Marketing 2011 - Observations and Predictions

Jocelyn Renaud, VP Managing Director for Grey Canada presented to the Communitech Strategy Marketing Peer2Peer group yesterday, giving us Grey's Observations and Predictions for Marketing Strategies we can expect to see implemented in the B2C world.

Jocelyn is a wonderful presenter with extensive Agency experience including 8 years with Ogilvy and Mather NYNY and stints at various Canadian agencies in Vancouver and Toronto. She has worked on a broad range of clients including IBM WorldWide, American Express, Bell Canada, Government of Ontario, Bank of Montreal, ScotiaBank International, RIM, The Vancouver Sun and Province, Alcan, Future Shop and Shoppers Drug Mart. And she is a wonderful person who is willing to share her knowledge and passion for communicating.

This is an overview of the presentation. If you would like the complete presentation, video and all, let me now and I can FTP it to you.

Today’s consumers can be divided into 2 groups – Those in Gen X and above and Gen Y and below.  There are 2 different implications to this divide. As the Gen X group takes on more of a critical mass, yet is increasingly aging, products focusing on aesthetics/beauty and health will gain more prominence.  The number of products and communications regarding anti aging creams, erectile dysfunction, osteoporosis, incontinence, and hair loss and coloring will rise dramatically. On a different note, Consumers that fall into Gen Y and below have become very different consumers.  Everything they do is technologically oriented – so your messages need to be short and impactful.

In this environment of constant change, many companies will submit to the urge to rebrand in order to claim customer attention.

Design is becoming an increasingly important differentiator in the marketplace. Expect to see lots of Honeysuckle this year - according to the Pantone Color Institute, Pantone  18-2120 Honeysuckle is the color of the year for 2011.  It is encouraging and uplifting, inspiring confidence, courage and spirit to meet the exhaustive challenges that have become part of our everyday lives – unlike last year’s color – Turquoise.

 

And good news for my friends at Christie Digital Systems, marketers who are desperate to be noticed and wanting to present their brands in unique and powerful ways are looking for any surface to promote their product. Outdoor projection marketing is seeing a huge upswing and Christie, manufacturing here in Kitchener, Ontario are the technology leader for this opportunity. Their line of high resolution, high brightness projectors have a superior reputation with Rental/Stagers for their reliability and quality performance.

Rather than relying on the “if you build it, they will come” mentality, marketers are now taking their products to where the consumers are. Expect to see retail in places you haven't seen them before.

Starting with Enron and Bernie Madoff, but more recently with BP and Toyota – companies need to be prepared for Crisis. With the free flowing of information (think Wiki Leaks), the ability to communicate to the masses instantly and rising Consumer expectations, a crisis can pop up at any time.

• Companies in all industries need to constantly monitor conversations about their brand.
• They should be prepared to respond instantly to any negative comments, discussions or press.
• Always avoid any show of force or heavy handedness
• Empower your front lines – acknowledging that your sales force needs to know the corporate position and be committed to supporting that direction.
• Be prepared to admit mistakes and put plans in place for corrections and improvements

Well established in other parts of the world, 2011 is projected to be the year we see an explosion of mobile marketing programs and applications in North America. We haven't seen anything yet.

As more and more products and brands reach parity and become commoditized – emotion can be a differentiator.  Advertising is really just another form of content – competing as much with each other as it is with all other content out there, whether it be the Hufffington Post, “Lost” or Wikipedia.  Engaging, emotional advertising will continue to get noticed.

We’ve certainly seen the rise of on-line communities – be it facebook friends, on-line chat rooms, on-line communal advice and more.  This will continue to grow on-line, but could also spill over to the real world.

More and more companies are evolving into affinity marketing.  Whether it be developing commercials with a zero carbon footprint, donating a portion of sales to charity or supporting charitable organizations, this is becoming an increasing consumer expectation.

Reason #132 of why I love Hubbub - the Artwork of James Nye

New artwork arrived at the Hub with the new year and we have all been enjoying our latest Art Allies contributor, James Nye. His paintings seem to fit seamlessly into our surroundings, blending very nicely but standing out just enough to draw appreciation.

