Latest CMO CLUB Dinners and Events Calendar - April thru July 2010 - Come Join Your Peers

Here is the updated list of dinners across 18 cities in the US and now Europe. Exclusively for heads of marketing in a non-vendor selling environment. Come join our peers. List of upcoming CMO CLUB Dinners and To Register

"Insights from CMOs" Podcast Interview with Randy Drawas, CMO at Kaspersky Labs - "How Measured as a CMO and How to Get Consumers to Act"

As part of our new relationship with Miptalk.com and our upcoming CMO CLUB Summit, here is a great interview with CMO Randy Drawas from Kaspersky Labs (the fastest growing anti-virus software company in the US). Topics include 1) How are you measured by your CEO, 2) Getting Consumers to act, 3) How do you allocate and manage budget cuts and changes. Worth a listen. Great insights.

Randy Drawas Insights from CMOs Podcast

Conversation with Evan Greene, CMO of The Recording Academy

Great conversation with CMO Evan Greene, CMO of The Recording Academy and active member of The CMO CLUB. Great insights of value to marketing executives and business leaders.

Listen to our conversation with Evan Greene

The CMO CLUB Weekly Poll Results: How many board members including your CEO have significant marketing backgrounds?

120 CMOs responded:
50% 1 to 2 Board members
45% No Board members (0)
5% 3 to 5 Board members
0% 6 or more Board members

A few Quotes from CMOs in the club who responded:
“When I participate in board meetings I am the only legitimate marketing expert in the room. We have 3-4 ex CFOs, 2-3 ex Sales, and 2-3 ex HR but no Marketing.”

“The biggest challenge I have in leading the growth agenda is getting caught up in board and CEO discussions on tactical marketing where everyone has an opinion on marketing, vs the more important strategic customer engagement issues.”

“I like being the only marketing expert in the room. Even with a few one off questions, they look to me as the expert and tend to stay out of my way.”

“There is an increased interest from my CEO on bringing more customer or marketing expertise to the board vs. the CFO heavy board expertise today..”

CMO CLUB Weekly Poll Results - What is the biggest change to your approach to agencies vs. one year ago? - More small agencies by expertise preferred

The CMO CLUB Weekly Poll Question: What is the biggest change to your approach to agencies vs. one year ago?
(March 25 – April 2, 2010)

144 CMOs responded:
41.7% More small agencies by expertise
23.6% Moved more prior agency work in house
18.0% More control, tighter perf. metrics
11.1% No significant changes
5.6% Changed Primary Agency

A few Quotes from CMOs in the club who responded:
“As we moved to more specific customer segments and programs, we have looked to agencies with that customer expertise to help us.”

“I have found a few really bright social media experts and hired them to lead efforts vs. outside agencies. I still have my portfolio of agencies but have augmented with intern expertise until they get their expertise up to speed around social media.”

“As my performance objectives and the company’s focus on ROI has increased, I have asked my agencies to support this same tighter focus on demonstrating ROI from their programs and execution.”

“Everyone that comes to see me now claims to be social marketing expert. Looking to The CMO CLUB and other CMOs to help identify real vs. BS experts.”

The Facts About The CMO CLUB

About The CMO CLUB

Pete Krainik's CMO Insights - CMOs are like NBA Coaches - You are Only As Good As Your Team

I was listening to ESPN the other day and they were discussing NBA Coaches and their success. The conclusion, Phil Jackson, Coach of the World Champion Los Angeles Lakers, would not win a championship or even make the playoffs with my local team, the NJ Nets (on target to end up with the worst record of all time). NBA coaches are worth a few extra wins per year and can lead team to championships, as long as their talent is one of the best in the league.

