The Changing Face of Digital Media & Marketing

Interesting Blog Post

2009-11-17T17:46:00Z

Bob Greenberg (RGA) and Chris Curtin (HP) posted an interesting post on The Huffington Post regarding the control surrounding digital marketing…. A timely topic for all of us.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/chris-curtin-and-bob-greenberg/digital-beyond-our-contro_b_352357.html

Scott

Create Change

2009-11-17T17:35:00Z

A bold statement to say the least…but HP’s latest social media program is centered around that very phrase “Create Change.” When you purchase HP product through our online store, HP will donate 4% of the proceeds to one of seven charities listed…. Everything from Susan G. Komen to the American Red Cross to the World Wildlife Fund.

And you can post or send the offer to others you know through a variety of social platforms.

http://h30484.www3.hp.com/CreateChange/index.html

Scott

Global Expansion of Social Networks

2009-08-26T19:46:00Z

While reviewing the latest e-marketer article on Social Networking I found it interesting that Russia’s growth in people who created a social network profile was at 85.3%. India, China, Brazil follow with growth in the 60 to 70% some odd range.

Frankly those numbers surprised me… let me explain:

1. Technology – the technology pipeline in these countries seems to be developing faster than what I estimated….allowing for stable platforms, etc.

2. Time Spent – if these countries follow the US… look for shifts in media time spent to shift more to the digital side vs. the traditional media landscape.

3. Content Growth – with higher demand and usage will come the increased demand for content… with more video shifting to digital/online for viewing vs. current TV or satellite use.

We live in an increasingly “connected age”…as technology continues to expand, the world gets smaller, the access to information becomes easier and the authenticity of our brands is more important than ever.

Scott

Fortune Conference - Mark Hurd and Jeffrey Katzenberg

2009-08-14T17:48:00Z

Great video of our CEO Mark Hurd and Jeffrey Katzenberg, CEO of DreamWorks on the marriage between HP and DreamWorks. Enjoy!

Scott

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Interview With Chris Curtin -- VP of HP.com & Digital Strategy, HP -- via Fortune's Brainstorm Conference

2009-07-23T15:41:00Z

As you probably know, Fortune's Brainstorm TECH Conference is going on this week in California. Mark Hurd speaks on Friday with Jeffrey Katzenberg from Dreamworks. In the meantime, I'm posting a great interview done by Tracey Pepper with Chris Curtin, VP HP.com and Digital Strategy here at Hewlett Packard. As we all know, the world is changing fast...Chris has some very unique thoughts and ideas on where HP is heading. Enjoy!!

Scott

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Tracey Pepper talks to Chris Curtin, Vice President, HP.com and Digital Strategy, at Hewlett-Packard Co., at Fortune’s Brainstorm: TECH conference in Pasadena, California, on July 22^nd, 2009:

A former Vice President of Global Media and Technology at the Walt Disney Company, Chris Curtin now serves as Vice President of Digital Strategy for Corporate Marketing at HP. He is responsible for driving the HP brand in existing and emerging digital channels with oversight that includes managing HP.com, where he drives the site’s next-generation activities, including initiating new online customer experiences and rebuilding Internet publishing operations.

Tracey Pepper: At what point do you bring your customer in on the innovation process? Is innovation at HP customer-driven or is it driven more internally?

Chris Curtain: I think it’s both. It’s certainly expected from and by our customers. But innovation is really at the heart of all things that HP does. And it’s not just innovation with respect to our products or service mix, it’s also innovation in our marketing. The very same type of innovative practices that we’ve put into building the TouchSmart or the Mini will be applied to the marketing of those products. From [CEO and President] Mark Hurd all the way down, innovation is a part of what we think we stand to offer, and frankly it’s something that we like to be known for. We have HP Labs, which are incubators for many great things. They’ve done an excellent job of figuring out appropriate handshakes with the businesses for technologies, be they in the cloud or even more practical ones like i-catcher, which helps us better understand why people do what they do on the web and be able to put back against those actions information that’s relevant to what we think you’re interested in.

TP: What types of challenges has HP faced over the last year?

CC: Some of the challenges we face are not dissimilar to challenges that other companies in the Fortune 100 or Fortune 500 face. We’re looking at a tough economy and companies need to be very careful about where they place their bets and investments. Because of that, there’s probably a greater desire to do different things than there is an actual budget to do different things. So making sure that HP understands what is important to a partner, how to move that partner’s business, and ultimately how to show our value proposition are things that we wake up and go to sleep thinking about.

