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Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications (JIMC)

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LaVern Thomas, MA
LaVern Thomas, MA

1. The author discusses the value of a consumer tweeting about a brand after participating in an experiential marketing campaign. 2. While experiential marketing can successfully engage consumers and build brand advocacy, it is difficult to directly tie the benefits to sales without additional brand support. 3. The author argues that the true value of a tweet comes from supporting it with a consistent marketing message across all consumer touchpoints, not from experiential marketing alone. Focusing only on experiences falls short for both consumers and businesses.

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2 Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications Copyright © 2016 by Medill, Northwestern University All rights reserved.
Letter from the Editor Foreword The Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications (JIMC) provides a bridge between the academic world and the day-to-day uses of concepts and tools. This year’s version explores several ideas from Northwestern University’s Integrated Marketing Communication curriculum. The team of graduate students who worked on the journal this year have done an outstanding job of finding both academics and practitioners to describe what’s new and how to apply it. For 12 months, these students have worked together to produce this journal. In addition to finding articles, they edit, design and produce a work product that represents what the school is all about: quality, curiosity and creativity. On behalf of the team, we hope you will enjoy reading it. Frank Mulhern, Ph.D. Professor, Associate Dean & Department Chair Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor Medill IMC Department Northwestern University Nancy Hobor Senior Lecturer & Faculty Advisor Medill IMC Department Northwestern University Greetings and welcome to the 2017 issue of JIMC! This journal is a culmination of the diligent work of a student team in Medill’s Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) graduate program at Northwestern and insightful articles from industry and academic professionals with extensive understanding and experience in the IMC field. JIMC is made up of associate editors who assist authors in the writing process and a leadership team that reviews the articles in effort to identify a common thread across the wide array of topics, industries, and perspectives. Some common concepts were: technological evolution, cultural and digital engagement, and brand expansion. These words were indicative of what is a constant factor in IMC — change. But how will IMC practitioners address this ever-present reality? Answer: Innovation. Introducing the 2017 theme: “JIMC in an Innovative World” In the spirit of innovation, this year’s journal introduces the “Purple Pages,” with articles written by Northwestern alumni, as well as a dedicated “Northwestern” section to display IMC faculty articles and research. It is my hope that this spirit enlightens and motivates you about the growing opportunities in the field of IMC. A very special thanks to: Frank Mulhern, Nancy Hobor, and Robin Young. JIMC Leadership Team: Roberta Pedotto, Paul Fourçans, Elizabeth Fontana, and Anna Klutho; the associate editors and our esteemed authors. Your tireless hard work and dedication to making the 2017 edition of JIMC a success is greatly appreciated. With warmest thanks, LaVern Thomas Editor in Chief
Medill’s Approach to IMC Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is a strategic approach through which organizations drive performance by engaging, serving and communicating with customers and other stakeholders. IMC combines qualitative understanding of consumers with large-scale analytics to develop communications and content that build and maintain strong brands. Grounded in advertising, IMC has emerged as the premier way for organizations to manage customer experiences in the digital age. JIMCadvisory board Jonathan Blum Senior Vice President Chief Public Affairs and Global Nutrition Officer Yum! Brands, Inc. Clarke A. Caywood, Ph.D. Professor Medill IMC Department Northwestern University Sara Webber Laczo Senior Director Corporate Communications McGladrey Jack Modzelewski President of the Americas & Senior Partner FleishmanHillard Joe Woodard Manager Analytics Jet.com Andy Bosman Principal National Marketing and Sales Leader McGladrey David Grossman Founder & CEO The Grossman Group Emily London Manager People Advisory Services Ernst & Young Elisabeth Ritz Founder & President Ritz Communications Jane Flis Associate Director of Digital Marketing Medill, Northwestern University
Lynn Pedotto EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Before pursuing her graduate degree at Medill, Lynn worked as a freelance content creator, publicist and social media manager for various authors, entrepreneurs, and small business owners. She holds a bachelor’s degree in history and Spanish from Presbyterian College. At Medill, Lynn is concentrating in content strategy and public relations. JIMCleadership team LaVern Thomas EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Prior to Northwestern, LaVern worked as an adjunct faculty at DePaul University teaching mixed media and ESL writing, executive editor for The Hip Hop Democrat, and currently serves in leadership positions on two non-for-profits assisting with marketing and fundraising campaigns. LaVern holds a MA in Writing, Rhetoric, and Discourse and a BA in History from DePaul University. Anna Klutho COPY EDITOR Anna worked as a content and communications coordinator for an executive leadership events company. Prior, she was a marketing strategy intern with Disney Vacation Club. She holds a bachelors in business administration (marketing) from Seattle University. Liz Fontana PR DIRECTOR Liz worked for a SEO marketing agency in which she optimized websites and improved natural organic search results. Prior to that, she managed the social and digital campaign for a Tallahassee hospital. She holds her bachelor’s in marketing and communications from Florida State University. At Medill is concentrating in brand strategy and digital Paul Fourçans CREATIVE DIRECTOR Before coming to Northwestern University to pursue a M.S. degree in Integrated Marketing Communications, Paul received his B.A. in Marketing and Communication from the Ecole Française des Attachés de Presse in Paris, France. Paul started his first company when he was 21, ACID for Clothes, which he still runs today.
JIMCassociate editors
Brit’ney McTush Allison Chen Sonam Roteria Alison Golensky Smriti Khanna Ruben Bravo Chinye Osamusali Christina Dreher Peishan Ouyang Mariana Arana Lindsay Menk Joseph Macdougall Jessse Daniels Sharon Liao Liang Liu Marissa Pederson Megha Ghildiyal Natasha Smith Qiulin Peng Olavina Harahap Yudi Gao Rebecca Yeng Euphonia Xu Sunny Yu Wang JIMCassociate editors Sakhile Richards
What Is IMC? Alice Marder So Your Bull’s-Eye Consumer Tweeted at Your Brand. Now What? Joe Sargent Driving Business with a Consistent Brand Charlie Chen 10 12 13 From The Funnel to Dual Buckets: Rethinking Our Campaign Objectives Frank Wong Decoding the Millennial Enigma Amanda Slavin Personal Branding & What It Means in 2016 Jeff Willinger 14 15 16 The Importance of Innovation in Elevating Brand Relevance Shari Matras Transforming into an Analytical Organization José Antonio Murillo Garza Telling a Memorable Story with Your Data Cyndi Greenglass 17 19 20 Authenticity, Democratization of Information and the Changing Nature of Influence Jake O’Leary & Smriti Khanna 22
Table of Contents The Importance of Social Media for Brands Matt Augustin Personalized Marketing @ Scale Abhishek Jadon The Influence of Influencer Marketing Tara Chang 23 24 25 Platform Businesses “Float Costs,” Consumers Run Businesses Tony Poidomani Brand-Driven Innovation Ariel Goldfarb An Exploration of Online Customer Reviews IMC SRC 27 28 30 A Non-Writer’s Guide to Storytelling Kirsten Longnecker Public Relations Means Business Dr. Matthew W. Ragas A Brief Look at the State of PR in Mexico Olga Oro Coppel 33 34 35 Don’t Panic, Plan Stephanie Kneisler & Therese Van Ryne Preparing Your CEO for the Role of Senior Statesman Marjorie Benzkofer Speaking the Millennial Language Andrea Sanchez Ferro 36 37 38
10 1. Communicated the core value that Cars.com and our suite of solutions delivers to customers 2. Drove traffic and “staying power” to our booth and other Cars.com hosted events 3. Cut through the vendor clutter 4. Elevated our brand position as the automotive industry’s digital marketing leader The overall campaign goal was to position ourselves as an innovator and leader in the space. Expressed through a campaign thematic called Dominate Digit@l, the core message was that when it comes to car buying, Cars.com is the only way dealers can dominate the conversation, dominate the short list and dominate sales. 5. CROSS-FUNCTIONAL INVOLVEMENT Cross-functional buy-in, commitment and resources was needed to successfully execute the strategy. With support from the product, operations and sales teams, we accelerated the development and launch of two brand-new, groundbreaking products, which led to record in-booth sales. The team succeeded in owning Dominate Digit@l from all angles with a highly promoted appointment setting contest, insights-driven content, innovative paid and social media, advertising, PR and direct marketing. Dealers also enjoyed in-booth amenities and relaxed at our customer appreciation event. This theme acted as the cohesive thread connecting all of our marketing efforts with an intricate plan reaching dealers before, during and after NADA. 6. EVALUATING RESULTS Cars.com succeeded in dominating NADAandSanFrancisco.Theresultsconnected back to our business objectives, far exceeded all expectations and set revenue records! This was all done in a truly integrated and collaborative fashion as one team with one goal. What Is IMC? Alice Marder imc Edited by Sonam Roteria Senior Manager, Integrated Marketing, Cars.com WHAT IS IMC? Whether it’s at a networking event or while talking to friends or family, I am often asked, “What exactly is Integrated Marketing Communications? You make ads, right?” I always smile and just say, “Not exactly . . . it’s a bit more than that.” To me, it seems like such a simple and logical concept but to most folks — both marketersandnon—IMCstillseemsabitforeign. I define Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) as: “The comprehensive management of all communications to build positive and lasting relationships with customers and stakeholders – both internally and externally.” This means that all components of marketing communications are rooted in research and insights, and work together to deliver a single and consistent message. WHAT ARE WE TRYING TO ACHIEVE? Organizations have a tendency to work in silos. While folks believe they’re doing what’s best for the company or their job, too often they are only focused on their function and immediate impact to their team or area of business. IMC requires cross-functional integration and helps to build awareness, alignment and accountability of strategic objectives. It provides guidance for messaging and communication to reach customers (B2C & B2B) and prospects at every step of the purchase process — before, during and after. IMC processes thus help present a coherent brand position by implementing synergy through all internal and external touch points. HOW DO WE DO IT? As with many things, the devil is in the details. One of my favorite campaigns in my tenure at Cars.com, and one that I take great pride in, is an IMC campaign we developed for the 2015 National Automotive Dealer Association (NADA) Convention & Expo. Each year, 22,500+ professionals from across the country attend NADA, the automotive industry’s largest tradeshow. But the challenge is always: how do we break through this highly cluttered and competitive environment? Let’s break it down into the key planning steps: 1. DEFINE GOALS & OBJECTIVES In attending NADA, we set out to achieve the following business objectives: • Drive revenue growth • Capitalize on the opportunity to meet with key decision makers • Build and nurture relationship with key influencers, media and partners • Build Cars.com brand awareness 2. IDENTIFY TARGET NEEDS In understanding the needs of our target audience, we worked from the insight that car dealers need to stand out and be everywhere car shoppers are to ensure a presence on the buyer’s “shortlist” for purchase decisions. Our approach: we gave dealers a broad range of solutions via our products offerings with which they could target the highly engaged Cars.com consumer audience. Additionally, we offered access to our team of dedicated digital consultants and detailed reporting and metrics. All this gives dealers the power to not just take part in digital but to dominate it, so they can stay in front of customers and ahead of their competition. 3. ESTABLISH A CORE TEAM To ensure functions were on the same page, a core working team met on a weekly basis. This team was responsible for internal and external communications to ensure that a singular vision and mission for the campaign was established across all stakeholder groups. 4. CAMPAIGN DEVELOPMENT To achieve our business objectives, we developed a multi-channel campaign with tactics that: Alice Marder is the senior manager of integrated marketingatCars.com.Sheleadsandunitescross- functional teams in the development, execution and measurement of key business initiatives in support of the organization’s aggressive growth strategy. Prior to joining Cars.com, Alice was the manager of marketing integration at U.S. Cellular andplayedanintegralroleinthedevelopmentand successful implementation of the organization’s new integrated marketing approach. Previously, Alice held positions at various agencies including MindShare and DraftFCB. Alice is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and earned her M.S. in integrated marketing communications from Northwestern University. NU Alumni INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS AT CARS.COM
brand.
12 marketing team can now identify sales tied to Whatever through retail execution. This is key because purely experiential campaigns can have successful KPIs, like high social media impressions or increased long-term brand health, but those are incredibly difficult to translate into real dollar value. Many product categories, like beer, are trending downward in volume; therefore, the ability to quantify results is paramount with pressure mounting to turn these businesses around. So what’s the value of a tweet about my brand? That answer is somewhat moot. In the future, my work will focus on creating programs that deliver a consistent message at all consumer touch points. Experiential marketing remains a powerful tool to connect brands with consumers, but focusing on it alone would be shortsighted. From the consumer perspective, one great event with no follow through falls flat. From the business perspective, the benefits of that tweet are too far removed from the sale. The value of a tweet is nothing without a strong program supporting it. So Your Bull’s-Eye Consumer Tweeted at Your Brand. Now What? Joe Sargent brand Edited by Marissa Pederson Brand Manager, Wilson Sporting Goods What is the value of a tweet about my brand? This is a question I have asked myself multiple times in my various roles exploring experiential marketing. As all marketers know, understanding the consumer is at the foundation of a successful program. Companies spend millions trying to understand every aspect of their consumers’ lives. • “What does she watch on TV?” • “What are her shopping habits?” • “How much of our products does she consume?” All of these questions feed the research that informs media plans, retail planograms and volume projections. However, there is still a gap when it comes to connecting with these consumers. This is where experiential marketing plays a vital role. Creating an immersive experience for consumers can turn the curious into fans and fans into advocates. These advocates not only purchase products, but also persuade others to do so as well. In the best cases, experiential marketing helps brands express their core values and physically engage the senses of potential and current fans. And the best part? Brands have the full attention of everyone in attendance. They are able to engage their audience much more effectively than by having an expensive TV commercial that gets skipped via DVR or is missed while a viewer checks her phone. So why wouldn’t every brand spend all their money in this space? In my experience, companies are hesitant when it comes to experiential marketing for a number of reasons. It tends to be expensive on a per-consumer basis versus a radio or TV spot. To make a splash, the prevailing thought is that a brand has to spend millions of dollars to reach a few thousand consumers at most. This represents a gamble for decision- makers. Do you invest a million dollars into an experiential activity or create another TV spot? Wehavereamsof informationontheROIof TV commercials across multiple product categories. In contrast, many experiential activities do not directly impact sales. Considered together, it is no wonder that experiential marketing activities are often marginalized. How, then, does a brand successfully execute experiential programs? Consider Bud Light’s Whatever USA campaign. Bud Light flew several thousand people to a small town in Colorado and met them with a nearly complete takeover of the area, including live music, larger-than-life activations and, of course, lots of Bud Light. The activation was supported with TV spots, and entries were accepted via social media as well as at retail locations. The brand claimed the promotion was a success, saying that sales increased during the summer, which is the most important season for sales in the beer industry. Equally important, more than 200,000 consumers auditioned to be a part of the campaign. This led to an increase in brand affinity with its key consumers. As this example shows, the key to successful experiential marketing is expanding the message beyond those attending the event and creating an integrated program that maximizes consumer awareness, retail activation and experiential activities. When an integrated program is executed successfully, evaluating ROI becomes much easier. Post-campaign, the Bud Light Joe Sargent is a Detroit sports fan by birth with a soft spot for brand marketing. Having lived in several states for work and school, Joe has shared triumphs and miseries with several fan bases. He currently works as a brand manager at Wilson Sporting Goods in Chicago and has several years of experience in lifestyle marketing and experiential activation. Creating an immersive experience for consumers can turn the curious into fans and fans into advocates.
13 advanced telecommunication technologies, self- developed mobile chipsets, mature hardware and software platforms, Huawei strives for perfection and makes the impossible possible. Consumers should get a phone with the performance they would never imagine — the best camera, the thinnest body, the fastest speed, the longest standby time, you name it. No longer shaky, Huawei firmly committed to high- end product development and the pursuit of the perfectness of inspired experience. In February 2013, Huawei launched the “Make it Possible” global branding campaign. A line of premium products including Ascend P6, P7, P8 and Mate 7 and 8 have been released to the marketplace. The new products gained many awards, and Huawei rapidly increased its market share to become the third largest smartphoneprovider in the world. In 2014, Huawei became the first Chinese brand that was listed as the Best Global Brand by Interbrand. many awards, and Huawei rapidly increased its market share to become the third largest smart phone provider in the world. Just as Abraham Lincoln said, “Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” Huawei’s investment in its brand paid off, and the company is still dedicating itself to consistently delivering its brand promise to the customers in all three business groups. Driving Business with a Consistent Brand Charlie Chen brand Edited by Liang Liu President, Triwin THE PRACTICE OF HUAWEI In the past 30 years, China has grown into the second largest economy in the world, and a number of competitive Chinese companies burgeoned in this period of time. A lot of companies are trying to establish themselves as leading brands in the global market; however, they are facing various challenges. The most serious one is shifting the mindset from a product-driven to a brand-driven business. Branding strategy is no longer the execution of the business strategy but a driver to the business strategy. Huawei, the only the Chinese brand that was listed as the Best Global Brand by Interbrand, is a great showcase of that practice. DEFINE BRAND DRIVEN BUSINESS It was challenging to figure out a top brand strategy that drives the entire business. Huawei owns three business groups that serve three distinct groups of customers — carriers, enterprises and regular consumers. There had been debates about whether to build a house of brands or a branded house strategy. Finally, considering the low brand awareness among regular consumers at the time, Huawei adopted branded house strategy to strengthen its brand image. Then how did Huawei define and build one single brand with three distinct business groups that developed different products and faced different customers in different markets? This is where the pipe strategy came into place. Despite Huawei’s different customer groups, Huawei is, in essence, in the business of information transmission. Huawei compared the carriers to the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes; the enterprises to the reservoirs and pipes in the city; and mobile devices to water taps. The solution Huawei provided are pipe networks that can handle the digital tsunami that carries and sends huge amounts of data from one place to another. Therefore, Huawei defined its brand promise as “building a better connected world” with three major characteristics — ubiquitous broadband, agile innovation and inspired experience. These characteristics drive future product development in all three business groups. POSITIONING IN THE B2C MARKET Knowing and being yourself is essential to a brand. Huawei went a long way to position itself in the B2C market. Before 2011, Huawei was confused about the target consumers and positioning in this market. When Apple and Samsung products attracted consumers’ attention with their luxury fashions and fancy functions, Huawei also wanted to establish a fashionable and fancy brand image. But that was not who Huawei is. When launching the new product Ascend P1, Huawei invited a famous director from London to shoot a commercial, where an old man (representing wisdom) and a white horse (representing beauty) ran into each other, and the phone was born in the collision. However, without a clear positioning, all these efforts were in vain. The audience were totally confused about what the commercial was intended to express. Huawei realized that that the brand was not a fashion leader. The real heritage of Huawei is the dedication in advanced technologies, the spirit of perseverance and making the impossible possible. After months of brainstorming and debates, consumer business group executives finally realized that “Make it Possible” is exactly the positioning they were looking for. It best answers what Huawei is and what value Huawei is bringing to the consumers — “make the impossible possible!” With the advantages of Charlie Chen is the co-founder and the president of Triwin Investments International LLC. Before Triwin, Charlie was the vice president of Huawei Technologies, a Fortune 500 company, and was in charge of Huawei corporate branding and communication department. Charlie held several leadership positions in Huawei in the areas of R&D, sales and marketing. He earned his doctorate degree in electrical engineering from the South China University of Technology in Guangzhou, China. Branding strategy is no longer the execution of the business strategy but a driver to the business strategy.
