“Kristen is an amazing leader possessing a modern and progressive view of strategy and planning, has a proven knack for winning over peers, clients and prospects, and knows how to impact the direction of an ambitious agency,” said Mullen President and CEO Joe Grimaldi. “We were looking for a catalyst who, through a special blend of skill and personal qualities, would elevate the performance of our increasingly successful Boston leadership team. There’s no question we will be more successful with her.”

“I’ve been given the rare gift to work for back-to-back companies with integrity, great work and an unwavering belief in collaboration,” said Cavallo. “I’m inspired by Mullen’s forward-thinking approach to creativity, weaving social influence, mobile marketing, PR and performance analytics into their cross-functional team. It’s hard to tell the different disciplines apart. They finish each other’s sentences.”

Cavallo has been SVP, Planning and Development at Martin for the past six years. She first joined the agency as SVP, Group Planning Director in 1998, following a Brand Planning engagement at Arnold. Cavallo has been a strategic leader for numerous major brands, including BMW, Timberland, Volkswagen, Coca-Cola, Kohler, Charles Schwab and Miller Brewing. She won several industry honors for her work on VW, Timberland and Vanilla Coke. In her role as development leader, Cavallo was instrumental in helping Martin become one of the fastest-growing agencies, winning new business from Walmart, Pizza Hut, Expedia, Microsoft, LivingSocial, Mentos, BFGoodrich, Kraft and Johnson & Johnson, among others

Because we all need more mountains and less plateaus of creativity, Boulder Digital Works and the assembled group of participants from the recent August two day session set out to inspire both people and ideas that blur the lines between the real world and an augmented one found online.  And to create “stuff” that connects the two, leaving the old formulas of talk-at persuasion behind.

Below are five learnings from BDW that are actionable for any agency or client – helping amplify our own approach to creative ideas, what we call unbound thinking.

1. Blurring definitions of media
Paid media, earned media and user media are all highly influential in changing consumer behavior – forcing marketers to redefine past architecture of ideas in a new social landscape. Be useful, mobile and part of the conversation.

2.  Re-brief
The brief needs to evolve in an increasingly digital, social world – inspiring the stuff we are trying to create, not say.  To quote Gareth Kay of Goodby, “It’s not what we do, it’s what people do with what we do.” A brief should inspire ways to create space, not just use space.

3. T-shaping
A new breed of T-shaped people is emerging with knowledge of all disciplines at the top and core discipline expertise pointed upward. Ultimately, it is up to every employee, not a department, to become digiraditional. Learn it, live it, tweet it.

4. Ideas that redefine ideas
Some of the best examples of new creative work from clients and agencies connects the participatory and social aspects of digital with an offline idea. Small is the new big. New creative thinking requires an understanding of how to create interesting content and utility – but in a new, complex way. An idea that can be advertised, not an advertisement. It’s best explained by looking at some of these examples below.

• Brammo
• Uniqlo
• Rapha rides and short films
• Sponsafier from Toyota Racing
• Old Spice
• Diesel Cam

5.  Expanding creatives
Ideas that redefine ideas require new faces to join teams, eliminating 40-year-old silos of job function. Including UX, digital strategists, social expertise and PR into the creative process early to shape platform ideas for the new social landscape. Opening up creativity beyond the traditional art director/copywriter model.

And one final parting thought. New strategies and ideas can’t replace the intense, lengthy and thought-provoking conversations had over the alluring assortment of IPA local microbrews after the sessions end. When you get that many brilliantly smart, interesting and “ready to climb mountains” people together, the dialogue itself becomes just as much of a reason to find time for a trip to Boulder.

So, take a deep breath. Take a different view of the funnel. And think about it this way.

In a consumer-controlled world, where it’s less about taking the brand to the consumer and more about taking the consumer to the brand, behavioral patterns are less likely to be linear – or sequential. And therefore it’s hard to imagine a consumer who seamlessly transitions from a state of awareness to purchase, by smoothly sliding down the funnel as they consume media. But knowing this doesn’t mean that the funnel is no longer relevant. There’s more to consider. And let me explain why:

1. What we know from our work behind the 7 Modes of The Mind is that consumer behavior in a digitally-powered world is increasingly shaped by their mood, mode and mindset.

