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“Wow!”

That was my first line to kick off our seminar at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival on Friday, June 25. “Wow!” is also the easiest way for me to describe the amount of work we put into the event, and the combined reactions of those who had a chance to join our seminar. After months of planning and preparation we pulled off our first-ever seminar in Cannes at the annual gathering of the world’s leaders in advertising and marketing. Although I am still in a bit of a daze since coming off the stage nearly two weeks ago, my mind is already racing to develop ideas for the next big way that we can spread the next evolution of marketing. But before rushing on to what’s next, I want to capture and celebrate what we pulled off here.

Before I go on, though, I suggest that you invest the 45 minutes to view our complete seminar footage, which is up and available here. Or if you’re really time-strapped, first check out some highlights in the YouTube video above.

Recap

Way back around October 2009, our President, Jay Woffington, and I had lunch with Jim Stengel, former Global Marketing Officer of Procter & Gamble and now global speaker/consultant and professor at the UCLA Anderson School of Business. My book had just launched and Jim was continuing to spread his belief in brand ideals. We talked about our common desire to change the way marketing is performed, and we agreed that there was no better place than the annual Cannes Advertising Festival—a place where advertising and marketing leaders from around the world gather once a year to judge the best work, compare notes on where the industry is going, and bring back lessons that might be applied to the incredible changes surging through business and society today. We decided to team up and the folks at the Cannes Lions organization were excited to have us onboard for a seminar in late June.

In retrospect, deciding to do a seminar in Cannes and getting agreement from its leaders was the easy part. The real challenge lay in deciding what to do on our big stage. Thankfully we had some help. Two of our top creative leaders at Bridge Worldwide, Jason Bender and George Alexander, came up with the idea of asking a Burning Question. They argued that people in our industry are spending too much time searching for answers to questions such as: “What percentage of my budget should I spend on digital?,” “Do I need a new ad agency?,” and “What should my Facebook strategy be?” They reasoned that marketers are spending too much time looking for answers in new media tactics, and are therefore missing the big, fundamental shift that is happening in business and society. Their idea was for Jim and me to ask our Cannes audience a Burning Question, that, when asked, could help organizations hit the reset button and fundamentally adjust their methods to not only improve business results, but also improve life for customers, employees, stakeholders, and society overall.

To prepare for the event, Jim and I set up interviews with key leaders at some of the world’s largest marketers in the world. We were blown away to get 100% of our requests accepted from IBM, AT&T, Kraft, P&G, Levi’s, Luxottica, Pepsi, and Samsung. We flew camera crews around the country to ask these leaders our Burning Question and learn about how they recognized a need for change, the initial efforts they are making to shift, and the business and stakeholder benefits that are resulting from these early efforts. We were surprised to hear similar stories, and eager to share them with our audience in Cannes and beyond.

And to engage with more than the relative handful of folks who can go to Cannes, we sought to bring marketers around the world into the discussion. On BurningQuestion.com we asked people to post what they believed are the questions we should be asking ourselves. And we even ran a contest to bring two people over with us based on their personal efforts to improve the marketing world. Our winners were Stan Phelps, who is pioneering a new way to “give a little something extra” through his Marketing Lagniappe project, and Tyson Adams, a budding “philanthroprenuer” who just started a business called liveGLOCAL, that sells high-quality coffee and provides books for children in Laos for each bag sold. Both guys are incredible leaders who will continue to drive the next evolution of marketing in their own unique ways.

The Results

After a week of final-final preparation and taking in the other seminars and award-winning work in Cannes (see my blog posts here, here, and here), I was very eager to finally take the stage on Friday. Overall I was very pleased with the seminar. As you can see in the full-length video, we did a lot of things to drum up excitement and ensure that no one was disappointed to be sitting in our session on a Friday afternoon. I think we were able to weave together many threads that were running through Cannes all week and give the group something to thinking about, our Burning Question:

“How can we, in marketing and business, hold ourselves to a higher standard to create a positive impact on those we serve, our employees, and even the world?“

After the seminar we invited everyone in the audience up to the roof of the Palais to continue the conversation. I loved the chance to meet people from places as diverse as Ecuador, Turkey, India, and Australia—all struggling to figure out where the marketing world is going, and all coming away with some new thinking that they can apply to their brands and businesses. I gave away a few hundred copies of my book and collected a pocketful of business cards from potential clients, partners, and even competitors who wanted to keep talking about how we might work together toward this common goal. (Check out some of the after-seminar photos below…)

I find that it’s always hard to look at the time and money investment of an event like this and figure out if it was worth it. This was the biggest thing our agency has ever put on, and ultimately we are betting that by driving the industry conversation forward we will attract new clients and further build our business. Just like all of you, we are betting that we will succeed by creating Marketing with Meaning.

The work is not over, however, as we’ve come back down to earth and back to our desks and day jobs. We are working on plans to further share our seminar and the hours of amazing interviews footage with industry leaders. Jim and I even have a few requests to repeat the performance at industry events and corporate training facilities.

