The Changing Face of Digital Media & Marketing : CMO

Houston Interactive Marketing Association Presentation

Scott Berg — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 00:46:00 GMT

(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

Scott Berg — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 06:24:00 GMT

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

Forbes CMO Network Interview – Michael Mendenhall HP CMO

Scott Berg — Thu, 09 Apr 2009 22:53:00 GMT

An interesting interview from Michael Mendenhall on our marketing focus during this downturn in the economy and his take on digital. Take a look… would love to hear your comments.

Scott

A Solution for Magazine and Newspaper Companies

Scott Berg — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 14:39:00 GMT

MagCloud is HP’s newest solution for the print world… essentially as Michael Mendenhall our CMO as said it is the “democratization of print.” I’ve attached the video from Michael’s recent speech at the IAB convention.

If any print publishers are interested in this very unique way of printing… just let me know and I’ll make sure to get you some additional info on MagCloud. If you want to look at something immediately just check out our website.

Moving from Marketing/Advertising Campaigns to Ecosystem Management

Scott Berg — Sun, 22 Mar 2009 18:54:00 GMT

No question the marketing and advertising industry is going through a seismic shift. And although the main-line and industry press continues to focus the headlines on declines in budgets and the shut down of newspapers – frankly, I believe the shift is much more fundamental and reduced budgets and newspaper shutdowns are merely symptoms of this shift.

As marketers many of us have focused our efforts on two fundamental efforts:

Brand and
Demand Generation

We first got them to fall in love with the brand and then cycled them through the purchase funnel to the ultimate sale.

However, as content, access and user involvement have become more and more prevalent, it’s time for us to rethink our strategies. We need to connect, engage and listen to customers at every single point along the “relationship” curve.

Point A: Discover – the brand

Point B: Find – find the brand or product

Point C: Confirmation/Validation – checking with others to gain confidence to purchase

Point D: Transact – buying the product

Point E: Support – providing outstanding support post sale

Point F: Feedback/Share – listening to customers about what they are sharing with others

When you look at the entire purchase or engagement funnel or as I like to say “the ecosystem” – you fundamentally are forced to look at how you deploy your marketing funding based on what your customer is doing, not based on media type. In fact, you might necessarily deploy media dollars as much as create engagement platforms, communities, forums, listening tools, metrics platforms, etc.

So start looking at your customer ecosystem…. See where you’re strong, weak, etc. and begin improving and strengthening the system – based on customer requirements vs. a traditional or pre-defined media mix.

Scott

Latest Video from Michael Mendenhall -- CMO of HP

Scott Berg — Thu, 05 Feb 2009 18:44:00 GMT

Thought I'd post the latest video posted on Marketwatch.com with our CMO - Michael Mendenhall.

http://www.marketwatch.com/video/asset/0692809B-0367-4F75-9545-73D6C5DFAC8A

Scott

Michael Mendenhall, CMO – Hewlett Packard and his Masters of Marketing Discussion

Scott Berg — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 21:34:00 GMT

Our CMO, Michael Mendenhall made a presentation at last weeks ANA’s Masters of Marketing Conference. And as I listened to the video and read the article on AdAge, what struck me was everything he’s talking about is related directly to change and innovation. Not just a one time fix or shift, but the ongoing transformation of business models, agencies, skill sets, etc. and how that impacts our brand and the way we interact and work with our customers.

They say the only constant in the world is change… Michael’s insights certainly bring that into focus.

Scott

CMO’s Annoyed by Agencies and Networks

Scott Berg — Wed, 22 Oct 2008 17:09:00 GMT

Over the past couple of days I’ve received a number of phone calls and emails regarding presentations made by Gary Elliott, VP-Corporate Marketing and Michael Mendenhall, our CMO.

I’d like to add a few thoughts in 2 separate posts… first let’s talk about the article in AdAge regarding the ANA panel that Gary Elliott sat on.

Gary Elliott was quoted in the article in a couple of areas:

