Christopher Loudon previews Marketing Mag's 100th. anniversary

November 12, 2007 • Joseph Thornley • No Tags

In November 2008, Canada’s Marketing Magazine and its predecessors will have been in publication for 100 years.

Chris Loudon, the newly minted Publisher and Editor in Chief of Marketing, sat down with me following a meeting with the Canadian Council of Public Relations Firms to talk about the plans for the 2008 anniversary.

The anniversary celebrations will be reflected in the magazine’s editorial content, but also in planned industry gatherings and events.

In January 2008, Marketing will begin a series of 20 articles covering the history of marketing, advertising and media in Canada. The series will culminate in November with a special 100th anniversary issue in which 100 of Canada’s marketing movers and shakers will be asked to look ahead at where they see our industry going in the future.

The anniversary will also bring Canadian marketers together in Toronto for the inaugural Marketing Week. For three days in November, the marketing industry will be invited to participate in a conference featuring a program of Canada’s best marketing speakers, panels and workshops. The centrepiece of the Week will be an event combining the Digital Media Awards, the Marketing Innovation Awards, and the Marque Awards along with a party to celebrate Marketing Mag’s 100 year history.

These celebrations come on the heels of the revitalization in 2007 of Marketing Magazine. This year, the mag has switched to a biweekly magazine format from it’s previous weekly tabloid format. The editorial content has been refocused to provide a more balanced perspective on agencies, marketing and media, with a conscious effort to provide a national perspective by including voices from the east, the west and Quebec as well as Toronto.

Good news as well for PR practitioners. Loudon, who once worked in a public relations role at Canada’s Stratford Festival, signalled during his meeting with the CCPRF members that Marketing will provide more coverage to public relations as part of the marketing mix. This is timely, as advertising and public relations perspectives converge in the new online social media and their application to community building and marketing.

During our conversation, Loudon also told me that Marketing will be revamping their online presence, with a new Website in 2008 and by launching an afternoon edition of Marketing Daily email newsletter in addition to the morning edition, which has proven to be hugely popular.

You can watch Chris Loudon’s interview with me here. It runs about 5 minutes.

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"White hat" social marketing

August 27, 2007 • Joseph Thornley • No Tags

I believe that the greatest potential for social media lies in our ability to use it to find others who share our interests and form communities with them. And I think the public relations and marketing community should be helping clients to understand how to enter into mutually beneficial long term relationships with online communities.This focus on long term community building which offers real benefits to all participants is what I call “white hat” social marketing.

Unfortunately, some marketers seem intent on using the new medium for old tricks. I am distressed at how often I hear conference presentations or read blog posts where it seems the primary intent is to use social media to achieve a short-term increase in conversions for online commerce.

Even worse are those who coach others to mine the information we enter in social networks to generate marketing databases (“cause they know that the information will be used when they volunteer to enter it”) or post corporate marketing videos under the guise of consumer generated media (“they’ll find out eventually.”)

Such practices put at risk the trust and transparency that are essential to social media. They also fly in the face of the culture of generosity that drives the vast majority of citizen content creators.

For me, this is “black hat” social marketing.

I believe that the new norms of social media are being defined by this tension between the value set that is based on generosity, transparency, authenticity and community vs. those that are defined by the desire to generate short-term advantage and a marketing mindset that relates to the citizens as an audience to be acted upon and manipulated.

So, it was a real pleasure for me to read Michael Seaton‘s post on The Symbiotic Nature of the Social Web. Michael is the Director, Digital Marketing at Scotia Bank and the creator and host of The Money Clip podcast.
Reflecting on recent social web initiatives by Canada’s banks, Michael says:

…the benchmark for social web success is (in my mind at least) the sustainability of communities and the level of interaction and involvement they build. Or, said another way, it is the degree to which they are engineered to foster a symbiotic relationship with their audience on behalf of the brand.

When designed to be mutually beneficial and transparent, corporate social web initiatives have a chance to exercise full potential for both brands and consumers that participate within them. That is the sweet spot.

…the starting point has to take into consideration ways to enable individuals to do something outside the typical interactions between citizen & brand. This means going beyond the everyday experience, being unique and compelling while also providing utility. Viewing the social web as an opportunity to simply broadcast a message will not likely produce anything worthwhile.

