The Marketing Files

The Power of Marketing: Is It Outright Trickery?
December 2, 2007

by Elaine Fogel

Can the average consumer tell the difference between two identical products when they have dissimilar labels? Do restaurant enthusiasts order more food when the descriptive menu language is more detailed? Are consumers suckers for marketing trickery?

As marketers, our job is to influence market behaviors. Our success depends on our ability to sell products and/or services or socially change attitudes. We've done such a good job at it, that many consumers are duped into thinking certain ways.

Last week on the Today Show, Brian Wansink, Ph.D., author of “Mindless Eating — Why We Eat More Than We Think,” displayed two identical bottles of wine - one with a label indicating it came from North Dakota, and the other from California. (In case you live outside the U.S., North Dakota isn't known for its wine, but California is.) In taste tests, he said, consumers drank more of the California wine and said they liked it better.

Dr. Wansink then showed two identical plates of restaurant food with two different menu descriptions. Tests showed that people bought more, and enjoyed the taste better, of the plate associated with a more descriptive menu (Menu B).

Menu A
Red beans with rice
Seafood fillet
Grilled chicken
Chocolate pudding

Menu B
Traditional Cajun beans with rice
Succulent Italian seafood fillet
Tender grilled chicken
Satin chocolate pudding


Although this research was conducted to change America's eating habits, it's also indicative of what good marketing can do to influence consumer habits overall.

A couple of months ago, I remember a similar TV taste test demonstration with assorted vodka brands. Consumers who indicated that they could tell the difference between their preferred vodka (the more expensive, well-known brand) and lower-end, less expensive brands, failed miserably when taste testing Cosmopolitans using a variety of vodka brands.

Now this isn't rocket science to marketers. We're familiar with the power of marketing and good copywriting. But what does it say about the consumer market? Are many of us tricked into thinking one product is better than another, or one service supplier superior in quality based solely on descriptive words and engaging images?

Whether we believe in what we market or not, is marketing simply a form of trickery and behavior manipulatation?

What do YOU think?


Elaine Fogel has worked as a senior marketeer at Kraft, Procter & Gamble, Nestlé Carnation, Warner-Lambert and Shopper’s Drug Mart. She is now an avid collumnist and a consultant of the best genre.

Get to the Po!nt...

Quick Tips for a Marketing Plan

Invest 60 seconds to your world of business!!

Three Tips for Developing an Effective Marketing Plan

You know you need a marketing plan, but where do you start? Drew McLellan, who blogs at Drew's Marketing Minute, is also a frequent corporate speaker at the UAE commerce chambers offers this advice:

1) You can be too ambitious. Most small businesses make the mistake of launching too many marketing initiatives when they don't have the resources to follow through on each one. You're better off doing fewer things, but doing them frequently and well.

2) Don't depend on a single medium. Says McLellan, "No matter how much you believe in word of mouth, direct mail, e-newsletters or an interactive Web site, one of your goals should be delivering key messages through a variety of media." It isn't called a marketing mix for nothing. With a more diverse campaign you are likely to increase your reach and your number of impressions.

3) Remember your core audience. You want to attract new customers, and there's a natural urge to invest all of your marketing resources in doing just that. But, warns McLellan, it's a shortsighted strategy. "The two most important audiences are your employees and your current customers," he says. "Be sure your marketing plan gives them enough attention." These groups deserve at least half of your time and budget.

The Po!nt: It's easy to spend your marketing budget on the wrong things. An effective marketing plan can keep your focus on the goal.

Print ad of the day - III

Brand: Harley Davidson XL 1200 N Nightster (Tag)
Agency: WAX, Canada
Copy: "When the horsemen of the apocalypse arrive, we bet they won't be riding horses. The XL 1200 N Nightster is coming. "

Print Ad of the day - II

Brand: Harley Davidson XL 1200 N Nightster (Tag)

Agency: WAX, Canada

Copy: "Some flirt with death. Others have their way with it. "

Print Ad of the day - I

Calle is a brand that promotes underground street soccer. As far as Calle is concerned, soccer is appropriate anytime, anywhere. These stickers are attached as a hang tag to all of Calle's apparel and once placed, the ambient piece is designed to blend in with public signage and quietly promote Calle's message.

Brand: Calle Soccer

Advertising Agency: Struck

The Five Simple Rules of Green Marketing

The Five Simple Rules of Green Marketing
by Jacquelyn Ottman November 20, 2007

To shine a spotlight on sustainability issues, NGOs and consumer groups often target the most respected and trusted brands in the world.

That's why Home Depot was targeted regarding sustainable harvested wood, Nike for child labor practices, McDonalds for Styrofoam clamshells and now obesity, and why Coke is similarly targeted regarding sugar and packaging.

What does this all mean for your business? Simply stated, if you don't manage your business with respect to environmental and social sustainability, your business will not be sustained!

But the converse is true, too: A strong commitment to environmental sustainability in product design and manufacture can yield significant opportunities to grow your business, to innovate, and to build brand equity. All you have to do is get the word out... right?

As with any other major business endeavor, that's easier said than done.

