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A study produced by: Participation beyond the hype…
A study produced by:
Participation beyond the hype…
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The findings are based on a study into participation, conducted by TNS.
Over 5,600 people across seven countries in Asia Pacific were surveyed.
Key: Online consumer behaviours
Consume: Reading or watching
Interact: Sharing, Liking,
commenting
Create: Writing,
Uploading
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Participation – beyond the hype
Compared to the increasingly
hard-to-win interruption model,
it’s no surprise that the call is
for all campaigns to include
participation at their core.
But when it comes to participating
with brands… just because
technology can, does it mean
people will? The inconvenient
truth is no.
The problem is that hype
distorts the truth. The underlying
assumptions driving inflated
expectations of participation
are simply not playing out in
reality. People aren’t as interested
in actively participating with
brands, as brands are interested
in participating with them. They
would still far rather consume
content than actively participate
with it.
In fact we’ve been looking at
participation all wrong. As an
end in itself.
Participation hype has distracted
us from the real opportunity. The
game changer isn’t participation
– it’s content that sparks a
connection. And the value is
in that connection, not the
participation that may, or may
not follow.
The much-lauded ‘age of participation’ has been with us for a while now, with its promise of a willing, lean forward audience, deep engagement, earned reach and advocacy.
Participation is not why people connect; It’s a response when people make a connection
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People are not as interested in participating with brands, as brands are interested in participating with them
Today, in our daily lives we are no
longer ‘content consumers’ only
or even mainly. Instead we are
content consumers and interactors
and creators, switching effortlessly
and unconsciously between
modes: from passive reading &
watching, to more active liking,
sharing & commenting, to more
proactive behaviours like creating
& reviewing (Fig. 1 & 2).
However, when it comes to
engaging with brand marketing,
people are still much more
interested in ‘consuming’, than
being more actively participatory
(Fig. 3). They are not, it would
seem, the eager audience that
participation hype promised, just
waiting to be invited to jump in and
participate to their heart’s content.
In fact, the reality is, the higher the
effort, the lower people’s interest in
participating with brands.
High incidence of all types of behaviours in life %
Strong bias to multiple behaviours %
Consume only (2)
Consume & Interact (7)
Consume, Interact & Create (91)
Interacting
96
Creating
89
Consuming
97
Fig. 1
Fig. 2
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Participation – beyond the hype
That’s not to say some people
aren’t participating at all – clearly
many people are interacting with
brands, reflecting the ease of some
interactions (liking, sharing) offered
by digital devices (Fig 3). But that
very ease is perhaps why they
are not producing the end results
as expected – likes and shares
are second nature online. A
throwaway action that is shallow
and meaningless.
It seems that we have been
looking at participation all
wrong. The call for us to do
it better is certainly rising. In
Australia, the Association of
National Advertisers, concluded
that “participation done badly
is just spam” and called for
more “intelligence” within
participation marketing, rather
than just obsession with
marketing’s ‘shiny new toy’.
Lower interest in participating in brand marketing Preference to consume rather than interact or create
Interacting
30
Creating
8
Consuming
54
More provocatively, industry blogger Bob Hoffman
opined: “The idea that the same consumer who was
frantically clicking her TV remote to escape from
advertising was going to merrily click her mouse to
interact with it is going to go down as one of the
great advertising delusions of all time.”
So where has the hype led the industry astray, and what can we do better?
Fig. 3
What’s their return on involvement?
Devices and connectivity may have
changed our world, but people
are still people and they would
much rather brands give to them
than ask something of them. This
shouldn’t be a surprise to us. We
all know that people are driven by
subconscious reward systems and
motivated by WIIFM (‘what’s in it
for me’). If brands expect to win in
the participation economy, surely
we know that it had better be
easy, interesting, entertaining and
critically, rewarding?
It seems the hype has given us
a dose of temporary amnesia.
Participation ‘invitations’ from
brands are too often transparently
self-serving and today’s savvy audiences see straight through that (Fig. 4). They resent doing anything that appears to benefit the brand more than it benefits them (Fig. 5). It has to be a fair value exchange, but brands, particularly on social channels, are guilty of forgetting this. Re-marketing isn’t helping either. As an industry, we love the ability to track and re-market, but our target doesn’t. In fact, rather than thanking us for delivering more relevant content, they hate it. As a result, it is a major inhibitor of participation, because they are concerned about protecting their privacy and avoiding more advertising (Fig. 6).
