Canadian Marketing Blog

The Art of the Influencer

There’s been a lot of talk lately about “influencers” and how they drive product sales with their enthusiasm, large social networks and ability to generate word of mouth endorsements. We’ve all seen them in action – with their outgoing personalities they spend much of their time introducing us to other others as they make their way through a party, smart cocktail in their hand and wearing the latest style of shoes.

According to Ad Age, more than 80% of customers choose one company’s brand over another because of past experience, quality, price or personal recommendations by others. Influencer clout can’t be underestimated. And over the years marketers have tried many ways to cost effectively suck up to them.

In the US, where being an “influencer” has arguably gone berserk, you don’t look much further than award shows to watch the strategy in action. Celebuties are handed thousand dollar gift bags simply for walking down a carpet. Then the editors of People, US Weekly and E! watch closely to see what they’ll trash and what they’ll take home… What they’ll have on in the morning is splashed across websites and magazine covers around the world.

Now if being an “influencer” is something you’ve always aspired to – good news! In today’s digital media world of user generated spaces, you can be someone companies would love to get to know. All it takes is a passionate interest (in virtually anything) an online space to network in and enough of you to get noticed. Is nothing too good for pet and family member Rover? Are you a spiritual outdoor adventurer? Looking for gluten-free baking recipes? Join an online space, connect with other “passionistas” and you’ll become a highly coveted, quantifiable group of prospects.

And if reaching these “influencers” is number 1 on your launch plan, Yahoo! has interesting tools that can help. Last week I attended a breakfast meeting called ‘Marketing 2.0,” where company execs explained how they are able to identify groups of like minded consumers on their network using content, personalization tools, online communities and search products (they call it a "brand network").

Using the “long tail” marketing concept originally developed by Chris Anderson, authour of The Long Tail (Hyperion, $33.95), they presented US case studies on how they were able to sift through throngs of users on various areas on their site to reach super engaged people in virtually any target audience they were given – car buyers, dieters, outdoor enthusiasts.

Yahoo! also talked about another concept they’ve developed called user DNA, an approach to gather data on customer behaviour. It's aggregated (for anonymity) and analyzed to identify trends, behaviours and interests. And they say understanding user DNA enables them to serve up advertising that is highly targeted to only those people most likely to respond to it.

Listening to these guys made me realize two things – first how much we've evolved our thinking from counting page views and clicks in order to evaluate web traffic and online campaign effectiveness. And second, there’s some great minds spending time figuring out how to leverage the power of technology to help us deliver more impactful, more successful advertising campaigns.

Who knows - maybe 20 years from now, the celebutie gift bag will be a relic from the past.

Some ideas for TV advertisers

A great deal has changed about how we watch TV over the years.

Many of the changes have been for an improved experience like colour TV and more recently high definition TV.

Other changes have come out of convenience like the remote control (yay, no more getting up off the couch to change the channel) and most recently the PVR. Watching TV through the web is in its infancy and will take some time before it replaces the TV/Sofa combination.

Some of the first TV advertisements were part of afternoon Soap Operas. They earned their "Soap Opera" name because soap companies were the main advertisers in daytime dramas.

Even though there have been lots of changes in our viewing experience, advertisers have kept to a similar model over the years on television. 12 minutes of advertisements every hour. More recently advertisers have had to stand up and listen with the advent of the PVR. PVR's have really damaged this "12 minutes of ads" model since you can now record the show and fast-forward through the commercials. Product placement takes care of this for the most part but is becoming too obvious for the savvy viewers to take seriously.

There are some creative new concepts specifically targeting the PVR user:

* Having the product be front and centre for long enough that even someone fast-forwarding can recognize the advertisement/brand/product (after all they want the viewer to recognize the product!)

* Having characters in a real show become part of the commercial advertisement .

* Cable companies are blocking the ability to fast forward through advertisements (this can't last can it?)

I've given some (very brief) thought to other ideas that might attract back the PVR user and make them enjoy the idea of advertising again.

