NIKE’s Latest Ad Campaign – Brilliance, Bust or Boo Boo?

If you think advertising doesn’t work, just look at the latest NIKE campaign featuring Colin Kaepernick, the NFL Quarterback who knelt during the playing of the National Anthem.  Boy this campaign has lite a gas can on fire.

Let’s go back to another “controversial” NIKE campaign…the TV ad NIKE did with Charlies Barkley in 1993… the “I’m Not a Role Model” campaign.  It was a hot topic then, but that campaign had something going for it.

-        - The focus was on a topic that didn’t have a tremendous amount of controversy and passion around it and

-        - The ad had :30 seconds of airtime to explain why parents should be role models not athletes

I look at this latest campaign from NIKE in a couple of ways.

1.     Consumer.  Summing it up, I don’t care for it – but I’m not the target audience for NIKE.  Their target audience is clearly younger and the campaign probably resonates with them. 

2.     Marketing Professional.  There is a risk/reward with everything in marketing.  With that in mind, the short-term backlash over the Kaepernick ad might be enough to actually hurt NIKE with its intended target audience.  Let me explain.  If NIKE bends to the pressure and dumps the campaign ad featuring Kaepernick they look weak to their intended target audience as they’ve “caved in to pressure of society.”   In today’s society, empowerment has become a theme permeating our culture.   The message integrates society and sports together. 

“Hey you support Colin Kaepernick, but you don’t have the guts to stay with the campaign? “Whoops”… now who eats crow?

And although NIKE is clearly trying to resonate with younger audiences by using well known athletes, it seems to me they could have chosen a better individual to focus on. 

I trust they’ve thought through all the permeations this ad campaign might cause.

3.     Business Professional.  As you’ve heard me say before “there is no other reason to invest in marketing unless it drives sales.”   Whether or not this campaign drives sales via the brand is up in the air.  Look to NIKE’s next two quarterly earnings statement to see what success it’s had.

So where does all this lead us?  I don’t know, but I would hate to be in their PR department these days.

Scott

Events, Tradeshows, Party’s Oh My!

Ah, the never ending debate in the value of events, tradeshows and customer parties.  Sales swears they are critical, management questions the value and marketing gets stuck resourcing and paying the bill.

Let me start out by saying:

• -          I believe they are important.
• -          However, the actual sales which result from participation can be questionable, but keeping your sales staff in front of customers is typically a good thing.
• -          The cost of an average sales call is around $500.  It makes sense to get as many customers together under the same event as possible – by increasing the number of customers you reduce the cost of a sales call.
• -          Sales MUST do their part and create meaningful sales conversations.  Just slapping someone’s back and getting them a drink doesn’t count.
• -          Marketing must create an environment which allows for Sales to have meaningful conversations.
• -          Measurement of success is everyone’s responsibility.  It’s not enough to just say everyone had a great time and customers were happy.
• -          For the most part, prospective customers should always be part of the event attendees.

A couple of thoughts on tracking

• -          Capture a customer’s name when they enter the event – the best way to do so is to do this electronically, an iPad is great.  Capture name, address, company, email, phone, etc.  I recommend having all of this populated in a database prior to the event so you’re just checking them off as they walk in.
• -          Upload that list of attendees as a marketing campaign, create a campaign code, smart list, etc.
• -          Ok, here’s where it gets a bit tricky – you’re going to create an A/B test scenario

o   Begin tracking the campaign code/smart list, etc. for sales. 

o   Take an nth sample of those who did NOT attend the list and use that as your control group.  I prefer a 10% sample (so the naysayers can’t complain that the sample was too small) but you can typically use less.

o   Track A vs. B and determine results associated with:

§  Net new product sold

§  Retention rate – both products and customers

§  New customers brought in

§  Average sales dollar amount

§  Increases in margin that sales produces as it relates to price increases

§  Do a simple ROI based on the cost of the events, etc. vs. sales

§  Tracking could take a year!  Yes a year. 

-         Now there are always different ways to approach this – adding in number of sales calls made, customer satisfaction scores, where they are in the buying cycle, whether a nurturing campaign is engaged, etc.  And let’s recognize that a single event doesn’t make a sale… but if you do an A/B test you can get close to representation.

-          

      But, for a down and dirty method I like to use the above.

