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Thoughts & Insights: 2012 Canadian Marketing Association Summit

Canadian Marketing Association

I just wrapped up my first day at the 2012 Canadian Marketing Association Summit in Toronto, and let me tell you, it was refreshing! The theme this year, “Connections: Listen, Engage, Measure” is a change of pace from the marketing conferences that are always touting the Next Big Thing.

Our obsession with the Next Big Thing isn’t surprising though. We live in a revolutionary time; where the shiny object constantly changes, the consumer ecosystem looks like a Tokyo subway map, and marketers are required to be both economists and prophets. In this rapidly changing environment, it’s no wonder we sometimes lose sight of the real goal of marketing: creating meaningful connections.

Throughout the day, that message was loud and clear: As marketers, we need to refocus our priorities to ensure that imagination, creativity, and innovation are the norm, not the exception. We all know this can be a tall order since most of our days (and nights) are filled with shorter deadlines, tighter budgets and increased expectations; and in the pharma industry, stricter regulations and policies create additional challenges to get creative juices flowing. It’s normal to feel discouraged by what we can’t do and default to reiterations of past ideas.

But after today’s sessions and being able to reconnect with some old friends from other industries, I feel hopeful and have realized that innovation stems as much from constraints as it does from freedom. Here are two valuable insights I gained:

  • Innovation is everywhere: Ideas don’t have to come from just the design and development teams or even from within your own industry. People have immense natural talent just waiting to be discovered and cultivated. At Google, they have a “Google Ideas” site where employees can submit their ideas for company or product improvements and everyone can rate the ideas on a scale from 0 to 5. Every employee has a say and all perspectives are considered. The process has launched successful products such as Gmail and Google News to name a few.
  • Celebrate failure: Don’t let the fear of failure stifle your creativity. There are benefits to being a first mover and potentially failing; namely gaining valuable learnings that can be applied to future endeavours. Angry Birds was actually the 52nd game that Rovio, the company behind the globally successful app, created. Imagine if they gave up after the first 51 failures – what would help tide you over on the subway ride to work?

So before you think it can’t be done or feel you don’t have a voice outside your own four wall, keynote speaker, Sir Ken Robinson reminded us all to that it’s essential to “Lead the culture of innovation”.

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Sarah Tang, Digital Strategist | May 17th, 2012 | 0 Comments

Facebook Adds Organ Donor Feature

Facebook Organ Donation

Facebook is running a social experiment…are you planning to participate?

Today on Good Morning America, Mark Zuckerburg & Sheryl Sandberg announced Facebook has added an organ donation status option for Timeline.

Zuckerberg talked about the tool’s impact with Robin Roberts on Good Morning America:

“We came up with a pretty simple thing which we’re hopeful can help out. There are more than 100,000 folks just in the US who are waiting for organ donations and 18 people on average who die a day because they don’t have the organs they need. Simply by telling your story on how you are willing to participate in this, we think a lot of people who are on the fence may just be willing to do this could be convinced. That’s a shift in society that will probably take a while to fully take hold. But I think if people choose to share these stories with their friends that can make a big difference over time.”

View Mark’s interview on ABC News

Designating yourself as an organ donor is as easy as adding any other life event on Timeline. On your personal Timeline, click on “Life Event” and then “Health & Wellness.” You’ll see the option for “Organ Donor” at the top of the list (amongst other health and wellness milestones).

Facebook Organ Donation Tool

At that point, you can add where you are registered and your personal story. If you’re not currently an organ donor, Facebook provides a link to the official registry. As with all other Timeline entries, you can make your organ donor status public, private or only visible to certain groups of friends.

Facebook Organ Donation Tool

This isn’t Facebook’s first move toward implementing more socially conscious features. Over the past year, we’ve seen Facebook add a referral system for friends sharing suicidal thoughts and an anti-bully campaign.