Now let’s think of our position as CMOs. We need to lead the growth agenda for the company, lead the brand beyond the marketing department, engage with customers effectively and deliver value and customer service, ensure our company is differentiated in the market, and meet or exceed our metrics doing more with less. We can’t do everything ( although sometimes I fall into this trap and see many other CMOs going down this path), so the only way we can do all of the above is to make sure we have a team of the best marketers, business people, and leaders in our industry. How many of us really have the best, demand only the best and put the right amount of effort into training, coaching or replacing as needed to have a best in class marketing organization? Top to bottom, how would you rate your team? Everyone a star or best at what is needed for each position? No exceptions allowed. We focus and deliver on this and we have more time and insights for influencing our CEOs, board, and customers.

You don’t guarantee being the best in your industry with an all-star marketing team, but you have no shot without it.

New CMO CLUB Dinners and Events

Upcoming CMO CLUB Events - Register at www.regonline.com/cmoclub_dinners

Open to Heads of Marketing with no Agencies, PR Firms or Marketing Companies with over 50% of their Business Selling to Marketers. Join the club at www.thecmoclub.com

• North Carolina, March 15th , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner – “New Customer Engagement Approaches for 2010” – An Restaurant, 2800 Renaissance Park Place, Cary, NC

• Atlanta, March 16th, CMO Peer Roundtable Topic – Strategic Approaches to Social Media as CMOs, ARIA Restaurant, 490 E. Paces Ferry Rd. NE (Maple Dr.) Atlanta, GA, Phone: 404-233-7673

• Minneapolis, MN, March 17th , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner Topic – “ 2010 – The Year of Social Community Impact to Revenue and Bottom Line” – Speaker Ben Kiker – CMO, Jive Software, Bucca di Beppo, 1204 Harmon Place, Minneapolis

• Philadelphia, March 22nd , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner – “2010 – The Year of Social Community Impact to Revenue and Bottom Line” , Smith and Wollenskys, Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia

• New York City, March 23rd , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner –“2010 – The Year of Social Community Impact to Revenue and Bottom Line”, Mortons Steakhouse, NYC

• Boston, March 24th , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner – “New Customer Engagement Approaches for 2010” Maggiano’s Restaurant, Columbus Ave, Boston

• Chicago, April 6th , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner – Mortons Steakhouse on Wacker

• Denver, April 7th , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner – Maggianos Restaurant, Downtown

• Dallas, April 8th , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner - TBD

• Washington, DC, April 12th , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner - TBD

• New York City, April 21st - 22nd , CMO Thought Leadership Summit, Union Square Ballroom ( Opening Reception (4/20) and Dinner on 4/21 at Tribecca Grand Hotel )

• New York City, April 22nd, CMO CLUB / Mofilm Tribeca event

• Houston, April 27th , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner - TBD

• Miami, April 28th , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner - TBD

• Geneva, Switzerland, May 11th, CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner – TBD
• Paris, France, May 12th, CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner - TBD
• London, UK, May 13th, CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner - TBD
• Los Angeles, May 17th , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner - TBD
• Orange County, May 18th , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner - TBD
• San Diego, May 19th , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner - TBD
• San Francisco, May 20th , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner - TBD
• Boston, May 24th , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner - TBD
• New York City, May 25th , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner - TBD
• Philadelphia, May 26th , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner - TBD
• Phoenix, June 7th , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner - TBD
• Denver, June 8th , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner - TBD
• Dallas, June 9th , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner – TBD
• Shanghai, June 15-16th, CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner + Shanghai Film Festival – TBD
• Cannes, June 23rd , Cannes Lions Intl. Adv. Festival & CMO Club Dinner
• London, UK, July 27th , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner - TBD
• Paris, France, July 28th , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner - TBD
• Geneva, Switzerland, July 29th , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner - TBD
• Geneva, Switzerland, July 29th , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner - TBD
• Venice, Italy, September 1-2, CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner plus Mofilm Awards at Venice Film Festival - TBD
• London, October 20th , CMO CLUB Thought Leadership Summit plus Mofilm Awards at BFI London Film Festival - TBD
• San Francisco, November 10-11th , CMO CLUB Thought Leadership Summit plus CMO CLUB / Mofilm Awards Event - TBD
• London, UK, November 16th, CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner - TBD
• Paris, France, November 17th , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner - TBD
• Geneva, Switzerland, November 18th, CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner

Pete Krainik Interviewed by MIP Talk - Insights on Marketing and Customer Engagement

Click for Pete Krainik Interview

CMO CLUB Weekly Poll Results: What personal CMO Coach would be most valuable to you? - Its All About Leading the Growth Agenda

101 CMOs responded:

43.2% - Leading Growth Agenda

21.6% - Global Expansion

13.7% - Building Credibility with CEO

13.7% - Raising Money

7.8% - Contract Negotiation

A few Quotes from CMOs in the club who responded:

“Leading the growth agenda is critical for me. Insights for new areas of growth and new approaches for finding and calculating growth is critical.”

“I need help in thinking about global expansion and this will help me lead the growth agenda for the company.”

“I understand all the marketing stuff but never raised money before. Moving from multi-billion dollar company to smaller, fast growth company has put “raising money” my biggest need for expertise.”

“Biggest change in CMOs the last few years is a move from campaign expertise to growth agenda expertise. This is where most of us need help and a common topic at CMO CLUB dinners.”

What do you do if customer networking platforms, technologies, and customer communities change faster than you can plan for?

Last night at our Denver CMO CLUB dinner, as we went around the table each sharing an important challenge we have as CMOs, this notion of keeping up with consumers and where they engage was a big challenge. Think about it. Two years ago, photo sharing sites were hot only to give way to Facebook ( aggregator of all these technology specific sharing sites for photos, videos, etc.). Shopping sites come and go. Hot fashion, cooking, cycling, etc. this year will be quiet a year from now. So what do we do as CMOs?

I think in these times of constant change, less loyalty to brands and sites, identifying, engaging, getting to know and building loyalty with your Net Promoters is more important than ever. You have a subset of customers that love you, support you, and like sharing your value to friends and colleages. Do you know exactly why they like you, what drives their movement to new sites and communities? Do you have good relationship with them where they will tell you whats new, better, etc.

Another approach to this dilemma is to provide solutions/products that can be purchased or leveraged regardless of the delivery platform or community site. So not site specific but consumer value specific. When you develop your marketing plans for the year, ask the question, “what happens if all the media vehicles we plan on using no longer carry the traffic or customer segmentations we care about?". Your answers may become part of a marketing adaptability program.

Finally, a number of CMOs in the club place company flexibility and speed to change, speed to delivery as a key competitive advantage. What are you doing as CMO to ensure your company is more flexibility and quick to respond vs. last year?

CMO CLUB Dinner at CES - Marketing Where Innovation Really Matters

It was interesting to host last week's CMO CLUB dinner in Las Vegas during the CES event. First off a great group of CMOs including Kodak, Samsung, Logictech, GSM, THX, Unilever, Mofilm plus others.

My biggest take-away was the passion of each of the CMOs in the Electronics Industry. As I walked the floor the buzz was all about "what's new", "What's different", etc. This same mindset was present at the dinner. Not only did they share what's new from their company, but a detailed understanding of what's new from competitors and how they will respond. As I shared an update on the club the questions were all about "what's new with the club", "what's coming", etc.

How much of your time as CMO is focused on "what's new" and "what's different" vs. standard planning and execution? If we are leading the growth agenda, this must be a big part of our time and focus and I think many of us can learn from this industry.

