1. MARKETING
IN THE SOCIAL ERA
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Web: www.twistandshout.co.uk • Email: anyone@twistandshout.co.uk
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2. contents 1.0 - any means necessary
2.0 - permission versus interruption
3.0 - credibility is everything
4.0 - word of mouth
5.0 - we aren’t alone
6.0 - web 2.0
7.0 - viral marketing
8.0 - viral campaigns
9.0 - credibility brings trust, and trust brings loyalty
10.0 - the creative hierarchy
11.0 - reference materials

3. any means necessary
the idea is the idea
This is a resource document aimed at extending
the reach of the new marketing session you have
just taken part in. It is designed as an ideas toolkit
in your new marketing activities.
“
”
1.0

4. permission
versus interruption
the power of social networking
Business people have been exploiting the power of social networks for
marketing purposes for centuries. Josiah Wedgewood, for example, luminary in
the field of ceramics sent free samples of his finest ware to the crowned heads
of Europe. He knew he had an exceptional product. He also understood the
workings of the class system of his time: how the cream of society lay at the
top, trickling ideas and tastes into the lower echelons below.
Nowadays we can exploit permission marketing techniques and a web 2.0
approach to create a social network, or community of advocates, exploiting
existing contacts and effectively ‘seeding’ the campaign, ultimately leveraging
the strong relationships necessary for successful propagation.
How do the French put it? ‘The more things change, the more they stay the
same’. ‘Plus que ca change, plus que c’est la meme chose.’
2.0

5. credibility is everything
In 1765, Queen Charlotte, the wife of George III,
ordered a creamware tea set. For most people,
that would be the pinnacle; for Josiah, it was the
start. He now called himself “Potter to Her
Majesty” and renamed creamware “Queen’s
Ware.” In a letter to his business partner, he
marvelled at “how rapidly the use of it has
spread” and “how universally it is liked,” and
tried to balance how much this had to do with
its royal “introduction” versus “its utility and
beauty.”
So, when Catherine the Great ordered a
925-piece dinner service in 1773, Wedgwood
made perhaps £200 on an outlay of nearly
£3,000. But as a marketing tool, the set was
beyond price. Each piece had an image of a
stately home, and before the order was
dispatched, Josiah exhibited it in his showroom
so that visitors could see whose houses were
immortalized. Naturally, duplicate pieces were
available for purchase. Until Wedgwood came
along Royal commissions were seen as nothing
but grief - major trouble and minimal payback.
For Josiah selling was an intellectual pleasure,
a form of cultivation, in all senses. In crass
modern terms he was demonstrating all of the
characteristics of a viral marketeer.
His gift was expected. Crowned heads like
Catharine were used to getting something for
more or less nothing. But the Wedgwood
difference was having the foresight to extend the
opportunity into a campaign - the compost for
propagation.
It was personal. What crowned head wouldn’t
be chuffed with their property enshrined in
dinner table art?
It was relevant. Crowned heads understand
the social currency of ceramics and dining, so
do the people of taste and discretion who go to
ogle the china in the showroom.
He was at the beginning of a relationship of trust
and loyalty. Those would come later, but were
built on the firmest of foundations.
3.0

6. word of mouth
Word of mouth is the oldest marketing technique available.
Pre-industrially, local tradesmen would rely on word of mouth to
sell their services. They had little choice, there was no other form
of marketing available. Geography largely kept business and
services local so there was no need to market. As long as you
were doing better than any local competition you may have,
people would continue to recommend your business to friends
and family.
The creation of the mass market and the television / industrial
complex changed all that. Now people were being exposed to
adverts for products and services they were previously unaware
of.
Now once again people are listening to the recommendations
of other people, rather than taking a companies word for it. In a
consumer rights savvy society, people are aware that they don’t
have to accept poor products or poor customer service. There’s
always an alternative product or service out there they can use.
Reviews for products on sites like Amazon, Dabs etc are worth
their weight in gold.
A negative blog post about your customer service can be hugely
damaging and focuses a spotlight on an area of your company
you’d rather wasn’t highlighted. If their plight resonates others
will speak up, and before you know it these combined voices are
louder than yours.
friends their friends the mainstream
4.0

