Archive for August, 2009

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Does This Banner Scare You to Death?

Friday, August 7th, 2009

Here’s some Friday “fun” for you…

My lovely wife opened her Yahoo! Mail account this week to be surprised with the banner ad above for AccuQuote. A corpse with a toe tag? Really, AccuQuote? When I first saw it I thought it was some kind of joke from The Onion, but it’s real. AccuQuote is a company that provides multiple insurance pricing quotes from its website. It might provide a good service, but this ad does a disservice to the company and to the marketing profession.

And it’s not the first or only banner that attempts to scare the hell out of people. I found a post from 2007 by copyranter that shares the banner below:

I’ve met a few of the people from AccuQuote at digital marketing conferences and I found them to be good folks. I believe that they feel their service is important and beneficial to many consumers. They might rationalize this by saying that some percentage of clickers are happy to be reminded of this issue. However the other 99.99% of us who are interrupted while checking our email are unwillingly disgusted. It also sets a new low for other banner advertisers; after the “toe-tag corpse” visual no longer gets attention, what do you show next? A good service and desire to help people prepare for life’s realities is no excuse to delve into this kind of tasteless tactic, even if the click rate is .02% instead of .01%.

Further, I also hold Yahoo! to blame for allowing this kind of nonsense on its ad network. These and many other questionable ads by Yahoo! deteriorate any equity and trust that it has earned with consumers. People form their closest bonds with content providers that exhibit some restraint on the ads they run, such as NBC (which demands claim support on commercials submitted) and The New York Times. The people who run these brands realize that the advertising inside is also a reflection on them. Here, Yahoo! looks like just another Web property desperate for ad dollars. And Gmail is just a click away.

Using (or, in Yahoo’s case, benefitting from) cheap tricks to capture an audience’s eyeballs is one of the many reasons that our advertising profession is looked down upon. I hope that shining some light on the worst offenders—and offering a positive solution in the concept of Marketing with Meaning—will help turn that around over time.

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Posted in Banners, Marketing Without Meaning | 4 Comments »

FedEx Adds Value on Facebook

Wednesday, August 5th, 2009

My good friend and our Chief Technology Officer, Mike Wilson, is one of the smartest people I know. One of the comments he made at a presentation last year is that FedEx should have gotten into the email business long before Yahoo! or Hotmail. His belief is that FedEx should have followed its higher-level purpose—to transfer information with speed and security. Instead of allowing a few guys in a garage to build ad-supported email with all of its limitations and spam, FedEx could have done it right, earlier. At best it might have created a powerful new revenue model, and at worst created a meaningful marketing tool for millions of people. Alas, FedEx thought it was in the physical package delivery business, and now it must pay other people to put banner ads on the websites of Yahoo! Mail. But I recently discovered one way that FedEx is attempting to make up for this miss.

I was recently reading a great paper by one of my favorite bloggers, advergirl (aka Leigh Householder), and William Faust from the Design Management Review. The article, “Get Real and Prosper: Why Social Media Demands Authentic Brands,” is an outstanding read. In fact, there are several case studies that show Marketing with Meaning in action. One in particular that I discovered was that of a FedEx Facebook app that was launched in May 2008. Called “Launch a Package,” this was a value-added way for the brand to engage with the large social-media platform. From their article:

One of the limitations of Facebook is that you can’t attach a document or image to a message the way you can in email. So FedEx built an application called Launch a Package that met that need and fit its core brand perfectly. Members who download the application can add an attachment to any Facebook message in one click.

The results were immediate: 100,000 installs in 48 hours and more than 50 percent of users returning more than 10 times after install. The tool became the first branded app to hit #1 on Facebook’s Most Active page.”

An Adweek article on the tool went on to show that two weeks after launch the app had been installed by 258,000 members and was actively used by 15,000. Steve Pacheco, director for advertising at FedEx, seemed to recognize the need for the brand to think bigger about delivering on its brand purpose through digital communication: “We want to own virtual delivery. It’s the next logical step for FedEx.”

Alas, what could have been a great launching pad for more meaningful marketing seems to have fallen apart for FedEx. According to the app’s page, only a little over a year after its launch there are now only 723 active users of the Launch a Package app. There are only 28 reviews, and the average review is 2.6 out of 5.0 stars.

