B2People: Humanly Relevant Marketing

This is a repost of the latest article I wrote for Forbes on the idea of B2People.
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The lines have blurred throughout the historically “distinct” macro-target markets. Traditionally, marketing is broken down into three key areas, B2C, B2B and B2G. Each one has essentially marketed to different groups: the first, clearly, to another business, wholesaler or retailer; the second to consumers directly; and the last to government entities.

However, this approach is problematic, especially when targeting the B2B and B2G audiences. Yes, there is certain language that resonates within each group. For example, a manufacturer needs to use language that is directly applicable to a wholesaler. And a defense contractor ought to know the correct language to approach the Pentagon. But, as marketing professionals, we must go beyond the basics. It appears that a fundamental component is lost.

We have forgotten that regardless of the target market, the key decision-maker, whether he or she is a financial adviser, a hospital administrator, a CEO, a mom buying a toy for her child, or the head of a large contractor for the military, is first and foremost a human. Such decision-makers have fears and joys; trials and tribulations; and moments that bring them happiness. This is true both professionally and personally. Ultimately, that means our approach to communications needs to evolve.

We should no longer look at communications purely from a B2B, B2C or B2G angle. It is now B2People.

So, what is B2People? B2People ensures that messaging, regardless of the audience, is humanly relevant. Therefore, as we approach each key challenge, we need to ask ourselves key questions and try to stand in our target audience’s shoes: What is important to our key target audience? What is keeping them up at night? What is important for them to feel successful? What are they feeling about their industry, about our product, about the cultural climate? How can we shift these perceptions in a meaningful way? Once we determine the answers to these questions, it’s our job to connect the dots.

B2People is about recognizing we are speaking to real people who do real things and then communicating with them in a language that is relevant to their real lives. Marketing that achieves this goal is the most impactful, most engaging and by far the most effective.

For the New Year remember who your true target is: human beings.

"Don't waste a good crisis."

Last night I attended the final Conversations about the Future of Advertising (#CATFOA) event for 2009. I was excited to go to this particular event because the founder and CEO of Big Spaceship, Michael Leibowitz, was speaking.

Michael's presentation focused on evolving from the mindset of creating "ads that people will love" to one of creating a value exchange between brands and their audiences. I agree that marketing is value exchange. It is not about capturing attention but about earning attention through respect.

He also discussed the major infrastructure issues facing advertisers and agencies. These challenges encourage opportunistic thinking: "Never waste a good crisis." In other words, NOW is the time to try something new and different. Take some chances. Push your boundaries.

Probably the most interesting aspect of the presentation was his views on work-place culture. Culture is key to creating great work. People need to feel comfortable expressing their opinions and appreciated for the work they are doing. To quote Michael indirectly, he wants his employees to feel like they work in the best place on earth. By creating an atmosphere of collaboration in which all employees are considered "creatives," they are able to create internal and external projects that push boundaries. Also, another great piece of insight: "Don't hire assholes no matter how talented. They will kill your culture."

I've been a fan of Big Spaceship's work for years. So, getting the opportunity to hear about their work, their culture and their founder's views on advertising/interactive marketing was great! I'm impressed with almost all the pieces of work I've seen.

Just to give you an idea of some of their work, here's a few internal pieces they produced:




And here is a motion demo of one of their best-known and award-winning pieces, HBO Voyeur:


A full recap video of Michael's presentation can be found here. I'd love to know what others think of his insights!

Who are your career "heroes?"

Last night, I attended an event for the Minneapolis chapter of the Interpublic Group's Women's Leadership Network. A panel of three senior-level women, Nancy Knutson, senior marketing communications manager at Jack Link's, Maureen Bausch, executive vice president for Mall of America and Sona Mehring, founder and executive director of CaringBridge, shared the story of their career trajectory and advice for others wishing to benefit from their expertise. It was moderated by KMSP anchor Robyne Robinson.

