Have you ever been in a non-structured workshop or brainstorm session? I have.
It’s painful.

I believe no idea is a bad idea, but I also believe that ideas need to be focused around the task/objective at hand. For instance if you are trying to build a content strategy for a company/brand to expand an existing campaign, we don’t necessarily want ideas about a new campaign to surface—that would be off strategy.

I’m all for taking every idea into consideration, but it helps when the brainstorm is structured so the output of the session is as strategically focused and actionable as possible.

Overtime, I’ve sat through and led many workshops and learned from the best of best what works. Preparing for an ideation session is an arduous task and first starts with getting the stakeholders smart on the target needs, category analysis and brand objectives. The deep dive is one of my favorite parts of my job (I’m an insights junky). But then comes the thinking.

Moderating the workshop is another story. There are plenty of methods and constructs to exercise the mind in unconventional ways. Lately I’ve been experimenting with new ways/tools to garner valuable and relevant thinking, particularly around the utilization of emerging technology and digital/social channels— an area that not everyone at the table may have knowledge of, or experience with. Mindmaps, evaluative criteria and worksheets just scratch the surface of available tools. I frequently leverage my colleagues’ experience and approaches every time I put a workshop plan/deck together and it’s professional goal of mine this year to focus more heavily on these skills as they relate to innovation and digital engagement.

I’m looking forward to honing my planning skills by attending the Planning-ness Conference 2012 this May with one of my favorite colleagues/friends. It’s a conference for creative thinkers and explorers that is focused on “doing”, not talking. I have waxed on about the T-Shaped skills that I think all strategists should have: the ability to think and do; what I love about this conference is that each of the sessions has a learning component where you are taught a new skill or way to approach a problem, and a doing component where you put it all into action.

I’m confident that having exposure to a creatively inspired agenda and interacting with a small group of strategists will open my mind to new ways of creative problem solving and thinking about business and marketing in general; takeaways that go way beyond leading successful workshops.

A few months ago I wrote about bad email marketing and the level of anxiety my overflowing inbox brings me everyday. By choice, over the last few years (pre social media madness) email has been the basis for my “digital” CRM communication. I consciously opt into 75% of the CRM emails I receive. Key word- consciously. It keeps everything I want in one place, my inbox. I receive ~75-100 marketing/solicitation emails a day but as of late it’s just become too much of a burden. I’ve found myself shying away from reading my gmail in the evening and I sometimes miss important emails from family, friends, etc.

Enter the heaven of all email heavens- Unroll.Me

I may or may not have spent vacation time cleaning out my inbox and unsubscribing from unwanted emails only for ½ of them never to take effect in my prompt to ‘Go Away!” This ridiculously efficient service just saved me hours of time by consolidating (or deleting) most of my email subscriptions.

What is Unroll.me? Unroll.me allows you to unsubscribe from unwanted email subscriptions, or organize them all in one place in a single “rollup” email; a digest that gives me an overview of all the subscriptions I receive each day, and I can set the time I prefer the rollup to arrive.

In 10 minutes, I just accomplished what would have taken me an entire day to do, weeding through all those preferences and settings pages…who has the time? One thing to note is that after clicking the fifth subscription you want to unsubscribe from, you’ll be prompted to refer friends to unsubscribe to the rest in bulk. You can do the referral via email (to five friends), send a tweet, or post a Facebook message. #GetInvolved! #InboxSanity! To get an idea of how many email subscriptions I had, and what the rollup looks like- check out the screen grab below.

click to enlarge image

If I change my mind and desperately miss seeing in RackedNY my inbox every morning, I can always remove the subscription from my rollup to get it directly back in my inbox. But until then, I’m going to hope this magic API works and bask in the glory of a manageable inbox.

Unroll.Me only supports GMail, Yahoo, and AOL right now but the company is working on support for other platforms. I have 5 beta invitations- tweet me @jaeselle if you are interested in one!

Social media is not new by any means, but it’s an ever evolving medium; platforms change everyday and our industry is flooded with new market entrants faster than we can keep up with. Social has redefined traditional PR and the largest contributor to the Owned, Earned, Paid media construct. The need to stay emerged remains constant for anyone working in advertising/marketing/pr.

Working at an ad agency, I span across myriad verticals and clients in various industries (wellness, health, technology, CPG) who all use social differently to support their business models and objectives. The content I digest and connections I make during Social Media Week are invaluable to me to be a better strategist and marketer (specifically in health, a high regulated sector, like finance).

I still hear, on a daily basis,

-       “How do/should we integrate social media into our brand strategies”

-       “Is there a turnkey solution for all our clients on to how to approach social?”

And… the answer is NO. It’s custom designed strategy based on:

-       category you are in/amongst

-       your overarching brand strategies

-       deep analysis of the digital ethnography of your targets

I’m not going to wax poetic on building a social strategy, that topic has been covered enough (and will be covered ad nauseam this week) by those who understand the strategic integration content strategy, communication and connection planning within the social as a medium. This bi-annual week-long event brings the best of the best together to share their strategic thinking and executional approaches and successes.

Panels vs. Parties

For me in years past, as social media started to solidify its place in marketing and people were figuring out how to use social to support their brand/company needs, this week existed as highly didactic and educational; a foray into industry exec’s POVs on specific topics.

