jeff lanctot

As you’ll notice, I haven’t been updating this blog for some time.  The best place to follow me is on twitter @lanctot.

I was preparing a post regarding the impact that the struggling economy is having on digital marketing.  Then Connie Loizos of Reuters save me the time by running an interview we did last week.  She covered off on a broad range of relevant questions.  I’d be interested in hearing what your experience has been as credit markets have tightened and the economy has struggled.  Budgets being pulled back?  Lowered expectations for 2009?

Every year Razorfish hosts an event to thank the media publishers with whom we work.  It’s a great opportunity to give our partners a look behind the curtain of our business, which helps the publishers to better service our shared clients.

In what has become a great tradition, our media team spent the day before the Summit volunteering in the community.  This year’s effort was trash and graffiti clean up:

Earlier this year, I wrote about the consolidation of spending on ad networks.   We’ve seen increasingly concentrated spending over the last several years, with the top five ad networks (by AA|RF spend) earning 71% of total ad network spending last year.  For the first half of 2008, the trend continued, with the top five’s share growing to 75%.  Narrowing it further, 60% of all ad network spending went to the top three. Read the rest of this entry »

From Brian Morrissey:  “so we have learned twitter is excellent for earthquake news. cue web 2.0ites predicting imminent death of NYT.”

I can’t do better than David Deal’s rundown of Best Buy’s new Summer Hub (as David notes in his post, Best Buy is a client of AA|RF).   Three things I really like about Best Buy’s effort:

1)  The primary focus is how technology can make your summer better, not on the features of the technology itself.  You’ll find things like tips on showing backyard movies, podcasts on learning a new language, and ideas for entertaining kids in the car.

2)  They make the “Blue Shirts,” Best Buy’s in-store sales people, a part of the web experience.   It’s a nice consistent brand experience from web to store.  On the Summer Hub, the Blue Shirts offer suggestions on how to use gadgets and technology throughout the site, but are never screaming “buy now.”  It works. Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve considered Friendfeed a great resource for marketing/tech industry news and conversation, but the amount of discussion about Tiger’s putt on 18 today was a surprise to me.  While there were many great comments, Fred Wilson nailed it- “Tiger Woods is amazing.”

Doug Weaver and Scot McLernon of Upstream Habitat invited me to speak at their recent San Jose event.  Habitat is an intensive training that the organizers describe as a “digital sales MBA in two days.”  Two things struck me about the event:

• The quality of the instructors.  I knew going in that Habitat had quality staff, but they were very well prepared (based both from what I observed, and what I heard from Habitat attendees).  The courses are extremely organized.
• The engagement of the attendees.  There were lots of questions, plenty of healthy debate, and generally an excitement to be learning.  A good number of attendees were making the transition from traditional to digital channels, which was nice to see.  They’ll bring a great combination of skills and insight to the market.

The lack of experienced digital sellers has been much discussed.  You can’t create experience overnight, but better training and mentoring sure is a big help.  If you’re a new digital seller, or lead a sales team that lacks digital experience, Habitat is definitely worth considering.

Sir George Martin delivered an exceptional keynote to end the Avenue A | Razorfish Client Summit last Thursday.  His warm stories about the early days of the Beatles were enough to keep the crowd of 1000 fully engaged for over an hour.  It was more than just good storytelling, though.  His inspiring lessons about creativity and innovation were outstanding.   The reinvention of the Beatles’ music into Cirque du Soleil’s Love is only the most recent example (and is also the work that has once again shone a bright light on his genius).

Many thanks to my colleague David Deal for producing the summit, including arranging the excellent keynote to end the event.

This week I’m in New York for our 8th annual Client Summit.  Yesterday’s discussion provided a nice mix of case studies and thought leadership (from both internal and external experts).  A few highlights:

- Guy Kawasaki gave a great talk about the Art of Innovation.  If you haven’t heard Guy speak, he always strikes the right balanace of humor and insight.  I heard a number of clients comment on how valuable they found his talk.
- Levi’s, AT&T and Ford Motor Company each provided smart case studies describing their work in digital marketing over the last year.  I’ve written about Levi’s Design Challenge before.  AT&T’s work with Microsoft’s Surface was highlighted yesterday- if you haven’t seen the Surface in an AT&T store, it’s worth seeking out.  Ford showcased the ways they’ve embraced digital solutions in everything from internal communications (with their smart GO! marketing intranet) to in-car solutions (with Sync). Read the rest of this entry »

I’ve recently listened to and participated in several conversations regarding the evolving role of the ad agency. Most marketers and agency types seem to agree that a radical change is necessary. I agree, but I think that change is going to be a harder one to make than many realize.

For many agencies, incremental change feels comfortable. It tacitly acknowledges the greatness of days gone by. It politely suggests that they can get even better. It gently nudges the business forward. The leisurely and familiar pace with which agencies change is also the very thing that threatens their future. Read the rest of this entry »

Pangea Day is another fantastic effort coming out of TED.  Taking place on May 10th, it’s an ambitious effort to bring people and cultures together through the power of film.  The trailer at the site is definitely worth watching.  The following excerpt from an email Chris Anderson sent to the TED community last week also provides a nice overview of the effort: Read the rest of this entry »

Today the Seattle Times introduced a new quarterly magazine called Footprint, focused largely on the environment and global warming.

