In entertainment, particularly with recording artists, I’d dare say that every single “interesting” artist has a brand that nearly 100% of fans would like to converse with more. I’ve found some of the most surprising results and possibly one of the biggest unmet needs in the music industry when it comes to conversational marketing. The old rubric for artists and entertainers alike was “too hot to touch” which involved creating mystique around the personality and actually limiting interaction with fans.

Now digital media has turned that upside down and a lot of artists don’t know how to embrace it, but the moment they do the response is incredible. Some of our clients have sold millions of albums and never wrote a single blog. But the littlest door we open to conversation creates impressive, personal, and very informative results.

So, to answer your question about a vertical that’s more conducive to conversation I definitely have to vouch for entertainment.

An example of two entertainers that are doing a real good job of creating that conversation are our two most controversial hip-hop artists, 50 Cent (www.thisis50.com) and Kanye West (www.kanyewest.com). They both have opened up the conversation with fans in every way from artist blogs oftentimes having nothing to do with their music, to behind the scenes webisodes and 50 even launched a contest with Youtube for fans to get a chance to be on his album.

Personally we’ve done tons of live webchats with our clients to the tune of up to 50k chatters. As stated, you could do mass media marketing and get ten times the number of users, but the impact and targeting done with conversational marketing is unparalleled. And I think this conversational marketing is how artists…and even brands tell their “story” instead of just selling product.

Thanks for the post!

I own Small is the New Big and subscribe to Godin’s RSS feed. Hes a smart guy. And I couldnt agree more about apple.

One of the points behind my question was to see if each of you had your own definitions/thoughts of consumer conversation, the market size, success stories, etc. Not only do I see this field as being young but also as one that is changing so rapidly. The speed of innovation in technology is simply incredible. You mentioned twitter which amazes me because the technology is less than two years old. It is a marketers job to stay on top of new conversation mediums, but are brands overwhelmed by trying to keep up with the constant change?

Right now there is a lot of natural conversation happening over brands. Your example of HP was excellent. Would you say that it is more important for a brand to monitor natural conversation and react to it with product? Or should they also take an active role in communicating with their consumers?

@Nicola – very cool example with Lego. Great to see a post from another person that isnt in the industry

In the early days they received a huge amount of negative feedback but if you look through the community now, it is a very different story and a really exciting story.

http://www.lego.com/en-US/default.aspx
and here’s the presentation from Kristina
http://dp-x.com/datpresenter/dpx.php?cmd=autoplay&type=autofocus&pres=11446&media=real&dpxuser=ambient

Her advice is awesome, could not have said it better myself. It is most certainly about participation, not interruption.

First, a book like Seth Godin’s Meatball Sundae or Small is the New Big might help you wrap your mind around some of the issues here. The problem is today, mass marketing is not as effective, because people aren’t paying attention. For any given mass media buy, you are using a broad net approach, where a targeted approach, while yielding less overall impressions, gets you right to your most receptive audience.

Consumers talk about their experiences with brands every day. Twitter this morning featured a talk about how all the junk “bonus” software coming with HP computers was a real turn off after the purchase, and that this was a common experience. Even if I am not dying to go out of my way, 6 mo after the purchase to tell HP I hated this, I remember the experience and share it whenever anyone asks me about what computer to buy. HP certainly didn’t solicit my opinion about my purchase after the sale, (why should they care- it’s a done deal, right?) but by word of mouth, they are losing additional sales because of it.

Companies can either choose to be part of the ongoing conversation, listening in and participating, an making things better, or they can ignore it, and let it continue without any of their input, and then wonder why there’s a sudden drop in sales. Hmmmmm.

I think Apple gets the conversation, both by staffing retail stores that specialize in having a real person help desk, having great customer service online and phone support, and it takes the pain out of having any problems or glitches with a product, because the aftermarket is as important to them as the sale itself. They are building their brand, so to speak, for the long term, and it makes evangelists out of ipod owners, macbook owners- the best marketing team you can have- the product and its owners almost won’t shut up about the stuff- it inspires passion.

Now, instilling passion for laundry soap may not be the same, but you can bet marketers try to do this when depicting laundry as the height of maternal love for the family- they are selling caring, not soap. that’s their brand story.

Does this make sense to you? I hope so….