The Incite Summit East 2013 eBook

8/12/2019 The Incite Summit East 2013 eBook

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The

InciteSummite-Book

Rohit Bhargava

Founder

Influential Marketing Group

@rohitbhargava

Nick Johnson

Founder

Incite Marketing and Communications

@gnjohnson

inciteMC.com #incitesummit

The Incite SummitSeptember 18-19, New York


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On september 18, 2013 speakersfrom more than thirty of the

largest brands in the world

gathered In new york tospeak candidly about

their marketing and

communications.

No powerpoint was used.


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This book is the

official curated

collectionof insights they

Shared That Day.


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There are generally two kinds of business

conferences. The first kind is social where the

networking trumps the content. The second is

the educational where learning is priority #1 ...

and Incite is that type of event.

I was luck to host the first one, and during our

two days together, we welcomed dozens of

brand leaders to share insights. Normally those

would remain behind locked conference room

doors. Thankfully, thats not the case this time.

This book is a collection of what you might have

learned if you were in the room. Its a real time

curation and the first time Ive ever seen

conference insights packaged and shared in this

way.

So enjoy the insights, let us know what you think

and hopefully well see younext time.

Rohit bhargava, founder + CEO

Influential marketing group

Marketing and communications are transforming.

The depth, scale and pace of this transformation is,

frankly, terrifying.

The relationship (and power balance) between brand

and consumer has shifted completely. Your customers

now dictate the conversation around your brand, and

your potential customers ascribe more weight to

consumer reviews than to your PR and marketingefforts.

OK, so terrifying might be rather a negative

adjective. Exciting works, too.

Being an agile, customer-centric and responsive brand

takes a transformation of your internal organisation,

of your hierarchy, and of your entire marketing and

communications strategy. But its possible.

Thats what Incite is all about. We find the best brands

out there, and we share their expertise with you.

Nick johnson, founder

Incite marketing + communications

Introduction from nick:Introduction from Rohit:


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The Insights:

15 marketing lessons frombrand leaders shared from

the stage at #incitesummit


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1. dont ask customers what they

want. Ask them whichthey want.

The Chobani brand is well known for being customer centric, but in

a fascinating story CCO Nicki Briggs reminded the audience that

asking the right questions is more important that offering a blankpage. Recently, Chobani polled customers to ask whether

pomegranate should or should not be in their yoghurt. Posing an

either or option can be far more effective for getting useful

feedback from customers than open ended questions. The seeds,

by the way, will remain thanks to customer demand.

Nicki briggs, Chief communications Officer

chobani


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2. Want to be customer-centric?Learn to actually care.

For the past two years, MetLife has embarked on an ambitious

project to redefine its entire brand and operation as more

customer centric. This has included everything from redesigning

forms to changing scripted customer interactions. Driven from the

top, Chief Customer Officer Claire Burns shared that the real key to

how Metlife manages to bring this transformation to life is with a

sometime forgotten truism being customer centric starts with

truly caring about your customers and the experience they get.

Claire burns, Chief customer Officer

metlife


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3. Everyone hates guidelines, butbeing friendly helps.

Sometimes communications managers are tasked with leading

initiatives that hardly anyone is happy about. Professional

guidelines, for example, fit that category perfectly. No one wants

to hear what they cant do, especially in a media organization like

Dow Jones where plenty of employees are actually professional

content creators themselves. Rather than launch guidelines as a

dictator, though, being kind and open and (yes) friendly can make a

big difference in how well and how rapidly they are adopted.

Paula keve, Chief communications Officer

Dow jones


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4. Answer a bigger need.

If you are familiar with StubHub, you already know its a great place

to get tickets for shows. Especially if that show happens to be sold

out. What you may not know is that CMO Ray Elias has a much

bigger vision for StubHub. He wants to become the destination to

help you plan what youre going to do next weekend. Or nextmonth. Most of us have heard that great brands find a need and

solve it. The problem is, in a world where new competitors are

entering your market daily that may not be enough. The brands

that survive in the long term are the ones that go beyond solutions

to answer a bigger need. Like what youre doing next weekend.

Ray elias, chief marketing officer

stubhub


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5. They may buy the product, but theystay for the story.

Of course you need a great product to sell, but is that enough? Not

remotely, according to Bill Tolany from Whole Foods Market. The

way that Whole Foods approaches marketing comes from

delivering great products and experiences first, and surrounding

those with powerful stories second. In this model, products drive

short term revenue but its the attention to storytelling that

creates a deeper emotional connection which leads to unshakeable

and fanatical customer loyalty.

Bill tolany, senior director, marketing + integrated media

Whole foods market


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6. Use what people have told theworld to personalize your message.

Personalization gets a mixed reputation from consumers.

Consumers see plenty of value from the you might also like type

of functionality, but the horror stories of marketers learning a

woman might be pregnant before her father do cause consumers

to pause. Is all this big data really a good thing for customers? In

her comments, Nora Denzel shared an important reminder that the

things people tell the world (eg Im getting married!) are far

different than those we can guess at by their behavior. And

perhaps one way to draw the line is to focus on personalizing based

on those things consumers share with the world, and not on those

that predictive algorithms uncover for us.

