Prince – Master Musician and Brand Master

As many, I was shocked with the passing of Prince yesterday.  A musical genius who had tremendous influence on multiple generations.  Personally, I had 3 cassettes of the Purple Rain soundtrack.  Why 3? I wore them out from listening to some of the greatest songs of my generation.  Thank God the modern CD was created.

Prince was more than a musician; he was the master of the “Prince” brand.  Now whether he was cognizant or had a plan can be debated. 

• -          Color – how many artists are recognizable by a color?  For Prince it was purple.  The evidence was his use of the color in his marketing materials, songs, etc.  Last night’s tributes to him had lighting of purple across the globe.
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• -          Symbol – “the artist formally known as Prince.”  Remember that?  At first it was considered a joke. However, the symbol became as iconic as the color purple.  From guitars, graphics, t-shirts, etc. the symbol was uniquely his brand logo.
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• -          Super Bowl Half Time Performance – when on the grand stage of performance, with 100 million plus people seeing you perform, he cemented his brand.  His 2007 performance in the rain is legendary.  Frankly, it was perfect… the rain provided the backdrop when he played his hit “Purple Rain.”  An Interesting tidbit.. His performance was named the best Super Bowl performance.
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• -          Privacy – Prince was a private individual.  Living in Minneapolis certainly helps you be private.  But he didn’t get caught up in the LA scene, where the paparazzi and tabloid press prey on and can distort images.  That’s not saying he didn’t make the front page of The Enquirer, but it seemed to be tempered.  He controlled his brand by staying out of controversy.
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• -          Letting “Lightning” Strike Once -- After the movie Purple Rain ran its course, I was sure there would be a sequel.  There wasn’t.   But I have to believe it was discussed.  It seems to me he probably knew the risk of trying to make another hit, thus, damaging his brand.
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• -          Have Others Advocate His Brand – just a few artists who he helped or who played work he penned include:  The Bangles, Sheila E., Vanity, Tom Jones, and Sheena Easton.  They carried his brand by making hits out of his songs… those artists broadened his brand through their association with Prince.
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• -          Ownership – Prince was a stickler for “ownership” of his performances and work.   Sheryl Crow and others have discussed his business acumen at ensuring he “owned” his brand.  Prince seemed to know what his brand was worth and controlled it to ensure the value remained high.  

I’ll miss the live performances, new music and trend setting Prince provided.  RIP O’Purple One.

Scott  

Is Mobile Phone Technology Peaking?

I was due from an upgrade on my iPhone for quite some time now and decided to get to the local AT&T store to get what I thought would be “killer” new tech.  What a disappointment. 

I upgraded to the iPhone 6 -- yes I know I was a laggard on this one.   Usually, I’m the first guy upgrading to any new tech, but alas I just fell behind on the phone front.    

For all of the hype which is made around new technology and the lines which seem to wrap around the block at the Apple store I found this one to be a total let down.  When you really consider it all in context of a consumer experience, you really only get:

Larger screen size – yea this is a nice to have, but not a game changer.  Puts them equal with Samsung.

New screen saver – it moves.  Wow!  Who gives a damn.

Wallet and Apple Pay – is really the only new functionality I see.  It’s great and a next step in evolution, but isn’t the must have reason to buy a new phone.

Better camera – I was ok with the last one given all of the apps you can purchase to improve the old camera versions.

It seems “Moore’s Law” on the growth of technology might be fading a bit in the mobile hardware and software space.

Scott

My iPhone Could Launch Apollo 11

I stumbled upon an article on the computer which ran the Apollo 11 space mission.   The 1960’s based technology was merely 64Kbyte of memory.  This computer helped get NASA Astronauts over 350,000 kilometers to the Moon and back.  As I pondered this achievement I looked at my iPhone and realized how far our technology has come.  With just the applications I’ve loaded to my phone I can:

1.       Consume Content

·         Play thousands and thousands of songs

·         Play, store and create videos

·         Read and store books

2.       Communicate

·         Video conference

·         Monitor house security system and cameras

·         Communicate via email, facebook, twitter, linkedin, etc.

·         Translate content into different languages

3.       Commerce

·         Form of payment

·         Purchase items from online merchants

·         Book and manage travel

4.       Inform

·         Instant access to news, stock quotes, weather, sports, etc.

·         Track the location of where my kids are

·         Monitor traffic and get driving directions

·         Determine my exact location via GPS

5.       Work

·         Create spreadsheet, word and power point presentations and project them to another screen

·         Print to any wifi printer

·         Analyze calculations, etc.

And the above are just a smattering of all the things we can now do with technology which can be placed in our pocket.  What tomorrow brings will be even more amazing.

Scott

Estimated Media Spending Up? What’s Driving the Increase?

It seems all we hear about is how media budgets are being cut.  But some positive news came out of eMarketer which predicts media spend will increase  5.1% this year.  That number is slightly lower than had originally thought, but yes this is overall good news.  Let’s be wary of what is driving that increase. 

