ANA Marketing Maestros

TV widgets...upcoming trend of 2009?

By: Irina Skaya

Apparently, widgets are taking on a new life--they are now coming to a TV near you! And who is behind this revolutionary thinking? Yahoo! in partnership with Samsung, Sony, LG Electronics and VIZIO announced their launch of an internet widget-based function for the TV, this week at the CES conference. The idea behind this Widget Channel is to develop mini-applications that can complement TV viewing with information from the Internet, providing viewers with relevant and targeted information while enhancing their television watching experience. Widget Engine combines key attributes of the Internet, including openness, community, and personalization, with the power of television.

This is great for advertisers because the widget could allow users to purchase products advertised on TV from online store. There are several applications planned such as MySpace, Twitter, Flickr, eBay, CBS, Netflix, Blockbuster, New York Times and various Yahoo! widgets.

We all know that despite the rise of the Web, TV is not going anywhere. People still spend more time watching television than they do on the Internet. TV widgets is a great way to converge the two. For instance, MySpace users will be able to access the widget using a remote and type message to their friends using an on-screen keyboard. Flickr users will be able to share photos with family and friends or watch a slideshow on their TV screen. Many of the widgets are still in the development process, but you can preview them here.

Who am I? Tapping into the Chinese consumer market

By: Irina Skaya

Born in a small town that is unfamiliar with traffic lights and shopping malls, in Moldova (located between Romania and Ukraine) and growing up in the Big Apple, I continue to struggle with cultural duality and self-identity. On one hand, growing up in a diverse city like New York, I am more open-minded about other cultures than my parents. But I am always reminded that I am not American enough because I don’t eat hash browns, bacon and eggs for breakfast. On the other hand, I am not completely emerged in the Moldavian culture either because I was raised during the former USSR and I only speak Russian, not Moldavian.

But I am not alone. Whether you’ve emigrated from Moldova, Latin America or China, first and second generations struggle with cultural duality—we are pushed around by our American counterparts for not being American enough, and by families for being ashamed of our own heritage.  At last week’s ANA Multicultural Marketing Conference, Starcom Media Vest Group (SMG) presented marketers with insights into the cultural identities of Chinese Americans, and discussed the importance of researching the values and motivations of this group in order to truly connect to this market.

Although immigrants in general share similarities in regards to the assimilation into the American culture, the assimilation and acculturation models are very unique to the Chinese member community. For instance, the first generation is considered to be the protectors of the culture—they settle into metropolitan areas that are culturally saturated in order to maintain same traditions and rituals. The second generation, born on the American soil, is the forefathers of what it means to be Chinese-American.  They struggle with self-identity during the early part of their lives—they do not feel fully Chinese nor fully American. As they mature, they begin to embrace their culture and heritage by integrating their culture into American life. This group is known as the, “Hyphen in-between.” How does this duality and having two identities impact the Chinese sense of consumerism?

As marketers, it is critical to align messages based on the audience’s relationship to the following core pillars of value: tradition, frugality, family, worth ethic, education, food and entrepreneurship. The state of duality helps explain how participation with English-leaning communication approaches tethered to cultural nuance is vital to messaging. The growing paradox of Westernization and a desire to retain traditional cultural touchstones such as language will create a need for communicating in a nuanced and balanced way. Chinese Americans are the largest consumer of in-language media. The primary language spoken in families and among friends will influence the media consumption. The other indicator is generations. The younger generations are more English-leading as expected. However, most of them have seen Chinese media, consume it when they spend time with the older people in their families—this calls for more balance. In fact, the overall consumption of television is down by 35% and an increase of 53% in time-shifting because of lack of relevance of in-language media and antiquated stereotypes such as emasculated and sexualized Asian Americans. What does the Chinese American identity morph into moving forward?  How do we know this community aligns with our category and brands?

For a more in-depth analysis of the cultural identities study, visit www.ana.net.

Digital Natives: Who are They?

By: Irina Skaya

Are you a digital native? Do you spend hours playing video games, publish your phone number on a social networking site, or carrying an iPod full of illegal music tracks? If not, then you are a digital immigrant, one who had to adapt to the new online environment. In any case, if your target consumer is a digital native, you must speak in their native language because they think completely different. Last month, I attended a SheSays (women in advertising) group where the seven truths about digital natives were discussed:

Truth 1: Email is lame.
Recently, Chris Marriott of Axciom presented at an ANA Marketing Training workshop on Digital Marketing and he stressed that the younger demographic does not answer their parents’ phone calls or emails. Instead joining social networks such as Facebook has caught his daughter attention. 