2. We’ve discovered that mode of behavior and potential brand receptivity is shaped by a confluence of consumption – based on how a consumer interacts with categories, brands, technology, content and media.

3. We’ve found that the consumer journey towards a brand experience begins at one of seven primary modes: entertainment, share, learn/research, task/transact, socialize/connect, play and information mode.

4. We’ve also studied how the consumer jumps from one mode to another as they make their way towards the path to purchase – based on what frame of mind they’re in while consuming different media, devices and content.

By connecting these dots together in this way it then becomes apparent that the consumer mode of behavior and the “gravitational-pull” towards the bottom of the funnel are highly inter-related. And what’s amazing is that when you take a peak inside the purchase funnel you can begin to see all this unfold.

Go beyond a two-dimesional view of the funnel, dig deeper inside, and with the benefit of a three dimensional perspective it’s fascinating to actually see this modally driven form of behavior unfold. Far from being a linear sequential series of steps, what you’ll likely see is a meandering path to purchase towards the center of the funnel – that’s akin to a journey through a twisting-turning labyrinth, with trap doors and blind alleys, trampolines and pitfalls. But because this journey is fraught with distractions along the way, it also means the consumer may or may not make it down to the bottom of the funnel – depending on when and how a brand engages them.

So far, what’s clear from our initial work in this area, is that knowing how and when to intercept the consumer within the funnel and understanding what mode they’re in at a particular moment, increases the odds they’ll take the chute to purchasing your brand and become an advocate. Using a snap-shot of the three-dimensional view from above the funnel as an integrated modal connections framework can also be helpful, as a way to potentially mapping-out the journey a consumer might embark on as they make their way through the complicated ecosystem within.

So in short, don’t be mistaken. The funnel is far from dead – because on the inside, what we’ve found is that it’s very much alive. Dare to dive in, and what you may discover might initially scare your brand to death. But equally, don’t be surprised if this new perspective of the funnel provides you with a better understanding of how to give your brand a new lease on life.

Brands beware. There’s a highly powerful and increasingly influential segment of women fast emerging.

She’s confident, she’s ambitious. She’s strong-willed and well educated. She’s married. And she earns significantly more than her husband. In short, we call her Wonder-Woman. She represents a large chunk of consumer spending power. And it’s time for brands to take her seriously.

But who exactly is this Wonder-Woman and where did she come from?

Based on our cultural studies and analysis of consumer behavior at Mullen, we found that the origins of this powerful female segment date back to the mid-70’s, at around the time the comic-book inspired “Wonder Woman” TV series aired across America. During that time, this segment of women (who out-earned their husband) was relatively small, representing fewer than 1 out of 20 married households.

Fast forward to today and we see that the power base of wonder women has significantly strengthened, in that she may be present in as many as one third of all marriages. She’s most likely to be a Gen-Xer between the age of 30-44 years old, and with an average personal income of about $75,000. She’s got a good job, although she’s not necessarily in the top tier of earning power. What defines her is that she’s not just the gatekeeper – but also the primary bread winner in the household.

Essentially, she’s become the Female Head of Household. But she’s not necessarily looking to wield her power – or to gain the upper hand. Nor is she looking to make a dominant gender statement, or to put her career ambitions before everything else. On the contrary, she’s looking to attain a better life work balance, in pursuing her career and managing her matrimonial and maternal responsibilities. In this regard she’s trying to master it all and to vanquish the arch enemy of her “to-do-list” with a swashbuckling tenacity – all without compromising her sense of individuality.

From a marketing standpoint, what’s truly fascinating about Wonder-Woman is her potential impact on society as a cultural tipping point. Not only is she changing the economic dynamics within the institution of marriage, but she’s also causing the fundamentals of “socially-accepted” gender roles to be questioned. Among her friends, family, and interactions with stay-at-home moms, she’s confronted with managing self-identity and stereotype dilemmas. And certainly, from the perspective of the relationship with her husband, she’s also faced with some unique challenges within her own household. Especially for a Wonder-Woman who has children, there’s the added issue of the interchangeable nature of parenting and nurturing roles within her marriage. There’s also the high likelihood of a Mr. Mom scenario and a role reversal within the relationship dynamic: “Behind every good woman, there’s a good man.”

