Congratulations are in order. A&R has been acquired by Edelman.

Edelman has been looking at a lot of Silicon Valley firms to strengthen its tech practice and A&R is definitely a firm that will return Edelman to the game in tech PR. Bob Angus — whom I do not know — has built an impressive organization with stand-out clients such as Adobe, Mozilla and Palm.

A&R stood as a strong independent in a market dominated by conglomerates. We have great respect for A&R and we wish the entire firm future success.

We hope to continue in the spirit of A&R and keep bringing new ideas, new communities and fresh perspective to help companies ranging from startups to world-class corporations build their brands and capture markets.

– Richard Cline

Technorati Tags: PR, Silicon Valley

What do you call a small band of militant primates promoting goods and services one person and one community at a time? Exactly.



At the risk of sounding like some borish writer with too much time on his hands, let’s at least set the record straight.



Gorilla = A large primate living in seclusion. Remarkable species to be appreciated from a distance. Close encounters can results in loss of limbs and severe injury (see: larry ellison)



Guerrilla = A small band of militants acting independently of any organization or ethos. This group can both liberate and annihilate all at once (see: byte and switch editorial staff)



Guerilla = An emerging gaggle of marketers who need a dictionary or a style guide

– RC

Technorati Tags: Marketing, PR

PRWeek released today the results of its 2006 Marketing Management Survey. A few insightful stats:

When asked which big ad holding companies did a good job of offering integrated marketing strategies, the top company was Omnicom at only 17.3% of the vote, followed by:

WPP with 11.7%

Interpublic Group at 10.9%

Publicis Groupe at 7.9%

Havas at 3.8%

The top answer by a long stretch, at a whopping 68.8%, was “none of them.”

Only 7.5% of marketers said holding companies were more effective at offering integrated strategies than independent firms.

When asked what external partner would you most likely seek to plan integrated communications, 27.8% of marketers said a consulting company, 28.6% said a PR agency, and ad agencies came in third with 20.7%.

The most significant change over last year’s agency mix is that the number of marketers using Internet/new-media agencies has nearly doubled, from 9.8% to 19.2%, and half have seen their new media budgets increase

Marketers are using very new media 19.9% are podcasting, up from zero percent two years ago 25% are using viral Web campaigns 21.4% are creating blogs.

Respondents were asked to pick which disciplines were most suited for various tasks, and advertising was not the first choice for any. PR was the discipline of choice for product launches; generating word of mouth; building corporate reputation; managing a crisis; and changing perceptions. Direct marketing was the preferred tool for ongoing product promotion; targeting niche audiences; and increasing sales.

– Voce Nation

Technorati Tags: Marketing, PR, PRWeek, Research

Voce is proud to be part of an online auction benefiting the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, which invests in blood cancer research and patient services. The fundraiser - appropriately named Out for Blood is running on eBay May 8-18. (Hat tip to Tom Foremski and the NY Times for writing about the campaign.)

There are some big ticket items up for auction, such as World Cup Soccer tickets; AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am tickets; autographed jerseys from Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Roger Craig and Brent Jones; a customized racing bike from Specialized; and pre-show tickets to Saturday Night Live.

In addition, there are other unique items worth highlighting because they involve high-profile Silicon Valley executives who have graciously donated their time to support this fundraiser. Seagate CEO Bill Watkins, eBay President Bill Cobb, Symantec CEO John Thompson and Solectron CEO Mike Cannon have joined forces to support this fundraiser by creating one-of-a-kind opportunities for bidders to spend quality time with them, such as one-on-one lunch meetings and rounds of golf. (Specifics are listed below)

Communications consultants always encourage their executives to get involved in charities because it makes for good press. We can tell you that these men are involved because they are passionate about the cause. Here’s a press release quote from Watkins, who is also a member of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society’s Board of Trustees in the organization’s Silicon Valley & Monterey Bay Area Chapter:

"At Seagate, we strongly support the effort to find a cure for the devastating diseases the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society so diligently targets," said Seagate CEO and President Bill Watkins. "The online auction is a fun and effective way to get involved in the effort as well as offering people in the community to learn more about the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and its efforts to fund research and help those diagnosed with these debilitating diseases."

So, if you are an entrepreneur looking for a litmus test for your next "big idea" or if you are a recent graduate looking for a job, here’s your chance to get some time with leaders in the Silicon Valley.

Items Up for Auction:

• Lunch with Bill Cobb, President of eBay North America: Cobb overseas the marketing, strategic planning and business development for all of eBay’s North American businesses.
• Lunch with John Thompson, CEO of Symantec: Symantec is the global leader in information security and availability, helping customers secure and manage their data. Under Thompson’s guidance, Symantec went from a $632 million consumer antivirus company in 1999 to an enterprise security player with $2.5 billion in sales in 2004.
• A round of golf with Bill Watkins, President & CEO of Seagate Technology and Mike Cannon, CEO of Solectron: Under Watkins’ leadership, Seagate was named Forbes magazine’s Company of the Year in January 2006. Cannon recently addressed global business leaders at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland.

