Blog o' RAMA

Marketing 2.0 - The New Kodak Way: March 18th

Jeffrey Hayzlett, Chief Business Development Officer and VP, Eastman Kodak Company will talk to us about how Kodak is using YouTube, NBC's Celebrity Apprentice TV show and other unique marketing tools to enhance the Kodak brand.

When: March 18, 2008
Where: Mario's Italian Steakhouse; 2740 Monroe Ave. 14618; 585-271-1111
Time: 7:30 am - 9:30 am
Cost: $20 for members $35 for non-members

Special Thanks to our event sponsor,
Partners and Napier.

Come and hear firsthand from Jeff and his team about the new mindset behind these ideas, how they're working, and what the implications are for marketers of all sizes.

In anticipation, we invite you to visit these links:

The Celebrity Apprentice Video Episodes

The Kodak 1000 Words blog

Register here...now..today!

February 8th - RAMA Presents A Market Research Boot Camp

THIS EVENT HAS BEEN CANCELLED DUE TO INADEQUATE RESPONSE. WE INVITE YOU TO CHECK BACK FOR OTHER EXCITING AND EDUCATIONAL RAMA EVENTS IN THE PLANNING!

• Marketing researchers new to the field
• Seasoned marketers who need an update or an introduction to research
• Marketing practitioners who interface with research suppliers

Join Sanjob Misra and JJ Brakus of the Simon Graduate School of Business as they discuss:

• How to make your research work harder
• Ways to choose between qualitative and quantitative studies
• Statistics for non-statisticians, and many other important topics.

Time and Location:
February 8, 2008
8:00- 4:30
Simon Graduate School of Business
407 Schelegel Hall

New AMA Marketing Definition Reflects Individual Control

Hi, this is Bill Ward, Collegiate Relations Chair for the RAMA Board. I was pleased to see that the AMA announced an updated marketing definition. The AMA reviews the definition every few years and makes changes if necessary to reflect the dynamic and rapidly changing nature of marketing. I believe the new version more accurately reflects the interaction and control of the marketing process at the individual level (not just organizational) with the growing influence of online social media and consumer created content on society at large.

The new definition and the previous version are announced in Marketing Daily so you can judge for yourself.

The new definition reads: "Marketing is the activity, set of institutions and processes for creating, communicating, delivering and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large."

The previous definition stated: "Marketing is an organizational function and a set of processes for creating, communicating, and delivering value to customers and for managing customer relationships in ways that benefit the organization and its stakeholders."

Golisano Shows His Charitable Side at RAMA Event

Hello everyone,

To those of you who weren't there, you won't believe what happened at our event today yesterday. As you know, RAMA chooses a charity for each event, and we donate $1 for every person who attends.  Our charity for this event was Rotary Camp Onseyawa.

Well, we were one-upped in a big way by our presenter,Tom Golisano. He raised $3,000 auctioning off an autographed Ryan Miller jersey, and $5,000 by offering a game and dinner for 8 people in his personal suite at a Sabres game. There were 2 representatives from the charity at the event, and they were ecstatic!

Tom's talk was great. I loved the way he used his business savvy to make the changes needed to bring the franchise around, and it is a great example of how to turn a business around.

Thanks to everyone who worked on this event to bring it to fruition. I am very proud of how RAMA was represented today.

Welcome new RAMA Members!

RAMA (Rochester Chapter, American Marketing Association), welcomes our new members for October.  We are very fortunate to have a strong professional and student membership base that is growing.  If you are not a member, why not?  You can join AMA and RAMA on the web.

Welcome to our new Professional members:
Joan Aiello
Alice Witherow
Jeannine Rossignol
Laurie Dwyer
Julia Price

Welcome to our new Student members:
William Brosi
Nicholas Angeline
David Koster
Revay Wilson
Brian Agro

If you want to learn more about membership in RAMA please email Barb Cote who can provide more information.

Tom Golisano to speak on Turning the Brand Around: The Sabres' Story

Local entrepreneur and esteemed business professional, Tom Golisano, will be presenting at our next  RAMA event, to be held at the Riverside Convention Center.

Golisano is best known for his outstanding success founding and building Paychex, the "second largest payroll processor in the United States (thanks to wikipedia)". He is also the owner of the Sabres hockey team, out of Buffalo, NY. It's hard, these days, to decide which he's best known for - but, known he is. And respected.

