Live from Las Vegas: Interactive Experts Advocate Database Collaboration
Lead by example and a highly productive interactive, integrated marketing team will be the envy of colleagues in other less functional departments. That comment was a recurring theme of speakers at the second annual Interactive Marketing Summit, which ended yesterday in Las Vegas.
“It’s difficult to get all parts of the company to work together,” said John Flynn, senior vice president of global marketing of Buena Vista Online Entertainment, a Walt Disney company. “You’re never going to get 100% support.”
He suggested that marketers should find allies within their companies with similar goals.
Database collaboration among the various Disney businesses for “an open data environment” has resulted in the businesses all gaining access to 42 million additional Disney consumers, he said.
A loyalty program initiated by the Buena Vista Home Entertainment unit rewards customers for their purchases of DVDs and movie tickets with the opportunity to buy exclusive merchandise, and stimulate sales of titles that otherwise might have not been purchased, Flynn added. (PROMO Xtra, April 18)
Consumer-generated content—whether it’s called “social media” or “we media” is here to stay,” said Dick O’Hare, vice president, global strategic partnerships and emerging markets for Yahoo.
“Major brands need to relinquish control,” he said.
He urged marketers to take advantage of consumers becoming “brand advocates” for them. For that to occur, though, marketers must understand who they are, O’Hare said.
He cited recent Special K cereal and Doritos promotions that engaged consumer involvement, attracting 2.5 million unique users and 1,060 submitted videos, respectively.
Another case study that interactively engaged consumers was Kodak EasyShare Gallery’s recent promotion with babyGap. The promotion urged proud parents to upload photographs of their kids—infants to four year olds—with the possibility of getting the shots in store windows and on advertising materials.
But all registrants received a free thank you gift of cards adorned with their babies’ portraits, Kristin Conway, director of acquisition marketing for Kodak EasyShare Gallery, said.
“If there’s any doubt that promotions work, take a look around Las Vegas,” said Josh Linkner, founder and CEO of ePrize. “Everybody wants something for nothing. It’s part of human nature.”
He added, “Great minds in brand promotion realize that interactive works.”
