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When most people think about mobile marketing they probably don’t envision a RED camera fastened to the hood of car.  At least I wouldn’t, but seeing this image of  “technology on the move” caused me to start thinking about what’s next for mobile marketing.

While the concept isn’t new, the message applications and channels being used are changing daily.  I can envision walking into a grocery store and receiving a list of all the sale items on my mobile device, or when I travel, downloading information from my hotel room on local attractions, restaurants, etc.

As consistencies are established across mobile platforms, brands will utilize these platforms more strategically to reach people who live their lives constantly on the move.  And being one of those always on the move, I’m ready — iPhone in hand.

September 7, 1927 - June 12, 2009

“While the great minds of science, financed by the biggest companies in the world, wrestled with 19th century answers to a 20th century problem, Philo T. Farnsworth, age 14, dreamed of trapping light in an empty jar and transmitting it, one line at a time, on a magnetically deflected beam of electrons.”

http://www.farnovision.com/

“USE ONLY THE SPACE YOU NEED?”

I saw a short list of advice to advertisers a few days ago in AdAge.  “The Journal of Advertising Research is publishing an analysis of Advertising Effectiveness Awards, which are based on detailed information on business results for campaigns.”

While most brand managers are navigating shaky ground, it’s great to hear simple advice that pulls us back to the basics.  I think that is what is called a ‘market correction’.  Could it be?

Here are the strategies they found to be most likely to increase sales and/or profits:

1. Focus on hard objectives, such as specific market-share gains, rather than soft ones, such as brand awareness
2. Focus on price, not volume
3. Focus on penetration (winning new consumers) rather than loyalty
4. Influence consumers emotionally rather than rationally
5. Create ads with “talk value”
6. Have a high share of voice relative to brand market share
7. Include TV in the mix
8. Include a small number of media channels with a concerted message

What about your next campaign?  Can you follow these simple strategies or do they make you nervous?

Driving home this afternoon I got so tired of radio advertisements that I turned the radio off.  It’s a little scary admitting that out loud being that I work in the marketing and advertising industry.

But my reaction wasn’t an anomaly.  In fact consumers everywhere are showing greater aversion to all kinds of advertising.  Consider these findings from an online survey of more than 2,000 respondents:

• 79.4% of respondents use an internet pop-up blocker
• 68.2% of respondents use an email spam filter
• 72.5% of respondents classified advertisements as “annoying” or “extremely annoying”
• 56.4% of respondents would rather eliminate all advertising from their life than leave it as it is.

One would think statistics like that would send marketers packing for good.  Oddly enough, I am as optimistic about future marketing opportunities as ever.

Why?  Because the digital technology advancements that have altered media consumption expectations and changed ad perception are also providing the analytics necessary for us to be better informed about consumers than ever before.

The result – We are developing more relevant communications that consumers value and respond to.

No more “shotgun-in-the-dark” mass media ads for us. We prefer a new-model approach – where relevance is king.

INSIGHT, what a great word.  I really sums up so much of what we do and the challenges we face.  I often define my work as, “calculating the distance between my present state and change”. 

I read recently where the analytics market will soon reach 1 Billion in value (in the US alone).  This represents a sea change in how we go about measuring market activity, but all to shore up one thing - insight.  At the end of the day what hasn’t changed is the need for insight.  It’s what our customers value the most - and pay for.    And, I should add, it’s what we do best.

I believe many marketers masks their lack ability for insight by talking mostly about methods and processes.  While those are important, it’s still about what you do with the information that you have access to.  Everything else is a means to that end.  Insight.

Everyone roots for the underdog at one time or another.  Everyone has been the underdog at one time or another - and for some, more than most.  The same can be true of brands in the marketplace.I recently saw a campaign from an upcoming brand and it was obvious that the brand must have felt bullied by a major player in the brand space.  It wasn’t positioning itself, it was striking out at the ‘unmentioned’ bully.  And there really was no redeemable marketing value in the campaign.If you’re the underdog - CONGRATULATIONS!  There is something special about the prospect of being the next big thing.  Reality is that you might have to play in the same playground alongside the resident bully, but at least you know when he’s there and where he’s at.

