Brand as Channel/API

A week or so ago, I was asked if I could sit on this panel discussion about how some brands are starting to create their own content in lieu of, or along with, traditional advertising. The discussion was led by Alan Schulman, Chief Creative Officer at U.DIG – The Digital Innovations Group, and included myself and Scott Koehler, VP, OPEN Digital Prospect Media & Marketing, American Express.

Alan pointed out that API’s or “Application Programming Interface, was simply a mechanism for distributing content persistently – or having “always on” messaging. As a brand, it requires a change in how you message, going from a campaign mindset to a brand reinforcing content ecosystem. This is important because of consumers growing intolerance to traditional media – they are over-saturated with messages and becoming increasingly fragmented. So as a brand, you need to become a realtime content creator, curator, app developer, content distributor, content syndicator,and brand storyteller, instead of an “advertiser.” He used examples from several companies, including American Express and State Farm.

We discussed the importance of telling the brand story consistently, across all forms of media, not just in a TV campaign. After he shared the When Love is in the Air, State Farm is There video, and I talked about the importance of utilizing our agents and zones to find out and help tell the brand story. Scott shared his experiences with the OPEN Forum for small businesses, requiring the ability to handle editorial type responsibilities in-house to generate and curate the content on the site. We both talked about the importance of agency partnerships, as well as internal resources, to generate as much content as possible, while at the same time, making sure it’s on message and reaching an increasingly fragmented audience. Overall, it really made me feel very fortunate to have the skill and resources we have available throughout the company to help tell our brand story in unique and interesting ways.

Foursquare at SXSW

Foursquare had been a bit coy these last couple weeks regarding their plans for SXSW, simply tweeting, “SXSW IS LESS THAN THREE WEEKS AWAY! NEW APP + NEW BADGES + PARTIES + CONCERT + MOAR FOURSQUARE. DETAILS COMING. OKTHXBAI.”

A few hours ago, they started to let us all in (a little) on what is to come. Their site – http://foursquare.com/sxsw – has been updated, and what we know is this:

• They’re releasing a new version of the app – Foursquare 3.0
• They’re hosting a party on 3/12 at the Cedar Street Courtyard
• They’re hosting a concert on 3/14
• They’re introducing 18 new badges (not sure if they’ll be exclusive to SXSW or not)
• They’ve partnered with American Express

I’m really excited and interested to see what becomes of the American Express partnership.  When I saw American Express’ own version of Foursquare built on Foursquare’s API – Social Currency – I was immediately impressed.  Not only did they add photo capabilities before Foursquare did, but they added a feature which allowed you to enter in how much you had spent at that venue.

With the partnership, any purchases made with an Amex card would not only check you in via Foursquare, but could provide incredible individual and aggregate data to retailers.  For example, with Best Buy’s Rewards card, they know how much you’ve spent with them – and provide you rewards based on how much you’ve spent.  They also know who you are, along with when and where you made the purchase.  That’s incredible data for targeted marketing and predictive modeling.

Now, every retailer (who accepts Amex), even the small business down the street could have this type of data on their customers, thanks to Foursquare and Amex.  It has the potential to be the retail version of Google analytics for businesses.  When you add the gaming incentives that Foursquare provides, you’ve got something that people want to do and are willing to give up this data for gaming and loyalty incentives.