Madhura's blog: Of Seminars, Workshops and Master Classes…

Some great sessions today.  I’ve tried to give you useful insights.  Here goes:

The Seminar by Initiative

• Local marketing insights are the foundation of a brand’s marketing strategy. Each market is unique – some value trust, some authenticity and some are price sensitive.  Every commercial, every print ad, every social media initiative, every owned channel needs to reflect the needs of the local market.  The tone of the message and the way the message is delivered when based on local insights creates a virtuous cycle for the brand across paid (media available for sale), earned (media driven by customers) and owned media (brands channels). 
• Brands need to have empathy with the consumer.  A great example is that of Hyundai in the US during the recession. Hyundai realized that car sales were down because people were afraid to lose their jobs.  Based on this insight, the company came up with Hyundai Assurance which assured customers that if they lost their jobs, the company would take the car back and that there would be no more monthly payments to make.  Simple but courageous.  And guess what? The Hyundai Sonata became the number one selling car in its segment.

The Seminar by BBDO

• Each screen is different and a user’s relationship with each one has specific characteristics.  The TV is the Jester, your friend, The PC is the sage or an older sibling, the tablet is the wizard and the phone is the lover.  Messaging for each of these devises has to be specifically designed for the device.  A TV commercial can’t just be pushed to the PC or the tablet.  Be especially careful while marketing via phones as this device is really the closest to the consumer.  Any message that comes via the phone needs to be particularly relevant and add value.

The Workshop by Mindscapes

• Consumers love it when a brand fights for a cause.  Not necessarily a serious one! Sometimes the cause is invented.  Like when Snoop Dogg wanted to emigrate to Australia but the authorities didn’t want ‘criminals’ to reside in the country. MTV started a ‘Welcome Snoop’ Campaign in Australia which garnered a lot of media attention and social media activity.  The brand is linked to the cause that it raises awareness about and the awareness leads to sympathy for the cause, fueling brand growth.

• The other nice tool is to create a product or offering that never existed before again based on an insight.  For example, a beer company, Andes, created a ‘tele-transponder’ which it placed in bars all across Argentina.  So, when the girlfriend called, a guy drinking with his buddies would enter the sound proof transponder and pretend he was anywhere but at a bar (the machine created artificial ambient sounds of your choice – traffic, baby crying etc).  Fewer arguments and happier couples!
• Temporarily remove an element associated with a brand – like no whopper at Burger King and tape reactions of customers when they hear that.  Those clips can be played across social media.

Seminar by AOL (Arianna Huffington of Huffington Post spoke)

• Content is King reiterated
• The Internet has grown up.  Consumers have moved from adolescence where values online were different from values offline. 
• The four pillars of an online property are trust, authenticity, engagement and pursuit of happiness
• 85% of consumers visit only 30 sites a month of which 10 are constants.

Master Class by Taxi

• As an independent agency, it’s important to know who you are, what you do and what you stand for. 
• Design is key
• Do great work or bad work but stay away from the middle as everyone is there and it’s just too crowded