A Voce Nation Feature Interview with Marketing Powerhouse Procter & Gamble (Part 2)

In this second part of our two-part series, Voce Nation chats it up with P&G big wig Jeff Weedman and his associate Jack Dierkes about how the $70 billion consumer giant has embraced influencer marketing:

Voce Nation: I’d like to go back to the focus group you talked about. Did you have trouble selling that internally? A lot of people in PR are having trouble with these non-traditional campaigns because, as I said earlier, some people get it and some people don’t. Was there resistance there? And what kind of results have you gotten to prove your case?

Jeff: In reverse order, the results we’ve gotten are pretty phenomenal, both internally and externally. On tremor, we made that capability available to select outside companies and there was significant uptake there. Now, what is intriguing is that we don’t have many P&G brands that are focused on teenagers within P&G. So at one point, we were selling more of this capability externally than we were internally. And moms are my next center of the plate for P&G products, and that’s why the enthusiasm around our moms ‘vocal point’ panel capability is so high.

I think it is fair to say that this is not a student body lap and we are not going to run away from the media. People still watch American Idol. They still listen to the radio. And there still are an awful lot of magazines to read. We are not going to walk away from those; this is about how we are going to augment these capabilities. And I think, like any business, there are early adopters and others to follow

Voce Nation: I realize you may not be able to provide specifics, but generally speaking, what kind of results did you receive? What were the first signs that it was working?

Jack: I won’t give you the specific percent increase/business growth, but needless to say, Procter measures everything. We are a very data driven company, and every time we ran a program, we got a control and measured the results of any program against that control - and the results were significant. Such that we are getting customers coming back for repeat business, both internal and external customers.

Voce Nation: Is there an online component to these programs?

Jeff: I think the fact is that ‘Tremor’ and ‘Vocal Point’ both use a lot of online capability. We also have a separate group on P & G that is focused on online advertising, and making sure that the website is user friendly. But my guess is that is not what you were looking for.

Voce Nation: I’m asking more about the Social Media side - user groups, blogs etc.

Jeff: Yes, but I think it is fair to say that people running our ‘Tremor’ business fully recognize that all is not done in cyberspace. There has to be a non-virtual, real-time communication. There are programs available, but it’s not one sided. It is not one single type of channel making this work, i.e. cyberspace. I don’t know about you, but my parents are in their 70’s and email is their reality. I bet you can talk to your dad about cars online and you will also meet him for Sunday dinner. You cannot only deal with one channel of communication with your dad, and similarly, P & G needs to use all the channels possible, not just one.

The messages that are being delivered by word of mouth are written against the same strategies that are seen in television or in print. The delivery of the message and how it is said, is relevant to that particular listener. Voce Nation:. So P&G is kind of the marketing benchmark, eh? In the marketing world, many companies silo their programs - “here is the PR budget, here is the advertising budget, here is the website budget” etc. Of course there are key messages that are consistent throughout, but to tie this all together in a simplified manner is amazingly difficult to do - sounds like you have figured out a way to do this effectively.

Jeff: I think it’s essential because all you get otherwise is combination of a bunch of different things, as opposed to the multiplicative effect of having those work together for you.

Technorati Tags: Innovation, Marketing, Media, P&G

A Voce Nation Feature Interview with Marketing Powerhouse Procter & Gamble (Part 1)

What do 600,000 moms and 200,000 teenagers have in common? They’re all card-carrying members of the Procter & Gamble word of mouth army. In this two-part series, Voce Nation chats it up with P&G big wig Jeff Weedman and his associate Jack Dierkes about how the $70 billion consumer giant has embraced influencer marketing.

P&G Snapshot:

Year Founded: 1837

Annual Revenue: Roughly $70 Billion

Market Cap: $191.13 Billion

Market Segments and Customers: The company operates in five segments: P&G Beauty, Health Care, Baby Care and Family Care, Fabric Care and Home Care, and Snacks and Coffee. Its customers include merchandisers, grocery stores, membership club stores, and drug stores. It markets approximately 300 branded products in approximately 160 countries.

Interesting Tidbit: Jeff Weedman’s office neighbor in the early days of P&G was Steve Ballmer. At the time, Ballmer was in the oil business (Crisco and Puritan oil for P&G, that is).

Voce Nation: Jeff, can you tell our readers who you are and what you do for Procter & Gamble?

Jeff: I am the Vice President for external business development, which at P & G means I’m responsible for a wide variety of activities. Most importantly, I’m in charge of helping to accelerate our innovation by accepting capabilities, technologies, and products from external companies.

Voce Nation: What do you mean by “external companies?”



Jeff: Anything from small entrepreneurs who have new products to large technology companies that can help us run our business smarter, faster, more efficiently. Our CEO believes that innovation is not just in product or technology — although those are very powerful engines that have driven much of Procter’s success. He believes that innovation is something that needs to drive everything in our business model; how we go to market, how we interface with consumer, how we talk to our customers, how we ship our products. He is looking for external solutions across the total business model.

