Last week, Marketing Vox published a post called "6 Reasons to Ditch that Social Media Strategic Plan." The reasons it gives are: 

1. We still don't know enough about social media and how people react. 
2. There's no industry roadmap anyway. 
3. A plan might make communications sound forced. 
4. It may not even be necessary. 
5. Not having one is good discipline for companies to empower employees. 
6. It's not always smart to assume you'll know where technology will take you. 

We could not disagree more. Not with all of these points, but certainly with the conclusion to which they add up. True, social is still evolving and will continue to do so approximately...forever. True, there is no roadmap and we can't know today where technology will take us. True, for some inexperienced practitioners, having a rigid plan might make communications sound forced. 

And therein lies the key. These facts don't mean we shouldn't plan. They mean we should plan differently. Rather than a set of stone tablets that we publish, say, once a year, social marketing plans need to be highly fluid, constantly growing and evolving based on feedback, results, emerging opportunities. Having a plan doesn't mean that you can't experiment. 

The absence any sort of social plan - preferably a very concise one that give direction rather than dictatorship - does not, in fact, empower employees. It creates lack of focus and inability to measure success. Instead, by providing employees with some flexible compass headings and a clear sense of how social marketing fits into the overall marketing plan and brand strategy, we ensure that everyone is headed in the same direction. 

After all, as we've said before, if you don't know where you are going, you might end up somewhere else. (And how will even know if you ended up where you want to be if you don't document where you are going and how you plan to get there?)  

There are some exceptions to this. There are some small businesses, like local Milwaukee restaurant AJ Bombers, that have had great success with social media conceived organically with no real "plan", in a formal sense. But most small businesses and certainly larger marketing organizations can absolutely benefit from a strategic social plan. 

So by all means, get started, do, empower and experiment, as the MarketingVox article suggests. But do so with purpose, focus, and strategic integration. 
 

I'm not sure the Musketeers had support through product purchase in mind with their infamous phrase but that's just what a lot of companies are hanging their hats on these days to sell more product and be socially responsible.

One-for-one companies are gaining more and more attention for selling a product and giving away a product. They are not-for-profit companies, with the most notable being Tom's Shoes. The premise is simple, for every new pair of shoes you buy a new pair is given to a child in need, transforming the buyer into a benefactor. 

Blanket America has a similar model, based on the notion of "What if the greatest economy in human history matched what it consumed with what it donated?" The model,  buy a quilt with a specific "patch" attached to it and it's non-profit subsidiary will donate a plain white blanket to someone in need. The owner's goal in to give away 1 million blankets in the winter of 2009.

Differentiating through social integrity is becoming an increasingly common - and often quite successful - brand strategy. Is this another form of cause marketing to sell more product, philanthropy or a genuine attempt to be socially/community/globally responsible? Let us know your thoughts.

PSFK recently released an analysis detailing there thoughts on the Future of Retail. The document outlines, with examples, how an ever increasing world of web enabled mobile device users are helping shape a new "shopping experience" both in and out of the store. We highly recommend checking it out to help map your retail marketing strategy.

Jack Dorsey, @jack, the creator of Twitter, is actively involved in a product that could give larger credit card payment processing systems a run for their money.

Square is a credit card payment system and reader that inserts into the audio input jack of your iPhone, iPad, nexus or Android device. The systems allows you to interact and transact with customers anywhere in your store safely and securely. The processing fees are lower than what the big names charge and there's no contract, merchant account required, setup, monthly or minimum fees.

Since the company's announcement in December 2009 they've had some delays with hardware production problems and underwriting problems in regards to risk of chargeback and fraud. I'd look for it to be ready late 2010.

Steve Jobs recent letter, "Thoughts on Flash" has created a stir around HTML 5 and Apple's bet that it will change the way we view content on the web, sans Flash. Why should you care? HTML 5 will have many of the same features and abilities Flash has but in a smaller, easier to use and universal package. This makes HTML 5 more appealing to developers delivering content via the ever increasing in popularity smart phones and mobile devices.

The recently published infographic from focus.com disseminates the details into easily digestible and bite sized bits of delicous information.



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Please welcome our new Associate Creative Director, Scot Przybylski. Scot will be writing about his thoughts and learnings on design and sharing inspirations on all things digital.