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Participation – beyond the hype
Attitudes towards participation with brand marketing %
Privacy barriers to participation with brands %
I am more likely to engage with brands online if it’s really easy and asks nothing of me
I’d rather brands just entertain me than ask me to do something
I feel like I’m doing the work for the brand, benefiting the brand more than me
58
48
37
54
TwitterUser01 @twitteruser01 • Apr 18
That annoying moment when brands ask you to promote their launches and contests on your social media for free. I am not some public service.
TwitterUser02 @twitteruser02 • Nov 11
I hate it when #brands make me tweet about a contest to enter it.
HairBrand @HairBrand • May 8
We’re giving away 5 packs of Hair Dazzle – as seen in this months Cosmopolitan – to get you Sparkling for Summer! Just RT and FOLLOW to win
47 RETWEETS
3 FAVOURITES
I hate the idea that if I engage with a brand it will send me more ads
Fig. 5Fig. 4
Fig. 6
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Where there’s reward there’s risk
Hype has also glossed over what we
all know, but hope never happens
to one of our campaigns: if brands
don’t get it right, they run the risk
of backlash. Unfortunately many
people are too willing to hijack
participation platforms. Hashtag
hijacks, such as the famous
#McDStories conversation and more
recently Qantas’s #QantasLuxury,
are both instances of where well-
meaning campaigns turned into
brand nightmares (Fig. 8).
What’s more, even people who
participate with the right intent
can turn into brand detractors
if their high expectations are
not met, driving loss of brand
trust, ad avoidance and sharing
of dissatisfaction (Fig 7 & 9).
The unfortunate reality is that
participation hype has led
brands to chase a type of active
participation that is blind to what
people actually want and value
when engaging with them.
The truth is, people are far more
likely to participate with brands
when they are actively looking
to buy, or needing customer
service, than they are with online
marketing campaigns. They are not
sitting there waiting and hoping for
the next Oreo tweet.
Negative attitude to poor brand participation experience %
I hate brands that waste my time online with a poor participation experience
58
Fig. 7
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Participation – beyond the hype
Negative reactions to poor brand participation experience %
Share bad experience with friends & family
Stop buying the brand
Feel less trust and confidence in the brand
Ignore that brand’s advertising
Stop following the brand on social media
Discourage people from buying the brand
Share my poor experience on social media
TwitterUser04 @twitteruser04 • May 12
Hospitalized for food poisoning after eating McDonalds in 1989. Never ate again and became a vegan. Should have sued. #McDStories
TwitterUser09 @twitteruser09 • Feb 15
#QantasLuxury is sitting on the tarmac for 90mins staring at a full-page SMH ad claiming “We’re back on schedule!” Then returning to the gate.
40
29
21
38 35
28
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Fig. 9
Fig. 8
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Not only has hype led to us serving
up participation campaigns that
people aren’t really interested in,
but it’s distracted marketing from
the real end game: growing brands.
Campaigns that have generated
high online participation have been
heralded in the media as a runaway
success, but few have been able to
link their likes or followers to hard
business results.
The problem is that, people
are more likely to engage or
participate with brands that
they already like and buy. As a
result – even if you achieve high
engagement – there is a very
real danger of marketing to the
converted and achieving nothing.
John Broome, Kellogg’s Australia
CMO cites an example of a
digital participation campaign
for Crunchy Nut cereal that
unintentionally drove engagement
with the wrong audience:
“It drove great reach and massive
engagement, but didn’t drive
incremental sales, because we
learnt that it appealed more to
loyal users who are already buying
than non-users who are not.”
Broom compared this to a
content-led success story that
spoke to the ‘disinterested’ and
grew not only consideration and
preference, but also turned sales
from decline to growth:
“The Unstoppable Stories for
Nutri-grain, which involves us
moving away from our traditional
Ironman space, have been a
tremendous success, driving
incremental sales and stronger
brand equity from the four million
plus interactions with consumers
through digital” (Fig. 10).
Participation has distracted us from the real goal
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Participation – beyond the hype
It’s time to kill the assumption that
consumption is the poor relation of
participation. The ability of online
video to compel people to lean
into content is not in dispute and it
should be no surprise that it delivers
handsomely for brands, driving a
host of desired brand effects and
human behaviours, including the all
important brand consideration to
purchase likelihood (Fig. 11).
The positive effects of passively engaging with content %
Feel more positive about the brand
More likely to consider buying the brand
Want to like/share/comment on the video
Want to tell people about the brand
Want to follow the brand
More likely to remember the ad
43
40
33
31
29
25
Fig. 10
Fig. 11
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We need to stop obsessing about
participation as if it’s a stimulus
to drive engagement and instead
focus on creating ideas that
prompt a deep connection. In
return we may, if we’re lucky,
get a participation response.
