Good morning from Los Angeles and the Forrester Marketing Forum. Harley Manning is on stage explaining the new environment for marketers. The decline of traditional channels and rise of new channels and the challenges they present. “How do we get back to strategic marketing” he asks…the new imperative is Engagement. Brian Haven, a great analyst from the Forrester team that we work with quite a bit, will be leading the opening session on Engagement and how brands can drive success via direct engagement with their consumers. We will be hearing from over the next two days from Casey Jones from Dell, Cathy Halligan from WalMart, and Nancy MacIntrye from Leap Frog Enteprises, plus many others. I will do my best to cover/post from as many of the session I attend today and tomorrow.
Entries Tagged 'Interactive Marketing' ↓
Opening Session of Forrester Marketing Forum
4.8.08 by Blake Cahill {Blake Cahill, Consumer Generated Media, Customer Experience, Interactive Marketing, Social Media}
Dell and Disney on Social Marketing
2.13.08 by Mike Spataro {Brand Management, General, Interactive Marketing, Mike Spataro, Social Media, Social Networks}
Michael Dell’s interview with Shel Israel provides a great glimpse inside his company’s strategic approach to social media – a term you almost feel the Dell CEO doesn’t like when you read between the lines of his interview. It’s easy to see why the tech giant has gone from the poster child for not getting the blogging community to among the best in the world at it in just a few short years.
To Michael Dell, it’s all just an extension of his company’s longstanding policy to listen and learn from its customers and detractors. The only difference is it’s now through this new channel on the Web. Rather than steal Shel’s thunder, its better you hop on over to his site for the full interview. My favorite Dell quote from the piece though is, “We don’t own our reputation, we just own our actions.”
And while Dell continues to get a lion’s share of credit for its social media accomplishments, dozens of other brands are doing just as well operating somewhat under the radar and outside the media spotlight. One of those companies is Disney. Even though its been up and running for several months, very few people have noticed or written about the wildly successful Disney Moms Panel of experts who advise people about visiting Disney Parks and Resorts.
I was fortunate in a previous job to work with the PR machine at Disneyland on several major campaigns. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say that Disney struggled for years with its Web strategy and wasn’t the first to jump into social media. However, a lot has changed over the past year and the Moms Panel is proof positive that change is underway in the land of Mickey. Yes, Disney hand-picked the moms and trained them, but they exercise no editorial control over responses.
The fact that more than 10,000 people volunteered to be one on the panel tells you how powerful social media can be for Disney in the years ahead. It’s hard to imagine a brand that doesn’t have more to gain - or lose - based on how it addresses the new challenges of communicating with its customers online. Keep in mind, this is a brand that has a history dating back to Walt himself of controlling every single item of what has been published about its global company and image, so getting used to giving up some of that message control is definitely a bit scary. Look for more good things from the folks at Disney this year.
Good PR & Bad Advertising?
1.30.08 by Mike Spataro {General, Interactive Marketing, Mike Spataro}
By now you’ve probably heard about the KFC Super Bowl “Chicken Dance” promotion. I sure did — on local TV newscasts in three different cities on three different days. I can only imagine how many other stations and papers carried the story, which probably cost KFC almost nothing to create and most likely reaped them millions of dollars in “free” editorial coverage.
In case you did miss it, the fast food chain announced that it would donate $260,000 to charity in the name of the first member of the New England Patriots or New York Giants who performs the chicken dance after scoring a touchdown at this year’s Super Bowl. Knowing that news organizations are dying for anything remotely interesting to say about the game, KFC wisely announced the promotion one week in advance of the game before the real media blitz kicked in.
It’s no secret they also knew the NFL would not react kindly to the promotion since KFC isn’t an official sponsor of the Super Bowl, ensuring the story would live for more than one day. On top of that, NFL player agents are now contacting the company about the proposed offer. Sounds like a few smart chickens over at KFC.
On the flip side, I’ve noticed here in Boston what appears to be another new form of advertising that I haven’t seen in other parts of the country just yet. I don’t know if this has been going on where you live, but the appearance of advertising on my dry cleaning seems like another desperate attempt by an industry scrambling for new ways to reach (and apparently annoy) consumers. Even the ad’s tagline, “Dry Humor, Clean Fun,” for the TBS Bill Engvall makes me wince. I doubt I’ll be tuning in to watch just because they’ve plastered an intrusive message on the side of a plastic bag. I’m curious to know if others have seen this form of advertising in their neck of the woods.
College Student Recruitment 2.0
1.7.08 by Mike Spataro {General, Interactive Marketing, Mike Spataro, Social Media, Social Networks}
If you’re interested in learning more about how college admissions officials are stepping up student recruitment efforts with social media campaigns then today’s Boston Globe article, “Colleges Turn to Web Tools in Hunt for ‘08 Freshman” is worth downloading before it goes behind the firewall.
While a number of schools may be starting to implement these new techniques, it’ll be interesting to see if any of them in the future can draw a line between the number of applications and new media spending. There is no question though that perspective students are drawing from each others’ experiences on sites like Facebook rather than fancy college brochures before making a decision on where to go each fall.
Duke Emergency Plan Incorporates New Media Technologies
1.3.08 by Mike Spataro {General, Interactive Marketing, Mike Spataro, Reputation Management}
It took awhile but it’s good to see that Duke University (where my daughter now attends) has taken a bold step in protecting the safety of its students in the aftermath of last year’s tragic events at Virginia Tech. Following what was an exhaustive study of its own emergency response capabilities, Duke has developed what could be the most pro-active emergency preparedness plan for an academic institution in the country.
Covering every type of emergency from hostage situations to biological terrorist attacks, the Duke plan includes a variety of smart alert features, such as an RSS feed for students and parents, email alerts, a specially designed Web site, a dedicated phone number, a public address system and siren on both campuses. They’ve also included text messaging alerts to cell phones, a tactic I have called for in the past that should be deployed by every school and company in the country. The university is also encouraging students to enroll family members in the school’s emergency database.
While no system can guarantee protection for every student on campus, at least Duke is making a major technology investment to do what it can in a crisis. Other colleges are sure to follow.
The Blue Devils may be top 10 in basketball, but every parent who has a child away at a school would rather have a national ranking in student safety. Duke may just get ranked for their new system.
