RICK MATHIESON: GENWOW.COM

Interview: AKQA CEO Tom Bedecarré (Conclusion) - Alternate Reality Games, Location-Based Marketing & Targeting

In the conclusion of this source interview for my book, THE ON-DEMAND BRAND, AKQA CEO Tom Bedecarré offers his view of alternate reality games (ARGs), social media, location-based marketing and that most controversial of issues: targeting.

CLICK HERE to listen to: Tom Bedecarré, CEO, AKQA (Conclusion): ARGs, Social Media, Location-Based Marketing & Targeting

 

 

(Approx. 5:45)

Interview: AKQA CEO Tom Bedecarré - On Building The Agency of Tomorrow, Today

Tom Bedecarré is succeeding like few others in creating the ad agency of tomorrow, today.

In part one of an expansive source interview for my book, THE ON-DEMAND BRAND, Bedecarré shares the behind the scenes steps he took to shape what is arguably one of the most forward thinking digital marketing firms in the world

"There are a lot of advertising people who want to hang onto the past, want to hang onto 30-second television commercials and full-color magazine ads, and I think it's very hard to catch up," he tells me, with considerable understatement, before explaining how his team started putting the pieces in place a decade ago to capitalize on this amazing new era.

 

Over the next few days, I'll share more from this interview, including Bedecarreé's insights on some of today's mos exciting new channels, as well as his firm's most famous digital initiatives, from Design The World A Coke, to Nike PhotoID, to the Target snow globe iPhone app and more. 

Tom Bedecarré, CEO, AKQA: Building The Agency of Tomorrow, Today (Pt. 1)

Listen to: AQKA CEO Tom Bedecarré Pt 1: The Agency of Tomorrow, Today

(Approx. 3:10)

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"... EXCELLENT ..."

“Through persuasive arguments and Q&A's with the major players in advertising, Mathieson makes an excellent case for greater creativity and outside-the-box thinking backed up with solid ideas."

Publisher's Weekly

 

 

 

 

 

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Digital Marketing: 5 Top New Year's Resolutions

 

It's 2013: Do you know what your digital marketing's up to?

Here are five quick resolutions for the new year. Like lots of behaviors, these are practices we know we should keep - like eat less, move more - but rarely do. All of us are guilty of bypassing these common sense rules from time to time.

So if we do just five things this year, let's resolve to:

5. Not Ask How - Ask Why

I said this in a recent post on social media trends for 2013. But it's really true of anything we do. If you've heard it once, you've heard it a million times at agencies and client-side brands throughout the land: Let's do "X" - insert your digital buzz word du jour here - not because "X" is central to a brand's objectives, but because it's considered cool. But saying "we need a mobile/social/viral strategy is akin to saying "we need a brochure strategy," or a radio strategy, or a signage strategy. These are channels & platforms, not strategies. First figure out what you have to accomplish, then decide which approaches and channels will get you there. It's so simple, yet we all get caught up in coolness from time to time.

4. Know thy customer - and thy channels

On that note, as I write in my book THE ON-DEMAND BRAND, insight comes before inspiration. Today's most successful digital marekting initiatives typically don't come from a great idea for some hip new experience, or a me-too approach to major trends. Instead, they start with consumer insights culled from painstaking research into who your customers are, what they're all about, how they interact with consumer technologies, and what they want from the brands they know and trust. Just look at the work Unilever's done over the last few years with the Dove brand's "Campaign for Real Beauty" and all its crazy ass work for Axe - including everything from QR code peep holes in bathroom bars to faux "Shower Together" PSAs. These marketers have a firm read on their customers and the channels with which to reach them. In 2013, look for social + mobile + local to be a key to accomplishing this.

3. Always commit multi-plat-fornication

Innovate through as many channels and platforms that make sense for your strategies and audience. It's what MTV calls "multi-plat-fornication." As I show in the book, MINI USA has made an art form of this, using insights on its "fun-tech" loving audience and how they congregate online to use numerous approaches - branded games, especially, but also things like RFID-based key fobs that enable roadside billboards to call out to passing drivers by name - to actually enlist customers to market the cars for them. And Coca-Cola has raised the bar over the last year, with everything from branded iPhone apps to the Polar Bears' social stunt at the Super Bowl to its Kinect-Powered Vending Machine, to a magazine-ad-turned-mobile-stereo-speakers and much, much more. Small wonder the brand has been named "Creative Marketer of the Year" for the 2013 Cannes International Advertising Festival. 