14 is important that we factor in the element of time when picking the metrics to measure the success of our campaigns. Immediate, trackable revenue is great but if the sales cycle takes a bit longer, measuring lift in consideration or pure product awareness might be a better choice. TWO BUCKETS — CREATING DEMAND VERSUS CAPTURING DEMAND So if awareness exists throughout the funnel, is there another way to categorize a campaign? In my world as director of digital media at Hyatt Hotels, I’ve scrapped The Funnel perspective and have been instead using a new method of categorizing most of our digital campaigns into two major buckets — creating demand and capturing demand. To use a simple example: During the harsh winter in Chicago, you put out a TV commercial telling people to visit Miami (and, of course, suggesting they stay at a Hyatt hotel). In this scenario, you are trying to generate demand. On the other hand, when consumers are actively reading articles about traveling to the Bahamas, and you put your ads right next to the article, you are trying to capture demand. Many companies organize their teams into retention and acquisition; this same concept of targeting can also be applied within those two groups. For existing customers, you can generate demand by encouraging them to purchase more. Then again, if you realize your existing consumer is considering other brands for a service that you provide, wouldn’t you want to win them back by capturing such demand? Technology these days allow us to easily identify those users, and marketers should take advantage of such targeting capabilities as much as possible through tools like Google’s remarketing lists for search ads. So the next time you run a campaign, you might want to think about if your product or your campaign message is unique enough to generate consumer demand or you just want to target those in-market consumers and simply have a piece of the market share. Not a lot of marketers can create an entire market like what De Beers did with diamonds back in the 1930s, but I can entice consumers to travel more with photographs of exotic destinations. From The Funnel to Dual Buckets Frank Wong brand Edited by Rebecca Yeng Director, Digital Media, Hyatt Hotels Corporation When I first got into marketing eight years ago, everyone talked about The Funnel, and we used this framework extensively at the agencies. Even after I transitioned to the client side, I still see The Funnel being used quite often. I’ve used it myself occasionally as well, but the more I think about it, the more I think that the purchase funnel needs a little tweak. “AWARENESS” IS THROUGHOUT THE FUNNEL Many marketers categorize their campaigns as awareness and direct response. The awareness campaign focuses on the top part of the funnel while the direct response campaign focuses on the middle to bottom part of the funnel. However, the term “awareness” has been very loosely used, and I believe that awareness doesn’t just exist on the top of the funnel. Let’s begin by defining “awareness” more clearly. Awareness of what? Your particular brand in general? A particular action/need that the consumers haven’t been thinking of? Or a brand new product within your brand portfolio? Let’s keep it simple and say you want consumers to be more aware of your V8 Vegetable Juice. You can put a TV ad out there, which is usually considered a top-funnel execution. As for a mid-funnel execution, you can run paid search ads targeting consumers searching for “healthy drinks” to make them aware of your product. Alternatively, you can have the right shelf placement, putting the V8 next to other health drinks targeting the consumers who are actively shopping in those aisles, and this would be considered a bottom funnel execution. If we follow the traditional purchase funnel categorization, the last two scenarios are usually considered to be direct response campaigns. However, didn’t the consumer just became aware of your product in those two scenarios? Therefore, consumer can become aware of your product throughout the funnel. It is important to know that although awareness is throughout the funnel, the purchase path remains the same. Consumers still need to go through the process below. The key difference is that consumers at the bottom of the funnel usually make their decisions faster than those at the top of the funnel. SPEED TO PURCHASE IS THE KEY WHEN MEASURING SUCCESS Have you ever wondered why your TV ad or homepage makeover is not giving you an immediate return? Why do we see such high ROI when bidding on our competitors branded terms? That’s because the speed to purchase varies drastically depending on when consumers are exposed to your brand. When consumers see your ad in the comfort of their couch at home, it’s probably going to take longer for them to pick up your product as compared to those who are already in the grocery store but just learned about your product walking down the aisle. When the speed of purchase is not immediate, several factors such as loss of tracking (think cookie deletion) or change of mind could affect a campaign’s ROI. It In his role at Hyatt, Frank Wong is responsible for developing digital roadmaps and executing strategies across various digital channels including paid search, meta search, display, paid social and search engine optimizations. Frank is a big believer in data-driven marketing and is passionate about user experience. Prior to joining Hyatt, Frank spent four years at Digitas, where he worked on the Bank of America and Sprint accounts. Prior to Digitas, Frank spent two years working as a financial and operations consultant at Huron Consulting Group. RETHINKING OUR CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVES
15 In order to do this, start marketing to millennials internally. Forbes states that 77% of connected millennials choose to work at a company because of its sense of purpose. Millennials demand flexible work hours; they demand creative ways of communication; they demand meaningful context and narratives and the truth. Focus on creating a structure that provides opportunity for upward mobility, entrepreneurial activity, remote working and consistent personal growth. Once you provide a safe space for your team to express themselves (and work hard), turn attentions to inspiring your team to share that passion with your audience. Externally, remember the secret ingredient to a meaningful, millennial-engaging experience is the fact that it isn’t about you — it’s about them. Millennials know their power; they have seen their leverage through social media in movements they have created, and they know the amplification of their voice. Ask yourself — what is your purpose? Why do you exist? What is the value you are offering the people you are selling to? Sources: Dan Schwabel, “10 New Findings About the Millennial Consumer.” Forbes. Jan. 20, 2015. http://www.forbes.com/ sites/danschawbel/2015/01/20/10-new-findings-about-the- millennial-consumer/#7e30049928a8. Erin Mulligan Nelson, “MIllennials Want to Party With Your Brand on Their Own Terms.” Advertising Age. Aug. 2, 2012. http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/millennials-party- brand-terms/236444/ Image Source: (picked by the JIMC) http://www. azcommerce.com/media/468319/the-millennials_lowres.jpg AUTHOR BIO p 39. Decoding the Millennial Enigma Amanda Slavin brand Edited by Sakhile Richards CEO/Founder, CatalystCreativ A MESSAGE TO BRANDS LOOKING TO ENGAGE THE ELUSIVE GENERATION $200 BILLION PER YEAR $10 TRILLION OVER LIFETIME 64% WANT TO MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE 77% CHOOSE TO WORK AT A COMPANY BECAUSE OF ITS SENSE OF PURPOSE SAY THEY ARE LIKELY TO BECOME LOYAL CUSTOMERS BECAUSE OF BRAND ENGAGEMENT ON SOCIALMEDIA Millennials80 MILLION To many brands, millennials are an enigma. The reason why so many brands care about engaging millennials is because they are a powerful group. According to AdAge, millennials are 80 million strong with $200 billion a year in spending power (starting in 2017), amassing to $10 trillion in spending by the end of our lifetime. So, it is no wonder that brands are desperately trying to figure out what makes millennials tick. There are many blanket statements regarding millennials; below I have provided research to back up the most accurate assumptions. Millennials want brands to be authentic; they want brands to be vulnerable and transparent; they want brands to care about making the world a place that will surpass their lifecycle. Based on a survey by Forbes, “62% of millennials say that if a brand engages with them on social networks, they are more likely to become a loyal customer. They expect brands to not only be on social networks, but to engage them.” Millennials use the power of technology to not only be a passive listener to brands but also to be an active participant in a brand’s story; they want to feel heard. Because they have so many microphones to amplify their voices (Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram), there is no reason for brands to solely have one-way conversations with their millennial audience. When thinking about brand alignment at CatalystCreativ, a company that focuses on helping brands with millennial engagement, I always ask myself the question, “Would your consumer want to date you?” That is the way to look at the millennial consumer to a certain extent. There needs to be a two-way conversation — you need to listen, you need to ask their opinion and to be a part of the narrative, and you need to care about what they say. You need to create a meaningful experience so they want that second date, third date, and eventually to go “steady” with you. You want your consumer to love you because now they have the ability to share that love, or in some cases, that disdain, instantly with thousands of people. According to a study conducted by Deloitte, 64% of millennials say it is a priority for them to make the world a better place. This isn’t surprising, as the world they have been brought up in has been fairly bleak. With issues like climate change, obesity, drought and terrorism as consistent topics in their day-to-day to life, it is not surprising that they believe the most powerful communication tools (brands) should be investing their time, energy, attention and money into ensuring that the world they live in still exists in 20, 30 or 40 years. At CatalystCreativ, we think of it as not only engaging millennials but engaging “millennial-minded people.” Who doesn’t want a better world or to be listened to? Millennials force businesses to have better practices, internally and externally. By listening to what millennials want, you can actually become a better company and, in the long run, attract loyal customers that act both as consumers and brand ambassadors. Ultimately, millennials are exactly the audience you want. You want someone whose loyalty you can’t buy, but that you have to emotionally earn. Once you engage a millennial, they’ll be invaluable assets to your brand. I promise you they will never disappoint.
16 showing how you can solve the tough problems that keep customers and potential employers awake at night. Knowing how to use the social media tools to assist in building a personal brand that connects you to unprecedented new opportunities and makes you invaluable to your employer and your clients. One of the keys to a successful personal brand is building your own storyline and online identity — beginning to “live” your brand and connecting your online brand and “in-real-life” brand. The key for me was choosing the social media tool that “put me on the map.” Twitter helped me by letting me add a biography that was 140 characters, so I was able to put myself out there, live my brand and meet my goals by supercharging my social media channels on a regular basis. I then added a blog as the hub of my social media wheel and used it to tell my story far more effectively. I decided to commit to a monthly post on a topic relevant to my personal brand. In my case, it was SharePoint, internal communications and ways to drive adoption and engagement around intranets. I was able to find content from such sources as Mashable, Tech Crunch, Harvard Business Review and Sloan Management Review to complement my personal ideas. I have been able to avoid the killer mistakes too many business social networkers make by not oversharing, rather being a constant resource to my colleagues and connections in both real life and online. Given my experience, here are things you will need to keep top of mind to positively shape your personal brand: • Build a powerful social network that feeds opportunities to you. • Connect with influential people that will help build your brand. • Use the best tools and solutions for brand building. • Create a great personal profile that sells. • Build a personal brand that will get you promoted. By building a recognizable personal brand, you’ll find that opportunities find you effortlessly. Whether it’s at work or at play, you will become a magnet for the opportunities you’re most interested in. Personal Branding & What It Means in 2016 Jeff Willinger brand Edited by Olavina Harahap VP, Digital Inspiration, Rightpoint What is a personal brand? Building a personal brand will earn you more money, give you better career options and make you virtually immune from unemployment. When I think about my personal brand in 2016, it has occurred to me that it is similar to when I first heard the term in 2005. I had always thought of the term “brand” as pertaining to companies and brands like Tide (P&G’s flagship reliable laundry detergent for cleanest clothes), McDonald’s (trusted hamburger fast food chain) and Avis Rental Cars (“We Try Harder” to be your best rental car experience). I rarely ever thought of Jeff Willinger as a brand. And then something changed — I had sold my company of 15 years, Graphic Packaging, which had defined my being for most of my business life, and knew I had to figure out what this Jeff 2.0 was going to look like. This was when social media was just coming into its own, and companies like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn were coming to the forefront of people communicating a whole new way. Working out loud and collaboratively, I had the good fortune of being one of the early adopters on many social channels and was able to “put it out there” what I wanted to be and then build my brand from that point forward. I was able to use social media to build a great personal brand and learned how to present myself as the best solution to customers’ and employers’ worst problems. By living my brand, I was able to learn the right ways to sell my knowledge capital and demonstrate my value to prospects and potential employers, while also rebranding myself. I was able to connect my online and offline networking together to successfully navigate my next career change — and the one after that. In today’s turbulent business environment, millions of people are seeking to strengthen their personal brands and demonstrate far greater value to potential customers and employers. Many of them are seeking to rebrand themselves as they move towards entirely new jobs and careers. Fortunately, social media offers powerful new tools for building personal brands, strengthening business and personal relationships, and Jeff Willinger is the VP of digital inspiration at Rightpoint. He is an internationally recognized online influencer, analyst and expert on all things web collaboration, enterprise social networking and enterprise IT strategy. With experience spanning more than two decades, he is a global speaker and expert in all CMS solutions and is a technology and business evangelist with deep expertise in user experience, information architecture, enterprise content management and web 2.0 technology strategy. He is the president and founder of the Social Media Club of Chicago and serves as EVP for Business Marketing Association. One of the keys to a successful personal brand is building your own storyline and online identity
17 expanded its offerings beyond shoes over time to become “a maker of athletic shoes, apparel, sports equipment and recreational products.” Realizing athletes’ needs extend beyond shoes, Nike saw opportunity; thus, as consumer needs evolved, Nike developed technology, enhancing performance in shoes to equipment. Technologies such as Nike Air or Lunarlite Foam create true product relevance for consumers, continually reinforcing the brand’s relevance. Nike’s marketing campaign involving current athletes also continually built relevance, reinforcing the performance message and speaking to amateur athletes in an inspirational way. Without these innovations, I am not sure Nike would have been able to maintain relevance. Through foundational understanding of needs and providing technology to better deliver, Nike has remained on top of its game. Through intentional cannibalization, they have remained victorious. Innovation is critical in today’s marketing toolkit. I would argue that without innovation, a brand will be hard pressed to grow, let alone remain relevant. Going back to foundational learning and truly understanding consumer needs to better define brands then innovate for the long term will allow brands to position for future growth. The Importance of Innovation in Elevating Brand Relevance Shari Matras brand Edited by Qiulin Peng & Peishan Ouyang Senior Director, Innovation Global Nutrition Group, PepsiCo It seems that all companies, sectors, and industries are suffering today. Why is brand performance declining? I would argue underperformance is largely driven by brands not keeping pace with what consumers want. Let’s face it — it’s easiest to continue to do what you’ve always done, make what you’ve always made. Some products have been around for 100+ years, and as the company seeks growth each year, they take out salt, sugar or make the packaging thinner to save a penny on the bottom line. And as a result, consumers leave the brand, find other solutions or become annoyed, which ultimately decreases usage and hurts the brand’s relevance. But how to elevate brand relevance? I believe the secret lies in the foundations of marketing — give the consumer what she wants. It’s really that easy — so why ignore the consumer? Big companies think they don’t need to do research; they already have all the learnings. But they fail to realize that consumer beliefs, behaviors and preference evolve, and sometimes change radically, in a couple years’ time. Instead, they rush to market, then wonder why the product fails. Small companies are just as guilty. I see them like children — in a hurry to grow up, sometimes not thinking or looking before crossing the street. Both end up with short-term thinking instead of the foundations needed for long-term growth. I believe the key to long-term success starts and ends with consumer insight — not only truly understanding the consumer, her needs and desires, and what she wants today, but also anticipating her future needs. Clear consumer understanding allows you to identify a space broad enough to encompass today as well as position for tomorrow. With thorough consumer understanding, only then can you identify innovative ideas to deliver against future needs. P&G, for example, reframed the Old Spice brand to expand from an aftershave brand to a full line of men’s personal care products. They realized the brand had lost relevance and therefore set out to better understand the needs of today’s consumer. In the ‘60s and ‘70s, a man’s personal care routine was limited. Personal care was largely for women. Perhaps he’d use aftershave, if he went to that extreme! By the ‘90s, however, men required the same array of toiletries and offerings as their female counterparts. With this shift in consumer behavior, P&G broadened their thinking beyond the product form to the consumer need. Creating a full line of products including body sprays, deodorants, soaps, hair care and styling products also created a brand halo, allowing it to rise from its ashes like a phoenix, reinventing the brand for future growth. Additionally, Old Spice’s user base was declining. To rebuild penetration, P&G needed to get more people to buy the brand. Changing to target younger consumers broadened appeal, growing penetration. This was a bold move, potentially alienating current users; however, P&G saw the opportunity in the risk. Today, the brand encompasses a full line of personal care that, “Helps guys improve their mansmells,” targeting a younger, male audience. Throughout its 52-year history, Nike has focused on relevance. Did you know Nike has been around since 1964? Probably not. Why? Because Nike has always stayed on top of what consumers want, leveraging technology to better deliver against consumer needs. Named after the Greek goddess of victory, Nike Shari Matras has more than 20 years of experience in marketing and innovation. She has led the launch of notable brands such as Orbit Gum, Orbit White Gum, Gevalia Kaffe Roast & Ground Coffee, and K-Cups for Maxwell House and Gevalia Kaffe. Prior to joining PepsiCo, Shari led the innovation team for Kraft Foods’ coffee business. She has also held significant roles at the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Schools and Recycled Paper Greetings. Earlier in her career, Shari held positions for companies/agencies representing Kraft Foods and Taco Bell, Sara Lee, Ellio’s Pizza and Lunch Makers. She holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from Northwestern University. Clear consumer understanding allows you to identify a space broad enough to encompass today as well as position for tomorrow. NU Alumni
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19 some of its top management sponsorship capital in assuring end-to-end implementation of the chosen projects. The transformational effort at Banorte initially focused on the credit card business because of the project’s value and the willingness from the business partners. An analytics team obviously requires quantitative skills, and the organization has to make a substantial investment in data and technology. However, these prerequisites are not enough to transform an institution. Banorte’s experience has shown that two soft skills are vital — the ability to build consensus and to have good team players who respect the business acumen of their counterparts. Business lines expect the quants to be a partner, not a lecturer. Finally, rooting analytics within the organization requires measurement. It is not uncommon for an organization on its path to transformation to undertake several initiatives at the same time, and it may prove hard to disentangle the contribution. The analytics team should not assume that results are self-evident — a detailed report to the top management must be produced periodically. Furthermore, it is easy to stray from value by undertaking only the projects from willing partners. At Banorte, measurement has assured sponsorship and has kept analytics on track. Transforming into an Analytical Organization Dr. José A. Murillo Garza data Edited by Mariana Arana Ph.D, Chief Analytics Officer, Grupo Financiero Banorte BEYOND DATA AND TECHNOLOGY Analytics within a traditional organization often starts as a top management initiative aimed at increasing productivity. Implementation faces several challenges, and top management sponsorship could quickly fade away. Banorte, the largest Mexican financial group, is under way to successfully transform into an analytical organization. This experience offers five lessons to start out such a transformation: 1. Gain credibility by delivering short-term results that assure long-term sponsorship from top management. 2. Set the right incentives for the organization to embrace analytics, avoiding rivalry between analytics and the business lines. 3. Do not take for granted that analytic projects are a priority for the whole organization — hold the analytics group accountable for end-to-end implementation. 4. The analytics team members beyond quantitative skills require the ability to build consensus across different stakeholders within the organization. 5.Thecontributionfromanalyticinitiatives must be measured. A traditional organization that aims to become an analytical firm with the capacity to deepen and extend its relationship with its customers starts its journey with some leaders envisioning a future for the company. It is not uncommon to find contrasting visions within top management of what should be the future — some subscribe to the old Texas adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” This should not be a surprise since companies have limited resources, and there are competing projects that respond to existing customer demands. Hence, when the organization embarks on the transformation path, it is clear that the analytical camp prevailed, but this does not mean that the traditional camp was convinced. Top management composition is not static, and suddenly the forward- thinking camp that once prevailed to launch the transformational analytic initiative might be outnumbered. Assuring continuity requires the analytic team to gain credibility with both camps of the organization. A high short-run ROI does the trick. Analytics in Banorte during its first year of operations contributed 10% of the group’s total net profit, gaining credibility and resources to advance with medium-term projects A high yield from analytics is a necessary but insufficient condition. Analytics and the business lines must establish a partnership that will face some hurdles. Analytics will disrupt the way business has been conducted, and rivalry between groups might arise. Both groups speak different languages — one group has business experience while the other talks with statistics and models. The business lines have many concerns — devoting scarce resources to unproven projects, the credit they will get in case of success, or the blame they will share if failure occurs. These concerns must be addressed by the design of an incentive scheme that aligns the interests of analytics and the business lines. Banorte solved this problem by setting a shadow target for analytics that did not rival the business lines targets, but rather analytic projects helped business lines attain their targets. Non-rivalry between groups does not guarantee that the business lines and other stakeholders will enthusiastically embrace analytic initiatives to change the way they have been working. Stakeholders within the organization are unfamiliar with analytic initiatives, and they certainly have other projects top of mind. It is of an utmost priority for analytics to find partners willing to champion initiatives that can set an example to the rest of the organization. Analytics will need to invest José Antonio Murillo Garza serves as managing director of analytics at Grupo Financiero Banorte, S.A.B. de C.V. José also serves as general director of analysis at Banco Mercantil Del Norte, S.A. Prior to this, José was the director of price analysis for regional economies and information at Banco de México. He holds a degree and Doctorate in Economics from Rice University. Business lines expect the quants to be a partner, not a lecturer.
