 | Brandon GutmanPrincipal, Brand Approved
Brand Approved aligns brands with best of breed service providers and helps all parties optimize their assets to achieve ultimate performance. Marketers recognize Brand Approved as their trusted advisor and gateway to innovation. Service providers seek our help in translating, packaging and inserting their emerging proprietary offerings into the needs of brand marketers. Follow him on Twitter.com/brandongutman |
Branding Spotlight: Mobile-Social Content Leads to Commerce for Steve MaddenThursday, July 8, 2010In this Brand Innovator Spotlight, Andrew Koven, president of e-commerce and customer experience at Steve Madden, shares how the fashion retailer's mobile strategy mix is driving revenue and provides advice to peers getting into the game. Marketing, Media, MobileRead more | Comments (1) |
Branding Spotlight: How the NBA is Using Technology to Connect with FansWednesday, June 23, 2010At the NBA it’s all about the fans. And for digital fans Bryan Perez is the go-to guy. As SVP and GM for NBA Digital, he manages the NBA's extensive cross-platform portfolio of digital assets jointly managed by the NBA and Turner Sports. This includes NBA TV, NBA.com, NBA LEAGUE PASS, NBA LEAGUE PASS Broadband, NBA Mobile, NBADLEAGUE.com, and WNBA.com. Perez oversees all aspects of the portfolio including programming, operations, editorial, ecommerce and marketing. MarketingRead more | Comments (0) |
Branding Spotlight: Using Digital to Innovate A 100-Year-Old Brand Called RubbermaidTuesday, June 1, 2010In this Brand Innovator Spotlight, Rubbermaid VP of Interactive Marketing Bert DuMars talks about how breaking down the silos and collaborating with consumers is keeping a century old company successful in the digital age. Marketing, SocialRead more | Comments (0) |
Branding Spotlight: HopStop CEO Joe Meyer Offers Directions to Brand Central StationFriday, May 21, 2010In this Brand Innovator Spotlight, Joe Meyer proves that a big budget isn’t necessary to deliver a stellar consumer experience, grow brand ambassadors and go head to head with Google. Marketing, TechnologyRead more | Comments (0) |
Social Gaming Leads to Brand-Building for Publishers Clearing HouseTuesday, March 30, 2010Four leading brand marketers joined FOCi Group during the Brand Innovators Panel at digiday:SOCIAL in LA. Execs from The Dial Corporation, Mattel, POM Wonderful and Publishers Clearing House were candid about their strategies, challenges and successes in utilizing social media within their marketing mix. We plan to recap the panel of highlights in a series of four columns. Today's insight: How Publishers Clearing House used Social Gaming to build its brand with a younger, hipper audience. Read more | Comments (2) |
How POM Wonderful Tracked Blogger Outreach to a Clearly-Defined ROIMonday, March 29, 2010Four leading brand marketers joined FOCi Group during the Brand Innovators Panel at digiday:SOCIAL in LA. Execs from The Dial Corporation, Mattel, POM Wonderful and Publishers Clearing House were candid about their strategies, challenges and successes in utilizing social media within their marketing mix. We plan to recap the panel of highlights in a series of four columns. Today's insight: How POM Wonderful Tracked Blogger Outreach to a Clearly-Defined ROI SocialRead more | Comments (2) |
Quantifying the Value of Social Media with The Dial CorporationFriday, March 26, 2010Four leading brand marketers joined FOCi Group during the Brand Innovators Panel at digiday:SOCIAL in LA. Execs from The Dial Corporation, Mattel, POM Wonderful and Publishers Clearing House were candid about their strategies, challenges and successes in utilizing social media within their marketing mix. We plan to recap the panel of highlights in a series of four columns. Today's insight: How The Dial Corporation Quantifies Its Social Initiatives SocialRead more | Comments (0) |
How Mattel Leveraged Social Media to Make Barbie's 50th Birthday SizzleThursday, March 25, 2010Four leading brand marketers joined FOCi Group during the Brand Innovators Panel at digiday:SOCIAL in LA. Execs from The Dial Corporation, Mattel, POM Wonderful and Publishers Clearing House were candid about their strategies, challenges and successes in utilizing social media within their marketing mix. We plan to recap the panel of highlights in a series of four columns. Today's insight: How Mattel Built Social Media Success for Barbie's 50th Birthday. SocialRead more | Comments (0) |
Why Technologists Need Brand TranslatorsWednesday, February 10, 2010Digital technology companies need to be smarter about the companies they pitch. The result will be more business for everyone involved and a better customer experience. MarketingRead more | Comments (0) |
Building Bridges: Integrating New Technology With Existing AssetsTuesday, January 26, 2010It seems a new advertising technology emerges every day, with marketers and agencies rushing to jump on the bandwagon while trends evolve. As exciting as all that innovation is, unless it’s integrated properly, new technology cannot fulfill its highest potential and, in fact, it can amount to a colossal waste of marketers’ funds and energy. With technologies and consumer behavior literally evolving every day, is there any way for brand marketers to keep ahead of the curve?
New technology is not only out there, it’s swarming around brand marketers. [...] Marketing, SocialRead more | Comments (0) |
2010: The Biggest Stories Won't Be In The HeadlinesTuesday, January 12, 2010As we settle into the second official week of the New Year, and everyone is back cranking on projects big and small, it’s hard not to wonder what’s ahead in 2010. There’s more hope in the air than there was this time last year; a sense that things are turning up in the industry, that the economy is finally showing signs of life. With that in mind, what will be the biggest story in technology in 2010? What will be the most unexpected surprise? And from where I sit, a twist on that question: what should brands be paying attention to as they shape their digital strategy for the coming year? In a constantly shifting space, what will matter and what will just amount to chatter?