1. Turn advertisements into a mini show. Let's say Coca-Cola has 5 ads in a given TV show. Instead of playing the same ad each segment (which is very tiring) make each ad connect to the previous one. In 5 ads (2.5 minutes) you could have a mini 2.5 minute show. If the content was good, I would watch them just to see what was going to happen next (therefore no fast-forwarding)

2. Have a large company like Procter & Gamble sponsor a whole season of a show and take out the ads. (the show would then have to produce a full half hour or hour of content (like Sopranos or Entourage). Each show could be sponsored by a different product. I would be very interested to hear that "the following ad free episode of 24 was paid for by XYZ product" and would remember that this product is the reason I didn't have to watch ads.

I know there are financial impacts that I haven't considered. Paying for this types of advertising can be a huge financial burden. These are just ideas on the what the next wave of TV advertising could be. Millions of people still watch TV after all.

Please write your comments on other ideas to help get the PVR user back to watching ads. They are, after all, the reason why watching TV is cheaper than it would otherwise be.

A Summer Project?

Why not take the traditional summer slow down to Cleanup Your Data?

If the task seems too daunting, concentrate on a smaller piece. Assess your greatest need areas and concentrate on them. An ongoing data clean up strategy can ensure that gradually all of your data issues are addressed.

How to begin? Ask yourself tough questions about your data:

- Is your coding structure as clean as it can be?
- Is your duplicate rate as low as it can be?
- Are spousal/corporate records linked?
- Are relationships organized to allow for seamless major gift integration?
- Are there multiple locations to consider?

Asking these and other related questions is a great way to kick start your plan!

Any data clean-up tips to share with others?

Do you know what’s on your teen's mobile phone?

I recently watched a few clips all about Cool Hunting on YouTube. Cool Hunting is the act of sourcing the newest trends on the street. One particular show followed the lives of a few New York City Cool Hunters whose sole job was to isolate and capture cool new ideas and fashions before they hit the mainstream. Although it was an interesting show, none of us need a Cool Hunter to tell us how hot the mobile market is.

When looking at a demographic chart the next big bulge in the chart after the baby boomers is the teen and tween segment. According to the show mentioned above, they are a group which spends over a billion dollars a year and influence their parents to spend an additional half a billion of their own money. Baby boomers need to be cognizant of this trend because that’s how your money will be spent if you want to keep your kids happy.

The teen /tween group obsesses over being constantly connected. E-mail is old school for these kids. They want it NOW. Combining their instant gratification, always-on attitude with a hot new handset equals a huge opportunity for marketers.

From the zippy 3G networks, built-in Bluetooth, video uploading, Facebook mobile, RSS feed readers and geo-tagging, just to name a few of the possibilities with today’s handsets --- everything is moving to the mobile device, and fast. Platforms are becoming more sophisticated every day. Facebook has even opened itself up to developers. Content providers, advertisers and marketers all need to be thinking about integrated campaigns with multi-platform content. In order to do this, we need to be committed to keeping up with all of the latest and greatest advances in the mobile arena.

What would you like to see happen in marketing to the mobile users?

Live Earth is Heating Up in Second Life

This Live Earth thing is definitely coming to a head. The climate change awareness event has garnered the support of our time's hottest musicians and celebrities, corporations and NGO's and of course, Al Gore has quickly taken the role of this Summer's "hot cause."

Live Earth’s website describes the event as “a 24-hour, 7-continent concert series taking place on 7/7/07 that will bring together more than 100 music artists and 2 billion people to trigger a global movement to solve the climate crisis.”

Well, courtesy of Digg, I stumbled across this Second Life event announcement.

Yep... Two Second Life organizations have joined forces with a real world website RealPlanet.org to spread the Live Earth campaign to the meta-verse. Here's what the organizers are saying the Live earth in Second Life will feature:

-Combination of Live Earth concerts and our own live performers and audio streams
- Brief presentations with Q&A on the hour for much of the day
- Translucent dance floor suspended over a virtual ocean
- Amphitheater for slides and videos
- Beautiful water and land environment simulations in Center for Water Studies

Pretty cool, but these guys aren't the first to jump on the SL "simul-event" bandwagon. The American Cancer Society held their Relay for Life there, and the United Nations have even extended their Stand Up and Be Counted campaign to SL.

