ANA Marketing Maestros

The Agency of the Future Is?

by Mark Fogelberg

Yesterday evening brought me to Mediabistro's "Advertising: The New Creative Agency" event. Speaking to a crowded house um theater er gallery were 7 bright minds of the business:

As I am steadily working on new media / new technology / new way-of-doing-business projects, I expected the event would offer strong discourse and was proven right. From interactive media spend to UGC to YouTube to product placement to digital usurping other media - quite a lot was discussed.
 

The questions moved across a range but one constant appeared. Breakthrough digital creative is still very hard to do very well. One panelist, Trevor Kaufman of Schematic, put it quite well when he stated that online offers the opportunity for bespoke ideas. (Anyone who has priced a Saville Row suit to a off-the-rack alternative should be able to sympathize.)

Plus, great digital efforts are labor intensive, demanding a large investment in production line items. If production dollars are still be seen as "non-working" dollars (in the context of media), then investment equations looked skewed.

 

Meatball "Mon"dae - Embracing New Media

By: Irina Skaya

Last Thursday, I attended Seth Godin’s presentation at NYU based on his latest book called, “Meatball Sundae Is Your Marketing Out of Sync?”  I always knew that the owner of the world’s most popular marketing blog site and the best-seller author of nine marketing books is smart, but hearing from him in person was invaluable, inspirational and enlightening.

What’s a meatball sundae?

“[The combination of] meatballs and sundae are meant to be disgusting. If you use new marketing, the topping [the fudge, the cherry] just as a spin, you will fail,” Seth said as he slammed out one sound bite after another.

The Meatballs represent the 100 year-old marketing model which means interrupting the market and selling average products made for average people. The fudge and the cherries of the sundae are the toppings, which represent new marketing: blogs, YouTube, Google, Facebook, Wikis, widgets, etc. Meatballs and sundae are two things that don't mix, like just like new marketing and old marketing.

Seth raised some thought-provoking questions:

In the 1980’s, TV Guide sold for more money than ABC, CBS and NBC were worth all together. Today, how come when I go online to look for video - I go to YouTube and not TV Guide?

In the 1990’s America Online became popular because of e-mails and chatrooms, how come when I go online to find friends I don’t go on aolbook?

He then cited Josiah Wedgwood, an English potter who built an efficient factory organization during the Industrial Revolution, to emphasize if you change the media, and the organizations will change too.

Lessons learned:
• To drive sales revenue, marketers must restructure the marketing organization from top to bottom. 
• Embrace the medium, [referring to SEOs] NOT fight the medium.
• If you can own a variety of choices - you win. For example, iTunes get their reveunue from titles that cannot be purchased at any record store.
• Marketers need to establish a direct communication between themselves and the consumers-the more the consumer interacts, the better the company does.
• Authentic stories matter! Stories that work spread, stories that spread are true; stories that are true are authentic.
• If a marketer is trying to solve a problem people do not have, they are INVISIBLE. You cannot spam yourself to success!
• In the Internet Age, it doesn’t matter how many viewers will see your ads, but who the viewers are.

Got Meatballs?

Technorati tags: Seth Godin new media meatball Sundae

Shopper Marketing – What is This Anyway?

By Michael Palmer

There are a number of definitions, but in the end this is all about collaborating with retailers to advance the shopper’s in-store experience.  Procter & Gamble’s CEO A. G. Lafley coined the phrase, the “First Moment of Truth” – that moment when a shopper (not a consumer – we’ll get to the difference in a minute) is at the shelf deciding what brand or product to put in his or her basket. 

Why is this moment so important – two reasons.  First, shoppers take very little time to make their decisions.  On average they spend 2.5 seconds looking at each section, meaning they can at best only see half of what’s available on the self.  Secondly and most importantly, research tells us that 70% of shoppers decide what to purchase at retail.  If we believe that, and P&G surely does, marketing to shoppers is critical.  But marketing to shoppers today means making their shopping experience more valuable.  Better in some way – easier, less expensive, less time consuming, more problem solving.

Shoppers versus consumers.  What’s the difference?  A shopper is the person who is doing the buying – they can also be the consumer if they are buying for themselves, but they may be shopping for another person.  Mom’s act as both most of the time.  So you have to know who you are talking to.  Are you talking to the shopper, the consumer or both?  The message you deliver must be directed at the right audience at the right time.

