The Challenge: Completely re-brand FLOTV.com and all social media properties, and provide social engagement strategies & execution

We recently had the opportunity to work closely with FLO TV, a wholly owned subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated, that was created with a single mission: to deliver a mobile entertainment experience unlike anything on the market today. They had recently developed a new branding identity and approached us to apply it to their web presence. In addition to upgrading their website and social media properties, FLO TV approached us to consult and execute on a variety of social media engagement campaigns.

The Goals

• Create a brand-aligned website with enhancements aimed at building consumer awareness, driving customer acquisition, conversion and retention.

• Put a finger on the pulse of FLO TV’s online following, then begin optimizing campaign and promotional efforts across all of their social media properties, including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.

The Solution

FLOTV.com

JHG creative, development and strategy teams collaborated with the FLO TV marketing team as well as their external creative agency to completely re-brand FLOTV.com within an expedited timeline in order to launch in sync with other concurrent marketing promotions. The development-heavy project involved a multitude of programming platforms and content management systems. Integrations included email marketing, flash animation, social media, video and web analytics. Unique enhancements included a module on the home page which pulled in live FLO TV Facebook updates and Twitter feeds.

Social Media Monitoring

In order to capitalize on the buzz generated from three FLO TV commercials broadcasted during the 2010 Super Bowl,JHG conducted a comprehensive social media monitoring campaign to identify and monitor FLO TV-related conversations on the web. Through this, FLO TV-related conversations, keywords and terms prior to, during and after the Super Bowl were discovered. Monitoring efforts revealed large spikes in overall brand-related conversations and provided crucial insight into sentiment as well as commonly used brand and non-brand keywords, all of which provided direction for future target marketing, SEO and PPC campaign optimization.

Facebook

Results of ongoing social media monitoring made it clear that there was an opportunity to better engage and retain new visitors to the existing FLO TV Facebook page through development of an interactive ‘Welcome’ tab.

JHG designed and developed a unique ‘Welcome’ tab that acts as a home page and introduces consumers to FLO TV on Facebook. To leverage the viral nature of the FLO TV “Moments” Super Bowl commercial, the tab showcased the video to drive brand recognition and increased views. In addition to showcasing video, the tab includes other interactive features such as a poll to engage visitors and collect valuable customer data.

Subsequent to the Super Bowl campaign, JHG replaced the ‘Welcome’ tab with a more brand-centric page that focused on introducing consumers to FLO TV’s expanding lineup of channels, technology and retail partners.

To help promote FLO TV’s upcoming World Cup 2010 programming, JHG partnered with the FLO TV marketing team and PR agencies to develop an integrated marketing campaign as well as build a sports-themed Facebook tab. The new tab showcases a sneak peak of U.S. National Soccer Team star Landon Donovan’s FLO TV commercial. In addition to the video, an interactive poll was integrated for visitors to weigh-in on their expectations of the US National Team’s performance in the tournament. The tab was launched strategically to coincide with exclusive articles published online viaThe New York Times and ESPN, as well as tweets and Facebook updates by Landon Donovan and FLO TV retail partners, all of which linked back to the sports-themed Facebook tab and commercial on FLO TV’s YouTube channel.

Twitter / YouTube

In coordination with the reskin of FLOTV.com, JHG applied FLO TV’s newly defined brand identity and creative to the FLOTV Twitter page and YouTube channel page. In addition, JHG provided strategic direction on overall Twitter and YouTube community engagement and cross-promotional opportunities.

Client Satisfaction

“JHG did a wonderful job of collaborating with our partner agencies to optimize our website for customer acquisition and retention and ensure a consistent brand identity across all our web and social channels.”

- Debra Marich
Staff Marketing Manager – FLO TV

It never entered my mind that buried somewhere inside of me was a “geek” waiting to jump out—until yesterday.  I was hired by JHG just three short months ago, with a long track record of marketing and client relations in the traditional side of media, having spent nine years in radio marketing and sales, but with a passion for the digital space.  So, as any great company would do to put their employees in the best position for success and to enhance learning, they sent me to the 2010 San Diego Interactive Day.

