Alberta Business Marketing

When Stanley Pollitt and Stephen King created the notion of "planning" back in the 1960's, they began the journey to what is now a very discombobulated discipline.

Let's have a look at the first description of account planning - "The account planner is that member of the agency's team who is the expert, through background, training, experience, and attitudes, at working with information and getting it used - not just marketing research but all the information available to help solve a client's advertising problems." - Stanley Pollitt

In the 1990's, Jay Chiat evolved the definition of planning to add a splash of creativity and flare, yet still remaining true to the discipline.

Fast forward to 2010. This is where I face a split opinion.

Many agencies are not familiar with the discipline of planning and try to create a role to fill an unfulfilled need. This role usually includes a planning title; created with little or no knowledge of what planning actually is. This direction dilutes the discipline of planning and builds confusion both internally and with the client. We now have client planning, creative planning, research planning, just plain planning, strategist, account planning strategist and most recently, digital planning or digital strategist. I'm sure I've left out a plethora of others.

On the other hand, It's my personal belief that a good account planner can be all of the above as long as the consumer is at the core root. It's all a matter of managing expectations with the employer/employee and client. Good planners have the ability to bridge together their understanding of the consumer and how they relate to the client's brand and visa versa. Because communication channels continuously multiply, it is crucial for planners to stay ahead of how consumers are engaging with brands.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this topic.

Jennifer Morozowich

Tags: Get it off your chest, Strategy
Posted in Alberta Business | | Comments Off

Silvertip Resort, one of the western Canada’s finest golf venues, was home to Alberta Venture’s Most Influential Golf Tournament on August, 17, 2010. The field, stocked as it was with some of Alberta’s 50 Most Influential People, leaders in the public and private world and other assorted Alberta-based movers and shakers kept the rain away [...]

Tags: 50 Most, Alberta's 50 Most Influential, Most Influential Golf Tournament
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The Langley Horse Federation is taking on a new lease of life as a vehicle to boost the horse industry in Langley.  In this it is supported by the Township of Langley and by its Mayor, Rick Green, who is a well-known horseman.

Its most visible and well-known presence up till now has been the "Spirit Of The Horse Memorial Garden", which is situated in Campbell Valley Park at 1200 208th Avenue, Langley, B.C.  That was started by Joy Richardson, one of the key movers and shakers on the Langley horse scene.

Now the Langley Horse Federation will be holding a “Team Up For Success” workshop from 9:00 am until 5:00 pm on Saturday September 18th, 2010 in the Banquet Room at the Langley Events Centre.  It puts forward the following challenge:

Langley, “the Horse Capital of British Columbia”.  Factual statement or idle boast?  With approximately 6000 horses and an estimated $125 Million annually in direct, indirect and imputed economic benefit, great credence can be attributed to that statement.  Almost every sector of the economy is impacted: tourism; retail; hospitality; horse facilities; agriculture; and the list goes on.  What would you like to see happening in the horse community in Langley?

The workshop will suggest a number of initiatives for the horse industry to consider and encourages members of the horse community to get involved. Two in particular caught my eye.

Public relations and marketing initiatives
Can we raise the public and political profile of the horse industry by:

• establishing a formal, ongoing relationship with media in the Lower Mainland to promote positive coverage of horse industry events and issues
• establishing a relationship with tourism Langley for marketing initiatives
• establishing a lobby group to work with local government and regulatory agencies to make sure the horse industry and horse community has a ‘voice’ in the discussion of issues affecting them
• work with local council to encourage land use policies that further establish and support equestrian activities
• encouraging close and ongoing communication between Langley horse clubs, and horse industry sectors like boarding stables

Educational initiatives
Can we educate members of the horse community by encouraging the development of:

• equestrian and farm management courses at Kwantlen College or through community education programs
• a series of specialty clinics held by high-caliber clinicians

Can we educate members of our community about horses by:

• introducing books about horses into school reading programs
• organizing school field trips to horse and riding stables

One sector of the industry that can play an important role in both of these initiatives is that of therapeutic horseback riding.  There are several fine centres offering such services in Langley including VTEA  and PRDA.  As an example, VTEA is hosting a free horsemanship demonstration by Jay O Jay on Saturday August 28 that will help on both of these initiatives.  (Details are on the VTEA website.)

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Langley Horse Federation Workshop

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Tags: BC, horse, jay 0 jay, Langley, society, VTEA
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Are you sick of hearing about Ric McIver and Barb Higgins yet? This week, I did a few media interviews on the candidates’ use of social media.

Following one interview, the cameraman wanted to get images of the different websites they were using. I started by showing him some of the sites that I thought were done well. He then asked to see more from McIver and Higgins.

