ANA Marketing Maestros

Value Based Compensation

By Barbara Bacci Mirque

At the recent 2009 ANA Agency Relations Forum, Sarah Armstrong from The Coca Cola Company updated the audience about Coke’s journey with value based compensation. You may recall that Coke first spoke publicly about this at the ANA’s 2009 Advertising Financial Management Conference because they wanted to socialize the marketing community to this new agency compensation model with the hopes of more widespread adoption of a construct that has been discussed for the past several years with little action taken against it. They wanted to expose their learning so that as more advertisers utilized VBC they would add to the body of knowledge on how to generate maximum results, thus benefiting all advertisers including Coke. Coke has rolled their VBC plan to many markets and expects full implementation by 2011. 
Along the way they have made some refinements but the central tenet still remains the same–Coke believes that there is no correlation between the amount of hours an agency works and the value it provides. It is not about cost cutting Sarah emphasizes, it is about focusing on the components of business growth. But Coke feels very strongly she adds, that they are no longer going to guarantee their agencies’ profits if the agency performance does not meet up to certain predetermined standards. An agency can make up to a 30% profit if it meets a set of prearranged goals–or none at all. The importance is that agencies are being measured on results–not on hours worked. There is no doubt that for marketers, labor based compensation was an advancement over fixed rate commissions. But spending hours and hours constructing and tracking labor based compensation does not move the business ahead nor does it work well in an era of integrated marketing. Advertisers generally agreed that although progress had been made, labor based compensation was not the end game. But not much progress had been made on moving forward. The groundbreaking work of The Coca Cola Company certainly adds to the debate–and knowledge–on improving agency compensation. The discussion will no doubt continue for years to come.

ANA members interested in participating and sharing their agency compensation learnings should consider joining the ANA’s Advertising Financial Management committee.       

ANA Masters of Marketing - CONFERENCE REWIND Part One

By Barry Garbarino

HIGHLIGHTS FROM 2008

The 2008 ANA Annual Conference once again attracted a who’s who of CMO’s from leading global brands. As promised, the three-day event held October 16-19 in Orlando, Fla., showcased the industry leaders who are driving growth to deliver real results and build brand equity. Many took the stage in front of a record crowd of more than 1,200 attendees, sharing their wisdom, expertise, insights, and opinions — along with examples and clips of the campaigns they have orchestrated to drive growth.

“Great brands truly do lead to impressive and stronger business results,” said Bob Liodice, president and CEO of the ANA, reflecting on the conference. “That’s an underlying philosophy that we have to embed in the minds of all marketers and agency people. The focus needs to be on building brands because all of your results come from that, whether it’s growing top-line revenue, bottom-line profitability, or shareholder value. And what we saw from a lot of the presenters were essentially different ways to grow brands.”

A few memorable moments from 2008 include:

Jim Stengel, Procter & Gamble
In an inspiring and touching keynote address that kicked off the conference, Jim Stengel outlined a road map for “marketing, branding, and life.” Having recently stepped down as global marketing officer at Procter & Gamble, Stengel took the stage for the last time as a P&G employee. His speech was billed as a valedictory address, an opportunity to share a career’s worth of knowledge with peers.

Anne Finucane, Bank of America
“The Bank of America brand stands for action, authenticity, and simplicity. Consumers of all kinds, particularly at times like these, are looking for simple and relevant brand promises that are true on a consistent and reliable basis. Being simple is key. We live in a time of ‘too.’ Too fast, too complex, too much information, too little time, too much stress. It’s our job to be simple.”

Joe Tripodi, The Coca-Cola Company
“The secret formula for growth is that there is no secret formula. It’s doing some of the basics really well, including breaking down internal silos, and moving away from ‘spray and pray’ advertising in favor of precision marketing. Focus on innovation occurs at every level of the organization and extends beyond our breadth of products. Simplicity is key. When you think about innovation, stop chasing the Holy Grail.”

To find out more about the 2009 ANA Annual Conference – The Masters of Marketing and the great line-up of speakers, click here.

Drawing Attention to Yourself by Going Local

By Adrienne Tallacksen

My daily commute takes me past a local gym. I always look forward to checking out the latest advertisement they have to get people in the door, which is posted on a chalkboard easel on the sidewalk. The handwritten ads sometimes feature quotes (always altered in some way to play up the fitness angle), sometimes verge on offensive (needling those who might not be physically fit), and sometimes they aren't ads at all (a simple "YAY!" was posted on November 5th after President Obama was elected). The messages are often targeted to the Jersey City, NJ audience with references to local restaurants and even our most recent political scandal. Above all, the ads are clever and witty and almost always get my attention.

