Big Brands…Big Thinking

Big corporations aren’t as often the source of groundbreaking ideas, but they do serve to validate them, and you can tell which innovations have “arrived” by watching the blue chip companies. Neither Tim Kopp, from Procter & Gamble, nor Mary Beth Stone West, from Kraft, revealed anything revolutionary in their presentations. What they did show was what can be wrought with the money and might of organizations like theirs in the world of marketing.

Tim Kopp presented several case studies, each emphasizing different points.  With an Oil of Olay campaign, they made use of the targeting capabilities of the Internet to “put samples in the hands of prime prospects” and pay more attention to the quality of their leads, rather than just numbers.

Online advertising was praised for increasing sales and unaided recall of the applicable brands (as Kopp pointed out, the latter is a very important measure when aided recall hovers in the mid-90’s). Finally, he reported the results of P&G’s foray into the gaming world, where Old Spice Red Zone partnered with EA’s NCAA Football 2004 to flash none-too-subtle advertisements for the deodorant (one example: whenever play was within 20 yards of the goal, players were in the Red Zone). The reported ROI was the highest of any marketing element tested in the last three years.

Mary Beth Stone West presented the Kraft version of leading edge marketing.  Most of the key takeaways were simply marketing philosophies. First, evaluating how a consumer uses a product to determine the need (emotional or functional) being satisfied, and use that knowledge to “unlock a behavior change.”

Second, making sure you have an insight that can be consistently used across all customer touchpoints, illustrated by another handy marketing acronym, IDEA: Insights Delivered Everywhere Alike. A corollary to that second point (which looks suspiciously like old-school integrated marketing) is the redefinition of integration from a unified look and tone to the “new” meaning of a participatory consumer experience. That was the impetus behind setting up kraftfoods.com, which is a source of recipes and information about Kraft products that can be used by those who “have a kitchen full of food” but no time or ideas for actually preparing any of it. Stone West emphasized not using technology for technology’s sake; every component of your marketing has to be driven by an insight.

The Q&A failed to reveal much, aside from Stone West’s response to a question about the Atkins craze: “Always have a Plan B.”