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    ROI and a Field of Weeds!

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    People sometimes jokingly ask me “What is the idea? referring to the name of my consultancy. My answer, borrowed from Sergio Zyman of the Zyman Group, is “sell more, to more, more often, at higher margins.”  That’s the ultimate goal of marketing, no? The quadruple crown.  Interestingly, unit sales, market penetration, per capita consumption, and higher margins are different measures. Linked, yes, but different.

    When writing a marketing plan I typically start out with an exercise called The 24 Questions.  It’s traditional marketing, follow-the-money kind of stuff. Who’s buying? When? Who is involved in the decision? Most profitable customers? Margins? Channels?, etc. Once I get the money part of the equation I delve into brand questions — from the points of view of management, employees and customers. Some of the questions are designed to get to the truth and bypass the drama and ass-covering.

    Prioritization.

    The hard work is in ranking the business objectives. Most of my decks (PPT presentations of findings) array a healthy number of business objectives. Prioritizing objectives leads to prioritized strategies which require someone at the company to put one objective at the top: “On a sinking boat which child would you save?” kind of question. These decisions are the provenance of the brain not the algorithm.  

    ROS

    ROS (return on strategy) is a metric that measures business and marketing strategy. ROI, on the other hand, ties marketing tactics to dollar return.  Not to minimize tactics, but you can buy a tactic from any marcom agency on the street. And thanks to the web – the greatest marketing tool since paper money – we’re in the midst of something I call Tactics-palooza.  ROS allows you to measure business objectives through a strategic lens. ROS is the way to go. Think of it as a crop-producing farm next to a field of healthy weeds. Peace!

    Toyota Needs to Shush.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    And shush its mass communications. At least until it knows the extent of the problems.  They can’t offer heartfelt apologies and tell us they’re working “day and night” to fix things and each day break a new recall story.  Yesterday, after weeks of apologies (months if you include the Prius floor mats) Corolla came under suspicion.

    Toyota needs to go dark with its advertising and put that money into data mining, engineering analysis, added shifts and most importantly finding and identifying “proof” they’re doing something.  Proof is good. Talk is bad.  Proof might be a visual image or story consumers can relate to. Something that one consumer can tell another proving Toyota is doing something dramatic.  (Repairing “up to 50,000 cars a day” is in the neighborhood, but  no Rosie the Riveter.)

    When AT&T was about to get its lunch eaten by MCI because the government legislated 800 numbers could be moved from carrier to carrier, Joe Nacchio emptied AT&T’s corporate building putting anyone in a suit or skirt on the street calling on customers. AT&T didn’t lose share.  He went all Rose the Riveter on them.

    Newspaper apology notes? That’s grade school PR stuff.

    Alcatel-Lucent Brokerage.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    1

    The mobile web business is a mess. It’s a mess like the PC business was back in the late eighties and early nineties. The voice side of mobile is working okay but the data side is the problem. Hardware standards are varied (data goes over different switching systems), operating systems are as plentiful as ice cream flavors, apps are being developed in garages, stores, offices and labs — and the telecom carriers are voting with their pocketbooks not their heads.

    The only voice of reason today — creating some waves at the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona — is that of Alcatel-Lucent. They are acting as an “broker” working to get all parties into the labs to create standards so we will have mobile web data interoperability.  iPhone apps will then be able to work on Droids phones, T-Mobile widgets will connect with AT&T widgets, the mobile web will become a single web and prices will come down. 

    This stuff is really complicated.  Hard decisions will have to be made by many. Heed the call. Go to the labs. Write down expenses. Be open!

    Facebook and Google Hit the Highway.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    1

    Steve Rubel is a “beyond the dashboard” digital commentator.  That’s what I love about him. He doesn’t spend his day looking through the rearview mirror, he looks ahead.  Check out this Paste from his stream today:

     “I believe business web sites will become less important over time. They will be primarily transactional and/or for utility. Brands will shift more of their dollars and resources to creating robust presence where people already are and figure out how to activate employees en masse in a way that builds relationships and drives traffic back to their sites to complete transactions. Media companies will do the same – they will be “headless.”  Google and search will remain important for years to come. However, what we’re seeing is the beginning of big changes where social networking and Facebook will further disrupt advertising, media, one-to-one and one-to-many communications, not to mention search.”

