Google is taking a page from Apple’s playbook by recruiting, engaging, and exciting the developer community with its products. From the new “Enchant Me, Simplify My Life, Make Me Amazing” Android design principles to Google Glass to conversational search, Google is focusing on extending their brand past search, and into the home. And to make their platform, devices, and yes, brand, relevant to the consumer (outside of the search space), they need developers to create killer experiences for their products. Google has learned what Apple has known all along: the user experience *is* your brand.

The conference offered plenty of announcements about a range of Google’s current and future offerings. Here’s a very quick rundown of those that marketers should pay the most attention to:

• Android, Google’s mobile operating system, reached 900 million activations in 2013, up 500 million from last year. Activations is an important metric for an operating system (OS) as the more popular and it is, the more likely developers will be to create an app for it.
• Google is determined to make Google+ a first-class social destination, giving the service 41 updates intended to improve the user experience. Google+ now boasts a three-column Pinterest-like Stream, auto-generated hashtags, improved image treatment including automatic backup, highlight and enhance, and a feature called “Auto-Awesome” that generates collages and animations.
• Google replaced its previous chat applications with a consolidated, simplified version of Hangouts. It’s available as an iOS, Android, and desktop application, and includes improved chat, video, emoji, and presence (the ability to know if a user is offline, online or away) capabilities.
• Continuing on the improved user experience theme, Google unveiled a new version of Maps for mobile devices, with a desktop version to follow.
• Google Play announced “All Access,” a streaming service to compete with Pandora, Spotify, and Rdio, and Play for Education, which is akin to an app store for teachers. It will enable them to manage apps for their students.
• Search wasn’t left out. Google is bringing the ability to speak your searches to the desktop with “conversational search,” which will be available in their Chrome browser.

The techie, nitty gritty of the conference was contained in the learning track sessions that covered topics such as Android, Chrome and apps, and Google+, as well as back-end technology subjects such as Google Cloud Platform and Google Wallet. You can review the full session list, and see all three-plus hours of the keynote address on Google’s I/O site.

So what does this mean for marketers? In general, more, new, and different opportunities to connect with your audiences will become available as Google branches out into the home. Does Android’s growing market share change your brand’s app deployment strategy? Will voice search be a different advertising product than text-entry based search? Does Google+’s new offerings have an affect on its popularity? Is it time to consider it a serious competitor to Facebook? Although, we don’t have all the answers to these (yet), it is wise for marketers to be in tune with what Google is showing developers today, because they become the products of tomorrow.

— Matthew Schultz is vice president of technology and product strategy at iCrossing

Ashmi Elizabeth Dang is an associate director of social strategy at iCrossing

Cooperstein kicked off his presentation by showing key data points on how consumers use online media: there are 133 billion searches on Google per month, 400 million tweets sent per day on Twitter, and more 33 million streams per day on Hulu.  Audiences online are much larger than traditional television audiences, and even larger than traditional print audiences.  Consequently, brands that embrace new media and digital marketing can experience a greater volume of success.

But how does a brand succeed in the digital age? You start by taking a look at the changing activities and desires of your consumers. Cooperstein built off Tom Daly’s earlier CMO Summit presentation on building mobile connectedness for Coca-Cola, stating that Forrester has witnessed a significant mobile mind shift. This shift has made it so consumers expect that any desired information or service is available, on any appropriate device, in context, at the moment of need. So-called perpetually connected consumers – those who have at least three online devices, who go online at least three times per day, from at least three different places – thrive off of convenience and building shared experiences.

Because of the desire for perpetual connectedness, brands need to shift their perceptions of traditional marketing and focus more strongly on improving the consumer experience. Consumers drive the strategic direction of the brand and want to feel pride in the brands with which they interact. The greater amount of pride felt by a brand, the greater the chance the consumer will share those experiences.

