Don't fear data

I don't believe that data never lies - it can be configured to mean one thing to one group and another thing to another group. However, the fear of data or the answer of "it depends" can be the undoing of a client relationship for any marketing or advertising agency.

Over the last 20 years, I have sat through so many meetings where the creative execution was only based on the ability of the creative team to produce an incredible presentation - Wow factor! The exercise to find out if it reasonates - is often discounted, or overridden.

It's hard -- in this economy and any other economy -- to realize that the value of WHAT you do is NOT in HOW you do it, but WHY you do it. And once you've done it, can we measure how close the tactic got us to the end goal?

Companies need to articulate the end goal of why. If they can't, then they won't be in business very long.

Adapt or die...Part 2 the PR story

Too many PR people thought issuing press releases, talking on the phone, sending emails and never executing a program with measurable objectives was enough. Too bad. lots of people will lose their "jobs" but it's about time.

Wow that made people upset.

I'm sorry, but there's no excuse for not providing value to your work. The tools to assess the value delivered by an effective public relations program are widely available and inexpensive to cheap. I'm sorry but the excuses don't apply anymore.

Early in my career, I worked for a PR firm that was owned by a multinational advertising firm. The CEO of the ad firm told us young execs to spend time with our clients -- go to games, go to dinner, invite them to our house -- the president of the PR "side of the house" reinterated later that "PR doesn't have the kind of margins that the advertising teams have" - subtext: don't try to do the same things. The Internet changes all that.

So, I apologize, but don't shoot the messenger.

Sensitivity at all time high!

Too many PR people thought issuing press releases, talking on the phone, sending emails and never executing a program with measurable objectives was enough. Too bad. lots of people will lose their "jobs" but it's about time. I don't mean to sound cruel, but the days of PR being this ethereal, cloud of mystery must be die and remain dead - even when the good times return.

Good PR is about building relationships - with customers, shareholders, regulators, community, etc. Too often, PR people got wrapped up in the tactic and lost the strategy of why the tactic mattered. I often hear the short-sighted say "issue the PR (meaning press release)" and the questions will go away. And when the PR, crafted by the legal team, fans the flames - the public relations team has to put out the fire or be fired.

It's hard -- in this economy and any other economy -- to realize that the value of WHAT you do is NOT in HOW you do it, but WHY you do it. And once you've done it, can we measure how close the tactic got us to the end goal?

Adapt or die...PLEASE!

I wouldn't consider myself Darwinian, but the environment, world, economy, culture - everything has changed. Yet, some institutions and the individuals that run them refuse to adapt and expect entities around them to help them survive.

Case in point: General Motors

They built cars that weren't selling well for years; maintained multiple brands and products that were only slightly differentiated (things like "the bumpers on the Plymouth slope more than the Chevrolet!) and now they want MORE MONEY to stave off bankruptcy.

Here's an alternative:

Use additional bail-out money to provide pensions and healthcare to the thousands of retirees GM let hang in the wind this fall and force GM into bankruptcy.

Sorry, the arguments we're hearing from GM now are just slightly different from their arguments in the mid-70s to 80s when the "Japanese invaded" the car industry. Increased global competition, rising costs, line workers cost too much and shareholder value is gone -- same tune from clueless professional executives, not management interested in guiding a company through a storm.

It's easy to pick on the auto industry and the fall out to the many companies dependant on the auto "jugger-nut" through contract, supply chain, etc. is going to be hard but consider this.

The auto industry did everything possible to own all aspects of its business WITHOUT really taking the risk. For example, tool and die shops build key components but don't own the tools the auto company contracting owns the tools - that way, they can slow payments, cripple the T&D operation, then pulled their tools because "the shop is financially unstable" WHAT?

That is really taking "work for hire" to an extraordinary level.

Control requires shared risk. $1 salaries are nice gestures, but they should receive no compensation if the company is not profitable -- just like the millions of entrepeneurs in millions of companies all over the world. This challenge requires new thinking - ADAPT. Adaptation may require a new skin, new home, new - uncomfortable - approach, but it can save a dying breed - like GM.

Play ball boys, you may just hit a homerun or have to find another job, like the thousands of workers already on the streets. Hell, I'll even throw out the first pitch, really for free.

Financial Meltdown

How can you fail completely, but still succeed? Join Wall Street.

Over the past 15 years, significant portions of Wall Street have been automated, removing commissions and changing the way Wall Street is doing business. Right? No. Unlike the auto business or a myriad of other businesses that have adapted, Wall Street did not adapt. Wall Street took greater risk. "Greed is good" the motto for the fictitious 1980s Wall Street tycoon, Gordon Gecko, was not just a great movie line for Trivial Pursuit, but a business model for the Wall Street of the new Millenium.

