Jeff Pontes

Jeff is Director, Digital Strategy at FUSE Marketing Group where he serves as a thought leader providing strategic direction to clients that are deeply rooted in consumer insights. The title may speak to his strategic planning efforts although it does not cover his extensive efforts in bridging the knowledge gap between technology and marketing.

Armed with a degree in Computer Science, Pontes' credentials include a mix of marketing and advertising expertise within digital strategy, market research, media planning and partnership acquisition, spanning over 10 years. His cross-discipline marketing communications experience was gleaned from working with clients in CPG, Retail, Consumer Electronics, Automotive and Pharmaceuticals. Jeff is a member of the CMA's Digital Marketing Council and has contributed to published materials through the association.

Time to Talk Community

Communities can take on many shapes and can be formed for numerous different reasons. Some may share a common interest in bird watching while others may congregate to discuss computer programming techniques or even dating tips. Although, when discussing communities in the context of brands, trying to understand the motivations that drive consumer involvement becomes slightly more complicated.

What do you mean by “Community”?

What’s the difference? We should begin by defining both an online community and a brand community as follows:

online community: is a group of people that primarily interact via communication media such as email, internet social network service or instant messages rather than face to face, for social, professional, educational or other purposes. (Wikipedia: online community )

brand community: A brand community is a community formed on the basis of attachment to a product or marque. Recent developments in marketing and in research in consumer behavior result in stressing the connection between brand, individual identity and culture. (Wikipedia: brand community)

According to the definitions above, an online community is focused on how people form and nurture relationships online while a brand community is all about why people/consumers choose to affiliate themselves with a particular brand. This distinction is very commonly overlooked and may be a key reason why many brands who attempt to build a strong following are unsuccessful in doing so.

Consumers are not inherently associated to any one brand. They build an affinity to them when they feel a connection; a certain passion for something that the brand values embody or represent. To simply build the infrastructure to allow consumers the ability to congregate and communicate with each other without understanding what they may be passionate about would result in an environment that lacks cohesion.

The 50th Anniversary Party

Use the example of a 50th anniversary party. John and Sally have been married for 50 years and have a large network of friends of family. They’ve decided to have a large catered event with live entertainment and are thinking about who to invite. Since it is such an exceptional milestone, they thought it would be nice to have an open event where anyone could attend.

In theory it sounded like the event would be a gallant affair yet how would they spread the message to let people know about the occasion? The message would be sent to family and friends as well as to strangers looking for an enjoyable night out. To some the concept of free food sounded appealing while others were looking forward to a night of dancing or even the prospect of meeting an eligible bachelor that they could click with.

Now the question is would people attend because of the couple who were celebrating their milestone or for the freebies that had nothing to do with them at all? If the couple were to host subsequent parties in the future, would people continue to attend and possibly bring their friends along with them? They might, although what would be the common thread that would connect everyone together? What similar interests would people share who were attending these events?

The same could be said for the creation of online communities. To create a series of tools (“freebies”) enabling consumers to congregate online without providing the common thread upon which they may have a unique experience would be similar to inviting people to the party as mentioned above. When developing communities online it’s important for brands to identify the theme or values that will not only connect those who participate but to also bring them closer to the brand.

CCM Takes a Shot at Online Communities

Take CCM Hockey for example. In speaking with Ross McCracken, Senior Brand Manager he mentioned that hockey fans are a very passionate group and that they have a natural tendency to organize themselves and form groups online. CCM recognized this and has been leveraging the web to form meaningful relationships with their consumers since the late nineties when they would respond directly to consumer enquiries via e-mail. Their level of responsiveness and shared passion for the sport allowed them the ability to establish the foundation of an online brand community which has continued to grow and evolve ever since.

Although ROI is not currently being tied back to their online community initiatives, the organization recognizes the power that the social web brings not only to their marketing communications but also in their focused product development efforts. “Key influencers are a big part of our success,” says McCracken, “we look to them to provide valuable input into our new product innovations while helping to create excitement for them when they become market ready. Our communities have enabled us to build a stronger relationship with our consumers while simultaneously positioning our brand as a category leader”.

CCM has done a great job of listening, communicating and connecting passionate hockey fans with the brand, although Ross states, “we still need to do a better job at linking all of our approaches together. The web is constantly changing and we’re continuously looking for ways to keep up with the times so that we can remain relevant to our consumers and be perceived as a trusted partner who understands their needs.”

The organization has embraced the medium and has developed a corporate culture where virtually everyone in the office is involved in social media at some level, not necessarily all working on the brand, albeit, the first step truly is about understanding the channel before being able to realize its full potential.

Is Your Company Ready?

Organizational cultural readiness is a critical success factor for any company seeking to leverage the power of the social web and this is where I will begin my next topic...

By Jeff Pontes, Director – Digital Strategy, FUSE Marketing Group

Once Upon a Time

Every story begins with one word; and with this, I begin to tell mine. This is my first of what I expect to be many more entries as a contributor to the CMA blog. It will be a place where I will seek to share and gain knowledge from the marketing community at large.

As a member of the Digital Marketing Council I am tasked with supporting the association’s efforts in closing the knowledge gap that exists in the marketplace as it relates to the digital realm. The space is changing so rapidly that it becomes difficult for marketers to keep focused on all of the moving parts while translating it back to how it impacts their business. Understanding these inherent challenges, I will attempt to address some of the pressing issues and look to shed light on how to tackle others.

Traditionally blogs are based on the views of one, the contributor, yet I will seek to incorporate industry guests when relevant and possible. Their inputs and perspectives will provide valuable insights within the context of true case scenarios aimed to provoke thought and spur dialogue. I will be leveraging social media where appropriate to gain insights, feedback and contributions from other industry professionals and will serve as the content facilitator and filter to ensure that readers are able to gain value from the content being delivered.

The first topic of discussion will be how to develop successful online communities. With the explosion of social media and technologies enabling consumers to evangelize and share their views with their peers, marketers are looking for ways to nurture and build off this type of consumer behaviour which has resulted in an increased demand for the development of consumer based communities online.

As much value as they may provide the challenge of understanding and developing one raises a series of questions such as:

1. What is a community?
2. Why does my brand need one?
3. What type of community should we create?
4. What resources are required (financial, human, technology, etc.) and who will be responsible for managing it?
5. How do we create one?

I will be providing different perspectives into the answers to these questions over the next several posts with input provided from conversations with industry leading brands. I encourage you to participate in the discussion and to become engaged.

I look forward to creating a great story with you!

Jeff Pontes, Director Digital Strategy, FUSE Marketing Group