Follow these informative digital marketing events in person or online
Below is an extensive list of upcoming search, social media and marketing events around the globe taking place in September 2010, with descriptions provided by the sponsors. We’ve included the Twitter pages and hashtags where available, so that you can follow chatter from the event organizers even if you can’t attend in person.
Know of any we missed? Please feel free to share them with our readers in the comments section.
iMedia Brand Summit, US Date: September 12-15 Where: Coronado, CA Twitter: @imedia Cost: (request invite) Event Description: The iMedia Summit provides a rich environment to chart your company’s digital future among peer-level executives, industry thought leaders and select publishers and service providers.
Search Engine Strategies (SES) Hong Kong Date: September 13-14 Where: Hong Kong Twitter: @sesconf Cost: $895-$995 Event Description: This conference will be packed with sessions covering PPC management, keyword research, SEO, social media, local, mobile, link-building, duplicate content, multiple site issues, video optimization and usability, plus networking events, parties and more.
Ad Club Leadership Breakfast Date: September 14 Where: New York, NY Cost: $65-$275
Join Carol Bartz, CEO of Yahoo!; and Peter Sachse, Chief Marketing Officer of Macy’s, as they discuss the importance of understanding today’s consumer and the best ways to connect with them. Sponsored by Yahoo!.
Yahoo!’s CEO to discuss today’s biggest marketing challenges
Will you be in New York City on September 14? Then clear your morning for a little VIP networking with Carol Bartz.
Yahoo!’s CEO will join Macy’s CMO Peter Sachse at a program called “The Power of the Consumer: Understanding today’s complex audience,” sponsored by The AD Club of NYC. The event is the first of a three-part Leadership Breakfast Series and will feature a panel discussion moderated by Michael Learmonth, Digital Editor of Ad Age, that promises to:
Explore the needs of today’s consumers
Reveal how to emotionally connect your brand with an elusive online audience
Discuss how to build effective campaigns and create meaningful consumer experiences
“The Power of the Consumer” will be held at the New York Athletic Club from 8:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. Tickets are $65 for AD Club members and $95 for non-members. Seats are limited.
Video: Industry Experts Share Tips for Targeting Women Online
Listen to key insights from The Women Connectonomics Study
Did you know that women will control $28 trillion in annual spending globally by 2014?
We did. That’s why Yahoo! researchers surveyed thousands of women to create The Women Connectonomics study. It’s a definitive look at the needs the Internet fulfills for women, why they turn to certain online channels and how receptive they are to advertising messages on various sites. Key study findings include:
The top needs for women revolve around personal growth and their interdependencies on others.
Women’s lifestyle sites like Yahoo! Shine and special interest sites fulfill the most needs for women.
Women are three times more receptive to marketing messages on lifestyle, specialty and review sites.
The study was released in late July at a Chicago event attended by industry leaders like top bloggers, CMOs, and key agency executives. Check out their expert tips for helping your brand connect with women online.
Paul Cushman, Senior Director of Mobile Sales Strategy for Yahoo!, talks about the session he moderated, “Getting Mobilized: Mobile Marketing Strategies,” at the SES conference in San Francisco, August 18, 2010, as well as some of Yahoo’s initiatives in mobile.
How social media helps heritage brands capitalize on their history and stay relevant
Laura Brooks’ email signature contains links to no less than four social media sites, which may seem odd for someone working for a century-old company, L.L. Bean, which got its start making waterproof duck boots. In charge of the company’s social media efforts,
Brooks avidly communicates with her more tech-savvy customers via Facebook, Twitter, online video and de.licio.us. “It’s the goal of every marketer to attract a younger customer,” she says, “and more so for L.L. Bean, since we are a hundred-year-old company and we’re seeing our customers age along with us.”
Giving old brands new life online
Heritage brands—those with 50 or more years of history—are generally pretty good at adapting, otherwise they wouldn’t have lasted. Many don’t make sexy products like the iPod, but everyday staples that people consume without really thinking about. We’ve previously examined how brands like Quaker Oats (trademarked 1877), Butterfinger (launched 1923) and Macy’s (founded 1858) partnered with Yahoo! to infuse themselves with new life. And, of course, the buzz in the ad world in recent weeks has been all about how Old Spice (founded in 1934) has re-invigorated itself with a stunning viral video and TV campaign.
Now we take a look at three classic apparel companies that are using the Web and social media to re-invent themselves, and their relationships with their customers.
L.L. Bean’s mission was to attract younger customers, and, in the process, to overcome its staid image. The Web, and social media in particular, turned out to be the perfect vehicle. To get people to see the brand in a hipper and fresher light, Brooks began posting shots from fashion magazines, where stylists would often juxtapose classic L.L. Bean products with edgier items.
Facebook also turned out to be a great way for a heritage brand like L.L. Bean to share its most valuable asset—heritage itself. “Our customers love to look at archival images like old catalogs and products, and hear the stories behind them,” says Brooks. “They also love talking about things like their Bean Boots or the barn coat that they’ve had for 30 years.”
Brooks originally thought social media would allow Bean to interact with younger customers, but in fact, its Facebook demographics are skewing older—and more female. The company’s Facebook fans have gradually shifted from equal numbers of males and females mostly aged 18-25, to being 75 percent female, with the majority of the now 28,000 fans in the 25-40 age range.
