KitKat and JWT Japan

In an earlier post I mentioned the New Museum's very cool chocolate bar gift membership. In a similarly cool campaign, KitKat worked with JWT Japan to create a "Kit Kat Mail" which was a post card sold only at Japan's post office that could be mailed to students before exams wishing them an edible good-luck. By the way, Kit Kat in Japanese translates to Kitto Katso meaning surely win.

Speaking of win, the campaign won a Media Lion at the Cannes International Adverting Festival.

Communication, Customer Service and the Dog Groomer

I just called to make an appointment to get my dog groomed. I've been taking my dog to this groomer for years, even though I live on the Upper East Side and it's in Battery Park. I go because they have great customer service and they treat my dog with respect.

When I called today, they answered with a smile (you know how you can tell that someone is smiling on the other end of the phone?) and they asked my dog's name. I said Teddy with hesitation and they said, "Oh Teddy! We love Teddy."

OK, my dog Teddy is a rescue Shih Tzu who is probably 13 years old. He has one eye and hates to go to the groomer. He has a reputation for biting the groomers so they muzzle him which of course gets him more angry. This groomer however is the only one that doesn't need to muzzle him. They talk to him and let him know when they are going to cut around his missing eye. He actually doesn't bite them.

It's all about the communication and great customer service.

IEG Blogs

Head over to IEG's sponsorship.com. They they've increased their blogging and have some pretty good posts.

CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods)

My new hero is Jaya Kumar, the Chief Marketing Officer for Frito-Lay North America. He is wise enough to point out that CPG's and Internet companies started in a very different era and the cultures are very different. Important to remember.

Zappos, the Next Virgin?

Did you know that other than shoes, Zappos.com sells clothing, cosmetics, electronics and kitchen ware? I had no idea. According to Tony Hsieh, the head of Zappos.com, they strive to emulate Virgin's strategy as an umbrella brand. The difference according to Tony: Virgin is about "hip and cool" and Zappos.com is about the very best customer service. Hmmmm. Lets watch this one.

Role of CMO

The role that the CMO plays for the CEO according to William "Bill" Pearce, Senior Vice-president and Chief Marketing Officer of Del Monte’s:

Make sure you are the:
champion of the brand
voice of the consumer
driver of growth

Shhewww!

I Want People to Say

I just finished reading Ad Age's The CMO Interview of Rory Finlay at Beam Global Spirits & Wine. While I applaud him for focusing on word-of-mouth and engagement, I found it telling when Ad Age asked what measurements he was using to determine success. Here is his response:

"I want people to be proud to dink Jim Beam. I want people to say, "that's my brand." I want people to walk up to a a bar with a a circle friends and say, "Give me a Beam and Coke." What we now have is a great example of building brands people want to talk about, rooted in a core insight and driving conversation and talkability and, at the end of the day, responsible consumption of Jim Beam."

Based on this answer, I would say that he knows what he wants people to be, say, and do, but he doesn't have measurements in place to determine success.

In my experience, this is one of the hardest questions for marketers to answer (many times, they don't have an answer). As a result, it makes it very difficult to work with corporations to put together a sponsorship and activation strategy that will ensure successful outcomes. I mean really, if they can't articulate their business goals and measurements for success, how can you?

Need Help, Too Busy

I am a mentor for several small nonprofit art's organizations throughout the country. I signed up to mentor these organizations through a larger initiative. I was assigned three nonprofits (one in San Francisco, one in Chicago and one in Napa Valley) so far, each has been too busy to really connect.

This goes back to one of my earlier posts about being too busy to plan. I sense that these nonprofits are struggling just to make payroll. They want help (which is why they signed up), but they don't have time to make changes. They are in crisis mode! I understand this.

So, what will it take for these nonprofits to set aside time and think about ways to change and survive during this downturn...before it's too late?

It's All About the Business Goals

If you haven't already heard, the USOC lost Bank of America as sponsor. Here are some quotes (gathered from various sources) from BofA's spokesperson, Joe Goode:

"Because we’ve invested so much over the past 16 years, this became an extremely difficult and emotional decision for us,” says Joe Goode, BofA senior vice president of national media relations. “It’s not about the economy, it’s not about reducing marketing, it’s not about (Troubled Asset Relief Program) support. But rather, it’s about the insufficient business results we were able to generate.”

"We cannot renew our sponsorship as it's structured," Bank of America spokesman Joe Goode said, adding the bank is exploring "alternative ways" to return as a USOC partner. "We see good brand alignment. We see great market coverage. The inability to generate sufficient results from the sponsorship is what is limiting."

