Social Media and Big Pharma.

"Aside from broad budget concerns and the changing business environment, pharma marketers are not unlike marketers at large—they worry about how to measure social media marketing efforts, especially tying the investment in social media directly to brand objectives.”

—
I disagree. They are not like marketers at large. They are very, very risk averse. The reason  I got out of big pharma marketing (other than the ethical dilemma of selling inferior or equally efficacious drugs as *new* or better) was the fact that it wasn’t any fun. Even more so in Canada where we don’t have the same Direct To Consumer freedom that they have in the US.

Any websites I that I built had to follow very strict rules and were governed by a regulatory body. Yes, sure the execs and marketers wanted to see some kind of quantifiable ROI. But, the biggest obstacles to any marketing, Social or not, are regulatory and legal. All it takes is one person to report an Adverse Drug Event (something bad happens while they are taking the drug) via a drug company controlled social channel that goes without follow up and all hell would break loose.

So, Social in Pharma will continue to be a slow go. And, even with US spillover a  ’no go’ here in Canada.

The History of Marketing #infoposter

From: HubSpot Marketing Software

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What makes your B2B Footprint Unique? #B2B #infoposter

Link.

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You're doing it wrong.

I was part of this CD club at some point in the 90's BEFORE there were DVD's...

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'Freeeeedom!' Funny IKEA ad. #marketing

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Test Drive on a Print Ad. Nice use of #AR. #automotive

I came across this via @jessebrightman today. A VW print ad, combined with a mobile phone app = test drive. Link.

It reminds me of this Audi AR calendar that came out last July:

Some neat use of mobile and AR to create novel experiences.

The Most Embarrassing And Profitable Items Of The Last 30 Years | #infographic (via @visualoop)

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Imitation might be the sincerest form of flattery, but I suspect Infiniti must be pissed.

A little late to the party on this, but finally got around to watching the SuperBowl ads.

The VW Darth Vader commercial was brilliant, but the stinger for this spot looked a little familiar:




The Infiniti brushstroke, or 'Shodo' line is one of their brand tenets and has been in use for years.



I wonder how Nakamura-san feels about all of this...

The Noob Guide to Online Marketing | #infographic | #in

This is pretty cool...and comprehensive.

Link

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Whoring out the homepage

I've never been a big fan of expandables and takeovers, but for some reason this one really annoyed me. You're supposed to cut through the clutter, not add to it.

Posted via email from John Hutchings

More predictions: Deloitte's take for 2010 in Canada

Deloitte's 2010 technology predictions were recently presented here in Calgary. I missed the live event, but here's a good analysis. You can also download the report here.

Worth a read?

Posted via email from John Hutchings

True North, Strong, and Social

When Canadians meet, we often talk about the weather. Apparently, we talk about other things as well - online - a lot.

Research published this week confirms how critical it is for Canadian marketers to pay attention and get busy with their Social Media strategy:



1. Nate Elliot, a Forrester researcher, wrote a summary based on their Technographic research data. One of his high-level conclusions: "Canadians are the most active social networkers in any market we survey"

2. A thought-provoking visualization of global Social Media usage by trendstream and lightspeedresearch. China, the US, India and Brazil lead the way in volume. But, if you look at the percentages, Canada is right up there, particularly for Social Networking. (China has the most bloggers - political and cultural reasons(?) that I would like to research further).

These numbers should make marketers take pause and get our collective act together. As Blast said a couple of years ago, whether you market in the True North or not, "It means customers are lIstenIng to each other rather than you."

Makes sense, eh?

Opium for the Masses

Can't talk. Busy reading Drucker and reviewing recent posts by Social Web experts. I'm exercising my cortex because it shall soon be called upon. I'd like to ensure that I don't need to be spotted.

My first day at Critical Mass was a bit pedantic, as expected.
But near the end of the day, with introductions made, credentials established, there were inklings of heady and productive things to come. I'm not certain what I'll be doing exactly, but there is one thing definite: This place is full of passionate, energetic, and intelligent folks.

Something wonderful. I'm in.

