Voice of Reason

Throwback Thursday: Totally Wired

By now you know what The Reason’s all about – Insight, Ideas, Impact.  Check out how that thinking was applied when working with first-time author Anastasia Goodstein to promote the release of her book Totally Wired: What teens and tweens are doing online.  Most agencies talk a good game about experiential marketing; here’s how The Reason gets it done.

 

Insight:   Since the premise of the book was to educate parents about youth activities online, The Reason identified and targeted natural advocates who would effectively reach and influence parents: 1) Helicopter parents – because they are the parenting segment who want to be “in the know” and educate their peers on educational resources; 2) Influential teachers, librarians, and other educators of teens and tweens –because their credibility relies on their ability to proactively arm themselves with the most current, relevant information needed to better communicate with teens and tweens.

 

Ideas: The goal was simple – Get Totally Wired to the proverbial tipping point. To do so, rituals (activities of importance) for the targeted advocates were scrutinized to determine the best communications plan.  Ultimately, we designed and implemented a national tour anchored by regional PTA conferences and several high profile national education conferences.  Tour updates were managed via a branded microsite.  In addition, Procter & Gamble’s BeingGirl.com was sold as a national sponsor and blogher was brought in as media sponsor.

 

Impact:  There were two additional print runs and book sales increased by over 500%.  As Anastasia tells it… “The Reason has been instrumental in helping me take the message of my book to hundreds of parents and educators hungry for information about what kids are doing online and with other technology.  By helping me attract a blue-chip sponsor (Procter & Gamble) and coordinating speaking engagements across the country, The Reason has helped me exceed my goals for promoting Totally Wired.”

Going above and beyond

You ever go some places expecting poor customer service?  Like Walmart, the DMV, or any government office, for that matter. After this morning, I’d add tow truck companies to that list. I had given someone a ride to pick up his car at a tow truck company’s impound yard and the experience definitely had me applying a little Reasoning …

Think Price Discrimination – not as bad as it might sound, it simply means charging different prices to different buyers. More importantly, it means you need to make sure you understand your customers; what they value and what they are willing to pay for that value.  In the case of the tow truck company, since your customer expects you not to have good customer service and assumes they will pay a lot for very little (read: getting screwed); you have a perfect opportunity for incremental revenue. Why not charge a premium to offer convenience and a customer-focused experience? Offer delivery of vehicle to the customer.  For the DMV, offer after-hours service with premier pricing.  Key to success is to position this approach as premier-level service vs. fee gouging. Could be tricky, but well worth the additional income … again, just make sure you know your consumer and how to create what they perceive as premium value.

 

Need some insight and ideas … give me a shout.

Throwback Thursday: Rescue Dawn

This is my first installment of Throwback Thursday.  I’ll be using this space to highlight some past(throwback) work.

I had the pleasure of working with 20^th Century Fox to promote the DVD release of Rescue Dawn.  This is one of the many projects, which continues to increase our digital marketing capabilities. 

Challenge: Generate awareness for Rescue Dawn DVD release.

Ideas(Implemented): (1) Brokered relationships with military-themed and Christian Bale fan sites to increase awareness of Rescue Dawn DVD release. (2) Utilized Rescue Dawn DVDs as currency to secure relevant mentions and placements in discussion forums, blogs, and social networks.  

Impact: Over 1.4 million DVD units sold.  We don’t take all the credit, but we were a major Reason for this success.

360 Feedback: The Missing MBA Class

One of my b-school classmates recently had a daylong 360-feedback session at his job.  He mentioned it was probably the most reflective experience he’s had in recent memory.  He was better able to assess whether his perceived strengths and weaknesses matched up with what he thinks are his strengths and weaknesses. 

The Reason 360-feedback should be given to matriculating MBA candidates is to provide perspective – where selected professors, group members, peers and managers from summer internships, and classmates from student organizations give you feedback on your strengths and weaknesses in a team environment.  This sort of feedback provides a good baseline for you to manage your career.  On day one of your new job, you should be well aware of your competencies and what you may need to work on to be successful in your new job.  

Here’s a Reason-able list of benefits from a 360 Feedback class:

• Keeps you grounded.  The truth is many of us leave b-school cocky… this provides a reality check.
• Helps you find a job.  MBA students should take the time and assess jobs they are considering to see if their strengths and weaknesses make sense not just for job duties, but also cultural fit. You should know what a company values in their associates.  You should also think about whether you have similar values and whether you're perceived in that manner.  
• Self-Confidence.  Imagine the confidence you’ll project being able to articulate your strengths.
• Career Mapping. You’ll be able to map your career growth based on position descriptions.
• Personal Branding.  Understanding your strengths and hearing concrete examples of those strengths being applied helps you communicate your competitive advantages during interviews.

