 | When she's not hard at work developing innovative marketing products for Polk customers, Paula can be found devouring novels on her kindle, listening to funky music or spending time with her husband and twins. A self-proclaimed gym rat, Paula is a former competitive figure skater and has a black belt in Taekwondo. She is also an accomplished musician, and plays flute, sax and piano. Paula is a comedian at heart, and loves to wisecrack her way out of tight situations. Polk is lucky to have her as our Director of Strategy & Planning, but the New York Philharmonic is missing out on a great asset.
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Much to my disappointment (but not surprise), Porsche has declined to participate in Mini's road race challenge pitting the Cooper S against the 911 Carrera S at the Road Atlanta racetrack. But in keeping with its "little OEM that could" persona, Mini is not giving up.
Mini USA's president, Jim McDowell, has issued yet another personal challenge to Porsche Cars North America's CEO, Detlev von Platen. Take a look.
As the proposed race day (June 21) approaches, Mini has unleashed yet another creative, multi-channel automotive marketing tactic. They reportedly flew a banner plane over Porsche's Atlanta-based headquarters with a message reading, "Dear Porsche, Bring it. Love, Mini." If that's not enough, perhaps Porsche will be enticed by the new prizes being offered -- including a lifetime membership to the Salami of the Month Club. Or by the petition being circulated on Mini's official Facebook page, another social media coup.
I wouldn't bet on this race happening anytime soon, but it doesn't really matter. Mini is the winner for showing audacity, personality, and a great sense of humor. What a brand!
Posted by Paula Skier, Director, Strategy & Planning, Digital Marketing, Polk (06.15.2010)
Ok, here's an example of an OEM using multi-channel automotive marketing tactics to execute a campaign that’s got something for everyone. Even those like me, with no chance of buying a Mini or a Porsche in the foreseeable future, can't look away.
It's a road race challenge with something for everyone. Think of it: Mini Cooper vs. Porsche 911. It's got humor (just look at the cars next to each other and you can't help but smile).
It's got social appeal. Watch this YouTube video featuring Mini's Jim McDowell, a former Porsche employee, issuing a personal challenge to Porsche's Detlev von Platen. It's got a bit of marketing genius (no matter what happens, Mini wins with great publicity). And it's a great example of using multi-channel tactics – from digital marketing like online video and social media, to traditional print ads in the NY Times – to execute a creative and appealing campaign that's spot on for a brand like Mini.
Porsche is reportedly considering the challenge, although they stand to lose big time if, against all odds, they get beaten on the track by Mini. Personally, I hope to see this race become a reality on June 21. Will it influence my future car buying decision? Probably not. But if I were a viable target for either of these brands, you can bet this campaign would earn my consideration.
What do you think?
Posted by Paula Skier, Director, Strategy & Planning, Digital Marketing, Polk (06.10.2010)
In September, I attended a session at the Interactive Advertising Bureau MIXX Conference entitled "The End of Digital Marketing." In his presentation, Google President Nikesh Arora opined that digital marketing is not a discipline unto itself, but simply a part of marketing in general. The same principle can be applied to online automotive marketing. I propose that the auto market as a whole consists of both online and offline elements, neither of which will do the job alone.
This was the theme of our presentation last week at the Polk Industry Outlook Summit 2009. I was fortunate to be joined at the podium by Julie Enzweiler, Automotive Research Director at the Nielsen Company. Our premise is simple: Automotive marketers must incorporate both online and offline research, targeting and measurement to form an effective overall marketing strategy. The pieces come together to form a complete puzzle, as illustrated below.
Take, for example, assessing the target audience and competitive set for a new vehicle being launched. We can measure the accuracy of the competitive group by examining online new vehicle shopping activity – who is shopping the vehicle, what are their demographics, and where are they located? Does this align with the intended target?
Further, what vehicles are being cross-shopped online, and does this correlate with offline conquesting & defection behavior? We took a look at the Honda Insight as an example and confirmed that there is, in fact, strong alignment between online and offline behavior.
*Source: Nielsen MegaPanel, Jan-Jul 2009;
**Polk Manufacturer Loyalty Excelerator™, Jan–Jul 2009
So, what does this mean for automotive marketers? Well, for starters, make sure to integrate online and offline intelligence to develop and refine your marketing plans throughout the vehicle lifecycle. There is still a tendency to create organizational silos that treat online and offline marketing as completely separate disciplines; this can severely impede your ability to leverage information across the organization.
In today's complex automotive market, we believe that companies that can break down organizational barriers and integrate information from all available sources, both online and offline, will be most successful.
On a scale of 1-10, with 1 meaning "completely separated, no integration" and 10 meaning "fully integrated, no silos," between the online and offline disciplines, how would you rate your company and why?
Inquiring minds want to know.
P.S. If you would like a copy of the presentation from our customer summit, send your company rating and contact information to me at paula_skier@polk.com.
Posted by Paula Skier, Polk, Director of Digital Product Strategy (11.2.2009)
Last week, I attended the BlueKai Data Boot Camp, a digital marketing event in New York. The focus was on behavioral targeting (using previous internet behavior to target relevant advertising messages to users). This field is expanding in new and exciting ways. Some companies are using social networks to find more people who “look” like the target market. Others have figured out how to bridge offline consumer data to the internet for use in online targeting.
But one thing they all had in common was a major focus on identifying “in market” consumers, in vertical markets such as travel, financial services and automotive. Given the state of the economy, particularly the automotive industry challenges, it’s not surprising that OEMs and dealers are focusing on lower-funnel targeting. However, it got me thinking, “What about the rest of the purchase funnel?” Obviously, a major purchase like a car is not an impulse decision. If you are already comparing vehicles and estimating payments, chances are you’ve narrowed down your consideration to a small group of vehicle makes or models. So if a brand you’re not considering pays to serve an ad to you, are they wasting their money?
For decades, marketers have relied on traditional media such as TV and print for brand advertising. Why isn’t the internet – which supports a much higher degree of targeting without sacrificing reach – being widely used for branding in the same way? I suspect it’s because there is no easy way to measure the impact of branding campaigns. After all, they are not designed to drive specific, immediate behaviors like clicking on a display ad or performing a search. This makes it harder to determine ROI and justify marketing spend in the current budget-squeezed auto industry. But as the market begins to turn around, I predict we’ll see a dramatic increase in online brand advertising. What do you think?
Posted by Paula Skier, Director of Digital Product Strategy, Polk (07.17.2009)
But one thing they all had in common was a major focus on identifying “in market” consumers, in vertical markets such as travel, financial services and automotive. Given the state of the economy, particularly the automotive industry challenges, it’s not surprising that OEMs and dealers are focusing on lower-funnel targeting. However, it got me thinking, “What about the rest of the purchase funnel?” Obviously, a major purchase like a car is not an impulse decision. If you are already comparing vehicles and estimating payments, chances are you’ve narrowed down your consideration to a small group of vehicle makes or models. So if a brand you’re not considering pays to serve an ad to you, are they wasting their money?
For decades, marketers have relied on traditional media such as TV and print for brand advertising. Why isn’t the internet – which supports a much higher degree of targeting without sacrificing reach – being widely used for branding in the same way? I suspect it’s because there is no easy way to measure the impact of branding campaigns. After all, they are not designed to drive specific, immediate behaviors like clicking on a display ad or performing a search. This makes it harder to determine ROI and justify marketing spend in the current budget-squeezed auto industry. But as the market begins to turn around, I predict we’ll see a dramatic increase in online brand advertising. What do you think?
Posted by Paula Skier, Director of Digital Product Strategy, Polk (07.17.2009)
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