What's Next In Marketing

What's Next: "Not Bad" Is The New "Great"

Can't take credit for the above line. It's from my friend and colleague Rob Norman of GroupM. He made the comment during a presentation given by himself and several other folks from WPP about marketing during a recession.

http://robnorman.wordpress.com/2008/11/14/marketing-in-a-recession-thanks-to-michael-bush-and-ad-age/

Indeed, 2009 will be a very challenging year for both agencies and their clients. No surprise there. But in the spirit of the glass half full, there are opportunities. I think there will be a few agencies and companies that come out ahead in 2009, but the winners will be those that simply keep their heads above water.

So that said, I think that there are two areas in particular that will be a key for success in 09':

1. Numbers, numbers, numbers. Analytics, ROI, Measurement. The ability and need to intelligently and deeply understand how effective and efficient your efforts are in the marketplace will be looked at with more scrutiny than ever. So, be proactive. get ahead of this. If you haven't engaged your client in this conversation yet get going because they are going to eventually ask you. And if you haven't, your client is likely already talking with someone else. Push.

2. Digital will be even more important. While there is always a lot if talk about digital, over the past year or so I have felt like it has been very tactical talk. What to do with Facebook. What to do with Twitter. Micro site or not?

Now is when companies need to look at digital in a broader context and with a more strategic focus. Digital (and by saying digital I mean all mktg activities that include technology...search, mobile, etc., not just the web). It's a highly efficient, highly target able, highly measurable set of platforms.

2009 is the year that digital finally becomes the absolute front of all smart marketing plans.

Sir Martin Sorrell Is Part Of What's Next

An interview with Sir Martin (disclaimer for those who don't know: I work at Y&R, a WPP company).

Some very smart stuff. I agree with him that digital will play a larger role next year. I disagree that is will take three to five years for digital to be a third of the holding group's revenue. Believe it will (and needs) to move much more quickly.

A very interesting comment about three minutes in on the price/cost ratio advantage of traditional media on 09' based on pressures and potentially greater demand.

What's Next: Mike Duda From Deutsch Inc.

(Note from Mitch: I'm out this week so I've invited a few guest bloggers to write about what they think is part of What's Next? Mike Duda is Partner, Chief Corporate Strategy Officer at Deutsch Inc. in New York.)

With the financial markets as stable as one of Dan Snyder's roller coasters (http://www.myfoxdc.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=4566347=1=EN-US=VSTY=3.2.1 <http://www.myfoxdc.com/myfox/pages/News/Detail?contentId=4566347&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=3.2.1>), gloom-and-doom conversations on Agency growth, advertiser budgets and overall marketing are rampant. True, we must contend with almost certain fiscal haircuts in our sector. It makes sense, though with the endless sky-is-falling talk that is permeating, it’s as if none of us have any control over our inevitably negative industry.

Enough.

By no means are circumstances currently wonderful. It ain't smelling like roses and Virginia, there is no Santa Claus. 2009 is a roll-up-the-sleeves year, and each of us will have to fight his/her tails off to achieve even minimal gains. Darwinism will be in full effect, leaving some businesses and talent to take tough, tough hits while others use this period as a chance to gain long-term advantages. With that in mind, here are 10 predictions for what's to come in 2009.

10) Obama elected. Emotional hope for "change" stirs uplifting consumer-confidence spike, despite significant business layoffs that will hit in January.

9) Sarah Palin will become a verb. When an Agency is leading a new business pitch but then blows it in the final third of the pitch process, executives will internally meet to discuss how they "Palined" the opportunity and attempt to learn from their mistakes.

8) Many "What's Next?" blog readers and Agency heads will seek counsel from the Draper-inspired era that was 1961 with increased "Mad Men" ratings. Heck, ad growth for the decade was pretty phenomenal...but I'll stick with the non-skinny ties, thank you.
http://www.vineyardvines.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/category.endecaLanding/categoryID/c8a490de-d7df-4764-9f7e-e058216318b0/N/181

7) The industry will continue its rubbernecking of Enfatico http://www.enfatico.com/.

6) A non-ad Agency wins Advertising Age's "Agency of the Year" award.

5) ***Number Five eliminated due to budget cuts caused by bailout crisis. Please check back periodically. Thank you.***

4) Twitter will transcend social media status, leading the charge for the emerging "Now Web" era that spurs businesses to speed up their operations.

3) ROI will be used exactly the same way as it was during the 2001-03 advertising retrenchment, with the same level of lame, thinly veiled application.

2) Consumers will be cacooning á la post-9/11, but online advertising and commerce will do better than projected.

1) The naysayers in our industry will reap what they sow...as will those committed to making things happen.

What's Next With Twitter: Who Knows?

I was speaking the other day with a friend of mine about Twitter. Seems everyone is reading/talking/playing with Twitter, but really have no idea what it's all about and how it might impact the marketing world.

SO first,  a bit of background on Twitter via a Fast Company magazine interview with the founder, Evan Williams:

http://www.fastcompany.com/articles/2008/03/interview-williams.html

Second, a bit of background on some of the new ways people and companies are using Twitter that are a part of What's next:

http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/may2008/tc20080514_269697.htm

Some of the companies mentioned in the above article use Twitter for customer service issues. Some for other reasons, like to close out excess inventory, like Dell.

http://twitter.com/delloutlet

The options are kind of endless.

