SajitonTech: September 2018

Sunday, September 30, 2018

Justice Department Sues to Stop California Net Neutrality Law Technology

By CECILIA KANG from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/2xO9bez
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Meat Labs Pursue a Once-Impossible Goal: Kosher Bacon Technology

By NATHANIEL POPPER from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/2QgfIpc
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Saturday, September 29, 2018

LendingClub Founder, Ousted in 2016, Settles Fraud Charges Technology

By NATHANIEL POPPER from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/2QidiXf
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Friday, September 28, 2018

The Week in Tech: The Robots Aren’t as Human as They Seem Technology

By CADE METZ from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/2DEvY22
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Google Chief Agrees to Testify to Congress Technology

By CECILIA KANG and DAISUKE WAKABAYASHI from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/2DFAE7I
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Bytedance of China Eyes $75 Billion Valuation, Joining Start-Up Giants Technology

By RAYMOND ZHONG from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/2NcH8KY
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Email Is A Top Personalization Tool, But ROI Is Hard To Prove: Study

Email Is A Top Personalization Tool, But ROI Is Hard To Prove: Study

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Brands are aggressively using email as a personalization tool, especially in North America. But contrary to other reports, email ranks only sixth in delivering ROI with personalization, although that may be because the metric is difficult to measure, according to The Age of Personalization, a survey by Harvard Business Review Analytic Services, sponsored by Mastercard.

North American companies lead the way, with 56% using email for personalization, compared with 47% in Europe and 42% in Asia-Pacific.

The second most popular tactic is product offerings and recommendations, utilized by 54% in North America, 56% in Europe and 44% in Asia-Pacific.

Social media is fourth, just behind the in-person customer experience. Among North American firms, 46% use social platforms, compared with 50% in Europe and 39% in Asia-Pacific.

However, only 21% say email delivers the highest ROI on personalization, and 12% expect it to do so by 2010. It is tied on current ROI with pricing strategies (e.g., dynamic pricing online) and social media. But those tactics beat email on ROI expectations for 2020.

In contrast, 39% say product offerings and recommendations now deliver high ROI. And that is followed by in-person customer experience (34%) and online customer experience (22%).

Email’s poor showing on ROI may be because a small minority can “calculate return on investment for specific personalization tactics,” the study notes.

Specifically, “about a third say they can do so or the in-person customer experience, product offerings and recommendations, and pricing strategies,” the study states. “Only about a quarter or less can do it in most other areas, including marketing via email print, and events.”

Of those polled, 56% say they are at the table stakes stage, or starting point, “whether they’ve personalized their own activities in that area or not.” But emails tops all other channels, including print media and social media, with 47% apiece.

In addition, 49% say email marketing is a top personalization focus today, second only to product offerings and recommendations (52%). However, a mere 26% say email delivers a competitive advantage, vs. 35% for social media.

At 47% apiece, technology and healthcare companies are the sectors most likely to deploy email for personalization, and financial services slightly less so. But those groups are more prone to use product offerings and recommendation as a personalization tactic, followed by the in-person customer experience

Of the firms surveyed, 25% say personalization has increased their revenue from 7% to 10%, while 13% report it has risen by 10% to 24% and 6% say it has risen by more than 24%. But 32% have seen no increase.

The survey also found:

90% say customers expect them to know their interests and anticipate their needs
80% say personalization is key to their corporate strategy
Over 50% feel personalization is an important contributor to revenue and profits, and 81% say it will be so in 2020
54% say their firms place high priority on investing in personalization.

HBR surveyed 625 respondents from its readership pool.

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September 28, 2018 at 04:52PM

Facebook Breach Exposes Data On 50 Million Users

Facebook Breach Exposes Data On 50 Million Users

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Facebook has been hit with a data breach affecting around 50 million users, and forcing 90 million to log back in, the social media giant announced on Friday.

The breach was discovered on September 25. Hackers were able to get in using Facebook’s “ViewAs” feature, the firm said in a blog post.

This enabled the attackers to create access tokens to hijack user accounts. They also reportedly gained profile information on Facebook users.

The episode draw worldwide attention, and left observers aghast.

“These types of incidents serve as a reminder that no organization is immune to cyber threats,” says Matthew Maglieri, CISO for Ashley Madison. “Facebook is at the forefront of web application security and have an incredibly talented team dedicated to protecting the security and privacy of their users.”

On Facebook itself, users made such comments as: “Well, this explains what happened to me -- and 90 million other people -- this morning.”

The firm notified law enforcement. But FTC Rohit Chopra tweeted “I want answers,” according to USAToday.

Meanwhile, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg told reporters: “We are still in the early stags of investigating this, according to USA Today. “We do not know if any the accounts were actually misused.

He added that the breach was closed on Thursday night, according to reports. But Gary Rosen, vice president of product management, reportedly said, “We may never know who is behind this.”

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September 28, 2018 at 04:44PM

Disney Revamps All Its Advertising Businesses, Embracing TV, Sports, News

Disney Revamps All Its Advertising Businesses, Embracing TV, Sports, News

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Walt Disney is revamping its entire advertising sales activities for a new integrated organization.

Under its new advertising group -- recently formed under Rita Ferro, president of Disney Advertising Sales -- the restructure will affect the entire company’s entertainment, sports, news and kids linear and digital TV and radio businesses. That includes ESPN and Disney/ABC properties, as well Disney's mobile, social and digital portfolio and national ad sales for ABC’s eight owned local TV stations.

The integrated ad sales organization will be structured into three areas: sales, client and brand solutions, and revenue and operations.

The sales group will be led by six senior vice presidents, advertising sales, reporting to Ferro: Patricia Betron, Marco Forte, Flora McKiernan, Andrew Messina, Wendell Scott, and Jeremiah Tachna. They will be responsible for managing account teams under specific industries, as well as managing dedicated agency teams.

The client/brand solutions team will be responsible for providing clients insights to help grow their businesses, as well as creative solutions for storytelling capabilities for marketers.

Four teams within the group will report to Ferro. Leading each team will be: Wanda Young, senior vice president, client solutions of insights/creative; Sean Hanrahan, senior vice president, sports brand solutions; Jerry Daniello, senior vice president, entertainment brand solutions; and Zach Chapman, vice president, International Alliances.

For revenue and operations, Laura Nathanson, will lead this group as executive vice president-revenue and operations, responsible for optimizing and managing business opportunities. Key executives in this unit will include Doug Hochstadt, Travis Howe, James Minnich, Laura Nelson and James Vanderhoef.

Additionally, Josh Mattison, vice president, business operations, will report to Ferro.

Disney Advertising Sales exists under Disney’s new direct-to-consumer and international business.

This unit is responsible for direct-to-consumer businesses -- including the ESPN+ premium sports streaming service; an upcoming Disney-branded direct-to-consumer streaming service; and the Disney’s ownership stake in Hulu.

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September 28, 2018 at 03:54PM

Constant Contact Launches Email Tools For SMBs

Constant Contact Launches Email Tools For SMBs

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Constant Contact has debuted a new suite of tools for small businesses that it claims can streamline the email process.

The objective is to help small business owners “run professionally branded marketing campaigns with a level of personalization that today's consumers demand, all while adding little time to their day," states Jonathan Kateman, general manager of Constant Contact.

The new tech services include:

Facebook Lead Ads Integration — This feature helps firms import new leads, sign them up for emails and send automated welcome emails. And, it allows them to use Facebook's audience builder and target people for ads based on age, location, interests/likes, gender, and behaviors.

Resend to Non Openers — This allows the brand to automatically send a second email to recipients who didn't open the initial message. In addition, it automatically updates the subject line to distinguish it from the initial email, the company says.

Branded Template Builder — Users can customize email templates without having to manually add logos, colors and social links. The automated builder applies branding from the user’s website to email templates.

Constant Contact is also offering a Check for Errors service.

Users are notified of missing or invalid links, default content or missing images prior to pushing the send button. In addition, it can ensure that events dates haven’t passed and that coupons are not expired.

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September 28, 2018 at 03:06PM

Facebook Network is Breached, Putting 50 Million Users’ Data at Risk Technology

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Three Years Out: That's When Shoppers Can Expect To See Great, AI-Driven Service

Three Years Out: That's When Shoppers Can Expect To See Great, AI-Driven Service

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Retailers are embracing a new model, using AI, breaking down internal channel silos and fielding single-order management systems to deliver a superior customer experience.