I took him to McIver’s Flickr page. It hadn’t been updated in over a year. I took him to Higgins’s Twitter feed. Not one conversation. These were bad examples, but it’s what he wanted footage of.

I was disappointed he didn’t want to see more from those who were doing it well. Instead he and I had fallen into the two-candidate trap.

So far there are 13 candidates running for mayor, and another 56 running for alderman.

It’s hard to get to know that many people well enough to be able to decide who you trust the most to ensure you have the services from the City you want, at a price you can afford.
And so the two-candidate trap was created.

It’s much easier to only focus on two options. This or that. The American system has been perfected in this manner. Republican or Democrat, those are your only real options.

The problem is, the two-candidate trap is a self-fulfilling prophecy. Once the two main options are selected, all others suffer.

But why were McIver and Higgins the two selected to be talked about? The answer is simple: name recognition.

Admit it, when Barb Higgins entered the race you immediate said to yourself, “I know who she is. I think she’d be a lovely/terrible mayor.”

Did you have the same thought when Wayne Stewart entered the race? I’m guessing no, simply because you didn’t know who he was.

But this is not high school. We shouldn’t be selecting our leadership based on popularity.

Calgarians are smart enough to pick a Council based on their ideas for Calgary.

I challenge you, the next time a conversation about the election pops up at the office or the dining room table, to not just talk about the candidates you already know, but to chat about Craig Burrows or Kent Hehr or Naheed Nenshi or Bob Hawkesworth. What makes them better (or worse) than the big two?

Yes, you’re going to have to go learn something about them first.

I also challenge the media to give us the chance to learn about those candidates by not taking the lazy way out and falling into the two-candidate trap.

We’re adults. We can handle more than two options.

Original article: http://www.metronews.ca/calgary/local/article/607813–broaden-your-voting-horizons

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Tags: Calgary, Metro Column, Politics
Posted in Alberta Business | | Comments Off

Facebook announced “Places”, a tool that allows Facebook subscribers to essentially “check in” to locations and serendipitously discover friends who happen to be nearby. Momentum continues to build in location-based services, Geo-fencing, mobile social media etc.

Why this will work.
Facebook is the all-powerful Borg (for those non Trekkies out there – they assimilate, adapt and propagate). With 500 million subscribers (and reports that 150 million of these are mobile), sheer size makes Facebook the clear favourite. In my opinion, Foursquare, Gowalla, My Town, etc. are officially the underdogs (if they weren’t before). Naturally, Facebook is faced with the issue of privacy, and provided they allow users to self-provision and dictate terms, then chances of success are high. Reaching eyeballs via Facebook Places substantially increases the efficiency of ad dollars and brings us another step closer to the perfect delivery of WHEN and WHERE.

What does this mean from a marketer’s point of view?
The ecosystem has added a slew of new terms that strategists, planners, brand managers, and CMOs,must be aware of for water cooler chats. This announcement could mark the dawn of Facebook mobile monetization where ad products and services will emerge. I suspect Places may be the final straw that pushes those brands that don’t have a mobile friendly destination to get one, as those brands can leverage the open graph API to ensure their brand communities can enjoy a seamless mobile experience. Who knows? Facebook could be the first organization to really marry mobile commerce and social platforms – they have a great Trojan horse model to explore with other products and services. In the near-term, Vortex is anxious to socialize mobile properties and mobilize brand communities. New DIY tools and APIs will strengthen the value proposition for our partners, some simple use cases include:
• Consider a beer or spirit company that uses experiential marketing. Imagine a promotion where X number of people that check in win, or 1 in X who check in to a restaurant/bar are entered to win a trip. Participants earn bonus ballots for socializing their whereabouts via Places and ta-da, we have next generation swarming. Amplify this experience by posting user generated content (such as pictures and video) and let your Twitter followers and Facebook friends see your world on demand.. When boiled down, many marketing fundamentals still apply: LOCATION, EMOTIONS, LTO(limited time offers)/SENSE of URGENCY, SHARED CONNECTIONS and WORD OF MOUTH.

Carriers (and OEMs) could be X-factors in mobile/social media
There is no doubt that carriers and handset manufacturers want in on the action. Geo-fences and location-based alerts are on their radar, as they battle the perception that their place within the mobile ecosystem is simply as dump pipes and dummy terminals. Arguably carriers and manufacturers have some tricks up their sleeve. A Canadian trial called OneAPI could allow carriers to get in the game by providing client-side information all accessed through a web API. OneAPI has the potential to be a total game changer as it offers SMS+ MMS aggregation, billing services, and targeting, and with the right partnerships, could offer a location-based experience that is as seamless and accessible, if not more so, then one offered by Facebook. (Click HERE for more details about ONE API.) http://www.gsmworld.com/oneapi/

Brady Murphy

Tags: Mobile, social media
Posted in Alberta Business | | Comments Off