In the past, I’ve written about the complexity around communications and media channels.  I’ve also talked about the growing importance of content.  There’s another important angle to both of these areas which is how we are driving integration across our campaign assets.  I’ve been at several companies and the conversation is always an important one.  The degree of difficulty in achieving the right level of integration often depends on how your global organization is structured, what you are promoting and how you define integration.  In terms of the assets that need to be integrated, I’m referring to advertising campaigns, web sites, collateral, social media content, events, product demos and could extend to executive presentations, PR content, etc.  If you throw in user generated content, and what it means for a brand as a content producer, it becomes even more varied.  (Don’t stop reading this if you don’t have advertising in your market.  Integration of your complete communications is even more critical without that coverage in the market.)

Let’s start with what “integration” means to you.  For the purpose of this discussion I’m going to focus on integration in the context of look and feel.  (There is separate discussion of different forms of integration around strategy and messaging but we’ll leave that for another blog.)  In some cases it’s following brand identity guidelines – using the right color palette, use of a common phrase or tag line, maintaining the appropriate tone of the brand, logo placement etc.  To others integration means that everything looks the same.  Some people use the term “matching luggage”.  In our complex world, I think that is unrealistic.  There’s an important middle ground that needs to be more fully explored.

I’m going to borrow an example from my LAR colleague.  She likens integration to the work of artists.   Picasso developed an impressive body of work over his lifetime.  His style is clearly his own yet he went through different periods of exploration where his approach differed.  He was also very diverse moving from painting to collages to sculptures in an exciting and dynamic manner.  For his followers, he was innovative and fresh.  On the other hand, there’s Jackson Pollock whose body of work was all very similar with little exploration or innovation.  Some could hypothesize that his popularity declined due to the lack of variation in his style.  He’s the matching luggage of marketing.

I’ve recently met with my geography marketing colleagues and had a discussion with them on both the need for integration as well as what it means.  I think often HQ or Global teams don’t think through the importance of being culturally relevant to the extent that is needed.  Having worked in a global role most of my career and traveled extensively, I understand their points and frustration.   Here are a few examples:

1. Humor – This can be a powerful tool in our communications but it is one of the most difficult things to translate.  Even the difference in English speaking markets is significant.
2. Lifestyle – This is where the personality of a market may contrast the tone of your global brand.  In some markets assets can come across as conservative, stilted, and not resonate with your target.
3. Facial expressions – This ties back to lifestyle and personality, and it is also very specific.  For example, in PRC it is less common to use photos of people looking casually at products.  The more successful approach is showing people that are animated with heightened expressions.  It may seem subtle but can be the difference between failure and effectiveness.
4. Information – In some markets, the amount of data – even statistics, competitive benchmarks – varies widely.  Some markets prefer focus on a single point and consumers will look for additional information if they are interested, in other markets providing the right level of information up front is absolutely critical.  To an untrained eye, this can be the difference between aesthetically pleasing and useless clutter.
5. The objective – For Intel, as we’ve moved more of our focus to driving demand for our partners, and the desire for Intel based products, we’ve had discussions around how cultural relevance is particularly important when driving a call to action versus a brand or informational message.  If you don’t hit the points above, you are not as relevant or engaging and thus your chance of driving a consumer to take action becomes diminished.
6. The nature of your product category – having started on the agency side, and worked in many types of industries, it is clear that what you are promoting and the importance does matter in the context of cultural nuances.  In the packaged goods category, how people use shampoo differs dramatically by market.  With soft drinks, some cultures demand ice in their drinks while others would never add it.  With technology, it used to be that cultural barriers were less significant but I would push back on that with the changes we’ve seen in technology the past few years.  As technology brands are all trying to make claims on an experience – from software, to hardware, to apps – we need to be relevant on a much more personal level.
7. Co-Marketing – for companies that rely on marketing with partners or sponsorships, this provides another unique challenge.  How do you take advantage of the strength of the new brand or relationship without losing your voice?

I’d love to hear your thoughts on additional areas we should consider.  There are great examples of companies that are doing this well.  I think the majority though fall into a category that is struggling with just this issue.  Once you define what the right level of integration is for you, then you must take additional steps to address — that will include looking at your organizational structure, decision making processes and more.  This complexity will only continue.  The more we as marketeers can help drive clarity around expectations, the more we can positively impact the effectiveness of our collective actions and of course impact the business.

As time goes on, we’re seeing significant shifts and trends occurring with increasing frequency.  I started noodling on these shifts and thinking about how long it took us to recognize that we were indeed in the middle of a fundamental change as well as the time between each successive event.  At the risk of dating myself, let’s have some fun and take a look at the last 20 plus years:

1.  The Advent of Cable – as a media planner in a large, multinational agency, I remember the heated discussions around cable.  There were concerns about what the fragmentation would do to the market, whether these new stations were stable – should we invest in them or wait, the lack or research, would consumers really want more choices, the impact of smaller TV audiences on delivery and plan R/Fs, etc.   There were many strategic huddles to determine the right approach.  Clients were warned that we need to look at this carefully and evaluate the impact before investing heavily. The industry and agency reaction was very conservative when you consider what we’re dealing with now.  It’s hard to imagine a world where cable didn’t exist.
2. Websites – For younger professionals, yes there was actually a time when companies didn’t have websites or Facebook pages or apps for that matter. This was before Al Gore invented the internet.  When the technology became available, companies didn’t know what to do with it.  Early websites were really bulletin boards.  A place you could go for static information.  Early adopters saw the potential of their site for sales, customer service, marketing, distribution and more.  The ones that focused early had a competitive advantage in using technology to drive efficiencies that previously didn’t exist.
3. Media Planning —  Planning has fundamentally shifted.  Gone are the days when you faxed plans back and forth for approvals after months of work.  Today, we don’t have the option of time and technology has forever changed how we negotiate and buy.  Now media practices are taking advantage of the digital efficiency with technology like trading desks and DMPs.   From broadcast to retail, media is moving to digital and a level of data collection and tracking that lends to efficiencies and optimization.  It couldn’t be more exciting.  At Intel we’re running fast, using technology as a way to add value back to our audiences and deliver engaging experiences and content.
4. Online –With the evolution of the web, of course advertising opportunities were created.  Some companies tentatively tested the waters.  In the mid 2000’s, Intel made a decision one year to stop broadcast completely and significantly increase online to 50% of the budget.  That was unheard of at the time, and we learned many things from the experiment.  The critical one was that all online advertising was not created equal and we experimented with an array of formats, approaches and innovative ideas.  The other important piece is that TV serves an important role.  Cutting any media completely off your plan without considering the important synergy and multi-consumption behavior of consumers would be short sited today.
5. Content Publishing – I struggled with where to put this one as the area has gone through its own interesting critical evolutions.  Think about electronic content.  I was lucky enough to work on the first online addition of the WSJ.  At the time it was called Personal Journal.   As a beta tester as well, I loved logging on to my pc at home (a 486 tower which I was so proud of at the time) and reading the news of the day with my coffee without having to leave my apartment.  The launch of the online paper was not taken lightly and there were heated debates on the impact of online sales versus the print edition.  Management was concerned about their core business, while others had a vision of where the industry was going and decided the risk was worth it. In retrospect, newspapers and magazines didn’t disappear.  Yes, we’ve seen an evolution from print to digital across all forms, but it’s been much slower than expected at the time.  Editorial quality continues to be rewarded whether in print or online.  .
6. Social Media - The arrival of social media was fast and it defined the early adopters and leaders from the complacent.  Companies that quickly recognized this new communications trend/channel/behavior have reaped the benefits as you can see from great examples like Old Spice, Starbucks, etc.  This is an area where Intel has been nimble and with true engineering finesse, set up internal training, operational excellence and tracking early on to support social media marketing efforts.  For all the naysayers out there, we’ve seen real lift in brand perception and purchase intent across various activities.
7. Content publishing from Consumers – To solve my dilemma of where to place this on the timeline, I wanted highlight the socialization of content. Gone are the days where big publishers owned content and protected that domain.  What we’re seeing now is consumers taking control with a passion and vigor that few would have anticipated even 5 years ago.  As Marketeers our language has changed significantly from push to share/listen, from create to aggregate and share.  Your content strategy should be increasing in importance and become a foundation of your marketing plan.  You can’t afford not to get it right.
8. Data -   Everyone is talking about data.  We’re in the midst of one of the biggest changes to date with data exploding around us providing opportunities for marketing, technology solutions/products, sales, etc.  I will keep this one short as we’re living this cataclysmic event today.  I predict we’ll see a shift in ownership of personal data.  That we will see security concerns increase.  That there will be new technology advancements in tracking, storage, access that we don’t even know today.   The world is becoming a collector of information and Marketing must be at the forefront of these developments in order to garner market insights and drive effectiveness.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on trends or developments I’ve missed and the importance of these transitions to you.  We are living in a complex world.  Choices, time to market, expectations around engagement are changing rapidly.  It’s not going away and will only get worse.  Be open to market transitions and lead.  The best thing you can do is to embrace these challenges and have fun.

