Last night’s fireside chat Larry Grisolano provide me with amazing insight – both into the political campaigns process and marketing to the American public. Those revelations stayed with me throughout the night, and I wanted to share a few of them in anticipation of Larry’s larger speech today at Mplanet.

1. Marketers must clearly identify, through research and conversation, what challenges their brand. In early stages, based on research, Obama’s commitment to change politics in America was not as challenged by the other leading candidates as it was by the attitude of “cynicism” among the electorate. Seems to me, if they hadn’t figured that out, perhaps the election would have had a different outcome.

2. Brands cannot be all things to all people; marketers should leverage a clear message and brand identity. Later in the primary, there was a lot of attention paid to the difference in being a change agent v. necessity for experience to lead the country. The team learned it was difficult to be both (according to research) so it diluted Senator Clinton’s message that attempted to combine her resume with her desire to change Washington.

3. American consumers today want genuine engagement and credible message that allows them to own part of the brand experience. Obama campaign activated “a sense of national community,” similar to feeling after 9/11.

Creating a sense of national community is no small undertaking. I hope you’re able to join us today for more insights from Larry. If not, stay tuned for my later post on his presentation.

Nancy Costopulos, the American Marketing Association’s chief marketing officer, provided the above post.

Before heading off to our Discovery Center tonight for additional networking and dialogue on today’s inspiring keynotes (see previous blog posts today) and their thoughts on the new marketsphere, I wanted to share some photos and early online and media coverage from Mplanet that summarizes today’s event, speakers and professional networking. Return tomorrow for posts on remarks from Larry Grisolano, senior communications strategist to President Obama’s campaign, and R.K.  Krishna Kumar, chairman, Tata Coffee.

Click here to see our official release on today's events.

BtoB sat down with Xerox Chairman and CEO Anne Mulcahy. See the coverage here.

Brandweek and Adweek provided a summary of the year-long research project AMA's CEO Dennis Dunlap unveiled in his opening remarks.

American Express CMO, John Hayes, called on marketers to meet today's opportunity and responsibility to help lead our country to economic recovery.  Photo courtesy of Lucy A. Kennedy, Kennedy Photography.

Mary Dillon, Global CMO of McDonald's, encouraged marketers to crystallize and hold fast to their brand promise. She engaged onsite bloggers in conversation about McDonald's digital and social media projects.  Photo courtesy of Lucy A. Kennedy, Kennedy Photography.

Read a sampling of online coverage from marketing bloggers and colleagues at Citizen Marketer 2.1, Endagon Innovation's Greg Rollet's blog, and MarketingShift.com.

Nancy Costopulos, the American Marketing Association’s chief marketing officer, provided the above post.

Mary Dillon today chatted with marketing bloggers and social media experts at Mplanet following her presentation to conference attendees. Addressing the question of what marketers at all levels should do in the current economy, Mary provided the following tips: understand your target market; engage in simple, clear problem solutions; and invest in marketing analytics. She noted that people at times fear admitting a program – be it traditional or new media – failed, but in the end it’s far better to know what failed and what delivered positive results in this economy.

Both in her session with bloggers and her keynote, Mary talked about delivering what people want in a meaningful relevant way. Whether from internal networking platforms for the McDonald’s crew or a global brand tailored to local interests, Mary and the McDonald’s marketing team ensures their brand promise is the DNA of all genuine platforms. Mary was joined today by our fellow marketing bloggers: Scott Titus, Matt O’Hern, Toby Bloomberg, Greg Verdino, Becky Carroll, Greg Rollett, Susanne Sicilian and Susan Peyton.

Similar to Mary’s conversations on brand promises and its importance today, John Hayes, noted how our generation will “be defined by how we answer the economic hurdles that we face, how we respond not only to our current difficulties, but how we prepare our future generations for security, wealth and prosperity. It’s our time to set up. I don’t care if you’re 25 or 52. It’s up to us.” He provided some tips and points for clearing those hurdles. Take a look at this summary from onsite blogger, Matt O’Hern, on MarketingShift.com.

There’s more coming, including a recap of today. Check back soon and follow us on Twitter at #mplanet2009.
 
Nancy Costopulos, the American Marketing Association’s chief marketing officer, provided the above post.

To say we’re hyper-networked is an understatement. As I return from tonight’s opening networking reception, where colleagues, professionals, exhibitors and sponsors connected in person, I am amazed by the number of individuals with which we can share, interact and influence through traditional and new digital channels daily.
 
John’s post on today’s pre-conference Digital Marketing Lab clearly details the progress and potential digital marketing brings professionals today and tomorrow. In this time of uncertainty, marketers must not be afraid to try new ways of providing relevant, authentic information to customers and businesses when and how they want it. There’s no right way, best practice or one-size for all – consistency (of message and service), credibility and customization are what resonates today.

And as for tomorrow? Well, tomorrow kicks off two days of insights from global CMOs, industry leaders and AMA’s Dennis Dunlap. Global CEOs and CMOs from Xerox, American Express, McDonald’s and other leading brands will answer marketers tough question about building in a global brand in a transforming marketsphere where customers and businesses have greater influence than ever before. You can find an overview of today’s digital marketing lab takeaways and the rest of the conference’s line up here.

Looking beyond the conference, Dennis’ opening remarks will envision marketing’s “tomorrow” in 2015. What will our profession’s role be and do we have the ability to shape our future role today? AMA partnered with Decisions Strategies International in “futures” research on the industry – and the results will definitely give pause to marketers looking to create the next enduring brand.