At least that’s the dream. In reality, almost half are plagued by budget constraints and/or disparate systems, according to the 2018 Customer Experience/Unified Commerce Survey by BRP.

And this apparently is having an impact. For instance, 48% plan to deploy AI to fuel their customer service within three years, but only 7% are doing so now.

In addition, 31% plan to use augmented reality within three years, and 21% virtual reality — again, within three years.

And email? The study shows that 81% are using personal email as a means of customer interaction with the brand. But only 36% say it is working well, and 45% feel they need improvement.

Social media is utilized by 94%, with 36% saying it works well and 48% saying they need improvement. And 81% are using call centers, with 36% saying they need improvement.

The study notes that email and text messaging have “grown exponentially over the past few years.”

It adds that “as the majority of consumers have mobile phones where they can easily and quickly check email and texts, this is definitely an area of opportunity.”

Speaking of mobile, 93% are planning to have a mobile/tablet app for associates within three years, up from 81% in the 2017 survey.

Another opportunity is in the scrapping of paper. Of the retailers polled, 17% are offering the option to email customer receipts as an incentive to encourage identification.

Of course, email ranks far below more personalized service as an incentive — 37% are offering it. In addition, 30% are promoting product incentives, 27% are promoting specialized offers and 27% are promoting product information. And 37% have no incentives at all.

Many retailers are also improving their cross-channel capabilities. For instance, 66% have implemented consistent product assortment across channels, but 38% say they need improvement. And 65% are offering consistent pricing/promotion across channels, with 34% saying it’s not totally successful.

But only 7% offered shared cart across channels service, and all of them see room for improvement. Another 52% plan to try it within three years. One more area needing upgrading is returns visible and accepted across channels — 41% plan to implement it, but have not yet.

What are their customer experience priorities? They are:

Increase customer loyalty — 53%
Optimize the customer experience — 42%
Create a seamless experience across channels — 36%
Provide personalized promotions, recommendations and/or offerings — 36%
Enhance personalized services/sales assistance — 28%
Improve mobile shopping experience — 19%
Empower associates mobile tools — 19%

Their biggest challenges in achieving unified commerce?

Budgetary constraints — 47%
Disparate system — 47%
IT/business resource constraints — 47%
Other priorities taking precedence — 47%
Organization challenges (siloed organizations) — 42%
Business model does not allow all products available in all channels — 22%
Process challenges — 19%
Lack of executive support — 19%
Lack of mature software in the marketplace — 8%

BRP surveyed over 500 North American retailers.

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September 28, 2018 at 01:59PM

Best Practices For Influencer Marketing

Best Practices For Influencer Marketing

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Co-written by Keurig Dr Pepper and Initiative

From obsessively refreshing Instagram to watching YouTube tutorials for just about everything, millennials are glued to social platforms, turning digital creators into modern-day celebrities. As brands are using influencers across all niches to increase awareness and drive authentic engagements, we’ve uncovered best practices to live by when working with them:

It’s not all about the top 100. Sure, you may want a Kardashian to showcase your latest lifestyle product — but when selecting talent, make sure to look beyond just reach.

Micro-influencers, typically with 10k-250k followers, often have a higher engagement rate, as they cover a specific niche and have influence in that vertical.

Tier 1 influencers and celebrities, on the other hand, come at a higher price point and have a broad following, so are a better fit for pure brand awareness.

And then there are “Power Middle” 250k-1m followers, who have a good combination of reach and engagement and tend to be perfect ambassadors.

Build a marriage, not a one-night stand. Building long-term relationships between brands and influencers yields better results. By investing in partnerships, brands can create a content library that will unite a community with the influencer’s storytelling abilities.

Watch out for bots. Purchasing followers and bots to inflate accounts are a growing trend that can largely affect a brand’s ROI. It’s important to do a deep dive into influencers’ audience data prior to selecting talent, to verify the authenticity of their audience and ensure the campaign will perform.

Let the influencer’s creativity shine. Influencers know how to create valuable content, and understand their audience best. Make the process collaborative by starting with a clear brief of what you’re looking for, including your key messages, and then listen to their ideas on what works for their audience. Partnering on the creative strategy will lead to more authentic content.

Always disclose. Across all social networks, the FTC requires influencers to disclose Federal Trade Commission requires influencers to disclose if they’re promoting a paid partnership or advertisement. Luckily, social media platforms have created tools to increase transparency. Instagram has a “Paid Partnership with [business partner]” tag, Facebook allows creators access to the Branded Content Tool, and YouTube enables you to add an optional content declaration statement to video campaigns. If there aren’t tools in place, make sure to include hashtags (for example, #ad #spon #partner). Always tag the brand early in the copy of the post.

You can get more than just impressions. With brands shifting their budgets from traditional marketing to influencers, it is imperative to show tangible ROI for their efforts. As the industry becomes more mature, so do the metrics to measure success. Now brands have best practices and benchmarks beyond just impressions and are able to glean a multitude of insights via platforms that showcase engagement, sentiment, clicks, conversions and more.

Keep up with the platforms.After Snapchat’s redesign, it was apparent that celebrities, brands, and users were flocking to Instagram Stories to create ephemeral content. For marketers investing in influencer marketing, it was a learning lesson to stay on top of platform redesigns to shift their strategies based on where audiences are. Today all the buzz is around Instagram Stories and IGTV — but tomorrow, Snapchat could draw audiences back in with its latest/greatest tool.

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September 28, 2018 at 10:41AM

Study: Majority Of Teens Endure Cyberbullying

Study: Majority Of Teens Endure Cyberbullying

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Accenting another persistent problem area for social networks, new research reveals that a majority of U.S. teens have been bullied or harassed online.

The nationally representative survey from Pew Research Center found that 59% of teens say they have been the target of online bullies, while 63% say it is a major problem for people their age.

The most common types of harassment include name-calling and being made the subject of false rumors, Pew found.

All told, 42% of teens say they have been called offensive names online or over their smartphone, while 32% say someone has spread false rumors about them over the Web.

Perhaps even more disturbing, 21% of teens have had someone other than a parent constantly ask where they are, who they’re with or what they’re doing, while 16% have been the target of physical threats online.

Pew also found that one-quarter of teens say they have been sent explicit images they didn’t ask for, while 7% say someone has shared explicit images of them without their consent.

A majority of teens say they’re not happy with efforts by social networks to police their platforms. Among this key demographic, 66% say social media companies are doing only a fair or poor job at addressing online harassment.

In a separate survey, 57% of parents of teens say they worry about their teen receiving or sending explicit images, including about a quarter who say this worries them a great deal.

The surveys of 743 teens and 1,058 parents living in the United States were conducted from March through April of this year.

Teenage boys and girls are equally likely to experience cyberbullying (59% vs. 60%), yet teen girls are more likely to be the targets of rumor-spreading or nonconsensual explicit messages, Pew found.

Specifically, 39% of girls say they have experienced the spreading of false rumors, compared with 26% of boys. Also, 29% of girls say they have received explicit images they didn’t ask for, compared with 20% of boys.

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September 28, 2018 at 10:08AM

EP+Co Wins Social Business From LinkedIn

EP+Co Wins Social Business From LinkedIn

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LinkedIn is appointing EP+Co as the platform's first social-media agency for B2C, following a multi-agency review. Before this, LinkedIn handled this account in-house.

Now, EP+Co will collaborate with LinkedIn to further evolve the brand’s social voice and engagement among its audience.

The agency's initial social strategy will aim to make professionals more productive and successful. Their first content is expected to debut shortly, says an agency representative. The size of the budget was not disclosed.

The Microsoft-owned company first became aware of EP+Co’s capabilities during the social media rollout for "Deadpool 2." Company leaders were impressed with the viral sensation that derived from the film's fictional Peter W official presence on their site. The still-active profile has more than 500+ connections.

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September 28, 2018 at 10:08AM

Banking The Future On Short-Form Video Ventures

Banking The Future On Short-Form Video Ventures

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Santa Barbara, Calif. -- Enjoying bite-size video content while waiting on line at a bank, supermarket or doctor’s office is what future TV viewers, especially young millennials desire. But will they still want that when they are older?

Veteran movie/TV and technology executives -- Jeffrey Katzenberg, chairman-founder of NewTV (working title) and Meg Whitman, chief executive officer of NewTV -- say millennials spend many hours a day watching videos this way, that is, while they are not using social media, texting or playing online games.

