Well, it’s official, I’ve jumped out of the ad game and into an online marketing role at Charter Business.  No, it wasn’t a bad break up. In fact, I had a really great run for the first two years of my career.  In the end, it comes down to the area in which I see myself succeeding, an area that is consistently growing, and an area where I myself I have an unending love affair- digital, social, interactive, and everything that happens online.

So I’m one week in at Charter and I’ve learned more than I could imagine.  While my past experience does extend to national, I’ve never worked on a brand with such massive size and scope.  A competitor in innovation in an area in which I’m super interested (see my recent post on The Future of Digital/Streamable Media) I’m really excited about the opportunity in front of me at Charter.

As for my blog, I still plan on keeping current with new posts on the future of media and marketing.  But more importantly, you might want to bookmark Popcorn Jury as I’ll have a full premium cable package with unlimited access to On-Demand.  Coming from someone who’s been cut off from cable for the past two years, this could be quite scary. 

Thanks for following.  Stay tuned.

Monetary incentive for checking in.

I think this Seth Godin guy is pretty cool.  I’m not a big fan of his nor have I ever read his books, but with nearly 70,000 Twitter followers, numerous speaker series with TED, and 13 books in his media arsenal, I’d imagine he’s a pretty smart dude. 

One of my new year’s resolutions was to read more books.  Well, actually, that’s not really accurate.  My resolution was actually to read books, the word “more” would’ve hinted at the fact that I read books now, which I don’t.  That said, the new Rise to the Top video titled, "The Future of Books, Bookstores, and Publishing" couldn’t have come at a better time. 

I encourage you to watch the video, but at about 15 minutes I realize that might be more of a chore than anything.  So I’m going to talk about what I agree with and disagree with in regards to the video below.

Here we go:

So Seth Godin wrote a new book called “Poke the Box”.  It sounds like a self-help/personal development book about making the most out of your professional experience.  More importantly, Godin has created “The Domino Project” a sort of publishing company that focuses on the following three ideas:

1. The customer is not the bookstore, it’s the reader
2. Books are too hard to share
3. Distribution channels need to change

Here’s what makes a lot of sense:

The competition for books isn’t other books.  It’s blogs, Youtube, Twitter and Facebook.  Why?  Because these mediums are free.  If you want to sell your book, you’ve got to structure your price accordingly.  Distributing digitally at say $1.00, guarantees you lose a lot of money.  It also guarantees that more people read your book, and hopefully, more people spread the word.

What I don’t necessarily agree with is Godin’s philosophy of “I want to fail, I want to fail often.”  I want to believe that being nimble, experimenting, and ultimately failing is the way of the future, but for normal companies under normal circumstances, I don’t see how this can happen.  Sure, Godin, who’s being backed by Amazon, can ultimately try new publishing tactics and distribution channels in an effort to change how the system works.  Amazon has the money to do that.  But ordinary companies don’t.

If you want to apply this to an the ad world, it’s as simple as looking at the following quote:

Omnicom CEO John Wren said that clients need to give their agencies the “Permission to fail.”

None of us strive to or want to fail, but because our business is changing so fast, it’s paramount that we as creators and inventors experiment and try new and different things.  If clients give us that ability to fall down once in a while without repercussions, I believe we’ll see more innovation and inspiring work (and we’ll make you famous).  What’s great is that with the fluidity of the digital age, we can do things more efficiently and invent new things.  It’s one thing to develop a $1,000,000 traditional campaign vs. $50,000 or $100,000 program or platform that lives digitally.  So, to all of you Fortune 500 CMO’s, it’s ok to fall down everyone once in a while.  I’ve been telling my kids for years that “Complacency is a four letter word.”

While I love this idea, think it’s amazing in every way, shape, and form; there’s no way it will work unless you’re a Google, Amazon, or multi-billion dollar corporation where marketing dollars can be allocated towards failure. 

I believe in Godin’s experiment in book publishing and I soon hope to be a member of the e-reader generation upon getting an iPad in April.  I want to share books with friends, pay $1.00 for fresh entries, and talk to authors directly through mediums like Facebook and Twitter.  Do I think I’ll ever step in a bookstore?  Probably not.  And that’s the reason I think Godin is on to something.

At the same time, do I ultimately think it will be a success in lieu of the intent to fail?  I'm still not sure where I stand on it.

One of the best quotes on content strategy I've ever come across.