This is a refreshingly progressive point of view from one of Canada’s leading marketers. I hope that others will pay attention.

UPDATE: Chris Moore has added his perspective on this issue.

Canadians on the Power 150 Next 100

August 20, 2007 • Joseph Thornley • No Tags

Last week, I wrote about the Canadian marketing, public relations and media bloggers who appear in the AdAge Power 150. Dino Demopoulos left a comment on that post pointing out that there are several other Canadian blogs moving up toward that ranking – including his own blog, Chroma, at #151.

Lists like this are very valuable for allowing us to discover new and up and coming voices. So, to help this, I’d like to point to the hard charging Canadians who appear in the Power 150 “Next 100.”

I hope that you’ll invest five minutes clicking over to some of these blogs. If you do, I’m sure you’ll find new and engaging voices. And when you do, subscribe and join the conversation with them.

Chroma: Dino Demopoulos brings his perspective as a planner and communications strategist to media, culture digital lifestyle and marketing.

Buzz Canuck: Sean Moffitt explores all things connected to Word Of Mouth marketing. Practical. Intelligent. Leading edge. Sean’s part of my daily must-read list.

Common Sense PR: Eric Eggertson demonstrates that you can see a long way from the vantage of Saskatchewan as he writes about the latest developments in business communications. A b5media blog.

PR Works: David Jones, half of the Inside PR podcast team with Terry Fallis, is always trenchant, funny and irreverant in his comments on public relations and marketing. (Disclosure: David is a former colleague at Thornley Fallis.)

Student PR: Chris Clarke first started writing his blog while studying PR at Fanshawe College. It was pretty good. In fact, good enough that it caught the attention of the gang at Thornley Fallis. We hired Chris on the strength of the insight his posts showed.

Transmission: Mark Goren puts a human face on his Montreal-based marketing agency’s blog.

Social Media Group: Maggie Fox writes and podcasts about social media and marketing on her company blog. She joins Kate Trgovac as the second ranking female blogger on the list.

The Client Side: Michael Seaton looks at marketing from his perch as Director, Digital Marketing at one of Canada’s major banks, ScotiaBank. Michael has been a champion of new media in corporate Canada and he`s one of Canada`s leading Digerati.

Canadian Marketing Blog: The Canadian Marketing Association`s blog draws on contributions from a stellar cast of CMA members.

The New PR: Ryan Anderson looks at public relations in the online world from his position as marketing director for an interactive marketing firm.

Experience Planner: Calgary-based Information Architect Scott Weisbrod blogs about multi-channel customer experience, planning, design and management.

Praized: Sebastien Provencher brings a strong background in local search to his blog.

BPWrap: Barry Welford brings another Montreal voice to the party.

I said earlier that lists like this provide an opportunity to discover new voices. And in writing this post, I discovered some new blogs that I had not yet read. So, if my descriptions are a bit brief in a couple of instances, I apologize. But I’ve discovered and subscribed to all of these now and I’m looking forward to following each author through his/her voyage of discovery. I hope you’ll join me in this.

Canadians hit the Power 150

August 12, 2007 • Joseph Thornley • No Tags

It was great to see many Canadian marketing and PR blogs show up on the AdAge Power150 developed by Todd Andrlik. The current list includes:

Adgoodness: Frederick Samuel showcases the best (and sometimes the worst) advertising the world has to offer.

One Degree: A Canadian take on Internet marketing featuring the views of a stellar cast of Canadian marketing practitioners.

Canuckflack: Long-time blogger Colin McKay draws from his eclectic interests to comment on all things online that interest him. And he shows just how interesting a sharp mind can be in the process.

Twist Image: Mitch Joel, Canada’s “mini-Seth,” blogs, podcasts, speaks and in the process creates a one man promotion industry. His enthusiasm is infectious.

Blogging Me Blogging You: Ed Lee knocks down the barriers between PR and digital media. Ed’s a transplanted Brit, but we’re happy to claim him as ours now.

My Name is Kate: Online marketer Kate Trgovac has two blogs on the Power150: One Degree and her personal blog, My Name is Kate. She clearly knows something that the rest of us want to figure out.