20 need to master some basic concepts that can help you generate the best visuals, including: 1. Determining what you are trying to visualize and what kind of information you want to communicate. 2. Knowing your audience and understanding how they process visual information. 3. Using a visual that conveys the information in the best and simplest form for your audience — if you need to spend more than 30 seconds explaining the chart, it isn’t working. 4. Understanding that reporting is easy — recommending is hard. Don’t take the easy way out and simply report out a bunch of metrics and numbers. Take the time to understand what it means and add value. But you also need to be careful not to go overboard in your storytelling. Some of the biggest mistakes I see marketers make in creating visual stories from data include: 1. Death by PowerPoint — Too many slides with too much information on each slide. Remember that you should never have more than one slide for every two minutes. Combine the slide with your narrative for added impact. 2. Too good to be true — Too much animation, flash or pizazz diminishes the value of the data you are presenting. Strive for purity and simplicity. 3. The infographic that killed the whale — Taking every single data point you can possibly imagine and turning it into one great, big, long infographic. No one wants to look at infographics that cannot be viewed “above the crease” or on one simple, horizontal slide. CONCLUSION As an integrated marketing professional, you will need to communicate and tell your story to other colleagues in the organization who are not as well versed in the statistics and the numbers, and who may be completely unfamiliar with the techniques and metrics of integrated marketing. Take the time to truly understand what the data means so you can tell your audience the story it is telling you — and what meaningful actions they can take based on that story. Good marketers get good results, but great marketers are great communicators and get great results. By mastering the art of data visualization, you can build trust and respect, gain credibility and create collaboration among your peers, your colleagues and your boss. AUTHOR BIO p 39. Telling a Memorable Story with Your Data Cyndi W. Greenglass Edited by Allison Chen SVP, Strategic Solutions, Diamond Marketing Solutions data We’ve all heard the phrase “a picture is worth 1,000 words.” It turns out that this is more than just an old saying. Research dating back to the 19th century has proven that our brains can grasp, process and retain pictures with much greater meaning than numbers or words alone. This is called the “picture superiority effect,” and understanding this basic human dynamic is critical to integrated marketers. It means that it is faster for people to understand many data points when they are displayed in charts and graphs rather than poring over piles of spreadsheets or reading pages and pages of reports. Let’s consider the marketing director who is trying to explain why she wants to devote more of her online media budget to mobile and digital advertising. Her boss is a big fan of magazines and is questioning the soundness of her decision. She needs to find data to support her position. She could tell her boss that a 2015 industry report shows the continuing decline of print in favor of digital advertising and that this trend is also being seen among marketing budgets. Or she can show the following slide with an accompanying verbal narrative in a presentation. Which do you think is more compelling? TELLING THE STORY There are many different ways to analyze and interpret data — as Ronald H. Coase famously said in his Essays on Economics and Economists, “If you torture the data long enough, it will confess.” Therefore, as marketers, we must have a very clear understanding of our objectives in order to protect against too much bias in our analysis. It is equally important to express yourself in a way that people will understand and retain, and to ultimately gain their collaboration and support. And nothing builds collaboration like storytelling. The story allows you to answer the meaningful questions you have as a marketer, as well as the questions your boss will ask, such as: • What is working, and what is not working? • Did we succeed? • And in all cases — WHY? To be a successful data storyteller, you
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22 shared goals, interest, activities, understanding and trust. To achieve a strong and mutually beneficial relationship with influencers you need to: • Know the type of influencer that is right for your brand • Understand their needs • Make a memorable first impression • Ensure the value exchange is mutually beneficial • Demonstrate long-term intent 5. Influence Can’t Live Without Content or an Experience People need something to react to and share. Experiences and content are how we learn, what we remember and a way to connect to the world. As a result, you need to be consistently evolving and tailoring your approach to keep your influencer and audience base interested. By creating memorable, personalized content and experiences, you are more likely to interest Authenticity, Democratization of Information and the Changing Nature of Influence Jake O’Leary, Smriti Khanna Edited by Smriti Khanna Global Head of Brand Marketing, Youtube Music & IMC Graduate Student, Northwestern University digital Many marketers still have the perception that those who can make the most noise or create the most outrageous stunt will cut through the clutter. However, while these things may have worked in the past, millennials are looking something different. This is a generation that hunts for, and cares about, real stories from real people. Platforms like YouTube have led to the democratization of content and information by allowing almost anyone the freedom to express their ideas and opinions, the opportunity to be discovered, the chance to find their community, and gain access to the information of the world. Millennials today decide who, where and when they want to consume. To hear or see someone explain a raw emotion or an experience helps them understand if they are justified in their own personal feeling or experience. This change has elevated the importance of influencer marketing within the overall marketing mix. As brand builders, we need to understand and embrace this major shift in the nature of influencer marketing as an integral part of brand strategy. This is a departure from the commonplace, last minute, surface-level advocacy at the launch of a new product or campaign. Too often, influence can be reduced to a short-term transaction in attempt to rent social media impressions. Whilst this “buzz” is good for drumming up awareness, it falls down when trying to build an iconic brand. Coming from a more traditional CPG background, my current role at YouTube has shown me firsthand how the landscape of influence is rapidly changing. While the concept of influence is not new — as humans, we all have the ability to exert influence through relationships — it is the nature and scope of influence that has changed over the last decade. YouTube is a platform that enables one-to-one relationships by facilitating rich, immersive experiences through video that echo the feeling of being in the same physical space as the creator of the content. Experiences that were once limited are now available to anyone with a computer or a smartphone. Top executives no longer decide what content people consume — the people do. This changing landscape, and the sheer reach of individual influencers, has opened a major opportunity for brands to tell their stories outside of traditional advertising. FIVE PRINCIPLES FOR BRANDS AIMING TO BUILD BRAND ADVOCACY WITH INFLUENCERS 1. Quality Beats Quantity Segment your brand’s user base to figure out who actually influences them. Once you understand who truly has clout with your users, it is imperative to work closely with a manageable group of individuals capable of spreading advocacy, both digitally and in person. Passionate support from someone with modest influence should always rate higher than a tepid vote of confidence from someone with a large audience. 2. Start Niche to Reach Mass Audience size does not necessarily equal influence. The ideal state of influencer marketing is to reach a large audience by working with a few, targeted individuals. Get enough of the right people onboard, you have a chance of creating a groundswell. 3. Treat People as Humans, Not Algorithms or Data Points The very reason brands want to work with influencers is for their unique cultural position, perspective, writing style, on and offline following or strong social presence. For this reason, being too prescriptive or micro- managing is not the way to go. Each influencer has a unique voice — try not to stifle it. Each of them may have a different way of talking about your product or brand, and that is ok. Influence is a human behavior, prone to emotions with swift changes in tone, focus and sentiment. Embracing the unpredictable nature of influence and being agile in your thinking and actions will not only endear your brand to influencers but ensure that the brand stays current, relevant, and most of all, credible. 4. Create Relationships, Not Transactions Influencer marketing is much like any relationship. Great relationships are built on Jake O’Leary leads brand marketing for YouTube, the biggest music platform in the world. Not content with serving more than a billion users, he launched the newYouTube Music app on Android and iOS, which trended globally on Twitter (#2) and collected 591 million impressions in the first twelve hours. Jake was almost solely responsible for bringing the app to the world, from working hand-in-hand with product & engineering execs to identifying development scope based on consumer feedback. Jake previously spent his working life playing music and marketing world leading brands, including Pantene and Gillette. Smriti Khanna is a full-time student in the Medill Integrated Marketing Communications program. She has worked in brand management in the CPG industry for the last four years in Asia. While working across a variety of brands and markets, the growing importance of Big Data and the increasing shift of control to consumers intrigued her and brought her to Medill. Smriti holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and marketing from Singapore Management University.
23 proper targeting with which brands can ensure true success. Do not mistake this for the fact that people are not tuning into traditional media sources such as television shows and movies. However, according to a Deloitte survey, 92% of U.S. consumers are multitasking while they are watching television. That means that they are tuning out during commercial breaks and missing brand messaging. While this may sound detrimental to a brand, this is a key opportunity where brands can not only just reach consumers on their televisions but also on their mobile devices that connect them with the world around them. Despite all of this, there are those who feel as if social media is solely for younger generations, choosing to stick with their traditional marketing methods instead. This is a vital misstep as 58% of U.S. consumers check social media daily, and millennials aged 19-32 stated that recommendations from their social media circles have surpassed the influence of television advertising (Belson, Westcott, & Lippstreu, 2016). Now imagine if we ignored millennials. Brands that are not tapping into this market are missing out on a generation that is projected to spend $200 billion annually starting in 2017 and $10 trillion over the course of their lives (Nelson, 2012). Though that is just an overall snapshot and educated estimate, one thing cannot be ignored — that social media is crucial for the success of brands in today’s day and age. The Importance of Social Media for Brands Matt Augustin Edited by Brit’ney McTush Social Strategist, Fitzgerald & Company digital Sources: Belson, G., Westcott, K., & Lippstreu, S. (2016, March 23). Digital Democracy Survey: A multi-generationl view of consumer technology, media and telecom trends. Retrieved April 1, 2016, from Deloitte: http://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/ pages/technology-media-and-telecommunications/articles/digital- democracy-survey-generational-media-consumption-trends.html# Bendtsen, C., Dolliver, M., Johnson, M., McNair, C., Minsker, M., Orozco, O., . . . Williamson, D. A. (2016). US Social StatPack: Usage and Ad Spending. eMarketer, 1-72. Nelson, E. M. (2012, August 2). Millennials Want to Party With Your Brand But On Their Own Terms. Retrieved April 1, 2016, from Ad Age: http://adage.com/article/ digitalnext/millennials-party-brand-terms/236444/ In today’s day and age, social media serves as more than just a medium for pushing products and services. It allows consumers to connect with their friends, family, strangers, and — most importantly for marketers — brands. Long gone are the days in which marketers could throw something at the wall after meeting with select focus groups and wait to see if it sticks. The age of looking for the needle in the haystack has transitioned to one where consumers can interact not just when the brand says but on their own terms. Social media has totally shifted control from brand to consumer. With anyone able to tweet or find out what their friends are doing on Facebook, it has become an epicenter for communities of consumers to rally around their interests and create amplified subcultures. With this, social media has also become a source for not only providing content but also a tool for targeting the right content to the right people at the right time. This makes social media invaluable, and brands need to ensure they capitalize effectively. Social media is a key opportunity for brands to reach crucial audiences and ensure their ad spend is used effectively and strategically. So why not just take what you’re already doing on traditional media and push it on social? The reason is because one size does not fit all. Each platform requires specific strategies working in tandem with one another in order to effectively reach users where they are. According to an article by eMarketer, there are more than 150 million people in the U.S. using mobile phones to access social networks, with 58.6% of them accessing social networks at least once a month. This means that the dynamic of how consumers are choosing to engage with the world around them has drastically shifted — especially when it comes to interacting with the brands. Even with Facebook being the most trusted source for branded content, consumers still get to choose what they engage with. That means that marketers have to know exactly what type of content goes where. Using the same content from traditional media where consumers are force-fed ads on a platform where users get to choose what to engage with will result in poor results. Instead, media strategies should work in tandem to ensure a healthy mix of exposure and Matt Augustin is the first social media strategist at the McCann Network’s Fitzgerald & Company, where he develops the social strategy for brands. With a heart for service, Matt spearheads the social media strategy for the Marcus Graham Project, a program that aims to serve as an avenue for minorities to truly change the face behind the lens in the advertising industry. Matt also serves on the local executive board for MAFA, a Chicago- based networking group that coordinates events and opportunities for diverse men and women to connect with powerful professionals in the advertising, marketing and PR communities. 92% of U.S. consumers are multitasking while they are watching television.
24 and then eventually from visitor to purchaser. This identification or “traits” are important, as these data points help in knowing more about the user’s intent and then segmenting users into the right groups. Bottom line is that with the amount of big data available, marketers can use it to their advantage to purposely inform targeting by creating useful microsegments. DESIGN With key identified microsegments comes the need to create relevant messages that are aligned to the need state of a user. For example, if you know that this group of users has browsed a particular section of your site (like baseball equipment), you know that the only creative that would resonate the most to this audience is about baseball. This is where you can apply a customized site experience or media ad for this group, including a personalized call to action. DISTRIBUTE Once you have dynamic creative optimized for a particular segment, another challenge is placing the marketing messaging in right context. This means deciding how to serve a tennis creative to potential prospects when they are looking for tennis news. In today’s marketing world, the right placement is fundamental to success as much as the right creative. If you focus on the intent of the consumer, it provides a direction for you to place the message at a relevant place. We have seen examples where when users go to a sports news site after a big game win, they see offers to buy apparel/gear featuring the hero of that game. This is where you can take design and distribute to scale in a contextual manner to drive impulse behavior. In the end, by leveraging marketing technologies, brands that extend digital media targeting beyond consumer demographics and focus on the “intent” of the consumer will see higher results. AUTHOR BIO p 39. Personalized Marketing @ Scale Abhishek Jadon Edited by Megha Ghildiyal Senior Manager, Digital Strategy, Gatorade, PepsiCo digital While browsing through the Internet, have you ever noticed that when casually visiting webpages or clicking on content, some ads feel targeted and contextually relevant (seeing advertisements featuring same apparel you just viewed after visiting a fashion e-commerce site), and sometimes what gets served is not contextually relevant and, in some cases, the message does not even fit the destination environment (a pharmaceutical ad on sports news website). The fundamental difference between the two situations is a marketer’s focus on delivering contextually relevant, impactful communication while keeping consumer’s intent at the core — simply said, delivering the right message to the right person at the right time. WHY DOES IT MATTER? We live in a hyper-connected digital world, where consumer behaviors are constantly evolving. In the last five years, the way we consume media, which devices we consume it on, or even how we interact or share the media has evolved drastically. While the attention of today’s consumer is shrinking to seconds, the desire to get interesting and relevant content is still high. In fact, studies have proved that consumers today are open to receiving marketing messages or advertisements if they either provide value or are contextually relevant. As the digital landscape continues to evolve and as technology allows us to better tag, serve and analyze digital media, the pressure on marketers to adapt to this new way of “personalized marketing” will only increase. With the emergence of data management platforms (DMPs) that allow better tracking and understanding of consumer behaviors and interests, this data coupled with any 3rd party or owned analytics will provide clear, actionable insights to serve more relevant and compelling advertisements, thus delivering higher results. DMPs will help segment audiences, and brands will be able to serve different creative to different microsegments. For example, if you are a sports apparel e-commerce site, instead of serving everyone with generic sports-based banner ad, you would be able to segment your total audience and serve a tennis-interested audience with tennis-featured creative. Thekeyelementistolearnfromconsumer behavior on many attributes such as preferences, platforms and purchases. Technology has advanced to allow us to consolidate all these behavioral data points and identify the intent of consumer within the marketing funnel to deliver a more compelling message. SO WHAT CAN YOU DO? Beyond implementing any technology solution, the future is taking a strategic approach to collecting data and applying it across all digital touchpoints to ultimately gain longitudinal behavioral learning of your consumer. It starts with recognizing your core consumer and understanding the intent of that consumer and where the person is in his/her journey on path to purchase. The three-stage framework below outlines one possible approach to personalized marketing through an example of a sports apparel e-commerce site: DATA This stage is about identifying the key attributes of your consumer that you want to track. For example, as an e-commerce site, the focus is to convert every prospect to a visitor DATA DISTRIBUTIONDESIGN MAGIC PERSONAS ENGAGEMENT CONNECTED ECOSYSTEM DEFINED PLATFORM DYNAMIC CREATIVE Right Person, Right Message, Right Time.