The gym is part of a small New York/New Jersey chain, so it may be easier for it to target the local audience than it would be for a national advertiser. But new tools are making targeted ads possible on a larger scale. At a meeting of the ANA's Television Advertising Committee Meeting in March, committee members learned about how Canoe Ventures is using community addressable advertising to target television viewers in different markets.

When an ad is targeted at people who live in my community, I feel like I can relate to the advertiser, even if I might not be interested in its product. This can be a powerful connection for marketers to make with consumers.

Economy Still a Concern Leading to Restrained Spending

By Bill Duggan

In July/August ANA surveyed our members to determine how marketing and advertising budgets were being impacted by the economy.  This survey, which was also done six months ago as well as a year ago, has become known as the ANA “Recession Survey”.  (I look forward to someday having a survey called the ANA “Economic Boom Survey”!)

The news continues to be a bit grim.  87 percent of respondents indicate they are being challenged to reduce their costs and spending in light of the economy.  That’s the same as a year ago, and only slightly improved from 93 percent six months ago. The top four ways marketers are reducing costs and spending remain the same.

• 81 percent are reducing departmental travel and expenses
• 74 percent are reducing advertising media budgets
• 71 percent are challenging agencies to reduce internal expenses and/or identify cost reductions
• 64 percent are reducing advertising production budgets

Reducing agency compensation continues to gain greater consideration by marketers.  56 percent are planning to do this today, versus 48 percent six months ago and 32 percent a year ago.  This is a topic that we will explore more in ANA committee meetings in the fall—is there really still room to reduce compensation and what are the tradeoffs of that?

A positive note is that fewer marketers are eliminating/delaying new projects compared with past surveys—53 percent in the most recent survey versus 58 percent six months ago and 61 percent a year ago.

Looking ahead, marketers remain cautious about their future budgets. 17 percent are hopeful that their budgets will increase while 39 percent think that they will see reductions and 44% think they will remain the same.

The recession may be over according to some economic analysts.  But it appears that marketers have “reset” their expectations and a greater degree of frugality could be the new normal.  Full results are at www.ana.net/recessionsurvey3

Getting the Most Out of Your Social Media Campaigns

By Irina Skaya

A recent ANA/BtoB Magazine/Mktg survey reported that 66 percent of marketers utilized social media in 2009 compared to 20 percent in 2007.  In order to fund their new media efforts, 55 percent of marketers have already shifted funds from their traditional media budgets. In 2009 Web site ownership, search engine marketing and display advertising are among the new media platforms that received the most funding. And in 2010, blogs, mobile and video are supposed to be at the top of the list.

According to the survey, The top concerns for marketers when considering newer media platforms are the inability to prove ROI (45 percent) and having metrics to properly allocate the mix of traditional and digital media (43 percent).  Social media analytics is young and most marketers do not know where to start.  First thing is first: know what your objective is, what you are trying to measure. Do you want to know what people are saying about your brands? Do you want to see how people are interacting with your brands on specific social networks? Or do you just simply want to know upcoming social media trends or maybe what your competitors are doing in the social media space?

As the social media guru of the ANA, I always look for new measuring and monitoring social media tools. I came up with a social media metrics superlist-my favorite online tools that will help marketers get started with social media analytics.

PS. They are all free!

• Twitalyzer: measures brands' and individuals' impact and success on Twitter by reporting on relative influence, signal-to-noise ratio, generosity, velocity, clout.
• Keotag: monitors mentions of your brands across dozens of Web sites, including Technorati, Blog Pulse, Google Blog, del.icio.us, Blinklist, Twitter, Bluedot, Newsvine, Digg, Blog Lines, YouTube, and more.
• Trackur: a 14-day free trial allows you to monitor your brands' online reputation and your competitors', and track your campaign's effectiveness.
• Social Networking Media ROI Calculator
• Blog Metrics

The ANA Marketing Insights Center has a great number of resources for marketers who would like to utilize social media to learn more about their customers and engage them directly and involve them in their brands.  In the ANA Today newsletter, "How Social Media Transforms Marketing," and "Skittles: Follow the Rainbow on Twitter" are the top-read articles. The above articles are available for ANA members only. If you are not an ANA member, browse through our 101 library where we have an abundant amount of social media resources, including "Marketing with Twitter."

If you use other social media tracking tools, please feel free to share them with us. We'd love to hear from you! Leave a comment or email me at Irina@ana.net.