And now it is over, but over for whom? Over for the American middle class -- hard work does not equal security in today's America -- don't plan, don't sacrifice -- greed is good. live beyond your means. thousands for kids' birthday party, no problem. get a mortgage you can pay? no worries, just refinance when it comes due. Kick the can down the road -- debt, environmental destruction, self absorbtion, lack of compassion -- tomorrow doesn't matter.

Tomorrow DOES matter. What kind of America do you want to live in? Debt-ladden and struggling or compassionate and innovative and dedicated to making a difference?

Cast your vote, make a change and make a difference. Oh, and Wall Street? Adapt or die!

The Auto Business

First, let me start with full disclosure. Ford Motor Company put food in my mouth, a roof over my head and 16 years of education in my mind. My father was a chief engineer in Instrumentation and Design Group at Ford Motor Company on Oakwood Blvd. in Dearborn, Michigan for 28 years. After retirement for heart disease, he continued to buy Ford products, talk about the greatness of this company and celebrate its successes.

As a result, I am a gear head. Time has marched on, but it also seems to have frozen in places like Michigan. I, like the students graduating from Michigan’s great universities today, had to leave the state to get a job. I became a gear head in the technology business of California. Computers, servers, software and chips are my business, but in my heart, I’ve never travelled far from the auto business.

So began the quest of merging the fine products of Detroit and LA with the world outside the pleasant peninsula. Step in the Ford Ride & Drive in Southern California earlier this week.

The mornings pleasantries began with a review of the downturn in the automotive business – there is the potential for as many as 5 million fewer cars could be sold in the U.S this year. But optimism abounds “based on recent data, the consumer is unlikely to whip shaw us like that” said Hal Dewsnap, Ford
Regional Sales Manager, California.

I appreciate the optimism, but the auto business is facing a difficult time. Not only are energy costs skyrocketing, and vehicle requirements, globalization is placing pressure on this business that is unrivalled by any other previous shift. And consumers are driving, NOT the auto executives.

Ford has an outstanding history of producing cars that consumers want and need – they have led the way in fuel efficient vehicles throughout Europe and continue to today. Caution, Ford, consumers are enabled. Consumers know your products from other markets and they want the choice. The challenge is how to build the next generation of auto company – lean enough to lead with great products, understand the global dynamics and consumers next trend.

Something to think about….

Up Next…cool Ford green innovation!

The challenge and some answers

The challenge -- PR people have to build consensus around a product or point of view and PR people are overwhelmed.

Answers -- truly begin to understand your audience. What determines an audience? They will ask questions, they will engage, they will send criticisms, they will send suggestions -- an audience will care. For too long PR people thought "the media" was an audience. "The media" was (I emphasize, WAS) a channel. Now the channel is disbursed. It is important to realize who the audience is and the impact that audience has on your product or point of view.

Meaning that for most practitioners, spend the time to get to know your audience, then engage them, ask them questions and take their advice. In today's world, only the insecure don't ask the audience.

The Conversation

The Conversation

No excuses marketing – do you know what your audience is thinking? Do you know what inspires them? Do you know what annoys them?

There is no excuse left for not knowing these answers. Audience should not be defined by a series of professionally executed focus groups then correlated with some surveys. It’s not a bad way to start, but it can’t be the finish.

Engage, ask and listen to your audience. Do you really know who your audience is? Can you build associations to new audiences from your core? Are you thinking of new and innovative ways to build your brand to your core audience and inspire them to become your brand ambassadors?

Why do PR people continue to perpetuate the notion that PR is random? I'm not saying that they can tell a reporter when to run a story; however, there is no reason for a PR person to not be intensely familiar with the reporter's deadlines and competing priorities. PR people need to learn to "track" their target media. Most reporters participate in social media -- or have their own social media platforms -- PR IS NOT RANDOM, but it does take thought and planning.

Don't PR people know who their audience is and how to engage them? I have always taken offense at PR people who write plans with "media" as a target audience. In planning, are the media not a channel or an audience who can take action? Truly this is changing. As individual media members can create specific movements or actions, their audience can create concensus for or against a point of view, a product or an organization. However, if that is the case, then that media is a target audience, not a channel.

PR can be the essential strategic component that brings all facets of marketing together in a cohesive program -- use it wisely or it will not be of value.

Choices...
As marketers, many choices are made. What should the brand speak to? How will we execute? Who is our audience?

The biggest choice marketers make is not to engage with their audiences. You may not hear what you like to hear, but if you're listening, you will be a better marketer for it.

So as my mother would say...LISTEN!

Ahhh...vacation. Completely unplugged and plugged in with my extended family. I now remember why I live 3,000 miles away.

Have you ever been frustrated by senior executive or members of an organization that just don't seem to get their act together? They may be running a multi-million dollar company or the local non-profit, but failure to consider the ramifications of their actions is unexcusable in today's world.

Take for example the firing of Willie Randolph by the New York Mets. The firing was considered a inevitable -- the Mets were underperforming, star players were not meeting expectations and that situation all points to a management shake up. Simple, right?

