Around the World

The iPad has arrived. Now what?!

Today, as I was riding in on the subway, reading the New York Times on my new iTouch, I stumbled upon an article about Apple's launch today (Wednesday Jan. 27) of its tablet product, or iPad.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4_zI21XEo0Q

Being an Apple fan from way back I couldn't help but feel a sense of real excitement. It got me reflecting on how much the Apple brand has meant to me over the years. And I'm not alone. The excitement that's building up in the media and among the Apple Faithful is almost palpable and very real.

I bought my first Mac (Mac Classic II) back in 1993ish. I was working at an agency and wanted a way to be able to work on those weekends when I was going back home to Kingston to visit the folks. The idea of a portable computer was exciting. Imagine, being free to take your computer anywhere. It was only 14 or 15 lbs. Oh, you PC people chained to your desks. How quaint.

Then when the first Apple notebooks came out, I was fortunate to be working on the Apple account and helped develop a launch campaign for them. (Best. Account. Ever.) The objective, as outlined in the brief, was to get the public over the mental hump of being able to work anywhere. Imagine sitting in a park or in a coffee shop clicking away on your laptop computer. Why, you could even work from home!

Then of course, the iPod changed everything. The recording industry, advertising, interaction (or lack thereof) between people in public places...everything. The iPhone then revolutionized how we think of what a phone is and what it can do. People could earn money and express their creative by developing Apps. We were now all working for Apple.

Walk into any mall where an Apple store exists and you'd think they were giving stuff away for free in there.

And now the anticipation for the iPad is reaching a fever pitch. People can taste it. The article in the NYT suggests that it's going to do for newspaper publishing what the iPod did for music. They're counting on it because we all know where the newspaper industry is headed. But will our collective love for all things Apple mean that we'll be willing to pay for things like the Star or the NYTs online through the Slate, when so much of the same information can be found on free sites elsewhere.

That's just one fascinating question we as marketers should be watching and reading about -- probably on our iPads.

Bryan Tenenhouse

Enough! Please stop! No more! I can't stand it!

There are times when there is no possibility of being constructive when writing about the absurdities inflicted on an innocent world by others in our field. There are even times when, as honest proponents of our business, we have no choice but to call it like it is. And this, Ladies and Gentlemen, is one of those times. (By the way, stop me if you've heard this one!)

I am referring to the Province of Alberta rebranding project -- the one (I am not sure whether it is for tourism or just for the sake of doing it) which has as its tag line: "Alberta. Freedom to Create. Spirit to Achieve". Normally, as those who know me would expect, I would let a slogan as completely mysterious and meaningless and nonsensical as this pass with barely a snide comment. But this isn't normally.

Seems the marketers in Alberta (or whoever is responsible for this) took the "Freedom to Create" part literally, and "created" a beach and coastline for the province in order to make a point in an ad. Yes, I kid you not. They used a scene from a beach in Northumberland as the image in an advertisement. More than just the beach, they also used the image of two English girls romping on the beach.

Not surprisingly, they were caught out in the blogosphere, and this is where the fun really starts. It turns out that the image, over which the Alberta logo and the tag line appear written large, is not meant to depict Alberta -- it is meant to be a visual depiction of Albertans' concern for the future of the world (this according to Olga Guthrie of Alberta's public affairs bureau). It is likely that the intent of the campaign may be to counter the idea that Alberta's oil sands extraction process is an economic depiction of Albertans' lack of concern for the future of the world. If that is the case, then wouldn't the fact that they could not find a pristine example of concern-for-the-world in their own backyard, rather prove the critics right?

Apparently not. The Prime Minister's head of media relations (sorry, but what the hell is the Prime Minister involved in this for?), helpfully points out that, "There's no attempt to mislead here. The picture used just fitted the mood and tone of what we (we? we?) were trying to do." Obviously, whatever Alberta is trying to do, is something they can't do, if they can't find a picture to fit the mood and tone of whatever it is, in Alberta. Whatever happened to authenticity?

