Davis ThinkingInfluence is bliss… The socialization of media is as transformative as it is empowering. As individuals, we’re tweeting, updating, blogging, commenting, curating, liking and friending our way toward varying levels of stature within our social graphs. With every response and action that results from our engagement, we are slowly introduced to the laws of social physics: for every action there is a reaction – even if that reaction is silence. And, the extent of this resulting activity is measured by levels of influence and other factors such as the size and shape of nicheworks as well as attention aperture and time.
The second tenet of the Marketers' Constitution states, "Marketing must build real, enduring, tangible brand value." A marketing environment in which brands are launched, built, tracked and precisely valued will allow businesses, across the marketing ecosystem, to make strategic decisions about how best to build and protect their brand.
The Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) has become one of the more commonly talked about corporate designations in recent years. Given the tremendous marketing potential offered by the new media and proliferation of distribution channels, companies have begun to realize the huge potential of marketing in guiding corporate level strategies and substantially contributing to the financial bottom line. In spite of such an understanding, it is startling to note that the average tenure of a CMO is merely 23 months compared to a CFO that typical lasts 4-5 years on average. Further, not many companies have a senior marketing representative in their C-suite. This begs the question – do companies need a CMO or is the role of a CMO a mere hype? This article probes this question and offers companies some guide posts for better strategic directions.
It's an unpleasant, abominable idea, submitting something as delicate as culture to the rack of metrification. But here's why it's necessary. There's so much going on "out there" in culture, so many different people creating so many different innovations, subject to change so violent and frequent, that unless we have metrics at our disposal, well, we're done for. We have no real hope of canvassing all that water front.
Return on Marketing Investment is still the #1 concern among C-level executives. Accountability is new to most marketers, but others in our organizations have been here before us: Finance, Operations and IT folks have been measured [and have been measuring] for decades. Marketing is the final frontier for performance metrics.
I'm having a hard time keeping a straight face as I read some of the latest commentary on the utility and measurement of social media. It's not that the folks doing the commenting aren't really smart and well-intentioned. Rather, it's just that I can't help but be reminded of participants at a UFO conference, presenting detailed analyses of smudged photos and heartfelt abductee testimonies. The sincerity of evangelists doesn't make their conclusions any more true, or believable.
Let’s face it — people are starting to burn out on all the “going green” talk, especially from the brands that aren’t putting their money where their mouth is. Confused by a whole new green vocabulary and fed up with being told what to do (or more often, what not to do) consumers are quickly becoming eco-fatigued. But in this economic climate where consumers are making a lot more decisions by the numbers, there is a unique opportunity for the brands that allow people to calculate their impact on the environment and their pocketbook at the same time.
Since the world became aware in the summer of 2007 of an imminent financial crisis, people have asked why so few experts saw it coming. There have been many calls for an early warning system for the world economy – but little has been said about how to build one.
My comments yesterday about CES notwithstanding, such a large agglomeration of smart people is sure to yield come valuable insights. I believe that the panel conversation that I moderated was one of those moments. There were at least three conclusions that I thought were very powerful.
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