Rishad Tobaccowala Talks Brand-Building, Damage Control and the Art of Seduction
At ad:tech Chicago last week, and prior to his opening talk, I approached Denuo CEO Rishad Tobaccowala in hopes of scoring an interview later on. He was in a hurry and answered in a way I found brusque and upsetting—which ended up colouring my feelings about the keynote.
Tobaccowala emailed to apologize immediately after reading the article I wrote, and was also good enough to give me almost three hours of his time in an interview—more of a conversation, really—later that week.
We never did get around to a formal Q/A. But I learned so much about branding and relationships from him that most of the gems would be lost if I didn’t whip out the cam and start recording.
See the footage below the drop.
read more...Sharpie, Ben & Jerry’s Squeeze Merit Out of Social Media Sphinx
My last ad:tech Chicago session was the Social Media Industry Forum, presented by Geoff Ramsey of eMarketer.
The sesh had a festive air for many reasons, not least that it was Ramsey’s birthday. ad:tech’s Warren Pickett burst in near the end to furnish him with candle-lit cupcakes.
But the company was also lively: we had a frothy, sometimes cynical and perennially candid band that included Digital Marketing Manager Katie O’Brien of Ben & Jerry’s, President Rick Murray of Edelman Digital (which does interactive stuff for B&J’s), PR/Social Media Manager Susan Wassel of Sanford Brands (here to rep Sharpie), and Digital Strategist Akash Pathak of DraftFCB, which worked with Wassel to bring life to Sharpie’s label.
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Weighing Hearts and Brands on Ancient Scales
ad:tech Chicago’s “Love for Sale—How Great Creative Seduces Its Target” session was broken into two discernably useful parts: statistics on online dating, and seduction as a metaphor for marketing.
We’ll begin at the beginning.
The Online Dating Crowd
Accompanied by Liz Ross of Digitas US, Fusion Idea Lab’s Matt Brennock regaled us with both statistics and close-to-home anecdotes—the kind that’s fueled many a romantic comedy.
I heard one guy say the pair had great chemistry, and he commended them for “[opening] the kimono” the way they did. Given the topic matter, and Brennock’s zeal for reminding us (first once, then twice, then…) that men really do just wanna get laid, the geisha metaphor was oddly appropriate.
Some stats:
- The average online dater is 42 years old.
- Match.com remains tops, with 3.4 million uniques/month, but people increasingly drift away from these big-box dating sites and into more niche fare: j-date, veggiedate, Christian singles. (AdAge blogger Kelly Eidson seized this opportunity to send me a link to STD Match, a dating site targeted to people living with sexually transmitted diseases. There are also—as if you didn’t know—ethnicity-specific sites.) If the world wasn’t our oyster before, the marvelous advances of the internet, coupled with mankind’s enterprising creative spirit, have ensured it certainly is now. There’s a match worth blogging. read more...
Hard Knocks in Social, Starring Rishad Tobaccowala
I admit it: I was eavesdropping.
Me and a crew of other bloggers invaded the press room early today. We were setting up our things, chatting about nothing, when I overheard something really interesting.
I looked up just as the guy was finishing his surmise: “In the future,” he was saying, “I think people are going to wonder what the need was for keyboards. Or why we needed dial-up to access the internet. It will be free, and everywhere, like air.”
This struck me as simple but inspired. I put my glasses on, checked out his tag: Rishad Tobaccowala, CEO, Denuo. It hits me: Hey! This is the guy who’s doing the first keynote!
So I sit and futz with my thumbs for awhile, and finally I get up and walk over.
read more...Keynote: Interactive’s ‘Right to Succeed’
The several hundred early risers at Ad:Tech Chicago’s morning keynote were treated to an affirmation of their cause and a rallying cry for measurement.
Ted McConnell, Procter & Gamble’s Consumer Connect Program Manager of Innovation, stood at the pulpit (okay, a podium) and said, “Every day, you people are investing a new future and it is absolutely inspiring to see the strength of innovation that goes on here.” A few minutes later, he followed this up, avowing, “There’s no one who believes more than I do in the right to succeed of interactive.”
read more...Power to the People
The theme of the conference is the “Age of Engagement.” The tune of Age of Aquarius rings in my head. I am thinking ‘is this just another term?’ I suppose this means mass media is dead; long live new media. Smart companies are actively pursuing interaction with customers.
read more...Keynote Strikes an Optimistic Note
Mary Meeker, of Morgan Stanley, started AD:TECH 2005 off on an upbeat note with a host of fascinating statistics on the global rise of the Internet as an integral part of consumer life. She also highlighted a number of businesses she feels are positioned to benefit in the coming years.