Is Second Life the new frontier of digital cause marketing? I'll be very curious to see what real world marketers are going to support Live Earth in Second Life through Linden Dollar contributions and real world sponsorships. Will there be a star studded line up of previous SL rock stars, like Duran Duran, Jay-Z, and the U2 imposter band?

Will you be there? Join the real cause in the meta-verse and then comment back after the event to share your experience.

And the Awards Goes to...

Like other marketers who appreciate the art in advertising, I enjoy watching creative reels of award winning work. However doing so usually requires a degree of stamina – not because it’s a struggle to sit through more than an hour of TV spots, but because viewing high octane creative messages, one after the other, can leave you exhausted from frontal lobe brain stimulation.

Watching reels allow us to experience the power of complete, expertly crafted, beautifully presented messages. We appreciate advertising in its pure form. Whether commercials are recognized because of expensive production values, precise editing or sparkling dialogue, the best ones generate an emotional reaction from the viewer – joy, sadness, contentment, amazement, empathy, fear.

This past week I viewed the 2006 London International Award winners. Now in its 22nd year, the LIA honours pre-eminent work in advertising, design and digital media from around the world. Included was some superb Canadian work. These awards winning spots all demonstrate how to get viewer attention, deliver a message and generate a reaction. No small feat for even the brightest and the best in the industry. Here’s my highlights:

1. Hand, Hockey Canada, (DDB Canada)

2. Start the Car, Ikea Canada, (ZIG Toronto)

3. Water Balloons, XBOX, (McCann-Erickson, San Francisco)

4. Mayfly, Vodafone Live, (Gorgeous Enterprises, London)

5. Crash test, Renault Germany (Nordpol + Hamburg)

6. Penguin, Goose, Miller Light, (Y&R Chicago)

Most of these spots are available on the agency websites or they can tell you how to access them. For a reel from the London International Awards show, contact Adcam (Cameron Gardner, 416-203-0753).

Blog update: Joost TV (Got Joost? Monday May 28th) has launched it beta globally. Now open to all PC users around the world, you can download the software and check out the digital viewing experience for yourself. A note: Joost TV requires a top quality graphics card and lots of memory found in today’s new, high powered PCs.

Where's MYphone?

"You can film a movie while watching a movie making a phone call, all while watching... the Office"

From the New York Times

From Saturday Night Live

From MadTV

From Jon Stewart

From Steven Colbert

Hey Apple! Where’s MYphone?... Eh?

What's In a Name?

As the b-to-b world has moved seemingly in unison away from wanting to be viewed as “product-based” to “solution-based,” confusion has grown as to where this leaves product marketing. Even when an organization can complete the difficult journey of moving from product to solution, that doesn't mean that product transactions will disappear; in fact, a “solutions” organization will still likely conduct about a third of its overall business in a purely product-focused manner.

To reflect this mix, I am starting to see organizations refer to their product marketing function as “portfolio marketing,” as it better reflects the reality of the mix of product, solution and even segment-based marketing that will be considered optimal in the quarters and years to come. This subtle move of renaming a product marketing group in this fashion is actually quite significant. It allows existing structures to be placed under a new umbrella, professes that there still is very good reason to continue to do business as they have been doing in the proper circumstances, and demonstrates that the organization is committed to developing a more comprehensive structure and tactical plan where it is warranted.

It's not you, it's me

Having recently reviewed several marketing students’ resumes for a potential internship position at my firm this fall, I’ve been wondering how the HR departments at much larger organizations evaluate resumes and applicants beyond the evidence of required and relevant education and work experience. After qualifying applicants based on the criteria and requirements listed in the job posting, how do you distinguish those who will have the right fit with the organization? I wonder why the resume trends using creative formats and media, adding colours and graphics, or simply doing something unique, haven’t really caught on. I would have thought that in the field of marketing, and in light of technology and new media, these styles of resumes would be more prevalent. Are they acceptable from an employer standpoint and are the applicants that use them any more successful?

The trend of video resumes has received some attention recently, which a recent article in the Globe and Mail entitled "Would You Hire These People?", evaluated and also highlighted the websites VoiceJob.com for employees to post video resumes and StandoutJobs.com for employers to post video job postings. The ridicule that one job seeker received when his video resume was leaked to YouTube "Impossible is Nothing" likely discouraged many applicants from trying a new medium for their resume as well as triggered red flags in Human Resources (HR) departments.