Many a responsible company has run into trouble with these very same sustainability-minded NGOs and consumer groups, due to poorly planned and crafted marketing messages.

The "Rules of Green Marketing"
Protect your company from these common pitfalls and start taking advantage of new opportunities by heeding my "Rules of Green Marketing":

• Know your customer. If you want to sell a greener product to consumers, you first need to make sure that the consumer is aware of and concerned about the issues that your product attempts to address. (Whirlpool learned the hard way that consumers wouldn't pay a premium for a CFC-free refrigerator—because consumers didn't know what CFCs were!).
• Empower consumers. Make sure that consumers feel, by themselves or in concert with all the other users of your product, that they can make a difference. This is called "empowerment," and it's the main reason consumers buy greener products.
• Be transparent. Consumers must believe in the legitimacy of your product and the specific claims you are making. Caution: There's a lot of skepticism out there that is fueled by the raft of spurious claims made in the "go-go" era of green marketing that occurred during the late 80s to early 90s—one brand of household cleaner claimed to have been "environmentally friendly since 1884"!
• Reassure the buyer. Consumers need to believe that your product performs the job it's supposed to perform—they won't forgo product quality in the name of the environment. (Besides, products that don't work will likely wind up in the trash bin, and that's not very kind to the environment.)
• Consider your pricing. If you're charging a premium for your product—and many environmentally preferable products cost more due to economies of scale and use of higher-quality ingredients—make sure that consumers can afford the premium and feel it's worth it. Many consumers, of course, cannot afford premiums for any type of product these days, much less greener ones, so keep this in mind as you develop your target audience and product specifications.

Now let's take a look at some eco-designs (improvements over existing products), and eco-innovations (new types of products) that do a great job of winning over green consumers while grabbing market share.

Tom's of Maine
The husband-and-wife team of Tom and Kate Chappell created this full line of personal care products about 25 years ago. Ten or so years later, the brand broke out of the "deep green" niche to achieve distribution in CVS, Duane Reade, and other mainstream drug outlets.

The company is now owned by Colgate-Palmolive and is just one of many "deep green" brands that are being purchased by mainstream marketers. Other examples are Estee Lauder's purchase of Aveda, Danone's partial purchase of Stonyfield Farm, and Unilever's acquisition of Ben and Jerry's. The messages on the sides of the Tom's of Maine toothpaste packaging may be one reason why. Check out the letter from Tom and Kate stating their company's mission.

Signing the letter lets customers know there really is a Tom, there really is a Kate—just like there really is a Ben and there really is a Jerry: i.e., two real live people "minding the store" and staking their personal reputations on the quality of their products.

On another panel is a list of all the ingredients in the toothpaste—all natural spearmint oil for instance, and next to each ingredient is the role each plays in the toothpaste. There's even a third column that lists from where each ingredient is sourced.

This is unprecedented in the history of consumer goods! Can you do this with your product's ingredients? How many of them may contain warning labels? (Crest and Colgate each do.) For Tom's, listing the ingredients, such as natural spearmint oil, helps get consumers over any price barriers at the point of sale. They are choosing a brand with natural ingredients and recognize that it must come with a price.

Toyota Prius
I know you've been hearing a lot these days about Toyota's Prius. For lots of good reasons, it's likely the most successful "green" product in the US.
It provides consumers with all they seek in a sedan and more—attractive styling, fuel efficiency, the ability to drive for an unlimited amount of miles only stopping for fill-ups (versus, for instance, having to stop for a 12-hour recharge if the engine were only electric), and because of the hybrid engine, a quiet ride, since the car doesn't idle at stoplights.

The car's dashboard comes with an unusual feature: a screen that lets the driver know which of the two engines is in use and how efficiently fuel is being used at any given moment; according to anecdotes, Prius owners try to beat their previous record each time they drive!

When the car was introduced, ads focused on superior performance evidenced by a quiet ride, and supplemental ads touted its environmental bona fides. With energy prices on the rise, the Prius is now being marketed for its superior fuel efficiency, and a PR machine fuels efforts to link the car to environmentally conscious celebrities and causes. Some owners, it is reported, even buy the car for what is being called "Conspicuous Conservation"—letting all know that they are environmentally astute.

Tide Coldwater
Tide Coldwater is a line extension of Tide that is helping it build brand equity and stay fresh in the marketplace.

A "Life Cycle Assessment" commissioned by Procter and Gamble found that 80%-85% of the energy used to wash clothes comes from heating the water. P&G calculated that US consumers could therefore save $63 per year by washing in cold water rather than warm. So, with the proviso that it could persuade consumers that coldwater washing was efficacious, P&G positioned the product as a way to save on energy bills.

First, marketing efforts reassured consumers of the product's efficacy. On a special Web site, consumers could calculate the amount of energy they could save yearly personally and in conjunction with all the others who took the "Tide Coldwater Challenge."

Advertising showed how long major US landmarks such as the Empire State Building could be lit with the energy that could be saved if all of the consumers in those cities switched to cold-water washing.

