OTA Sessions: My Takeaways from OTA

Posted on March 31, 2010 by admin

I have to be honest—I didn’t know what to expect when I first signed up to attend the OTA Sessions. I was hoping to get some good pointers and hear a few fun stories along the way. Well, it blew away my expectations. I can honestly say this was one of the more powerful events I’ve attended in recent years.

I learned a lot at OTA but I wanted to bring up the points that have resonated with me over the past few days.

Create a movement not a campaign

As Spike Jones told us, movements continue for forever and campaigns have an end date. The movements should propel the brand forward while getting your strongest advocates to be influencers of the movement. We all want to feel like we have a voice—what is more powerful than being a brand champion for the companies you believe in? Or in terms of marketing a company or product—what is more powerful than having passionate influencers out there talking about how much they love your brand? I work as a media buyer so it is easy to think of things in terms of a beginning and end date for each campaign. One of my personal goals is to think of things in terms of a movement as I plan the media buying instead of just focusing on a message for a finite amount of time.

90% of Word of Mouth Marketing is offline

And just when we thought that divulging our every thought and opinion online was the answer. This was the one thing Spike Jones encouraged us to remember even if we forgot everything else he said. It is easy to get caught up in the hype of the latest and greatest
social media tool but we can’t forget the people continue to talk about a brand/company offline.

Feel the Burner

Julien Smith delivered some great advice—feel the burner. It was meant to encourage you to experience what might scare you. He challenged us to take a minute and feel the burner. Sure, you might get burned, but you also might discover something you would’ve missed out on if you just stuck to your safe and predictable path.

Change on a daily basis

As Mitch Joel mentioned in his presentation, 20% of Google searches each day are searches that have never been done before. This is a great illustration of how fast things are changing. It also reinforces how important it is for online content to continually evolve to embrace the constant changes.

Using photos to tell the story

I don’t know about you, but I’m filing away everything I’ve been taught about bullet pointing my presentations. The presentation styles were as captivating as the message each speaker delivered. I will remember the photos that helped tell the story much longer than I will ever remember a bullet point. I can tell you the identity of Spike Jones, see the burner image from Julien Smith, and recall the sculpture Tim Brunelle used to illustrate his journey message. The photos were a powerful reinforcement of what they wanted me to take away from their talk.

Thanks to everyone who put on OTA sessions! I enjoyed the day and am looking forward to seeing what OTA brings in the future.

- Heather Solberg

OTA Sessions: Sure, I’ll Go.

Posted on March 30, 2010 by admin

Anytime we get an e-mail from our Certified Advertologist with the phrase “and the company will pay for it”, it gets my attention. This time the offer was for an all day OTA session at $150 a head so I was all for it. Plus, what I knew about social media and a connected world was that I didn’t know enough.

My personal experience on the subject began about a year ago at the request of a few of the Corazón soccer players who suggested that I join facebook. I did and soon had about 20 friends. The frightening part was that most of them were 14-year old girls. I was expecting a call from the authorities at any moment.

Soon after that, (to the chagrin of the facebook youth of America) the baby boomers
signed on. I’m up to 98 friends, most are adults, and we are all social networking away in a world that is changing by the minute.

At the OTA the first change I noted was the wardrobe of our industry prophets. Not that long ago, experts in our field would have been in a suit and tie, speaking to an audience clad in dark suits looking like they were at secret service convention. Today’s visionaries need only Levis, t-shirts, hoodies and sneakers to deliver compelling information about an environment where the opportunities to deliver one-to-many messages are quickly fading.

A more meaningful change is one that Julien Smith discussed. He talked about the new channels that don’t require transmitters or printing presses. The next night while discussing the day’s soccer games and other high level subject matter, one of the soccer moms shared a perfect example of what Smith was speaking about. When the O’Gorman Knights won the state boys basketball championship in Rapid City while she was at an event in Sioux Falls, the news came instantly via a text message. She didn’t have to wait to find out during a sportscast “right after these messages”. Instead, her husband became the media channel and there wasn’t a 2,000-foot tower or a gross rating point involved. What we take for granted is amazing when you think about it.