Given the cultural significance of all this, it would seem surprising that few brands have empathized with the challenges and complex dynamics of a Wonder-Woman household. Certainly for female-skewed brands, there would seem to be a significant marketing opportunity in identifying with and targeting this valuable consumer segment. Not just because of Wonder-Woman’s spending-power, but also because she’s a key purchase influencer, propagator of word of mouth and opinion leader. That makes her an important target audience consideration that few brands can afford to ignore.

However, for brands that do decide to overtly target Wonder-Woman, it’s important to also recognize that engaging her isn’t going to be easy. Brands will need to recognize her unique needs, be relevant in how they speak to her, and  appreciate that her advertising defense systems are likely to be on full alert. For sure, relying on a one-message-fits-all approach or resorting to the “old ways” of mass advertising is less likely to work. Intercepting and engaging Wonder-Woman is going to take a highly targeted and focused messaging approach. Taking the following insights into consideration could help to increase a brands potential to win her over:

1. She will identify with being enabled – make your brand her secret weapon
2. She’s more receptive before she goes shopping, don’t wait until she gets to the POS
3. Earn the right to be part of her world, don’t assume she’ll automatically be part of yours – she’s active in the social media space, blogs and online communities
4. She’s multi-tasking when  wearing the Wonder Woman costume. Some brands might fare better trying to engage her when she’s off-duty.
5. For a Wonder-Woman with kids, don’t forget about Mr. Mom – her husband is still a key influencer in considered purchases
6. Understand her emotional needs – and she could become your most ardent brand ambassador

They’re looking for someone who gets them.

Get to know what’s important to them. Almost universally (90%), customers agree that the companies delivering the best service products and experiences are the ones “who truly understand my needs.” (Service Marketing Brand Vulnerability Study, Mullen, 2009.) It’s not about “customer-centricity” lip service either – your best customers will see right through that – it’s about adopting truly customer-centric behavior.

You are not boring if you keep the basics covered. Don’t lose sight of the basics that probably made your business great from the start – like making it easy for customers to choose you and stay with you. According to our Brand Vulnerability Study, 89% of consumers agree that “the best service providers make it easy to do business with them,” and they operate with a keen understanding that “consistency is the name of the game.”

Define your stand out qualities, and you will be noticed. With more than 50% of consumers saying “most service providers’ products are the same,” it’s never been more important to define what sets you apart from the competition (Service Marketing Brand Vulnerability Study, Mullen, 2009). And don’t be shy about communicating that point of difference.

The virtual “you” should match the real “you.” When it comes to marketing, few things are more rewarded than the truth and more punished than inflated claims and over-promises. 83% of customers surveyed said one of their greatest disappointments with service providers is having their expectations raised based on the provider’s advertising or website only to be let down by the actual experience (Service Marketing Brand Vulnerability Study, Mullen, 2009). “It is futile for marketing to do an excellent job if they are, for example, to be let down by the customer service team, billing system or an executive who drags the brand through the gossip columns of the newspapers,” said Joe Stanhope, Vice President, Alterian, crm2day.com. So make sure your core marketing messages accurately portray your company and what you have to offer consumers.

Breaking up has gotten easier to do. More than half of consumers surveyed feel that service providers simply do not value them as customers. Our research indicates that increasingly, consumers are willing to breakup with a current service provider unless they see a real indication of change in that provider’s attitude and behavior. Some consumers are even working with their provider to find a compromise. “What I have learned is that these companies are really receptive to working with me to keep me as a customer,” said Alan Weinkrantz on ABCnews.com. Perhaps your customer’s personal ad really reads: “looking for someone who gets and values me.”

We put together a micro-site with more detail on how service brands can attract and retain their best customers. My colleague Taylor Bryant, Chief Strategy Officer, at Mullen, is also a great resource on this subject.

By contrast to the free-spending days of old, the post-apocalyptic consumer will be more savvy, responsible and prudent – although interestingly, as the year progresses, they’ll be increasingly more likely to splurge on “justifiable indulgences.”

