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Creating commercial
growth
September - The Art and Science of Newsjacking
Our Guest Speaker: Jon Burkhart, Real-time Content Labs
Jon Burkhart joins us for this month’s HoneyBuzz at Soho House to explain the secrets behind ‘newsjacking’, the art and science of generating media frenzy from trends, culture and breaking news stories. As well as co-writing the excellent book Newsjacking:The Urgent Genius of Real-time Advertising and co-authoring Hacker Teacher Maker Thief Jon also builds brand newsrooms (think social listening command centre + trends lab + production company) for some of the biggest brands in the world and hasa knack for making things go viral.
http://www.lulu.com/shop/creative-social/hacker-maker-teacher-thief-advertisings-next-generation/paperback/product-21769341.html
Jon Burkhart is a social media consultant and content strategist, four-time speaker at SXSW Interactive, founder of Real-time Content Labs, and co-author of the Urgent Genius book.
Keep up with him on Twitter @JonBurkhart, RealtimeContentLabs.com (thought pieces)and UrgentGenius.com (quick blog posts)
The early days of social media were relatively easy for brands, but this all changed in 2009. Suddenly brands were flocking to social media and it became really hard to get noticed. Then something happened on 23 October 2009 that changed everything. What happened has shaped the way we use social media and was the start of what Jon now famously calls “Urgent Genius.”
Nick Griffin appeared on Question Time. This might not sound like a big deal, but his comments angered the nation and inspired Jon’s friend Jon Plackett to switch off the TV and start recording his own hand slapping a video of Nick Griffin’s face. The next day he nearly got fired for creating the website SlapNickGriffin.com, which had gone viral overnight and prompted a series of death threats aimedat him and his boss.
Jon’s hilarious HoneyBuzz talk covered everything from why today’s brands need an Urgent Genius, how NOT to newsjack the royal baby, why using the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge to sell your product is probably a bad idea, one Facebook page you never want your brand to appear on and how an unknown sanitary protection company achieved worldwide fame after one of the funniest newsjacks of all time!
Read the Buzz evening highlights.
http://www.ithinkanddo.com
Honey 6 Blackstock MewsLondon N4 2BT+44 (0)20 7354 4150
Lulu Laidlaw-SmithCommercial Director+44 (0)7977 998 [email protected] honey.co.uk9 wins in 7 years.
Jon coined the term Urgent Genius to describe quick-thinking creatives that come up with famous work just hours after a story breaks. Jon’s own successes include a website that makes any YouTube video look like the award-winning film The Artist and a ‘real-time content lab for World Baking Day.
Jon’s website UrgentGenius.com is now a community of folks looking for inspiration for their real-time content efforts. Almost every mainstream brand is now on social media, making it difficult to stand out from the crowd. Brands should be investing in real-time content labs and hiring the best Urgent Geniuses for their social media to produce witty, topical content that generates huge publicity.
Tweet it: “Brands need real-time content labs to helpthem stand out on social channels.” @jonburkhart @honeycreative #honeybuzztalks
And this is what we now call newsjacking. This was a term coined by Contagious Magazine and first used by Jon and his co-author Grant. The term was popularised by Jon’s colleague, the award-winning author David Meerman Scott who acknowledges Urgent Genius as an influence in his more PR-focused book, also called Newsjacking.
http://www.davidmeermanscott.com/books/newsjacking/
“Content strategy needs kindling (daily content), bonfires (that keep gaining momentum) and fireworks (big budget campaigns thateveryone sees)
Jon Burkhart, Real-time Content Labs
Creating commercial
growth
Honey 6 Blackstock MewsLondon N4 2BT+44 (0)20 7354 4150
Lulu Laidlaw-SmithCommercial Director+44 (0)7977 998 [email protected] honey.co.uk9 wins in 7 years.
The Buzz evening highlights …
1.Why your brand needs a real-time content lab (and an Urgent Genius)
Its all about reacting within 12-48 hours...so I started gathering the best examples of newsjacking and created a site called Urgent Genius.