Each session allowed me to walk away with an enormous amount of information related to the digital space.  I was a sponge when Joel Book from Exact Target discussed email strategy and his Triangle Offense of “search to attract, web to engage, then email to serve” process and was fascinated by the geo-fencing mobile marketing opportunity discussion by Placecast’s Denny Reinert (which brings me to recollect— it was right then that my inner geek really started to surface). But my favorite session by far was the luncheon keynote speaker, Paul Ollinger, Western Region VP of Sales for Facebook.  The presentation was engaging, had timely and relevant topics and he had the best quote of the day when the topic of privacy was questioned — “When you get a landline, your name, phone number and address are put into a book that’s put on everyone’s doorstep”.  Like many of us during that session, I laughed—out loud!

Marketing goals are essentially the same no matter what platform is used, but the endless opportunity that the digital marketing platform provides has opened my eyes to a whole new world.  All in all, it was a great day of learning and I certainly couldn’t help but to become a self-proclaimed “geek” after spending a day surrounded by and listening to hundreds of them.

Going to WWDC is a pilgrimage that every Apple developer should make, and as a first-timer it was quite a spiritual experience.

On keynote Monday, I arrived just before 6am at Moscone West and found the line already wrapped around three-quarters of the building. Anticipation and excitement increased as the hours slowly passed. Finally at around 9:30am they opened the keynote room, causing a small stampede of folks trying to try get a seat close to the stage.

In the keynote room, the atmosphere was electric. Press photographers were posted with their huge telephoto lenses poised at the main stage, and everyone in the crowd was trying to connect to the congested wifi network in efforts to communicate with the outside world. Throughout Steve’s presentation my attention was split between furiously taking notes on Google Wave and trying to take in the whole experience.

The conference really does bring developers from around the world; throughout the week I met folks from France, Germany, Australia, and more. I also noticed that there was a good distribution of younger and more experienced older folks who have been around the block. However, you could tell by the bathroom lines that the gender split was much more uneven…probably about 97/3.

The catered lunch was not bad the first day, but after that variations on the sandwich/wrap got old very quickly. Thankfully, snacks throughout between sessions and my favorite–Odwalla drinks–kept me awake throughout the day.

Though I can’t delve into details of the sessions, I can say that their quality was top notch. They started and ended on time, the presentations were well rehearsed and of high content quality, and the demos were fantastic. I’m glad that they will be available for download later, because they went by fast. I found the labs very helpful as well. It was really nice having an Apple engineer to ask questions and help you through specific issues in code.

During the conference I was a bit starstruck when I met the developers of some really popular apps: Angry Birds, Words With Friends, Bump, Things… I had to remind myself that behind every app there are developers, who are real people.

WWDC is a unique gathering of tons of smart people, bleeding-edge technology, and exciting new software, all in one place. I learned a ton, met lots of cool developers, and left saturated with new information and ideas. Stay tuned…

I call it the bucket theory. It’s simple, it’s basic and it works. In the radio business, we used to categorize the listeners into buckets – P1’s, P2’s, and P3’s (I’m sure the radio industry still does). P1’s were the most loyal of all listeners. They would get up in the morning, have the radio set to one of our stations and listen from sun-up to sun-down. Our main goal was to keep them listening and create brand advocates out of them. In consumer marketing terms, our job was to RETAIN those listeners.

Our P2’s were people that listened every once in a while, like when we carried a sports show or niche program that appealed to them. Our job was to get them to listen more and turn them into P1’s. So, ACQUISITION AND RETENTION.

The P3’s – well, they didn’t listen to us at all, and it was our job to use traditional media (at the time) – billboards, newspaper, events – to try and capture their attention. That’s CUSTOMER ACQUISITION.

What does this have to do with you and your campus, you ask?

Well – unlike most consumer brands, you don’t have to go looking for your customers. You have an entire database list of them. Most of them already have a fond affinity to your college or University brand. Your job is to engage them and to offer them content that they deem valuable enough to make them want to join your alumni association or give money to your foundation.

For universities we work with, we help focus on customer RETENTION – how to make sure the offerings they have and the way we position them reduces churn out the back door. It’s not any good to get 50 new donors if 75 just left.

We also focus a great deal on customer CONVERSION. We find that universities don’t need acquisition in the true sense of the word. You need to convert those brand affinity-based alumni into card carrying alumni donors.

How do we do that? It’s all in the offer. What it is, where the value lies and how you position it. And that’s for next time…

Welcome to “Millennial U”, a blog post series designed just for colleges
and universities. This series of blog posts was inspired by my many trips
around the country speaking to various universities, organizations, alumni
and athletic departments.

