So I've been reading tons of marketing-related white papers lately, and I've noticed a lot of them come from the same few companies. (Typical 80/20 rule, I know.)
I was wondering: Does your company use white papers as part of its marketing plan? If so, shoot me an e-mail at dhonigman@ama.org!
Our March 1 cover story is an in-depth Q&A with J. Walter Thompson Greater China CEO Tom Doctoroff about Chinese consumers and what American marketers need to know to succeed there.
Why is so hard to make it in the funeral industry? Because it's impossible to create new business. The Heartland Cremation and Burial Society in Kansas City, Mo. is our featured Case Study.
For our Best In Class feature, staff writer Elisabeth A. Sullivan takes a look at Jessica's Biscuit, a Boston-area cookbook store, and how it's grown to become a heavy hitter on the Web.
Also in this issue:
- How to pick an agency.
- How social media communities can tap customers' minds for valuable insight.
- Online job recruitment.
...and more. Stay tuned for the March 1 issue of Marketing News!
10 billion online video views in December '07 [Marketing News + Notes]
In December 2007, American Web users watched more than 10 billion videos online, according to comScore Video Metrix, making it the heaviest month for online video viewing ever.
Here's where they went:
Also, 77.6 million viewers watched 3.2 billion videos on YouTube.com, the average online video duration was 2.8 minutes, and here's what I think it the most startling stat:
The average online video viewer consumed 72 videos in December. So marketers: If you can figure out a way for your business to leverage online video, do it.
If you're already using it, what exactly is your company doing? Why did you decide to use video?
This isn't good news for newspapers, or for print advertising in general. But we all knew it was coming. What we may not have foreseen, however, is a possible shift of ad dollars back to radio.
According to the Radio Advertising Bureau's recent "State of the Industry" report, non-satellite radio reaches 93% of the U.S. population and a staggering 92% of listeners stay tuned in during commercial breaks.
This could be huge, especially for marketers who aren't yet waist-deep in the interactive waters. Or for local marketers with local messages for local customers. If newspapers won't get the ad dollars, this seems like the only logical choice.
The February 15 issue of Marketing News will be chock full of goodies, including:
Our cover story, written by Arundhati Parmar, is a look at location-based technology and how companies are targeting consumers.
Staff writer Elisabeth Sullivan examines honesty in consumer-generated reviews for her latest feature.
Caralene Robinson, director of brand marketing and entertainment at Boost Mobile, joins us for a "10 Minutes With" Q&A session.
How do marketers create a successful request for proposal? We cover RFPs in our Core Concepts section
We take a look at audio branding and how one small credit union took a big-time step in its marketing efforts.
Andy Berndt: Managing Director, Google Creative Lab [Got Questions?]
For an upcoming Marketing News BackPage feature, we'll be profiling Andy Berndt, managing director of Google's recently created Creative Lab, essentially the company's global marketing unit.
With previous BackPages, we've worked with a set of questions that's remained constant through the last several months.
Now, you can add your voice to the mix.In Andy's BackPage, we will feature one of your questions.
We're sure you'll have at least one you want to ask him. Before landing at Google, he was co-president of Ogilvy & Mather in New York, and prior to that, he was, among other things, the account executive on Apple's"Think Different" campaign.
To submit your question, either post it as a comment or e-mail me directly.
And you thought your hot dog was expensive... [Marketing News + Notes]
Next time you're at the ballpark and you find yourself balking at the price of concessions, remember that your $6 dog is just a drop in the sports business bucket.
Marketing and sponsorship messages abound in ballparks these days. And with good reason.
New stadiums now cost more than $1 billion to build. In fact, the Giants and Jets' new stadium slated to open in 2010 will cost an estimated $1.3 billion to construct, up 300 percent from the Patriots' Gillette Stadium (built in 2002 for $325 million), The Associated Press reported.
And costlier stadiums are garnering ever-costlier naming rights from companies willing to pony up. Citigroup paid approximately $400 million to paste its name on the Mets' new park for the next 20 years, according to the AP. And the Cubs' storied Wrigley Field may soon bring in the big bucks to rename itself-- though who could imagine Wrigley Field as anything but?
Are naming rights worth their skyrocketing prices? Are they worthwhile marketing investments? What do you think?
Marketers are, first and foremost, in the business of forging relationships and making them last. But because relationships aren’t static, marketers must tweak their tactics to adapt to new customer desires. In the Feb. 1 print issue of Marketing News, we highlight some of the companies executing some of the best relationship marketing around, specifically Heinz and Caterpillar. Both stepped out of their comfort zones, accepted some risk and are reaping rewards for it.
