SRI
in
the
Rockies



STRATEGIC
MEMOS





 


STRATEGIC
MEMORANDUM



TO:
 
 SRI
In
the
Rockies
Attendees



FROM:

 John
Rooks,
President
of
The
SOAP
Group



SUBJECT:
 Be
Authentic






BIG
POINT:
The
Internet
is
a
wall
between
you
and
your
customers.

Social
media
is
a
portal

into
­
but
not
through
­
that
wall.

To
break
through
the
last
few
inches
of
the
interface,
and

thereby
connect
with
customers,
we
must
rely
on
authenticity.



The
Internet
is
a
fantasy.

It
allows
us
to
manufacturer
and
(re)present
ourselves
(our
companies,

our
opportunities,
our
competitors)
as
we
wish,
which
is
not
always
(if
ever)
in
congruence
with

how
we
are.

It
is
a
great
tool
for
supporting
spectacle.




Fortunately
for
marketers
(web
or
otherwise)
most
people
prefer
fantasy
to
reality.

We
prefer
to

live
in
a
world
where
‘ourselves’
our
represented
by
‘our‐things.’

The
clothes,
the
car,
the
organic

food
become
representations
of
us.

The
Internet
supports
this
in
so
much
that
it
is
an
interface

between
two
things,
but
is
neither
of
the
two
things
(sign
–
object).

It
is
a
magical
screen
where

things
appear
and
happen
when
we
are
not
looking.
Unfortunately
understanding
this
paradigm

does
not
destroy
the
illusion.



There
is
hope.

There
are
several
cultural
trends
pointing
to
the
resurgence
of
interest
in
authentic

experiences,
relationships
and
living.
We
can
look
at
food
as
an
example.

Judy
Hevrdejs
in
the

Chicago
Tribune
reports
that
the
number
of
Farmer’s
Markets
have
increased
16%
over
2009,
and

more
than
tripled
since
2004.

There
are
more
Farmer’s
Markets
in
the
US
than
there
are
Wal‐
Marts.

CSAs
have
enjoyed
similar
increases,
as
have
other
experiential
ways
to
interact
with
our

food
(SlowFood).

It
takes
the
commodity
out
of
the
distribution
system
and
replaces
it
with
a
real

connection
and
experience
with
the
food
grower.

Of
course,
the
game
FarmVille
attempts
to

replicate
this
in
cyberspace.

But
in
this
instance
the
game
is
a
manifestation
of
the
trend
in

entertainment
form,
not
the
trend
itself.



So
how
do
we
mediate
between
the
most
popular
marketing
strategy
of
today
and
cultural
trends

that
are
seemingly
antithetical?




Writer
and
producer
of
the
movie
The
Social
Network
Aaron
Sorkin
said
that
‘Socializing
on
the

internet
is
to
socializing
what
Reality
tv
is
to
reality.’
This
quote
understands
the
problem.

Just

because
you
call
it
Reality,
doesn’t
mean
it’s
Real.

Likewise,
just
because
you
call
it
socializing,

doesn’t
mean
it
is.

Sorkin
calls
facebook
‘a
performance.’

He’s
right.

Marketing
is
a
performance

too,
so
it’s
a
match
made
in
cyberheaven.

That,
however,
doesn’t
make
it
real.



To
get
into
this,
we
first
need
to
have
an,
albeit
slippery,
understanding
of
what
“real”
means.

We

can
understand
“reality”
as
the
irreducible
gab
between
two
points;
the
gap
between
sign
and

 


object.

In
this
view,
the
Internet
is
a
wall
and
social
media
is
a
portal
into
but
not
all
the
way

through
that
wall.

Therefore,
the
rest
of
the
journey
(after
all
the
strategy
and
tools)
requires

something
unique
‐
we
need
to
reach
through
that
wall
with
authenticity,
to
make
the
interchange

with
customers
as
authentic
as
possible
through
the
fantastical
gauze.



For
these
last
few
‘inches’
of
communication
(again,
perhaps
an
irreducible
gap),
we
need
to
short

circuit
the
interface,
or
the
fantasy,
to
remind
everyone
that
this
is
a
real
experience.
If
this
can
be

done
at
all,
it
is
to
be
one
through
authenticity,
through
the
‘make
real’
of
social
media.



Social
media
starts
to
close
the
gap
created
by
the
interface
of
the
Internet.

It
gets
us
closer,
but

not
all
the
way
to
people.





The
problem
presented
to
modern
marketers
and
social
media
experts
is
not
just
about
tactics

(facebook
demographic
overlays
with
Twitter
content,
or
the
gamification
of
activism).


For

cyberspace
architects
it
is
not
is
not
‘how
quickly
can
we
make
virtual
(or
augmented)
reality

real?’
but
rather
‘how
will
we
make
augmented
reality
real
again?’.



The
default
interface
of
social
media
is
symbolic
–
or
literally
symbols.

We
navigate
through
icons,

show
appreciation
by
clicking
the
illustrated
image
of
‘thumbs‐up’,
we
review
relationships
and

history
by
scrolling
and
panning.

We
communicate
in
micro‐thoughts
of
information
that
paint
us

as
we
want
to
be
seen.

The
contextless
mico‐thoughts
have
become
performance
discourse.

