(MSc) Sebinomics

I was shocked to read the news that Michael Jackson died yesterday after suffering a heart attack in his home in Los Angeles.

Despite all the controversy in the past decades, Michael Jackson was a true music business phenomenon. Kick starting his career with the Jackson 5 at the young age of five, then moving onto release the most successful album of a solo artist with Thriller and selling out tour after tour, Michael Jackson become The King of Pop, an iconic brand in the business. Whatever he touched turned into gold. The King of Pop didn’t need a big marketing machine behind the brand to sell albums and concert tickets. Michael Jackson was the marketing.

Source: lancedrummondsmusic.wordpress.com

Time Magazine proclaimed Michael Jackson, “A one-man rescue team for the music business.” Okay, that was in 1984. But still, Michael sold 750 million albums throughout his career. His planned tour for July 2009 had set a new record as the fastest selling concert of all time. Tina Kells wrote on NowPublic.com, “Selling at a rate of 11 tickets per second all shows sold out completely at a startling rate prompting Ticketmaster director Chris Edmonds to comment, “this week we have witnessed a live entertainment phenomenon.” 360,000 tickets were sold by pre-sale before buying was opened to the public on Friday morning.  More than 750,000 fans from around the world purchased blocks of seats for the London shows.”

The only time I saw Michael Jackson live was in 1997 on his History Tour in Basel, Switzerland. I remember it was a rainy day and Michael’s gig was in an open air stadium. Right when his show started the sun came out and his 150-minutes show amazed an audience of about 50,000. It was pure A+ entertainment like I had never seen before.

Michael Jackson will be remembered as The King of Pop. The man who did the Moonwalk. The dancing zombie in Thriller. The artist with the funky gloves. The singer who wanted to Heal The World. And the human being who said, If you’re thinking of being my brother it don’t matter if you’re black or white.

Many of you know that I pass through Zurich station many times a week. Since Zurich station is a great place for companies to promote their products, promoters give away different samples on a regular basis. I wrote about Emmi’s Emminent drink and how their promoters did a great job in their remarkable outfits. Coca Cola Zero is another brand that inspired me to write about it, especially since they did kind of a bitter tasting promotion, in my opinion.

Last week, it was the turn of Carpe Diem and the release of its new drink. The company didn’t do anything funky or extravagant. Their promoters simply handed out a 5 deciliters PET bottle like the one that can be purchased in a store. No flyers, no questions, no email address you had to give them in return. Giving away for free the exact product one can buy in a store, gives potential customers the exact feeling of drinking half a liter of Kombucha they would actually buy. This provides the most authentic experience of drinking the Carpe Diem drink.

This was the very first time I tasted Kombucha. I quickly realized that I liked it and told myself that I’m going to have it again. If that is the feeling I get when drinking Kombucha, I’ll be satisfied. That 5 deciliters free PET bottle satisfied my thirst and gave a huge value to the Carpe Diem brand. Ever since I commute to Zurich, Coca Cola Zero has given me a few of samples, but never satisfied my thirst. In addition, the samples were either to small, I was distracted by flyers and games, or the promoters were not friendly.

In this case, I learned that not making up  a story when the product is the story is a strategy that works very well for me. Kombucha definitely tells a story, and by letting potential customers experience the story, you might find the right early adaptors that will tell your story in your name. Like me.

Last week, my friend Warren called me to talk about bringing a solo-bass artist to Switzerland for a concert dedicated to bass players. Being a full-fleshed bass player myself, I promised him our help. We at NEO*DMC believe that the smaller a niche is, the more interested and supportive its followers are. A logic consequence is to give followers a reason to meet and share their passion. Like in Warren’s case, a concert by solo-bass artists.

For more than 10 years so-called “bass day” events were organized all around the world with considerable success in regard to the market size of its niche. Bass players seem to be even more eager to visit bass workshops with world class bassists such as Billy Sheehan, Michael Manring, and Markus Setzer, than going to concerts. The bass niche seems small compared to the guitar market. But like all small tribes, bass players are connected through a very unique bond — similar to the ukulele players tribe.

Seth Godin writes in his marketing-classic Purple Cow, “[W]hat’s missing isn’t the ideas, it’s the will to execute them. … [I]t’s safer to be risky.” Very true. This is why NEO*DMC is supporting Warren with his project. There are already many music agencies bringing popular bands and artists to Switzerland to fill large mainstream venues. Hence, there is no need for us to do the same. My friend Theo and I share the opinion that it is rather difficult to make short-term profits with niche concerts, but if set up right, it is more rewarding in the long-run. Why? Because you attract innovators and early adopters in the beginning and they will tell their friends to join next time, and their friends’ friends will join the next-next time, and a sustainable growing tribe will build up.

Sure, this is the best possible scenario and it takes a lot of time and effort to build up such a tribe. Nonetheless, it is the most sustainable way to foster a relationship between a brand and its followers.

Just about six months ago, I wrote a blog post on how Coca Cola Zero was distributing drinks at Zurich station (read here: post 1 and post 2). Yesterday, the company did the same again with a few changes:

1. Cans distributed by promoters got smaller. Yesterday’s promotion included giving away aluminum cans of 0.15 l, when six months ago they were almost twice as big. Most probably, Coca Cola was afraid of pressure from its own customers (Coca Cola sellers) selling Coca Cola Zero in and around Zurich station. I actually like this idea. 0.15 l feels more like a sample than 0.25 l. Nonetheless, I disagree with distributing aluminum cans, since it is not very “green”—a small PET bottle or Tetra pak could be even cooler than a standard aluminum can and more eco-friendly.

2. Coca Cola Zero handed out flyers promoting an online game with the opportunity to winning a Guitar Hero game. I know what a Guitar Hero game is, but do all the others who got that flyer know? This is my wild guess, but most people lining in front of the so-called Coca Cola Zero Swat Team, simply wanted the free 0.15 l sample and couldn’t have cared less for the online game. Many flyers were lying on the ground, which underlines my guess.

3. As mentioned above, a Coca Cola Zero Swat Team was formed and can be met in major Swiss locations—The flyer says, The team is on tour! Unfortunately, I couldn’t really figure out why I should follow the Coca Cola Zero Swat Team on tour. Am I going to get more 0.15 l cans if I meet them again? Or, can I ask for more flyers so that I don’t forget to play online and possibly win a Guitar Hero game?

Wrap-up: The idea of the 0.15 l-sample is okay, but could be better if it was a more eco-friendly container. The flyer promoting the online game should be more specific and catchy. It simply looks like a flyer promoting Coca Cola Zero, not the game. The Coca Cola Zero Swat Team is a good idea as well, but it needs to be clearly branded for customers to understand what it is and what the benefit of following them is.

To be fair, Coca Cola Zero is well positioned and many people drink it. The millions spend on ads and commercials clearly make their point. What I disagree with is that a lot of marketing money is wasted on promotions that make no sense. And handing out a sample after a couple of years of that products introduction will not turn any non-Coca Cola Zero drinker into one.