Their spending mindset: cents and sensibility
In the wake of “The Great Recession” consumers have realized that unwieldy debt burdens and little to no savings makes them vulnerable to economic ruin. As a result they’re looking to regain control of their own financial destiny and seek out new ways to afford what they need. Their New Year’s resolution is “buy smart, or not at all.”

Shopping is a full contact sport
Consumers have upped their game when it comes to shopping strategies. They’re shopping around more – 75% of consumers state they use five or more channels just to get their grocery shopping done. Even when they are not shopping around they’re working every angle to their advantage – from trawling blogs, online search, deal aggregator websites, joining communities and seeking out e-coupons.

Culturally, looking back to the future
Consumers are regressing back to behaviors from days of old, but with new reasoning. For example, more consumers are line drying their laundry, with an eye towards saving money and justifying the environmental benefits. The victory garden has returned as a way to teach kids about healthy eating. And knitting is also back, as a way to save money and provide emotional therapy.

The oxymoron of naughty but nice
Consumers have a renewed desire for life’s little pleasures – but their resultant behavior is likely to be tempered by “devil vs. angel” psychology. They want to occasionally indulge, but need to feel guilt free in doing so. Many will happily treat themselves to a pint of Haagen Daaz (Five) knowing that it tastes great – and has reduced fat, and is also additive-free. But ostentatious indulgence is still likely to be out of bounds.

What are the implications for brands?
• Make consumers feel smart. Give them good reason.
• Create a multi-channel brand experience and make comparison shopping easier. The results might surprise you.
• Being traditional can be innovative. How can you make brand heritage feel contemporary?
• Strike up the emotional benefits of the brand and the consumer will play along.
• Indulgence is a permissible sin again – but be careful how you talk about it.

Dinesh Gopinath

Mullen announced today that Dinesh Gopinath, Ph.D., has joined the agency as executive vice president, director of strategic analytics. Gopinath, who was selected after a review of 35 candidates, will lead the agency’s analytics practice, which plays a key role in modeling, predicting and optimizing communications strategies across a wide range of client businesses. Gopinath comes to Mullen from ChoiceStream, Inc. in Cambridge, Mass., where he was chief solutions officer and active in using data for precision communications targeting and more personalized forms of communications. He has developed 1-to-1 personalization technology for clients including Zappos, Overstock, Borders, MTV, Yahoo! and AOL.

“In the hiring of Dinesh, we’re looking to further enhance our competitive advantage in gleaning data-driven insight,” said Stephen Hahn-Griffiths, chief strategy officer at Mullen. “Dinesh will provide an added edge to our precision targeting capabilities – in customer relationship management, digital, social media and beyond. He is a strategic and data analytics thought leader.”

“I‘m excited to join Mullen, focusing on the ROI of marketing and advertising while striking the right balance between short-term and long-term client business goals,” said Gopinath. “The timing is perfect,” Gopinath added. “The advertising industry is at a strategic inflection point dealing with the complexities of audience fragmentation, media proliferation, brand multiplicity, emergence of new technologies and the coalescence of advertising, marketing and selling.”

Gopinath had been with ChoiceStream since 2002, and some of his recent work there was in the development of personalized advertising and recommendation technology designed for so-called “advanced-TV” platforms. Previously, he was a principal with Oliver Wyman (formerly Mercer Management Consulting) and was at US West Advanced Technologies (Qwest).

Gopinath has a Ph.D. and an M.S. degree from MIT. His undergraduate studies were at the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras, India.

intangibility makes marketing service brands especially difficult

When it comes to building and maintaining a strong and distinctive brand in any category, the marketing terrain has never been more challenging. Arguably, the challenge is even more daunting for service brands. In part this reflects the power of today’s better-connected, highly empowered consumer to use digital word of mouth to spread the news about a bad experience with a service business, in an instant.

