Consumers Turning First, Foremost To FEED: The Razorfish Digital Brand Experience Report 2009 Key Findings

FEED:The 2009 Razorfish Digital Brand Experience Report Garrick Schmitt, Group Vice President, Experience Planning Email: garrick.schmitt@razorfish.com Twitter: @gschmitt

Experience Matters. 2 

HELLO 3 

How Do Consumers Engage With Brands In An Increasingly Digital World?

THE DETAILS 5 

Meet The “Connected Consumer” In August 2009 Razorfish surveyed 1,000 U.S. “connected consumers”*: Broadband access Spent $150 online in the past six months (travel, Netflix, tickets, Amazon, etc.) Visited a community site (MySpace, YouTube, Facebook, Yelp, etc.) Consumed or created some form of digital media such as photos, videos, music or news WHAT IS YOUR AGE? WHICH OF THE FOLLOWING BEST DESCRIBES YOUR COMBINED HOUSEHOLD INCOME? 6 * This equates roughly to the U.S. broadband population which is about 200m based on the Pew Internet and American Life Project.

READ THIS 

Yes, You Can Build A Brand Online. You Have No Choice Marketers have never thought of digital as a wonderful place to build a brand, but they should: 65% of consumers have had a digital experience change their opinion about a brand 97% of them report that experience influencing whether or not they purchased a product or service from that brand HAS AN EXPERIENCE YOU HAVE HAD ONLINE EVER CHANGED YOUR OPINION (EITHER POSITIVELY OR NEGATIVELY) ABOUT A BRAND OR THE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES IT OFFERS? HAS THAT EXPERIENCE INFLUENCED WHETHER OR NOT YOU PURCHASED A PRODUCT OR SERVICE FROM THE BRAND? 8

Actions Speak Louder Than Advertising<br />Branded experience are the new advertising. And consumers are increasingly hungry for them, sometimes ravenously so: 97% have searched for a brand online 77% have watched a commercial on YouTube 69% have read a corporate blog 65% have played a branded, browser-based game. 73% have posted a product or brand review on a site like Amazon, Facebook or Twitter PLEASE RATE THE FREQUENCY OF WHICH YOU DO THE FOLLOWING: 9

Brand Culture Or Fan Culture?<br />Conventional wisdom holds that consumers don’t want brands encroaching on their social lives – but that’s just not true: 76% of consumers welcomed brand advertising on social networks (FEED, 2008) 40% of consumers “friended” a brand on Facebook and/or MySpace 26% of consumers have “followed” a brand on Twitter HAVE YOU EVER “FRIENDED” A BRAND ON FACEBOOK OR MYSPACE? HAVE YOU EVER FOLLOWED A BRAND ON TWITTER? 10

The Outlet Malls Of Tomorrow? Facebook, MySpace & Twitter Marketers shouldn’t assume that consumers are as passionate about their brands as they are: Consumers don’t want a conversation with brands – they want deals. 11 <ul><li>44% of consumers who follow a brand on Twitter do so for deals

37% of consumers who “friended” a brand on Facebook and/or MySpace do so for deals</li></ul>WHAT IS THE PRIMARY REASON YOU FOLLOW A BRAND ON TWITTER?

Bottom Line: Digital Brand Experiences Create Customers Digital is not simply an “awareness” or CRM play, it’s a customer-creation play. The overwhelming majority of consumers who engage with a brand online move from passive “receivers” to advocates almost instantly : 12 <ul><li>97% report increased brand awareness

98% show increased consideration

97% will more likely purchase a product

96% may recommend the brand to their friends</li></ul>WHEN YOU HAVE PARTICIPATED IN A BRAND-SPONSORED CONTEST OR SWEEPSTAKES, DOES IT GENERALLY DO THE FOLLOWING:

DIGITAL PRIMACY 13 

Consumers Turning First, Foremost To Digital According to Forrester consumers now spend nearly as much time online as they do watching TV*. We found that their technical fluency is far greater than most believe: 57% of consumers actively customize their homepages 84% share links or bookmarks 55% subscribe to RSS feeds 33% get their news from Facebook 20% get their news from Twitter PLEASE RATE THE FREQUENCY OF WHICH YOU DO THE FOLLOWING: 14 *Forrester 2009 North American Technographics Survey

Mobile Internet Service Use Skyrocketing<br />Mobile Internet services are being consumed broadly. Majority of consumers own a smartphone and use it actively. 15 <ul><li>57% access the Internet from their phone

50% have downloaded an app for their phone

30% have interacted with an ad banner on their phone</li></ul>WHAT TYPE OF SMARTPHONE DO YOU HAVE?

