March 19, 2010
John Kottcamp
CMO, Customer Engagment, integrated marketing, Marketing, Marketing Strategy, Strategy
Adage, brand marketing, CMO, Customer Experience, digital agency, Forrester Research, integrated marketing, marketing2.0, Metrics, social networking, Starbucks, web2.0
I don’t ever like being critical of any of my peers, but sometimes, I just have to call a spade a spade. I just finished reading an article in Adage, entitled, “Our Biggest Brands can no longer be managed by nerds” by Tom Hinkes. His basic premise is that using data to inform marketing decisions somehow is responsible for the loss or the demise of CPG brands.
While I agree that “brand marketing is not a science, it requires analysis, discipline and detail. Even more, it requires intuition, flair and vision,” what I disagree with is the confusion between data and “numbers”. Using advances in market research, analytics and more recent social monitoring to listen to your customers, gain a greater understanding of what motivates them and responding to their needs/desires is not being a “bean counter”.
What made Starbucks a success was not that Howard Schultz ignored the research and went with his gut; it was that he was able to see the real needs/desires of his audience. They weren’t interested in coffee or soft drinks; they were interested in human interaction and a place where that could happen. And that type of insight is exactly what data and the successful understanding of data can bring about.
So I would counter that it’s some traditional brand managers who can’t see the forest for the trees and it takes a new more strategic business focused approach to be successful in today’s marketplace. So instead of being afraid of nerds, learn to listen and then apply the intuition, flair and vision that makes brand marketing as much art as science.
February 25, 2010
John Kottcamp
Uncategorized
agency2.0, Ascentium, Customer Experience, digital agency, Groundswell, integrated marketing, social media, social networking, WebTrends
A couple of weeks ago, I had the privledge of speaking at Webtrends Engage 2010, their annual user conference. Each speaker was given 5 minutes to present a keynote. Here’s the link to the video http://tiny.cc/P2xgp
October 18, 2009
John Kottcamp
Uncategorized
Closed Loop Marketing, Interactive Marketing, integrated marketing, Customer Experience, marketing technology, Customer Relationship Management, Metrics, digital agency, social media, marketing2.0, web2.0, social networking, CMO, B2B marketing, SDMA, Ascentium, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Integrated Marketing Communicaitons Conference
My company, Ascentium, was named by Forrester Research, as one of the top web design agencies in the country last summer. It was an honor and I think a fair reflection of some great Web sites we’ve been building. But at the risk of diminishing the importance of Web site, I believe we’ve entered a new era, when producing a great web site is not enough to have an effective web presence and to keep up with your customer’s digital experiences.
The other week, I had the privilege of speaking at the first annual Integrated Marketing Communications conference in Kansas City. My topic was the introduction of the Integrated Digital Experience concept. Its premise is fairly simple and does not represent rocket science. But like most important concepts, its not the understanding that’s difficult, it’s the implementation that’s hard.
I’ve uploaded my slide deck to SlideShare and in future posts, will begin elaborating on what IDE means and what are some easy steps to making it happen. Check it out at http://www.slideshare.net/jkottcamp/the-digital-experience .
October 18, 2009
John Kottcamp
Uncategorized
Closed Loop Marketing, integrated marketing, Customer Experience, branded entertainment, marketing technology, Customer Relationship Management, Metrics, social media, marketing2.0, web2.0, social networking, B2B marketing, SDMA, Ascentium, Twitter, Privacy, Digital Hollywood, #DH09, Simulmedia, Dave Morgan, Michael Dougherty, Jelli, Shai Samet, Samet Privacy LLC, Jason Cieslak, Siegel & Gale, Mark J. Kapczynski, Kontrol Media, consumer privacy, tracking and targeting, consumer rights, commerce services
I’ve been given the privilege of speaking on a panel at next week’s Digital Hollywood in Los Angeles. The topic is Consumer Privacy, Tracking & Targeting: Consumer Rights and Enhanced Technology and Commerce Services. I’m being joined by a great group including Dan Palmer, VP, Atigeo, Bant Breen, President, Initiative, Dave Morgan, CEO, Simulmedia, Michael Dougherty, CEO, Jelli, Shai Samet, CEO, Samet Privacy LLC, Jason Cieslak, Managing Director, Siegel & Gale and moderated by Mark J. Kapczynski, Chief Operating Officer, Kontrol Media.