So, as part of my usual rant, if you are not paying attention to Twitter you are not keeping up with what's likely to be a part of What's Next.

As an agency or client side person, you should also be playing with Twitter a bit. Sign up for an account (it's free). Pick a few people or companies to follow. See what the experience is like. Then the next time a client or colleague inside your company asks you what you think of Twitter you won't sound like a twit.

I haven't made up my mind yet about the platform. At first I thought it was all a bit of a pain in the ass. All of those little notices filling up mu in-box. Then I saw what Dell was doing and a little light went on. The marketing opportunities Twitter presents could be interesting. But again, it will come back to how two things are addressed: the true utility of the platform (how useful it is to the user), and the user experience. Is the experience only those little updates? Or should they lead to a larger brand experience. I think the latter.

We'll see.

What's Next: According To Sequoia Capital...Buckle Up

Sequoia Capital is one of the largest and best venture capital firms in the world. They have funded some of the most successful companies in the world. So they know their shit.

This is a presentation they made to their company partners about how bad the next few years are going to be. What's of interest to advertising and marketing folks can be found on pgs 46 and 47 (although the entire deck is informative).

First, they state that companies need to preserve capital, while at the same time grabbing market share. This means in many cases staying the course with your marketing dollars (without any increase or perhaps a slight decrease). But pt two on pg 47 is the key: marketers need to determine what activities are working for them and what aren't. Measure, then cut. ROI (as I've said before) is king...you just need to know where the "I" is coming from.

Sequoia Venture Capital Warning to CEOs - Get more Business Plans

Blogging: Dead Or Alive?

So I was going to write a brilliant post about an article I read in Wired magazine by Paul Boutin in which he argues that you should "Kill Your Blog".

While I read the article I kept thinking how out of touch Paul is in regard to what blogging is all about to most of those who have a blog: the ability to write about, vent about, share about things that they are passionate about.

Whether that be my own passive aggressive rants about the advertising business on this blog, or someone else's POV on a certain subject, blogs are a medium which allows for the expression of values and opinions important to the author. No matter whether 100 or 100,000 people read what's written.

They are also are significant piece of the social web when it comes to how consumers are now judging brands. Today, word of mouth is critical to the success of any effort, and a good or bad word from an influencial blogger can have a great effect on a brands success.

That said, Gordon Macmillan over at Brand Republic has an even better retort:

http://community.brandrepublic.com/blogs/gordons_republic/archive/2008/10/22/why-blogging-is-far-from-dead.aspx

Sarah Palin Is Not What's Next

Sorry for the diversion, but this is one election we can't screw up.

This video says it all in regard to why Ms. Palin is a storyline you just can't make up.

What's Next: The ANA Conference

I'm headed to Florida for the annual Association of National Advertisers conference. I'm fascinated to see what the general tone of the conference will be. I know that there will be a lot of tension about what the next year or two will be like. We all know, both clients and agencies, that it will be a rough ride. But there are opportunities. Now is the perfect time to reorganize internal groups. To refocus on digital (which I think has lost a bit of traction lately). And to look for greater efficiency in marketing spend while still delivering great client experiences. More to come...

Harvard Business School Asks: Should You Bring Advertising Expertise In-House?

Should you bring your advertising  expertise in-house? That is the question posed in this article from the HBS Working Knowledge newsletter.

http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6009.html

While it may make sense for advertisers of some scale to have certain services in-house (like collateral design, in-store marketing, etc.), in general I believe most marketers would suffer from relying solely on in-house resources.

First, the best and brightest minds (marketing and creative) don't want to only work on one brand. They enjoy the possibility of one moment working on a bank brand, while during the next moment helping to develop ideas for a packaged good business. It's why the most creative people want to work at an agency.

The article gives a nod to this, among a bunch of arguments about costs savings. I would argue the cost savings would in no way make up for the decrease in ROI the company would receive by developing an inferior brand communications platform.

Second, and this is over looked in the article, the rapid changes in technology have all clients scrambling to keep up with the latest platforms available to them. And quite simply, the media and creative agencies are set up to keep up with these things. Clients rely on us everyday to keep them informed about What's Next.

Why Marketing Is More Important Than Ever

Is there another time in recent memory that marketing will play a larger and more important role in the success of a company.

Consumer confidence in in the shitter.

Consumer spending is down and will get a whole lot worse before it gets better.

Trust, the most important variable for any company or brand (think about the US Govt vs that right now), may be the most important metric of a companies well being.

So:

Purchases will become much, much more considered.

Believing a purchase is going to provide value will be very, very important.

Knowing that you are buying something from a company you trust AND like is more important than ever.

So:

Engaging your customers in your brands story will be key.

Doing in a way that garners their trust, or increases their positive feelings about your brand, will be key.

What companies will do well during this tough time? Many of the winners will be companies who engage their agencies on how to accomplish all of the above in innovative, inventive, and cost efficient ways.

Are your clients going to make the list?