As more Americans buy Internet-connected TVs, interactive ads will soon be popping up on screens. In this video interview, Opera Mediaworks CEO Mahi de Silva joins Digits with a look at the next wave of mobile and interactive marketing. Some 35.1 million households will own one Internet-connected TV by 2014. Get smarter here.

The post The Future of TV Ads appeared first on Chief Marketer.

Within minutes of major disasters like the tornado in Moore, OK, businesses look to see how they too can help. In Oklahoma any number of companies have stepped up running various promotions, like Buffalo Wild Wings, to benefit the victims. Home Depot is serving as a location where animals found in the wreckage are being transported.  Here’s a sampling of what others like Buffalo Wild Wings are doing.

The post Local Companies Help Moore, OK Victims appeared first on Chief Marketer.

“The one thing you know about soccer fans—and I think this is true for sports fans overall—is that they’re really focused on their team,” says David DeVore, CEO of FanCentric. The challenge for his company was to provide emails that are relevant to fans based on their favorite team and their geographic location, as opposed to generic email blasts from the league.

The DNA: fandom and location

Those two bits of information—the fan’s favorite club and their location—informs the DNA of the tailored weekly emails to fans of the league’s 19 teams.  This data is used to populate each email with dynamic content – e.g., video highlights and photos of players from the fan’s favorite teams, and broadcast schedules specific to their location.

For example, a Seattle Sounders FC fan living in Wisconsin would receive emails designed in Sounder Blue and Rave Green (the official team colors) that feature an up-to-the-minute broadcast schedule with information on which network in the area is airing the match.

If a fan hasn’t voiced their loyalty to a specific team or indicated where they live, the footers of the emails they receive will ask them to share this information to get more relevant messaging. The footer emphasizes the value of personalization and puts the focus on the fan, DeVore says.

The goal of these emails is to bring meld a subscriber’s data with different types of content to generate automated emails that are seamless and elegant, and don’t come off as being unusual or programmed.

Future improvements

While these emails were built around broadcast schedules, in the future FanCentric intends to expand their scope by focusing more on team-specific news and content, relegating broadcast schedules to just one section of a more robust newsletter.

Currently, each of these emails includes a Twitter hashtag specific to the featured match of the week, but DeVore says the company hopes to make these emails more social by including real-time Twitter feeds and Facebook updates.

The real-time nature of soccer is a big factor for these emails. DeVore notes that the cycle of the run-up to a match, the duration of a match and the news of the results happens quickly.

“Sports and the way fans interact with sports is happening in real time, and it has a fairly limited lifecycle,” DeVore says when discussing one of the big lessons learned from FanCentric’s experience with these MLS emails so far.  The challenge, then, is to build a smooth mechanism to bring real-time information in outbound communications.

“The ability for marketers to have data in real time and have content in real time so they’re able to bring that content into email marketing faster and more efficiently than we might have been a few years ago has been huge,” DeVore says. This real-time trend will be a “huge driving change in the marketing industry in the coming years.”

The post Major League Soccer Scores With Personalized Email appeared first on Chief Marketer.

By the time most purchasers start talking to a salesperson, they’ve already done their own research via web searches, social media, online reviews and numerous other sources.

“The way we do business has changed drastically,” said John Neeson, managing director of Sirius Decisions, at the recent Sirius Decisions Summit in San Diego. “Salespeople thing they’re going into a discovery call and suddenly find them self neck deep in negotiations.”

A Sirius Decisions survey found that salespeople cited buyers being more informed than ever, thanks to access to more data and peer networks online as their number one concern. This was followed by buyers requiring more and earlier ROI, and buyers being less likely to engage vendors earlier, instead preferring to try and figure out things on their own.

For salespeople, key inhibitors to their success include insufficient leads, too many products or offerings to know, and not enough knowledge about their industry or solution.

“Prospects want to speak to a salesperson who can quickly communicate the value of their [brand’s] proposition,” said Neeson.