I will be tweeting from Digital Hollywood as well as posting after our panel discussion. It looks like it’s going to be a lively topic and I’m excited to be participating.
October 18, 2009
John Kottcamp
Uncategorized
#ForresterResearch, agency2.0, B2B marketing, CMO, Customer Experience, Customer Relationship Management, digital agency, Facebook, Groundswell, Integrated Digital Experience, integrated marketing, Integrated Marketing Communications, Interactive Marketing, LinkedIn, marketing2.0, Peter Burris, SDMA, social media, social networking, Twitter, web2.0
I had the opportunity to speak to the Forrester Research Technology Marketing Executive Council recently in conjunction with the Technology Forum in Chicago. The central theme of my talk was simply stated, as marketers, we need to start integrating social media into the rest of your marketing strategy and programs and stop treating Social Media as some magical new quasi religion.
I do not mean that there are not unique attributes of each of the various new channels, media and technologies that comprise social media; blogs, social networks like Facebook and LinkedIn, Twitter that we must examine, learn how to use and take advantage of in creating dynamic and meaningful experiences for consumers and businesses alike.
What I do mean is that instead of starting off with the attitude of “I’ve got to get me some of that Social Media stuff,” and invariably jumping right into figuring out which technology you need to buy, install and staff up to support, marketers needs to go back to their overall marketing strategies and figure out how each of the facets of social media can be leveraged to support their strategies, not drive them.
At this Forrester Research event, I had the privilege of delivering my talk on the heels of a presentation by Peter Burris, a research director at Forrester and a really smart and articulate guy. Peter’s theme was based on his recently released piece, Turning Your B2B Web Site Into A Community Hub. His premise, which I completely agree with, is that you need to start looking at how you integrate social media into your corporate Web presence. It is also related to the presentation I did at the Integrated Marketing Communications conference in Kansas City (see my post entitled, It’s time to look beyond Websites and start looking at an Integrated Digital Experience).
I won’t go through my entire presentation here, I’ve uploaded it at SlideShare and I encourage you to take a look. http://www.slideshare.net/jkottcamp/marketing-and-social-media-tmec-oct09
September 16, 2009
John Kottcamp
Uncategorized, Blogroll, Marketing, Web 2.0, community marketing, social networking, social media, Marketing Strategy, Closed Loop Marketing
integrated marketing, Customer Experience, social media, marketing2.0, web2.0, social networking, Ascentium, juries
I was on jury duty last week. I won’t go into all the details, but suffice it to say it was a criminal case and we ended up finding the defendant guilty. He will probably go to prison and it’s sobering to realize that you may have had something to do with sealing his fate. Choice does matter, though sometimes more than others.
So what do juries have to do with marketing and what is the connection between jury trials and social media? Well there’s the obvious, that a jury is just like any other audience and the lawyers are like competing brand marketers trying to spin their narrative so that you will choose one side over the other. But I think it goes a little deeper than that. Being a juror, I was not only a member of the target audience, but also a key influencer on the decision of the rest of the audience; the jury.
The attorneys did their best to convince us, from their opening statements where they each painted vastly different scenarios, through the presentation of evidence and down to their closing arguments where they tried to make the sale. But, back in the jury room, we saw right through the manipulations of “facts” and in the end pretty much discounted everything the lawyers said and relied on our own judgments and the perceptions and persuasiveness of our fellow jurors. We believed each other because we knew we had no vested interest in the outcome, except for making the right choice.
Again, what does this have to do with social media? Well, to my mind, the lawyers were like traditional advertising. They sure looked sharp when they were presenting, but after you got out of the room, their pitches went right out the door. What prevailed was the common sense and back and forth examination of the evidence and intelligent choices made by consensus. To me, this is a perfect embodiment of what social media is all about. Social media gives us the opportunity to reach out to our fellow consumers (jurors), listen to each other’s arguments and through discussion and interaction, reach a conclusion that results in a choice being made. In this case, the choice was guilty or not. For consumers it may one brand over another.