Latest CMO CLUB Dinner Schedule for Jan and Early Feb - Exclusively for Heads of Marketing

Click Here to Register for Dinners

• Minneapolis, January 6th, 2010 - Speaker, Ted Johnson, CMO Minnesota Timberwolves, “New Approaches to Customer Engagement” plus Good Seats for Timberwolves game, Target Center, Downtown
• Washington, DC Area , January 7th , Speaker, Sam Taylor – CEO, Reputation Dynamics, “Achieving Social Responsibility and Marketing Innovation”, McCormick and Schmicks, 8484 Westpark Drive, McLean, VA
• Las Vegas, January 7th, CMO Roundtable Discussion on how consumer electronics are becoming both the platform and the topic of social conversations, Dinner and Reception, Twist at Mandarin Oriental Hotel, Las Vegas Blvd.
• San Diego, January 11th, CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner, Donovan’s in La Jolla
• Orange County, January 12th, CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner on Leveraging Cause Marketing for Growth, Scotts Seafood, Costa Mesa
• Los Angeles, January 13th, CMO CLUB Dinner – Speaker Rebecca McQuigg, Recent head of Tracking Consumer Trends at CAA, Angeli Caffe
Street: 7274 Melrose Ave., Los Angeles
• San Francisco, January 14th, CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner, 231 Ellsworth Restaurant, 231 Ellsworth Avenue (Between 2nd & 3rd Ave), San Mateo
• Boston, January 18th, CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner, Maggiano’s Little Italy Restaurant, 4 Columbus Ave. Downtown
• New York City, January 19th , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner, Speaker, David Chapman, VP Marketing – Ritz Carlton, “Customer Engagement in Down Economy, McCormick and Schmicks, 1285 Ave. of Americas
• Philadelphia, January 20th , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner, Speaker, Beverly Lybrand, VP Merck, Smith and Wollenskys, Rittenhouse Square, Philadelphia
• Chicago, January 21st, CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner, Morton’s Steakhouse, Wacker Drive, Chicago
• London, January 26th , CMO Club London Launch Dinner, Galvin at Windows, 22 Park Lane, London t. 020 7208 4021
• Paris, January 27th , CMO Club Paris Launch – Dinner, TBD
• Geneva, Switzerland, January 28th – CMO CLUB Geneva Launch Dinner, Restaurant le Guillaume-Tell, Route de la petite corniche 51091 Aran-Vilette
• Atlanta, February 2nd, CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner – Rest., Buckhead
• Denver, February 3rd, CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner, TBD
• Dallas, February 8th , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner - TBD
• Houston, February 9th , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner – TBD ($80)
• Miami, February 10th, CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner – TBD ($80)
• North Carolina, February 11th , CMO Peer Roundtable Dinner – TBD
• Barcelona, February 15th - 16th , CMO CLUB Dinner plus GSM World Congress & Mofilm event
• New York City, April 20th 21st, CMO Thought Leadership Summit
• New York City, April 22nd, CMO CLUB / Mofilm Tribeca event
• June 16th , CMO Club Shanghai Launch – Dinner, TBD
• Cannes, June 23rd , CMO Club Cannes Launch – Dinner, TBD

Thank You - What's Coming for CMO CLUB Members in 2010

As 2009 winds down I wanted to reach out to all the CMOs in the club and thank you for making the club and our members better CMOs in 2009.

In 2009:
1) We started with 450 CMOs and ended with over 700 CMOs in the club
2) Over 800 CMOs attended a dinner
3) Over 160 CMO attended a CMO CLUB summit
4) Over 130 CMOs per day are now accessing our CMOs only sites and sharing insights and accessing other members and CMO positions
5) Over 20 CMOs got new CMO positions thru CMO postings from other members on our site.

Plans for 2010 include:
1) Continued refinement of membership rules and members to minimize “selling to CMOs” and maximize “sharing insights”
2) A new and improved CMO CLUB site at the end of January for easier access to other CMOs, easier search capabilities for CMO driven content, dinner recaps and summit presentations.
3) An easier to use, integrated registration and payment process for members to sign up for dinners, summits, and CMO roundtable calls.
4) Increased focus and delivery of “Insights from CMOs” podcasts with members in the club sharing their expertise for other members to review on their schedule.
5) Continued improvement to our already successful summits for more CMO roundtable sessions and focused worksessions for B2B and B2C CMOs.
6) Continuing to increase number of CMOs in the club to increase value to all our members with global expansion with a significant increase in global CMOs in the club.

