Inegrated Marketing Case History
A Dummy's Puppet's Ramblings - from Chip Martin, Mannequin American
You Want Something? Use Integrated Marketing to Get It
I now understand "integrated marketing" because I've witnessed its power firsthand.
Dale (the guy who has a hand in everything I do) was recently the target of a sophisticated, fully-integrated one-to-one marketing campaign that lasted over three months and resulted in a successful purchase. The marketer made full use of available channels to build a detailed case in a logical sequence. The benefits-driven messaging appeared in print (targeted cards and notes), digital (e-mail, text messaging) and social media dialogs (connecting him to satisfied customers and testimonials).
The marketer achieved all this despite some tough challenges, including: a poor track record in past efforts; knowledge that Dale has a short attention span; and knowing that Dale has poor short-term memory. I'm told that all of these disadvantages are common in "husbands."
Yes, the multichannel campaign to convince Dale to purchase a specific piece of jewelry was designed and carried out by his wife, Leslie. The campaign was ultimately successful. And, as in all such campaigns, success could not be attributed to any single channel, but rather to all of them working in concert, backed by an astonishing degree of motivation.
Leslie obviously understood that channel integration was essential and that the best campaigns fire on all cylinders. Unlike many corporate marketers, she wasn't hampered by bureaucracy, decreased budgets, organizational constraints or fear or failure. In the real world these obstacles often keep marketers from executing the perfectly obvious plan.
Kudos to Leslie who truly knows the power, the workings and the triumph of integrated marketing.
Companies Willing to Pay This Much, Should Give Me a Call
When it fits, we integrate social media into marketing strategies to help keep a company's voice consistent across all communication tools. That's what marketing/PR firms do. But after reading an article in a recent edition of The Wall Street Journal, it became clear to me that I'm in the wrong business ... or I'm in the right business, but not charging enough. "Firms Get a Hand With Twitter, Facebook" talks about firms that are providing social media expertise to businesses and the costs associated with their services. For example:
- Arrange live-streaming Web conferences: $20,000 (Huh?!)
- Social-media support as part of a package of advertising and public-relations services: $10-20k/mo. or $200/hr. (Insane.)
- Social media training for your staff: $5-10k per month (I'll do it for less.)
Are you kidding me?! Seriously, call me ... (Okay, not me, but others who actually work in our office.) They can do most of the things mentioned above for considerably less money.
It's crazy that some companies seem eager to shell out big cash to firms that couldn't possibly be "experts" in a field that is too young for anyone to make such a claim. But carving out a niche as a "social media expert" is a booming fad today. We'll check back in 3 years to see if it's still around as an "industry" or just part of the tools used by ad agencies and full-service marketing/PR firms. My money is on the latter.
And here's a 60 second cartoon that sums up the non-complexities of social media humorously and honestly. (Go ahead - click on it. It's funny.)
Playboy Copies Itself
Social media has been all a "Twitter" about the cover of Playboy's November issue featuring Marge Simpson, the first cartoon character to ever appear on the cover. (I wonder if they'll have a fold-out of Marge?)
But KissMyBlackAds points out that Marge's cover is simply a redo of Playboys October 1971 issue featuring Darine Stern, the first black woman to appear on Playboy's cover. (Gotta love the person who remembered that they'd seen that pose before and went searching for it.) I think it takes class to satirize yourself. Well done.
Playboy has even struck a deal with 7-Eleven (which has done a lot of Simpsons promotions, including changing stores into Kwik-E-Marts) to carry the magazine, something it's done only once before in the past 20 years.
Ads That Caught My Attention
This ad for Slim Fast made me smile (which is difficult because my mouth is made of wood). It may be a bit chauvinistic, but it gets the point across.
Here's something completely tasteless. What were the people at Muscle Milk thinking when they approved the copy for the ad above? Oh, wait. I know. They thought they were being clever ... how could anyone possibly be offended by the words, "tail getter?"
I don't want you to think that today's advertising is worse than yesterday's advertising ... so read the copy for the Drano ad below.
Reading between the lines, here's my take on the story. "Our relationship was headed down the drain ... because the bathwater wasn't. After he dressed, Herbert would shuffle into the kitchen for his buttered toast. He'd sit down and look at it and say either ‘too light' or ‘too dark.' He'd sip his coffee and mumble ‘too weak' or ‘too strong.' Meanwhile, the bathwater was s-l-o-w-l-y emptying.
"But this morning, all that's changed! The Drano I sprinkled down the drain last night worked! And Herbert slipped in the bathtub, fell, cracked his skull open and died. Thank you Drano!"