Social Networks

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Maximizing B2B Marketing

By Barbara Bacci Mirque

Eduardo Conrado, Chief Marketing Officer, Broadband Mobility Solutions, Motorola, regaled the crowd at ANA’s 2009 B2B conference with a marketing case study that was a primer about how to conduct B2B marketing and have a seat at the table as a growth driver.  I watched as his colleagues furiously scribbled notes and nodded their heads in agreement as he spoke.  Some key takeaways include:

• Work with the product groups at the start of ideation
• Evolve the marketing mix to go where the customers are
• Embed resources in all key areas early in the development cycle
• Have a single, comprehensive go to market strategy
• Start with the customer mindset
• Define solutions that address each segment’s needs

Tactically Eduardo addressed how Motorola activated social media to create an immersive digital experience.  A final thought he left us with: B2B marketers should not think of themselves just as transaction drivers but as relationship drivers.  

I know that I am going to use many of his learnings as I construct the ANA’s marketing plan.  If you are an ANA member you can access the summary of his presentation at the ANA’s Marketing Insights Center.  If you are a client side marketer who is not a member, shouldn’t you be?  To find out how to join, click here.

Is Online Video Advertising More Effective Than TV Advertising?

By Susan Burke

At a recent ANA Brand Management committee meeting, a presenter from Nielsen IAG shared the following information:

• A piece of creative running on a site such as Hulu.com (or ABC.com, NBC.com, CBS.com, etc.) delivers more effective advertising in terms of brand and message recall, than the same piece of creative running on TV. (Click here to see the snapshot and presentation.)

This nugget of information spurred a great deal of discussion in the meeting. Some attendees agreed with this finding, while others argued against it. To me, it makes sense that an ad running on an online video site has more of an impact than one on TV for a few reasons:

1. Conditioning: If I happen to be watching live TV, I will generally take the garbage out, channel surf, or leave the room during a commercial break. Most of us know how long the average commercial break is, so we are usually able to time our return to the couch perfectly.
2. DVRs: As I said in my first point, “If I happen to be watching live TV”—this activity happens rarely. Commercials are generally skipped, thanks to my DVR. However, you can’t fast forward through an online video ad.
3. Appreciation: When an ad is shown during an online video, I often find myself feeling grateful to the advertiser. Their sponsorship of the program means that I can watch it at my leisure, so I don’t mind viewing a 30 second spot in return.
4. Captive Audience: When commercial breaks occur during an online video, they are much shorter than a television commercial break. Therefore, I’m more likely to watch the ad, as opposed to doing something else during it. I can pause or mute the ad, of course, but I’ll still have to play it at some point if I want to finish the show.
5. Recall: My recall of an ad played during an online episode of a TV show is generally stronger than my recall of an ad played during the televised episode. This is because there are generally fewer total commercials during an online video.

While I think there is still a purpose to television advertising, I also believe that online video advertising is an avenue that many advertisers should explore more thoroughly. Online video isn’t going anywhere, so it’s time to embrace it.

Ten Best Practices For Long-Term Growth In a Recession & Beyond

By Bill Duggan

ANA’s recent “Brand Building in Tough Times & Beyond” conference promised that all speakers would leave behind actionable ideas for immediate and longer-term brand growth. Below are highlights of those key takeways.  Your ideas for driving either immediate and/or longer-term brand growth are welcome too!

1. There is a reasonable chance the recession is over.  Therefore, if you are one of those marketers who plans to increase marketing activity three months before this recession ends, now is the time to act. 
    • Liz Ann Sonders, Senior Vice President, Chief Investment Strategist – Charles Schwab

2. Optimism sells.  People need to laugh, or at least smile, to feel good about parting with their money in this economy.
    • Cynthia Ashworth, Vice President, Customer Engagement – Dunkin’ Donuts

3. Focus on the 95% of growth that comes from big, established brands.  Most new products generate only a small amount of sales yet receive an inordinate amount of attention.  
    • Patrick Edson, Vice President, Marketing Innovation – MillerCoors

4. Spending in a recession can generate sales and share.
    • Steve Bratspies, Senior Vice President, Marketing – Wal-Mart Stores

5. Understand the difference between your customer and a shopper. Consumers are making purchase decisions well before they enter the store. Shoppers, on the other hand, are bombarded with in-store messages and are often distracted.
    • Jason McDonnell, Vice President, Marketing – Frito Lay

6. Redeploy your assets.  Focus on lifting the areas of most immediate impact.  Evaluate the contributions of all your current business partners.  
    • Richard McDonald, SVP, Global Marketing – Fender Musical Instruments

7. Value is important but it’s not just about price.  People want to be smart, but not feel cheap.
    • Cynthia Ashworth, Vice President, Customer Engagement – Dunkin’ Donuts

8. Optimize the experience of your product when it’s in the hands of the consumer.  That’s a key moment of truth.  
    • Patrick Edson, Vice President, Marketing Innovation – MillerCoors

9. Be true to who you are.  Your brand “is what it is,” so don’t change in the short term.  Look for partners and other alliances for growth.
    • Steve Bratspies, Senior Vice President, Marketing – Wal-Mart Stores

10. Frugality will be with us for some time.  It will be a longer-term generational mindset and advertising will need to reflect that. 
    • Liz Ann Sonders, Senior Vice President, Chief Investment Strategist – Charles Schwab

Remember -- your ideas for driving either immediate and/or longer-term brand growth are welcome too!

