ANA Marketing Maestros

Integrated Marketing Promo Video

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Thanks to Yahoo! for putting together this video montage from our Integrated Marketing Conference.

Network Networks

By Kaitlin Villanova

At the Integrated Marketing Conference, industry executives agreed it is important to get involved in the virtual community but let your consumer decide which is best rather than imposing what you think, they think, is best.

The next day, while perusing the NBC website, in hopes there was an episode of The Office episode I had inadvertently missed, I came across a tiny but appropriately placed link proclaiming "social networking coming soon." As a bright-eyed marketer and someone engaged in the community of social networks I wonder- where this will all fit in?

A recent Adage article on the consolidation of social networking explained the new aggregators like ProfileLinker or OtherEgo and how they allow for more simplified multi-social networking. I have to say, I think of my personal account on Facebook and Myspace very differently from my business profile on LinkedIn and my sporadic engagement with my favorite celebrity blogs.

Back to my original point, I wonder will these network-created social networks be stale and overly-monitored by network staff? Or will they allow for the consumer to make connections with those with common interests?

When discussing this topic with one of my colleagues, he introduced me to Cymfony, a marketing influence analytics company that interprets the view of the brand in traditional and social media like blogs and social networks. This interpretation provides consumer insight and allows the brand to develop stronger bonds with influencers.

It is up to marketers to decide which option works for their organization. You must determine if you trust your consumer enough to give them free reign to comment on your product or service in your domain. Or or does your consumer trust you enough to engage in social media regarding your product.

It all comes down to customer loyalty!

Technorati tags: social networks Cymfony social media

Marketers in the Blogosphere

By Will Waugh

I like to keep track of what ANA members are doing in the blogosphere. I get asked who's blogging all of the time by our members . Marketers' appearance in the online world plays an important role with consumers and end users that demand transparency in the companies they give their loyalty too. Thanks to PRWiki for keeping me up to date as more marketers are set to enter this space in 2007. A brief list:

• McDonald's VP of Corporate Social  Responsibility hosts Open for Discussion focusing on what this major advertiser is giving back to the community
• Oracle has so many blogs that they actually have a directory of blogs
• Wells Fargo and their popular Guided by History blog
• Southwest's Nuts About Southwest is a perfect representation of their brand in the blogosphere
• Cisco's High Tech Policy blog
• Marriott's CEO Bill Marriott on a plethora of issues, including brands.

We are just scratching the surface here. There are many more marketers who have jumped in and jumped out. I expect to see more involvement here in the coming months/years as it gets harder and harder for marketers to communicate with their audiences.

Technorati tags: blogs marketing consumer

Great Ideas Will Create Relevancy

By Barbara Bacci Mirque

A recent ANA survey highlighted that integrated marketing now tops the list as the issue that keeps senior marketers up at night. You have heard me say before that ANA members tell us that the best way to tackle this is to start with the idea and let the idea be the media channel integrator. That was emphasized at the recent 2007 ANA Advertising Financial Management Conference. Bob Lachky, EVP, Global Industry Development & Chief Creative Officer, Anheuser - Busch Inc., talked about how the “Wassup” campaign (here are few of the ads along with some interesting consumer generated versions) began online then spread virally, eventually running on television.

Jeff Hicks, President, CEO and Partner, Crispin Porter + Bogusky, told a similar story for Coke Zero and its very funny campaign with Coke attorneys (again, thanks YouTube). Great ideas will create relevancy so the media should be an outgrowth of the idea, not the other way around. Both of those campaigns were extended into television once they were picked up in the conversations occurring online and it was the consumers who said these campaigns should also run on television. So once again, advertisers should be aware of and participate in the conversations happening around and about their products and services. Start with a terrific brand idea and let that determine which media channels you use. This is great learning from some very smart advertisers.

Technorati tags: budweiser marketing coke creative

Brawny Academy: A Consumer Insight Success

By Barbara Bacci Mirque

For marketers- consumer insights are king. Understanding our consumer inside and out is integral to what we do as marketers and marketing organizations need to have a clearly defined, sustainable and repeatable process, to gather them. The 2006 ANA Marketing Accountability Task Force report lists this as a key to what constitutes a totally accountable organization. At the ANA we are frequently asked how to plan in today’s world of fragmented media options and emerging communication channels. At last year’s Integrated Marketing Conference we heard how over and over again from ANA members– start with a blank page and in the center list the differentiating consumer insight – that insight should lead the media channels that you choose, not the other way around. Using the insight as integrator leads you in a natural progression as to communication choices. Recently the ARF asked me to be a judge for the Ogilvy Awards. I was asked to judge one of my favorite categories – household cleaning products! I fell in love with the case study that could have been written about my household and which ended up being the category winner – "The Brawny Academy: Where Women Send Their Husbands to Clean up Their Acts"(here is the trailer) from Georgia Pacific. The Brawny paper towel brand artfully took what could be considered a commodity and made it resonate with consumers based on a compelling insight - and one that exists in my own household. Conducting ethnographic research they discovered that women were more likely to compare "husband cleaning efficacy" than paper towel cleaning efficacy. From the insight they updated the Brawny man icon, developed the Brawny Academy and used this transformative insight to pick the appropriate communication channels. Read more about this terrific case study.

Technorati tags: brawny marketing insights

Warning Signs of Brand Deterioration

By Will Waugh

In February, the ANA and Guideline polled the ANA’s Brand Marketer Leadership Community, an exclusive peer community of marketing and brand marketing professionals, to understand how companies view the warning signs of brand deterioration.