Finally, the Web site provided various energy saving tips and resources, starting with information about switching to Energy Star certified energy-saving compact fluorescent lighting, tips from respected environmental group the Alliance to Save Energy, and encouragements to "Consider buying a Different Kind of Car"—namely, the Prius.

This type of marketing no doubt reassured consumers of the product's performance. They were empowered by the ability to calculate their own savings and to aggregate that savings with those of others. By using the Internet versus traditional advertising-led messages, they were engaged in the message. By leveraging word-of-mouth via the Tide Coldwater Challenge and associating with notable third parties, any barriers of skepticism were overcome. And Tide

Brand found a fresh new message that was in step with consumers' need to control rising energy prices.

Method Line of Household Cleaning, Laundry and Personal Care Products
The environmental movement is about doing things differently. Method is a brand that is trying to express this "differentness" in nearly every way possible, starting with how the product looks and smells.

The bottle for the dish soap looks like an upside down teardrop. It was specifically designed by well-known fashion designer Karim Rashid so consumers would feel comfortable leaving it right at the kitchen sink, helping the user project a status of sorts.
The product label sports a very understated lower case "m" in a circle, with "method" also in lowercase just beneath. No splashy lettering. No flashy starbursts like those that were designed to capture consumers' attention at mainstream store shelves. What attracts consumers to this product is the distinctiveness of the package shape and the unique coloring of the product inside.
This product may look expensive, but it actually sells at competitive prices at Target, Office Depot and Safeway!
Method doesn't advertise. It attracts consumers via strong price value and word-of-mouth that is generated in highly effective ways, starting with the uniqueness of the product itself. Visit the Web site and read how Method tells visitors what it stands for: A page each is devoted to the elements of the Method "mantra": Efficacy, Safety, Environment, Design (do your brands consider design?), and Fragrance. (In-home interviews I conducted for a client recently attested to the importance of light scent to this brand's purchasing decision.)

Do your brands have mantras—or simply a list of benefits, or possibly just a marketing and creative strategy?
Another thing you'll find at the Method Web site is a campaign called "I Fight Dirty." (Note the "anti" tone.) This campaign empowers users to not only fight against dirt but also dirty practices by industry. Thus, its captures the essence of what the brand is about from both functional as well as emotional standpoints. (Another breakthrough.)

It also sends a newsletter to consumers who sign up. Recent issues have proffered tips on how to compost Christmas trees, locate brands of reusable diapers, and save pristine beaches by fighting dumping in oceans of plastic laundry bottles.

The Web site talks about the places where Method has been spotted—like the "Green Festival" hosted by Coop America each year. And it even gives visitors the opportunity to buy merchandise, like T- shirts emblazoned with the method name. How many of your users would wear clothing with your brand's name on it? How many of you would even think to offer it?

Putting the "Rules" to Work for Your Business
To start capitalizing on the many market opportunities represented by sustainability, consider the following:

• Think and act holistically. It is no longer enough to focus on functional benefits alone. ASK: What are we making (product or service? Green or not?) How are we making it? Who are we working with?
• Take advantage of the opportunities that green marketing represents to engage consumers on an emotional level and thus, build brand equity. ASK: how can we make our passion and vision relevant and engaging—and our consumers into advocates? How can we empower consumers to make a difference by providing them with education, infrastructure, events, and experiences?
• The way you communicate will be critical to success (and will help you avoid "greenwashing"). ASK: How to ensure that our approach is viewed as authentic? Transparent? Are all stakeholders aware of our intentions and progress? Is our vision embedded in the fabric of our company?
• Eco-innovation represents new ways to grow top line sales. ASK: How can we inspire consumers? What technology and partners do we need to gain access to?
• Strive for an ideal goal of "zero" environmental impact. Strive to eco-innovate rather than simply eco-design. ASK: What would it take to achieve zero environmental impact and still meet our consumers' needs? Can we make consumers more "responsible"? It's one thing to design better products and technologies. But, at some point, industry's efforts will go only so far. Achieving "zero" environmental impact will come about only if changes can be made in consumer behavior—thus the genius of Toyota's dashboard, and Web sites that engage consumers in more responsible forms of behavior.

[Jacquelyn A. Ottman is president of J. Ottman Consulting, Inc., a New York City-based marketing and new products firm that advises on strategies for green marketing. She is the author of Green Marketing: Opportunity for Innovation (2nd edition). Contact her via (info@greenmarketing.com). ]

Partnership Brand Marketing—It's About Distribution Channels

Partnership Brand Marketing—It's About Distribution Channels
November 2007.

Walk down any supermarket aisle. What do you see? Brands, brands, and more brands. And, individually, each has its own equity—along with consumer appeal, value, unique brand-defining characteristics, and a brand essence that evokes loyalty among target consumers.

The smart marketer uses strategically planned distribution to enhance brand equity. Although gaining new distribution with an alliance partner is less common, it can be extremely powerful. In fact, especially during challenging economic periods, the power of marketing partnerships brings expanded credibility and a cost-efficient means to gain distribution.

Many companies and managers today have mastered and are effectively using promotional programs, which can range from couponing to licensing and merchandising, among others.
However, such marketing tools are often used independently or in more of a silo approach. And it can take a long time to create these programs, especially if another partner brand is included or a promotional overlay is involved—such as an entertainment property: theatrical, DVD, or otherwise.