How do brands manage this shift and become a more connected, 21^st century brand?  Cooperstein shared three steps:

• Steer the organization toward your brand’s North Star. A brand’s North Star is its guiding principle. This North Star needs to be honest, strategic, inspirational, and concise. In order to successfully navigate toward the North Star, marketers must lead the brand internally. They must inspire the organization and rally the culture around the brand. Marketers must communicate the brand’s North Star to guide internal and external strategy, while providing guidelines for a consistent brand experience.

• Redefine how you deliver the brand experience. Because of the ever-changing perceptions and desires of consumers, successful brand marketers will be the ones who present their brand experience is a new way. Marketers must first focus on building a message that tells a story, and then take action to match that story and purposefully engage the consumer. Finally, all products must deliver on your new values, your North Star, to ensure an honest interaction with the brand.

• New traits strengthen the brand and serve the needs of empowered consumers. The 21^st century consumer has taken the brand to a new land that can no longer be reached by traditional competitive positioning and shareholder gain alone. Brands now need to create a roadmap – using Forrester’s Brand Compass – to navigate their brand to become trusted (being more transparent and accountable); remarkable (disrupting the market in a way that is worthy of conversation); unmistakable (creating unique experiences); and essential (being irreplaceable in the lives of your customers). Developing those four traits will strengthen the brand pillars that support consumers’ new expectations of brands.

By finding your strategic direction, delivering a brand experience that engages your consumers, and strengthening your brand to serve the needs of these empowered consumers, your marketing moments will lead to deeper connections. And you will achieve greater success as a 21^st century brand.

Dana Notman is a senior natural search strategist at iCrossing

“We have some big, hairy, audacious goals,” stated Daly, referring to Coca-Cola’s ambition to double the company’s sales by 2020. And mobile marketing is the key to achieving that goal. There are many more mobile users in the world than people who buy Coke every day. Daly wants to inspire consumers to use their mobile phones to increase Coke sales around the globe.

“Mobile is the closest you can get to your consumer these days aside from bringing the product directly to their lips,” Daly asserted.

According to Daly, the key to creating connected moments with the mobile consumer is to understand how mobile can fuel impulse transactions. Daly shared how Coca-Cola learned from seeing individuals quickly and impulsively donate to the Red Cross for the Haiti Relief Fund via text message once they were connected to the cause. Those insights allowed Coke to understand that consumers can and will make impulse purchases via mobile if they are connected to that brand.

And Coke is an impulse purchase.

Making it easier for consumers to buy Cokes means ensuring that the transaction process is as frictionless as possible. There are fewer and fewer people carrying cash these days, and, because of that, sales of small purchases requiring a cash transaction are falling. With 60-percent of small purchase transactions expected to be made through mobile within the next five years, Daly and Coca-Cola will be focusing on enabling payments made through a mobile wallet for these impulse purchases.

With iCrossing’s help, Coca-Cola is now developing its mobile strategy to connect with consumers directly. Some of the tactics Coke will leverage include using apps, mobile video, location-based services and SMS texts (Daly: “Text is not sexy, but it works”). With those tactics, Coke will most definitely be within arm’s reach of the consumer, and be incorporated in the consumer’s mobile moments.

As a completely connected brand that understands how to incorporate itself into the mobile moments that matter to its customers and the world, Coca-Cola is a shining example of marketing in the moment at the iCrossing CMO Summit.

Dana Notman is a senior natural search strategist for iCrossing

He began his presentation by sharing a formula for managing marketing opportunities and processes. According to the “70-20-10” rule, 70 percent of your marketing resources should go toward activities that you know will work; 20 percent should go toward innovating from that 70 percent; and 10 should go toward risk taking, or “swinging for the fences.” Gone are the days of taking major risks and hoping for the best. Digital marketers should take calculated risks to learn how to create experiences that connect with customers in different ways.

