Sunday, June 11, 2006

2006 Innovative Marketing Conference

The Columbia Business School hosted the 2006 Innovative Marketing Conference last week. I didn't attend and it turns out I didn't have to. The entire conference was blogged about on FC NOW and several of the speakers were interviewed by Shel Holtz and Neville Hobson of For Immediate Release. Other bloggers, such as Lois Kelly of Foghound, filled in thoughts of their own. The list of speakers was impressive and included names like David Weinberger of Cluetrain Manifesto fame, Larry Weber of Weber Shandwick, Joseph Jaffe and Burger King CMO Russ Klein.

I have spent much of my weekend reading about the conference and listening to the interviews. If you're in marketing, advertising or public relations--and want to be in five years--you would be wise to do the same.

Perhaps due to my background in public relations, I found Weber's contributions particularly interesting, especially his interview with Holtz and Hobson. FC NOW had several posts on Weber, attributing the following comments to him:

Marketing's role is to create content that contributes to the conversation.

His favorite marketing word is engagement; his least is advertising.

Creativity will raise its head 'big time' in the next three years. 'Campaigns, content and delivery' are the next wave of getting one's marketing message out. Creativity's going to be about creating webisodes and podcasts that are funny, amusing and can be shared.

"Brand is the dialogue you have with your constituents."

There's a rough transcription of his speech and the web site for his new company can be found here.

I also enjoyed the interview with Johnnie Moore and John Winsor. Johnnie blogged a little on the conference here. In their interview, one of the Johns said something like: "a couple of years ago, companies were concerned about losing control of their brand, now they're saying 'I'm losing control, what the hell do I do?'" A major theme of the conference appeared to be getting on board with the emerging social media before you get left behind.

Next year, I think I might have to attend this event. On second thought, I got most of the content through the blogs and podcasts I listed above. Also, by staying home, I didn't have to miss any of the World Cup. Go USA!

Friday, June 9, 2006

World Cup Ad Watch

Don't bother calling me today because the chances are good that I won't answer my phone. I'll be at the local pub watching the biggest sporting event in the world: the 2006 World Cup. I've only been getting excited about this for the last six months and now it's finally here.

Partially responsible for my excitement are the excellent ads that ESPN has been running for the World Cup. If you haven't seen them yet, be sure to go over to the site they've put up: One Game Changes Everything. It's hard for me to be objective, because I love the game so much, but if the ad about the Ivory Coast doesn't give you goosebumps, you need to check for a pulse. Here it is:

Doesn't that make you want to watch? You can follow the action on the blogosphere at the excellent Deadspin or at my favorite soccer blog: Caught Offside. If you're looking for the view from the ground, try WorldCupBlog. I'm keeping up with the latest news about the event at ESPN's Soccernet. Their Gamecast is essential in case I'm forced to return to my desk before the game ends.

We'll be tracking some of the other ads we like (unless we're too busy watching the matches) so leave your suggestions (and your predictions) in the comments below. Game on!

Sunday, June 4, 2006

Consumer Generated Single

What are you doing to engage the consumers that find their way to your web site? What are you giving them that makes them want to return? tell their friends? post something on Myspace?

Jars of Clay clearly spent some time thinking about engaging viewers of their band web site. In addition to great design, their site has a lot of the things you'd expect to find on the web site of popular musicians: multimedia, band bios and journals, an email list to sign up for, a fan site, a Myspace page and even a charity.

But Jars of Clay have taken engagement one step further. Fans who come to jarsofclay.com get to decide which song from the latest album will be released as the next single. You can vote here. But what if you haven't heard all of the songs from their latest album? They've got it covered. They're all there for you to listen to. That's right...all thirteen songs from the album Redemption Songs can be listened to in their entirety online.

But, you might ask, how will they get fans to buy what they can hear for free online? Well, I just purchased my copy. Why? Because I want to get it in my mp3 player.

What do your site visitors get to vote on? Are the polls meaningless, or do they get to decide what the next production extension will be? Do they get to pick a new color? retail location?

Incidentally, I voted for "I'll Fly Away." Leave your vote and thoughts in the comments section below.

Friday, June 2, 2006

Content is King (and Queen and Jack and Duke and…)

Recently, I was conducting a media training session for a local CEO. As I was preparing for the training, I was going over notes from past session and reflecting on one change that has occurred in the curriculum since I started teaching people how to handle media interviews.

In sessions from years ago, I spend a significant amount of time coaching trainees on the differences between the different kinds of media: broadcast and print. The reason for spending time on that material was the fairly common belief that different mediums needed to be approached in different ways.

In the recent session, the amount of time spent on this topic was reduced to a handout containing tips for how to dress for a television interview. The reason for this is an observation that the digitization of content has blurred the differences between the different types of media.

Let me give you a couple of recent examples. Our local newspaper, the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, has started posting video interviews alongside their print stories that are reproduced online. Years ago, the newspaper was solely a print medium, but today their stories are posted online along with additional background, relevant links, additional photos and broadcast elements like audio and video interviews…even podcasts and RSS feeds.

In a similar fashion, television news is no longer just a broadcast medium. For years, TV news crews have been posting print versions of their stories on the web. Our local CBS affiliate, KELO, refers to their web site as their seventh broadcast of the day. Although their web sites typically aren’t as robust as TV, almost all radio stations have some kind of news presence on their web site.

In addition to the seismic shifts in mainstream media outlets, new media bring a number of other new considerations to your interview. A DVR can be used to capture your TV interview and post it online for everyone to see. Blogs can interact with the online version of your print interview and provide additional commentary that you hadn’t considered. And, of course, search engines create a permanent record of everything you’ve ever said that can and will be checked to see if it contradicts with your current comments.

Instead of focusing on the blurring distinctions between different types of media, I impress upon my trainees the importance of their content. Because you don’t know exactly how or where your comments are going to appear, focus almost exclusively on the content of your message. If your content is good, the context will matter less, whether that be a newspaper, TV news, a podcast or an online message board.

This coincides with the latest reading I’ve discussed in a recent post. In the third to last paragraph of “Life After the 30 Second Spot,” Joseph Jaffe writes: “Above all, content will remain king—now more than ever.” I couldn’t agree more.