25 digital CONSUMERS AS EVANGELISTS With consumers exposed to more than 5,000 ads a day (according to Yankelovich), their attention is short. Consumers are not looking to see the same ad that was on TV last week — they are looking to be evangelists for new content. They are excited by the opportunity to be the first to share information with their friends because that allows them to continue building their online reputation. Brands must understand that content is fleeting, and the value of being relevant in the “now” moment of a consumer’s mind is one of the most valuable places a brand can be. Influencer marketing is changing the way modern marketers connect with consumers, and it is time to embrace this new way of marketing. Brands have been slow to adopt influencer marketing, but forced advertising is no longer effective. We can see a new wave of influencer marketing emerging where brands are in the conversation — they are driving the conversations, and they are connecting with consumers on a more personal level. Consumers are your most important assets, and when consumers love a brand, they are the strongest advertising any brand will ever see. It is time for marketers to invest in influencer marketing, and we assure you that your brand will see the impact. The Influence of Influencer Marketing Tara Chang Edited by Chinye Osamusali Co-Founder, Women’s Innovation Lab Did you know that 31.2 million Facebook messages are sent every minute? And 300 hours of videos are uploaded to YouTube every minute? With the rise of new social media platforms, consumers are becoming more connected than ever. Instead of turning to brands to tell them what’s hot, they are turning to their online communities and influencers to find out the latest trends. Brands are no longer able to bombard consumers through mass media messaging because consumers have learned to tune-out traditional advertising. With only 10 percent of consumers actually reading the copy of ads (as noted by George Gallup’s research with Young & Rubicam), smart marketers have learned that it is essential to become part of the consumer conversation. There is a fragmentation of trust that is plaguing the traditional advertising world. Marketers are battling for consumers’ share of attention and are being forced to adapt to new pathways to connect with consumers. One of the most effective ways is to partner with social media influencers to help become a part of the consumer conversation. Influencers are able to organically reach consumers and brands now have an opportunity to relate to customers at the right place and in the right way. THE CENTER OF INFLUENCER MARKETING - SOCIAL CURRENCY Influencer marketing has created a new economy of social engagement where individuals are able to capitalize on their own user generated content. Their self-produced content has become their online voice and brought them social fame. Influencers are the ones who hold the power of social currency. By partnering with influencers, brands are able to share their messages with their audiences without being invasive. More importantly, they influence the perception of the brand. By partnering with these influencers, companies are able to align their brand with a particular message and online community. Marketers should heed the opportunity to partner with influencers to become a part of the conversation with consumers. SPEAK THEIR LANGUAGE While influencer marketing has proven to be successful in gaining brand trust, it is only possible when brands speak the language of their consumer. If an auto company aligned themselves with a 15-year old EDM (electronic- dance music) influencer who doesn’t have a driver’s license, consumers would question the credibility of the influencer or could even have a more negative view of the brand. So how do brands find the right influencer to partner with? It is about knowing the brand DNA, not just who its target is. Many brands aim to capture the attention of millennials, and it is essential that the messaging be genuine. Instead of forcing a brand message upon an influencer, many brands have been successful by sending products to the influencers. Consumers are trained to ignore forced advertising, and a key way to effectively communicate with them is through an honest connection. GIVE THE INFLUENCER FREEDOM Influencers are focused on staying true to their own brand. Some influencers will look to partner with brands to generate revenue, but the best influencers will do the same due diligence on a brand as brands should be doing on the influencer. Without giving influencers the freedom to craft content that will resonate with their fans, the resulting partnership content will not be as effective. Despite predictive analytics tools that can help determine the effectiveness of content, influencers are the ones who know their audience the best. They know the best type of content that will keep their fans engaged. HOW BRANDS BECOME PART OF THE CONSUMER CONVERSATION Tara Chang is the co-founder of Women’s Innovation Lab, a leading female empowerment platform that partners with corporations to drive gender equality. As an expert in new marketing technologies, she has served as the former vice president of sales at Visible Measures, a leading video advertising company, and as an advisor for Revfluence, a social platform for influencer marketing. She received her education from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Oxford and the Kellogg School of Management. Tara has won various awards and competitions from DARPA, Facebook, Cisco, Macy’s and the City of Boston. Influencers are the ones who hold the power of social currency. NU Alumni
Northwestern University
27 and match consumer demand. “Pipeline” hotel companies are facing an economic challenge to ensure that the asset commitment and, in turn, high fixed costs generate occupancy rates to deliver profitable outcomes. The disruption generated by platforms and the consumer direct involvement is impacting the volume needed for these companies. Pipeline companies are taking a look at operating like a platform business. For example, General Electric is re-inventing many of its business units. In jet engines, GE is building capabilities to capture data intelligence resulting in lower maintenance costs, increased efficiencies and product feature improvements through community collaborations from engineers and academics around the globe. Consumers represent more than 2/3 of the economic GDP in the United States. With a tough job market, many consumers have taken personal reflective action. They are motivated by the ability to create businesses on their own and “float their personal assets” to the marketplace for value. With advancement in platform applications and social media, the demand can be generated for a potentially successful endeavor. Beware, industrial age businesses will need to protect their assets, their cost structures and their profits by continuing to attract large volumes of transactions. Consumer businesses do not need to attract large volumes of businesses to be successfully profitable. The barrier to attract consumers, allows the smallest of companies to be disruptively successful through direct relationship delivery execution using platform systems. Advice for both pipeline and platform businesses — be flexible, dream big, get direct consumer relationships and “float” your assets and costs into the marketplace. By the way — garage available for winter storage rent, anyone interested? Platform Businesses “Float Costs,” Consumers Run Businesses Tony Poidomani Northwestern on digital Edited by Joe Macdougall Lecturer, Medill IMC Department, Northwestern University Have you ever experienced a taxi ride without getting into a taxi? How about enjoying a room accommodation without entering a hotel? Consumers today are in a position to deliver value as service suppliers and to become demand generators. Technology platforms created by companies such as Uber and Airbnb are empowering consumers to take market share through direct relationships and run profitable businesses. Peer-to-peer commerce is flourishing, and industrial age companies built on 20th century processes are taking notice. In a new book, Platform Revolution: How Networked Markets are Transforming the Economy and How to Make Them Work for You, the authors Geoffrey Parker, Marshall Van Alstyne and Sangeet Choudary offered the following to characterize industrial age companies and new technology platform companies: • Pipeline businesses are built on linear flows that link infrastructure, people and processes. Assets are leveraged and carry high fixed costs. The value created is the transformation of inputs to finished products. • Platform businesses bring together producers and consumers dynamically in high-value exchanges of an “ecosystem.” An “ecosystem” consists of networks of partnerships, scores of users and cooperation of governments to deliver “on demand” services for the economy. Assets are provided by the consumers and costs are variable in nature. The value created is derived from the increased number of users generating positive experiences and defining themselves as communities. Airbnb is a great example of a platform with an “asset-lite” business model. The Airbnb platform aggregates a personal consumer supply of rooms with an easy-to-use app to capture Tony Poidomani is an adjunct lecturer of financial accounting at the Medill IMC program. For more than 20 years, Tony has been an Executive MBA instructor of accounting at Lake Forest Graduate School of Management, receiving accolades for Professor of the Year in 2007. Tony is currently a partner in Azure Services, which delivers analytics as a service, as well as a consultant, assisting CFOs in project management, continuous improvement and daily services. Consumer businesses do not need to attract large volumes of businesses to be successfully profitable.
28 Steve Jobs famously said, “It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” This exercise is less about having customers tell you what they want or voting yes or no. The goal is to uncover the reasons behind their vote. Getting to the “why” helps uncover insights that provide guardrails for innovation efforts. For example, a clothing brand desiring to become a lifestyle brand discovered it could succeed with ideas that had strong functional benefits, but it lacked the equity needed to support self-expressive benefits. So any types of innovations that had a high self-expression quotient (like watches, perfume, purses, or dress shoes) were out. Things like book bags, sports apparel, gym accessories and casual travel accessories — all quite strong. In a business environment in constant search of growth, this kind of information helps with go/no-go decisions. 5. Prioritize the Most Promising Ideas The previous efforts will yield an assessment of your existing ideas and will likely also generate additional ideas that emerge as part of activities. At this point, emphasis shifts from exploration to analysis, where the strongest ideas undergo more comprehensive scrutiny and due diligence to help management make a go/no-go decision. 6. Assess Business — and Brand — Impact In addition to typical business-oriented metrics, it’s helpful to understand whether your new offering helped to strengthen your brand’s equity. Measuring brand awareness and meaning with target audiences lets you know if your innovation efforts are paying dividends back to your brand. Innovation is risky but necessary for any thriving brand. Leveraging your brand’s equity and using innovation pathways to bring structure to the process helps reduce risk, accelerate decision making and improve the chances for success. Sources: 1. Nielsen Breakthrough Innovation Report for Europe 2014, Fast Company, April 4, 2012 Brand-Driven Innovation Ariel Goldfarb Northwestern on brand Edited by Sharon Liao Adjunct Lecturer, Medill IMC Department, Northwestern University, & Managing Partner, CurtisAlan Partners LEVERAGING THE INHERENT EQUITY OF YOUR BRAND TO REDUCE RISK AND INCREASE THE SUCCESS OF INNOVATION EFFORTS. Ariel Goldfarb is an adjunct lecturer at Northwestern’s Medill IMC program and a managing partner at CurtisAlan Partners, a consultancy focused on helping organizations become more customer driven. Ariel teaches strategic brand management courses and is a recipient of the 2010 Faculty Teaching Award. He holds a bachelor’s degree from U.C. Berkeley and a master’s degree in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University. Many things need to go right between the germ of a new product or service idea and its successful launch into the market. But if the idea itself is small, so is the reward. This article focuses on the beginning of the process: helping marketers create bigger ideas and bigger rewards — with less risk — for their brands. BRAND “PATHWAYS” FOR INNOVATION While all innovation is risky, your brand is a tool that can help reduce that risk. Using brand equity and a brand’s innovation pathways — the natural, intuitive means by which brands extend — you can improve product development efforts and inspire teams to try for bigger, more rewarding innovations for your brand. BABY STEPS VERSUS BIG LEAPS Success statistics on innovation efforts are not pretty. Numbers vary, but in general, failures are estimated to be 40 to 75 percent. Given the perceived challenges, companies make smaller, safer bets in order to get a win. This tends to promote incremental innovation — a new flavor profile, an added ingredient or a new packaging format. Not only does this deliver similarly small incremental rewards, but also contributes to product proliferation and cannibalization. It is the bigger leaps — extending into new categories — that offer bigger rewards: creating new customers, increasing brand awareness, enhancing brand equity and creating new franchises. Brand-driven innovation leverages the equity in your brand to help make these bigger bets a little bit safer. There are generally six steps in pursuing brand-driven innovation: 1. Understand Your Brand – Map Brand Equity with Target Audiences Customers use brands to help them make decisions. Whatever associations they have — that’s the brand’s equity. It’s not just awareness but the subjective thoughts, feelings and perceptions they link to your brand. These are the gatekeepers of purchase decisions. For example, would you feel more comfortable buying a self-driving car from Nikon or from Hello Kitty? If you dig in a bit to ask yourself why, you’ll see it’s the associations you carry for each brand — each brand’s equity — that helps you make your decision. 2. Position for Growth – Articulate Future / Aspirational Brand Equity Brand-driven innovation leverages your brand’s existing equity to increase chances of success for your new offering. But there is a second goal — each new offering should ideally further strengthen your brand’s equity. This happens when new offerings are well received and seem to “fit” with the brand. They in turn create additional strong, positive, unique associations that strengthen and expand the meaning of your brand. For example, by creating their own salons, Aveda expanded their meaning from just haircare products to haircare and styling. To do this, you need to know where you want to take your brand. This is done through brand strategy, and more specifically, positioning. In positioning your brand, you define the future meaning your brand will create. 3. Team Task – Generate Ideas Using Innovation Pathways Having an understanding of where your brand is today and where you want to take it going forward sets the stage for exploring your brand’s innovation pathways (see callout for the paths). These are simply paths of logic by which customers perceive the appropriateness and fit of a new offering. An idea can travel multiple paths but usually has a primary one. The more paths it is perceived to travel by target audiences, the greater the likelihood for success. 4. Explore the Possibilities with Target Audiences Enlist your target audiences to test your ideas and also generate new ones. It’s a research exercise that incorporates creativity, as well as a creativity exercise that incorporates research. The brand innovation pathways are used again here. The goal is to see which paths target audiences are most comfortable traveling down, how far they are willing to go, and most importantly, why.
29 Northwestern on brand Higher-level benefits derived from origin products and services - 7th Generation products (diapers, light bulbs, cleaners, etc.) - Coach leather in Lexus cars Emotional Benefits Products and services relating to the brand’s identity - Swiss Army fragrances - Ralph Lauren paint Brand Identity Perceivedtobewithinthecompetencies of your company - Kellogg’s Breakfast-To-Go - Coleman backyard products Core Competency Perceived similarity to origin products and services - Jeep mountain boards - Rolls Royce jet engines Product Attributes Low-level benefits derived from origin products and services - Tide-To-Go instant stain remover pens - Clorox mop and disinfecting wipes Functional Benefits Products / services relating to the brand experience - Nike golf camps - Toro lawn irrigation systems Usage Context © Copyright CurtisAlan Partners LLC Brand-Driven Pathways There are six innovation pathways used internally to generate ideas and externally with target audiences to assess the fit of your ideas. In addition to definitions and examples of each, the framework below can be used to visually map idea rankings:
30 to read the review . Kim et al. (2016) focuses on situations where consumers are actually reading reviews and finding the “right” length of review. The “right” length of a review probably depends on the category, where consumers may be willing to read longer reviews for a high-involvement purchase (such as a washing machine) but less willing to read a long review for a low-involvement purchase (such as shampoo). TAKEAWAY: Understand the circumstances in which reviews have uncommonly high and low influence on purchases. THERE’S A GREATER IMPACT FROM ACTUAL, VERIFIED BUYERS. From “Understanding and overcoming biases in customer reviews” (2016a) Askalidis and Malthouse (2016a) explore the difference between verified buyers and anonymous reviewers. Nearly all reviews from verified buyers were in response to an email sent to customer after purchase, where the customer can submit a rating with a single click. Anonymous reviewers must find the webpage for a particular product and create a login to write a review. Depending on the retailer, the valence of reviews from verified buyers is between 0.5 and 1 star higher than from anonymous reviewers. An explanation for this finding is the self-selection bias —those who had a negative experience are more likely to invest the effort to find the right page to write the review, while responding to an email is much easier and includes a more representative set of customers. TAKEAWAY: Consider incentivizing reviewers to write reviews to obtain more reviews from verified buyers. Sources: Askalidis and Malthouse (2016a), Understanding and overcoming biases in customer reviews, under review at Decision support systems. Askalidis and Malthouse (2016b), The value of online customer reviews, accepted at ACM Conference on Recommender Systems. Kim, Maslowska and Malthouse (2016), Disentangling the Effect of Online Product Review Features on Purchase Behavior, ICORIA, Ljubljana. Maslowska, Malthouse, Bernritter (2016), Too good to be true: The Role of Online Reviews’ Features in Probability to Buy, International Journal of Advertising. Maslowska, Viswanathan, Malthouse (2016), Do Customer Reviews Drive Purchase? The Moderating Roles of Review Exposure and Product Involvement, under review at Decision support systems. AUTHORS BIOS p 39. Evidence of the Influence and Value of Customer Reviews for Purchase Decisions Spiegel Research Center Northwestern on data Edited by Chinye Osamusali Edward C. Malthouse, Ewa Maslowska, Yorgos Askilidis, Su Jung Kim, Tom Collinger, Vijay Viswanathan, Chinye Osamusali Now, more than ever, consumers have more control over how they share their brand experiences — good or bad — with the global audience. Online customer reviews (OCRs) are becoming increasingly important — various surveys report that consumers trust recommendations or opinions from other consumers more than traditional forms of advertising such as commercials or product placements on mass media. Given the importance of OCRs, the Spiegel Research Center (SRC) conducted a series of studies to help companies understand the effects of reviews on consumers and help marketers better manage OCRs. MODEL TO ASSESS IMPACT OF REVIEWS ON A BRAND AND CATEGORY. From “The value of online customer reviews” (2016b) Askalidis and Malthouse (2016b) devised a method to assess the overall value of reviews to a brand. The method studies how the conversion rate changes as more reviews are added to a brand. The difference between the conversion rate with no reviews and the conversion rate with a large number of reviews is the value of reviews. The overall conversion rate is low when there are no reviews and increases 270% as the number of reviews increase (see graphs on p.31). TAKEAWAY: Forecast the impact of reviews on sales. REVIEWS HAVE A GREATER EFFECT WHEN THERE IS A HIGHER VOLUME. From “Do Customer Reviews Drive Purchase? The Moderating Roles of Review Exposure and Product Involvement” (2016) Additionally,Maslowskaetal.(2016)expect for the average star rating (valence) of reviews to have a greater effect when there are many reviews than when there are few for several reasons: (1) it could signal to the prospective buyer that the product is popular; (2) it shows that other people who have purchased the product care enough to make the effort to write a review; (3) the volume may indicate reliability and trustworthiness; or (4) consumers will rely on the summary valence measure rather than reading individual reviews (see tables on p.31). TAKEAWAY: Encourage customers to write reviews after purchasing a product. PERFECT RATINGS MAKE OCRS SEEM “TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE.” From “Too Good to be True: The Role of Online Reviews’ Features in Probability to Buy” (2016) While valence has a general positive effect on purchase, Maslowka, Malthouse and Bernritter (2016) are able to qualify this conclusion. This study shows that when a product has all five-star reviews (so that the valence is 5), the purchase probability is a bit less than when valence is less than 5, that is, when not all reviews are perfect. The purchase probabilities peek when valence is about 4.5 stars, across the eight categories and four companies researched. An explanation for this finding is that consumers perceive a product having all five-star reviews as being too good to be true and become skeptical. TAKEAWAY: Do not filter out negative reviews, as they may positively influence sales. OCRS HAVE A GREATER EFFECT ON CUSTOMERS WHO CHOOSE TO READ THEM. From “Do Customer Reviews Drive Purchase? The Moderating Roles of Review Exposure and Product Involvement” and “Disentangling the Effect of Online Product Review Features on Purchase Behavior” (2016) According to Maslowska et al. (2016), there are several reasons why a customer may choose to read reviews. Many times, it reflects the consumer’s uncertainty about the product. Someone who does not choose to read reviews either does not trust them or does not need additional information, perhaps because they have purchased the product before. Either way, we would expect the valence of the reviews to have a stronger effect on someone who chooses
31 Northwestern on data Graphs Tables Effect of Number of Displayed Reviews on the Conversion Rate The Effects of Average Star Ratings on Purchase Behaviours
communication.
Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications (JIMC)
Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications (JIMC)
Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications (JIMC)
Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications (JIMC)
Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications (JIMC)
Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications (JIMC)
Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications (JIMC)
Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications (JIMC)
Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications (JIMC)
Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications (JIMC)
Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications (JIMC)
Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications (JIMC)

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Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications (JIMC)

  • 2. 2 Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications Copyright © 2016 by Medill, Northwestern University All rights reserved.
  • 3. Letter from the Editor Foreword The Journal of Integrated Marketing Communications (JIMC) provides a bridge between the academic world and the day-to-day uses of concepts and tools. This year’s version explores several ideas from Northwestern University’s Integrated Marketing Communication curriculum. The team of graduate students who worked on the journal this year have done an outstanding job of finding both academics and practitioners to describe what’s new and how to apply it. For 12 months, these students have worked together to produce this journal. In addition to finding articles, they edit, design and produce a work product that represents what the school is all about: quality, curiosity and creativity. On behalf of the team, we hope you will enjoy reading it. Frank Mulhern, Ph.D. Professor, Associate Dean & Department Chair Hamad Bin Khalifa Al-Thani Professor Medill IMC Department Northwestern University Nancy Hobor Senior Lecturer & Faculty Advisor Medill IMC Department Northwestern University Greetings and welcome to the 2017 issue of JIMC! This journal is a culmination of the diligent work of a student team in Medill’s Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) graduate program at Northwestern and insightful articles from industry and academic professionals with extensive understanding and experience in the IMC field. JIMC is made up of associate editors who assist authors in the writing process and a leadership team that reviews the articles in effort to identify a common thread across the wide array of topics, industries, and perspectives. Some common concepts were: technological evolution, cultural and digital engagement, and brand expansion. These words were indicative of what is a constant factor in IMC — change. But how will IMC practitioners address this ever-present reality? Answer: Innovation. Introducing the 2017 theme: “JIMC in an Innovative World” In the spirit of innovation, this year’s journal introduces the “Purple Pages,” with articles written by Northwestern alumni, as well as a dedicated “Northwestern” section to display IMC faculty articles and research. It is my hope that this spirit enlightens and motivates you about the growing opportunities in the field of IMC. A very special thanks to: Frank Mulhern, Nancy Hobor, and Robin Young. JIMC Leadership Team: Roberta Pedotto, Paul Fourçans, Elizabeth Fontana, and Anna Klutho; the associate editors and our esteemed authors. Your tireless hard work and dedication to making the 2017 edition of JIMC a success is greatly appreciated. With warmest thanks, LaVern Thomas Editor in Chief
  • 4. Medill’s Approach to IMC Integrated marketing communications (IMC) is a strategic approach through which organizations drive performance by engaging, serving and communicating with customers and other stakeholders. IMC combines qualitative understanding of consumers with large-scale analytics to develop communications and content that build and maintain strong brands. Grounded in advertising, IMC has emerged as the premier way for organizations to manage customer experiences in the digital age. JIMCadvisory board Jonathan Blum Senior Vice President Chief Public Affairs and Global Nutrition Officer Yum! Brands, Inc. Clarke A. Caywood, Ph.D. Professor Medill IMC Department Northwestern University Sara Webber Laczo Senior Director Corporate Communications McGladrey Jack Modzelewski President of the Americas & Senior Partner FleishmanHillard Joe Woodard Manager Analytics Jet.com Andy Bosman Principal National Marketing and Sales Leader McGladrey David Grossman Founder & CEO The Grossman Group Emily London Manager People Advisory Services Ernst & Young Elisabeth Ritz Founder & President Ritz Communications Jane Flis Associate Director of Digital Marketing Medill, Northwestern University
  • 5. Lynn Pedotto EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Before pursuing her graduate degree at Medill, Lynn worked as a freelance content creator, publicist and social media manager for various authors, entrepreneurs, and small business owners. She holds a bachelor’s degree in history and Spanish from Presbyterian College. At Medill, Lynn is concentrating in content strategy and public relations. JIMCleadership team LaVern Thomas EDITOR-IN-CHIEF Prior to Northwestern, LaVern worked as an adjunct faculty at DePaul University teaching mixed media and ESL writing, executive editor for The Hip Hop Democrat, and currently serves in leadership positions on two non-for-profits assisting with marketing and fundraising campaigns. LaVern holds a MA in Writing, Rhetoric, and Discourse and a BA in History from DePaul University. Anna Klutho COPY EDITOR Anna worked as a content and communications coordinator for an executive leadership events company. Prior, she was a marketing strategy intern with Disney Vacation Club. She holds a bachelors in business administration (marketing) from Seattle University. Liz Fontana PR DIRECTOR Liz worked for a SEO marketing agency in which she optimized websites and improved natural organic search results. Prior to that, she managed the social and digital campaign for a Tallahassee hospital. She holds her bachelor’s in marketing and communications from Florida State University. At Medill is concentrating in brand strategy and digital Paul Fourçans CREATIVE DIRECTOR Before coming to Northwestern University to pursue a M.S. degree in Integrated Marketing Communications, Paul received his B.A. in Marketing and Communication from the Ecole Française des Attachés de Presse in Paris, France. Paul started his first company when he was 21, ACID for Clothes, which he still runs today.
  • 8. What Is IMC? Alice Marder So Your Bull’s-Eye Consumer Tweeted at Your Brand. Now What? Joe Sargent Driving Business with a Consistent Brand Charlie Chen 10 12 13 From The Funnel to Dual Buckets: Rethinking Our Campaign Objectives Frank Wong Decoding the Millennial Enigma Amanda Slavin Personal Branding & What It Means in 2016 Jeff Willinger 14 15 16 The Importance of Innovation in Elevating Brand Relevance Shari Matras Transforming into an Analytical Organization José Antonio Murillo Garza Telling a Memorable Story with Your Data Cyndi Greenglass 17 19 20 Authenticity, Democratization of Information and the Changing Nature of Influence Jake O’Leary & Smriti Khanna 22
  • 9. Table of Contents The Importance of Social Media for Brands Matt Augustin Personalized Marketing @ Scale Abhishek Jadon The Influence of Influencer Marketing Tara Chang 23 24 25 Platform Businesses “Float Costs,” Consumers Run Businesses Tony Poidomani Brand-Driven Innovation Ariel Goldfarb An Exploration of Online Customer Reviews IMC SRC 27 28 30 A Non-Writer’s Guide to Storytelling Kirsten Longnecker Public Relations Means Business Dr. Matthew W. Ragas A Brief Look at the State of PR in Mexico Olga Oro Coppel 33 34 35 Don’t Panic, Plan Stephanie Kneisler & Therese Van Ryne Preparing Your CEO for the Role of Senior Statesman Marjorie Benzkofer Speaking the Millennial Language Andrea Sanchez Ferro 36 37 38
  • 10. 10 1. Communicated the core value that Cars.com and our suite of solutions delivers to customers 2. Drove traffic and “staying power” to our booth and other Cars.com hosted events 3. Cut through the vendor clutter 4. Elevated our brand position as the automotive industry’s digital marketing leader The overall campaign goal was to position ourselves as an innovator and leader in the space. Expressed through a campaign thematic called Dominate Digit@l, the core message was that when it comes to car buying, Cars.com is the only way dealers can dominate the conversation, dominate the short list and dominate sales. 5. CROSS-FUNCTIONAL INVOLVEMENT Cross-functional buy-in, commitment and resources was needed to successfully execute the strategy. With support from the product, operations and sales teams, we accelerated the development and launch of two brand-new, groundbreaking products, which led to record in-booth sales. The team succeeded in owning Dominate Digit@l from all angles with a highly promoted appointment setting contest, insights-driven content, innovative paid and social media, advertising, PR and direct marketing. Dealers also enjoyed in-booth amenities and relaxed at our customer appreciation event. This theme acted as the cohesive thread connecting all of our marketing efforts with an intricate plan reaching dealers before, during and after NADA. 6. EVALUATING RESULTS Cars.com succeeded in dominating NADAandSanFrancisco.Theresultsconnected back to our business objectives, far exceeded all expectations and set revenue records! This was all done in a truly integrated and collaborative fashion as one team with one goal. What Is IMC? Alice Marder imc Edited by Sonam Roteria Senior Manager, Integrated Marketing, Cars.com WHAT IS IMC? Whether it’s at a networking event or while talking to friends or family, I am often asked, “What exactly is Integrated Marketing Communications? You make ads, right?” I always smile and just say, “Not exactly . . . it’s a bit more than that.” To me, it seems like such a simple and logical concept but to most folks — both marketersandnon—IMCstillseemsabitforeign. I define Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) as: “The comprehensive management of all communications to build positive and lasting relationships with customers and stakeholders – both internally and externally.” This means that all components of marketing communications are rooted in research and insights, and work together to deliver a single and consistent message. WHAT ARE WE TRYING TO ACHIEVE? Organizations have a tendency to work in silos. While folks believe they’re doing what’s best for the company or their job, too often they are only focused on their function and immediate impact to their team or area of business. IMC requires cross-functional integration and helps to build awareness, alignment and accountability of strategic objectives. It provides guidance for messaging and communication to reach customers (B2C & B2B) and prospects at every step of the purchase process — before, during and after. IMC processes thus help present a coherent brand position by implementing synergy through all internal and external touch points. HOW DO WE DO IT? As with many things, the devil is in the details. One of my favorite campaigns in my tenure at Cars.com, and one that I take great pride in, is an IMC campaign we developed for the 2015 National Automotive Dealer Association (NADA) Convention & Expo. Each year, 22,500+ professionals from across the country attend NADA, the automotive industry’s largest tradeshow. But the challenge is always: how do we break through this highly cluttered and competitive environment? Let’s break it down into the key planning steps: 1. DEFINE GOALS & OBJECTIVES In attending NADA, we set out to achieve the following business objectives: • Drive revenue growth • Capitalize on the opportunity to meet with key decision makers • Build and nurture relationship with key influencers, media and partners • Build Cars.com brand awareness 2. IDENTIFY TARGET NEEDS In understanding the needs of our target audience, we worked from the insight that car dealers need to stand out and be everywhere car shoppers are to ensure a presence on the buyer’s “shortlist” for purchase decisions. Our approach: we gave dealers a broad range of solutions via our products offerings with which they could target the highly engaged Cars.com consumer audience. Additionally, we offered access to our team of dedicated digital consultants and detailed reporting and metrics. All this gives dealers the power to not just take part in digital but to dominate it, so they can stay in front of customers and ahead of their competition. 3. ESTABLISH A CORE TEAM To ensure functions were on the same page, a core working team met on a weekly basis. This team was responsible for internal and external communications to ensure that a singular vision and mission for the campaign was established across all stakeholder groups. 4. CAMPAIGN DEVELOPMENT To achieve our business objectives, we developed a multi-channel campaign with tactics that: Alice Marder is the senior manager of integrated marketingatCars.com.Sheleadsandunitescross- functional teams in the development, execution and measurement of key business initiatives in support of the organization’s aggressive growth strategy. Prior to joining Cars.com, Alice was the manager of marketing integration at U.S. Cellular andplayedanintegralroleinthedevelopmentand successful implementation of the organization’s new integrated marketing approach. Previously, Alice held positions at various agencies including MindShare and DraftFCB. Alice is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Madison and earned her M.S. in integrated marketing communications from Northwestern University. NU Alumni INTEGRATED MARKETING COMMUNICATIONS AT CARS.COM
  • 12. 12 marketing team can now identify sales tied to Whatever through retail execution. This is key because purely experiential campaigns can have successful KPIs, like high social media impressions or increased long-term brand health, but those are incredibly difficult to translate into real dollar value. Many product categories, like beer, are trending downward in volume; therefore, the ability to quantify results is paramount with pressure mounting to turn these businesses around. So what’s the value of a tweet about my brand? That answer is somewhat moot. In the future, my work will focus on creating programs that deliver a consistent message at all consumer touch points. Experiential marketing remains a powerful tool to connect brands with consumers, but focusing on it alone would be shortsighted. From the consumer perspective, one great event with no follow through falls flat. From the business perspective, the benefits of that tweet are too far removed from the sale. The value of a tweet is nothing without a strong program supporting it. So Your Bull’s-Eye Consumer Tweeted at Your Brand. Now What? Joe Sargent brand Edited by Marissa Pederson Brand Manager, Wilson Sporting Goods What is the value of a tweet about my brand? This is a question I have asked myself multiple times in my various roles exploring experiential marketing. As all marketers know, understanding the consumer is at the foundation of a successful program. Companies spend millions trying to understand every aspect of their consumers’ lives. • “What does she watch on TV?” • “What are her shopping habits?” • “How much of our products does she consume?” All of these questions feed the research that informs media plans, retail planograms and volume projections. However, there is still a gap when it comes to connecting with these consumers. This is where experiential marketing plays a vital role. Creating an immersive experience for consumers can turn the curious into fans and fans into advocates. These advocates not only purchase products, but also persuade others to do so as well. In the best cases, experiential marketing helps brands express their core values and physically engage the senses of potential and current fans. And the best part? Brands have the full attention of everyone in attendance. They are able to engage their audience much more effectively than by having an expensive TV commercial that gets skipped via DVR or is missed while a viewer checks her phone. So why wouldn’t every brand spend all their money in this space? In my experience, companies are hesitant when it comes to experiential marketing for a number of reasons. It tends to be expensive on a per-consumer basis versus a radio or TV spot. To make a splash, the prevailing thought is that a brand has to spend millions of dollars to reach a few thousand consumers at most. This represents a gamble for decision- makers. Do you invest a million dollars into an experiential activity or create another TV spot? Wehavereamsof informationontheROIof TV commercials across multiple product categories. In contrast, many experiential activities do not directly impact sales. Considered together, it is no wonder that experiential marketing activities are often marginalized. How, then, does a brand successfully execute experiential programs? Consider Bud Light’s Whatever USA campaign. Bud Light flew several thousand people to a small town in Colorado and met them with a nearly complete takeover of the area, including live music, larger-than-life activations and, of course, lots of Bud Light. The activation was supported with TV spots, and entries were accepted via social media as well as at retail locations. The brand claimed the promotion was a success, saying that sales increased during the summer, which is the most important season for sales in the beer industry. Equally important, more than 200,000 consumers auditioned to be a part of the campaign. This led to an increase in brand affinity with its key consumers. As this example shows, the key to successful experiential marketing is expanding the message beyond those attending the event and creating an integrated program that maximizes consumer awareness, retail activation and experiential activities. When an integrated program is executed successfully, evaluating ROI becomes much easier. Post-campaign, the Bud Light Joe Sargent is a Detroit sports fan by birth with a soft spot for brand marketing. Having lived in several states for work and school, Joe has shared triumphs and miseries with several fan bases. He currently works as a brand manager at Wilson Sporting Goods in Chicago and has several years of experience in lifestyle marketing and experiential activation. Creating an immersive experience for consumers can turn the curious into fans and fans into advocates.
  • 13. 13 advanced telecommunication technologies, self- developed mobile chipsets, mature hardware and software platforms, Huawei strives for perfection and makes the impossible possible. Consumers should get a phone with the performance they would never imagine — the best camera, the thinnest body, the fastest speed, the longest standby time, you name it. No longer shaky, Huawei firmly committed to high- end product development and the pursuit of the perfectness of inspired experience. In February 2013, Huawei launched the “Make it Possible” global branding campaign. A line of premium products including Ascend P6, P7, P8 and Mate 7 and 8 have been released to the marketplace. The new products gained many awards, and Huawei rapidly increased its market share to become the third largest smartphoneprovider in the world. In 2014, Huawei became the first Chinese brand that was listed as the Best Global Brand by Interbrand. many awards, and Huawei rapidly increased its market share to become the third largest smart phone provider in the world. Just as Abraham Lincoln said, “Character is like a tree and reputation like a shadow. The shadow is what we think of it; the tree is the real thing.” Huawei’s investment in its brand paid off, and the company is still dedicating itself to consistently delivering its brand promise to the customers in all three business groups. Driving Business with a Consistent Brand Charlie Chen brand Edited by Liang Liu President, Triwin THE PRACTICE OF HUAWEI In the past 30 years, China has grown into the second largest economy in the world, and a number of competitive Chinese companies burgeoned in this period of time. A lot of companies are trying to establish themselves as leading brands in the global market; however, they are facing various challenges. The most serious one is shifting the mindset from a product-driven to a brand-driven business. Branding strategy is no longer the execution of the business strategy but a driver to the business strategy. Huawei, the only the Chinese brand that was listed as the Best Global Brand by Interbrand, is a great showcase of that practice. DEFINE BRAND DRIVEN BUSINESS It was challenging to figure out a top brand strategy that drives the entire business. Huawei owns three business groups that serve three distinct groups of customers — carriers, enterprises and regular consumers. There had been debates about whether to build a house of brands or a branded house strategy. Finally, considering the low brand awareness among regular consumers at the time, Huawei adopted branded house strategy to strengthen its brand image. Then how did Huawei define and build one single brand with three distinct business groups that developed different products and faced different customers in different markets? This is where the pipe strategy came into place. Despite Huawei’s different customer groups, Huawei is, in essence, in the business of information transmission. Huawei compared the carriers to the Mississippi River and the Great Lakes; the enterprises to the reservoirs and pipes in the city; and mobile devices to water taps. The solution Huawei provided are pipe networks that can handle the digital tsunami that carries and sends huge amounts of data from one place to another. Therefore, Huawei defined its brand promise as “building a better connected world” with three major characteristics — ubiquitous broadband, agile innovation and inspired experience. These characteristics drive future product development in all three business groups. POSITIONING IN THE B2C MARKET Knowing and being yourself is essential to a brand. Huawei went a long way to position itself in the B2C market. Before 2011, Huawei was confused about the target consumers and positioning in this market. When Apple and Samsung products attracted consumers’ attention with their luxury fashions and fancy functions, Huawei also wanted to establish a fashionable and fancy brand image. But that was not who Huawei is. When launching the new product Ascend P1, Huawei invited a famous director from London to shoot a commercial, where an old man (representing wisdom) and a white horse (representing beauty) ran into each other, and the phone was born in the collision. However, without a clear positioning, all these efforts were in vain. The audience were totally confused about what the commercial was intended to express. Huawei realized that that the brand was not a fashion leader. The real heritage of Huawei is the dedication in advanced technologies, the spirit of perseverance and making the impossible possible. After months of brainstorming and debates, consumer business group executives finally realized that “Make it Possible” is exactly the positioning they were looking for. It best answers what Huawei is and what value Huawei is bringing to the consumers — “make the impossible possible!” With the advantages of Charlie Chen is the co-founder and the president of Triwin Investments International LLC. Before Triwin, Charlie was the vice president of Huawei Technologies, a Fortune 500 company, and was in charge of Huawei corporate branding and communication department. Charlie held several leadership positions in Huawei in the areas of R&D, sales and marketing. He earned his doctorate degree in electrical engineering from the South China University of Technology in Guangzhou, China. Branding strategy is no longer the execution of the business strategy but a driver to the business strategy.
