Someone to Talk to & a Scoop!!

PT Barnum, on the topic of marketing to consumers said, “Dispense hooey and hokum when hooey and hokum serve.”

Bill Bernbach upgraded the conversation with, “If your advertising goes unnoticed, everything else is academic.”

David Ogilvy bridged the gap between message innovation and making a sale with, “It’s not creative unless it sells.”

Nick Law, creative officer at R/GA, acknowledging the challenges of creating for digital, channeled McLuhan with, “You can’t divorce the message from the medium.”

Donald O’Connor sang, “Make ‘em laugh.” Joseph Jaffe says “Make ‘em talk.”

Audience engagement. Everybody has a theory. But, at the end of the day, if you’re a marketer, endgame = sell product. Author Jaffe says start a conversation and you’re on your way. I’m still not entirely sure where the conversation converts to transactions, although Proctor & Gamble, Kraft Foods, and Johnson & Johnson have found the linkage between selling product, providing useful content, and starting conversations on their Web sites. Those three generate more site visits than any other consumer/female Web sites in the nation.

MSP presented Jaffe, the author of “Join the Conversation,” to a group of clients and staff, in conjunction with the Minneapolis College of Art and Design (MCAD) and the Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association (MIMA). Yes, he was on a book tour and yes, he wanted to sell a gabillion. And yes, the dude knows viral marketing. It was actually a pleasure to watch him practice Web 2.0 public relations. His message is a good one, particularly at a time when digital communication is turning the world of marketing upside down.

Jaffe, founder of digital whizbang agency Crayon, suggests that considering the ubiquity of messages in our lives, if you are not innovating and allowing conversations to occur, you’re missing the few chances you have to establish trust and maintain and enhance customer relationships.

Plagiarism Scoop?? I received an e-newsletter from Chief Marketer recently with a column by Dave Friedman from Razorfish, another whizbang agency, on the 6 C’s of Social Networking. Ironically, Friedman’s 6 C’s were identical to Jaffe’s 6 C’s.  Who wins, Razor or Crayon? Jaffe has demanded a retraction. Keep you posted.

Comments

[whatsername]

Looks like I have another Friedman to add to my list of pet peeves. Give it up, Razorfish!