Thus, it still seems as though it’s often a judgement call or gut feeling from the job searchers’ perspective on whether such a resume format will be valued. Background research on the company and insight into its values, employee philosophy and key clients or customers ought to offer a potential applicant an idea of what that company will deem appropriate and desirable in a resume format. Although this may not always be reliable, just as it is not always the case that who a company says it is, is not always how you perceive it.

This comes down to the concept of a company’s overall brand - how it translates in the minds of the general public, consumers and external stakeholders and how it filters down into its internal stakeholders, employees and different departments, such HR. If a company’s brand suggests its products and services are fun and innovative, but its culture is conservative and slow to change, then there may be some confusion as to how employees “live the brand” or how the brand is understood internally. A recommendation is for HR and marketing to create recruitment advertising in cooperation to ensure that the brand message is clearly portrayed and that the internal brand is evident in all communications with potential candidates and future employees.

This can be useful for the person(s) selecting applicants, but also for the applicants themselves as they can present their qualifications, skills and experience to the companies that they most want to work for in ways that will get them noticed. Some online formats make resumes appear bland and basic, especially when all of the applicants are attempting to use the ‘key words’ and specified information in order to be picked up in a search, but there are still ways to grab the readers’ attention and standout. It may not be something ‘off-the-wall’ that will fit with the organizations’ brand, but understanding what the brand looks and feels like from an internal perspective could lead to a more streamlined hiring process.

Since the hiring requirements for an internship at Brand Matters often involve fewer candidates, I have found that it’s quite acceptable and helpful to request that a small project be prepared as a second stage of the hiring process. This can incorporate different skills and also offer insight into a candidate’s expectations and understanding of how my firm works.

Take These Two & Text Me In The Morning

Being on the front line of the battle field for new media, I am privy to many conversations and viewpoints regarding mobile marketing. I think the CMA blog is a perfect forum for me to discuss the two biggest mobile myths/misconceptions.

Consumers are charged premium rates ($0.25 +) to interact in shortcode campaigns. There’s a distinction that should be made clear regarding mobile revenue driven campaigns (Deal or no Deal, Canadian/American Idol and those useless and annoying ‘joke of the day’ commercials) versus brand interaction driven campaigns. Revenue oriented campaigns are usually associated with T.V. properties and have come under scrutiny for duping audiences by not being explicit about the premium fees associated with the interaction. In addition, a class action lawsuit has been filed against several T.V. properties for running pseudo lotteries. Mobile applications like these have led some people in the marcom world to believe that by extension all mobile campaigns are going to charge consumers to interact. Our best practice ties the mobile campaign to a standard rated shortcode - where interaction costs the same as texting a friend.

Mobile is the new spamming tool. No brand should even consider the idea of sending unsolicited messages to consumers, so don’t even think about buying a mobile database. You’ll do much more harm than good. Privacy laws in Canada force our industry to communicate with only those who have given us permission to do so. In addition, any mobile alert campaign that is sent to a consumer must have an opt-out method. These opt out tags look something like “to opt out reply STOP”. If this action is taken by the mobile user, he/she will no longer receive mobile communication.

The fact that these issues keep coming up is a good sign that we're thinking seriously about the implications of using mobile as a marketing tool. But let's be clear - just like in other marketing disciplines there are best practices and then there are examples that give the rest of us a massive headache.

A PR campaign eh Smithers...? Excellent....

Watching a PR entertainment story gather momentum in major news outlets and become a huge news item across North America in a matter of weeks is pure bliss to the average, hardworking PR person. Take for example the recent success of the Simpson’s movie launch.

The first element that generated media attention was turning average run of the mill 7-eleven stores into Kwik-E-Marts across the US and Canada - the local variety store in the fictional town called Springfield. A select group of stores had their yellow outdoor facade changed, already graffiti -ed by a character calling himself "El Barto" and store racks overstuffed with "Simpson’s" brand items — Buzz Cola, KrustyO's, Sprinklicious donuts, etc. There was even clerks decked out in Kwik-E-Mart uniforms and Apu name tags. 7-Eleven left no stone unturned for the ultimate in cross-promotion.

