ME 52-52: No Travel Perks, just Marketing Points

This is week 52 for ME52, so it's fitting that we interviewed someone who is involved in the travel industry and the ad world. We've been around the this big, wide world in 52 weeks just as Valerie Paolucci works on marketing plans for the largest travel planning audience network online across 300+ travel sites, 365 days of the year. As the Marketing Manager for Travel Ad Network (TAN), Paolucci manages TAN's marketing programs and works closely on strategic deals. (But no, there are absolutely no travel perks associated with this job whatsoever.)

Valerie Paolucci

Marketing Manager

Travel Ad Network

Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/valeriepaolucci

What site(s) do you have to visit every day for Marketing news?

eMarketer, which is great, as it aggregates data from over 4,000 sources which I could never afford to subscribe to! I also sign up for tons of daily newsletters, both pertaining to the travel space and digital media in general, including Hubspot, MediaPost, EyeforTravel, Tnooz, iMediaConnection, Ad Age...

What site(s) do you go to at least once a day for fun and inspiration?
Facebook is my guilty pleasure! I also frequent Lifebooker, Groupon, and Goldstar when I need a healthy distraction.

Greatest skill a good Marketing professional requires?

Creativity, not only in Marketing strategy and campaign execution, but also in career choices.

What's the recent "it" Marketing phrase/trend of the moment that you hear almost every day and what does it mena for the industry and the marketplace?

Mobile. It's not new, but we're just figuring out how to meausre ROI from mobile advertising. As more users are expected to surf the net on their mobile devices than on their computers within the next few years, mobile will become the center of the digital marketing mix.

There have been fads in the Marketing world. In your opinion, what are recent developments that are here to stay?

Location based services are all the rage now. It will take us a bit of time to figure out how to monetize them, just like with mobile and video, but in my opinion, they're not going anywhere.

What is essential not to do when it comes to your area of Marketing specialty?

Never assume you know everything. The digital advertising industry evolves so rapidly, keeping ahead of the technology is a full-time job in itself!

What's an imminent hurdle in the Marketing world that you think will cause significant changes to the way we market to consumers or businesses?

We are seeing a lot of DSP's and ad exchanges trying to disintermediate the advertising agency. The landscape is quickly evolving and I'm curious to see how it all plays out.

Can Marketing ideas travel across continent and languages? Does globalization work or is localization more effective?

With today's technology, good ideas can travel across the globe instantly. The greatest ideas have overarching themes with cross-border, cross-cultural appeal. Working in the travel industry makes this all the more apparent.

Best piece of advice you have received?

Do what you love, and the money will follow.

Growing up, what was the first think you can remember wanting to be?

I always wanted to be Angela Bower of Who's the Boss. She ran her own ad agency and got to come up with these super cool creative ideas all the time. She was this smart, driven career woman who was the breakwinner for her family. It would also be nice to have a hottie cooking and cleaning up after me!

Is Marketing more of an art or more of a science?
The process of winning the hearts of minds of consumers will always be an art, but the pratice of measuring how well we do this is getting more scientific every day!

Where are growth opportunities within the Marketing industry, as people are looking at their careers?

There are so many opportunities in digital Marketing right now! As the digital advertising industry evolves and becomes more specialized, companies will be desparate to hire experts such as SEO strategiests, social media managers, product development directors, etc.

ME 52-51 The CosmoPolitician

Monica Danna - a social media scientist, PR enthusiast, marketer and a Houston advocate who runs her own creative agency, uses the creative and scientific formula & approach of diversity to collaborative marketing. As creative and out of the box her strategies are, her fundements are built on being consumer - centric ( listening to your audience) and using her education and knowledge from psychology and technology.


Monica Danna
Marketing and Public Relations Consultant
http://www.cosmopolitician.net/colab/
Twitter: CosmoPolitician

What site(s) do you have to visit everyday for Marketing news?
A great resource for marketers: http://www.marketingprofs.com/ For news: http://adage.com/

What site(s) do you go to at least once a day for fun and inspiration?
I've really been interested in photography lately and this is a site that gives me inspiration: http://hulaseventy.blogspot.com/

Greatest skill a good Marketing professional requires?
Listening to your audience.

What's the recent "it" Marketing phrase/trend of the moment that you hear almost everyday and what does it mean for the industry and marketplace?
Social Media - a form of media that digitially engages an audience rather than pushing out information.