Who would ever have thought that our mission would turn to building tribes? Or that a group of people, the size of South Dakota, would join facebook every day? Or that someone would actually take the time to document how the country is feeling based on comments that we post on the web? It was an eye-opening day.

And who would have thought that we could have such a great line-up of industry leaders on stage right here at the Orpheum? It was a great OTA. Kudos, and thank you, to Hugh Weber for his courage and energy to bring this day together. Thank you to all of the guest presenters for bringing their stories to South Dakota in an enlightening and interesting way. And thank you Sioux Falls for turning out and supporting an event like this with your attendance.

I’m looking forward to next year…and you know what? Sure, I’ll be thrilled to go.

- Leigh Anglin

Advertising Icons; The Mighty and the Fallen

Posted on March 19, 2010 by admin

Here in Sioux Falls, the media is buzzing about Mr. Bendo; the towering icon of Buck’s Mufflers. That got me to thinking about advertising icons in general, so here are a few thoughts on advertising characters through the years.

I’ve lived in Sioux Falls for more than 20 years. I hadn’t been here long before I saw Mr. B., and how could you miss him, his mighty hand holding the muffler high above Cliff Avenue. Mention Mr. Bendo to anyone in town and they can tell you he stands in front of Buck’s Mufflers. I’ve never used the services of Buck’s and I’m sure there are more Sioux Falls residents who, like me, have never been in the shop than those who have. But we all know Buck’s. That is the power of an advertising icon. As of this writing, more than 3,000 Facebook users have become fans of Fix Mr. Bendo. He is such a part of our lives that we don’t want to see him go.

Working with McDonald’s, I’ve had the opportunity to spend some time with Ronald McDonald. (Ronald lives in McDonaldland; he does occasionally visit the Sioux Empire.) While it’s fun to watch Ronald do his magic tricks and tell jokes and stories, the best thing to do is stand back and watch the people flock to him. As you might expect, kids love him. Every child knows Ronald and talks to him like an old friend. As an advertising icon, he is an old friend. The surprise comes when adults meet him; they love him too. From six to sixty, we see Ronald as a familiar face and reminder of Happy Meals past. The power of the icon follows Ronald where ever he goes.

But Ronald McDonald and Mr. Bendo are not alone; we all know diminutive icons like Speedy Alka Seltzer and Snap, Crackle and Pop; and the larger than life like the Jolly Green Giant, The Happy Chef and Bob’s Big Boy.

Over the years we have seen characters that we know through other media become advertising icons. Like Snoopy for example, he started his life in Charles Schultz’s Peanuts cartoons, now he sells investments and insurance for MetLife.

Recently we saw icons make the jump from advertising to mainstream media. The Geico cavemen starred in several commercials (some great, some forgettable) and became so popular they were given their own TV show on ABC. While the series was short-lived, it illustrates the power of the advertising icon to become a part of our culture.

As a child I recall my mom letting me pick out cereal in the grocery store aisle, and what do you think influenced my selection? A parade of icons spoke to me from the shelves; Tony The Tiger told me his Frosted Flakes were “Grrrrreat!” and Lucky the Leprechaun schlepped his marshmallows shaped like pink hearts and green clovers. There was a team of monsters; Frankenberry, Count Chocula and Boo-Berry the Ghost. But as a kid I loved science fiction so I gravitated towards the little alien on the box of Quisp.

Even Santa Claus owes much of his current image to his days as an advertising icon. The jolly man in the red suit, with a fluffy white beard appeared in Coca-Cola magazine ads in the early 1930’s, forever changing the image of Saint Nick. Remember back in the days before blogs and Google, magazines and newspapers were read by nearly everyone.

So for now, Mr. Bendo is down, but I don’t think he’s out just yet. Advertising icons, whether they be fiberglass, paper or celluloid are a pretty resilient bunch.

- Jim Mathis

To Tweet or not to Tweet; That is the Question.

Posted on March 12, 2010 by admin

A few days ago I got a call from an old friend, a media rep who is a real pro when it comes to selling TV. But his question was about social media. “I’ve had a few small local clients lately saying they are cutting their advertising and just using Facebookand Twitter. That just doesn’t make sense to me, what do you think?” he asked. I gave him a quick response but promised I’d think about it and answer more in-depth.
Here it is, you asked for it.