    Beyond the Dasboard

    I like to look forward too — beyond the car dashboard as the metaphor goes.  And a car metaphor is appropriate when talking about Facebook, Google and social media.  Content is still king in my book. Mr  Rubel’s very believable notion that corporate websites will diminish in importance, save for transactions, is accurate. Today.  But I see Facebook, right now, as the highway.  The road that takes you somewhere.  It’s a highway filled with signs, and people and so much traffic that you can learn lots by being there, yet it’s still just a highway. Corporate websites are losing relevance because they have no pulse. They tend to be static. The action, the pulse, is on the highway. Google is the map and the directory and it’s fighting with the signs and the traffic.  (Check out Mr. Rubel’s post for some comparative traffic numbers showing Facebook overtaking Google by some measures.) 

    Content Still King

    As we settle down and as companies being to truly invest in bringing their brands and value proposition to life through their web presences, corporate websites will come back in importance.  All this talk about the conversation is great. But at some point the conversation has to stop so commerce can start. Corporate marketers will learn this soon enough.  That’s the future Yo.

    Google Buzzed?

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    “Fall forward fast” is a marketing maxim many have followed with great success. Be bold, be quick, correct as needed. It’s a fist-mover approach and it was good advice back in the day.  But the Internet has sped things up a bit don’t you think? Fast today is a lot faster than it was 4 years ago.

    Google Buzz was brought to market too fast. Is it correctable?  Sure.  Will Google take some heat? Sure. Will it recover, sure.  That said, I suspect there’s a little tainted blood in the Google bloodstream thanks to this effort and Google needs to take a breath.  When you launch a new service and the phrases “opt-out,” “disable,” “sorry,” “feedback” and “critics” become keywords of the coverage you have not done enough homework.  Google “google buzz”+”critics” and see what pops up.

    Facebook‘s Beacon advertising program wasn’t thoroughly vetted before launch nor was the Google Nexus One, released before back-end customer care issues could be properly handled.

    Overdogs.

    Did you watch the Superbowl? Which team did you root for?  The overdog or the Saints? Overdogs are leaders.  They, more than anyone, need to be careful when bringing new services to market. Take a breath. Do some reconnaissance. Let power users spank the brand a bit (“brand spanking” is a great overdog research methodology). Then launch. Too much Starbucks, as Zack de la Rocha might say, “can killa man.”  Peace!

    GE’s New Health Campaign(s)

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    Happy Friday youze all…as we like to say in NY. It’s beautiful outside with everything blanketed in pristine snow. A fitting beginning for the Winter Olympics. Tonight, on the Olympics the new GE Healthymagination campaign breaks.  Knowing it’s from BBDO, I’m sure it will be heartfelt and striking…in its pieces.  It will also be a time for G.E. to try and flex some integration muscle.

    I’ve seen two print ads already and they are pretty but plainly messaged. Having read about the campaign in the New York Times today and piecing together bits and quotes, I’m going out on a limb here and gonna say “What’s the Idea?

    What’s the Idea?

    Here’s what we can expect: GE wants to humanize the technology, so no pictures of machines. GE wants to make doctors the heroes.  Doc’s are very influential in technology purchases, especially when it comes to those $80,000 procedures. Innovation will be in much of the new campaign; it’s a corporate keystone. Imaging technology will be front and center, as it should be; people understand medical imaging and how it helps them. Consumers will participate because “health spreads contagiously” so expect the people to be posting on Twitter and Faceboook. “Healthymagination is saving billions in healthcare costs.” There will be How-Tos on Howcast, iPhone apps, and, and, and.  Lots of ideas, lots of agencies (Big Spaceship has a chunk), lots of content contributors, yet I haven’t heard a powerful brand idea with muscle memory. Healthymagination is a word, not an idea.  After seeing the body of work I’ll weigh in again. Peace!

    Google Trivestiture?

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    3

    I’ve been writing for a few years, with great admiration, about Google and its amazing, transformative search tools.  Sergey Brin’s original vision “We deliver the world’s information in one click” is what allowed Google to become the NASA of the web. Case in point: Yesterday I was looking for one of my blog posts on my own machine using the Windows search tool.  After three strikes I Googled “whatstheidea+things we remember” (the title of the post) and in less than a second I found my entry. No on my machine, but on the Web.