There have been fads in the Marketing world. In your opinion, what are recent developments that are here to stay?
RSS feeds and syndication technology

What is essential NOT to do when it comes to your area of marketing specialty?
Applying traditional media practices (one-way communication) to a digitial media strategy (a two-way communication.) Know the difference between push information and push/pull information. Digital Media takes traditional media from a monologue to a dialogue. Don't preach to your audience. Engage.

What's an imminent hurdle in the Marketing world that you think will cause significant changes to the way we market to consumers or businesses?
The deluge of information we receive daily in a digital world. Our technology tools are adapting to help us dissiminate large amounts of information, such as email, blog posts, and life streams.

Can Marketing ideas travel across continents and languages? Does globalization work or is localization more effective?
In my international Marketing experience in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Australia, it became evident to me that high level marketing strategies can cross continentents; however tactics and collateral need to be localized to be effective.

Best piece of advice you have received professionally or personally?
Listening is more important than speaking.

Growing up, what was the first thing you can remember wanting to be?
A Child Psychologist, i actually have a masters in Psychology.

To tweet or not to tweet?
Tweet - Some form of Micro-Blogging will be here to stay.

Where are growth opportunities within the Marketing industry, as people are looking at their careers?
In the down economy that we recently experienced, Marketing professionals had to become increasingly diverse in their skill set. I belive that a more integrated and collaborative approach to Maketing is where things are headed in the future.

ME 52-50: Found in Translation, from a Brand Marketer's Point of View

Rather than lost in translation, Business Director, Julie Feng speaks the marketer’s language and understands her local environment, whether in the States or across the world. Having spent time immersing herself in the high brand equity world of L’Oreal, Coach and Gillette, Feng continues to communicate with the consumer, no matter where in the world she is.

Julie Feng
Business Director for L'Oreal China
Nurun, China

What site(s) do you have to visit everyday for Marketing news?
I used to have a colleague who was very diligent about checking the marketing news on a daily basis. He would get so involved and excited whenever there's something big or interesting that he would just come and talk to everyone about it. So when he was here, I never had to check the news. He delivered them in person.

What site(s) do you go to at least once a day for fun and inspiration?
This is going to sound really boring, but I live and work overseas, so checking NY Times on a daily basis keeps me in touch with what's happening at home and also helps me to relax and refocus when I'm stressed. In addition, I'm a foodie so I also check the restaurant column of a local general interests website to follow the restaurant/chef's scene.

Greatest skill a good Marketing professional requires?
Cultural sensitivity, being open minded to the diversity around you.

What's the recent "it" Marketing phrase/trend of the moment that you hear almost everyday and what does it mean for the industry and marketplace?
Groupons, and it will change the way consumers buy in China. With a population of 1.3 billion, bargain hunting as a pastime, and a business model that's easy to replicate and operate .... need I say more? We've seen Smart Cars being Groupon-ed here, with the result of 200 Smart Cars sold out in 3.5 hours with each buyer saving over US$ 6,000 (Benz on average sells one Smart Car per day in China through traditional channels).

There have been fads in the Marketing world. In your opinion, what are recent developments that are here to stay?
Recent survey shows that more percentage of Chinese internet users are creators (generating reviews and ratings) than their counterparts in the U.S. While some have embraced this phenomenon, others are concerned with how to defend a carefully groomed brand image from negative reviews. Expert brand builders are suddenly at a loss as to how to communicate with consumers on a two way platform. Some brand marketing giants are still struggling with how to incorporate UGC into their traditional communication plans.

What is essential NOT to do when it comes to your area of marketing specialty?
A brand can be successfully globalized, but only if the message and delivery methods are localized. Here, I'm not just referring to making sure the English is translated properly into a local language. The question you should ask is should the English copy even be translated at all. Does what the brand is trying to sell resonate with the local market?

What's an imminent hurdle in the Marketing world that you think will cause significant changes to the way we market to consumers or businesses?
An increase of awareness on the national level, together with intervention from policy setting governing bodies, Eco-friendly/Green products are here to stay.

Can Marketing ideas travel across continents and languages? Does globalization work or is localization more effective?
Both at Coach and L'Oreal, I worked on international brands for the China market. In this context, it is never acceptable to assume what worked in one market will always work in another. Not even if the markets are in the same region. Management tend to generalize (I find American companies tend to do this more often than European ones). I often hear remarks such as "the idea/concept worked in Korea, Japan, so let's copy it and apply it to China." But ask any marketing professional who has been in the Chinese market long enough and they will tell you that China is so vast, the differences between regions sometimes so great that even within the same country, what worked in one city may not translate well into another.

