The New York Times published an article this week detailing the new social media marketing partnership developed between General Mills, and the immensely popular Facebook game, FarmVille, created by the Zynga Game Network.

The agreement between Zynga Game Network and Cascadian Farm, a General Mills subsidiary, allows users to plant an actual Cascadian Farms product – organic blueberries. The aim of the in-game crop branding is to increase awareness, as well as educate consumers about the benefits of switching to organic produce.

Cascadian Farm’s integration into FarmVille represents a unique step forward in both social media marketing and in-game advertising. The majority of social games have incorporated ads that takeover the entire game, or are custom games designed for the brand itself. In this situation, Cascadian Farm is opting for a more subtle approach, and is simply sponsoring a single crop within FarmVille. By becoming part of the game, rather than take over the game, they avoid harassing players with excessive advertising. They give the user the choice to “opt-in” on their own, and choose to plant their branded crops.

Users who choose to plant the Cascadian Farm Organic Blueberries will be rewarded with shorter harvest times and larger cash returns. By adding extra value to the crop, players have an extra incentive to plant the blueberries. This is a savvy marketing move on behalf of FarmVille. Adding the extra value to the crop increases the likelihood of a user planting it, this, in turn, increases Cascadian Farm brand name awareness.

Will the FarmVille product placement generate brand awareness for Cascadian Farm? I think so, but only because there is an extra incentive for users to choose to plant the Organic Blueberries. Can Cascadian Farm educate users about the benefits of choosing organic products? Potentially, but I don’t have high hopes for this effort. Users don’t want to be directed to another website while playing FarmVille; they want to focus on their crops, not leave and go elsewhere.

The partnership between Zynga and General Mills is reminiscent of deals negotiated in the mid 2000’s, when the virtual world of Second Life was at the height of its popularity.  Many real-world corporations couldn’t establish an in-game presence fast enough. Second Life, like FarmVille, allows users to play for free, but encourages citizens to purchase the in-world currency to enhance their ‘second lives’ by purchasing in-game items.

However, while brands like Adidas, Coca-Cola, and AOL were clamoring to be first to open a store or sell products to Second Life residents, the citizens of the virtual world weren’t all that enthusiastic about being treated as ATM machines.  They were less than enthused by the new corporate invaders. Pay a visit to many of the real world corporate presences in Second Life today and you’ll more than likely find an entirely new and unrelated building, or more commonly, vacant land.  Ruins of a failed brand experiment deleted long ago.

Perhaps the most important question in the Zynga and General Mills scenario is whether or not the brand awareness generated through this in-game advertising will translate to actual revenue for Cascadian Farm? While I do approve of the method, I don’t envision much success at the cash registers. FarmVille users are logging in for an escape; to tend their crops and have fun online. They’re not coming to learn about organic produce and green living. Besides, who’s to say that the grocery shoppers in the household are even logging on to FarmVille in the first place?

Because of the added incentives offered to the user for choosing Cascadian Farm’s Organic Blueberries, I think that Cascadian Farm’s foray into branded content within FarmVille has the potential to succeed at increasing brand awareness.  However, I don’t think that this integration will generate increased real-world sales and revenue.  There’s simply not enough to motivate the user to actually purchase the product in the stores. 

There was lots of excitement about enhancing web design though CSS3, HTML 5, and Web Fonts at the An Event Apart conference in Boston last week. I’m just as pumped to use CSS3 drop shadows and gradients as the next designer. However the presentation “Learning to Love Humans” by Aarron Walter really got me thinking about where this focus on technology is all going.

Walter used Abraham Maslow’s popular 1943 paper A Theory of Human Motivation, to parallel the four levels of human computer interaction. At the bottom of this pyramid we have a product that functions. Meaning it accurately behaves in the manner in which it was designed. One step up we have a reliable system that functions consistently and predictably.

Once these two basic requirements have been met, we have a usable product. Useable is the culinary equivalent of edible, and users now have developed acquired tastes. This is where most websites drop off. It is when we add a pleasurable experience on top of the usable layer that a user can ultimately develop a ”love” of a product.

You mean to say just adding gradients and drop shadows does not create “pleasurable” experience? Unfortunately the novelty has worn off, and we, as digital marketers, can no longer suffice to design user interfaces that are simply functional; rather, our designs must simultaneously facilitate a compelling emotional connection.

Walters brought up some great examples of humanizing the web experience. MailChimp uses their chimp spokesperson to shell out complements and random non-utility conversation with the user. A favorite of mine is “I kissed a chimp and liked it.” There is a whole Flickr following dedicated to these hilarious messages.

