Advertising and marketing professionals have all long known that great brands – and great campaigns – are primarily built on great ideas. And that developing and communicating great ideas depends on great copywriting. Just ask any copy writer.

Seriously though. The classics are memorable, in part, because they so clearly provoke strong emotional connections with the intended audience for the message.

Indeed. Traditionally its the copy writer’s ideas and words that tell us what we can expect. Consider: “Mm, Mm good.”

Or they remind us about what we aspire to be. Such as: “Breakfast of champions.”

Or they promise something new that will change our lives for the better. Who can forget: “Think small.”

Just for context, in case these little gems are not part of your personal experience, they are examples are slogans from 60s-era campaigns for Campbell’s Soup, Wheaties and Volkswagen, respectively. Anyway. The list goes on and on.

As you might have noticed, the media landscape has evolved and grown over the last decade (or two) to include new communication channels that offer more and more and more ways to get the word out about the product or service you want to promote.

At the same time, you may also have noticed that these new channels, while opening new opportunities to marketers, are also changing the way people respond to marketing messages and relate to brands.

Essentially, new technologies like social media, mobile internet, radio frequency identification, geo-location and other “Dick Tracy-like” capabilities are rapidly reshaping the way consumers behave.

The upshot of all this? The role of the writer, ever essential to the creative process and the creative product, is changing. Evolving. Growing. Even maturing?

Teressa Iezzi, editor of Advertising Age’s Creativity magazine wants to help us understand where our industry is headed – and how copy writers will continue to help drive results as the paradigm shifts force marketers to update the way they do their jobs.

This must be a subject on the minds of many creative and marketing leaders these days. Because more than 200 MIMA members and guests, convened for the February monthly presentation to listen to ideas from her recently published book, The Idea Writer: Copywriting in a New Media and Marketing Era.

(Kudos to the programming committee for bringing her in to speak with us. And a sincere thank you to Teresa for traveling here to share her experience and insights with us.)

The good news is: while technology innovations are driving the changes in how marketers and consumers interact, the fundamentals of human nature remain the same. So while copy writers may have an expanded set of tools to use to communicate ideas, their primary duty – to help create relationships with consumers is pretty much unchanged.

Basically, copy writers simply have more competencies they need to develop. Just like copy writers in the 90s had to learn to expand their range from ideating and writing print ads, direct mail, sales collateral, outdoor and broadcast to also include websites, banner ads and e-mails, copy writers today must continue to expand their repertoire to include social media, “apps” and more. Because developing effective ideas, depends on understanding the underlying technologies.

So the craft of copywriting is not dying. It is simply changing. From being mastery of writing to including mastery of conversation.  And being conversant with technology.

Our industry will always need idea people. Word people. People who can take complex ideas and boil them down into something easy-to-read and easy-to-understand. (Like helping people quickly get the gist of an hour-long presentation that touches on a lot of great ideas.)

If you can do that, you’re golden. Writers who can engage readers will always be in demand. There will always be a need for Mm, Mm good ideas and writing.

Download the podcast (available soon, please check the Resources section next time you visit this website) and listen to the complete conversation for a number of practical insights. And be sure to leave your comments here, to share the key take aways you think are important.

The programming committee continues to impress with the quality of the monthly presentations they plan and host. If you need proof, just look at the more than 200 MIMA members and guests who showed up at the Metropolitan Ballroom bright and early Wednesday morning for the July event: a panel discussion on integrated communications.

The panel format works well for challenging topics, such as integrated communications, for a number of reasons. You get to hear more than one point-of-view. You get to learn from some of experts we have right here in our local professional community. And you get to participate in the conversation yourself, as was evidenced by the many thoughtful questions and insights offered by the audience.

Moderator Andrew Eklund, CEO and Founding Partner at Ciceron, set up the conversation by showing three charts describing the media environment that underscore the degree of difficulty marketers have with integrated communications.