TP: Are there any specific innovations that HP has implemented to meet those challenges?

CC: One thing we’re doing right now is revamping our entire website, HP.com, which exists in 68 countries and is our global footprint for the company. We want to make sure that today’s website meets today’s consumer expectations. We have consumers on the B to C side, as well as consumers on the enterprise side, so we really make sure we have a flat experience on the website, such that the browser quickly reaches the information the consumer is interested in, and that we maintain, not just cultivate a relationship through the website.

One thing we’ve been doing is showcasing the successful things our partners are doing because many companies want to understand what their competitors or peers are doing with respect to IT and technology in general that could benefit them. So we post case studies on our website. For example, UPS came to us and said, ‘We’d really like to buy an all-in-one printer and scanner.’ We worked with them and today UPS can scan label packages, free, via HP technology. That’s good for the business and it’s good for the environment, which is important to both of us. It’s a real success story. So we highlight that by putting it on HP.com. Then other companies will come to us and say, ‘We’d like to do the very same thing with you guys.’

TP: How has the perception of what HP does changed?

CC: Well, the whole paradigm of printing and printers is changing. We’re going to have touch-screen printers and you’re going to be able to do many things on your printer that you may have associated historically with your computer. It’ll be more of a smart device that enables printing, but there will be many more elements to it, like getting your directions off of your printer, and printing those directions via your printer. In some ways this economy has been great for competitiveness because people have gotten better pricing and competitors have really sharpened their game in order to be top-of-the line and stay relevant.

Houston Interactive Marketing Association Presentation

2009-07-02T00:46:00Z

(Please visit the site to view this media)I had the opportunity to present to the Houston Interactive Marketing Association (HiMA) a couple of weeks ago. This group is really a fantastic organization dedicated to teaching and providing guidance to teh Houston marketing community. We had a very lively discussion with 200 or so marketers from the Houston area. I've attached the presentation and video if you'd like to take a look.

Scott

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Michael Mendenhall HP’s CMO -- Cannes Festival Video

2009-06-24T06:24:00Z

Thought you might like to see the video Michael Mendenhall showed this week at the Cannes International Advertising Festival. Some very interesting statistics and trends.

Enjoy.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8CwQGay_tEw

Scott

HP Friends and Family Discount!

2009-06-22T20:35:00Z

Many of my personal friends and business associates have asked on occasion if we have a discount program on products we sell. And since I consider my blog followers as my friends.... here's a little something for you.

So here’s your chance to get a great HP product at a great price:

http://www.shopping.hp.com/deals/friendsandfamily?jumpid=re_r329_hpdirect_hho

Scott

The Internationalist Awards for Innovative Digital Marketing Solutions

2009-06-12T16:25:00Z

I have the honor of working with some of the leaders in the Digital Marketing world regarding a new Digital Marketing Solution Awards Event. Some of those names include Rob Norman, CEO of GroupM, Rishad Tobaccowala, CEO of Denuo and Chief Innovation Officer, Publicis Group. As you can tell these fellow judges are the cream of the crop – and the leaders who I and many of you look to for leadership and thoughts.

That being said…I’ve attached some information below on how to enter and participate.

A big thanks to Deborah Malone and the staff at The Internationalist for helping to drive this unique digital award judging.

Scott

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"We have moved from language-based or analog marketing to a system now dependent on 'ones' and 'zeros' or digital codes. Our way of creating marketing solutions must also now transform dramatically.." -Scott Berg, HP's Director of Digital Strategy and Jury Chairman

www.internationalist-awards.com

Marketers, today, need digital answers, but formulating the right questions is often challenging. With dozens of new forms of non-traditional advertising, the digital options can be overwhelming. Our industry can benefit from examples of best practices. Marketers today need digital solutions that bring results.

The Internationalist Awards for Innovative Digital Marketing Solutions will be the first international awards to be given based upon the geographic footprint of the campaign, specifically: a global campaign, a regional campaign, a local execution of a multinational campaign, and a local campaign worthy of international adaptation based upon world class standards.

These Awards are an outgrowth of The Internationalist's Awards for Innovation in Media and an acknowledgment of how today's marketing strategy is affected by the growth of Digital. They also reflect the way companies market their products. No other awards offer these types of international categories. Most are by product group (food, auto) or type of media (TV, print).

It's simple to enter-- just answer 5 critical questions about insights and solutions, the show up to 3 examples of the work. There are only 4 international entry categories.

CALL FOR ENTRIES DEADLINE is SEPTEMBER 8, 2009.