In addition to getting multiple packets of Jack Link's beef jerky (a definite plus!), the event got me thinking about my career role models and mentors. One consistent theme among all four women was the role that mentors and their professional heroes played in helping them realize their goals. So, naturally, I started thinking about who my "heroes" are.

The list I came up with surprised me a little. One of them was an obvious choice as a leader in the advertising industry, but the other three were people I know personally who have inspired me - definitely not a conclusion I expected. The list below is in no particular order.

1) David Droga (the obvious choice): David Droga, the founder of Droga5, runs an advertising agency that consistently comes up with some of the most fun and engaging work in the industry. He's smart, creative and uses his influence for positive change (not something that is common in advertising). I love his work for the Tap Project.

Also, love the awesome viral stunt, "bike hero."
Plus, we can't forget the latest Puma website, which I just ran into today - Puma Lift. It's brilliantly fun.

2) Nick O'Neill, creator of AllFacebook.com and the Social Times: I met my friend, Nick, when we both worked at Fleishman Hillard Digital in Washington, DC. At the time, Nick was always talking about how he was starting his own company - not something you usually hear from someone in their mid-twenties with no expendable income. Nick went out, found funders and did it. Two years later, he's a successful entrepreneur.

To directly quote his profile on Facebook, "being highly active in the web and entrepreneurial communities, locally and nationally, Nick helped to bring the first Tech Cocktail to Washington, D.C. With the opening of the Facebook platform, Nick saw a huge opportunity and has become fully dedicated to covering the social networking phenomenon and developing creative applications for clients looking to gain exposure. Since the launch of the platform Nick has been featured on NPR, Fast Company, Practical Ecommerce, The New York Times and multiple other national publications." Nick sets goals and finds ways to accomplish what often doesn't seem possible.

3) Mark Clark, Deputy Program Manager at SAIC: Hands down, Mark is the best boss I've ever had. I worked with him originally at the Fund for Peace. There, Mark developed the Conflict Assessment System Tool (CAST), a computer-based model to assess vulnerable, failing and failed countries. Even though, I was only an intern, Mark included me in the work, which ended up providing the background for my Master's thesis. When Mark moved on to his next job at SAIC, he brought me with him as a short-term contractor.

Mark is one of the most intelligent people I've worked with and inspires intellectual curiosity in his coworkers. In addition, Mark has been consistently supportive throughout my professional growth. He is a friend as well as a mentor.

4) Grant Eull, Senior Interactive Art Director at Colle+McVoy: Grant's passion for all things interactive is amazing. It inspires me and excites my passion for the digital field.

Grant was one of the best teachers I had in my time at Brainco. He brings excitement both about the field and his students' work to each class. He is an instructor who truly cares about his students. And, he's a creative who truly loves the interactive field.

I'd love to hear who other people's career "heroes" are. Who are the people that inspire you?

Fallon's Skimmer - Cool app to keep up with your social networks

Today, Fallon launched Skimmer, an Adobe AIR application "designed to streamline, beautify, and enhance the experience of participating in your most frequently used social networking activities." Skimmer streams Twitter, Flickr, Facebook, YouTube, and Blogger onto one desktop dashboard. This feed content can be filtered by service, by group, or by keyword. In addition, you have the ability upload pictures and videos to Flickr and Youtube.



I immediately downloaded it to see what I thought. I have to say it did make things a lot easier. I could easily follow what was going on with all my friends on Facebook and Twitter, as well as any blog updates. For me, the only downside was that it got a bit overwhelming since I hadn't grouped my friends yet.

Apparently, (via Creativity Online) the app has launched in conjunction with Fallon's new corporate Web site — employees’ social media activity will be published via Skimmer within Fallon.com. In some ways, I see this as the next step in the evolution of agency sites from the traditional to a site like Modernista's where a floating menu bar that superimposes its logo and a small clickable menu over the top of whatever referring page you clicked from to Fallon's where all employees' social media activity is openly published on the site. While I think this is an interesting idea, I wonder how much monitoring it will take as employees come and go and if it will force employees to be much more private since their whole lives are now fully connected to their employer.

