Another Brick in the Wall
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
We have to risk being "fools" both as marketers and young lovers because that is what offers all the risk and all the reward of being real and in a relationship.
Tag: marketing
Davis Thinking
Post-Agency II: Mad Man Market Thyself
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
It is no news that advertising agencies are in crisis, struggling to survive under the multiple pressures of reduced client budgets, degraded media effectiveness, and connected, informed consumers. What is news: agencies are proving themselves unable to adapt and to fix their own business problems; client-side solutions are winning. This, more than anything, illustrates the disconnect too often experienced between “the business” and “the creative” sides of marketing. The marketer’s role, in the end, is to navigate the markets — to succeed even amidst change — not just to razzle and dazzle though sales don’t come in the door. This applies to clients and to marketers alike. Mad Man: market thyself.
What Will Marketing Look Like After the Recovery?
Sunday, July 12, 2009
The inevitable economic recovery is arguably just around the corner. Yes, it’s always too far ahead. But at least there is light at the end of the tunnel. Obama says it’s a “long way off,” likely to cover his own posterior. However, the IMF and the Fed are cautiously optimistic. And, with few exceptions, the Dow has been relatively flat in recent weeks. I don’t want to jinx it, but it feels like we’re at the bottom of a very steep hill to climb rather than falling off of a cliff. The recovery -- albeit likely a slow one -- is coming. It’s just a matter of when. And the world, including marketing, may never be the same.
Augmented Reality is a Reality. Now What?
Monday, June 29, 2009
The new iPhone with video - coupled with GPS, compass and future iPhone applications - ushers in the Brave New World of augmented reality. And mobile marketing, which until now has been a relative afterthought for brand marketers outside of Japan, is about to go gangbusters.
Markets, Marketers and Marketing: The End of the Road for Imposters
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
What is happening in the global financial markets is stunning, surely. I am more stunned, however, by the complete absence of dialogue in the marketing community about this historic moment. Like most stockbrokers who fell into success as markets expanded, most marketers only know how to carnival-call their offerings to cash-flush consumers. Say goodbye to that easy effort. The age of true strategy is at hand. It is make or break, to be sure.
At Issue } essential reading
Digital Insights And Observations - An Interview
Mar 21, 2010
Recently Edelman Digital launched a brand new web site, which features rich insights from across the organization as well as interviews with different people inside and outside the firm. Definitely check it out. One of the cool things we're running are interviews. For one of the first installments, my colleague, Blagica, conducted an interview with me on some of the latest trends
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The New Consumer Frugality
Mar 17, 2010
A new survey of 2,000 U.S. consumers, the second issued by Booz & Company since the early days of the recession in October 2008, confirms that a “new frugality,” born of the Great Recession and evidenced by two consecutive years of declining per capita consumption, is now becoming entrenched among U.S. consumers and is reshaping their consumption patterns in ways that will persist even as the economy starts to recover.
Facebook’s Ad Platform: The Mainstreamification Of Online Advertising?
Mar 15, 2010
A recent post by Jan Chipcase got us thinking about the implications of Facebook’s ad platform on the future of online advertising. Jan makes a strong point that making the creation of a targeted digital ad accessible to a mass audience will ultimately make advertising more simple and effective by educating a large audience on how targeting, measurement and costing of an online ad works. The increased transparency of the process exposes the value models of advertisers and media platforms to an audience that may have previously only been on the receiving end of advertising. Given its increasingly vast penetration, Facebook is arguably one of the best media platforms to mainstream online advertising.
Report: Gen Y Will Spend Us Into Recovery
Mar 9, 2010
Don't look to Baby Boomers to lead the way in consumer spending in the months ahead. A new report from PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and Retail Forward, owned by Kantar Retail, says that this recovery -- unlike those in last few decades -- will be shaped by the values of tech-loving Gen Y, and to a lesser degree, affluent members of Gen X.
Why Community Building is Better Than Simple Social Marketing
Mar 8, 2010
When it comes to social marketing many brands are doing themselves a disservice by simply creating a social profile or tweeting deal ads to followers. Sure, this gives the consumer a reason to visit a website, but for a truly integrated social campaign marketers need to take their social profile to the next level. That includes building a community the consumer will return to time and again, and that means more than deal tweeting.
Clarins Wonders: Can You Crowdsource a Fragrance?
Mar 5, 2010
French beauty marketer Clarins Fragrance Group is launching a major global campaign Monday that's missing one major thing: the product. That's because the unusual push for Clarins' Thierry Mugler perfume brand, rather than touting a new scent or the brand itself, is marketing an online media platform dubbed "Womanity," on which the public can come up with the next big products that will hit the shelves.
Cottonelle To Roll Over Tissue Results On Oscars
Mar 5, 2010
Cottonelle, Kimberly-Clark's toilet tissue brand, will take to the Academy Awards broadcast to announce the winner of its "Great Debate" campaign that featured a national poll asking consumers whether toilet paper should be hung so that it rolls over or under. The ads conclude the campaign, but launch something new, as well. The brand will run a pair of ads during the Academy Awards on Sunday that announce which roll orientation Americans prefer and introduce a new product enhancement.
Employees As An Overlooked Resource: 5 Ways To Equip Employees To Help With Marketing
Mar 3, 2010
Marketers have turned to all manner of social channels in their efforts to tap into the social media craze, from engaging in formal blogger outreach efforts to stuffing YouTube channels with videos in the hopes that others will embed link to them from their Facebook profiles. But marketers continue to ignore one group that, if approached correctly, could have a greater impact than all the rest combined.
How To Minimize Marketing Mistakes
Mar 2, 2010
A handy piece of carpentry (and life) advice passed to me by my grandfather – Joseph Williams. This, along with – “Plan for the worst, hope for the best” – have come in handy when building marketing programs. In my experience, most mistakes and problems with marketing programs aren’t made by “poor execution” but rather by poor planning. It is easy to blame front-line employees, or the sales team for “not doing it right.” However, if we do our jobs properly, we greatly eliminate the chance of someone “not doing it right.”
Tangled Web
Mar 2, 2010
Speaking as a card-carrying member of the old media, it has been my observation that virtually every magazine (old media) now has a Web site (new media, a.k.a. digital media), and that the proprietors of these sites don’t, for the most part, know what one another are doing; that there are no generally accepted standards and practices; that each magazine’s Web site is making it up as it goes along; that, as CJR put it in our proposal to the MacArthur foundation (which funded this survey), it is like the Wild West out there. For example, who makes the final decisions about what goes on the site, the editor of the magazine or, if there is one, the Web editor? Are Web sites fact-checked and copy-edited, if at all, with the same care as their parent magazines? On the business side, how much material is free, and how much is behind a paywall? What about archives—are they marketed, monetized, and curated in ways that differ from current content?
Webtrends Launches Analytics For Facebook Marketers
Feb 25, 2010
Webtrends, a company that offers marketers detailed web analytics, has rolled out new measurement capabilities for Facebook, including the ability to view Facebook data alongside data for other channels. Tools like this are useful because Facebook’s own platform for this, Facebook Insights, runs three days behind, doesn’t measure custom tabs or apps, and doesn’t integrate with analytics for other digital marketing channels.
McDonald's Chef: The Most Influential Cook In America?
Feb 22, 2010
On some level, the very idea of a McDonald's chef sounds preposterous. Burgers, fries, the McRib — is this really the work of a chef? The food at McDonald's tastes partly of nostalgia and partly of marketing; the rest is surely salt.
Why Mtn Dew Let Skater Dudes Take Control Of Its Marketing
Feb 22, 2010
In mid-2009, Mtn Dew's marketing team decided to test the limits of earned media by moving a marketing budget that represents more than $100 million in sales almost entirely online. It was the second iteration of its "Dewmocracy" campaign, but this time the beverage maker decided to double-down. In the course of more than a year, it would tap its own consumers to build line extensions from the flavor up and delve deeper into online channels to spread the word.
The Art of Package Design
Feb 22, 2010
Working at method has taught me that package design is the single most important part of your marketing plan. Founder Eric Ryan likes to say that he views cutting steel as a marketing expense. Once a consumer told me that he buys method because the package design makes him want to lick the bottles. Remarkable design, whether in the store or in the consumer’s hand, makes every other aspect of marketing possible. Zero advertising on a remarkable product trumps heavy advertising on a mediocre product.
Package-Goods Marketers Vow to Boost Spending
Feb 19, 2010
Consumer package-goods companies found a rare point of agreement at the Consumer Analyst Group of New York conference this week: the need for continued increases in marketing support. Marketers battling private label from Kraft to Procter & Gamble and General Mills promised bigger investments in advertising, in-store promotion, shelf signage, coupons and packaging. Hershey and Heinz, which have lagged the package-food industry in marketing spending, are racing to bridge the gap. Heinz CEO William R. Johnson noted "the industry's renewed focus on innovation and marketing in response to the challenge of store brands."
New B2B Product Introductions: Prioritize Your Online Tactics
Feb 17, 2010
Here is something that product managers and strategic marketers know first-hand: new product introductions and market roll-outs often carry large, and daunting, expectations. A poorly-executed product intro can cost jobs, upward professional mobility, and even millions of dollars and damage to an entire product family’s brand image in the market
Final Marketing Lessons From The Collapse Of Lehman Brothers
Feb 17, 2010
This final installment of a three part series of marketing lessons learned from the collapse of Lehman Brothers studies the power of deep competitive/market analysis and the dangers of ignoring contrarian voices. The best seller, “A Colossal Failure of Common Sense; the Inside Story of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers,” by Larry McDonald and Patrick Robinson, chronicles the Lehman Brothers timeline from simple cotton trading in the 1850s to a company selling the most complex of financial instruments in the early twenty-first century.
Edelman Hires BBC Vet In Bid To Help Marketers Become Media Outlets
Feb 15, 2010
Edelman today named BBC veteran Richard Sambrook, its first chief content officer. Mr. Sambrook, who has been the BBC's director of global news and a member of the BBC's Management Board for the last 10 years, will assist agency clients in producing written, video and audio content that will allow them to tell their own stories to consumers. Mr. Sambrook will report to Edelman EMEA President and CEO David Brain and will be based in Edelman's London office. The agency said he will also sit on its Global Executive Committee, chaired by CEO and President Richard Edelman.
A Look Back at 10 Ideas That Changed the Marketing World
Feb 15, 2010
Looking back at some of the greatest innovations in marketing and advertising over the past 100 years, the creative brilliance of these ideas is obvious. Yet the stories behind these examples involve bold thinking, the passion to champion new ideas and a high dose of risk. Our industry's visionaries often countered research results, drove themselves beyond the great idea and defied bosses and boards to push through their plans. Let these stories inspire today's marketers, who have so many new tools at their disposal, to set aside conventional thinking and become the marketing innovators of the next 100 years.
Here's Why Companies Don't Make Money On The Internet
Feb 12, 2010
I came to the conclusion today that marketing is destroying the internet, and a part of the reason why many companies are struggling online.
How e.l.f. Became a Social Media Giant
Feb 11, 2010
Few brands have had as singular a focus on social media as e.l.f., a cosmetics line that does zero in the way of traditional advertising yet has strong working relationships with about 500 bloggers. As the CMO for e.l.f. (the acronym stands for Eyes Lips Face), Ted Rubin is known for his active use of Twitter (where he has 20,000 followers) and his responsiveness. Rubin, a former protege of Seth Godin, says he responds to every tweet he gets. The social media outreach, along with distribution at Target, a recession-friendly price of $1 per item and a positive review in O: The Oprah Magazine two years ago have helped e.l.f. build a strong brand on the cheap. Brandweek spoke with Rubin about his thoughts on traditional advertising, social media and why larger brands like Coca-Cola can benefit from e.l.f'.'s strategy.
Toyota Faces a Massive Marketing Challenge
Feb 10, 2010
Toyota has begun the painful and difficult task of trying to convince consumers that they should buy the beleaguered company's cars -- even as worries mount that more bad news may be ahead. Capping a week of by-the-book crisis management, including television appearances by top executives, the world's largest automobile maker has begun to air a commercial aimed at restoring confidence in its vehicles.
Why Advertising Needs Behavioural Economics
Feb 10, 2010
Julian Barnes observed that "when you buy a newspaper in America, you watch your country disappear". If you work in advertising or marketing, you can pull off a similar trick: just buy a copy of the Financial Times or The Economist and "watch your discipline disappear". Anyone exposed to current business publications would be forced to conclude that the best means of creating business value and growth lies in mergers, balance-sheet manipulation, takeovers, outsourcing, off-shoring, downsizing, tax-avoidance, restructuring, leverage ... Anything, in other words, that does not involve the tedious business of finding out what people might want and then providing it profitably over time within a relationship of deepening trust.
Manthems, Delusions, and Other Super Gaffes
Feb 9, 2010
If you’ve been in the business long enough, you come to understand there are some basic rules to follow when running an ad on the Super Bowl. Humor works best. Use animals or big-breasted women – or both. Wow people with extraordinary settings and production values. Many of the advertisers on last night’s big game followed the Super Bowl advertising playbook to a tee. And, yet, they violated some fundamental rules of advertising in general.
Haiti Is a Marketing Lesson
Feb 4, 2010
$560 million and counting in 17 days — that's how much donors have given to 40 U.S. charities surveyed by the Chronicle of Philanthropy. Why the outpouring of cash? It's not just because people are dying. Innocent people are dying by the hundreds of thousands every day under the most horrific circumstances, but we don't see $560 million pouring into any of their causes in two and a half weeks. It's not because people are buried alive. People are buried alive every day by the scourge of AIDS and malaria, and literally in diamond and precious metals mines, but we don't see half a billion dollars materializing overnight for these causes.
The New Normal: It's About Value And Values
Feb 4, 2010
"A fool and his money are soon parted" is an old expression that has never been more true than it is today. Consumers and investors are not quick to let the moths out of their wallets. With unemployment figures high, every penny counts. So how do marketers make their brands relevant and indispensable?
“We Can’t Afford Marketing”
Feb 2, 2010
Have you heard this statement before? In 2010, who believes that organizations can succeed without marketing? Well, let me share who says this statement a lot – nonprofit professionals. And do you know why? If you have ever made a donation to a charity or volunteered for a nonprofit, you’ll want to hear what author and Harvard Business Review blogger Dan Pallotta has to say. I heard him speak recently and he turns this sector on its heels.
Super Bowl Shuffle: Why Marketers Will Shift to 'Platforms'
Feb 2, 2010
There certainly will be advertising winners (and losers) on Super Bowl Sunday but let's hope that the Monday morning quarterback chatter doesn't obscure the larger shift at hand for marketers this year. 2010 will be the year of the "platform" for advertisers. Unlike a website, banner, Facebook application or 30-second spot, a platform is an always-on digital environment that allows brands to run specific or multiple programs. The goal is to meaningfully engage consumers on multiple levels.
Now's the Time to Reset Marketing for Post-Recession
Feb 1, 2010
Though there's still widespread disagreement of just when the industry will put the recession firmly behind it, one thing's clear: Whenever it happens, marketers had better be ready. Forward thinkers such as Allstate, Walmart, New Balance, Macy's, Procter & Gamble, McDonald's and Bank of America are already paving the way to recovery by spending on marketing and product innovation, cementing relationships with new consumers and rewarding loyalists who stuck by their brands during the bad times. They are also creating products and messaging that bridge from recession to recovery.
Chrysler's Marchionne: 'You'll See Screw Ups, I Guarantee You'
Feb 1, 2010
I was talking with an old college friend the other night when he asked me what I was writing about these days. "Covering Chrysler," I said. "Really? I thought they were out of business." His perception makes it painfully clear what Chrysler Group CEO Sergio Marchionne is up against.
Want to Be a Smarter Marketer? Here's What's Worth Learning
Jan 29, 2010
Does someone marketing in today's digital culture need a pricey MBA? Once considered the pinnacle of accomplishment in business, the relevance of the degree has come under question. Clues as to why the criticism might stick could be found at the recent Kellogg School of Management Marketing Conference. Taking a classic approach, event organizers offered scant Wi-Fi and buried the Twitter hashtag in the event brochure. Still, there were important lessons worth learning.
Prepare for the Age of the Splinternet
Jan 28, 2010
New products like Apple's iPad are changing the Internet in fundamental ways. Author Josh Bernoff talks with Kai Ryssdal about how the golden age of the Internet is over, and how the Web is shattering into pieces.
The Power Of Nostalgia In Advertising
Jan 26, 2010
As we age our nostalgic yearnings grow, making us more receptive to advertisers and marketers use of what researchers call "a longing for positive memories from the past." In addition to time's arrow, this desire for nostalgia is further intensified by society's present circumstance of receding predictability and opportunity. While science is still struggling to unravel the neuro-dynamics of nostalgia, studies have identified some nostalgic cues that can be exploited and how images and sounds from the past can create favorable attitudes about products.
P&G Embraces Facebook as Big Part of Its Marketing Plan
Jan 25, 2010
Procter & Gamble Co. loves Facebook after all, and besides encouraging brands to develop a presence there, the world's biggest marketer has opened an office in Silicon Valley to help develop social-networking systems and digital-marketing capabilities with the website. Those messages came in a meeting last week between P&G executives and venture capitalists, recounted by David Hornik on VentureBlog in a post that quickly picked up currency over the weekend on, of all places, Twitter.
Protecting Consumers Will Undermine Capitalism
Jan 25, 2010
Flouting the efforts of lobbyists to shut down his plan for a consumer protection agency, the newly combative President Barack Obama is digging in his heels. Spokesman Robert Gibbs said last week that it’s something Obama “is not willing to give up.” Thus, we open another round in the brawl between Obama and business groups that claim the bill covering mortgage and credit-card lenders is a death sentence for small companies, expensive for consumers, and will “change the way Americans do business forever.”
A Primer on the New America for CMOs
Jan 17, 2010
For most marketers, the growth of multicultural segments became a business imperative after the 2000 Census and the generational focus shifted from boomer to Gen Y. If you're managing a large brand today, you are likely addressing these opportunities through some combination of targeted Hispanic, African American or Asian, and youth-marketing initiatives. But today that segmentation is not enough; a bigger change is emerging that is more meaningful than just demography.
Sales and Marketing Alignment: Thought Leadership with Christine Crandell
Jan 14, 2010
The next interview in the B2B Marketing thought leader interview series is with Christine Crandell, one of the most innovative thinkers I've met on the topics of sales and marketing alignment and marketing accountability. Christine sits on several advisory boards including Coupa and SDForum, and has held senior marketing positions at Egenera, Ariba, and many others. Her thoughts on organization and how marketing can earn credibility and "go toe-to-toe" with sales leadership are definitely worth reading.
USP ESP & XSP
Jan 14, 2010
Creating a definition of the word brand seems to be both the easiest and perhaps the hardest thing to do. The challenge is not that the existing definitions aren’t correct (or more accurately weren’t correct). The challenge is that the environment in which brands live is inherently Darwinian. As the environment changes brands must adapt. Once brands have adapted enough then what you get are effectively new species - entities unlike what have gone before and that must now be defined in completely new ways. This has been a constant process over time, but I think we could now define ourselves as being in the third age of brand.
Evolutionary Marketing?
Jan 14, 2010
I wonder what would happen if we marketers spent less time believing that our job is to embrace the new and instead better understood the conflicts with what's old.
Maneuverability
Jan 14, 2010
We often talk about speed when describing certain kinds of businesses. Some companies are bureaucratic, slow, dysfunctional... others are fast... fast to market, fast to ship you something. Just like a car, though, there's an alternative to raw speed. Call it maneuverability. You might still take a long time to get up to perfect cruising speed, but you can initiate a turn on a dime. I'd put Ford in this category.
Online/Offline Integration: 5 Tips For Strengthening Your Brand Experience
Jan 13, 2010
With another holiday season behind us, retailers are busy crunching sales data to measure success and year over year revenue. However, this is also a good time to assess your company’s brand experience. And if yours needs improvement, integrating offline and online marketing can help.
5 Marketing Principles Brands Should Embrace in 2010
Jan 13, 2010
Most of the marketing rules we lived by just five years ago are practically obsolete. The industry has faced more changes in the last five years than in the previous 50. Let's face it, there's no point in improving broken legacy models. Since necessity is the mother of invention, let's not waste this recession and instead use it to rethink how we go about branding in this new decade.
Preparing For Growth: Time To Rebuild Trust And Reputation
Jan 13, 2010
In a post-recessionary world, trust has moved from the individual to the corporate realm. It is one of the most important issues that business organizations face when it comes to the future of their brands. A 2008 study by the Chief Marketing Officer Council found that some 99% of customers surveyed said they would either scale back or terminate relationships with companies that fail at building customer trust. In the past, trust may not have seemed like a natural part of management's role, but these days it is a critical part of every business, one proven to have an effect on the bottom line. Customers need to see that a solid foundation has been built within a business and that their needs will be addressed--especially in times of crisis.
Marketers Need To Better Understand Creativity
Jan 13, 2010
It can be said that creative advertising is like brain surgery. When advertising is artfully done it cures people of the status quo by activating neural circuitry. To be creative artfully requires a dynamic mix of imagination and understanding of how the world might work. This is not a matter of being correct, but rather a matter of making the audience wonder, provoking a self-referring reverie that elicits an expanded idea of ones-self and how the world works. As a result, we see anew.
Marketers Make Most of Falling Mercury
Jan 11, 2010
In Alabama, the night before the Crimson Tide took on the Texas Longhorns for the National Championship, it would normally have been tough to find chips and salsa, maybe beer. But, instead, Chris Hendrix, 27, found empty shelves where the bread should have been. Bottled water was also in limited supply, as panicky residents stocked up for a forecasted inch of snow.
Location-Based Apps Hold Promise For Big Marketers
Jan 9, 2010
By now many marketers have probably played around Foursquare or Gowalla or know someone who has. For the uninitiated, these are location-based mobile applications that allow people to "check in" from stadiums, bars and bookstores and compete for "mayorship," collect badges and share tips. They are practical, addicting and lots of fun. Users of these services number in the hundreds of thousands today. That's small by national advertiser standards, but it's significant for many local advertisers, which are offering discounts to frequent visitors and offers to people who are physically nearby. This is a trend in local marketing worth noting because it promises to give national advertisers the opportunity to conjure up or attach to an emotion among smaller niche groups.
Sears Reveals Online 'Marketplace'
Jan 8, 2010
Keeping quiet works when operating elite hedge funds, but it's usually not a great strategy when running a retailer. For the past six months, Sears Holdings Corp. has been operating an online marketplace that allows third-party vendors to sell goods on its Web site. But few consumers knew about it. Sears waited until Thursday to unveil "Marketplace at Sears.com," disclosing that its Web site carries more than 10 million products, including furniture, art, cosmetics, appliances, sporting goods and shoes. Perhaps Sears could learn a lesson from Wal-Mart Stores Inc., which at the start of this decade also shunned the spotlight, but changed its strategy after too much bad publicity. Now, Wal-Mart goes out of its way to be heard, even as it spends relatively little on advertising.
5 Trends In Digital Marketing
Jan 8, 2010
In 2009, digital marketing experienced major shifts in opportunities, budgets and attitude. Twenty ten will see the hype calming around Facebook apps, Twitter campaigns and ROI models for social media. The following five trends point up what marketers can expect as the new decade opens.
5 Web Analytics New Year Resolutions
Jan 8, 2010
It’s that time of year again. Well-meaning people all over the world are proclaiming that they will quit smoking, drink less, eat fewer bacon sandwiches and of course, make more of an effort to analyze the performance of their websites. I am afraid I can’t help anyone with the first three having repeatedly failed with two of them myself. However, people who fall into the latter category have come to the right place. To take the pain out of the process for you I have compiled our top five web analytics resolutions for 2010. These were based partly on some of the recurring analytics sins we see over and over and partly on what I feel can be underused or undervalued features. They all have the common theme of making your website data more useful. I make no apologies for the heavy bias towards Google Analytics here; it’s what we use most often, and for a reason. However, most of the below features are available to some extent in most serious web analytics packages.
Drinking the Cider
Jan 8, 2010
The buzz is palpable about Apple's plans to announce a tablet computer later this month. I think it's instructive as to the function and uses of conversation. Apple is a company that has utterly shunned the social media campaigns that have displaced more old-fashioned ways to waste consumers' time. It has no Twitter feed, provides no payola to twentysomethings so that they’ll blog about its products, and I bet it would happily ignore a request for comment from the President if asked. It doesn't talk. Apple does.
How Ford Got Social Marketing Right
Jan 7, 2010
Ford recently wrapped the first chapter of its Fiesta Movement, leaving us distinctly wiser about marketing in the digital space. Ford gave 100 consumers a car for six months and asked them to complete a different mission every month. And away they went. At the direction of Ford and their own imagination, "agents" used their Fiestas to deliver Meals On Wheels. They used them to take Harry And David treats to the National Guard. They went looking for adventure, some to wrestle alligators, others actually to elope. All of these stories were then lovingly documented on YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, and Twitter.
Connecting The Dots Around The Customer: It's The CMO's Responsibility
Jan 7, 2010
In my interactions with CMOs at some of the largest companies in the U.S. and Europe, I hear a familiar refrain. It goes something like this: "My company is customer-centric, but marketing doesn't control the customer experience." Indeed, only 53% of marketers we surveyed recently reported that they "own" the customer experience, putting the brand experience in a channel or environment that does not think to speak with marketing's voice. Even fewer are directly responsible for loyalty programs, community management and customer service. And from a budget standpoint, 80% of marketing budgets go to advertising, with just 20% going to loyalty programs and customer experience.
Changed Perceptions Are The Result of Changed Behaviour.
Jan 6, 2010
I think you’ll probably agree that a lot of our current marketing theory is based upon the almost invisible assumption that thought precedes action. This made sense in an era when marketing was limited to generating thoughts, but when we can build digital and physical experiences, thought is often a barrier to action. Things are often more complicated to explain than they are to do, and thinking about something too much is often paralysing.
The Principles of Marketing Can Be Summarized in One Word
Jan 6, 2010
What's the No. 1 principle of marketing, at least as far as we're concerned? It's the principle of focus. You narrow the focus in order to own a word in the mind of the consumer. Without a focus, it's very difficult to build a strong brand. And without a strong brand, any company's future is in doubt. While focus should be the key ingredient in any marketing campaign, it's not the whole story. So we developed an acronym called FOCVS that does sum up our key thoughts. "FOCVS," a word using the original alphabet of the Roman Empire, consists of five key elements.
What’s in a Naming Right? Certainly Not Cash
Jan 6, 2010
What shall we call the new stadium that will house the Jets and the Giants starting next season? Without a naming-rights deal, it is New Meadowlands Stadium, a blah-yet-refreshing reminder of the era before names like Invesco, Reliant, Ford, Lucas Oil, Gillette, Qwest, FedEx and Heinz adorned N.F.L. homes. For the Giants and the Jets, finding a naming-rights buyer for the new stadium will take time. If they planned to dedicate revenue from such a deal to help pay their construction debt, they will have to use money from other sources.
2010: Turquoise, Waterlogged, Covered With Bacon
Jan 4, 2010
Strap on your trend radar. The doldrums of December always bring out people's Inner Prognosticator. But this year, with a recession the marketing world can't wait to leave behind and some extra "end of the aughts" oomph, we at Marketing Daily have been extra-busy fending off forecasts. Our favorite so far? Turquoise. Pantone recently named it the color of the year, for its "deep compassion and healing, a color of faith and truth, inspired by water and sky." We also like Iconoculture's prediction that everything about water will be hot.
'Imperfect' FreshDirect Gets Close to Consumers
Jan 3, 2010
After building an impressive resume that boasts stints as former president-chief operating officer of Citicorp, CEO of Medco Containment Services and chairman-CEO of Priceline.com, Rick Braddock has distilled a marketing philosophy that's become the cornerstone of his approach as CEO of FreshDirect. Indeed, Mr. Braddock, 67, had an extensive career before joining the internet grocer in 2005, attracted to its innovative model of delivering fresh food to customers in the New York metropolitan area. And what he's been working to do the last few years is make FreshDirect a company known as much for its customer service as its 2-inch-thick steaks.
Do You Live Social?
Jan 2, 2010
Some have asked, Where does social media live? Is it marketing? Is it public relations? Is it IT or corporate? Is it a combination of multiple business units and functions, and if so, who leads the efforts and how does an organization choose partners? These are valid and complex questions, currently with no simple answers. Social media is still emerging and being defined in real time. There's a question missing from that litany, one that organizations or individuals rarely ask themselves: Do you live social? Many organizations simply skip this question because they assume that they themselves don't have to be social (open and collaborative) to reap the rewards (cost savings, marketing ROI, effective reputation management, and search engine juice) they think they might get from social media.
The Return of Commercial Speech
Dec 31, 2009
OK, I have to add my two cents to the prediction business and label what I think might be an emergent, if not important trend for brands and marketers in our nascent new decade: we're going to see the return of paid commercial speech. Yup. I don't know what we'll call it yet -- whether advertising, marketing, or something new altogether -- but it'll be a stark contrast to the Conversational School that has dominated the, re, conversation about marketing for the past few years. It'll probably have little use for the term "content" and revert instead to older, more descriptive terms, like "information" and "messages that actually matter to someone." And my bet is that it'll possess qualities that have proven utterly ellusive to the most celebrated marketing campaigns of the 2000s.
Brand Advocate Kane
Dec 30, 2009
A friend of mine attended a City University of New York reading recently from a new anthology of Central and Eastern European plays from the 1980s. Three of the playwrights in attendance that Monday night -- a Slovenian, a Hungarian, and a Romanian -- shared their views. All had written as dissidents and subversives until communism fell. They said that behind the Iron Curtain, one knew one's enemies and those commanding one's life. But, as my friend recounted, their opinion was that now, in the West, "Do you know any longer who's in charge?"