For the past several months however, many of our discussions have been around manufacturing, the cost of goods, difficulties in driving team alignment and decision making.  No, I didn’t just start driving a co-worker as well.  My 7^th grade daughter has been taking a yearlong entrepreneurial program in school and it’s opened up a whole new world to her.

The Girls Middle School in Palo Alto has an entrepreneurial studies program for 7^th grade.  It was one of the many things that first attracted us to the school, and it proved to be as valuable and rewarding an experience as I hoped.  After months of hard work and preparation, each team gave a presentation in front of a panel of VC’s and business executives at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View.   The evening started with a tradeshow and opportunity to sell their products, and ended with each team presenting a summary of their business plan.  They included a brief overview of what they learned along the way and how that impacted their product development.  Also covered was a financial overview, product positioning (including competitive analysis), and a pitch for additional investment.  These girls were literally amazing.  Collectively, they demonstrated confidence, creativity, business savvy, and some really terrific ideas.  The panelists regrouped for a brief spell and then returned to provide input on their favorite ideas and feedback.  Yes, all the teams ended up “funded”.

So what’s the big deal?  Clearly I’m a proud Mom.  Yet the impression that remains with me is one of great hope for the future.  This exercise demonstrated to me the potential of Youth.  Too often we read about how self-centered the “next” generation is or worry about how the successive generations will manage (compared to the great job we’ve done).  It also struck me that business experience is something that should be shared and encouraged at a much younger age.  The things we take for granted as professionals, and strive years to perfect, became areas of incredible focus for these young women.  The value in learning and attaining experiences well before their first formal post college job can’t be measured.  Using your brain to challenge status quo, think differently, work with people you may not have chosen all stimulate the kind of behavior and thinking is critical in the workplace. 

To put some of the “learnings” in context:

1. Team work – The school assigned teams of 4 to 5 girls.  They weren’t allowed to choose their closest friends.  Instead they had to get to know each other, understand each other’s interests and strengths and figure out how to operate as a fully developed team.  This led to great discussions around the importance of team work.  We talked about my daughters’ frustrations when some people weren’t as responsible or working as hard (granted that was one view).  Both how she felt about it and what she thought she could do to help positively impact the situation.  I explained that in life we often find that we are part of a diverse team where we don’t always agree or even have the same work ethic.  That’s life and we need to be compassionate in understanding our differences and proactively seek ways to work together effectively.
2. Leadership – Being a leader isn’t about having the loudest voice or talking the most.  It’s about helping to move a team forward.  It’s about leading in the face of uncertainty and establishing a direction.  It’s about letting other people play a role and feel good about their contribution regardless of the size.  My daughter is a confident and verbal young woman.  She is adept at dominating conversations and steering direction.  Seeing her work through her own personal desires for the team while learning to appreciate the differences each member brought was moving.
3. Business acumen – As a career working mom, it was music to my ears to hear my daughter talk about the cost of labor, business plans, sales, etc.  It actually brought us closer together.  For years, I’ve been the mom that works long hours and travels, who has a job that her kids don’t really understand.  Now we were actually talking a common language that was new and exciting to her and allowed me to share my perspective and experience.
4. Results Orientation – The teams were each given a set amount to start their business.  They needed to track all expenses, identify effective pricing, and manage their balance sheet.  Each team was expected to make a profit and to donate 20% to a charity of their choice.   There were very specific targets in their business plan and they had to work extra hours and weekends to achieve their goals.  The weekend of the big presentation and tradeshow, my daughter worked 10 hours building and prepping their product for sale.  It was wonderful to see her commitment and determination.

The experiences I mention above are not new to anyone.  I’ll bet you spend a good portion of your time thinking about these areas and working with your team to develop more effectively or to be a star contributor.  We need to understand and excel in these areas in order to be successful.  How wonderful it is to see our kids get a chance to start this work now.  Every day I reflect on how many opportunities our kids have to learn and grow in ways we never did.   And sometimes I worry that it is all too much.  This experience helped reinforce to me the fact that they are ready and it’s never too early to get started.

Becky Brown, Director of Global Integrated Media

Becky, thank you for doing this interview.  I know you hate talking about yourself.  I’ve been trying to get you to sit down and speak to me for ages. If there’s one thing you want to leave our readers with, what is a key defining statement about you as a Marketeer?

I have an incredible passion for data and the science behind marketing.  I’ve been in Marketing at Intel (and Adobe) for over 7 years, and I can honestly say this is the most exciting point at time to be in marketing.  We have so much opportunity to drive impact – both from a brand and purchase.

Tell me more about your background.

In 1992 I started in Sales.  I was a Field Engineer in the Americas Marketing Group.  I was later recruited by a senior manager to join the Corporate Marketing Team.  I thought I would be a fish out of water.  Marketing was all about creative.  The most visible roles involved working with agencies and evaluating and producing creative.  As an engineer, this is so different from my background and perspective.  A few people reassured me that understanding products and the market were equally as important as having creative skills.   I joined the Consumer Brand Strategy team and was responsible for translating technology and shaping the external communications for consumers in a way that was motivating and understandable.

