ANA Marketing Maestros

The Advertiser magazine changes publishers

ANA's official publication has selected The Pohly Company as their new publisher. After an extensive review process, the ANA found a group that would help rejuvenate the publication and bring fresh insights and perspectives to our members.

As the marketing industry changes, we evolve with it. The Advertiser, which has been published for 15 years, will continue to be from the client-side marketer perspective and offer key trends, issues and best practices six times a year.

Allstate makes great move in title sponsorship of Sugar Bowl

Way to go Joe! Joe Tripodi, CMO of Allstate and ANA board member inks deal to be the title sponsor of the Sugar Bowl in 2007.

The move helps solidify an already rich presence in the college football sponsorship arena. Set to return to New Orleans this year, the Sugar Bowl will have a positive economic and symbolic impact on this recovering region.

Design the New Black?

In Advertising Age’s The Point freelance writer Dale Buss calls design the new marketing black. Design isn’t new.  Marketers have been helping to design products to sell products, to gain a competitive advantage, to stand out at the point of sales, or to gain consumer attention for all time. Packaging design, label design and product design are all ways we marketers have fought to gain a competitive edge.

What’s different is the way we now use design.

Coolest Brand Wins

Branding works.  I’m reminded of this fact every time I pass a Starbucks, see someone pay $100 for a pair of sneakers or buy a Mercedes (yes I know they are German engineered).  But reminders of how well branding works are always beneficial, because they help me see what the job of a marketer is all about.  Building a relevant and compelling brand that trumps the competition. 

Two weeks ago at one of ANA’s region meetings, Chris Fawcett, Sony, corporate marketing director, laid out the Bravia brand story.  This is truly a compelling story. 

Marketers should read latest Newsweek

Just finished the new issue of Newsweek and feel relatively well educated on the tools avaialble on the web. I know I am just a layman, but now I am intrigued by jajah, sharpcast, prosper and the beta testing plum.

Every marketer should read the article. It tells them where their customers are going and more importantly, engaging.

TV Advertising: Lessons Learned from Doing Something Else

In the February 27th issue of Advertising Age, Brad Haley, executive vp marketing, CKE Restaurants authored a Viewpoint entitled "The Decline and Fall of TV Advertising."  His position is that the end of TV advertising is near and he states "unfortunately for those of us in the business, there is simply no good media alternative on the horizon to replace the TV ad." Au contrair.

In my opinion, the death of television advertising has everything to do with a lack of customer connection.  Maybe it's time for marketers to reassert their authority and demand the creativity they need to break through the clutter in both a relevant and compelling way.

Larry Light, when CMO at McDonald's, developed some strong and sensible advertising guidelines: Brand Journalism and Brand Framework.

Wanted: Expert to Develop Talent Payment Methodology

It goes without saying that there has been tremendous change in the media landscape since the current talent compensation model was established, back in the 1950s.

As a result, the Joint Policy Committee on Broadcast Talent Union Relations (JPC), the entity that represents the advertising industry in contract negotiations with the major talent unions, issued a Request for Qualifications (RFQ) for an independent consultant.  They are searching for this consultant to develop alternate methods to compensate actors for their participation in commercials that appear on television and radio as well as in the growing array of new media.

The RFQ is intended to identify individuals with experience in television, radio and labor relations, who have the expertise to study the concerns of both the advertisers and the unions and propose alternative methods of compensation. The resulting approaches will be offered for consideration in this fall’s bargaining process surrounding the advertising industry’s contract with SAG/AFTRA, which expires on October 29, 2006.

Click here for more information on the JPC's Request for Credentials.

TV Advertising: Threat or Opportunity?

My TV viewing habits have changed.  I have gone from a light television viewer to a heavy one.  The reason: this weekend we hooked up our brand new Pioneer Elite HD TV to an HD/DVR box from Cablevision.   Programmers do not have to worry – I watched more television than I ever have before in one weekend as I reveled in high definition (note to Mark Cuban, we need a lot more female targeted HD programs out there…) 

But advertisers do have to worry – what I am jazzed about is the on demand content – paying for commercial free movies when I want them, viewing the commercial free on demand  fitness shows on my schedule instead of recording Gilead (when he is on at 7 AM I am already out the door)  and then during playback having to jog  in place while the commercials run or find the remote to fast forward.  Cablevision calls the channel that carries these types of programs  Mag Rack – a non descript name if you ask me.  If I were an advertiser I would start creating programs for the on demand networks.  I noticed that Shape magazine has jumped on that bandwagon, but am amazed that so many of the Mag Rack offerings are generic.  I really will not mind if Crystal  Light – which I drink by the gallon – is integrated into the program – just don’t interrupt my workout!    I can’t wait to get home tonight, watch more TV and try that workout…

Introducing the Maestros

The ANA is pleased to enter the blogosphere for a third time. First, we joined with our CEO, Bob Liodice's launch of Marketing Musings,  and then our Executive VP in DC, Dan Jaffe, began  Regulatory Rumblings in March 2004.

To complement our current blogs and build dialogue on the enormous changes happening in marketing, we made the decision to jump on the blog band wagon again and offer up what else is going on in and around the ANA-- to give you a "sneak peek" at our organization. 

Our in-house citizen journalists will talk about everything from marketing technology to accountability and everything in between. Oh, and the name we borrowed from Dr. Pete Sealey who coined the phrase at our Annual Conference two years ago, saying, "It is no longer enough to be a master of marketing, you must become a maestro of marketing." What is a maestro? It is an "artist of consummate skill providing overall direction." All right, I like the sound of that, so here we go.