Fast forward a few years to today: social is no longer a specialized afterthought, it’s infused into every aspect of marketing/advertising. I am more selective about the panels/sessions I attend. There are still a lot of elementary and duplicative topics that may be valuable for those just getting into learning more about social, but my feeling is you can learn as much as possible from a didactic session, but with anything digital, I always say the devil is in the details and the hands-on experience you gain from actually architecting, implementing and most importantly activating a social strategy is more effective than any class/panel you can sit in on.

There are more than a fair share of successful case studies that have paved the way (inclusive of brand specific initiatives and company enterprise efforts to socialize from within) across 6 different content hubs

• Business & Innovation
• Advertising & Marketing
• Social & Environmental Change
• Health & Wellness
• Art & Culture
• Global Society

Social media week continues to connect me with strategic thinkers and hyper-social influencers with a similar professional focus of mine. Parties and networking aside, (always the best way to meet and get to know people) there are some great sessions/panels I’m looking forward to attending; certain thought leaders within this specialized medium should never be missed.

Picking Panels

One content hub that really does deserve its’ own schpeal is health & wellness. There are really no other industries like it and for those that work within this sector, you know what I’m talking about.

I’m happy to see such a large collection of health-related panels this year; they officially have their own Health & Wellness Hub! An especially helpful curation of topics for those who may just be integrating themselves within this highly regulated industry that has yet to publish formal guidance beyond broadly suggestive in nature, or crowdsourced from industry thought leaders from the Digital Health Coalition.

The sessions/panels this year range across how Pfizer and Sanofi are working with health/tech accelerators and startups, gamification methods, crowdsourced innovation contests, to technical advancements made regarding analytical/monitoring of your own wellness (ie: Nike+ band, Jawbone, etc).

It’s a nice mix. If you cant make the sessions themselves, here is a smattering of the health panels available on Livestream or you can follow the conversation on Twitter #smwHEALTH

My top 5 keynotes/panels I will definitely not miss:

John Bell from Ogilvy
The Insidious Plot to Socialize the Enterprise

No one asked for change management. Brands and organizations just started using social media. But as they scale – getting more people within the organization to use social in new ways – insights to drive strategy, more productive and enduring relationships with customers and enabling the sales force – they are discovering all sorts of changes that can be big and fundamental.

Seven insights and experiences from never-seen interviews with top business leaders at global brands like Ford and IBM. Each are deeply committed to making social a big part of how they do business. And along the way, they have learned a lot and been faced with changes they never really bargained for.

Cant make it? Watch on Livestream here

Ian Schafer from Deep Focus, et al
Deep Focus Presents: An Evening of “Connectedness”

Insightful exploration of how connectedness is changing the worlds of advertising, content, journalism, and civilizations — and why it represents the next evolution of humanity.

Featuring 8-10 speakers giving a series of brief talks on how being connected to more people, more content, more data, and more information than ever before is not only evolving business and commerce, but culture and humanity as well. This is for anyone with a vested interest in the ways we are connected to brands, customers, society, and each other.

Really doesn’t get better that this group of individuals on the panel:

• Jon Steinberg President; BuzzFeed
• Shiv Singh Global Head of Digital; PepsiCo Beverages
• Allison Mooney Head of Trends & Insights, Marketing; Google
• Scott Heiferman CEO Meetup
• Noah Brier  Co-founder Percolate
• Ian Schafer CEO Deep Focus
• Andrew Rasiej  Founder of Personal Democracy Media; Personal Democracy Media

Cant make it? Watch it on Livestream here

AgencyWare: Agency as Maker*

Should agencies think like startups? Thought leaders have debated this topic for the last year or so, and now some agencies are putting those thoughts into action. The result is a new generation of agency products that harness the energy and attitude of social and digital media.

Most agencies share key ingredients of agile software companies, like designers, programmers and project managers. But do they have they essential patience to iterate and persist throughout a profitable product’s lifespan? And is coding products in-house just a great exercise, or is a viable new business model emerging?

Brian Morrissey, Editor in Chief of Digiday, will moderate a panel of agency innovators that have experimented with the open social graph and worked to develop their own in-house tools, toys and applications.

Great panel:

• Nathan Martin CEO; Deep Local
• Tim Nolan Creative Director; BBH Labs
• Andrew Zolty Co-founder/Creative Director, BREAKFAST
• Matt Britton Founder & CEO, Mr. Youth
• Brian Morrissey Editor-in-Chief, Digiday
• Jackie Danicki Director of Social Communications, Weber Shandwick

*Note: This panel is probably the #1 interest for me as advertising agencies have moved beyond selling creative brand strategies and are converging with tech in the software/platform development game: developing & selling licensed products of their own. THIS is the epitome of change (and skill) management. Where do we play? Homegrown investment? Acquisitions? My opinion: Agility, skills and executional excellence in this arena may make or break it for traditional agencies. I’m interested to see what the panel says.

This Game Will Make You Healthier

Over the last few years, the industry has seen an explosion of new health applications, social media platforms, tools and games designed to make us healthier.  But do these programs actually work? Some argue that these new digital health programs are simply the digitizing of tried and true behavioral modification programs.

This is where the combination of health and technology can provide real value. The panel will discuss the success and failures of Health applications and social media platforms, explore how and why these help drive health outcomes, and share predictions on what we can expect to see over the next 5 years.