Best piece of advice you have received professionally or personally?
Go with your passion/instinct, the rest will fall into places on its own.

Growing up, what was the first thing you can remember wanting to be?
I wanted to be a teacher, but then again, that idea came to me when I was still growing up in China, where teachers are respected, admired and idolized. They were god. Their words carried more weight that our parents's. But that perspective changed when I moved to NYC and begin attending a public school. I knew right away that being a teacher in a Brooklyn public school required a different skill set to rise up to the challenge.

Where are growth opportunities within the Marketing industry, as people are looking at their careers?
In China, the opportunity is definitely in the e-commerce area. Here, we are probably experiencing the same boom that U.S. experienced 6 or 7 years ago (let's just hope we have learned to avoid the bubble).

Is Marketing more of an art or more of a science?
Intuitively, I want to say it's an art. But in the corporate world, there is no way you can push through an idea/concept without showing some numbers to back it up. But I guess this is what makes this job all more challenging and interesting. As a product manager at L'Oreal, we had to be well versed in how to communicate convincingly with consumers using visuals and copy, as well as how to communicate efficiently with management using numbers and charts. I don't think I can ever get the same satisfaction from a pure numbers driven job.

ME 52-49: Understanding the Cultural Nuances Within

Lincoln Stephens was already a successful advertsing account management executive when he founded The Marcus Graham Project. As a non-profit, The Marcus Graham Project focuses on building the next generation of leadership in the advertising and marketing industry in a boot camp/career development training environment. Stephens took some time out of his busy schedule to answer ME52's questions and help more people learn more about what it takes to market with passion.

Lincoln Stephens
Founder
The Marcus Graham Project

What site(s) do you ahve to visit everyday for Marketing news?
Advertising Age, Ad Week, Target Market News and Tech Crunch

What site(s) do you go to at least once a day for fun and inspiration/
Facebook and Twitter (People are funny.)

Greatest skill a good Marketing professional requires?
Integrity.

What's the recent "it" Marketing phrase/trend of the moment that you hear almost everyday and what does it mean for the industry and marketplace?
#oyleydoit -- it means tehre is a new language that people are speaking in the social media space and we are going to have to have an understanding of all of the cultural nuances that exist within.

There have been fads in the Marketing world. In your opinion, what are recent developments that are here to stay?
Here to stay is a generation of CREATORS that are waiting for main stream media to finally hear a REAL story. A TRUE story. One with HEART and with SOUL.

What is essential NOT to do when it comes to your area of marketing specialty?
It is essential not to be afraid to admit when you are wrong, but to seldom be wrong.

What's an imminent hurdle in the Marketing world that you think will cause significant changes to the way we market to consumers or businesses?
The undervaluing of the economic prowess of diverse consumer segments, primarily because of the lack of resources earmarked towards accurate/effective research, analysis and market development.

Can Marketing ideas travel across continents and languages? Does globalization work or is localization more effective?
Yes. Localization allows you to not forget what is important in your specific community, but we need the perspective of the rest of the world in order to move forward TOGETHER.

Best piece of advice you have received professionally or personally?
Don't beat yourself up for making mistakes.

Growing up, what was the first thing you can remember wanting to be?
In the radio business.

Is Marketing more of an art or more fo a science?
Science that needs the support of the arts.

What marekter do you admire most and why?
I've not met that brand yet.

ME52-48: A life-long analytics adventurer stresses the importance of storytelling

Day in and day out, Rui drives consumer insights and strategy from data to maximize marketing ROI. As a numbers girl, she talks about how marketing analytics is an "artistic science", and needs humanized insights with the art of storytelling...or it would only become pieces of data.


Rui Wang
Senior Analyst
Draft FCB



Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/pub/rui-wang/9/840/456

What site(s) do you have to visit every day for Marketing news?
Adage, AdvertisingWeek, blogs like freakonomics, etc. and YAMMER, which is a corporate version of Twitter. Colleagues share what they found interesting online, at work, or ask questions

What site(s) do you go to at least once a day for fun and inspiration?
TED Talk - 18 minutes a day that changes your mind, NYTIMES, DELICIOUS.COM – a very good go-to resource and tool features TAG search function, FACEBOOK, YOUTUBE

Greatest skill a good Marketing professional requires?
I would say STORY-TELLING. We are exposed to tons of information every minute, about your brand, competitors, consumers, etc. It’s critical to integrate those findings and tell “what matters” in a humanized way.