Marketing has evolved and changed significantly even since that point.  Can you talk to that transformation and how you feel about the area now?

I’ll go back to my excitement around the opportunity I see today.  It’s a whole new world of marketing.  Data Scientists are sexy.  Understanding the complexity of marketing, the role of data and analytics is a powerful business catalyst.  Harvard Business Review (oct 2012 article) recently did a great piece titled “Big Data:  The Management Revolution”.

Insert quote from article:  “Data-driven decisions are better decisions – it’s as simple as that.  Using big data enables managers to decide on the basis of evidence rather than intuition.  For that reason it has the potential to revolutionize management”.

We are at a moment in time where companies and boards are going to shape the future direction of business in a completely different way.  Marketeers who understand, utilize and interpret data will be valuable allies.

That’s a great vision — one that I completely agree with by the way.  Let’s talk about when you first started getting excited about data and what you were doing in Marketing.

When I first took over the social Media team at Intel, I felt like a rogue startup.  I’d love to say I immediately recognized the potential, but it took some time.  I was actually shocked by how much had been done with training, operational structure, etc.  All the basics we need to get started were in place.  As we matured as a team, we spent more time white boarding, working on our vision.  Gradually, we started getting more and more excited and realized that we were onto something not just big but that was going to revolutionize how people think of Marketing.    I want to be clear, it wasn’t an accident.  I surrounded myself with some incredible people.  Any time we found a smart person on Social, we hired them or asked them to talk to us.    We learned by trial and error and by being humble about how much we didn’t know.

You now run the Integrated Media Team.  Can you explain what that is and your vision?

The world of earned and paid has been overlapping.  At one point it hit us that we had similar skill sets across teams, were having the same conversations with partners and were essentially stepping on each other’s’ toes.  By combining paid, social and search in one group we’ve achieved efficiencies, collaboration and integrated our efforts and strategies.  I love the fact that I was able to do this at Intel.  It’s just another example of the team leading the way and creating a path for others to follow.   That’s what the vision is all about – improving upon the norm and creating something more powerful.  This has really been my first real exposure to the paid media side and I’ve been really impressed by the art of how media professionals, think and act.   Couple that with the science element and it’s a match made in heaven.

How is the agency model evolving to support this new area?

The old model was about efficiencies and volume.  With the consolidation of agencies and larger offerings, they still remained siloed with specialized capabilities.  Integration continued to suffer.  New organization and behavior models are putting pressure on old models.

How did the creation of social change this?

Originally PR teams were the first to start thinking about this space.  Agency support was fairly slow with the creation of boutique agencies, often with PR backgrounds.  As agencies strive to be more competitive, offer additional value and drive differentiation, they started thinking about the role they play in servicing clients across a much broader range.  The successful ones have broken down barriers, adding additional skill sets to support the evolving and broader needs of Marketeers as part of the campaign approach.

What kind of changes do you see on the creative agency side?

They are seeking market insight and looking for trends on Twitter and other social vehicles.  We are also seeing changes around the role of content.  The old days of big budget TV spots and long lead production is making way for videos, snackable content, etc.    Creative needs to inspire an action.  It doesn’t matter how much or how long it took to produce.  We need conversation starters and think about trail of bread crumbs.  This “touch points” help develop relationships and engagement.

The idea of the marketing funnel and journey have compeletly changed hasn’t it?

Yes — particularly with younger audiences.  They are on 24/7.  We can’t predict a linear pattern of behavior.  The phases are still relevant, and we need to understand how to motivate people at different points, but the journey is more complicated.  We need to be everywhere with content and messages that inspire action of one form or another.

Becky, thank you for sharing with us.   Any last thoughts you want to end on?

As you can see, I’m so excited about this space.  I never dreamed as an Industrial Engineer that my career would go in this direction and that I would get so much enjoyment and inspiration from my work.  The study of Marketing is an important one.

Over time, I believe we will see universities instituting Marketing Science or Marketing Engineering degrees.  The skill sets, understanding and capabilities that are demanded will increase the rigor and science behind successful Marketeers.

Sandra Lopez with her daughter Raquel

I asked Sandra Lopez to do a guest blog post talking about her experience as a parent and the role technology plays in her life.  As a working mom, I am very supportive of the challenges working parents have in general.  Whether male or female, it feels like the demands on us to be successful in our careers and role model parents just continue to increase.  Our children are growing so quickly, and they have more access to information and products, than we ever did.   Sandra’s day job is Director, New Businesses Strategy at Intel.  She manages a team of marketeers that are focused on the growth products and technologies ranging from smartphones, tablets, software, etc.  Take a look and see how she’s used technology in her personal life to suit the needs of the multiple roles she plays.

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With advent of the holidays, family gatherings are more frequent and there is always a point in the conversation in which the conversation gravitates towards reminiscing about your childhood days. Now that I have a child of my own, the conversation is focused not only about my childhood but also about how different it is to raise a child today. My family often asks “How Do You Do It?”   A  demanding job (professionally as a marketer and personally as a mother), volunteering as board member for the MissionY, active participant in professional communities, and driving a PowerPlay Group, a group of working moms that meet monthly to share survival tips. My simple answer is that I just don’t think about it and remain focused on the road ahead, but the reality is that I have an amazing support structure in both my family and in technology.

In conversing with my mother, I have realized that while I may have a more demanding life than she did as a stay at home mother – technology has made parenting easier. As a first time mother, my first business trip was extremely traumatic. I felt as if I was abandoning my child but quite frankly, I had a harder time than my child. Well, going on a business trip was a lot easier with BabyConnect – an application that gives you visibility into your baby’s activity, e.g. napping, playing, feeding, diaper change, etc.  The information sync’s across your PC, SmartPhone, platforms and is accessible anytime, anywhere. For me, it provided peace of mind. I always knew how and what my daughter was doing regardless if I was in China, New York, or at my headquarter office. Furthermore, the application was so easy to use that our babysitters were able to use the application with no explanation.

Which leads me into babysitting. In the past, my parents relied on neighbor’s kids or the children of family friends. Unfortunately, I live in the city and do not have friends with teenage children. As such, finding sitters was a challenge.  And with ever-changing schedules, you can’t just rely on one sitter; you need a bench of sitters. Thank goodness for UrbanSitter – a service that pre-screens all sitters as well as provides sitters availability, user reviews, and personal bios. We were able to find three standout sitters that speak both Spanish and English. What would have taken me weeks or months took me a week.

So calendaring…when do we need sitter help?  It can be pretty crazy with two working parents. We have found Google Calendar as an easy way to track our personal & joint activities. It is accessible across all devices and platforms, and I can even import it onto my Outlook Enterprise account to ensure I have one master calendar for a comprehensive view of my activities. To identify our sitter needs we coded our events blue. It has provided sanity to our insanity.

