After perusing a topline report for “B-to-B Marketing in 2009: Trends in Strategy and Spending” by MarketingProfs/Forrester Research, I thought one chart important to share with my readers. It points to a significant increase in developing digital tactics due to more cost-efficiency and targeted reach. While communicating digitally is certainly predominant, you can see marketing leaders are continuing to keep an integrated campaign with PR, tradeshows/conferences, direct mail, and print remaining relevant.

What I thought even more interesting was their spend didn’t equate with what they deemed the best drivers of leads and brand awareness respectively.  More on this in next weeks’ blogs.

One of the most subjective processes in launching a new company/product is choosing a name. One that encapsulates the brand promise, product portfolio, personality, values, etc. and accelerates the company/product to an increased state of value.

Before proceeding down this often treacherous path, take a common-day example to heart. Think of the last time you chose a name for your pet or child. What was the process you went through?

Perhaps:

1. Competitive Assessment - Investigating names in your neighborhood/family tree. Talking with people about their naming process, why they chose the name they did and what it means to them.
2. Brand Platform - Finding the “platform” that the name accentuates. How similar or dissimilar do you want the name to be? Based on religion? Nostalgia? Uniqueness? Status?
3. Target Forecasting - Visualizing how that name might effect their acceptance in society. Will it make them seem academic? Popular? An outcast? Or perhaps it’s so unique it will make them special/coveted?
4. Constructing Identification -  After analyzing (or perhaps over-analyzing), one may think - does the name really matter? Won’t a strong identity and personality surround the name and create its own context? Just as celebrities craft their equity - the word Madonna once known as a the “Mother of Jesus,” now is seen as a recording artist, actress and entrepreneur.
5. Proving Acceptance - With this acknowledgement, one may realize that they can’t secure the fate of their new name. But what they can control are the efforts to bring education, depth and authenticity to that name - allowing it to convey the personality in a way that’s memorable and individual.

The naming process is challenging and charged with opinions. It could be developed by the best naming agency with 6-12 months of testing - similar to Bing - and still be seen as a “me-too” proposition or it could be cherished and adopted into society lexicon - Google, Kleenex, Tivo, etc. One must focus more on what is supporting the name as proof to the value promise, than believe that the name will do that itself.

Because at the end of the day, a Stephen can still make a choice of being a Baldwin or a Hawking.

The below will be an evergrowing list over the next six months. Some may say these words/phrases have already become tired, I would suggest that they may take on new meanings or approach mainstream.  I welcome comments and additions.

1. “Now that the dust has settled.” An anti-recessionary message for economic growth in 2010. A derivative of this burgeoning optimism is currently seen throughout airport billboards citing, “when the dust has settled.”
2. Latency. A time delay between the moment something is initiated, and the moment one of its effects begins or becomes detectable. Specifically linked to the challenges in the growth and standardization of the data center market.
3. Recession warriors/heros. Those that fought to pull society out of a downturn including government officials, entrepreneurs and the everyman.
4. Transformation. A fresh word to replace “innovation” or a way to describe rebirth (e.g. environmental transformation, cultural transformation, cellular transformation)
5. Augmented reality. A field of computer research which deals with the combination of real-world and computer-generated data (virtual reality), where computer graphics objects are blended into real footage in real time. A hot topic currently in advertising and gaming to create an interactive consumer experience.

While reading this month’s Inc. issue, I came across a very powerful visual that stood apart from all of the images of leisurely entrepreneurs seeming intelligent. The image looked like a mesh between a paperclip and a leveling tool.

Inc. June 2009, pg. 46

What pulled me in further was a quote by the CEO stating, “Your physician has a lot less information about your body than your mechanic has about your car. We want to change that.” A simple concept. This spread (likely brilliantly secured by a PR company) could have been swimming in acronyms and technological facts (much like the Dell B2B advertising that bookends the spread). But, instead the power was threaded in possibility.

The possibility of this tiny sensor (magnified here at 480 percent) providing our physicians information that doesn’t have to be either described by us, the patient, or the multitude of tests and dollars spent to come to conclusions. This “Disease-Fighter” created shock and awe in one reader (namely me) with very little information other than the eye-opening possibility.

I investigated.

I went to the company website hoping to extend this same level of enthusiasm and was whole-heartedly disappointed. Same old, same old. Generic stock photos, generic scientific animations, an overwhelming amount of text. Granted, I am not the target for this device, but how can you take such a mind-blowing healthcare technology breakthrough and make it mundane?