But that viewing seems to be in small increments, which makes sense when it comes to mobile devices. How much bite? Around 10 minutes.

Apparently, that’s all you need, says NewTV -- a mobile-first, premium video service. Can that be a business?

Katzenberg, speaking at the AT&T Relevance Conference here, says many viewers are already watching regular ad-supported TV this way. For years, TV producers have worked in nine-to-10 minute continuous programming content increments on TV shows -- you know, the stuff between commercials. They actually constitute short "episodes."

Will millennials who don’t have enough time to watch an entire TV episode in one sitting take in short premium TV segments on the go? In the future, one might call this “micro” binging.

This could be a big ask -- even for millennials that watch traditional TV. Perhaps on mobile devices, TV viewers -- including young viewers -- perceive content differently than on a big TV screen.

Big movie/TV studios are betting on the future. Katzenberg has financially backing from virtually all major traditional TV/movie studios, a massive $1 billion. That says something; they have a lot to gain. Movie studios see mobile video content and distribution as continuing to evolve and disrupt traditional media -- including the big business of premium TV and movie content.

There is some science at work here. But also a lot of guess work.

At its creation, Facebook probably didn’t have much science to back up a social network. But it had a hunch. Big media needs more crazy hunches.

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September 28, 2018 at 09:39AM

Thursday, September 27, 2018

New TiVo OTA Aims At Growing Crowd Of Over-The-Air Viewers

New TiVo OTA Aims At Growing Crowd Of Over-The-Air Viewers

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TiVo has rolled out its TiVo Bolt OTA, giving customers who cut the cable cord a way to watch local TV but also have a fully functioning DVR.

The new product also makes it easy to migrate to over-the-top digital apps like Netflix, Hulu and Amazon. What it doesn’t “do” is cable or satellite. And what consumers need is their own antenna that brings the local signal into the home.

TiVo will market the OTA in unusual ways, according to Ted Malone, vice president of consumer products and services. The company will be “targeting cord-cutters who are likely buyers” by advertising within tech and gadget-oriented podcasts popular with millennials.

It is also buying advertising on the NextDoor social network for neighborhoods in specific markets -- including Dallas, Houston and Los Angeles -- that have a substantial number of over-the-air viewers. NextDoor, Malone says, can drill down advertising to pi-pointed neighborhoods.

Specifically TiVo wants “cord-cutting intenders” and “regretters.” Intenders are people who would really like to give up cable, who may make up 25% of all the consumers who now pay a cable or satellite bill and want out, Tivo says. Regretters are those who who quit cable/satellite but miss some “some of the traditional TV experiences" broadcast networks provide like local news and hit shows like “This Is Us,” Malone says.

Targeted consumers may also miss DVRing. Even cord-cutters who have bought into live streaming services have limited or confusing recording options, or none at all.

The Bolt OTA also comes with the TiVo SkipMode feature that lets a viewer skip commercial breaks, along with the voice-command-enabled TiVo Vox Remote.

The newsy part of the Bolt OTA is what it doesn’t have--the ability to hook up cable or satellite providers, like the existing TiVo Bolt. But it’s three times faster and has seven times more memory than the Bolt.

The Bolt OTA goes on sale Friday for $249.99, with a $6.99 monthly service charge. Price will be important because it is competing with the newly announced Amazon Fire TV Recast DVR that has some of the same functions.

This year the sale of TV antennas will top 8.1 million after years of hovering under the 8 million mark, according to the Consumer Technology Association. The biggest swell of OTA-only homes belong to millennials. As many as 25% of millennial homes are cord-nevers who aren’t quitting cable or satellite services because they never had them.

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September 27, 2018 at 11:47PM

Coffee + Dry Shampoo: Dove, Dunkin' Create Busy-Woman Combo

Coffee + Dry Shampoo: Dove, Dunkin' Create Busy-Woman Combo

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Give Dove and Dunkin' credit for dreaming up the kind of promotional combo busy women live for: The two brands are offering women the chance to earn a year’s supply of coffee and dry shampoo.

Linked to National Coffee Day on Sept. 29, the promotion kicks off with a social media contest, asking women around the country to post a photo of their busy morning on Instagram or Twitter and tell the brands why they run on Dunkin' coffee and Dove dry shampoo, with hashtags #DoveXDunkin and #DxDSweepstakes.

And on Oct. 1, the brand duo are brewing a pop-up event in New York City, offering a free coffee along with a mini-styling appointment, as well as giveaways like tote bags, hair ties and travel cups.

While the promotion fits nicely with the coffee chain’s “America runs on Dunkin'’’ messaging, it’s quite a departure from Dove and its earnest “Real Beauty’ positioning.

"Social media has exploded with women sharing how coffee and dry shampoo are their secrets to getting up, out and on with their day, taking them from the gym to the carpool to the boardroom,” says Piyush Jain, vice president of hair care for Unilever, in its announcement. He calls the campaign an “unlikely but perfect pairing.”

It also seems to be the first promotion undertaken by Dunkin’ using its new, shorter name, as it begins to roll out the Donut-less moniker. The name change is scheduled to become official in January.

The campaign seems aimed at millennial women, not just because they love social media and coffee, but because they are also big fans of dry shampoo. Market research firm Mintel reports that dry and no-rinse shampoo products are much more popular with younger consumers (at 21%), aged 18-34, than the overall sample (at 12%.)

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September 27, 2018 at 06:37PM

Dollar Car Rental, Expedia Partner For 'Dollar Detour Guide'

Dollar Car Rental, Expedia Partner For 'Dollar Detour Guide'

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Dollar Car Rental and Expedia Group Media Solutions have partnered for a campaign to show how a Dollar rental car can significantly enhance the travel experience.

Expedia Group Media Solutions, the advertising arm of Expedia Group, developed an interactive microsite where travelers can browse suggested car rentals based on the number of passengers on a trip. They can also plan a road trip or detour to explore unexpected family-friendly sites, attractions and experiences in 10 popular U.S. destinations, including Kauai, San Francisco, Miami and Chicago.

There is also an option to print and download detailed itineraries with descriptions and images for each stop, estimated drive times and the nearest Dollar Car Rental location at the end of the trip -- and share the itineraries with friends and family via social media or text.

The microsite is supported by creative, which will target U.S. customers searching for or booking another trip component on Expedia.com in the 10 key markets, and those searching for car rentals and booking with Dollar.

The campaign was developed by Expedia Group Media Solutions’ in-house creative agency, Creative Partnerships. Dollar Detour Guide is the agency’s first bespoke campaign for a car rental company, and will run through Nov. 30.

Dollar customers are focused on family and value and are interested in leisure trips, says Ihsane (Izzy) Aziz, brand director, Dollar Car Rental.

“The goal of the brand is to enable those customers to have a stress-free trip beyond the car rental and encompasses the planning and destinations during their trips as well,” Aziz tells Marketing Daily.

And “partnering with Expedia on this campaign allows us to introduce our brand to a new segment of leisure travelers who we know are already qualified prospects for destination travel.”

The effort targets families on a budget.

“The word ‘family’ covers the modern family with different sizes of family, ethnicity, backgrounds,” Aziz sats. “We chose stops within each itinerary that we felt would appeal to a variety of family combinations, at a price that won’t break the bank.”

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September 27, 2018 at 06:37PM

Time For Men In The Ad Business To Grow Up

Time For Men In The Ad Business To Grow Up

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While I have no real opinion about if Brett Kavanaugh would make a reasonable Supreme Court judge (although the fact that The Moron In Chief is backing him casts grave doubts), it has been instructive to watch Christine Blasey Ford's testimony -- while also listening to the conversations of people in the advertising business on whether it was a good or bad thing for her to come forward.

As you might expect, the commentary has run the gamut from "It was 36 years ago, and Brett is not the same person" to "Who among us didn't do things in high school or college we aren't proud of?" to "If he lied about this, he has lied about other things so can't be trusted on the Supreme Court" to finally, "Men who attack women should be held accountable forever."

Angry Republicans are convinced Ford is just one of a three- or four- (so far) part conspiracy to derail his nomination, while Democrats contend that it is wrong of Congress to endorse someone who apparently has a checkered past (and has lied about it).

It has been interesting to me to hear so many women who have been in the advertising and media businesses for decades try to reconcile their own experiences of being attacked by men "back in the day" with the new urgency of the #MeToo movement.