The first chart showed media channels available in 1975. It featured a dozen or so data points – television, radio, newspaper, outdoor, direct mail, etc. – and corresponding arrows pointing at how they touch the consumer of the media. Very neat, organized and easy to look at.

The second chart showed the media channels available in 2008. With the addition of digital media, the number of data points and delivery arrows mushroomed. Imagine a chaotic web created by a hyperactive spider on mescaline. (That’s a powerful and dangerous mind altering substance, kids; leave it alone.) There were many nods of agreement when this slide was displayed.

The third chart showed the media channels available in 2010. With the addition of social media, the number of data points and deliver arrows was so dense that it was, indeed, a solid black box, with every pixel filled with information. This got a few knowing, and nervous, chuckles.

Eklund then opened the discussion by stating that, with our evolving media environment, integrated communications is like a holy grail to marketers and asking if we have found it.

Paul Ratzky, Interactive Director and Vice President at Olson, observed that the concept of integrated communications keeps changing, because the integrator is shifting from the agency to the consumer, as people select their own channel pathways. Which means marketers need to follow their audience and deliver messages in the audience’s preferred channel, as opposed to trying to move them into the marketer’s channel of choice.

Glenn Karowski, Managing Director, The Business of Ideas, added that effective integrated communications is about conversation and relationships. And the key is to be a good listener.

When asked who is responsible for listening to consumers (marketing? branding? advertising?) Erik Erickson, Owner of Erickson McGee, LLC and former Vice President and Creative Director for Target commented that we are still in the early stages of figuring out how to listen. And that figuring out what to do with what we hear is the next big challenge.

Download the podcast (available soon, please check the Resources section next time you visit this website) and listen to the complete conversation for a number of practical insights. And be sure to leave your comments here, to share the key take aways you think are important.

On possibly one of the most quintessentially pleasant mid-spring evenings cherished by Minnesotans who’ve endured the long, cold dark, approximately 200 MIMA members and guests chose to resist the temptations of warm sunshine and the lingering scent of lilacs drifting through the air to instead convene at Solera on the 19^th for the May event.

Crazy? Hardly! These Twin Cities-area marketing professionals were all eager to listen to local-girl-done-well-for-herself, Porter Gale – VP of Marketing at the brand innovator, Virgin America Airlines.  And as the photo gallery shows, a good time was had by all.

Some of you may remember when, once upon a time, she was at Martin Williams. Indeed, some of her old cronies were in attendance to help keep her on her toes. On this day, she flew in from San Francisco to talk about how her company uses interactive channels, including social media, to make limited marketing dollars go, well, farther.

If you’ve flown in the last 20 years or so, your airline experience may have focused on enduring the process of getting to your destination rather than enjoying the journey. One of the things Minneapolis advertising legend Ray Mithun used to say is: “If 13 is unlucky for someone, it must be lucky for someone else. We decided, at the start of our business, to be someone else.”

While Gale did not refer to this tenet of the agency that bears Mithun’s name, the point is: in an industry full of brand mediocrity, Virgin America decided to be lucky number 13. The heart of its marketing strategy, according to Gale, is to position the airline as different from anything else in the category. The company’s goals are to create an airline people love and to reinvent travel.

When Virgin America profiled its customers, the company realized its best customers are opinion leaders who enjoy using social media and other new technology. So it is using this information to help distance itself from the competition and chart a new course for airline travelers by using three innovative social media marketing approaches.

• Create buzz-worthy experiences
• Engage customers and listen to them
• Connect with customers on a genuine level rather than “marketing at them”

Gale’s slide set and the podcast from her presentation both provide details on how Virgin America executes on these approaches. Check the resources section next time you visit this website, as they should be available soon. Perhaps some ideas may translate well to your company and industry? Or spark creative marketing ideas of your own?

She left lots of time for questions and answers. And audience members responded by asking her to elaborate on many different topics. Following are selected insights on social media shared by Gale.