“The overall message, I would have to say, with HP, is that I don't think any of these [agency] relationships are satisfactory enough that we would continue them without having some degree of experimentation," said Gary Elliott, VP-corporate marketing at Hewlett-Packard. "We've been experimenting with different agency relationships where we're looking at agency partners and vendors in ways that connect them loosely with each other. We're looking at models where we have everything with one of our key partners." What's lacking in agency relationships now is speed to market, Mr. Elliott said. "I don't think with our current system we're achieving that. ... We're going to pilot a number of different relationships where we go direct with media companies." My thoughts: 1. Business Model – as I’ve blogged about before the media, marketing & advertising business model is changing. It’s not all about advertising and media anymore. It’s about developing projects that have mutual benefit between two companies. I point to the deal HP just did with MySpace as a great example of this. Agencies are still focused on creating ads and placing the media. And for some companies, that’s what they want them to do. But for larger advertisers we must have more. Every single agency presentation I’ve sat through always shows how the “campaigns” they’ve worked on generated revenue. And all of us in marketing say we generate revenue for the bottom line through branding and direct…the problem is there is more to branding and direct than ads and media. A company the size of HP with distinct businesses and different needs for each business requires us to think creatively and continue to explore the best way to structure our agencies to meet the needs of each unique business. 2. Technology -- And what about the way we transact business… we still use an antiquated system to do the upfronts each year…but search terms are being purchased via an auction model every single day through Google and Yahoo! We must learn how to utilize new forms of technology to drive and increase our speed to market. We no longer market 8 hours a day… our customers are doing business/choosing brands/making purchasing decision 24 hours a day. And they’re utilizing all different forms of technology to do it – from mobile, interactive TV, the internet, search, etc. And believe me, I’ve experienced the pain when a media network incorrectly distributes online creative or radio/tv spots in the wrong place or within inappropriate content. These “mistakes” impact our brand in the consumer’s eye which ultimately makes our job of selling product harder.

Relationships – the world is built on relationships. Look no further than linkedin.com, Facebook.com, or MySpace.com to understand how important relationships are to folks. It’s my job to ensure that HP is given an opportunity to look at unique ideas from media partners before any other competitor and/or advertiser in the marketplace gets a chance. And that’s done by having strong, solid relationships with the major media players in the marketplace.

Hey, you might not have liked what the Advertisers said on the panel… but remember this…it’s them and other CMO and marketing professionals inside companies who have to justify budgets and drive revenue to executive management and ultimately the company shareholder. Try sitting in that chair for while and I guarantee you’re view of the world will change. Scott

“TV Networks Should Replace Agencies” – Are You Nuts!

Scott Berg — Tue, 09 Sep 2008 17:20:00 GMT

Sorry it’s been a few weeks since my last post… my family and I took some time to visit the great state of Maine…. specifically Bar Harbor, what a great place I highly recommend it for a relaxing and fun filled time.

That being said, I just viewed the latest 3-Minute Ad Age post from Brian Reich the author of “Media Rules” who believes the future of advertising is the elimination of ad agencies between clients and television stations. He claims ad agencies get in the way and between the client and the television stations and somehow muddy the water in the messaging.

Now in all fairness, I haven’t had the opportunity to read Mr. Reich’s book so he might have some additional points which I’m not privy to, however, I do have some initial thoughts.

What Business Are TV Stations In? Easy answer for me – to sell time to advertisers in order to cover costs of programming, salaries, utility, rent, etc. etc. What’s left over is called profit and that usually goes to shareholders. Yes, TV stations do unique programming things to keep the users engaged with the content or the commercials, so they do have a creative element.

What Business Are Ad Agencies In? This ones a bit more complicated but I’ll list the biggies…

Branding
Communications
Strategy
Program Development
Audience and Research Management
Media Buying/Planning and Idea Creation
Integration
Traffic Cop
Logistics
Events/Tradeshows
Forward Thinking
Oh, and that little thing called Creative

Who Should Do What? I have news for Mr. Reich…. I meet with media folks all the time… guess what every single presentation says “we’re #1” – we beat our competition across the board and we know our audience. And guess what…. each one of them is right, but it depends on the lens you look through.

Agencies are a critical part of the entire marketing eco-system… I dare say that no TV network could produce the level of creative spots that Goodby Silverstein & Partners has for HP.

I do agree with Mr. Reich that the customer is the most important part of the equation, but it’s the client who needs to manage the component parts to meet the goals of the company/campaign/initiative/communication. Do we do it perfectly, heck no…but we’re trying like you wouldn’t believe.

To get another view of the topic, I’d suggest picking up a copy of “Kellogg on Advertising & Media” from Bobby Calder….I’ve spoken about it before, it’s a compilation of a number of business and academics who describe thoughts about the future.

I’ll leave you with this thought…. My Mom’s a pure Saint (I know everyone says it, but she really is) and I love her more than she’ll ever know. She gave birth to 2 sons some 40 odd years ago, but that doesn’t make her qualified to take the place of a doctor and start delivering baby’s on the side. I think we still need the ad agencies to help “birth” our strategy and marketing communications.

Love your thoughts on this….

Scott

The Momentum Effect

Scott Berg — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 14:51:00 GMT

The Momentum Effect

I encourage all of you to take a look at the video and the book “The Momentum Effect” by Jean-Claude Larréché, the Alfred H. Heineken Chaired Professor of Marketing at INSEAD. This is a fascinating way to look at driving the market, growing market share without having to increase investment (e.g. getting efficiency out of advertising and marketing in general). Value creation and innovation need to be considered by all CMO’s as we move forward… emotion has a critical impact on the customer and how we satisfy their needs and requirements. Enjoy!

http://knowledge.insead.edu/TheMomentumEffect080607.cfm?vid=52

Scott