Monthly Archives: September 2011

A Tale of Two Cities.

By
Steve Poppe
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Demand generation is the key to marketing.  Say what you will about branding, design, user experience, promotion, engagement, flah, flah, flah..if you can consistently create demand for your product or service, you’ve done your job.

Target created demand for its new Missoni line of low-cost clothing and other things (patio furniture, vases, etc.),getting it right from the get-go.  The products were superb, the promotional mix perfect, the price come hither, but the place – the web – was a disaster.  Like www.pearljam.com during a presale, the Target website went down faster than a Sears radial. Target generated demand but not only didn’t deliver online, they pissed off lots of loyal customers.  They also took a number of first-time Luddite customers and taught them the web is no place for commerce. Black eyes all around. (Nice move letting Amazon hosting services go 3 weeks before sales day.)

In Anaheim, CA yesterday at the Microsoft Build Conference Windows 8 was unveiled during a live and web broadcasted demo. It is a game-changing new operating system. (The product should be called “Tiles” not Windows because it slides and shimmies across the screen but that’s a story for a different post.) It will have mad impact on sales when released but the demo was only 90% there. As is the case with live demos and Microsoft products in “pre-release,” there were a couple of moments of machine freeze.  With 12 back-up machines for quick cut-overs (good boy scouts) there were no real long pauses.  That said, the demo would have better had there been no hiccups at all.

The two cities referred to in the headline are marketing (demand creation) and technology (delivery).  It’s a rarity when marketing hits on all cylinders, but when it does, the tech has to be ready. Tis a far, far greater thing I do… Peace! 

The Logged and Tagged Workforce.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Last winter I worked on an assignment for two of the world’s biggest brands (pat on back); one an ad agency, the other a software company.  And I used the following quote from Larry Ellison to help make my point about the logged and tagged workforce:                                                 

“If you want to go faster and you want a
system that is more reliable, you have to
be willing to spend less.”

Larry Ellison, Oracle, 9/10

Because of technology and the powerful corporate drive to improve shareholder value, the once invaluable knowledge worker is more easily replaced in American business.  Those owners of corporate history, those who understand, live and propagate the culture, those who have seen good times and bad, are no longer a company’s strength. Their work product, however, still lives at these companies. Behind the fire wall. 

Why?  Because if you have a log-in at a company and your work is tagged (searchable); any goober behind the firewall can come along and access it. Your replacement. A freelancer. An intern.

Salesforce.com, perhaps the most successful enterprise software product of our time, is based upon the logged and tagged workplace. And it’s brilliant. It is not only a repository for all company sales data, it is a platform for the “logged in” to work more efficiently.

This is no screed against technology. Or against two-tier pay levels. No poo-pooing of freelance nation here.  This is progress and we have to learn to manipulate it to our advantage. My recently graduated daughter has two jobs. One, at a low-ish annual wage, is for the benefits and experience. The other, at a restaurant, is for beer money. Were she really working the new economy and the logged and tagged workforce, she might have 3 jobs. And make more and in less time.

These are exciting times. We need to see trends like the “logged and tagged workforce” and exploit them before our neighbors.  Have at it people! Peace.

ADD. Nature or Nurture.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Twitch Point Planning was born out of today’s fast twitch media world. Twitch point planning attempts to understand, map and manipulate consumers — moving them closer to a transaction via  the various media types we digital agers touch every day.  Though much fast twitch media is technology-based (tablets, smart phones, geolocation, video, etc.) the actions that support it are behavioral. And it is all attention deficit related. So which came first the behavior or the technology?

According to a new study reported by CBS, SpongeBob Square Pants cartoons, with its fast cuts and jumpy story lines, contribute to attention deficit in kids.  The study analyzed a small sample of kids (60) but the results are still predictable.

And if kids are becoming predisposed to media twitching thanks to cartoons, wait until they grow up. Many children are hyper enough — no need to fuel that fire.  Can someone say “quiet time?”   Will these kids be able to sit down for 3 hours and read text books or in later years snuggle up to a good Kindle? 

I’m all for using twitch point planning to make a few bucks, but long term this may be a bigger issue worth studying.  And fixing.  Or the pharmaceutical companies will be investing in the cartoon business pretty soon. Peace.

 

 

Google To Generate Electricity?

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Here’s a wacky thought: As the processing power of computing and mobile devices increases and the price of those devices come down, and as cloud computing reduces the cost of software, it won’t be long before the most expensive part of information technology is electricity. Even now, many huge data centers are being located nearer electric plants to reduce the transmission costs. See where I’m going with this?

As Google gobble, gobble, gobbles its way into our lives in more and more day parts (I love Google, btw), it shouldn’t be long before it invests some of its advertising related war chest in energy generation.  I’ve read where they are investing in alternate energy sources (Offshore wind, was it?) and for that I applaud them.  Google’s mission to put “the world’s information one click away” is a tight mission.  As they expand that mission in all directions, is electricity and the next energy technology (bio-atteries?) on the flight plan? We will see.  Peace.

 

Authenticity. Hacks and Hackers.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

I was reading a thread in The Brand Strategy Discussion Group on LinkedIn this morning and it touched a nerve.  The post was entitled “How do you define brand authenticity?”

Whenever I’m in a meeting and hear someone go on about “authenticity” or “transparency” it is usually surrounded by a bunch of other marko-babble and I know we’re in for a long hour.

Some people in the discussion group define authenticity as the core values of a brand, suggesting that keeping to those values is what moves brands forward and closer to consumers. With these people I agree. But others talk about being truthful and not manipulating consumers with salesmanship.