Cant make it? Watch it on Livestream here

Jonah Peretti from BuzzFeed 
The Future of Sharing followed by Panel: Creating Start-Ups Inside Traditional News Organizations

The rise of social platforms and content sharing is driving a major shift in the media industry. Increasingly, people are getting ALL their media through the social web: cute animals, breaking news, personal updates, branded content, humor, jokes, music and entertainment are all mixed together in a single interface. Social has become the new starting point for publishing and advertising. Jonah explains how the industry has shifted from portals, to search, to social, and more importantly, how you can thrive in this radically different media environment.

We’re living in an innovate-or-die media world, but it can be challenging to reposition a successful brand and operation, especially ones as large as msnbc.com and NBC News. This panel discussion will explore the benefits and challenges of spinning off start-up operations within traditional news organizations.

Follow @SMWNYC for updates.

I subscribe to lots of different email CRM. To date email has been my choice of how I prefer to receive information about brands/products/categories of things I’m interested in/have a relationship with. (I like everything on Facebook but that doesn’t necessarily mean it’ll make it into my feed, email always gets into my inbox)

• Fashion & beauty retailers like Barneys, Bloomingdales, Origins, Sephora
• Concert ticket announcements from Ticketmaster, LiveNation and The Bowery Presents
• Daily deals like Gilt Group, RueLaLa, Groupon, DailyCandy
• Personal Credit & banking updates from Amex, Citi, ING, WellsFargo
• NYC neighborhood events and ongoings
• Health plan updates from Aetna
• Competitive products that I work on professionally (ps- anyone that works in marketing & doesn’t do this is not doing their job, IMO)
• LinkedIn, Meetup, Plancast general & group updates

I rarely rant via my blog, but I am going to now- so consider yourself warned. I’m at the point that I might cease all branded email communication except for a handful of brands/companies—I know how I can find the rest of it in my Facebook/Twitter feed or one of my friends is sure to tell me about it via WOM.

I’m just so tired of bad email marketing strategies. I’m also tired of my inbox growing and growing and growing- it stresses me out (even though I subscribed to them all). However, when someone subscribes to receive email communications do you think most people anticipate they will receive 1-5 emails a day from that brand? I didn’t (and I work in the digital marketing field!) I like you and all, but enough is enough brands, you’re smothering me like a stage 5 clinger! For the last 3 holidays I have spent an entire day cleaning out my email inbox and unsubscribing from various email communications – this past Thanksgiving my inbox was at a record high of 8237. I just don’t have the time to read ALL those emails every day, or even every week if I set aside a day to read email? And quite frankly I don’t want to do that and don’t have the time to do that.

Rant over. Back to scheduled programming.

Email CRM: What to think about

This type of adverse reaction I have to my own inbox/personal interests makes me think/act more strategically about how I parlay these experiences into my professional setting by recommending best practices for proper CRM/email marketing campaigns. Because of the field I work in, (digital marketing/advertising) I know that email marketing is only one deployment channel of a larger holistic CRM program inclusive of content strategy, segmentation, and channel deployment/engagement, but right now, I’m just focusing on email and there’s 2 things I always look at with CRM:

1^st registration process:

• #1^st and foremost- What are you offering me? Why should I sign up to “hear form you”?
• How lengthy is the registration process? (seriously I don’t have a lot of time to fill out 17 fields, sorry I just don’t…luckily over the past year Oauth APIs (register with your Facebok or Twitter information) has helped matters with registration components
• Are they asking me specific questions about me, so they can tailor communications to me to be the most relevant they can be?
• What are they enticing me with; are their incentives (coupons, free trials, gifts, etc)
• How often will they send me communications and through what channels?

That’s called customer segmentation. I would say 20% of the communications I opt into segment me, the rest is mass marketing (same message for everyone). Some brands might be so small/have same offering for everyone that they don’t require customer segmentation, but I would argue all brands should consider it for optimal communication engagement with their customers (another larger topic I could wax on about for hours another time).

2^nd content I receive:

• Is what (I think) I’ve opted in for always the content I receive in the emails?
• Is the content creatively constructed, fresh/new every time I receive it?
• Is it short and pithy and right to the point?
• Is there an incentive/call to action in the email that further prompts me to engage with the brand?
• Are the emails optimized for whatever platform I am reading them on (desktop/mobile?)

Wait a minute: what about email communication I did NOT opt into?

Read the fine print my friends. Another interesting factor related to email marketing is how often companies identify you as a qualified lead and subsequently send you information. (Ie: list purchases or even registration/cookies can identify me when I visit a specific brand website and everytime I go back they know it’s me and then send me a communication the next day related to what I was reading on their website. If you ever wondered if that was coincidental, it’s not. Tons of automated B2B/B2C email marketing automation programs do that like Marketto, Campaigner, iContact, and ExactTarget, Sailthru.

A few case examples that may help illustrate my point:

Poor practice email marketing that drives me crazy:

• Too many e-mails in one day/week (Bloomingdales, please, I don’t need 3-4 emails in one day, even on Black Friday/Cyber Monday)
• Unsubscribe services that don’t work! I understand it may take “24-48 hours” for unsubscribe requests to be processed, but please make sure they can be processed!)
• List matching/selling: I understand how this works and some companies may sell my info to others, but brands, please make these terms of use CLEAR in your registration process so I’m not spammed with bullshit later.

