I had the opportunity to attend the ANA’s Masters of Marketing Conference this weekend. The topic of this year’s conference was “Growth: Defying the Recession.” I wanted to pass along a few of the great insights from the first day of the conference.
My biggest takeaway was the focus on authenticity I heard from all of the presenters. “Your brand has to be who it is” was the common refrain.
- Stephen Quinn, Wal-Mart’s CMO, talked about how Wal-Mart’s current brand promise (“Save Money, Live Better”) is actually a higher purpose for the company and drives every decision internally.
- John Stratton, Verizon’s CMO, talked about the company’s commitment to its network despite the lure of running after “shiny objects” (in Verizon’s case, feature-laden smartphones.)
- Andy England from MillerCoors talked about the necessity of aligning each brand in a portfolio to a distinct benefit, and then letting that benefit drive communications and innovation. For example, Coors Light’s cold-activated can aligns with its benefit, Rocky Mountain Cold Refreshment.
As with most conversations I’m having these days, the speakers also focused quite a bit on the benefits of social media:
- Eric Schmidt, Google’s CEO, said that social technologies have forced brands to become more transparent and have provided them with an unparalleled ability to engage with customers at a local level in a very scalable way.
- Diane Brink, VP Marketing of IBM’s Global Technology Services division, said that social technologies have helped IBM deliver on its brand promise, “A Smarter Planet,” by providing its employees with unparalleled access to data in real time.
- Jonah Bloom, Editor of Advertising Age, talked quite a bit about how social media will lead to the rise of the Creative Technologist (individuals who are part brand strategists, part developers) and how that will dramatically shorten creative development and execution timelines.
Multicultural Marketing will also become more important as brands seek to create authentic relationships with the widest array of consumers possible:
- Wal-Mart tries to connect with ethnic communities on their passions, e.g., they’ve sponsored the Af-Am Imprint on America, a traveling exhibit about the impact African Americans have had on American culture, since African Americans take great pride in their heritage.
- Neil Golden, CMO of McDonald’s, attributes much of the company’s growth to its success in marketing to Hispanics with targeted messaging.
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