What's the recent "it" Marketing phase/trend of the moment that you hear almost every day and what does it mean for the industry and the marketplace?
Digital CRM. We all know the most powerful driver to decision making is WOM and internet & mobile devices pushed it to an exponentially massive extent. Comparison shopping and online reviews empower consumers to make better choices. It’s important for brands to be visable and effectively join the conversation.

There have been fads in the Marketing world. In your opinion, what are recent developments that are here to stay?
Moving mobile. Think about how the new generation of smart phone / ipad changes ways people work, entertain, communicate, and shop, etc

What is essential NOT to do when it comes to your area of Marketing specialty?
Marketing analytics is artistic science. Without humanized insights, it’s only pieces of data.

What's an imminent hurdle in the Marketing world that you think will cause significant changes to the way we market?
Consumers lose attention very quickly as information explodes. You are competing against several big names and millions of others in both physical and virtual world.

Can Marketing ideas travel across continents and languages? does globalization work or is localization more effective?
YES and No. Successful marketing is about truly understanding your consumers and having the brand been part of their story. What really matters to your consumers will drive whether strategically you should go global or be local. Furthermore, if we extend our topic to e-commerce, the definition of being local could be very different as well.

Best piece of advice you have received?
“Stay foolish, stay hungry” – Steve Jobs shared 3 personal stories to students on his 2005 Stanford Commencement Address. This thereafter became my motto and always encourages me to go for the dream and open to changes, you never know if it will become another opportunity.

Growing up, what was the first thing you can remember wanting to be?
A happy islander who travels the world and share life stories of those who I meet to the rest

What is a recent campaign/presentation (not from yoru own comapny but your field of marketing) that you admire? and why? “Happy Inside” - recent Ikea campaign
IKEA UK released 100 house cats into its Wembley store in celebrating the launch of 2011 cat-a-logue. It's a really good integrated campaign. Great creative excecution as well. Through multiple digital channels, consumers could interact with the brand and share the “live a happier life inside” spirit with friends. Check their facebook page to see cat photos uploaded. http://www.facebook.com/ikeacats so far, 13,171 fans liked it, and more than 700 pics were uploaded to the FB page.

To tweet or not to tweet?
Personally feel it still has a long way to go.

ME 52-47: Best Practices May Not be as Effective as the Next Best Alternative

Cynthia Andrada is an email marketing strategis at Epsilon. She also has prior experience as a database marketing analyst at a retialer and a public relationshspecialist at a beverage alcohol company.

Cynthia Andrada
Senior Consultant, Strategic & Analytic Consulting Group
Epsilon

What site(s) do you have to visit every day for Marketing news?
Marketing I visit regularly include WSJ (Media and Marketing), MediaPost's Email Insider, Retail Email blog, ClickZ and I should probably mention the Email Institute, which is run by my employer. I also like e-newsletters such as the eMarketer Daily, Get to the Point Email Marketing from Marketing Profs and Marketing Sherpa's Chart of the Week.

What site(s) do you go to at least once a day for fun and inspiration?
Aren't marketing sites fun and inspiring?

Greatest skill a good Marketing professional requires?
In my line of work, it's all about being able to translate data-driven insights into actionable marketing strategies. Coming up with the right marketing strategy means you need to understand your client's business, goal and constraints. Just because your recommended strategy might be "best practice" but doesn't mean it's relevant or even possible for your client. Figure out the next best alternative.

What's the recent "it" Marketing phase/trend of the moment that you hear almost every day and what does it mean for the industry and the marketplace?
Social, social, social. When you work in email marketing, you can't escape social media. I've encouraged clients to leverage social media to grow their list by including and email sign-up on their Facebook page. (Just don't make them leave FB to sign up for your email!!!) I've also recommended testing the placement of social media elements in the header of an email rather than the footer for higher adoption rates--thanks, MarketingProfs. And even though i can't seem to get into it, Twitter is part of one ideal scenario drafted to identify customer experiences that a client's future marketing ecosystem must support.

There have been fads in the Marketing world. In your opinion, what are recent developments that are here to stay?
I understand privacy concerns but as a marketer, I'm intrigued by the developments in online tracking technology. Marketers "spying" on internet users is here to stay.

What is essential NOT to do when it comes to your area of Marketing specialty?
Don't assume what worked for your competitors will work for your business. In email marketing, it's important to keep testing.

What's an imminent hurdle in the Marketing world that you think will cause significant changes to the way we market?
More and more companies are thinking about how they can do multi-channel marketing better in the future. What are the ideal customer experiences and how can companies deliver on those events? How should companies be organized? What systems need to be in place? etc. Companies need to address these questions today.