Stern gave detailed tips to guide marketing experimentation and innovation, including:

• Listen closely to your customers. Consumers have certain expectations, and sometimes technology can’t meet those expectations. To meet their own needs, Innovative consumers will create their own experiences and their own interactions with your products and your brand. Stern shared an example from the era of audiocassette tapes: innovative consumers used to create mix tapes consisting of their own musical experience by editing together their own versions of songs and albums. Had record labels been paying attention to this activity, they would have understood the need for technology to help create unique musical experiences. Consequently, the way in which we listen to music now could have been drastically different, or much more advanced. The answers to consumer problems are there – you, as a marketer, just need to be willing to dig for it.

• Swing for the fences. According to the “70-20-10” rule, 10 percent of your marketing efforts should be used for experimenting with something completely new. That 10 percent is a calculated risk based on your ability to listen and learn from consumers, and discover what else may make them connect more strongly with your brand. By taking risk, no matter the outcome, you’ll learn something important. And that knowledge will help you hone your skill and master your technique.

• Average is no longer good enough. Some brands used to focus on providing average products to average people. However, consumers have a lot of choices these days, and “average” won’t cut it. Not only do consumers want extraordinary products, but they want to be thought of as extraordinary too. Consumers deal with choice by developing tunnel vision. Marketers need to find ways to break through that tunnel vision with something remarkable, unique, and exciting. Taking risks to be extraordinary or trying new brand messaging or a different brand experience, can wake consumers from their tunnel vision daze — and encourage them to engage with your brand in a new way.

• Change your frame of reference. As consumers change the way they engage with brands, the traditional marketing funnel needs to change as well. New media has increased the amount of touchpoints and messaging channels that brands can leverage to better connect with customers in real time. Although new media presents opportunities for marketers, new media also presents challenges. According to Stern, the solution is to change your frame of reference and modify your interactions as needed. Be willing to deviate from the traditional marketing funnel and target not only your customers but also influencers. Not everyone who interacts with your brand is persuadable, but consumers do have networks of their own friends who may be willing to try out new products. By encouraging interaction at a variety of levels, you can see an increase in brand engagement.

• Understand your value exchange.  What are you offering that brings value to your customers? Stern, when referencing Judy Christa-Cathey‘s discussion of the “Hamptonality Moments” campaign, stated that Hampton isn’t selling a clean bed and a hot breakfast for its customers. Hampton is selling a value exchange that connects the experiences shared at Hampton Hotels with individuals who are persuadable and who will want to engage with Hampton – either online or in one of their hotels. The risk of sharing experiences versus sharing products is a big one — but one that allowed Hampton to connect with customers on an open and honest level, which is a value that many hold in high regard.

Stern counseled iCrossing CMO Summit attendees to just “do good work” by taking risks and connecting with customers. In order to do good work, take your brand values, combine them with your business needs, and connect with your consumers’ needs. The intersection of those three elements will inform your strategy for taking a calculated risk. When it comes to taking risks with your brand, understanding what your influencers want, what they expect, and what they are willing to learn about can help guide your experimentation in a way that is less risky and more rewarding. Success can be yours with the right risks and the right innovation.

– Dana Notman is a senior natural search strategist at iCrossing

The campaign brings to life Hamptonality, a term that refers to going the extra mile for customers at Hampton Hotels. Christa-Cathey explained that Hamptonality was established as part of the employee culture before permeating throughout the experiences each customer has when staying in the hotels.

“I call Hamptonality marketing from the inside out,” she said.

To exceed customer expectations, Hampton focuses on five “moment makers” – anticipate, humor, empathy, compliment, and unexpected delight. Moment makers contribute to a feeling of Hamptonality, which creates an authentic connection between the traveler and Hampton Hotels. The brand’s dedication to improving customer travel translates to amenities such as offering free hot breakfast, free WiFi, and community areas for travelers to interact with others on their journeys.