John Burkhart, Real-time Content Labs
2. How to use Fireworks, Bonfires and Kindling to build your content strategy
Many people think of newsjacks as a fluke success for a brand, but they don’t see the failed attempts and continual hard work behind well-planned content strategies. It’s tempting for brands to focus on viral publicity, but the best content strategies have a mix of kindling, bonfires and fireworks. Inspired by a colleague John Willshire’s 2009 analogy, the bonfires are those ‘little bets’ that you continually place and hope will pay off in a similar way to your brilliant ad campaigns with an amazing media firework display.
http://www.slideshare.net/gamages/advertising-fireworks-social-bonfires
Another content strategy mistake is to flood social media with endless promotions and egotistical broadcasts that people don’t care about. The advice here is to give your audience three pieces of useful or engaging information for every one piece of brand promotion. If in doubt, read the brilliant book Jab, Jab, Jab, Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk to learn how to tell your story in a noisy social world.
Think of the worst idea for a newsjack: the royal baby. Everyone is given 9 months to come up with something and this is the best they could do.
Jon Burkhart, Real-time Content Labs
3. How NOT to newsjack the royal baby...
The KFC Commemorative Plate is one of the worst royal baby newsjacks out there, but many other brands that also have nothing do to with England or ‘poshness’ had a go at newsjacking the royal baby. This is why it’s important to understand who you are as a brand and speak to your
September - The Art and Science of Newsjacking
Creating commercial
growth
audience. Keep it relevant and authentic. Yes, newsjacking the royal baby is probably a bad idea, but at least some brands did it well …
The Guardian added a ‘Republican’ option for readers sick of royal baby news. Anticipating reader fatigue, they added a small toggle on the homepage that removed all mention of the royal family and won them plenty of attention. The only other good newsjacks about the royal baby were those that referenced the name in some way, because the name was only made public after the birth.
Tweet it: Brands need to stop newsjacking events that have no relevance to them @jonburkhart @honeycreative #honeybuzztalks
Bodyform’s ‘The Truth’ video received 5 million views within the first couple of days. This video came about after Richard Neill posted a funny complaint on the Bodyform Facebook page saying that the company adverts mislead men into thinking that their girlfriend’s periods would be a ‘joyous adventure’. His rant against adverts depicting women skydiving and roller skating clocked up thousands of likes.
Bodyform’s response? Their marketing manager had nothing to lose and just decided to create something she would share with her friends. The result is a video of fictitious CEO Caroline Williams directly addressing Richard in what is one of the funniest newsjacks of all time. This is a fantastic example of Urgent Genius and what happens when brands are brave enough to listen to people.
Tweet it: Funny newsjack responses can put unknown brands on the map! @jonburkhart @honeycreative#honeybuzztalks
4. Hilarious newsjacks like this can put unknown brands on the map!
This was a brand that nobody cared about. The marketing manager had nothing to lose and created something she would share with her mates.Jon Burkhart, Real-time Content Labs
“One of my favourite apps is Charmin’s Sit or Squat. It’s a public toilet directory that tells users whether you should sit or squat at them. It’s authentic and it’s useful!
Jon Burkhart, Real-time Content Labs
5. Brands don’t always need to be funny, but they should at least be useful.
Some brands have humour in their DNA and other brands just sell toilet paper. Many brands overlook the power of usefulness in their marketing ideas and try too hard to be funny. Charmin’s Sit or Squat app is an excellent example of a brand offering something genuinely useful to consumers and getting inside their heads to find outwhat they are really thinking about. What a great wayto build brand loyalty!
Honey 6 Blackstock MewsLondon N4 2BT+44 (0)20 7354 4150
Lulu Laidlaw-SmithCommercial Director+44 (0)7977 998 [email protected] honey.co.uk9 wins in 7 years.
September - The Art and Science of Newsjacking
The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge has spread globally, raising awareness (and nearly $100 million) for motor neurone disease. Brands have been quick to jump on the bandwagon, with KFC claiming to ‘know a thing or two about buckets’ and pledging $100 for everyone who takes on the challenge using a KFC bucket … and there aremany other questionable newsjacks surrounding the Ice Bucket Challenge.
Samsung developed a well-executed idea to challenge the iPhone to the Ice Bucket Challenge and celebrate the waterproof benefits of their Galaxy S5. It has 4.6 million views including 29K likes. With 10K dislikes on YouTube and a bit of negative press, it is clear that some questioned whether this was an appropriate opportunity to sell phones. This is why brands need to be careful before newsjacking sensitive or controversial topics, but could Samsung have saved it if they had donated money from phone sales to ALS?