On customer relationships

“Social media should be authentic, real and honest. People should follow because they want to.”

On celebrity endorsements

“Most of the people fly Virgin already and just do it for ticket trades. We look for natural relationships matched to a purposeful reason for the endorsement.”

On co-branding partnership opportunities

“We don’t have an agency helping source our partnerships. We believe in ‘less is more’ and ‘going deep rather than broad.’ Chemistry and fit is important to us, as is having a fair and equitable relationship.”

On marketing team structure

“Sir Richard (Richard Branson, major shareholder and corporate “celebrity”) is a risk taker. If you believe in taking risks, you need to empower your people.”

On measuring ROI

“Our guests are using social media. Since they will talk, we joined the conversation. We look at how our social media strategy affects customer relationship management.”

On the pace of change

“If someone says they are social media experts, you should question them.”

Which memorable concepts did you take away? What quotable quotes made an impression on you? Why was listening to Porter Gale and schmoozing with your MIMA colleagues the best use of your time on one of the few remaining warm, yet bug-free evenings left to enjoy this spring? Please share your comments.

Question submitted by Tricia Knigge from travelleaders.com…

Ten months ago my company went through the rebranding and name change process for one of our lines of business. The name we selected for our flagship travel franchise brand is Travel Leaders (www.travelleaders.com). Given that the name is very literal at the time of launch we felt a tagline further explaining our business was not necessary. Through the rebrand and naming process we developed strong positioning, messaging, a brand promise, imagery and logomark to represent the new brand. The tagline topic continues to be brought up by executives therefore I’ve been tasked with writing a recommendation about whether or not a tagline is necessary. Please let me know your opinion on having a tagline, is it necessary or not? If possible reference any articles, white papers, etc that you’ve read/written on the topic that may be useful.

In the age of user-generated and user-submitted content, how do you determine what’s legally protected and what’s OK to share or re-purpose?

Although this question might not be top-of-mind when you’re starting a new project, it’s an important consideration in today’s content! content! content! marketing scene. Since legal isn’t really my thing, I sought out the expertise of someone who works in marketing at a local law firm. And since blogging isn’t really her thing, here’s a quick summary of the conversation.
The number one thing I took away from our discussion is that not considering legal implications for your online content can be very risky.

What you decide to protect and what you decide to share are critical factors in protecting and promoting your brand. How do you decide where to draw the line? Consider a proactive approach and attempt to answer these questions in order to determine the level of brand access to give to the user:

• Ideally, what role does the user play?
• What are the essential tools the user needs in  order to participate?
• How active is the user currently with the  brand?
• What is the motivation of the user in this  initiative? What gets the user interested?
• What is the expectation of the user? What  does the user hope to accomplish by participating?

At the most simplistic level, determining what to legally protect and what to share starts with audience analysis. As user-generated content becomes more effective in marketing initiatives, what to share / what to protect will become an essential part of brand strategy.

Is it more exciting to spend more time on how to get and use user-generated content? If you ask this marketer, the answer is yes. However, if you don’t devote time to building a strategy around what content is protected, you may find that your users will make that decision for you. Eek.

…And corporate marketers relinquish control.

You’ve heard about Brand Tags, haven’t you? (You’re nodding yes.) It’s the site where you — yes, you, the consumer — tag brands with the first thing that comes to your mind. Anyone can play. And the result is a “collective experiment in brand perception,” according to creator Noah Brier.

Brier released Brand Tags one month ago today, calling it “70% done.” Since then Brand Tags has over 940,000 tags and mentions on numerous blogs, including Seth Godin’s blog and Tom Weber’s Buzzwatch for the Wall Street Journal.

As Weber notes, “the free-for-all aspect of the Brand Tags approach may cause some corporate marketers to shudder.”

Here’s what the tag cloud for Target looks like. If you reorganize it in the “orderly view,” you’ll see that the first entry (at least of this post) is a gigantic “cheap.”