Truth 2: TV is dead. Long live TV like online video services, e.g. Hulu.
That’s right, television is still hip but the format we watch it in has changed. People are busier now and do more things simultaneously—we as digital natives expect to see movies on multiple platforms which we can take with us wherever we go.

Truth 3: Cant w8 2 c u luv mma<3.
We have our own ‘hip’ lingo that can catch our attention if adopted by advertisers.

Truth 4: Teens have a totally different view on privacy. Totally!
Teens today put up their phone numbers on social networking sites without worrying about identity theft or telemarketers.

Truth 5: “We don’t need no education.”

Truth 6: Copyrights?
An average teenager’s iPod has 800 illegal music tracks.

Truth 7: They care.
Support for the presidential election and the environment have been embraced by this age group.

Knowing more digital natives and their behavior will help you engage with them and make your ads more effective.

"Green Living" - Hype or Here to Stay?

By: Irina Skaya

I haven’t written a blog in a little over a month now-hopefully, the American idiom, “Absence makes the heart grow fonder” will apply here.

Let’s talk “green”--from battery-electric vehicles to solar wing for ferries or yachts, consumers want to use their buying power to help heal the earth.  In the last couple of years, “green” messaging has inundated the marketplace—from subway ads promoting environmental change to “Green is gorgeous” totes—green marketing is everywhere!  The question now becomes, “How much “green” is too “green”?” Green living is starting to look more like a fashion statement than a genuine, beneficial effort to support environmental issues. Despite the current good intentions of the business community and consumers to promote “green”, serious eco-results will depend on making products and processes more sustainable without consumers even noticing it, and, if necessary, not leaving much room for consumers and companies to opt for less sustainable alternatives.

How can marketers ensure their companies stay authentic in the public realm?  Below are several ways to avoid "greenwashing" and establish credibility: 

• Don't go "Green" for "Green's" sake-ensure the product addresses the customers' need first.
• Partner with regulators, elected officials, environmental agencies, and nonprofits. Support from these organizations will enhance your company's “green” efforts.
• Work together with these partners on marketing/communications efforts, learning from their wealth of experience and established networks.
• Place a heavier emphasis on earned media and cause-related approaches, which carry more validity than advertising and other paid media approaches.

So, while it’s great to create products that scream “eco-friendly” because customers want  to express their concern publicly, it’s important to remember to focus on customers’ needs first. Thus, it’s not enough to position a hybrid car as simply cool, it also must convince its owner that the vehicle will save him/her gas money. The green market is a great opportunity to engage with your target consumers because consumers today are not only interested in the eco-friendly products but are in it for the social cause. Join the hype.

Technorati tags: green marketing greenwashing eco-friendly green living environment

The Relevance of Marketing

By: Michael Palmer

A silo mentality has been with us for years and is unlikely to change in the near future.  People have too much invested in building the importance of their leadership to give up being in charge.  Marketing, however, truly has the ability to transform this mentality from a “what’s in it for me” attitude to let’s work together as a cross platform team.

What, you ask, is the carrot that can make this horse move? It's customer insight. 

Recently, an ANA member CMO was faced with a challenge from her organization’s production VP about increasing her marketing spend.  Production it seemed needed new equipment so they wanted the dollars available; marketing wanted to extend a current campaign.  Smartly, the CMO changed the conversation from winning or losing to what was right for the customer.  She showed the management team that the campaign she was running was working to drive revenue – the production equipment would not garner the same return.

Make marketing relevant by understanding your customer better than anyone within your organization – use that insight to drive decisions, use that insight to excite the team, use that insight to create cross functional teams focused on one objective, creating satisfied, highly motivated customers who will do your selling for you.

U.S. Latinos are bilingual, your ads should be too!

By Irina Skaya

Today mun2 and Yahoo! Telemundo relaunch a live bilingual show similar to MTV’s TRL on pepsimúsica.com, a two-day old interactive multiplatform Website used to target bicultural Latino youth within the U.S.

In the vast swaths of America where only Español is required to function, there is often a misconception that only Spanish is spoken amongst our Latino amigos. Certainly, Latino youth is proud of their heritage and are in-tune with their cultura – second and third generation Latinos may speak Spanish en sus casas, but they are just as immersed in the American culture. Anyone who has immigrated to the U.S. as a child, like myself, knows that after a few years of being on the mainland, you don’t speak perfect English nor your native tongue. Latino youth speaks Spanglish, the most important contemporary linguistic phenomenon in the U.S.