Golden Opportunities on Twitter

By Irina Skaya

Not a day goes by without someone asking me, “Why do you use Twitter? It’s so useless. Why do I care what you are up to every second of the day?” Wake up people! You are missing out on engaging with and learning more about your customers.  As Cynthia Ashworth, Vice President of Customer Engagement @Dunkin’ Donuts said, “We don’t have to justify Twitter. It’s free customer-service.” Indeed it is, Cynthia. It’s a free focus group and a cheap option for collaboration.

As I try to keep up with the cutting edge marketing trends, I enrolled in a two-hour course on Twitter Love where I learned how marketers can utilize the microblogging Web site to promote their products and services, research consumer insights, improve customer service, converse with and engage their customers, and group collaboration.  For instance, @JetBlue is using Twitter to help improve customer services and teamwork across business units.  As a customer service tool, Twitter’s benefit is that everything people say about your product/service is public on Twitter and is easy to find via using their built-in search tool. This makes Twitter an instant focus group with over 10 million participants, many of whom are your customers.  Collecting customer feedback via Twitter is easy and effortless, especially when you compare it to the number of responses you get back through email surveys.  Zappos is using Twitter to make personal connections among employees, and between the company and its customers.  For those marketers who want to improve their corporate culture and customer service, Twitter is a great tool.

So just like there was Facebook and then came LinkedIn, a professional social networking Web site, Yammer is like Twitter for business. Yammer offers groups for discussions on a subject between people in the same workgroup. It can connect employees from different departments, so if you work in a 500+ company, you won’t feel like just a number anymore.  Although some may argue that Twitter and Yammer may be distracting and may affect employees’ productivity, it can, if used moderately improve corporate culture by connecting employees to one another and letting them know what the organization is up to, its achievements and pretty much anything.

So for the Twitter rebels, get on it, add ANAmarketers to your list of the following, and most importantly, start talking and listening to your customers.  And here are some Twitter tools to get you started:

TweetLater.com – helps you in following everyone who follows you; includes auto DMs and a tweet scheduler.

Twitter Karma - keeps a follow-to-follower ratio in order for you unfollow those who are not following me, with a few exceptions.

TwitterCounter - see my followers in graph form. It also predicts how many followers you will have in 30, 90 or 365 days.

TweetDeck – as an Adobe Air app, TweetDeck allows you to see your @replies, direct messages, timeline, and a lis of folks you follow whose Tweets you want to make sure you read. You can also use it to update your Twitter and Facebook accounts simultaneously. I use and love this tool!

PS.  Download our most-read 101 on Marketing with Twitter. 

Advertising as Art or Creative, Creative

By Barry Garbarino

As I rode home on the train last night – for some strange reason and old jingle from a telecommunication company popped into my head from thin air.  I think it went something like, “second class phones, their making, second class phones, phones you can’t hear though, phones with no tones...” I have an idea who the company is, but I don’t want to point any fingers.  I guess what really jumps out to me is that the creative jingle stuck with me after all these years (normally, I would post the ad creative in this blog, but sadly, it isn’t available online as of yet.)

Classic ad campaigns like, “Where’s the beef” and the ever popular “Meow Mix” jingle (which I believe some ad genius ran during morning news programs, so the annoying catchy song would get stuck in all of our heads.)  have left a void in the current mix of creative execution in the broadcast medium.




The perception that some advertisers have today is that every commercial they produce must have broad-appeal content that reaches multiple demographics.  While other cutting edge marketers are blazing new trails with edgy, dare I say, controversial commercials.  Take the recent “Whopper Freak-Out” campaign that Burger King ran.  The scrappy burger joint, removed their famous menu item, the Whopper, from one location for one day.  The results were not only dramatic, but also shocking and quite amusing for the viewing public.  

Take a look at this daring social / marketing experiment below.

The Initial ad creative spurred many a social media parody (most I can’t post on this blog as they are even too edgy for me…) My suggestion would be to look some of these up on YouTube.

The bottom line I guess is that with new innovative shows coming this fall, marketers need to raise the bar when it comes to their advertising.  Shows like “gLee” on FOX, give creative marketers the opportunity to step up their executions and borrow from the excitement (and musical numbers) of the

show.

 
Times are always changing and the viewing public expects to be more entertained or they will just fast forward with their DVR’s and leave the expensive advertising in the dust.