Melanie Wells On Marketing And Advertising
Dec 30, 2009
Marketers will try to convince consumers that behavioral targeting doesn't violate their privacy. Companies have collected online data about consumers and their Web habits for several years. This information helps them figure out which consumers will be most receptive to ads for their products. 2010 will be the year when the marketers, media companies and consumer watchdogs find out if consumers believe--and if they care--that behavioral targeting violates their privacy.
Attention C-Suite: The Times They Are A-Changin’
Dec 29, 2009
The C-Suite needs to hear some words from Bob Dylan: Come gather ’round people Wherever you roam And admit that the waters Around you have grown And accept it that soon You’ll be drenched to the bone. If your time to you Is worth savin’ Then you better start swimmin’ Or you’ll sink like a stone For the times they are a-changin’.
Yahoo's Brilliant Holiday Marketing Stunt
Dec 29, 2009
Yahoo's expensive "It's Y!ou" ad campaign is terrible, but here's a marketing winner. On Dec. 23, Yahoo sent employees to the San Francisco and San Jose airports to pay for airline customers' baggage fees, NBC Bay Area reports. Yahoo rep Meg Garlinghouse called the stunt "one small act of kindness.
Chief Reputation Officer: Whose Job Is It, Anyway?
Dec 28, 2009
In the 20th century, PR and marketing were separate but unequal career paths, and CMO was the highest-ranking and most-respected title to which one in those jobs could aspire. The standard career paths in these areas were relatively linear: As a lead communicator, you went to j-school, did a turn in journalism or an agency and then apprenticed under a "gray hair" boss until he retired. This is compared with the typical path of a chief marketing officer, who got his or her M.B.A. in marketing, hired agencies that made him or her look good, learned how to manage big budgets and award-winning creative and then got in the running for the corner office. Today that is changing because of the increasing importance of reputation management.
Marketing in 2010: It’s All About the Data
Dec 24, 2009
“There are three kinds of lies: lies, damned lies, and statistics.” – Mark Twain Remember that quote. In 2010 the very best marketers, PR professionals, and social media consultants will put data at the center of everything they do. For anyone unfamiliar with these concepts, just as with social media, data marketing may seem opaque or intimidating at the beginning. The only way you ever learn is by jumping in headfirst — become a data nerd, because data nerds are changing the world.
Yahoo Is Latest Brand To Join Random Acts
Dec 23, 2009
Looks like Yahoo is the latest marketer to jump on the resurging "Random acts of kindness" bandwagon, announcing a year-end giving campaign called "You in?" This month, both Clinique and Macy's asked people to commit these random acts on behalf of their brands. And in recent months, Cosmopolitan partnered with Estee Lauder for its Cosmo Karma project, and Servus Credit Union, a Canadian bank, handed out $200,000 in $10 increments to finance small good deeds. Experts expect to see more marketers work the "Random Acts" thinking, a phrase that last soared in popularity in the mid-'90s, into their cause-related efforts.
Brands Continue to Keep It 'Real,' but for How Long?
Dec 22, 2009
There's still nothing like the real thing. Or so say food marketers looking to stand out in the mass-produced herd. What really is "real" could eventually be for the government to determine. In the meantime, real people drink Caribou, real dogs eat Alpo, real sandwiches have Hellmann's and Canada Dry ginger ale is made with real ginger. Don't bother taking notes, because Wendy's says "You know when it's real" anyway. Advertised "real" foods, products, services and even experiences aren't new, but they're on the rise.
Pepsi Asks Crowds Which Community Projects to Fund
Dec 20, 2009
When the Super Bowl rolls around in another few weeks, there will be no fabulous ad for Pepsi beverages. Instead, Pepsi—which was the largest advertiser during the event last year—will be focusing its efforts on the Pepsi Refresh Project, a crowdsourced marketing effort to revamp U.S. communities.
Musts of Marketing for the Next 100 Years
Dec 18, 2009
As we begin a one-year celebration of the ANA's 100th anniversary, we have created the Marketers' Constitution, which contains 10 essentials of marketing for the next 100 years. Its purpose is to ensure that our industry continues to thrive and contribute to the growth of the U.S. economy and to the well-being of our society.
Stoli Re-Orients Marketing To Reach Younger Audience
Dec 18, 2009
Stolichnaya, the Russian vodka better known as Stoli, is changing its marketing approach in an effort to target a new audience. "We wanted to reach the 25-to-34-year old urban professional, and we had to take a very radical step to do it," says Andrey Skurikhin of SPI Group, the owner of the Stolichnaya brand. This "radical step" includes some market initiatives that might make an otherwise staid, 63-year old Russian brand seem out of character. Stoli is co-sponsoring such events as the Victoria Secret's Fashion Show and Maxim's 10th Annual Hot 100 Celebration.
Think Like Me, Agree With Me
Dec 18, 2009
When you're trying to sell your idea, it's natural to assume that the people you're selling to think the way you do. If you can only show them the facts and stories that led you to believe what you believe, then of course they'll end up where you are... believing. The problem, of course, is that people don't always think like you.
Google Phone May Rankle Android Partners
Dec 16, 2009
Marketing its own mobile phone might turn Google into a rival to many companies it now counts as allies in building the Android operating system.
Position Yourself for Real Growth
Dec 16, 2009
In order to compete in this new economy, chances are you've already pared down your operations. You've also probably adopted "flat revenue" as the new measure of growth. Even typically profit-focused Wall Street is looking at sales growth to see how people are spending money again. I have news, growth is the only real measure of growth. And with your operations streamlined, now is the perfect time to grow.
10 Worst Marketing Blunders Of 2009
Dec 15, 2009
NBC has joined the immortals of marketing stupidity. This year the molting peacock network and president Jeff “Have They Fired Me Yet?” Zucker decided to turn five of the primest pieces of prime-time real estate — the hour between 10 and 11 PM from Monday through Friday — into the Jay Leno hour. The result? A 28% drop in viewership (through mid-November). This has not only killed network revenues but done in affiliates who have no lead-in for their late news casts.
A Real Find
Dec 6, 2009
New York City offers some top-notch trash. Practically anybody who has lived there has noticed, or even taken home, a perfectly good end table or a bookshelf that has been left on the sidewalk next to bags of garbage by someone who didn’t want it anymore. Even city dwellers who don’t partake know about this informal circulation of goods as a feature of urban object culture played out in the public sphere. And in the 21st century, almost anything that occurs in the public sphere can also serve as an inspiration, or even a medium, for the formal circulation of goods: that is, for a marketing stunt. And so in early November, a marketing agency’s “street team” began scattering a client’s products on the sidewalks of Manhattan and Brooklyn.
The Data That Turns Browsing to Buying
Dec 6, 2009
Next Jump may well be the most intriguing Internet business that you’ve never heard of — though that’s likely to change as the company seeks a wider audience. The handful of industry analysts who were invited into the company’s New York offices recently have come away impressed. Next Jump, they say, represents the future of online commerce and could emerge as a counterweight to Amazon, the giant Web merchant. And this patiently gestated start-up, they add, shows one path to the still-elusive promise of Internet advertising: using data to greatly improve the efficiency of marketing.
Is Marketing a Strategic Resource or a Procured Commodity?
Nov 25, 2009
When Sir Martin Sorrell, Executive Chairman of the WPP Group and for two decades arguably the most powerful individual in advertising, appeared on The Charlie Rose Show last May, the conversation was more remarkable for what he didn’t say than for what he did say.
Marketing With Geotagging Is Where It's At
Nov 25, 2009
For the past few weeks, this guy has been standing at a busy intersection I pass on my way home from work, holding a picket sign announcing the closing of the K-mart store just down the road. "Discounts of 70%-80%!" "Final Days!" Each year around tax time, without fail, there is a different man dressed up in a Statue of Liberty costume that waves like a maniac to passing cars while pointing to the small Liberty Tax office nestled in the strip mall behind him. These are examples of proximity marketing in its most rudimentary form. And, believe it or not, it works. New geotagging capabilities with Twitter essentially allow marketers to put a person on the corner wearing a sandwich board all day. When Twitter announced that its geotagging API was available, my head started spinning with the possibilities this would have for marketing.
Audi Drives for Bigger Share of U.S. Market
Nov 25, 2009
For some auto makers, the global recession has spelled bankruptcy or near extinction. For Volkswagen AG's Audi unit, it could be the biggest break in decades. Audi, founded a century ago, counts as one of the world's leading luxury brands. Yet it has failed to become a major player in the U.S. Now, the German car maker, based in this small city in Bavaria, is redoubling efforts to break out of its rut in the world's largest car market. Audi has invested heavily in the U.S. this year, a counterintuitive approach at a time when its chief rivals are cutting costs. The car maker increased 2009 marketing spending by 20%, pouring millions of dollars into Super Bowl and other high-impact ads, and has unveiled eight new models in the U.S. this year.
The Absolute Essence Of Your Marketing Message
Nov 24, 2009
Imagine for a moment that you're an iconographer. Your job is to create compelling images that convey unambiguous messages in a universal language. Now imagine that you're an iconographer for Google Maps. Your job is to create compelling images that convey unambiguous messages in a universal language -- on a canvas 16 pixels by 16 pixels in size. You need a 16x16 image that's going to say, "pub." Or "hotel." Or "Funky B&B for the young and the young at heart." How would you go about it? My friend Patrick Hofmann happens to be the iconographer for Google Maps, and what he's learned about visual information can teach us a lot across a whole raft of disciplines.
What Best Buy Learned About Service As Marketing And Empowering Employees
Nov 24, 2009
As the high season of holiday shopping pain (or gain) arrives, I find myself fixated -- perhaps irrationally, and certainly emotionally -- on Best Buy's Twelpforce. This is the viral army of 2,200 Best Buy employees who answer questions and solve customer problems via the customer-care channel we know as Twitter. Self described as "a collective force of Best Buy tech pros offering tech advice in Tweet form," the program has nearly 15,000 "followers" and it's growing. Think Apple Genius Bar but without the physical counter.
Marketers Find Web Chat Can Be Inspiring
Nov 23, 2009
International Business Machines and a handful of other major marketers, including casino operator Harrah's Entertainment and software giant Microsoft, are experimenting with developing ad campaigns based in part on what consumers are chatting about on the Web. For decades, advertisers have relied heavily on sometimes-dated consumer surveys and focus groups to provide grist for their ads. Now, some are using new technologies to scan the Web for key words to find out what consumers are—and aren't—saying about their brands.
Apple Envy
Nov 19, 2009
'Tis the season to diss Apple in some very creative and entertaining ways. I'm just not sure whether it's a sign of strategic marketing insight, or fishbowl-like confusion of message over meaning. First came Microsoft's "I'm a PC" campaigns, with its snippets of slice-of-life everypeople declaring their stereotypical lifestyles, and then shoppers explaining how they'd first looked at an Apple but then chose a PC because it was a better value. I'm all for comparison ads but the nonsense of contrasting PC-ness with Apple-ness is kind of silly.
Is Social Media a Marketing Thing?
Nov 17, 2009
In the last couple of weeks, we've been talking about leveraging content to start or continue a conversation with your customers or prospects. Offering something of value in exchange for attention towards a mutually accepted goal or direction goes to the heart of communications. There is still plenty of unrealized opportunity for B2B companies to unlock this value through social media. That's because the greatest value to the organization that gets involved in social media is not the cool promotional glitz. We talk about customer support regularly. What about customer acquisition and real time retention? We kind of know about new product ideas. What about strategic business intelligence? These more operational business ideas go along with humanizing the organization, establishing yourself as a thought leader, and tracking marketing effectiveness.
Reintroduce The Consumer Into The Mix
Nov 17, 2009
We have more data on consumers today than ever, but do we really know more about how to market to them than we did 25 years ago? It's not our fault; it just used to be simpler back when the average consumer was easily defined, shopped in fewer places, and print, TV, radio and in-store were the only real options available for communicating with them. Everyone knows that the Internet has changed the media landscape but we are only now beginning to realize how and to what extent. This past April, the GfK Group, Google & Coca-Cola announced that they'd measured a 97% higher purchase rate when TV and YouTube video interplay were part of an orchestrated, cross-media campaign.
Sell Experiences, Not Products
Nov 16, 2009
What are the biggest mistakes sales people make selling to Boomers? To begin, they sell products and not experiences. Products should be positioned as gateways to experiences. Although all of us have basic values and motivators that drive us, we manifest them differently as we move through the spring, summer, fall and winter of life. Our need for identity, relationships, centering, gaining knowledge and growth, rejuvenation and recreation is always with us, but as we grow older, we focus more on having meaningful experiences, rather than gaining material goods.
Marketing Needs a CMO
Nov 16, 2009
Shocked -- again. That's how I felt when I saw in BusinessWeek yet another example of marketing being totally misunderstood. An article titled "At Amazon, Marketing Is for Dummies" said, "Instead of lavish ads and splaying its logo everywhere, it invests in technology and distribution -- and the results are startlingly effective." Last time I checked, product and distribution are two of the essential pillars of marketing. What the article didn't say, but should have, is that Amazon has built its business without much advertising. So? This stands in stark contrast to the dot-bomb when hundreds of companies were created, and CMO became the title du jour. The prevailing "get large or get lost" wisdom drove companies toward publicity stunts, Super Bowl one-offs and multimillion-dollar sweepstakes and away from anything resembling marketing strategy. Brand-building gave way to branding. Marketing became soft, and credibility faded. Here we stand, on the verge of economic recovery, with brands having nowhere to go but up. Marketing should be leading us through growth, but it's not. And we all have a role to play.
Marketing as System Thinking
Nov 13, 2009
In the October issue of Fast Company magazine, Linda Tishler profiles David Butler, who she describes as the man with a nearly uncontainable design challenge. Among other projects, Butler is behind the new Coca-Cola Freestyle fountain, which can serve up more than 100 varieties and brands of coke products - and style to boot. System thinking is what led him down that path - as in system that stimulates behavior that produces results. A chain of interdependencies and a a more expansive way of looking at problems, and to deal with complexity.
Being Connected
Nov 12, 2009
It used to mean that you knew all the boys at the cricket club. Then it meant that all the people in the industry knew about you. Now it means that with a couple of tools, a bit of work, and a willingness to be open and giving, you can potentially reach anyone who has that same access. But are you connected?
Culturematic, New Media, and Marketing
Nov 11, 2009
Monday, I reported my recent culturematic experiment, the tweeting of my train ride from Chicago and Detroit. Today, I thought I'd look at the marketing implications. Specifically, can a culturematic help a marketer help a client? Can it help build the brand? Can it help the brand participate in culture? I think the reply is emphatically "yes."
Implementing a B2B Content Strategy: Consider How
Nov 10, 2009
Businesses are made of people, many of them in the middle. While everyone loves to talk to the C-level, the shift in the way people at all levels work, select and recommend service providers, and get things done is more notable in the thick of things, so to speak. Technology has made it even easier for people to connect with peers, collaborate, and get and give direct and indirect (through search) feedback. There's a reason why social media has put a spotlight on being human - brands forgot how to tell stories. Along with a "me, too" characteristic of many B2Bs always in search of benchmarking and way to validate their value props, companies forgot (more likely stopped funding) media integration. This first set of considerations presents some difficulties in the connected world we live in.
“Simple” Sells
Nov 10, 2009
According to a recent article in USA Today, “simple” will mean to consumers in 2010 what “cheap” means in 2009. In fact, the move to simplify is already underway, because “Simple is better,” as stated in the first line of the article: “Marketers such as Starbucks discover that simple sells.” The gist: consumers like food products that contain as few ingredients as possible...as long as those few ingredients look and feel healthier...and as long as they can pronounce them. Interesting premise. Noteworthy trend.
Eschew the Paradigm of Obfuscation
Nov 10, 2009
In the marketing world, as in most other industries, there are two types of people. There are the complicators. And there are the simplifiers. The complicators can make even the simplest marketing concept sound like something akin to mapping the genome. They throw around buzzwords like "target market archetypes," "crowdsourcing," "brand-based consumer insight" and "habituated conversations" the way a sailor spews profanity. The simplifiers? They're the ones that usually cut through the crapola, boil the problem down to its simplest terms, then solve it. No muss, no fuss, no references to "cross-platform fluency."
Marketing and How Social Software Aligns
Nov 10, 2009
Sometimes, we overcomplicate things by being worried about the technology part of it. Twitter and Facebook and blogs and mobile apps aren’t all that fancy. They’re just an unknown, and so people are worrying how they’ll do what they know how to do by other means with these new tools. Yes, it takes some new understanding, but at the end of the day, marketing hasn’t changed a lot. Think about the Four P’s of Marketing:
How Six Flags Markets Through Its Bankruptcy
Nov 9, 2009
When Angie Vieira Barocas joined Six Flags nearly four years ago, her challenge was to rebuild the brand with a new team, stimulate renewed excitement and drive attendance. Of course, when she joined Six Flags in January 2006, the company, which that year shifted its corporate headquarters from Oklahoma to New York under new ownership by parent Six Flags Inc., hadn't yet filed for bankruptcy. When it did so this past June, saddled with more than $2 billion in debt that it was unable to refinance, Ms. Vieira Barocas' job took on new complexity.
After a Brutal Year, Marketers Regroup to Share War Stories and Ideas
Nov 6, 2009
A year ago, 1,200 executives in marketing, advertising and the media attended an annual conference that by coincidence took place a month after the financial crisis began. Together, they stared into the abyss, wondering what conditions would be when — or if — they met again. The sky has not fallen, at least so far, and most of those executives are now gathering for the 2009 conference. Many of them are saying, “What a difference a year makes.” Others, however, are wondering, “What difference does a year make?”
Kayak.com's First National Ads Aim To 'Flip' On Awareness
Nov 5, 2009
The Kayak.com travel search engine is hoping to "flip" from a well-kept secret among frequent travelers to a tool used by mainstream travelers every day. After discovering earlier this year that 68% of consumers who use online travel sites had never heard of Kayak, the company decided to focus on marketing. This week, Kayak is launching its first national advertising campaign on TV, online and outdoors, created by its new agency of record, Goodby, Silverstein & Partners in San Francisco. The creative features the tagline: "Search one and done," a device that resembles the traditional destination/time flip display boards once found in train stations and airports around the world, and a new logo based on this "flippy" device.
Recovering Before the Recovery
Nov 4, 2009
The important question during a downturn is not whether or not the economy will recover -- it will; it always does. What's important to ask is whether your company will be in position to surge as the economy begins to grow. To a large degree, the level of your success will depend on your marketing efforts and capabilities -- what you have done during the downturn and what you put in place now to win business during the recovery. You will need to make strategic decisions about choosing new media, entering new markets, and positioning products.
When Data and Decisions Collide
Nov 4, 2009
Data mining and the proximity of the internet to most of what we do is changing the proximity of proof to decision. Now, you don't need to do a lot of research, the data is just a click away. What are you going to do when your hunches don't match the data that's now pouring in? The data shows, for example, that texting while driving is more dangerous than driving drunk. It doesn't feel that way, of course, but will you respect the data and stop, cold turkey?
NAD: The Plug Stops Here
Nov 2, 2009
Welcome to a day in the life of the National Advertising Division, an arm of the national Council of Better Business Bureaus that, outside of advertising's legal circles, is pretty much unknown to the public. But since 1971 the NAD, an adjudicative body made up of fewer than 10 attorneys, has had one of the most powerful and influential jobs in the marketing universe: It gets to tell brands what they can and cannot say in their advertising.
An Application to Help Scrub Those Regrettable Photos From Facebook
Nov 2, 2009
You there, you who dressed as a sexy panther this Halloween, and are now clicking through the weekend’s photos on Facebook. (The ones of you clutching a vodka and snarling like a kittycat are particularly nice.) Your boss, your exes and your mother are probably looking at them this morning, too. What’s a hungover cat to do? There’s an app for that. Not an iPhone app, but a Facebook application from the detergent brand Wisk. Wisk-It, which will be formally introduced this week, promises to help get rid of objectionable photos.
Got Relevance?
Oct 30, 2009
One of the most daunting challenges companies face now is how to market themselves. Think of it: There are many businesses with the same or similar offerings. Customers can purchase goods or services from anywhere in the world, thanks to the Internet. With rapid commoditization, effectively marketing a business is more challenging than ever. It takes more than a marketing plan, strategy and tactics, positioning and differentiation to successfully market now. But what?
Organized Chaos: Viral Marketing Meet Social Media
Oct 30, 2009
Viral marketing — the technique of wrangling word-of-mouth to create a buzz around your product or idea — has been a powerful tool since the first caveman started the first rumor. Spreading the word person to person is the stuff of Avon dreams — and Bernie Madoff nightmares. And it requires the confidence to lose control of the message by setting it adrift. The modern age of viral marketing began in the mid 1990s with (of all things) a cultish, childish cable TV show that defined “guilty pleasure” way before Beavis and Butthead. The producers of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (the premise of MST3K is almost too ridiculous to articulate) knew immediately they had something viable, new and remarkable, and that their best marketers were the show’s smallish but loyal audience. In those dark days before streaming media, they encouraged the show’s viewers to videotape their copyrighted shows, and pass them along to friends — creating that sought after word-of-mouth buzz.
Why 'Charlotte's Web' Suddenly Matters to Marketing
Oct 29, 2009
The other day I got an email press release from a technology company crowing about a partnership with another organization. It read, in part: "We believe the alliance between xxx and yyy represents a synergistic win-win with significant value add for both solutions, allowing each to utilize and leverage their unique strengths in the market." Huh? If the news was worth covering, I couldn't tell, because the press release was stuffed to the seams with jargon-filled corporate-speak. I deleted the email almost immediately, sat back in my desk chair, and thought about EB White. EB White was, of course, the author of Charlotte's Web and Stuart Little. But he was also the co-author, with William Strunk Jr., of The Elements of Style.
Marketers Such as Starbucks Discover That Simple Sells
Oct 28, 2009
Simple is better. This could be 2010's most powerful marketing mantra. If 2009's hottest sales pitch was all about buying stuff on the cheap, 2010 marketing will increasingly stress less as more, as in fewer parts, additives or ingredients. While the trend is taking hold in many product categories, including health and beauty items, nowhere is it more apparent than with things we eat and drink. This may be more marketing magic than reality. How can a product made by Kraft, Campbell's or Dreyer's be made to sound as simply healthy as something made fresh in your kitchen? "One way to spin this is talk about how few ingredients your product contains," says Tom Vierhile, product analyst at researcher Datamonitor.
Spreadable Media: A Cure for Viral Media
Oct 27, 2009
In 2009, I'd like to say we've all been inoculated from taking the viral metaphor to its extreme, but I've found the strain quite resistant in marketing circles. The "V word" is still cropping up with colleagues, clients, prospects and at industry events all too often. Perhaps it's no surprise, then, that a Jupiter Research report last year found that only 15% of advertising labeled "viral" is actually successful.
Don't Turn Up Your Nose at Scent Marketing
Oct 26, 2009
The recent resurgence of "multisensory marketing" and "neuromarketing" strategies (with Martin Lindstrom's "buyology" being the main catalyst) is obviously shaking the trees in the CMO forest. And it's about time. Judy Shapiro recently wrote that Lindstrom's "news" has been applied by marketers all along. We politely disagree. While the objective here is not to endorse Lindstrom, we'd rather like to ask the provocative question: Are brand builders really using all the tools in their box? Sure, our organization provides information about the application of scent for marketing and branding purposes. Still, we do not recommend scent for scent's sake. Because of the way the human brain is wired, an incongruent or inconsistent application would confuse the consumer rather than help her make a decision.
Many Big Marketers Go on the Hunt for New Agencies
Oct 26, 2009
A long list of major marketers, including General Motors, Yum Brands and Emirates Airlines, are on the prowl for new advertising firms, a signal that the ad recession may be easing but not necessarily a herald of better days for Madison Avenue. During the economic downturn, many companies held off on searching for new ad partners. Reviews to select a new ad agency can be disruptive—and expensive. The process can run a marketer $50,000 to $100,000 for a domestic review and several hundred thousand dollars for a global one involving many regions, industry executives say. But the hunt appears to be on again. "Clearly we are seeing the beginnings of an ad recovery. The volume of ad reviews is way up," says Russell Wohlwerth, principal of Ark Advisors, a consulting firm that matches ad firms with marketers.
Wired Editor Chris Anderson On Freemium Business Models
Oct 26, 2009
Wired Editor-in-Chief Chris Anderson is now speaking at Y Combinator’s Startup School about Freemium Business Models. Anderson likened freemium to handing out muffins on the street to entice people to start eating your muffins. But with muffins there’s a significant cost to giving away each muffin. With digital goods, you can give away 90% of your product for free, without any cost for those goods. He says ‘free users’ aren’t free loaders, and that it’s okay to let the minority (paid users) subsidize the majority. Because the free users will recommend to friends, it’s a great form of marketing. And for those paid users, many of them are very strong customers — they may be price insensitive, with very little churn.
At the Base of the Pyramid
Oct 26, 2009
Around the world, four billion people live in poverty. And Western companies are struggling to turn them into customers. For the past decade, business visionaries have argued that these people, dubbed the Base of the Pyramid, make up an enormous, untapped market. Some of the world's biggest, savviest corporations have aimed to address their basic needs—by selling them everything from clean water to electricity. But, time and again, the initiatives have quietly fizzled out. Why? Because these companies were looking at it all wrong.
How Marketing Has Got Under Our Skin
Oct 26, 2009
Dan Schawbel is instantly “on”. He’s so on, he’s practically in vertical take-off. Over the telephone from Boston, the 25-year-old “leading personal-branding expert for Gen Y” gets straight down to telling me how to “manage my online presence”, and how that will help me win in today’s tough job market. It is, he says, all about getting your definitive statement—your unique claim—to the top of your personal Google search result, then taking it from there, out onto New Media platforms, full-motion video and social networking sites, Twitter, Linked-in, Google Alert. “Everyone’s online,” Dan says. “Everyone’s visible.”
Marketers Salivating Over Smartphone Potential
Oct 21, 2009
Jeff Smith is a diligent social-networking user, but he doesn't own a PC. "I prefer a cellphone and a service for a cellphone," says Smith, 40, a postal worker in Detroit who served as an Army Ranger in Desert Storm and Somalia. For about a year, Smith has used MocoSpace (for "mobile community space") to chat, meet people, search the Web and play games. "Anything else feels like too much." The majority of people who participate on social networks do so from their PCs. Yet a growing number — many of whom can't afford a PC or would rather not use one — are using mobile devices to tell their friends where they are and what they're up to and for sharing pictures.
Stomp!
Oct 19, 2009
When Matt Halfill was a kid, his parents sent him to a charter school in Fresno, Calif., where he got a tremendously valuable education -- about footwear. "That wasn't the most advantaged side of town, but still people had great sneakers," Hatfill says. "My parents never got sneakers that cost more than $40, but I saw shoes that were $150 and they were beautiful." A few years later, when Halfhill was 15, his parents moved to the island of Grenada to teach at a medical school. The Caribbean kids were even crazier about their kicks than the ones in Fresno had been. "They had catalogs and would plan all day long about what shoes they would buy if they went to Miami one day that year," Halfhill remembers. "That's when I realized this was a worldwide thing. It wasn't just in the U.S."
The New Low-Hanging Fruit
Oct 16, 2009
In this continuing economic roller coaster, marketers have become more open to different ways to optimize their end-to-end marketing funnel. Increasingly, they're turning their attention site-side, where any improvements in conversion rates can lift the ROI of every marketing channel and infuse new efficiencies into the marketing mix as a whole. This shift in focus marks a milestone for e-businesses, who have had processes in place to optimize acquisition ad channels for years. Most likely due to the money regularly being spent on media, optimizing search marketing campaigns, display ads and other efforts have long been top of mind for marketers looking to get more done with fewer resources.
Communications In The "New Normal"
Oct 15, 2009
Following the upheaval in the financial services sector, many marketers have forfeited breakthrough communications in favor of safety and stability. Who can blame them? With the market down significantly from its 2007 highs, an estimated $1 trillion+ in motion, and nearly every conventional wisdom about investing thrown into question, marketers are understandably concerned that their existing strategies and tools won't be enough to meet the demands of today's rapidly evolving marketplace. In addition, key success factors are not getting the attention they deserve -- ideas that may ultimately prove as important for a financial services company's marketing effectiveness as cash is to the balance sheet. Here are 10 tips marketers should stock up on.
5 Retail Marketing Trends for 2010
Oct 15, 2009
1) Inconspicuous Consumption: Consumers respond to the social moment by taking consumption into the closet. As when we talk about going to Fred's (in-store restaurant), not Barney's. Or, ask to have new purchases shipped, rather than be seen carrying a branded shopping bag. Or, decide to have shoes repaired and last year's jacket altered. Spending as a covert activity. No bragging rights.
Study: Email Marketing Preferred
Oct 15, 2009
Web users are far more willing to share personal information with marketers via e-mail than on social networking sites, according to new research commissioned by lead generation specialty firm Pontiflex. The new study, conducted by Harris Interactive, found that just 12 percent of online adults have been willing to share information like their Facebook user name or their Twitter handle with a brand in exchange for information or promotional offers. However, a whopping 96 percent of online adults who have actually taken the step of providing brands personal information have shared their e-mail addresses with marketers.
6 Tips For Marketing In The Clean Economy
Oct 14, 2009
Technologies and services that reduce natural resource consumption and emissions are the future of global growth, as well as the pathway to climate stabilization. In China alone, expectations are for a $1 trillion annual "cleantech" market by 2013. We are now entering a transition phase in cleantech, with focus shifting from technology to market commercialization. The winning technologies will win in large part because of marketing and communications. In the case of cleantech, it's not enough as a marketer to be a good practitioner of marketing. In a world of ever increasing sophistication and specialization, in-depth knowledge of key drivers is essential to success. That means a deep understanding of underlying technology, cultural perceptions, policy, and consumer and enterprise behavior.
