MacKenzie Marketing Group, Inc.

Client Loyalty - A lesson from Mad Men

amyz@mackenzie-marketing.com (Amy Ziari) — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 16:51:00 GMT

OK, I admit it. I am totally obsessed with AMC's recent hit Mad Men, a drama series about the advertising industry on Madison Avenue in the early 1960s.

Mad Men focuses on the intra-offices politics of a fictitious independent advertising agency, and is loaded with excessive smoking and drinking, blatant sexism against the female office workers, and a stunning wardrobe of handmade suits and dresses that will make even the Birkenstock-wearers among us swoon.

And oh yeah, sometimes they pitch ad concepts to clients, too.

What's really interesting to me is that Mad Men instigates some real discussions on agency/client relationships, and I foresee college professors using this show as a discussion starter in their classes in no time.

In a recent episode, Sterling Cooper, the fictitious agency on which the show is centered, approaches American Airlines just hours after one of its plane crashes and everyone on board killed, aiming to get new business out of a company that will inevitably soon seek to rebuild its image.

Beyond Sterling Cooper's insensitivity in attempting to build their account portfolio out of a tragedy, there was another huge problem: Sterling Cooper already had an airline client.

In the end, Sterling Cooper decides to dump their current client in favor of the larger American Airlines account.

Clients pay us not only for our work, but our loyalty. Our job is to be on their side, whether it be brainstorming a brilliant new marketing campaign, developing messaging at the drop of a dime in the face of crises, or turning down a competing client approaching us for their business.

And if you dump your client in favor of a larger account because you need the money, what does that say about YOU to your NEW client? They should be equally worried about being dumped when an even larger competitor starts knocking at your door.

Disloyalty to clients is bad business. And what Sterling Cooper did, seeking an account after so many people had died, was nothing but tasteless.

Have you ever faced a conflict of interest? How did you handle it?

My friend Twitter

lisam@mackenzie-marketing.com (Lisa MacKenzie) — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 16:18:00 GMT

I started Twittering – along with the rest of the MMG team – last year. It was still fairly new and I just wanted to see what all the fuss was about.

Now I am addicted.

It’s sort of like being a voyeur – I get a glimpse into what people are thinking. It’s also my best news channel. I get great links to blog posts I may never find on my own. Twitter is also a wonderful re-connector. I follow people that I’ve know for years but haven’t seen in ages.

And when our friend Rick Turoczy got the big spread in the Oregonian last Sunday thousands more certainly signed up.

Like all social media, it has a big downside. There is too much of it. I can’t following thousands of people and get anything out of the relationship. And the technology is not perfect. Scalability is a big issues and users have to be very patient.

Lessons learned from Twitter? Like all good communications, it is best when it is focused.

You can follow me on Twitter and see what I am up to.

Awards make us all smile

lisam@mackenzie-marketing.com (Lisa MacKenzie) — Thu, 29 May 2008 21:38:00 GMT

I used to think that awards were silly – the only way I thought we needed to be judged was by our clients’ success. I still think that is true, but not completely. Being judged by a panel of our peers is important. It keeps us on our toes.

Getting another award this week – a Communicator Award for our Ad campaign for Vigilan – is a big reason to celebrate. We knew it was a winner well before this because our client told us. Vigilan’s business has really taken off and we’re pretty happy to be a part of that success.

Big Kudos go to Jeni Cantley and Haley Lewis for the great design and concept. Another statue is on its way to join the others on the table!

Putting on a show

lisam@mackenzie-marketing.com (Lisa MacKenzie) — Thu, 29 May 2008 21:22:00 GMT

Seth Godin – marketing consultant and author – just blogged todayabout the art of the putting on a show. In marketing he says, “…even if you're a professional marketer, if your show is cynical or manipulative, it's going to fall apart on you. Even Marlon Brando couldn't live the show all the time if he didn't believe it.”

Scott McClellan, the former White House press secretary, now author, is a perfect example of the marketer whose show fell apart. By taking the job as White House press secretary, he took on the role of communicating public policy. He didn’t believe in the message that he was delivering. It fell apart on him.

Godin further explains that “The difference between a professional and a naive marketer is that the professional can put on a different show in her next job, or for her next brand. Al Yageneh (The Soup Nazi), on the other hand, can only sell soup.”

I’ve sold software to consumers and professionals, consumer electronics, professional services, politicians and non-profits and most recently trail running shoes. Scott, on the other hand, has sold policy and I’m not sure he can sell any of that now.

Leadership

melaniea@mackenzie-marketing.com (Melanie Adamson) — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 17:51:00 GMT

I just started taking a Management and Leadership class as part of my graduate program at UO. The book that we are reading is "Leadership Challenge" by Kouzes and Posner. The jist of the book (and I'll know more by the end of the term) is a practical approach to teaching leadership at all levels. It uses anecdotal information to show "how" to be a successful leader. I'm really excited about this class to tighten my existing leadership qualities.

Here is a funny video explaining important values learned from Kouzes and Posner. Enjoy!

Add MelAdamson's channel to your page

A Few of Our Favorite Things

amyz@mackenzie-marketing.com (Amy Ziari) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 15:44:00 GMT

Working in marketing, a huge part of your job is to stay on top of what's going on in our clients' industries, innovations and what people are talking about. Around the office, I'm always hearing tidbits of someone fired up about a new service that just launched, a really cool new Web site that's making life easier, or on something they're just plain excited about.

