In 1998 the dot-com boom was coming on fast, and it seemed the Web would provide marketers with unimaginable precision, power and reach.

But 10 years later it’s consumers who are calling the shots on the Internet.

Mark McLaughlin, vice president for audience strategies at Yahoo!, recalls his first brush with the Web. It was 1987.

“I happened to stumble upon the ‘Whole Earth Catalog’ by Stewart Brand. Anyone familiar with it might understandably have a tough time reconciling the Internet with that ’60s-era compendium of ideas, insights and tools for helping readers ‘find their own inspiration, shape their own environment, and share their adventures.’” But in fact, Apple Inc. founder Steve Jobs described the Whole Earth Catalog as a “conceptual forerunner of Web search engines.”

The Web’s empowerment of consumers is profound, McLaughlin notes. “All marketing today is focused on understanding and fulfilling consumer wants. And the Internet was the engine driving that dynamic. Little bits and pieces of data can tell you so much. Who are the folks most interested in buying your car? How are your marketing efforts influencing the public’s perception of your nonprofit organization? There was no equivalent to it in any analog media.”

MEANINGFUL DIALOGUE

In the analog world, marketing was all about presentation, repetition and arresting creative. In today’s multichannel world, the emphasis has shifted from marketing as one-way presentation to a two-way conversation. The challenge now is, how do you ensure that your marketing dollars are fostering a dialogue that leads to increased sales and profitable ROI, and aren’t being squandered on idle conversation?

Jerry Shereshewsky, Yahoo!’s former ambassador to Madison Avenue and currently CEO of Grandparents.com, agrees. “Imagine two 65-year-old men,” he says, “any race, any religion — it doesn’t matter — living on the same street, in the same neighborhood. Now assume their financial status is about the same and that they both have grandchildren. But one is busy with other interests. Sure, he sees the kids regularly — no question he loves them and they love him. But the other, well, he’s a truly devoted granddad. And that makes all the difference.”

But how can Shereshewsky tell the devoted grandfather from the more passive one? “If we present him with the right opportunity and talk to him in a language he understands, the devoted one will tell us what he wants for his grandchildren. That’s the foundation of a truly high-value marketing relationship.”

NEW MEDIA, NEW ROLES

The rising role of consumers as media creators and directors can’t be ignored. A quick look at the meteoric growth of the blogosphere provides ample support for that contention: The number of posts doubled from 2006 to 2007, and associated advertising dollars have followed suit, increasing from a mere $36 million in 2006 to an estimated $360 million by 2010. The same growth can be extrapolated for mobile devices and search engine marketing.

Today’s consumers are equally comfortable blocking out media and marketing messages they don’t feel meet their needs — or worse, waste their time. Within a year of the National Do Not Call Registry’s rollout in 2003, more than 64 million Americans had signed up. That avalanche of response constituted a real wake-up call to an industry that just assumed consumers would always placidly accept its marketing overtures, wherever and however it extended them.

Now a do-not-mail movement is gaining momentum. And it may morph into a much more comprehensive do-not-contact effort by an unholy alliance of misguided privacy advocates, environmental watchdogs and state and federal legislators.

The bottom line: We must align accepted marketing practices with consumers’ predispositions.

DONN RAPPAPORT is ALC’s chairman and CEO. This article is excerpted from the upcoming issue of The Rest of the Story, a newsletter published three times annually by ALC. For a free subscription, e-mail [email protected].

(Promo) There’s a pivotal moment in the classic rock concert film “Woodstock,” when an announcer bellows: “It’s now a free concert, man!”

He should have only known. For the 12th annual heavy metal tour known as Ozzfest, getting under way July 12 in Seattle, all of the tickets for the 24-city run across the country will be free.

Never before has the festival formula been so turned upside down, with the whole financial burden being placed on sponsors.

Ozzfest will have less than half the number of sponsors it did last year. But they reportedly are being charged nearly twice as much as what they paid in the past.

They include Jägermeister, For Your Entertainment (FYE), Monster Energy, and Hustler Lingerie, although more are expected to be announced. More than 95% of the tickets at each show will be distributed by the sponsors for their own giveaways.

The decision to go free this time around came from Sharon Osborne, wife and manager of one-time Black Sabbath lead singer Ozzy Osborne, and tour promoter LiveNation.

“For the last few years, ticket prices have steadily climbed as artists demand more and more money for summer tours,” Sharon Osborne stated in February when the tour was announced. “We certainly want everybody to make money; however, we also want the kids to be able to afford to come out and have an incredible experience.”

A limited number of Osborne’s new specially marked CDs contain a code for a first chance at two Ozzfest seats. Osborne will be among each show’s six or seven acts.

Another unusual wrinkle this year is that the artists for the most part are not getting paid. Subsequently, no superstar bands like Metallica, which had headlined previous Ozzfests, are on the bill. But “baby bands” have lined up to fill the void. They’re incentivized by being allowed to keep the proceeds from CD and t-shirt sales at the venues, and can accept paid gigs on the off days in the vicinity.

What does a sponsor get out of it?