If you have the opportunity to be exceptional, let nothing stop you from creating that impression at every turn. Make it meaningful. Commit to cultivating that same enthusiasm that started the product or service and conveying that in every touchpoint. Nothing is too big or too small. Fight the instinct to be conservative.

The details are not the details. They make the design.

- Charles Eames

A post in Business Week Online earlier this year, is worth reblogging. Bruce Nussbaum, is a seasoned writer who focuses on innovations in all areas - technology, service, design, communication, etc. His articulation of the 10 worst mistakes you can make in a recession are a perspective refreshment as we enter the second half of 2009 this week.

Here are the 10 worst mistakes you can make in a recession that will hurt innovation:
1. Fire talent. Because of America’s accounting laws, investments in talent are expensed, not capitalized, so cutting back on people, especially really smart, high-priced people, is a quick way to cut costs. The accounting rules only hurt companies who follow them. Talent is the single most important variable in innovation.

2. Cut back on technology. Xerox and others report that companies are already curbing investments in technology to save money. Banks especially. The rise of social networking and consumer power means that companies have to be part of a larger conversation with their customers. This means big money spent on IT.

3. Reduce Risk. Innovation requires taking chances and dealing with failure. Recessions push managers to be more conservative. They need to fight this instinct.

4. Stop New Product Development. Saving money often means cutting back on new products and services during an economic downturn. This hurts companies when growth returns and they have fewer offerings in the marketplace to attract consumers.

5. Boards Replace Growth-Oriented CEOs with Cost-Cutting CEOs. Sudden declines in revenues and profits often leads boards of directors to search for managers with experience in pinching pennies. That’s what appeared to happen recently happened at Bang & Olufsen. Boards forget that most recessions last only two or three quarters and, these days, are relatively shallow. Penny-pinching CEOs don’t have the skills to grow, when growth returns.

6. Companies Retreat From Globalization. It’s expensive to expand globally and managers often save money by cutting back on emerging markets. It’s a big mistake. Emerging markets are sources of new revenue, business models, and talent.

7. CEOs Replace Innovation As Key Strategy. By turning defensive, top managers take innovation off the top of the official agenda and replace it with systems management and squeezing costs. The entire organization follows. It is extremely hard to reverse this when growth returns.

8. Performance Metrics Are Changed. To Save money and cut costs, managers shift employee evaluations away from rewarding riskier new projects toward sustaining safer older goals. Risk-averse behavior follows. Again, this is hard to change.

9. Hierarchy Is Reinforced Over Collaboration. Sudden drops in revenue and profit often lead companies to panic and mobilize to stem the decline. The need for fast decision-making often leads to a return to command-and-control management. This alienates creative-class employees, young Gen Y and Xers and stops the evolution of corporation organization toward a flat, collaborative, open source model.

10. Retreat Into Walled Castles. Cutting back on outside consultancies is seen as a quick way to save money. Yet one of the key ways of introducing change into business culture is to bring in outside innovation and design consultants. They know what companies across a broad range of industries around the world are doing to promote change. Not receiving this information can hurt a company’s global competitive position.

Flickr: scitech

As someone heavily involved in B2B technology branding, I dream in acronyms.  

It seems that for every million in company revenue, 10-20 acronyms can be born. While I understand the short-hand exercise and quite honestly many would be writing all day to spell out each acronym, I also believe we begin to wear them like a badge of knowledge. The more acronyms we know, the more “expert” we are perceived.

The challenge with this ritualistic practice is that we begin to think this is a known language. One that our customers, media and community don’t understand - creating further barriers between a brand and its constituents.

For one meeting next week, create a list of “can not say” words and acronyms. See if you create a new dialog around your brand and purpose that you haven’t understood before. A refreshing exercise that develops a new badge - one that those outside your four walls can embrace.

With the influx of freelancers symptomatic from the outflux in agency layoffs, there is a new agency business model emerging. One that won’t be beneficial to clients.

A hypothesis: A large client comes to an agency needing a campaign including TV, print, digital, and/or buzz. A couple years ago, the agency would have created a highly complex Excel spreadsheet denoting everyone’s hourly rate + approx. time on projects, percentage of overhead including rent, equipment and supplies, derived a profit percentage (sometime known by the client) and this became the budget.