  • 14. 14 is important that we factor in the element of time when picking the metrics to measure the success of our campaigns. Immediate, trackable revenue is great but if the sales cycle takes a bit longer, measuring lift in consideration or pure product awareness might be a better choice. TWO BUCKETS — CREATING DEMAND VERSUS CAPTURING DEMAND So if awareness exists throughout the funnel, is there another way to categorize a campaign? In my world as director of digital media at Hyatt Hotels, I’ve scrapped The Funnel perspective and have been instead using a new method of categorizing most of our digital campaigns into two major buckets — creating demand and capturing demand. To use a simple example: During the harsh winter in Chicago, you put out a TV commercial telling people to visit Miami (and, of course, suggesting they stay at a Hyatt hotel). In this scenario, you are trying to generate demand. On the other hand, when consumers are actively reading articles about traveling to the Bahamas, and you put your ads right next to the article, you are trying to capture demand. Many companies organize their teams into retention and acquisition; this same concept of targeting can also be applied within those two groups. For existing customers, you can generate demand by encouraging them to purchase more. Then again, if you realize your existing consumer is considering other brands for a service that you provide, wouldn’t you want to win them back by capturing such demand? Technology these days allow us to easily identify those users, and marketers should take advantage of such targeting capabilities as much as possible through tools like Google’s remarketing lists for search ads. So the next time you run a campaign, you might want to think about if your product or your campaign message is unique enough to generate consumer demand or you just want to target those in-market consumers and simply have a piece of the market share. Not a lot of marketers can create an entire market like what De Beers did with diamonds back in the 1930s, but I can entice consumers to travel more with photographs of exotic destinations. From The Funnel to Dual Buckets Frank Wong brand Edited by Rebecca Yeng Director, Digital Media, Hyatt Hotels Corporation When I first got into marketing eight years ago, everyone talked about The Funnel, and we used this framework extensively at the agencies. Even after I transitioned to the client side, I still see The Funnel being used quite often. I’ve used it myself occasionally as well, but the more I think about it, the more I think that the purchase funnel needs a little tweak. “AWARENESS” IS THROUGHOUT THE FUNNEL Many marketers categorize their campaigns as awareness and direct response. The awareness campaign focuses on the top part of the funnel while the direct response campaign focuses on the middle to bottom part of the funnel. However, the term “awareness” has been very loosely used, and I believe that awareness doesn’t just exist on the top of the funnel. Let’s begin by defining “awareness” more clearly. Awareness of what? Your particular brand in general? A particular action/need that the consumers haven’t been thinking of? Or a brand new product within your brand portfolio? Let’s keep it simple and say you want consumers to be more aware of your V8 Vegetable Juice. You can put a TV ad out there, which is usually considered a top-funnel execution. As for a mid-funnel execution, you can run paid search ads targeting consumers searching for “healthy drinks” to make them aware of your product. Alternatively, you can have the right shelf placement, putting the V8 next to other health drinks targeting the consumers who are actively shopping in those aisles, and this would be considered a bottom funnel execution. If we follow the traditional purchase funnel categorization, the last two scenarios are usually considered to be direct response campaigns. However, didn’t the consumer just became aware of your product in those two scenarios? Therefore, consumer can become aware of your product throughout the funnel. It is important to know that although awareness is throughout the funnel, the purchase path remains the same. Consumers still need to go through the process below. The key difference is that consumers at the bottom of the funnel usually make their decisions faster than those at the top of the funnel. SPEED TO PURCHASE IS THE KEY WHEN MEASURING SUCCESS Have you ever wondered why your TV ad or homepage makeover is not giving you an immediate return? Why do we see such high ROI when bidding on our competitors branded terms? That’s because the speed to purchase varies drastically depending on when consumers are exposed to your brand. When consumers see your ad in the comfort of their couch at home, it’s probably going to take longer for them to pick up your product as compared to those who are already in the grocery store but just learned about your product walking down the aisle. When the speed of purchase is not immediate, several factors such as loss of tracking (think cookie deletion) or change of mind could affect a campaign’s ROI. It In his role at Hyatt, Frank Wong is responsible for developing digital roadmaps and executing strategies across various digital channels including paid search, meta search, display, paid social and search engine optimizations. Frank is a big believer in data-driven marketing and is passionate about user experience. Prior to joining Hyatt, Frank spent four years at Digitas, where he worked on the Bank of America and Sprint accounts. Prior to Digitas, Frank spent two years working as a financial and operations consultant at Huron Consulting Group. RETHINKING OUR CAMPAIGN OBJECTIVES
  • 15. 15 In order to do this, start marketing to millennials internally. Forbes states that 77% of connected millennials choose to work at a company because of its sense of purpose. Millennials demand flexible work hours; they demand creative ways of communication; they demand meaningful context and narratives and the truth. Focus on creating a structure that provides opportunity for upward mobility, entrepreneurial activity, remote working and consistent personal growth. Once you provide a safe space for your team to express themselves (and work hard), turn attentions to inspiring your team to share that passion with your audience. Externally, remember the secret ingredient to a meaningful, millennial-engaging experience is the fact that it isn’t about you — it’s about them. Millennials know their power; they have seen their leverage through social media in movements they have created, and they know the amplification of their voice. Ask yourself — what is your purpose? Why do you exist? What is the value you are offering the people you are selling to? Sources: Dan Schwabel, “10 New Findings About the Millennial Consumer.” Forbes. Jan. 20, 2015. http://www.forbes.com/ sites/danschawbel/2015/01/20/10-new-findings-about-the- millennial-consumer/#7e30049928a8. Erin Mulligan Nelson, “MIllennials Want to Party With Your Brand on Their Own Terms.” Advertising Age. Aug. 2, 2012. http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/millennials-party- brand-terms/236444/ Image Source: (picked by the JIMC) http://www. azcommerce.com/media/468319/the-millennials_lowres.jpg AUTHOR BIO p 39. Decoding the Millennial Enigma Amanda Slavin brand Edited by Sakhile Richards CEO/Founder, CatalystCreativ A MESSAGE TO BRANDS LOOKING TO ENGAGE THE ELUSIVE GENERATION $200 BILLION PER YEAR $10 TRILLION OVER LIFETIME 64% WANT TO MAKE THE WORLD A BETTER PLACE 77% CHOOSE TO WORK AT A COMPANY BECAUSE OF ITS SENSE OF PURPOSE SAY THEY ARE LIKELY TO BECOME LOYAL CUSTOMERS BECAUSE OF BRAND ENGAGEMENT ON SOCIALMEDIA Millennials80 MILLION To many brands, millennials are an enigma. The reason why so many brands care about engaging millennials is because they are a powerful group. According to AdAge, millennials are 80 million strong with $200 billion a year in spending power (starting in 2017), amassing to $10 trillion in spending by the end of our lifetime. So, it is no wonder that brands are desperately trying to figure out what makes millennials tick. There are many blanket statements regarding millennials; below I have provided research to back up the most accurate assumptions. Millennials want brands to be authentic; they want brands to be vulnerable and transparent; they want brands to care about making the world a place that will surpass their lifecycle. Based on a survey by Forbes, “62% of millennials say that if a brand engages with them on social networks, they are more likely to become a loyal customer. They expect brands to not only be on social networks, but to engage them.” Millennials use the power of technology to not only be a passive listener to brands but also to be an active participant in a brand’s story; they want to feel heard. Because they have so many microphones to amplify their voices (Snapchat, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram), there is no reason for brands to solely have one-way conversations with their millennial audience. When thinking about brand alignment at CatalystCreativ, a company that focuses on helping brands with millennial engagement, I always ask myself the question, “Would your consumer want to date you?” That is the way to look at the millennial consumer to a certain extent. There needs to be a two-way conversation — you need to listen, you need to ask their opinion and to be a part of the narrative, and you need to care about what they say. You need to create a meaningful experience so they want that second date, third date, and eventually to go “steady” with you. You want your consumer to love you because now they have the ability to share that love, or in some cases, that disdain, instantly with thousands of people. According to a study conducted by Deloitte, 64% of millennials say it is a priority for them to make the world a better place. This isn’t surprising, as the world they have been brought up in has been fairly bleak. With issues like climate change, obesity, drought and terrorism as consistent topics in their day-to-day to life, it is not surprising that they believe the most powerful communication tools (brands) should be investing their time, energy, attention and money into ensuring that the world they live in still exists in 20, 30 or 40 years. At CatalystCreativ, we think of it as not only engaging millennials but engaging “millennial-minded people.” Who doesn’t want a better world or to be listened to? Millennials force businesses to have better practices, internally and externally. By listening to what millennials want, you can actually become a better company and, in the long run, attract loyal customers that act both as consumers and brand ambassadors. Ultimately, millennials are exactly the audience you want. You want someone whose loyalty you can’t buy, but that you have to emotionally earn. Once you engage a millennial, they’ll be invaluable assets to your brand. I promise you they will never disappoint.
  • 16. 16 showing how you can solve the tough problems that keep customers and potential employers awake at night. Knowing how to use the social media tools to assist in building a personal brand that connects you to unprecedented new opportunities and makes you invaluable to your employer and your clients. One of the keys to a successful personal brand is building your own storyline and online identity — beginning to “live” your brand and connecting your online brand and “in-real-life” brand. The key for me was choosing the social media tool that “put me on the map.” Twitter helped me by letting me add a biography that was 140 characters, so I was able to put myself out there, live my brand and meet my goals by supercharging my social media channels on a regular basis. I then added a blog as the hub of my social media wheel and used it to tell my story far more effectively. I decided to commit to a monthly post on a topic relevant to my personal brand. In my case, it was SharePoint, internal communications and ways to drive adoption and engagement around intranets. I was able to find content from such sources as Mashable, Tech Crunch, Harvard Business Review and Sloan Management Review to complement my personal ideas. I have been able to avoid the killer mistakes too many business social networkers make by not oversharing, rather being a constant resource to my colleagues and connections in both real life and online. Given my experience, here are things you will need to keep top of mind to positively shape your personal brand: • Build a powerful social network that feeds opportunities to you. • Connect with influential people that will help build your brand. • Use the best tools and solutions for brand building. • Create a great personal profile that sells. • Build a personal brand that will get you promoted. By building a recognizable personal brand, you’ll find that opportunities find you effortlessly. Whether it’s at work or at play, you will become a magnet for the opportunities you’re most interested in. Personal Branding & What It Means in 2016 Jeff Willinger brand Edited by Olavina Harahap VP, Digital Inspiration, Rightpoint What is a personal brand? Building a personal brand will earn you more money, give you better career options and make you virtually immune from unemployment. When I think about my personal brand in 2016, it has occurred to me that it is similar to when I first heard the term in 2005. I had always thought of the term “brand” as pertaining to companies and brands like Tide (P&G’s flagship reliable laundry detergent for cleanest clothes), McDonald’s (trusted hamburger fast food chain) and Avis Rental Cars (“We Try Harder” to be your best rental car experience). I rarely ever thought of Jeff Willinger as a brand. And then something changed — I had sold my company of 15 years, Graphic Packaging, which had defined my being for most of my business life, and knew I had to figure out what this Jeff 2.0 was going to look like. This was when social media was just coming into its own, and companies like Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn were coming to the forefront of people communicating a whole new way. Working out loud and collaboratively, I had the good fortune of being one of the early adopters on many social channels and was able to “put it out there” what I wanted to be and then build my brand from that point forward. I was able to use social media to build a great personal brand and learned how to present myself as the best solution to customers’ and employers’ worst problems. By living my brand, I was able to learn the right ways to sell my knowledge capital and demonstrate my value to prospects and potential employers, while also rebranding myself. I was able to connect my online and offline networking together to successfully navigate my next career change — and the one after that. In today’s turbulent business environment, millions of people are seeking to strengthen their personal brands and demonstrate far greater value to potential customers and employers. Many of them are seeking to rebrand themselves as they move towards entirely new jobs and careers. Fortunately, social media offers powerful new tools for building personal brands, strengthening business and personal relationships, and Jeff Willinger is the VP of digital inspiration at Rightpoint. He is an internationally recognized online influencer, analyst and expert on all things web collaboration, enterprise social networking and enterprise IT strategy. With experience spanning more than two decades, he is a global speaker and expert in all CMS solutions and is a technology and business evangelist with deep expertise in user experience, information architecture, enterprise content management and web 2.0 technology strategy. He is the president and founder of the Social Media Club of Chicago and serves as EVP for Business Marketing Association. One of the keys to a successful personal brand is building your own storyline and online identity
  • 17. 17 expanded its offerings beyond shoes over time to become “a maker of athletic shoes, apparel, sports equipment and recreational products.” Realizing athletes’ needs extend beyond shoes, Nike saw opportunity; thus, as consumer needs evolved, Nike developed technology, enhancing performance in shoes to equipment. Technologies such as Nike Air or Lunarlite Foam create true product relevance for consumers, continually reinforcing the brand’s relevance. Nike’s marketing campaign involving current athletes also continually built relevance, reinforcing the performance message and speaking to amateur athletes in an inspirational way. Without these innovations, I am not sure Nike would have been able to maintain relevance. Through foundational understanding of needs and providing technology to better deliver, Nike has remained on top of its game. Through intentional cannibalization, they have remained victorious. Innovation is critical in today’s marketing toolkit. I would argue that without innovation, a brand will be hard pressed to grow, let alone remain relevant. Going back to foundational learning and truly understanding consumer needs to better define brands then innovate for the long term will allow brands to position for future growth. The Importance of Innovation in Elevating Brand Relevance Shari Matras brand Edited by Qiulin Peng & Peishan Ouyang Senior Director, Innovation Global Nutrition Group, PepsiCo It seems that all companies, sectors, and industries are suffering today. Why is brand performance declining? I would argue underperformance is largely driven by brands not keeping pace with what consumers want. Let’s face it — it’s easiest to continue to do what you’ve always done, make what you’ve always made. Some products have been around for 100+ years, and as the company seeks growth each year, they take out salt, sugar or make the packaging thinner to save a penny on the bottom line. And as a result, consumers leave the brand, find other solutions or become annoyed, which ultimately decreases usage and hurts the brand’s relevance. But how to elevate brand relevance? I believe the secret lies in the foundations of marketing — give the consumer what she wants. It’s really that easy — so why ignore the consumer? Big companies think they don’t need to do research; they already have all the learnings. But they fail to realize that consumer beliefs, behaviors and preference evolve, and sometimes change radically, in a couple years’ time. Instead, they rush to market, then wonder why the product fails. Small companies are just as guilty. I see them like children — in a hurry to grow up, sometimes not thinking or looking before crossing the street. Both end up with short-term thinking instead of the foundations needed for long-term growth. I believe the key to long-term success starts and ends with consumer insight — not only truly understanding the consumer, her needs and desires, and what she wants today, but also anticipating her future needs. Clear consumer understanding allows you to identify a space broad enough to encompass today as well as position for tomorrow. With thorough consumer understanding, only then can you identify innovative ideas to deliver against future needs. P&G, for example, reframed the Old Spice brand to expand from an aftershave brand to a full line of men’s personal care products. They realized the brand had lost relevance and therefore set out to better understand the needs of today’s consumer. In the ‘60s and ‘70s, a man’s personal care routine was limited. Personal care was largely for women. Perhaps he’d use aftershave, if he went to that extreme! By the ‘90s, however, men required the same array of toiletries and offerings as their female counterparts. With this shift in consumer behavior, P&G broadened their thinking beyond the product form to the consumer need. Creating a full line of products including body sprays, deodorants, soaps, hair care and styling products also created a brand halo, allowing it to rise from its ashes like a phoenix, reinventing the brand for future growth. Additionally, Old Spice’s user base was declining. To rebuild penetration, P&G needed to get more people to buy the brand. Changing to target younger consumers broadened appeal, growing penetration. This was a bold move, potentially alienating current users; however, P&G saw the opportunity in the risk. Today, the brand encompasses a full line of personal care that, “Helps guys improve their mansmells,” targeting a younger, male audience. Throughout its 52-year history, Nike has focused on relevance. Did you know Nike has been around since 1964? Probably not. Why? Because Nike has always stayed on top of what consumers want, leveraging technology to better deliver against consumer needs. Named after the Greek goddess of victory, Nike Shari Matras has more than 20 years of experience in marketing and innovation. She has led the launch of notable brands such as Orbit Gum, Orbit White Gum, Gevalia Kaffe Roast & Ground Coffee, and K-Cups for Maxwell House and Gevalia Kaffe. Prior to joining PepsiCo, Shari led the innovation team for Kraft Foods’ coffee business. She has also held significant roles at the Wm. Wrigley Jr. Company, Le Cordon Bleu Culinary Schools and Recycled Paper Greetings. Earlier in her career, Shari held positions for companies/agencies representing Kraft Foods and Taco Bell, Sara Lee, Ellio’s Pizza and Lunch Makers. She holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from Northwestern University. Clear consumer understanding allows you to identify a space broad enough to encompass today as well as position for tomorrow. NU Alumni
  • 18. data.
