When I was the CMO of Kodak, I was known as a prankster. I introduced the eyeCamera 4.1 and “Aromatography”. The eyeCamera offered such features as a facial recall assistant (eliminated that awkward thought… who are you?) and selective auto-focus and zoom to name a few. Aromatography, on the other hand, allowed you to smell your photos online. Neither one of these were real products. But, we sure got a lot of buzz, and, what’s more fun than using your imagination and coming up with something outlandish?

One of my all time favorite pranks was back in 1996 when Taco Bell purchased a full-page advertisement in the New York Times announcing that they had purchased the Liberty Bell to reduce the country’s debt and renamed it the Taco Liberty Bell.

You can only imagine the outrage the National Historic Park in Philadelphia received. People were up in arms about how the United States could sell such an iconic part of American history.

In the end, Taco Bell announced that it was just a hoax. Mike McCurry, the White House Press Secretary at the time joked that the Lincoln Memorial had also been sold and it was now called the Ford Lincoln Mercury Memorial.

The bigger question here is why do companies such as Kodak or Taco Bell come up with such outlandish ideas? It’s all about gaining publicity for the company. It’s hard to put a value on the press coverage Taco Bell received for their April Fools gag. But, I know this. It was 100 times more than the price they paid for the advertisement in the New York Times.

Since Taco Bell came up with this stint in 1996 we have had a number of major technological advancements. Facebook was launched in 2004 as a way to help college students socialize and in 2006 Twitter was launched. Just think about the buzz and all of the 140 character messages.

To see a complete history of social networking, PeopleBrowsr, the high-tech social analytics and engagement company, released a visualized timeline of the History of Social Networking.

I myself have been working on a major technology advancement. The clone app. When I figure out how to get my cowboy boots to face the right way I will be ready to launch.

So, tomorrow, as you communicate with your friends and colleagues via Facebook or Twitter, keep your eyes open and see if you can determine hoax versus reality.

Johnny Vegas Syndrome simply is getting away from the core of who we are. Too big for your britches --that’s what my grandma used to say. It’s the swagger you get after a big victory or success or sale; it’s an inflated sense of self. Too many successful businesspeople let Johnny Vegas invade their leadership style and their business.

And no one, NO ONE wants to work for, do business with or be around Johnny Vegas.

People do business with people they know, like and trust. Let me say that again. People do business with who they KNOW, LIKE AND TRUST.

Johnny Vegas Syndrome is the evil outgrowth of success. The quickest way to offend customers, deflate morale and start down the path of bad decision making is letting Johnny Vegas take over.

So make sure you bust Johnny Vegas, stay true to who you are. Have a trusted friend or colleague who can give you a metaphorical slap in the face if needed. Avoiding Johnny Vegas is an important piece of passing the mirror test.

Celebrate the big victories then figure out how to use them to continue to drive the success of your business. But never let Johnny Vegas hang around.

It’s human nature to be curious. Everyone is interested in knowing what Charlie is up to. And, he’s done a great job of using social media to get the word out. Being curious myself, I thought it would be interesting to see what a representative sample would say when asked the question – “Do you believe Charlie Sheen will make a comeback”?

I enlisted Itracks, a world-leading marketing research company that provides its customers with insights for growth via its innovative suite of online applications and insight analysis to do a poll. The poll was taken between March 7 and 9 and a total of 237 participated in the poll. There is a margin of error +/- 3%.

Sample Results:

Do you believe that Charlie Sheen will Make a Comeback?

Yes (1) - 47.26%

No(2) - 52.74%

I was actually surprised at the results. Pretty much split decision. I think it really doesn’t come down to whether Charlie Sheen actually makes a comeback or not. It has to do with his reputation and whether or not the public will continue to embrace him.

When it really comes down to it, reputation and integrity are all you have. And, I believe the foundation for ones self is ingrained at an early age. For myself, I grew up in a military family. We moved to a different base every year or so and it forced me to determine “who I wanted to be” at an early age.

I remember walking down the street in my neighborhood, going door-to-door, selling “True Grit” – a national, monthly publication that was popular in the 1960’s and 70’s. It taught me a lot about tenacity, rejection and the value of a buck. This laid the foundation for who I am today.