And today many companies and brands are engaging in "Partnership Marketing," "Marketing Alliances," "Strategic Partnerships," and even "Partnership Brand Marketing" programs. But often they boil down to just promotions, perhaps maybe even on a larger scale.

But the true success of partnership brand marketing lies in its power to open up new and alternative channels of distribution for both the companies and the brands involved.

Finding Customers Where You Aren't
The whole idea behind partnership brand marketing is to find customers where your company and brand do not compete: It not only provides your brand with additional credibility in aligning with another company but also opens up distribution channels, allows you to reach and market to customers that may not be aware or thinking of your brand, and—most important—it captures the attention of new potential buyers who may not have your brand top of mind.

But the key ingredient is integration. It is not enough to create a promotion or align with a licensed property. It is not enough to create a joint merchandising display.

Well-crafted partnership brand marketing should include every possible touchpoint that your business has with its customers—both traditional and nontraditional marketing, including Internet, special events, advertising, promotions, public relations, packaging, merchandising, and a host of other marketing components.

Accordingly, strategic partnership brand marketing programs not only need to be created and designed at the senior level in each company but also need to involve the brand group and marketing managers that will run, implement, and monitor the program's success on a daily basis.

Marketing alliances don't just present an opportunity to create promotions; they also establish a base from which to create distribution opportunities, providing a great chance to leverage either geographic distribution or merchandising within a store.

An example: if an entertainment property links with a packaged-goods brand to create a promotion, there could (and should) be advertising program overlays in the form of television, print, FSIs (free-standing inserts), and event packaging.

But to extend this to a true partnership brand marketing program, other elements such as a joint selling and distribution team between both companies should occur with the goal of gaining incremental and sustained distribution. Other elements, including corporate programs, could come into play.

And even greater challenge and desirable end result is to create an umbrella strategic Partnership Brand Marketing program in which at least three companies and brands align to share in their distribution and marketing programs, with the goal of providing even greater value to all three company's customers.

And the best part is that, ultimately, the customer, the consumer, and the buyer win: They are introduced to several brands, initiatives, new products, new features, and a host of other promotional activities designed to induce trial and build loyalty while providing value.
Though targeted distribution has been proven a clear and successful strategy for ensuring success for a brand, fewer brands are actually capitalizing on marketing alliances to obtain alternative distribution for their brand.

Case in Point
Recently, our company, PBM Marketing Solutions, created a national strategic partnership brand marketing program on behalf of LEGOLAND California and Volvo Cars of North America.
Rather than creating just a marketing sponsorship or promotional program, we developed a multi-level marketing partnership that now extends far beyond the promotional arena. This includes cross promotions, joint advertising, a dealer component, marketing exposure on the national auto show circuit, a life-size Volvo LEGO car placed in high-trafficked areas, Volvo cars placed at LEGOLAND California, LEGOLAND marketed in the Volvo auto dealer channel, special events, corporate/employee programs, as well as safety awareness activities.

As a result of this partnership brand marketing program, Volvo can now reach customers in a channel where it does not compete—the theme park industry—and LEGOLAND California and the LEGO brand can now reach customers in a channel where it does not compete: automotive.
* * *
It is key to realize that companies and brands have two types of equity. First is their brand equity—but of equal validity is a company or brand's distribution equity.
The brand equity is the value that consumers and buyers feel about the brands that they are loyal to, whereas distribution equity is a brand's foothold, strength, and presence where the products are actually sold.

Being able to parlay a marketing partnership into an ongoing alliance to help gain further distribution and sales takes partnerships to a higher level. In fact, often a marketing alliance can have more than just one promotion built into it—it can feature multiple program layers that can transcend the supermarket to include the Internet with web-site links, on-pack messages and co-branding placed in alternative channels as well as unique locations where consumers are most apt to see your product.

In today's busy world of brand marketing, utilizing the strength of marketing alliances to get product into new channels and venues is an essential marketing tool to generate incremental sales.

Gregory J. Pollack is founder and president of PBM Marketing Solutions (www.pbmmarketing.com), a partnership brand marketing company. He can be reached via gpollack@pbmmarketing.com.

Metrics for Managing Marketing Performance

'Classic Truths': If You Don't Measure, You Can't Manage: The Best Metrics for Managing Marketing Performance


October, 2007.

Without metrics to track performance, marketing and business plans are ineffective.
Businesses need to know which success factors require measuring, and they must understand the differences between measurements (the raw outcomes of quantification), metrics (ideal standards for measurement), and benchmarks (the standards by which all others are measured).


For marketers, three primary metrics constitute a starting point for tracking their performance. Once companies are aware of their competitive position, their desired outcomes, and what it will take to achieve those outcomes, companies will be better able to identify the success factors, benchmarks, and appropriate metrics to meet their target.

Why Measure?
Metrics are a part of our everyday lives: from our heart rate, to our bank balances; from our weight, to the gas mileage on our cars. If we don't pay attention to these numbers, we create a risk for getting a heart attack, being overdrawn, or running out of gas.

