As you can see from Jeremiah's post below, our 2009 Marketing Forum is up and running in Orlando, Florida,  with Shar VonBoskirk kicking off proceedings with (after lifting the audience with a resounding rendition of “M I C K E Y M O U S E!” – well, they are at the Disney Resort!) a keynote addressing how marketers affected by the recession, across the globe, need to treat their online planning and strategy teams as core parts of their business planning, taking account of the advantages of more accountable marketing channels. She urged marketers not to be stifled by the idea that a recession is a bad time to innovate; on the contrary, as interactive marketing channels continue to grow strongly, now is a great time to take innovative steps to reach consumers across online channels, with far less risk than many marketers perceive.

More experts from the likes of Microsoft, Starbucks and iProspect take the stage on Friday to share their insights into how to get the best value out of interactive marketing in a recession.

The Forum is being held in the US, but the recession is an equal reality in Europe, and European marketers are faced with the same challenges – how to get the best out of their marketing spend, how to take advantage of the flexibility and measurability of interactive channels, and how to best reach and talk to consumers also feeling the bite of the downturn. Marketers struggle with understanding how they can identify key consumers in their European target countries, what technologies to use to reach them, and how to innovate, say using social media, to make a brand stand out from the crowd?

We at Forrester talk to hundreds of European clients a year about these, and other, marketing problems. For example. we have recently worked with a major European online brand about repositioning the brand in the light of consumer’s changing online behaviours, looking at both consumer behaviour data from our own Consumer Technographics surveys as well as strategic insight into how consumers use online content, and how they research/buy products online.

If you are a marketer looking for help with such issues, please do reach out to me here at rjennings@forrester.co.uk. We have analysts in Europe, the US and Asia, ready to help.

 

Meet One-On-One With Forrester Analysts At Our Consumer Forum 2008

Consistently rated as one of the most popular features of Forrester Events, one-on-one meetings give you the opportunity to discuss the unique technology issues facing your organization with Forrester analysts.  Consumer Forum attendees may schedule up to two 20-minute one-on-one meetings with the Forrester analysts of their choice, depending on availability. Registered attendees can now schedule one of their one-on-one meetings, and can schedule the other meetings onsite at the event.  Book early!

Consumer Forum 2007: Video Highlights

Video highlights from our Consumer Forum 2007 are now available:

• Charlene Li — Vice President, Principal Analyst:  Your Customers Are Revolting
• Josh Bernoff — Vice President, Principal Analyst:  Business Strategies For Success In The Groundswell
• Christie Hefner — Chairman and CEO, Playboy Enterprises & Brian Haven — Senior Analyst:  Social Networking And User-Generated Content In Today’s Media Environment
• Christina Norman  — President, MTV Networks:  MTV — Defining The Next Generation
• Robert J. Bach — President, Entertainment & Devices Division, Microsoft:  Connected Entertainment: Delivering New Ways To Bringing People Together
• Richard Edelman — President and CEO, Edelman:  Corporate Image In The Age Of Social Technologies
• Jeremy Allaire — Founder and CEO, Brightcove, Ze Frank — Founder, ZeFrank.com, Philip J. Kaplan — Founder and President, Products, AdBrite, & Shar VanBoskirk — Principal Analyst: Three People Who Are Changing The Face Of Media
• Henry Jenkins — Co-Director, MIT Comparative Media Studies, MIT & Josh Bernoff — Vice President, Principal Analyst:  Why The Convergence Culture Matters To You

"Web 2.0 is fandom without the stigma."

Convergence Culture - Henry Jenkins, MIT

• Now that Web 2.0 has hit the mainstream, the disconnects in how value is defined (specifically in terms of revenue) are beginning to emerge.
   
• Convergence is not about technology, it's about culture. It's about the flow of information across all media channels.
   
• Users will move the media across those channels illegally if there isn't the legal means to do so.
   
• Movie marketing blogger geek moment: Jenkins is talking about fan-generated efforts to promote the release of the last Matrix movie, efforts that had nothing to do with the studio.
   