As I stepped outside to grab the newspaper on this April 20th, it sat in an inch of snow.

After weeks (months?) of rumors, word is out that Federated Media has completed a $50 million round.

I’ll save the questions around valuation of the company for the investors.  However, I can say that FM has established a nice track record with Avenue A | Razorfish (my employer) over the last several quarters.  Looking back to 2007, we spent nearly 4X more with FM in the second half of the year than we did in the first half.  In the first quarter of 2008, our spend with FM matched all of calendar year 2007.  Granted, FM started from a small base in 2007, but this kind of growth isn’t common.  Looking at the reasons for their success, I think FM has done three things very well: Read the rest of this entry »

A few weeks ago I was a guest at a Zillow leadership retreat.  A few things struck me about the team- they have an unusual number of “big thinkers,” are very data focused, and have an uncommon focus on disruption.  Those are important traits to consider when evaluating the Mortgage Marketplace Zillow announced last week.  They’re taking on an industry that is clearly in need of reform, and badly needs more transparency.  With a focus on information transparency, I think Zillow’s approach to the mortgage business is a good one.  I like their chances of shaking things up.

One more note- Zillow gets advertising.   While consumers will turn to Zillow for their Real Estate and Mortgage tools, advertisers should keep an eye on Zillow’s advertising business.  They have a good set of solutions now, and are working on some compelling, data-driven ad products that are very smart.

Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff’s new book, Groundswell, should be on your reading list.  Addressing the incredible changes brought about by social technologies, it provides a great combination of analysis, instruction and storytelling. Li and Bernoff use twenty-five case studies to illustrate the way business has changed, and they do so in an entertaining way.  More importantly, they provide the tools needed to win in this new environment.  It’s one of those books that helps you think about your business challenges in a fresh way.

Two disclosures:  1) I did a peer review of the Groundswell draft for Harvard Business Press, and 2) Charlene is one of the guest speakers at the Avenue A | Razorfish Client Summit next month.

The Mobile Marketing Association features an article by my colleague Patrick Moorhead, that is definitely worth a read.  It’s a really nice overview of the progress made in mobile over the last year, but I especially like Patrick’s healthy and determined attitude about finding the right marketing answer.  From his article: 

Many [have heard me say] that mobile is empirical science, so no matter how much eMarketer, Jupiter, and m:Metrics data you look at about your target consumer, the only real way to understand if he or she will respond to you on mobile is to try. In response, many of our clients say, “Well, if they don’t, I just wasted a bunch of money I could have used someplace else.” To this I say – I don’t see any waste. Getting the right mix of media channels sorted out around your core customer is critical, and if it costs us a bit to determine definitively they aren’t someplace, so be it.

Sometimes a dozen tiny failures can lead to great success.  Test, Learn and Grow.

I previously pointed out Shiv Singh’s thinking on Social Influence Marketing.  He’s written a another post on the topic, as a follow up to his recent SXSW presentation.   In our 2008 Digital Outlook, the head of Avenue A | Razorfish’s Emerging Media group, Terri Walter, provides her roadmap for success in SIM.  As the relationship between brands and customers continues to evolve, it’s a great guide for marketers: Read the rest of this entry »

Word came out this week that CafeMom has raised a $12M round.  They’ve been on a very impressive run over the last year.  I’ve talked with CafeMom’s co-founders, Michael and Andrew, many times since they started their first property, ClubMom, in 1999 (both ClubMom and CafeMom are part of CMI Marketing).  What always struck me was how committed they were to their users- moms really have a lot of say in how CafeMom is run.  Of course Andrew and Michael have a genuine commitment to providing solutions that marketers want- that’s their business.  But the marketing has to work for the moms, and Andrew and Michael have always been clear about that.  As a result, they’ve struck a balance that is great for both moms and marketers.  

It’s also notable that CMI decided to launch a separate brand with CafeMom.  They had a good business in ClubMom, but there’s no way small adjustments to that property wouldn’t have given them the growth they’ve seen with CafeMom.  Instead, they listened to users, consulted with marketers, and launched a new property that met the needs of both.

In just over a year since CafeMom was launched, this approach has proven to be good business- Avenue A |Razorfish spent more with CafeMom in Q4 of 2007 than we did with ClubMom over the entire year (I’ve left out the real numbers, but the trend is pretty obvious). 

Frank Kochenash, the head of Strategy and Insights in Avenue A | Razorfish’s Seattle office, authored one of the more thought provoking pieces in our 2008 Digital Outlook Report.  Frank addressed the role users will play as advertising models evolve on social networks.  Specifically, how users should be compensated as the economic models on these properties mature.  Frank’s insights…

Read the rest of this entry »