"In my paintings the beauty is in looking and not necessarily what you are looking at. So whether they consist of clouds, graffiti or people, means little. What matters to me is how these things are given shape through the fundamental principles of light. My paintings are rooted in the realist, descriptive tradition of oil painting. I try to paint honestly, accurately and economically. I use a camera to try and capture what I see. Fleeting moments of light. Quick glances. The photograph outlines the scene and becomes the starting point for me to express my ideas. What is uninteresting and what is beautiful are the questions I pose to viewers" James Nye

I love the way his paintings appear to have so many layers, giving them a reflective look that is very unique. I feel like I am witnessing two parts to every story that he is telling. His paintings represent a wide variety of street scene settings, all with this very modern look and appeal. There are also a range of sizes in his collection to allow you to easily begin collecting and incorporating them into a home or office. 

I recommend you stop by and enjoy his paintings... reason #145 to stop by the Hub. If you can't stop by, check out his collection here.

Spin12 - Support St. Mary's Cardiac Care

SPIN12 2011

Saturday February 5, 2011

Rebel Creek Golf Club

Please support my effort to raise financial support for St. Mary's Cardiac Care by sponsoring me. CLICK HERE  

The St. Mary’s General Hospital Foundation is inviting YOU, your coworkers, sports team, family, friends, even your biggest competition, to participate in an event during Heart Month that is fun, inspiring, and will make a difference in the lives of others!

This is an event anyone can enjoy.  We had a ton of fun last year. Our session was filled with a  minor boys hockey team who wanted to participate. Many of them were too small for their bikes and had a lot of trouble keeping their feet in the pedals (I was restrapping their feet throughout the session) but they had a blast.

This event is made possible by SpinALIVE and is a 12 hour charity spin. This unique and fun event is more than a 12 hour spin; it's an inspiration, hope, challenge and celebration!

• 1 hour of spinning.
• Shirt for teams.
• Professional instructors will lead the spin.
• Free food and beverages.
• 1 free on-site massage session
• Shower area available for event.
• Great music and multimedia screens for the whole day.
• Fun, Fun & more Fun!

My spinning buddy Toni (who coincidentally is the granddaughter of the gentleman who owned the Lang Tannery, our Hubbub location) and I from Spin12 2010. I am not the instructor but the rider in mauve.

Presidential visit

Yesterday was a jam packed day for Grey at the Hub, as Grey Canada President Ann Nurock joined me in a number of meetings. I was delighted to have the opportunity to spend the day with Ann as she is quite busy traveling between Grey Canada offices in Toronto, Vancouver and our affiliate office in Montreal plus travels to Grey Group headquarters in New York ... and then in two weeks she heads to South Africa, her home land.

Ann has been a very strong supporter of the excitement of the Communitech Hub. As the head of Toronto agency she is uniquely embracing possibilities outside of the GTA and investing in opportunities that are within the Waterloo Region. Our role as a marketing service provider to the Startups here at the Hub is exciting for everyone at Grey because it is a chance to work with companies who may be shaping our future.

After our day of meetings, Ann and I hosted a small group of business women for dinner and drinks. Ann continually commented about how much fun we Waterloo Region Ladies are; how friendly and keen we are to share experiences, laughs and learnings. She says this region is amazing for its energy and tremendous spirit. I agree and feel very fortunate to call it home.

Watch for a future blog story with an inside scope about Ann's South African connections here at the Hub. A story that will demonstrate that it is truly a small world.

ahhh ... Mommyville is born

Mommyville is a wonderful home for all things Mommy-care; the site created by Grey for Playtex is an online community for expectant and new mothers. This is a very exciting launch as the site offers some fabulous tools for new mothers. I remember those days as being very overwhelming and I know that I searched out as much support as I could to help me manage through the life changes.This site is jam packed with great information and great tools for new Moms. The content is not about products (although there are details there), it is about advice, ideas and support. There is a whole section on Events, segmented by province, with details of happenings that are either kid-friendly or specific to the needs and interests of new mothers.

And for us older Moms there is a bit of fun too. I made this ecard on the site ... couldn't resist.

Wireless energy - the implications are enormous!

Fulton Innovation, from Ada, Missouri, introduced their wireless charging technology at CES 2011, wireless power. A technology that wirelessly transfers energy with no need for built in power source. They demonstrated the technology using cereal boxes. The boxes literally light up when held in a shelf built with the wireless induction technology.  The result as you’ll see below is pretty amazing.

