Oldest Living Digital Marketer Tells All

I wish I had a nickel for every time I've heard the words "shopper marketing" in the past year. I was first introduced to the term while doing a database project for iMedia. Over four months I began to see more and more titles with "shopper marketing" in them -- this in an industry in which titles and hierarchy don't change that often.

Photo: Polycart

Since then, I've seen shopper marketing conferences debut, friends get shopper marketing titles, and many other signs that this is not a passing fad.

So what's it all about, and why should you care? Explore this handy cheat sheet on the fundamentals of shopper marketing.

Photo: Beverly and Pack

What's the definition of shopper marketing?

Many definitions have been promulgated, but at its core shopper marketing relates to marketing programs that reach consumers inside brick and mortar store walls. That could mean anything from a tear-off pad sweepstakes to integration into an in-store shopping phone app to an end-of-the-aisle display or a program on Walmart TV.

What the shopper marketing "revolution" is really about is taking a more integrated and strategic approach to in-store experiences as a driver of both sales and brand equity; that every program should strongly deliver on sales objectives while driving differentiation and brand appeal.

Photo: 85mm.ch

Why is it such a big deal all of a sudden?

It's getting harder and harder for brands to make a sale. Given that, brand teams are scrutinizing every dollar spent and working to ensure that all significant expenditures are strategically based.

Additionally, the amount of money spent in store has climbed markedly over the past years. Decades ago, the ratio of ad to in-store spending was heavily weighted to the ad side. Companies spent the bulk of their dollars driving awareness and brand liking among consumers. As retailers consolidated and became more sophisticated, and as the number of brands and products within categories grew, the balance of power shifted. Today, retailers demand a larger portion of the pie, and they can get it because:

More than half of brand choices in many categories, including consumer packaged goods (CPG), are made in store. (Source: Booz and Company)
High quality store brands have put further pressure on brand differentiation, pricing, and the need for deals.
Retailers view "slotting allowances" and promotional vehicles like features and displays as a major revenue profit source and demand brand participation "or else."
The 2009 economic downturn made consumers more deal conscious and more willing than ever to substitute brands.

If a category spends 30, 50, or 80 percent of marketing dollars on in-store activity, those dollars need to be enhancing brand imagery as well as selling product.

Finally, our hyper-fragmented media market has contributed more indirectly, but perhaps no less significantly. Brands cannot reach consumers as efficiently as they used to. In some categories, a large portion of a target audience might never see any marketing element for a brand beyond store walls.

Photo: TurtleMom4Bacon

How is "shopper insight" different from "consumer insight?"

One of the key tenets of shopper marketing is that we need to pay more attention to how people make decisions and buy. The rationale here is pretty compelling -- most brands have spent bazillions understanding who their customers are, but relatively little on how they approach an aisle and what drives them to choose one offering over another.

Here's an example: Companies that make laundry detergent know who buys the most product, what forms they prefer, what stains they find the toughest, etc. But, as to how they make an in-store brand choice, the research probably gets a little sketchier. Do they shop by form? Stain? Color of clothes? Package size? Washer type? Which matters more, price or brand? If price is primary, do they compare price per ounce or price per load? Do consumers think there is one best brand or that they get better results by alternating brands? Do some people get confused and walk away from the aisle without buying anything?

Of course, many brands have examined these sorts of questions in the past. But most brands spent less time on this than on advertising research and the like. And if more than half of purchase decisions are made in store, does it really make sense to spend 80 percent of your time testing TV ads?

That isn't to say that the "who" of marketing isn't important. Rather, we need to improve the balance between demographic, psychographic, and behavioral research.

Photo: Steve Snodgrass

What product categories are most active in shopper marketing?

Most people think of shopper marketing as primarily a CPG phenomenon. Certainly, the leading CPG companies -- Procter and Gamble, Kraft, General Mills, Unilever, Clorox, Nestle, Coke, Pepsi, SC Johnson, Kimberly Clark, etc. -- are among the most active in the discipline. This stems from the following:

Relative size and sophistication of these companies
High levels of marketing spend in CPG
Proportion of total marketing spend that goes to in-store in these categories

Within CPG, the activity is most pronounced in high spend categories like soft drinks, refrigerated, laundry, household cleaners, cereals, and convenience foods with high margins.

But this is by no means a CPG-only phenomenon. Shopper marketing is permeating many consumer categories from electronics to consumer durables like washers and dryers. I'm told even some auto makers are getting on the bandwagon because of the primacy of in-store experience in auto purchase decisions. Since there are relatively few categories where in-store spending isn't significant, expect to see more and more shopper marketers in virtually every consumer category over time.