“It’s all about sampling,” responds Joe Parsons, who oversees motor sports marketing for Monster Energy, but has also been involved with the brand’s participation in Ozzfest the past three years.

Monster Energy will hand out free cans of its beverage at six locations within every concert venue. And beginning June 1, specially marked Monster Energy four-packs and the new Monster eight-pack will offer purchasers a chance to win a pair of Ozzfest tickets.

Fellow sponsor Jägermeister, because of its alcoholic content and related local laws, cannot indulge in the sampling opportunities presented at a live show. But its presence will be felt in other ways on the tour.

“As for the promotional value, there will be several thousand people at any one time viewing the Jägermeister stage,” says Amanda Lechner, marketing brand manager for Sidney Frank Importing Co., Inc., which distributes Jägermeister. “This exposure is priceless to us.”

Lechner adds that Jgäermeister gets “access to great seats, which we provide to our VIPs. Ozzfest serves as a great tool for us to provide our key accounts, distributors with an experience they don’t see every day.”

For music retailer FYE, Ozzfest represents an opportunity to sell product but also reinforce the brand with attendees, explains Matt Williams, marketing manager of events and sponsorships for FYE parent Trans World Entertainment (TWE).

TWE has in the past year phased out various retail chain names such as Sam Goody, Coconuts and Wherehouse Music, and converted them to FYE, where Ozzfest is being promoted with in-store signage.

This year’s Ozzfest will be the seventh at which TWE has sponsored a booth where fans can get band autographs and photos with the musicians. “That’s the only thing they can’t download: a live visit with the band,” quips Williams.

What does TWE think about this year’s model? “We thought it was pretty crazy,” Williams says.

“The Hustler brand has seen a tremendous resurgence recently in the younger markets, and we see this tour as an opportunity to build on the excitement that’s surrounding the name right now,” notes Brian Wagner, marketing and PR director for Hustler Lingerie. “It’s also an amazing venue for market research, as this grassroots type of marketing/vending allows us to get in front of so many different types of people in so many different cities.”

There is some skepticism that the new Ozzfest formula will work financially for all parties concerned.

“It’s a reflection of a shift in today’s touring industry,” says Dan Joyce, a financial analyst with Miller Tabak & Co., who tracks LiveNation. “[Free] is definitely an interesting prospect,” he adds.

But Joyce is not sure LiveNation will be able to make up the loss of ticket revenue with enough concessions and parking. It’s no accident that every stop on the tour is a venue that LiveNation owns.

Artist-wise, the tour will have to rely on younger bands because established acts will not play for free. “Tours are where they make money,” comments Joyce.

He expects the sponsors might make out best. By having only a handful of commercialized messages at the event, “there’s less clutter and the sponsorships are worth more. It’ll produce more impressions, and justify [for LiveNation] greater revenue coming from them.”

“I don’t think [going free is] a trend,” opines Gary Bongiovanni, editor of “Pollstar,” the concert industry’s leading trade publication. “You can’t make any significant money by not selling tickets.” He adds: “It’s a good experiment that’s never been done before. But I don’t think it’s a business model that again will be followed.”

There’s a Pivotal Moment in the classic rock concert film “Woodstock,” when an announcer bellows: “It’s now a free concert, man!”

He should have only known. For the 12th annual heavy metal tour known as “Ozzfest,” getting under way July 12 in Seattle, all of the tickets for the 24-city run across the country will be free.

Never before has the festival formula been so turned upside down, with the whole financial burden being placed on sponsors.

Ozzfest will have less than half the number of sponsors it did last year. But they reportedly are being charged nearly twice as much as what they paid in the past.

They include Jägermeister, For Your Entertainment (FYE), Monster Energy, and Hustler Lingerie, although more are expected to be announced. More than 95% of the tickets at each show will be distributed by the sponsors for their own giveaways.

The decision to go free this time around came from Sharon Osborne, wife and manager of one-time Black Sabbath lead singer Ozzy Osborne, and tour promoter LiveNation.

“For the last few years, ticket prices have steadily climbed as artists demand more and more money for summer tours,” Sharon Osborne stated in February when the tour was announced. “We certainly want everybody to make money; however, we also want the kids to be able to afford to come out and have an incredible experience.”

A limited number of Osborne’s new specially marked CDs contain a code for a first chance at two Ozzfest seats. Osborne will be among each show’s six or seven acts.

Another unusual wrinkle this year is that the artists for the most part are not getting paid. Subsequently, no superstar bands like Metallica, which had headlined previous Ozzfests, are on the bill. But “baby bands” have lined up to fill the void. They’re incentivized by being allowed to keep the proceeds from CD and t-shirt sales at the venues, and can accept paid gigs on the off days in the vicinity.

What does a sponsor get out of it?

“It’s all about sampling,” responds Joe Parsons, who oversees motor sports marketing for Monster Energy, but has also been involved with the brand’s participation in Ozzfest the past three years.

Monster Energy will hand out free cans of its beverage at six locations within every concert venue. And beginning June 1, specially marked Monster Energy four-packs and the new Monster eight-pack will offer purchasers a chance to win a pair of Ozzfest tickets.