The New Viral Marketing Engine
Oct 13, 2009
What do Ninja Turtles, Facebook, Hush Puppies and Pokémon all have in common? The answer reveals the secrets to creating a viral marketing machine. Back when I worked on the Hawaiian Punch business for P&G, we spent a fair amount of time analyzing how "fads" became popular with kids. We tried to understand what ignited meteoric "viral" success. We learned some ingredients of viral campaigns -- ease of acquisition, transition and novelty -- but we never really cracked the code of how to predictably recreate a viral marketing engine. For the last few years, there has been a host of books presenting research on how to create a viral marketing engine. These texts add insight into the dynamics of viral marketing, but they fail to define how to execute viral marketing well. How, for instance, do you realistically and reliably identify influencers or content creators or mavens?
PR is Not Dead
Oct 12, 2009
True public relations is a fundamental and helpful part of the communications mix. The issue I have with the question is that it usually comes from the marketing side - those people who have been pushing messaging at us in the first place. Raise your hand if you did PR the spammy way; in that case you need to reinvent yourself and your relevance to the business community. For the rest of us - we are and have been on the value side of the conversations for a long time.
The Future Of Internet Advertising
Oct 10, 2009
There is a big shift underway in Internet advertising. How consumers interact with Web ads, how marketers buy them, and how the success of these ads is measured is about to change. Matt D'Ercole, an executive creative director at Digitas New York, a unit of Publicis, tells us what he sees in store for the future of online advertising.
Marketing on $700 a Year
Oct 10, 2009
Last month, Intuit, the personal finance software firm that owns Quicken, paid $170 million in cash for Mint.com, a two-year-old personal finance site with 1.6 million users. That corporate embrace comes after much frustration on Intuit’s part. At one point the company wrote Mint a letter demanding “substantiation and evidence” of the rival site’s rapid-fire growth. Compounding the vexation was the cost of acquisition for those consumers, whose numbers are currently growing by more than 130,000 each month: virtually nothing. Donna Wells, Mint’s CMO and a former exec at Intuit, is a veteran marketer used to the big media budgets she had in previous jobs at Charles Schwab and American Express. At Mint, however, she may well represent a new breed of CMO who is spending very little on brand building and bypassing advertising in the process. Thanks to new social media and communications technologies, partnered with adept PR strategies, Wells showed that building a so-called Web 2.5 brand doesn’t need to cost much these days—and the experience is liberating.
The Year (Almost) Of Mobile Search
Oct 9, 2009
Each year at Razorfish we release our Digital Outlook Report in which we make predictions about the trends, developments and opportunities that will dominate the next calendar year. Fortunately no one's keeping score. For the last four years running we've said the coming year would be the breakout year for mobile. So far that hasn't happened. Since we've been wrong so many times before, I will take a more cautious approach here and simply say that 2010 is the year in which marketers need to make a serious investment in their mobile strategy.
Estee Lauder Gets Women Ready for Their Social-Media Close-ups
Oct 8, 2009
The venerable Estee Lauder cosmetics brand has found a seemingly natural way to connect with social media: offering free makeovers and photo shoots at its department-store cosmetics counters coast-to-coast to produce shots women can use for their online profiles. The promotion, which kicks off Oct. 16 at Bloomingdale's in New York and will extend initially to Macy's, Saks and other Bloomingdale's stores in Southern California, Miami and Chicago, also includes a giveaway of a 10-day supply of foundation.
Why Global CMOs Face Greater Challenges Than Traditional Marketers
Oct 7, 2009
Levi Strauss & Co. recently announced the hiring of Jaime Cohen Szulc, who is the first in the company's history to take the title of global chief marketing officer. The news is predictable yet intriguing. It is predictable because elevating the marketing discipline to global status under the purview of one executive is a corporate trend that shows no signs of waning.
Market Engagement Optimization (MEO) and NetTrust Score
Oct 7, 2009
For over 15 years I have been looking at the world of marketing, advertising and public relations and seeing things a bit differently. I was not alone. Countless others also saw the real need for systemic changes, or dare I say reform, across the board. The fundamental challenge became that the broad concept of “the market” was not fair nor efficient – the ones with the power (and money) won, and they often won at the expense of other’s loss.
ROI Is a Marketing Problem -- and a Brand Problem Too
Oct 7, 2009
For all the focus on marketing ROI, some companies miss the forest for the trees, because improvements won't happen through tactics alone. They need a new approach, applying marketing analytics to business decisions -- call it return on brand -- that can more than double marketing ROI through a cross-functional implementation of integrated business analytics. Many companies use accountability programs to measure and optimize marketing and media investments; their valuable insights can dramatically increase revenue and profits if implemented correctly. They often fall short, however, in their ability to act on this information and realize true marketing accountability ROI.
A Walk Into Google Wave
Oct 7, 2009
Every few months it seems the digerati go on a hunt for the next "shiny object." We tire of what's in front of us. We are eager to explore the next big thing. Marketers, perhaps out of fear of being left behind, are often right in step when plunging into new technology. That latest object of our desire is Google Wave--a new, real-time platform that combines e-mail, instant messaging, document creation and collaboration. You can't spend any time on Twitter without geeks lusting after Google Wave invites, which are hard to come by because only 100,000 have them. The hype rivals the hoopla surrounding the iPhone before its launch.
U.K. Wireless Brand Turns Customer Service Over to Consumers
Oct 5, 2009
You've seen user-generated content, so now get ready for user-generated marketing, technical support and customer service. One of the UK's biggest cellphone operators is launching a new mobile network called Giffgaff whose customers will be able to earn free calls and texts by actively marketing the service to their friends and families. As well as marketing the service, customers will provide their own technical support network, asking and answering their own questions about the service online.
What Mobile Payments Will Mean for the Marketing World
Oct 5, 2009
What happens to marketing if mobile phones replace credit cards as a form of payment? It's something marketers need to start figuring out now. Even as more and more tests roll out across the world, marketing strategy is lagging behind new technology. In Japan, mobile payments have been in use for about four years, and about 20% of consumers are using it. But merchants have only recently tied loyalty programs to mobile payment. McDonald's, for example, introduced a loyalty and payment program last year in Japan that lets customers choose their meals, redeem coupons and pay for purchases with their mobile phones.
The New Consumer and The CEO
Oct 5, 2009
It's amazing to see and hear a CEO understanding the massive consumer change that's going on and re-orienting his company around this shift. The CEO is Andy Bond of UK grocery store, Asda (owned by Wal-Mart). To bring home his point Asda organized a media event where they invited political strategist, Philip Gould to explain the change.
Companies Must Plan Holistically For Social –Beyond Marketing
Oct 1, 2009
Having just returned from vacation, (hence the break from blogging) I had the distinct pleasure of keynoting Silicon Valley AMA last night at Cisco’s Telepresence suites in Santa Clara. In my opening keynote, I had a specific message to marketing leaders in the valley to think holistic about social. I outlined some of the major impacts to other departments beyond marketing.
10 Branding and Marketing Trends for 2010
Oct 1, 2009
Niels Bohr once noted that "prediction is very difficult, especially about the future," but then he didn't have access to predictive loyalty metrics. Happily, we do. And, as they measure the direction and velocity of consumer values 12 to 18 months in advance of the marketplace and consumer articulations of category needs and expectations, they identify future trends with uncanny accuracy. Having examined these measures, we offer 10 trends for marketers for 2010 that will have direct consequences to the success - or failure – of next year's branding and marketing efforts.
I Am Not A Number
Sep 30, 2009
Neuroscientists have found patterns in brain activity that correlate with single digit numbers. They can literally watch your mind count. Research into the physiology of how our noggins work has advanced mightily in recent years, especially when it comes to witnessing perception and memory. Technologies like fMRI -- an imaging tool that notes differences in water pressure, sort of -- have been heralded as objective ways to measure what happens in brains when things that were once believed to be solely subjective occurred in minds. The numbers recognition happens in the intraparietal cortex, and suggest that there are unique "signatures" for single digits, at least. The idea is that we possess some ancient ability to understand groups of things we'd encounter in an average day of gathering plants or running away from mastadons. The researchers thing they'll eventually figure out how brains make calculations, as well as learn more about how people learn. Marketers get really excited about this stuff.
Marketers Fight the D.C. Squeeze
Sep 29, 2009
Did you ever think the next sale of Trojans or e.p.t. would help fund President Obama's healthcare reforms? While Congress has backed off on taxing such products after pressure from Republicans and a flurry of behind-the-scenes industry lobbying, it still has marketers fully in its sights. The sparring over taxation and advertising regulations has only just begun. So far, marketers appear to be faring well in what American Advertising Federation's evp of government affairs Clark Rector described "as busy a time as I can recall in quite a few years." Given the activist bent of the Obama administration and the Democratically controlled Congress, he added, "the thinking is that the business community is under fire and marketing tends to be the most visible face of that."
Enough With 'Why'; Let's Focus on 'How'
Sep 28, 2009
When we started the Boomer Project back in 2003, we decided to focus on what we called "the second question." The first question was, of course, "Why market to today's older Boomers?" Recent contributors to this column have addressed the "why" quite effectively. Our point-of-view from the beginning was that marketers who woke up to the economic power of the Boomer generation, even beyond age 50, would then ask the next question: "How do we engage Boomers now?" We wanted to be there to answer it.
Cultural Wisdom
Sep 25, 2009
It's very easy to underrate the value of cultural wisdom, otherwise known as sophistication. Walk into a doctor's office and the paneling is wrong, the carpeting is wrong and it feels dated. Instant lack of trust. Meet a salesperson in your office. She doesn't shake hands, she's fumbling with an old Filofax, she mispronounces Steve Jobs' name and doesn't make eye contact. Visit a website for a vendor and it looks like one of those long-letter opportunity seeker type sites. In each case, the reason you wrote someone off had nothing to do with their product and everything to do with their lack of cultural wisdom.
The Platform vs. The Eyeballs
Sep 24, 2009
This might be the most subtle yet important shift that marketers face as they deal with the reality of new media. Marketers aren't renters, now they own.
Microsoft Wants to Help Marketers Manage Messy Social Media
Sep 24, 2009
Microsoft wants marketers to see it in a different light -- not only as an ad seller but as a smart company full of geeks who can help it solve business problems. And the tech giant is using social media to prove it can do so. Today Microsoft is taking the wraps off a new platform called Looking Glass, a social-media aggregator and monitoring tool that's still in "proof of concept" stage, meaning it's not yet in the market and will be open to a very small group of testers next month. The idea is to connect social-media-monitoring tools to the rest of a marketer's organization -- customer databases, work orders, customer-service centers and sales data.
Travelzoo Sticks to What Works as Recession Alters Flight Plans
Sep 24, 2009
Craig Calder is the first to admit that his company's marketing is far from flashy. But in Travelzoo's case, flashy marketing doesn't ring the cash register. That's because the travel-deals publisher has found success with very simple strategies: word of mouth and targeted online campaigns. "We haven't been tempted by the latest fads that have come through; we're almost the model for the next generation of online marketing, because I think that a lot of brands could benefit from taking a similar approach," said the company's VP-marketing. "It's not sexy, but it's very effective and profitable."
Even More On: Everything I Need to Know About Marketing I Learned From Google
Sep 23, 2009
In my last two columns, I've offered the following 15 marketing lessons learned from Google and examples of folks applying them. More than just tidbits to maximize SEM programs, these are principles that can be applied to all facets of marketing. Of course, the irony in all this is that Google is a company that's proudly spent very little on advertising. Accordingly, perhaps the most important lesson of them all is that marketing is so much more than just advertising. Today, I'll close this series with five more lessons learned from Google about marketing.
Gender, Behavior Influence Teen Buying
Sep 23, 2009
Marketers may want to fine-tune their advertising to target “jockettes” and “young metrosexuals.” These are the two largest teen segments, according to a new behavioral segmentation report by Euro RSCG. Euro RSCG teamed with American Student List, a youth and teen marketing data provider, to develop "ASL Teen Segment." The report identifies 11 key teen markets based on demographic and psychographic characteristics, which are meant to help marketers better target direct marketing communications to teens, according to Euro RSCG. The segmentation is comprised of six male and five female groups.
Launching Brands in Public
Sep 23, 2009
I was talking with a senior marketer at one of the most famous brands in the world last week. She said, "executives keep coming to me with stuff they find on the internet, stuff they find on YouTube about us, and say, 'take it down!' Of course, I have to explain that I can't take it down. No one can." If your brand has any traction at all, people are talking about you. Of course, they've always talked about you, but now they're doing it in writing, in video and in public. Today, Squidoo (a company I founded) is launching Brands in Public.
Facebook Sets Deal to Provide Ad Data to Nielsen
Sep 22, 2009
Facebook Inc. plans to announce a deal with online measurement company Nielsen Co., in a step to address advertisers' frustration with measuring how ads perform on the social network. Under the partnership, Facebook will begin polling its users about some of the display ads it runs on its site, such as a banner promoting a movie release. Facebook will provide that data, including responses from those who didn't see an ad, to Nielsen, which will package it for advertisers, say the companies. Facebook Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg is planning to introduce the product, called Nielsen Brand Lift, in a keynote address at an advertising conference Tuesday and to pitch it to marketers this week in New York.
Why Market Your Company With Stick-on Emotion When You Can Tap the Real Thing?
Sep 22, 2009
Marketers caught on early that emotion sells product. "Would your husband marry you again?" screams a Palmolive ad from 1921. (Not unless you scrub with Palmolive soap, honey.) Today, Heineken has promised warmer international relations via handoffs of Premium Light from mountain men to Indians to ballerinas. And, of course, Axe has sold young men on the fantasy of hooking up with deodorant-loving nymphomaniacs. Emotional appeals are ubiquitous. They're also interchangeable. It would be just as easy to pitch Heineken as an aphrodisiac and Axe as a global harmonizer ("Peace starts in the pits"). And that's the problem: It's all stick-on emotion. Sometimes that works brilliantly (see: Corona). Other times, it's as weird and clumsy as an adhesive moustache -- remember Carl's Jr. and Paris Hilton's sexed-up hamburger ad? Fortunately, there's a better and more sustainable way to create emotion: Mean it.
AOL Wants To Revamp Its Brand Image
Sep 22, 2009
In the five months following Tim Armstrong's appointment as chief executive of AOL, the former Google executive has announced his plan to turn the subscription-based Internet provider into an online media and advertising giant. The first order of business was building content. Then he worked on creating a more powerful advertising network. Now the focus is marketing the company, which is trying to shed its image as a tired, unfocused Internet behemoth.
IBM's Zany Viral Video Chief
Sep 21, 2009
It's certainly not unusual that a stand up comedian like Tim Washer would be producing absurdist viral videos. What is surprising is that the IBM communications executive is doing so for his straight-laced corporate employer. He appeared at a Business Development Institute seminar on corporate social media practices last week. There, he championed the cause of creative absurdity in corporate marketing. And he warned the audience that fear and rigid thinking were the greatest obstacles to their companies' social media success.
Gill Linton: Does the Fashion Industry Know What a Brand Strategy Is?
Sep 21, 2009
Now that fall fashion marketing is here and the industry is working on what’s next, what should fashion brands do differently to make up for a terrible fiscal 2009? Everyone’s a brand strategist these days, including people in the fashion industry whose core business is to produce fashion shows, generate publicity and create ad campaigns. In which case you’d expect fashion brands to be more distinct from each other, wouldn’t you? Considering fashion is all about change, the fashion-marketing model is really old fashioned. It took a recession for people to accept that the selling cycle doesn’t work, and although advertising isn’t as effective as it used to be, brands still invest heavily in formulaic print ads, along with the same old sponsorships, trunk shows, pop-up shops, collaborations and now blogs, videos and social networking.
Booze-Brand Advertising Harks Back to a Time When Men Were Men
Sep 21, 2009
In the latest ad for Ketel One, a group of Rat Pack wannabes hoist their glasses as a narrator celebrates a return to "when men were men." New creative for Chivas Regal urges men to live by a "code" of chivalry. And 1800 Tequila has an actor best known for playing a mobster all but calling Patron a phony little priss. Spirits marketing has certainly come a long way from "Sex and the City" and its signature pink cocktails. And, amid a recession, challenger brands are attempting to paint their rivals as relics of a freer-spending, less-sensible time.
Reinventing a Category With Sky-High Brand Buzz
Sep 21, 2009
How do you compete as an upstart in the cutthroat domestic airline industry when your marketing budget is a fraction of your rivals'? For Porter Gale, VP-marketing at domestic value carrier Virgin America, you make every dollar stretch and use social media and buzz to amplify every marketing event, all the while trying to show that Virgin is the antidote to marginal domestic air travel. In some respects Ms. Gale is a fitting candidate to run a lean, startup airline. With a master's degree in documentary film from Stanford University, she's a filmmaker who has had to figure out how to produce high-quality content on shoestring budgets.
The Great Trust Offensive
Sep 18, 2009
Companies as diverse as McDonald's, Ford, and American Express are revamping their marketing to win back that most valuable of corporate assets.
5 Trust Agents Who Are Changing the Face of Twitter
Sep 18, 2009
They aren't in marketing, or in sales (although they do both simultaneously). They have a strong streak of digital intelligence, and their knack for creating conversations puts them far beyond the stereotypical techno-geek. Meet your neighborhood social media professionals, they're using the Web to not only put human faces on corporations and politicians, but also to defend their honor when something goes awry. Chris Brogan and Julien Smith call them "trust agents" after their book by the same name, and say that they are harnessing the power of Twitter and other social media to "build influence, improve reputation, and earn trust."
Toyota Sets a Big Sales Drive
Sep 17, 2009
Toyota Motor Corp. is preparing a $1 billion marketing blitz to juice U.S. sales in the fourth quarter and plans to expand its line of gas-electric hybrid models under the Prius name, people briefed on the plans said. The strategy, aimed at revitalizing its key North American operations, was laid out by Toyota President Akio Toyoda and his top U.S. lieutenants at a meeting in Las Vegas with the company's U.S. dealers. The world's largest auto maker needs to turn around its North American business after acknowledging it expects to report a loss in its current fiscal year, which would be its second annual deficit in a row. Toyota executives vowed to go "pedal to the metal" in the fourth quarter, using financial strength to drive sales as the U.S. economy appears to be recovering, these people said.
This Five-Letter Word Is Key to Marketing Success: B-R-A-N-D
Sep 17, 2009
While the concept of personal branding has taken off corporate branding seems to go in and out of favor. Economic cycles may have a lot to do with that. With the growth of the Internet and social technology tools, personal branding activity and opportunities have exploded. On the other hand, in some ways, the arc of Web 1.0 to 2.0+ (not to mention this current economy) has seduced many marketers into being focused on tactics at the expense of strategy including branding. Hot media tactics often substitute for the "strategy." If you are skeptical that brands still matter in the age of 1-1, millennials and social media, or if you are trying to run a business and make numbers and don't have the patience for brand consultant-speak or theories, here is a quick, simple refresher on good old fashioned branding that works today, that can help you frame your marketing and other operational tactics...to drive business results.
Building Brands One Memory At A Time
Sep 16, 2009
F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote in The Great Gatsby that personality is forged by an "unbroken string of successful small gestures." And, as with people, so with brands. Brand personality takes root in the soil of its own heritage and history. Some brands have to make up a past. Others have ancestry galore to utilize if the brand's stewards can strike the right tone without relying too much on nostalgia. I call this brand mythos--the archetypal true back-story, the legend of itself told to itself and its fans.
Future Group's Mythological Marketing
Sep 16, 2009
What skills does it take to be good at marketing? Some experts claim that marketing is an analytical discipline: a good marketer must possess robust left-brain capabilities and excel at quantitative reasoning. Others will counter that marketing is too fuzzy a field to be boiled down to a series of mathematical formulas and that to excel at marketing you need right-brain capabilities such as creativity and pattern-detection to unearth unarticulated market customer needs. In my recent trip to India, I encountered the CEO of a fascinating firm that has judiciously married 'left brain' and 'right brain' marketing to position itself as a leader in its field.
Hey Marketers, Make iPhone Apps Like These
Sep 15, 2009
There might be an app for everything, but does everything need an app? When it comes to brands, it's easy to wonder if the rush to get into the App Store is more about marketers snapping up the shiniest new wonder than thinking about apps as strategic-marketing tools. Luckily, as the app business has grown, the apps themselves have grown up. While the Zippo lighter -- enormously popular at 5 million downloads and counting -- remains a bit of an anomaly, most branded apps have moved from the simple "wow" or novelty factor to include branded utility, relationship building and even sales.
The Problem With Non
Sep 15, 2009
Non as in non-profit. The first issue is the way you describe yourself. I know what you’re not but what are you? Did you start or join this non-profit because of the non part? I doubt it. It's because you want to make change. The way the world is just isn't right or good enough for you... there's an emergency or an injustice or an opportunity and you want to make change. These organizations exist solely to make change. That's why you joined, isn't it? The problem facing your group, ironically, is the resistance to the very thing you are setting out to do. Non-profits, in my experience, abhor change.
5 Ways Banks Are Using Social Media
Sep 11, 2009
Many banks have started using social websites to help them with everything from healing the financial industry to promoting their latest credit cards. By embracing the most popular tools available, the industry has also been embracing the best of what social media culture has to offer, and smaller, community banks seem to be leading the charge when it comes to social media innovation. This post profiles some U.S. banks that have used social media in their marketing and communications plans in some interesting and successful ways. These banks have tapped into the root of what social media means to the community, enjoying success in the way of returning real value for their institutions.
Simply Different: A Brand Advantage
Sep 11, 2009
Simply Better is the title of the marketing book that won the 2005 Berry-AMA Book Prize. Customers rarely buy a product or service because it offers something unique, say authors Patrick Barwise and Sean Meehan. Consumers want products that are simply better in terms of quality, reliability and value. Not true. Too many companies focus on trying to make better products when the real advantage is making different products. The current videogame dogfight between Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo illustrates this point.
Starbucks: From Passive to Aggressive Marketer
Sep 11, 2009
Starbucks is a brand that grew from the ground up and always flirted with marketing in a a way that it never felt comfortable with. However, given a year of declining comp store sales and an erosion of the brand, marketing appears to be firmly back on the agenda. At a recent Goldman Sachs conference, the CFO of Starbucks talked repeatedly about marketing initiatives that are doing to be driving the company forward.
GM Offers 'Satisfaction Guarantee'
Sep 11, 2009
In an effort to win back the trust of American consumers, General Motors has started offering a 60-day "Satisfaction Guarantee" to eligible buyers of new Chevrolet, Buick, GMC and Cadillac vehicles. The new promotion, part of GM’s "May the Best Car Win" campaign, fronted by the company’s new chairman Ed Whitacre, allows customers to return a vehicle to their dealer between 31 and 60 days of purchase and receive a refund. The program runs from Sept. 14 through Nov. 30, although the company left open the possibility it may be extended. In a conference call, Bob Lutz, GM vice chairman, marketing and communications, did not reveal the level of marketing support behind the effort. However, he said that on an index basis the auto company is matching spending levels of its closest competitor in the U.S., Toyota, and will out-spend the Japanese company in this current initiative.
The First Social Media Car
Sep 10, 2009
Fiat is going to build and promote its 2010 Mio concept car based on ideas of consumers submitted via social media. The company's website asks "In the future we're building, what should a car have that makes it mine, while still working for others?" It has prompted 1,700 ideas and more than 40,000 comments, mostly about things like putting bamboo on seats, or providing an outlet to charge laptops. The company plans to ask for branding and marketing ideas next. Fiat has yet to decide whether it will ever build or sell the thing for real. Phew. At best, it's a stupid marketing stunt.
The Big Drop Off
Sep 10, 2009
We try so hard to build the first circle. This is the circle of followers, friends, subscribers, customers, media outlets and others willing to hear our pitch. This is the group we tell about our new product, our new record, our upcoming big sale. We want more of their attention and more people on the list. Which takes our attention away from the circle that matters, which is the second circle. The second circle are the people who hear about us from the first circle.
More On: Everything I Need to Know About Marketing I Learned From Google
Sep 9, 2009
In my last column I laid out 10 lessons I learned about marketing from Google. The response from the Search Insider community was, to borrow a phrase from Gaylord Focker in "Meet the Parents," strong-to-very-strong. I received some great feedback and all sorts of suggestions for other golden Google rules. Many of these have application beyond marketing to product development and even general business management. Today, I'll continue the thread around marketing lessons learned from Google. And I'll look to broaden the scope in upcoming columns to include business principles and other miscellany.
Marketers Seek To Score In Tough Times By Playing At The U.S. Open
Sep 9, 2009
For those of us in marketing there's a competition at the U.S. Open that's equal to the exciting Melanie Oudin when it comes to the potential for big bucks. It's the competition among corporate sponsors of the tournament for consumer attention. While the tennis balls are certainly interesting to tennis buffs like me, as a branding professional it's the match for eyeballs that really peaks my interest.
Facebook Users to Help Create New Vitamin Water Flavor
Sep 9, 2009
Formula 50 is the Vitamin Water flavor co-created by 50 Cent, a top seller, and a personal favorite of yours-truly. As good as the flavor is, sometimes I think I could concoct something just a bit better. Vitamin Water, no strangers to social media marketing, agrees, so their handing over the keys to their flavor creator lab and tapping into the Facebook community for flavor innovation.
Teams Tackle Tough Ticket Market
Sep 9, 2009
Kansas City Chiefs fans struggling with ticket payments can finance them on a team-issued credit card. Got a dirty windshield? Buffalo Bills boosters renewing season tickets online enjoy a free car wash. Ford Field, home of the Detroit Lions, claims the NFL’s first all-you-can-eat section. Jacksonville Jaguars supporters choose between a dozen ticket packages. The Oakland Raiders even subsidize the train to the game. NFL teams, confronting the worst economy many have ever faced, unveiled a rush of new ticket sales initiatives this offseason that just 12 months ago would have been unthinkable in the country’s most popular sport.
Innovation Is Not A Strategy
Sep 8, 2009
As most of you know, Sharper Image, home of innovative products like the Razor scooter, the robotic dog, the Ionic Breeze, the StressEraser and the R2-D2 interactive droid, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. What remains is an important lesson. Innovation is not a strategy and companies which depend on a constant flow of new, innovative products will someday find themselves in deep trouble. As Sharper Image did. Every successful company needs a branding strategy, which may or may not include innovation. Yet many marketing gurus have elevated innovation to a point where it is widely perceived as the single, most-important function of a corporation. Witness the raft of recent articles on the subject, including an editorial in my favorite publication with the theme, Forget the recession and innovate.
Tap Into the 'Power of Pull' to Get Your Brand Out There
Sep 7, 2009
For more than 100 years, marketing has largely operated as a push paradigm. We create messages and funnel them through the media to reach stakeholders. Push remains viable. However, with time on social-networking sites and search engines rising, we need new ways to engage and reach people multiple times across different sources. That, according to the Edelman Trust Barometer, is when consumers will trust what we have to say. That's what the "power of pull" is all about.
Friends Shape Culture More than Editors
Sep 5, 2009
It WAS bold of marketing directors to invest in digital and social media campaigns a year ago. In revisionist marketing thinking, if you hadn’t done it, you’d be crazy. If you’re the least bit curious about how digital and social media is impacting your brand, I’ll call your attention to a weeklong series about media growth in the F.T.. I’m also trying to demonstrate one of the biggest changes happening in the world of media. Namely that friends are shaping culture more than editors, by doing exactly what I am doing for you: Directing you to an interesting series of articles in the F.T.
Truly Great Marketing Comes From Strong Culture
Sep 4, 2009
I frequently preach to my peers at Clickable that the marketing team is NOT the "marketing business unit." Rather, the marketing team IS the entire company and our external stakeholders. We all contribute to the product, experience and culture that forges our reputation and business success. Departmental structures help drive accountability. But if marketing is not fully embraced as part of everyone's job, then the firm is strategically disadvantaged. Which is why I was delighted by three events that occurred at our startup this week. Specifically, three significant marketing and business development contributions came from unexpected places.
Online Shopping Levels The Playing Field
Sep 4, 2009
It's likely that the children and teenagers of today will conduct the majority of their shopping online, according to a report from Nielsen. While online shopping accounts for a modest percentage of today's sales, it is growing rapidly. In 2008, online retail accounted for approximately 7% of total retail sales in the U.S., with 1.5% of consumer packaged goods (CPG) spending done on the Web, according to Nielsen's "Building Great Brands in the Digital Age: Guidelines for Developing Winning Strategies."
BK Fries Hit Stores
Sep 3, 2009
Burger King is taking its French fries beyond the fast food counter with a new product launch, in partnership with ConAgra Foods. Retailers like Walmart will carry the BK-branded fries, which are produced via a licensing agreement with ConAgra’s Lamb Weston brand. Lamb Weston frozen potatoes and appetizers are sold in both retail and foodservice outlets.
True Marketing Doesn't Just Sell the Story
Sep 2, 2009
As the global economy emerges from recession, regardless of when or how quickly, the focus in the executive suite is already shifting from cost cutting to recovering top-line growth. What role can the CMO play? If CMOs are truly to be growth champions for their corporations, they can't simply rely on traditional marketing and brand-building techniques. In nearly a decade of research, my colleagues and I have found that established companies increasingly are successfully building new businesses on a repeated basis, a process we call corporate entrepreneurship. Marketing -- true marketing, not just selling the story but helping create it -- must play a central role. True marketing is about understanding current and potential customers better than anyone else, translating those insights into powerful new offerings and experiences, and creating ever more effective and efficient paths to market. In other words, marketers must design new businesses, rather than just launch new products.
Social Media Is Infrastructure: PR, Marketing, Ads Safe
Sep 2, 2009
Practically the only thing guaranteed that social media will kill is your free time. Maybe it will kill your real-world social life too, but that's only if you choose to have an intimate relationship with your computer, at the pure neglect of the world outdoors. While it's popular and tempting to say that social media is poised to eliminate core business elements, such as marketing, public relations, or advertising, the truth is that the latest Web tools are simply infrastructure, to be used well. More traditional departments in business, and the third party vendors who provide their services, will need to adapt to a changing world, but they aren't going anywhere.