Photo: dgray_xplane

Where does shopper marketing "live" in a brand organization?

If ever there were evidence of the benefits of breaking down departmental silos, it's in shopper marketing. This is totally a cross-disciplinary field. If you had to lay odds on what role a shopper marketer played before assuming that title, the safest bet would probably be trade marketing or promotions. But shopper marketing is more revolutionary than evolutionary. It is not simply a new name for promotions, but rather a new function that integrates consumer marketing, trade marketing, and consumer promotions expertise in service of multiple brand objectives.

Shopper marketing appears to attract "high fliers" -- people on the fast tracks in their companies. Perhaps this is because success is so rooted in cross training and leading multiple disciplines. My suspicion is that in the same way that "pure" consumer marketers were the "powers that be" in years past, I am convinced that shopper marketers will be playing those pivotal roles in the future.

I used LinkedIn to draw some observations about the paths that shopper marketers have taken to reach their current positions. A fairly large number of the profiles I examined showed experience in both sales and brand marketing. Often shopper marketers began their careers in sales and shifted to trade marketing or brand marketing before they assumed their new, integrated roles.

Photo: Tessss

Where does digital fit into shopper marketing

When you think of in-store marketing, the first things that come to mind might be displays or cardboard shelf talkers. But digital, and most specifically mobile, are changing the face of shopper marketing every day.

Mobile phone applications have already had dramatic effects on retail shopping, and their impacts are really only beginning. The stats on mobile and retail are staggering:

66 percent of smartphone users use their phones as shopping aids. (Leo J Shapiro and Assoc, 2012)
59 percent use their smartphones to compare prices. (Deloitte, 2011)
47 percent leverage local search to find retailers. (e-tailing group, 2012)
47 percent use their phones to get product information. (Leo J Shapiro and Assoc, 2012)
18 percent have redeemed a mobile coupon in the past 90 days. (JiWire, 2012)

A lot of retailers and brands were caught off guard by mobile. Amazon was a very big winner early on when they encouraged people to comparison shop from retail aisles. They continue to do well with this strategy, much to the chagrin of retailers like Best Buy. But Best Buy has since responded in a host of ways, not least by providing early funding for Tecca -- a review and price comparison site. Other retailers have their own initiatives in place.

For brands, the number of mobile shopper marketing options is growing rapidly.

Photos: Shopkick and CompareMe

What's most remarkable about these new apps is the incredible range of functionalities. There are so many variations that virtually any brand sales objective can now be accommodated.

Conclusions

Shopper marketing is definitely something you will be seeing more of in the months and years ahead. If you work on brands that sell at brick and mortar, it makes great sense to keep learning about the field. More broadly, digital marketers would do well to keep abreast of developments because they are sure to be among the key catalysts for the near- and medium-term growth of mobile.

Certainly, the development of shopper marketing as a discipline is great if you believe that strategy should guide all marketing efforts -- shopper marketing extends strategic alignment into retail environments in unprecedented ways. And that's vital to the future of brands because so much of our marketing budgets are being deployed inside retail walls.

Thanks to iMediaConnection for publishing this first!

Today's Digital Marketing Headlines - 05252012

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Nichols) — Fri, 25 May 2012 16:45:00 +0000

MAJOR COMPANIES

Brand friendly new FB feature

FB IPO scrutiny growing

START UPS

Target taking Shopkick national

Betterworks to shut down

BRANDS AND AGENCIES

PayPal debuts brick and mortar payments with 15 big retailers

HuffPo partnering with Oprah

Major city paper reduces print pub schedule to just 3X per week (!)

W+K wins Gold Effie for "Imported From Detroit"

RESEARCH

Top 10 social sharing sites

SCUTTLE

Do you have Facebook herpes?

Industry News for 05242012

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Nichols) — Thu, 24 May 2012 15:09:00 +0000

MAJOR COMPANIES

HP boots Former Autonomy CEO Mike Lynch

HP to cut 27,000

A run down on the play by play of the FB IPO and the reasons why they are being investigated

Yahoo unveils new cross platform browser called Axis

McClatchy instituting paywalls

START UPS

Uberconference wins TC Disrupt award

Inneresting! Vitrue acquired by Oracle

Profile on the Pinterest user and its brand implications

BRANDS AND AGENCIES

Ford launching its first electric car with online only

TBS to bundle FB ads in its upfront packages

RESEARCH

Social video exploding

SCUTTLE

Tell all book knocks MSFT culture

9 shocking ads and how they fared

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Nichols) — Wed, 23 May 2012 14:45:00 +0000

can be rather tempting for brands and causes to shake things up by making shocking marketing messages that cause visceral reactions. Some brands have gotten great business mileage out of this approach. Others have found themselves in deep doo-doo as consumer blowback undermined their messages and integrity.