  • 19. 19 some of its top management sponsorship capital in assuring end-to-end implementation of the chosen projects. The transformational effort at Banorte initially focused on the credit card business because of the project’s value and the willingness from the business partners. An analytics team obviously requires quantitative skills, and the organization has to make a substantial investment in data and technology. However, these prerequisites are not enough to transform an institution. Banorte’s experience has shown that two soft skills are vital — the ability to build consensus and to have good team players who respect the business acumen of their counterparts. Business lines expect the quants to be a partner, not a lecturer. Finally, rooting analytics within the organization requires measurement. It is not uncommon for an organization on its path to transformation to undertake several initiatives at the same time, and it may prove hard to disentangle the contribution. The analytics team should not assume that results are self-evident — a detailed report to the top management must be produced periodically. Furthermore, it is easy to stray from value by undertaking only the projects from willing partners. At Banorte, measurement has assured sponsorship and has kept analytics on track. Transforming into an Analytical Organization Dr. José A. Murillo Garza data Edited by Mariana Arana Ph.D, Chief Analytics Officer, Grupo Financiero Banorte BEYOND DATA AND TECHNOLOGY Analytics within a traditional organization often starts as a top management initiative aimed at increasing productivity. Implementation faces several challenges, and top management sponsorship could quickly fade away. Banorte, the largest Mexican financial group, is under way to successfully transform into an analytical organization. This experience offers five lessons to start out such a transformation: 1. Gain credibility by delivering short-term results that assure long-term sponsorship from top management. 2. Set the right incentives for the organization to embrace analytics, avoiding rivalry between analytics and the business lines. 3. Do not take for granted that analytic projects are a priority for the whole organization — hold the analytics group accountable for end-to-end implementation. 4. The analytics team members beyond quantitative skills require the ability to build consensus across different stakeholders within the organization. 5.Thecontributionfromanalyticinitiatives must be measured. A traditional organization that aims to become an analytical firm with the capacity to deepen and extend its relationship with its customers starts its journey with some leaders envisioning a future for the company. It is not uncommon to find contrasting visions within top management of what should be the future — some subscribe to the old Texas adage, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” This should not be a surprise since companies have limited resources, and there are competing projects that respond to existing customer demands. Hence, when the organization embarks on the transformation path, it is clear that the analytical camp prevailed, but this does not mean that the traditional camp was convinced. Top management composition is not static, and suddenly the forward- thinking camp that once prevailed to launch the transformational analytic initiative might be outnumbered. Assuring continuity requires the analytic team to gain credibility with both camps of the organization. A high short-run ROI does the trick. Analytics in Banorte during its first year of operations contributed 10% of the group’s total net profit, gaining credibility and resources to advance with medium-term projects A high yield from analytics is a necessary but insufficient condition. Analytics and the business lines must establish a partnership that will face some hurdles. Analytics will disrupt the way business has been conducted, and rivalry between groups might arise. Both groups speak different languages — one group has business experience while the other talks with statistics and models. The business lines have many concerns — devoting scarce resources to unproven projects, the credit they will get in case of success, or the blame they will share if failure occurs. These concerns must be addressed by the design of an incentive scheme that aligns the interests of analytics and the business lines. Banorte solved this problem by setting a shadow target for analytics that did not rival the business lines targets, but rather analytic projects helped business lines attain their targets. Non-rivalry between groups does not guarantee that the business lines and other stakeholders will enthusiastically embrace analytic initiatives to change the way they have been working. Stakeholders within the organization are unfamiliar with analytic initiatives, and they certainly have other projects top of mind. It is of an utmost priority for analytics to find partners willing to champion initiatives that can set an example to the rest of the organization. Analytics will need to invest José Antonio Murillo Garza serves as managing director of analytics at Grupo Financiero Banorte, S.A.B. de C.V. José also serves as general director of analysis at Banco Mercantil Del Norte, S.A. Prior to this, José was the director of price analysis for regional economies and information at Banco de México. He holds a degree and Doctorate in Economics from Rice University. Business lines expect the quants to be a partner, not a lecturer.
  • 20. 20 need to master some basic concepts that can help you generate the best visuals, including: 1. Determining what you are trying to visualize and what kind of information you want to communicate. 2. Knowing your audience and understanding how they process visual information. 3. Using a visual that conveys the information in the best and simplest form for your audience — if you need to spend more than 30 seconds explaining the chart, it isn’t working. 4. Understanding that reporting is easy — recommending is hard. Don’t take the easy way out and simply report out a bunch of metrics and numbers. Take the time to understand what it means and add value. But you also need to be careful not to go overboard in your storytelling. Some of the biggest mistakes I see marketers make in creating visual stories from data include: 1. Death by PowerPoint — Too many slides with too much information on each slide. Remember that you should never have more than one slide for every two minutes. Combine the slide with your narrative for added impact. 2. Too good to be true — Too much animation, flash or pizazz diminishes the value of the data you are presenting. Strive for purity and simplicity. 3. The infographic that killed the whale — Taking every single data point you can possibly imagine and turning it into one great, big, long infographic. No one wants to look at infographics that cannot be viewed “above the crease” or on one simple, horizontal slide. CONCLUSION As an integrated marketing professional, you will need to communicate and tell your story to other colleagues in the organization who are not as well versed in the statistics and the numbers, and who may be completely unfamiliar with the techniques and metrics of integrated marketing. Take the time to truly understand what the data means so you can tell your audience the story it is telling you — and what meaningful actions they can take based on that story. Good marketers get good results, but great marketers are great communicators and get great results. By mastering the art of data visualization, you can build trust and respect, gain credibility and create collaboration among your peers, your colleagues and your boss. AUTHOR BIO p 39. Telling a Memorable Story with Your Data Cyndi W. Greenglass Edited by Allison Chen SVP, Strategic Solutions, Diamond Marketing Solutions data We’ve all heard the phrase “a picture is worth 1,000 words.” It turns out that this is more than just an old saying. Research dating back to the 19th century has proven that our brains can grasp, process and retain pictures with much greater meaning than numbers or words alone. This is called the “picture superiority effect,” and understanding this basic human dynamic is critical to integrated marketers. It means that it is faster for people to understand many data points when they are displayed in charts and graphs rather than poring over piles of spreadsheets or reading pages and pages of reports. Let’s consider the marketing director who is trying to explain why she wants to devote more of her online media budget to mobile and digital advertising. Her boss is a big fan of magazines and is questioning the soundness of her decision. She needs to find data to support her position. She could tell her boss that a 2015 industry report shows the continuing decline of print in favor of digital advertising and that this trend is also being seen among marketing budgets. Or she can show the following slide with an accompanying verbal narrative in a presentation. Which do you think is more compelling? TELLING THE STORY There are many different ways to analyze and interpret data — as Ronald H. Coase famously said in his Essays on Economics and Economists, “If you torture the data long enough, it will confess.” Therefore, as marketers, we must have a very clear understanding of our objectives in order to protect against too much bias in our analysis. It is equally important to express yourself in a way that people will understand and retain, and to ultimately gain their collaboration and support. And nothing builds collaboration like storytelling. The story allows you to answer the meaningful questions you have as a marketer, as well as the questions your boss will ask, such as: • What is working, and what is not working? • Did we succeed? • And in all cases — WHY? To be a successful data storyteller, you
  • 22. 22 shared goals, interest, activities, understanding and trust. To achieve a strong and mutually beneficial relationship with influencers you need to: • Know the type of influencer that is right for your brand • Understand their needs • Make a memorable first impression • Ensure the value exchange is mutually beneficial • Demonstrate long-term intent 5. Influence Can’t Live Without Content or an Experience People need something to react to and share. Experiences and content are how we learn, what we remember and a way to connect to the world. As a result, you need to be consistently evolving and tailoring your approach to keep your influencer and audience base interested. By creating memorable, personalized content and experiences, you are more likely to interest Authenticity, Democratization of Information and the Changing Nature of Influence Jake O’Leary, Smriti Khanna Edited by Smriti Khanna Global Head of Brand Marketing, Youtube Music & IMC Graduate Student, Northwestern University digital Many marketers still have the perception that those who can make the most noise or create the most outrageous stunt will cut through the clutter. However, while these things may have worked in the past, millennials are looking something different. This is a generation that hunts for, and cares about, real stories from real people. Platforms like YouTube have led to the democratization of content and information by allowing almost anyone the freedom to express their ideas and opinions, the opportunity to be discovered, the chance to find their community, and gain access to the information of the world. Millennials today decide who, where and when they want to consume. To hear or see someone explain a raw emotion or an experience helps them understand if they are justified in their own personal feeling or experience. This change has elevated the importance of influencer marketing within the overall marketing mix. As brand builders, we need to understand and embrace this major shift in the nature of influencer marketing as an integral part of brand strategy. This is a departure from the commonplace, last minute, surface-level advocacy at the launch of a new product or campaign. Too often, influence can be reduced to a short-term transaction in attempt to rent social media impressions. Whilst this “buzz” is good for drumming up awareness, it falls down when trying to build an iconic brand. Coming from a more traditional CPG background, my current role at YouTube has shown me firsthand how the landscape of influence is rapidly changing. While the concept of influence is not new — as humans, we all have the ability to exert influence through relationships — it is the nature and scope of influence that has changed over the last decade. YouTube is a platform that enables one-to-one relationships by facilitating rich, immersive experiences through video that echo the feeling of being in the same physical space as the creator of the content. Experiences that were once limited are now available to anyone with a computer or a smartphone. Top executives no longer decide what content people consume — the people do. This changing landscape, and the sheer reach of individual influencers, has opened a major opportunity for brands to tell their stories outside of traditional advertising. FIVE PRINCIPLES FOR BRANDS AIMING TO BUILD BRAND ADVOCACY WITH INFLUENCERS 1. Quality Beats Quantity Segment your brand’s user base to figure out who actually influences them. Once you understand who truly has clout with your users, it is imperative to work closely with a manageable group of individuals capable of spreading advocacy, both digitally and in person. Passionate support from someone with modest influence should always rate higher than a tepid vote of confidence from someone with a large audience. 2. Start Niche to Reach Mass Audience size does not necessarily equal influence. The ideal state of influencer marketing is to reach a large audience by working with a few, targeted individuals. Get enough of the right people onboard, you have a chance of creating a groundswell. 3. Treat People as Humans, Not Algorithms or Data Points The very reason brands want to work with influencers is for their unique cultural position, perspective, writing style, on and offline following or strong social presence. For this reason, being too prescriptive or micro- managing is not the way to go. Each influencer has a unique voice — try not to stifle it. Each of them may have a different way of talking about your product or brand, and that is ok. Influence is a human behavior, prone to emotions with swift changes in tone, focus and sentiment. Embracing the unpredictable nature of influence and being agile in your thinking and actions will not only endear your brand to influencers but ensure that the brand stays current, relevant, and most of all, credible. 4. Create Relationships, Not Transactions Influencer marketing is much like any relationship. Great relationships are built on Jake O’Leary leads brand marketing for YouTube, the biggest music platform in the world. Not content with serving more than a billion users, he launched the newYouTube Music app on Android and iOS, which trended globally on Twitter (#2) and collected 591 million impressions in the first twelve hours. Jake was almost solely responsible for bringing the app to the world, from working hand-in-hand with product & engineering execs to identifying development scope based on consumer feedback. Jake previously spent his working life playing music and marketing world leading brands, including Pantene and Gillette. Smriti Khanna is a full-time student in the Medill Integrated Marketing Communications program. She has worked in brand management in the CPG industry for the last four years in Asia. While working across a variety of brands and markets, the growing importance of Big Data and the increasing shift of control to consumers intrigued her and brought her to Medill. Smriti holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology and marketing from Singapore Management University.
  • 23. 23 proper targeting with which brands can ensure true success. Do not mistake this for the fact that people are not tuning into traditional media sources such as television shows and movies. However, according to a Deloitte survey, 92% of U.S. consumers are multitasking while they are watching television. That means that they are tuning out during commercial breaks and missing brand messaging. While this may sound detrimental to a brand, this is a key opportunity where brands can not only just reach consumers on their televisions but also on their mobile devices that connect them with the world around them. Despite all of this, there are those who feel as if social media is solely for younger generations, choosing to stick with their traditional marketing methods instead. This is a vital misstep as 58% of U.S. consumers check social media daily, and millennials aged 19-32 stated that recommendations from their social media circles have surpassed the influence of television advertising (Belson, Westcott, & Lippstreu, 2016). Now imagine if we ignored millennials. Brands that are not tapping into this market are missing out on a generation that is projected to spend $200 billion annually starting in 2017 and $10 trillion over the course of their lives (Nelson, 2012). Though that is just an overall snapshot and educated estimate, one thing cannot be ignored — that social media is crucial for the success of brands in today’s day and age. The Importance of Social Media for Brands Matt Augustin Edited by Brit’ney McTush Social Strategist, Fitzgerald & Company digital Sources: Belson, G., Westcott, K., & Lippstreu, S. (2016, March 23). Digital Democracy Survey: A multi-generationl view of consumer technology, media and telecom trends. Retrieved April 1, 2016, from Deloitte: http://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/ pages/technology-media-and-telecommunications/articles/digital- democracy-survey-generational-media-consumption-trends.html# Bendtsen, C., Dolliver, M., Johnson, M., McNair, C., Minsker, M., Orozco, O., . . . Williamson, D. A. (2016). US Social StatPack: Usage and Ad Spending. eMarketer, 1-72. Nelson, E. M. (2012, August 2). Millennials Want to Party With Your Brand But On Their Own Terms. Retrieved April 1, 2016, from Ad Age: http://adage.com/article/ digitalnext/millennials-party-brand-terms/236444/ In today’s day and age, social media serves as more than just a medium for pushing products and services. It allows consumers to connect with their friends, family, strangers, and — most importantly for marketers — brands. Long gone are the days in which marketers could throw something at the wall after meeting with select focus groups and wait to see if it sticks. The age of looking for the needle in the haystack has transitioned to one where consumers can interact not just when the brand says but on their own terms. Social media has totally shifted control from brand to consumer. With anyone able to tweet or find out what their friends are doing on Facebook, it has become an epicenter for communities of consumers to rally around their interests and create amplified subcultures. With this, social media has also become a source for not only providing content but also a tool for targeting the right content to the right people at the right time. This makes social media invaluable, and brands need to ensure they capitalize effectively. Social media is a key opportunity for brands to reach crucial audiences and ensure their ad spend is used effectively and strategically. So why not just take what you’re already doing on traditional media and push it on social? The reason is because one size does not fit all. Each platform requires specific strategies working in tandem with one another in order to effectively reach users where they are. According to an article by eMarketer, there are more than 150 million people in the U.S. using mobile phones to access social networks, with 58.6% of them accessing social networks at least once a month. This means that the dynamic of how consumers are choosing to engage with the world around them has drastically shifted — especially when it comes to interacting with the brands. Even with Facebook being the most trusted source for branded content, consumers still get to choose what they engage with. That means that marketers have to know exactly what type of content goes where. Using the same content from traditional media where consumers are force-fed ads on a platform where users get to choose what to engage with will result in poor results. Instead, media strategies should work in tandem to ensure a healthy mix of exposure and Matt Augustin is the first social media strategist at the McCann Network’s Fitzgerald & Company, where he develops the social strategy for brands. With a heart for service, Matt spearheads the social media strategy for the Marcus Graham Project, a program that aims to serve as an avenue for minorities to truly change the face behind the lens in the advertising industry. Matt also serves on the local executive board for MAFA, a Chicago- based networking group that coordinates events and opportunities for diverse men and women to connect with powerful professionals in the advertising, marketing and PR communities. 92% of U.S. consumers are multitasking while they are watching television.
  • 24. 24 and then eventually from visitor to purchaser. This identification or “traits” are important, as these data points help in knowing more about the user’s intent and then segmenting users into the right groups. Bottom line is that with the amount of big data available, marketers can use it to their advantage to purposely inform targeting by creating useful microsegments. DESIGN With key identified microsegments comes the need to create relevant messages that are aligned to the need state of a user. For example, if you know that this group of users has browsed a particular section of your site (like baseball equipment), you know that the only creative that would resonate the most to this audience is about baseball. This is where you can apply a customized site experience or media ad for this group, including a personalized call to action. DISTRIBUTE Once you have dynamic creative optimized for a particular segment, another challenge is placing the marketing messaging in right context. This means deciding how to serve a tennis creative to potential prospects when they are looking for tennis news. In today’s marketing world, the right placement is fundamental to success as much as the right creative. If you focus on the intent of the consumer, it provides a direction for you to place the message at a relevant place. We have seen examples where when users go to a sports news site after a big game win, they see offers to buy apparel/gear featuring the hero of that game. This is where you can take design and distribute to scale in a contextual manner to drive impulse behavior. In the end, by leveraging marketing technologies, brands that extend digital media targeting beyond consumer demographics and focus on the “intent” of the consumer will see higher results. AUTHOR BIO p 39. Personalized Marketing @ Scale Abhishek Jadon Edited by Megha Ghildiyal Senior Manager, Digital Strategy, Gatorade, PepsiCo digital While browsing through the Internet, have you ever noticed that when casually visiting webpages or clicking on content, some ads feel targeted and contextually relevant (seeing advertisements featuring same apparel you just viewed after visiting a fashion e-commerce site), and sometimes what gets served is not contextually relevant and, in some cases, the message does not even fit the destination environment (a pharmaceutical ad on sports news website). The fundamental difference between the two situations is a marketer’s focus on delivering contextually relevant, impactful communication while keeping consumer’s intent at the core — simply said, delivering the right message to the right person at the right time. WHY DOES IT MATTER? We live in a hyper-connected digital world, where consumer behaviors are constantly evolving. In the last five years, the way we consume media, which devices we consume it on, or even how we interact or share the media has evolved drastically. While the attention of today’s consumer is shrinking to seconds, the desire to get interesting and relevant content is still high. In fact, studies have proved that consumers today are open to receiving marketing messages or advertisements if they either provide value or are contextually relevant. As the digital landscape continues to evolve and as technology allows us to better tag, serve and analyze digital media, the pressure on marketers to adapt to this new way of “personalized marketing” will only increase. With the emergence of data management platforms (DMPs) that allow better tracking and understanding of consumer behaviors and interests, this data coupled with any 3rd party or owned analytics will provide clear, actionable insights to serve more relevant and compelling advertisements, thus delivering higher results. DMPs will help segment audiences, and brands will be able to serve different creative to different microsegments. For example, if you are a sports apparel e-commerce site, instead of serving everyone with generic sports-based banner ad, you would be able to segment your total audience and serve a tennis-interested audience with tennis-featured creative. Thekeyelementistolearnfromconsumer behavior on many attributes such as preferences, platforms and purchases. Technology has advanced to allow us to consolidate all these behavioral data points and identify the intent of consumer within the marketing funnel to deliver a more compelling message. SO WHAT CAN YOU DO? Beyond implementing any technology solution, the future is taking a strategic approach to collecting data and applying it across all digital touchpoints to ultimately gain longitudinal behavioral learning of your consumer. It starts with recognizing your core consumer and understanding the intent of that consumer and where the person is in his/her journey on path to purchase. The three-stage framework below outlines one possible approach to personalized marketing through an example of a sports apparel e-commerce site: DATA This stage is about identifying the key attributes of your consumer that you want to track. For example, as an e-commerce site, the focus is to convert every prospect to a visitor DATA DISTRIBUTIONDESIGN MAGIC PERSONAS ENGAGEMENT CONNECTED ECOSYSTEM DEFINED PLATFORM DYNAMIC CREATIVE Right Person, Right Message, Right Time.
