ANA Marketing Maestros

'From Made in China to Invented in China'

By: Irina Skaya

Tuesday I attended the ANA Global Learning Series on China, and the reoccurring theme across all four presentations—Chinese-made counterfeited goods—ties in well with my last blog post. Apparently Chinese-made knockoffs go beyond Gucci and Fendi. U.S. television shows like Sex and the City and Web sites like Google and YouTube also have Chinese versions. But what advertisers should be aware of when considering global marketing are copy-cat agencies. Believe it or not, but there are three copycat Ogilvy agencies in China.

Wait…wait…don’t be so skeptical of the way the Chinese conduct business. According to Alex Gordon, founder of Sign Salad, ‘Precision of copy does not compensate for the original but signifies creativity.’ That’s right—the Chinese business owners do not see counterfeited goods as an organized crime, but a master piece. I am not mentioning the above to scare off anyone who wants to do business in China, but rather note the caution of doing business there without the right resources, local vendors, and the Chinese government on your side. You need all three. Janet Carmosky, CEO of The China Business Network, even said unlike the U.S. that has a transactional business mindset, the Chinese are all about relationships or ‘Ghanxi.’ She stressed, “The Chinese created the, ‘We know where you live’ capitalism.”

Whatever the business model in China is, it works for them—the country's tech boom has created a paradigm shift from made in China to invented in China (Sandberg, executive editor, The Hardvard Business Press). The reason behind the high-tech growth is China is graduating three times the number of engineers than any other country in the world. Many of the growing digital media start-ups bring us back to the rising tide of copycats; the majority of whom were educated in the U.S. and returned to China around 1999 to take advantage of the economic explosion. Around Y2K, they began creating copycats of U.S. Internet companies like eBay, Yahoo!, Facebook, MySpace and Craigslist.

Don't forget, the Chinese don't have bad intentions when "copying and pasting;" after all, it's all about creativity. Speaking of creativity, which is a number one characteristic of an ideal agency in China, I’d like to share with you this creative commercial for Coco-Cola, one of the biggest multinational marketing veterans and power brands in China. 

Coca-Cola Red Go China TV Commercial

Besides Coca-Cola, other high-profile multinational marketers that have had success in China are Nike, GE, Nokia, Procter & Gamble and Volkswagen. In conclusion, doing business in China is tough—‘although nothing in China is available, everything is possible’ (Janet Carmosky, CEO of The China Business Network).

Technorati tags: chinese marketing counterfeited Chinese-made goods Sign Salad The China Business Network R3 Tech boom in China

Win the Hearts, Minds and Wallets of Shoppers

By: Michael Palmer

Shopper Marketing – what is it?  It’s a way to capture shopper’s minds, hearts and wallets.   With so many of shopper’s decisions being made at the shelf (up to 70% some research reports) and on impulse (up to 68%) it is critical to use the retail market as a channel to connect with consumers.  There is an opportunity to both drive consumption and build brand equity.

But what is Shopper Marketing – all marketing stimuli, developed based on a deep understanding of shopper behavior, designed to build brand equity, engage the shopper (i.e., a consumer in ‘shopping mode’), and lead him/her to make a purchase …this definition is from Deloitte, working in conjunction with the GMA.

But does shopper marketing work?  It sure does.  American Eagle stores in a study conducted by Indiana University’s Kelley Business School found that they could drive sales of men’s clothing up 23% without spending a dime.

Studying men, AE discovered that they were uncomfortable picking up and interacting with merchandise because they were afraid they would not be able to refold it nicely and put it back on the shelf.  So AE started displaying men’s clothing in piles, not neatly folded.  Men now feeling comfortable picking up items did so regularly. 

Men also have trouble deciding what goes well together, so AE place a number of manikins dressed in different clothing combinations next to the merchandise they were trying to move.  And pow, deciding what to buy was no longer a mystery. 

The insight here – understand your customer, learn how they shop, then make that experience more comfortable, enjoyable, easier.  AE did all three and were rewarded with a tremendous same store sales increase without having to spend any marketing dollars.  What can you do to make shopping for your brand more fun, easier, or faster?

Technorati tags: shopper marketing retail marketing American Eagle store

Procurement – Perspective from Europe

By: Bill Duggan

I am blogging from Paris where I just attended the WFA Global COMPAQ committee meeting.  WFA – World Federation of Advertisers – is a sister trade association to ANA … really our European counterpart.  WFA has a committee system similar to ours.  COMPAQ is an acronym for Communications Purchasing Action Group.  It provides a forum for marketing procurement practitioners to share knowledge, ideas and working methods to help optimize their strategic sourcing.  In many ways it is similar to the ANA Advertising Financial Management Committee.

