Engaging the Millenials in Advocacy

One of the chapters of the book I'm writing (E-scapism: We're Not Tuning Out, We're Plugging in) focuses on the relationship between e-scapism and citizen advocacy. And wouldn't you know it, but USA Today did an article on how the 20-somethings (variously known as Generation Y, the Echo Boomers and the Millenials) have been powered by the Internet to become involved in the world around them. The catch is that they're involved in non-traditional ways. Rather than doing boring things like, oh, voting, they might instead start an online petition or join an virtual community of concerned citizens.

Unfortunately, because our current measures of "political involvement" focus on very traditional ideas (being an active member of a political party, signing a paper petition, joining a boycott, etc.), we are inclined to think that the Millenials are disengaged. In fact, they aren't necessarily "disengaged." They're just "differently engaged." Where they are turned off by the negativity of traditional politics, they might be turned on by a social consciousness that is more broadly focused on helping the poor or bettering the environment.

So next time you think to yourself -- gee, those young people just don't care -- be careful. They may care more than you think. They're just expressing it in a new way.

Fighting Cancer with Video Games

If you’re thinking that your business or organization can’t possibly use engagist techniques to further your cause (or sales), consider the experience of those involved in the very serious business of treating cancer patients. Adolescent patients, in particular, demonstrate an unwillingness to stick to their treatment, especially after they begin to feel better. The video game “Re-mission” seeks to keep kids engaged in their treatment by teaching them the fundamentals of how cancer drugs work. In the game, a “nanobot” with sidearms full of cancer drugs roams through the body blasting cancer cells. If she runs low on the drugs, the cancer drugs begin to return and any progress made by the player is reduced or eliminated.

Perhaps most important, scientific trials indicate that patients that play the game stick with their program better, understand the disease better and are more confident in their ability to fight it. Similar games exist to help diabetes patients, with studies pointing to as much as a 77% decline in diabetes-related emergency and urgent care visits among those who played the game.

A video game that saves lives and money? Who would have thought?

More information on the games can be found at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/
wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/20/
AR2006102001328.html

Email is SO Last Year

In my sessions I tell the story of a young, Generation Y employee in my office. For some reason, he rarely responded to my e-mails. In fact, he rarely checked his e-mail. I thought that was odd -- don't the kids these days like to communicate electronically? Turns out that e-mail is not the thing anymore. Nope. I know that's frustrating because you just figured out how to use it. In fact, the 18 to 25 year olds now communicate via IM, text messaging, Skype and a whole bunch of other more chatty, less formal means. In the case of my young employee, he showed me how to load IM on my Blackberry and our joint productivity sky-rocketed. It wasn't, as I had originally suspected, that he was ignoring me. The problem was that I was communicating with him through a means that to him was the equivalent of the carrier pigeon. This anecdotal evidence is born out in the experiences of corporate America. The generation born and raised in the era of instant messaging is now entering the workforce, and they are bringing their communications practices with them. At I.B.M. they send 2.5 million instant messages a day. In fact, if you leave a voice mail or e-mail message at one of a dozen different computer companies, you might as well just tell them that you don't really want to hear back. For them, it's all about the instant message -- and if your organization doesn't figure out how to use it (and fast), you'll be toodling around the Internet on an Edsel in a super-sonic jet world. For more information on this shift in communications patterns and how it's playing out in the real world, check out the NYT's article on this issue at:

http://tech2.nytimes.com/mem/technology/techreview.html?res=9B07E2DF1030F936A35757C0A9609C8B63

And you thought only the kids were doing it...

... recent studies show that Mobile Television isn't just for kids. The highest usage age group is the 25 to 26 year olds (50%).

Most people are watching while at home or while commuting (hopefully not while driving) while a good percentage (14%) are watching, gasp, at work!

As Kanishka Agarwal, VP of New Products, Telephia, said "The TV at home is a household device that people often have to share. On the other hand, the cell phone is as personal a device as you can get, and it allows consumers to watch what they want, when they want, and where they want."