I left the jury room feeling I had made the best choice I could have and I was supported in that decision by my fellow jurors. I only hope I will feel that way next month when I start looking for a new wireless carrier.
August 26, 2009
John Kottcamp
community marketing, Marketing, Marketing Strategy, SDMA, social media, social networking, User-generated content, Web 2.0
agency2.0, Alaska Airlines, Ascentium, comcast, Customer Experience, digital agency, Groundswell, Huffington Post, integrated marketing, marketing technology, marketing2.0, Metrics, PCC Natural Markets, rei, ROI, SDMA, social media, Social Media Club, social networking, The Seattle Times, web2.0
There was a full article in the Seattle Times this morning about social media. It’s amazing that a major media outlet either just discovered social media as a topic or there wasn’t enough new news to fill the dwindling number of printed pages. But let’s not get on the subject of newspapers and why most journalists seem to be more afraid of social media than taking steps to become the leaders of it.
What I want to talk about is not newspapers and not about what social media is, isn’t or what its good for. I don’t know and I’m supposedly an expert on the subject for my agency Ascentium. What I do know is that I don’t want to see, hear, blog, tweet or otherwise spew about the definition of social media and how it’s going to change the world, or at least our way of thinking about the world. Been there, done that.
It’s time to focus on the reality, not the potential of social media. Look at what Twitter is being used for politically around the globe. See how the Huffington Post has already redefined journalism. And as marketers, let’s start talking about the work we’re at our companies or for our clients. Let’s see what is working and what isn’t. And let’s define success, not at the nebulous level of “building brand awareness” or “increasing reach”. Let’s apply real metrics to determine the ROI of a very broad array of activities, campaigns and applications that we lump under the category of social media.
As president of the SDMA, we created an editorial calendar of the coming year’s series of monthly events. The kickoff event, to be held on 09/09/09 at the Bellevue Hyatt was listed in our working calendar as social media. From there, we went about selecting a speaker(s). It was easy to find some really smart people who could pontificate on social media. In fact, last week the Seattle Social Media Club had a great presentation on “What the f**k is Social Media?”
But we’ve tried to set the bar higher. Our moderator, Blake Cahill, of Visible Technologies, a social media expert in his own right, reached out to his considerable network and looked for marketers who were actually using various social media techniques and asked them for examples of what is and isn’t working in the very real world of corporate marketing.
The result is a great panel representing brands including Alaska Airlines, Comcast, REI and PCC Natural Markets who are willing and able to talk about what they have learned about social media.
So if you’re interested in going beyond the hype and seeing what social media can really do when applied by top marketers, come join us on Sept. 9, 2009 at 5:30p at the Bellevue Hyatt for the kick off event of the season of the SDMA.
August 21, 2009
John Kottcamp
Ascentium, SDMA
CRM, Closed Loop Marketing, Interactive Marketing, integrated marketing, Customer Experience, branded entertainment, marketing technology, Marketing Automation, Customer Relationship Management, Metrics, ROI, digital agency, microsoft, social media, marketing2.0, ecommerce, agency2.0, analytics, social networking, Groundswell, B2B marketing, SDMA, Ascentium
In addition to my role at Ascentium, I have been privileged to be elected president of the Seattle Direct Marketing Association, SDMA, and as we kick off our new 2009-2010 season of events I’d like to welcome back all our members, colleagues, friends and everyone that has an interest in the marketing profession.
We’re in the home stretch of summer. Our sub-baked brains are shifting from vacation to back to school, from playing hooky on a sunny Friday afternoon to getting the next proposal out the door. In other words, the fun’s over. But wait a second! Just because it’s no long 103 degrees outside, it doesn’t mean there’s nothing to look forward to. The SDMA is here and it’s time to kick off another great season of speakers, events, networking and the continuation of our exploration into the art and science of modern marketing.