Ben & Jerry’s Hubby Hubby Flavor Creating Social Stir
Sep 2, 2009
Ben & Jerry’s has never been one to follow the status quo when it comes to their ice cream flavors or their social media marketing tactics. Last month we flipped over their upside down status updates, but their latest move is making an even bigger social statement. The Vermont ice cream maker updated their Twitter account [@cherrygarcia] this morning to inform followers of their latest flavor announcement: Chubby Hubby, an all-time favorite flavor for many, is now named Hubby Hubby.
The Building Blocks of Social Media for Business
Sep 1, 2009
Where do you start? That’s the question I get often when I’m asked how to help a company market using social media tools. The people who contact me are smart. They tell me things like, “Yeah, they said we should start with a blog, and we said, ‘like the blog we already have?’” But what comes next is rarely a simple choice. I wanted to take you through some thoughts on what the basic building blocks of social media might be for a business (in the context of marketing, but then stretching a bit further out). Remember, roadmaps don’t work really well until you have a solid goal or destination in mind. None of this matters unless it feels right to you, regardless of my advice. You know your company’s boundaries. You know what your comfort levels are. Proceed at your organizational pace.
A Meeting of the Minds
Sep 1, 2009
I hear versions of the same conversations almost weekly. While they're not necessarily new conversations, the tenor of them has grown considerably tenser as a result of the struggling global economy. The conversations run something like this: The chief financial officer says: "Before I spend any money in this environment, I need to know the impact of this investment. I need to see an ROI." The CMO responds with: "It's not about ROI; it's about creating awareness. Having people understand our brand will create engagement, which will lead to revenue."
How Special K Became a Social Media Star
Aug 31, 2009
Marketers across all industries are buzzing about social media these days, but no one has really figured it out, said Jose-Alberto Duenas, Kellogg’s marketing vp of ready-to-eat cereals in the U.S. Though digital and social media may soon overtake the 30-second spot as the most popular form of advertising, brands still have a lot of experimenting and learning to do in this space. That’s what Kellogg is doing with social media campaigns on its Special K, Pop-Tarts and Frosted Mini-Wheats brands. It’s also teamed up with Ashton Kutcher’s Katalyst Media and Feeding America to raise up to $1 million for hunger relief. Efforts like the latter program have attracted 210,000-plus in Facebook fans.
Music & Lyrics
Aug 31, 2009
I don't understand why Expedia's jingle at the end of its TV commercials sings "dot com." What isn't a dot com these days? A generation of consumers has been trained to punch words into their computers, whether as search terms of possible web sites. Those of us old enough to remember index cards and the Dewey Decimal System are doing it, too, however imperfectly. The Internet is the default location for finding information, much the same way the library used to be. Reminding us to look for Expedia online is like singing "at the grocery store" for breakfast cereal or soda pop, isn't it?
Pop-Up Stores Pop Up as Inexpensive Way to Build Buzz
Aug 31, 2009
A few years ago, when cheap real estate was scarce, pop-up stores were a major investment for marketers. Now temporary stores have emerged as a perfect solution for cash-strapped brands, commission-hungry brokers and landlords faced with a glut of commercial real-estate space. Brands are using these interim spaces as a means to create buzz, test new concepts or even evaluate a new neighborhood or city. While temporary stores first began popping up with some regularity in 2003, sky-high rents and a lack of available space made them a massive undertaking for brands. Now, in the midst of the recession, the shops are being viewed as a logical, and even inexpensive, marketing tool.
Out Of The Box
Aug 30, 2009
In 2008, the only advertisement any marketer could talk about was Cadbury's drumming gorilla. The advert was made for television but was also viewed millions of times on YouTube. Agencies were delirious at the crossover success to the video sharing site. Here, finally, was proof that traditional agencies could conquer the web with old-school marketing skills. Gorilla scooped the grand prix in film at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival. By June this year, Cannes was a very different festival. For a start, the Croisette - normally packed with partying ad men - was deserted as agencies stayed away to nurse their shrinking budgets. But in any event, rather than television adverts winning awards for online work as Gorilla had, it was the online campaigns that impressed the judges across every category.
As Daddy Bloggers Attract Readers, Marketers Follow
Aug 29, 2009
Mommy bloggers, move over. It’s daddy’s turn in the spotlight. Many mommy blogs have gained avid followings. The blogs, like Dooce and The Pioneer Woman, are full of stories, often quite funny, written by mothers about raising children and other topics. Recently, fathers have been getting into the game, too, with blogs like DadLabs and Dad-O-Matic.
Marketing and Mathematics
Aug 29, 2009
March Madness lasts only three weeks, but Metric Madness goes on all year long. What is Metric Madness? It's the notion you can run anything by the numbers, and it's become the hottest concept in business today.
A Few Good Things to Come Out of the Recession
Aug 27, 2009
I'm sure I'm not the first one to tell you: We're in a recession. The doom has advertisers hanging signs along the lines of "Will Work For Food" on their agency walls, and marketers continue to face facts and figures like these, from Forrester's 2009 Global CMO Recession Survey: 71% of marketing budgets have been reduced this year, and more than half reported reductions greater than 20%. Now here comes the curveball: I think this might be the best thing that has happened to our industry in decades.
Sneaker Marketing Tries a Smaller Size
Aug 27, 2009
Some sneaker makers are giving national advertising campaigns the boot. To get more traction, they are increasingly turning to a tactic known as hyper-local marketing.
Why InterContinental Chose to Relaunch Holiday Inn
Aug 27, 2009
InterContinental Hotels Group earlier this summer announced the opening of its 1,000th relaunched Holiday Inn hotel: the Holiday Inn Express New York Times Square. The opening was part of an overall $1 billion relaunch of more than 3,200 Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express hotels worldwide, as well as the opening of another 1,050 hotels featuring the new branding over the next few years, with the completion of the global relaunch set for 2010.
'Green' Consumers Out to Save Money
Aug 27, 2009
Green consumers are more concerned about saving money than saving the planet, according to new research from advertising agency the Shelton Group. The study found that while 59 percent of green consumers identify the economy as their top concern in making purchases, a mere 8 percent consider the environment.
Everything I Need to Know About Marketing I Learned From Google
Aug 27, 2009
Last month I shared what search taught me about running a business. Today, I'd like to list 10 lessons Google taught me -- and the rest of the world, for that matter -- about marketing.
Coconut Water Bubbles
Aug 27, 2009
As the once-hot bottled water business loses steam, drink makers are starting to pour money into marketing campaigns for what they hope will be the next sector to come to a boil: coconut water.
Unilever Goes Crowdsourcing to Spice Up Peperami's TV Ads
Aug 27, 2009
Unilever is offering $10,000 in a competition to find ideas for its next TV campaign for snack food brand Peperami, using its quirky Animal character, as it decides to drop its ad agency of 16 years and turn to crowdsourcing for creative ideas. The company, which has worked with Lowe on the Peperami brand since 1993, is looking for ideas from people that are a cut above the user-generated content level competitions run by Pringles and Doritos last year.
The Recession Impression
Aug 26, 2009
On Monday, Sept. 15, 2008, Lehman Brothers imploded, the world tilted and all the Fiji Artesian water came tumbling off the table, crashing along with the stock market. Suddenly the conspicuous consumer became the conspicuous coupon clipper. Bad if you own a Hummer dealership. Good if you own a real value proposition.
Word-of-Mouth Gains Volume
Aug 25, 2009
As the recession continues to put pressure on ad spending across most media, word of mouth marketing is one notable sector that has bucked the trend and continued to grow. And agencies are devoting more resources to meet client demand.
Online Video's Where It's At
Aug 25, 2009
These days most companies have no choice but to cut their marketing budgets. And that's a good thing. You read that right -- it's a good thing. The reason it's a good thing is that most marketing bucks are spent on depreciating messaging. Either the medium is failing to deliver the numbers it used to or the creative is ignored by the target audience. Think about it. Most marketing teams are investing in a product that has gone down in value for the past 30 years, that product being network television.
Do Consumers Care About Web Privacy?
Aug 25, 2009
Freaking out about the easier opt-outs proposed by some online-privacy advocates? Maybe you don't have so much to worry about. In June, Fetchback, an advertising network that specializes in ad "retargeting," added a link within its ad units that, when clicked, took consumers to a page that explained who the advertiser was and how the ad got there and gave contact info for Fetchback, as well as a way to opt out of future targeting.
The Great Divide
Aug 25, 2009
North of the Arctic Circle, a top priority for fishermen is to catch and dry enough char to last the winter. Fishermen near the equator race to market before insects and bacteria spoil their catch. Climate is the driving factor shaping these vastly different fishing practices. In many corporations, the same is true for marketing and IT departments.
Five Reasons Companies Should be Integrating Social Media with Facebook Connect
Aug 24, 2009
Quick explanation for those not familiar with Facebook Connect. It is a service developed by Facebook that lets Facebook users login into partner sites using their Facebook account and share information with Facebook friends. Basically, a single sign-on authentication solution that websites can use instead of relying on building it for themselves.
The Massive Attention Surplus
Aug 24, 2009
There was an attention drought for the longest time. Marketers paid a fortune for TV ads (and in fact, network ads sold out months in advance) because it was so difficult to find enough attention. Ads worked, so the more ads you bought, the more money you made, thus marketers took all they could get. This attention shortage drove our economy. The internet has done something wacky to this situation.
Whatever the Merits of Obama's Reform, the Marketing Is a Mess
Aug 24, 2009
If the political world has a cliché as tired as marketing's "Nothing kills a bad product like good advertising," it's probably the somewhat related "Governing is not the same as campaigning." Barack Obama and his team of political operatives -- named Marketer of the Year in 2008 -- have learned that even tired clichés have large elements of truth.
Market The Company, Not The Product
Aug 22, 2009
It goes without fail, whenever a new product is released from a Gen Y "it" company, my phone rings off the hook. So why are people calling a financial guy when a new product is released? Because these "it" companies market so well that the consumer wants to be an owner ... of the company.
Businesses Seek Relief From Rain
Aug 22, 2009
In June, revenues for Marilyn Schlossbach and Scott Szegeski's four New Jersey restaurants shrank by 40% from a year ago. The recession was partly to blame, but so was another culprit: rain.
Companies Seek A Fresh Start With New Names
Aug 22, 2009
Beleaguered insurer AIG is renaming its property-casualty and general insurance business "Chartis," which it derived from the Greek word for map. It is giving Chartis a compass logo, which AIG, which began the rebranding effort last month, hopes will represent the franchise's approach to "navigating changing marketplaces and complex risks worldwide."
JetBlue's 'All You Can Jet' Pass Sells Out
Aug 21, 2009
JetBlue suspended sales of its unlimited-flight pass Wednesday, saying it had to do so because of strong demand. JetBlue debuted its $599 "All You Can Jet"promotion Aug. 12, a deal that garnered nationwide attention for offering customers all the flights they could take between the airline's 56 cities starting Sept. 8 and ending Oct. 8.
Twitter’s Effect in the Marketplace
Aug 21, 2009
According to a recent eMarketer report, Twitter - so far - isn’t all it’s cracked up to be for the marketing industry. Only 8% of those in the advertising world feel that Twitter is effective for marketing to their audiences - partially because of the lack of knowledge and awareness that the general consumer has around Twitter. Research from LinkedIn showed that while over 80% of advertisers knew Twitter, only 30% of consumers on the Web were familiar with the micro-blogging tool.
Key to Marketing in Complex Times: Simplicity
Aug 20, 2009
In an era when marketing strategies seem more complicated than ever before, author Jonathan Cahill is selling simplicity. And he backs it up with 115 case studies. Prior to opening his own London firm, Spring Marketing Innovation and Research, Cahill spent 30 years as an ad man with major agencies in the UK and Italy. His recently published book is entitled "Igniting the Brand: Strategies That Have Shot Brands to Success." And one of his conclusions is that marketers and their agencies are trying so hard to devise strategies that they often look right past simple truths.
Business Leaders Must Take Control of the Privacy Discussion
Aug 20, 2009
Marketers want private, direct conversations with consumers and thanks to technology this is easier to do. We are all GPSed, Googled and Facebooked, put in matrices, files, rankings, etc. The digital environment not only collects more and more private data, but it also offers marketing many tools for evaluation and promotion online and offline. But it raises concerns whether privacy needs more protection.
Marketers Break Into Homes By Sponsoring Parties
Aug 20, 2009
One evening earlier this week 14 guests arrived at Diana Burroughs' condo in Manhattan's West Village; seven of them were dogs. After sniffing one another and joining in a dog-and-owner look-alike contest, the pooches happily feasted on filet-mignon- and potato-flavored kibbles from Chef Michael's Canine Creations. Nestle Purina in recent weeks has spent $150,000 sponsoring 1,000 home gatherings like this three-hour party to market its newest line of dog food.
Why Your Agency Should Embrace Connection Planning
Aug 20, 2009
Ask around and you'll find that most marketers believe there is something fundamentally wrong with their media and advertising today. They will complain they are not getting truly media-neutral solutions that are grounded in consumer insights and are ownable by their brands.
Google Adds Forecast Insight to Insights for Search
Aug 19, 2009
Last year, Google updated Google Trends and launched Google Insights for Search, allowing advertisers and marketers to track search behavior based on frequency of searches, time frame, or geographic location. Now Google is throwing the element of predictability into the mix. Looking at a particular trend's historical search popularity, Google forecasts the trend's future performance.
GM Appointment Shows No Respect for Marketing
Aug 19, 2009
General Motors’ new advertising and marketing czar is Bob Lutz, who until April of this year headed global product development. According to CEO Fritz Henderson: “Bob’s responsibilities beyond creative design will include brands, marketing, advertising and communications.” (I can visualize Bob at his first meeting with one of GM’s agencies: “I’m not a marketing expert, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.”)
Can Marketers Kick The Price Promo Habit?
Aug 19, 2009
A colleague from P&G said it best: "One generation of marketers has addicted three generations of consumers to the heroin of price promotion." That addiction has never been more obvious than today as we watch our mailboxes fill with 40, 50, 60%-off offers from nearly every name in the game. The short-term spin: Retailers need comp store sales growth. The longer-term implications? The retail universe will continue to devolve to "okay, available and cheap."
Build a Marketing Platform Like a Celebrity
Aug 19, 2009
Historically, marketing has been departmentalized in corporations and positioned as a college major. With the advent of social media and our current economic situation, marketing has become a topic that everyone should—and can—care about and have expertise in. Now anyone with an Internet connection and some ambition can develop their own marketing platform, which can be harnessed for both career and financial success.
Why Bounty Is a Hit With U.S. Hispanics
Aug 17, 2009
Consumers are cutting back on just about everything right now, but some items—paper towels and diapers, for instance—will always be musts. That said, recession-conscious shoppers won’t part with their money unless there’s a promise of value. It’s a dynamic that David Miller Gomez-Giron, Procter & Gamble’s associate marketing director, sees in action every day. Gomez-Giron—who oversees multicultural marketing for Bounty, Charmin and Pampers—has his sights trained on the Hispanic shopper. And for good reason. Not only is the demo huge (46.9 million), but it also responds especially well to quality/value messages.
Why Do U.K. Videos Always Seem to Go Viral?
Aug 17, 2009
For more than five months, a minute-long clip featuring a pair of children gyrating their eyebrows to the old-school hip-hop hit "Don't Stop the Rock" has been one of the most popular videos around, racking up millions of views around the internet. Made by Fallon, London, for Cadbury, "Eyebrow Dance" is one of several odd, soft-selling commercial creations from this side of the Atlantic Ocean now dominating Advertising Age's Viral Video Chart. Its wild popularity, along with that of T-Mobile's "Dance," Evian's "Rollerbabies" and Samsung's LED Sheep, begs the question: What makes U.K. ads so infectious?
Four New Marketing Realities To Live By
Aug 17, 2009
When it comes to this recession, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer says it best: "Maybe we should think of today as normal ... as opposed [to] today as the tough times, and yesterday as normal." The pre-2007 economy is gone for years, and some elements might be gone for good. And that means that marketers must adapt to four new, here-to-stay realities.
It’s Broadway Gone Viral, With a Musical Meted Out via Twitter
Aug 17, 2009
At a recent performance of “Next to Normal,” the Broadway musical at the Booth Theater on West 45th Street, Alice Ripley, who won a Tony for her portrayal of Diana, a suburban mother with bipolar disorder, was reaching to answer a cordless telephone when she knocked it off the stage. Fourth wall broken, Ms. Ripley asked, with a smile, “Could you hand that to me?” Audience members were suddenly on all fours, but when they could not find the prop, a woman in the front row held up her cellphone, which Ms. Ripley accepted and spoke her lines into before tossing it back, to laughter and applause.
How CMOs Can Help End the Recession
Aug 15, 2009
There are as many opinions about what got us into economic trouble as there are pundits in the world. Most blame the economic debacle on Wall Street, poor regulatory oversight or aggressive no-money-down mortgage lenders. However, what remains overlooked in the financial blame game is not a particular of "who," but "what."
Marketing's Drift Away from Media
Aug 15, 2009
This is going to be a column that focuses on a terrible, tooth-hurting phrase, for which I apologize in advance. But there's no way around it. The phrase is "below the line," as it applies to marketing. It refers, generally, to all forms of marketing that do not involve advertising in specific media. "Below the line" is not Web advertising. It is things such as in-store events, guerrilla stunts that drum up media coverage, and company-built Web sites. A pop-up—a temporary store—showcasing a newish product in a heavily trafficked area? A (very au courant) below-the-line move.
The Promise of Private-label Media
Aug 15, 2009
Just about every company has a Web site. But today, many marketers are going further. They are transforming their digital presence into powerful media channels, direct to consumers. The practice is prevalent enough that, as the research firm Outsell Inc. reported in July 2008, about 62 percent of marketers’ online advertising and marketing budgets are spent on their own digital media, up from 58 percent in 2007. These marketers recognize that with the right mix of content, utility, community, and product, they can create compelling premium experiences for consumers. And they see that these efforts deliver powerful benefits in branding, relationship building, and lead generation.
The Ascent of Earned Media
Aug 14, 2009
Brands and marketers are rapidly leaving the orbit of "paid media" dominance and entering the gravitational pull of the age of "earned" and "social media."
CMOs Optimistic, But Still Tight-Fisted
Aug 14, 2009
CMOs are feeling better about the economy, but they're not about to spend more on traditional advertising. Such marketers expect an increase in customer activity over the next year, and to shift more dollars toward Internet marketing, per a study released this week by Duke University's Fuqua School of Business in conjunction with the American Marketing Association. Don't expect a surge in offline ad revenue to follow suit—such adverting is expected to fall 8 percent.
Indirect Influencers and Purchase Decisions
Aug 12, 2009
A company has multiple constituencies when it offers the same product to different market segments. Why is this an important discipline in Marketing? Often times, your direct buyer is not the most important influencer. Children, doctors, relatives and social referential leaders often assume major positions in the purchasing decision. As a result, it is important to understand these indirect customers and influencers and integrate this understanding into marketing strategy.
Is Television Over?
Aug 11, 2009
If you love to hate ads, you might enjoy two new books that train their sights on modern marketing. The first makes the case that advertising as we know it is about to be obliterated. The second suggests that we should all dance a gleeful polka on its grave.
How Digital PR Turned Adidas' Soccer Videos Into Viral Hits
Aug 11, 2009
"I love her, she's clean," says Juan Román Riquelme while kissing a soccer ball in a viral video Buenos Aires' digital agency Brandigital made for Adidas. In it, he "hace jueguito" (plays with the ball to show his skills), while being shot at with paintballs. Why did Riquelme -- one of Argentina's most acclaimed and controversial football players -- talk about the ball being clean? Well, "clean" in Argentine slang means untouched and unstained in its honor. And "the ball must not be stained" were Diego Maradona's parting words the days he officially retired as a player.
Why Now Is Not the Time to Cut Costs
Aug 11, 2009
The deep recession and financial meltdown we are experiencing have put consumer-goods marketers into an enterprise-threatening economic environment. How long it will last, of course, is anyone's guess. As we well know, a market for a product must meet three conditions before consumer spending occurs. First, there must be a need or want in the consumer's mind. Marketers are trained to stimulate existing wants and create new ones.
What G Isn't Is a Sales Success
Aug 10, 2009
Gatorade maintains that "What is G?" is right on track, despite plummeting sales, consumer confusion and reports that creative is back on the drawing board. PepsiCo restaged its iconic Gatorade brand earlier this year. According to Beverage Digest, Gatorade's volume plummeted 18% in the first half of 2009, when the effort, from TBWA/Chiat/Day, Los Angeles, asked and then answered "What is G?"
What Next for the CMO?
Aug 10, 2009
In the U.S., the average tenure for a CMO is roughly 23 months. In the U.K., it is even shorter. Al Ries states over at AdAge that of all the firms in the Fortune 1000, only 7% of the most highly paid executives have marketing in their job title, and only 15% of those same firms even have a senior level marketing position, such as CMO.
Getting Personal With Mobile Marketing Can Boost Sales, Loyalty
Aug 10, 2009
For small children, there are few life changes bigger than learning how to use the toilet. It's a time when both tots and their parents can be in need of a little positive reinforcement and a morale boost. Kimberly-Clark's Huggies brand is trying to help, and engender loyalty at the same time, with an ambitious 3-week-old program that uses the mobile phone -- and points to where mobile marketing may be headed.
Active Listening on the Social Web; It’s Overrated
Aug 7, 2009
Wikipedia tells us that active listening is an intent to “listen for meaning”. Others suggest that active listening should “focus on who you are listening to, whether in a group or one-on-one, in order to understand what he or she is saying.” These are excellent definitions. But as it relates to customer interactions on the social web, active listening is only one half of the equation.
When Tactics Drown Out Strategy
Aug 7, 2009
New media creates a blizzard of tactical opportunities for marketers, and many of them cost nothing but time, which means you don't need as much approval and support to launch them. As a result, marketers are like kids at Rita's candy shoppe, gazing at all the pretty opportunities.
Father of Flash Mobs on the Future of Viral
Aug 6, 2009
As the provocateur behind the Great Flash Mob Craze of 2003, Bill Wasik knows first-hand how quickly stories (trivial or otherwise) can flare up in the wired world, get fanned by the media, and then quickly fizzle. Making way, of course, for another ephemeral story that seems urgent at the time.
Focus Groups: It's Like Saying the F-Word to Creatives
Aug 6, 2009
I have always had a deep respect for and synergistic relationship with marketing. I understand the importance of strategic positioning and believe good design is informed design. I love diving deep into the customer demographic, walking a mile in the prospective buyer's shoes, and listening intently to the salesperson's insight. But there is one thing that I find to be not only a waste of time but a buzzkill to the creative process: the focus group.
Are You Talking to Me?
Aug 6, 2009
I’ve been spending a fair amount of time touring the world in support of my ideas and thoughts on the direction of new PR, branding, service, and marketing communications. My reward and inspiration to continue is sourced from each person I meet and the experiences and challenges they share. I’ve learned that our greatest hindrance to evolve is not our unwillingness to do so, our indoctrination in new media and communications is truly obstructed by the executives to whom we report and serve.
NFL Teams With Procter & Gamble In a Play for New Kinds of Sponsors
Aug 5, 2009
The National Football League has an official drink and an official wireless headset. Now, in a sign of how far sports leagues will go to find revenue in the recession, it has official toiletries. The NFL, the biggest U.S. sports league by revenue, on Wednesday will announce a sponsorship deal with Procter & Gamble Co., maker of everyday household items such as soaps and shampoos. The multi-year pact, which P&G says is the costliest in its history, lets it slap a newly designed "Official Locker Room Product of the NFL" label on products including Old Spice deodorant and Head & Shoulders dandruff shampoo.
Don't Underestimate Chinese Marketers
Aug 5, 2009
Greetings from the wonderful, if rather wet, city of Shanghai. About seven years ago I signed on with a big multi-national to train its marketing teams here in China. To be honest, when I started running the program I had little idea what to expect. Now, however, many years later, China exerts a strong pull over me.
Mass Media Crisis Is Marketers' Crisis, Too
Aug 5, 2009
By undermining the financial viability of traditional media, marketers are jeopardizing the only viable means currently available for reaching mass audiences. That's the core premise of "The CMO's Dilemma: Can You Reach the Masses Without Mass Media?," a new white paper co-authored by John Rose and Neal Zuckerman of The Boston Consulting Group. Rose and Zuckerman argue that it's critical that marketers, agencies and media companies start addressing the issues surrounding this dilemma together.
Don't Forget the 4 M's...
Aug 4, 2009
Its relatively easy with all the tools and metrics available in today's marketing landscape to find yourself lost in the shuffle. Many marketers lose sight of their goals and find it hard to craft strategies that will actually produce results. Even experienced marketers resort to "wait and see" approaches when trying to jumpstart a campaign and then wonder why they are falling short.
Don't Keep Up With Social Technology
Aug 4, 2009
"It seems like there is always another social network to join or another tool I'm supposed to learn. How can I keep up?" At every talk I give, somebody asks this question. Here's the answer: you can't.
How Bob Lutz Plans to Recapture America's Attention
Aug 3, 2009
If six months from now, "GM ads look the same as they did six months ago," said Bob Lutz, "then somebody really needs to ask, 'Why is Lutz here?'" The 77-year-old vice chairman and chief marketer of General Motors wants to "recapture the attention of the American public" and to achieve that, he told Automotive News, he's looking toward more product-driven advertising in which designers will have a greater hand, and he will rely more on PR and viral marketing.
The New Digital Divide
Jul 31, 2009
After participating in a Digital Brand Think Tank in Munich a couple of weeks ago (a lively discussion with 20 marketing executives from Audi, BMW, Google, Continental, and other top-tier brands), I must admit that I’m a bit tired of having to evangelize (or even justify) the value of brands using social media. It is astonishing to me that companies still ask for evidence when the tweet is on the wall. The event showed that there is a new Digital Divide that cuts straight through the ranks of the marketing industry--some executives get the Social Web, some don’t. No one has figured it out yet. Most would admit that they need to catch up and keep learning.
The Next Chapter in Interactive Storytelling
Jul 31, 2009
Launched last month under their Puffin label, We Make Stories is the latest in a long line of digital publishing innovations masterminded by Jeremy Ettinghausen, Penguin’s Digital Publisher. This is the second piece we’ve done in recent months looking at the publishing industry as a whole. Back in May we wrote about the transformational change going on at TMG in the UK (also check out the ever brilliant Nieman Lab for a far deeper examination of journalism in this respect). Why are we so interested in what’s going on here? In short, we’re witnessing a radical re-shaping of an industry we believe we can learn a lot from. An industry which - aside from its sheer cultural importance in the first place - has been experimenting with new creative & organisational solutions for some time now.
The Problem of Promoting You, Your Cause, Your Business with Social Media
Jul 31, 2009
If your company wants to know the philosophical basis of social media, many resources indicate it rests in the notion that consumers grew tired of advertising and marketing messages all day, every day. They turned to the Internet in the late 1990s and early 2000s when the access and technology barriers to entry conveniently dropped. There, they found like-minded others to share recommendations and information with.
Social Network Marketing: What Works?
Jul 31, 2009
When marketers want to reach users of social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, or Cyworld, they have two choices: buy advertising or start a viral campaign. New research by Harvard Business School professor Sunil Gupta suggests that viral may be the way to go in these connected worlds. But first it's important to understand both who influences purchase decisions in online communities and which groups of users can be influenced.
Chinese Marketers Tackle Global Expansion
Jul 30, 2009
The global recession has turned cash-hungry Western companies into takeover targets for Chinese marketers, and foreign countries into tempting new markets for Chinese brands and retail stores. Chinese companies haven't been hit to the same extent by the economic crisis as those in the U.S. and other major countries.
Why Should GM Give Marketing Any Respect?
Jul 30, 2009
My ex-partner Al Ries and I rarely disagree, but we do part company on his column titled "GM's Lutz Appointment Shows No Respect for Marketing." In my estimation this move supports what Dave Packard of Hewlett-Packard once said: "Marketing is too important to be left to the marketing people."
Reason vs. Emotion in Branding
Jul 30, 2009
On Monday, Roger Dooley posted a short piece on his Neuromarketing blog titled, "Emotional Ads Work Best." Citing an analysis of data regarding successful ad campaigns referenced in the book Brand Immortality by Pringle and Field, Dooley states the following: "Campaigns with purely emotional content performed about twice as well (31% vs. 16%) with only rational content, and those that were purely emotional did a little better (31% vs 26%) those that mixed emotional and rational content."
15 Years
Jul 29, 2009
I just re-read The Economist's "Future Tense: The Global CMO" survey from late last year. And I'm not encouraged that there's even a future for the job description. The report reflected results from a survey of 250+ senior marketing execs around the world, so it's far more of a snapshot of the present than an insight into what the future might reveal. EIU.com normally studies countries and other substantive subjects; this report was sponsored by Google, which has an obvious interest in what CMOs think they're supposed to be doing.
How Verizon, Campbell Soup, Scotts Find Value on Air
Jul 29, 2009
Radio companies, like all media companies, are under more pressure than ever to prove their medium's value to marketers. But when three brands opened up their strategies to radio executives at the Advertising Research Foundation's Audio Council in New York, the industry got an insightful look as to what else marketers are looking for from radio.
GM's Appointment of Lutz Shows No Respect for Marketing
Jul 28, 2009
General Motors' new advertising and marketing czar is Bob Lutz, who until April of this year headed global product development. According to CEO Fritz Henderson: "Bob's responsibilities beyond creative design will include brands, marketing, advertising and communications." (I can visualize Bob at his first meeting with one of GM's agencies: "I'm not a marketing expert, but I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night.")