• There are a lot of terms being thrown around for these active consumers, but they're all describing the same thing: People who have embraced the control over brand messages they now have.
   
• Suing the people creating this content just honks people off and winds up hurting your brand in the long-run. Even spoofs and parodies refer the viewer back to the original.
• Movie marketing blogger geek moment #2: Talking about Browncoats, the fan group based around "Firefly" and Serenity. The group was embraced originally, leading the studio to cut back on its paid efforts. Then Universal started not liking them so much when the movie flopped, leading to a nasty back-and-forth.
   
• Movie marketing blogger geek moment #3: Talking about Four Eyed Monsters and the social-networking, community embracing efforts behind this small film.
   
• "Any network that can be used to share cat pictures can be used to bring down a government."
• People are creating content like "fan fiction" that is based on a "gift economy." That means they're not so concerned with making money and in fact sometimes reject efforts to make money off their creations. They just want to express themselves.
   
• Copyright is not obsolete, but there's a collision coming between the legal and the user desires. It's in the copyright holder's best interest to know when to make a fuss and when not. Too restrictive and it stops people from talking about your brand, but too open and it can, really, be harmful. But there is an inbetween and it can be hard, but important, to find.
• Silencing your critics is never the way to go. Even the people who hate you and your product are providing input you can use to improve your product.

This is not a dig on any of the other presenters here at the conference, but Jenkins has done more to stimulate some real thought - I mean real, "what are we doing here" thought. He's really pushing people to not only think differently but change the way they're thinking about media and surrounding issues. There are so many things to ponder in what he's saying about relinquishing control, protecting the brand, fandom and other issues it's almost too much to take in in a short period of time.

Everyone - everyone - is a media brand

Changing the Face of Media - Ze Frank, Philip Kaplan and Jeremy Allaire

• Question: What constitutes a media company? Kaplan says the network model is being lost, that people don't care about the package as much as the content and that, with the plethora of choices we make our own media. Ze Frank defines media as anything you can advertise against, meaning just about anything that's created can be considered media. Allaire points out that the behavior around that media (tagging, linking, etc) is as important as the media itself.
• Question: How do we (marketers) access that sort of chaos? Allaire says it's difficult because the content can wind up just about anywhere and that the monetization of that "hyper-syndication" is still lagging. Frank points out that once you embrace the bottom-up, non-controlled space you will begin to see patterns and boundaries emerge and become clear. Kaplan says media buying is more interesting because scarcity of ad inventory doesn't exist any longer.
   
• Question: How do you take the traditional ad-buying model and put it in the bottom-up world? Kaplan makes the point that the authority and the trust readers put in the source (ie, ESPN vs. someone's fan blog) is transferable to the ads that appear on that site. So as the audience is shifting their ad exposure is shifting, but influence is not necessarily being lost because of that.
   
• Question: How do you overcome advertiser fear over ads on CGC? Kaplan says they use trust and transparency, trying to show where ads might appear and what their impact is going to be, even though metrics aren't at the level some advertisers need to feel comfortable. Allaire reminds everyone that Flash and other online formats reduce the cost of creative execution and creation (Ed. note: That means you can try new things, fail, and then try something else without the huge impact a bad TV spot will have on your budget.)
   
• Don't overlook PR value of the advertising industry. Ze Frank says the internet is all about stories about stories, with buzz being generated by crazy stunts that are covered elsewhere. Think Second Life kiosks - no one knew what they would or really should cost until people started doing it.
   
• The panel points out that the one thing to worry about with social media is having a bad product. After that it's all gravy.
   
• Allaire says it's about being where the consumers are and not where you want them to be. That's why people are emphasizing embed codes and other things to allow the easy transference of content from one place to another. But it's also important to use the tools people are already using and not always try to reinvent the wheel - the magnifying glass is going to be more focused on you if you try to be "The next (fill in the blank)."
• Ze Frank: "Brands actually create context." The media brand, wherever that brand's content might appear, brings with it the context of the brand. So very, very true.
   

