Mobile Meeting success!

Congratulations to Mobile Monday Mid-Atlantic for a great event on Monday, May 17!

The event was reminiscent of the excitement generated during the dot.com era and a testament to why in only three years Mobile Monday Mid-Atlantic (www.momo-ma.com) has become one of the area’s premier networking organizations. The organization partnered with two prominent local marketing organizations, the Philadelphia Interactive Marketing Association (PhIMA) and Philadelphia American Marketing Association (PAMA) to bring together 400 innovators and seasoned marketing professionals.

The presentations started with the area’s A-list entrepreneur, Josh Kopelman. Kopelman, of half.com fame, analyzed the market and broke down the business space into three categories:

• The “monitorization” model downloads for cash.
• The customer retention/acquisition model, companies who are using mobile media as a piece of their overall customer communications.
• The companies who are looking to use mobile to add enterprise value.

For Kopelman’s investment firm it is the third category they are interested in developing.

He talked about a future where the mobile commuter would put their wireless mobile device next to a workstation and compute in the clouds instead of working on a laptop or desktop computer. These are the ideas his investment firm wants to build upon.

The panel moderator, Jeannette Kocsis, has deep experience in cutting edge direct marketing and started out with some statistics to keep everything in perspective. The mobile marketing world is small, but rapidly growing and changing. Right now 1 in 5 U.S. cell phone users have Smart Phones, but that is projected to be 1 in 3 by the end of next year. The panel gave some great examples of successful mobile marketing campaigns, and discussed the challenge of fragmentation in the mobile arena.

Aps are a hot topic, but mostly dismissed by the panel as a “throwback” to a time when we needed separate software for anything you wanted to do on your desktop. The fragmentation in mobile devices, operating systems, and platforms makes application development extremely challenging.

Then there is the revenue potential for an ap, while 20% of U.S. cell phone market is “smart” right now, only approximately 20% of those smart phone users download aps. So while this technology offers great potential and strong growth, the media struggles for a common platform before it can really become common place. Of course there are targeted segments where it makes a lot of sense to build mobile into your marketing plan, but the masses are not there yet.

The greatest potential for this media is its personalized nature. The panels spent a great deal of time discussing the personalized aspects of the industry and the absolute necessity for permission-based campaigns. Mobile devices have the ability to remind you that it is your spouse’s birthday, prepare you to leave five minutes early, and suggest a store to stop in close to where your car is parked. The reminder is physically nudging you on your hip; which is why this could be an unacceptable intrusion if you did not give express permission.

The panel discussed the legal requirement for expressed consent to receive SMS text messages and the hefty fines for non-compliance. The success stories that were shared indicated a change in mindset, as is echoed in so many social media discussions. Marketing communications is changing from a one way broadcast to a discussion. The more personal our media channels become the more these communications become dialog rather than advertisements.

There is great potential for this media to change the way consumers communicate and relate to their brands, the potential grows as smart phone usage grows and the technology platform becomes more standardized. I am excited as we continue to find ways to fit appropriate use of this technology into our customers’ communication plans.

Disney works their magic with Cross Channel promotion

My wife and I are planning a trip to Disney World with our three children. My wife, Judy, is a Disney fanatic who can’t pass up the bargains now being offered by the Mickey and the gang.

This is the third trip to Orlando for our family in five years, so unlike their father, who was twenty before making his first trip to the Magic Kingdom, my children are becoming experts in what they want to see and visit.

Navigating the park has been a big issue of mine ever since our first trip to the Magic Kingdom in 2000. Our first Disney experience with a child was a disaster so I was happy to see when Disney marketing created a program that encourages you to schedule your Disney itinerary in advance.

The promotion was first brought to my attention when my wife received a postcard in the mail announcing, “Get your FREE Walt Disney World Park Maps!” After showing me (the guy who has the issues with navigating the parks) the postcard, she immediately placed the direct mail piece into the “get to it” file hoping to get to it later. Later never came. It wasn’t until she received the second notice, an email promoting the same offer, that she logged on to the website and chose the attractions that our family was interested in attending. A few weeks later, we received a customized map in the mail highlighted our customized Disney itinerary.

Disney is continuously pushing the envelope with new technology. The company recognizes the power of integrated marketing and my wife is a perfect example of how effective the technique is. Although she was interested in mapping our vacation and was excited about the promotion it wasn’t until the email announcement that she acted upon the offer. I liken her experience to the experience of our clients. Today, it takes more than just direct advertising, direct mail, email messaging, or telephone calls to reach your audience. It takes a constant reinforcement using multiple marketing channels. When I mentioned to my wife that we do similar promotions for our clients, her comment (spoken like a true Disney fanatic) was, “Wow, does mean you can get Disney as a client?” My response was, “I certainly hope so.” My comment to you is how could you use the Disney approach to market your business?

To see the Disney promotion, log on to Disneyworld.com/freemaps.

Drexel University's LeBow College wins AMA award

MAY 20, 2009 - TGI Communications Group wishes to congratulate Drexel University's LeBow College of Business on receiving the prestigious "Marketer of the Year" award from the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Marketing Association. The award is granted each year by the AMA to an individual or organization that is a model for education, vision, leadership and decision making in the community and demonstrates exceptional performance and outstanding accomplishments in the field of marketing.

The annual event was held last night at the "Crystal Tea Room" in Philadelphia's historic Wanamaker Building. The event was sponsored in part by TGI Communications Group and drew a large crowd of marketing professionals from across the region.  

Congratulations go out to the other winners and to the LeBow College of Business for a job well done!

TGI Communications Group president participates in panel discussion

April 1, 2009 - Jack Glacken, president of TGI Communications Group joined W.L. Gore & Associates' Susan L. Crow and Honeywell International's Ron Jackson in a panel discussion on the effectiveness of new marketing solutions.  W.L. Gore and Honeywell have a standing partnership with TGI to streamline the dissemination of information to their sales and distributor base.  

Ron Jackson, Honeywell's Marketing Channel Manager for Latin America spoke of the benefits of new online communication tools and the recent implementation of TGI's MarCore system.  Mr. Jackson declared how his division expects to reduced corporate overhead by double digits and increase sales up to five percent using the new web based solution.

Susan Crow challenged the audience to look for new ways to conduct business.  She spoke of the how W.L. Gore is now saving time and money using TGI's Hubcast partnership.    Ms. Crow shared her struggles in preparing for overseas trade shows and the frustration of  shipping marketing materials across the globe. She informed the audience of over fifty people how she leverages Mr. Glacken's company and his partner alliance to help their enterprise maximize Return On Communications Investment. 

Toby LaVigne CEO of HubCast led the panel discussion.  Mr. LaVigne's company specializes in reducing inefficiency and waste and has shepherded in a new business model that stresses open communication with customers across the global.