The whole point of viral marketing is that it spreads. People either reference your material by sending e-mail to their mate or just telling others about it.
How it used to Work
When I first started in online advertising there were no social networks. No social bookmarking. Very few blogs. So how did it work? Well creativity was absolutely crucial (remember people didn’t have broadband then and they were in the main still paying by the minute), what you had produced wither had to be thoroughly entertaining or have an ultimate payoff (generally simple games or competitions). Very few were visually arresting as the connection speeds were too slow for video or extended sound files.
Your material would then get sent via your e-mail base, if you had the budget you would support with a display advertising campaign and if you were particularly clever you would do some seeding in forums or chat. rooms (the early social networks). Some worked some didn’t.
The distribution was still with the end game to get your message out to as many people as possible. However it was potentially more difficult to do it in a cost effective manner. Later came areas such as FHM and Lycos where you could get your viral listed in their Viral Charts. If you made either of the Top 10 you normally had a relative success on your hands. There are many more routes nowadays which I will expand on later in this post.
Six Degrees of Separation
There have been many articles written on this subject (so I won’t try to explain the concept in detail) and it has even inspired numerous plays, books and films. The concept basically centres around the notion that everybody is connected to everybody else in the world by a maximum of six degrees of separation. So what? Whether you believe the theory or not the concept links intrinsicly with social media. You often see on sites such as LinkedIn – you are connected to this persons network by x level. Social sites such as Friendster also play on this concept. The social sites use it as a way to help you expand your direct network, i.e. if Serena Privett knows James Booth, Serena is shown in my network even though I don’t know her myself. I may never have come across Serena if James wasn’t in my network and now I can make contact if I wish.
This was an example on a professional site. Imagine this same scenario on Facebook. You know Joe Bloggs, Joe Bloggs is friends with …. and so on and so forth. That is the whole premise of social networking. You know Person A, they know Person B that has similar interests, you see this and conenct to Person B, you have now made a connection. In theory you can connect to any other person in the world through only six steps. Obviously the Facebook and LinkedIn scenarios are limited to the fact that people need to be members of those sites for the theory to be applied.
Taking this into consideration, I am connected to anybody who reads this blog within a maximum of six degrees of separation. Taking it to the extreme, I am linked to anybody in the world within six degrees of separation, whether that is former Countdown presenter Carol Vorderman or US President Barack Obama. A social networking site call SixDegrees.org has been launched by Actor Kevin Bacon with this theory in mind. This started with celebrities showcasing their charities and now anybody can showcase their good cause.
Just to add further credence to the theory, over 4m people have downloaded the 6degrees app in Facebook and at present the average degree of separation is 6.12.
OK but what relevance does this have?
Distributing your message
Well we have all heard the phrase “Its a small world”. The 6 Degrees theory is an illustration of that saying. So social media hasn’t told us that it has merely highlighted it in a visual and practical way.
What it also allows marketers to do, is to track those relationships. While in the good old days we relied on pure creativity, contact lists and good fortune. We can now target much more precisely the type of people we want to get our message across. Social networking presents these opportunities because of the depth of data on people’s interests, hobbies, relationships and most importantly networks. We can target people if our message is broad e.g. we’re Coca Cola or if the message is niche, e.g. replacement parts for Mitsubishi Evo cars. If one person engages, then their entire network picks up on it. If one of them engages, their network picks up on it. You then in theory can reach mass audiences extremely quickly.
Social networking sites are just a component of distribution though. Social bookmarking can be a great tool, use sites tools such as Del.icio.us and Digg, make sure you load your bookmarks with tags people will associate with your message. The same theory of six degrees could come into play.
Send it to your e-mail base and ask them to refer it on to their contacts. There is nothing more powerful than a direct referal from somebody you trust. Seed on forums, chat rooms and on specialist sites, the old tactics are still as relevant today as they were back in the beginning. Remember, just because people are used to engaging with brands online through social than perhaps they were in the past. Do not, start mass seeding your material everywhere. Be open and transparent. If you find a relevant forum, ask the forum administrator for permission to post a link. Obviously if it is a forum you are active on already, you will know if its right or wrong.
However, I would recommend you don’t just rely on, build it, they will come and they will forward it. You need to put some money into it as well. Support with some advertising spend, maybe a PPC campaign or reward affiliates on new sign-ups. Work out who the influential bloggers are in your areas and try to get them to blog about your activity.
Making it work
So it sounds easy. Create something. Put it on some social sites. Chat in a forum about it and do some PPC. Bang, it is viral. No! If it were that simple every single marketer in the land would be doing it. The magic of viral is still in what you are actually saying.
Your viral has to be entertaining or informative but above all engaging. No matter how successful your distribution strategy, there is no guarantee people will look at it or respond favourably. Don’t seed in out of context environments, and make sure your viral has something to offer the recipient.
Remember if your viral is good they will recommend and refer it to friends. If it is bad, at best they won’t do anything with it, at worse they will tell everybody how hopeless it was an tarnish all your efforts. The best chance of referral is to offer them something they probably haven’t seen before or something with a money can’t (generally) buy reward.
Super surfers
If you examine any SEO texts or read any social networking commentary you will know that they are always referencing influencers and super-users. I call these people super surfers. They are the ones that engage with numerous tools and in theory are as important as traditional media sources such as ITV or The Sun. They are the active people on YouTube, regular forum posters and bloggers. They may only have a direct influence over 100-300 people, but those people are normally engaged. They can be talking about very niche subjects such as Ex-Battery Hens, but if you are marketing a range of hen food, this is a perfect audience. There may be only a few hundred on that forum, however they are bound to know others, who know others etc etc
That was a specific example, but there are many others, if you want to attract teenage girls to a new line of make-up you may target a forum for girl band The Saturdays. If you were trying to promote a traditional corporate venue to professional people you may want to influence a Freemason forum. Just remember there are sources there for every walk of life, with these super surfers who have the acorn of influence over a wide array of people.
Key Steps
Identify super surfers
Get your distribution strategy right
Create an engaging viral that offers the audience something they haven’t seen before
Has it worked?
Something a number of people neglect when creating viral campaigns is the review of has it been a success. At the brief stage, be very clear about what you want to achieve. Don’t forget that objective throughout the process. Is it mentions in the press, e-mail sign-ups, increase in brand consideration or just views? Whatever it is make that guide the process and don’t get carried away by the creativity. Make the creative process support your end objectives.
Above all, ensure you have the correct mechanisms on place to track behaviour and performance against your KPIs. Otherwise you may be able to provide anecdotal evidence to say it has work, but there are no hard facts. Otherwise you may have to wait a while until you can do another viral campaign.
Davina McCall – Big Brother host, hair dye enthusiast and annual fitness DVD lady
Ortis Deley – Gadget Show presenter and former children’s TV presenter
Carol Vorderman –ridiculously intelligent TV presenter of Countdown fame
Reggie Yates – TV and Radio Presenter
Richard Bacon – TV and Radio Presenter
Six Degrees of Separation 
Taking this into consideration, I am connected to anybody who reads this blog within a maximum of six degrees of separation. Taking it to the extreme, I am linked to anybody in the world within six degrees of separation, whether that is former Countdown presenter 