To figure out how to share the essence of Hamptonality, iCrossing first analyzed the public awareness and understanding of the Hampton brand. Based on audience insights, iCrossing chose the route of storytelling to amplify awareness and understanding of Hamptonality and to inspire travelers to learn more about the Hampton Hotels experience.

iCrossing conceived of  “Hamptonality Moments,” an online video series to share stories of Hamptonality as seen through the eyes of guests and employees of Hampton Hotels. For instance, one video episode tells the tale of how the hotel made life easier for a girls’ softball team in the midst of a championship tournament. Another relates the story of “TJ Elevator,” a young boy whose love of riding Hampton elevators has helped him and his family endure the effects of cerebral palsy.

iCrossing collaborated with Hampton Hotels to share the videos across Hampton’s owned and earned media, including social spaces — the places where Hampton’s culture lives in the digital world. The videos have achieved millions of views since the launch of the campaign in late 2012. Additionally, the campaign has inspired others to share their Hamptonality Moments when connecting with Hampton as well.

Hampton Hotels successfully connects with its customers through digital storytelling in a relatable and emotional way. By sharing Hampton’s dedication, the brand helps instill trust – and fills moments with the essence of Hamptonality.

– Dana Notman is a senior natural search strategist at iCrossing

As Ghani asserted, big data can – and will – touch everyone in all industries and fields. Brands need to dive into data to understand audiences, become comfortable with it, and derive insights to build closer relationships with their audiences. But brands also need to use data to get people to complete an action.

During the Obama for America campaign, Ghani used data to inspire action. The Obama campaign collected data from one-to-one interactions with individuals. Based on this data, the campaign utilized multi-channel marketing, connecting offline and online marketing tactics, to build stronger connections with those individuals in order to improve persuasive interactions — and to encourage people to get out of the house and go vote.

“Embedding analytics into Obama’s campaign was as much a cultural shift for people as it was literal,” he said.

The Obama for America campaign used big data to connect frequently via personalized email messages. Those messages included talking directly with recipients and using their friends’ names and pictures to build stronger connections. The emails helped drive home the importance of network outreach: individuals could connect with their own friends and family to persuade them to take action, register to vote, and then get to the polling stations on Election Day.

So how should brands use big data to improve their digital marketing success? Ghani gave CMO Summit attendees some excellent tips, including:

• Understand your goals, and optimize for that metric. Obama for America understood that its main goal was to achieve the electoral votes needed to re-elect Barack Obama as president of the United States. The team set its goals at winning 51 percent of the votes from each state. Consequently, every single tactic employed was focused on achieving that goal. Obama for America began breaking down data to better understand who to target for voter registration, who to target to persuade a preference for Obama, and who to target to encourage people to get out and vote on Election Day.

• Get the best resources for success. If your brand is planning a campaign online, make sure you get the right team in place. If you need a bigger budget to push a campaign forward, get that budget or risk having your campaign flop. But getting approval for hiring or spending can be challenging when resources are limited. So, use data to show the current state of the market and projections of where your brand should be — that way, you will make a case for the right resources to help increase success in the long run.

• Put your resources where they’ll matter most. If you’re looking at data, and see that the most impact can be achieved from one channel or one location, make sure you put your effort and resources there. Ghani reminded us that during the 2012 election, Florida was a key state to win — but Florida is also very expensive state for a campaign. Brands and marketers need to use data to determine the results of the investments made in priority channels and locations — and make those investments for a successful marketing strategy.

• Match your tactics to your strategy and objectives. The Obama for America campaign scored individuals on a scale of how “persuadable” they were. If the team determined that an individual could be persuaded to vote for Obama, the team would connect with that person on his or her level to encourage voting. Obama for America’s messages changed based on the “persuadable” score to make sure the connections being built were authentic — and would result in a vote. Ghani stressed that “persuadable” was not the same as “undecided.” Persuadable voters lacked information; undecided voters lacked interest. The distinction, based on data collected by Obama for America, was crucial: sharing information with persuadables could tip the scales in Obama’s favor more so than with undecided voters.

• Test, test, and retest. Data is an excellent way to see where your brand has been and can be used to predict where your brand should go in the future. In order to improve your brand, build models to predict what will happen when you use various marketing tactics. And then test those tactics.