The little English girls, too, were not meant to deceive -- they are meant to be British girls because (implicitly) only English girls are suitable "symbols of the future." (Olga again).

If you don't believe me, here is a link to a PDF of the article in The Guardian Weekly.

Need I say more? Have we achieved absolutely nothing in the marketing world? Has everything we've been trying to do and say really been so tediously boring that it is totally ignored? I am desolate, disappointed and going to Mexico!

The Kindle. Yawn?

I’m still catching up on my year-end reading. You know, all those magazines that come out with their Year In Review issues. They’re stacked on my nightstand like so many left over holiday cards, begging to be read or recycled.

The best of the bunch is the Newsweek with Obama on the cover. It had a brief mention of something that caught my eye -- Jeff Bezos’ brainchild, The Kindle. It’s described on Wikipedia as “… an e-book reader, an embedded system for reading electronic books (e-books), launched in the United States by prominent online bookseller Amazon.com in November 2007.”

Most reviews are glowing. You can carry a whole library around in your briefcase. Amazing. Apparently, it’s even been endorsed by the big “O” (Oprah, not Obama), making it to her Favourtie Things List of ’08.

You can’t get it in Canada yet. But when I asked several of my U.S. friends how the Kindle has captured the imagination of our neighbours to the south, the response was something close to a tree falling in a forest.

So here are the tough questions: With a nod to Malcolm Gladwell, why hasn’t it tipped? Why isn’t it, according to my U.S. friends, dotting subway cars and park benches and restaurants like ubiquitous iPhones, iPods, and dare I say it, real books? Where are the cool commercials with U2 or Feist singing its praises? Why aren’t there spoofs about it on YouTube? Why aren’t the “Millennials” snapping them up? And will Canadians be a better market for the Kindle when it does arrive on our shores?

Perhaps the secret is revealed in Newsweek’s backhanded compliment… “Amazon’s electronic reader is awesome, but the early adopters skew old, while kids opt for point-and-click.”

That excerpt is interesting for two reasons. Early adopters? The Kindle has been available since 2007. Would the iPhone be considered a success if it took this long to capture the imagination of its intended audience? I'm not talking about just dollars and cents here. There was the day before the iPhone launched in Canada. And there was the day after, when it seemed everyone on the TTC had one or was looking over the shoulder of the person next to them who had one. Can an e-book reader capture the imagination in the same way as an “e-music player”? There's a very specific difference today between capturing the collective imagination and selling units. Arguably, the former is much harder to do and predict than the latter.

And ‘skews old’? I guess Oprah viewers don’t influence the zeitgeist anymore the way some think they do.

The day will come when Canadians will be able to get their hands on a Kindle. The question is, will the “right” target audience (Millennials?) want one?

So from a business perspective, can Amazon continue making and selling them if they remain the technological equivalent of a television series like “NCIS”? It’s there, and by some measure successful, but does anyone care?

Embrace the Recession And Grow

For the first time in over 12 years our economy is shrinking. That means there is a new generation of leaders at the helm of Canadian businesses who, for the very first time, are being confronted with making choices and feeling professional pains that they have never before encountered.

These leaders are going through a series of stages while dealing with the realities of operating their businesses in a weak economy. And, only those who capitalize on the opportunities at each stage will emerge stronger, professionally and personally, at the end of this economic cycle than they were entering it.

Stage One: Prepare

Business leaders, for the most part, do everything they can to keep on top of current economic realities because their day-to-day operations are dramatically affected by sudden shifts in customer purchase behaviours, cash flow and long-term investments. That’s why the first stage that leaders take, although reluctantly – is to prepare for a weakened economy. Earlier this year, I described how leaders can prepare for a soft economy by recession-proofing their business. Specifically, I outlined four steps that leaders can take to build and strengthen an infrastructure that recognizes and rewards customer retention. Since successfully retaining customers is essential in a softened economy, taking these steps strengthens any business’ foundation.

