Below is a view into the winding road we lead at NEXT….
Gerber Mission: “In order to truly challenge Vancouver businesses to stand up and push boundaries in their marketing messaging, I felt I needed to be held accountable LIVE and create marketing strategy quickly in an interactive show format – “BRAND CHATTER Live!”. I’ve been doing this work in boardrooms for years and I am excited to show the 120+ people attending the event, that it is not as hard as people think.”

The Process: You may be thinking, marketing meets magic? ;) No, it’s quite simple really; Sandy demystifies the typical lengthy marketing strategy process and uses a NEXT marketing process that quickly identifies a business’s “key connector”- enabling them to be completely distinct in the marketplace. The added benefit, is the business owner gets completely empowered and can easily discuss their business enabling others to discuss their product, service or brand (BRAND CHATTER™) online and offline.

At the engaging event next week, Gerber will be joined by some of Vancouver’s industry celebrities as the “Interview Guests” for the talk show segment of the event. She brings a range of marketing channel representatives to the event and charges them with some raw and direct questioning to help the attendees understand the realities surrounding the options on WHERE to create BRAND CHATTER™ for their business. It should be very interesting discussion with the competing marketing channels!

Interview Guests include:
Online Marketing Expert: Chris Briekss, CEO, 6S Marketing
Public Relations Expert: Clare Hamilton, Account Executive, PEAK Communicators
Media Expert: Brandy Wright, Senior Account Executive, Rogers Media Canada
Social Media Expert: Owen Clark, CEO, Byzhub
Networking Expert: Anne McMullin, CEO & President, North Vancouver Chamber of Commerce

More specifics on the event, Sandy Gerber, the NEXT team and the event video invitation can all be found below:
http://yourbrandchatter.ca
http://nextforyourbusiness.com
**Event is almost sold out, do not delay, get your ticket now.

Social media monitoring firm Brandwatch has created a live, interactive site that tracks tweets mentioning the brands involved in this year’s game.

The Super Bowl presents one of the most prestigious and most expensive advertising opportunities to global brands worldwide, so the company decided to measure whether the impact of ad-spend could be measured by online buzz.

Brandwatch’s offering will record the online reaction each Super Bowl XLVI sponsor is receiving up to and during the big game on Sunday February 5th.

Full details and infographics on the details are available through the full eConsultancy.com article. While most people will be excited to watch the new creative ads during the game, we are most excited to SEE BRAND CHATTER™ in action!

Brandwatch is one of the world’s leading social media monitoring tools, with offices in the UK, US, Germany and Brazil.

The Brandwatch Superbowl 2012 was built by Brandwatch Labs, Brandwatch’s very own team of designers and developers who create stunning visualisations to show off different ways of presenting Brandwatch’s social media data.

I find it fascinating that the long months of rumours of Facebook going public will become a reality this week. It is hard to believe merely 8 years ago Facebook was formed and this week, that same company will become one of the “world’s largest share sales ever seen on Wall Street” as reported by the BBC News.

Full story on the amazing share offering covered by BBC News.

eMarketer estimates mobile advertising spending in the US reached $1.45 billion in 2011, up 89% from $769.6 million in 2010. This year, US mobile ad spending will grow 80% to $2.61 billion.

eMarketer forms its forecast for mobile advertising spending through a meta-analysis of estimates from research firms that track mobile ad spending and impressions, reported data from major mobile advertising publishers, and other sources. eMarketer also conducts interviews with executives at agencies, brands and mobile advertising publishers who provide perspective on the development of the mobile advertising business as a whole, as well as the revenues for individual companies.

Competition between Google, Apple and Millennial for mobile display dollars is healthier. eMarketer estimates Google earned $127.5 million from US mobile display advertising in 2011, or a 24.8% share of total US mobile display revenues. Apple’s share of display revenues reached 18% in 2011, just over Millennial’s 17.7% share, eMarketer estimates.

“While Google remains a leader in mobile display, it’s too early to call the race,” said Elkin. “Both Apple and Millennial have healthy, $90-million-plus US businesses, while companies with larger international footprints such as InMobi, Amobee, and JumpTap shouldn’t be discounted either.”

Full detailed eMarketer report with graphs and more details.

• 20% of small businesses say they plan to commit more resources to mobile marketing in 2012 (up from 2% in 2009)
• 80% of U.S. small business owners have a smartphone
• 90% of small business’s use social media, with “improving the customer experience” ranked at the top of the social media benefits list.
• 20% of all mobile ecommerce sales now come from tablets
• By 2016, mobile ecommerce is expected to increase to $31 billion in the U.S. (a HUGE jump from $3 billion in 2010)
• On average, tablet users spend 1 hour and 35 mins on their tablet daily

As the number of tablet and smartphone owners increases, a new category of shoppers will emerge. It is important for business’s to stay ahead of the trends, and be ready for this new emerging category of customers.

Kate Spade New York is an example of a large company that leveraged BRAND CHATTER™ successfully to become one of the strongest brands in the online marketing space. In 2007, the future of the brand was very uncertain, but with a new CEO and vision, the label expanded into new product categories and markets by growing their online presence.

“It’s critical for brands to always be leaders, to always take risks and experiment” ~ Craig Leavitt, CEO, Kate Spade.

