I’m here at the Forrester Marketing Forum in San Francisco. Yesterday was full of great sessions; my favorite presentation so far came from Dana Anderson, Senior Vice President, Marketing Strategy and Communications for Kraft Foods. She encouraged digital and interactive marketers to follow the rules that “Bad Boys” (and girls) live by to create truly innovative marketing programs in the next digital decade. Here are some of the rules to follow from her presentation The Bad Boys’ Guide To Digital Bliss:
- Have Swagger – You need swagger and charisma, the kind that helps get things done – think about being the “cool kid,” the group people want to be with and gravitate towards.
- Be Sly – Tearing down internal silos is a great idea, but as Dana pointed out, realistically, it’s unlikely to happen, especially at a large established brand like Kraft. So, accept reality and use pilot programs to work around organizational structures and the law of scarcity (creating exclusive or limited participation in pilots) to grow internal acceptance, adoption of and participation in digital programs.
- Don’t Settle – Angelina Jolie doesn’t settle in her life and neither should you when it comes to your agency. Be mindful of your status as a client. Similar to the “Rule of 2,” she explained ”on an attractiveness scale from 1(least attractive) to 10(most attractive) you can only date two points above or below your number unless you have fame or money. So if you’re a number 2 client you won’t get a number 10 agency.”
- Kiss and Tell – Be like Katy Perry and don’t be afraid to share what you’re doing – as Dana put it “inside, market the marketing and outside, market the marketing.” And don’t forget to praise everyone in your organization that steps outside their comfort zone and helps your efforts.
What a great start to the forum! Can’t wait to attend more sessions, see what others have to say about the next digital decade, and meet everyone stopping by the Visible booth!