Now, have the honest conversation with Sales and Management – whether the results are good, bad or indifferent.

Good Luck,

Scott

The Art of Marketing Compromise

The celebration of American independence is right around the corner – July 4^th.  Two-hundred and forty-two years ago the course of a nation, it’s people and the world in general began to shift.

As you look back at the history of how the Declaration of Independence came to be, the underlying factors included:

1.       Passion for equality

2.       Vision for the future

3.       Leadership to make change

4.       Compromise in moving forward in steps vs. leaps

Compromise seems to be a lost art – from our government, to our relationships with one another to business.  And perhaps the ability to express thoughts through social media and email (without a filter) have only perpetuated the lack of compromise.

During my career I’ve always tried to push for significant change.  As said in today’s language – a “Disrupter.”  From positioning, to organizational structure, to technology, demand generation, channel expansion, creative, messaging and strategy.  Always trying to take the “big leap” and pushing, pushing, pushing.  And I must say that the times I’ve been successful in taking the big leap.  But, by compromising across business and function lines on recommended changes the ability to obtain the end goal has usually been achieved.

For marketing to be successful we must all learn and practice compromise.  I am not saying we shouldn’t push hard for change, but when we are stymie by those with strong contrary opinions, we need to learn how we can compromise on our “giant leap” to move towards solid “steps” towards our end goal.  Then continue to push for smaller steps always moving forward.  Communication and inclusion of others is the only way to drive appropriate compromise.

For without compromise the Declaration of Independence and the forming of our nation would not have occurred.  

Remember, that the next time you sit across the table from someone strongly opposing your “giant leap.”

Happy July 4^th.

Scott

20 Items Which Made Our Website Launch Successful

It’s been a few weeks since we launched our new website.   Over that time, I’ve had time to reflect on the main things which made the project successful.  Let me share with you some of the key elements I believe made our project successful and hopefully these will help make yours as equally as successful.

1. ·         Primary Goal – trying to make a website “all things to all people” is a noble thought but impossible to delivery.  Focus on what is your primary goal and drive your resources to the solution of that goal.
2. ·         Internal Requirements -- get requirements across your organization.  From executives to customer service, etc.   
3. ·         Prioritize – you will not meet everyone’s requirements.  Target getting 80% of your total requirements completed.  Then put the rest in the backlog for future development.
4. ·         Customer Requirements – get feedback from customers on what they need and want from a website.  At the end of the day, you need to ensure you make the site based on their requirements as well.
5. ·         Technology – if you are going to continue to use your current web technology and CMS ensure you have the latest version.  If you’re looking at new technology, go through a rigorous review and procurement process.
6. ·         Partners –  let your agencies, tech teams, vendors, etc. on board with the project.  They should be treated as partners and respected as such.
7. ·         Sponsorship – get someone at the Executive level to be your sponsor.  They will be a help to bounce ideas off of and assist with issues.
8. ·         Design – provide clear requirements on the brand, what you expect, etc.  Get 5 or more creative examples to review.  You will probably like components scattered across many of them.  This will lead you to your final design.  Also, get all of your photography, fonts, etc. licensed.
9. ·         Testing – I like to use an Agile development and testing process… make sure you find one that allows you to test on an ongoing basis.
10. ·         People – you will need top quality people to pull this project off.  Get folks from multiple areas with different skillsets.
11. ·         Process – use a clear process and tracking program.  Scrum is probably the best way to achieve success.  Get yourself an aggressive Scrum Master.
12. ·         Responsibilities – give everyone clear responsibilities and expectations.
13. ·         Outsource – I prefer to outsource these types of projects to very qualified partners.  Getting experts who can work on the project full time and without interruption.
14. ·         Definition of Success -- what and how will you define the project is successful.  Make it clear and communicate it frequently.
15. ·         Resources – get the resources you need before the project starts.  But guess what… you won’t get them.  Live with it.  Get them along the way but make it clear that without them you will not achieve success.  And be vocal when you’re not getting them.
16. ·         Alignment – ensure you are aligned with your IT and development team.  They are your biggest ally.  They need to be your true partner.  Don’t take this lightly…
17. ·         Communications – communicate to the top and to the bottom and everyone in between.  And do it on a frequent basis.  You don’t want to surprise anyone and ensuring everyone knows the good, the bad and the ugly will help overtime.
18. ·         Training – train those who will be utilizing the software and systems.  Give them the tools, the brand/writing guidelines, the do’s and don’ts, etc.
19. ·         One Throat to Choke – someone has to make the final decisions and take the responsibility for when things go sideways.  It’s the lightening rod for any issues or complaints. 
20. ·         Recognize Success – celebrate… give out rewards, write those thank you notes, ensure people get recognition with management and within the organization.