While the tech headlines buzz with recent M&A shakeups, I think it’s worth noting that there’s just as much happening—if not more—in companies with fewer zeros behind them. [...] Marketing, Media, Mobile, Social, TechnologyRead more | Comments (0) |
Making The Case for Better Online Listening SkillsWednesday, December 23, 2009We tend to assume that because masses of people are flocking to the Internet, it is, therefore, a mass medium. It is not. In a mass medium, you have an audience that is assembled either because you control air-time (like TV) or because you control space (like a magazine or an amphitheatre). On the Internet you control neither.
Like a crowded street in Times Square, lots of people are spinning through the Internet from different places for different reasons and they control their own time and space. [...] Marketing, Media, Metrics, Mobile, Social, TechnologyRead more | Comments (2) |
Digital Brand Management™ Is The New DisciplineFriday, December 4, 2009Digital Brand Management is becoming the critical new discipline for marketing in the digital age. Digital can no longer be looked upon as a “post-strategic’ channel or as a simple one-off, add-on or after-thought. It reflects the new paradigm of this transforming world of ours; that digital must be at the core of a brand’s strategic platform. Marketing companies that continue to think of digital only as a series of tactical channels or platforms will do so to their long-term detriment.
The discipline of Digital Brand Management applies the techniques of traditional brand management: analysis, planning, implementation and measurement, but with a much more rigorous, robust approach. [...] Marketing, Media, Mobile, Social, TechnologyRead more | Comments (0) |
The Merging of Brands and Publishers (revised edition)Friday, November 6, 2009Today the lines have blurred between publishers and brands living in the digital world. Brands are no longer content to merely rent access to their consumers from publishers. Instead they are creating their own slick digital hubs that include entertainment, information, communities and more-- offering an experience where they control and ultimately own the links to their customers.
How will brands and publishers collide and coexist in pursuit of a profitable relationship with consumers? FOCi Group assembled and moderated a panel at DPAC4 to address this topic. [...] Marketing, Media, TechnologyRead more | Comments (0) |
The Merging of Brands and PublishersFriday, October 30, 2009Today the lines have blurred between publishers and brands living in the digital world. Brands are no longer content to merely rent access to their consumers from publishers. Instead they are creating their own slick digital hubs that include entertainment, information, communities and more-- offering an experience where they control and ultimately own the links to their customers. How will brands and publishers collide and coexist in pursuit of a profitable relationship with consumers? FOCi Group assembled and moderated a panel at DPAC4 to address this topic. [...] Marketing, Media, Mobile, Social, TechnologyRead more | Comments (0) |
Using Digital Brand Management With Today's ConsumerFriday, October 23, 2009You’re not alone. Most marketers are trying to figure out the process of building and managing their brands for the digital age. Even the most sophisticated organizations can fill buckets with what they don’t know about digital and its constantly increasing potential. In this article, FOCi Group defines Digital Brand Management, provides a four step process for DBM and suggests why brands need to own digital.
Digital Brand Management Defined
Digital Brand Management is no longer a subset of marketing. [...] Marketing, Mobile, Social, TechnologyRead more | Comments (0) |
Online Listening Key to Successful Digital MarketingFriday, October 16, 2009Hearing what your customers have to say – whether they like or dislike your products or services and ultimately whether they are advocates, evangelists or detractors is the critical first step in laying the groundwork for an effective digital and social media strategy. To be successful today, brands need to understand what consumers are saying, why they're saying it and how their dialogue has the potential to impact business. Here are four steps that FOCi Group follows to help marketers capture, interpret and apply online chatter into actionable and measurable results. [...] Marketing, Media, Social, TechnologyRead more | Comments (0) |
Convincing Your Company to Go DigitalFriday, October 9, 2009There is a primary reason why most brands are not yet taking advantage of the full benefits from digital and social media. It is because senior leadership does not completely understand the value proposition. In this article we’re going to illustrate how a marketer from a major organization packaged and positioned a digital marketing proposal to their leadership team. Not only did it cause a significant budget shift to digital, the digital marketing plan generated results that satisfied the entire organization. [...] Marketing, Media, Social, TechnologyRead more | Comments (0) |
Knowledge is Power in Measuring Social Media SuccessFriday, October 2, 2009Social media is the hottest trend in digital marketing at the moment and brands are quickly recognizing that they need a presence on sites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to better interact with consumers. However, most are struggling with how to measure and communicate the impact of programs on these social networking platforms. What's the value of a tweet by someone with 100,000 followers? Does your brand's 45,000 Facebook friends translate into anything meaningful? How many of the people watching a promotional YouTube video will actually purchase the product? [...] Marketing, Media, Metrics, Social, TechnologyRead more | Comments (1) |
Advertising Week Spins Marketers’ HeadsThursday, September 24, 2009Last week John Gaffney wrote about the sheer amount of people on the panels and the amount of ideas flowing through the rooms during digiday:MOBILE/SOCIAL. It was especially interesting when John shared how a social media expert emailed him during the event to say, “my head is spinning.” Some of the panels and presentations during the Ad Week festivities might not have been as advanced as the content from digiday last week; however, it seems to take a lot less to spin the heads of most marketers. [...] Marketing, Media, Mobile, Social, TechnologyRead more | Comments (0) |