The blog series will be about lessons we’ve learned from our partnerships
with several universities – the highly successful experiences as well as
ones we’ll call “learning experiences.” It will also focus on taking a
consumer marketing attitude towards Alumni and Foundation engagement and
fundraising. Finally, it will be a place for you to keep up on what’s
happening in the mobile and social media space as well as what it means to
you and your university.

I hope you will decide to follow us, check back now and then, and engage
through questions/comments on the site or across our social media
presence. We have a passion for this space and for helping people through
the maze of new technology fundraising.

Below is the first of many blog posts, enjoy!

_________________

If you are in or around the higher education space today, no doubt you
have heard the word “Millennial” ad nauseam. The Millennials – that
elusive, electronic, enormous group otherwise known as the “Net
Generation” – are filling our campuses and represent the future face of
university fundraising. They are the future because of a simple fact:
there are WAY more of them than any other generation, including those
loyal, true givers of the Baby Boom generation.

The colleges and universities we work with or speak to are experiencing a
very similar pattern. Most have fewer than 12% of their living alumni
giving, and of those, a disproportionate number are over the age of 50.
(And for some universities – even older). Stop and think about that for a
minute. If the majority of the donors are over 50, but the majority of the
alumni are under 50. Well, it means you have a GREAT opportunity (I’d
prefer to think of this in positive terms – what we have instead of what
we don’t).

Right now, members of the Millennial generation outnumber both the Gen
X-er’s and Baby Boomers in the 18-49 buying demographic, which makes them
a very powerful target. The questions are, how do we reach them, how do we
engage them and how do we get them to give?

In my next blog post I will discuss some simple ideas and tactics you can
use at your college to start answering these key questions, as well as
give you some things to think about as they relate to our other important
generational audiences – Gen Xer’s and Baby Boomers. Ironically, given the
number of Millennials out there, I find that too many marketers want to
focus solely on using the digital space to focus on that Millennial
generation, when the data shows that the fastest growing segment on
Facebook and other social media sites is that of users over the age of 40
(i.e., Gen X’ers and Baby Boomers).

So stay tuned, as we’ll be going on a journey together in the upcoming
posts. A journey of science (understanding technology platforms), art
(content to get alumni to engage) and ideas to move the needle for your
university. (Sounds a bit Twilight Zone-ish, but nevertheless, I hope you
hop on for the ride.)

Buzz around the iPad has come to a fever pitch this past week–tech bloggers are writing first reviews, developers are rushing to submit their apps for launch, and people are probably starting to line up to pick up their pre-ordered devices tomorrow morning. Aside from all the hype, I’d like to share a few thoughts about the Apple’s latest device.

Though tablets have been around for awhile, I would say it wasn’t until the iPhone was released that touch-based technology became natural and easy to use. With multi-touch, Apple has taught us new ways to interact with a screen: expand/pinch to zoom, swipe to pan, et cetera. Kids this generation have grown up easily learning these intuitive gestures which have now become second nature when interacting with a screen.

Before touch technology, desktop computers trained us to use a mouse and pointer: slight movements of the hand translate to movement of a pointer on a screen; initiating an action requires a button press. Doug Engelbart (father of the mouse), describes the mouse as the easiest way to interact with on screen objects:

We timed how long it took the users to move the cursor to the object. It quickly became clear that the mouse out-performed all the others. Devices like the light pen simply took too much time, by repeatedly requiring the user to pick up the pointer, and reach all the way to the screen — very tiresome.

Touch removes a level of abstraction. Instead of moving a device to move a pointer to touch something on the screen, you interact directly with a much more natural device: your finger.

However, touch technology has its disadvantages. You no longer have the same level of 1 pixel precision as a mouse, the concept of a “hover” state doesn’t exist anymore, and click-drag (think: selecting text) actions are not easy. Because of this, user interfaces have to be adjusted accordingly. With the iPhone’s limited screen real estate, user interaction and experience had to be redesigned in the form of iPhone’s UIKit: big buttons, navigation bars, table views, tab bars are all finger-friendly.

With the iPad, the paradigm of user interaction needs to be rethought again with its larger screen size. As a developer, I’m excited to work outside of the 320×480 box and think of new applications that will take advantage of the 1024×768 display.

The iPad will bring everyday computing closer to us. If the iPhone has taught us that we can stay connected everywhere all the time, with access to anything we wanted in our pocket, then the iPad will teach us that we no longer need to sit at our desks for most of our computing needs. Browsing the web, watching videos, and viewing pictures will all be more organic experiences when we use our fingers to interact–the feedback loop is drastically shortened. For iPad owners, I’d say that the desktop/laptop will be staying on the desk, and the iPad will become the new primary consumption device.