Many of them, pioneers in climbing the ranks of the ad business, tend to shrug off the unwanted attention given them by men in the same business with "Well, yeah, that was everyday for us." They tended not to report the abusive behavior for fear of being labeled troublemakers or having the men involved enact some later retribution that would restrict or end their careers.

The experience of many who tried to report things like unwanted sexual advances was too often a tone-deaf response from HR or management to "not rock the boat." This was a very similar to the "boys will be boys" rationalization some Kavanaugh defenders have deployed.

This served to solidify in women's minds that there was no upside to making accusations, so they tended to just let it go -- or fight it in subtle ways, like calling in sick so they would not have to travel to the sales meetings in Puerto Rico where they knew alcohol-fueled aggression waited.

Many women today would condemn their compatriots for not coming forward more forcefully, but they were not part of the almost totally (white) male hierarchy that was the ad business in the '60s and '70s. They made the rules and you were expected to follow them -- or your career went nowhere.

Among the rules was that, as with Kavanaugh, it was just the alcohol talking, and down deep, these often-married men were good guys just having a little fun.

But as we have learned from Ford and so many other women, what was excused as "playfulness" was far more traumatic for the women involved -- made all the more so because they felt there was no recourse and ultimately, no accountability.

While the ad business has grown up in many ways over the years to include more races, creeds, and sexual identities as part of their headcounts, there is still a tendency to minimize the impact that inappropriate behavior has on women in the business. Younger men tend to be far more sensitized to this than the old white dudes still hanging around, but they too "make mistakes" -- especially at social gatherings that include women they work with.

Regardless of what happens on Capitol Hill this week, let's use this occasion (like so many in the past year or two) to recalculate how we treat women in the workplace. If drugs and alcohol tend to compromise that resolve, stay the hell away from them when you're around women in the business.

Plenty of folks can survive Cannes without rosé (so to speak).

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September 27, 2018 at 05:10PM

Beyond Slo-Mo Smiles: Can Healthcare Marketing Finally Get Creative?

Beyond Slo-Mo Smiles: Can Healthcare Marketing Finally Get Creative?

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Moderator Michael DiSalvo, SVP of health and wellness, Ogilvy

Panelists
John Barker, founder and chief idea officer, BARKER
Courtney Cotrupe, President, Partners+Napier
Moses Salami, director of marketing communications, Holy Name Medical Center

Michael: Innovating in healthcare is easy because we can just look at what banks did last year. But there are warriors fighting against stagnate creative, people making salads.

(Watch creative on our events site. Last session of Sept. 27. Emotional and funny.)

Moses: Holy Name is independent Catholic medical center. We weren’t connecting with our patients with the way we wanted. We loved John [Barker’s] team. We gave them the proposal, they delivered a vibrant solution to flavorless marketing we saw all around us.

John: Our head of strategy, we are a data driven creative boutique, look for insights before we look for idea. Uncovered how different two things were, Teaneck, New Jersey, and Holy Name itself. One of most diverse communities you can imagine. Getting along. Real challenges for a hospital serving that region. We came across a quote from the CEO in an obscure publication. “I know that we’re going a great job when a patient walks into this facility and says, ‘Wow, this place is different.’” That’s the tagline. “This place is different.” We’re playing off that sea of sameness. This campaign is about the joy of living, not fear of dying. What Holy Name delivers. Personalized care.

Michael: Moses said we went to Barker because they weren’t healthcare. Courtney, how do you fight against that?

Courtney: One advantage we have is that we aren’t a healthcare marketing agency. Local aspect of it is important when drawing insights to form strategies. People have deep experiences with hospitals. As with Blue Hen, uncovering Delaware’s deep pride in [state bird]. Creative wrote itself. Really lucky in a various complex environment created something really simple. Lightnining in a bottle.

Michael: Data and creativity, if you Google them, you’ll get 100 different articles on 100 topics. How do we reconcile that? Both are important. Creative sometimes has gut instinct. Is it war between rational, irrational?

Courtney: We use data to inform, inspire, optimize. Use creativity piece is the gut piece. Data + instincts + trust. Relationship piece you build with client. Asked eldery people to come to location, gave them T-shirts, told them what we wanted to do and that’s what we got.

John: You cant’ be creative if you don’t know what you’re talking about. Robert Frost writing formal poetry when free verse was the norm. “Free verse is like playing tennis without a net.” Data is the net, lines on the court. How to play the game, be creative within that box.

Moses: For us, data very important. Our cancer center, 70% from northern Hudson County, we have people represented of all ethnicities in our campaign. Data connects with gut feeling. Build relationship, connect with community.

Michael: Creativity inside the box is best way to describe marketing within regulated industry. How do we make sure people care? That it actually matters to them?

John: I tell new clients that you might be writing the check but we work for the consumer. Empathizing with customer is most important objectivity we bring. ThisPlaceIsDifferent.org to see real campaign. This is real people. Emotionally affecting but also affecting, joyful, empathetic, real. You have to empathize, understand consumer. Agency has to have courage to tell client you’re screwing it up.

Courtney: Now, especially, the work has exemplify some sort of utility for people. Lady with all Post Its on her. Seniors in particular when they get into the doctor’s office, they forget what questions to ask. Pressure filled situation. Instead of creating splashy, our solution was a tool and product, AskTheDoc checklist. Creating positive engagement. Providing utility and bring humor to it.

Moses: Consumers and patients want both. Campaign is extension of what’s happening at Holy Name.

Michael: You can’t slap paint on a building that’s falling down. Where does it break down? What’s going wrong? How did healthcare get rep for being stodgy?

John: Same problem with law firms. Doctors and lawyers are generally judged by credentials, school, clerked, interned, competitiveness, arrogance, pressure on institutions to say we’re no. 1. After a while, they don’t realize they’re just talking about themselves. Industry talking to itself. What they’re about is healing people.

Moses: Healthcare marketing is dinosaur. Afraid of over promising.

Michael: Takes a whole organization to get work done. Tips, tricks to be able to do what you do.

Moses: From top down, having buy-in. Become ambassadors. We hit ground running with it. Pride ourselves on being human, collaborated with medical staff and compliance department. Knowing as well, getting clinical perspective right. Having our medical staff, compliance on board helped to represent what’s going on with our advertising.

Michael: What is the impetus for change?

Moses: John’s team saw something interesting about Holy Name.

John: It comes to when an organization finds itself in some kind of crisis. Five huge competitors within 10 miles. Comes down to brand courage. Client had courage to want to be different. If clients aren’t willing to go there, to push it, when you get a title like head of marketing, there’s a responsibility that comes with it to guide your organization out of the sea of sameness. Holy Name was extraordinarily brave.

Courtney: We’ve tried to create a common language with our clients to help them take risks. Effectivity, we made it up. Creativity can be 11 times more effective than other work. Cliche or boring, you can damage a brand. If you’re creating original work, opportunity to reach the ROI you want to achieve. We’re all jumping in together. Not just on a CMO’s shoulders. Anticipating your Plan B.

Michael: Emerging channels, patients looking to interact with brands, examples of newer channels that interact with patients?

John: We’re no longer in that captive audience world. 72% of people multitasking while watching TV. We’ve really got to earn attention. Shorter units are really interesting, esp. in a regulated industry. Focusing on 6 to 8 second spots for a pharmaceutical product. Trying to make it funny, stay in safe space.

Courtney: Converstations told in a different way. Hims provides content, lifestyle brand. One in 10 men afraid to talk about health with doctor. Like Goop for men. A lot to learn there. Building community around social, content. Almost a media platform. We can learn things from it. Some of the D2C brands doing interesting things.

Moses: Content is currency. For patients and consumers. Going beyond print ad, everything we do lives online. All about shareable content, increases the reach.

Video from this session will be available here tomorrow.

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September 27, 2018 at 04:36PM

Untapped Opportunity or Third Rail? Mastering the Social Healthcare Experience

Untapped Opportunity or Third Rail? Mastering the Social Healthcare Experience

https://ift.tt/2OkbiAc

Moderator Andrew Eklund, founder and CEO, Ciceron

Panelists
Katryn Gene, director of client services, Situation
Gary Kibel, partner, Davis & Gilbert LLP
Susan Walkman, CMO, Meals on Wheels

Andrew: We’re in a mature market with social. In early ’90s, AOL was my start. 2006-07 Facebook takes over world. Find ourselves at the precipice or nexus point of how we use networks to build brands.