Best practice email marketing strategies that make me smile:

• Communication options AT THE TIME OF REGISTRATION liked LinkedIn groups does. Please don’t make me click through and change my settings; ask me upfront otherwise I might be too aggravated at that point to put the effort in.
• Don’t hide your communication settings or make them too hard to find on your site (ie: Meetup who bury these setting within each individual group you signup for)
• Bi-monthly/quarterly surveys- ask me what I want/am interested in/how often I want to be communicated with. I will always answer surveys if I am deeply rooted/connected to a brand.
• Keep your communication content fresh and relevant
• Incentivize me with something! Sometimes a boring story just isn’t all that interesting

I am a customer segment called “annoyed”

If your brand/product decides to build a customer relationship management program, then please INVEST in the right way to communicate with your customers. Please learn who I am, what I’m interested in knowing about related to your product, how often I want to receive communications about them and how I prefer to be contacted.

Caveat: This is time consuming and expensive to do that, I know. I am privy to the ins and outs of building digital CRM programs and customer database management, and will not down play the expense and resource management needed to optimize the MOST IMPORTANT aspect of your brand’s communication process- the database. However, the database is the driving force behind setting business rules on who the customer is, who gets what communication and when. With all the technical advancements over the past few years this is not a difficult task to accomplish and should be scoped for within any CRM program a brand runs. (Especially if you do not use an aforementioned automated CRM email program).

If your database and content strategy are not set up properly, there may be repercussions. Simply stated: if you push me content/emails that I have not asked for/that are not relevant to me I’m going to UNSUBSCRIBE, and that might amount to more than me just NOT wanting to read your emails anymore.

I came into the Apple store on 14th/9th at 3:20 pm with a tech problem. I’m still here (writing this from my iPhone) Starving and missing my spin class right now (sorry @FlyJessA22) …..but shockingly none of that even matters.

My iPad1 wifi/antenna was broken which causes a huge issue with syncing to iCloud (um, & not being able to watch TWCable app in bed) After hours of diagnostics, friendly chatter & back & forth my uber genius Matt said the repair would be $389, and by repair that equates to a new iPad1 unit b/c they don’t open up the iPad1. They don’t even make iPads1s anymore. I have been waiting for 3 to come out b/c I have plenty of iPad2s I can use at work if need be. Either way I wasn’t planning on “buying” anything today….

I didn’t buy apple care for this iPad1 and I don’t remember why i didn’t.
Anyhow Matt excused himself & then came back and said he talked to his manger & they decided to just going to give me the new ipad1 at no charge, he didn’t feel right charging me for something that wasn’t my fault even if it was 89 days out of warranty. Then he installed iOS5 & showed me how to reinstall all my apps from iCloud (an hour later 116 apps are still downloading)

This whole experience was flat out amazing. Apple continues to impress me not only with their products, but with their gold standard user-centric/user experience positioning which goes far beyond devices/products and plays into in personal interaction/purchase behavior/customer service.

Thanks Matt. Thanks Apple. You really do make such a difference in people’s lives, especially mine.

This was an eye opening moment for me in many ways because over the past 2 years my responsibilities have grown, shifted, adapted and redefined themselves on a need-based timeline. I know what I do on a daily basis; I know no day is ever the same; I’m in a needs-based position. I am also cognizant of having the word strategist in my title; it begs for a “functional” definition of what do you “do”? Not what do you “think”– but what is it that you “do”, what do you “produce”?

So I’ve gone through this exercise to sketch out what is I think a digital strategist/planner does. (based on my personal experiences and what skills I believe are needed for optimal cross-channel marketing integration)

The net-net: I believe a digital strategist provide guidance to departments: account, creative, UX and production & works as a liaison with departments such as UX, IT, project management and analytics. We facilitate the path for others to define and design sustainable ideas, quality engagement initiatives and memorable experiences across digital channel opportunities, and sometimes I even create those paths alone, by myself.

So what defines the role and responsibilities of a digital strategist/planner?

Depending on where you work and what skill sets you have access to/are surrounded by, your responsibilities could spawn over multiple areas of “digital” selling, account planning, ideating, connecting, and developing content and/or experiences for anything that is digitally consumed.

When you work for an advertising agency with AOR accounts, seldom do you find digital planners that just focus on web, or just focus on tablets and apps, or just focus on search or social (multiple positions are contingent upon the scope of work that can support each discipline). Smaller social-only shops may have those positions, as do media planning/buying agencies. So for those of us in large agencies, our knowledge spans across all available digital communication opportunities. And, in addition to understanding the opportunities digital planners have to package them as “valuable investments” that tie to larger brand strategies when selling in ideas to the client.

First and foremost, I think digital strategists need to be aware of and fully fluent across all aspects of traditional strategic account planning inclusive of the category they work in as well as the target attitudes and behaviors so we can define appropriate and actionable initiatives. I also believe digital planners should hold a degree of excellence in cross-channel, media and most importantly propagation planning. Social initiatives are nothing without the understanding of and planning for amplification and influence amongst the consumer voice, that garners earned media for the brand.

I also wholeheartedly believe the best strategists have also been the best producers of content in their former job functions, and are able to utilize those skills that carry over into their strategist role. I believe the digital strategists who have never touched, contributed to, created or designed any digital experiences lack the functional knowledge and crucial nuances that comes with the strategic insight and recommendations. I don’t believe you can have one or the other- I believe you need a T-shaped set of skills.

When speaking directly about the digital channel (b/c it is only one channel of many for which all types of communication disciplines can be filtered through) it is an enormous task to identify the best opportunities for your brands objectives. There is much ground that is covered across the core communication conduits such as web & mobile (phone & tablet) for which content, assets and experiences are designed for target consumption and optimal response.