Goode said the bank's decision "wasn't about our financial arrangement with the U.S. government. This wasn't about reducing our marketing expenses. ... In challenging times, it's even more imperative that we make sure our marketing investments are supporting our business goals."

And the Bullseye Gives Winner Is: St. Jude

The winner of the Target Bullseye Gives two-week campaign on Facebook is St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. In addition, Target's Facebook page added 97,000 new fans. Not bad.

Here are the results:

St. Jude Children's Research Hospital - 77,427 votes and will receive $797,123
American Red Cross – 77,118 votes = $793,942
Salvation Army – 38,004 votes = $391,258
Operation Gratitude – 22,627 votes = $232,948
Breast Cancer Research Foundation – 19,264 votes = $198,326
Feeding America – 15,574 votes = $160,336
HandsOn Network/Points of Light Institute – 11,378 votes = $120,845
Parent Teacher Association – 10,904 votes = $112,259
National Park Foundation – 9,553 votes = $98,350

Kids In Need Foundation – 9,190 votes = $94,613

Licensing and Your Brand

In May, The Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation announced The LEGO Group as the exclusive licensed manufacturer of Frank Lloyd Wright Collection® LEGO Architecture sets.

Licensing deals can be very successful or go horribly wrong. Sometimes you just don't know how people will react. Fortunately, this LEGO series seems to be a hit.

Either way, it is vital that organizations have a strict review process that takes into consideration not only revenue, but also brand, resources, appropriateness and long-term value. The Guggenheim is smart by stating their review process up front.

REVIEW PROCESS

The Guggenheim's Licensing Program considers all commercial and editorial proposals in the same manner. Proposals are reviewed by a standing committee of interdepartmental staff who jointly represent the Guggenheim's views on curatorial matters, communications concerns, and legal issues. Approval of a project is dependent on many factors, including the appropriateness of the project’s association with the Guggenheim, scheduling and space restrictions, artwork conservation concerns, and availability of staff and resources.

Call To Action

Call To Action: Secret Formulas To Improve Online Results is still my favorite book about online persuasion. It came out in 2005 and I still refer to it.

Here are some good points that can also be applied to blogs:

"If you understand all the elements that make up your unique persuasive process and if you understand your audience, you will be able to apply persuasive principles to greatest effect."

"Value is customer defined."

"Focus on the user." If you don't know about personas, learn fast.

"It's all about testing and metrics." Yes, never, never stop optimizing your site. Set your key performance indicators (KPIs). It is no longer OK to have a website sit idle as a dusty brochure, not matter how lovely it is.

Online Sponsorship Effective, Forbes Survey

Check out the 2009 Ad Effectiveness Survey on Forbes.com. Here are some of the highlights:

Respondents appreciate the halo effect that a website or publication can have on their brand; 43% said that sponsoring a website, page or digital publication is the most effective digital tool when it comes to affecting brand perceptions.

SEO and Email and e-newsletter marketing are by far the most popular method of digital marketing among respondents, used by three-quarters.

87% measure results of their digital campaigns in some way, the most popular being benchmarking against goals set prior to the campaign.

The success of digital marketing appears to be measured by physical action, with impact to the bottom line being far and away the most important factor in determining success.

What's even more interesting is how marketers are measuring success:

* 82% say they are using conversions or sales data (Comment: So it's still about driving sales, acquiring/retaining customers. Not so much about visibility or spreading the word.)
* 55% use registrations
* 51% use click-throughs
* 51% use impressions
* 39% use search rank
* 31% use brand perception
* 16% use customer feedback (Comment: Wow! This is low. What happened to companies listening to their customers?)
* 14% use reach to target

Urban Daddy, Tell Us Why

This is an interesting way to get people to interact with you. In today's Urban Daddy email, they introduce a new restaurant that will be open for lunch/dinner in a few weeks. Until then, they want you to tell them why you should get in by sending them an email. Good way to capture data, create stories and extend the hype. Here is the email:

"If you've been thinking about going out for obscure Russian vodka and caviar in a shabby-opulent apartment in St. Petersburg (and we know you have), we've got something for you.

We'd like to direct your attention to a storefront on 20th Street where your long-lost Russian grandmother's apartment seems to have sprouted overnight. Make yourself at home at Mari Vanna, open now for private parties in Gramercy.

If you don't have a key (more on that later), ring the doorbell and you'll soon find yourself in a bar room flanked by bookshelves stocked with old nesting dolls, dusty Russian books and a few pictures of Mari Vanna's family members.

And much like you would at your grandmother's, you'll be making your way through 20 vodka infusions (including the biting horseradish and the cedar peanut varieties) and snacking on all manner of caviar and blintzes while making deals with Russian oil tycoons.

