part 13. how not to end an internet website effort : nestle's WAWAM!

nestle has concluded their internet website effort, "give-me-a-name". after months of tri-media advertising and school and mall events, asking for website visitor votes and comments, they have finally chosen a name among the entries submitted by consumers, so says their website. they closed the effort by closing all the pages in the website and a short announcement that they have in fact chosen a name and thanking the visitors for their participation. but they did NOT reveal the winning entry!

did they close this internet website effort well? is this the way to end it?

one of the most important characteristics, in fact an excellent selling point of an internet website activity is brand-consumer inter-activity. aside from inter-activity, the other important selling points are immediacy or real-time and the potential of reaching large, in fact huge numbers of the target audience (potentially hundreds of millions). there is no other marketing tool available that has inter-activity, real-time and huge numbers all in one activity. you can do events like mall and school tours and deliver on real time, but the quality of the interactivity is suspect and it cannot deliver the potential high numbers that an internet website can.

the use of the internet or websites in philippine marketing is at its infancy. not many use it, in fact very few and for those who are using it, they don't have a clue how to make it succeed or even just make the most of what this marketing tool offer.

part of the problem in the philippines is that internet use is also still in its infancy. incidence of computers and internet in homes while aggressively increasing year to year, are still very low. also, use of the internet outside of the homw again while significantly increasing year to year are also still very low compared to other markets.

the other more important issue is that in the philippines, computer and specially internet use is very limited only to a particular consumer psychographics and demographics profile. it is still a niche in philippine marketing. mostly, young and specific to the AB upper C and still very limited in penetration. this is not as relevant here but i think it's important to mention. this can be a whole new discussion.

did nestle close their internet website properly? it is my view they definitely DID NOT CLOSE their internet website effort properly. i will not be surprised to know that contrary to their marketing objectives of generating buzz, excitement and goodwill among its target through the effort, i think by and large nestle would have angered their target audience instead. rather than generating goodwill, i think they have generated a lot of badwill among their intended target.

marketing teams want inter-activity in their marketing efforts because it allows brand-consumer contact and exchange. tv ads connect to consumers only on a one-way basis. the internet website is not at all more powerful than tv ads, (tv ads is still the most powerful brand building tool) but it has unique properties that tv ads don't have and if use it properly specially in combination with the traditional marketing tools can be very effective and powerful.

the point of inter-activity is relationship building with the consumer. an internet website gets the target to invest their time and effort with the brand. the consumer is not a passive recipient of brand values, but an active seeker and consumer of brand values. also an important aspect is that the internet audience is used to these kind of relationship with websites (brands). getting hooked into an internet activity means the consumer has incorporated the act of going to a particular website or internet activity as a habit. getting something to become a habit is at the very core a marketing man's true obsession and calling. marketing people strive for a change of habits because that means the mind has been conquered.

unfortunately, nestle's way of closing their website is not at all good for relationship building among it's target audience. they had people going to the website checking things out, voting and giving comments even. getting your audience to make a comment in a website is huge! your target not only gave his/her time to view your website but also invested brain power and in many cases gave an investment in emotions when that person posted what they think of the entries. that has progressed and deepened from just time to an emotional involvement.

seeking votes and comments do get people involved and more importantly build both an emotional and cognitive bond with the target. it also created anticipation. but what did nestle do? at the end of the effort, they did not reveal the winning entry! the emotional and cognitive pay-off is knowing the winning entry! and with knowing what entry won, it's target audience would have celebrated the choice and giving it a proper climax. this was like a thriller where nestle through the website weaved a story of intrigue and competition and after a long time and many pages, nestle refused to print the last page, the conclusion of the journey.

that is no way to build a relationship with your target audience. that's like coming up with advertising where there is no pay-off! the target audience will feel cheated. everyone knows that's not how you treat a wife, a girlfriend or even a friend. do that to people and you will end up a loner, without friends or relationships.

again i pose the question - what the hell was nestle thingking? it goes back to these things -nestle did not think this through. not enough thinking was applied to it. i am shocked by the ending. and once again, even at the ending, its a WASTE OF ADVERTISING MONEY!