These conduits are inclusive of websites/destinations, mobile sites/destinations, video, gaming experiences, apps, display advertising, search optimization, media planning & buying, hardware/devices, software, APIs, social experiences, social CRM, analytics measurement, and most importantly user experience design—all of which produce actionable behaviors that drive what I call an “affected respondent” (someone that responds favorably to the designed call to action of your initiative.)

Defining sustainable ideas and experiences; a collaborative effort

With the advent of new digital communication entrants everyday there is a need to be agile and iterative in our approach to problem solving through digital mediums. What worked last year, or last month might not be appropriate for tomorrow. A digital strategist needs to be experienced and knowledgeable across the dynamic and ever-evolving digital environment.

Examples:

• Mobile: 500+ devices across multiple operating systems
• Tablets: 28 tablets in market by 2012 on multiple operating systems
• Social: Iterative environments all around- just take a look at the new implications for marketing & measurement strategies across the Facebook platform per the announcement of their new product updates at the f8 conference
• Web: HTML vs. HTML5 (I did hear the “5” will be going away soon)
• Search: Google changes their algorithm all the time, new strategies are needed to stay current and optimized

Because of the iterative nature of any digital medium,  it’s very rare that I have ever suggested a “1 & done” type approach like publishing a book; it’s nearly impossible to do that with digital initiatives.

For instance web-based initiatives should never be packaged without search optimization or awareness drivers like display, paid search of social engagement integration. It’s a package deal across the owned, paid and earned media structure. One doesn’t work well (enough) without the other.

Most often digital plans are recommended with analytic reporting sructures, content refinements and updates. However, sometimes this may be a new process/way of thinking for many marketing clients who are used to having 1 line item for a “project or campaign” and at completion it’s checked off the list. This is not the case within the digital realm, where 1 line item might be inclusive of 5-8 sub-tactics with infinite endings.

Where does the digital strategist fit in?

I also believe successful strategic and tactical execution is a collaborative effort amongst the digital strategist and various contributing departments.

Account planners

• Partner on category knowledge, brand objectives/strategies and consumer/persona insights, attitude and behaviors
• Gather insights on consumer behavior as it related to digital media/device consumption and usage (ATU)
• Establish current mindset and desired behavioral change for consumer personas

Account

• Establish 360 holistic touchpoints around the consumer engagement efforts
• In tandem with media planners, establish 3rd party media partnerships (content & engagement opportunities) and space (buying)

Creative

• Review emerging opportunities online, mobile, technology, social and participate in ideation brainstorms
• Evaluate digital creative for optimal user experience (UX)
• In tandem with account planners, help establish content cadence for appropriate message distribution/engagement touchpoints

UX/Development

• Partner with UX/IA to establish use cases, proper wireframes/prototypes and optimal user experience flow
• Liaise with project management and development to establish proper technical and functional spec documentation
• Design usability testing methodology and documentation

Analytics

• Identify KPIs, benchmarks and reporting structures (monthly/quarterly) for initiatives and campaigns for ongoing data analysis, insights and refinements

Can 1 person do everything?

We’ve all encountered the negative chatter surrounding “jack of all trades master of none” and I have seen/read how many digital planners have fallen victim to that catch phrase due to the lack of understanding/misperception from others on what it is that digital planners are responsible for—-certainly not for lack of intelligence defeat; rather due to the impossible task and limited capacity our brains allow to know and do everything at the level of an expert. Note: see Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers for has for more on that topic. (and anyone that says they can be an expert in everything is lying. Just sayin.)

For instance:

• There are strategist out there that focus solely on social engagement and building brand experience through social channels.
• There are strategists that focus solely on defining KPIs and measuring program analytics.
• There are strategists that focus solely on connection planning and 3^rd party media partnerships – identifying the right brand with the right space to be communicating with consumers in.
• There are strategists that focus solely on search, display campaigns and optimized landing pages.

Sometimes these strategists work for different organizations and are working in silos (not ideal). Sometimes there are no specialists within any one digital specialty and you are left to your own devices to maximize your own knowledge and/or shared resources around you.

Either way the definition of the position is subjective in nature; as I mentioned it’s a needs-based position and completely dependent on your clients/business and current working environment- organization or freelance based. I am glad I went though this exercise; now I have a concise talk track, for this month anyway. But, as with our evolving digital landscape I’m sure it will change next month and the next and the next…it’s all about being agile.

History captured, 20 years of my inspiration documented.

We all have different forms of creative inspiration and different motivators throughout our lives. Some come and go for me, but nothing has remained as constant for me as music. Music provides a creative outlet to fuel and soothe my emotions, tie me to a memory or take me away from something I don’t want to think about.

Over the last 20 years the remaining musical constant in my life has been Pearl Jam. Some people take sabbaticals from work to reinvigorate themselves, Pearl Jam does that for me in a night (sometimes 2) when I’m in need of something to clean my head or get me through a tough project.

For some it’s simply the voice of Eddie Vedder, the riff of Stone Gossard, Mike Mike McCready or Jeff Ament; and for others it’s the sometimes dark emotional lyrical vault of  Eddie’s life that brings you to that place you need to be. For me it’s a combination of both.