Susan: We went from using social for one or two purposes to how it blew up into one of the major things we do. Our version of March Madness, we had just sat through webinar on crisis management. Laughed to think about having a strategy if Trump attacks company. We were sleepy about it. Then new budget threatened to cut funding for Meals on Wheels. Out of nowhere, our phones ringing off hooks. Turned half organization into a PR response team. Really needed to up our game, take control of what was going on. Became a few weeks of long hours. Trial by fire.

Katryn: Rules of engagement helped us handle the Meals on Wheels crisis. Asking who are you always, sometimes and never on social. How are you going to interact, with whom, ignore? Tweeting for three days straight. Burst of attention, what to do with it. Expanding social media strategy. Social is at center point.

Andrew: Gary, clients who have experienced something like this. Name where snakes, alligators are?

Gary: This was more of a political PR issue. But with potential legal exposure, first response is to go on social media, say what’s happening. Benefit to be forthright but if you’re admitting maybe you had a problem, you want to speak with your counsel and what marketing wants you to say. In general, lot of regulation in healthcare. Say you have product authorized by FDA to treat symptom A. But you can’t talk about symptom B, you post on social, user says I took drug, it took care of issue B. You don’t want to click Like on that. Very careful.

Andrew: Are you ever getting on the bat phone, responding quickly? Certain level of risk that’s available.

Gary: War room, legal is involved in that. What are rules of engagement? We can’t run every statement run by counsel. What are general rules.

Andrew: Susan, did social become more important?

Susan: Before that happened, we couldn’t come up with enough content to feed our social channels. Now, we are fighting off departments. Everybody has seen different ways to use it. You can’t segment your audiences. We were able to deal with threat. We pulled together information to create advocacy campaign that generated a response to 99% of congress people. Largely because we fought it so hard. We’re now sophisticated enough to prioritize our messages to social media.

Andrew: How do you in general resist temptation to have to respond to every negative comment?

Katryn: Followers denounce comments. In case of boss seeing tweet, hoping you’ve had conversation with them to ignore trolls. Ask them why they want it posted, response. Most of the time, we don’t have to respond.

Gary: Is it a positive or negative statement. Can trigger legal complication. The reverse, adverse event reporting. If a consumer gives you notice that they had adverse effect, you have to tell the FDA.

Susan: We are fortunate that we don’t get a lot of negative but if we do, it’s about the meals. If we see them, we’ll pass along to local program if there is a real issue. You can continue relationships on social.

Andrew: How are you discovering your own brand stories through insights in social communities?

Susan: We do at times. Our engagement is never, it’s always part of a multidimensional look. Has to be on brand. Brand voice. Consistent. Everything we do focuses on “it’s more than a meal.” It’s the person coming to the door, social interaction. We get a lot of content from local members. We work with them to get content.

Andrew: Playbook what brand needs to do on compliance. Cellphone video of client’s smile on face, socialization. What do they need to do to potentially use that story?

Gary: When we say “ad,” when you’re reposting content, it’s an ad. Do you have the right to use this information? When you’re on one platform, retweeting in the same platform, that’s okay. Low risk. But more likely if you grab it, put on your website, you need to get a release from individuals.

Katryn: We’re always tracking sentiment. We see how people respond, what are they coming back with? Develop more content streams. What are people sharing with us. In Meals on Wheels, we’ll go check out groups who are active on social. Let’s amplify them and help tell the story. Hashtag: fans are using certain hashtag, give our stamp of approval on that. Taking something they made, giving credit. Moments can go by fast. Role of community manager not to be diminished.

Gary: Also, one can invite public to give the stories to you. Easier to manage that.

Andrew: Multigenerational lines in the sand, FB skews older. My kids don’t go on FB, Snapchat’s where they are. How to align internal social literacy?

Susan: Volunteer recruitment has been our major push on social. 55+ and 18 to 25, split audience. We need to be out there because older people have time on their hands to volunteer, but we need younger people to do it. We’re stronger on FB and Twitter, trying to build up on Instagram.

Video from this session will be available here tomorrow.

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September 27, 2018 at 03:41PM

Heartstrings and Grassroots: Diversifying Be the Match's Donor Base

Heartstrings and Grassroots: Diversifying Be the Match's Donor Base

https://ift.tt/2ORnHsI

Amy Freese, director, strategic partnerships and multicultural growth, Be the Match (National Marrow Donor Program)

Challenge

Battling brand awareness, convincing people why they should be interested. We’re in throes of creating a lot of eye candy. Grassroots portion is a work in progress.

Mission is to save lives through cell therapy. Vision is to democratize it for all. 8.5 million on registry, 9,500 searches made in 2017; 6,100 transplants in 2017. Since inception 30 years ago, 86,000 transplants.

Provide people access to unrelated bone marrow transplants. 70% don’t have relative donor. Past year on average 18,000 searching consistently. 2/3 of the base can’t find a match.

Many barriers, financial, some are related to insurance, primarily our registry base has a lack of finding a match based on your background. Black communities have 23% change, whites 77%. Lots of reasons, education, fact that we’re not directing our marketing that is effective for those lacking matches.

Execution

Objective going into 2019: Determine the optimal size and composition of the registry and launch campaign that expedites that level of quality participation.

Build Awareness
Education
Conversion

Focus group results:

No parachuting in
Meet us where we are
Commit to the community
Educate and build trust

Based on those insights, evolving customized content. Focused on African Americans and then Hispanics. When it comes to healthcare in Latino community, it’s based on community roots. In African American communities, it’s about I’m gonna take care of my own self-care. In the API world, we are learning, give us qualitative, quantitiative results, we can determine how to go.

Putting together integrated campaigns. Combining partnerships with paid digital, PR, awareness events, influencers.

Our content, our patients who are searching, our donors and our transplant recipients that’s our content. There’s nothing else we need to say. A story well told. HBCU (Historically black college and universities) campaign foundation: Be present, provide education, be relevant. Last fall, focus groups, test piloting on campuses in spring. Now in full swing. Target audience is 18 to 34. College campuses are very important. We don’t want FAQs so we’re instilling creative components around myths and facts.

Videos are key. Digital platforms that they follow, what kind of campus it may be. Influencers, key in finding the right people.

Fantastic content, Brandon and Lauren, both donors. Staff members, ready to go. Have our mission at heart. Sheldon and Camille, both searching for five years. He was on GMA with us. Content is king.

Earned: media outreach, influencers and advocates, partnerships. Owned: organic social, constituent emails, web properties, programs, events for awareness and recruitment. Paid: digital media, paid social/OOH, paid partners.

Onsite activation and branding in plans with music, event activation and organic social ideas.

Results

400 to 500 inquires a day to 1,500 a day, give or take, due to paid strategies that we have. And OOH, between digital and it, it’s where our targets live.

Found 19,000 new donors

25% diversity, now at 34%

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September 27, 2018 at 03:10PM

Nike's Kaepernick Campaign Scores With Key Audience: Urbanites

Nike's Kaepernick Campaign Scores With Key Audience: Urbanites

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This month, Nike unveiled its 30th anniversary “Just do It” ad campaign and product line featuring athlete Colin Kaepernick and all the drama surrounding his image.

In the ad, the NFL quarterback, known for starting the national anthem kneeling protests in 2016, appears with the phrase: “Believe in something. Even if it means sacrificing everything.”

Consumers were quick to respond to the social-media ads. Some consumers posted photos of themselves destroying Nike products in protest, while others published posts loving the campaign. And still others asked brands to "steer clear of politics altogether," wrote lead Forrester analyst James McQuivey.

McQuivey believes Nike did “the right thing.”

It means “measuring the company's ability to emotionally connect with the customers most likely to want to continue to buy -- or increase their purchase of -- Nike products, McQuivey told Digital News Daily.

“That will translate into feelings toward the brand that are right for Nike,” he said. “Everybody gets what they want -- people have a deeper sense of purchase in their otherwise quotidian purchases, and the brand gets a sincerely given increased share of their wallet.”

Values-based appeals can pay off: In 2017, 52% of U.S. online adults said they actively consider company values when making a purchase, per Forrester.

Forrester estimates growth of Nike’s brand-related social-media chatter at eight-times within a day of the ad being released and 60% of that buzz stirred emotions, compared with less than half the week before. Media reports estimate it likely paid off in $163 million in free word-of-mouth marketing.

Although Forrester’s survey data notes many consumers feel negatively about the campaign, consumer energy remains high among the market that matters most to the brand, young urbanites with little military affiliation. Most are liberals.

