ANA Marketing Maestros

Is Facebook Making You Frown? Social Media Marketing Is a Ton of Work!

By Cara Brooke Schultz

Social media burst onto the scene, but like any new medium, it has brought with it a slew of questions. Marketers are asking, “How do I deal with…

• Privacy issues in social networking?”
• Data safety—visitors can get hit by identify theft and frauds?”
• Negative or undesirable posts?” 

At last week’s Advertising Law & Public Policy Conference presented by Microsoft several of the speakers weighed in with their opinions. During the presentation by Douglas J. Wood, senior partner, Reed Smith LLP; Christopher Sloan, assistant vice president and senior corporate counsel, Liberty Mutual Group; Divya Narendra, chief executive officer and co-founder, Sumzero.com we learned that in order for a company to actively participate in social media the company must enable conversations, monitor conversations, influence conversations, react to conversations, and monetize conversations—which translates into saying, “no you cannot just set up a Facebook fan page and walk away.” 

Seems like a lot of work huh? Well it is, and it doesn’t just stop there—with your new social media sites your company needs to adopt a social media policy for internal and external communications. A key point to keep in mind as you dive into social media, “don’t ban what you can’t stop.” Social media is not ending anytime soon, in fact recent statistics state the sites are still growing at a rapid rate, “Two yeas ago, 20 percent of survey respondents were using social networks and social media, now that figure is 66 percent,” (Research Report: Harnessing the Power of Never Media Platforms for More Effective Marketing, 2nd Edition. ANA 2009). 

For more information about the conference, visit our Web site. 

Socially Responsible Companies Can Make a Difference

By Susan Burke

According to a March 17, 2010, New York Times article, The Body Shop, a pioneer in corporate social responsibility, has taken up a new cause—sex trafficking. Over 1.2 million children become victims of the global sex trade each year and human trafficking is the fastest growing criminal industry in the world. 

The goals of the campaign, which utilizes online, in-store, social media, sponsored screenings of the documentary “Playground: The Child Sex Trade in America,” and out-of-home, are to raise awareness about the issue, collect funds to help the victims of this crime, and encourage legislative action in this area.

 

On their website, The Body Shop, which is part of L’Oreal, encourages consumers to take the following actions to help fight sex trafficking:

1. Tell friends and family about the campaign.

2. Buy The Body Shop’s Soft Hands Kind Heart Hand Cream, or make a donation to ECPAT.

3. Report a suspected incidence of child trafficking by writing to [email protected]

4. Learn more about the issue by reading a full report on Global Child Trafficking for sexual purposes. or the summary report.

5. Learn more about The Body’s Shop’s Progress Cards which have been developed to support future phases of this campaign.

So far, $1.5 million has been raised to support this cause by consumers of The Body Shop in Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. For more information on how your brand can become more socially responsible, visit www.ana.net/mic. 

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:  

2010 ANA Key Findings Report--ANA Recession Survey 4th Edition

By Bill Duggan

ANA recently fielded the fourth wave of what has become known as our “recession survey.”  Over the past two years ANA has polled our members at six month intervals to determine how marketing and advertising budgets are being impacted by economic conditions. 

The recession may be officially over, but it appears that marketers have reset their expectations and a greater degree of frugality has set in. Cost savings and reductions may be the “new normal” even as the economy improves. However, the deepest cuts are likely to have already been made.

Highlights from the most recent survey:

• Marketers are still being pressured to reduce their costs and spending in light of the economy, though reductions are less severe than were reported in the three previous surveys. 
• The top four ways marketers are reducing costs and spending:
  1.  75 percent are challenging agencies to reduce internal expenses and/or identify cost reductions.  
  2.  73 percent are reducing departmental travel and expenses.
  3.  53 percent are reducing advertising media budgets.
  4.  50 percent are reducing advertising production budgets.
• Though the majority of marketers forecast no change in spending for the balance of 2009, predictions about advertising budgets in the next six months suggest some degree of optimism since the last survey.
  1.  59 percent expect budgets will stay the same.
  2.  22 percent forecast that budgets will be reduced (versus 39 percent, 49 percent, and 53 percent respectively in the last three surveys).
  3.  19 percent are hopeful budgets will increase.   
  

Full survey results are available at www.ana.net/recessionsurvey.   

Has Social Media Overtaken One of the Biggest TV Advertising Events of the Year?

by Adrienne Tallacksen

Is it April already? I could swear this is an April Fool’s Joke. It turns out that Pepsi is sitting out this year’s Super Bowl and is instead focusing on social media. Rather than spending millions on a Super Bowl ad, Pepsi has opted to promote its Pepsi Refresh Project campaign using social media tools including Facebook and Twitter. The campaign is aimed funding community projects through grants distributed by Pepsi. The projects are submitted and then voted on by visitors to the campaign’s website.

   
Pepsi’s agency, TWBA Worldwide, is quoted as saying, “The Super Bowl is just too extravagant for something like this.” This brings to mind a number of issues—cause marketing, social media, and a post-recession backlash against excess are just a few. Now that companies aren’t feeling the pinch of the recession as much, will more turn back to cause marketing? How will traditional media play into Pepsi’s campaign, if at all? Does corporate responsibility mean being frugal with your ad dollars?

