ANA Marketing Maestros

And The Winner Is....Social Media!

By Cara Brooke Schultz

Who will be watching the Oscars on Sunday night? Okay…you can put your hand down now, and continue reading.

I’ll be watching the Oscars for two main reasons:

1. To see what all the actresses will be wearing—so I can then pour over the images on the Internet Monday morning and discuss the magnificent fashion hits as well as the misfortunate tragedies. 
2. To find out what movie will win best picture, which actor will win best actor, and which actress will win best actress.

So technically you could consider that four reasons, but for the purpose of this Blog post we’ll continue to count that as two. After the Oscars, when I discuss the fashion statements with my friends, am I going to be calling them to chat? No way! Who has time for that?! 
 
Instead, I’ll be online via Blogs, Web sites, forums, and of course social media—and advertisers are very much aware of this. For example, a USA Today, article talked about how several Oscar advertisers are making a push in their social media efforts this year, “’It's no longer smart just to buy on the Academy Awards,’ says consultant Charlene Li. ‘You have to tie into social media so that people talk about you.”’

According to the article, we can expect to see a social media push from the following companies: J.C. Penney, Samsung, Hyundai, and Cottonelle, just to name a few. If you plan on watching the Oscars, where will your water-cooler conversations be taking place?

Cisco Redefines Speaking in Person

By Cara Brooke Schultz

At last week’s 2010 ANA TV & Everything Video Forum Presented by YouTube, Cisco wowed the crowd by executing a virtual presentation. Now this wasn’t just any presentation where a talking head appeared on a TV screen—instead Cisco brought in a vertical life-size screen, which sat in the middle of the stage. Carlos Dominguez, Senior Vice President of Cisco Systems was walking around the stage talking to the audience about the importance of video when all of a sudden the lights dimmed and a life-size image of Marilyn Mersereau, Senior Vice President, Corporate Marketing, appeared standing on stage. You heard a few “ah’s” radiate from the audience and then Marilyn asked a question that required audience participation. Members in the audience raised their hands and she responded. Not only did it seem as if she was standing on the stage in New York City (not in sunny California), but she could also interact with everyone as if she was in New York City. Watch a short clip of what people experienced firsthand at the conference:  

Whales, Babies, and Hotels from Hell Can Only Mean One Thing…Super Bowl Commercials!

By Cara Brooke Schultz

The day after the Super Bowl, the second most popular water-cooler topic would have to be the multi-million dollar commercials. Here are just a few of my top favorites:  

Bridgestone’s ‘Whale of a Tale’ commercial reminded me of the movie ‘Hangover,’ with the outlandish aftermath of a bachelor party gone-wrong.

HomeAway.com’s ‘Hotel Hell Vacation’ advertisement brought me back to a similar experience I had at a hotel in Israel. Needless to say, I found the commercial to be more than entertaining.

Although we all expected the E*Trade baby to make another appearance, the ‘Milkaholic Girlfriend’ commercial got a ton of laughs from my Super Bowl party.

Budweiser’s 'Clydesdale Befriends Cow' commercial received a cohesive exclamation of “Awww” from the females at my Super Bowl party.

Cars.com’s advertisement led us through the entertaining life of Timothy Richmond.  We watched as little Timothy put out a stove fire, neutralized a jelly fish sting, delivered a baby Bengal Tiger, and saved a cheerleading squad from a killer tornado. Although Timothy Richmond seems closer to Superman than your average Joe, he still needs help making his next automobile purchase—don’t we all?

Chime in—what were some of your favorite Super Bowl commercials?

Has Twitter Twiddled Out?

By Cara Brooke Schultz

It flew out with a bang—Twitter was everywhere—celebrities, athletes, and global companies were sending tweets across the Web. So are more people than ever sending tweets? Or are people falling off the Twitter bandwagon and deleting their twitter accounts like Miley Cyrus, Courtney Love, and Chris Brown.

According to ComScore’s assessment of Twitter visitors, “The site peaked with about 21.2 million visitors in July 2009 and dipped to 19.9 million in December.”

However some people are saying that Twitter users are more engaged with Twitter now then they were previously. Twitters users are following more feeds, have gained more followers, and are writing more tweets according to Web analyst HubSpot.

So where did the 1.3 million Twitter users go according to ComScore’s assessment? Perhaps they fluttered over to Facebook where users can continually update their status (similar to Twitter) post photos and videos, and chat live with friends. ComSore reported during the same time that Twitter lost users Facebook grew from about 250 million users to more than 350 million.

What is your assessment—will you still be sending and following tweets six months from now?

Eight Companies That Didn’t Make It In 2009. What Will You Remember?

By Cara Brooke Schultz

It seems as if everyone is counting down the hours until they can wish adieu to the year 2009. Between the global economic collapse, the outbreak of the H1N1 virus, to the passing of numerous iconic people (Edward Kennedy, Tom O’Horgan, Farah Fawcett, John Updike, Paul Harvey, and Natasha Richardson)—2009 has certainly been eventful.   

What will you remember most of 2009? Will it be President Obama’s monumental inauguration? Or if you are a fan of pop-culture, Susan Boyle’s breakout rendition of “I dreamed a dream” on the TV show Britain’s Most Talented? Whatever stands out most in your mind, let’s not forget these eight companies who unfortunately did not weather the storm:

1. Circuit City

2. Saturn

3. Pontiac

4. Kodachrome

5. Home Depot Expo

6. Max Factor

7. Fortunoff

8. Gourmet magazine

To pay tribute, share a fond memory you have—whether it be a memory of driving down the open road in your favorite Pontiac or capturing a moment with Kodak’s Kodachrome film—these companies will be missed.