Connecting with customers
On March 15, 2010, the company launched a hip new line called Signature, which represented something completely different than anything the company had done before. Its marketing was entirely digital and driven largely by bloggers. “We didn’t do any formal advertising at all,” says Brooks. She quickly learned, however, that the customer for the new collection was different than the old. She had to create a separate Facebook page when older and more traditional customers left negative comments about the more youthful and slim-fitting new items.
Challenge: Dunkin Donuts is a morning kind of place, serving up hot coffee and baked goods since 1950. The company wanted to find a whole new way to say good morning to both existing and potential customers.
Solution: Yahoo! developed original, branded online programming—“The Yahoo! Sports Minute” and “Good Morning Yahoo!,” powered by Dunkin Donuts, which delivered the morning’s top stories in a fun, quick and easy format.
This campaign marked a first, though not the last, time Yahoo! worked with a partner to develop original content across multiple categories. The results were impressive, offering widespread exposure to the Dunkin’ Donuts brand.
It’s the wonder offer that works wonders for your sales
Editor’s Note: This is another in a series of posts we’re calling “The Best of the YSM Blog.” These are posts containing timeless advice and best practices that never go out of style. Even if you read it the first time, it’s not a bad idea to review this information periodically to help get maximum performance from your advertising.
Originally posted February 13, 2009
When I was a kid, my grandfather always used to say, “there’s no such thing as a free lunch.” He’s still right, but today the word “free” doesn’t raise as much of red flag as it did in Gramps’ day. In fact, more and more consumers are recognizing the value of free, especially when it comes to their online purchases and how they’re shipped. Because when it comes to shipping, “free” can be the key that unlocks the door between advertisers and customers.
Determining factor
According to a new study of 9,000 shoppers conducted by ForeSee Results, free shipping had a huge effect on holiday sales in 2008. The study showed that free shipping offers play a major role in whether consumers buy in a store or online, and, when purchasing online, where they shop. Avoiding shipping costs was the third most common response for why shoppers choose to buy in a store rather than on a retail website, behind the ability to receive the product immediately and being able to see or feel an item before purchase.
The guy behind the Old Spice guy knows his audience
Iain Tate, Global Interactive Executive Creative Director at Wieden + Kennedy, is the brightspark behind the campaign that transformed Procter & Gamble’s Old Spice from venerable shelf-filler into a buzzworthy icon.
That shouldn’t surprise anyone who heard Tait speak about advertising’s embrace of digital at the recent Yahoo! Provoke Summit.
He observed that those stuck with traditional thinking dislike the new reality in which “the best stuff wins,” but it’s now the public instead of “experts” determining what’s best. Furthermore, advertising professionals too often seek inspiration from looking at other ads. “That’s the last place you should be looking,” Tait says.
Success requires watching for what people actually do in real life with technology and with each other. And for those biding their time until things settle down? It’s never going to, Tait warns: “We just have to learn how to deal with it and thrive on it.”
“One day little digital children and little advertising children will play together,” Tait predicted back in 2007, when he presented Ten Reasons Why Digital Is Better Than Advertising. He’s helped make his own prediction a reality.
Cannes, France — The first day of Cannes Lions was a bit of culture shock—not just because everyone was speaking French and I could barely order a sandwich, but also because of the degree to which everyone had gone beach-y. For example, there was the head of JWT’s Continental Europe operations, wearing shorts—and a jacket—on stage, looking like a 12-year-old prep school student.
But even with the laid-back vibe of the crowd, the ideas kept pace with the buttoned-down—or at least, shoe-wearing—world of advertising outside of Cannes. Here are four ideas you should know about, even if you weren’t here: (more…)
What You Don’t Know About Local, Social, and Video
Three final insights from SMX Advanced Seattle day two Day two of SMX Advanced 2010 started off a bit sluggish. Maybe it was the ominous clouds in the Seattle sky. Or the fact that most of search marketing’s superheroes had too much, um, fun at the prior evening’s back-to-back networking parties.
But one word made the crowd perk right up: “cupcakes.” The Bing booth was handing out cupcakes to celebrate the decision engine’s first birthday. Just the morning sugar rush that everyone needed for another round of deep dives into search marketing hot topics. Read on for the top three take-aways. (more…)
Below is an extensive list of upcoming search, social media and marketing events around the globe taking place in September 2010, with descriptions provided by the sponsors. We’ve included the Twitter pages and hashtags where available, so that you can follow chatter from the event organizers even if you can’t attend in person.
Editor’s Note: This is another in a series of posts we’re calling “The Best of the YSM Blog.” These are posts containing timeless advice and best practices that never go out of style. Even if you read it the first time, it’s not a bad idea to review this information periodically to help get maximum performance from your advertising. 
Cannes, France — The first day of Cannes Lions was a bit of culture shock—not just because everyone was speaking French and I could barely order a sandwich, but also because of the degree to which everyone had gone beach-y. For example, there was the head of JWT’s Continental Europe operations, wearing shorts—and a jacket—on stage, looking like a 12-year-old prep school student.