This means that salespeople no longer focus as much attention on the education phase of the process when it comes to nurturing leads, said Neeson. “Thought leadership and subject matter expertise are their best shot. That’s a dramatic change. Salespeople have said they want to focus more on where they can be more effective.”

When buyers get to the point where they are considering solutions, they have already positioned in their mind the vendor and their offering. “They’ve probably even looked the salesperson up on linked in, looked at the company website and put them in a bucket,” said Neeson.

At this point, it is important to be able to demonstrate an ROI for your solution, but it must be highly customized to the prospect’s needs. “Buyers have connected more with their peers at this vendor selection phase, and [are listening to] industry analysts,” said Neeson. “More people are involved in the decision process than ever before.”

For salespeople, this means that essentially the top third of the buying process is gone, meaning it is essential to try and get into the buyer’s journey earlier in the game.

“Marketing has to be more effective and there must be more alignment between sales and marketing,” Neeson said, noting that salespeople say they would benefit from pipeline acceleration programs, better leads and initiatives they can launch themselves to connect with buyers. “They want help doing their own marketing.”

Not surprisingly, Sirius Decisions’ buyer research shows the same thing, from the other side of thee coin. Buyers admit they are talking with peers in their personal networks in the research phase in social media, and want content to help in their process. “They want inbound marketing,” said Neeson, noting things like ROI calculators and demos are particularly appealing. “They’ll respond to outbound, but it needs to be in the form of content like case studies and analyst reports.”

Sirius Decisions’ buyer survey showed that when the CEO is making the decision to purchase, previous company experiences were the number one factor, followed by the influence of customer references, the relationship with the salesperson, the perception of the brand and then what peers say.

“Peer opinions were more important during the education process, but not so much when making the decision,” said Neeson.

How can salespeople get buyers’ trust? According to the survey, the key is demonstrating deep expertise about their industry (35%), followed by deep expertise about the buyer’s company (33%), showing he/she cares about the buyer’s persona success (21%) and then cultivating a personal relationship with the buyer (8%).

The post B2B Buyer’s Journey No Longer Begins With the Salesperson appeared first on Chief Marketer.

• New list to market in past 7 days
• Exclusive to list manager
• Data card quality score 85 or higher on NextMark
• Data card publicly available online

Coastal Angler Blow-In Program

Coastal Angler magazine is a resource for outdoor enthusiasts interested in purchasing rods, reels, tackle and other gear for fishing.

Universe: 5,600,000

Price:  $25/M

Contact: Adrea Rubin Media, Joe Frick, joef@adrearubin.com, (646) 487-3768

Datacard: http://lists.nextmark.com/market?page=order/online/datacard&id=380000

IT Executives from TechCentric

These IT professionals have registered on the TechCentric suite of websites.

Universe: 922,368

Price: $150/M

Selections: Number of employees, gender, geography, Hipanic, job title

Contact: The Information Refinery, Brahm Schenkman, bschenkman@inforefinery.com, (201) 529-2600 x29

Datacard: http://lists.nextmark.com/market?page=order/online/datacard&id=380945

Museum of Modern Art Design Store Catalog

These mail order buyers purchase unusual and modern items for themselves and as gifts.

Universe: 108,011

Price:  $105/M

Selections: $150+, $100+, $75+ and $50+ buyers; gender; SCF/State/Zip

Contact: Chilcutt Direct Marketing, Kayle Plotkin, kaylep@cdmlist.com, (405) 726-8794

Datacard: http://lists.nextmark.com/market?page=order/online/datacard&id=379735

SME Small Business

The Society of Manufacturing Engineers (SME) is the world’s leading professional society supporting manufacturing education.

Universe: 251,525

Price:  $150/M

Selections: Geographic, industry SIC/NAICS, job function/title, phone number, technical interests

Contact: Infogroup Enterprise Services, Mike Rovello, mike.rovello@infogroup.com, (402) 836-5639


Datacard: http://lists.nextmark.com/market?page=order/online/datacard&id=380959

The Word Among Us Regional Masterfile

These Catholic subscribers look to The Word Among Us for inspirational guidance.