I invite you to stay connected with all of Mplanet’s events here and on Marketing News, Facebook and Twitter in the following couple of days. Also, be sure to stay updated through the blogosphere. Here’s a post on one of our keynotes, McDonald’s Mary Dillon, who’s hosting a Q&A with bloggers onsite tomorrow.

Nancy Costopulos, the American Marketing Association’s chief marketing officer, provided the above post.

Coverage of the announcement reminded me of the important role that packaging plays in the marketing mix for the food and beverage industries. When I was covering the brewery world in the mid 1990s (a fun beat if ever there was one), bottle and tap design often were the two main marketing identifiers for the flood of craft brews hitting the market. Those also were the days when Coke rolled out its retro-looking plastic bottle, a major marketing hit for that iconic brand. These days, rival Pepsi is in the midst of a new logo rollout.

I would think that, in this economy, packaging will become an even more important part of the consumer goods marketing mix. Catching the eye of wary consumers and communicating important brand attributes through packaging would seem essential when shoppers are tightly holding onto every penny.

If you’ve recently redone packaging for your product, I’d love to hear how you approached it and what impact its had on your marketing and sales; feel free to comment here. Or stop by the Discovery Center at Mplanet where I’ll be interviewing conference speakers at Studio Mplanet, a stage in the middle of the exhibit area, and we can chat then.

Veteran business journalist John N. Frank is editorial director of AMA’s Marketing News, Marketing Management, Marketing Health Services and Marketing Research.  He has also started or relaunched a variety of magazines, newsletters, and Web sites in his more than 30 years in journalism.

Visit AMA’s Marketpower.com to listen live or download the hour-long show and listen to it later. Scheduled speakers are: Patricia Goodrich, Jack Holfelder and me of the AMA.

Each of us will  discuss various aspects of the program and sessions, keynote speakers, events in the Discovery Center and the pre-conference Digital Marketing Lab, among other topics. John Aiello, Mplanet 2009’s presenting sponsor, also will being interviewed.

Veteran business journalist John N. Frank is editorial director of AMA’s Marketing News, Marketing Management, Marketing Health Services and Marketing Research.  He has also started or relaunched a variety of magazines, newsletters, and Web sites in his more than 30 years in journalism.
 

In the old days, i.e. pre-2004, marketing at McDonald's was consumer facing while public relations was often relegated to the role of crisis management. That all started to change four years ago and I think the results have contributed greatly to the success the hamburger icon has achieved since.

So I'm looking forward to hearing Mary Dillon, McDonald's executive vice president and global CMO, speak at Mplanet 2009. She answered questions about her Mplanet talk for Marketing News recently. "The focus of my remarks will be on how global brands can build a strategic advantage in today's increasingly complex and fast-moving environment," she says.

Discussing McDonald's marketing strategy, she says: "we are focused on elevating our traditional push strategies with marketing that moves beyond the functional attributes of our offerings and highlights the benefits they deliver. It's about showing people more clearly what we provide."

Veteran business journalist John N. Frank is editorial director of AMA’s Marketing News, Marketing Management, Marketing Health Services and Marketing Research.  He has also started or relaunched a variety of magazines, newsletters, and Web sites in his more than 30 years in journalism.
 

But the conference also is designed to look beyond current market conditions to discuss important long-term trends for marketers.

AMA CEO Dennis Dunlap, in the Oct. 15th issue of Marketing News, notes that by building the show around four key topic areas, Mplanet will address big issues and provide usable information for any economic scenario. The four topics are:

• - Brand building in a digital world

• - Connecting with empowered customers

• - Marketing mix planning in a fragmented world

• - Global marketing on a borderless planet

By the way, in addition to being able to hear speakers during their respective sessions, stop by the Mplanet Discovery Center where I'll be interviewing many speakers after their talks.

As planned, I'll be on a theater-in-the-round-type stage in the middle of the exhibit area doing interviews the crowd can watch on overhead monitors. The interviews also will be taped for future showings prior to session starts. We're still working on specific formats for these, but I'm hopeful we'll have time for audience questions. So stop by, listen, and take part.

Veteran business journalist John N. Frank is editorial director of AMA’s Marketing News, Marketing Management, Marketing Health Services and Marketing Research.  He has also started or relaunched a variety of magazines, newsletters, and Web sites in his more than 30 years in journalism.

At its headquarters in Norwalk, Conn., Xerox has a program that requires 20 senior executives to rotate into a position known as Customer Officer of the Day. Whoever is serving in that capacity takes any and all customer calls that come into Xerox’s headquarters that day. The responsibilities of the customer service officer are to listen to a customer, resolve that customer’s problem and take responsibility for fixing the underlying cause of the problem.

Speaking about calls that come in, Mulcahy says, “as you might guess, these are not happy customers.”

Convert an unhappy customer to a satisfied one and you have a brand advocate for life, word-of-mouth marketing gurus always say. Xerox apparently believes that and is doing it every day.

“It all boils down to making it easy to do business with us…delivering a consistent client experience worldwide,” Mulcahy explains.

Veteran business journalist John N. Frank is editorial director of AMA’s Marketing News, Marketing Management, Marketing Health Services and Marketing Research.  He has also started or relaunched a variety of magazines, newsletters, and Web sites in his more than 30 years in journalism.