vivid shining brands

From BtoBonline.com : In the report, “Emerging Technologies B2B CMOs Should Watch in 2011,” Forrester analyst Jeff Ernst recommended CMOs explore online content curation to bolster thought leadership; listening platforms to gauge customer sentiment; brand advocate platforms for spurring word-of-mouth; and appointment scheduling applications to engage potential customers who are ready to buy. Even though only the third item is identified with branding, I believe all four of these tactics can be part of a comprehensive strategy for brand leadership in the online and social media spaces.  Especially interesting is the last entry – appointment scheduling apps – as it gives prospects a significant feeling of control over the sales process. This alleviates some of the friction that naturally results when a sales call is received at an inopportune time.  Even if the prospect may be interested in the product or service, poor timing of such a call can not only negate the sa...

An interesting piece in BrandWeek about a new Accenture survey that shows how CMOs are taking a hard look at what they and their companies are doing (or not) to make it through this seemingly endless recession: Only about two in ten surveyed said their companies very effectively use most channels to reach, influence or interact with customers. The most effective channels cited are in-person contact with front-line employees and encouraging existing customers to recommend corporate products and services. Beyond those, however, less than 20 percent of respondents said they effectively use digital channels like corporate Web sites, online communities, online advertising, and mobile and location-based marketing; traditional advertising such as print, television and radio; and direct mail and telemarketing. Marketers gave themselves the lowest marks in leveraging digital channels, monitoring and optimizing marketing's contribution and using channels strategically. Accenture found s...

From the New York Times today : Odd Web ads, like the dancing women promoting mortgage brokers, are not new. But on social networks like Facebook, where people go to communicate with one another, advertisers seem to be trying especially hard to intrude on the conversation. Rank amateur advertisers , the writer should have noted. Bad advertising, done through "self service" channels, has always fallen flat. In the old days of print, there was clip art advertising that was just as bad, though not as weird, as the templates were actually created by skilled creatives. These days, the opportunity to create ads that are weird and bad have multiplied, thanks to digital tools and advertiser access to all that personal information we've provided platforms like Facebook, so we all suffer the creepy results: “When it works, it’s amazingly impactful, but when it doesn’t work, it’s not only creepy but off-putting,” said Tim Hanlon, a principal at the consulting firm Rivervi...

From John Tierney, writing in the NY Times today  about which stories in that newspaper get emailed the most: The results are surprising — well, to me, anyway. I would have hypothesized that there are two basic strategies for making the most-e-mailed list. One, which I’ve happily employed, is to write anything about sex. The other, which I’m still working on, is to write an article headlined: “How Your Pet’s  Diet  Threatens Your Marriage, and Why It’s Bush’s Fault.”  Surprising articles, like one about free-range chickens on the streets of New York, were also more likely to be e-mailed — which was a hardly a surprising discovery, of course. But the researchers also kept finding popular articles with a quality that went beyond surprise. “If I went into my classroom dressed up like a pirate, that would be surprising, but it wouldn’t be awe-inspiring,” Dr. Berger said. “An article about square watermelons is surprising, but it doesn’t inspire that awed feeling ...

In one of the most entertaining campaigns in the consumer insurance at the moment, Progressive is looking for an assistant to Flo , the good-humored and hardworking spokesperson for the consumer insurer. Do you have what it takes? A quick review of the competition, through the videos they've submitted, shows that while 99.9% are less charming and articulate than Dick Cheney, more than couple would be hard to beat with their self-avowed zest and zeal for insurance and unique approaches... Now, there seem to be an inordinate number of auditions from New York. Read into that what you will.