Can Marketing ideas travel across continents and languages? does globalization work or is localization more effective?
You can't separate global from local marketing--especially not in this internet age. Think of global marketing as the strategy and local marketing as the tactical execution of that strategy.

Best piece of advice you have received?
When choosing a career, don't forget to consider the lifestyle you want to have too. Thanks, Dad.

Growing up, what was the first thing you can remember wanting to be?
A pediatrician.

Where are growth opportunities within the Marketing industry as people are looking at their careers?
Marketing analytics, for sure. There's certainly no shortage of data as we become more sophisticated in tracking and measuring online and offline activity. But the challenge is figuring out what the data means and how to use it. As a result, there's an increasing demand for marketing analysts and strategists. And you're even better off if you're a hybrid.

To tweet or not to tweet?
I just can't get into it. Is it over yet?

ME 52-46: LoSo, VCs, - this is the new language of digital brand marketing

Urban, progressive, contemporary...Richie Cruz represents the new breed of innovative pop culture marketing.

A passionate and creative brand strategist, Richie Cruz's expertise lies in understanding the shifts and insights of culture, and establishing emotional connections for brands for consumers.

Richie Cruz
Digital Strategist
Agency Net

Linkedin: http://www.linkedin.com/in/richardcruz
Blog: (http://suitsiswatching.com/)

What site(s) do you visit every day for Marketing news?

I usually refer to my Netvibes dashboard for daily trade headlines and inspiration; I’ve compiled well over 100 feeds that keep me current. But, if there’s one that I’m particularly fond of, it would have to be “Kiss My Black Ads,” as it agrees pretty well with my sensibility.

What site(s) do you go to at least once a day for fun and inspiration?
For fun, I’d have to say that I visit PicSick, and FreshBump. And, of course, Behance, Creativity, and The FWA. They’re all good sources of creative inspiration that keep my thinking sound and fresh.

What's the recent "it" Marketing phrase/trend of the moment that you hear almost every day and what does it mean for the industry and the marketplace?
I would have to say that I hear the word “curation” a lot, as I’m sure that most people that operate within the digital marketing landscape do. I can completely understand what it’s implying, but I don’t think that everyone has amassed the same amount of taste or credibility to throw around or assign the title. It devalues it, in my opinion.

There have been fads in the Marketing world. In your opinion what are recent developments that are here to stay?
LoSo, or location-social networks, the most popular being Foursquare and Facebook Places. Aside from the rumblings from within the marketing industry, I think digital society is becoming increasingly qualitative- that is, to say, that we measure and benchmark all of our decisions, and rank the quality of those decisions by their societal perception. These networks are allowing this data to be aggregated- willingly- at blinding rates, which will eventually result in a shift in the way products, services, and occurrences are discovered. At least for the cool people, lol.

What's an imminent hurdle to the Marketing world that you think will cause significant changes to the way we market to businesses or consumers?
Everyone’s incessant speculation around which are the best employable tactics (digital vs. traditional). I’m of the philosophy that every piece of technology and media platform is simply a tool to help us (marketers) tell better stories. Tell better stories, move more product. It’s that simple.

Can Marketing ideas travel across continents and languages? Does globalization work or is localization more effective?
Oh yeah. All you need is Facebook, Twitter, and Google Translate- and you’re good to go. Of course, refining one’s inherent understanding of cultural nuances is something developed over time, but the road is fruitful. To answer the second part, I think that more oft than not, they’re mutually exclusive. But in those times when they aren’t, it’s best to build programs and campaigns to scale.

Best piece of advice you have received?
Although not given to me directly, Dame Dash famously once told Kanye West, "Just make sure it's not whack." My close friend Kevin Wade made sure that sentiment served as our universal filter.

Growing up, what was the first thing you can remember wanting to be?
I wanted to be an archeologist, then a NBA player, then a journalist at a hip-hop magazine. Eventually I saw the legendary Sprite commercial featuring Kris Kross, and I immediately wanted to do THAT.

Is Marketing more of an art or a science?
When it's done correctly, its a beautiful, perfect storm or both.

What do you think are some of the most promising models for monetization of digital content?
I’m interested in seeing the mainstream adoption of virtual goods, and how they can provide true utility and enhanced experiences. I also believe brands will become “VCs”, and fund cultural experiences that matter; the brands that can reach into subculuture and introduce their consumers to the next in meaningful, mutually beneficial ways will flourish as the information economy persists and the web gets smarter.