Some of my activities involve dining at some of the most amazing restaurants in San Francisco. People often indicate they would never take their child to a restaurant because they typically get restless 30 minutes into dining. Well, I have found an old iPhone (No data plan required just games) or iPad to work brilliantly. I have loaded up my daughter’s favorite movies as well as educational games. Lunchbox Monkey is an amazing educational app for toddlers focused on memory, counting, and problem solving.

Finally, as a working mom I have found myself needing to find time to let my daughter play while I sneak time to work. Historically, I have found my experience cumbersome – a PC is too heavy to take to the Park, my IPAD does not have Office, and my SmartPhone is just nearly impossible to type – it is great for killing 5 minutes of time.

That changed this past Thanksgiving when I received a Samsung ATIV Windows 8 Tablet with Intel Atom inside.  Just like the other technologies that I highlighted, they have all made a tangible difference in my life.   And while I only just started using my new tablet – I have been able to do things with my new tablet that I haven’t been able to do with my iPAD or Kindle HD Fire. For example, as I am writing this blog I am using Word, listening to iTunes, editing some images with Adobe Photoshop, and using the attachable keyboard to type. Once I am done working, I plan to flip over to my Kindle App detach my keyboard and read my book.  I get the best of both worlds – work and play. 

At the end of the day, I could not imagine a life without technology. It has not only made parenting easier but has also made my entire life easier. And what is fascinating is that the majority of the technology that I am using is being powered by Intel technology. So I am not only a proud mother but also a proud employee of Intel. It is Intel’s relentless commitment to enrich the lives of every person on earth – one of the several reasons why I joined the Intel family.

Sandra Lopez
Director of Marketing, New Business Strategy Intel

I’ve personally worked at large, mid-size, and tiny companies.  (At the smallest, I was employee number 4.)   I have many friends that have started their own companies, or have joined other fledgling companies.  Ironically, many of my peers that have successfully driven change are from quite different environments.  The reason why some people can drive change, despite employee count, is they have a deep seated desire to make a difference and don’t see obstacles like company size as an impediment.  Over the course of my career, I’ve realized that the ability to drive change is about leadership, vision and passion.    It’s also about executives that support you and provide the runway to drive change.  Let’s not forget that people play a critical role in defining the company culture too.  If you want an agile, motivated workforce then hire people that are entrepreneurial, creative thinkers and action oriented.

With a growing employee base or company, there are elements that require additional work.  This is true.  More people can present additional process, approval and management requirements.  To some, size stifles innovation or the ability to drive change.  To others, it’s an opportunity to think out of the box and a challenge to identify new ways to work.

I work at Intel.  Yes, it is a very large company.   And yet I can point to many examples of innovation and creative thinking over the years:

1. We hold regular Corporate Strategic Discussions.  There are 2 different opportunities, one run by the executive team and one by the marketing team.   These discussions are created when we recognize there is a need for a potential change in direction or analysis of a critical issue.   Productive discussions are at the heart of Intel’s DNA and can lead to future growth, new paths and staying relevant.
2. We have an Incubation Team in Marketing.  This group is focused on areas that are newer to Intel.  They pride themselves on being entrepreneurial, moving quickly, and adapting to the changing marketplace.   They have a license to work internally and externally in whatever manner suits the needs of their business.
3. A few years ago we created a “joint venture” called The Creators Project between Intel and Vice Publishing.  The goal was to bring the love of the arts and technology together.  Through a series of physical events, an online community, content development and sharing, this project celebrates and encourages the development of people’s passions and role of technology.  Check out the site at www.thecreatorsproject.com
4. In addition to creating a well-respected social media team from scratch, we merged our Social Media and Global Media Teams together.  This was done in recognition of the growing synergy between these two worlds and the fact that treating these capabilities in an integrated fashion is the best way to drive impact. I wrote a blog post that further explains my thinking on this topic: The Blending of Media .
5. Our Geo Marketing Teams drive innovation at the local level.  Grounded in a global strategy, and amplified with local, and sometimes global, programs we continue to see fresh ideas and thinking.  The support and encouragement across organizations and teams have given birth to many programs which have garnered worldwide recognition.  One great example of this is the Museum of Me, an application that aggregates a user’s Facebook information and puts it on display in a virtual museum in the form of a video.

In summary, to truly be an agile and innovative company the formula is not a secret.  Marketing organizations can, and should, role model this behavior.  The most successful marketing departments are not comprised of a homogeneous group but rather layers of multi-faceted personalities with different passions, goals and capabilities.  If you can develop the right mix in your organization, and get the executives rallied around the possibilities, you can be a role model for change.  This is true regardless of whether you work at a Fortune 50 or Fortune 1000, or Startup Company.  Let’s celebrate and encourage innovation by recognizing the role we play as leaders.  Size does matter.  The bigger your vision, the more you can accomplish.

How do people manage?  Challenges come in all shapes and sizes.  When combined with the pressure of work, the stress can be overwhelming.  I’m not just talking about the big challenges either, but every day ones too.  Choices like these:  driving your kid to daycare, making a decision whether to attend your son’s after school soccer game; watching your daughter’s concert;  volunteering on a non-profit broad or mentoring a child in need.  If there is an easy answer on how people manage their blurring professional and life commitments, I’d love to hear it.

I bring this subject up because I’ve been thinking a lot about the choices we make.   One of the top questions I receive as a professional, aside from “what if someone thinks you’re a bitch?” is “how do you manage work life balance?”   The fact is I don’t have the balance I would like, but greatly appreciate that some people think I’m doing it well.  I think in the high tech and marketing fields, the pace of innovation, change and complexity make it increasingly hard for all of us to feel that we are completely caught up on our own professional sphere let alone life responsibilities.  This statement is for both men and women.

So what do I do?  I learned a helpful trick a few months ago that brought really valuable perspective.  I wish I could give credit to the source but honestly i can’t remember.  The point was that when we all have conflicts and our knee jerk reaction tends to be “I have to”.  How many times have you had a meeting scheduled over a prior commitment and told your team/family/secretary “I have to take it”.   The fact is if you change your vocabulary and switch “I have to” with “I chose to” it brings an additional level of thought to your action.  I admit, I still chose to reprioritize but I find I am increasingly not making changes as well.  The pressure I felt to just do something because it was expected was lifted when I remembered the power was in my choice and action.

We live in a fast paced, chaotic, exciting and challenging world.  No one will ever ask less of us.  We need to feel personally empowered to make choices that work for us and all the people that depend on this.  Trusting people’s choices is also important.  Let your team and co-workers make their choices and don’t second guess or criticize.  An oldie but goodie says you don’t know until you walk a mile in someone’s shoes.  Let’s all start making more choices and not feel pressured to just respond.  In the end, it will make us better managers, employees, spouses, fathers/mothers, people.

My choice for the next few days is to support my family.  Work will manage and if they need me, they can find me.