The fact that the word authenticity tag clouds (verb) so high in marketing blogs suggests our business is infested with prevaricators. And hawkers.  I don’t necessarily agree. I do believe the business has way too many hacks and not enough hackers. And with the economy opening the flood gates to interns and youthful social media posters, who are all nice people but  probably never raelly sold anything in their lives, it is a cause for concern. Brands are organic things. They are not tofu-like inaminates to be dressed up daily in costume. Peace.

Yahoo. A Portal and Pages Strategy.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

Carol Bartz was let go yesterday and not a moment too soon.  A smart lady out of her element – she, a good enterprise tech blocker and tackler – Ms. Bartz in the near term will be replaced by an army of herself.  An army of bankers and financial advisors that will chase the numbers — chase and plot the lines of business.  An army that will evaluate global growth, sales, competitors whiles using Wall Street formulas to predict market capitalization.  Not one Carol, 20 Carols.  And while this is happening the call will go out to high level search firms and tech recruiters.  The board of directors, headed by adman Roy Bostock, will do some trail covering and soul searching and become a story in and of itself. This is how we do-oo it.

But what needs to be done here, as well, is a brand audit and a brand plan. A brand plan is an operating principle guided by consumer needs…delivered in the form of the product experience, marketing and messaging. People think a brand plan is about messaging alone and they are wrong.   

All the financial work the numbers consultants will do is important. The CEO hire is important, but what Yahoo IS and what Yahoo DOES (for consumers) is more important. This is called the Is-Does.  Right now Yahoo IS a Portal. And what it DOES is serve web pages.  Yahoo wants to be an innovative content company, but hasn’t delivered.  If consumers can’t pass the Is-Does test, it’s a fail.  Right now Yahoo’s Is is weak. And the Does doesn’t.

My prediction:  in 12 months there will be a new CEO, a new logo, a new campaign (Yahoo would be smart to keep ad shop Goodby), and no brand plan.  Brand diaspora, brand diffusion is what kills great companies.  Stop the madness. Peace!

McAfee Advertising, Way Asleep.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

So is the brand pronounced Mac-a-fee or Mih-Caffee.  (Hoe-gaarden or Who-Garden?) One of a brand’s first challenges is to make sure the name is pronounced correctly.  McAfee is a killer PC protection software product, which, if I’m not mistaken. is #1 or 2 in the marketplace.  It was purchased earlier this year by Intel.   I’m a 3-license custy and couldn’t be happier.

But, as an ad rat (a gym rat for ads) I can’t help but see that McAfee needs a marketing boost.  There is an ad in the newspaper today showing the McAfee logo as a superman emblem on a man’s chest. The pithy headline reads SAFE NEVER SLEEPS. A line they give a TM.   Not sure if it qualifies as copy but in small text beneath the line reads (I’ll save you the caps) “Smarter security. Every device, every network, everywhere.”

Classic “we’re here” advertising.   Is it any wonder digital advertising is cutting into traditional ad budgets?  This is some lazy stuff.  I’m not sure I can even type anymore I’m so disappointed. There is no claim here. And no proof.  Only colors, type and photography.  Why does the McAfee marketing dept. bother to get out of bed in the morning?  Are you kidding me?  What’s the idea?

Web Videos.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

There are a couple of different types of videos that marketers put on their websites. Product demonstrations are a common type.  They typically provide an overview of a product’s Is-Does after which they show how to use the product. Sometimes they fall into the tutorial category.  How to properly press coffee, how to use a new mobile application, how to clean your shower grout. 

Another type of web video is educational. It uses visual narrative to help consumers learn more about a product or category so as to make them seem like an authority — and as an authority deserving of special purchase consideration.  Category leaders, the saying goes, educate the market.  

A third type of website video is the infotainment or sales-otainment video. They look good on paper, read and view well on storyboard, and often look beautiful as a finished edited product.  The problem with some of these sales-otainment videos is they are nothing more than a script, a giggle, a product shot and invoice.  Like “we’re here” advertising that does no more than state a product name and where to purchase, these sales-otainment videos are all over the place. The goal of many of these efforts is to “go viral.”  (Wrong goal.)  Big ad agencies are doing them.  Recent film school grads are doing them. High school friends brothers are doing them.  

There is comedy writing and acting. There is directing and producing. There is invoicing and remittance.  But let’s not forget that web videos have to sell. Of course they have to be interesting, but that alone will not work. If research doesn’t indicate predisposition to buy more product after having seen a sales-otainment video, it has failed. Sales-otainment videos need an idea. A selling idea.  Peace!

My Spanking by David Poque.

By
Steve Poppe
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0

David Poque, a technology columnist for The New York Times, is a very interesting character.  He’s a thoughtful, important and market-moving purveyor of what’s hot and what’s not.  Sometimes his columns are a bit like a PC Mag review, but mostly they’re a fun Anthony Bourdain-like travelogue through the tasty streets of technology.

I have seen Mr. Poque on public television and he has a subtle nervousness about him on camera that doesn’t come across in print… so if I were my mother and in an advice-giving mood I suggest he stay in print.  Interestingly, Mr. Poque’s public and private personas are a tad different.  I posted about one of his columns once with a differing point of view and it really rubbed him. (I advocated not providing in-box instructions with new products to save paper.) His angry and personal comment on my blog surprised — telling me there is a bit more to Mr. Pogue than meets the eye.  (A side that might be fun to read outside of the NYT guardrails.)

My prediction:  Mr. Poque will either leave The New York Times within the next 3 years and create his own branded site or AOL will make him an offer he can’t refuse.  Yahoo could, but they have a lazy eye.  Peace.

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