CrapHammer: Sean Howard has sent his blog into rapid ascent through edgy content and strong SEO.

thefruitsofimagination: a blog written by the employees of Leo Burnett Toronto. And agency blog! Why aren’t more companies doing this?

I have to confess that I was unfamiliar with some of these blogs. That’s one of the good things about lists like the Power150. Whether you agree with the rankings or the methodology or even the implicit competition (who can really deny being tickled to be on a list like this?), these lists expose us not only to the well established, but also to new voices who are making a mark.

I’d never come across Adgoodness, CrapHammer or thefruitsofimagination. But, as a result of discovering them on the list, I’ve subscribed to each. So the time I spent looking at the Power150 has yielded the return of discovery of three new blogs. That’s a pretty good ROI for a Sunday afternoon.

Coca Cola Sprite Yard – Social Network or Exploitation?

June 14, 2007 • Joseph Thornley • No Tags

Is it just me? Or is there something seriously “wrong” with this?

Forget Facebook, Everyone is Meeting in the Yard

Forget Myspace and Facebook. That’s old news. Now, there is Sprite’s exclusive network called the Sprite Yard.As a new way of connecting with customers, Coca-Cola expects the Sprite Yard to set new benchmarks for consumer brand engagement through the use of a mobile platform. Within the Sprite Yard, users can create a tag name, a profile, send “shouts” to friends and even post “scribbles” to a discussion board.

Measurement metrics have been built in so Coca-Cola can track, in real-time, which features consumers are using most to the direct impact on beverage sales. It enables Coca-Cola to react very quickly to what their market wants.

What made them “go mobile” with the Sprite Yard? They saw the opportunity to leverage mobile’s potential for viral distribution and to react to the consumers’ desire for constant connectivity.

With so many people actively online, organizations want to create their own groups and communities to ask their customers directly what they think, feel and want so that companies can make better corporate decisions.

…

Now, I worry here that I’m being mean spirited. And I worry that by pointing out the obvious, I’ll hurt the people behind it. And heck. I live in a glass house, as a public relations practitioner who is exploring social media and whose firm may also make mistakes.

But having said that, this just screams wrong, wrong, wrong!

What jumps out at me?

Right off the top, hyperbole. “Forget Facebook?” The fastest growing social networking space that has turned itself into a platform? Come on! Good communication must be based in reality. Why not just tell me to forget Rocket Richard. Forget Hank Aaron. Forget Joe Namath. Cause, heck, Fred Money-to-Burn has come along and promises that he’ll be bigger than them all. That’s just bald hype. Walk the talk before you make the claim.

“Coca-Cola expects the Sprite Yard to set new benchmarks for consumer brand engagement through the use of a mobile platform.” Whoah. Those are high, high, high expectations that have just been set. Let’s check back in three months from now and see whether I’ll have to eat my hat (or drink my Coca Cola.) Never ever tell them that you’re going to hit the ball over the fence on your first pitch. (Unless your name is Babe Ruth. And, oops. It didn’t work out too well for him either…)

“Measurement metrics have been built in so Coca-Cola can track, in real-time, which features consumers are using most to the direct impact on beverage sales.” Let me get this straight. You’ve compared yourself to social networks that let me connect with my friends. But the great benefit of this network is that Coca Cola will be able to measure, in real time (no overnight delays for us folks) which features sell the most soda. Wow! I want to participate -not (to quote a phrase as hackneyed as this campaign.)

Bottom line. The foundation of social media is the spirit of generosity. Is Coca Cola being generous here? Or has someone been just a little too candid about how we are all just data points in Coca Cola’s marketing analysis machine?

Is this what social media and social software are leading to? is this the new normal? Or is there another way?

Air Canada wants to charge me to give back a free ticket

June 6, 2007 • Joseph Thornley • No Tags

Here’s a truly weird customer relations experience.

Earlier this year, Air Canada offered a free ticket to the United States to anyone who bought one of their Rapidair Flight Passes. Because I fly between Toronto and Ottawa virtually every week, I use flight passes. So, I qualified for the free ticket offer.

