Ad r
eal value with your marketing was the theme of this session by Bob Gilbreath, CMO at Bridge Worldwide. This presentation was full of smart stuff – I’ve done my best to capture and share it with you below. This is only the tip of the iceberg – Bob has a book coming out called Meanit!, which based on the presentation is sure to be worth a read. You can also follow him on twitter @mktgwithmeaning
People are inundated with ads and have a lesser propensity to tolerate them than before.
– Internet TV
– Watching DVD series
– ITunes
– Madden 08 is going up (gaming) and watching live TV sports is going down
Technology is giving consumers control to skip ads:
– DVR
– BitTorrents/Illegal Downloads
– FireFox Ad:blocker
– Popup Blockers
– Banner Blindness
“Going digital” is not the answer
– Myspace, facebook – are not profitable
– No good business models
– Government is cracking down on targeting tools
In general, CEOs are often dissatisfied with their marketing; the average tenure of a CMO is only 2 years, and the average tenure of an ad agency is 4 years.
New Concept
Bob presented a new model for marketing, especially for digital where marketers can connect with and interact with consumers on a much deeper level. Marketing with meaning is about marketing that people choose to engage with; marketing that improves peoples’ lives. Yup that’s right. The marketing improves their lives, not just the product. This is a fairly consistent theme from the non-conference; I think that Bob did the best job of really building a framework around what this actually means.
The new model is based on Maslows Heirarchy of needs – move up from needs to self-actualization in the hierarchy of meaningful marketing.
Base – Solution
– Information, relevant, help save $$ or time, give rewards
– Samsung proves charger stations at airports – offers a service with branding.
Middle – Connection
– Entertaining, social
o Insight: about 60% of people eat lunch at their desks
o Healthy Choice created an online TV show that is a mix of the office and whose line is it anyways. You can see the characters in a live show where the audience decides what happens next (for Healthy Choice).
o I watched it – it was funny but also extremely annoying at the same time. Being able to vote made it more entertaining.
– Customization and engagement – customize Pringles, Jones soda labels, M&Ms
Top – Achievement
– Actual value-ad achievement where people feel good about themselves
– Kraft cooking school – actual solution where people feel good about themselves for learning how to cook.
– Healthy Choice – Opportunity to actually make healthy life – meal planner, questionnaire that assesses and rates your health choices across a # of areas. Helps people make changes to improve their lives.
Expectations are Rising Across Brands
Consumers are demanding more from their brands, and the demands are coming from other industries.
– Example – The Pizza Tracker. People expect to have their packages tracked (from UPS or FedEx). Now they want their Pizza tracked – Dominos pizza launched a Pizza tracker (hysterical). It worked because:
o People are addicted to information.
o Dominos saw savings in fewer phone calls regarding the status of orders.
o Hit their millionth user in 2 months with no advertising.
– Example – Updates. On social networking sites like Facebook and Myspace users get updates to their mobile phones. Now airlines are giving updates to mobile phones.
o Builds positive equity as customers are notified immediately of changes.
Find out who is setting the bar in a space. It is not good enough to be best in class within industry. Look outside the industry for best-in-class examples to build off of.
What do YOU think?
Is this new model of engaging consumers on a more meaningful level the way of the future? How can brands better meet rising demands of consumers? Do you have any examples of brands who are doing this well?
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