The presentation can be found here:
http://www.morganstanley.com/institutional/techresearch/
Keynote Via Disembodied Voice #2: Mary Meeker
Mary Meeker, from Morgan Stanley (presentation here) is bullish. From where she sits, internet oriented companies look like a good bet.
read more...Keynote Via Disembodied Voice #1: John Costello
I admit it: this is my first Ad:Tech. I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Little did I know that showing up blithely about 10 minutes before the Keynote was about to start Monday morning was the best way to end up in some overflow room where you were treated to Keynote Via Disembodied Voice. It was a little confusing. But I hung in there and actually took some copious notes, with this blog in mind.
read more...Mass Marketing Yields to Conversational And Tribal Communications
The final day’s keynote was given by Creative Artists Agency Entertainment Division CEO Mike Windsor and Berlin Cameron Managing Partner Avi Dan. The thrust of the talk centered on the now common theme of consumer control and the wane of traditional media. While Windsor prognosticated the death of mass “push” media and the rise of involvement and conversation marketing, Dan, defended the :30 as a viable ad unit.
read more...China to Control the U.S. Internet Economy?
This morning’s keynote followed the idea that, with changing control of the consumer and economic trends, marketing’s role has to change. Speaking to illustrate and reinforce this notion were Rick KarlGaard of Forbes.com and Mary Bermel of HP.
Probably the most startling perspective of the keynote was Rich’s viewpoint that with an ever-expanding economy, increased competitives and a broader consumer accessibility, countries like China and India were poised to really to take a large chunk out of our economy - massively declining prices and a commodity based pricing model would not be far off for our economy in North Amercia if we didn’t react. Why would we buy a suit on 5th Ave. (and they are expensive there - I checked it out myself) if we can buy the same suit online from Hong Kong for 20 percent of the price and very little quality difference?
Marketers have to keep up - this is where Mary Bermel of HP, their Interactive Global Brand Advertising Manager, spoke up with strong recommendations.
We need to be more accessible. We need to predict and to anticipate more where are customers are going and what they are thinking and where they’ll be when they want our products. We need to consider and potentially cover all of our marketing channels and touchpoints and follow the successes of personalized portal technologies like My Yahoo and the innovation that blogs (gotta luv em) have created. Basically Mary emphasized that we need to scream smarter rather than louder at our clients and potential clients.
The question remains though - is this the solution to the threat? Do we really need to spend more time covering our bases and risk haunting consumers at every corner they turn or do we need to really dig deep into the demand chain and understand truly what consumers want in terms of value and features? Think about it - they’ll always buy that suit on 5th avenue if it really meets our needs and provides great value. Or will they?
read more...Blackwell on Branding
It can be argued that the most important piece of knowledge Roger Blackwell had to share with us was what he had for breakfast this morning (this would be particularly helpful for those of us who took advantage of the open bars last night). For someone to display such energy and enthusiasm before noon is nothing short of exhausting to the rest of us. I suppose being a professor lends itself to certain presentation styles, though, and while he didn’t need jokes to keep our attention, they were a refreshing change of pace.
Dr. Blackwell’s presentation was an overview of his new book, liberally peppered with references to a few he’s written in years past. He defined a brand as “a product, store, or service with an identifiable set of benefits, wrapped in a recognizable personality.” A brand consists of both functional and emotional elements. The creation and sustenance of great brands relies on a few key findings that he managed to tie back to rock ‘n roll (his new book is called Brands that Rock):
read more...Monday Keynote, United.com’s Pete Peterson
Pete Peterson, president of United.com’s Travel Distribution and Airlines Loyalty Services gave what was one of the meatiest keynotes I’ve ever seen at an AdTech or any other industry show for that matter. (Due to the fact that wifi is only in the hotel lobby and another round of sessions are starting momentarily, I must be brief in summarizing the speech, though I’ll try to come back and flesh this out more later.)
Peterson began by noting that the travel industry has been impacted by the Internet more than virtually any other industry. Whereas in 1996, there was virtually no travel sales transacted online, in 2004 more than $50 billion will be, according to online travel researchers PhocusWright, and by 2006 that should account for more than 50 percent of all leisure and “unmanaged business” travel. Whereas eight years ago, industry watchers were dubious as to whether the likes of Expedia and Travelocity would ever be profitable, today they and Orbitz are all multibillion companies.
Moreover, all of the web portals for the major airlines are also doing more than $1 billion in annual sales, accounting for 25-30% of United’s overall revenue, which Peterson said was similar for his competitors. In fact, the airlines’ web portals account for 60 percent of all online travel revenue.
read more...Digital Darwinism
I don’t know. Sure, Samsung is doing some great work - a new cell phone every two weeks since September? Talk about a persistent state of launch mode. But Peter Weedfald’s keynote yesterday morning struck me as a little, well, 1998.
Partly, it was his confidence, which bordered on arrogance. While he didn’t really share much that was new or different, he did act like he’d come down from the mountain to tell us the real deal. Which was… what? That the Internet is important? Where’s Ol’ Saint Nick Negroponte when we need him?
Andrew K.‘s comment is pretty spot on. Did the catch phrases and 50-cent words cloud his meaning? That said, I did appreciate two of his points:
One, CRM should stand for “customers really matter.” And two, the whole idea of owning the first inch through the glass - as in reaching from the consumer into the network - is a sweet spot indeed. Samsung doesn’t need to be in the content or distribution business. If they can continue to create the devices we use to access the Net - be they cell phones, displays, or microwaves - they’ll do just fine.
(A more complete partial transcript is also available.)
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