Reaching Today's Active Seniors
Jul 27, 2009
Stick around for seven or more decades and you're apt to become the focal point of some stereotypes before you're done. In the case of today's 65-and-older consumers, though, the problem is that the stereotypes of frail-and-lonely ancients are more creaky than the people to whom they're applied. And it doesn't help matters that baby boomers talk loudly about being poised to transform the nature of old age, as if it has heretofore been unchanged dating back to the Stone Age. Looking at some survey data on 65-plusers, and hearing from people professionally engaged in understanding and marketing to this cohort, we get a clearer picture of how older Americans see themselves and the advertising that's aimed (or, often, misaimed) at them.
Is Augmented Reality the Next Big Thing?
Jul 27, 2009
Until recently, augmented reality existed mainly in movies like The Minority Report and computer science labs at universities, where technologists grappled with comically clunky headgear. Now, however, several new Web and mobile applications are changing minds and helping to bring AR into the mainstream.
Marketing Takes a Beating in Beltway
Jul 27, 2009
As if the recession pummeling the industry wasn't enough, the business is starting to feel besieged by the Beltway. There are efforts to strip the $4.7 billion direct-to-consumer-drug category of its tax deductibility; congressional concern over consumer tracking on the internet, endangering the $23.4 billion online-ad market; Food and Drug Administration scrutiny of such household names as Cheerios and Tylenol; proposed guidelines from the Federal Trade Commission seeking disclosure for paid blog posts, even tweets; and, of course, the federal government's strong hand in setting -- and sitting on -- ad budgets at Chrysler and General Motors. With a new Congress and an administration seeking funding for health care and other programs, marketing has become an unpopular and easy target ripe for regulation and shakedown to fund the federal piggy bank.
Creating Competitive Advantage Through Sustainability
Jul 23, 2009
I just published a post on Triple Pundit that fleshes out the market-facing aspects of a model I’ve been working on with The FairRidge Group. Called the Sustainability Management Maturity Model (SM3), it’s a tool to help businesses assess their readiness to address business sustainability challenges and opportunities. The internal management components were outlined last month on Triple Pundit – Strategy, Organization, Process, Measurement and People – which all relate to an inside-out perspective of the business.
Five Essential E's Are Key To Success
Jul 23, 2009
As everyone knows, reassessed advertising, media, and promotion budgets have become the norm in today's economic climate. Still, smart marketers remain under tremendous pressure to continue to grow market share while improving bottom-line results and quantitative building of their brands.
Marketers, Public Disagree About Twitter
Jul 22, 2009
The advertising world is all atwitter about Twitter. A majority of the public at large, by contrast, hasn't even gotten sufficiently interested in Twitter to have a disparaging opinion about it. These contrasting views emerge from a dual-audience LinkedIn Research Network/Harris Poll conducted last month.
Luxury Marketers Get Personal
Jul 22, 2009
Companies are hosting intimate gatherings to woo high-end customers.
Viralsourcing: Let Crowds Create Your Ad Message
Jul 21, 2009
Not only are fans spreading the word about products—they're now helping to design and build marketing campaigns from the get-go.
Walmart Browbeats Marketers for Bigger Slice of Their Ad Budgets
Jul 20, 2009
Walmart has launched an aggressive push to have marketers divert their consumer media and marketing budgets into the giant retailer's growing ad budget and in-store marketing programs, using a simultaneous push to clear underperforming brands off its shelves as extra leverage.
5 Areas of Integration to Go From Customer Conversation to Conversion
Jul 20, 2009
I've been thinking about the integration challenge with social media. Advertising, marketing, and public relations need to work together - and in this environment, they need to put the customer is the driver's seat. I'm sure you'll find reason to build on the analogy or help me rebuild it.
How Future Social Networks Will Transform Marketing
Jul 20, 2009
In a recent white paper, "The Future of the Social Web," Forrester's Jeremiah Owyang predicts the social web will soon morph through five stages, wreaking havoc on the way brands market. Owyang states: "Today's social experience is disjointed because consumers have separate identities in each social network they visit. A simple set of technologies that enable a portable identity will soon empower consumers to bring their identities with them ... IDs are just the beginning of this transformation ... Consumers will rely on their peers as they make online decisions, whether or not brands choose to participate. "
Dashboards
Jul 20, 2009
Your users, employees, consumers and donors are obsessed with data now. Are you helping them solve their knowledge problem? Years ago, I had an automatic transmission car with a tachometer. Why I needed to know my RPMs when I couldn't do a thing about it is beyond me.
Social Media: Are You in Danger of Being Scalejacked?
Jul 17, 2009
In the world of social media, scale is everything. Media darlings Twitter and Facebook boast, what, 30 sextillion members? It's enough to cause marketers to practically foam at the mouth.
Reverb: The Real Secret to Marketing With Social Media
Jul 17, 2009
A reverb (or reverberation) is typically used to describe sound--or more specifically the instance where a sound continues despite the original source of the sound being removed. If you apply the same idea to social media, a reverb describes the unique fact that every action in social media is not just done, but is also broadcast across a particular individual's social graph online.
Once-Trendy Crocs Could Be on Their Last Legs
Jul 16, 2009
Crocs were born of the economic boom. The colorful foam clogs appeared in 2002, just as the country was recovering from a recession. Brash and bright, they were a cheap investment (about $30) that felt good and promised to last forever. Then the boom times went bust, and Crocs went to the back of the closet.
You Think ‘Free’ is Only About the Price? It’s Not.
Jul 16, 2009
Time and time again I see the discussion about free content, free services, free products, and how they’re going to liberate/destroy/change the current economy, especially when it comes to the Internet. Often, one important point is neglected. When it comes to free, it’s not the price that’s crucial.
Creating Buzz: It's the Message AND the Medium
Jul 16, 2009
I was delighted to be the email advocate on a panel on “Creating an Environment for Viral Marketing Success,” moderated by entrepreneur and author Guy Kawasaki last Thursday. It was a virtual complement to the SmartBrief Buzz2009 event, held in Washington DC with more than 80 association executives.
How to Grow Your Business When Everything Else Is Shrinking
Jul 16, 2009
Budgets continue to be slashed. Brands are disappearing. Media is getting more fragmented. The only thing getting bigger is our federal deficit. So as a marketer, how do you capitalize on a world that is getting smaller in so many respects?
In Argentina, Pepsi Becomes 'Pecsi'
Jul 16, 2009
When speaking Spanish, especially with an Argentine accent, people tend to say "Pecsi" instead of Pepsi. They have said it like this for years, and Pepsi has responded by launching a campaign changing the second P to a C, believed to be the first such change for the venerable brand.
Cellphones: The New Billboards
Jul 16, 2009
Ad-weary Internet users may have trained their eyes to ignore banner ads, but on an otherwise uncluttered mobile phone screen the ads are harder to ignore. That's the thinking behind SAP's new mobile marketing campaign, which it launched in mid-June along with related online and print ads.
Marketing, Memory and the Mind
Jul 16, 2009
Marketing people, and the minds of the people they are trying to influence, are often in conflict. Unfortunately, these arguments are being presented to minds that really aren’t up to dealing with all that glorious information. Our perceptions are selective. And our memory is highly selective. We are cursed with the physiological limitation of not being able to process an infinite amount of stimuli. This means that in a crowded category, your difference might not be enough unless it is a dramatic difference.
Framing of Cause Critical to Consumers
Jul 15, 2009
With Cause-Related Marketing (CRM) growing increasingly more popular as Fortune 500 companies "go green" and try to be socially responsible, advertisers and marketers should be aware that the "framing" or presentation of the cause is critical to consumers. People are more willing to purchase products and support causes that have an immediate or short-term benefit to a non-profit than a future or long-term benefit.
Chipotle Makes Most Of Sustainability Spotlight
Jul 15, 2009
Chipotle Mexican Grill is adding to its already considerable momentum by maximizing the visibility of its sustainable food source practices at a time when food safety has never been more on Americans' minds.
Commercials On The Go
Jul 15, 2009
Michael Jackson's memorial service drew a surprising number of eyes to TV sets July 7. Even more surprising was the number of people who watched the farewell on their phones--nearly 1 million.
Looking for Financial Relief in Tough Times? Try Brand Licensing
Jul 15, 2009
In these difficult economic times, chief marketing officers seeking to help their companies grow revenue and remain viable in an unstable market need to pull out all the stops. One often overlooked and underused yet highly effective tool is brand licensing. Brand licensing can help provide some real financial relief during tough times and help marketers replenish and energize their brands, positioning them for even greater success when the economic engine starts whirring again and we start using the word "upturn" instead of "downturn."
What McDonald's, HP, Virgin America, and Walmart Have in Common
Jul 14, 2009
People ask me all the time about the success of McDonalds, HP, Virgin America, and Walmart with new products and services, and their ongoing buzz. For me one key factor is the strength of their marketing leadership and the fact that their CMOs have an active seat at the C-Level table.
Auto News: Lutz Promises Drastic Changes in GM Marketing
Jul 14, 2009
General Motors Vice Chairman Bob Lutz says one of the first things he plans to do as the new head of marketing is make "drastic" changes in the "tone and content" of all of GM's advertising, according to Automotive News.
How LendingTree Plans to Rebrand in Tough Environment for Financial Cos.
Jul 14, 2009
Online lending pioneer LendingTree has weathered a tough couple of years in the mortgage and real-estate industry. But now the business, whose parent Tree.com spun off from IAC last year, is gearing up for a rebrand and a renewed marketing effort.
Approval by a Blogger May Please a Sponsor
Jul 14, 2009
Colleen Padilla, a 33-year-old mother of two who lives in suburban Philadelphia, has reviewed nearly 1,500 products, including baby clothes, microwave dinners and the Nintendo Wii, on her popular Web site Classymommy.com. Her site attracts 60,000 unique visitors every month, and Ms. Padilla attracts something else: free items from companies eager to promote their products to her readers.
Why Strategy Is Like Sailboat Racing
Jul 13, 2009
Sailboat races almost always start into the wind. Much like a business strategy, boats are forced to pick a side or stay close to the center of the course by tacking back and forth since it is impossible to sail directly into the wind. The first leg of the race is critical since it quickly separates the good boats from the weaker ones.
What's Your Brand's Social Score?
Jul 13, 2009
For many marketers, the Net Promoter Score has been an easy-to-understand, simple-to-measure metric of business health, used in everything from customer service to investor calls. Now, some wonder, can it be replicated in social media?
Differentiation Takes Place in the Mind
Jul 13, 2009
While the mind may still be a mystery, we know one thing about it that is for certain—it’s under attack. Most Western societies have become totally ‘‘overcommunicated.’’ The explosion of media forms, and the ensuing increase in the volume of communications, has dramatically affected the way people either take in or ignore the information offered to them.
Would You Nickel-And-Dime A Friend?
Jul 10, 2009
Your neighborhood video store. Your cell phone carrier. Your credit card company. The airline you flew last week. What do all these companies have in common? Two things, really. One is that these categories generally score quite low on customer satisfaction surveys. The other is that companies in these categories have become notorious for nickel-and-diming customers.
True Efficiency Requires More Than Cutting Costs
Jul 10, 2009
The pressure to cut costs is stronger than ever, leading more and more marketing organizations, both advertiser and agency, to talk about how to reconfigure their marketing processes with one goal in mind: reducing costs. Typically the cuts focus on cutting the marketing/media budget, headcount and nonessential expenses by a certain percentage. Instead, companies and agencies need to take a close look at how their marketing organizations are structured as well as their processes for getting things done.
Marketing On Higher Ground
Jul 10, 2009
With teens now spending more than 31 hours a week online, it's clear where marketers need to be to tap into this demographic. Last year, 93% of teens were hanging out online, but not just "hanging out"; they are actively participating, collaborating and sharing with each other.
Twitter Campaigns: A Cautionary Tale for Marketers
Jul 9, 2009
Marketers looking to leverage Twitter beware: The company will only let you rig the system so much, as one brand recently discovered. Moonfruit, a U.K.-based company that offers free Web site building tools, saw a great opportunity to raise brand awareness on Twitter. The company last week kicked off a sweepstakes, giving away 10 MacBook Pro computers to Twitter users that include the #moonfruit tag in their tweets. (The sweepstakes ended on July 7.) The campaign worked, maybe too well. The hashtag #moonfruit was Twitter's top trending topic for several days, with more than 250 tweets a minute.
The Decline of Traditional Advertising and the Rise of Social Media
Jul 9, 2009
Forrester Research released its five year forecast that estimates interactive marketing spending from 2009 – 2014. Forrester predicts that interactive marketing in the US will near $55 billion and represent 21% of all marketing spend by 2014 and will include search marketing, display advertising, email marketing, social media, and mobile marketing. More significantly however, overall advertising in traditional media will continue to decline in favor of less expensive, more effective interactive tools and services.
When It Comes To Packaging, Less Is More
Jul 8, 2009
Consumer product companies have been cutting down on extraneous packaging for good reasons. The rise in raw material, energy, manufacturing and transportation costs, coupled with the rise in consumers' environmental consciousness all play a part in reducing packaging.
Marketers Would Do Well To Target Boomer Men
Jul 8, 2009
While trying to manage the recession, marketers -- particularly those with health and wellness, technology or financial products -- may want to look at targeting male Baby Boomers.
Relationships are a Choice in Marketing
Jul 8, 2009
You don’t have to build relationships to sell things. McDonalds is sinking over $100 Million USD into their McCafe program, because they expect sales of those products to account for $1 Billion in sales. Do you think they give a rat’s anus about getting to know me? Not at all. Will their efforts work? I’m guessing yes. Even if they miss that Billion mark, it will be a pretty decent ROI in the end for their efforts. (We like coffee.)
100 Thoughts on Marketing
Jul 8, 2009
Leo Babauta has written the perfect post for some of the thoughts I've been having about marketing, social media and the age of the customer. In it, he encourages us to be lusting for life, not stuff. I couldn't agree more. I find that the more I know myself, the more refined and specific grows my taste on wines, food and yes, stuff - like jewelry, clothing, cars, even vacations.
The Business Value of Sports
Jul 8, 2009
It's interesting to me that marketers are cutting back on their investment in sports during this economic downturn. Putting aside some of the political elements that influence certain of those decisions, I can't understand why cutting one's investment in sports is a smarter choice than curtailing the use of other marketing elements, where the results are less tangible, less targeted, and providing lower ROI.
Reinventing Marketing: 'Mad Sheep Rage'
Jul 7, 2009
Mad Sheep Rage. There - what a satisfying way to introduce a new column. No, I'm not nuts. Mad Sheep Rage is an acronym you might find useful. But first, let's get some perspective from another world where an important debate is raging.
The Confusion
Jul 6, 2009
We frequently confuse internal biochemistry (caused by habits and genetics) with external events. If we didn't, marketing wouldn't work nearly as well. Our brains are busy processing chemicals that internally change our moods, but find a way to rationalize those mood changes based on events and purchases in the outside world. We often act as though money can buy joy, but of course, it works better when we're joyful in the first place.
The Male Version of Customer Loyalty
Jul 6, 2009
A paper recently published in the Journal of Marketing reassesses the conventional wisdom that women are more loyal customers than men. In fact, the study finds, women are more loyal than men to individual service providers, like hairdressers. But men exhibit more loyalty to groups and companies, like barbershops.
Why the Court's Decision on Virtual DVRs Matters to Marketers
Jul 2, 2009
The U.S. Supreme Court decided on Monday to let stand a ruling that Cablevision can go forward with its virtual DVR product. Let me explain what this is and what it means for marketers.
Right Place, Right Time - Free
Jul 2, 2009
One of the things that you probably learned by hanging out with me here at Conversation Agent is that I tend to bring together a lot of ideas in a short space, show you how those ideas are connected, and why you need to care. But, here's the thing, you care only if I catch you in the right frame of mind, if when you're reading this post you wrestle with the very same thoughts.
How Many Facebook Users Will Go Public?
Jul 2, 2009
Marketers trying to horn in on the conversations happening on the Web are paying closer attention to what many consider the ultimate prize: Facebook's user profiles.
It's My PR Story (And I'm Stickin' To It)
Jul 1, 2009
A pinch and a punch for the first of the month and then an introduction. Some of you will recall reading a short piece from me last month called "Journalism Rocks," making a case for why journalistic content should not always be free. Today, I'm back again and will be every other week, with a column that examines all things PR. Yep, public relations -- also known as image management, spin, publicity, and hype.
Email and Social Media- 7 Tips for Getting the Most out of Your Campaigns
Jul 1, 2009
Recent news stories about Social Media being bigger than email as well as the recent beta release of Google Wave have made marketers rethink their email strategies, but should we really be moving our email efforts to social media? And if not, should they be kept apart, or can they truly work in unison?
Beam Marketing Chief on Making His Brands Heard
Jun 30, 2009
When Rory Finlay took over as senior VP-chief marketing officer of Beam Global Spirits & Wine in early 2007, he faced a daunting challenge. Beam, the world's No. 4 spirits player, boasted iconic brands such as Jim Beam, Sauza, Maker's Mark and Canadian Club, but it lacked the budget to go ad-for-ad with its much larger competitors Diageo, Pernod Ricard and Bacardi.
Forget Twitter; Your Best Marketing Tool Is the Humble Product Review
Jun 30, 2009
Last fall, executives from Oriental Trading Co. read a product review from a woman planning her autumn wedding complaining that her order of fall leaves didn't look anything like the picture on the website. The execs went straight to the warehouse, pulled the product and compared for themselves. She was right -- it didn't look the same. The explanation: The company had recently switched vendors for that particular product, and the new vendor's version wasn't up to snuff. So the company pulled it.
Unilever, Walmart, P&G Buck the Short-Term Trend
Jun 30, 2009
It's been said over and over: There's no time like recession, when competitors are retreating, to ramp up innovation and marketing to grab share.
It's Time for a Movement Toward 'Slow Marketing'
Jun 30, 2009
Are we overdue for a "slow-marketing" movement? After all, the "slow foods" movement is making real headway, and there's the much-needed "slow-parenting" movement. Why should marketing be exempt?
How to Make Your Employees the Voice of Your Brand Online
Jun 29, 2009
While many marketers are starting to understand that their employees can be their greatest asset, one small barbecue chain has taken it to an entirely new level. Smokey Bones, a 68-unit franchise concentrated in Florida and on the Eastern seaboard, has given some of its employees second jobs -- as its social marketers.
Marketing Must Take Its Share of Blame for the Economic Crisis
Jun 29, 2009
Why are so many of our major industries in trouble, beyond the current economic meltdown? Al Ries and I recently wondered why marketing wasn't being blamed for its share of the problem.
Digital Marketing and the New Push / Pull Dynamic
Jun 29, 2009
Consumers are bombarded with more messages than ever before. Refining and clarifying your target segment is becoming evermore important as mass-messages are falling upon deaf ears. Specific, tailored and relevant messages, combined with consumer engagement and empowerment are elemental in the new marketing era. Less and less are market leaders dictating consumer needs through “push” advertising. By way of digital networking and publishing tools, consumers are creating consumer needs. To identify the key forces driving this marketing shift, we synthesized insights from over 40 industry professionals.
Demographics, Psychographics… Autographics?
Jun 26, 2009
I’ve recently delved into Habit, by Neale Martin. Every once in a while you come across the right book at the right time - a perfect confluence of ideas. Just the right perspective for a problem you’re working on.
How Sharpie Is Staying Loyal to Print While Getting Into Social Media
Jun 26, 2009
Talk to Sally Grimes and you'll quickly realize that to her, the Sharpie is more than just another marker. "It's about self-expression," she says, it's about art, creativity. And she is hoping the brand's new campaign gets that point across.
How Do You Do Word of Mouth Marketing?
Jun 25, 2009
This question came from a very nice woman I met at a cookout who was starting a company that specialized in home veterinary visits. It’s such an interesting question and there are a lot of different ways to answer it. You could focus on the tactics of word of mouth marketing, or talk about social media but I think what gets lost is what makes people talk about your product or service in the first place. For people to talk about you in an authentic way you have to give them a reason, and that reason should be how much they loved using your product or service.
Why Google & Virgin America's Online Scavenger Hunt Campaign Rocked
Jun 25, 2009
Google Apps partnered with Virgin America to launch a unique campaign where they invited people taking Virgin America flights all day, as well as those sitting on computers at home or work to participate in an online scavenger hunt for clues to answer questions they would pose at you on a website called "Day In The Clouds." The scavenger hunt offered questions requiring you to use many different Google apps and online tools to find the answers, and integrated with Virgin America both for some questions as well as by offering free WiFi to any passenger on one of their flights today.
Edelman's Mom-Blog Maven: We Don't Do Paid-For Posts
Jun 25, 2009
As Edelman Chicago's senior VP for consumer brands social media, Danielle Wiley's job is to establish and manage 2.0 digital practices and strategies for the agency. The mother of two came to Edelman's attention as a result of the Foodmomiac blog she launched in 2005. She now heads an in-house team of four that spends much of its time researching, recruiting and managing bloggers for various brands' marketing campaigns.
They Are Almost Green
Jun 25, 2009
To say that teens are leading the green movement is not only untrue but unrealistic as well. Even though they and their Millennial siblings are known to be the most environmentally educated generation, they're not assertively taking action on their knowledge. When it comes to brand involvement in green issues, however, they have a nuanced view.
Did Habitat Use Iran Conflict to Attract Twitterers?
Jun 25, 2009
U.K. furniture retailer Habitat has sparked consumer backlash and negative publicity for using the unrest in Iran to drive Twitterers to its website. Keywords -- called hashtags -- such as "Iran" and "Mousavi" were added to Habitat's Twitter messages so that people using those search terms would be driven to view the retailer's online offers. One of the inappropriate tweets read, "HabitatUK: #MOUSAVI Join the database for free to win a £1000 gift card."
Urban Lifestyle Demographic: Walking Through Colorblind Corridors With the '80s Babies
Jun 25, 2009
If today's youth are truly a colorblind demographic, how does that influence the way brands should market to them?
Case Study: How Search Ads Helped Pier 1 Stay Afloat
Jun 25, 2009
The marketing team at Pier 1 Imports chose a challenging time to launch a new campaign. Bank of America had just gobbled up Merrill Lynch, several of the nation’s largest investment firms had buckled down and were receiving TARP money, and in the midst of it all, panic-stricken consumers just weren’t buying.
Frugality And Social Status Trump Altruism
Jun 25, 2009
Green may be the new black, but not for the reasons you might expect. "Colorblind," a cross-industry, cross-country study of consumers' "green" attitudes and behaviors conducted by Communispace Corporation in partnership with Design Continuum, reveals that there are many reasons people do (and don't) engage in sustainable practices themselves or favor brands that do.
Online Ad Lessons Learned: Creativity and Content Matter
Jun 25, 2009
At this point, I don't need to lament anymore the ailments of the print-newspaper industry. It's a well-chronicled and covered story.
Brand Awareness Was Only Half the Battle for Aflac
Jun 25, 2009
Any CMO who invites L.A.-based rap group Majesty into an insurance company for a performance is clearly trying to shake things up. Indeed, Jeff Charney has made it his mission to infuse new life to a still-misunderstood brand. Mr. Charney, 50, is senior VP-chief marketing officer for Aflac U.S., one of the largest sellers of supplemental insurance which is largely known for its spokesfowl, the Aflac duck.
Beware of Marketing Gurus
Jun 24, 2009
Marketing is possibly the most widely misunderstood business topic in the managerial world today. The problem of marketing ignorance stems not from the difficulty of the topic. After all, marketing at its core is just about as simple as it gets. The problem is that to understand what a concept like marketing means is one thing, to actually apply the marketing principle to your day to day business life is an altogether more difficult challenge.
How Social Media Could Have Saved FlyClear
Jun 24, 2009
This is the sad story of a company that died. Actually, it's more of a question of how it could have been saved. I'm talking about the now defunct FlyClear service run by a company called Verified Identity Pass that launched in nearly 20 airports across the country with a paid service that promised a way to avoid the travel lines at security with a dedicated "VIP" line. The reasons for their demise are relatively easy to understand ... as the number of travellers has reduced, the lines too have reduced and fewer people are seeing the value of paying $99 or more per year to access these special lanes.
5 Reasons Gillette Is The Best A Brand Can Get
Jun 23, 2009
Times are tough for marketers right now. So let me take you away to an oasis of consumer loyalty where huge margins and a ridiculously dominant market share are the norm. Where private label is non-existent and your biggest competitor is your second string product. No, it’s not a fantasy. It’s the alternative marketing universe occupied by Gillette.
Lessons from IBM: Your Community Can be Your Copywriter
Jun 23, 2009
At the excellent MarketingProfs B2B Forum a couple of weeks back, I had the pleasure of attending “Marketing 2.0: Integrating Social Media into Your Marketing Mix” a session hosted by IBM’s Sandy Carter. Carter’s presentation offered a variety of valuable social media insights and strategies on three interesting projects at IBM. The lessons learned from one case study in particular stuck out as worth sharing.
How To Fix A Broken Advertising Industry
Jun 23, 2009
Here's an irrefutable fact: Marketing and advertising agency models are completely broken. With the rise of the Internet and the evolution of new-media offerings--from mobile to social media to word of mouth--client needs have changed. Yet the models of most agencies, built on the traditional foundations of TV, print and radio, have not.
Google Opens Up Digital-Education Portal
Jun 22, 2009
Google has spent a lot of time in the past few years trying to quell fears it's out to disintermediate advertising agencies. Now it's undertaking a major effort trying to educate them on all things digital. Enter AgencyLand. It may sound like an amusement park, but it's actually an online educational portal Google is developing for ad shops, one that likely will help the search giant deeper entrench itself in an ad-agency community that's often been wary of it.
Recession Renders Many Marketers' Databases Useless
Jun 22, 2009
Customer databases, which cull years of spending and behavioral information to try to boost conversion and revenue, have long been a staple for marketers in industries such as travel, hospitality, retail and financial. But what happens when a massive disruption -- say, a meltdown of the economy -- alters consumer behavior so dramatically that it renders historical data useless?
Marketing Warfare Revisited
Jun 21, 2009
Marketing is war my friends. By now most of you have figured that out. And most of you are familiar with Marketing Warfare, a book I wrote with my former partner Al Ries on the strategy and tactics that can and should be implemented on the front lines of marketing. With help from Prussian General Karl von Clausewitz we concluded many things about the battlefield marketers face. Today on Branding Strategy Insider, I offer a brief re-cap on some of the greater points as you head into the fray...
Remote Control Marketing: Don't Interrupt; Interact
Jun 19, 2009
The conventional 30-second television commercial hasn't changed in over 50 years. The time has come. Technology allows us to consume information, news, entertainment and more not only with a mouse click, but with the remote control.
Why CMO Role Is Not as Important as You Think
Jun 19, 2009
As if average 28-month tenures weren't enough of a disincentive for marketers to seek the chief marketing officer hot-seat, a recent assessment of SEC filings of Fortune 1,000 companies suggests that the post remains low on the priority list at many organizations, and CMOs' authority remains limited.
The Need for Simplification Marketing
Jun 19, 2009
There's a problem with the theory of the long-tail: people want choice, but they don't want too many choices. People DO want options so they can indulge their individuality but then 90% or more of the irrelevant options fade away, becoming "out of sight, out of mind". The most dramatic example of what cognitive psychologists call "inattentional blindness" is the gorilla video. The audience is asked to concentrate on how many times six teenagers pass and bounce two basketballs. Shockingly but true, almost no one sees the person in a gorilla suit walking through the video. You are blinded by your attention to counting (try it on your friends).
One Medium PR People Should Buy: Search
Jun 19, 2009
A key distinction between PR and advertising has always been that public relations is earned media rather than paid. But now, just as search engines have revolutionized the way consumers access information, search marketing is evolving public relations.
How Mobile Makes Bricks-and-Mortar Retail Accountable
Jun 18, 2009
Marketers have a love/hate relationship with ROI. It's absolutely necessary, but annoyingly elusive. A brand's return on investment can be quantified with impressions, engagement or time spent, but rarely direct sales. It's not often that a campaign can be linked causally to a sale, especially purchases at bricks-and-mortar stores. Mobile can change that. What online advertising did for e-commerce, mobile marketing can do for traditional commerce: make it measurable.
Six Steps to Valuable Internet Content
Jun 18, 2009
After a decade and a half of evangelisation by the likes of Seth Godin (re his book entitled: Permission Marketing) and those who followed in his footsteps, Marketers are now finally waking up to the idea that pre-formatted communications aren’t the right way to engage with customers.
Best Buy Challenges Walmart on Employee Smarts
Jun 18, 2009
Best Buy is picking up market share, thanks in part to the demise of rival Circuit City. But the electronics giant also has a formidable competitor in Walmart, which has been revamping its electronics departments and stocking more-sophisticated products. Now Best Buy is battling back with a spot that calls out Walmart by name.
How to Reposition a Brand
Jun 17, 2009
Sun Chips is a case study in the making of what can happen when a marketer thinks outside the box, or in this case, the bag. Sun Chips have long been positioned as a slightly healthier alternative, with less salt, fat and other naughty stuff. Most every snack brand tries to make this same claim. So how do you stand out? By deciding to ignore the conventions of typical snack food marketing.
Why Non-Profits Are So Good at Social Media
Jun 17, 2009
Online community and social media are hot areas for business these days, as companies recognize the Internet's potential to deepen customer relationships, share knowledge and strengthen teams. In the nonprofit sector, relationships have always been the key currency: the relationships with the members, donors and supporters that NGOs depend on for volunteer labor, financial support and advocacy muscle.
Seven Predictions About the Future of Advertising
Jun 16, 2009
Let’s start with what we know about media habits, structural changes in advertising practices, and advertising effectiveness.
Results Follow Understanding
Jun 16, 2009
Ask any businessperson what marketing is about and they’ll answer with clichés about satisfying customer needs or “world class” service. Eventually they’ll get around to the 4 Ps, advertising, USPs, viral and social marketing, and a plethora of brand distinctions like: brand promise, brand identity, brand image, brand religion, brand essence, brand personality, and on and on.
