ANA Marketing Maestros

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

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

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

A Customer's Story - What Bad Employees Do To Your Brand

By Barbara Bacci Mirque

During a winter trip to the lovely Whistler Blackcomb Ski Resort in British Columbia, Canada, I learned firsthand about the dark side of one to one marketing. No, not the digital type this term invokes but the good old fashioned one on one, personal sale that built companies such as Fuller Brush and Avon.

My experience was with a vacation timeshare and the outcome was not pleasant, but now that company is going to learn about the power of the conversation and how in the digital communication world we inhabit, the customer has a voice – a loud voice. I can express my displeasure with this company not to a few friends but to many hundred through blogs, social network sites, etc.

So what happened to incur this wrath? As my husband and I sat warming up in one of the ski lodges, we were scoped out by a marketing person since we fit their demographic (stable looking couple, in the age bracket of those who might be induced to purchase a timeshare at this fabulous resort – how is that for traditional targeting?!). When the pleasant young man started chatting us up, whereas this hardened New Yorker would have ignored him back home, we began conversing and were ultimately invited to a vacation timeshare presentation. Since we had never participated in one before we accepted (and the offer of 2 free lift tickets was enticing!) Little did we know what we were getting into when we later arrived at the sales office– the hard sell began. Ultimately our twenty-something salesman - a former self-acclaimed champion snowboarder - became very offended when we steadfastly refused his incredible price incentive. He ended the session by loudly insulting us and berating us for attending "just for the free gift" (Well of course – but they offered!)

So what are the lessons here?

• For one, be sure you thoroughly train all of your touch points. Your most customer facing among them should not insult your customers. The well honed marketing campaign about this company’s charming accommodations at this terrific ski resort can all be for naught when up against a rude employee.
• Second, monitor the conversation and respond – read the blogs and track what is being said about your company and correct negative perceptions. I plan to post negative comments about this company on communities that I frequent such as TripAdvisor and I will actively seek out other relevant blogs on which I can complain about them.

Don’t let this happen to your company and if it does for legitimate reasons, react to it and correct it at the source.

Technorati tags: timeshares marketing blogs

What's on the Minds of Senior Marketers?

By Will Waugh

A survey that the ANA released found the top concerns on the minds of senior marketing executives are "integrated marketing communications" and "marketing accountability". The ANA asked over 100 senior marketers to select from a comprehensive list of subjects to rank their top three issues that directly impact their marketing decisions and plans.

Integrated marketing communications (Wikipedia) jumped from the fourth spot in 2006 to the top of the list this year. Marketing accountability, which had topped the list for the previous three annual surveys, slipped to second place.

The ANA will use these findings to help shape the content of its Annual Conference: The Masters of Marketing scheduled to take place October 11 – 14, 2007 in Phoenix, AZ.

The entire selection of questions is below. The top 4 are switched around but remains consistent with what senior marketers and CMOs are telling us. Integrated marketing being number 1 does not surprise me, nor should it anyone else in this space as the marketing landscape continues to transform. The real question for those of us marketers out there is, should we be concerned that "attracting and retaining top talent" is the least of their worries?

Issue	2007	2006
Integrated marketing communications	1	4
Accountability	2	1
Aligning marketing organization with innovation	3	2
Building strong brands	4	3
Media proliferation	5	5
Consumer control over what and how they view advertising	6	8
Globalization of marketing efforts	7	10
Growth of multicultural consumer segments	8	6
Advertising creative that achieves business results	9	9
Attracting and retaining top talent	10	7

Technorati tags: CMOs marketing IMC

Ten Columns Every CMO Should Read

By Will Waugh

Pete Blackshaw over at cgm has compiled a list of clickZ articles he authored in to Ten Columns Every CMO Should Read. This post is not to be confused with my Top Ten CMO List from a little while back. Pete is a smart guy who spent lots of time on the client side and has insight on what high level marketers should be looking at, particularly in the consumer generated space. The Pocket-Guide to Consumer Generated Media provides a perfect overview while The Third Moment of Truth breaks down A.G. Lafley's much publicized speech at our Annual Conference and what it means for marketers.

Technorati tags: consumer generated media marketing CMO

Do You Participate in the Conversation?

By Will Waugh

At the ANA, we conduct a number of surveys on anything from agency compensation to what keeps senior marketers awake at night. We do nothing focused primarily on this world; the "conversational marketing" space our friend Joe Jaffe over at Jaffe Juice is so actively engaged in. Jaffe, the crown prince of new marketing, is preparing a title for Wiley as a follow up to Life After the 30-Second Spot titled Join the Conversation (this link takes you to a wiki on the material). He is looking for brand marketers to participate in the conversation or, more pointedly, to take a survey to develop the framework for his new book.

I encourage all marketers actively engaged or curious about the space to take the survey (Joe is offering some topline nuggets before the book release to those who participate). Though the membership of the ANA are not all believers that the :30 spot is dead and buried like Joe (shameless plug for our TV Forum where we talk about this), there is an enormous amount of interest in the world of social media (or whatever you want to call it Steve). I, myself, look forward to the results.

Technorati tags: marketing social media

The HDTV Experience - Customer Service Not Marketing

By Barbara Bacci Mirque

I found this Media Post article most informative. However, CTAM missed one important point-it is not just marketing that has to improve. What we faced in our HD journey was another key facet to the marketing experience and that is poor customer service from our cable company. Yes, better marketing is needed but so is training for the most important touchpoint these cable companies have-their consumer facing customer service reps.

In our case we knew we needed an HD cable box and HD service and requested the upgrades. We had to go to our cable provider customer service center to pick up the HD box and switch services. The customer service rep told us we did not need digital service to access HD, and since we don't watch that much TV and had no need for 300 channels, we were pleased to learn that. But, when we got home and started setting up the box we realized that although we requested an HD box, she had given us a non-HD box. So we had to go back. Then it took a few more painful days to get the HD box hooked up and working. Finally, we could watch television on HD. But then we too were in the camp of wondering what is alll the hype about HD TV?! The picture quality on our beautiful new flat screen TV was no better than before. After a day or two it dawned on us to check our service and perhaps we did need digital service after all-Bingo! Finally we had that crysal clear image. But it was a slow process dealing with poorly trained, surly customer service reps, and has not left us fans of our cable provider. My husband- the voice of the customer- he is not a marketer - recommends that when customers come into the service centers to obtain HD boxes that instead of making them wait in line as we did, the cable provider should have a separate area for HD upgrades and take them through all the steps to eliminate the pain points. CTAM, he is available for consultations!

Technorati tags: HDTV marketing