In the following pages, you will find nine examples of shocking brand messages. Five seem to work in that they garner strong reactions, but largely of a positive nature. Four had some really bad brand consequences. We'll sum up with some conclusions on what works and what doesn't.

WIN: MethLife ain't pretty

Lots of agencies volunteer to do pro bono work for worthy charities. A big part of the appeal, beyond the opportunity to do good, is that PSAs offer the opportunity to do award-winning work free of the taste constraints of large companies. Nonprofits in particular gravitate toward the technique because their limited budgets and reliance on donated remnant inventory mean every exposureneeds to get noticed.

These ads against methamphetamine use are a great example of how dramatization and raw empathy can get a message noticed.

The campaign has received strong media attention and significant free views on YouTube and other venues. Perhaps more importantly, it dramatizes very real possible consequences of taking the drug.

WIN: Febreze shows us going "negative" can be very positive

For decades CPGs have tried to emphasize the positive "solution" rather than the negative "problem" in their messaging. A recent example of a brand winning by flouting the formula is the powerful new campaign for Febreze that dramatizes the odor removal with some very shocking torture tests.

What works so well here is the relatability of these situations -- that ultimately in order to buy into a solution I need to remember that I have the problem in spades right here at home. The shoe above gives all of us the skeeves.

WIN: Benetton gets long-term mileage from shock

For decades the Benetton brand has stood out from the crowd by presenting "shock images" that are lightning rods for free media publicity. The brand has long maintained that its images are intended to get people to rethink prejudices, bad behaviors, and the like. It was, for example, among the first brands to depict interracial relationships.

In the last couple decades they have, for instance, shown dying AIDS patients in hospital beds, and photoshopped images of global leaders kissing -- Reagan and Gorbachev for example -- to define a brand essence that translates into apparel appeal.

The brand uses these stunning messages to differentiate itself despite the very mainstream appeal of the product. In fact, part of the intent appears to be making the brand's values part of the mainstream culture. The image above is not at all shocking now, but pictures like these were very much out of the norm when Benetton began this powerful ad approach.

One wonders whether images like the one below will feel not at all surprising in a decade.

WIN: L'Oreal Dermablend is at the center of a cover up

This stunning viral video garnered millions of views while offering an incredible demonstration of the efficacy of L'Oreal makeup. How often is a cosmetic advertisement absolutely engrossing?

The brilliance of this message is its use of a classic advertising approach (before/after), but in such a compelling and remarkable way. We see dramatic proof rather than heavily retouched model photos.

WIN: Sisley really seems to know its target

I preface this by saying I loathe Sisley advertising. And yet you would be hard pressed to find a brand of its size that has more ad fans. Do a Google search on Sisley ads, and you will be impressed by the number of sites and comments that laud these very graphic brand messages.

When you read the brand fan commentary, you find fashionistas who connect with the purist nature of the message and love its photographic style. It's clear that Sisley gets its audience and crafts messages that are at once shocking and appealing to its customers.

I may hate it, but I am about as far from Sisley's bull's-eye target as ad people come. It clearly has something that's working for the brand.

FAIL: Accident Prevention shocks but confuses

We began the win section with a PSA. Let's do the same with the fail section. This PSA for workplace accident prevention takes graphic depiction of consequences too far.

Where I think it goes wrong is in tonality and format, especially in the use of an aside to introduce the horrifying event that transpires. It puts an arm's length distance between the message and the viewer. Further, the tagline muddles the communication, failing to make crystal clear what exactly the ad is advocating. Don't make mistakes? Keep a clean kitchen? What are we supposed to do but grimace, shiver, and then try very hard to forget what we saw?

FAIL: Groupon proves that Tibet suffering is not hilarious

Online-only businesses tend to take more risks in messages and tonality, perhaps because buzz and publicity can play such a key role in their fortunes. But sometimes the buzz is anything but beneficial. This ad, part of a campaign from Groupon, uses the classic "redirect" to surprise people with a brand message when they were expecting something entirely different.