Stage Two: Accept

In the last few months, local and international indices have clearly revealed that consumers and businesses alike are indeed spending less than projected. And, once a company’s revenues are affected, leaders truly accept the onset of a softening economy. During this stage, leaders can optimize several opportunities for success, for example: (i) target recession-proof industries – i.e. those that provide essential products/services rather than luxury products/services; (ii) only target segments that are the most profitable; (iii) focus marketing messages on cost-savings and reducing inefficiencies; (iv) renegotiate vendor contracts; and (v) outsource more marketing activities.

Stage Three: Embrace

During the most recent economic downturn – known as ‘the bursting of the dotcom bubble’ – ThinData consisted of a handful of dedicated professionals. With few assets to risk, we did something that was unheard of: we actually embraced the recession. That meant taking unconventional but well-grounded actions. For example, we took the opportunity to find and hire talented people who had been displaced. At the same time, we recognized that our former competitors were not marketing aggressively. That provided a rare opportunity to build name recognition, positive associations and new relationships in a ‘marketing vacuum’.

By successfully growing stronger through these hard times, the valuable lessons we learned about how to prepare for, accept and embrace weakened economies continue to shape our innovative approach to operating and building a sound business and vibrant culture.

Recession-Proof Your Business: Focus on Current Customers

Every CEO, President and Senior VP that I speak to emphasizes building processes, technologies and expertise for acquiring new customers. And yet, common marketing wisdom tells us that customer retention is where longevity and profitability truly lies. Because of the emphasis on customer acquisition, it makes sense that many companies spend less time and effort on truly maintaining their customer relationships. That could be a serious challenge in the months ahead.

Whether or not we accept the doom and gloom predictions of the severity of the impending recession, one thing is certain: for most businesses, things are going to get a lot tougher. Customers – across industries and across segments – are going to have fewer discretionary funds and that means the competition for every dollar is going to heat up. As a result, now is the time to focus on building retention infrastructure. But, to do this effectively requires elevating the value of retention in each company’s day-to-day practices. Senior VPs of Marketing & Sales can accomplish that by taking the following four steps:

1) Recognize publicly the important contributions that retention makes. For instance, retaining customers demonstrates:

• The ability to overcome the day-to-day challenges – project and interpersonal – associated with working with existing clients;

• The ability to adapt to clients’ unique corporate cultures, evolving demands and changes in personnel;

• The ability to build trusted and valued relationships.

2) Attribute the same high status to client retention usually accorded to securing new customers. For example, customer acquisition typically:

• Is held out as a significant accomplishment – and rewarded at bonus time; and
• Serves as an exciting or unifying rallying point for a team.

3) Establish and track specific retention targets. Just as with customer acquisition, build customer retention into all sales forecasts. Regularly monitor retention targets and provide appropriate skills training.

4) Identify valued customers who are consistently demonstrating signs of disengagement. For example, customers who:

• Are spending less on your product/service than they have in the past
• Have stopped referring business to you
• Don’t pay their bills
• Have gone to tender for business that they would normally bring to you

Reach out to these important customers to determine why they have attributed less value to your product or service.

While few companies will escape the impact of a deep recession, taking these steps now can help any senior marketer and sales professional better weather the impending economic downturn.

I welcome hearing any suggestions that you have for ways to help companies recession-proof themselves. Send your insights to president@thindata.com or share with us here on the CMA Blog.

2008 Outlook During Economic Slowdown

Our CEO passed along an article from the Economist that contains some interesting points. Keep in mind that this is more from a global perspective:

-Maurice Levy (Publicis) expects ad budgets to be reduced in '09 versus '08 because of big ticket events in 2008; namely US election, Olympics in Beijing and the European football challenge.
-Martin Sorrell (WPP) expects 2008 to be a reasonale year but indicates that 2009 could be painful.
-Underlying growth in ad spending will come from mainly emerging markets and the internet.
-TV and print expenditures will likely be most impacted by any economic downturn.
-Search expenditures will likely be the safest.