Universe: 425,024

Price: $95/M

Selections: Gender, geographical, Zip

Contact: Estee Marketing Group, Deana Snyder, dsnyder@esteemarketing.com, (914) 235-7080 x306

Datacard: http://lists.nextmark.com/market?page=order/online/datacard&id=380978

Chris DeMartine is director of business development at NextMark and president of the VT/NH Marketing Group.

The post Chief Marketer Listline May 22 appeared first on Chief Marketer.

These winning promotions are heralded as among the best in the world. Their creators and their work are honored through editorial articles and become a permanent staple in the annual PROMO Sourcebook that both brand marketers and agencies alike keep on hand as a reference.

This year will be no exception with winners and finalists honored through profiles both online and in print, as well as in the 2014 PROMO Sourcebook.

Take a look back at last year’s winners and finalists and be inspired to enter your own work! You’ve worked hard. You got results. Now get the recognition you deserve.

The call for entries for the 2013 Pro Awards ends May 30. Visit www.pro-awards.com to start your entry today.

The post You Worked Hard. You Got Results. Now Get the Recognition You Deserve. appeared first on Chief Marketer.

Two points of differentiation—no high fructose corn syrup and a flexible, squeezable, microwaveable pouch—are played heavily in messaging and creative. The $1 million national marketing campaign for the line of eight Breyers Toppings just began rolling into the marketplace in the run up to the Memorial Day weekend as the weather warms and moms are looking for snacks for kids.

“We took a look at the category and there was not a lot of innovation,” Mindy Beegle, director of marketing, dessert decorating products for Signature Brands, said. “Customers were hungry for something new and exciting.”

Signature Brands and its agency, Eric Mower + Associates, began talking to retailers in the fall and shipments began this spring. The products are being sold by a number of retailers including Kroger, Publics, Food lion, Target and Walmart, which took all eight items in the lineup.

“That was a pretty exciting day,” she said.

A national FSI just hit with a $1-off coupon, as did full page and third-page ads in Walmart’s “All You” 1.5 million circulation magazine.

“A coupon can mitigate the risk when it comes to trying something new,” said Sandy Gingerich, senior partner Eric Mower + Associates, who manages the Buffalo office where the work came out of. “It’s not as risky as paying full price for something and then finding out you’re not really that happy with it.”

Much of the marketing is co-branded by both Breyers and Signature Brands, including on Facebook and Twitter. At Breyers’ Facebook page, its 312,000 fans find a dedicated tab that opens up to content about the toppings, links to www.breyerstoppings.com and a downloadable coupon. The page was built in a responsive design to sniff out users devices and resize itself for optimum viewing.

A supporting contest is also pitched at the site where fans can fill out an application to be selected as one of 25 people to be chosen as brand ambassadors.

“We’re choosing people that have a vey strong social media presence,” Christine Dougherty, management supervisor for the Signature Brands account at Eric Mower + Associates, said.

Video content is under development and will debut in July to keep the momentum going and provide news updates. In stores, large freestanding merchandise displays hold the product and tear off coupons.

Signature Brands’ own portfolio includes Cake Mate and Paas Easter egg-dye kits. It also markets products under licenses with Betty Crocker, Disney, Hershey and others.

The post Breyers Toppings Marketed with $1 Million Campaign appeared first on Chief Marketer.

1.  High Definition Matters

Quality matters. Video isn’t just for TV anymore, so it’s imperative you plan for your spots to be on all screens. 75% of homes today are HD capable, and nearly all laptops and PCs can play HD. Even the latest round of tablets and smart phones are high resolution and designed for the HD experience, not to mention connected televisions. In an environment when files are transcoded for each publisher and broadcast format, you don’t want quality to stand in the way of a great viewing experience. If you’re not mastering and delivering your spots in HD, you’re already behind the curve.