This technology was also demonstrated with specially built cans of soup that had built in heating coils which this wireless energy would then activate. The result - hot soup right out of the can.

“Our groundbreaking intelligent inductive coupling technology is known as eCoupled™. The potential applications for this innovation are so far-reaching it would be difficult to find a place or application in life that wouldn’t be impacted by it.” – from their web site.

Make sure you hear the question

An example of Grey Canada work that was turned around very quickly for Elections Ontario for a referendum vote. It is always interesting to see the results when the request or question is not properly heard in the first place.

What role do you see marketing playing in the future success of your company?

This was a question the Marketing Society posed to 50 CEOs of some of the world's most successful businesses.

The book The Future of Marketing is a collection of their answers. CEOs from industries such as fast moving consumer goods (fmcg), telecoms, fashion and retail; the insights come from companies such as HJ Heinz, Friends of the Earth and Google. AG Lafley of P&G, Steve Ballmer of Microsoft, Richard Branson of Virgin, Charles Dunstone of Carphone Warehouse and Sir Terry Leahy of Tesco are just some of the inspirational thought leaders featured in the book which includes Sir Martin Sorrell the CEO of WPP, Grey's parent company.

Take a peak through the book here.


This book would make a great coffee table book for brain storming rooms. It is a tad dated at this point as it was released in 2009 but the insights from the 50 CEO's will remain valuable. The critical message for marketers is to always remember that the consumer is king. With the advancement of social media, they continue to gain more and more power and a companies success will continue to be hinged on the reputation that is created and fostered.

‘Customers now have access to multiple channels, empowering them with knowledge and allowing them to exercise unprecedented levels of choice about how and with whom they do business’ says Vittorio Colao of Vodafone.

NFL Fan videos - it is all about the Fan

Inspired fans sharing their most excited moments to hype up the NFL playoffs (which the Cowboys will not be in).

Our creative director, Eric Segal (Grey is the agency for the NFL -- no dear it does not mean we can get tickets to the SuperBowl), said he was inspired when he was thinking about how memorable plays are often expressed in a very personal way. “It’s not about the time on the clock, it’s retold in some social context of where they were and who they were with,” he says.

YouTube is full of such moments. Segal  selected about eight existing fan clips, moments when they are reacting to various moments in their living rooms and at bars. One memorable scene features a spontaneous hug by two large fans.


Check it out!

2010's mobile year in review

This cool little video wraps up the mobile year for 2010 -- statistically speaking. It was a booming year for the cellular market. In my household we went through seven smartphones this year, between 2 people! We have a teenager.

It is expected that by the end of 2011 smartphones will over take the cellular phone market in the US. I attended DEVCON 2010 and a number of developers I spoke to are building applications that will make a significant impact in many industries that previously were not reliant on mobile email and immediate connections. When you combine the continued adoption of Cloud Computing with the advancements in mobile platforms that integrate calendars, GPS and data uploading, smartphones will continue to connect us in an ever expanding range. When you think about how companies like ClevrU are going to impact the world, it is an obvious prediction that soon almost everyone will have a smartphone. Even my Grampa Johnie.

There are a number of very interesting things in the works for 2011. The advancement I am most anticipating is how RIM will combine their new QNX o/s with the creative genius acquired with the purchase of The Astonishing Tribe (TAT). I've seen some of TAT's UI's and I can't wait to see how RIM will leverage their design talent with the new o/s.

As a resident of Waterloo Region I am always rooting for RIM's success and for advancing smartphone technology ... and I do love my BlackBerry!

It is the end of the season for the Dallas Cowboys

Ok, ok, I know their season ended very early this year but it was all made final last night with a 14-13 win over the Philadelphia Eagles, who were resting their starters. What a season the Cowboys didn't have in 2010-2011, ending with a 6-10 record. There was a great deal of hope at the start of the season but sorry Jerry, it was not to be.

Today we will play homage to the Cowboys, who will not host and play in the Superbowl in 2011, with Grey New York's NFL Ballet Film. The NFL is a client of Grey New York. I love this video.

To the Superbowl next year!