Last year we debuted a new tagline for the SDMA, “thinking outside the mailbox” in recognition that direct marketing has evolved into integrated marketing. We’ve taken the expertise direct marketers have gained in the areas of targeting, segmentation, analytics and ROI and are applying it to email, online advertising, search and social media. We’re extending brands across multiple new channels like mobile, branded content and the Web. And all while remembering that traditional media and direct still make up the lion’s share of marketing budgets and are evolving just as much as the new media is coming on the scene.
This season, the SDMA is going to mix things up a bit. In response to our success last year in Bellevue, we’re going to host some events on the East side and some in Seattle. We’re going to experiment with different formats including thought leader interviews, competitor panels and bring you real-life case studies showing how companies are using new ideas as well as re-inventing established methods to produce tangible and measureable results for their businesses. For this year’s calendar, visit www.sdma.org/events
In addition to our monthly events, we are partnering with the PSAMA and the Social Media Club to produce the region’s premier marketing conference, MarketMix 2010, to be held on March 10, 2010, at the Bell Harbor Conference Center. Mark your calendars today.
If you haven’t checked us out in awhile, visit our website at www.sdma.org, our groups on Facebook and LinkedIn, or even better, join us for our season’s kick-off on Wednesday, September 9, 2009, 5:30-8:00p at The Bellevue Hyatt for our evening event, “Transforming your Marketing and Customer Relationships with Social Media – Real Tweets from Real Practioneers at Leading Northwest Firms,” with panelists from Alaska Airlines, REI, PCC and Comcast. To register, visit, www.sdma.org/events .
Looking forward to seeing you and having your participation in another great year for the SDMA and for the marketing profession in the Pacific Northwest.
On behalf of the entire SDMA board,
John P. Kottcamp, President
August 20, 2009
John Kottcamp
community marketing, Customer Engagment, Marketing, Marketing Strategy, social media, social networking, Uncategorized, User-generated content, Web 2.0
agency2.0, Ascentium, Customer Experience, Digg, Facebook, integrated marketing, LinkedIn, marketing2.0, Myspace, social media, social networking, Twitter, User-generated content, web2.0
I just looked at a very good short video making the case for the importance of Social Media in today’s world. it’s done ala the Shift Happens videos of a couple of years ago and you have to dig into the blog to find the sources of the some of the statements, not all of which appear to be as documented as I’d like to see. However it still is a good way to spend 4 minutes of your day and puts social media into a context most people haven’t grasped yet. check it out at http://socialnomics.net/2009/08/11/statistics-show-social-media-is-bigger-than-you-think/
April 30, 2009
John Kottcamp
Ascentium, Blogroll, CMO, customer lifetime value, integrated marketing, Interactive Agency, Marketing, Marketing Strategy, social networking, Strategy, Web 2.0
#fmf09, Ascentium, business strategy, CMO, Customer Relationship Management, integrated marketing, layoffs, recession, recovery, social networking, web2.0
There’s been a definite upswing in the number of ex-colleagues who are reaching out to me via LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter or via good old fashioned email lately. I’m glad to hear from them as I believe that is one of inherent values in social networking, re-connecting with people you have lost touch with over the years and multiple moves.
The problem is, the common thread of many of these re-connections is that they have been laid off or in some other fashion, find themselves actively looking for new career opportunities. And these are not the grade B people you knew, who while likeable enough, you knew were never going to be ready for the “big time”. Today, it is the A list just as likely to be out searching for something new. The economy has picked stripped the fat and is now eating into the meat and muscle itself.
Last week I attend Forrester’s Marketing Forum and the theme was that it was time to invest in the future. And that is what the smart companies are going to do. But there are still many, many companies who are afraid to invest, the risk is too high where sheer existence seems to hang by such a thin thread. But it seems such a shame to waste the brilliant talent that’s out there right now, filling their days searching Monster.com and cleaning out the basement.
So I’d like to propose that all those companies who are faced with declining revenues and uncertain futures, reach out to the very smart people who have been sidelined and figure out a way you can work together to map out a future that will serve everyone’s best interests and get the ball rolling again.
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