From iMedia: 3 CMO mistakes that will ruin your brand (VIDEO)

In this episode of Marketing Obsessions with Kevin Lee, Jeff Hayzlett, CMO of Kodak, talks about common CMO mistakes that can lead to a branding downfall.

If you don't see the video panel, here the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zf5S7t5Syko

From AdAge Digital: Twitter as a Marketing Tool -- Avertisers take heed

I just read an article about how Twitter is peaking -- meaning it's soon all downhill from here. And it's just started picking up in Manila. 

Philippine advertisers are still far from using Twitter as a marketing tool. So I don't know if it will ever effectively be used here for marketing. Maybe we'll catch on to the next new thing instead. Who knows?

But for marketers thinking of using Twitter now, take heed: AdAge Digital offers some advise on when NOT to use Twitter. Read on.

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Top 10 Reasons Your Company Probably Shouldn't Tweet

Everyone's Talking About It, but Should You Be Doing It?

Posted by B.L. Ochman on 04.07.09 @ 09:16 AM

B.L. Ochman

Mainstream media has gone ga ga about Twitter, which grew more than 1,200% in the past year, doubled its members in the past few months and attained 14 million members in March, according to Compete.

Everyone and his dog seems to be tweeting, from CEOs to celebrities to not-for-profits, venture capitalists, banks, business services, government and, well, dogs (and cats, and the random parakeet, too). Should your business be tweeting? Twitter is not for everyone. Here are the Top 10 Reasons Not to Tweet.

1. You think using Twitter is a social-media strategy. It's a tactic, a tool, not a strategy. It works if you already have an online following who'll view your Tweets as a way to interact with your company on a human level.
2. Every tweet has to be approved by legal. Twitter is a social network where conversation is fast and interconnected. If you have to wait a day, or even a few hours for your 140 character Tweet to gain legal approval, Twitter will be the wrong platform for you.
3. You plan to use Twitter for nothing but broadcasting headlines or deals. People follow people they find interesting. Followers are earned on Twitter. Be interesting, make only every 10th tweet about you, and you'll gain and keep a following. If all your tweets are a one-way street: Block!
4. You think a ghost tweeter for the president of your company is OK. Authentic and transparent are the keys. It's fine if someone besides the CEO tweets for your company, as long as they say that's what they're doing.
5. You are not going to respond when people direct tweets at you. Twitter is like the new water cooler. If you walked out to the water fountain and talked nonstop to people gathered there, they'd certainly be happy when you left. Ditto for Twitter.
6. You think Tweeting as XYZ Corp., using the company logo as your avatar, might be a good idea. Identify the person or people tweeting for your company or don't tweet. The days of hiding behind the faceless corporation are over.
7. You think all that matters on Twitter is getting a lot of people to follow you. Quality trumps quantity.
8. You want to protect your updates. If people have to ask permission to see what you're posting on Twitter, you're defeating the purpose, which is conversation.
9. You plan to track Twitter with Google Analytics. Google Analytics won't give you true tracking. You can track the URLs you post with a service like BudURL or bit.ly, but you'll need to use one or more social-media tracking tools to monitor your corporate reputation and influence on Twitter.
10. You think you can just jump in and start tweeting. Listen first. Monitor what's being said about your brand, your industry, your products. Then join the conversation and become part of the community. Then your occasional marketing messages will be accepted, or at least tolerated because you also add value to the community. 

from Looking Up: A Break in the Clouds

Since the global economic downturn, I started receiving this weekly newsletter from Yankelovich and the Henley Centre called "Looking Up." Below is an excerpt from this week's edition.

My take on this: This is the time for strong and brave brands and companies to step up. Because consumers have adjusted, and are ready to start anew.

Leo Burnett, the ad man, started the agency during the Great Depression when everybody said he'd be lucky selling apples on the street. To prove his detractors wrong, he always kept a bowl of apples out to give to visitors and clients. Today, Leo Burnett is one of the strongest, most creative agency networks worldwide. And in each Leo Burnett office, you will still find those bowls of apples being given away as a testament to its great founder. 

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from Looking Up 3/17/09 by the Yankelovich and the Henley Centre

courtesy of Leo Burnett Information Resources

Marketing Imperative: Jump back into the mix with marketing that captures the new spirit of revival and optimism that is evident in the marketplace. Do not wait for a full-blown revival, for that will be too late. Now is the time to move, and by moving now, the early signs of improvement will be reinforced and strengthened. Consumers are primed for a new beginning. Give them a way to find that with your brands.