Creating commercial
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6. Why planning your brand’s newsjack is a waste of time
7. The ALS Ice Bucket Challenge and other newsjacks that are off-limits
I’m all for quick and clever, but I think we need to look for moments that are unique. It’s all about the moment!Jon Burkhart, Real-time Content Labs
My rule is that if people are dying then don’t use it as an opportunity to flog stuff.
Jon Burkhart, Real-time Content Labs
Another rather touching example of this is the Speaking Exchange campaign. This simple idea for CNA language schools uses webcam to pair up young Brazilians that want to learn English with lonely elderly Americans living in retirement homes. This campaign goes beyond learning a language and helped both sides develop meaningful relationships that really enriched their lives.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-S-5EfwpFOk
Tweet it: Be authentic! Brands don’t always need to be funny, but they must at least be useful. @jonburkhart @honeycreative #honeybuzztalks
The main platform for real-time marketing is Twitter. They have created a tool called Own The Moment that allows brands to plan their tweets around key events using an interactive calendar. You can even click on one of the days to see a sample tweet of what you could be saying. What Twitter has done is created the best day for your brand NOT to get noticed. After all, everyone else will be tweeting about it!
The northern lights were an event that no other brand was talking about and (believe it or not) was a hashtag waiting to be used. Then thanks to Jon’s colleague Stephen Pirrie at Analog Folk, Dulux came along with The Power Of Colour tweets and successfully managed to enjoy the lion’s share of brand conversation around this famous event. Planning can be useful, but brands need to plan for events that are relevant to them and try to spot something others have missed to ‘own the moment’.
Tweet it: Twitter’s Own The Moment helps brands to find the best day NOT to get noticed. @jonburkhart @honeycreative #honeybuzztalks
Honey 6 Blackstock MewsLondon N4 2BT+44 (0)20 7354 4150
Lulu Laidlaw-SmithCommercial Director+44 (0)7977 998 [email protected] honey.co.uk9 wins in 7 years.
September - The Art and Science of Newsjacking
Creating commercial
growth
8. Technology can help with more creative newsjacks...but beware!
https://www.facebook.com/officialjon
The one place that you never want your brand to end up is on the Condescending Corporate Brand Page on Facebook. Many failed newsjacks have appeared here and, in the fast-paced world of social media, it’s easier than ever for brands to say the wrong thing. People are highly aware of ‘brand speak’ and companies should proceed with caution, whether they are newsjacking or crassly piggybacking or hijacking.
https://www.facebook.com/corporatebollocks?ref=br_tf
Having said that, there is no better way to gain publicity than cleverly engaging with users. Meat Pack, a trendy shoe shop in Guatemala, is still riding the media wave after their ingenious idea to use GPS to hack people’s phones with a countdown discount when they enter the shopping
Pret had a sandwich of the year competition and social media hellraiserJon Morter started getting everyone to vote for the bacon sandwich, and it won. Pret, by the rulesof their own game, had to produce it!
Jon Burkhart, Real-time Content Labs
HoneyBuzz, is a monthly round table talk creating collaboration of marketers and business leaders to share learnings and create commercial growth.
Join us for an evening of lively and thought-provoking debate to drive the creation of commercial growth. Held at Soho House, you’ll be sitting alongside other sector experts and senior industry figures bringing their own unique and thought-provoking insights and experience.
Interested in speaking at HoneyBuzz?We’re always on the look out for guestspeakers with a different angle on brandand communications. If you’re interested,please do get in touch.
[email protected] 998 001
Honey 6 Blackstock MewsLondon N4 2BT+44 (0)20 7354 4150
Lulu Laidlaw-SmithCommercial Director+44 (0)7977 998 [email protected] honey.co.uk9 wins in 7 years.
September - The Art and Science of Newsjacking
Tweet it: Is it ethical for brands to piggy back charity campaigns such as ALS ‘Ice bucket challenge’@jonburkhart @honeycreative #honeybuzztalks
centre. The timer starts at 99% and shoppers literally run to the store. The quicker they get there, the more discount they get!
Tweet it: Brands shouldn’t be afraid to have a go at newsjacking … but proceed with caution! @jonburkhart@honeycreative #honeybuzztalks
