ANA Marketing Maestros

ANA and Yahoo! - Content Partners

ANA and Yahoo! announced a partnership where the ANA will be a major content provider for Yahoo!’s revamped advertising Web site, advertising.yahoo.com. The site will now offer ANA’s extensive collection of ad industry information and expertise – including new research, articles and white papers – content that previously was available only to ANA members. The relaunched site also features a creative gallery showcasing the industry’s top creative work and a unique all-inclusive industry calendar that compiles all major industry events and conferences.

This partnership is a natural collaboration for the ANA with the leader in the online information space. It leverages our extensive library of intellectual capital and highlights our important industry work.  Cammie Dunaway, Yahoo!'s CMO, said at our Annual Conference, that Yahoo! had identified 4-Pillars that guide their marketing strategy:

· Search

· Content

· Community

· Personalization

We now join them in the content sphere as a syndicator of marketing insights. We are thrilled at the possibilities of this partnership and others like it.

What Would You Say to a CMO?

Thanks to CKs Blog for bringing to my attention, among other things, a blog called Note to CMO written as a call-out to chief marketing officers and the marketing community.

What would you write if you had a chance to say something to the head of the marketing function?

In reading this fascinating approach, it reminded me of an article we did where a few CMOs from our board told us what they are looking for in marketing professionals. As the holidays near and we reflect on personal improvements or career moves -- some things to keep in mind from some of the top marketing leaders. What are they looking for in a marketing professional:

Holistic, ‘system-thinkers’… customer-centric believers … innovators and dreamers … smart, effective communicators … results-obsessed managers… enlightened measurers … and great team leaders.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Technorati tag: CMOs

Marketers: Why No Blogs?

By Barbara Bacci Mirque

This week I sat in on a new ANA marketing skills course – “Word of Mouth Marketing”, facilitated by ANA instructor Phil Gomes of Edelman.  As I sat in the class and listened to the comments of those present, once again I was struck by the number of marketers who are not experimenting with blogs and other forms of new media for one reason or another – and not even following the blogs that cover their category.  “The world is in the midst of an ongoing conversation” says the CMO of a low interest category, whose company is on the leading edge with their involvement in digital media.  “You have to know what the conversation is and earn the right to be part of it.”  Every day this CMO reads the blogs that mention their company.  What a good role model for all ANA members.  I encourage you all to attend the next ANA “Word of Mouth” marketing skills training session and learn how you too can engage in conversation with your consumers.

Technorati tags: word of mouth

Ten Touch Points of Multicultural Marketing and Diversity

Earlier this week I had the privilege of chairing ANA’s annual Masters of Multicultural Marketing Conference. In my opening remarks, I shared with the attendees ten “touch points” from the past year, mostly from current events, that have made me think about multicultural marketing and diversity. I’d love to know what your touch points are, related to multicultural marketing and diversity. Please feel free to share them back.

Touch Point #1: The 300- millionth American: We hit a landmark in the United States in October. The Census Bureau announced the U.S. population hit 300-million.  Given the fact that Hispanics account for about half of the U.S. population growth and California has more births than any other state, it was widely speculated that this historic American was likely born in Los Angeles – and was a Chicano boy born to immigrant parents.

Touch Point #2: The Growth of China: Let’s go from 300 million to 1.3 billion.  There’s a gold rush into China as China is now one of the top investment opportunities in the world and the new place for global businesses to expand. For the first time in history, Chinese is now the second most prevalent foreign language spoken in U.S. households after Spanish. And, watch out, the next Olympics are in Beijing in 2008.

Touch Point #3: Survivor Segments by Race: Many of us were stunned when Survivor, the granddaddy of reality shows, announced in late August that it would segregate its tribes for the upcoming season by race – the African-American tribe, Hispanic tribe, Asian tribe, and white tribe. According to the show’s producers, this was a response to past criticism that the show was too white.

My initial reaction to this was shock … but then I decided that if this elevated the dialogue in American about race, that perhaps it would be a good thing.  Of course, just two weeks into the season, Survivor opted to do away with their four race-warring tribes by blending them into two diverse groups.

Winners and Insights from the Multicultural Marketing Conference

A special congratulations goes to the winners of the ANA’s Annual Multicultural Excellence awards, which honor those who have created outstanding multicultural advertising campaigns and are sponsored by the ANA Multicultural Marketing Committee. Winners included:

In the General Market category, which was voted on by conference attendees, Lowe’s Companies with agency BBDO New York.

In the Asian category, MetLife, with agency partner IW Group.

In the African American category, Tyson Foods for their “Powered by Tyson” campaign with E. Morris Communications.

In the GLBT category,Pernod Ricard USA for their Stolichnaya Vodka campaign with agency partner Double Platinum.

In the Hispanic category, Procter & Gamble for Tide, with Conill Saatchi & Saatchi.

And the Campaign with Significant Results was Verizon Communications’, created with partner Burrell Communications.

