John Bohan - Summary of Past Marketing Events
"The ideal search tool should know me better than I know myself. This tool should read my web surfing patterns, then it should query the Internet for the most appropriate content for me before I look for it myself," said John Bohan, President of i20 events.
Scott Gatz, Senior Director of Personalization at Yahoo!, attended the i20 Empowering Brands conference and appeared to agree with Bohan. "Yahoo! is trying to give consumers what they want, when they want it, where and how they want it and sometimes before they even know they want it and I think that’s really the power of personalization."
Gatz continued, "Consumers are looking for three things:
1) How do you make my life easier?
2) How do you help me to get there quicker?
3) How do I find interesting and new things?
What we are seeing is a move into 'My Media', where I craft my ideal experience."
Scott Eagle, EVP/CMO of Claria, concurred with Gatz’s comments and announced the upcoming launch of Claria’s "Personal Web", a product that will personalize content and advertising across the web.
John Bohan said, "Claria is currently partnering with a number of top publishers now to offer customers the ability to receive personalized home pages that are updated on the fly based upon the user's web wide surfing patterns. This tool will allow the publishers to customize content and advertising throughout the rest of their sites to heighten user experience and customer loyalty."
Publishers and software companies are eager to cater to individual customer desires but what will the advertisers do?
According to John Bohan, Unilever, Sprint/Nextel and Avon took over the second half of the evening focusing on three empowering ideas. Unilever was up first.
Ed Kim, Manager of Alternative Media & Evolving Technologies for Unilever presented an arguable but capable marketing directive for Axe, which targets young men.
Kim said, "Axe wanted to speak to its consumers on an emotional level by making Axe ‘the content’ rather than just ‘the advertiser’."
"Our goal was to give guys the edge in the mating game," said Kim. With this in mind Axe created a reality based Internet show starring Evan and Garth. These two young men travel the country and document the ups and downs of dating.
This successful Evan and Garth campaign drew over 700,000 clicks and 2 million viewers to its site, a very high accomplishment for such a young brand. The controversial site may be offensive to some women but one can’t help but appreciate the marketing strategies involved.
Following up this thriving campaign, stay tuned for The "Lars & Brock" Show.
Up next was Mike Cooley, Director of ecommerce for Sprint/Nextel. Cooley changed gears from the dating game to the racing game. Sprint/Nextel has teamed up with NASCAR to provide interactive content that combines the features derived from television, internet and wireless to allow the consumer to connect with information regarding NASCAR, a philosophy that coincides with Nextel’s game plan.
Last but not least was Pattiann McAdams, Executive Director of Avon who toned down the testosterone laden themes and took us into the highly successful world of "The Avon Ladies." These "ladies" are independent sales reps that are 600,000 strong in 141 countries that cater to mostly friends and family.
John Bohan stated, "In the age of digital marketing, one may think that this century old sales and marketing model would die on the vine with the Mom and Pop stores. After all, how important is the personal relationship of an "Avon Lady" in a world that offers the low price points and shopping convenience of Wal-Mart and Target? In fact, quite the contrary is happening."
Avon is a forerunner in the marketing strategy that combines direct marketing with the online world which enables them to expedite turnaround time and keep the experience on a personal level.
The future of marketing strategies lies in the ability to provide personalization on a whole new level. It is no longer sufficient to just know the customer. You must be able to interact with millions of customers on an intimate level while, at the same time, provide a unique service in a timely manner.
John Bohan asked, "Which companies are currently embracing personalization technologies now to seed long term relationships and, which ones will play catch up later?"
i20Events hosts many networking events and conferences. Check our website for details: www.i20events.com
John Bohan is an internet advertising veteran and the founder of SocialTyze, a company specializing in social marketing solutions.
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