Ouch.

But “cheap” is quickly followed by some pretty terrific, titanic-sized adjectives, including “awesome,” “cool,” and “fun.” And true to Target’s branding, the tags “design,” “red,” and “bullseye” also appear as absolutely immense words. I’m thinking those tags would cause any corporate marketer to smile, rather than shudder.

It would appear, at least on Brand Tags, that Target has achieved a nice congruence between corporate marketing and consumer perception, an enviable position indeed.

Not all the tags you’ll find on the site are nice. Or polite. But as we heard at the most recent MIMA event, “Dual Reality: Who Controls Social Media in the Enterprise,” which featured panelists from Target, Best Buy, General Mills, and Fingerhut, most marketers believe it’s okay for customers to talk about them online. And even better to listen. In her wrap-up post about the event, “Social Media: Leave Your Leisure Suit Behind,” Erica Butler writes, “It’s less about what we (branders) want to say, and more about what our customers want to tell us.” Brand Tags is certainly telling. In some cases shouting.

Let’s take a quick look at two other brands represented at the MIMA event, and what consumers are saying:

Best Buy. As of this post, the top entry is “electronics,” followed by “cheap,” and “overpriced.” Interesting tug of war here.

General Mills. Hmmm. Not currently on Brand Tags. (Anyone care to submit it? Jim Cuene, what do you say?) Several noted General Mills brands are not on the site either, including Betty Crocker, Bisquick, Pillsbury, Cheerios, or Haagen-Dazs. You will, however, find Green Giant and Old ElPaso, although the latter has not received many tags.

What about other big brands here in Minnesota? What are people saying? 3M, Dairy Queen, Thomson Reuters.

And MIMA? I thought about submitting a request to have it appear on Brand Tags, but since it’s a regional brand, I was concerned we might appear, well, like this.

Should I care?

(Hat tip to Todd Nesser, my colleague at Larsen, for first pointing me to Brand Tags.)

It’s hardly surprising that search engines, Google and Yahoo, topped the list of online brand favorites in a recent JupiterResearch survey published on August 2.

3,500 people were surveyed by Jupiter analysts and the results communicated a definite brand bias by age group and gender. MySpace unsurprisingly snagged 32% of the 18 – 24 age group, while 21% of users 55 and older responded that they didn’t have a favorite online brand.

The Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus split came into play here with Google being the most popular choice among men and women voting instead for number 2 favorite, Yahoo.

Here are the top 8 results from the JupiterResearch survey:

1. Google
2. Yahoo
3. Amazon
4. eBay
5. MySpace
6. Microsoft
7. AOL
8. Apple

I can’t say there were any real surprises in the list above. I too would choose Google as my favorite (even though I’m female!)

What do you think? What’s your favorite online brand?

When is a website like an advertisement? When is it like a software application? How do creative directors, user experience advocates, graphic designers and information architects work together to craft a creative solution? Who owns the “big idea” – especially when there are a million small ideas? Who gets to be “The Decider?”

Join Karen McGrane from Avenue A Razorfish as she shares possible answers to these questions (plus any you might bring along). She’ll share examples and war stories from client projects like Mercedes AMG, Kodak and The New York Public Library.

Details on: “Building Interactive Creative Solutions”

WHEN:
Wednesday, July 26

5:15 pm
Registration & cash bar

6 pm
Presentation

7 pm
Networking, food & cash bar

WHERE:
New Minneapolis Central Library
300 Nicollet Mall
Minneapolis

COST:
Members $20
Non-members $40

Register Online.

Note: In order to register online you will need to login with your MIMA account. If you do not have a MIMA account, you can create one (hey, they’re free).

Welcome to the official blog for MIMA, the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association.

Here you will find updated news about MIMA, events, projects and activities as well as interactive marketing industry news. We welcome and encourage your readership and interaction.