Could we be reaching the bottom of the bottom?  According to many analyst the first week of March was the bottom.  That is a strong signal to advertisers.  Get in the game now and get in strong!

Just as financial analysts predict the bottom as a time to “buy”, so goes the marketing game.  And it’s not just about media-buy, but rather authentic brand awareness opportunities that cost less when markets are at an all time low. Buy in now and win big when the market returns strong.

Uncertain times reveal experience and it is obvious of those who’ve been through this cycle before.  Is your brand out there?

Yesterday I read an interesting statistic that found only 12.2% of Fortune 500 companies have business blogs – defined as active public blogs by company employees, about the company and/or its products. Surprisingly lower than I expected.

With blogging percentages this low, the use of other social media is likely to be even lower. It appears that businesses are still struggling with the thought of not controlling the message. Ironically, the inability to control the message is the primary reason social media is the most trusted form of marketing.

It’s obvious many companies aren’t willing to implement social media as a core communications strategy. What they fail to understand is that conversations are actually already taking place… they’re just happening on someone else’s site.

 

Are newspaper empires now making an investment in Hollywood?  Hollywood has always been up for grabs.  Hiding behind an excuse of “reflecting society”; when in reality it is the most influential platform in history, shaping society, accessible only by the loudest voices.  And yes the digital domain is changing all that; as it has many other traditional mediums.

Three recent films “Marly & Me“, “State Of Play“, and “The Soloist“, all involve a component of the newspaper business; portraying its current struggle for survival, yet playing to the sympathetic side of viewers about the value of ‘real’ journalism.  Who creates this stuff?  Is Art imitating life, or is Art imitating investors intending to shape our attitudes toward the inevitable?  Suddenly I’m supposed to feel bad because I do not read a printed newspaper?  Or that I prefer to get my news online?  Great journalism is suddenly limited to print?  Anybody in broadcasting out there listening?  You’re next.

This reminds me of a time, not too long ago, when attitudes toward motion-pictures were that “serious movies are limited to only shooting in film”.  Need we be reminded again and again that the story is the asset.  I do not discount the craft of looking through a lense and capturing life to be retold with intent.  The same is true for the journalist.  The medium is not the message.  The message is the message.

Three great movies all deserving of awards for brilliant acting, and storytelling.  And while we’re at it, give them an award for best “play on society”.  And for a brief moment, I thought newspapers would make a comeback.

It’s simple, we are in the business of communicating.  That is developing messages and experiential technologies whereby the brands we represent connect with their customers.  It’s that simple.  And to do that we generate volumes of information;  mostly from research or trend watching.  Wading through data takes a very special type of mind.  It can be overwhelming at times.  I was reminded again today of the significance of this process and how, in the end, so much data and information often filters down to very little resulting information that is required to make a final decision or present to a client.

It comes down to a single metric; will customers recommend the brand to others?  There is no higher value in marketing.

Yesterday… more layoffs at another agency here in town.  As the principle at Premier Studios, I can’t help but feel a twist in my gut knowing that, but for the grace of God go I.  I told a friend recently that I am uncomfortable these days when people ask how things are at Premier Studios.  Frankly, because they’re great.  We are hiring and expanding. We have new clients engaging our services.  Everything I see and hear these days tells me that this should not be happening.  But it is - and I am thankful.

It’s happening because of people - the people at Premier Studios that is.  When you look past the facilities and technology (and free drinks and snacks) you find the best people in the world giving their best to the best clients in the world.  Everyone is concerned about the future and rightly so - so am I.  But in good times and bad we are still who we are. And it is in the worst of times that our character is tested the most.  This is as true for me as it is the newest person on our team.

Now is the opportunity to advance, now is the opportunity to demonstrate your expertise. Good times are coming and we will be tempted to relax and enjoy the ride.  Now is the time to make the choices that set the standard for tomorrow.  What a great opportunity we have.  Everyone.