I have been fortunate to meet many new CMOs and friends in 2009 and personally commit to all of you to continue to focus on helping you deliver the world’s best CMO conversations. We have something truly special here and with your help will only get better in 2010.

Thank you,
Pete Krainik, Founder, The CMO CLUB
pete.krainik@thecmoclub.com

European Expansion of The CMO CLUB and new Partnership with Mofilm

I wanted to announce an exciting new development in the evolution of The CMO Club as our organization continues to grow quickly in the USA and is ready for global expansion. I am pleased to announce an exciting new partnership with Jeffrey Merrihue, the Chairman of Mofilm (www.mofilm.com).

Jeffrey will be taking on the lead role of expanding The CMO Club as President of International reporting to me. In this position Jeffrey will spearhead the growth of the club in Europe, Asia and Latin America as well as assisting in the on-going development of the North American Club. Our 1st dinners are now scheduled in Europe as follows:
London: 26 January , 2010
Paris: 27 January
Geneva: 28 January
Barcelona: 16 February

In addition, The CMO Club will be rolling out an exclusive partnership with Mofilm whereby club members will have exclusive access to www.mofilm.com User Generated Content initiatives in 2010 with a CMO CLUB Video Sourcing Program and our own Awards Event to be launched at the April CMO CLUB Thought Leadership Summit in NYC.

I look forward to the active participation of CMOs throughout the world as we continue to build an exclusive “heads of marketing only” club delivering the world’s best CMO conversations. Please join me in welcoming Jeffrey and the Mofilm team to the club. Jeffrey can be reached at jeffrey.merrihue@mofilm.com .

What is your most effective approach for hiring VPs and Directors in your marketing organization? - CMO Peer Networks Rule

This weeks CMO Poll results on best approaches for recruiting Marketing VPs and Directors. Peer networks by far the most effective for CMOs polled this week in the club.

102 CMOs responded:
51.0% - CMO Peer Networks
29.4% - Executive Recruiters
13.7% - Other
5.9% - Job Sites
0.0% - Marketing Publications/Sites

This weeks poll results show that CMO peer networks are the new executive recruiting source for CMOs. A few Quotes from CMOs in the club who responded:

“Executive recruiters used to be my main approach but the growth of the internet and social networks has given me a new route to hiring success”.

“Biggest change for me has been The CMO CLUB for finding new VPs for my organization. I filled 2 positions in the past year by sharing openings with other CMOs at local dinners.”

“I still use executive recruiters for key VP positions but use social networks for additional research on presented candidates”.

“WOM is what works for me now. No question a significant shift from years back”.

20 CMO CLUB Dinners set for January and February 2010 Including Rollout in Europe - Come Join the Conversation

I am pleased to announce we are now hosting CMOs only dinners in 20 cities throughout the world. Details in the Calendar section on the site. Here is an overview of the cities and dates. Register for the dinners at: Click Here to Register for Dinners

Minneapolis, Jan 5th, 2010
Nashville, Jan 6th
Washington, DC, Jan 7th
San Francisco, Jan 11th
Orange County, Jan 12th
Los Angeles, Jan 13th
San Diego, Jan 14th
Boston, Jan 18th
New York City Area, Jan 19th
Philadelphia, Jan 20th
Chicago, Jan 21st
London, Jan 26th
Paris, Jan 27th
Geneva, Jan 28th
Atlanta, Feb 2nd
Denver, Feb 3rd
Dallas, Feb 8th
Houston, Feb 9th
Miami, Feb 10th
North Carolina (Research Triangle), Feb 11th

Register for the dinners at: Click Here to Register for Dinners . Please support your peers and bring a new CMO to your next dinner.