People were surprised alright, but not in a good way. The campaign received blistering criticism across social media that jumped to broadcast and cable news just hours after its first airing. A short time later, the campaign was scrapped.

The issue here seems to be in mocking the values and compassion of the viewer. Who cares if that monk gets bludgeoned as long as I get a cheap dinner? Do I really want to be that guy?

FAIL: Dolce & Gabbana seems to confuse violence with sexuality

D&G advertising is definitely so distinctive it could run without a logo. The images have a unique style and almost always challenge lockstep conventions; vehicles like interracial, gay, and polyamorous relationships feature prominently, for example. But this ad took all that challenging way over the line.

The company pulled it after a strong online outcry that accused the company of depicting (advocating) rape. It certainly stops viewers in their tracks. But not in a good way.

What usually works in D&G advertising is its empathy with the values of an urban and fashion forward set. The brand challenges conventions in the same way that the lives and aspirations of its customers do. But this message did just the opposite.

FAIL: Shock makes Pete Hoekstra's campaign very weak

Few expect this year's elections to be anything but savage and ugly. A profoundly polarized political environment coupled with Super PAC money has already yielded bitter fruit. And primary season isn't even over.

The Senate campaign of Michigan Republican Pete Hoekstra bought regional time in this year's Super Bowl to air this video, which went viral, but in ways that truly damaged the campaign.

Many objected to the racist speech patterns, and what was considered a deliberate attempt to drive racially motivated white anger. Hoekstra, who was doing well in the polls until the airing, saw an immediate and lingering drop off in his favorables as the ad drew a firestorm of criticism and dozens of critical analyses on cable news.

At first the campaign defended the message, but later agreed to pull it. Perhaps part of the reason for was that the on-camera talent went public with regret for appearing in the message. The fail here appears to be overtly sowing prejudice -- a value much of society finds repugnant.

Conclusions

There's risk in shock ads -- the very name suggests the sort of visceral responses that these messages are trying to drive. They seem to have a greater likelihood of working when:

They viscerally connect with and celebrate the lifestyle and values of the user.Sisley does that well, and stands out because its message is anathema to people (like me) who "don't get it." Similarly, Benetton speaks to an emerging set of values most common among young tastemakers.

They depict more relatable situations and drama.These are things that people can envision. The meth ads, for example, do this really well. We all know that the dire straits they depict actually happen.

They direct our emotional reactions to a clear set of action steps that tell us what we should do now that we are all fired up.Febreze wins here.

They go easy on complex analogies.Very few people study ads, so their meaning needs to be immediately accessible. The Dermablend message shows an incredible demonstration with a strong impact. There's visual proof -- stark and unadorned.

There's no formula to effective shock -- its very essence is in surprise. But given the two-way nature of modern media, brands need to tread carefully so that the strong emotional reactions they foment have the desired business effects.

Industry News For 05222012

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Nichols) — Tue, 22 May 2012 15:36:00 +0000

MAJOR COMPANIES

Google's Motorola acquisition closes

Bombshell: FB underwriters quietly cut their earnings forecasts before the IPO

Another bad day for FB stock.

Murdoch pubs attack FB IPO

START UPS

Online video creator Machinima closes $35M led by Google

India's answer to Craigslist, Quikr, gets $32M led by Warburg Pincus

AGENCIES AND BRANDS

New brand direction for Scion
List of world's most powerful brands for 2012

RESEARCH

Comcast and Nielsen to start measuring tablet ratings

SCUTTLE

Anatomy of a Deal: Google/Motorola

Industry News For 05212012

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Nichols) — Mon, 21 May 2012 15:40:00 +0000

MAJOR COMPANIES

· Chrome now #1 Browser

· Yahoo sells half its stake in China's Alibaba for $7.1B

· FB Stock price plunges in early trading

· Morgan Stanley bought huge amount of FB stock to support the IPO

START UPS

· FB acquires social gifting app Karma

· Tremor launches mobile app builder platform

· XFire raises $3M

· VPN maker Anchor Free raises $53M from Goldman

· Fab.com his 4.5M members

AGENCIES AND BRANDS

· Dandruff wars

· Penney's remains committed to its reinvention plan

· Pinterest popularity hurting advertiser interest in G+

RESEARCH

· Local social spend to surge

Industry News for 05162012

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Nichols) — Fri, 18 May 2012 15:12:00 +0000

ONLY ONE STORY TODAY

Facebook raises $16B in IPO

NYT LiveBlog: Facebook IPO

For small investors, long odds on a big payoff

Zuck rings the opening bell

Chart: FB IPO in context of other big tech IPOs

Fwd: Industry News for 05172012

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Nichols) — Fri, 18 May 2012 03:09:00 +0000

MAJOR COMPANIES

Mad Ave skeptical of Facebook ads

Twitter implements Do Not Track option

START UPS

Pinterest does a $100M raise at a … wait for it… $1.5B valuation!