I’m still not sold, however, on its capability to create complex content. After watching the iLife app demos, the apps themselves look great, but the actual experience of trying to create a complex presentation or report looks a bit painful. Complex apps like Photoshop don’t seem to be practical on a touch interface. For writing essays, programming, or photo editing, I’ll stick with my laptop and mouse.

That being said, it’s hard to say if that will change: we learn fast and adapt quickly, so who knows what the next computing paradigm will be.

I had the opportunity to speak on Tuesday, February 23rd in front of the CAAE (Council of Alumni Association Executives) in Scottsdale, Arizona. It was a really engaged group and I had a great time talking about a client that is near and dear to my heart – Illinois State University – and all of the many ways they have forged a path with digital marketing initiatives in the higher education space.


The presenter right before me is a well known social media expert, Jeremiah Owyang from Altimeter Group. I have followed Jeremiah’s blog for a long time and was excited to have a chance to meet him, (although I’m not sure I would have chosen to speak AFTER him, had I been given the choice!).

Crazily enough, Jeremiah and I ran into each other on the way out of the hotel, so we rode to the airport together. We had a good chat about what’s next in the social media/digital space, and what we feel is a wide open opportunity for universities to engage their alumni and raise funds.

We also struck up a conversation about the demographics of today’s social media user and we debated an interesting question… If Facebook would have come around 10 years ago, would it have been as successful? Clearly, we have evolved as internet and mobile device users, and it’s hard to say whether Facebook would have or could have worked in the year 2000, technology-wise. However, my contention and my belief is that – while the platform advancements have been interesting – it really took off because the user demographic finally caught up to the technology.


What I mean is this….the Millennial Generation has always had a bit of the “herd” mentality. They went to KinderMusic and Mommy and Me classes together, they were graded on a curve, they received participation ribbons in a group instead of “MVP”, Most Improved, etc. Many of the things they did were done in groups. Now, although all generations have done things together, this generation took it to a new level. According to demographic researchers Neil Howe and William Strauss, “The Millennials spend so much time with other people, they are more likely to be team players than previous generations. They favor group activities in the classroom and are likely to volunteer or do some form of community service through their churches, schools, or on their own. While they are more cooperative, they do tend to seek out homogenized peer groups (although more tolerant of diversity in all forms than their elders)”.


What Facebook (and MySpace prior) offers this generation (and by halo affect – anyone who is related to/friends with a person of this generation) is a digital platform to come together. I’ve always called it the “New Front Porch”. Where I came from, that’s where you gathered to learn about what was happening in your neighborhood, with people who had similar experiences, likes and dislikes – mostly driven by geography. Social Media platforms have taken the geography out of the picture and created opportunities for connection beyond anyone’s wildest imagination. So what happens next? Where does it go from here? Can this level of social media participation continue? Stay tuned for news, musings and more……

I’m one of those people that when creativity hits me, it usually pours out of me – like an open faucet.  And, when it doesn’t…well…it doesn’t.

This blog was difficult to write because I wanted to say so many things to so many people. I DON’T want to miss saying the important things and I DO want to miss saying the trivial.

Today, a press release was issued on the wire about a new era at JHG.  Many of you already know the news – but if you didn’t – JHG is now under a new partnership of owners and our Executive Team has been retooled.

This is all VERY good news for our clients, our staff and all of those people (you know who you are) who cheered for us from the sidelines, helped bring us business, gave us advice and support and helped us grow and succeed over the past five years.  Thank you.

Our team members decided to take a chance on a small, San Diego-based start up. As we’ve grown and evolved as a company, we truly found our niche in the digital marketing field. And here we are, five years later. JHG was built by each member of our team’s hard work, passion and intelligence.  For that, we are eternally grateful.

If you were to ask our “brand police”, JHG is about Digital Marketing, Intelligence and Innovation – which I believe is spot on.  However, watching this company evolve and grow, I believe JHG has always been about relationships.  And the amazing thing is, that continues, because this new partnership is truly all about relationships. We’ve known the principals of Goble & Associates literally for decades.  We’ve respected their success from afar and now get to work with them, learn from them and bring more firepower and brainpower to the table for each of our respective clients.   It’s a great match.

So, from all of us at JHG – thanks for being a part of our extended family of believers, clients, supporters and friends.  This is a very exciting time for us, and we’re thrilled that you’re a part of it!