I believe the reason so many people are obsessed with Charlie Sheen and his antics is because it makes people feel better. It makes us all say life is pretty good. And, I agree with that. Life is good. So, let’s all go out and make it great!

With that being said… Have you checked your LinkedIn profile today?  If not, maybe you should.

In today’s changing business world, it’s important to stay in contact. I was shocked the other day with I was reviewing correspondence from LinkedIn. Last year, a whopping 17% of my connections changed jobs. Then, I started to panic. Did I remember to send each of them a personal note congratulating them on their change?

It’s all about creating good habits and sticking with them. I recently wrote about the power of thank you. The same principles apply here.

Set the tone with your connections right away.  Let your connections know that you are an open networker and then be one.  I am not just talking about LinkedIn, but any type of networking tool.  Determine whom you want to connect with. Keep in mind, the connections you have on LinkedIn may be very different than those on Facebook or those you follow on Twitter. Lucky for you, your updates and ways of reaching out can be connected simultaneously through all three tools.

Now, drive engagement with your network.  Do something crazy! Heck, I threw a virtual Christmas party!  I did that and we sure had a blast! We gave away a bunch of prizes and exchanged Christmas memories while sitting at our desks all over the country. All with no worries about what to wear or how to get home! Making networking FUN will make it that much easier to stay in touch with people because it shows off YOUR personality.  Be transparent. Be yourself. It will make YOU standout.

Opportunities will not always come with the presence of a video camera and microphone.  Don’t miss an opportunity just because you are blinded by the array of opportunities.  The Internet today brings an array of different ways to increase your visibility.  But, don’t get ahead of yourself! I always say “crawl, walk, run”.  Start off in places that you feel comfortable and then get a move on to those that challenge you.

I choose to make myself available to opportunity.  If there is an interview opportunity, I take it.  If someone wants to have breakfast, I go. Who doesn’t like to eat? I also initiate opportunities when there is no opportunity.  If there aren’t any, I ask “why?”, and make sure there is never a shortage of opportunities again.

Sometimes successful business owners think they are really big stuff.  I have always found out there is someone bigger out there.  No matter who you are.  I am constantly reminded of that--- while at SES, I had someone reach out to me about wanting to meet, he flew in from another country.  He mentioned they were a very small startup and I was thinking, “why waste my time?” but then I heard that voice that said, “you were small once and just starting out so meet”--- I mean its only a breakfast.  Well, he turned out to be part of a bigger, much bigger , with 100s of millions in revenue --- billions actually from various operations.  We hit it off and he called his CEO who flew in from Germany then next day, I met him on the way to the airport and we are going to do a lot o business together.

Opportunities come to you in all packages and at all times----  be open to them ... I mean its only a breakfast and you have to eat right?

Always be ready to seal the deal. You never know when the perfect opportunity will present itself. For me, all I need are my cowboy boots and I am ready.

Figure out what it is that drives you to be ready.

It could be all and maybe so much more.  Every year the Interbrand Report comes out and ranks the top brands. They use a lot of methodology to come up with the best global brands. But, as long as I can remember, Coca-Cola has always been the number one ranking brand. And, it was again this year.

Now, let’s take a look at the 97^th ranking brand – Starbuck’s. Last year they were 90. Starbuck’s has been around 40 years. And, in the 40 years, Starbucks has made quite a name for themselves.

Starbucks announced recently they were going to change their logo to express what Starbucks represents to their partners and customers.  Along with business expansion must come a change to stay fit to what is true to the company, as well as what it will become in the future.

As part of a test, Itracks, a leading online research company conducted some research to determine what consumers were saying about the logo change.

The research was done in three phases:

1. We listen (Social Media Monitoring)
2. we Ask (USA Talk Now)
3. We receive feedback (iMarkitIt)

Overall, the response was very favorable for Starbucks.  Those who were not in favor of the new logo were normally not avid Starbucks enthusiasts.

For more information on the Itracks study, click here: http://www.itracks.com/PURLS/Starbucks-Logo-Change.html

If you were to change your logo, would you go through this exercise? I think it’s invaluable.

Changing a brand logo has risks. Gap possibly could have diverted a lot of criticism if they would have asked consumers about their proposed new logo first. Lesson learned.

Take pride in your brand. It speaks volumes about who you are and what you represent.

Click here to view the embedded video.