• Don’t be afraid to be nimble. If your tactics are moving toward one story, but your data is telling you a different story, change course. Don’t be nervous about steering your plans in a different direction. Responding to real-time data analytics will help drive greater success in a shorter amount of time — and can help capitalize on opportunities not taken by your competitors.

Collecting data, analyzing data, and building predictive models is the best way to plan your marketing campaigns. With data, you will know how, when and where to connect with individuals in a more efficient and effective manner to build a connected brand in the moment.

– Dana Notman is a senior natural search strategist at iCrossing

“Digital marketing is all about the moment,” he asserted. He explained that people experience many, many moments throughout a day — and in those moments, marketers need to connect with individuals to ensure that a brand’s customers, prospects, network, and influencers know and trust the brand.

As Lavelle explained, the way in which we access the web has shifted drastically in recent years. In 2013, the number of smartphones and tablets is greater than the number of desktop and laptop computers. Consequently, consumers are connected to their networks 24/7. Brands can – and should – connect with their audiences around the clock, in the places and spaces in which they are most comfortable.

Lavelle discussed Uber car service as an example of a brand that connects with customers in real time. By allowing customers to request and pay for a car directly from their smartphones when they need transportation, Uber is building a network of happy customers who appreciate the convenience and connectedness of their service. Those customers connect with Uber in a positive way. The customers then share their Uber moments with their network, building the trust and authority of the brand with word-of-mouth marketing. Uber has capitalized on these moments to connect with customers and to ensure that the brand grows.

Lavelle also shared many other examples of products and apps that help individuals connect, improve, and better manage their day-to-day lives. These examples all illustrated the ways in which individuals interact with technology, and what they want from the brands with whom they connect. Real-time connections, directly in the moment, help elevate brands and brands’ products in the eyes of individuals.

Any brand looking at its marketing plan in 2013 and beyond should be focused on making moments that matter — moments that connect with customers, and moments that help solidify the brand’s place in the market. By understanding that customers are connected to the web via tablets, smartphones and apps constantly, marketers can successfully navigate these spaces to share and build moments that matter. These moments will carry the brand successfully into the future.

– Dana Notman is a senior natural search strategist at iCrossing

Coke’s “2020 Vision” to double the size of the business (to the tune of three million servings a day) by the year 2020 is pretty audacious, especially for the world’s largest brand. Tom Daly, group director, mobile & search, global connections, The Coca-Cola Company, shared with me how his team is building a connected brand – or more close, personal relationships with consumers – as part of Coke’s 2020 effort.  A featured speaker at the iCrossing CMO Summit, May 1-3 in Scottsdale, Ariz., Tom will share more on how Coke is working with iCrossing to use mobile, search and content to create moments that are “liquid and linked.”

Tari Haro:  What’s your role within Coke?

Tom Daly:  When consumers are thirsty, it’s my job to make sure they want – and have access — to our brands.  I’m in a corporate role, so my team and I are focused on mobile connections planning across the value chain around the world.

Tari Haro:  Could you talk a bit about how mobile fits into Coca-Cola’s overall strategy?

Tom Daly:  It’s all about enabling desire. We are delivering brand experiences that are liquid and linked.  We are also looking beyond the emotional standpoint to the logistical, to create a clear path that ensures that consumers are able to enjoy a Coke product. Mobile of course plays a large role when it comes to consumer awareness and access.

Tari Haro:  How is mobile changing the way Coca-Cola is building relationships with consumers?

Tom Daly:  We’re using a phone in one hand to put a Coke in the other. Until mobile payments, the purchase of a Coke product was anonymous. Now, the minute someone uses a phone to buy a Coke product we have a direct relationship with that consumer. It’s an important transactional moment for our business and transformational moment in the fast-moving consumer goods category.

Tari Haro: Can you give an example of how Coke is using mobile content to market “in the moment”?