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Tyler Durbin, Marketing Manager | May 1st, 2012 | 0 Comments

201: Social Media for Health

Social Media 201

Two years ago, we created a Social Media 101 class – basically, a bootcamp for pharma marketers who wanted to understand how social media was changing how people learn about, evaluate, and ultimately make healthcare decisions.

Then, the trust graph was in major flux. People were figuring out how to use social connections (not just Dr. Google) to benefit their health. And, deciding if they were willing to interact with brands in that space.

Today, social destinations are among the most popular on the web. They are an essential part of many of our lives. And, they have truly revolutionized how we think about health.

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Tyler Durbin, Marketing Manager | May 1st, 2012 | 0 Comments

What’s Next From the FDA on Social Media

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I’m happy to report that it has been months since I heard someone say in a meeting: “We’re waiting to see the FDA’s guidance on social media before we get involved.”

Sometime in 2011, we all seemed to collectively realize: It’s just not going to be that easy. Instead, pharma would have to find its own way. To date, at least 60 pharma brands have done just that. They’ve built internal guidelines, tested approaches, and actively gotten involved in social media. Still, who doesn’t want to know what the FDA might have in store next? Here’s what we expect: Read Full Entry

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Leigh Householder, VP/Managing Director of Innovation Strategy | April 26th, 2012 | 1 Comment

Social Marketing to Improve Health

Social Health

How often do you hear the buzz words “social web”? On a daily basis, I bet. Depending on your interests and preferred online interactions it could be as much as hourly. In either case, social platforms whether online, offline, or both, have combined to become a great launching point for some highly effective social health campaigns. The refreshing thing is that when it comes to health campaigns, they aren’t based on selling merchandise for profit. At the core these campaigns are about bringing people together to create better health outcomes on a large scale. It gives many people a channel to speak their mind, seek support, offer help, and find resources.

There are some initial questions that come to mind related to these campaigns:

  • Who is creating these campaigns?
  • What do they look like?
  • Can the effectiveness of a campaign to improve health be quantified to show effectiveness?

This post will answer those questions using examples that have been well received and highly effective. Some I’m sure you’ve seen, others are just gaining traction. The key takeaway is to see how they are being executed, and keep in mind they all have a laser focus on a single health topic. It keeps their message on track, and also helps those that take part understand the overarching goal. A focused campaign eliminates the possibility of an audience not understanding and promotes consistent, organic sharing of the message. Read Full Entry

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Patrick Richard, VP of Digital Strategy | April 25th, 2012 | 0 Comments

Thoughts on Social Scrapbooking

Social Scrapbooking

Remember that vacation you took back in the late 90′s? If you do, chances are you have a photo from it framed on the wall, a shoebox of random photos, maybe a VHS video, and if you’re really lucky, you or your loved one created a scrapbook of the event.

Now, remember that vacation you took a couple years back? Chances are you have a ton of digital photos on your iPhone that you never got around to printing but uploaded your favorites to Facebook and Twitter. When you remembered to break out the SLR you uploaded those to Flickr and any digital video you took was either uploaded to YouTube or stored on your hard drive. Read Full Entry

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Ben Harben, Associate Creative Director of Innovation | April 24th, 2012 | 0 Comments

Five Apps Bringing Social Support to Health

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Smartphone adoption worldwide has prompted a gold rush to the health app industry. According to MobiHealthNews’ latest report, Consumer Health Apps for Apple’s iPhone, we can expect upwards of 13,000 health apps in Apple’s AppStore this summer. Accompany that with 40% of doctors believing that using mobile health technologies such as apps to monitor fitness and eating habits can reduce the number of office visits, and you have a recipe for even further growth and functionality of health apps.

