Is Your Brand Sticky or Slippery Online?

As information disperses wildly/widely through personal channels, marketers must revert from “sticky” mentality to “slippery.” Sticky websites require lures and hooks to get people to our sites and then lock them in. Slippery ideas enable wide distribution of our brand into daily life (Originally articulated by Mark Earls via Fallon’s Aki Spicer).

A client, er, someone might ask -- why create profiles on video/photo sharing sites and social networks when you have a perfectly good website?

The answer to this question is the Jeep Experience site. The Jeep brand planted its flag on Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Flickr over time. Rather than a heavy-handed approach, Jeep merely facilitates online fan gatherings and consumer-generated Jeep content.

Jeep now aggregates all of this content at the Jeep Experience. It brilliantly illustrates the slippery over sticky approach. Back in the (dot com) day, a brand would try and build the Jeep Experience site and spend tons of money attracting eyeballs. It would cost you twice as much and be half as effective. This is generous math if you consider Bud.TV as a more recent example of a sticky content play.

Even more recently, Tommy Hilfiger launched TommyTV. Music is being used to sell everything from coffee to deodorant, so why not clothes as well?

TommyTV has the right goal -- to make an emotional connection with its customers. But the execution still feels like a brand hoping the sticky approach works instead of giving up control. TommyTV has a YouTube presence, but it’s downplayed on the site.

So clean up your act online and go from sticky to slippery like Jeep (who gets the Gallant). For trying to have its cake and eat it too/2.0, TommyTV gets the Goofus.

Bubble Rain uploaded by jurvetson
tags | Jeep | TommyTV | Bud.TV | advertising | marketing | consumer-generated media | brand

Comments

[Mike Keliher]

Sticky vs. slippery: That's *brilliant*.

So's the Jeep Experience site. Outstanding.

Thanks for the sharing this.

[Erin Smith]

Although there are obvious advantages to using social networking sites as another medium of communication to a company's publics, can it be damaging? Sometimes I wonder if the presence of companies on websites like those mentioned in your post can be seen as taking advantage of these networks. If Tommy Hilfiger Clothing tried to be my friend on Facebook, I think I would react negatively to their brand. However, if it was a brand that I already identified with, I would probably be excited to show I supported it.

[Mariana Sarceda]

Moving to sticky to slippery brands seems the right thing to do with many brands in almost every industry. However, I would be afraid of having every single industry trying to be my friend in Facebook or Flickr (law firms, for example). These kind of ideas are cool but would really have to be thought over by pr pros before being put into practise.

[Kevin Dugan]

Thanks to everyone for your feedback.

Erin and Mariana - While I do not state this in the post, social networking is not for every brand. Some do not want to give up control of the message and some may have good reasons to not do so. But in the case of Tommy Hilfiger on Facebook, I think they should set up a space for their more passionate customers to come and seek Tommy out. Facilitating and friending are too different things! A law firm might feel odd on Facebook, but they could easily create a page for their employees. And I think a LinkedIn Group would be smart. Again, it all depends on the audience. If they aren't using these tools, should you be spending time there? That's the first question to ask. My question/post headline might be second or third.

Great questions. Thanks!

[Mark Forstneger]

Would it be better for Tommy to be creating a fan page so I could "become a fan of Tommy Hilfiger" (if this was 1997) instead of Tommy being an "individual" with "friends?"

[Kevin Dugan]

Mark - Bingo. That's exactly what I'm talking about as far as facilitating.

[Miracle studios -- web design company]

A year ago we were very slippery .....

But now Miracle Studios is pretty stable .....its sticky

Take a glimpse at our award winning web design : http://www.miraclestudios.in

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