The same is true in the business environment. If a company doesn't identify and track important performance measures, it increases its risks.

Metrics provide a means to assess progress; they provide valuable data points against which the marketing organization can track its progress. Metrics demonstrate accountability and allow marketers to better know, act upon, align efforts, and reduce market exposure. Metrics enable the marketing organization to truly serve as the eyes and ears of the company.

And, more importantly, establishing and tracking metrics will have a positive influence on the leadership's satisfaction with Marketing and the marketer's ability to secure funds. Only 38% of US executives say their companies are now measuring the results of their marketing efforts, according to a study of senior business executives conducted in the second quarter of 2004 by Blackfriar.

Will measurement actually change investment in Marketing? Blackfriar compared planned marketing spending for companies that measure marketing with those that don't. The result? Firms that measure marketing planned to spend an average of 41% of their annual marketing budgets during the second quarter. Those that don't measure planned to spend only 33%; apparently, they felt more comfortable planning to spend their marketing dollars than those that don't measure.

Measuring marketing also has an impact on the satisfaction of senior executives regarding their investment in Marketing. Some 16% of executives at companies that measure marketing said they were dissatisfied with their marketing efforts. But at firms that don't measure marketing, 28% said they were dissatisfied.

The simple act of measuring marketing results reduced the dissatisfaction of senior executives significantly. In other words, measurement allowed Marketing to prove its worth.

Defining Metrics
The world of metrics can be confusing for people new to these concepts. To better understand metrics and how they work, several terms must be defined:

• Measurements are the raw outcome of a quantification process, such as a company's numbers, ratios, and percentages.
• Metrics are the standards for measurement, providing target values that a company must achieve to reach a certain level of success.
• Benchmarks are the best measurements to aspire to, the standard by which all others are measured. Companies that set benchmarks in their industries are the ones often lauded in "Top Ten" and "Most Admired" lists and articles.

A good example of a marketing benchmark can be traced back to the early 1990s. Over a decade ago, market research firm IntelliQuest (now Millward Brown IntelliQuest) conducted a customer satisfaction research study for the personal computing industry.

The firm spoke to customers who rated the companies in the industry, which resulted in a measurement on a one-to-nine scale. It then learned that 84% of users who rated their satisfaction as a seven, an eight, or a nine would consider the same brand for their next purchase. Seven, eight, or nine became the metrics that companies aspired to attain. The benchmark was nine.

Three Metrics Gauges
To determine which success factors to measure and the appropriate metrics for each, marketers must have a clear understanding of the company's goals. A young company looking to gain traction in the market is focused on factors different from those of a more established company wanting to improve its customer relationships.

For those beginning to use metrics, listed below are four key performance indicators that support three metrics gauges: market share, lifetime value, and brand equity.

These gauges are directly linked to the three specific performance areas that Marketing can impact: acquisition, penetration, and monetization.

The first responsibility of Marketing is to identify and enable the organization to acquire customers, without whom there is no revenue, without which there is no business. Acquisition enables the company to increase its market share.

Although Marketing may not close the deal, marketing strategies move the customer through the buying process, from awareness to consideration. Four key performance indicators enable you to address market share:

• Customer growth rate
• Share of preference
• Share of voice
• Share of distribution

The second responsibility of Marketing is to keep the customers that the company acquires and increase the value of those customers. It is expensive and ultimately disastrous to have customers coming in one door only to go out another. High customer churn signals a variety of problems and hinders your ability to create leverage.

The following performance indicators will help your drive these penetration-related metrics:

• Frequency and recency of purchase
• Share of wallet
• Purchase value growth rate
• Customer tenure
• Customer loyalty and advocacy

The third responsibility of Marketing is monetization. Up until the 1970s, a company's value was determined by its book value. Over time, intangible assets, such as a company's intellectual property, customer value, franchises, goodwill, and so on have had an increasing effect on a company's market value.

Marketing professionals can improve the market value of their company by improving their performance in four key areas:

• Price premium
• Customer franchise value
• Rate of new product acceptance
• Net advocate score

A recently published report, "Measures + Metrics: Assessing Marketing Value + Impact," by Glazier, Nelson and O'Sullivan, corroborates these gauges and performance metrics. In their report for the CMO Council, the authors specified four performance metrics:

• Business acquisition/demand generation, which can include such metrics as market share gains, lead acquisition and deal flow
• Product innovation/acceptance, which can include market adoption rates, user attachment and affinity, loyalty and word-of-mouth
• Corporate image and brand identity, which can include growth in brand value and financial equity, awareness and retention of employees
• Corporate vision and leadership, which can include share of voice and discussion, retention and relevance of messaging, and tonality of coverage

Regardless of which model companies choose to deploy, to fully capitalize on the benefits of metrics they should consider establishing a continuous process in which metrics are collected, analyzed, and reported on a regular basis.

Over time, metrics can reveal valuable information about which marketing tactics are most effective, what types of prospects are most likely to buy, which customers are most profitable, and how the market in general develops over time.
Also important to remember is that metrics themselves can change over time. As the market and the company evolve, marketers must diligently review and adjust their metrics.

