DEWmocracy Project

Mountain Dew Crowd Sources Media Planning

Mountain Dew is once again tapping the collective intelligence of it’s most passionate consumers.  The DEWmocracy project, now in its second iteration, kicked off last year with the brand asking 4,000 of its most loyal fans to help in creating three new Mountain Dew flavors.  Participants were first split up into groups to campaign for their favorite flavor followed by a series of nationwide events to drum up support for their particular drink.  This time, agencies were asked to pitch their creative ideas to the three groups, who in turn got to vote where the adverts would run and on which platforms.

Frank Cooper, chief engagement officer at PepsiCo said, “By maintaining an open dialog with our consumer through an intense, year-long collaborative project, we’ve offered them an opportunity to leave their imprint on a brand they truly love and have solidified an even stronger relationship with fans who matter most.”

It's Time to Hit the Reset

Why It’s Time to Hit the Reset Button on Trust

In an age of digital and social media trust is a hard word to define.  Wikipedia defines a trusted party as one who is “presumed to seek to fulfill policies, ethical codes, laws and their previous promises.” 

Cluetrain Manifesto’s co author, Doc Searls, warns of a coming “advertising bubble” and a push-media “attention economy” crash.  If this is true, then marketers in particular need to recount and rehash the rules of trust.

Trust has three main components:  credibility (delivering on promises), care (demonstrating an understanding of the other party’s needs) and congruency (the extent to which a brand’s and a consumer’s values are aligned).  To foster trust, marketers must think of it as an overarching principle, one that transcends sales.

Consumers trust the brands that demonstrate they really mean it.

Tweeter

Twitter Unveils Plans to Draw Money From Ads

Twitter unveiled a plan Tuesday to use advertising to turn its massive popularity into cash.  “Promoted Tweets” will allow businesses and organizations to highlight their 140 character or less messages to a wider group of users.  Under a system reminiscent of Google’s advertising formats, businesses will be able to buy ads that appear in Twitter’s search results.  Brands including Starbucks, Best Buy, Red Bull, Sony Pictures and Virgin America will be the first customers to experiment with ”Promoted Tweets”.

Now that the ad platform has been revealed and Twitter is focused on making money, the question is this:  will users engage with or reject Twitter ads?

The Relationship Era Inspires at SxSW

The Relationship Era Inspires at SxSW

During SxSW Mark McKinney and Dan Patterson (of imc²) presented the idea of a new era in marketing that is more focused on brand sustainability than the prevailing promote –> persuade –> sell model on which the industry has relied for the last 50 years or so (and that is less effective).  The general consensus among participants was that having this conversation is a great start but there is still a lot of work to be done if this evolution to the relationship era is to take place sooner than later.

The Relationship Era Core Conversation was one of the best at SxSW.  Cutting edge strategic thoughts were openly discussed and debated by people from agencies and brands throughout the country – it’s only a matter of time before this sort of thinking dominates live strategic brand positioning discussions.

US Internet Users More Likely to Buy

Social Fans More Likely to Purchase

If a business doesn’t have a presence on social media platforms such as Twitter and Facebook they risk being seen as “out of touch” while missing out on valuable word of mouth and even sales.  Ina recent study by market research firm Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate not only are Facebook fans and Twitter followers apt to recommend brands they follow to others, they are also more likely to make a purchase from those brands.

While 60% of Facebook users and 79% of Twitter users are more likely to recommend a brand after becoming a friend or fan, over half of Facebook users and 67% of Twitterers are more likely to purchase from brands they latch on to.

“Companies not actively engaging are missing a huge opportunity and are saying something to consumers – intentionally or unintentionally – about how willing they are to engage on consumers’ terms,” according to Josh Mendelsohn, VP at Chadwick Martin Bailey.  Today’s consumers expect that a business will have a digital presence and the perception is that those that don’t are out of touch or are not interested in the demographic that frequents Facebook and Twitter.

Frank Cooper, Chief Consumer Engagement Officer, PepsiCo

Pepsi Pushes Social Graphs to Help Consumers Build Identity and Brand Loyalty 

Frank Cooper, Senior Vice President and Chief Consumer Engagement Officer at PepsiCo Americas Beverages, believes the approach markers have been taken for the last 75 years is no longer relevant.  Today brands need to add value to our lives.  “We remain in the middle of a brand marketing crisis,” Cooper says.