Not for the Mets. They flew the lame-duck staff across the country, sent a news release out at 3 am to avoid the news appearing in print publications, then remained mute until a press conference more than 12 hours later. The tone of the press conference was not about how this change was going to help the team improve, but rather about how the media had forced the team's front office to make the change. What?

Fans are not limited to their geography -- the online world has changed that for most sports fans -- we enjoyed the NHK play-offs and Stanley Cup finals largely online with friends from Detroit to Miami and Ventura in a virtual fan club to cheer the Red Wings to victory -- all without cable or network TV broadcasts. Deciding that your audience doesn't care -- or that the organization can dictate what the audience will care about -- is the biggest mistake that companies, organization and sports teams are making today.

This is an age of engagement, giving your audience something to care about, making them connect -- will make you successful. But when you make them connect, don't try to ignore the ramifications of your actions. As my mother always said, "Actions speak louder that words!"

Now hear this, everyone is listening. If you are thinking -- I work for a classified department of the Marines -- they only listen, if I tell them something. Oh how I wish we could return to those days. People are listening. They are telling their version of your story and if you aren't part of the train. It's time to "get on board."

Social media networks are designed to create engagement but not command and control.

DUH....

Ok, as marketers, we have to strike a balance between our corporate managment or client's expectation ad the reality of the market. Increasingly, marketers MUST KNOW EXACTLY WHO they are trying to influence. Without that understanding, our effectiveness is greatly limited or, worse yet, eliminated.

I implore all marketers -- DO THE RESEARCH. It's not expensive and can save you more trouble than imagined and make you a hero for your company or client.

Audiences were never passive -- we just couldn't hear them.

I began my career in television at an NBC affiliate and whenever we broadcast something that rubbed our viewers the wrong way -- we heard from them. Being low man on the team, I would hear directly from viewers -- since I answered the phone. I would relay it to the other staff members and they would -- delete the message from their voicemail box. No one else knew, so it was easy to ignore.

Social media does not allow us to ignore the direct wishes of our audiences -- engage, enrage and answer them. Marketing has always been a contact sport. We have just learned to keep the ball in our brand courts -- now it's time to share with others. PLAY BALL!!!

Yes we can...

Some powerful words.. Words that can motivate a child to keep kicking a ball during a soccer game or change the course of a political campaign...

Yes we can...

Rhetoric is communication that attempts to coordinate social action. For this reason, rhetorical communication is explicitly pragmatic. Its goal is to influence human choices on specific matters that require immediate attention. (Definition from Gerard A. Hauser)

Yes we can...our world, our nation, our community requires our immediate attention. Do not let this opportunity pass you by. THIS is not hollow rhetoric.

All I know about social media I learned from Aristotle.

Well, not personally, but Aristotle's observations and theories about the motivations for why and what people communicate have proven far more valuable than ever expected.

In 1982, Dr. Bernard Brock at Wayne State University made reading Rhetoric by Aristotle required reading. It was not a task I gladly accepted. Reading a Greek philosopher to understand how social movements evolve and grow seemed meaningless -- but like many things of my youth, I was wrong. Aristotle was known is his time for giving orations that would transport an audience for hours -- all without Power Point or other audio or visual support. My generation never personally experienced that type of oratory. Perhaps Barack Obama's oratory has made a difference -- it has spawned a movement and the critical juncture of old ways versus new ways is expected to be played out in the fall.

But is it a new way? I'll check with Aristotle.

You can't go home again....

While having lunch with my brilliant friend, Laura Seitz, I realized that no matter what the world has given us -- home is never going to be the same. Will my children feel the same? Probably.

No matter how hard you try...remembering the times playing in the basement with neighbor kids and cousins, idealizing that unspoiled time when you could ride your bike for hours or lay in the summer grass with a book and read, dream, read some more...

No matter how hard you try...home is not there anymore. Parents age or pass away, the cousins you could never shake (no matter what) you haven't seen for years now, friends grow up and move away because they can't make a living in the hometown we idealize.

We recognize change, but is this change or a time to mourn the loss of things that will never return?

We do not drive the world (in any sense, especially in cars) Look to India, Singapore, China for the future. We are a 24/7 life which has its advantages for interaction, community and collaboration, but only if we reach out and try. How we see the world and are in the world must build a bridge, join a greater cause, understand that we are not alone and that home is where you are.

Home may change, relationships may change, but humans don't change and we need to have a reality that we can understand, interact with and believe in.

Can you go home again?

Check this out!

http://www.twice.com/article/CA6525072.html?nid=2402

Choices...

As marketers, many choices are made. What should the brand speak to? How will we execute? Who is our audience?

The biggest choice marketers make is not to engage with their audiences. You may not hear what you like to hear, but if you're listening, you will be a better marketer for it.