“If your goal is to keep your customers engaged, then you better be sure that you are engaged as well.  You can plant the prettiest garden in the world, but unless you water and tend it, it will end up dead or feral.  Freshness and frequency count, both in the customer’s mind, and to search engines that are judging what’s relevant.  But beyond the fear of failure, the exciting promise is that if you maintain your reliability and pertinence, you can create an ongoing relationship with your customers on topics that matter to you both.  Demonstrating reliability earns trust, and publishing on a regular schedule can turn that first customer visit into a habit, whether it’s for video, news bits, white papers, or other compelling reasons to return.  Whatever you deliver it’s important that there is someone in charge who understands both your messaging priorities, and what keeps customers coming back.”

John Alderman, Creative Director- The Barbarian Group

Nowadays, people think that everyone and thier mothers blog.  Hell, I thought that too.  That's why I was surprised when I came across this Pew Internet Research study that pretty much says less than 19% of the U.S. population (ages 18-74) actually has thier own blog.  I think the reason here is simple: it's tough to stay consistant with something that isn't directly earning you income.

I could go on and on about why I blog, why I think it's important, and why I continually turn to blogs for information over more traditional media sources, but it's really besides the point.  The important thing to note, is that bloggers may be becoming an endangered species in the age of social media.

In a recent New York Times article, it seems research suggests that less and less people are turning to blogs in an age where social media is essentially an all-encompassing news source.  Michael McDonald, a high school senior who used a blog to show off his videos doesn't blog anymore.  Instead, he posts his videos to Facebook where he'll immedietly be recognized by his peers without having to hassle with the management of content system/stream.  It's easier and more accessible to users.  But guess what; you don't own the content.

If the future is blogging, count me in.  You own the media, you build a readership, and you learn skills that may be extrememly hard to come by in the near future when everyone else is knee-deep in immediete/short term social networking speak. 

Then again, research also says less and less people are reading blogs.  So, hell, maybe we should all just give up and pay for search.

People don't buy products or product attributes.  People buy:

Freedom from fear.

Freedom from hassle.

Freedom from boredom.

Feeling of self-worth.

Esteem from others.

Hope.

Pleasure.

Peace-of-mind.

Affection.

Family togetherness.

Recognition.

In 2011, it's not about pushing a product, it's about becoming a better salesman.

*Courtesy of Wally Ambruster - a salesman.

Little Debbie is putting a lot of faith into Facebook.  Much like last year’s promotion that sent cupcake wrapped smart cars around the U.S. for product sampling, this year, they plan on sending an Airstream trailer to 20 cities across the U.S. where consumers can sample products and share pictures that will eventually (and inevitably) live on Facebook.

Last year’s promotion carried their Facebook fan count from 5,000 to 500,000, so naturally they’re looking for big numbers with this new campaign in hopes of topping the one million mark shortly after the end of the year.  What do they plan on doing with these newly acquired fans?  That’s the interesting part.  “It’s more about building relationships with consumers than trying to drive sales at this point,” Mr. Anthony said. “We’re thinking about Facebook as rich territory for developing future campaigns and for general ideation for all sorts for brand activities.”

I think this is pretty cool.  Hell, I’d love to work with a client that would spend 2.95 million on a social media campaign.  I’d love to work with a client that cared more about brand relationships than sales goals.  BUT, I’d also want to make sure that client was getting back the same investment they put in.  I’d want to have data that measured the amount of Little Debbie products purchased every so often from a Facebook fan vs. a non-engaged consumer.  No social media metric is impressive unless there’s data to back it up, no matter how high the number of fans or followers.  I’d want to make sure that I had skilled professionals monitoring those conversations, and mining the data for category trends and behaviors and tailor promotions towards them.  Most importantly, I wouldn’t focus on the number of interactions, I’d focus on the quality.

Do I think Little Debbie is moving too fast to reach scale rather than substance?  No.  I think they’re doing good.  Am I going to monitor this campaign and the future engagement they get out of it?  You bet. Kudos Little Debbie for branching out. 

Hostess, are you a believer yet?

Original article featured in the New York Times.

A while back I wrote a post about unleashing the power of mobile and point of purchase advertising.  Why engage the consumer on the couch when you can connect with them in the aisle? Mobile still has the potential to be leveraged in ever-increasing areas of interest, but the consumer needs to change their purchase habits in order to truly connect the dots.

In the infographic above, put together by the folks at Pew Research/Flowtown  you can see some different statistics happening in the teen marketplace for cell phones.  The most notable, being 75% of teens (ages 12-17) having cell phones (up from 45% in 2004).  Out of this range of teens, 72% of them are text messegers, with an alarming 33% texting more than 100 times a day.  