Connected Consumers Are The New Mainstream 16 THE TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION CURVE

BRANDCULTURE 17 

Are Consumers Really In Control?<br />Conventional wisdom says that every generation of consumer grows smarter, shrewder and more immune to marketing. But that’s not true – consumers are actively choosing to engage with brands, everywhere. 40% have “friended” a brand on Facebook and/or MySpace 26% have “followed” a brand on Twitter 77% have watch an advert on YouTube 69% have read a corporate blog post 73% have posted a review of a brand on a site like Amazon or Yelp 52% have blogged about brand’s product or service PLEASE RATE THE FREQUENCY OF WHICH YOU DO THE FOLLOWING: 18

Facebook And Twitter Creating Fan Culture For Brands After deals, the main reason consumers “friend” a brand? Because they *really* are a fan (or a customer, at least). Social media platforms are proving to be customer service platforms. 33% friend a brand on Facebook/ MySpace because they are a customer 24% follow a brand on Twitter because they are a current customer 23% follow a brand on Twitter for “interesting or engaging” content, which shows promise for a new type of relationship WHEN YOU “FRIEND” A BRAND ON FACEBOOK OR MYSPACE, DOES IT GENERALLY DO THE FOLLOWING? WHEN YOU FOLLOW A BRAND ON TWITTER, DOES IT GENERALLY DO THE FOLLOWING? 19

Fans And The Future Of The Marketing Funnel Brand culture and fan culture are dramatically reshaping the traditional funnel as consumers leap from experience to advocacy (or the inverse) almost instantly. 70% have participated in a brand-sponsored contest 24% have produced content to participate in a contest 26% have attended a brand sponsored event, such as Nike’s Human Race 24% have downloaded a branded application for their mobile phone HAVE YOU EVER PARTICIPATED IN A BRAND-SPONSORED CONTEST OR SWEEPSTAKES? WHEN YOU HAVE PARTICIPATED IN A BRAND-SPONSORED CONTEST OR SWEEPSTAKES, DOES IT GENERALLY DO THE FOLLOWING? 20

Experiences Not Only Build Brands, They Make Or Break Them Amazon, Google, Facebook, Apple and Nike are all experiential brands that know consumer preference isn’t formed in reaction to a message, but to a series of experiences over time. There’s good reason. Of consumers who interact: 97% report increased brand awareness 98% show increased consideration 97% will more likely purchase a product 96% may recommend the brand to their friends 21

THE BOTTOM LINE 22<br />

Getting To The Bottom Of Brand Engagement Everyone is chasing after a metric to define brand engagement. Millward Brown says “digital consumers” have 15% stronger relationships with brands. The Altimeter Group attempts to correlate social media activity to financial performance, citing Dell, Starbucks and eBay as leaders. We at Razorfish took a different tack: we simply wanted to know if there was any direct correlation between a consumer’s digital interaction with a brand and their likelihood to purchase a specific product or service. 23

Digital Experience Create Customers The answer was a resounding “yes”. Experiences have a much greater influence over brand affinity and consumer purchasing than even we anticipated: 65%of consumers have had a digital experience change their opinion about a brand. 97%of those report that experience influencing whether or not they purchased a product or service from that brand. 64% of consumer report making a first purchase from a brand because of digital experience (e.g. website, banner, etc.) HAS AN EXPERIENCE YOU HAVE HAD ONLINE EVER CHANGED YOUR OPINION (EITHER POSITIVELY OR NEGATIVELY) ABOUT A BRAND OR THE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES IT OFFERS 24 HAS THAT EXPERIENCE INFLUENCED WHETHER OR NOT YOU PURCHASED A PRODUCT OR SERVICE FROM THE BRAND? HAVE YOU EVER MADE YOUR FIRST PURCHASE FROM A BRAND BECAUSE OF A DIGITAL EXPERIENCE (E.G., A WEB SITE, MICROSITE, MOBILE COUPON, EMAIL)?

Five Brands That Are Excelling In An Experience-Driven World…

1. UNIQLO: Japanese Retailer Surprises And Delights Audiences With Every Interaction 26

27 2. Red Bull: Pioneered Experiential Marketing With Subversive Events And Sponsorships

28 3. Barbie: Reinvented An American Icon For The Pop Sugar Set And Broke Sales Records

29 “We’re not in the business of keeping the media companies alive. We’re in the business of connecting with consumers.” – Trevor Edwards, Nike 4. Nike: Human Race. Chalkbot. Nike Is Setting A New Standard For Experiential Marketing

30 4. Virgin America: Brand Built By Breakthrough Experiences – And The Marketing Of Them

31 5. Microsoft’s Bing: Accomplishing The Impossible By Putting Experience First And In Every Ad 31

Thank You Garrick Schmitt, Group Vice President, Experience Planning Email: garrick.schmitt@razorfish.com Twitter: @gschmitt