Big data co Palantir raises $56M

Read the profile of interactive ebook creator/publisher Moglue

Read about Game Salad, a start-up that is altering the face of programming!

AGENCIES AND BRANDS

Nice in depth piece from USA Today: How social media is reinventing how business is done (I know I know, my foreign readers, a contradiction in terms. Depth from USA Today. But really and truly!)

Fascinating: How Walmart focused on local marketing via Facebook

Leading web advertiser U of Phoenix chooses Arnold for creative

Comcast launches Skype on Xfinity – a video calling series for TV

RESEARCH

Check out the social LumaScape "map"

SCUTTLE

FB cofounder Eduardo Saverin ponders his future after renouncing US citizenship for tax reasons

7 bad habits that are ruining your career

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Nichols) — Thu, 17 May 2012 14:44:00 +0000

Your career success is part ability, part luck, and part how you behave. No one does everything right every time. But the demands of the day, our own natures, and our environments can cultivate bad habits that ultimately limit personal success.

This piece isn't about the "gimmes" of career limiting moves. Getting sloshed at the Christmas party and coming on to the president's husband -- I assume we don't need to go through that stuff. This is about small bad decisions that become habits that ultimately define our reputations. Sometimes we choose bad behaviors that seem expedient in the moment but work against us over the long haul. Here are seven such harmful short-cuts, and how you can avoid their dangers.

Keeping too low a profile

Photo credit: Jordi Paya

We're all quite busy, especially on internet time. But spending all your days and weeks at your desk reduces your effectiveness and potential career success in the long haul. It's through our interactions with others that we learn, teach, and gain the recognition necessary to rise to our fullest potential.

Being known starts in your own organization. Make an effort to be connected to people inside and outside your department. If you're at an agency, volunteer for new business. As you spend more time in the business and seek new and more responsibility, it becomes more and more critical that you be someone people know because it is only through such knowledge that they can see your promise.

Your work needs to be great, but you need to be known for people to see and understand your greatness. I don't mean you should be a grandstander; I mean you should be visible.

Think about your profile beyond the office building as well. We all need to make time to establish a personal brand within the industry. Attend a local interactive marketing association or AMA meeting. Write an article for iMediaConnection. Get your butt to an iMedia Summit, ad:tech, or any of the more than 100 digital events that take place each year. It helps you learn and share knowledge, contribute to the betterment of the industry, and be recognized for your growing expertise.

Cultivating bad relationships

Photo credit: Samantha Marx

It can be a rude awakening for people to find out that they have developed bad reputations by dint of their abusive vendor relationships. But sellers are frequently asked for their two cents on the qualifications and suitability of marketing, advertising, and media candidates.

Who are they going to recommend? The people who refuse to meet with anyone? Who provide no feedback after an RFP? Who behave like spoiled children?

It's the same for sellers. If you go around people to get access to "higher ups" or clients, if you are unreliable, if you make more than your share of mistakes, you shouldn't expect your buyer counterparts to be in your corner when your chips are down. A big part of this is quid pro quo. Neither buyer nor seller can please everyone. But if your counterpart demonstrates professionalism, pleasant tenacity, and good ideas, make a reciprocal effort.

Burning bridges

Photo credit: Donna Barber

It can often be tempting to go ballistic on people who are difficult to deal with. A client who provides horrible direction. A vendor who calls more often than you would like. A buyer who doesn't return messages. But mark my words, if you burn that bridge, you will need to cross it again and again throughout your career.

In 20-plus years in marketing, I have made a couple of enemies. My worst offense: On one occasion, I yelled in self-righteous indignation at what I considered someone's dreadful behavior. My outburst happened in the late '90s. To date, they have reappeared five times in my life in five different companies. It is never pretty. The bad behavior deserved to be pointed out. But it served no purpose whatsoever to flip out.

There are very few of us who don't occasionally imagine making a dramatic fireball of a scene. Don't do it. It may feel good for an hour, or a day, but I guarantee that person will be baaaaaack in your life at some point. This is too small a business to make enemies.

