The Changing Face of Digital Media & Marketing : creative

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

Scott Berg — Thu, 23 Jul 2009 15:41:00 GMT

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.

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

Scott Berg — Fri, 08 May 2009 12:58:00 GMT

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

When Will Things Get Back to Normal?

Scott Berg — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 15:23:00 GMT

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

Cannes Advertising Festival and HP’s MoFilm

Scott Berg — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 16:46:00 GMT

I love the Cannes Festival… from the stunning background of the city, to the brilliant speakers, to seeing the best work in the field of marketing and advertising, what more could you ask for?

And this year, HP is participating in a unique program MOFilm – a mobile project in which HP and other major advertisers are having individuals create user generated content based on a specific brand objectives. Famed Director Spike Lee is even involved in the project.

Prizes from HP range from a trip to the Sundance Film Festival, an HP Touchsmart PC and an HP MediaSmart Server.

Check out the article on hp.com or go directly to the MoFilm web site for more information. So let the social media content games begin!

Scott

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

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

The Latest on the “Berg Electronic Hacienda”

Scott Berg — Mon, 29 Sep 2008 13:40:00 GMT

You guys have heard me talk about my experience with Facebook and Linkedin before, but it’s been while so I thought it’s time to give an update.

I refer to them as my Hacienda’s -- my motto – come on in, sit a spell, take a look around, talk about what’s on your mind.

Alrighty, let’s get down to the latest details:

Facebook – I now have 155 friends. What’s happened recently is I’m getting more “personal” friends connecting with me, vs. business partners as I did when I first started. So I’m now connecting with folks from high school, college, social organizations, etc. But still the majority of the friends are business side. My profile hasn’t changed much – still very business focused, but I have been uploading some family photos, etc. And I’m getting more comfortable in talking about personal stuff vs. business speak. As a marketing medium… lots of info on people, but I don’t see it being used for targeting as much as I’d originally thought. And the ads that are being served up to me aren’t at all relevant. The social side of gathering people together I believe still has promise, but I haven’t seen great examples as yet. Also, don’t know about you, but I don’t like the new format – too clunky/disjointed and my time “on line” with the site I’m sure has fallen off because of this.

Linkedin.com – Amazingly I have 611 connections. All of them are business. I recently had a presentation from the linkedin.com sale team and I see this site really starting to mature into a viable advertising/marketing vehicle. First, they can target on any of the info you put into your profile – so the ads I receive are very targeted and relevant to me as a user. Second, I like the questions section on the site – where folks can help others/answer questions, etc. Great for connecting on business development, etc. Third, surveying on the site is coming into maturity… this is where a question is poised by a company or well know business executive (targeted naturally) – a great tool to help with all sorts of things – product design, image management/metrics/idea generation, etc. The area that I believe needs development is more relevant applications that can be added to your page.

Your thoughts as always are what this is all about… so feel free to comment!

Scott

Customer Service During Hurricane Ike

Scott Berg — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 21:37:00 GMT

Having lived through a few hurricanes now I can personally tell you the destruction we Houstonians have seen with Ike is incredible. With a great deal of luck my family didn’t suffer any harm and although we had trees down, water, sewer and electricity issues the overall situation is good. A tragedy like this makes you appreciate those friends and colleagues you know – and I’d like to thank all of you who have emailed and phoned to check in on us… it is greatly appreciated.

I’ll tell you of a FANTASTIC experience I had and it has a marketing and customer service angle to it. I’m an Allstate customer – have most of my insurance coverage with them. What I found amazing is that within 24 hours after the hurricane hit, I had voice mails on my cell phone & work number regarding the claims process. For instance, the message instructed me who to call, the number, that they were overstaffed to help answer the increased calls, etc. In fact, I didn’t even need to have my policy number they said they’d find it for me.

And when I called…. I waited a mere minute or two before I was pleasantly greeted by a Customer Service Rep. Wow – what an experience… proactive help and what do you bet I’ll think twice about ever switching insurance based on that proactive marketing and assistance.

We should all look at these types of “digital” solutions to assist our customers… from the use of email, text messages, etc. to drive better experience.

Congrats to the Allstate Customer Service and Marketing Teams!!

Scott

A Rose By Any Other Name….Would Be Called Planning and Collaboration!

Scott Berg — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 15:47:00 GMT

I was reading AdWeek this morning and saw this article about MediaVest’s (part of the Publicis Groupe) decision to rebrand media planning into “Truth and Design.”

As Lisa Donahue, CEO of the new organization Truth and Design, said, “"Planning is bad," she said. "By its nature, planning has the heritage of a plodding, rigid and linear connotation. What we're implementing is a fundamental shift in mind-set where planning becomes design, which does not have a linear connotation and is more creative with less of a building-block approach."

Another negative concept is "collaboration," at least when that consists of the client gathering hired guns from its various disparate marketing and communications firms in a room to generate big ideas and formulate action plans.”

So I have a couple of thoughts on this whole thing…

Planning is not a dirty word and I disagree that it is rigid and linear. Planning, if done correctly, orients the actions of marketing to achieve the goal(s) originally set out to accomplish. When you sit in the client chair you’re held responsible for P&L, achieving shareholder value, customer expectations, etc. If you can’t stand the heat in the kitchen, then get out – fancy terms don’t change the fact that the kitchen is hot.
Collaboration is not the about gathering “hired guns” and generating big ideas. It’s about ensuring buy in from those involved… getting alignment and support, so when the heavy artillery comes in, people hold the line and don’t run. It’s about creating a team, and leading that team to achieve a goal. Meeting in a smaller room with fewer people is the same as meeting in the big conference room with more people.

Frankly, clients are sick and tired of hearing all of this mumbo-jumbo. Call it what you will, but clients are still going to plan and collaborate. Frustration sets in when someone throws in a red herring to try and get us all to look somewhere else and then charge us a ton of money for the same work as has been done in the past.

Let’s focus on what’s important – selling stuff and exceeding our customer’s expectations!

Scott

The Subservient Chicken – Still Ticking

Scott Berg — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 20:02:00 GMT

So I was just stumbled upon my link for Burger King’s Subservient Chicken. You remember this one… the online site where you can ask the chicken to do something and it obeys your command. I believe this is the what parenting is suppose to be like, but I have yet to discover it.

Although this gimmick is probably 3-4 years old (at minimum), BK continues to support the initiative financially – I assume it’s still popular and rings up the clicks daily. And you know it can’t be that expensive… but I continue to be amazed at so called “investments” in major initiatives (e.g. SecondLife, etc.) which seem to fizzle out in a matter of days. Yet, the chicken keeps plugging along.

So if you haven’t visited the chicken – stop by and say Hello!

http://www.subservientchicken.com/

Scott

If A Client Created a Stop Sign....

Scott Berg — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 16:05:00 GMT

I had this video sent to me the other day... and after laughing for 10 minutes.... I realized it also shows the reality of the sometimes insane situation we as clients put our agencies and partners through on a daily basis.

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Scott