7. we aren’t alone
Since the 1950s individuals have been using the media
and social networks (the underground as it would have
been known at the time) to subvert or overturn the
established order. Often their activities, such as arch
prankster Alan Abel found their way into the media as
hoax campaigns or gatherings that shine a light on the
ridiculousness of some of the orthodoxies and institutions
that govern our lives.
Six decades later we have come to assume a certain
amount of autonomy as citizens and consumers. Our
perceptions of control have changed but the means by
which we are engaged have not.
Viral marketing depends on propagation, just the same
word of mouth that drove those early happenings.
After a process of seeding (the horticultural language is
entirely intentional) the survival of the seedling is in the
hands of the consumer. Seeding merely improves the
chances of the viral product being planted in
fertile ground.
5.0

8. web 2.0
Blog - A blog is essentially an online
journal filled with a user’s thoughts,
links and often pictures. Blog
reading is one of the most popular ac-
tivities on the internet.
Forums - These are often in the form
of a discussion group or bulletin
boards. Dell’s forum is held up as an
example of a forum creating a
community through the advice of other
users and Dell engineers.
Wiki - Collaborative tools that can
be used internally or externally. The
biggest example is Wikipedia but
some companies have used Wiki’s to
create policies, develop work guides
or to help employees in different
geographies work together on
projects.
YouTube - This is a video
streaming site created largely out
of user generated content. Brands
can have their own Channel and
upload their own films and
materials. Many blogs and sites
link to films on YouTube.
Twitter - A microblogging site,
Twitter limits the users to 140
characters to get across their
message. Twitter has famously
broken news stories in advance
of the traditional news media
and is far from just a Facebook
status update.
Facebook - Popular social
networking site which allows
users to communicate with friends.
This can be used by brands to
create groups or fanpages around
products or services.
LinkedIn - Initially looked upon as a
business Facebook, this allows virtual
networking and many different busi-
ness tools.
Google+ - a photo-rich amalgamation
of Twitter and Facebook, where you
can post to specific groups via ‘circles’,
comment, share and see the exact
virality of posts via ‘ripples’. Described
as “social layering” and with its ability
to boost SEO it is rapidly becoming the
next big thing.
Pinterest – essentially a pin board
for photographs you like, gain follow-
ers and discuss whys and wherefores.
Winning the Webby Awards in 2012
has given it more credence as it builds
strength. Great for product launching
etc.
6.0

9. viral marketing
Viral marketing spreads peer to
peer, through word of mouth
recommendation rather than
exclusively through existing
marketing channels. Yes, you need
to put your viral (be it video,
image, game or message based)
in a location where it will be
noticed (seeding the viral) but
once that’s done it’s up to the
viral to be spread. This will largely
be down to how good it actually
is, and if you’ve seeded it in the
right location. For example placing
links to a handy pamphlet on OAP
Internet usage is unlikely to be
successful on MySpace whereas
a film about the new Chrysler
would be more likely to succeed
at WhatCar.com.
Virals are low cost, when
compared to marketing channels
such as TV. Dove’s Evolution viral
(http://tinyurl.com/ylzku6) drove
double the amount of traffic to the
Dove site than the previous years
Super Bowl as ($2.5 Million for the
slot) and distribution cost nothing.
The campaign, on and offline is
said to have increased worldwide
sales by between $60 million and
$70 million.
The most successful way to
launch a viral is to aim it at the
people who are fanatical about
your product or service. If this gets
their thumbs up and they’re willing
to pass it on to their online
communities then it’s more likely
the viral will be a success.
A viral doesn’t necessarily have to
be jam packed full of sex, violence
or comedy to succeed. It can
be witty, informative or just plain
strange. It largely depends on your
audience. The sure way to make
an unsuccessful viral is to create
something you hope will appeal to
everyone but not offend or
confuse anyone. Infomercials
don’t work as virals. Frankly most
things you watch on TV won’t
work as viral. In exchange for
watching your small film people
want to be entertained and
informed. If it doesn’t get passed
on by your fanatics and your
influencers, it will never get
anywhere near the people at the
far end of the bell curve who don’t
want to be offended or confused
and you end up having
accomplished nothing.
A viral will generally work best
as part of an umbrella campaign
where the call to action of the viral
drives users somewhere.
Creating places where people can
talk about your viral and
subsequently your product or
service are great ways of building
up communities around your
offerings.
7.0