2. Sharing Means Caring

 Production is expensive, so every spot produced should be considered for use on all screens. And there’s no better way to ensure your spots are shared between media and creative teams across broadcast and digital, than by storing your masters in a digital asset management (DAM) platform. These systems not only make it easy to share spots, but they ensure all spot metadata is visible to all parties. And for global campaigns that need to customize and localize spots, it’s a requirement – not an option. From asset IDs to talent & usage rights, metadata transparency is a critical component of convergence and shouldn’t be overlooked.

3. 1,000,000+ Formats

The TV and online video ecosystems have their own unique set of video formats and standards — you can’t simply take a broadcast master and stream it online. As online video publishers each with their own specifications, and broadcast and TV networks around the globe increasingly require totally different specifications, it’s imperative the conversion process start with the highest quality format and to work with a partner that knows and is certified across the board. Campaign management platforms that automatically convert your production masters into the right formats for TV and online ensure your spots always look the best on any screen, anywhere in the world without any headaches. But make sure your online videos are all identified by an Ad-ID/ISCI code – all too often they’re not. Also, look for providers that have a variety of interactive video formats and flexible creative tools so you can offer the best experience for each type of screen. Interactive video has been shown to be nearly 10X as engaging as linear video ads.

4. Consider Your Platform.

When it comes to online video, site serving can leave you exposed. Marketers may want to consider a third-party ad server to have control over the campaign from a single platform, to eliminate the need to coordinate activities with each individual publisher.

5.  Where’s the Consumer?

Online campaign ratings are important, but cross platform ratings are where it’s at when it comes to video convergence. It’s the only way to measure your campaign when your spots are airing on both television and online. Look for duplicated and unduplicated reach to provide insights into how your TV and online activities complement one another. Also, demand open APIs from your data providers so you can aggregate those sources and layer them on top of your campaign ratings to extract more meaningful insights. Set top box data sources can be invaluable, but make sure you understand any differences that exist between those results and the media costs tabulated with industry standard currencies.

6. Optimize on the Fly

 Make the most of your creative by optimizing your campaigns for effectiveness across TV and online. For online video, third party ad servers can help with campaign optimization. Have a video narrative that you want sequence? What about frequency tagging? Performance triggers across all your publishers? These techniques can all be employed to generate substantial lift in brand awareness and affinity. Online campaigns and engagement data can also be used to optimize broadcast campaigns. It’s simple to test spots at limited scale online and then use the results to aid the decision making process for broadcast and cable TV traffic.

7. Don’t Sell Dog Food to Cat People

Relevancy is one of the most influential factors of advertising. But to be relevant, you need both advanced targeting capabilities, either by program or audience, and a library of creative options. Program or content targeting is not as straightforward online as it is on TV, but it is possible. And for audience targeting, you don’t have to limit yourself to online. Most cable, satellite and IPTV providers all have addressable advertising solutions that can help you zero in on your target audience through HH modeling. When it comes to creative, make sure you have lined up a provider to build multiple versions of spots for different audiences up front, or are using dynamic creative optimization technology to customize spots on the fly.

8. Go Global or Go Home.

Convergence isn’t just about breaking down the silos of media channels – it’s about breaking down geographic silos as well. Large scale campaigns spanning multiple countries and continents can be daunting, but one of the best things you can do for your brand and yourself is to accept convergence. Consistency and control over the brand message are just the tip of the iceberg. Workflows can now be streamlined and shared across offices. Various local brand teams can suddenly work together or share leanings and best practices. And data generated from every consumer interaction on every screen around the globe can be visualized and acted upon in real time. You don’t have to give up your local creative & marketing partners either – in fact it’s quite the opposite. You simply need to provide a common set of tools to empower them and everyone involved in the campaign to do what they do best.

9. Don’t Forget the Talent

Most digital agencies don’t think about the implications of using creative online that hasn’t been approved for use outside of broadcast. That can create unanticipated costs for marketers. Talent management companies such as TEAM Services and Talent Partners are used by 98% of the marketers in North America. Ensure that you work with your talent payroll and management company to secure buyouts for content that will be used online.

