By Michael Mendenhall
Senior Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer
Hewlett-Packard Company
Michael Mendenhall, chief marketing officer for HP, recently delivered a speech on “Marketing 2.0” to the ANA’s 2008 Masters of Marketing Conference in Orlando. For subscribers who are members of ANA, you can find further information at www.ana.net. These selected excerpts provide insightful perspectives on the evolution of communication in the management of brand and reputation:
“Brands are no longer defined by the 30-second TV spot. Web 2.0, which enables multi-party, multi-media, simultaneous, digital conversations, has completely upended the traditional relationship between companies and consumers. The power of a single individual to shape perceptions on a massive scale is a dramatic and fundamental shift. It is no longer just about where businesses put their ad spend. A comprehensive digital strategy across all operations of a company is required. As marketers, we need to ask ourselves, How can we drive efficiency and stakeholder engagement in this interactive environment … while still managing the reputational risk to our brands?”
“Of the world’s 6.6 billion people, only about 1.3 billion have Internet access — a number that is poised to grow exponentially. These populations have never known a passive Internet experience. As they come online, they leapfrog right into the thick of Web 2.0. Seventy-six percent of Brazilian Internet users belong to social networks, with 57% updating their profiles daily and 50% having their own blogs. China has the largest blogging community in the world, with 42 million bloggers — more than the U.S. and Western Europe combined.”
“The amount of digital information is literally exploding – it’s doubling every 18 months. The global digital conversation is just getting started and the growth potential is phenomenal and a little overwhelming. All that information is useless if it can’t be acted on and you can’t get the right information to the right person at the right time. The [challenge] for all of us as marketers: how do we efficiently engage our customers, while still effectively managing our reputation?”
“The news cycle is 24x7. We all need to monitor and connect with blogs and news sites constantly for early warning signs, false rumors, or customer complaints. Going one step further, [we need to] build our own forums to engage customers and critics — who are often one and the same. We can’t afford a mistake or a missed opportunity, because today’s gaffe becomes tomorrow’s attack ad.”
"Consider the recent race for the White House. An Obama-related viral video grabbed the attention of more than 9.5 million viewers. According to the Pew Internet and American Life Project, 35% of Americans said they watched online political videos during this election cycle, triple the number for the 2004 contest. Obviously, not all of those were from the official campaign Web site. This presents a reputational risk as well as an opportunity, and that can be a very fine line.”
“At HP, we’re also actively trying to tap that same consumer energy and enthusiasm. Last year, HP and MTV sponsored an online contest to design a new Entertainment Notebook. We promoted it in 13 countries through a mix of TV, Web and mobile media. But it spread virally. In just over a month, we received more than 8,500 entries from 112 countries. Overall, the site got more than five million hits with more than 400,000 unique visitors. Sales are now projected at five times the original estimate. All because we opened the doors and allowed our customers to design our products.”
“R&D differentiates us, and we recognize innovation is the lifeblood of a technology company. But we also recognize that — as smart as our researchers are – we don’t have a monopoly on great ideas. We collaborate with other labs and universities around the globe, and we use social media to invite even broader participation.
HP IdeaLab is a Web site that gives a sneak preview of some of our emerging innovations. We offer demos, downloads, descriptions and videos on featured technologies, like cloud printing; that allows people to access and print documents via their cell phones to just about any printer, anywhere. We want people outside the company to take this new technology for a test drive and suggest new applications. Through IdeaLab, we’re opening ourselves up to the collective intelligence and untapped talent of the 1.3 billion people in the online community.”
“In the world of Web 2.0, the digital conversation never stops, and we need to update our organizations and operations accordingly. It’s about using resources to build my own forums, my own networks. The paradigm is no longer based on interruption — grabbing attention for your product — but on a more nuanced approach of engagement, efficiency and reputation management. As marketers, we have an opportunity and a responsibility to drive change within our companies, because all public touch-points – increasingly digital – now impact our brand and our revenue. Brands aren’t defined by campaigns any more, but by the consumer ecosystems we nurture to support them.”
NOTE: HP is a long-standing client of Hill & Knowlton.