What’s changed is that the on-staff producers were let go, the digital team now just consists of a web designer, and the star (and only) creative team is busy with their only client that is still holding strong through the economy. So, what to do?

Outsource.  While this is typically a cost effective solution - outsourcing has become a tangled mess of large teams without any unity or leadership, and many layers of inefficiency.  For instance, on the digital project, the traditional agency (because they had to go back to their roots) hires and marks-up a digital agency, who marks up and outsources the web design, build and SEO to another agency who marks up and outsources the CMS and SEO to other freelancers who had done some work in a completely irrelevant industry, but due to his/her eagerness to now have work, he/she faked knowledge.

The result  - a long game of “telephone” with consequences of expense in time, cost, and potentially quality. 

This expensive new agency model does provide opportunity for consultants who are able to directly manage the thinkers + doers creating a team of specialists (i.e. following the adage of cutting out the middle-man). Transparency is important in this process, but due to the cost efficiency, the rewards are significant. 

In a world wanting to mitigate risk, client beware on whether you are hiring an agency  - or a global staff of freelancers with an exponential cascade of mark-ups. Just ask them, see if they’ll confess.

When digging deeper into your core demographics, often you find surprises of ways that connect them outside of “male/24-34/tech spirited/golfer, father, entrepreneur.” Taking the time to study the individuals, say through an ethnography, may reveal other threads that tie your audience. Perhaps they are also all Trekkies? CNET gives the top 7 sites where you will find this audience primed for new information.

Did you know constant zoo-goers are also green thumbs? Gardening/nurseries creates another interesting avenue for mindset and media opportunities.

Perhaps potential Zuners are into sudoku.
Or adult Wii users pair playing with a fine chardonnay.

Stop segmenting targets and uncover the hidden ways they group themselves.

Over the weekend, Dell launched a female-targeted microsite called Della - primarily focusing on the exploding netbook market. Through visual and behavioral language, the site was created to appeal solely to women and is yet another attempt to capture this influential gender using a more mass-relatable approach than the Adamo by Dell. Below are my thoughts on its success.

Pros:

• Concentrates language on the role technology plays in a woman’s life vs. feeds/speeds
• Gives a sense of community through testimonials and social networking avenues
• Creates empowerment by supporting female artists and highlighting their achievements

Cons:

• Uses forced language such as “excited” or “OMG-that’s-so-cute-I-want-one!” that is contrived and stereotypical
• Overwhelmed with patterns, colors and unrealistic photography which gives a consumer takeaway of disposable fashion vs. like-minded technology
• Tagline “Yours is here.” connotes that this product is the only designed for women, establishing alienation from the rest of the product line

I’m typically an early adopter, or at least on the early part of the curve, but I also am a highly tactile, visual learner/thinker. Perhaps this is why I have yet to buy a Kindle. I do know once I use one, that I’ll likely become addicted, a tech trait I covet. But the smell of a book, the touch of the pages and the satisfaction I receive when I’m more than 1/2 way complete prevents me from embracing the innovation. This is a similar reason why I still receive my magazines and don’t adopt the online option. 

Times will change. I’ll surrender to the Kindle at some point, just as my grandparents gave up the typewriter for the computer.

But, what’s interesting is as a culture, we’ve changed many of our sensibilities. What imagery once brought a sense of newness? A crisp shirt brought back from the dry cleaners or the scent of a new car. Now? The factory freshness of airtight packaging or taking off the protective plastic on an iPhone screen. What about the lure of vintage? I vividly remember Pong on the Atari, but as seen by Atari sales, there is no room for nostalgia in innovation.

An evolving and inevitable redefinition of sensibilities will continue to change the way we read, listen, talk and touch. A continuous wave that will hopefully balance what makes us more efficient with what makes us individually unique.

I prefer to not blog about people who blog. I fear that journalistic authenticity or insight deteriorates in quality like making a copy of a faxed copy. 

Although, I came across this image today and found it an incredibly over-simplified yet a refreshingly simplistic view of cultural trends.

Source: darmano.typepad.com

Flickr: lobraumeister

When is haggling appropriate? At car dealerships, tourist traps, and perhaps with your cable provider. But, haggling is becoming more and more common with retailers suffering. A writer from the New York Times had one such experience at Best Buy this weekend. He was able to negotiate down his 42″ LG Plasma and also include a four-year service package (if Best Buy is still around then). What struck me wasn’t the negotiation but what he overheard from the salespeople while paying for his LG.