Nora denzel, non-executive director

Ericsson/coinstar/saba


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7. Stories need to be inspired, notcollected.

Pfizer has more individuals dedicated to saving lives than most other

large companies. Yet they, along with other Pharmaceutical brands

are often misunderstood. Stories could clearly be a great way to

bringing more visibility to the truth about Pfizer, but they are not

always easy to get. One technique AnnaMaria DeSalva shared which

worked for Pfizer came when a senior researcher shared a powerful

story at an employee gathering of a girl he had been trying to save.

She was the reason he came to work, he noted. And his challenge to

colleagues was to answer the same question for themselves. That

speech inspired others to share their stories as well because they

realized how powerful they could be.

Annamaria desalva, vice president

Pfizer


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8. Understand the story that matters.

In a company with a directive to launch dozens of products a year,

keeping stories straight matters. More importantly, knowing that not

every story matters to every customer is key. In his comments during

a panel on storytelling, Jeff Shafer shared an insight about storytelling

that is often forgotten that different stories work at differentmoments. The ThinkPad design was inspired by a bento box. Its a

great story but its only relevant in a particular moment. When you

know the right timing to share your stories, and have you an arsenal

of them to pull from, you can really use storytelling to drive the things

a technology brand cares most about loyalty and sales.

Jeff shafer, vice president global communications

lenovo


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9. Use every chance you get forauthenticity.

Across many vertical industries and lines of business, the Siemens

story seems like a hard one to tell. Of course they could focus on

innovation, or efficiency, or any other overarching human value. Yet

the way that comes to life is through a single deliberate choice thatJim Whaley shared on stage. For Siemens, it is important that the

people the brand features in advertising are actually real patients, and

real professionals. It is a small choice in the span of everything a

global brand marketing team does yet that one choice offers so

many more moments for behind the scenes footage and powerful

stories. All because something a bit artificial (a TV spot) is done based

on something genuine and authentic (real people instead of actors).

Jim whaley, svp communications + marketing

Siemens


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10. dont blindly follow channels.

In the realm of loyalty marketing, one of the most common truths

that many retail brands have uncovered is the value and importance

of fostering an email list. It has almost become a hard rule that

brands find value in email marketing. As Michelle Klein shared in her

remarks, that may not be as hard and fast of a rule as we tend tothink. In fact, the results for her brands on using email as a form of

communication to their audiences have been disappointing so they

stopped. Instead, many Smirnoff brands now focus on using social

media and experiential events as far more powerful methods of

engagement. The lesson is clear beware of a one-size-fits-all

approach, and dont blindly follow channels.

Michelle klein, vp, global marketing

smirnoff


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11. Offer something no one else can.

Anyone in marketing has heard plenty of times about the importance

of having a unique selling proposition. What is it that sets you apart?

The problem is, many dont have a great answer to that question. For

The Weather Company, the answer comes from understanding the

value of the data they are collecting. We all check the weather andThe Weather Channels app is one of the most frequently downloaded

and used in America. As a result, The Weather Company has

extremely rich data around weather and behavior. This data forms

the foundation for a unique product they sell to advertisers which

takes this data and offers better targeting as a result.

Eric Hadley, svp marketing and sales

The weather company


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12. Know the odds before you bet.

In an engaging session on real time marketing, AFLAC CMO Michael

Zuna shared some insights from his approach to making decisions on

real time marketing choices. One particularly powerful story involved

the tip of knowing the odds before you take a risk and how

sometimes that may inspire you to choose silence. For Aflac, this wasan element in deciding to either engage a celebrity with a related

name via social media (Ben Affleck) in one case during the Academy

Awards, but choose not to engage in another case (his being chosen

as the lead for the new Batman film). Ultimately, the lesson was to

know where you may have low risk, and where you dont so you can

make better choices.

Michael zuna, evp and chief marketing officer

aflac


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13. Break the boundaries, not the rules.

Most large organizations have policies and part of the challenge when

it comes to big tasks like breaking down silos and inspiring more

collaboration is to choose the right battles to fight. One of the tips

that Robin Rotenberg shared from the stage to help with this was to

learn which rules are unbreakable, and which are actually justboundaries waiting to be challenged. It was an important distinction

that she raised which many of us forget to make. Only by

understanding where the rules really are can you effectively challenge

them and inspire change as a result.

Robin rotenberg, chief communications officer

BASF


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14. Drink the other teams beer.

You would expect one of the more entertaining takeaways from the

day to come from a communicator at a beer maker but the insight

he shared about the symbolism of something as simple as the beer

you choose was powerful. In a company after a merger, there is

always a challenge to inspire true collaboration from people whowere previously on different teams. One method used at Molson

Coors and at the US arm of Miller Coors is to remind team members

that they need to drink each others beers. Everyone from the CEO to

the lower ranks knows that this sends a powerful message that they

are willing to collaborate and see things from another point of view.