The Commonwealth of Puerto Rico is reviving a campaign that first launched in 1954. They are using the same agency, the same basic layout, even the same photographer.

The original Ogilvy & Mather print ads caused a buzz because they featured a beautiful, artsy photo accompanies by copious amounts of text. (One of the original ads ran almost 1,000 words!)

But the new campaign is not intended to work on nostalgia. As it was 50 years ago, Puerto Rico is a diverse land with many attractions, and a verbose, visually rich campaign seemed to fit the bill. A new media-rich website mirrors the ads' appearance.

The campaign has just launched in New York. Not sure when it'll make its way to Milwaukee or Indianapolis.


Top: one of the original ads. Bottom: one of the new ones.

If this kind of thing is going to become a trend, boy, are we in luck. With over 40 years' experience, Meyer & Wallis literally has hundreds of great campaigns we could resurrect! Now we've just got to convince all our clients that that fits their retail marketing strategy.

Just kidding. The campaign for Puerto Rico looks pretty nice, though.

With Black Friday behind us, all eyes were on the web yesterday to see how many would do some last minute holiday shopping online. Today's early numbers are good!

According to Reuters, nearly 100 million shoppers spent almost $1 billion online yesterday. Amazon.com undercut Walmart's most drastic sales prices and Amazon's stock price soared accordingly, anticipating strong sales.

If the early estimates are right, this year's Cyber Monday might be a record-setter — an interesting statistic in this economy. 

If you're like me, you've probably noticed Verizon's recent ads (and the press they've generated!) attacking the limitations of AT&T's wireless network. In response, AT&T has sued, even though they admit the "facts" presented in Verizon's ads are, essentially, accurate. It's been so fun to watch! Still, many people have been waiting with baited breath to see how AT&T is going to respond to consumers.



I should probably admit that I have a strong distaste for AT&T. I'd probably have an iPhone if getting one didn't necessitate me giving AT&T my hard-earned money. But in this ad, they have responded in probably the best way they could have: they identified a real benefit to AT&T's service, and claimed it as unique. It's a pretty good response.

Still, AT&T's image has been slipping for a while now. Their brand strategy is going to have to include more than responding to Verizon's ads. They should probably improve their network, too. But hey, it's a start!

While he wasn't perfectly clear, Walter Murdoch has suggested that News Corp's news outlets will soon start actively preventing their content from getting onto Google search results.

The problem, according to Murdoch, is that news content shouldn't be free. He believes news content should never have been free online, and that no free news website will ever enjoy the margins a paid newspaper does. But when it is free for the finding on Google, it's also free for the taking, says Murdoch, and countless blogs and other websites plagiarize News Corp's content. This leads to their content being freely available in multiple locations, when it actually originated with News Corp. Even though Google's main purpose is to link to content elsewhere, Murdoch says he'd rather have fewer paying customers intentionally choosing News Corp than a greater number of Google users stumbling upon his content for free.

Is Murdoch digging his heels into a journalistic era that is no more, or is he on to something? Have we come to undervalue what we find online because it's free? Or will this move be, to plagiarize a quote from the original interview below, a classic move by a failing empire?

Further, are 20- and 30-somethings — the generation newspapers really need to start finding a way to sell something to — too used to free news to be willing to pay for it? Can Murdoch come up with a brand strategy to package this move in that will make it appealing to those he needs to appeal to most? If it works, will other news outlets take the chance to follow suit? And then, will free social media replace professional journalism? Only time will tell.

The internets, they are a-changing. Watch the full interview below:

One hundred years ago, Americans referred to the year as "nineteen hundred and nine," similar to our present tendency to refer to the present year as "two thousand nine." But in 1910, people started calling the year "nineteen ten," short and sweet. And here we find ourselves at the same crossroads: will next year come to be known as the year "twenty ten?" Or will we break with history and continue to call it "two thousand ten?"

It's questions like this that tickle the history fan in me. But advertisers are interested as well — especially car makers. Their 2010 model-year cars are out, and they've got to refer to them in ads. But how to say the year??

It's little things like this — the myriad ways that advertisers try to anticipate near future trends so that, when they arrive, already-produced advertising is in line with them — that we don't get enough credit for.

There's a fun article about this stuff at the New York Times that's an interesting read.

