How does Gen C help Me?
By Vincent Heeringa,
Jake Pearce, the author of our Generation C cover story, and I have just completed our Auckland and Wellington Gen C seminars. Interestingly, no one really questioned our assumptions or that marketing to Gen C was necessary. Just tell us how, was the response.
Good question and much harder to answer than saying it’s important and you should do it.
We brainstormed a few ideas this morning and here are three tools for you to start the process.
First, ask yourself, how would Trade Me do this? One person from the TAB asked how to do Gen C gambling. Well, how might Trade Me attack gambling? For a start it might throw the problem of what to gamble on back to the punters. Instead of offering a limited number of events such as a Super 14 game or a horse race to bet on, why not ask punters to put up their own dares, games and scenarios. Imagine it as taking online what happens every Friday down at your local tavern between drinking buddies.
Second, provide a platform for people’s stories. Someone else this morning asked how use Gen C techniques for selling the idea of environmental management. How about providing a website for green campaigners to post their digi-films and reports about local environmental problems? Think about it as reality TV: real green disasters in your neighbourhood! You can just imagine how the name and shame approach would generate response. Alternatively, give people a place to report on their local green initiatives such as a tree-planting project or a creek clean up. And don’t be all journalistic and authoritative about it. Just host these things and let the fans do the work.
Third, monetise what you love. Just across from me this morning in Wellington is the founder of the most trafficked drum and bass site in the country, Bass Drop. What started as a free listing service for event managers has turned into a huge D&B fan site that pays for itself while Andrew, the founder, works his day job. Fans keep the site updated with content and Andrew is now looking for brand extensions.
There are plenty of examples of Gen C marketing at work. Keep visiting our site to watch the phenomenon unfold. And hey, comment on this blog!
Comments
barnaclebarnes
A few top of mind notes…
- Jake Pearce (BTW: what is his url? I thought it was jake.pearce.co.nz but that didn\'t work) showed an example of a piece of remixing backfiring which was the VW ad. A lot closer to home he should have showed the Telcon ad. It was a great way to show not what to do with Gen-C content and how not to listen to customers. Which of course leads into…
- The Telcom Rubish film festival may look on the outside to be a Gen-C focused \'open\' content kind of idea but it is wrapped in closed T&C\'s (you don\'t have any right to what you produce - Section 20).
- Also can you put the presentation online to download?
- One of the key things for people to realise is that they actually have to believe in opening up their organisation to Gen-C for it to work. Marketing gimicks that try to be Gen-C but are not authentic don\'t work.
Glen
Awesome, its the shift to \'real\' communication Gen C want and embrace.
As I pointed out the old paradigme of advertising/marketing was \"glamour, unreal, idealised brands\" - stylised.
If its done cynically its not good - take a look at www.current.tv/studio/create/vcam and see if you think they are keeping it real.
Thanks for the post
jake@jakepearce.com
Matt
We\'re making plans to get Jake\'s presentation online and we\'ll post on the blog when we have something ready. Stand by …
Vincent
The presentation is online now. I notice too that the Herald has done a piece this morning on GenC interviewing one Jack Pearce. Uncanny.
klaus
Quite an interesting presentation at Te papa. I was wondering if there are any alternative media to attract Generation C. Mostly mentioned media is the internet via myspace, blogging and similar. Sure there must be more than recieving a reward only if you\'re connected to the net (and expose yourself). mobile phones, mp3 player, laptops, etc. are not only the type of gadgets this generation is attracted to but grown up with. The question now would be how to reach them not only by let them participate on a website but consider some other media as well. When do we reach the point where everybody is able to design their \'signature-muffin\' at the local bakery?
I thought about the last part of the presentation, showing how to upgrade the interior of a car… and remembered the \'smart\'– car experiment of mercedes and swatch, enabling the customer to individualise the car by changing parts. It failed miserably.
(maybe a concept before its time?!)
Pearce
I completely agree with you about the \'media\' issue. As I tried to state during the presentation \'media, smedia\'. As the Listener said last week in an article about the future, the only thing that\'s right about predictions about the media, is that predictions about the media will all be wrong.
My hunch however is that phones will become the way to hook to the net, they will become a comms device. On a practical note the easiest mode for Gen C is currently the web but I don\'t think it will stay that way.
Swatch as a brand didn\'t fail. I think the examples were right before their time. The fact is there are so many examples now of customisation it is overwhelming. I think the most potent is zopa - its a bank without bankers, just borrowers and investors who borrow money. I\'ve been trying to get hold of their finances to see how they are doing because that\'s where the rubber hit the road
Thanks for coming and thanks for your post.
Jake
Anonymous comments on this post are disabled. Please sign up to post a new comment.