Web Is Great Equalizer for Producers and Consumers
Jun 16, 2009
I miss the good ol' days of global brand strategy. It used to be so simple: Develop a single, absolute definition of your brand, then produce content -- mostly TV spots and print -- that was generic enough for local voice-over talent to translate, perhaps augmented with an image or two for local color. What was important was that those absolutes of brand were constant; the delivery component was tactical. "Think global, act local" was the mantra we stole from the world's do-gooders in the 1970s, and it was supposed to save money on production costs while ensuring consistent delivery of our messaging.
What's Off the Table?
Jun 16, 2009
No project is conceived in a vacuum, no decision in isolation and no negotiation with a clean sheet of paper.
New Balance Plays Patriotism Card in New Marketing Push
Jun 16, 2009
The "Made in America" claim is one that's traditionally attracted little interest from American consumers accustomed to purchasing items produced in distant lands. But with unemployment on the rise and the bankruptcy of manufacturing icons General Motors and Chrysler, New Balance is banking on a shift in consumer awareness of and preference for American-made goods.
Quit Thinking Like a Marketer
Jun 15, 2009
Seriously. It’s ruining you. Well, at least sometimes it is. Because when we bring marketing into a relationship, we damage it. As we’ve said before (and we’ll say again), nobody WANTS to be marketed to. So I think it’s really, REALLY important to remember to take off our marketing hats and just be a person thinking about how to relate to other people in a honest, open, transparent way.
Why So Many Media Companies Stumble Globally
Jun 15, 2009
There are plenty of global conglomerates in industries from finance to pharmaceuticals to, of course, advertising. But running a global news business requires a tricky combination of international brand appeal, regional relevance and subject expertise that both travels and translates.
Walmart, P&G, Unilever Learn from Their Mistakes
Jun 15, 2009
Paul Polman is the only senior executive to have worked at each of the three biggest consumer-product marketers on Earth in the past five years -- Procter & Gamble Co., Nestlé and Unilever. As such, he's seen a variety of takes on how to run global marketing, and his unique perspective is this: No single solution will work universally, even within the same company.
On Web and iPhone, a Tool to Aid Careful Shopping
Jun 15, 2009
GoodGuide, a Web site and iPhone application that lets consumers dig past the package’s marketing spiel by entering a product’s name and discovering its health, environmental and social impacts. “What we’re trying to do is flip the whole marketing world on its head,” said Mr. O’Rourke. “Instead of companies telling you what to believe, customers are making the statements to the marketers about what they care about.”
How GM Stifled 'Passion and Creativity' in Its Marketing Ranks
Jun 13, 2009
The former VP-marketing and advertising at General Motors Corp. believes its culture is "so bureaucratic it stifles all passion and creativity" with bloated processes, woeful inefficiencies and an approach to its agencies that is threatening rather than productive. So says Mike Jackson, who left GM two years ago after seven years, pulling no punches in a recent guest column in Automotive News entitled "GM Must Overhaul Marketing."
What Have You Done For Me Lately?
Jun 11, 2009
Here are two things I struggle to reconcile: The belief in the power of “relationship” or “community” marketing as something that demands more than just an online message board … and … the hesitancy to do something about it without a demonstrated immediate (or at least near-term) return.
Starbucks Brews a Fresh Pot of Publicity
Jun 11, 2009
Faced with consumers cutting back on purchases and stiff competition from McDonald’s McCafe, Starbucks today (Wednesday) launched an ad campaign touting its newly earned accolade in Zagat’s 2009 Fast Food survey: “No. 1 Best Coffee.”
What Danica Patrick Could Do for Nascar, Sponsors
Jun 11, 2009
Nascar might just have an answer to the soft economy that's hurting TV ratings, live attendance, and sponsor recruitment: Danica Patrick.
Post-Consumerism: Emerging Needs and Market Opportunities
Jun 11, 2009
In the first part of my article on Post Consumerism, I touched on the drivers of the “Citizen Renaissance,” as Jules Peck coins it. My hypothesis is that there are emerging citizen values, and a shift away from consumerism towards citizens who are actively engaged in behaviors of business, the decisions of government and of involved in communities of interest. In this second part, I attempt to outline the market need and opportunity, and some examples that attempt to address post consumerism.
You Have 1.5 Seconds To Live
Jun 10, 2009
One-point-five seconds. If you believe neuroscientists, that's all the time we have to get someone's attention with our marketing messages. In little more than the blink of an eye, each of our targeted customers plays judge and jury to our marketing handiwork and decides whether to pay attention to us or banish us to the ash heap of misspent marketing dollars.
Draftfcb's Chief Media Officer on the Benefits of Real-Time Marketing
Jun 10, 2009
Draftfcb last week merged its media, digital and CRM practices into a single unit called the Real-Time Marketing division. The move was designed to, among other things, make brands more responsive to happenings on the Web, good or bad, which can drastically affect the way consumers perceive the brands. Brandweek editor Todd Wasserman spoke with Draftfcb chief media officer Richard Gagnon this week to see where direct fits in with all this and how the unit will work in practice.
The Missing Consumers
Jun 10, 2009
While the mainstream press, and most digital marketing firms, are convinced that social media are changing the consciousness and habits of humanity, I've chanced upon two studies that suggest otherwise.
Simplicity Sells
Jun 9, 2009
Sometimes, if not most times, the best solution is also the simplest one. Why develop a complex device to connect two irregularly sized shapes when a bit of sellotape will do? Why ask people a series of complex questions about improving your product when what you really want to know is “how could we do things better”? And why provide complex levels of interactivity and engagement on your website when all you want is to get a few conversations going?
Writing Engaging Content
Jun 9, 2009
Social media and the explosion of (potential) digital destinations has bubbled up the question about content.
Nescafe Launches Assault on Starbucks' Instant Java
Jun 9, 2009
Nescafe has found something new to roast: Starbucks. The premium-java chain is launching a nationwide offensive into the instant-coffee market this fall, and Nestle is quick to point out the considerable price difference between it and Nescafe.
Where to Find the Marketer Opportunities in the New iPhone
Jun 9, 2009
Apple executives didn't throw any curve balls at the Apple Worldwide Developers Conference today in San Francisco. But the iterative changes hidden within a new, faster iPhone -- and the previously announced software upgrade -- could change not just consumer but also advertiser behavior. Here's a run-down of what's new and what it means to marketers.
Luxury Looks To Packaged Goods
Jun 9, 2009
As the recession keeps depressing, luxury brands are experiencing a wake-up call from this nasty cycle and from chastened luxury buyers.
Rewards Card, Step Two
Jun 9, 2009
How many "reward cards" do you have, or loyalty programs do you participate in? When I think of a typical day, I can't think of a commercial transaction that doesn't come with a clerk or cashier who asks, "are you a member in our blah blah blah program?" Books. Office supplies. Gas. Pizza. Grocery.
FTC Changes And Social Media
Jun 8, 2009
Could proposed sweeping changes in Federal Trade Commission (FTC) guidelines shipwreck social media marketing and alter the common practice of using third-party spokespeople to deliver brand messages?
Going Viral in Pursuit of the Perfect Lawn
Jun 8, 2009
Engine Eddie is an animated character who encourages consumers to take better care of their lawns by offering them the chance to send “EddieGrams” to friends and neighbors. The messages can be personalized to enable the senders to talk up the condition of their lawns -- or suggest that someone else’s lawn needs some help.
The Platform Is The Problem
Jun 8, 2009
A pair of mobile studies in the last week offer a sobering contrast to the hoopla surrounding the launch of the Palm Pre Saturday and the upgraded iPhone today. Based on a survey of brands and agencies, the Mobile Marketing Association estimated mobile will garner less than 2% of total marketing dollars this year.
Marketing Compensation: You Get What You Pay For
Jun 8, 2009
Doesn't it make sense to pay marketers precisely for what they do, aligning compensation with measures that fit each expertise? Pay brand folks for awareness, the Internet team for one-day return on investment and the research department for cost per study? Pay agencies based on media efficiency and call centers on cost per call? If everyone is paid exactly on what they do best won't this yield the best outcome, like Adam Smith's invisible hand?
The State of PR, Marketing, and Communications: You are the Future
Jun 8, 2009
Modern Public Relations was born in the early 1900s, although history traces the its roots and origins of practice back to the 17th century. Two years ago, the press release celebrated its 100-year anniversary. While the communications industry has iterated with every new technological advancement over the last century, including broadcast mediums and Web 1.0, none however, have forced complete transparency prior to the proliferation of the Read/Write Web aka The Social Web aka Web 2.0.
Social Media Bashing on the Rise
Jun 8, 2009
I’ve noticed more and more folks taking shots at the value of social media. For example there’s Beware of Social Media Marketing Myths from Gene Marks in Business Week. It’s a natural evolution, I suppose, since social media has pretty much been hyped as the way to riches, better looks, and total self-actualization. I mean, this weekend my local paper had articles on twitter in three different sections, including sports. I get it, I’m tired of the hype too.
'Passion for Digital' Pumps P&G's Spending
Jun 8, 2009
The first quarter of 2009 will be remembered for many things, mostly bad. But it may also mark a turning point when the world's biggest marketer and its broader industry finally got serious about digital media.
Hollywood Continues Its Fast-Food Binge
Jun 8, 2009
Family entertainment giant Disney took a stand, several years back, by not renewing a decade-long marketing deal with McDonald’s and flushing fast food and high-calorie snacks out of its promotional system as the childhood obesity debate raged. But now, even as there appears to be stepped-up interest from the federal government over marketing to children, no one has followed Disney’s lead.
Five Brands Bucking the Downtrend in Beverages
Jun 8, 2009
Like every other category, the beverage market has been pounded by the recession, with 2008 marking its first volume decline on record as consumers buy fewer bottled beverages. Still, thousands of products continue to launch each year, making it one of the most competitive categories around. Backed by smart marketing strategies, some drink brands are breaking away from the crowd and amassing loyal consumer bases.
Customer Service is Already Social
Jun 8, 2009
In a way it's ahead of where the Web experience is moving towards, which is semantic and contextual. It's ahead because it includes one very important element, which smart automation doesn't, yet - trust. The reason why we continue to talk about influence - online and off line - is that with the explosion of information, we're looking for beacons to guide us through that noise.
Why Walmart Is Getting Serious About Marketing
Jun 8, 2009
It's marketing's time at Walmart. It's easy to become complacent when you are a $401 billion company whose shareholder meeting gets teen idol Miley Cyrus out of bed before 8 a.m. to perform for more than 15,000 employees as a warm-up act for American Idol Kris Allen. But Walmart executives know that if the recession abates, they will face a challenge holding onto shoppers who've been introduced, or reintroduced, to the retailer as they've traded down to save money.
Something New Gains With Something Borrowed
Jun 7, 2009
As companies give mobile-phone advertising a try, many are starting to focus on the search ads that have worked so well on personal computers.
Why Starbucks Is Sponsoring MSNBC's 'Morning Joe'
Jun 5, 2009
This week Starbucks announced a title sponsorship of MSNBC's "Morning Joe," the first such cable-news deal in decades. But the coffee retailer's chief marketer, Terry Davenport, said the news and a morning cup of coffee just go together.
Well, Now What?
Jun 5, 2009
As the dust settles from the collapse of the financial markets, one thing seems increasingly clear. One of the key drivers of corporate growth moving forward is going to have to be marketing. The sources of corporate growth and "profitability" for the last several decades, the practice of leveraging and more straightforward uses of easy credit, are no longer possible in the ways they once were. These were the growth strategies that made corporate finance and the CFO the center of attention in the boardroom and they have evaporated in shocking fashion, right along with earnings.
Brand Value Creation — Customer
Jun 4, 2009
Today I’m launching a short series on brand value creation. My intent is to outline the ways brands create value, organizing the points by the four quadrants of The Balanced Scorecard.
How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live
Jun 4, 2009
The one thing you can say for certain about Twitter is that it makes a terrible first impression. You hear about this new service that lets you send 140-character updates to your "followers," and you think, Why does the world need this, exactly? It's not as if we were all sitting around four years ago scratching our heads and saying, "If only there were a technology that would allow me to send a message to my 50 friends, alerting them in real time about my choice of breakfast cereal."
For CMOs to Be Visionary Leaders, They Must Have a P&L Mind-set
Jun 4, 2009
Walmart's Stephen Quinn has it. So does Adobe's Ann Lewnes. Steve Meyer of Dell services and Cammie Dunaway of Nintendo have it too. "It" is a P&L mind-set: a deep understanding of and/or hands-on experience with what it takes to run a business line and deliver the numbers. It's a mind-set critical for senior marketers to develop or sharpen if they expect to advance from being order takers or sales supporters to enterprise-wide, visionary leaders.
Audience or Community
Jun 4, 2009
The only difference between an audience and a community is which direction the chairs are pointing. I’ve been thinking about this a lot lately. When we say community and we mean our selling demographic, that’s not the same thing. When we say community and we mean audience to absorb our message, that’s not the same thing. It’s important to understand this.
The Importance of Brand Heritage
Jun 4, 2009
I'm calling out British marketers today. They have a lot to learn about the importance of provenance, heritage and history.
Where To, Youth Wellness?
Jun 3, 2009
At the risk of stating the painfully obvious, the youth wellness issue is here to stay. In fact, with a new and socially minded administration in place, the ever-growing concern of parents and the public health community, the focus on youth wellness will get even more intense!
Busch Theme Parks Kick Off Summer of Social Media
Jun 3, 2009
Busch Entertainment Corp., a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev, is unveiling a social-media brand campaign today that playfully raises awareness for its theme parks, which include SeaWorld and Busch Gardens. The cross-platform effort comes just in time for summer, the entertainment company's biggest season. Ad Age spoke with Exec VP-CMO Joe Couceiro, who has been at the company for 28 years, about the new campaign and its branded app, Worlds of Discovery Photo Adventure, which he said he considers "one of our more creative efforts."
The New Detroit Isn’t Detroit
Jun 3, 2009
GM says it is reinventing itself. And what makes them or the government think they can do that on top of old infrastructure and old ways even with our billions? Good fucking luck.
Del Monte CMO: Spend During Downturn -- or Else
Jun 3, 2009
Spend on marketing, capital investment and innovation or risk losing your business within the next five years. That tough talk came from Del Monte Foods Co. Senior VP-CMO Bill Pearce at the Argyle Executive Forum's CMO Leadership Forum, where his keynote offered bold advice for navigating the titanic shifts that have resulted from the worst economic crisis since the Depression. In an environment where the name of the game is to manage risks, he challenged marketers to take them and offered eight tips for marketing in the downturn.
Daydreaming Key to Creativity
Jun 3, 2009
When I want to solve a problem or come up with a creative idea, I usually sit down and think about it. This could be the wrong strategy, according to University of British Columbia psychology professor Kalina Christoff. The UBC prof is an expert in the unlikely subject of daydreaming, and has released findings that our brains are MORE activated than normal when we let them wander.
Trying to Pitch Products to the Savers
Jun 3, 2009
The biggest challenge confronting marketers is how to deal with the Meineke mind-set consumers have adopted as a result of the recession.
Social Media Doesn't Fail, But Search Is A+
Jun 2, 2009
After reading Joe Mandese's column "Social Media Fails To Manifest As Marketing Medium," I confess I had exactly the same reaction as that other Joe. "Regularly turn to social media for guidance on purchase decisions"? It seemed that the study that started the whole discussion had missed the point of social media entirely.
Move Over, Q Scores
Jun 2, 2009
As Simon Clift of Unilever made clear at the Ad Age Digital Conference recently, brands no longer have total control of the communications surrounding their products or even the positioning of them. That power is now in the hands of the digital consumer. Ford agrees. It's just asked 100 bloggers to launch the Fiesta in the U.S.
The '20% Insight' Factor That Drives Coors Marketing
Jun 2, 2009
Coors Light has enjoyed fourteen consecutive quarters of sales growth but back in 2003 that brand was tanking. What turned it around so dramatically? On the surface it appeared to be a simple new marketing strategy focused on the refreshing nature of cold beer. But what really drove the success was a disciplined approach to the management of creative ideas and insights inside the company.
Now's the Time for CMOs to Adopt the 7-S Framework
Jun 2, 2009
Marketing is facing its first real existential crisis, as pressure builds on CMOs to achieve what many are referring to as "the same impact for 60% of the dollars." That's why now's the time for CMOs to adopt and apply to their marketing operations the 7-S Framework, an analytical tool that's been successfully used by hundreds of corporations.
Put Ad on Web. Count Clicks. Revise.
Jun 2, 2009
On a recent Thursday, Darren Herman, the president of Varick Media Management, was sequestered in his SoHo office. He wasn’t scrutinizing a television ad or images from a photo shoot. He was combing through graphs and Excel spreadsheets. From the “Mad Men” era until now, advertising has been about a catchy tagline, an arresting image, the Big Idea. But Mr. Herman and his competitors are bringing some Wall Street-like analysis to Madison Avenue, exploiting the huge amounts of data produced by the Internet to adjust strategy almost instantly.
Why People Talk About Products … And Why They Don’t
Jun 1, 2009
As the influx of big brands into the social media space continues, we’re starting to see more and more marketing managers and executives become less, not more, comfortable with social media. The main reason is they expect instant returns and needle-moving. But most of social media is about building relationships, which takes time.
Universities Finally Espousing Branding
Jun 1, 2009
Facing budget cuts and smaller endowments, many colleges and universities are realizing that they can't rest on their laurels if they expect to attract the best and brightest. From the University of California at Los Angeles to the University of Maryland to Cornell, they are finding new ways to market to prospective students and raise their profiles for potential philanthropy and research funding.
Why Networks Best Silos in the New Environment
Jun 1, 2009
"How should i change my marketing organization?" That's the most frequently asked question of members of the Association of National Advertisers. These are large, sophisticated companies. They're supposed to know what they are doing. So why are they asking the question?
New Opportunities For Healthcare Brands
Jun 1, 2009
The United States has the highest healthcare costs in the world, but it remains the only Western country without a national healthcare plan covering all citizens. That's why healthcare reform is a top priority of the Obama administration. One interesting side effect of impending reform could be the new marketplace it creates for healthcare brands.
A List of Things to Think About When Targeting List-Makers
Jun 1, 2009
Ready for another top-10 list of things you're supposed to care about? OK, maybe not, but we've been told that making and following lists is one of the emergent ways folks make decisions about what news stories to read, websites to visit and products to buy. Only I don't think it's such novel behavior. I think we need to realize how central it has always been to our consumers' experience.
Marketers Bet on Games to Win Consumers
Jun 1, 2009
All the world's a game. Well, at least it could be. Game evangelists paint a picture of a world where planning your retirement, studying for exams, donating to worthy causes and even clipping coupons can be made into a game that will engage consumers and make even the most mundane of tasks fun. It's a lofty goal, but it's the kind of thinking that could change the way marketers engage consumers -- making anything from perusing ads to comparing products to studying user manuals more, well, fun.
Michelob Joins Keg Party at Twitter, but Will Its Tweets Draw Heat?
Jun 1, 2009
Twitter users who opt to follow the online musings of Anheuser-Busch's Michelob may be surprised to receive a quick direct-message inquiry from the beer brand asking if they're of legal drinking age.
Play With This
Jun 1, 2009
How do you impress a Star Trek fan? With a new gadget. This one, in fact, is free. If you use your imagination, you can call it a three-dimensional effect.
Forget the 4Ps of Marketing. Let's Talk about the 4Ps of Sustainable Business Strategy
Jun 1, 2009
Whether we are talking about innovation, technology or public policy, we often come up with solutions that creating more problems than they are supposed to solve. Given the enormous complexity and almost un-manageable challenges ahead, what do we need to do? What seems to make sense doesn’t do it anymore.
Marketers Fear Frugality May Just Be Here to Stay
Jun 1, 2009
Mary Pryor was doing pretty well until January, when she got laid off from her web-project-management job at cable channel Fuse. Now she's replenishing her wardrobe at clothing swaps, eating on $25 a week, living without cable TV and doing her laundry in the bathtub. "My gym membership is gone," she said, "so I'm running around outside and doing jumping jacks in my living room."
Writing the Sequel
Jun 1, 2009
Late last week, Procter & Gamble Co. revealed its sales expectations for the next few years, and things don’t look good: 2009 will increase 2-3% (below prior forecasts), and 2010 will be worse, perhaps climbing only a percentage point or two above flat.
Campaigns Address Today’s Anxieties by Looking Back
May 29, 2009
Advertising almost always wants to be upbeat, the better to jolly consumers into, well, consuming. So it is startling to see a spate of campaigns invoking some of the most downbeat times America has ever endured: the desperate decade that began when the stock market crashed in 1929 and continued through the Great Depression.
Punishing Your Fans: A Lesson From Kraft
May 29, 2009
I recently received this email from Brandy Amidon, the Princess of Particulars and CPA at Brains on Fire, yesterday.
The Difference Between Marketing and Sales
May 29, 2009
Marketing tells a story that spreads. Sales overcomes the natural resistance to say yes.
The Importance of Silence
May 28, 2009
A conversation about why we need silence with Stephen Chinlund.
Customer Service Is the New Marketing
May 28, 2009
We wrote last month about the Zappos story, about how they have used customer service to extend and enhance the customer experience and how this has had a positive impact on sales, satisfaction and growth. This example highlights the power of customer service - of listening to and then rewarding customers.
Challenging Convention
May 28, 2009
The smart guys at Contrast came by the office to talk about their thesis of abandoning conventions. It's the intent of changing what we expect when we use something. Obvious things like the design of a cell phone or subtle things like the design of a door knob. There are terrific benefits to successfully coming up with a solution that invents and leverages a new convention.
The Vice and the Virtue of Marketing
May 28, 2009
As publications continue to struggle or fold because of dwindling advertising revenues, one is thriving by selling not just ad space, but entire marketing campaigns.
Brand Management From The Field
May 28, 2009
The Damned United, a film charting the tumultuous 44-day reign of Brian Clough at Leeds United FC, opened recently. UK Marketers under the age of 30 will probably remember him as a rather melancholy old man, but the young Clough was a wonder to behold. Imagine a manager today leading a club toiling at the bottom of the Championship to win not only the Premier-ship but two back-to-back Champions League finals as well. That was, in essence, the equivalent of Clough's astonishing achievement as manager of Nottingham Forest in 1979 and 1980.
SeaWorld Marketing: A Story In Three Acts
May 27, 2009
Earlier this week SeaWorld invited me out for a press event for the opening of their newest roller-coaster, the Manta. Usually, these things involve doing something that would theoretically be fun if it wasn’t for the fact that you have to spend the entire time being pitched.
Toyota Launches 'Rock The Space' For Musicians
May 27, 2009
Toyota, which last fall signed on as one of three inaugural sponsors of MySpace Music -- the News Corp. property's independent label -- is activating the partnership with "Rock the Space," a competition encouraging unsigned bands or solo artists.
We Read Too Many Business Books
May 27, 2009
That's the sentiment expressed by Eduardo Castro-Wright, vice chairman of Wal-Mart Stores, in an interview in The New York Times this past weekend. Despite that fact that I write business books, I happen to strongly agree with him.
Is Marketing an Art or a Science?
May 27, 2009
It's both, and that's the problem. Some marketers are scientists. They test and measure. They do the math. They understand the impact of that spend in that market at that time with that message. They can understand the analytics and find the truth.
Is Social Media Making Corporate Websites Irrelevant?
May 26, 2009
There was a time when having a dotcom was absolutely key to your brand, and once you had one, it was the URL you pointed everyone to in all of your marketing. But with the emergence of the social web, and opportunities to engage with fans elsewhere, is that really the right strategy – or even a requirement at all?
Painful Economic Contractions Can Be a Good Thing
May 26, 2009
No doubt about it. The economy is contracting, and it’s a painful process. Businesses, large and small, are going under, impacting jobs and revenues in communities. Brands, even well established ones, are vanishing from the map, leaving us to wonder what’s coming next.
The Confusion of Good Works
May 26, 2009
Boeing's CEO for commercial airplanes wrote an op-ed piece in this weekend's Wall Street Journal that started with this declaration: "Addressing climate change is a particularly difficult challenge for commercial aviation."
Why Brands Have an Eye on Facebook
May 26, 2009
With more than 200 million active users and counting, Facebook has proven to be a powerful and convenient way to reach consumers where they already are. “Many consumers are already sharing information regularly on Facebook—this is just one more way to quickly share information in a place where they are already spending time,” says Michael Donnelly, director, worldwide interactive marketing at The Coca-Cola Company.
Do Studios Need Help Finding Audiences?
May 25, 2009
Jeff Cox, new to the dark art of marketing movies and predicting how they will perform at the box office, has at least one thing figured out: “It’s definitely not as easy as predicting sales for toothpaste or shampoo or toilet paper.”
Del Monte Social Media Strategy Creates A New Pet Food
May 25, 2009
It's one thing to debate the potential power of social media marketing to influence product sales but quite another to watch a social media project actually create a popular new product. In his keynote address at last week's Interactive Advertising Bureau's Social Media Conference, Forrester Research's Josh Bernoff explained how Del Monte Foods did that very thing in just six weeks.
Nostalgia is a Basic Human Emotion
May 25, 2009
Kodak created a billion dollar industry by giving people a tool to feed their nostalgia. We don't take pictures because we want to know what we're seeing now... we already know that. We take pictures because it makes us feel good to know that years later, when nostalgia for that moment comes around, we'll be ready.
Word-of-Mouth Marketing Evolution
May 22, 2009
BzzAgent aims to turn chatterbox volunteers into long-term brand ambassadors companies can mine for product insight and feedback.
Victoria’s Secret Enters Mobile Commerce Arena
May 22, 2009
Victoria’s Secret is very good at keeping secrets. The retailer quietly launched a marketing initiative that uses the mobile Web and SMS text messages to promote its products and shopping on-the-go.
Short-Term Success Or Long-Term Vision?
May 21, 2009
Today, everyone knows we have to be smarter about how we spend marketing dollars regardless of whether we're increasing, decreasing or holding steady. But with an ever-changing media landscape and our country in an economic slump, the question becomes: is now the time to focus on short-term success, or do we wait patiently with a long-term vision in place?
Define the Term "Value Brand"
May 21, 2009
Would you say that a value brand is one that offers the most benefit for the cost? That sounds reasonable, right? Until you realize that it depends on a particular customer's changing perception of the benefit as compared to his or her changing perception of its cost. This is not mumbo jumbo. It's a critical distinction.
Rednecks and Tightwads Try to Shake up Bank Marketing
May 21, 2009
Finally: a bank just for the Jeff Foxworthy set. Redneck Bank claims that "bankin's funner" when consumers open a "flat out free checkin.'" That Southern-fried marketing schtick has garnered the online arm of Bank of the Wichitas quite a bit of attention. It's also tweaking the long-held belief that bank marketing is serious business deserving of serious messaging.
P&G Social-Media Strategy Increases Tampon Sales
May 21, 2009
Josh Bernoff is vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research and co-author of the book "Groundswell." Keynoting the Interactive Advertising Bureau's Social Media Conference this week, he discussed how major marketers such as Procter & Gamble are using social media in increasingly potent ways. With the social-community effort detailed in this video, P&G significantly increased sales of its feminine-care products.
Attention, Attention, My Kingdom For Attention.
May 20, 2009
Unlike the ironic sentiment often expressed when quoting (or, as in this case, vitiating) Shakespeare's Richard III, I am not suggesting that attention is unimportant. I am, however, suggesting that businesses obsession with attention is misplaced, at best. And the fact that major industries have evolved to feed this obsession, simply adds to the problem.
Coping With Consumers' Newfound Frugality
May 20, 2009
If today's frugality and shrinking markets are the new normal, are marketers ready for it?
Why You Need Satan on Your Marketing Team
May 19, 2009
If you want to make sure that your marketing plans are top-notch, look past your agency and expert counsel and get Satan on your team.
Why Do Chief Marketing Officers Have A Short Shelf Life?
May 18, 2009
It's no secret that the CMO position is perhaps the least secure job in top management, with a turnover rate that's faster than major league managers but slower than that among quick service restaurant employees. According to Greg Welch, who launched Spencer Stuart's marketing practice and now heads the firm's global consumer goods and services business, the average CMO tenure has grown to just over 28 months in 2008, up four months since Welch started measuring CMO tenure in 2004. The average CIO lasts 38 months, and no other c-level executive checks in under 46.
My Application for GM's Board
May 15, 2009
I hear that executive search firm Spencer Stuart is looking for recruits to repopulate GM's board of directors. Here is my application for their consideration: Dear Selection Committee, You need me. Well, not necessarily me, personally, but certainly you need someone like me.
Art In a Time of Advertising
May 14, 2009
Nothing in America is so brilliant a symbol of the nation’s wealth as New York’s Times Square, that dazzling ad-scape, where each sunset gives way to a neon-and-tungsten gloaming that lasts until dawn. But a recession could dim the lights. Nowadays, more and more billboards are going blank, and the Wall Street Journal has reported a drop in shares of outdoor advertisers. Clear Channel Outdoor Holdings, a big billboard company, announced a 25% decrease in revenues during the first quarter of the year. Advertisers are now looking to more creative, less costly ways to reach the public.
The Future Of Marketing
May 13, 2009
Pick up any of the trade papers or read any of the marketing blogs recently and you’re likely to notice Amara’s law at work: “we invariably overestimate the short-term impact of new technologies while underestimating their long-term effects”. We read a lot about the rush to do something ‘on’ the next tech phenomenon - do something on Facebook, have a presence on Twitter or (yes, still) launch a viral marketing campaign. But there is precious little conversation about the impact technology is having long-term on culture, and how this might challenge some of the assumptions we have built marketing programs on for the last few decades.
Mobile Marketing Won't Work Here
May 10, 2009
As recently as the last five years, a new form of marketing has begun to take shape, hoping to be the answer to accessing the 65 million Generation Yers who own a cell phone. This new approach is known as mobile marketing.