So, when you ring in the new year in less than two months, what will you call it?

There's a new company in Holland called BrandNEW.



BrandNEW manages a chain of retail locations in shopping malls, etc., that can be leased for short periods of time. Their thought is that, sometimes, you want a convenient place where consumers can come get their hands on a new product, but you don't necessarily want a long-term retail location. BrandNEW will let you lease one of their locations for a few weeks or months. It looks like you can brand them however you want, and make use of the healthy dose of interactive technology installed in each to provide an immersive, compelling brand experience for visitors.

It's a pretty cool idea. I wonder when it'll catch on in the States?

Check out www.brandnewstores.com.

My wife informed me of a curious thing on her most recent visit to Hulu.com. Before playing the show she'd selected, Hulu asked if she'd be willing to take part in a brief research survey. If she was, the alert went on, she'd be allowed to pick one of several non-profits which would then be advertised to 250 Hulu visitors. Seeing one of her favorite organizations on the list, she immediately opted to take the survey.

This is brilliant. Not only did Hulu collect information from my wife's responses to the survey, but they also gathered some information about the causes she cares about. And, because of the way they phrased the solicitation, this was information my wife was happy to divulge. When it comes to building marketing databases, that's pretty clever.

This puts the "interactive" in interactive media in a whole new way. Not only did my wife get to watch the content she chose, but she also got to choose the advertising her peers would see. Crazy! And smart!

The good people at GoodGuide.com describe their site as "the world's largest and most reliable source of information on the health, environmental and social impacts of the products in your home." And by compiling virtually all available information relating to the packaged goods you purchase and the companies that make them, they're not kidding. The site is still in Beta, but already shows huge promise, as evidenced by its steadily growing traffic over the past year since its launch.

GoodGuide rates the products you buy on several scales, including their impact on your health, their impact on the environment, and their manufacturer's impact on society (based on hiring practices, etc.). These and other scores, including user reviews, are averaged into a global GoodGuide Rating, allowing users to see, at a glance, which products are the most popular and socially responsible within a given category. And all this content is generated, mind you, without the slightest involvement on the part of the products' manufacturers themselves.

Marketing efforts be damned, this site is like Consumer Reports on steroids, and we think it'll catch on.


There's been lots of talk lately about how the future of marketing will be largely in the hands of consumers and their ability to recommend purchases to each other based on the growing amount of information available to them beyond official marketing messages. Here's a concrete example of what that might look like.

But where does that leave you, o Advertiser? How do you market a product to consumers who largely avoid marketing messages? What kind of brand strategy takes into account and reaches these consumers who are essentially "going rogue" when it comes to traditional marketing practices? Is it "social?" Probably. Is it radically different from what you're doing now? Most likely. Does this mean the death of advertising? Absolutely not.

If you sell something, see how your products measure up at GoodGuide.com. And if the answer is "not very well," let the good people of Meyer & Wallis help you improve your brand's image. With more than 40 years of success behind us, we know a thing or two about reaching a changing world with relevant, effective advertising.

This is a clever move, indeed.

Mercedes Benz, maker of fine — but darned expensive — cars, has opened its Mercedes-Benz Driving Academy in the UK. Here, children as young as ten years old can get behind the wheel of an A-Class and start working on their driving skills. Mercedes' idea is that good driving skills take time to build up, but lead to safer, better drivers. So why not start exposing future drivers to the chance sooner?

For as little as £40, kids get to take a spin in a genuine Mercedes Benz while getting coaching from specially trained driving instructors. There are even classes for parents to help them be more helpful and encouraging to their own kids when they're practicing in the family car.

This is a pretty smart brand strategy. What 10-year-old would say no to driving a real, full-size car? And, at the same time, what parent would balk at someone else who genuinely wants to instill some good driving skills in their child without endangering the family sedan? (And, it's a Mercedes!) These kids will probably grow up to be safer drivers, and might just start lusting after an E-Class early enough to set aside their paper route money with one in mind. Smart.

Check it out at www.mbdrivingacademy.com

As early as the 17th century, solicitors in Europe would leave behind a little card bearing their contact info. More than four hundred years later, we're still doing the same thing. But with business people being far more connected these days, we tend to get a lot of business cards. I know I have to clean out my wallet every couple months and decide what to do with all the new business cards I've collected.