The other most notable stat taken from this research is that 63% of teens don’t have access to the Internet on their mobile phones, not to mention that only 23% access social networking sites from their mobile device.  This data leads me to believe that as advertisers, our focus should either be on A.) figuring out how to leverage the text messaging habits of the tween market, or B.) figuring out how to convert more tweens to the Internet through the development of more effective, integrated mobile platforms.   I’ll admit, a lot of this will also have to do with the rising price of cell phones plans and 3G/4G access.

It’s obvious that consumers share stories on the web through social networks.  The stats are most definitely there to back that up.  What we’re not seeing, is this same level of interaction taking place on a mobile device.  How can we engage the consumer through text message campaigns without being intrusive.  How can we encourage teens to pay the extra $30/month to get connected on-the-go.  It starts with retail, magazines, and everyday objects, all going interactive.  Make mobile the key to creativity.  Make content different when viewed on the mobile medium.  Make the cell phone the centerpiece at dinner, the front seat of the shopping cart, and the right hand man at the shopping mall.  Don’t make consumers want to utilize mobile as an alternative.  Make them excited to use it.

Here are some more reasons why mobile offers an exciting landscape for the marketing/advertising industry:

The phone is personal. It knows who you are, where you’re located, your likes, dislikes, and behaviors.

The phone is social. The phone knows who your friends are and allows information to easily be shared amongst friends, often with the touch of a few buttons.

The phone is everywhere.  Think about it.  Do you ever leave the house without your phone?

The phone is consumer-powerful. The phone keeps the power in the hands of the consumer  allowing access to a variety of different platforms to search, sound off, or share. 

The phone is becoming sensitive. Technology is evolving to allow the phone to notice RFID tags and other ‘internet of things’ technology.

The future of media is mobile.  It's up to us to find out how to leverage it.  Please share your thoughts below.

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Communications 2.0:  Understanding Behaviors and Motivating Factors

What is marketing?  What the heck does it mean?  It seems like its definition has gotten far more complex over the last few centuries.  What started out as a simple business relationship has developed into a much more complex diagram of thoughts, actions, feelings, ploys, gimmicks, and false promises.  Where’s the authenticity?  The bad news is that we got a long way to go.  The good news is that we’re closer than we’ve been in a long time.

A guy by the name of Igmar de Lange brings things down to the most simple vision of marketing.  He breaks it into three eras:

• The era of craftsmanship:  Marketing was natural.  Take the local baker and his customers.  The baker had a personal relationship and a daily dialogue with his consumers.  It wasn’t about the product, it was about the experience.  There was a shared context between product and consumer.

• The era of industrialization:  Marketing became uncomfortable.  The bakery turned into a factory.  The relationship with consumers was gone.  There was simply a product to be sold.  The factory had to get creative to draw consumers; they had to try and stand out to maintain marketshare.

• The era of marketing:  This era isn’t about evolving, it’s about going back to the basics.  We’re trying to get back those personal relationships we lost long ago.  We’re trying to have those one-on-one dialogues that we haven’t had in ages.  We’re trying to create experiences rather than just push product.  We want a shared context with consumers.

Moving into this new era of marketing (or going back to beginning in a sense) de Lang has composed the idea of brand utility, or in his words, “what a brand can do for you,” a useful promotion if you will.  It’s offering free shipping, giving consumers recipes to go with your products, or providing a trial of some sort to allow users to test your product.  It’s a way that brands can connect to consumers in a new way.  It’s a key tactic begging to be utilized during this era of marketing.

What’s a perfect example of de Lange’s concept of brand utility?  One of my personal favorite brands: Dominos pizza.  For anyone who’s ordered a pizza online in the last six months, you’ll have noticed the online pizza tracker.  It tells you who is cooking your pizza, when it’s in the oven, who’s delivering it, and when it will arrive.  It’s advertising yes, but it also benefits the consumer and creates an experience that makes the relationship unique.  

The ultimate concept behind brand utility is “what can we do for you.”  It’s not about using advertising that begs the consumer for a sale.  It’s about creating advertising that makes the consumer’s life easier, better, healthier, more accessible, more fun, or more meaningful.  If your “advertising” does that, the sales will come.  

Still hazy on the different eras of marketing and the idea of brand utility?  I can’t point you in a better direction than the presentation below.  It outlines major brands using the concept of utility to provide useful, everyday applications to benefit consumers.  Adidas sponsoring showers on popular running trails, Charmin sponsoring bathrooms in the middle of Times Square, Kraft dishing out 7,000 recipes for a grand total of .99 cents, and Apple hosting free classes 7 days a week at every retail location. This is what the future holds, this is what consumers react to, and this is what will define this new era of marketing.  It’s time to turn buyers into subscribers.  It starts with an insight, it’s driven by an idea, and its carried out through action.  

How have your favorite brands benefited you?  Let me know in the replies.