A new year means new goals, new successes and new opportunities. How will you embrace the evolving trends and execute them to bring the greatest achievements for your marketing? Recently, we looked at the trends for 2011, including mobile computing and mobile devices. Now let's look at what social media and integrated campaigns mean for marketers in 2011!

Social Media

Wouldn't it be amazing to have access to hundreds of millions of people? Just a few years ago, it would have cost millions to do that, but today it's possible with social media. Social media, while nothing new in the concept of building communities through organizations that met in person, changed marketing and the ability for consumers to learn, interact and discover brands online. While places like Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and Twitter give us unprecedented audiences, they also bring the ability to target our messages to the communities that matter most. Very few companies, if any, need to or should try to reach the 500 million people on Facebook or more than 100 million on Twitter. But if they can build loyalty, understanding and engagement with their brand, even if it's just a community of a few hundred, it's makes the masses manageable and goals more attainable.

Now, think about combining two of the fastest growing trends in consumer marketing: social media and mobile advertising. Take a look at Talk2Me, a revolutionary mobile ad unit from iVdopia that combines these two marketing elements perfectly. The Talk2Me ad unit allows advertisers to integrate social media sharing options into their mobile advertising campaign with pre-app video or banner ads, allowing users to further engage with the brand through multiple social media options - all from within a single ad unit. Here's an example of the Talk2Me ad that was successfully integrated for a major motion picture's marketing promotion on smart phones:

Pre-App Video Ad plays. User clicks on 'Learn More' to reveal more information

On clicking 'Learn More' the Talk2Me Ad loads with various user engaging options to explore

Additionally, social media also gives you millions of ears and eyes to provide you with one of the most valuable tools in marketing – feedback! It’s the easiest way for you to know what people think of your brand or the latest campaign. But it's important to not just listen but also learn from what's being said. Use it to improve what you do!

Integrated Campaigns

I love Diet Mountain Dew. But if that's all I ever drank, well, a nutritionist and my dentist would not be happy and I probably would face the consequences (and nobody likes to visit the dentist!). That's why balance is important, not just in what you gulp but also the avenues you give consumers to reach you. With more awareness and understanding of social media, many people may think that's all they need. But how do you reach people who do not use those tools? Do you ignore them or find a way to work both the old and new together. In today's marketing environment, we find ourselves with more and more roads to reach customers but we need to create a map that takes us on highways, dirt roads and alleys to make sure we reach our target most effectively

With a well-integrated marketing campaign, online, print, broadcast, mobile and social media all need to work together. We can do that in a variety of ways. I love Twitter, but I still get excited when I get a well-designed post card. Bringing these two together may mean including your Twitter handle on your next print campaign, or putting a QR code on a billboard to drive readers to your website for more information using their mobile phone. When there, you could capture valuable information about the consumer, including demographics, interests and target them in your next campaign. This isn't just about the existence of many channels, but using those channels to support each other.

For example, mobile advertising companies such as iVdopia, create ways to integrate elements. A smart phone user may see an advertisement for a movie before they play a game app. The ad piques their interest and drives them to a website or the movie’s Facebook page. But the billboards for this movie also encourage them to go to a website, tying in all these elements together.

In the example illustrated above for a major motion picture's release, iVdopia aimed to engage moviegoers and raise awareness, interest and intent to watch the movie by aligning the mobile strategy with the movie's marketing campaign. The solution was a combination of pre-app videos ads and Talk2Me ad units, which featured various social media and user engaging functions that brought in various marketing elements of the movie together. These ads created an integrated opportunity for users to engage and share trailers, video clips and photos from the movie, visit website, buy movie tickets, etc

The results of the integrated marketing campaign revealed that more than 30 percent of the users who viewed the trailer, went on to share the clip with friends on Facebook and Twitter. The campaign illustrated the power of video ads as well. More than 50 percent of the users watched the entire trailer, and on average, they watched 10.8 seconds, or more than two-thirds of the clip!

Previously, we've looked at the trends for 2011 and what they mean for you as a marketer. Now it's time to take these trends, pick the elements that work for you and make 2011 great!