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the role of the communications professional

Lately, I've been thinking a lot about the role of the communications professional. Obviously, the main purpose of a communicator is to communicate — about products, clients, whatever we are selling at that point. While we are capable of "selling" whatever product or message we are asked to by our clients or companies, should we? Or, should we really try to only "sell" those ideas, products, etc. that we truly believe in?

I have worked many areas of the communications field for the last eight years and the one thing that has remained consistent is my need to feel a sense of purpose in whatever my client or company is promoting. In some cases, it has been easy to find. For example, any of my work that addresses complex global issues, especially human rights, resonates with me on a very deep level. Of course, that makes a lot of sense since I chose to get a Master's degree in International Relations with a human rights focus.

On the other hand, I definitely have had clients where I didn't connect to their message or product. In some cases, I didn't even agree with what they were doing on an ethical level. In those situations, it has not been easy to find the purpose in the work. However, I have been lucky because it was the great teams, both on the client side and within my company, that turned the situation from a negative into something that was more positive. Sure, I didn't like the basic message, the product or the policies of the client, but I believed in the team members and wanted them to succeed. I wonder how I would have handled it had that not been the case.

Melanie Winn

This past December one of my closest friends, Melanie Winn, passed away unexpectedly. Melanie was someone I always looked up to as an amazing friend, an incredible mother to her son, Tyler, and a devoted wife to her husband, Jeremy. Her loss has been very hard.

In addition to all of that, Melanie was a constant support as I attempted to go through portfolio school. She was encouraging and supportive of my abilities even when I was doubting myself completely.

Melanie worked at Partners+Simons, an advertising agency out of Boston. Today I got a message on Facebook about a meaningful initiative they are doing for her 1-year old son, Tyler. I feel very lucky to have known Melanie and will definitely be participating.

"Melanie Winn, a 10-year P+s'er passed away December 11th. Those of us who have had the pleasure to know Melanie will always remember her for her strength, spirit and kindness.

We have two wonderful initiatives for Tyler Winn, Melanie's 14 month old son.

The Tyler Win Education Fund
We have opened 529 Plan for Tyler. Partners+ simons has kicked off the fund with an initial deposit of $10,000.
Deposits can be made payable to: Tyler Winn Education Fund
Send to: Sovereign Bank, 2 South Station Concourse, Boston, MA 02210, Attention: Tyler Winn Education Fund

Melanie Memories Book
We are creating a book of memories of Melanie for Tyler. Keeping Mel's spirit in our hearts and sharing our memories of her with her son. Share your memories of Mel: the wonderful memories, the sincere memories, and especially the silly memories. Crystal remembers how Mel made her use Purell before letting her hold Tyler. I remember Mel sharing her coveted tiara with Shinlei the day Shinlei became a US Citizen.
Please send your stories and photos to jamie@partnersandsimons.com by 1/16/09.

Please pass this on to anyone who may want to participate."

And, yet again I circle

Lately, I've been giving a lot of thought to the potential different directions my life can take. While this is something that is very common for me, I'm finding that my two main career interests appear to be circling each other again.

When I was back in New England for vacation, I met someone who got me thinking again about how important it is to do work that you find meaningful. The conversations both with him the night I met him and through email afterward made me start to question... How do I reconnect my background in human rights and international conflict resolution with my current work both as a designer and as a professional in the advertising and public relations field? Is there a way to do it without completely closing one of the doors?

I'm not sure what the answer is. One thing I have been considering is volunteer work. While that sounds a little insane with my current schedule of working a full time job, taking classes in art direction four nights a week, working on projects outside of class and attempting to sleep or occasionally go to the gym, I really think it might be something that is necessary for me to do. With that being said, I started looking into places in the Twin Cities that could be a good fit for my interests and with their needs. The solution, as of now, is the Center for Victims of Torture.

I applied to be a volunteer so now it's just wait and see if they want my help and what kind of help they want. And, of course, continuing to think about options to reconnect my interests.