Interestingly marketers are paying more attention and carving out significantly more dollars to their shopper marketing efforts.  But a number of questions remain.  Is this another trend or is this a real marketing strategy that can in fact generate a competitive advantage?  Safeway has since 2005 begun introducing “Lifestyle” stores – they now have more that 400 of these retail outlets.  These stores feature warmer lighting, more readable product labels, and they focus on engaging the shopper’s purchase interest by delivering a consistent brand message through very available communications channel.  Safeway is working hard to make the shopping experience more enjoyable.  This I suggest is a concept that is hear to stay.  Marketers – if you are not already on this train, you will have to run to catch it as it has already left the station.

In subsequent blogs we’ll begin to delve into what we know and don’t know now about this arena and how you can either catch this train and get on board, or find ways to upgrade your seat and gain that competitive advantage that will drive your brand sales.

How-to's Video Hyperlink Advertising...The Next Consumer Hot-Button

By: Irina Skaya

Have you ever wondered how to prevent a double-chin or redeye when you are being photographed for your executive portrait? Or wondered how street performers earn their living from the coins and bills dropped in their hats or instrument cases?

Instructional videos are nothing new, but online video hyperlink advertising in the how-to space presents a new and exciting opportunity for advertisers. In a consumer-centric world where consumers have the ability to skips ads and time-shift content, advertisers are forced to come up with unique ways to engage them more effectively. Some advertisers heavily depend on word-of-mouth marketing and others are turning to in-game advertising as affective ways to captivate the consumers’ attention. Video hyperlink advertising embodies the benefits of both: it features brands as experts in the field (builds trust) and since the consumers already chose to view this content, they do not see ads as intrusive. Imagine how persuasive and effective an ad that's advertising a whitening teeth product to a consumer who is looking at How To Whiten Your Teeth video would be.

So now you found that consumer whose interest is relevant to your product, what about reach? Relevance and reach are equally important. With statistics like an average person spends 1.4 hrs/per day on the Web compared to 4.4 hrs/per day watching television, who has time to dedicate all of their spare time to watching online videos? Well me! But for the rest of the population, to be a successful video sharing website, you need to offer your content across multiple platforms.

So who is doing it? Howto.TV is an instructional video website that contains video hyperlink advertising, but they have not yet offered consumers the ability to watch their content in different formats. Howcast.com, on the other hand, a recently launched website that encompasses both user-generated content and the quality of professional video studio, offers its content via online, broadcast and mobile. If the two would combine the idea of video hyperlink advertising and the high quality videos that available across various mediums, how-to video advertising has a high potential of becoming the next consumer hot-button. The variety of topics such as the practical “How To Dress For A Job Interview” video or the bizarre “How To Deal With A Smelly Coworker” offer advertisers who may have thought that their product did not fit into the social media space a chance to taste buzz marketing.  With a similar production and business model (in terms of producing cost-effective videos) to Current TV, Howcast.com will succeed in the advertising space. I am excited to see what their advertising model will be and how the ads will impact the website.

Check out one of my favorite Howcast.com videos, "How-To Public Speak:"

What if the Bottom Fell Out?

by Mark Fogelberg

It wasn't too long ago that Google's revenue growth trajectory seemed comically cosmic. Quarter over quarter increases in excess of 40% were the norm. Revenue from Sponsored Results and AdSense have allowed the company to fund its entry into a number of areas.

Were it not for its motto, "Don't be evil", I would wonder how Google would allow an entity such as CustomizeGoogle to exist.

CustomizeGoogle (CG) is a Firefox browser add-on that basically allows the web browser to take full control of their Google experience. This includes removing all of the ads on search results pages! While I understand that Firefox represents a minority share of the browser market and CG has a small(ish) user base, Google is walking away from respectable numbers of ad impressions (and potential clicks).

Yes, ad avoiders are ad avoiders but TV commercial audio follows you to the kitchen; magazine ads switch from left page to right page opposite editorial; DVRs require button pressing to skip commercial pods. This technology completely removes the ads. Period.