Voce Nation: I don’t think a lot of people think of “innovation” when they think of Procter & Gamble.



Jeff: Well, Businessweek recently named us one of the top 10 of most innovative companies.

Voce Nation: Perhaps we here in Silicon Valley are a bit skewed when it comes to the word “innovation.” It’s thrown around here quite a bit - in just about every press release. We’re talking about a different definition of “Innovation” here I assume?

Jeff: I think that is a fair point. I take a look at that and say P&G embraced the move from radio to television, and we are major players in terms of the Internet. The reason I am glad that Jack Dierkes (Associate Director, External Business Development, P&G) is here is because of the work we are doing in word-of-mouth is - it’s pretty cutting edge. The amount of time we spend in understanding consumers and what their needs are is immense. If we spun out all of our market knowledge people, consumer and market knowledge (which encompasses market research and things like that) and created an independent company, it would be one the largest companies in the world. Those are the kinds of investments we make to be innovative. But I accept your point that a lot of people don’t think about it the same way as Silicon Valley innovation, but perhaps that’s shortsightedness.

Voce Nation: You mentioned word of mouth — customers being influenced by other customers. What kind of delivery mechanisms do you use to increase word of mouth and build brand equity?

Jack: Well, for the last five to six years, we have been getting into the world of word of mouth marketing in a very big way. In the late 90’s, we launched something called ‘Tremor.’ Tremor is a panel of about 200,000 teenagers through which we run word-of-mouth marketing programs. Just in the last year we have expanded that concept to something we call ‘Vocal Point.’ Vocal Point is a panel of 600,000 moms that we run word-of-mouth marketing through. We are finding that as advertising has become more difficult — more fragmented — that word of mouth is becoming even more and more important, and is rapidly becoming the most effective way to reach consumers. With ‘Tremor’ and ‘Vocal Point’, we have some really good innovation here, we’ve got some intellectual property that we think is a great way to identify people to talk to and how to deliver messages to them such that marketing can be effective.



Jeff: Dave, let me play a game with you for a second. If you have to go out and buy a new car, are there people that you might go chat with that you think will be more knowledgeable about cars than others?

Voce Nation: Yes, definitely. I have to admit, I still go to my father. He’s from the older generation and built his own car when he was fifteen. That just doesn’t happen anymore, not since the 40s and 50s, maybe early 60’s.

Jeff: I understand what you mean. Also think back to when you were in high school, didn’t they seem to be some kid that seemed to be in ‘the know’ than others?

Voce Nation: Yes.

Jeff: And even today, take this hot new trendy restaurant, aren’t they people you interface with that always seem to be in ‘the know’?

Voce Nation: Of course.



Jeff: Part of making word-of-mouth advertising effective is to understand that some teens/some moms are more connected and more knowledgeable than others. But then how do you identify them? What are the characteristics of the “more-connected” people? Let’s assume you identify them, guess what? How you talk to them is different than how you talk to other less “well connected” people. What you say to them, how you provide data to them can very much effect how they pass on that data. Why? Because they can choose to pass it on in a very positive or negative way. Understanding what motivates them, how they are willing to accept that data, and what they do with that data, takes a huge amount of understanding and capability. And being able to build a business model around that, I would offer, is pretty cutting edge.

P & G has a belief: we never tell people what to say about our products or our business. We provide the data and they can say anything they want. It is kind of like your blogging experience. If I were to say “Hey Dave you gotta say this in your blog,” you’d probably say “Jeff that’s not really your call.” So understanding that, figuring out how to codify, how often to talk to people, whether they are willing to listen to you, is very important. The old days it was easy, as Jack says, when there were three TV networks and you could get 80% of the population. But here is what the truth is now: when I asked you where you get your car information, you said your dad. I suspect this depresses the auto companies. They are spending hundreds of millions of dollars in advertising, and you still talk to dad.

Voce Nation: Interesting. It sounds like a very simple concept, but it’s surprising how few companies truly understand it. We tend to run into a fair number of non-believers - intelligent marketing folks that obsess solely about getting into The Wall Street Journal or USA Today. Those outlets are obviously important, but what we see now is there is a great deal of influence in smaller, connected groups of people talking regularly to one another.

Jeff: Absolutely. In fact, our company is probably the largest advertiser in the world, and I run the organization that is very focused on attracting things that will accelerate our innovation, products and capabilities. Considering all this, do you know what my marketing budget is? Zero. Jeff (P&G PR) is my entire marketing staff because he is in external relations. It is about finding the right audience to talk to that will generate the additional follow-on questions.

Perfect example. I met you through the Churchill Club and am now doing this blog post. And maybe six months from now, when it is a historical thing, someone may read it and call me and say “I saw the blog entry, and so I google’d you and you gave a talk about something in 2001, would you be interested in…?”

In fact, at P&G we have a saying, “serendipity happens routinely.”

Technorati Tags: Innovation, Marketing, Media, P&G, Silicon Valley