I can remember in 1992 when I first heard Alive & Jeremy the weekend of my senior prom- I was addicted and have been ever since.

photo credit: TheFilmStage.com

In college I spent long nights in my university’s art building sculpting my heart out, sketching and designing countless projects fueled by Ten, vs., Vitalogy and No Code; care of K-Rock radio, they got me through it all.

I’ve taken weeks off work to travel for Pearl Jam tours and Lollapalooza festivals (33) visited the Experience Music Project and Science Fiction Museum and Hall of Fame in Seattle, made countless new friends and snapped countless MBs of photos, all of which have stayed with me and been a part of some great times and rough times.

Photo credit b/w: PearlJam.com

Most recent and memorable was the 09 tour that ended in Philly where they played 3 shows in a row and didn’t repeat 1 song over the course of the 3 nights. I went the 2^nd night on 10/30/09 and on the Acela on the way down I went through the past evenings set lists and based on experience predicted what would be played. I was 85% correct on the first 6 songs. The next night the announced a last show on Halloween and the amount of $$$ my friends and I paid for the tickets were worth every minute of that 3+ hour show. The creative energy the band puts behind each show’s setlist is 1 of the driving factors for me, as Eddie usually writes them an hour before the show based on the vibe of the day and venue.

Over the years I’ve collected my favorite bootlegs and videos of the shows I’ve attended and those I haven’t (read: Spodek Poland 00’, Fox Theater 94’, Benaroya Hall 03’, Newcastle 06’)

This is not about me being a fan.

Fans come and go with the speed of the bandwagon. This is about my constant inspiration which is music, and which ultimately is Pearl Jam.

Tonight I saw the Pearl Jam Twenty documentary.

I felt like I was watching the last 20 years of my life flash in front of me, and it’s because I was. Thank you Pearl Jam and Cameron Crowe for putting together the most memorable film that will forever be a part of me, especially because I was at the last 2 shows highlighted in the film (MSG 5/26/10 & Philly 10/30/09. I feel as though my musical inspiration has been solidified as part of their history and now it’s officially documented for the whole world to experience, far beyond what I have in iTunes or iPhoto.

What I am going to highlight are a few evolving marketing theories and platforms I have become more familiar with over the last few years as they relate to applying behavioral change modeling to gamification & marketing.

As defined by Wikipedia, Gamification is the use of game play thinking 1 and mechanics to solve problems and engage audiences. Typically gamification applies to non-game applications (also known as “funware”),2 particularly consumer-oriented web and mobile sites, in order to encourage people to adopt the applications. It also strives to encourage users to engage in desired behaviors in connection with the applications.3 Gamification works by making technology more engaging,4 and by encouraging desired behaviors, taking advantage of humans’ psychological predisposition to engage in gaming.5 The technique can encourage people to perform chores that they ordinarily consider boring, such as completing surveys, shopping, or reading web sites.4

The 2^nd citation in that definition is related to healthcare…. Sinanian, Michael (April 12, 2010). “The ultimate healthcare reform could be fun and games”. Venture Beat. This will come into play later in the post.

Applying gamification to marketing

A few weeks ago I watched a riveting 60 minute Google tech talk “Fun is the Future: Mastering Gamification” by Gabe Zichermann; a marketing goldmind. Theories on how gamification is currently in-progress of redefining what old loyalty programs used to be—no longer about the intrinsic product or rewards per say, but replacing them with personal status as a new type of reward. Now as a marketer, you may say “but it always has to be about my product!” True to a point, but it’s all in the delivery and shaping what the “reward” looks and feels like for the consumer. This is a must-watch for anyone in marketing thinking about, or currently re-establishing their customer relationship marketing programs to better align with customer expectations of the forms in which brand loyalty translates to them.

60 minutes of goodness- I would bookmark this for Sunday evening enjoyment, it’s worth it!

Absorbing the theories in this talk has fueled a personal fury of ideas surrounding marketing, gamification and mainstream acceptance and utilization as we have seen demonstrated with social platforms like Foursquare. Most recently there have been some newcomers to the “game” if you will applying these theories across multiple industries looking to drive behavioral change amongst their consumer targets, such as DailyFeats and Foodzy, just to name a few.

No stranger to the gaming world, Foursquare has come a long way in maturing their businesses model; no longer viewed as a “stalker” app to broadcast your daily visits around town & finding where your friends are, there’s more to it and this social game has 8M users, 2.5M check-ins everyday. They have led they way for driving behavioral change by checking into local venues earning you points, sometimes specials & discounts at participating retailers as well as badges based on the different types of places you frequent; 50% of the badges are sponsored by national brands and local brands businesses. The more brands and companies you follow, they more opportunity you have to un-lock a special badge created by them. Independent satisfaction for you whilst climbing the leaderboard vs. your friends.

Foursquaropoly has taken the API from Foursquare and building a citywide game around buying & owning properties just gives reason for more social interaction with our friends in NYC. Billed as “Monopolize Your Life.” a gaming app that uses Foursquare to make you the game piece and your city the board. They have launched some recent press surrounding their use case and are still currently in development, but this video gives a GREAT idea of what’s to come. I can see down the road all forms of monetization for this platform with local businesses as well. I can’t wait for this.

Foursquaropoly from Deanna McDonald on Vimeo.

In pursuit of behavioral change

Foursquare has effectively tied together 3 things: motivation, simplicity and triggers for acting on a check-in. They have driven behavioral change across socializing location-based marketing. How does the Foursquare gaming model translate into health?