        

•       Politics -- political spend always tightens media inventory which naturally creates higher prices for media.  This supply/demand balance slow burns as caucuses occur state by state.  Then around June onward, inventory significantly constrains as we head into the Presidential election.
•           Olympics – the sporting events put a huge constraint on inventory during the summer months. Advertisers who normally don’t run consistent media schedules do burst media campaigns around the event.
•          Early Holiday Promotion – it seems Christmas shopping literally starts at Halloween.  Special “before” holiday shopping deals are becoming more prevalent.  Look at this new trend to constrain inventory as well.

So before we celebrate the “rise of media” let’s make sure we know the reasons for the increase and realize this might be an abnormal year of spend.

Scott  

And This Year’s Winner of the Oscar Is….

Bottom line the 2016 Academy Awards had a down year for ratings with 34.3 million viewers.  If you compare that to the last 15 years of viewership, it isn’t at the bottom but it’s far from the top of the ratings pyramid.

The show had the diversity controversy written all over the show.  From the opening monologue and mentioned continuously during the show.   I thought Chris Rock did a great job handling a very difficult situation, but at times I got a bit uncomfortable with some of the jokes around the subject.

Could the diversity issue drive down the year’s ratings to the third lowest in 15 years?  Perhaps, but a few other thoughts are worth noting.

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•   Must See TV – in years past I can recall “Oscar Viewing Parties” being held.  There was a sense of excitement.   My take… people aren’t enthused about the program or award.  They feel the content has become dull.
• -          Identity Loss – has Oscar lost his brand?  With the SAG Awards and Golden Globes all proceeding the Academy Awards it seems some of the luster might be a bit tarnished on the Oscar trophy.
• -          Movies – frankly, I had only seen one two of the movies up for the big award.  So the movie product might not have been exciting as years past.  Albeit, seeing if Leonard DeCaprio would win Best Male Performance was intriguing. 
• -          Competition – the show had no competition that night so that excuse is out the window.
• -           Host – Chris Rock was great.  He was dealt a very tough hand.  Striking a balance on diversity, humor and moving the show along had to be incredibly difficult.
• -           Cross promotion – it was very lean.  Little digital components left the show dry.

Ratings for this year and previous years of the show came in at:

2016 34.3 million 

2015 37.3 million 
2014 43.7 million 
2013 40.3 million 

2012 39.3 million 

2011 37.9 million 
2010 41.3 million 
2009 36.3 million 
2008 32.0 million 
2007 40. 2 million 
2006 38.9 million 
2005 42.1 million 
2004 43.5 million 
2003 33.0 million 

2002 41.8 million
2001 42.9 million 

Let’s hope next year’s event is a bit stronger.

Scott

Kim Kardashian vs. Donald Trump

       

This week, Kim K. posted a nude pic of herself on Twitter.   It’s gotten the typical response across the digital ecosphere, including a little “spat” between her and Bette Midler.

At the same time, Donald Trump was taking to social media, press conferences, rallies and the debate stage proclaiming the bravado we’ve seen since June.  But the Donald is really the social media master. Using it to create controversy, keep his name and message front and center….and he’s become the King of Twitter.

Kim K. seems to be playing second fiddle to the Trumpster on Twitter – by not getting the usual limelight.  I suppose we should medical classify this as “Twitter Deficit Syndrome or TDS.”

I suppose posting a nude tweet vs. Trump’s bravado political tweets is helping Kim to be the Queen of Twitter, if nothing but a few days.

Scott

These Are A Few of My Favorite Things

From time-to-time I’m asked what information I keep in touch with.  A few of my favorites include:

Web Sites

Advertising Age – http://adage.com/

AdWeek http://www.adweek.com/

Creative Magazine http://www.creativemag.com/

Marketing Week http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/ 

DMA Organization News http://www.the-dma.org/news/

B toB – The Magazine for Marketing Strategists http://www.btobonline.com/

Chief Marketer http://chiefmarketer.com

Direct Marketing News http://www.dmnews.com/

Ad News http://www.adnews.com/

Campaign Magazine http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/go/news/

PR Week http://www.prweek.com/

CNET  http://www.cnet.com

American Marketing Association  http://www.ama.org

WSJ CMO Today  http://www.wsj.com/news/cmo-today

CMO http://www.cmo.com

HubSpot  http://www.hubspot.com

Engadget    http://www.engadget.com

Tech Crunch   http://techcrunch.com

eConsultancy   https://econsultancy.com

Chief Marketer   http://www.chiefmarketer.com

Social Media Examiner    http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com

Talent Zoo   http://www.talentzoo.com

Twitter

@wsjcmo

@cmo_council

@britopian 

@pkfletcher

@TimHanlon 

@siriusdecisions

@rishad

@mmaglobal

@charlenli

@tedtalks

@timsuther

@sesamestreet

@bogusky 

@mckquarterly

LinkedIn Groups

Digital Marketing

Marketing Communications

eMarketing Association Network

Executive Suite

Marketing & Communications News

Apple vs. The US Government

The Justice Departments filings demanding Apple unlock one of the San Bernadino Gunman’s iPhone is a challenge for CEO Tim Cook and the Apple team.  Cook addressed customers in a letter  describing Apple’s strong views of customer privacy, etc.  Google, Yahoo! and others in Silicon Valley are standing with Apple on this important issue.