Winners will be announced in Autumn 2009. A Grand Prix will be announced, along with Gold, Silver and Bronze winners in each of the 4 international entry categories.

Winners will receive:

An Award statuette for office display.
The Internationalist will feature a story on the winners in its next edition.
All winners, including Honorable Mentions, will be showcased on www. internationalist-awards.com. A search feature will enable people to better access case study highlights.
Oxford University's SAID School of Business will use the winners as teaching case studies in their marketing program.

For more information on Judging, the Jury, Fees, and How to Enter, go to:

http://www.internationalist-awards.com

Created in January 2003 by Deborah Malone, The Internationalist was launched to connect the people and ideas in international advertising, marketing and media. Today The Internationalist has become a trusted source for international best practices, and is dedicated to the business needs and challenges of international marketing professionals as they participate in multinational branding and campaign building. The Internationalist is now IN PRINT, ONLINE and IN PERSON- all to better serve the needs of this community.

Power to Change -- Energy Conservation PC Widget

2009-06-02T22:17:00Z

Make a change to consume less power by shutting down your PC when you leave for the day…. Simply got to www.hp.com/powertochange and download this very cool widget which will track how your actions are impacting the world.

Scott

“Metrics Madness” – You’re Nuts!

2009-05-27T18:18:00Z

I was catching up on my reading last night and happened to read Al Ries’s Column “Metric Madness: Running biz by the numbers is just not logical” in the May 4, 2009 issue of AdAge.

With all due respect, Mr. Ries makes an argument that marketing is to focused on math, ROI, etc. I’ll let you review the column yourself, but Mr. Ries ends his article with the following… “Mathematics is logical. Marketing is not. That’s why marketing is so difficult to learn.”

Well Mr. Ries… I’ve got a different take on the situation and frankly don’t agree with a number of points. Let me explain.

The Language of Business of Numbers: Guess what, I didn’t make up this rule, but any good manager, CEO or marketing person should understand this.

The purpose of companies is to make money. Yep, it’s as simple as that. That point is especially important when you have investors or shareholders….for some reason they actually want a company to be profitable – hey I know its “crazy talk” but they want to make money off of their investment.

Authenticity and Character: You reference in your article about having the accountants come in and “shift some of the numbers around” to meet your purposes and that “one of our biggest complaints about management is its tendency to run things by the numbers.

I grant you that the recent financial crisis doesn’t show the best side of the financial sector. But that is an issue of Authenticity and Character. The people who made those decisions were absolutely wrong… but it’s more than “shifting numbers” it’s a question of character.

Also, perhaps one of the reasons the media and advertising business has been dealing with the “rise of procurement” inside of companies is because of the very situation you mentioned agencies are doing – “shifting the numbers.”

Your point that “Mathematics is logical. Marketing is not.”

I could not disagree with you more. The greatest connection engine on the planet “the internet” allows marketers to understand not only what’s working, but what’s not. It helps us determine whether creative is performing… what creative we should run. Marketing is logical and disagree that it’s tough to learn. It’s not. But we make it difficult as marketers and agencies because we don’t take the extra step to understand what the numbers are telling us. Numbers aren’t like some bad voodoo spell. They are a guidebook into the thoughts, hearts and passions of our customers. Metrics are a good thing… it’s allowed us to stop wasteful marketing investments and increase our market share by focusing our efforts.

I was Media Director at HP for 5 years – managing a huge amount of media spend across the world. Every single media rep, agency, etc. told me the same story. Our media (or agency) can deliver sales – my questions back was prove it? Put your money wear your mouth is… if your agency or media property can deliver sales then guess what?... go on 100% commission of each product your campaign or media vehicle sells.

Walk in the Clients Shoes:

You think you’ve got a tough job. Try sitting in the client chair for a week. Where we have to show results, where you’re held to sales, profit and market share numbers, where we have to stand in front of management and explain why something didn’t work. Thus, we need math and metrics to help us make informed decisions on the allocation of our financial and labor resources. If one agency is performing better… guess what? they’ll probably get more business. If a campaign is performing better than another one….we’ll probably make a tough decision to shut it down.

Scott

Guest Blogger -- Jay Dark - Manager, Global Mobile Marketing

2009-05-08T12:58:00Z

12 Global Brands Come Together for a User-Generated Advertising Contest

Mofilm (www.mofilm.com) is spearheading an effort across 12 global brands to give consumers around the world the opportunity to create and share their voices on one or more of the participating brands. The contest is being held in conjunction with the Cannes Lions Advertising Festival in June and the Mofilm event is being hosted by Spike Lee.