As the old axiom says, “I know that only half of my advertising works, the problem is, I don’t know which half.” So along comes Facebook, and people think they have found the Holy Grail of Advertising; it’s cheap and effective! It stands to reason, if only half of my Facebook posts bring in customers, at least I didn’t waste any money.

Here are a few of my thoughts on social media like Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, the good, the bad and the ugly:

Social media is just one arrow in your quiver. Like any medium, social media works best when it is used in conjunction with another medium. Outdoor works well with radio, television complements print, point-of-sale reinforces mass media. All media works best when it is a part of a media mix.

As the old Steely Dan song says, “It’s cheap but it’s not free.” I keep hearing people say social media is free… and it is to some point. I use Facebook to post snarky comments and share pictures and stories with old high school and college buddies, and that’s free. But for my business, I don’t just want to post without thinking about it. Any communications in the name ofADwërks (like this blog) needs to be well thought out and provide some useful information to our clients, vendors and potential clients. And for me to put that kind of time into a post takes time away from other business duties. So is it free? If you believe, like I do, that time is money, then social media is not free.

Social media is only valuable to your business when it provides value to your customers. I’ve seen a few local businesses use Facebook efficiently and to provide worthwhile information to their customers. For example, Sanaa Abourezk, owner of Sanaa’s at 8th and Railroad posts a little something on Facebook each weekday; a note about her menu; what kind of soup she’s making for lunch, a special dessert or something fresh and delicious. She posts these everyday, just before lunch. A simple reminder like that has helped make up my mind about where I’m going for lunch.

Do you want new customers, or are you happy with the customers you have? While Sanaa’s does a good job of communicating with current customers, Facebook won’t do much to reach out to new diners. I see her post, but unless I comment, my friends who are not fans of Sanaa’s never hear about her offerings. Traditional media – TV, radio, print and outdoor – reach new and unexpected audiences constantly and every message invites new customers in. With social media, you’re waiting for new customers to invite your business in.

What is your competition doing? Before you abandon your current marketing and roll the dice on your awesome tweets, ask yourself this: What is your competition doing? If they are still actively seeking new customers, can you afford to give up the game and let them win? I know I can’t.

Not everyone is an expert. One of the things that happened with the meteoric rise in social media’s popularity is the equally sudden appearance of social media experts. The same thing happened several years ago with desktop publishing; suddenly everyone with a Mac was a graphic designer. Then anybody with a $400 video camera became a TV producer. Now everyone over the age of 12 is claiming to be a social media expert. And while those people may be able to set up a page, without a sound marketing strategy behind it, it’s no better than the snarky comments I send my college roommate. If tweeting fits your marketing plan, great; by all means, do it. But social media is just another marketing tactic that needs to have a sensible place in your marketing plan. Strategy first, tactics second. No different than TV or radio, you need to have a plan or you’re just wasting your time and energy.

It’s not as easy as it seems. I was talking with a reporter the other day who commented about how he enjoys the ADwërks Twitter stream. While I thanked him for following us, I admitted that one of my team works on keeping Twitter updated. While it seems easy, it really does take time. I write many of our blog posts, Mike handles Twitter, Kara and I update our Facebook. Other staffers feed us story ideas, we divide the duties of updating social media pages for clients and we’re all working on the same plan and towards the same goals. A social media strategy takes time. If we had to pay an outside company to handle our social media, we would spend thousands of dollars each month. Like I said, it’s cheap, but it’s not free.

Social media is Social. The best part about social media is that it requires interaction. For years traditional media has come into your living room and simply said “Buy this!” Facebook and Twitter invite conversations and recommendations, sites like Digg and Yelp and Angie’s List are there specifically to invite comments and criticism. The one-way communication of old-school advertising has suddenly become a two-way street. A business owner can talk with customers, hear their ideas and respond to complaints like never before. And that is something social media can do that TV and radio cannot.

So to my friend in Montana, I hope that gives some clarity to the social media puzzle and maybe help you convince those folks to keep the traditional media and use social media as a supplement. And to everyone else, the best part of this format is that it is open for your ideas and comments as well. If you know of a business that is using social media well, give them a plug. Think I’m full of crap? You can let me know, right here, right now. Don’t worry, I can take it.

- Jim Mathis