Brand equity was clearly viewed as important. On average, 75 percent of all respondents viewed brand equity as very important to their company’s success. Most of the respondents agreed that "brand equity is the intangible ingredient that differentiates them and set them apart in a highly competitive marketplace.

When discussing the channels that worked best for brand building, most of the respondents felt that more traditional media channels were the most effective in brand building, specifically television at 76 percent. On the other hand, the survey found that Internet advertising is emerging as a channel for brand building. Particularly effective for young and emerging or strong brands, Internet banner advertising, ranked third overall (56 percent).

What exactly indicates a brand may be deteriorating? The ANA/Guideline report delves deeper to find out the warning signs for waning brand equity. Most respondents agreed that when customer conversion or repeat rate versus the competitor slips, it is a clear warning sign that the brand is at risk. The top five warning signs that companies should be attentive to include:

1. Customer conversion or repeat versus competitor slips (70%)
2. The percent of customers who rate the brand as "excellent" slips (68%)
3. Net promoter score slips (67%)
4. Growing disparity between what customer’s rate highly about a company’s brand and its brand goals (62%)
5. The product in being sold on promotion, deal or at a price reduction (62%)

The trend report also highlighted the many strategies for combating brand deterioration. Of the 14 potential strategies for brand revitalization, the ANA/Guideline survey found that a majority of marketers agreed that product innovation could effectively combat brand deterioration. The top five actions for combating declines in brand health are:

1. Product Innovation (87%)
2. Exploring new targets (68%)
3. Conducting a root cause analysis (67%)
4. Deeper qualitative research such as focus groups on brand issues (66%)
5. Refocusing of marketing efforts (64%)

This survey was initiated by the ANA Brand Management Committee and led by Committee Chair Roger Adams, Senior Vice President, Marketing, The Home Depot, to provide the industry with key insights and best practices related to building brand equity and combating brand deterioration. Adams will be moderating a panel discussion on the results of the survey at Tuesday's Brand Innovation Forum. ANA Members can get the full report in our Marketing Insights Center.

CBS Gets Connected

By Will Waugh

So, CBS is going multi-platform. Sound familiar? Time Warner did it with their Global Marketing. Viacom did it with Viacom Plus. I could have sworn CBS did it already, but I guess not. Welcome to CBS Connections:

CBS Corporation announced today the launch of CBS CONNECTIONS, a newly branded sales and marketing unit designed to meet Madison Avenue's growing need for cross-platform solutions.

The launch of CBS CONNECTIONS underscores the conclusions of a recent survey by the Association of National Advertisers which shows that integrated marketing communications now rivals ROI [return on investment] as a top issue confronting marketers.

Always nice to see our work cited as reasoning for a business evolution. I wish CBS the best of luck in leveraging their many assets for marketers. It is all about solutions now, not media buys, and I think this is a step in the right direction.

Technorati tags: cbs marketing

Thought Leadership as a Marketing Concept

By Will Waugh

I spent some time reading and re-reading David Armano's post  at Logic+Emotion on how thought leadership has been reinvented.

It occured to me that you could take this from an individual level and apply it to companies that have positioned themselves as thought leaders. One company, ANA member SAS Institute has done this effectively in the B2B space. A website that they sponsor called Better Management hosts an array of intellectual capital and business solutions for executives. In this realm, they clearly utilize content as a killer app.

Points from the Logic+Emotion post which apply to SAS's thought leadership positioning:

• Thought leadership can now come from anywhere.
• If we can't schmooze at events -- we will schmooze virtually.
• Our relationships will be formed purely out of merit—from what we have to offer and what we are willing to share.

The third point is key. Companies that are willing to offer up a "peek inside" while at the same time sharing valuable information (in many cases, milllions of dollars in R&D) will rule the online arena of thought leadership.

Technorati tags: sas marketing thought leadership

HP Marketer: Not Convinced Second Life Has Value

By Will Waugh

Eric Kintz over at HP comes to life with a Top Ten List on why he's not sold on Second Life as a marketing channel. Most of the marketers I have talked with that have experimented with SL say that they are not actually expecting to make a ton of money, but rather create a channel for communication.

His Top Ten (more comprehensive explanation at his blog Marketing Excellence):

#1. The technology is still too complex

#2. The model is not yet scaleable

#3. The subscriber statistics are misleading

#4. The model’s scaleability is further threatened by a corporate IT backlash.

#5. The content is primarily adult oriented

#6. Brands are underestimating the investments required.

#7. Brands are not staying true to the Second Life values.

#8. Second Life experiences are not integrated with the overall brand experience.

#9. Potential revenues and profits are limited.

#10. I barely have time for my first life……

Lenovo' s online marketing chief Dave Churbuck reminds me of a November post on this very same topic.

Technorati tags: second life marketing

Garfield's Chaos Scenario

By Will Waugh

I like Bob Garfield. I have followed his writing and reviews for some time. I know his criticisms have hit a lot of nerves (including many of our members) but his insight on the future of marketing are extraordinary and, in many cases, spot on. I did ask him about the future of associations like ours and he was bullish on our role in marketing's evolution. Would he tell me otherwise at our event? Probably not but he is pretty straightforward.

I can't embed the video that Advertising Age is hosting but here is the link of Garfield speaking at our TV Forum a few weeks back. He hasn't posted on his blog Garfield: The Blog in awhile, but the writings are always entertaining and insightful.

Technorati tags: video marketing chaos scenario