You'll notice that everything appears to have been lived in for generations: there's peeling wallpaper revealing older wallpaper, four chandeliers lording over a 14-person butcher-block table and a recliner at the corner table—the only one in the house—so you can laze about while you eat your borscht.

About that key: regulars will get them so they can drop by without having to worry about that pesky doorbell.

Sort of like a key to the city, just with more vodka.

As a little bonus, friends of UrbanDaddy are friends of Mari Vanna. Just tell us why you want a key to the kingdom and we may be able to help a few of you out."

Not Again

When will the auto industry come up with innovative ways to launch new cars? I read that Aston Martin launched a new model in New York and Miami buy putting on an event that basically displayed the cars in the venues. Um, why do they keep thinking that this will sell a car? Isn't it more about passion?

This is what the PR director, Francesca Smith said about the event, "Our goal was to generate excitement about the new vehicle, as well as educate a new client base in both markets."

I do not see how these events accomplished these goals. See how "excited" the event attendees were here.

Event Sales

I met a publisher last night at Southern Hospitality (they threw an event for publishers so they would blog about the restaurant). He told me that he was recently handed a new responsibility, selling events. I asked how it was going and he said not well. He sells individual events for $10K and doesn't seem to be getting anywhere. No surprise.

I suggested that he create packages or a series of events for sponsors so they they can build relationships and test different platforms. He thought this was a brilliant idea. Not really, it just seems obvious. I think sponsors are moving away from the one-time event model. They are looking for more opportunities to get involved in people's lives and add value. A one-time event is not the most strategic way to do this. In this economy, it behooves properties and sponsors to create long-term partnerships to establish relationships, build brands and perfect ways to drive business results.

L’Oréal Canada Sponsorship ROI

Check out this Q&A with L’Oréal's communications director about sponsorship of the Toronto art festival Luminato on Bizbash. A bit of insight into how they measure success, brand recognition and sales. I must say, the answer around experience marketing was super weak.

Leveraging Google's Sketch Up

The Guggenheim launched Design It: Shelter Competition, a global, online initiative that invites the public to use Google Earth and Google SketchUp to create and submit designs for virtual 3-D shelters for a location of their choice anywhere on Earth. This should provide amazing visibility for the museum and hopefully be the beginning of a long-term relationship with Google.

After TARP

I had an interesting conversation with someone from a large bank that is paying back their TARP bailout funds. He said that once TARP is paid, they will definitely do more sponsorship deals and events. However, the game has changed. Now his bank will be looking for more creative and innovative partnerships to fully leverage their investments. They got a taste of how flexible (or giving) properties could be and they want to continue with that mindset. In other words, don't expect the dollars to flow back. Expect collaborative partnership where properties extend more benefits for less money. Yes, times have changed.

Subconscious Signals

I found this piece in the Irish Times today about neuromarketing. Martin Lindstrom researched the impact of the tobacco industries long-term investments with Formula One. Bottom line: The tobacco industry continues to encourage people to smoke, even though they no longer participate in sponsorship. Martin attributes this to the the fact that the tobacco industry (specifically Marlboro) made itself a part of Formula One's core values: sex, speed, innovation and coolness. They wove their story into the lifestyles of their target audience.

A few interesting points from the article:

"When there are no logos around, my rational mind tells me I shouldn't crave those things. Without the logo my intuition kicks in and I want to smoke. The evidence is mounting that the most powerful form of sponsorship today is where you do not have a logo but you make up for this with smashable components of the brand."

"Product placement is a €2 billion industry led by the US market. But Lindstrom's research showed that almost all product placements are ineffective, causing no increase in brand recall. Those that do get noticed do so because they are embedded so deeply within the story of the film or show, that it is a natural part of the environment. "

"Marketing people will realize that it is not about plastering your logo everywhere - it is about context, and it's about embedding the message within the narrative of the story being told, whether that is a football match or a James Bond movie. Our research in to this is extensive, and it tells us that when a brand appears in a story at the wrong moment, we don't just ignore it, we delete it from our mind, such is our irritation at being interrupted."

Enlightened Stupid Marketer

This is brilliant! I love the "strategies" such as: don't know it, don't show it, keep a very busy strategy and walk very very fast.

Aon Corp Must Be Doing Well

Aon Corp just entered into a four-year shirt sponsorship (Aon logo on player's shirts) with Manchester United. The British papers report that the deal is worth $131.2 million. Nice!