Well, you don't have to work at an advertising agency to think that this is pretty cool:


This is the Poken Pulse. It's a 2GB USB flash drive, but it's also a wireless contact exchange format. By simply placing two of these little guys together, they automatically exchange a digital business card with the person you've just met. You simply connect it to your computer to view (and sync) your new contacts' information.

The company that makes the Poken Pulse is young, and this is still a pretty new product. But at only €29.99, these things could really take off. And I think my wallet would thank me if they did.

In a sign of the changing, yet not quite perfected times, popular video website Hulu tried something interesting on Monday. They have partnered with Facebook to try what many feel might be the future of TV: "social TV."

Now, I thought this had been going on for years. Just last week, I had some friends over to watch the season premiere of The Big Bang Theory. It was quite a social event — snacks, drinks, everything. But I guess that's not what Hulu and Facebook have in mind.



During the season premiere of the Simpsons this past Monday, users logged into a special Facebook App that allowed them to watch the show on Hulu live — the same time it was airing on TV — and interact in real time with their Facebook friends. And this is not the first time Hulu has done this.

Perhaps their hope is that, while Hulu and facebook are free, the social aspect is something users would be willing to sit through more advertising for. (When watching previously aired programming on Hulu, for example, you only have to watch ONE commercial per commercial break.) If so, this could be a promising way to monetize interactive media. But I didn't catch it this Monday, so I'm not sure how they did it.

Has anyone participated in one of these "social" TV show premiers? 

Advergirl is one savvy marketer. On her blog, she's recently been doing a series called "The Media Crisis." Here's a link to Part One. Be sure to navigate forward to read parts 2, 3 and 4.

These are interesting times to be in advertising. As a Milwaukee Ad agency with 40+ years of history, we can remember the advertising renaissance of the 1960s, and the the effect the internet first had back in the 1990s. Now, we'd like to be around for another 40 years or so, and that will involve navigating another sea change in the way advertising is done. Advergirl is on to something here. Read it, and comment below if you'd like.

In a move designed to attract more real-time viewers, ABC has decided to are no commercials where they would normally first appear during several of its season opening shows this fall. This decision allowed the affected shows to run for about 3 more minutes than usual.

Fox was the first to do this last year during two of its shows, charging up to 40% more for the remaining ad time during the shows because viewers would presumably be more engaged with the fewer commercial breaks.

Obviously ABC is hoping to attract more long-term viewers to its shows, and perhaps to attract viewers from the internet, where there is less ad revenue to go around. (Hulu, for example, only airs one commercial per break.)

But isn't it kind of a slippery slope to entice viewers to watch more advertising down the road by showing them less now? If advertising is to continue, I'm not sure applying one of the most basic online advertising strategies — "show less ads" — is going to solve anyone's revenue problems when it comes to television advertising.

Milwaukee has an interesting newspaper history. Though many might consider us a "small" city, Milwaukee had two rival newspapers for decades — The Milwaukee Journal and the Milwaukee Sentinel. They merged a few years ago, and the Brew City no longer has two papers vying for our attention.

But that's neither here nor there when it comes to these interesting infographics from Mint.com. I guess the amount of information Mint has aggregated to pull these stats together makes this one of the most comprehensive views of the newspaper industry so far:



Okay. It looks like 24 of the nation's top 25 papers are DOWN in circulation. (Good job, Wall Street Journal.) But this graph didn't really tell me anything I didn't already know.

Then I saw this part:


Sure, in this graph you can clearly see a sharper decline in circulation starting in around 2004. But the most interesting thing — to me, anyway — is the fact that newspaper circulation basically peaked in the mid 1980s.

The 1980s!?!

Alright. I'll allow that the internet has taken a healthy bite out of print news in the last few years. But since 1984?? I think not.

I think newspapers have something besides the internet to blame lower circulation on. I think it's a marketing problem. How do you sell a newspaper to a generation that grew up with more alternative sources for news than any before it?

You know, these days, everyone is clamoring to brand themselves as an internet ad agency. But the internet is doing fine. Looks like print media is the one that needs some help, and we've got some ideas. Meyer & Wallis has been a turnaround specialist since our inception, and we think we know how to improve newspaper circulation. More on this in the future. In the mean time, check out the whole infographic here.