Among its target audience, the campaign has resulted in higher levels of customer energy across all four of the dimensions that predict future engagement.

McQuivey writes: “For Nike, this is mission accomplished.”

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September 27, 2018 at 01:38PM

D2C Upstarts In Healthcare: Disruption Or The Right Remedy?

D2C Upstarts In Healthcare: Disruption Or The Right Remedy?

https://ift.tt/2xIX02O

Learning From the D2C Upstarts

Moderator Beatriz Mallory, SVP, managing director, SensisHealth

Panelists
Mario Anglada, chief executive officer, Hoy Health LLC
Robert Borge, EVP, product and CMO, Blink Health
Samir Ghousheh, general manager of pharmacy, FSAstore.com

Beatriz: We’re looking at new entrants at existing points of care coming at it from a different way.

Mario: We have simple mission targeted to providing everybody everywhere accessible affordable primary health. Built on access and patient engagement. Buy medications for anyone. In patient engagement, platforms one as a provider support, two if you are uninsured, you get kit at home for diabetes.

Robert: App for getting lowest provides on prescription meds. Buy online, pick up at one of 33,000 participating pharmacies in U.S. Own tech platform, bypassing middlemen. Our customers tend to be high out of pocket costs, high copay.

Samir: Web properties. Goal is to educate consumers about FSAs and HSAs, many don’t know how to use them. Out sites help clarify that, put messagin out there to help consumers make decisions. You can learn about them and we have landing spots to buy products on the site. Sunscreen is covered.

Beatriz: Organization here aren’t “disrupters,” really looking at entrants. Different approach.

Samir: I don’t want to be disrupting healthcare. Find better ways to deliver it, yes. I see tech, lot of advancements in delivery to complement existing models. I don’t see an Uber of healthcare. Doctors using genetics to deliver better treatments. Ways to drive better outcomes. We’re a consumer facing company trying to simplify messaging around healthcare. Drive more preventive treatments. Making healthcare more consumer-centric.

Robert: Very refreshing perspective, so much hype around tech companies. Uber has faced incumbent challenges wherever they’ve gone. Brought market forces to the industry. Lessons for anyone looking at healthcare and technology. We feel extremely strongly that disruption in the classic definition, we are unambiguously disrupting. Prescription drugs one part of economy that is consumer transaction. Ecommerce has disrupted major players. This category is remarkably opaque. Travel, brokerage, music where internet economy has come in, middlemen have disappeared.

Mario: Our approach is incremental disruption. Price and transparency. We want to be sure we’re embedded into the incumbents to help them navigate the customer relationship. Working within system to understand, to help, let’s take it from a different angle. Use technology as an enabler. Having a one to one relationship with patient is impossible.

Beatriz: Are your target consumers a new generation of consumers or are they healthcare consumers with digital ability?

Robert: From behavior standpoint, yes. Trends pushing consumerization of healthcare. Innovation is all over. Countless number of companies trying to bring transparency. Kind of like water. When the internet economy makes its way in, it’s gonna find its way. It’s gonna cross demo and social graphic balances.

Mario: Let’s bring underserved consumers, deflect cost where it matters. Bringing in new type of consumer who didn’t have access to system. If you want to come buy medications from us, we’ll allow you. Creating a system that is parallel to traditional model.

Samir: From a new consumer perspective, you think patients. Now we say consumer, customer. People’s habits are changing, traditional ways of delivery is changing. People are shopping for options. Trying to find if it makes sense to use insurance to get MRI or look for different, cheaper option.

Beatriz: Segmentation, people with high out of pockets, non or underinsured, can’t hit co-pay. How you affect segmentation for your properties?

Samir: We partner directly with TPAs, demonstrate benefit to employees. Work with employers to let them know how healthcare has changed. Let us help you help your employees with understanding how to plan for FSA, HSA space. Let us help them understand where they can spend those dollars and what they can spell them on. We’re serving a 20-something to high 50-something population. Work force in general, female ratio is growing. 60% of customers we serve are female. They’re the care takers.

Mario: We start with idea that we build everything for a third grade education level. Focus on Hispanics is because of need but also opportunity. A lot of growth in next 25 years comes from Hispanic consumer. We do partnerships, a trade union, a hospital system, a retailer, a supermarket, people in community, church. Important to have the aha moment.

Robert: Humans first. We want to lower prescription drug prices, philosophically contradictory to segmentation but we approach marketing fast iteration, A/B experiments, investment in measurement. Segmentation flows out of that. Blink Health Nation has fortune to have patients and providers spread word actively for us. Thousands send us videos to tell their stories about what having lower prices has done for their families and lives. Gives us great tailwinds from customer acquisition standpoint.

Video from this session will be available here tomorrow.

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September 27, 2018 at 12:41PM

Paging Dr. Data: Driving Better Relationships with Smarter Segmentation

Paging Dr. Data: Driving Better Relationships with Smarter Segmentation

https://ift.tt/2NHjQSi

Moderator Hans Kaspersetz, president and chief strategist, Arteric

Panelists
Gabrielle Bedewi, chief analytics officers, Butler/Till
Brian Deffaa, CMO, LifeBridge Health
Justin Freid, EVP, managing director, CMI/Compas
Shonel Morrison, associate media director, AstraZeneca

Hans: How to create life-changing experiences for people. Number of challenges. Few years ago we would spend time talking about things we couldn’t do yet. On data, personalization, we’re at that stage again. Privacy, siloing issues. Agree? Disagree?

Justin: We’ve gotten over a big hump. In pharma space there was a lot of pushback. There are people internally that understand marketing, data. Great to have internal advocate to speak to regulatory. Now, most of pharma companies over that hump. Personalized messaging. We’re definitely taking that next step.

Shonel: working with regulatory partners, get them on your side, work on other folks later. People are more than just a patient, they’re just like us. Shift in terms of healthcare, personalization and getting smarter with the way we advertise.

Gabrielle: In healthcare, a lot of B2B, only when member was making choice with plans, that necessitated the turn from sales to marketing. They see importance of seeing member journey, connecting with them in case management, integrate all information, reaching them, truly understadding member’s needs. Dependency on data. Insurance companies building data hubs, feeding marketing, changing from sales mentality.

Brian: Through provider lens, they look at patient and looking to understand the journey but they don’t know how to activate it. Lagging and deficient in certain areas. Patient presents, healed, sent away. We’re trying to move to journey that never ends. We start developing real relationship, they trust our quality, the experience. That wholistic view is something that organizations like mine, we’re just starting to cross that threshold.

Hans: CRM and other platforms promises 360-degree view of customers, patients. What are the challenges?

Shonel: inconsistent capture of data. Having systems that are at our disposal but lack of awareness from marketers that they exist. Purchasing tech aren’t speaking to marketers to connected that gap.

Justin: Before we get to CRM, who’s our patient segmentation. Attitudes. Issue: we come up with attitudinal segments, but none is actionable from a marketing perspective. Especially in healthcare space, careful with HIPAA compliance. Getting involved earlier on in the process, making sure media is a big part of that. If we can’t target them, is it really useful?

Hans: One of the things we’ve done is analysis on verbatim search queries, align with attitudinal profiles. Build content based on language they use. Lot more content. FAQ page. Now we build 5, 10 version of FAQ page, each one based on how demo asked the question. We see different content placed in front of different audience based on search. Converts at a higher rate.

Justin: Outside of healthcare, search queries give you an inordinate amount of information. Social listening, people talk about their health. A gold mine. Helps us with targeting.

Brian: Silos, data accuracy. We’ve tried to ID who owns what. Some IT proprietary. Assigned owners, metrics to establish a dashboard, get on same page. Our communications objectives. Prior, that wasn’t happening. No strategy. Pull IT, marketing, patient experts together, where are our metrics, realign resources to make it happen. Hospitals, doctors lack a lot of coordination, structure. Nearest, dearest next step.

Gabrielle: Developing segmentation, I ask what is the objective of the insight. How will you act on it? Attitudinal, primary resource, why people behave differently, you can’t assign a person to a segment on your database. Behavioral segmentation helps you, but sometimes you don’t understand the why. How to integrate? Syndicated segmentation is the link between attitudinal and behavioral. Segmentation is a strategic initiative.

Brian: Question becomes how to do that, internal or outsource. We’re bringing in a digital first agency. Start with strong baseline, then help us where our core segments are, competencies. Competitive advantage, leverage against that.