A brilliant example of merchandising movie content and giving consumers the opportunity to be “in Springfield” – to buy a Squishy and say ‘good morning Apu.’ This blog is typical of the media coverage generated by converting the stores. http://simpsonskwikemart.blogspot.com/

The second was choosing a town named Springfield to host the movie premier. The attention this program generated was higher than average likely because the show had always been careful to never divulge the fictional Springfield town’s location – until now. USA Today got into the act, posting all 14 video entries on a web page devoted to the contest. You can see all the entries at http://www.usatoday.com/life/movies/simpsons-contest.htm

Getting a movie's key messages picked up by media outlets is no easy feat. It takes long lead planning, creativity and the ability to keep launch momentum building so as to peak at just the right time - opening night. Here's what I think the PR team did well.

1. Set clear goals for what they wanted to achieve - awareness, coverage, web hits, etc.
2. Spent time developing key messages - what they said was fun, believeable and relevant.
3. They targeted specific media considered influential - not every movie launch gets a web page on USA Today.
4. The campaign and promotion aligned perfectly to the brand's positioning - the product merchandising wouldn't have had the same fun factor if that rack of Sprinklicious donuts was placed in a Mac's Milk Store.
5. They had fun - it's the campaign that any marketing person wishes they had on their CV - three months working in Springfield.

These two major components of the program generated incredible momentum, media coverage and more than 6.7 million hits on Google. Not bad all before Homer walks down the red carpen on opening night.

Gas or hot air?

I came across an article recently on a Seattle news site. The article claims the increase in gas prices is having a significant impact on teen's social lives.

Teens once reached their 16th birthdays with visions of driving and freedom racing through their minds. Now, instead of thinking about saving money for a new car stereo, young drivers are worried about gas prices. So, how are they being affected?

They are more selective in their choice of employment. They are looking for jobs that are closer to home and believe the amount of money they would have to pay to drive to work would exceed the amount they receive on their pay cheque.

Gas prices are also influencing the dating scene, with friends saying they feel obligated to share expenses. Teens are going Dutch or are alternating who drives and pays for the date.

Sometimes, they even feel they can't afford to go out. That's probably why we're seeing the trend move towards entertaining at home. Many teens and Gen Y'rs are "pimping" up their bedrooms and are hanging out at home as an inexpensive alternative to going out.

I would love to know your thoughts. Do you think that gas prices are really making an impact in teen's social lives or is it all hype?

A Kid in a Candy Store

I had the opportunity a couple of months ago to visit the University of Birmingham in the U.K. and attend their annual conference on Brand Management.

Just imagine 120 academics from all over the world presenting over 1,000 pages of data, information, and insights in the world of Branding.

I was like a kid in a candy store—it was an incredible experience and the learning and growing was wonderful!

Papers on every aspect of Branding for product, service, store, and place Branding themes like: “The impact of mergers and acquisitions on luxury Brands”; “an integrated definition of Brand”; “Liverpool and City Branding”; and on and on.

I’ve attached a copy of the various papers. If you are interested in any of these, let me know.

Papers from Branding Conference

Welcome to the Era of 'Share of Life'

In the last 70+ years we have passed through 2 important eras in marketing; Share of Mind and Share of Wallet, that provided the framework from which brands competed for their customers. Those days are at an end.

We are on the cusp of a new era brought about by a variety of transformational factors. An era where interconnected dialogue, responsibility and solutions will be the primary currency that only some brands will be able to earn and with it develop new higher levels of brand affinity.

Welcome to the era of 'Share of Life'.

Your customers are probably getting ready to send out their RSVPs - will you be invited?

A more complete overview of my thoughts on the 'Share of Life' marekting era is posted on my blog.

Do Not Call Registry – Are We Exempt or Not?

There has been much confusion lately as to whether charities are or are not exempt to the list that will be created.

The answer is yes.

You can review a copy of the news release issued by the CRTC.

While there are still question marks as to how individuals who are on the list will react to charities and other exempted groups calling them, there is a legal OK to do so.

I would be interested to hear how your call program might be planning to deal with possible public reactions when the list is in operation.