This is not to say that all tactics need be risky. The best customer relationships are built on repeated interactions that consistently meet or exceed customers’ expectations. Well, duh, right? Executives focused on the bottom line seem to keep forgetting the importance of delivering customers experiences that make them prefer Company X over Company Y. To wit: I was recently in the market for a new TV. Not being the most tech-savvy gal, I visited two go-to chain electronics retailers nearby to talk with the “experts” and get some advice. Suffice to say, neither experience gave me any confidence that I would be making an educated buy. In fact, I was mad that they’d wasted my time. I then asked friends about retailers that might be able to provide more; a single-location, family-run store about 30 miles away kept coming up. I went, got my questions answered, picked out a TV and bought it. It actually cost a few bucks less there than at the chain stores, and I got free delivery. I was not merely satisfied with the experience; I was happy about having had it. When’s the last time you can say you were happy about a service experience? It really made me realize how often we all settle for less because we’ve either lowered our expectations, or we’ve just become so accustomed to being merely satisfied by the minimum.
The lesson here extends well beyond brand-to-consumer communication. We can do it within our own companies and, by doing so, elevate the value of our respective roles. In our Knowledge Base lead story, we review the keynote content from the AMA Marketing Research Conference. The speakers there kept coming back to the idea that marketing researchers can increase their value by doing a little smart marketing of their own. The speakers said researchers need to deliver data and analysis aligned with organizational goals that the C-suite will find useful, and actionable. Just like me, getting the info I wanted so I could take an informed, confident action. Go figure.
Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders.
There was a lot of reaction in the blogosphere, so the American Marketing Association set up an official blog, and the discussion about the definition is now on the Web. Check it out and contribute to the conversation!
Why, green, of course. As in the color of trees. And money.
Green marketing is everywhere: It's on product labels and in TV commercials, and it's being analyzed and criticized in news columns nationwide.
And rightfully so.
Green is in. From locally grown produce to biofueled cars, consumers want to use their buying power to help heal the earth. It's a lofty goal, really, but consumers care and want to do their part. (And those who don't care can pretend they do for the coolness factor.)
We here at Marketing News took a look at green marketing in our February 1 issue--Are consumers literally buying into it? Is it just a regurgitated trend, or will it stick this time?--and since that story went to print, innumerable green-related news bits have emerged:
-Some magazine publishing heavyweights want to do more than publish a yearly green issue by finding ways to "walk the talk," according to Ad Age. Acknowledging that the paper-driven industry must do its part, the publishers gathered in New York recently for ReMix, a magazine recycling campaign intended to help boost consumers' magazine recycling habits from the current rate of 17%.
-Waste Management, the garbage-hauling giant, is greening up its image with ad campaigns that attempt to negate its role as just a landfill filler by touting its recycling programs and the energy it generates by burning trash, The New York Times reported.
There are many, many more such news bits floating around out there. Green marketing is a force to be reckoned with--and a topic that you should keep an eye on. Check out our February 1 issue for more information.
OK, so the Patriots didn't make history (or repeat it, depending on how imprecise you want to be when counting). Kudos to the Giants, but we're moving on. And as we move on, let's consider which marketers beat the competition to register in our snack-addled brains.
Here are my top three choices for Super Bowl ad champ:
1. The Tide to Go spot with the interviewee's distracting stain- Funny and perfectly suited for the product.
2. The Coca-Cola spot in which Charlie Brown (in balloon form) emerges triumphant- Visually interesting, sweet and fun... well-suited for a Coke spot.
3. The eTrade baby trading spot with the clown- Prompted some big laughs while highlighting the product's ease of use. (It's so easy, a talking baby could do it.)
Honorable mentions go to Doritos, with the spot featuring a very angry rodent, and Bud Light for "Wine & Cheese Party," which seemed to play well to its target audience. (Not being a member of that audience, I can't quite be sure.)
Which spots ranked in your top three? You can watch them again on Spike.com or AdAge.com .
To fill you in, in August 2006, Denver-based Quiznos launched a user-generated marketing contest, prompting the public to create homemade commercials attacking its top rival, Milford, Conn.-based Subway Restaurants.
Over 100 customers submitted their spots to a special site, MeatNoMeat.com. The winning ad’s creators won a $10,000 prize, and their ad was shown on VH1. Subway wasn’t too thrilled. It sued Quiznos and iFilm, the now-defunct Viacom-owned video-sharing site that co-sponsored the contest, in October 2006. The lawsuit essentially says Quiznos infringed upon Subway's trademark: its sandwich.
The case is scheduled to go to trial in 2009 in a U.S. District Court in Connecticut, but if the court rules in favor of Subway, it could be the end of user-generated marketing ploys like this.
What do you think? Are you guys worried about this?
At Marketing News, we try to keep up with the rapidly expanding social media world. Our blog readership has grown almost two-fold since August, and it will only continue to grow!
So, we have a new feature for you. At the beginning of each month, we're going to highlight some of the more active posts from the previous month. It's a great way to join our ever-growing conversation.
Without further ado, here are some of the best January MNblog posts:
Finally, here's a post I wrote about McDonald's Corp. pulling the plug on a report card promo it did with the Seminole County school system in Florida. You had strong opinions on this one, as it sparked a lively debate.