In fact, we’re already seeing the sophistication of apps move beyond being merely a tracker or calculator. The top apps on the market today connect users’ health and wellness to their social networks and to people with similar interests or health conditions. Here are 5 apps that are bringing social support to smartphones and health. Read Full Entry

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Tyler Durbin, Marketing Manager | April 23rd, 2012 | 0 Comments

This Week in Social Health

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Web 2.0 and Social Media in Medical Education [Slideshow] | Science Roll

A presentation by Dr. Peter Murray, the director of the International Medical Informatics Association shared his thoughts in a recent presentation about how social media can be used in medical education. He has identified 3 potential areas where education could benefit from social media: 1) Research method for academic research, 2) virtualizing collaboration tools, and 3) the intersection of health and informatics with social media.

1 in 3 Surveyed Say Social Media Changes Attitudes to Medicines | InPharm

According to new research from the Health Research Institute, nearly a third of US social media users say the channel could change the way they think about their medicines. Kelly Barnes, US Health Industries Leader at HRI says, “Health organizations have an opportunity to use social media as a way to better listen, participate in discussions and engage with consumers in ways that extend their interaction beyond a clinical encounter.”

Facebook Pages For Brands Will Get Profile Pic Makeover April 26 | Ignite Health

Who would have guessed brands would want their logo bigger? Starting April 26, 2012, the profile pic for brands (which currently displays at 125 x 125 pixels) will display at 160 x 160 pixels.

How Consumers Are Using Social Media for Healthcare | DTC Marketing

Stat highlights include:

  • 61% of consumers are likely to trust info posted by providers
  • 80% of consumers age 18-24 would be likely to share health info through social
  • One-third of consumers are ok having their social conversations monitored
  • 75% of consumers expect healthcare companies to respond within a day or less
  • 45% of consumers said social affects if they will seek a second opinion

Sony’s Patent for a Medical Device | Engadget

Engadget has unearthed a patent application by Sony from 2010 for a medical device. The device would monitor vitals, transfer this data to a TV, and alert your HMO if your TV show sends you into cardiac arrest.


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Ben Harben, Associate Creative Director of Innovation | April 20th, 2012 | 0 Comments

Debate: You Can’t Do That on The Internet! | Fast Company’s Innovation Uncensored

FastCompany

Reddit cofounder Alexis Ohanian and USC’s Annenberg Innovation Lab director Jonathan Taplin are wrapping up the Innovation Uncensored conference with a fiesty debate on where the boundaries of the internet should be. And, we’re talking about a serious debate here: podiums, a coin toss, rebuttals, a bell, a lot of calls of “that is nonsense.” Wow.

This talk was inspired by the heated debate over SOPA (and apparently all the people in the audience who raised their hands when asked if they’d ever pirated a song or movie).

When Taplin was 22 years old, he went to work as the manager for The Band. For many years after they stopped recording, they made a good living – $150,000 – $200,ooo/ year. Eight years ago that stopped. Two of those great musisicnas are now bankrupt.

We live in a world where the only things people care about are intellectual property – software, books, music. But we don’t value them. The income in these industries has dropped precipitously. And, no one seems to care.

There are two typical answers we explore: technology and diplomacy. One we can break; the other doesn’t work.

People believe it should be free – you should just see ads to ssupport the content. Who benefits from free? Reddit benefits from free, Google benefits from free.

Artists don’t. That’s who gets hurt.

The issue isn’t about laws. It’s about volunteering to do the right thing. Starting with Google not selling ads on pirate websites, not linking to pirate websites, not pretending they can’t control the content on YouTube.

Change of sides:

Ohanin wants us to bring us data and hope. He says the data we see from people like Taplin is slective – yes, ticket sales at movie theaters have dropped dramatically, but revenue has held steady and even increased.  Yes, music revenue have decreased, but dollars spent on gaming have increased. With limited dollars, we’ve changed what we buy.

Ohanian is in the industry because he believes in hope. Like Kickstarter, where $99,344,382 has been raised – people giving people money directly for their art. The internet is a global stage where anyone with an internet connection can get access to your work and choose to support you. 10% of the films at Sundance were funded by Kickstarts.