Guest Blog Post by Kevin Sellers

Kevin Sellers, VP of Creative Services and Digital Marketing at Intel

As we hear all too often – the PC is dead.  Or rather, it was proclaimed dead by media and analysts for a while now. It’s an enticing and alluring sound bite… it sounds prophetic and somehow insightful.  At Intel, we don’t agree. But the reason we don’t agree is not because we blindly love the PC and just don’t want to let go; rather, we don’t agree because the PC is not a static thing. As Andy Grove and Paul Otellini have said many times, “the PC is the most Darwinian device in the world.”  So… we don’t agree because Ultrabooks will herald in yet an entirely new era in personal computing.  The Ultrabook promise is about being highly mobile, always connected, always on, offering a no-compromise PC as well as tablet experience with touch, improved security, voice capability, etc. (Note: not all of these features are available today of course… but are coming soon).  Ultrabooks are compelling, stylish, and different.

We have had a few ‘New Eras’ in the past.  With Pentium MMX, we ushered in the era of the home PC.  We allowed users to experience multimedia on their PCs that made them great consumer devices.  In 2003, we ushered in the era of the unwired PC with Centrino allowing the PC to go outside of the home or office and become truly mobile.  With Ultrabooks, we are entering the next major era of personal computing.

No surprise then that for our marketing campaign after reviewing nearly a dozen concepts from different agencies, we gravitated to an idea called, literally, “A New Era”. The campaign features three different spots: Desperado (highlighting the responsiveness and quickness of the Ultrabook), House of Flying Laptops (highlighting the battery life), and Roundtable (highlighting performance and form factor).  Each spot shows the power of the new category that is Ultrabook. Each ad ends with a metaphoric twist as the original ancient setting transforms to a modern-day one. A voiceover at the end says, “Suddenly, everything else seems old-fashioned. Ultrabook. Inspired by Intel.” We aimed at creating ads that would stand out from the crowded ad space in technology, jumpstart the category awareness, and build Intel’s brand.

And we’ve seen amazing results. Ours spots seem to be resonating with consumers. They like the big, cinematic feel of the ads and they are different than most ads they see on TV. Of note, House of Flying Laptops was ranked in the top 15 ads over the past 12 months among technology brands by an ad rating agency called AceMetrix—just behind one iPad commercial and just ahead of a different iPad commercial.

But we would like to hear your thoughts. What do you like or don’t like about our ads? What do you think we should improve? Do you currently own an Ultrabook? If yes, what do you like about it? If not, why?

An additional thought I’ve had in reviewing the triumphs and successes we’ve seen is the incredible performances delivered by women.  I’ll be specific to the U.S. for a moment.  The majority of the gold medals won were by our women team members.  From soccer to boxing to volleyball, we’ve seen our women demonstrate the competitive spirit, artistry and strength that men have traditionally held as their birth right.  This has been the best, most comprehensive showing by our global female athletes in history.  I do not mean to take away from men at all.  We should, and do, celebrate their accomplishments equally.  We are filled with pride by all of our athletes efforts, whether they win a medal or not.

The fact that the Olympics is but a period in time, and that years are spent in sacrifice and dedication to their sport, without our attention and recognition is incredible.  There must be a way for us to gather together, not every 4 years, in appreciation and partnership to celebrate the capabilities our people collectively display.   With all the strife, political battles, insurgency and economic turbulence bombarding us daily, how can we all carry a piece of the Olympic spirit and brotherhood with us to do our little part in driving a higher level of meaning and connection around the world?

 Guest Blog Post by Kim Stevenson

Kim Stevenson, Intel CIO

“I Dream of Jeanie”, ”Mad Men,” and “What Women Want” – television shows and movies like these have long portrayed marketers as pitchmen for catchy slogans and pretty pictures.  Compelling taglines and visuals are certainly a piece of the marketing equation but not enough. 

Now more than ever, advanced analytics, business intelligence and social platforms offer marketers the opportunity to reach customers more intimately and forge stronger relationships with their companies. By marrying digital collateral with market-sensing tools, marketers can create new products, target their promotions and determine more competitive price points and strategic placements.  The classic marketing mix is easier said than done.  Data collection, cataloging digital assets and creating a digital supply chain generally are areas of expertise the CIO possesses and not likely areas of expertise of the CMO. 

That is why Intel marketing and Intel IT collaborated closely to reimagine our web presence.  Through close collaboration we were able to reduce implementation time by more than 50% as well as decrease our web publishing costs with self-service capabilities.

The future of marketing lies at the intersection of corporate marketing and IT.  Through close collaboration CMOs and CIOs can reinvent the customer experience.  CIOs and CMOs should thus become BFFs.

#IntelCIO #CIO #IntelIT 

 

Here is one of the statements that was made:

“Strategy is dead.  Who really knows what is going to happen anymore…the more time and money you spend devising strategies, the more time you are giving your rivals to start eating your lunch”

It’s easy to pass this off as a statement for effect or say that it’s self-serving for an agency, which was my original assessment.  As I spoke to several colleagues and thought more about some of the comments, it became representative of something bigger that I think we need to consider.

We are living in a world where we strive for innovation, agility, creativity, awards, reach, etc.  In this highly evolved and tech-connected era we live in, more things are possible than ever before.  So do we skip marketing strategies and detailed briefs because they hold us back?  Should we reward creativity and encourage speed and innovation over strategy?

I firmly believe in innovation and speed.  I also believe that when we are so quick to react, or act on unrelated creative ideas, that we lose sight of the big picture.  A great strategy should directly relate to great creative.  Our job is to drive the business and in some cases it’s about building a stronger brand, in others it’s about engagement and relevance and finally in many it’s about impacting sales and revenue.  Imagine executive management’s perspective if we all decided that business goals and strategies don’t matter.  That we’re pursing creative ideas because we can and that we’ve taking the “leash” off our agencies and internal creative teams.

My growing concern is less about Mr Roberts’ provocative stance.  I also agree with him that today’s ideas are important but ideas without grounding in an objective and strategy risk taking Marketing back to the dark ages where we didn’t have a seat at the table or were viewed as a nice to have.  CMO’s, senior marketing execs and teams of talented professionals have worked hard to garner respect for both the art and science of their roles.  At Intel we are working hand in hand across the company to become a more “market inspired” company because we believe that will make us more in tune with the market and better equipped to develop technologies and solutions that will change the world.  With the advances in technologies that allow us to produce and develop creative faster than ever, and the availability of channels that provide instant access and publishing, we need to weigh our desire to be creative with meeting the needs of our business.  I think the happy medium where we can do both necessitates strategic insight and direction.   There is a place for strategy and we need to understand that marketing strategies are not an excuse for taking too long or stifling creativity.  We continue to see creativity flourish at Intel, and the work we do with our partners all the time.

Speed to market and creativity should not be about skipping strategy but rather about being agile and smart.

In a recent re-organization, I merged my Social Media team and Global Media team together.  For the past several years, I have been encouraging every opportunity for them to work as one, sharing information and insights; driving cross media opportunities with our partners and thinking about a new world where the idea of “paid” or transactional media dissolves.  Yes, we can discount the fact that we spend a significant amount of money on our paid efforts.  To that point, we are also investing heavily in the social arena with our budget as well as resources.  The growth of tools that helps us scale and track data has exploded, and our social partners more and more have been expanding opportunities to engage with their users in a multitude of ways.

