“Bitcoin Piggy-Backing ”

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Why anyone involved in Corporate Marketing needs to wake up to idea of “Bitcoin Piggy-Backing ”

Here’s the key thought that should be in every CEO’s head as we head anxiously into 2014

“How do we better communicate our Brand in a world where traditional advertising mediums are giving smaller and smaller returns on our investment?”

Every CEO and CMO knows that we have seen a paradigm shift in the functioning of advertising in the last few years.  Chanel spent over $30 on one high-gloss, movie-scope Ad featuring Nicole Kidman, which received over 2 million hits on YouTube but had a barely noticeable effect on sales. Pepsi on the other hand decided to take 20 million Dollars out of its advertising budget and promote the “$20 million Refresh Project” on social media,  and it worked – with massive sales boosts and Brand awareness.

As Christina Warren , Mashable’s senior tech analyst, wrote

“Like other social media campaigns, execution is key. If Pepsi can effectively orchestrate the Pepsi Refresh Project, the company can build brand awareness while also helping out communities across the world”

The reasons why the ‘High Gloss Billboard’ Advertising Campaign of Chanel failed to engage with potential customers is firstly a result of a changing perception among the public to the messages portrayed by Advertisers . There is far more cynicism, and resistance to ‘fall under the spell’ of a life-style portrayal – the all-time classic of which was the ‘Marlboro Man effect’ series in the 1950’s . The Marlboro Man campaign had an astonishing effect on sales. In 1955 when the Marlboro Man campaign was started, sales were at $5 billion. By 1957, sales reached $20 billion, representing a 300% increase within two years. ( Wikipedia )

However, CMO’s have slowly come to the realization that effectively the whole platform on which Brands have traditionally advertised has changed forever.  When the internet and public social media arrived, most CEO’s believed that all they had to do to continue their Brand Awareness was to use these new platforms basically just “pin on” their existing “billboard” advertising strategies. Initially Facebook placing and social media campaigns based on this principle seemed to be working – and for the early adopters it certainly has !

However, almost all Marketing Departments now have their dedicated social-media teams, so the initial competitive advantage has now been diluted by the crowd of the market-place.  Returns being gained by Traditional Advertising Spend have diminished rapidly.

So, returning to the sub-title of this piece –

“How do we better communicate our Brand in a world where traditional advertising mediums are giving smaller and smaller returns on our investment?”

How much does Richard Branson spend on advertising Virgin Airlines?  well approximately one tenth of the advertising budget of American Airlines , yet as a “Brand”, Virgin is miles ahead in the public’s perception of a caring friendly go-ahead Company.  And what did Branson do only a month or so ago?  He announced that Virgin Galactic would be accepting Bitcoins ! – Instantly he gained massive Press Headlines, and free publicity worth millions.

If you are an ambitious CEO or CMO , you need to start looking hard at what Bitcoin REALLY is.  So, forget the idea of Bitcoin as a Speculative Currency, or even a currency at all. ( although for a whole myriad of reasons I would argue that it is now actually a “currency” in any rational definition of the meaning of that word.)  What’s important is that you “get” the mechanism of the underlying protocol of the Blockchain, and why this is going to change the way we do everything in the future.

Think of The Blockchain as a super-efficient commercial and social ledger – of infinite size – in which everything is recorded, in real time, and all transaction are visible, irreversible and offer proof that an event, or a contract has occurred between two or more parties. The “Hand” writing in, and thus verifying, those contracts in the ledger isn’t an aged Dickensian clerk, ( of the Industrial Revolution Age  and upon which all the financial and trading accounts of today’s companies are still based – although now siting in their own banks of computers. )  No, the mechanism that verifies all this activity lies in the Mathematical Algorithm of the Blockchain Protocol , that sits within the connecting nodes of the internet itself. It is part of the inner structure of the internet , running continually, linking endlessly, 24/7.  Forget that these “hash chains” have whatever monetary value they have been allocated, think of the fact that they have also defined the “action” itself, and assigned notes and meanings to the string of characters, that are publically visible for all to see. ( for example, once the Bitcoin Community had identified the Bitcoins that the FBI had confiscated from the Silk Road Website , they began sending minute amounts of bitcoins ( ie at no measurable cost ) to that Bitcoin Wallet, with added text comments ( most un-repeatable here ) and these comments will remain “locked together” with those coins forever.

Just think for a moment about what that means ?  It means that any application that “piggy-backs” on the Blockchain offers endless possibilities of Marketing to any savvy company. Let me just “throw out” an idea.

Chanel N° 5  – stop wasting  $30 million on another mega-cinematic extravaganza. Start a ‘tech-hot’ social media campaign – budget cost say $1 million –  that gives out to each “subscriber”  a purpose- generated bitcoin voucher  ( not only printed with your ‘real world’ logo etc, on the outside packaging but also has your companies unique digital signature ‘locked onto’ the code of that blockchain string inside ) . make the voucher the equivalent of say $5 – expressed in Bitcoins . Tell your subscribers that they can either exchange it ( un-opened ) for 5% discount off a purchase of your product ( thus giving you recycled promotional material to continue the campaign )  or they may open it to keep the bitcoins, or send the amount, via a Bitcoin Donation Address to a Charity you have specified !   That’s a Win, Win, Win situation.  And remember, each of those bitcoin chains could have the words ‘Chanel is happy we have made a difference to XXXXXX Charity in 2014’  permanently attached , and visible forever in the public blockchain. An advertisement that truly stands the test of time.

One final comment – if you were to do this Chanel, before your competitors did, you’d scoop publicity worth Millions ! ! ( just ask Branson )

Get the idea ?    Remember you heard it from the @BitcoinRat !

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