Dan lewis,chief public affairs officer

Molson coors


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15. Let ideas evolve and grow.

Sometimes the best ideas come from unexpected places. For

Mastercard, digital marketing VP Elaine Lawson told a story of how a

single office wanted to support a gay pride parade in San Francisco.

That simple request turned into a larger campaign, which then also

influenced the brand to make a public statement of support for theProposition 8 measure in California. As a result of that passing and

the issue of gay marriage taking a national stage, Mastercard was

featured as one of the forward looking brands who supported it. And

the entire campaign was seen as a big public relations success. All of

it started with just a simple request to sponsor a parade.

Elaine lawson,vp us digital marketing

mastercard


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The Top five tweets:A collection of observations from

attendees of #incitesummit


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The top five tweets (cont.)


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More thoughts:

A collection of additionalquotes and observations

from speakers of

#incitesummit


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Written by Rohit Bhargava with Incite

www.rohitbhargava.com



FOCUS ON YOUR BRAND AND REPUTATION

LENOVOJeff ShaferVice-President, GlobalCommunications

If youve got a strong, positive,

respected, credible global

reputation, then

all of the otherthings you do arebetter and easier


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CHANGE THE CHANNEL

Weve spent so much of our history doing print, & media,

and television. One of the things Ive noticed is that

people simply arent looking

at that stuff any moreIn this environment, what has really begun to makea difference in resonating with consumers are stories,

word of mouth stories that then become viral. If we

can get people talking about ...our company in a

different way, thats going to be tremendously more

powerful than any kind of advertising we could do

MetLifeClaire BurnsChief Customer Officer


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FIX THE BASICS & EXPERIMENT

Everything seems to be transforming and rapidly

changing in this space. Therefore, its important to

be very focused on what

your key priorities are,d not to get distracted by the shiny objects thatare appearing left and right. How do you best

marry the very disciplined approach to where

youre putting your investments and your dollars,

while at the same time, giving yourself the room

and opportunity to experiment in new areas?

LOreal USAMarc SpeichertChief Marketing Officer


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FIND THE RIGHT BLEND

Marketing has always been a blend of art

and science. Today the science end has

to do with the ability to measure almost

everything, in real time - so in some sense

the science is beingused to inform theart in places thatwere unheard of

just 5 years ago

Ericsson/Coinstar/SabaNora DenzelNon-Executive Director


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BLURRED LINES

The lines are certainlyblurring between

departments now.Between PR, Marketing, Communicationsand more. Weve really got to ensure that

these more traditional departments are

closely aligned with the new social and

digital functions.

Sears / K-MartJennifer DominiquiniChief Marketing Officer, Fitness,Sporting Goods and Toys


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SOCIALS NOT ABOUT THE MONEY

Those thatsee social as

primarily arevenue channelhave struggled,because the monetization

opportunities within social

media tend to be fairly indirect.

Restaurant.comChristopher KrohnPresident and ChiefMarketing Officer


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THE RULES REMAIN THE SAME

There are now far more advocates

than there used to be, with individual

consumers taking on powerful voices

through social channels. But

the general principlesof relationships withestablished advocates

still apply

PFIZERSherry PudloskiVice-President, ExternalCommunications


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DRIVE DEEP ENGAGEMENT

Allow your consumer to truly believe

in your brand, get behind it, and

identify with it

at a deeper levelthan simply buyingproducts.Its enormously powerful.

ChobaniNicki BriggsChief CommunicationsOfficer


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CHANGE HAPPENS FAST

LENOVOJeff ShaferVice-President, GlobalCommunications

Change in the media landscape - through the

rapid evolution of social media and the diverse

new ways people can connect. The pace of

change...is obviously an overwhelming influence

on everything that we do.

We are already behind- everything that I think I know about social

media is something that my 15 year old knew

a while ago, and has already moved past


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How can we help you?

Discuss marcommsinnovation with CMOsand huge brands atour Incite Summits:Meet with 200 peers to move your

marcomms approach forward over twointeractive days of strategy, case

studies and best practice

www.incitemc.com/summits

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transforming your marcomms strategy.

Detail on multi-channel, customer-centricity,big data and more - local to you, and in

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Getuptospeedwithoutleavingyourdesk:Through a mixture of webinars and

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with hours of innovation and strategy

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accessible format

www.incitemc.com/online

Buildyoursupportnetworkandengagewithpeerstocrowd-sourcesolutions:Incites innovative approach allows us to leverage the power

of a 10,000-strong marcomms community. Collaborate

with us to find answers, build useful, focused products

and generate insight. And join our private, corporate-only

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Detailedanalysis,industrybenchmarksandrevealinginterviews:Our online hub features weekly interviews with

industry-leading figures, white papers and briefings

that go in-depth on critical marcomms issues, as well

as statistics and trends derived from feedback from

thousands of your peers.

www.incitemc.com

Start Learning inciteMC.com #incitesummit


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The Incite Summit East 2013 eBook