Why does this make sense?   I found we were having similar conversations across teams.  The role of communities is not exclusive to the social space.  Our paid media partners are looking for ways to drive engagement and conversation in ways previously unheard of.  Our social partners are open in an exciting way to new product ideas and testing.  The idea of “test and learn” has never been so real.

It’s important to note that this philosophy and vision is also represented in our expectations for service and support from our agencies.  We recently developed a stronger support model around social at our global media agency.  To their credit, it wasn’t about just expanding their role (which wasn’t significant) but embracing the changing world we live in.    They meet our requests to drive change and do more with a passion for living on the cutting edge.  We may not be the easiest client, but we sure are an exciting one. 

I believe Intel is driving a new way to look at the world of media.  We’ve moved beyond conversations around stakeholder management and where social media teams should sit to evolving a new model that I believe will be the course of action for most companies over the upcoming year.  Reaching and driving engagement and conversations is at the heart of what we do.  We’re at the very early stages but I’m extremely excited and the team has embraced the idea of driving a new model with enthusiasm and support.

The review of the Science Talent Search was timely because it begins this week and culminates in an award show on March 13 to recognize the incredible young minds that participate.  The Intel Science Talent Search, a program of Society for Science & the Public (SSP), is an annual competition that identifies the nation’s most promising scientists of the future and celebrates the best and brightest young minds as they compete for one of the most esteemed honors bestowed on high school seniors in the United States.  As America’s oldest and most prestigious pre-college science competition, the Intel Science Talent Search encourages students to tackle challenging scientific questions and develop the skills to solve the problems of tomorrow.

This year almost 1900 high school students entered the Intel Science Talent Search with original research projects.  The topics ranged from mathematical, engineering, and environmental to scientific disciplines.  These projects were judged on their originality and creative thinking as well as on a broader measure of the students’ achievement and leadership, both inside and outside the classroom.  This past January, the field of entrants was narrowed to 300 semifinalists.   A total of $600,000 was awarded to the 300 semifinalists and their schools to support their science and math resources.  From the pool of 300 semifinalists, 40 finalists were selected to gather in Washington, D.C. from March 9-13 to compete for the scholarship awards.

When it comes down to it, this is more exciting in many ways than “American Idol”.  The talent, passion and brain power of these young adults is inspiring.  Yes, that could be said of both competitions.  However, in this case many of the ideas and achievements recognized in this forum will lead to even greater achievements that truly do change the world.

A few fun facts for you…

Please encourage all students to participate in future ISTS events.  We all benefit in so many ways.

 With so many hopes for even greater innovations, better ways to measure impact and effectiveness, stronger partnerships, etc.  I think we can start with something simple.  And it’s right in front of our eyes.  It won’t require sophisticated and costly new systems, or hiring people with a different skill set or increasing marketing budgets.  It’s about understanding the role of content and how we need to evolve our thinking.  It’s time we embrace the fact that the content we handle, curate, share and produce has become the center point of our communications.  Content should no longer be the black sheep of the family that Marketeers go off and create on their own because no one is paying attention to them and they get to be creative.

Too often, I hear polarizing views on traditional media and earned media.  The same is true for content.  TV commercials, print ads, white papers and more are all a waste of time.  Now people want to create their own content, or it needs to be something quick (and usually inexpensive).  Some people focus so much on the entertainment value that they lose the reason for producing material in the first place.  The fact is, we need to do both well.   We need to inform, to entertain, to interest, to engage.  We also need to create opportunities for others to do the same and provide a platform to manage all this activity.  The challenge is not just in the execution but really in the program management and moderation of this content.  And it begins with a content strategy that pays off what we hope to achieve in the first place.

With this in mind, at Intel, we are doing two new things this year that should be notable and help us make real progress towards treating Content Marketing as an area of expertise.

First, we are creating a platform that will enable Intel to become a digital publisher. Content is currency on the social web; it is what we react to as participants and share as consumers.  Because Intel touches so many aspects of our modern lives, we are in a unique position to tell the bigger story on technology and how It’s moving our planet forward.

Our new publishing approach curates content through a lens focused on today’s digital culture and tomorrow’s potential.  It leverages and mines the social web for relevant content, enlists our employees, enables our audience to keep abreast of trends and offers Intel’s perspective on how technology is enabling a better future. This new publishing platform is designed for the next generation of devices; optimized for touch interfaces, mobile consumption and social participation.

Stay tuned for this new offering in early Q1 2012 as we’re working hard to formally launch it soon.

Second, we’re creating a formal Content Program Office at Intel.   Content Marketing must be a focus across all marketing specialities and we need an integrated approach to align our efforts against our strategies, to highlight areas of duplication to drive efficiencies, and to identify gaps where we sorely need the right content to fulfill our communication objectives.  This will require even more collaboration across teams to ensure that content marketers are working towards building great brand experiences, in multiple venues, with a common brand voice and purpose.  This additional focus on content marketing and content creation will require Marketeers to raise the bar in order to differentiate and rise above the noise and short attention spans of consumers.  Part of the focus of the Content Program Office is to help us manage through these transitions across the many teams that develop content so we can leverage efforts, align strategies and engage our customers with a great brand experience.

It’s only the third week of the year so stay tuned.  My hope is to share our efforts and progress.  No matter how big or small your company is, or the size of your marketing investment, focus on content will become an increasingly critical point for all of us in the year ahead.

Few companies are more passionate about technology and innovation than Intel. We never fail to be impressed by the power of the human imagination or the millions of young people who are fueling the future with their amazing ideas. They inspire us. And through Intel Innovators, we hope to empower them.

For the first time in history, young people anywhere can change the world through technology. In celebration, we’ve launched Intel Innovators – a special community on our global Facebook page that connects young people inventing tomorrow to those who want to have a hand in it. Every month, for 3 months, an expert panel will award one Youth Innovator (age 18-24) a $50,000 grant and one Fan will win the right to determine which young finalist gets another $50,000.

In the first month of the competition we have already seen hundreds of brilliant ideas submitted by young entrepreneurs from across the country. Fans of innovation have formed a community around the ideas and have been eagerly investing social capital points (the virtual currency of the platform) into their favorite ideas (over 480-million earned so far!). Yesterday the top five innovators pitched their ideas in front of an esteemed panel of VCs and technology experts. And today I am thrilled to share the first two winning ideas with you!

The first $50,000 was awarded to Alex Adelman, a 22 year-old from Charolette, NC. Alex’s idea Cosmic Cart is a product tagging system that allows users to buy merchandise from any video online. He was picked by the Top Fan, Maxim Budyinsky, who raised and invested the most social capital points this round.

The second $50,000 was awarded to 24 year-old Virgil Hare from Detroit, MI whose idea LoginWill is a social networking website where people can designate beneficiaries to receive all of their online login information in the event that they pass away. Virgil will also receive a customized entrepreneurship training program with the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Association .

And all of our finalists will be receiving a state-of-the-art Intel®-inspired Ultrabook™, the Asus Zenbook UX31E.

