eROI Days Email Agency

Panelists:
Jason McDonnell, Doritos
Chris Miller, Taco Bell
Todd Riley, GM Planworks
Ajuy Kaul, Lenovo
Chuck Sullivan, Oganic
Rex Briggs, Marketing Evolution

With so much noise of all of these brands coming online, its getting harder and harder to have a lasting brand impression online. Conversely, AdAge reported that branded search is far more prevalent than unbranded keywords which proves that consumers want to go to a trusted source and manage their expectations with getting to a website that they already know a little something about beforehand.

Examples of great online consumer experiences around strong brands:
MyCadillacStory.com
PatriotAdventure.com
BestBuy.com
http://fftf.Doritos.com/

Consumers are going online more than ever, but consumers still rely on magazines, TV, and traditional media for true brand connections. Their is huge opportunity for online branded experiences, but it is much more complex than traditional channels.

Arianna Huffington, founder of The Huffington Post and named as one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in ‘06, impressed the hell out of me with her bold statements and charisma. She talked about consumers longing for authenticity, transparency, and values. “If you can hit upon this, that’s when the magic happens,” she continued.

Huffington strongly declared, “Don’t be stopped by the naysayers. We have to deal with the naysayers – including the inner-critic in our heads. We must break through our own self doubt.”

Mainstream Media has Attention Deficit Disorder! Examples:
1) Anna Nicole Smith is everywhere in U.S. media for an entire month, then it doesn’t exist ever again. (Drop it like it’s hot).
2) Kosovo – does anyone know what’s going on in Kosovo today? No, and we should because lots of bad stuff is happening.
3) Elian Gonzalez – how is he doing in Cuba? Does anyone know?

Key insight on the Blogosphere – bloggers like to take little nuggets, investigate, and make them into stories that get AMPLIFIED in the mainstream media. Many times, blogs are the source of the bigger stories. The Huffington Post is a news aggregator for progressive, political news. 800 bloggers write for free because they want their views out there real-time.

There will always be Print and New Media. Huffington used the analogy of Gilligan’s Island – “it’s not just Ginger OR Mary Ann – let’s have a three-way.” Meaning: there is a need for magazines, newspapers, blogs, and other forms of online media.

Fearlessness is key. You need to experiment (what works today will not work in a few years). Your organization must carry the torch like Google, where they accept an 80%-90% failure rate as a great thing. 10% success on big ideas is HUGE. Don’t be easily discouraged – most people give up way too early.

Email is Time Sensitive – performs differently than print, for example: “Buy now, pay later” as offer performed better than “Only $1.99 now”

Members like mystery, but make sure it’s worth their click. Need to have a really strong offer on landing page.

Try new things. Creative e-postcard (with powerful image) performed far better than primarily text email with small visual interest.

Lessons Learned:
Stop Guessing. Let the customer decide.
Email does not always work in print.
Customers like mystery and personalization, but make sure it’s worth the click or it won’t perform very well from a conversion standpoint.