Sometimes, gaming just isn’t about monetary or tangible rewards such as discounts, points as much as it is about personal rewards. Everyday, most of us, strive to lead a life full of satisfaction attained through the creation of personal goals and accomplishments. In the age of mobile living sometimes writing these goals down in your notebook doesn’t really fuel the effort it takes to accomplish them.

Enter mobile/portable coaching through gamification.

Myriad goals exist in the form of feeling better, being productive, eating well, complying with/being aware of drug/food interactions and allergies. Such are all examples of what an individual determines  to be a “healthy interaction” throughout their day, week or month.

There is a method to the madness behind cultivating healthy behavioral change, or any behavioral change for that matter. No one covers this more in-depth than BJ Fogg, founder of the Persuasive Technology Lab at Stanford University, my personal go-to for all things behaviorally related on his blog Behavior Model. His research focuses on designing for behavioral change using today’s technology via the FBM model. The FBM highlights three principal elements, each of which has subcomponents.

• 3 Core Motivators (Motivation)
• 6 Simplicity Factors (Ability)
• 3 types of Triggers (Action)

The takeaway: “while motivation is very high, ability can still be low.” You have to establish the triggers of change and participatory adoption.

In marketing speak— you need market traction, you need your audience to participate (acquisition/compliance), and keep participating (retention/persistency). They key building blocks to any successful business plan or individual tactical objective and/or strategy.

Marketing healthy rewards

There are a plethora of mobile coaching programs, apps and services in market today to help people make healthier choices. But again- when it comes to marketing, your biggest competition is what and how the rest of the world is accustomed to responding and actively participating in something. WIFM? What’s in it for me mentality? Everyone wants to be incentivized these days- that’s where gaming comes into play and there are 2 standout “healthy” startups who I think are doing this very well.

An online check-in system that turns healthy eating into a gaming, Foodzy has been covered by Fast Company in July and their new mobile app was recently covered by TechCrunch this morning. By introducing game and social elements in your eating habits, Foodzy encourages peoples to maintain a healthy lifestyle over long term, and bring back the fun in enjoying food with friends.

As noted by Fast Company “Sure, there are other apps out there that track your calories, and Weight Watchers has been gamifiying watching what you eat since before the Internet existed. What might set Foodzy apart, other than it’s cute Web 2.0 design, is twofold: the social connections and the crowdsourced database of food items.”

Foodzy is not pitching themselves as a weight-loss site. The app makes this more fun than other food tracking apps by giving calories a fun new name (bits. 1= 20 calories) and earning badges for certain good foods or fun eating habits. An upgrade to Foodzy Pro ($15 month) gives you access to the mobile app and allows you to start a personal diet plan that advises you how many bits you should eat per day if you want to lose, gain or keep your weight and offers a personalized dashboard to analyze your food habits.

Note to readers: the online system is currently set up in height (cm) and weight (kg) I had to bust out my calculator for this. (side effect from having an Amsterdam origin for the startup)
1 Inch = 2.54 Centimeters
lbs / 2.2 = kilograms

Foodzy currently has a database of 90,000 foods, for different countries. This is still very new, it was just released to the public in July so only time and traction will tell, but I like the idea behind it. I see a lot of marketing opportunity for additional monetization through brand/product sponsorships that all ties back to indirect brand loyalty. I also personally wish someone would create this for the gluten intolerant/food allergy community. Huge opportunity there!

Certain social wellness gaming programs such as DailyFeats takes these measures into consideration through their mantra of “Doing good should be rewarding”; DailyFeats guides you in doing small but significant actions — or “feats” — that add up to big change. Along the way, you earn points, share with friends, and treat yourself to real-life rewards, motivating you to go do good — every day for health and happiness.

Whenever someone has completed a meaningful, positive action — like enjoying a piece of fresh fruit, tutoring a kid, or taking a brisk walk after a stressful day –they can check in that feat or accept a challenge which is a group of feats that person can plan to accomplish over a period of time. Users will earn points to redeem for discounts at neighborhood businesses or savings from national brands. DailyFeats has most recently partnered with MTV, Monster.com, NationalHealthData.gov, Cigna and Charity: Water.

Go on, earn yourself a healthy badge

Health is something we ALL take seriously; it’s part of our everyday. I think those in the health and wellness arena, including the government and health plans, can learn a lot from the consumer realm of social gamification. As I stated earlier, when it comes to marketing anything, a product or a service, your biggest competition is what and how the rest of the world is accustomed to responding and actively participating in something; know the drivers whether it be marketing effort or support program.

Incentivizing positive behavioral change through utilization of gaming mechanics as the core structure within marketing ideas and personalized support programs definitely has some relevant and worthwhile points to go after.

Additional suggested reading: The ultimate healthcare reform could be fun and games Venture Beat

References via Wikipedia:

1. Popkin, Helen (June 1, 2010). “FarmVille invades the real world”. MSNBC.
2. Sinanian, Michael (April 12, 2010). “The ultimate healthcare reform could be fun and games”. Venture Beat.
3. Stuart, Keith (19 September 2010). The Observer. http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2010/sep/19/3d-games-xbox-playstation.
4. Takahashi, Dean (September 30, 2010). “Gamification gets its own conference”. Venture Beat.
5. Radoff, Jon (2011). Game On: Energize Your Business with Social Media Games. Wiley. pp. xxxii. ISBN 9780470936269.

Working in the advertising has taught me to be a better marketer.