It will be interesting as the gap between time spent online and online ad expenditures narrows. Obviously the economy will have a massive influence on what happens over the next 12 months. See "Hard Sell"

Trading in the H word...

Back in the summer months, marketing folks across the country were busily planning end of year campaigns, and asking their agencies, "are we wishing a “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” to customers this year?

According to a survey by Rasmussen Reports this year, retailers shouldn't be shy about wishing customers a "Merry Christmas" after all.

And so far this year, it seems to be coming true as I’ve noticed "Christmas" used in advertising by Leon’s Canadian Tire, and Staples (in the background music anyway). Is it just me, or are we returing to the more traditional interpretation of December 25th?

Scott Krugman, a spokesman for the National Retail Federation, said the "Merry Christmas" versus "Happy Holidays" debate has been around for a few years now. After asking 1,000 adults in mid-November which they preferred, they found 67 percent of adults prefer the Christmas-specific greeting in seasonal advertising, while only 26 percent want to see "Happy Holidays."

Examples of US retailers from seasons past who tried to use the more secular term come to mind. In 2005, Target stores ditched the use of the word “Christmas” in their advertising materials, but then decided to resume using it after an immense public outcry. Also in 2005, Wal-Mart forbade its employees from wishing customers “Merry Christmas,” opting for the more generic holiday terms. That decision was protested by religious groups including the Catholic League, which boycotted the retail giant. Wal-Mart announced during the following season that it would return to using the word “Christmas.”

As marketers in Canada, we try to be aware, inclusive and never alienate our culturally diverse population. This year's crop of Christmas advertising may be signaling the return to a more traditional advertising styles for the season. Who know - it may also provide the opportuity to advertise Kwaanza, the Festlval of Lights or Passover in mainstream media.

Who knows...but regardless of what term we prefer, it's the idea of Christmas that matters most, so who cares what we call it?

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.

Get inspired

You know what I love about today’s new marketing environment? It’s that I have a chance to meet and work side-by-side with incredibly inspiring people. How can you not be inspired by it all? Its dynamic, fresh and is changing the way we do business forever. However, I will admit, that at times its all a little overwhelming. Its hard not to just get caught up in the ‘everyday’. This new marketing world of global collaboration fused with digital and traditional media forces us to think more creatively then ever before. Sometimes we need a little inspiration to get us back in the grove.

So ... I thought I would share a few things that I do to “get inspired”. I would love to hear your thoughts and ideas as well!

1. Read biographies. Crazy as it sounds, some of my best ideas are inspired by something someone did back in the 16th century!

2. Spend time with kids. My two little ones always amaze me. Not just because I am their Dad, but they are so innovative and imaginative.

3. Podcasts. My life is so busy that I have very little time to read my favourite blogs or industry rags/newsletters. Podcasts allow me to listen to inspiring interviews, creative thinking and new ideas. The great thing is I can listen to them while I'm working out, driving the car ... in fact, as I am writing this post I am listening to David Pogue latest review of new technology for The New York Times.

4. Get away. Travel when you can. You may have heard this before, “The world is full of inspiration”.

5. Attend the TED conference. If you ever get a chance to attend, please do! Conferences in general are great ways of sparking and sharing new ideas. But TED is a whole other experience onto itself.

A phenomenon I would not have expected

This is an article I would not have expected in this day and age. Teens are buying books and reading more than teens of previous decades.

When I was a teen, we had a few opportunities for entertainment. The list consisted of playing sports, playing a few select video games (although this was on our TI 99/4A computer since we didn't have a Nintendo, Atari or any other game console), watching TV, going to see a movie in the ridiculously small theatres at the Eaton's Centre, or hanging out with friends wherever we might be (record store, arcade, someone's house). Of course, my Parents had much less choice than I did as a teen.

Teens today have more choice than we did for entertainment. Billions of web pages like Yahoo & Youtube, TV on demand, PVR's, and you're just a wiki away from finding out anything you've ever wanted to know about anything. Home video games allow us to play against anyone in the world and sites like MySpace as well as text messages and chat sites are changing the way teens socialize with each other.

