See below for some key points and my thoughts after reading the Razorfish Digital Brand Experience Report 2009. Big ups to @gschmitt and his team, these presentations can get gruelling towards the end (sometimes middle or even on the first slide..) but this was a really great read.  This is an invaluable resource for brand professionals wanting to crystallise (with research) some ideas on where to focus efforts in 2010.

1. Marketers should think of the digital world as a fantastic place to build a brand as 65% of “connected consumers” (CC’s) said a digital experience had changed their mind about a brand and 97% of this group said that experience would influence their decision to buy the product.

Thoughts: I think this is a no-brainer. Many of these services brands can really make an impact are free of up-front costs, although the cost of someone to make an impact for the brand by using them is a cost that will deliver as an investment.

2. “A branded experience is the new advertising, consumers are ravenous, not just hungry for these experiences”. 97% of CC’s 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 placed a product review on e.g Amazon, Facebook or Twitter.

Thoughts: I think now it is an expectation that brands have not only an existence on social networks (Q: Are you on Twitter. A: Yes. Q: Do you tweet, respond to tweets, add value with insights about your product, industry? A: No) but a consistent and real  presence involving real conversations and relationships. While it may be the early adopters right now that jump onto Twitter to find a brand when they have an issue or want to share their product passion, soon it will be commonplace. Whether Twitter is THE social network, whether things fragment is irrelevant to this point, I just expect that more people will use online networks to connect with brands, this isn’t a trend that is going to go anywhere.

3. “Conventional wisdom” historically claimed that consumers don’t want brands “encroaching” on their social lives, but this Razorfish research showed this not to be true, 76% of CC’s welcomed brand advertising on social networks, 40% of consumers have “friended” a brand on Facebook/MySpace and 26% have followed a brand on Twitter.

Thoughts: I think more than “welcoming brand advertising” on these networks we are more neutral to their presence on our own invitation. If they are the brands of  products or services we really value personally or brands we see as aligned with our own set of values then we are happy to associate these with our own online social profiles.

4. “Consumers do not want conversations with brands, they want deals.”  The research shows that 44% of those that follow a brand on Twitter and 37% of those that befriended a brand on Twitter did so for deals.

Thoughts: But I don’t know if I agree that this should be the main point of this data point. That leaves the majority of people following these brands for reasons other than deals, 22.7% follow these brands for interesting and entertaining content which is fantastic to see. It doesn’t matter if you are an individual or a corporate work to develop great, unique content and people will come.  I came across a later slide after writing this titled, Facebook and Twitter creating a fan culture for brands, which highlights that after deals the main reason they add a brand as a friend is that they are a fan (or customer at least).

5. “Digital is not an awareness play, it is a customer creation play. The overwhelming majority of consumers that engage with a brand online (such as with a brand sponsored contest) go from passive receivers to advocates almost instantly.”

Thoughts: As I discussed in this post, brands that lack good customer service and/or transparency get exposed through these channels, as discussed here the most satisfied customers are those who have had a problem and had it fixed quickly. They are even more satisfied that those who have had no problems. A bad customer experience spreads to 64 people.

6. The Forrester 2009 Annual North American Technographics Survey showed that people now spend nearly as much time online as they do watching TV. The Razorfish research added to this insight showing that technical fluency is on the up and up, with evidence of 57% of people actively customising their homepages, 84% sharing links or bookmarks (would be interesting to know breakdown of those using social bookmarking tools), 55% subscribe to RSS feeds and some stats I found really interesting –> 33% get their news from Facebook and 20% get their news from Twitter.

Thoughts: I personally gain so much value in Twitter & LinkedIn to stay up to date  with professionals in my industry, and network by sharing news, content and resources. I have learned more than ever since becoming active in these channels, and recommend it as a way to at the very least to see what others are talking about in your profession, right through to building relationships and learning and/or mentoring from practitioners all over the globe. You never know from where your next opportunity will emerge. Facebook I use more to talk to close friends and family, I have an informal rule I use as a guide, “If I would pick up the phone and talk to you this evening, we can be Facebook friends.”

7. Use of internet on mobile devices is on the up and up, 57% of CC’s in this research group access the internet via mobile. 50% have downloaded an app (24% downloaded a branded app) and 30% have “interacted with an ad banner on their phone.

Thoughts: Apps can make our lives so much easier, even better! Need evidence? Time Magazine rates the Top Ten iPhone apps of 2009 here

8. The Technology Adoption Curve, are you an early adopter? Or is the early majority?

9. Experiences not only build brands, but make or break them.

Thoughts: Yep, if you haven’t read those social media horror stories below yet do, unfortunately there will probably be more, don’t let it be your brand!
-Whole Foods boycott on Facebook swells to 22,000 users via Mashable
-Why going social can make or break the automotive industry via Fast Company
-Social Radar tracks Dominos after Gross Out Video via Readwriteweb

10. Everyone is “searching for a metric for brand engagement”  and Millward Brown say that “digital consumers have a 15% stronger relationship with brands,” others attempt to correlate social media activity to financial performance. Within this research Razorfish looked at whether there was any direct interaction between a consumers digital interaction with a brand and that consumers likelihood to buy their product or service. And the answer was a resounding yes and useful stats to keep at the top of mind for all media, marketing, comms, PR professionals, and these are the stats highlighted in the first bullet of this post, 65% of “connected consumers” (CC’s) said a digital experience had changed their mind about a brand and 97% of this group said that experience would influence their decision to buy the product. 64% of consumers report making a first purchase because of a digital experience (website, banner etc).

Thoughts: The topic of measurement and ROI in Social Media is still embryonic and a mystery to many, it will certainly develop further as a practice, but I think for now some of the results definitely speak themselves. I love this phrase used to describe Uniqlo below, “surprise and delight audience with every interaction” – this should be the mantra of more brands, now that is an awesome thing to achieve.

The Razorfish presentation closes highlighting some brands that are living examples of those that are “excelling in an experience driven world,” these are:

• Uniqlo: “Japanese retailer surprises and delights audience with every interaction”
• Redbull: “Pioneered Experiential Marketing with Subversive Events and Sponsorships”
• Barbie: “Re-invented an American Icon for the pop sugar set and broke sales records”
• Nike: “Human Race, Chalkbot. Nike is setting a new standard for Experiential Marketing”
• Virgin America: “Brand built through breakthrough experiences – and the marketing of them”
• Microsoft’s Bing: “Accomplishing the impossible by putting experience first and in every ad”

If you want more inspiration from those that are not just doing this, but living this, here is a post from The Brandbuilder Blog, Will the world’s best social media case studies please stand up?

Tags | Razorfish, research