Kate Spade’s stated steps for success include:

• An aggressive five year plan, the brand focused on building a global multichannel lifestyle brand, a brand that spanned multiple categories and reached the consumer in all channels of distribution.
• Redesign of the branded website, the biggest goal was to engage and interact with the community. By building their BRAND CHATTER™, their community drove revenue for the business. Sales skyrocketed on the website with people staying on the site longer and interacting with the brand.
• Heavily invested in social media. Developed a strong and consistent voice for that brand in all relevant channels to reach their markets.

Once a company understands the importance of BRAND CHATTER™ and leverages the platforms to attract influencers and followers, the brand grows because it understands what people are saying and feeling about their business. That data is crutial to business success and until recently was tricky to find.

Obscene Interactive is one company currently creating a revolutionary new tool that will allow business owners to leverage the wealth of consumer data and trending info that is being pumped into social media platforms by users every day.

The team at NEXT is always on the look out for tools to measure, monitor and grow BRAND CHATTER™ and we will keep you posted. To get started in creating your own business BRAND CHATTER™, you need to first figure out what you want people to SAY about your business. Join us at “BRAND CHATTER™ Live!” and get to work on the conversations about your brand to start building your own BRAND CHATTER™.

Sandy Gerber, CEO of NEXT Marketing & Design Agency, was going through her massive pile of emails when an email from QuickBooks caught her attention. I had a quick talk with Sandy on the reasons she thought the QuickBooks Intervention campaign was a success.

Q. Why and how did this campaign catch your eye?

A. Firstly, the term “Intervention” caught my eye. The term was cause related, unique in marketing messaging and demonstrated a sense of urgency. Key elements grab the reader’s attention and help to stand out from the mass amount of emails we filter daily. The words in this email campaign were carefully selected for effect, and the message came across in a very clever manner.

Q. This campaign must be having a great effect on QuickBook’s BRAND CHATTER™, especially with the $10,000 giveaway! How well do you think this campaign will be as a lead generator?

A. I think this campaign will be extremely effective in generating leads for the company. When I first read the email I began mentally sourcing business people I knew who could benefit from the promotion. I concentrated on business owners and leaders I knew in my network that required accounting support for their business. The carefully crafted messaging in this email marketing provided a clear call to action for referrals of qualified new prospects for QuickBooks. I took the initative to consider my network for referral of this promotion because it would HELP them and I could support my network in their businesses.

Q. QuickBooks Intervention has a great element of giving back; explain how important it is for business owners to unplug from work and spend more time with their family.

A. Honestly the copywriting of this promotion was exceptional, and instantly created an emotional trigger for the readers. By identifying the guilt or obstacle that makes business owners/leaders swap life priorities (business over personal), Quickbooks quickly provides a desired solution that people would easily refer and acquire.

Q. Are you in need of a QuickBooks Intervention?

A. Nope! I’m already a QuickBooks user and fan!

• Background: With the recent collapse of the economy, consumers are idealizing and grounding themselves in the past. Marketers should celebrate this by integrating historical elements into their brands. This can be done through typography that uses retro cues with classic and elegant imagery.
• Once Upon a Time: Legends are popular as consumers seek comfort in history or choose to escape into a world of fantasy. Brands should enhance storytelling with dreamy and romantic patterns.
• Simply Free: Consumers want to simplify their lives, it needs to be made easy for shoppers to choose a brand.
• Success: Brands need to carefully manage the paradox between ostentatiousness and the timeless vision of luxury brands.
• Reconciliation: Green consciousness inspires consumers to live in harmony with themselves and their environment. Brands that define their mission with a global vision and are built to last will get consumers to notice.
• I Am Virtual: Brands that can build their image through the use of virtual tools and provide experiences beyond the day-to-today will thrive.
• Imagine: Brands that dare consumers to imagine and create something unique will find new audiences.

Which trend will your brand be leveraging?

In today’s world, marketing has many considerations and complexities beyond traditional marketing textbook thinking. Not only do businesses need to create compelling and effective messaging for their business, they need to know how to pass it along in the multiple channels available.

“BRAND CHATTER™ Live!” is different than other business events. Gerber engages the audience by sharing the 4 Stages of Successful BRAND CHATTER™ and randomly selecting audience members to come on stage. On the spot, Gerber will dive into your business and uncover your key connector in just 10 minutes! From there, Sandy shows the audience how to position your business for growth and how to create your business BRAND CHATTER™. You will walk out of this experience ready and equipped to create your own BRAND CHATTER™ for your business that same day!

Register and see video and success stories of “BRAND CHATTER™ Live!”
Limited seating is available and this event will sell out fast, book your seat NOW!

Younger Canadians are leading the charge towards using mobile shopping applications, with one-third planning on using mobile apps for shopping this holiday season. Some of the most common mobile shopping apps used are location-based (i.e. store locator), followed by productivity, banking and entertainment.

Peter Barr, who is Partner and National Consumer Business Leader stated that “the number of Canadians who plan to buy online has been stable in the last couple of years, but this is poised to change”. Canadian consumers have been relatively slow to adopt online shopping with 45% saying they plan to online shop this holiday season. However this is likely to change in the near future because a lot of pressure is being placed on Canadian retailers as U.S. retailers are becoming increasingly available to ship to Canada. This is causing Canadian retailers to revisit their e-commerce strategies and invest in new e-commerce platforms.