  • 25. 25 digital CONSUMERS AS EVANGELISTS With consumers exposed to more than 5,000 ads a day (according to Yankelovich), their attention is short. Consumers are not looking to see the same ad that was on TV last week — they are looking to be evangelists for new content. They are excited by the opportunity to be the first to share information with their friends because that allows them to continue building their online reputation. Brands must understand that content is fleeting, and the value of being relevant in the “now” moment of a consumer’s mind is one of the most valuable places a brand can be. Influencer marketing is changing the way modern marketers connect with consumers, and it is time to embrace this new way of marketing. Brands have been slow to adopt influencer marketing, but forced advertising is no longer effective. We can see a new wave of influencer marketing emerging where brands are in the conversation — they are driving the conversations, and they are connecting with consumers on a more personal level. Consumers are your most important assets, and when consumers love a brand, they are the strongest advertising any brand will ever see. It is time for marketers to invest in influencer marketing, and we assure you that your brand will see the impact. The Influence of Influencer Marketing Tara Chang Edited by Chinye Osamusali Co-Founder, Women’s Innovation Lab Did you know that 31.2 million Facebook messages are sent every minute? And 300 hours of videos are uploaded to YouTube every minute? With the rise of new social media platforms, consumers are becoming more connected than ever. Instead of turning to brands to tell them what’s hot, they are turning to their online communities and influencers to find out the latest trends. Brands are no longer able to bombard consumers through mass media messaging because consumers have learned to tune-out traditional advertising. With only 10 percent of consumers actually reading the copy of ads (as noted by George Gallup’s research with Young & Rubicam), smart marketers have learned that it is essential to become part of the consumer conversation. There is a fragmentation of trust that is plaguing the traditional advertising world. Marketers are battling for consumers’ share of attention and are being forced to adapt to new pathways to connect with consumers. One of the most effective ways is to partner with social media influencers to help become a part of the consumer conversation. Influencers are able to organically reach consumers and brands now have an opportunity to relate to customers at the right place and in the right way. THE CENTER OF INFLUENCER MARKETING - SOCIAL CURRENCY Influencer marketing has created a new economy of social engagement where individuals are able to capitalize on their own user generated content. Their self-produced content has become their online voice and brought them social fame. Influencers are the ones who hold the power of social currency. By partnering with influencers, brands are able to share their messages with their audiences without being invasive. More importantly, they influence the perception of the brand. By partnering with these influencers, companies are able to align their brand with a particular message and online community. Marketers should heed the opportunity to partner with influencers to become a part of the conversation with consumers. SPEAK THEIR LANGUAGE While influencer marketing has proven to be successful in gaining brand trust, it is only possible when brands speak the language of their consumer. If an auto company aligned themselves with a 15-year old EDM (electronic- dance music) influencer who doesn’t have a driver’s license, consumers would question the credibility of the influencer or could even have a more negative view of the brand. So how do brands find the right influencer to partner with? It is about knowing the brand DNA, not just who its target is. Many brands aim to capture the attention of millennials, and it is essential that the messaging be genuine. Instead of forcing a brand message upon an influencer, many brands have been successful by sending products to the influencers. Consumers are trained to ignore forced advertising, and a key way to effectively communicate with them is through an honest connection. GIVE THE INFLUENCER FREEDOM Influencers are focused on staying true to their own brand. Some influencers will look to partner with brands to generate revenue, but the best influencers will do the same due diligence on a brand as brands should be doing on the influencer. Without giving influencers the freedom to craft content that will resonate with their fans, the resulting partnership content will not be as effective. Despite predictive analytics tools that can help determine the effectiveness of content, influencers are the ones who know their audience the best. They know the best type of content that will keep their fans engaged. HOW BRANDS BECOME PART OF THE CONSUMER CONVERSATION Tara Chang is the co-founder of Women’s Innovation Lab, a leading female empowerment platform that partners with corporations to drive gender equality. As an expert in new marketing technologies, she has served as the former vice president of sales at Visible Measures, a leading video advertising company, and as an advisor for Revfluence, a social platform for influencer marketing. She received her education from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, University of Oxford and the Kellogg School of Management. Tara has won various awards and competitions from DARPA, Facebook, Cisco, Macy’s and the City of Boston. Influencers are the ones who hold the power of social currency. NU Alumni
  • 27. 27 and match consumer demand. “Pipeline” hotel companies are facing an economic challenge to ensure that the asset commitment and, in turn, high fixed costs generate occupancy rates to deliver profitable outcomes. The disruption generated by platforms and the consumer direct involvement is impacting the volume needed for these companies. Pipeline companies are taking a look at operating like a platform business. For example, General Electric is re-inventing many of its business units. In jet engines, GE is building capabilities to capture data intelligence resulting in lower maintenance costs, increased efficiencies and product feature improvements through community collaborations from engineers and academics around the globe. Consumers represent more than 2/3 of the economic GDP in the United States. With a tough job market, many consumers have taken personal reflective action. They are motivated by the ability to create businesses on their own and “float their personal assets” to the marketplace for value. With advancement in platform applications and social media, the demand can be generated for a potentially successful endeavor. Beware, industrial age businesses will need to protect their assets, their cost structures and their profits by continuing to attract large volumes of transactions. Consumer businesses do not need to attract large volumes of businesses to be successfully profitable. The barrier to attract consumers, allows the smallest of companies to be disruptively successful through direct relationship delivery execution using platform systems. Advice for both pipeline and platform businesses — be flexible, dream big, get direct consumer relationships and “float” your assets and costs into the marketplace. By the way — garage available for winter storage rent, anyone interested? Platform Businesses “Float Costs,” Consumers Run Businesses Tony Poidomani Northwestern on digital Edited by Joe Macdougall Lecturer, Medill IMC Department, Northwestern University Have you ever experienced a taxi ride without getting into a taxi? How about enjoying a room accommodation without entering a hotel? Consumers today are in a position to deliver value as service suppliers and to become demand generators. Technology platforms created by companies such as Uber and Airbnb are empowering consumers to take market share through direct relationships and run profitable businesses. Peer-to-peer commerce is flourishing, and industrial age companies built on 20th century processes are taking notice. In a new book, Platform Revolution: How Networked Markets are Transforming the Economy and How to Make Them Work for You, the authors Geoffrey Parker, Marshall Van Alstyne and Sangeet Choudary offered the following to characterize industrial age companies and new technology platform companies: • Pipeline businesses are built on linear flows that link infrastructure, people and processes. Assets are leveraged and carry high fixed costs. The value created is the transformation of inputs to finished products. • Platform businesses bring together producers and consumers dynamically in high-value exchanges of an “ecosystem.” An “ecosystem” consists of networks of partnerships, scores of users and cooperation of governments to deliver “on demand” services for the economy. Assets are provided by the consumers and costs are variable in nature. The value created is derived from the increased number of users generating positive experiences and defining themselves as communities. Airbnb is a great example of a platform with an “asset-lite” business model. The Airbnb platform aggregates a personal consumer supply of rooms with an easy-to-use app to capture Tony Poidomani is an adjunct lecturer of financial accounting at the Medill IMC program. For more than 20 years, Tony has been an Executive MBA instructor of accounting at Lake Forest Graduate School of Management, receiving accolades for Professor of the Year in 2007. Tony is currently a partner in Azure Services, which delivers analytics as a service, as well as a consultant, assisting CFOs in project management, continuous improvement and daily services. Consumer businesses do not need to attract large volumes of businesses to be successfully profitable.
  • 28. 28 Steve Jobs famously said, “It’s really hard to design products by focus groups. A lot of times, people don’t know what they want until you show it to them.” This exercise is less about having customers tell you what they want or voting yes or no. The goal is to uncover the reasons behind their vote. Getting to the “why” helps uncover insights that provide guardrails for innovation efforts. For example, a clothing brand desiring to become a lifestyle brand discovered it could succeed with ideas that had strong functional benefits, but it lacked the equity needed to support self-expressive benefits. So any types of innovations that had a high self-expression quotient (like watches, perfume, purses, or dress shoes) were out. Things like book bags, sports apparel, gym accessories and casual travel accessories — all quite strong. In a business environment in constant search of growth, this kind of information helps with go/no-go decisions. 5. Prioritize the Most Promising Ideas The previous efforts will yield an assessment of your existing ideas and will likely also generate additional ideas that emerge as part of activities. At this point, emphasis shifts from exploration to analysis, where the strongest ideas undergo more comprehensive scrutiny and due diligence to help management make a go/no-go decision. 6. Assess Business — and Brand — Impact In addition to typical business-oriented metrics, it’s helpful to understand whether your new offering helped to strengthen your brand’s equity. Measuring brand awareness and meaning with target audiences lets you know if your innovation efforts are paying dividends back to your brand. Innovation is risky but necessary for any thriving brand. Leveraging your brand’s equity and using innovation pathways to bring structure to the process helps reduce risk, accelerate decision making and improve the chances for success. Sources: 1. Nielsen Breakthrough Innovation Report for Europe 2014, Fast Company, April 4, 2012 Brand-Driven Innovation Ariel Goldfarb Northwestern on brand Edited by Sharon Liao Adjunct Lecturer, Medill IMC Department, Northwestern University, & Managing Partner, CurtisAlan Partners LEVERAGING THE INHERENT EQUITY OF YOUR BRAND TO REDUCE RISK AND INCREASE THE SUCCESS OF INNOVATION EFFORTS. Ariel Goldfarb is an adjunct lecturer at Northwestern’s Medill IMC program and a managing partner at CurtisAlan Partners, a consultancy focused on helping organizations become more customer driven. Ariel teaches strategic brand management courses and is a recipient of the 2010 Faculty Teaching Award. He holds a bachelor’s degree from U.C. Berkeley and a master’s degree in Integrated Marketing Communications from Northwestern University. Many things need to go right between the germ of a new product or service idea and its successful launch into the market. But if the idea itself is small, so is the reward. This article focuses on the beginning of the process: helping marketers create bigger ideas and bigger rewards — with less risk — for their brands. BRAND “PATHWAYS” FOR INNOVATION While all innovation is risky, your brand is a tool that can help reduce that risk. Using brand equity and a brand’s innovation pathways — the natural, intuitive means by which brands extend — you can improve product development efforts and inspire teams to try for bigger, more rewarding innovations for your brand. BABY STEPS VERSUS BIG LEAPS Success statistics on innovation efforts are not pretty. Numbers vary, but in general, failures are estimated to be 40 to 75 percent. Given the perceived challenges, companies make smaller, safer bets in order to get a win. This tends to promote incremental innovation — a new flavor profile, an added ingredient or a new packaging format. Not only does this deliver similarly small incremental rewards, but also contributes to product proliferation and cannibalization. It is the bigger leaps — extending into new categories — that offer bigger rewards: creating new customers, increasing brand awareness, enhancing brand equity and creating new franchises. Brand-driven innovation leverages the equity in your brand to help make these bigger bets a little bit safer. There are generally six steps in pursuing brand-driven innovation: 1. Understand Your Brand – Map Brand Equity with Target Audiences Customers use brands to help them make decisions. Whatever associations they have — that’s the brand’s equity. It’s not just awareness but the subjective thoughts, feelings and perceptions they link to your brand. These are the gatekeepers of purchase decisions. For example, would you feel more comfortable buying a self-driving car from Nikon or from Hello Kitty? If you dig in a bit to ask yourself why, you’ll see it’s the associations you carry for each brand — each brand’s equity — that helps you make your decision. 2. Position for Growth – Articulate Future / Aspirational Brand Equity Brand-driven innovation leverages your brand’s existing equity to increase chances of success for your new offering. But there is a second goal — each new offering should ideally further strengthen your brand’s equity. This happens when new offerings are well received and seem to “fit” with the brand. They in turn create additional strong, positive, unique associations that strengthen and expand the meaning of your brand. For example, by creating their own salons, Aveda expanded their meaning from just haircare products to haircare and styling. To do this, you need to know where you want to take your brand. This is done through brand strategy, and more specifically, positioning. In positioning your brand, you define the future meaning your brand will create. 3. Team Task – Generate Ideas Using Innovation Pathways Having an understanding of where your brand is today and where you want to take it going forward sets the stage for exploring your brand’s innovation pathways (see callout for the paths). These are simply paths of logic by which customers perceive the appropriateness and fit of a new offering. An idea can travel multiple paths but usually has a primary one. The more paths it is perceived to travel by target audiences, the greater the likelihood for success. 4. Explore the Possibilities with Target Audiences Enlist your target audiences to test your ideas and also generate new ones. It’s a research exercise that incorporates creativity, as well as a creativity exercise that incorporates research. The brand innovation pathways are used again here. The goal is to see which paths target audiences are most comfortable traveling down, how far they are willing to go, and most importantly, why.
  • 29. 29 Northwestern on brand Higher-level benefits derived from origin products and services - 7th Generation products (diapers, light bulbs, cleaners, etc.) - Coach leather in Lexus cars Emotional Benefits Products and services relating to the brand’s identity - Swiss Army fragrances - Ralph Lauren paint Brand Identity Perceivedtobewithinthecompetencies of your company - Kellogg’s Breakfast-To-Go - Coleman backyard products Core Competency Perceived similarity to origin products and services - Jeep mountain boards - Rolls Royce jet engines Product Attributes Low-level benefits derived from origin products and services - Tide-To-Go instant stain remover pens - Clorox mop and disinfecting wipes Functional Benefits Products / services relating to the brand experience - Nike golf camps - Toro lawn irrigation systems Usage Context © Copyright CurtisAlan Partners LLC Brand-Driven Pathways There are six innovation pathways used internally to generate ideas and externally with target audiences to assess the fit of your ideas. In addition to definitions and examples of each, the framework below can be used to visually map idea rankings:
  • 30. 30 to read the review . Kim et al. (2016) focuses on situations where consumers are actually reading reviews and finding the “right” length of review. The “right” length of a review probably depends on the category, where consumers may be willing to read longer reviews for a high-involvement purchase (such as a washing machine) but less willing to read a long review for a low-involvement purchase (such as shampoo). TAKEAWAY: Understand the circumstances in which reviews have uncommonly high and low influence on purchases. THERE’S A GREATER IMPACT FROM ACTUAL, VERIFIED BUYERS. From “Understanding and overcoming biases in customer reviews” (2016a) Askalidis and Malthouse (2016a) explore the difference between verified buyers and anonymous reviewers. Nearly all reviews from verified buyers were in response to an email sent to customer after purchase, where the customer can submit a rating with a single click. Anonymous reviewers must find the webpage for a particular product and create a login to write a review. Depending on the retailer, the valence of reviews from verified buyers is between 0.5 and 1 star higher than from anonymous reviewers. An explanation for this finding is the self-selection bias —those who had a negative experience are more likely to invest the effort to find the right page to write the review, while responding to an email is much easier and includes a more representative set of customers. TAKEAWAY: Consider incentivizing reviewers to write reviews to obtain more reviews from verified buyers. Sources: Askalidis and Malthouse (2016a), Understanding and overcoming biases in customer reviews, under review at Decision support systems. Askalidis and Malthouse (2016b), The value of online customer reviews, accepted at ACM Conference on Recommender Systems. Kim, Maslowska and Malthouse (2016), Disentangling the Effect of Online Product Review Features on Purchase Behavior, ICORIA, Ljubljana. Maslowska, Malthouse, Bernritter (2016), Too good to be true: The Role of Online Reviews’ Features in Probability to Buy, International Journal of Advertising. Maslowska, Viswanathan, Malthouse (2016), Do Customer Reviews Drive Purchase? The Moderating Roles of Review Exposure and Product Involvement, under review at Decision support systems. AUTHORS BIOS p 39. Evidence of the Influence and Value of Customer Reviews for Purchase Decisions Spiegel Research Center Northwestern on data Edited by Chinye Osamusali Edward C. Malthouse, Ewa Maslowska, Yorgos Askilidis, Su Jung Kim, Tom Collinger, Vijay Viswanathan, Chinye Osamusali Now, more than ever, consumers have more control over how they share their brand experiences — good or bad — with the global audience. Online customer reviews (OCRs) are becoming increasingly important — various surveys report that consumers trust recommendations or opinions from other consumers more than traditional forms of advertising such as commercials or product placements on mass media. Given the importance of OCRs, the Spiegel Research Center (SRC) conducted a series of studies to help companies understand the effects of reviews on consumers and help marketers better manage OCRs. MODEL TO ASSESS IMPACT OF REVIEWS ON A BRAND AND CATEGORY. From “The value of online customer reviews” (2016b) Askalidis and Malthouse (2016b) devised a method to assess the overall value of reviews to a brand. The method studies how the conversion rate changes as more reviews are added to a brand. The difference between the conversion rate with no reviews and the conversion rate with a large number of reviews is the value of reviews. The overall conversion rate is low when there are no reviews and increases 270% as the number of reviews increase (see graphs on p.31). TAKEAWAY: Forecast the impact of reviews on sales. REVIEWS HAVE A GREATER EFFECT WHEN THERE IS A HIGHER VOLUME. From “Do Customer Reviews Drive Purchase? The Moderating Roles of Review Exposure and Product Involvement” (2016) Additionally,Maslowskaetal.(2016)expect for the average star rating (valence) of reviews to have a greater effect when there are many reviews than when there are few for several reasons: (1) it could signal to the prospective buyer that the product is popular; (2) it shows that other people who have purchased the product care enough to make the effort to write a review; (3) the volume may indicate reliability and trustworthiness; or (4) consumers will rely on the summary valence measure rather than reading individual reviews (see tables on p.31). TAKEAWAY: Encourage customers to write reviews after purchasing a product. PERFECT RATINGS MAKE OCRS SEEM “TOO GOOD TO BE TRUE.” From “Too Good to be True: The Role of Online Reviews’ Features in Probability to Buy” (2016) While valence has a general positive effect on purchase, Maslowka, Malthouse and Bernritter (2016) are able to qualify this conclusion. This study shows that when a product has all five-star reviews (so that the valence is 5), the purchase probability is a bit less than when valence is less than 5, that is, when not all reviews are perfect. The purchase probabilities peek when valence is about 4.5 stars, across the eight categories and four companies researched. An explanation for this finding is that consumers perceive a product having all five-star reviews as being too good to be true and become skeptical. TAKEAWAY: Do not filter out negative reviews, as they may positively influence sales. OCRS HAVE A GREATER EFFECT ON CUSTOMERS WHO CHOOSE TO READ THEM. From “Do Customer Reviews Drive Purchase? The Moderating Roles of Review Exposure and Product Involvement” and “Disentangling the Effect of Online Product Review Features on Purchase Behavior” (2016) According to Maslowska et al. (2016), there are several reasons why a customer may choose to read reviews. Many times, it reflects the consumer’s uncertainty about the product. Someone who does not choose to read reviews either does not trust them or does not need additional information, perhaps because they have purchased the product before. Either way, we would expect the valence of the reviews to have a stronger effect on someone who chooses
  • 31. 31 Northwestern on data Graphs Tables Effect of Number of Displayed Reviews on the Conversion Rate The Effects of Average Star Ratings on Purchase Behaviours