10 Mobile Marketing Insights Gleaned From Judging the MMA Smarties Awards
First off, the Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) is a champion for transformation and innovation in mobile marketing. Its members include a wealth of global heavy-hitters the likes of P&G, Walmart, Ford and MasterCard. More than 800 companies from fifty countries around the globe. Many see the MMA as the global standard bearer for best practices.
Read MoreOnline Creativity And The Rise Of The Machine
The creative imperative in advertising is to do work that compels an audience to engage and to remember. Being memorable is how brands are built. Getting digital media noticed among the daily barrage of online impressions begs for work that breaks through. Work that is unique and consistent over time. Data surely can help brands do smarter work. But for true creative originality, for the big idea, humans are required.
Read MoreTrump 2016: A Rebranding Challenge
Hey, it’s Donald. Love him or hate him, he is what he is. And actually, that just might be his advantage. While the masses may associate his brand with “You’re Fired” or his celebrity status or being a real estate mogul, Trump actually has few personal brand attributes that, with the right spin, the American public just might be into.
Read MoreThe King And The Videobomb
There was something refreshing about The Burger King’s visit to Bob Baffert’s private box at Belmont Park this past weekend. Mr. Baffert is the renowned trainer of American Pharaoh, the thoroughbred colt that won the Triple Crown Sunday. There he was, innocuously hangin’ out in
Read MoreTelling The Truth And Brand Equity
Brands are living, breathing things. They require shaping, nurturing, and maintenance over time. Done well, a strong brand has the power to build a business and sustain it well into the future, and can make its owner rich along the way. Brand equity, as opposed to brand value, has power beyond the balance sheet. Brand value is the financial difference between net present value of future cash flow between a branded versus unbranded product.
Read MoreNot Getting Great Work From Your Agency? Maybe It's You
Contrary to popular convention, advertising agencies can be a tough place to realize creative aspirations. Though if your agency is good enough, the odds that you will satisfy your creative passions improve, if only slightly. If your agency is really, really good, you might even tell a bad client or two to get lost. A rare treat indeed. And if, just if, your agency is even better than that,
Read MoreContent, Consumers, Brands And Creativity
While it won’t go away anytime soon, the days of brands curating and sharing content as their primary method of engaging customers is waning. There’s no denying that providing relevant, useful content is a way for brands to consistently gain trust and establish leadership. And a good piece of content is eminently sharable. But now that everyone has jumped on the content band wagon, and with the massive amount of content available for sharing, curating alone is simply not enough.
Read MoreThe End Of The Line
P&G may have cemented “The Line” in marketing vernacular back in the 60’s but it’s long since time to let it die a respectful death. “The Line” was intended to divided the realm of awareness or brand focused marketing and that of interest and/or behavioral-focused marketing such as direct marketing, collateral, POS and promotion. One was a long-term capital investment in the brand, and the other a near-term expenditure designed to
Read MoreApple And Me, Are We Growing Apart?
After watching Apple announce the less than auspicious iPhone 5S, I got to thinking. Apple,.. a brand with which I have had a long and happy relationship, has over the years given me everything I wanted. I liked being associated with “think different”. The rebel in me approved. I like their commitment to aesthetics when it came to design, hardware and software alike.
Read MoreBe Creative Or Be Invisible: Branding In The Digital Era
In the days before digital, marketers were relatively comfortable with the delineation between response and awareness. Awareness was required for consideration which led to preference, then conversion. And it was clear what channels did what. Justifying that big creative idea and big budget to build awareness was a challenge and its benefits not always immediately measurable. It was an investment for marketers with vision and patience, and CEOs who “get it”.
Read MoreRight Or Wrong? Well, Yes And No
Rolling Stone’s cover featuring the “rock-style” portrait of Dzhokar Tsarnaev has filled the web with controversy and heated opinions on both sides. As an ad guy, a lot of people have asked me my thoughts on the cover. And the truth is, I’m conflicted. Clearly, no one who has committed such atrocities should be celebrated or glorified in any way. Boston is my home town, and I had many family members and friends who were way too close to the blast.
Read MoreHow To Get Rich Quick
For years, this is how companies built value: They identified a need in a market, sized the opportunity, developed a viable solution for that need, ran the numbers and defined potential. Establishing value was a market-driven process, pure and simple. Investors calculated their ROI based on the market opportunity and an ability to scale, then gauged risk factors and plunked down the bucks. Then along came the promise of technology and the internet.
Read MoreThe End Of Togetherness?
My Mom is a stickler for manners. A big part of manners for her are the social graces. A firm handshake. Looking people in the eyes. Acknowledging others, saying hello, and basically being socially engaged and present with our fellow human beings. Anything else was simply rude and not to be tolerated. Old school? Maybe, but it shouldn’t be. The rules of social engagement are certainly changing.
Read MoreSeeking Like-Minded for Long-Term Relationship
Let’s face it, some relationships are better than others. For agencies, clients with whom you build a committed relationships based on mutual trust and respect invariably get your best work. Mutual trust is defined as a shared belief that you can depend on each other to achieve a common purpose. Clients with whom that kind of trust is established are our partners in creativity, our co-conspirators in innovation.
Read MoreWhat's Old Is New... Again
I find this just a little mystifying. I read a LinkedIn post today about “an exciting new form of marketing called “engagement”. And that this new form of marketing relied on this new idea of “story telling”. I guess I missed the announcement, but when did all this become new again? Call me crazy, but as long as I’ve been in the business, all communications were created to engage their audience.
Read MoreSaving The Whales, In A Manner Of Speaking
It’s been quite a run. The digital revolution has transformed the advertising business in the last 15 years beyond anything we imagined. Yet in some ways, the transformation brought with it a dangerous downside. But things are looking up. The digital explosion had everyone living only for the moment deeming a commitment to concept, creative finesse and long-term brand development a questionable
Read More