Luxury Craft.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

I love sushi but I also love money. The wifus and I debated whether or not to gift each other for Christmas two seats at a new exclusive sushi restaurant in NYC.  The per seat cost is $150. I’m assuming that doesn’t include drinks or tip and when you add a train ride to the list we’re talking mortgage payment money.  

I read today about a cured ham from Spain branded Iberico that sells, on the hoof, for $500. One famous cutter of said ham charges about $5,000 to perform the specialized act of serving this delicacy. These are examples of the luxury economy.  They touch the craft economy in that there’s mad craftsmanship going into each piece of sushi and slice of acorn-fed pig, but in my definition these are not craft economy examples.

The craft economy is about building and making things that are sustainable, fixable and have a low impact on the planet. It’s about saving, not wasting. There’s a place for everything in this wonderful world, but we are going to be a better place when the craft economy is more the norm. Peace!

The Power of Branding.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

In Spike Jonze new film “Her” in which a man falls in love with his operating system, there is a wonderful example of the power and influence of branding.

Having seen the trailer, I immediately put the movie into the “goofy, not going to see it” category, yet there was something familiar and alluring about the voice of the operating system.  It wasn’t until the reviews started rolling in that I found out it was Scarlett Johansson’s voice. Hmmm.

Manohla Dargis wrote in The New York Times today “It’s crucial that each time you hear Ms. Johansson in Her, you can’t help but flash on her lush physicality, which helps fill in Samantha (OS) and give this ghostlike presence a vibrant, palpable form.” It is this muscle memory associated with Scarlett Johansson’s voice – this Pablovian response — that smart brands attempt to build.  The frosty Coke bottle image on a hot day. The sweet pillowy taste and texture of a Krispie Kreme donut. The olfactory-palooza of a Peter Luger porterhouse.  

When you have a brand plan, complete with promise and support planks, the casting becomes easy. Rich. And powerful. Peace.  

 

Eyeball, ads and privacy.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

I wrote in a presentation yesterday that much in the way of web innovation today is about eyeballs and ads. Ads being the way start-ups are monetized after funding.  For the past 20 years technologists have spent lots of time, effort and money helping consumers bypass advertising. It’s kind of ironic, no?  Well, in one man’s opinion, privacy, or the lack thereof, will be the new advertising. The new digital coin of the realm.

Today’s headlines are about federal judges admonishing the NSA for “systematically keeping records of all Americans’ phone calls” which “most likely violates the Constitution.”  Yah think?  So clearly, Mr. Snowden, people are starting to pay attention,

As this grumble turns to a roar, data collecting companies and big data will have a problem. And data collection will become opt-in. For the ability to have web apps and web features for free, many will be willing to share their data. Data is scientific and when used properly helps predict behavior and purchase. Data is worth a great, great deal. Databases know the sex of babies, often before grandparents.

Yesterday I mentioned TV ad spending will slow due to social media. Today I suggest digital ad spending will wane thanks to the opt-in sale of personal data. Anytime smell a trend here?

Peace!   

Beyonce meet Kanter Media. Kanter meet Beyonce.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

There is an old marketing textbook maxim that states as a brands gets older and more mature, it requires less money to promote.  This promotion argument is based on awareness levels. A consumer aware of a product, needs only a fast reminded and product value pitch to engender a sale. So if a national product introduction through TV costs $7M, then a reminder flight of advertising 2 months later may require only $4 million and deliver the same sales results.  

Beyonce’s launch of her new album, using the web, social media and her millions of followers blew the textbooks out of the water. She did not spend one penny to promote the album and 365,000 units (full albums, not songs) sold in a day.  Her legions of fans did the awareness and value work.  Pearl Jam is the same way; they needn’t take out ads. Pent up demand, loyalty and social remove the need for an investment in promotion for big, big brands in certain categories.   