I used the free ticket to book a trip to San Francisco for the second week in June. But earlier today I discovered that I have to be in Ottawa for an important meeting. So, I won’t be able to take the trip.

The only restriction on the ticket was that the travel had to occur prior to June 30. I realized that I could not reschedule the trip to occur before then. I’d have to simply give up the chance to use the free ticket.

So, I went onto the Air Canada Website to cancel the trip.

Now, here’s where the weirdness starts. I sign onto the Website, locate my reservation and click the Cancel button. Up pops a screen that informs me that I must pay $80 to cancel this reservation. That’s odd. Pay $80 to cancel something that was free in the first place? Hmmm.

So, I call the Air Canada reservation centre. I explain to the ticket agent that I wish to cancel the reservation. OK she says. That’ll cost you $40 each way in order to recredit the ticket to my account for future use. I explain that the free ticket has an expiry date of June 30 and that I won’t be able to use it. I don’t need it credited. I just want to cancel my reservation so that Air Canada can resell the seat.

Sorry, she says. If you don’t pay us to cancel the seat, your reservation will stay active and lapse when the flight departs.

Honestly. I’m not making this up.

Air Canada will forego the opportunity to sell a seat on an Ottawa to San Francisco flight unless I pay them $80 to cancel a free ticket. Wow!

Does this make sense to you?

Weekend Project: Discover 3 great new marketing blogs on the Power 150

June 3, 2007 • Joseph Thornley • No Tags

One of the great joys of reading blogs is the discovery of new voices with a different perspective on issues I care about.

Here’s an easy way to find some great marketing blogs that have already earned a following, but may be new to you. I call it Power 150 Roulette.

Todd Andrlik has compiled a Power 150 list of the “top” marketing blogs. Every weekend, I randomly pick three numbers between 1 and 150 and then I visit the blogs that are at these numbers on Todd’s Power 150 list.

For example, this weekend, I picked 30, 67 and 136. This led me to

The Viral Garden, where Mack Collier writes with insight and intelligence. He’s started a new corporate blog check up series. First up: Kodak.

adliterate, Richard Huntington’s perspective from the U.K. on “the future of advertising and the marketing communications industries, the impact of technology on communications and the nature of potent brands.” A mouthful. But worth visiting. A couple recent posts denounced brainstorms as the source of mediocre ideas and a reflection on the nature of advertising as a trade (spoiler: it’s not a profession and forget about training; learn on the job.) Provocative stuff.

Optimize & Prophecize, a take on Internet marketing from SEO veteran Jonathan Mendez. His post on Optimizing Social Media Landing Pages spoke directly to one of my current interests. I’m hooked.

If you haven’t taken a look at the Power 150, click over now. I discovered some great new blogs on Todd’s list. And I’ve subscribed to make many of them part of my daily reading.

Disclosure: I found the Power 150 and Todd’s blog when Pro PR showed up at number 111 on the current version of the list. Thanks Todd for creating this resource. I don’t know whether I’ll rank on future iterations of the list, but it was a pretty neat thing to find myself there at least for a little while.

Is Apple or EMI gouging Canadians on the cost of DRM free upgrades for iTunes Plus?

June 1, 2007 • Joseph Thornley • No Tags

I just received an email from iTunes telling me that the new iTunes Plus DRM free version of music from EMI is available in Canada. The email concludes with the sentence that, “Even better yet, you can also upgrade existing EMI songs in your iTunes collection for just $.40 per song.”

$.40 per song? Where’d that come from? $.40 per song is a 33% premium over the the $.30 per song that upgrades cost U.S. iTunes subscribers. That’s a big, big difference.

How can this be justified? Not on the basis of the exchange rate. When I checked the Bank of Canada currency converter just now, it showed that $.30 U.S. is worth $.32 Canadian. So, that means that either Apple or EMI is pocketing a windfall $.08 for every iTunes track upgraded to the DRM free iTUnes Plus version.

I applauded Steve Jobs’ announcement that iTunes would take some initial steps forward into the world of DRM free music. That’s a good thing.

But charging one person an extra $.08 on exactly the same purchase another gets for $.08 less? That doesn’t make sense to me.

Seems like a marketing faux pas to me. I wonder if it will bounce back on either Apple or EMI.

What do you think?