Off to New York

2005-10-24T00:06:00.000-07:00

Well, off to do my magic in the Big Apple! Well, no not Cupertino (hah!, get it Apple?!) While I can't talk about specific client information (lawsuits are a bummer!) I can share trends and what I am seeing as over the horizon. While I am on the subject, lets talk about digital lifestyle.

I think this is going to be a huge driver. Lets face it, most consumers have computers, digital cameras, camera phones, and many have digital video cameras and movie editing software. Oh sure some companies are beginning to engage consumers in response promotions digitally (send in a digital pig of your pet rock, if we like you win a prize, that kind of thing) but when are in store displays, packaging, promotional appearances, and experiential marketing going to begin to taylor to the digital consumer?

I think it would be cool if packaging (say on a cereal box) had a special label with all the relevant nutritional data (along with a brand message) that was identified as "camera phone optimized" so that I am encouraged to take a digital snap shot of it for later viewing (and I get to see that lovely brand message). Well just an idea, but I wonder if that kind of thing is coming.

Getting Started

2005-10-23T23:33:00.000-07:00

What a trip!?! That pretty much sums up my journey from consulting, to IT, to .com, back to consulting, and on to marketing. What a trip indeed! It is funny how in my short career the life cycle on expertise has compressed while the mobility of information has accelerated. I am probably the last generation who did not have email in college, can remember the first website I saw (for me it was the X Files, I can still remember thinking, "Hey, what are those funny symbols on the screen at the end of the show for?"), and can remember advising my superiors at the Rand corporation to give this internet stuff a pretty serious looking at. I have gone from a sorcery of mystic technology to virtually unemployable to in-demand marketer in such a short time! The good news, marketing is a lot more fun than that other stuff ever was.

These are my ramblings on eMarketing and more specifically what I like to call Integrated eMarketing. I work for a firm called Capita Technologies (we are owned by IPG for those of you in the biz) and we are a dedicated eMarketing company. Even cooler, we really aren't creative types, in fact we are really sort of "fix it" guys for more traditional creative agencies. Okay, enough about my company for now. The point is that every day I am working on ways to make marketing relevant again. We build web based promotions, online games, coupons, all that stuff.

Fine, so what you ask and what the heck is "Integrated eMarketing anyway?" In my mind, eMarketing is a nearly useless term these days. Really what eMarketing is about is using advanced communication technologies to engage customers as nearly as possible (and it has never been as possible as it is today) in one on one conversations, recording (and learning from) their responses, and changing the message. That means putting the brand's message in all the various places that consumers hang out these days (on the web, microsites, blogs, wiki's, wireless handsets, wireless websites, etc.) and starting these conversations. It is about allowing the customer to lead the dance and dictate the pace and terms of the relationship. Okay, that is all really nifty and cool, but how does that turn into value for our clients? By co-ordintating all these activities and integrating them into a cohesive plan to engage consumers. That is what I mean by Integrated eMarketing.

All of this communication has value when brands learn (not just accumulate data) from their consumers, adapt to their consumers needs and preferences, and give control (to some degree) to their consumers. The power only grows when an Integrated eMarketing plan is itself integrated into the overall marketing strategy (media, pr, etc.). I will be sharing my thoughts and experiences as I continue to participate in what I think are some of the most exciting marketing events happening anywhere! I hope that you enjoy it as well.