But the steeper climb for service brands also results from a unique and interesting set of characteristics and challenges that they share:

• Intangibility – relative to products that we can hold, use, and consume, people find it far more challenging to attach meaning to an intangible service offering, such as a checking account, an internet connection or life insurance. This makes defining a relevant and graspable brand promise all the more difficult, yet all the more essential. The goal for most service marketers: make sure the brand promise can be expressed in terms – verbally and visually – that make the service feel real – if not tangible. Sun Trust is a good example of a financial services company that has tackled this challenge by demonstrating what life on “solid financial ground” looks and feels like throughout their marketing communications initiatives.
• Commoditization – sustainable points of difference based on unique benefits are especially rare in service categories. With today’s technological advances, competitors can copy a service offering in just weeks.  Meaningful points of difference that do exist tend to perish quickly, which reinforces parity perceptions in most service categories. One consideration to combat this commoditization: use relevance itself as a differentiator. Service brands that are hyper-vigilant about doing the things – big and small – that keep their services relevant to their best customers, often manage to rise above the commodity label. American Express has been steadfast in its commitment to understanding what’s most relevant to its card members at any given time, and then delivering on it with laser like focus.
• Complexity – to battle the commodity problem, service brands often seek to differentiate themselves by adding complexity and nuance to their core offering. Yet often times the added layers result in a service offering that goes beyond the consumer’s personal expertise and comprehension and they simply cannot see or appreciate the added value. Services marketers must put themselves in their target’s shoes when constructing multi-level or multi-dimensional offerings to avoid running the risk of over-engineering the service and under-delivering on ROI.
• Inconsistency – a service brand is by definition an “experience-based” brand which illuminates what may be the key challenge:  there is almost no way to replicate the exact same experience each time for each customer. A detailed description of the desired brand experience at each touch point is a must, but still it can’t eliminate human inconsistency. An added defense is to ensure that you have an extraordinarily consistent brand story leading up to and coming out of the experience. Hotels such as Four Seasons and the W often have been envied for their ability to “script” the desired brand experience — then stick to the script flawlessly.
• Real-Time – thousands of times a day service brands face moments of truth – real time consumer interactions that are opportunities to strengthen the brand by exceeding expectations or weaken it by under-delivering. Which is why service brands must look at their brand-building resources and efforts through the lens of “real-time brand-building” moments. To be true brand ambassadors, front line employees must be able to not only articulate the brand promise, but be able to translate it to the “brand-right behavior” in their day-to-day, moment-to-moment customer interactions.

Each of these challenges weighs a bit differently on any given brand. Conducting a thorough assessment to clearly define and understand which of these challenges most impacts your brand and business is at least half the battle. It will make the task of building actionable strategies all the more manageable and set the table for a more successful outcome.

photo credit: Aliya Hallim-Byne

Last week I had the honor of participating in a panel at the New York Times building and the opportunity to talk about “Marketing in a Recession.”

The event was sponsored by outprofessionals.org, moderated by Stuart Elliott of the New York Times, and featured panelists Rachel Sklar (photo: right), editor-in-large at Mediaite, and Stephanie Blackwood (photo: left), co-founder of Double Platinum.

When the first question was thrown out and I was asked “how’s the recession impacting the consumer?” – there was one thought I just couldn’t get out of my mind. In responding to the question, weighing up the social and economic trends related to this new era of fiscal responsibility – and in thinking about the extensive research we’ve conducted around the country, there was only one thing I could say on behalf of the consumer:

“It feels like a thousand days of pain.”

What I was thinking about harkens back to the “unofficial” beginning of the Great Recession in August 2007 when the news about the sub-prime crisis first broke – and when consumer sentiment began its rapid descent. And in looking into the foreseeable future my thoughts about the consumer were projected through to around May 2010, when perhaps, consumers might universally start to feel better about life again.

But to be clear, I wasn’t just talking about the one-out-of ten Americans who are without work, or the nearly one-out-of-five homeowners who are at/or near “underwater mortgage” levels. I had every consumer segment in mind, including the wealthy, middle and lower income groups – across a diverse spectrum of consumer segments, including Caucasian, Hispanic, African American, even GLBT consumers – and beyond.