When I was standing at the counter sliding my Visa into the credit card reader, a sales associate sprang toward the counter where I stood with six other blue-shirted sales associates and one manager.

“He’s thinking about it,” the intruding associate said to the manager, without further context or explanation.

The manager paused from whatever he was doing, looked at the young man and issued a grave, “Whatever you do, don’t let him leave the store.”

“O.K. He’s calling his wife to talk it over,” the associate responded.

I inferred from the conversation that the sales associate had been trying to close a deal with a customer. I asked the associate what the customer was thinking about buying.

“A full package – TV, stereo, speakers,” the associate said to me.

This is a fascinating qualitative glimpse into what could be the foundation of a brilliant communication program. Often times as marketers, we acknowledge consumers as the barer of the keys to product success. But, the sales associates can provide priceless insight.

The Best Buy Guy(s) knew the typical process a consumer went through to make a large purchase, and what to do to steer them in the right direction.
The path is as follows:

1. Consideration - narrowing down the choice (based on brand, technology, price, etc.)
2. Rationalization - connecting it to a need (better sound, fits the space, good guarantee, etc.)
3. Emotionalization - justifying a want (friends will be in awe, family/party nights, etc.)
4. Validation - call friends/spouse to feel secure in decision 
5. Confirmation - make a choice 
6. Final Confirmation - make a final choice after second guessing

How can we tap into every part of this pathway? “Call a friend” kiosks sponsored by Samsung? Branded spreadsheets so you can make notes? Utilize the mavens in the sales process - a greater understanding and support of the decision path will create consumer awareness, connection and ultimately increase the chances for that sale.

For my faithful followers (in the millions now! ;)), my sincerest apologies for slacking on keeping up with my blog. Since we last spoke, I’ve had two things happen:

1. I’ve been busy practicing what I preach
2. I had my laptop stolen by the Best Buy Guy

Ok, maybe not a Best Buy Guy specifically, but a guy/girl who broke into my car outside Best Buy in San Francisco. To that person surfing my net, checking out my bookmarks, finding my design apps “fun to play with,” and enjoying my ITunes, I hope you find some peace in your life.

Flickr: lwr

Once in awhile, I wax poetic and unfairly find the common threads with life’s raison d’être and a brand’s raison d’etre - this is one of those times.  

I currently find myself amidst a brand positioning assignment conducting the customary executive workshop, competitive research and messaging analysis. While I believe highlighting strengths and finding a market opportunity are key to crafting a sustainable positioning, I feel more strongly about the need for true brand heart - regardless of B2B or B2C environments.

The ever evolving USP has almost become the Unbelievable Selling Proposition. Consumers or customers are skeptical of claims and need Presidential substantiation to be convinced of it. But, heart and passion are undeniable and inspiring.

To find this guiding light, your research also has to be extra-ordinary.  Nielsen articulated this well on Monday.

While surveys provide a sense of size or magnitude but are not ideal for capturing passion or intensity. - The Nielson Company, April 6, 2009

When speaking of luxury, one typically thinks of Prada, BMW, or perhaps Eames. When speaking of technology, does “luxury” come into play? Typically not, says Tim Herbert, senior director market research for CEA (Consumer Electronics Association).

One difference between CE and other markets like jewelry is CE products are considered more necessity than luxury in many cases, said Herbert. For example, GPS devices can be used to save time and mobile phones and other devices are integral to communicating with family members, he said.

Although, in this economy, regardless of financial status, luxury is being viewed as anything that isn’t a necessity. So, is that affecting the CE industry? According to industry articles, consumer are being more cautious with their digital choices, but are being thrifty on other purchases to be able to spend on technology must-haves. Also, The Department of Commerce has reported that the proportion of dollars spent on electronics versus other “durable goods” such as cars has never been higher.

Does price point come into consideration? IMO, only if both branding strategies and product excellence aren’t in unison. Below are some of my thoughts on how to go to market with a higher-priced CE SKU in this economy.

1. Create emotional technology
   Exploration, community, and authenticity are top-of-mind for tech-savvy consumers (specifically influential women) - dig into these communication platforms and uncover a deeper role the technology plays in their life.
2. Truly be the gold standard
   Quality and dependability is fundamental to influence purchase decisions.
3. Find your zealots 
   Establish your product/brand within a culture of consumers and let them be the marketers. As choices are made more cautiously, positive reviews and WOM are paramount.