10. viral campaigns
McCain’s Potato parade
http://www.potatoparade.co.uk
This campaign was designed to create
something that mums across Britain and
beyond would want to share with their friends.
After entering a few details, they can send a
totally personalised message, all delivered by
their chosen gang of walking, talking spuds.
This result was the ‘Potato Parade’ with the
main potato voiced by Graham Fellows (aka
John Shuttleworth) and bespoke music. In its
first week, the Potato Parade was sent on by
125,000 people in 124 different countries.
Volvo
http://www.visit4info.com/advert/Vol-
vo-S40-The-Mystery-of-Dalaro-Volvo-S40-
Range/13856
A marketing campaign for Volvo S40 ‘The
Mystery of Dalaro’ told the story of a small
Swedish village where 32 people bought the
S40 at the same time. In a documentary in the
‘Blair Witch Project’ style, the virals and ads
went through to a site that also held interviews
with the inhabitants and perplexed scientists
who talked of ‘collective subconscious’. On
another web place unrelated to Volvo, the
director questions the happenings. He turns
out to be Spike Jonze (Being John Malkovic).
Layering the story in an obtuse way kept the
momentum and interest throughout the
campaign.
Will it Blend?
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=qg1ckCkm8YI
George Wright, CEO of Blendtec, blends all
manner of household objects. Supplemented
by his blog “Will it Blog?”. They listen directly
to feedback on both the blender and take
suggestions for what they should blend next.
George also tells you when you can see a live
blender demonstration near you.
http://blog.blendtec.com/
The content also has a website
www.willitblend.com which features click
throughs after the films to the product on sale
on Amazon.
Audience: Anyone who uses a blender. Theirs
are about £200 but the main selling point is
quality and reliability. When you buy a
Blendtec blender you know you won’t have to
buy another blender for a very long time.
Sales are up 20% since the campaign
began. The first 5 videos cost relatively little as
they were all done inhouse and had over 6
million hits in the first week.

11. viral campaignsGreg The Architect
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uOQcjvUHZ0k
Created by Tibco this series is aimed at a niche market
of Service Orientated Architecture. Since launching this
plastic toy led series, subscriptions to their newsletter
are up four fold. The aim for Tibco was not to directly
sell using these films, but for these to prompt
conversations.
Audience: Big IT Buyers. The typical Tibco deal is
worth £250,000 so even a small increase in customer
base can have a massive impact on their business.
Dove Evolutions
Client Brief: To raise awareness of Dove’s online
initiative, Campaign for Real Beauty.
www.campaignforrealbeauty.com
Results:
1. The campaign, on and offline is said to have
increased worldwide sales by between $60 million
and $70 million
2. Mass coverage in key press for the target audience
3. 4 million + views across the web
4. Exponential traffic increase to campaign microsite
- generating more views than their Super Bowl ad last
year.
To put the above in context Unilever spent $2.1
Billion on marketing in the US with 40% being spent
on media like TV, print and the web. The cost of
airing a 30 second ad they did in 2006 at the Super
Bowl was $2.5 million dollars. The Campaign for
Real Beauty drove double the amount of traffic to
the Dove site than the Super Bowl ad and
distribution cost nothing.
Personalised virals
(McCain would be included in this category)
Royal Navy
www.getthemessage.net
Dexter Hit List
www.icetruck.tv/news
Content has to be solid, open rate to be high and
‘WTF?’ rate high. Key to success is to have a
distribution strategy built into the application itself.
ARG (Alternative Reality Games)
www.vanishingpointgame.com
To celebrate the release of Windows Vista, Microsoft
and AMD launched The Vanishing Point, a global cross-
media puzzle game to reward their most enthusiastic,
tech savvy customers. The game spanned four weeks
as players from around the globe worked together to
decipher embedded clues in real world events and
solve puzzles online to win a trip to the ultimate vista,
outer space.
Online communities developed who worked together to
solve the puzzles. They created resources such as
forums, photo/video archives, online hints and even
web-radio stations that broadcast in real-time during
the live events. This created an enourmous global
media and consumer buzz surrounding the game.
The Vanishing Point was the first global puzzle game of
its kind ever created. Over a million people were drawn
to the website, and nearly 100,000 people registered
and actively played.

