Orlando, FL—Well-planned, integrated campaigns that generate response: Kathy Daly-Jennings, head of industry, retail practice for Google, told attendees at the Retail Marketing Conference that with so much media fragmentation today, those are the tools marketers need to target their audiences.
In her keynote session today, “Media Fragmentation: Putting the Pieces Together,” Daly-Jennings threw out some revealing numbers to start: 17.5% of U.S. households no longer own a landline phone; 24 is the number of hours of video uploaded to YouTube every minute; 119 is the average number of television channels each U.S. household receives; and 390 million is the current number of U.S. users on Facebook.
How do you enter into that world? Daly-Jennings discussed some “lessons” for marketers to remember about media fragmentation and how customers have the power to choose how they interact with a retailer through integrated campaigns that generate response. Here are some of those lessons:
1) Don’t follow the crowd. Daly-Jennings said social media can be powerful when used properly, and only if it fits your target audience.
2) Make new friends. Sears and J.C. Penney, to name a few, used prom dresses as a theme on their Websites, enabling teens to upload photos of their prom dresses and submit comments.
3) Try new math. Step outside your traditional silos at least to experiment and test your results.
4) Practice, practice, practice. Reinforce your brand message all the time. Daly-Jennings discussed how RadioShack is in the process of evolving and rebranding itself as “The Shack,” with seven-time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong is its spokesperson. Armstrong is someone who can reaffirm the brand’s messaging, which is all about mobility, she noted.
5) Electives are important. Daly-Jennings showed a YouTube video of carolers at Christmas inside a mall, singing about a “better way to shop”—and a less expensive one—at TJ Maxx and Marshalls. The video invited viewers to submit videos of people singing the branded message, a contest that gave both companies a lift in response.
Daly-Jennings is responsible for a team that delivers best-in-class advertising sales and support to some of the largest retailers in Google’s southeastern region, including J.C. Penney, Home Depot, and RadioShack. She has developed traditional and interactive marketing initiatives for brands such as The Coca-Cola Co. and The Weather Channel, where she created the original weather.com. She also consulted on a variety of marketing initiatives for clients including IBM, BellSouth, First Union, MCI, and Nike. At Home Depot she was responsible for creating new direct businesses and executing sales strategies to increase growth and extend the retailer’s multichannel presence.