We’re still here!

 I saw this quote today and had to share…

Multi-tasking is dead. It never worked and it never will. Intelligent people love to sing its praises because it gives them permission to avoid the much more challenging alternative: focusing on one thing.
— Timothy Ferriss

Remember when the objective of improving efficiency used to include a human element?  Not so much anymore.  It seems we spend more time trying to create systems and processes whereby people do not have to touch anything than we do spending time creating touch-points to clients and reaching out to prospective customers. And the new model works for some things but should be examined with great caution when considering its application to customers.

We subscribe to the “win without pitching” model whereby we prefer our clients be drawn to us by our expertise and not by some sales pitch we develop (..sounds like marketing - doesn’t it).  Then how should we spend our time?

If we left it up to tech trends we would spend all of our time on Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter; connecting with “our social  networks”.   I don’t know about you, but most networks I am invited into smells of a pitch.  There’s not much social about it.

In reality, I am spending more time these days trying to figure out how to service fewer clients at a higher level.   Trust me, less is more!  I am most interested in applying my expertise for fewer clients, whereby I can care deeply about their future and purposefully help them meet their objectives.

Sure, you can find me on Twitter and Facebook, but give me a clear problem that I can touch and address, and apply all that I have learned for a client that matters, and there I will be a happy camper.   CAN touch this!

While idling at a stoplight yesterday, I couldn’t help but notice how my fellow commuters were taking advantage of the moment, technologically speaking.  Just in the few cars around me, I saw people talking on their cell phones (two on wireless Bluetooth devices) children watching a video in the back seat, all while I sat scanning through emails on my phone. And before the light could turn from red to green, I was invited to join one of the four wireless networks in the area.

Obviously, digital technologies are just a way of life these days. But it’s amazing to consider just how much how our lives have been impacted by changing technology overall – and it shows no signs of slowing down.  Check out the video below to see what I mean.

This is a very interesting article that appeared today in AdAge. Probably the most sense I’ve heard from anyone lately regarding print subscription media.

Amazon Device Could Be White Knight for Newspapers and Magazines

By Steve Rubel 

Published: March 17, 2009

Newspaper and magazine execs have long regretted making their crown jewels — quality content — available for free. No one has really been able to make a go of digital subscriptions.
As the tangible media era ends, the media formerly known as print can’t count on advertising alone to survive. They need to find healthy subscription revenues. Thankfully, an unusual white knight has emerged: the Amazon Kindle.
The Kindle 2.0’s debut was a watershed moment for print media. It offers one last solid shot to build a robust digital-subscription businesses — if newspapers and magazines move quickly.

Steve Rubel is a marketing strategist and blogger. He is senior VP-director of insights at Edelman Digital.
Like the iPod before it, the Kindle is a critical emerging device that actually encourages consumers to pay for content. When Apple launched the iTunes Music Store, some were skeptical that people would shell out cash for music they could snag for free from file-sharing networks. They did. The same was true when Apple, and later others, rolled out movies. Today millions rent or buy movies online.

The Kindle offers a similar opportunity in a much larger market: text. This one is tougher to monetize. Even though magazine and newspaper content is widely available for free, I believe that people will pay to receive their favorites on their Kindles or their Kindle-enabled phones.
The media needs to meet them there now, while they can. One unsolicited suggestion: Offset part of the cost of the Kindle to get them into the hands of loyal readers with content preloaded. Imagine if Time Warner gave readers $100 off a Kindle that came with a year of digital subscriptions to Time, Sports Illustrated and Fortune. I bet a lot of people would jump in and stay for years.

The Kindle, like the iPod, overcomes the hurdle required to get people to pay for content. The secret sauce is easy and near-instantaneous information delivery.
Newspapers and magazines must jump in now. Subsidize Kindles. Create value-added content for the device. Or even partner with advertisers in creative ways to offer new content. This is the last shot at getting people to shell out for digital subscriptions. The Kindle is print’s white knight.