However, Spanglish is more than language, it is a lifestyle, dictating what kind of música, películas, and events Latinos are interested in. Take a look inside the music industry – top rated Latino artists such as Daddy Yankee and Fat Joe have been rapping in both, Spanish and English for years. Then, why do multicultural advertisers still advertise only in Spanish to target Latinos? That is the biggest mistake Hispanic advertisers can make, particularly because all Latin American countries have diverse dialects. Besides, Latinos navigate back and forth from Spanish to English. Remember, they hablan inglés, too.

Now, with the Hispanic trends indicating that Latinos spend more time online than the general market, multicultural advertising has increased in the Internet space. Even though most advertisers have moved away from directly translating ad copy from English to Spanish, a lot of ads remain written entirely in Spanish. Pepsi is among the first (including Sí TV) to target bicultural Latino Youth and to speak to them in their language - Spanglish. Recognizing that technology is crucial to this group because it helps connect them with family and friends, and flaunt their pride in Latino identity, the initiator of sponsorship for music has created an interactive and user-generated site that will allow users to vote for their artistas favoritos, post comments, upload their photos and videos, influence the top 20 countdown and more.

This is going to be viral and cutting edge– it puts consumers in the driver’s seat, giving them the content they want, when they want it and most importantly, present in it in the way they understand it. Tune in today at 5 p.m. to watch the premiere of the Pepsi Música. I will - soy admiradora de Pepsi Música!

Technorati tags: user-generated multicultural marketing Latinos Hispanic marketing Spanglish

Facebook: Advertisers Are Your Friends

By: Irina Skaya

Earlier this month, Facebook  launched its new ad system that allows advertisers to track users’ activities on the Website to deliver product referrals and target advertising.

With a recurring theme of behavioral targeting at last month’s ANA Annual Conference and industry headlines that consumers must be part of the brand, Facebook is up to something.   

Embracing a most powerful form of advertising, word-of-mouth-marketing, the idea is that consumers are more likely to trust a recommendation from their friends rather than from a 30-second TV spot. The only question I beg to ask is, “Why would anyone publicly disclose their shopping habits, unless they were getting paid for it?” Facebook might have to throw serious discounts or perks to win participation. 

Facebook’s new ad system has also raised some privacy concerns. Although Facebook does not ask users for permission in way that lets them know that they might appear in an ad, it will not share any personal information with the advertisers. And it is a personal choice for users to sign on as fans of a company.

The new ad system presents a major opportunity to tap the high disposable income student demographic currently using Facebook. You can create relevant ads according to users’ interests, relationship status, education status, etc. For instance, if you are a recruiter looking to fill a position and want to hire people from specific companies, you can target people based on what company they are employed by. If you are an advertiser promoting wedding consultancy business, you might want to target those who have, "Engaged” under their relationship status. 

When it comes to online, the power clearly lies in the hands of the consumer – from growth in user-generated content to Facebook’s new ad system, we are witnessing a transformation in the nature of advertising.

What Makes An Award Winning Multicultural Ad?

By: Irina Skaya

With the Multicultural Marketing Conference around the corner, this is a great time to lend my two cents on multicultural advertising and this year’s submissions. 

By no means am I a connoisseur of multicultural advertising, but I believe there is often a misconception that the higher the production cost, the greater the production value and, thus the better the commercial.  In the past, it was challenging to judge print and television ads in the same category due to disparate production values (according to our judges). With the fast-growing media technologies, it is even harder to judge flash banners and digital billboards with traditional television ads.  It is especially hard for smaller agencies to compete with larger agencies that may have bigger budgets to produce high-tech ads. 

Good news for small agencies - having been directly involved with the judging of the Multicultural Excellence Awards for two years, the winning campaigns have been agencies with the most creative messages and in-depth consumer insights that were successfully executed, not the ones with the most complex medium.  John Hibbs would pat me on the back when I say, “Medium is NOT the message!” At least, not according to our judges (the majority consists of client-side marketers) – the message (content) and executing against this message to produce relevant ads for the targeted audience are the secrets behind top multicultural campaigns. 

I particularly like the Anheuser-Busch ad campaign for Bud Light that is amongst the finalists in the General Market category. I know some of you must be thinking I am either a heavy beer drinker or have stock options in the company, neither – I honestly appreciate the sense of humor and creativity in their ads.  Take a look yourself and I guarantee you will laugh your socks off.