Tom Daly:  We’re using mobile to reach consumers with content in that moment of desire. Geotargeted offers are a great way to reach consumers in that moment of – or just before — thirst.  With the exception of vending machines, Coca-Cola does not have locations. How do I find consumers within and hour and a mile of lunch and drive them to by clients’ restaurants to buy their products? Operationalizing that moment is tricky, but it’s the right thing to do for our customers, consumers and brand.

Tari Haro:  Diet Coke or regular Coke?

Tom Daly:  There’s nothing better than an ice cold Coke!

By providing content and experiences that are “liquid and linked,” Tom Daly is living connectedness. Find out more about Coke’s quest for content excellence through the Content 2020 initiative or see Coca-Cola and Google spread smiles in New York and San Francisco with Google Wallet’s “tap and pay” technology.

Tari Haro is iCrossing’s chief marketing officer

How do brands advertise in an era of media fragmentation? Answer: don’t advertise. Instead, provide engaging content that inspires consumers, who are your new television network. That’s the main takeaway from Beam Inc. U.S. Media Manager Katie Fischer, who discussed The Impact of Technology on Traditional Advertising May 1 at the Fifth Annual Social Media Masters Summit.

Fischer discussed how major brands like Beam achieve mindshare through paid and social media at a time when consumers “have a voice, recourse, and power to change the course of your brand regardless of your brand.”

As she put it, “The voice of today’s consumers is loud and far-reaching. They have infinite ways to engage us. They expect you to be a responsive brand.”

Not only is the consumer demanding, and powerful — she is distracted, too.

The key to reaching the multi-tasking consumer, in Fischer’s words: “Content, content, and more content” distributed across fragmented media touch points.

“Under the traditional strategy, brands pushed ads through silos of self-contained media, which achieved limited reach,” she said. “Today, brands need to think about creating content that lives at the center of the consumer’s fragmented media universe. Brands can’t distract consumers with ads; brands need to pull them in with engaging content.”

Even more importantly, brands need to think of consumers as sources of content sharing. “The consumer is your new TV network,” she said. “They determine what they will air and what they will share. So brands need to create content that consumers will want to share across their own media network. Tell them your brand story and give them a reason to engage with you and become your advocate.”

For example, ABC Family creates engagement for its show Pretty Little Liars by providing content that fans will want to share, such as an interactive “Secret Keeper Game” that fans can play on their iPhones and fan features on Facebook and Twitter.

“Pretty Little Liars does a great job sharing with its viewers content that they will share, reaching them while they are engaged with the show and inspiring them to share and talk about the show,” she said. “They do an amazing job managing the multiple screen.”

She also suggested that brands capitalize on the ability to drive influence and engagement at scale. For instance, Beam brand Sauza Tequila capitalizes on the scale of YouTube to create fan engagement (especially among women) with its popular “Make It with . . . ” series. “Make It with . . . ” features different ways to create drinks with Sauza Tequila, with the assistance of a great-looking lifeguard (“Make It with a Lifeguard“). This year’s campaign builds on the highly successful “Make It with a Fireman” campaign, which racked up more than 10 million YouTube views in 2012. On the other hand, Beam brands Maker’s Mark and Skinnygirl Cocktails have combined paid media and social to create shareable, engaging content on Twitter — Maker’s Mark through its #CocktailParty2012 promotion, timed with the 2012 Presidential Election, and Skinnygirl Cocktails through a playful #LadiesinRed promotion during the 2013 Oscars, which raised $45,000 for the Dress for Success Foundation. (Note: iCrossing was among the agencies assisting Maker’s Mark and Skinnygirl.)

Her concluding tips:

• Embrace media fragmentation. Understand all the different ways your audience is experiencing different media simultaneously.

• Share content, content, content. Be interesting so that consumers will be interested. “Remember: they are your new networks,” she said.

• Be your own Spider-Man — meaning, shoot your web with pinpoint accuracy to navigate. “Don’t try to be everywhere,” she said. “Be very targeted and focused with your content.”

Bottom line: to influence the new consumer network, be interesting to them.

David Deal is vice president of marketing for iCrossing