Archive for May, 2007
Media Alert: Marketing Diner 2.0 Has Launched!!!!
by Jared on May 24th, 2007
Friends, marketers, business-people…lend me your ears! 20SM is proud to annouce the re-launch of the The Marketing Diner…
Show Description:
The marketing diner is a show…ok, a podcast about one thing: marketers feeding their brands, not their egos.
In other words; this is what happens when three marketers get together, drop the pretenses and examine the trends, creative politics and elements of consumer culture that drive real results for real organizations…all while having a hell of a lot of fun doing it!
MDiner Episode #2.1 - Web 2.0…is it, really?
The Marketing Diner is back and it’s got a beef with Web 2.0…
Why start out a marketing podcast about marketing web 2.0? Because we’re that serious about seperating the marketers that can use it to feed their brands from those that use just use it to feed their egos. (yes, we see the irony, now just get on with it!)
Tune in for the debut of our re-branded show, meet the new hosts and see the begining of the next powerhouse, marketing podcast.
…as an aside, this has been an incredible project to start and it promises to be an excellent next step if you are hungry for intense discussion about the most pressing issues in marketing and business today. Check it out at http://marketingdiner.com.
20SMF Episode #66 - Zen in the Art of Successful Marketers
by Jared on May 19th, 2007
UPDATED - Stereo Audio Issue Resolved
For 20-something marketers, balancing emotion and objectivity can be tricky – especially with older, more guarded co-workers. Can we ever truly let go of our own work and what does it take to avoid the potholes that brand us as inexperienced and less capable than we really are?
Bonus: Ask-Jared – Marketing Consultants, MLM Travel Web Site Marketing & Care Packages
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We lost, but at least we got free booze - an M Awards Re-Cap
by Jared on May 18th, 2007
Sadly, the M Awards have come and gone and we have come up empty-handed…
Although Amanda and I had a great time overall, my company’s B2B Integrated Marketing Campaign was passed over in favor of a company whose name I have never heard of. In all fairness though, with the level of local marketing star-power that showed up last night, I would have been shocked if anyone knew of my company, either.
The evening was not a total loss, though. It appears we have found a few patterns that, like real awards shows, are too good not to do a post-game on.
1) At Marketing Awards Shows, No One Cares Who You Are…It’s Who You Work For
One of the more interesting phenomenon Amanda and I witnessed was the fact that, at the reception, no one looked at your face - only your nametag. If they didn’t recognize the company, or realized they couldn’t sell you anything, you really didn’t exist.
2) Like The Movies, Independent Marketers Have an Uphill Battle
Only one independent company had a stand-out campaign last night. The rest were large marketing and communications firms with budgets big enough to drown an elephant. The moral of the story, unless you have a campaign with a completely out-there concept, it’s a bit of a one-sided competition.
3) Just Because We’re Marketers, It Doesn’t Mean We’re Organized
Lastly, the glitz and the glamour of these awards apparently succumb to the fact that not everyone can be an awards-show host. In fact, the evening went about as smoothly as the Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride at Disney World with the awards having to be given out actually during the dinner. This proves once again that there is a fine line between marketing and operations.
In the end, re didn’t win but at least it was an honor to be a finalist. That and you can usually appeal for the winner’s free drink tickets, which can help you drown the shame of your looserdom.
We’re Going To The AMA-DC M Awards!
by Jared on May 15th, 2007
This just in: an integrated marketing campaign my department took on in 2006 has just been declared a finalist in the annual AMA-DC M Awards.
The campaign, dubbed RIGHT SIZE SOLUTIONS, was designed to leverage multiple medium (yes, including podcasts) in order to shift perceptions about our companies’ products and services. Apparently, the results were enough to get us into the top 3 of the Best B2B Integrated Marketing Campaign of 2006 category.
This means that this Thursday, I will be taking the show on the road to podcast from the M Awards.
Now…all that’s left to do is figure out what to wear!
The Friday Line: Interviewing Your Own Replacement Is CREEPY!
by Jared on May 11th, 2007
At this moment, I now think I have a good idea what it must feel like to be a ghost walking among the living.
It must be the same feeling I felt this week sitting in on group interviews for the person who will eventually replace me once I leave to go to business school; I am sure of it. What’s worse, everyone wants to get my one-on-one candid assessment of these people.
Forget, for just one second, that I have done some incredible things at this organization I doubt I could get away with at larger, more traditional businesses. There is no getting around that interviewing your replacement - no matter what the job looks like after your gone - is just plain weird.
The funny thing is that with the advent of the Internet and blogs, I am able to discern more information about a candidate than ever before. Exactly the same could be said of the candidates, who frequently research this blog before stepping into the office to be interviewed by me.
So, the end result is a situation where you want to say something about a candidate but know that decorum prevents it. I know who I want to replace me but by openly “dissing†a candidate, I am opening myself up to being evaluated and that distracts from them finding someone they can be happy with once I am gone.
The one interesting thing that this experience is leaving me with is the ability to see what truly exceptional candidates look and sound like. They paint a picture of what they would be like in the position and leave the room with you buzzing with excitement. A sub-par candidate leaves you with the feeling; “well, they can do the job but what else?â€
Any warm body can fill a position, sit in a chair and take orders, blindly. Hell, I have seen people promoted for doing just that. The question is; do you have the capability to leave an organization better than when they brought you into it?
Demonstrate that and you’ve got me in your corner.
20SMF Episode #65 - Marketing a Different Type of Hip Hop
by Jared on May 4th, 2007
Business, service and urban, hip hop culture collide in an amazing program called the Hip Hop Project.
Robin “Kheperah” Kearse, sits down to talk about how she and her partner, Chris “Kazi†Rolle are changing the lives of New York City youth and charting a new course for hip hop culture, away from the destructive and towards the expressive.
Also, another OwenBloggers report from Vanderbilt-Owen Welcome Weekend.
The Hip Hop Project opens in selected theatres, May 11th - Get some friends, go see it and be amazed at the experience!
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Of Buffets & Case Studies
by Jared on May 1st, 2007
I have to admit that even though I virtually eat, sleep and breathe marketing at this point; the allure of business school has taken hold of me like a buffet from which you want to take a bite out of everything. Lucky for me, these kinds of sentiments are apparently really common for incoming students but I wanted to share a really interesting experience from Vanderbilt-Owen’s welcome weekend a couple of weeks ago.
In a breakout session about the Marketing & Brand Management Track, the professor took out a case study to give us an idea of what a normal marketing class feels like. Suffice to say that my creativity was shot at that moment and I had a difficult time getting out of the B2B “silo†that I have been in for the last four years.
As you can imagine, this kind of took me by surprise because as a marketer, my initial response was to dig for more information. In a case however, you really can’t dig, you have to take what the story gives you and find a solution based solely off of that information.
I doubt this will be enough to throw me off a marketing track but it has given me a new perspective on reading business cases and applying what I know, internally in a B2B setting, externally to a B2C scenario. Next time you are reading the Wall Street Journal, or any other business publication, try to examine an article from a different perspective and see how it changes your approach to problems in your own “silo.â€