Now this list is by no means complete.  Good luck and I hope the above helps a bit.

Scott

Laura Ingraham - Advertising Boycott or Company Brand Management?

On the heels of Laura Ingraham's return to the air on Monday, others in the media world are calling the advertising "boycott" Un-American as everyone has a right to free speech under the first amendment. )  See the article and interview - https://wapo.st/2qghgnM )

What's amazing is talk show hosts, etc. don't get it. Yes, everyone has the right to free speech but the issue isn't free speech. The issue which advertisers have is brand management. When you align your brand with someone or something which clearly doesn't support the values of your company most companies have no issue in cutting the advertising cord. Liken this to firing of an employee who doesn't embrace a companies standards of ethics -- just take a look at all of the sexual misconduct charges being made and the responses by companies -- they fire people.

Why stick with a particular show if it doesn't align with your brand? There are soooo many media choices available to reach your target audience. Why stick with someone who has become toxic? As a former Media Director who bought millions in advertising I invested those dollars to generate sales and build a brand. It's strictly business.

Do advertisers come back? Some might. But why? Unless you want to align your brand with the host and the messages they send there isn't a reason to stay. Just switch the advertising to another program or network -- it's as easy as a phone call.

By the way the folks in media companies that do understand the alignment of a brand are those in Media Sales and Media Company Executives. I'm sure they've all been on the phone with their clients trying to get the dollars back.

If you want to see my earlier post on this subject it can be found at: https://bit.ly/2IEoIk3

Scott

Follow the Money Laura Ingraham

Follow the Money Laura Ingraham

Advertising dollars speak load.  It’s what makes the media world go around.  I know this personally having been the Worldwide Media Director for Hewlett Packard.  At HP, I was managing a $500M media budget.  Yep, that’s millions.  A huge number which I was privileged to manage and create some of the most memorable campaigns along with my fellow colleagues and agency partners.

Bring in Laura Ingram the Fox News host who recently made a ludicrous comment about 17 year old David Hogg a Parkland, FL student who survived the vicious mass murder shooting in Florida.  The result of that tweet has led to 8 advertisers to drop her show, an apology from Ingraham and the quick announcement that she had a pre-planned vacation scheduled and would be gone a week.

And the move by those advertisers didn’t surprise me at all.  Here’s a few things most smart Media Directors live by.   

The first, where you advertise has a direct reflection on the brand and values of the company.  That’s not to say controversy is unacceptable – in fact nearly all shows these days are.  But, there’s controversy and literal stupidity. 

The second rule of media buying.  How much stomach acid do you want to have when someone says something stupid or ignorant and it does not reflect your brand?  I can tell you that the majority of Media Directors don’t have enough antacid to stand the ground for a particular show. 

Now, the third rule of media.  One show doesn’t make a media schedule.  It’s easy to drop a show or network and move the money.  It takes one phone call.

And finally, the fourth rule of media.  Money talks.  When advertisers drop you and the money train is leaving without you on it, it’s amazing how fast an apology comes or condemnation from a network.

You might believe Laura Ingraham was in the right or that it’s wrong the advertisers dropped her show. That’s your opinion.  However, it doesn’t negate the fact that TripAdvisor, Wayfair, Hulu, Nutrish, Johnson & Johnson, Nestle, Atlantis Paradise Island and Stitch Fix bailed.  And I’ll bet you money they don’t come back to her show to advertise in the future.   

Money talks folks, bullsh*t walks.

Scott

Where’s Waldo? AKA Mark Zuckerberg

In a recent post, I spoke about the upcoming European Union GDPR legislation due to go into effect May 25th. It is a wide set of legislation which will have profound impact on businesses, marketers, channels, etc.

And then you have the disclosure that a political based consulting group had received and sold the data on over 50 million Facebook users. Think about it… 50 million people across the globe have lost control of their private data. That causes challenges with Facebook's ability to meet the requirements of GDPR which is just weeks away from implementation.