And, of course, I’ve already started thinking about what we could do in Cannes next year. I think the topic will only be hotter in 2011, and we want to continue to build on the momentum we have started. I would love your ideas and feedback in the comments below!

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Social media didn’t invent conversations, it provided us with tools to surface and organize them. Conversations about brands predates the mediums used to connect messages and aspirations with consumers.

The motivation for brands to engage in social networks varies based on the culture and agility of each company, but what is constant is the aspiration to connect with customers and prospects to earn awareness, attention and connections. On the other hand, B2B and B2C consumers have also expressed desire to connect with those brands whose intent is genuine and beneficial to the each engagement and the overall relationship. The time has come to not only engage, but do so in a way that’s mutually beneficial to individuals, brands, and the ecosystem at large.

In April 2010, Performics commissioned ROI Research to study Twitter behavior around brands. The study found that 33% of Twitter users share opinions about companies or products at least once per week. More so, 32% make recommendations while 30% seek guidance and direction.

Did you get that?

33% talk brands 1x per week

32% make recommendations

30% seed advice

In the study, we see can compare responses over a short six month period. Depending on how you interpret the data, it appears as though consumer behavior is inching towards the promised land or on the other hand, the documented uptick demonstrates a slow or slowing adoption rate.

Twitter

Clearly, Twitter users are supportive. Their responses and also their online activity indicates tells us as much. But if you were to base future decisions on social marketing and service strategies, the results of this particular study might cause you to second guess your plans. While the numbers are still incredibly promising, we must read between the lines to see beyond a slight downward trend.

Just over 40% would attend a promotional or sponsored event, which for Twitter, equates to the need to factor Tweetups or meetups into the mix.

Roughly 45% stated that they would link to a brand-related ad, which is consistent between 2009 and 2010.

Here’s where things get interesting…In 2009, 51% claimed that they would purchase the company’s product/service, but only 48% expressed similar sentiment in 2010.

In 2009, 55% admitted to talking about or expressed a willingness to discuss brands whereas 52% stated as such in 2010.

Referrals also took a slight hit, with 55% in 2009 and 53% in 2010 stating that they would recommend the product/brand as a result of online connections.

Facebook

Earlier this year, I made a controversial prediction at the Ragan Social Media Conference hosted by Coca Cola. I predicted that in 2011, brands would dedicate greater time and resources to cultivating communities on Facebook over Twitter. I shared this idea not because I believe that Twitter is going to become less prevalent in overall marketing mix, instead I believe that Facebook will grow in its prominence as a centralized hub for defining the consumer experience where brand managers will host organized events, interaction, commerce, and corresponding activity.  The data below seems to offer a glimpse that this might be the case.

Facebook edged a bit higher between the 2009 and 2010 studies, almost across the board.

Consumers expressed a 3% increase between 2009-2010 from 26 to 29% when it comes to interacting with the brand in Facebook.

Customers also shared that engagement on Facebook helps them feel as if they’re valued, increasing from 28 to 30%.

When it comes to inviting greater interaction, growth was stagnant year over year.

Overall, many believe that Facebook is a solid way to get information about companies and products edging 1% higher from 40 to 41%

The Role of the Social Consumer is Gaining Momentum and Importance

When we compare this data to another recent study conducted by Chadwick Martin Bailey along with iModerate Research Technologies, we find that individuals who follow brands on Facebook and Twitter are 51% and 67% respectively more likely to buy a product post connection.  Accordingly, Facebook and Twitter users are 60% and 79% more likely to recommend a brand as a result of the engagement online. Those numbers are astounding, yet the opportunity is far from realized.

However, it’s clear that while people are open to meaningful connections and interaction, businesses must learn to convert conversations into corresponding action and long-term value. There is a greater opportunity on Twitter and Facebook than we may realize.

The last mile of engagement is nothing short of the complete socialization of business. The roles of the social consumer, even if they’re a follower on Twitter or they “like” the brand page on Facebook, businesses must cater to the various needs of the whole of the community as well as the parts that contribute to its sum.

Based on the data that I’ve reviewed contained in countless studies, the prospects are nothing short of blinding. But therein lies the opportunity. No two brands or consumers are created alike, meaning that the triggers that incite action and response are yours to discover and cultivate. This is about growing the opportunity based on engagement and adaptation. Social consumers are on a highway where regression isn’t an exit. The question is, how will you participate to guide their journey and experience?

#ThisisYourTime

Connect with Brian Solis on Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumblr, Google Buzz, Facebook
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Please consider reading, Engage!: It might just change the way you think about Social Media

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Get Putting the Public Back in Public Relations and The Conversation Prism:

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A few weeks ago I announced that Jim Stengel and I will be taking our message to the annual Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival in June. We believe that there is no better place to start a revolution in marketing than this annual gathering of some of the biggest and best marketers and advertising agencies in the world. Our goal is to uncover a “Burning Question” that, when asked, helps elevate our work to unheard of higher levels. And for a few weeks now we’ve been gathering suggestions from people about what this Burning Question should be. After all, this is an issue that touches more than the relative handful of folks who get to fly to the South of France. Today, we are taking this open source involvement to the next level as we announce a contest that will send two individuals to join us at our seminar on Friday, June 25.

