Jeff Bell Blog

The marketing competencies that Microsoft uses to drive career development and training: 1. Customer insight leadership 2. Market analysis and opportunity identification 3. Integrated marketing planning and delivery 4. Building partnerships and ecosystems 5. Building cusotmer relationships and retentions 6. Customer and revenue business leadership 7. Positioning, branding and messaging 8. Product knowledge and advocacy Wow!

The Mobile marketing Association is developing a code of conduct that stresses best consumer practices built upon the followings tenets: 1. Choice: mobile marketing is acceptable only to consumers who opt in (applicable to all interactive marketing in my opinion). 2. Control: consumers who opt in must have an easy way to opt out (I would expand this to say that we must empower consumers to create value for your brand via fun and engaging media as well). 3. Constraint: consumers should be able to set limitations on messages received (yes, we should be allowed to say what is published to us). 4. Customization: analytical segmentation tools will help advertisers optimize message volume, ROI and relevancy to the consumer (see my prior post on the congruence between Companies and Consumers). 5. Consideration: consumers must perceive value in any mobile marketing campaign (I guess this is being considerate, but I would argue that every campaign should increase consideration because it is nat...

Clearly the past has been one of passivity and viewership. Today we are in a world of greater interactivity, and the future promising much greater integration of virtual and real worlds. In the internet, the recent past was about access: AOL, AT&T, @Home. This is declining. Today we live in an internet that is more about audience: Yahoo!, NBC, Lowe's. This is beginning to show signs of decline. Tomorrow will be about Engagement. Like Blogger is to gmail is to Picaso is to Instant Messanger...the point is to interconnect all aspects of life. Personalization = control. Available is the internet. Broadband is always on. Wireless is always on with you!

Clearly mass media is declining in its efficiency and effectiveness. There is fragmentation, substitution, democratization...the list goes on. I would love comments taking the other side (e.g. 30 second ads are the best way to sell products). The term that Ted McConnell at P&G uses is "narrow-casting." The question is whether television or color print or newspaper represent the best ways to do this. Ted's challenge is to figure out how to measure what you spend. Nielsen has had a massive shell game with their ratings system, and now feel the heat. Their response is to imbed a chip in all humans so they can track their media consumption! Really, it is so ridiculous to think people should have a device on their person that I am offended at the idea. Why is it absurd? Well, for one, they believe that what matters is what people are exposed to...sorry, but what matters is what people RESPOND to! The other big deal is that consumers either want to be in control or are de f...