Another suggestion that I’d give to agencies is - for a brand to be successful, instead of directly translating ad copy from English to another foreign language or recording a voice-over in a foreign language for an already existing TV commercial, focus on your demographic and make your ads resonate with and relevant to your consumer.  I’ve also seen ads that evoke emotion and thought succeed the most.  Speaking of relevancy and thought-provoking, here is a Black History Month television ad from a Verizon Communications campaign (African American category) whose premise was to acknowledge those who are creating a change and impacting the lives of African Americans today rather than only highlighting the Black History Month icons. Their second creative was even more hip – an audio ad with J. Ivy’s spoken word embedded in a brochure.  Although I can’t show you the brochure, take a look at the ad below – one of my favorites.

The point I am trying to make is: new media is impressive, but if you are a small agency with low funds, you can win too! It’s still about the consumer insights and the message. I encourage all advertisers and agencies to enter this competition next year - small, big, those who have adopted the new media model and those who are still creating ads using traditional media. To check out this year's winners, click here.

For the 2007 Multicultural Marketing Conference photos, click here.

A Consumer Generated...Climate?

By Kaitlin Villanova

The "post-Gore-buzz" at the Annual Conference seemed to omit a feeling of dissatisfaction from the audience. I overheard one attendee exclaim "he said nothing about the Nobel Peace Prize!" and his cohort proclaim they were hoping he would discuss environmental issues. At this point I wanted to kindly tap these people on the shoulder and remind them THIS IS A MARKETING CONFERENCE!

I think Mr. Gore (we're not on a first name basis just yet) did an excellent job of presenting Current TV and the role of consumer generated content to advertisers. Current TV is solely dependent on participation by consumers so there is no one better to share insights on this subject than the owner and creator Al Gore himself. If anything, I think the consumer created ads for Verizon, Toyota, and Sony might have shook up a few of the agency folks in the audience. Current TV reminds advertisers that all you need to create a 30-second spot is a creative mind, a hand-held camera, and Final Cut Pro!

Mr. Gore eloquently communicated to the audience using pithy anecdotes that shed a light on his sense of humor and some of the incredible life-experiences he has had. From these experiences he was guided to make an impact on society starting with the environment and then onto the most empowered audience: the youth!

I think the "recovering politician" did an exceptional job of reiterating the importance of consumer content to an audience of people who fit the category of "advertising ostriches" (a term dubbed by Lauren Rich Fine at a ANA Senior Marketer's Think Tank), those who stick their heads in the sand hoping when they come back up these new media platforms will disappear!

Thank you again to Al Gore for allowing the ANA Annual Conference be his first public appearance after being awarded the prestigious Nobel Peace Prize . The award was given "for [his] efforts to build up and disseminate greater knowledge about man-made climate change, and to lay the foundations for the measures that are needed to counteract such change." 

Technorati tags: current tv consumer generated content Al Gore

Budweiser Is *Bleeping* Awesome!

By: Irina Skaya

The Anheuser-Busch presentation at the Annual Conference was *bleeping* awesome! *Bleep* wine, *bleep* hard liquor, Beer is NOT dead! In fact, alcohol is a multi-billion dollar industry with beer being America’s number one choice and Anheuser-Busch racking up almost 50% of the market share.

SOCIABILITY AND MODERATION - two benefits Anheuser-Busch pushed to reinvigorate the image of beer. Surely, casual drinkers appreciate this kind of justification to drink in moderation. With a beer-and-food-plan and film on the history of beer, drinking beer cannot be more convincing. From the clacking glasses for “Cheers” in different foreign languages to the ability of drinking beer with anyone a consumer desires, Budweiser's creativity not only promoted sociability, but created a personal connection between the product and the consumer.

For companies that want to reinvent their brand, Anheuser-Busch advised them to:

- Focus on QUALITY - No Shortcuts (with the brewing process)
- Keep the brand image relevant
- Take risks
- Lead with innovation
- Ad personality to their ads


Bob Lachky, EVP Anheuser-Busch had more advice for the advertisers: “Don’t let the celebrity overtake the message” - his statement could not be more accurate. Often times, consumers can only recall a commercial because it featured a famous actor or athlete, but they often do not remember the message. Budweiser not only featured celebrities like Cedric, The Entertainer, but also created a humorous message that made Bud Light the largest selling brand in the world.

All of the commercials shown to the conference attendees blew them away, but the one I refer to in the first couple of sentences of this blog is the Bud Light “Swear Jar” commercial, which became a YouTube phenomenon.

Check it out!