Learn more about the program and the winning ideas here. And while you’re there, take a look at the top 20 ideas for round 2 and get involved!

I reference this lovely story to contrast how information unfolds today and how dramatically different it is from the past.  As parents, we treasure our children’s innocence and unshaken belief in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny and the Tooth Fairy.    We naively think that because we believed as kids, they in turn will have years of pleasure and surprise in these traditions.  The belief in magic, goodness and reward are powerful motivators.

My thoughts turned in this direction recently.  Last holiday, an event happened in my family that illustrated this point.  We were given the gift of the “Elf On the Shelf”.  For a few weeks my daughters enjoyed the fact that the elf disappeared at night and reappeared in the morning.  The story of the elf is that he or she, is part of Santa’s team and returns each night to report on the behavior of the kids.  Our elf was named Elford.  Not too creative, but it stuck.    While the elf was not the most attractive, he was fun and added excitement to our mornings as we searched for him around the house.

One night, I returned home from work, full of the holiday spirit.  My eldest daughter met me at the door with a serious face, saying she had something important to show me on her computer.    She pulled up Google and did a search.  When she was finished, I was told to “Look!”.   The search was for “Elf On The Shelf” and the description proceeded to tell the story of the elf and how fun it would be for your kids.  The excerpt showed the box and gave instructions on what to tell your kids.  With a face torn with superiority (“I’m smarter than you think”) and disappointment (“I can’t believe he’s not real”), my daughter asked if it was true.   I was honestly stumped.   I never imagined that she would do a search and find this out.

Over the course of the next week, she asked me about Santa.  Within a few months, the conversation moved to the Easter Bunny.  For some reason, realization that the Tooth Fairy was not real seemed to hit her hardest of all.  While I’ve been worrying about what the girls hear in school from their friends, the real threat was in front of me all this time.  While I would never go back to the days without the web, I wonder about other things are in store for me.  It’s easy to say I should have been watching what my daughter was doing on her pc, but realistically that is impossible.  Kids are going online at schools and at younger ages.  They either own, share or borrow iphones, ipads, laptops.  In the process, they’re accessing, sharing and creating content at an accelerating rate.  That’s great news for those of us in the technology industry, but more of a challenge for parents that want to enjoy another year of two of magic and innocence.

The conference, while including social luminaries from around the world, stimulated an interesting discussion around the state of social in Europe, the economy, and the evolving social landscape and the impact of legislation and governance on social properties and activities. Becky did a great job of sharing some of the key takeaways for her team, and I’d like to share them with you all.

• Organizational structure and “who’s on first” is something many organizations still struggle with. Many organizations have aligned social media within corporate communication or PR, but at Intel we’ve aligned social as part of our media efforts because we believe that media (paid / social) work best when done together. There’s a tremendous amount of innovations we can drive leveraging the power of paid media with social communities.
• Digital Publishing. There is NO brand doing digital publishing, this was highlighted by the Economist team both at dinner and later in the sessions. This point excites us at Intel. We’re working on an innovative new project that will change how we curate, share and create content.
• What’s up with Google +? While it’s new, it’s gaining attention because of the differentiation for brands with their Hangouts and Circles. Intel has a page, and we believe this is a first mover and leadership opportunity for us.
• Metrics and analytics. This topic continues to be on everyone’s mind. Becky spent some time sharing the work we’ve done at Intel across our models of VPS (value point system) and SVPS (an extension of VPS for social). Traditional brand measurements companies (like Nielson and Milward Brown) are migrating but it’s a slow process.
• Media integration is critical and often an area over looked due to resourcing and budgets. As a nod to Intel, it happens to be one of our strengths and the Intel team works seamlessly across paid and earned media. Many of the brands in Europe work on a shoe string budget and disconnected to their media integration.
• Tools are critical to scale and to take your social efforts to a level of strategic focus (listening, proactive outreach, speed and agility, etc.)
• Going back to basicsgenerated a lot of discussion. Thoughts surfaced around how we’ve gotten a little enamored by the slick new toys, and the reality is that social is… just a conversation. One of the speaker’s stated that “he’s just a customer service guy at heart”. While we think about how to entertain, we need to remember that we have an obligation to participate in the simple conversations of answer and helping our customers. From an Intel perspective, when we develop things like a new holiday shopping guide, and provide information that helps consumers make the right technology choice, that’s an important part of our role.Let’s keep learning and sharing with each other. The marketing landscape is changing so quickly and increasing in complexity. As professionals, we have much to do and have an important responsibility for sharing and helping each other.

World Pulseis “a global media and communication network devoted to bringing women a global voice.” They broadcast and unite women’s voices from around the world into a powerful force for change. Three amazing women spoke to us about their experience and drive for education, desire for a better life for their families and hope to make a difference. As you listen to their stories, it’s impossible not to relate and to remain immobile to their plight and needs.

On an intellectual level, it’s very interesting how people view the needs of women. Some people shy away from focusing their efforts on just women, thinking that they shouldn’t limit by sex. Yet targeted efforts are one of the most impactful and valuable things you can do. The UN and other organizations have come out with specific data and research to prove that helping women and improves the finances and health of a community. Another organization, The Girl Effect , also leads in this space. Here are some great facts:

• when women or girls earn income, they reinvest 90% of it into their families, as compared to only 30-40% for a man.
• research in developing countries has shown a consistent relationship between better infant and child health, and higher levels of schooling among mothers.
• an extra year of primary school boosts girls’ eventual wages by 10 to 20%. An extra year of secondary school means 15 to 25%.

This week a number of Intel representatives have been attending the Girls 20 Summit in Paris. At the Summit 20, girls from the G20 countries have been learning about critical issues facing girls and women. The output should be a communiqué about issues they want to be addressed by the G20 and ultimately present this request to President Sarkozy’s advisor on G8/G20 matters today (Friday 10/21). These young social advocates will then return to their own countries and continue to work towards making a difference in girls and women’s lives. (By the way, President Sarkozy and his lovely wife Carla Bruni just had a daughter!).

If this is so important, why do we not all endorse efforts to support this goal? Women’s issues, and related non-profits, tend to receive less corporate attention, which translates into less funding and impact. If we, as employees and individuals, rose to support these efforts, I’m sure we’d see a reciprocal relationship on the corporate giving end. I’m pleased to say Intel is a company with a heart. We not only support efforts around education for students and teachers, but we are reaching out specifically to women and girls encouraging careers in science and math, as well as supporting other efforts intended to provide development and life changing opportunities.

We met Mr. Hendricks as a result of our budding relationship with The Discovery Network. They launched a new program this year called “Curiosity”. It is a multi-screen concept which includes both a television series and a web site dedicated to the topic of curiosity. While the TV portion is limited, with 16 episodes airing in season one, the web page is dynamic, constantly updating with new information, tapping into a wide variety of expert sources. If you have a moment, check out the site at www.curiosity.com. I suggest you also visit the Curiosity in the Classroom, a site designed specifically for teachers to provide them with in-classroom materials to foster students curiosity. The site can be found at http://curiosityintheclassroom.com/. As a sponsor of the program, we’re particularly proud of the educational aspect and hope to continue to work with Discovery to expand this area. Stimulating curiosity in the classroom and helping kids reach beyond their four walls is rewarding, and something Intel is known for from our support of teachers to science fair competitions, etc.

