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On Tuesday, I had the chance to attend the 7th annual Economist Marketing Forum in San Francisco, a great event featuring high-ranking marketers and thought leaders brought together by global design and strategy agency Landor.
I took the opportunity to use Twitter to share relevant nuggets of information while the conference was in progress, joining a handful of others using the tag #ecsf09. It was a very interesting experiment to serve up this kind of live feed, and several of my Twitter followers thanked me for reporting in (although one person said, “39 Tweets in a day, you’re killing me, goodbye”). But I also wanted to capture my notes here for those who missed my 39 Tweets. Here goes some highlights from the speakers that sparked most for me during the event:
Ward Hanson, Policy Forum Director, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research
Hanson shared an economist’s view of what marketers should be looking at in the year ahead. He suggested that marketers must start estimating risk in their customer portfolios, essentially treating customers like stocks. Hanson made an interesting point that we are in the first global recession since we’ve been globally on the Internet. He suggested that this can worsen things, such as by firing up the “animal spirits” of rumor and fear. But he also made a compelling case that the Internet could help drive a quicker recovery by: (1) better identifying supply/demand; (2) allowing for online skill retraining; and (3) spreading the secrets of success more quickly. Hanson also directed the audience to look at prices in Google AdWords as an industry-by-industry measure of a turnaround. Finally, he was the first of several speakers to suggest that consumers are looking for more functional and utilitarian messages and benefits from brands.
Christine Petersen, CMO, TripAdvisor
Petersen reported that travel is down 7 percent due to the economy, but traffic to her site is up 10 percent, as those who are traveling spend more time researching to make sure they are spending their dollars well. TripAdvisor is also benefiting from a Facebook app, “Cities I’ve Visited,” which 10 million people have installed and where 10,000 photos were added the first day this option was released. I was impressed that TripAdvisor is starting to help advise hotels on how they can build their businesses. It’s a strategy that ends up helping advertisers and consumers, a win-win-win for everyone that reminds me of how Amazon is creating tools to help authors market their books better. TripAdvisor has also adjusted to difficult times by adding a “Top Values Index” score that combines star level, popularity rating, and price.
Bob Thacker, Senior VP, Marketing and Advertising, OfficeMax
Thacker brought his energetic personality to the stage to talk about how his low-budget brand is working to stand out and gain ground on his two bigger competitors. Thacker had some of the best quotes of the day, such as, “I don’t know any successful marketer who’s a pessimist,” and, “I’ve never had a marketing budget that wasn’t cut.” But my favorite was, “Advertising is a party crasher, advertising is an uninvited guest; so if you’re going to crash the party, you’d better bring a bottle of wine.” That will make it into my book for sure. I grilled Thacker a bit about Elf Yourself and claims that it was not linked close enough to sales, but Thacker defended it as a low-cost experiment that is driving awareness of the brand and paying out. It has reached more than 250 million individual interactions to date. I really liked Thacker’s story of the original launch of Elf Yourself; the company had its agency create 20 viral games using $400,000, a much better experiment than one viral at a higher price.
Mark Chmiel, Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing and Innovation Officer, Denny’s
Chmiel floated to the stage on a wave of success from his company’s one-day free Grand Slam breakfast promotion. It’s a story that has been told in many places, but he added a few interesting insights. First, he told the story of how many people were personally touched by Denny’s offer in this tough economic time. More than 1,000 people sent “thank you” emails and phone calls to the brand, a man wrote a $300 check to “thank you for what you did for America,” and a Denny’s server who went to the grocery store with her uniform on was stopped and thanked by seven strangers. I was also impressed to learn that the Super Bowl ad came AFTER Denny’s decided to do the free meal promotion. After coming up with the promo idea, they looked for “the biggest microphone” to spread the news. My apologies to one Twitter reader, who asked me to question Chmiel about his website’s failure to handle the surge of traffic. Finally, Chmiel said to expect to see some mobile marketing from the brand, as it fits with the consumer need to find its locations, and fits with the habits of its late-night guests (read: college students with the munchies).
Rory Findlay, Senior Vice President and CMO, Beam Global Spirits & Wine
Findlay described his firm’s commitment to better defining “brand behavior” and said that his company believes that “it’s not about talking at consumers; it’s about giving them something to play with.” He told the remarkable marketing story of Laphroaig Whisky, which invites brand fans to join a club that rewards them with their own square-foot piece of land. I was impressed that Findlay is focused on “starting conversations” about his brands, but admitted his biggest challenge is to tie the conversations the brands start back to actual sales.
Maureen Lally, VP of Marketing, Trane
It was a nice break to have a B2B guest on the panel after so many consumer brands. I enjoyed hearing how Trane’s sales staff is 100 percent comprised of engineers, and that they do a lot to help in the building design process. Now the company has begun to take this model online, launching a 45-minute live course that attracted 1,200 people. Lally says that this is a clear sign of a “real thirst for knowledge in the marketplace.”
John Gerzema, Chief Insights Officer, Y&R
Gerzema is the co-author of a BusinessWeek best-selling book, The Brand Bubble, which I wholeheartedly endorse. It’s one of the smartest marketing books I’ve read in some time. I’ve gotten to know John in the past few weeks as he has provided some great coaching for me in my own book publication and marketing process. His speech did not disappoint, and instead of trying to capture it in type, I’m happy to slide share it here:
Kevin “Kal” Kallaugher, Political Cartoonist, The Economist
After John’s hard-hitting presentation, we enjoyed something completely different: an education on the art of political cartoons from The Economist’s Kevin “Kal” Kallaugher. Kal took us through his artistic secrets while sharing some of the 100-plus magazine covers that he has designed. Kal described how his job is “to use humor to make you think” and that he has learned to “surprise people every time they open the magazine” in order to stay in the game for 30 years. He reminded us that “you can judge a country’s freedom by the amount of satire it can endure”—and that in much of the world political cartoonists work with their lives at risk. Kal ended his session by teaching us to actually draw a caricature of George W. Bush, which I’ll have to scan and share later.
Katherine Hagan, Marketing Director, Environmental Sustainability, Clorox
In a session about sustainability, I found that Hagan brought the most new news. She spoke about Clorox’s significant move to embrace sustainability in order to drive growth, mitigate risks, and reduce its environmental footprint. Her team has actually done a brand-by-brand audit on these issues, and the company plans to drive one-third of its revenue growth from taking advantage of consumers’ interest in sustainable buying. Her research shows that this still means a lot to consumers despite recessionary pressures. I also enjoyed hearing that the Sierra Club “put us through the ringer” as part of the process in which they endorsed the company’s Green Works line.
Overall, it was a very enjoyable event with lessons that I’ll be adding to the book and my strategy work with clients. Unfortunately, I had to catch an early plane back to Cincinnati so I missed Wednesday’s morning session, but check out this link for a look at what the Twitterers are saying about Day 2. Many thanks to the Economist and Landor teams for putting together an outstanding event. I look forward to next year.
