Lost art of marketing

Martha StewART

She looks so cool on TV and even looked fine going to jail! Who would have thought that she can curse like a plumber? Classy, brassy, rich and blonde - like Paris Hilton. Both are excellent marketers and both have done time. My kind of gals!

Paris is not Britney

It would be easy to dismiss Paris Hilton as a lost bimbo like Britney due to the drink driving bust and the fiasco in jail. Actually, she is a clever business woman who commands $1 million to just show up at an event or party. Bono from U2 only gets $500k!

Ever since her internet sex video shae has provided entertainment while quietly building a loyal fan base, a line of products and her very own fortune.

We'll probably keep making fun of her but she will surely keep building her franchise.

Jeffrey Merrihue

Bono sees Red

Bono has launched Red brand where a % of profits go to fight poverty in Africa. Sponsors include AMEX and Gap. This is a big idea as it combines consumerism with "savetheworldism". It's good for business and it's good for the world. This joins fair trade coffeee from Starbucks, Sundance film festivals commitment to the environment and many more. In a world gone mad with terrorism and war it just seems right that business commit to helping the world in their own way. Bono and Red are an inspiration to marketers worldwide.

Men Are Stupid

Well Crispin Porter has taken advertising to men to a new low with Burger Ads made to appeal to the carnivore teenagers and Volkswagon ads with the german dominatrix talking about sucking. Unilever's Axe has taken category leadership with the lecherous man as role model tack. After last year's Paris Hilton ad, we are seeing a trend. My shame in all of this is of course that I love the ads. Sorry mom.

Holding companies are dying

All of the WPP agencies are spiraling downward. O&M...Y&R...JWT...and let's not even talk about the voluntary united group of who?

The top creatives are abandoning ship and seting up shop on there own. Even the mighty Omnicom lost Trevor in the UK and now..they will decline. Creative hot shops are decimating the global factories. Ther good news is that global media still makes sense. My prediction is stagnation for the holding compnies as media grows and creative shrinks.

Best and worst of 2005

The best marketing move of the year was everything IPOD where, design, technology and marketing intersected to create an industry. The worst marketing of the year came from GM where they decided to put the meaningless GM badge on all of their car brands.

Where have all the gurus gone?

Marketing and advertising always have always had gurus. David Ogilvey, Kotler, Reis and Trout. Today who do we have? Well Reis and trout are still alive and still writing good books..but ....can you believe that Positioning was written in the 70's? Sergio Zyman is cool but he only had one real best seller (better than anyone else lately). OK..how about Seth Godin? Well yes..he wrote Permission Marketing 5/5. Since then he has written great pthy airline reads like Purple Cow 3/5 and Free Prize Inside 3/5. These are really outstanding articles that he turned into books!

Hey..if you're reading this..maybe I am a guru? Hmm...let me check my Blog stats 12 visitors a day! If you hear of anyone ..let me know.

Ad Agency Alternatives

Holding companies or hot shops. What's a large global marketer to do? Here you will find the answer of the dream set up in today's market for a big multi - country - multi - category advertiser. First, set up a global media network among the big players like Mindshare, starcom, OMD or Initiative and / or Carat. A large seamless media operation is imperative in todays fast moving, big clout marketplace. Then hire a media auditor like Media Audits or Billett's to keep the media network on it's toes. Thereafter, move on to creative. There are a couple of different models here. Once you have a single media network, you might go with different ad agencies in different regions to drive creativity. For a more streamlined message, you might add one of the big global ad networks like McCann or Burnett. If you do go with the ad network then you should toss in some hot shops on individual briefs. So the global network is in charge of the adaptation and distribution but the hot shop executes against a specific brief. Sergio Zyman invented this with his 30 / 30 plan where he would brief a single idea to multiple competitng agencies and give them 30 days and 430k to deliver!

Marketing Churn

Egads..Andrew Harrison, marketer of the year at Nestle UK is out from his new Managing Director position at Muller. The curse of churn continues as the best and brightest rise, fall and then rise again. In the USA, recently appointed CMO's like Chuck Fruit at Coke and Larry light at McDonalds are already discussing retirement! A cure to marketing churn must be found. Any suggestions?

Non traditional marketing

Why is it called above the line (advertising) and below the line (direct marketing)? Someone said it had to do with accounting. Well there is a new sherriff in town (around the line?) in non traditional marketing including PR, viral marketing, events and branded entertainment. This important new area is trying to make up for the declining (but still important) 30 seconsd spot. Some agencies like Crispin Porter claim to be media neutral (they invented subservient chicken.com - go see it). But the whole area seems like the wild, wild west and is ripe for agencies like Naked London (media planning) to rise up and take center stage from the ad agencies. On the other hand the ad agencies might reinvent themselves like Crispin Porter.