The easy+fast+fun form builder tool Wufoo uses bright colors to remind its users that form-building can be fun. Kevin Hale, of Wufoo, put it perfectly. “The inspiration for our color palette did come from our competitors. It was really depressing to see so much software designed to remind people they’re making databases in a windowless office, and so we immediately knew we wanted to go in the opposite direction.”

Humans crave emotional interaction. Over the 160,000 of years of our evolution we have survived by working together. Today we spend more time alone interacting with our LCD screens than we do with our own flesh and blood. Our computers, iphones, tablets, ect. have taken the place of face-to-face human interaction we have cultivated since we were banging sticks together.

More than ever we must design digital interfaces that have a personality that is receptive to the user. Have your website make friends with the user, complement them, and be the HAL 9000 we always wanted.

The topic of emotional design is quite timely as we are currently in the final stages of launching a redesign for large pharma company. In this redesign we licensed a popular cartoon character to help deliver a fairly serious topic and tuned the messaging to speak in an empathetic tone.

Users don’t want to have a conversation with a binary being, however we can do our best with the technology available to create the illusionthat our product wants to be your friend. So go out there and design a website that has personality, voice, and loves your users back.

 

Last week, I attended the 2010 Snacks and Sweets Expo in Chicago. It was a great turnout, and with over 480 exhibitors, the show was NCA’s largest in the last 5 years. I spent my days wandering through the exhibits, discussing possible marketing partnerships, and of course, getting in a few sweet treats along the way. I even had time to rank my top 5 favorite snacks from the event:

• Strawberry Bon Bons from The Foreign Candy Company, Inc.

• Cholive Cocktail Chocolates from The Cholive Company

• Pina Colada Tic Tacs from Ferrero

• Mango Ginger Chews from Chimes Gourmet

• Scary Suckers from McJak Candy Company

As I wandered around with my sugar buzz, I started to wonder why is candy surviving and even thriving in a down economy? One reason I can think of is the ability of candy to have immediate and special kind of satisfaction on its consumers. It takes just a second to truly enjoy something you have loved since you were a kid, and rekindling that experience is inexpensive to our “adult” standards. Candy provides a little piece of childhood joy in every bite, and it’s that kind of nostalgia and simplicity that we, as adults, still seek out.

From my experience walking the floor of this enormous event, it seemed to me that everyone was happy. Attendees walked round with a full bag of sweets and wide, open eyes anxious for what they would discover next. I found many exhibitors pushing organic and health-food candies and sweets, as if that wasn’t an oxymoron in itself, but to my surprise, they all had very compelling stories that drove me to test and taste their claims—yummy!

Other strategies of note were health-conscious companies packaging their products in a “smaller is better” package. That’s right, smaller packages with bite-sized pieces were everywhere because less chocolate means less calories, which also means more units sold—ingenious.

After the close of the second day, I attended the Tweet-Up and had the opportunity of meeting some amazing people from the NCA and other candy brands. There were an incredible amount of ideas spread through this social-networking gathering. Everyone sat poised over their smart-phones and iPhones, tweeting and posting about a long, sweet day of taste testing. Sharing sweet-talk like this over social media channels was one of the most natural digital exchanges I’ve seen. And if giddy Tweets about how you HAVE to try ginger-mango chews are a litmus test for the possibility of using social media to boost product trials, drive sales, and create brand loyalty for this industry, I’d say it’s time to jump on the bandwagon. Get ready for big and tasty things to come from this huge and untapped industry!

As Flightpath prepares to release some iPhone apps this spring, a few of us attended a New York iPhone Software Developers Meetup, featuring a presentation by Greg Raiz (@graiz) of Raizlabs– a Boston-based app development shop.

Greg shared a lot of valuable insights into the app business but a paraphrase of the one that resonated with me most is “don’t ship your app – launch it.”  This concept can have two associated wins:

1) Implementation of a comprehensive  pr/marketing plan for your app, can drive immediate interest via blogs & traditional media channels.

2) By going out of the gate strong, you can take advantage of the App Store’s built-in system/algorithm that rewards success.  (The more downloads you get in a short amount of time, the more prominent you become in the app store).

Articulate a good story about why your app is interesting, outstanding or unique and make it easy for bloggers/press to write about with supporting tools like:

• Screenshots
• Copy/Paste Quotes
• Press Releases
• Demo Videos

Another key nugget of wisdom Greg imparted was his take on the 3 biggest design decisions for an app:

• App Icon
• App Name
• First Screenshot

Wise decisions on these fronts can help minimize odds that you’ll end up in the app scrap heap.