Twitter FAIL! The 8 Worst Brands on The World's Hottest Microblog
May 8, 2009
The sound of marketers excitedly scrawling the word 'Twitter' on whiteboards and flipcharts up and down the UK is now almost deafening. But, while some have succeeded, others offer a step-by-step guide of what not to do.
Going Out of Business: The End Of Search Marketing
May 8, 2009
A guy walks into a search pitch meeting and says, "Thank you for inviting me here today. But I'm not in -- and you don't want someone in -- the search marketing space to be your search vendor." Now the punchline to that could have been the guy ends up on a barstool in about 15 minutes because he was thrown out on his ear. But it wasn't. In fact, the reality was a two-hour discussion about the change that is taking place which has its roots in search, but transcends our business entirely.
Marketers Can Lead Economic Recovery
May 8, 2009
I'm trying to come up with a convincing argument for why we might eventually be able to claim that economic recovery was marketing-led. I'm promoting that very idea at the Debating Group's MCCA sponsored event at the House of Commons next Monday. There's plenty to fuel such an argument. Any other organs that one might argue are capable of, or even responsible for, pumping life back into our financial system are currently failing.
Who Had the Better Media Plan? 1-800-Flowers vs. Teleflora
May 8, 2009
On Sunday, May 10, moms all around the U.S. are treated will be treated to thoughtful gifts, a Hallmark card and perhaps a special lunch out ... if only every day were Mother's Day! This Sunday represents an important date on the retail calendar that accounts for some $14 billion in sales. Flowers are by far the most popular gift for moms, purchased by two thirds of those that celebrate. Here, a comparison of two florist delivery services -- 1-800-Flowers and Teleflora -- to better understand their media strategies in marketing's very own War of the Roses.
Miami Beach's Fontainebleau Switches Pitch from Sexy to Family
May 7, 2009
When the Fontainebleau wanted to reintroduce itself last fall as a seductive beachside escape, it brought in Heidi Klum for a televised lingerie show at the newly renovated resort. Now the Fontainebleau wants to tone down that sultry image and pursue family vacationers. Enter Kelly Ripa.
Modern Maturity: The Recession Makes It Cool To Be Grown Up
May 7, 2009
One of the most interesting consequences of the economic downturn is the depth of soul-searching triggered among adults of all ages. Everyone feels guilty about consuming so much with so little thought---buying things we didn't need with money we didn't have. While the recession may not give us much choice in the matter, spending less and saving more--and living within our means--actually feels like the natural course. It's time for grown-ups to grow up. In his Inaugural address, Obama pretty much ordered us to set a new path with a verbal finger wag: "The time has come to set aside childish things."
Best Buy In The House Pt. 1
May 7, 2009
Best Buy plans to expand significantly its private label technology products business, believing that customer feedback in its stores will let it make simple improvements that the big name brands might miss. Such vertical integration might be torn right from Capitalism 101, but I'm not sure that I buy it.
Moms Say Marketers Ignore Their Needs
May 5, 2009
Marketers have made great strides in recent years to better understand and connect with moms. But in trying to perfect the message, many have forgotten to listen to the very consumer they are trying to woo. According to M2Moms, 60 percent of moms feel that marketers are ignoring their needs, and 73 percent feel that advertisers don't really understand what it's like to be a mom.
Metric Madness: The Answer to Mathematical Failure Seems to Be More Math
May 5, 2009
March Madness lasts only three weeks, but Metric Madness goes on all year long. What is Metric Madness? It's the notion you can run anything by the numbers, and it's become the hottest concept in business today. One scientist recently predicted that the great discoveries of the future will come from finding patterns in vast archives of data. "The next Jonas Salk will be a mathematician, not a doctor." The marketing community eats this stuff up. Nobody generates more data than they do. Hallelujah! "The Singularity is Near," as Ray Kurzweil wrote in his book of the same name, and marketing people can't wait to join the revolution. I'm not too sure.
Dear Avinash: Web Metrics & Analytics Questions, Facebook Edition
May 4, 2009
A few weeks back I had asked this question on Twitter: Inspire me: If there is one web analytics question you want answered what would it be? What’s your juiciest / mundane, daily, challenge? The result was this post: Top Web Analytics Questions, Twitter Edition. Those 16 questions (!) were just one part of the story. My twitter account is linked to my facebook account , so my tweets get posted as my status updates. That means I got a bunch of questions on the facebook account as well. . . .
New Huggies, Old Spice Launches to Go TV-Free
May 4, 2009
Despite years of mulling marketing life after TV, most big package-goods brands still make it the centerpiece of their plans. But Kimberly-Clark Corp.'s Huggies and Procter & Gamble Co.'s Old Spice, brands that generally have relied mostly on TV, are going TV-free for some current and coming initiatives.
Great Examples of How Operations Can Become Marketing
May 3, 2009
In a couple of weeks we’ll be partnering with Microsoft to give a joint presentation to some IT and Marketing directors about the idea that their two disciplines are starting to (or needing to) work much more closely these days. Regular readers will recognise this as a favourite theme of ours - we like to think that the best marketing ideas are actually company operations that happen to be really appealing or compelling to customers too. One of the many advantages of this line of thought is that marketing is completely integrated into the business and you don’t have to spend money to build marketing programs that then build your business, you simply spend money on building your business.
This Mall Has...Stores!
May 1, 2009
Woodfield Mall, a shopping monolith to the west of Chicago, has launched a new branding campaign via its web site and print ads (I saw mine in the Chicago Tribune's Sunday magazine), to tell would-be shoppers something unique and motivational: The mall has stores! Yup. I know it's big, and the strategy probably took lots of work, and cost loads of moolah. You don't just fall out of bed with this kind of idea, you know. The campaign is centered on six imaginary shoppers, each named and artistically rendered in funky drawings, who come with their own backstories, and lists of stores they like to visit.
The Future Of Luxury
Apr 30, 2009
From the perspective of the luxury merchant and the wealthy consumer, what used to be a simple communication of social status has become very complex: There are more communicators (more wealthy) in more places (globalization) with more choices regarding how to communicate (luxury alternatives) than ever before. If luxury is the language of wealth, the luxury industry has become a Tower of Babel.
Google Tries Viral Campaign to Goose Interest in Chrome
Apr 30, 2009
Why would Google take on Apple, Microsoft and Mozilla in the web-browser war and not try to win it? That question has been asked since Google ambled into the Safari-Explorer-Firefox derby last fall with its own entry called Chrome, but took a remarkably low-key approach to marketing it.
Anomaly Markets YouTuber's Cosmetics
Apr 29, 2009
Anomaly has introduced its latest foray into product development with the introduction of a cosmetics line backed by an unlikely YouTube star.
Dos Equis Tours For Cinco de Mayo
Apr 24, 2009
Dos Equis beer has launched an "Expedition Cinco" tour of 14 key markets around the Cinco de Mayo holiday.
How To Become 'Their' Brand
Apr 22, 2009
Marketers today understand that consumers think, feel and react differently than June Cleaver did 50 years ago. We use descriptors like fickle, indecisive and disloyal to describe the modern consumer because consumers have too many choices -- multiple brands, brand extensions and sub-brands -- and too much stimulation, especially online, making it nearly impossible to predict their next move.
My Wish List of IPhone Apps for Marketing Chiefs
Apr 20, 2009
I download new iPhone applications almost every day. Today I got something that lets me rotate 3-D models of molecules, and another one that reads my mood if I simply touch the screen. I'll never use either of them, of course, but it sure is fun. It's also partly why iPhone doesn't have BlackBerry's corp cred.
Marketing Manager as Community Organizer
Apr 17, 2009
These days, more companies are embracing the fact that they need community organizing skills within their marketing department. It's not enough to spread the "message" through Twitter and Facebook, which are just tools; you have to understand how to build true community through those tools.
Blogs, Books and The Irony of Short
Apr 17, 2009
The best non-fiction books today either deliver a complex message that takes more space and attention than a short series of blog posts can deliver, or they are convenient packages to spread an idea from person to person in a more powerful way than an emailed link can. Books can take their time and build an argument, while blog posts are constantly fighting the reader's ability and desire to click away.
The Quicksand of Social Media Buzzwords
Apr 16, 2009
You’re trying to discuss and describe the movement that is social media. Imagine you’re not allowed to say any of the following: You need to join the conversation, It’s about relationships (or people), It’s not about the tools, You need to be listening, Transparency, Authenticity. Can you come up with illustrative ways to describe it’s value without resorting to the lingo and buzzwords we’ve already beat to death?
It's Tax Day: H&R Block vs. TurboTax
Apr 15, 2009
April 15 is forever logged into our consciousness as Tax Day. Tomorrow some 140 million Americans will have filed their tax returns to the IRS, a chore I personally put just slightly ahead of a tooth extraction. But for two companies -- H&R Block, the country's largest tax-preparation service, and Intuit, marketer of leading software service TurboTax -- this date remains a highly anticipated event on their marketing calendars.
U.S. Marketers Say Hola! to Hispanic Consumers
Apr 13, 2009
Companies such as General Mills and State Farm Insurance boost advertising spending to promote basic products and services.
Enough With the Value Messages Already
Apr 12, 2009
Perhaps no word in the marketing lexicon has been abused as much in the past six months or so as “value.” Marketing messages of this stripe are one strategy for addressing the fact that consumers are loath to open their wallets these days. But they’re also only one alternative to cutting prices. It seems like marketers aren’t exploring others.
Stengel: Private Label, Digital Change Game
Apr 12, 2009
Although it's been nearly six months since he left his post, these days, Jim Stengel, the 53-year-old former global marketing officer at Procter & Gamble, is as busy as ever. Stengel is working on a book, Packaged Good, due out next year, and is a marketing consultant to clients in the healthcare, retail and food industries. (Stengel didn’t name names, but since he signed a three-year noncompete agreement with his former employer, they don’t conflict with P&G.) On top of that, he recently joined the advisory board of marketing analytics firm MarketShare Partners and has access to more than 350 designers at his office (within LPK) in Cincinnati. Now a free agent, Stengel was able to speak freely on P&G’s competitors, other brands he admires and the state of the industry.
Opening Acts and Rock Stars
Apr 10, 2009
The opening act has the toughest gig in town. The audience isn't here to listen to you. They're restless. Perhaps you'll get a few seconds to earn their attention, but not much. Your gimmicks will fall flat and you might even get booed off stage. The rock star, on the other hand, has the crowd chanting for him before he shows up. He starts a song and people applaud. They sing along. They finish his lyrics for him. Most marketers are opening acts.
Marketers Need To Understand Discussion Before Joining It
Apr 9, 2009
Online social networks are here to stay. They've existed, in various forms, even before they were called social networks -- Friendster, GeoCities, and even Yahoo Groups come to mind. People will always want to connect and engage with other people in powerful environments where this happens easily. However, one of the biggest challenges facing brands today is how to effectively monetize these social properties.
Marketers Blind Spot Revealed
Apr 9, 2009
Studies show that marketers have been missing a huge part of the population. Could it be? Apparently, having so shifted their focus toward women, marketers have lost touch with the male consumer -- but there are several "secrets" to reaching them that will save the day.
Will Agencies Suffer Death by 1,000 Cuts Through Crowdsourcing?
Apr 8, 2009
I've been excited lately to see that the idea of crowdsourcing has caused such a stir. You know a paradigm is about to shift when lines start getting drawn in the sand. When I was writing about co-creation in Beyond the Brand back in 2003 I couldn’t even imagine how the open source movement would radically change so many businesses.
Marketing implications of the Kindle 2
Apr 8, 2009
This is the first full episode 100% dedicated to content itself. Last week was a context setter. In this episode, I test drive the Kindle 2 from a marketing/branding perspective.
Marketing In A Post-Consumer Era
Apr 8, 2009
If the "backlash against bling" is real, then we really have to ask ourselves, what on earth is marketing going to look like to millions of people who don't want to buy like they used to—who are marketing weary? People just like my dad, only more digitally savvy. Not only that, but beyond marketing, what's the effect on companies who make their profits by continually producing new products? Bigger, better faster—guaranteed to make your life meaningful. Business and brands have a problem.
Tina Fey on Amy Poehler on Branding Now
Apr 7, 2009
Tina Fey has this to say about Amy Poehler: Amy is funny because she doesn't care what you think, but she does want to make you laugh. It's a complicated and important combination.
Warm and Fuzzy Makes a Comeback
Apr 7, 2009
If music hath charm to soothe the savage breast, what can calm worried consumers during an economic crisis? Madison Avenue believes one answer is nostalgia. As the recession continues taking its toll, marketers are trying to tap into fond memories to help sell what few products shoppers are still buying. The time-machine tactics are primarily evoking four decades — the 1950s through the 1980s.
Strength for Online Brands
Apr 6, 2009
What we're seeing is the trend toward brand alliances. Brands that are mutually complementary team up with each other and with their partners' brand missions.
How Your Value Message Can Be Heard Above the Din
Apr 6, 2009
On its face, the rationale behind value-based advertising seems to make sense. It's a recession, and consumers are watching what they spend. But assuming everyone really is only out for the best deal during this recession, at what point does it all become one big blur? That is, if everything is a value, then what's the value of being a value?
Don't Damage Your Brand for Short-Term Gains in a Recession
Apr 6, 2009
Marketing is a long-term proposition. A company can get in trouble if it changes its marketing strategy to cope with a short-term problem.
With the Car Industry in Trouble, Nissan Rolls Out the Mobile Device
Apr 5, 2009
Forget about thinking outside the box — or inside it, for that matter. Nissan Motor is betting an estimated $20 million during the worst automotive sales slump in a generation that a spirited campaign can get drivers to forgo the box for the cube.
GE and Intel Join Forces On Home Health
Apr 3, 2009
General Electric and Intel plan to put their combined research and marketing weight behind a new alliance to develop devices that enable medical professionals to monitor elderly and chronically ill patients remotely.
Kraft Goes Beyond the Bagel
Apr 3, 2009
Cream cheese: It’s not just for breakfast anymore. That's the message Kraft is trying to get across with a new ad campaign aimed at fans of its Philadelphia brand, who are increasingly using it as a topper on snacks like strawberries and celery sticks.
Poisoning The Well
Apr 3, 2009
Marketers have spammed, lied, deceived, cluttered and ripped us off for so long, we're sick of it.
A Strategic Path To The Digital Customer
Apr 3, 2009
A new executive brief by IBM Global Business Services, based on an in-depth study by the Institute's research team, reports that to compete in the new era of advertising will require a fundamental change in media and entertainment companies' capabilities. The study findings show that four trends are raising the bar for consumer-centric marketing: consumer adoption of new distribution formats, a shift in advertiser spending, the digital migration of platforms and the emergence of new capabilities due to game-changing moves by both new entrants and existing players.
GE to Pitch Vision For World’s Healthcare
Apr 1, 2009
General Electric is to prepare a fresh sales and marketing blitz designed to capitalise on its belief that solving the world’s healthcare needs will be a “mega-trend” in the global economy for decades to come.
Branding "Manhattan Project" Revealed
Apr 1, 2009
The branding community has launched a massive, collaborative project intended to utterly rewrite the principles and re-purpose the tools of brand marketing. The announcement comes as the world's most valuable brand names suffer a veritable perfect storm of problems: consumers have gotten harder to find, more difficult to convince, nearly impossible to keep loyal and, most recently, they've become stingy.
Product Labels: Missed Marketing Opportunity
Mar 31, 2009
When it comes to selling green products in a bleak economy, researchers at the Hartman Group say marketers may be missing a major opportunity: Using labels to create a story line.
Pizzeria Marketing Itself With Social Media
Mar 31, 2009
A South Bay business has now found an innovative way to use the hottest trend in social networking to help keep the business growing.
Sara Lee's Makeover Is Turning Heads
Mar 30, 2009
The packaged-goods outfit has unloaded 40% of its businesses and used the proceeds to invest in product lines with more growth potential.
The Value of Passionate Communities
Mar 27, 2009
Treat your community like it’s gold and it will return the favor.
Facebook Users Growing Up Fast
Mar 27, 2009
Facebook is aging fast. The number of U.S. users over 35 has doubled in just the last 60 days, according to new data from Inside Facebook. The burgeoning crowd of older users means that the majority of Facebook members are now over age 25.
In Praise of Lag
Mar 25, 2009
The Greek Chorus of technologists and the digerati continue to belittle marketers for their slowness in shifting ad budgets online.
While Others Paint the Trim
Mar 25, 2009
I don’t have much use for case studies. Or rather, I collect them, but mostly to show other people. It’s not that they’re not useful. Instead, I just find that lots of people use case studies as excuses or defense to show the boss instead of as learning tools to better align their strategy. You might use yours just right. I use mine as springboards to build and plan.
Consumers Seek Self-Reliance In The Home
Mar 25, 2009
It looks like America's growing willingness to roll up its sleeves and get its hands dirty is due to more than the recession, as marketers like the Clorox Co., Church & Dwight, and SC Johnson continue to roll out products that appeal to the moment's perfect trifecta of values: Cleanliness, thriftiness, and transparency.
Social Media Marketing Industry Report
Mar 24, 2009
Social media is seen by many marketers as the next gold rush. To understand how marketers are using social media, we commissioned the Social Media Marketing Industry Report: How Marketers Are Using Social Media to Grow Their Businesses.
The Best Marketing is Fluid
Mar 24, 2009
When Jerry Springer: The Opera opened at The National Theatre in London almost every critic raved that this most unlikely of operas would become a worldwide smash. Its success was surprising for two reasons. First, who would have imagined that an opera about Jerry Springer would prove so popular. Second, the way in which the opera was developed offers a best practice approach to product development.
Marketers Lag in Shift Online
Mar 23, 2009
New study shows consumers far more digitally savvy than agencies.
Recession-Fighting Incentives
Mar 22, 2009
To spend or not to spend, that is the question that a lot of people find themselves asking more and more these days. And while people’s purchase decisions often change when they’re on a budget, the decisions are not always as simple as just comparing price tags. There are two sides to the customer value equation: what you pay and what you get. And though slashing prices can be a quick way to close the sale, most people are still willing to pay for the brands that add value by adding the extras that make it worth it—the assurance that they are spending wisely.
How One Mall Got People to Buy Stuff, and How You Can, Too
Mar 22, 2009
I visited a mall in Glendale, Calif., a few weeks ago and had a novel experience: I saw customers.
Say What You Want
Mar 22, 2009
McDonalds is pretty darned smart. You might have your reasons for not liking them. You might feel they’re antithetical to all you hold pure and dear. It doesn’t make them any less smart. They are master marketers. They are business efficiency professionals. They are experience managers. They are savvy business people.
Pre-testing Versus Marketing Instinct
Mar 22, 2009
Marketing's age of accountability began in the early-90s. Prior to this, marketing activities were widely seen as a cost and marketers were regarded as 'fluffy'.
You Might Not Love the New Facebook, But Brands Should
Mar 19, 2009
Users aside though, there is one audience that appears to be benefiting greatly from Facebook’s new design: brands. Not only are Facebook Pages – the network’s competitive play against celebrity Twitter users – revamped and more social, but their updates are taking up space on member’s homepages, and in turn, as our data shows, driving lots of traffic and engagement for brands.
In Brazil, Telefónica Bets on a Celebrity's 'Tweets'
Mar 19, 2009
Spanish telecom company signs TV personality with big following online to promote new Internet service.
The Benefits of History
Mar 18, 2009
Marketers are good at looking ahead. We predict/create the future, working to build an idea or a product into something that will matter more tomorrow than it does today.
Ford Gives Road Map To Reaching Fans
Mar 17, 2009
What do Toby Keith, the Professional Bull Riders Association and Monster Jam have in common? Fans and trucks. Ford has made reaching those fans central to marketing its F-150 pickup for years. Whether by giving fans a chance to be roadies for a Toby Keith concert for a weekend or win tickets to a bull-riding show, the company has activated its associations with those events, and similar ones in complementary categories with promotions dangling new trucks and experiences.
Reebok Hopes Renewed Focus on Women Will Help It Rebound
Mar 17, 2009
Reebok, once a broad force in the U.S. footwear market, is trying to start over by returning to its niche roots.
MBAs: Helping or Hurting Your Brand?
Mar 17, 2009
Is a good education the key to success? There is no doubt that reading, writing and arithmetic are important to get ahead in the world. But what about a college degree? What about a graduate degree? What about an MBA?
Marketing Versus Morals
Mar 17, 2009
On occasions being both a professor of marketing and a consumer puts me in a position of inner turmoil. Take buying a pair of jeans. Despite retaining a relatively discerning eye for the latest fashions, I am also the proud owner of a 36 inch waist. This can often make buying the latest trendy jeans difficult because, in my experience, the latest trendy brands rarely exceed a 32.
Conventional Cause Marketing Evolves Via Social Media
Mar 15, 2009
In an increasingly personalized media landscape, the surest way for brands to engage consumers is through cause marketing, according to new analysis from IPG Emerging Media Lab's team of digital experts.
Why Ads Aren't Enough
Mar 13, 2009
This puts marketers in a difficult position, as oil companies arerun by smart, principled people who see the situation, yet mistakenly believe that it can be best addressed by producing the worst sort of distracting, dishonest communications. Marketers and their agencies are all too willing to produce mainstream media advertising and digital campaigns claiming that the oil industry is actively working to get out of the oil business. No it isn't.
Brand Loyal, Yet Unbranded
Mar 12, 2009
In addition to population growth and swelling spending power, one of the characteristics of Latino consumers that has made them attractive to brands and marketers is their tendency toward brand loyalty. Typically, research has proven that, although levels may vary depending on acculturation, Latinos demonstrate more loyalty to brands and products that they trust than their general market counterparts do.
Intention or Sneeze?
Mar 12, 2009
For those of you mapping your next branding campaign based on the insights of fMRI imaging, you better make sure that the flashes you're seeing aren't the symptoms of hay fever. Only you can't.
Innovation Trickles in a New Direction
Mar 12, 2009
Products traditionally are created in rich nations and repackaged for emerging ones. But General Electric, Nokia, and others are reversing the process.
Is the Future of Marketing About Marketing to Marketers?
Mar 11, 2009
Is the future of marketing about marketing to marketers? Sounds a bit preposterous, but the answer is yes. Put another way, I've discovered the ultimate marketing channel to the consumer, and it is "we." Indeed, we're witnessing the rise of a 6th Estate of power and influence -- the marketing community -- and I'm not talking about what we create, copy-test, place and target, but what we actually say and express. Cultivate us if you can. Avoid us at your peril.
Stetson's Hat Tricks
Mar 11, 2009
The cowboy brand hopes a folksy pitch and ''Made of America'' positioning will help it stage a comeback.
House Of Cards
Mar 11, 2009
In tough times, businesses will do nearly anything to get new customers—look at the big markdowns at retailers and the cheap financing at auto dealerships. But there is an exception to the rule: these days, credit-card companies are trying to get rid of customers. They’re shutting down accounts, shrinking credit lines, and, in some cases, actually paying customers to go away.
Ford Leaving Chrysler, GM in Its Rearview
Mar 11, 2009
Suddenly, the wind is at Ford's back. Maybe it's the rising quality of its cars. Maybe it's the halo surrounding Ford for passing up federal funds being devoured by its Detroit rivals. Or it could simply be Ford's focus on building image in its marketing while others flog incentives. But for whatever reason, America seems to have decided that Ford is a better idea after all.
Brands Miss Opportunities With Generic Emails
Mar 11, 2009
While basic transactional email practices remain strong, many well-known brands have missed opportunities to maximize sales and up-sell potential, according to a new report conducted by Return Path's newly revamped Professional Services Group.
Pledge, or the Puppy Dies
Mar 11, 2009
Chicago Public Radio is approaching its latest fundraiser with an interesting twist: give now, and shorten the upcoming pledge drive. I think it's brilliant marketing, for a couple of reasons:
Why CMOs Are Gaining Ground in the Recession
Mar 10, 2009
Some good news for marketing heads: Chief marketing officers are holding on to their jobs longer. Spencer Stuart's annual survey of CMO tenure at the 100 most advertised brands in the U.S. reveals average time on the job has risen to 28.4 months from 26.8 months in 2007 and 23.2 months in 2006.
Study: 45% of CMOs See Agencies as a Time Suck
Mar 10, 2009
A tough economy is forcing marketers to defend their marketing, which is leading to less satisfaction with their agencies and even more emphasis on ROI, per two separate studies.
The Love/Hate Livelihood Of The Blogosphere
Mar 10, 2009
"Blogosphere outreach" has become more prevalent within the integrated digital marketing mix. The practice itself has gotten traction as the sphere has gained increased legitimacy.
Facebook Sending More Traffic Than Google to Some Sites
Mar 9, 2009
Marketers spend billions to attract search traffic from Google, but late last year Facebook started becoming a bigger source of traffic for some large websites, according to analytics firm Hitwise.
Social Media: Effective Branding Tool, If Monitored
Mar 9, 2009
Carat CEO Sarah Fay said marketing efforts that employ social-media sites are more effective when used as part of a wider campaign and not as a solo initiative.
A Web Awash in Liquor Ads, Promoting Moderation
Mar 9, 2009
While there may not be sufficient data to indicate whether the economy is driving people to drink, major marketers of alcoholic beverages are maintaining or even stepping up campaigns to encourage drinking in moderation.
Credit-Card Marketing Message: We'll Help You Pay Off Your Debt
Mar 8, 2009
Credit's out, debit's in -- just ask Visa, MasterCard and American Express. So what's a battered financial-services sector built on the concept of buy-now-pay later to do? Promote fiscal responsibility and paying as you go.
When the Going Gets Tough, P&G Gets Philanthropic
Mar 8, 2009
Procter & Gamble, which has made the “value” argument to consumers in this down economy, is adding another one: Buy our products and some of the money will go to charity.
How Left-Brain Management Got Us Into This Recession
Mar 6, 2009
Now it is time to listen to Right-Brain Marketing to help get us out.
Twitter Marketing Successes
Mar 6, 2009
Countless brands are doing great things with Twitter, but most fall into one of two categories with their approach. I'll call them "organic" and "deliberate." Both can work wonderfully well, depending on your overall marketing strategy and where Twitter fits into it. Here are two companies, each with a fiercely loyal customer base, that take a vastly different approach to using Twitter to promote their brands.
Hispanic NASCAR Fans Break The Mold
Mar 6, 2009
t is surprising how many companies make the "se habla espanol" mistake: They assume that, to tap the $925 billion buying power of Latino consumers in the U.S., one can simply translate general marketing efforts into Spanish. Nothing could be further from the truth. To really make the most of this extraordinary opportunity -- to win the hearts and minds of the greatest proportion of Hispanics possible -- you need to understand that their likes and dislikes, desires and concerns, are often vastly different from those of non-Hispanics.
Food Scares Makes 'Transparency' More Critical
Mar 5, 2009
The trends toward providing greater transparency in food and beverage labeling and making a product's origin background a marketing asset are gaining even greater momentum as a result of peanut product recalls and other recent scares, according to Margaret Kime, director of innovation with brand-building consultancy Fletcher Knight.
New Facebook Pages: A Guide for Social Media Marketers
Mar 5, 2009
As more and more marketers use Facebook as a key conduit for brands online, it is important to note some of the new changes to their Business Pages. Following last fall’s overall redesign, these pages will now migrate to the same Wall and tabs design that personal profiles have used.
Coke Goes Back to Brand Basics
Mar 5, 2009
After years of cool marketing campaigns revolving around football, music and latterly computer gaming, the world’s most famous brand is going back to basics. Coca-Cola has been communicating about its product, what’s in it ("Nothing artificial. Never had been, never will be") and the product heritage, dating back to 1886 when John Pemberton created his secret formula.
What If Gen Y Wants to Be Behaviorally Targeted?
Mar 5, 2009
Talk of restricting behavioral-targeting practices is heavy in the air these days. But what if Generation Y -- the first demographic to grow up totally immersed in the digital life -- actually wants to be behaviorally targeted by marketers? Speaking at the recent OMMA Behavioral conference, Forrester Research's Emily Riley made a strong case for this idea. <div style="padding: 0px 0px 0px 0px;"> <a href="http://adage.com/video"><img src="/images/random/video_alladage417bar.jpg" width="417" height="40" border="0" /></a> </div>
IBM Uses Video, Social Tools for B-to-B
Mar 4, 2009
The buzz around social media is usually reserved for hot consumer brands, yet IBM has seized an opportunity to use such marketing tools to tout a "dry" technology product to IT professionals.
Boomers Can Be Targeted By Economic Outlook
Mar 4, 2009
Marketing effectively to baby boomers now requires understanding how distinct segments have been affected by the drop in retirement fund and housing values and other economic fallout, and what messages resonate with each.
Congress Pushes Tobacco Marketing Restrictions
Mar 4, 2009
New, stronger controls over tobacco marketing is being pushed by Congress -- and that has advertisers up in arms.
Kia Readies Integrated Effort For New Soul
Mar 4, 2009
Kia this month launches its newest car, the Soul compact car, with an integrated campaign comprising TV, print, outdoor and Web advertising that begins late this month.
Facebook to Woo Marketers With Revamped 'Fan Pages'
Mar 4, 2009
Facebook's all set to make a product development announcement of sorts on Wednesday in the form of what it calls an "Open Door" event featuring CEO Mark Zuckerberg and several other executives. The most notable portion of it--according to an e-mail from the company's press corps--is that it'll unveil "the next evolution of Facebook Pages."
Yes, We Plan: How Altruism and Advertising Could Change the World
Mar 4, 2009
Marketing veteran Cindy Gallop and software developer Wendell Davis are on a quest to make the world a better place, with a crowdsourcing project to motivate people to do big things by taking small bites. Their theory: Small, good intentions can bring about great leaps.