2. Honor traditional as the sizzle to digital's steak

It's heresy these days to point out the obvious. In a fragmented media universe, the channels that still attract any semblance of "mass" are more powerful than ever - with TV being exhibit A. For all our gadgets, we're watching more TV, not less. And whether it's "Walking Dead" or "Dancing with The Stars," TV has communal power like nothing else. As a result, many of today's most innovative integrated campaigns use traditional advertising - old school TV, print, radio, etc - to build awareness and then point consumers to deeper, richer, more meaningful experiences online, or via mobile and other digital platforms. Again, Coca-Cola's Polar Bear stunt at the Super Bowl immediately comes to mind, attracting over 9 million consumers who spent an average of 28 minutes with the brand. And Doritos has effectively done all this in reverse every year, with its Crash The Super Bowl user-generated ad contest - with the chance to work with director Michael Bay at this year's bowl.

1. Never put "buzz" before "business"

Obviously digital marketing is about endless and innovative experimentation. If it were as easy as creating any old viral video, branded game, or mobile app to generate enough buzz to bring in business for our brands, we'd all be rich. For many lifestyle brands, this kind of experimentation is enough - especially in categories where an aura of hipness is a prerequisite for sales success. But while there is obviously a lot of fun and games in all this fun and games, it's important - critical - that we approach digital initiatives with specific objectives in mind (see resolution #5).

As Harley-Davidson's global CMO Mark-Hans Richer puts it to Ad Age, "This is a new gold age for marketers. The shackles are off, and the possibilities are nearly endless. If we aren't conducting radical experiments, trying new ways to engage our targets and adding value to them, then we're not doing our jobs."

But, he adds, "It's not about chasing the buzz; it's about chasing the biz." Marketers who get this formula right - by fueling innovation through substantive consumer insights - weill thrive in the on-demand era.

Those who don't will have to settle for some fun - but ultimately fruitless - experiments.

Here's to a blockbuster 2013 for us all.

Q&A: Enter Social + Mobile + Local + Commerce (Roundtable Pt 5)

Move over SoLoMo - SoLoMoCo is here.

In part five of our August Mobile Marketing Roundtable, we move beyond mere Social + Local + Mobile to Social + Local + Mobile + Commerce, the ability to not just connect with consumers via the mobile channel based on where they are, but also to enable transactions based on that context. 

This time out, you'll get some outstanding insights from Jonathan Becher, CMO for softare giant SAP, and Dorrian Porter, CEO of longtime GEN WOW sponsor Mozes.

At the heart of the conversation: A new report from ABI Research that by 2017, one quarter of all online sales will come through mobile. Retailers can choose to do what they can to stem this tide, or capitalize on it in powerful ways through the power of SoLoMoCo. 

SOCIAL + MOBILE + LOCAL + COMMERCE: MOBILE MARKETING ROUNDTABLE (PT 5)

>> CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO: Social + Mobile + Local + Commerce & The Future of Retailing <<

(Approx 5:27)

Also, don't miss:

PART 1: SAP CMO: 'Digital is Dead' - And So Is Mobile

PART 2: Mobile 'Happiness': Coca-Cola's Secrets of Mobile Marketing Success

PART 3: Social + Mobile + Local & The Facebook Free-Fall

PART 4: Foursquare's New 'Promoted Updates' & The Race to Make Location Click

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>> AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE BOOKS ARE SOLD <<<

  "... EXCELLENT ..."

 

“Through persuasive arguments and Q&A's with the major players in advertising, Mathieson makes an excellent case for greater creativity and outside-the-box thinking backed up with solid ideas."