Regardless of your feelings about hockey, you'll want to attend this event and hear Golisano talk about the turnaround of this brand and how the Sabres jumpstarted their brand - almost overnight. I hear one lucky attendee could walk away with a Sabres' jersey!

Blueline sponsor is Golisano's Children's Hospital. 

The charity RAMA has chosen for this event is Camp Onseyawa.

"The mission of Rotary Camp Onseyawa is to provide a camping experience for 9-16 year old children with disabilities from the 4 county area, and to foster independence and acceptance of others through social, recreational and educational aspects of life."

Please visit the events page for more info.

Ready to register now? Click this link...

Marc Gobe Talks Brandjam and Emotional Branding with Yvonne DiVita

Enjoy this short discussion with Marc Gobe discussing Brandjam, his book...and his concept (think jazz) before his appearance in Rochester, NY on Sept. 27th. In a world that has come to embrace citizen input in marketing, Gobe talks about the emotional reasons why.

Details on the luncheon event here.

MP3 File

How Does Diversity Impact Your Marketing Plans?

Recently my employer, Eastman Kodak Company , hosted Luke Visconti, one of the founders of DiversityInc.  Quoting from the website, "DiversityInc's mission is to bring education and clarity to the business benefits of diversity."  Kodak has been active in their thinking about diversity for over ten years now, and for good reason.
As Luke presented, I made a few notes that you might find interesting as marketers.  One of his assertions is that "mainstream marketing" is dying.  Companies who are most successful today have adapted to understand the needs of diverse consumers, while other companies are stuck in the past, creating products that cater to the traditional "mainstream" market which are not of interest to the fastest growing ethnic groups in the U.S.

Did you know that children in our country are already five times more racially diverse than our population who is over 70 years of age?  Did you know that the incidence of families in the U.S. that are multi-racial have increased significantly over the past ten years?

I'm amazed at how quickly this transformation is taking place.  I had been sensitized to this transformation a few years ago, and this recent update by Luke showed I've been out of the loop and not paying enough attention to this.

What is your business doing to recognize and adjust as the U.S. becomes more diverse?

Social Media Builds both Business and Personal Relationships

Consumers today expect a steady supply of fresh content on the Internet, as well as the ability to participate in content creation. Social Media is the strongest component of Web 2.0 and according to Wikipedia, it “describes the online technologies and practices that people use to share opinions, insights, experiences and perspectives with each other.” These include blogs as well as social networking platforms like MySpace, You Tube and FaceBook. Through these technologies, consumers are sharing their experiences through words, photos and video.

Earlier this year I joined the social media network and became a blogger. My background is in promotional marketing so my blog, Donna’s Promo Talk, is targeted to marketing professionals. I first did what the experts recommend which is to browse, read and comment on other people’s blogs before starting your own. This helps to find your “voice” as well to create relationships with other bloggers in your field.

This past July I attended my first blogging conference to learn more and meet fellow bloggers. BlogHer 2007 was sponsored by BlogHer.org, an on line community founded in early 2005 by three women bloggers whose mission is to provide opportunities for women who blog to pursue exposure, education, community and economic empowerment. Already in its third year it was their biggest to date with about 750 attendees who took over the Navy Pier in downtown Chicago over a two day period. "A World of Difference" was this year’s theme.

I was inspired by being with so many women who were sharing their experiences, knowledge and wisdom with each other. Each session had a panel of lboggers who opened up the room for participants to ask questions, which is how you got the most information. It was pretty amazing to find technology being spoken about and taught to you by women (not men)!

There were many bloggers at the conference that have been doing it for several years and were reuniting with women they had met either in person or online. There were also many women like me still new or just starting out. I got introduced to many women by Yvonne DiVita, President of Windsor Media, who has a pretty well known blog, www.Lipsticking.com, Smart Marketing to Women Online, and who also made the trip from Rochester to attend. Yvonne is on the RAMA board and was a catalyst in getting this blog going (as well as my blog, Donna's Promo Talk) and she continues to be a regular featured blogger on RAMA.

Yvonne says "Social media and social networking isn't about the technology. It's about the people. People are a connecting force in both business and life and while the Internet has given the people a louder voice, social media has encouraged more people to speak up. Businesses that learn to participate will discover a world of opportunity at their fingertips."