Working in “advertising” can mean many, many things. Gone are the days of Mad Men where the “creative agency” developed a mass marketing image campaign and witty headline to live for months/years at a time.

Working in advertising can mean you have small or large focus on a specific area:

• sell advertising (ie: selling space for ads to live next to relevant content/within your demographic readership aka media buying)
• creatively develop content and campaigns that live in that space
• sell an analytical service to track media impressions and overall brand lift
• execute small ideas on a project basis for a small niche agency/company
• work in a large multi-service agency working across cross-functional promotional arenas such promotion, PR, media, analytics
• all of the above

I realize now that growing up in account services, I always had an underlying tie to strategy and had trouble understanding “do this” direction without understanding the core premise of where the direction came from and what insights supported certain ideas. I was always told by peers and certain supervisors that I ask too many questions, that I don’t need to know why, “just do the project” but that was never comforting for me and now I know why.

Observationally speaking, working at an advertising agency with AOR (agency of record) accounts/clients has changed dramatically over the years. 7 years ago our teams didnt have heavy involvement in strategic brand planning. EVPs/SVPs usually held meetings with clients keeping up with relationships and taking them to dinner or golf outings. Agency teams rarely interacted with senior staff at that level. I haven’t seen behavior like that since 2007/2008 when the agency staffing model changed dramatically to accommodate myriad industry shifts:

• changing economic climate
• subsequent decreased and more scrutinized client marketing budget allocation, which not only included promotional spend but touched across their own client staff resource allocation
• Ever-changing and evolving consumer-centric model & myriad promotional channels beyond the traditional print, broadcast and radio

And who was looked at first?—the agency of record.

If you had letters in your title you were not only expected to keep business current, solid and profitable for the agency- but clients started to ask for greater input—what were you contributing at a $300/hour billing rate, aside from prime tee-times? Where was the thinking that stood behind that latest campaign—did we think it could be executed via 1 mass marketing message through the same channels as we always have been? What kind of return were we promising the brand beyond “message recall”? Those “coveted” positions with 3 initials were quickly becoming measurable in their own right. And the dropoff rate for successful KPIs was high.

Within that timeframe my account service responsibilities changed as well. No longer was I just a day-today client direction taker and internal agency facilitator of said direction; I was an extended member of the client brand team. I think it was in 2008 as the customer-centric model of engagement became more relevant to every brand and shifted from customer relationship marketing (CRM) into the form of custom marketing via target segmentation/preference of communication that I saw my role of the agency acct lead shift much more to accommodate a growing need beyond just ideation & execution into the hybrid addition of strategic thinking.

Enter the role of “strategic planner”

Back in the day planners were a bit of an anomaly, they mostly worked directly with market research group at the client and sourced qualitative and quantitative methodologies for product launches or bringing new campaigns to market. Since 2007, I have seen the greatest shift in that position, and the service value it offers to clients and brands.

Planners are the new marketers of the agency world.

We understand and are expected to help identify insights that would ultimately inform and shape immediate and long range brand planning. I have had the fortunate opportunity to be included in all forms of brand building allowing me greater exposure to marketing workshops & exercises with established consultancies like Monitor Group, 6th Sense and Campbell Alliance; strategic identification processes which outlined the customer buying processes; attitudes and behaviors that drive HOW and WHY and WHERE brands should engage their targets and through what levels of emphasis that will engender the greatest return on effort.

But, it never stops at the strategic level

We also help take the brand plan, dissect and disseminate into larger agency team brainstorms to help shape it into recommendations; an actionable and well rounded tactical communication plan that would secure activation across all cross-functional stakeholders within the marketing group. T-shaped individuals, loosely defined as creative technologists, which I wrote about back in December, can do much bigger things and think more broadly.

The vertical shaft of the “T” represents the depth of expertise/skill that a person exhibits, while the crossbar of the “T” represents the amount they are willing and able to collaborate

They are looking for ideation beyond 1 honed skill set, and most importantly how to apply/execute it to meet a business objective of their clients and customers. They are people who are willing to experiment and take risks– in concert with rest of the world morphing around us in parallel. Having spent months at a time building the business plans, the tactical ideation and channel planning is where the real fun comes in. Some planners like to end their contribution at the strategic level, most I know, including myself, also enjoy the ideation & execution part. Understanding drivers for your audience/target is only half the battle; performing a current promotional audit, identifying opportunities for scale and knowing how to wrap the brand drivers around multi-channels of engagement and create experiences that engender the most behavioral change that ultimately fuel the objectives of your brand is where the real pull through comes in.

Had it not been for this hybrid shift, I don’t know that I would have continued my career trajectory within “advertising”.

Being involved in the overall marketing process inherently makes more sense to me. I think– actually, I know, what keeps me most passionate about my “job” is that my role is ever evolving. Specific tasks and thinking may be tied to one another, but it’s rare that I ever do the same exact thing on any given day. And regardless of the brand industry you are in, the strategic construct and process remains the same.

Marketing by far is the greatest passion in my “job”. So much so because of my personal interest that sometimes it doesn’t feel like a job and it’s just plain interesting and fun. Self-satisfaction is a subjective arena; fulfilled only through individual goals, wants and needs. If the strategic marketing process and ever-evolving promotional landscape keeps me an perpetual student, so be it– sign me up for an eternity of semester long learning’s.

Click image below for a larger version of this infographic

Click image to enlarge in new browser window.
Reblogged from my friends at Digital Buzz Blog