Three Kinds of Meetings
Mar 4, 2009
Meetings are marketing in real time with real people. (A conference is not a meeting. A conference is a chance for a circle of people to interact). There are only three kinds of classic meetings:
Schlotzsky’s Goes Web 2.0 for Sandwich Debut
Mar 4, 2009
Schlotzsky’s is throwing out the first pitch for its first major QSR deal this week with a spring baseball-themed program that supports the casual chain’s launch of three Big League Clubz sandwiches. The creative challenge was to spread the word about the new Beef ‘n Bacon Club, Chick ‘n Turkey Club and Ham ‘n Turkey Club sandwiches among dads and their ball-playing kids by the bonding the sport brings—from Little League to the big leagues.
What's Love Got to Do With It?
Mar 2, 2009
"Love" has become a key ingredient in many marketing programs. Some recent rallying cries: "Get consumers to fall in love with our brand." "Reach their hearts as well as their minds." "Create intimate, emotional connections. Smother them with attention and affection." Does "love" work in marketing? Sure. As a matter of fact, falling in love is a good analogy for the branding process.
Twitter Eyes Search as Means to Monetize
Mar 2, 2009
When twitter closed on a $35 million round of venture capital, in addition to the $20 million it had already raised, the messaging service signaled that it intends to be a very big business. Like its 6 million users, corporations have embraced the service. Its ability to take the measure of what is being said at a given time about brands is a potential gold mine for marketers, and it is the first place Twitter will look to generate revenue.
Dannon Plans More Activity for Activia
Mar 1, 2009
In tough times, discretionary items like yogurt are often the first to go. Group Danone has certainly noticed this trend. It witnessed, what it has called, a “marked slowdown” in its fourth quarter fresh dairy sales. Still, Marc Jove, its new svp of marketing for Dannon (as the company is known here), sees growth potential in an emerging market such as the U.S.
Brands on the Verge: Villainess Gets the Girls
Mar 1, 2009
Barbie has held a lot of jobs in her 50 years: a stewardess, a vet, an astronaut, a McDonald’s cashier, a rocker. But a self-taught soapmaker who started a Fight Club-type business sans the fighting? That doll has yet to be molded, but we know the perfect model.
CMOs Look To Web For Improved ROI
Feb 27, 2009
Spending on marketing will grow just half a percentage point over the next 12 months, with traditional ad spend decreasing 7% and Internet growing 10%, according to The CMO Survey, a poll of 581 top U.S. marketing executives taken this month. Business-to-consumer marketers expect to make the most significant shifts to the Internet, for both product and service advertising, the survey found.
Why Marketers Are Using Machinima (and What It Is)
Feb 27, 2009
Machinima is so popular that it has inspired blogs, books, magazines, a YouTube network and even a film fest. But it's still likely to register as "Machini-wha?" with many marketers and consumers.
People Need Ideas, Not Information.
Feb 26, 2009
If you're in business to add value to people's lives, especially stressed out and time-starved people, you should think twice before adding even a drop more information into the fire hoses they're presently drinking from. Instead, help them synthesize transcendent patterns. Help them make sense. Help them achieve their goals and advance their agendas. What people really need today are ideas, not information. Ideas are the filters most people are so desperately lacking.
When Calculating Twitter's ROI, Don't Forget Its Change on Organizations
Feb 25, 2009
What's the bigger idea: social media as marketing stimulus or social media as a way to innovate business processes?
How Big Brands can Start Testing Social Media
Feb 25, 2009
We're now in what I am starting to call the perfect storm for social media. On one side we have lots of very smart and accomplished professionals who are and have been using these tools to network, learn, and some to market themselves successfully to new jobs and careers. On the other we have many companies that are starting to see the need for different answers to growth than the diminishing returns not guaranteed by traditional channels.
How the Tobacco Business Got It Right From the Start
Feb 25, 2009
A CDC report earlier this month said Marlboro cigarettes were the No. 1 choice of teen smokers, which prompted critics to once again blame marketing as the cause. A company spokesman countered that the influence of adult smokers was far more likely to blame for teenagers' brand preference. I think he's right.
Better Ways To Do More With Less
Feb 24, 2009
Crawling around inside a few dozen large marketing and finance organizations these past months, I've seen some evidence of five patterns of "do more with less" that seem to work best.
I'm Sold On Engagement
Feb 24, 2009
After a great conversation with Mike Barbeau, who has spent his career on the agency side and is now head of account strategy for SocialVibe, I am sold on engagement as a key metric for buying and selling branding online. Given the proper definition and standardization, engagement can provide the right baseline for marketers to plan, buy and measure brand campaigns online. But there is work to be done.
Artists Tell Of Loyalty To Microphone Brand
Feb 24, 2009
Apparently, there's only one microphone brand Roger Daltrey chooses to swing above his head during Who shows: Shure.Daltrey and his bandmate Pete Townshend are among about 15 artists featured in a new campaign for the microphone maker. The campaign looks to move beyond simple concert shots of artists using the product to a deeper place where artists can talk about their loyalty to the equipment.
Why Retailers Need to Get Back to Basics
Feb 23, 2009
Businesses in all sectors are struggling in today's tough economic climate. The retail industry looks particularly grim. AlixPartners, a Michigan turnaround-consulting firm, estimates that more than a quarter of all large retailers are at significant risk of filing for bankruptcy or facing financial distress.
Brands Adjust Marketing Strategies For Recession Mind-Set
Feb 23, 2009
With layoffs on the rise and stock markets headed down, we know that buyers are spending less. What that means for brand loyalty is a crucial question that's still unfolding for purveyors of consumer goods and services.
McD's Opened Dialogue to Turn Itself Around
Feb 23, 2009
McDonald's in the U.K. has just had its best ever year and despite -- or perhaps because of -- the economic climate, its chief marketing officer for U.K. and Northern Europe, Jill McDonald, is in a bullish mood: She's expecting to come out of the recession serving more customers than going in.
Is Marketing Evil?
Feb 23, 2009
Marketing works. If you spend time and money (with skill) you can tell a story that spreads, that influences people, that changes actions. Marketing can cause people to buy something that they wouldn't have bought without marketing, vote for someone they might not have considered and support an organization that would have been invisible otherwise. If marketing doesn't work, then a lot of us are wasting a great deal of effort (and cash). But it does.
Magazine Brands: A Niche for Success
Feb 23, 2009
Niche magazines—magazines that target highly specialized interests—have increased in popularity in recent years. They can be a demographer’s dream, because once a niche magazine builds up its subscriber base, that audience becomes a valuable, targetable list of names in a specific vertical market. As a result, product marketers who want to sell to that audience segment can not only advertise in the magazine, they can also rent the magazine’s subscriber list for direct marketing campaigns.
JetBlue Welcomes High Flyers
Feb 19, 2009
Marketers have mostly stayed quiet about the public bailout of financial institutions and auto companies, but low-cost airline JetBlue is broaching the subject, albeit comically, in a new campaign.
Luxury Brands Are Adjusting To Economic Reality
Feb 19, 2009
Given the worldwide economic decline, the once seemingly-recession-proof luxury sector is under siege. It's no longer just the aspirational customer--families with household incomes of $250,000 to $500,000--that are pulling back. It's the buyers of couture products and services: people with liquid portfolios, investible assets of $1,000,000 and more.
Why Retailers Call The Shots
Feb 19, 2009
The news that Microsoft has hired a senior Wal-Mart executive to spearhead a move into retail will not come as much of a shock. These days retailers run the world, and companies like Microsoft, which have typically supplied big retail, are now increasingly drawn to the idea of opening up for themselves. The marketing advantages are great.
Don't Turn a Deaf Ear to Music Branding
Feb 18, 2009
Music. Records to some, jingles to others, a theme, a tune, a few bars or a beat -- it's music, yes, but it's more: It's branding, music branding, and the sound is music to corporate ears.
For General Mills, Increased Marketing Spending Paying Off
Feb 17, 2009
General Mills, one of the package-food industry's top performers, laid out a number of recent marketing successes at the Consumer Analysts Group of New York conference this morning, and offered a preview of the rest of its fiscal year.
The Rational Marketer (And The Irrational Customer)
Feb 17, 2009
The most common frustration I see, and I see it daily, comes from marketers who can't figure out why more people won't buy their product. This particularly afflicts b2b marketers, who ostensibly have rational customers.
Relocation Means Money For Some Marketers
Feb 16, 2009
While it's no secret that the dead-in-the-water real-estate market means fewer people are buying and selling homes, a new study shows that turmoil in job markets means people are moving, but the opportunities for marketers are narrower.
Gone Daddy Gone: Heinous Ads May Cost Go Daddy Customers
Feb 16, 2009
After this year's Super Bowl, I just couldn't do it anymore. As it was, any time I had to log on to Go Daddy I felt some combination of embarrassment and annoyance at the registrar's approach to women and marketing. But after its execrable ad efforts around this year's game, I found that I just couldn't stomach contributing anything to this organization any longer. I'm transferring my domains and my insignificant little piece of business elsewhere.
FTC to Marketers: Self-Regulate Behavioral Targeting
Feb 13, 2009
The Federal Trade Commission seemed to give a major victory to marketers today when it confirmed it will let them self-regulate behavioral-marketing privacy issues in cyberspace, rather than introduce government regulation. It also narrowed the scope of advertising that will face regulation.
Unilever's Di Como On 'TV & Everything Video'
Feb 13, 2009
At Thursday's TV & Everything Video Forum, Unilever's VP of American media, Luis Di Como, told the crowd that in the spirit of the times, he would give three speeches for the price of one. That comic bit aligned with his broader theme: If marketers want to save money, they need to create partnerships that transcend the up-front orientation around the 30-second spot, and they need to remember what people have cared about for eons: a good story.
Nike Restructures; May Shed 1,400 Jobs
Feb 12, 2009
Add Nike to the list of marketers doing more with less: The marketing powerhouse is restructuring, and says its restructuring plan will boost consumer-focused products, but may lead to the elimination of 4% of its 35,000-strong workforce.
GM Looks To Cash In On 'Transformers' Sequel
Feb 11, 2009
General Motors Corp. plans to unveil today five concept vehicles starring in the upcoming summer blockbuster sequel "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" -- a marketing move the struggling automaker is hoping will boost its image at a critical time.
Hilfiger: Out-Of-Touch Or On The Money?
Feb 11, 2009
In unveiling its newest marketing campaign, Tommy Hilfiger is doing more of what it has always done: Invoking young, glamorous, affluent Americans with that classic cool. This time, they're looking more like movie stars than ever, as they lounge on expensive cars, sunbathe at the pool, and bask in palm-tree-studded sunsets. Either these folks missed the memo that, at the moment, America represents job loss, recession, and a cratering economy, or the company is hoping its lifestyle fantasy image will have more appeal than the latest downer headlines.
P&G Pullout: The Start of a Stampede?
Feb 10, 2009
A week after its COO asserted that Procter & Gamble would continue to maintain its marketing spend, the nation’s top advertiser is quietly pulling back on its second-quarter upfront options, a move TV sales bosses are characterizing as “comprehensive.”
Why Package-Goods Companies Should Market to Men
Feb 9, 2009
A great societal shift is under way, and no one is taking advantage of it. Numerous trend reports, even the 2008 census, show conclusively that men are more and more involved in taking care of their children and homes. So you'd think package-goods marketers would jump at the chance to include them in their marketing mixes. But you'd be wrong.
Hulu Who?
Feb 9, 2009
In the spring of 2007 Jason Kilar was trying to beef up the video offerings of his employer, Amazon, the world’s largest online retailer, when he got a call from a headhunting firm. Would he consider running Hulu, a new joint venture by two “old media” giants, NBC Universal and News Corp? The idea was to enter the confusing online-video market by starting a service from scratch—and doing it properly. Mr Kilar said yes.
Public Flogging for Bailed-Out Marketers Like Citi, BofA
Feb 9, 2009
In the marketing and media industries, it's widely believed that advertising, done right, is an investment in future business results. But the question today is whether the rest of the country can be persuaded to see it that way.
Marketers vs Consumer Expectations
Feb 9, 2009
As a consumer I love Pret A Manger. Yesterday, however, I was unimpressed with its sushi, despite the fact it has been my favourite lunch choice for the past few years. Has Pret dropped its guard? Is it poised for a descent into bankruptcy? Probably not. On reflection my disappointment was caused by a more subtle marketing phenomenon: there are two sides to satisfaction.
Victoria's Secret Steps Up Entertainment Marketing
Feb 8, 2009
Intimates brand Victoria’s Secret has retained Los Angeles-based entertainment marketing consultancy Davie Brown Entertainment as its lead agency to explore film, television and other industry outreach opportunities.
Lazy Marketing
Feb 8, 2009
During a Q&A session following a speaking engagement in Chicago on Wednesday, I was asked for my opinion of Denny's Grand Slam Giveaway Super Bowl promotional spot by an executive in the audience. "Do you think it was a success?" he asked with a hint of skepticism in his voice. "I really don't know," I replied. "I have no idea what 'success' means to Denny's. I hope it means a sustained increased in profitable sales that exceeds the $5 million cost of the promotion." I went on to express my doubts that a one-off sales promotion with no follow-on behavioral incentives or cues would have that effect.
Twitterhawk: Clever Twitter Marketing, or Spam?
Feb 8, 2009
I just got a pointer to TwitterHawk, a clever bot that will monitor Twitter posts for key words and send automated and pre-programmed @ replies to them when those words pop up. The service actually looks for more than just words. It can also scan for posts from specific locations (how it determines location is not clear to me) or for tweets that are calculated to have generally positive or negative sentiment, or for those that have links embedded in them.
The Difference Between a Show And a Story
Feb 6, 2009
The Super Bowl hype is blissfully long gone, and lazy media outlets can no longer reprint press releases and dissect multi-million dollar wastes of time and money. The lesson of these ads is simple. Putting on a show is expensive, time-consuming and quite fun. And it rarely works.
In Campaign Wars, Apple Still Has Microsoft’s Number
Feb 4, 2009
Twenty-five years ago, Apple hurled a legendary marketing sledgehammer at I.B.M. personal computers that ran Microsoft software. During the 1984 Super Bowl, Apple ran a television ad that depicted those machines as instruments of Big Brotherish conformity. The ad was shown just once, but people still talk about it. Today, Apple is still producing ads that hammer away at computers that run Microsoft’s software. But this time, Apple’s pounding is constant, even as Microsoft has been weakened by product stumbles and a series of ads that fell flat with the public.
Marketers Make Great Depression the Latest Fad
Feb 3, 2009
Andrew Shaffer had a problem on his hands. The Order of St. Nick, the irreverent-greeting-card company that the former office manager runs out of his Iowa City home, was gearing up for Valentine's Day -- a bread-and-butter occasion in the card business. But few things can kill a romantic evening like a limp GDP. If your beau just lost his job, chances are you're not getting two dozen long stems and a box of Godivas this year. So when Shaffer sat down to write his cards, he scoured for a theme that was right for the times-memorable, romantic yet realistic. He found it all in the Depression.
Citi Explores Breaking Mets Deal
Feb 3, 2009
Citigroup Inc., eager to quell the controversy over how lenders are using government bailout money, is exploring the possibility of backing out of a nearly $400 million marketing deal with the New York Mets, say people familiar with the matter.
Why Marketing Clashes With Management
Feb 2, 2009
"Why do we have trouble selling our ideas to top management?" I recently asked my daughter and partner, Laura. "Dad," she replied, "they're not like us. They're left-brainers." And therein lies the biggest problem in business today: Left-brain management and right-brain marketing don't see eye to eye. Management is verbal, logical and analytical. Marketing is visual, intuitive and holistic.
How Food Giant Goya Plans to Bring Latin Cuisine to the Masses
Feb 2, 2009
As more companies target the growing U.S. Hispanic population, Hispanic marketers are trying to extend their sales to the rest of America.
How to Get a Brand on NBC's 'Today' for Nothing
Feb 2, 2009
Most marketers looking to get their messages out by using NBC's popular morning-news program, "Today," figure they'll need to spend tens of thousands of dollars for a 30-second spot. And yet Taylor Larouche and her pals were able to snag much more time than that -- for free.
3 Reasons Super Bowl Ads Failed, And 3 That Worked
Feb 2, 2009
Most marketing blogs the day after the Super Bowl are sharing the same disappointment at the ads and how universally average they were. Meanwhile, some of the best campaigns of the Super Bowl season were efforts launched online or that had a significant online component, but the fact remains that many Super Bowl ads simply didn't work this year. Here's my list not just of the best and worst ads, but some lessons I think any marketer can learn from why the worst ones failed.
What T-Mobile's 'Dance' and Ikea's 'Du' Teach Us About Messaging
Jan 29, 2009
In meetings with almost all our clients the same topic comes up: Will our relevant market be hit by the crisis and if so, how hard? While the specific answer differs according to the different scenarios, of course, there is one element all these discussions have in common. It is a growing sense of family, community, society or "We." It will be the most important positive word for 2009.
The Obama Inaugural Speech: A Vision for Marketing
Jan 28, 2009
"The fruits are in the roots." This is a key concept in the M.B.A. course I teach at Emory University's Goizueta Business School. In class, we explore the soulfulness of organizations -- how to discover it, harness it and profit from it. President Obama's inaugural address is a primer on this subject as well as an important lesson for marketers who believe our industry could do better. The president believes that going back to our fundamental truths -- our soul -- is indeed what propelled our nation to greatness.
Get Out of the Silo
Jan 28, 2009
Marketing expert David Aaker argues that to succeed in today’s global arena, marketers must learn to appeal to consumers whose interests transcend individual products and regions.
What Will Marketing Look Like in 2015?
Jan 28, 2009
While today's terrain can be pretty treacherous for any marketer, a new report is encouraging them to look ahead to 2015. The What will the role of marketing be in the year 2015? report was created by the American Marketing Assn. in conjunction with Decision Strategies International.
Ford, Toyota Disagree Over Marketing Statements for Hybrids
Jan 28, 2009
Ford wants to call its Fusion Hybrid the most fuel efficient mid-size car, Toyota says no you can't.
Bounce Shows a Softer Side
Jan 28, 2009
Procter & Gamble has teamed with Petside.com and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to launch a charitable promotion for its fabric softener brand, Bounce. The effort is meant to benefit the ASPCA's "Mission: Orange" pet humanitarian project.
Super Bowl Ads Jump Off The Screen
Jan 28, 2009
To justify the hefty costs, marketers look to make their messages outlast the big game.
Few CMOs Think They're Effectively Tracking Social Media, Word-of-Mouth
Jan 26, 2009
Who in corporate America owns the consumer relationship, the customer experience, word-of-mouth or social media? The answer appears to be nobody.
Microsoft Songsmith Is Easy (if Painful to Hear)
Jan 25, 2009
Calling all novice songwriters: Microsoft is pitching software designed for you, no musical training required. You sing the words as best you can, and its Songsmith software supplies computer-matched musical accompaniment.
So Who's Tops at Listening to What Consumers Say About Your Brand?
Jan 25, 2009
By now it's a widely accepted marketing maxim that a brand isn't simply what its marketing department says it is but what its customers say it is. And listening to what consumers are saying and distilling the most important information into useful business insights is an area in which most marketers rely on a fast-growing group of outside vendors for help.
Making Every Second, or $100,000, Count
Jan 23, 2009
Marketers that advertise on the Super Bowl are always seeking more bang for their buck. This year, with each 30-second commercial during the game estimated to cost a record $3 million — yes, $100,000 a second — and the recession threatening to dampen viewer enthusiasm, the sponsors are intensifying efforts to amplify the force of what they plan for Super Bowl XLIII.
Marketing In A “Down” Economy
Jan 22, 2009
I have a question for you: With the current state of things, right at this very moment, which one of the following would you choose? What you’re looking at is a campaign (a quick hit in awareness and sales) and a movement (long-term, sustainable growth). Because of what’s currently going on in the world right now, your answer may be different from what it was a year ago. Or maybe not.
Viacom Plots SpongeBob Marketing Blitz
Jan 21, 2009
What started out as an amusing cartoon a decade ago is turning into a major marketing franchise for Viacom, which unveiled T-shirts and a jewelry line last week to kick off a merchandising campaign around its iconic SpongeBob SquarePants character.
Generation G
Jan 21, 2009
Has there ever been more urgency for corporations to ditch the greed and embrace generosity? It's something that countless individuals have already started doing, of course: giving is the new taking, and sharing is the new giving.
NBA's Nets Employ Unique Marketing Strategy
Jan 21, 2009
The New Jersey Nets have initiated a program under which people in the team's partnership marketing department will spend a day working as an employee with one of the Nets' marketing partners.
Your Name Here
Jan 21, 2009
2009 is being brought to us by something called Necessity, but it might be called the Year of Doing Things For Measurable Reasons.
Pepsi, Coke Try to Outdo Each Other With Rays of Sunshine
Jan 18, 2009
The latest wrinkle in the cola wars: the battle of the upbeat. Pepsi now boasts a series of smiling logos, and a new tagline, "Every generation refreshes the world," was set to roll out over the weekend. Coca-Cola, meanwhile, is poised to launch a campaign, "Open happiness," that will replace its "Coke side of life" -- which is, naturally, the bright side.
Welcome to the Monkey House
Jan 16, 2009
In 2018 we will look back with bemusement at the industry before 2010, when most advertising meant ads - brief, static bits of promotional info on TV video, Web sites, radio, paper or big flat outdoor posters. These repetitive ad messages were everywhere you went, and people quietly tolerated them and went about their day. Before 2010, most ads offered little opportunity to complain, ask questions, collect more information, meet the people involved, or play a game. How ridiculously boring, really.
Coke Faces Deception Charges On Vitaminwater
Jan 16, 2009
The Center for Science in the Public Interest has served Coca-Cola with a class-action lawsuit, charging the Atlanta beverage giant with deceptive and unsubstantiated claims on its Vitaminwater beverages.
Marketing: Social Media's Hidden Bubble
Jan 15, 2009
As the recession rapidly sucks the momentum out of Web 2.0's heyday, with it may go one of the era's most defining terms: the job title "social media expert."
DMA: 'We Are All Direct Marketers Now'
Jan 15, 2009
"We are all direct marketers now, whether we know it or not," states Michelle Tiletnick, research manager of the Direct Marketing Association, to conclude the executive summary of the DMA's new 78-page qualitative report, "Future of Direct Marketing."
Walgreen Broadens Its Health-Care Reach
Jan 14, 2009
Walgreen Co. plans to announce on Wednesday a network of pharmacies, in-store clinics and company health centers it will market to corporate and government employers nationwide.
Stories You Can Tell
Jan 14, 2009
Marketing a product is hard. If you’re the chief storyteller of Skype right now, what are you going to say about the product that will encourage more usage, more uptake, more awareness? The product is fairly solid, has a known set of features, and is one of a few “name brand” products in the Voice over IP space. So what can you say about it?
Can Moms Save Us From the Recession?
Jan 13, 2009
As a marketer, you may be asking yourself: Are there any consumers out there who will be shopping this year? The answer is a resounding yes. Moms will keep shopping. They have to. Your efforts to understand their purchase behavior are more important than ever.
Possibilities, Not Necessities
Jan 12, 2009
I just finished walking through the exhibits at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, and my shopping list is blank. I don't need anything that I saw.
OfficeMax Takes Aim At Cubicle Misery
Jan 12, 2009
With workplace anxiety at ultra-high levels, OfficeMax is shifting its marketing focus, reaching out to the 80 million cubicle dwellers who, more or less, all hate their cubicles.
Beware the Knee-jerk Urge to Slash Marketing Budgets
Jan 7, 2009
In Manhattan to accept a top marketer award, Mark Gambill, chief marketing officer of CDW, offered his observations and advice for the coming year.
Sustainability as a 2009 Marketing Issue
Jan 6, 2009
Don Carli of the Institute for Sustainable Communications weighs in on how the issue is evolving and where it's likely to be going in 2009.
Ford Scores Marketing Coup With Thrifty Fusion Hybrid
Dec 23, 2008
The Ford Fusion hybrid will be the most fuel-efficient midsize sedan on the market when it arrives this spring, clocking in at 41 miles per gallon, according to data given to Ford Motor by the Environmental Protection Agency. It's a huge marketing gain for Ford as it attempts to green up its image and improve fuel efficiency across the board.
What is Viral Marketing?
Dec 22, 2008
Viral marketing is an idea that spreads--and an idea that while it is spreading actually helps market your business or cause.
REI vs. The North Face in iPhone App Tactics
Dec 21, 2008
The North Face and REI compete for the hearts and minds of snow enthusiasts. Now they're taking their battle to a new front: the iPhone.
Campbell Soup Ties In With 'Tale Of Despereaux'
Dec 19, 2008
In its first partnership with a major movie studio, Campbell Soup is promoting Universal Pictures' "The Tale Of Despereaux," which opens today, on 50 million cans of condensed chicken noodle and tomato soup.
The Downturn’s New Rules For Marketers
Dec 19, 2008
Around the world, marketing and sales executives are being asked to do more with less. It’s a demand many have heard in previous hard times, and most managers muddled through then. But the nature of the current downturn—and of the changes the marketing and sales environment has undergone since the 2001–02 recession—suggests that those who follow the survival techniques of past slowdowns risk betting on the wrong markets, customers, advertising vehicles, or sales approaches.
Religion's Marketing Problem
Dec 19, 2008
In the history of mankind, nothing has been sold as aggressively and successfully as religion. But unlike the traditional world of marketing, the "my religion is better than your religion" arguments have taken on an intensity that has often become fatal.
Chrysler Closes Factories, but Marketing Marches On
Dec 18, 2008
Chrysler said late today it will shut down all its plants at the end of the last shift on Dec. 19, with factory workers not back to work before Jan. 19. Despite that, the automaker will continue some current marketing efforts. Both Ford and GM have made similar moves.
Oprah Network Taps Dolan As CMO
Dec 17, 2008
Former Nike marketing executive Liz Dolan has been named chief marketing officer of OWN, the Oprah Winfrey Network. Dolan will be responsible for all on-air, print, radio and online marketing efforts, as well as integrated strategies.
How About Putting the Air into Airlines?
Dec 17, 2008
Robert Rosenthal's novel marketing prescription for resuscitating the airline industry.
The Secrets of Marketing in a Web 2.0 World
Dec 15, 2008
For marketers, Web 2.0 offers a remarkable new opportunity to engage consumers. We interviewed more than 30 executives and managers in both large and small organizations that are at the forefront of experimenting with Web 2.0 tools. From those conversations and further research, we identified a set of emerging principles for marketing.
Marketers Debate When, How To Use Text Messaging
Dec 11, 2008
Marketers taking part in MediaPost's Email Insider Summit this week wrestled with the question of how aggressively to employ text messaging--either as a way to obtain email addresses or as part of an integrated campaign.
Del Monte's New CMO Raises the Bar on Fruit
Dec 6, 2008
These recessionary times are supposedly causing consumers to go back to the basics. And what's more basic than fruit? If that's the case, Del Monte, one of the world's largest distributors and marketers of fruit, is well positioned.
Rite Aid Taps Martindale For Marketing Chores
Dec 5, 2008
Ken Martindale, a retail veteran with more than 35 years of diverse marketing, merchandising and operations experience, is joining Rite Aid as Senior Executive Vice President of Merchandising, Marketing and Logistics.
The Age of Mass Intelligence
Dec 5, 2008
We’ve all heard about dumbing down. But there is plenty of evidence that the opposite is also true. Is this, in fact, the age of mass intelligence?
Luxury Brands Go Over The Top To Connect With Wealthy Clients
Dec 4, 2008
Lavish parties and extravagant events are in vogue as the economic slowdown causes marketers to focus on their high-net-worth customers.
List of Top iPhone Apps Suggest Opportunities for Marketers
Dec 4, 2008
Applications -- particularly iPhone applications -- are gaining traction among advertisers because the rich user experience delivers deep engagement, the new metric in the brave new world of mobile.
Tesla Motors Names New SVP Global Sales, Marketing
Dec 4, 2008
Former Harley-Davidson executive Michael van der Sande has joined Tesla Motors as senior vice president for global sales, marketing and service, effective immediately. He replaces Darryl Siry, who resigned to pursue other opportunities.
The Window is Open... Right Now
Dec 1, 2008
A recession is a hangover from excessive spending. Combine that with the November 2008 elections, which signified that most Americans crave big change, and it's a perfect time for non-traditional marketing people to make their moves.
Marketers Reach Out to Loyal Customers
Nov 26, 2008
With the critical holiday-sales season at hand, there's a new character joining Santa and his elves on the advertising circuit: the analytics geek. Marketers, their ad budgets under increased scrutiny amid the economic downturn, are mining their customer databases and reaching out to loyal consumers with targeted ads, instead of relying on the traditional yuletide blitz.
The $64,000 Question: Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?
Nov 25, 2008
The economic downturn is renewing interest on Madison Avenue in a marketing mainstay that is particularly popular during tough times: cash giveaways.
Beverage Ads Not Fueling Enough Word of Mouth
Nov 19, 2008
Study: marketing efforts miss opportunities to spur sales by talking up brand benefits.
Click Fraud To Shape Ad Decisions in 2009
Nov 19, 2008
As financial fears and uncertainty pervade Wall Street, and once-high-flying Internet darlings struggle to stay relevant, there is an underground revolution among marketers that will permanently change how ad spend decisions get made.
Barack Obama and Audacity of Marketing
Nov 10, 2008
Four years after delivering the speech called "The Audacity of Hope" that would launch him toward the White House, Barack Obama has become a case study in audacious marketing, an object lesson on why you should forget inherited notions of whom your audience can be.
What Marketers Can Learn From Obama's Campaign
Nov 5, 2008
Nov. 4, 2008, will go down in history as the biggest day ever in the history of marketing.
Marketing Lessons from the US Election
Nov 4, 2008
It's obvious that this is the most talked about election in the history of the world, and I think there are some lessons for every marketer, regardless of nationality or political leanings.
The Pitfalls of Nascar Blindness
Nov 4, 2008
The cure for Nascar blindness is a relatively painless and simple one: listening. Which is one of the most underutilized tools in the marketer's arsenal, but also one of the most valuable.