12. viral campaigns
Compare the Meerkat
With regularly updated daft stories about hard
working meerkats, and soft toys now available
the popularity of this ad campaign has even
run into pets.
http://www.comparethemeerkat.com/
Tippexperience 2
An interactive youtube video, much like the
role playing game books of the 80’s where you
decide the fate of the characters.
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=eQtai7HMbuQ
Koni 2012
Named the ‘Most Innovative Viral Campaign
for 2012… So far..’ by ViralPlanet. Its’ well
researched, clear, concise and creative mes-
sage striking an emotional chord and achieving
over 10 million views on youtube within its’ first
week.
http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=Y4MnpzG5Sqc

13. credibility brings trust,
and trust brings loyalty
How do I become expected?
Buying an email list, or obtaining customer
details through third party suppliers does not
make any of your communication expected.
For this to truly work your prospects must
come to you and want to hear from you. If
you’ve sold them a big new box, then they’ll
be happier to hear from you when you offer
them upgrades for the big new box, or advice
on storage.
If they’ve never heard of your big new box,
then you have to entice them over through
making them feel like there’s a party going
on that they’ve not been invited to. Expected
communication is only so, when the receiver
has requested or is open to the idea of
receiving communications from you, and only
you.
• Nurture relationships
• Make it easy for people to talk about
you and your product or service, spreading
your message through word of mouth
• Sign people up at events who express a
genuine interest
• Encourage references on other sites through
blogger outreach programmes or creating
something unique or worth blogging about
• Don’t scare them off with a deluge of emails
Is this personal?
Are you talking to your customer or potential
customer like they’re just that, a customer, or
are you talking to them like they’re an
individual?
• Talk to customers like they’re the only one in
your world
• Referring to a customer by their first name,
does not necessarily make it personal.
• Making sure what you’re sending them maps
onto their personal or professional
circumstances does.
Is this relevant?
No doubt your offering or service has many
different benefits for many different people.
Creating a mailout that lists ALL the benefits or
uses for the product might be a convenient
way for you to get everything on one handy to
use series of flyers, but how does it help your
customers having to sift through all that data?
• Segment your databases
• Keep abreast of developments in your cus-
tomers industry
• Think about what keeps your customers up
at night and write about this
Never assume permission.
9.0

14. Why should I follow any of this?
The simple truth is, you don’t have to. The
fact is, however, that if you don’t you’re not
maximising the relationships you’re
creating. These are in the most case, one
way relationships (which in itself is not really
a relationship…).
Customers and prospects are valuable.
Long term relationships with customers and
propspects are invaluable.
Why then would you not want to pursue
long term relationships with a greater
number of prospects and customers, simply
because you need to spend slightly more
time, to get dramatically more?
Interruption marketing, especially
e-marketing, is becoming less effective as
customers become over saturated with
unsolicited information and offers that don’t
quite tally with their specific needs. Its
results are deleted e-shots, direct mail
thrown away unopened, and ads that go
unnoticed. Permission marketing on the
other hand asks people to opt in, based on
the assumption than in return for their time
and attention they’ll get either information
they need or entertainment. It works
because people expect and look forward to
receiving communications from you rather
than actively tuning you out – however, the
downside is the lead time needed to build
up this of level of trust.
If your offering is unique and there’s a
relative lack of information about your new
solution or service there’s a honeymoon
period where traditional marketing WILL
work, and this should be backed up by a
spike in sales to prove it.
However there are no guarantees as to how
long this window of opportunity will remain
open, as customers become more familiar
with your offering and perhaps as you’re
joined by competitors in the market, they
will start to filter out the message you are
trying to send and the spikes in sales will
become more and more difficult and
expensive to achieve.
By electing to run permission based
activities alongside traditional marketing
strategies you can start a community or
tribe of loyal customers who’ll return to your
website for trusted advice and information,
look forward to reading your emails and
who’ll return again and again to you as
customers. Maintaining this tribe will allow
you to take control of the peaks and troughs
of your sales forecast and build a
sustainable and inexpensive new model.
• expected
• personal
• relevant
Josiah’s
checklist
Ads that go to people who want
them outperform 50:1 ads aimed
at strangers.