SOCIAL TRENDS?

With any new social trend, or new marketing technology for that matter, there is a danger in isolating the ‘ideal’ and over-investing dollars, with the expectation of above-average results.  That’s all good until, like previous ventures, it proves to be just another trend.  Some might say marketing is best defined as ‘trending’, meaning all efforts are given to identifying general tendencies or inclinations toward new behavior. Sounds good, but what does that mean to your brand.

PEOPLE POWER

For some marketers people are seen for who they are and what they can contribute to any brand’s success.  Unfortunately, for many marketers these days, people are just voices.   That is: voices they can use to influence others (word-of-mouth).  But, in reality people ARE the media.  They ARE the source generating the content.  It’s not about telling people what to say, rather giving them something to talk about.   The intelligence generated and transmitted (communicated) to others is not to be manipulated by the brand, but rather influenced.  And influence comes in many varieties.

THE DANGER

So, the danger is in isolating any trend in preference to considering all of the available marketers’ efforts.  And Social Media?  Well it’s like an ocean with many waves and your desire should be for your brand to ride one of those waves.  You don’t make the waves: people make the waves.  Quit focusing on the ocean, and focus on being able to recognize the individual waves that matter to your brand.  People who generate scoial media freely discuss their interests and expertise.

Remember when expert reviews used to be the deciding factor in new product purchases?  Nothing was purchased without consulting the Consumer Guide first. The experts were gospel in their evaluation of any product or service.

Today this gospel has a new author: the general consumer.  Consumer recommendations are the most credible form of advertising according to “Social Media Marketing: The Right Strategy for Tough Economic Times” (Awareness, 2008).  Some research even shows that conversion rates doubled after a product was displayed with a five-star rating.  It feels kind of like grade school – stars are important once again.

Current data suggests close to 80% of consumers read online reviews.  I’m with the majority on this on.  I want to know what the people have to say.  And if the people say it’s good, then it has to be.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dear B.E.,

It seems that it’s been awhile since anyone has expressed a sincere thank you for all you do!  We thought we should take a moment and say, “thank you and we miss you”.

It seems this economy debacle has scared you away.  Oh, we know you are still committed to your favorite brands.  And we don’t blame you for your concern. Yes, many brand managers have taken you for granted and that has been a huge mistake.  We want you back. We need you!

It’s true, the foundation of our economy depends on you.  In fact everyone depends on you; our stores, our products, our schools, our churches, our restaurants, our clubs, our entertainment, our sports, our books and journals, our televisions - even our politics.  Where are you B.E.?

Sincerely,

The Rest of US.

At Premier Studios the Big Idea is simple, we are all about ‘building brands people love‘.

Well, considering it’s Valentines Day and being in the business of ‘influencing love’ (between consumers and affinity brands that is), we pause to pay homage to the power of love on Valentines Day.  It drives our decisions, manages our expectations and values, and motivates us for tomorrow.

We love what we do at Premier Studios and love those brands we serve.  We trust you will celebrate the love in your life today.

Happy Valentines Day from everyone at Premier Studios!

Yesterday I spoke with a prospective client who was seemingly careful not to blame the economy for his company’s recent performance woes. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.  How refreshing is that?  Everyone want’s to blame the economy.  Could there be other factors in play?

Without exception, I have heard nothing but blame for the economy for poor performance from most brands.  While we all can agree with the current condition of consumer spending habits (and rightly so), only the most brave would be willing to look deeper, to determine whether there are other factors requiring marketing attention.

What mistakes are you making?

1. Leadership assumptions expecting unrealistic repeat performance in a very different marketplace
2. Not recognizing that consumer expectations are changing around you
3. The effectiveness of the traditional distribution model declining (in need of reinvention, really)
4. Consumers listening more to their peers than to you
5. Failing to pay attention to where your customers gather and discuss

The brilliance is not in deciding anything, but rather in discovery.  Aligning a brand comeback with the cycle of this economy just might prove many years of success ahead.  When the economy climbs upward, will your band be leading the climb?

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