So why are teens reading more now than teens in the previous 30 years?

This is just my opinion and is not based on any facts. I'd love to hear the opinions from others as well.

I believe there may be two reasons influencing this trend.

The amount of advertising teens are exposed to everyday. Every one of the forms of entertainment teens have at their fingertips contain some form of advertising. Even video games and online virtual worlds are being hit with product placement . Advertising was overwhelming when I was a teen, and there wasn't as much back then (do you remember any product placement in the most popular video game in history, Super Mario Brothers?). Books may be only form of entertainment today that does not contain constant advertising hits. Although even this is changing.

Also, teens are now connected to other people 24/7. Text messages, chats, online games, social websites, cell-phones, blogs, e-mail and the occasional age old phone call mean that teens are accessible to each other at all times. Reading a book may provide a much needed escape from this constant e-connection to others.

Whatever the reason, our future leaders are somehow finding the time to read more today.

Welcome to the big leagues Apple!

If you have an MP3 player these days, it's most likely an Apple Ipod. If you have an Ipod, you are using iTunes to download your music (and may even be dowloading movies now).

Both are ubiquitous. Sales of the Ipod are fast approaching the 100 million mark. In fact, Apple sold 22 million iPods during the 2006 Christmas season alone!

People are in love with their iPods. The well designed software and ease of perfectly connecting with iTunes has made it the music media player choice for the past 3+ years.

I would argue that the vast music choice and well designed iTunes music store has had more to do with the incredible success of the iPod than the other way around. Apple was the first to create a legal music download site with the selection that consumers demanded. Apple sold 600,000 iPods before iTunes came out on April 29th 2003. They have sold 87 million since then. Although I have to admit that the ease of using the iPod itself and the excellent marketing programs have had a huge impact on the success as well.

As Microsoft found out from a number of government anti-trust lawsuits, being the undisputed dominant champion in an industry has it's drawbacks.

Holland, Germany and France are launching serious investigations into the iTunes software. They're investigating the fact that the music purchased on iTunes cannot play on any other personal media player (other than iPods). Holland and France has already claimed this software locking is illegal, and are meeting with Apple representatives to decide on next steps.

What does this mean? There is a very real possibility that Apple will be forced to unlock the software and allow the songs to be played on other personal media devices in Holland, Germany and France. If this should happen, it won't be long before other countries jump on the bandwagon and Apple will have no choice but to license the software to competitors (to allow iTunes music to play on a competitors digital media player).

I have to say I agree. If I'm legally buying something such as a song, I should be able to own it outright, and play it anywhere I want on any machine I want.

Most of us remember the Sony Walkman. For those that don't, the Walkman was a portable tape player made by Sony, and was easily the most popular personal media device in the 1980's. In fact, Sony sold 186 million Walkman's between 1979 and 1999 (Apple has sold about 90 million iPods so far). When you bought a Walkman, you went out and bought tapes (lots and lots of bulky tapes). Once you bought that cassette tape, you could play it on any cassette player made by any manufacturer. Some competitors made better "walkmans" as the years went on, such as Panasonic (in my opinion). When it came time to buy a new cassette player, I could choose any one of them, knowing they would play all the cassette tapes I bought. The same thing happened when CD's came out.

In the coming years, competitors are sure to develop a better "iPod". It would be nice to know that the music I have already paid for will be able to load up on my new digital player from another company without any problems. Apple, of course, doesn't want this to happen.

When governments are looking into your business practices because of your size and domination, you know you've reached the big time.

Apple has done an incredible job with iTunes and the iPod. They are now facing the challenges of that success.

The Bubble Project

I have been following the bubble project for sometime now. Why? Because it makes me laugh … out loud.