Hans: Any practical strategies for breaking down silos, finding data, get access?

Justin: Benefits to work with agencies. Often in position to see multiple approaches to data management. This is what should be done, this is what we need. Partners can help guide the conversation. Often, we’ll come with data that show when you do this, it equals this.

Brian: Our management knew what they didn’t know. They wanted someone who knew what good could look like, this is how you get there. Our senior leaders in IT, CX get it. Anxious for somebody to stitch disparate pieces together. Creating picture of the future, laying in those tactical points to get there. Paint by numbers.

Shonel: Understanding how physicians like to get information, lays groundwork for media plans, budget, content, channels. When there is a lack of internal team to help with things like this, we rely on our agencies. We rely a lot on analytics partners. Help us make informed decisions on media plans and how we go to market.

Hans: Privacy concerns?

Gabrielle: At healthcare company, became friends with chief security officer. Understanding the space and reason that privacy laws are in place. I don’t need the namer of the patient, just need to understand behavior. External data providers can give you the external info that you need. There are ways to get the information, be cognizant of how you are using it. Close relationship with security officer. Web scraping, a tech that helps you track words that you can analyze on back end. There are some regulations about that now.

Shonel: With Facebook and GDPR, forced us to take a hard look at our cookie policies were, privacy policy on website, transparent. We consulted with our privacy officer to make sure we were covered. Consult with legal partners early and often. Seat at the table. Having them bought into what you’re trying to do is helpful.

Brian: More about understanding condition and providing additional value to person. We keep a firewall to avoid creepiness factor. We don’t want to speak specifically to their condition.

Video from this session will be available here tomorrow.

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September 27, 2018 at 11:48AM

How Authenticity and Wit Hit a Nerve and Solved a Crisis

How Authenticity and Wit Hit a Nerve and Solved a Crisis

https://ift.tt/2DCdI9l

Proof and Blue Chickens: How Authenticity and Wit Hit a Nerve and Solved a Crisis

Cindy Donohoe, EVP, CMO, Highmark Health

The Challenge

Allegheny Health Network wanted to demonstrate that it had as good quality as its bigger competitor in Pittsburgh. Some in the company suggested just saying that we’re No. 1! But, said Cindy Donohoe, that couldn’t be it. Everyone’s No. 1. Besides, people don’t talk about places being No. 1. They talk about what they can do know. Their own outcome, the people. They want innovation but in hands of a doctor who listens. So, how do you change someone’s mind?

The Execution

We decided to be big, bold and fast. Donor of Detroit came up with #LivingProof to show evidence of how we’ve changed people’s lives.

Effies No. America, gold, went to two campaigns, to be up there with Mars, Unilever, very proud. But we really learned a ton. With both campaign, deep core insight, raw, authrentic emotion, tears and laughter, getting effective results.

Allegheny Health Network, challenge: how to demo we have as good quality as bigger competitor. Just tell them we’re No. 1! But the claim couldn’t be it. Everyone’s No. 1. People don’t talk about No. 1. They talk about what they can do know. Their own outcome, the people. They want innovation but in hands of a doctor who listens. So, how do you change someone’s mind?

Big, bold and fast. #LivingProof by Donor of Detroit. Evidence of how we’ve changed people’s lives.

Give them an experience.
Be insistent and persistent.
Hear it from friends.

We set out to tell stories. It was cool to be able to show you life as it unfolds. A day in the health system. Lots and lots of stories in a real way. More like a documentary. Literally showing what’s happening right now. Capture and let people be voyeurs. To make it more difficult, we’re gonna do 30 in 30 days. Told press. Started in June, on air mid-August. Releasing to TV stations as ad. Best part about it was authenticity.

You can imagine the variety of stories that we had. All authentic. some are dramatic, touching, this was a surround sound message. Not just 30 TV commercials, also on the news ticker on morning news, on radio, ton of digital. Every aspect we could do.

We had to educate the physicians that they aren’t the heroes anymore. What we did on social, voices came from consumers. People sharing stories about how they were saved. Did have a viral effect.

Set about creating experiences: big bold fast. Larger than life, built world’s largest arm cast, 35 feet long, we had mended 26,000 bones that prior year. Invited those people to come sign the cast. Pirates catcher was one; made it a media event. What to do with cast? Sawed it in half, put it up on a billboard. Got an award for unique OOH.

Delivering babies. We deliver 6,500 a year. Got 6,500 storks, took them to races, invited parents to come by, sign one, take photos, share online. Great way to get point across about how big we were. We built the largest game of Operation. Gave out red noses that lit up. Took it to events, gave kids lab coats have doctors compete with them.

Social: first time ever we got more volume organically than from paid. We had postpartum depression spot got shared virally. Surprising thing about this is that it changed our company, our culture, came at a time when the system and health plan were coming together. Reminded us that it’s not about us, it’s about them. Highlighted in our annual Report.

Marketing was ingrained. Our production costs were $50K per commercial. Content now is digestible and consumable so we’ve had to learn how long a story can last. Rip through content faster. Agile practices, changed the way we do our work. To close this campaign, the retail side, we said, give us same-day appointments, offer for all specialities. Created “Call in by AM, be in by PM” so gratifying, patient last week in a lot of pain, she got one of our direct mailers at home, called, diagnosed, got meds. Such an impact.

We said, Let’s own the morning. Sleeves around coffee cups, laundry hangers same day and now doctor’s appointment, too. Wrapped buses, we bought 8 exam chairs (took stirrups out), wrapped them during a race, plop outside the bus stop, town square.

Blue Hen campaign in Delaware, different situation, leading provider in Delaware. Decided to have two health plans in the year. Our product was going to be more expensive, we weren’t allowed to communicate with people. 90 days. How do we get core insight. Delawareans love their blue hen, state bird, University of Delaware has the Fighting Blue Hens, tap into loyalty to remind people of their loyalty to Highmark, to Blue [Cross]. No ruffled feathers. Other retail things, lot of similarities, no paid actors, authentic, super simple.

Results

18 points uplift in unaided awareness. Consideration went up 20 points when we launched. Most important metric is about quality. After two years, only 2 points behind in difference with competitor.

Inpatient volume rose1.8%, new appointments went from 17% to 34% and have maintained that.

Brand favorability rose in 73% of the population.

Blue Hen campaign achieved retention goals. Got 10,000 people to switch over.

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September 27, 2018 at 10:55AM

New For Fall: On CBS, God Seeks Friends On Facebook

New For Fall: On CBS, God Seeks Friends On Facebook

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Many might consider social media to be a decidedly godless realm, but a new drama series on CBS posits that it is anything but.

In this show titled “God Friended Me” (premiering Sunday night on CBS), the Lord appears to have adopted Facebook as a platform for promoting his good works.

In a modern-day twist on the ’70s movie “Oh, God!,” the Almighty's appointed messenger in this show is a young man living in New York City who assumes the role played by John Denver in the old movie.

Like the Denver character, this young man -- played by Brandon Micheal Hall (seen in the photo above receiving a Facebook friend request from God) -- is a skeptic who cannot understand why God has chosen him as his earthly emissary. Nor can he accept it, at least not at first.

The young man, Miles, even has a podcast called “The Millennial Prophet” where he preaches the gospel of atheism. This point of view puts Miles at odds with his father, who happens to be a minister (he is played by Joe Morton).

In His friend requests, the God in “God Friended Me” is nothing if not persistent. The requests come so frequently that Miles eventually accepts one of them. After that, “God” recommends that Miles friend a couple of other people.

As it turns out, these people have various troubles for which Miles might provide timely intervention.

And that’s the show. Certainly, these friend requests from someone or something claiming to be God do not immediately cause Miles to convert from his atheism. Part of the show’s storyline is his ongoing skepticism.

Despite the incredible coincidences he begins to experience in his life in the series premiere, he continues to believe that someone is pranking him.

“God Friended Me” is a feelgood show with a foundation built on social media. As such, it seems designed chiefly to appeal to those who use social media the most.

In a world where many might perceive social media as hardly a force for good in the world, especially these days, this show offers a scenario in which social media possesses an untapped potential for making the world a better place.

The challenge for this show will be to try and make believers out of social media skeptics.

“God Friended Me” premieres Sunday night (September 30) at 8 Eastern (depending on NFL football overrun) on CBS.