15. This is the simplest form the argument or idea can take. It has
been distilled from the information, target audience, and desired
outcome of the communication. It’s the starting point for any
creativity.
This is the treatment of the concept - the approach. It is the way
the concept will be made relevant and memorable to the
audience. It could be a metaphor, a design style, or a story. It’s
essentially a vehicle for delivering the concept.
This is how the creativity manifests itself - it encompasses
everything necessary to make the idea real. Choices of design,
imagery, music, anything and everything needed to create the
vehicle.
This is the lowest level of communication. It is the support to the
idea, the necessary content to make the idea relevant and real.
It should be challenged and reduced at every turn. Information
should support he creativity - it is rarely as memorable as the idea
unless it has headline appeal in itself.
the creative
hierarchy
concept
creativity
execution
information
10.0

16. reference materials
The materials within this document are
intended to give you a starting point in terms
of information on Permission Marketing, Word
of Mouth marketing and the latest Web 2.0
developments. This list is not exhaustive, nor
is it all inclusive. You’ll find you probably have,
or will stumble upon, your own books, blogs or
sites that will either compliment or replace the
list below.
Books
Permission Marketing: Turning Strangers
into Friends and Friends into Customers
– Seth Godin
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/ddjbo2
Purple Cow: Transform Your Business By
Being Remarkable
– Seth Godin
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/bnwpmy
All Marketers are Liars: The Power of of
Telling Authentic Stories in a Low-trust
World
- Seth Godin
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/d74avh
Meatball Sundae: How New Marketing
is Transforming the Business World (and
How to Thrive in It)
– Seth Godin
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/b8xolz
How To Win Friends and Influence Peo-
ple
- Dale Carnegie
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/antdsb
Punk Marketing
– Richard Laermer & Mark Simmons
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/d8y2l5
Book Website: http://www.punkmarketing.
com/
The Long Tail: How Endless Choice is
Creating Unlimited Demand
– Chris Anderson
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/b34bnu
Crossing the Chasm: Marketing and
Selling Technology Products to Main-
stream Customers
- Geoffrey Moore
Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/bv33q8
Groundswell: Winning in a World
Transformed by Social Technologies
– Josh Bernoff & Charlene Li
Amazon - http://tinyurl.com/acnjf3
Book Website: http://www.forrester.com/
Groundswell
11.0

17. Blogs
Seth Godin
http://sethgodin.typepad.com/
Chris Brogan
Social Media business strategy and more
http://www.chrisbrogan.com
Marketing Profs Daily Blog
http://www.mpdailyfix.com/
The Viral Garden – Mack Collier
http://moblogsmoproblems.blogspot.com/
The Future of Advertising
Future of advertising and advertising technology
http://adverlab.blogspot.com/
Jeremiah Owyang
Silicon Valley – Senior Analyst
http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/
Creative Review Blog
http://www.creativereview.co.uk/crblog/
TechCrunch
Latest Tech and Web 2.0 Developments
http://www.techcrunch.com/
Text References
http://alanabel.com/index2.php
improveverywhere.com
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwMj3PJDxuo&feature=channel
Flash mobbers make like statues in New York’s Grand Central station.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ggm_j_6jgTc&feature=channel
Flash mobbers recreate the US Olympic synchro swimming routine in a
New York Park fountain.
Judith Flanders ‘They Broke It’.
The Wedgwood story.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/10/opinion/10flanders.html?_r=3

18. Popular Blogs
Huffington Post
UK News and Opinion (54,000,000 followers)
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/
TMZ
Celebrity gossip (19,000,000 followers)
http://www.tmz.com/
Perez Hilton
Celebrity gossip (10,200,000 followers)
http://perezhilton.com/
Mashable
Social Media News (10,000,000 followers)
http://mashable.com/
Top Social Media blogs
Social Mouths
http://socialmouths.com/blog/
Viral Blog
http://www.viralblog.com
Jeff Bullas
http://www.jeffbullas.com
Hubze
http://blog.hubze.com
The Sales Lion
http://www.thesaleslion.com
Top Marketing Blogs
Hubspot
http://blog.hubspot.com/
Blueglass
http://www.blueglass.com/blog/
Kissmetrics
http://blog.kissmetrics.com/
MarketingLand
http://marketingland.com/
Chris Brogan
http://www.chrisbrogan.com/
Copy Blogger
http://www.copyblogger.com/blog/
Marketing Pilgrim
http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/

19. © Copyright Twist & Shout Communications 2013
Web: www.twistandshout.co.uk • Email: anyone@twistandshout.co.uk • Blog: tandscomms.blogspot.com/ • Tel: +44 (0)844 335 6715
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