JPWN – Social Media Diva

Toby Bloomberg was the speaker at today's JPWN lunch. As always, it was a great event. It was interesting to be around so many people who are still learning about social media and thinking about how they can use social media tools in their personal and professional lives.

In writing about my experience as a blogger for the November JPWN newsletter, I remembered that it was Toby who suggested I start this blog. I really enjoyed talking with the women at my table and another during power networking about how a blog can be valuable resource for their company.

It was also great to learn about Stacy's new business venture and catch-up with Laura, whose company is amazing. Check them out!

One Year Later

I recently passed the one-year anniversary of my first blog post. I had every intention of posting something on the very day of my anniversary (which will go unmentioned here so as to avoid calling attention to exactly how overdue I am). But before I knew it, the day passed, and so did a week or two before I was able to begin this entry.

I started this blog with the intention of calling out marketing campaigns or practices for their successful (or unsuccessful) attempts at cutting through the marketplace clutter. But part of the reason for my falling behind in marking my anniversary may be that I became a victim of the very clutter I intended to take aim at - everyday life and an overload of information that I am trying to process.

In my first post I mentioned a conversation that I had with a friend about Barack Obama. This was way before he launched his presidential campaign and Obama Girl became a YouTube sensation. (That video cracks me up.)

So, I checked back with her to see if she had a better idea of who Obama is on year later. Here's what she had to say (syntax is all hers):

barack obama is a democratic presidential hopeful and is a senator from chicago. (i think) he wants to pay teachers more, so he's peaked my interest!! i still get most of my news from the internet on my yahoo page, and will scan ajc.com/usatoday.com on occasion. i am a people magazine junkie, but that doesn't really qualify as news. other than that, i'll hear important things by word of mouth.

I'll continue to post my thoughts on the marketplace, so long as my personal clutter doesn't get in the way. But, I am not going to limit myself to just what marketers do - I plan to address all the different channel consumers use.

Facebook's recent announcement has me thinking. Another post for another day, I suppose.

KISS: Keep it Simple, Stupid

This AdRants post says the best practices for billboard advertising better than I ever could. What is the expression, "The more you add the more you take away"? (Or something to that effect.) I wish more billboard advertisers would heed the sage advice of AdRants imparted in the last paragraph:

It's unfortunate most agencies and marketers don't realize the billboard medium is at its most powerful when it's used for simple, direct messaging. Two to four words and a simple visual is about all the medium can take. Too many marketers and agencies try to cram the entire marketing plan onto a single 14 X 48 foot space which is usually seen for less than three seconds. For billboards, simplicity rules. In creating this McDonald's billboard, Leo Burnett clearly understands this.

Heineken A Winner at the U.S. Open

I found this article in Forbes and wanted to talk about it before it was too late.  Sports marketing is a personal interest of mine and this piece does a great job of showing how sponsors of the U.S. Open do more than just plaster their logos around the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing, N.Y.

Tennis, like golf, attracts a high net worth fan.  While most companies leverage their sponsorship of a sports event or team through venue signage, the U.S. Open is an event that warrants a more interactive approach.

"Marketing is getting more experimental, more aggressive and more direct," says Andy Glaser, brand director at Heineken USA, who adds that the four annual tracking studies the company performs show that its U.S. Open sponsorship improves its recall with customers. In addition to its Red Star Cafe sampling site, the company is unleashing vendors with funky-looking space age backpacks to dispense Heineken beer to fans in the seats.

I like this tactic - why not be proactive in getting your product into the hands of potential customers? Especially when a high concentration of your target market is in a setting that fits well with the brand attributes you want to highlight. 

I hope more sports sponsors take this interactive approach.  The Fan Fests are nice, but let's see more experiential attempts that allow consumers with a more enriching experience.

Technorati Tags: Heineken, U.S. Open

Quick Update to an Old Post

In the not so distant past, I wrote about a creative website for an Atlanta agency, WestWayne. As one commenter pointed out, the agency was in the midst of a name change. They've rebranded themselves as 22 Squared. The name comes from the idea that, on average, people have 484 friends over the course of a lifetime. Take the square of 484 and you get 22.

The agency's PR person emailed me to say they've "taken the 'consumer as friend' model" and run with it. I guess it's an interesting idea. On the surface I think it might be tough to pitch that for B-to-B work, but those types of exchanges are driven by networking and having the right relationships, so it might work. This is their new website. It's full of flashy goodness, but I'm a text gal and wish they had a better explanation (other than the voice-over which I missed the first time since my computer speakers were off) for the thought behind the name. I found myself thinking, "OK, that's great. But how does this relate to me?" as if I were a client. The press release I was sent mentioned some research they did to quantify the strength, stage and type of friendships between brands and individuals, but I didn't see that anywhere on the site.

So, that's the update of my earlier post. Now back to my regularly-scheduled commentary on marketing clutter. More to come on that soon.