But

they
are
not
discourse.
Interestingly,
while
the
interface
is
designed
to
actually
bring
us
closer
to

the
experience
of
the
experience,
it
ultimately
serves
to
remove
us
from
the
reality
of
the

experience;
or
the
experience
of
reality.

Liking
someone
on‐line
does
not
have
the
same
meaning

as
liking
them
in
‘real’
life.

It
does
not
require
the
same
sense
of
tolerance,
intelligence
or
shared

systems.

It
is
a
click
as
the
cost
of
admission
into
a
clique.



Cyberspace
and
social
media
may
be
a
reality,
but
they
are
not
real.

Cyberpunks
will
disagree.



Let’s
also
point
to
some
cultural
context
of
the
resurrection
authenticity.

There
are
several
trends

that
lead
us
to
believe
that
authenticity
is
becoming
popular
again.



The
rise
of
the
Do
It
Yourself
(DIY)
culture
can
be
a
terrific
lens
to
understand
what
is
going
on
in

both
the
sustainability
space
and
the
trend
of
authenticity.

It
represents
new
markets
and
new

marketing
strategies.



The
rise
of
Etsy
as
a
business
model
is
an
indication
of
a
clamor
for
authenticity,
of
the
Real.

Not

“real”
as
in
Coca
Cola
is
the
“real
thing”
as
we
were
told
when
we
were
growing
up,
but
Real
as
in
a

thing
that
the
temporary
happiness
offered
by
the
sugar
water
of
most
consumption
is
reflecting.


The
Real
is
an
heirloom
experience,
if
not
the
authentic
self
itself.





And,
it
can
be
monetized.



In
33
months,
Etsy
went
from
an
idea
to
a
company
with
fifty
employees,
a
community
of
650,000

members,
and
a
marketplace
with
over
120,000
sellers
in
127
different
countries.

At
the

beginning
of
2008,
they
raised
$27
Million
in
funding.

Today
they
employ
150
people,
have
5

 


million
members,
and
closed
other
$20
million
round
of
financing.

Etsy
has
expected
revenues
of

$40
million
this
year,
and
a
valuation
of
$300
million.





In
a
Q
and
A
with
Meg
Shannon
for
Bloomberg,
Etsy
CEO,
Rob
Kalin
had
this
to
say
about
Etsy’s

success
and
the
economy.




Shannon:
Do
you
think
in
these
tough
economic
times,
people
see
handmade
crafts
almost

like
comfort
foods?




Kalin:
Yes.
When
there
is
economic
hardship,
people
reassess
what
value
means.
One
is
the

Wal‐Mart,
McDonald’s,
and
just
looking
at
the
price
and
convenience.
Then
there’s
this
idea

of
value.
If
your
house
is
on
fire,
what
do
you
rescue?
It’s
not
your
TV.
It’s
going
to
be
a

family
heirloom,
a
book.




Authenticity
is
becoming
a
value.



Or,
consider
the
world
of
advertising
graphic
design.

The
resurgence
of
stop
motion
animation

television
commercials
is
an
indication
of
the
popularity
of
authenticity.

Major
corporations
who

are
far
removed
from
their
consumers
are
using
this
video
technique
as
a
visual
representation
of

something
handmade,
of
touched.
Hellman’s
Mayonnaise,
Amazon’s
Kindle,
Play
Station
II,
BF

Goodwrench,
McDonalds,
and
more
have
all
introduced
this
technique
into
their
advertising.

The

point
is
that
the
technique
is
a
current
design
trend,
and
design
trends
follow
general
cultural

trends.



So
the
trend
of
authenticity
is
there,
but
the
most
prominent/dominant
marketing
strategy
of

today
is
insufficient
and
perhaps
‐
at
worst

‐
even
contrarian
to
this
trend.





Entertain
this
contrarian
logic
when
considering
the
first
95%
of
your
social
media
strategy:



1. More
connections
are
not
better
connections.

2. All
Followers
and
Friends
are
not
in
your
pipeline.

3. An
on‐line
conversation
is
not
a
dialogue.



The
remaining
5%
is
where
we
make
the
hay.

It
is
where
the
conversion
from
an
intermittent

tribe
of
performers
to
a
loyal
customer‐base
happens.

For
these
last
few
inches
the
following

strategies
are
important.



 Be
human.

Corporate
tweets
rebuild
the
walls
that
the
social
media
is
breaking
down.

At

the
very
least,
use
your
corporate
personality.



 80/20.

Think
of
social
media
is
a
cocktail
party
–
the
best
conversationalists
are
the
best

listeners;
the
ones
who
were
not
talking
about
themselves
all
night.

Talk
about
your

community
80%
of
the
time
and
yourself
20%.



 Be
honest.

Use
social
media
as
a
proactive
transparency
tool,
not
as
the
tool
forcing
you
to

be
transparent.

 




 Automate
as
much
as
necessary
and
as
little
as
possible.



 Encourage
direct
connections.
Often,
social
media
is
a
rabbit
hole
with
no
exit.

Make
sure

you
are
encouraging
and
directing
the
conversation
toward
actual
relationships.



 Social
media
is
like
dating,
you
can
have
lots
of
promiscuous
encounters
that
lead
to

short‐term
gratification,
or
you
can
focus
on
growing
real
relationships.