When new employees would start working in my department, I would sit them down the first day and deliver a monologue. I’m not very fond of one-sided conversations (nice oxymoron) but setting expectations is one of the most important things a manager can do. So pull up a chair and welcome to your new gig. Continue reading
Category Archives: Thinking Aloud
The Fast Lane
I’ve posted before about how tough times such as these provide terrific opportunity for those companies that have been managed well. Here is a good example from today’s MediaPost:
Echoing comments by Procter & Gamble‘s top executive, the CEO of chocolate maker Hershey Co. said lower ad pricing offers an opportunity to get more for less–and his company intends to take advantage of it. The company also plans to boost spending by as much as 25% to further capitalize.
Online and other CPM’s are down. Why is an entirely different discussion, but the fact is that one can now get more media value for the same dollars. Frankly, I’m thinking attention levels to any commercial that doesn’t feature the Sham-Wow or Snuggie or Billy Mays are way up too, providing an added benefit to spending now. If your competition is sitting on the sidelines, your share of voice goes up as well.
Hunkering down to weather the economic storm is one thing – hiding in a bunker and becoming invisible is another. People are still working and spending money and even getting new jobs. Advertising now can be like getting on the freeway at 6AM. It’s not as crowded and you’re able to get where you want to go much more rapidly. Just be careful and make sure you don’t take any wrong turns.
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Filed under Helpful Hints, Thinking Aloud
Doing The Accounting
Once in a while, someone will ask “How did we do?” In one of my past lives, one would hear responses like “the media plan delivered X number of GRP’s at Y CPM ” but rarely about how it impacted sales. There seemed to be a disconnect between the spreadsheet on the Media Director’s desk at the agency and the one on the Chief Revenue Officer’s desk at the client. Every so often, a forward-thinking client would try to get everyone in the media and marketing chain to be accountable, but the fact that so much of the media world was estimates – ratings, attention levels, commercial effectiveness – it was almost impossible to say if a pop in sales was due to fabulous creative, brilliant media strategy, or just dumb luck. Continue reading
Filed under Consulting, Reality checks, Thinking Aloud
Consult Keith 