Demographic Segmentation is Dead - Have you thought about Political Segmentation?

Ever since my DoubleClick days I have been interested in new approaches to segmentation. The thought of softer demographic segmentation as yesterday's idea is coming up more frequently at CMO CLUB dinners. So what real thought leadership is out there? I heard about Tom Cotton and the crew at Protagonist some weeks back and the work they are doing based on their experience in the political arena so thought I would get more details and share with CMOs in the club. Here is highlights from my conversation with Tom.

1) One of the most important priorities for CMOs in the club is customer segmentation. How do you see the approach to segmentation changing from 5 years ago?
Back in 2004, segmentation was primarily demographic, not behavioral, and often hard to activate in the fast-changing media world. Consumer behavior now cuts across traditional demographic lines and gives us a very different opportunity to reach a richer, more focused target.
Today, every research and advertising dollar has to work harder to better identify, reach and persuade the right consumers to purchase. So we believe the days of “soft demographic segmentation” that’s hard to activate and doesn’t drive a higher ROI are over.

2) We all hear a lot about “behavioral marketing” these days...can you tell us a little more about how you use it in your segmentation work?
If this decade has taught us anything it’s that people from diverse socio-economic, life-stage and gender demographics now often share common interests and behaviors. This is clearly tied into the free flow of—and easier access to—information, the ever-lower barriers to “participation”, the explosion of media and information choices, and the world growing smaller as it gets bigger. And the web—and even cable TV—makes it much easier today to find people with like interests and behaviors and market to these niche interests.

To leverage all this, we use the behavioral techniques developed for political polling and segmentation to identify consumer behavior, focusing on moving consumers to “vote” for our clients’ products and services.


3) Can you tell me more about how the political segmentation approach can work for consumer products companies and retailers?
The political segmentation model identifies the “who and what” that really count for any marketer: Who are my most high-value and persuadable targets (“the swing”) and what can I say to them to move them into action? These “swing voters”, and the brand positioning and messaging that motivates them to purchase, deliver a rich vein of high-value customers who we then activate for our clients. And in the hypercompetitive world we’re now in, whether we’re speaking about politics or commerce, there’s no time to waste in reaching the swing: you need to reach, influence and move them before your opponent strikes a resonant chord.
In addition to the swing, we identify two other key groups: a brand’s “base,” who are the loyal customers we can retain through more efficient tactics than classic acquisition, and the “opposition” who will likely never purchase our clients’ products or services, no matter how much we spend to woo them.
With the swing, base and opposition identified, we can then minimize wasteful investment against the opposition, heavy-up against the swing, nurture the base, and deliver a higher ROI for our clients’ marketing efforts.

4) Give us a little personal history on all this, if you would, and how it become what you now call ExactCast…

Our political work goes back to the mid-90’s when we led the FCB/Penn & Schoen teams that AT&T hired to take on MCI. AT&T ultimately prevailed in that fight, and we’ve built on that pioneering work ever since. (Also note that Bernard Whitman, Protagonist’s political partner and guru who runs Whitman Insight Strategies, just ran the successful Bloomberg mayoral campaign.)
ExactCast fully bloomed a few years ago when Unilever asked us to help them “narrowcast” a brand’s communications that were not breaking through via traditional mass marketing. To accomplish this, we added the “where” into our all-behavioral quantitative practice: Determining through our custom research where—that is, through which channel—the swing can be reached most productively and persuasively. Now, through our proprietary LivePlan media service, led by Jim Geoghegan of MediaHead, we can plan (and re-plan and optimize “live,” on the fly) the highest-ROI media channels that stimulate actual purchase behavior, all tied into available syndicated media databases (e.g., Simmons, MRI) as needed.
In addition, we’ve now added a highly-disruptive “how” to the mix: We’ve always been a full-service ad agency; but in addition to creating strong creative, we are now able to tailor and “version” messaging in any medium (from TV to print to digital to collateral) through LiveCast, our “online production studio” that enables us to produce and distribute swing-optimized messaging through the optimal channels to reach our clients’ high-value consumers. We’ve built this system with LiveTechnology, the global leader in desktop production and distribution, and it takes political segmentation end-to-end for the first time: From swing target, messaging and media planning right through creative development, execution and distribution while keeping our quant-based focus on reaching the right consumer with the right message through the right channel at the right time.
We think this is a true game-changer for clients who are willing to step up and strip away the waste in the traditional marketing communications process, front to back.