No really, what’s the bubble project you ask? Wikipedia defines it:

The Bubble Project, as proclaimed by its manifesto, aims to counterattack the one-sided corporate onslaught of marketing and advertisement messages which propagate public space. The project was conceived by an artist and art director Ji Lee who originally printed 15,000 stickers that look like speech bubbles used in comic strips. He posts these blank speech bubbles on top of advertisements throughout New York City allowing anyone who sees them to write in their comments and thoughts. By filling in the bubbles people engage in the project and transform “the corporate monologue into an open dialogue”. After time passes, the comments are photographed and posted on the project’s website.

Cool idea and dead simple. I had the chance to hear Ji Lee speak about his project at the Gain: Business and Design Conference. As you can imagine many marketers and advertisers are not very happy with his little experiment. After all, this is vandalism ... right? However, some advertisers saw this as a great way for people to interact with their ads. It’s like some crazy version of an offline mashup meets consumer generated content. Not to mention the viral aspect of the project. Ji has also written a book, Talk Back: The Bubble Project. The book explains why he did this and what he learned.

Love it or hate it, this is just another great example of consumers taking control.

Who Needs Oprah?

After Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez mentioned the Noam Chomsky book "Hegemony of Survival" during his address to the United Nations last week, it shot up to the Top 10 best-seller lists of Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.com respectively.

President Chavez later told reporters "The people of the United States should read this...instead of watching Superman movies." It appears the people listened.

According to the LA Times, Amazon said the book zoomed from No. 20,664 on its bestseller list all they way up to the No. 4 spot. Metropolitan Books, an imprint of Heny Holt, has ordered an additional paperback of 25,000 copies.

Given these post speech results, have we just witnessed the podium at the U.N. General Assembly become a marketing vehicle? What next? French President Jacques Chirac promoting his favorite Bordeaux wine?

It certainly puts celebrity endorsements in a whole different perspective. Who needs Oprah's Book Club when you can advertise to the globe?

I'm no media buyer but the exposure Mr. Chomsky got in prime-time television and front-page news coverage around the world must have been worth mucho dinero.

Whatever your feelings about Signor Chavez, maybe P.T. Barnum was on to something when he said there is no such thing as bad publicity.

Observations on Snakes

Snakes on a Plane is quite a phenomenon. That is, it was quite a phenomenon before the movie was released last weekend. Seems to have peaked a little too early.

Here is a shortened version of five observations I made on my blog, The Client Side, after SOAP's opening weekend.

First, it was not a number one with a bullet. It was more like number one with a rascal. The reason it squeaked into number one is because it was released on Thursday evening putting it slightly ahead of Will Ferrel's masterpiece “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby” .

Second, ultimately it is just another B movie. It will not deliver another $15 million weekend. At the end of the day, the product itself failed to deliver - end of story.

Third, ask yourselves if you believed the film could have measured up to the buzz and word-of-mouth hype that was generated? Ok, good, I thought so.

Fourth, I predict a Halloween / Thanksgiving DVD and pay-per-view release that will do very well. This time, without all the pre-release sensationalism.

And my fifth and final observation is that it was still a big huge success. This movie would never have opened at #1 without the without the attention from the blogosphere, consumer generated content and the conversations via social media.

But now that all the bloggers and citizen media folks have seen it, who's left?

Check out the SOAP site, and have Samuel L. Jackson reach out and touch someone you know.

Integrated Marketing Programs - Are They Stacking Up?

Worth looking at – and while not ‘surprising’ news - the ANA (Association of National Advertisers - U.S.) issued a release in June on results of a survey fielded in May/Jun 06 around integrated marketing programs. Wasn’t able to access all the results, but these points may be consistent with the Canadian mindset:

• 67% of marketers develop integrated marketing programs across most of their brands - only 33% say they are very happy with their efforts.
• Most marketers (72%) feel the development of the “Big”creative idea that can be leveraged across all marketing channels is the most important contribution an agency can make toward an integrated marketing campaign.
• Almost 50 percent of marketers want their agencies to be media neutral when developing an integrated marketing program.

More points in the release.