We want to bring two people who are just as passionate about changing marketing as we are—but who might not have the resources to get there on their own. We are looking for people who have had success in making change at their organizations, and have taken steps to share their lessons with the broader marketing world. We invite people who work at big or small companies, people who have shared lessons on blogs or classrooms, and people who have worked in marketing for one year or a lifetime.

Our team has put together a short application process for people to make their case. Jim and I will select winners based on the quality of their submissions. The only major limit on entries is that we are only able to take folks from the United States and Canada. I was bummed that we had to limit to this group, but contests are a legal nightmare, and we would have had to adapt rules to each nation’s laws (a cost much larger than sending people).

The prize is pretty damn cool—a chance to fly out to Cannes, participate in the event, meet passionate marketers from around the world, and help spark a revolution. Of course we will ask winners to be active participants in driving the buzz before the event and sharing the experience on the ground from Cannes—mainly through blogging and Twitter.

So if you are a meaningful marketer who wants to change the world in Cannes this summer, fill out an application and start driving support from your friends and followers. I look forward to seeing your responses—and to seeing two entrants in Cannes with us in June!

(Official rules here)

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As Content Marketing Goes from Optional to Obligatory for Business,  Penton Suffers and Miller Electric Shines

Penton’s shift to online only for Welding Design & Fabrication symbolizes the decline of traditional media.  At the same time, Miller Electric shows just how powerful content marketing can be as a replacement for traditional publishing—even when publishers take their acts to the web.

Penton’s print magazine launched in 1959 when Eisenhower was President, Sputnik had just gone into orbit, and most TVs were black and white. After decades of success, the print edition of Welding Design & Fabrication succumbed to fundamental changes in buyer behavior and vanishing ad dollars.  In fact, only an association publication remains in print.

Print pubs are perishing across the B2B landscape as advertisers and readers flee. What’s happening at Penton is happening everywhere. You may regret the demise of B2B print as do I, but you cannot bring it back to life. You can no more expect a return to publishing days gone by than you can to poodle skirts and hula hoops.

In most niche markets, only one or two publications are likely to survive. This print apocalypse would have posed tough marketing challenges just 10 years ago, because B2B buyers still relied primarily on print for their information. Thus, sending a message to those buyers meant either PR or advertising campaigns aimed at welding or whatever targeted magazines delivered the right set of customers. Today, those buyers have moved online.

Just Going Online is Necessary but not Sufficient to Solve the Publishing Problem

Penton promised great things for the online version of Welding Design & Fabrication in their news release, “We are excited about the opportunity to focus our efforts online and trust our readers will look forward to the enhanced online features and solutions we will be launching in the near future to better support their operations.”

But, as my friend and former Penton exec, Bob Rosenbaum pointed out, “A focus on ‘product introductions, as well as increased participation by thought leaders, vendors and suppliers throughout the industry’ is shorthand for a reduction on spending for original content.“ He added that “This move makes sense only in the context of cutting expenses. Readers don’t want this, and while advertisers in the market are looking for creative digital products, they will view this as a last gasp. And they will flee.”

In fact, the current site seems to bear out Bob’s concern:

• Its lead news item is 15 days old as of January 29
• the only event it shows is 4 days past as of January 29
• It has a link to webcasts, but they appear to date back to 2007
• it doesn’t produce its own videos and those they show appear to be vendor infomercials
• its educational products are provided by ToolingU.com and available to anybody without going to Penton.

Of course, as unfortunate as this disappointing effort is for the future of Penton, it is equally problematic for marketers who need to connect to buyers in a meaningful way.  If Welding Design & Fabrication loses relevance online, how can marketers reach and influence their buyers efficiently?

There is a sound content marketing solution, but it requires businesses to replace the role of traditional publishers. Those early to market with the best solutions will benefit the most—and possibly lock out late comers. Miller Electric shows us the way.

Smart Business are Becoming the B2B Media—No longer out of Choice But out of Necessity.

Millerwelds.com shows what business can and must do from now on to replace the role traditional media in the marketing mix. We have written extensively about them online, Yes, Content Marketing Can Make Welding Cool! and in our book, Get Content Get Customers. But, a single current example illustrates how their content beats the Penton online welding effort. They produce a host of very useful and practical videos that instruct users on a broad range of welding topics.

Here’s one example:

Although there is a brief mention of a Miller product, this video is all about best welding practices.

Penton lags way behind Miller not only in videos, but also in how-to information, interactive buying guides, and easily accessible content.  They prove that a business can out publish a publisher.

You may not have the resources that Miller can leverage, but by studying their approach to their customers, you will certainly be inspired to start thinking and acting like a publisher. That’s critical,because soon you will have few realistic alternatives to effective content marketing.
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