5) Where do you see the biggest opportunities for applying this new approach to segmentation? And can you share examples of what companies are doing today, and key lessons learned?
The biggest opportunities may lie in industries under the most pressure to drive a higher marketing communications ROI. Candidates might include automotive, retailing, financial services or technology. Other candidates are mass marketers who know they are wasting dollars “broadcasting” to consumers when “narrowcasting” is the way to go, but they don’t know how to go about it.
Our current assignments include multiple brands at Unilever, as well as a major start-up in the personal care business. We’ve also executed ExactCasts over the last two years in the U.S., France, Germany, the Netherlands and Greece.
No matter what the product or service, or the country in which we’ve delivered ExactCasts, a few lessons continue to emerge:
• The “swing” is almost always “demographically flat.” When you’re looking for actual behavior that moves markets, and the stimulus that can put that behavior into motion, it’s remarkable how the most important business-building behaviors can cut across classic demographic lines. This can pose a challenge for old-school media practices, by the way, since after discovering exciting “behavioral truths” that can change the game for a brand, it can be “a great leap backward” to then purchase media demographically to stimulate these consumers. This is why we built a full media practice into our model.

• There’s a huge amount of waste in the traditional marketing communications process. Whether it’s spillover spending against consumers who’ll never purchase a brand, or expensive segmentation that isn’t actionable, or messaging that doesn’t move the swing, or needless “versioning expense” using old-school production techniques, a third of most budgets are wasted. We can either help cut that spending for clients, or put that “found money” to work far more productively.

• The messaging that moves the swing always presents a surprise or two. We are able to “surround” the messaging candidates in workshops with our clients, but it’s rare that we’re not surprised with what floats to the top in our quant work, or how the consumer helps us optimize the messaging architecture through our factor and cluster analyses. As IBM used to say in an early 1980s ad campaign, “it’s how we put it all together that sets us apart,” and it’s always a thrill to see it come together.


6) What advice would you give the CMOs in the club when thinking about their segmentation and differentiation approaches?
We’d serve up advice to your members in the form of three questions:
• Do you have a “behavioral X-ray” of your highest-value customers and prospects?

• Do you know how to activate behavioral marketing?

• Do you think you might be wasting precious marketing dollars, but you’re not sure where that waste is?


You can get more details on Protagonist and ExactCast at www.beaprotagonist.com

The CMO CLUB Weekly Poll Question: How is your marketing budget changing in 2010 vs. 2009?

146 CMOs responded:
32.9% - Increasing more than 10%
24.6% - Increasing 1-10%
23.3% - Same
13.7% - Decreasing more than 10%
5.5% - Decreasing 1-10%

A few Quotes from CMOs in the club who responded:
“Although not all the way back to 2008 budget levels I am gaining approval for increased budgets in 2010 to focus on re-hiring social media experts for the organization.”

“Given our profit numbers are back in line, slight increase in 2010 to focus on additional search and demand generation programs.”
“We had 25% reductions in marketing spend in 2009 vs. 2008. 15% increase in 2010 vs. 2009.”

“Given the price of print and online advertising is way down, we plan on increasing dollars in 2010 to increase our participation at improved ROI but with a focus on more precise customer segments for print and online spend.”

“No budget increases planned in 2010 but a move of resources from higher cost traditional items to lower cost, higher engagement programs in social networks – result – improved ROI.”