Obviously, many brands feel that the high prices of Super Bowl ads are worth it. Pepsi says it’s trying to create a movement through this campaign.  Is social media the only venue brands can use to create movements, or is there a place for traditional media in movement marketing, too?

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?

Are You Relevant?

By Adrienne Tallacksen

More marketers are turning to social media as a way to reach consumers, as shown in the recent ANA study “Harnessing the Power of Newer Media Platforms”. In 2007, 20% of survey respondents were using social media. The 2009 survey found that 66% now use social media platforms. Just over half of marketers surveyed are funding newer media spending with dollars shifted from traditional media.

When moving into the newer media space, marketers must continue to remain relevant to consumers. In a presentation at the June Central Region Digital Marketing Meeting, Google’s Jim Lecinski spoke about staying relevant in a presentation titled “Connecting with the Recession Shopper.” Lecinski said marketers must be useful, helpful, and relevant; not interruptive, shocking, or annoying.

If I’m looking for tomorrow’s weather forecast, I am definitely not interested in a candy ad taking up half of my screen. I’m trying to think of a situation where this ad might be relevant, and I’m coming up with nothing. However, an ad for shipping services on a social networking site for business professionals could be useful. I might not have an immediate need to ship something, but the ad is at least in the ballpark of relevancy.

Vanity Fair: The New Recessionista?

By Cara Brooke Schultz

The recession is taking a hit on every industry, especially the media. With numbers down across the board—The Tribune Company filed for bankruptcy, Doubledown Media shut down, Condé Nast ceased production of Domino, Gourmet, Cookie, and Elegant Bride, and Hearst closed down the print version of COSMOGIRL  (just to name a few)—it seems like every company is doing whatever they can to stay afloat.

Perhaps we can call Vanity Fair the next “recessionista” for recycling a photo for the cover of their March 2009 issue. The original photograph (right image)—shot by Annie Leibovitz—was used for the cover in July 2007. Vanity Fair acknowledges the reuse in the following statement on their Website, “This portrait of Obama, then a senator, was originally taken for one of 20 covers on Vanity Fair’s Africa issue of July 2007.”

What do you think about the decision to reuse an image that is over two years old?

To Tweet or Not To Tweet…

By Cara Brooke Schultz

It seems as if everyone is tweeting these days. In fact, your boss might even encourage you to write tweets. However, after reading an article on imediaconnection.com, I felt compelled to throw a few tricks of the trade out there. iMediaConnection rounded up a few sceneries when you should refrain from tweeting:

1. Do not tweet when you are in the middle of a crisis. If something terrible happens and you are dealing with a ton of negative feedback from customers, stay calm and try to rectify the situation prior to tweeting. One tweet announcing the change is enough.
2. Try to steer clear of all negativity on your twitter page. There is no reason to make fun of another company, a geographical location, or another person. Although you might think you are being funny, chances are you will offend someone.
3. Do not post everything online for the world to see. Always get the go ahead to broadcast breaking news, new deals or any developments that might come up in the office. Most likely, your boss will want to wait before making the news public.

I also wanted to add a few suggestions to the list:

1. Don’t write negative tweets about your competition. Your customers like you for several reasons, highlight those reasons and leave out the negativity!
2. Think before you tweet. Have well-thought out and spelling-error free tweets before making them live online. Remember, tweets cannot be edited once they go live, so do a thorough edit before posting.

Before writing your next tweet—take these ideas into account—it will help create a positive twitter experience.

Magazine Bleed Charges - Why Do They STILL Exist?

By Bill Duggan

I’d like to share a letter I wrote to the editor of Ad Age, printed in the September 28th issue:

 

Publishers should cut ‘bleed’ fees

Regarding "Condé Nast Execs to make Big Cuts, Insiders Say" (AdAge.com, Sept. 14): It would be terrific if McKinsey's analysis went beyond cost controls and also included a review of Condé Nast's pricing policies to ensure those policies are in alignment with marketplace realities. One such policy under scrutiny from   advertisers is charging an incremental fee for bleed ads. Once upon a time, publishers may have had real costs associated with the production of bleed ads. But today's printing and production technologies no longer require the press stoppages and plate changes that resulted int hose real costs. Condé Nast is one of the few remaining major publishers (Hearst is another) that has not eliminated these obsolete bleed charges, and ANA strongly suggests that the time has come to do so (end of letter to the editor).

 

More on bleed charges in the one page white paper – Are Magazine Bleed Charges Legitimate? ANA and 4A’s have reached out to Condé Nast on this issue numerous times since we published this white paper in January and all those requests have been completely ignored. Not even the courtesy of any response or acknowledgment. Meanwhile, Hearst’s response has been, “At the advice of our counsel, we will not discuss pricing policies in a group setting. So, we will take a pass on this.” 

 

We encourage advertisers and their agencies to discuss bleed charges with these respective publishers (and any others that have such fees). Not only are bleed charges no longer justified, but they actually cost advertisers additional money as sometimes two versions of creative are prepared (bleed and non-bleed) and the agency time and resources spent developing that extra creative and negotiating reduction/elimination of the bleed fees leads to higher agency compensation costs to advertisers. Finally, if publishers have a legitimate reason to charge for bleed, let’s hear it—after all this is a blog and the dialogue would be appreciated.