The Customer is Always Right

If you have parents of a certain age, or have ever worked retail, you've no doubt had this axiom drilled into you. Ever had such bad service that you stormed out of somewhere screaming at the top of your lungs, "I will never set foot in this f**king place again!"? Been there, done that. Difference - now I can tell many more about this, not just word of (foul) mouth.

Last week was World Usability Day and I've been keeping an eye on personal (cross-channel) user and customer experiences since then.





Lowlights (with grades):

• New Visa card with PIN arrives in mail. 45 min. on the phone to get the thing activated THEN I still have to go to the branch to change the PIN. (D).
• iPhone purchase (B+) at an actual retail store, activation [I had to make 3 calls on how to switch out my PIN card and activate with iTunes] (C-). Now that I have it working, customer delight (A).
• Mikael was trying to cook some pasta the other night and there was no cooking time on the package (F).

Brandon Schauer's recent post on the nexus of Brand and Customer Experience, paired with heady the stuff of The Brand Gap and the evidence from Razorfish's FEED report are all saying the same thing. Your customer is always right, whether you like it or not, and your Brand can be adversely affected, slandered, or outright abandoned for a competitor.

Of course, depending on switching costs, a customer may persist with your Brand, but that doesn't mean they're happy about it. The key difference now is that they have a voice to make their displeasure heard - and don't doubt that they'll use it.

Social Media ROI: Socialnomics

Some more timely, relevant and powerful statistics from Eric Qualman.

Again with the Teaching

I was fortunate enough last year to teach a course in Internet Marketing at the University of Calgary with Jeff Nelson from Anduro Marketing. I learned yesterday that we get to do it again.

It works out to about $10/hr, which is obviously not the reason I do it. I find it rewarding to take complex subjects and concepts and distill them down into digestible and actionable pieces. It's also a terrific way to keep current and to learn from others. I'm looking forward to it.

Details:

Internet Marketing - Course # BMC - 203 - 003
University of Calgary, Faculty of Continuing Education
2009/2010 Business and Professional Programs
Link

Anyone reading this likely doesn't need to take this course, but if you know someone who does, please pass this along.

A must FEED for Digital Marketing Professionals

I try to keep up with State of the Nation readings from the likes of hard-core research firms like Forrester as well as Digital agencies like CM, Blast and Razorfish.

I just finished digesting the new FEED Razorfish Digital Brand Experience Report for 2009. According to Guy Kawasaki it's a "... must-read if you’re interested in social media and marketing" and I would tend to agree.

Although the sample size is relatively small (n=1000), I like the way they've selected it - by talking only to what they call 'connected consumers'. They all have broadband, spend online, visit social websites, and are consumers and creators of User-Generated Content. This makes sense since these are the people we're trying to engage with. And, I buy how they extrapolate their results to the population at large by using relevant proxies.

Some highlights:

• 57% have actively customized their homepage
• 84% rely on the web to get their news
• 76% watch video, 73% use social networking, 62% listen to music online
• 56% have smartphones

More importantly:

• 26% have followed a brand on Twitter
• 40% have 'friended' a brand on Facebook
• 77% have watched a commercial online
• 73% have posted a product or brand review
• 52% have blogged about their brand experience

All of this sums to the fact that "those brand marketers still neglecting (or underestimating) digital, it's as if they've shown up to a cocktail party in sweatpants" - a staggering 97% of those surveyed report that a digital brand experience has influenced whether or not they actually hand over the cash.

In essence, 'connected consumers' are interacting with brands, just in a different way. And, those interactions actually create new customers. Finally, the digital experience can make or break a brand.

Worth the read.

'Internet and Strategy' for CMA Calgary

I was fortunate enough to guest lecture at Doug's course on E-marketing here in #yyc:

Thanks to Doug and the group for the discussion. Thanks as well to Greg for slide 17.

Social Media Revolution

Social Web and the Organization

Snappy title, I know. I'm due to give a talk in September at the AIIM conference.

Working Title: Social Web: Cutting through the clutter. How to use Social Networks and other tools to enable appropriate information sharing and collaboration within your organization.

Wow, what did I get myself into? I've been struggling with how to adequately frame my talk. Today, I found that framework. Thanks to Jeremiah!

UPDATE: Had a bit of an epihphany yesterday - will update with a Part 2 shortly.