Participation has distracted us
from the real opportunity. Content
is the real game changer. Content
is more powerful now than it ever
was in the interruption model,
because of the participatory
nature of the internet. By
creating the right content and
offering it at the right time and
place to enough people, brands
can generate the all-important
response that will help them grow.
To do that well, we need to stop
assuming interest in participation
and create interest with content.
It must compete for attention.
As Unilever’s Keith Weed rightly
observed at Cannes 2015: “There
has never been such a premium
on creativity. It must be used to cut
through the clutter.”
Dan Neary, Vice President for
Facebook Asia Pacific agrees,
saying: “Technology should enable
better creative, not replace it.
Storytelling is critical. We believe
creativity is truly king again.”
Brands can create interest in their content if they follow four simple rules:
Participation is not why people connect; it’s a response when people make a connection
Create to interest people first, planting brand ideas in their lives rather
than expecting them to opt into the brand’s world. The role of the brand
must shift from self-interested telling, to attracting people with content
that is connected to their passion points and important in their life.
Importantly, content should give people a role & reward too; to use that
content as a way to express themselves, join in or do good.
Intel and Toshiba’s ‘The Beauty Inside’ – The first ever ‘social film’ gave audiences a chance to play a role in an interactive story that takes place on the main character’s Facebook timeline’.
Levis – Online content series for Levis commuter jeans where the cycling community is the hero of the content story.
Be user centric Create for people, not brands
Participation Rules
1Participation – beyond the hype
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Content without strategy is just content, not marketing. It should be
strategically informed and designed with behaviour change in mind,
from sharing to buying. Plan and create content around the purchase
cycle, ensuring it is fit for purpose and audience at each stage and
accounting for when, where and how different devices are used.
Mattel’s popular Barbiestyle Instagram feed is designed to position Barbie as an inspiring aspirational style icon and not just a doll.
The Under Armour ‘I will what I want’ campaign highlighted the issue of societal judgment, whilst achieving the brand objective of feminising the image of the brand.
Be Purposeful Never content for content’s sake
Participation Rules
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Helping children forget the pain by participating in magical play, from Bandaid.
Media Markt Rabbit Race, gave people a whole new and highly entertaining sporting event – making it easy to get involved by turning receipts into betting slips.
Worthy content is both insightful and generous, giving not taking.
It understands the tensions or delights of the consumer world and
provides a way to assuage or amplify these for the audience.
Give a gift Don’t ask or offer
Participation Rules
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Participation – beyond the hype
Brand ideas are a force of cohesion in a fragmented world and allow
brands to have human meaning over and above their product, or service
attributes and features. They ensure content relates back to the brand,
without overtly ‘selling’.
Bound by a brand idea
Participation Rules
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Dove’s #speak beautiful Twitter campaign is a fresh take on their empowering ‘real beauty’ brand idea.
KitKat champions the break in one of the longest running brand ideas ever.
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Participation – beyond the hype
It’s time to see beyond the hype. To rethink participation
as a response, not an end in itself, and elevate the focus
onto creating brand content worthy and rewarding of
people’s time and attention. Whether that response
is passive (consuming, liking or sharing) or active
(commenting & creating) should depend on the strategy
and creative idea, not a gratuitous participation KPI.
When brands connect through worthy content, they
will be giving people something of value: a return on
their involvement. And as with so many things in life,
when you give, you get. Brands will be rewarded with
a more willing lean forward response that will build
relationships with brands and drive sales growth.
Beyond the participation hype… is content that delivers return on involvement.
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The findings are based on research into participation, conducted by TNS.
We surveyed over 5,600 people across seven markets: Australia, China,
Indonesia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore and Thailand. Fieldwork
took place in June 2015, and was conducted online.
J Walter Thompson J. Walter Thompson Company
was founded in 1864 and has
been making pioneering solutions
that build enduring brands and
business for more than 150 years.
Today under the leadership of
Global CEO Gustavo Martinez, the
company has evolved to include
several global networks including
J. Walter Thompson Worldwide,
Mirum and Colloquial.
TNS TNS advises clients on specific
growth strategies around new
market entry, innovation, brand
switching and customer and
employee relationships, based on
long-established expertise and
market-leading solutions. With a
presence in over 80 countries, TNS
has more conversations with the
world’s consumers than anyone
else and understands individual
human behaviours and attitudes
across every cultural, economic
and political region of the world.
TNS is part of Kantar, the data
investment management division
of WPP and one of the world’s
largest insight, information and
consultancy groups. Please visit
www.tnsglobal.com for more
information.
Participation beyond the hype
About the study
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Participation – beyond the hype
© J Walter Thompson & TNS 2015
