#HowAdvertisingWorks (on me) – Advil Gel Minis

I’ve been fighting a cold and have been a frequent visitor to CVS.  While reaching for a box of Advil, I accidentally picked up a box of Advil Gel Minis.  Hadn’t heard anything about these mini pills, so I put them back.  I wasn’t sure it would deliver the same dosage as the regular pill.  Yesterday I was leafing through Rolling Stone and came across an ad for these Gel Minis.  My experience at CVS triggered me to take notice.  Yep, same dosage as the big capsule.  Next time I’m at CVS, I’ll get the Advil Gel Minis.

The insight:  Advertising is often actively consumed by its audience.  I notice bank ads when I'm shopping a mortgage.  Or car ads if my lease is coming due.  I noticed this Advil ad because I have a cold, and because I had a previous triggering experience.  

#HowAdvertisingWorks 

#HowAdvertisingWorks (on me).

I’ve decided to note and document the ways in which marketing communications influences me. Some of these insights may seem simple. And in a way, that's the point.

We overthink advertising in boardrooms. We put the weight of the entire campaign on the shoulders of a single piece of content, forgetting how elements work together, and how triggers work in the customer's mind.

Stay tuned. Would enjoy hearing examples from others.  

#HowAdvertisingWorks

A new platform for the oldest form of communicating.

I was excited today to help co-host Ford Motor's Marketing Innovation Day because it focused on one of my favorite marketing topics – storytelling.

I've long believed in the power of storytelling.  Stories convey meaning.  And meaning trumps information.  Maya Angelou captured this so well when she said that "people will forget what you said, forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel."

And that's what is at the heart of storytelling.  Storytelling helps us to digest information because it connects information to emotions, and to connect us to each other.

What's old is new again, thanks to "Stories" on Facebook and Instagram.  Our most ancient form of communicating has found a new form of expression.  Traditional IF and FB posts tend to only show the highlights of our day.  Stories, by contrast, are spontaneous:  a more authentic snapshot of a story as it is happening, unedited and not curated.

According to TechCrunch, there were 100 million active users of IG stories within two months of its release.

This is a great opportunity for marketers to engage through deeper and more immersive stories - e.g., placing the brand out in the real world without the slick hand of Madison Avenue; bringing customers "behind the scenes" for an upcoming product launch; even showcasing origin stories and sources of inspiration from the company's designers or engineers.

Here's a link to some more perspectives on the power of storytelling.

Wikibranding driving online brand activism.

Ten years ago I coined the term Wikibranding when it occurred to me that social media would cause brands to become increasingly crowd-defined.  Ten years later, The NY Times has reached the same conclusion. :)

From today's article:  "Social media is the new TV.  In the era when television shaped mainstream consumer sentiment, companies enjoyed enormous power to alter their image through advertising. Then came the internet, which didn’t kill advertising, but did dilute its power. Brands now have little say over how their messages get chewed up through our social feeds.  Yes, they can run ads on Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat and everyplace else. But social media elevates consumers over corporate marketing; suddenly what matters isn’t what an ad says about a company, but what your friends think about that company."

Ford vs Tesla.

Insightful assessment of Tesla vs Ford. From a financial standpoint, Ford has had five straight years of profits amounting to over $24 billion, while Tesla's losses total $2.2 billion over this same period.

From a product standpoint, Ford's Fusion Hybrid is now outselling the Prius. (Plus, Ford is investing $4.5B to create 13 electric vehicles over the next several years.)

Do I admire Tesla and Elon Musk? Absolutely. And I admire even more seeing a 114 year old company reinvent its future.

Here's the article.

Job vs a Profession.

So happy today to be able to spend time with GTB's STRIVE team and talk with young professionals about ways to create a rewarding career in advertising. We discussed the difference between a job and a profession. When viewed as a profession, you commit to being in the business of building brands (not tactics); view your career as a journey of learning; know there is no substitute for hard work and preparation; and always have a POV. Above all, you dare to be wrong!

Facebook and Google want to be your TV network.

Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has publicly outlined the company's ambitious Video First strategy, an effort likely to be as big as its previous push into mobile.  At its core, the strategy is designed to make FB our first choice when we want to look at video.

The first steps are already in motion:  Introduced a video-only tab; started promoting longer videos in the news feed; launched a video app for Samsung Smart TVs, Apple TV, Amazon Fire TV; and now will begin paying content creators for high quality, episodic content.

Not to be outdone, Google announced YouTube TV, a $35 monthly "skinny bundle" for cord-cutters, offering 40 channels and content from all four broadcast networks.

But the big news is the availability of live sports, one of the last viewing experiences that keeps many Americans, myself included, tethered by a cable wire.   But YouTube TV will include some regional sports from ESPN.

It's important to monitor the success and growth of each.  It's also important for marketers to think "video" and not "TV."  They sound the same, but they are not.

Virtual Assistants a growing reality.

Alexa, mark my words, literally.  Voice Assistants will set new expectations for how customers want to interact with brands, hardware, shopping sites and apps.

Then again, I saw this coming back in 2013 when I coined the expression #HandsFreeWeb in describing the future of web-enabled houses!

Now that Apple has announced HomePod, we will likely see an epic battle with Amazon Echo and Google Home for leadership in interactive voice.

Amazon Echo has become a surprise hit, putting Amazon well ahead of Google to lead the race toward applying natural human language to search and perform tasks.  In a race to catch up, Google Home also uses AI to understand what users are saying and respond conversationally.

Going forward, I can see a day when typing into a keyboard, whether a phone, tablet or PC, will be viewed as time consuming and old fashioned.

Want to work in Marcom? Learn to write!

This was drilled into me when I started my career at Ogilvy. I am a better business leader as a result. This is a must read...and do.

Your brand's multicultural strategy is also its growth strategy.

New census data shows that minorities are now the majority in 12% of counties across the U.S.  In 370 counties across 36 states, non-Hispanic whites accounted for less than half the population as of July 2015.

And this trend will accelerate.  Three quarters of Americans age 55+ are white.  Whereas among those aged 18-34, that figure drops to only 56%, and even lower among minors.

In explaining his greatness, Wayne Gretzky credited his father's advice to skate to where the puck is going, not where it is.

For marketers, that mean skating to an increasingly multicultural customer base.