It’s Nice That

© master illustrator Rob Ryan

Simple Words of Wisdom

© Creative Review

AdAge Family Trees 2009

Holdings of the world’s Top 50 agency companies

Ranking (based on 2008 revenues):

1. WPP
2. Omnicom Group
3. Interpublic Group of Cos.
4. Publicis Groupe

Designkitchen + Wunderman are part of No. 1 ranked WPP Group (NASDAQ: WPPGY).

[download AdAge Family Trees 2009 .PDF]

Top 100 Most Mentioned Brands on Twitter

    Brand  Mentions  Followers  Twitter
1  Starbucks 3.37m 120,868 @Starbucks
2  Google 1.01m 307,342 @Google
3  BBC 703,000 15.777 @bbcnews
4  Apple 512,110 None
5  AIG 455,000 None
6  Amazon 245,760 1007 @amazon
7  Microsoft 221,000 None
8  Guardian 211,000 14,913 @guardiannews
9  Dell 185,000 287,575
10 Coca-Cola 135,600 None
11 Ford 130,000 2,256 @ford
12 Sony PlayStation 117,550 20,651 @SonyPlayStation
13 eBay 107,000 1329 @ebayUK
14 Sony 107,000 None
15 Disney 106,000 7,354 @wdwnews
16 Yahoo! 94,500 9,541 @yahoo
17 Sky 74,370 10,248 @SkyNews
18 IKEA 72,300 None
19 IBM 70,400 1,180 @ibmevents
20 Nokia 68,100 None
21 Ford Scott Monty 62,600 16,562 @scottmonty
22 Guinness 59,700 None
23 HP 56,720 1,682 @hpnews
24 ComCast 50,400 14,688 @comcastcares
25 Skittles 48,600 None
26 Canon 48,200 605 @canon
27 McDonald’s 45,340 234 @MONOPOLYatMcD
28 Channel 4 39,300 6,932 @channel4news
29 Lego 39,100 None
30 Pepsi 37,400 757 @pepsi
31 Samsung 35,800 582 @samsungmobileus
32 Intel 35,700 464 @intel
33 Tesco 35,500 None
34 Nike 32,800 1,167 @nikeplus
35 Honda 31,400 2,693 @Alicia_at_Honda
36 BMW 30,600 1,265 @BMWSauberF1Team
37 T-Mobile 29,900 1,443 @TMobile_USA
38 BT 27,540 None
39 FedEx 27,100 1,108 @mattceni
40 O2 25,900 2,371 @O2UKOfficial
41 Vodafone 25,400 802 @Vodafone_News
42 Bosch 25,300 None
43 RyanAir 25,200 None
44 Toyota 22,600 2,321 @toyotanewsroom
45 VW 22,190 None
46 Mercedes 21,600 1,506 @TheFifthDriver
47 Subway 21,200 None
48 Cadbury 19,900 None
49 Audi 18,600 None
50 Burger King 18,500 2,496 @thebklounge
51 Marmite 15,600 lovehatemarmite
52 Chanel 14,700 None
53 Citi 12,600 None
54 EasyJet 11,800 @easyjetservice
55 H&M 11,500 2,701 @handm
56 Porsche 10,600 None
57 Zara 10,000 None
58 Gucci 9,990 436 @gucciofficial
59 Nissan 9,740 @NissanSports
60 UPS 8,960 5,381 @trackthis
61 Motorola 8,320 346 @motodev
62 Avon 8,132 None
63 Marks & Spencer 7,900 None
64 Heinz 7,500 None
65 Royal Bank of Scotland 6,945 None
66 Asda 6,650 147 @asda
67 Accenture 5,970 2,126 @Accenture
68 HSBC 5,760 None
69 Lexus 5,690 None
70 British Airways 5,670 1,202 @British_Airways
71 Siemens 5,640 None
72 Gillette 5,250 None
73 Barclays 4,840 None
74 Sainsbury’s 4,300 None
75 Budweiser 3,980 None
76 Louis Vuitton 3,950 None
77 Lovefilm 3,720 1,503 @lovefilm_uk
78 Smirnoff 3,380 514 @Smirnoff_EXP
79 Banco Santander 3,330 None
80 UBS 3,330 None
81 Shell 3,100 @shelldotcom
82 Colgate 2,870 None
83 L’Oreal 2,813 None
84 Citroen 2,810 None
85 Rolex 2,630 None
86 Cartier 2,100 None
87 Knorr 2,030 None
88 PG Tips 1,400 None
89 Oxo 829 None
90 Birdseye 748 None
91 Levi’s 700 None
92 Specsavers 665 None
93 Duracell 621 None
94 BP 600 None
95 Schweppes 570 None
96 Habitat 500 None
97 Direct Line 500 None
98 Andrex 474 @Andrexpuppy
99 Vauxhal 470 @vauxhallnewsuk
100 Dulux 208 None

[via LONDON - Revolution teamed up with i-level's social media agency Jam to reveal the 100 most mentioned brands on Twitter and how they are aiming to capitalize on the buzz.]