What happened? I don’t know for sure but can guess a few things. First, it’s not the greatest user experience as a tool. The priority of design seemed to be on marketing experience, with Flash actions, virtual gifts, and a form to fill out that looks like a package. While cool, these bells and whistles distract from the core utility of the tool. I also disliked the limit on file size and inability to send .zip files. So likely many people tried the app a few times, had a so-so experience, and moved on.

The second limit I see is that this seems to have gotten little focus from the core FedEx business. It’s a fun tool from the marketing department and advertising agency, rather than a real “product” of FedEx—and certainly not something that is “owning virtual delivery” today. I’d bet it would be much better if the entire company got behind using digital tools to better transfer important communication.

I hope that this experiment has led FedEx to do more thinking and strategizing around social media, digital services, and meaningful marketing. My fear is that the rapid decline in usage of the Facebook app frightened the company away from doing more. Either way, this makes a great case study for those of us trying to figure out how to make marketing meaningful in the social-media space.

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Posted in Applications, Needs Improvement, Uncategorized, purpose | 1 Comment »

The Next Evolution of Marketing: Book Cover

Monday, August 3rd, 2009

One of the things I love about this blog is that it offers a chance to share progress on my upcoming book, The Next Evolution of Marketing: Connect with Your Customers by Marketing with Meaning. My hope is that regular followers of this blog and believers in the overall concept enjoy seeing a little bit behind the curtain as we work to make this an industry-leading idea. Today I am excited to share the final book cover!

Just as I was warned by many authors before I started the writing and publication process, aligning on a final cover was not easy. The biggest challenge is that, despite the old adage, everyone DOES judge a book by its cover. The first impression at the buying moment of truth is critical. The challenge is that there are many conflicting priorities that go into the process. You want to stand out on shelf, but your customers don’t want something that scares off customers. You need something with lots of selling points, but the more words on the page, the less someone wants to read any one of them. Oh, and it needs to look good on a tiny piece of a screen on Amazon.com. There’s also the natural tug of preferences between my team at Bridge Worldwide and our publisher, McGraw-Hill.

Despite some stress, I’m very excited with how the book cover turned out. The final book is a combination of work by McGraw-Hill designers and a team at the branding and design firm of Landor Associates, and specifically Richard Westendorf and Joe Napier. They created a cover that stands out on a crowded shelf and catches the eye thanks to interesting color and the turning title words. While at first I was just happy to be finished with the cover, I’m really loving it now.

Another thing you might notice is the endorsement by Seth Godin at the top of the book. I am incredibly honored to receive his kind words; it means a lot to me to get such positive feedback from a guy who has inspired me for my entire marketing career. I was lucky enough to land several other very strong endorsements from a collection of friends, acquaintances, friends of friends, and complete strangers. As a first-time author, I believe these words of support are important positive signals for prospective buyers as they consider shelling out $27.95 for a copy. And I can’t say enough about how great it feels to have this cast of all-stars support my writing. Here’s a full list of endorsements that will appear on the back cover and inside pages:

