Nov 1, 2007 12:00 PM, Brian Quinton

Social networks are great

Just ask the 40 million active users who have joined Facebook since its launch in 2004. And advertisers have also felt their allure.

Marketing research firm eMarketer estimates U.S. social-network ad revenue will hit $900 million this year, with three-quarters of that spent on the two largest, MySpace and Facebook.

But social nets still pose some confounding riddles for advertisers who want to use them to convey messages about brands or promotions. There's the question of message visibility, for example. While users spend much more time on social network sites than they do on the average run-of-the-mill Web site, they're not necessarily looking at ad content. Ads may actually be much less visible on MySpace or Facebook pages than they are in other online content.

And social networks also present a demographic problem. While their membership rolls are becoming increasingly adult, the fact remains that about two-thirds of the registrants on the fastest-growing net, Facebook, are still college-age or younger, with student-sized disposable incomes. That's fine if you're selling ringtones, but a lot less compelling if you're marketing actual diamond rings.

So when Remy Martin went looking for a social vehicle to drive sales of its luxury brand Louis XIII cognac — aged between 40 and 100 years and priced between $1,500 and $1,800 a bottle — it set its sights a little higher. The company. along with agency MEC Interaction, has launched a three-month advertising and promotional campaign on the elite invitation-only social network aSmallWorld.

“We've marketed the brand in print channels that suited the target audience, such as Cigar Aficionado magazine,” says Dana Nicholas, brand manager for Remy Martin. “Obviously everyone's expanding onto the Web these days, so we thought this would be the right step from both a media and a partnership perspective.”

Founded three years ago in relative secrecy by former investment banker Erik Wachtmeister, aSmallWorld set itself up as the social network for big-time social influencers — the trendsetters who already have huge personal networks and simply want a place to swap high-level contacts. Nicknamed “Snobster” early on (a reference to one-time networking power Friendster), the site's bland home page at www.aSmallWorld.net stresses that it targets “those who already have strong connections with one another.”

News of the site's membership has leaked to the outside world, however. It's been reported that one-fifth of the network's 150,000 users are millionaires and that half earn more than $250,000 a year. That could be true, judging by whispers that Naomi Campbell, Quentin Tarantino, Tiger Woods and Ivanka Trump are on the membership rolls. Last year, the production company formed by movie producer Harvey Weinstein made an investment in the network.

Finding this many VIPs in one online gathering spot made aSmallWorld the right channel to promote Remy Martin's luxury product, according to Alan Schanzer, MEC Interaction's managing partner.

“We've worked with lots of Remy Martin brands around the world, but this one was unique in that it's by no means a mass-market brand,” he says. “They were very interested in what we could do that would be at the right scale and the right level.”

What MEC came up with was a campaign that begins with banner ads on aSmallWorld pages but moves quickly to live experiences. The ads ask aSmallWorld's members to click through and contribute small-scale event ideas that would be appropriately enhanced by the serving of the Louis XIII cognac: a cigar-tasting gathering, for example, or a pre-opening party in an art gallery.

“We didn't want to do anything as blatant as a contest, but members can apply to host one of these events,” Schanzer says. “They can then invite 15 or 20 other aSmallWorld members to the event.” Remy Martin and aSmallWorld will then take care of catering needs for the event.

The campaign, which runs through December on the network, not only bridges the divide between online advertising and offline promotion, but conveys the sense of style that is part of the brand.

“We wanted this to be not just about the product but about the whole experience that goes along with drinking something of this caliber,” Schanzer says.

The aSmallWorld network got a new president and CEO early this year in the form of Joe Robinson, a former ad manager with Fox Interactive Media. Since his arrival, the network has made itself more open to advertisers, reportedly including Land Rover, Moet & Chandon, Burberry and Cartier North America.

“I've been involved in online social networks and media technology for 10 years,” Robinson said in an e-mail to aSW members in September. “With this experience behind me, I'm excited to carefully and strategically expand and develop aSW as a business while maintaining its exclusivity and ensuring new members are as meaningful and valuable as current members.”

One accommodation the network may need to make as it opens itself to more luxury advertising: easing up on the bouncer at the online door.

“It took us a long while to get a test user ID so we could go on the Web site and see how they'd put everything together,” Nicholas says. “They certainly covet their membership, which is a good thing.”

For more articles on interactive marketing, go to www.promomagazine.com/interactive

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