Out of Control Marketing

You probably haven’t seen a commercial for Salon Selectives® hair care products or Brim® decaffeinated coffee in years.  But chances are you will be hearing about them in the news.  That is because River West Brands® has decided to revive these classic brands, and they are relying on PR and buzz to reinvigorate a once strong brand.  Yes, they are embracing the power of Out of Control Marketing TM.

You can watch Matt Laurer and Donny Deutsch discuss this on the Today show here.  You can also make your way to the del.icio.us bar on the right (RSS subscribers go to http://del.icio.us/gaetang/retro_brand ) and see the other places that River West’s products are showing up, and even take a look at some of the press releases that got this started.

This is a good example for seeing how an OOCM campaign flows.  No one paid for TV air time or print advertising, yet the brands were promoted on popular television and newspapers.  Beautiful. 

You see the del.icio.us box in the right margin of the blog when you view the blog from its website.  If you are an RSS subscriber you’ll need to go to http://del.icio.us/gaetang to see this.  In any case, I have opened this up to subscribers to allow you to see the places where I am exploring the latest in Out of Control Marketing. Some of this will be analyzed in the blog, some will appear in the book, and some is just plain interesting.  If you find anything that your fellow subscribers and I should be seeing, please let me know and I’ll get it posted.

Many of you have been asking what is “Out of Control Marketing?”  It is any marketing strategy or tactic that hands over the control of a firm’s promotional message to an intermediary who, in turn, delivers that message to the consumer.  We call these intermediaries connectors - a name inspired by Malcolm Gladwell’s book, the Tipping Point.  Connectors can be traditional print and broadcast media, new media, or even consumers.  When done right, Out of Control Marketing’s implied credibility leads to marketing that is highly productive with outstanding return on investment.  Done improperly, a firm’s brand and image can be destroyed by the very channels used for promotion. 

Out of Control Marketing fits into a firm’s overall marketing strategy; contributes to the firms marketing mix (IMC strategy); and uses PR and consumer generated marketing tools and tactics to plan and execute a successful campaign.

This happened last week while I was off at a conference in Canada, but it is important enough to add to the archives.  Last week Barack Obama was interviewed by Matt Lauer on the Today Show.  In conversation Senator Obama repeatedly called Matt Lauer, Tim.  Presumably because he had had an extensive interview with NBC’s Tim Russert the day before on Meet the Press.  The point here is that even the best of the best can make grave mistakes during interviews, and they are now easily broadcast around the world in seconds.  When interviewing or preparing someone for an interview make sure the facts are straight, and have a team member close by whenever possible.

If you are one of the Out of Control Marketing faithful, please don’t make this mistake. Senator Obama was nice enough to do it for you.

Watch the video.

This video interview feature Gary Vaynerchuk of http://tv.winelibrary.com  .  Not only is Gary out of control, he is a master of Out of Control Marketing.  In the interview he discusses several factors that are key to making an Out of Control Campaign work.  He begins by talking about authenticity.  Through advertising we can create any persona that we’d like, but when we rely on PR and WOM, authenticity is a must.  Editors, producers, talk show host, and consumers will see salesmanship for what it is.  Overt shilling reduces the chance of coverage by the media and of being talked up by the public.  It also increases the chance of getting negative coverage and the spreading of negative WOM.

Vaynerchuk’s biggest triumph is in the way that he has been able to position himself as an expert with a combination of old and new marketing techniques.  On the traditional side, he speaks at companies and corporate events, he is covered by the press, and he makes appearances on TV shows.  On the marketing 2.0 side he has an extremely successful podcast, is active on Facebook®, and is relentless on Twitter (you can follow him at http://twitter.com/garyvee ).  He has also penned a book and is selling it through traditional channels and by creating WOM on the web and by creating street teams. 

This video and an exploration of Gary’s website will give students a look at the importance of the relationship with media and WOM connectors, an understanding of what the connectors are looking for, and a bold introduction to the power of WOM and the uses of social media.  He also shows how events and positioning himself as an expert has supported his efforts.  This is also an example of a great interview-was he prepared?

If you have made it to this blog you are one of the first to be part of web 2.0 in a truly marketing context.  We are working to start a conversation between businesses, professors, and students to advance marketing by embracing the “Out of Control” philosophy.  That is, we believe that in order to have effective marketing campaigns that have a meaningful return on investment, marketers need to hand control of their message over to consumer connectors and the new generation of media.  This strategy incorporates the classic practices of PR and the cutting edge techniques of consumer generated marketing. While this is a highly productive approach, relinquishing one’s message to any intermediary has its risks.  This website and its associated blogs is dedicated in bringing the best practices of the new marketing age to all those willing to listen, and, more important, participate.