Orange (the France Telecom Group) hosted the meeting and attendees were from companies including Henkel, InBev, Johnson & Johnson, Kraft, Mars, Nokia, Orkla, Philips, Renault, and Unilever.

One of the highlights of the meeting was a roundtable discussion on the relationship that procurement has with internal stakeholders and ways to optimize stakeholder engagement, and integrate procurement into the marketing communications process.  Some notes from this discussion follow.

One attendee talked about how a simple template contributed to integrating procurement into the marketing communication process.  The template helps formalize a regular status meeting between procurement and marketing at this company and provides an update on key projects and deliverables.  While informal processes can work, some formal processes are indeed needed.

Another attendee has a process that works well too.  There are quarterly meetings that provide “sign-offs” on budgets.  These meetings are attended by marketing, sales, finance, and procurement.  This provides procurement a true seat at the table and helps solidify the integration of procurement into the marketing communication process.

There was a brief debate about the term “procurement” versus “sourcing.”  There was a perspective from a few individuals that procurement is more tactical and sourcing is more strategic.  I have heard the same argument in the U.S.

Senior management support of procurement (or sourcing!) is critical.  One attendee expressed some shock upon hearing their management refer to procurement’s role as “cutting costs and increasing cash flow.”  This was an organization where the marketing procurement function has been in existence for only two years.  In such cases, change management – to change the perception of the role of procurement – is a key challenge.  Another attendee stated that there’s a business mandate from the board to fully involve procurement.

One attendee felt strongly that procurement should not sell itself based on cost savings.  Rather, procurement should speak the same language as marketing and refer to its contribution in terms such as ROI and brand building.  This same attendee noted that getting invitations and a seat at the table of appropriate meetings is very important.

There’s a frustration that marketers do not stay long in any one job.  Often, just when procurement has built trust and a relationship with a marketer, that person moves on to another job and the process of building a new relationship begins.

There are lots of similarities between the role of procurement in Europe and the U.S. Perhaps the biggest difference is the fact that procurement in Europe manages multiple local (i.e., various countries) sourcing structures.  And that adds another layer of complexity to an already complicated job.

Technorati tags: WFA advertising financial management procurement sourcing

Anti-counterfeiting ad campaign

By: Irina Skaya

Every day, for decades, Chinatown, the ‘bootleg capital of the world’ has been importing thousands of counterfeiting goods—you cannot walk through one block without being accosted by “Fendi or Prada?”  Recently, NYC has launched an anti-counterfeiting ad campaign in Times Square and Chinatown to draw attention to the high cost of these cheap designer goods. Not sure how effective the message will be—will tourists and residents all of a sudden give up $10-$20 knockoffs for products they cannot afford otherwise? Not sure, but I think the ads have good potential. I particularly like the tagline that reads “The Real Price of Counterfeit Goods” which links costs of pirated goods to drug trafficking, child labor, terrorism and organized crime, and decline in city services. Focusing on a bigger social issue that is relevant to knockoff consumers may be the answer. The problem of counterfeit goods is beyond Gucci bags and sunglasses—medications are also being traded illegally and present a high risk to those who intake them.

Besides the creatively-designed ads, this great effort will not only combat counterfeiting but also boost sales for authentic products, which have been losing a great sum of money in this economic crisis.

Next time you're in Times Square or Chinatown, check these ads out and let us know what you think.   

Marketing conversation

By: Barbara Bacci Mirque

Thanks for nothing Joe old friend!  Joe Jaffe spoke at this past Thursday's ANA Integrated Marketing Conference.  He gave an enlightening talk about conversational marketing and how the organizations which differentiate themselves in this fashion will be truly integrated.  Transforming marketing from a one to many to marketing as a conversation was also a key finding from the cross industry MME 2010 survey conducted last October among ANA members. One of Joe's prognostications was that instead of a CMO, every organization should have a Chief Conversation Officer.  My boss immediately emailed me to say that is you Barbara so let's change your title.  Before he heard Joe speak, my boss was thinking about changing my EVP title to CMO as among my many responsibilities I am the chief strategist for ANA communications which includes marketing to the ANA member base as well as our external audiences.  While I agree with Joe, my mother and I were looking forward to that CMO title. 

At the ANA I am fortunate to meet and work with the world's leading CMOs are a brilliant and formidable group. Having the same title as these marketing luminaries was going to make my mother very happy. This was going to be my payback to her for not becoming a lawyer and not marrying one either. But now because of Joe, my title might become Chief Conversation Officer and my mother's friends are going to have no idea what that means. Joe, do you really want to disappoint a very sweet, grey haired lady that way?