Fellow sponsor Jägermeister, because of its alcoholic content and related local laws, cannot indulge in the sampling opportunities presented at a live show. But its presence will be felt in other ways on the tour.

“As for the promotional value, there will be several thousand people at any one time viewing the Jägermeister stage,” says Amanda Lechner, marketing brand manager for Sidney Frank Importing Co., Inc., which distributes Jägermeister. “This exposure is priceless to us.”

Lechner adds that Jgäermeister gets “access to great seats, which we provide to our VIPs. Ozzfest serves as a great tool for us to provide our key accounts, distributors with an experience they don’t see every day.”

For music retailer FYE, Ozzfest represents an opportunity to sell product but also reinforce the brand with attendees, explains Matt Williams, marketing manager of events and sponsorships for FYE parent Trans World Entertainment (TWE).

TWE has in the past year phased out various retail chain names such as Sam Goody, Coconuts and Wherehouse Music, and converted them to FYE, where Ozzfest is being promoted with in-store signage.

This year’s Ozzfest will be the seventh at which TWE has sponsored a booth where fans can get band autographs and photos with the musicians. “That’s the only thing they can’t download: a live visit with the band,” quips Williams.

What does TWE think about this year’s model? “We thought it was pretty crazy,” Williams says.

“The Hustler brand has seen a tremendous resurgence recently in the younger markets, and we see this tour as an opportunity to build on the excitement that’s surrounding the name right now,” notes Brian Wagner, marketing and PR director for Hustler Lingerie. “It’s also an amazing venue for market research, as this grassroots type of marketing/vending allows us to get in front of so many different types of people in so many different cities.”

There is some skepticism that the new Ozzfest formula will work financially for all parties concerned.

“It’s a reflection of a shift in today’s touring industry,” says Dan Joyce, a financial analyst with Miller Tabak & Co., who tracks LiveNation. “[Free] is definitely an interesting prospect,” he adds.

But Joyce is not sure LiveNation will be able to make up the loss of ticket revenue with enough concessions and parking. It’s no accident that every stop on the tour is a venue that LiveNation owns.

Artist-wise, the tour will have to rely on younger bands because established acts will not play for free. “Tours are where they make money,” comments Joyce.

He expects the sponsors might make out best. By having only a handful of commercialized messages at the event, “there’s less clutter and the sponsorships are worth more. It’ll produce more impressions, and justify [for LiveNation] greater revenue coming from them.”

“I don’t think [going free is] a trend,” opines Gary Bongiovanni, editor of Pollstar, the concert industry’s leading trade publication. “You can’t make any significant money by not selling tickets.” He adds: “It’s a good experiment that’s never been done before. But I don’t think it’s a business model that again will be followed.”

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Eventmarketing

THE GLOBAL COLOR VOTE IS A LESSON IN DEMOCRACY

If the State of Florida was even half as organized as the M&M’s marketing team, Al Gore might be in the White House.

Polls for the Global Color Vote opened on March 6 through mms.com (in more than 15 languages), a toll-free hotline, kiosks in participating retailers, and the mail. Specially marked packages contain samples of the nominees: pink, purple, and blue. M&M’s first global project took two years to develop and boasts unified advertising (via BBDO, New York City), p.r. (Porter Novelli, also New York), direct, retail, sponsorship, and online components.

The polls close May 31 with the winning color announced June 19 at a Manhattan event. The winner begins a three-month reign in August, supported by a Global Cash instant-win game awarding prizes to consumers who find their bags filled only with the winning color. A $1.5 million prize pool will announce cash in world currencies, but pay out in U.S. dollars; top prize is 100 million yen (about $750,000).

The mms.com site underwent severe load-testing before the launch, at one point undergoing the equivalent of thousands of simultaneous vote tabulations. “No program I’ve ever worked on has been under such scrutiny,” says Brent Shedd, management supervisor with Grey Interactive, New York City, which handles the site.

The U.S. home page houses games, printable campaign flyers and buttons (for grassroots stumping), and e-mail “Color Splats” users send to friends to lobby for their candidates. The Vote is being used to unveil a redesigned mms.com (developed from a central template created by Grey) in many countries. D.L. Blair, Garden City, NY (a DraftWorldwide unit), handles administration.

Packaging, merchandising materials, and signage were manufactured for all three colors so the right materials can be shipped quickly once all the votes have been tallied. “We’re making pink, purple, and blue everything,” says Joe Zucconi, senior vp-account supervisor with handling agency TJ Paul, Rydal, PA. “Things will happen rather quickly once the winner is announced in June.”

Masterfoods offices around the world will conduct local executions. The company will decide later if the winner scores permanent placement alongside green, red, yellow, brown, orange, and blue — the last of which was added in 1995 through a U.S.-only Color Campaign that generated 10.2 million votes, delivered a 10-percent sales lift, and downed phone lines in two states.

“We’ve warned the phone companies this time,” says M&M vp-marketing Mark Mattia.