Not everyone is Beyonce or Pearl Jam. And the wedge between the marketing Haves and Have Nots is a wide one. But the economic impact of social media on overall advertising spending will be massive.  Total advertising spent in the US in 2012 was $140 billion (Kantar Media), and smart marketers with followings like Beyonce are going to pocket a good portion of that money…by being more social and not spending it. As my Norwegian aunt would say “tink about it.” Peace.  

UPDATE:  Kantar disclosed 3Q TV spend was down 6%. Read here: http://www.adweek.com/news/television/broadcast-spend-drops-18-percent-418-billion-q3-154541

 

    

Beyond the Wireframe.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

At a recent Dachis Group conference in NYC, Altimeter Group’s Brian Solis said something that really resonated with me.  I paraphrase, “We’ve been making websites for about 25 years now, wouldn’t you think we could make a good one?”

If great marketing is supposed to make you feel something then do something, Mr. Solis’s rant is dead on.  If you watch Grey’s Anatomy, it’s hard not to well up with emotion. When was the last time you had a single feeling while on a website? About. News. Services. Contact. Websites are little more than navigation tools offering a way for people to find information organized by the most basic of interests.  

Brands and web development companies often don’t get that the home page is not only a positioning tool, it’s a selling tool, and loyalty tool. 90% of websites are navigation tools. Ladies lingerie, third floor. 

When you drop someone at a traffic hub with 6 streets leading out, they make the choice. When you drop them at a location with only one street, you lead the way. You dictate the narrative. You can make them feel something. The only reason user experience is such a growing business today is because websites provide a cacophony of choices, with no brand strategy end in sight.

Cookie me this.

The first time on a website, or on a revised site, a visitor’s pathway should be directed by the brand.  Return visitors should be allowed to navigate their own way. This said, home pages should never be allowed to sit unchanged – to get old. Feel something then do something. This is the way beyond the wireframe. Peace.

Social Media Crackpotism #1.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

I visited  the agency website of a new Twitter follower yesterday which describes itself with the catchall, “social, digital, advertising” and probably one other descriptor. The site had a video front and center which talked about new and social media.  The video offered an apocryphal statement I had to tweet: “Storytelling is the foundation of marketing?”  

storytelling

The What’s the Idea? blog used to be titled “Marketing Musings” until too many people started using musings. Now it is called “Marketing Mythos.”  My goal is to highlight myths and set them straight, among other things. There is an almost a mythological set of beliefs out there being shared daily when it comes to new marketing channels.  Bordering on crackpotism. Ergo my idea to occasionally share some of the silly things I come across. And because these crackpotisms will be shared via the web, I’ll number them – a big online attention-getter.   

Why is storytelling not the foundation of marketing?  Because product is.  Other foundational cornerstones are “price,” “channel,” and “promotion.”   Feel me?  Storytelling may be the foundation of attention and memorability, even oral history — in fact, it’s a pop marketing driver of advertising nowadays — but it is not a fundie of marketing.  Tool, yes. Foundation no. 

Peace! 

 

Don’t Market To The Middle.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Adaptive learning is an educational practice that tailors lessons to the learning level of each pupil. It is the opposite of the all too common pedagogical practice of “teach to the middle of the class ” where lessons are created for average, middle of the class students, not the highest or lowest performing. (Talk about no child left behind?) Adaptive learning is really individualized learning. As a term it has been taken over by technologists who employ computer software to identify a student’s learning level, via a battery of questions, and then create a learning scheme that best fits each student. It’s good pedagogy.  

Responsive design is the new “big thing” in web development. It creates a valuable, though often singular, web experience for users regardless of the device they’re using. And we know there are lots of devices and operating systems out there. There’s big money in responsive design today.

When we apply the tenets of adaptive learning and responsive design to digital marketing we recognize there is a long way to go before we’re not marketing to the middle of the class. Data people and ad serving jockeys will tell you they can serve up a special pieces of creative based upon user behavior or website visits, but this does not tell you where the customer is along the continuum of a sale (awareness, interest, desire, action and loyalty).  In offline and online we are still profoundly marketing to the middle of the class.

