I got my 5th invitation today to join the 6 Degrees of Separation group on Facebook.

I decided to investigate it. I’m seriously intrigued (as we all should be) by the social networking phenomenon and how it will impact the marketing world in the months and years ahead. Clearly there’s a viral potential for ideas and applications within social networks that is unprecedented.

Yet, I’m still waiting and watching for case studies that demonstrate the marketing ROI on these initiatives. There is no doubt these concepts draw eyeballs… and can be sticky (at least for short bursts of time). But is anyone other that the app developers making money?
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A while ago I wrote a post asking the question, “who is really in charge of your marketing?” My intent was to highlight the marketing impact (for better or worse) of the rank and file staffers who come face-to-face with customers.

Recently however, I have noticed something truly fascinating that I believe may very well change marketing forever.  And it forces me to revisit this same issue of who’s in charge of marketing.

This time I would ask you to consider the role of your customer in the marketing equation.  No… I’m not talking about generating referrals.  I’m actually talking about the customer as the deciding and active force in an organization’s marketing.
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If you haven’t taken a moment to appreciate the work that Unilever is doing with its Dove Self Esteem Fund and related campaign, you’re missing something truly special in the world of marketing. What’s more, you’re missing a great example of the new face of powerful, authentic marketing… infusing emotion and meaning into what could easily be a big, boring brand.

The campaign is supported in large part by a number of brilliantly composed, thought provoking, debate inspiring videos created by Ogilvy & Mather Toronto. If you haven’t seen “Evolution,” you need to take a moment and watch it right now.

This Dove self esteem campaign is worthy of serious study and reflection, but there are three aspects of it that I want to call your attention to right now.
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I have just completed a three-month study testing the effectiveness of SEO and Google Adwords against radio advertising in generating quote requests for a consumer insurance product.  The test was contained to a market area of one city and surrounding areas.

The local radio budget was $13,000/month, and the campaign ran for approximately three months on three stations selected by the company’s ad agency as being representative of the target demographic. To allow the radio a fair chance to establish frequency, I began tracking the search marketing comparison at the start of the second month of radio advertising and am reporting on exactly two months of radio results data ($26,000 invested over the two months – not counting the cost of producing the ad).

The Adwords budget for the same local market increased over the period of the study from approximately $400/month to approximately $750/month. And the total SEO budget was approximately $2,000/month.
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Brian Korte is an artist pioneering a new and fun medium. He builds mosaics – big pictures – out of LEGOs.

I can remember the time he told me he was working on his first one – a portrait of two of his friends who had recently married. With limited expectations, I took a look, and WOW! pretty darn cool!

What’s really interesting about his LEGO art, is that once you understand HOW he does it, unlike other forms of art that so often require freakish talent, most anyone could do this with his level of precision.

He has leveraged this sense of attainability to create a following of enthusiasts. Kids can (and do) actually help him complete his work.

Now he has built a growing business called Brickworkz out of this form of LEGO art, and by all indications, he’s doing quite well. You should have a look. He’s being commissioned to build his mosaics for individuals and businesses around the country, and he’s creating a growing buzz.

I mention this for two reasons. First, he’s a creative inspiration, and he’s succeeding at breaking into the crowded art community in a new and exciting way. It’s worth watching.

Second, and more to the point of this post, he wrote something recently that highlighted a phenomenon that has intrigued me for several years now as a marketer. It is a counter intuitive quirk of human nature that many of us marketers should recognize and exploit.
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If you haven’t read my July 21 post, Lunch with Yoda, take a moment and read it. It sets the stage for this post.

My afternoon with John revealed what I submit are six laws for creating a perfect customer experience. While I’m certain there are others (and I’d love your opinions), these are a good start to an important discussion in an era in which the customer experience has never been more important to the marketing equation.

Now for Laws #4, #5, and #6…
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John Taylor is the grand master among a new breed of marketers.

A short while ago, I wrote a post criticizing Sprint/Nextel for their abysmal failure to even be civil in their face-to-face interactions with customers. John is the polar opposite. He is the engineer of a near flawless customer experience designed to delight just about the most demanding consumer that the world has to offer – rich, executive golfers.

He’s an artist, a choreographer, a director, a gracious host, and a savvy business man. Every business needs a John Taylor.

We had lunch last week in the kingdom that he has created in Scottsdale, Arizona. Here’s his story – and three of the lessons that I walked away with…
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I played golf this weekend with an attorney that represents the recording industry in its fight against the online piracy of music. As I listened to his story about their work, what was particularly interesting to me as a marketer was the fact that the legal battles he is fighting are not intended to generate financial restitution for the harmed industry players.

Quite the opposite…  In fact, the cases (even the victories) are a loss. The proceeds aren’t sufficient to pay for the legal expenses incurred in the fight.

So what’s the point?
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What a joy it is as a marketer to promote a product for which there is an objective, compelling argument… when the numbers simply speak for themselves… when people would have to be crazy not to buy it.

This type of product doesn’t seem terribly common, but my guess is that there are a lot more of them out there than we know.

We’d all like our products or services to fall into this coveted “no brainer” category, and as clever marketers, we do our darndest to build and convey the compelling case for our wares. So often, we make our arguments quantitatively.  After all, who can resist when the numbers speak for themselves?

The problem is that even when they do… often they really don’t.
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For almost two years, I’ve been working on the development and launch of a portable electronic health record for consumers to carry on a USB thumb drive. This is a very challenging undertaking for reasons I’ll likely share in a future post. But today something happened that prompts me to write on the danger of familiarity. I see it all the time in product development, marketing, sales system development, and even among entrepreneurs raising money for new ventures.
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