Reckitt Benckiser

According to Ad Age, Reckitt Benckiser has an identity problem.  If you’re reading this and thinking “Reckitt Who?” you’re probably not alone.  But, you have likely heard of many of the brands in their portfolio, such as French’s Mustard, Airwick, Lysol, Clearasil, to name a few. 

So, why does RB care if consumers don’t know their corporate brand?  And more importantly, why are they willing to spend precious marketing dollars to address this “problem”? This is known affectionately as ego-tripping.  Consumers don’t buy packaged goods because of the parent company. How often do you hear about consumer loyalty to P&G or Unilever? But, because of their perceived differentiated benefits, we all know about loyalty to product brands like Tide, Colgate, and Dettol(especially for my West Indian brethren).

A little Reason for you, RB -- instead of spending budget on increasing awareness of the parent company; seek out ways to deepen your relationship with consumers.  Focus your efforts and dollars on making sure your brands stay relevant and a part of their lives. Want specifics? I have some ideas… give me a shout.  

Networking at Conferences

This post is mostly for my readers responsible for business development.  I’m usually on the conference circuit and I’ve picked up some useful tips along the way that I’d like to share.  My first two tips should be completed before you pick up your nametag on-site --- research, research, and research some more to (1) identify the people you want to meet and (2) determine what you’re going to say to them.

And here are some Reason-able tips for effective networking during a conference.  

1. Have a conversation.  I know easier said than done.  Don’t just ask for a business card.  I was recently in a conversation with someone at a conference and a guy walked up to us and said, “hello, don’t mean to interrupt but can I have your card.”  I’m thinking, what’s the point.  What are you gonna say when you email us… you didn’t make an impression when you had a chance.  Which leads to my next tip.
2. Make notes on business cards.  When you do follow-up and reach out post-conference, you should be able to point to something unique about your conversation
3. Your Approach.  Most people can breeze through the ‘About Us’ section of their website without taking a breath.  While that’s cool and all, you can add more value by describing your business in one sentence and then speaking to your unique approach.  We all have big names on our client list so differentiate yourself by speaking to your unique approach to solving marketing challenges.
4. Can we work together?  After explaining what you do, you might as well force the issue.  Ask about current projects they’re working on and inquire about process for new vendors.
5. 2 ears, 1 mouth.  At conferences, you should be listening, twice as much as talking.  Why… because you’re prospecting.  You can create a proposal in a few days after you’ve gained some insight into your prospective clients needs.
6. Table lean.  If you’re not the type to introduce yourself when you arrive at a table then do the old ‘lean with it, rock wit it’ move where you tell the people sitting to your left and right that you can’t see their name tag.  Then introduce yourself and find out what they do. 
7. Shrug off the cold shoulder.  This is my last piece of advice.  Some folks may just not be into what you’re talking about.  It’s all good… just move on.

 

YPulse Multicultural Mashup (Learnings)

So, what did I learn from my panel discussion… "Identity Politics - Marketing to Youth in the Age of Obama: In an era where youth identity is being influenced by online & mobile interactions, is Urban and Multicultural Marketing dead?" 

Companies need to look internally and determine whether their customer segments still make sense. Multicultural marketers have fought long and hard for the budgets allocated to Hispanic and African-American markets, but realize the marketplace is changing. And, after spending so much time justifying multicultural marketing budgets, no one wants to go back and say “hey, it no longer makes sense to just have an African-American or Hispanic budget because our campaign won’t resonate with the entire marketplace.” I know some people are reading this and saying this dude wants to give up on multicultural budgets. That’s not what I’m saying. I think marketers need to look beyond skin color and language, and also look at Rituals. Then marketers should figure out how their respective brand adds value to that ritual so marketing messages resonate with their audience. 

I know I just dropped Rituals in the last paragraph without a definition. Rituals is one of the steps in The Reasoning, our proprietary consumer engagement process. The point is marketers should entrench their brand into relevant rituals (meaningful activities); rituals in which your audience is actively engaged, physically and emotionally. Check out my Neutrogena for Men post for an example of Rituals.