Have you considered revisions to scripts? Exempting Do Not Call List registrants anyway? Something else?

Read about a Marketing Investment with a Guaranteed ROI

One of the hallmarks of a great marketer is having a positive attitude and when asked, be ready to take on new challenges with enthusiasm. It’s part of our DNA to say yes and view the experience as an opportunity to learn, grow and become more accomplished.

For some, this “yes” is followed by anxiety, fear of failure or nerves until we know what the expectations are. This was my reaction when I signed up for “The Language of Leadership,” an intensive 3 day workshop designed to help improve interpersonal skills and use words and language more effectively.

After reading the outline, I was anxious. Why three days? Couldn’t we cover this off nicely in one afternoon? I'm really busy you know. Then, to make matters worse, I got a voice mail from organizers that all devices linking me to the outside world were verboten. There were to be no distractions, no messages delivered from people trying to get in touch with me. The expectation was clear – I needed to leave all my ‘stuff’ at the door and be 100% present with the facilitator. Oh boy. Hopefully this time investment would be worth going through hundreds of emails when I returned to the office.

Now I understand what it means to be "present" and I'm glad. It makes for a quality learning environment that has momentum and meaning. Over the three days, a subject we spent considerable time on was understanding the difference between intellectual IQ and emotional intelligence or “EI.” Let me explain.

When we come into this world we have basically the same set of smarts as when we leave it – IQ is what we were given to work with. However as the course showed, we can greatly improve our emotional intelligence, and in doing so relate more effectively to others and become powerful leaders.

What is effective leadership? What does it mean? A clear understanding eludes many people and organizations. One reason is that until recently, no research had been able to uncover which leadership traits yielded the most positive results for an organization. A consulting firm in the US, Hay McBer, completed a study that comprised a random sample of 3,871 executives. They found there are six distinct leadership styles, each one springing to life from different areas of our emotional intelligence. And most importantly, effective leaders in an organization can switch effortlessly between styles depending on team members and the situation at hand.

There are four components of Emotional Intelligence (EI):

Self Awareness – the ability to read and understand our emotions and realize the impact our emotions have on others

Self Management – how to keep disruptive emotions and impulses under control

Social Awareness – Sensing other people’s emotions and taking an active interest in their concerns

Social Skill – Taking charge and leading with a compelling vision

Who knew the impact of using the word “our” instead of “your” when relating to someone? How about building more empathy with the team? Realizing that your emotions in a room are contageous and set the tone for discussions? I do now. Speaking from my personal experience the program was, in a word – transformational. There was plenty of tailored coaching, honest feedback and heightened personal awareness of where I am and where I want to be.

If you’re interested in delving more into the subject, I highly recommend Emotional Intelligence, Social Intelligence, and Working with Emotional Intelligence, all by Daniel Goleman. For information on the Language of Leadership 3 day workshop, contact Vezina & Associates (416) 466-9336.

I guarantee that the more you invest in understanding and developing your emotional intelligence, the more effective you will be as a person and a leader - no matter what your vocation is.

For any investment a marketer makes, that’s a pretty amazing return.

War-time branding - could it help?

It doesn’t take a marketer to see that the U.S. brand identity is tarnished.

Karen Deyoung reports in today’s Toronto Star about the study called “Enlisting Madison Avenue: The Marketing Approach to Earning Popular Support in Theatres of Operation”, that U.S. Joint Forces Command paid to have undertaken by the Rand Corp.

One conclusion by the author is had the army been tagged as ‘helpful’ rather than ‘forceful’ there would be more cooperation on the ground.
OK. Maybe.

Deyoung writes that the study underscores the perils of failing to understand your consumer, and reports the author of the study recommends 'expanding military training to include shaping and branding concepts such as cultural awareness.'
Sure. Absolutely.

About the name of the report though - too bad marketers weren’t consulted, perhaps a better name for the report could have been found – certainly ‘theatres of operation’ is not the best way to address the branding of military operations.

The Aloha Experience

Back in 2003 I was in Hawaii with my wife. We ended up at a fairly high end surfing shop (in Maui) with some friends who knew the owner very well. My wife was in the market for a new pair of sunglasses and this store had an incredible selection. The owner advised us there is only one brand he recommends these days (and showed us the ones he owns). The brand was a Hawaiin company called Maui Jim, a company we had never heard of.