This is the first time a user-generated advertising event of of this scale and collaboration has been attempted. The brands are all chartered to reach out to their own customers, brand enthusiasts, and networks thereby delivering against the contest theme of “You to the Power of 12 - U12” If successful, this contest could contribute to another change in the face of media in terms of how advertising content is created and obtained. Will it obsolete existing ad creative and production services? Not at all but it will add another option to the mix and potentially even create another service agencies can provide and help facilitate for their clients.

Are you creative? Do you know people that are? Tell them about the contest and have them download the HP creative brief (http://cannes.mofilm.com/hp/) and take a chance at fame.

Jay Dark - Manager, Global Mobile Marketing

Are We Teaching Future Marketers the Right Stuff?

2009-05-03T02:07:00Z

Great article from a survey by e-Marketer on the changes in digital spend. I won’t recap it in this blog post…but for those of you who keep predicting the comeback of print, you won’t be happy with the article.

And what I read between the lines… is the need for people who understand the entire digital marketing mix as well as individual experts within the specific digital domain. That being said, I am concerned our colleges and universities are teaching marketers skills that aren’t remotely what we need today and in the future.

I work with a couple of major universities on curriculum and it’s certainly something they are reviewing as well. So what can all of us do?

Get Involved – with your local university or college and help them understand the changing marketplace.
Ensure your HR department understands the change in skill demand and communicates it the schools you recruit from.
Mentor – students to ensure they understand the requirements and skills they will need.
Internships – offer them to students during the summer… (NOTE: don’t have them fill your coffee cup or make copies). Have them get intimately involved in the digital programs and initiatives your company is working on.

Scott

When Will Things Get Back to Normal?

2009-04-29T15:23:00Z

During the past 6 months, I can’t tell you the number of times someone has commented about “when will things settle down” or “I can’t wait until things get back to normal.” And although I’m a bit nostalgic about wanting things to settle down and “get back to normal” I’ve come to realize this is the new norm for the media, digital and advertising industry. So what is the new norm? Tough question to answer, but here’s my stab at a few of the general themes.

Technology will drive new media models -- for instance, HP’s own MagCloud allows anyone to be a publisher, thus, opening up a new way to go to market for both small and large publishers.
Buzz will rule/Listening will be critical – just look at the Dominoes situation and the recent Swine Flu discussions occurring on Twitter. Not only does marketing need to listen to customer’s requirements, complaints, etc. but PR will need to be much more active in the listening and decisions they make related to response. Getting in front of a story is moving from hours to respond to minutes.
Advertising budgets will continue to fracture – given more avenues to reach the customer and the need to purchase additional tools, metrics to react and manage the communication ecosystem.
Media plans will migrate to communication plans – is Twitter a media type? What about blogs? Who knows? Who really cares? The bottom line, companies will use these different channels and the media plan will reflect these new realities.
Campaigns will morph into communication ecosystem management – being able to influence, analyze and put metrics around the entire purchase funnel on a consistent basis will drive companies to manage the ecosystem vs. coming in and out of the market with campaigns. This will be a necessity given the need to manage and forecast financial performance on a more consistent basis.
Media properties will either “thrive or die” – all you have to do is look at the news daily to see companies merging, selling to someone or shutting down. I don’t think this will be limited to just traditional media…the next phase could start impacting online sites, content distribution platforms and toolsets.
“Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is” – companies will begin to require true performance aka sales as a measure of a media channel or properties worth. Let’s face it, everyone says media works during the sales pitch… if that’s the case, guarantee it. If you hit targets you get paid, if you don’t hit them, you don’t get paid.
Media representatives and properties will become consultants vs. sales focused – see #7 as the reason why.
The workday will be 24 by 7 vs. 8 to 5. See above.
Change will be the only constant…we will all be faced with major differing challenges every single day – our worth will be determined not only by our financial performance to the companies bottom line, but in our ability to manage change.

Welcome to the reality!

Scott

Contacting Our New Media Planning & Buying Agency – Omnicom Media Group

2009-04-23T21:42:00Z

Many in the media community have been calling or emailing me asking who to contact at our new media agency OMG. The team at OMG, have requested you go to the following web site to register, that way they can respond to the large number of media partners who are contacting us during the transition.

When you complete the form you will receive an automatic reply. The OMG/HP media team will get back with you shortly thereafter. Please keep in mind OMG officially takes over the HP media buying and planning June 1^st.

http://hpmediahub.omnicommediagroup.com/

Scott