Hmmm, what they want, when they want, where they want. Why does that sound familiar? Oh yeah, it's the premise behind engagism!

For more information, check out: http://www.mediapost.com/research/cfmr_briefArchive.cfm?s=49615

And, for those who are wondering if there's a gender bias here -- guess what over 94% of affluent women do at least once a month... Go to the spa? Get their hair done? No, it's access the Internet. That makes it at least as popular as watching television and driving a car -- who knew?

Consumer Engagement

In yesterday's blog I mentioned that "consumer engagement" is the buzz word in advertising. What I didn't mention is that a blog was started just this week on the topic at http://www.consumerengagement.blogspot.com/ Check it out for the latest ideas on what "consumer engagement" means and how to measure it. Of particular interest in Jim Nail's piece on the subject posted in the blog. He's also put together a great e-book on "Influence 2.0", which you can find at http://www.cymfony.com/influence2.pdf

If you're at all interested in reaching out to the new "engagist" consumer, check out these resources.

More to come!

Consumer Engagement

The advertising world is all abuzz over the idea of "consumer engagement." At a recent conference of the Association of National Advertisers, CEOs from Proctor and Gamble to HP to Walmart were talking about the "new" trend in advertising -- specifically ceding control to the customers. Many leading marketers were discussing the fact that consumers gravitate toward brands that make them feel empowered.

In other words, brands that engage them in the process of deciding how they will use the product.

Why are they gravitating towards these kinds of products and services? Because, as I have said time and time again, consumers, especially tech-savvy consumers raised on a range of interactive devices and content, EXPECT to engage. They are seeking and specifically choosing products that allow them to decide the what, who, when, where and how of the products use.

For more information on the consumer engagement idea, check out the post at:

http://publications.mediapost.com/?fuseaction=Articles.showArticle&art_aid=49540

This approach is becoming mainstream enough that advertisers are seeking ways to measure "level of engagement." More information about the consumer "engagement" metric can be found at http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=3522616

This and That

A few interesting tid bits I saw in the latest edition of Fast Company:

Online applications like "OurStory" (www.ourstory.com) offer families, businesses and organizations the ability to create narratives about their lives or the timelines of the business complete with personal stories, images and the like. While it initially sounds like a fancy scrapbooking application, companies are actually using it to build institutional histories - utilizing the perspectives of their employees and clients.

If you want to look at a bunch of up-and-coming Web 2.0 sites you've never heard of, check out the magazine's "Citizen Media: The High School Years" layout, with references to odeo.com, socialroots.com, fireant.tv, rapleaf.com and other sites that harnass all the power of engaging users.

FInally, it's been really interesting to see how advertisers have hopped on to the engagism bandwagon. In New York's Times Square, there are multiple billboards oriented toward getting the consumer directly involved in the advertising campaign. For example, the "Life Comes at you Fast" board from Nationwide highlights photos submitted by users to its website while the Secret deodorant "Share Your Secret" campaign allows anyone to share their secret.

All of these efforts have understood the need to engage real people in their efforts -- and are utilizing technology as the best means of doing so. Sounds like they've figured out the "engagism" secret.

Geek Squad Cubicle Toys and Movie Stories

The Washington Post had an interesting story about the latest toys available for cublicle-on-cubicle warfare. Check it out at http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/30/AR2006093000910.html. Personally, I really want to USB controlled foam missile launcher. I think it will put me at the top of the workspace empire!

Meanwhile, back at the engagism bat cave, the cool hunters at Digg.com found a great story on the New York times site about a new movie making technique. It apparently combines cinematic story telling with audience participation in a whole new way. With about 400 different scenes available, viewers make their own choices about where to go next -- providing them the ability to view the movie in any way they choose. Somehow (and I don't know how because I haven't seen it), the overall themes, characters and plot lines supposedly hang together.

It's like hitting the shuffle feature on your iPod in the middle of a movie. It will be interesting to see if people really want to interact with a movie in this way, or if they prefer to sit back and be told a story by someone else.

Check out the article on www.Digg.com