Forgetting the "forgotten"

Photo credit: Paul Sapiano

Everyone has the right to feel job satisfaction for great work. Your success usually depends upon the collective effort of many folks, including quite a number who don't get recognized often:

· The traffic person who deals with unbelievable complexity and yet somehow makes it look easy.

· The department administrative assistant at your client who has to book an endless succession of meetings day in and day out.

· The accounting specialist who makes all the collection calls so we can collect our paychecks.

· The most junior person on your team who stays extra late to make sure things go off without a hitch.

There is a common denominator in every example above. In each case, the individual is responsible for homeostasis -- the maintenance of organizational stability -- rather than an Everest-esque project with a finite beginning, middle, and end. For them, doing a good job often means no feedback because things simply operate as hoped.

Many of the people who will read this have "hope and glory" jobs where a sexy achievement is evident at the end of the day. There is little glory in the maintenance of stability. In most organizations, people in roles like these are forgotten. And because they get no recognition, they feel less connected to the people and success of the company. Who can blame them when they resign four months from now for a $5,000 raise? When they've gone, you'll really see how important they were.

Don't forget them. Send them a thank-you note. On actual paper -- because nothing says "real thanks" like a dead tree. I send a lot of thank-you notes every month, paying particular attention to people in homeostasis roles. I can't tell you the number of times I have been shown one of those notes months or years later. People keep them and reread them when the crap is really hitting the spinning blades because it shows them they are appreciated.

Pause for a moment right now and think of someone on your team who fits this description. Go out and buy that person a thank-you card. Take a few minutes to write three sentences on how much you appreciate that person. Now, seal up the envelope, and put it that person's chair when he or she is away from his or her desk this afternoon. You'll feel great, and that person will feel greater.

Doing-it-yourself martyrdom

Photo credit: Historic Brussels

Are you someone with high standards who finds it difficult to cede control because you think you can do something better? Is it your tendency to just "do it yourself" rather than taking a few extra moments to train someone on how they should approach such a challenge?

The consequences of this tendency are to build frustration inside yourself, abdicate your role in helping develop new talent, and reduce the potential job satisfaction of the person whose job it actually is to meet the challenge.

Believe me, I know of what I speak. A few years ago, I worked at an agency where I would swoop in and fix things again and again because I was convinced that it wasn't worth the time and bother to empower others to do their jobs. Much quicker to just do it myself. The president of the agency pulled me aside one day and told me that I had to let go and let others do what they were paid to do. So I did that. And the world didn't stop spinning. Things worked out, and we were all happier in our jobs and professional relationships.

Daily practice of cynicism

Photo credit: Quinn Dombrowski

Marketing attracts more than its share of cynics. But when we allow cynicism to rule our lives, we hamper our ability to be valuable in this constantly changing space. I guarantee that at some point in the next 12 months, you will be tasked with doing something that has never been done before. There will be 97 reasons why it is impossible. And yet you will be able to do it if you approach it with ingenuity and optimism.

Cynicism has a profoundly negative effect on those around you. It surely limits your ability, but also the capabilities of the larger team. Because if people don't think they can do something, they can't.

One place this comes up frequently is in dealing with risk-averse clients. They might have said no to all forms of innovation in the past. But if we self-censor ourselves and just get on with the stuff they are comfy with, we cease to be a valuable resource.

Undermining your own opinion

Photo credit: Threephin

You were hired because people thought you were smart and could make a contribution. It is important to keep your ego in check, especially at the outset of your career. But make sure you grow more assertive as you gain practice and experience.

Marketing discussions require the valid contributions of everyone booked into the meeting. Stating an opinion can feel risky, but your passion and opinions are a key part of why you have a job. Avoid the dangerous habit of holding back or belittling your own opinions.

Sadly, a great deal of behavioral research indicates that the tendency to qualify one's opinion with belittling uncertainty is more common among women. Now, I know plenty of women who are very strident in giving opinions. But I also know too many who fall into this confidence trap. For those women and men who demonstrate a little too much humility, I implore you to tell us what you think.

Oh, and if you are a manager, stop any member of your team that begins their POV with a statement like, "Well, I am not sure if this is right, but..." Make them start again and state their opinion with authority. Of course they aren't sure they are right. It's an opinion. But the essences of marketing are thoughtful ideas and opinion.

Many thanks to iMediaConnection for publishing this first!