  • “Bob is one of the marketing industry’s young bright lights. The Next Evolution of Marketing is a true beacon for all brand builders—many books claim that; Bob’s book delivers. It is part inspirational stories, part handbook for change… change we must embrace if we are to grow brands into the future.” Jim Stengel - Former Global Marketing Officer, Procter & Gamble
  • “Some timeless truths restored for modern marketing—and many new ones added. An inspiring reminder of the value of brand behaviour and how to make it happen.” Sir Martin Sorrell - CEO, WPP
  • “In the always on, text-messaged, TiVo-infested, social media driven world of today, traditional advertising has been rendered virtually meaningless. Bob Gilbreath brilliantly shows why we’re no longer living in our fathers’ marketing era. Better yet, he details how marketing works best when it adds value to people’s lives and he provides a playbook for success.” David Meerman Scott - Best-selling author of The New Rules of Marketing & PR and World Wide Rave
  • “Advertising is changing rapidly and the old formulas don’t work anymore. Bob Gilbreath’s new book is loaded with ideas and concepts that will help you deal with the new realities in the marketing arena. Well-written, too.” Al Ries - author of War in the Boardroom
  • “The world has changed, consumer expectations have changed, and, as a result, traditional, interruptive marketing is significantly less effective. In his book, Bob Gilbreath not only defines and makes the case for the evolution to Marketing with Meaning, he provides a strategic framework, excellent real-life examples, and a clear road map to deliver, all in an insightful and engaging way.” Brian McNamara - President Europe, Novartis OTC Business Unit
  • “As the world becomes more immune to “advertising as usual”, the urgency for finding new and better ways to connect with consumers is rapidly increasing. Recognizing the need and responding with a solution, Bob Gilbreath introduces Marketing with Meaning, a fantastic way to earn consumer attention and make the world a better place in the process.” Kevin Doohan - Director, Digital Marketing, Red Bull North America
  • “One of the many illuminating insights in Bob Gilbreath’s important new book is that many marketers are finding success in social media because they’re rediscovering their generosity. Persuasion has given way to sharing and marketing will never be the same.” John Gerzema - Chief Insights Officer of Young & Rubicam and author of The Brand Bubble
  • “This immensely important book presents a new marketing model in sync with today’s new consumers hungry for meaning in their lives. It’s a behind-the-scenes look at how the greatest brands are leveraging their power and an essential read for anyone looking to add value to their business, career and life.” Jim Heekin - Chairman and CEO, Grey Group
  • “I thoroughly recommend this book. Bob Gilbreath demonstrates how marketing can go beyond interruption to add value for both consumers and brand owners. He illustrates his case with a rich and diverse set of case studies complemented by guidelines designed to help others create marketing with meaning.” Nigel Hollis - Chief Global Analyst, Millward Brown, and author of The Global Brand
  • “At The Coca-Cola Company we believe that nurturing brand love and advocacy is critical to building brands in this age of social media. This book provides a framework and compelling examples for creating the next generation of culture- leading brands.” Mark Greatrex - Senior Vice President, Marketing Communications and Insights, The Coca-Cola Company
  • “Today’s technologies have shifted power to consumers. The Next Evolution of Marketing shows how companies can leverage that power to benefit both their customers and themselves.” Peter Golder - Professor of Marketing, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth and author of Will & Vision: How Latecomers Grow to Dominate Markets
  • “Bob Gilbreath has written an exciting and articulate guide to the future of marketing in the new media environment. Kudos!” Bruce Owen - Morris M. Doyle Professor in Public Policy at Stanford University
  • “Tell and sell was never authentic. Smart companies have watched their products soar by adopting a more meaningful approach, but no one has named the new model, codified it, or provided any guidelines for implementing it. Until now, right here in this book, where Bob Gilbreath does all three.” Pete Blackshaw – EVP, Digital Strategic Services, Nielsen Online, author of Satisfied Customers Tell Three Friends, Angry Customers Tell Three Thousand
  • “Gilbreath is onto something important with The Next Generation of Marketing. I can’t recall a book that contains more actionable, real world examples.” Tim Kopp - CMO, ExactTarget
  • “This is a comprehensive and practical approach to marketing connectivity. With media no longer ‘dumb,’ marketers must truly connect their brands with their key customers. The plethora of new media vehicles fragments the marketplace, but also creates a tremendous opportunity. Bob skillfully uses real-time examples of how we can capitalize with richer and deeper connections.” Mark Chmiel – Chief Marketing & Innovation Officer, The Denny’s Corporation

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    The official launch date for the book is October 2, but you can pre-order it now at Amazon, Barnes & Noble, and Borders.

    I would like to take this opportunity to thank you, dear readers, for all of your kind words and helpful comments in the past 15 months that I have been blogging away here. As anyone who has put their heart and soul into creating content would agree, there is something incredibly special about having others enjoy and learn from your original work.

    But just writing and selling books is not why I started on this journey years ago. Instead, I hope to spark a movement in the marketing profession—one that will elevate the importance of the work we do and make the world a better place in the process. A book is only one “chapter” in the story. The next chapters will be written by you, and I’m happy to say we’ve got much more planned to help you make meaningful marketing in your companies and careers. Stay tuned…

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    Posted in Uncategorized, book | 6 Comments »

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