Elizabeth Estes-Cooper
Co-Founder JHG
EVP/CSO

Earlier this year, we had the opportunity to work with a leading entertainment & sports company to help them navigate the often complex waters of social media. Like many companies in their space, our client realized the importance of engaging with their consumer base through social media and knew they needed to develop a plan soon, but just needed help with the right strategy. Before our client began to pursue a more aggressive social media program involving actual online conversation management and participation, they first needed to conduct some good old fashioned market research.

Strategically partnering with the wide array of social media monitoring platforms now available allowed us to complete this vital first step and help our client conduct comprehensive market research. After a period of in-depth social media monitoring and analysis, we were able to produce some meaningful data for our client complete with actionable recommendations on how best to engage their customer base online. Among our interesting findings, we determined the most common media type used in online conversations surrounding our client’s brand was message boards and identified the top domains where conversations were occurring, as well as specific keywords used – all of which provided our client with guidance on targeted messaging to the most appropriate audiences online, as well as invaluable keyword research applicable to both SEO and PPC campaigns.

We were also able to drill down into recurring conversation themes around our targeted keywords. For example, some analysis of these themes revealed that specific mobile devices were being discussed in conjunction with our client’s brand, which led us to make specific product development and targeted advertising recommendations.

Once a comprehensive social media monitoring and analysis was completed, we began to make high level recommendations on how to begin engaging with their customer base via social media. These included activity in each social media type:

• Blogosphere – To help gain awareness and recognition as an industry thought leader and activist, follow and comment on other industry bloggers
• Video-sharing – Begin to think about creating and promoting videos on online video-sharing sites and existing social media properties (e.g. Facebook)
• Social networking – Continue to engage Facebook fan base by posting interesting content, employing interactive apps, quizzes, etc.
• Micro-blogging (Twitter) – Identify company/brand advocates to “tweet” daily on various industry-related topics, link to company news and industry bloggers and Twitter users
• Social Media Newsroom – Building a page that links all your social media properties together allows a company to:
  • View all media coverage
  • Read all past and present press releases
  • Look up all of your past and upcoming events, tradeshows and conferences
  • Download multimedia material like high resolution photos, company logos, podcasts and videos
  • Subscribe through RSS feeds to any portion of information on the site
  • Share any content of the site with their friends or colleagues, via email or by posting to social bookmarking indexes like del.icio.us or Digg with one click
  • Link directly to your latest blog posts
  • Link to other blogs or Web sites that are relevant to your message
  • Comment directly on your media coverage, press releases, and events
  • Instant message indicators for key media contacts using AIM, Yahoo Messaging, MSN, Skype, etc

We are excited to see the progress of our client as they continue to navigate their way through social media, and will always be there to help. Managing conversations and directly engaging potential customers through social media conversations is still in its infancy, and we look forward to growing both our client’s expertise as well as our own as the technology evolves.

The 2009 JHG Jam is just a week away!! What is the JHG Jam? Well, it’s this. Saturday, November 21, Women’s basketball host SDSU plays University of Arizona with a 6:30pm tip-off at Viejas Arena, followed by University of Utah vs. UCLA at 8:30pm. We’re really looking forward to this matchup…Mtn. West vs. Pac-10! Also, in case you hadn’t heard, SDSU was the Mtn. West pre-season pick to win the conference, AND senior Jene’ Morris (former JHG intern, cough cough) was picked as the pre-season Mtn. West MVP. Not too shabby.

In case you don’t know us too well (or haven’t seen our offices), JHG has a little bit of a passion for sports. From the historic Comisky Park bleacher seats in the hallway, to the signed Paul Pierce poster that we designed for Yahoo! Sports hanging on the wall by the kitchen, to our company’s ongoing Wii bowling tournament, our team knows & loves sports. So, we are super excited to be working with SDSU’s women’s basketball team and athletic department to make the JHG Jam a success.

Support your local women’s sports team and come out to the game next Saturday! Follow us at @JHGJam on Twitter and re-tweet our message- “I want to go to @JHGJam to see SDSU play the Wildcats on 10/21 http://bit.ly/JHGJam” for a chance to win a 4-pack of tickets to the game. This is a fantastic event to take your little sister, cousin, niece, daughter, or best friend for an exciting night out! If you don’t win tickets, you can get them online via http://www.jhg.com/jhgjam for only $6 general admission, $9 reserved seating and children under 2 are free.