Tourism Ireland Kicks It

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Nichols) — Thu, 17 May 2012 03:06:00 +0000

May I say that for this Hibernophile it gets no better than flashmob + Irish dancing as a publicity stunt for Tourism Ireland. There are two vids here. The first is the classic flashmob approach. Lovely. The second is an AR program in which people are joined by real and imaginary Irish dancers. I think the partcipant comment that says it all is "I wanted to be beamed straight to Ireland."

For those that don't know, the Irish economy is in the pooper. Horrible problems, thousands of empty houses, rising emigration after years of virtually full employment.

So I think it's marvelous that:

A. The government has the foresight to continue funding the Tourism Ireland boards. Nothing yields return like tourism.
B. That the Boards are using whizbang technology to INVOLVE people in brand Ireland.

While my country produces new TV ads that are...well fine but hardly breakthrough...little ole Ireland is showing us all how it is done!

I am a little biased about Irish tourism as I have been there 14 times (really).

Bravo Bord Failte!

Industry News for 05162012

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Nichols) — Wed, 16 May 2012 16:17:00 +0000

Major Companies

Apple has placed order for larger phone screens indicating a new larger phone is in the works

Google shifts Android Strategy

Start Ups

Social syndication start up Mass Relevance raises $3.3M

Social travel service Gogobot his 1M users

Check out the Thirst app!

Agencies and Brands

Mixed signals from Detroit – GM cuts FB ads, Ford increases them

FB Fury: Angry reactions to GM announcement right before the FB IPO

Virgin Atlantic to allow cell phones on planes

Intel launches employee curated digital mag

Research

Nielsen: Apps still going STRONG!

Scuttle

No gossip today. I'm all about hearts and flowers and bunnies and kittens on this lovely Wednesday.

Digital News for 05152012

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Nichols) — Tue, 15 May 2012 15:26:00 +0000

MAJOR COMPANIES

Brooks charged in News International hacking scandal

Google to launch Chrome for iPhone

Groupon beats the Street

FB upping its expected IPO raise to $15B

START UPS

Sean Parker's Airtime revealed!

Analyst explains why Pinterest is already worth $500M

Quora raises $50Mil

AGENCIES AND BRANDS

Agencies launching IT services products

Amex testing new ways to transact in social

RESEARCH

eMarketer: Millennials lead quest for mobile enabled real time info

SCUTTLE

Thompson walks away with $7Mil

Industry News for 05142012

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Nichols) — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:40:00 +0000

MAJOR COMPANIES

Thompson out at Yahoo

Thompson tells Board he has been diagnosed with cancer

Souce: Thompson dismissal treated as "for cause"

Amazon nabs highest etailer satisfaction nod

Facebook on mobile hurting carrier SMS revenue

START UPS

SceneTap uses facial recognition to improve targeting

E La Carte tablets now in 600 restaurants

Zynga acquires women's mobile social gaming co Wild Needle in talent deal

Read about Qmerce, a start-up focused on providing branded social games

AGENCIES AND BRANDS

Dentsu reports Japanese ad business still declining despite economic recovery

Check out Pepsi's new web presence – Live for Now

RESEARCH

Nielsen: Study reveals how people use their smartphones in different brick and mortar retail evironments

Industry News for 05112012

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Nichols) — Fri, 11 May 2012 15:58:00 +0000

MAJOR COMPANIES

Facebook launches app store

Facebook launches sponsored updates in NZ test

Bing adds social sidebar with deep FB integration in move to take on Google

START UPS

Viddy gets $30M round

Photo monetization company Stipple scores $5Mil

AGENCIES AND BRANDS

Spark wins Orbitz media account

Real Simple hits 100K Pinterest followers

RESEARCH

Q1 Retail eCommerce up 17%

SCUTTLE

How Scott Thompson explained BioGate

Ashton Needs a Date

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Nichols) — Fri, 11 May 2012 02:54:00 +0000

Humor Doesn't Get Any Geekier

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Nichols) — Fri, 11 May 2012 02:50:00 +0000

Blowing on the cartridge tape sent me into laughter spasms...