Brand love and brand loyalty will ebb through boredom. Through repetition. Marketers who treat their most loyal customers like babies are forgiven…up to a point. (America knows that “15 minutes can save you 15% or more on your car insurance.”)  So what’s the 21st Century Challenge for marketers?  Adapt to your target. Be responsive to time and place.  And stimulate them with brand positive messages and deeds. But most importantly, do it in support of a brand strategy — an organizing principle that marries what you do well with what customers want.

Peace!    

 

Christmas, there’s an app for that.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Okay, there’s not an app for Christmas but there will be one for Christmas shopping.  You know how hard-to-shop-for people “Oh, I have everything I need”? It’s often true.  So how do you find a nice gift that they really want? That they like and need?  Big data.

I was watching Robert Scoble interview some big data dude yesterday on the web and the interviewee happened to mention that soon there will be 100 times more data available about consumers than ever before.  Once available, you will know I get Good and Plenty in my stocking, a rock and roll tee shirt from my kids, and shirts from my mom (16.5 neck).

It is enjoyable to find the perfect gift for the right person, but it is hard. I smell an app. The app won’t average a person’s demographics it will actually know consumption behaviors. Wear out and maybe even refill speeds.  “Dear Mr. President, please don’t collect private information on the populace – unless it’s to buy better gifts.”

Peace on earth!

A Startup Thought.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Read a post today by Andrew Chen on mobile app start-ups which likened their success rate to those of 1999 – bubble time. I participated in a web start-up in 2006-2008, called Zude, when Facebook had only 18 million users.  Zude had $10 million in funding (2 rounds) and shut down in less than 2 years.  I was thinking over the weekend, before I read Mr. Chen’s post, how if we had stayed the course with Zude and stretched that money out, we would have succeeded. We would have learned like school kids what was working and what was not. We would have course-corrected, not given up because we faced an unsustainable burn rate. We chose not to learn, it seemed.

The technology was good. The vision was good, albeit a little bifurcated.  The drunkin’ sailor spending approach, however, was crazy. At one point we had two CFOs.  Even the marketing dude (me) could have looked at the ledger sheet and known changes were needed.

In his post Mr. Chen suggests “don’t burn half of your funding to get to v1.” I agree. Perhaps this is the foundation of the agile approach – never read the books.  My take?  Learning works best over time. If you stick around long enough – stay alive long enough – you have a good shot. Start-ups that quickly discard and move onto the next thing aren’t always giving themselves the best chance for success. Just sayin’.  Peace. 

Coen Brothers.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

A.O. Scott in his New York Times review of the new movie “Inside Llewyn Davis” today nicely captures what makes a Coen Brothers movie a Coen Brothers movie. Says Scott, they offer a “brilliant magpie’s nest of surrealism, period detail and pop-culture scholarship.” To me this description means their work a magnetic, unusual and blasting through context. The Coen’s attention to period detail is another reason I love these guys. Como se “True Grit?”  And pop-culture scholarship just suggests their storytelling is human and humane(ish).

It strikes me that these are qualities that also make for a great brand strategy.  

I often find a little tension when presenting brand strategy… and it tells me I’ve done a good job.  

  • “We know where you live” a brand strategy for Newsday, was a thought a little creepy.
  • “A systematized approach to improving healthcare” for North Shore-LIJ, a bit cold.
  • “We crave attention” for a women-owned PR firm, a smidgen gender-sensitive.

Just as good advertising creative makes you think, feel and do something, so should a strategy. Sometimes, for the squeamish, the do something is ask me “Do we have to use that one word?”  My answer is always “No, it’s a strategy, not a tagline.”

I’m no Ethan and I’m no Joel yet my work aspires to staying power. To muscle memory served up as product value. A great brand plan is an organizing principle that sticks to your ribs.   Peace.

 

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