Special K goes digital

The best thing about tracking CPG marketers that are moving the focus of their marketing strategy & campaigns toward the digital center is that they are meticulous with their data and give us some great fodder for substantive discussion on the actual ROI of digital tactics vs. traditional media like TV.  I particularly love this perspective from Mark Baynes of Kellogg:

In September, Kellogg chief marketer Mark Baynes said digital ROI for a Special K program had exceeded returns on broadcast by a “factor of well over two,” and that Kellogg, which spends more than $1 billion on advertising alone, would reduce commercial filming in 2009, and focus on ways of driving efficiency.

Wow!  That’s an outstanding shift in the ROI.  Yeah, I get that they spend a boatload of money on ads & marketing, but money or not, the results are compelling.

Thanks to AdAge for the tip.

This is a peek at the invetability of where trade shows, conferences and events are going.  They’re all going digital centered!

From yet another great article in Brandweek:

[Eloqua] interviewed 150 marketers for its Green Marketing survey and found that 90% of the marketing industry wants to be more environmentally friendly. Sixty percent said they believe that green marketing provides a competitive brand platform, while 60 percent expressed plans to switch from paper-based marketing materials to digital communication protocols in the next 12 to 18 months.

Eloqua recently adopted this approach at its Experience ‘08 Conference in Las Vegas. The conference featured an online portal where attendees could access the latest panel and speaker information, bypassing paper agendas. Also, instead of disposable name badges, attendees were given electronic devices with built-in digital networking capabilities.

So, it looks like going digital is going green as well!  Bonus.

We didn't have this in high school!

Martin Bihl of 7419llc penned an otherwise ‘more of the obvious’ article for BrandWeek that highlights a truly digital centered example of how music (as well as everything else in the world) is moving quickly to the digital center.

He calls on the 25th anniversary Web site for the Brian Eno/David Byrne album My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. Rather than a traditional ‘album’ like they had back in 1982 based on ’sampling’ (a wild concept at the time), they’ve posted all the mixing tracks to two of the album’s songs, allowing and encouraging the public to build new songs with them–just as they themselves had, 25 years earlier.  

This kind of musical dialogue and interplay would not be possible in the non-digital world the same way it is here.  This is a great example of what digital user-generated content really means, and this is what it will look like in the future.  According to Martin:

A genuine “back and forth” between consumer and brand that regularly evolves and changes. What’s holding us back is that brands–trapped in a monologue mentality–are merely using the trappings of the new technology to help consumers create their own monologues. 

DOOH + Social Networking! (via SeeSaw)

For this Friday, we’ll share some news from the department of obviousity…out of home (OOH) advertising is going digital in a HUGE way.  Marketers and advertisers investing in OOH ads & marketing are no longer creating static billboards but are putting out media that’s full of sights and motion, and maybe even sound!

One such purveyor of great digital OOH is SeeSaw Networks.  I came across them today in my research for a client opportunity and am amazed at what they have in place with their “Life Pattern Marketing” model.  They even have a well crafted whitepaper to back it all up!

As a big fan of ‘convergence, I was also pleased to get another similar but totally unrelated email today from EPM Communications on their new report released recently on Digital Out of Home Media, entitled Digital Out of Home Media.

If this is your thing, I recommend also checking out the Daily DOOH, a great blog on the subject!

What are you doing in Digital Out of Home?

Digital Centered Agencies

Organizations are signaling their subtle moves toward the digital center with their new agency selections.  Namely, they are selecting their digital agencies first and asking them to lead the charge as they pursue their ‘09 and forward marketing strategies. According to a recent article in AdAge:

While most clients still seek best-in-class specialists for every discipline, more are showing interest in digital agencies to serve as the lead on integrated communications efforts, consultants said. The uptick is particularly visible among marketers in the retail sector and other product categories where there is opportunity for e-commerce. 

Who knew?  In fact, part of this can be pinned on the fact that digital is hot right now and talent is mirgrating that way.  So as marketers search for the best talent, they are finding it in increasing numbers in the ‘digital first’ agency ranks.  

This bodes well for the future of digital.  So well, in fact, that Forrester sees this trend growing over the next 5-10 years.

Late last year, Forrester completed a study of several interactive agencies. The report’s author, Brian Haven, argued that interactive shops are closer to the consumer, in a better place to mine the rich insights and data available via the web, and in the right place at the right time to capture consumer behavior changes. Because of those things, interactive shops are poised to be the “foundation for all marketing efforts within the next five to 10 years,” he wrote.

What about you?  Are you making decisions based on the ‘digital centricity’ of your agency and marketing partners?  If not, should you be?

Gap Flair

In a report in BrandWeek, Gap Inc. reported that it was shifting to a more integrated mix of traditional and non-traditional media, including a movement away from TV for the remainder of the year.

Gap is not planning to run TV ads for the remainder of the fiscal year. It will, however, launch a campaign dubbed “Vote for ____” that targets voters.

They also concluded:

In closing, Gap said it sees a growth opportunity online, particularly e-commerce sites that serve as a marketing venue for its stores. According to the company, its online division grew from $595 million in net sales in 2005 to $903 million in 2007.

Even their e-commerce initiatives serve as drive-to and marketing vehicles for the physical locations.  Brilliant (not new, but brilliant).

While Gap Inc. is not immediately shifting to digital centered, putting together a timely campaign that’s focused on an online community and the impending election (when you visit the Vote for page, you can add Flair buttons to your Facebook profile) is a sure-fire way to keep the conversation going in digital.

“One of the reasons we chose digital to be the center point of the campaign is because digital is great at doing a lot of things that some of the more traditional mediums aren’t,” said William Gelner, executive creative director at 180LA. “Young moms watch TV and read magazines, but the one place where they’re really involved and deeply engaged is the Web. Especially through mommy blogs.”

They are a great example of how to use the growing field of digital tools to reach your customers through new media niches.

Read more about their latest efforts in this BrandWeek article: Seventh Generation Demmystifies Cleaning Products