10. This Screen, That Screen, Just Make Sure it Works

Finding a partner with true scale, reliability and the breadth of services across both traditional TV and online is critical. Whether your spots are bound for broadcast or online – on TV, desktop, tablet or smart phone – national or international – a common platform to unite activities is fundamental to convergence. Point solutions for online video only go so far when they’re disconnected from the initial creative process and broadcast efforts. And broadcast solutions without robust online targeting and optimization severely limit campaign potential. While these best practices can help you get started, the next step is to bring them all together.

John Douglas is product marketing manager of DG.

The post 10 Tips For Online Video Success appeared first on Chief Marketer.

Supporting the channel is a yearlong “DTour of a Lifetime” competition offering six people the chance to be brand ambassadors traveling the world and documenting their adventures on the channel.

John Greenleaf, global head of the DoubleTree by Hilton brand, talks Google, technology, budget and more.

CHIEF MARKETER: What is the goal of your partnership with Google?
GREENLEAF: The marketing partnership is with Google and Hilton Worldwide to work with Google to uncover opportunities that will benefit our brands. The first to develop a program is Doubletree with DTour. We think it leverages the strength of Google and the travel distribution of Hilton Worldwide.

CM: How did the idea for the channel come up?
GREENLEAF: The idea was generated in conjunction with Google who has participated in our strategic planning for a year. This is what came out of that—social, combined with experiences people have with travel.

CM: How does the site work?
GREENLEAF: It aggregates comments and feedback on travel based on location. We view it almost as a noncommercial approach to consolidate people’s feedback. People comment on any travel experience, they can drag in any video or pictorial content to DTour from their social sites and then share that with the larger public about what they did in that market.

CM: This is a new technology developed specifically for this program. Can you explain?
GREENLEAF: It was developed by a software company, This Moment, which Google engaged for us to be able to pull social content into DTour.

CM: How does all this tie to booking room nights at your hotels?
GREENLEAF: All of our hotels are posted on the map at the site, but it’s more about the locations you’ve traveled to and the experiences people have had there. Customers talk about the value and excitement of travel within the context of the network of hotels we have around the world. It’s a really personal way to describe it and a way to personalize the product and travel experience within the context of the DoubleTree hotel brand. The feedback from travelers and locations ties in beautifully to our hotels.

CM: What kind of a response have you gotten since the launch on May 6?
GREENLEAF: Within two weeks we have gotten more than 1 million views.

CM: What are your marketing plans for DTour?
GREENLEAF: All of the marketing is for the U.S. and UK and was developed online. In place now are media buys on YouTube, Lonely Planet and BBC.com with video ads that run across food, lifestyle, travel and business categories. We’re also running traveler interview videos with the BBC.com and full-page takeovers and wallpaper in North America on Lonely Planet.

CM: Why those particular sites?
GREENLEAF: Those are sites that are very much aligned with the traveler who is going to use social media more.

CM: What role do DoubleTree hotel team members play on the site?
GREENLEAF: Through a section called “DTour Guides,” team members across the globe can share their travel advice and must-see hotspots from a local perspective.

CM: Have you shifted budget dollars to online?
GREENLEAF: DoubleTree brand spends about half of our marketing dollars online, including mobile. That’s a significant shift and we do it very effectively with a lot of testing, a lot of different executions and to drive awareness.

CM: How does mobile fit in?
GREENLEAF: We’re working with Google to develop mobile programs. That’s clearly the fastest growing channel for travel and we’re anxious to get out ahead of that. We just launched the Hilton Honors app last week and have seen the most downloads so far over last week.

CM: How does this program compare to your overall marketing program?
GREENLEAF: We have tried to stay on the leading edge of technology as far as how we compare to other hotel marketers. We continue to push hard to stay in front in that part of the marketing arena.

CM: How do you do that?
GREENLEAF: We test offers to encourage consumers to book business on DoubleTree.com. We buy lots of banners that feature an interactive promotion or rate with click through to DTour.com. We book through our app and are very active in email campaigns targeted to Hilton HHonors members. We are very aggressive in exploring new and better ways to generate business and the partnership with Google is just one of the ways we’re pushing that forward this year.