So, does your current customer segment make sense in the Age of Obama… here’s how we build meaningful customer segments at The Reason... 

1. [name of your brand] adds value to [name of ritual] because __________  
2. Who is involved in this ritual 
3. Why are they involved in this ritual?   
4. When are they involved? 
5. Where does this ritual take place? 

YPulse Multicultural Mashup

I had the pleasure of moderating a panel at the YPulse conference last week titled "Identity Politics - Marketing to Youth in the Age of Obama: In an era where youth identity is being influenced by online & mobile interactions, is Urban and Multicultural marketing dead?"

Heavy title… I know.  First time I read it, I had a Black Rob moment… like whoa!!  I digress.  Here’s a quick summary of what I heard from the panelists.  I’ll talk tomorrow about what I learned.

 

Neela Banerjee, Editor 
at YO! Youth Outlook Multimedia

It's CRUCIAL for young people to see themselves in the world, so in that sense urban and multicultural marketing is important.

 

Roland Brown, Chief Cultivator at Parallel MVMT

Talk with, not to youth. This generation can speak for itself, and respects a two-way dialogue.  Being genuine, and growing organically is vital - being a part of the community you market to is important, and/or get people involved who really are.

 

Kevin Walker, Managing Partner at Culture Lab Creative

The agency system ill equipped to effectively market to this generation.  Agencies and clients still want to segment by race, i.e. Hispanic, African American, and Asian.  When in reality the younger generation is more segmented by lifestyle, interest, and what "tribe" they identify with.  Identity for young people in this day and age is more 
complicated than just their ethnic identity. 

Microsoft says “what’s beef?”

Microsoft reminds me of the bully in the hood always looking for beef.  They’re spending $300 million on their “Laptop Hunters” ads so Apple will stop making ‘em look like dweebs.  They’re fighting with Nintendo and Sony for console space in our living room.  And, they’re about to mount a $100 million marketing campaign to go mano y mano with Google and to a lesser extent Yahoo for web search.  By comparison, Google spent a total of $25 million on ads in 2008.

For those that don’t know, Microsoft currently does web search under the LiveSearch moniker.  Rumor has it that they will rebrand the site service as Bing. You know, it’s kinda like shorthand for Tony Soprano’s girlie bar.  As part of the re-branding effort, expect to see ads appearing on the web, TV, radio, newspapers and magazines.

I’m not a big fan of conceding, but I think Microsoft should concede desktop web search to Google.  And by concede, I mean Microsoft should focus on web search for emerging platforms like mobile devices.

The Reason… Strategy 101 – Compete where there is no competition i.e  be a monopolist.  While consumers are increasingly spending more time (and money) on their mobile devices, there is no established search provider cornering that market.  For the most part, you’ll just be paying slotting fees to mobile phone providers so “Bing” shows up as the default search provider.  But, that’s the low-hanging fruit, and The Reason is all about reaching higher, so … let’s look for the challenge here.

The Reason... Strategy 201 - Differentiate. Microsoft should leverage its previous $800 million investment in Tellme Networks Inc., a voice-recognition technology company -- a.k.a. your differentiator.  Spend your Bing marketing budget letting consumers know how easy it is to search on their mobile devices... "Just say what you want, and 'Bing' ...get your search results texted to you instantaneously.  This, of course, relies on the sophistication of your technology to decipher accents and colloquialisms, and the robustness of your database.  But, once you step on the court, no more excuses, right?  And for Microsoft, the money part comes from advertiser supported text messages.

Powerpoint Stats: ESSENCE research on African-American women

ESSENCE is once again arming multicultural marketers with insight on African-American women by releasing its Smart Beauty IV research study, developed in conjunction with Vision Critical Group.  The study is designed to inspire real change in marketing to women of color by identifying their buying power, influence, needs and desires in the prestige beauty category, inclusive of cosmetics, skin care, hair care and fragrance.

Highlights of Smart Beauty IV:

• Regarding spending power -- African-American women spend 80% more on cosmetics annually and nearly twice as much on skincare products than general market women do annually. 
• Regarding the mindset of African-American women -- her self-confidence is evident in describing herself as intelligent, independent, attractive, ambitious, sexy and fabulous more often than general market women.
• Regarding what informs the purchase decision for African-American women -- reflecting her personal style, being a brand she trusts, offering high-quality ingredients and being suited to her needs all stand out as key attributes to compel purchase across cosmetic, skin and hair categories respectively.

Seen on Target Market News