It has a downside, sure – you can no longer build a business model around scarcity. You can’t force people to buy a little black discs.

But this is innovation. We’re going to see more projects like this that let people work with their fans and not treat them like criminals.

Here they begin the hand-to-hand combat:

  • Only 19% of theatrical revenue is from movie tickets. It’s the DVD sales that are disappearing
  • Gaming is using a scarcity model – that’s how they continue to make revenue
  • These flimsy independent models on Kickstarter aren’t serious filmmakers – most won’t get a distribution model
  • Artists cannot compete with free

It’s the business model that’s under debate. Pre selling your work (Kickstarter) or paying per download (only 27% of music downloaded is paid for).

The one part of the music businesss that continues to do well is Music Publishing – the flat fee that bars, stores, etc., pay to play music in their venues. What if we extended that model to the Global ISPs – every broadband subscribers pays a few bucks a month to get access to all the music in the world.

Ohanian sees another model – micro patrons. Harking back to the time when rich people funded an artist painting, say, the Sistine Chapel. Maybe people would pay, say $1/month, for ongoing exclusive access to an artist they care about.

Sooooo – what do you think?

As we wrap up here (i.e. in the last seconds before we dash out for a cab and an airport cocktail), just a quick nod to Baratunde Thurston – the best conference host we’ve seen. Thurston is the director of digital at The Onion and the author of How to Be Black. And, honestly, a complete delight.

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Leigh Householder, VP/Managing Director of Innovation Strategy | April 18th, 2012 | 0 Comments

Fostering Innovation at Your Company | Fast Company’s Innovation Uncensored

FastCompany

Danielle Sacks, Fast Company, brought one more panel to the stage to really talk about how best to truly create a culture of innovation:

  • Mark Crumpacker, CMO, Chipotle Mexican Grill
  • Stephen Hoover, CEO, PARC, a Xerox company
  • Bob Lord, Global CEO, Razorfish
  • Sarah Robb O’Hagan, President, Gatorade, a division of PepsiCo

Gatorade started rapidly changing when they asked where else they could compete:  Why are we only making drinks – why not food, shakes, anything an athelete would consume? Why just products? We have more knowledge about atheletic persformance than any other company in the world – why wouldn’t we turn that into a service model?

They believe that the teams who are most successful at innovation passionately believe in the work. At Gatorade, everyone on the team passionately believes in helping athletes be better, faster. Without that passion, it’s like having an orchestra that’s out of tune.

Razorfish’s new business model is moving away from just hiring great creative people to creating products that let them work with clients in new ways. One of the biggest areas they’re innovating in is connected commerce – ways to bring your social network to stores, ways retail can better know you. At the core of that is great partnerships – like working with Facebook to create something novel you’ve never seen or used before.

Lord (at Razorfish) has set a bar for good work: Are we giving clients brand new thinking? Is it our best thinking? It started out as a management mantra, but has been adopted much more broadly. It’s how they continue push themselves and keep the culture innovative.

At Chipotle, they initially believed that the more people who knew about food integrity, the more likely they were to become long-term returning customers. It turned out not to be entirely true because only 20 – 30% of people really care about that. In order to get people engaged in that idea of creating a more sustainable world and taking the exploitation out of fast food, they have to make learning about it a good time – delicious, fun, entertaining. So, Chipotle started a music label (their first song is by Willie Nelson – an iQ fave) and started producing videos and documentary. Oh, and the first video short story they produced >> it’s a delightful cartoon:

At Parc, they believe that every company is a technology company – whether they want to be or not. The companies that have really used technology to innovate experiences have challenging environments – challenging in a constructive way. They make sure criticism isn’t personal. It’s ok to fail. They know if you kill people because they fail, you’ll never get any innovation.

Fantastic reminder from Hoover at PARC: “Doing nothing is not risk free.”

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Leigh Householder, VP/Managing Director of Innovation Strategy | April 18th, 2012 | 0 Comments

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