These brands and agencies have worked together to create remarkable multicultural campaigns- let’s hope more marketers follow in their footsteps.

Read on to see insights from the conference...

Magic Johnson: Urban Marketer Extraordinaire

By Will Waugh

Magic Johnson spoke last night at our Multicultural Marketing Conference here in Los Angeles.

What a pleasant surprise. I was looking forward to his talk -- but expected nothing quite like this. Magic, who went from dishing assists to dishing lattes in urban communities, showed a razor sharp business acumen. So many famous athletes and celebrities waste their social currency and fade into oblivion.

Not Magic.

He has turned his fame and savvy business skills into an urban empire built on goodwill. He has over 100 Starbucks, 30+ Burger Kings, 6 AMC Movie Theatres, 20+ Washington Mutual Loan Centers and a $600 million dollar urban fund. His brand is the uncontested #1 urban brand operating in over 80 cities and touching 30 million people a year.

Insights from Magic's talk:

• Build your brand and make money in urban markets. Don't believe the stereotypes. For instance, his average transaction at his Starbucks is the same as wealthier suburban markets.
• Customize your environment to the audience and make it relevant. (Customer insights being the overriding theme).
• Create a home away from home experience.
• Urban markets are some of the most brand loyal customers you will make. Don't disappoint them.
• Give back to the community.
• Focus on the message but more importantly, focus on the messenger.
• If a multicultural business partner has failed you, don't hold it against the entire market.

The KISS Brand at our Annual Conference

My friends at Roccatu made me aware of the Gene Simmons interview they shot at our Annual Conference with Adweek. Man, does he sound lucid (unlike a couple of times I and others talked to him). He gets branding -- see what he has to say about the KISS brand.

Technorati tags: Gene Simmons ANA Annual Conference branding

Relevancy Part Two

By Michael Palmer

I'm not in the market for a RV, so no matter how great an RV advertisement, I'm going to ignore it. I don't care. But there are people who do, so of course target them. And don't we all know by this point that narrow casting is more efficient than mass advertising. Come on, we marketers have to push back and let the world know that we get this message, that we are in fact not blind mice still chasing the farmers wife.

What then is important? I think social currency. Russ Klein, Burger King's CMO, introduced me to this concept at the ANA's Masters of Marketing meeting. Its the ability of marketing to get the right audience talking about your product. Its the ability to get those you want to love your brand so much that they tell others, bring brand references into their conversations, that they relate their brand experiences to others. The Burger King King has become a new personality relevant enough to be the subject of hallway conversations. He has become cool, so then are the products and brands with which he is associated. What are people doing - they're telling stories. And it is the practice of story telling that can truly bring a brand alive.

So I say to all the marketing pundits and consultants - get over it. We know relevance is important. What we have to learn is how to tell our story so that those who care, will tell others. Then in the words of Kevin Roberts, CEO of Saatchi & Saatchi, we have built a lovemark.

Technorati tag customer

Relevancy Part One

By Michael Palmer
Don’t focus on everyone; focus -- carefully target your messages. As markets fragment, simple demographic targeting is not enough. Marketers must thoroughly understand demographic and psychographic information and seek opportunities to be truly relevant. Really get to know your customers. Stop messaging that screams “Notice me!" Choose messaging that means something to your targets. Start connecting with them.
This is from Peter DeLegge's Marketing Today. He is the publisher and has nearly twenty years experience in marketing, advertising and e-business strategy experience, holding marketing management positions at both Fortune 100, 200 and medium size firms.
Now I don't know about you, but to me relevancy is not the new black.  McDonald's, under Larry Light's leadership, researched and determined that relevancy was in fact more important than differentiation four years ago.  So unless you have just pulled a rip van winkle and are just coming back to the marketing community - hello, its time to wake up, relevancy has always been the key.

Branded Entertainment- $7.5 Billion by 2010

"So where is advertising going with all this stuff like Tivo? Is it going to be just a bunch of product placement in our TV shows?"

That is what a friend asked me this weekend. Branded entertainment purists should rejoice, the business is only going to continue to grow regardless of whether the executions are good or not. A hot off the press ANA publication, Best Practices in Branded Entertainment, reviews how to do this right, as well as some of those who have succeeded (IAG contributed tracking and ROI for many of the case studies). Go here for a breakdown on a Ten Point Plan for Better Branded Entertainment which expands on the questions below:

• Is it brand relevant and brand positive?
• Does it build brand awareness?
• Does it break through advertising clutter?
• How long is the integration on-screen? Is it long enough for viewers to notice?
• Is it organic?
• Can the integration build buzz?
• Is there a demonstration of your product or service in the program? Or, can the program highlight key brand attributes?
• Will the program generate positive publicity and media coverage?
• How does the program relate to the rest of your brand marketing? If it’s an event, does it have a beginning, middle, and end?
• The prize is ROI. What’s the return on investment? What results do you plan to measure – and how will you do it?

Technorati tags branded entertainment marketing