Innovative competitors will continue to set higher benchmarks, ratcheting up the acceptable range of metrics. The airline industry's 45-minute airplane turnaround time was considered standard until Southwest Airlines decided to do it in 15 minutes. Some metrics may become outdated, and newer metrics and methods of measurement will require attention.

To work without metrics is to work blindly. A lack of metrics makes it extremely difficult to assess whether a course of action is working or needs adjustment. The proper use of metrics can provide guidance to help a company expand market position, lower costs, and retain the best customers so that the company can ultimately set the benchmarks in its industry.

Advertising's Most Important Word

What Is Advertising's Most Important Word?

October 30, 2007.

If you had to guess the single most important word in advertising, what would it be? Free, special, discount, sale, new, improved, bigger, better...?

So many words have lost their meaning or been corrupted by misuse or abuse that it is not an obvious choice.

The terms "luxury," "exclusive," and "world-class" have been rendered meaningless after being applied to everything from 800-square-foot condos to restaurants that serve microwave frozen dinners. We can't even rely on "light," "diet," or "low-carb" to actually describe what's inside a package.

What advertisers have done is create a hyper-cynical marketplace, where the audience for whatever you sell has lost faith in what is being said.

But the Web with its emphasis on content gives advertisers an opportunity to redeem themselves and to deliver meaningful information to its audience.

All Content Is Advertising, All Advertising Isn't
Some may cringe at the thought, but in the final analysis all content is a form of advertising. Content is rarely if ever neutral, even if it doesn't overtly promote a product or service. Content always has a point to make, or an idea, concept, or position to advance.

If content doesn't provide some perspective, some meaningful knowledge, then does it really qualify as content?
The same can be said for advertising, if it doesn't explain, enlighten or engage, it is just noise.

What Is Advertising's Most Important Word?
My vote goes to the simple, innocuous word "like": a nondescript word that carries with it all the conceptualization power you need to create a business identity, to form a brand personality, and to position your product or service in the mind of your audience.

My vote goes to the simple, innocuous word "like": a nondescript word that carries with it all the conceptualization power you need to create a business identity, to form a brand personality, and to position your product or service in the mind of your audience.

Metaphor, Analogy, Stories: The Adman's Best Friends
A metaphor explains complex concepts and hard-to-comprehend processes by comparing them to common, everyday knowledge. We use metaphors every day without even realizing we're doing it. We "race" to the office. We work "like dogs." And we all know, it's a "jungle" out there.

Metaphors are critical to the way we communicate with each other and to the success of our marketing communication and advertising.

Metaphors can be extended into analogies, and analogies into stories, and stories into campaigns. And campaigns developed in this manner have a higher probability of achieving the elusive status of meaningful content that embeds your message in your audience's collective consciousness.

There is no better way to overcome a client's objection than to put that objection into perspective with an appropriate allegorical story.

Overcoming Objections: How Long Is Too Long?
We've all heard the constant bellyaching from impatience Web users about how long they have to wait for everything on the Web. Every time I hear this from somebody, I am reminded of the story (perhaps apocryphal) of the early introduction of the Polaroid Land camera.

Before the days of one-hour photo shops, digital photography, and instant video feedback, people had to wait up to a week for their pictures to be developed by the local pharmacy or camera shop. When Polaroid came out with a camera that delivered a finished photograph in sixty seconds, people were amazed; the era of instant gratification had begun.

And, so the story goes, a group of adventurers traveled deep into the Brazilian Rainforest to learn about the indigenous people. When they came across a tribe who had never seen outsiders before, they befriended them and took pictures of them with the Polaroid cameras they brought along. The natives loved the pictures since they had never seen anything like this before, but they did have one complaint, "Why did it take so long for the pictures to develop?"

The problem is not technology; the problem is one of perception. Like the natives who perceived the 60-second developing of photographs to be slow, so to do many Web users perceive the Internet to be slow when in fact it is an incredible technological achievement where anyone with a computer and Internet connection can access information from all over the world in seconds or, heaven forbid, minutes.

The Better the Story, the Better the Communication
The solution to the problem is better communication to make yourself and your message instantly understood. People who are truly interested in what you have to say will wait for your Web page or video to load. What gets them frustrated is that when they wait—and instead of getting a meaningful message they get a bunch of nonsense that is irrelevant, self-congratulatory, or completely incomprehensible.

A video or audio message on your Web site is more easily grasped than a page full of densely written text or cryptic bulleted points. But you will loose your audience quickly no matter what the form of your message if it's confusing, muddled, overly complex, or buried in b-school platitudes and industry jargon.

You need your message to be understandable, engaging, and memorable. And one of the best ways to convey that message is to compare it with something your audience can relate to.
It's like teaching your kids a life lesson by reading them one of Aesop's Fables.

Finding Your Metaphor
Some people have a knack for expressing things in a way that an audience will instantly grasp and, more importantly, remember.
For those of us in the communication, marketing, advertising, and creative-development businesses, it is a necessary skill learned over the years. But for those in the day-to-day grind of business's nitty-gritty, it is rarely an ability that ever gets developed.