Jeffrey Hayzlett Bestselling Author, Celebrity CMO, Digital Thought Leader, & Cowboy

Hailed a "Celebrity CMO" by Forbes Magazine and famous for his outspoken appearances on numerous television networks, Jeffrey Hayzlett is widely recognized as one of the most influential marketers of our time. As the former Chief Marketing Officer of the iconic Eastman Kodak Company, Hayzlett was responsible for the company's worldwide marketing operations including the design and execution of all marketing strategies. With Hayzlett at the helm of Kodak's marketing and business development initiatives, the company experienced record growth, unveiled revolutionary new products and established a global brand. Today, Jeffrey is the author of the business best selling book The Mirror Test: Is Your Business Really Breathing and much sought after speaker.

]]> http://blogs.imediaconnection.com/blog/2011/01/27/marketing-trends-for-2011-3/feed/ 1 http://blogs.imediaconnection.com/blog/2011/01/24/marketing-trends-for-2011-2/ http://blogs.imediaconnection.com/blog/2011/01/24/marketing-trends-for-2011-2/#comments Mon, 24 Jan 2011 14:57:05 +0000 Jeff Hayzlett http://blogs.imediaconnection.com/?p=5408 ... Read more]]> Marketing Trends for 2011

Part 2 in 3-Part Series from Jeffrey Hayzlett: Change Agent, Thought Leader and Sometimes Cowboy

It’s time to get into gear and make 2011 your best marketing year yet!

Previously, we looked at the major trends for 2011 including mobile computing and mobile devices, social media and integrated campaigns. Now let’s take a closer look at what mobile means by digging into its growth, trends and technology.

Growth

The market for mobile continues to grow. In teens and young adults, the cell phone is their favorite electronic device and that devotion to mobile technology continues to increase rapidly with older adults. As these users keep engaging this technology, the interest in it and opportunities for marketing will also increase. For the youngest of users, they find mobile technology as common as a television and do not know a world without. It’s a way to communicate, learn and interact, providing opportunities for those who see this growing market. It’s estimated the mobile advertising market will grow to $5.7 billion by 2014. But don’t think this leaves the market saturated! Even then it would constitute just 1.5-percent of advertising spending.

Trends

And there are plenty of ways this market space will increase. Research by Parks Associates shows that in 2008 131 million smart phones sold in the world, but that will increase to 300 million by 2013. With the iPhone, Blackberry or Android, users find new ways to merge traditional conversations with technology for social media and e-mail. Then there are the apps! Apps allow users to play games, organize their life and get directions. Advertising around this gives app developers ways to increase revenue and companies a new way to interact with audiences. With more than one billion apps sold, the possibilities will only continue to grow as more people pick up smart phones and download apps that target their lifestyle needs.

Technology

Mobile devices are getting smarter, savvier and faster with every smart phone launched in store today. With advanced technology built into phones and each with its own operating systems and specifications, creating a single, compelling user experience across this fragmented mobile market becomes important to advertisers and agencies. As an advertiser, you can’t spend ad dollars on creating a mobile video ad experience that plays only on Apple devices. One would miss out on reaching the millions of other viewers present on other smart phone devices like Android, Windows7, etc. The solution lies in creating ads in HTML5 that play across smart phones – Flash or non-Flash supported.

iVdopia (www.ivdopia.com), a leader in mobile advertising, recently launched the first HTML5 video advertising platform. The V5 platform provides a ‘create once, run anywhere’ capability that powers advertisers with a single video ad experience to engage users across devices. V5 ads are capable of all the unique video and audio effects found in HTML5, without relying on Flash. Take a look at the example below of a single ad experience running across three different Smartphone devices:

While our audiences move with mobile, they also stay connected with brands and each other through social media. Next, I’ll examine social media and how a successful marketer must use this constantly evolving element in harmony with other techniques to be most effective.

Jeffrey Hayzlett Bestselling Author, Celebrity CMO, Digital Thought Leader, & Cowboy

Hailed a “Celebrity CMO” by Forbes Magazine and famous for his outspoken appearances on numerous television networks, Jeffrey Hayzlett is widely recognized as one of the most influential marketers of our time. As the former Chief Marketing Officer of the iconic Eastman Kodak Company, Hayzlett was responsible for the company’s worldwide marketing operations including the design and execution of all marketing strategies. With Hayzlett at the helm of Kodak’s marketing and business development initiatives, the company experienced record growth, unveiled revolutionary new products and established a global brand. Today, Jeffrey is the author of the business best selling book The Mirror Test: Is Your Business Really Breathing and much sought after speaker.