The shock that overwhelmed consumers as the economy tumbled over the past several months has now given way to outrage and indignation. Bernie Madoff’s guilty plea and subsequent revocation of bail was greeted with vigorous, widespread displays of exultation and satisfaction. A furious response resulted upon the announcement that AIG was planning to distribute $165 million in bonuses to employees of the very business group that bankrupted the company, which then took $170 billion of bailout funds from the Federal government to save it. The situation prompted both President Obama and New York Attorney General Cuomo to look into ways to stop the bonuses from being paid. Public support for additional bailouts continues to fall as people become more skeptical that such monies are helping the economy and as resentment grows over rescuing irresponsible businesses with taxpayer dollars.

Consumers are beginning to find their bearings again. They are no longer reeling. They are primed to take action. They are ready to move ahead. And the conditions are right for this reenergized determination to take hold and make a difference. Marketers must tap into this new-found energy and enthusiasm, in at least the following three ways.

1. Keep your brands consistent with the new sense of risk that consumers are bringing to the marketplace. Broadly speaking, there have been three eras of risk perception since the Great Depression. The first was an era of planning in which risk was viewed as real and plans were made to deal with it. This ended with the economic revival of the mid-1980s that corresponded to the start of the last great bull-market run and the so-called “great moderation” in which the economy was relatively stable and growing. This period was an era of indulgence in which risk was thought to be a thing of the past and thus could be ignored (or managed by “laying it off”). The recent downturn, in both its speed and severity, has brought risk back to the forefront. What’s ahead is an era of consequences in whichconsumers will take more explicit account of the consequences of their decisions as they make choices in the marketplace. Thus, responsibility and accountability will be more important elements of the consumer decision calculus. Building these factors into brand propositions will give consumers confidence that your brands matter in this new era and are the kinds of relationships that they want to have as they reengage with the marketplace.
   
2. Focus on innovations that will excite consumer passions despite any residual caution and reserve. The old reasons to buy have been discredited by the downturn. The ambition of “trading up”—the central dynamic of the past decade-plus—no long seems compelling. It was largely fueled by debt and expectations of constantly rising wealth, both of which are now seen to be wrong. And it does not fit a responsible way of consuming to have over-reaching material ambitions. So the old reasons no longer work. New reasons will have to be provided, and these will be part and parcel of a more strongly innovative presence in the marketplace. Key platforms for innovation include sustainability, community and civic renewal, health and well-being, and new kinds of service, all of which have been discussed in previous issues of Looking Up. The time has come for putting more effort behind these kinds of innovations.
   
3. Practice optimism. At the moment that things are showing signs of life, it is unwise to have a downbeat presence in the marketplace or to disappear from the marketplace entirely. Consumers want to interact with brands that mirror these hopeful signs. They want an ally to show them a way forward. They want brands that will inspire them and energize them. People want to believe again, even if they don’t want to go back to the way things were. This kind of optimistic approach is what will make your brands speak to consumers in ways that resonate and motivate.
   

How Very Familiar...

It's interesting how work conversations can be so similar even across the other side of the globe.  Take this quote from my latest newsletter from AdAge Digital (full article here):

CMO: We want you to get bloggers to write about our site and generate 250K monthly visits through their posts.

Agency: What is your demographic? What is your goal for that traffic?

CMO: We want them to spend money on the site, and we want to see how much traffic social media can generate.

Agency: What support will you give to your "experiment"? Does your budget include search engine optimization? PR? Google advertising? Company blog? Advertising on targeted blogs? A forum? An interactive website? Content sponsorship? Sponsored blog posts? Videos? Print advertising? Email campaign?

CMO: Those cost money. We don't have budget available for any of those.

Agency: Who on your staff has this campaign as his/her full-time responsibility?

CMO: Nobody.

Agency: What other marketing tools can we employ? Can we create a blog? Facebook page? Flickr group? YouTube videos? Twitter? Can we participate in social networks including Friend Feed and other online communities?

CMO: Our legal department says we cannot allow people to write on the wall on our Facebook pages. We can't participate in Twitter because everything we say has to pass through legal first and approval can take several days. So any site where we are expected to engage in public conversation would be out.

I get that a lot not only from clients, but sometimes from the people I work with in the agency. It's sad how everybody's talking digital, but only a few want to step up and put their budgets and their guts on the line. These are the times I'd love to say, "Look, if you don't want to risk it, then this conversation is over." Sometime I do.