Creating a Web video campaign that your audience is going to watch, remember, and pass on to colleagues requires a commitment of time and money, and you'll want to make sure it communicates your message effectively. Rather than using your traditional-approach concentrating of features and facts, try something different: Try developing a campaign based on a metaphor that delivers your brand's personality and emotional value-add.

Where to begin? You need to set yourself free from the concrete and concentrate on the conceptual. If this seems like a difficult thing to wrap your head around, start with baby steps.

Concentrate on the Conceptual
Any effective marketing campaign—whether it's a series of Web videos, direct emails, magazine display ads, banner ads, outdoor billboards, television and radio spots, or any combination thereof—will work only if it focuses on a single message.
At the heart of all advertising is the promise you commit to delivering to your clients. No matter how clever or memorable your marketing, if you fail to deliver on that promise, you will fail.

Learn a lesson from the politicians. The general publics' opinion of politicians is about on a par with having a prostate exam. Politicians can't help themselves; they promise the electorate what the electorate wants to hear, and then fail to deliver on promises that can never be kept. Consequently, people become cynical and distrust everything politicians say.
Failure to deliver on your promise to be the cheapest, the best, or the guy with the most features, is like a politician promising no new taxes. Read my lips! Those kinds of promises are a prescription for marketing disaster.

Taking the conceptual approach requires a certain degree of confidence and an understanding that you are going to have to give up something to get something in return.
If you present your identity as the Timex of widgets, inexpensive and ubiquitous, then you are giving up the audience looking for the Rolex of widgets, expensive and exclusive.

Audience Resonance: It's All About Striking a Nerve
One of the most memorable commercials ever to appear on television was the 1985 introduction of the Apple Macintosh computer. The anti-Big Brother message said nothing of bits or bytes, or anything else computer-related, but it did establish Apple's character and personality with its allegorical message, which is still valid today.

If your marketing message lacks this kind of power and personality, if your advertising is getting lost, or drowned-out by the competition, try finding a metaphor that instantly tells your audience who you are and why they should care.

Marketing to Women - Nike

How Nike Women's Marathon Wins the Gold in Marketing to Women

October 23, 2007

On October 21, Nike hosted its 4th annual Women's Marathon in San Francisco... and, friends, this is no ordinary marathon.
Yes, it's still 26.2 miles of courage and pain, but this course is also full of female-friendly delights and surprises. Specifically designed with women in mind, the Nike Women's Marathon motivates women to bring their body, mind, spirit, and camaraderie to run their best race.

Let's take a look at the core marketing-to-women strategies that Nike is using to elevate the impact of this event: Surprise & Delight, Community, Corporate Halo, Storytelling, Emotional Connection, and Inclusiveness.

Surprise & Delight

Random acts of kindness are wonderful ways to connect with your female audience, create a great memory, and give them something to tell their friends about. In fact, in this age of word-of-mouth marketing, the Surprise & Delight strategy is consistently the most effective way to create positive word of mouth—your most powerful marketing multiplier.

From the spectacular views along the course to the sweet treats during the Chocolate Mile to the foot-pampering pedicure stations, Nike has designed every detail of the Nike Women's Marathon to delight the women runners.

On Thursday night before the big weekend, participants are invited to the Ladies Night happy hour, featuring drinks, appetizers, and special raffles, including a chance to win diamond earrings from Tiffany & Co. At the Nike Expotique, the racers can indulge in free massages and manicures, tune up with Nike+ trials, fitness consultations, training and nutrition seminars, and have some fun at the hair and make-up stylist stations. Post-race, there's a big party at the finish line with music, more free massages, and lots of good food.

At the end of the 26.2 miles, each runner gets a Finisher's necklace from Tiffany, a little bit of bling that serves as a badge of honor for every woman who fights her way to the finish line. As one blogger put it, "Crossing the finish line and having a tall, handsome man in a tuxedo hand you a little blue box makes it worth all of your hard work!"

And picture this the day after the race: 20,000 runners fan out from San Francisco, returning to their homes across the country and across the world exhilarated by the experience and singing its praises to everyone they encounter.

With this event, by showing its commitment to women, Nike has in effect created a corps of brand ambassadors visibly and publicly committed to the brand.

Men aspire to be at the top of the heap, the King of the Road. Psychologists have found, however, that women generally don't want to be looked up to, any more than they want to be looked down on. Female gender culture operates within the worldview of a peer group, and women like to look across, to feel a sense of bonds among equals. Women want to be a part of a community, to be with people with whom they have something in common.

Nike has figured out how to bring empathy and community to their marathon this year, and it's doing it in a creative "new media" way. In addition to the actual, on-site, physical race in San Francisco, its is also holding the Nike+ Women's Half Marathon, a local counterpart to the real deal that women can run on their own turf.

Women across the country can run 13.1 miles on a course of their choosing on October 21, log their results onto the Nike Web site by the end of the day, and become an official half-marathon finisher. And as the Nike site says, finishing has its privileges: When you cross the finish line on nikeplus.com, you get a virtual trophy in your online trophy case (hey—a trophy's a trophy—I'll take it!). And, not to worry, you too get a box in Tiffany blue—a silver key chain—and in the mail you'll receive your very own Nike Finisher's T-shirt.