So, where are marketers putting their money in 2011? Here’s my take!

Mobile Computing, Devices and Marketing

With the growth of mobile computing and mobile devices, which can mean anything from a tablet computer to a smart phone, mobile advertising is one to watch. According to Wikipedia, mobile advertising only constitutes around one-percent of global advertising spend but considering the fact that mobile phones outnumber television sets by more than three to one and computers, including desktops and laptops, are currently estimated at 1.1 billion globally, mobile advertising can’t be ignored.

For example, take one company, iVdopia, whose executives I met with earlier this year. When we first talked, I realized that they were pioneers in mobile video and rich media advertising, being the first company to launch mobile video ads that provides consumers with single ad experience for advertisers across all smart phones, regardless of its operating system or device manufacturer! In fact, when I first saw mobile phone users view iVdopia’s video ads, I was very impressed to see how they spend time, interact and share this eye-catching ad experience through their own social networks and then continue to spread the ad and its message to others because of the engaging experience. I also found that they have partnered with some of the biggest brands in the industry to bring together the stunning visual effects and impressive direct response rates for a powerful interactive brand experience. As a result, I joined its advisory board in August and I believe that iVdopia is the one to watch out for and they will be a leader the mobile marketing industry.

Social Media

Social media is nothing new but has simply gone online or evolved from its offline ancestor, the physical social network such as the Rotary Club or other in-person professional and networking organizations. The fundamental value of social media is the ability to share content among like-minded individuals. This makes for a natural union between consumer product companies and social media. However today’s form of online social networking is about listening, building and interacting with a community. It is a tool to use and one to better help you engage and listen to your customers, fans, business partners and anyone you define as your community.

As a marketing tool, we are looking at some very large audience figures with social media and according to their own sources, Facebook has more than 500 million users, LinkedIn 75 million users and Twitter 105 million users who send 65 million tweets each day. Together, these add up to over 700 million users, listeners or viewers a company can engage. For the sake of comparison, just over 100 million users watched the U.S. Super Bowl in January of 2010, but keep in mind that’s the highest number for the competition in American television history!

Social media is not going away and using and engaging with it is critical!

Multi-Channel, Cross-Media and Integrated Marketing

There’s no silver bullet when it comes to marketing and customers, and prospects respond and prefer different marketing mediums, including online, print, broadcast, mobile and social media. Smart marketing professionals are not only using more than one medium but also integrating various mediums to lead the viewer or user through a brand experience across multiple marketing platforms.

These experiences can take the form of billboards with QR codes, print advertising with a mobile phone SMS call to action or go the advertiser’s Facebook account and hit the “Like” button or a mobile video ad that allowed you to view additional mobile video footage and share with your Facebook friends or Twitter followers.

As you can see, just as our companies, products and people change, so does the marketing field and best methods for engaging audiences around the global. To develop the greatest impact with your campaigns, you must keep up on these trends because it’s where consumers will be going and you don’t want your competitors to beat you to the best ways to interact with audiences you need to reach. In the next two months, we’ll take a closer look at these trends and what mobile, social media and integration of these major trends can mean for marketers looking to stay on top.

Part 1 in a 3-Part Series from Jeffrey Hayzlett: Change Agent, Thought Leader and Sometimes Cowboy

 Jeffrey Hayzlett Bestselling Author, Celebrity CMO, Digital Thought Leader, & Cowboy

Hailed a “Celebrity CMO” by Forbes Magazine and famous for his outspoken appearances on numerous television networks, Jeffrey Hayzlett is widely recognized as one of the most influential marketers of our time. As the former Chief Marketing Officer of the iconic Eastman Kodak Company, Hayzlett was responsible for the company’s worldwide marketing operations including the design and execution of all marketing strategies. With Hayzlett at the helm of Kodak’s marketing and business development initiatives, the company experienced record growth, unveiled revolutionary new products and established a global brand. Today, Jeffrey is the author of the business best selling book, The Mirror Test: Is your Business Really Breathing and much sought after speaker and consultant.

 Find Jeffrey: www.Hayzlett.com

FB: http://www.facebook.com/Jeffrey.Hayzlett

TWITTER: @jeffreyhayzlett 
Linked In:  http://www.linkedin.com/in/hayzlett

Click here to view the embedded video.