Flightpath's User Experience Designer was published in iMedia Connection this month.  The article outlined four essential tips for creating social media that is usable and engaging including:

• Learning what your user's social media behaviors are.
• Creating a social media space that makes sense in your consumer's lives.
• Supporting ease-of-use with basic usability best practices
• Joining the conversation with your consumers in a way that is meaningful and supportive.

Read the full article here: 4 steps for creating usable social media

While we’re told the recession is over or coming to an end, new studies referenced in an article published in today’s NY Times show that, in light of economic circumstances, coupon redemption is way up over the last 12 months, especially for food/groceries.  Here are some quick stats:

• Redemption up 10% in Q4 2008
• Redemption up 23% in the first half of 2009
• Coupon use up 14% by young, single consumers in 2009
• Redemption of digital (web & phone) coupons up 25% in first half of 2009

Even with that last stat – 25% growth in digital coupons – research shows that digital coupons still account for less than one-half of one percent of all coupons distributed.  Why? The primary reason seems to be that old habits die hard.  This appears to be true from the marketer’s angle (they’ve always distributed coupons in newspapers) and the consumer’s perspective (they’re used to clipping coupons from newspapers).

That said a number of factors are converging, making electronic coupons a more relevant part of the marketing mix, certainly worthy of testing.  These are:

1. Youth: Probably spurred by economic factors, young consumers are taking advantage of coupons – providing a great opportunity for CPG companies to reach new audiences.  Of course, today’s younger consumers are tomorrow’s heads of households. 
2. Mobile: New technologies and systems like those from Cellfire are making instant, mobile coupons (and associated sampling) a reality.  This is an important trend, especially as it concerns younger consumers that are more likely to have a mobile/smartphone at the center of their day-to-day endeavors.
3. Newspapers: Weekend newspapers are still the dominant means of coupon distribution however, it’s no secret that newspaper circulation is declining –especially among younger people, who favor accessing news via the web or other electronic channels.  In many geographic areas, printed newspapers have ceased to exist completely.

In the not-too-distant future, it will be critical to use digital channels (including coupons) to reach significant demographic chunks that don’t read newspapers.

Here are some links to some related sites of interest:

www.coupons.com
www.cellfire.com
www.redplum.com
www.selectcouponprogram.com
www.freebies4mom.com

Many folks that know me know that in the aftermath of the 2001 dot-com crash, I opened a restaurant in NYC's West Village with the belief that there was no long-term future in running a digital agency.  After working 2 jobs for 3 years I (thankfully) figured out that my future actually was in digital marketing but that's not really the point of this post...

Believe it or not, my involvement in the food biz somewhat naturally led to a broader interest in food, cooking, restaurants, etc. that persists to this day.  So, yesterday, when reading a blog post from outgoing NY Times food critic Frank Bruni, I was struck for the first time by parallels in the process of creating great digital experiences and creating a great restaurant.  (In many ways, this is sort of an extension of my last blog post.)

In a companion piece to his 4-star review of Eleven Madison Park, Bruni explained how and why a restaurant that merited a mere 2-stars five years ago, could elevate itself to the rarefied world of 4-star dining.

1. According to Bruni, Eleven Madison Park was a restaurant that insisted on improving. How? Discipline, perfectionism, and impeccably high standards.  Similarly, without these kind of aspirations in digital marketing, it’s impossible to achieve 4-star results. 

In digital marketing, there’s an also an understanding that a key component of achieving these type of standards is to meet data-driven key performance indicators.  And that rigorous, on-going testing, measurement and optimization is the logical, rational path to success. 

2. “Restaurants do improve in fundamental, noteworthy ways, taking customer feedback and reviewers’ comments to heart.”  This is a great parallel for embracing customer insights accrued within social media campaigns, via usability testing or through other feedback mechanisms.

3. Desire To Share: In the same way that most of today’s most successful digital marketing campaigns harness consumers’ desire to share experiences via Twitter, Facebook and other social networking channels, Bruni factors his eagerness to tell people about the dishes he’d had and the pleasure he’d experienced into his measures of success.

4. Gut Feeling: Bruni explains that at the end of the day, the difference between a 3 and 4 star rating isn’t necessarily scientific.  His years of experience give him valuable criteria for analysis, in the same way that a deep track record in digital marketing provide great insights into the success or failure of specific campaigns or components therof.

Restaurants have been around forever but digital marketing is still a relatively new field.  (At Flightpath we often reference our “constantly evolving skillset”.)  So, I think we’re fortunate to be able to derive good ideas and best practices from examples of excellence that are all around us – even if they’re decidedly un-digital.