Also online, Nike helps women find a support network while training by hosting an online forum. They can meet other women who will run on race day, share training tips, encourage each other, share favorite routes, etc.
Even if you couldn't be in San Francisco next weekend, Nike created a way to engage women all over the world, inspire them to "Run Together!" as this year's tagline goes, and bond with tens of thousands of women across the planet.

Corporate Halo
The "corporate halo" principle—shorthand for companies that dedicate real time, money, and commitment to acts and programs of good community citizenship—is one of the strongest "marketing to women" tools in any strategic plan, because it can help a brand stand out in a meaningful way.

When all other things are equal (and in this era of commoditization, they so often are), a company's good community practices can be the deciding factor that builds a bridge to your brand instead of to your competition. Study after study shows that the majority of men and women care about corporate halo—but the women always care just a little bit more. And since it's the women who buy 80% of everything, that opens up doors of opportunity for marketers seeking to invite their best prospects in.

The Nike Women's Marathon benefits the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, the world's largest voluntary health organization dedicated to funding blood cancer research. Via a partnership with Team in Training, the marathon raised more than $40 million in its first three years for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society.

Storytelling, Emotions & Inclusiveness
I do miss one thing from last year's event: the stories featured on the Web site. There were hundreds of them, some serious, some funny, some moving, and all inspirational.
They represented the broad range of women's reasons to run: Some love to run just for the heck of it, some seek goals to accomplish, some run in honor of survivors, some run in memory of loved ones, some run to bathe in the beauty of San Francisco, some run to lose weight and gain a fitness routine for life, some run to be social and to train with friends.

Regardless of the reason, the Nike Women's Marathon fulfills a dream for each of them. This inclusiveness strategy is important to Nike's success with women. Most Nike ads come across as only for serious hard-core athletes. With its marathon communications, Nike recognizes and includes all women, who have many different motivations for running beyond being a hard body.
The hundreds of stories on last year's site were listed as links with a memorable first line for each story. With lead-ins like "Began running in my 70s," "In memory of my son Nick," "To prove a point," and "The Ladies Lunchtime Running Club," who could resist the urge to read them all?

I think I clicked on every one—and it's no exaggeration to say that the whole time I felt steeped in good vibes about the benefits and blessings that the Nike Marathon was bringing to these women in mind, body, spirit, and camaraderie.

Every year, the Nike Women's Marathon has been sold out in a matter of hours—and it's easy to see why. If you were one of this year's runners, I hope you had a great time. If you are a marketer looking for inspiration on how to "just do it" with marketing to women, look to Nike—the goddess of victory, don't you know!

Prepare for an Ad Campaign Success

How to Prepare for an Advertising Campaign's Success

You've done your homework and planned a solid advertising campaign. But, says Elaine Fogel, Vice President of Team Y & R, you need to be sure you're ready for its success. Is your small business really prepared to handle the surge in volume you're hoping for?

Her advice:

Plan for the best-case scenario. If a big response has the potential to overwhelm your staff, hire temporary workers or recruit friends and family to help out. "It's always better to be over-prepared and hire too many people in the short term than to miss out on sound business leads," claims Fogel.

Educate the entire team. Anyone at your company who answers the phone or responds to customer email needs to know about the promotion. Share your objectives and how to handle anticipated questions. Everyone should be prepared to pinch-hit if salespeople are overwhelmed.

Tell the truth. Follow the old maxim of under-promising and over-delivering by giving accurate information about product availability and wait times. Record follow-up requests in a database. Try to be as speedy as possible, but never make an appointment you can't keep.

The Po!nt: "It's a balancing act to have the accurate number of staff and resources to handle increased sales while ensuring that customers have a positive brand experience at every touch point," writes Fogel.

All about being naughty - The Axe Effext

It's Nice to be Naughty!

If you don't make a habit of watching channels like MTV or Comedy Central, it's possible you’ve missed an array of gleefully sophomoric spots for Axe body spray. The usual premise: When an average-looking guy uses Axe, attractive women start throwing themselves at him. Literally. Sometimes—locked in passionate embrace—the lucky lad and a new girlfriend roll down a hill, oblivious to the rocks, fences and cliffs they encounter along the way. It's a none-too-subtle message aimed squarely at adolescent boys, but even those of us outside the target demographic can appreciate its unapologetic cheek.

Now, Axe has gone even further with a viral-friendly video. Approached from the female perspective in the style of a Daily Show satire, this faux news report examines the Axe Naughty to Nice Program for Wayward Girls, which attempts to rehabilitate "nice" young women turned "naughty" by the irresistible power of Axe body spray.
Clocking in at a full five minutes, the video boasts exceptional production values and enough off-color humor to make an FCC censor blush. A special extra for marketers: The riotous send-up of a dim-witted PR director.

Axe delivers its tried-and-true message with the twist so entertaining that the video begs to be forwarded on entertainment merit alone—we call that Marketing Inspiration.
See the Axe clip on YouTube.