Top CMOs on Twitter

As of this post, Systemic Marketing named the top 41 Chief Marketing Officers in the U.S. who are active on Twitter and have more than 250 followers. Check back bi-weekly for updates!

Are you actively tweeting? Who are you following?

Twitter has quickly become one of the most powerful networking resources. You never know when one of your followers or Twitter contacts will know someone you’re interested in talking to or networking with.

The Future of the Social Web

The days of building websites and investing in paid media to advertise are ending. It’s becoming increasingly difficult to get noticed in an already crowded space.  Business models are changing. Social media is changing the rules of the marketplace just like the web did a decade ago. People have become increasingly more reliant on others for information and visibility, now more so than ever…and that’s only going to continue intensify. According to Forrester (see visual reference), what this essentially means for businesses that haven’t already embraced SM…now is the time to engage.

5 Eras of Social Web

1. Era of social relationships
2. Era of social functionality
3. Era of social colonization
4. Era of social context
5. Era of social commerce

The possibilities for enhancing your client’s programs with the addition of these mechanisms are endless. Consult, support and recalibrate your client’s SM strategies as they strive to answer:

• Why should my organization participate in the social media and networking world?
• How is this space evolving and how can I use it to build/maintain customer relationships?
• How can I measure my success using these platforms across my marketing, reference, sales and customer relationship programs?

Pocket More Profit w/ Better Paid Search

Learn how to get the most value from paid search

Designkitchen’s Cameron Friedlander, Director of Technology Solutions, weighs in on how to assess campaign strategies and tactics to make pay-per-click worth clients’ while during the recession.

The landscape for sponsored listings is reminiscent of the wild west. The mentality is often who has the most guns vs. who has the best aim.

The Takeaway?:
Sponsored listings can help marketers rise above the clutter, but be product-specific.

Full article: DMNews .PDF

Wunderman Snags All of Microsoft’s DM

The move reduces MRM to a project agency.

ADWEEK - NEW YORK Microsoft has consolidated global direct marketing duties at WPP Group’s Wunderman, reducing previous shop MRM to a project agency. The handoff is expected to be completed in July.

“The consolidation of that assignment is a result of the consolidation of business and programs in the current economy.” — Gayle Troberman, general manager of advertising and customer engagement at Microsoft in Redmond, Wash

Full article: ADWEEK .PDF

Digital Masters: Taking Advantage of Trends in 2009

Taking Advantage of Trends in the Digital Space in 2009
Cutting edge panelists discussed what it takes to be competitively superior in the ever-evolving agency world. While traditional agencies have been talking the talk for almost a decade now, there has been little progress - as witnessed by the continued shift of work and budget over to the digital world.

Panelists:
Barry Wacksman, EVP Chief Growth Officer - R/GA
Wayne Arnold, CEO North America - Profero
Andy Dutter, VP Business Development - Razorfish
Neilan Tyree, Consultant - Moderator

BW: The momentum of change toward digital is still outpacing other media. Digital agencies are helping clients transform themselves—creating new and innovative ways to do business with their customers, developing extensions of products (utilities that customers use over and over), etc. Transformative gives you a different feeling as a consumer and it’s not an ad. It’s not about delivering ad messages and campaigns; it’s about delivering applications that transform the way people do business. (Example: Nike ID - custom design your own products sold at a price premium, taps into consumer trend that people want to control their own world. Domino’s pizza tracker makes the wait for delivery FUN. It’s not a campaign, it’s not an ad—these are platforms that make money for clients. Agencies can continue to build on top of them…clients will invest in expanding and extending to drive results.)

BW’s advice to agencies?…digital is a great business. It’s a flexible, profitable model and growth is phenomenal; it’s not commoditized in a sense that traditional agencies have become (e.g., digital is taking on work that might have been outsourced in the past: web build, CRM, integrated campaign work, all under one roof). Be collaborative inside your agency—sometimes the best creative ideas come from the techies. Mobile is going to be enormous. People call it the 3rd screen; it’s going to become the 1st screen…ability to do things in a 3-dimensional way. It’s not only about the right message at the right time, but also about the right place. There’s also a huge amount of client spend to bring digital into purchase environments. People need information.