Back to the panel…There was an interesting discussion around passion and curiosity. It’s something we can all relate to in our own lives. When we care about something, we’re much more likely to get involved and take our passion to the next level — whether it’s becoming an expert on a subject, memorizing a favorite football team’s stats or working with a non-profit group to make a difference in your community. Tapping into these passion points or areas of curiosity are the bulls’ eye for a marketer. Doing it in a way that makes sense for your company/product/brand is critical. We increasingly use the word “authentic” here. Your audience can tell the difference between actions that come from a place of the truth versus just another marketing or advertising gimmick.

A wonderful nugget came from Mr. Hendricks at one point in the discussion in which he advised the audience to think carefully about how you define your business. It’s important to define early in the development of a company and not to limit your potential growth and expansion by a narrowly defined descriptor. At Discovery, they say “we’re in the business of satisfying curiosity across any channel”. This perspective has allowed them to move beyond a single station/topic cable company to a network of global properties including Discovery Channel, Science Channel, Animal Planet, and TLC to name a few.

Think about what type of company you work for and how others describe it. At Intel, we are a micro processor manufacturer. That’s an easy description but it is really limited. We are so much more than silicon. We are software. We are innovation. We are passion. We are caring. We are curious. In fact, Moore’s Law is all about curiosity and our continuous search to create a better future.

]]> http://blogs.intel.com/marketeer-musings/2011/10/04/curiosity/feed/ 1 http://blogs.intel.com/marketeer-musings/2011/10/04/curiosity/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/IntelMarketeerMusings/~3/o4KXB7G0UwY/ http://blogs.intel.com/marketeer-musings/2011/09/23/what_do_marketeers_actually_do/#comments Fri, 23 Sep 2011 20:25:51 +0000 http://blogs.intel.com/marketeer-musings/2011/09/23/what_do_marketeers_actually_do/ Read more >]]> With Summer ending and the thought of Fall arriving, I’ve been reflecting on my conversations with family and friends over the last several few months. It’s been nice to have some down time to catch up with people. One interesting conversation trend has been what you tell your family/friends that you do for a living. It’s been a particularly passionate topic with my fellow Marketeers.

From “thefreedictionary.com” the definition of a Marketeer:

mar•ket•er (mär k -t r) also mar•ket•eer (-k -tîr ) is as follows: “One that sells goods or services in or to a market, especially one that markets a specified commodity”

Wow. That’s incredibly exciting. The “job descriptions” have varied greatly. When we speak to each other, there’s a code we use to talk about our areas of focus and expertise but the language does not translate readily to others not in the business. There is a common element that arises when the conversation shifts from friends in the business to family and friends. I heard one person say they work to understand how consumers think, what they want in their products, how to talk to them and how to reach them with messages that will influence them. I understand that but it’s quite a mouthful for the uninitiated. The explanation may be accurate, but it’s also not something that rolls off your tongue. It also doesn’t tell anyone who isn’t in the business what you actually do. Additionally, I highly doubt that anyone would be able to repeat the phrase with any degree of accuracy. Other people talk about being in “ad sales” or “brand strategy”. We know what that means, but what does the average Joe think of that? How do we translate all that we do and our passion for our jobs into something meaningful?

The most common answer to “what do you do?” for Marketeers is …..”I create/produce those ads you see on TV”. Seriously. I remember this from when I first entered the market. At the time, it was fun. It didn’t bother me that no one really understood the level of thinking that goes into each nuance and action we take. As the years have passed, it troubles me more that people don’t understand the art and science of marketing.

Other than the impact on our personal issue, why does this matter? Imagine, instead of having this conversation with your family, you’re having it with non-marketing co-workers. Changes the picture, doesn’t it? How many people work in companies that are not marketing driven, where marketing is viewed as the group that creates the ads and spends money. In companies where marketing is not appreciated and not viewed as an opportunity to drive insights, drive differentiation and, move markets, then we all lose.

Today is the opening day of Intel’s developer conference, called IDF. It always inspires me to come here (San Francisco). While the city is great, it’s the atmosphere at the conference that is so refreshing. As marketers, we live with our technology and products daily to the point that we lose our excitement about the innovations and advancements we’re driving. So when you get a chance to be a fly on the wall and hear the conversations around you, from developers and partners, it’s a great opportunity to be re-inspired. Another point of view helps us (Intel employees) keep it real.

We are also holding our annual agency day today. Our various partners across events, creative, social media, search and more all get together to spend a day listening to our executives . They start out with the keynotes and later spend several hours listening to presentations about our business, our goals, etc. I want to publically express my thanks and kudos to these individual teams for putting their own “interests” aside and coming together as a collaborative team to work with us. At lunch, one of our agency account managers pretty much summed it up by saying “there’s enough work to go around for all of us”.

Spending time with these agency partners adds to my excitement about the possibilities our innovations are driving. After a General Manager of Intel’s mobile business unit finished discussing the plans and designs for Intel inspired ultrabooks, the room exploded with enthusiasm for this new category. People passed around an example of an ultrabook (pc) person to person, table to table. It was difficult for people to hand it over without exclaiming over its beauty, affordability, etc. The majority of the room agreed that they couldn’t wait to get one.

I’ll leave IDF this week with a renewed sense of what’s possible and remember that we have many innovations and technologies to share and promote. Many Marketeers have much less. Here’s to keeping it real

P.S. To find the latest and greatest on IDF please visit http://www.intel.com/idf or http://www.intel.com/newsroom/idf

Getting back to the agency meeting, they said something that caught my attention. “Marketers need to stop thinking about advertising campaigns and instead focus on modern engagement platforms”. I wrote down the word “campaigns” and drew a circle with a line through it. Every marketer with any sense of the market is trying to expand beyond the idea of the time consuming and costly advertising campaigns. But many are talking about it more than actually doing it. Just like cable did not kill the big tv networks, social and other engagement models will not kill the formal ad campaign. We should look at social as a way to amplify traditional media into new ways to engage and immerse audiences into experiences with our brands. Our definition of how we drive relevance though is changing and the “ads” are becoming a smaller piece of what is really important in this space.

Engagement means many things and how we define it as marketers really depends on your business model and product/service. As we’ve focused more on this area at Intel, we’ve realized how much we have to learn. As a company that sells technology inside someone else’s product, you can imagine the challenge we have to talk about what we make and why a consumer should care.

As we look to drive engagement with our customers (end users that buy products with our technology), we have changed our approach and our thinking. Engagement is defined very broadly and there are standard tactics as well as new models to include. The view that a successful engagement strategy is about creating a viral video that millions will watch and talk about is naïve. Our social approach is multi-tiered, and layered like an onion. The number of layers multiplies as we better understand what engagement means and how we prepare to interact.

As marketers, we’re architecting an experience, not just a campaign.