All of this got me thinking about how this could impact Apple’s marketing.  From my view, it’s nothing but “goodness.”  Think about it…

Apple is known for putting customer needs, preferences and privacy first… this stand supports this messaging.  Keeping customers privacy at the center of the marketing equation does nothing but strengthen Apple’s messaging.

Apple vs. Government — with all the political discussion around how broken Washington is, this fight shows corporate America will take on the US Government.  Again, strong messaging with little downside.

Losing the Battle — if Apple loses the legal war, it still looks good in that they “fought” for customer privacy.  Again, strong customer privacy messaging… little to no downside.

The Government is painting Apple as the bad guys by not fulfilling their request.  They’ve picked a moment and an opportunity to exploit the privacy issue.. Apple just happens to be the defendant in the trial.  But with new product shipping shortly, Apple’s name stays in the press and as we know… any PR is good PR.

Scott

Chat Functionality

Companies love to jump into chat — the next frontier in customer touches and service.  It sounds great, but there are things to consider, such as:

1. Where you put the chat button — the top?  the bottom?  My preference is the lower right hand corner.  It’s usually the standard on most sites, so why break the trend.  And, it stays out of the way of the left rail and top navigation areas.
2. Training — chat is not like picking up the phone.  Communicating clearly, with brevity are key aspects of chat.  And, reps should be able to carry on 2-3 sessions at the same time so juggling multiple conversations is important  Spend a great deal of time and money getting your reps trained… use a 3rd party training company.
3. Customer service skills — chat is at it’s core customer service which helps drive sales.  Your reps need to clearly be trained and compensated based on service level not sales.  Goaling on sales will create aggressive reps who will push your customers away from the purchase funnel.
4. Metrics — always measure the results.  How many sales can you confirm were made by the chat?  Customer service requests?  How many no’s for help?  How many never responded?  You must understand if you’re getting any type of return.  Don’t necessarily be concerned about sales only… cost avoidance in helping online is a benefit as well.
5. Time of day — go back to your analytics and staff based on the level of traffic you’re getting during specific times of the day.  
6. Geography coverage — are you ready to work with customers in different countries?  Should you?  Take a look at where your web traffic is coming from and staff appropriately.  Plus, if you aren’t concerned about international business, limit your chat to those country’s you are interested in.
7. Language — this is a big one.  Do you have staff who are skilled in more than one language?  If your web site is only in English I’d only use English as the language supported.  If you have a translated site, then look at the traffic on those translated pages, where are your sales coming from and decide whether the investment in multi-language support is warranted.
8. Privacy/Legal — ALWAYS have your legal department draft the appropriate language informing customers of their rights and of your policies.  
9. Where you want to chat — put the chat button the high traffic areas, vs. your long tail pages.  Staffing everywhere is inefficient and your staff is probably not going to understand all of your products, so stay where customers gather. 
10. What results do you want out of chat — define what you want upfront.  Sales?  Customer service?  This is critical as other numbers might look great - number of chat sessions are up!  The time per customer is dropping!  All sound great, but keep your original goals in mind to determine success/failure.
11. Sales expectations — keep your expectations low.  You’ll probably do more customer service type of work with chat.  But you will certainly help your customers through the sales funnel by answering questions, directing them to areas on the site and most importantly help a customer in the sales checkout process.
12. The creepy factor — personally, having someone abruptly and without warning open up a chat session with me creeps me out.  It’s a big brother thing.  Chat might actually drive customers away from your site.  Measure this as well.
13. Expect the craziest stuff —What are your hours?  How do I get in contact with Accounting?  Where’s my shipment?  Your product is terrible.  Will you donate to my kids baseball team?Do you know Bob in Marketing?  He’s my nephew.  This and more will come through your chat.
14. Trial — start small.  Put the chat button on just a few pages when you first start.  If successful, gradually expand to other pages.  This will allow you to find out how many “pages per rep” can be managed, making staffing a bit easier.
15. IT — don’t make the mistake of not including your IT staff in this process.  Security protocols could be impacted, your site will need to be modified and you need someone to help manage any technical malfunctions.

There’s a number of additional tips, but I’ll leave it here.

Scott

My Daddy is Bigger Than Your Daddy

The latest article regarding chest thumping between the AAAA’s and the ANA reminds me of two kids playing on the playground and proclaiming their Daddy is bigger than the others.

The continuing saga of transparency whether media agencies have received financial compensation from media properties has clearly drawn a line between clients and agencies.  Each seems to have taken a strong stance for each organizations constituents.  The AAAA’s issuing transparency guidelines and publicly naming clients and the ANA expressing displeasure  of the client names being released and setting up a confidential reporting hotline.

This entire situation is all about money — plain and simple.  The word transparency is just a substitute for whether agencies or clients receive the proposed media property compensation. 

At this point in the saga, I wonder if any results which come back from the auditors will be accepted by both sides of this issue.  My gut tells me this situation is far from being over…

Scott