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Embracing transparency in marketing

IAB Leadership ForumUser-Generated Content & Social Networking

June 4, 2007

Stephen DiMarcoChief Marketing Officer

sdimarco@compete.com

OPEN UP!

All in 45 minutes…

Real-time research

A transparency framework

Real-world marketing examples

Some exciting new applications

Significantly more

transparent

Significantly less

transparent

Neutral

Compared to other companies in your market, how transparent are you in dealing with your customers, employees and/or partners?

1 2 3 4 5

Significantly more

transparent

Significantly less

transparent

Neutral

Compared to other companies in your market, how transparent are you in dealing with your customers, employees and/or partners?

1 2 3 4 5

1’s and 2’s raise your

hands

In the next 90 days

1’s and 2’s, how long will it take for you to be considered “more transparent” than half the companies in your market?

Before the end of this year

Before the end of next yearThe internal debate rages onIt will never, ever happen

In the next 90 days

1’s and 2’s, how long will it take for you to be considered “more transparent” than half the companies in your market?

Before the end of this year

Before the end of next yearThe internal debate rages onIt will never, ever happen

keep your hands up

So, how long it will take customers to find out something you don’t want them to know?

Transparency is more than just a buzzword

Consumers: why do you engage in social networking?

Meet people

Be entertained

Learn

something

Influence

others

78% join to communicate with existing colleagues or develop new acquaintances

47% join in order to find entertaining content such as photos, music or videos

38% join to get information from other people about topics that hold particular interest to them

23% join to express their opinions in a forum where their ideas can be discussed or acted upon

Online socialiteOnline socialite

How

mu

ch

con

trol sh

ou

ld I

m

ain

tain

over

CG

C?

How much CGC exposure should I seek to create among target

consumers?

Mini-Sites, Promotions, &

EventsIntegration Into

Your eCommerce Platform

Brand Management on Third Party SitesCGC

starting point

Marketers: how can you balance exposure and control?

A tale of two consumer-generated ad campaigns

Do Don’t

~ 500,000 visits < 50,000 visits

Consumer-generated versus professionally edited content Yelp has become the definitive site for reviews of local businesses 344% year-over-year growth; 80% of the community considers content

to be as trustworthy as if it came from a family member or friend

2.72.4 2.6 2.6

3.23.5

3.83.9

3.6

4.2

5.7

6.9 6.9

0

2,000,000

4,000,000

6,000,000

8,000,000

10,000,000

12,000,000

Mar-06 Apr-06 May-06 Jun-06 Jul-06 Aug-06 Sep-06 Oct-06 Nov-06 Dec-06 Jan-07 Feb-07 Mar-07

Digg cedes editorial control to readers…

Explosive growth and increasing levels of engagement

The Growth of Digg.comUnique Visitors and Page Views per Unique Visitors from March 2006 through March 2007

0

2,000,000

4,000,000

6,000,000

8,000,000

10,000,000

12,000,000

Mar-06 Apr-06 May-06 Jun-06 Jul-06 Aug-06 Sep-06 Oct-06 Nov-06 Dec-06 Jan-07 Feb-07 Mar-07

Unique Visitors (UV) Page Views Per UV

… but then stopped, suffered and gave it back again….

…after thousands of comments, you’ve made it clear. You’d rather see Digg go down fighting than bow down to a bigger company. We hear you, and effective immediately we won’t delete stories or comments containing the code and will deal with whatever the consequences might be…

If we lose, then what the hell, at least we died trying.

Sheraton re-launched its site as a social platform

New site de-emphasizes reservation funnel Audience encouraged to read & share experiences

More consumer content and a higher conversion rate

Conversion improved following the Q2 re-launch Thousands of customer stories about Sheraton properties

Sheraton Online Conversion Performance(% of Sheraton site visitors reaching each step of the hotel booking process)

47%

41%

47%

37%

55%

27%

55%

27%

3.0%4.2% 3.0%4.0% 3.3%4.3% 3.6%4.6%

Perform Search Select Property Billing Page Convert

2006-Q1 2006-Q2 2006-Q3 2006-Q4

February 14th – nightmare or opportunity for JetBlue?

3%

10%

18%

27%

62%

52%

6%

5%

10%

5%

JetBlue Customers

JetBlue Prospects

Very Negative Slightly Negative No Impact Slightly Positive Very Positive

Consumer Sentiment following JetBlue’s February operational issues(Impact on travelers’ likelihood to fly JetBlue in the future)

Operational miscues had a larger negative impact on people who had not flown JetBlue in the prior twelve months

Discrepancy marks a significant threat to JetBlue’s expansion plans

JetBlue used a Customer Bill of Rights to win confidence

JetBlue’s engagement and booking have recovered

Admission of operational shortcomings resonated with consumers

Potential upside from fast response, honest dialogue and a resilient brand (what other companies can claim this?)

JetBlue Online Booking FunnelShare of JetBlue.com visitors searching, selecting, and booking flights, January through March 2007

71%

36%

6.5%

58%

26%

4.3%

68%

32%

6.1%

% Searching Flights % Selecting Flight % Booking Flight

J-07 F-07 M-07J-07 F-07 M-07J-07 F-07 M-07

Does behavioral targeting really benefit consumers?

behavioral targeting can be creepy …

But when its linked to real value, consumers love it

Upromise toolbar users … Return to Upromise.com 3X as often as non-toolbar

members Shop the Upromise mall 8X as often as non-toolbar

members Save 7X more in the online mall than non-toolbar

members

Compete is making web analytics more transparent

old

Opening up our metrics to anyone who wants to know more

new

The more we’re transparent, the more we grow

Are you ready for more transparency?

Bringing it all together in a neat package

How should we approach consumer generated advertising?

What’s the value of incorporating consumer ratings & reviews?

How much/little moderation is necessary?

How do we handle bad news when it gets out?

Should we reinvent our website?

What’s the right way to do behavioral targeting? Upromise

Sheraton, Compete

Digg, JetBlue

Digg, Yelp

Yelp

Doritos, Chevy