Here are a few of things that have got our attention lately:

Dapper: Dapper allows you to take data from a Web site and put it into a given format (RSS feeds, Google Maps, e-mail, HMTL, etc). Personally, I use it to turn keyword searches on The New York Times Web site into RSS feeds. For instance, you can learn every time The New York Times reports on a company you're investing in, your town, your client—whatever you're interested in! For me, it's a great way to keep tabs on when top-tier journalists are writing on stuff I care about.
Greenprint: Why print pages you don't have to—or want to? Greenprint makes it easy for you, saves money and helps the environment.
Semantify: ReadWriteWeb's Marshall Kirkpatrick just wrote about Semantify yesterday and we're eager to try it ourselves. From the same folks who bring you Dapper, it makes Web sites readable by semantic search engines.

Found anything really cool lately you want to share? I'd love to hear about it.

Drucker is marketing's friend

lisam@mackenzie-marketing.com (Lisa MacKenzie) — Sat, 01 Mar 2008 02:31:00 GMT

“The business enterprise has two—and only two—basic functions: marketing and innovation. Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs. Marketing is the distinguishing, unique function of the business."

This Peter Drucker quote has been well distributed and certainly is a favorite of most marketers. It is especially poignant as we all face what is certainly an economic slow down and quite possible a recession. All marketers worry that budgets will be sliced, jobs will be eliminated and more will be expected.

If this statement by Drucker is true – and embraced – then what do we have to worry about? Plenty. Most companies and CEOs don’t see marketing as their primary strategic weapon in a down economy. They typically add more sales people and decrease marketing.

I’ve worked through plenty of slow economies and recessions. Next time I have that anticipated meeting with the CEO regarding budget, I am bringing my friend Drucker with me.

Portland's Start-up Index for February

amyz@mackenzie-marketing.com (Amy Ziari) — Sat, 16 Feb 2008 13:51:00 GMT

Yesterday, Techvibes released its monthly Start-up Index for Portland. Techvibes uses Alexa and Compete to compile these rankings.

Criteria for inclusion are that the companies are:

Located in or around the specified city or area
Less than five years old
Not a public company
A tech company (either hardware, software, web application/service, or mobile)

It's nice to see several MMG past/present clients on this list. Our client Iterasi, which launched at DEMO a few weeks back to great fanfare, made its debut on the list at #19.

You can view the list in its entirety here.

The Big Business of a Holiday

amyz@mackenzie-marketing.com (Amy Ziari) — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 20:20:00 GMT

In an article on their Web site about How a Holiday Becomes a Card-Sending Occasion, Hallmark argues that “…if you think that special date on the calendar is a "just a Hallmark holiday," think again. There are fascinating histories behind every holiday for which Hallmark makes cards.”

And today is what many would call one of those "Hallmark holidays"—Valentine’s Day. A day where lovers dine. Mothers bake heart-shaped cookies for their little ones. Husbands send flowers.

And specifically, many of us exchange cards. Lots and lots of cards.

According to the Greeting Card Association, “The first Valentines in America were exchanged during the Revolutionary days and were mostly handmade with sentimental verses written in flowing script. In 1840, Miss Esther Howland, an imaginative artist and entrepreneur, became the first regular publisher of valentines in the United States, eventually heading her own publishing firm that specialized in Valentine cards.”

Since then, a whole industry has popped up making big bucks off of the day. Stores change their merchandise and storefronts mid-January. Chocolate wrappers everywhere turn pink and purple. 1-800-Flowers makes a killing. And industry icon Hallmark and other greeting card manufacturers are some of the hugest beneficiaries:

Beyond Christmas, Valentine’s Day is the second biggest greeting card holiday, accounting for 25 percent of total sales.
Hallmark estimates that we will give out 190 million greeting cards today, not including the classroom made variety, which would tip the scales at 1 billion total. At $3 a pop or so, that means sales of greeting cards for just today may reach nearly $600 million.

I really don't see "Hallmark holidays" going away anytime soon. And lots of companies make their milk off of this fact.

My question to you, though, is that even if the history of Valentine's Day and any other "Hallmark holiday" is fascinating, is it really worth a greeting card? Hallmark thinks so. By the flowers sitting on my desk today, other people think so, too. But what's your take?

Growth of Podcasting, Advertisers Primed to React

amyz@mackenzie-marketing.com (Amy Ziari) — Wed, 06 Feb 2008 20:05:00 GMT

It is no secret to anyone who knows me even casually that I'm a bit of a podcasting nut. I listen to podcasts at the gym. At home. On the bus. On walks to the grocery store.

So much for music. Podcasts are really the soundtrack of my life.

So as a marketer, I found this new article released by eMarketer really interesting. Currently, only 18.5 million of us listen to podcasts regularly. But by 2012, this number will reach 65 million. In just 4 years, that's an increase of 251%. Talk about a huge leap.

Looks like podcasting is moving from the early adopter phase and into the mainstream.

These numbers are enough to make any advertiser do a double take. Many podcasts have very niche audiences, allowing for specialized audience targeting. And unlike radio, podcasts can be played again and again, and at the listener's discretion—particular when they have time to really listen to what's being said.

If the predictions hold true, I'm interested to see how advertising and sponsorships are proliferated through podcasts in the next few years as more people than ever tune in. Perhaps integrating a podcast strategy into your own business is something you should consider if you haven't already.

And as a welcomed personal side effect, I really hope these statistics mean I'll soon have a whole slew of people to gab with about the latest episode of All Songs Considered!