Other bloggers I met at the conference in Chicago included Jenny Cisney who I learned lives just a couple of blocks from me here in Rochester. I overheard Jenny talking about Rochester during one of the sessions so I introduced myself. Jenny works for Kodak and blogs on Kodak's blog A Thousand Words while also maintaining her own blog, ljcfyi.com. I also met Breanne Boyle who works for AskPatty.com, an incredible blog written by women automotive experts who give automotive advice to women.

Blogs are becoming the voice of the customer and all businesses need to start paying attention to them. They can obtain great feedback from some things that people write in their blogs as well as just in the comments section. Traditional market research is changing. Businesses today need research based on consumer behaviors that are gathered and reported quickly and social networks are quickly becoming the best source for this.

So, I encourage everyone, not just marketers, to visit blogs, read them, leave comments and perhaps start their own. You may choose to focus on your business, release your personal passion or perhaps a little of both. Either way, everyone needs to become familiar with what social media is all about.

This is my first post on the RAMA blog and I'm honored to be invited as a guest blogger. My plan is to continue the conversations around social media as well as keep you up to date on what's going on in the industry as far as interactive promotions. Any comments and suggestions are of course welcome and encouraged.

Donna DeClemente, President - DDC Marketing Group

The Apple iPhone-- A Marketing Mix Perspective

On Friday June 29, the Apple iPhone became available for sale at AT&T and Apple stores.  The news showed customers waiting in line to buy this device.  Even here in Rochester, NY as I drove by the AT&T store, a news crew was filming the line outside the store.
What is the buzz about the Apple iPhone?  Let's take a look at the marketing mix.

Product -- According to the description on the AT&T site, the iPhone combine three amazing products- a mobile phone, wide screen iPod, and a breakthrough internet device--into one small, lightweight, hand held device with the best e-mail ever on a mobile phone, full screen with browsing, multi touch screen, and applications.  It does look cool and is innovative but does it deliver on the hype?  Several reviews have been published, check them out to learn more on features and performance.

1-CNET editor's review

2- Businessweek.com's web exclusive Steven Levy's, At Last -the iPhone

3- USA Today's Edward Baig's Apple's iPhone Isn't Perfect But It's Worthy of the Hype

Blackberry and Treo users are not willing to give up their devices for now.  The iPhone doesn't seem to be equipped for enterprise systems right now.  Read more in a Businessweek.com article, Making the iPhones Better for Business.

Place -- AT&T is the exclusive carrier for the iPhone.  What is novel about the phone service activation strategy is that consumers sign up for AT&T cellular services via the internet on iTunes. Phones are sold in AT&T stores, Apple retail stores, and Apple online store.  Typically carriers make all the decisions on phone prices, how phones are marketed, and which services to offer. This time Apple defined the 16 services that the iPhone has and of course the sign up method on iTunes instead of through AT&T.

Promotion-- Typically Apple announces new products very close to the time when the product is available for sale.  Not this time-the iPhone hype has been buzzing for about 6 months when the iPhone announcement was made at Mac World.  The halo effect from its popular iPods will have a positive effect on some consumers' perceptions of the iPhone.    Apple had kept advertising to a minimum since the announcement in January.   According to Apple Insider, TB WA is the new agency of record handling the iPhone campaign.

Price -- The iPhone 4 GB version sells for $499 and the 8 GB version sells for $599.  Monthly phone service charges start at 59.99 and you have to sign up for a 2 year service agreement.   Read a Businessweek.com article, Taking the iPhone Apart to learn about a tear down analysis that estimates what it costs Apple to make the iPhone.
How have sales been for the iPhone?  Analysts estimate that during the first weekend of sales, between 500,000 and 700,000 phones were sold. Apple plans to sell 10 million phones in 2008.  Only time will tell if the iPhone meets Apple's sales and revenue expectations.

I had the chance to visit an Apple store to check out the iPhone.  It is a a cool looking device.  The touch screen and icons were easy to use and it was lightweight.  For those consumers that are innovators and early adopters and are willing to pay the price-- the iPhone may be the right device.   
In my opinion, I was enticed by the user interface but the price point is too high for me and I have other devices that have similar features.    What do you think about the iPhone?  Do you own an iPhone or know someone who owns one?