My wife tried on the sunglasses and instantly loved them. Over the next few months she is raving to all her friends about her new purchase.

Several months later I'm driving her car and realize I don't have my sunglasses (I've always owned another brand (let's call it "Brand A"). I try out the Maui Jims and for the next hour I realize how bad (old, heavy, uncomfortable, foggy) my "Brand A" sunglasses are.

At some point my "Brand A" lenses get scratched and also fall out and we send them in for repair. I was more than willing to pay to have them fixed properly. I receive them back and they are "fixed" with the old scratched lenses (no offer to have me pay for new lenses). They really are impossible to see through and therefore useless. I venture off to the Sunglass Hut to see about a new pair.

The lady at the Sunglass Hut asks what brand I'm interested in. I let her know I've always had "Brand A" sunglasses but I'm interested in something else. She looks at me funny, agrees and tells me they're not as good as they used to be (Bausch & Laumb sold the company in 1999) and suggests I try on a new brand that I may not have heard of. She hands me a pair of Maui Jims and tells me that these are the best sunglasses in her opinion. I buy them without question.

Fast forward 18 months later and I am adjusting my Maui Jims. They snap in the middle (this shouldn't happen since they're made of titanium). I check out their website to see about getting them repaired. We send them in without the invoice and include an explanation about how they broke (and how old they are). In 5 days, I open up a package and find a brand new pair of Maui Jims, and a new case to keep them in. I'm clearly floored by the experience.

I send them an e-mail thanking them for their great Customer Service. They send me an e-mail back starting with "Aloha Graham", thanking me for sending them the message, and finishing it off with Mahalo ("Thanks" or "gratitude" in Hawaiian).

They nailed the Customer Experience. Great products backed by Customer focused rules and great people to deliver the Experience. Needless to say I have told everyone about their sunglasses and the commitment they have to their Customers.

Their website is quite good. My favorite part of their website? The FAQ's section about repairs:

Question: Are my broken sunglasses covered by the warranty?
Answer: That depends. If you were hit by a sea turtle while driving Alligator Alley, probably not (good try though). Our warranty simply covers defects in materials and workmanship for up to two years.

It's clear that this company called Maui Jim has Customer Experience in their DNA.

Mad Men

There's a new drama on AMC (Channel 55 in the Toronto area) called Mad Man -- the self-described men of Madison Avenue. It's set in the early 60's when the men wore Brill Creme, wing-tips, white shirts, suites and ties, and women, well, women were secretaires.

As I watched last week's first episode (the 2nd episode airs tonight), I was impressed by how well they captured the era from an art direction perspective. And while the story is typically soapy when it comes to their personal lives, they've nailed the business environment and what advertising was like back when I was watching repeats of Bewitched after school.

But what struck me most was how much more interesting and complicated the world of advertising is today -- and how lucky I feel to be in the thick of it, rather than 30-odd years ago when all you had to worry about was a 30-second spot and a newspaper print ad. Today, as creative business people, it's hard to even describe what we do as "advertising". A better word might be "idea-generating" because it doesn't matter how we reach the consumer, as long as we do. Mad Men had a hammer and a screwdriver in their toolbox. We have those tools and just about everything else you can imagine.

Although it certainly isn't any easier today than it was then, even with the bigger tool box. The reason is simple. The consumer is much more complicated, educated, diverse and pro-active than ever before. And I wouldn't have it any other way.

So would I want to go back and work in that oh-so-politically-incorrect-but well-dressed era if I could? Not a chance. Although I do like a nice dry neat martini.

The Road to the 2007 CMA Digital Marketing Conference

It's that time of the year again...mark your calendars for one of the highpoints of the year - the 10th Annual CMA Digital Marketing Conference! This year the conference will take place in Toronto, Thursday & Friday October 25th and 26th.

A fantastic team of hardworking digerati (including myself), led by the fabulous Louise Clements (for the second year) and the ever-resourceful Steve Mast have put together a powerhouse 1.5 day event featuring speakers from both the agency side as well as the client side, plus the return of the Experience Exchange, an series of intimate round-table discussions led by industry subject matter experts.