WA: Being in the digital world is FUN. Agencies that are experimenting and being entrepreneurial with a massive can-do attitude are doing well. Transformation and business changes takes 3-5 years; the next 3 months are the most important in our lives (e.g., live in 3-mo cycles). It’s a talent-culture. You need the talent/culture to remain relevant. The world’s changing. Profero employs global citizens and is committed to creating the most culturally diverse agency in the world. Example: Planners (London), IA/UX (Australia), Creative (Korea, Sol)…five countries with eight nationalities were involved in pitch; everyone has a global perspective, run on a global clock and leverage Skype—it fundamentally transforms the way you build relationships…it’s just a basic thing, but it’s transformational for the business.

WA’s advice to agencies?…there’s a huge benefit to having the development in-house (hourly minute-by-minute conversations around impacts of slight changes). Innovation and ideas go start-to-finish. Where it works best is in-house with teams working side by side. There’s never been a better time to be in marketing. As long as you get it and have the energy for it, you’re there. You have to constantly reinvent yourself. It’s a brilliant time to be in the business, but you need the intuitive nature to constantly question why you’re doing what you’re doing and what the validity is.

AD: In response to, “Which parts of the business are growing the most around the world?”…digital is so broadly defined. Digital out of home. Interactive walls. Mobile. Digital pushing outside the screen. Agencies, including RF, are dedicating groups to social media + emerging media. Search marketing is NOT diminishing. Internal knowledge-sharing tools for clients’ internal organizations are also increasingly talked about (Example: extranet, wiki, blog…connects all of Ford’s marketers globally).

AD’s advice to agencies?…most clients have lead agencies and 80% of dollars or more still go offline. Be collaborative. Figure out a way to lead all of the agencies.  Everyone, across every discipline, needs to think like a marketer. Every discipline is important, but if you can plan and manage the entire digital experience–that’s a win. Plan it, Manage it, and Optimize it across all digital channels.

“Digital agencies have created a new integration model around Digital.  Ogilvy’s method was to build stand-alone companies that were all sort of led by the TV team (tasked with coming up with The Big Idea and then hand off to different disciplines to execute).  You can’t get integration if you don’t have integration from the start.  Digital agencies produce 95% of what they come up with in-house; many ad agencies come up with a creative idea, storyboard it, and hand off to a production company to be executed. The new integrated model around Digital is seamless.”

[interpreted from panelist discussion -2009 Mirren New Business Conference]

Top Trends Driving Agency Selection

This panel of search consultants focused on the top trends they currently see driving new agency selection. How much have clients changed during the downturn? Specifically, how has their selection criteria changed? What best practices do agencies need to apply to better close more pitches? With the sheer number of pitches they have facilitated, a tremendous amount of insight was uncovered on what it takes to increase your win rate.

Panelists

Ann Billock, Pricipal - ARK Advisors
Jane Bedford, Partner - The Bedford Group
Brian Goodall, General Manager - Jones Lundin Beals
Judy Neer, President - Pile & Company
Alison Fahey - Moderator, Publisher / Editor - Adweek

Incentive-based compensation for agencies is trending. Clients want agencies to put some skin in the game (makes clients feel like agency is more of a partner).

Clients are bonusing their agencies on how well they work together; performance evaluations on an ongoing basis to ensure positive client/agency relationship and seamless collaboration with partners.

There are some very large clients that are reorganizing to fit better with today’s economy and to better support their agency relationships. It would be wise to structure in a way that is commensurate with the economy.

Clients are looking for agencies that recognize that costs have shifted and that technology is taking over. One of the things that clients need is not just digital expertise, but technology on the agency’s end to help them move through their own process better. Clients are looking for agencies to have solutions for how they can manage their communications and internal organization. Agencies are often creating new systems that help take fat out of the clients’ own processes. Since clients want ROI—they like that agencies are taking on the management of their Enterprise and stitching their silos together.

CEO’s are looking to CMO’s for innovation. Everything else is cost. Marketing and innovation are the real products. If CMO’s think they don’t have the right internal resources to do it, they’re looking for an agency to offer a lifeline. It’s a guiding hand that agencies can give to CMO’s—the brainpower and resources to approach things differently.

The CMO has really become the new CEO today: Chief Metrics Officer. —Lisa Colantuono, AAR Partners

[interpreted from Search Consultant Panel: The Top Trends Driving Agency Selection - 2009 Mirren New Business Conference]