Publisher's Weekly

 

>>> IN STORES NOW: ORDER YOUR COPY HERE <<<

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Can't Miss Webinar: Coca-Cola's Mobile Team Reveals Secrets of Mobile Marketing Success

 

 

 

 

BECOME BEST-IN-CLASS IN MOBILE MARKETING

Thursday, August 16, 2012

11:00 AM - 12:00 PM PDT

(Sponsored) Digital is clearly key for Coca-Cola, and they do it right. As a mature brand, they understand consumer behavior and see the need to adopt innovative marketing technology and approaches to bring value to the consumer, customer and organization. One of the major reasons the Company has been so successful in connecting the physical to the digital world is their Mobile Center of Excellence (MCOE) which has developed key strategies, identified gaps and opportunities. This continual process accelerates development with key vendors, partners and constituents to help drive initiatives using mobile.

In this webinar, members of the MCOE will share the vision, mission, method and results of the Mobile Center of Excellence, as well as discuss the needs that Mozes, a mobile engagement partner, helps to fill through supporting events like Essence Music Festival, NASCAR 600, Coca-Cola Beach Spring Break, and College football games.

Attendees will learn:
- How to approach cultivating an in-house mobile expert or team.
- How mobile is transforming the event experience.
- How to convert participation into long-term relationships.
- Best practices for building a successful mobile engagement strategy incorporating audience engagement.

Moderator:
Michael Becker, Managing Director, North America, MMA

Speakers:
Tara Scarlett, Senior Manager, CRM and Mobile Marketing, The Coca-Cola Company
Chris Bigda, Connections Planning & Investment, Media & Interactive, The Coca-Cola Company
Dorrian Porter, CEO, Mozes Inc.

GET FULL DETAILS AND REGISTER NOW

 

Q&A: Author Rick Mathieson on Blasingame Show/Forbes Radio (Concl): Facebook's Mobile Challenge

Forbes has an article out today that states Facebook would be worth $33 if the "company had a mobile clue."

Well. So only down nearly 20% from its opening price (and an improvement on the $31.59 it holds at this writing. That is, if Facebook can figure out how to crack the mobile monetization puzzle - exactly the topic of the third segment of my visit to the Jim Blasingame Show/Forbes.com Radio the other morning.

Now, while most of my work involves agencies and major brands, and the audience for this particular show is small businesses, you'll clearly get a sense of why mobile mastery is a must for businesses of every size.

For Facebook, it would probably be worth a heck of a lot more than $33 per share.

CLICK TO LISTEN: Q&A: AUTHOR RICK MATHIESON ON BLASINGAME SHOW/FORBES.COM RADIO (CONCL) - FACEBOOK'S MOBILE CHALLENGE

(4 min, 56 sec)

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>> AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE BOOKS ARE SOLD <<<

  "... EXCELLENT ..."

 

“Through persuasive arguments and Q&A's with the major players in advertising, Mathieson makes an excellent case for greater creativity and outside-the-box thinking backed up with solid ideas."

Publisher's Weekly

 

>>> IN STORES NOW: ORDER YOUR COPY HERE <<<

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Q&A: Author Rick Mathieson on Blasingame Show/Forbes (Pt 2): Facebook & The Move Beyond Social Media Advertising

As I write in my book THE ON-DEMAND BRAND, advertisers and advertising have always been the bete noirs of social media.

Which is a if if you're Facebook and your primary business model is based on advertising - and your platform is so much more powerful than that.

While my work is focused on agencies and major brands, but what holds true for them holds true (maybe even more so) for small business, which is the focus of the Blasingame/Forbes show.

As marketers of all sizes increasingly discover the tremendous power of social experiences on Facebook that have little (well, nothing) to do with advertising on Facebook, they will modify their social marketing programs accordingly.

So yeah, a problem if you sell advertising on Facebook. But also big opportunities - if Facebook can move beyond mere advertising quickly.

CLICK TO LISTEN: Q&A: AUTHOR RICK MATHIESON ON BLASINGAME SHOW/FORBES - FACEBOOK & THE MOVE BEYOND MERE ADVERTISING

(6 min, 20 sec)

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>> AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE BOOKS ARE SOLD <<<

  "... EXCELLENT ..."

 

“Through persuasive arguments and Q&A's with the major players in advertising, Mathieson makes an excellent case for greater creativity and outside-the-box thinking backed up with solid ideas."

Publisher's Weekly

 

>>> IN STORES NOW: ORDER YOUR COPY HERE <<<

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Q&A: Jeff Hasen, Author of 'Mobilized Marketing' (Pt 3)

Augmented reality. Mobile apps vs. mobile web. Showrooming.