The whole discussion of ad inventory, honestly, I don't think is being put into context. If we're talking about the low, low barrier to entry to syndicate content, and if we're saying that all brands are media companies, then what role does advertising play? I'm not saying there isn't a role, but I think companies need to have the discussion when ever they're planning a campaign of what's going to best fit the end goals - Content creation in and of itself or paid advertising efforts?

When you get to the point where that conversation is happening then you're in a good place.

Amen, Ze Frank

Another great Ze Frank point:

"Brands provide context"

That's the reason why brands continue to win.  They create context.  They have resonance.  They connect with consumers in a meaningful way (at least the best ones do).

Sure, some brands create a very narrow context ("I am a cheese") and some pitch a big tent (Nike: Be your best self).  But either way, we select brands because we either appreciate what they stand for or we choose to envision ourselves in them.

A favorite quote (sometimes attributed to Tom Peters, sometimes to Faith Popcorn):  Women don't buy brands, they join them.

When we're operating in the interwebs where we there is a myriad of choice for every single thing we want to do, brands are the magnets that draw us in.   Don't neglect your brand.

Deal with it

Best. Quote. Ever.

From Ze Frank, in response to someone wondering about the "dark side" of social media.

"It's here."

Yep. Nothing to do but suit up and get in the game. Sidelines no longer an option.

Young consumers aren't always in vogue

During her Q&A session after her presentation, Christina Norman, President, MTV Networks touched upon an interesting point: Sometimes young consumers just want to see silly or funny things. Now, I'm not saying that is the status quo when it comes to youth, and neither does Christina. But, MTV gets it: Customers are human.

MTV strives to create a total experience for its consumers, by enabling its audience to decide what they want to see and when they want to see it. While tools make a great experience possible, its the ideas -- the collaboration between MTV and its consumers -- that really contributes to their loyalty. By recognizing the emotional connection plays such an important role, MTV forges and creates opportunities for personal investment; it takes effort and tenacity to maintain and grow ties with younger generations throughout their life stages.   

MTV balances this quest for providing content by feeding sites and shows like MTV Think! to enable consumers to find and contribute to local and national causes they care about, while content from TRL feeds their passion to be influencers.

On a personal note, MTV provides one of my favorite guilty pleasure TV shows, The Hills. Somehow, MTV managed to tap into and draw out the youth unconscious: 1) A love of people and all things information (especially personal); 2) Interest in the experience of others; 3) Anything that involves a beach, sand, and/or party.

I can't wait to see what they do next.      

The fact that there are 20 seasons of The Real World makes me feel old

Defining the Next Generation - Christina Norman, MTV

• It's about the content, first and foremost
• Let the audience be excited, don't eat into that but embrace it
• Enable them to connect with each other
• Allow the audience to help shape your brand
• It's about giving the audience what they want, when they want it. That means a cross-media strategy that takes advantage of the best parts of all media, creating an all encompassing brand experience.
   
• New ventures at MTV such as Rock Band use technology to allow fans to connect with bands they're fans of. And since MTV is the enabler of that connection then they become more valuable and popular with the audience as well.
   
• MTV has harnessed the power of their fans and the connection they have with them to affect social change by tapping into the passion for change on issues important to them.
   
• Being a fan is more exciting when you can share your passion with someone who shares it. THIS is what's important about the social media world. It enables people to connect - whether it's through social networks or blogrolls or whatever - with each other and have "geek" conversations that get you excited.
   
• To create a truly passionate audience you need to be committed to a two-way dialogue, or "digilogue."
   

One of the points Christine made in the Q&A was that it would be better to create a strong reaction in the audience - either love or loathe - than for the audience to have no feeling at all. That's important to remember when you're doing social media monitoring, I think. If no one is talking about you, that's not a good thing. That's not contented happiness you're seeing in the lack of conversation. It's apathy. If you have people who say they hate you, at least that's an opinion you can turn around.

The Twitter effect

How do you think this conference would be different if the Twitters of those of us in attendance were shown on screen behind the speakers? Hmmm. I'd love to see how the people unfamiliar with Twitter would react to some of the commentary going on in what amounts to the back-channel. Probably would get some of those who weren't previously to dive in and see what micro-blogging is all about, which I think would be completely worth it.