But remember, last summer there were discussions of Facebook's privacy management, which called out multiple concerns. So the questions about Facebook's privacy have already been in question.

Now, enter in Mark Zuckerberg… wait, nope Mark Zuckerberg hasn’t entered the conversation. Until about an hour ago no one knew when he’s address the problem. It sounds like he’ll discuss it today. Although a significant problem for Facebook, privacy challenges are nothing new – from credit card data theft, to the loss of personal data at major credit scoring agencies. 

What is concerning is that leadership is tested when major issues and problems occur. Unfortunately, Facebook’s lack of response has been disappointing. An opportunity to be a leader in the privacy space has passed and Facebook is now a follower not a leader.

It will be interesting to see what happens over the coming weeks.

Scott

Marketers Are You Ready for General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR)?

General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) rolls out May 25th 2018.   You’re probably starting to hear rumblings about it. GDPR  will impact Marketers and the way we communicate. I won’t get into all of the details on GDPR. Topline it is new requirements for data privacy across the entire EU. It impacts how you market, process of the information and data you have, etc. And this doesn’t include just customers. It impacts your employees and user data as well. 

For Marketers concerned with the EU this is a critical change in the regulation. If you aren’t aware of it, get reading. IBM does a nice job summarizing it in this article.

So what’s a Marketer to do if you’re going to be highly constrained on email marketing and other forms of communication?  Well a few things you might consider include:

1.      Work with your legal, privacy and technology teams to ensure compliance with the new laws. The last thing you want is to get a letter from the government requesting a meeting to discuss some “issues” they’ve found.

2.      Organic Search – make damn sure your website is optimized to the nth degree on key search words, phrases, etc. 

3.      Paid Search – get a plan and start buying those must have terms. But make sure you’ve got a secondary list of terms which you’re willing to use in the event the cpm’s get above your comfort zone

4.      Retargeting – I’ve received different opinions on whether retargeting can be used with the new regulations but until clarity comes I’d get a plan in place

5.      Stronger messaging – in all of your advertising, on your website, social, etc.

6.      Website – maximize the appropriate level of onsite advertising, bumps, and onsite messaging

7.      Events – perhaps it’s time to focus some resources on events or tradeshows

8.      Advertising – look at both digital, print and broadcast. I’m amazed at how everyone’s abandoned the traditional channels. 

9.      Content – up the game. Get more aggressive but within limits. Remember that content has value. If someone wants it, ensure you get something in return

10.  Sales – as your lead volume at the top of the funnel will probably decrease, you should help bolster your sales teams assets so they can close more business at the bottom of the funnel

11.  Remnant inventory – take a serious look at buying up the cheap/off prime time inventory.  Remember, you’ll need to pound the market with your message using remnant, but if the costs are reasonable it could be an alternative

12.  External advocate programs – take those key brand advocates and empower them to spread the word about your brand, products and service

13.  Internal advocate programs – use your colleagues to be your brand ambassador – empower them to connect with others

14.  Run programs – expand beyond running ads – develop true programs which can create more engaging experiences and get customers to interact with your brand

15.  Social – use it, but don’t go crazy. You could see a backlash – remember more posts doesn’t mean more response.

16.  PR – increase it substantially – push hard for free coverage, getting your experts in front of the camera, etc.

17.  Partners – leverage partner events or connections to expand your reach

18.  Webinars – utilize these to get more connected with the customer and provide more detailed data and information

19.  Lock down the data – be sure to keep control of your data. You might want to consolidate list pulls, etc. to a small group of individuals.

Some things you should be prepared for….

1.      CPM increases – you’re not going to be the only guy or gal out there thinking about this… that will increase demand and that translates to higher prices

2.      Aggressive keyword search bidding

3.      Program ROI could take a nose dive. Be prepared to explain this when questioned. In fact, you might want to start that messaging ahead of the changes.

4.      Shock and Awe – marketers, agencies and suppliers are going to go nuts when they really understand what’s going on. And when that happens people do stupid things. Get legal advice! Don’t take the word of an agency or supplier. You don’t want to be on the cover of the Wall Street Journal as the poster child for this issue

5.      Communicate and train – across the entire organization

6.      Mistakes – someone will make a mistake and pull a list and email everyone.  Get your drawer statement and talking points ready in the event the press coming calling.