From AdAge today : Procter & Gamble Co. loves Facebook after all, and besides encouraging brands to develop a presence there, the world's biggest marketer has opened an office in Silicon Valley to help develop social-networking systems and digital-marketing capabilities with the website. A spokesperson for P&G gave some insight into the marketing giant's developing perspective on social media, saying that they viewed twitter as a "one-to-many" channel, much like TV, that can deliver short bursts of typical PR information, and Facebook as most appropriate for branding and advertising initiatives. As an aside, I find it interesting that P&G somehow feels that its social media efforts will be more effective if run out of an office in Silicon Valley rather than Ohio. Anyway, welcome to the neighborhood, P&G.

In the Santa Rosa Press Democrat today, an article about marketing wine to Gen Y , or the Millenials: Wine marketers hoping to get their message across to mobile, fickle 20-somethings have their work cut out for them. While research shows these young people are embracing wine earlier and at a greater rate then either Baby Boomers or Gen Xers, these so-called Gen Yers or Millennials — broadly speaking those born between the late 1970s and late 1990s — are proving impervious to traditional marketing and advertising methods. “You need to be authentic with this generation,” 29-year-old journalist Nadira Hira told hundreds of wine executives gathered in Santa Rosa Tuesday. “This generation craves sincerity. We've been lied to … We don't believe you.” Hira was a keynote speaker at the second annual Direct To Consumer Symposium held at the Hyatt Vineyard Creek Hotel. She is a reporter for Fortune magazine who focuses on Generation Y and how its embrace of technology and social n...

Interesting story in BrandWeek today about the sudden, magical rise of agencies and consultants who call themselves Social Media "Gurus," or "Experts." The rise of social media has been met with thousands claiming expertise in the area. The skepticism this engenders in longtime marketing pros is best captured in a popular animated video called "The Social Media Guru." The clip shows a know-it-all, lightly credentialed "expert" dispensing little more than buzzwords and common sense to a bemused client. The video is here-- note that the language in it is a bit coarse , to drive home the point, I suppose, that these new gurus have to use intimidation tactics to cover up their lack of knowledge. Of course, Social Media doesn't work in the absence of "Traditional Media," as you still need ads, PR, promotions, events, and a sales team to build a brand and sell products. But that glaring need for integrated strategic planning and c...

In Ad Age today : Paul Leys, director of Ignition Factory East at Omnicom Group's OMD, said agencies and marketers alike have gotten a lot of mileage out of what's happened in the smartphone sector and believes e-reader will soon be offering up the same opportunities. "The platform is showing a lot of innovation for the print industry -- how you can read magazines and how social can be integrated," he said. "Just imagine being able to read GQ and see someone else on the other side of the country reading the same article at the same time and being able talk to them about it. Suddenly there's a different social aspect being added to e-readers. We don't know exactly what this aspect will be yet, but we are excited as there continues to be innovation in the platform." I have long believed that some sort of flexible, portable, and highly useful eReader would eventually come about, and with it a revolution in how we lived and worked. I've always ...

From AdAge today : Twitter is not dead, but nobody really cares that I put milk on my cereal this morning. Taddy Hall, of Meteor, suggests that while still a revolutionary tool, Twitter's value is declining because the value of your followers is declining, too: The currency in Twitter is followers. Fine, but one of the essential attributes of currency is that it is either intrinsically valuable (gold) or a proxy for value (greenbacks). And what we have with Twitter is a currency (followers) of little or no value -- intrinsic or implied. What we have all realized is that the best way for me to get you to follow me -- more "currency" for me -- is for me to follow you. I scratch your back and you scratch mine. That neither of us pays any attention to the other's tweets is a trifling concern. My advice for businesses using Twitter: Make your tweets relevant and useful. Link back to a relevant page on your website or an equally relevant blog post. Don't twe...

From the Economist : In professional networking, argues Dan Serfaty, Viadeo’s founder, having local depth is better than signing up a narrow slice of the highest-powered people around the world. Viadeo is a business social networking site that is popular in France. In Germany, Xing is the thing. Go over to China, and you'd better be on Tianji. Will there ever be a gold-standard, global business social marketing site, or will local always be the most important and valuable aspect?