Stay tuned to this space for more details and previews of all the speakers and events happening on October 25th and 26th. See you there!

Be Brief, Be Brilliant, Be Gone - Be Blackberry...

As BlackBerrys become the device of choice for the business user, consider this - their small utilitarian screen and moderate brightness means your beautifully crafted email is being read in busy, frenetic surroundings and evaluated in a milli-second. That's because more than 60% of senior executives carry one and use it primarily to view email.

So consider these techniques to help ensure your message has the best chance of being understood. But first, find a BlackBerry and see for yourself how small the screen is.

1. Use the right font size. “Based on what we’ve seen, using 8-point fonts seems to work,” says mobileStorm CEO Jared Reitzin. “In the end, you want to make the body text a small but viewable size.”

2. Keep subject lines short, using only key words, such as “Action Item” and “Reminder,” and for time-sensitive events such as webinars, “Filling Fast.”

3. Put the *subject* first in the subject line. For example, if your email is for a Search Engine Optimization white paper, “SEO” should be the first thing they read in the subject line.

4. Use codes to communicate the desired response: 411 (for your information), 611 (response in 24 hours please) and 911 (Urgent request).

5. Make the message scanable. Since the majority of senior executives in organizations have a mobile device of some sort, accept that busy people don’t read -- they scan. That's why it's so important to grab the reader's attention with a strong call to action, then bullet points of key content.

The old adage, ‘be brief, be brilliant and be gone,’ applies here in spades. Recent studies suggest that by following these guidelines, you'll communicate more effectively to an overworked director and get your point across every time.

Worst case scenario - they can always dial your number if they roll their eyes after reading your email.

Champagne Wishes & Binary Dreams

It’s an exciting time in marketing right now! Things are changing rapidly, and marketers of all stripes are trying to carve their niche into the new technology-enabled landscape. Increasingly, interactive and database marketers are being asked to provide strategic leadership for other marketing sectors.

On the other side of the brain, creative marketers are being forced to think in ways that they’ve never had to think before, and are facing the increasing challenge of having to position their campaigns around technology and prove ROI to clients. This has created a technology war zone.

The battlefields are filled with old and new pieces of technology strewn throughout the DM landscape. Some of them lay abandoned, some of them have moved up in rank and forced to do things that they weren’t designed to do. Patches, band-aids and temporary solutions are rampant in this technology war zone. IT teams are stressed by demanding marketers, and marketers are stressed by busy IT teams.

Let’s look at a typical scenario…

You have to call Bob over in Company B to get the reports for the telemarketing push, you have to get your loyalty point statistics from IT, then you have to login to X Site to select and download your analytics for your latest web promotion, and then get in touch with Company C who does your surveying to gather more stats. And let’s not forget your email campaign, you’ll need those stats too, better login and download those! Got them all?

Good. Now someone will spend the next 3 hours compiling the data into a separate client report. Total amount of time spent on this, 6-8 hours - if you’re fast and efficient.

Wait a minute… Isn’t technology supposed to make our lives easier? faster? better? more productive?

Let’s face it, we got caught with our pants down didn’t we? We thought, “We have a web team, we can do Flash, we can do email marketing, we can host contest sites…” Today, these things aren’t enough. These things are expected; basic marketing 101. Now it’s all about the data, the marketing intelligence, the campaign stats, determining LTV, proving ROI, knowing exactly WHEN a campaign isn’t working and being able to do something about it in real time. The things that make creative marketers wake up in the middle of the night in a cold sweat… Data & Statistics!

THIS is what’s going to drive the future of marketing. Not how pretty your design is, how cool and inviting your copy is, or how many impressive clients you’ve worked for. The marketing landscape continues to change and evolve at a rapid rate, and we as marketers, need to embrace this change, form new alliances, and be able to predict and forecast future changes.

You know those super-smart people… the ones that work among beige walls and grey cubicles, where the low hum of computers and the odd cough can be heard, the ones that you thought were catatonic?! You know the ones you thought you had nothing in common with because they told jokes in binary and went to Sci-Fi conventions.

Yeah, well, you need them. And you need them now!