    More recently, though, I’ve found myself commenting about how Google has wandered from its original mission – getting into the productivity software, social networking, chat and now the phone business.  The brand planner in me asks “How does one now articulate the Google Is-Does?” The Googleplex is filled with amazing minds but many seem to be trying to out-engineer one another; me thinks they have lost a sense of mission.  Steve Rubel’s post today on Google Buzz so reflects.

    Culture of Technological Obesity.

    Google’s amazing growth and economic success has spawned a culture of technological obesity.  It’s time for a change.  Here’s what will happen.

    The company will go through a corporate divestiture or as was the case with AT&T, a Trivestiture.  It won’t happen now…probably within 48 months.  My bet for the three parts? Search (text and video), Mobile (OS, apps, and tools), and Advertising Analytics.  How would you break it up?  Peace!

    Super Bowl’s Boorish Ads.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    Was it me or was there an awful lot of violence in the Surer Bowl ads last night? One glaring example was the spot where octogenarian Betty White was tackled in a Snickers spot and  Tim Tebow’s mom was tackled in the next spot. 

    Then there was the flying Dorito piercing the neck of the snack thief, a spot where everybody kept hitting or slapping each other (I’m still beside myself with laughter) and an assortment of other “people tackling people” spots. I’m no prude, but this was just boorish.

    Is this the result of the violent video game phenomenon — where the lowest common denominator for the American target is slapstick violence?  Granted, there were lots of commercials that did not use violence as a humor device in the Super Bowl last night.  And I know football is a violent game, but how many kids are going to slap one another at school today and giggle as a result of last night’s body of work? Most people will think I’m overreacting but those at the women’s shelter won’t. A pretty embarrassing night for me. PEACE!

    Blogging for Serious.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    Back in the day, most great writers went to work at a newspaper, magazine or ad agencies if they didn’t write books. This is still pretty much the case but today they have a new outlet for their craft the “blog.” 

    Blogs can be an entrée to jobs at print properties and ad agencies but they can also be an exit.  The latter route – the exit – is growing and will continue to grow.  Take A.O. Scott, the film reviewer for the New York Times. Mr. Scott is a wonderful writer and movie critic.  Many believe his words and spend their hard-earned based upon his reviews.  But he is one lone voice in the ink and digits that is The New York Times.  A.O. Scott’s content is of value…he is an important brand.  Were he to focus his craft on his own blog he could make some serious (cash). Today, Mr. Scott can choose to become a personal publishing brand and do things he couldn’t think of doing while at the NYT. (Not saying he will, it’s just an example.) 

    Today, a percent of great writers with mass appeal are getting out of the journalism business and get into the blogging business.  In the blogosphere there will be lots of dreck… but there will also be a great deal of commercial successes. Blogging is a powerful, powerful medium (my blog aside, hee hee.)  Peace!

    Aol, Cisco. Feed the Beast.

    By
    Steve Poppe
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    0

    Cisco and AOL both reported earnings today. Cisco, maker of Internet plumbing, had a very nice turnaround ; AOL posted its first profit since de-coupling from Time Warner – a penny a share. Not bad, all things considered. 

    Cisco Systems

    If you follow Cisco you know they have invested in getting more people to push more bits over the Internet.  Think Gillette getting people to shave their entire bodies.  (Okay, bad analogy.) Cisco has pushed videoconferencing for years and not too long ago bought Flip the hot video camera company. The more digital info that goes over the net, the more routers and switches and stock Cisco sells.

    Aol

    This is exactly the approach Aol needs to take.  Aol makes money on advertising so it needs to create content that makes more eyeballs and fingers go to their sites. Right now that means hiring great writers, videographers, creative people and buying and adding to the fold well-trafficked sites.  Better content, better audience numbers.  But Aol is not really thinking out of the box yet. It needs to come up with content types that haven’t been done.  As the Brits might say, they need to be more inno-vit-iv. How about an easy to use, easy to read email device for the AARP crowd?  Or an educational games for infants?  Or a remote home automation portal that lets you turn on lights from the street?  Aol is still thinking in 2 dimensions, a la a publisher.  Like Cisco, Mr. Armstrong needs to feed the beast.  Let’s pick it up!

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