Industry Links for 05102012

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Nichols) — Thu, 10 May 2012 16:35:00 +0000

MAJOR COMPANIES

T Mobile and Metro PCS talk merger

New Apple data policies have advertisers scrambling

START UPS

Samsung buys mSpot

Analytics start-up MixPath nabs $10.25Mil

TapJoy launches Asian mobile game fund

AD AGENCIES AND BRANDS

Big Pepsico marketing reorg

Target talking to media shops

RESEARCH

eMarketer: eCommerce sales per user continue to rise

SCUTTLE

Carol Bartz reminds us that she DOES have a CS degree

Industry Links for 05092012

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Nichols) — Wed, 09 May 2012 15:38:00 +0000

LEADING COMPANIES

Report: AOL trying to sell its tech properties including Tech Crunch

AOL earnings hit estimates but Display revenue still weak

New marketing leadership for RIM

START UPS

I guess I'll be moving Rovio to Major Companies Soon ;-) : 1 billion downloads for Angry Birds

Adapt.ly raises $10.5M Series B

Cool idea: Instacanvas launches global marketplace for Instagram prints

Read about RankBoards, a Pinterest for opinions

AGENCIES AND BRANDS

Audi focuses on digital for "halo vehicles"

WOW! Coke's Polar Bowl Social TV campaign attracted 9 Million

Amex Open in creative review

RESEARCH
eM: Brand interest in tablet and smartphone ads accelerating fast

SCUTTLE

Third Point Capital's Dan Loeb sends another letter demanding Scott Thompson's resignation from Yahoo

Industry News for 05082012

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Nichols) — Tue, 08 May 2012 15:29:00 +0000

MAJOR COMPANIES

Analysts bullish on FB IPO

Kindle Fire usage declines

START UPS

Why EverNote bought handwriting app Penultimate

Customer rewards platform Belly raises $10M

AGENCIES AND BRANDS

Inside Pepsi's identity crisis

Ogilvy leader says Twitter may become more valuable for brands than Facebook

RESEARCH

Nielsen: Smartphones hit 50% US

JiWire study: 37% of Cell Owners using Mobile Wallet services

SCUTTLE

Yahoo CEO apologizes to employees for resume lie…well sort of

Industry Links for 05072012

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Nichols) — Mon, 07 May 2012 15:31:00 +0000

Major Companies

Arianna Huffington Interview – Thought Provoking

Read Groupon CEO's letter on the future of the brand, written to calm employees and investors

Android apps not paying off for developers

Facebook acquires Glancee

Start Ups

ROVIO publishes boffo revenue for 2011

Rich Relevance raises $20M

Agencies

See best ads from the CLIOs

Research

Latest Deloitte ecommerce update

Scuttle

Y! CEO Scott Thompson on resume lie: nothing to see here people, move along…

Industry Links for 05042012

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Nichols) — Fri, 04 May 2012 15:49:00 +0000

LEADING COMPANIES

It's not TV, it's Zuck TV: Check out FB's IPO roadshow video

LinkedIn buying SlideShare for $119M

Ouch: Groupon stock dips into single digits

Vibrant launches contextual photo ad product Lightbox

STARTUPS

Mom power! Pinterest rises to #3 soc net

Badoo hits 150M users!

Hootsuite raising $50M at $500M valuation

Personalities-from-photos startup Tidepool raises $1.5M

BRANDS AND AGENCIES

Banking on a new agency: B of A moves to WPP

RESEARCH

Great Pew report on teens and video is here

SLANDER AND SCUTTLE

Yahoo CEO in hot water because of resume lie – said he had a CS degree but he doesn't. Resignation rumored

Simplifying the Display Landscape

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Nichols) — Thu, 03 May 2012 17:55:00 +0000

I wanted to draw your attention to something that was published on iMedia Connection this AM. Penned by Dave Yovanno of Mediaplex, it describes a new vendor neutral tool that they developed to help marketers get a better understanding of the Display industry, the classes of vendors, who does what, etc. I won't paraphrase the article, but do read it. It points out some of the communications issues of our industry, and the tool itself is very helpful as a starting place for understanding which end is up in Display.

The other reason I like the tool so much is that I know that Dave developed it in conjunction with Justin Fibich, a former Catalysta and now a rising sales star at "The Plex." I have no economic connection to Mediaplex, so don't think this a self serving shill.

But I do think it says something about them that they developed a vendor neutral tool just to help further understanding of the Display space among marketers and agencies. Yes, yes, they do benefit when Display gets more attention. But anything that helps take some of the absurd complexity out of this ridiculously overcomplicated industry is a real public service in my book.

I also envy them a little their ability to simplify the morass of solutions into such a simple illustration. While I flatter myself that I know a ton about Display, I could NEVER have created such an elegant, succinct, eminently helpful tool.

Viral Vid: Alex and Liam do Wal*Mart

noreply@blogger.com (Jim Nichols) — Thu, 03 May 2012 15:51:00 +0000