I was thinking about how the consumer feels about today’s everyday reality and their diminished discretionary spending power, as compared to the “old days” of liberal consumption fueled by easily attainable credit. By contrast, I was contemplating the emergence of the “new normal” – where frugality rules (yes even among millionaires!) and almost all purchase decisions become a considered consumption. Even despite the recent early signs of economic hope, I talked about how “prudence” as a shopping behavior is more likely to linger for another 6-9 months, even after consumer sentiment begins to rebound.

I projected forward in how I believe consumers are likely to continue exhibiting “spending paralysis” and “unconsumer” like behavioral characteristics. For example, in the year ahead, I suspect that consumers will continue to be more likely to save and reduce their personal debt levels, than spend. Or consumers may look for ways to renew and renovate, as opposed to always buying new. And if they do spend, they’ll rather trade down, or make more distressed purchases only when absolutely necessary – and perhaps at best, splurge on the smaller and more affordable every day luxuries.

But rather than commiserate with the challenges – my thinking transitioned onto the opportunities for marketers during this Great Recession. In striking a more optimistic tone, I argued that consumers might occasionally break out of their spending malaise, but to do so, they would have to feel that the purchase “is really worth it.” I echoed the sentiment that a brand will have to go out of its way to engage consumers in a highly relevant way for this to happen – but that it won’t just occur by applying the same old tricks of traditional mass marketing.

With all this in mind and following a spirited debate among the panel members, the Q & A commenced and the conversation focused on the potential for marketers and agencies to successfully navigate the days of pain ahead. Based on my observations, here’s where I think the collective power of wisdom netted out, in identifying seven key themes to winning in a recession:

1. Innovation is a prerequisite
2. Take a risk: not taking one is more risky
3. Focus is key, differentiate or die
4. Deliver more value through enhanced benefits, not lower price
5. Don’t forget the fundamentals – trust and authenticity
6. Targeting precision beats mass efficiency
7. Communicate your brand’s values

Hopefully, the attendees left the event with a renewed sense of optimism and perhaps a better understanding of how to navigate the recession. Although at a minimum, I suspect many had made a mental note of May 2010 in calculating there are now only 250 days of pain to go!

Either way, what was clear to all – is that the thousand days of pain will have a profound impact on the consumer and that will likely change their purchasing behavior forever more.

Combining Missions:  If an environmentalist, an ecologist and a foodie got together.

Slow Food is about being “everything fast food isn’t.”  It’s about rediscovering and celebrating locally sourced foods and cooking traditions that have been lost for the sake of mass production. On their main websites (slowfood.com and slowfoodusa.org) gastronomic seekers can find everything from sources for heirloom seeds to directions on how to make traditional Valasis Rye Bread.

Quality, not quantity

Those leading the slow foods movement believe that in a world of processed foods, quality ingredients have been lost.  They believe that by focusing on quality ingredients and taking time to enjoy food (they are pushing for the return of the two hour lunch), meals are not only more flavorful, but healthier. They look to bring this healthy attitude to the world by working to support more community gardens and finding ways to bring healthier, planet friendly foods to the National School Lunch Program.

DIY Consumer: Nothing is more local than your backyard

Local sourcing can mean discovering a local winery, but there is also a growing trend towards growing your own.  Perhaps inspired by Michelle Obama’s victory garden, raised garden beds are cropping up everywhere from suburban backyards to urban fire escapes. This goes beyond fruits and veggies – as  consumers have even started raising their own chickens. The trend has become so popular that companies like Eglu (omlet.us) provide designer coops – so you can have the chicest chicks on the block.

Where does it go from here?

The idea of taking time to enjoy things is not limited to food.  Since the slow food movement launched in 1986, it has sparked similar movements in other industries such as Slow Travel, Slow Reading and Slow Cities (which seeks to preserve local customs). As the pace of society continues to grow, we can expect to see more of these types of movements as consumers look for balance in their hectic lives.

What are the implications for brands?

• Look for opportunities to increase impact by serving multiple consumer interests (green + foodie, quality + local, etc.)
• Stand up and take credit for what you might already be doing – particularly any local sourcing
• Don’t be afraid to promote quality in a downturned economy. Small enriching experiences go a long way.
• Think of how your brand can provide balance in consumer’s lives.  If you are not leading the trend, can you be leading the counter trend?