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September 27, 2018 at 10:55AM

The Hot Property That’s Next on Tech’s Agenda: Real Estate Technology

By ERIN GRIFFITH from NYT Technology https://ift.tt/2xSPMbQ
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WhatsApp's Acton, Facebook's Marcus Spar Over Executive Defections

WhatsApp's Acton, Facebook's Marcus Spar Over Executive Defections

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Adding to Facebook’s frustrations, discord between the company’s current and former executives spilled into the open this week.

In an interview with Forbes, WhatsApp cofounder Brian Acton said he regretted ever selling his startup to Facebook, because the company places too high a value on monetizing its membership.

In response, David Marcus, head of Facebook’s blockchain efforts, published a blog post in which he essentially called Acton ungrateful. He took issue with Acton’s characterization of Facebook as less than supportive of the startups it acquires.

“There are few companies out there that empower and retain founders and their teams for as long as Facebook does,” Marcus wrote. “The main reason is because [Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg] personally shields founders from what typically frustrates them in larger companies, giving them unprecedented autonomy.”

The timing of the row is awkward for Facebook, coming just days after Instagram cofounders Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger abruptly announced their plans to depart the tech titan.

While details around the cofounders’ imminent exits remain unclear, reports suggest that disagreements with Facebook management contributed to their decision.

Yet, rather than shy away from the changes at Instagram, Marcus applauded Facebook for holding onto its cofounders for years after assuming ownership of their property. “Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger thrived at Facebook for six years,” he noted.

Taking aim at Acton, Marcus said Facebook did everything in its power to make the WhatsApp team feel welcome and supported.

“WhatsApp founders requested a completely different office layout when their team moved on campus,” he recalled. “Much larger desks and personal space, a policy of not speaking out loud in the space, and conference rooms made unavailable to fellow Facebookers nearby … This irritated people at Facebook, but Mark personally supported and defended it.

“The global rollout of end-to-end encryption on WhatsApp happened after the acquisition, and with Mark’s full support,” Marcus noted. Yes, [WhatsApp cofounder] Jan Koum played a key role in convincing Mark of the importance of encryption, but from that point on, it was never questioned."

Added Marcus: “I find attacking the people and company that made you a billionaire and went to an unprecedented extent to shield and accommodate you for years, low-class.”

Facebook bought WhatsApp for roughly $19 billion in 2014. Koum cofounded the messaging app along with Acton back in 2009.

Tensions between Facebook and WhatsApp’s founders were on full display earlier this year when Acton encouraged the world to delete their Facebook accounts. “It is time,” Acton tweeted. “#deletefacebook”

The call to action came just days after the Cambridge Analytica controversy was made public.

Acton left WhatsApp earlier this year, while Koum announced his plans to depart in April. Acton also recently invested $50 million in WhatsApp rival Signal, which has not been lost on analysts.

“It’s not surprising, given that Acton joined Signal after leaving Facebook,” Jeff Pollard, an analyst at Forrester Research, said earlier this year.

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September 27, 2018 at 09:26AM

Corbyn Pours More Fuel On His Fire Of Media Hatred

Corbyn Pours More Fuel On His Fire Of Media Hatred

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Jeremy Corbyn could never be accused of courting the press. From the moment he became Leader of the Labour Party, seeing him walk away from cameras and refusing to speak to journalists was a common occurrence. It's his right, of course, but anyone with an ounce of media savviness knows it makes a politician look shifty and evasive.

Yesterday, in his speech to the Labour Party conference, he took another swipe at the media, claiming press freedom is used to spread "lies and half-truths". His remedy was to encourage left-wing activists to "challenge the propaganda" and take to social media and oppose the news coming from billionaires. The irony of this inevitably meaning posting articles on Facebook, owned by billionaire Mark Zuckerberg, appeared to be lost on the applauding crowd.

John McDonnell, the shadow Chancellor, has similarly attacked the press at the conference, as had union leader Len McClusky. To be blunt, it was open season on the media from a party that feels the press, particularly The Daily Mail and The Sun, give Labour and its leader too hard a time.

One only has to think back a month or so to remember Jeremy Corbyn setting out plans for how to deal with the power of Facebook and Google. Although his antidote to the national press is to rely on activists using sites owned by the US tech giants, he suggested they need to be held back by a new broadcaster funded by the public, perhaps with an online streaming service to take on Netflix. Yes, that's right -- Jeremy Corbyn is suggesting something we already have in the BBC and iPlayer is launched. It beggars belief.

As for the stories that get Corbyn so hot under the collar, I don't think anyone would say the UK press always gets it right. I remember the attack on the Milliband brothers (Ed was previously Labour leader) over their father's views expressed decades ago was one where The Daily Mail got it particularly wrong. There is history between some parts of the media and the Labour Party.

However, one only has to think of the stories surrounding Corbyn attending a ceremony at a Muslim cemetery to realise how he just doesn't get it. Like you, I have no idea who else is buried there, what the point of the ceremony was and whether Corbyn laid a wreath and if so, for what purpose.

The thing is, Corbyn's rage at the media meant he gave a series of bungled explanations, meaning that he ended up having to admit there was a wreath-laying ceremony on the day, after all. This had two results. First, he just kept giving the story "legs" by giving and withdrawing and adding to explanations. Secondly, it made him look a bit shifty.

Let's add a third result. It demonstrated his dislike of how the media clouds his judgement on how to deal with the press.

This rage and his inability to, dare I say, play the media game, will seriously impact what the public thinks of him, but it only shoots himself further in the foot. The more he has a go at the press, the more petrol is thrown on the fire, and the more the press will oppose him.

Corbyn could really do with taking a leaf out of Tony Blair's book, the deal-maker who even managed to get The Sun to support him as he swept to power.

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September 27, 2018 at 09:26AM

Only In Healthcare Do Ad Creators Admit The Truth, Smith Says

Only In Healthcare Do Ad Creators Admit The Truth, Smith Says

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Steve Smith, editorial director of events at MediaPost, is opening today’s Marketing Health conference.

Consumers are almost in complete control of their media experience. It’s a tectonic shift from what came before. We knew where it was being consumer, mostly. Prime time TV, we knew what those four hours were about at night. There was a defined And contained experience. Even the internet was defined by home use and office use. Now, mobility has changed that in a radical way.

For media planners and buyers, it’s a fundamental shift. We’re only starting to appreciate the ways these interruptions are happening. As we blow apart the old context, interruptive advertising no longer makes sense. In healthcare, hosts of sensitivities around data.

The retailization of healthcare marketing. In consumer controlled media world, where patients have access to info, now everybody is a retailer. Have to speak to consumers in ways they never thought of before. Today, we’ll break this down. Look at the ways in which our focus is shifting, where the money is going.

Data, how its gathered, and how it can make messaging more human. Rise of the D2C brand, using techniques that have a lot to teach legacy brands. Social part of disruption, mixed history in healthcare, much bad information. But it is the channel that may be the most promising if used well. Finally, healthcare one of few area that ad creators admit the ads suck. Common challenge that everyone seems to be honest about in this field.

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September 27, 2018 at 09:26AM

Live Nation Unveils Global Music Study

Live Nation Unveils Global Music Study

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With 72% of Gen Z/Millennials saying they have driven over 100 miles to attend a live music event, it's no surprise music serves as a connector in today's digital world.

Now, Live Nation and research agency Culture Co-op are revealing findings from their global "Power of Live" study that tracked 22,500 live music fans, from 11 countries, ranging ages 13 to 65.

Three in four respondents (73%) say that now want to experience real life rather than digital life. It isn't just about the two-hour concert. Nearly eight in 10 (79%) says the experience extends beyond the event, with 65% making a purchase specifically for the concert and 68% sharing on social media.

Music may also strengthen brand affinity, since the report finds emotional intensity of live music opens the mind to new ideas.

Two in three (67%) say the more emotionally engaged they are, the more open they are to new ideas. In fact, 90% said brands are welcome in the space as long as they find authentic ways to enhance their experience.

Live Nation recommends brands seeking brand engagement need to be culturally relevant, mutually beneficial, stand for something build strong bonds, especially when their aligned values are center stage. "Live music is a feed of unforgettable moments," states the report.

As one participant in the report stated: “Brands need to go beyond putting their name on something, they need to interact with the community in creative ways. It takes more effort for a brand, but the return — the loyalty they could build — would be worth the effort.”

Despite today's divided culture, respondents said music drives identity more than their hometown, politics, race or religion. The only things that are a bigger force than music are friends/family and pastimes.

Here is a link to the report.

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September 27, 2018 at 09:26AM