(a search for a color laser printer with ads on)

(and without the ads - check out the white space)

So, what if in the future Firefox ended up with a majority share of the browser market and CG were a built in? How could Google cope? I can't answer those questions but I would imagine that the brains at Google must have answers on how to capitalize on lost revenue opportunities.

It would be jarring to most interactive marketers if the bottom fell out of Adwords. But since Google owns little, old YouTube (59 million monthlies and counting) and, as of today, Doubleclick (see the press release), it seems likely a sturdy, new floor could be built.

Brand Yourself For Career Success

By Irina Skaya

As Bob Dylan once sang, “The times they are a-changin’.” In addition to the acceleration of baby boomers, globalization and the changing media landscape, the workforce’s organization is undergoing reconstruction. For example, emerging technologies such as Blackberry, Wi-Fi and mobile phones, which created a “work anytime, anywhere” mentality are blurring the boundaries between personal and work life. A 9-5 work schedule hardly exists for most people and soon, with the help of social technologies, we’ll be working 24/7. As you continue to work from remote location and for increasing amount of hours, your personal brand must be powerful and strong enough to impact your employers. 

In this increasingly competitive marketplace, personal branding is just as important as corporate and product branding. Personal branding does not mean the shameless self-promoting, where one toots his/her own horn and spends working hours to update their MySpace profile. Personal branding means you will be able to clearly communicate your unique promise of value that you have to offer. With the ad-vent of social media, many employers will, “Google” the prospective candidates or look up their profiles on Facebook, Linked In, and other social networking sites. So, being good or having a great resume is no longer enough to succeed. Now, it is important to have strong search-engine visibility and brand recognition.

What is the secret formula of successful branding? According to Dixon’s and Arruda’s Career Distinction: Stand Out By Building Your Brand, the three C’s: clarity, consistency and constancy are key.

• Clarity – be clear about who you are and what you are not; understand your unique value
• Consistency – continuously expressing your brand with different communication vehicles
• Constancy – always keep your brand visible
 
They also highlight the importance of networking with your targeted audience. Instead of communicating your brand to the entire world, it is crucial to convey your brand to a targeted group of individuals who will help you achieve your career goals. The easiest way to brand yourself is through the Internet. You can use several online identity tools to build your brand:

• Join the blogosphere
• Create a web portfolio
• Prove yourself, not just say you can things: show articles, awards, white papers, video, press re-leases, schedule of speaking engagements, etc.
• Use online networking sites

From politicians and entertainers such as Barack Obama and Oprah, strong branding is crucial for their success. In the age of social networks and user-generated media, self-branding is no longer just for the wealthy and the powerful; it is also important for career-driven individuals.

Technorati tags: self-branding personal branding career development social networks

The Future of Sports

By Bill Duggan

It’s March madness time and sports is everywhere.  Not just college basketball.  We are coming off the most watched Super Bowl of all-time. The baseball season is right around the corner. And all eyes are on China as the country prepares for the summer Olympics.

At the recent ANA TV & Everything Video Forum, we used polling devices to survey the audience of advertisers, agencies, media companies, and various consultants and some of the questions focused on sports.  Here’s what we found.

What’s the Score?
Overwhelmingly, respondents first go to the internet for sports news and scores.  TV is second, while newspapers and radio are far behind.  Who hasn’t gotten up in the middle of the night or logged onto to the internet first thing in the morning to catch a score?   And the internet’s dominance is only expected to increase in years to come.

Sports Highlights on the Internet
While the internet is the “go to” place for sports scores and news, it is still gaining traction as a destination for sports highlights.  Only half of the respondents in our survey currently go to the internet for sports highlights.  But as internet video overall increases in popularity, so will internet video viewing of sports highlights.

Is it live or TiVoed?
Sports still very much remains a live viewing experience as only 8% of respondents often TiVo a live sports event and watch it at a later time.  However, new technologies do provide us all with the option to TiVo sports and lots of us occasionally do that.

Who would have dreamed, as recently as ten years ago that, (a) there would be a new place to get sports news and scores – the internet and (b) there would be a new place to watch sports highlights – the internet?  And while the option of taping your favorite show, including sports, has been around for a while via the VCR, digital video recorders like TiVo now provide a better way of doing that. 

How has technology changed your sports experience?