Bank of America Asking USOC for More Bang

Apparently BofA is asking the U.S. Olympic Committee to come up with ways to provide more bang for their $12 million dollar sponsorship. This sounds like a wonderful challenge for the USOC. I suspect that they will be able to come up with something super innovative to retain BofA.

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado (AP) _ Bank of America will walk away from its sponsorship with the U.S. Olympic Committee unless the federation finds a way to provide more bang for the 12 million bucks it spends supporting American athletes.

USOC chief marketing officer Lisa Baird told The Associated Press she received that unexpected message from the bank last Friday, putting the future of one of its most important sponsorship deals in jeopardy.

Home Depot and General Motors have already declined to renew long-term sponsorships with the USOC, and Bank of America could be next.

The bank provided between $12 million and $15 million in the four years ending in 2008, as well as the "Hometown Heroes" center for athletes and their families at the Olympics.

Suncreen, Will Ferrell

Cancer for College and Will Ferrell have come up with three versions of sunscreen products: Sexy Hot Tan, Forbidden Fruit and Sun Stroke. All proceeds benefit Cancer for College. Clever!

Will and the founder of Cancer for College were fraternity brothers at USC.

NPR Sponsored Content

Just another way to get your content sponsored. NPR has their content sponsored.

Make Good

When I sold online advertising and sponsorship at SeniorNet, I would put together an IO (insertion order) that would include the usual elements such as campaign start/end dates, reporting elements, ad specs, cancellation terms, make goods, etc.

A make good is an offer to "make good" what you promised. In other words, if SeniorNet didn't deliver the inventory or views or downloads as guaranteed, we would offer to "make good" on the promise. This usually meant that we extended the promotion or tweaked something because the community wasn't responding to the message.

Often times we enter into partnerships where we are not on the same page and don't deliver on expectations. Other than the obvious of setting objectives up front, what about creating a make good for our partners? Remember, it's usually more cost effective to renew partnerships.

BabyBoss, Edutainment and Sponsorship

"Edutainment" and marketing to kids in Taiwan here.

"Aside from ticket sales, corporate sponsorship is a major source of income, with a sponsorship fee of NT$6.5 million (US$191,000) per corporation per year. In addition to funding, sponsors also provide know-how and instruction for the center's staff, who must take a one-month training course including interning on a pavilion before they can begin employment as an activity supervisor.

In turn, the center is also a platform for brand marketing. Sony Corp., a sponsor of both BabyBoss and Kidzania, a similar children's venue in Japan, views both places as combining the trends of experiential marketing and children's marketing, according to Tsai Yi-lin, brand and public affairs assistant manager of Sony Taiwan Ltd. "We aim to let our consumers experience the value behind our brand, not promote individual products," she says.

Other sponsors include multinational enterprises such as Coca-Cola Co. and the Royal Bank of Scotland, as well as local brands including Kuang Chuan Dairy Co., TransAsia Airways and I-mei Foods Co. Ltd., one of the biggest food companies in Taiwan. Only one sponsor is allowed from each industry sector.

Developing marketing channels through co-branding is the next step for this growing edutainment venue. After becoming a corporate sponsor in February, the well-known snack producer Kuei Kuei recently launched new packaging for its products that includes the BabyBoss logo, a first for the food company in its more than 40-year history. New packaging is also planned for ice-cream maker Duroyal with items featuring the BabyBoss image scheduled for release at the end of April this year"

Naming a High School Field

This piece about naming rights from the Telegram came across my radar. The bit that caught my eye was the naming of this high school field and the stipulation requiring reporters to use the Commerce Bank name in news stories. Wow, if only we could all guarantee this for our sponsors.

"Worcester-based Commerce Bank & Trust followed DCU two years ago with another 10-year deal — this one totaling $1 million, including $800,000 in cash and $200,000 worth of signage, for renaming the old Foley Stadium high school field Commerce Bank Field at Foley Stadium.

That transaction remains one of the most lucrative naming rights deal yet inked for a high school field in the country. A similar contract in high school sports-crazed Texas went for $1.9 million, but a good portion of that went toward paying a broker to sell advertising space. Most high school pacts have been in the $50,000 to $100,000 range, and some school districts have sold seats in gymnasiums and rooms in high schools.

Termed a “gift” by city officials and Commerce executives, the contract provides some obvious benefits to the region’s biggest independent bank — from a stipulation requiring reporters to use the bank’s name in news stories to painting the sports complex with the bank’s recognizable blue and gold brand colors.

The 15-page agreement spells out a series of prerogatives for the bank that include placement of Commerce-approved artwork on top and in front of the stadium as well as on the playing field, press box and scoreboard; and zoning exemptions for the location, size and style of the Commerce signage."