The ANA's Marketing Constitution

By Cara Brooke Schultz

On the occasion of the ANA's 100th Anniversary, the ANA has created a Marketers' Constitution. The goal of the Marketers' Constitution is to inspire the entire marketing community to come together and embrace a successful future.

The document sets forth what the ANA believes are ten key principles of marketing. This constitution will help to ensure that our industry thrives and continues to contribute significantly to the economic health and wellbeing of our society, for at least the next 100 years.

Bob Liodice, president and CEO of ANA, wrote an article for Ad Age, “Musts of Marketing for the Next 100 Years,” highlighting the ANA’s Marketers’ Constitution. Read the article in its entirety, and please join us in demonstrating our commitment by digitally signing the Marketers' Constitution.

A NYC McDonald’s Receives More Than Your Average Facelift

By Cara Brooke Schultz

Do you have an upcoming informal business meeting? Perhaps you might consider having the rendezvous at your local McDonald’s accompanied by flat-screen TVs and free Wi-Fi. This isn’t the first time McDonald’s has performed a facelift on one of their locations; all throughout the UK and France numerous McDonald’s have gone under the knife. The changes to the NYC location: multiple outlets for plugging in laptops, upholstered vinyl chairs, subdued lighting, modern painted walls, and employees in trendy all-black uniforms.

 

So why did the Chelsea-location feel the need to get work done? According to an article written by MSNBC, McDonald’s spokeswoman Danya Proud said, “People are using our restaurants differently today than they did five, 10, 20 years ago. People are multi-tasking, doing more on a given day […] you want to be able to open your laptop, log on and get some work done while you’re eating.”

Proud said the redesign of several locations in the UK and France was an attributing factor to McDonald’s growth in Europe. It seems as though the Chelsea-location won’t be alone for long. So, what will be next—a McDonald’s conference room that can be rented out at an hourly rate?

Are You a Bacon Lover? Wendy’s Sure Hopes So.

By Cara Brooke Schultz

Is social media an increasing aspect to your marketing plan? For a growing number of companies, social media is an important force driving communication between the brand and their consumers. Wendy’s wanted to drive more people to talk about their brand via social media. In order to get customers to tweet about their new product—the Applewood smoked bacon burger—Wendy’s started the “bacon hunt” contest.

According to an Adweek.com article, customers will follow @UrBaconMeCrazy on Twitter and Tweet answers to questions such as how many strips of Applewood smoked bacon would appear on the mythical double baconator. Customers are awarded points and required to use the hashtag #bacon in all of their Tweets. Throughout the contest Wendy’s is giving away several $200 Wendy’s gift cards and once the contest concludes on Friday, November 20, a lucky person will win $2,000.00. Since the contest started nearly two weeks ago, Wendy’s has drawn 1,773 followers on Twitter. Are you going to get in on the fun and Tweet #bacon?

Snapshot of the ANA Annual Conference

By Cara Schultz

Well, I survived my first conference with the ANA and I have to say, it was a great experience. The speakers were extremely insightful and entertaining, from Eric Ryan’s presentation in which he displayed their new commercial (which I have to say is hysterically genius) to David Jones’s speech on his theory: “the new world of marketing is square.” Overall the speakers were amazing, they gave great industry insights. I learned an incredible amount in a short period of time. Stephen Quinn, CMO of Walmart explained that media spending, customer segmentation, an emphasis on multicultural markets and marketing analytics helped to improve the overall in-store experience.  Michael Keller, Chief Brand Officer for Dairy Queen talked about his company’s online presence.  DQ has built an online consumer following with its Blizzard Fan Club, Facebook page, and two unique online games.
 
Not only did I pick up numerous nuggets of information from the top industry gurus, but I also had the opportunity to speak to several attendees at the conference. I asked questions, like what sets their company apart from the competition, how are you battling the recession, and of course how is your company dealing with advertising on multiple platforms (Web, print, mobile, e-books, etc). To watch and listen to what people had to say, check out our original videos. Chime in with comments and suggestions…I plan on continuing our ANA videos, and they will only get better with your feedback!

What do E-readers Mean for the Publishing Industry?

By Cara Brooke Schultz

Everyone wants to find the solution for the troubled publishing industry. Recently there has been a lot of hype around the e-reader phenomenon—Barnes and Noble released their version called the Nook, Amazon came out with a larger-screen version of the Kindle, and Sony has a touch screen edition. So what does this mean for the publishing industry—will people flock to the e-readers and begin paying for content again?

According to a recent article by AdWeek, “’There is an optimism among publishers,’ says Roger Fidler, program director for digital publishing at Donald W. Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri. ‘But nobody is seriously saying this is going to save the industry.’”  

I personally bought my Kindle less than a year ago, shortly after Amazon released their second version, and I have to say I fell in love with my Kindle at first use. I am an avid reader, in fact I’ll read pretty much anything—from advertisements on the Subway to the NYTimes, so I think I fit Amazon’s target audience, however what about the main population? Will the e-reader trend catch on like the iPhone?

Here are a few of the reasons other people might find e-readers to be appealing:

1.    They are more environmentally friendly.

2.    No more lugging around multiple hard cover (or paperback) books. One e-reader can hold hundreds if not thousands of books, newspapers, magazines, even blogs—and e-readers usually weigh around 11 ounces.

3.    You can read multiple items at once. For example you can read the NYTimes on the train and then switch over to TIME magazine in seconds without elbowing the guy next to you.

4.     You can download new material in seconds, almost anywhere.

What do you think the benefits or disadvantages of e-readers are? Will you buy one?