Marketers need to create what Cooper calls ‘identity value’.  The current brand marketing model is broken but Cooper and other forward-thinking marketers think it can be fixed and even become more relevant than ever.  The trick is for marketers to go the extra mile to be sure their brands are servicing consumers in a relevant manner.  Marketers should focus on how digital technology allows consumers to relate to brands in ways historically not possible.  The goal is to discover opportunities to add value to the lives of consumers’.  “As marketers, we need to create meaningful experiences for consumers, not just sponsor content,” Cooper states.

Rise of the Data Economy

Death of the Impression, Rise of the Data Economy

The promise of digital display advertising has always been that it would allow marketers to put the right message in front of the right customer at the right moment.  So what makes the ad valuable?  As ads generate more data, their values increase; every bit of data has value.

“It is about data… data in ways we have never before fathomed.  The future of advertising is not about social, not about viral videos, not about mobile, not about any new medium or any new ad unit– but about data.  Those who know what to do with this will be the new king makers, the new rulers of Madison Avenue — or the new creators of a new Avenue of media.” Michael D. Andrew, Director of Search and Analytics at Mediasmith

In the future, data will assist advertisers in devising more effective, efficient marketing campaigns.  Marketers that understand technology will utilize it to reach their target consumers.  In turn, advertisements will become more focused.  Marketers will feel empowered to make more informed decisions on the most beneficial platform to use to engage their consumers.

Percent of Professionals Who Measure ROI

Measuring Return on Social Investment

Managers rely on ROI to measure the effectiveness of marketing campaigns and initiatives.  When calculating ROI, marketers must not forget about their beloved social media campaigns.

Wikipedia defines social media as media designed to be disseminated through social interaction and created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques.  Though social media marketing is scalable, according to a survey by Mzinga and Babson Executive Education, fewer than one in five marketers measured social media ROI in 2009.  “Marketers believe that measuring true ROI for social media is difficult” said Geoff Ramsey, eMarketer CEO.  “There are so many metrics available that it is difficult to choose which ones are the most important.  In addition, marketers do not start with clear objectives for using social media.”

Marketers should define their marketing goals and connect them to social media objectives.  Three steps can aid in the process; 1) identify marketing objectives; 2) choose measurement categories that match those objectives; and 3) track those metrics in the technologies they are using.

As more marketers measure social media campaigns, ROI, the true value of platforms that can effectively build brand loyalty will come to be known.

Major Portions of Marketing Budgets Are Shifting to Interactive Mediums in 2010

Alterian Annual Survey 2009

One of the key trends underscored by the 1,068 respondents polled by Alterian for its 7th Annual Industry Survey is the shift in marketing budgets away from traditional media.  “40% of respondents anticipate a shift of over a fifth of their budget towards digital channels, with 21% of respondents predicting more than a third of their budget will shift.”  The shift in budgeting is a result of the industry’s increasing awareness of the fact that traditional media channels just don’t deliver the results they used to.  “Empowered consumers today expect a customized, interactive brand experience that goes way beyond a 30-second television spot or two-dimensional print ad,” exclaims Forrester.

The benefit of interactive and social media to both the consumer and the campaigning brand is clear, but what is the benefit to agencies who embrace this trend?

“Success in digital, interactive and social channels would seem to come at a lower cost than success in traditional direct marketing,” says Alterian.  According to Forrester, “interactive tools are less expensive, more measurable, and better for direct response than traditional media.”

As demanding consumers expect customized, interactive brand experiences marketers are opting for the more attractive, less expensive interactive tools that are efficiently monitored and the return on investment can be accurately measured.  Forrester’s latest Interactive Marketing Forecast calls for spending on interactive marketing/advertising channels to grow to nearly $55 billion and represent approximately 21% of all marketing budgets by 2014.

Mobile Trends for 2010

Five Mobile Trends for 2010

Outdoor advertising has historically been difficult to measure.  Digital out-of-home (DOOH)  signage is changing this by incorporating SMS technology to create immediate campaign engagement.  Campaigns such as Nike’s “Chalkbot” that allowed cycling fans to have a robot stencil messages on the course pavement in support of Tour de France riders via SMS or Twitter.  Mobile is becoming a strong device in the now consumer driven interactive media.