SECOND BASE Workshop

I recently attended the Second Base, Cherryflava marketing workshop and subsequently had the opportunity to summate and present back to HelloComputer in the weekly Soapbox.

Jon Cherry, Editor of Cherryflava, kicked off the workshop with an explanation of the term, “Second Base.” As kids, we were surrounded by touchy-feely brands that allowed us to “Try That, Touch This, Press Here,” yet as we became older brands seem to stop at the ‘kissing’ stage. With the growth of social media, Web 2.0 and other such buzz words, it is imperative that brands find a way to interact and bring the experience to the client. Using practical examples, in this case the wine industry, the workshop aimed to utilise the amazing new marketing tools available to us, ultimately to increase sales and create a more complete brand experience.

Mike Ratcliffe, of Warwick Wines, spoke about the necessity to cut through the antiquated, slow business model in an attempt to make the experience long-term. The wine industry can be compared to the fashion industry if any and is radically fragmented with 700 wineries in South Africa. The channel to market is consolidating and as a result masses of stock are no longer moving and the bubble is beginning to burst. The public is faced with such an array of choices which can be intimidating and overwhelming. To differentiate his brand and ensure his consumer’s experience is memorable and ongoing he developed the Warwick Wine Club. Through this channel he sought to make his company news personal with relevant and interesting content; act on people’s innate desire to learn and communicate; to keep content current; involve social media as a channel to interact; and to think outside the box.

Jon Cherry then gave some interesting stats on Twitter:

• 1. 1 in 5 accounts are empty place holders
  2. 94% have less than 100 followers
  3. March/April 2009 tipping point - Ashton and Oprah joined
  4. 150 is the magic number - any more friends and the novelty wears off
  5. Small minority keeps active - 5% create 75% of the activity
  6. Half aren’t active (less than a week)
  7. Tuesday is most popular day
  8. 55% don’t use Twitter.com

Clever business tactics utilising Twitter:

• BakerTweet - “Fresh buns!”
• TasteLive - give thoughts on Twitter, learn and interact with a person not a machine.

Gareth Cotton, of Chariot Limousines,  chatted to us about speeding up the process of starting a business. Gareth is known to sprout ideas faster than some guys sprout facial hair. His mantra is, “Ready, Fire, Aim” - start it and then tweak. In trying to get from Port Elizabeth airport to Grahamstown one Sunday afternoon, he saw a gap in the market, conceived the idea and started a business the very same day.

These were the steps that he followed:

1.      What is your idea? Transport people from PE to Grahamstown.

2.      Construct your “Elevator Pitch.” Only 10-15 seconds long. It should be a quick idea of the concept that’s memorable and easy to relay.

3.      What do you need? Assets, office, phone. Keep it simple.

4.      How much will it cost? Be prepared to lose ‘X.’ Use a rough estimate.

5.      How can you get it for free? Wait till the last minute, get the lowest price and save.

6.      Who do you need?

Operationally - Managed by staff or self, driver.

Customers - Who will buy, demographic, who needs to travel?

7.      Who do you know? People to check the car, watch over the business.

A friendly person to punt and spread the word.

8.      Who do they know? Use their network.

9.      Get the word out. Don’t wait to build the site and get too complicated.

Use Facebook status updates and Twitter for example.

10.  Get first 3 customers. These 3 will work out the worst problems.

Get a commitment - signed or even a 5% down-payment.

11.  Tweak - Aim

How can you refine the business?

Make the price R420 which is evenly divisible by 2,3,4.

Augmented Reality is the industry buzz word at the moment. Semacodes, QR codes or Quick Response codes, are examples of this. Augmented Reality essentially involves putting a digital layer over reality allowing you to interact via the internet in real life situations. Our nametags for the day were in the format of a QR code and with the sponsored Nokia handsets we were able to snap each others codes and learn three preloaded qualities about each person.

There are few great examples of this concept being applied and many more are developing:

• Jessica Yellin CNN Hologram - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thOxW19vsTg
• New York MP3 Experiment - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1O1rv7vDsE
• Layar Augmented Reality Browser - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b64_16K2e08

Andrew Smith, of LiveAlchemy.com and YuppieChef , spoke to us about his fundamental marketing principle, credibility. Andrew has tried to create a community around his brand, a brand people now want to associate themselves with and talk about. In building trust he reminds consumers that they are dealing with real people by including a hand-written thank-you note with each delivery as well as a free gift of sorts.

Nikki Friedman, of bigwordsscareme, finished off the speakers with a reminder that all these digital strategies are fantastic but not without soul. Nikki calls herself a story teller and creates stories which are easy to remember and are easily repeatable. Harnessing the power of word of mouth, with each person on average speaking to 60 others, Nikki identifies your narrative gap - what makes you special, clearing the fluff and encapsulating exactly what it is about the brand that makes their clients buy it and want to be associated with it. Nikki recommends that you exploit any chance to communicate with people, hook them with adjective-free, concise, memorable information and then link them deeper. In whatever means used, consistency is key.

The day ended with a hands-on exercise to differentiate a single wine bottle by whatever digital means available.  Besides conceptualise the idea, with a few Digicape sponsored iMacs and some Nokia handsets, we were also able to create and implement these campaigns. The point being how that these new media tools are both user friendly and quick to setup.

It was a worthwhile experience with some genius and inspirational speakers as well as a practical opportunity to implement so much of what is read about every day.