The post DoubleTree, Google Build Custom YouTube Travel Channel appeared first on Chief Marketer.

For example, Dunkin’ Brands doesn’t encourage local franchisees to do things like start their own Facebook pages, not only because of the work involved (which franchisees quickly learn they don’t have time for) but the tremendous support the corporate social machine can give them

When deciding where it needs to be socially, Dunkin’ considers where consumer are interacting with brands on emerging platforms. A Vine account  was launched in May with a “Runnin’ on #IceDD” contest, where users can win a year of free iced coffee for sharing how the beverage puts a spring in their step. Dunkin’ Donuts has 8.7 million+ Facebook fans, 230,000+ Twitter followers, and 27,000+ YouTube subscribers (with 1.2 million+ video views), as well 4,000+ Pinterest and 42,000+ Instagram.

“People love sharing pictures of donuts,” says Jessica Gioglio, PR and social media manager, noting that the company’s most popular Facebook post to date was a photo of smiley faced donuts, generating 63,000 likes, 5,600 shares, and over 5,000 comments.)

The brand itself has roots as a small local business. The first Dunkin’ Donuts shop opened in Quincy, MA in 1950, where it still stands today. The business case for social for Dunkin’ was to create a high energy community of fans. “We wanted to wrap our arms around them and show we care about what they say,” says Gioglio, who spoke at a recent PRSA Boston event.

Dunkin’ has a cross-functional social team, incorporating representatives from many aspects of the company. The interactive group handles promotions, email, loyalty and mobile, while media oversees advertising and strategic partnerships. PR and customer service keep tabs on social content and community management, while legal is brought in to offer overall program counsel.

Local agencies help Dunkin Brands support over 50 Twitter accounts for different geographic regions, such as @DCDunkin, @DunkinBoston and @DunkinChicago. Through these accounts, localized specials are offered.

Social also helps Dunkin’ gain momentum in areas the brand has not expanded into yet, such as California, where it plans to be by 2015.

The key to good social content for the brand is to keep things short and sweet, and talk up the products while staying away from a hard sell.

“You can say go buy a donut but its more engaging to say ‘how many bites does it take to eat a donut?’” Gioglio says.

The “DD Fan of the Week,” a concept created in social, has gone out into the real world, as the honoree is featured on a digital billboard Dunkin’ has in Times Square. Other engaging campaigns have included asking customers do dress their coffee cups up in Halloween costumes and share the photos, or to tweet pics of their “sad” lunch sandwiches, for the chance to win and upgrade to a Dunkin’ product.

On the gaming side of social, Dunkin’ Donuts has a presence in Sim City, a partnership that earned it 3.7 bilion impressions in less than 6 months and over one million new Facebook fans. In the game, Dunkin’ has gifted more than 50 milllion virtual coffees, donuts and other products.

Social has also proved to be an effective customer service tool for the chain. When PR pro Zach Nobinger tweeted that the cheese on his bagel wasn’t melted three times in one week, Dunkin’ started following him in 27 seconds, direct messaged him and quickly got a gift card out to make up for his inconvenience. Nobinger created a YouTube video chronicling the PR/customer service win for Dunkin’. (Giglio admits they don’t get to everyone in 27 seconds, of course, but they do their best.)

It has also been valuable as a PR outlet. When Boston was on lockdown during the manhunt for the Marathon bombing suspect in April, news outlets jumped on the fact that while the city had asked businesses to stay closed, some Dunkin’ Donuts locations were open. Giglio’s team was able to get the word out that the stores were open because employees had arrived prior to the lockdown and police had asked them to stay open, to give offers a place to refresh during the stressful day.

On a more positive note, Dunkin’ is always on the lookout to tie in to holidays that fit with the brand. That makes June 7, National Donut Day, a natural. Customers who purchase a beverage will get a free donut.

The post Dunkin’ Donuts Goes Local From the Corporate Level appeared first on Chief Marketer.