Let me leave you with this. The above items could possibly be impacted by GDPR. So check with your Legal Department before doing anything.  Overall, you must take off the blinders and look for alternative ways to reach customers.

Scott

email Jumps the Shark

I am absolutely amazed at the rapid expansion of junk mail being sent. And what is more concerning is it seems to be increasing. And that increase is actually a self fulfilling prophecy that we marketers have created. We send more and more email to make up for the decrease in response rates. Thus, we just keep expanding the target list to meet past results. And I would imagine we “loosen up” that tight list criteria we started out with. 

However, I believe we’re at the “jump the shark” moment as it relates to email as an effective tactic for  lead generation. Many of you might have thought that moment came years ago and perhaps it did.   Check out these statistics compiled by SpamLaws

• 14.5 billion messages globally per day are spam. That’s 45%... so nearly half of all email is junk
• Advertising spam makes up 36% of junk email
• And if you thought that was bad… estimates of 58 billion junk emails sent per daywill be the norm in the next four years. That landslide of junk email is estimated to cost businesses $198 billion per year

And guess what – we’re the culprits. Yep, go to the mirror and look at that face and realize you are guilty as charged.

So what kind of things should Marketers do over the next 4 years?

• Stop looking at your % of unsubscribes you get per campaign. It is a false indicator. Junk filters distort the number.
• Use direct mail – no one sends great mail anymore (if any mail at all) and if done properly you’ll cut through the clutter.
• Give your content away via social networks and communities – and let customers “find” the content in the appropriate areas.
• Tighten your list criteria back up
• Drive customers to your website to get content or interact with your brand
• Use more mass advertising and search to drive more top of the funnel leads
• Use associations and partners to help spread your message
• 3rd party PR – get out in front of the press, be an expert that companies look too
• Use social channels to promote valuable content back to your web site
• Focus on those who actually want to receive your emails
• Hold customer events or tradeshows to promote the brand and feed the sales funnel
• Just reduce the amount of email you send – sounds simple enough, but when you need to push sales quickly everyone seems to pull email out of the marketing tool kit first
• Get creative – start being marketers again!

These are just a few ideas I’m sure you have more. Look we need to get off of email crack. Remember, the road to recovery is to admit you have a problem.

Scott

Part 2 – Building the Perfect Beast – The Ecosystem

As a continuation of my earlier blog post on how to build the perfect marketing beast, this post will focus on the overall ecosystem – from the center of the ecosystem to outer edges. 

Before we start, don’t kid yourself, building this ecosystem takes time, effort, support, vision, financial and human capital.  Most companies start the journey with good intentions but discontinue the effort quickly based on changes in strategy, financial constraints, lack of IT support, patience or the lack of substantial results prior to the completion of major milestones.

Step 1:             Determine the center point of the ecosystem – this is absolutely the most critical aspect of designing the technology ecosystem.   Why?  It’s the point where all other platforms or activities hang off from.   I like to refer to this as the “home” of tracking and customer data.  This system can be:  a CRM system, ERP system, marketing automation platform, relational or inverted database, etc.  Each has its own unique positive and negative traits.   You’ll need to work with your IT department to determine which system might work best for your circumstances and overall goals.

I’ve used SQL, Oracle and a host of other databases, ERP and marketing automation systems during my career.  My preference is a true “marketing system” more specifically a Marketing Automation System (MAS).  And I’ve used both of the two major players Eloqua and Marketo. 

For me, Marketo seems to be easier to implement and not taking as many IT resources to maintain or expand. MAS’s allow marketers to store specific campaign, tactic and customer data in a format which the non-technical marketer can use and understand.   In addition, it creates the needed “memory” of activities and behavior which came from all marketing activities.  It also allows for a database which has the ability to stand alone or integrate with other internal or new systems.   The use of metrics and graphical representation of data is very intuitive and provides real data which can be acted upon. 

I’m a big believer in simple is better.    

I’ve bought the systems which were sold on the premise they could almost launch a space shuttle – but most times I’ve never had to launch the space shuttle.

Stay tuned for the next post where I’ll discuss the “core” types of platforms or technology which should surround your center point.

Scott