In part three of my interview with Jeff Hasen, author of the new book MOBILIZED MARKETING: Driving Sales, Engagement, and Loyalty Through Mobile Devices, we look at the near- and long-term prognosis for these trends - think HTML5 and 'app graveyards' - and one mobile dynamic every retailer wants to avoid.

Listen to what he has to say here, and then check out the book here.

Q&A: JEFF HASEN, AUTHOR OF MOBILIZED MARKETING (PT 3): AR, APPS VS WEB - AND WHAT TO AVOID WITH 'SHOWROOMING'

(3 min, 41 sec)

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>> AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE BOOKS ARE SOLD <<<

  "... EXCELLENT ..."

 

“Through persuasive arguments and Q&A's with the major players in advertising, Mathieson makes an excellent case for greater creativity and outside-the-box thinking backed up with solid ideas."

Publisher's Weekly

 

>>> IN STORES NOW: ORDER YOUR COPY HERE <<<

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Q&A: Ben Zifkin, CEO of Hubba: The Ultimate Marketing Command Center

 

I'm excited about new video from sponsor Hubba, which comes on the heels of the Toronto-based startup (and GEN WOW sponsor) finishing up its beta.

Imagine a single dashboard that lets you post, say, a promo that hits consumers exactly when, where and how you want it to, based on their location, CRM data and the device they happen to be using. A dashboard where you can manage your mobile, Google, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Foursquare, retail partner promotions and any number of other channels all at once.

It could very well be the holy grail of marketing for brands, retailers and agencies. Or at the very least it could live up to it's name (as in hubba-hubba).

In a follow-up to an interview last fall with CEO Ben Zifkin, we hear the latest on this amazing new solution - and what it can do for everyone looking for the ultimate marketing command center.

CLICK HERE TO LISTEN TO: Q&A: BEN ZIFKIN, CEO OF HUBBA: THE ULTIMATE MOBILE MARKETING COMMAND CENTER

(Approx. 12 min, 31 sec)

Read more here.

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>> AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE BOOKS ARE SOLD <<<

  "... EXCELLENT ..."

 

“Through persuasive arguments and Q&A's with the major players in advertising, Mathieson makes an excellent case for greater creativity and outside-the-box thinking backed up with solid ideas."

Publisher's Weekly

 

>>> IN STORES NOW: ORDER YOUR COPY HERE <<<

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Mobile Roundtable (Pt 3): Dorrian Porter, CEO of Mozes – On Rocking The Mobile Revolution

You might say Mozes is on a rock-n-roll these days.

Within just the last few weeks, Wired ran a feature on how the Palo Alto, Calif-based Mozes powers Umphrey’s McGee’s interactive UMBowl, a concert series that enables fans to shape the concert – in real time – using their mobiles phones.

And just this last week, The Silicon Valley Business Journal ran a profile on the company, which focuses on mobile engagement at live events for brand clients such as Coca-Cola, Ford Motor Company and Rock The Vote, among many others.

In part three of the May 2012 GEN WOW Mobile Marketing Roundtable, we get the inside scoop from founder Dorrian Porter (full disclosure: A longtime friend, client, and sponsor of this blog), on how brands are leveraging the power of mobile at the all-important "point of inspiration."

MOBILE ROUNDTABLE (PT 3): MOZES ROCKS THE MOBILE REVOLUTION

(11:07)

Use the player, or click here to listen to: Mobile Roundtable (Pt 3): Dorrian Porter - Mozes Rocks The Mobile Revolution

ALSO LISTEN TO:

MOBILE ROUNDTABLE (PT 1): Julie Fajgenbaum - How AMEX Banks on Mobile Marketing

MOBILE MARKETING ROUNDTABLE (PT 2): Organic's Rachel Pasqua - Kimberly Clark, Specialized Bicycles Ramp Up Mobile Marketing

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>> AVAILABLE EVERYWHERE BOOKS ARE SOLD <<<

  "... EXCELLENT ..."

 

“Through persuasive arguments and Q&A's with the major players in advertising, Mathieson makes an excellent case for greater creativity and outside-the-box thinking backed up with solid ideas."

Publisher's Weekly

 

>>> IN STORES NOW: ORDER YOUR COPY HERE <<<

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